</div><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D128W5nRq1S.mp4\\\" class=\\\"video-url\\\"><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71cT2FxpVAS.png\\\" class=\\\"video-slate-img-url\\\"> This wireless Receiver is great for streaming your favorite music or e-books to your speakers for a wireless experience but with the best sound quality.\\n\\nThe instruction Manual gives very clear instructions on the set up and how to connect the wires/ Cables. The receiver comes boxed with USB cable and input- output cable. The USB cable powers on the receiver, you can power it through plugging into a USB outlet on a hub or even through your laptop. The input/ Output cable can be used to stream through the received but not wirelessly, only if you choose to use it that way, sing the headphone jack on your device, or you can use it if your speaker system is missing that particular cable.\\n\\nEnsure that the receiver and your streaming device in my case, my cell phone is connected to the same Wi-Fi connection, once that is achieved you connect through the streaming software for your devise for my iPhone 6+ it is Airplay, the receiver will automatically be connected and I was able to play my music through my speakers in no time.\\n\\nIt is very convenient especially if you are having a get together and you wish to play your favorite music stored on your device, whether it be your cell phone or tablet or laptop, you can be playing host/hostess, socializing and changing music at the same time. That's what I call modern convenience.\\n\\nThe instruction manual is very helpful, it is an easy set up and you will enjoy being able to manage your music from your device through your speakers that produces better sound quality. The receiver itself is very light weight and easy to store on a shelf, doesn't take up too much space at all.\\n\\nI did receive this receiver at a promotional discount for testing and reviewing, it is a must have for modern homes, it simplifies life.\",\n \"Product: Sodynee Deluxe leatherette 8 watch case display case to protect your precious watches collection. This black high quality leatherette watch display storage case features a clear tempered glass lid. The interior is lined with soft velvet felt fabric to protect your watches. There are 8 compartments with removable soft fabric cushions. You may remove the cushions to store jewelry or accessories. High clearance so large watches can fit in. Watch case dimension 9\\\"Wx 8 5/8\\\"D x 3 1/4\\\"H. Brand: Sodynee\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Absolutely beautiful and Keeps my Watch Collection Safe\\n\\nReview: This watch display is very elegant looking, the faux leather casing passes as real leather, looks exquisite, the velvet lining of the inside makes my watches stand out and I'm sure they won't get dusty or damaged in this display case.\\n\\nYou put your watch over the display pillow and place inside the case, you can leave open or close the case, since it has a glass display that you can see your jewelry through.\\n\\nI not only use for displaying watches but my bracelets also, it does have enough space for mine and my husbands watches and bracelets.\\n\\nI absolutely love how perfectly it fits on my chest of drawers, it makes it look so much neater and I'm so so happy my watches will be protected, I usually leave them hanging around, with my other jewelry, now they are kept safe.\\n\\nI highly recommend this beautiful watch display case, definitely value for money\\n\\nReceived this item at a promotional discounted price for testing and reviewing.\",\n \"Product: The Streamliner wallet by JETSET was designed for the practical minimalist who demands quality. Its unique design allows it to be compact yet carry everything you need. Inside are 3 quick-access card holders for your most used cards, an ID window, and 2 pouches for your less used cards and cash (cash must be folded in half). The exterior pouch is ideal for less sensitive items such as store cards, receipts, subway cards, or business cards. RFID blocking material in the wallet protects you from thieves who use RFID scanners to steal credit card info. Streamline your life today with the Streamliner! Please note: this wallet is designed to block 13.56Mhz frequency signals (used in personal data items such as credit cards & passports). It is not designed to protect against the 125 Khz frequency (typically used by access cards).\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Slim Sleek & Stylish\\n\\nReview: Genuine Leather, slim and stylish, perfect for my husband. I am also thinking about getting one as a gift for my nephew who is a modern young adult, who likes everything stylish and keeps abreast of technology so he would certainly appreciate the RFID blocking capability.\\n\\nWe love to travel and we do not want the headache of identify or CC information theft, that's one less thing to worry about when traveling. The wallet fits nicely in the front shirt, or jacket pocket, or even in the bag we carry our travel documents in, no more bulging and looking untidy with big pockets.\\n\\nEven though so slim, it does fit a number of cards. I especially like the outer pocket which is ideal for your frequently used CC or I.D. it is easy to reach even if in a hurry or combustible position.\\n\\nThis is an excellent wallet, that keeps your man neat, and protected. I did receive this wallet at a promotional discount for testing and reviewing.\",\n \"Product: Each set includes whitte elastic headband in beautiful natural kraft pillow box.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Beautiful Lace with pearls & Rose buds\\n\\nReview: I cant wait for my God daughters christening.\\n\\nI've already fitted this rose bow head band around her little 7 month old head and it fits perfectly.\\n\\nI love that the lace is elastic and expandable, so she will be able to wear it as she grows and it won't be too tight.\\n\\nThe pearls and rose bow are exquisite and looks beautiful on the tip of her forehead.\\n\\nThe bow is attached very well to the lace, all the parts are bound nicely, no falling apart.\\n\\nThis bow is also great for the upcoming holidays, will look great at Christmas dinner, really happy I was able to try this product at a promotional discount for testing and reviewing, I absolutely love it, it will look just beautiful on your baby.\",\n \"Product: Fitness Fun Jump Rope makes getting your body moving a snap. Ships in resealable black pouch with carabiner. eBook is emailed to you after you receive the jump rope.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Best Jump Rope I've Had to Date\\n\\nReview: This jump rope makes working out easy and fun.\\n\\nBest thing about it, both adults and kids can use it, due to its adjustable feature.\\n\\nI must say the foam handle is a really nice touch, you won't have to work about getting a calloused palm from too much friction.\\n\\nIts a comfortable hold and at the same time you have a firm grip of the handles.\\n\\nIt is very lightweight and moves very well, which makes your work out fun and you get to do more and burn more calories because it is something you actually enjoy doing.\\n\\nNever thought I'd find a jump rope so suitable, glad I was able to test it out at a promotional discount for my honest review. This jump rope stands out above the rest and i love the storage pouch that come with it. Highly recommend.\",\n \"Product: Proper Hydration Is The Key To Long Lasting Health And Vitality. Drinking tasteless water isn't the most appealing thing. If you struggle with drinking the recommended 64 ounces of water, we understand. Simply fill the best infuser 32 ounce water infusion bottle twice each day to meet your daily needs. A fresh fruit water bottle is great for complexion, digestion, energy, weight loss and overall immune system function. If you want a water bottle to put fruit in, drink fruit infused water from a premium, non-toxic Eastman Tritan infuser water bottle, not from cheap, harmful toxic plastic! Cut calories by NOT choosing unhealthy drinks, feed your body with vitamins and antioxidants from infused water - and SAVE money with the ability to reuse your infuser bottle over and over. If this isn't your favorite way to drink water, we'll refund your money, no questions asked. DO YOUR HEALTH A 'FLAVOR' now and get the best detoxing water bottle while enjoying our Zentastic fruit infused drink recipes conveniently found on your refrigerator! Click \\\"ADD TO CART\\\" and BUY NOW.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: The ULTIMATE Fruit Infuser Bottle\\n\\nReview: I simply love this bottle.\\n\\nIf you're in the market for a great fruit Infuser bottle, look no further.\\n\\nI drink at least a gallon of water per day, and the smaller Infuser bottles made it more difficult to get all my water in. This 32 oz bottle is so very convenient, and makes it so much easier to add ice to the bottle, yes I do need to add some ice especially in the summer months.\\n\\nI can really appreciate the space of the bottle itself and the width of the Infuser, I can put more fruit in and it makes removing and clean up a lot easier.\\n\\nThe bottle itself has rubber to the side for no slip grip and a sport top for you to drink from, how kool is that? With a slight press of the button on the cover it pops open, one hand operation, and if that wasn't enough it has a convenient handle for carrying it.\\n\\nThis is a really unique and practical Infuser bottle, that comes with a magnetic recipe guide, so I can mix it up a bit, I usually stick to one set of fruits, but now I see different fruits I can mix and their benefits.\\n\\nYou won't be disappointed, received this items at a promotional discount for testing and reviewing\",\n \"Product: The Hurtle Vibrating Fitness Platform provides you with a new and exciting way to train! Take your fitness to the next level with vibration-assisted workouts that target your entire body. The revolutionary design allows you to tone your abs, thighs, buttocks, calves and more -- you will have the ability to focus on more areas of your body while incorporating a wide-range of different workouts! Next-generation dynamic oscillating motion technology uses high-powered vibrations that do the hard work and help you feel the burn. The system is easy to operate and simply requires you to step on! Incorporate upper body, lower body and core workouts which also aid in reducing the appearance of cellulite and improve metabolic rates. It's perfect for athletes and sports training, or anyone looking to accelerate weight loss and burn fat. Improve muscle strength, flexibility and circulation with the Hurtle Vibrating Exercise & Fitness Platform.Note: Product is a USA item which will work in 110 volt\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great Technology - Your Body Will look and feel Different\\n\\nReview: Let me tell straight up, you will feel the burn using this platform. I consider myself a regular trainer and I could hardy finish my first 10 minutes doing my regular squats on this platform. I love the challenge, I started out at the maximum intensity level and I made it to 5 minutes and had to reduce the strength. This is amazing and I love that I start sweating in no time.\\n\\nI have always been curious of how the vibrating platforms work. A lot of gyms have been incorporating these platforms at their various locations due to the number of benefits and how easy it is to operate.\\n\\nWhat it does is activate stress reflexes in your body, which are responsible for extremely rapid muscle contraction. You will see results and improvement in muscle strength and flexibility, better range of motion, core conditioning and stability in addition to faster muscle recovery after working out.\\n\\nThis platform is great for physical therapy, and for those people who aren't able to practice an active lifestyle but still wants the benefits achieved from exercising. Persons who actively train their bodies finds this vibrating platform to be a great addition to their routine. Muscles are firmed faster, they are able to work their core, arms and overall body. This also helps in blood circulation and reduction of cellulite.\\n\\nThis Hurtle Exercise equipment works great. It is very powerful and vibrating settings goes all the way up to 10 so you can increase the intensity depending on your level of fitness or how hard you decide to train. It has a remote control which is very convenient in operating the equipment, it also has the function keys on the unit itself which I use when doing floor work such as push ups on the vibrating platform .\\n\\nIt comes with the strength straps that helps with toning your arms, back and chest that is easily attached to the sides of the equipment, they are very handy and I'm happy they were included with the unit. I have a set that I use independently and I'm happy these were included as they are one of my favorite exercise pieces.\\n\\nI love that I am able to do my regular exercises on this vibrating platform and it intensifies the moves, making them more effective. I do my weighted squats on the platform, push ups, stretches and I feel like I have been working out for much longer than the 10 minute intervals.\\n\\nThe platform shakes and you feel it allover your body, so be prepared for a massaging therapeutic level of motion while you work out. I did receive this vibrating platform at a promotional discount for testing and reviewing. It comes with a manual, that is very easy to understand, overall Great product, highly recommend.\",\n \"Product: Stabilize your mobile photography with this premium mount. Quickly attaches to any tripod and works with all smartphones. Our innovative design uses a spring loaded phone fastener as well as an adjustable screw lengthener. This cell phone tripod adapter is compatible with all iphone generations. Works with all samsung phones from the galaxy to note. The loha iphone tripod adapter fits around any smartphone case. Our versatile mount is built using premium materials for ultimate durability. Package includes: 1 x loha iphone tripod mount 1 x emailed pdf photography guide 1 x emailed pdf instruction manual 1 x loha retail package.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great Portable Tripod & Selfie Stick Adapter\\n\\nReview: This is a quality adapter, that I'm happy to take around with me to capture memories.\\n\\nNot all adapters are made the same, I recently had the spring go loose in my selfie stick adapter, so it would no longer hold my phone in place. I was therefore extremely happy when given the opportunity to test this adapter at a promotional discounted price for my honest review, and it is a quality product.\\n\\nI simply screw off my old adapter and screw this LOHA cell phone tripod on and I'm ready to go.\\n\\nIt holds my iPhone 6+ firmly in place, it will never fall out, only shifts when I choose to move it or remove it from the adapter.\\n\\nI like that it fits all cell phones, and has a screw adjuster, so you know even the largest cell phones will fit, in the event I decide to change my phone I will not have a problem using this adapter.\\n\\nI simply screw on and off and attach to my professional tripods, mini tripod and selfie stick. Great product, highly recommend.\",\n \"Product: This leather case is very durable and will last! It has very heavy duty stitching to ensure the protection of both your cell phone and your valuables. it has 5 compartments for cash, stamps or other small flat objects. This multi-use design holds everything together with a handy magnetic flip closure. This case provides excellent protection and prevents scratches, damages or dirt from getting on your phone and credit cards/ID. The cut outs on the case are perfectly designed for the iphone 7 plus, iphone 6 plus allowing full access to all the control buttons, ports and camera without removing the phone from the case.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Exactly What I was looking For\\n\\nReview: This case is not only made from quality leather, it looks very professional, with your phone inside and locked, it looks like a nice purse or wristlet.\\n\\nMajor problem I had with previous phone case, was its inability to close with my cards inside. With all the slots filled with cards this wallet case has no problem closing, I was pleasantly surprised. This is mostly due to the clip that closes off the cards and cash from the phone itself. Your phone screen does not come in contact with your money or cards at all, that is a definite plus.\\n\\nAll the buttons are easy to reach and fully operational while the phone is in the case. Another problem I experienced with my previous phone case, was a dark shadow on my pictures, I'm guessing the section for the camera cut out was not done properly, so inorder for me to take a good picture, I had to remove the phone from the case, thank God that is over with.\\n\\nI love the wrist string that is provided to attach to the phone, while walking around I can have the string attached to my hand so if for any reason theres an accident and I lose grip of my phone, at least it won't fall to the ground and get damaged.\\n\\nMy phone looks brand new in this case, and with the quality leather material it is made from, I know I will have it a long while. All my cards fit comfortably in the slots, I did put 2 cards in 2 slots and it still had no trouble closing.\\n\\nI can definitely appreciate the money slot, so if running to the movies or quick errands, Ill have my phone, money and cards all together, no need for a pocket book.\\n\\nI received this iPhone 6 leather cell phone wallet case at a promotional discount for testing and reviewing. This is so much more than just a phone case, highly recommend.\",\n \"Product: This Mechanical TireHD Pressure Gauge is simplicity at its finest. Using only the highest QUALITY steel from top rated manufactures, we constructed a device that can be used anywhere in any situation with its NO BATTERY design. With an ANSI B40.1 Grade B (+-2%) International Accuracy Standard, you can be reinsured that you will be getting the right pressure rating every time. Has a wide range of 0-60 PSI, Large 2 inch easy to read dial, -360 Degree Swivel for Easy viewing from all angles, and a EASY function bleed button for PRECISE adjustments. A long FLEXIBLE hose for those hard to reach Wheels. GREAT gauge for any CAR, BICYCLE, and MOTORCYCLE wheel . As an added bonus were giving you 4 valve stem caps free of charge along with our 100% LIFETIME \\\"NO FUSS\\\" WARRENTY\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: A must have Tire pressure Gauge\\n\\nReview: I was amazed at how easy this gauge is to read. The long hose makes using it convenient and comfortable, unlike the shorter hoses that are a little more uncomfortable. This hose gives you enough space to attach and read the gauge.\\n\\nIt is a rugged design, very sturdy and well made.\\n\\nIt has a large screen that was designed for easing reading.\\n\\nThis is not our first tire pressure gauge but definitely the best one. My husband was so pleased with it the first time he tried them on his truck tires.\\n\\nIt is extremely Important that all is well with your tires, especially during snowy months. It helps with the overall performance and safety of your vehicle.\\n\\nThis is a great tire pressure gauge for professionals and novices, I'm happy I received this gauge at a promotional discount for testing and reviewing. Absolutely great product, the extra caps are also a plus in my book.\",\n \"Product: Manufactured and sold EXCLUSIVELY by the Pro Office Group. Pro Office Self-Adhesive labels are made in USA with high quality. 100% Jam-Free Guarantee or your money back. (Please contact us or vendor if you have any questions or concerns about the product. We stand by our products 100%) Use Pro Office Labels to quickly print, write, peel, and stick your way through almost any labeling task. These labels use a strong self-adhesive and can stick to a variety of surfaces--including letters, boxes, folders, countertops, and clothes. Jam-free and smudge-free for perfect labels every time. Smooth-feed sheet edges prevent buildup that can cause printer jams. Fully compatible with popular free software and templates which make it easy to be creative and get small or large mailing or printer projects done quickly. Produce professional-looking business mailings by adding your own logo and company graphics. Efficiently print multiple labels for high-volume mailings such as direct mailing projects to customers and prospects. Easily create special-occasion labels for unique invitations, thank-you cards, party favors, and more. Manufactured and sold EXCLUSIVELY by the Pro Office Group.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Simplifies my mailing process - A quality product\\n\\nReview: I was looking around for a label maker, and was introduced to these shipping labels that work in my regular printer. This saved me money on buying a new machine, and I'm able to utilize my home or office printer and ink.\\n\\nI operate an online business, so a lot of shipping is required, therefore I'm printing a lot of labels. I have to ensure customer satisfaction so I cannot have order discrepancies. These label sheets allows me to print 2 labels at a time, the labels remain on the sheet until I'm ready to peel off and stick to the mailing package.\\n\\nI cannot tell you how convenient and easy these are for me. They are quality sheets, and the adhesive is great, stick unto your package and they're ready to be mailed.\\n\\nThe whole process is very simple and I am impressed and satisfied with the printed labels. This also saves me money on tape, I used to tape the labels on before, now I simply stick it on.\\n\\nIf you do bulk mailing, these are ideal for you, 200 labels is an excellent deal. I did receive this set of labels at a promotional discount for testing and reviewing. Highly recommend.\",\n \"Product: Pest repelling that actually works. Benefits of the ultrasonic pest control device: The Foska pest repeller is an incredible ultrasonic pest control device that will completely eliminate your need for any other type of pest control. Don't settle for false claims & products that don't work\\\" the Foska pest repeller is for real. The latest ultrasonic technology: It works by using a deep, penetrating ultrasonic technology & electromagnetic waves, which is completely inaudible & noiseless to humans & pets, but is incredibly irritating to insects & rodents and they won't want to be anywhere near it. The ultrasonic sound will drive pests from their existing nests & out of your home & it will keep them from returning. It will help you get rid of mice, rats, spiders, roaches, mosquitoes, ants, flies & fleas, without interfering with you, your family or your pets. You'll never even know it's there, other than for the exodus of pests from your house. Safe way for pest control without chemicals: The Foska pest repeller is completely safe to use, non-toxic & chemical-free. This is a do-it-yourself product that is incredibly easy to use. The simplest pest repelling product on the market today. You don't need to worry about maintenance ever again. Real, effective pest control. That is a quick fix to keep you going back & spending more money. The Foska pest repeller will drive out pests & keep them out for the long haul, so you can stop worrying about it. The Foska pest repeller is completely natural & safe to use & it will drive out pests without killing them. You'll also never have to clean those traps & deal with dead insects & rodents again. But are the most irritating sound in the world to the pests that you want out of your home. It's completely quiet & plugs into any household outlet. It just drives them away with the ultrasonic sound. We believe wholeheartedly in our product & we know that it will work change the way you think of pest control in your home forever.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: No More Toxic Chemicals\\n\\nReview: It certainly adds up over time having your home sprayed to rid it of pests and rodents. Your respiratory system can also do without the harsh chemicals used in eliminating these pests.\\n\\nThis ultrasonic repeller is the very best substitute. It dos not take up a lot of space, does not look like an eye sore, in fact it fits in so well in your home or office. The ultrasonic waves emitted are safe for humans and pets but horrible for rodents and insects and so keeps them away.\\n\\nNo more harsh chemicals, no more bugs, that's a win win in my book. Set up is very easy all you do is plug it in and it starts working.\\n\\nReceived this repeller at a promotional discount for testing and reviewing. Highly recommend\",\n \"Product: Light up any desk or work space with the sleek and modern look of this ultra-bright LED desk lamp. The Home Design 14 Inch Super Bright LED Clip On light Desk Lamp Reading Light features a versatile and stylish design with a super bright energy-efficient LED bulb that uses only 3.6 watts of power. The bottom is detailed with a heavy duty clip and a rubber grip that makes it easy to attach to a desktop or table top to provide you with ample lighting for reading, doing homework, and finishing projects for work. With an adjustable, flexible, gooseneck arm, this LED desk light can be pointed in any direction, while the bright LED chip offers a bright and even spread of light. Designed for long-lasting use, this desk lamp features an on/off switch on the head and includes a 5 foot long power cord with a class 2 power supply. The design provides 20,000 hours of light before youll ever have to change the bulb.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Very lightweight -Portable- Very Bright\\n\\nReview: I am pleasantly surprised at how often I've been using this lamp since I got it. I must've been straining my eyes before, since I've become so dependent on this clear bright white light.\\n\\nThe neck of the lamp rotates so you can position it to your desire.\\n\\nWhen it is clipped onto a hard surface it stays firmly in place.\\n\\nIt has a sleek modern design and blends well with any decor and any room from kitchen to the bedroom. Provides great lighting for reading books / magazines and when working on my laptop which is not well lit.\\n\\nThis is great for home or office and would make a great gift, it would be greatly appreciated.\\n\\nReceived this lamp at a promotional discounted price for testing and reviewing\",\n \"Product: This best seller multi-purpose LED camping lantern with Glow-in-the-Dark sticker, Hi-Tech Life brand product, will prove indispensable for Emergency, Camping, Hurricanes, Hiking, Fishing, Hunting, Outdoor & Indoor use. It can serve as a flashlight, emergency light or a camping light and become an important part of your camping equipment and camping gear. You can use it as a tent lamp and use it instead of a propane lantern or an emergency candle. It is Ultra-Bright, Lightweight, and Weather-Resistant. Powered by 3 AA batteries (not included), it creates 60 Lumens of superior brightness from 30 energy efficient LEDs. Can also work with 3 AA rechargeable batteries. The lantern features reflectors for 360 degree lighting. It is made of STURDY and LIGHTWEIGHT ABS Plastic Housing for superior weather resistance. Sturdy metal handles allow secured hanging and convenient hand carrying. The lantern is easily collapsible into a compact form with a simple push. Can be easily transported and stored.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Most Convenient Lantern / Extremely Bright\\n\\nReview: I hung inside our tent for an outdoor function, and it provided enough lighting for that tent. I was pleasantly surprised at how bright it was.\\n\\nAll that is required is 3 AA batteries, you easily pull open and you have crisp and bright LED light.\\n\\nGreat for use indoors and outdoors. It also has a glow in the dark sticker so in the event of a power outage you can easily find the lantern for lighting the space you are in.\\n\\nVery lightweight and easy to store due to its collapsible capability. the handles can be used for carrying it around or for hanging it where light is needed.\\n\\nThe shell is very durable and can withstand any weather condition.\\n\\nI did receive this lantern at a promotional discount for testing and reviewing. Highly recommend.\",\n \"Product: 20 + HOURS LIGHT FUN - our multi color rotary flashlight is made of high quality flame retardant (ABS + PC) material that can guarantee + 20 + party time. Disco LED bulb heat and moisture resistant, can be used as a dance table lamp, DJ lamp or disco light. Low power consumption - LED disco lamps at ultra-low power consumption level (AC 100-260V, 50 / 60HZ), compared with ordinary light energy saving up to 80%. It uses the E27 nut socket design, compatible with all common lampholders.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: One Word - WOW\\n\\nReview: Having A party? You need this bulb\\n\\nWe were pleasantly surprised at the impact this bulb had on the party. It changes the mood completely and everyone just wants to move an have a good time.\\n\\nGreat for adult or kids parties. Adults enjoy the disco theme and kids like to play around the moving lights, everybody happy.\\n\\nThis bulb really sets the pace and mood for your event. The lights are bright and fills up your space.\\n\\nYou simply screw the bulb into any standard socket and watch the magic happen, it spins by itself and spreads beautiful red, green and blue projected lights around.\\n\\nyou will absolutely love it, I did receive this rotating party light at a promotional discount for testing and reviewing.\",\n \"Product: It's easy to enforce the law of the land when you have the proper equipment. Your little police officer will love this official looking, machine-washable, jacket and cap with police badge and pockets. Includes a whistle, walkie talkie, handcuffs, police baton. Sized to Fit Children 3-7 Years Old\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Good for Girls & Boys-My Niece is in love with her police Uniform\\n\\nReview: At first I thought she wouldn't like it because it is not really girly, but she has not taken it off since.\\n\\nShe is 5 years old and it fits her perfectly. She Likes the accessories that comes with it, she runs around blowing the whistle and handcuffing family members\\n\\nI wanted to get her something she would enjoy and she is enjoying this.\\n\\nIt is made of a nice quality fabric so it will not fall apart soon, it looks just like the picture.\\n\\nIt comes with a working whistle, baton and handcuffs, it does have a Walkie talkie but that's more like a toy.\\n\\nYou can get this suit for a boy or girl, they will love it, I'd recommend it.\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":38,"string":"38"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_3"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":866,"string":"866"}}},{"rowIdx":867,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"A3TSJ9KDY18X1L"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of \"5.0\" for a product with description \"American Idol Season 7 fan favorite, David Archuleta has become a household name as he spent his 2008 summer on the nationwide American Idol tour with his fellow contestants. This album includes a sequence of Pop tracks from the industry's most talented writers and producers. Archuleta's first single 'Crush' was produced by Emanuel 'Eman' Kiriakou.\". The summary of the review text is \"this album is amazing\"."},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"\"David Archuleta\" is the new debut album from 17-year old American Idol season 7 runner-up, David Archuleta. Let me first say that I have never watched a previous season of American Idol. I HATE reality TV, yet I tuned in for season 7 because I was bored since the writer's strike was happening at the time. Who was I to know that a humble Utah teen would make me watch an entire season of the very show that I swore I would never watch. I have loved and adored David since the first note he sang on \"Heaven\" during Hollywood week on Idol. I have never felt so emotionally connected to a celebrity before. Actually I do not even consider David a celebrity. His humble nature proves he is above that. His voice, nature, and the inspiring performances he has given to all us fans is what makes us love him.\n\nFirst of all, to the reviewers who claim that this album only appeals to tween/teenage girls, HELLO 22-YEAR OLD COLLEGE GRADUATE HERE. This album is amazing considering David only had a few months to work on it and half that time was devoted to the Idols tour. However it proves that he will be around for a VERY long time. It is very rare that I love every single song on an album. Many albums get acquainted with the skip button on my music player but David's CD will not. Every song is amazing and his voice is just incredible in every song. You can hear the emotion in each song and the feeling he puts into it as he sings. I shall write a little bit about each song for those of you who are interested.\n\n1. Crush--the fun, addictive, number-one single about a feeling that we all have experienced. If you have not heard this song on the radio or somewhere else, where have you been these last 3 months?\n2. Touch My Hand-- Many people say it has an OneRepublic/Coldplay feel to it. Frankly I adore the song. It is a fan song and the 2nd half is insanely good.\n3. Barriers--seriously one of the best songs on the album. It is my favorite on the main album. I love the echo effect in the chorus.\n4. My Hands--the lyrics are completely witty and fun. One of the more poppy songs on the album but still good.\n5. A Little Too Not Over You--when I first heard the chorus to this song I literally cried. His voice just soars in the chorus. And his falsetto kills. This song was co-written by David and is expected to be the 2nd single.\n6. You Can--this is a pretty love ballad. It is a very simple song with just an acoustic guitar.\n7. Running--this is a Midi Mafia produced song I believe. It is quite fun and has a pop/R&B feel to it.\n8. Desperate--power pop/rock ballad. I love the song, enough said.\n9. To Be With You-- lovely piano ballad. his voice soars especially when he gets to the note where he sings, \"WAAAAAAAY.\" I imagine a lot of weddings will be usings this song in the future.\n10. Don't Let Go--another fun, witty song that was co-written by David!\n11. Your Eyes Don't Lie--a ore westernized song. love the whistling, especially since it is David himself who is doing it.\n12. Angels--this is a cover of Robbie William's song. If you've not known David since Idol, he sang this during Top 8 week and during the AI tour. This version blows the AI studio recording out of the water.\n\nThose are the main 12 tracks of the album. I am a diehard fan and bought the album from other sources to get additional bonus tracks for a total of 17 songs. I won't review the bonus tracks since you don't get them on the physical copy of the album (you do get ONE bonus track on Wal-Mart's version though), however Amazon does sell the digital bonus tracks that you can download. If you are just the casual fan/listener and want to buy the standard physical copy from Amazon I totally recommend it. I am sure you will fall in love with David and his amazing voice.\n\nI would also like to add that I had the opportunity to briefly meet David a few times this summer during the Idols Live Tour. And he is one of the most gracious, down-to-earth, and sincere people I have had the pleasure to encounter in my life. The boy is a sweetheart and having him in the music industry is a breath of fresh air."},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"\"David Archuleta\" is the new debut album from 17-year old American Idol season 7 runner-up, David Archuleta. Let me first say that I have never watched a previous season of American Idol. I HATE reality TV, yet I tuned in for season 7 because I was bored since the writer's strike was happening at the time. Who was I to know that a humble Utah teen would make me watch an entire season of the very show that I swore I would never watch. I have loved and adored David since the first note he sang on \"Heaven\" during Hollywood week on Idol. I have never felt so emotionally connected to a celebrity before. Actually I do not even consider David a celebrity. His humble nature proves he is above that. His voice, nature, and the inspiring performances he has given to all us fans is what makes us love him.\n\nFirst of all, to the reviewers who claim that this album only appeals to tween/teenage girls, HELLO 22-YEAR OLD COLLEGE GRADUATE HERE. This album is amazing considering David only had a few months to work on it and half that time was devoted to the Idols tour. However it proves that he will be around for a VERY long time. It is very rare that I love every single song on an album. Many albums get acquainted with the skip button on my music player but David's CD will not. Every song is amazing and his voice is just incredible in every song. You can hear the emotion in each song and the feeling he puts into it as he sings. I shall write a little bit about each song for those of you who are interested.\n\n1. Crush--the fun, addictive, number-one single about a feeling that we all have experienced. If you have not heard this song on the radio or somewhere else, where have you been these last 3 months?\n2. Touch My Hand-- Many people say it has an OneRepublic/Coldplay feel to it. Frankly I adore the song. It is a fan song and the 2nd half is insanely good.\n3. Barriers--seriously one of the best songs on the album. It is my favorite on the main album. I love the echo effect in the chorus.\n4. My Hands--the lyrics are completely witty and fun. One of the more poppy songs on the album but still good.\n5. A Little Too Not Over You--when I first heard the chorus to this song I literally cried. His voice just soars in the chorus. And his falsetto kills. This song was co-written by David and is expected to be the 2nd single.\n6. You Can--this is a pretty love ballad. It is a very simple song with just an acoustic guitar.\n7. Running--this is a Midi Mafia produced song I believe. It is quite fun and has a pop/R&B feel to it.\n8. Desperate--power pop/rock ballad. I love the song, enough said.\n9. To Be With You-- lovely piano ballad. his voice soars especially when he gets to the note where he sings, \"WAAAAAAAY.\" I imagine a lot of weddings will be usings this song in the future.\n10. Don't Let Go--another fun, witty song that was co-written by David!\n11. Your Eyes Don't Lie--a ore westernized song. love the whistling, especially since it is David himself who is doing it.\n12. Angels--this is a cover of Robbie William's song. If you've not known David since Idol, he sang this during Top 8 week and during the AI tour. This version blows the AI studio recording out of the water.\n\nThose are the main 12 tracks of the album. I am a diehard fan and bought the album from other sources to get additional bonus tracks for a total of 17 songs. I won't review the bonus tracks since you don't get them on the physical copy of the album (you do get ONE bonus track on Wal-Mart's version though), however Amazon does sell the digital bonus tracks that you can download. If you are just the casual fan/listener and want to buy the standard physical copy from Amazon I totally recommend it. I am sure you will fall in love with David and his amazing voice.\n\nI would also like to add that I had the opportunity to briefly meet David a few times this summer during the Idols Live Tour. And he is one of the most gracious, down-to-earth, and sincere people I have had the pleasure to encounter in my life. The boy is a sweetheart and having him in the music industry is a breath of fresh air."},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Product: Brighten up your mornings with these colorful and uniquely designed coffee mugs. Product made of Lead-free Stoneware ceramic.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: great sturdy mugs that come in a variety of pretty colors\n\nReview: These Francois et Mimi mugs come in a very nice looking pink box that can be gifted. They come in a variety of very bright looking colors and the ceramic was very thick and looks to be high quality. I did not see any chips in the ceramic when I took these out of the box.\n\nIm not sure how they will hold up in a dishwasher since I hand wash all my dishes, however with hand washing they have been holding up great. I have made everything from coffee, tea, or hot chocolate and served them in these. The handle does not get hot and the mug itself is not too hot to the touch. The only downside I found was the mug is a little fat for me but that is my own personal preference.\n\nI would recommend these to anyone looking for a gift for someone for a wedding or a housewarming gift. Or just a new gift for yourself since they come in a variety of pretty colors and will look nice in your cabinets!","Product: The French Perle Pistachio Everything Bowl features intricate detailing inspired by hand-embroidered fabrics. A carved beaded motif of scrolls and jewel-like elements punctuates the sophisticated, elegant look.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: beautiful, high quality bowl\n\nReview: This Lenox French Perle Everything Bowl is an excellently crafted bowl. The pistachio color on it is a very faint light green. The edge of the bowl has what looks like pink stains that was deliberately made that way. The edge is rimmed with dots that make the bowl look more sophisticated.\n\nThe bowl is quite large and can be used for big bowls of ice cream, cereal, soup, oatmeal, or simply just for decoration on a table. I am going to use it as my oatmeal bowl from now on. The bowl is both microwave and dishwasher safe. No chips or cracks in the stoneware...it appears to be high quality and well made.\n\nI recommend it if you are looking for new bowls for your home or as a new decoration piece!","Product: The Superior Oven Mitt by Now Designs was created with upgraded features to make it strong, comfortable and functional. The Superior Mitt is made from 100% cotton twill fabric which makes it flexible, durable and washable. The mitt's interior is made of a heavy duty terry lining for great heat protection and comfort. The quilting pattern is designed for improved dexterity and the binding fabric on the edged and hook are made from a heavy twill for longer wear. The mitt measures 7 Inch wide (from the thumb to the outer edge) and 13 Inch long. Set includes two matching oven mitts. Simple care: machine wash.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: great fit and protection aganist hot pots/pans\n\nReview: These Now Designs Oven Mitts are a great addition to any cook and kitchen! They are made of 100% cotton and are very thick that they will provide great protection between bare hands and a super hot pan that has been in a 450 degree oven. There is lots of padding inside the mitts. I wouldn't submerge these in water but they do seem to be resistant to getting wet. I haven't really washed them yet so I cannot comment on how they hold up in a wash but so far they have been excellent in protecting my hands.\n\nSome people may think they are rather large for smaller hands but I think they are perfect. They can fit anywhere between dainty hands to larger hands in men. I like my blue and white striped ones but the come in many fun colors. I also like the fact that they come in a pair. Many mitts only come in one and you have to buy two to make a set or use mismatched mitts. If you are looking for a new pair of oven mitts for you kitchen, I'd definitely recommend these!","Product: Blue Avocado Mens Travel DuffleSTYLE # PLRB206 DESCRIPTION: Blue Avocado handsomely designed oversized travel bag for Men. Perfect gift idea for the guy on the go! FEATURES:Collapses into pouch for efficient storageMachine washableLuggage sleeve to slip onto a roller bagPvc lead and bpa freeMade from 50 percent post-consumer recycled bottle fabric from REPREVEIncludes audited impact label featuring carbon footprint and bottles upcycledSize: 20in. x 10in. x 10in. H\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: a decent travel/carry-on bag\n\nReview: This BlueAvocado-Ross Bennett Travel Duffle bag is a decent bag to use while traveling, going to the gym, or to use as a carry on while flying. I really like the colors and the pattern of the bag. The red, blue, and beige look nice together and the stripes adds a touch of cuteness to the bag. The material of the bag is very thin in my opinion though. Considering the price, you would think the quality of the fabric would be better. I also wish there was a sturdy piece (that could be removable) on the bottom to make the bag stand up easier. There does seem to be a lot of room in the bag though which is a definite plus.\n\nI do like how the bag is collapsible. When you get it in the mail, it will be in its collapsed state. I undid it and tried to re-collapse it and it did take me a little bit to figure out how to do so. You basically flip the bag inside out and then stuff everything into the pocket. It's nice when you are traveling and can just stick the collapsed bag in a suitcase for later use. I also like how the material is made from recycled bottles and that it is machine washable.\n\nAll in all, I'll probably be using this to put clothes in when I go on short trips or if I have a carry on. However, if you want something with better quality fabric, I'd look elsewhere.","Product: Walt Disney Pictures' TUCK EVERLASTING, a timeless and enchanting adventure about one girl's magical summer, will captivate audiences of any age. Young Winnie Foster, stifled by the formality of her proper life and domineering mother, escapes into the woods only to get lost. Soon she happens upon Jesse Tuck -- a boy full of life and adventure who's unlike anyone she's ever met -- and falls in love. The Tucks, a kind and generous family, have a powerful secret -- a spring that holds the magic of everlasting life. And now Winnie must choose to live life as she knows it or drink from the spring. It's a life-affirming adventure that will cast its irresistible spell over you again and again.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: movie good for the young at heart\n\nReview: I first saw this movie when I was a junior in high school (I'm a college sophomore now). While at my friend's house we watched it and I must say I was praticulary impressed. I'm a sap for historical period movies I must say but the plot and storyline of the movie really drew me in.\n\n15-year old Winnie Foster is sick of her life and decides one day to run into the woods her family owns. There she meets a young boy Jesse Tuck drinking from a spring. Wanting a drink herself, Jesse stops her and the mystery of the Tuck family is unravled as Winnie is brought to the Tuck's home and told their secret--by drinking from the spring they will never age, never die. They are blessed and cursed with immortality.\n\nI really liked how the movie discusses issues of death and life. Tuck describes that being immortal is not part of life because along with life there is death. The two conicide with each other. And their family is somewhere stuck in the middle.\n\nIf you have read the book their are subtle differences in the movie. Winnie is 10 in the book and made 15 in the movie. There is also the romance between Winnie and Jesse that is prevelant in the movie. All in all it is a movie worth your time. If I could I would give it 4.5 stars out of 5....unfortunatley Amazon doesn't offer that option.","Product: Fruits Basket, Volume 4: The Clearing Sky (Episodes 20-26) [DVD] [2003]\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: a hilarious and yet heart-wrenching anime\n\nReview: Fruits Basket is probably one of the best anime series your going to find. It has everything an anime series would want--comedy, humor, romance, and even some action if you consider the bickering between Kyo and Yuki action.\n\nFruits Basket is about Honda Tohru, a 16 year old high school girl who lives in a tent b/c her mother had just passed away and she didn't want to burden anyone with having to take care of her. Going to school one day, she happens upon the house of her classmate Sohma Yuki. When the Sohmas discover her tent they invite her to live with them in exchange for the housekeeping chores. But little did she know what she was getting herself into. When she looses her balance and grabs onto Kyo for support he turns into a cat! The Sohmas are a cursed family--when they are hugged by a member of the opposite sex they turn into their respective zodiac animals.\n\nWhat is so good about Fruits Basket? One we can relate to a lot of the events in the show. Though we may not have just had our mother die like Tohru did, we all go through hardship. However Tohru can be seen as such a wonderful role model. Though she has hardship she always looks to the bright side of things, never being gloomy. She is the most unselfish person for she always worries about everyone else's problems instead of her own.\n\nWhy is the anime called Fruits Basket? Well you'll just have to watch and see for the reason behind the show's title is reveled in episode 5 when we learn more about Tohru's past and character.\n\nFruits Basket is an anime I would reccommend to everyone even if you generally do not watch shoujo anime. It has enough humor to keep you addicted and watching (Shigure-san's sarcastic and idiotic remarks). All in all it's a great anime...so if you've never seen it I truly reccommend it. It's defiantly a winner to have in your collection.","Product: Missie's shocking discovery is not the end of the story in?Love's Long Journey. After all the planning and dreaming, Missie and Willie LaHaye were actually on the trail west in a covered wagon. Leaving behind the prairie home of Clark and Marty Davis, Missie finds herself caught between the elation of the new adventure and wondering if she'll ever see her family again.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: excellent movie though most inaccurate of the three movies that have been made!\n\nReview: Out of the three Love Comes Softly movies made, this one is my most favorite. Very touching, but most inaccurate from the original book by Jannette Oke. Neitherless I enjoyed it!\n\nAfter 2 years of marriage, Missie and Willie have arrived at the land where they are to establish a home/ranch. While Willie goes off to find some ranchhands, Missie befriends her Native American neighbor Miriam who is a blessing from God b/c Missie is pregnant and w/out a doctor around. The story also focuses upon these 3 mysterious men who seem to be gangsters. Later on they discover that there is money hidden somehwere on Misse and Willie's ranch. They hold everyone hostage while searching out for the money. How will Missie and Willie handle this? Well just watch it and you'll find out!\n\nIf you have read the book there are TONS of differences. The first half of the book focuses upon their journey on the trail while in the movie they have arrived at their destination within the first 10 minutes. Missie gave birth in a little city Willie left her at in the book and she names the baby Nathan not Matthew like she did in the movie. And Miriram does not exist in the book. The little boy who they adopted, and the 3 gangsters were not present in the book either I believe. To me they made most of the movie's plot up, while keeping some elements from the book--God's faithfulness, love, and I love the last line from the movie Missie says--\"To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.\"\n\nAll in all I reccommend the movie to fans of the Little House on the Praire series and the Love Comes Softly book series by the amazing Janette Oke. Go read the book if you never had...it is truly beautiful. Love's Abiding Joy, the 4th book in the series is in the works right now of being produced into a movie. It will premiere later this year and I am looking very forward to it! :-D","Product: This 5-week monthly calendar with a magnetic dry-erase surface lets you keep track of daily events. This easy-to-clean, silver, 14\" x 14\" board has a smooth writing surface which makes messaging more manageable and is great for occasional use. The magnetic quality lets you display notes and photos without leaving a mark. Perfect for hanging in a small or home office, student dorm, or kitchen; self-stick pads are included. Comes with dry-erase marker and two magnets. Can be used with other modular, frameless boards to create a full service communication center. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: user friendly dry-erase calendar\n\nReview: This Quartet Magnetic Dry-Erase Calendar is a great tool to utilize in your bedroom, kitchen, or office. I'd been wanting one for my kitchen to put on my fridge for awhile and saw that this might be useful. It's great for planning out menus for dinner, writing down appointments, and planning out when bills need to be paid. The squares for each date are not the biggest and the marker included isn't fine tip, but if you replace it with a fine tip marker it works really well.\n\nThe board includes two sticky pads to put on the back to hang the board. I'd much prefer if it included magnets to hang it on the fridge or even a place to hang it from a nail or tack. The sticky pads work but it fell off a few times so I ended up getting some magnets to hang it from my fridge. And speaking of magnets, two magnets are included to use on the front of the board to hang reminders, appointment cards, pictures, etc. They are rainbow stripped and cute.\n\nOverall, a very usable calendar and I do recommend it to anyone looking for a monthly dry-erase board.","Product: Grows Plants Twice as Big Improves existing soil to build strong roots. Feeds up to 3 months For outdoor, in ground vegetables and annual and perennial flowers Contains rich organic ingredients, sphagnum peat moss and manure to improve soil condition and control moisture.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: excellent soil for plants\n\nReview: I and my family have used Miracle-Gro products for years and I wanted to try out this new soil for flowers and vegetables. I'm from Ohio and the weather is still a little chilly to be planting veggies out in the yard, but I have taken some flowers and potted them with this soil. We also have a small greenhouse attached to our house, so the flowers have thrived so far in there. I really like the results that the flowers have had. I haven't done much but water them, and they have grown significantly in the time since I have potted them. The product claims that the plants are fed through the nutrients in the soil.\n\nThe soil had no rocks in it when I opened it and had no weird smells like I have experienced with other brands of soil. I'm curious how the soil will fare when I plant tomatoes, cucumbers, and other vegetables and am looking forward to trying it out when the weather is more suitable to plant my garden.","Product: Classic Accessories tractor seat covers protect new seats and make old ones look new again. Keep your seat in excellent condition for years with a lawn mower or tractor seat cover from Classic Accessories.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: great protection for mower's seat!\n\nReview: This is a great lawn mower seat cover! The seat on my family's John Deere riding mower has started to crack and split and we've been putting duct tape on it to protect it. This cover is a definite life saver for our seat.\n\nThe large size is said to fit a back that is 17-19 inches. When placed on our mower, it fit perfectly. The material is thick and durable and looks as though it won't rip or stain. There are pockets on the back of the cover to store things which is a bonus. The only thing I wish was that the cover was cushioned. However, besides that I would recommend this cover if you are in need of one to protect your mower's seat.","Product: New\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: a very fun start to a new series\n\nReview: The Selection is the first book in a planned trilogy by Kiera Cass.\n\nIn the future, the United States of America is now known as the nation of Illea. Society is broken down into castes with the Ones being the royal family and the Eights, the homeless and beggars. Teenager America Singer is a Five, the caste level that has the arts as their vocation. America's specialty is music. America had been hoping and wishing that her secret boyfriend, Aspen Ledger, who is a Six would propose. When a letter arrives in the mail announcing that Prince Maxton has come of age and will be looking for a wife from 35 chosen girls of Illea, America wants nothing to do with it. But with encouragement from her mother and Aspen, America puts her name into the lottery, thinking that her name has little to no chance of being chosen. Shortly afterwards, Aspen breaks up with America, because of his status and his inability to properly provide for her needs and his family. When the names of the 35 Selected are chosen, America is beyond mortified that her name has been chosen for her provience. She is quickly shipped to the royal palace where she befriends fellow competitor Marlee and meets the other 34 girls. She eventually meets Prince Maxton, and finds that he is nothing like she assumed him to be. And gradually she learns that the life and dreams she thought she wanted may not exactly be what her future may hold.\n\nI have to agree with many other reviewers and say that the cover is beyond gorgeous and is one of the main reasons I had wanted to read this book. When my library added it to their e-Book collection, I jumped at the chance to borrow it for my Kindle. And I ended up loving the story. It's simple, mindless, and fun entertainment but I enjoy these stories every once in awhile. The plot is nothing new, but it's a fun story that kept me turning pages. It's labeled as a dystopian, but the only thing dystopian about the story is that there is a caste system that separates society. Besides that, the world building in the novel was not really highlighted. The novel really is more character driven. America's character was slightly unlikable at the beginning when she still was with Aspen. However when she goes to the palace, she is more confident, likable, and self-assured. Her interactions and relationship with Prince Maxton is also a highlight of the book which I enjoyed. By the end of the book, I pretty much loved her character. At first, I had thought that America was a strange name for the main protagonist. However, around the middle of the book, she explains the meaning behind her name and I thought it to fit her. The love triangle is mostly the focus of the story but it's not excessive and annoying like in other series. And for those worried about any bad content, there were a few minor curse words here and there, but nothing else really major. It's pretty much acceptable to those 12 and older. And I'm sure adults will enjoy it as well.\n\nI would give the book 4.5 stars and would recommend it to those who enjoy other young adult series. And I'm looking forward to the second book when it's out in spring 2013!","Product: Tracie Peterson is the bestselling, award-winning author of more than 70 novels. Tracie also teaches writing workshops at a variety of conferences on subjects such as inspirational romance and historical research. She and her family live in Belgrade, Montana.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: enjoyable start to a new series\n\nReview: \"A Promise to Believe In\" is the first book in the Brides of Gallatin County series by Tracie Peterson. I really enjoyed the book but did have some issues with it as well.\n\nSisters Gwen, Beth, and Lacy Gallatin operate a stagehouse in the Montana Territory with their father in the late 1800's. When their father is accidentally killed, Gwen blames herself thinking she is cursed. Her own husband Harvey Bishop died 10 days after they were married. The sudden appearance of a stranger, Hank Bishop, claiming to be Harvey's brother throws Gwen's life and feelings into turmoil. He has come to find the stock certificates that Harvey has stolen from their family. However along the way, Hank begins to care for Gwen and she for him. Dare she think that happiness can be hers again?\n\nTracie Peterson excels in describing the scenery of the Montana Territory. And I really enjoyed the plot of the story and the characterization. Lacy and Beth's pranks aganist Hank were quite fun to read and the sarcastic tone that many of the characters had towards others also made good humor for the book. But I found Gwen's anguish over the notion that she was cursed to be annoying. One minute she thought she was being silly, then the next she thinks she's cursed again, and it kept going until the end. And the last few chapters of the book were a total cliche. An example is when Rafe the saloon owner is threatening that Hank will never come back to Gwen and she will have to sell out, what happens? Hank suddenly appears at the doorway to make everything okay. The romance between Gwen and Hank was sweet and fun to read but slightly unrealistic. But it didn't deter me from liking the book. I enjoy reading stories like this so it doesn't really matter.\n\nAll in all, if you are a Tracie Peterson fan you will like the book for sure. I look forward to \"A Love to Last Forever\" which is suppose to tell Beth's story. Hopefully we'll see more of Gwen and Hank in the story as well. :)"],"string":"[\n \"Product: Brighten up your mornings with these colorful and uniquely designed coffee mugs. Product made of Lead-free Stoneware ceramic.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: great sturdy mugs that come in a variety of pretty colors\\n\\nReview: These Francois et Mimi mugs come in a very nice looking pink box that can be gifted. They come in a variety of very bright looking colors and the ceramic was very thick and looks to be high quality. I did not see any chips in the ceramic when I took these out of the box.\\n\\nIm not sure how they will hold up in a dishwasher since I hand wash all my dishes, however with hand washing they have been holding up great. I have made everything from coffee, tea, or hot chocolate and served them in these. The handle does not get hot and the mug itself is not too hot to the touch. The only downside I found was the mug is a little fat for me but that is my own personal preference.\\n\\nI would recommend these to anyone looking for a gift for someone for a wedding or a housewarming gift. Or just a new gift for yourself since they come in a variety of pretty colors and will look nice in your cabinets!\",\n \"Product: The French Perle Pistachio Everything Bowl features intricate detailing inspired by hand-embroidered fabrics. A carved beaded motif of scrolls and jewel-like elements punctuates the sophisticated, elegant look.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: beautiful, high quality bowl\\n\\nReview: This Lenox French Perle Everything Bowl is an excellently crafted bowl. The pistachio color on it is a very faint light green. The edge of the bowl has what looks like pink stains that was deliberately made that way. The edge is rimmed with dots that make the bowl look more sophisticated.\\n\\nThe bowl is quite large and can be used for big bowls of ice cream, cereal, soup, oatmeal, or simply just for decoration on a table. I am going to use it as my oatmeal bowl from now on. The bowl is both microwave and dishwasher safe. No chips or cracks in the stoneware...it appears to be high quality and well made.\\n\\nI recommend it if you are looking for new bowls for your home or as a new decoration piece!\",\n \"Product: The Superior Oven Mitt by Now Designs was created with upgraded features to make it strong, comfortable and functional. The Superior Mitt is made from 100% cotton twill fabric which makes it flexible, durable and washable. The mitt's interior is made of a heavy duty terry lining for great heat protection and comfort. The quilting pattern is designed for improved dexterity and the binding fabric on the edged and hook are made from a heavy twill for longer wear. The mitt measures 7 Inch wide (from the thumb to the outer edge) and 13 Inch long. Set includes two matching oven mitts. Simple care: machine wash.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: great fit and protection aganist hot pots/pans\\n\\nReview: These Now Designs Oven Mitts are a great addition to any cook and kitchen! They are made of 100% cotton and are very thick that they will provide great protection between bare hands and a super hot pan that has been in a 450 degree oven. There is lots of padding inside the mitts. I wouldn't submerge these in water but they do seem to be resistant to getting wet. I haven't really washed them yet so I cannot comment on how they hold up in a wash but so far they have been excellent in protecting my hands.\\n\\nSome people may think they are rather large for smaller hands but I think they are perfect. They can fit anywhere between dainty hands to larger hands in men. I like my blue and white striped ones but the come in many fun colors. I also like the fact that they come in a pair. Many mitts only come in one and you have to buy two to make a set or use mismatched mitts. If you are looking for a new pair of oven mitts for you kitchen, I'd definitely recommend these!\",\n \"Product: Blue Avocado Mens Travel DuffleSTYLE # PLRB206 DESCRIPTION: Blue Avocado handsomely designed oversized travel bag for Men. Perfect gift idea for the guy on the go! FEATURES:Collapses into pouch for efficient storageMachine washableLuggage sleeve to slip onto a roller bagPvc lead and bpa freeMade from 50 percent post-consumer recycled bottle fabric from REPREVEIncludes audited impact label featuring carbon footprint and bottles upcycledSize: 20in. x 10in. x 10in. H\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: a decent travel/carry-on bag\\n\\nReview: This BlueAvocado-Ross Bennett Travel Duffle bag is a decent bag to use while traveling, going to the gym, or to use as a carry on while flying. I really like the colors and the pattern of the bag. The red, blue, and beige look nice together and the stripes adds a touch of cuteness to the bag. The material of the bag is very thin in my opinion though. Considering the price, you would think the quality of the fabric would be better. I also wish there was a sturdy piece (that could be removable) on the bottom to make the bag stand up easier. There does seem to be a lot of room in the bag though which is a definite plus.\\n\\nI do like how the bag is collapsible. When you get it in the mail, it will be in its collapsed state. I undid it and tried to re-collapse it and it did take me a little bit to figure out how to do so. You basically flip the bag inside out and then stuff everything into the pocket. It's nice when you are traveling and can just stick the collapsed bag in a suitcase for later use. I also like how the material is made from recycled bottles and that it is machine washable.\\n\\nAll in all, I'll probably be using this to put clothes in when I go on short trips or if I have a carry on. However, if you want something with better quality fabric, I'd look elsewhere.\",\n \"Product: Walt Disney Pictures' TUCK EVERLASTING, a timeless and enchanting adventure about one girl's magical summer, will captivate audiences of any age. Young Winnie Foster, stifled by the formality of her proper life and domineering mother, escapes into the woods only to get lost. Soon she happens upon Jesse Tuck -- a boy full of life and adventure who's unlike anyone she's ever met -- and falls in love. The Tucks, a kind and generous family, have a powerful secret -- a spring that holds the magic of everlasting life. And now Winnie must choose to live life as she knows it or drink from the spring. It's a life-affirming adventure that will cast its irresistible spell over you again and again.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: movie good for the young at heart\\n\\nReview: I first saw this movie when I was a junior in high school (I'm a college sophomore now). While at my friend's house we watched it and I must say I was praticulary impressed. I'm a sap for historical period movies I must say but the plot and storyline of the movie really drew me in.\\n\\n15-year old Winnie Foster is sick of her life and decides one day to run into the woods her family owns. There she meets a young boy Jesse Tuck drinking from a spring. Wanting a drink herself, Jesse stops her and the mystery of the Tuck family is unravled as Winnie is brought to the Tuck's home and told their secret--by drinking from the spring they will never age, never die. They are blessed and cursed with immortality.\\n\\nI really liked how the movie discusses issues of death and life. Tuck describes that being immortal is not part of life because along with life there is death. The two conicide with each other. And their family is somewhere stuck in the middle.\\n\\nIf you have read the book their are subtle differences in the movie. Winnie is 10 in the book and made 15 in the movie. There is also the romance between Winnie and Jesse that is prevelant in the movie. All in all it is a movie worth your time. If I could I would give it 4.5 stars out of 5....unfortunatley Amazon doesn't offer that option.\",\n \"Product: Fruits Basket, Volume 4: The Clearing Sky (Episodes 20-26) [DVD] [2003]\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: a hilarious and yet heart-wrenching anime\\n\\nReview: Fruits Basket is probably one of the best anime series your going to find. It has everything an anime series would want--comedy, humor, romance, and even some action if you consider the bickering between Kyo and Yuki action.\\n\\nFruits Basket is about Honda Tohru, a 16 year old high school girl who lives in a tent b/c her mother had just passed away and she didn't want to burden anyone with having to take care of her. Going to school one day, she happens upon the house of her classmate Sohma Yuki. When the Sohmas discover her tent they invite her to live with them in exchange for the housekeeping chores. But little did she know what she was getting herself into. When she looses her balance and grabs onto Kyo for support he turns into a cat! The Sohmas are a cursed family--when they are hugged by a member of the opposite sex they turn into their respective zodiac animals.\\n\\nWhat is so good about Fruits Basket? One we can relate to a lot of the events in the show. Though we may not have just had our mother die like Tohru did, we all go through hardship. However Tohru can be seen as such a wonderful role model. Though she has hardship she always looks to the bright side of things, never being gloomy. She is the most unselfish person for she always worries about everyone else's problems instead of her own.\\n\\nWhy is the anime called Fruits Basket? Well you'll just have to watch and see for the reason behind the show's title is reveled in episode 5 when we learn more about Tohru's past and character.\\n\\nFruits Basket is an anime I would reccommend to everyone even if you generally do not watch shoujo anime. It has enough humor to keep you addicted and watching (Shigure-san's sarcastic and idiotic remarks). All in all it's a great anime...so if you've never seen it I truly reccommend it. It's defiantly a winner to have in your collection.\",\n \"Product: Missie's shocking discovery is not the end of the story in?Love's Long Journey. After all the planning and dreaming, Missie and Willie LaHaye were actually on the trail west in a covered wagon. Leaving behind the prairie home of Clark and Marty Davis, Missie finds herself caught between the elation of the new adventure and wondering if she'll ever see her family again.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: excellent movie though most inaccurate of the three movies that have been made!\\n\\nReview: Out of the three Love Comes Softly movies made, this one is my most favorite. Very touching, but most inaccurate from the original book by Jannette Oke. Neitherless I enjoyed it!\\n\\nAfter 2 years of marriage, Missie and Willie have arrived at the land where they are to establish a home/ranch. While Willie goes off to find some ranchhands, Missie befriends her Native American neighbor Miriam who is a blessing from God b/c Missie is pregnant and w/out a doctor around. The story also focuses upon these 3 mysterious men who seem to be gangsters. Later on they discover that there is money hidden somehwere on Misse and Willie's ranch. They hold everyone hostage while searching out for the money. How will Missie and Willie handle this? Well just watch it and you'll find out!\\n\\nIf you have read the book there are TONS of differences. The first half of the book focuses upon their journey on the trail while in the movie they have arrived at their destination within the first 10 minutes. Missie gave birth in a little city Willie left her at in the book and she names the baby Nathan not Matthew like she did in the movie. And Miriram does not exist in the book. The little boy who they adopted, and the 3 gangsters were not present in the book either I believe. To me they made most of the movie's plot up, while keeping some elements from the book--God's faithfulness, love, and I love the last line from the movie Missie says--\\\"To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.\\\"\\n\\nAll in all I reccommend the movie to fans of the Little House on the Praire series and the Love Comes Softly book series by the amazing Janette Oke. Go read the book if you never had...it is truly beautiful. Love's Abiding Joy, the 4th book in the series is in the works right now of being produced into a movie. It will premiere later this year and I am looking very forward to it! :-D\",\n \"Product: This 5-week monthly calendar with a magnetic dry-erase surface lets you keep track of daily events. This easy-to-clean, silver, 14\\\" x 14\\\" board has a smooth writing surface which makes messaging more manageable and is great for occasional use. The magnetic quality lets you display notes and photos without leaving a mark. Perfect for hanging in a small or home office, student dorm, or kitchen; self-stick pads are included. Comes with dry-erase marker and two magnets. Can be used with other modular, frameless boards to create a full service communication center. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: user friendly dry-erase calendar\\n\\nReview: This Quartet Magnetic Dry-Erase Calendar is a great tool to utilize in your bedroom, kitchen, or office. I'd been wanting one for my kitchen to put on my fridge for awhile and saw that this might be useful. It's great for planning out menus for dinner, writing down appointments, and planning out when bills need to be paid. The squares for each date are not the biggest and the marker included isn't fine tip, but if you replace it with a fine tip marker it works really well.\\n\\nThe board includes two sticky pads to put on the back to hang the board. I'd much prefer if it included magnets to hang it on the fridge or even a place to hang it from a nail or tack. The sticky pads work but it fell off a few times so I ended up getting some magnets to hang it from my fridge. And speaking of magnets, two magnets are included to use on the front of the board to hang reminders, appointment cards, pictures, etc. They are rainbow stripped and cute.\\n\\nOverall, a very usable calendar and I do recommend it to anyone looking for a monthly dry-erase board.\",\n \"Product: Grows Plants Twice as Big Improves existing soil to build strong roots. Feeds up to 3 months For outdoor, in ground vegetables and annual and perennial flowers Contains rich organic ingredients, sphagnum peat moss and manure to improve soil condition and control moisture.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: excellent soil for plants\\n\\nReview: I and my family have used Miracle-Gro products for years and I wanted to try out this new soil for flowers and vegetables. I'm from Ohio and the weather is still a little chilly to be planting veggies out in the yard, but I have taken some flowers and potted them with this soil. We also have a small greenhouse attached to our house, so the flowers have thrived so far in there. I really like the results that the flowers have had. I haven't done much but water them, and they have grown significantly in the time since I have potted them. The product claims that the plants are fed through the nutrients in the soil.\\n\\nThe soil had no rocks in it when I opened it and had no weird smells like I have experienced with other brands of soil. I'm curious how the soil will fare when I plant tomatoes, cucumbers, and other vegetables and am looking forward to trying it out when the weather is more suitable to plant my garden.\",\n \"Product: Classic Accessories tractor seat covers protect new seats and make old ones look new again. Keep your seat in excellent condition for years with a lawn mower or tractor seat cover from Classic Accessories.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: great protection for mower's seat!\\n\\nReview: This is a great lawn mower seat cover! The seat on my family's John Deere riding mower has started to crack and split and we've been putting duct tape on it to protect it. This cover is a definite life saver for our seat.\\n\\nThe large size is said to fit a back that is 17-19 inches. When placed on our mower, it fit perfectly. The material is thick and durable and looks as though it won't rip or stain. There are pockets on the back of the cover to store things which is a bonus. The only thing I wish was that the cover was cushioned. However, besides that I would recommend this cover if you are in need of one to protect your mower's seat.\",\n \"Product: New\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: a very fun start to a new series\\n\\nReview: The Selection is the first book in a planned trilogy by Kiera Cass.\\n\\nIn the future, the United States of America is now known as the nation of Illea. Society is broken down into castes with the Ones being the royal family and the Eights, the homeless and beggars. Teenager America Singer is a Five, the caste level that has the arts as their vocation. America's specialty is music. America had been hoping and wishing that her secret boyfriend, Aspen Ledger, who is a Six would propose. When a letter arrives in the mail announcing that Prince Maxton has come of age and will be looking for a wife from 35 chosen girls of Illea, America wants nothing to do with it. But with encouragement from her mother and Aspen, America puts her name into the lottery, thinking that her name has little to no chance of being chosen. Shortly afterwards, Aspen breaks up with America, because of his status and his inability to properly provide for her needs and his family. When the names of the 35 Selected are chosen, America is beyond mortified that her name has been chosen for her provience. She is quickly shipped to the royal palace where she befriends fellow competitor Marlee and meets the other 34 girls. She eventually meets Prince Maxton, and finds that he is nothing like she assumed him to be. And gradually she learns that the life and dreams she thought she wanted may not exactly be what her future may hold.\\n\\nI have to agree with many other reviewers and say that the cover is beyond gorgeous and is one of the main reasons I had wanted to read this book. When my library added it to their e-Book collection, I jumped at the chance to borrow it for my Kindle. And I ended up loving the story. It's simple, mindless, and fun entertainment but I enjoy these stories every once in awhile. The plot is nothing new, but it's a fun story that kept me turning pages. It's labeled as a dystopian, but the only thing dystopian about the story is that there is a caste system that separates society. Besides that, the world building in the novel was not really highlighted. The novel really is more character driven. America's character was slightly unlikable at the beginning when she still was with Aspen. However when she goes to the palace, she is more confident, likable, and self-assured. Her interactions and relationship with Prince Maxton is also a highlight of the book which I enjoyed. By the end of the book, I pretty much loved her character. At first, I had thought that America was a strange name for the main protagonist. However, around the middle of the book, she explains the meaning behind her name and I thought it to fit her. The love triangle is mostly the focus of the story but it's not excessive and annoying like in other series. And for those worried about any bad content, there were a few minor curse words here and there, but nothing else really major. It's pretty much acceptable to those 12 and older. And I'm sure adults will enjoy it as well.\\n\\nI would give the book 4.5 stars and would recommend it to those who enjoy other young adult series. And I'm looking forward to the second book when it's out in spring 2013!\",\n \"Product: Tracie Peterson is the bestselling, award-winning author of more than 70 novels. Tracie also teaches writing workshops at a variety of conferences on subjects such as inspirational romance and historical research. She and her family live in Belgrade, Montana.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: enjoyable start to a new series\\n\\nReview: \\\"A Promise to Believe In\\\" is the first book in the Brides of Gallatin County series by Tracie Peterson. I really enjoyed the book but did have some issues with it as well.\\n\\nSisters Gwen, Beth, and Lacy Gallatin operate a stagehouse in the Montana Territory with their father in the late 1800's. When their father is accidentally killed, Gwen blames herself thinking she is cursed. Her own husband Harvey Bishop died 10 days after they were married. The sudden appearance of a stranger, Hank Bishop, claiming to be Harvey's brother throws Gwen's life and feelings into turmoil. He has come to find the stock certificates that Harvey has stolen from their family. However along the way, Hank begins to care for Gwen and she for him. Dare she think that happiness can be hers again?\\n\\nTracie Peterson excels in describing the scenery of the Montana Territory. And I really enjoyed the plot of the story and the characterization. Lacy and Beth's pranks aganist Hank were quite fun to read and the sarcastic tone that many of the characters had towards others also made good humor for the book. But I found Gwen's anguish over the notion that she was cursed to be annoying. One minute she thought she was being silly, then the next she thinks she's cursed again, and it kept going until the end. And the last few chapters of the book were a total cliche. An example is when Rafe the saloon owner is threatening that Hank will never come back to Gwen and she will have to sell out, what happens? Hank suddenly appears at the doorway to make everything okay. The romance between Gwen and Hank was sweet and fun to read but slightly unrealistic. But it didn't deter me from liking the book. I enjoy reading stories like this so it doesn't really matter.\\n\\nAll in all, if you are a Tracie Peterson fan you will like the book for sure. I look forward to \\\"A Love to Last Forever\\\" which is suppose to tell Beth's story. Hopefully we'll see more of Gwen and Hank in the story as well. :)\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":12,"string":"12"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_3"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":867,"string":"867"}}},{"rowIdx":868,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"A335GUD1YBS31U"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of \"2.0\" for a product with description \"The Original SpiceStack holds 18 full-size or 36 half-size spice bottles neatly out of sight in the kitchen cabinet. Turn a jumbled pile of spices into an organized system that fits in just over 8\" of cabinet space. The SpiceStack organizer's three drawers pull straight out and lower to resting position so you can find and reach your spices in a snap. Patented drawer design accommodates both round and square bottles. Includes 48 pre-printed and 48 blank drawer labels for custom organization. Nonslip feet and stackable. Stop looking and get cooking with the SpiceStack!\". The summary of the review text is \"Doesn't work for me.\"."},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"I received this for intended use on a counter top, and realized too late that it is of better use on a shelf. The issue is the bottom drawer -- you need to be able to pull it out and down. or otherwise the design just doesn't work that well. Also, each drawer can hold 4 spices, but you can't identify what spices are in each drawer -- you have to be able to open the drawer. Thus, it's really best used for spices you don't use that often, or for spices you typically use together. For example, if you have four spices you always use for chili, then you can arrange a \"chili spice drawer.\" But for what I wanted it -- stack spices easily on a counter top -- it doesn't really work."},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"I received this for intended use on a counter top, and realized too late that it is of better use on a shelf. The issue is the bottom drawer -- you need to be able to pull it out and down. or otherwise the design just doesn't work that well. Also, each drawer can hold 4 spices, but you can't identify what spices are in each drawer -- you have to be able to open the drawer. Thus, it's really best used for spices you don't use that often, or for spices you typically use together. For example, if you have four spices you always use for chili, then you can arrange a \"chili spice drawer.\" But for what I wanted it -- stack spices easily on a counter top -- it doesn't really work."},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Product: CD'S ARTWORK, CASE AND DISC ARE LIKE NEW / FAST SHIPPING FROM A SMOKE FREE ENVIROMENT\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: He's done it again.\n\nReview: I have both of Eminem's other CD's, and after one listen through, this is my favorite. It's easily his most danceable (which may earn him more criticism) and there are even signs that he's grown. The song Cleain Out My Closet is this album's message to his mother, and in it you find him still angry, but it's tinged with sorrow and, dare I say it, perhaps even vulnerability.\nThe song White America is my favorite (for now, it's only been 2 days). The song poses the question of whether he would be so controversial, or indeed so successful if he were black. It's a challenge to parents everywhere to ask \"Do we just not like his lyrics, or are we ticked that are kid are relating to his lyrics?\".\nBut through it all, Eminem retains his bratty wit, mocking all the usual suspects, (he's got a real grip with Tipper Gore and the Cheyney family) and, though I sometimes question his logic, it's still a hoot. If I have one gripe, it's that he pushes the whole \"I'm a white rapper\" thing a little too far. But with talent like his, it's hard to blame him.","Product: Enjoy rich, creamy homemade ice cream with the White Mountain Electric Ice Cream Maker. This electric ice cream maker is equipped with a state-of-the-art commercial-grade motor that provides superior starting and running torque for churning and blending the ice cream to the smoothest consistency. The ice cream maker machine uses triple-motion action to continuously fold the ingredient mixture from the outer walls back onto itself, creating smooth, creamy ice cream that tastes just as delicious as you remember. The patented cast iron dasher system is designed to never warp, while the beech wood blades are self-adjusting to ensure uniform scraping of the ice cream mixture from the canisters interior wall. The heavy-duty stainless steel canister provides years of ice cream making service, and the premium dark wood stained bucket is handcrafted from select New England pine and bound with strong galvanized hoops and electroplated fittings to ensure lasting stability. Great for parties, family get-togethers, and warm summer days, the White Mountain Electric Ice Cream Maker is the life of any party.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: More Work Than It's Worth\n\nReview: I know what your thinking. You see this product and are thrust back into the romantic days-of-old when grandma would make ice cream from scratch. What you didn't realize is that grandma was working her kester off trying to make that small cylinder of ice cream. Don't worry, if you buy this product, you will get that same stressed out feeling too.\n\nI like that it looks old-timey but the joy stops there. Once you create the mixture and put it in the ice, you must constantly add \"rock salt\" to make sure that it chills properly. I had to keep revisiting the pail to add more and more rocksalt. Not table salt, but rock salt. Where do you even buy rock salt in the city, Wholefoods?\n\nCompared to the CuisineArt one that I have used in the past, this one requires constant attention during the spinning/chilling process. That's more my style, especially since I have a 14 mo. year old that I have to track down. I just need mix, turn on, and come back in a few hours. This was not that and not what I needed.","Product: Delicious coffee directly into your mug in 5 minutes. It features a doubled-lined stainless steel filter which results in a rich, aromatic cup of coffee.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Makes good coffee -\n\nReview: I have been using this for two weeks now to make single cups of coffee and it works very well. Coffee tastes better than with my coffee maker, with about as much hands-on time (mostly in the grinding).\n\nIt did take a bit for me to figure out how to calibrate it to my desired strength (you really need to make sure you are measuring out water, and not just filling a cup), and to learn that the trick is to poor the water slowly. But I've got it now.\n\nThis item also gets a big plus as something you can easily use at work. As long as you can get your hands on hot water, it's possible to get a freshly brewed cup of good coffee anywhere.","Product: Re-Hydrate your surroundings with keystone's ksthw17lag 1.8 Quart ultrasonic humidifier. Perfect for those who suffer from sinus problems, keystone's ultrasonic humidifier has a nightlight for bedtime use. The variable mist intensity control releases up to 1.3 Cups of moisture per hour and will run continuously for up to 6 hours.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Nice, but really should last longer.\n\nReview: I've been battling a cold for days. My husband was battling the same cold, but it was an easier battle for him, as he uses a sleep machine that also acts as a humidifier. I figured, maybe I should get a humidifier myself, because this cold is driving me nuts. And we're still pretty early in cold season.\n\nSo I got this one. I like it. It's small enough to fit on my nightstand, and it's sleek and attractive so it doesn't look like I have a rice cooker next to my head. I can adjust the amount of mist, and it's compact size makes it fairly easy to refill. It also comes with it's own brush for cleaning, which is nice. The kids humidifier I use in their room does not come with such a brush.\n\nThe major drawback is that the water only lasts for 6 hours. I call that a \"major\" drawback because most of us sleep around 8 hours a night -- that should really be the minimum for a humidifier. And I'm not going to get out of bed just to refill this thing.\n\nI still really like the design, though, so I'll be using it for awhile.","Product: An ergonomic office chair with a breakthrough design, the Air Chair by Harmony Ergonomics features breathable elastic premium material that helps you sit more comfortably all day so you can be more productive. Additional features like Headrest, Chair Back, Seat, Right Arm Rest, Left Arm Rest, Cylinder Base Connection, 5-Star Swivel Base, (5)Caster Wheels, (2)Wrenches^Hex Key, (2)Headrest Screws, (8)Nuts and Bolts, (2) Extra Nuts and bolts.Youll feel better at the end of a long day, and fresh for the night ahead. BIFMA Certified. Work all day in Harmony.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: I really like this chair.\n\nReview: This is a great chair.\n\nIt has multiple adjustments (height, arms, reclines, and headrest), so it will suit many different bodies. The elastic feels good, the lumbar support is better than the office chairs I usually sit in.\n\nIt put me about an hour to put together. It was fairly easy, except it did take me 5 minutes to figure out that to put the castors on, I just had to push them in. But other than that, I got it together with little fanfare, and I'm not an especially handy person.\n\nThe only reservation I have is how long the chair will last, given it's made, essentially, of elastic. Will it stretch out and lose it's supportive framework after awhile? I'd check that out, and weigh it against other options. But other than that, I give it 5 stars.","Product: Take a deep breath and exhale because youve found your pathway to that perfect sleep. Topped with a gel-infused surface to keep your body climate steady, the mattress dissipates your body heat while quickly conforming to your weight and position. Sleep peacefully with an open cell memory foam solution that relieves pressure points, reduces bounce between two sleepers, and delivers welcome relief from the aches and pains of traditional mattresses. Foam is CertiPUR-US certified so you can be confident that the flexible polyurethane foam inside the mattress meets CertiPUR-US standards for content, emissions, and durability, and has been analyzed by independent, accredited testing laboratories. The mattress comes vacuum-packed and rolled to fit into an easily portable box. It takes 2 to 4 hours for the mattress to expand most of the way, and a day to expand fully. Includes one queen mattress and a removable stretch knit diamond patterned cover. Box spring or foundation are optional. Slatted bases should be less than 3 apart.Features:Finish: WhiteMaterials: Memory FoamCooling open cell technologyStretch knit zipper removable coverBox spring or foundation optionalConveniently ships in portable boxSpecifications:Overall Product Dimensions: 60\" W x 80\" D x 10\" HProduct Weight: 51 lbs3\" gel infused foam, 7\" dense polyurethane foam base\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: I like it a lot.\n\nReview: What I love most about this mattress is that it is a combination of memory foam and spring. That means the mattress has some bounce, but it's also very firm. I also love it's height. So many foam mattresses are quite thin, and therefore lie low to the ground, usually used in modern-y furniture. This mattress sits high, making it easier to sit on, which I like, because I want a higher seat when I'm getting dressed in the morning. That is the kind of thing I didn't think about when I first ordered this mattress but I've come to really appreciate.\n\nAlso, it is quite comfortable, is reasonably priced, comes packaged pretty well, and only takes about 15 minutes to take shape. It was also easy for me to roll the mattress up the stairs to the bedroom from the front door, which I also appreciate since it was just me putting the bed together.\n\nRecommend.","Product: The Westinghouse seasoned cast iron griddle offers a large cooking surface as well as inch depth with raised lip to keep ingredients from spilling over the edge. The griddle is perfect for tortillas, quesadillas, roasted veggies, pizza and of course grilled sandwiches complete with that golden, brown crust.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Cast iron is a necessary tool for any cook -\n\nReview: I love using cast iron for browning meat. I used this pan to fry 4 chicken drumsticks and they browned beautifully. Cast iron is great for when you want to fry up something and then finish it off in the oven, which is what I did. I generally recommend that everyone have a cast iron pan in their home.\n\nBut maybe not this one? As a griddle, it simply doesn't do enough. For example, you could not make skillet corn bread in this pan. This is essentially an \"extra\" pan - something you may use occasionally, but not something that you will use all the time. And if you're like most people, kitchen space is limited, and it's best to only keep gear around that you will really use. Therefore, I'm docking it a star.","Product: Cleaning lettuce and other leafy-greens is a breeze with the Twist Salad Spinner from Leifheit. The Twist Salad Spinner has a removable twist drive for space-saving storage. The large clear bowl is ideal for serving salads and other sides/desserts and features a handy in-built basket brake. The Twist Salad Spinner is made from high-quality ABS plastic coupled with soft red thermoplastic for comfort and non-slip stability. Basket and bowl are dishwasher safe; wipe Twist drive with damp cloth. 3-year warranty.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: useful if you really like making/eating salads\n\nReview: This is a rather large salad spinner that comes apart for easy storage. The handle detaches and can be placed in the bowl, which makes it easier if your cabinets aren't that large, vertically. I use a salad spinner to distribute dressing on my salads evenly, and this does the trick. After spinning, I can remove the salad and then dump it in the clear plastic, and it will go straight to the table, which makes this pretty functional too.\n\nThis is also useful if you buy a lot of fresh greens that need additional rinsing before you cook/use them. I commonly buy spinach that has not been pre-rinsed, and this is useful for cleaning, and then removing the excess moisture.","Product: The Panasonic rp-hje120b Bluetooth Ergo Fit earbud headphones with Microphone and call controller are the perfect combination of style, comfort, functionality and most of all, high-quality sound. The in-line microphone on the cord of earbud headphones is used for answering calls or voice commands; compatible with iPhone, Android, BlackBerry* and Bluetooth** capable devices. Earbuds with three sets of ear pads (S/M/L included), provide a custom, comfortable ergonomic fit that won't slip out. Choose from four (4) vivid color options with color-matching earbuds, headphone cord and call controller to best complement your personal style and mood. Large 9mm drivers with neodymium magnets along with a wide frequency response and smart ergonomic fit earbuds deliver dynamic, crystal-clear sound while helping to keep out unwanted outside noise. Stereo headset tonally balanced audio with crisp highs and deep low notes, plus wider frequency response and lively sound quality for recorded audio. Long, 3.6-Ft headphone cord threads comfortably through clothing and bags making it easy to connect. disclaimer: * iPhone is a trademark of Apple, Registered in the US. And other countries. The trademark Blackberry is owned by research in motion limited and is registered in the United States and may be pending or registered in other countries. Panasonic is not endorsed, sponsored, affiliated with or otherwise authorized by research in motion limited. Android is a trademark of Google ** the Bluetooth word mark and logos are registered trademarks owned by the Bluetooth SIG, And any use of such marks by Panasonic Corporation is under license\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Good sound quality, but easy to lose\n\nReview: I have tried about 5 different Bluetooth headphones and these deliver the best sound. They are also the most expensive I've tried; previous pairs were around $25-30.\n\nThey headphones stay put, provide very good sound quality, and are available in multiple colors. I'm not sure exactly what the battery life is, but I do have to recharge them every night, and I listen to them 2-3 hours a day on my subway commute and at work.\n\nThe drawbacks are\n1) they can sometimes tug on my ears when I move my head side to side, although they have never fallen out. For the record, I have a larger-then-average head.\n2) They are small enough to lose easily. I can imagine, for example, forgetting I'm wearing them and have them fall off my neck when I'm taking off my coat in a public place. For that reason, and because I almost always end up loosing headphones 1-2 times a year, I'm docking a star. That makes the pricepoint of these very important -- make sure you can afford to lose these.","Product: Protect both the front and back of your iPad 2 with an ultra slim case. Front cover folds back to allow different viewing angles for typing and watching videos.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: I like this ipad cover\n\nReview: Plusses:\n- attractive (I like the bright color especially\n- easy to use\n- protects frunt and back\n- when closed, turns the ipad off so saves battery\n\nCons\n- doesn't quite hold the ipad upright as well as other covers I've used\n- likewise, the closure doesn't work as well. I have to press the cover a bit extra to make sure that the ipad really turns off (saving battery)\n\nStill, I like the fact that, unlike my previous cover, this protects the back of the ipod. I'd recommend it, with the added warning that you need to make extra sure that the cover is really closed so as to maximize your batter when the ipad is not in use.","Product: Nautica Baby 3 piece Comfort Boys' Suit Sets. Perfect for any occasion such as wedding, party, birthday, holiday, church, and other special events.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Pants way too big, shirt and jacket perfect.\n\nReview: I bought this for my son for a wedding we needed to attend. He is 26.5 lbs, 31 inches tall.\n\nThe shirt fit perfectly -- will probably be too small in a month or two. Same with the jacket.\n\nThe pants, though, were waaaaay too big. I expected them to be so in length (he's short) but also in teh waste. I had to roll them up at the top and the bottom, and just leave the shirt unticked for the most part.\n\nAlso, we didn't use the tie. It's a clip on tie, and a bit too narrow for my taste. I had another kids tie that was a bit wider and also attached in the back which I prefer.\n\nAll that said, we got lots of compliments on his suit. People at the wedding thought he looked adorable.","Product: Fruit of the Loom womens socks are amazingly soft, incredibly comfortable, and at a price that won't break your budget.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: A good sock for boots and sneakers.\n\nReview: I need socks like these for two purposes: 1) as no-show socks in sneakers, and 2) to cushion my feet in ankle and knee-high boots. I typically buy boots a half size larger than necessary, for the purposes of accommodating socks so that my feet stay warm.\n\nThese socks work well for both purposes. They are the perfect thickness to provide cushioning in boots, and aren't high enough to show in sneakers. They do not slip around my ankles (which happens in some versions I've bought at stores like H&M) and there isn't so much padding in the foot and toebox that my feet feel cramped in boots.\n\nI would only buy these socks for the purposes I mentioned. If I were to buy ankle socks for running, I'd buy ones that had more cushioning at the toe.\n\nRecommended.","Product: Veronica Sawyer (Winona Ryder) has sacrificed everything in order to preserve her place in Westerburg Highs most impenetrable social clique, the HEATHERS. As the only member of the group not named \"Heather\", Veronica has to work extra hard just to stay afloat. Going against her own morals and intelligence, Veronica succumbs to peer pressure on a daily basis, faking her delight in the humiliation of the schools less popular students. Bored of the frat parties and cow tipping so popular among her friends, Veronicas curiosity is peaked when a mysterious new guy named J.D. comes to town. The dark, brooding J.D. (Christian Slater at his best) observes Veronica among her pack in the lunchroom (where social hierarchy is most clearly displayed), concluding that Veronica is not a Heather at heart. When Veronica confides in J.D. that she hates her friends and wishes Heather #1 was dead, she never expects her words to have such dire consequences. Before she knows whats happening, J.D. is dragging Veronica on a killing spree staged as a teen suicide outbreak. But as Veronica soon learns, even death cannot stop the HEATHERS. As one Heather dies, her red scrunchee (the symbol of all power) gets passed on to the next Heather in line, and the clique that was the HEATHERS starts to feel like an inescapable social disease. How far will this war for popularity go? By far the darkest of teen comedies, HEATHERS invented a vocabulary of teen-speak all its own, asking questions like \"Whats your damage?\" and introducing phrases like \"How very\". Director Michael Lehmann successfully blends the horror, comedy, and teen movie genres, creating a truly original film. Full of dark humor and deeply sardonic messages, HEATHERS takes a fresh look at the often-sugarcoated cinematic world of high school. Set in the 1980's, the film feels timeless in its relevance because of the daring nature of its themes.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Kinda creepy, but worth watching\n\nReview: The Amazon review is absolutely correct in saying that this movie was a benchmark in intelligent cinema. It essentially uses the horror movie genre to be a metaphor for the horrors of high school (in that way it has much in commom with Buffy the Vampire Slayer).\nPersonally, I think this movie is worth watching for Christian Slayer alone. He's a dead-on ringer for Jack Nicholson (too bad Slater seems to have fizzled away), and he and Wynona Ryder sparkle on screen. Plus, you get Shannon Dougherty as an insecure nerd (before she finally embraces her inner b---h towards the end of the movie).\nIf you like the Buffy series, and 80's teen movies in general, this is a definate must watch.","Product: Robbie Williams - Ego Has Landed - Cd\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Let Robbie Entertain You\n\nReview: I've had this CD for over a year, and it never gets old. When I'm in the mood for some old-fashioned irreverent fun, all I gotta do is pop this one in the discman. It's unfortunate that Robbie seems unable to become a US pop icon, because he would be a much needed reprieve from the Britney and Justin wannabes that otherwise monopolize the pop scene (and that includes Eminem as well). Robbie's funny, yet always dripping in sarcasm and great wit. The same could be said of Eminem, but unlike that particular pop star, Robbie always seems to be having fun, even when his songs are otherwise mocking and self-pitying (listen to No Regrets, a great bitter post break-up song). Many of these songs capture the mid-20s angst feeling better than John Mayer could dream of doing ( On Old Before I Die Robbie recites \"I hope I'm old before I die. I hope I live to re-live the days gone by. . . .but tonight I'm gonna live for today so come along for the ride. . .\") and Millennium (which I believe is either a humorous commentary on today's fast-paced culture. . .or the laments of a celebrity out of rehab) always gets a wry grin from me every time I hear it.\nIf you're thinking about giving Robbie a try, and I'm assuming you are since you're reading this, definitely try him. But beware - once you hear Robbie, American pop music just will not sound the same.","Product: 836-003 Features: -Includes 7 toys, electronic light and music, 7 melodies, extra large mat. -Baby will delight over the fun electronic light and music toy with 7 melodies. -Adorable hanging toys can be positioned anywhere on the arches using the unique slide rings bringing smiles to baby as they reach and bat at their favorite toys. -Extra large mat is thick and soft, with engaging animals friends, 3D zebra main. -Peek-a-boo elephant ears and crinkle square. -5 in 1 Multi positions. Product Type: -Baby gym mat. Color: -Multi-Color. Mat Material: -Fabric. Number of Items Included: -8. Dimensions: Overall Height - Top to Bottom: -17.7\". Overall Width - Side to Side: -41.7\". Overall Depth - Front to Back: -45.2\". Overall Product Weight: -4.7 lbs.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: My 2 month old loves it\n\nReview: I was skeptical at first, at least for my son who was only 4 weeks when I first put him in it. But he started focusing on the objects right away. At 6 weeks he started to reach for them, and now he really is fascinated by the items hanging from the bars. The adjustable arms allow me to place the hanging toys within his reach, and he bats them around, although he can't grab them (yet). I'd say it gives me a good 20 minutes of time to do other things while he's occupied. Not long in the grand scheme of things, but long enough for me to eat breakfast in the mornings, which is when I typically put him in it.\n\nI've also had the opportunity for a two year old to visit, and she sat on the mat and right away started pulling at the elephant's ears (which make noise) and clearly thought it was a fun mat. So I have no doubt that this gymnini will grow with my son. I also appreciate that the music has two settings, one soft and one loud. I use the soft :\n\nThis also uses lights, but I can't tell if the lights are truly necessary. It also required batteries, which were a pain in the butt to put in. But I'm so unused to dealing with toys and batteries -- I've been completely unprepared at how necessary batteries are once you have kids!\n\nOverall, recommended. It combines bright colors with music and lights, it's got a lot of adjustments that can accomodate a newborn and grow with him.","Product: This fun, inflatable ball pit features 50 play balls and a secret doorway. Squeeze the horn and hear a special sound. Great for ages 2 and up. All game balls are phthalate free.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Fun, but not enough balls\n\nReview: I have a 15 month old who loves crawling in and out of the door, and throwing the balls in and out of the center. I also have a 4 year old who isn't much interested.\n\nThe number of balls that comes with this item is not a lot; they do not even cover the floor of the structure. If you really want to have that \"ball pit\" feeling, you'll have to buy extra balls. I probably will, because I think that will entice my 4 year old more.\n\nWe have this in a corner of our living room; it's replacing a large toy structure that used to be there. This item is not small -- I'd only put it in a fairly sizable playroom, or keep it for special occasions only.\n\nWe used an air pump to fill it. Took about 7 minutes. We'll probably keep it around until it punctures a hole somewhere, which I assume will happen eventually.","Product: The play circle mighty tidy sweeping set is a one-piece sweeping and play cleaning set that turns pretend help into real help! This functional and adorable broom and dustpan set for toddlers helps them learn how to keep a mighty tidy house while engaging in learning, imaginative play, and developing fine motor skills. The size of the handle is perfect for small hands and lets them sweep up dust bunnies with mom or dad, without the knock-out effects that an adult-sized broom handle can create. (We know you parents understand what we mean!) the hand broom snaps into the dustpan a fun feature for kids to experiment with that also has a practical side effect. And why stop at cleaning? This brightly colored play broom set for toddlers can be an accessory for all kinds of imaginary play! Dress as a pink witch and fly this broom to the moon! Turn it upside down, dress it up with a face and clothes, and you'll have a new friend with a colorful Spiky hairdo. The options are endless! A fantastic gift that provides different screen-free role-play and learning opportunities at a variety of ages and developmental stages, This kids play cleaning set is great combined with other imaginary-play items like the home neat home Vacuum, The best pressed ironing board, and the dishes wishes dish and utensil set. Help your child learn good habits and have fun at the same time!\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Can actually sweep, but my kid uses it as a toy.\n\nReview: Although this is a \"play\" sweep set, my toddler can actually use it to sweep. Unfortunately, he doesn't, as he identifies this as a toy. So instead of leaving it in the kitchen, he's taken it to his (carpeted) room, used it as a sword, \"swept\" his brother and baby sister's backs, and generally just used it for things other than cleaning.\n\nThis is disappointing, because we have an actual small broom that he does use to clean. But I think the size of this and the colors indicates to him that it's not for cleaning, it's a toy. Consider that if you're getting this and hoping your child will actually learn to clean up with it. It might be better to just buy him/her an actual broom.","Product: Designed to grow with baby in three stages, Skip Hop's Silver Lining Cloud Baby's View Activity Center is an action-packed take on our best-selling gym. Featuring the same developmental approach to play and learning as our Explore & More version, the decor-friendly design features a 360-degree rotating seat that turns and stretches for bouncing. Our unique Discover Window gives little ones a clear view of their feet as they play the light-up piano to connect cause and effect. Four dreamy toys can be rearranged for customized play. As baby grows, the activity center converts for easy cruising. At stage three, it transforms into a sturdy toddler table with a plastic chalkboard surface for drawing, playing-the sky's the limit.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great toy, but baby wishes it bounced -\n\nReview: When I put my 4.5 month old in this seat, she immediately started playing. I think she was grabbing the toys before she even was fully in the seat. She was engaged for about 10-15 minutes, and my 2.5 year old also joined her, and they both played with the toys for a few minutes. I really love the flexibility this toy gives in terms of toy placement, and I like that it lasts through the toddler years, as you can convert it to a toddler table.\n\nThat said, I have one caveat -\n\nWe also have a bouncer, which my child loves even more. In fact, after about 15 minutes of playing with this toy, she became frustrated at her inability to bounce in it, as she has become accustomed to bouncing. For that reason, I suspect this toy will not get much use as an activity table -- it will go straight to cruising and then play table. So it's worth asking yourself whether you want an activity table or a bouncer. Your baby may like a bouncer more, but you'll use it for a shorter period of time. Just things to consider.","Product: Baby's first music box with endless choices of melodies. Grows with your baby from crib as a mobile to toddler as a stand alone music box. Unique design with two high quality designed speakers.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Pretty mobile option for baby\n\nReview: My baby enjoys this mobile for 10-15 minute stretches. The animals turn in circles while the whole thing revolves. There are multiple options for music, including white noise, lullabies, and \"world\". There is also an option to turn on a night light.\n\nI dig the world music option, and I like the overall style of this mobile. The animals on the mobile are modern-looking and the color palette is muted, which makes this a good fit if you have a modern-style nursery.\n\nI had a little trouble putting it together. . the mobile actually fell into the crib once because I hadn't secured the animal piece to the arm well enough. Luckily, my baby was not in it at the time, but be sure that it's tightly screwed before you use it.\n\nOne caveat - and the reason I'd deduct a star from any mobile. Parents typically put these over cribs, thinking they help babies fall asleep. This was true for my first baby 6 years ago. However, my 2 month old daughter is not lulled to sleep by this mobile --- in fact, she finds it stimulating and it delays her falling asleep. I'm likely going to take it down and put it over the changing table instead, so we can still get some use out of it.","Product: Climb and crush obstacles with the ultimate climbing creature Terra Climber! This fully functional RC vehicle includes everything you need to conquer obstacles indoors or outdoors! When the creatures tail is extended its an epic two feet long! The Terra Climber can actually scale stairs up to eight inches high, climb piles of rocks and hills in any direction. Climb and conquer obstacles right away with the Terra Climber Radio Control Vehicle its ready to run with 9.6v rechargeable batteries and charger included!\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Too much toy for toddlers -\n\nReview: This thing may have been too much toy for my boys. . .\n\nI got it for my 5 year old and 2 year old to play with -- they have a remote control car which they love. They were immediately fascinated by how this thing moved and climbed, but were totally freaked out, too. They played with the remote, but wouldn't get too close, and are still trying to figure out how to control it. (There is a learning curve in figuring out which buttons to push for forward, back, and turning.)\n\nMy stairs are too shallow for this thing to climb, but outside, it did a pretty good job of rolling over sticks and stones and logs. I expect it to stick around for awhile as a toy my kids enjoy -- and I think they will grow into it over the next 3-4 years. That said, I would not recommend to any kid younger than 8.\n\nRecommend.","Product: This set includes wooden tracks, a fire train with a fire hose wagon, docking station, firefighter figure, fire truck with light and sound, gateway, wooden tree and fire. BRIO creates innovative, high-quality and well-designed toys with clean, simple designs that spark children's creativity and imagination while encouraging and supporting each stage of their development. For over a century, our mission has been to create happy childhood memories. All wooden parts are made from 100% FSC-certified beech wood from sustainably managed forests and are built to last for generations.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: We really like it.\n\nReview: This is our third kids train set. Previous ones were from IKEA and Melissa & Doug.\n\nI like this one a lot. The train itself is more imaginative than the one from IKEA or Melissa & Doug. This is probably because the train is plastic, and has moving parts (a ladder, a little firefighter, and a hose). You get a fair number of parts for the price. My 2 year old has not stopped playing with this set since we opened it a week ago.\n\nBonus -- the track fits well (enough) with the Melissa and Doug set. It's not perfect, but you can add this set to an existing M & D train set if you already have one. It kinda fits our IKEA one as well, but not nearly as well.\n\nRecommend.","Product: Fisher-Price Think & Learn Spell & Speak Sea Turtle\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: I like this turtle\n\nReview: I really like this toy, particularly compared to many other \"learning\" toys out there on the market.\n\nThis little turtle has three different modes, that vary in cognitive ability, so it can meet your child where s/he's at right now. The first mode is essentially a speak and say mode -- your kid pushes a button, and the toy tells you the word and the first letter. Push the button again, and it'll tell you how to spell the word. The second mode is a more complex skill -- you learn rhymes. Then there's the last mode, which is a \"game\". In that mode, the turtle will ask you to push buttons in response to questions like \"what word begins with a \"c\"? or to tell the turtle which of the objects you can find in the air.\n\nRight now, my two year old is playing with the little arrows on the feet -- which move pictures on a little screen in the front. He also uses the first mode, and is slowly grasping the letters and spelling. I can tell the wheels his head are turning. He especially likes to play with it with me, so it's fostering interaction between us, too, which is optimal for toddler development.\n\nI typically shy away from most electronic toys, but this one I'm happy to have and would give as a gift to any parent of a 2-4 year old.","Product: Lisa Jewell is the bestselling author of fifteen books, including her most recent novel, the Sunday Times Number One bestseller Then She Was Gone. She lives in London with her husband and two children.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Good, satisfying, fun read\n\nReview: After having read Thirty-Nothing, I decided I had to read everything Lisa Jewel has ever written. After having read Ralph's Party, I know I'm right.\nThe story of 6 not quite strangers who live and love in an apartment building should have been cheeky and rather like a bad sitcom. Instead, the story was quite convincing. Ralph and Smith are roommates/best friends, caught in an early thirties slump, so Smith finds a roommate, Jem, simply to break the monotany of their lives. Jem, motivated by a dream, is sure that Smith is THE ONE, but Ralph has figured otherwise. Smith, the most repulsive character of the bunch, has a dream-crush on the perfect, but mean as a snake Cheri. Karl and Siobhan, who live upstairs, have settled into a domestic life where neither of them are really going anywhere or improving their lives either.\nOf course, someone has to get together with someone else. And of course someone is going to end up in the book with their heart broken. But guessing which one will be which is half the fun. My gripes about the book: Cheri is a bit one-dimensional, and I would have liked to have been in Smith's head a little more. But all in all, good stuff.","Product: childrens book\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Perhaps for a toddler, but not for an infant\n\nReview: I've \"read\" this mostly-picture book to my 5 month old. The book contains no words, only sounds. The sounds were fun to say to my baby, but ultimately, he is at the stage where he wants to touch things and look at them; he's not so much interested in the words or sounds.\n\nWhen I read this to him, he wasn't too interested. He prefers the board books, or touch and feel books-- then he reaches for the pages and tries to turn them. The graphics of this book are not appealing to him. I think it would have been better in a board book, where he could turn the pages himself, and where I could have enjoyed the sounds.\n\nOh well. Maybe in a year he'll be more interested?"],"string":"[\n \"Product: CD'S ARTWORK, CASE AND DISC ARE LIKE NEW / FAST SHIPPING FROM A SMOKE FREE ENVIROMENT\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: He's done it again.\\n\\nReview: I have both of Eminem's other CD's, and after one listen through, this is my favorite. It's easily his most danceable (which may earn him more criticism) and there are even signs that he's grown. The song Cleain Out My Closet is this album's message to his mother, and in it you find him still angry, but it's tinged with sorrow and, dare I say it, perhaps even vulnerability.\\nThe song White America is my favorite (for now, it's only been 2 days). The song poses the question of whether he would be so controversial, or indeed so successful if he were black. It's a challenge to parents everywhere to ask \\\"Do we just not like his lyrics, or are we ticked that are kid are relating to his lyrics?\\\".\\nBut through it all, Eminem retains his bratty wit, mocking all the usual suspects, (he's got a real grip with Tipper Gore and the Cheyney family) and, though I sometimes question his logic, it's still a hoot. If I have one gripe, it's that he pushes the whole \\\"I'm a white rapper\\\" thing a little too far. But with talent like his, it's hard to blame him.\",\n \"Product: Enjoy rich, creamy homemade ice cream with the White Mountain Electric Ice Cream Maker. This electric ice cream maker is equipped with a state-of-the-art commercial-grade motor that provides superior starting and running torque for churning and blending the ice cream to the smoothest consistency. The ice cream maker machine uses triple-motion action to continuously fold the ingredient mixture from the outer walls back onto itself, creating smooth, creamy ice cream that tastes just as delicious as you remember. The patented cast iron dasher system is designed to never warp, while the beech wood blades are self-adjusting to ensure uniform scraping of the ice cream mixture from the canisters interior wall. The heavy-duty stainless steel canister provides years of ice cream making service, and the premium dark wood stained bucket is handcrafted from select New England pine and bound with strong galvanized hoops and electroplated fittings to ensure lasting stability. Great for parties, family get-togethers, and warm summer days, the White Mountain Electric Ice Cream Maker is the life of any party.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: More Work Than It's Worth\\n\\nReview: I know what your thinking. You see this product and are thrust back into the romantic days-of-old when grandma would make ice cream from scratch. What you didn't realize is that grandma was working her kester off trying to make that small cylinder of ice cream. Don't worry, if you buy this product, you will get that same stressed out feeling too.\\n\\nI like that it looks old-timey but the joy stops there. Once you create the mixture and put it in the ice, you must constantly add \\\"rock salt\\\" to make sure that it chills properly. I had to keep revisiting the pail to add more and more rocksalt. Not table salt, but rock salt. Where do you even buy rock salt in the city, Wholefoods?\\n\\nCompared to the CuisineArt one that I have used in the past, this one requires constant attention during the spinning/chilling process. That's more my style, especially since I have a 14 mo. year old that I have to track down. I just need mix, turn on, and come back in a few hours. This was not that and not what I needed.\",\n \"Product: Delicious coffee directly into your mug in 5 minutes. It features a doubled-lined stainless steel filter which results in a rich, aromatic cup of coffee.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Makes good coffee -\\n\\nReview: I have been using this for two weeks now to make single cups of coffee and it works very well. Coffee tastes better than with my coffee maker, with about as much hands-on time (mostly in the grinding).\\n\\nIt did take a bit for me to figure out how to calibrate it to my desired strength (you really need to make sure you are measuring out water, and not just filling a cup), and to learn that the trick is to poor the water slowly. But I've got it now.\\n\\nThis item also gets a big plus as something you can easily use at work. As long as you can get your hands on hot water, it's possible to get a freshly brewed cup of good coffee anywhere.\",\n \"Product: Re-Hydrate your surroundings with keystone's ksthw17lag 1.8 Quart ultrasonic humidifier. Perfect for those who suffer from sinus problems, keystone's ultrasonic humidifier has a nightlight for bedtime use. The variable mist intensity control releases up to 1.3 Cups of moisture per hour and will run continuously for up to 6 hours.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Nice, but really should last longer.\\n\\nReview: I've been battling a cold for days. My husband was battling the same cold, but it was an easier battle for him, as he uses a sleep machine that also acts as a humidifier. I figured, maybe I should get a humidifier myself, because this cold is driving me nuts. And we're still pretty early in cold season.\\n\\nSo I got this one. I like it. It's small enough to fit on my nightstand, and it's sleek and attractive so it doesn't look like I have a rice cooker next to my head. I can adjust the amount of mist, and it's compact size makes it fairly easy to refill. It also comes with it's own brush for cleaning, which is nice. The kids humidifier I use in their room does not come with such a brush.\\n\\nThe major drawback is that the water only lasts for 6 hours. I call that a \\\"major\\\" drawback because most of us sleep around 8 hours a night -- that should really be the minimum for a humidifier. And I'm not going to get out of bed just to refill this thing.\\n\\nI still really like the design, though, so I'll be using it for awhile.\",\n \"Product: An ergonomic office chair with a breakthrough design, the Air Chair by Harmony Ergonomics features breathable elastic premium material that helps you sit more comfortably all day so you can be more productive. Additional features like Headrest, Chair Back, Seat, Right Arm Rest, Left Arm Rest, Cylinder Base Connection, 5-Star Swivel Base, (5)Caster Wheels, (2)Wrenches^Hex Key, (2)Headrest Screws, (8)Nuts and Bolts, (2) Extra Nuts and bolts.Youll feel better at the end of a long day, and fresh for the night ahead. BIFMA Certified. Work all day in Harmony.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: I really like this chair.\\n\\nReview: This is a great chair.\\n\\nIt has multiple adjustments (height, arms, reclines, and headrest), so it will suit many different bodies. The elastic feels good, the lumbar support is better than the office chairs I usually sit in.\\n\\nIt put me about an hour to put together. It was fairly easy, except it did take me 5 minutes to figure out that to put the castors on, I just had to push them in. But other than that, I got it together with little fanfare, and I'm not an especially handy person.\\n\\nThe only reservation I have is how long the chair will last, given it's made, essentially, of elastic. Will it stretch out and lose it's supportive framework after awhile? I'd check that out, and weigh it against other options. But other than that, I give it 5 stars.\",\n \"Product: Take a deep breath and exhale because youve found your pathway to that perfect sleep. Topped with a gel-infused surface to keep your body climate steady, the mattress dissipates your body heat while quickly conforming to your weight and position. Sleep peacefully with an open cell memory foam solution that relieves pressure points, reduces bounce between two sleepers, and delivers welcome relief from the aches and pains of traditional mattresses. Foam is CertiPUR-US certified so you can be confident that the flexible polyurethane foam inside the mattress meets CertiPUR-US standards for content, emissions, and durability, and has been analyzed by independent, accredited testing laboratories. The mattress comes vacuum-packed and rolled to fit into an easily portable box. It takes 2 to 4 hours for the mattress to expand most of the way, and a day to expand fully. Includes one queen mattress and a removable stretch knit diamond patterned cover. Box spring or foundation are optional. Slatted bases should be less than 3 apart.Features:Finish: WhiteMaterials: Memory FoamCooling open cell technologyStretch knit zipper removable coverBox spring or foundation optionalConveniently ships in portable boxSpecifications:Overall Product Dimensions: 60\\\" W x 80\\\" D x 10\\\" HProduct Weight: 51 lbs3\\\" gel infused foam, 7\\\" dense polyurethane foam base\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: I like it a lot.\\n\\nReview: What I love most about this mattress is that it is a combination of memory foam and spring. That means the mattress has some bounce, but it's also very firm. I also love it's height. So many foam mattresses are quite thin, and therefore lie low to the ground, usually used in modern-y furniture. This mattress sits high, making it easier to sit on, which I like, because I want a higher seat when I'm getting dressed in the morning. That is the kind of thing I didn't think about when I first ordered this mattress but I've come to really appreciate.\\n\\nAlso, it is quite comfortable, is reasonably priced, comes packaged pretty well, and only takes about 15 minutes to take shape. It was also easy for me to roll the mattress up the stairs to the bedroom from the front door, which I also appreciate since it was just me putting the bed together.\\n\\nRecommend.\",\n \"Product: The Westinghouse seasoned cast iron griddle offers a large cooking surface as well as inch depth with raised lip to keep ingredients from spilling over the edge. The griddle is perfect for tortillas, quesadillas, roasted veggies, pizza and of course grilled sandwiches complete with that golden, brown crust.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Cast iron is a necessary tool for any cook -\\n\\nReview: I love using cast iron for browning meat. I used this pan to fry 4 chicken drumsticks and they browned beautifully. Cast iron is great for when you want to fry up something and then finish it off in the oven, which is what I did. I generally recommend that everyone have a cast iron pan in their home.\\n\\nBut maybe not this one? As a griddle, it simply doesn't do enough. For example, you could not make skillet corn bread in this pan. This is essentially an \\\"extra\\\" pan - something you may use occasionally, but not something that you will use all the time. And if you're like most people, kitchen space is limited, and it's best to only keep gear around that you will really use. Therefore, I'm docking it a star.\",\n \"Product: Cleaning lettuce and other leafy-greens is a breeze with the Twist Salad Spinner from Leifheit. The Twist Salad Spinner has a removable twist drive for space-saving storage. The large clear bowl is ideal for serving salads and other sides/desserts and features a handy in-built basket brake. The Twist Salad Spinner is made from high-quality ABS plastic coupled with soft red thermoplastic for comfort and non-slip stability. Basket and bowl are dishwasher safe; wipe Twist drive with damp cloth. 3-year warranty.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: useful if you really like making/eating salads\\n\\nReview: This is a rather large salad spinner that comes apart for easy storage. The handle detaches and can be placed in the bowl, which makes it easier if your cabinets aren't that large, vertically. I use a salad spinner to distribute dressing on my salads evenly, and this does the trick. After spinning, I can remove the salad and then dump it in the clear plastic, and it will go straight to the table, which makes this pretty functional too.\\n\\nThis is also useful if you buy a lot of fresh greens that need additional rinsing before you cook/use them. I commonly buy spinach that has not been pre-rinsed, and this is useful for cleaning, and then removing the excess moisture.\",\n \"Product: The Panasonic rp-hje120b Bluetooth Ergo Fit earbud headphones with Microphone and call controller are the perfect combination of style, comfort, functionality and most of all, high-quality sound. The in-line microphone on the cord of earbud headphones is used for answering calls or voice commands; compatible with iPhone, Android, BlackBerry* and Bluetooth** capable devices. Earbuds with three sets of ear pads (S/M/L included), provide a custom, comfortable ergonomic fit that won't slip out. Choose from four (4) vivid color options with color-matching earbuds, headphone cord and call controller to best complement your personal style and mood. Large 9mm drivers with neodymium magnets along with a wide frequency response and smart ergonomic fit earbuds deliver dynamic, crystal-clear sound while helping to keep out unwanted outside noise. Stereo headset tonally balanced audio with crisp highs and deep low notes, plus wider frequency response and lively sound quality for recorded audio. Long, 3.6-Ft headphone cord threads comfortably through clothing and bags making it easy to connect. disclaimer: * iPhone is a trademark of Apple, Registered in the US. And other countries. The trademark Blackberry is owned by research in motion limited and is registered in the United States and may be pending or registered in other countries. Panasonic is not endorsed, sponsored, affiliated with or otherwise authorized by research in motion limited. Android is a trademark of Google ** the Bluetooth word mark and logos are registered trademarks owned by the Bluetooth SIG, And any use of such marks by Panasonic Corporation is under license\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Good sound quality, but easy to lose\\n\\nReview: I have tried about 5 different Bluetooth headphones and these deliver the best sound. They are also the most expensive I've tried; previous pairs were around $25-30.\\n\\nThey headphones stay put, provide very good sound quality, and are available in multiple colors. I'm not sure exactly what the battery life is, but I do have to recharge them every night, and I listen to them 2-3 hours a day on my subway commute and at work.\\n\\nThe drawbacks are\\n1) they can sometimes tug on my ears when I move my head side to side, although they have never fallen out. For the record, I have a larger-then-average head.\\n2) They are small enough to lose easily. I can imagine, for example, forgetting I'm wearing them and have them fall off my neck when I'm taking off my coat in a public place. For that reason, and because I almost always end up loosing headphones 1-2 times a year, I'm docking a star. That makes the pricepoint of these very important -- make sure you can afford to lose these.\",\n \"Product: Protect both the front and back of your iPad 2 with an ultra slim case. Front cover folds back to allow different viewing angles for typing and watching videos.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: I like this ipad cover\\n\\nReview: Plusses:\\n- attractive (I like the bright color especially\\n- easy to use\\n- protects frunt and back\\n- when closed, turns the ipad off so saves battery\\n\\nCons\\n- doesn't quite hold the ipad upright as well as other covers I've used\\n- likewise, the closure doesn't work as well. I have to press the cover a bit extra to make sure that the ipad really turns off (saving battery)\\n\\nStill, I like the fact that, unlike my previous cover, this protects the back of the ipod. I'd recommend it, with the added warning that you need to make extra sure that the cover is really closed so as to maximize your batter when the ipad is not in use.\",\n \"Product: Nautica Baby 3 piece Comfort Boys' Suit Sets. Perfect for any occasion such as wedding, party, birthday, holiday, church, and other special events.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Pants way too big, shirt and jacket perfect.\\n\\nReview: I bought this for my son for a wedding we needed to attend. He is 26.5 lbs, 31 inches tall.\\n\\nThe shirt fit perfectly -- will probably be too small in a month or two. Same with the jacket.\\n\\nThe pants, though, were waaaaay too big. I expected them to be so in length (he's short) but also in teh waste. I had to roll them up at the top and the bottom, and just leave the shirt unticked for the most part.\\n\\nAlso, we didn't use the tie. It's a clip on tie, and a bit too narrow for my taste. I had another kids tie that was a bit wider and also attached in the back which I prefer.\\n\\nAll that said, we got lots of compliments on his suit. People at the wedding thought he looked adorable.\",\n \"Product: Fruit of the Loom womens socks are amazingly soft, incredibly comfortable, and at a price that won't break your budget.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: A good sock for boots and sneakers.\\n\\nReview: I need socks like these for two purposes: 1) as no-show socks in sneakers, and 2) to cushion my feet in ankle and knee-high boots. I typically buy boots a half size larger than necessary, for the purposes of accommodating socks so that my feet stay warm.\\n\\nThese socks work well for both purposes. They are the perfect thickness to provide cushioning in boots, and aren't high enough to show in sneakers. They do not slip around my ankles (which happens in some versions I've bought at stores like H&M) and there isn't so much padding in the foot and toebox that my feet feel cramped in boots.\\n\\nI would only buy these socks for the purposes I mentioned. If I were to buy ankle socks for running, I'd buy ones that had more cushioning at the toe.\\n\\nRecommended.\",\n \"Product: Veronica Sawyer (Winona Ryder) has sacrificed everything in order to preserve her place in Westerburg Highs most impenetrable social clique, the HEATHERS. As the only member of the group not named \\\"Heather\\\", Veronica has to work extra hard just to stay afloat. Going against her own morals and intelligence, Veronica succumbs to peer pressure on a daily basis, faking her delight in the humiliation of the schools less popular students. Bored of the frat parties and cow tipping so popular among her friends, Veronicas curiosity is peaked when a mysterious new guy named J.D. comes to town. The dark, brooding J.D. (Christian Slater at his best) observes Veronica among her pack in the lunchroom (where social hierarchy is most clearly displayed), concluding that Veronica is not a Heather at heart. When Veronica confides in J.D. that she hates her friends and wishes Heather #1 was dead, she never expects her words to have such dire consequences. Before she knows whats happening, J.D. is dragging Veronica on a killing spree staged as a teen suicide outbreak. But as Veronica soon learns, even death cannot stop the HEATHERS. As one Heather dies, her red scrunchee (the symbol of all power) gets passed on to the next Heather in line, and the clique that was the HEATHERS starts to feel like an inescapable social disease. How far will this war for popularity go? By far the darkest of teen comedies, HEATHERS invented a vocabulary of teen-speak all its own, asking questions like \\\"Whats your damage?\\\" and introducing phrases like \\\"How very\\\". Director Michael Lehmann successfully blends the horror, comedy, and teen movie genres, creating a truly original film. Full of dark humor and deeply sardonic messages, HEATHERS takes a fresh look at the often-sugarcoated cinematic world of high school. Set in the 1980's, the film feels timeless in its relevance because of the daring nature of its themes.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Kinda creepy, but worth watching\\n\\nReview: The Amazon review is absolutely correct in saying that this movie was a benchmark in intelligent cinema. It essentially uses the horror movie genre to be a metaphor for the horrors of high school (in that way it has much in commom with Buffy the Vampire Slayer).\\nPersonally, I think this movie is worth watching for Christian Slayer alone. He's a dead-on ringer for Jack Nicholson (too bad Slater seems to have fizzled away), and he and Wynona Ryder sparkle on screen. Plus, you get Shannon Dougherty as an insecure nerd (before she finally embraces her inner b---h towards the end of the movie).\\nIf you like the Buffy series, and 80's teen movies in general, this is a definate must watch.\",\n \"Product: Robbie Williams - Ego Has Landed - Cd\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Let Robbie Entertain You\\n\\nReview: I've had this CD for over a year, and it never gets old. When I'm in the mood for some old-fashioned irreverent fun, all I gotta do is pop this one in the discman. It's unfortunate that Robbie seems unable to become a US pop icon, because he would be a much needed reprieve from the Britney and Justin wannabes that otherwise monopolize the pop scene (and that includes Eminem as well). Robbie's funny, yet always dripping in sarcasm and great wit. The same could be said of Eminem, but unlike that particular pop star, Robbie always seems to be having fun, even when his songs are otherwise mocking and self-pitying (listen to No Regrets, a great bitter post break-up song). Many of these songs capture the mid-20s angst feeling better than John Mayer could dream of doing ( On Old Before I Die Robbie recites \\\"I hope I'm old before I die. I hope I live to re-live the days gone by. . . .but tonight I'm gonna live for today so come along for the ride. . .\\\") and Millennium (which I believe is either a humorous commentary on today's fast-paced culture. . .or the laments of a celebrity out of rehab) always gets a wry grin from me every time I hear it.\\nIf you're thinking about giving Robbie a try, and I'm assuming you are since you're reading this, definitely try him. But beware - once you hear Robbie, American pop music just will not sound the same.\",\n \"Product: 836-003 Features: -Includes 7 toys, electronic light and music, 7 melodies, extra large mat. -Baby will delight over the fun electronic light and music toy with 7 melodies. -Adorable hanging toys can be positioned anywhere on the arches using the unique slide rings bringing smiles to baby as they reach and bat at their favorite toys. -Extra large mat is thick and soft, with engaging animals friends, 3D zebra main. -Peek-a-boo elephant ears and crinkle square. -5 in 1 Multi positions. Product Type: -Baby gym mat. Color: -Multi-Color. Mat Material: -Fabric. Number of Items Included: -8. Dimensions: Overall Height - Top to Bottom: -17.7\\\". Overall Width - Side to Side: -41.7\\\". Overall Depth - Front to Back: -45.2\\\". Overall Product Weight: -4.7 lbs.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: My 2 month old loves it\\n\\nReview: I was skeptical at first, at least for my son who was only 4 weeks when I first put him in it. But he started focusing on the objects right away. At 6 weeks he started to reach for them, and now he really is fascinated by the items hanging from the bars. The adjustable arms allow me to place the hanging toys within his reach, and he bats them around, although he can't grab them (yet). I'd say it gives me a good 20 minutes of time to do other things while he's occupied. Not long in the grand scheme of things, but long enough for me to eat breakfast in the mornings, which is when I typically put him in it.\\n\\nI've also had the opportunity for a two year old to visit, and she sat on the mat and right away started pulling at the elephant's ears (which make noise) and clearly thought it was a fun mat. So I have no doubt that this gymnini will grow with my son. I also appreciate that the music has two settings, one soft and one loud. I use the soft :\\n\\nThis also uses lights, but I can't tell if the lights are truly necessary. It also required batteries, which were a pain in the butt to put in. But I'm so unused to dealing with toys and batteries -- I've been completely unprepared at how necessary batteries are once you have kids!\\n\\nOverall, recommended. It combines bright colors with music and lights, it's got a lot of adjustments that can accomodate a newborn and grow with him.\",\n \"Product: This fun, inflatable ball pit features 50 play balls and a secret doorway. Squeeze the horn and hear a special sound. Great for ages 2 and up. All game balls are phthalate free.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Fun, but not enough balls\\n\\nReview: I have a 15 month old who loves crawling in and out of the door, and throwing the balls in and out of the center. I also have a 4 year old who isn't much interested.\\n\\nThe number of balls that comes with this item is not a lot; they do not even cover the floor of the structure. If you really want to have that \\\"ball pit\\\" feeling, you'll have to buy extra balls. I probably will, because I think that will entice my 4 year old more.\\n\\nWe have this in a corner of our living room; it's replacing a large toy structure that used to be there. This item is not small -- I'd only put it in a fairly sizable playroom, or keep it for special occasions only.\\n\\nWe used an air pump to fill it. Took about 7 minutes. We'll probably keep it around until it punctures a hole somewhere, which I assume will happen eventually.\",\n \"Product: The play circle mighty tidy sweeping set is a one-piece sweeping and play cleaning set that turns pretend help into real help! This functional and adorable broom and dustpan set for toddlers helps them learn how to keep a mighty tidy house while engaging in learning, imaginative play, and developing fine motor skills. The size of the handle is perfect for small hands and lets them sweep up dust bunnies with mom or dad, without the knock-out effects that an adult-sized broom handle can create. (We know you parents understand what we mean!) the hand broom snaps into the dustpan a fun feature for kids to experiment with that also has a practical side effect. And why stop at cleaning? This brightly colored play broom set for toddlers can be an accessory for all kinds of imaginary play! Dress as a pink witch and fly this broom to the moon! Turn it upside down, dress it up with a face and clothes, and you'll have a new friend with a colorful Spiky hairdo. The options are endless! A fantastic gift that provides different screen-free role-play and learning opportunities at a variety of ages and developmental stages, This kids play cleaning set is great combined with other imaginary-play items like the home neat home Vacuum, The best pressed ironing board, and the dishes wishes dish and utensil set. Help your child learn good habits and have fun at the same time!\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Can actually sweep, but my kid uses it as a toy.\\n\\nReview: Although this is a \\\"play\\\" sweep set, my toddler can actually use it to sweep. Unfortunately, he doesn't, as he identifies this as a toy. So instead of leaving it in the kitchen, he's taken it to his (carpeted) room, used it as a sword, \\\"swept\\\" his brother and baby sister's backs, and generally just used it for things other than cleaning.\\n\\nThis is disappointing, because we have an actual small broom that he does use to clean. But I think the size of this and the colors indicates to him that it's not for cleaning, it's a toy. Consider that if you're getting this and hoping your child will actually learn to clean up with it. It might be better to just buy him/her an actual broom.\",\n \"Product: Designed to grow with baby in three stages, Skip Hop's Silver Lining Cloud Baby's View Activity Center is an action-packed take on our best-selling gym. Featuring the same developmental approach to play and learning as our Explore & More version, the decor-friendly design features a 360-degree rotating seat that turns and stretches for bouncing. Our unique Discover Window gives little ones a clear view of their feet as they play the light-up piano to connect cause and effect. Four dreamy toys can be rearranged for customized play. As baby grows, the activity center converts for easy cruising. At stage three, it transforms into a sturdy toddler table with a plastic chalkboard surface for drawing, playing-the sky's the limit.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great toy, but baby wishes it bounced -\\n\\nReview: When I put my 4.5 month old in this seat, she immediately started playing. I think she was grabbing the toys before she even was fully in the seat. She was engaged for about 10-15 minutes, and my 2.5 year old also joined her, and they both played with the toys for a few minutes. I really love the flexibility this toy gives in terms of toy placement, and I like that it lasts through the toddler years, as you can convert it to a toddler table.\\n\\nThat said, I have one caveat -\\n\\nWe also have a bouncer, which my child loves even more. In fact, after about 15 minutes of playing with this toy, she became frustrated at her inability to bounce in it, as she has become accustomed to bouncing. For that reason, I suspect this toy will not get much use as an activity table -- it will go straight to cruising and then play table. So it's worth asking yourself whether you want an activity table or a bouncer. Your baby may like a bouncer more, but you'll use it for a shorter period of time. Just things to consider.\",\n \"Product: Baby's first music box with endless choices of melodies. Grows with your baby from crib as a mobile to toddler as a stand alone music box. Unique design with two high quality designed speakers.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Pretty mobile option for baby\\n\\nReview: My baby enjoys this mobile for 10-15 minute stretches. The animals turn in circles while the whole thing revolves. There are multiple options for music, including white noise, lullabies, and \\\"world\\\". There is also an option to turn on a night light.\\n\\nI dig the world music option, and I like the overall style of this mobile. The animals on the mobile are modern-looking and the color palette is muted, which makes this a good fit if you have a modern-style nursery.\\n\\nI had a little trouble putting it together. . the mobile actually fell into the crib once because I hadn't secured the animal piece to the arm well enough. Luckily, my baby was not in it at the time, but be sure that it's tightly screwed before you use it.\\n\\nOne caveat - and the reason I'd deduct a star from any mobile. Parents typically put these over cribs, thinking they help babies fall asleep. This was true for my first baby 6 years ago. However, my 2 month old daughter is not lulled to sleep by this mobile --- in fact, she finds it stimulating and it delays her falling asleep. I'm likely going to take it down and put it over the changing table instead, so we can still get some use out of it.\",\n \"Product: Climb and crush obstacles with the ultimate climbing creature Terra Climber! This fully functional RC vehicle includes everything you need to conquer obstacles indoors or outdoors! When the creatures tail is extended its an epic two feet long! The Terra Climber can actually scale stairs up to eight inches high, climb piles of rocks and hills in any direction. Climb and conquer obstacles right away with the Terra Climber Radio Control Vehicle its ready to run with 9.6v rechargeable batteries and charger included!\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Too much toy for toddlers -\\n\\nReview: This thing may have been too much toy for my boys. . .\\n\\nI got it for my 5 year old and 2 year old to play with -- they have a remote control car which they love. They were immediately fascinated by how this thing moved and climbed, but were totally freaked out, too. They played with the remote, but wouldn't get too close, and are still trying to figure out how to control it. (There is a learning curve in figuring out which buttons to push for forward, back, and turning.)\\n\\nMy stairs are too shallow for this thing to climb, but outside, it did a pretty good job of rolling over sticks and stones and logs. I expect it to stick around for awhile as a toy my kids enjoy -- and I think they will grow into it over the next 3-4 years. That said, I would not recommend to any kid younger than 8.\\n\\nRecommend.\",\n \"Product: This set includes wooden tracks, a fire train with a fire hose wagon, docking station, firefighter figure, fire truck with light and sound, gateway, wooden tree and fire. BRIO creates innovative, high-quality and well-designed toys with clean, simple designs that spark children's creativity and imagination while encouraging and supporting each stage of their development. For over a century, our mission has been to create happy childhood memories. All wooden parts are made from 100% FSC-certified beech wood from sustainably managed forests and are built to last for generations.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: We really like it.\\n\\nReview: This is our third kids train set. Previous ones were from IKEA and Melissa & Doug.\\n\\nI like this one a lot. The train itself is more imaginative than the one from IKEA or Melissa & Doug. This is probably because the train is plastic, and has moving parts (a ladder, a little firefighter, and a hose). You get a fair number of parts for the price. My 2 year old has not stopped playing with this set since we opened it a week ago.\\n\\nBonus -- the track fits well (enough) with the Melissa and Doug set. It's not perfect, but you can add this set to an existing M & D train set if you already have one. It kinda fits our IKEA one as well, but not nearly as well.\\n\\nRecommend.\",\n \"Product: Fisher-Price Think & Learn Spell & Speak Sea Turtle\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: I like this turtle\\n\\nReview: I really like this toy, particularly compared to many other \\\"learning\\\" toys out there on the market.\\n\\nThis little turtle has three different modes, that vary in cognitive ability, so it can meet your child where s/he's at right now. The first mode is essentially a speak and say mode -- your kid pushes a button, and the toy tells you the word and the first letter. Push the button again, and it'll tell you how to spell the word. The second mode is a more complex skill -- you learn rhymes. Then there's the last mode, which is a \\\"game\\\". In that mode, the turtle will ask you to push buttons in response to questions like \\\"what word begins with a \\\"c\\\"? or to tell the turtle which of the objects you can find in the air.\\n\\nRight now, my two year old is playing with the little arrows on the feet -- which move pictures on a little screen in the front. He also uses the first mode, and is slowly grasping the letters and spelling. I can tell the wheels his head are turning. He especially likes to play with it with me, so it's fostering interaction between us, too, which is optimal for toddler development.\\n\\nI typically shy away from most electronic toys, but this one I'm happy to have and would give as a gift to any parent of a 2-4 year old.\",\n \"Product: Lisa Jewell is the bestselling author of fifteen books, including her most recent novel, the Sunday Times Number One bestseller Then She Was Gone. She lives in London with her husband and two children.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Good, satisfying, fun read\\n\\nReview: After having read Thirty-Nothing, I decided I had to read everything Lisa Jewel has ever written. After having read Ralph's Party, I know I'm right.\\nThe story of 6 not quite strangers who live and love in an apartment building should have been cheeky and rather like a bad sitcom. Instead, the story was quite convincing. Ralph and Smith are roommates/best friends, caught in an early thirties slump, so Smith finds a roommate, Jem, simply to break the monotany of their lives. Jem, motivated by a dream, is sure that Smith is THE ONE, but Ralph has figured otherwise. Smith, the most repulsive character of the bunch, has a dream-crush on the perfect, but mean as a snake Cheri. Karl and Siobhan, who live upstairs, have settled into a domestic life where neither of them are really going anywhere or improving their lives either.\\nOf course, someone has to get together with someone else. And of course someone is going to end up in the book with their heart broken. But guessing which one will be which is half the fun. My gripes about the book: Cheri is a bit one-dimensional, and I would have liked to have been in Smith's head a little more. But all in all, good stuff.\",\n \"Product: childrens book\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Perhaps for a toddler, but not for an infant\\n\\nReview: I've \\\"read\\\" this mostly-picture book to my 5 month old. The book contains no words, only sounds. The sounds were fun to say to my baby, but ultimately, he is at the stage where he wants to touch things and look at them; he's not so much interested in the words or sounds.\\n\\nWhen I read this to him, he wasn't too interested. He prefers the board books, or touch and feel books-- then he reaches for the pages and tries to turn them. The graphics of this book are not appealing to him. I think it would have been better in a board book, where he could turn the pages himself, and where I could have enjoyed the sounds.\\n\\nOh well. Maybe in a year he'll be more interested?\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":24,"string":"24"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_3"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":868,"string":"868"}}},{"rowIdx":869,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"A2YNK8YBJQ6DY9"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of \"4.0\" for a product with description \"Text: English, Greek (translation)\". The summary of the review text is \"The Life of Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Comnenus\"."},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"Anna Comnena, the eldest daughter to the Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Comnenus, in her later years, wrote this biography of her father. She was continuing an effort started by her deceased husband Nicephorus Bryennius who was a general in the imperial army (among other things). Emperor Alexius was an extraordinary emperor. He ruled during a turbulent time where every neighbor wanted to conquer them. The condition of the empire had been severely weakened for many years and the frequent internal conflicts continued to leave the empire vulnerable. Anna succeeds in her goal of showing what an impressive leader her father was. She relates the continuous warfare and intrigues that Alexius had to endure. A lesser man would certainly have become overwhelmed, but Alexius was able to weather the storm and hold the empire together. What I found truly remarkable is that Alexius seemed to lose more battles than he won, but he was still able to win each war.\n\nBut Anna is a biased source. Her scorn of the enemies of Byzantium should be considered. Here are a couple examples of her selective testimony. The introduction of Robert Guiscard and Pope Gregory VII is a little too concise and filled with much prejudice. The story that she gives of Robert Guiscard's rise to power may or may not be true, but she certainly left out the more important acts of Robert. She also neglects to mention that Robert Guiscard had driven Byzantium out of Italy only 7 years earlier. This is what lead to Emperor Michael VII Ducas suing for peace with Robert with the marriage proposal. Late in the book, she professes the greatness of her mother Irene, saying that Alexius never let her leave his side. While she tells the tenderness in which Irene treats him, Anna fails to mention that Irene had been conspiring to have Anna's husband replace Anna's brother John as heir. This desire Anna shared and did not want to write about after the failed assassination attempt on John and later confinement by him.\n\nThe Alexiad is also frequently confusing as Anna's lack of knowledge causes her to misrepresent information, incorrectly identify people, and leave out relevant information. Reading the Alexiad without knowledge of the period is not recommended. Fortunately, this book comes with good footnotes which help the reader by pointing out where Anna is wrong and filling in the gaps in her story. I have increased my rating one star because of his efforts. And despite her failing, the Alexiad does provide a historical record from the Byzantine side and present the story of an incredible versatile emperor.\n\nIf you are interested in the time period in which Anna writes, I recommend <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Byzantium-The-Decline-and-Fall/dp/0679416501/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Byzantium: The Decline and Fall</a> by John Julius Norwich or <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/A-History-of-the-Crusades-Vol-I-The-First-Crusade-and-the-Foundations-of-the-Kingdom-of-Jerusalem-Volume-1/dp/052134770X/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">A History of the Crusades Vol. I: The First Crusade and the Foundations of the Kingdom of Jerusalem (Volume 1)</a> and <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/A-History-of-the-Crusades-Volume-II-The-Kingdom-of-Jerusalem-and-the-Frankish-East-1100-1187/dp/0521347718/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">A History of the Crusades: Volume II The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Frankish East, 1100-1187</a> by Stephen Runciman and <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/First-Crusade/dp/0743220846/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">First Crusade</a> by Thomas Asbridge for coverage of the Crusades."},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"Anna Comnena, the eldest daughter to the Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Comnenus, in her later years, wrote this biography of her father. She was continuing an effort started by her deceased husband Nicephorus Bryennius who was a general in the imperial army (among other things). Emperor Alexius was an extraordinary emperor. He ruled during a turbulent time where every neighbor wanted to conquer them. The condition of the empire had been severely weakened for many years and the frequent internal conflicts continued to leave the empire vulnerable. Anna succeeds in her goal of showing what an impressive leader her father was. She relates the continuous warfare and intrigues that Alexius had to endure. A lesser man would certainly have become overwhelmed, but Alexius was able to weather the storm and hold the empire together. What I found truly remarkable is that Alexius seemed to lose more battles than he won, but he was still able to win each war.\n\nBut Anna is a biased source. Her scorn of the enemies of Byzantium should be considered. Here are a couple examples of her selective testimony. The introduction of Robert Guiscard and Pope Gregory VII is a little too concise and filled with much prejudice. The story that she gives of Robert Guiscard's rise to power may or may not be true, but she certainly left out the more important acts of Robert. She also neglects to mention that Robert Guiscard had driven Byzantium out of Italy only 7 years earlier. This is what lead to Emperor Michael VII Ducas suing for peace with Robert with the marriage proposal. Late in the book, she professes the greatness of her mother Irene, saying that Alexius never let her leave his side. While she tells the tenderness in which Irene treats him, Anna fails to mention that Irene had been conspiring to have Anna's husband replace Anna's brother John as heir. This desire Anna shared and did not want to write about after the failed assassination attempt on John and later confinement by him.\n\nThe Alexiad is also frequently confusing as Anna's lack of knowledge causes her to misrepresent information, incorrectly identify people, and leave out relevant information. Reading the Alexiad without knowledge of the period is not recommended. Fortunately, this book comes with good footnotes which help the reader by pointing out where Anna is wrong and filling in the gaps in her story. I have increased my rating one star because of his efforts. And despite her failing, the Alexiad does provide a historical record from the Byzantine side and present the story of an incredible versatile emperor.\n\nIf you are interested in the time period in which Anna writes, I recommend <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Byzantium-The-Decline-and-Fall/dp/0679416501/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Byzantium: The Decline and Fall</a> by John Julius Norwich or <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/A-History-of-the-Crusades-Vol-I-The-First-Crusade-and-the-Foundations-of-the-Kingdom-of-Jerusalem-Volume-1/dp/052134770X/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">A History of the Crusades Vol. I: The First Crusade and the Foundations of the Kingdom of Jerusalem (Volume 1)</a> and <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/A-History-of-the-Crusades-Volume-II-The-Kingdom-of-Jerusalem-and-the-Frankish-East-1100-1187/dp/0521347718/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">A History of the Crusades: Volume II The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Frankish East, 1100-1187</a> by Stephen Runciman and <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/First-Crusade/dp/0743220846/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">First Crusade</a> by Thomas Asbridge for coverage of the Crusades."},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Product: Set in the Pacific Theatre of WWII, Medal of Honor Pacific Assault represents a unique addition to the award-winning Medal of Honor franchise. Players step into the boots of Marine Private Tom Conlin and feel his shock at the destruction of the American fleet at Pearl Harbor, his growing resolve in the fight for Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, and his triumph at the battle for Tarawa Island. MOH: Pacific Assault combines 7 expansive single player missions covering 25 levels with over 9 new multiplayer maps and includes new locations, new weapons, and new soldiers. Soldiers gain access to over 21 historically accurate WWII era weapons, including M1 Carbines, Japanese Arisaka rifles, and the Type 100 submachine gun. New vehicles including M4 Flamethrower Tanks, and PT boats.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Improvements in Game Play, but Single Player Campaign is a letdown\n\nReview: Medal of Honor Pacific Assault(MOHPA) leaves me with mixed feelings. I have played <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Medal-of-Honor-Allied-Assault-Deluxe/dp/B000089SBB/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Medal of Honor Allied Assault Deluxe</a> (MOHAA), <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Call-of-Duty-Game-of-the-Year-Edition/dp/B0000C6EB4/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Call of Duty: Game of the Year Edition</a> (COD), and <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Brothers-in-Arms-Road-to-Hill-30/dp/B0002AL1Z6/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30</a> (BIA).\n\nPositives: Graphics are top notch and realistic. MOHPA improves all of the areas that were lacking in MOHAA. You can pick up any type of weapon in the game including the enemy's, Japanese ammunition only works in the Japanese weapons, you have full range of movement (crouch and prone), ability to use aim with any weapon. The teammate AI is greatly improved over MOHAA. Your teammates are useful and necessary part of the game to complete tough missions. There was added feature where one of your teammates is a corpsman and can heal you and your teammates. The enemy AI is also much improved on higher difficulty levels. They use team assault techniques and effective flanking tactics. Basically, MOHPA brings all of the game play features that COD brought to the table.\n\nWeaknesses: The main reason I gave this game lower marks is the campaign missions. I really did not like a lot of them. The Pearl Harbor scenarios were a drag and boring. It would have been better to just show a movie for Pearl Harbor scenario. The flying mission was irritating. If I wanted a flight simulator, I would buy one. The controls were horrible and unrealistic and I also could not destroy the Japanese carrier after hitting it with 4 bombs and a torpedo. Most of the rest of the missions were jungle patrols and capture the huts. These missions reminded me more of Vietnam than WWII. The real complaint with these missions was that the play field was so limited that you could not use flanking. Most of vehicle missions seems poorly setup. It really didn't matter if you did anything in several of the missions; they still had the same outcome.\n\nWhile the teammate AI was improved, the teammate controls were limited. BIA has vastly better teammate controls which allows you to move them in certain directions and put fire on specific targets. Also while I liked the corpsman feature, basically he would heal your teammates indefinitely. Your teammates cannot die and he can even heal himself from deaths door. Very unrealistic. Basically they used this to offset the overwhelming odds you were usually fighting in.\n\nSummary: If you have waited this long to buy the game your computer should be able to handle the hearty system requirements. MOHPA gets A+ for graphics realism, but falls short of realistic campaign missions. Loading times are also extremely long even for high powered modern machines. If you really want to experience the Pacific theatre of WWII, you may want to get this game. Otherwise, you likely won't find much enjoyment here.","Product: The Bard's Tale was the great-grandfather of modern-day Computer role-players. This updated version brings back the fun and adventure, as you play The Bard -- a hero who's only after coins and cleavage. Is a dragon attacking a village? He'll face it, for the right price. Has a princess been kidnapped? He'll save her, but only if she's hot. Comedy and fantasy action combine for a uniqe 3D role-playing experience!\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Songs, Stories, and Adventure\n\nReview: The Bard's Tale (BT) is a good change of pace. The Bard is a mercenary of sorts looking to score women, fortune, and drink. He has a keenly sarcastic tongue and makes a point to only take action when he has something to gain personally. The storyline is entertaining and funny with cut scenes that have good voice acting. The cut scenes make this game. The atmosphere of the tavern in Houton is well planned and enjoyable. You get to decide what course to take the conversation (nasty or nice) and being nice is not always the correct path. The humor pokes fun at the storyline and adventure stereotypes. The humor is not for everyone, but I found it entertaining. Don't get me wrong BT doesn't take the place of Baldur's Gate, but it is certainly better than the industry reviewers rated it.\n\nBut, this game offers more than just a storyline. The combat in BT is fun. The Bard is a mixture of fighter and amateur conjurer. The Bard has the option of fighting with sword and shield, two weapons, two-handed weapons, and a flail. You control when the Bard attacks and blocks. The action is not limited to the same repetitive swing, the combat is dynamic as the attack causes body to shift positions and then attack from a different angle. I especially enjoyed the two weapon fighting. The Bard can also call upon several types of conjured creatures to support him. These creatures vary in abilities like front line fighters, ranged attackers, healers, trap detectors/disarm. The amount of creatures that can be summoned vary based on the equipment in his possession and his abilities. The character advancement follows a similar (yet simpler) pattern as Dungeons & Dragons. For each level you gain you can increase your attributes and get talents every few levels. The perspective camera can be shifted to any direction (but not to first person), which was a helpful feature.\n\nBT does have its drawbacks. In combat, you get bounced around when you are hit kind of like an old Nintendo game. The game controls do feel like it was made for game consoles. The character advancement options are very limited. It makes sense for game storyline, but makes replayability basically zero. The storyline is very linear so again don't expect replayability. There are a couple of strange things that some may like and others will hate. When you pick up something it is instantly converted to currency unless it is better than previously attained equipment and the old equipment is then sold automatically.\n\nA few technical notes: I was unable to play BT on my new computer with Microsoft Vista OS even with patches installed. It gave me an error message requesting an older version of Microsoft Media Player and it would not let me load the older version of Media Player since by computer was running 64 bit OS. You might be able to run on 32 bit version of Vista, but no guarantees. I was able to run it on my older computer (P4 2.4GHz running Windows XP SR1, 640MB RAM, 128MN ATI Radeon 9200); however, I did experience some lag during some cut scenes and with certain creatures summoned or lots enemies in the screen.","Product: Brothers in Arms is a realistic, gritty WWII shooter based on a true story. The game puts you in the shoes of Sergeant Matt Baker, a D-Day paratrooper squad leader, and asks you to lead the squad as you balance their lives with the success of the mission. The true stories and historical events you experience on you perilous journey take you through real battlefields meticulously recreated from aerial reconnaissance images, US Army Signal Corps photos and eye-witness accounts of war-torn Normandy. Players of all skill levels can battle their way through Brothers in Arms innovative yet accessible command and control system. Brothers in Arms places you in the center of D-Day to experience the self-sacrifice and unprecedented bravery of the troops who fought to win the freedoms that we enjoy today.”\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Fight the Germans with the Screaming Eagles as it happened in WWII\n\nReview: I was rather uncertain about purchasing this game due to the poor reviews. I went ahead and got it because it was dirt cheap. I did have problems with crashes causing the computer to restart. These ended up being caused by an out of date video card driver. I did not have any problems with security software, but I have a DVD ROM drive. The game does work for ATI and Nvidia video cards. Make sure you download the latest patch.\n\nThe designers made a concerted effort to recreate actual WWII combat movements of the 101st Airborne starting with their parachute drop in Normandy. The buildings and other terrain shown in the game are based on WWII aerial reconnaissance and pictures. The missions are based on combat action reports recorded by the actual soldiers who fought in WWII. As you play the game, extras are enabled to be viewed which show various things about the actual WWII missions, pictures from Normandy during WWII and now, and lots of other interesting material.\n\nI like the squad based commands. This is a great merger of combat strategy and first person shooter (FPS) games. The commands are very simple to use, but they are limited to line of site. Contrary to some of the reviews, you can hit target even that have cover, but basically you have aim using zoom feature in the gun and range has a major influence. Cover provides significantly more protection than most other shooter games, but I think this adds to the strategy of the game. The game uses a suppression system that is really cool, but the indicator in the game detracts from the realism (this can be turned off). The situational awareness feature allows you to pause the game and see the position of your team members. This is useful to be able to move your squad efficiently and plan attacks. I think is a little overdone. It allows you to zoom in on enemy positions. I think it should be more limited to line of sight of the team members. My only real complaint is that the computer AI does not try to use the same squad based tactics that the player uses. The Germans mostly only fight defensively and their counterattacks are not coordinated and do not react to your placement.\n\nI gave the game four stars because of good use of squad based commands and authenticity of the terrain and missions. It's something different than the typical WWII FPS games.","Product: MODEL- 49297 VENDOR- THQ FEATURES- Company of Heroes PC Command the Company that Changed the Face of History From the studio that brought you the blockbuster Game of the Year titles Homeworld and Warhammer 40000: Dawn of War comes the next revolution in action strategy. Company of Heroes is a WW2 Real Time Strategy game that brings to life the journey of the brave men of Able Company as they fight across Europe in the greatest war mankind has ever known. From the opening shots of the D-Day invasion of Normandy players will find themselves immersed in a rich single player campaign. Experience the cinematic intensity courage and bravery of the heroes that defined a generation set against the backdrop of the most dynamic battlefield ever seen in a game. * Essence Engine - Relic s next generation cutting-edge engine provides graphics quality and a physics driven world that is unprecedented in an RTS. * Environmental Strategy - Real-time physics and a completely destructible environment guarantee no two battles ever play out in the same way. Destroy anything and re-shape the battlefield in your image! Use buildings and terrain to your advantage or deny them to the enemy. * Living Soldiers - Advanced squad AI brings your soldiers to life as they interact with their changing environment take cover and execute advanced squad tactics to eliminate all enemy opposition. * 2-8 players MP competition via Lan or Internet - Go online with friends and join in the ultimate battle of Axis versus Allies. -- SPECIFICATIONs ---------------------------------------ESRB Rating : M for MatureGenre/Category : StrategySystem : PCNumber of Players : 1\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Immersive Single Player Campaign With Multiplayer That Will Leave You Shell Shocked\n\nReview: Company of Heroes (COH) is an awesome game. Beautiful graphics. Fully rotatable view with zoom allows you to get into the middle of the fight. Environments that really can be destroyed. Great use of cover and buildings. This reminds me of <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Close-Combat-Invasion-Normandy/dp/B00004Y7SY/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Close Combat: Invasion Normandy</a> with way more options and better graphics. The music and small arms fire is deafening and immersive. I really enjoyed the ability to pick up enemy weapons and even to split units like when an infantry team of 6 troops picks up a heavy MG that requires only 3. If only the troop's history and experience followed the Close Combat system in campaigns. The cut scenes are well written with vivid animations. The base game has one single player campaign where you play as the Americans starting at the Normandy invasion at Omaha Beach (my least favorite mission). The campaign has 15 missions which concludes with closing the Falaise Pocket at Chambois. The missions are enjoyable and varied with most representing an actual historical battle. You will only be able to play as the Americans in the single player campaign; however, the expansions <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Company-Of-Heroes-Opposing-Fronts/dp/B000U850P2/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Company Of Heroes: Opposing Fronts</a> and <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Company-of-Heroes-Tales-of-Valor/dp/B001E27KTM/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor</a> allow you to play as the Germans and British as well as more single player campaigns. Don't worry about taking a long time to learn the controls. COH comes with an excellent tutorial which gets you ready for the fight.\n\nMy Favorite Mission: Holding Carentan against German counterattack.\n\nThere are some things I don't like. Line of sight and weapon range are unrealistically short. It would have been better if they had used something like the Close Combat line of sight system which gives limited information for things that are far away. But you would still notice someone running by in the distance. The range of tank weapons is extremely short. However, this has been play balanced by giving tanks excessive durability. COH does not attempt to simulate realistic combat, but it is enjoyable none the less.\n\nThere is a lot of vulgarity used by the troops in the game. It combines with the general background and responses of the units to create a humorous contrast to the frenzied combat. I did not have a problem with it, but it is noticeable especially by bystanders (i.e. my girlfriend).\n\nMultiplayer takes it to a whole new level. Speed in taking positions and being able to manage the battlefield are the deciding factor in head to head action. You barely have time to breath when the s*** hits the fan. There is an online ranking system where you play head to head against other players of similar skill. You can also setup special games with multiple players on each side or even play cooperatively against the computer in skirmishes. Online or in Skirmish mode you can play as the Germans, but you will need the expansions to access the British and Panzer Elite armies. You can also save replays so you can watch your exploits or embarrassing defeats at your leisure. It still has a little of Warcraft or Starcraft feel since it does not attempt to be historical (unlimited ammo and ability to build new units), but it is still a lot of fun.\n\nSome notes on patches: I'm using patched version 2.6.0.1. It took 15 separate patches to get it from version 1.0 to current version. The early patches are also becoming difficult to find. Though once you get to 2.1.0.1 the game will download them from inside the game which is better than searching the internet and after version 2.4.0.0 it downloads multiple patches at one time. I would recommend getting Company of Heroes Gold or other later releases for this reason alone. The amount of patches do show you that Relic is committed to their games and responds to play balance issues. One nice thing is that you don't need the DVD in the drive to play. I read in the December 2010 issue of PC Gamer that they are releasing an online platform. I believe you can even download the game and play for free online.\n\nStability: I found the game to be very stable. I did encounter a couple of crashes, but this was extremely rare. I would still recommend saving occasionally in single player mode just in case. I am running a quad Intel with Vista, 8GB RAM, and 1GB NVidia card","Product: Take complete control of your kingdom like never before and grow it into a continents-spanning empire through diplomacy, trade, espionage, and war! Join the Crusades as a Christian or Muslim empire and battle over the fate of the Holy Land. Raise mighty armies to crush your neighbors and conquer all of Europe and even the Americas to become the greatest power of the Middle Ages.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Total Domination of the Strategy Game Arena\n\nReview: The Total War Series continues to improve with Medieval 2 Total War (M2TW). I have played the Total War Series since the original Medieval Total War. I have loved all of them, and M2TW does not disappoint.\n\nI play on all very difficult settings and I found diplomacy extremely challenging but not impossible. When you are weak no one wants to be your ally, but as you grow in power you can find friends even from your former adversaries. Stick with it and don't forget gifts are appreciated. Many of the reviews have indicated that the computer AI is stupid. This must have been fixed with patches because the version I have has a aggressive AI that brings the fight to you early and often. In battles the AI will attack at full sprint as soon as your missile troops attack if they don't have superior missile troops. The AI does attack too frequently without a general though. Many battles would have been lost or at least caused more significant casualties if they had a decent commander.\n\nBasically, Total War has not changed dramatically, but the improvements continue to make it more and more fun to play.\n\nChanges / Improvements since Rome Total War:\n\n*Cities Specialize as cities or castles\n\n*New character types Priests, Merchants, Inquisitors, Heretics, and Witches.\n\n*Princesses are also back from the original Medieval Total War. Princesses can act as Diplomats or ensnare the hearts of foreign generals and bring them too your side.\n\n*Greatly improved siege warfare. City walls and especially castle walls defensives have improved. The higher levels of castles have multiple circuits. However, defensive towers will only fire when you have troops in the vicinity to man them.\n\n*Faction priests can become Cardinals and vote to elect or be elected pope\n\n*M2TW has crusades and the recruitment, management, effects are handled much better than the original Medieval Total War.\n\n*All countries can get missions which can come from various sources including a countries own nobility, the pope, or other nations (assassinate a current king for better relations with the new king). The missions come with rewards if achieved and sometimes penalties if they are failed.\n\n*Mercenaries can be reinforced after losses if they are available in their current location.\n\n*Armor improvements don't affect every unit the same way. Heavily armored units can't be upgraded until more advanced armor is available. Archers can only be improved so far. Much more realistic. Armor enhancements also cause the units to look different when they are in battle.\n\n*Guilds are available that offer specialized units and improvements. These cannot automatically be built. They can only be built when offered by the guild. The guild will offer based on how the settlement or nation is run.\n\n*Prisoner ransoms are back from original Medieval Total War\n\nSteps back from Rome Total War:\n\n*You can't select your heir. It is fixed based on eldest son to current heir or if none exists or he is too young goes to next oldest brother.\n\n*I noticed an odd bug that advances the date 2yrs/turn, but all the characters age at 6months/turn. If anyone knows how to fix this, please let me know.\n\n*I was not able to get any of the character retinues to move from one general to another. I know the manual said not all henchmen would move, but I wasn't able to move any.\n\nI have a pretty advanced computer with Vista running MTW2 Gold version and did not experience any crashes or lag even on highest graphics settings.","Product: Medieval II: Total War Kingdoms is the official expansion to last year's award-winning Medieval II Total War, presenting players with all-new territories to explore, troops to command, and enemies to conquer. Kingdoms is the most content rich expansion ever produced for a Total War game, with four new campaigns centered on expanded maps of the British Isles, Teutonic Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas. In Medieval II, players were only given a tantalizing glimpse of South America, but in Kingdoms, vast tracts of land in both North and South America have been opened up for players to conquer. All-new factions from the New World are also now fully playable, including the Aztecs, Apaches, and Mayans. Along with the new maps in Britannia, Teutonic, Crusades, and New World Campaigns, there are 13 new factions to play, over 110 units to control, and 50 building types, adding up to 80 hours of new gameplay. Kingdoms also offers new multiplayer maps and hotseat multiplayer, allowing players to play one-versus-one campaign games on the same computer.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great Expansion - Better than the Base Game\n\nReview: The Kingdoms expansion allows you to play four new campaigns. See more details of each below. I really enjoyed this expansion's campaigns better than even regular Medieval 2 Total War. These campaign had a more genuine historical feel. The gameplay is mostly the same as the original, but each campaign has some slight differences as well as new factions and units. I've been playing this off and on for several years and still love it. If you like the Total War series then you should get this game.\n\nCrusades Campaign\n\nAssassins were extremely deadly in this campaign. I had to send leaders around with an entourage of assassins and spies to prevent them from getting killed. King Baldwin got killed in the first 5 turns of play. I lost two other generals to the assassins blade even with protection.\n\nThe historical background is not very actuate. The game starts in 1174 AD after the death of King Amalric with King Baldwin the Leper King as the fraction leader. Again game years move too fast. It is cool when the 3rd crusade starts in the game as the player gets control of one of the commanders of the crusade and some additional troops. Jerusalem gets King Richard I of England Coeur-du-Lion and the Principality of Antioch gets King Philip Augustus of France. Regardless of the historical inaccuracies it is fun to take it to the Saracens with King Richard. It might have been more fun if the game had started off with the opening of the 3rd crusade with the objective to retake Jerusalem from Saladin.\n\nThe 4th crusade also occurs during the game. A new faction (Venice) is created which lands at Constantinople. I was not able to see much of this as I haven't played the Byzantines yet, but I imagine that would be a fun twist.\n\nAmericas Campaign\n\nI didn't really enjoy the Americas campaign all that much. You can play as the Spanish, Mayans, Aztecs, Apaches, and several other tribes I have never heard of (Chichimec, Tlaxcalans, and Tarascans). I played as the Spanish which I wouldn't recommend as it was too easy. You do get to use firearms in this campaign, but due to rate of fire infantry and cavalry units rule the field. I would recommend playing as one of the smaller tribes to get more of a challenge.\n\nBritannia Campaign\n\nI found the Britannia Campaign fun and exciting. It takes place in the reign of Henry III and his son Edward I. William Wallace also makes an appearance. The biggest difference in this campaign is that culture and not religion is used. The level of culture allows you to recruit different units. You can even recruit enemy culture units, but this access is quickly lost as your culture dominates. Culture seems to shift too rapidly which deteriorates this interesting feature.\n\nTeutonic Campaign\n\nThe Teutonic campaign lets you engage in the northern crusades. Conquer or defend Lithuania or Novgorod from the Teutonic Knights, Mongols, Danes, and Poles. This campaign also uses religion which restricts which units you can recruit. As a added twist, you can switch from Paganism to Christianity as the Lithuanians (which really occurred). I would recommend reading <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/The-Northern-Crusades-Second-Edition/dp/0140266534/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">The Northern Crusades: Second Edition</a> by Eric Christiansen for great overview of the subject.","Product: Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts PC\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Two More Armies Add Loads of Fun\n\nReview: COH: Opposing Fronts (OF) is stand-alone game that continues the Company of Heroes (COH) franchise. First off, I would not recommend getting COH:OF without the original COH. Having four fractions to play is what makes this game so much better. COH:OF gives you access to new playable factions the British and the Panzer Elite. Each have their benefits and weaknesses and will require new strategies to play with them and against them. Both of these new factions have their own single player campaign with around 8 missions. Basically on the whole about the same content as the original COH that had one campaign with 15 missions. The Panzer Elite campaign has you pitted against the new British army where you fight to defeat the British 1st airborne during Operation Market Garden. The British campaign has you pitted against a mixture of the new Panzer Elite and regular German Wehrmacht units while you move on Caen. Both campaigns are based on the historical WWII actions, but the Market Garden campaign had a more historical feel. I enjoyed both campaigns and found that they helped prepare me for playing online. If you would like to read more about the real battles, I would recommend <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/A-Bridge-Too-Far-The-Classic-History-of-the-Greatest-Battle-of-World-War-II/dp/0684803305/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">A Bridge Too Far: The Classic History of the Greatest Battle of World War II</a> by Cornelius Ryan for Panzer Elite campaign and <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Overlord-D-Day-and-the-Battle-for-Normandy/dp/0671460293/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Overlord: D-Day and the Battle for Normandy</a> by Max Hastings for the British campaign.\n\nFor those who have not played the original COH, this game has beautiful graphics. Fully rotatable view with zoom allows you to get into the middle of the fight. Environments that really can be destroyed. Great use of cover and buildings. The music and small arms fire is deafening and immersive. I really enjoyed the ability to pick up enemy weapons. The cut scenes are well written with vivid animations. There are some things I don't like. Line of sight and weapon range are unrealistically short. While some units will fire on troops out of their range of site if there is something ahead that can spot for them, infantry will not engage unless they are within their regular line of sight. This requires some micromanaging, but I didn't find it as cumbersome as other games.\n\nThe real action is in the multiplayer side. Speed in taking positions and being able to manage the battlefield are the deciding factor in head to head action. You barely have time to breath when the s*** hits the fan. There is an online ranking system where you play head to head against other players of similar skill and records your win-lose statistics with each army. You can also setup special games with multiple players on each side or even play cooperatively against the computer in skirmishes. You can also save replays so you can watch your exploits or embarrassing defeats at your leisure. It still has a little of Warcraft or Starcraft feel since it does not attempt to be historical (unlimited ammo and ability to build new units), but it is still a lot of fun.\n\nSome notes on patches: I'm using patched version 2.6.0.2. It took 16 separate patches to get it from version 1.0 to current version. Though once you get to 2.1.0.1 the game will download them from inside the game which is better than searching the internet and after version 2.4.0.0 it downloads multiple patches at one time. This is the worst patching system I have ever experienced. If you do not have patience for this or being logged in to play do not buy this game.\n\nStability: I found the game to be very stable. I did not encounter any crashes while playing the campaigns or online. I did experience some rare crashes on the original COH, but not on COH:OF. I think with all the patches they have gotten rid of the crashing problems, but some say they still have problems. I am running a quad Intel with Vista, 8GB RAM, and 1GB NVidia card\n\nFor the price it is at now, it is well worth the risk of not working on your machine. Do not buy used, however, as your key may have already been used. There is also a mod to allow you to play as the Russians. I haven't tried it yet, but it looks well developed. Search google for Company of Heroes Russian to find it.","Product: The Squad Is Your WeaponProduct InformationStar Wars Republic Commando is a squad-based first person shooter that lets youexplore the elite world of the Star Wars military. Leading a 4-man squad ofRepublic Commandos your missions take you deep behind enemy lines on over 14intense and challenging levels through three different campaigns where you willface more than ten brutal enemies. You will have more than a dozen deadlyweapons at your disposal but none more lethal than your squad. Product Features Innovative Squad Control System A simple touch of one button easily controls your squad to perform plex mands and strategic maneuvers. Battle relentless enemies Choose from a dozen weapons Battle a variety of highly intelligent and deadly enemies - from brutal Trandoshan mercenaries to the flying insectoid warriors of Geonosis.Windows Requirements Windows 2000 XP 100% DirectX 9.0c patible puter Intel Pentium III or AMD Athlon 1.0 GHz or faster required 256 MB of RAM or higher required 2.0 GB of free hard Drive space required (500 MB of free space available after installation is remended) 64 MB 3D Graphics Card with Vertex Shader and Pixel Shader capability 100% DirectX 9.0c patible Audio Device required DVD-ROM required Keyboard required Mouse required Microsoft DirectX 9.0c is included on the CD Note: DirectX may require the latest drivers for your particular hardware Multiplayer Support: Supports up to 8 players Dedicated Server: Supports up to 16 players Dedicated Server: 2.4 GHz or faster CPU with a DSL Cable or faster connection remended Inter Connectivity Required: 56 Kbps or faster connection\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Good Old Fashioned Blaster Battles - Special Ops in the Future\n\nReview: Republic Commando is a first person shooter where you play the leader of a unit of elite clone soldiers. Basically non-stop action. The designers made an effort to make the squad AI act like special ops solders with door breaches and use of cover. The team controls and squad AI are better than older versions of <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Medal-of-Honor-Allied-Assault/dp/B00005N7YR/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Medal of Honor: Allied Assault</a> and <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Call-of-Duty-Game-of-the-Year-Edition/dp/B0000C6EB4/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Call of Duty: Game of the Year Edition</a>. The graphics are a little dated, but it is still good enough to keep it fun. I really enjoyed cutting down droids especially the ones with the force fields. It was also satisfying to spill alien gore and funny to watch your helmet wipe it off like a wiper blade on your car. There is a nice assortment of weapons (blaster, blaster rifle, sniper attachment, grenade attachment, grenades, many alien weapons even a futuristic shotgun and deadly rocket launcher). My favorite was the chain gun. It puts a world of hurt on anything.\n\nAs some other have said the actions are a little repetitive. Make door breach, plant explosives, take cover behind object and use sniper rifle or throw grenades. I did like the turret guns though. They gave you the feeling of real power. Especially the walker cannon, everything in room shook when that thing fired. I think the missions are well developed but as with most first person shooters (FPS) the single player game is almost completely linear with only one way through to the end. I'm not a Star Wars enthusiast so I'm not familiar with bacta, but the bacta terminals everywhere seemed kind of silly.\n\nThe game is not that long and I would consider it a low prospect for replay on single player. However, when you do complete the game you can join multiplayer and fight for your life in the normal formats of FPS. It is very easy to play multiplayer. You don't even have to go to a website to locate other players. You can connect directly inside the game. Though there is not a lot that differentiates it from most other FPS multiplayer games except the Star Wars theme.\n\nAlso note that this version of the game comes in a jewel case. It comes with a manual on the CD, but you probably won't even need to refer to it with as easy as the commands are and the in game explanations.","Product: Experience the chaos of battle as you fight thegreatest wars in the Star Wars universe. Product InformationStar Wars Battlefront is an action/shooter game that gives fans and gamers theopportunity to re-live and participate in all of the classic Star Wars battleslike never before. Players can select one of a number of different soldiertypes jump into any vehicle man any turret on the battlefront and conquer thegalaxy pla-by-pla online with their friends or offline in a variety ofsingle player modes. Single player modes include \"Instant Action\"\"Galactic Conquest\" and the story-based \"HistoricalCampaigns\" mode that lets gamers experience all of the epic Star Warsbattles from Episodes I-VI fighting from the perspective of each of the fourfactions within the game.Product HighlightsDuring the course of Star Wars Battlefront you will be able to play four sidesdepending on the mission or map which you have chosen. Throughout the game youwill be able to assume the guises of Rebel Alliance Galactic Empire RepublicClone Army and Separatist Battle Droids. As soon as you start a map you willhave to make a selection from one of the two sides each having five separateclasses ranging from soldiers pilots (who are able to \"repair\"vehicles so why not call them engineers?) snipers or grenadiers in oneform or another each with his specific weapon and abilities. Any of theavailable classes are able to drive or fly vehicles so you do not need to haveany specific training or abilities to do so; just stand under or near a vehicleand press the action key to climb in. One of the interesting abilities for someof the classes is the jetpack which will either let you fly around for fiveseconds (after which gravity takes its course but you can take off againimmediately) or allow you to perform some sort of double jump depending on themap you are playing.Each of the 16 available maps is based on one of the Star Wars movies: Geonosisand Ka\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Fun, Non-stop Action, But Waited Too Long as Online Servers Are Gone\n\nReview: I played this game after playing <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Battlefield-1942-The-Complete-Collection/dp/B000BFPAPY/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Battlefield 1942: The Complete Collection</a> which comes with <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Battlefield-1942/dp/B000067O0Q/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Battlefield: 1942</a> (BF1942), it's two Battlefield 1942 expansions, <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Battlefield-1942-Expansion-The-Road-to-Rome/dp/B00007LVJA/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Battlefield 1942 Expansion: The Road to Rome</a> and <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Battlefield-1942-Secret-Weapons-of-WWII-Expansion-Pack/dp/B00009V3NX/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Battlefield 1942: Secret Weapons of WWII Expansion Pack</a> and <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Battlefield-Vietnam/dp/B0001AO01Y/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Battlefield: Vietnam</a>. If you like BF1942, you will also like this game and vice versa. However there are some differences good and bad. Unfortunately, there are no longer any dedicated servers still up, so I was unable to play multiplayer. Seems like the Star Wars Battlefront (SWB) servers went down in November 2012 based on IGN forum. Hopefully the <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Star-Wars-Battlefront-II/dp/B000AAL4HI/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Star Wars Battlefront II</a> servers are still active. Unless you are single player fan, I would pass on this.\n\nSo what makes the SWB and the Battlefield series so special. They both have lots of features that the other FPS don't have. They both allow you to employ vehicles in combat in multiplayer. In SWB, You can jump into AT-ST, AT-AT, X-wings, Tie fighters, speeder bikes, just to name a few. This makes gameplay interesting. The other important feature in these games is the ability to specialize your infantry between assault troops, snipers, anti-tank, and special troops (wookies, dark troopers, etc). In this way you don't just pick up different weapons on the field of battle, you get to pick your kit to suit your mission or role. Each have their abilities and weaknesses, but as a combination they are stronger. SWB also has a pilot type which repairs vehicles over time while you pilot them instead of the engineer type in BF1942. However, in SWB you are unable to switch types during combat like you can in BF1942. I guess it would not have made sense that you could go from a rebel soldier to a wookie. I don't know, I think they should at least allow you to take their weapons. Instead when a unit goes down now a package of ammo or health is dropped that you can pick up. This might be more useful, but I liked BF1942 system better. I would note that you can't play as Jedi Knights in this game; however, sometimes they will fight for you or against you. While this seems cool, it does unbalance gameplay.\n\nThe graphics in SWB are decent, on par with BF1942 and <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Star-Wars-Republic-Commando/dp/B000VV9T7S/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Star Wars Republic Commando</a> (SWRC). The forest of Endor had foliage similar to Battlefield Vietnam, but SWB had the Ewok tree platforms. The weapons mostly seemed to be the same from army to army. However there were special units like the Droideka (Destroyer Droid) and Dark Troopers (have jet pack) that changes it up. I found flying in SWB immensely easier than BF1942. I didn't even bother with flying in BF1942, but in SWB jumped in the X-wing and Tie fighter mostly as close air support. The maps are small for aerial units so you'll find yourself doing lots of turns to stay in bounds.\n\nI felt the single player experience on SWB was better than BF1942. While the individual mission still are simply capture the base missions they don't have a storyline, there was actually effort put into making single player more interesting. SWB has two types of single player campaigns. The first type allows you to play through the Clone Wars (episodes 1-3) or the Galactic Civil War (episodes 4-6). These campaigns do not allow you to play both sides in each mission, however, they mix it up so you get to play some missions with each side. Basically you get to lead the forces that were victorious in the movies (no changing history here). There are some cut scenes from the movies between missions that put you in the mood to take on the enemy. In the Clone Wars (7 total missions), the first mission allows you to take it to the Gungans with the Trade Federation Droid Army. I'm not sure why it feels good to drop those long eared goofs, but it does. You then get to beat up the Naboo forces at Theed. What I found interesting is that they developed the Gungan and Naboo forces just so you could fight them in the single player campaign. In later missions, you get to fight as the Republic Clone troopers. The Galactic Civil War Campaign (9 total missions) is a little more straight forward. At first you get to play as the Empire using your stormtrooper to eradicate the Rebel forces. But as fortunes swing, you then play as the Rebels, pushing back the Empire with the final victory at Endor. I'm sure it is debatable, but I thought the AI was better on SWB. Taking bases was a hard fight. You couldn't just sneak out capture a base. Also the friendly AI would not just leave bases undefended.\n\nThe other single player type is Galactic Conquest where you go head to head with an opposing force in order to take over the galaxy. Basically you fight over control of planets and the planets provide special bonus during battles. The winner of each battle gets to decide which planet to attack. In this way, you can play most of the missions from either side with various armies. I liked the campaigns better because in Galactic Conquest you tend to play several of the battles over and over again. But it is still nice to try some missions from the other side.","Product: Star Wars Battlefront II improves upon the blockbuster multiplayer original with new space combat, playable Jedi, and never-before-seen environments straight out of final Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith film. The game features an all-new single-player experience that takes players through an epic, story-based saga where every action the player takes impacts the battlefront and, ultimately, the fate of the Star Wars galaxy. The sequel features improved flight control, complex space combat that allows players to board enemy capital ships and battle to take over flying command posts or sabotage the ship to be used against the other faction, increased total online player numbers, and memorable multiplayer encounters in 12 new locations. Online multiplayer action for up to 64 players on PC Windows (plus AI units). ESRB Rated T for Teen\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Exciting Game Play Excellent Sequel\n\nReview: Star Wars Battlefront II (SWB2) is not an enormous departure from the first <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Star-Wars-Battlefront/dp/B000VVEMXY/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Star Wars Battlefront</a> (SWB1), but the differences are all positive. So what's the same, you can employ vehicles in combat in single player and multiplayer (though not as much as SWB1). You still have the ability to specialize your infantry between assault troops, snipers, anti-tank, and special troops (wookies, dark troopers, etc). Also at the writing on this review (Sept 2013), playing online directly through the game is still possible with several servers and lots of live players to play against.\n\nSo what's new:\n\nThis time you also get to fight as Jedi/Sith and against them. While they can still do enormous damage, they are not practically indestructible like in SWB1. There is a large selection of special characters that you can play during single player and multiplayer. During single player, special characters can only be played during certain parts of certain missions. You will be notified when this option is available. For multiplayer, there are different options. Some games are exclusively hero battles where light sabers rule, but you can also play as Princess Leia, Han Solo, and Boba fett. Other games allow one special character to each side at a time (again you will be notified to play the special character if it is your turn).\n\nFun space combat with X-wings, Tie fighters, and bombers. The space map boundaries are large which allows for fun dog fighting. You can attack the outside of enemy ships and can raid the inside with space marine raiding parties. I never really enjoyed flying in SWB1 because of the tight maps. However, there is very limited aerial combat in non-space maps. The snowspeeder on Hoth is the only one I can think of.\n\nThere are neat features that become available during missions. After you achieve certain conditions, you receive special bonuses like advanced weapons (I love the bonus rifle) and damage reduction. You also gain access to additional troops some of which I found really cool like chain gun troops, wookies, and Destroyer Droids.\n\nThe single player finally got some effort put into it. I thought the length of campaign was good. You can only play one side during the campaign, but this time the single player is not just practice time for multiplayer. The missions have objectives and the number of spawns is limited. The campaign follows the 501st legion of republic clone troopers as they evolve to stormtroopers. You basically start in episode 3 and continue into episode 6. I'm not sure if the encounters are all authentic to the series , but many of them take you to battles from the movies. While the storyline may not appeal to everyone, I thought it was well put together and was interesting to see the rebellion from the side of the stormtroopers.\n\nSo in summary, if you like first person shooter type games or Star Wars you should get this game.\n\nTechnical Note: The game played great both on Windows 7 (Intel i7, 12 GB RAM, 2GB Nvidia Video Card) and Vista (Intel Core 2 Quad, 8GB RAM, 1GB Nvidia Video Card) for me.","Product: Medieval: Total War Gold Edition is the compilation of the critically-acclaimed Medieval: Total War and its official expansion pack - Total War Kingdoms. Set in the turbulent Middle Ages, Medieval puts you in command of your own empire as you crush neighboring kingdoms and unify all of Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East. Medieval: Total War Kingdoms features four entire campaigns centered on expanded maps of the British Isles, Teutonic Northern Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas. In Medieval II, you were only given a glimpse of South America, but in Kingdoms, vast tracts of land in both North and South America have been opened up for you to conquer. All-new factions from the New World are also now fully playable, including the Aztecs, Apaches, and Mayans. In both games, you rule all aspects of your kingdom throughout centuries of medieval warfare. Lay siege to mighty fortresses and command vast armies across the battlefields of Europe and North Africa. This is Total War.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Total Domination of the Strategy Game Arena\n\nReview: The Total War Series continues to improve with Medieval 2 Total War (M2TW). I have played the Total War Series since the original <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Medieval-Total-War/dp/B000063SAU/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Medieval: Total War</a>. I have loved all of them, and M2TW does not disappoint. I've been playing M2TW off and on for several years and still love it. If you like the Total War series then you should get this game.\n\nI play on all very difficult settings and I found diplomacy extremely challenging but not impossible. When you are weak no one wants to be your ally, but as you grow in power you can find friends even from your former adversaries. Stick with it and don't forget gifts are appreciated. Many of the reviews have indicated that the computer AI is stupid. This must have been fixed with patches because the version I have has a aggressive AI that brings the fight to you early and often. In battles the AI will attack at full sprint as soon as your missile troops attack if they don't have superior missile troops. The AI does attack too frequently without a general though. Many battles would have been lost or at least caused more significant casualties if they had a decent commander.\n\nBasically, Total War has not changed dramatically, but the improvements continue to make it more and more fun to play.\n\nChanges / Improvements since <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Rome-Total-War/dp/B0002MPT6Q/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Rome: Total War</a>:\n-Cities Specialize as cities or castles\n-New character types Priests, Merchants, Inquisitors, Heretics, and Witches. Princesses are also back from the original Medieval Total War. Princesses can act as Diplomats or ensnare the hearts of foreign generals and bring them too your side.\n-Greatly improved siege warfare. City walls and especially castle walls defensives have improved. The higher levels of castles have multiple circuits. However, defensive towers will only fire when you have troops in the vicinity to man them.\n-Faction priests can become Cardinals and vote to elect or be elected pope\n-M2TW has crusades and the recruitment, management, effects are handled much better than the original Medieval Total War.\n-All countries can get missions which can come from various sources including a countries own nobility, the pope, or other nations (assassinate a current king for better relations with the new king). The missions come with rewards if achieved and sometimes penalties if they are failed.\n-Mercenaries can be reinforced after losses if they are available in their current location.\n-Armor improvements don't affect every unit the same way. Heavily armored units can't be upgraded until more advanced armor is available. Archers can only be improved so far. Much more realistic. Armor enhancements also cause the units to look different when they are in battle.\n-Guilds are available that offer specialized units and improvements. These cannot automatically be built. They can only be built when offered by the guild. The guild will offer based on how the settlement or nation is run.\n-Prisoner ransoms are back from original Medieval Total War\n\nSteps back from Rome Total War:\n-You can't select your heir. It is fixed based on eldest son to current heir or if none exists or he is too young goes to next oldest brother.\n-I noticed an odd bug that advances the date 2yrs/turn, but all the characters age at 6months/turn. If anyone knows how to fix this, please let me know.\n-I was not able to get any of the character retinues to move from one general to another. I know the manual said not all henchmen would move, but I wasn't able to move any.\n\nI have a pretty advanced computer with Vista and did not experience any crashes or lag even on highest graphics settings.\n\nKingdoms Expansion\n\nThe Kingdoms expansion allows you to play four new campaigns. See more details of each below. I really enjoyed this expansion's campaigns better than even regular Medieval 2 Total War. These campaign had a more genuine historical feel. The gameplay is mostly the same as the original, but each campaign has some slight differences as well as new factions and units.\n\nCrusades Campaign\n\nThe historical background is not very actuate. The game starts in 1174 AD after the death of King Amalric with King Baldwin the Leper King as the fraction leader. Again game years move too fast. It is cool when the 3rd crusade starts in the game as the player gets control of one of the commanders of the crusade and some additional troops. Jerusalem gets King Richard I of England Coeur-du-Lion and the Principality of Antioch gets King Philip Augustus of France. Regardless of the historical inaccuracies it is fun to take it to the Saracens with King Richard. It might have been more fun if the game had started off with the opening of the 3rd crusade with the objective to retake Jerusalem from Saladin.\n\nThe 4th crusade also occurs during the game. A new faction (Venice) is created which lands at Constantinople. I was not able to see much of this as I haven't played the Byzantines yet, but I imagine that would be a fun twist.\n\nAmericas Campaign\n\nI didn't really enjoy the Americas campaign all that much. You can play as the Spanish, Mayans, Aztecs, Apaches, and several other tribes I have never heard of (Chichimec, Tlaxcalans, and Tarascans). I played as the Spanish which I wouldn't recommend as it was too easy. You do get to use firearms in this campaign, but due to rate of fire infantry and cavalry units rule the field. I would recommend playing as one of the smaller tribes to get more of a challenge.\n\nBritannia Campaign\n\nI found the Britannia Campaign fun and exciting. It takes place in the reign of Henry III and his son Edward I. William Wallace also makes an appearance. The biggest difference in this campaign is that culture and not religion is used. The level of culture allows you to recruit different units. You can even recruit enemy culture units, but this access is quickly lost as your culture dominates. Culture seems to shift too rapidly which deteriorates this interesting feature.\n\nTeutonic Campaign\n\nThe Teutonic campaign lets you engage in the northern crusades. Conquer or defend Lithuania or Novgorod from the Teutonic Knights, Mongols, Danes, and Poles. This campaign also uses religion which restricts which units you can recruit. As a added twist, you can switch from Paganism to Christianity as the Lithuanians (which really occurred). I would recommend reading <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/The-Northern-Crusades-Second-Edition/dp/0140266534/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">The Northern Crusades: Second Edition</a> by Eric Christiansen for great overview of the subject.","Product: Assassin's Creed PC\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Life and Death at the Edge of a Knife\n\nReview: Assassin's Creed (AC) is an intense and exciting game. The graphics and immersive environment are spectacular. You can interact with the terrain in amazing fashion giving you lots of freedom. Use crevices, door and window frames, landings, etc to climb just about anything you want. AC lets you ride a horse and fight from a mount.\n\nThe combat in AC is fun. It takes a little while to get use to, but once you do watch out. You must use timing and defense to avoid death when faced with overwhelming odds. As you continue the game you get access to new weapons and fighting skills. Before long you can do amazing counter-attacks, dodges, and grab and defensive breaks. The action is very fluid and thoroughly engaging.\n\nWithout giving too much away, the storyline is entertaining and will keep your interest. There is a duel storyline going where a modern day guy is reliving the memories of his ancestor. I found this part unnecessary, but it didn't detract from actual game. Yes, the whole premise of the game is assassinating people. So, no, the game is not for kids, hence the mature rating. Several reviewers have described the game as slanted towards killing Christians. It's not. It's really more killing everyone Muslim or Christian that gets in the way. However, the game does have it out for the Templars. They are portrayed as evil villains in the game. Most of the people you are sent to kill think they are serving a good cause, but their actions are misguided. Much like the actions of the main character.\n\nSome things I didn't like. While you have tremendous freedom to interact with the terrain, you can't do some simple things like open doors. Also the environment is not destructible except for rare exceptions like vendor carts. You don't have many items / weapons at your disposal that could cause much damage, but rails could break, tables move, open a chest etc. Maybe I want to set a fire as a distraction. Oh well maybe next time.\n\nI didn't have any problems with game stability. I don't think it ever crashed which is saying a lot these days. The only thing I had a problem with is the game opened as a window instead of taking over the full screen. This caused problems when the cursor got off the screen. Any suggestions would be appreciated.\n\nI would agree that the investigations leading up to each assassination attempt do become repetitive. You don't have to do them all, but they make completing the assassination easier. The game is also kind of short, but you will enjoy the ride. I'm looking forward to <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Assassin-s-Creed-II/dp/B001TOQ8R0/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Assassin's Creed II</a> to expand the experience.","Product: The Squad Is Your WeaponProduct InformationStar Wars Republic Commando is a squad-based first person shooter that lets youexplore the elite world of the Star Wars military. Leading a 4-man squad ofRepublic Commandos your missions take you deep behind enemy lines on over 14intense and challenging levels through three different campaigns where you willface more than ten brutal enemies. You will have more than a dozen deadlyweapons at your disposal but none more lethal than your squad. Product Features Innovative Squad Control System A simple touch of one button easily controls your squad to perform plex mands and strategic maneuvers. Battle relentless enemies Choose from a dozen weapons Battle a variety of highly intelligent and deadly enemies - from brutal Trandoshan mercenaries to the flying insectoid warriors of Geonosis.Windows Requirements Windows 2000 XP 100% DirectX 9.0c patible puter Intel Pentium III or AMD Athlon 1.0 GHz or faster required 256 MB of RAM or higher required 2.0 GB of free hard Drive space required (500 MB of free space available after installation is remended) 64 MB 3D Graphics Card with Vertex Shader and Pixel Shader capability 100% DirectX 9.0c patible Audio Device required DVD-ROM required Keyboard required Mouse required Microsoft DirectX 9.0c is included on the CD Note: DirectX may require the latest drivers for your particular hardware Multiplayer Support: Supports up to 8 players Dedicated Server: Supports up to 16 players Dedicated Server: 2.4 GHz or faster CPU with a DSL Cable or faster connection remended Inter Connectivity Required: 56 Kbps or faster connection\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Good Old Fashioned Blaster Battles - Special Ops in the Future\n\nReview: Republic Commando is a first person shooter where you play the leader of a unit of elite clone soldiers. Basically non-stop action. The designers made an effort to make the squad AI act like special ops solders with door breaches and use of cover. The team controls and squad AI are better than older versions of <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Medal-of-Honor-Allied-Assault/dp/B00005N7YR/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Medal of Honor: Allied Assault</a> and <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Call-of-Duty-Game-of-the-Year-Edition/dp/B0000C6EB4/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Call of Duty: Game of the Year Edition</a>. The graphics are a little dated, but it is still good enough to keep it fun. I really enjoyed cutting down droids especially the ones with the force fields. It was also satisfying to spill alien gore and funny to watch your helmet wipe it off like a wiper blade on your car. There is a nice assortment of weapons (blaster, blaster rifle, sniper attachment, grenade attachment, grenades, many alien weapons even a futuristic shotgun and deadly rocket launcher). My favorite was the chain gun. It puts a world of hurt on anything.\n\nAs some other have said the actions are a little repetitive. Make door breach, plant explosives, take cover behind object and use sniper rifle or throw grenades. I did like the turret guns though. They gave you the feeling of real power. Especially the walker cannon, everything in room shook when that thing fired. I think the missions are well developed but as with most first person shooters (FPS) the single player game is almost completely linear with only one way through to the end. I'm not a Star Wars enthusiast so I'm not familiar with bacta, but the bacta terminals everywhere seemed kind of silly.\n\nThe game is not that long and I would consider it a low prospect for replay on single player. However, when you do complete the game you can join multiplayer and fight for your life in the normal formats of FPS. It is very easy to play multiplayer. You don't even have to go to a website to locate other players. You can connect directly inside the game. Though there is not a lot that differentiates it from most other FPS multiplayer games except the Star Wars theme.\n\nAlso note that this version of the game comes in a jewel case. It comes with a manual on the CD, but you probably won't even need to refer to it with as easy as the commands are and the in game explanations.","Product: Experience the chaos of battle as you fight thegreatest wars in the Star Wars universe. Product InformationStar Wars Battlefront is an action/shooter game that gives fans and gamers theopportunity to re-live and participate in all of the classic Star Wars battleslike never before. Players can select one of a number of different soldiertypes jump into any vehicle man any turret on the battlefront and conquer thegalaxy pla-by-pla online with their friends or offline in a variety ofsingle player modes. Single player modes include \"Instant Action\"\"Galactic Conquest\" and the story-based \"HistoricalCampaigns\" mode that lets gamers experience all of the epic Star Warsbattles from Episodes I-VI fighting from the perspective of each of the fourfactions within the game.Product HighlightsDuring the course of Star Wars Battlefront you will be able to play four sidesdepending on the mission or map which you have chosen. Throughout the game youwill be able to assume the guises of Rebel Alliance Galactic Empire RepublicClone Army and Separatist Battle Droids. As soon as you start a map you willhave to make a selection from one of the two sides each having five separateclasses ranging from soldiers pilots (who are able to \"repair\"vehicles so why not call them engineers?) snipers or grenadiers in oneform or another each with his specific weapon and abilities. Any of theavailable classes are able to drive or fly vehicles so you do not need to haveany specific training or abilities to do so; just stand under or near a vehicleand press the action key to climb in. One of the interesting abilities for someof the classes is the jetpack which will either let you fly around for fiveseconds (after which gravity takes its course but you can take off againimmediately) or allow you to perform some sort of double jump depending on themap you are playing.Each of the 16 available maps is based on one of the Star Wars movies: Geonosisand Ka\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Fun, Non-stop Action, But Waited Too Long as Online Servers Are Gone\n\nReview: I played this game after playing <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Battlefield-1942-The-Complete-Collection/dp/B000BFPAPY/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Battlefield 1942: The Complete Collection</a> which comes with <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Battlefield-1942/dp/B000067O0Q/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Battlefield: 1942</a> (BF1942), it's two Battlefield 1942 expansions, <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Battlefield-1942-Expansion-The-Road-to-Rome/dp/B00007LVJA/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Battlefield 1942 Expansion: The Road to Rome</a> and <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Battlefield-1942-Secret-Weapons-of-WWII-Expansion-Pack/dp/B00009V3NX/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Battlefield 1942: Secret Weapons of WWII Expansion Pack</a> and <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Battlefield-Vietnam/dp/B0001AO01Y/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Battlefield: Vietnam</a>. If you like BF1942, you will also like this game and vice versa. However there are some differences good and bad. Unfortunately, there are no longer any dedicated servers still up, so I was unable to play multiplayer. Seems like the Star Wars Battlefront (SWB) servers went down in November 2012 based on IGN forum. Hopefully the <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Star-Wars-Battlefront-II/dp/B000AAL4HI/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Star Wars Battlefront II</a> servers are still active. Unless you are single player fan, I would pass on this.\n\nSo what makes the SWB and the Battlefield series so special. They both have lots of features that the other FPS don't have. They both allow you to employ vehicles in combat in multiplayer. In SWB, You can jump into AT-ST, AT-AT, X-wings, Tie fighters, speeder bikes, just to name a few. This makes gameplay interesting. The other important feature in these games is the ability to specialize your infantry between assault troops, snipers, anti-tank, and special troops (wookies, dark troopers, etc). In this way you don't just pick up different weapons on the field of battle, you get to pick your kit to suit your mission or role. Each have their abilities and weaknesses, but as a combination they are stronger. SWB also has a pilot type which repairs vehicles over time while you pilot them instead of the engineer type in BF1942. However, in SWB you are unable to switch types during combat like you can in BF1942. I guess it would not have made sense that you could go from a rebel soldier to a wookie. I don't know, I think they should at least allow you to take their weapons. Instead when a unit goes down now a package of ammo or health is dropped that you can pick up. This might be more useful, but I liked BF1942 system better. I would note that you can't play as Jedi Knights in this game; however, sometimes they will fight for you or against you. While this seems cool, it does unbalance gameplay.\n\nThe graphics in SWB are decent, on par with BF1942 and <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Star-Wars-Republic-Commando/dp/B000VV9T7S/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Star Wars Republic Commando</a> (SWRC). The forest of Endor had foliage similar to Battlefield Vietnam, but SWB had the Ewok tree platforms. The weapons mostly seemed to be the same from army to army. However there were special units like the Droideka (Destroyer Droid) and Dark Troopers (have jet pack) that changes it up. I found flying in SWB immensely easier than BF1942. I didn't even bother with flying in BF1942, but in SWB jumped in the X-wing and Tie fighter mostly as close air support. The maps are small for aerial units so you'll find yourself doing lots of turns to stay in bounds.\n\nI felt the single player experience on SWB was better than BF1942. While the individual mission still are simply capture the base missions they don't have a storyline, there was actually effort put into making single player more interesting. SWB has two types of single player campaigns. The first type allows you to play through the Clone Wars (episodes 1-3) or the Galactic Civil War (episodes 4-6). These campaigns do not allow you to play both sides in each mission, however, they mix it up so you get to play some missions with each side. Basically you get to lead the forces that were victorious in the movies (no changing history here). There are some cut scenes from the movies between missions that put you in the mood to take on the enemy. In the Clone Wars (7 total missions), the first mission allows you to take it to the Gungans with the Trade Federation Droid Army. I'm not sure why it feels good to drop those long eared goofs, but it does. You then get to beat up the Naboo forces at Theed. What I found interesting is that they developed the Gungan and Naboo forces just so you could fight them in the single player campaign. In later missions, you get to fight as the Republic Clone troopers. The Galactic Civil War Campaign (9 total missions) is a little more straight forward. At first you get to play as the Empire using your stormtrooper to eradicate the Rebel forces. But as fortunes swing, you then play as the Rebels, pushing back the Empire with the final victory at Endor. I'm sure it is debatable, but I thought the AI was better on SWB. Taking bases was a hard fight. You couldn't just sneak out capture a base. Also the friendly AI would not just leave bases undefended.\n\nThe other single player type is Galactic Conquest where you go head to head with an opposing force in order to take over the galaxy. Basically you fight over control of planets and the planets provide special bonus during battles. The winner of each battle gets to decide which planet to attack. In this way, you can play most of the missions from either side with various armies. I liked the campaigns better because in Galactic Conquest you tend to play several of the battles over and over again. But it is still nice to try some missions from the other side.","Product: Star Wars Battlefront II improves upon the blockbuster multiplayer original with new space combat, playable Jedi, and never-before-seen environments straight out of final Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith film. The game features an all-new single-player experience that takes players through an epic, story-based saga where every action the player takes impacts the battlefront and, ultimately, the fate of the Star Wars galaxy. The sequel features improved flight control, complex space combat that allows players to board enemy capital ships and battle to take over flying command posts or sabotage the ship to be used against the other faction, increased total online player numbers, and memorable multiplayer encounters in 12 new locations. Online multiplayer action for up to 64 players on PC Windows (plus AI units). ESRB Rated T for Teen\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Exciting Game Play Excellent Sequel\n\nReview: Star Wars Battlefront II (SWB2) is not an enormous departure from the first <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Star-Wars-Battlefront/dp/B000VVEMXY/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Star Wars Battlefront</a> (SWB1), but the differences are all positive. So what's the same, you can employ vehicles in combat in single player and multiplayer (though not as much as SWB1). You still have the ability to specialize your infantry between assault troops, snipers, anti-tank, and special troops (wookies, dark troopers, etc). Also at the writing on this review (Sept 2013), playing online directly through the game is still possible with several servers and lots of live players to play against.\n\nSo what's new:\n\nThis time you also get to fight as Jedi/Sith and against them. While they can still do enormous damage, they are not practically indestructible like in SWB1. There is a large selection of special characters that you can play during single player and multiplayer. During single player, special characters can only be played during certain parts of certain missions. You will be notified when this option is available. For multiplayer, there are different options. Some games are exclusively hero battles where light sabers rule, but you can also play as Princess Leia, Han Solo, and Boba fett. Other games allow one special character to each side at a time (again you will be notified to play the special character if it is your turn).\n\nFun space combat with X-wings, Tie fighters, and bombers. The space map boundaries are large which allows for fun dog fighting. You can attack the outside of enemy ships and can raid the inside with space marine raiding parties. I never really enjoyed flying in SWB1 because of the tight maps. However, there is very limited aerial combat in non-space maps. The snowspeeder on Hoth is the only one I can think of.\n\nThere are neat features that become available during missions. After you achieve certain conditions, you receive special bonuses like advanced weapons (I love the bonus rifle) and damage reduction. You also gain access to additional troops some of which I found really cool like chain gun troops, wookies, and Destroyer Droids.\n\nThe single player finally got some effort put into it. I thought the length of campaign was good. You can only play one side during the campaign, but this time the single player is not just practice time for multiplayer. The missions have objectives and the number of spawns is limited. The campaign follows the 501st legion of republic clone troopers as they evolve to stormtroopers. You basically start in episode 3 and continue into episode 6. I'm not sure if the encounters are all authentic to the series , but many of them take you to battles from the movies. While the storyline may not appeal to everyone, I thought it was well put together and was interesting to see the rebellion from the side of the stormtroopers.\n\nSo in summary, if you like first person shooter type games or Star Wars you should get this game.\n\nTechnical Note: The game played great both on Windows 7 (Intel i7, 12 GB RAM, 2GB Nvidia Video Card) and Vista (Intel Core 2 Quad, 8GB RAM, 1GB Nvidia Video Card) for me.","Product: Medieval: Total War Gold Edition is the compilation of the critically-acclaimed Medieval: Total War and its official expansion pack - Total War Kingdoms. Set in the turbulent Middle Ages, Medieval puts you in command of your own empire as you crush neighboring kingdoms and unify all of Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East. Medieval: Total War Kingdoms features four entire campaigns centered on expanded maps of the British Isles, Teutonic Northern Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas. In Medieval II, you were only given a glimpse of South America, but in Kingdoms, vast tracts of land in both North and South America have been opened up for you to conquer. All-new factions from the New World are also now fully playable, including the Aztecs, Apaches, and Mayans. In both games, you rule all aspects of your kingdom throughout centuries of medieval warfare. Lay siege to mighty fortresses and command vast armies across the battlefields of Europe and North Africa. This is Total War.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Total Domination of the Strategy Game Arena\n\nReview: The Total War Series continues to improve with Medieval 2 Total War (M2TW). I have played the Total War Series since the original <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Medieval-Total-War/dp/B000063SAU/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Medieval: Total War</a>. I have loved all of them, and M2TW does not disappoint. I've been playing M2TW off and on for several years and still love it. If you like the Total War series then you should get this game.\n\nI play on all very difficult settings and I found diplomacy extremely challenging but not impossible. When you are weak no one wants to be your ally, but as you grow in power you can find friends even from your former adversaries. Stick with it and don't forget gifts are appreciated. Many of the reviews have indicated that the computer AI is stupid. This must have been fixed with patches because the version I have has a aggressive AI that brings the fight to you early and often. In battles the AI will attack at full sprint as soon as your missile troops attack if they don't have superior missile troops. The AI does attack too frequently without a general though. Many battles would have been lost or at least caused more significant casualties if they had a decent commander.\n\nBasically, Total War has not changed dramatically, but the improvements continue to make it more and more fun to play.\n\nChanges / Improvements since <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Rome-Total-War/dp/B0002MPT6Q/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Rome: Total War</a>:\n-Cities Specialize as cities or castles\n-New character types Priests, Merchants, Inquisitors, Heretics, and Witches. Princesses are also back from the original Medieval Total War. Princesses can act as Diplomats or ensnare the hearts of foreign generals and bring them too your side.\n-Greatly improved siege warfare. City walls and especially castle walls defensives have improved. The higher levels of castles have multiple circuits. However, defensive towers will only fire when you have troops in the vicinity to man them.\n-Faction priests can become Cardinals and vote to elect or be elected pope\n-M2TW has crusades and the recruitment, management, effects are handled much better than the original Medieval Total War.\n-All countries can get missions which can come from various sources including a countries own nobility, the pope, or other nations (assassinate a current king for better relations with the new king). The missions come with rewards if achieved and sometimes penalties if they are failed.\n-Mercenaries can be reinforced after losses if they are available in their current location.\n-Armor improvements don't affect every unit the same way. Heavily armored units can't be upgraded until more advanced armor is available. Archers can only be improved so far. Much more realistic. Armor enhancements also cause the units to look different when they are in battle.\n-Guilds are available that offer specialized units and improvements. These cannot automatically be built. They can only be built when offered by the guild. The guild will offer based on how the settlement or nation is run.\n-Prisoner ransoms are back from original Medieval Total War\n\nSteps back from Rome Total War:\n-You can't select your heir. It is fixed based on eldest son to current heir or if none exists or he is too young goes to next oldest brother.\n-I noticed an odd bug that advances the date 2yrs/turn, but all the characters age at 6months/turn. If anyone knows how to fix this, please let me know.\n-I was not able to get any of the character retinues to move from one general to another. I know the manual said not all henchmen would move, but I wasn't able to move any.\n\nI have a pretty advanced computer with Vista and did not experience any crashes or lag even on highest graphics settings.\n\nKingdoms Expansion\n\nThe Kingdoms expansion allows you to play four new campaigns. See more details of each below. I really enjoyed this expansion's campaigns better than even regular Medieval 2 Total War. These campaign had a more genuine historical feel. The gameplay is mostly the same as the original, but each campaign has some slight differences as well as new factions and units.\n\nCrusades Campaign\n\nThe historical background is not very actuate. The game starts in 1174 AD after the death of King Amalric with King Baldwin the Leper King as the fraction leader. Again game years move too fast. It is cool when the 3rd crusade starts in the game as the player gets control of one of the commanders of the crusade and some additional troops. Jerusalem gets King Richard I of England Coeur-du-Lion and the Principality of Antioch gets King Philip Augustus of France. Regardless of the historical inaccuracies it is fun to take it to the Saracens with King Richard. It might have been more fun if the game had started off with the opening of the 3rd crusade with the objective to retake Jerusalem from Saladin.\n\nThe 4th crusade also occurs during the game. A new faction (Venice) is created which lands at Constantinople. I was not able to see much of this as I haven't played the Byzantines yet, but I imagine that would be a fun twist.\n\nAmericas Campaign\n\nI didn't really enjoy the Americas campaign all that much. You can play as the Spanish, Mayans, Aztecs, Apaches, and several other tribes I have never heard of (Chichimec, Tlaxcalans, and Tarascans). I played as the Spanish which I wouldn't recommend as it was too easy. You do get to use firearms in this campaign, but due to rate of fire infantry and cavalry units rule the field. I would recommend playing as one of the smaller tribes to get more of a challenge.\n\nBritannia Campaign\n\nI found the Britannia Campaign fun and exciting. It takes place in the reign of Henry III and his son Edward I. William Wallace also makes an appearance. The biggest difference in this campaign is that culture and not religion is used. The level of culture allows you to recruit different units. You can even recruit enemy culture units, but this access is quickly lost as your culture dominates. Culture seems to shift too rapidly which deteriorates this interesting feature.\n\nTeutonic Campaign\n\nThe Teutonic campaign lets you engage in the northern crusades. Conquer or defend Lithuania or Novgorod from the Teutonic Knights, Mongols, Danes, and Poles. This campaign also uses religion which restricts which units you can recruit. As a added twist, you can switch from Paganism to Christianity as the Lithuanians (which really occurred). I would recommend reading <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/The-Northern-Crusades-Second-Edition/dp/0140266534/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">The Northern Crusades: Second Edition</a> by Eric Christiansen for great overview of the subject.","Product: Assassin's Creed PC\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Life and Death at the Edge of a Knife\n\nReview: Assassin's Creed (AC) is an intense and exciting game. The graphics and immersive environment are spectacular. You can interact with the terrain in amazing fashion giving you lots of freedom. Use crevices, door and window frames, landings, etc to climb just about anything you want. AC lets you ride a horse and fight from a mount.\n\nThe combat in AC is fun. It takes a little while to get use to, but once you do watch out. You must use timing and defense to avoid death when faced with overwhelming odds. As you continue the game you get access to new weapons and fighting skills. Before long you can do amazing counter-attacks, dodges, and grab and defensive breaks. The action is very fluid and thoroughly engaging.\n\nWithout giving too much away, the storyline is entertaining and will keep your interest. There is a duel storyline going where a modern day guy is reliving the memories of his ancestor. I found this part unnecessary, but it didn't detract from actual game. Yes, the whole premise of the game is assassinating people. So, no, the game is not for kids, hence the mature rating. Several reviewers have described the game as slanted towards killing Christians. It's not. It's really more killing everyone Muslim or Christian that gets in the way. However, the game does have it out for the Templars. They are portrayed as evil villains in the game. Most of the people you are sent to kill think they are serving a good cause, but their actions are misguided. Much like the actions of the main character.\n\nSome things I didn't like. While you have tremendous freedom to interact with the terrain, you can't do some simple things like open doors. Also the environment is not destructible except for rare exceptions like vendor carts. You don't have many items / weapons at your disposal that could cause much damage, but rails could break, tables move, open a chest etc. Maybe I want to set a fire as a distraction. Oh well maybe next time.\n\nI didn't have any problems with game stability. I don't think it ever crashed which is saying a lot these days. The only thing I had a problem with is the game opened as a window instead of taking over the full screen. This caused problems when the cursor got off the screen. Any suggestions would be appreciated.\n\nI would agree that the investigations leading up to each assassination attempt do become repetitive. You don't have to do them all, but they make completing the assassination easier. The game is also kind of short, but you will enjoy the ride. I'm looking forward to <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Assassin-s-Creed-II/dp/B001TOQ8R0/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Assassin's Creed II</a> to expand the experience.","Product: War has come down on Calradia. In a land torn by constant danger, raids and skirmishes, you will raise and lead your own war band, commanding dozens of hardened soldiers. You will fight epic battles where arrows cut the air, swords hack with fury, and horses and men clash into a violent melee. Combining a sophisticated, dynamic game world and intense medieval sword fighting action, Mount&Blade strives to create a game experience never seen before.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Mounted First Person Combat Will Leave You Thirsting for More\n\nReview: I got my first taste of mounted combat playing <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Assassin-s-Creed-Director-s-Cut-Edition/dp/B0010EK3SE/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Assassin's Creed: Director's Cut Edition</a>. Mount & Blade (MB) takes it to a whole new level. In MB, you get to lead a battalion of troops in armed combat either on foot or mounted with the option to use missile weapons in both. You can even lead the defense or assault a castle during a siege. This is something that I always wanted to see after first person fighting games came on to the scene. Did you ever want to get into the fight directly in <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Medieval-II-Total-War/dp/B000FUONLM/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Medieval II Total War</a>? Here is your chance. The main reason I give it the five star rating is the combat and the concept. The graphics are good enough to support the amazing action sequences. You act as your lead character as he grows in abilities and reputation. The game is a sandbox style play where you can do whatever you want. If you want an overall goal then takeover the whole world, but it will not be easy. It doesn't have the polish of most mainstream productions, but it is offering something new and challenging. Trying to take the last city of one of the factions is a truly trying experience. I added some screen shots so you can see the action, but if you are intrigued try the demo. For the price on Amazon, this is a no brainer. My copy did not have the manual which made understanding the game a little more difficult. I would recommend StrategyWiki website for some good tips and explanation.","Product: Embark on a quest for glory and riches in this nation-building, dynasty-forging game of power, military might and medieval adventure.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Intense Medieval Strategy Game - Too many flaws\n\nReview: I have mixed feeling about this game. It has taken dynastic strategy to a whole new level. The concept is amazing, but the game play is sometimes weak.\n\nThe few positives:\n\nI wish <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Medieval-Total-War/dp/B000063SAU/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Medieval: Total War</a> had this kind of depth in the dynasty management. Crusader Kings has a lot of flexibility. You can play as any count, duke, or king in all of Europe. You control the marriage of your children and other children in your line. You can change how inheritance works in your realm (strongest vassal, eldest son, strongest son, etc.)\n\nI like the way troops are mobilized from your vassals. You can either directly call up the vassals troops which lowers the loyalty of your vassal or make a request to him to mobilize all his forces which he may or may not honor due to the situation.\n\nThe many negatives:\n\nLoyalty of vassals is handled poorly. It is really unmanageable. Vassal loyalty was an unending problem. I constantly had to monitor loyalty of the vassals and sparse out titles to stop infighting. You also can not tell whether their loyalty to the liege is increasing or decreasing over time without checking monthly. I turned to writing down all the vassals in my territory and kept track of it each month. Not fun. It would have been nice to have an indicator to show if the loyalty is increasing or decreasing and by what factor.\n\nThe manual provided with the game is so incomplete it is laughable. There is zero help to understand how to play the game other than this. You simply learn to play by making constant mistakes. There should be some kind of help menu in the game to explain how features in the game work.\n\nCombat leaves a lot to be desired. First note the only control you have over the battle is whether you continue to fight or flee. The battle is basically decided by quantity and quality of the troops and their morale. However, most times I noticed that they didn't really fight because the morale would drop so fast even from full morale that no damage would really happen. Maybe there is some specific reason for this, but again without a quality manual how do you tell. I realize this is not the major focus of the game, but it could have been developed better and less frustrating.\n\nI liked the way you mobilize troops, but I hated what happened next. While you have some options to change the power of different groups in a province which affects the troop type split, you have zero control of the number of troops that you call up. Basically you call up all available resources in the province. This may not sound like a bad thing, but if you can't afford to maintain that amount of troops you either go in debt or disband the whole group. The other annoying thing is that you can go in debt for having too many of your troops mobilized, but the computer controlled countries (including your vassals) do not. I think all countries should have to deal with the debt situation and it should affect vassal loyalty if the your vassals go into debt because you have their troops mobilized too long. Basically this part was just poorly thought out.\n\nThe game became very repetitive as the same events would occur over and over until the computer managed to get you to have the trait that it wanted.\n\nThe computer does not handle the Crusades well. The computer will respond to the Crusades, but only half hardly. What's worse after Jerusalem was conquered, the Crusade stayed in effect and the computer started attacking anyone who held it.\n\nI did not have a lot of problems with bugs. I am running the game with patch version 1.05 with a computer with Quad Core 2 Intel processor with tons of memory and Vista OS. I have experienced a couple of crashes, but have not had any crashes during loading. What I didn't like is how the game exits when you lose your last heir under your control. It just shuts the game down. No summary telling you that you failed and what your status was before your exit. I thought the game had crashed.\n\nIn summary, the game has its good points, but the frustrations out weight the positives. Hopefully other games will pick up the well developed dynasty management. With all the great games out there don't waste your time here.","Product: The best selling old-world real-time city-building simulation is back! Build cities, manage economies and battle pirates in the only game of its kind based in the Middle Ages. Grow your small town into a major trading center wielding tremendous economic power.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Shipping is the business and business is good\n\nReview: I really did enjoy the game. This game is addictive, you will be drawn in and forget about the world around you. Picking which cargoes to carry and what price to buy and sell at keeps you engaged constantly. This reminded me of Railroad Tycoon mixed with SimCity or one of the Roman citybuilder games like Caesar. If you enjoy slowing building empires, you will enjoy P3 as well.\n\nThe economic model is simple, but is realistic in function. The basic principal is supply and demand. The city produces commodities and consumes commodities. You job is bring items from where they are plentiful to where they are needed. You can build industries to harvest / produce commodities if you can't get them reliably or at the right price. Reputation is also important in the game. You must build your reputation so you can build in other cities, become town mayor, or leader of the Hanseatic League.\n\nThe game does have its weaknesses. One of the main gripes is there is no pause button. I literally had to save and exit the game to do anything else. My girlfriend nearly killed me several times for ignoring her while I was trying complete some task or the other. Even in the slowest mode the game still moved too fast to do anything other than step away to go to the bathroom. Another irritation was limitation on automating ship trades only to vessels with captains (captains are rare). I liked the use of the captains as they had special abilities, but thought this should not be linked automation. The sea battles are overly simplistic. You can sail your ship and fire the guns, but boarding is done by calculation and you have no input. You are also not notified when your ships see pirates and they take no evasive action without your direction. There were many times that I wanted to speed the game up, but this prevented me from doing so. The battles also happened in real time so while you were in the battle you could not control the rest of the game. There are other complaints I won't go into here, but needless to say these detracted from game enjoyment.\n\nDespite the weaknesses, if you like the genre, you will enjoy the game. Replayability is limited (only one map; cities make / need the same things each game) but not nonexistent. You can try to improve on past attempts by making more money, encouraging more grow, or simply completing the mission in less game time. There are several campaign games which shake things up and present interesting challenges too.","Product: Build cities, manage economies, and battle pirates based in the Middle Ages. Grow your small town into a major trading center wielding tremendous economic power. The 3rd installment of the real-time city-building simulation. Destroy hidden pirate lairs, build new towns and establish new trade routes as you expand your empire. Amass great wealth: Astutely trade the surplus from one region to those in need and reap tremendous profits.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Shipping is the business and business is good\n\nReview: I really did enjoy the game. This game is addictive, you will be drawn in and forget about the world around you. Picking which cargoes to carry and what price to buy and sell at keeps you engaged constantly. This reminded me of <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Railroad-Tycoon-2-Gold/dp/B00002NDEU/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Railroad Tycoon 2 Gold</a> mixed with SimCity or one of the Roman citybuilder games like <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Caesar-3/dp/B000031KJX/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Caesar 3</a>. If you enjoy slowing building empires, you will enjoy Patrician 3 (P3) as well.\n\nThe economic model is simple, but is realistic in function. The basic principal is supply and demand. The city produces commodities and consumes commodities. Your job is to bring items from where they are plentiful to where they are needed. You can build industries to harvest / produce commodities if you can't get them reliably or at the right price. Reputation is also important in the game. You must build your reputation so you can build in other cities, become town mayor, or leader of the Hanseatic League.\n\nThe game does have its weaknesses. One of the main gripes is there is no pause button. I literally had to save and exit the game to do anything else. My girlfriend nearly killed me several times for ignoring her while I was trying complete some task or the other. Even in the slowest mode the game still moved too fast to do anything other than step away to go to the bathroom. Another irritation was limitation on automating ship trades only to vessels with captains (captains are rare). I liked the use of the captains as they had special abilities, but thought this should not be linked to automation. The sea battles are overly simplistic. You can sail your ship and fire the guns, but boarding is done by calculation and you have no input. You are also not notified when your ships see pirates and they take no evasive action without your direction. There were many times that I wanted to speed the game up, but this prevented me from doing so. The battles also happened in real time so while you were in the battle you could not control the rest of the game. There are other complaints I won't go into here, but needless to say these detracted from game enjoyment.\n\nDespite the weaknesses, if you like the genre, you will enjoy the game. Replayability is limited (only one map; cities make / need the same things each game) but not nonexistent. You can try to improve on past attempts by making more money, encouraging more grow, or simply completing the mission in less game time. There are several campaign games which shake things up and present interesting challenges too.","Product: The Logitech USB Headset H570e, available in corded mono and stereo versions, delivers enterprise-quality audio at an affordable price for crystal-clear communication and long wearing comfort.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Comfortable Headset with Great Sound\n\nReview: I liked this headset. It is comfortable to wear and the sound quality is great. The headset is light, but the construction seems solid. Much more flexible than I first expected. The volume controls are convenient. The cord is a reasonable length if you stay in one place. However, if you move around away from the computer, you'll need to get the wireless or extra long corded models. The headset is plug and play and was recognized as soon as I plugged it in. However, I had to disable the normal sound output so that it would play on the headset. I use this for home use, so I can't comment on its functionality with business software. All in all a good product.","Product: Polaris Industries Inc. a leader is power sports leveraged over 60 years of technical expertise developing and testing to ensure the POWER generator product line can handle any task you need it for years to come. Simple put its quiet and your neighbors will remain happy while your Polaris POWER generator is in operation with real world testing producing a mere 53 dB(A) its quieter than a normal conversation at 25% load. The Polaris P1000i is light and compact, only 36.4 pounds with 2 ergonomically designed handles anyone can easily move to the ideal location. Knowing space is always a premium the flat surface top enables an ideal spot for lighter items. The Polaris P1000i is extremely simple to operate and delivers exceptionally fuel efficiency on a tank of gas (.98 Gallons) at 25% load (225Watts) will over 10 hours of run time on utilizing its standard the economy throttle switch. Capable of producing 1000 watts maximum AC output (900watts rated) the P1000i digital inverter is the perfect addition to safely power small electronics, such as a TV while tailgating or an expensive laptop while away from home. It features dual 120 volt AC outlets with circuit breaker protection that is resettable while the engine is running and a fused 12 volt DC outlet and charging cord. The Polaris P1000i also features a low oil sensor to stop and protect the engine from mechanical damage and expense on the occasion of low oil. Additionally, this generator is parallel capable, enabling 2 units to be connected together for even more output when needed and giving you the choice of paring it with another P1000i or combining with a P2000i for additional power. Oil and gasoline must be added prior to first use and is NOT included. Polaris 5W-30 Generator Oil is recommended.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Under-Powered for Home Use\n\nReview: This unit has limited use. At 900W running power you can't do that much. It can run your TV and your laptop or charge your cell phone or ipad, but don't expect much more than that. I think this unit would be good for tailgating or camping if you are mindful of buying small devices that the generator can support. If you are looking for a little more power at least get the larger <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Polaris-P13GDGBNA-Power-P2000i-Portable-Gas-Powered-Digital-Inverter-Generator-2000-watt/dp/B00N31WS3A/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Polaris P13GDGBNA Power P2000i Portable Gas Powered Digital Inverter Generator, 2000-watt</a>. The 2000W unit can run household devices (fridge and microwave) that you would need during a power outage.\n\nOutside of being under-powered, the generator seems to be well built. This is not a surprise because Polaris makes good products. I have never run a generator before. But with a quick read of the instructions and adding oil and fuel, I was ready to go. The smart throttle allows the unit to run efficiently when you are only pulling a small load. Starting the unit up the first time took several cranks; however, after that it would crank up on just one pull.\n\nI didn't find the unit light weight, but it wasn't unreasonably heavy either. The two handles make it easy to grip. In regard to noise, the unit isn't quiet, but again it is not unreasonably loud. I was able to hear it inside without the TV on, but with the TV going I didn't notice it. The unit won't wake the neighbors.","Product: 'Magisterial in its scope, beautifully written and literally unputdownable.I cannot recommend Keegan's book too highly.'Julian Critchley, Scotsman 'Nobody describes a battle as Keegan does, vividly relating the unfolding events to the contours of the field of combat. This book is a kind of war memorial. As first-hand memory fades, The First World War honours the dead as only true history can.'Niall Ferguson, Sunday Times 'John Keegan's The First World War can take its place alongside the other defining works he has written. The best and most approachable introduction to the war.'David Horspool, Guardian 'Beautifully written and full of telling detail.The best overall account for the general reader that has appeared since that of Cyril Falls nearly forty years ago.'Michael Howard, Times Literary Supplement\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Grand Overview of the \"Great War\"\n\nReview: The First World War is a massive subject. Keegan does a great job capturing the essence of the war without dragging the book out as long as the war itself. When covering a topic of this scale, it is impossible to dive into all the details. So Keegan's overview is not suitable for the well read student. But for those who are a novice to the subject or have only read about parts of the war or seen it in documentaries, Keegan is a great place to start. Keegan explains at depth how the war began. He discusses the spark and what transformed an isolated tragedy into a juggernaut of world slaughter. It is fascinating to read how military strategy preempted political reality, and misguided belief in the quick decisive victory, sent millions to their graves. As a avid reader of WWII, it is interesting reading how the strategy of WWI influenced the path of WWII. Especially interesting is reflecting on what the outcome of WWI would have been with the technology of WWII.\n\nBut with the end in sight (at least the Germans thought so), the war takes a different shape as it hardens into trench warfare. Keegan explains how the tactics and strategy for trench warfare evolved throughout the war. He discusses the uses of new technologies like chemical warfare, indirect artillery, machine guns, aerial combat, and tanks. Keegan also explains that all these new technological advances only serve to stack the body count without delivering the knockout blow so desired. He shows over and over again how the lack of development in communications prevented breakouts from sustaining their momentum. In fact, it would take another war to hone these techniques even after the technology was available. Even in Normandy during WWII, the allies found it difficult to coordinate infantry with armor formations and close air support. Keegan also explores the expansion of the war as a European war grows to consume most of the world. He covers the war at sea which results in the near annihilation of the German High Seas Fleet.\n\nBut the book is not perfect. There could be more maps to reflect the narrative. Keegan does allow national pride to color his discussion of British actions. The end of the war lacks the coverage it deserves. Others have pointed out the gripes. But, it is hard to please everyone. Keegan still delivers an excellent overview of the \"Great War\". I recommend this book highly to anyone interested in history. Understanding WWI is fundamental in appreciating the history of the last century. The lessons of the world wars should be understood by anyone interested in foreign policy.","Product: paperback, vg++\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: The Most Entertaining Novel in the Icewind Dale Trilogy\n\nReview: First off, this is the conclusion of the Icewind Dale Trilogy. I would strongly recommend reading the first two novels in the series, The Crystal Shard and Streams of Silver, to truly enjoy this book. This story picks up with Artemis Entreri, running off with Regis from Mithral Hall, the halfling, to return him to Pasha Pook the leader of the largest thieves' guild in Calimport. Drizzt and friends chase after Entreri to save Regis from the almost certain death that awaits him in Calimport. The plot is pretty straight forward, but there are definitely enough complications to keep it interesting.\nI really enjoyed this book and thought it was the best book in the trilogy. The Halfling's Gem regains the continuous fast paced adventure that was lost in part of Streams of Silver. I found the supporting characters in this book much better conceived and interesting. The battle scenes in the boat and at Pasha Pook's palace were at least as good as any of the battle scenes in the other two books. Also Drizzt's attempt to find himself and what he stands for really progresses in this book. This continues in the Dark Elf Trilogy, which occurred before he reached Icewind Dale, but was written after the Icewind Dale Trilogy. All in all the writing in this novel has really improved from the first two books. This same quality continues through the rest of the Drizzt series. I whole-heartedly recommend this novel for the entertaining fast paced read that it is.","Product: Vintage paperback\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Exciting and Balanced Account of D-Day\n\nReview: D-Day is one of the most important days in the last one hundred years. It has been portrayed in countless times in different forms through movies (examples <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/The-Longest-Day-Two-Disc-Collector-s-Edition/dp/B000EHSVRS/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">The Longest Day (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)</a>,<a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Saving-Private-Ryan-Special-Limited-Edition/dp/B00001ZWUS/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Saving Private Ryan (Special Limited Edition)</a>, and <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Band-of-Brothers/dp/B00006CXSS/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Band of Brothers</a>), video games <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Medal-of-Honor-Allied-Assault-Deluxe/dp/B000089SBB/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Medal of Honor Allied Assault Deluxe</a>,<a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Close-Combat-Invasion-Normandy/dp/B00004Y7SY/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Close Combat: Invasion Normandy</a>), but written word shouldn't be forgotten. Cornelius Ryan's first book brings it to life. He describes the events leading up to the invasion, the aborted attempt, the airborne landings the night before, and storming the beaches. Ryan provides his colorful history from a range of sources including interviews with generals to soldiers to civilians. He also bases his story on his research of captured German documents and other firsthand historical accounts. There also some nice B/W pictures provided including pictures from Ryan's personal collection.\n\nHe lays out the story through the perspective of all sides. He shows the story unfolding from the eyes of all the allies, the defending Germans, as well as the civilians directly involved. His writing style is very dramatic and keeps your enthusiasm throughout. He also doesn't neglect the actions of the non-American allies. You are introduced to Gold, Juno, and Sword beaches as well as the well known Omaha and Utah. Ryan also shows us how disorganized the Germans were on D-day. Key members of the German command were away including Rommel. Armored reinforcements were moved and then halted. You never know what could have been, but the book makes you appreciate how fortunate the allies were on D-Day. The generals were expecting that all the beaches would be as bloody as Omaha.\n\nMy only complaints, roughly three-fifths of the book are events leading up to the beach landings. I think more detail especially on the advances from the beaches should have been provided. Another detraction is the lack of maps in the version that I have. I'm familiar with the beaches and airborne landing areas, but maps showing these areas would have been very helpful to readers not familiar with the subject.\n\nDespite those minor detractions, I highly recommend this book. The sacrifices made on June 6th 1944 should never be forgotten. We are fortunate that Cornelius Ryan has captured a little of that for us. See Ryan's other books as well, <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/A-Bridge-Too-Far-The-Classic-History-of-the-Greatest-Battle-of-World-War-II/dp/0684803305/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">A Bridge Too Far: The Classic History of the Greatest Battle of World War II</a> and <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Last-Battle-The-Classic-History-of-the-Battle-for-Berlin/dp/0684803291/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Last Battle: The Classic History of the Battle for Berlin</a>.","Product: Reprint of 1951 Original. Utah Beach and Omaha Beach history. Extra Postage for Priority. No International.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Comprehensive United States Study of the Planning and Execution of the Invasion of Normandy\n\nReview: Gordon Harrison's book on the invasion of Normandy is the most comprehensive book I have read on the subject. The scope of the book includes the actions of the Americans and their German counterparts in Utah and Omaha beach sectors. After setting the scene with the planning and preparatory activities, the British activities from Juno-Gold-Sword Beaches and lodgment area are neglected for the most part. The author addresses this at the beginning by saying this is the historical record of American activities in World War II. Harrison did have access to the British military archives and he uses them to good effect as they have direct interaction with American movements.\n\nThis book starts by explaining how the Allied plans to assault the French coast were developed. Plans for making a cross-Channel attack had started even before the United States had entered the war; however, the British considered any such plan infeasible except where the Germans withdraw from France on their own accord or the German determination to fight would completely collapse. The book follows the strategic discussions where the United States pushed for a cross-Channel attack as the primary strategy to defeating Germany with the British pretending to entertain the idea to encourage a US buildup of troops in Great Britain as a defensive force rather than offensive. It continues by following the planning of the North Africa and later Sicily and Italy operations which the US reluctantly agreed to despite US strategist believing the actions would only prolong the war. I had not realized that Allied strategy had been so divided and found this quite interesting. In fact without the insistence of the Russians that the cross-Channel attack should be the primary action and Mediterranean operations were only diversions, the cross-Channel attack may not have happened until the Germans voluntarily withdrew from France.\n\nThe book includes the Digest of Operation Overlord, a kind of abstract written by the planners of Operation Overlord summarizing the proposed assault including the selection of landing point, its objectives, and conditions for victory. From this you will have a more comprehensive understanding of why the Normandy beaches were selected and what the planners were truly concerned about when they were drawing up their plans. There is more here than is normally summarized in other books.\n\nHarrison also consults many German sources that became available after the war including captured correspondence between the different headquarters and statements by captured German officers. He outlines how the defense of the west was organized and how it was impacted by the requirement of resources to defend the other sectors especially against the Russians. He describes the formation of command under Rommel and describes the competing ideas on strategy of defense of the west. What results is a command structure where no one agrees on strategy and paralyzation at inopportune moments.\n\nHarrison discusses preparatory measures by bomber command in the months prior to the invasion to assist the cross-Channel assault. He explains the controversy over what should be targeted and the results on the Luftwaffe and French rail system. He also discusses the organization and operations of the French resistance. All the other D-Day histories I have read have neglected these topics altogether.\n\nAfter setting the scene, Harrison then tells the story of D-day and Operation Overlord. The scope of the book covers actions in the V Corps area through June 18th (where the Americans settle into the defensive) and actions in the VII Corps area through July 1st (capture of Cherbourg). In this he covers the linking up between V and VII corps (including the fighting around Carentan), the slow drive towards St. Lo, the link up of V Corps with the British, the fighting around the Caumont Gap, and fight to capture Cherbourg. I think the level of detail provided is adequate on the American landings and actions. The German activities and movements are described well and Harrison even points out where the German's command structure broke down and did not know the status of separated units. The interesting thing between reading this book and German reports (see <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Fighting-In-Normandy-The-German-Army-from-D-Day-to-Villers-Bocage/dp/1853674605/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Fighting In Normandy: The German Army from D-Day to Villers-Bocage</a> with excerpts from German commander interviews which Harrison frequently references) is the Germans view that the Allies attacks were missing opportunities. Of course the one attack where the Allies did try to out flank the Germans and exploit a weak spot resulted in a major reverse at Villers Bocage. The same happened in reverse in the Cotentin Peninsula where the Germans were unable to handle the airborne forces despite their numerical superiority on D-Day. It is easy after it is all over to question the actions of others when the complete picture is known. This book goes a long way into explaining how and why the Battle for Normandy unfolded as it did.\n\nA major complaint is that the version of the book that I have, 1995 Barnes & Noble hardcover edition, does not include most of the maps that are included in other editions of this book. I know they are missing because they are referenced to in the text. This made following the various movements of the troops difficult. I resorted to keeping a Google map up online so I could try to locate the places that were mentioned. I would only give the Barnes & Noble edition 3 stars because of this deficiency.","Product: Carolyn Dewald is Associate Professor of Classics at the University of Southern California. Robin Waterfield is a distinguished translator whose version of Plato's Republic has been described as `the best available'.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: The Father of History has something for everyone\n\nReview: Herodotus's The Histories is an immense trove of knowledge. He is often given the handle Father of History as his pioneering work help set the stage for the field of historians. The Histories tell the story of the Greek and Persian Wars. This is the first and only surviving history by a ancient writer about the Greco-Persian Wars. We wouldn't have details about the Spartan last stand at Thermopylai or the Greek victories at Marathon, Salamis, and Plataia without Herodotus. But, the scope of The Histories does not stop there. It gives the story of many peoples and events that connect the dots to give a complete background of the conflict. The Histories covers the following:\n\n*Croesus the last king of Lydia and their defeat to the Persians including the reasons for the conflict\n*History of the Medes and how they came under Persian power\n*Persia's development into an empire under Cyrus\n*The History, Geography, Customs of Egypt\n*Some insights into the Trojan War\n*The Persian conquest of Egypt\n*The Persian failed attempt to conquer the Scythians\n*The History, Geography, Customs of Scythia\n*The events leading up to the revolt of the Ionians\n*The quashing of the Ionian Rebellion\n*The Persian defeat at Marathon\n*The second Persian invasion and defeat in Greece\n\nHerodotus's style may put off some readers. As he is describing one storyline, he drifts into related topics to provide background. So it takes patience or a love the subject to truly enjoy Herodotus. What I found most interesting is how he presents the various sides of a story. He will describe the differences in what various parties say is the truth and then provide his opinion on which is correct.\n\nThis is a must have for anyone interested in Greek or Persian history or even later Egyptian history.","Product: Ancient Mediterranean, The by Grant, Michael. 8vo.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Cultural examination of early Mediterranean civilizations - difficult read\n\nReview: I have read other Michael Grant books and really enjoy reading about history. However, I had a hard time finishing this book. The book's concept is what interested me. Explaining the history of all the major Mediterranean civilizations and how they interrelate is a great concept. But the execution failed in maintaining an organized progression and keeping reader interest. Grant tries to tackle too many topics. He jumps around and has so much information to present that the book looses it's momentum. I also felt that he tried to rely too much his written descriptions to portray influences of the arts (pottery, paintings, objects, etc.). Grant should have some visual aids to show how the earlier techniques influenced later cultures. If this wasn't possible, less time should have been spent on the subject.\n\nDespite my observations above, I still rate this book with 3 stars. It definitely has its flaws, but there is a lot of interesting material here. I enjoyed the discussion on physical characteristics of the Mediterranean Sea and surrounding lands. The information on early migrations into the area and the impact they had on the surroundings was fascinating. I learned about several civilizations that I had little knowledge of and how they influenced the later cultures like Greece and Rome.\n\nThis book isn't for most people, but for those with strong curiosity about early civilizations in the Mediterranean and how they got there you may want to try this book.","Product: Reprint of 1951 Original. Utah Beach and Omaha Beach history. Extra Postage for Priority. No International.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Comprehensive United States Study of the Planning and Execution of the Invasion of Normandy\n\nReview: Gordon Harrison's book on the invasion of Normandy is the most comprehensive book I have read on the subject. The scope of the book includes the actions of the Americans and their German counterparts in Utah and Omaha beach sectors. I would highly recommend <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Omaha-Beach-D-Day-June-6-1944/dp/0811700798/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Omaha Beach: D-Day June 6, 1944</a> and <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Utah-Beach-The-Amphibious-Landing-and-Airbourne-Operations-on-D-Day/dp/0811701441/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Utah Beach: The Amphibious Landing and Airbourne Operations on D-Day</a> by Joseph Balkoski if you would like more details on the beach landings. After setting the scene with the planning and preparatory activities, the British activities from Juno-Gold-Sword Beaches and lodgment area are neglected for the most part. The author addresses this at the beginning by saying this is the historical record of American activities in World War II. I would recommend <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Overlord-D-Day-and-the-Battle-for-Normandy/dp/0671460293/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Overlord: D-Day and the Battle for Normandy</a> by Max Hastings if you would like coverage of the non-american allies involvement in Normandy to. Harrison did have access to the British military archives and he uses them to good effect as they have direct interaction with American movements.\n\nThis book starts by explaining how the Allied plans to assault the French coast were developed. Plans for making a cross-Channel attack had started even before the United States had entered the war; however, the British considered any such plan infeasible except where the Germans withdraw from France on their own accord or the German determination to fight would completely collapse. The book follows the strategic discussions where the United States pushed for a cross-Channel attack as the primary strategy to defeating Germany with the British pretending to entertain the idea to encourage a US buildup of troops in Great Britain as a defensive force rather than offensive. It continues by following the planning of the North Africa and later Sicily and Italy operations which the US reluctantly agreed to despite US strategist believing the actions would only prolong the war. I had not realized that Allied strategy had been so divided and found this quite interesting. In fact without the insistence of the Russians that the cross-Channel attack should be the primary action and Mediterranean operations were only diversions, the cross-Channel attack may not have happened until the Germans voluntarily withdrew from France.\n\nThe book includes the Digest of Operation Overlord, a kind of abstract written by the planners of Operation Overlord summarizing the proposed assault including the selection of landing point, its objectives, and conditions for victory. From this you will have a more comprehensive understanding of why the Normandy beaches were selected and what the planners were truly concerned about when they were drawing up their plans. There is more here than is normally summarized in other books.\n\nHarrison also consults many German sources that became available after the war including captured correspondence between the different headquarters and statements by captured German officers. He outlines how the defense of the west was organized and how it was impacted by the requirement of resources to defend the other sectors especially against the Russians. He describes the formation of command under Rommel and describes the competing ideas on strategy of defense of the west. What results is a command structure where no one agrees on strategy and paralyzation at inopportune moments.\n\nHarrison discusses preparatory measures by bomber command in the months prior to the invasion to assist the cross-Channel assault. He explains the controversy over what should be targeted and the results on the Luftwaffe and French rail system. He also discusses the organization and operations of the French resistance. All the other D-Day histories I have read have neglected these topics altogether.\n\nAfter setting the scene, Harrison then tells the story of D-day and Operation Overlord. The scope of the book covers actions in the V Corps area through June 18th (where the Americans settle into the defensive) and actions in the VII Corps area through July 1st (capture of Cherbourg). In this he covers the linking up between V and VII corps (including the fighting around Carentan), the slow drive towards St. Lo, the link up of V Corps with the British, the fighting around the Caumont Gap, and fight to capture Cherbourg. I think the level of detail provided is adequate on the American landings and actions. The German activities and movements are described well and Harrison even points out where the German's command structure broke down and did not know the status of separated units. The interesting thing between reading this book and German reports (see <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Fighting-in-Normandy-The-German-Army-from-D-day-to-Villers-Bocage/dp/1853674605/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Fighting in Normandy: The German Army from D-day to Villers-Bocage</a> with excerpts from German commander interviews which Harrison frequently references) is the Germans view that the Allies attacks were missing opportunities. Of course the one attack where the Allies did try to out flank the Germans and exploit a weak spot resulted in a major reverse at Villers Bocage. The same happened in reverse in the Cotentin Peninsula where the Germans were unable to handle the airborne forces despite their numerical superiority on D-Day. It is easy after it is all over to question the actions of others when the complete picture is known. This book goes a long way into explaining how and why the Battle for Normandy unfolded as it did.\n\nI highly recommend the Whitman Publishing version of this book. I previously had the Barnes and Noble publishing of the book and it was missing many of the referenced maps. The Whitman version has nice full color maps.","Product: This module is designed for 4-7 characters of first through third levels. It includes a map of the village and a description of its buildings and occupants, an overland journey to a challenging underground adventure for especially brave (or foolhardy...) characters, and a list of pre-rolled first level characters.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Excellent low level module\n\nReview: This adventure has it all, but I still think (T1-4) The Temple of Elemental Evil is the best of all time. This gives players a chance to roleplay in a well thought out and developed town where they attempt to discover what is terrorizing the poor sleepy community. Once they discover what is going on the adventurers get to dive into a fun dungeon that has the right balance of good creatures and well deserved treasure. This can be fun even for those dimwitted players that couldn't solve a mystery to save their lives(and it usually does). Design some subplots around the meaty town or use the kidnappings setup in the module. You may find yourself wanting to stay in this town for quite some time! Hey eventually everyone has to figure it out right?"],"string":"[\n \"Product: Set in the Pacific Theatre of WWII, Medal of Honor Pacific Assault represents a unique addition to the award-winning Medal of Honor franchise. Players step into the boots of Marine Private Tom Conlin and feel his shock at the destruction of the American fleet at Pearl Harbor, his growing resolve in the fight for Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, and his triumph at the battle for Tarawa Island. MOH: Pacific Assault combines 7 expansive single player missions covering 25 levels with over 9 new multiplayer maps and includes new locations, new weapons, and new soldiers. Soldiers gain access to over 21 historically accurate WWII era weapons, including M1 Carbines, Japanese Arisaka rifles, and the Type 100 submachine gun. New vehicles including M4 Flamethrower Tanks, and PT boats.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Improvements in Game Play, but Single Player Campaign is a letdown\\n\\nReview: Medal of Honor Pacific Assault(MOHPA) leaves me with mixed feelings. I have played <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Medal-of-Honor-Allied-Assault-Deluxe/dp/B000089SBB/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Medal of Honor Allied Assault Deluxe</a> (MOHAA), <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Call-of-Duty-Game-of-the-Year-Edition/dp/B0000C6EB4/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Call of Duty: Game of the Year Edition</a> (COD), and <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Brothers-in-Arms-Road-to-Hill-30/dp/B0002AL1Z6/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30</a> (BIA).\\n\\nPositives: Graphics are top notch and realistic. MOHPA improves all of the areas that were lacking in MOHAA. You can pick up any type of weapon in the game including the enemy's, Japanese ammunition only works in the Japanese weapons, you have full range of movement (crouch and prone), ability to use aim with any weapon. The teammate AI is greatly improved over MOHAA. Your teammates are useful and necessary part of the game to complete tough missions. There was added feature where one of your teammates is a corpsman and can heal you and your teammates. The enemy AI is also much improved on higher difficulty levels. They use team assault techniques and effective flanking tactics. Basically, MOHPA brings all of the game play features that COD brought to the table.\\n\\nWeaknesses: The main reason I gave this game lower marks is the campaign missions. I really did not like a lot of them. The Pearl Harbor scenarios were a drag and boring. It would have been better to just show a movie for Pearl Harbor scenario. The flying mission was irritating. If I wanted a flight simulator, I would buy one. The controls were horrible and unrealistic and I also could not destroy the Japanese carrier after hitting it with 4 bombs and a torpedo. Most of the rest of the missions were jungle patrols and capture the huts. These missions reminded me more of Vietnam than WWII. The real complaint with these missions was that the play field was so limited that you could not use flanking. Most of vehicle missions seems poorly setup. It really didn't matter if you did anything in several of the missions; they still had the same outcome.\\n\\nWhile the teammate AI was improved, the teammate controls were limited. BIA has vastly better teammate controls which allows you to move them in certain directions and put fire on specific targets. Also while I liked the corpsman feature, basically he would heal your teammates indefinitely. Your teammates cannot die and he can even heal himself from deaths door. Very unrealistic. Basically they used this to offset the overwhelming odds you were usually fighting in.\\n\\nSummary: If you have waited this long to buy the game your computer should be able to handle the hearty system requirements. MOHPA gets A+ for graphics realism, but falls short of realistic campaign missions. Loading times are also extremely long even for high powered modern machines. If you really want to experience the Pacific theatre of WWII, you may want to get this game. Otherwise, you likely won't find much enjoyment here.\",\n \"Product: The Bard's Tale was the great-grandfather of modern-day Computer role-players. This updated version brings back the fun and adventure, as you play The Bard -- a hero who's only after coins and cleavage. Is a dragon attacking a village? He'll face it, for the right price. Has a princess been kidnapped? He'll save her, but only if she's hot. Comedy and fantasy action combine for a uniqe 3D role-playing experience!\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Songs, Stories, and Adventure\\n\\nReview: The Bard's Tale (BT) is a good change of pace. The Bard is a mercenary of sorts looking to score women, fortune, and drink. He has a keenly sarcastic tongue and makes a point to only take action when he has something to gain personally. The storyline is entertaining and funny with cut scenes that have good voice acting. The cut scenes make this game. The atmosphere of the tavern in Houton is well planned and enjoyable. You get to decide what course to take the conversation (nasty or nice) and being nice is not always the correct path. The humor pokes fun at the storyline and adventure stereotypes. The humor is not for everyone, but I found it entertaining. Don't get me wrong BT doesn't take the place of Baldur's Gate, but it is certainly better than the industry reviewers rated it.\\n\\nBut, this game offers more than just a storyline. The combat in BT is fun. The Bard is a mixture of fighter and amateur conjurer. The Bard has the option of fighting with sword and shield, two weapons, two-handed weapons, and a flail. You control when the Bard attacks and blocks. The action is not limited to the same repetitive swing, the combat is dynamic as the attack causes body to shift positions and then attack from a different angle. I especially enjoyed the two weapon fighting. The Bard can also call upon several types of conjured creatures to support him. These creatures vary in abilities like front line fighters, ranged attackers, healers, trap detectors/disarm. The amount of creatures that can be summoned vary based on the equipment in his possession and his abilities. The character advancement follows a similar (yet simpler) pattern as Dungeons & Dragons. For each level you gain you can increase your attributes and get talents every few levels. The perspective camera can be shifted to any direction (but not to first person), which was a helpful feature.\\n\\nBT does have its drawbacks. In combat, you get bounced around when you are hit kind of like an old Nintendo game. The game controls do feel like it was made for game consoles. The character advancement options are very limited. It makes sense for game storyline, but makes replayability basically zero. The storyline is very linear so again don't expect replayability. There are a couple of strange things that some may like and others will hate. When you pick up something it is instantly converted to currency unless it is better than previously attained equipment and the old equipment is then sold automatically.\\n\\nA few technical notes: I was unable to play BT on my new computer with Microsoft Vista OS even with patches installed. It gave me an error message requesting an older version of Microsoft Media Player and it would not let me load the older version of Media Player since by computer was running 64 bit OS. You might be able to run on 32 bit version of Vista, but no guarantees. I was able to run it on my older computer (P4 2.4GHz running Windows XP SR1, 640MB RAM, 128MN ATI Radeon 9200); however, I did experience some lag during some cut scenes and with certain creatures summoned or lots enemies in the screen.\",\n \"Product: Brothers in Arms is a realistic, gritty WWII shooter based on a true story. The game puts you in the shoes of Sergeant Matt Baker, a D-Day paratrooper squad leader, and asks you to lead the squad as you balance their lives with the success of the mission. The true stories and historical events you experience on you perilous journey take you through real battlefields meticulously recreated from aerial reconnaissance images, US Army Signal Corps photos and eye-witness accounts of war-torn Normandy. Players of all skill levels can battle their way through Brothers in Arms innovative yet accessible command and control system. Brothers in Arms places you in the center of D-Day to experience the self-sacrifice and unprecedented bravery of the troops who fought to win the freedoms that we enjoy today.”\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Fight the Germans with the Screaming Eagles as it happened in WWII\\n\\nReview: I was rather uncertain about purchasing this game due to the poor reviews. I went ahead and got it because it was dirt cheap. I did have problems with crashes causing the computer to restart. These ended up being caused by an out of date video card driver. I did not have any problems with security software, but I have a DVD ROM drive. The game does work for ATI and Nvidia video cards. Make sure you download the latest patch.\\n\\nThe designers made a concerted effort to recreate actual WWII combat movements of the 101st Airborne starting with their parachute drop in Normandy. The buildings and other terrain shown in the game are based on WWII aerial reconnaissance and pictures. The missions are based on combat action reports recorded by the actual soldiers who fought in WWII. As you play the game, extras are enabled to be viewed which show various things about the actual WWII missions, pictures from Normandy during WWII and now, and lots of other interesting material.\\n\\nI like the squad based commands. This is a great merger of combat strategy and first person shooter (FPS) games. The commands are very simple to use, but they are limited to line of site. Contrary to some of the reviews, you can hit target even that have cover, but basically you have aim using zoom feature in the gun and range has a major influence. Cover provides significantly more protection than most other shooter games, but I think this adds to the strategy of the game. The game uses a suppression system that is really cool, but the indicator in the game detracts from the realism (this can be turned off). The situational awareness feature allows you to pause the game and see the position of your team members. This is useful to be able to move your squad efficiently and plan attacks. I think is a little overdone. It allows you to zoom in on enemy positions. I think it should be more limited to line of sight of the team members. My only real complaint is that the computer AI does not try to use the same squad based tactics that the player uses. The Germans mostly only fight defensively and their counterattacks are not coordinated and do not react to your placement.\\n\\nI gave the game four stars because of good use of squad based commands and authenticity of the terrain and missions. It's something different than the typical WWII FPS games.\",\n \"Product: MODEL- 49297 VENDOR- THQ FEATURES- Company of Heroes PC Command the Company that Changed the Face of History From the studio that brought you the blockbuster Game of the Year titles Homeworld and Warhammer 40000: Dawn of War comes the next revolution in action strategy. Company of Heroes is a WW2 Real Time Strategy game that brings to life the journey of the brave men of Able Company as they fight across Europe in the greatest war mankind has ever known. From the opening shots of the D-Day invasion of Normandy players will find themselves immersed in a rich single player campaign. Experience the cinematic intensity courage and bravery of the heroes that defined a generation set against the backdrop of the most dynamic battlefield ever seen in a game. * Essence Engine - Relic s next generation cutting-edge engine provides graphics quality and a physics driven world that is unprecedented in an RTS. * Environmental Strategy - Real-time physics and a completely destructible environment guarantee no two battles ever play out in the same way. Destroy anything and re-shape the battlefield in your image! Use buildings and terrain to your advantage or deny them to the enemy. * Living Soldiers - Advanced squad AI brings your soldiers to life as they interact with their changing environment take cover and execute advanced squad tactics to eliminate all enemy opposition. * 2-8 players MP competition via Lan or Internet - Go online with friends and join in the ultimate battle of Axis versus Allies. -- SPECIFICATIONs ---------------------------------------ESRB Rating : M for MatureGenre/Category : StrategySystem : PCNumber of Players : 1\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Immersive Single Player Campaign With Multiplayer That Will Leave You Shell Shocked\\n\\nReview: Company of Heroes (COH) is an awesome game. Beautiful graphics. Fully rotatable view with zoom allows you to get into the middle of the fight. Environments that really can be destroyed. Great use of cover and buildings. This reminds me of <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Close-Combat-Invasion-Normandy/dp/B00004Y7SY/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Close Combat: Invasion Normandy</a> with way more options and better graphics. The music and small arms fire is deafening and immersive. I really enjoyed the ability to pick up enemy weapons and even to split units like when an infantry team of 6 troops picks up a heavy MG that requires only 3. If only the troop's history and experience followed the Close Combat system in campaigns. The cut scenes are well written with vivid animations. The base game has one single player campaign where you play as the Americans starting at the Normandy invasion at Omaha Beach (my least favorite mission). The campaign has 15 missions which concludes with closing the Falaise Pocket at Chambois. The missions are enjoyable and varied with most representing an actual historical battle. You will only be able to play as the Americans in the single player campaign; however, the expansions <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Company-Of-Heroes-Opposing-Fronts/dp/B000U850P2/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Company Of Heroes: Opposing Fronts</a> and <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Company-of-Heroes-Tales-of-Valor/dp/B001E27KTM/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor</a> allow you to play as the Germans and British as well as more single player campaigns. Don't worry about taking a long time to learn the controls. COH comes with an excellent tutorial which gets you ready for the fight.\\n\\nMy Favorite Mission: Holding Carentan against German counterattack.\\n\\nThere are some things I don't like. Line of sight and weapon range are unrealistically short. It would have been better if they had used something like the Close Combat line of sight system which gives limited information for things that are far away. But you would still notice someone running by in the distance. The range of tank weapons is extremely short. However, this has been play balanced by giving tanks excessive durability. COH does not attempt to simulate realistic combat, but it is enjoyable none the less.\\n\\nThere is a lot of vulgarity used by the troops in the game. It combines with the general background and responses of the units to create a humorous contrast to the frenzied combat. I did not have a problem with it, but it is noticeable especially by bystanders (i.e. my girlfriend).\\n\\nMultiplayer takes it to a whole new level. Speed in taking positions and being able to manage the battlefield are the deciding factor in head to head action. You barely have time to breath when the s*** hits the fan. There is an online ranking system where you play head to head against other players of similar skill. You can also setup special games with multiple players on each side or even play cooperatively against the computer in skirmishes. Online or in Skirmish mode you can play as the Germans, but you will need the expansions to access the British and Panzer Elite armies. You can also save replays so you can watch your exploits or embarrassing defeats at your leisure. It still has a little of Warcraft or Starcraft feel since it does not attempt to be historical (unlimited ammo and ability to build new units), but it is still a lot of fun.\\n\\nSome notes on patches: I'm using patched version 2.6.0.1. It took 15 separate patches to get it from version 1.0 to current version. The early patches are also becoming difficult to find. Though once you get to 2.1.0.1 the game will download them from inside the game which is better than searching the internet and after version 2.4.0.0 it downloads multiple patches at one time. I would recommend getting Company of Heroes Gold or other later releases for this reason alone. The amount of patches do show you that Relic is committed to their games and responds to play balance issues. One nice thing is that you don't need the DVD in the drive to play. I read in the December 2010 issue of PC Gamer that they are releasing an online platform. I believe you can even download the game and play for free online.\\n\\nStability: I found the game to be very stable. I did encounter a couple of crashes, but this was extremely rare. I would still recommend saving occasionally in single player mode just in case. I am running a quad Intel with Vista, 8GB RAM, and 1GB NVidia card\",\n \"Product: Take complete control of your kingdom like never before and grow it into a continents-spanning empire through diplomacy, trade, espionage, and war! Join the Crusades as a Christian or Muslim empire and battle over the fate of the Holy Land. Raise mighty armies to crush your neighbors and conquer all of Europe and even the Americas to become the greatest power of the Middle Ages.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Total Domination of the Strategy Game Arena\\n\\nReview: The Total War Series continues to improve with Medieval 2 Total War (M2TW). I have played the Total War Series since the original Medieval Total War. I have loved all of them, and M2TW does not disappoint.\\n\\nI play on all very difficult settings and I found diplomacy extremely challenging but not impossible. When you are weak no one wants to be your ally, but as you grow in power you can find friends even from your former adversaries. Stick with it and don't forget gifts are appreciated. Many of the reviews have indicated that the computer AI is stupid. This must have been fixed with patches because the version I have has a aggressive AI that brings the fight to you early and often. In battles the AI will attack at full sprint as soon as your missile troops attack if they don't have superior missile troops. The AI does attack too frequently without a general though. Many battles would have been lost or at least caused more significant casualties if they had a decent commander.\\n\\nBasically, Total War has not changed dramatically, but the improvements continue to make it more and more fun to play.\\n\\nChanges / Improvements since Rome Total War:\\n\\n*Cities Specialize as cities or castles\\n\\n*New character types Priests, Merchants, Inquisitors, Heretics, and Witches.\\n\\n*Princesses are also back from the original Medieval Total War. Princesses can act as Diplomats or ensnare the hearts of foreign generals and bring them too your side.\\n\\n*Greatly improved siege warfare. City walls and especially castle walls defensives have improved. The higher levels of castles have multiple circuits. However, defensive towers will only fire when you have troops in the vicinity to man them.\\n\\n*Faction priests can become Cardinals and vote to elect or be elected pope\\n\\n*M2TW has crusades and the recruitment, management, effects are handled much better than the original Medieval Total War.\\n\\n*All countries can get missions which can come from various sources including a countries own nobility, the pope, or other nations (assassinate a current king for better relations with the new king). The missions come with rewards if achieved and sometimes penalties if they are failed.\\n\\n*Mercenaries can be reinforced after losses if they are available in their current location.\\n\\n*Armor improvements don't affect every unit the same way. Heavily armored units can't be upgraded until more advanced armor is available. Archers can only be improved so far. Much more realistic. Armor enhancements also cause the units to look different when they are in battle.\\n\\n*Guilds are available that offer specialized units and improvements. These cannot automatically be built. They can only be built when offered by the guild. The guild will offer based on how the settlement or nation is run.\\n\\n*Prisoner ransoms are back from original Medieval Total War\\n\\nSteps back from Rome Total War:\\n\\n*You can't select your heir. It is fixed based on eldest son to current heir or if none exists or he is too young goes to next oldest brother.\\n\\n*I noticed an odd bug that advances the date 2yrs/turn, but all the characters age at 6months/turn. If anyone knows how to fix this, please let me know.\\n\\n*I was not able to get any of the character retinues to move from one general to another. I know the manual said not all henchmen would move, but I wasn't able to move any.\\n\\nI have a pretty advanced computer with Vista running MTW2 Gold version and did not experience any crashes or lag even on highest graphics settings.\",\n \"Product: Medieval II: Total War Kingdoms is the official expansion to last year's award-winning Medieval II Total War, presenting players with all-new territories to explore, troops to command, and enemies to conquer. Kingdoms is the most content rich expansion ever produced for a Total War game, with four new campaigns centered on expanded maps of the British Isles, Teutonic Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas. In Medieval II, players were only given a tantalizing glimpse of South America, but in Kingdoms, vast tracts of land in both North and South America have been opened up for players to conquer. All-new factions from the New World are also now fully playable, including the Aztecs, Apaches, and Mayans. Along with the new maps in Britannia, Teutonic, Crusades, and New World Campaigns, there are 13 new factions to play, over 110 units to control, and 50 building types, adding up to 80 hours of new gameplay. Kingdoms also offers new multiplayer maps and hotseat multiplayer, allowing players to play one-versus-one campaign games on the same computer.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great Expansion - Better than the Base Game\\n\\nReview: The Kingdoms expansion allows you to play four new campaigns. See more details of each below. I really enjoyed this expansion's campaigns better than even regular Medieval 2 Total War. These campaign had a more genuine historical feel. The gameplay is mostly the same as the original, but each campaign has some slight differences as well as new factions and units. I've been playing this off and on for several years and still love it. If you like the Total War series then you should get this game.\\n\\nCrusades Campaign\\n\\nAssassins were extremely deadly in this campaign. I had to send leaders around with an entourage of assassins and spies to prevent them from getting killed. King Baldwin got killed in the first 5 turns of play. I lost two other generals to the assassins blade even with protection.\\n\\nThe historical background is not very actuate. The game starts in 1174 AD after the death of King Amalric with King Baldwin the Leper King as the fraction leader. Again game years move too fast. It is cool when the 3rd crusade starts in the game as the player gets control of one of the commanders of the crusade and some additional troops. Jerusalem gets King Richard I of England Coeur-du-Lion and the Principality of Antioch gets King Philip Augustus of France. Regardless of the historical inaccuracies it is fun to take it to the Saracens with King Richard. It might have been more fun if the game had started off with the opening of the 3rd crusade with the objective to retake Jerusalem from Saladin.\\n\\nThe 4th crusade also occurs during the game. A new faction (Venice) is created which lands at Constantinople. I was not able to see much of this as I haven't played the Byzantines yet, but I imagine that would be a fun twist.\\n\\nAmericas Campaign\\n\\nI didn't really enjoy the Americas campaign all that much. You can play as the Spanish, Mayans, Aztecs, Apaches, and several other tribes I have never heard of (Chichimec, Tlaxcalans, and Tarascans). I played as the Spanish which I wouldn't recommend as it was too easy. You do get to use firearms in this campaign, but due to rate of fire infantry and cavalry units rule the field. I would recommend playing as one of the smaller tribes to get more of a challenge.\\n\\nBritannia Campaign\\n\\nI found the Britannia Campaign fun and exciting. It takes place in the reign of Henry III and his son Edward I. William Wallace also makes an appearance. The biggest difference in this campaign is that culture and not religion is used. The level of culture allows you to recruit different units. You can even recruit enemy culture units, but this access is quickly lost as your culture dominates. Culture seems to shift too rapidly which deteriorates this interesting feature.\\n\\nTeutonic Campaign\\n\\nThe Teutonic campaign lets you engage in the northern crusades. Conquer or defend Lithuania or Novgorod from the Teutonic Knights, Mongols, Danes, and Poles. This campaign also uses religion which restricts which units you can recruit. As a added twist, you can switch from Paganism to Christianity as the Lithuanians (which really occurred). I would recommend reading <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/The-Northern-Crusades-Second-Edition/dp/0140266534/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">The Northern Crusades: Second Edition</a> by Eric Christiansen for great overview of the subject.\",\n \"Product: Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts PC\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Two More Armies Add Loads of Fun\\n\\nReview: COH: Opposing Fronts (OF) is stand-alone game that continues the Company of Heroes (COH) franchise. First off, I would not recommend getting COH:OF without the original COH. Having four fractions to play is what makes this game so much better. COH:OF gives you access to new playable factions the British and the Panzer Elite. Each have their benefits and weaknesses and will require new strategies to play with them and against them. Both of these new factions have their own single player campaign with around 8 missions. Basically on the whole about the same content as the original COH that had one campaign with 15 missions. The Panzer Elite campaign has you pitted against the new British army where you fight to defeat the British 1st airborne during Operation Market Garden. The British campaign has you pitted against a mixture of the new Panzer Elite and regular German Wehrmacht units while you move on Caen. Both campaigns are based on the historical WWII actions, but the Market Garden campaign had a more historical feel. I enjoyed both campaigns and found that they helped prepare me for playing online. If you would like to read more about the real battles, I would recommend <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/A-Bridge-Too-Far-The-Classic-History-of-the-Greatest-Battle-of-World-War-II/dp/0684803305/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">A Bridge Too Far: The Classic History of the Greatest Battle of World War II</a> by Cornelius Ryan for Panzer Elite campaign and <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Overlord-D-Day-and-the-Battle-for-Normandy/dp/0671460293/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Overlord: D-Day and the Battle for Normandy</a> by Max Hastings for the British campaign.\\n\\nFor those who have not played the original COH, this game has beautiful graphics. Fully rotatable view with zoom allows you to get into the middle of the fight. Environments that really can be destroyed. Great use of cover and buildings. The music and small arms fire is deafening and immersive. I really enjoyed the ability to pick up enemy weapons. The cut scenes are well written with vivid animations. There are some things I don't like. Line of sight and weapon range are unrealistically short. While some units will fire on troops out of their range of site if there is something ahead that can spot for them, infantry will not engage unless they are within their regular line of sight. This requires some micromanaging, but I didn't find it as cumbersome as other games.\\n\\nThe real action is in the multiplayer side. Speed in taking positions and being able to manage the battlefield are the deciding factor in head to head action. You barely have time to breath when the s*** hits the fan. There is an online ranking system where you play head to head against other players of similar skill and records your win-lose statistics with each army. You can also setup special games with multiple players on each side or even play cooperatively against the computer in skirmishes. You can also save replays so you can watch your exploits or embarrassing defeats at your leisure. It still has a little of Warcraft or Starcraft feel since it does not attempt to be historical (unlimited ammo and ability to build new units), but it is still a lot of fun.\\n\\nSome notes on patches: I'm using patched version 2.6.0.2. It took 16 separate patches to get it from version 1.0 to current version. Though once you get to 2.1.0.1 the game will download them from inside the game which is better than searching the internet and after version 2.4.0.0 it downloads multiple patches at one time. This is the worst patching system I have ever experienced. If you do not have patience for this or being logged in to play do not buy this game.\\n\\nStability: I found the game to be very stable. I did not encounter any crashes while playing the campaigns or online. I did experience some rare crashes on the original COH, but not on COH:OF. I think with all the patches they have gotten rid of the crashing problems, but some say they still have problems. I am running a quad Intel with Vista, 8GB RAM, and 1GB NVidia card\\n\\nFor the price it is at now, it is well worth the risk of not working on your machine. Do not buy used, however, as your key may have already been used. There is also a mod to allow you to play as the Russians. I haven't tried it yet, but it looks well developed. Search google for Company of Heroes Russian to find it.\",\n \"Product: The Squad Is Your WeaponProduct InformationStar Wars Republic Commando is a squad-based first person shooter that lets youexplore the elite world of the Star Wars military. Leading a 4-man squad ofRepublic Commandos your missions take you deep behind enemy lines on over 14intense and challenging levels through three different campaigns where you willface more than ten brutal enemies. You will have more than a dozen deadlyweapons at your disposal but none more lethal than your squad. Product Features Innovative Squad Control System A simple touch of one button easily controls your squad to perform plex mands and strategic maneuvers. Battle relentless enemies Choose from a dozen weapons Battle a variety of highly intelligent and deadly enemies - from brutal Trandoshan mercenaries to the flying insectoid warriors of Geonosis.Windows Requirements Windows 2000 XP 100% DirectX 9.0c patible puter Intel Pentium III or AMD Athlon 1.0 GHz or faster required 256 MB of RAM or higher required 2.0 GB of free hard Drive space required (500 MB of free space available after installation is remended) 64 MB 3D Graphics Card with Vertex Shader and Pixel Shader capability 100% DirectX 9.0c patible Audio Device required DVD-ROM required Keyboard required Mouse required Microsoft DirectX 9.0c is included on the CD Note: DirectX may require the latest drivers for your particular hardware Multiplayer Support: Supports up to 8 players Dedicated Server: Supports up to 16 players Dedicated Server: 2.4 GHz or faster CPU with a DSL Cable or faster connection remended Inter Connectivity Required: 56 Kbps or faster connection\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Good Old Fashioned Blaster Battles - Special Ops in the Future\\n\\nReview: Republic Commando is a first person shooter where you play the leader of a unit of elite clone soldiers. Basically non-stop action. The designers made an effort to make the squad AI act like special ops solders with door breaches and use of cover. The team controls and squad AI are better than older versions of <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Medal-of-Honor-Allied-Assault/dp/B00005N7YR/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Medal of Honor: Allied Assault</a> and <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Call-of-Duty-Game-of-the-Year-Edition/dp/B0000C6EB4/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Call of Duty: Game of the Year Edition</a>. The graphics are a little dated, but it is still good enough to keep it fun. I really enjoyed cutting down droids especially the ones with the force fields. It was also satisfying to spill alien gore and funny to watch your helmet wipe it off like a wiper blade on your car. There is a nice assortment of weapons (blaster, blaster rifle, sniper attachment, grenade attachment, grenades, many alien weapons even a futuristic shotgun and deadly rocket launcher). My favorite was the chain gun. It puts a world of hurt on anything.\\n\\nAs some other have said the actions are a little repetitive. Make door breach, plant explosives, take cover behind object and use sniper rifle or throw grenades. I did like the turret guns though. They gave you the feeling of real power. Especially the walker cannon, everything in room shook when that thing fired. I think the missions are well developed but as with most first person shooters (FPS) the single player game is almost completely linear with only one way through to the end. I'm not a Star Wars enthusiast so I'm not familiar with bacta, but the bacta terminals everywhere seemed kind of silly.\\n\\nThe game is not that long and I would consider it a low prospect for replay on single player. However, when you do complete the game you can join multiplayer and fight for your life in the normal formats of FPS. It is very easy to play multiplayer. You don't even have to go to a website to locate other players. You can connect directly inside the game. Though there is not a lot that differentiates it from most other FPS multiplayer games except the Star Wars theme.\\n\\nAlso note that this version of the game comes in a jewel case. It comes with a manual on the CD, but you probably won't even need to refer to it with as easy as the commands are and the in game explanations.\",\n \"Product: Experience the chaos of battle as you fight thegreatest wars in the Star Wars universe. Product InformationStar Wars Battlefront is an action/shooter game that gives fans and gamers theopportunity to re-live and participate in all of the classic Star Wars battleslike never before. Players can select one of a number of different soldiertypes jump into any vehicle man any turret on the battlefront and conquer thegalaxy pla-by-pla online with their friends or offline in a variety ofsingle player modes. Single player modes include \\\"Instant Action\\\"\\\"Galactic Conquest\\\" and the story-based \\\"HistoricalCampaigns\\\" mode that lets gamers experience all of the epic Star Warsbattles from Episodes I-VI fighting from the perspective of each of the fourfactions within the game.Product HighlightsDuring the course of Star Wars Battlefront you will be able to play four sidesdepending on the mission or map which you have chosen. Throughout the game youwill be able to assume the guises of Rebel Alliance Galactic Empire RepublicClone Army and Separatist Battle Droids. As soon as you start a map you willhave to make a selection from one of the two sides each having five separateclasses ranging from soldiers pilots (who are able to \\\"repair\\\"vehicles so why not call them engineers?) snipers or grenadiers in oneform or another each with his specific weapon and abilities. Any of theavailable classes are able to drive or fly vehicles so you do not need to haveany specific training or abilities to do so; just stand under or near a vehicleand press the action key to climb in. One of the interesting abilities for someof the classes is the jetpack which will either let you fly around for fiveseconds (after which gravity takes its course but you can take off againimmediately) or allow you to perform some sort of double jump depending on themap you are playing.Each of the 16 available maps is based on one of the Star Wars movies: Geonosisand Ka\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Fun, Non-stop Action, But Waited Too Long as Online Servers Are Gone\\n\\nReview: I played this game after playing <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Battlefield-1942-The-Complete-Collection/dp/B000BFPAPY/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Battlefield 1942: The Complete Collection</a> which comes with <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Battlefield-1942/dp/B000067O0Q/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Battlefield: 1942</a> (BF1942), it's two Battlefield 1942 expansions, <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Battlefield-1942-Expansion-The-Road-to-Rome/dp/B00007LVJA/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Battlefield 1942 Expansion: The Road to Rome</a> and <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Battlefield-1942-Secret-Weapons-of-WWII-Expansion-Pack/dp/B00009V3NX/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Battlefield 1942: Secret Weapons of WWII Expansion Pack</a> and <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Battlefield-Vietnam/dp/B0001AO01Y/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Battlefield: Vietnam</a>. If you like BF1942, you will also like this game and vice versa. However there are some differences good and bad. Unfortunately, there are no longer any dedicated servers still up, so I was unable to play multiplayer. Seems like the Star Wars Battlefront (SWB) servers went down in November 2012 based on IGN forum. Hopefully the <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Star-Wars-Battlefront-II/dp/B000AAL4HI/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Star Wars Battlefront II</a> servers are still active. Unless you are single player fan, I would pass on this.\\n\\nSo what makes the SWB and the Battlefield series so special. They both have lots of features that the other FPS don't have. They both allow you to employ vehicles in combat in multiplayer. In SWB, You can jump into AT-ST, AT-AT, X-wings, Tie fighters, speeder bikes, just to name a few. This makes gameplay interesting. The other important feature in these games is the ability to specialize your infantry between assault troops, snipers, anti-tank, and special troops (wookies, dark troopers, etc). In this way you don't just pick up different weapons on the field of battle, you get to pick your kit to suit your mission or role. Each have their abilities and weaknesses, but as a combination they are stronger. SWB also has a pilot type which repairs vehicles over time while you pilot them instead of the engineer type in BF1942. However, in SWB you are unable to switch types during combat like you can in BF1942. I guess it would not have made sense that you could go from a rebel soldier to a wookie. I don't know, I think they should at least allow you to take their weapons. Instead when a unit goes down now a package of ammo or health is dropped that you can pick up. This might be more useful, but I liked BF1942 system better. I would note that you can't play as Jedi Knights in this game; however, sometimes they will fight for you or against you. While this seems cool, it does unbalance gameplay.\\n\\nThe graphics in SWB are decent, on par with BF1942 and <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Star-Wars-Republic-Commando/dp/B000VV9T7S/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Star Wars Republic Commando</a> (SWRC). The forest of Endor had foliage similar to Battlefield Vietnam, but SWB had the Ewok tree platforms. The weapons mostly seemed to be the same from army to army. However there were special units like the Droideka (Destroyer Droid) and Dark Troopers (have jet pack) that changes it up. I found flying in SWB immensely easier than BF1942. I didn't even bother with flying in BF1942, but in SWB jumped in the X-wing and Tie fighter mostly as close air support. The maps are small for aerial units so you'll find yourself doing lots of turns to stay in bounds.\\n\\nI felt the single player experience on SWB was better than BF1942. While the individual mission still are simply capture the base missions they don't have a storyline, there was actually effort put into making single player more interesting. SWB has two types of single player campaigns. The first type allows you to play through the Clone Wars (episodes 1-3) or the Galactic Civil War (episodes 4-6). These campaigns do not allow you to play both sides in each mission, however, they mix it up so you get to play some missions with each side. Basically you get to lead the forces that were victorious in the movies (no changing history here). There are some cut scenes from the movies between missions that put you in the mood to take on the enemy. In the Clone Wars (7 total missions), the first mission allows you to take it to the Gungans with the Trade Federation Droid Army. I'm not sure why it feels good to drop those long eared goofs, but it does. You then get to beat up the Naboo forces at Theed. What I found interesting is that they developed the Gungan and Naboo forces just so you could fight them in the single player campaign. In later missions, you get to fight as the Republic Clone troopers. The Galactic Civil War Campaign (9 total missions) is a little more straight forward. At first you get to play as the Empire using your stormtrooper to eradicate the Rebel forces. But as fortunes swing, you then play as the Rebels, pushing back the Empire with the final victory at Endor. I'm sure it is debatable, but I thought the AI was better on SWB. Taking bases was a hard fight. You couldn't just sneak out capture a base. Also the friendly AI would not just leave bases undefended.\\n\\nThe other single player type is Galactic Conquest where you go head to head with an opposing force in order to take over the galaxy. Basically you fight over control of planets and the planets provide special bonus during battles. The winner of each battle gets to decide which planet to attack. In this way, you can play most of the missions from either side with various armies. I liked the campaigns better because in Galactic Conquest you tend to play several of the battles over and over again. But it is still nice to try some missions from the other side.\",\n \"Product: Star Wars Battlefront II improves upon the blockbuster multiplayer original with new space combat, playable Jedi, and never-before-seen environments straight out of final Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith film. The game features an all-new single-player experience that takes players through an epic, story-based saga where every action the player takes impacts the battlefront and, ultimately, the fate of the Star Wars galaxy. The sequel features improved flight control, complex space combat that allows players to board enemy capital ships and battle to take over flying command posts or sabotage the ship to be used against the other faction, increased total online player numbers, and memorable multiplayer encounters in 12 new locations. Online multiplayer action for up to 64 players on PC Windows (plus AI units). ESRB Rated T for Teen\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Exciting Game Play Excellent Sequel\\n\\nReview: Star Wars Battlefront II (SWB2) is not an enormous departure from the first <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Star-Wars-Battlefront/dp/B000VVEMXY/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Star Wars Battlefront</a> (SWB1), but the differences are all positive. So what's the same, you can employ vehicles in combat in single player and multiplayer (though not as much as SWB1). You still have the ability to specialize your infantry between assault troops, snipers, anti-tank, and special troops (wookies, dark troopers, etc). Also at the writing on this review (Sept 2013), playing online directly through the game is still possible with several servers and lots of live players to play against.\\n\\nSo what's new:\\n\\nThis time you also get to fight as Jedi/Sith and against them. While they can still do enormous damage, they are not practically indestructible like in SWB1. There is a large selection of special characters that you can play during single player and multiplayer. During single player, special characters can only be played during certain parts of certain missions. You will be notified when this option is available. For multiplayer, there are different options. Some games are exclusively hero battles where light sabers rule, but you can also play as Princess Leia, Han Solo, and Boba fett. Other games allow one special character to each side at a time (again you will be notified to play the special character if it is your turn).\\n\\nFun space combat with X-wings, Tie fighters, and bombers. The space map boundaries are large which allows for fun dog fighting. You can attack the outside of enemy ships and can raid the inside with space marine raiding parties. I never really enjoyed flying in SWB1 because of the tight maps. However, there is very limited aerial combat in non-space maps. The snowspeeder on Hoth is the only one I can think of.\\n\\nThere are neat features that become available during missions. After you achieve certain conditions, you receive special bonuses like advanced weapons (I love the bonus rifle) and damage reduction. You also gain access to additional troops some of which I found really cool like chain gun troops, wookies, and Destroyer Droids.\\n\\nThe single player finally got some effort put into it. I thought the length of campaign was good. You can only play one side during the campaign, but this time the single player is not just practice time for multiplayer. The missions have objectives and the number of spawns is limited. The campaign follows the 501st legion of republic clone troopers as they evolve to stormtroopers. You basically start in episode 3 and continue into episode 6. I'm not sure if the encounters are all authentic to the series , but many of them take you to battles from the movies. While the storyline may not appeal to everyone, I thought it was well put together and was interesting to see the rebellion from the side of the stormtroopers.\\n\\nSo in summary, if you like first person shooter type games or Star Wars you should get this game.\\n\\nTechnical Note: The game played great both on Windows 7 (Intel i7, 12 GB RAM, 2GB Nvidia Video Card) and Vista (Intel Core 2 Quad, 8GB RAM, 1GB Nvidia Video Card) for me.\",\n \"Product: Medieval: Total War Gold Edition is the compilation of the critically-acclaimed Medieval: Total War and its official expansion pack - Total War Kingdoms. Set in the turbulent Middle Ages, Medieval puts you in command of your own empire as you crush neighboring kingdoms and unify all of Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East. Medieval: Total War Kingdoms features four entire campaigns centered on expanded maps of the British Isles, Teutonic Northern Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas. In Medieval II, you were only given a glimpse of South America, but in Kingdoms, vast tracts of land in both North and South America have been opened up for you to conquer. All-new factions from the New World are also now fully playable, including the Aztecs, Apaches, and Mayans. In both games, you rule all aspects of your kingdom throughout centuries of medieval warfare. Lay siege to mighty fortresses and command vast armies across the battlefields of Europe and North Africa. This is Total War.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Total Domination of the Strategy Game Arena\\n\\nReview: The Total War Series continues to improve with Medieval 2 Total War (M2TW). I have played the Total War Series since the original <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Medieval-Total-War/dp/B000063SAU/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Medieval: Total War</a>. I have loved all of them, and M2TW does not disappoint. I've been playing M2TW off and on for several years and still love it. If you like the Total War series then you should get this game.\\n\\nI play on all very difficult settings and I found diplomacy extremely challenging but not impossible. When you are weak no one wants to be your ally, but as you grow in power you can find friends even from your former adversaries. Stick with it and don't forget gifts are appreciated. Many of the reviews have indicated that the computer AI is stupid. This must have been fixed with patches because the version I have has a aggressive AI that brings the fight to you early and often. In battles the AI will attack at full sprint as soon as your missile troops attack if they don't have superior missile troops. The AI does attack too frequently without a general though. Many battles would have been lost or at least caused more significant casualties if they had a decent commander.\\n\\nBasically, Total War has not changed dramatically, but the improvements continue to make it more and more fun to play.\\n\\nChanges / Improvements since <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Rome-Total-War/dp/B0002MPT6Q/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Rome: Total War</a>:\\n-Cities Specialize as cities or castles\\n-New character types Priests, Merchants, Inquisitors, Heretics, and Witches. Princesses are also back from the original Medieval Total War. Princesses can act as Diplomats or ensnare the hearts of foreign generals and bring them too your side.\\n-Greatly improved siege warfare. City walls and especially castle walls defensives have improved. The higher levels of castles have multiple circuits. However, defensive towers will only fire when you have troops in the vicinity to man them.\\n-Faction priests can become Cardinals and vote to elect or be elected pope\\n-M2TW has crusades and the recruitment, management, effects are handled much better than the original Medieval Total War.\\n-All countries can get missions which can come from various sources including a countries own nobility, the pope, or other nations (assassinate a current king for better relations with the new king). The missions come with rewards if achieved and sometimes penalties if they are failed.\\n-Mercenaries can be reinforced after losses if they are available in their current location.\\n-Armor improvements don't affect every unit the same way. Heavily armored units can't be upgraded until more advanced armor is available. Archers can only be improved so far. Much more realistic. Armor enhancements also cause the units to look different when they are in battle.\\n-Guilds are available that offer specialized units and improvements. These cannot automatically be built. They can only be built when offered by the guild. The guild will offer based on how the settlement or nation is run.\\n-Prisoner ransoms are back from original Medieval Total War\\n\\nSteps back from Rome Total War:\\n-You can't select your heir. It is fixed based on eldest son to current heir or if none exists or he is too young goes to next oldest brother.\\n-I noticed an odd bug that advances the date 2yrs/turn, but all the characters age at 6months/turn. If anyone knows how to fix this, please let me know.\\n-I was not able to get any of the character retinues to move from one general to another. I know the manual said not all henchmen would move, but I wasn't able to move any.\\n\\nI have a pretty advanced computer with Vista and did not experience any crashes or lag even on highest graphics settings.\\n\\nKingdoms Expansion\\n\\nThe Kingdoms expansion allows you to play four new campaigns. See more details of each below. I really enjoyed this expansion's campaigns better than even regular Medieval 2 Total War. These campaign had a more genuine historical feel. The gameplay is mostly the same as the original, but each campaign has some slight differences as well as new factions and units.\\n\\nCrusades Campaign\\n\\nThe historical background is not very actuate. The game starts in 1174 AD after the death of King Amalric with King Baldwin the Leper King as the fraction leader. Again game years move too fast. It is cool when the 3rd crusade starts in the game as the player gets control of one of the commanders of the crusade and some additional troops. Jerusalem gets King Richard I of England Coeur-du-Lion and the Principality of Antioch gets King Philip Augustus of France. Regardless of the historical inaccuracies it is fun to take it to the Saracens with King Richard. It might have been more fun if the game had started off with the opening of the 3rd crusade with the objective to retake Jerusalem from Saladin.\\n\\nThe 4th crusade also occurs during the game. A new faction (Venice) is created which lands at Constantinople. I was not able to see much of this as I haven't played the Byzantines yet, but I imagine that would be a fun twist.\\n\\nAmericas Campaign\\n\\nI didn't really enjoy the Americas campaign all that much. You can play as the Spanish, Mayans, Aztecs, Apaches, and several other tribes I have never heard of (Chichimec, Tlaxcalans, and Tarascans). I played as the Spanish which I wouldn't recommend as it was too easy. You do get to use firearms in this campaign, but due to rate of fire infantry and cavalry units rule the field. I would recommend playing as one of the smaller tribes to get more of a challenge.\\n\\nBritannia Campaign\\n\\nI found the Britannia Campaign fun and exciting. It takes place in the reign of Henry III and his son Edward I. William Wallace also makes an appearance. The biggest difference in this campaign is that culture and not religion is used. The level of culture allows you to recruit different units. You can even recruit enemy culture units, but this access is quickly lost as your culture dominates. Culture seems to shift too rapidly which deteriorates this interesting feature.\\n\\nTeutonic Campaign\\n\\nThe Teutonic campaign lets you engage in the northern crusades. Conquer or defend Lithuania or Novgorod from the Teutonic Knights, Mongols, Danes, and Poles. This campaign also uses religion which restricts which units you can recruit. As a added twist, you can switch from Paganism to Christianity as the Lithuanians (which really occurred). I would recommend reading <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/The-Northern-Crusades-Second-Edition/dp/0140266534/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">The Northern Crusades: Second Edition</a> by Eric Christiansen for great overview of the subject.\",\n \"Product: Assassin's Creed PC\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Life and Death at the Edge of a Knife\\n\\nReview: Assassin's Creed (AC) is an intense and exciting game. The graphics and immersive environment are spectacular. You can interact with the terrain in amazing fashion giving you lots of freedom. Use crevices, door and window frames, landings, etc to climb just about anything you want. AC lets you ride a horse and fight from a mount.\\n\\nThe combat in AC is fun. It takes a little while to get use to, but once you do watch out. You must use timing and defense to avoid death when faced with overwhelming odds. As you continue the game you get access to new weapons and fighting skills. Before long you can do amazing counter-attacks, dodges, and grab and defensive breaks. The action is very fluid and thoroughly engaging.\\n\\nWithout giving too much away, the storyline is entertaining and will keep your interest. There is a duel storyline going where a modern day guy is reliving the memories of his ancestor. I found this part unnecessary, but it didn't detract from actual game. Yes, the whole premise of the game is assassinating people. So, no, the game is not for kids, hence the mature rating. Several reviewers have described the game as slanted towards killing Christians. It's not. It's really more killing everyone Muslim or Christian that gets in the way. However, the game does have it out for the Templars. They are portrayed as evil villains in the game. Most of the people you are sent to kill think they are serving a good cause, but their actions are misguided. Much like the actions of the main character.\\n\\nSome things I didn't like. While you have tremendous freedom to interact with the terrain, you can't do some simple things like open doors. Also the environment is not destructible except for rare exceptions like vendor carts. You don't have many items / weapons at your disposal that could cause much damage, but rails could break, tables move, open a chest etc. Maybe I want to set a fire as a distraction. Oh well maybe next time.\\n\\nI didn't have any problems with game stability. I don't think it ever crashed which is saying a lot these days. The only thing I had a problem with is the game opened as a window instead of taking over the full screen. This caused problems when the cursor got off the screen. Any suggestions would be appreciated.\\n\\nI would agree that the investigations leading up to each assassination attempt do become repetitive. You don't have to do them all, but they make completing the assassination easier. The game is also kind of short, but you will enjoy the ride. I'm looking forward to <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Assassin-s-Creed-II/dp/B001TOQ8R0/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Assassin's Creed II</a> to expand the experience.\",\n \"Product: The Squad Is Your WeaponProduct InformationStar Wars Republic Commando is a squad-based first person shooter that lets youexplore the elite world of the Star Wars military. Leading a 4-man squad ofRepublic Commandos your missions take you deep behind enemy lines on over 14intense and challenging levels through three different campaigns where you willface more than ten brutal enemies. You will have more than a dozen deadlyweapons at your disposal but none more lethal than your squad. Product Features Innovative Squad Control System A simple touch of one button easily controls your squad to perform plex mands and strategic maneuvers. Battle relentless enemies Choose from a dozen weapons Battle a variety of highly intelligent and deadly enemies - from brutal Trandoshan mercenaries to the flying insectoid warriors of Geonosis.Windows Requirements Windows 2000 XP 100% DirectX 9.0c patible puter Intel Pentium III or AMD Athlon 1.0 GHz or faster required 256 MB of RAM or higher required 2.0 GB of free hard Drive space required (500 MB of free space available after installation is remended) 64 MB 3D Graphics Card with Vertex Shader and Pixel Shader capability 100% DirectX 9.0c patible Audio Device required DVD-ROM required Keyboard required Mouse required Microsoft DirectX 9.0c is included on the CD Note: DirectX may require the latest drivers for your particular hardware Multiplayer Support: Supports up to 8 players Dedicated Server: Supports up to 16 players Dedicated Server: 2.4 GHz or faster CPU with a DSL Cable or faster connection remended Inter Connectivity Required: 56 Kbps or faster connection\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Good Old Fashioned Blaster Battles - Special Ops in the Future\\n\\nReview: Republic Commando is a first person shooter where you play the leader of a unit of elite clone soldiers. Basically non-stop action. The designers made an effort to make the squad AI act like special ops solders with door breaches and use of cover. The team controls and squad AI are better than older versions of <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Medal-of-Honor-Allied-Assault/dp/B00005N7YR/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Medal of Honor: Allied Assault</a> and <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Call-of-Duty-Game-of-the-Year-Edition/dp/B0000C6EB4/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Call of Duty: Game of the Year Edition</a>. The graphics are a little dated, but it is still good enough to keep it fun. I really enjoyed cutting down droids especially the ones with the force fields. It was also satisfying to spill alien gore and funny to watch your helmet wipe it off like a wiper blade on your car. There is a nice assortment of weapons (blaster, blaster rifle, sniper attachment, grenade attachment, grenades, many alien weapons even a futuristic shotgun and deadly rocket launcher). My favorite was the chain gun. It puts a world of hurt on anything.\\n\\nAs some other have said the actions are a little repetitive. Make door breach, plant explosives, take cover behind object and use sniper rifle or throw grenades. I did like the turret guns though. They gave you the feeling of real power. Especially the walker cannon, everything in room shook when that thing fired. I think the missions are well developed but as with most first person shooters (FPS) the single player game is almost completely linear with only one way through to the end. I'm not a Star Wars enthusiast so I'm not familiar with bacta, but the bacta terminals everywhere seemed kind of silly.\\n\\nThe game is not that long and I would consider it a low prospect for replay on single player. However, when you do complete the game you can join multiplayer and fight for your life in the normal formats of FPS. It is very easy to play multiplayer. You don't even have to go to a website to locate other players. You can connect directly inside the game. Though there is not a lot that differentiates it from most other FPS multiplayer games except the Star Wars theme.\\n\\nAlso note that this version of the game comes in a jewel case. It comes with a manual on the CD, but you probably won't even need to refer to it with as easy as the commands are and the in game explanations.\",\n \"Product: Experience the chaos of battle as you fight thegreatest wars in the Star Wars universe. Product InformationStar Wars Battlefront is an action/shooter game that gives fans and gamers theopportunity to re-live and participate in all of the classic Star Wars battleslike never before. Players can select one of a number of different soldiertypes jump into any vehicle man any turret on the battlefront and conquer thegalaxy pla-by-pla online with their friends or offline in a variety ofsingle player modes. Single player modes include \\\"Instant Action\\\"\\\"Galactic Conquest\\\" and the story-based \\\"HistoricalCampaigns\\\" mode that lets gamers experience all of the epic Star Warsbattles from Episodes I-VI fighting from the perspective of each of the fourfactions within the game.Product HighlightsDuring the course of Star Wars Battlefront you will be able to play four sidesdepending on the mission or map which you have chosen. Throughout the game youwill be able to assume the guises of Rebel Alliance Galactic Empire RepublicClone Army and Separatist Battle Droids. As soon as you start a map you willhave to make a selection from one of the two sides each having five separateclasses ranging from soldiers pilots (who are able to \\\"repair\\\"vehicles so why not call them engineers?) snipers or grenadiers in oneform or another each with his specific weapon and abilities. Any of theavailable classes are able to drive or fly vehicles so you do not need to haveany specific training or abilities to do so; just stand under or near a vehicleand press the action key to climb in. One of the interesting abilities for someof the classes is the jetpack which will either let you fly around for fiveseconds (after which gravity takes its course but you can take off againimmediately) or allow you to perform some sort of double jump depending on themap you are playing.Each of the 16 available maps is based on one of the Star Wars movies: Geonosisand Ka\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Fun, Non-stop Action, But Waited Too Long as Online Servers Are Gone\\n\\nReview: I played this game after playing <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Battlefield-1942-The-Complete-Collection/dp/B000BFPAPY/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Battlefield 1942: The Complete Collection</a> which comes with <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Battlefield-1942/dp/B000067O0Q/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Battlefield: 1942</a> (BF1942), it's two Battlefield 1942 expansions, <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Battlefield-1942-Expansion-The-Road-to-Rome/dp/B00007LVJA/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Battlefield 1942 Expansion: The Road to Rome</a> and <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Battlefield-1942-Secret-Weapons-of-WWII-Expansion-Pack/dp/B00009V3NX/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Battlefield 1942: Secret Weapons of WWII Expansion Pack</a> and <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Battlefield-Vietnam/dp/B0001AO01Y/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Battlefield: Vietnam</a>. If you like BF1942, you will also like this game and vice versa. However there are some differences good and bad. Unfortunately, there are no longer any dedicated servers still up, so I was unable to play multiplayer. Seems like the Star Wars Battlefront (SWB) servers went down in November 2012 based on IGN forum. Hopefully the <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Star-Wars-Battlefront-II/dp/B000AAL4HI/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Star Wars Battlefront II</a> servers are still active. Unless you are single player fan, I would pass on this.\\n\\nSo what makes the SWB and the Battlefield series so special. They both have lots of features that the other FPS don't have. They both allow you to employ vehicles in combat in multiplayer. In SWB, You can jump into AT-ST, AT-AT, X-wings, Tie fighters, speeder bikes, just to name a few. This makes gameplay interesting. The other important feature in these games is the ability to specialize your infantry between assault troops, snipers, anti-tank, and special troops (wookies, dark troopers, etc). In this way you don't just pick up different weapons on the field of battle, you get to pick your kit to suit your mission or role. Each have their abilities and weaknesses, but as a combination they are stronger. SWB also has a pilot type which repairs vehicles over time while you pilot them instead of the engineer type in BF1942. However, in SWB you are unable to switch types during combat like you can in BF1942. I guess it would not have made sense that you could go from a rebel soldier to a wookie. I don't know, I think they should at least allow you to take their weapons. Instead when a unit goes down now a package of ammo or health is dropped that you can pick up. This might be more useful, but I liked BF1942 system better. I would note that you can't play as Jedi Knights in this game; however, sometimes they will fight for you or against you. While this seems cool, it does unbalance gameplay.\\n\\nThe graphics in SWB are decent, on par with BF1942 and <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Star-Wars-Republic-Commando/dp/B000VV9T7S/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Star Wars Republic Commando</a> (SWRC). The forest of Endor had foliage similar to Battlefield Vietnam, but SWB had the Ewok tree platforms. The weapons mostly seemed to be the same from army to army. However there were special units like the Droideka (Destroyer Droid) and Dark Troopers (have jet pack) that changes it up. I found flying in SWB immensely easier than BF1942. I didn't even bother with flying in BF1942, but in SWB jumped in the X-wing and Tie fighter mostly as close air support. The maps are small for aerial units so you'll find yourself doing lots of turns to stay in bounds.\\n\\nI felt the single player experience on SWB was better than BF1942. While the individual mission still are simply capture the base missions they don't have a storyline, there was actually effort put into making single player more interesting. SWB has two types of single player campaigns. The first type allows you to play through the Clone Wars (episodes 1-3) or the Galactic Civil War (episodes 4-6). These campaigns do not allow you to play both sides in each mission, however, they mix it up so you get to play some missions with each side. Basically you get to lead the forces that were victorious in the movies (no changing history here). There are some cut scenes from the movies between missions that put you in the mood to take on the enemy. In the Clone Wars (7 total missions), the first mission allows you to take it to the Gungans with the Trade Federation Droid Army. I'm not sure why it feels good to drop those long eared goofs, but it does. You then get to beat up the Naboo forces at Theed. What I found interesting is that they developed the Gungan and Naboo forces just so you could fight them in the single player campaign. In later missions, you get to fight as the Republic Clone troopers. The Galactic Civil War Campaign (9 total missions) is a little more straight forward. At first you get to play as the Empire using your stormtrooper to eradicate the Rebel forces. But as fortunes swing, you then play as the Rebels, pushing back the Empire with the final victory at Endor. I'm sure it is debatable, but I thought the AI was better on SWB. Taking bases was a hard fight. You couldn't just sneak out capture a base. Also the friendly AI would not just leave bases undefended.\\n\\nThe other single player type is Galactic Conquest where you go head to head with an opposing force in order to take over the galaxy. Basically you fight over control of planets and the planets provide special bonus during battles. The winner of each battle gets to decide which planet to attack. In this way, you can play most of the missions from either side with various armies. I liked the campaigns better because in Galactic Conquest you tend to play several of the battles over and over again. But it is still nice to try some missions from the other side.\",\n \"Product: Star Wars Battlefront II improves upon the blockbuster multiplayer original with new space combat, playable Jedi, and never-before-seen environments straight out of final Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith film. The game features an all-new single-player experience that takes players through an epic, story-based saga where every action the player takes impacts the battlefront and, ultimately, the fate of the Star Wars galaxy. The sequel features improved flight control, complex space combat that allows players to board enemy capital ships and battle to take over flying command posts or sabotage the ship to be used against the other faction, increased total online player numbers, and memorable multiplayer encounters in 12 new locations. Online multiplayer action for up to 64 players on PC Windows (plus AI units). ESRB Rated T for Teen\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Exciting Game Play Excellent Sequel\\n\\nReview: Star Wars Battlefront II (SWB2) is not an enormous departure from the first <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Star-Wars-Battlefront/dp/B000VVEMXY/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Star Wars Battlefront</a> (SWB1), but the differences are all positive. So what's the same, you can employ vehicles in combat in single player and multiplayer (though not as much as SWB1). You still have the ability to specialize your infantry between assault troops, snipers, anti-tank, and special troops (wookies, dark troopers, etc). Also at the writing on this review (Sept 2013), playing online directly through the game is still possible with several servers and lots of live players to play against.\\n\\nSo what's new:\\n\\nThis time you also get to fight as Jedi/Sith and against them. While they can still do enormous damage, they are not practically indestructible like in SWB1. There is a large selection of special characters that you can play during single player and multiplayer. During single player, special characters can only be played during certain parts of certain missions. You will be notified when this option is available. For multiplayer, there are different options. Some games are exclusively hero battles where light sabers rule, but you can also play as Princess Leia, Han Solo, and Boba fett. Other games allow one special character to each side at a time (again you will be notified to play the special character if it is your turn).\\n\\nFun space combat with X-wings, Tie fighters, and bombers. The space map boundaries are large which allows for fun dog fighting. You can attack the outside of enemy ships and can raid the inside with space marine raiding parties. I never really enjoyed flying in SWB1 because of the tight maps. However, there is very limited aerial combat in non-space maps. The snowspeeder on Hoth is the only one I can think of.\\n\\nThere are neat features that become available during missions. After you achieve certain conditions, you receive special bonuses like advanced weapons (I love the bonus rifle) and damage reduction. You also gain access to additional troops some of which I found really cool like chain gun troops, wookies, and Destroyer Droids.\\n\\nThe single player finally got some effort put into it. I thought the length of campaign was good. You can only play one side during the campaign, but this time the single player is not just practice time for multiplayer. The missions have objectives and the number of spawns is limited. The campaign follows the 501st legion of republic clone troopers as they evolve to stormtroopers. You basically start in episode 3 and continue into episode 6. I'm not sure if the encounters are all authentic to the series , but many of them take you to battles from the movies. While the storyline may not appeal to everyone, I thought it was well put together and was interesting to see the rebellion from the side of the stormtroopers.\\n\\nSo in summary, if you like first person shooter type games or Star Wars you should get this game.\\n\\nTechnical Note: The game played great both on Windows 7 (Intel i7, 12 GB RAM, 2GB Nvidia Video Card) and Vista (Intel Core 2 Quad, 8GB RAM, 1GB Nvidia Video Card) for me.\",\n \"Product: Medieval: Total War Gold Edition is the compilation of the critically-acclaimed Medieval: Total War and its official expansion pack - Total War Kingdoms. Set in the turbulent Middle Ages, Medieval puts you in command of your own empire as you crush neighboring kingdoms and unify all of Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East. Medieval: Total War Kingdoms features four entire campaigns centered on expanded maps of the British Isles, Teutonic Northern Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas. In Medieval II, you were only given a glimpse of South America, but in Kingdoms, vast tracts of land in both North and South America have been opened up for you to conquer. All-new factions from the New World are also now fully playable, including the Aztecs, Apaches, and Mayans. In both games, you rule all aspects of your kingdom throughout centuries of medieval warfare. Lay siege to mighty fortresses and command vast armies across the battlefields of Europe and North Africa. This is Total War.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Total Domination of the Strategy Game Arena\\n\\nReview: The Total War Series continues to improve with Medieval 2 Total War (M2TW). I have played the Total War Series since the original <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Medieval-Total-War/dp/B000063SAU/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Medieval: Total War</a>. I have loved all of them, and M2TW does not disappoint. I've been playing M2TW off and on for several years and still love it. If you like the Total War series then you should get this game.\\n\\nI play on all very difficult settings and I found diplomacy extremely challenging but not impossible. When you are weak no one wants to be your ally, but as you grow in power you can find friends even from your former adversaries. Stick with it and don't forget gifts are appreciated. Many of the reviews have indicated that the computer AI is stupid. This must have been fixed with patches because the version I have has a aggressive AI that brings the fight to you early and often. In battles the AI will attack at full sprint as soon as your missile troops attack if they don't have superior missile troops. The AI does attack too frequently without a general though. Many battles would have been lost or at least caused more significant casualties if they had a decent commander.\\n\\nBasically, Total War has not changed dramatically, but the improvements continue to make it more and more fun to play.\\n\\nChanges / Improvements since <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Rome-Total-War/dp/B0002MPT6Q/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Rome: Total War</a>:\\n-Cities Specialize as cities or castles\\n-New character types Priests, Merchants, Inquisitors, Heretics, and Witches. Princesses are also back from the original Medieval Total War. Princesses can act as Diplomats or ensnare the hearts of foreign generals and bring them too your side.\\n-Greatly improved siege warfare. City walls and especially castle walls defensives have improved. The higher levels of castles have multiple circuits. However, defensive towers will only fire when you have troops in the vicinity to man them.\\n-Faction priests can become Cardinals and vote to elect or be elected pope\\n-M2TW has crusades and the recruitment, management, effects are handled much better than the original Medieval Total War.\\n-All countries can get missions which can come from various sources including a countries own nobility, the pope, or other nations (assassinate a current king for better relations with the new king). The missions come with rewards if achieved and sometimes penalties if they are failed.\\n-Mercenaries can be reinforced after losses if they are available in their current location.\\n-Armor improvements don't affect every unit the same way. Heavily armored units can't be upgraded until more advanced armor is available. Archers can only be improved so far. Much more realistic. Armor enhancements also cause the units to look different when they are in battle.\\n-Guilds are available that offer specialized units and improvements. These cannot automatically be built. They can only be built when offered by the guild. The guild will offer based on how the settlement or nation is run.\\n-Prisoner ransoms are back from original Medieval Total War\\n\\nSteps back from Rome Total War:\\n-You can't select your heir. It is fixed based on eldest son to current heir or if none exists or he is too young goes to next oldest brother.\\n-I noticed an odd bug that advances the date 2yrs/turn, but all the characters age at 6months/turn. If anyone knows how to fix this, please let me know.\\n-I was not able to get any of the character retinues to move from one general to another. I know the manual said not all henchmen would move, but I wasn't able to move any.\\n\\nI have a pretty advanced computer with Vista and did not experience any crashes or lag even on highest graphics settings.\\n\\nKingdoms Expansion\\n\\nThe Kingdoms expansion allows you to play four new campaigns. See more details of each below. I really enjoyed this expansion's campaigns better than even regular Medieval 2 Total War. These campaign had a more genuine historical feel. The gameplay is mostly the same as the original, but each campaign has some slight differences as well as new factions and units.\\n\\nCrusades Campaign\\n\\nThe historical background is not very actuate. The game starts in 1174 AD after the death of King Amalric with King Baldwin the Leper King as the fraction leader. Again game years move too fast. It is cool when the 3rd crusade starts in the game as the player gets control of one of the commanders of the crusade and some additional troops. Jerusalem gets King Richard I of England Coeur-du-Lion and the Principality of Antioch gets King Philip Augustus of France. Regardless of the historical inaccuracies it is fun to take it to the Saracens with King Richard. It might have been more fun if the game had started off with the opening of the 3rd crusade with the objective to retake Jerusalem from Saladin.\\n\\nThe 4th crusade also occurs during the game. A new faction (Venice) is created which lands at Constantinople. I was not able to see much of this as I haven't played the Byzantines yet, but I imagine that would be a fun twist.\\n\\nAmericas Campaign\\n\\nI didn't really enjoy the Americas campaign all that much. You can play as the Spanish, Mayans, Aztecs, Apaches, and several other tribes I have never heard of (Chichimec, Tlaxcalans, and Tarascans). I played as the Spanish which I wouldn't recommend as it was too easy. You do get to use firearms in this campaign, but due to rate of fire infantry and cavalry units rule the field. I would recommend playing as one of the smaller tribes to get more of a challenge.\\n\\nBritannia Campaign\\n\\nI found the Britannia Campaign fun and exciting. It takes place in the reign of Henry III and his son Edward I. William Wallace also makes an appearance. The biggest difference in this campaign is that culture and not religion is used. The level of culture allows you to recruit different units. You can even recruit enemy culture units, but this access is quickly lost as your culture dominates. Culture seems to shift too rapidly which deteriorates this interesting feature.\\n\\nTeutonic Campaign\\n\\nThe Teutonic campaign lets you engage in the northern crusades. Conquer or defend Lithuania or Novgorod from the Teutonic Knights, Mongols, Danes, and Poles. This campaign also uses religion which restricts which units you can recruit. As a added twist, you can switch from Paganism to Christianity as the Lithuanians (which really occurred). I would recommend reading <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/The-Northern-Crusades-Second-Edition/dp/0140266534/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">The Northern Crusades: Second Edition</a> by Eric Christiansen for great overview of the subject.\",\n \"Product: Assassin's Creed PC\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Life and Death at the Edge of a Knife\\n\\nReview: Assassin's Creed (AC) is an intense and exciting game. The graphics and immersive environment are spectacular. You can interact with the terrain in amazing fashion giving you lots of freedom. Use crevices, door and window frames, landings, etc to climb just about anything you want. AC lets you ride a horse and fight from a mount.\\n\\nThe combat in AC is fun. It takes a little while to get use to, but once you do watch out. You must use timing and defense to avoid death when faced with overwhelming odds. As you continue the game you get access to new weapons and fighting skills. Before long you can do amazing counter-attacks, dodges, and grab and defensive breaks. The action is very fluid and thoroughly engaging.\\n\\nWithout giving too much away, the storyline is entertaining and will keep your interest. There is a duel storyline going where a modern day guy is reliving the memories of his ancestor. I found this part unnecessary, but it didn't detract from actual game. Yes, the whole premise of the game is assassinating people. So, no, the game is not for kids, hence the mature rating. Several reviewers have described the game as slanted towards killing Christians. It's not. It's really more killing everyone Muslim or Christian that gets in the way. However, the game does have it out for the Templars. They are portrayed as evil villains in the game. Most of the people you are sent to kill think they are serving a good cause, but their actions are misguided. Much like the actions of the main character.\\n\\nSome things I didn't like. While you have tremendous freedom to interact with the terrain, you can't do some simple things like open doors. Also the environment is not destructible except for rare exceptions like vendor carts. You don't have many items / weapons at your disposal that could cause much damage, but rails could break, tables move, open a chest etc. Maybe I want to set a fire as a distraction. Oh well maybe next time.\\n\\nI didn't have any problems with game stability. I don't think it ever crashed which is saying a lot these days. The only thing I had a problem with is the game opened as a window instead of taking over the full screen. This caused problems when the cursor got off the screen. Any suggestions would be appreciated.\\n\\nI would agree that the investigations leading up to each assassination attempt do become repetitive. You don't have to do them all, but they make completing the assassination easier. The game is also kind of short, but you will enjoy the ride. I'm looking forward to <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Assassin-s-Creed-II/dp/B001TOQ8R0/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Assassin's Creed II</a> to expand the experience.\",\n \"Product: War has come down on Calradia. In a land torn by constant danger, raids and skirmishes, you will raise and lead your own war band, commanding dozens of hardened soldiers. You will fight epic battles where arrows cut the air, swords hack with fury, and horses and men clash into a violent melee. Combining a sophisticated, dynamic game world and intense medieval sword fighting action, Mount&Blade strives to create a game experience never seen before.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Mounted First Person Combat Will Leave You Thirsting for More\\n\\nReview: I got my first taste of mounted combat playing <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Assassin-s-Creed-Director-s-Cut-Edition/dp/B0010EK3SE/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Assassin's Creed: Director's Cut Edition</a>. Mount & Blade (MB) takes it to a whole new level. In MB, you get to lead a battalion of troops in armed combat either on foot or mounted with the option to use missile weapons in both. You can even lead the defense or assault a castle during a siege. This is something that I always wanted to see after first person fighting games came on to the scene. Did you ever want to get into the fight directly in <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Medieval-II-Total-War/dp/B000FUONLM/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Medieval II Total War</a>? Here is your chance. The main reason I give it the five star rating is the combat and the concept. The graphics are good enough to support the amazing action sequences. You act as your lead character as he grows in abilities and reputation. The game is a sandbox style play where you can do whatever you want. If you want an overall goal then takeover the whole world, but it will not be easy. It doesn't have the polish of most mainstream productions, but it is offering something new and challenging. Trying to take the last city of one of the factions is a truly trying experience. I added some screen shots so you can see the action, but if you are intrigued try the demo. For the price on Amazon, this is a no brainer. My copy did not have the manual which made understanding the game a little more difficult. I would recommend StrategyWiki website for some good tips and explanation.\",\n \"Product: Embark on a quest for glory and riches in this nation-building, dynasty-forging game of power, military might and medieval adventure.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Intense Medieval Strategy Game - Too many flaws\\n\\nReview: I have mixed feeling about this game. It has taken dynastic strategy to a whole new level. The concept is amazing, but the game play is sometimes weak.\\n\\nThe few positives:\\n\\nI wish <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Medieval-Total-War/dp/B000063SAU/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Medieval: Total War</a> had this kind of depth in the dynasty management. Crusader Kings has a lot of flexibility. You can play as any count, duke, or king in all of Europe. You control the marriage of your children and other children in your line. You can change how inheritance works in your realm (strongest vassal, eldest son, strongest son, etc.)\\n\\nI like the way troops are mobilized from your vassals. You can either directly call up the vassals troops which lowers the loyalty of your vassal or make a request to him to mobilize all his forces which he may or may not honor due to the situation.\\n\\nThe many negatives:\\n\\nLoyalty of vassals is handled poorly. It is really unmanageable. Vassal loyalty was an unending problem. I constantly had to monitor loyalty of the vassals and sparse out titles to stop infighting. You also can not tell whether their loyalty to the liege is increasing or decreasing over time without checking monthly. I turned to writing down all the vassals in my territory and kept track of it each month. Not fun. It would have been nice to have an indicator to show if the loyalty is increasing or decreasing and by what factor.\\n\\nThe manual provided with the game is so incomplete it is laughable. There is zero help to understand how to play the game other than this. You simply learn to play by making constant mistakes. There should be some kind of help menu in the game to explain how features in the game work.\\n\\nCombat leaves a lot to be desired. First note the only control you have over the battle is whether you continue to fight or flee. The battle is basically decided by quantity and quality of the troops and their morale. However, most times I noticed that they didn't really fight because the morale would drop so fast even from full morale that no damage would really happen. Maybe there is some specific reason for this, but again without a quality manual how do you tell. I realize this is not the major focus of the game, but it could have been developed better and less frustrating.\\n\\nI liked the way you mobilize troops, but I hated what happened next. While you have some options to change the power of different groups in a province which affects the troop type split, you have zero control of the number of troops that you call up. Basically you call up all available resources in the province. This may not sound like a bad thing, but if you can't afford to maintain that amount of troops you either go in debt or disband the whole group. The other annoying thing is that you can go in debt for having too many of your troops mobilized, but the computer controlled countries (including your vassals) do not. I think all countries should have to deal with the debt situation and it should affect vassal loyalty if the your vassals go into debt because you have their troops mobilized too long. Basically this part was just poorly thought out.\\n\\nThe game became very repetitive as the same events would occur over and over until the computer managed to get you to have the trait that it wanted.\\n\\nThe computer does not handle the Crusades well. The computer will respond to the Crusades, but only half hardly. What's worse after Jerusalem was conquered, the Crusade stayed in effect and the computer started attacking anyone who held it.\\n\\nI did not have a lot of problems with bugs. I am running the game with patch version 1.05 with a computer with Quad Core 2 Intel processor with tons of memory and Vista OS. I have experienced a couple of crashes, but have not had any crashes during loading. What I didn't like is how the game exits when you lose your last heir under your control. It just shuts the game down. No summary telling you that you failed and what your status was before your exit. I thought the game had crashed.\\n\\nIn summary, the game has its good points, but the frustrations out weight the positives. Hopefully other games will pick up the well developed dynasty management. With all the great games out there don't waste your time here.\",\n \"Product: The best selling old-world real-time city-building simulation is back! Build cities, manage economies and battle pirates in the only game of its kind based in the Middle Ages. Grow your small town into a major trading center wielding tremendous economic power.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Shipping is the business and business is good\\n\\nReview: I really did enjoy the game. This game is addictive, you will be drawn in and forget about the world around you. Picking which cargoes to carry and what price to buy and sell at keeps you engaged constantly. This reminded me of Railroad Tycoon mixed with SimCity or one of the Roman citybuilder games like Caesar. If you enjoy slowing building empires, you will enjoy P3 as well.\\n\\nThe economic model is simple, but is realistic in function. The basic principal is supply and demand. The city produces commodities and consumes commodities. You job is bring items from where they are plentiful to where they are needed. You can build industries to harvest / produce commodities if you can't get them reliably or at the right price. Reputation is also important in the game. You must build your reputation so you can build in other cities, become town mayor, or leader of the Hanseatic League.\\n\\nThe game does have its weaknesses. One of the main gripes is there is no pause button. I literally had to save and exit the game to do anything else. My girlfriend nearly killed me several times for ignoring her while I was trying complete some task or the other. Even in the slowest mode the game still moved too fast to do anything other than step away to go to the bathroom. Another irritation was limitation on automating ship trades only to vessels with captains (captains are rare). I liked the use of the captains as they had special abilities, but thought this should not be linked automation. The sea battles are overly simplistic. You can sail your ship and fire the guns, but boarding is done by calculation and you have no input. You are also not notified when your ships see pirates and they take no evasive action without your direction. There were many times that I wanted to speed the game up, but this prevented me from doing so. The battles also happened in real time so while you were in the battle you could not control the rest of the game. There are other complaints I won't go into here, but needless to say these detracted from game enjoyment.\\n\\nDespite the weaknesses, if you like the genre, you will enjoy the game. Replayability is limited (only one map; cities make / need the same things each game) but not nonexistent. You can try to improve on past attempts by making more money, encouraging more grow, or simply completing the mission in less game time. There are several campaign games which shake things up and present interesting challenges too.\",\n \"Product: Build cities, manage economies, and battle pirates based in the Middle Ages. Grow your small town into a major trading center wielding tremendous economic power. The 3rd installment of the real-time city-building simulation. Destroy hidden pirate lairs, build new towns and establish new trade routes as you expand your empire. Amass great wealth: Astutely trade the surplus from one region to those in need and reap tremendous profits.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Shipping is the business and business is good\\n\\nReview: I really did enjoy the game. This game is addictive, you will be drawn in and forget about the world around you. Picking which cargoes to carry and what price to buy and sell at keeps you engaged constantly. This reminded me of <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Railroad-Tycoon-2-Gold/dp/B00002NDEU/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Railroad Tycoon 2 Gold</a> mixed with SimCity or one of the Roman citybuilder games like <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Caesar-3/dp/B000031KJX/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Caesar 3</a>. If you enjoy slowing building empires, you will enjoy Patrician 3 (P3) as well.\\n\\nThe economic model is simple, but is realistic in function. The basic principal is supply and demand. The city produces commodities and consumes commodities. Your job is to bring items from where they are plentiful to where they are needed. You can build industries to harvest / produce commodities if you can't get them reliably or at the right price. Reputation is also important in the game. You must build your reputation so you can build in other cities, become town mayor, or leader of the Hanseatic League.\\n\\nThe game does have its weaknesses. One of the main gripes is there is no pause button. I literally had to save and exit the game to do anything else. My girlfriend nearly killed me several times for ignoring her while I was trying complete some task or the other. Even in the slowest mode the game still moved too fast to do anything other than step away to go to the bathroom. Another irritation was limitation on automating ship trades only to vessels with captains (captains are rare). I liked the use of the captains as they had special abilities, but thought this should not be linked to automation. The sea battles are overly simplistic. You can sail your ship and fire the guns, but boarding is done by calculation and you have no input. You are also not notified when your ships see pirates and they take no evasive action without your direction. There were many times that I wanted to speed the game up, but this prevented me from doing so. The battles also happened in real time so while you were in the battle you could not control the rest of the game. There are other complaints I won't go into here, but needless to say these detracted from game enjoyment.\\n\\nDespite the weaknesses, if you like the genre, you will enjoy the game. Replayability is limited (only one map; cities make / need the same things each game) but not nonexistent. You can try to improve on past attempts by making more money, encouraging more grow, or simply completing the mission in less game time. There are several campaign games which shake things up and present interesting challenges too.\",\n \"Product: The Logitech USB Headset H570e, available in corded mono and stereo versions, delivers enterprise-quality audio at an affordable price for crystal-clear communication and long wearing comfort.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Comfortable Headset with Great Sound\\n\\nReview: I liked this headset. It is comfortable to wear and the sound quality is great. The headset is light, but the construction seems solid. Much more flexible than I first expected. The volume controls are convenient. The cord is a reasonable length if you stay in one place. However, if you move around away from the computer, you'll need to get the wireless or extra long corded models. The headset is plug and play and was recognized as soon as I plugged it in. However, I had to disable the normal sound output so that it would play on the headset. I use this for home use, so I can't comment on its functionality with business software. All in all a good product.\",\n \"Product: Polaris Industries Inc. a leader is power sports leveraged over 60 years of technical expertise developing and testing to ensure the POWER generator product line can handle any task you need it for years to come. Simple put its quiet and your neighbors will remain happy while your Polaris POWER generator is in operation with real world testing producing a mere 53 dB(A) its quieter than a normal conversation at 25% load. The Polaris P1000i is light and compact, only 36.4 pounds with 2 ergonomically designed handles anyone can easily move to the ideal location. Knowing space is always a premium the flat surface top enables an ideal spot for lighter items. The Polaris P1000i is extremely simple to operate and delivers exceptionally fuel efficiency on a tank of gas (.98 Gallons) at 25% load (225Watts) will over 10 hours of run time on utilizing its standard the economy throttle switch. Capable of producing 1000 watts maximum AC output (900watts rated) the P1000i digital inverter is the perfect addition to safely power small electronics, such as a TV while tailgating or an expensive laptop while away from home. It features dual 120 volt AC outlets with circuit breaker protection that is resettable while the engine is running and a fused 12 volt DC outlet and charging cord. The Polaris P1000i also features a low oil sensor to stop and protect the engine from mechanical damage and expense on the occasion of low oil. Additionally, this generator is parallel capable, enabling 2 units to be connected together for even more output when needed and giving you the choice of paring it with another P1000i or combining with a P2000i for additional power. Oil and gasoline must be added prior to first use and is NOT included. Polaris 5W-30 Generator Oil is recommended.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Under-Powered for Home Use\\n\\nReview: This unit has limited use. At 900W running power you can't do that much. It can run your TV and your laptop or charge your cell phone or ipad, but don't expect much more than that. I think this unit would be good for tailgating or camping if you are mindful of buying small devices that the generator can support. If you are looking for a little more power at least get the larger <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Polaris-P13GDGBNA-Power-P2000i-Portable-Gas-Powered-Digital-Inverter-Generator-2000-watt/dp/B00N31WS3A/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Polaris P13GDGBNA Power P2000i Portable Gas Powered Digital Inverter Generator, 2000-watt</a>. The 2000W unit can run household devices (fridge and microwave) that you would need during a power outage.\\n\\nOutside of being under-powered, the generator seems to be well built. This is not a surprise because Polaris makes good products. I have never run a generator before. But with a quick read of the instructions and adding oil and fuel, I was ready to go. The smart throttle allows the unit to run efficiently when you are only pulling a small load. Starting the unit up the first time took several cranks; however, after that it would crank up on just one pull.\\n\\nI didn't find the unit light weight, but it wasn't unreasonably heavy either. The two handles make it easy to grip. In regard to noise, the unit isn't quiet, but again it is not unreasonably loud. I was able to hear it inside without the TV on, but with the TV going I didn't notice it. The unit won't wake the neighbors.\",\n \"Product: 'Magisterial in its scope, beautifully written and literally unputdownable.I cannot recommend Keegan's book too highly.'Julian Critchley, Scotsman 'Nobody describes a battle as Keegan does, vividly relating the unfolding events to the contours of the field of combat. This book is a kind of war memorial. As first-hand memory fades, The First World War honours the dead as only true history can.'Niall Ferguson, Sunday Times 'John Keegan's The First World War can take its place alongside the other defining works he has written. The best and most approachable introduction to the war.'David Horspool, Guardian 'Beautifully written and full of telling detail.The best overall account for the general reader that has appeared since that of Cyril Falls nearly forty years ago.'Michael Howard, Times Literary Supplement\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Grand Overview of the \\\"Great War\\\"\\n\\nReview: The First World War is a massive subject. Keegan does a great job capturing the essence of the war without dragging the book out as long as the war itself. When covering a topic of this scale, it is impossible to dive into all the details. So Keegan's overview is not suitable for the well read student. But for those who are a novice to the subject or have only read about parts of the war or seen it in documentaries, Keegan is a great place to start. Keegan explains at depth how the war began. He discusses the spark and what transformed an isolated tragedy into a juggernaut of world slaughter. It is fascinating to read how military strategy preempted political reality, and misguided belief in the quick decisive victory, sent millions to their graves. As a avid reader of WWII, it is interesting reading how the strategy of WWI influenced the path of WWII. Especially interesting is reflecting on what the outcome of WWI would have been with the technology of WWII.\\n\\nBut with the end in sight (at least the Germans thought so), the war takes a different shape as it hardens into trench warfare. Keegan explains how the tactics and strategy for trench warfare evolved throughout the war. He discusses the uses of new technologies like chemical warfare, indirect artillery, machine guns, aerial combat, and tanks. Keegan also explains that all these new technological advances only serve to stack the body count without delivering the knockout blow so desired. He shows over and over again how the lack of development in communications prevented breakouts from sustaining their momentum. In fact, it would take another war to hone these techniques even after the technology was available. Even in Normandy during WWII, the allies found it difficult to coordinate infantry with armor formations and close air support. Keegan also explores the expansion of the war as a European war grows to consume most of the world. He covers the war at sea which results in the near annihilation of the German High Seas Fleet.\\n\\nBut the book is not perfect. There could be more maps to reflect the narrative. Keegan does allow national pride to color his discussion of British actions. The end of the war lacks the coverage it deserves. Others have pointed out the gripes. But, it is hard to please everyone. Keegan still delivers an excellent overview of the \\\"Great War\\\". I recommend this book highly to anyone interested in history. Understanding WWI is fundamental in appreciating the history of the last century. The lessons of the world wars should be understood by anyone interested in foreign policy.\",\n \"Product: paperback, vg++\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: The Most Entertaining Novel in the Icewind Dale Trilogy\\n\\nReview: First off, this is the conclusion of the Icewind Dale Trilogy. I would strongly recommend reading the first two novels in the series, The Crystal Shard and Streams of Silver, to truly enjoy this book. This story picks up with Artemis Entreri, running off with Regis from Mithral Hall, the halfling, to return him to Pasha Pook the leader of the largest thieves' guild in Calimport. Drizzt and friends chase after Entreri to save Regis from the almost certain death that awaits him in Calimport. The plot is pretty straight forward, but there are definitely enough complications to keep it interesting.\\nI really enjoyed this book and thought it was the best book in the trilogy. The Halfling's Gem regains the continuous fast paced adventure that was lost in part of Streams of Silver. I found the supporting characters in this book much better conceived and interesting. The battle scenes in the boat and at Pasha Pook's palace were at least as good as any of the battle scenes in the other two books. Also Drizzt's attempt to find himself and what he stands for really progresses in this book. This continues in the Dark Elf Trilogy, which occurred before he reached Icewind Dale, but was written after the Icewind Dale Trilogy. All in all the writing in this novel has really improved from the first two books. This same quality continues through the rest of the Drizzt series. I whole-heartedly recommend this novel for the entertaining fast paced read that it is.\",\n \"Product: Vintage paperback\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Exciting and Balanced Account of D-Day\\n\\nReview: D-Day is one of the most important days in the last one hundred years. It has been portrayed in countless times in different forms through movies (examples <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/The-Longest-Day-Two-Disc-Collector-s-Edition/dp/B000EHSVRS/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">The Longest Day (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)</a>,<a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Saving-Private-Ryan-Special-Limited-Edition/dp/B00001ZWUS/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Saving Private Ryan (Special Limited Edition)</a>, and <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Band-of-Brothers/dp/B00006CXSS/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Band of Brothers</a>), video games <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Medal-of-Honor-Allied-Assault-Deluxe/dp/B000089SBB/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Medal of Honor Allied Assault Deluxe</a>,<a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Close-Combat-Invasion-Normandy/dp/B00004Y7SY/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Close Combat: Invasion Normandy</a>), but written word shouldn't be forgotten. Cornelius Ryan's first book brings it to life. He describes the events leading up to the invasion, the aborted attempt, the airborne landings the night before, and storming the beaches. Ryan provides his colorful history from a range of sources including interviews with generals to soldiers to civilians. He also bases his story on his research of captured German documents and other firsthand historical accounts. There also some nice B/W pictures provided including pictures from Ryan's personal collection.\\n\\nHe lays out the story through the perspective of all sides. He shows the story unfolding from the eyes of all the allies, the defending Germans, as well as the civilians directly involved. His writing style is very dramatic and keeps your enthusiasm throughout. He also doesn't neglect the actions of the non-American allies. You are introduced to Gold, Juno, and Sword beaches as well as the well known Omaha and Utah. Ryan also shows us how disorganized the Germans were on D-day. Key members of the German command were away including Rommel. Armored reinforcements were moved and then halted. You never know what could have been, but the book makes you appreciate how fortunate the allies were on D-Day. The generals were expecting that all the beaches would be as bloody as Omaha.\\n\\nMy only complaints, roughly three-fifths of the book are events leading up to the beach landings. I think more detail especially on the advances from the beaches should have been provided. Another detraction is the lack of maps in the version that I have. I'm familiar with the beaches and airborne landing areas, but maps showing these areas would have been very helpful to readers not familiar with the subject.\\n\\nDespite those minor detractions, I highly recommend this book. The sacrifices made on June 6th 1944 should never be forgotten. We are fortunate that Cornelius Ryan has captured a little of that for us. See Ryan's other books as well, <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/A-Bridge-Too-Far-The-Classic-History-of-the-Greatest-Battle-of-World-War-II/dp/0684803305/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">A Bridge Too Far: The Classic History of the Greatest Battle of World War II</a> and <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Last-Battle-The-Classic-History-of-the-Battle-for-Berlin/dp/0684803291/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Last Battle: The Classic History of the Battle for Berlin</a>.\",\n \"Product: Reprint of 1951 Original. Utah Beach and Omaha Beach history. Extra Postage for Priority. No International.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Comprehensive United States Study of the Planning and Execution of the Invasion of Normandy\\n\\nReview: Gordon Harrison's book on the invasion of Normandy is the most comprehensive book I have read on the subject. The scope of the book includes the actions of the Americans and their German counterparts in Utah and Omaha beach sectors. After setting the scene with the planning and preparatory activities, the British activities from Juno-Gold-Sword Beaches and lodgment area are neglected for the most part. The author addresses this at the beginning by saying this is the historical record of American activities in World War II. Harrison did have access to the British military archives and he uses them to good effect as they have direct interaction with American movements.\\n\\nThis book starts by explaining how the Allied plans to assault the French coast were developed. Plans for making a cross-Channel attack had started even before the United States had entered the war; however, the British considered any such plan infeasible except where the Germans withdraw from France on their own accord or the German determination to fight would completely collapse. The book follows the strategic discussions where the United States pushed for a cross-Channel attack as the primary strategy to defeating Germany with the British pretending to entertain the idea to encourage a US buildup of troops in Great Britain as a defensive force rather than offensive. It continues by following the planning of the North Africa and later Sicily and Italy operations which the US reluctantly agreed to despite US strategist believing the actions would only prolong the war. I had not realized that Allied strategy had been so divided and found this quite interesting. In fact without the insistence of the Russians that the cross-Channel attack should be the primary action and Mediterranean operations were only diversions, the cross-Channel attack may not have happened until the Germans voluntarily withdrew from France.\\n\\nThe book includes the Digest of Operation Overlord, a kind of abstract written by the planners of Operation Overlord summarizing the proposed assault including the selection of landing point, its objectives, and conditions for victory. From this you will have a more comprehensive understanding of why the Normandy beaches were selected and what the planners were truly concerned about when they were drawing up their plans. There is more here than is normally summarized in other books.\\n\\nHarrison also consults many German sources that became available after the war including captured correspondence between the different headquarters and statements by captured German officers. He outlines how the defense of the west was organized and how it was impacted by the requirement of resources to defend the other sectors especially against the Russians. He describes the formation of command under Rommel and describes the competing ideas on strategy of defense of the west. What results is a command structure where no one agrees on strategy and paralyzation at inopportune moments.\\n\\nHarrison discusses preparatory measures by bomber command in the months prior to the invasion to assist the cross-Channel assault. He explains the controversy over what should be targeted and the results on the Luftwaffe and French rail system. He also discusses the organization and operations of the French resistance. All the other D-Day histories I have read have neglected these topics altogether.\\n\\nAfter setting the scene, Harrison then tells the story of D-day and Operation Overlord. The scope of the book covers actions in the V Corps area through June 18th (where the Americans settle into the defensive) and actions in the VII Corps area through July 1st (capture of Cherbourg). In this he covers the linking up between V and VII corps (including the fighting around Carentan), the slow drive towards St. Lo, the link up of V Corps with the British, the fighting around the Caumont Gap, and fight to capture Cherbourg. I think the level of detail provided is adequate on the American landings and actions. The German activities and movements are described well and Harrison even points out where the German's command structure broke down and did not know the status of separated units. The interesting thing between reading this book and German reports (see <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Fighting-In-Normandy-The-German-Army-from-D-Day-to-Villers-Bocage/dp/1853674605/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Fighting In Normandy: The German Army from D-Day to Villers-Bocage</a> with excerpts from German commander interviews which Harrison frequently references) is the Germans view that the Allies attacks were missing opportunities. Of course the one attack where the Allies did try to out flank the Germans and exploit a weak spot resulted in a major reverse at Villers Bocage. The same happened in reverse in the Cotentin Peninsula where the Germans were unable to handle the airborne forces despite their numerical superiority on D-Day. It is easy after it is all over to question the actions of others when the complete picture is known. This book goes a long way into explaining how and why the Battle for Normandy unfolded as it did.\\n\\nA major complaint is that the version of the book that I have, 1995 Barnes & Noble hardcover edition, does not include most of the maps that are included in other editions of this book. I know they are missing because they are referenced to in the text. This made following the various movements of the troops difficult. I resorted to keeping a Google map up online so I could try to locate the places that were mentioned. I would only give the Barnes & Noble edition 3 stars because of this deficiency.\",\n \"Product: Carolyn Dewald is Associate Professor of Classics at the University of Southern California. Robin Waterfield is a distinguished translator whose version of Plato's Republic has been described as `the best available'.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: The Father of History has something for everyone\\n\\nReview: Herodotus's The Histories is an immense trove of knowledge. He is often given the handle Father of History as his pioneering work help set the stage for the field of historians. The Histories tell the story of the Greek and Persian Wars. This is the first and only surviving history by a ancient writer about the Greco-Persian Wars. We wouldn't have details about the Spartan last stand at Thermopylai or the Greek victories at Marathon, Salamis, and Plataia without Herodotus. But, the scope of The Histories does not stop there. It gives the story of many peoples and events that connect the dots to give a complete background of the conflict. The Histories covers the following:\\n\\n*Croesus the last king of Lydia and their defeat to the Persians including the reasons for the conflict\\n*History of the Medes and how they came under Persian power\\n*Persia's development into an empire under Cyrus\\n*The History, Geography, Customs of Egypt\\n*Some insights into the Trojan War\\n*The Persian conquest of Egypt\\n*The Persian failed attempt to conquer the Scythians\\n*The History, Geography, Customs of Scythia\\n*The events leading up to the revolt of the Ionians\\n*The quashing of the Ionian Rebellion\\n*The Persian defeat at Marathon\\n*The second Persian invasion and defeat in Greece\\n\\nHerodotus's style may put off some readers. As he is describing one storyline, he drifts into related topics to provide background. So it takes patience or a love the subject to truly enjoy Herodotus. What I found most interesting is how he presents the various sides of a story. He will describe the differences in what various parties say is the truth and then provide his opinion on which is correct.\\n\\nThis is a must have for anyone interested in Greek or Persian history or even later Egyptian history.\",\n \"Product: Ancient Mediterranean, The by Grant, Michael. 8vo.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Cultural examination of early Mediterranean civilizations - difficult read\\n\\nReview: I have read other Michael Grant books and really enjoy reading about history. However, I had a hard time finishing this book. The book's concept is what interested me. Explaining the history of all the major Mediterranean civilizations and how they interrelate is a great concept. But the execution failed in maintaining an organized progression and keeping reader interest. Grant tries to tackle too many topics. He jumps around and has so much information to present that the book looses it's momentum. I also felt that he tried to rely too much his written descriptions to portray influences of the arts (pottery, paintings, objects, etc.). Grant should have some visual aids to show how the earlier techniques influenced later cultures. If this wasn't possible, less time should have been spent on the subject.\\n\\nDespite my observations above, I still rate this book with 3 stars. It definitely has its flaws, but there is a lot of interesting material here. I enjoyed the discussion on physical characteristics of the Mediterranean Sea and surrounding lands. The information on early migrations into the area and the impact they had on the surroundings was fascinating. I learned about several civilizations that I had little knowledge of and how they influenced the later cultures like Greece and Rome.\\n\\nThis book isn't for most people, but for those with strong curiosity about early civilizations in the Mediterranean and how they got there you may want to try this book.\",\n \"Product: Reprint of 1951 Original. Utah Beach and Omaha Beach history. Extra Postage for Priority. No International.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Comprehensive United States Study of the Planning and Execution of the Invasion of Normandy\\n\\nReview: Gordon Harrison's book on the invasion of Normandy is the most comprehensive book I have read on the subject. The scope of the book includes the actions of the Americans and their German counterparts in Utah and Omaha beach sectors. I would highly recommend <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Omaha-Beach-D-Day-June-6-1944/dp/0811700798/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Omaha Beach: D-Day June 6, 1944</a> and <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Utah-Beach-The-Amphibious-Landing-and-Airbourne-Operations-on-D-Day/dp/0811701441/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Utah Beach: The Amphibious Landing and Airbourne Operations on D-Day</a> by Joseph Balkoski if you would like more details on the beach landings. After setting the scene with the planning and preparatory activities, the British activities from Juno-Gold-Sword Beaches and lodgment area are neglected for the most part. The author addresses this at the beginning by saying this is the historical record of American activities in World War II. I would recommend <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Overlord-D-Day-and-the-Battle-for-Normandy/dp/0671460293/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Overlord: D-Day and the Battle for Normandy</a> by Max Hastings if you would like coverage of the non-american allies involvement in Normandy to. Harrison did have access to the British military archives and he uses them to good effect as they have direct interaction with American movements.\\n\\nThis book starts by explaining how the Allied plans to assault the French coast were developed. Plans for making a cross-Channel attack had started even before the United States had entered the war; however, the British considered any such plan infeasible except where the Germans withdraw from France on their own accord or the German determination to fight would completely collapse. The book follows the strategic discussions where the United States pushed for a cross-Channel attack as the primary strategy to defeating Germany with the British pretending to entertain the idea to encourage a US buildup of troops in Great Britain as a defensive force rather than offensive. It continues by following the planning of the North Africa and later Sicily and Italy operations which the US reluctantly agreed to despite US strategist believing the actions would only prolong the war. I had not realized that Allied strategy had been so divided and found this quite interesting. In fact without the insistence of the Russians that the cross-Channel attack should be the primary action and Mediterranean operations were only diversions, the cross-Channel attack may not have happened until the Germans voluntarily withdrew from France.\\n\\nThe book includes the Digest of Operation Overlord, a kind of abstract written by the planners of Operation Overlord summarizing the proposed assault including the selection of landing point, its objectives, and conditions for victory. From this you will have a more comprehensive understanding of why the Normandy beaches were selected and what the planners were truly concerned about when they were drawing up their plans. There is more here than is normally summarized in other books.\\n\\nHarrison also consults many German sources that became available after the war including captured correspondence between the different headquarters and statements by captured German officers. He outlines how the defense of the west was organized and how it was impacted by the requirement of resources to defend the other sectors especially against the Russians. He describes the formation of command under Rommel and describes the competing ideas on strategy of defense of the west. What results is a command structure where no one agrees on strategy and paralyzation at inopportune moments.\\n\\nHarrison discusses preparatory measures by bomber command in the months prior to the invasion to assist the cross-Channel assault. He explains the controversy over what should be targeted and the results on the Luftwaffe and French rail system. He also discusses the organization and operations of the French resistance. All the other D-Day histories I have read have neglected these topics altogether.\\n\\nAfter setting the scene, Harrison then tells the story of D-day and Operation Overlord. The scope of the book covers actions in the V Corps area through June 18th (where the Americans settle into the defensive) and actions in the VII Corps area through July 1st (capture of Cherbourg). In this he covers the linking up between V and VII corps (including the fighting around Carentan), the slow drive towards St. Lo, the link up of V Corps with the British, the fighting around the Caumont Gap, and fight to capture Cherbourg. I think the level of detail provided is adequate on the American landings and actions. The German activities and movements are described well and Harrison even points out where the German's command structure broke down and did not know the status of separated units. The interesting thing between reading this book and German reports (see <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Fighting-in-Normandy-The-German-Army-from-D-day-to-Villers-Bocage/dp/1853674605/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Fighting in Normandy: The German Army from D-day to Villers-Bocage</a> with excerpts from German commander interviews which Harrison frequently references) is the Germans view that the Allies attacks were missing opportunities. Of course the one attack where the Allies did try to out flank the Germans and exploit a weak spot resulted in a major reverse at Villers Bocage. The same happened in reverse in the Cotentin Peninsula where the Germans were unable to handle the airborne forces despite their numerical superiority on D-Day. It is easy after it is all over to question the actions of others when the complete picture is known. This book goes a long way into explaining how and why the Battle for Normandy unfolded as it did.\\n\\nI highly recommend the Whitman Publishing version of this book. I previously had the Barnes and Noble publishing of the book and it was missing many of the referenced maps. The Whitman version has nice full color maps.\",\n \"Product: This module is designed for 4-7 characters of first through third levels. It includes a map of the village and a description of its buildings and occupants, an overland journey to a challenging underground adventure for especially brave (or foolhardy...) characters, and a list of pre-rolled first level characters.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Excellent low level module\\n\\nReview: This adventure has it all, but I still think (T1-4) The Temple of Elemental Evil is the best of all time. This gives players a chance to roleplay in a well thought out and developed town where they attempt to discover what is terrorizing the poor sleepy community. Once they discover what is going on the adventurers get to dive into a fun dungeon that has the right balance of good creatures and well deserved treasure. This can be fun even for those dimwitted players that couldn't solve a mystery to save their lives(and it usually does). Design some subplots around the meaty town or use the kidnappings setup in the module. You may find yourself wanting to stay in this town for quite some time! Hey eventually everyone has to figure it out right?\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":31,"string":"31"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_3"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":869,"string":"869"}}},{"rowIdx":870,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"A13TO5TU4A68LD"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of \"4.0\" for a product with description \"Use our stainless steel nesting trio containers as a non-toxic alternative to plastic containers Our reusable round food-storage containers are perfect for packing fruit, pasta salad, chips & hummus, apples & peanut butter, bagels and more. Also use them to store leftovers in the refrigerator. And since they all nest inside one another they take up very little storage space. Pack kid's lunches and picnics on the go, while saving trash from our ever-growing landfills. Extreme temperature changes might cause lids to crack. Please remove stickers before getting container wet to prevent sticker residue.\". The summary of the review text is \"Excellent Product, Great For Packing Lunches. Usual Problems With Condensation\"."},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"If you're buying this product for kids, you'll need to read reviews written by parents and au pairs to see what kids make of them, and from them. I bought them for my work lunches and so far they're the best containers I've bought---they are very leak resistant (within certain bounds, as explained later) and between these three sizes, they contain most of the portion amounts I use.\n\nI originally bought the trio and have since added additional singles with different colored lids (in the mid-sized range that I find most useful) to distinguish the foods packed. While I can tell which container has the yogurt, I can't tell which lid once held something spicy, and the plastic lids do soak up the spices; garlic infused yogurt is not one of my passions.\n\nAnother issue for people who are concerned about keeping things looking new is condensation. Cold food in metal containers will cause condensation and unless you allow for this---perhaps wrapping the container in a towel, or paper, you will have some problems in your lunch bag with that.\n\nAlso coming with the heat of the day is expansion. I've only rarely had a problem with this, but if you put something cold into one of these, and the bag the container sits in gets hot, the lid may well pop open...\n\nOne should also keep this in mind if you're going from the flats up into the mountains as the altitude change will most certainly cause these to open.\n\nBut, for in-city (or suburban) use, with some attention due to what's packed, I find these to be the best containers out there. The all metal containers either condense to the point you can't get a good grip on them, or their lids are so tight I can't get them to open. The all plastic containers don't often come in useable sizes or have odd shapes that take up more room without offering any trade-off to what Kid Konserve offers. I use these for yogurt, salads (sans dressing), stews and soups with little liquid (like bean and rice) and the like.\n\nNow if someone would only make a container that would hold small amounts of full-on liquid, like salad dressings, without leaking. The smallest thermos' type containers usually have a sippy-cup or athletic drink valve which would leak. Vanilla bottles seem to work best, but one still has to wrap them in a plastic bag \"just in case\"..."},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"If you're buying this product for kids, you'll need to read reviews written by parents and au pairs to see what kids make of them, and from them. I bought them for my work lunches and so far they're the best containers I've bought---they are very leak resistant (within certain bounds, as explained later) and between these three sizes, they contain most of the portion amounts I use.\n\nI originally bought the trio and have since added additional singles with different colored lids (in the mid-sized range that I find most useful) to distinguish the foods packed. While I can tell which container has the yogurt, I can't tell which lid once held something spicy, and the plastic lids do soak up the spices; garlic infused yogurt is not one of my passions.\n\nAnother issue for people who are concerned about keeping things looking new is condensation. Cold food in metal containers will cause condensation and unless you allow for this---perhaps wrapping the container in a towel, or paper, you will have some problems in your lunch bag with that.\n\nAlso coming with the heat of the day is expansion. I've only rarely had a problem with this, but if you put something cold into one of these, and the bag the container sits in gets hot, the lid may well pop open...\n\nOne should also keep this in mind if you're going from the flats up into the mountains as the altitude change will most certainly cause these to open.\n\nBut, for in-city (or suburban) use, with some attention due to what's packed, I find these to be the best containers out there. The all metal containers either condense to the point you can't get a good grip on them, or their lids are so tight I can't get them to open. The all plastic containers don't often come in useable sizes or have odd shapes that take up more room without offering any trade-off to what Kid Konserve offers. I use these for yogurt, salads (sans dressing), stews and soups with little liquid (like bean and rice) and the like.\n\nNow if someone would only make a container that would hold small amounts of full-on liquid, like salad dressings, without leaking. The smallest thermos' type containers usually have a sippy-cup or athletic drink valve which would leak. Vanilla bottles seem to work best, but one still has to wrap them in a plastic bag \"just in case\"..."},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Product: Simply a must-have for the avid baker, the Baker's Oven Thermometer lets you know the constant temperature of your oven throughout the cooking process-measuring from 112 to 572 degrees fahrenheit. The easy-to-read LCD display shows elapsed cooking time, target temperature and constant average of the actual oven temperature. This revolutionary thermometer recalculates and updates this average every 10 seconds, and compares it to the set target temperature. What's more, it alerts you if the temperature swings 15 degrees above or below your target temperature. Measurements are taken by using a probe sensor with oven rack clip and insulated metal wire that psses between the oven door seal back to the unit. With some ovens varying as much as 50 degrees fahrenheit from the set temperature on the dial, you can be assured that your cooking at the correct temperature every time. Additional features include a 20 hour count-up or count-down timer, detachable stand for countertop use, and magnets on the back for stickng to metal surfaces. Includes 1 AAA battery.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Excellent Timer; Easy To Use, Dependable, Long Lived---Provided You're Aware The Probe Will Need Replacing\n\nReview: I would give this product 5 stars if Maverick would distinguish itself from it's competition by telling people up front what the reviewers have discovered to their dismay: The probe will need to be replaced at some point. I didn't even consider this aspect, and when, after 6 years of use I started to get \"High\" and \"Low\" readings, instead of temperatures, I came to Amazon to order another thermometer; that's when I realized that it wasn't the device but the probe. Makes sense, if you think about it---sitting in an hot oven. I didn't even look at the probe, until I replaced it, and saw how truly decrepit it had become!\n\nWhen I bought the thermometer I simply unpacked it, put batteries in, and stuck the probe in its holder, to an oven shelf, and aside from replacing batteries and putting the probe back into its clip, that was pretty much it. Stuck to the side of the fridge by its magnet, the poor thing collected all manner of food splatter, and yet, up until a year or so ago, worked just swell.\n\nHere at Amazon I looked at all of the electronic thermometers and realized that I'd bought the best at the outset, so when I realized the probe was shot, I went to Maverick and ordered another----and cleaned the surface of the thermometer while I awaited the new probe. Well, the probe is here, and my thermometer is working like a champ!\n\nSo, Maverick, quit making unnecessary enemies! Be up front about the probe---all the manufacturers of similar devices have the same issue; distinguish yourself with candor. And offer the probe for sale here as well.\n\nAs to all the cranky reviewers who blamed Maverick for ruining your dinners: Get Real. If your dinner went to ruination, it was because you weren't paying attention. Cooking is not a spectator sport. It requires all of your senses at one point or another; you can not expect to put flesh or fiber to the fire and, at the appointed time, take out a dish worthy of a foodie cooking site. Devices like this are a tool to help you, not an auto-pilot to let you indulge your distractions. If your food went to smoke and cinders it's you, not the failed probe.","Product: Simply a must-have for the avid baker, the Baker's Oven Thermometer lets you know the constant temperature of your oven throughout the cooking process-measuring from 112 to 572 degrees fahrenheit. The easy-to-read LCD display shows elapsed cooking time, target temperature and constant average of the actual oven temperature. This revolutionary thermometer recalculates and updates this average every 10 seconds, and compares it to the set target temperature. What's more, it alerts you if the temperature swings 15 degrees above or below your target temperature. Measurements are taken by using a probe sensor with oven rack clip and insulated metal wire that psses between the oven door seal back to the unit. With some ovens varying as much as 50 degrees fahrenheit from the set temperature on the dial, you can be assured that your cooking at the correct temperature every time. Additional features include a 20 hour count-up or count-down timer, detachable stand for countertop use, and magnets on the back for stickng to metal surfaces. Includes 1 AAA battery.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Excellent Timer; Easy To Use, Dependable, Long Lived---Provided You're Aware The Probe Will Need Replacing\n\nReview: I would give this product 5 stars if Maverick would distinguish itself from it's competition by telling people up front what the reviewers have discovered to their dismay: The probe will need to be replaced at some point. I didn't even consider this aspect, and when, after 6 years of use I started to get \"High\" and \"Low\" readings, instead of temperatures, I came to Amazon to order another thermometer; that's when I realized that it wasn't the device but the probe. Makes sense, if you think about it---sitting in an hot oven. I didn't even look at the probe, until I replaced it, and saw how truly decrepit it had become!\n\nWhen I bought the thermometer I simply unpacked it, put batteries in, and stuck the probe in its holder, to an oven shelf, and aside from replacing batteries and putting the probe back into its clip, that was pretty much it. Stuck to the side of the fridge by its magnet, the poor thing collected all manner of food splatter, and yet, up until a year or so ago, worked just swell.\n\nHere at Amazon I looked at all of the electronic thermometers and realized that I'd bought the best at the outset, so when I realized the probe was shot, I went to Maverick and ordered another----and cleaned the surface of the thermometer while I awaited the new probe. Well, the probe is here, and my thermometer is working like a champ!\n\nSo, Maverick, quit making unnecessary enemies! Be up front about the probe---all the manufacturers of similar devices have the same issue; distinguish yourself with candor. And offer the probe for sale here as well.\n\nAs to all the cranky reviewers who blamed Maverick for ruining your dinners: Get Real. If your dinner went to ruination, it was because you weren't paying attention. Cooking is not a spectator sport. It requires all of your senses at one point or another; you can not expect to put flesh or fiber to the fire and, at the appointed time, take out a dish worthy of a foodie cooking site. Devices like this are a tool to help you, not an auto-pilot to let you indulge your distractions. If your food went to smoke and cinders it's you, not the failed probe.","Product: This high-quality charcal is easy to start and maintain. Use with white ash in a bowl or cup-shaped burners with a 3-leg design. The traditional 3 legs prevents the burner from over heating. Be certain to extinguish the charcoal after use.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: No English Language Instructions. Not impressed.\n\nReview: The simple act of providing English language instructions would probably go far to eliminate what few negative ratings and comments this product has attracted. As yet another consumer coming to this brand of incense charcoal from the self lighting variety, I also find it difficult to light, and keep burning. Is a dish specific to this type of charcoal essential? Is it not meant for resin incenses (although, since I can't get any more than the edges lit, my concern at this point is lighting the incense, not what burns on it)? I've held it with tongs over a gas flame, far longer than 30 seconds but only the edges will show any effect of the flame. Once in the incense vessel, on sand, it seems to go out if I close the lid, something the other (self lighting) incense did not. In any event, I end up with more partially melted resin over partially burnt charcoal than anything else. Any tips on usage would be quite helpful.","Product: The 9-quart mason cash mixing bowl offers a classic english aesthetic. Create a sense of pure tradition in the kitchen. Truly functional, true quality mason cash, head and shoulders above the competition. Earthenware bowl measures 14-inch by 6-1/2-inch, perfectly sized for large tasks like bread, cookie dough, and pancake batter. This bowl is designed to remain static during manual mixing and the pattern around the outside not only ensures a tight grip but also creates its distinguishable look and timeless elegance. The shape allows you to hold the bowl in one arm easily while the other can be used for beating the mixture, whereas the wide shallow shape is just right for kneading dough. Finally the white interior makes it easy for the cook to see the color and consistency of the mixture ensuring the perfect result. The english design of the mason cash mixing bowl has endured the test of time and has become something of a design classic, having the perfect ergonomic and functional design. In fact, the design has barely altered for over a hundred years, which is why the brand is still renowned for its classic kitchenware, especially the traditional mixing bowls and white pudding basins. It is no wonder that mason cash is, and has always been the choice of the discerning cook.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Sometimes Bowls Just Don't Fit The Decor, But Have To Stay\n\nReview: (I rarely give All-Stars so that when I find a product or service warranting an All-Star review, I have that extra option. This bowl is an ALLSTAR/5Star bowl).\n\nI hate beige. I really do. But when I buy bowls for couples starting out, friends getting their first apartment, whatever, I buy a Mason Cash.\nThat's why I got over beige, at least with Mason Cash.\nWhen I bought my first Mason Cash years ago, I bought a companion bowl, also of vintage design, with a blue exterior, and thick rim and a white interior. It chipped so long ago, I forget what happened. I have very small kitchen and a useless sink. People were not intended to cook in my kitchen. The thing is, I've banged this bowl, I've knocked it about, I've dropped it at least twice, and it's as pristine as could be. There is no chip, no crack, no dull spot anywhere.\n\nJust as important as durability: It's easy to use. It's thin enough that you can grab it and hold it as you whip the tar out of the butter and sugar. It's a bowl designed for real cooks, by people who understand what real cooks need.\n\nYet, I still hate beige. Every time I look up at this bowl on the shelf I wish it was a bauer bowl, but when I need a bowl to do some serious business--when the KichenAid is in the shop--the bauer bowls stay on the shelf and I go for my Mason Cash.\n\nYeah, your metal or glass bowls are doing the job, but honestly, why have a bowl you put up with when you can have a bowl you love?","Product: Suction cup built-in on the bottom of the grinder for stress free grinding. Adjustable grind size. Acrylic - Ceramic Burr Grinder.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Excellent Product That Takes Way Too Much Effort To Be Practical\n\nReview: Are you one of those twenty-somethings who rides a fixie bike and types on a vintage, manual typewriter? Perhaps your're one of those off-the-grid types? If so, you will LOVE this product. For me, I'll be buying an electric burr grinder to replace my Krups blade version. Like riding a single gear bike up a hill, or typing \"clickety clack--oops, crap! Where's the white out?\", this product will get the job done, and done well, if you have the time for it, and are willing to invest the effort.\n\nI Am Not.\n\nI bought a manual grinder so I could grind coffee fresh, just before I go to work, early in the morning---without making noise to upset my neighbors. This one got the best overall reviews online, and I do not dispute those reviews, most of which also note that it does take some time, and effort, to grind enough beans for a 4 cup French Press. Almost 5 minutes. It does grind the beans well, and consistently---unlike my blade grinder which either grinds the beans too fine, or into very irregular pieces---producing a lot of sediment and making it almost impossible to plunge the coffee.\n\nSetting the grind was also noted in various reviews as being counter-intuitive. Yes it is, as the directions provided have an Ikea sort of denseness about them which DO NOT tell the english speaking user which grind the grinder is set to at the factory. But, take a look at the picture: Make sure your handle is facing the same direction as the one in the picture and suddenly the directions make sense. I found I had to adjust it a bit to get a coarse grind of the right order, but after that all is well.\n\nStill, after spending this much money for a manual grinder I now have to go out and buy an electric one. Be forewarned.","Product: Polder has been offering everyday products with extraordinary design since its launch. The company was established in 1976, delivering better quality European-styled housewares to the U.S. market. Polder found early in success in ironing and storage and also launched the industry's first line of digital in-oven thermometers, equipped with a long cord so consumers could digitally monitor food without removing it from the oven. Through the years, Polder has built an eclectic collection of core home categories, including kitchen timers and thermometers, laundry and ironing products, kitchen scales and a variety of other storage solutions. Polder products are tested and certified for their consistent high quality by independent standards labs.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Large, Attractive, Stable Dish Rack With Serious Design Flaws Leading To Frustration And High Maintenance.\n\nReview: It's only been 11 months since I bought this? My how fast I've come to loathe it---nearly as much as I loathe the iPad I'm re-writing the review on. What started out as a good fit has proved to be a very badly designed product. Not only does the utensil box fall over so regularly as to seem to be designed to dump the utensils as a way of drying them' the ribs along the bottom of the rack---as well as the plate coil in the drainage channel---all conspire to constrict water flow such that unless you plan on washing your dishrack at least once a week it will eventually look very bad, and when it comes to water in the kitchen, that means unhygenic.\n\nEcch.\n\nIt's pretty, when it's clean and dry and empty. But that's not the way dishracks are meant to be. In less than a year this product has not only proved to be supremely irritating, but more labor intensive than I would prefer. In short, I'm in the market for another dish rack.","Product: Weck 742 - 1/2 L Mold Jar Includes: 6 Jars, 6 glass lids, 6 rings & 12 clamps. Height: 4 1/8\" Opening: 3 7/8\" Volume: 19.6 fl oz. Dishwasher and microwave safe.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Only For The Well Organized And Strictly Disciplined. Parts Go Missing. Rubber Stretches...\n\nReview: Jar + Lid + 2 Clasps + Thin/Narrow Rubber Seal. Five parts, one stretches very easily... Are you the Organized Person? Everything has its place and everything is always put in its place, and nothing ever goes astray? You may well love these beautiful jars. I am not, I try---I keep organizing, I keep rearranging, I keep buying things to put other things in (and remember where I put them) and I'm getting better at putting things away when I'm done with them---where they belong, not just out of sight.\n\nStill...\n\nFive parts. The clasps seem to go wandering off first. Then I find it, but don't move quickly enough to put it with the jar, and then it either goes missing again, or I put it somewhere I'll remember it when I finally go after the jar (but I don't)...\n\nThe thin/narrow rubber seal is another issue. If they stick to the jar and you pull them off you will stretch them, meaning that, they don't pull back into shape---so the next time you try to use the jar (provided you still have both clasps) the seal sags, you try to put it in place but it never quite seems to work...\n\nSo, while they are most beautiful jars, I don't like and won't recommend them.","Product: Extremely wide range from Turkish fine to coarse for all kinds of coffee preparation. Clearly marked fineness settings, 4 each for extra fine, fine, regular and coarse. A total of 16 settings. Commercial grade solid conical steel burrs with advanced cutting design for high precision grinding. Gear reduction motor grinds slow with reduced noise and little static build-up. Slowest grinding speed in its class creates less friction and heat build up preserving maximum aroma and flavor in any grind setting. Safety lock system. Upper conical burr removable for easy cleaning. Tight fitting ground coffee container (holds up to 4 oz. of ground coffee) See through bean container holds up to 8.8 oz. of beans Timer can be set to grind from 5 to 60 seconds. Pulse grinding possible (see under How Things Work). Elegant, timeless and user friendly design. Cleaning brush and measuring scoop included. Heavy duty zinc die-cast housing. stainless steel finish (#565.05) Weight: 6.1 lbs Weight: 3.3 lbs\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Four Star Grinder. Two Star Clean Up. Needs Re-Thinking.\n\nReview: A few months with this and while I'm still happy with the grinding aspect, the cleaning of the machine is a proper chore and shows a real lack of consideration in planning and design. The machine is easy and fairly quiet to use. The quality of the coffee ground in this machine, and brewed in our French Press, is demonstrably better than that ground with a blade.\n\nHowever...\n\nThe more I use the machine---I clean it every week---the coffee bin seems to collect more coffee (the static other reviewers have mentioned) and it won't always knock out---although it naturally flutters where grounds are not wanted. Of the two parts of the blade though, only the upper blade is removable, the lower blade is attached to the machine, and it is this chamber that is the source of my frustration with this machine. Obviously one can not immerse an electrical appliance in water to clean it, which would solve a lot of problems.\n\nThe blade sits in a cylindrical chamber, a cup if you will, rife with hard angles, and gaps. Lots and lots of spaces for grinds to easily fall into, yet difficult from which to remove them. An amazing amount of grinds remain in the base of this area, and especially in the chute between it and the bin below. If you happen to have a small air compressor, or a vacuum with micro-attachments and don't mind hauling it out every week to clean this thing, you won't have a problem. I bought a can of compressed air, but that is hardly a workable solution. This thing has to be cleaned regularly to keep coffee grounds from caking up and ruining its effectiveness, yet cleaning this product is far more involved than it should be, and for that I would suggest you consider other options when shopping for burr grinders.\n\nI still like this machine, but keeping it clean is too difficult for the price.","Product: Works on any TV with HDMI connection. Now, watch all your favorite DVD\"s in region 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 PAL/NTSC + BD 2D & 3D ZONE A/B/C with full HD 1080p. Multi Zone Blu Ray & Region Free DVD High definition will blow you away. Enjoy all your favorite Blu-ray Disc movies in Full HD 1080p resolution, or upscale your DVDs to near HD quality. You can even play your CDs for a complete entertainment experience. Easily display your videos and photos on your TV or listen to your digital music by simply connecting your USB storage device to the Blu-ray player\"s front USB slot. he Sony BDP-S5100 3D Blu-ray Disc Player with Super Wi-Fi features a completely encased optical drive for enhanced dust resistance. It supports 2D and 3D Full HD 1080p resolution, 2D to 3D conversion and DVD up scaling to near HD quality. The BDP-S5100 provides network connectivity via Sony Super Wi-Fi or Ethernet, so you can access the Sony Entertainment Network and the 100+ apps it offers. These include Netflix, Hulu Plus, YouTube and more. You can also use your mobile device as a second display or as a remote control for the player. All you need is the Sony TV Side View app. The Blu ray also features a front panel USB port, which you can use to display your videos and photos on your TV or listen to your digital music. For optimum sound quality, the player supports advanced audio formats like Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. You can even search for movie info using Grace note. Other connectivity options include HDMI and coaxial audio. Plus, the device is Energy Star 2.0 certified. Other features include a built-in web browser and access to social networking apps. Enjoy 3D Blu-ray Disc movies in Full HD 1080p and upscale DVDs to near HD quality. The 2D to 3D conversion feature allows your DVD and Blu-ray Disc movies to be automatically converted into 3D for playback on your 3D TV.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: It Works. It's Easy. It Doesn't Look Bad. Has Some Issues.\n\nReview: After the unfortunate, early (and not entirely natural) demise of the Panasonic BluRay player I'd bought with the TV, what I went looking for was a Universal/Multi-Region DVD player that would remember whether a dvd had been watched, so I wouldn't have to start at the beginning each time, and have to flip through all the previews; not to mention the anti-piracy warnings that can't be flipped through. What I got was a machine that does all sorts of things I don't think I have any use for, at the moment; yet does only one of the two things I wanted; and has the same bug that led to the unfortunate, early (and not entirely natural) demise of the Panasonic.\n\nThe BUG: Buttons that don't operate in real time. PUSH ONCE, WAIT. If the machine doesn't respond, pushing again will only jam its circuits and the little idiot box will simply freeze, requiring you to fish out the plug and pull it.\n\nIt seems that to get a machine that will remember whether a dvd has been previously viewed, and let you resume where you left off (instead of starting each one at the Very Beginning) will cost you a lot of money, this is not that machine. It DOES play dvd's from various regions, as advertised, and so far does it seamlessly. The only thing I had to do (and only once, so far) was to find out where to go to turn on subtitles. BUT...\n\nBut... Not all DVD's play well. Sometime's its the fault of the DVD. But what to do about other dvd's that don't display the proper ratio on screen? Do I go to the TV or is it the DVD player? Most films play without a hitch, yet when one you want to watch doesn't, and the solution isn't readily apparent, that film becomes an issue.\n\nDesign wise, a lot of people seem impressed by the \"diamond\" look. I guess they live in very bright rooms, with very little stuff on the shelves, and find such things interesting. I like good design, and to that end, I would like a DVD player that is no more than one half inch in thickness, and perhaps no larger than a tablet. Those seem to cost in the thousands, so I'd be perfectly happy with a DVD player that has real time buttons; a slight degree of memory, and that plays all DVDs properly, no muss, no fuss, no bother. This isn't that DVD player.","Product: Not your ordinary small speaker system, the nx-b55 employs a unique cabinet shape and front-ported design that delivers exceptional frequency response with clear sound fields. A perfect companion for your PC or Mac, these powered speakers also work great with iPad, iPhone and Android devices.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Basic Sound And A Bit Dull At That. Reviewing Speakers Where You Can Hear Them Is A Better Idea.\n\nReview: Buying speakers for the new computer made me wish it had come with them----after all that review-reading, 3 star reviews especially (where you tend to learn more than in the five and one star reviews) I remain disappointed.\n\nWhat was I expecting, for $100? That's a good question. Look at the size, look at the price, and ask yourself the same. Yes they're better than some speakers (especially those that cost less) and not as good as others (especially some that cost more). Are you going to listen to music on them--- and you can't stream it to better ones you already have?\n\nI find them useful for listening to podcasts (spoken word) but they're rather dull with music. They work, but at the level at which they do work, for what I need, I should have spent less.\n\nWhile I wouldn't demean them, I can't call them great speakers, or even very good ones if the quality of sound is important.","Product: Microsoft 7N9-00001 Designer Bluetooth Desktop\n\nRating: 1.0\n\nSummary: UPDATED: Terrible Design. Difficult To Place Hands Without Looking. Too Small? Will Not Keep/Must Replace.\n\nReview: Looks great. Works great. Feels great to type on, and I know how to type.\n\nInfuriating.\n\nUPDATE 4/12/2017: I LOATHE this keyboard. As mentioned below, it is next to impossible for me to set my hands on the proper keys without looking at the keyboard---I have never had this problem (at least not in the decades since my typing class) with any other keyboard. I will be buying another keyboard and disposing of this one---I do not recommend it for anything other than to look at. I should have been able to figure out how to work around it---moving it this way or that---but nothing seems to work. Is it too small, as others have suggested?\n\nThere are two raised bars at the bottoms of the F and J key---but trying to set my hands there on this keyboard is nigh impossible without looking. I've tried moving the keyboard to the right (being right handed, and its a very long keyboard, what with the number pad at the right end) to no avail. Time and time again I keep typing the wrong letters---this isn't my first keyboard, although it is my first non-apple keyboard in five years. I've never had this problem before, and been so unable to figure out what is wrong.\n\nMaybe I'll work it out, or get used to it, or be trained by using it; I don't know. But for the moment I wish I'd bought something else. Keyboards have not been difficult affairs for me in decades. This one? Not pleased.\n\nAs far as the installation goes... I had to call a neighbor in order to borrow a plug-in mouse as bluetooth can't install on its own. It would be like having to borrow someone's wind-up Victrola in order to start your brand new CD player, back when people bought such things. Seems kinda stupid to me.","Product: Breathtaking sound never looked so good with these wireless Bluetooth headphones with digital noise cancelling that combine High-Resolution sound compatibility, striking design and long-listening comfort. Easy, one-touch connectivity. No distracting background noise. No annoying cables. Just the pure, authentic sound. Get ready to lose yourself in the music.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: If This Is Good Sound, I'd Hate To Hear What Bad Sound Is.\n\nReview: I read reviews, looked for the ones with the best sound ratings---I had a set of Bose noise cancelling---they broke just after the warranty expired (and they didn't sound all that great, either) and I still have a set of mediocre $300. headphones. If you listen to pop music and disco, this may work for you, but if you stream classical music, or listen to good CDs made from fantastic old HI Fi LPs, these, well, call me juvenile: They suck. Muffled, confused. Dim.\n\nI didn't pay anywhere near this much money for headphones back in the day (forty years ago) and got much better sound (with much better ears).\n\nIs it me? How do you buy headphones to listen to good recordings of music that is not made within a narrow range of highs and lows that defines popular music? I don't like these at all. No better than the Bose---at least there are no cords to break the socket!","Product: Whether youre rockin' out to \"Ice, Ice Baby\" or feelin' \"Hot, Hot, Hot\", the 20oz Kanteen Wide Insulated will keep the temperature just right. Since it's our largest Insulated bottle, it can also hang with you for the long haul. Whatever food or drink youre packing, whether you poured it in hot or cold, the 20oz Kanteen Wide Insulated has double-walled, vacuum insulation to keep it that way: up to six hours for hot stuff, and more than 24 for iced drinks. Because the bottle is made from high quality, 18/8, food-grade stainless steel and has a 100% stainless interior, it wont retain or impart flavors no matter what you put in it. Thats a good thing. Because the tastes of split pea soup, chai tea, and blueberry/banana smoothie simply should not be mixed. With an all-stainless interior and no liner, you wont have any lingering flavors either. Because the last thing you need is junior coming home from school complaining that his smoothie tasted like your coffee from the day before. The leakproof Stainless Loop Cap creates an all-stainless interior in the bottle and gives you peace of mind if you want to toss it in a bag or lunch box. You can drink straight from the bottle, which has a cup-like feel and comfortable narrow rim, or the sleek Caf Cap to convert the bottle into a to-go mug.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Watertight! Keeps Hot Hot/Cool Cool. BUT!!! One Lid Should Allow Drinking Without Compromising Watertight Seal.\n\nReview: This product comes with two lids, here; my partner and I bought two different sizes of the same container each with a different lid (elsewhere). The Cafe, or Coffee, Lid cost this container a star, as the container is not good for drinking hot beverages without it----the rim becomes too hot, and it's sloppy, coffee drips everywhere. With the cafe/coffee lid the drinking is improved, but unless you can be certain you'll be transporting the beverage upright, good luck on avoiding spills: The cafe/coffee lid leaks--tilt it and it drips, it is not a tight seal in any sense, it's barely a seal.\n\nSad too.\n\nBecause with the loop-top lid, which I'll call the loop lid, this is a five star beverage transport container. For weeks I've been filling it with cool tap water and drinking it as the day progresses and it never once leaked, in any position. More impressively (along with the watertight feature) is that the cool water stayed cool even when the outside of the container (sitting on the dash all day) had gotten quite warm to the touch! Thus, on a whim one night (at 6:30) I filled the container with boiling water. Four hours later it was still very warm---pretty good for coffee if you'd forgotten about it, or didn't want to drink it right away. The next morning (12 hours later) the boiling water had become luke warm---but that's still warm and not cool. One doesn't really want cool coffee, but after twelve hours, who expects hot coffee in a container like this?\n\nSo, I'm very much sold on this container---provided it comes up with a better combination lid (who wants two separate lids?)---one that transports without leaking (as the loop lid already does) AND which allows one to drink without burning one's lips, or spilling the beverage all over the place as happens when you drink straight from the container without any lid... Or try to transport it with the Cafe/Coffee---Drinking lid. One lid should provide for both functions: Watertight transport---no leaks AND ease and comfort of drinking without spills/dripping. Who screwed this up by requiring two lids?","Product: Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical about a love triangle in the midst of the Oklahoma land rush is adapted to the screen featuring the enduring songs "People Will Say We're in Love," "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin," "Oklahoma!" and more. Shirley Jones' debut, this panoramic film was actually shot in Arizona! Academy Award Nominations: 4. Academy Awards: Best Sound Recording and Best Scoring of a Musical Picture.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Quality of HD Version An Oxymoron; The Movie IS Great.\n\nReview: As others have noted, in very technical terms, the quality of the remastered HD version is miserable. But, this is a two disc set, so if you didn't pay through the nose for it, skip that disc and watch the other, normal one---even on a big screen it's pretty good.\n\nPeople dump on the movie, so one can only imagine what the play must have been like as the movie is, by todays standards, astounding.\n\nWe live in an age where adults long to be children. You go into a theater to see a pre-war or mid-century movie and for ninety minutes you're among sophisticated adults, having adult affairs, going to adult night clubs, dressing like grown ups. Then the lights come up, you leave the theater, the zippy music still bouncing about your head and the audience is all in their hoodies and sneakers like kids. The quality of our entertainment has been dumbed down accordingly.\n\n\"Oklahoma\" was made when people dressed up to go to the Theater; long before people wore flip flops to the White House or a three star restaurant. It's a love story complicated by violent jealousy. It's a musical where every song is hummable, and often, like an opera, moves the plot along. And, right in the middle, there's a fantasy dance number, a ballet, exploring the dark side of the story. Musicals for adults, intelligent entertainment for people who didn't consider their brains to be surplus equipment.\n\n\"Oklahoma\" is beautifully filmed, set to a wonderful score and makes for a great couple of hours in front of the TV. I'm not so thrilled with \"South Pacific\" but it's interesting to watch them close enough to see the similarities in the songs---how they almost pair off one to one.\n\nNo, the expensive anniversary two disc collection is not worth the money---the HD is dark and grainy. Get a respected copy of the original and wait until the studio stops making excuses and delivers an HD version that is as good as the film itself.","Product: Comedy\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: A Merchant Ivory Mis-fire; Stories Don't Gel. Best Seen As A Period Piece\n\nReview: As I understand it, \"Slaves Of New York\" is based on a series of short stories, with Bernadette Peter's character having the task of sewing it all together. It's no small coincidence that her character can't sew well. The basic premise of the film is that he who has the lease owns the people who come to live with him. It sounds like a line out of \"Dune\" but soon reveals itself to be a way the characters rationalize their weak behavior; they can't afford a place on their own, so in one way or another they prostitute themselves to someone who has a place, be it as a friend or lover, or..., and having to put up with that person's bad behavior and maltreatment of them, they refer to themselves as slaves. Not quite the same thing, but let's keep moving.\n\nWhile this may very well be based on short stories, it comes across more as an idea hatched over dinner, where Mess'rs Merchant and Ivory and friends all recounted their experiences in New York, in the 80's and someone said \"That would make a great movie!\" which might be true, but not by Merchant Ivory. It's something of a relationship movie, running beneath a collection of period images; images that for no good reason show up on multiple screens (long before the computer made that common place) and occasionally as an overlap. The movie wants to look artsy, but it isn't.\n\nOne of the main problems is the choice of Bernadette Peters as the lead character, a young hat designer who's sharing the flat of a selfish, domineering, and manipulative male artist of some local note. Ms. Peters is a one note actress, whose performance hovers between stressed and melt down; suggesting a character in an Woody Allen movie, except that she can't even convincingly evoke a neuroses well enough for that. When she achieves her first flash of success, and gets her own place, her \"boyfriend\", comes back to \"let her make up with him\" for their break up, and in a scene that lasts only a couple of minutes, the best she can manage is \"You're a Jerk!\". We knew that, but that's all you can say?\n\nMerchant Ivory was a film company that not only produced a number of classic films, but became a title for a genre of films; the lush productions of costume dramas set mostly in Britain or the US a century or so ago. To that end, while this was filmed as a contemporary piece, enough time has passed to see it as a period film, and the costumes, especially those worn by Ms. Peters, evoke a truncated, punkish interpretation of the Edwardian costumes in their bigger films. Also of anthropological interest is the hair. Oh my! \"Big Hair\" doesn't quite do it justice, this 1980's penchant of the indigenous tribeswomen of the NYC/NJ area for overwrought, massive hair-do's. \"White woman's 'fro\" would be one suggestion, but the construction of these monuments to bad taste are far more contrived than organic. Not since the Sun Kings partied at Versailles has women's hair looked this ridiculous. The hair in this film makes even the period 'dos of \"Moonstruck\" look conservative.\n\nI read that this has become a cult film in the Gay Community, for the scene of the drag queens playing the Supremes, which I must admit is a rather memorable scene, especially as it interplays with a messy argument between Ms. Peter's character and her \"boyfriend\".\n\nStill, unless you came of age in the '80s, and can't leave it behind, or have an inexplicable attraction for the period, the way I did, back then, for the '30s and '40s, I can't see wasting the time on this unfortunate film.\n\nIf, on the other hand, you've recently watched \"Take This Waltz\" and \"Tiny Furniture\", two films of adult children struggling in the Real World, this might be a worthy piece to add to your study. It is interesting to note how childish, \"Childishness\" has become since the 1980's!","Product: An engrossing drama of a luxury ship that goes down at sea, and the inner turmoil that the crew and passengers face. Academy Award Nominations: Best Special Effects.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Silly Movie, Great Liner Interiors For Ship Fans\n\nReview: Oh dear, what have we here? Apparently, after \"Titanic\" came out in 1953, and \"A Night To Remember\" (about the Titanic) came out in 1958, someone felt that one more ship disaster could still make some money so \"The Last Voyage\" was made. Quit while you're ahead is the operative phrase, here. While the two Titanic films were not great disaster films, or even all that accurate as Titanic movies, they were somewhat watchable, although they lacked the big budget drama of later efforts like \"The Posiedon Adventure\" or \"Airport\"---which is a good movie even without the idea of Nebraska having the only airport for a Rome bound plane to return to after having a bomb go off. \"The Last Voyage\" is not one of those films...\n\nGeorge Sanders plays the Captain, who is overly reluctant to acknowledge that his ship is indeed sinking. He also narrates the film, after a fashion (sort of popping up, quietly, in odd moments), and you may well remember his altogether better effort to that end in (the altogether better film) \"All About Eve\". The ship in question is the 38 year old tub, the Clarendon, which is not only old, but hasn't even been retired to the Siberia of all TransAt floating palaces that escaped the breakers, Greece; no, she's been sent to the Wrong Ocean, and is in Japan service. But, while she's supposed to have a few more cruises in her, in this one she blows a gasket, then she blows a hole, then things start blowing up and catching fire and she sinks! Oh my gosh!\n\nThe thing is, none of it is special effects----the ship is the very real Ile de France, herself on the way to the breakers as a Very Old Ship. Originally, she was one of the very first liners to be decorated in a modern fashion, and as a ship, rather than fitted out with rooms copied from castles and hotels on the Continent. While never one of the TransAt giants---a wee bit shorter than the Titanic---she was always a giant with her passengers, popular right up until the end was wrung by jetliners.\n\nTo that end, I imagine that the greatest attraction this film has is as a record of the Ile de France for ocean liner aficionados. The story is utterly ridiculous, to the extent there is one---aside from the crew trying to keep the ship from blowing up any further, or sinking; and from the officers trying to get the Captain to admit the ship IS sinking, and get the passengers to the boat deck, nothing really happens, aside from an idiotic plot built around Dorothy Malone getting stuck beneath a girder that has collapsed onto her, when a hole was blown through several decks. We almost saw one of the most irritating child stars dropped six floors, but after an improbable amount of film time wasted saving her, she spends most of the rest of her time in the film crying. She can be forgiven for that I suppose, as her real life, after growing up wasn't all that pleasant, given the hopeful Hollywood start. As plot devices go, I was reminded of \"the choppers\" scene in the \"Galaxy Quest\" sci-fi TV spoof. This sort of nonsense was written into so many films it almost seems a rite of passage to get to the end.\n\nAh well. If you could rent this film as you should, it would be worth watching just for the interiors. But Amazon and Netflix aren't streaming it, so you have to buy it, and that is even worse than the movie itself! This movie is not worth that kind of money! Amazon, Tear Down This Wall (if it worked for Reagan, why not?). Rent this movie, don't sell it!","Product: Frank Bigelow, told he's been poisoned and has only a few days to live, tries to find out who killed him and why.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Fun Noir Entry With Some Sketchy Acting In Parts. Nice Historical Record.\n\nReview: Like \"The Lineup\", this is both an entertaining noir feature (although not quite as good) and a decent historical record of its period, in both Los Angeles and San Francisco. I looked up \"luminous toxin\"---the movies' central plot device---and Wikipedia has a great description of it among \"Fictitious Movie Toxins\" that brings the very absurdity of the 1950's Cold War hysteria to life, I quote, in part \"...easily slipped into liquor, especially during wild, alcohol crazed nights in San Francisco \"jive\" clubs.\" Ah yes, Radiation! Alcohol! Mixed Race Debauchery! Loud Music! Like I've said, no one can accuse our fellow Americans of thinking too much.\n\nO'Brien's character suddenly decides to go to San Francisco, from his desert home of Banning, for a vacation; by himself, without inviting his long suffering secretary/girl friend, or his apparent mistress of the moment. His arrival at the St Francis hotel cooincides with the end of Market Week, where buyers and sellers are all in high revelry in the lobby and halls. It's here where the movie has an inexplicable tendency to cat call---not a character, it's just the movie---a slide whistle sound every time a pretty girl walks by. Kind of like some of Perez Prado's mambo's. Fortunately, it abates by the time the story gets moving, which is when he wakes up the next morning feeling ill, and then goes to the doctor who tells him he's been poisoned... and there's no antidote.\n\nLet's just say that big chunks of the movie are not well acted. O'Brien's blonde sweetheart practically turns herself into a tail wagging pug dog in front of him, and the camera, at one point. Lots of the acting is melodramatic in the extreme, prompting The Partner to inquire at one moment \"Is this a novella?\"\n\nBut...\n\nThere are great scenes across San Francisco and downtown Los Angeles, along Wilshire, and in Hollywood, with the characters either driving in great old cars, or riding vintage transit, or with the latter slipping past in the background. I've seen much worse when it comes to acting (try watching some low budget gay films), and I would imagine that, should you find yourself in San Francisco, when this is playing at the Castro Theater, you could have a very entertaining evening watching it there, with the voluble audience participation the theater attracts for films like this, that would make this movie a scream!","Product: Inspired casting and Walter Lang's deft direction breathe abundant life into WEEK-END IN HAVANA, in which a woman's trip to Cuba leads to romance, laughter, and sizzling songs. Nan Spencer (Alice Faye) has saved up for years for her vacation to Havana and is sorely disappointed when the cruise ship runs aground near Florida. While the other guests accept vouchers for another trip, Nan refuses because this was her only opportunity to get away. When she intimates that the failure with the ship was the captain's fault, the cruise company's vice president, Jay Williams (John Payne), personally accompanies Nan to Havana to avoid any more serious legal repercussions. Entrusted with ensuring that Nan will have a good time, Jay pays handsome ne'er-do-well Monte Blanca (Cesar Romero) to romance her. Meanwhile, Jay is forced to relieve Blanca of his own girlfriend singer, Rosita Rivas (Carmen Miranda), who decides Jay is a fine substitute for her romantic attentions. This wacky love quadrangle provides WEEK-END IN HAVANA with plenty of material for several boisterous song-and-dance routines. \"Week-end in Havana,\" \"The Man with the Lollypop Song,\" and \"Tropical Magic\" are among the catchy numbers featured in this spicy musical fiesta.\nProduct Details\nNumber of Tapes: 1\nRating: Not Rated\nFilm Country: USA\nUPC: 086162859335\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: First Rate Factory Musical! Fantastic Music! Carmen Miranda!\n\nReview: Sequels? Prequels? In the old days, Hollywood just changed a few actors, re-wrote a few lines, changed the setting and added a few new dance numbers and Voila! New Film! This is factory film at its best! Most of the crew from \"Song Of The Islands\" is here, but Grable has been ditched for Alice Faye (Yahoo!) and Hilo Hattie for Carmen Miranda (Yahoo!)(and I love Hilo Hattie). Instead of two yachtsmen drifting ashore in Hawaii, Faye's cruise ship runs aground off Cuba. She saw the Captain where he shouldn't have been, and won't give in, so John Payne, agent for the shipping company (and soon to wed the boss's daughter) flies her to Havana, and escorts her the best he can. Carmen Miranda shows up and wiggles and jiggles her way in and amongst the english language and big hats; and way too quick, you're at the big musical finale, which these films did so well. One point here, look towards the lower center right screen for the male dancer who gets hopelessly lost. All of his embarrassment shows up on VHS, only part of it on DVD. Once again, this ain't high cinematic art, but man o man, it's a highly watchable film, with great music and likeable characters. This is the stuff that made Hollywood famous.","Product: Noel Coward's popular stage comedy BLITHE SPIRIT\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Fairly Typical Screwball Comedy, Beautifully Filmed and Restored\n\nReview: A few folks are either reviewing the wrong product, or old reviews are being forwarded to this product: What I watched, with the green image of Elvira, with her red painted lips and mouth on the cover, is a magnificent restoration of the original film---with images so full of depth and clarity that it at one point works against one of the actresses...\n\nCriterion Collection is known for the quality of its DVD's and the restored prints they specialize in, and this film is no exception. The jewel like quality of the house bar---and the cocktails in glasses (although I've never seen an amber martini made from gin...) are gorgeous; the room is in high relief---down to the pattern on the drapes, although other, less interesting rooms show more detail than architectural inspiration, and then there's the otherwise beautiful Constance Cummings (who plays Charles Condomine's---Rex Harrison-- living wife) who is shown in such high relief that it's quite clear she's had her face coated with studio foundation make up, in all it's opaque glory. It's a minor distraction. The film is so beautifully restored that just watching it is a pleasure.\n\nThe story... Well, it's not my favorite, and I like the screwball genre, but it made me want to see the play, with Angela Lansbury, which was not the reaction I had when I tried to watch the old faded version, which I never finished. It's full of clever dialogue, which is what we expect from Noel Coward. He wasn't thrilled with this version of his play, but he refused to let US studios make the film of it as what they had done to his work appalled him. This print includes Harrison's line about his sex life that was cut from the original US release. \"Blythe Spirit\" tells the story of a sophisticated set of couples who host a seance in order that Mr. Condomine can get information on Mediums that he can use for a novel he's planning. Margaret Rutherford, who plays the medium, knows nothing of this, and it's not clear whether she's a hoax or just a second rate version of the form, but Ms. Rutherford brings a scattershot manic energy to the role that is as entertaining as it is occasionally distracting. As things will, the seance gets a bit out of control and Condomine's late first wife shows up, and she's still so attracted to him that she decides to kill him, so he can be with her forever. Sadly, for her, the plan goes awry and she ends up killing the current wife, who is none too happy to find herself dead, and with the late wife, in the same house, at that!\n\nAny more would be a spoiler.\n\nThe story and its telling is most certainly dated. Then again, its technicolor production is so brilliantly restored that it adds an immediacy to the past that eclipses so much of what most of us would consider to be what so badly dates the film in the first place. It's unfortunate that they decided to make Kay Hammond's dead Elvira a sort of onyx green, dressed in the same color gown, with fire engine red lips and fingernails, rather than simply double exposing her for transparency, but they did, and after a while one gets over it. It's worth watching, but I would imagine you'd want to be in the mood for it.","Product: Video tape in display box.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Gorgeous Ava Gardener Isn't Enough To Hold This Slow Period Piece Together\n\nReview: I watched this on Amazon Instant Video, which is the way I watch most of my Amazon content; the quality for this movie, on an HD flat screen, wasn't even up to basic analog TV standards. Blurry.\n\nIf you like \"Sunset Boulevard\" you could see this as sort of a knock-off of that classic, with the bullet going from a different character, into the star. And the voice-over narration is handed off between the various (male) characters involved in the unravelling of the Star. Unfortunately, \"Sunset Boulevard\" works a lot better than \"The Barefoot Contessa\", And Ava Gardner gets way too much abuse!\n\nLike many of it's contemporaries, it's a long and slow moving film, but, unfortunately, it also fails to add up to anything compelling. I'm a fan of \"Night Of The Iguana\" and every time I see it, I want more of Ms. Gardner. I've yet to see anything where she has the impact she does in that film, and this is no exception.\n\nIt's filmed in various locations, here and overseas, but the setting isn't as important to the film as it is in \"Summertime\" or \"Vertigo\", and if you want to see Ike's Americans, in full period color, I'd recommend one of those two films.\n\nIf you're stuck in yet another blizzard somewhere in Minnesota, or the hurricane evacuations are fast and furious and you've run out of things to watch, this might burn up some of the empty space that Facebook isn't using up, but I don't think I'll be coming back to this overwrought piece of dry toast any time soon.","Product: Children's author Mary Norton's storybook creations, the four-inch-tall family of \"borrowers\" who live among humans and co-opt their possessions, get a first-rate big-screen translation. When a crooked lawyer (a gleefully over-the-top John Goodman) takes over the Lender family's house, he's got to reckon with the \"borrowers\" therein, who launch a campaign to oust the invader and restore the home to its rightful tenants.\n\n\nProduct Details Display Format Closed Captioned\nNumber of Tapes: 1\nRating: PG (MPAA)\nFilm Country: United Kingdom\nUPC: 044005512533\nRelease Date: 08/18/1998 Director: Peter Hewitt \nRating: PG \nLeading Role: John Goodman, Jim Broadbent\n\nRating: 1.0\n\nSummary: Big Studio Borrowed An Idea, Then Lost It\n\nReview: If you've read the books, as I did (have you read them recently?) this film will disappoint you. It starts out all right, filmed in an amber glow, in a house full of mid-century appliances and kitch, and great sets of life on a miniature scale lived between the walls and out of sight. Then, just as you are settling in, Hollywood rips out the rug, throws out the book, and reverts to a standard action plot: Big bad guy steals the house and the good (little) people have to make it right! Hoo Ya!\n\nNot really.\n\nEven the heroic music, pounding its way through the action, driving the viewer forward lest he fall asleep or try to hold an independent thought, fails the film. In the end, almost all the movie is out in the big world, with tired old stunts and Hollywood acting as if more will make it better.\n\nIt doesn't.\n\nOf course, there are always the books. Read the books.","Product: [NON-U.S. FORMAT (PAL) Region 2 U.K. Import. This will not play on U.S./Canada DVD players or those from most other countries outside of Europe. You would need a \"multi-region\" or \"region-free\" PAL compatible DVD player or computer.] A deliciously dark, black comedy masterpiece from the director of TANGUY. When Auntie Danielle (Tsilla Chelton) moves in with her great nephew, after driving her own housekeeper to an early grave, he and his wife hope that she will be the grandmother the children never had. However, it doesn't take long for the manipulative and malicious old lady to make everyone's life a misery. But when the family go on holiday without her, leaving her in the care of bitter Sandrine (Isabelle Nanty), Auntie Danielle realises she's met her mischievous match! Nominated for three Cesar awards in France.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Dark Comedy, Well Done. Adaptation To DVD, Terrible.\n\nReview: I finally bought a universal DVD player. I'm not a whiz at these things, so I still don't know how to get things set up that aren't in the usual \"settings\" places. This film was re-formatted \"to fit your screen\", but I'm not sure what screen they had in mind---it's certainly not a modern flat screen. People are flat topped, and walk out of scenes while still in the same room. It's not quite as bad as \"Sunset Boulevard\" where everyone is stretched sideways and looks like they're on the Wicked Witch's TV screen, but it's not a good adaptation.\n\nThe movie, on the other hand, is as good as I remember it. Too bad we can't get a good modern US copy. Subtitles are white but well placed and readable. The French translation seems to be a bit better also---I remember the dog Gardez Vous being translated on VHS as \"Onyourmark\", here his name is more close to the original intent. Tatie Danielle is as nasty and as selfish as ever. Her Parisian nephew and family are perfect if baffled foils for her miserable behavior, until they go away on vacation and leave her with a woman every bit as selfish as she is.\n\nFor folks who like foreign films, and comedies, this one holds up well.","Product: The ups and downs of Florenz Ziegfeld Jr., famed producer of extravagant stage revues, are portrayed.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Entertaining Depression Era Musical; Incredible Music.\n\nReview: As 1930's musicals go, this one pulls out all the stops for sets, cast and music. On the other hand, it is still a 1930's Hollywood musical, best compared to the Busby Berkeley genre. The story is a bit more interesting, with the early career of Flo Ziegfeld being the excuse for a musical (it's not biographical in any sense), whereas the stories in many of the Berkeley films were merely a frame from which to hang the numbers. Like the big Berkeley musicals, the music is much more frenetic than the hottest popular music of the day, but the numbers here are best compared to wedding cakes and staircases, not the top-down, geometric patterns made from women's bodies; sets revolve, unwind, curtains spiral up, all as seen from a high balcony.\n\nAnother, more modern comparison would be the Barbra Streisand epics \"Funny Girl\" and \"Funny Lady\" (based in part on the Ziegfeld Follies) where the musical numbers are interludes that flesh out ideas in the story, as opposed to \"Oklahoma!\" (and operas) where the music moves the plot along. And that brings up an interesting point: If you've got an afternoon to kill, a blizzard or something, watching \"The Great Ziegfeld\" and \"Funny Girl\" back to back would provide an interesting contrast. Ziegfeld's most profitable years ended with WWI. This film was made some twenty years later, and the latter, another thirty years after that. They both deal with much of the same period, yet are aimed at audiences of very different eras, and tastes in music and clothes.\n\nThe DVD itself is of the \"Roadshow\" production, meaning the version intended for the initial release in select cities, with but one or two showings a night, with reserved seats and higher prices; as a result, it has a full Overture, and Intermission, and Entr'acte.\n\nWhat?\n\nIn effect, you get a static screen with the image of one of the words, and a selection of tunes from the show, as if you were at one, and not at a movie, and this is in addition to the opening and closing credits... If you wanted to make more popcorn, call Aunt Edith to tell her the house is buried in snow, or feed the cat, you could do that, within reason, to a great soundtrack, and not miss any of the show. Otherwise, you'd better have a working remote. I found the black and white to be sharp and clear, but not stunning. The sound was also very well mastered, but to no special praise. It's the quality you'd expect from a major studio release of a classic, if rather forgotten old film..\n\nI bought the DVD, since the last time I looked for it I couldn't find any version, anywhere; and certainly no streaming or downloadable versions to rent or buy. Now Amazon has all three---DVD, Stream to rent, or to buy. I'll probably watch it more than my Busby Berkeley DVDs, which means about once a year, if that. It's good, the music is Terrific!, but it's still a fairly typical 1930's film, and even with William Powell and Myrna Loy, it just isn't something I'd watch very often, although it's much better than I'd expected, in that regard.","Product: Quick Shipping !!! New And Sealed !!! This Disc WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. A multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player is request to view it in USA/Canada. Please Review Description.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: A Most Watchable Bollywood Extravaganza, With A Decent Cricket Match At The End.\n\nReview: (It would be helpful to prospective buyers if this video were available to rent---or stream; neither of which is possible for the moment on Amazon. But...)\n\nI'm a bit slow on the uptake. Apparently, Long is a characteristic of Bollywood films. I get it now. \"Lagaan\" moreover, is the fifth longest Bollywood film (for now) at 3 hours 45 minutes. Yet, it does manage to use its time fairly effectively and didn't seem to drag---and I ended up watching it twice over two days. It helps, of course, to have something other than a mere interest in being entertained when setting out to watch a four hour movie and for me it's Aamir Khan (a young Aamir Khan at that) who, being the influential and connected ham that he is, is in pretty much every scene.\n\nFine by me. He's very easy to look at.\n\nThe film details the wager imposed by an arrogant British lieutenant upon Bhuvan (who is not the leader of his tribe) whereupon if he (who has irritated the Lieutenant previously) can beat his team at cricket, he---the lieutenant---will wipe out the Lagaan (tax on grains) for three years. The drought stricken people could only pay half their lagaan last year and he'd only just imposed a double lagaan for the coming harvest, withering in the fields as it was.\n\nOf course, they first have to learn cricket and the sister of the lieutenant finds his wager unfair and decides to help them. As with any Bollywood film, there are several musical numbers, and many of them here---especially the one about Rhada and Krishna---are quite a sight to behold. There's also something of a duet between Bhuvan and Gauri---his native love---where Elizabeth, the lieutenant's sister (who's fallen in love with Bhuvan) joins in, from her rooms, in english, with a western melody, which adds a humorous touch.\n\nBut, what makes the movie is the cricket match, which is filmed so well that even people like me, who know nothing about cricket can (with a bit of googling) follow the action with some degree of interest. And this 3 day match that decides the fate of the village and the lieutenant is wonderfully done.\n\nAll in all, a very good use of four cinema hours!","Product: Nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Original Screenplay, this magical comedy earned overwhelming acclaim nationwide! A painfully shy waitress working at a tiny Paris cafe, Amlie makes a surprising discovery and sees her life drastically changed for the better! From then on, Amlie dedicates herself to helping others find happiness ... in the most delightfully unexpected way! But will she have the courage to do for herself what she has done for others?\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Warmly Funny, Odd and Entertaining Film\n\nReview: Amelie is one of those films that is never quite what I remember it to be. I think the story is going this way, and it goes another and I remember, \"oh, that's right\". Like many films these days, it's a film set in a real world location (Paris) but filmed in colors and styles of clothing that create a fantasy world within reality. Much of the film is about Amelie's search for a man whose childhood box of toys she finds hidden in a wall; with another line pursuing a man whose photos she finds near photo booths; Who is he? Why is he taking these pictures? And, it's a bit of a gawky romance between her oddball character and an equally geeky guy she's known for a while. It's not a film I would watch over and over, but I have seen it more than once and always enjoyed watching.\n\nAnd, if you find yourself in Paris, go to the subway stop in the movie, Abbesses. It's near Monmartre and Sacre Cour, and has (in a subway system that is itself almost defined by its staircases) one of the longest spiral staircases I've been on this side of the Statue of Liberty or Sacre Cour. One wonders where or if one will ever get out.","Product: Quick Shipping !!! New And Sealed !!! This Disc WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. A multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player is request to view it in USA/Canada. Please Review Description.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Stylish Romantic Comedy, Set In Paris.\n\nReview: As one would expect from anything associated with the Merchant Ivory team (or part of it), this film is beautiful to watch. It's not \"A Room With A View\" by a long shot, but it's a very polished entry in the Romantic Comedy genre. Kate Hudson plays the younger sister to Naomi Watts, an American married to a Frenchman, living in Paris. She arrives just as hubbie is departing, for good. Oddly enough, Kate looks best (that is to say, stylish and Parisian) when she arrives, as later in the film she adopts a sort of society dame helmet hair pageboy that makes her look ridiculous, as opposed to anything else.\n\nIn any case, what is billed as an observation of cultural differences is really more of a long-stare at Parisian style as Americans see it. The American family of the two sisters, who come over to offer support during the divorce process, is nice enough---very informal, not one to stand on tradition--at least not on purpose---and the brother, representing the Red States, is obsessed with the value of a family owned painting that the older sister took to Paris, and which has now become a source of enmity within the divorce, and the attention of major museums.\n\nWell of course, being French, the conservative in question is dirty old Uncle Thierry, an elegant womanizer who is tolerated by his wife and never exposed by the press. Oh the French, even their conservatives have fun! Sadly, he buys every one of his girls a red Grace Kelly bag from Hermes, and the dopey new American girl carries it everywhere, even when informed about its significance.\n\nOne of the movie's extended cameos is Glenn Close who plays a professor for whom Kate's character ends up working, and as it turns out, one of Uncle Thierry's former Kelly Bag recipients.\n\nOf course, there's still the question of Le Divorce, which sort of hangs over the film---not in any menacing way, it keeps things moving when the production team forgets what the movie is about. So, as it turns out, the french hubby has a mistress too (it runs in the family) but she also has a boy friend, or is she married too? I forget. Well, needless to say the boyfriend is an American, which means he's crazy and he's got a gun...\n\nIt might be Merchant Ivory, but no one said we were dealing with high culture here. At least this one has french people in it---unlike Woody Allen's film which featured Paris in three eras with practically no french people in any one of them.\n\nMost of the movie takes place indoors so you really don't see much of Paris, although there is a nice vignette expounding on french women and their scarves.\n\nIt's a romantic comedy. If you like the genre, you'll probably like this film. If you're coming from Merchant Ivory, you may not. Or maybe you will. It's entertaining. I've seen much worse.","Product: United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), English ( Subtitles ), ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN (1.85:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: 2-DVD Set, Interactive Menu, SYNOPSIS: A comedy based around a surgeon who develops a blood phobia and finds himself in a Cornish village where he becomes the local GP. His direct manner leads to many upsets in the village. Episodes 1 to 6. ...Doc Martin Series 1\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: A Good Entertaining Show, But Better To Rent Than Own\n\nReview: (I'm willing to bet all the 5star ratings this show gets are due to it's British Accent. Some people...)\n\n\"Doc Martin\" often gets compared (usually unfavorably) with \"Northern Exposure\", so let's start by saying it is NOT the British version of that show. It was inspired by the movie \"Saving Grace\" about a once wealthy widow who turns to growing pot, and which was also filmed in Port Issac, on the Cornish coast. However, it doesn't even pick up where that movie left off, either. \"Doc Martin\" is about a big city doctor with personality issues who takes up practice in a small town, it sounds like \"Northern Exposure\" but it lacks the ensemble cast format, so it always follows the Doc when the show would benefit by focusing every now and then on other characters and their relationships. It also fails to make anything more than a backdrop out of the gorgeous Cornwall coast, which is a shame. The producers seem to want to make it into the California coast and always shoot in sunshine, when clearly, this town is not a warm, sunny, Santa Barbara type of town. I would have enjoyed more good old English weather, rain and all that.\n\nStill, once you sit on your \"Northern Exposure\" expectations and smother them, this show entertains. The doc never fails to leave you exasperated with his sheer rudeness, while at the same time you cheer when he tells some dolt to \"Shut up!\" or \"Get OUT!\". I watched the series disc by disc, season one through four, and enjoyed all of it, and I look forward to season 5. Having said that, I would recommend it as I viewed it: As a rental. It's good, but not so good you'll want to have it on hand, right now, when you think you'd like to watch an episode or two. I love the British accent as much as anybody, but I've heard enough of them to know not to be swayed into thinking the mere sound of the Kings English makes anything seem sophisticated and top notch.\n\nAfter all, the British don't think that way...","Product: HOLLYWOOD HOTEL - DVD Movie\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Great Music Incredible Copy Silly Plot\n\nReview: From the packaging, I was expecting something of a faded print of the film, so I was very pleasantly surprised to find a very sharp, very clear and beautiful rendition. The sound came across very well too. I wish I could be so enthusiastic for the story but, hey...\n\nThe movie opens with the great old \"Hooray For Hollywood\" sung by Frances Langford and played by the Benny Goodman orchestra, in what has to be the most rousing version yet done. Dick Powell is ushered off to Hollywood as a saxophonist under contract for $100. a week(?) and is put up at the old Hollywood Hotel, which in grand Hollywood Movie Style is about five times the size and ten times more glamorous than the original structure ever dreamed of--once you go through the doors. From that point on, everything goes wrong and Powell doesn't really get his chance till much later in the film, and even then it's a stretch, and by Hollywood standards for pulling our leg, at that.\n\nBut, while the story may have you yawning, Benny Goodman and company keep you hopping. A couple of slow, romantic numbers serve as interludes to a soundtrack that is otherwise some of the hottest swing and jazz from the era, with Gene Krupa taking it out on his drums so fast the camera can only barely keep up with him.\n\nThis barely makes the list of the great Busby Berkeley musicals, aside from the music. There are none of the great, kaleidoscopic dance numbers whatsoever.\n\nYou do get some outdoor shots of pre-war Hollywood, although, ironically, almost everyone in the film has been forgotten--Dick Powell was probably the biggest known of all the main stars, although fans of old films will recognize some of the co-stars that made careers out of character acting.\n\nAnd, if you pay attention, you'll see a skinny Ronald Reagan!\n\nOne more piece of trivia: When Mona Marshall enters the lobby with all of her dogs, about midway though the film, she calls out to \"little Strongheart\". The real Strongheart ( a german shepherd taken from Germany after WWI) was a film contemporary of Rin Tin TIn and has his own star out front of the Capitol Records bldg. in Hollywood.","Product: ALICE IN WONDERLAND - BD\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: A Darker, Less Imaginative Alice-Franchise Story Using The Original Name And Characters For An Entirely Different Tale\n\nReview: With \"Alice's Adventures Through The Looking Glass\" soon to make its premier, I thought I ought to visit this earlier Tim Burton effort in the Carroll library, as my memories of it were faded, yet distinctly displeased. It didn't take very long at all (well before the actual adventure begins) for me to realize what had turned me off on the film when it first came out, and why I'd not seen it since, but more on that later...\n\nProperly told, this is not Lewis Carroll's story of Alice in Wonderland, as interpreted by Tim Burton; rather it is Tim Burton concocting an entirely new story using the characters from Carroll, and referencing the earlier work. As such, it should be called \"Alice's Adventures In the Underland\" as that is what this world is called, and it is quite distinctly different, even with the raft of Carroll's characters carrying the story as it is.\n\nSadly, what Carroll wrote as a most engaging fantasy, Burton makes into (Yet Another) war story, because we don't have enough war stories. Here, the Red Queen (as delightfully played by Helena Bonham Carter as the Mad Hatter is played by the always loopy Johnny Depp) has laid waste to the kingdom of the White Queen (played with a mostly failed attempt at camp by Anne Hathaway) and rules in her place. In the place of all of Carroll's imaginative story is a silly prophecy that Alice will return and slay the Jaberwocky and Happy Endings Will Prevail. Alice doesn't want to do this, and a lot of the characters don't think this Alice is The Alice, but it all works out in the end, although getting there is much more tedious than reading the original for the third or fourth time (which isn't tedious at all).\n\nCreating yet another dystopian world, in which to have yet another war, is way below Tim Burton's talent. When it comes to imagination, Burton has been right up there with Carroll, and Baum, and a bit more productive as well. This, well, let's just hope \"Through The Looking Glass\" is more Burton and less of whatever it is afflicted this one.","Product: a picture as excitingly different as its title.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Fun Noir Entry With Some Sketchy Acting In Parts. Nice Historical Record.\n\nReview: Like \"The Lineup\", this is both an entertaining noir feature (although not quite as good) and a decent historical record of its period, in both Los Angeles and San Francisco. I looked up \"luminous toxin\"---the movies' central plot device---and Wikipedia has a great description of it among \"Fictitious Movie Toxins\" that brings the very absurdity of the 1950's Cold War hysteria to life, I quote, in part \"...easily slipped into liquor, especially during wild, alcohol crazed nights in San Francisco \"jive\" clubs.\" Ah yes, Radiation! Alcohol! Mixed Race Debauchery! Loud Music! Like I've said, no one can accuse our fellow Americans of thinking too much.\n\nO'Brien's character suddenly decides to go to San Francisco, from his desert home of Banning, for a vacation; by himself, without inviting his long suffering secretary/girl friend, or his apparent mistress of the moment. His arrival at the St Francis hotel cooincides with the end of Market Week, where buyers and sellers are all in high revelry in the lobby and halls. It's here where the movie has an inexplicable tendency to cat call---not a character, it's just the movie---a slide whistle sound every time a pretty girl walks by. Kind of like some of Perez Prado's mambo's. Fortunately, it abates by the time the story gets moving, which is when he wakes up the next morning feeling ill, and then goes to the doctor who tells him he's been poisoned... and there's no antidote.\n\nLet's just say that big chunks of the movie are not well acted. O'Brien's blonde sweetheart practically turns herself into a tail wagging pug dog in front of him, and the camera, at one point. Lots of the acting is melodramatic in the extreme, prompting The Partner to inquire at one moment \"Is this a novella?\"\n\nBut...\n\nThere are great scenes across San Francisco and downtown Los Angeles, along Wilshire, and in Hollywood, with the characters either driving in great old cars, or riding vintage transit, or with the latter slipping past in the background. I've seen much worse when it comes to acting (try watching some low budget gay films), and I would imagine that, should you find yourself in San Francisco, when this is playing at the Castro Theater, you could have a very entertaining evening watching it there, with the voluble audience participation the theater attracts for films like this, that would make this movie a scream!","Product: Ellie, a free-spirited and headstrong young woman is left in charge of a residential home over the Christmas holidays. Her youth and inexperience bring her into bitter conflict with the four grumpy old residents. HOW ABOUT YOU deals with the hilarious antics of this uncivilized group, an unlikely romance, and the gradual solidarity that develops between the residents and Ellie, in this critically acclaimed heartwarming and irresistible film.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Warmly Entertaining, Doesn't Insult Your Intelligence, Mostly\n\nReview: Kate Harris (Orla Brady) runs a retirement home for those who can afford to pay for a certain level of service, and proximity to medically trained staff, in the elegance of a former manor home in Ireland. Things aren't going as well as planned though, because her four core tenants, all social misfits, terrorize everyone else with their rudeness and bad behavior, so more folks are checking out, than checking in these days. Then, Kate's younger sister Ellie (Hayley Atwell) comes to stay with her, to earn money, with minimal expenses, so she can take off with her friends on a round the world jaunt. Ellie isn't a good mix in a home of cranky and often demanding old codgers, but she hangs on, and a year later (as once again everyone takes off on their holiday family visits) their mother has a stroke. Since Ellie and her don't get along, it's decided (by Kate) that Kate will take a risk and leave the home (to look in on Mom), and the Terrible Four---the only guests who never leave----with Ellie, and so Ellie finds herself alone for the holidays in an near empty manor house, with no staff, and four miserable old codgers.\n\nThings don't go well.\n\nThe phone rings at one in the morning only to have Vanessa Redgrave, playing an arrogant, bitterly old, former show girl, having a problem with her remote, a pretense for having Ellie mix her two martinis so she won't have to get out of her chair. At 5, the phone rings again with a breakfast order from Mr. Vanston (Joss Ackland) which he says he always gets at 6, when breakfast is posted for 8. Finally, having quite enough, Ellie summons them all to the dining hall, and, reading them the riot act, announces that they'll all have Christmas dinner at the same table, as a family. Having been thus confronted, they all begin to make an effort to grow up and behave, and prepare for Christmas.\n\nVery simple, very sweet, and very little tension. At one point we find out that, of the two sisters who live at the manor, one had a child as a young girl, but her father had it given to nuns. The by now grown up young man has been looking for her, but because her sister was afraid of losing her, she hid the mail, until one letter from him got delivered by mistake, by Ellie. Naturally, he's going to show up at Christmas dinner, as a surprise! No, actually, he never shows up at all. There are several instances where plot threads are introduced, woven in for a length or two, and then forgotten. The ending is the worst of all, where after one sister-to-sister tete a tete, with a joint, the movie closes. It's as if the writers got bored and everyone else left early that day.\n\nAnd about those joints... (but don't get the wrong idea, this isn't a movie about drugs, alcohol is still the prime escape vehicle among the cast)\n\nOld Marijuana used to be rolled in fairly thin joints because we never had the money to smoke enough to get really, really high. New Marijuana is so powerful just one toke can send you to woo hoo ville for hours. Joints? These aren't the twisted at each end bogies, but torchieres---narrow at the mouth end, and twice as wide at the fire end, which is open, running from 1/4\" at the mouth to 1/2\"inch at the fire. Is this supposed to be modern Marijuana? I've never, in forty years, seen a joint that massive, and what's the point with New Pot?\n\nSo, unlike the \"Most Exotic Marigold Hotel\" which features older actors in starring roles, or \"Waking Ned Devine\" which has an older cast as well, this movie hasn't got much of a story because what tension there is is kept so tightly restrained that nothing really happens. There are a few nice moments, and some chuckles, but mostly it's a quiet little film full of old people and one young woman. That still leaves an entertaining way to pass the time in front of the TV, but honestly, it could have been so much better.","Product: True Enjoyment\nVery Entertaining\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Good. Not As Good As My Big Fat Greek Wedding.\n\nReview: Three stars because I bought it. I bought it because \"My Big Fat Greek Wedding\" always seems to end to soon, and while this movie is no relation to that one, it serves well as dessert. That said, this isn't nearly as good as MBFGW. The plot is simple: An American college professor of Greek Art History is out of work and doing tours between offers, in Greece. She wants to share the fine parts of Greek culture with tourists who want to shop, eat ice cream, and suntan at the beach. She's very uptight. Because the forward motion of the movie is largely dependent on a bus, the bus is filled with stick figures draped in stereotypes, and so we never really develop a relationship with them, that we had--to some extent--in MBFGW. Two actors play Aussies, which means a couple hugging cans of Fosters and uttering gibberish from the Book Of Aussie Slang, and nothing else. The eastern European women say nothing, but dress in print dresses circa 1958. The Americans all play shades of dumb and rude, save for Richard Dreyfus who plays a God of sorts, and always utters something pithy. It is Dreyfus' character who helps Nia's character to loosen up. It takes about half the movie for the film to get moving.\n\nAgain, I bought it because I liked \"My Big Fat Greek Wedding\", and recommend it accordingly, to those fans. If you're considering this film without having seen the other; I'd first recommend \"My Big Fat Greek Wedding\", instead, or, \"Bread And Tulips\" which is an Italian effort (with subtitles) that has a similar vein (to this film) in that it starts on a tour (of Italy) and ends in Venice, but has more developed characters and a better story. On the other hand, if you're snow or rain bound, and want something light, and have some good popcorn and real butter, you won't hate yourself for watching \"My Life in Ruins\".","Product: After saving the life of the President, two top Secret Service agents find themselves abruptly transferred to Warehouse 13 a massive, top-secret storage facility in the badlands of South Dakota that houses every strange artifact, mysterious relic, fantastical object and supernatural souvenir ever collected by the U.S. government. Now the pair off-the-cuff Agent Pete Lattimer and by-the-book Agent Myka Bering must chase down reports of supernatural and paranormal activity in search of new objects for their eccentric new boss, Artie Nielsen, to safeguard at the Warehouse. Its a wildly entertaining adventure full of inventive gadgetry and thrilling action, and with all twelve Warehouse 13: Season One episodes cataloged and archived in this collectible three-disc set, nows your chance to snag it, bag it and tag it!\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Entertaining and Fun, Still Not Great TV\n\nReview: There's a scene at the end of \"Raiders Of The Lost Ark\" where, after they've wrested the Ark of The Covenant from the Nazi's, who got it first, the Ark of The Covenant is seen being taken by forklift to its resting spot in a US Federal warehouse, the implication being that, as awful as its powers have been demonstrated to be, being \"lost\" in a government warehouse (as the retreating camera suggests will happen) is about the same as being lost in the desert, so we're all safe. This is where the premise of Warehouse 13 picks up, using of course the cultural knowledge of Area 54 (or is it 51?) as something of a credibility booster. Someone, it doesn't seem to be The Government itself, goes around and picks up super powered Artifacts that have potential for aiding World Evil, and locks them up in this, the 13th in a series of warehouses (the other 12 burned down, as we learn), where, one man, aided first by one, then two, young women, keeps them safe and locked up; with two Secret Service agents co-opted to find, \"bag and tag\" artifacts still out there, and bring them in.\n\nAn Artifact can be anything. Lewis Caroll's (\"Alice In Wonderland\") mirror, with the apparently psychotic Alice trapped inside; Edgar Allen Poe's pen, and diary. Studio 54's disco ball (don't ask). The premise could be as scary as a right wing nutjob's nightmares, where everything he contacts scares him, but instead such ideas come as more of annoyance. The tag line for the show runs something to the effect of \"We take the things we don't know or understand and lock them up in a warehouse\". Funny, but not so long ago, we would have brought in the scientists to find out what we don't know, and don't understand, which is how we got to the Moon, and built the Bomb. And cured polio. But now we're a society where the recent GOP convention made a big joke out of being a \"Fact Checker\", and even the government hating conspiratorialist conservatives didn'f find that alarming, so this is a show for the times.\n\nIn practice, the show runs as something of a Sci-Fi \"Castle\" with a handsome, young, unmarried, odd-couple of sleuths, in this case Secret Service, dumped together, solving crimes that either involve an artifact; or trying to prevent someone from getting an artifact; or often, in the beginning, going out and retrieving something that has the powers of an artifact, from someone who may not even know its significance. Eventually, the story arc brings in an agent who's gone to the dark side, and things get a bit more interesting towards the end of Series 1. Still, for my tastes, things resolve too neatly, too quickly, for this type of show.\n\nIn any case, when it's been revealed that the loons at the NSA are spying on everybody on the planet, clearly demonstrating that the Government in real life has gone wack-o, would we even want people running around locking up all these \"dangerous\" things in one central location, under one man's control?\n\nSuch questions will only ruin your pleasure in this show. That's the real challenge of this series: Watch But Don't Think.","Product: catherine deneuve\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Long But Interesting Story; Not A Holiday Film.\n\nReview: \"I can't watch the film because it's not in English?\"\n\nDespite the name, and the premise of the movie being a Christmas family gathering, this is no holiday film. The family in question could be called quirky, but that would bring to mind \"The Royal Tennenbaums\", and this family is not that one. What we have is a long, slow moving, talking picture. Not the sort of talking of \"Long Days Journey Into Night\" where family members take turns coming on to stage to scream at each other. No, this is a slow moving river of a movie---it keeps moving, it moves with subtle but visible force, and for most people who can sit still for over two hours, it brings you along with it.\n\nDeneuve is the original toxic mother, apparently having a gene that not only sets her up for a pair of fatal diseases, but she passed it along to her first born, who then died at the age of 6, taking the lives of his family with him, but leaving them among the living just the same. In one great scene, Deneuve admits to her middle son, the only one compatible with her in terms of bone marrow, that she never really loved him, or any of her children, aside from her only daughter Elizabeth, and even that love is conditional, and Elizabeth is a self-martyred wreck of a woman, the opposite of her beautiful if domineering mother, who just the same manages to drag everyone around her down.\n\nDespite the subject matter, and the seriousness, this isn't a depressing movie, at all. I didn't find myself arguing about the arguments (as I do in most dramas, where they seem to exist for no reason but to create drama when the playwright couldn't figure out any other way) nor was I prone to errands or other tasks to fill in the gaps. Like I said, the movie keeps right on moving, never drags, pretty much always takes the viewer in and carries him along.\n\nAll said, it's not going to be for everyone. We live in an era where talking films exist almost entirely in the past, in a vaunted canon of Classics. Even serious films these days have some gimmick to move the story along, or take on a complex subject through the most simplistic of approaches.\n\nIf you like a good drama, which like life, isn't always dramatic and occasionally even makes you chuckle, this film is for you.\n\nAnd yes, it's in French, with subtitles. Poor baby.","Product: EVERYBODY'S FINE\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Nice. Easy. No Effort Required.\n\nReview: I'm dismayed to realize that this film was written by the same folks that gave us \"Waking Ned Devine\", which was a warm and funny film, and a fun story. This movie is like \"About Schmidt\" the Lite Version. Like Jack Nicholson's character, DeNiro's Mr. Goode is recently widowed (although the wife passes before the movie starts); she's the one who kept in touch with the kids. So, alienated widower dad goes on a road trip to visit each of his kids, with an envelope for each; and nobody knows he's coming. Surprise!\n\nWell, Surprise on him actually because one of his sons is in trouble, but no one wants to tell Dad. And, Dad's afraid of flying so he starts out on a train bound for NYC, and there we learn that he made the PFC covering for the wires that run along the track, the road, and all over America. At that point the viewer begins to suspect this movie was conceived on a commuter train as the writer, or someone, watched the gently swooping visual rythym of the wires running alongside the tracks. Then, as much of the plot is advanced, and the audience brought up to speed with what was set in motion before we got in front of the TV, by way of telephone conversations we (the audience) overhear while the camera focuses in on the overhead wires, we began to think that this whole plane phobia is also a plot device.\n\nSo, Dad shows up and nobody can spend any time with him, because they've all got plans to go out of town, including one of his daughters, who is headed to Mexico to find their brother. But no one tells Dad. Dad, meanwhile gets his heart meds crushed, which one immediately suspects is also just another plot device, and sure enough, he ends up in the hospital after refusing the sensible idea of going to a pharmacy and getting another Rx. Now he has a dream of his aged, widowed self, at a picnic table in his back yard, with his kids, as kids, but explaining why they never tell him the truth about anything, and the audience is finally as much in the know as pretty much anybody else.\n\nSo, Dad goes home. By plane. Why not? We don't need the wires anymore. There's a bit more, but you'll want something fresh to nibble on if you watch this.\n\nMy partner and I both come from similar families. Mine won't talk about bad news, his simply says \"Everything's Fine\" even if someone just had a heart attack. But even with that personal connection this film just doesn't work as anything more than fluff. Again, I point to \"About Schmidt\" where a similar character, played by Jack Nicholson, in a similar situation, heads out in a motorhome he and his wife bought for vacations he never wanted to take; to see his daughter as she prepares to marry a truly flaky fiance; but the mother in law is a hoot. Along the way Jack nearly becomes a homewrecker, in a trailer park. Things happen, people don't work out. In this film a nice little romance is suggested and then abandoned. He hits all the conventional spots along the road (except for Seattle) and...yawn...the movie ends with, well I can't tell you that.\n\nThere are a lot of terrible movies out there. Anything with Adam Sandler, for example. So this isn't Bad, it just isn't very good either. Like Kool Aid instead of nice fresh juice. I'd put it off so you can see the stuff you've been putting off, and if you forget about it, well, so be it. Or maybe watch it with Shirley MacLanes \"Carolina\", which is slightly better, Kool Aid with Seven Up. They would make a nice shut-in afternoon, this winter during a storm, or this fall in a hurricane shelter.","Product: NOTICE: Polish Release, cover may contain Polish text/markings. The disk DOES NOT have English audio and subtitles.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Typical Christmas Story, Entertaining, Fun.\n\nReview: You know the drill, Christmas is threatened. All of it. The nation's economy has come to depend on the spending; in Britain, without Halloween or Thanksgiving to hold them back, they have decorations up by the end of October. But, Christmas Is Threatened!\n\nLions and tigers and bears, oh my!\n\nOkay. So that's the idea. The most likeable characters are British; the least, the militaristic, gucci-suited erstwhile Santa-to-be is an American militarist. The whole feature is soaked with an unfortunate militaristic air, we have no Draft so most Americans have no real tie to our overseas adventures; we can bomb and pillage without any real risk to anybody who matters to most of us, so our culture is getting ever more militarized; kids play games killing people that some suggest are training for the future soldiers they might become. And it takes over this movie giving what to me was an unwelcome flavor that ruined the film.\n\nBasically, beyond the militarism, it's a story of one kid getting missed, the system accidentally missing her toy (sort of like the basis for \"Brazil\" with less serious consequences). Arthur, the Romantic Claus, a bumbler extreme is appalled that the kid is going to be averaged out and left without her toy, so he and Gramps---the retired Claus, get out the Old sleigh and reindeer and set off to do it the old fashioned way.\n\nThey get lost. It turns out that the Welsh town has its name in several global locations, including Mexico. Things go wrong. Gramps has an agenda. But in the end...\n\nThat would be a spoiler, now wouldn't it.\n\nIt's an enjoyable film even with the militaristic taint, it just makes me sad that our culture is taking this turn and it even affects our holiday films.","Product: Region Free 3D Disc\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: A Pleasant, Interesting, and Imaginative Film\n\nReview: \"Hugo\" is a delightful, big and slow moving film that manages to be interesting to watch, although very little happens through much of it. Sort of like watching the workings of a fine watch. Like too many modern films, it's about 30 minutes too long; gives too much to special effects over good story telling; and is hampered by inconsistent performances by its child actors, although the secondary characters somewhat make up for it with their performances, and the little stories they bring to life in the margins.\n\nThe film is as much about the orphan boy Hugo, who lives within the walls of Paris' Montparnasse station in the early 1930s, and keeps the stations clocks in time, as it is about the real life film pioneer Georges Melies, who is discovered by the boy, and Isabelle (god daughter to Melies), who becomes his confidante. As such, the audience is given a crash course in cinema history, and then treated to a glorious recreation of Melies movie studio and its sets, as he is shown filming scenes from some of his films. As it turns out, Melies had a rather short career, which was brought to an abrupt end by the major US and French studios, with his films melted down to make boot heels for WWI, adding yet another absurdity to mankind's most absurd war. He ended up selling toys in a Paris train station, which is where the film finds him, and tells his story more or less as it happened.\n\nSadly, the kids, upon whom the movie is built, can't quite carry the load they're given. Most of the time you can practically hear them thinking \"What do I do now? How long must I stand here? Should I smile? Can I scratch?\". The other problem is that the background is a combination of sets and CGI, that with the 3D glasses, creates a world that is so detailed that it manages to seem too real, and utterly fake. One gets the sense of the film as an animated feature with real life characters (which contrasts with trailers for the upcoming \"Tintin\" movie, with animated characters that are almost lifelike). I can not see why 3D was necessary, or how it aided the film, when good cinematography would have been just as convincing. That it cost me $27.00 for two tickets did not impress me one whit.\n\nAn idiosyncrasy of the film, a throwback to the 1960's when Americans played themselves and Brits played all the foreign language roles, is that the movie is set in Paris and yet everyone in it is British, with pronounced British accents and often strictly British characters to boot. Only Ben Kingsley looks even vaguely \"French\". It would be interesting to see the film dubbed in French.\n\nStill, I found the film enjoyable, fun, and romantic. It built up a certain level of restrained suspense and maintained it throughout the film, and the scenes of Melies sets were a real treat. I'd buy the film and I can see myself watching it over and over again, perhaps not nearly as much as other films, but it easily bears repeated viewing.","Product: Zack and Benji open up their relationship for a weekend of fun at a gay resort in Palm Springs. After Zack runs into his ex-boyfriend Casey, Casey lies and tells him he met someone new to avoid Zack's pity. When Casey reacquaints with an old high school friend, Peter, he manages to convince him to pretend to be his boyfriend despite Peter's reluctance that it will interfere with his promiscuous weekend opportunities. As sexual tensions start to mount between Benji and Peter, Zack becomes increasingly dissatisfied with his relationship while Casey longs for a stable relationship of his own. A sexy and outrageous comedy, Eating Out: The Open Weekend serves up plenty of eye-candy and raunchy fun along with the pursuit of finding true love.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Low Budget, Teeny-Bopper Romantic Comedy. Lots Of Male Eye Candy, Often Unwrapped...\n\nReview: Given the output of Adam Sandler and Will Ferrell, and the fact that people pay to see their films, it's hard to be too mean to this little series, making light entertainment at a fraction of the cost, and with men worth looking at, no less!\n\nHaving said that...\n\nIt is most certainly light entertainment; every now and then a sharply written come back slices through the dialog, and just as often too many of the characters will use a celebrity as metaphor; then again, while male frontal nudity isn't nearly as rare as it once was, one of the finer characteristics of this series, perhaps even a trademark, is that a character caught naked will walk to the back of the set, stand up (thus providing a full body view) and then pull his pants up. If you're going to do it, do it, don't just fiddle with tease-angles and quick shots...\n\nUnfortunately, there are also as many wince inducing moments in all of these films as there are in any Ferrell/Sandler work. The wincing here produced by a story line that is so juvenile that [admittedly very young] gay men sound like teenage girls; all they think about, talk about, is boys. And catty talk at that.\n\n\"Open Weekend\" picks up where the considerably inferior \"Drama Camp\" leaves off (hey, there's inexpensive wine, cheap wine, and then there's Two Buck Chuck). The winners there get a weekend in Palm Springs, and our two heroes, who were a couple but have now broken up, find themselves in a Palm Springs gay-tel, where Mike's new love tells him they should have \"just one\" open weekend, and trick about. Speaking from experience, there is no such thing as \"just one\" open weekend, either you work for monogamy or you have your extracurricular adventures and watch your relationship suffer. But, in the middle of the film, it's announced that Sacramento has created a legal loophole for gay marriage, a one hour \"get hitched\" window and so everyone flocks to a nearby gay-tel to tie the knot, and Mike has to make a decision... Along the way there's all sorts of gay fun, washboard abs, full frontals, and even a sort of straight menage between a poor virgin girl, and a distinctly not virgin tranny, and a gay-cute ostensible straight bartender at the gay-tel...\n\nSigh. Same place, same faces, thirty years on. Nothing makes one feel so old. On the other hand, we could be dead, like a lot of guys who would have been our age, so quit whining!\n\nLike I said: Light entertainment, soft porn sensibilities; occasional full frontal male nudity, idiotic story, lots of wince inducing moments. There are worse films out there, but they usually don't have such good looking men in them.","Product: Directed by Sam Mendes. Starring Ralph Fiennes, Javier Bardem, Judi Dench.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: A Bit Much, Even For A Bond Film. Spoiler Alert\n\nReview: What can one say? In Bond films, a fist fight will never do if heavy machinery, fast moving vehicles and high powered weapons are available. Nothing is ever knocked over, it's blown up. \"Skyfall\" is a bit excessive even by that standard. Adele sings one of her worst songs at the opening of the main part of the film, and I believe the title is \"The End\", which it is, as it turns out. But not for Bond---who seems to die a Sherlock Holmes death at the opening fight sequence. They're not going to kill off the lead character in one of Hollywood's most successful franchises ever. No, they're cleaning house. Dame Judy Dench has come to the end of her run, to be replaced by a younger, sexier, darker skinned version. A new \"Q\" is introduced, a very young, and very geeky version who works quite nicely. The old Bond car----the Aston---is reintroduced, and then blown to bits.\n\nAnd, in the steady parade of exotic places where Bond goes to fight people, kill them, and blow things up, they end up in Scotland (not my idea of exotic, but then again, I imagine Shanghai isn't exotic to those who live there) where we find Bond's childhood manor house, where his parents are buried, and they blow that up. The whole house. Apparently, there's room for only one Downton Abbey, and not in a Bond film.\n\nFly off, fight, blow things up, fly off, fight, blow things up. Ho hum. Daniel Craig's Putin-esque Bond is aging fast, but he still has a chest made to titillate the women and gay guys, and you see more of him than the women, which can't be good for the franchise. Still, we live in odd times; After fighting the nazis for five years, and the communists for thirty---without building a wall along the border, now we're fighting a handful of Arabs that have us so scared we're building that wall, and the Liberal president is proposing using drones to kill American citizens in America....so Daniel Craig's Bond is the Bond for a world so screwed up we no longer remember what we're fighting for, or who, or why, or what's even going on. I'm not really comfortable with this dour, rather savage Bond.\n\nThank heavens for affordable large flat screen tvs, because nowadays we don't have to pay to see this junk in the theater!\n\nI hope you didn't waste the money to see this in public, and if you're going to watch it at home, there are worse ways to waste the money it will cost, so why not?","Product: Moonrise Kingdom is the new movie directed by two-time Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Wes Anderson (The Royal Tenenbaums, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Rushmore). Set on an island off the coast of New England in the summer of 1965, Moonrise Kingdom tells the story of two 12-year-olds who fall in love, make a secret pact, and run away together into the wilderness. As various authorities try to hunt them down, a violent storm is brewing off-shore and the peaceful island community is turned upside down in every which way. Bruce Willis plays the local sheriff, Captain Sharp. Edward Norton is a Khaki Scout troop leader, Scout Master Ward. Bill Murray and Frances McDormand portray the young girls parents, Mr. and Mrs. Bishop. The cast also includes Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman, and Bob Balaban; and introduces Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward as Sam and Suzy, the boy and girl.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: A Beautifully Filmed Set of Little Stories About Small People\n\nReview: If you saw the trailers, waded through the torrent of PR, and had to put your arm up to shield yourself from the never ending buzz generated for this film, you would be forgiven for thinking it was a zany comedy about kids at camp and the adults around them. Aside from the \"zany\" part, you'd be technically correct. Did you like \"The Royal Tennenbaums\" or \"The Life Aquatic\"? If you did, then you're perfectly prepared for what this film has to offer. If you didn't, then you should think about that before watching this film, because \"Moonrise Kingdom\" is a close sibling to the other two, a trio of painfully shy, slow moving, detail obsessed movies; It's funny, in parts, but it's a chuckle not a guffaw.\n\n For almost as long as Hollywood has been associated with movies, Hollywood has had a thing for playing kids as adults, and making their parents out to be childish. This film takes that premise and makes it pretty much the backbone of the film. Almost all the kids are more mature acting than any of the adults. Other than that, it's essentially a story of outsiders among the conformist masses, with love instead of revolution at the center of their co-existence. (\"The Addams Family\" did much the same, but did it better). It's a story that could be told in the present tense, but they decided to use the sixties and did well enough by it. Yet, for me, the film didn't deliver.. I liked the \"Royal Tennenbaums\", and \"The Life Aquatic\", but \"Moonrise Kingdom\" didn't seem to make its story interesting enough to make me want to care about the characters. The title didn't help, \"Moonrise Kingdom\" suggests much more fantasy than the film offered. Certainly the buzz was overdone, and affected my experience.\n\nFortunately, you can watch the DVD for a lot less money, without all the in-theater commercials, and you may well find it amusing. It's not a bad film by any measure, I just don't think it''s nearly as good as the Media insisted.","Product: NOTICE: Polish Release, cover may contain Polish text/markings. The disk DOES NOT have English audio and subtitles. At the age of 21, Tim discovers he can travel in time and change what happens and has happened in his own life. His decision to make h...\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Warmly Funny, Builds To An Unexpected Ending\n\nReview: While technically accurate (like the explanations of a politician), the official description of this film is deceptive. It would seem to say that this is a movie where a guy goes back in time---say another era---and brings a girl forward in time, or stays there. No, not at all. On his 21st birthday, and after an embarrassing New Year's Eve party where he'd behaved like a cad, Tim's father (Bill Nighy---whom I'm coming to delight in finding in a film, much the same way it's always a pleasure to see Maggie Smith show up) tells him that the men of their family can time travel...BUT...\n\nOnly within the span of their own life an memories, AND it doesn't really seem to have any consequences if you change anything (contrary to all we've been told). Although... He warns his son that going after wealth and the like has ruined the lives of previous male relatives. No worry though, the son (played by a very expressive and watchable Domhnall Gleason) announces that all he wants is love. And at that moment it seems the movie is doomed---it's just the sort of stupid thing you'd expect todays low-expectation minded youth would say. And for a bit, it seems the movie is going to play that line. The first thing Tim does is to go back to that awful NYE party and fix things---by kissing the wall flower he found himself standing next to at midnight, also without a date. Then he tries to fix other issues that come up, each getting more and more complex and the solutions begin to have unanticipated consequences, until finally, fatefully, he realizes that somethings shouldn't be fixed, and that some people can't be helped by extracting them from problems they need to solve.\n\nAnd then, he gets married (the wedding itself provides some great moments where both father and son are popping back and forth in time to fix a particular moment at the wedding) and has his first child. It is with this event that we find there are indeed more conditions on time travel. Once you have a child, a line is drawn across your ability to travel backward---go back before the birth and you end up with a different child when you come back... Thus, from here the movie builds to a rather unexpectedly poignant climax...and I should probably say no more.\n\nIt was very watchable, entertaining and humorous. I'm not sure how often I'd watch it though---one of the characteristics that for me drives the star ratings. Still, it's a very nice rom-com, and if you like those you should like this effort. An added incentive: It's not really a female centric rom-com; the focus is on the men in the film---the wedding, for example is not a centerpiece of the film and there is no bridezilla component, the usual idea in rom-com marriage scenes, it's just a set piece for the idea of time travel as the film explains it. I would hazard the suggestion that it might be a romantic film for the date who doesn't usually like to sit through rom-coms, or at least after you sit through his blasto-hacko-whacko bombadventure. Of course, if it takes two movies to get the guy into your arms, perhaps another guy is what's needed.","Product: In June 1939, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Academy Award nominee Bill Murray) and his wife Eleanor (Olivia Williams) host the King and Queen of England (Samuel West and Olivia Colman) for a weekend at the Roosevelt home at Hyde Park on Hudson, in upstate New York the first-ever visit of a reigning English monarch to America. With Britain facing imminent war with Germany, the Royals are desperately looking to FDR for support. But international affairs must be juggled with the complexities of FDRs domestic establishment, as wife, mother, and mistresses all conspire to make the royal weekend an unforgettable one. Seen through the eyes of Daisy (Academy Award nominee Laura Linney), Franklins neighbor and intimate, the weekend will produce not only a special relationship between two great nations, but, for Daisy and through her, for us all a deeper understanding of the mysteries of love and friendship.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Warmly Entertaining Romantic Costume Drama\n\nReview: It's June, 1939. The Old World Order is about to be bombed into oblivion. In September, Hitler will invade Poland, and England and France will end almost a decade of delusional, self-defeating appeasement, which has only made Hitler stronger. Within the year, France will have fallen to the Third Reich, and England will be left to stand alone, saved only by Hitler's disastrous blunder (invading the USSR) and awaiting the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that will bring the US into the war, two years almost too late.\n\nFDR, knowing that things are slipping out of control, invites the royal couple to add a US visit to their Canadian trip, so he can use them to put a human face on Britain, for the isolationist American public. It's the beginning of a beautiful friendship, of sorts; or as Winston Churchill would put it \"America can always be counted on to do the right thing, after it's tried all the other options.\" So, after two days of formality in D.C., the two power couples decamp to Roosevelt's Hudson Valley estate at Hyde Park, where the King wins America's heart by eating a hot dog.\n\nWe're kind of simple that way...\n\nThis film opens in Hyde Park, at the nearby estate of a distant Roosevelt cousin, Daisy, who is summoned to the FDR compound there by his mother, Sara, who says her son feels lonely (He already has a wife, and a mistress, but a mother's concern knows no bounds). The call can barely be heard over the yapping of a black scotty, which if memory serves, the movie neglects to tie in: It's cousin Daisy who gave FDR his famous black scotty Fala.\n\nFor all intents and purposes, this is a romantic film about FDR and Daisy, and could have been titled \"I Pleasured The President (And Met The King And Queen of England)\" as it seems that on one cross country drive FDR puts Daisy's hand in his lap, and I don't mean by his knees... They don't get much into what actually happened between them (she seems to have come into the picture just as he is learning to walk, again, after being stricken with polio) and the King and Queen are little more than props. This is the same stuttering George VI of which a full movie was made quite recently, but Queen Elizabeth (the mother of the current Q-Liz) is nothing more than a fretting, frowning, worry-wart, none of her fortitude or sense of humor comes through whatsoever.\n\nSo, you've just read far more history than the movie even tries to suggest, thus if you opt to watch this film, your only question will be: Why the hell can't I rent it? I had to reinstate dvd's on my Netflix account to watch this film, so no, I'm not advocating you spend the money to purchase it. It's good, but I don't see it as worth owning, especially as one would hope it will eventually be available to stream, as it should be.","Product: Hope Springs(Br+Uv)\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Fun Comedic Romp Through What's Getting To Be Familiar Territory\n\nReview: This is the third movie I've detected in this line, the first being Jack Nicholson's \"About Schmidt\"; It seems DeNiro was in another one more recently---old men taking road trips to get together with their kids after the Wife dies. In this send up, the Wife is still very much kicking. Meryl Streep, our leading chameleon, is now about as frowsy a housewife as could be, and still be respectable. She's well worn, yet smarter than her perpetually cheerful demeanor would seem to indicate, and she wants a marriage, or more specifically Her Marriage, back. Her curmudgeon of a husband, perfectly played by Tommy Lee Jones, has the occasional fantasy---apparently featuring a neighbor--but no interest in his wife, whatsoever. So she books a flight to Maine, to see a renowned relationship counsellor, for them both, and takes off without him, having given her husband the Ultimatum.\n\nIt's not an adventurous film, aside from having older actors, no nudity, sex, violence or special effects (apart from Ms. Streeps makeup). It's funny, touching, and sometimes a bit sad, by turns. It'd make a great afternoon film. Of a similar vein, one could go to the radio program \"This American Life\", to it's archives (a few years back now), and look up the title \"Someone To Watch Over Me\", where the second show in that program features a retired SF Bay Area cop and his wife, in the rut of ruts, until she decides to go to Mexico with her girl friend. Now that was hilarious.","Product: DIANA VREELAND: THE EYE HAS TO TRAVEL is an intimate portrait and a vibrant celebration of one of the most influential women of the 20th century, an enduring icon whose influence changed the face of fashion, beauty, art, publishing and culture forever. During her fifty year reign as the \"Empress of Fashion,\" she launched Twiggy, advised Jackie O and coined some of fashion's most eloquent proverbs such as \"the bikini is the biggest thing since the atom bomb.\" She was the fashion editor of Harper's Bazaar where she worked for 25 years before becoming editor-in-chief of Vogue followed by a remarkable stint at the Met's Costume Institute where she helped popularize its historical collections.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Pleasant And Informative Bio-Pic About A Very Colorful, Talented, Woman Of Substance\n\nReview: (I rented to stream, and like much of my Amazon/Roku streaming this week it took several times to get it going. Don't know what's up, or if its my ATT Uverse but something is broken).\n\nI'm not a big one for celebrity bio-pics; if I find myself wondering \"Who the hell are the Kardashians, and what did they do?\", a quick Google and a Wikipedia entry sates my curiosity. Diana Vreeland (Dee-AHna to you, Dahlinks!) on on the other hand is one of those names and faces that keeps coming around, and with a face like that, in the fashion business, I figured I ought to find out. It turns out that she was quite a talented gal, a regular Woman Of Substance, who came into contact with some of the best talent in fashion, art and culture there was, and she knew how to get them to do their best. Having no degree, Mrs. Vreeland manages to seem simultaneously highly cultured and lightly educated, but knows what not to say and as a result, while some of the stuff she says isn't always bright, she never puts her foot in it.\n\nBorn in 1903, in Paris (but apparently not learning either French or English before sent to school, I'm rather confused on that part, what DID she speak, or didn't she?) Diana Vreeland came of age in the roaring twenties and then became an editor at Harpers by WWII; and then at Vogue, when after more than a decade Harpers had only upped her salary by $1000. a year. At Vogue she helped put the face on much of the 1960s, being something of a free spirit open to anything new. But, by the 80's she was forced out and came to indulge her life as a celebrity, taking a consultancy job at the Met organizing costume exhibits, which helps to explain why the DeYoung does the same at least once a year.\n\nThe film conveys its story through late-life TV interviews (Cavett, and Griffin) and for-TV interviews (Jane Pauley and Diane Sawyer) from her living room, which she called a \"garden in hell\". There are also interviews with various Hollywood celebs who either modeled or worked for her in their early years; various Fashionistas, and of course family---two sons, a grandson and a great grand daughter, who reads from Vreeland's pre-war Harpers series \"Why Don't You...\" with admirable pronunciation and enunciation for an American child.\n\nOddly enough, I don't remember seeing anyone interviewed as being simply \"a friend\".\n\nThe video footage is almost all late-Vreeland; the photos early to mid, with stock video to establish period flavor. And there are the layouts from Harpers, and especially, Vogue. It is here that the uninitiated like me come to see her brilliance. Mrs. Vreeland (that's how she referred to herself) comes across as quite a character, and her family very likeable. The interviews with celebs and fashionistas are tastefully celebratory, not the usual Hollywood brown-nosing excess.\n\nUnfortunately, we don't get to hear Vreeland's thoughts on Jane Pauley's get up, which combined a cowgirl's hair-do, with what might have been a cowgirl's outfit, or perhaps a red and white circus tent. Pauley seemed to see Mrs. Vreeland as something of an elderly eccentric aunt to be humored, and frequently rolls her eyes and smiles at the camera for no good reason, unless to identify with her suburban audience, which is probably much more erudite than she could imagine.\n\nAnd then there's Mrs. Vreeland's \"garden in hell\" apartment, which is furnished on the More Is More principle. Clutter is merely a point of departure; and why have a pair of something if you can get three of them, or five maybe? The polychromatic striped wallpaper is just for background. The whole assemblage suggests a Vreeland inspired train wreck, where an Imperial Chinese Pullman was artfully crashed into a Belle Epoch Parisian boudoir, with Mrs. Vreeland center stage, an erstwhile Mandarin, perched on her couch like a throw pillow come to life, replete with draw-cord tassle ear rings. And rouge. Lots of rouge. \"I LOVE rouge!\" Didn't she ever.\n\nIn any case, Diana Vreeland comes across as someone I'd like to have met, if not worked for, which brings to mind \"The Devil Wears Prada\". In that flick, Meryl Streep plays a Vreeland-esque character based on a more recent Vogue tyrant-diva, Anna Wintour. In one scene, Mrs. Priestly, as she's known, is shown throwing her coats on her assistant's desk, while barking orders, over a series of morning arrivals at the office. Apparently, Mrs. Vreeland did just that to her assistant, Ali McGraw (\"Love Story\"), who threw it back at her. Mrs. Vreeland then pronounced her to be the rudest person she'd ever met. It seems that while times change, Fascist Fashionista Divas don't, really. In any case, by my count, Mrs. Vreeland has 3 movies with characters based on her, and one went on to become a classic: \"Funny Face\".\n\nSo, all in all it was a pleasant 90 minutes. No life philosophy gained. I'm not much of one for rouge, and I don't think it would help me, anyway; and I can't go back and get myself born in Paris, maybe next life. It was informative, though. Helped to fill in some gaps, tie some loose ends, explain some of the recent past I'd not considered.","Product: NOTICE: Polish Release, cover may contain Polish text/markings. The disk DOES NOT have English audio and subtitles. At a home for retired musicians, the annual concert to celebrate Verdi's birthday is disrupted by the arrival of Jean, an eternal diva...\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: A Romantic Love Story, Delayed; A Disappointment As A Film\n\nReview: If you're going to make a movie about opera singers, the first rule is to cast someone who is at least plausible in the role. Maggie Smith is one of my favorite actresses, and I'd go see a door open if she was in it, but, despite all her formidable talents, nothing about her suggests that she's got the ability to loft an aria. She doesn't open her mouth wide enough to to get much more than an acidic remark through, and with a voice somewhere between sand paper and a cat's purr. Meryl Streep would have been a much better choice. Fortunately, Dustin Hoffman spares us the embarrassment of having to listen to her try, but with what amounts to a swindle; we know that we've just been robbed, but of something we were so nervous about being caught with that it's something of a relief. Still...\n\nThis should not be interpreted as a slur against the talent in this movie. The Quartet of actors at the center, while not from the Opera, are a diverse bunch of experienced actors that are a pleasure to watch, and the cast in the background is largely composed of former opera divas, cast members, and symphony orchestra members. Something like \"Sunset Boulevard\" although as noted, Maggie Smith is not to Opera, what Gloria Swanson was to the Silent Screen.\n\nAnd, it's something of a relief that the trailer doesn't give everything away. It turns out that, even with the \"F\"bomb, it's Maggie Smith's character who's to blame, not the gentleman. It seems that Tom Courtenay and Smith's characters were very briefly married until someone went astray and an attempt at honesty misfired and, well time passes very quickly... In any case, the love story is one of two plots that intertwine within the main story, that being the need to have a concert to raise funds such that the grand old English country home can be preserved as a home for aged Musicians. The old hams have to sing for their bread. Why not, the Girl Scouts have to do it. Thus, when Smith lands at the coop, the Quartet is once again together, so logically it would seem they should be the top bill of the night. Maggie Smith's Jean, disagrees, and that's the movie, well, getting past that...\n\nAbout that \"F\" Bomb. Apparently Ms. Smith swears like a sailor off stage, and while I have no problem with that, I wouldn't have minded if she played a character more like herself, off stage (whatever that may be), where such language might be more integral to the story. Having a woman of such dignity suddenly spout vulgarisms is a bit tacky. What next? Nudity? Diane Keaton did it. Must we see them all naked?\n\nMaggie Smith is big these days. Movies about and for an older audience are big money makers. It's a bit much to expect everything she's in to be like \"A Room With A View\" or \"Downton Abbey\". I don't think this will be listed among her best movies. If you wait until it's available to be streamed, then you'll save a quite a bit of money and may well find this movie to be more to your liking. I went out to the theater, which I rarely do these days, sat through the commercials and spent over $30. for two people with a popcorn and diet coke, and it's not worth nearly that much effort and money. Not by a long shot.","Product: Directed by Pedro Almod var. Starring Hugo Silva, Miguel Angel Silvestre, Carlos Areces.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Classic, If Retro, Low-Budget Almodovar. Often Funny But For Select, Mature Audiences...\n\nReview: First off, if you're Antonio Banderas and/or Penelope Cruz fans, you will be disappointed---the five minutes you see them at the beginning of the movie is all you'll see of them. That said, Banderas' character forgets to take the wheel chocks from the plane, and thus sets the plot in motion, as they get sucked up into the landing gear (not the engine, which would make more sense) wrecking the machinery, forcing the plane to fly a circle, as an available airport is located. From here on, it's all on a fairly cheap, if colorful, business class airplane set, and if that isn't enough, an entire cast of extras sleeps through the entire film, all of the coach section---female flight attendants included---having been drugged to avoid \"economy class syndrome\" which is never explained, but seems to have something to do with mass panic.\n\nNot a lot is explained up front (unless perhaps it's all taken care of in Spanish) but all is known by the end.\n\nTo sum it up, the pilot and co-pilot are bi-sexual, or maybe the latter is closet gay... All the flight attendants in business are gay. Everyone else is straight. A virgin seer (experienced as a psychic), a high class dominatrix who thinks someone is trying to kill her; a corrupt contractor who is being blamed for the fiasco over the La Mancha airport (which in real life is a huge facility that has yet to open, no market being available for flights there) a TV or Movie star, with two female lives in tatters behind him; and a Mexican hit man.\n\nSince the plane can't land, and might crash and burn when, eventually, it does, everyone copes as best they can, mostly by drinking, smoking pot, and eventually, drinking buckets of Valencia Cocktail (a champagne based drink that includes gin, but in this version also comes with mescaline). Oh, I forgot, there's a hot married couple in business and once the Valencia cocktail starts going around, everyone gets real comfortable, and chummy and well, you'll see.\n\nLike most Almodovar films, this one is high camp with a certain gay quotient, although here the gay-o-rama is set fairly high. Most of the humor revolves around gay relationships between the crew, and gay sex, but, sex itself doesn't really happen---it's pantomimed, by the hetero set, but there's no nudity or even bare chests. As an Almodovar work, it recalls \"Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown\" but, sadly, isn't nearly as good. On the other hand, \"Women...\" isn't available to rent, buy or stream at the moment, either.\n\nSo why isn't \"Women...\" available to rent or buy?","Product: Directed by Garth Davis, Jane Campion. Starring Peter Mullan, Holly Hunter, David Wenham.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Darkly Entertaining Crime Drama/Relationship Movie\n\nReview: A 12 year old girl is seen trying to drown herself in the lake, and is found to be pregnant. She disappears. Her father is the small lakeside town's leading illicit businessman Matt Mitcham, patriarch of a well-off hill dwelling clan of white trash hellians ironically named (from the father on down) Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. There's a current wife and a baby, but they only mumble in the shadows. Visiting her dying mother in a nearby town, is a former local girl, Robin Griffin (now a detective in Australia) who is mustered into the investigation thanks to her training with children. She runs into her former boyfriend from high school, Johnno, who is also a Mitcham, but apparently (aside from the missing 12 year old girl, Tui) the only nice one. And, down on the lake shore, on a ranch called Paradise, is a brand new colony of damaged women led by their wealthy, gnomic guru, GJ, who out bid Matt for the property by a cool million.\n\nParadise was apparently once Matt's family property, as he angrily reminds folks, and he's constantly promising his dead mother that she'll be buried there, but how it came to fall out of the family hands is never quite clear.\n\nIt turns out that Matt's family, and many of the locals, produce a variety of drugs, including rufies, which are used in another local business, by the more upstanding citizens of the town and....oops! Spoiler!\n\nIt is here that a profound truth is revealed by one of the women in town, to Detective Griffin, who's trying to find Tui: They all know what they're doing is wrong, and self destructive, but there aren't any other opportunities. As the woman puts it \"I could go down to Christchurch and spend all day working for nothing...\" The rotten core of our Anglo-American economies is this lack of opportunities for a growing number of our citizens. But, it's only mentioned, and we return to the story, to find Tui, without dislodging the town's sordid economic underpinnings (as if this can be done) or worrying about what will happen if she's found, and everything is upended anyway...\n\nAnd of course, with all the biblical names, it's a nice touch that a Griffin is at first the only one trying to protect the child, given that the mythological character is a guardian of treasure, and wisdom, and often represents Christ.\n\nThe setting is starkly gorgeous, the story is dark. There are moments of humor (often from the women at Paradise) and Detective Griffin re-kindles her childhood romance with Johnno, the one decent Mitcham. But essentially, the movie's message is \"Men Are Pigs\". I was reminded of Hannah Arendt's \"Banality of evil\" thesis, which she postulated after sitting through the Nuremberg trials of notorious Nazi (but no Soviet) killers. Before her were men charged with the most monstrous of crimes who, nonetheless, had nothing monstrous about them; rather, they looked like people she knew; relatives, the postman, the grocer. There's nothing redeeming about the Mitcham clan, or any of their associates. They're white trash advertisements for abortion. They're dirty, cruel, ill educated, foul mouthed, wretched examples of humanity. Some of the more upstanding men in the story turn out to be just as foul, if better groomed and with straighter teeth, but essentially, all the men are either foul, or (on the positive side) ineffectual. The women order them to strip if the women want to play, on their terms only; or the men strip to rape women. Women strip and walk around naked in a more artistic sense, all dropping lines of the sort one would want to draw, rather than play with. It is the great weakness of this story that it is built with such blatant stereotypes. Yes, much of Hollywood is just as weak (\"12 Years A Slave\" comes to mind) but just because the boys cuss and spit, is it really necessary to do the same?\n\nThe seven episode version here is the Sundance Premier version that was presented over 7 hours, with one intermission and a lunch break. It makes for incredible, near spellbinding watching, but I wouldn't call it unique; \"unusual\" or \"distinct\", perhaps, but not unique. It's female, or even feminist, viewpoint is a large part of what makes it stand out from the crowd (along with the cinematography, of course), but we'd have to erase all the fine work from HBO and Showtime (and especially the BBC, the BBC Australia being a partner in this), in order to even begin to claim that no one is doing this sort of stuff.\n\nIt also bears noting that, despite the subject matter, pretty much everything violent or crude of substance relative to what underpins the mystery, happens off screen. Even when Matt shoots a dog, you don't actually see it. Thus, for the more squeamish and those who can't take violence on a par with \"The Soprano's\" you don't have to. It's mentioned, it's suggested, but mostly, what's happening in the background stays in the background, and only bubbles up for suspense.\n\nIf you want something to cut through the saccharine sweetness of the Holidays, break open a nice bottle of wine and snuggle in for a seven hour journey into the dark side of New Zealand, this is great entertainment.","Product: United Kingdom released, Blu-ray/Region A/B/C DVD: LANGUAGES: English (Dolby Digital 2.0), English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby DTS-HD Master Audio), English (Dolby Linear PCM), English (Subtitles), WIDESCREEN (2.35:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Behind the scenes, Cast/Crew Interview(s), Interactive Menu, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: The Newlyn School of artists flourished at the beginning of the 20th Century and the film focuses on the wild and bohemian Lamorna Group, which included Alfred Munning's and Laura and Harold Knight. The incendiary anti-Modernist Munning's, now regarded as one of Britain's most sought-after artists, is at the centre of the complex love triangle, involving aspiring artist Florence Carter-Wood and Gilbert Evans, the land agent in charge of the Lamorna Valley estate. True - and deeply moving - the story is played out against the timeless beauty of the Cornish coast, in the approaching shadow of the Great War.... Summer in February.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Rather Dismal Romantic Drama\n\nReview: Don't put too much store in this film's proximity to WW1; it ends before the War really becomes part of the script---had we gotten that far it would be all but de rigeur to kill off one of the romantic male leads, if not both of them, that being the nature of WW1 movies with a romantic feature.\n\nNo, this film is about a love triangle between two male artists and the woman who rather capriciously marries one of them. The wrong one of course. Then, she gets depressed, and finally, she kills herself.\n\nWas that a spoiler?\n\nYou'd think a love triangle between artists would be a lot steamier, with a whole lotta nudity. There is some full frontals, but... well if you're a straight guy or lesbian who's found modern movies frustrating---all that full frontal male nudity----you should love the early part of this film where most of the female leads show everything but their ankles! For the women and gay guys, with these two hunky male leads, Dan Stevens from \"Downton Abbey\" and Dominic Cooper who showed most everything in \"Mama Mia\", well, I hope you like period suits and overcoats. Stevens basically reprises his Cousin Matthew job by mooning over the woman who ends up marrying the other guy. I look forward to seeing him in his action movie role, where he seems to be trying to show us something different.\n\nAh well. This is NOT an awful film, not by a long shot. But it's not enough of any one idea to add up to anything special.","Product: Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Cline (Julie Delpy) first met in their twenties in BEFORE SUNRISE; reunited in their thirties in BEFORE SUNSET; and, now, in director Richard Linklaters amazing BEFORE MIDNIGHT, they face the past, present and future; family, romance and love. Now on a writers retreat in Greece, the couple looks for a night of passion, but instead their idyllic night turns into a test of their relationship and a discussion of what the future holds for them.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: A Good Effort But A Flawed Third Part Just The Same\n\nReview: From the very first of the \"Before...\" movies, the \"action\", such as exists, takes off when The Conversation takes off, which in the first two is when they start walking about. In this installment, the movie is almost half over before they really get talking. Of course, a lot has changed: They're middle aged, divorced, and remarried (to each other) and have twin girls. They have commitments. They have baggage. Still, when the conversation finally takes off, it very quickly becomes a bicker fest.\n\nShe starts it off with a simple question: Would you still ask me to get off the train with you? One could imagine he's hearing that at almost every anniversary and probably does away with it by smiling, saying \"Of course\", adding a bit of flattery, and perhaps a kiss. For what ever reason, this time he hesitates, and then he stammers, and now she feels old and fat. To make matters worse, he's just said good bye to the son he lost via his own divorce; now a teenager, he's just finished a summer in Greece, and wow, far from being the adorable talking pet little kids are, he's almost human. You can converse with him, most of the time. And Dad wants more. Unfortunately, he wants it all, the best of his old life, and his new French family. Needless to say, the wife isn't at all amused at his suggestion they uproot and move to Chicago, the proximity of the spurned wife hardly being the least of the attractions. So off they go on their squabble.\n\nAs film arguments go, this is not a notable fight. One thinks of the nastiness of \"Long Days Journey Into Night\", or the epic booze filled brawl between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in \"Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolfe\", where two puffy actors, beyond their physical prime, go at it, round and round, until the climax where, in a white rage of hate and bitterness, not a single drop of self loathing and maliciousness is wasted. One can no more imagine this couple trying to carry off a fight on that scale any more than we can imagine Maggie Smith lofting \"Un Bel Di\", or any other aria. But still, if you're going to fight, fight, don't bicker. What we end up with is a couple caught on a bad day, and not a particularly notable one at that.\n\nAh well. If you've already seen the other two you'll have to see this one. The first in the trilogy is still the best, and who knows, in fifteen years or so, perhaps they'll find each other when their ties have loosened and their baggage has fallen away, and in nascent old age, realize that there's still something there. We're not there yet, but I could sit through that one too. So, while it's not as good as the first time, what is? We wouldn't be so fat if we stopped at the first, and best, bite of chocolate.","Product: THE WAY, WAY BACK is the funny and poignant coming of age story of 14-year-old Duncan's (Liam James) summer vacation with his mother, Pam (Toni Collette), her overbearing boyfriend, Trent (Steve Carell), and his daughter, Steph (Zoe Levin). Having a rough time fitting in, the introverted Duncan finds an unexpected friend in gregarious Owen (Sam Rockwell), manager of the Water Wizz water park. Through his funny, clandestine friendship with Owen, Duncan slowly opens up to and begins to finally find his place in the world - all during a summer he will never forget.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Warmly Funny Coming Of Age Story\n\nReview: While the film has lots of qualities that could have made it supremely irritating, the team behind it managed to keep control over the story so that none of those elements got in the way; the result is a funny film about a quiet kid caught in the swirl of a divorce, with a constellation of adults who are so horrifically immature that the kids seem grown up. That alone could have resulted in yet another film where precociously wise kids have to raise the childish parents, this is not that film. The kids seem like kids, the adults, well they're not entirely grown up yet and live to party. Finally though, through a job at a water park (where all sorts of retrograde behavior is depicted as quite the norm and acceptable) Duncan finds a niche for himself and begins to climb out of his shell.\n\nI think the worst part of the film, for me, was that Steve Carell seemed so laid back and in the woodwork, while every time Owen (Steve Rockwell) was on the screen I couldn't help but think of Zaphod Beeblebrox. Hardly a problem to get in the way of the film. I was expecting something stupid and was surprised to find the movie was quite fun.","Product: For Secret Service Agents Pete Lattimer and Myka Bering, what began with an assignment to the middle of nowhere actually led them to a world of endless wonder. And though Warehouse 13 might be closing its doors, our team is going out with a bang! Paracelsus seizing control of the Warehouse, the team getting trapped in a telenovela, and a renaissance faire run amok are only the beginning, as the Warehouse crew tackles earth-shattering missions with supernatural artifacts, wild paranormal activity, and history-changing time travel. But whatever the future holds for the team, one thing is certain: they'll always be family. Join Warehouse 13 for one last adventure in the fifth and final season of this remarkable series.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Watchable Finale But Falls Short Of Early Seasons\n\nReview: I like watching shows when the series has ended, or is about to---to see everything episode after espisode, like an extended movie. Such was the case with Warehouse 13, but it took re-watching the pilot, after the Final Episode, to see how far the series has sunk. SyFy appears to have gotten bored.\n\nOf course the very premise of the show is questionable at best---if even one of these artifacts is as dangerous as they are demonstrated to be, why would you put them all together in one place where the chances of some undesireable getting their hands on them, any of them, would be so much easier than having to traipse the world? So, what we've got is something of a detective fantasy, where instead of high tech gizmos with which to solve crimes (or Grimm Fairy tale animals in real life) here the \"crimes\" are caused by artifacts that either someone has come into possession of accidentally, or has sought them out for illicit gain. Secret Service agents Latimer and Bering are sent out on one mission after another to \"snag, bag, and tag\" these artifacts.\n\nThe early episodes, of the first two seasons or so, were a marvel of steam punk aesthetic paired with action adventure. Remember when the Warehouse had a zipline? The big old computer with the ancient typewriter keys? The cast grew--nicely I thought---but the fantasy began to fade, the steampunk slipped ever further into the background. I can't even really remember seeing much of it anywhere in Season 5. And it's not just that. The whole show was getting ever more stupid (and it wasn't very literary from the start...) well before Season 4 came to a conclusion with Latimer acting like a boy-man moron. Season 5 resolves the last episode in the first show, then it pops back and forth until---way too soon---we're at the sixth and final episode---the Very End, which is billed as a sort of flash back (you know, where they run clips of past episodes) but in fact all of the stuff recalled consists either of out-takes or cuts, or stuff put together specifically for this show,, yet to look as if it happened in previous episodes, so it's not really flash backs in the usual sense. Nice touch.\n\nStill...\n\nSo it's over. You'll want to watch these last episodes if you've watched the rest, and you won't be too terribly disappointed, but it is certainly sad to see how far the show fell from the tree that produced it, from the spell casting charm of the early episodes.\n\nA Note: I streamed all of season 5 as I have the others and these are all full episodes. I found that SyFy does like to sell clips on Amazon but these are all full episodes.","Product: Academy Award winner Jim Broadbent (IRIS, TOPSY-TURVY, ANOTHER YEAR) and Lindsay Duncan (ABOUT TIME, ALICE IN WONDERLAND, MANSFIELD PARK) give exquisite performances as Nick and Meg, a long-married British couple revisiting Paris for the first time since their honeymoon in an attempt to rekindle their relationship.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: A Dreary Tale Of A Failed Boomer Marriage Suffocating In The Midst Of A Paris Weekend.\n\nReview: I like films where the action is all in the dialogue, and the fun is all in the getting there. The \"Before Sunrise\" trio exemplifies this best, the first two more than the most recent film though... I also like relationship films where the relationship is off key, or simply deranged, and this movie reminds me of a repressed version of two of those: \"Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolfe\" where shakespearean Richard Burton, and Hollywood Goddess Elizabeth Taylor, both married and divorced (and re-married and re-divorced) in real life take the audience into what seems like the two of them having one of their real life brawls in a thinly disquised movie about a horribly discontented middle aged couple. Wow. And \"Harold and Maude\" where a boy who feels stifled by his normal, affluent life, acts out, until he meets an idiosyncratic old woman who understands him, and takes him under her wing (and into her bed).\n\n\"Le Weekend\" is not one of those movies.\n\nWhat it is, if you turned off the volume, and perhaps dubbed in a soundtrack, is a fantastic film tour of Paris---not the stock shots you see in most other films, but shots of streets and avenues and neighborhoods the wandering visitor encounters, full of awe, always looking up and down and trying to see everything there is to see. Unfortunately (and the reason turning off the soundtrack would sound like a good idea) the view is marred by this terrible, middle aged, British couple who have come to Paris because fighting at home has gotten boring.\n\nThe wife, Meg (played all too well by Lindsay Duncan) seems to have an undiagnosed mental disorder (ADHD?) as she definitely runs hot and cold, and in the blink of an eye. One moment she's frivolous to the point of childish, and the next (often seemingly spurred by the degree to which her husband, who clearly loves her, has been drawn in to her fantasy) she's morose, expressed most of the time by mindlessly vicious verbal attacks on her husband. The husband, Nick (the rather demented looking, bug eyed Jim Broadbent) asks for it, by losing all respect in his willingness to allow himself to be drawn into her web, when he should know damn well it's only going to end badly. He's more desperately in love than loving; and she's somewhere between a sadistic Parisian courtesan of the Sun Kings, and a preying mantis.\n\nThere are scenes that stand out in my memory, brilliant scenes. One, where he's got his iphone ear pods in, listening to some sixties band he grew up on, bopping about---from one angle he looks almost young again, in profile he's clearly a hideously aged buffoon. Another scene, where she's dressing for dinner, that they'll attend at the house of a friend (in the Rue de Rivoli, no less) she's slinking about the bedroom in opaque black stockings and black velvet heels that have an almost lethal attraction----Nick sits on the couch practically slobbering at the sight, when she sees him and decides to play with him, like a black widow going out on her web for the fly... she tells him to get down, and he crawls off the couch, onto his knees, begging her---the very object of her loathing and understandably so---and just as she has him, she crushes him. The coldness of her eyes, the look on her face...\n\nBut the parts do not add up. In \"Who's Afraid Of Virginia Wolfe\" the intensity builds, relenting only to gain energy to build to new heights; the protagonists try to enlist the sympathy and support of their guests against the other spouse, and once they feel so armed, off they go again. It's a rotting married life as breathless spectacle. Here the rot is more internal, cancerous, and no one feels free enough to scream in the pain they clearly feel, thus the audience is never quite drawn in. That and the fact that this is an aging baby boom couple, raised in plenty, free from want, indulged to a fault. They never really grew up, and they're still as selfish as they were as children. And delusional. Clearly, while Nick is in love with his wife, he's also too willing to suspend reality when she takes over, and tends to draw him into her deceitful world. It may be played to seem idiosyncratic, but the woman clearly has a failing moral compass, between her own delusional affair with a younger man, and her inability to accept that they can't afford to do some of the stuff she wants to do. It's one thing when they enter a very expensive restaurant and order to their heart's content, and then---after having chosen that moment of their anniversary to tell her husband she'd like to talk about leaving him; and he responds (later) that she should buy him one last dinner (this one), she realizes she can't afford it and she decides they'll skip out. But, unfortunately (for the film's credulity) that becomes her default solution, when the money begins to run out. Steal. Eventually, between the cost of what seems to be the Presidential Suite and the charges they incur there, they find they can't check out as they can't pay the bill; they can't leave France, because the hotel has their passports; and they get caught trying to skip out.\n\nI can't say that I liked Burton and Taylor as characters in their cinematic brawl, but they took the audience for an A-Ticket ride (google that, child). This couple does not take the audience much of anywhere, on any sort of ride. They're both pathetic, selfish and delusional to a fault, and watching them is neither a pleasure nor entertaining. If it weren't for the Paris backdrop, I wouldn't have stuck with it for as long as I did, but even Paris could not, and did not, save this film.","Product: In Arizona 1882 nothing comes easy in the bitterly unforgiving Old West except dying. Albert (Seth MacFarlane), is a soft man in hard times who really doesn't fit in. Adding to Albert's distress and feelings of inadequacy, his girlfriend (Amanda Seyfried ) leaves him for the towns moustache groomer (Neil Patrick-Harris). When a mysterious and beautiful woman (Charlize Theron) rides into town she helps him find his courage. However, when her husband (Liam Neeson), a notorious outlaw, arrives seeking revenge, the farmer must put his new found courage to the test.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Often Hilarious, Occasionally Crude, Parody Of The Western, and Western Soundtracks.\n\nReview: I couldn't help thinking that I was watching an update of Mel Brooks \"Blazing Saddles\" as much of this Western parody feels so much like that now classic film, from the cliche style of font used in the graphics, to the rehashed Copeland-esque Western score (oddly enough, at least one reviewer of the soundtrack loved that, but refuses to watch the film!). Like the Mel Brooks effort, \"A Million Ways To Die In The West\" takes on a Hollywood form that, when Mel Brooks was doing it, was getting replaced at the cinema by space films. Today we've got modern specimens of the form, including two by the Coen Brothers, \"No Country For Old Men\" and \"True Grit\". And, \"Rango\". \"A Million Ways To Die...\" has a story to tell, and like older films, does so at its own pace, such that (when we had to pause the film) we were surprised that we'd only been watching for 45 minutes, when it seemed like so much more time had passed. It doesn't so much drag as it unfolds.\n\nIt has to be noted that it's also a bit crude at times; We've progressed (if that's the accurate word) beyond the farts around the campfire of \"Blazing Saddles\", to the point where sex, and childish obsessions with bodily functions are now fair game for humor, often not adding anything to the film. The ostentatiously genteel will have issues, then again the seem to like having the opportunity to show all the rest of us how refined they are. No one will be surprised where Sarah Silverman's character shows up, and she's remarkably restrained, in the role, for Sarah Silverman.\n\nSeth MacFarlane's character is portrayed as a coward, always running away and rarely standing up to the bullies. When he does, he spouts new age-y warm fuzzies about peace and love, and manages to get the gunslingers to give him extra time---which he then uses to his advantage, even if he loses his girlfriend because of these tendencies, early on. Then again, the girl he gets is.... spoiler alert... Of course, what goes un-remarked is that the real cowards are the townsfolk who outnumber the bad badguys and sociopaths by the dozens-to-one, and who never stand up for anything or anyone, and only show up to watch those that do bite the dust, content to ride along on other people's fights, deaths, and whatever benefits may, or may not, accrue.\n\nThe film certainly takes its time, yet it generally spends it wisely. Cultural and Hollywood references abound for those paying attention. All in all a very entertaining way to pass the time.","Product: Heist comedy caper starring Pierce Brosnan, Emma Thompson, Timothy Spall and Celia Imrie. Middle-aged company man Richard Jones (Brosnan) is all set for retirement - or so he thinks. When he arrives at work for his last day and finds that his pension fund has been stolen through the fraudulent workings of Vincent Kruger (Laurent Lafitte), the man who has recently bought over the company, he enlists the help of his ex-wife Kate (Thompson) to help get it back. The two set off for France with their friends Jerry (Spall) and Penelope (Imrie) who agree to help steal Vincent's bride-to-be's diamond necklace which they feel will fully compensate for the lost funds. Can they track Vincent down and secure their future?\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Preposterous Story Line That Sinks To Silly Without Even A Nod To Being A Farce\n\nReview: What you want to watch is \"RED\" and \"RED 2\" where a cast of aging (and aged) movie stars convincingly play the roles of retired CIA operatives whom the CIA itself considers Retired Extremely Dangerous. There the skill sets are matched to the actors employing them, and their age, and the audience is drawn in and taken for a very amusing ride.\n\nHere, Hollywood has chosen two of its more genteel actors (Emma Thompson and Pierce Brosnan) and thrown in a couple of others as clowns (Timothy Spall and Celia Imrie) and set them off on an adventure that anyone with any functioning brain cells could not imagine them succeeding at. It seems that, on the eve of his retirement, Brosnan's character's company has been bought out by a hedge fund wonder of irritating youth and he's convinced them to merge their pensions with his; then he drives their company into the ground such that they show up to work one day to find themselves locked out, with foreclosure notices on the doors. It turns out that for Brosnan and his ex, Thompson, not only is their pension gone, but so too is their mortgage money and their kid's college tuitions. So, after some clandestine online investigating, they find that the creton's HQ is in Paris, and off they go.\n\nYou know, being a brash young thing, they, being Respectable, Upper Middle Class Elders; they will simply go and have a talk with him and bring him to his senses. Sadly, nothing else in the movie is any more plausible than this. With the vagaries of the Anglo-American Capitalist System behind him (what he did was wrong, but legal) he has them thrown out. They then discover he's about to get married, and that he bought the Rainbow Diamond (just on the news for its $10,000,000.00 sale to an anonymous buyer) to give to her.\n\nThey decide to crash his high security wedding and steal the diamond. And this is where my sympathy for the film evaporated. Stealing, and fencing a named diamond is the stuff only the best heist films can carry off. This is not one of those films. Worse, with this plot, not only is the idea itself preposterous, but this bunch of nitwits never do anything the easy way. They complicate everything. They choose the path of greatest resistance that requires skill sets the audience can not believe they would possibly have, let alone the stamina to exploit them, At Their Age...\n\nOf course, the standard for Rom Com's is fairly low, but this doesn't even reach that bar. The settings are beautiful, as is Emma Thompson, but that's not enough to carry this silly tale.","Product: Jon Favreau (writer, director and producer) leads a hilarious all-star cast including Sofa Vergara, Scarlett Johansson, John Leguizamo, Bobby Cannavale, Dustin Hoffman, Oliver Platt, Robert Downey Jr. and young actor Emjay Anthony in this deliciously entertaining comedy about starting from scratch. When gifted chef Carl Casper (Favreau) suddenly quits his demanding job at a trendy LA restaurant, he's on his own to pick up the pieces of his once promising career. Finding himself in Miami, he decides to team up with his successful ex-wife (Vergara), best friend (Leguizamo) and son (Anthony) to launch a no-frills food truck business. Taking to the road, Carl reignites his passion for the kitchen and, along the way, discovers a renewed zest for life and love.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Fun Relationship Film With Food Porn\n\nReview: \"Chef\" starts out as a rather convincing kitchen action flick, and manages to depict the high tension environment of that setting, while interspersing enough glossy images of food that one still thinks cooking might be a fun way to make a living (been there, done that, no thanks). But, passion, we soon learn, has been made submissive to profit, as the restaurant's owner (Dustin Hoffman) didn't like the way his clientele rejected the Chef's previous attempts to add sweetbreads to the menu, and won't let him change the crowd pleasing formula, even though the big time L.A. restaurant critic who'd discovered the Chef has announced he's coming to dinner. So El Jefe, as he's styled himself (he's got the Cubana bombshell wife [Sofia Vergara] but he speaks no Spanish) obediently prepares the Standards and gets roundly panned in a review that quickly goes from denouncing the food to an ad hominem rebuke of the Chef. Unfortunately, this is when El Jefe discovers Twitter. He doesn't know how it works, doesn't listen to anyone who does, and becomes an internet sensation with one tweet---and not a good one.\n\nSo now he's got some time off...\n\nIt's here that El Jefe finally realizes (with some help from his ex wife---Vergara) that he needs to be a father to his son (Emjay Anthony) and for once, he starts listening. It is here that the movie changes course---his relationship with his son becomes the center of the film, and the cooking becomes the vehicle, literally, as they buy a food truck in Miami. It turns out that the kid is a whiz with social media and now the internet starts working for El Jefe, instead of against him. Of course, by now the savory element of the film has been completely replaced with dulces and we're bombing for the exit like the Giant Dipper coming off the top of its big hill, and the movie has been about as much fun as said roller coaster, albeit with out most of the twists and drops.\n\nThis film is pure entertainment, it's not meant to be taken too seriously. We could ask why there are only two women of note in the film and both are Barbie dolls, and both are meant to be ornaments to El Jefe, who gives us no reason to understand why (in real life) either would want such a physically unattractive, and self centered, guy. We could point out that, like the food in the restaurant that starts the plot rolling, the soundtrack is pure crowd pleaser too, nothing unusual, or challenging. Or that, for the millionth time, Los Angeles' Mexico/Central American latin culture is shoved aside and ignored for a Caribbean centric culture that isn't nearly so prevalent there, and it's not like Mexican Food lacks color or is dominated by tofu and wheat grass... We could, but at this point, why bother?\n\nWhat this film offers is rarely seen in a Hollywood product: A father who fathers. Once the relationship scenes get going, the kid stays a kid, not some precocious brat; and the hitherto self absorbed Dad morphs into someone who sees what he has to do, and does it, and does it well. Thus, when we get to the scene with the Chef's knife, and the burnt Cubano; when Dad gives his talk, it really works. That alone scored points with me.\n\nI'll definitely be watching this again, it was fun right out of the gate and managed to stay fun all the way back home.","Product: When Joel (Paul Rudd) and Molly (Amy Poehler) meet, it's hate at first sight: his big Corporate Candy Company threatens to shut down her quirky indie candy shop. Plus, Joel is hung up on his sexy ex (Cobie Smulders). But amazingly, they fall in love, until they break up about two thirds of the way through, and Molly starts dating her accountant (Ed Helms). But then right at the end...well you'll just have to see. (Hint: Joel makes a big speech and they get back together.)\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Often Funny Modern Parody That Makes Mel Brooks Seem Like An Intellectual\n\nReview: There have been several times where I've sat in a theater, watching a comedy, where--as one of the oldest people in the theater---I was often the only person laughing at a humorous situation. The twenty and thirty-somethings just sat there, unless the joke was so broad as to be unmistakably meant to be laughed at---it was as if a \"Laugh\" sign was needed to cue them. This film would seem to be aimed at that crowd. If you have any movie watching history at all---if you've seen parodies like \"Blazing Saddles\" or \"What's Up Doc\" (both from the early 70's) or any of the work of the Masters of Old Hollywood (let alone Woody Allen), the level of art and craft displayed in this movie is going to seem less than zero.\n\nThat said, it does have its funny moments, it's just that those who find Will Ferrell funny will find more of said moments. It seems that the SNL alumni are in a race to the bottom, to out-devolve Ferrell as an adult child. That and the idea that the early part of the film feels like it was as much inspired by the art house/cable success of \"Portlandia\" on the part of other SNL alumni, and these folks simply set the idea back to its NYC roots.\n\nIt's a send up of romantic comedies, and starts as a double date between two couples, with one seemingly happily married couple asking their friends, newly together, how they met, and the story is told in backflash mode from there. A lot of self absorbed comedians over indulging themselves while the adults are taking a call from the Coast is how much of the film spools out. I realize that my interest in Amy Poehler was a five minute affair during her stint with Tina Fey playing Sarah Palin, and we were watching Tina, not Amy.\n\nAnd then there's the race issue. SNL has a few non-white cast members. Romantic comedies are often almost entirely one race, depending on the audience intended for the film. This parody's' whiteness pretty much demands comment. There's only one main character who isn't white, and she plays the typical \"mammy\" role, as sound board to the idiocy of a spoiled white brat, offering sage advice with a dollop of black attitude. Really? They couldn't have diversified the film a little bit more? A bunch of SNL vets get together to make a film commenting on a genre of films, and they made no effort to make a racial comment with significant roles for non-white players?\n\nSo no, despite the real laughs at many points, I would not recommend this film to anyone I liked. And I'm glad I rented it to stream instead of going to the theater to see it,","Product: There are a million reasons not to like realtor Oren Little (Michael Douglas), and that's just the way he likes it. Willfully obnoxious to anyone who might cross his path, he wants nothing more than to sell one last house and retire in peace and quiet -- until his estranged son suddenly drops off a granddaughter (Sterling Jerins) he never knew existed and turns his life upside-down. Clueless about how to care for a sweet, abandoned nine-year-old, he pawns her off on his determined and lovable neighbor Leah (Diane Keaton) and tries to resume his life uninterrupted. But little by little, Oren stubbornly learns to open his heart - to his family, to Leah, and to life itself - in this uplifting comedy from acclaimed director Rob Reiner.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Crotchety Old Folks Rom Com. Even By The Standards Of Mature Audience Rom Coms...\n\nReview: I suppose that when you have a stable of older actors playing romantic roles in rom-coms it's only inevitable that the actors are going to get older, and that eventually they're going to seem TOO old for anything that isn't on the order of \"Whales Of August\" or \"On Golden Pond\". To that end, this rom com feels like a made for TV movie developed by AARP and sponsored by Geritol and some motorized stair climber company.\n\nIn many ways it also feels like a low budget version of \"Something's Gotta Give\"---with the convertible driving through Long Island enclaves, and Diane Keaton in bed crying after making love for the first time since the end of the Cold War---or was it the Korean War? Except that Michael Douglas is not Jack Nicholson, even if the latter was over 70 when he played the part.\n\nOren Little (Douglas) is a bitter widower who can't get over the loss of his wife, who, nevertheless, seems far more cynical and cold to have only gotten that way since she died. As a realtor, he's trying to sell the family home. His son turns up---a former addict but one who apparently had a fine white collar job on Wall Street until the SEC screwed him. Now he's going to jail for 9 months and he dumps his daughter on his dad (but only after Dad very rudely refused to help).\n\nAs Little struggles to sell his house, he lives in a two-story lakeshore quadplex that he shares with Leah (Keaton), a lounge singer who can't sing a song without bursting into tears thinking of her late husband; another woman who is raising twin sons, and a black couple.\n\nA word about the African Americans. As we all know, rom coms are notoriously racist, almost exclusively white, with no important roles for anyone non-white, unless they are stereotyped. In this instance though, Reggie (Albert Jones) is given a pointed but polite dialog with Little over parking, and then Little delivers his wife's (Almirah Vann) baby (after removing her panties, at her insistance) so you know this film is not really racist, aside from the fact that the couple have no other role in the film. Hollywood Addresses Racism In Film. Sort of.\n\nThe problem is that Oren Little is so bitter and so cynical, and honestly, so OLD. Everyone is so old. Diane Keaton repirses her role as a chanteuse, but she sits most of the time, as if she's too tired to stand to sing. The camera pans over the audience and no one is under 65. It's as if the film wants to be \"Something's Gotta Give\" but it can't manage more than \"Something's Gotta Break\". Everything felt forced, tired, broken.\n\nNot a great ninety minutes.","Product: Oscar winner Kevin Kline plays Mathias, a New Yorker who travels to Paris in order to liquidate a very valuable apartment that he has inherited from his late father. However, once there he finds a peculiar old woman occupying it (Oscar winner Maggie Smith) and she has more than just a bit of bad news regarding his plans to become wealthy.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Quietly Beautiful And Increasingly Intense Drama Advertised As A Romantic Comedy.\n\nReview: This is another of those films where all the funny bits made it into the previews, leaving nothing to surprise the viewer in the actual film, aside from the fact that it's not nearly as funny as one was led to believe. \"Blue Jasmine\" worked this to the nth degree, but \"My Old Lady\" isn't nearly so grim, and Paris gets much better treatment than San Francisco did.\n\nMathias Gold (Kline) has inherited a house and garden from his late father, in the fashionable Marais district of Paris. The problem is, according to a long standing French legal arrangement, the house comes with Maggie Smith (which would seem to be something of a dream come true, at least for a while) playing a 91 year old english woman, Mathilde Girard, who'd sold the house to the elder Mr. Gold, after her husband had died.\n\nForty one years ago.\n\nAs part of the deal, the late Mr. Gold was to pay Mme Girard twenty four hundred euros a month until her death, at which time he could claim the house. Unfortunately, Mr. Gold has now died, and Mme Girard is still going strong. And Mr. Gold the younger, a middle aged man himself, has sold everything he has to get to Paris, where he had intended to sell the damn house and live off the proceeds.\n\nLife has other plans...\n\nIt turns out that Mr. Gold has issues regarding his dad, and his dad's cheating on his mother. It also happens that the house has secrets, and one of them has to do with Mme Girard, and her daughter, who lives with her. Working out Mr. Gold's issues and the house's secrets is where the movie keeps the meat of the story, little of which proves funny, and only adds to the drama as the story moves along. Kevin Kline gets to put his acting chops on full display and it's rather impressive.\n\nSo the viewer goes in expecting a comedy, gets tricked into a fairly decent drama, and the entire experience is rather rewarding. What really makes the film though is its low key atmosphere (similar in many ways to \"Blue Jasmine\"s finer moments) and the music which sets and holds the tone. It's a beautiful if well worn world these people inhabit inside the house, and of course, it's Paris every time they step out the door. The movie is quietly simmering with activity.\n\nAll in all a very nice way to pass an afternoon.","Product: From the director of CHICAGO and the producer of WICKED comes a modern twist on the beloved fairy tales you thought you knew. Meryl Streep stars in this epic musical saga about daring to venture INTO THE WOODS. Iconic characters, such as Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk and Rapunzel, find their fates intertwined with a humble baker and his wife, whose longing to have a child sends them on a quest to reverse a witch's (Streep) curse. With an all-star cast, this spellbinding adventure is everything you could ever wish for.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: A Mostly (But Not Entirely) Sung Musical. With No Arias Or Singable Songs.\n\nReview: The unusual distribution of star ratings speaks volumes to the polarization that Sondheim inspires. That and the fact that a lot of viewers no doubt went in expecting something else. Everyone who recommended this to me did so with the same qualification, they liked it \"but, you have to go in expecting that it's almost entirely sung\". And so it is. Like an opera, in the sense that whatever dialog exists is between that which is sung, unlike say a more traditional musical (like \"Oklahoma\" or \"South Pacific\", or even \"Chicago\") where brilliant songs interrupt the dialog, which then resumes, after the music dies down. I would hasten to add: If your idea of opera is a lot of screeching or caterwauling, this is not that sort of music; rather, the melodic soundtrack into which the dialog is set is thoroughly modern, much more limited in vocal range and expression, and, unfortunately, never once rises to the breathtaking levels of an aria. There isn't even a great song anywhere in the film.\nAnd, for whatever reason, while the first two thirds of the film are mostly sung, the last third is mostly spoken.\n\nThe story is simple, and since the play first came out, several movies have taken the idea and run with it---as have at least a couple of TV shows: A childless baker and his wife make a wish. Cinderella makes a wish. Jack makes a wish. Rapunzel makes a wish. Red Riding Hood makes a wish (with Johnny Depp as the wolf, no less) and it turns out that all their wishes intersect at the same shallow, wretched witch that is Meryl Streep's character (who, thankfully, does not so much sing) and it turns out that wishes have consequences. Also, Cinderella does not have a pumpkin carriage, she just runs away. Unfortunately, she keeps showing up and running away as if she's caught in some strange loop. The baker keeps trying to prevent his wife from helping him, even though she seems far more competent than he. Eventually, everyone realizes they need to work together, and even then the ending is more \"realistic\" than happy---although not realistic enough for Sondheim fans who sat through the play.\n\n In any event, despite, the massive, star studded cast (which included many of my favorites) the story just petered out before the end of the film. The music became tiresome and the lyrics such that were, too earnestly clever, cloying.\n\nIt's not a bad film. More like \"Maleficent\", and probably \"Cinderella\", when it comes to instant tv. Although, both of those films had absolutely dreadful music, far far worse than this.","Product: In Disney's riveting mystery adventure TOMORROWLAND, a jaded inventor and an optimistic teen embark on a danger-filled mission to unearth the secrets of an enigmatic place somewhere in time and space.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Fantastic Adventure Great Special Effects and Visuals Fun Story.\n\nReview: This will probably be the only movie I see in a theater this year, and we did the IMAX version. It was one of the best mainstream movies I've seen in a while, and one of the best Disney films I can remember---aside from the \"Pirates...\" franchise of course. The trailers were brilliant as well: They show enough to give you a feel for what the movie will be about, yet in many of the scenes shown in the trailers, what you think is happening is not what actually happens at that point in the film... Sadly, we don't get enough time in Tomorrowland, but to say why is the worst sort of spoiler.\n\nIt's 1964 when the movie opens, and the child Frank Walker (Thomas Robinson) has taken off for the Worlds Fair in New York, with a jetpack he's made from vacuum cleaners and other stuff. Since it doesn't quite work, he doesn't get the prize, but he does meet a pretty little english lass named Athena (Raffey Cassidy) who has faith in him, and lets him in after her father tries to keep him out (of Tomorrowland, of course...). After he succeeds in getting in, we're fast forwarded to what seems to be the grown up Walker (George Clooney) trying to narrate a film, or some sort of document, and constantly getting interrupted by a young woman (Britt Robertson)---and then we go back to meet her as a child. Getting Walker and Newton together is the prime focus of most of the film, as she is essential to the resolution of the story. Eventually, they do cross over to Tomorrowland, and how they do it is perfectly ridiculous, in a fun way.\n\nThe takeaway message of the film is that we've too lazily accepted the idea that the future is going to be awful because it allows us to do nothing about it (\"What can we DO?\" we wail). Such an attitude is probably a self fulfilling prophecy, and it would be more practical if we had a more optimistic view of the future and tried to do something to ensure that it turns out that way. It's very uplifting idea that the movie works to good advantage---the Big Speech at the end in fact is pretty much all on that idea. Sadly, the inadvertent message also comes across all to clear: The Future Is For White People. Diversity is merely a ploy and people of color are no more than props. None of the prime speaking roles went to anyone of color. People feel quite comfortable saying the most outrageous things about police---when only a few cops are at issue: Why do we give Hollywood a free pass on racism? In movie after movie, if Hollywood isn't using people of color in stereotypical roles, or they don't use them at all, they use them as background diversity while everything up front is white. The whiteness of this film is its biggest flaw and given the importance of it's intended message, that is really pathetic.","Product: Based upon Marvel Comics most unconventional anti-hero, Deadpool tells the origin story of former Special Forces operative turned mercenary Wade Wilson, who, after being subjected to a rogue experiment that leaves him with accelerated healing powers, adopts the alter ego Deadpool. Armed with his new abilities and a dark, twisted sense of humor, Deadpool hunts down the man who nearly destroyed his life.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Meh. Nice Eye Candy. Run Of The Mill Super Hero Film In A World Overpopulated With The Form.\n\nReview: Until Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool) mutates into the burn-victim look-alike, physically regenerative, superhero (who, nevertheless can not regenerate healthy looking skin) there is a lot of male eye candy for those so interested---nothing terribly frontal,sadly, he almost always has a lumpy sweater on, but lots of male eye candy just the same. Then, he morphs and has to wear the suit. At this point his gay voice takes over---apparently straight, married, and with children, Reynolds still has a great gay voice (here) which goes on and on and on as the babbling, can't stop talking, narrator for a character who isn't exactly tight with words himself, at least before the mask---to the annoyance to those who are trying to kill him. And sometimes to the annoyance of the viewer.\n\nThe question is, IS Deadpool supposed to be gay? In other films Reynold's is in I've never seen him in the mile-a-minute-motormouth mode, and he doesn't come across as particularly gay on or off screen, even as one might have said of Jack Benny for example. So is this characterization meant to convey a gay Super Hero, or is the gay sounding patter not meant to be gay sounding?\n\nA minor consideration, other than for the fact it's near constant.\n\nThe film is gory in the extreme. People don't just get whacked, they get whacked and as they do they spew, spurt, gush, and spin off bloody bits and pieces.\n\nOver all, in an era when every third movie is a Super Hero movie, I'm well over the form and this one did little to restore my enthusiasm. Then again, the twisted history within \"Wonder Woman\" didn't do much to that end either. I'm just not a Super Hero fan, and this to me is not that funny (one of the selling points I heard) or all that entertaining, even with all that near nudity on Reynold's part.\n\nLet's have more naked Reynolds in a different format.","Product: Both 3-D and 2-D version together.feature commentary with Director Henry selick and composer Bruno Coulais.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Great Story Terrible 3D on DVD\n\nReview: I loved seeing this movie in the theater with digital 3D, but the old fashioned green/orange version you get with this DVD wipes out the color and did little to enhance the film with the feeble 3d effects that were provided. If it makes a difference, I watched it on a large flat screen monitor. So, the bad news out of the way, the movie was great.\n\nThe film is creepy in the halloween aesthetic so favored by Tim Burton, but done here with a bit less of the macabre than in \"Nightmare Before Christmas\". The \"other mother\" turns out to be a spidery creature with the typical Burtonesque mechanical hinged hands, and rag dolls populate the \"other world\", and when they are dispatched, they don't bleed, they lose sand. The film is set in Oregon, and to a point manages to suggest a bit of the misty romance of the western part of that soggy, mountainous state. But for all the sets and effects, it's the story that carries this film. And the story, despite the near relentless gloom and creep, is quite positive. A lonely girl, transplanted from Detroit (where you would think she would have at least some relief at having escaped) to the Oregon countryside by her self employed, and self absorbed writer parents, finds a secret door to a mirror-image apartment, and a mirror image family that is everything hers isn't, including not real and very dangerous. It seems the \"other mother\" also referred to in the film as \"the beldam\" an archaic word for an old hag (although she hasn't that characteristic at all) creates a fantasy world to draw children to her, then she sews buttons on their eyes (they don't go into detail on this) and locks them behind a mirror where she eats their life (or their soul, the film says life, which seems odd).\n\nAlong comes Coraline who, unlike the three other kids who fell afoul of the beldam, decides she's not that lonely, and fights back. Given all the time and energy it took to get to that point, the film resolves itself a bit too quickly from there, for my tastes, but it does it so well; a nice bit of chocolate or fine cheese that was portioned a bit too small, and there isn't any more as you find out afterwards... The thing about the two worlds in this film, is that it isn't just Coraline's family that gets the treatment. The old Russian acrobat upstairs and the two burlesque performers downstairs also have star turns in the \"other world\" that really delight the viewer. I managed to find a review on a \"family\" website that was very good, until it got to the nudity part... I'll mention that because they did, as apparently it's an issue for some people. In the burlesque scene, in a vaudeville theater that the ladies apartment becomes in the \"other world\" they do what they did when they were younger, except that now they're not, and they're very, very out of shape, but you do have two stop-animation figures cavorting about in a vaudeville burlesque routine about mermaids and sirens, and one of them is but for the saving graces of glittering pasties and g-strings all but naked. And then, the women materialize in their more youthful form, in show-nothing one piece bathing suits that would have made Mr. Hayes proud, and there you are. I'd hate to think I ruined your day if I led you into a purchase that has partial stop animation nudity among the clay-rines.\n\nSo, I heartily recommend the film, and just as heartily suggest you watch the 2D version as it seems to be enhanced (ala \"Roger Rabbit\") such that it has greater depth without having 3D. The 3D, in the theater, was not so much the hatchet flying off the screen variety of old, but added a degree of depth and realism to the story. I wonder if one brought home the glasses from the theater, one would have better results with the 3D here? And then I ask, why aren't the live action films this good?","Product: Charlie's investigation of a phony psychic during the 1939 World Exposition on San Francisco's Treasure Island leads him to expose a suicide as murder.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Entertaining Standard Hollywood Fare. Don't Expect To See Much Of The Fair.\n\nReview: I found the quality of this DVD to be quite good, very clear translation to disc. Good sound. The movie is also decent for what it is---A white guy playing a Chinese detective, because there weren't enough Chinese actors in Hollywood. That must be the explanation... The story is well told, it's funny in parts. And it certainly has a sense of period. Those hoping for Hollywood quality filmed images of the Golden Gate Exposition on Treasure Island though will be mostly disappointed, on two counts: Aside from the fly-over at the beginning, supposedly in a China Clipper, you don't really see much of the fair at all---the movie is all done on a backlot (unlike its predecessor, which was most unusually shot in Honolulu). And, while the black and white is gorgeous, the fair was noted for its colored light show at night. I never expected to see even a glimpse of Sally Rand's Nude Ranch, so I wasn't disappointed there either. Still, it's a fun film.","Product: When her heart is stolen by a seductive stranger a young woman is swept away to a house atop a mountain of blood-red clay: a place filled with secrets that will haunt her forever. Between desire and darkness, between mystery and madness, lies the truth be ...\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Sumptuous Gothic Horror/Romance With Remarkably Violent Bits of Gore; Here, And There.\n\nReview: I'd added this film to my Halloween list for October, when I found a review that said the studio had emphasized the horror scenes in the trailer, and in reality the movie was more of a gothic romance than a horror flick. Don't you just hate that? \"Blue Jasmine\" seemed so funny in trailers when in fact all the funny bits were IN the trailer and the movie was not only a very moving film of a woman's mental descent, Woody Allen didn't even bother to try to make San Francisco worth looking at---as he had for Paris and Rome.\n\nThis is not that kind of movie. That reviewer must have been texting while watching. This movie is a remarkably gory gothic romance---people don't just die, they get their heads bashed in and you get to watch. Otherwise, as horror films go---I loved it, right up my alley. I can't stand the slasher flicks and I don't like films that will linger on and give me the creeps on those lonely nights in a dark creaky apartment (like \"Angel Heart\"). This one is a haunted house/ghost film---with ghosts that are more monster corpses than spectres (think \"Pirates of The Caribbean\"). Oh, and there isn't a lot of the romance part either---but it's very gothic.\n\nSo, if you're looking for a creepy film with a fantastically atmospheric haunted house, bits of extremely violent gore, and recurrent grotesques as ghostly figures; one that is lavishly filmed (in 70mm no less) for your October viewing, add this to your list, right near \"The Orphanage\".","Product: The Banks children, Jane and Michael, change nannies just about as often as most people change their clothes. It's not that they're naughty, exactly -- just awkward. Everyone in the household is at their wits' end with them -- until Mary Poppins arrives! The Classic tale from P.L Travers. This, the first book about Mary Poppins, will be familiar to everyone who has seen the film. For it is in this book that Jane and Michael draw up their advertisement for a nanny, and Mary Poppins appears out of the sky with her parrot-headed umbrella which talks. She is strict but fair, slides happily up the banisters, and takes the children on the most extraordinary outings -- to a funfair inside a pavement picture; to uncle Andrew who sails up to the ceiling when he laughs -- which she firmly denies afterwards. Needless to say, the children are devastated when she leaves, but by then, they and their parents are far more of a family than they ever were before Mary Poppins appeared.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Light, Entertaining Children's Fare, In A Well Done Retro-Edition\n\nReview: What was I thinking, I wonder? The \"Mary Poppins\" I remember trying to read, when I was twelve, and the \"Mary Poppins\" I just finished are two completely different works, and yet, most of that difference (which also marks the most significant difference between the book and the movie, aside from the music, of course) originates almost entirely with Mary Poppins, herself. Julie Andrews portrayal of the magical nanny only hints at the unpleasant, vainglorious prig that is at the center of the book, and who colored my reception to it. While the children, Jane and Michael, clearly love her, she never once says a kind word to them, and is almost constantly admonishing them for this or that, while denying that they saw or experienced what they did; and, she's also cross with nearly everyone else she meets, yet no explanation is given! Despite that, the book is a quite cheerful affair, full of eccentric characters rendered in a rather light hand,, that doesn't linger very long at all on the details. In tone and cadence, P.L. Travers' writing is quite remarkably similar to A.A. Milne in his \"Winnie The Pooh\" series. In structure, each chapter is a self contained adventure, so anyone reading this to children, as a bed time story, would not have to go back and refresh the details from the last reading in order to progress through to the next.\n\n\"Mary Poppins\" is, at its best, a children's story (for \"Ages 8 And Up\" as it says on the frontispiece) the book you'd read to little ones who've outgrown picture books. For adults, it is very simple reading----almost embarrassingly so if you haven't a kid to aim it at; this is not \"The Secret Garden\", \"Treasure Island\", or \"Harry Potter\". As a descriptive writer, Travers makes Hemingway seem wordy, and Maugham appear obsessive. In describing the animals at the four corners of the earth, in the revised Chapter 6 \"Bad Tuesday\", a polar bear gets only \"white\" added to bear. And a macaw gets nothing at all. A macaw, as it turns out, is a large, bright, multi-hued parrot---and I just outdid Travers by three words, four if you count the hyphenated phrase as two words... Worse, the reader isn't transported back to the era of the book. There's no sense of being in 1934, or the Edwardian Era twenty years before it.\n\nSo why ARE you considering this book, exactly? Are you going to read it to your kids, or someone else's? Great! A gift for a little reader who's just beginning to open his/her own cover? Excellent! \"Saving Mr. Banks\"? Waste of time! Nothing in this first \"Mary Poppins\" will enlighten your movie going experience. Mr. Banks has less than a bit part, and less at that, than Mrs. Banks. He is quoted with regards to Nannys; he is then said to be going-to or coming-from work, and announcing whether he'll wear an overcoat, or take an umbrella, and that's it. If you remember the trailer, where Ms. Travers expresses her astonishment that Mr. Disney seems to think that Mary Poppins is saving the children, and not Mr. Banks, this book won't give you a clue as to what she means. Perhaps, over the arc of the story line, through all the books, that becomes apparent---it certainly does in the movie, but not here. Not at all.\n\nThis is, again, a little child's book, like \"B Is For Betsy\", for kids who are just learning to read books, or making the transition from pictures to words. Adults not entertaining such an age group, unless they're semi-literate themselves, are going to find themselves reading way below their level. It's light, quick, and fun, but there are so many other books out there that fill that niche, better. The first three (small) volumes of \"Suds In Your Eye\" by Mary Lasswell; The first three volumes of \"Tales Of The City\" by Armistead Maupin. etc etc etc, you probably have your own list. Aside from that, or nostalgia, I can't see why an adult would want to read \"Mary Poppins\" but then again, to have it on your shelf when someone comes over with kids might just make for a memorable evening that might other wise have gone down the tube with whining and wailing, and too many cocktails on your part.","Product: This unusual but strikingly affecting movie stars Marisa Tomei as Ruby, a young woman with a string of bad relationships behind her, who falls in love with a guy named Sam (Vincent D'Onofrio, Full Metal Jacket, The Whole Wide World). Initially, Sam just seems quirky, but eventually he tells her his secret: he's a time traveler from 400 years in the future. Happy Accidents walks a delicate line between genres, never making it clear whether Sam is delusional or telling the truth until the end. The strange blend of genres (which plays like romantic comedy, not like science fiction) may make some viewers balk, but writer-director Brad Anderson (Next Stop Wonderland) has a gift for both revealing psychological insights and sensual moments--like when Sam explains principals of time travel by running his hands up Ruby's leg--that, combined with the superb cast, are constantly engaging and sincerely touching. --Bret Fetzer\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: A Classic Story, Overtold.\n\nReview: Sometimes the most important person in Hollywood is the person doing the editing. Whomever that was didn't put enough effort into the task as this movie is about 30 minutes too long, mostly filled with relationship chaff that doesn't add anything to the movie.\n\nThe big question, which I thought the movie does very well to sustain (thanks in part to the score) is whether or not Deed is a time traveler, or just crazy. Is he really here from 2470? Or is it a delusion? Is Marisa Tomei's character really going to die on Friday, or is it just part of his delusion, a fantasy that plagues him as he remembers the death of his sister? Folks from Brooklyn, and those who know Brooklyn well will probably figure out part of the mystery very quickly, others have internet sources (apart from going to Wikipedia, which would be too easy) that would pick out one of the clues...\n\nWhatever the answer turns out to be, getting there is a long slow hike that is often a slog. Not in the \"Before Sunrise/Sunset/Midnight\" sort of \"getting there is the story\" manner, but with lots of scenes that don't really do much, relationship chaff that adds nothing but little eddies in a plot that doesn't need them.\n\nIt is entertaining, a rom com speckled with scifi powder, but at just under 2 hours, it's a long movie for what it has to say."],"string":"[\n \"Product: Simply a must-have for the avid baker, the Baker's Oven Thermometer lets you know the constant temperature of your oven throughout the cooking process-measuring from 112 to 572 degrees fahrenheit. The easy-to-read LCD display shows elapsed cooking time, target temperature and constant average of the actual oven temperature. This revolutionary thermometer recalculates and updates this average every 10 seconds, and compares it to the set target temperature. What's more, it alerts you if the temperature swings 15 degrees above or below your target temperature. Measurements are taken by using a probe sensor with oven rack clip and insulated metal wire that psses between the oven door seal back to the unit. With some ovens varying as much as 50 degrees fahrenheit from the set temperature on the dial, you can be assured that your cooking at the correct temperature every time. Additional features include a 20 hour count-up or count-down timer, detachable stand for countertop use, and magnets on the back for stickng to metal surfaces. Includes 1 AAA battery.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Excellent Timer; Easy To Use, Dependable, Long Lived---Provided You're Aware The Probe Will Need Replacing\\n\\nReview: I would give this product 5 stars if Maverick would distinguish itself from it's competition by telling people up front what the reviewers have discovered to their dismay: The probe will need to be replaced at some point. I didn't even consider this aspect, and when, after 6 years of use I started to get \\\"High\\\" and \\\"Low\\\" readings, instead of temperatures, I came to Amazon to order another thermometer; that's when I realized that it wasn't the device but the probe. Makes sense, if you think about it---sitting in an hot oven. I didn't even look at the probe, until I replaced it, and saw how truly decrepit it had become!\\n\\nWhen I bought the thermometer I simply unpacked it, put batteries in, and stuck the probe in its holder, to an oven shelf, and aside from replacing batteries and putting the probe back into its clip, that was pretty much it. Stuck to the side of the fridge by its magnet, the poor thing collected all manner of food splatter, and yet, up until a year or so ago, worked just swell.\\n\\nHere at Amazon I looked at all of the electronic thermometers and realized that I'd bought the best at the outset, so when I realized the probe was shot, I went to Maverick and ordered another----and cleaned the surface of the thermometer while I awaited the new probe. Well, the probe is here, and my thermometer is working like a champ!\\n\\nSo, Maverick, quit making unnecessary enemies! Be up front about the probe---all the manufacturers of similar devices have the same issue; distinguish yourself with candor. And offer the probe for sale here as well.\\n\\nAs to all the cranky reviewers who blamed Maverick for ruining your dinners: Get Real. If your dinner went to ruination, it was because you weren't paying attention. Cooking is not a spectator sport. It requires all of your senses at one point or another; you can not expect to put flesh or fiber to the fire and, at the appointed time, take out a dish worthy of a foodie cooking site. Devices like this are a tool to help you, not an auto-pilot to let you indulge your distractions. If your food went to smoke and cinders it's you, not the failed probe.\",\n \"Product: Simply a must-have for the avid baker, the Baker's Oven Thermometer lets you know the constant temperature of your oven throughout the cooking process-measuring from 112 to 572 degrees fahrenheit. The easy-to-read LCD display shows elapsed cooking time, target temperature and constant average of the actual oven temperature. This revolutionary thermometer recalculates and updates this average every 10 seconds, and compares it to the set target temperature. What's more, it alerts you if the temperature swings 15 degrees above or below your target temperature. Measurements are taken by using a probe sensor with oven rack clip and insulated metal wire that psses between the oven door seal back to the unit. With some ovens varying as much as 50 degrees fahrenheit from the set temperature on the dial, you can be assured that your cooking at the correct temperature every time. Additional features include a 20 hour count-up or count-down timer, detachable stand for countertop use, and magnets on the back for stickng to metal surfaces. Includes 1 AAA battery.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Excellent Timer; Easy To Use, Dependable, Long Lived---Provided You're Aware The Probe Will Need Replacing\\n\\nReview: I would give this product 5 stars if Maverick would distinguish itself from it's competition by telling people up front what the reviewers have discovered to their dismay: The probe will need to be replaced at some point. I didn't even consider this aspect, and when, after 6 years of use I started to get \\\"High\\\" and \\\"Low\\\" readings, instead of temperatures, I came to Amazon to order another thermometer; that's when I realized that it wasn't the device but the probe. Makes sense, if you think about it---sitting in an hot oven. I didn't even look at the probe, until I replaced it, and saw how truly decrepit it had become!\\n\\nWhen I bought the thermometer I simply unpacked it, put batteries in, and stuck the probe in its holder, to an oven shelf, and aside from replacing batteries and putting the probe back into its clip, that was pretty much it. Stuck to the side of the fridge by its magnet, the poor thing collected all manner of food splatter, and yet, up until a year or so ago, worked just swell.\\n\\nHere at Amazon I looked at all of the electronic thermometers and realized that I'd bought the best at the outset, so when I realized the probe was shot, I went to Maverick and ordered another----and cleaned the surface of the thermometer while I awaited the new probe. Well, the probe is here, and my thermometer is working like a champ!\\n\\nSo, Maverick, quit making unnecessary enemies! Be up front about the probe---all the manufacturers of similar devices have the same issue; distinguish yourself with candor. And offer the probe for sale here as well.\\n\\nAs to all the cranky reviewers who blamed Maverick for ruining your dinners: Get Real. If your dinner went to ruination, it was because you weren't paying attention. Cooking is not a spectator sport. It requires all of your senses at one point or another; you can not expect to put flesh or fiber to the fire and, at the appointed time, take out a dish worthy of a foodie cooking site. Devices like this are a tool to help you, not an auto-pilot to let you indulge your distractions. If your food went to smoke and cinders it's you, not the failed probe.\",\n \"Product: This high-quality charcal is easy to start and maintain. Use with white ash in a bowl or cup-shaped burners with a 3-leg design. The traditional 3 legs prevents the burner from over heating. Be certain to extinguish the charcoal after use.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: No English Language Instructions. Not impressed.\\n\\nReview: The simple act of providing English language instructions would probably go far to eliminate what few negative ratings and comments this product has attracted. As yet another consumer coming to this brand of incense charcoal from the self lighting variety, I also find it difficult to light, and keep burning. Is a dish specific to this type of charcoal essential? Is it not meant for resin incenses (although, since I can't get any more than the edges lit, my concern at this point is lighting the incense, not what burns on it)? I've held it with tongs over a gas flame, far longer than 30 seconds but only the edges will show any effect of the flame. Once in the incense vessel, on sand, it seems to go out if I close the lid, something the other (self lighting) incense did not. In any event, I end up with more partially melted resin over partially burnt charcoal than anything else. Any tips on usage would be quite helpful.\",\n \"Product: The 9-quart mason cash mixing bowl offers a classic english aesthetic. Create a sense of pure tradition in the kitchen. Truly functional, true quality mason cash, head and shoulders above the competition. Earthenware bowl measures 14-inch by 6-1/2-inch, perfectly sized for large tasks like bread, cookie dough, and pancake batter. This bowl is designed to remain static during manual mixing and the pattern around the outside not only ensures a tight grip but also creates its distinguishable look and timeless elegance. The shape allows you to hold the bowl in one arm easily while the other can be used for beating the mixture, whereas the wide shallow shape is just right for kneading dough. Finally the white interior makes it easy for the cook to see the color and consistency of the mixture ensuring the perfect result. The english design of the mason cash mixing bowl has endured the test of time and has become something of a design classic, having the perfect ergonomic and functional design. In fact, the design has barely altered for over a hundred years, which is why the brand is still renowned for its classic kitchenware, especially the traditional mixing bowls and white pudding basins. It is no wonder that mason cash is, and has always been the choice of the discerning cook.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Sometimes Bowls Just Don't Fit The Decor, But Have To Stay\\n\\nReview: (I rarely give All-Stars so that when I find a product or service warranting an All-Star review, I have that extra option. This bowl is an ALLSTAR/5Star bowl).\\n\\nI hate beige. I really do. But when I buy bowls for couples starting out, friends getting their first apartment, whatever, I buy a Mason Cash.\\nThat's why I got over beige, at least with Mason Cash.\\nWhen I bought my first Mason Cash years ago, I bought a companion bowl, also of vintage design, with a blue exterior, and thick rim and a white interior. It chipped so long ago, I forget what happened. I have very small kitchen and a useless sink. People were not intended to cook in my kitchen. The thing is, I've banged this bowl, I've knocked it about, I've dropped it at least twice, and it's as pristine as could be. There is no chip, no crack, no dull spot anywhere.\\n\\nJust as important as durability: It's easy to use. It's thin enough that you can grab it and hold it as you whip the tar out of the butter and sugar. It's a bowl designed for real cooks, by people who understand what real cooks need.\\n\\nYet, I still hate beige. Every time I look up at this bowl on the shelf I wish it was a bauer bowl, but when I need a bowl to do some serious business--when the KichenAid is in the shop--the bauer bowls stay on the shelf and I go for my Mason Cash.\\n\\nYeah, your metal or glass bowls are doing the job, but honestly, why have a bowl you put up with when you can have a bowl you love?\",\n \"Product: Suction cup built-in on the bottom of the grinder for stress free grinding. Adjustable grind size. Acrylic - Ceramic Burr Grinder.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Excellent Product That Takes Way Too Much Effort To Be Practical\\n\\nReview: Are you one of those twenty-somethings who rides a fixie bike and types on a vintage, manual typewriter? Perhaps your're one of those off-the-grid types? If so, you will LOVE this product. For me, I'll be buying an electric burr grinder to replace my Krups blade version. Like riding a single gear bike up a hill, or typing \\\"clickety clack--oops, crap! Where's the white out?\\\", this product will get the job done, and done well, if you have the time for it, and are willing to invest the effort.\\n\\nI Am Not.\\n\\nI bought a manual grinder so I could grind coffee fresh, just before I go to work, early in the morning---without making noise to upset my neighbors. This one got the best overall reviews online, and I do not dispute those reviews, most of which also note that it does take some time, and effort, to grind enough beans for a 4 cup French Press. Almost 5 minutes. It does grind the beans well, and consistently---unlike my blade grinder which either grinds the beans too fine, or into very irregular pieces---producing a lot of sediment and making it almost impossible to plunge the coffee.\\n\\nSetting the grind was also noted in various reviews as being counter-intuitive. Yes it is, as the directions provided have an Ikea sort of denseness about them which DO NOT tell the english speaking user which grind the grinder is set to at the factory. But, take a look at the picture: Make sure your handle is facing the same direction as the one in the picture and suddenly the directions make sense. I found I had to adjust it a bit to get a coarse grind of the right order, but after that all is well.\\n\\nStill, after spending this much money for a manual grinder I now have to go out and buy an electric one. Be forewarned.\",\n \"Product: Polder has been offering everyday products with extraordinary design since its launch. The company was established in 1976, delivering better quality European-styled housewares to the U.S. market. Polder found early in success in ironing and storage and also launched the industry's first line of digital in-oven thermometers, equipped with a long cord so consumers could digitally monitor food without removing it from the oven. Through the years, Polder has built an eclectic collection of core home categories, including kitchen timers and thermometers, laundry and ironing products, kitchen scales and a variety of other storage solutions. Polder products are tested and certified for their consistent high quality by independent standards labs.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Large, Attractive, Stable Dish Rack With Serious Design Flaws Leading To Frustration And High Maintenance.\\n\\nReview: It's only been 11 months since I bought this? My how fast I've come to loathe it---nearly as much as I loathe the iPad I'm re-writing the review on. What started out as a good fit has proved to be a very badly designed product. Not only does the utensil box fall over so regularly as to seem to be designed to dump the utensils as a way of drying them' the ribs along the bottom of the rack---as well as the plate coil in the drainage channel---all conspire to constrict water flow such that unless you plan on washing your dishrack at least once a week it will eventually look very bad, and when it comes to water in the kitchen, that means unhygenic.\\n\\nEcch.\\n\\nIt's pretty, when it's clean and dry and empty. But that's not the way dishracks are meant to be. In less than a year this product has not only proved to be supremely irritating, but more labor intensive than I would prefer. In short, I'm in the market for another dish rack.\",\n \"Product: Weck 742 - 1/2 L Mold Jar Includes: 6 Jars, 6 glass lids, 6 rings & 12 clamps. Height: 4 1/8\\\" Opening: 3 7/8\\\" Volume: 19.6 fl oz. Dishwasher and microwave safe.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Only For The Well Organized And Strictly Disciplined. Parts Go Missing. Rubber Stretches...\\n\\nReview: Jar + Lid + 2 Clasps + Thin/Narrow Rubber Seal. Five parts, one stretches very easily... Are you the Organized Person? Everything has its place and everything is always put in its place, and nothing ever goes astray? You may well love these beautiful jars. I am not, I try---I keep organizing, I keep rearranging, I keep buying things to put other things in (and remember where I put them) and I'm getting better at putting things away when I'm done with them---where they belong, not just out of sight.\\n\\nStill...\\n\\nFive parts. The clasps seem to go wandering off first. Then I find it, but don't move quickly enough to put it with the jar, and then it either goes missing again, or I put it somewhere I'll remember it when I finally go after the jar (but I don't)...\\n\\nThe thin/narrow rubber seal is another issue. If they stick to the jar and you pull them off you will stretch them, meaning that, they don't pull back into shape---so the next time you try to use the jar (provided you still have both clasps) the seal sags, you try to put it in place but it never quite seems to work...\\n\\nSo, while they are most beautiful jars, I don't like and won't recommend them.\",\n \"Product: Extremely wide range from Turkish fine to coarse for all kinds of coffee preparation. Clearly marked fineness settings, 4 each for extra fine, fine, regular and coarse. A total of 16 settings. Commercial grade solid conical steel burrs with advanced cutting design for high precision grinding. Gear reduction motor grinds slow with reduced noise and little static build-up. Slowest grinding speed in its class creates less friction and heat build up preserving maximum aroma and flavor in any grind setting. Safety lock system. Upper conical burr removable for easy cleaning. Tight fitting ground coffee container (holds up to 4 oz. of ground coffee) See through bean container holds up to 8.8 oz. of beans Timer can be set to grind from 5 to 60 seconds. Pulse grinding possible (see under How Things Work). Elegant, timeless and user friendly design. Cleaning brush and measuring scoop included. Heavy duty zinc die-cast housing. stainless steel finish (#565.05) Weight: 6.1 lbs Weight: 3.3 lbs\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Four Star Grinder. Two Star Clean Up. Needs Re-Thinking.\\n\\nReview: A few months with this and while I'm still happy with the grinding aspect, the cleaning of the machine is a proper chore and shows a real lack of consideration in planning and design. The machine is easy and fairly quiet to use. The quality of the coffee ground in this machine, and brewed in our French Press, is demonstrably better than that ground with a blade.\\n\\nHowever...\\n\\nThe more I use the machine---I clean it every week---the coffee bin seems to collect more coffee (the static other reviewers have mentioned) and it won't always knock out---although it naturally flutters where grounds are not wanted. Of the two parts of the blade though, only the upper blade is removable, the lower blade is attached to the machine, and it is this chamber that is the source of my frustration with this machine. Obviously one can not immerse an electrical appliance in water to clean it, which would solve a lot of problems.\\n\\nThe blade sits in a cylindrical chamber, a cup if you will, rife with hard angles, and gaps. Lots and lots of spaces for grinds to easily fall into, yet difficult from which to remove them. An amazing amount of grinds remain in the base of this area, and especially in the chute between it and the bin below. If you happen to have a small air compressor, or a vacuum with micro-attachments and don't mind hauling it out every week to clean this thing, you won't have a problem. I bought a can of compressed air, but that is hardly a workable solution. This thing has to be cleaned regularly to keep coffee grounds from caking up and ruining its effectiveness, yet cleaning this product is far more involved than it should be, and for that I would suggest you consider other options when shopping for burr grinders.\\n\\nI still like this machine, but keeping it clean is too difficult for the price.\",\n \"Product: Works on any TV with HDMI connection. Now, watch all your favorite DVD\\\"s in region 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 PAL/NTSC + BD 2D & 3D ZONE A/B/C with full HD 1080p. Multi Zone Blu Ray & Region Free DVD High definition will blow you away. Enjoy all your favorite Blu-ray Disc movies in Full HD 1080p resolution, or upscale your DVDs to near HD quality. You can even play your CDs for a complete entertainment experience. Easily display your videos and photos on your TV or listen to your digital music by simply connecting your USB storage device to the Blu-ray player\\\"s front USB slot. he Sony BDP-S5100 3D Blu-ray Disc Player with Super Wi-Fi features a completely encased optical drive for enhanced dust resistance. It supports 2D and 3D Full HD 1080p resolution, 2D to 3D conversion and DVD up scaling to near HD quality. The BDP-S5100 provides network connectivity via Sony Super Wi-Fi or Ethernet, so you can access the Sony Entertainment Network and the 100+ apps it offers. These include Netflix, Hulu Plus, YouTube and more. You can also use your mobile device as a second display or as a remote control for the player. All you need is the Sony TV Side View app. The Blu ray also features a front panel USB port, which you can use to display your videos and photos on your TV or listen to your digital music. For optimum sound quality, the player supports advanced audio formats like Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. You can even search for movie info using Grace note. Other connectivity options include HDMI and coaxial audio. Plus, the device is Energy Star 2.0 certified. Other features include a built-in web browser and access to social networking apps. Enjoy 3D Blu-ray Disc movies in Full HD 1080p and upscale DVDs to near HD quality. The 2D to 3D conversion feature allows your DVD and Blu-ray Disc movies to be automatically converted into 3D for playback on your 3D TV.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: It Works. It's Easy. It Doesn't Look Bad. Has Some Issues.\\n\\nReview: After the unfortunate, early (and not entirely natural) demise of the Panasonic BluRay player I'd bought with the TV, what I went looking for was a Universal/Multi-Region DVD player that would remember whether a dvd had been watched, so I wouldn't have to start at the beginning each time, and have to flip through all the previews; not to mention the anti-piracy warnings that can't be flipped through. What I got was a machine that does all sorts of things I don't think I have any use for, at the moment; yet does only one of the two things I wanted; and has the same bug that led to the unfortunate, early (and not entirely natural) demise of the Panasonic.\\n\\nThe BUG: Buttons that don't operate in real time. PUSH ONCE, WAIT. If the machine doesn't respond, pushing again will only jam its circuits and the little idiot box will simply freeze, requiring you to fish out the plug and pull it.\\n\\nIt seems that to get a machine that will remember whether a dvd has been previously viewed, and let you resume where you left off (instead of starting each one at the Very Beginning) will cost you a lot of money, this is not that machine. It DOES play dvd's from various regions, as advertised, and so far does it seamlessly. The only thing I had to do (and only once, so far) was to find out where to go to turn on subtitles. BUT...\\n\\nBut... Not all DVD's play well. Sometime's its the fault of the DVD. But what to do about other dvd's that don't display the proper ratio on screen? Do I go to the TV or is it the DVD player? Most films play without a hitch, yet when one you want to watch doesn't, and the solution isn't readily apparent, that film becomes an issue.\\n\\nDesign wise, a lot of people seem impressed by the \\\"diamond\\\" look. I guess they live in very bright rooms, with very little stuff on the shelves, and find such things interesting. I like good design, and to that end, I would like a DVD player that is no more than one half inch in thickness, and perhaps no larger than a tablet. Those seem to cost in the thousands, so I'd be perfectly happy with a DVD player that has real time buttons; a slight degree of memory, and that plays all DVDs properly, no muss, no fuss, no bother. This isn't that DVD player.\",\n \"Product: Not your ordinary small speaker system, the nx-b55 employs a unique cabinet shape and front-ported design that delivers exceptional frequency response with clear sound fields. A perfect companion for your PC or Mac, these powered speakers also work great with iPad, iPhone and Android devices.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Basic Sound And A Bit Dull At That. Reviewing Speakers Where You Can Hear Them Is A Better Idea.\\n\\nReview: Buying speakers for the new computer made me wish it had come with them----after all that review-reading, 3 star reviews especially (where you tend to learn more than in the five and one star reviews) I remain disappointed.\\n\\nWhat was I expecting, for $100? That's a good question. Look at the size, look at the price, and ask yourself the same. Yes they're better than some speakers (especially those that cost less) and not as good as others (especially some that cost more). Are you going to listen to music on them--- and you can't stream it to better ones you already have?\\n\\nI find them useful for listening to podcasts (spoken word) but they're rather dull with music. They work, but at the level at which they do work, for what I need, I should have spent less.\\n\\nWhile I wouldn't demean them, I can't call them great speakers, or even very good ones if the quality of sound is important.\",\n \"Product: Microsoft 7N9-00001 Designer Bluetooth Desktop\\n\\nRating: 1.0\\n\\nSummary: UPDATED: Terrible Design. Difficult To Place Hands Without Looking. Too Small? Will Not Keep/Must Replace.\\n\\nReview: Looks great. Works great. Feels great to type on, and I know how to type.\\n\\nInfuriating.\\n\\nUPDATE 4/12/2017: I LOATHE this keyboard. As mentioned below, it is next to impossible for me to set my hands on the proper keys without looking at the keyboard---I have never had this problem (at least not in the decades since my typing class) with any other keyboard. I will be buying another keyboard and disposing of this one---I do not recommend it for anything other than to look at. I should have been able to figure out how to work around it---moving it this way or that---but nothing seems to work. Is it too small, as others have suggested?\\n\\nThere are two raised bars at the bottoms of the F and J key---but trying to set my hands there on this keyboard is nigh impossible without looking. I've tried moving the keyboard to the right (being right handed, and its a very long keyboard, what with the number pad at the right end) to no avail. Time and time again I keep typing the wrong letters---this isn't my first keyboard, although it is my first non-apple keyboard in five years. I've never had this problem before, and been so unable to figure out what is wrong.\\n\\nMaybe I'll work it out, or get used to it, or be trained by using it; I don't know. But for the moment I wish I'd bought something else. Keyboards have not been difficult affairs for me in decades. This one? Not pleased.\\n\\nAs far as the installation goes... I had to call a neighbor in order to borrow a plug-in mouse as bluetooth can't install on its own. It would be like having to borrow someone's wind-up Victrola in order to start your brand new CD player, back when people bought such things. Seems kinda stupid to me.\",\n \"Product: Breathtaking sound never looked so good with these wireless Bluetooth headphones with digital noise cancelling that combine High-Resolution sound compatibility, striking design and long-listening comfort. Easy, one-touch connectivity. No distracting background noise. No annoying cables. Just the pure, authentic sound. Get ready to lose yourself in the music.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: If This Is Good Sound, I'd Hate To Hear What Bad Sound Is.\\n\\nReview: I read reviews, looked for the ones with the best sound ratings---I had a set of Bose noise cancelling---they broke just after the warranty expired (and they didn't sound all that great, either) and I still have a set of mediocre $300. headphones. If you listen to pop music and disco, this may work for you, but if you stream classical music, or listen to good CDs made from fantastic old HI Fi LPs, these, well, call me juvenile: They suck. Muffled, confused. Dim.\\n\\nI didn't pay anywhere near this much money for headphones back in the day (forty years ago) and got much better sound (with much better ears).\\n\\nIs it me? How do you buy headphones to listen to good recordings of music that is not made within a narrow range of highs and lows that defines popular music? I don't like these at all. No better than the Bose---at least there are no cords to break the socket!\",\n \"Product: Whether youre rockin' out to \\\"Ice, Ice Baby\\\" or feelin' \\\"Hot, Hot, Hot\\\", the 20oz Kanteen Wide Insulated will keep the temperature just right. Since it's our largest Insulated bottle, it can also hang with you for the long haul. Whatever food or drink youre packing, whether you poured it in hot or cold, the 20oz Kanteen Wide Insulated has double-walled, vacuum insulation to keep it that way: up to six hours for hot stuff, and more than 24 for iced drinks. Because the bottle is made from high quality, 18/8, food-grade stainless steel and has a 100% stainless interior, it wont retain or impart flavors no matter what you put in it. Thats a good thing. Because the tastes of split pea soup, chai tea, and blueberry/banana smoothie simply should not be mixed. With an all-stainless interior and no liner, you wont have any lingering flavors either. Because the last thing you need is junior coming home from school complaining that his smoothie tasted like your coffee from the day before. The leakproof Stainless Loop Cap creates an all-stainless interior in the bottle and gives you peace of mind if you want to toss it in a bag or lunch box. You can drink straight from the bottle, which has a cup-like feel and comfortable narrow rim, or the sleek Caf Cap to convert the bottle into a to-go mug.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Watertight! Keeps Hot Hot/Cool Cool. BUT!!! One Lid Should Allow Drinking Without Compromising Watertight Seal.\\n\\nReview: This product comes with two lids, here; my partner and I bought two different sizes of the same container each with a different lid (elsewhere). The Cafe, or Coffee, Lid cost this container a star, as the container is not good for drinking hot beverages without it----the rim becomes too hot, and it's sloppy, coffee drips everywhere. With the cafe/coffee lid the drinking is improved, but unless you can be certain you'll be transporting the beverage upright, good luck on avoiding spills: The cafe/coffee lid leaks--tilt it and it drips, it is not a tight seal in any sense, it's barely a seal.\\n\\nSad too.\\n\\nBecause with the loop-top lid, which I'll call the loop lid, this is a five star beverage transport container. For weeks I've been filling it with cool tap water and drinking it as the day progresses and it never once leaked, in any position. More impressively (along with the watertight feature) is that the cool water stayed cool even when the outside of the container (sitting on the dash all day) had gotten quite warm to the touch! Thus, on a whim one night (at 6:30) I filled the container with boiling water. Four hours later it was still very warm---pretty good for coffee if you'd forgotten about it, or didn't want to drink it right away. The next morning (12 hours later) the boiling water had become luke warm---but that's still warm and not cool. One doesn't really want cool coffee, but after twelve hours, who expects hot coffee in a container like this?\\n\\nSo, I'm very much sold on this container---provided it comes up with a better combination lid (who wants two separate lids?)---one that transports without leaking (as the loop lid already does) AND which allows one to drink without burning one's lips, or spilling the beverage all over the place as happens when you drink straight from the container without any lid... Or try to transport it with the Cafe/Coffee---Drinking lid. One lid should provide for both functions: Watertight transport---no leaks AND ease and comfort of drinking without spills/dripping. Who screwed this up by requiring two lids?\",\n \"Product: Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical about a love triangle in the midst of the Oklahoma land rush is adapted to the screen featuring the enduring songs "People Will Say We're in Love," "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin," "Oklahoma!" and more. Shirley Jones' debut, this panoramic film was actually shot in Arizona! Academy Award Nominations: 4. Academy Awards: Best Sound Recording and Best Scoring of a Musical Picture.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Quality of HD Version An Oxymoron; The Movie IS Great.\\n\\nReview: As others have noted, in very technical terms, the quality of the remastered HD version is miserable. But, this is a two disc set, so if you didn't pay through the nose for it, skip that disc and watch the other, normal one---even on a big screen it's pretty good.\\n\\nPeople dump on the movie, so one can only imagine what the play must have been like as the movie is, by todays standards, astounding.\\n\\nWe live in an age where adults long to be children. You go into a theater to see a pre-war or mid-century movie and for ninety minutes you're among sophisticated adults, having adult affairs, going to adult night clubs, dressing like grown ups. Then the lights come up, you leave the theater, the zippy music still bouncing about your head and the audience is all in their hoodies and sneakers like kids. The quality of our entertainment has been dumbed down accordingly.\\n\\n\\\"Oklahoma\\\" was made when people dressed up to go to the Theater; long before people wore flip flops to the White House or a three star restaurant. It's a love story complicated by violent jealousy. It's a musical where every song is hummable, and often, like an opera, moves the plot along. And, right in the middle, there's a fantasy dance number, a ballet, exploring the dark side of the story. Musicals for adults, intelligent entertainment for people who didn't consider their brains to be surplus equipment.\\n\\n\\\"Oklahoma\\\" is beautifully filmed, set to a wonderful score and makes for a great couple of hours in front of the TV. I'm not so thrilled with \\\"South Pacific\\\" but it's interesting to watch them close enough to see the similarities in the songs---how they almost pair off one to one.\\n\\nNo, the expensive anniversary two disc collection is not worth the money---the HD is dark and grainy. Get a respected copy of the original and wait until the studio stops making excuses and delivers an HD version that is as good as the film itself.\",\n \"Product: Comedy\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: A Merchant Ivory Mis-fire; Stories Don't Gel. Best Seen As A Period Piece\\n\\nReview: As I understand it, \\\"Slaves Of New York\\\" is based on a series of short stories, with Bernadette Peter's character having the task of sewing it all together. It's no small coincidence that her character can't sew well. The basic premise of the film is that he who has the lease owns the people who come to live with him. It sounds like a line out of \\\"Dune\\\" but soon reveals itself to be a way the characters rationalize their weak behavior; they can't afford a place on their own, so in one way or another they prostitute themselves to someone who has a place, be it as a friend or lover, or..., and having to put up with that person's bad behavior and maltreatment of them, they refer to themselves as slaves. Not quite the same thing, but let's keep moving.\\n\\nWhile this may very well be based on short stories, it comes across more as an idea hatched over dinner, where Mess'rs Merchant and Ivory and friends all recounted their experiences in New York, in the 80's and someone said \\\"That would make a great movie!\\\" which might be true, but not by Merchant Ivory. It's something of a relationship movie, running beneath a collection of period images; images that for no good reason show up on multiple screens (long before the computer made that common place) and occasionally as an overlap. The movie wants to look artsy, but it isn't.\\n\\nOne of the main problems is the choice of Bernadette Peters as the lead character, a young hat designer who's sharing the flat of a selfish, domineering, and manipulative male artist of some local note. Ms. Peters is a one note actress, whose performance hovers between stressed and melt down; suggesting a character in an Woody Allen movie, except that she can't even convincingly evoke a neuroses well enough for that. When she achieves her first flash of success, and gets her own place, her \\\"boyfriend\\\", comes back to \\\"let her make up with him\\\" for their break up, and in a scene that lasts only a couple of minutes, the best she can manage is \\\"You're a Jerk!\\\". We knew that, but that's all you can say?\\n\\nMerchant Ivory was a film company that not only produced a number of classic films, but became a title for a genre of films; the lush productions of costume dramas set mostly in Britain or the US a century or so ago. To that end, while this was filmed as a contemporary piece, enough time has passed to see it as a period film, and the costumes, especially those worn by Ms. Peters, evoke a truncated, punkish interpretation of the Edwardian costumes in their bigger films. Also of anthropological interest is the hair. Oh my! \\\"Big Hair\\\" doesn't quite do it justice, this 1980's penchant of the indigenous tribeswomen of the NYC/NJ area for overwrought, massive hair-do's. \\\"White woman's 'fro\\\" would be one suggestion, but the construction of these monuments to bad taste are far more contrived than organic. Not since the Sun Kings partied at Versailles has women's hair looked this ridiculous. The hair in this film makes even the period 'dos of \\\"Moonstruck\\\" look conservative.\\n\\nI read that this has become a cult film in the Gay Community, for the scene of the drag queens playing the Supremes, which I must admit is a rather memorable scene, especially as it interplays with a messy argument between Ms. Peter's character and her \\\"boyfriend\\\".\\n\\nStill, unless you came of age in the '80s, and can't leave it behind, or have an inexplicable attraction for the period, the way I did, back then, for the '30s and '40s, I can't see wasting the time on this unfortunate film.\\n\\nIf, on the other hand, you've recently watched \\\"Take This Waltz\\\" and \\\"Tiny Furniture\\\", two films of adult children struggling in the Real World, this might be a worthy piece to add to your study. It is interesting to note how childish, \\\"Childishness\\\" has become since the 1980's!\",\n \"Product: An engrossing drama of a luxury ship that goes down at sea, and the inner turmoil that the crew and passengers face. Academy Award Nominations: Best Special Effects.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Silly Movie, Great Liner Interiors For Ship Fans\\n\\nReview: Oh dear, what have we here? Apparently, after \\\"Titanic\\\" came out in 1953, and \\\"A Night To Remember\\\" (about the Titanic) came out in 1958, someone felt that one more ship disaster could still make some money so \\\"The Last Voyage\\\" was made. Quit while you're ahead is the operative phrase, here. While the two Titanic films were not great disaster films, or even all that accurate as Titanic movies, they were somewhat watchable, although they lacked the big budget drama of later efforts like \\\"The Posiedon Adventure\\\" or \\\"Airport\\\"---which is a good movie even without the idea of Nebraska having the only airport for a Rome bound plane to return to after having a bomb go off. \\\"The Last Voyage\\\" is not one of those films...\\n\\nGeorge Sanders plays the Captain, who is overly reluctant to acknowledge that his ship is indeed sinking. He also narrates the film, after a fashion (sort of popping up, quietly, in odd moments), and you may well remember his altogether better effort to that end in (the altogether better film) \\\"All About Eve\\\". The ship in question is the 38 year old tub, the Clarendon, which is not only old, but hasn't even been retired to the Siberia of all TransAt floating palaces that escaped the breakers, Greece; no, she's been sent to the Wrong Ocean, and is in Japan service. But, while she's supposed to have a few more cruises in her, in this one she blows a gasket, then she blows a hole, then things start blowing up and catching fire and she sinks! Oh my gosh!\\n\\nThe thing is, none of it is special effects----the ship is the very real Ile de France, herself on the way to the breakers as a Very Old Ship. Originally, she was one of the very first liners to be decorated in a modern fashion, and as a ship, rather than fitted out with rooms copied from castles and hotels on the Continent. While never one of the TransAt giants---a wee bit shorter than the Titanic---she was always a giant with her passengers, popular right up until the end was wrung by jetliners.\\n\\nTo that end, I imagine that the greatest attraction this film has is as a record of the Ile de France for ocean liner aficionados. The story is utterly ridiculous, to the extent there is one---aside from the crew trying to keep the ship from blowing up any further, or sinking; and from the officers trying to get the Captain to admit the ship IS sinking, and get the passengers to the boat deck, nothing really happens, aside from an idiotic plot built around Dorothy Malone getting stuck beneath a girder that has collapsed onto her, when a hole was blown through several decks. We almost saw one of the most irritating child stars dropped six floors, but after an improbable amount of film time wasted saving her, she spends most of the rest of her time in the film crying. She can be forgiven for that I suppose, as her real life, after growing up wasn't all that pleasant, given the hopeful Hollywood start. As plot devices go, I was reminded of \\\"the choppers\\\" scene in the \\\"Galaxy Quest\\\" sci-fi TV spoof. This sort of nonsense was written into so many films it almost seems a rite of passage to get to the end.\\n\\nAh well. If you could rent this film as you should, it would be worth watching just for the interiors. But Amazon and Netflix aren't streaming it, so you have to buy it, and that is even worse than the movie itself! This movie is not worth that kind of money! Amazon, Tear Down This Wall (if it worked for Reagan, why not?). Rent this movie, don't sell it!\",\n \"Product: Frank Bigelow, told he's been poisoned and has only a few days to live, tries to find out who killed him and why.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Fun Noir Entry With Some Sketchy Acting In Parts. Nice Historical Record.\\n\\nReview: Like \\\"The Lineup\\\", this is both an entertaining noir feature (although not quite as good) and a decent historical record of its period, in both Los Angeles and San Francisco. I looked up \\\"luminous toxin\\\"---the movies' central plot device---and Wikipedia has a great description of it among \\\"Fictitious Movie Toxins\\\" that brings the very absurdity of the 1950's Cold War hysteria to life, I quote, in part \\\"...easily slipped into liquor, especially during wild, alcohol crazed nights in San Francisco \\\"jive\\\" clubs.\\\" Ah yes, Radiation! Alcohol! Mixed Race Debauchery! Loud Music! Like I've said, no one can accuse our fellow Americans of thinking too much.\\n\\nO'Brien's character suddenly decides to go to San Francisco, from his desert home of Banning, for a vacation; by himself, without inviting his long suffering secretary/girl friend, or his apparent mistress of the moment. His arrival at the St Francis hotel cooincides with the end of Market Week, where buyers and sellers are all in high revelry in the lobby and halls. It's here where the movie has an inexplicable tendency to cat call---not a character, it's just the movie---a slide whistle sound every time a pretty girl walks by. Kind of like some of Perez Prado's mambo's. Fortunately, it abates by the time the story gets moving, which is when he wakes up the next morning feeling ill, and then goes to the doctor who tells him he's been poisoned... and there's no antidote.\\n\\nLet's just say that big chunks of the movie are not well acted. O'Brien's blonde sweetheart practically turns herself into a tail wagging pug dog in front of him, and the camera, at one point. Lots of the acting is melodramatic in the extreme, prompting The Partner to inquire at one moment \\\"Is this a novella?\\\"\\n\\nBut...\\n\\nThere are great scenes across San Francisco and downtown Los Angeles, along Wilshire, and in Hollywood, with the characters either driving in great old cars, or riding vintage transit, or with the latter slipping past in the background. I've seen much worse when it comes to acting (try watching some low budget gay films), and I would imagine that, should you find yourself in San Francisco, when this is playing at the Castro Theater, you could have a very entertaining evening watching it there, with the voluble audience participation the theater attracts for films like this, that would make this movie a scream!\",\n \"Product: Inspired casting and Walter Lang's deft direction breathe abundant life into WEEK-END IN HAVANA, in which a woman's trip to Cuba leads to romance, laughter, and sizzling songs. Nan Spencer (Alice Faye) has saved up for years for her vacation to Havana and is sorely disappointed when the cruise ship runs aground near Florida. While the other guests accept vouchers for another trip, Nan refuses because this was her only opportunity to get away. When she intimates that the failure with the ship was the captain's fault, the cruise company's vice president, Jay Williams (John Payne), personally accompanies Nan to Havana to avoid any more serious legal repercussions. Entrusted with ensuring that Nan will have a good time, Jay pays handsome ne'er-do-well Monte Blanca (Cesar Romero) to romance her. Meanwhile, Jay is forced to relieve Blanca of his own girlfriend singer, Rosita Rivas (Carmen Miranda), who decides Jay is a fine substitute for her romantic attentions. This wacky love quadrangle provides WEEK-END IN HAVANA with plenty of material for several boisterous song-and-dance routines. \\\"Week-end in Havana,\\\" \\\"The Man with the Lollypop Song,\\\" and \\\"Tropical Magic\\\" are among the catchy numbers featured in this spicy musical fiesta.\\nProduct Details\\nNumber of Tapes: 1\\nRating: Not Rated\\nFilm Country: USA\\nUPC: 086162859335\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: First Rate Factory Musical! Fantastic Music! Carmen Miranda!\\n\\nReview: Sequels? Prequels? In the old days, Hollywood just changed a few actors, re-wrote a few lines, changed the setting and added a few new dance numbers and Voila! New Film! This is factory film at its best! Most of the crew from \\\"Song Of The Islands\\\" is here, but Grable has been ditched for Alice Faye (Yahoo!) and Hilo Hattie for Carmen Miranda (Yahoo!)(and I love Hilo Hattie). Instead of two yachtsmen drifting ashore in Hawaii, Faye's cruise ship runs aground off Cuba. She saw the Captain where he shouldn't have been, and won't give in, so John Payne, agent for the shipping company (and soon to wed the boss's daughter) flies her to Havana, and escorts her the best he can. Carmen Miranda shows up and wiggles and jiggles her way in and amongst the english language and big hats; and way too quick, you're at the big musical finale, which these films did so well. One point here, look towards the lower center right screen for the male dancer who gets hopelessly lost. All of his embarrassment shows up on VHS, only part of it on DVD. Once again, this ain't high cinematic art, but man o man, it's a highly watchable film, with great music and likeable characters. This is the stuff that made Hollywood famous.\",\n \"Product: Noel Coward's popular stage comedy BLITHE SPIRIT\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Fairly Typical Screwball Comedy, Beautifully Filmed and Restored\\n\\nReview: A few folks are either reviewing the wrong product, or old reviews are being forwarded to this product: What I watched, with the green image of Elvira, with her red painted lips and mouth on the cover, is a magnificent restoration of the original film---with images so full of depth and clarity that it at one point works against one of the actresses...\\n\\nCriterion Collection is known for the quality of its DVD's and the restored prints they specialize in, and this film is no exception. The jewel like quality of the house bar---and the cocktails in glasses (although I've never seen an amber martini made from gin...) are gorgeous; the room is in high relief---down to the pattern on the drapes, although other, less interesting rooms show more detail than architectural inspiration, and then there's the otherwise beautiful Constance Cummings (who plays Charles Condomine's---Rex Harrison-- living wife) who is shown in such high relief that it's quite clear she's had her face coated with studio foundation make up, in all it's opaque glory. It's a minor distraction. The film is so beautifully restored that just watching it is a pleasure.\\n\\nThe story... Well, it's not my favorite, and I like the screwball genre, but it made me want to see the play, with Angela Lansbury, which was not the reaction I had when I tried to watch the old faded version, which I never finished. It's full of clever dialogue, which is what we expect from Noel Coward. He wasn't thrilled with this version of his play, but he refused to let US studios make the film of it as what they had done to his work appalled him. This print includes Harrison's line about his sex life that was cut from the original US release. \\\"Blythe Spirit\\\" tells the story of a sophisticated set of couples who host a seance in order that Mr. Condomine can get information on Mediums that he can use for a novel he's planning. Margaret Rutherford, who plays the medium, knows nothing of this, and it's not clear whether she's a hoax or just a second rate version of the form, but Ms. Rutherford brings a scattershot manic energy to the role that is as entertaining as it is occasionally distracting. As things will, the seance gets a bit out of control and Condomine's late first wife shows up, and she's still so attracted to him that she decides to kill him, so he can be with her forever. Sadly, for her, the plan goes awry and she ends up killing the current wife, who is none too happy to find herself dead, and with the late wife, in the same house, at that!\\n\\nAny more would be a spoiler.\\n\\nThe story and its telling is most certainly dated. Then again, its technicolor production is so brilliantly restored that it adds an immediacy to the past that eclipses so much of what most of us would consider to be what so badly dates the film in the first place. It's unfortunate that they decided to make Kay Hammond's dead Elvira a sort of onyx green, dressed in the same color gown, with fire engine red lips and fingernails, rather than simply double exposing her for transparency, but they did, and after a while one gets over it. It's worth watching, but I would imagine you'd want to be in the mood for it.\",\n \"Product: Video tape in display box.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Gorgeous Ava Gardener Isn't Enough To Hold This Slow Period Piece Together\\n\\nReview: I watched this on Amazon Instant Video, which is the way I watch most of my Amazon content; the quality for this movie, on an HD flat screen, wasn't even up to basic analog TV standards. Blurry.\\n\\nIf you like \\\"Sunset Boulevard\\\" you could see this as sort of a knock-off of that classic, with the bullet going from a different character, into the star. And the voice-over narration is handed off between the various (male) characters involved in the unravelling of the Star. Unfortunately, \\\"Sunset Boulevard\\\" works a lot better than \\\"The Barefoot Contessa\\\", And Ava Gardner gets way too much abuse!\\n\\nLike many of it's contemporaries, it's a long and slow moving film, but, unfortunately, it also fails to add up to anything compelling. I'm a fan of \\\"Night Of The Iguana\\\" and every time I see it, I want more of Ms. Gardner. I've yet to see anything where she has the impact she does in that film, and this is no exception.\\n\\nIt's filmed in various locations, here and overseas, but the setting isn't as important to the film as it is in \\\"Summertime\\\" or \\\"Vertigo\\\", and if you want to see Ike's Americans, in full period color, I'd recommend one of those two films.\\n\\nIf you're stuck in yet another blizzard somewhere in Minnesota, or the hurricane evacuations are fast and furious and you've run out of things to watch, this might burn up some of the empty space that Facebook isn't using up, but I don't think I'll be coming back to this overwrought piece of dry toast any time soon.\",\n \"Product: Children's author Mary Norton's storybook creations, the four-inch-tall family of \\\"borrowers\\\" who live among humans and co-opt their possessions, get a first-rate big-screen translation. When a crooked lawyer (a gleefully over-the-top John Goodman) takes over the Lender family's house, he's got to reckon with the \\\"borrowers\\\" therein, who launch a campaign to oust the invader and restore the home to its rightful tenants.\\n\\n\\nProduct Details Display Format Closed Captioned\\nNumber of Tapes: 1\\nRating: PG (MPAA)\\nFilm Country: United Kingdom\\nUPC: 044005512533\\nRelease Date: 08/18/1998 Director: Peter Hewitt \\nRating: PG \\nLeading Role: John Goodman, Jim Broadbent\\n\\nRating: 1.0\\n\\nSummary: Big Studio Borrowed An Idea, Then Lost It\\n\\nReview: If you've read the books, as I did (have you read them recently?) this film will disappoint you. It starts out all right, filmed in an amber glow, in a house full of mid-century appliances and kitch, and great sets of life on a miniature scale lived between the walls and out of sight. Then, just as you are settling in, Hollywood rips out the rug, throws out the book, and reverts to a standard action plot: Big bad guy steals the house and the good (little) people have to make it right! Hoo Ya!\\n\\nNot really.\\n\\nEven the heroic music, pounding its way through the action, driving the viewer forward lest he fall asleep or try to hold an independent thought, fails the film. In the end, almost all the movie is out in the big world, with tired old stunts and Hollywood acting as if more will make it better.\\n\\nIt doesn't.\\n\\nOf course, there are always the books. Read the books.\",\n \"Product: [NON-U.S. FORMAT (PAL) Region 2 U.K. Import. This will not play on U.S./Canada DVD players or those from most other countries outside of Europe. You would need a \\\"multi-region\\\" or \\\"region-free\\\" PAL compatible DVD player or computer.] A deliciously dark, black comedy masterpiece from the director of TANGUY. When Auntie Danielle (Tsilla Chelton) moves in with her great nephew, after driving her own housekeeper to an early grave, he and his wife hope that she will be the grandmother the children never had. However, it doesn't take long for the manipulative and malicious old lady to make everyone's life a misery. But when the family go on holiday without her, leaving her in the care of bitter Sandrine (Isabelle Nanty), Auntie Danielle realises she's met her mischievous match! Nominated for three Cesar awards in France.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Dark Comedy, Well Done. Adaptation To DVD, Terrible.\\n\\nReview: I finally bought a universal DVD player. I'm not a whiz at these things, so I still don't know how to get things set up that aren't in the usual \\\"settings\\\" places. This film was re-formatted \\\"to fit your screen\\\", but I'm not sure what screen they had in mind---it's certainly not a modern flat screen. People are flat topped, and walk out of scenes while still in the same room. It's not quite as bad as \\\"Sunset Boulevard\\\" where everyone is stretched sideways and looks like they're on the Wicked Witch's TV screen, but it's not a good adaptation.\\n\\nThe movie, on the other hand, is as good as I remember it. Too bad we can't get a good modern US copy. Subtitles are white but well placed and readable. The French translation seems to be a bit better also---I remember the dog Gardez Vous being translated on VHS as \\\"Onyourmark\\\", here his name is more close to the original intent. Tatie Danielle is as nasty and as selfish as ever. Her Parisian nephew and family are perfect if baffled foils for her miserable behavior, until they go away on vacation and leave her with a woman every bit as selfish as she is.\\n\\nFor folks who like foreign films, and comedies, this one holds up well.\",\n \"Product: The ups and downs of Florenz Ziegfeld Jr., famed producer of extravagant stage revues, are portrayed.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Entertaining Depression Era Musical; Incredible Music.\\n\\nReview: As 1930's musicals go, this one pulls out all the stops for sets, cast and music. On the other hand, it is still a 1930's Hollywood musical, best compared to the Busby Berkeley genre. The story is a bit more interesting, with the early career of Flo Ziegfeld being the excuse for a musical (it's not biographical in any sense), whereas the stories in many of the Berkeley films were merely a frame from which to hang the numbers. Like the big Berkeley musicals, the music is much more frenetic than the hottest popular music of the day, but the numbers here are best compared to wedding cakes and staircases, not the top-down, geometric patterns made from women's bodies; sets revolve, unwind, curtains spiral up, all as seen from a high balcony.\\n\\nAnother, more modern comparison would be the Barbra Streisand epics \\\"Funny Girl\\\" and \\\"Funny Lady\\\" (based in part on the Ziegfeld Follies) where the musical numbers are interludes that flesh out ideas in the story, as opposed to \\\"Oklahoma!\\\" (and operas) where the music moves the plot along. And that brings up an interesting point: If you've got an afternoon to kill, a blizzard or something, watching \\\"The Great Ziegfeld\\\" and \\\"Funny Girl\\\" back to back would provide an interesting contrast. Ziegfeld's most profitable years ended with WWI. This film was made some twenty years later, and the latter, another thirty years after that. They both deal with much of the same period, yet are aimed at audiences of very different eras, and tastes in music and clothes.\\n\\nThe DVD itself is of the \\\"Roadshow\\\" production, meaning the version intended for the initial release in select cities, with but one or two showings a night, with reserved seats and higher prices; as a result, it has a full Overture, and Intermission, and Entr'acte.\\n\\nWhat?\\n\\nIn effect, you get a static screen with the image of one of the words, and a selection of tunes from the show, as if you were at one, and not at a movie, and this is in addition to the opening and closing credits... If you wanted to make more popcorn, call Aunt Edith to tell her the house is buried in snow, or feed the cat, you could do that, within reason, to a great soundtrack, and not miss any of the show. Otherwise, you'd better have a working remote. I found the black and white to be sharp and clear, but not stunning. The sound was also very well mastered, but to no special praise. It's the quality you'd expect from a major studio release of a classic, if rather forgotten old film..\\n\\nI bought the DVD, since the last time I looked for it I couldn't find any version, anywhere; and certainly no streaming or downloadable versions to rent or buy. Now Amazon has all three---DVD, Stream to rent, or to buy. I'll probably watch it more than my Busby Berkeley DVDs, which means about once a year, if that. It's good, the music is Terrific!, but it's still a fairly typical 1930's film, and even with William Powell and Myrna Loy, it just isn't something I'd watch very often, although it's much better than I'd expected, in that regard.\",\n \"Product: Quick Shipping !!! New And Sealed !!! This Disc WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. A multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player is request to view it in USA/Canada. Please Review Description.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: A Most Watchable Bollywood Extravaganza, With A Decent Cricket Match At The End.\\n\\nReview: (It would be helpful to prospective buyers if this video were available to rent---or stream; neither of which is possible for the moment on Amazon. But...)\\n\\nI'm a bit slow on the uptake. Apparently, Long is a characteristic of Bollywood films. I get it now. \\\"Lagaan\\\" moreover, is the fifth longest Bollywood film (for now) at 3 hours 45 minutes. Yet, it does manage to use its time fairly effectively and didn't seem to drag---and I ended up watching it twice over two days. It helps, of course, to have something other than a mere interest in being entertained when setting out to watch a four hour movie and for me it's Aamir Khan (a young Aamir Khan at that) who, being the influential and connected ham that he is, is in pretty much every scene.\\n\\nFine by me. He's very easy to look at.\\n\\nThe film details the wager imposed by an arrogant British lieutenant upon Bhuvan (who is not the leader of his tribe) whereupon if he (who has irritated the Lieutenant previously) can beat his team at cricket, he---the lieutenant---will wipe out the Lagaan (tax on grains) for three years. The drought stricken people could only pay half their lagaan last year and he'd only just imposed a double lagaan for the coming harvest, withering in the fields as it was.\\n\\nOf course, they first have to learn cricket and the sister of the lieutenant finds his wager unfair and decides to help them. As with any Bollywood film, there are several musical numbers, and many of them here---especially the one about Rhada and Krishna---are quite a sight to behold. There's also something of a duet between Bhuvan and Gauri---his native love---where Elizabeth, the lieutenant's sister (who's fallen in love with Bhuvan) joins in, from her rooms, in english, with a western melody, which adds a humorous touch.\\n\\nBut, what makes the movie is the cricket match, which is filmed so well that even people like me, who know nothing about cricket can (with a bit of googling) follow the action with some degree of interest. And this 3 day match that decides the fate of the village and the lieutenant is wonderfully done.\\n\\nAll in all, a very good use of four cinema hours!\",\n \"Product: Nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Original Screenplay, this magical comedy earned overwhelming acclaim nationwide! A painfully shy waitress working at a tiny Paris cafe, Amlie makes a surprising discovery and sees her life drastically changed for the better! From then on, Amlie dedicates herself to helping others find happiness ... in the most delightfully unexpected way! But will she have the courage to do for herself what she has done for others?\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Warmly Funny, Odd and Entertaining Film\\n\\nReview: Amelie is one of those films that is never quite what I remember it to be. I think the story is going this way, and it goes another and I remember, \\\"oh, that's right\\\". Like many films these days, it's a film set in a real world location (Paris) but filmed in colors and styles of clothing that create a fantasy world within reality. Much of the film is about Amelie's search for a man whose childhood box of toys she finds hidden in a wall; with another line pursuing a man whose photos she finds near photo booths; Who is he? Why is he taking these pictures? And, it's a bit of a gawky romance between her oddball character and an equally geeky guy she's known for a while. It's not a film I would watch over and over, but I have seen it more than once and always enjoyed watching.\\n\\nAnd, if you find yourself in Paris, go to the subway stop in the movie, Abbesses. It's near Monmartre and Sacre Cour, and has (in a subway system that is itself almost defined by its staircases) one of the longest spiral staircases I've been on this side of the Statue of Liberty or Sacre Cour. One wonders where or if one will ever get out.\",\n \"Product: Quick Shipping !!! New And Sealed !!! This Disc WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. A multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player is request to view it in USA/Canada. Please Review Description.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Stylish Romantic Comedy, Set In Paris.\\n\\nReview: As one would expect from anything associated with the Merchant Ivory team (or part of it), this film is beautiful to watch. It's not \\\"A Room With A View\\\" by a long shot, but it's a very polished entry in the Romantic Comedy genre. Kate Hudson plays the younger sister to Naomi Watts, an American married to a Frenchman, living in Paris. She arrives just as hubbie is departing, for good. Oddly enough, Kate looks best (that is to say, stylish and Parisian) when she arrives, as later in the film she adopts a sort of society dame helmet hair pageboy that makes her look ridiculous, as opposed to anything else.\\n\\nIn any case, what is billed as an observation of cultural differences is really more of a long-stare at Parisian style as Americans see it. The American family of the two sisters, who come over to offer support during the divorce process, is nice enough---very informal, not one to stand on tradition--at least not on purpose---and the brother, representing the Red States, is obsessed with the value of a family owned painting that the older sister took to Paris, and which has now become a source of enmity within the divorce, and the attention of major museums.\\n\\nWell of course, being French, the conservative in question is dirty old Uncle Thierry, an elegant womanizer who is tolerated by his wife and never exposed by the press. Oh the French, even their conservatives have fun! Sadly, he buys every one of his girls a red Grace Kelly bag from Hermes, and the dopey new American girl carries it everywhere, even when informed about its significance.\\n\\nOne of the movie's extended cameos is Glenn Close who plays a professor for whom Kate's character ends up working, and as it turns out, one of Uncle Thierry's former Kelly Bag recipients.\\n\\nOf course, there's still the question of Le Divorce, which sort of hangs over the film---not in any menacing way, it keeps things moving when the production team forgets what the movie is about. So, as it turns out, the french hubby has a mistress too (it runs in the family) but she also has a boy friend, or is she married too? I forget. Well, needless to say the boyfriend is an American, which means he's crazy and he's got a gun...\\n\\nIt might be Merchant Ivory, but no one said we were dealing with high culture here. At least this one has french people in it---unlike Woody Allen's film which featured Paris in three eras with practically no french people in any one of them.\\n\\nMost of the movie takes place indoors so you really don't see much of Paris, although there is a nice vignette expounding on french women and their scarves.\\n\\nIt's a romantic comedy. If you like the genre, you'll probably like this film. If you're coming from Merchant Ivory, you may not. Or maybe you will. It's entertaining. I've seen much worse.\",\n \"Product: United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), English ( Subtitles ), ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN (1.85:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: 2-DVD Set, Interactive Menu, SYNOPSIS: A comedy based around a surgeon who develops a blood phobia and finds himself in a Cornish village where he becomes the local GP. His direct manner leads to many upsets in the village. Episodes 1 to 6. ...Doc Martin Series 1\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: A Good Entertaining Show, But Better To Rent Than Own\\n\\nReview: (I'm willing to bet all the 5star ratings this show gets are due to it's British Accent. Some people...)\\n\\n\\\"Doc Martin\\\" often gets compared (usually unfavorably) with \\\"Northern Exposure\\\", so let's start by saying it is NOT the British version of that show. It was inspired by the movie \\\"Saving Grace\\\" about a once wealthy widow who turns to growing pot, and which was also filmed in Port Issac, on the Cornish coast. However, it doesn't even pick up where that movie left off, either. \\\"Doc Martin\\\" is about a big city doctor with personality issues who takes up practice in a small town, it sounds like \\\"Northern Exposure\\\" but it lacks the ensemble cast format, so it always follows the Doc when the show would benefit by focusing every now and then on other characters and their relationships. It also fails to make anything more than a backdrop out of the gorgeous Cornwall coast, which is a shame. The producers seem to want to make it into the California coast and always shoot in sunshine, when clearly, this town is not a warm, sunny, Santa Barbara type of town. I would have enjoyed more good old English weather, rain and all that.\\n\\nStill, once you sit on your \\\"Northern Exposure\\\" expectations and smother them, this show entertains. The doc never fails to leave you exasperated with his sheer rudeness, while at the same time you cheer when he tells some dolt to \\\"Shut up!\\\" or \\\"Get OUT!\\\". I watched the series disc by disc, season one through four, and enjoyed all of it, and I look forward to season 5. Having said that, I would recommend it as I viewed it: As a rental. It's good, but not so good you'll want to have it on hand, right now, when you think you'd like to watch an episode or two. I love the British accent as much as anybody, but I've heard enough of them to know not to be swayed into thinking the mere sound of the Kings English makes anything seem sophisticated and top notch.\\n\\nAfter all, the British don't think that way...\",\n \"Product: HOLLYWOOD HOTEL - DVD Movie\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Great Music Incredible Copy Silly Plot\\n\\nReview: From the packaging, I was expecting something of a faded print of the film, so I was very pleasantly surprised to find a very sharp, very clear and beautiful rendition. The sound came across very well too. I wish I could be so enthusiastic for the story but, hey...\\n\\nThe movie opens with the great old \\\"Hooray For Hollywood\\\" sung by Frances Langford and played by the Benny Goodman orchestra, in what has to be the most rousing version yet done. Dick Powell is ushered off to Hollywood as a saxophonist under contract for $100. a week(?) and is put up at the old Hollywood Hotel, which in grand Hollywood Movie Style is about five times the size and ten times more glamorous than the original structure ever dreamed of--once you go through the doors. From that point on, everything goes wrong and Powell doesn't really get his chance till much later in the film, and even then it's a stretch, and by Hollywood standards for pulling our leg, at that.\\n\\nBut, while the story may have you yawning, Benny Goodman and company keep you hopping. A couple of slow, romantic numbers serve as interludes to a soundtrack that is otherwise some of the hottest swing and jazz from the era, with Gene Krupa taking it out on his drums so fast the camera can only barely keep up with him.\\n\\nThis barely makes the list of the great Busby Berkeley musicals, aside from the music. There are none of the great, kaleidoscopic dance numbers whatsoever.\\n\\nYou do get some outdoor shots of pre-war Hollywood, although, ironically, almost everyone in the film has been forgotten--Dick Powell was probably the biggest known of all the main stars, although fans of old films will recognize some of the co-stars that made careers out of character acting.\\n\\nAnd, if you pay attention, you'll see a skinny Ronald Reagan!\\n\\nOne more piece of trivia: When Mona Marshall enters the lobby with all of her dogs, about midway though the film, she calls out to \\\"little Strongheart\\\". The real Strongheart ( a german shepherd taken from Germany after WWI) was a film contemporary of Rin Tin TIn and has his own star out front of the Capitol Records bldg. in Hollywood.\",\n \"Product: ALICE IN WONDERLAND - BD\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: A Darker, Less Imaginative Alice-Franchise Story Using The Original Name And Characters For An Entirely Different Tale\\n\\nReview: With \\\"Alice's Adventures Through The Looking Glass\\\" soon to make its premier, I thought I ought to visit this earlier Tim Burton effort in the Carroll library, as my memories of it were faded, yet distinctly displeased. It didn't take very long at all (well before the actual adventure begins) for me to realize what had turned me off on the film when it first came out, and why I'd not seen it since, but more on that later...\\n\\nProperly told, this is not Lewis Carroll's story of Alice in Wonderland, as interpreted by Tim Burton; rather it is Tim Burton concocting an entirely new story using the characters from Carroll, and referencing the earlier work. As such, it should be called \\\"Alice's Adventures In the Underland\\\" as that is what this world is called, and it is quite distinctly different, even with the raft of Carroll's characters carrying the story as it is.\\n\\nSadly, what Carroll wrote as a most engaging fantasy, Burton makes into (Yet Another) war story, because we don't have enough war stories. Here, the Red Queen (as delightfully played by Helena Bonham Carter as the Mad Hatter is played by the always loopy Johnny Depp) has laid waste to the kingdom of the White Queen (played with a mostly failed attempt at camp by Anne Hathaway) and rules in her place. In the place of all of Carroll's imaginative story is a silly prophecy that Alice will return and slay the Jaberwocky and Happy Endings Will Prevail. Alice doesn't want to do this, and a lot of the characters don't think this Alice is The Alice, but it all works out in the end, although getting there is much more tedious than reading the original for the third or fourth time (which isn't tedious at all).\\n\\nCreating yet another dystopian world, in which to have yet another war, is way below Tim Burton's talent. When it comes to imagination, Burton has been right up there with Carroll, and Baum, and a bit more productive as well. This, well, let's just hope \\\"Through The Looking Glass\\\" is more Burton and less of whatever it is afflicted this one.\",\n \"Product: a picture as excitingly different as its title.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Fun Noir Entry With Some Sketchy Acting In Parts. Nice Historical Record.\\n\\nReview: Like \\\"The Lineup\\\", this is both an entertaining noir feature (although not quite as good) and a decent historical record of its period, in both Los Angeles and San Francisco. I looked up \\\"luminous toxin\\\"---the movies' central plot device---and Wikipedia has a great description of it among \\\"Fictitious Movie Toxins\\\" that brings the very absurdity of the 1950's Cold War hysteria to life, I quote, in part \\\"...easily slipped into liquor, especially during wild, alcohol crazed nights in San Francisco \\\"jive\\\" clubs.\\\" Ah yes, Radiation! Alcohol! Mixed Race Debauchery! Loud Music! Like I've said, no one can accuse our fellow Americans of thinking too much.\\n\\nO'Brien's character suddenly decides to go to San Francisco, from his desert home of Banning, for a vacation; by himself, without inviting his long suffering secretary/girl friend, or his apparent mistress of the moment. His arrival at the St Francis hotel cooincides with the end of Market Week, where buyers and sellers are all in high revelry in the lobby and halls. It's here where the movie has an inexplicable tendency to cat call---not a character, it's just the movie---a slide whistle sound every time a pretty girl walks by. Kind of like some of Perez Prado's mambo's. Fortunately, it abates by the time the story gets moving, which is when he wakes up the next morning feeling ill, and then goes to the doctor who tells him he's been poisoned... and there's no antidote.\\n\\nLet's just say that big chunks of the movie are not well acted. O'Brien's blonde sweetheart practically turns herself into a tail wagging pug dog in front of him, and the camera, at one point. Lots of the acting is melodramatic in the extreme, prompting The Partner to inquire at one moment \\\"Is this a novella?\\\"\\n\\nBut...\\n\\nThere are great scenes across San Francisco and downtown Los Angeles, along Wilshire, and in Hollywood, with the characters either driving in great old cars, or riding vintage transit, or with the latter slipping past in the background. I've seen much worse when it comes to acting (try watching some low budget gay films), and I would imagine that, should you find yourself in San Francisco, when this is playing at the Castro Theater, you could have a very entertaining evening watching it there, with the voluble audience participation the theater attracts for films like this, that would make this movie a scream!\",\n \"Product: Ellie, a free-spirited and headstrong young woman is left in charge of a residential home over the Christmas holidays. Her youth and inexperience bring her into bitter conflict with the four grumpy old residents. HOW ABOUT YOU deals with the hilarious antics of this uncivilized group, an unlikely romance, and the gradual solidarity that develops between the residents and Ellie, in this critically acclaimed heartwarming and irresistible film.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Warmly Entertaining, Doesn't Insult Your Intelligence, Mostly\\n\\nReview: Kate Harris (Orla Brady) runs a retirement home for those who can afford to pay for a certain level of service, and proximity to medically trained staff, in the elegance of a former manor home in Ireland. Things aren't going as well as planned though, because her four core tenants, all social misfits, terrorize everyone else with their rudeness and bad behavior, so more folks are checking out, than checking in these days. Then, Kate's younger sister Ellie (Hayley Atwell) comes to stay with her, to earn money, with minimal expenses, so she can take off with her friends on a round the world jaunt. Ellie isn't a good mix in a home of cranky and often demanding old codgers, but she hangs on, and a year later (as once again everyone takes off on their holiday family visits) their mother has a stroke. Since Ellie and her don't get along, it's decided (by Kate) that Kate will take a risk and leave the home (to look in on Mom), and the Terrible Four---the only guests who never leave----with Ellie, and so Ellie finds herself alone for the holidays in an near empty manor house, with no staff, and four miserable old codgers.\\n\\nThings don't go well.\\n\\nThe phone rings at one in the morning only to have Vanessa Redgrave, playing an arrogant, bitterly old, former show girl, having a problem with her remote, a pretense for having Ellie mix her two martinis so she won't have to get out of her chair. At 5, the phone rings again with a breakfast order from Mr. Vanston (Joss Ackland) which he says he always gets at 6, when breakfast is posted for 8. Finally, having quite enough, Ellie summons them all to the dining hall, and, reading them the riot act, announces that they'll all have Christmas dinner at the same table, as a family. Having been thus confronted, they all begin to make an effort to grow up and behave, and prepare for Christmas.\\n\\nVery simple, very sweet, and very little tension. At one point we find out that, of the two sisters who live at the manor, one had a child as a young girl, but her father had it given to nuns. The by now grown up young man has been looking for her, but because her sister was afraid of losing her, she hid the mail, until one letter from him got delivered by mistake, by Ellie. Naturally, he's going to show up at Christmas dinner, as a surprise! No, actually, he never shows up at all. There are several instances where plot threads are introduced, woven in for a length or two, and then forgotten. The ending is the worst of all, where after one sister-to-sister tete a tete, with a joint, the movie closes. It's as if the writers got bored and everyone else left early that day.\\n\\nAnd about those joints... (but don't get the wrong idea, this isn't a movie about drugs, alcohol is still the prime escape vehicle among the cast)\\n\\nOld Marijuana used to be rolled in fairly thin joints because we never had the money to smoke enough to get really, really high. New Marijuana is so powerful just one toke can send you to woo hoo ville for hours. Joints? These aren't the twisted at each end bogies, but torchieres---narrow at the mouth end, and twice as wide at the fire end, which is open, running from 1/4\\\" at the mouth to 1/2\\\"inch at the fire. Is this supposed to be modern Marijuana? I've never, in forty years, seen a joint that massive, and what's the point with New Pot?\\n\\nSo, unlike the \\\"Most Exotic Marigold Hotel\\\" which features older actors in starring roles, or \\\"Waking Ned Devine\\\" which has an older cast as well, this movie hasn't got much of a story because what tension there is is kept so tightly restrained that nothing really happens. There are a few nice moments, and some chuckles, but mostly it's a quiet little film full of old people and one young woman. That still leaves an entertaining way to pass the time in front of the TV, but honestly, it could have been so much better.\",\n \"Product: True Enjoyment\\nVery Entertaining\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Good. Not As Good As My Big Fat Greek Wedding.\\n\\nReview: Three stars because I bought it. I bought it because \\\"My Big Fat Greek Wedding\\\" always seems to end to soon, and while this movie is no relation to that one, it serves well as dessert. That said, this isn't nearly as good as MBFGW. The plot is simple: An American college professor of Greek Art History is out of work and doing tours between offers, in Greece. She wants to share the fine parts of Greek culture with tourists who want to shop, eat ice cream, and suntan at the beach. She's very uptight. Because the forward motion of the movie is largely dependent on a bus, the bus is filled with stick figures draped in stereotypes, and so we never really develop a relationship with them, that we had--to some extent--in MBFGW. Two actors play Aussies, which means a couple hugging cans of Fosters and uttering gibberish from the Book Of Aussie Slang, and nothing else. The eastern European women say nothing, but dress in print dresses circa 1958. The Americans all play shades of dumb and rude, save for Richard Dreyfus who plays a God of sorts, and always utters something pithy. It is Dreyfus' character who helps Nia's character to loosen up. It takes about half the movie for the film to get moving.\\n\\nAgain, I bought it because I liked \\\"My Big Fat Greek Wedding\\\", and recommend it accordingly, to those fans. If you're considering this film without having seen the other; I'd first recommend \\\"My Big Fat Greek Wedding\\\", instead, or, \\\"Bread And Tulips\\\" which is an Italian effort (with subtitles) that has a similar vein (to this film) in that it starts on a tour (of Italy) and ends in Venice, but has more developed characters and a better story. On the other hand, if you're snow or rain bound, and want something light, and have some good popcorn and real butter, you won't hate yourself for watching \\\"My Life in Ruins\\\".\",\n \"Product: After saving the life of the President, two top Secret Service agents find themselves abruptly transferred to Warehouse 13 a massive, top-secret storage facility in the badlands of South Dakota that houses every strange artifact, mysterious relic, fantastical object and supernatural souvenir ever collected by the U.S. government. Now the pair off-the-cuff Agent Pete Lattimer and by-the-book Agent Myka Bering must chase down reports of supernatural and paranormal activity in search of new objects for their eccentric new boss, Artie Nielsen, to safeguard at the Warehouse. Its a wildly entertaining adventure full of inventive gadgetry and thrilling action, and with all twelve Warehouse 13: Season One episodes cataloged and archived in this collectible three-disc set, nows your chance to snag it, bag it and tag it!\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Entertaining and Fun, Still Not Great TV\\n\\nReview: There's a scene at the end of \\\"Raiders Of The Lost Ark\\\" where, after they've wrested the Ark of The Covenant from the Nazi's, who got it first, the Ark of The Covenant is seen being taken by forklift to its resting spot in a US Federal warehouse, the implication being that, as awful as its powers have been demonstrated to be, being \\\"lost\\\" in a government warehouse (as the retreating camera suggests will happen) is about the same as being lost in the desert, so we're all safe. This is where the premise of Warehouse 13 picks up, using of course the cultural knowledge of Area 54 (or is it 51?) as something of a credibility booster. Someone, it doesn't seem to be The Government itself, goes around and picks up super powered Artifacts that have potential for aiding World Evil, and locks them up in this, the 13th in a series of warehouses (the other 12 burned down, as we learn), where, one man, aided first by one, then two, young women, keeps them safe and locked up; with two Secret Service agents co-opted to find, \\\"bag and tag\\\" artifacts still out there, and bring them in.\\n\\nAn Artifact can be anything. Lewis Caroll's (\\\"Alice In Wonderland\\\") mirror, with the apparently psychotic Alice trapped inside; Edgar Allen Poe's pen, and diary. Studio 54's disco ball (don't ask). The premise could be as scary as a right wing nutjob's nightmares, where everything he contacts scares him, but instead such ideas come as more of annoyance. The tag line for the show runs something to the effect of \\\"We take the things we don't know or understand and lock them up in a warehouse\\\". Funny, but not so long ago, we would have brought in the scientists to find out what we don't know, and don't understand, which is how we got to the Moon, and built the Bomb. And cured polio. But now we're a society where the recent GOP convention made a big joke out of being a \\\"Fact Checker\\\", and even the government hating conspiratorialist conservatives didn'f find that alarming, so this is a show for the times.\\n\\nIn practice, the show runs as something of a Sci-Fi \\\"Castle\\\" with a handsome, young, unmarried, odd-couple of sleuths, in this case Secret Service, dumped together, solving crimes that either involve an artifact; or trying to prevent someone from getting an artifact; or often, in the beginning, going out and retrieving something that has the powers of an artifact, from someone who may not even know its significance. Eventually, the story arc brings in an agent who's gone to the dark side, and things get a bit more interesting towards the end of Series 1. Still, for my tastes, things resolve too neatly, too quickly, for this type of show.\\n\\nIn any case, when it's been revealed that the loons at the NSA are spying on everybody on the planet, clearly demonstrating that the Government in real life has gone wack-o, would we even want people running around locking up all these \\\"dangerous\\\" things in one central location, under one man's control?\\n\\nSuch questions will only ruin your pleasure in this show. That's the real challenge of this series: Watch But Don't Think.\",\n \"Product: catherine deneuve\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Long But Interesting Story; Not A Holiday Film.\\n\\nReview: \\\"I can't watch the film because it's not in English?\\\"\\n\\nDespite the name, and the premise of the movie being a Christmas family gathering, this is no holiday film. The family in question could be called quirky, but that would bring to mind \\\"The Royal Tennenbaums\\\", and this family is not that one. What we have is a long, slow moving, talking picture. Not the sort of talking of \\\"Long Days Journey Into Night\\\" where family members take turns coming on to stage to scream at each other. No, this is a slow moving river of a movie---it keeps moving, it moves with subtle but visible force, and for most people who can sit still for over two hours, it brings you along with it.\\n\\nDeneuve is the original toxic mother, apparently having a gene that not only sets her up for a pair of fatal diseases, but she passed it along to her first born, who then died at the age of 6, taking the lives of his family with him, but leaving them among the living just the same. In one great scene, Deneuve admits to her middle son, the only one compatible with her in terms of bone marrow, that she never really loved him, or any of her children, aside from her only daughter Elizabeth, and even that love is conditional, and Elizabeth is a self-martyred wreck of a woman, the opposite of her beautiful if domineering mother, who just the same manages to drag everyone around her down.\\n\\nDespite the subject matter, and the seriousness, this isn't a depressing movie, at all. I didn't find myself arguing about the arguments (as I do in most dramas, where they seem to exist for no reason but to create drama when the playwright couldn't figure out any other way) nor was I prone to errands or other tasks to fill in the gaps. Like I said, the movie keeps right on moving, never drags, pretty much always takes the viewer in and carries him along.\\n\\nAll said, it's not going to be for everyone. We live in an era where talking films exist almost entirely in the past, in a vaunted canon of Classics. Even serious films these days have some gimmick to move the story along, or take on a complex subject through the most simplistic of approaches.\\n\\nIf you like a good drama, which like life, isn't always dramatic and occasionally even makes you chuckle, this film is for you.\\n\\nAnd yes, it's in French, with subtitles. Poor baby.\",\n \"Product: EVERYBODY'S FINE\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Nice. Easy. No Effort Required.\\n\\nReview: I'm dismayed to realize that this film was written by the same folks that gave us \\\"Waking Ned Devine\\\", which was a warm and funny film, and a fun story. This movie is like \\\"About Schmidt\\\" the Lite Version. Like Jack Nicholson's character, DeNiro's Mr. Goode is recently widowed (although the wife passes before the movie starts); she's the one who kept in touch with the kids. So, alienated widower dad goes on a road trip to visit each of his kids, with an envelope for each; and nobody knows he's coming. Surprise!\\n\\nWell, Surprise on him actually because one of his sons is in trouble, but no one wants to tell Dad. And, Dad's afraid of flying so he starts out on a train bound for NYC, and there we learn that he made the PFC covering for the wires that run along the track, the road, and all over America. At that point the viewer begins to suspect this movie was conceived on a commuter train as the writer, or someone, watched the gently swooping visual rythym of the wires running alongside the tracks. Then, as much of the plot is advanced, and the audience brought up to speed with what was set in motion before we got in front of the TV, by way of telephone conversations we (the audience) overhear while the camera focuses in on the overhead wires, we began to think that this whole plane phobia is also a plot device.\\n\\nSo, Dad shows up and nobody can spend any time with him, because they've all got plans to go out of town, including one of his daughters, who is headed to Mexico to find their brother. But no one tells Dad. Dad, meanwhile gets his heart meds crushed, which one immediately suspects is also just another plot device, and sure enough, he ends up in the hospital after refusing the sensible idea of going to a pharmacy and getting another Rx. Now he has a dream of his aged, widowed self, at a picnic table in his back yard, with his kids, as kids, but explaining why they never tell him the truth about anything, and the audience is finally as much in the know as pretty much anybody else.\\n\\nSo, Dad goes home. By plane. Why not? We don't need the wires anymore. There's a bit more, but you'll want something fresh to nibble on if you watch this.\\n\\nMy partner and I both come from similar families. Mine won't talk about bad news, his simply says \\\"Everything's Fine\\\" even if someone just had a heart attack. But even with that personal connection this film just doesn't work as anything more than fluff. Again, I point to \\\"About Schmidt\\\" where a similar character, played by Jack Nicholson, in a similar situation, heads out in a motorhome he and his wife bought for vacations he never wanted to take; to see his daughter as she prepares to marry a truly flaky fiance; but the mother in law is a hoot. Along the way Jack nearly becomes a homewrecker, in a trailer park. Things happen, people don't work out. In this film a nice little romance is suggested and then abandoned. He hits all the conventional spots along the road (except for Seattle) and...yawn...the movie ends with, well I can't tell you that.\\n\\nThere are a lot of terrible movies out there. Anything with Adam Sandler, for example. So this isn't Bad, it just isn't very good either. Like Kool Aid instead of nice fresh juice. I'd put it off so you can see the stuff you've been putting off, and if you forget about it, well, so be it. Or maybe watch it with Shirley MacLanes \\\"Carolina\\\", which is slightly better, Kool Aid with Seven Up. They would make a nice shut-in afternoon, this winter during a storm, or this fall in a hurricane shelter.\",\n \"Product: NOTICE: Polish Release, cover may contain Polish text/markings. The disk DOES NOT have English audio and subtitles.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Typical Christmas Story, Entertaining, Fun.\\n\\nReview: You know the drill, Christmas is threatened. All of it. The nation's economy has come to depend on the spending; in Britain, without Halloween or Thanksgiving to hold them back, they have decorations up by the end of October. But, Christmas Is Threatened!\\n\\nLions and tigers and bears, oh my!\\n\\nOkay. So that's the idea. The most likeable characters are British; the least, the militaristic, gucci-suited erstwhile Santa-to-be is an American militarist. The whole feature is soaked with an unfortunate militaristic air, we have no Draft so most Americans have no real tie to our overseas adventures; we can bomb and pillage without any real risk to anybody who matters to most of us, so our culture is getting ever more militarized; kids play games killing people that some suggest are training for the future soldiers they might become. And it takes over this movie giving what to me was an unwelcome flavor that ruined the film.\\n\\nBasically, beyond the militarism, it's a story of one kid getting missed, the system accidentally missing her toy (sort of like the basis for \\\"Brazil\\\" with less serious consequences). Arthur, the Romantic Claus, a bumbler extreme is appalled that the kid is going to be averaged out and left without her toy, so he and Gramps---the retired Claus, get out the Old sleigh and reindeer and set off to do it the old fashioned way.\\n\\nThey get lost. It turns out that the Welsh town has its name in several global locations, including Mexico. Things go wrong. Gramps has an agenda. But in the end...\\n\\nThat would be a spoiler, now wouldn't it.\\n\\nIt's an enjoyable film even with the militaristic taint, it just makes me sad that our culture is taking this turn and it even affects our holiday films.\",\n \"Product: Region Free 3D Disc\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: A Pleasant, Interesting, and Imaginative Film\\n\\nReview: \\\"Hugo\\\" is a delightful, big and slow moving film that manages to be interesting to watch, although very little happens through much of it. Sort of like watching the workings of a fine watch. Like too many modern films, it's about 30 minutes too long; gives too much to special effects over good story telling; and is hampered by inconsistent performances by its child actors, although the secondary characters somewhat make up for it with their performances, and the little stories they bring to life in the margins.\\n\\nThe film is as much about the orphan boy Hugo, who lives within the walls of Paris' Montparnasse station in the early 1930s, and keeps the stations clocks in time, as it is about the real life film pioneer Georges Melies, who is discovered by the boy, and Isabelle (god daughter to Melies), who becomes his confidante. As such, the audience is given a crash course in cinema history, and then treated to a glorious recreation of Melies movie studio and its sets, as he is shown filming scenes from some of his films. As it turns out, Melies had a rather short career, which was brought to an abrupt end by the major US and French studios, with his films melted down to make boot heels for WWI, adding yet another absurdity to mankind's most absurd war. He ended up selling toys in a Paris train station, which is where the film finds him, and tells his story more or less as it happened.\\n\\nSadly, the kids, upon whom the movie is built, can't quite carry the load they're given. Most of the time you can practically hear them thinking \\\"What do I do now? How long must I stand here? Should I smile? Can I scratch?\\\". The other problem is that the background is a combination of sets and CGI, that with the 3D glasses, creates a world that is so detailed that it manages to seem too real, and utterly fake. One gets the sense of the film as an animated feature with real life characters (which contrasts with trailers for the upcoming \\\"Tintin\\\" movie, with animated characters that are almost lifelike). I can not see why 3D was necessary, or how it aided the film, when good cinematography would have been just as convincing. That it cost me $27.00 for two tickets did not impress me one whit.\\n\\nAn idiosyncrasy of the film, a throwback to the 1960's when Americans played themselves and Brits played all the foreign language roles, is that the movie is set in Paris and yet everyone in it is British, with pronounced British accents and often strictly British characters to boot. Only Ben Kingsley looks even vaguely \\\"French\\\". It would be interesting to see the film dubbed in French.\\n\\nStill, I found the film enjoyable, fun, and romantic. It built up a certain level of restrained suspense and maintained it throughout the film, and the scenes of Melies sets were a real treat. I'd buy the film and I can see myself watching it over and over again, perhaps not nearly as much as other films, but it easily bears repeated viewing.\",\n \"Product: Zack and Benji open up their relationship for a weekend of fun at a gay resort in Palm Springs. After Zack runs into his ex-boyfriend Casey, Casey lies and tells him he met someone new to avoid Zack's pity. When Casey reacquaints with an old high school friend, Peter, he manages to convince him to pretend to be his boyfriend despite Peter's reluctance that it will interfere with his promiscuous weekend opportunities. As sexual tensions start to mount between Benji and Peter, Zack becomes increasingly dissatisfied with his relationship while Casey longs for a stable relationship of his own. A sexy and outrageous comedy, Eating Out: The Open Weekend serves up plenty of eye-candy and raunchy fun along with the pursuit of finding true love.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Low Budget, Teeny-Bopper Romantic Comedy. Lots Of Male Eye Candy, Often Unwrapped...\\n\\nReview: Given the output of Adam Sandler and Will Ferrell, and the fact that people pay to see their films, it's hard to be too mean to this little series, making light entertainment at a fraction of the cost, and with men worth looking at, no less!\\n\\nHaving said that...\\n\\nIt is most certainly light entertainment; every now and then a sharply written come back slices through the dialog, and just as often too many of the characters will use a celebrity as metaphor; then again, while male frontal nudity isn't nearly as rare as it once was, one of the finer characteristics of this series, perhaps even a trademark, is that a character caught naked will walk to the back of the set, stand up (thus providing a full body view) and then pull his pants up. If you're going to do it, do it, don't just fiddle with tease-angles and quick shots...\\n\\nUnfortunately, there are also as many wince inducing moments in all of these films as there are in any Ferrell/Sandler work. The wincing here produced by a story line that is so juvenile that [admittedly very young] gay men sound like teenage girls; all they think about, talk about, is boys. And catty talk at that.\\n\\n\\\"Open Weekend\\\" picks up where the considerably inferior \\\"Drama Camp\\\" leaves off (hey, there's inexpensive wine, cheap wine, and then there's Two Buck Chuck). The winners there get a weekend in Palm Springs, and our two heroes, who were a couple but have now broken up, find themselves in a Palm Springs gay-tel, where Mike's new love tells him they should have \\\"just one\\\" open weekend, and trick about. Speaking from experience, there is no such thing as \\\"just one\\\" open weekend, either you work for monogamy or you have your extracurricular adventures and watch your relationship suffer. But, in the middle of the film, it's announced that Sacramento has created a legal loophole for gay marriage, a one hour \\\"get hitched\\\" window and so everyone flocks to a nearby gay-tel to tie the knot, and Mike has to make a decision... Along the way there's all sorts of gay fun, washboard abs, full frontals, and even a sort of straight menage between a poor virgin girl, and a distinctly not virgin tranny, and a gay-cute ostensible straight bartender at the gay-tel...\\n\\nSigh. Same place, same faces, thirty years on. Nothing makes one feel so old. On the other hand, we could be dead, like a lot of guys who would have been our age, so quit whining!\\n\\nLike I said: Light entertainment, soft porn sensibilities; occasional full frontal male nudity, idiotic story, lots of wince inducing moments. There are worse films out there, but they usually don't have such good looking men in them.\",\n \"Product: Directed by Sam Mendes. Starring Ralph Fiennes, Javier Bardem, Judi Dench.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: A Bit Much, Even For A Bond Film. Spoiler Alert\\n\\nReview: What can one say? In Bond films, a fist fight will never do if heavy machinery, fast moving vehicles and high powered weapons are available. Nothing is ever knocked over, it's blown up. \\\"Skyfall\\\" is a bit excessive even by that standard. Adele sings one of her worst songs at the opening of the main part of the film, and I believe the title is \\\"The End\\\", which it is, as it turns out. But not for Bond---who seems to die a Sherlock Holmes death at the opening fight sequence. They're not going to kill off the lead character in one of Hollywood's most successful franchises ever. No, they're cleaning house. Dame Judy Dench has come to the end of her run, to be replaced by a younger, sexier, darker skinned version. A new \\\"Q\\\" is introduced, a very young, and very geeky version who works quite nicely. The old Bond car----the Aston---is reintroduced, and then blown to bits.\\n\\nAnd, in the steady parade of exotic places where Bond goes to fight people, kill them, and blow things up, they end up in Scotland (not my idea of exotic, but then again, I imagine Shanghai isn't exotic to those who live there) where we find Bond's childhood manor house, where his parents are buried, and they blow that up. The whole house. Apparently, there's room for only one Downton Abbey, and not in a Bond film.\\n\\nFly off, fight, blow things up, fly off, fight, blow things up. Ho hum. Daniel Craig's Putin-esque Bond is aging fast, but he still has a chest made to titillate the women and gay guys, and you see more of him than the women, which can't be good for the franchise. Still, we live in odd times; After fighting the nazis for five years, and the communists for thirty---without building a wall along the border, now we're fighting a handful of Arabs that have us so scared we're building that wall, and the Liberal president is proposing using drones to kill American citizens in America....so Daniel Craig's Bond is the Bond for a world so screwed up we no longer remember what we're fighting for, or who, or why, or what's even going on. I'm not really comfortable with this dour, rather savage Bond.\\n\\nThank heavens for affordable large flat screen tvs, because nowadays we don't have to pay to see this junk in the theater!\\n\\nI hope you didn't waste the money to see this in public, and if you're going to watch it at home, there are worse ways to waste the money it will cost, so why not?\",\n \"Product: Moonrise Kingdom is the new movie directed by two-time Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Wes Anderson (The Royal Tenenbaums, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Rushmore). Set on an island off the coast of New England in the summer of 1965, Moonrise Kingdom tells the story of two 12-year-olds who fall in love, make a secret pact, and run away together into the wilderness. As various authorities try to hunt them down, a violent storm is brewing off-shore and the peaceful island community is turned upside down in every which way. Bruce Willis plays the local sheriff, Captain Sharp. Edward Norton is a Khaki Scout troop leader, Scout Master Ward. Bill Murray and Frances McDormand portray the young girls parents, Mr. and Mrs. Bishop. The cast also includes Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman, and Bob Balaban; and introduces Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward as Sam and Suzy, the boy and girl.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: A Beautifully Filmed Set of Little Stories About Small People\\n\\nReview: If you saw the trailers, waded through the torrent of PR, and had to put your arm up to shield yourself from the never ending buzz generated for this film, you would be forgiven for thinking it was a zany comedy about kids at camp and the adults around them. Aside from the \\\"zany\\\" part, you'd be technically correct. Did you like \\\"The Royal Tennenbaums\\\" or \\\"The Life Aquatic\\\"? If you did, then you're perfectly prepared for what this film has to offer. If you didn't, then you should think about that before watching this film, because \\\"Moonrise Kingdom\\\" is a close sibling to the other two, a trio of painfully shy, slow moving, detail obsessed movies; It's funny, in parts, but it's a chuckle not a guffaw.\\n\\n For almost as long as Hollywood has been associated with movies, Hollywood has had a thing for playing kids as adults, and making their parents out to be childish. This film takes that premise and makes it pretty much the backbone of the film. Almost all the kids are more mature acting than any of the adults. Other than that, it's essentially a story of outsiders among the conformist masses, with love instead of revolution at the center of their co-existence. (\\\"The Addams Family\\\" did much the same, but did it better). It's a story that could be told in the present tense, but they decided to use the sixties and did well enough by it. Yet, for me, the film didn't deliver.. I liked the \\\"Royal Tennenbaums\\\", and \\\"The Life Aquatic\\\", but \\\"Moonrise Kingdom\\\" didn't seem to make its story interesting enough to make me want to care about the characters. The title didn't help, \\\"Moonrise Kingdom\\\" suggests much more fantasy than the film offered. Certainly the buzz was overdone, and affected my experience.\\n\\nFortunately, you can watch the DVD for a lot less money, without all the in-theater commercials, and you may well find it amusing. It's not a bad film by any measure, I just don't think it''s nearly as good as the Media insisted.\",\n \"Product: NOTICE: Polish Release, cover may contain Polish text/markings. The disk DOES NOT have English audio and subtitles. At the age of 21, Tim discovers he can travel in time and change what happens and has happened in his own life. His decision to make h...\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Warmly Funny, Builds To An Unexpected Ending\\n\\nReview: While technically accurate (like the explanations of a politician), the official description of this film is deceptive. It would seem to say that this is a movie where a guy goes back in time---say another era---and brings a girl forward in time, or stays there. No, not at all. On his 21st birthday, and after an embarrassing New Year's Eve party where he'd behaved like a cad, Tim's father (Bill Nighy---whom I'm coming to delight in finding in a film, much the same way it's always a pleasure to see Maggie Smith show up) tells him that the men of their family can time travel...BUT...\\n\\nOnly within the span of their own life an memories, AND it doesn't really seem to have any consequences if you change anything (contrary to all we've been told). Although... He warns his son that going after wealth and the like has ruined the lives of previous male relatives. No worry though, the son (played by a very expressive and watchable Domhnall Gleason) announces that all he wants is love. And at that moment it seems the movie is doomed---it's just the sort of stupid thing you'd expect todays low-expectation minded youth would say. And for a bit, it seems the movie is going to play that line. The first thing Tim does is to go back to that awful NYE party and fix things---by kissing the wall flower he found himself standing next to at midnight, also without a date. Then he tries to fix other issues that come up, each getting more and more complex and the solutions begin to have unanticipated consequences, until finally, fatefully, he realizes that somethings shouldn't be fixed, and that some people can't be helped by extracting them from problems they need to solve.\\n\\nAnd then, he gets married (the wedding itself provides some great moments where both father and son are popping back and forth in time to fix a particular moment at the wedding) and has his first child. It is with this event that we find there are indeed more conditions on time travel. Once you have a child, a line is drawn across your ability to travel backward---go back before the birth and you end up with a different child when you come back... Thus, from here the movie builds to a rather unexpectedly poignant climax...and I should probably say no more.\\n\\nIt was very watchable, entertaining and humorous. I'm not sure how often I'd watch it though---one of the characteristics that for me drives the star ratings. Still, it's a very nice rom-com, and if you like those you should like this effort. An added incentive: It's not really a female centric rom-com; the focus is on the men in the film---the wedding, for example is not a centerpiece of the film and there is no bridezilla component, the usual idea in rom-com marriage scenes, it's just a set piece for the idea of time travel as the film explains it. I would hazard the suggestion that it might be a romantic film for the date who doesn't usually like to sit through rom-coms, or at least after you sit through his blasto-hacko-whacko bombadventure. Of course, if it takes two movies to get the guy into your arms, perhaps another guy is what's needed.\",\n \"Product: In June 1939, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Academy Award nominee Bill Murray) and his wife Eleanor (Olivia Williams) host the King and Queen of England (Samuel West and Olivia Colman) for a weekend at the Roosevelt home at Hyde Park on Hudson, in upstate New York the first-ever visit of a reigning English monarch to America. With Britain facing imminent war with Germany, the Royals are desperately looking to FDR for support. But international affairs must be juggled with the complexities of FDRs domestic establishment, as wife, mother, and mistresses all conspire to make the royal weekend an unforgettable one. Seen through the eyes of Daisy (Academy Award nominee Laura Linney), Franklins neighbor and intimate, the weekend will produce not only a special relationship between two great nations, but, for Daisy and through her, for us all a deeper understanding of the mysteries of love and friendship.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Warmly Entertaining Romantic Costume Drama\\n\\nReview: It's June, 1939. The Old World Order is about to be bombed into oblivion. In September, Hitler will invade Poland, and England and France will end almost a decade of delusional, self-defeating appeasement, which has only made Hitler stronger. Within the year, France will have fallen to the Third Reich, and England will be left to stand alone, saved only by Hitler's disastrous blunder (invading the USSR) and awaiting the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that will bring the US into the war, two years almost too late.\\n\\nFDR, knowing that things are slipping out of control, invites the royal couple to add a US visit to their Canadian trip, so he can use them to put a human face on Britain, for the isolationist American public. It's the beginning of a beautiful friendship, of sorts; or as Winston Churchill would put it \\\"America can always be counted on to do the right thing, after it's tried all the other options.\\\" So, after two days of formality in D.C., the two power couples decamp to Roosevelt's Hudson Valley estate at Hyde Park, where the King wins America's heart by eating a hot dog.\\n\\nWe're kind of simple that way...\\n\\nThis film opens in Hyde Park, at the nearby estate of a distant Roosevelt cousin, Daisy, who is summoned to the FDR compound there by his mother, Sara, who says her son feels lonely (He already has a wife, and a mistress, but a mother's concern knows no bounds). The call can barely be heard over the yapping of a black scotty, which if memory serves, the movie neglects to tie in: It's cousin Daisy who gave FDR his famous black scotty Fala.\\n\\nFor all intents and purposes, this is a romantic film about FDR and Daisy, and could have been titled \\\"I Pleasured The President (And Met The King And Queen of England)\\\" as it seems that on one cross country drive FDR puts Daisy's hand in his lap, and I don't mean by his knees... They don't get much into what actually happened between them (she seems to have come into the picture just as he is learning to walk, again, after being stricken with polio) and the King and Queen are little more than props. This is the same stuttering George VI of which a full movie was made quite recently, but Queen Elizabeth (the mother of the current Q-Liz) is nothing more than a fretting, frowning, worry-wart, none of her fortitude or sense of humor comes through whatsoever.\\n\\nSo, you've just read far more history than the movie even tries to suggest, thus if you opt to watch this film, your only question will be: Why the hell can't I rent it? I had to reinstate dvd's on my Netflix account to watch this film, so no, I'm not advocating you spend the money to purchase it. It's good, but I don't see it as worth owning, especially as one would hope it will eventually be available to stream, as it should be.\",\n \"Product: Hope Springs(Br+Uv)\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Fun Comedic Romp Through What's Getting To Be Familiar Territory\\n\\nReview: This is the third movie I've detected in this line, the first being Jack Nicholson's \\\"About Schmidt\\\"; It seems DeNiro was in another one more recently---old men taking road trips to get together with their kids after the Wife dies. In this send up, the Wife is still very much kicking. Meryl Streep, our leading chameleon, is now about as frowsy a housewife as could be, and still be respectable. She's well worn, yet smarter than her perpetually cheerful demeanor would seem to indicate, and she wants a marriage, or more specifically Her Marriage, back. Her curmudgeon of a husband, perfectly played by Tommy Lee Jones, has the occasional fantasy---apparently featuring a neighbor--but no interest in his wife, whatsoever. So she books a flight to Maine, to see a renowned relationship counsellor, for them both, and takes off without him, having given her husband the Ultimatum.\\n\\nIt's not an adventurous film, aside from having older actors, no nudity, sex, violence or special effects (apart from Ms. Streeps makeup). It's funny, touching, and sometimes a bit sad, by turns. It'd make a great afternoon film. Of a similar vein, one could go to the radio program \\\"This American Life\\\", to it's archives (a few years back now), and look up the title \\\"Someone To Watch Over Me\\\", where the second show in that program features a retired SF Bay Area cop and his wife, in the rut of ruts, until she decides to go to Mexico with her girl friend. Now that was hilarious.\",\n \"Product: DIANA VREELAND: THE EYE HAS TO TRAVEL is an intimate portrait and a vibrant celebration of one of the most influential women of the 20th century, an enduring icon whose influence changed the face of fashion, beauty, art, publishing and culture forever. During her fifty year reign as the \\\"Empress of Fashion,\\\" she launched Twiggy, advised Jackie O and coined some of fashion's most eloquent proverbs such as \\\"the bikini is the biggest thing since the atom bomb.\\\" She was the fashion editor of Harper's Bazaar where she worked for 25 years before becoming editor-in-chief of Vogue followed by a remarkable stint at the Met's Costume Institute where she helped popularize its historical collections.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Pleasant And Informative Bio-Pic About A Very Colorful, Talented, Woman Of Substance\\n\\nReview: (I rented to stream, and like much of my Amazon/Roku streaming this week it took several times to get it going. Don't know what's up, or if its my ATT Uverse but something is broken).\\n\\nI'm not a big one for celebrity bio-pics; if I find myself wondering \\\"Who the hell are the Kardashians, and what did they do?\\\", a quick Google and a Wikipedia entry sates my curiosity. Diana Vreeland (Dee-AHna to you, Dahlinks!) on on the other hand is one of those names and faces that keeps coming around, and with a face like that, in the fashion business, I figured I ought to find out. It turns out that she was quite a talented gal, a regular Woman Of Substance, who came into contact with some of the best talent in fashion, art and culture there was, and she knew how to get them to do their best. Having no degree, Mrs. Vreeland manages to seem simultaneously highly cultured and lightly educated, but knows what not to say and as a result, while some of the stuff she says isn't always bright, she never puts her foot in it.\\n\\nBorn in 1903, in Paris (but apparently not learning either French or English before sent to school, I'm rather confused on that part, what DID she speak, or didn't she?) Diana Vreeland came of age in the roaring twenties and then became an editor at Harpers by WWII; and then at Vogue, when after more than a decade Harpers had only upped her salary by $1000. a year. At Vogue she helped put the face on much of the 1960s, being something of a free spirit open to anything new. But, by the 80's she was forced out and came to indulge her life as a celebrity, taking a consultancy job at the Met organizing costume exhibits, which helps to explain why the DeYoung does the same at least once a year.\\n\\nThe film conveys its story through late-life TV interviews (Cavett, and Griffin) and for-TV interviews (Jane Pauley and Diane Sawyer) from her living room, which she called a \\\"garden in hell\\\". There are also interviews with various Hollywood celebs who either modeled or worked for her in their early years; various Fashionistas, and of course family---two sons, a grandson and a great grand daughter, who reads from Vreeland's pre-war Harpers series \\\"Why Don't You...\\\" with admirable pronunciation and enunciation for an American child.\\n\\nOddly enough, I don't remember seeing anyone interviewed as being simply \\\"a friend\\\".\\n\\nThe video footage is almost all late-Vreeland; the photos early to mid, with stock video to establish period flavor. And there are the layouts from Harpers, and especially, Vogue. It is here that the uninitiated like me come to see her brilliance. Mrs. Vreeland (that's how she referred to herself) comes across as quite a character, and her family very likeable. The interviews with celebs and fashionistas are tastefully celebratory, not the usual Hollywood brown-nosing excess.\\n\\nUnfortunately, we don't get to hear Vreeland's thoughts on Jane Pauley's get up, which combined a cowgirl's hair-do, with what might have been a cowgirl's outfit, or perhaps a red and white circus tent. Pauley seemed to see Mrs. Vreeland as something of an elderly eccentric aunt to be humored, and frequently rolls her eyes and smiles at the camera for no good reason, unless to identify with her suburban audience, which is probably much more erudite than she could imagine.\\n\\nAnd then there's Mrs. Vreeland's \\\"garden in hell\\\" apartment, which is furnished on the More Is More principle. Clutter is merely a point of departure; and why have a pair of something if you can get three of them, or five maybe? The polychromatic striped wallpaper is just for background. The whole assemblage suggests a Vreeland inspired train wreck, where an Imperial Chinese Pullman was artfully crashed into a Belle Epoch Parisian boudoir, with Mrs. Vreeland center stage, an erstwhile Mandarin, perched on her couch like a throw pillow come to life, replete with draw-cord tassle ear rings. And rouge. Lots of rouge. \\\"I LOVE rouge!\\\" Didn't she ever.\\n\\nIn any case, Diana Vreeland comes across as someone I'd like to have met, if not worked for, which brings to mind \\\"The Devil Wears Prada\\\". In that flick, Meryl Streep plays a Vreeland-esque character based on a more recent Vogue tyrant-diva, Anna Wintour. In one scene, Mrs. Priestly, as she's known, is shown throwing her coats on her assistant's desk, while barking orders, over a series of morning arrivals at the office. Apparently, Mrs. Vreeland did just that to her assistant, Ali McGraw (\\\"Love Story\\\"), who threw it back at her. Mrs. Vreeland then pronounced her to be the rudest person she'd ever met. It seems that while times change, Fascist Fashionista Divas don't, really. In any case, by my count, Mrs. Vreeland has 3 movies with characters based on her, and one went on to become a classic: \\\"Funny Face\\\".\\n\\nSo, all in all it was a pleasant 90 minutes. No life philosophy gained. I'm not much of one for rouge, and I don't think it would help me, anyway; and I can't go back and get myself born in Paris, maybe next life. It was informative, though. Helped to fill in some gaps, tie some loose ends, explain some of the recent past I'd not considered.\",\n \"Product: NOTICE: Polish Release, cover may contain Polish text/markings. The disk DOES NOT have English audio and subtitles. At a home for retired musicians, the annual concert to celebrate Verdi's birthday is disrupted by the arrival of Jean, an eternal diva...\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: A Romantic Love Story, Delayed; A Disappointment As A Film\\n\\nReview: If you're going to make a movie about opera singers, the first rule is to cast someone who is at least plausible in the role. Maggie Smith is one of my favorite actresses, and I'd go see a door open if she was in it, but, despite all her formidable talents, nothing about her suggests that she's got the ability to loft an aria. She doesn't open her mouth wide enough to to get much more than an acidic remark through, and with a voice somewhere between sand paper and a cat's purr. Meryl Streep would have been a much better choice. Fortunately, Dustin Hoffman spares us the embarrassment of having to listen to her try, but with what amounts to a swindle; we know that we've just been robbed, but of something we were so nervous about being caught with that it's something of a relief. Still...\\n\\nThis should not be interpreted as a slur against the talent in this movie. The Quartet of actors at the center, while not from the Opera, are a diverse bunch of experienced actors that are a pleasure to watch, and the cast in the background is largely composed of former opera divas, cast members, and symphony orchestra members. Something like \\\"Sunset Boulevard\\\" although as noted, Maggie Smith is not to Opera, what Gloria Swanson was to the Silent Screen.\\n\\nAnd, it's something of a relief that the trailer doesn't give everything away. It turns out that, even with the \\\"F\\\"bomb, it's Maggie Smith's character who's to blame, not the gentleman. It seems that Tom Courtenay and Smith's characters were very briefly married until someone went astray and an attempt at honesty misfired and, well time passes very quickly... In any case, the love story is one of two plots that intertwine within the main story, that being the need to have a concert to raise funds such that the grand old English country home can be preserved as a home for aged Musicians. The old hams have to sing for their bread. Why not, the Girl Scouts have to do it. Thus, when Smith lands at the coop, the Quartet is once again together, so logically it would seem they should be the top bill of the night. Maggie Smith's Jean, disagrees, and that's the movie, well, getting past that...\\n\\nAbout that \\\"F\\\" Bomb. Apparently Ms. Smith swears like a sailor off stage, and while I have no problem with that, I wouldn't have minded if she played a character more like herself, off stage (whatever that may be), where such language might be more integral to the story. Having a woman of such dignity suddenly spout vulgarisms is a bit tacky. What next? Nudity? Diane Keaton did it. Must we see them all naked?\\n\\nMaggie Smith is big these days. Movies about and for an older audience are big money makers. It's a bit much to expect everything she's in to be like \\\"A Room With A View\\\" or \\\"Downton Abbey\\\". I don't think this will be listed among her best movies. If you wait until it's available to be streamed, then you'll save a quite a bit of money and may well find this movie to be more to your liking. I went out to the theater, which I rarely do these days, sat through the commercials and spent over $30. for two people with a popcorn and diet coke, and it's not worth nearly that much effort and money. Not by a long shot.\",\n \"Product: Directed by Pedro Almod var. Starring Hugo Silva, Miguel Angel Silvestre, Carlos Areces.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Classic, If Retro, Low-Budget Almodovar. Often Funny But For Select, Mature Audiences...\\n\\nReview: First off, if you're Antonio Banderas and/or Penelope Cruz fans, you will be disappointed---the five minutes you see them at the beginning of the movie is all you'll see of them. That said, Banderas' character forgets to take the wheel chocks from the plane, and thus sets the plot in motion, as they get sucked up into the landing gear (not the engine, which would make more sense) wrecking the machinery, forcing the plane to fly a circle, as an available airport is located. From here on, it's all on a fairly cheap, if colorful, business class airplane set, and if that isn't enough, an entire cast of extras sleeps through the entire film, all of the coach section---female flight attendants included---having been drugged to avoid \\\"economy class syndrome\\\" which is never explained, but seems to have something to do with mass panic.\\n\\nNot a lot is explained up front (unless perhaps it's all taken care of in Spanish) but all is known by the end.\\n\\nTo sum it up, the pilot and co-pilot are bi-sexual, or maybe the latter is closet gay... All the flight attendants in business are gay. Everyone else is straight. A virgin seer (experienced as a psychic), a high class dominatrix who thinks someone is trying to kill her; a corrupt contractor who is being blamed for the fiasco over the La Mancha airport (which in real life is a huge facility that has yet to open, no market being available for flights there) a TV or Movie star, with two female lives in tatters behind him; and a Mexican hit man.\\n\\nSince the plane can't land, and might crash and burn when, eventually, it does, everyone copes as best they can, mostly by drinking, smoking pot, and eventually, drinking buckets of Valencia Cocktail (a champagne based drink that includes gin, but in this version also comes with mescaline). Oh, I forgot, there's a hot married couple in business and once the Valencia cocktail starts going around, everyone gets real comfortable, and chummy and well, you'll see.\\n\\nLike most Almodovar films, this one is high camp with a certain gay quotient, although here the gay-o-rama is set fairly high. Most of the humor revolves around gay relationships between the crew, and gay sex, but, sex itself doesn't really happen---it's pantomimed, by the hetero set, but there's no nudity or even bare chests. As an Almodovar work, it recalls \\\"Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown\\\" but, sadly, isn't nearly as good. On the other hand, \\\"Women...\\\" isn't available to rent, buy or stream at the moment, either.\\n\\nSo why isn't \\\"Women...\\\" available to rent or buy?\",\n \"Product: Directed by Garth Davis, Jane Campion. Starring Peter Mullan, Holly Hunter, David Wenham.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Darkly Entertaining Crime Drama/Relationship Movie\\n\\nReview: A 12 year old girl is seen trying to drown herself in the lake, and is found to be pregnant. She disappears. Her father is the small lakeside town's leading illicit businessman Matt Mitcham, patriarch of a well-off hill dwelling clan of white trash hellians ironically named (from the father on down) Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. There's a current wife and a baby, but they only mumble in the shadows. Visiting her dying mother in a nearby town, is a former local girl, Robin Griffin (now a detective in Australia) who is mustered into the investigation thanks to her training with children. She runs into her former boyfriend from high school, Johnno, who is also a Mitcham, but apparently (aside from the missing 12 year old girl, Tui) the only nice one. And, down on the lake shore, on a ranch called Paradise, is a brand new colony of damaged women led by their wealthy, gnomic guru, GJ, who out bid Matt for the property by a cool million.\\n\\nParadise was apparently once Matt's family property, as he angrily reminds folks, and he's constantly promising his dead mother that she'll be buried there, but how it came to fall out of the family hands is never quite clear.\\n\\nIt turns out that Matt's family, and many of the locals, produce a variety of drugs, including rufies, which are used in another local business, by the more upstanding citizens of the town and....oops! Spoiler!\\n\\nIt is here that a profound truth is revealed by one of the women in town, to Detective Griffin, who's trying to find Tui: They all know what they're doing is wrong, and self destructive, but there aren't any other opportunities. As the woman puts it \\\"I could go down to Christchurch and spend all day working for nothing...\\\" The rotten core of our Anglo-American economies is this lack of opportunities for a growing number of our citizens. But, it's only mentioned, and we return to the story, to find Tui, without dislodging the town's sordid economic underpinnings (as if this can be done) or worrying about what will happen if she's found, and everything is upended anyway...\\n\\nAnd of course, with all the biblical names, it's a nice touch that a Griffin is at first the only one trying to protect the child, given that the mythological character is a guardian of treasure, and wisdom, and often represents Christ.\\n\\nThe setting is starkly gorgeous, the story is dark. There are moments of humor (often from the women at Paradise) and Detective Griffin re-kindles her childhood romance with Johnno, the one decent Mitcham. But essentially, the movie's message is \\\"Men Are Pigs\\\". I was reminded of Hannah Arendt's \\\"Banality of evil\\\" thesis, which she postulated after sitting through the Nuremberg trials of notorious Nazi (but no Soviet) killers. Before her were men charged with the most monstrous of crimes who, nonetheless, had nothing monstrous about them; rather, they looked like people she knew; relatives, the postman, the grocer. There's nothing redeeming about the Mitcham clan, or any of their associates. They're white trash advertisements for abortion. They're dirty, cruel, ill educated, foul mouthed, wretched examples of humanity. Some of the more upstanding men in the story turn out to be just as foul, if better groomed and with straighter teeth, but essentially, all the men are either foul, or (on the positive side) ineffectual. The women order them to strip if the women want to play, on their terms only; or the men strip to rape women. Women strip and walk around naked in a more artistic sense, all dropping lines of the sort one would want to draw, rather than play with. It is the great weakness of this story that it is built with such blatant stereotypes. Yes, much of Hollywood is just as weak (\\\"12 Years A Slave\\\" comes to mind) but just because the boys cuss and spit, is it really necessary to do the same?\\n\\nThe seven episode version here is the Sundance Premier version that was presented over 7 hours, with one intermission and a lunch break. It makes for incredible, near spellbinding watching, but I wouldn't call it unique; \\\"unusual\\\" or \\\"distinct\\\", perhaps, but not unique. It's female, or even feminist, viewpoint is a large part of what makes it stand out from the crowd (along with the cinematography, of course), but we'd have to erase all the fine work from HBO and Showtime (and especially the BBC, the BBC Australia being a partner in this), in order to even begin to claim that no one is doing this sort of stuff.\\n\\nIt also bears noting that, despite the subject matter, pretty much everything violent or crude of substance relative to what underpins the mystery, happens off screen. Even when Matt shoots a dog, you don't actually see it. Thus, for the more squeamish and those who can't take violence on a par with \\\"The Soprano's\\\" you don't have to. It's mentioned, it's suggested, but mostly, what's happening in the background stays in the background, and only bubbles up for suspense.\\n\\nIf you want something to cut through the saccharine sweetness of the Holidays, break open a nice bottle of wine and snuggle in for a seven hour journey into the dark side of New Zealand, this is great entertainment.\",\n \"Product: United Kingdom released, Blu-ray/Region A/B/C DVD: LANGUAGES: English (Dolby Digital 2.0), English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby DTS-HD Master Audio), English (Dolby Linear PCM), English (Subtitles), WIDESCREEN (2.35:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Behind the scenes, Cast/Crew Interview(s), Interactive Menu, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: The Newlyn School of artists flourished at the beginning of the 20th Century and the film focuses on the wild and bohemian Lamorna Group, which included Alfred Munning's and Laura and Harold Knight. The incendiary anti-Modernist Munning's, now regarded as one of Britain's most sought-after artists, is at the centre of the complex love triangle, involving aspiring artist Florence Carter-Wood and Gilbert Evans, the land agent in charge of the Lamorna Valley estate. True - and deeply moving - the story is played out against the timeless beauty of the Cornish coast, in the approaching shadow of the Great War.... Summer in February.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Rather Dismal Romantic Drama\\n\\nReview: Don't put too much store in this film's proximity to WW1; it ends before the War really becomes part of the script---had we gotten that far it would be all but de rigeur to kill off one of the romantic male leads, if not both of them, that being the nature of WW1 movies with a romantic feature.\\n\\nNo, this film is about a love triangle between two male artists and the woman who rather capriciously marries one of them. The wrong one of course. Then, she gets depressed, and finally, she kills herself.\\n\\nWas that a spoiler?\\n\\nYou'd think a love triangle between artists would be a lot steamier, with a whole lotta nudity. There is some full frontals, but... well if you're a straight guy or lesbian who's found modern movies frustrating---all that full frontal male nudity----you should love the early part of this film where most of the female leads show everything but their ankles! For the women and gay guys, with these two hunky male leads, Dan Stevens from \\\"Downton Abbey\\\" and Dominic Cooper who showed most everything in \\\"Mama Mia\\\", well, I hope you like period suits and overcoats. Stevens basically reprises his Cousin Matthew job by mooning over the woman who ends up marrying the other guy. I look forward to seeing him in his action movie role, where he seems to be trying to show us something different.\\n\\nAh well. This is NOT an awful film, not by a long shot. But it's not enough of any one idea to add up to anything special.\",\n \"Product: Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Cline (Julie Delpy) first met in their twenties in BEFORE SUNRISE; reunited in their thirties in BEFORE SUNSET; and, now, in director Richard Linklaters amazing BEFORE MIDNIGHT, they face the past, present and future; family, romance and love. Now on a writers retreat in Greece, the couple looks for a night of passion, but instead their idyllic night turns into a test of their relationship and a discussion of what the future holds for them.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: A Good Effort But A Flawed Third Part Just The Same\\n\\nReview: From the very first of the \\\"Before...\\\" movies, the \\\"action\\\", such as exists, takes off when The Conversation takes off, which in the first two is when they start walking about. In this installment, the movie is almost half over before they really get talking. Of course, a lot has changed: They're middle aged, divorced, and remarried (to each other) and have twin girls. They have commitments. They have baggage. Still, when the conversation finally takes off, it very quickly becomes a bicker fest.\\n\\nShe starts it off with a simple question: Would you still ask me to get off the train with you? One could imagine he's hearing that at almost every anniversary and probably does away with it by smiling, saying \\\"Of course\\\", adding a bit of flattery, and perhaps a kiss. For what ever reason, this time he hesitates, and then he stammers, and now she feels old and fat. To make matters worse, he's just said good bye to the son he lost via his own divorce; now a teenager, he's just finished a summer in Greece, and wow, far from being the adorable talking pet little kids are, he's almost human. You can converse with him, most of the time. And Dad wants more. Unfortunately, he wants it all, the best of his old life, and his new French family. Needless to say, the wife isn't at all amused at his suggestion they uproot and move to Chicago, the proximity of the spurned wife hardly being the least of the attractions. So off they go on their squabble.\\n\\nAs film arguments go, this is not a notable fight. One thinks of the nastiness of \\\"Long Days Journey Into Night\\\", or the epic booze filled brawl between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in \\\"Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolfe\\\", where two puffy actors, beyond their physical prime, go at it, round and round, until the climax where, in a white rage of hate and bitterness, not a single drop of self loathing and maliciousness is wasted. One can no more imagine this couple trying to carry off a fight on that scale any more than we can imagine Maggie Smith lofting \\\"Un Bel Di\\\", or any other aria. But still, if you're going to fight, fight, don't bicker. What we end up with is a couple caught on a bad day, and not a particularly notable one at that.\\n\\nAh well. If you've already seen the other two you'll have to see this one. The first in the trilogy is still the best, and who knows, in fifteen years or so, perhaps they'll find each other when their ties have loosened and their baggage has fallen away, and in nascent old age, realize that there's still something there. We're not there yet, but I could sit through that one too. So, while it's not as good as the first time, what is? We wouldn't be so fat if we stopped at the first, and best, bite of chocolate.\",\n \"Product: THE WAY, WAY BACK is the funny and poignant coming of age story of 14-year-old Duncan's (Liam James) summer vacation with his mother, Pam (Toni Collette), her overbearing boyfriend, Trent (Steve Carell), and his daughter, Steph (Zoe Levin). Having a rough time fitting in, the introverted Duncan finds an unexpected friend in gregarious Owen (Sam Rockwell), manager of the Water Wizz water park. Through his funny, clandestine friendship with Owen, Duncan slowly opens up to and begins to finally find his place in the world - all during a summer he will never forget.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Warmly Funny Coming Of Age Story\\n\\nReview: While the film has lots of qualities that could have made it supremely irritating, the team behind it managed to keep control over the story so that none of those elements got in the way; the result is a funny film about a quiet kid caught in the swirl of a divorce, with a constellation of adults who are so horrifically immature that the kids seem grown up. That alone could have resulted in yet another film where precociously wise kids have to raise the childish parents, this is not that film. The kids seem like kids, the adults, well they're not entirely grown up yet and live to party. Finally though, through a job at a water park (where all sorts of retrograde behavior is depicted as quite the norm and acceptable) Duncan finds a niche for himself and begins to climb out of his shell.\\n\\nI think the worst part of the film, for me, was that Steve Carell seemed so laid back and in the woodwork, while every time Owen (Steve Rockwell) was on the screen I couldn't help but think of Zaphod Beeblebrox. Hardly a problem to get in the way of the film. I was expecting something stupid and was surprised to find the movie was quite fun.\",\n \"Product: For Secret Service Agents Pete Lattimer and Myka Bering, what began with an assignment to the middle of nowhere actually led them to a world of endless wonder. And though Warehouse 13 might be closing its doors, our team is going out with a bang! Paracelsus seizing control of the Warehouse, the team getting trapped in a telenovela, and a renaissance faire run amok are only the beginning, as the Warehouse crew tackles earth-shattering missions with supernatural artifacts, wild paranormal activity, and history-changing time travel. But whatever the future holds for the team, one thing is certain: they'll always be family. Join Warehouse 13 for one last adventure in the fifth and final season of this remarkable series.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Watchable Finale But Falls Short Of Early Seasons\\n\\nReview: I like watching shows when the series has ended, or is about to---to see everything episode after espisode, like an extended movie. Such was the case with Warehouse 13, but it took re-watching the pilot, after the Final Episode, to see how far the series has sunk. SyFy appears to have gotten bored.\\n\\nOf course the very premise of the show is questionable at best---if even one of these artifacts is as dangerous as they are demonstrated to be, why would you put them all together in one place where the chances of some undesireable getting their hands on them, any of them, would be so much easier than having to traipse the world? So, what we've got is something of a detective fantasy, where instead of high tech gizmos with which to solve crimes (or Grimm Fairy tale animals in real life) here the \\\"crimes\\\" are caused by artifacts that either someone has come into possession of accidentally, or has sought them out for illicit gain. Secret Service agents Latimer and Bering are sent out on one mission after another to \\\"snag, bag, and tag\\\" these artifacts.\\n\\nThe early episodes, of the first two seasons or so, were a marvel of steam punk aesthetic paired with action adventure. Remember when the Warehouse had a zipline? The big old computer with the ancient typewriter keys? The cast grew--nicely I thought---but the fantasy began to fade, the steampunk slipped ever further into the background. I can't even really remember seeing much of it anywhere in Season 5. And it's not just that. The whole show was getting ever more stupid (and it wasn't very literary from the start...) well before Season 4 came to a conclusion with Latimer acting like a boy-man moron. Season 5 resolves the last episode in the first show, then it pops back and forth until---way too soon---we're at the sixth and final episode---the Very End, which is billed as a sort of flash back (you know, where they run clips of past episodes) but in fact all of the stuff recalled consists either of out-takes or cuts, or stuff put together specifically for this show,, yet to look as if it happened in previous episodes, so it's not really flash backs in the usual sense. Nice touch.\\n\\nStill...\\n\\nSo it's over. You'll want to watch these last episodes if you've watched the rest, and you won't be too terribly disappointed, but it is certainly sad to see how far the show fell from the tree that produced it, from the spell casting charm of the early episodes.\\n\\nA Note: I streamed all of season 5 as I have the others and these are all full episodes. I found that SyFy does like to sell clips on Amazon but these are all full episodes.\",\n \"Product: Academy Award winner Jim Broadbent (IRIS, TOPSY-TURVY, ANOTHER YEAR) and Lindsay Duncan (ABOUT TIME, ALICE IN WONDERLAND, MANSFIELD PARK) give exquisite performances as Nick and Meg, a long-married British couple revisiting Paris for the first time since their honeymoon in an attempt to rekindle their relationship.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: A Dreary Tale Of A Failed Boomer Marriage Suffocating In The Midst Of A Paris Weekend.\\n\\nReview: I like films where the action is all in the dialogue, and the fun is all in the getting there. The \\\"Before Sunrise\\\" trio exemplifies this best, the first two more than the most recent film though... I also like relationship films where the relationship is off key, or simply deranged, and this movie reminds me of a repressed version of two of those: \\\"Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolfe\\\" where shakespearean Richard Burton, and Hollywood Goddess Elizabeth Taylor, both married and divorced (and re-married and re-divorced) in real life take the audience into what seems like the two of them having one of their real life brawls in a thinly disquised movie about a horribly discontented middle aged couple. Wow. And \\\"Harold and Maude\\\" where a boy who feels stifled by his normal, affluent life, acts out, until he meets an idiosyncratic old woman who understands him, and takes him under her wing (and into her bed).\\n\\n\\\"Le Weekend\\\" is not one of those movies.\\n\\nWhat it is, if you turned off the volume, and perhaps dubbed in a soundtrack, is a fantastic film tour of Paris---not the stock shots you see in most other films, but shots of streets and avenues and neighborhoods the wandering visitor encounters, full of awe, always looking up and down and trying to see everything there is to see. Unfortunately (and the reason turning off the soundtrack would sound like a good idea) the view is marred by this terrible, middle aged, British couple who have come to Paris because fighting at home has gotten boring.\\n\\nThe wife, Meg (played all too well by Lindsay Duncan) seems to have an undiagnosed mental disorder (ADHD?) as she definitely runs hot and cold, and in the blink of an eye. One moment she's frivolous to the point of childish, and the next (often seemingly spurred by the degree to which her husband, who clearly loves her, has been drawn in to her fantasy) she's morose, expressed most of the time by mindlessly vicious verbal attacks on her husband. The husband, Nick (the rather demented looking, bug eyed Jim Broadbent) asks for it, by losing all respect in his willingness to allow himself to be drawn into her web, when he should know damn well it's only going to end badly. He's more desperately in love than loving; and she's somewhere between a sadistic Parisian courtesan of the Sun Kings, and a preying mantis.\\n\\nThere are scenes that stand out in my memory, brilliant scenes. One, where he's got his iphone ear pods in, listening to some sixties band he grew up on, bopping about---from one angle he looks almost young again, in profile he's clearly a hideously aged buffoon. Another scene, where she's dressing for dinner, that they'll attend at the house of a friend (in the Rue de Rivoli, no less) she's slinking about the bedroom in opaque black stockings and black velvet heels that have an almost lethal attraction----Nick sits on the couch practically slobbering at the sight, when she sees him and decides to play with him, like a black widow going out on her web for the fly... she tells him to get down, and he crawls off the couch, onto his knees, begging her---the very object of her loathing and understandably so---and just as she has him, she crushes him. The coldness of her eyes, the look on her face...\\n\\nBut the parts do not add up. In \\\"Who's Afraid Of Virginia Wolfe\\\" the intensity builds, relenting only to gain energy to build to new heights; the protagonists try to enlist the sympathy and support of their guests against the other spouse, and once they feel so armed, off they go again. It's a rotting married life as breathless spectacle. Here the rot is more internal, cancerous, and no one feels free enough to scream in the pain they clearly feel, thus the audience is never quite drawn in. That and the fact that this is an aging baby boom couple, raised in plenty, free from want, indulged to a fault. They never really grew up, and they're still as selfish as they were as children. And delusional. Clearly, while Nick is in love with his wife, he's also too willing to suspend reality when she takes over, and tends to draw him into her deceitful world. It may be played to seem idiosyncratic, but the woman clearly has a failing moral compass, between her own delusional affair with a younger man, and her inability to accept that they can't afford to do some of the stuff she wants to do. It's one thing when they enter a very expensive restaurant and order to their heart's content, and then---after having chosen that moment of their anniversary to tell her husband she'd like to talk about leaving him; and he responds (later) that she should buy him one last dinner (this one), she realizes she can't afford it and she decides they'll skip out. But, unfortunately (for the film's credulity) that becomes her default solution, when the money begins to run out. Steal. Eventually, between the cost of what seems to be the Presidential Suite and the charges they incur there, they find they can't check out as they can't pay the bill; they can't leave France, because the hotel has their passports; and they get caught trying to skip out.\\n\\nI can't say that I liked Burton and Taylor as characters in their cinematic brawl, but they took the audience for an A-Ticket ride (google that, child). This couple does not take the audience much of anywhere, on any sort of ride. They're both pathetic, selfish and delusional to a fault, and watching them is neither a pleasure nor entertaining. If it weren't for the Paris backdrop, I wouldn't have stuck with it for as long as I did, but even Paris could not, and did not, save this film.\",\n \"Product: In Arizona 1882 nothing comes easy in the bitterly unforgiving Old West except dying. Albert (Seth MacFarlane), is a soft man in hard times who really doesn't fit in. Adding to Albert's distress and feelings of inadequacy, his girlfriend (Amanda Seyfried ) leaves him for the towns moustache groomer (Neil Patrick-Harris). When a mysterious and beautiful woman (Charlize Theron) rides into town she helps him find his courage. However, when her husband (Liam Neeson), a notorious outlaw, arrives seeking revenge, the farmer must put his new found courage to the test.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Often Hilarious, Occasionally Crude, Parody Of The Western, and Western Soundtracks.\\n\\nReview: I couldn't help thinking that I was watching an update of Mel Brooks \\\"Blazing Saddles\\\" as much of this Western parody feels so much like that now classic film, from the cliche style of font used in the graphics, to the rehashed Copeland-esque Western score (oddly enough, at least one reviewer of the soundtrack loved that, but refuses to watch the film!). Like the Mel Brooks effort, \\\"A Million Ways To Die In The West\\\" takes on a Hollywood form that, when Mel Brooks was doing it, was getting replaced at the cinema by space films. Today we've got modern specimens of the form, including two by the Coen Brothers, \\\"No Country For Old Men\\\" and \\\"True Grit\\\". And, \\\"Rango\\\". \\\"A Million Ways To Die...\\\" has a story to tell, and like older films, does so at its own pace, such that (when we had to pause the film) we were surprised that we'd only been watching for 45 minutes, when it seemed like so much more time had passed. It doesn't so much drag as it unfolds.\\n\\nIt has to be noted that it's also a bit crude at times; We've progressed (if that's the accurate word) beyond the farts around the campfire of \\\"Blazing Saddles\\\", to the point where sex, and childish obsessions with bodily functions are now fair game for humor, often not adding anything to the film. The ostentatiously genteel will have issues, then again the seem to like having the opportunity to show all the rest of us how refined they are. No one will be surprised where Sarah Silverman's character shows up, and she's remarkably restrained, in the role, for Sarah Silverman.\\n\\nSeth MacFarlane's character is portrayed as a coward, always running away and rarely standing up to the bullies. When he does, he spouts new age-y warm fuzzies about peace and love, and manages to get the gunslingers to give him extra time---which he then uses to his advantage, even if he loses his girlfriend because of these tendencies, early on. Then again, the girl he gets is.... spoiler alert... Of course, what goes un-remarked is that the real cowards are the townsfolk who outnumber the bad badguys and sociopaths by the dozens-to-one, and who never stand up for anything or anyone, and only show up to watch those that do bite the dust, content to ride along on other people's fights, deaths, and whatever benefits may, or may not, accrue.\\n\\nThe film certainly takes its time, yet it generally spends it wisely. Cultural and Hollywood references abound for those paying attention. All in all a very entertaining way to pass the time.\",\n \"Product: Heist comedy caper starring Pierce Brosnan, Emma Thompson, Timothy Spall and Celia Imrie. Middle-aged company man Richard Jones (Brosnan) is all set for retirement - or so he thinks. When he arrives at work for his last day and finds that his pension fund has been stolen through the fraudulent workings of Vincent Kruger (Laurent Lafitte), the man who has recently bought over the company, he enlists the help of his ex-wife Kate (Thompson) to help get it back. The two set off for France with their friends Jerry (Spall) and Penelope (Imrie) who agree to help steal Vincent's bride-to-be's diamond necklace which they feel will fully compensate for the lost funds. Can they track Vincent down and secure their future?\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Preposterous Story Line That Sinks To Silly Without Even A Nod To Being A Farce\\n\\nReview: What you want to watch is \\\"RED\\\" and \\\"RED 2\\\" where a cast of aging (and aged) movie stars convincingly play the roles of retired CIA operatives whom the CIA itself considers Retired Extremely Dangerous. There the skill sets are matched to the actors employing them, and their age, and the audience is drawn in and taken for a very amusing ride.\\n\\nHere, Hollywood has chosen two of its more genteel actors (Emma Thompson and Pierce Brosnan) and thrown in a couple of others as clowns (Timothy Spall and Celia Imrie) and set them off on an adventure that anyone with any functioning brain cells could not imagine them succeeding at. It seems that, on the eve of his retirement, Brosnan's character's company has been bought out by a hedge fund wonder of irritating youth and he's convinced them to merge their pensions with his; then he drives their company into the ground such that they show up to work one day to find themselves locked out, with foreclosure notices on the doors. It turns out that for Brosnan and his ex, Thompson, not only is their pension gone, but so too is their mortgage money and their kid's college tuitions. So, after some clandestine online investigating, they find that the creton's HQ is in Paris, and off they go.\\n\\nYou know, being a brash young thing, they, being Respectable, Upper Middle Class Elders; they will simply go and have a talk with him and bring him to his senses. Sadly, nothing else in the movie is any more plausible than this. With the vagaries of the Anglo-American Capitalist System behind him (what he did was wrong, but legal) he has them thrown out. They then discover he's about to get married, and that he bought the Rainbow Diamond (just on the news for its $10,000,000.00 sale to an anonymous buyer) to give to her.\\n\\nThey decide to crash his high security wedding and steal the diamond. And this is where my sympathy for the film evaporated. Stealing, and fencing a named diamond is the stuff only the best heist films can carry off. This is not one of those films. Worse, with this plot, not only is the idea itself preposterous, but this bunch of nitwits never do anything the easy way. They complicate everything. They choose the path of greatest resistance that requires skill sets the audience can not believe they would possibly have, let alone the stamina to exploit them, At Their Age...\\n\\nOf course, the standard for Rom Com's is fairly low, but this doesn't even reach that bar. The settings are beautiful, as is Emma Thompson, but that's not enough to carry this silly tale.\",\n \"Product: Jon Favreau (writer, director and producer) leads a hilarious all-star cast including Sofa Vergara, Scarlett Johansson, John Leguizamo, Bobby Cannavale, Dustin Hoffman, Oliver Platt, Robert Downey Jr. and young actor Emjay Anthony in this deliciously entertaining comedy about starting from scratch. When gifted chef Carl Casper (Favreau) suddenly quits his demanding job at a trendy LA restaurant, he's on his own to pick up the pieces of his once promising career. Finding himself in Miami, he decides to team up with his successful ex-wife (Vergara), best friend (Leguizamo) and son (Anthony) to launch a no-frills food truck business. Taking to the road, Carl reignites his passion for the kitchen and, along the way, discovers a renewed zest for life and love.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Fun Relationship Film With Food Porn\\n\\nReview: \\\"Chef\\\" starts out as a rather convincing kitchen action flick, and manages to depict the high tension environment of that setting, while interspersing enough glossy images of food that one still thinks cooking might be a fun way to make a living (been there, done that, no thanks). But, passion, we soon learn, has been made submissive to profit, as the restaurant's owner (Dustin Hoffman) didn't like the way his clientele rejected the Chef's previous attempts to add sweetbreads to the menu, and won't let him change the crowd pleasing formula, even though the big time L.A. restaurant critic who'd discovered the Chef has announced he's coming to dinner. So El Jefe, as he's styled himself (he's got the Cubana bombshell wife [Sofia Vergara] but he speaks no Spanish) obediently prepares the Standards and gets roundly panned in a review that quickly goes from denouncing the food to an ad hominem rebuke of the Chef. Unfortunately, this is when El Jefe discovers Twitter. He doesn't know how it works, doesn't listen to anyone who does, and becomes an internet sensation with one tweet---and not a good one.\\n\\nSo now he's got some time off...\\n\\nIt's here that El Jefe finally realizes (with some help from his ex wife---Vergara) that he needs to be a father to his son (Emjay Anthony) and for once, he starts listening. It is here that the movie changes course---his relationship with his son becomes the center of the film, and the cooking becomes the vehicle, literally, as they buy a food truck in Miami. It turns out that the kid is a whiz with social media and now the internet starts working for El Jefe, instead of against him. Of course, by now the savory element of the film has been completely replaced with dulces and we're bombing for the exit like the Giant Dipper coming off the top of its big hill, and the movie has been about as much fun as said roller coaster, albeit with out most of the twists and drops.\\n\\nThis film is pure entertainment, it's not meant to be taken too seriously. We could ask why there are only two women of note in the film and both are Barbie dolls, and both are meant to be ornaments to El Jefe, who gives us no reason to understand why (in real life) either would want such a physically unattractive, and self centered, guy. We could point out that, like the food in the restaurant that starts the plot rolling, the soundtrack is pure crowd pleaser too, nothing unusual, or challenging. Or that, for the millionth time, Los Angeles' Mexico/Central American latin culture is shoved aside and ignored for a Caribbean centric culture that isn't nearly so prevalent there, and it's not like Mexican Food lacks color or is dominated by tofu and wheat grass... We could, but at this point, why bother?\\n\\nWhat this film offers is rarely seen in a Hollywood product: A father who fathers. Once the relationship scenes get going, the kid stays a kid, not some precocious brat; and the hitherto self absorbed Dad morphs into someone who sees what he has to do, and does it, and does it well. Thus, when we get to the scene with the Chef's knife, and the burnt Cubano; when Dad gives his talk, it really works. That alone scored points with me.\\n\\nI'll definitely be watching this again, it was fun right out of the gate and managed to stay fun all the way back home.\",\n \"Product: When Joel (Paul Rudd) and Molly (Amy Poehler) meet, it's hate at first sight: his big Corporate Candy Company threatens to shut down her quirky indie candy shop. Plus, Joel is hung up on his sexy ex (Cobie Smulders). But amazingly, they fall in love, until they break up about two thirds of the way through, and Molly starts dating her accountant (Ed Helms). But then right at the end...well you'll just have to see. (Hint: Joel makes a big speech and they get back together.)\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Often Funny Modern Parody That Makes Mel Brooks Seem Like An Intellectual\\n\\nReview: There have been several times where I've sat in a theater, watching a comedy, where--as one of the oldest people in the theater---I was often the only person laughing at a humorous situation. The twenty and thirty-somethings just sat there, unless the joke was so broad as to be unmistakably meant to be laughed at---it was as if a \\\"Laugh\\\" sign was needed to cue them. This film would seem to be aimed at that crowd. If you have any movie watching history at all---if you've seen parodies like \\\"Blazing Saddles\\\" or \\\"What's Up Doc\\\" (both from the early 70's) or any of the work of the Masters of Old Hollywood (let alone Woody Allen), the level of art and craft displayed in this movie is going to seem less than zero.\\n\\nThat said, it does have its funny moments, it's just that those who find Will Ferrell funny will find more of said moments. It seems that the SNL alumni are in a race to the bottom, to out-devolve Ferrell as an adult child. That and the idea that the early part of the film feels like it was as much inspired by the art house/cable success of \\\"Portlandia\\\" on the part of other SNL alumni, and these folks simply set the idea back to its NYC roots.\\n\\nIt's a send up of romantic comedies, and starts as a double date between two couples, with one seemingly happily married couple asking their friends, newly together, how they met, and the story is told in backflash mode from there. A lot of self absorbed comedians over indulging themselves while the adults are taking a call from the Coast is how much of the film spools out. I realize that my interest in Amy Poehler was a five minute affair during her stint with Tina Fey playing Sarah Palin, and we were watching Tina, not Amy.\\n\\nAnd then there's the race issue. SNL has a few non-white cast members. Romantic comedies are often almost entirely one race, depending on the audience intended for the film. This parody's' whiteness pretty much demands comment. There's only one main character who isn't white, and she plays the typical \\\"mammy\\\" role, as sound board to the idiocy of a spoiled white brat, offering sage advice with a dollop of black attitude. Really? They couldn't have diversified the film a little bit more? A bunch of SNL vets get together to make a film commenting on a genre of films, and they made no effort to make a racial comment with significant roles for non-white players?\\n\\nSo no, despite the real laughs at many points, I would not recommend this film to anyone I liked. And I'm glad I rented it to stream instead of going to the theater to see it,\",\n \"Product: There are a million reasons not to like realtor Oren Little (Michael Douglas), and that's just the way he likes it. Willfully obnoxious to anyone who might cross his path, he wants nothing more than to sell one last house and retire in peace and quiet -- until his estranged son suddenly drops off a granddaughter (Sterling Jerins) he never knew existed and turns his life upside-down. Clueless about how to care for a sweet, abandoned nine-year-old, he pawns her off on his determined and lovable neighbor Leah (Diane Keaton) and tries to resume his life uninterrupted. But little by little, Oren stubbornly learns to open his heart - to his family, to Leah, and to life itself - in this uplifting comedy from acclaimed director Rob Reiner.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Crotchety Old Folks Rom Com. Even By The Standards Of Mature Audience Rom Coms...\\n\\nReview: I suppose that when you have a stable of older actors playing romantic roles in rom-coms it's only inevitable that the actors are going to get older, and that eventually they're going to seem TOO old for anything that isn't on the order of \\\"Whales Of August\\\" or \\\"On Golden Pond\\\". To that end, this rom com feels like a made for TV movie developed by AARP and sponsored by Geritol and some motorized stair climber company.\\n\\nIn many ways it also feels like a low budget version of \\\"Something's Gotta Give\\\"---with the convertible driving through Long Island enclaves, and Diane Keaton in bed crying after making love for the first time since the end of the Cold War---or was it the Korean War? Except that Michael Douglas is not Jack Nicholson, even if the latter was over 70 when he played the part.\\n\\nOren Little (Douglas) is a bitter widower who can't get over the loss of his wife, who, nevertheless, seems far more cynical and cold to have only gotten that way since she died. As a realtor, he's trying to sell the family home. His son turns up---a former addict but one who apparently had a fine white collar job on Wall Street until the SEC screwed him. Now he's going to jail for 9 months and he dumps his daughter on his dad (but only after Dad very rudely refused to help).\\n\\nAs Little struggles to sell his house, he lives in a two-story lakeshore quadplex that he shares with Leah (Keaton), a lounge singer who can't sing a song without bursting into tears thinking of her late husband; another woman who is raising twin sons, and a black couple.\\n\\nA word about the African Americans. As we all know, rom coms are notoriously racist, almost exclusively white, with no important roles for anyone non-white, unless they are stereotyped. In this instance though, Reggie (Albert Jones) is given a pointed but polite dialog with Little over parking, and then Little delivers his wife's (Almirah Vann) baby (after removing her panties, at her insistance) so you know this film is not really racist, aside from the fact that the couple have no other role in the film. Hollywood Addresses Racism In Film. Sort of.\\n\\nThe problem is that Oren Little is so bitter and so cynical, and honestly, so OLD. Everyone is so old. Diane Keaton repirses her role as a chanteuse, but she sits most of the time, as if she's too tired to stand to sing. The camera pans over the audience and no one is under 65. It's as if the film wants to be \\\"Something's Gotta Give\\\" but it can't manage more than \\\"Something's Gotta Break\\\". Everything felt forced, tired, broken.\\n\\nNot a great ninety minutes.\",\n \"Product: Oscar winner Kevin Kline plays Mathias, a New Yorker who travels to Paris in order to liquidate a very valuable apartment that he has inherited from his late father. However, once there he finds a peculiar old woman occupying it (Oscar winner Maggie Smith) and she has more than just a bit of bad news regarding his plans to become wealthy.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Quietly Beautiful And Increasingly Intense Drama Advertised As A Romantic Comedy.\\n\\nReview: This is another of those films where all the funny bits made it into the previews, leaving nothing to surprise the viewer in the actual film, aside from the fact that it's not nearly as funny as one was led to believe. \\\"Blue Jasmine\\\" worked this to the nth degree, but \\\"My Old Lady\\\" isn't nearly so grim, and Paris gets much better treatment than San Francisco did.\\n\\nMathias Gold (Kline) has inherited a house and garden from his late father, in the fashionable Marais district of Paris. The problem is, according to a long standing French legal arrangement, the house comes with Maggie Smith (which would seem to be something of a dream come true, at least for a while) playing a 91 year old english woman, Mathilde Girard, who'd sold the house to the elder Mr. Gold, after her husband had died.\\n\\nForty one years ago.\\n\\nAs part of the deal, the late Mr. Gold was to pay Mme Girard twenty four hundred euros a month until her death, at which time he could claim the house. Unfortunately, Mr. Gold has now died, and Mme Girard is still going strong. And Mr. Gold the younger, a middle aged man himself, has sold everything he has to get to Paris, where he had intended to sell the damn house and live off the proceeds.\\n\\nLife has other plans...\\n\\nIt turns out that Mr. Gold has issues regarding his dad, and his dad's cheating on his mother. It also happens that the house has secrets, and one of them has to do with Mme Girard, and her daughter, who lives with her. Working out Mr. Gold's issues and the house's secrets is where the movie keeps the meat of the story, little of which proves funny, and only adds to the drama as the story moves along. Kevin Kline gets to put his acting chops on full display and it's rather impressive.\\n\\nSo the viewer goes in expecting a comedy, gets tricked into a fairly decent drama, and the entire experience is rather rewarding. What really makes the film though is its low key atmosphere (similar in many ways to \\\"Blue Jasmine\\\"s finer moments) and the music which sets and holds the tone. It's a beautiful if well worn world these people inhabit inside the house, and of course, it's Paris every time they step out the door. The movie is quietly simmering with activity.\\n\\nAll in all a very nice way to pass an afternoon.\",\n \"Product: From the director of CHICAGO and the producer of WICKED comes a modern twist on the beloved fairy tales you thought you knew. Meryl Streep stars in this epic musical saga about daring to venture INTO THE WOODS. Iconic characters, such as Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk and Rapunzel, find their fates intertwined with a humble baker and his wife, whose longing to have a child sends them on a quest to reverse a witch's (Streep) curse. With an all-star cast, this spellbinding adventure is everything you could ever wish for.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: A Mostly (But Not Entirely) Sung Musical. With No Arias Or Singable Songs.\\n\\nReview: The unusual distribution of star ratings speaks volumes to the polarization that Sondheim inspires. That and the fact that a lot of viewers no doubt went in expecting something else. Everyone who recommended this to me did so with the same qualification, they liked it \\\"but, you have to go in expecting that it's almost entirely sung\\\". And so it is. Like an opera, in the sense that whatever dialog exists is between that which is sung, unlike say a more traditional musical (like \\\"Oklahoma\\\" or \\\"South Pacific\\\", or even \\\"Chicago\\\") where brilliant songs interrupt the dialog, which then resumes, after the music dies down. I would hasten to add: If your idea of opera is a lot of screeching or caterwauling, this is not that sort of music; rather, the melodic soundtrack into which the dialog is set is thoroughly modern, much more limited in vocal range and expression, and, unfortunately, never once rises to the breathtaking levels of an aria. There isn't even a great song anywhere in the film.\\nAnd, for whatever reason, while the first two thirds of the film are mostly sung, the last third is mostly spoken.\\n\\nThe story is simple, and since the play first came out, several movies have taken the idea and run with it---as have at least a couple of TV shows: A childless baker and his wife make a wish. Cinderella makes a wish. Jack makes a wish. Rapunzel makes a wish. Red Riding Hood makes a wish (with Johnny Depp as the wolf, no less) and it turns out that all their wishes intersect at the same shallow, wretched witch that is Meryl Streep's character (who, thankfully, does not so much sing) and it turns out that wishes have consequences. Also, Cinderella does not have a pumpkin carriage, she just runs away. Unfortunately, she keeps showing up and running away as if she's caught in some strange loop. The baker keeps trying to prevent his wife from helping him, even though she seems far more competent than he. Eventually, everyone realizes they need to work together, and even then the ending is more \\\"realistic\\\" than happy---although not realistic enough for Sondheim fans who sat through the play.\\n\\n In any event, despite, the massive, star studded cast (which included many of my favorites) the story just petered out before the end of the film. The music became tiresome and the lyrics such that were, too earnestly clever, cloying.\\n\\nIt's not a bad film. More like \\\"Maleficent\\\", and probably \\\"Cinderella\\\", when it comes to instant tv. Although, both of those films had absolutely dreadful music, far far worse than this.\",\n \"Product: In Disney's riveting mystery adventure TOMORROWLAND, a jaded inventor and an optimistic teen embark on a danger-filled mission to unearth the secrets of an enigmatic place somewhere in time and space.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Fantastic Adventure Great Special Effects and Visuals Fun Story.\\n\\nReview: This will probably be the only movie I see in a theater this year, and we did the IMAX version. It was one of the best mainstream movies I've seen in a while, and one of the best Disney films I can remember---aside from the \\\"Pirates...\\\" franchise of course. The trailers were brilliant as well: They show enough to give you a feel for what the movie will be about, yet in many of the scenes shown in the trailers, what you think is happening is not what actually happens at that point in the film... Sadly, we don't get enough time in Tomorrowland, but to say why is the worst sort of spoiler.\\n\\nIt's 1964 when the movie opens, and the child Frank Walker (Thomas Robinson) has taken off for the Worlds Fair in New York, with a jetpack he's made from vacuum cleaners and other stuff. Since it doesn't quite work, he doesn't get the prize, but he does meet a pretty little english lass named Athena (Raffey Cassidy) who has faith in him, and lets him in after her father tries to keep him out (of Tomorrowland, of course...). After he succeeds in getting in, we're fast forwarded to what seems to be the grown up Walker (George Clooney) trying to narrate a film, or some sort of document, and constantly getting interrupted by a young woman (Britt Robertson)---and then we go back to meet her as a child. Getting Walker and Newton together is the prime focus of most of the film, as she is essential to the resolution of the story. Eventually, they do cross over to Tomorrowland, and how they do it is perfectly ridiculous, in a fun way.\\n\\nThe takeaway message of the film is that we've too lazily accepted the idea that the future is going to be awful because it allows us to do nothing about it (\\\"What can we DO?\\\" we wail). Such an attitude is probably a self fulfilling prophecy, and it would be more practical if we had a more optimistic view of the future and tried to do something to ensure that it turns out that way. It's very uplifting idea that the movie works to good advantage---the Big Speech at the end in fact is pretty much all on that idea. Sadly, the inadvertent message also comes across all to clear: The Future Is For White People. Diversity is merely a ploy and people of color are no more than props. None of the prime speaking roles went to anyone of color. People feel quite comfortable saying the most outrageous things about police---when only a few cops are at issue: Why do we give Hollywood a free pass on racism? In movie after movie, if Hollywood isn't using people of color in stereotypical roles, or they don't use them at all, they use them as background diversity while everything up front is white. The whiteness of this film is its biggest flaw and given the importance of it's intended message, that is really pathetic.\",\n \"Product: Based upon Marvel Comics most unconventional anti-hero, Deadpool tells the origin story of former Special Forces operative turned mercenary Wade Wilson, who, after being subjected to a rogue experiment that leaves him with accelerated healing powers, adopts the alter ego Deadpool. Armed with his new abilities and a dark, twisted sense of humor, Deadpool hunts down the man who nearly destroyed his life.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Meh. Nice Eye Candy. Run Of The Mill Super Hero Film In A World Overpopulated With The Form.\\n\\nReview: Until Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool) mutates into the burn-victim look-alike, physically regenerative, superhero (who, nevertheless can not regenerate healthy looking skin) there is a lot of male eye candy for those so interested---nothing terribly frontal,sadly, he almost always has a lumpy sweater on, but lots of male eye candy just the same. Then, he morphs and has to wear the suit. At this point his gay voice takes over---apparently straight, married, and with children, Reynolds still has a great gay voice (here) which goes on and on and on as the babbling, can't stop talking, narrator for a character who isn't exactly tight with words himself, at least before the mask---to the annoyance to those who are trying to kill him. And sometimes to the annoyance of the viewer.\\n\\nThe question is, IS Deadpool supposed to be gay? In other films Reynold's is in I've never seen him in the mile-a-minute-motormouth mode, and he doesn't come across as particularly gay on or off screen, even as one might have said of Jack Benny for example. So is this characterization meant to convey a gay Super Hero, or is the gay sounding patter not meant to be gay sounding?\\n\\nA minor consideration, other than for the fact it's near constant.\\n\\nThe film is gory in the extreme. People don't just get whacked, they get whacked and as they do they spew, spurt, gush, and spin off bloody bits and pieces.\\n\\nOver all, in an era when every third movie is a Super Hero movie, I'm well over the form and this one did little to restore my enthusiasm. Then again, the twisted history within \\\"Wonder Woman\\\" didn't do much to that end either. I'm just not a Super Hero fan, and this to me is not that funny (one of the selling points I heard) or all that entertaining, even with all that near nudity on Reynold's part.\\n\\nLet's have more naked Reynolds in a different format.\",\n \"Product: Both 3-D and 2-D version together.feature commentary with Director Henry selick and composer Bruno Coulais.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Great Story Terrible 3D on DVD\\n\\nReview: I loved seeing this movie in the theater with digital 3D, but the old fashioned green/orange version you get with this DVD wipes out the color and did little to enhance the film with the feeble 3d effects that were provided. If it makes a difference, I watched it on a large flat screen monitor. So, the bad news out of the way, the movie was great.\\n\\nThe film is creepy in the halloween aesthetic so favored by Tim Burton, but done here with a bit less of the macabre than in \\\"Nightmare Before Christmas\\\". The \\\"other mother\\\" turns out to be a spidery creature with the typical Burtonesque mechanical hinged hands, and rag dolls populate the \\\"other world\\\", and when they are dispatched, they don't bleed, they lose sand. The film is set in Oregon, and to a point manages to suggest a bit of the misty romance of the western part of that soggy, mountainous state. But for all the sets and effects, it's the story that carries this film. And the story, despite the near relentless gloom and creep, is quite positive. A lonely girl, transplanted from Detroit (where you would think she would have at least some relief at having escaped) to the Oregon countryside by her self employed, and self absorbed writer parents, finds a secret door to a mirror-image apartment, and a mirror image family that is everything hers isn't, including not real and very dangerous. It seems the \\\"other mother\\\" also referred to in the film as \\\"the beldam\\\" an archaic word for an old hag (although she hasn't that characteristic at all) creates a fantasy world to draw children to her, then she sews buttons on their eyes (they don't go into detail on this) and locks them behind a mirror where she eats their life (or their soul, the film says life, which seems odd).\\n\\nAlong comes Coraline who, unlike the three other kids who fell afoul of the beldam, decides she's not that lonely, and fights back. Given all the time and energy it took to get to that point, the film resolves itself a bit too quickly from there, for my tastes, but it does it so well; a nice bit of chocolate or fine cheese that was portioned a bit too small, and there isn't any more as you find out afterwards... The thing about the two worlds in this film, is that it isn't just Coraline's family that gets the treatment. The old Russian acrobat upstairs and the two burlesque performers downstairs also have star turns in the \\\"other world\\\" that really delight the viewer. I managed to find a review on a \\\"family\\\" website that was very good, until it got to the nudity part... I'll mention that because they did, as apparently it's an issue for some people. In the burlesque scene, in a vaudeville theater that the ladies apartment becomes in the \\\"other world\\\" they do what they did when they were younger, except that now they're not, and they're very, very out of shape, but you do have two stop-animation figures cavorting about in a vaudeville burlesque routine about mermaids and sirens, and one of them is but for the saving graces of glittering pasties and g-strings all but naked. And then, the women materialize in their more youthful form, in show-nothing one piece bathing suits that would have made Mr. Hayes proud, and there you are. I'd hate to think I ruined your day if I led you into a purchase that has partial stop animation nudity among the clay-rines.\\n\\nSo, I heartily recommend the film, and just as heartily suggest you watch the 2D version as it seems to be enhanced (ala \\\"Roger Rabbit\\\") such that it has greater depth without having 3D. The 3D, in the theater, was not so much the hatchet flying off the screen variety of old, but added a degree of depth and realism to the story. I wonder if one brought home the glasses from the theater, one would have better results with the 3D here? And then I ask, why aren't the live action films this good?\",\n \"Product: Charlie's investigation of a phony psychic during the 1939 World Exposition on San Francisco's Treasure Island leads him to expose a suicide as murder.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Entertaining Standard Hollywood Fare. Don't Expect To See Much Of The Fair.\\n\\nReview: I found the quality of this DVD to be quite good, very clear translation to disc. Good sound. The movie is also decent for what it is---A white guy playing a Chinese detective, because there weren't enough Chinese actors in Hollywood. That must be the explanation... The story is well told, it's funny in parts. And it certainly has a sense of period. Those hoping for Hollywood quality filmed images of the Golden Gate Exposition on Treasure Island though will be mostly disappointed, on two counts: Aside from the fly-over at the beginning, supposedly in a China Clipper, you don't really see much of the fair at all---the movie is all done on a backlot (unlike its predecessor, which was most unusually shot in Honolulu). And, while the black and white is gorgeous, the fair was noted for its colored light show at night. I never expected to see even a glimpse of Sally Rand's Nude Ranch, so I wasn't disappointed there either. Still, it's a fun film.\",\n \"Product: When her heart is stolen by a seductive stranger a young woman is swept away to a house atop a mountain of blood-red clay: a place filled with secrets that will haunt her forever. Between desire and darkness, between mystery and madness, lies the truth be ...\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Sumptuous Gothic Horror/Romance With Remarkably Violent Bits of Gore; Here, And There.\\n\\nReview: I'd added this film to my Halloween list for October, when I found a review that said the studio had emphasized the horror scenes in the trailer, and in reality the movie was more of a gothic romance than a horror flick. Don't you just hate that? \\\"Blue Jasmine\\\" seemed so funny in trailers when in fact all the funny bits were IN the trailer and the movie was not only a very moving film of a woman's mental descent, Woody Allen didn't even bother to try to make San Francisco worth looking at---as he had for Paris and Rome.\\n\\nThis is not that kind of movie. That reviewer must have been texting while watching. This movie is a remarkably gory gothic romance---people don't just die, they get their heads bashed in and you get to watch. Otherwise, as horror films go---I loved it, right up my alley. I can't stand the slasher flicks and I don't like films that will linger on and give me the creeps on those lonely nights in a dark creaky apartment (like \\\"Angel Heart\\\"). This one is a haunted house/ghost film---with ghosts that are more monster corpses than spectres (think \\\"Pirates of The Caribbean\\\"). Oh, and there isn't a lot of the romance part either---but it's very gothic.\\n\\nSo, if you're looking for a creepy film with a fantastically atmospheric haunted house, bits of extremely violent gore, and recurrent grotesques as ghostly figures; one that is lavishly filmed (in 70mm no less) for your October viewing, add this to your list, right near \\\"The Orphanage\\\".\",\n \"Product: The Banks children, Jane and Michael, change nannies just about as often as most people change their clothes. It's not that they're naughty, exactly -- just awkward. Everyone in the household is at their wits' end with them -- until Mary Poppins arrives! The Classic tale from P.L Travers. This, the first book about Mary Poppins, will be familiar to everyone who has seen the film. For it is in this book that Jane and Michael draw up their advertisement for a nanny, and Mary Poppins appears out of the sky with her parrot-headed umbrella which talks. She is strict but fair, slides happily up the banisters, and takes the children on the most extraordinary outings -- to a funfair inside a pavement picture; to uncle Andrew who sails up to the ceiling when he laughs -- which she firmly denies afterwards. Needless to say, the children are devastated when she leaves, but by then, they and their parents are far more of a family than they ever were before Mary Poppins appeared.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Light, Entertaining Children's Fare, In A Well Done Retro-Edition\\n\\nReview: What was I thinking, I wonder? The \\\"Mary Poppins\\\" I remember trying to read, when I was twelve, and the \\\"Mary Poppins\\\" I just finished are two completely different works, and yet, most of that difference (which also marks the most significant difference between the book and the movie, aside from the music, of course) originates almost entirely with Mary Poppins, herself. Julie Andrews portrayal of the magical nanny only hints at the unpleasant, vainglorious prig that is at the center of the book, and who colored my reception to it. While the children, Jane and Michael, clearly love her, she never once says a kind word to them, and is almost constantly admonishing them for this or that, while denying that they saw or experienced what they did; and, she's also cross with nearly everyone else she meets, yet no explanation is given! Despite that, the book is a quite cheerful affair, full of eccentric characters rendered in a rather light hand,, that doesn't linger very long at all on the details. In tone and cadence, P.L. Travers' writing is quite remarkably similar to A.A. Milne in his \\\"Winnie The Pooh\\\" series. In structure, each chapter is a self contained adventure, so anyone reading this to children, as a bed time story, would not have to go back and refresh the details from the last reading in order to progress through to the next.\\n\\n\\\"Mary Poppins\\\" is, at its best, a children's story (for \\\"Ages 8 And Up\\\" as it says on the frontispiece) the book you'd read to little ones who've outgrown picture books. For adults, it is very simple reading----almost embarrassingly so if you haven't a kid to aim it at; this is not \\\"The Secret Garden\\\", \\\"Treasure Island\\\", or \\\"Harry Potter\\\". As a descriptive writer, Travers makes Hemingway seem wordy, and Maugham appear obsessive. In describing the animals at the four corners of the earth, in the revised Chapter 6 \\\"Bad Tuesday\\\", a polar bear gets only \\\"white\\\" added to bear. And a macaw gets nothing at all. A macaw, as it turns out, is a large, bright, multi-hued parrot---and I just outdid Travers by three words, four if you count the hyphenated phrase as two words... Worse, the reader isn't transported back to the era of the book. There's no sense of being in 1934, or the Edwardian Era twenty years before it.\\n\\nSo why ARE you considering this book, exactly? Are you going to read it to your kids, or someone else's? Great! A gift for a little reader who's just beginning to open his/her own cover? Excellent! \\\"Saving Mr. Banks\\\"? Waste of time! Nothing in this first \\\"Mary Poppins\\\" will enlighten your movie going experience. Mr. Banks has less than a bit part, and less at that, than Mrs. Banks. He is quoted with regards to Nannys; he is then said to be going-to or coming-from work, and announcing whether he'll wear an overcoat, or take an umbrella, and that's it. If you remember the trailer, where Ms. Travers expresses her astonishment that Mr. Disney seems to think that Mary Poppins is saving the children, and not Mr. Banks, this book won't give you a clue as to what she means. Perhaps, over the arc of the story line, through all the books, that becomes apparent---it certainly does in the movie, but not here. Not at all.\\n\\nThis is, again, a little child's book, like \\\"B Is For Betsy\\\", for kids who are just learning to read books, or making the transition from pictures to words. Adults not entertaining such an age group, unless they're semi-literate themselves, are going to find themselves reading way below their level. It's light, quick, and fun, but there are so many other books out there that fill that niche, better. The first three (small) volumes of \\\"Suds In Your Eye\\\" by Mary Lasswell; The first three volumes of \\\"Tales Of The City\\\" by Armistead Maupin. etc etc etc, you probably have your own list. Aside from that, or nostalgia, I can't see why an adult would want to read \\\"Mary Poppins\\\" but then again, to have it on your shelf when someone comes over with kids might just make for a memorable evening that might other wise have gone down the tube with whining and wailing, and too many cocktails on your part.\",\n \"Product: This unusual but strikingly affecting movie stars Marisa Tomei as Ruby, a young woman with a string of bad relationships behind her, who falls in love with a guy named Sam (Vincent D'Onofrio, Full Metal Jacket, The Whole Wide World). Initially, Sam just seems quirky, but eventually he tells her his secret: he's a time traveler from 400 years in the future. Happy Accidents walks a delicate line between genres, never making it clear whether Sam is delusional or telling the truth until the end. The strange blend of genres (which plays like romantic comedy, not like science fiction) may make some viewers balk, but writer-director Brad Anderson (Next Stop Wonderland) has a gift for both revealing psychological insights and sensual moments--like when Sam explains principals of time travel by running his hands up Ruby's leg--that, combined with the superb cast, are constantly engaging and sincerely touching. --Bret Fetzer\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: A Classic Story, Overtold.\\n\\nReview: Sometimes the most important person in Hollywood is the person doing the editing. Whomever that was didn't put enough effort into the task as this movie is about 30 minutes too long, mostly filled with relationship chaff that doesn't add anything to the movie.\\n\\nThe big question, which I thought the movie does very well to sustain (thanks in part to the score) is whether or not Deed is a time traveler, or just crazy. Is he really here from 2470? Or is it a delusion? Is Marisa Tomei's character really going to die on Friday, or is it just part of his delusion, a fantasy that plagues him as he remembers the death of his sister? Folks from Brooklyn, and those who know Brooklyn well will probably figure out part of the mystery very quickly, others have internet sources (apart from going to Wikipedia, which would be too easy) that would pick out one of the clues...\\n\\nWhatever the answer turns out to be, getting there is a long slow hike that is often a slog. Not in the \\\"Before Sunrise/Sunset/Midnight\\\" sort of \\\"getting there is the story\\\" manner, but with lots of scenes that don't really do much, relationship chaff that adds nothing but little eddies in a plot that doesn't need them.\\n\\nIt is entertaining, a rom com speckled with scifi powder, but at just under 2 hours, it's a long movie for what it has to say.\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":66,"string":"66"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_3"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":870,"string":"870"}}},{"rowIdx":871,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"A1W4F91DH3XPB2"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of \"4.0\" for a product with description \"Parrot Mini Drone Rolling Spider - Bluetooth 4.0 Controlled Robotic Toy-Fly & RollWhite. For any further queries please contact Parrots Technical Support team at 877-9PARROT (972-7768) or online at http://www.parrot.com/usa/support/hotline.Parrot tutorial videos are available here: Set up process: http://youtu.be/BsTvOozjcxg Easy piloting maneuvers: http://youtu.be/YOcjtbAxzR4 Advanced piloting & wheels and ace mode: http://youtu.be/OxDhzyElL1s.We recommend customers to update their Rolling Spider to the latest firmware version to enjoy the new improvements brought for Rolling Spider\". The summary of the review text is \"Great gadget/gift for the person who has everything!\"."},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"Cute gadget. Gave it to my 28 year old son to try first (as I can sometimes be technically challenged). It was easy to set up an within minutes he was using it (to the delight of his 5 year old daughter). No complaints except for the battery life. Didn't seem like he used it for more than an hour that he had to recharge. I think Parrot should do something to extend on this if they expect to attract a sizeable crowd purchasing same. I will say that it would make a great gift to give the person who seems to have everything as it is clever and definitely a conversation piece. Holiday giving would work especially to be under the tree for the difficult to buy for sure. I would just keep in mind the battery life. As a closing comment, I am now the proud owner of this minidrone and I must admit this 50 something women just loves to play with it (to this dismay of my cat who would love to get her paws on this, lol)"},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"Cute gadget. Gave it to my 28 year old son to try first (as I can sometimes be technically challenged). It was easy to set up an within minutes he was using it (to the delight of his 5 year old daughter). No complaints except for the battery life. Didn't seem like he used it for more than an hour that he had to recharge. I think Parrot should do something to extend on this if they expect to attract a sizeable crowd purchasing same. I will say that it would make a great gift to give the person who seems to have everything as it is clever and definitely a conversation piece. Holiday giving would work especially to be under the tree for the difficult to buy for sure. I would just keep in mind the battery life. As a closing comment, I am now the proud owner of this minidrone and I must admit this 50 something women just loves to play with it (to this dismay of my cat who would love to get her paws on this, lol)"},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Product: For centuries, the luxury of French-milled soaps has remained the gold standard of excellence. Each time you begin to lather a French made soap, you enter a time and place where quality and craftsmanship have stood still. Traditional French soap is triple-milled to produce a completely uniform and smooth soap, without impurities, thus lasting longer. Every bar of Pre de Provence soap is not only carefully made today by the dedicated soapmakers in Provence following their proud traditions, but quad-milled to be smoother and have a richer lather to create our luxurious feel. Using all pure, natural ingredients enriched with shea butter, you can feel the difference of our unique quad-milling process. Aromatic fragrances transport you to a moment of calmness, vitality, dreamin or well-being. This 150 Gram bar is a great value, the fragrance maintains until the soap is all used up. The soap creates a rich, creamy lather and rinses clean, leaving skin soft and hydrated.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great artisanal soap! Shea butter makes my skin soft and smooth! Great fragrance, great soap!!!\n\nReview: To be honest, I have been using liquid body wash for the last 2-3 years exclusively. This is the first time I have used bar soap (ok, except for maybe hotel stays) since that time. I am super impressed with this soap. First, it is very sizeable and heavy. I have been using it daily for the last 2 weeks and it still looks like the same size as when I took it out of the wrapper (so my assumption is this will last a long, long time). Glorious lavender mix fragrance (which I love). I feel cleaner than I have in years and my skin feels amazing (I assume it's the shea butter). This is my new favorite soap and I love it. No more body washes for me, I will be using these European soaps going forward. Kudos to Pre de Provence!","Product: Sonic vibration rechargeable toothbrush. Clinically proven to reduce stains.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: I just don't get it\n\nReview: I don't see the fuss with this toothbrush. As was mentioned in other reviews, it is smaller and more lightweight than other rechargeable toothbrushes. But, beyond that, I just don't get i. I stopped using my older Phillips Sonicare to use this for the past two+ weeks. The vibrations on this brush are very small and I find myself pushing the toothbrush into my teeth and scrubbing to be sure they are getting clean. Maybe there is some secret sonic vibration thing going on, but it didn't happen for me. If I didn't actually have to still 'brush my teeth' manually with this electric toothbrush, maybe it would be fine. However, it's not the case. Without manual intervention, my teeth did not feel clean. As an fyi, I stopped using it this morning and went back to my Phillips.","Product: The Dyson Cinetic Animal vacuum contains 54 ultra-efficient Dyson Cinetic tips which oscillate up to 5,000 times per second to separate the microscopic particles that clog other vacuums. Because of their efficiency, there's no filter that needs washing or replacing meaning there is no loss of suction.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: I confess: I am in love with a vacuum cleaner!!!\n\nReview: Nothing but absolutely wonderful things to say about this Dyson Animal Canister. First, I need to say that I live in Florida and have either tile or hardwood floors with a couple of area rugs (8x10). I also have two animals: 7 year old cat who sheds minimally and a 1 year old Aussie Shepherd mix who sheds continuously (she has long hair, upwards of 4 inches long that just appears everywhere). Keeping up with the fur in my house has been a chore, with my vacuuming several times a day (as usually the first sweep with my upright Electrolux never seemed to get it all). In comes the Dyson Cinetic Ball Animal Canister. First, out of the box even someone as inept as myself was able to assemble (it basically with the exception of the hose comes all together). Upon holding the arm and the canister I was amazed how relatively light it is and how easy it was to maneuver. The head is flexible and fits easily under my sofas and even the refrigerator. I was able to do my entire house (dog hair an all) and the canister was still maybe only 1/2 full. If I ha anything at all negative to say it might be the instructions in removing the canister to empty it. I guess in this day and age with international marketing, companies put all their 'instructions' in a picture format (no words). It was impossible to figure out the removal of the canister trying to match up what the pictures were trying to tell me. Anyway, once I noticed the button on the body of the vacuum and pushed it, the unit popped out and from there I figured out the rest. Outside of that, this is the most incredible vacuum I have ever owned. In addition to the easy maneuvering, the power is amazing, sucking up hair and dirt from outside the arms reach (making it easier and faster to complete the job). The Dyson is pricey, but you do get what you pay for when it comes to a vacuum. Great gift for an office or a group of friends to chip in to buy the bride to be. She will have years of an amazing tool, and you can depend on the quality of the Dyson name for a well made product!","Product: Warm an entire room* instead of just a small area in front of the heater! The ultra quiet Bionaire Heat Circulator with Rotating Grill circulates warm air throughout a room thanks to a specially designed rotating grill that provides up to 50% more heat coverage when the grill is rotating. Adjustable thermostat, two heat settings (1500 watt maximum), and easy to adjust manual controls maintain ideal comfort level. Built-in safety features include an overheat sensor, manual user reset, cool touch plastic housing, and auto shut-off. *Warm enough to heat a 10 x 10 x 8 ft room\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Good for really small spaces\n\nReview: Let me begin by saying that I have a room in my home that works as a combination bedroom at night, office during the day. As such, I spend most of my time in the room and hate to spend a lot of money heating the whole house. So, I usually will keep the house around the low 60 degree mark and then use a space heater in my room to keep the temperature a bit warmer in the space I am in most of the time. Usually, I have a full size Lasko model that keeps my 11x18 room relatively toasty. I received this Bionaire model through Vine earlier this month and, on one of the coldest days of the fall this year, decided to try it out. To begin with, it is compact.. maybe 8-9 inches high and maybe 9 inches wide. It has a rotating (optional) fan to help circulate the air (my Lasko actual rotates the unit from side to side to do the same). It is attractive and looks like a small table fan when in use. Downside is the size, it is not really big enough to handle this room (unless I kept the door shut and the unit running constantly and eventually the corners would show an increase in room temp). It's great to keep right next to me on floor while I am at my desk to warm my immediate space. It's also relatively noisy (the Lasko is much quieter).","Product: The singer 6180 brilliance computerized portable sewing machine boasts features to make sewing a breeze at an affordable price. An automatic needle threader makes threading the eye of the needle a snap. The 80 built-in stitches are set at the optimum setting every time but are fully adjustable for your specific sewing needs. With essential, decorative and stretch stitches included, the singer brilliance portable sewing machine has the right stitch for every sewing project. Easily convert the sewing machine from a traditional flatbed to a free arm for sewing sleeves, cuffs, and other hard-to-reach areas. Easily secure your stitches with the conveniently located one-touch automatic reverse button. This factory serviced sewing machine comes with a new warranty (limited 25-year including 5-year electronic components, 1-year adjustments).included Accessories: all-purpose foot, zipper foot, buttonhole foot, pack of needles, bobbins (class 15, metal), thread spool cap, auxiliary spool pin, spool pin felt, darning plate, needle plate screwdriver, seam ripper/lint brush, soft-sided dust cover, foot pedal, power cord, instruction manual (English, Spanish, French), quick start guide, machine intro DVD.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Attractive and functional machine\n\nReview: First, I want to state clearly that I got this from the Vine program. In my past, when I was in my teens and and twenties (after my sons were born), I did a lot of sewing. From making costumes fom plays I was in myself, to making Halloween costumes for my sons, my old Singer got a lot of practice. Now 20 years later, I haven't used a sewing machine and thought this would be a good refresher for me (preparation for my future grandchildren, lol). Anyway, the positives: The Singer 6199 is much more compact than anything I owned or used in the past. It is sleek, attractive and a piece of home equipment I am proud to desktop display. The stitches are tight and secure and changing the stitch patterns is easy. The downside, was the bobbin loading. I am not sure if it was me (since I am so out of practice) or not. In reading other reviews I see there are others (probably with more recent experience) having the same issues. It took me quite a while the first time to load and level, after painstakingly having to follow instructions. You will need a lot of patience at least the first few times. Anyway. I still recommend this sewing machine as it produces a quality finish and has a lot of features I haven't even tried yet (but will be over the next few months).","Product: Three delicious gummies provide immune system and cellular support with high potency Vitamins C and D, an excellent source of Zinc, and 75mg of Echinacea. With no water needed, these immune support gummies can be taken on the go, as a convenient alternative to old-school pills or powders.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: 20 day supply - Gummy vitamins\n\nReview: Great multi vitamin, comparable to Emergen-C. Tastes good (and thank goodness it does as you need to take 3 of these a day). Others here have listed ingredients, so I will not repeat. I have no complaints with this product, with the exception of the price. Typically, I will buy a bottle of vitamins to obtain a one or two month supply. With this Vitafusion you only get 20 days worth (20 days X 3 gummies a day). To me, I can get a better supply of multivitamins at much less cost which will last me twice as long. I have nothing bad to say about the product itself, just that I think you can do better with another brand.","Product: Lock&Lock borosilicate glass is unlike any other. Heat resistant and airtight (on select models with four locking system). It uses material that contains strong heat resistant properties which could withstand sudden change in temperature. Plastic lids are BPA free. Our heat-resistant glass is produced in temperatures above 2700°F which makes it harder to manufacture, but safer to use. LOCK&LOCK BOROSEAL thermal shock strength is 250°F. Our borosilicate glass can be used not only in a refrigerator, a microwave, and a dishwasher, but also in a 750°F conventional oven. Unlike normal or tempered glass, if Lock&Lock Boroseal gets broken by physical shock, it doesn't break into numerous fragments and scatter. Therefore, it is safer and more suitable for you and your family. Cook in the oven with Lock&Lock glass or use it as bakeware (without lid). Microwave safe (without lid). It is salt and oxidation resistant and stain and odor resistant. Lock&Lock is so versatile you can go from oven to table at once and freezer to microwave at once. No more washing so many dirty dishes. -Set Dimension Information SKU Quantity Capacity Dimension LLG211 2EA 1.8-Cup/15.2 Fl. Oz 5.4 by 5.4 by 2.4in LLG841 1EA 3.1-Cup/25.7Fl. Oz 6.6 by 6.6 by 2.8in LLG871 1EA 5.4-Cup/44.0Fl. Oz 7.9 by 7.9 by 3.1in Total 8-Piece Set/4-Containers\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great set of containers - but not 100% of what I was expecting\n\nReview: First, set is very attractive in appearance (would make a great gift for the bride to be). Containers are solid and glass and are quality items. Lids fit closely and tightly and make an air tight seal. Only downsize to me was in the size of the containers. Two of them look like they would fit a sandwich size meal or, at best, a small portion of left over vegetables from dinner. The other two, although larger, would not store things like a lot of pasta sauce, etc. I am rating this 5 stars for the containers for what you do get (not what I was anticipating size-wise). I guess I didn't read the page well enough to see the sizes, thought I would be getting more pratical size containersfor kitchen needs. In doing further research, I see that Lock&Lock makes a larger set and I will probably buy them for myself (almost the same price as this set, so it would be worth it to pay a little more).","Product: Black leather upholstery offers luxurious comfort and style. Comfortable padded leather-wrapped armrests. Contemporary polished aluminum five-star base with casters. Recommended Applications: Executive amp;amp; Management Seat/Back Color: Black Arms Included: Yes Arm Style: Padded Loop.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Standard office chair - reasonably priced\n\nReview: Not much to state on this what hasn't been said in the other reviews. This is a very attractive looking chair and the leather does seem to look high end. The chair is comfortable seating and the arms are ergonomically placed for maximum comfort. I will state I am a woman in her 50's who is a little challenged when it comes to assembling these kinds of things. Although I was able to do it, it took me almost an hour to do as I found the instructions difficult to follow. It may be me, so I hate to deduct more than a star in the rating, but I think assembly could be clearer and easier to make this a more quality chair. Also, the fact that there is no adjustable lumbar support could also be a downside. However, to be honest, it's as nice as anything I saw in Office Max when I was there a few weeks ago and was easily $20-40 less in cost. I would recommend this chair but please be sure you are up for the challenge of assembly.","Product: Metropolitan collection is constructed of a high-carbon stainless steel blade that stays sharper longer and is easy to resharpen. The ergonomically designed contoured polymer handles are durable, triple riveted, and hygienically nonporous for easy cleaning. The full tang blade extends the length of the knife to provide strength and balance. The knives are all backed by a full lifetime guarantee. This collection is perfect for cooks that are looking to save time and are ready to take cooking to the next level.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: A good entry level set for the new bride\n\nReview: Let's start with the pros: this is a large set with almost every kind of knife you could need (and even scissors), it's attractive and professional to look at on the countertop. Here are the cons: set is poorly made and the knives get marks/discolorations on them after several runs through the diswasher, handles feel loose and almost wobbly when using them for chopping, they only remain sharp for a short period of time (I found myself sharpening them after only two uses of dicing vegetables. I think this is a great entry level set for a bride-to-be and would look great as a relatively inexpensive shower present. However, if you are a serious cook (such as I consider myself to be) save your money and invest in a good steak knife set (which will cost over $200). It's like they say, you get what you pay for. It's attractive, but not functional.","Product: Fantes Cousin Umberto's Garlic Press crushes garlic easily in just seconds, with or without removing the skin. A helpful addition to food preparation and cooking tools, its easy to add depths of flavor to favorite dishes. Simply place a clove of garlic inside, close the handle and squeeze with both hands. With or without peeling garlic skins, Cousin Umberto's Garlic Press tackles garlic effortlessly. Cleaning tool included to quickly dislodge stubborn food bits for easier cleanup. Made from heavyweight aluminum for strength and durability. Hand wash in warm, soapy water. Fantes, The Italian Market Original since 1906. Brought to you by HIC Harold Import Co.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great device, I don't know how I lived without it all these years!\n\nReview: This is a neat little device. I used to use my garlic press, but no more. This helps me grate garlic into smaller slivers which seems to blend and cook better in my recipes. The most wonderful part of all is the cleanup. My garlic press seemed to leave more in the device than in my recipes and clean up was difficult getting it out of all the nooks and crannies. This garlic grater works cleaner and I get far more garlic in my dishes. I also like that I can slide or shred into different consistencies (depending on my recipe), something I would usually have to do with a knife. I couldn't be happier with this device and no kitchen should be without it. This would make a great little add on bridal shower gift (something unique and useful).","Product: The Hisense DH-70K1SJE4 Energy Star 70-Pint 2-Speed Dehumidifier with Ionizer is an affordable and eco-friendly dehumidifier for large-sized spaces and operates at temperatures as low as 38 degrees F. This Energy Star-qualified model removes 70 pints of damaging moisture per day from spaces up to 1500 square feet. A fresh air ionizer and three operating modes (normal, continuous and auto dry) make it a versatile choice. Additional features include a programmable timer, adjustable humidistat, and full-tank alert. During the dehumidification process, water accumulates in the tank or is automatically emptied into a drain using a drainage hose such as a standard garden hose (drainage hose not included).\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Large, quiet effective unit\n\nReview: Let me start by saying that unlike the first reviewer, my unit was shipped in the manufacturer original packaging (not double boxed). This is a large and heavy unit and the bottom of the package actually was damaged and I was afraid the unit would also be damaged. Luckily, when the unit was removed from the box, I found the dehumidifier itself was not damaged. I thought this was a terrible way to send this item and Amazon was lucky that the unit was packaged well by the manufacturer. Now to the device itself... Like I mentioned, this is a very heavy device and I needed help getting it set up out of the box (warning to people who are not that strong). Once set up, the unit was surprisingly quiet and I also was surprised how much water the system collected from my basement (guess I never thought of my basement as that humid). The 70 pint container filled in just about 2 days and, again, I would warn anyone without much strength to empty it more frequently. Bottom line, great device, works as designed and super quiet, just heavy and poorly packaged for shipping. I would not buy this as a gift for anyone (as there is no privacy in the shipping).","Product: Mr. Coffee Iced Cafe brews gourmet iced coffee in one simple touch. Simply add water to the reservoir, coffee grounds to the brew basket, ice to the pitcher and press brew. Brew up to 2 quarts of iced coffee for the perfect pick-me-up. The Mr. Coffee Iced Cafe comes with a 2 quart pitcher, adjustable brew strength, dishwasher safe brew basket and 10 delicious recipes. Brew Classic iced coffee, decadent Creme de Caramel iced coffee, delicious Chilling Chai Tea Latte or your own custom brew. Save up to 400 a year versus the coffeehouse.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Loved the taste and convenience\n\nReview: Not sure why there were some less than glowing reviews about this Mr. Coffee Iced Coffee Maker. I absolutely loved it. I can tell you that I already have an Iced Tea maker similar to this and I was wondering why one would bother having two very similar items. I can say that, although you can make iced tea in this coffee maker, I don't think you could find a way to do the opposite. I loved the way the iced coffee came out, cold and refreshing and perfectly brewed. I enjoyed it far more than an iced latte I would get at the local Starbucks. I would think this makes a great gift for a coffee lover, a first time homeowner or apartment dweller. Better yet, a fantastic gift for a college student which will make him/her the life of the party when it comes to dormitory living. I would not hesitate to purchase this Mr. Coffee as I think it excels at what it is expected to deliver. If you love coffee as much as I do, you will love the Mr. Coffee Iced Cafe Coffee Maker!!!","Product: This Circulon Total 12-Piece Nonstick Cookware Set provides home cooks with high-quality cookware that makes whipping up delicious, healthy meals quick and simple. The TOTAL Food Release System DuPont's Autograph 3-layer nonstick coating on raised circles reduces surface abrasion and delivers extraordinary food release and exceptional dependability. The set's heavy gauge hard-anodized construction provides even heating to help reduce hot spots that could burn food. Durable stainless steel lids form a tight seal to trap flavor and moisture. Each piece features comfortable, phenolic handles that are oven safe to 350F.Create popular Tex-Mex dishes with a healthy twist using this versatile Circulon Total 12-Piece Nonstick Cookware Set. Simmer a flavorful tortilla lime soup in the stockpot, while black beans finish in the saucepan. Sizzle marinated skirt steak in one skillet and onions and green peppers in the other for fajitas. Round out the spicy feast by preparing Mexican brown rice in the covered saut pan. Make impressive meals with the Circulon Total 12-Piece Nonstick Cookware Set that offers reliable heat distribution and advanced nonstick for easy cleanup in gorgeous pieces that add style to any kitchen.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Great for a starter set of pots and pans - think bride to be\n\nReview: I want to start by stating that I am a huge Circulon fan having bought and given sets as gifts over the past 10+ years. For some reason, I don't feel this set lived up to the quality of the other sets I have owned. I did see some tiny scratching on the bottom of the frying pan after only a couple of uses. I also ran several of the pieces through the dishwasher a few times and did notice a dulling in the shine once the cycle was done. I am still rating this as 4 starts as the set will last for years and is at the low end of Circulon's set pricing. This would be great as a wedding/shower gift where you can give a nice set of pots without breaking the bank in doing so, Check out my other reviews on Circulon for sets which, for about $100 more, are higher end quality and durability.","Product: Protect your mattress from bed bug infestations with the AllerEase Bed Bug Zippered Mattress Protector. Advanced zipper technology keeps bed bugs and household allergens like dust mites, pollen, and pet dander from invading your mattress. This protector features a brushed polyester top for quiet comfort and is waterproof to protect your mattress from spills and stains. Sleep peacefully, knowing you are protected from bed bugs and household allergens.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: You get what you pay for and then some\n\nReview: I was disappointed in this mattress cover, considering I had purchased another one (different brand) about a week or so ago that I was in love with. I am using this one in my guest bedroom to be used primarily by my son and daughter-in-law who both have allergies. I assume this will do the trick when it comes to sealing the mattress (so as to keep out critters and protect from spills and dust mites). However, it is super thin (I wonder what will happen once I wash it a few times?) and it makes an awful lot of noise when you roll on it. I honestly think you can do better. My other mattress pad was closer to $90, so my assumption is that the quality in this is lacking. I will say, though, that it does protect the mattress, so if you are looking to spend less and need the protection, this may be the mattress cover for you.","Product: If you are troubled by common allergy symptoms, such as sneezing and a runny nose, this Holmes HEPA Allergen Remover can help minimize or reduce your symptoms. Its true HEPA technology that can remove up to 99.97 percent of potential allergens in the air. The Holmes Allergen Remover Console delivers quiet yet effective operation in most any setting, making it optimal for use in your home or office. This true HEPA allergen remover is suited for use in medium-sized rooms, making it a convenient option for allergy sufferers. With its enhanced ability to filter out particles in the air, you will truly appreciate this allergen remover.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Wonderful for the price\n\nReview: To start with, I have two other air purifiers currently in my home to assist with allergies and odors (I have a puppy and a cat). The other two (one an Electrolux which is quadruple the price of this one). For the money, Holmes makes a great Hepa filter air purifier. Keep in mind, this is only for a smaller size room (maybe a bedroom, dorm or nursery) but it does the job. After using this in one of my back rooms (which was not part of my other purifiers range), I looked at the filter after one week of use and I was amazed at how much was caught in the filter. I think Holmes makes a solid product and I highly recommend this unit for small room use for those on a budget. It does the job!","Product: Give your family cleaner air with the new intelligent 5 stage air purifier. It removes pollutants ranging in size from large particles down to airborne bacteria, harmful allergens, gases and unwanted odors, with a washable anti-bacterial pre-filter, antibacterial/antifungal multi-filter, high-performance hepa filter, activated carbon filter and a plasma generator that kills viruses and bacteria. It intelligently adjusts itself depending on air quality and has a color-changing led that displays the level of cleanliness. For rooms up to 260 sq. Ft.\n\nRating: 1.0\n\nSummary: Was nice while it lasted\n\nReview: I absolutely love this Friedrich. To be honest, I had a Fellowes unit in my bedroom that I used to find annoyingly loud at times, but I kept it going just so the air in my room would be clean. When I turned on this Friedrich, I could see the difference between the two units was amazing. First, it is quieter. One must keep in mind, however, that there is always some noise to these units. I actually like the hum of the Friedrich as it blocks out noises and allows me to sleep better (with it's low fan). I love to watch the unit go through it's cleansing cycles. I had fried some foods one night earlier this week and forgot about it until I went into bed. I noticed at that that lights on the Friedrich were now red (indicating 'dirty' air), which must have been caused by the frying on the other side of my house. When I woke up in the morning, all the lights were blue again and I didn't detect any smell of the night before's cooking! I can also feel my allergies (which have been bad in South Florida this winter) are relieved immensely. I love this Friedrich and recommend it to anyone looking to breath better and healthier!\nUpdate from June 2014: About two weeks ago I started to hear 5 beeps every 30-60 minutes coming from this purifier. Thinking it might be the filter, I changed out the entire set up (at a cost of $45). Plugged it back in and the beeping started up again and I moved it into my spare bedroom (where I wouldn;t be annoyed). Within a week, the unit shut down and just had the power light flashing and the beeping now is non-stop. I couldn't find the owner's manual, so I searched tirelessly on line to see if Friederich had an online manual. No, they don't (at least not for the AP260). I wrote to Customer Service and I am awaiting a response. I have no idea what is wrong with this unit, used barely 3 months.","Product: Even the smallest of spaces can use an Ameriwood Home Galaxy TV Stand with Mount. Measuring in at a mere 49.0625\"h x 29.5\"w x 23.625\"d, this unit is compact, but the mount can hold a 50 flat-screen television with a maximum weight of 70 lbs. Because of its small size, its great for apartments, family rooms, bedrooms, dorms and any other space that can utilize vertical storage. The floating shelf design features 2 fixed shelves, with 1 of them made of glass. Additionally, 2 cubbies along the spine of the stand are ideal for organizing DVDs and games. With a warm walnut finish, this laminated MDF and particleboard TV stand boasts a modern style. Two people are required for proper assembly.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great stand for the inept assembler, looks great!\n\nReview: Let me begin by saying that I am a woman, who recently turned 60, and who is normally totally inept when it comes to putting these kinds of things together. However, since I had family coming for Thanksgiving (and a relatively small guest room), I thought I would try to put this together to see if I could open a little space in the room. Well, I did it! I was amazed at how easy this was to assemble. Sure, you needed screwdrivers (but I could handle that). I did need some help in attaching the television to the stand (not very coordinated or strong, either). But, I will say it made a major difference in the room. Besides freeing up some much needed space from the bulky stand I was previously using, it is very attractive and has room for 'storage' which makes it perfect. I am so happy with this and I know you will be, too.","Product: Maintain a comfortable humidity level in your home or office with the Energy Star qualified Whynter Energy Star 40 Pint Portable Dehumidifier. The Whynter RPD-411WG has the capability of removing up to 40 pints of moisture from the air over a 24 hour period. The compact Whynter RPD-411WG is specifically devised for small spaces while retaining an emphasis on designer styling for the most discerning users. Features include a water indicator alert with automatic shut-off which lets you know when the 10 pint tank is full, auto-restart feature which saves your settings during a power outage and auto-defrosting capability to prevent frost build-up. It also features a continuous draining option available with a drain hose. This portable dehumidifier offers a removable, easy to clean 2-in-1 silver-coated washable pre-filter, heavy duty caster wheels and sturdy concealed handle allow for this portable dehumidifier to be easily moved from room to room. Built for large capacity usage, this unit is suited for use in enclosed areas up to 2500 sq. ft. Features: 40 pint (18.9 liter) capacity dehumidifier; 10 pint (4.73 liter) removable water bucket; Auto-restart and Auto-shutoff functions; Adjustable humidity range of 35 - 85% relative humidity; Low temperature operation (minimum ambient temperature low 40 Degrees); Auto-defrosting capability to prevent frost build-up inside unit; Electronic controls with humidity sensor settings; Direct drain option for continuous operation; Runs quiet with normal operating noise level below 50 dBA; Dual fan speeds and 24 timer function; 2 in 1 silver-coated washable pre-filter combo included; Handles and caster wheels for portability; Non ozone-depleting refrigerant: R410a; 20\" drain hose included for gravity drainage; Air Flow (at high speed): 180 m3/h/105CFM; Power Supply: 115 V/60 Hz; Unit Dimensions: 15.25\"W x 9.25\"D x 22.25\"H (19.5\" in H when casters are not installed); UL listed and Energy Star rated.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great Dehumidifier for the money. Silent and efficient\n\nReview: As one of the other reviewers stated, I also live in Southern Florida. The humidity down here can be downright unbearable at times (I am a replanted NJ woman). My central air conditioner runs constantly not only because of the heat but the humidity (there is a sensor on it which recognizes the 'feels like' temperature (not just the actual temperature). I have been using this Whynter for over a week now and I have noticeably heard my air conditioning unit kicking on less and less. I know I am saving electricity by using this dehumidifier and, on top of it all, this unit is Energy Star compliant which just seals the deal even more. I also feel I am breathing better at night (allergies are far less bothersome). This is easy to set up and runs almost silently. If you are in the market for a dehumidifier, you can't do better than this unit. It does the job and ultimately will save you money.","Product: OXO's Stainless Steel Easy Press Dispenser offers an easy-dispensing mechanism combined with elegant design. A non-slip top button makes it easy to squirt hand soap, lotion or dish soap using one hand and the extended spout easily dispenses onto a sponge or directly into the sink. The brushed stainless steel body features a non-slip foot to keep the Pump Dispenser stable during use and a clear window to show the contents. When it's time to refill, simply unscrew the top and pour into the wide opening.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great soap dispenser, attractive an a beautiful addition to a stainless steel kitchen sink!\n\nReview: I love this soap dispenser, I wish I had seen it sooner. My kitchen in the new home I bought a few months ago has mostly stainless steel appliances. I hated putting the bottle of dishwashing liquid on the counter simply because it looked cheesy in my beautiful kitchen blaring the name of the soap. I felt like I was in a commercial or something. So I kept the liquid soap under the sink and would retrieve it to do the dishes and then return when I was done. This cool little dispenser matches my kitchen perfectly, the easy to push button on the top dispenses the soap, and I can leave it on my countertop all week long without shame. One thing I really love is that inch or two of clear plastic at the bottom that shows the green color of my soap (which matches other items). Anyway, couldn't ask for it any better, except maybe the size (I had 24 ounce bottles of Dawn which I could only pour about 3/4 into here). Love it, and will look for a similar one to use in guest bathroom. Kudos OXO, well done.","Product: The S is for simplicity. For those confused by the options or unsure what type of mattress best suits their wellness needs, the S-Bed is a little of all the things that make our mattresses great. The S-Bed uses an all-natural latex to give your hips and shoulders extra plush comfort before your body is cradled by two layers of gel memory foammarrying soft and firm. With a bouncier feel, the S-Beds precision construction helps it retain its shape and adds longevity, so you can wake up refreshed everyday for years to come.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Great mattress, great night's sleep\n\nReview: Nice medium firmness (I would have preferred it a little firmer, but this was clearly labeled a medium, so my bad). A bit expensive for the $750 price (I reviewed another that was being sold on Amazon for $549 that I like soooooo much better). However, all in all a great mattress. I love the way these ship (100+ lbs in weight but compact enough in a box that I was able to push it to the location. Once unpacked, bed opens perfectly. Instructions state that the mattress should not be used immediately (should be left alone for 24 hours to open), but I did sleep on it after it was open for about 8 hours and it was fine. No complaint, nice cool mattress (I love the latex and foam combination). They do make these in a firmer size so if you are like me, you might want to go for the firmer mattress.","Product: Voil, dinners done! The Oster Digital French Door Oven looks elegant, cooks with convection and makes meal prep easier. Unique design opens both doors with a single pull so you can place dishes in the oven without hassle. Digital controls provide added convenience to bake, toast, broil, warm and convection cook in just one touch. Control panel also includes touch commands for pizza, dehydrate and defrost, as well as adjustable time and temperature settings. Theres no reason to turn up the heat with your conventional oven, as the Oster Digital French Door Oven cooks more efficiently, using up to 50% less energy. With 90-minute timer, your foods cook as long as you need, then the oven shuts off automatically. With a countertop oven this attractive, this efficient and this easy to use, youll enjoying using it for every meal you prepare!\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Absolutely gorgeous large countertop oven!\n\nReview: Beautiful addition to my kitchen. I must preface this that this is replacing another Oster oven I have had for about 2 years that is a tad larger. I will probably miss that I won't be able to cook the same size roasting chickens, etc, in this. But overall I am thrilled. I absolutely love the French doors. My old one had a door which opened down and could occasionally burn me if I wasn't careful putting food in or even simply closing it again. The French doors work in tandem and close flawlessly. I also think this unit is more energy efficient as well as my kitchen doesn't seem to warm up the way it did when I had my old counter top Oster going. No complaints, beautifully modern and looks wonderful on my countertop!","Product: The Calphalon Signature Nonstick 8-Quart Stock Pot with Cover is made with a Sear Nonstick surface that evenly sears, browns, saute and seals in juices when cooking meats, seafood and vegetables. This large stock pot is so durable that you can cook with metal spatulas, spoons and whisks, and it's also dishwasher safe for easy cleanup. Now, you can have it all - a metal utensil-safe nonstick that sears just like stainless. The tall 8-quart Stock Pot is the perfect size for boiling water, cooking pasta, preparing stocks, boiling shrimp, or simmering soups, with beautiful brushed stainless steel loop handles for easy lifting and carrying.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great quality! Great size! A must have for every kitchen!\n\nReview: I love Calphalon products and use them almost exclusively in my kitchen. Sure, they are expensive. But when it comes to quality and durability, Calphalon can't be beat. It is truly the old adage 'You get what you pay for' applies when shopping for your kitchen. This large stock pot is beautiful and stands up to my tough cooking (I have a tendency to stir and use items in the pots that I probably shouldn't). I have even run this through the dishwasher a few times and it comes out looking like new. This is a great size for cooking soups and pasta. Would make a great bridal shower present for the bride who has all the basics, to help expand her kitchen ware. It also would make a great 'not so new' homeowner or renter to just help make their kitchen complete (think holiday shopping). I love this Signature series!","Product: Give easy-going, delicious home cooking a fresh turn with the dishwasher-safe convenience of the charming, colorful Paula Deen(r) River bend Aluminum Nonstick 12-Piece Cookware Set. Make home-cooked meal making easy with easier cleanup, with durable and stylish Paula Deen(r) River bend Cookware. This dishwasher-safe aluminum cookware heats quickly and evenly so you can better control the cooking to suit the recipe. The pot and pan interiors feature long-lasting, top-quality nonstick, so foods release in a jiffy and cleanup is a cinch. Stain-resistant speckled porcelain exterior color inspired by classic enamelware and charming stovetop silhouettes add a warm, cozy touch to the kitchen. Use this 12-piece set from Paula Deen(r) whatever the cooking task, meal or dish to make foods and flavors happen for friends and family alike. Shatter-resistant glass lids let busy cooks keep their eye on the delicious cooking and the heat and moisture inside. Suitable for all stovetops except induction, the cookware set is conveniently oven safe to 350, making it easy to tackle Paula's delicious stove-to-oven recipes. The set even includes a Paula Deen(r) nylon slotted turner and slotted spoon that are perfect for use with the nonstick interiors. Get the home kitchen going to deliver a lifetime filled with cooking joy and eating enjoyment, with the beautiful, essential Paula Deen(r) River bend Aluminum Nonstick 12-Piece Cookware Set.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great set of cookware - makes a great gift. Pratical and useful for most kitchens.\n\nReview: Great set of pots for the novice cook. These would be great as a shower gift for the bride to be or even just a house warming gift for the first time homeowner/apartment dweller or kid going off to college. Practical, attractive (I absolutely adore this red color) and has pot and pan sizes to meet most daily cooking needs. Adding in the two spatulars is just icing on the cake (work perfectly with the non-stick surface). As others have mentioned, for about $50 more you could buy a more advanced set. However, this set makes a great presentation and has the impressive Paul Deen name on it. I have several of her products in my own kitchen and I know that she does deliver quality products.","Product: For anyone who changes positions during the night, this pillow is curved for comfort and shaped for support. The softly curved shape ensures gentle, therapeutic support for the shoulders of side sleepers and the neck of back sleepers, while having a low, comfortable profile for stomach sleepers. Experience less tossing, less turning and more deep sleeping.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Good memory foam pillow - average in performance\n\nReview: I am a side sleeper and typically buy pillows from Macys which are relatively high priced for my support and needs ($100+). When I saw this pillow in Vine I snatched it up thinking it could be a good, lower-priced alternative for me. I will say that the support is decent, but not like the higher priced pillows I am used to purchasing. I also don't really understand the purpose of the shape and find it a tad awkward, particularly when trying to put it in a pillow case. Anyway, it is good as a pillow but I don't think if I had to buy it I would. I have since stopped using it and have placed it in the linen closet figure it will be good for an extra pillow if I need one. A little disappointed, but overall it held it's shape and did give support. I wouldn't recommend it for heavy duty side sleepers. I guess you get what you pay for.","Product: Cook, serve, expand, stack and store with BELLA LINX. The new and innovative design lets each unit connect together so you only need one power source. Versatile linking system allows you to cook 1 or 2 or more dishes at once. You can link up to six units and they stack together for easy portability and storage.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Best new addition to my hostessing skills!\n\nReview: I absolutely loved this new kitchen gadget. This past Thanksgiving I used all three to put on a buffet to keep food warm (mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn) for my guests. It's attractive, easy to set up and a perfect size fr my side table. I love the lid holders in the back, that make it easy when guests go to serve themselves. I love the fact that the three of them slide to fit perfectly together and, unlike other reviewers, I really think the idea of having only one plug is an excellent idea (it saves space and there aren't a bunch of cords hanging around my dining room). I have nothing but good things to say and I think I will be purchasing another set (I see they are out of stock now, but hope they get more soon) to use for Christmas (as I had more veggies that I could have used two more cookers for. Oh, and the red color is great, too. Matches my kitchen just perfectly. Highly recommend to anyone for their own use or for giving as a gift to a hostess who loves to entertain.","Product: PhotoPlus X3 Digital Studio is Serif’s professional digital image editing solution. PhotoPlus X3 brings you an unrivalled combination of easy-to-use photo enhancement Studios, on-screen automated help, and a rich collection of professional-level tools and adjustments. Whether you’re resizing holiday snaps, removing flaws from portraits, adjusting exposure and color levels, restoring old images, importing Photoshop documents, or transforming photos with unique effects and artistic styles, PhotoPlus X3 Digital Studio has everything you need to achieve the highest quality results - fast.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Great application for the novice to use\n\nReview: I am by no way an expert on this kind of stuff. In fact, I generally upload pictures from my camera directly to my PC and the most I have done to 'edit' pictures is to autoenhance and/or crop pictures. Being that I didn't think I would get much from Photoplus, I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to load and to use. I found far more advanced features that I didn't even know were possible previously. My recent trip to Yosemite was uploaded using the Photoplus digital studio and I was able to zoom, crop and change backgrounds, etc. What a phenomenal experience for a first timer like me. I am off to Charleston SC for the holidays this year and I plan to take a load of pictures of my family and friends. There are a lot of features I didn't (yet) have the opportunity to use, but hope to within the next month. I will add more comments to this as I become more experienced. Bottom line, if you are looking for a great photo shop application, the Photoplus X3 Digital Studio makes for a great first timer application. I am very, very happy!","Product: Aiptek’s PenCamHD is the World’s smallest HD camcorder. Roughly the size of a highlighter pen, you can slip it into your pocket and take it with you everywhere! The PenCamHD has a trio of functions, including a 720p High-Definition camcorder, a 5MP Digital Still Camera and an MP3 Player. With its integrated memory and built-in rechargeable battery, you can capture up to 2 hours of High-Definition footage! Sharing your memories with friends and family is simple too. You can plug the PenCamHD into a USB port on your PC or Mac and easily upload to sites like YouTube and Vimeo, or use the included HDMI cable to plug directly into your HDTV and playback right from the PenCam itself. No other High-Definition camcorder out there is as compact, convenient, or as simple to use as the new PenCamHD!\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Not what I was hoping for\n\nReview: First let me state that I own two Flip camcorders today (one HD, one older). When I first saw the Aiptek pencam I was attracted for it for several reasons: the size, the fact that you can play tunes (MP3) and take still pictures. As I am practically attached to my ipod (for working out), I thought that having one electronic that could do it all, the Aiptek could possibly take the place of three items. Well, to say I was disappointed to say the least was an understatement. I guess in order to pack all three things into one device one needs to sacrifice quality. The video clarity is terrible as well as the sound, the sound in the MP3 player is of poor quality as well. Still pictures are comparable to a $29 bargain still camera. What are the pluses? Well, if you are interested in a small novelty item , then this will fit the bill. It is cute (no doubt about that). Teenagers may like it because they can actually keep it in their pocket without being visible. You can store this in an armband and be able to have a camera as well as an MP3 player with you at all times (of course, the new ipod nano as well as other MP3s have this capability as well). If the price of this was well under $100 , I would have rated it higher. But being in the $150 range, there are plenty of other, better choices , out there.","Product: Succinctly urban and busting the shackles of restraint, the Maroo Awanui II iPad 2 cover complements your need to break away from social norms. Made with high quality nylon, Awanui II is the iPad 2 cover that needs a partner in crime.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Excellent cover for my new IPAD2\n\nReview: To be honest, I got my IPAD about 2 months ago and purchased a bluetooth keyboard case (from Amazon of course). I was finding it to be a bit cumbersome to travel locally with, like going to the stores (although I admit it is nice to be able to type on a keyboard). Anyway, I was looking for an alternative case to be able to use as just a case (nothing to do with a keyboard). I saw this offered to me in Vine and figure I could give it an honest review. To start with, I didn't know if I would like the red plaid design of the cover. It is just gorgeous and I am so happy I got this. It looks smart (for either a man or a woman). The cover in general is padded and my IPAD2 is well protected. Inside there is a secure holders which snuggly fits my IPAD and on the alternate side on the cover is a side pocket for document storage and an elastic band which will keep any other items in place (i.e. a small calculator etc). I would see this as a great accessory for a business person who would like a little bit of storage with their case and it behaves almost like a small portfolio case. The back corner of the cover has a perfectly fit hole which allows you to continue to use the camera feature while the IPAD 2 stays snug in the case. I honestly have nothing but good things to say about the Marco cover. It looks smart and protects my IPAD2, all while giving me some handy side features. To top it all off it has the Smart magnetic feature which puts the IPAD to sleep when closed and wakes it up when opened (saves battery life). I highly recommend, this is a great cover for all!!!","Product: Shoot gorgeous stills with the 18.2MP Exmor R CMOS sensor and thanks to super-fast, DSLR-like focusing speeds, youll get amazing results that take full advantage of the cameras sharp Sony G lens, even in low light. Get closer to the excitement with the 20x Optical/40x Clear Image Zoom capabilities or use dual record to shoot full 1080/60p HD while simultaneously capturing stunning still images Active 3-way stabilization helps eliminate camera shake aggravation with when shooting videos. Start creating a virtual map of what happened where by recording shot location and direction with GPS and Compass functionalities. Add an all-new dimension of awe and wonder to your creations with 3D Still Image and 3D Sweep Panorama mode. View it all in crystal clarity on the 3.0\" Xtra Fine LCD TruBlack display.FEATURES: 18.2MP Exmor R CMOS sensor - The 18.2MP Exmor R CMOS sensor captures ultra-high definition images that take full advantage of the cameras sharp Sony G lens. An advanced BIONZ processor rapidly analyzes the Extra-High Sensitivity data from the sensor, and activates By-Pixel Super Resolution technologies to reduce noise levels up to 6X compared to previous CMOS sensors, resulting in stunning low light images with incredible details.Full HD 1080/60p - Record crystal clear movies at the highest resolution available with capabilities for 60i in 1080 AVCHD video. This provides stunning, fast motion video with less distortion for playback on your HD TV.2 With dual record of stills and movies, you can shoot both at the same time.Capture the decisive moment with up to 10fps - Capture full 18.2 megapixel resolution images at up to 10 frames per second, helping to ensure that the decisive moment is captured such as the soccer ball flying into the goal. In addition, a mechanical shutter helps reduce distortion when continuously shooting moving subj\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V 18.2 MP\n\nReview: Received the Sony Cybershot as part of the Vine program. I guess I am slightly disappointed with appearance of the camera as compared with the listed price (close to $400). I guess for a camera of this price I would have expected a body casing which does not appear as a cheap lightweight plastic and I also would have preferred a view finder (so difficult to take quality shots when in strong sunlight using the LEC display). That being said, the camera does take wonderful quality HD pictures and video (and I absolutely love the way I can take still pictures while using the video feature). The 20x optical zoom and stability features allow me to take wonderfully focused clear pictures. As I mentioned previously, the camera is very lightweight and compact for carrying (although I still feel the casing appears very cheaply made). Features for uploading and editing pictures on line are included and are easy to follow. I feel the features and quality of this camera are exceptional, however, I am not sure if it is worth the cost (I had a $200 Cybershot last year that seems to take pictures almost of the same quality however, not with the same zoom capabilities).","Product: Panasonic SC-AKX73 2.1-Channel 850-Watt Shelf Audio System with 3-Way Front Speakers and Super Subwoofer\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Amazing sound from a small system!\n\nReview: Powerful and attractive, the SC-AKX73 is an amazing table top stereo system. As other reviewers have stated, this is a 900 Watt system (according to the specs) and it is every bit as powerful as that. As an fyi, I have a living room in my home which actually has a two story ceiling in it, so lot's of open space. I only had this unit cranked about a third of the way and I can say the entire room was throbbing. Very, very nice and very impressed. Bass tones are amazing and highs can rival the more costly Bose systems. All in all, I highly recommend this system to anyone. For the price, you honestly cannot go wrong for the features and quality that the Panasonic brand brings.","Product: Featuring Dynamic Micro Drivers, the SE112 delivers great sound with deep bass and impressive sound isolation, for a perfect audio upgrade with today's portable digital devices. Sound Isolating sleeves in multiple sizes block outside noise and provide a secure, comfortable fit. The SE112 provides a premium sound, build quality, and included accessory upgrade from the standard \"earbuds\" supplied with today's portable digital devices.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great above average, high quality wireless headset!\n\nReview: I love these wireless Shure earphones. In the morning when I go for my walkout with my dog, they are a staple with my attire and allow me to listen to my audio books without the hassle of wires connected to my iphone. Shure has been a staple to me since I was in my twenties (I actually used to be in a band and had Shure microphones), so I can testify to the quality of the Shure name (I like their sound quality better than my Bose headphones at about a third of the price). These are noise isolating and will work wonderfully for air travel as well. These would make a great Christmas gift for someone you love.","Product: The programmable GPS watch to evaluate and improve run performance. This strong, durable GPS watch, endorsed by marathon champion meb keflezighi, measures critical stats and helps improve overall run performance. Optional heart rate chest strap available.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Great gadget for the techy in your life\n\nReview: Very attractive watch, but as other mention, it's not that easy to set up. I had my nephew, on Christmas Eve, get it ready for me. Took him about an hour painstakingly reading instructions. But, once he did, and he showed me, I was ok with it. Has a lot of features that I really don't need (I am interested in tracking the miles I run primarily), so I see this watch primarily for a 20 or 30 something who love new gadgets. I personally, prefer my old Fitbit, but that's only because I am not the techy type. I have been using this unit non-stop for the last 3 days now and I will say it tracks mileage perfectly and I like the on-line experience as well. Only rating it 4 stars because of it's slight complexity in set up and use.","Product: Smart plug lets you control any connected device from home or remotely: turn off the heat, turn on a light- it's all at your fingertips. Home kit system from apple makes control of compliant Devices simple and standardized. Control plugs with siri individually or as a group. Works with wink app and Nest learning thermostats. Power consumption monitoring of Devices connected to smart plug. Works with included remote control to turn Devices on or off without using a smartphone or tablet.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Works with Iphone, couldn't get it to work with Alexa\n\nReview: Well, I have kind of given up on setting this up. First, I must admit I am a 50 something technically challenged woman (often times), so maybe it was just me. I easily was able to download the apps and get it to work with my IPhone. It was cool asking Siri to turn it on and off. I really wanted this for Echo and Alexa. Try as I might, I couldn't do it. I downloaded Wink and synced Alexa with Wink. And then synced IHome with Wink. Could not get Alexa to find the smart plug at all (and I spent hours today on and off trying to do this). I will try again tomorrow. However, I will tell you nothing is easy with this. I found no instructions for use with Alexa in the package and had to surf the web for solutions. Seems like a lot of work to be able to simply turn on a light with my phone. Also, I could not get Siri to do this remotely (while I was out and about), so I assume it only works if you are in the proximate area for programming. Seems expensive for what it really gives me.","Product: The Travelpro maxlite 2 25-inches expandable rollaboard is is ultra-lightweight, allowing you to pack more without exceeding baggage weight limits, a honeycomb framing system and eva foam construction provide exceptional durability while keeping it super light, the built in protective skid guards, corner guards and crash-guard wheel housings protect against potential damage during travel and the telescoping handle with two stops at 38-inches and 41-inches ensures a comfortable roll for users of different height, limited lifetime warranty\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great overall travel bag! Could not do better for the price!\n\nReview: i love Travelpro and almost exclusively use their bags for my travel (business and pleasure). I bought this bag for use on a recent cruise and found I was able to fit everything I needed into it. Convenient pockets for storing cosmetics and lingerie, I fit all my clothes (shoes at the bottom, pants and shirts next, and even a few dresses I left on hangers neatly folded fit comfortably and the clothing came out of the bag on the ship without wrinkles. This bag is big enough and expands for lots of storage. I will be looking to buy the 20 inch smaller version to companion this on my trip to Europe this fall. No complaints, great bag (wheels on the base work perfect and are not defective as other reviewers have complained).","Product: Enjoy everyday control with these women's Maidenform shape wear briefs, featuring a stretchy, seamless construction. In a convenient 2-pack. Same as Maidenform retail style 12586.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Great shaping panty - does run small\n\nReview: Ok,well, they do look a little like 'grannie panties', but under my clothes no one knows. I am in my 50's and things have started drooping a little. I love the way these panties seem to pull it all up and together. I am rating these as 4 instead of 5 stars simply because they do run very small. I am a size 8-10 and I did see the comments before hand of how they run. I was hesitant in getting the large (just because it gave a size 14 as equivalent. Well, don't believe it. Buy up a size in these. I love how my pants fit over them and how they make me look (and feel). Again, these are far from sexy looking, more for what they do rather than how they look.","Product: Travel securely and with confidence when wearing the kiva travel money belt. Tickets, passports and currency can be hidden from view under a shirt or jacket securely fastened at the waist. The comfortable breathable microfiber fabric stays cool and the soft elasticized adjustable belt assures a perfect fit. Two zippers accommodate passports, currencies, tickets and other valuables that can not be accessed by anyone but you.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Does what it should,. no bells and whistles\n\nReview: I currently have a Rick Steve's travel wallet that I use when I do my annual vacationing. It has many years of use and when I saw the Kiva, I thought it might be a needed replacement. I found the Kiva kind of cheaply made, very light, not the quality I had received with the Rick Steves. I have to admit, I did put it on and found it very comfortable. If there is anything to be said positively it's that it is lightweight and not bulky and will hide well under clothing. That said, I am wondering how long the zipper will last and how easily someone (if they knew it was there) could rip it off me. I guess it's what you are looking for. I will bring it with me to Italy this April, but I will also be bringing my old standard Steve's moneybelt (in case I need it). Not sure I can recommend this fully, but it does seem to work well (just not sure for how long).","Product: New from our lightest hard side travel collection to date, this supremely light yet durable packing case, constructed from a special, multi-layer polycarbonate alloy formulation, is designed for longer trips or two traveling together. The four-wheel system ensures effortless maneuverability in every direction. Note that hanger shown is not included with this item it may be purchased separately (#0052).\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Nice large suitcase, basic functionality, lightweight but high priced\n\nReview: Nothing much more to add to other reviews here. It took me a while to even figure out how to open this suitcase (despite the fact that the lock was set to 0000. However, after about 15 minutes of working on it, I finally realized there was a button to slide. Inside there are two large pocket areas and the rest is open (with secure straps to keep your clothing in place). It is a 29\" size, prides itself on being large. I found it to be adequate when compared to my Travelpro luggage (I think they have far more pockets, even small ones where I can put toiletries which this does not have). The biggest plus is the fact that it is lightweight (so I know I will be able to zip through the airport). Wheels are multi-directional and it is easy to maneuver. Biggest issue to me is the price, but I know there are people out there who love the designer products but over $500 for this suitcase is too high. I haven't tried to reset the lock yet. I see there are some videos out there on You Tube so I will play around with that later.","Product: U.S. Divers is the leading sporting goods snorkeling brand of Aqua Lung America. Captain Jacques Cousteau, explorer and inventor of the Aqua Lung, was the company's first Chairman of the Board. With 65 years of diving heritage, experience and passion U.S. Divers has become a water sports category leader, offering a wide range of snorkeling gear.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Another quality product from Aqua Lung America\n\nReview: Beautifully packaged, this set was an immediate hit with my 7 year old grandson. First, he takes swimming lessons at the clubhouse here in Florida and he couldn't wait to try this on in the pool. Goggles remained clear, did not fog up. Flippers hugged his feet and he was able to breath flawlessly through the snorkel. My son and daughter in law have a trip planned to Nassau in January and they wanted to try snorkeling with him this year, so this came just at the right time! I never liked the idea of renting snorkel equipment anywhere (considering germs and the cleanliness of the items between users). For around $40-45you can get a set made custom for your child that is a far higher quality than anything you would rent at a beach resort or on a cruise and will last years with growth. Would make a great Christmas gift this year for any child in your life!","Product: The JOOLA Studio Portable Table Tennis Table specializes in maximizing the table tennis experience in a limited space. Featuring a 12mm medium-density fiberboard (MDF) playing surface and matching net and post set, it offers the same playing action as a standard table tennis table, but in a compact size, which can be easily transported to parties and picnics. Quickly, unfold the legs and attach the net, and the JOOLA Studio is ready to play right out of the box, no additional assembly required! It folds easily into a locking briefcase-like carrying system and comes with a black storage cover to protect the playing surface during transport and storage. It's compact and lightweight so anyone can fold it up and store it under a bed, in the back of a closet, or in the trunk of a car.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Great little table - made for children/teens not adults\n\nReview: This is a great little table for light use, probably more for children. This is smaller than a typical size table tennis table, so don't expect to be knocking the ball like crazy back and forth. But to keep kids entertained it's great. It is sturdy, net is a little flimsy but does the job. Does pack up well and stores compactly. Again, no complaints except that you cannot expect two grown men to be playing on this unless they are just goofing around (non-tournament play). Not sure why others are giving poor reviews based on no accessories. The description does not say anything about that, so you are just getting the table. I would prefer to purchase the balls and paddles separate anyway (to be sure they fit the player).","Product: The RCA PCHSTAB1R puts USB and AC outlets where you need them most, from the bedroom, office, family room or kitchen. It includes a convenient power outlet at the table for clock radios, lamps, laptop use, etc. It's compatible with iPod, iPhone and iPad among other AC and other 30-pin devices.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Not very well made\n\nReview: When I saw this RCA charging dock, I jumped to get it. Normally, I work from home and use one or two plugs to keep all of my Apple items charged throughout the day (rotating them betwen plugs). When I saw this charging dock, I thought it would be a great way to connect my iphone, keep it upright for viewing ease, and keep the phone charged all day long. First, although the picture looks good, the item is cheaply made plastic, which I guess would normally be ok for something like this (although to me in the picture it looked a little sturdier). The 30 point connection does not work well. I had to rock my phone several times to get it start charging (it wasn't easy to see if it is connected properly). Having a charging light on the base would have been a nice-have, but of course there isn't one. I then tried my ipod in there. I found that a little easier to connect, but still takes several attempts of getting it to the right angle to make it work right. To be honest, I think it is just a matter of time before this breaks (given the difficulty I have in connecting). I would honestly say to spend your money elsewhere. This item is not worth the investment.","Product: Carry less during your morning jog, a day at work or a night on the town with our CandyShell Card case. Combining a side-loading slot for up to 3 cards with our patented dual-layer protection, it makes the perfect iPhone 6/6S card case. Our patented CandyShell is the best of both worlds: iPhone 6/6S cases that look as good as it protects. Its patented dual-layer construction absorbs shock to provide military-grade protection, yet it's slim enough to slide in and out of pockets with ease.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Great case, is as advertised, prone to scratches\n\nReview: Nice looking case. I like the storage capability for credit cards and cash. I have used it when I am out on my bike, going to the stores, so I don't have to try to lug a handbag or something else. Not crazy about the extra bulk this adds to the iphone (despite the claim that it is minimal), but I guess it's the price you pay for the storage capability and protection). This is well built, sturdy and does protect the phone well. As others have mentioned, it is prone to scratches (I have seen several on mine already and I don't even remember doing anything rough to cause them). Rating this a four star, as it does what it says. Like I mentioned, my biggest complaint is the slight bulk to the phone added and maybe the price (I think you can do better than $40 for a phone case out there).","Product: Precut lengths of tape 0.75 x 2 Inches, in a Pop-Up Tape dispenser. 75 tape strips/pad.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Neat little product - not sure if it's worth the price\n\nReview: First, let me state I am a Vine reviewer and received this pop-up tape as part of the program. I have used it for almost a month now exclusively for when I am wrapping things. Positives: Cool way to dispose of tape. It grips the table, so you never can lose it amidst all the wrapping paper. Tape can never stick to itself based on the design (and I have in the past thrown away a lot of tape when it did). Pieces are a great size for wrapping presents Negatives:Only 74 pieces in the pack (so it's an expensive alternative to a regular roll of tape). If you are wrapping something where you want larger pieces of tape to hold things in place you are out of luck (these pieces are premeasured). All in all, if you are looking for an extra way to dispense tape, this may do the trick for you. Especially for senior citizens where they may have trouble with standard tape dispensers.","Product: Convenient gift card mailers designed to accommodate a gift card as well as gift catalog or other materials. Greeting card is \"built into\" the mailer. (Doubles as a giftcard package and card.)\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Cute idea, but not practical\n\nReview: Ok, so just so everyone knows I got this as part of the Vine program (and I got it after Christmas so I couldn't mail them). However, I often gift gift cards as presents, so I opened up the pack to see what I would get. First, the card is colorful and attractive. However, it's not pratical. It is small (4x6) and although it does hold a gift card, it could't hold much else (like if you wanted to include a note of some kind, or throw in a few dollars as a gift).The envelope is thin and fairly transparent and I think if anyone saw it in the mail box, they would know what it contained. I personally prefer to use a standard card or one of the standard cards they sell which have holders in them. This package, containing two cards and envelopes, is expensive for what you get (and you aren't getting much).","Product: Fellowes Cosmic CL 95 9\" Personal Laminator\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Minimally effective - does the job but has drawbacks\n\nReview: Got this in Vine and gave this to my son in Virginia as he is an 8th grade science teacher and told me he could use it for his work. First project was to laminate some cards with the elements chart. He told me that the plus was the ease of use and the portability of the device (it was easy for him to carry in his school backpack that he uses daily). On the down side, he told me the sizes he was able to use were not optimal, as his charts were intended to be larger and this product would not support them (so he had to readjust his copies to be smaller so he could laminate them). He also brought up the noise of the unit (which I see was mentioned here in another review). He couldn't understand why the unit was so noisy as the general unit that the school provides for free is far quieter and little to no vibration. Overall, this is a relatively inexpensive device if you really need a portable laminator. However, for larger needs or if you operate in an office where noise may be an issue, this is not for you. Like I said, as a teacher, the school already has these devices for the use of the teachers, so I am not sure there would be a need for this otherwise.","Product: The Perky-Pet Garden Sip & Seed Wild Bird Feeder is constructed of durable plastic and antiqued copper finish. The unique double silo patent pending design is sure to compliment any backyard dcor. The Perky-Pet Garden Sip & Seed Wild Bird Feeder features silos that have interchangeable bases, to serve either seed and/or water; so this feeder can be set up to serve seed and water, two silos of seed, or two silos of water. The Perky-Pet Garden Sip & Seed Wild Bird Feeder holds 1.5 lb of seed and 27 fl oz of water.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Just perfect for my yard - almost\n\nReview: Got this through the Vine program. Positives: Extremely attractive. I live in a townhouse with a relative small backyard. I don't have trees in my yard, so I use a decorative pole which I attached the Birdscapes feeder to. It looks absolutely gorgeous out there and the birds are out there daily. Having water and seed together is a new and unique concept to me as I have always just used a seeder (and let the birds get their water elsewhere, lol). I love watching the birds my window flock back and forth to both. It was easy to set up and has provided hours of enjoyment for my family, and my cat. I definitely see more birds in my yard having the combination of water and seed than I did with just my regular birdfeeders. Here are the negatives: There is nothing in this set up that will deter small wildlife (i.e. squirrels) from hanging and making a huge mess (with both the seed and the water. I try to offset this by keeping a small bowl on the ground filled with peanuts and other items that are attractive for the squirrels. I am thinking if this was hanging from a tree, and higher up off the ground, maybe it wouldn't be quite as accessible. However, there are other (and I have used them often) feeders that discourage the critters and make it difficult for them to access the seed. This is definitely not one of them. Overall, I recommend this set up simply because of its beauty and for the way I am seeing far more birds than ever in my yard.","Product: The Perky-Pet Garden Sip & Seed Wild Bird Feeder is constructed of durable plastic and antiqued copper finish. The unique double silo patent pending design is sure to compliment any backyard dcor. The Perky-Pet Garden Sip & Seed Wild Bird Feeder features silos that have interchangeable bases, to serve either seed and/or water; so this feeder can be set up to serve seed and water, two silos of seed, or two silos of water. The Perky-Pet Garden Sip & Seed Wild Bird Feeder holds 1.5 lb of seed and 27 fl oz of water.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Just perfect for my yard - almost\n\nReview: Got this through the Vine program. Positives: Extremely attractive. I live in a townhouse with a relative small backyard. I don't have trees in my yard, so I use a decorative pole which I attached the Birdscapes feeder to. It looks absolutely gorgeous out there and the birds are out there daily. Having water and seed together is a new and unique concept to me as I have always just used a seeder (and let the birds get their water elsewhere, lol). I love watching the birds my window flock back and forth to both. It was easy to set up and has provided hours of enjoyment for my family, and my cat. I definitely see more birds in my yard having the combination of water and seed than I did with just my regular birdfeeders. Here are the negatives: There is nothing in this set up that will deter small wildlife (i.e. squirrels) from hanging and making a huge mess (with both the seed and the water. I try to offset this by keeping a small bowl on the ground filled with peanuts and other items that are attractive for the squirrels. I am thinking if this was hanging from a tree, and higher up off the ground, maybe it wouldn't be quite as accessible. However, there are other (and I have used them often) feeders that discourage the critters and make it difficult for them to access the seed. This is definitely not one of them. Overall, I recommend this set up simply because of its beauty and for the way I am seeing far more birds than ever in my yard.","Product: Create a lovely, layered effect with these antique-zinc-finished planters from Strathwood. Available in a handy set of two planters, in two sizes, outfitting the yard, patio, or solarium is a breeze. Constructed of 100-percent galvanized sheet, the planters are durable and attractive. A slightly tapered design makes for a more elegant silhouette. The round design looks great in rows or clustered, and a square design is sold separately, so creating a coordinated look is easy. The large round planter measures 16.4 inches high by 16.6 inches wide; the small planter measures 14.4 inches high by 14.6 inches wide.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Not bad for the money, but not great\n\nReview: Let me start by saying some positives about these planters. First, I was surprised at how big they were. Guess I couldn't tell from the pictures their size. The larger one could easily plant a small tree in (i.e. if you were in the south, you could plant a small orange tree). Second, they were heavier and sturdier than I anticipated (no fear in leaving it on the patio and having it blow over). What I didn't care for it was the color first (a super drab grey), the feel of the pot (some kind of a metallic) and most importantly the fact that there is no drainage in the bottom (not good for root rot). I planted a rose bush in the large one to put out on my outside patio. Given that I don't have any kind of drill to make a hole in it, I am just hoping that the watering I am doing will not collect on the inside of the planter to harm the plant (I have several inches of potting soil beneath the roots and the bottom of the planter). I am sure, if I were handier or if I was more of a horticulturist I could have figured out how to solve this dilemma.\nFollow up 06-04-2011: Well, the inevitable happened. Without drainage holes in this, my rose bush died last year. There was so much collected water in the bottom (from rain) that although you couldn't see it from the top, the roots goet all rotted. The planter sat in my garage over the winter. Last weekend, a friend drilled five holes in the bottom of the planter for me and I replanted (this time with a large tomato plant). I will let everyone know how it goes. If I had the opportunity, I would have changed the rating of this to 1 or 2 stars for the aggravation and death of my rose bush. Never saw a planter that was set up like this before, really bad design. These are not cheap either, but honestly they are not worth the money at all.","Product: The Rumford Gardener Expanding Hose is the incredible hose that automatically expands while giving you up to a 3/4 inch diameter powerful high-flow spray. Simply turn the water on and watch the hose grow. Turn the water off and the hose contracts to its original length. No more struggling with heavy hoses - Hose has a light and kink-free design that weighs just one pound. Made from a tough, expandable inner hose and a folded outer hose made from super strong webbing. You'll be truly amazed at how much easier The Rumford Gardener Expanding Hose makes work around the house and yard.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Hose works great so far\n\nReview: I read the negative reviews on this hose, but so far I don't see anything negative I can write about. It is compact and fits tidily in my small one car garage (takes up a heck of a lot less room than my old rubber house). It appears fairly sturdy to me (see complaints about the plastic nozzles and the tearing). I am not a 'gentle' person and I have been dragging this around my yard almost daily for the last two weeks without any incidents. I will say it is lightweight and a real pleasure to set up. I have nothing bad to say and rated this as 4 stars only because I am thinking that maybe, over time, something might happen? But, for now, I highly recommend this (particularly to older seniors who love to garden but don't want the weight and mess of your typical garden hose).","Product: Restyled for 2014, the Weber Q 220 is now the Weber Q 2200. The grill has the same great performance and sleek styling, but adds new aesthetics that are both functional and fun, including larger grip handle and control knobs, ergonomic side handles, sturdy front and rear cradles, larger-sized fold-out side tables with greater rigidity plus the familiar Weber Q logo prominently branded in the lid. Split grates allow for a grate/griddle cooking combination: Just replace one of the grates with the Q 2000-series compatible griddle (sold separately) and experience an alternative way to prepare breakfast, lunch and dinner on your grill. The tall lid accommodates the grilling of small roasts and birds, while the large built-in thermometer allows you to monitor temperatures inside the grill. The Weber Q 2200 is ideal for use when camping and tailgating but, thanks to a design that offers both compact overall size and large grilling surface, can double as a stationary grill in your outdoor living space. The grill runs on disposable LP cylinders (not included), but an optional LP adapter hose for 20-lb. tanks is available as an accessory. A seamless stainless steel burner is your assurance of durability and long-lasting performance. The cast-aluminum lid and body are both lightweight and rugged. May be used with Weber Portable Cart model #6557 and Q Cart model #6525.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Weber quality in a smaller grill\n\nReview: For the last 15 or so years, I have depended on Weber for all of my outdoor grilling needs. Having had full size (Weber Genesis) most recently, I wanted to see what the difference was using a table top version (that I could use when not wanting to fire up the full size grill and also to take on camping trips). I was pleasantly surprised with the Weber 2200. First, it is larger (and heavier) than I expected. Grill/cooking space wise, I couldn't ask for more space for two people. It is sturdy, lights like a full size grill and I love the LED light that lights the surface when the grill top is opened. I honestly have put the grill on my patio full time now and have used it almost exclusively for the past few weeks. I find cleanup easier than the full size and the fat drains off cleanly and efficiently. I may never go back again to the Genesis (unless of course I have a party with many people there). But, if that's the case, I may use the full size for hot dogs and burgers and use the 2200 for kabobs (fire them both up). I love it!!!","Product: The Miracle-Gro AeroGarden 3SL is the extraordinary soil-free indoor garden that grows plants 5 times faster than soil. The AeroGarden 3SL brings the magic of the indoor garden virtually anywhere- it sets up in minutes and the slim, elegant design fits beautifully in your kitchen, home, or office. Grow fresh herbs, vegetables, salad greens, flowers and more let your imagination grow wild! Just insert the seed pods in your garden, add water and nutrients, and then watch it grow! Now you can garden indoors, year round and its Guaranteed to Grow!\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Too noisy, not up to the standard of the larger AeroGardens\n\nReview: I must say that I have had several AeroGardens when I was living in NJ (the much larger sizes) and I really liked them (except for the fact that everytime some breaks (like a bulb) you have to buy their proprietary products in order for it to fit. As a plus, this 3SL is a great size, small and compact and easily can fit on a kitchen counter and would be great for an apartment or even a dormitory (I think college kids would get a kick out of this). However, as others have mentioned it has a very noisy engine and the water reserve is small and is in constant need of replenishment. If you are looking for something for yourself, spend some more and buy the larger Aerogarden models. They grow more, have a better quality and seem to work better in your home. Like I said, this would probably be cute for a younger person in an apartment or a dorm who wants to be chef and grow fresh herbs. For the adults, go bigger.","Product: Check the rainfall from today or last week from the convenience of inside your home. Self-emptying tilting cups measure from your own backyard displaying current amounts up to the last several months. Indicates the signal strength from the wireless rain bucket. Monitors your current temperatures & displays time in either 12/24 hour mode. Battery operated.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Attractive, easy to program, not sure of the accuracy\n\nReview: Not sure why all the negative reviews out here. Yes, the packaging wasn't necessarily easy to open, but there are a lot of products out here on the market today like this. I had no trouble inserting the batteries in the remote or in the temperature display, it was a little confusing to insert in the rain catcher, but I ended up figuring that out, too (and trust me, I am usually awful at these things). As others stated, the display is clear and large and it was easy to program. I rated this as 4 stars as I am not too confident that the temperatures being displayed are accurate. I mean, I typically keep my thermostat at 74 degrees in the house (and the display on my A/C shows that). However, the La Crosse is picking up the inside temp as 76. Now, it could be because I have it near a window, but I need to have it near a window to pick up the outside controls. The outside temperature, positioned as instructed in the shade, seemed to indicate a lower temp than what it felt and the weather channel said it was (TV said 86, thermometer showed 82, but it felt like 86). So, anyway, I am not sure about the accuracy of the temps, but overall it is a conversation piece and I find the rain catcher seemed to do a good job (we had a big thunderstorm here last night and it picked up .25 of an inch).","Product: Do you like kabobs but don't like trying to figure out better ways to remove food from the skewers every time? Well look no further because this Sliding Skewer Pack allows you to load up your kabobs and with one simple sliding motion push all of your food safely to its destination. With an easy and convenient sliding mechanism, all food slides off together without any fumbling and bumbling of oddly shaped or textured foods. Shrimp, steak, chicken, veggies, you name it! And when you load everything onto these skewers, don't worry about anything rolling over because the dual prong system will keep your kabobs right where they're supposed to be, on the grill.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great gadget! Don't know how I lived without it before!\n\nReview: Wow, what a clever idea! I always am making kabobs here in Florida, most of the time chicken but occasionally beef. There is nothing worse than taking the kabobs off the grill and bringing them into the kitchen and trying to remove the meat and vegetables from the skewers. Most times I burn myself trying to get a grip on the charcoaled metal. But if I am able to get a grip with a potholder and try to remove the food using a fork, I usually end up with broken pieces of food and some chicken/beef that will stay on the skewers in strings. When I saw these I was skeptical, but having used these once I can tell you that they are the neatest thing ever. Sliding down the skewer, all meat and vegetables are removed (in tact) and none of the food remained on the skewer. I am honestly surprised no one had this idea before. I think this would make a great supplemental bridal gift to give the bride who has everything! It is practical, functional, and bears the quality Cuisinart name. You cannot go wrong!","Product: The DEWALT DCBL790H1 40V MAX XR Blower, 6AH provides the ability to clear heavy debris with an air speed of up to 120 miles per hour and 400 cubic feet per minute of air volume with extended run time from a 6Ah battery (50% more battery capacity). This blower is designed with an impact-resistant Xenoy housing which offers maximum durability for every day usage. The lightweight, ergonomic design is engineered with a variable speed trigger and speed lock to provide full control without having to hold the trigger during use. The blower's curved tube design creates rotational control which helps to reduce arm fatigue. With an ergonomically optimized handle size and position featuring over-mold, this blower is designed to withstand everyday heavy-duty usage.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great cordless way to clean up around the outside!!!\n\nReview: To begin with, I have been using a leaf blower which is electric for the past 4 or so years. I hated the fact that every time I went to use it I had to set up the extension cords and I never could really complete the job due to the length of my driveway. And, yes, I often thought of buying a gas powered one, but I hate the idea of keeping gasoline in my garage at all times. In comes the 40 volt Lithium-Ion battery-powered Dewalt Brushless Blower and I have to admit I absolutely love it! First I am no longer tethered to my electrical outlet and I can move at ease anywhere I chose to use it. I also don't have t worry about storing gasoline as this runs on a battery. Right out of the box, the Dewalt delivered flawlessly. Quick, long-lasting charge, the Dewalt quickly and effortlessly did my driveway, walkway and even my patio (several hours of usage). I have no complaints about the Dewalt. It is powerful and relatively quiet, and gets the job done quickly (without needing to maneuver around a power cord). I absolutely love this!!!!","Product: Mars whiskas temptations hearty beef 3oz pouch. Quality ingredients used. Suitable to be used for pets.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great treats even for the pickiest cat!\n\nReview: My typically finicky feline loves Temptations, so when I saw this new Shrimp flavor I jumped at the opportunity for her to try it. As anticipated, the minute I opened the bag she was standing at my side to try it. She gobbled up the 5 I gave her, so I know she loved them. As a treat, Temptations are great and are one of the few treats she will eat. If you have a finicky cat like mine, you need to give these a try. I am not sure if it is the crunch or the taste or both, but something about them has her constantly asking for more (although I need to keep a handle on her weight, lol). I highly recommend them to everyone with a cat they love!","Product: Specially formulated with essential oils to support healthy skin and coat\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: My dog flipped over the taste and was begging for more, lol!\n\nReview: I have been using this for almost two weeks now. Hard to decide if the shedding has really begun to abate, but so far I do notice a difference on the areas that used to gather her fur (my off white comforter looks somewhat better). So, I am only rating it as 4 stars, but I will use this until the product runs out and update my rating to 5 if I really see less hair). I will say that my dog loves this product, acts like I am giving her a treat. She does have a tendency to know when I am giving her other vitamins and will snub her nose. Not with the Shed no More product. Great natural ingredients which, even if the shedding magic doesn't magically disappear, allows me to want to continue to buy and give this to her.","Product: Specially formulated with essential oils to support healthy skin and coat\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: My dog flipped over the taste and was begging for more, lol!\n\nReview: I have been using this for almost two weeks now. Hard to decide if the shedding has really begun to abate, but so far I do notice a difference on the areas that used to gather her fur (my off white comforter looks somewhat better). So, I am only rating it as 4 stars, but I will use this until the product runs out and update my rating to 5 if I really see less hair). I will say that my dog loves this product, acts like I am giving her a treat. She does have a tendency to know when I am giving her other vitamins and will snub her nose. Not with the Shed no More product. Great natural ingredients which, even if the shedding magic doesn't magically disappear, allows me to want to continue to buy and give this to her.","Product: Ziwi is a small team whose love for our dogs is pure and simple, just like our recipes. We put the best of New Zealand into our authentic farm-to-bowl products. Our gentle, twin-stage, air-drying process naturally preserves all ingredients, and eliminates pathogenic bacteria. Our air-dried food contains more moisture than dry kibble, so there is no need to re-hydrate. And because there is no need for preservatives, sugars or glycerines, our food is safe, clean to handle, and as nutritious and digestible as a completely raw diet.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great and nutritious, just a tad expensive for the amount you get.\n\nReview: Amazingly, my finicky female dog ate up the entire portion in one sitting. I was surprised as she has all but given up on regular dry food and canned dog food (no matter the brand or how I try to tempt her). She had gotten to the point she wanted to eat what I eat and would devour snacks. I was thrilled to see she really liked this ZiwiPeak and the ingredients are all natural and highest quality. If I had any complaint at all it would be the price. At two scoops a serving, I will be lucky to get about week of meals, and at $18 a bag, I think I will only be buying this occasionally. Rating it 5 stars though because it is a great alternative and picky dogs love it.","Product: Wellness Natural Grain Free Wet Canned Cat Food Cubed, Sliced and Minced recipes are the perfect way to treat your cat to the variety he or she has been waiting for. For each delicious canned cat food recipe, Wellness has paired succulent cuts of wholesome, natural protein sources like chicken, turkey, salmon and tuna with delightfully savory sauces that are sure to please the palate of your furry friend. Each recipe is grain free and, like all Wellness products, does not contain any wheat, wheat gluten, soy or added artificial colors, flavors or preservatives. For those cats that are in need of a single protein source diet, poultry-free and fish-free varieties are available. Explore all of the flavorsome choices today! In addition, hydration is extremely important to a cat's overall health and since cats do not have a strong thirst drive, Wellness wet canned cat food recipes are a delicious and healthy way to increase your cat's moisture intake.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Wonderful cat food that my finicky feline absolutely loves!\n\nReview: I have to start by saying that I have probably one of the most pickier eaters when it comes to my Lucy. She typically will only eat one or two canned foods and even then only certain varieties. Hence, I was skeptical when I was offered this Wellness Grain Free to try. I was absolutely amazed that she immediately began to eat it at the moment I set it in front of her. I have always preferred Wellness products and feed them almost exclusively to my dog. However, with Lucy everything has been hit or miss. Wellness products are all natural and made of only the finest ingredients. Sure, they are more expensive than typical supermarket cat food, but in this case you truly get what you pay for. I will be ordering the chicken variety next to see if I might be able to switch her to an exclusive Wellness diet.","Product: Pets are messy explorers. They dig, tumble and come back full of mysterious muck. Our grooming wipes are made with plant-based ingredients to clean and nourish naturally. Theyre durable enough to take on muddy paws and claws, but gentle enough to use daily for a burst of freshness.Throw a pack in your bag or car-they travel well, even when your pet doesnt!\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Nice quick refresher for the beach going pooch\n\nReview: I need to start by stating I live in sunny Florida, a few miles from the beach. I take my dog regularly to the beach to run and play in the water and the sand. Typically, when she is done, I use the little shower device on the outskirts of the beach area to rinse her off. But I know she is not really clean and hours later I can still smell the beachy dog and end up giving her a bath. With these grooming wipes in hand, I run it over her after she has been rinsed and towel dried and I noticed an immediate improvement. The scent is lovely and it seems to stay with her. Although I will probably regularly have to wash her anyway, these wipes, in a pinch do the job to keep her fresh smelling. I keep them in my glove compartment. As someone else mentioned here, it would be nicer if they were a little larger. My dog is a 38 lb. midsized dog and I need to use at least 2-3 of these per use.","Product: Nature's Recipe Grain Free Chicken Recipe in Broth is premium wet cat food made with real chicken as the #1 ingredient. The high-quality ingredients also include tender, antioxidant-rich carrots in a grain-free recipe that helps support healthy digestion. Your feline will love the real poultry and savory broth, and you'll love feeding her healthy cat food that will help her thrive!\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Great cat food, Lucy loves it!\n\nReview: I am rating this cat food as a 4 instead of 5 star simply because of the price per serving. At almost $1.50 a pop, it is more than twice as expensive as the regular moist food I feed my Lucy. I will say, though, that I love the all natural ingredients (ok, some ingredients I had not heard of before, but Nature's Recipe usually sells itself as an upscale product, so I am relying on their reputation for the ones I don't recognize). I also love that this is a grain free food, which helps minimizes allergy sensitivity which my feline typically has. Most of all, this is by far one of her favorite foods to date. And, considering how finicky she tends to be, I am thrilled at how she likes it. I will be buying more, but will try to shop for a lower price.","Product: Serve Purina Beyond Simply Salmon & Whole Brown Rice Recipe adult dry cat food to your feline companion, and know exactly what ingredients are going into her dish at mealtime. Real salmon is the #1 ingredient in this dry cat food recipe, and every ingredient is purposely chosen by our in-house pet nutritionists. When working together, these ingredients deliver natural nutrition plus essential nutrients to help your cat live a full, healthy life by your side. The formula is crafted without artificial colors, flavors or preservatives so she gets the nourishment she deserves and nothing she doesn't. We believe that when we connect with what's natural, we connect with what's good in food, and that's why this premium cat food is made with real, recognizable ingredients you know and trust. For a tasty experience she'll treasure time and again, offer your feline companion a natural cat food that meets all of your ingredient criteria when you fill her dish with this Purina Beyond recipe.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Great natural dry food for the feline in your household!\n\nReview: My cat seems to love most foods from Purina, and this natural white meat chicken and oat meal was no exception. I honestly wasn't sure how she would react to oatmeal as it is not something she has ever had before, but I was pleasantly surprised to see her gobble it down. This was my first experience with the Beyond Natural brand and I love that I am feeding her something which is natural and good for her (and that she likes as well). Took off one star as the bag spilled some during transit (UPS) and I think it could have been packaged better to make the trip here more successful. Other than that, the product is great and I would recommend it to even the most finicky of cats!","Product: 5134GSEL Features: -Better system communication. -Largest containment area up to 11 acres. Finish: -Metal/Plastic. Material: -Metal. Number of Items Included: -12.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Great invisible fencing - difficult for me to install\n\nReview: Great back yard invisible wireless fence. Rating it 4 stars instead of 5 due to the fact that this was too difficult for me to set up on my own. Tried for several hours to get it going, but couldn't figure it out. After I got my brother involved, he was able to finalize it and I tried it out. Luckily my yard is pretty much all open (not a lot of brush or hills that would impede the wireless connection. Device worked like a charm on my 2 year old Aussie Shepherd. I am thrilled that I can now let her out on her own as I did not have a fenced in yard. I am not sure of the cost of this unit (when I checked Amazon it comes up page not found). I would venture to say that if it's less than $300, and if you are technically inclined to set It up on your own, than this is a great device to have for your dog.","Product: Pro-Sense brand offers a variety of proactive, sensible solutions for all of your pets healthcare and wellness needs. We know pet parenting can be tough, which is why weve improved our ingredients and benefits to make it easier than ever to care for them like any other member of your family. Your pet can experience allergies just like you, and its important to keep an eye on their symptoms. Just like we can take medicine to assist with seasonal symptoms, dogs can get some help as well. Pro-Sense Itch and Allergy Solutions temporarily releives symptoms of allergies including itching, runny nose, sneezing and watery eyes. These antihistamine tablets help relieve allergy symptoms, so your pup can enjoy the changing weather with you. Pets weighing 15 lbs or over will take one half tablet per each 15 lbs of body weight, twice a day. Pets weighing less than 15lbs should ask a veteranarian. Each pack contains 100 tablets. For use only with dogs.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: This is a great assist to dogs with allergies and a great supplement to Apoquel\n\nReview: My 4 year old Aussie-Shepherd mix has had skin allergies (grasses) since I 'rescued' her 3 years ago. Since that time, she has been on Apoquel (3/4 of a pill a day). This has been a very costly treatment for me (running a little over $200 every 3 months). I have now cut her dosage down to 1/2 a pill a day, and may try it down to 1/3 of a pill shortly. Supplementing her with the Pro-Sense allergy tablet has really helped with this reduction in medication (and is saving me money). I have noticed no additional itching/licking/scratching since cutting her Apoquel dosage and I attribute it to the Pro-Sense. I am not sure if I will ever fully be able to eliminate the Apoquel, but I will say that it is far easier for me to be stretching the cost upwards of 5 months instead of 3 months is a huge benefit to me.","Product: Nutro Chewy Treats.100% natural Nutro Chewy Dog Treats have been crafted to deliver great taste and chewy texture your dog will find irresistibly delicious. Each flavor of Nutro Chewy Treats is great for training your dog or as a special snack. We believe in simple, honest ingredients. Nutro Chewy Treats have deboned chicken as the first ingredient and real fruit or peanut flavoring, depending on the variety. No wheat, corn, or artificial flavorings or sweeteners with these Dog Treats. Available Varieties: Nutro Chewy Treats with Real Blueberries, Nutro Chewy Treats with Real Apples, Nutro Chewy Treats with Real Bananas, Nutro Chewy Treats- Peanut Flavor.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Roxie thinks these are great. She gives them two paws up!\n\nReview: I have to admit, I never purchased or used Nutro Company snacks (they don't sell it in any of my local pet food stores). I have to admit, my dog (aussie shepherd) is a little picky when it comes to the food she likes. Surprisingly right out of the bag, she snapped them up. If I had any complaint at all, and I don't really, it would be In the size of the snack. Seems like it is made more for a really small dog. I consider my Roxie mid size at 35 lbs and she needed 3 at a time to be happy, lol. Overall, though, I am pleased at how my dog really liked these and I will be ordering more from Amazon.","Product: One GREENIES Grain-free Dental Treat is all it takes for clean teeth, fresh breath and a happy dog. Featuring dried potatoes, plus a delightfully chewy texture that fights plaque and tartar, your dog can't wait to sink their teeth into these grain free dog treats. Irresistibly tasty and incredibly powerful, GREENIES Treats for Dogs are recommended by veterinarians for at-home oral care. Best of all, these natural dog treats are made with highly soluble ingredients that are easy to digest. Give your dog the mouth-wowing treat that helps promote their overall health with GREENIES Dog Treats. Great for smalls breeds and dogs between 15 and 25 pounds.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Roxie and I both love this Grain-free variety!\n\nReview: My Roxie loves regualr Greenies. I had never tried the Grain-free variety until now, so I was a little skeptical in seeing if she would like it. Being that she has a lot of allergies, I knew that a grain free variety would be be an excellent choice for her health. To my surprise, my typically finicky pup readily accepted this new variety (just as she does with the standard type).Upon opening the box, she took the first one out of my hand, gobbled up and was begging for more. Now that I know she really likes these, I am going to switch her over to grain free exclusively. By the way, these greenies (like all varieties) are great for keeping my little girl's breath and teeth clean as well. These are a must have for any dog lover's household.","Product: This interactive, treat-dispensing game features 3 treat basins, 1 treat-loading compartment & engaging teeter-totter action that your pup is gonna love!\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Nice fun toy for smaller dogs\n\nReview: Ok dog toy. My 2 year old Aussie Shepherd had to be coaxed to know what to do with it. Once she did, she nosed it around a few times for the treats to fall out. Once the treats were out she wasn't interested any more. I was not a fan either that I am unable to open this to clean the inside. Most of the treats I have are soft for her and I don't like that I can't clean it if some stay in there for more than a few hours. As others mentioned, too, they didn't design this right with the holes being directly opposite each other, makes it awkward for loading. Other than that, it's fun. Probably meant more for a smaller dog who will nose it around and get a kick out of the rolling. Bigger dogs probably won't appeal to it.","Product: IRIS 7-Tier Cat Tree Condo has sturdy wood components and heavy-duty hardware. The IRIS 7-Tier Cat Tree Condo is built to give many years of safe, playful fun. It assembles in minutes, and will provide a great space for your cat friend to explore and play. Cleanup is easy with a soft brush or vacuum.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Attractive cat tree for younger felines\n\nReview: Attractive, quality made cat tree. Very sizeable. The rug covering is very soft. Took me hours over several days to try to put this together (one of the few times I wished my ex-husband was around, lol). The end result was an attractive piece of cat furniture. Unfortunately, my 8 year old cat wasn't interested in it. Maybe it's the size of it? She did sit on the lowest base and eventually made it to the first level, but would not go I in the little cubby holes. I think this is definitely geared toward the younger/kitten set. Not sure how long I will keep this up in my room (as I said, it's large), if she is not using it.","Product: The locking function gives you the option to set it so your pet can only go out or come in. Or you can unlock both directions. You can also lock both directions to keep your pet in/for the night. While some cat doors only cover the opening, the PetsN'all locking pet door is telescopic. This means the frame will also cover the interior of the door so your pet won't damage the wood or step into a hollow door by accident. Features: 2-way door with four locking modes, telescopic frame fits doors with thickness from 1.25\" to 1.75\", great for cats and small dogs up to 15 pounds , weatherproof seal keeps out draft and saves energy , brush strip ensures quiet closure to eliminate noise and prevent startling your pet , includes screws for installation.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Great smaller pet door, attractive and easy to install!\n\nReview: This is an easy to install pet door. Very small (so please check your measurements carefully prior to purchasing). It is perfect for my cat (not my dog who is 39 lbs.) and it makes it easy for her to go in and out to my yard easily by herself (without me having to get up and let her out). I love the doorbell function (so I can monitor her comings and goings) and the lock which allows me at night to keep in firmly shut. Highly recommend this for anyone looking for an easy way for their pet to gain exit and entry to their house independently> It doesn't hurt that it is an attractive door as well and looks great in my kitchen. Just please be sure to check the measurements before you buy.","Product: The hunt is on with the Pet Zone Fly By spinner toy! The Fly By brings the wild inside with a flying action that replicates the movement and fluttering of a real butterfly. Its not uncommon to see cats lunge, jump, and dive after insects and butterflies. Fly By allows your cat to stalk and hunt in a safe and engaging environment. When you flip the switch and turn the toy on, your cat will experience stimulating and interactive play providing healthy mental and physical stimulation. Pet Zone Fly By has an easy twist-off base that allows you to place one AAA battery into the toy. Flip the switch to on and watch your cat hat and the fluttering butterfly.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Not for my Lucy, but maybe for another cat\n\nReview: Not sure if I should rate this three stars at all, but in fairness to Pet Zone, I am thinking that maybe it was just my pet. When I inserted the battery and turned this on, my cat was immediately interested. But that was about it. I think it's because it moves too fast and not sporadically enough (like one other reviewer stated, it's almost like being hypnotized in its spinning around and around and around). She sat and watched it for about 20 minutes, but then got bored and walked away. My dog was actually more interested in it than the cat, but both just watched. No one did anything to try to pounce or 'catch' the butterfly. I mean, it is cute and I was fascinated with it as well. However as a cat toy? Nah, didn't interest my feline.","Product: The HALTI Walking Harness is the perfect combination of style and practicality for everyday walking. With five points of adjustment on the harness it ensures a secure, comfortable fit for any size or shape of dog. The two lead clip rings on the dogs chest and back provide essential points of control for the more energetic dog. Bringing together style and functionality, the HALTI Walking Range comes in four vibrant colors with a smart two-tone webbing. 3M reflective weave and soft neoprene padding offer combined visibility and comfort. The HALTI Walking Range boasts the same quality and expert design that our customers have come to expect from The Company of Animals, the makers of the world-famous HALTI Headcollar.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great harness, great fit, wonderful control and lightweight !\n\nReview: This is probably the best harness I have ever used on my dog. To start with, I have a 4 year old Aussie Shepard/Border Collie mix who is very active. Although she is typically obedient, there are times when she 'gets in the zone' when she is out walking and a squirrel or duck waddles by on our trails (I live in Florida), that she will bolt. If I am not ready for her and spot the critter first, my right arm gets almost tugged straight out of my shoulder. And, for Roxie, she is yanked back from her collar and practically chokes herself. This harness to me is the best one on the market. I have heard good things about Halti before and they really understand dogs. Well fitting and comfortable, this harness allows me to control her better (for her comfort as well as mine). It is very light weight and I believe she actually prefers being walked with this on in contrast to a standard collar and leash. For anyone who loves their dog, this is the harness to get. Nothing but good things to say about this Halti product.","Product: Add the taste and variety your dog craves with Instinct Healthy Cravings Grain-Free Real Chicken Recipe the perfect complement to your dogs meal.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great dog food, great for mixing and in a convenient packet form\n\nReview: This is a great, conveniently packaged, dog food. I use a packet of this daily and mix it with my dog's (40 lb. Aussie Shepherd mix) dry food. Roxie absolutely loves this lamb flavor, and she has a tendency to be very picky when it comes to food for a dog. I love (and she loves) that this is made with real lamb and the 'gravy' it comes with helps to flavor her kibble so she has a great crunchy, savory and healthy meal when she eats. I really like this convenient packet feeding as well. Food remains fresh and there are no cans to have to open (or dispose of). The portion size of this is also perfect for a single meal feeding.","Product: ZiwiPeak Daily Cuisine Grain-Free Air-Dried Dog Food, at Only Natural Pet Store, is a super premium food made with natural ingredients similar to a raw food diet from New Zealand for your canine pet.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great and nutritious, just a tad expensive for the amount you get.\n\nReview: Amazingly, my finicky female dog ate up the entire portion in one sitting. I was surprised as she has all but given up on regular dry food and canned dog food (no matter the brand or how I try to tempt her). She had gotten to the point she wanted to eat what I eat and would devour snacks. I was thrilled to see she really liked this ZiwiPeak and the ingredients are all natural and highest quality. If I had any complaint at all it would be the price. At two scoops a serving, I will be lucky to get about week of meals, and at $18 a bag, I think I will only be buying this occasionally. Rating it 5 stars though because it is a great alternative and picky dogs love it.","Product: Helping care for your cats teeth has never been easier or more delicious with Meow Mix brushing Bites, bursting with the tasty flavors your cat will love! These crunchy treats are specially designed to help keep your cats teeth clean by reducing plaque and tartar when fed daily. They are fortified with vitamin d and calcium to help support strong teeth and bones so you can feel good about treating every day!\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Lucy actually loved these and they are critical to her aging teeth health\n\nReview: I was a little hesitant on getting this Meow Mix for my feline (Lucy) as she tends to not like Meow Mix overall and is an extremely finicky eater. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the moment I opened the package and took a few out, she readily ate them. Given that she is an older cat (13 years old), I worry about her teeth (and she will not allow me to even attempt to brush them). I love that I can reward her with treats while at the same time helping to remove tarter. I am ordering more of these to give her in lieu of the ones we normally give her (she likes Temptations best) to help improve her dental health.","Product: Getting your pet to take pills can be a chore! Pill Treats from VetIQ are a smart solution. VetIQ Pill Treats have a vet recommended formula and are made in the USA. Each Pill Treat has a built-in pill tube so it's easy to hide a tablet or capsule. Delighted by the chicken flavor, pets don't notice the medication inside. Pill Treats are also a great training treat. So instead of it being a chore, you can give your dog medication and supplements the smart, easy and fun way with VetIQ Pill Treats.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great pill pockets, my dog loved them!\n\nReview: My dog Roxie has some kind of allergy to grass and such and has been on daily Apoquel to help control the itching and licking. I typically use other pill pockets (sold on Amazon) to help her in taking her half pill every morning. I like the fact that these are a little larger, so for me they will last longer. I break the VetIQ Pill treat in half and mold it around the pill. Surprisingly, Roxie took to these immediately (despite the fact that she can be a bit picky when it comes to trying new things). I think these are great and actually work out to be cheaper than the ones I use today, so I will be switching over to VetIQ!","Product: NUTRO HEARTY STEWS Grandpa's Country Stew with Chicken and Turkey Chunks in gravy is a tasty recipe specially formulated for older dogs. As they age, dogs need nutrients and energy levels that are properly formulated for their senior needs. That's why this natural senior dog food features real chicken and naturally sourced glucosamine and chondroitin to Support Healthy Joints. Best of all, contains optimal levels of linoleic acid and zinc for healthy skin and coat and natural fibers for healthy digestion, so your senior dog will feel and look their best. NUTRO Quality Pledge: Natural ingredients carefully sourced from our trusted network of farmers and suppliers, no chicken by-product meal, soy, artificial flavors or preservatives.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Great brand, all natural ingredient dog food!\n\nReview: My dog is typically a picky eater (Aussie Shepherd mix) and her reaction to this Nutro Hearty Stews was not unusual for her. She honestly didn't like it and licked a bit, but then snubbed her nose at it. I hate to give a poor review for a product when I am sure the way she reacted is not typical for other dogs. Nutro typically makes great products and this seems to fit the bill to align with their other products and it contains ingredients especially for the senior dog with typical joint, bone, skin/coat issues in your life. All natural ingredients (including real chicken) is in the ingredients and any other dog (excluding my Roxie) would typically love this variety. It is also very reasonably priced.","Product: Variety your dog can truly enjoy. Just like you, your dog loves a variety of different foods. But changing foods could lead to issues. Now, Nutro Rotations Natural Dog Foods let you confidently switch from one recipe to another, providing your dog real ingredient variety. Start with one recipe and change to the next - no transition between bags - it's that easy. There are three delicious and healthy Nutro Rotations Dog Food Recipes available today: 1. Rotations Chicken & Brown Rice Recipe 2. Rotations Salmon & Barley Recipe 3. Rotations Lamb & Potato Recipe. Getting started: Select any of our Nutro Rotations Recipes - it's your dog's choice! Transition from your current brand into a Nutro Rotations Recipe, following the feeding guidelines From now on, switch between any Nutro Rotations Recipes, no more transition needed.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Roxie (and I) give this a two paws/thumbs up!\n\nReview: Great dog food. Quality ingredients and a wonderful variety of flavors so I can change it up a bit for my 1 1/2 year old 'pup' Roxie (Chicken & Brown Rice, Salmon & Barley and Lamb & Potato Recipe), My dog, who unfortunately has acquired a taste for table/people foods, does not normally gravitate to 'regular' dog food (without my having to ad something to it at first to get her started). Big difference with this food. I tried her first on the chicken and she loved it (eating her whole bowl within a few minutes). The next day I tried the Lamb (something I had never had given her before) and, surprisingly, she loved it! I love the fact that it is a healthy, quality dog food. If there are any negatives at all, it might be due to the price of the food ($49.99). Other than that, we both highly recommend!","Product: No need for a back-and-forth motion because it scans as soon as it's on the wall or surface. Detector is easy to use in small spaces and features an ergonomic design. Because the Bosch D-tect 120 never needs calibration, you can focus on the job without worrying about the detector. Three modes studs, universal and concrete make this the right detector for more jobs. Device offers sound with light to show user when something is detected behind a wall, panel or under flooring.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great gadget, does the job for a price\n\nReview: I don't have a lot to add as to what others have said. I found this unit extremely easy and accurate to use in determining where I can successfully mount a wall television in my bedroom. I also have a Zircon wall scanning unit and in comparison, this Bosch is much easier to use and I think I can rely on it more. On the downside, it is pricey, but as a gadget for the homeowner who has everything, this truly fits the bill. Easy to use, detects through walls easily and accurately. I agree with other users. It would make more sense not using batteries in this as is, since my use for it will be sporadic and I think battery use will be wasteful. I think either an attached powerpack battery that you can plug in to charge prior to use would be more economical and far more useful in my opinion.","Product: Experience the ABC's with your new best friend! Alpha Pup is the perfect learning companion, walking and talking the ABC's with your child. Alpha Pup sounds out each letter and introduces letter names, words that begin with each letter and darling doggie phrases. Alpha Pup sings the alphabet and sounds out letters and words for children to provide early exposure to phonics basics and early vocabulary. Colorful interactive buttons, wobbly paw-shaped wheels and a tail that wags further engage children and help develop motor skills. Little fingers can press colorful buttons to hear letters A to Z sounded out, words that begin with each letter and fun phrases that include these words. Press the letter \"W,\" for example and hear \"W! Walk! I love going on walks with you!\" Plus, children can press a doggie button to hear cute dog sayings and a music note button to play three learning songs. Recommended for ages 12-36 months.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Another great Leap Frog product!\n\nReview: I need to start out by saying, I love the Leap Frog product line. With a very active almost 2 year old grandson, I buy many of these to help him learn, but also have fun. This little dog is well made and is fun for him to pull around. The learning of the alphabet is just icing on the cake. I can't say enough about Leap Frog. This toy is less than $20 and should be on everyone's wish list for the holidays for the little ones (I don't know if I would go as high as three year olds, but definitely the 1-2 year old set would love to see this under the tree this year. Educational and fun for hours of entertainment. Can't go wrong.","Product: Zoom, Spin and Grin with Cyclone from Radio Flyer. Using arm powered action, you can spin 360 for unlimited fun. Whether you are zooming forward or rolling in reverse, the 16\" wheels offer a smooth ride. This ride on also features comfort handgrips to guide your ride and an ergonomic seat and frame for a comfort ride. The solid steel frame and rear caster wheel ensure years of classic Radio Flyer fun.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Another great Radio Flyer product!\n\nReview: I got this last week, put it together in minutes (and, trust me, I hate to have to assemble things). My 4 year old granddaughter has not stopped using it. It is better, in my opinion, than a bicycle for first time kids on wheels. Low to the ground, great wheel stability and easy for kids to maneuver. If there was any downside at all (and I don't think it's a big deal) is that it can be a bit noisy. Let's put it this way, with my Sophie going down the sidewalk, no one will not notice or hear her coming. I guess that's a good thing. Bicycles have rubber tires, this has plastic wheels and on cement or even hardwood floors, it can be a little annoying. But you must trust me, the noise is a small trade off for the hours of fun your kids (and grandkids) can have, Would make a great under the tree present this year at a reasonable price for the first time wheeler adventure!","Product: Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn Smart Stages Crawl Around Car puts baby in the drivers seat of a stationary car that comes fully loaded, inside and out, with grow-with-me options for learning and play! The interactive lights and sounds dashboard keeps baby busy with a light-up baby GPS, a horn to honk, gears to shift, and more! Three Smart Stages levels of play, over 75 sung songs, tunes and phrases, and lots of physical activities that grow with baby from sit & play, to crawl, to stand & cruise help fuel physical development, interactive learning fun, and imaginative adventures. (Please note: Car is stationary.) Crawl Around Car comes equipped with Smart Stages technology, an exciting new way to change learning content as baby grows. Every baby develops at their own pace, and Smart Stages technology gives you the ability to select the stage thats best for your child. There are a variety of developmentally appropriate songs, phrases and sounds within three levels of play just slide the switch! Smart Stages Technology: Level 1 Explore 6M+ First words and sounds spark babys curiosity; Level 2 - Encourage 12M+ Prompt baby though questions and simple directions; Level 3 Pretend 18M+ Imaginative fun and early role play\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Another must have from Fisher-Price!\n\nReview: This is another great toy from the Laugh and Learn series of Fischer Price. My 13 month old grandson absolutely loves this toy. First, it gives him the look and feel of driving like his daddy. Secondly, the interactive lights and sounds dashboard makes it an amazing playtime experience. He loves using the honking horn and watching the lights and 'dancing' to the music. My grandson is only starting to walk (basically at the crawling and pull up stage and standing, but has not attempted his first steps yet). This Crawl around Car will wok with him for years to come, letting him grow and learn into the 'advanced' features of this 'toy' (I really don't consider this a toy at all, to me it's a remarkable learning and activity device). Every baby (boy or girl) will love this. It makes them feel like their parents in their own little car and there are hours of enjoyment to be had for all. Excellent gift for the toddler in your home!","Product: Your water battles will never be the same with the FloodFire blaster! This high-capacity power soaker holds 43 ounces of water for an outstanding mobile attack, and it can hit targets up to 38 feet away. But if you want to truly bring the soak, attach it to a hose for non-stop water blasting! Dominate the competition and get them soaking wet with the FloodFire blaster! Nerf and all related characters are trademarks of Hasbro.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great fun for the bigger/teenagers in your life!\n\nReview: First I need to start by saying that I have bought several Nerf Super Soakers recently for my home here in Florida. I thought they would be great to use around/in the pool and also would help the grandkids cool off when they come to visit in the oppressive summer. This Floodfire was larger than I expected it to be, has to be at least 15 inches or so long. This is way too big for small children and although we did play with it this Memorial Day weekend, it was more to the liking of my son than it was for his 6-8 year old children. Holds a load of water (more than the other Nerf's I purchased) and when attached to the hose the shooter becomes unbeatable when up against the smaller super soakers. As typically with all of these soakers, they are colorful, well made, and will provide hours of enjoyment for the bigger youngsters in your life! If you own a home with a pool, or have a community pool that allows these, you need to get one or more of the supersoakers. What fun!","Product: This piggy bank introduces baby to counting, colors, Spanish and more through music, silly sounds and phrases. With 10 colorful coins to drop into the Piggy Bank's back, and a door for put-and-take play, it's a toy with lots of exploration. Baby can press piggy's nose to hear musical responses and sing-along songs, too. Put coins in, take them out, press the silly piggy's snout baby will be giggling all the way to the bank.Count & Learn Piggy Bank includes Smart Stages technology, an exciting new way to change learning content as baby grows. Every baby develops at their own pace, and Smart Stages gives you the ability to select the stage that's best for your child! There are a variety of developmentally appropriate songs, phrases and sounds within two levels of playjust slide the switch to choose the right one.Smart Stages TechnologyLevel 1 Explore 6M+First words and sounds spark baby's curiosityLevel 2 - Encourage 12M+Prompt baby through questions and simple directions\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great, hours of fun, learning experience for toddlers!\n\nReview: To begin with, I absolutely love Fisher-Price toys. When my own sons were toddlers I had a closet filled with toys that were not only fun but educational. Now that I have grandchildren, I also try to keep the value of toys in mind when giving them to children. This Laugh and Learn Piggy Bank does not disappoint. My 14 month old grandson spent hours on the first day playing with this. He loves the music, the interaction and the colorful pieces. He is still at the stage of putting things in his mouth but these 'coins' are totally safe and cannot be swallowed. I love that he is just starting to speak and I can see trying to say the word 'uno' on the second stage of this. This bank is a smart toy and teaches children coordination, colors and sounds. Makes a great, relatively inexpensive toy, for the baby or grandbaby in your house. Would make a great holiday present.","Product: Leap into a world of gaming magic with LeapFrog Imagicard Letter Factory Adventures, an all-new digital learning game that brings 30 character and curricular cards to life onscreen. Step right up to the magical Letter Factory Carnival, where literacy skills are the ticket to unlocking new attractions. For children ages 4 to 7. Works with LeapFrog LeapPad tablets (excludes LeapPad1). As you download the LeapFrog Imagicard Letter Factory Adventures game to your LeapPad tablet, children can sort the cards and explore offscreen activities on the included play mat. When you're ready to play, the game will prompt your child to find the card with the character they'd like to play-Lily or Tad. Use the LeapPad camera to capture the card and unlock magical gameplay onscreen. LeapFrog Imagicard Letter Factory Adventures includes a downloadable game, 30 game cards, a play mat, a digital card gallery (so children can play without cards on hand) and a collectible card storage tin.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Makes learning fun! My grandson can't put it down!\n\nReview: I have a 4 year old grandson who loves LeapFrog products. I had a feeling this one game may be a little old for him (as he is only just getting into preschool) but was I wrong! He absolutely loved this game and playing along. Of course, some of the letters were new to him, but he loved the colors and the challenge and hasn't put this down since I gave it to him to 'play' with. LeapFrog games are fun, educational and a must have for children ages 2 and up. Any parents or grandparents should invest in LeapFrog to give your children the 'edge' they will need as they enter into their school years. This is a great game and challenging for children and they learn while they play. Just wonderful! Would make a great Christmas/Holiday gift for the youngster in your life.","Product: Bring the excitement of Power Wheels vehicles indoors! With 17 feet of track and two strips of bumpy track, young drivers can have the perfect off-road riding experience inside! The Power Wheels Hot Wheels Lil' Quad vehicle is designed specifically for toddlers with easy push-button operation and comfortable footrests. 6-volts of battery power provide a fun, but safe 1 mph max. speed on track and 2 mph max. speed off track.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Another wonderful product from Fisher-Price!!\n\nReview: I had this set up and ready to go, when my soon to be two year grandson came to visit. OMG, he squealed with delight the second he saw it. His father has an ATV that he regularly takes my grand baby out on. Of course, this set 'he' was able to be the driver. Such a hit, never knew this was going to be as big a deal as it ended up being. We couldn't even get him off of this for dinner. I knew with the Fisher-Price name, this would a safe and ride for him! Thank goodness he fell asleep prior to the time he had to leave, so his parents were able to pry him from this, lol. My daughter in law called me yesterday to tell me that all her son keeps saying is 'Memaw bike?' Needless to say, they will back next weekend. I am so happy I got this set. This will make a wonderful Christmas/holiday gift for the toddler in your life."],"string":"[\n \"Product: For centuries, the luxury of French-milled soaps has remained the gold standard of excellence. Each time you begin to lather a French made soap, you enter a time and place where quality and craftsmanship have stood still. Traditional French soap is triple-milled to produce a completely uniform and smooth soap, without impurities, thus lasting longer. Every bar of Pre de Provence soap is not only carefully made today by the dedicated soapmakers in Provence following their proud traditions, but quad-milled to be smoother and have a richer lather to create our luxurious feel. Using all pure, natural ingredients enriched with shea butter, you can feel the difference of our unique quad-milling process. Aromatic fragrances transport you to a moment of calmness, vitality, dreamin or well-being. This 150 Gram bar is a great value, the fragrance maintains until the soap is all used up. The soap creates a rich, creamy lather and rinses clean, leaving skin soft and hydrated.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great artisanal soap! Shea butter makes my skin soft and smooth! Great fragrance, great soap!!!\\n\\nReview: To be honest, I have been using liquid body wash for the last 2-3 years exclusively. This is the first time I have used bar soap (ok, except for maybe hotel stays) since that time. I am super impressed with this soap. First, it is very sizeable and heavy. I have been using it daily for the last 2 weeks and it still looks like the same size as when I took it out of the wrapper (so my assumption is this will last a long, long time). Glorious lavender mix fragrance (which I love). I feel cleaner than I have in years and my skin feels amazing (I assume it's the shea butter). This is my new favorite soap and I love it. No more body washes for me, I will be using these European soaps going forward. Kudos to Pre de Provence!\",\n \"Product: Sonic vibration rechargeable toothbrush. Clinically proven to reduce stains.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: I just don't get it\\n\\nReview: I don't see the fuss with this toothbrush. As was mentioned in other reviews, it is smaller and more lightweight than other rechargeable toothbrushes. But, beyond that, I just don't get i. I stopped using my older Phillips Sonicare to use this for the past two+ weeks. The vibrations on this brush are very small and I find myself pushing the toothbrush into my teeth and scrubbing to be sure they are getting clean. Maybe there is some secret sonic vibration thing going on, but it didn't happen for me. If I didn't actually have to still 'brush my teeth' manually with this electric toothbrush, maybe it would be fine. However, it's not the case. Without manual intervention, my teeth did not feel clean. As an fyi, I stopped using it this morning and went back to my Phillips.\",\n \"Product: The Dyson Cinetic Animal vacuum contains 54 ultra-efficient Dyson Cinetic tips which oscillate up to 5,000 times per second to separate the microscopic particles that clog other vacuums. Because of their efficiency, there's no filter that needs washing or replacing meaning there is no loss of suction.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: I confess: I am in love with a vacuum cleaner!!!\\n\\nReview: Nothing but absolutely wonderful things to say about this Dyson Animal Canister. First, I need to say that I live in Florida and have either tile or hardwood floors with a couple of area rugs (8x10). I also have two animals: 7 year old cat who sheds minimally and a 1 year old Aussie Shepherd mix who sheds continuously (she has long hair, upwards of 4 inches long that just appears everywhere). Keeping up with the fur in my house has been a chore, with my vacuuming several times a day (as usually the first sweep with my upright Electrolux never seemed to get it all). In comes the Dyson Cinetic Ball Animal Canister. First, out of the box even someone as inept as myself was able to assemble (it basically with the exception of the hose comes all together). Upon holding the arm and the canister I was amazed how relatively light it is and how easy it was to maneuver. The head is flexible and fits easily under my sofas and even the refrigerator. I was able to do my entire house (dog hair an all) and the canister was still maybe only 1/2 full. If I ha anything at all negative to say it might be the instructions in removing the canister to empty it. I guess in this day and age with international marketing, companies put all their 'instructions' in a picture format (no words). It was impossible to figure out the removal of the canister trying to match up what the pictures were trying to tell me. Anyway, once I noticed the button on the body of the vacuum and pushed it, the unit popped out and from there I figured out the rest. Outside of that, this is the most incredible vacuum I have ever owned. In addition to the easy maneuvering, the power is amazing, sucking up hair and dirt from outside the arms reach (making it easier and faster to complete the job). The Dyson is pricey, but you do get what you pay for when it comes to a vacuum. Great gift for an office or a group of friends to chip in to buy the bride to be. She will have years of an amazing tool, and you can depend on the quality of the Dyson name for a well made product!\",\n \"Product: Warm an entire room* instead of just a small area in front of the heater! The ultra quiet Bionaire Heat Circulator with Rotating Grill circulates warm air throughout a room thanks to a specially designed rotating grill that provides up to 50% more heat coverage when the grill is rotating. Adjustable thermostat, two heat settings (1500 watt maximum), and easy to adjust manual controls maintain ideal comfort level. Built-in safety features include an overheat sensor, manual user reset, cool touch plastic housing, and auto shut-off. *Warm enough to heat a 10 x 10 x 8 ft room\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Good for really small spaces\\n\\nReview: Let me begin by saying that I have a room in my home that works as a combination bedroom at night, office during the day. As such, I spend most of my time in the room and hate to spend a lot of money heating the whole house. So, I usually will keep the house around the low 60 degree mark and then use a space heater in my room to keep the temperature a bit warmer in the space I am in most of the time. Usually, I have a full size Lasko model that keeps my 11x18 room relatively toasty. I received this Bionaire model through Vine earlier this month and, on one of the coldest days of the fall this year, decided to try it out. To begin with, it is compact.. maybe 8-9 inches high and maybe 9 inches wide. It has a rotating (optional) fan to help circulate the air (my Lasko actual rotates the unit from side to side to do the same). It is attractive and looks like a small table fan when in use. Downside is the size, it is not really big enough to handle this room (unless I kept the door shut and the unit running constantly and eventually the corners would show an increase in room temp). It's great to keep right next to me on floor while I am at my desk to warm my immediate space. It's also relatively noisy (the Lasko is much quieter).\",\n \"Product: The singer 6180 brilliance computerized portable sewing machine boasts features to make sewing a breeze at an affordable price. An automatic needle threader makes threading the eye of the needle a snap. The 80 built-in stitches are set at the optimum setting every time but are fully adjustable for your specific sewing needs. With essential, decorative and stretch stitches included, the singer brilliance portable sewing machine has the right stitch for every sewing project. Easily convert the sewing machine from a traditional flatbed to a free arm for sewing sleeves, cuffs, and other hard-to-reach areas. Easily secure your stitches with the conveniently located one-touch automatic reverse button. This factory serviced sewing machine comes with a new warranty (limited 25-year including 5-year electronic components, 1-year adjustments).included Accessories: all-purpose foot, zipper foot, buttonhole foot, pack of needles, bobbins (class 15, metal), thread spool cap, auxiliary spool pin, spool pin felt, darning plate, needle plate screwdriver, seam ripper/lint brush, soft-sided dust cover, foot pedal, power cord, instruction manual (English, Spanish, French), quick start guide, machine intro DVD.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Attractive and functional machine\\n\\nReview: First, I want to state clearly that I got this from the Vine program. In my past, when I was in my teens and and twenties (after my sons were born), I did a lot of sewing. From making costumes fom plays I was in myself, to making Halloween costumes for my sons, my old Singer got a lot of practice. Now 20 years later, I haven't used a sewing machine and thought this would be a good refresher for me (preparation for my future grandchildren, lol). Anyway, the positives: The Singer 6199 is much more compact than anything I owned or used in the past. It is sleek, attractive and a piece of home equipment I am proud to desktop display. The stitches are tight and secure and changing the stitch patterns is easy. The downside, was the bobbin loading. I am not sure if it was me (since I am so out of practice) or not. In reading other reviews I see there are others (probably with more recent experience) having the same issues. It took me quite a while the first time to load and level, after painstakingly having to follow instructions. You will need a lot of patience at least the first few times. Anyway. I still recommend this sewing machine as it produces a quality finish and has a lot of features I haven't even tried yet (but will be over the next few months).\",\n \"Product: Three delicious gummies provide immune system and cellular support with high potency Vitamins C and D, an excellent source of Zinc, and 75mg of Echinacea. With no water needed, these immune support gummies can be taken on the go, as a convenient alternative to old-school pills or powders.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: 20 day supply - Gummy vitamins\\n\\nReview: Great multi vitamin, comparable to Emergen-C. Tastes good (and thank goodness it does as you need to take 3 of these a day). Others here have listed ingredients, so I will not repeat. I have no complaints with this product, with the exception of the price. Typically, I will buy a bottle of vitamins to obtain a one or two month supply. With this Vitafusion you only get 20 days worth (20 days X 3 gummies a day). To me, I can get a better supply of multivitamins at much less cost which will last me twice as long. I have nothing bad to say about the product itself, just that I think you can do better with another brand.\",\n \"Product: Lock&Lock borosilicate glass is unlike any other. Heat resistant and airtight (on select models with four locking system). It uses material that contains strong heat resistant properties which could withstand sudden change in temperature. Plastic lids are BPA free. Our heat-resistant glass is produced in temperatures above 2700°F which makes it harder to manufacture, but safer to use. LOCK&LOCK BOROSEAL thermal shock strength is 250°F. Our borosilicate glass can be used not only in a refrigerator, a microwave, and a dishwasher, but also in a 750°F conventional oven. Unlike normal or tempered glass, if Lock&Lock Boroseal gets broken by physical shock, it doesn't break into numerous fragments and scatter. Therefore, it is safer and more suitable for you and your family. Cook in the oven with Lock&Lock glass or use it as bakeware (without lid). Microwave safe (without lid). It is salt and oxidation resistant and stain and odor resistant. Lock&Lock is so versatile you can go from oven to table at once and freezer to microwave at once. No more washing so many dirty dishes. -Set Dimension Information SKU Quantity Capacity Dimension LLG211 2EA 1.8-Cup/15.2 Fl. Oz 5.4 by 5.4 by 2.4in LLG841 1EA 3.1-Cup/25.7Fl. Oz 6.6 by 6.6 by 2.8in LLG871 1EA 5.4-Cup/44.0Fl. Oz 7.9 by 7.9 by 3.1in Total 8-Piece Set/4-Containers\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great set of containers - but not 100% of what I was expecting\\n\\nReview: First, set is very attractive in appearance (would make a great gift for the bride to be). Containers are solid and glass and are quality items. Lids fit closely and tightly and make an air tight seal. Only downsize to me was in the size of the containers. Two of them look like they would fit a sandwich size meal or, at best, a small portion of left over vegetables from dinner. The other two, although larger, would not store things like a lot of pasta sauce, etc. I am rating this 5 stars for the containers for what you do get (not what I was anticipating size-wise). I guess I didn't read the page well enough to see the sizes, thought I would be getting more pratical size containersfor kitchen needs. In doing further research, I see that Lock&Lock makes a larger set and I will probably buy them for myself (almost the same price as this set, so it would be worth it to pay a little more).\",\n \"Product: Black leather upholstery offers luxurious comfort and style. Comfortable padded leather-wrapped armrests. Contemporary polished aluminum five-star base with casters. Recommended Applications: Executive amp;amp; Management Seat/Back Color: Black Arms Included: Yes Arm Style: Padded Loop.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Standard office chair - reasonably priced\\n\\nReview: Not much to state on this what hasn't been said in the other reviews. This is a very attractive looking chair and the leather does seem to look high end. The chair is comfortable seating and the arms are ergonomically placed for maximum comfort. I will state I am a woman in her 50's who is a little challenged when it comes to assembling these kinds of things. Although I was able to do it, it took me almost an hour to do as I found the instructions difficult to follow. It may be me, so I hate to deduct more than a star in the rating, but I think assembly could be clearer and easier to make this a more quality chair. Also, the fact that there is no adjustable lumbar support could also be a downside. However, to be honest, it's as nice as anything I saw in Office Max when I was there a few weeks ago and was easily $20-40 less in cost. I would recommend this chair but please be sure you are up for the challenge of assembly.\",\n \"Product: Metropolitan collection is constructed of a high-carbon stainless steel blade that stays sharper longer and is easy to resharpen. The ergonomically designed contoured polymer handles are durable, triple riveted, and hygienically nonporous for easy cleaning. The full tang blade extends the length of the knife to provide strength and balance. The knives are all backed by a full lifetime guarantee. This collection is perfect for cooks that are looking to save time and are ready to take cooking to the next level.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: A good entry level set for the new bride\\n\\nReview: Let's start with the pros: this is a large set with almost every kind of knife you could need (and even scissors), it's attractive and professional to look at on the countertop. Here are the cons: set is poorly made and the knives get marks/discolorations on them after several runs through the diswasher, handles feel loose and almost wobbly when using them for chopping, they only remain sharp for a short period of time (I found myself sharpening them after only two uses of dicing vegetables. I think this is a great entry level set for a bride-to-be and would look great as a relatively inexpensive shower present. However, if you are a serious cook (such as I consider myself to be) save your money and invest in a good steak knife set (which will cost over $200). It's like they say, you get what you pay for. It's attractive, but not functional.\",\n \"Product: Fantes Cousin Umberto's Garlic Press crushes garlic easily in just seconds, with or without removing the skin. A helpful addition to food preparation and cooking tools, its easy to add depths of flavor to favorite dishes. Simply place a clove of garlic inside, close the handle and squeeze with both hands. With or without peeling garlic skins, Cousin Umberto's Garlic Press tackles garlic effortlessly. Cleaning tool included to quickly dislodge stubborn food bits for easier cleanup. Made from heavyweight aluminum for strength and durability. Hand wash in warm, soapy water. Fantes, The Italian Market Original since 1906. Brought to you by HIC Harold Import Co.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great device, I don't know how I lived without it all these years!\\n\\nReview: This is a neat little device. I used to use my garlic press, but no more. This helps me grate garlic into smaller slivers which seems to blend and cook better in my recipes. The most wonderful part of all is the cleanup. My garlic press seemed to leave more in the device than in my recipes and clean up was difficult getting it out of all the nooks and crannies. This garlic grater works cleaner and I get far more garlic in my dishes. I also like that I can slide or shred into different consistencies (depending on my recipe), something I would usually have to do with a knife. I couldn't be happier with this device and no kitchen should be without it. This would make a great little add on bridal shower gift (something unique and useful).\",\n \"Product: The Hisense DH-70K1SJE4 Energy Star 70-Pint 2-Speed Dehumidifier with Ionizer is an affordable and eco-friendly dehumidifier for large-sized spaces and operates at temperatures as low as 38 degrees F. This Energy Star-qualified model removes 70 pints of damaging moisture per day from spaces up to 1500 square feet. A fresh air ionizer and three operating modes (normal, continuous and auto dry) make it a versatile choice. Additional features include a programmable timer, adjustable humidistat, and full-tank alert. During the dehumidification process, water accumulates in the tank or is automatically emptied into a drain using a drainage hose such as a standard garden hose (drainage hose not included).\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Large, quiet effective unit\\n\\nReview: Let me start by saying that unlike the first reviewer, my unit was shipped in the manufacturer original packaging (not double boxed). This is a large and heavy unit and the bottom of the package actually was damaged and I was afraid the unit would also be damaged. Luckily, when the unit was removed from the box, I found the dehumidifier itself was not damaged. I thought this was a terrible way to send this item and Amazon was lucky that the unit was packaged well by the manufacturer. Now to the device itself... Like I mentioned, this is a very heavy device and I needed help getting it set up out of the box (warning to people who are not that strong). Once set up, the unit was surprisingly quiet and I also was surprised how much water the system collected from my basement (guess I never thought of my basement as that humid). The 70 pint container filled in just about 2 days and, again, I would warn anyone without much strength to empty it more frequently. Bottom line, great device, works as designed and super quiet, just heavy and poorly packaged for shipping. I would not buy this as a gift for anyone (as there is no privacy in the shipping).\",\n \"Product: Mr. Coffee Iced Cafe brews gourmet iced coffee in one simple touch. Simply add water to the reservoir, coffee grounds to the brew basket, ice to the pitcher and press brew. Brew up to 2 quarts of iced coffee for the perfect pick-me-up. The Mr. Coffee Iced Cafe comes with a 2 quart pitcher, adjustable brew strength, dishwasher safe brew basket and 10 delicious recipes. Brew Classic iced coffee, decadent Creme de Caramel iced coffee, delicious Chilling Chai Tea Latte or your own custom brew. Save up to 400 a year versus the coffeehouse.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Loved the taste and convenience\\n\\nReview: Not sure why there were some less than glowing reviews about this Mr. Coffee Iced Coffee Maker. I absolutely loved it. I can tell you that I already have an Iced Tea maker similar to this and I was wondering why one would bother having two very similar items. I can say that, although you can make iced tea in this coffee maker, I don't think you could find a way to do the opposite. I loved the way the iced coffee came out, cold and refreshing and perfectly brewed. I enjoyed it far more than an iced latte I would get at the local Starbucks. I would think this makes a great gift for a coffee lover, a first time homeowner or apartment dweller. Better yet, a fantastic gift for a college student which will make him/her the life of the party when it comes to dormitory living. I would not hesitate to purchase this Mr. Coffee as I think it excels at what it is expected to deliver. If you love coffee as much as I do, you will love the Mr. Coffee Iced Cafe Coffee Maker!!!\",\n \"Product: This Circulon Total 12-Piece Nonstick Cookware Set provides home cooks with high-quality cookware that makes whipping up delicious, healthy meals quick and simple. The TOTAL Food Release System DuPont's Autograph 3-layer nonstick coating on raised circles reduces surface abrasion and delivers extraordinary food release and exceptional dependability. The set's heavy gauge hard-anodized construction provides even heating to help reduce hot spots that could burn food. Durable stainless steel lids form a tight seal to trap flavor and moisture. Each piece features comfortable, phenolic handles that are oven safe to 350F.Create popular Tex-Mex dishes with a healthy twist using this versatile Circulon Total 12-Piece Nonstick Cookware Set. Simmer a flavorful tortilla lime soup in the stockpot, while black beans finish in the saucepan. Sizzle marinated skirt steak in one skillet and onions and green peppers in the other for fajitas. Round out the spicy feast by preparing Mexican brown rice in the covered saut pan. Make impressive meals with the Circulon Total 12-Piece Nonstick Cookware Set that offers reliable heat distribution and advanced nonstick for easy cleanup in gorgeous pieces that add style to any kitchen.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Great for a starter set of pots and pans - think bride to be\\n\\nReview: I want to start by stating that I am a huge Circulon fan having bought and given sets as gifts over the past 10+ years. For some reason, I don't feel this set lived up to the quality of the other sets I have owned. I did see some tiny scratching on the bottom of the frying pan after only a couple of uses. I also ran several of the pieces through the dishwasher a few times and did notice a dulling in the shine once the cycle was done. I am still rating this as 4 starts as the set will last for years and is at the low end of Circulon's set pricing. This would be great as a wedding/shower gift where you can give a nice set of pots without breaking the bank in doing so, Check out my other reviews on Circulon for sets which, for about $100 more, are higher end quality and durability.\",\n \"Product: Protect your mattress from bed bug infestations with the AllerEase Bed Bug Zippered Mattress Protector. Advanced zipper technology keeps bed bugs and household allergens like dust mites, pollen, and pet dander from invading your mattress. This protector features a brushed polyester top for quiet comfort and is waterproof to protect your mattress from spills and stains. Sleep peacefully, knowing you are protected from bed bugs and household allergens.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: You get what you pay for and then some\\n\\nReview: I was disappointed in this mattress cover, considering I had purchased another one (different brand) about a week or so ago that I was in love with. I am using this one in my guest bedroom to be used primarily by my son and daughter-in-law who both have allergies. I assume this will do the trick when it comes to sealing the mattress (so as to keep out critters and protect from spills and dust mites). However, it is super thin (I wonder what will happen once I wash it a few times?) and it makes an awful lot of noise when you roll on it. I honestly think you can do better. My other mattress pad was closer to $90, so my assumption is that the quality in this is lacking. I will say, though, that it does protect the mattress, so if you are looking to spend less and need the protection, this may be the mattress cover for you.\",\n \"Product: If you are troubled by common allergy symptoms, such as sneezing and a runny nose, this Holmes HEPA Allergen Remover can help minimize or reduce your symptoms. Its true HEPA technology that can remove up to 99.97 percent of potential allergens in the air. The Holmes Allergen Remover Console delivers quiet yet effective operation in most any setting, making it optimal for use in your home or office. This true HEPA allergen remover is suited for use in medium-sized rooms, making it a convenient option for allergy sufferers. With its enhanced ability to filter out particles in the air, you will truly appreciate this allergen remover.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Wonderful for the price\\n\\nReview: To start with, I have two other air purifiers currently in my home to assist with allergies and odors (I have a puppy and a cat). The other two (one an Electrolux which is quadruple the price of this one). For the money, Holmes makes a great Hepa filter air purifier. Keep in mind, this is only for a smaller size room (maybe a bedroom, dorm or nursery) but it does the job. After using this in one of my back rooms (which was not part of my other purifiers range), I looked at the filter after one week of use and I was amazed at how much was caught in the filter. I think Holmes makes a solid product and I highly recommend this unit for small room use for those on a budget. It does the job!\",\n \"Product: Give your family cleaner air with the new intelligent 5 stage air purifier. It removes pollutants ranging in size from large particles down to airborne bacteria, harmful allergens, gases and unwanted odors, with a washable anti-bacterial pre-filter, antibacterial/antifungal multi-filter, high-performance hepa filter, activated carbon filter and a plasma generator that kills viruses and bacteria. It intelligently adjusts itself depending on air quality and has a color-changing led that displays the level of cleanliness. For rooms up to 260 sq. Ft.\\n\\nRating: 1.0\\n\\nSummary: Was nice while it lasted\\n\\nReview: I absolutely love this Friedrich. To be honest, I had a Fellowes unit in my bedroom that I used to find annoyingly loud at times, but I kept it going just so the air in my room would be clean. When I turned on this Friedrich, I could see the difference between the two units was amazing. First, it is quieter. One must keep in mind, however, that there is always some noise to these units. I actually like the hum of the Friedrich as it blocks out noises and allows me to sleep better (with it's low fan). I love to watch the unit go through it's cleansing cycles. I had fried some foods one night earlier this week and forgot about it until I went into bed. I noticed at that that lights on the Friedrich were now red (indicating 'dirty' air), which must have been caused by the frying on the other side of my house. When I woke up in the morning, all the lights were blue again and I didn't detect any smell of the night before's cooking! I can also feel my allergies (which have been bad in South Florida this winter) are relieved immensely. I love this Friedrich and recommend it to anyone looking to breath better and healthier!\\nUpdate from June 2014: About two weeks ago I started to hear 5 beeps every 30-60 minutes coming from this purifier. Thinking it might be the filter, I changed out the entire set up (at a cost of $45). Plugged it back in and the beeping started up again and I moved it into my spare bedroom (where I wouldn;t be annoyed). Within a week, the unit shut down and just had the power light flashing and the beeping now is non-stop. I couldn't find the owner's manual, so I searched tirelessly on line to see if Friederich had an online manual. No, they don't (at least not for the AP260). I wrote to Customer Service and I am awaiting a response. I have no idea what is wrong with this unit, used barely 3 months.\",\n \"Product: Even the smallest of spaces can use an Ameriwood Home Galaxy TV Stand with Mount. Measuring in at a mere 49.0625\\\"h x 29.5\\\"w x 23.625\\\"d, this unit is compact, but the mount can hold a 50 flat-screen television with a maximum weight of 70 lbs. Because of its small size, its great for apartments, family rooms, bedrooms, dorms and any other space that can utilize vertical storage. The floating shelf design features 2 fixed shelves, with 1 of them made of glass. Additionally, 2 cubbies along the spine of the stand are ideal for organizing DVDs and games. With a warm walnut finish, this laminated MDF and particleboard TV stand boasts a modern style. Two people are required for proper assembly.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great stand for the inept assembler, looks great!\\n\\nReview: Let me begin by saying that I am a woman, who recently turned 60, and who is normally totally inept when it comes to putting these kinds of things together. However, since I had family coming for Thanksgiving (and a relatively small guest room), I thought I would try to put this together to see if I could open a little space in the room. Well, I did it! I was amazed at how easy this was to assemble. Sure, you needed screwdrivers (but I could handle that). I did need some help in attaching the television to the stand (not very coordinated or strong, either). But, I will say it made a major difference in the room. Besides freeing up some much needed space from the bulky stand I was previously using, it is very attractive and has room for 'storage' which makes it perfect. I am so happy with this and I know you will be, too.\",\n \"Product: Maintain a comfortable humidity level in your home or office with the Energy Star qualified Whynter Energy Star 40 Pint Portable Dehumidifier. The Whynter RPD-411WG has the capability of removing up to 40 pints of moisture from the air over a 24 hour period. The compact Whynter RPD-411WG is specifically devised for small spaces while retaining an emphasis on designer styling for the most discerning users. Features include a water indicator alert with automatic shut-off which lets you know when the 10 pint tank is full, auto-restart feature which saves your settings during a power outage and auto-defrosting capability to prevent frost build-up. It also features a continuous draining option available with a drain hose. This portable dehumidifier offers a removable, easy to clean 2-in-1 silver-coated washable pre-filter, heavy duty caster wheels and sturdy concealed handle allow for this portable dehumidifier to be easily moved from room to room. Built for large capacity usage, this unit is suited for use in enclosed areas up to 2500 sq. ft. Features: 40 pint (18.9 liter) capacity dehumidifier; 10 pint (4.73 liter) removable water bucket; Auto-restart and Auto-shutoff functions; Adjustable humidity range of 35 - 85% relative humidity; Low temperature operation (minimum ambient temperature low 40 Degrees); Auto-defrosting capability to prevent frost build-up inside unit; Electronic controls with humidity sensor settings; Direct drain option for continuous operation; Runs quiet with normal operating noise level below 50 dBA; Dual fan speeds and 24 timer function; 2 in 1 silver-coated washable pre-filter combo included; Handles and caster wheels for portability; Non ozone-depleting refrigerant: R410a; 20\\\" drain hose included for gravity drainage; Air Flow (at high speed): 180 m3/h/105CFM; Power Supply: 115 V/60 Hz; Unit Dimensions: 15.25\\\"W x 9.25\\\"D x 22.25\\\"H (19.5\\\" in H when casters are not installed); UL listed and Energy Star rated.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great Dehumidifier for the money. Silent and efficient\\n\\nReview: As one of the other reviewers stated, I also live in Southern Florida. The humidity down here can be downright unbearable at times (I am a replanted NJ woman). My central air conditioner runs constantly not only because of the heat but the humidity (there is a sensor on it which recognizes the 'feels like' temperature (not just the actual temperature). I have been using this Whynter for over a week now and I have noticeably heard my air conditioning unit kicking on less and less. I know I am saving electricity by using this dehumidifier and, on top of it all, this unit is Energy Star compliant which just seals the deal even more. I also feel I am breathing better at night (allergies are far less bothersome). This is easy to set up and runs almost silently. If you are in the market for a dehumidifier, you can't do better than this unit. It does the job and ultimately will save you money.\",\n \"Product: OXO's Stainless Steel Easy Press Dispenser offers an easy-dispensing mechanism combined with elegant design. A non-slip top button makes it easy to squirt hand soap, lotion or dish soap using one hand and the extended spout easily dispenses onto a sponge or directly into the sink. The brushed stainless steel body features a non-slip foot to keep the Pump Dispenser stable during use and a clear window to show the contents. When it's time to refill, simply unscrew the top and pour into the wide opening.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great soap dispenser, attractive an a beautiful addition to a stainless steel kitchen sink!\\n\\nReview: I love this soap dispenser, I wish I had seen it sooner. My kitchen in the new home I bought a few months ago has mostly stainless steel appliances. I hated putting the bottle of dishwashing liquid on the counter simply because it looked cheesy in my beautiful kitchen blaring the name of the soap. I felt like I was in a commercial or something. So I kept the liquid soap under the sink and would retrieve it to do the dishes and then return when I was done. This cool little dispenser matches my kitchen perfectly, the easy to push button on the top dispenses the soap, and I can leave it on my countertop all week long without shame. One thing I really love is that inch or two of clear plastic at the bottom that shows the green color of my soap (which matches other items). Anyway, couldn't ask for it any better, except maybe the size (I had 24 ounce bottles of Dawn which I could only pour about 3/4 into here). Love it, and will look for a similar one to use in guest bathroom. Kudos OXO, well done.\",\n \"Product: The S is for simplicity. For those confused by the options or unsure what type of mattress best suits their wellness needs, the S-Bed is a little of all the things that make our mattresses great. The S-Bed uses an all-natural latex to give your hips and shoulders extra plush comfort before your body is cradled by two layers of gel memory foammarrying soft and firm. With a bouncier feel, the S-Beds precision construction helps it retain its shape and adds longevity, so you can wake up refreshed everyday for years to come.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Great mattress, great night's sleep\\n\\nReview: Nice medium firmness (I would have preferred it a little firmer, but this was clearly labeled a medium, so my bad). A bit expensive for the $750 price (I reviewed another that was being sold on Amazon for $549 that I like soooooo much better). However, all in all a great mattress. I love the way these ship (100+ lbs in weight but compact enough in a box that I was able to push it to the location. Once unpacked, bed opens perfectly. Instructions state that the mattress should not be used immediately (should be left alone for 24 hours to open), but I did sleep on it after it was open for about 8 hours and it was fine. No complaint, nice cool mattress (I love the latex and foam combination). They do make these in a firmer size so if you are like me, you might want to go for the firmer mattress.\",\n \"Product: Voil, dinners done! The Oster Digital French Door Oven looks elegant, cooks with convection and makes meal prep easier. Unique design opens both doors with a single pull so you can place dishes in the oven without hassle. Digital controls provide added convenience to bake, toast, broil, warm and convection cook in just one touch. Control panel also includes touch commands for pizza, dehydrate and defrost, as well as adjustable time and temperature settings. Theres no reason to turn up the heat with your conventional oven, as the Oster Digital French Door Oven cooks more efficiently, using up to 50% less energy. With 90-minute timer, your foods cook as long as you need, then the oven shuts off automatically. With a countertop oven this attractive, this efficient and this easy to use, youll enjoying using it for every meal you prepare!\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Absolutely gorgeous large countertop oven!\\n\\nReview: Beautiful addition to my kitchen. I must preface this that this is replacing another Oster oven I have had for about 2 years that is a tad larger. I will probably miss that I won't be able to cook the same size roasting chickens, etc, in this. But overall I am thrilled. I absolutely love the French doors. My old one had a door which opened down and could occasionally burn me if I wasn't careful putting food in or even simply closing it again. The French doors work in tandem and close flawlessly. I also think this unit is more energy efficient as well as my kitchen doesn't seem to warm up the way it did when I had my old counter top Oster going. No complaints, beautifully modern and looks wonderful on my countertop!\",\n \"Product: The Calphalon Signature Nonstick 8-Quart Stock Pot with Cover is made with a Sear Nonstick surface that evenly sears, browns, saute and seals in juices when cooking meats, seafood and vegetables. This large stock pot is so durable that you can cook with metal spatulas, spoons and whisks, and it's also dishwasher safe for easy cleanup. Now, you can have it all - a metal utensil-safe nonstick that sears just like stainless. The tall 8-quart Stock Pot is the perfect size for boiling water, cooking pasta, preparing stocks, boiling shrimp, or simmering soups, with beautiful brushed stainless steel loop handles for easy lifting and carrying.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great quality! Great size! A must have for every kitchen!\\n\\nReview: I love Calphalon products and use them almost exclusively in my kitchen. Sure, they are expensive. But when it comes to quality and durability, Calphalon can't be beat. It is truly the old adage 'You get what you pay for' applies when shopping for your kitchen. This large stock pot is beautiful and stands up to my tough cooking (I have a tendency to stir and use items in the pots that I probably shouldn't). I have even run this through the dishwasher a few times and it comes out looking like new. This is a great size for cooking soups and pasta. Would make a great bridal shower present for the bride who has all the basics, to help expand her kitchen ware. It also would make a great 'not so new' homeowner or renter to just help make their kitchen complete (think holiday shopping). I love this Signature series!\",\n \"Product: Give easy-going, delicious home cooking a fresh turn with the dishwasher-safe convenience of the charming, colorful Paula Deen(r) River bend Aluminum Nonstick 12-Piece Cookware Set. Make home-cooked meal making easy with easier cleanup, with durable and stylish Paula Deen(r) River bend Cookware. This dishwasher-safe aluminum cookware heats quickly and evenly so you can better control the cooking to suit the recipe. The pot and pan interiors feature long-lasting, top-quality nonstick, so foods release in a jiffy and cleanup is a cinch. Stain-resistant speckled porcelain exterior color inspired by classic enamelware and charming stovetop silhouettes add a warm, cozy touch to the kitchen. Use this 12-piece set from Paula Deen(r) whatever the cooking task, meal or dish to make foods and flavors happen for friends and family alike. Shatter-resistant glass lids let busy cooks keep their eye on the delicious cooking and the heat and moisture inside. Suitable for all stovetops except induction, the cookware set is conveniently oven safe to 350, making it easy to tackle Paula's delicious stove-to-oven recipes. The set even includes a Paula Deen(r) nylon slotted turner and slotted spoon that are perfect for use with the nonstick interiors. Get the home kitchen going to deliver a lifetime filled with cooking joy and eating enjoyment, with the beautiful, essential Paula Deen(r) River bend Aluminum Nonstick 12-Piece Cookware Set.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great set of cookware - makes a great gift. Pratical and useful for most kitchens.\\n\\nReview: Great set of pots for the novice cook. These would be great as a shower gift for the bride to be or even just a house warming gift for the first time homeowner/apartment dweller or kid going off to college. Practical, attractive (I absolutely adore this red color) and has pot and pan sizes to meet most daily cooking needs. Adding in the two spatulars is just icing on the cake (work perfectly with the non-stick surface). As others have mentioned, for about $50 more you could buy a more advanced set. However, this set makes a great presentation and has the impressive Paul Deen name on it. I have several of her products in my own kitchen and I know that she does deliver quality products.\",\n \"Product: For anyone who changes positions during the night, this pillow is curved for comfort and shaped for support. The softly curved shape ensures gentle, therapeutic support for the shoulders of side sleepers and the neck of back sleepers, while having a low, comfortable profile for stomach sleepers. Experience less tossing, less turning and more deep sleeping.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Good memory foam pillow - average in performance\\n\\nReview: I am a side sleeper and typically buy pillows from Macys which are relatively high priced for my support and needs ($100+). When I saw this pillow in Vine I snatched it up thinking it could be a good, lower-priced alternative for me. I will say that the support is decent, but not like the higher priced pillows I am used to purchasing. I also don't really understand the purpose of the shape and find it a tad awkward, particularly when trying to put it in a pillow case. Anyway, it is good as a pillow but I don't think if I had to buy it I would. I have since stopped using it and have placed it in the linen closet figure it will be good for an extra pillow if I need one. A little disappointed, but overall it held it's shape and did give support. I wouldn't recommend it for heavy duty side sleepers. I guess you get what you pay for.\",\n \"Product: Cook, serve, expand, stack and store with BELLA LINX. The new and innovative design lets each unit connect together so you only need one power source. Versatile linking system allows you to cook 1 or 2 or more dishes at once. You can link up to six units and they stack together for easy portability and storage.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Best new addition to my hostessing skills!\\n\\nReview: I absolutely loved this new kitchen gadget. This past Thanksgiving I used all three to put on a buffet to keep food warm (mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn) for my guests. It's attractive, easy to set up and a perfect size fr my side table. I love the lid holders in the back, that make it easy when guests go to serve themselves. I love the fact that the three of them slide to fit perfectly together and, unlike other reviewers, I really think the idea of having only one plug is an excellent idea (it saves space and there aren't a bunch of cords hanging around my dining room). I have nothing but good things to say and I think I will be purchasing another set (I see they are out of stock now, but hope they get more soon) to use for Christmas (as I had more veggies that I could have used two more cookers for. Oh, and the red color is great, too. Matches my kitchen just perfectly. Highly recommend to anyone for their own use or for giving as a gift to a hostess who loves to entertain.\",\n \"Product: PhotoPlus X3 Digital Studio is Serif’s professional digital image editing solution. PhotoPlus X3 brings you an unrivalled combination of easy-to-use photo enhancement Studios, on-screen automated help, and a rich collection of professional-level tools and adjustments. Whether you’re resizing holiday snaps, removing flaws from portraits, adjusting exposure and color levels, restoring old images, importing Photoshop documents, or transforming photos with unique effects and artistic styles, PhotoPlus X3 Digital Studio has everything you need to achieve the highest quality results - fast.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Great application for the novice to use\\n\\nReview: I am by no way an expert on this kind of stuff. In fact, I generally upload pictures from my camera directly to my PC and the most I have done to 'edit' pictures is to autoenhance and/or crop pictures. Being that I didn't think I would get much from Photoplus, I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to load and to use. I found far more advanced features that I didn't even know were possible previously. My recent trip to Yosemite was uploaded using the Photoplus digital studio and I was able to zoom, crop and change backgrounds, etc. What a phenomenal experience for a first timer like me. I am off to Charleston SC for the holidays this year and I plan to take a load of pictures of my family and friends. There are a lot of features I didn't (yet) have the opportunity to use, but hope to within the next month. I will add more comments to this as I become more experienced. Bottom line, if you are looking for a great photo shop application, the Photoplus X3 Digital Studio makes for a great first timer application. I am very, very happy!\",\n \"Product: Aiptek’s PenCamHD is the World’s smallest HD camcorder. Roughly the size of a highlighter pen, you can slip it into your pocket and take it with you everywhere! The PenCamHD has a trio of functions, including a 720p High-Definition camcorder, a 5MP Digital Still Camera and an MP3 Player. With its integrated memory and built-in rechargeable battery, you can capture up to 2 hours of High-Definition footage! Sharing your memories with friends and family is simple too. You can plug the PenCamHD into a USB port on your PC or Mac and easily upload to sites like YouTube and Vimeo, or use the included HDMI cable to plug directly into your HDTV and playback right from the PenCam itself. No other High-Definition camcorder out there is as compact, convenient, or as simple to use as the new PenCamHD!\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Not what I was hoping for\\n\\nReview: First let me state that I own two Flip camcorders today (one HD, one older). When I first saw the Aiptek pencam I was attracted for it for several reasons: the size, the fact that you can play tunes (MP3) and take still pictures. As I am practically attached to my ipod (for working out), I thought that having one electronic that could do it all, the Aiptek could possibly take the place of three items. Well, to say I was disappointed to say the least was an understatement. I guess in order to pack all three things into one device one needs to sacrifice quality. The video clarity is terrible as well as the sound, the sound in the MP3 player is of poor quality as well. Still pictures are comparable to a $29 bargain still camera. What are the pluses? Well, if you are interested in a small novelty item , then this will fit the bill. It is cute (no doubt about that). Teenagers may like it because they can actually keep it in their pocket without being visible. You can store this in an armband and be able to have a camera as well as an MP3 player with you at all times (of course, the new ipod nano as well as other MP3s have this capability as well). If the price of this was well under $100 , I would have rated it higher. But being in the $150 range, there are plenty of other, better choices , out there.\",\n \"Product: Succinctly urban and busting the shackles of restraint, the Maroo Awanui II iPad 2 cover complements your need to break away from social norms. Made with high quality nylon, Awanui II is the iPad 2 cover that needs a partner in crime.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Excellent cover for my new IPAD2\\n\\nReview: To be honest, I got my IPAD about 2 months ago and purchased a bluetooth keyboard case (from Amazon of course). I was finding it to be a bit cumbersome to travel locally with, like going to the stores (although I admit it is nice to be able to type on a keyboard). Anyway, I was looking for an alternative case to be able to use as just a case (nothing to do with a keyboard). I saw this offered to me in Vine and figure I could give it an honest review. To start with, I didn't know if I would like the red plaid design of the cover. It is just gorgeous and I am so happy I got this. It looks smart (for either a man or a woman). The cover in general is padded and my IPAD2 is well protected. Inside there is a secure holders which snuggly fits my IPAD and on the alternate side on the cover is a side pocket for document storage and an elastic band which will keep any other items in place (i.e. a small calculator etc). I would see this as a great accessory for a business person who would like a little bit of storage with their case and it behaves almost like a small portfolio case. The back corner of the cover has a perfectly fit hole which allows you to continue to use the camera feature while the IPAD 2 stays snug in the case. I honestly have nothing but good things to say about the Marco cover. It looks smart and protects my IPAD2, all while giving me some handy side features. To top it all off it has the Smart magnetic feature which puts the IPAD to sleep when closed and wakes it up when opened (saves battery life). I highly recommend, this is a great cover for all!!!\",\n \"Product: Shoot gorgeous stills with the 18.2MP Exmor R CMOS sensor and thanks to super-fast, DSLR-like focusing speeds, youll get amazing results that take full advantage of the cameras sharp Sony G lens, even in low light. Get closer to the excitement with the 20x Optical/40x Clear Image Zoom capabilities or use dual record to shoot full 1080/60p HD while simultaneously capturing stunning still images Active 3-way stabilization helps eliminate camera shake aggravation with when shooting videos. Start creating a virtual map of what happened where by recording shot location and direction with GPS and Compass functionalities. Add an all-new dimension of awe and wonder to your creations with 3D Still Image and 3D Sweep Panorama mode. View it all in crystal clarity on the 3.0\\\" Xtra Fine LCD TruBlack display.FEATURES: 18.2MP Exmor R CMOS sensor - The 18.2MP Exmor R CMOS sensor captures ultra-high definition images that take full advantage of the cameras sharp Sony G lens. An advanced BIONZ processor rapidly analyzes the Extra-High Sensitivity data from the sensor, and activates By-Pixel Super Resolution technologies to reduce noise levels up to 6X compared to previous CMOS sensors, resulting in stunning low light images with incredible details.Full HD 1080/60p - Record crystal clear movies at the highest resolution available with capabilities for 60i in 1080 AVCHD video. This provides stunning, fast motion video with less distortion for playback on your HD TV.2 With dual record of stills and movies, you can shoot both at the same time.Capture the decisive moment with up to 10fps - Capture full 18.2 megapixel resolution images at up to 10 frames per second, helping to ensure that the decisive moment is captured such as the soccer ball flying into the goal. In addition, a mechanical shutter helps reduce distortion when continuously shooting moving subj\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V 18.2 MP\\n\\nReview: Received the Sony Cybershot as part of the Vine program. I guess I am slightly disappointed with appearance of the camera as compared with the listed price (close to $400). I guess for a camera of this price I would have expected a body casing which does not appear as a cheap lightweight plastic and I also would have preferred a view finder (so difficult to take quality shots when in strong sunlight using the LEC display). That being said, the camera does take wonderful quality HD pictures and video (and I absolutely love the way I can take still pictures while using the video feature). The 20x optical zoom and stability features allow me to take wonderfully focused clear pictures. As I mentioned previously, the camera is very lightweight and compact for carrying (although I still feel the casing appears very cheaply made). Features for uploading and editing pictures on line are included and are easy to follow. I feel the features and quality of this camera are exceptional, however, I am not sure if it is worth the cost (I had a $200 Cybershot last year that seems to take pictures almost of the same quality however, not with the same zoom capabilities).\",\n \"Product: Panasonic SC-AKX73 2.1-Channel 850-Watt Shelf Audio System with 3-Way Front Speakers and Super Subwoofer\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Amazing sound from a small system!\\n\\nReview: Powerful and attractive, the SC-AKX73 is an amazing table top stereo system. As other reviewers have stated, this is a 900 Watt system (according to the specs) and it is every bit as powerful as that. As an fyi, I have a living room in my home which actually has a two story ceiling in it, so lot's of open space. I only had this unit cranked about a third of the way and I can say the entire room was throbbing. Very, very nice and very impressed. Bass tones are amazing and highs can rival the more costly Bose systems. All in all, I highly recommend this system to anyone. For the price, you honestly cannot go wrong for the features and quality that the Panasonic brand brings.\",\n \"Product: Featuring Dynamic Micro Drivers, the SE112 delivers great sound with deep bass and impressive sound isolation, for a perfect audio upgrade with today's portable digital devices. Sound Isolating sleeves in multiple sizes block outside noise and provide a secure, comfortable fit. The SE112 provides a premium sound, build quality, and included accessory upgrade from the standard \\\"earbuds\\\" supplied with today's portable digital devices.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great above average, high quality wireless headset!\\n\\nReview: I love these wireless Shure earphones. In the morning when I go for my walkout with my dog, they are a staple with my attire and allow me to listen to my audio books without the hassle of wires connected to my iphone. Shure has been a staple to me since I was in my twenties (I actually used to be in a band and had Shure microphones), so I can testify to the quality of the Shure name (I like their sound quality better than my Bose headphones at about a third of the price). These are noise isolating and will work wonderfully for air travel as well. These would make a great Christmas gift for someone you love.\",\n \"Product: The programmable GPS watch to evaluate and improve run performance. This strong, durable GPS watch, endorsed by marathon champion meb keflezighi, measures critical stats and helps improve overall run performance. Optional heart rate chest strap available.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Great gadget for the techy in your life\\n\\nReview: Very attractive watch, but as other mention, it's not that easy to set up. I had my nephew, on Christmas Eve, get it ready for me. Took him about an hour painstakingly reading instructions. But, once he did, and he showed me, I was ok with it. Has a lot of features that I really don't need (I am interested in tracking the miles I run primarily), so I see this watch primarily for a 20 or 30 something who love new gadgets. I personally, prefer my old Fitbit, but that's only because I am not the techy type. I have been using this unit non-stop for the last 3 days now and I will say it tracks mileage perfectly and I like the on-line experience as well. Only rating it 4 stars because of it's slight complexity in set up and use.\",\n \"Product: Smart plug lets you control any connected device from home or remotely: turn off the heat, turn on a light- it's all at your fingertips. Home kit system from apple makes control of compliant Devices simple and standardized. Control plugs with siri individually or as a group. Works with wink app and Nest learning thermostats. Power consumption monitoring of Devices connected to smart plug. Works with included remote control to turn Devices on or off without using a smartphone or tablet.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Works with Iphone, couldn't get it to work with Alexa\\n\\nReview: Well, I have kind of given up on setting this up. First, I must admit I am a 50 something technically challenged woman (often times), so maybe it was just me. I easily was able to download the apps and get it to work with my IPhone. It was cool asking Siri to turn it on and off. I really wanted this for Echo and Alexa. Try as I might, I couldn't do it. I downloaded Wink and synced Alexa with Wink. And then synced IHome with Wink. Could not get Alexa to find the smart plug at all (and I spent hours today on and off trying to do this). I will try again tomorrow. However, I will tell you nothing is easy with this. I found no instructions for use with Alexa in the package and had to surf the web for solutions. Seems like a lot of work to be able to simply turn on a light with my phone. Also, I could not get Siri to do this remotely (while I was out and about), so I assume it only works if you are in the proximate area for programming. Seems expensive for what it really gives me.\",\n \"Product: The Travelpro maxlite 2 25-inches expandable rollaboard is is ultra-lightweight, allowing you to pack more without exceeding baggage weight limits, a honeycomb framing system and eva foam construction provide exceptional durability while keeping it super light, the built in protective skid guards, corner guards and crash-guard wheel housings protect against potential damage during travel and the telescoping handle with two stops at 38-inches and 41-inches ensures a comfortable roll for users of different height, limited lifetime warranty\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great overall travel bag! Could not do better for the price!\\n\\nReview: i love Travelpro and almost exclusively use their bags for my travel (business and pleasure). I bought this bag for use on a recent cruise and found I was able to fit everything I needed into it. Convenient pockets for storing cosmetics and lingerie, I fit all my clothes (shoes at the bottom, pants and shirts next, and even a few dresses I left on hangers neatly folded fit comfortably and the clothing came out of the bag on the ship without wrinkles. This bag is big enough and expands for lots of storage. I will be looking to buy the 20 inch smaller version to companion this on my trip to Europe this fall. No complaints, great bag (wheels on the base work perfect and are not defective as other reviewers have complained).\",\n \"Product: Enjoy everyday control with these women's Maidenform shape wear briefs, featuring a stretchy, seamless construction. In a convenient 2-pack. Same as Maidenform retail style 12586.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Great shaping panty - does run small\\n\\nReview: Ok,well, they do look a little like 'grannie panties', but under my clothes no one knows. I am in my 50's and things have started drooping a little. I love the way these panties seem to pull it all up and together. I am rating these as 4 instead of 5 stars simply because they do run very small. I am a size 8-10 and I did see the comments before hand of how they run. I was hesitant in getting the large (just because it gave a size 14 as equivalent. Well, don't believe it. Buy up a size in these. I love how my pants fit over them and how they make me look (and feel). Again, these are far from sexy looking, more for what they do rather than how they look.\",\n \"Product: Travel securely and with confidence when wearing the kiva travel money belt. Tickets, passports and currency can be hidden from view under a shirt or jacket securely fastened at the waist. The comfortable breathable microfiber fabric stays cool and the soft elasticized adjustable belt assures a perfect fit. Two zippers accommodate passports, currencies, tickets and other valuables that can not be accessed by anyone but you.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Does what it should,. no bells and whistles\\n\\nReview: I currently have a Rick Steve's travel wallet that I use when I do my annual vacationing. It has many years of use and when I saw the Kiva, I thought it might be a needed replacement. I found the Kiva kind of cheaply made, very light, not the quality I had received with the Rick Steves. I have to admit, I did put it on and found it very comfortable. If there is anything to be said positively it's that it is lightweight and not bulky and will hide well under clothing. That said, I am wondering how long the zipper will last and how easily someone (if they knew it was there) could rip it off me. I guess it's what you are looking for. I will bring it with me to Italy this April, but I will also be bringing my old standard Steve's moneybelt (in case I need it). Not sure I can recommend this fully, but it does seem to work well (just not sure for how long).\",\n \"Product: New from our lightest hard side travel collection to date, this supremely light yet durable packing case, constructed from a special, multi-layer polycarbonate alloy formulation, is designed for longer trips or two traveling together. The four-wheel system ensures effortless maneuverability in every direction. Note that hanger shown is not included with this item it may be purchased separately (#0052).\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Nice large suitcase, basic functionality, lightweight but high priced\\n\\nReview: Nothing much more to add to other reviews here. It took me a while to even figure out how to open this suitcase (despite the fact that the lock was set to 0000. However, after about 15 minutes of working on it, I finally realized there was a button to slide. Inside there are two large pocket areas and the rest is open (with secure straps to keep your clothing in place). It is a 29\\\" size, prides itself on being large. I found it to be adequate when compared to my Travelpro luggage (I think they have far more pockets, even small ones where I can put toiletries which this does not have). The biggest plus is the fact that it is lightweight (so I know I will be able to zip through the airport). Wheels are multi-directional and it is easy to maneuver. Biggest issue to me is the price, but I know there are people out there who love the designer products but over $500 for this suitcase is too high. I haven't tried to reset the lock yet. I see there are some videos out there on You Tube so I will play around with that later.\",\n \"Product: U.S. Divers is the leading sporting goods snorkeling brand of Aqua Lung America. Captain Jacques Cousteau, explorer and inventor of the Aqua Lung, was the company's first Chairman of the Board. With 65 years of diving heritage, experience and passion U.S. Divers has become a water sports category leader, offering a wide range of snorkeling gear.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Another quality product from Aqua Lung America\\n\\nReview: Beautifully packaged, this set was an immediate hit with my 7 year old grandson. First, he takes swimming lessons at the clubhouse here in Florida and he couldn't wait to try this on in the pool. Goggles remained clear, did not fog up. Flippers hugged his feet and he was able to breath flawlessly through the snorkel. My son and daughter in law have a trip planned to Nassau in January and they wanted to try snorkeling with him this year, so this came just at the right time! I never liked the idea of renting snorkel equipment anywhere (considering germs and the cleanliness of the items between users). For around $40-45you can get a set made custom for your child that is a far higher quality than anything you would rent at a beach resort or on a cruise and will last years with growth. Would make a great Christmas gift this year for any child in your life!\",\n \"Product: The JOOLA Studio Portable Table Tennis Table specializes in maximizing the table tennis experience in a limited space. Featuring a 12mm medium-density fiberboard (MDF) playing surface and matching net and post set, it offers the same playing action as a standard table tennis table, but in a compact size, which can be easily transported to parties and picnics. Quickly, unfold the legs and attach the net, and the JOOLA Studio is ready to play right out of the box, no additional assembly required! It folds easily into a locking briefcase-like carrying system and comes with a black storage cover to protect the playing surface during transport and storage. It's compact and lightweight so anyone can fold it up and store it under a bed, in the back of a closet, or in the trunk of a car.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Great little table - made for children/teens not adults\\n\\nReview: This is a great little table for light use, probably more for children. This is smaller than a typical size table tennis table, so don't expect to be knocking the ball like crazy back and forth. But to keep kids entertained it's great. It is sturdy, net is a little flimsy but does the job. Does pack up well and stores compactly. Again, no complaints except that you cannot expect two grown men to be playing on this unless they are just goofing around (non-tournament play). Not sure why others are giving poor reviews based on no accessories. The description does not say anything about that, so you are just getting the table. I would prefer to purchase the balls and paddles separate anyway (to be sure they fit the player).\",\n \"Product: The RCA PCHSTAB1R puts USB and AC outlets where you need them most, from the bedroom, office, family room or kitchen. It includes a convenient power outlet at the table for clock radios, lamps, laptop use, etc. It's compatible with iPod, iPhone and iPad among other AC and other 30-pin devices.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Not very well made\\n\\nReview: When I saw this RCA charging dock, I jumped to get it. Normally, I work from home and use one or two plugs to keep all of my Apple items charged throughout the day (rotating them betwen plugs). When I saw this charging dock, I thought it would be a great way to connect my iphone, keep it upright for viewing ease, and keep the phone charged all day long. First, although the picture looks good, the item is cheaply made plastic, which I guess would normally be ok for something like this (although to me in the picture it looked a little sturdier). The 30 point connection does not work well. I had to rock my phone several times to get it start charging (it wasn't easy to see if it is connected properly). Having a charging light on the base would have been a nice-have, but of course there isn't one. I then tried my ipod in there. I found that a little easier to connect, but still takes several attempts of getting it to the right angle to make it work right. To be honest, I think it is just a matter of time before this breaks (given the difficulty I have in connecting). I would honestly say to spend your money elsewhere. This item is not worth the investment.\",\n \"Product: Carry less during your morning jog, a day at work or a night on the town with our CandyShell Card case. Combining a side-loading slot for up to 3 cards with our patented dual-layer protection, it makes the perfect iPhone 6/6S card case. Our patented CandyShell is the best of both worlds: iPhone 6/6S cases that look as good as it protects. Its patented dual-layer construction absorbs shock to provide military-grade protection, yet it's slim enough to slide in and out of pockets with ease.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Great case, is as advertised, prone to scratches\\n\\nReview: Nice looking case. I like the storage capability for credit cards and cash. I have used it when I am out on my bike, going to the stores, so I don't have to try to lug a handbag or something else. Not crazy about the extra bulk this adds to the iphone (despite the claim that it is minimal), but I guess it's the price you pay for the storage capability and protection). This is well built, sturdy and does protect the phone well. As others have mentioned, it is prone to scratches (I have seen several on mine already and I don't even remember doing anything rough to cause them). Rating this a four star, as it does what it says. Like I mentioned, my biggest complaint is the slight bulk to the phone added and maybe the price (I think you can do better than $40 for a phone case out there).\",\n \"Product: Precut lengths of tape 0.75 x 2 Inches, in a Pop-Up Tape dispenser. 75 tape strips/pad.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Neat little product - not sure if it's worth the price\\n\\nReview: First, let me state I am a Vine reviewer and received this pop-up tape as part of the program. I have used it for almost a month now exclusively for when I am wrapping things. Positives: Cool way to dispose of tape. It grips the table, so you never can lose it amidst all the wrapping paper. Tape can never stick to itself based on the design (and I have in the past thrown away a lot of tape when it did). Pieces are a great size for wrapping presents Negatives:Only 74 pieces in the pack (so it's an expensive alternative to a regular roll of tape). If you are wrapping something where you want larger pieces of tape to hold things in place you are out of luck (these pieces are premeasured). All in all, if you are looking for an extra way to dispense tape, this may do the trick for you. Especially for senior citizens where they may have trouble with standard tape dispensers.\",\n \"Product: Convenient gift card mailers designed to accommodate a gift card as well as gift catalog or other materials. Greeting card is \\\"built into\\\" the mailer. (Doubles as a giftcard package and card.)\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Cute idea, but not practical\\n\\nReview: Ok, so just so everyone knows I got this as part of the Vine program (and I got it after Christmas so I couldn't mail them). However, I often gift gift cards as presents, so I opened up the pack to see what I would get. First, the card is colorful and attractive. However, it's not pratical. It is small (4x6) and although it does hold a gift card, it could't hold much else (like if you wanted to include a note of some kind, or throw in a few dollars as a gift).The envelope is thin and fairly transparent and I think if anyone saw it in the mail box, they would know what it contained. I personally prefer to use a standard card or one of the standard cards they sell which have holders in them. This package, containing two cards and envelopes, is expensive for what you get (and you aren't getting much).\",\n \"Product: Fellowes Cosmic CL 95 9\\\" Personal Laminator\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Minimally effective - does the job but has drawbacks\\n\\nReview: Got this in Vine and gave this to my son in Virginia as he is an 8th grade science teacher and told me he could use it for his work. First project was to laminate some cards with the elements chart. He told me that the plus was the ease of use and the portability of the device (it was easy for him to carry in his school backpack that he uses daily). On the down side, he told me the sizes he was able to use were not optimal, as his charts were intended to be larger and this product would not support them (so he had to readjust his copies to be smaller so he could laminate them). He also brought up the noise of the unit (which I see was mentioned here in another review). He couldn't understand why the unit was so noisy as the general unit that the school provides for free is far quieter and little to no vibration. Overall, this is a relatively inexpensive device if you really need a portable laminator. However, for larger needs or if you operate in an office where noise may be an issue, this is not for you. Like I said, as a teacher, the school already has these devices for the use of the teachers, so I am not sure there would be a need for this otherwise.\",\n \"Product: The Perky-Pet Garden Sip & Seed Wild Bird Feeder is constructed of durable plastic and antiqued copper finish. The unique double silo patent pending design is sure to compliment any backyard dcor. The Perky-Pet Garden Sip & Seed Wild Bird Feeder features silos that have interchangeable bases, to serve either seed and/or water; so this feeder can be set up to serve seed and water, two silos of seed, or two silos of water. The Perky-Pet Garden Sip & Seed Wild Bird Feeder holds 1.5 lb of seed and 27 fl oz of water.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Just perfect for my yard - almost\\n\\nReview: Got this through the Vine program. Positives: Extremely attractive. I live in a townhouse with a relative small backyard. I don't have trees in my yard, so I use a decorative pole which I attached the Birdscapes feeder to. It looks absolutely gorgeous out there and the birds are out there daily. Having water and seed together is a new and unique concept to me as I have always just used a seeder (and let the birds get their water elsewhere, lol). I love watching the birds my window flock back and forth to both. It was easy to set up and has provided hours of enjoyment for my family, and my cat. I definitely see more birds in my yard having the combination of water and seed than I did with just my regular birdfeeders. Here are the negatives: There is nothing in this set up that will deter small wildlife (i.e. squirrels) from hanging and making a huge mess (with both the seed and the water. I try to offset this by keeping a small bowl on the ground filled with peanuts and other items that are attractive for the squirrels. I am thinking if this was hanging from a tree, and higher up off the ground, maybe it wouldn't be quite as accessible. However, there are other (and I have used them often) feeders that discourage the critters and make it difficult for them to access the seed. This is definitely not one of them. Overall, I recommend this set up simply because of its beauty and for the way I am seeing far more birds than ever in my yard.\",\n \"Product: The Perky-Pet Garden Sip & Seed Wild Bird Feeder is constructed of durable plastic and antiqued copper finish. The unique double silo patent pending design is sure to compliment any backyard dcor. The Perky-Pet Garden Sip & Seed Wild Bird Feeder features silos that have interchangeable bases, to serve either seed and/or water; so this feeder can be set up to serve seed and water, two silos of seed, or two silos of water. The Perky-Pet Garden Sip & Seed Wild Bird Feeder holds 1.5 lb of seed and 27 fl oz of water.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Just perfect for my yard - almost\\n\\nReview: Got this through the Vine program. Positives: Extremely attractive. I live in a townhouse with a relative small backyard. I don't have trees in my yard, so I use a decorative pole which I attached the Birdscapes feeder to. It looks absolutely gorgeous out there and the birds are out there daily. Having water and seed together is a new and unique concept to me as I have always just used a seeder (and let the birds get their water elsewhere, lol). I love watching the birds my window flock back and forth to both. It was easy to set up and has provided hours of enjoyment for my family, and my cat. I definitely see more birds in my yard having the combination of water and seed than I did with just my regular birdfeeders. Here are the negatives: There is nothing in this set up that will deter small wildlife (i.e. squirrels) from hanging and making a huge mess (with both the seed and the water. I try to offset this by keeping a small bowl on the ground filled with peanuts and other items that are attractive for the squirrels. I am thinking if this was hanging from a tree, and higher up off the ground, maybe it wouldn't be quite as accessible. However, there are other (and I have used them often) feeders that discourage the critters and make it difficult for them to access the seed. This is definitely not one of them. Overall, I recommend this set up simply because of its beauty and for the way I am seeing far more birds than ever in my yard.\",\n \"Product: Create a lovely, layered effect with these antique-zinc-finished planters from Strathwood. Available in a handy set of two planters, in two sizes, outfitting the yard, patio, or solarium is a breeze. Constructed of 100-percent galvanized sheet, the planters are durable and attractive. A slightly tapered design makes for a more elegant silhouette. The round design looks great in rows or clustered, and a square design is sold separately, so creating a coordinated look is easy. The large round planter measures 16.4 inches high by 16.6 inches wide; the small planter measures 14.4 inches high by 14.6 inches wide.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Not bad for the money, but not great\\n\\nReview: Let me start by saying some positives about these planters. First, I was surprised at how big they were. Guess I couldn't tell from the pictures their size. The larger one could easily plant a small tree in (i.e. if you were in the south, you could plant a small orange tree). Second, they were heavier and sturdier than I anticipated (no fear in leaving it on the patio and having it blow over). What I didn't care for it was the color first (a super drab grey), the feel of the pot (some kind of a metallic) and most importantly the fact that there is no drainage in the bottom (not good for root rot). I planted a rose bush in the large one to put out on my outside patio. Given that I don't have any kind of drill to make a hole in it, I am just hoping that the watering I am doing will not collect on the inside of the planter to harm the plant (I have several inches of potting soil beneath the roots and the bottom of the planter). I am sure, if I were handier or if I was more of a horticulturist I could have figured out how to solve this dilemma.\\nFollow up 06-04-2011: Well, the inevitable happened. Without drainage holes in this, my rose bush died last year. There was so much collected water in the bottom (from rain) that although you couldn't see it from the top, the roots goet all rotted. The planter sat in my garage over the winter. Last weekend, a friend drilled five holes in the bottom of the planter for me and I replanted (this time with a large tomato plant). I will let everyone know how it goes. If I had the opportunity, I would have changed the rating of this to 1 or 2 stars for the aggravation and death of my rose bush. Never saw a planter that was set up like this before, really bad design. These are not cheap either, but honestly they are not worth the money at all.\",\n \"Product: The Rumford Gardener Expanding Hose is the incredible hose that automatically expands while giving you up to a 3/4 inch diameter powerful high-flow spray. Simply turn the water on and watch the hose grow. Turn the water off and the hose contracts to its original length. No more struggling with heavy hoses - Hose has a light and kink-free design that weighs just one pound. Made from a tough, expandable inner hose and a folded outer hose made from super strong webbing. You'll be truly amazed at how much easier The Rumford Gardener Expanding Hose makes work around the house and yard.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Hose works great so far\\n\\nReview: I read the negative reviews on this hose, but so far I don't see anything negative I can write about. It is compact and fits tidily in my small one car garage (takes up a heck of a lot less room than my old rubber house). It appears fairly sturdy to me (see complaints about the plastic nozzles and the tearing). I am not a 'gentle' person and I have been dragging this around my yard almost daily for the last two weeks without any incidents. I will say it is lightweight and a real pleasure to set up. I have nothing bad to say and rated this as 4 stars only because I am thinking that maybe, over time, something might happen? But, for now, I highly recommend this (particularly to older seniors who love to garden but don't want the weight and mess of your typical garden hose).\",\n \"Product: Restyled for 2014, the Weber Q 220 is now the Weber Q 2200. The grill has the same great performance and sleek styling, but adds new aesthetics that are both functional and fun, including larger grip handle and control knobs, ergonomic side handles, sturdy front and rear cradles, larger-sized fold-out side tables with greater rigidity plus the familiar Weber Q logo prominently branded in the lid. Split grates allow for a grate/griddle cooking combination: Just replace one of the grates with the Q 2000-series compatible griddle (sold separately) and experience an alternative way to prepare breakfast, lunch and dinner on your grill. The tall lid accommodates the grilling of small roasts and birds, while the large built-in thermometer allows you to monitor temperatures inside the grill. The Weber Q 2200 is ideal for use when camping and tailgating but, thanks to a design that offers both compact overall size and large grilling surface, can double as a stationary grill in your outdoor living space. The grill runs on disposable LP cylinders (not included), but an optional LP adapter hose for 20-lb. tanks is available as an accessory. A seamless stainless steel burner is your assurance of durability and long-lasting performance. The cast-aluminum lid and body are both lightweight and rugged. May be used with Weber Portable Cart model #6557 and Q Cart model #6525.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Weber quality in a smaller grill\\n\\nReview: For the last 15 or so years, I have depended on Weber for all of my outdoor grilling needs. Having had full size (Weber Genesis) most recently, I wanted to see what the difference was using a table top version (that I could use when not wanting to fire up the full size grill and also to take on camping trips). I was pleasantly surprised with the Weber 2200. First, it is larger (and heavier) than I expected. Grill/cooking space wise, I couldn't ask for more space for two people. It is sturdy, lights like a full size grill and I love the LED light that lights the surface when the grill top is opened. I honestly have put the grill on my patio full time now and have used it almost exclusively for the past few weeks. I find cleanup easier than the full size and the fat drains off cleanly and efficiently. I may never go back again to the Genesis (unless of course I have a party with many people there). But, if that's the case, I may use the full size for hot dogs and burgers and use the 2200 for kabobs (fire them both up). I love it!!!\",\n \"Product: The Miracle-Gro AeroGarden 3SL is the extraordinary soil-free indoor garden that grows plants 5 times faster than soil. The AeroGarden 3SL brings the magic of the indoor garden virtually anywhere- it sets up in minutes and the slim, elegant design fits beautifully in your kitchen, home, or office. Grow fresh herbs, vegetables, salad greens, flowers and more let your imagination grow wild! Just insert the seed pods in your garden, add water and nutrients, and then watch it grow! Now you can garden indoors, year round and its Guaranteed to Grow!\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Too noisy, not up to the standard of the larger AeroGardens\\n\\nReview: I must say that I have had several AeroGardens when I was living in NJ (the much larger sizes) and I really liked them (except for the fact that everytime some breaks (like a bulb) you have to buy their proprietary products in order for it to fit. As a plus, this 3SL is a great size, small and compact and easily can fit on a kitchen counter and would be great for an apartment or even a dormitory (I think college kids would get a kick out of this). However, as others have mentioned it has a very noisy engine and the water reserve is small and is in constant need of replenishment. If you are looking for something for yourself, spend some more and buy the larger Aerogarden models. They grow more, have a better quality and seem to work better in your home. Like I said, this would probably be cute for a younger person in an apartment or a dorm who wants to be chef and grow fresh herbs. For the adults, go bigger.\",\n \"Product: Check the rainfall from today or last week from the convenience of inside your home. Self-emptying tilting cups measure from your own backyard displaying current amounts up to the last several months. Indicates the signal strength from the wireless rain bucket. Monitors your current temperatures & displays time in either 12/24 hour mode. Battery operated.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Attractive, easy to program, not sure of the accuracy\\n\\nReview: Not sure why all the negative reviews out here. Yes, the packaging wasn't necessarily easy to open, but there are a lot of products out here on the market today like this. I had no trouble inserting the batteries in the remote or in the temperature display, it was a little confusing to insert in the rain catcher, but I ended up figuring that out, too (and trust me, I am usually awful at these things). As others stated, the display is clear and large and it was easy to program. I rated this as 4 stars as I am not too confident that the temperatures being displayed are accurate. I mean, I typically keep my thermostat at 74 degrees in the house (and the display on my A/C shows that). However, the La Crosse is picking up the inside temp as 76. Now, it could be because I have it near a window, but I need to have it near a window to pick up the outside controls. The outside temperature, positioned as instructed in the shade, seemed to indicate a lower temp than what it felt and the weather channel said it was (TV said 86, thermometer showed 82, but it felt like 86). So, anyway, I am not sure about the accuracy of the temps, but overall it is a conversation piece and I find the rain catcher seemed to do a good job (we had a big thunderstorm here last night and it picked up .25 of an inch).\",\n \"Product: Do you like kabobs but don't like trying to figure out better ways to remove food from the skewers every time? Well look no further because this Sliding Skewer Pack allows you to load up your kabobs and with one simple sliding motion push all of your food safely to its destination. With an easy and convenient sliding mechanism, all food slides off together without any fumbling and bumbling of oddly shaped or textured foods. Shrimp, steak, chicken, veggies, you name it! And when you load everything onto these skewers, don't worry about anything rolling over because the dual prong system will keep your kabobs right where they're supposed to be, on the grill.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great gadget! Don't know how I lived without it before!\\n\\nReview: Wow, what a clever idea! I always am making kabobs here in Florida, most of the time chicken but occasionally beef. There is nothing worse than taking the kabobs off the grill and bringing them into the kitchen and trying to remove the meat and vegetables from the skewers. Most times I burn myself trying to get a grip on the charcoaled metal. But if I am able to get a grip with a potholder and try to remove the food using a fork, I usually end up with broken pieces of food and some chicken/beef that will stay on the skewers in strings. When I saw these I was skeptical, but having used these once I can tell you that they are the neatest thing ever. Sliding down the skewer, all meat and vegetables are removed (in tact) and none of the food remained on the skewer. I am honestly surprised no one had this idea before. I think this would make a great supplemental bridal gift to give the bride who has everything! It is practical, functional, and bears the quality Cuisinart name. You cannot go wrong!\",\n \"Product: The DEWALT DCBL790H1 40V MAX XR Blower, 6AH provides the ability to clear heavy debris with an air speed of up to 120 miles per hour and 400 cubic feet per minute of air volume with extended run time from a 6Ah battery (50% more battery capacity). This blower is designed with an impact-resistant Xenoy housing which offers maximum durability for every day usage. The lightweight, ergonomic design is engineered with a variable speed trigger and speed lock to provide full control without having to hold the trigger during use. The blower's curved tube design creates rotational control which helps to reduce arm fatigue. With an ergonomically optimized handle size and position featuring over-mold, this blower is designed to withstand everyday heavy-duty usage.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great cordless way to clean up around the outside!!!\\n\\nReview: To begin with, I have been using a leaf blower which is electric for the past 4 or so years. I hated the fact that every time I went to use it I had to set up the extension cords and I never could really complete the job due to the length of my driveway. And, yes, I often thought of buying a gas powered one, but I hate the idea of keeping gasoline in my garage at all times. In comes the 40 volt Lithium-Ion battery-powered Dewalt Brushless Blower and I have to admit I absolutely love it! First I am no longer tethered to my electrical outlet and I can move at ease anywhere I chose to use it. I also don't have t worry about storing gasoline as this runs on a battery. Right out of the box, the Dewalt delivered flawlessly. Quick, long-lasting charge, the Dewalt quickly and effortlessly did my driveway, walkway and even my patio (several hours of usage). I have no complaints about the Dewalt. It is powerful and relatively quiet, and gets the job done quickly (without needing to maneuver around a power cord). I absolutely love this!!!!\",\n \"Product: Mars whiskas temptations hearty beef 3oz pouch. Quality ingredients used. Suitable to be used for pets.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great treats even for the pickiest cat!\\n\\nReview: My typically finicky feline loves Temptations, so when I saw this new Shrimp flavor I jumped at the opportunity for her to try it. As anticipated, the minute I opened the bag she was standing at my side to try it. She gobbled up the 5 I gave her, so I know she loved them. As a treat, Temptations are great and are one of the few treats she will eat. If you have a finicky cat like mine, you need to give these a try. I am not sure if it is the crunch or the taste or both, but something about them has her constantly asking for more (although I need to keep a handle on her weight, lol). I highly recommend them to everyone with a cat they love!\",\n \"Product: Specially formulated with essential oils to support healthy skin and coat\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: My dog flipped over the taste and was begging for more, lol!\\n\\nReview: I have been using this for almost two weeks now. Hard to decide if the shedding has really begun to abate, but so far I do notice a difference on the areas that used to gather her fur (my off white comforter looks somewhat better). So, I am only rating it as 4 stars, but I will use this until the product runs out and update my rating to 5 if I really see less hair). I will say that my dog loves this product, acts like I am giving her a treat. She does have a tendency to know when I am giving her other vitamins and will snub her nose. Not with the Shed no More product. Great natural ingredients which, even if the shedding magic doesn't magically disappear, allows me to want to continue to buy and give this to her.\",\n \"Product: Specially formulated with essential oils to support healthy skin and coat\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: My dog flipped over the taste and was begging for more, lol!\\n\\nReview: I have been using this for almost two weeks now. Hard to decide if the shedding has really begun to abate, but so far I do notice a difference on the areas that used to gather her fur (my off white comforter looks somewhat better). So, I am only rating it as 4 stars, but I will use this until the product runs out and update my rating to 5 if I really see less hair). I will say that my dog loves this product, acts like I am giving her a treat. She does have a tendency to know when I am giving her other vitamins and will snub her nose. Not with the Shed no More product. Great natural ingredients which, even if the shedding magic doesn't magically disappear, allows me to want to continue to buy and give this to her.\",\n \"Product: Ziwi is a small team whose love for our dogs is pure and simple, just like our recipes. We put the best of New Zealand into our authentic farm-to-bowl products. Our gentle, twin-stage, air-drying process naturally preserves all ingredients, and eliminates pathogenic bacteria. Our air-dried food contains more moisture than dry kibble, so there is no need to re-hydrate. And because there is no need for preservatives, sugars or glycerines, our food is safe, clean to handle, and as nutritious and digestible as a completely raw diet.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great and nutritious, just a tad expensive for the amount you get.\\n\\nReview: Amazingly, my finicky female dog ate up the entire portion in one sitting. I was surprised as she has all but given up on regular dry food and canned dog food (no matter the brand or how I try to tempt her). She had gotten to the point she wanted to eat what I eat and would devour snacks. I was thrilled to see she really liked this ZiwiPeak and the ingredients are all natural and highest quality. If I had any complaint at all it would be the price. At two scoops a serving, I will be lucky to get about week of meals, and at $18 a bag, I think I will only be buying this occasionally. Rating it 5 stars though because it is a great alternative and picky dogs love it.\",\n \"Product: Wellness Natural Grain Free Wet Canned Cat Food Cubed, Sliced and Minced recipes are the perfect way to treat your cat to the variety he or she has been waiting for. For each delicious canned cat food recipe, Wellness has paired succulent cuts of wholesome, natural protein sources like chicken, turkey, salmon and tuna with delightfully savory sauces that are sure to please the palate of your furry friend. Each recipe is grain free and, like all Wellness products, does not contain any wheat, wheat gluten, soy or added artificial colors, flavors or preservatives. For those cats that are in need of a single protein source diet, poultry-free and fish-free varieties are available. Explore all of the flavorsome choices today! In addition, hydration is extremely important to a cat's overall health and since cats do not have a strong thirst drive, Wellness wet canned cat food recipes are a delicious and healthy way to increase your cat's moisture intake.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Wonderful cat food that my finicky feline absolutely loves!\\n\\nReview: I have to start by saying that I have probably one of the most pickier eaters when it comes to my Lucy. She typically will only eat one or two canned foods and even then only certain varieties. Hence, I was skeptical when I was offered this Wellness Grain Free to try. I was absolutely amazed that she immediately began to eat it at the moment I set it in front of her. I have always preferred Wellness products and feed them almost exclusively to my dog. However, with Lucy everything has been hit or miss. Wellness products are all natural and made of only the finest ingredients. Sure, they are more expensive than typical supermarket cat food, but in this case you truly get what you pay for. I will be ordering the chicken variety next to see if I might be able to switch her to an exclusive Wellness diet.\",\n \"Product: Pets are messy explorers. They dig, tumble and come back full of mysterious muck. Our grooming wipes are made with plant-based ingredients to clean and nourish naturally. Theyre durable enough to take on muddy paws and claws, but gentle enough to use daily for a burst of freshness.Throw a pack in your bag or car-they travel well, even when your pet doesnt!\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Nice quick refresher for the beach going pooch\\n\\nReview: I need to start by stating I live in sunny Florida, a few miles from the beach. I take my dog regularly to the beach to run and play in the water and the sand. Typically, when she is done, I use the little shower device on the outskirts of the beach area to rinse her off. But I know she is not really clean and hours later I can still smell the beachy dog and end up giving her a bath. With these grooming wipes in hand, I run it over her after she has been rinsed and towel dried and I noticed an immediate improvement. The scent is lovely and it seems to stay with her. Although I will probably regularly have to wash her anyway, these wipes, in a pinch do the job to keep her fresh smelling. I keep them in my glove compartment. As someone else mentioned here, it would be nicer if they were a little larger. My dog is a 38 lb. midsized dog and I need to use at least 2-3 of these per use.\",\n \"Product: Nature's Recipe Grain Free Chicken Recipe in Broth is premium wet cat food made with real chicken as the #1 ingredient. The high-quality ingredients also include tender, antioxidant-rich carrots in a grain-free recipe that helps support healthy digestion. Your feline will love the real poultry and savory broth, and you'll love feeding her healthy cat food that will help her thrive!\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Great cat food, Lucy loves it!\\n\\nReview: I am rating this cat food as a 4 instead of 5 star simply because of the price per serving. At almost $1.50 a pop, it is more than twice as expensive as the regular moist food I feed my Lucy. I will say, though, that I love the all natural ingredients (ok, some ingredients I had not heard of before, but Nature's Recipe usually sells itself as an upscale product, so I am relying on their reputation for the ones I don't recognize). I also love that this is a grain free food, which helps minimizes allergy sensitivity which my feline typically has. Most of all, this is by far one of her favorite foods to date. And, considering how finicky she tends to be, I am thrilled at how she likes it. I will be buying more, but will try to shop for a lower price.\",\n \"Product: Serve Purina Beyond Simply Salmon & Whole Brown Rice Recipe adult dry cat food to your feline companion, and know exactly what ingredients are going into her dish at mealtime. Real salmon is the #1 ingredient in this dry cat food recipe, and every ingredient is purposely chosen by our in-house pet nutritionists. When working together, these ingredients deliver natural nutrition plus essential nutrients to help your cat live a full, healthy life by your side. The formula is crafted without artificial colors, flavors or preservatives so she gets the nourishment she deserves and nothing she doesn't. We believe that when we connect with what's natural, we connect with what's good in food, and that's why this premium cat food is made with real, recognizable ingredients you know and trust. For a tasty experience she'll treasure time and again, offer your feline companion a natural cat food that meets all of your ingredient criteria when you fill her dish with this Purina Beyond recipe.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Great natural dry food for the feline in your household!\\n\\nReview: My cat seems to love most foods from Purina, and this natural white meat chicken and oat meal was no exception. I honestly wasn't sure how she would react to oatmeal as it is not something she has ever had before, but I was pleasantly surprised to see her gobble it down. This was my first experience with the Beyond Natural brand and I love that I am feeding her something which is natural and good for her (and that she likes as well). Took off one star as the bag spilled some during transit (UPS) and I think it could have been packaged better to make the trip here more successful. Other than that, the product is great and I would recommend it to even the most finicky of cats!\",\n \"Product: 5134GSEL Features: -Better system communication. -Largest containment area up to 11 acres. Finish: -Metal/Plastic. Material: -Metal. Number of Items Included: -12.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Great invisible fencing - difficult for me to install\\n\\nReview: Great back yard invisible wireless fence. Rating it 4 stars instead of 5 due to the fact that this was too difficult for me to set up on my own. Tried for several hours to get it going, but couldn't figure it out. After I got my brother involved, he was able to finalize it and I tried it out. Luckily my yard is pretty much all open (not a lot of brush or hills that would impede the wireless connection. Device worked like a charm on my 2 year old Aussie Shepherd. I am thrilled that I can now let her out on her own as I did not have a fenced in yard. I am not sure of the cost of this unit (when I checked Amazon it comes up page not found). I would venture to say that if it's less than $300, and if you are technically inclined to set It up on your own, than this is a great device to have for your dog.\",\n \"Product: Pro-Sense brand offers a variety of proactive, sensible solutions for all of your pets healthcare and wellness needs. We know pet parenting can be tough, which is why weve improved our ingredients and benefits to make it easier than ever to care for them like any other member of your family. Your pet can experience allergies just like you, and its important to keep an eye on their symptoms. Just like we can take medicine to assist with seasonal symptoms, dogs can get some help as well. Pro-Sense Itch and Allergy Solutions temporarily releives symptoms of allergies including itching, runny nose, sneezing and watery eyes. These antihistamine tablets help relieve allergy symptoms, so your pup can enjoy the changing weather with you. Pets weighing 15 lbs or over will take one half tablet per each 15 lbs of body weight, twice a day. Pets weighing less than 15lbs should ask a veteranarian. Each pack contains 100 tablets. For use only with dogs.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: This is a great assist to dogs with allergies and a great supplement to Apoquel\\n\\nReview: My 4 year old Aussie-Shepherd mix has had skin allergies (grasses) since I 'rescued' her 3 years ago. Since that time, she has been on Apoquel (3/4 of a pill a day). This has been a very costly treatment for me (running a little over $200 every 3 months). I have now cut her dosage down to 1/2 a pill a day, and may try it down to 1/3 of a pill shortly. Supplementing her with the Pro-Sense allergy tablet has really helped with this reduction in medication (and is saving me money). I have noticed no additional itching/licking/scratching since cutting her Apoquel dosage and I attribute it to the Pro-Sense. I am not sure if I will ever fully be able to eliminate the Apoquel, but I will say that it is far easier for me to be stretching the cost upwards of 5 months instead of 3 months is a huge benefit to me.\",\n \"Product: Nutro Chewy Treats.100% natural Nutro Chewy Dog Treats have been crafted to deliver great taste and chewy texture your dog will find irresistibly delicious. Each flavor of Nutro Chewy Treats is great for training your dog or as a special snack. We believe in simple, honest ingredients. Nutro Chewy Treats have deboned chicken as the first ingredient and real fruit or peanut flavoring, depending on the variety. No wheat, corn, or artificial flavorings or sweeteners with these Dog Treats. Available Varieties: Nutro Chewy Treats with Real Blueberries, Nutro Chewy Treats with Real Apples, Nutro Chewy Treats with Real Bananas, Nutro Chewy Treats- Peanut Flavor.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Roxie thinks these are great. She gives them two paws up!\\n\\nReview: I have to admit, I never purchased or used Nutro Company snacks (they don't sell it in any of my local pet food stores). I have to admit, my dog (aussie shepherd) is a little picky when it comes to the food she likes. Surprisingly right out of the bag, she snapped them up. If I had any complaint at all, and I don't really, it would be In the size of the snack. Seems like it is made more for a really small dog. I consider my Roxie mid size at 35 lbs and she needed 3 at a time to be happy, lol. Overall, though, I am pleased at how my dog really liked these and I will be ordering more from Amazon.\",\n \"Product: One GREENIES Grain-free Dental Treat is all it takes for clean teeth, fresh breath and a happy dog. Featuring dried potatoes, plus a delightfully chewy texture that fights plaque and tartar, your dog can't wait to sink their teeth into these grain free dog treats. Irresistibly tasty and incredibly powerful, GREENIES Treats for Dogs are recommended by veterinarians for at-home oral care. Best of all, these natural dog treats are made with highly soluble ingredients that are easy to digest. Give your dog the mouth-wowing treat that helps promote their overall health with GREENIES Dog Treats. Great for smalls breeds and dogs between 15 and 25 pounds.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Roxie and I both love this Grain-free variety!\\n\\nReview: My Roxie loves regualr Greenies. I had never tried the Grain-free variety until now, so I was a little skeptical in seeing if she would like it. Being that she has a lot of allergies, I knew that a grain free variety would be be an excellent choice for her health. To my surprise, my typically finicky pup readily accepted this new variety (just as she does with the standard type).Upon opening the box, she took the first one out of my hand, gobbled up and was begging for more. Now that I know she really likes these, I am going to switch her over to grain free exclusively. By the way, these greenies (like all varieties) are great for keeping my little girl's breath and teeth clean as well. These are a must have for any dog lover's household.\",\n \"Product: This interactive, treat-dispensing game features 3 treat basins, 1 treat-loading compartment & engaging teeter-totter action that your pup is gonna love!\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Nice fun toy for smaller dogs\\n\\nReview: Ok dog toy. My 2 year old Aussie Shepherd had to be coaxed to know what to do with it. Once she did, she nosed it around a few times for the treats to fall out. Once the treats were out she wasn't interested any more. I was not a fan either that I am unable to open this to clean the inside. Most of the treats I have are soft for her and I don't like that I can't clean it if some stay in there for more than a few hours. As others mentioned, too, they didn't design this right with the holes being directly opposite each other, makes it awkward for loading. Other than that, it's fun. Probably meant more for a smaller dog who will nose it around and get a kick out of the rolling. Bigger dogs probably won't appeal to it.\",\n \"Product: IRIS 7-Tier Cat Tree Condo has sturdy wood components and heavy-duty hardware. The IRIS 7-Tier Cat Tree Condo is built to give many years of safe, playful fun. It assembles in minutes, and will provide a great space for your cat friend to explore and play. Cleanup is easy with a soft brush or vacuum.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Attractive cat tree for younger felines\\n\\nReview: Attractive, quality made cat tree. Very sizeable. The rug covering is very soft. Took me hours over several days to try to put this together (one of the few times I wished my ex-husband was around, lol). The end result was an attractive piece of cat furniture. Unfortunately, my 8 year old cat wasn't interested in it. Maybe it's the size of it? She did sit on the lowest base and eventually made it to the first level, but would not go I in the little cubby holes. I think this is definitely geared toward the younger/kitten set. Not sure how long I will keep this up in my room (as I said, it's large), if she is not using it.\",\n \"Product: The locking function gives you the option to set it so your pet can only go out or come in. Or you can unlock both directions. You can also lock both directions to keep your pet in/for the night. While some cat doors only cover the opening, the PetsN'all locking pet door is telescopic. This means the frame will also cover the interior of the door so your pet won't damage the wood or step into a hollow door by accident. Features: 2-way door with four locking modes, telescopic frame fits doors with thickness from 1.25\\\" to 1.75\\\", great for cats and small dogs up to 15 pounds , weatherproof seal keeps out draft and saves energy , brush strip ensures quiet closure to eliminate noise and prevent startling your pet , includes screws for installation.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Great smaller pet door, attractive and easy to install!\\n\\nReview: This is an easy to install pet door. Very small (so please check your measurements carefully prior to purchasing). It is perfect for my cat (not my dog who is 39 lbs.) and it makes it easy for her to go in and out to my yard easily by herself (without me having to get up and let her out). I love the doorbell function (so I can monitor her comings and goings) and the lock which allows me at night to keep in firmly shut. Highly recommend this for anyone looking for an easy way for their pet to gain exit and entry to their house independently> It doesn't hurt that it is an attractive door as well and looks great in my kitchen. Just please be sure to check the measurements before you buy.\",\n \"Product: The hunt is on with the Pet Zone Fly By spinner toy! The Fly By brings the wild inside with a flying action that replicates the movement and fluttering of a real butterfly. Its not uncommon to see cats lunge, jump, and dive after insects and butterflies. Fly By allows your cat to stalk and hunt in a safe and engaging environment. When you flip the switch and turn the toy on, your cat will experience stimulating and interactive play providing healthy mental and physical stimulation. Pet Zone Fly By has an easy twist-off base that allows you to place one AAA battery into the toy. Flip the switch to on and watch your cat hat and the fluttering butterfly.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Not for my Lucy, but maybe for another cat\\n\\nReview: Not sure if I should rate this three stars at all, but in fairness to Pet Zone, I am thinking that maybe it was just my pet. When I inserted the battery and turned this on, my cat was immediately interested. But that was about it. I think it's because it moves too fast and not sporadically enough (like one other reviewer stated, it's almost like being hypnotized in its spinning around and around and around). She sat and watched it for about 20 minutes, but then got bored and walked away. My dog was actually more interested in it than the cat, but both just watched. No one did anything to try to pounce or 'catch' the butterfly. I mean, it is cute and I was fascinated with it as well. However as a cat toy? Nah, didn't interest my feline.\",\n \"Product: The HALTI Walking Harness is the perfect combination of style and practicality for everyday walking. With five points of adjustment on the harness it ensures a secure, comfortable fit for any size or shape of dog. The two lead clip rings on the dogs chest and back provide essential points of control for the more energetic dog. Bringing together style and functionality, the HALTI Walking Range comes in four vibrant colors with a smart two-tone webbing. 3M reflective weave and soft neoprene padding offer combined visibility and comfort. The HALTI Walking Range boasts the same quality and expert design that our customers have come to expect from The Company of Animals, the makers of the world-famous HALTI Headcollar.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great harness, great fit, wonderful control and lightweight !\\n\\nReview: This is probably the best harness I have ever used on my dog. To start with, I have a 4 year old Aussie Shepard/Border Collie mix who is very active. Although she is typically obedient, there are times when she 'gets in the zone' when she is out walking and a squirrel or duck waddles by on our trails (I live in Florida), that she will bolt. If I am not ready for her and spot the critter first, my right arm gets almost tugged straight out of my shoulder. And, for Roxie, she is yanked back from her collar and practically chokes herself. This harness to me is the best one on the market. I have heard good things about Halti before and they really understand dogs. Well fitting and comfortable, this harness allows me to control her better (for her comfort as well as mine). It is very light weight and I believe she actually prefers being walked with this on in contrast to a standard collar and leash. For anyone who loves their dog, this is the harness to get. Nothing but good things to say about this Halti product.\",\n \"Product: Add the taste and variety your dog craves with Instinct Healthy Cravings Grain-Free Real Chicken Recipe the perfect complement to your dogs meal.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great dog food, great for mixing and in a convenient packet form\\n\\nReview: This is a great, conveniently packaged, dog food. I use a packet of this daily and mix it with my dog's (40 lb. Aussie Shepherd mix) dry food. Roxie absolutely loves this lamb flavor, and she has a tendency to be very picky when it comes to food for a dog. I love (and she loves) that this is made with real lamb and the 'gravy' it comes with helps to flavor her kibble so she has a great crunchy, savory and healthy meal when she eats. I really like this convenient packet feeding as well. Food remains fresh and there are no cans to have to open (or dispose of). The portion size of this is also perfect for a single meal feeding.\",\n \"Product: ZiwiPeak Daily Cuisine Grain-Free Air-Dried Dog Food, at Only Natural Pet Store, is a super premium food made with natural ingredients similar to a raw food diet from New Zealand for your canine pet.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great and nutritious, just a tad expensive for the amount you get.\\n\\nReview: Amazingly, my finicky female dog ate up the entire portion in one sitting. I was surprised as she has all but given up on regular dry food and canned dog food (no matter the brand or how I try to tempt her). She had gotten to the point she wanted to eat what I eat and would devour snacks. I was thrilled to see she really liked this ZiwiPeak and the ingredients are all natural and highest quality. If I had any complaint at all it would be the price. At two scoops a serving, I will be lucky to get about week of meals, and at $18 a bag, I think I will only be buying this occasionally. Rating it 5 stars though because it is a great alternative and picky dogs love it.\",\n \"Product: Helping care for your cats teeth has never been easier or more delicious with Meow Mix brushing Bites, bursting with the tasty flavors your cat will love! These crunchy treats are specially designed to help keep your cats teeth clean by reducing plaque and tartar when fed daily. They are fortified with vitamin d and calcium to help support strong teeth and bones so you can feel good about treating every day!\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Lucy actually loved these and they are critical to her aging teeth health\\n\\nReview: I was a little hesitant on getting this Meow Mix for my feline (Lucy) as she tends to not like Meow Mix overall and is an extremely finicky eater. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the moment I opened the package and took a few out, she readily ate them. Given that she is an older cat (13 years old), I worry about her teeth (and she will not allow me to even attempt to brush them). I love that I can reward her with treats while at the same time helping to remove tarter. I am ordering more of these to give her in lieu of the ones we normally give her (she likes Temptations best) to help improve her dental health.\",\n \"Product: Getting your pet to take pills can be a chore! Pill Treats from VetIQ are a smart solution. VetIQ Pill Treats have a vet recommended formula and are made in the USA. Each Pill Treat has a built-in pill tube so it's easy to hide a tablet or capsule. Delighted by the chicken flavor, pets don't notice the medication inside. Pill Treats are also a great training treat. So instead of it being a chore, you can give your dog medication and supplements the smart, easy and fun way with VetIQ Pill Treats.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great pill pockets, my dog loved them!\\n\\nReview: My dog Roxie has some kind of allergy to grass and such and has been on daily Apoquel to help control the itching and licking. I typically use other pill pockets (sold on Amazon) to help her in taking her half pill every morning. I like the fact that these are a little larger, so for me they will last longer. I break the VetIQ Pill treat in half and mold it around the pill. Surprisingly, Roxie took to these immediately (despite the fact that she can be a bit picky when it comes to trying new things). I think these are great and actually work out to be cheaper than the ones I use today, so I will be switching over to VetIQ!\",\n \"Product: NUTRO HEARTY STEWS Grandpa's Country Stew with Chicken and Turkey Chunks in gravy is a tasty recipe specially formulated for older dogs. As they age, dogs need nutrients and energy levels that are properly formulated for their senior needs. That's why this natural senior dog food features real chicken and naturally sourced glucosamine and chondroitin to Support Healthy Joints. Best of all, contains optimal levels of linoleic acid and zinc for healthy skin and coat and natural fibers for healthy digestion, so your senior dog will feel and look their best. NUTRO Quality Pledge: Natural ingredients carefully sourced from our trusted network of farmers and suppliers, no chicken by-product meal, soy, artificial flavors or preservatives.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Great brand, all natural ingredient dog food!\\n\\nReview: My dog is typically a picky eater (Aussie Shepherd mix) and her reaction to this Nutro Hearty Stews was not unusual for her. She honestly didn't like it and licked a bit, but then snubbed her nose at it. I hate to give a poor review for a product when I am sure the way she reacted is not typical for other dogs. Nutro typically makes great products and this seems to fit the bill to align with their other products and it contains ingredients especially for the senior dog with typical joint, bone, skin/coat issues in your life. All natural ingredients (including real chicken) is in the ingredients and any other dog (excluding my Roxie) would typically love this variety. It is also very reasonably priced.\",\n \"Product: Variety your dog can truly enjoy. Just like you, your dog loves a variety of different foods. But changing foods could lead to issues. Now, Nutro Rotations Natural Dog Foods let you confidently switch from one recipe to another, providing your dog real ingredient variety. Start with one recipe and change to the next - no transition between bags - it's that easy. There are three delicious and healthy Nutro Rotations Dog Food Recipes available today: 1. Rotations Chicken & Brown Rice Recipe 2. Rotations Salmon & Barley Recipe 3. Rotations Lamb & Potato Recipe. Getting started: Select any of our Nutro Rotations Recipes - it's your dog's choice! Transition from your current brand into a Nutro Rotations Recipe, following the feeding guidelines From now on, switch between any Nutro Rotations Recipes, no more transition needed.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Roxie (and I) give this a two paws/thumbs up!\\n\\nReview: Great dog food. Quality ingredients and a wonderful variety of flavors so I can change it up a bit for my 1 1/2 year old 'pup' Roxie (Chicken & Brown Rice, Salmon & Barley and Lamb & Potato Recipe), My dog, who unfortunately has acquired a taste for table/people foods, does not normally gravitate to 'regular' dog food (without my having to ad something to it at first to get her started). Big difference with this food. I tried her first on the chicken and she loved it (eating her whole bowl within a few minutes). The next day I tried the Lamb (something I had never had given her before) and, surprisingly, she loved it! I love the fact that it is a healthy, quality dog food. If there are any negatives at all, it might be due to the price of the food ($49.99). Other than that, we both highly recommend!\",\n \"Product: No need for a back-and-forth motion because it scans as soon as it's on the wall or surface. Detector is easy to use in small spaces and features an ergonomic design. Because the Bosch D-tect 120 never needs calibration, you can focus on the job without worrying about the detector. Three modes studs, universal and concrete make this the right detector for more jobs. Device offers sound with light to show user when something is detected behind a wall, panel or under flooring.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great gadget, does the job for a price\\n\\nReview: I don't have a lot to add as to what others have said. I found this unit extremely easy and accurate to use in determining where I can successfully mount a wall television in my bedroom. I also have a Zircon wall scanning unit and in comparison, this Bosch is much easier to use and I think I can rely on it more. On the downside, it is pricey, but as a gadget for the homeowner who has everything, this truly fits the bill. Easy to use, detects through walls easily and accurately. I agree with other users. It would make more sense not using batteries in this as is, since my use for it will be sporadic and I think battery use will be wasteful. I think either an attached powerpack battery that you can plug in to charge prior to use would be more economical and far more useful in my opinion.\",\n \"Product: Experience the ABC's with your new best friend! Alpha Pup is the perfect learning companion, walking and talking the ABC's with your child. Alpha Pup sounds out each letter and introduces letter names, words that begin with each letter and darling doggie phrases. Alpha Pup sings the alphabet and sounds out letters and words for children to provide early exposure to phonics basics and early vocabulary. Colorful interactive buttons, wobbly paw-shaped wheels and a tail that wags further engage children and help develop motor skills. Little fingers can press colorful buttons to hear letters A to Z sounded out, words that begin with each letter and fun phrases that include these words. Press the letter \\\"W,\\\" for example and hear \\\"W! Walk! I love going on walks with you!\\\" Plus, children can press a doggie button to hear cute dog sayings and a music note button to play three learning songs. Recommended for ages 12-36 months.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Another great Leap Frog product!\\n\\nReview: I need to start out by saying, I love the Leap Frog product line. With a very active almost 2 year old grandson, I buy many of these to help him learn, but also have fun. This little dog is well made and is fun for him to pull around. The learning of the alphabet is just icing on the cake. I can't say enough about Leap Frog. This toy is less than $20 and should be on everyone's wish list for the holidays for the little ones (I don't know if I would go as high as three year olds, but definitely the 1-2 year old set would love to see this under the tree this year. Educational and fun for hours of entertainment. Can't go wrong.\",\n \"Product: Zoom, Spin and Grin with Cyclone from Radio Flyer. Using arm powered action, you can spin 360 for unlimited fun. Whether you are zooming forward or rolling in reverse, the 16\\\" wheels offer a smooth ride. This ride on also features comfort handgrips to guide your ride and an ergonomic seat and frame for a comfort ride. The solid steel frame and rear caster wheel ensure years of classic Radio Flyer fun.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Another great Radio Flyer product!\\n\\nReview: I got this last week, put it together in minutes (and, trust me, I hate to have to assemble things). My 4 year old granddaughter has not stopped using it. It is better, in my opinion, than a bicycle for first time kids on wheels. Low to the ground, great wheel stability and easy for kids to maneuver. If there was any downside at all (and I don't think it's a big deal) is that it can be a bit noisy. Let's put it this way, with my Sophie going down the sidewalk, no one will not notice or hear her coming. I guess that's a good thing. Bicycles have rubber tires, this has plastic wheels and on cement or even hardwood floors, it can be a little annoying. But you must trust me, the noise is a small trade off for the hours of fun your kids (and grandkids) can have, Would make a great under the tree present this year at a reasonable price for the first time wheeler adventure!\",\n \"Product: Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn Smart Stages Crawl Around Car puts baby in the drivers seat of a stationary car that comes fully loaded, inside and out, with grow-with-me options for learning and play! The interactive lights and sounds dashboard keeps baby busy with a light-up baby GPS, a horn to honk, gears to shift, and more! Three Smart Stages levels of play, over 75 sung songs, tunes and phrases, and lots of physical activities that grow with baby from sit & play, to crawl, to stand & cruise help fuel physical development, interactive learning fun, and imaginative adventures. (Please note: Car is stationary.) Crawl Around Car comes equipped with Smart Stages technology, an exciting new way to change learning content as baby grows. Every baby develops at their own pace, and Smart Stages technology gives you the ability to select the stage thats best for your child. There are a variety of developmentally appropriate songs, phrases and sounds within three levels of play just slide the switch! Smart Stages Technology: Level 1 Explore 6M+ First words and sounds spark babys curiosity; Level 2 - Encourage 12M+ Prompt baby though questions and simple directions; Level 3 Pretend 18M+ Imaginative fun and early role play\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Another must have from Fisher-Price!\\n\\nReview: This is another great toy from the Laugh and Learn series of Fischer Price. My 13 month old grandson absolutely loves this toy. First, it gives him the look and feel of driving like his daddy. Secondly, the interactive lights and sounds dashboard makes it an amazing playtime experience. He loves using the honking horn and watching the lights and 'dancing' to the music. My grandson is only starting to walk (basically at the crawling and pull up stage and standing, but has not attempted his first steps yet). This Crawl around Car will wok with him for years to come, letting him grow and learn into the 'advanced' features of this 'toy' (I really don't consider this a toy at all, to me it's a remarkable learning and activity device). Every baby (boy or girl) will love this. It makes them feel like their parents in their own little car and there are hours of enjoyment to be had for all. Excellent gift for the toddler in your home!\",\n \"Product: Your water battles will never be the same with the FloodFire blaster! This high-capacity power soaker holds 43 ounces of water for an outstanding mobile attack, and it can hit targets up to 38 feet away. But if you want to truly bring the soak, attach it to a hose for non-stop water blasting! Dominate the competition and get them soaking wet with the FloodFire blaster! Nerf and all related characters are trademarks of Hasbro.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great fun for the bigger/teenagers in your life!\\n\\nReview: First I need to start by saying that I have bought several Nerf Super Soakers recently for my home here in Florida. I thought they would be great to use around/in the pool and also would help the grandkids cool off when they come to visit in the oppressive summer. This Floodfire was larger than I expected it to be, has to be at least 15 inches or so long. This is way too big for small children and although we did play with it this Memorial Day weekend, it was more to the liking of my son than it was for his 6-8 year old children. Holds a load of water (more than the other Nerf's I purchased) and when attached to the hose the shooter becomes unbeatable when up against the smaller super soakers. As typically with all of these soakers, they are colorful, well made, and will provide hours of enjoyment for the bigger youngsters in your life! If you own a home with a pool, or have a community pool that allows these, you need to get one or more of the supersoakers. What fun!\",\n \"Product: This piggy bank introduces baby to counting, colors, Spanish and more through music, silly sounds and phrases. With 10 colorful coins to drop into the Piggy Bank's back, and a door for put-and-take play, it's a toy with lots of exploration. Baby can press piggy's nose to hear musical responses and sing-along songs, too. Put coins in, take them out, press the silly piggy's snout baby will be giggling all the way to the bank.Count & Learn Piggy Bank includes Smart Stages technology, an exciting new way to change learning content as baby grows. Every baby develops at their own pace, and Smart Stages gives you the ability to select the stage that's best for your child! There are a variety of developmentally appropriate songs, phrases and sounds within two levels of playjust slide the switch to choose the right one.Smart Stages TechnologyLevel 1 Explore 6M+First words and sounds spark baby's curiosityLevel 2 - Encourage 12M+Prompt baby through questions and simple directions\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great, hours of fun, learning experience for toddlers!\\n\\nReview: To begin with, I absolutely love Fisher-Price toys. When my own sons were toddlers I had a closet filled with toys that were not only fun but educational. Now that I have grandchildren, I also try to keep the value of toys in mind when giving them to children. This Laugh and Learn Piggy Bank does not disappoint. My 14 month old grandson spent hours on the first day playing with this. He loves the music, the interaction and the colorful pieces. He is still at the stage of putting things in his mouth but these 'coins' are totally safe and cannot be swallowed. I love that he is just starting to speak and I can see trying to say the word 'uno' on the second stage of this. This bank is a smart toy and teaches children coordination, colors and sounds. Makes a great, relatively inexpensive toy, for the baby or grandbaby in your house. Would make a great holiday present.\",\n \"Product: Leap into a world of gaming magic with LeapFrog Imagicard Letter Factory Adventures, an all-new digital learning game that brings 30 character and curricular cards to life onscreen. Step right up to the magical Letter Factory Carnival, where literacy skills are the ticket to unlocking new attractions. For children ages 4 to 7. Works with LeapFrog LeapPad tablets (excludes LeapPad1). As you download the LeapFrog Imagicard Letter Factory Adventures game to your LeapPad tablet, children can sort the cards and explore offscreen activities on the included play mat. When you're ready to play, the game will prompt your child to find the card with the character they'd like to play-Lily or Tad. Use the LeapPad camera to capture the card and unlock magical gameplay onscreen. LeapFrog Imagicard Letter Factory Adventures includes a downloadable game, 30 game cards, a play mat, a digital card gallery (so children can play without cards on hand) and a collectible card storage tin.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Makes learning fun! My grandson can't put it down!\\n\\nReview: I have a 4 year old grandson who loves LeapFrog products. I had a feeling this one game may be a little old for him (as he is only just getting into preschool) but was I wrong! He absolutely loved this game and playing along. Of course, some of the letters were new to him, but he loved the colors and the challenge and hasn't put this down since I gave it to him to 'play' with. LeapFrog games are fun, educational and a must have for children ages 2 and up. Any parents or grandparents should invest in LeapFrog to give your children the 'edge' they will need as they enter into their school years. This is a great game and challenging for children and they learn while they play. Just wonderful! Would make a great Christmas/Holiday gift for the youngster in your life.\",\n \"Product: Bring the excitement of Power Wheels vehicles indoors! With 17 feet of track and two strips of bumpy track, young drivers can have the perfect off-road riding experience inside! The Power Wheels Hot Wheels Lil' Quad vehicle is designed specifically for toddlers with easy push-button operation and comfortable footrests. 6-volts of battery power provide a fun, but safe 1 mph max. speed on track and 2 mph max. speed off track.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Another wonderful product from Fisher-Price!!\\n\\nReview: I had this set up and ready to go, when my soon to be two year grandson came to visit. OMG, he squealed with delight the second he saw it. His father has an ATV that he regularly takes my grand baby out on. Of course, this set 'he' was able to be the driver. Such a hit, never knew this was going to be as big a deal as it ended up being. We couldn't even get him off of this for dinner. I knew with the Fisher-Price name, this would a safe and ride for him! Thank goodness he fell asleep prior to the time he had to leave, so his parents were able to pry him from this, lol. My daughter in law called me yesterday to tell me that all her son keeps saying is 'Memaw bike?' Needless to say, they will back next weekend. I am so happy I got this set. This will make a wonderful Christmas/holiday gift for the toddler in your life.\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":84,"string":"84"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_3"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":871,"string":"871"}}},{"rowIdx":872,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"A31NK9DVOMOYHA"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of \"4.0\" for a product with description \"Add a touch of awesome to your design! Vinyl Oasis Designer Series heat transfer vinyl is a polyurethane, ready-to-cut heat transfer vinyl designed for custom garment decoration. Vibrant patterns for maximum awesomeness. Durable wash after wash. A sticky pressure sensitive carrier allows you to cut and weed small letters and fine designs with ease. Oeko-Tex certified. Always test on a fabric swatch prior to production, especially on heavily treated fabrics. Available in several different colors! Due to variations in computer monitor settings the actual color of the vinyl may vary slightly.\". The summary of the review text is \"Good quality, lots of choices\"."},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"The choices in colors and patterns are really great from Vinyl Oasis, I order it in a few colors and styles. Love the choices, there is something for everyone, that's for sure. The quality of this vinyl sheet is very good, but I had a lot of trouble cutting it, even with a new blade on my exacto knife. Other than that it is very good. And that could just be me. The color really pops and looks great. I got this in a few colors at the same time and am pleased with the look of it, and it is sturdy vinyl, just hard to cut. It is well made.\nI did receive this at a discounted price in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion."},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"The choices in colors and patterns are really great from Vinyl Oasis, I order it in a few colors and styles. Love the choices, there is something for everyone, that's for sure. The quality of this vinyl sheet is very good, but I had a lot of trouble cutting it, even with a new blade on my exacto knife. Other than that it is very good. And that could just be me. The color really pops and looks great. I got this in a few colors at the same time and am pleased with the look of it, and it is sturdy vinyl, just hard to cut. It is well made.\nI did receive this at a discounted price in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion."},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Product: Enjoy convenient, compact & wireless sound projection with the Pyle Bluetooth Radio & PA Speaker System. This portable speaker features built-in Bluetooth wireless streaming for music -- or you can use the included headset microphone to get your message heard loud and clear! Charge the system via the included USB connection cable. Bluetooth allows you to stream audio from your favorite devices (like a Smartphone, Tablet, Computer, Laptop, MP3 Player, etc.) or connect digital media files via USB flash port or Micro SD memory card reader. MP3 digital audio file compatibility allows you to connect and stream music files right from your computer's media library. The system is compact and super portable thanks to the built-in rechargeable battery. Use it like a megaphone to project your voice on the go -- or put on a living room talent show performance! Project your voice, or your music, with the Pyle PWMA40BT Bluetooth Speaker and Headset Microphone Sound Amplifier.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Great little pa/ Bluetooth device\n\nReview: <div id=\"video-block-RJ9P1B6T6S522\" class=\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\"></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D1HsS3c9wxS.mp4\" class=\"video-url\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61z9Elx2fuS.png\" class=\"video-slate-img-url\"> The Pyle portable PA system, Bluetooth speaker, voice recorder works really well. It seems to be very well-made and connected fine to my cell phone. The sound quality is excellent, nice and crisp and clear. It is easy to set up to use as a PA, the feedback from the microphone being too close to the system itself is easy to avoid by having the headphone microphone on your head when you turn it on to that part or plug it in. Otherwise the feedback is very loud. It is very well-made and very easy to use, it even has a radio which was able to pick up stations while it was in my house which a lot of Bluetooth radio's do not, very big plus. The only reason this got four not five stars is because the directions seem to have been translated from a foreign language and are not very clear and concise, although you can figure out how to work it just fine anyway. I would've given it foreign a half stars if I could have. As you can see from my video below it's got lots of buttons and each one has a good function to them. You can record with this device, you can play music with this, you can use it as a PA system or listen to the radio. It comes with everything that you need to use this. It can be used by Bluetooth or by attaching it to a computer or a MP3, and there's even a slot for a scan card of sorts. All in all it's a very good advice and I'm very pleased with it. I did receive it at a discounted price in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.","Product: To gets Your pantry, Kitchen, Cupboard, Office and Lunch menu and Craft Shelf Organized. Labels for Mason Jar, Ceramic, Plastic, Glasses door, Business Folder, Lunch Menu, Kitchen and garden So Why Choose PitaMaci Chalkboard Labels: 1) Use PitaMaci Chalk markers to write on the labels with Vibrant colors. 2) Easy to use because these labels to adhere on ceramic, glass, plastic, metal and wood. 3) Easy to wipe off after dry with a wet cloth or wet paper. 4) Tips: Shake the Liquid Chalk pen every time before using, the ink will be more even and writing will be brighter.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Nice labels, and with 96 of them you have plenty to use\n\nReview: These labels are really nice, I love chalkboard labels, they are fun and so useful. These worked great, and came with liquid chalk markers. One of mine was uncapped in the package though. The labels have a lot of uses, I use them to label containers mostly in my pantry, and they look nice. I also have chalk markers in other colors that I use with these as well. These would be great for teachers to help welcome their students back to class, they can write the students name on them and use them on the desks so the kids know where their seats are. Also on lockers or cubbies. And as they peel off easily they can be changed at any time. The chalk stays neatly in place most of the time, doesn't really smudge unless it gets wet. But it can be removed very easily with a damp piece of paper towel. They really have a lot of uses. And they come with a lot of them, 96 so you have a lot of them to use. I really am pleased with these. The only reason for the loss of a star is the way it came, with one pen uncapped, but that really is the only reason. I am pleased with these labels.\nI did receive these at a discounted price in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.","Product: TOP BENEFITS OF STEAM MOP WATER FILTERS LONG LASTING RELIABILITY BETTER CLEANING PERFORMANCE EASY TO INSTALL MAXIMUM DURABILITY HEALTHIER LIVING FITS BISSELL STEAM MOPS REPLACES BISSELL PART NUMBERS: 218-5600 2185600 These Bissell water filters for your steam mop are sure to to get your steam mop cleaning like new. If youre concerned about cleaning, replacing your water filters for your steam mop is a necessity! This are sure to help keep your homes hard surfaces clean AND help improve your overall cleanliness. DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON CHEAP KNOCKOFFS The days of needing distilled water for your steam cleaner are over! We made sure to create the best water filter we could by making sure it is very simple to use and of course we wanted to make sure it is extremely durable. Water filters can be a pain when you remember to replace them so we made sure we did our best to make the experience easier for you. You may notice improved cleaning from your steam cleaner. You may also notice sore cheeks from constantly smiling about your purchase! This is a generic product designed and engineered in the United States by Think Crucial. This is not a Bissell OEM product and is not covered under any Bissell manufacturer's warranty. The Bissell brand names and logos are the registered trademarks of their respective owners. Any use of the Bissell brand name or model designation for this product is made solely for purposes of demonstrating compatibility.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Fits perfectly and works great\n\nReview: This filter for get bissel steam mop it's just as nicely as it was the original one that came with it. I have not replaced filter before I had just cleaned it and reused it and had not realized that a new filter would really make a good difference. This replacement filter is significantly cheaper than the Bissell brand, and that's a real big plus to me. It fit perfectly and works just as well as the original one. It came well packaged so that there's no contaminants added to it, and as I already said it really works very well. I had not realized that my mop was not working as well as it had been before, until I change the filter. I am very pleased that this filter for the Bissell steam mop. I did receive this product at a discounted price in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion, that being said this is the company I will be fine filters for it from now on as the price is much better then from Bissel itself and from the local stores.","Product: \"Vessel revolutionizes the way women shop for fragrance and jewelry. Vessel's proprietary scent system features Lockets designed to hold the essential oil or perfume fragrance of your choice and show it off with style. Transfer ScentSpheres from the plastic jar they arrived in into the palm of your hand or into a glass jar. Apply several drops of your choice of essential oil, or your favorite perfume, and rub the beads in your hands or swirl the glass jar around so that the essential oil or fragrance evenly coats ScentSpheres. Allow beads to dry, or pat dry with a tissue. Place dry, scented beads into your Vessel Locket. Handle your Vessel jewelry with clean, dry hands. Use the plastic jar to store dry, scented ScentSpheres. Essential oils should not be dispensed directly into the plastic jar.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Pretty but larger than I thought\n\nReview: This essential oil difuser necklace is really nice. It is a lot bigger than I thought it would be but it still looks nice. The beads Rent scented, you sock them in your own choice of oils,or you can even use your perfume. I did have and issue with my order, it didn't contain the beads but I contacted them and they emailed right back very apologetic, and sent me out beads right away, I had them in two days!! And with a hand written note saying they were sorry and also Inclosed a little charm, a nice touch and fantastic customer service. I wish it was smaller but I like it anyway, a lot of people like clunky jewelry and this is perfect for that look, which is style now. I do like this, it is pretty and the company really cares about their products and customer satisfaction. Very pleased.\nI did receive this at a discusted price in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.","Product: \\\" Get All the Herbs Taste Without the Mess, No more floating Herbs in Your Soap, Just pull the Herb Infuser out with all the Herbs. Herb Infuser Is The perfect tool for flavoring your soups, stews and stocks. it is a cool gadget to add to your kitchen. Personal Silicone Steamer - Great idea to steam just a smal portion of vegetable, perfect for first year baby food cooking. Stylish and functional design. Food safe, the Herb Infuser allows you to enhance the flavors of your culinary creations, whilst keeping herbs and spices from scattering in your soups, stocks and stews.Great Outdoor gadget - Use the Silicone Herb infuser while hiking or camping to Boost your meals.\n Dishwasher Safe - the Herb Keeper is Easy to clean by hand or Dishwasher for best usability. Heat Resistant -The Herb infuser is made to to be heat resistant boiling water and detergents. Save on Storage - The Herb Keeper Dimensions are : 4.75 X 2.35 X 2.35 Inch. Press ' Add to Cart' to Get your Herb Infuser Now.\\\"\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Works well, interesting idea\n\nReview: This is a rather good idea, you're u open the klipy herb infuser, place your herbs into it and Place it in the pot with your soup or stews. It infuses the herbs into your food without leaving bits in the broth. I love cooking with herbs but some herbs like rosemary and thyme have stems that are twig like, not pleasant in your bowl of soup. With this you get the flavor without the sticks and leaves that you would want to pick out, before serving. This is made of thin plastic, so its not very sturdy, but it does work well. I have made chicken soup using it so far, put my dill in it, and my rosemary and thyme too. (Mostly dill though) with the blizzard possably hitting this weekend I have stuff to do make soup and stew this weekend, if we get snowed in I'm ready to cook! I did get this product at a discounted rate in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.","Product: Keep your knives sharp & handy - just like a Pro chef - without cluttering your counters. Convenient bundle includes precision sharpening rod & wall-mounted, magnetic holder for easy knife care & use. Tired of messy kitchen counters? Now you can cut the clutter while keeping your knives safe at hand (and out of children's reach). just use our space-saving knife holder & precision sharpening steel. Your knife holder offers: gleaming stainless steel - perfect match for today's modern kitchen 13.5\" Length - long enough to fit Lots of knives without taking up too much wall space> powerful magnetic hold, so knives stay firmly attached> scratch-free storage, so much better than stashing knives in a drawer! best of all, installation's a breeze. Simply use the included hardware & follow the instructions on the package. Cleaner & safer than knife blocks wooden knife blocks are fertile breeding grounds for highly toxic bacteria. But our stainless steel strip has no pores or cracks to harbor these harmful bugs, so it's naturally more hygienic. Plus, unlike coarse, grainy wood, it won't wear your knives down over time. Plus: 11.5\" Knife sharpener while some sharpeners are too big or too small, this one's just the right size for easy storage in a drawer or cabinet. Better yet, it quickly hones your knives to cutting-edge perfection. All at an affordable price with a money-back guarantee there's no risk, so order now!\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Well made sturdy wall mounted knife holder for metal knives\n\nReview: I got this stainless steel magnetic knife holder which comes with a knife sharpener to try to neaten up my kitchen counter which has a few knife blocks on it. It seems to be very well-made, and comes with all the hardware that you need to attach it to your wall. I was very hesitant only because of my concern of knives just hanging there not in sheaths. However as I do not have small children anymore I decided to try anyway. It looks fine on The wall in my kitchen, by my stove however since my cabinets start low does not a lot of space for it so it does still make me nervous, but that's me and my space, no reflection on this knife holder at all. I have some nice quality stainless steel knives which are held in place by this now and look fine, I did not put all my knives on it as that would be too close and I would be afraid that I know might knock one off I'll trying to get at the handle of another, I would advise even space between them for that reason. I have not use the knife sharpener that came with it as my knives do not need sharpening at the present time, however it looks like it's made of good quality and it's a nice heavy in your hand feel so it's probably very good. As you can see from the pictures below it looks fine, I did not post pictures of it hanging on the wall these pictures were taken before I hung it up. But you can see the quality of the item. I love that it came with everything you need to hang it, except of course the tools which which is not unreasonable at all. All in all I am very please with this it is well-made and Holds my quality stainless steel knives in place properly. I did receive this product at a discounted price in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion","Product: With a huge variety of coffee mugs out there its hard to know which one to choose. At Asobu we specialize in bringing you the perfect coffee cup so you can enjoy your coffee at the temperature you desire. This cup will keep your beverage nice and hot for at least 6 hours and cold for even more. The Manhattan mug can be thrown into a bag with your laptop without worrying about spills and leakage. Lets face it there is nothing worse than having that perfectly brewed cup of coffee spill all over you freshly pressed blouse or financial statement you stayed up all night preparing. Asobus Mahanttan coffee mug brings you a classy, vacuum double walled insulated, spill proof coffee cup that you can leave on your desk to enjoy at your own leisure at the temperature you desire. The flip top ensure easy access and the spout is perfectly sized to give just the right amount of coffee without getting burned. The Asobu Construction not only retains temperature, but also prevents external condensation from forming so your desk can be free from moisture. So grab an Asobu Manhattan Coffee tumbler head uptown or downtown and enjoy your hot coffee all day long. Features QUICK EASY ACCESS DOUBLE WALL VACUUM INSULATION STAYS HOT FOR UP TO 6 HOURS STAYS COLD FOR 24 hours LIGHTWEIGHT AND STURDY FITS IN STANDARD CUP HOLDERS SPILL PROOF IDEAL FOR TRAVEL\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Good cup, doesn't leak!!\n\nReview: I like this mug, it keeps my coffee nice and hot. And I like the lid, it makes it easy to drink out of while driving. And when I knocked it over it didn't spill, a really important thing to me. It kept my coffee hot for a few hours, I left it in the car for about four hours and it was still hot when I got a chance to go out and get it, that was a great thing. The lid closes tight and stays on tight which is good. I choice the brown one for two reasons, one is I liked the color, and the other is the black lid looks good with it. The only con really is the lid colors, I think they should match the cups, I would have gotten the black one maybe but I didn't like the white lid with it, I didn't think it looked good and I also thought that the white lid would get dirty and possably coffee stained. I do wish that the cups and lids were the same colors. That really is the only con to these. They are good.\nI did receive this at a discounted price in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.","Product: WHY YOU CHOOSE US? HD SOUND WITH DEEP BASS STABLE CONNECTIVITY EASY TO USE SECURE & MINI DESIGN WARRANT REPLACEMENT & ; Specifications: * & ;Color: & ;Black & ; * & ;Bluetooth: & ;Bluetooth V4. 2 & ; * & ;Transmission Distance: & ;10-15m(30-45 feet) & ; * & ;Listen to Music: & ;3 hours up/down/pause playback & ; * & ;Talking Time: & ;3 hours & ;* & ;Charging Time: & ;1-2 hours & ; * & ;Standby Time: & ;100 hours & ; * & ;Battery Capacity: & ;55mAh polymer lithium battery & ; * & ;Working Current: & ;22mA & ; * & ;Bluetooth Class: & ;class 2 and 3 & ; * & ;Frequency band: & ;2. 4-2. 485GHz & ; * & ;Compatible Devices: & ;all Bluetooth enabled IOS & Android Devices, like Apple IPhone 6/6s/7/7s/7 Plus/8/X, iPad, Samsung, Sony, Xiaomi, Huawei, HTC, etc. & ; Package List: & ; * 1 Pair x Wireless Earbuds Bluetooth Earbuds Earphones Earpieces with Microphone & ; * 1 x Earbud Charging Case & ; * 1 x Micro USB Cable & ; * 1 x Carry Bag for Wireless Earbuds & ; * 1 x User Manual & ;\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Cute but hard to get on\n\nReview: This phone case is very cute, I love the owls, I love the chevron pattern, and the teal is a beautiful color with it. However it does have some flaws. Looking at the case you would not know it's a three-part case, and as it did not come with directions you wouldn't know that. I tried to get my phone into this case and couldn't. I finally turned it over to my husband and asked him to put it on for me, after he tried for for a minute he asked me if I wanted him to take the case apart to try to use it, I said sure they weren't sure if the case is going to break as we did not know it was a three-part case but after he took the bumper part off he was able to take the rest of the phone case apart and put the phone in. It is bulkier than I thought it would be, but it is a good protective case. The phone fits a little loosely in it but not going to fall out, no way that will happen. It also came with the screen protector which I have not used I don't like screen protectors, and the stylus which matches the case which is cute. The flaps on it for charging and for the headphone plug are flimsy at best they look cute but once opened they do not close properly I will probably have to remove them as they just sort of hanging open a bit and actually take away from the phone case. It is cute, it does protect the phone very well, but it should have come with instructions as it is a take a court case which I had no clue. I wish it was thinner as the last case I had it in was much thinner but still protective, although this is a lot more protective than that one was anyway.\n I did receive this case in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion at a discounted price.","Product: For a scrub top that is not only flattering, but comfortable too, try our V neck scrub top with 2 front patch pockets. Choose from different colors\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great well made scrub top, just watch sizing, mine is to big\n\nReview: This is a very well made scrub top. I got the navy blue as that is the color. Need to wear to work. I looked at the sez chart and deed what I thought was the extra large, I normally wear a medium, and should have ordered the large. It is way to big, I am going to try t exchange it as it really is a very well made scrub top. The color is a god rich dark navy, and the cut of the top is very nice, it is a good quality top, just to big for me. I looked at the size char, which was amazons and thought I ordered an extra large accordingly. But what I apparently ordered was an extra large Plus, so not my size, I'm normally a med to a large.i hope to exchange it since it really is a nice shirt, and I need new uniforms. I do recommend these just watch your sizing. I did receive this at a discounted price in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion. I will update this after I get to exchange its, I hope.","Product: Women's Bandolino, Carlotta Tall low heel Boots This tall riding boot style will look great with your fall looks! Leather upper with buckle accent for added appeal Zipper closure for an easy on and off Soft fabric lining Cushioned footbed for added comfort Detailed calf size please see the chart pictures 1 3/4 inch heel with a rubber outsole\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Really nice quality leather boots\n\nReview: I did not buy these boots on Amazon, but in a brick-and-mortar store. They're beautiful, really nice leather, the only problem with them is that the calf is cut very narrow. They are a bit uncomfortable on the calfs since they are tight, but they're gorgeous leather black boots and I couldn't resist getting them anyway. Hey leather boots on sale who can resist, not me. As you can see from the picture below they really are beautifully made, I just wish they had more legroom in the calf. I do not have overly large legs so they really shouldn't be so snug, and even on my daughters skinny little legs they were tight. I actually got leg compression sleeves so I could wear these more comfortably, LOL that's how much I like these boots. They really are pretty, and the leather has such a nice feeling to it I'm very pleased with them other than the fact that they are tight on my calf. I am going to try to stretch the calf part out, hasn't happened yet, from wear but I'm going to try some leather stretch product but I hope that I can wear these better or comfortably afterwards.","Product: Whether youre an athlete or youre simply looking for a great everyday no-show sock, the Pro-Tect Ultra No Show With Heel Tab sock is a great fit for you! These high-tech socks are handcrafted with soft ring-spun cotton for the perfect fit & feel. Each individual sock includes built-in Copper Oxide materials to stop odor, fight bacteria, and eliminate fungus while keeping your feet healthy and strong. These Copper Oxide socks actually help encourage skin regrowth and cell regeneration on contact. The heel and ankle of every sock provides the best possible blister protection while maintaining that fashion forward look you desire. The Ultra No Show Sock With Heel Tab for men is available in Medium, Large, and Extra-Large sizes to fit every foot. You can also choose black or white colors or both to coordinate with any shoe and any look. We guarantee these will be the best no show socks youve ever owned!\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Good socks, support in a sock, great\n\nReview: I got these socks for my husband, they are well made and have support in them, when he isn't at work he is trying to get fit, and with the good weather finally coming he will be very active. His feet tend to hurt at the end of the day, and sweat too, well these are made stronger at the toes and heels so should last longer, they also have copper built in to help to avoid callouses and to help with sweating, not sure how that works but glad that it does. Seems to be a good support sock, but not feeling to tight, and they have a tab on the heel to pull them into position well. I liked his so much I ordered the woman's type for myself! They aren't here yet but look for my review when I get them, I'm on my feet all day at work and am looking forward to testing these out for myself. My husband loves his and he is sock picky, lol. I did get these at a discounted price in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.","Product: A matching two piece set created with a contemporary silhouette ensures a figure flattering fit that is relaxed for long term wear and ease of movement. Features roomy double patch pockets, and 1 layered pouch pocket. Visible princess seam construction is expertly sewn to give superior shaping to our scrub tops, ensuring a fit that is never boxy but always professional.A v-neckline has a mock wrap design, adding curved, feminine details. The pants have a flare leg design, allowing for movement and flexibility. One spacious pocket and two side slash pockets for storage. To achieve a comfortable fit with each and every wear, the waistband features an easy-to-pull drawstring. Crafted with our revolutionary Polyester/Tetron Rayon blend fabric, our MediFit scrubs are wrinkle free, soft, durable, moisture wicking, and will not hold in unnecessary heat, allowing for a comfortable work shift. Available in a classic collection of colors to suit your personal and professional needs. Tetron Rayon is a high end fabric that resembles the feel and texture of silk, wool, cotton and linen. It's soft, smooth, cool, comfortable and highly absorbent, promotes heat exchange and is ideal for hot and humid climates. It has the strength to withstand rough use. It's wrinkle free and durable. XS ----- Bust 30.3, Waist 25, Hip 32, Inseam 29.3, Outseam 38.5, S ----- Bust 32.2, Waist 26.5, Hip 34, Inseam 29.5, Outseam 39, M ----- Bust 35.5, Waist 28.5, Hip 36, Inseam 29.5, Outseam 40, L ----- Bust 37.5, Waist 30.5, Hip 38, Inseam 29.7, Outseam 40, XL ----- Bust 39.5, Waist 33, Hip 40, Inseam 29.7, Outseam 41, 2XL ----- Bust 41, Waist 35, Hip 43, Inseam 29.9, Outseam 42, 3XL ----- Bust 43, Waist 37.5, Hip 45, Inseam 29.9, Outseam 4\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great scrubs at a great price\n\nReview: I wear navy scrubs to work every day so when given the chance to get these at a decent price I decided to try a few types of them. They fit pretty much as expected the only negative to me is the pants, since these come as a set I found the pants were just too big for me as I've gotten the large-size. I am kind of between sizes and don't like my scrubs to be too tight, which is why I got the large in this one. The pants are too baggy but they are large so I guess that should have been expected and it was really more for the top that I wanted these. Also I am not a tall person, I am 5 foot 2 1/2 and the pants are really made for somebody taller than I am, as are my scrub pants, and almost all the pants I own. They have a little cut in them which is in the design and it will be very easy for me to hem them up right at that spot and they will be perfect for my height. I wish that we could mix and match so I could've gotten the large top in the medium bottoms as I feel that would've been a better fit for my body. But these are very well-made and a really good price if you priced scrubs out there then you know how expensive they can be, these are a true value at the price. I am tend to order some more, in a few styles and will see how they go I'm just not sure what size I should order the medium or the large due to the pants issue. I did get another set of these in the V neck in the medium and those pants fit me better and that top was not fitted so the medium was a good choice for that one, the medium in this one would've been too tight. I'm very please with the scrubs and the navy blue looks really good it's nice true blue, and they seem to be very well-made. I did wash them once and they did not shrink nor did the color run, a very big plus. I did receive the scrubs at a discounted price in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.","Product: These chic and comfortable leggings provide support and strength for women and juniors. An inexpensive option, these leggings are the perfect addition to your autumn wardrobe. These leggings are available in a variety of colors to match your perfect outfit. They are great for cooler days as well as milder weather and provide that comfort and stretch you expect from form-fitting leggings. You can purchase them in One Size and the high waist creates a flattering silhouette for every woman. These leggings can transition easily from day to night and pair well with a multitude of clothing ensembles. There is no need to choose between looking good and feeling good, because these leggings are both luxuriously elegant and simply cozy, slipping on like a second skin. These Sofra One Size Leggings with High Waist transcend simplicity and style! The darker charcoal, black, and navy colors are great for streamlining the legs, while red lend a bolder look to your outfit. With such a nice price tag, you can purchase multiple pairs to switch up your wardrobe! Whether it is a formal gathering or a night on the town, you can rock these leggings and make them as sophisticated or as posh as you like. Sofra leggings go well under skirts and tailored shorts, and also pair well with a smart blouse or button-down shirt. A polyester-spandex blend creates the ease and comfort you desire. Pair them with boots, ballet flats, or your favorite heels for a new twist on the tried-and-true legging. No more searching for something to wear this season! Give them a try today. Durable and flexible, you will be wearing these leggings time and time again.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Nice leggings, really like the rich dark black color\n\nReview: These high waist leggings fit just right. They are thin, but not see through by any means, nice and dark. I got them in black and they fit very well, nice and comfy too. I like that the waist has a sort of ribbing, dot thing happening so it looks more finished than some brands. I wore them with a long sweater, way past my tush and it looked great.and since they are so nice and thin you could wear them under pants if you wanted to, but I wore them with a long sweater and boots, nice look. I am very pleased with these, the fit and feel good. I did wash them in cold and hung to dry, and I would advise washing them with darks only as they are dark black and new. I washed them with dark clothing and a shout color catcher, which was dark, but this wasn't the only dark thing in there that might have run. It didn't fade at all, another plus. These will be even better in the spring, or when the weather starts to get warm again, that's if it ever starts to get warm again. All in all they are nice, and came with a matching pony tail holder, which I thought was kind of funny, but I guess in some of the other colors that could matter more. I did receive this at a discounted price in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.","Product: Classic Style SELF-TIE Bow Tie This listing is for a BRAND NEW Solid Pattern Self Tie classic style BowTie with an adjustable T-bar slit. This Self Tie bowtie has a neckband that goes around the neck with a T-bar slit at end to hold it in place. A great formal classical style men's bow tie with an adjustable neck size T-bar clip for a great accessory to a tuxedo or a suit. Great for wearing to a wedding or any other formal occasion. The neck size for this Self Tie bow tie is 13 3/4 inches to 18 inches (~ 34.9 to 45.7 cm). The 100% microfiber (\"SILK-feel\") self-tie bowtie is 2.5 inches (~6.4 cm). The total length of the bowtie untied is 38 inches. The self-tie bowtie comes individually packaged in a box with instructions on how to tie a bow tie. We have more variety of Self-Tie Neckwear BowTies and in our other listings. .\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Cool, real bow tie, not just a clip on\n\nReview: This is a well made untied bow tie. We had to look on u tube to find out how to tie it, still not good at it, guess it takes a lot more practice. It looks nice, I got the black one for my husband, he has clip on bow ties but I think Uighur that s would be cool, it's a nice material, which it came with instructions for tying it but with the internet you can find how to do everything, and utube is great for learning how to do almost anything. It will take some playing with to learn how to tie it, but how cool is it to have a real bow tie, not just a clip on? It is very classy. I got this tie at a discounted price in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.","Product: Brand New Men's Solid Cummerbund, BowTie and Pocket Square Set. This is a Fashionable Pleated Classic Solid Color Design Cummerbund Set great to wear with a tuxedo suit for that special occasion, wedding, or any formal event. The Cummerbund and bowtie is a Standard One Size Fits All. Please also Check Out Our other listings for solid color Dress Vest and Necktie Sets that Match this cummerbund and bow tie.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Looks great, got the silver and the fushia\n\nReview: I got this for my husband, he owns his own tux and we have a wedding coming up in Europe next year so no rental anyway. This comes with a pre tied bow tie, a cumberbund and a pocket square. It looks very nice, and fits him well, I got the silver and the fushia colored one. We aren't sure yet about the colors for my nieces wedding, and there will be a few party's during the course of the wedding weekend so safety in color choices. It looks really nice and well made, and it fit my husband nicely. It won't take up much space in the suitcase either, this is a very nice set. I did receive this at a discounted price in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.","Product: A unisex t-shirt with a screen print across the chest.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great tee, nice and soft\n\nReview: I got this tee shirt for my husband, he needed new tees as so many of his are worn out. I got him a few, this one is me of my favorites, it's cool.it is a nice soft tee, well sewn and looks good on him. I have only washed it once so far and it came out f the dryer just fine. I got him a few from this company since I had gotten him one awhile ago and it has been washed a lot and still looks great. It is nice tee and I am pleased with it, as is he. It really is set and looks nice.\nI did receive this at a discounted price n exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.","Product: A unisex triblend t-shirt with a screen print on the chest perfect for anyone who works hard in the gym so that they can play hard at the bar.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Cute shirt, fits well\n\nReview: This tee shirt, work now beer later is really cute. I got this for my husband, who doesn't work out but loves cute tee shirts. It fits him very nicely and I love the brown color, so many tees are white or black this is a nice change. It is a soft material, my only con is that it is not one hundred percent cotton, it is a fifty- fifty cotton polyester blend. I wish it was all cotton, that's all. But the poly does help it not wrinkle if you don't get it out f the dryer right away, it's just not all cotton which I prefer. It washed well, it has been washed about three times now and still looks like new, I dos wash tees with prints inside out though to help preserve the printing. I think he looks nice in it, and he says it's comfortable so it is a win win. The only reason for the missing star in truth is the fifty percent poly, it did say it in the add so it's not deceptive but I didn't see it, I didn't read that part, even though it is at the top of the add since I have gotten him shirts from Ann Arbor t- shirt company before and they were all cotton, but he really likes it, just as much as the all cotton ones.\nI did receive this at a discounted price in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.","Product: This leather case is very durable and will last! It has very heavy duty stitching to ensure the protection of both your cell phone and your valuables. it has 5 compartments for cash, stamps or other small flat objects. This multi-use design holds everything together with a handy magnetic flip closure. This case provides excellent protection and prevents scratches, damages or dirt from getting on your phone and credit cards/ID. The cut outs on the case are perfectly designed for the iphone 6 or iphone 7 allowing full access to all the control buttons, ports and camera without removing the phone from the case.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: A good case for the iPhone 6, but it is bulky\n\nReview: This case is really very good, it is much bulkier than I thought it would be but then it could be used as an all in one, it holds cards cash, phone, almost everything you need.it says it is premium leather but it does have a chemical smell, not pleasant but leave it out to air out and it will go away. It is a very well made case and fits my phone perfectly but to me it is to bulky for me to use every day, however this will be the one I use when I don't want to carry my pocketbook, it holds everything but the kitchen sink, lol.it really is very well made and after the smell went away it really is great. I took the pictures below with the phone which is why it's not in the case, lol. Ths really will be a great case to use when I don't want to carry my pocketbook. I did receive this at a discounted price in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.","Product: Medi-Crunch - The Premium Treat for Medication- is a the fun, safe, mess-free and veterinarian recommended way to give your dog pills. The soft interior holds pill inside the crunchy exterior. Crunchy exterior triggers clamp-down instinct. Turns medication time into tricks and treats time! Contains a 1 month supply or 30 treats.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Dogs will come back looking for more!\n\nReview: Unfortunately for me these came the day after my dog died. It was heartbreaking to open the box and See these, as I have been giving him a lot of medication using pill pockets and was hoping he would love these. However I have a good friend who's dog needs medication every day, and hates to take pills. Her dog like mine was, is very picky about what he takes his pills in. I used to have to wrap mine in a piece of bread and scrunch it tight to get him to take it, after that stopped working I did get some medicine pockets which he did easily and loved seeing as how they taste like treats. I was almost out of them and saw these medi crunch brand ones which were a lot cheaper than those I was buying at the vet. So I figured I would get them and try them out. As I stated before my dog died the day before these came so my dog never got to try them, I did give them to my friend who's dog is sick. Her dog love them, he took his pill and came back looking for more . I was there to see his reaction, and it was very heartening to see, and made me miss my dog even more, but I was glad that somebody got to use these, and I was able to see that her Shepherd loved them. I would recommend is to any pet lover who has dogs that are difficult to get medications into. I am fortunate that my cat does not have to take any medication, that would be another issue LOL.\nI did receive these at a discounted price in exchange for my honest unbiased opinion.","Product: Amazing Led Beanie Hat\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Very nice hat, nice and warm and great bright light\n\nReview: This hat is really cool, 1st of ts war, which is very good. I got this for my husband, he wore it as soon as it came, he went sailing, in December in Nj. Crazy yes but it was a warmer day but still December. They got back into the slip it was just getting dark and he used his hat to help him get all the gear off the boat. T s a bright light and easy to turn on and fr. It also came with a silicone clip for what I assume is meant for a handle bar but he put it on the rail of the boat and it worked great, light up the deck pretty good. And as it is an easy attach and release he didn't leave it on the boat, my son is already saying he wants to use it onhis quad, so this will get a lot of good use. I wanted this hat for my husband for when he is walking the dog as well as for working around the house outside and the fact that t helps his head work and looks like a normal hat is great. I was lucky enough to get this great hat for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion, that being said might get my son one for part f his birthday present in Feb, he is outside a lot and works on cars and everything else outside."],"string":"[\n \"Product: Enjoy convenient, compact & wireless sound projection with the Pyle Bluetooth Radio & PA Speaker System. This portable speaker features built-in Bluetooth wireless streaming for music -- or you can use the included headset microphone to get your message heard loud and clear! Charge the system via the included USB connection cable. Bluetooth allows you to stream audio from your favorite devices (like a Smartphone, Tablet, Computer, Laptop, MP3 Player, etc.) or connect digital media files via USB flash port or Micro SD memory card reader. MP3 digital audio file compatibility allows you to connect and stream music files right from your computer's media library. The system is compact and super portable thanks to the built-in rechargeable battery. Use it like a megaphone to project your voice on the go -- or put on a living room talent show performance! Project your voice, or your music, with the Pyle PWMA40BT Bluetooth Speaker and Headset Microphone Sound Amplifier.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Great little pa/ Bluetooth device\\n\\nReview: <div id=\\\"video-block-RJ9P1B6T6S522\\\" class=\\\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\\\"></div><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D1HsS3c9wxS.mp4\\\" class=\\\"video-url\\\"><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61z9Elx2fuS.png\\\" class=\\\"video-slate-img-url\\\"> The Pyle portable PA system, Bluetooth speaker, voice recorder works really well. It seems to be very well-made and connected fine to my cell phone. The sound quality is excellent, nice and crisp and clear. It is easy to set up to use as a PA, the feedback from the microphone being too close to the system itself is easy to avoid by having the headphone microphone on your head when you turn it on to that part or plug it in. Otherwise the feedback is very loud. It is very well-made and very easy to use, it even has a radio which was able to pick up stations while it was in my house which a lot of Bluetooth radio's do not, very big plus. The only reason this got four not five stars is because the directions seem to have been translated from a foreign language and are not very clear and concise, although you can figure out how to work it just fine anyway. I would've given it foreign a half stars if I could have. As you can see from my video below it's got lots of buttons and each one has a good function to them. You can record with this device, you can play music with this, you can use it as a PA system or listen to the radio. It comes with everything that you need to use this. It can be used by Bluetooth or by attaching it to a computer or a MP3, and there's even a slot for a scan card of sorts. All in all it's a very good advice and I'm very pleased with it. I did receive it at a discounted price in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.\",\n \"Product: To gets Your pantry, Kitchen, Cupboard, Office and Lunch menu and Craft Shelf Organized. Labels for Mason Jar, Ceramic, Plastic, Glasses door, Business Folder, Lunch Menu, Kitchen and garden So Why Choose PitaMaci Chalkboard Labels: 1) Use PitaMaci Chalk markers to write on the labels with Vibrant colors. 2) Easy to use because these labels to adhere on ceramic, glass, plastic, metal and wood. 3) Easy to wipe off after dry with a wet cloth or wet paper. 4) Tips: Shake the Liquid Chalk pen every time before using, the ink will be more even and writing will be brighter.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Nice labels, and with 96 of them you have plenty to use\\n\\nReview: These labels are really nice, I love chalkboard labels, they are fun and so useful. These worked great, and came with liquid chalk markers. One of mine was uncapped in the package though. The labels have a lot of uses, I use them to label containers mostly in my pantry, and they look nice. I also have chalk markers in other colors that I use with these as well. These would be great for teachers to help welcome their students back to class, they can write the students name on them and use them on the desks so the kids know where their seats are. Also on lockers or cubbies. And as they peel off easily they can be changed at any time. The chalk stays neatly in place most of the time, doesn't really smudge unless it gets wet. But it can be removed very easily with a damp piece of paper towel. They really have a lot of uses. And they come with a lot of them, 96 so you have a lot of them to use. I really am pleased with these. The only reason for the loss of a star is the way it came, with one pen uncapped, but that really is the only reason. I am pleased with these labels.\\nI did receive these at a discounted price in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.\",\n \"Product: TOP BENEFITS OF STEAM MOP WATER FILTERS LONG LASTING RELIABILITY BETTER CLEANING PERFORMANCE EASY TO INSTALL MAXIMUM DURABILITY HEALTHIER LIVING FITS BISSELL STEAM MOPS REPLACES BISSELL PART NUMBERS: 218-5600 2185600 These Bissell water filters for your steam mop are sure to to get your steam mop cleaning like new. If youre concerned about cleaning, replacing your water filters for your steam mop is a necessity! This are sure to help keep your homes hard surfaces clean AND help improve your overall cleanliness. DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON CHEAP KNOCKOFFS The days of needing distilled water for your steam cleaner are over! We made sure to create the best water filter we could by making sure it is very simple to use and of course we wanted to make sure it is extremely durable. Water filters can be a pain when you remember to replace them so we made sure we did our best to make the experience easier for you. You may notice improved cleaning from your steam cleaner. You may also notice sore cheeks from constantly smiling about your purchase! This is a generic product designed and engineered in the United States by Think Crucial. This is not a Bissell OEM product and is not covered under any Bissell manufacturer's warranty. The Bissell brand names and logos are the registered trademarks of their respective owners. Any use of the Bissell brand name or model designation for this product is made solely for purposes of demonstrating compatibility.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Fits perfectly and works great\\n\\nReview: This filter for get bissel steam mop it's just as nicely as it was the original one that came with it. I have not replaced filter before I had just cleaned it and reused it and had not realized that a new filter would really make a good difference. This replacement filter is significantly cheaper than the Bissell brand, and that's a real big plus to me. It fit perfectly and works just as well as the original one. It came well packaged so that there's no contaminants added to it, and as I already said it really works very well. I had not realized that my mop was not working as well as it had been before, until I change the filter. I am very pleased that this filter for the Bissell steam mop. I did receive this product at a discounted price in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion, that being said this is the company I will be fine filters for it from now on as the price is much better then from Bissel itself and from the local stores.\",\n \"Product: \\\"Vessel revolutionizes the way women shop for fragrance and jewelry. Vessel's proprietary scent system features Lockets designed to hold the essential oil or perfume fragrance of your choice and show it off with style. Transfer ScentSpheres from the plastic jar they arrived in into the palm of your hand or into a glass jar. Apply several drops of your choice of essential oil, or your favorite perfume, and rub the beads in your hands or swirl the glass jar around so that the essential oil or fragrance evenly coats ScentSpheres. Allow beads to dry, or pat dry with a tissue. Place dry, scented beads into your Vessel Locket. Handle your Vessel jewelry with clean, dry hands. Use the plastic jar to store dry, scented ScentSpheres. Essential oils should not be dispensed directly into the plastic jar.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Pretty but larger than I thought\\n\\nReview: This essential oil difuser necklace is really nice. It is a lot bigger than I thought it would be but it still looks nice. The beads Rent scented, you sock them in your own choice of oils,or you can even use your perfume. I did have and issue with my order, it didn't contain the beads but I contacted them and they emailed right back very apologetic, and sent me out beads right away, I had them in two days!! And with a hand written note saying they were sorry and also Inclosed a little charm, a nice touch and fantastic customer service. I wish it was smaller but I like it anyway, a lot of people like clunky jewelry and this is perfect for that look, which is style now. I do like this, it is pretty and the company really cares about their products and customer satisfaction. Very pleased.\\nI did receive this at a discusted price in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.\",\n \"Product: \\\\\\\" Get All the Herbs Taste Without the Mess, No more floating Herbs in Your Soap, Just pull the Herb Infuser out with all the Herbs. Herb Infuser Is The perfect tool for flavoring your soups, stews and stocks. it is a cool gadget to add to your kitchen. Personal Silicone Steamer - Great idea to steam just a smal portion of vegetable, perfect for first year baby food cooking. Stylish and functional design. Food safe, the Herb Infuser allows you to enhance the flavors of your culinary creations, whilst keeping herbs and spices from scattering in your soups, stocks and stews.Great Outdoor gadget - Use the Silicone Herb infuser while hiking or camping to Boost your meals.\\n Dishwasher Safe - the Herb Keeper is Easy to clean by hand or Dishwasher for best usability. Heat Resistant -The Herb infuser is made to to be heat resistant boiling water and detergents. Save on Storage - The Herb Keeper Dimensions are : 4.75 X 2.35 X 2.35 Inch. Press ' Add to Cart' to Get your Herb Infuser Now.\\\\\\\"\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Works well, interesting idea\\n\\nReview: This is a rather good idea, you're u open the klipy herb infuser, place your herbs into it and Place it in the pot with your soup or stews. It infuses the herbs into your food without leaving bits in the broth. I love cooking with herbs but some herbs like rosemary and thyme have stems that are twig like, not pleasant in your bowl of soup. With this you get the flavor without the sticks and leaves that you would want to pick out, before serving. This is made of thin plastic, so its not very sturdy, but it does work well. I have made chicken soup using it so far, put my dill in it, and my rosemary and thyme too. (Mostly dill though) with the blizzard possably hitting this weekend I have stuff to do make soup and stew this weekend, if we get snowed in I'm ready to cook! I did get this product at a discounted rate in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.\",\n \"Product: Keep your knives sharp & handy - just like a Pro chef - without cluttering your counters. Convenient bundle includes precision sharpening rod & wall-mounted, magnetic holder for easy knife care & use. Tired of messy kitchen counters? Now you can cut the clutter while keeping your knives safe at hand (and out of children's reach). just use our space-saving knife holder & precision sharpening steel. Your knife holder offers: gleaming stainless steel - perfect match for today's modern kitchen 13.5\\\" Length - long enough to fit Lots of knives without taking up too much wall space> powerful magnetic hold, so knives stay firmly attached> scratch-free storage, so much better than stashing knives in a drawer! best of all, installation's a breeze. Simply use the included hardware & follow the instructions on the package. Cleaner & safer than knife blocks wooden knife blocks are fertile breeding grounds for highly toxic bacteria. But our stainless steel strip has no pores or cracks to harbor these harmful bugs, so it's naturally more hygienic. Plus, unlike coarse, grainy wood, it won't wear your knives down over time. Plus: 11.5\\\" Knife sharpener while some sharpeners are too big or too small, this one's just the right size for easy storage in a drawer or cabinet. Better yet, it quickly hones your knives to cutting-edge perfection. All at an affordable price with a money-back guarantee there's no risk, so order now!\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Well made sturdy wall mounted knife holder for metal knives\\n\\nReview: I got this stainless steel magnetic knife holder which comes with a knife sharpener to try to neaten up my kitchen counter which has a few knife blocks on it. It seems to be very well-made, and comes with all the hardware that you need to attach it to your wall. I was very hesitant only because of my concern of knives just hanging there not in sheaths. However as I do not have small children anymore I decided to try anyway. It looks fine on The wall in my kitchen, by my stove however since my cabinets start low does not a lot of space for it so it does still make me nervous, but that's me and my space, no reflection on this knife holder at all. I have some nice quality stainless steel knives which are held in place by this now and look fine, I did not put all my knives on it as that would be too close and I would be afraid that I know might knock one off I'll trying to get at the handle of another, I would advise even space between them for that reason. I have not use the knife sharpener that came with it as my knives do not need sharpening at the present time, however it looks like it's made of good quality and it's a nice heavy in your hand feel so it's probably very good. As you can see from the pictures below it looks fine, I did not post pictures of it hanging on the wall these pictures were taken before I hung it up. But you can see the quality of the item. I love that it came with everything you need to hang it, except of course the tools which which is not unreasonable at all. All in all I am very please with this it is well-made and Holds my quality stainless steel knives in place properly. I did receive this product at a discounted price in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion\",\n \"Product: With a huge variety of coffee mugs out there its hard to know which one to choose. At Asobu we specialize in bringing you the perfect coffee cup so you can enjoy your coffee at the temperature you desire. This cup will keep your beverage nice and hot for at least 6 hours and cold for even more. The Manhattan mug can be thrown into a bag with your laptop without worrying about spills and leakage. Lets face it there is nothing worse than having that perfectly brewed cup of coffee spill all over you freshly pressed blouse or financial statement you stayed up all night preparing. Asobus Mahanttan coffee mug brings you a classy, vacuum double walled insulated, spill proof coffee cup that you can leave on your desk to enjoy at your own leisure at the temperature you desire. The flip top ensure easy access and the spout is perfectly sized to give just the right amount of coffee without getting burned. The Asobu Construction not only retains temperature, but also prevents external condensation from forming so your desk can be free from moisture. So grab an Asobu Manhattan Coffee tumbler head uptown or downtown and enjoy your hot coffee all day long. Features QUICK EASY ACCESS DOUBLE WALL VACUUM INSULATION STAYS HOT FOR UP TO 6 HOURS STAYS COLD FOR 24 hours LIGHTWEIGHT AND STURDY FITS IN STANDARD CUP HOLDERS SPILL PROOF IDEAL FOR TRAVEL\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Good cup, doesn't leak!!\\n\\nReview: I like this mug, it keeps my coffee nice and hot. And I like the lid, it makes it easy to drink out of while driving. And when I knocked it over it didn't spill, a really important thing to me. It kept my coffee hot for a few hours, I left it in the car for about four hours and it was still hot when I got a chance to go out and get it, that was a great thing. The lid closes tight and stays on tight which is good. I choice the brown one for two reasons, one is I liked the color, and the other is the black lid looks good with it. The only con really is the lid colors, I think they should match the cups, I would have gotten the black one maybe but I didn't like the white lid with it, I didn't think it looked good and I also thought that the white lid would get dirty and possably coffee stained. I do wish that the cups and lids were the same colors. That really is the only con to these. They are good.\\nI did receive this at a discounted price in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.\",\n \"Product: WHY YOU CHOOSE US? HD SOUND WITH DEEP BASS STABLE CONNECTIVITY EASY TO USE SECURE & MINI DESIGN WARRANT REPLACEMENT & ; Specifications: * & ;Color: & ;Black & ; * & ;Bluetooth: & ;Bluetooth V4. 2 & ; * & ;Transmission Distance: & ;10-15m(30-45 feet) & ; * & ;Listen to Music: & ;3 hours up/down/pause playback & ; * & ;Talking Time: & ;3 hours & ;* & ;Charging Time: & ;1-2 hours & ; * & ;Standby Time: & ;100 hours & ; * & ;Battery Capacity: & ;55mAh polymer lithium battery & ; * & ;Working Current: & ;22mA & ; * & ;Bluetooth Class: & ;class 2 and 3 & ; * & ;Frequency band: & ;2. 4-2. 485GHz & ; * & ;Compatible Devices: & ;all Bluetooth enabled IOS & Android Devices, like Apple IPhone 6/6s/7/7s/7 Plus/8/X, iPad, Samsung, Sony, Xiaomi, Huawei, HTC, etc. & ; Package List: & ; * 1 Pair x Wireless Earbuds Bluetooth Earbuds Earphones Earpieces with Microphone & ; * 1 x Earbud Charging Case & ; * 1 x Micro USB Cable & ; * 1 x Carry Bag for Wireless Earbuds & ; * 1 x User Manual & ;\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Cute but hard to get on\\n\\nReview: This phone case is very cute, I love the owls, I love the chevron pattern, and the teal is a beautiful color with it. However it does have some flaws. Looking at the case you would not know it's a three-part case, and as it did not come with directions you wouldn't know that. I tried to get my phone into this case and couldn't. I finally turned it over to my husband and asked him to put it on for me, after he tried for for a minute he asked me if I wanted him to take the case apart to try to use it, I said sure they weren't sure if the case is going to break as we did not know it was a three-part case but after he took the bumper part off he was able to take the rest of the phone case apart and put the phone in. It is bulkier than I thought it would be, but it is a good protective case. The phone fits a little loosely in it but not going to fall out, no way that will happen. It also came with the screen protector which I have not used I don't like screen protectors, and the stylus which matches the case which is cute. The flaps on it for charging and for the headphone plug are flimsy at best they look cute but once opened they do not close properly I will probably have to remove them as they just sort of hanging open a bit and actually take away from the phone case. It is cute, it does protect the phone very well, but it should have come with instructions as it is a take a court case which I had no clue. I wish it was thinner as the last case I had it in was much thinner but still protective, although this is a lot more protective than that one was anyway.\\n I did receive this case in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion at a discounted price.\",\n \"Product: For a scrub top that is not only flattering, but comfortable too, try our V neck scrub top with 2 front patch pockets. Choose from different colors\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great well made scrub top, just watch sizing, mine is to big\\n\\nReview: This is a very well made scrub top. I got the navy blue as that is the color. Need to wear to work. I looked at the sez chart and deed what I thought was the extra large, I normally wear a medium, and should have ordered the large. It is way to big, I am going to try t exchange it as it really is a very well made scrub top. The color is a god rich dark navy, and the cut of the top is very nice, it is a good quality top, just to big for me. I looked at the size char, which was amazons and thought I ordered an extra large accordingly. But what I apparently ordered was an extra large Plus, so not my size, I'm normally a med to a large.i hope to exchange it since it really is a nice shirt, and I need new uniforms. I do recommend these just watch your sizing. I did receive this at a discounted price in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion. I will update this after I get to exchange its, I hope.\",\n \"Product: Women's Bandolino, Carlotta Tall low heel Boots This tall riding boot style will look great with your fall looks! Leather upper with buckle accent for added appeal Zipper closure for an easy on and off Soft fabric lining Cushioned footbed for added comfort Detailed calf size please see the chart pictures 1 3/4 inch heel with a rubber outsole\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Really nice quality leather boots\\n\\nReview: I did not buy these boots on Amazon, but in a brick-and-mortar store. They're beautiful, really nice leather, the only problem with them is that the calf is cut very narrow. They are a bit uncomfortable on the calfs since they are tight, but they're gorgeous leather black boots and I couldn't resist getting them anyway. Hey leather boots on sale who can resist, not me. As you can see from the picture below they really are beautifully made, I just wish they had more legroom in the calf. I do not have overly large legs so they really shouldn't be so snug, and even on my daughters skinny little legs they were tight. I actually got leg compression sleeves so I could wear these more comfortably, LOL that's how much I like these boots. They really are pretty, and the leather has such a nice feeling to it I'm very pleased with them other than the fact that they are tight on my calf. I am going to try to stretch the calf part out, hasn't happened yet, from wear but I'm going to try some leather stretch product but I hope that I can wear these better or comfortably afterwards.\",\n \"Product: Whether youre an athlete or youre simply looking for a great everyday no-show sock, the Pro-Tect Ultra No Show With Heel Tab sock is a great fit for you! These high-tech socks are handcrafted with soft ring-spun cotton for the perfect fit & feel. Each individual sock includes built-in Copper Oxide materials to stop odor, fight bacteria, and eliminate fungus while keeping your feet healthy and strong. These Copper Oxide socks actually help encourage skin regrowth and cell regeneration on contact. The heel and ankle of every sock provides the best possible blister protection while maintaining that fashion forward look you desire. The Ultra No Show Sock With Heel Tab for men is available in Medium, Large, and Extra-Large sizes to fit every foot. You can also choose black or white colors or both to coordinate with any shoe and any look. We guarantee these will be the best no show socks youve ever owned!\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Good socks, support in a sock, great\\n\\nReview: I got these socks for my husband, they are well made and have support in them, when he isn't at work he is trying to get fit, and with the good weather finally coming he will be very active. His feet tend to hurt at the end of the day, and sweat too, well these are made stronger at the toes and heels so should last longer, they also have copper built in to help to avoid callouses and to help with sweating, not sure how that works but glad that it does. Seems to be a good support sock, but not feeling to tight, and they have a tab on the heel to pull them into position well. I liked his so much I ordered the woman's type for myself! They aren't here yet but look for my review when I get them, I'm on my feet all day at work and am looking forward to testing these out for myself. My husband loves his and he is sock picky, lol. I did get these at a discounted price in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.\",\n \"Product: A matching two piece set created with a contemporary silhouette ensures a figure flattering fit that is relaxed for long term wear and ease of movement. Features roomy double patch pockets, and 1 layered pouch pocket. Visible princess seam construction is expertly sewn to give superior shaping to our scrub tops, ensuring a fit that is never boxy but always professional.A v-neckline has a mock wrap design, adding curved, feminine details. The pants have a flare leg design, allowing for movement and flexibility. One spacious pocket and two side slash pockets for storage. To achieve a comfortable fit with each and every wear, the waistband features an easy-to-pull drawstring. Crafted with our revolutionary Polyester/Tetron Rayon blend fabric, our MediFit scrubs are wrinkle free, soft, durable, moisture wicking, and will not hold in unnecessary heat, allowing for a comfortable work shift. Available in a classic collection of colors to suit your personal and professional needs. Tetron Rayon is a high end fabric that resembles the feel and texture of silk, wool, cotton and linen. It's soft, smooth, cool, comfortable and highly absorbent, promotes heat exchange and is ideal for hot and humid climates. It has the strength to withstand rough use. It's wrinkle free and durable. XS ----- Bust 30.3, Waist 25, Hip 32, Inseam 29.3, Outseam 38.5, S ----- Bust 32.2, Waist 26.5, Hip 34, Inseam 29.5, Outseam 39, M ----- Bust 35.5, Waist 28.5, Hip 36, Inseam 29.5, Outseam 40, L ----- Bust 37.5, Waist 30.5, Hip 38, Inseam 29.7, Outseam 40, XL ----- Bust 39.5, Waist 33, Hip 40, Inseam 29.7, Outseam 41, 2XL ----- Bust 41, Waist 35, Hip 43, Inseam 29.9, Outseam 42, 3XL ----- Bust 43, Waist 37.5, Hip 45, Inseam 29.9, Outseam 4\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great scrubs at a great price\\n\\nReview: I wear navy scrubs to work every day so when given the chance to get these at a decent price I decided to try a few types of them. They fit pretty much as expected the only negative to me is the pants, since these come as a set I found the pants were just too big for me as I've gotten the large-size. I am kind of between sizes and don't like my scrubs to be too tight, which is why I got the large in this one. The pants are too baggy but they are large so I guess that should have been expected and it was really more for the top that I wanted these. Also I am not a tall person, I am 5 foot 2 1/2 and the pants are really made for somebody taller than I am, as are my scrub pants, and almost all the pants I own. They have a little cut in them which is in the design and it will be very easy for me to hem them up right at that spot and they will be perfect for my height. I wish that we could mix and match so I could've gotten the large top in the medium bottoms as I feel that would've been a better fit for my body. But these are very well-made and a really good price if you priced scrubs out there then you know how expensive they can be, these are a true value at the price. I am tend to order some more, in a few styles and will see how they go I'm just not sure what size I should order the medium or the large due to the pants issue. I did get another set of these in the V neck in the medium and those pants fit me better and that top was not fitted so the medium was a good choice for that one, the medium in this one would've been too tight. I'm very please with the scrubs and the navy blue looks really good it's nice true blue, and they seem to be very well-made. I did wash them once and they did not shrink nor did the color run, a very big plus. I did receive the scrubs at a discounted price in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.\",\n \"Product: These chic and comfortable leggings provide support and strength for women and juniors. An inexpensive option, these leggings are the perfect addition to your autumn wardrobe. These leggings are available in a variety of colors to match your perfect outfit. They are great for cooler days as well as milder weather and provide that comfort and stretch you expect from form-fitting leggings. You can purchase them in One Size and the high waist creates a flattering silhouette for every woman. These leggings can transition easily from day to night and pair well with a multitude of clothing ensembles. There is no need to choose between looking good and feeling good, because these leggings are both luxuriously elegant and simply cozy, slipping on like a second skin. These Sofra One Size Leggings with High Waist transcend simplicity and style! The darker charcoal, black, and navy colors are great for streamlining the legs, while red lend a bolder look to your outfit. With such a nice price tag, you can purchase multiple pairs to switch up your wardrobe! Whether it is a formal gathering or a night on the town, you can rock these leggings and make them as sophisticated or as posh as you like. Sofra leggings go well under skirts and tailored shorts, and also pair well with a smart blouse or button-down shirt. A polyester-spandex blend creates the ease and comfort you desire. Pair them with boots, ballet flats, or your favorite heels for a new twist on the tried-and-true legging. No more searching for something to wear this season! Give them a try today. Durable and flexible, you will be wearing these leggings time and time again.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Nice leggings, really like the rich dark black color\\n\\nReview: These high waist leggings fit just right. They are thin, but not see through by any means, nice and dark. I got them in black and they fit very well, nice and comfy too. I like that the waist has a sort of ribbing, dot thing happening so it looks more finished than some brands. I wore them with a long sweater, way past my tush and it looked great.and since they are so nice and thin you could wear them under pants if you wanted to, but I wore them with a long sweater and boots, nice look. I am very pleased with these, the fit and feel good. I did wash them in cold and hung to dry, and I would advise washing them with darks only as they are dark black and new. I washed them with dark clothing and a shout color catcher, which was dark, but this wasn't the only dark thing in there that might have run. It didn't fade at all, another plus. These will be even better in the spring, or when the weather starts to get warm again, that's if it ever starts to get warm again. All in all they are nice, and came with a matching pony tail holder, which I thought was kind of funny, but I guess in some of the other colors that could matter more. I did receive this at a discounted price in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.\",\n \"Product: Classic Style SELF-TIE Bow Tie This listing is for a BRAND NEW Solid Pattern Self Tie classic style BowTie with an adjustable T-bar slit. This Self Tie bowtie has a neckband that goes around the neck with a T-bar slit at end to hold it in place. A great formal classical style men's bow tie with an adjustable neck size T-bar clip for a great accessory to a tuxedo or a suit. Great for wearing to a wedding or any other formal occasion. The neck size for this Self Tie bow tie is 13 3/4 inches to 18 inches (~ 34.9 to 45.7 cm). The 100% microfiber (\\\"SILK-feel\\\") self-tie bowtie is 2.5 inches (~6.4 cm). The total length of the bowtie untied is 38 inches. The self-tie bowtie comes individually packaged in a box with instructions on how to tie a bow tie. We have more variety of Self-Tie Neckwear BowTies and in our other listings. .\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Cool, real bow tie, not just a clip on\\n\\nReview: This is a well made untied bow tie. We had to look on u tube to find out how to tie it, still not good at it, guess it takes a lot more practice. It looks nice, I got the black one for my husband, he has clip on bow ties but I think Uighur that s would be cool, it's a nice material, which it came with instructions for tying it but with the internet you can find how to do everything, and utube is great for learning how to do almost anything. It will take some playing with to learn how to tie it, but how cool is it to have a real bow tie, not just a clip on? It is very classy. I got this tie at a discounted price in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.\",\n \"Product: Brand New Men's Solid Cummerbund, BowTie and Pocket Square Set. This is a Fashionable Pleated Classic Solid Color Design Cummerbund Set great to wear with a tuxedo suit for that special occasion, wedding, or any formal event. The Cummerbund and bowtie is a Standard One Size Fits All. Please also Check Out Our other listings for solid color Dress Vest and Necktie Sets that Match this cummerbund and bow tie.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Looks great, got the silver and the fushia\\n\\nReview: I got this for my husband, he owns his own tux and we have a wedding coming up in Europe next year so no rental anyway. This comes with a pre tied bow tie, a cumberbund and a pocket square. It looks very nice, and fits him well, I got the silver and the fushia colored one. We aren't sure yet about the colors for my nieces wedding, and there will be a few party's during the course of the wedding weekend so safety in color choices. It looks really nice and well made, and it fit my husband nicely. It won't take up much space in the suitcase either, this is a very nice set. I did receive this at a discounted price in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.\",\n \"Product: A unisex t-shirt with a screen print across the chest.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great tee, nice and soft\\n\\nReview: I got this tee shirt for my husband, he needed new tees as so many of his are worn out. I got him a few, this one is me of my favorites, it's cool.it is a nice soft tee, well sewn and looks good on him. I have only washed it once so far and it came out f the dryer just fine. I got him a few from this company since I had gotten him one awhile ago and it has been washed a lot and still looks great. It is nice tee and I am pleased with it, as is he. It really is set and looks nice.\\nI did receive this at a discounted price n exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.\",\n \"Product: A unisex triblend t-shirt with a screen print on the chest perfect for anyone who works hard in the gym so that they can play hard at the bar.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Cute shirt, fits well\\n\\nReview: This tee shirt, work now beer later is really cute. I got this for my husband, who doesn't work out but loves cute tee shirts. It fits him very nicely and I love the brown color, so many tees are white or black this is a nice change. It is a soft material, my only con is that it is not one hundred percent cotton, it is a fifty- fifty cotton polyester blend. I wish it was all cotton, that's all. But the poly does help it not wrinkle if you don't get it out f the dryer right away, it's just not all cotton which I prefer. It washed well, it has been washed about three times now and still looks like new, I dos wash tees with prints inside out though to help preserve the printing. I think he looks nice in it, and he says it's comfortable so it is a win win. The only reason for the missing star in truth is the fifty percent poly, it did say it in the add so it's not deceptive but I didn't see it, I didn't read that part, even though it is at the top of the add since I have gotten him shirts from Ann Arbor t- shirt company before and they were all cotton, but he really likes it, just as much as the all cotton ones.\\nI did receive this at a discounted price in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.\",\n \"Product: This leather case is very durable and will last! It has very heavy duty stitching to ensure the protection of both your cell phone and your valuables. it has 5 compartments for cash, stamps or other small flat objects. This multi-use design holds everything together with a handy magnetic flip closure. This case provides excellent protection and prevents scratches, damages or dirt from getting on your phone and credit cards/ID. The cut outs on the case are perfectly designed for the iphone 6 or iphone 7 allowing full access to all the control buttons, ports and camera without removing the phone from the case.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: A good case for the iPhone 6, but it is bulky\\n\\nReview: This case is really very good, it is much bulkier than I thought it would be but then it could be used as an all in one, it holds cards cash, phone, almost everything you need.it says it is premium leather but it does have a chemical smell, not pleasant but leave it out to air out and it will go away. It is a very well made case and fits my phone perfectly but to me it is to bulky for me to use every day, however this will be the one I use when I don't want to carry my pocketbook, it holds everything but the kitchen sink, lol.it really is very well made and after the smell went away it really is great. I took the pictures below with the phone which is why it's not in the case, lol. Ths really will be a great case to use when I don't want to carry my pocketbook. I did receive this at a discounted price in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.\",\n \"Product: Medi-Crunch - The Premium Treat for Medication- is a the fun, safe, mess-free and veterinarian recommended way to give your dog pills. The soft interior holds pill inside the crunchy exterior. Crunchy exterior triggers clamp-down instinct. Turns medication time into tricks and treats time! Contains a 1 month supply or 30 treats.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Dogs will come back looking for more!\\n\\nReview: Unfortunately for me these came the day after my dog died. It was heartbreaking to open the box and See these, as I have been giving him a lot of medication using pill pockets and was hoping he would love these. However I have a good friend who's dog needs medication every day, and hates to take pills. Her dog like mine was, is very picky about what he takes his pills in. I used to have to wrap mine in a piece of bread and scrunch it tight to get him to take it, after that stopped working I did get some medicine pockets which he did easily and loved seeing as how they taste like treats. I was almost out of them and saw these medi crunch brand ones which were a lot cheaper than those I was buying at the vet. So I figured I would get them and try them out. As I stated before my dog died the day before these came so my dog never got to try them, I did give them to my friend who's dog is sick. Her dog love them, he took his pill and came back looking for more . I was there to see his reaction, and it was very heartening to see, and made me miss my dog even more, but I was glad that somebody got to use these, and I was able to see that her Shepherd loved them. I would recommend is to any pet lover who has dogs that are difficult to get medications into. I am fortunate that my cat does not have to take any medication, that would be another issue LOL.\\nI did receive these at a discounted price in exchange for my honest unbiased opinion.\",\n \"Product: Amazing Led Beanie Hat\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Very nice hat, nice and warm and great bright light\\n\\nReview: This hat is really cool, 1st of ts war, which is very good. I got this for my husband, he wore it as soon as it came, he went sailing, in December in Nj. Crazy yes but it was a warmer day but still December. They got back into the slip it was just getting dark and he used his hat to help him get all the gear off the boat. T s a bright light and easy to turn on and fr. It also came with a silicone clip for what I assume is meant for a handle bar but he put it on the rail of the boat and it worked great, light up the deck pretty good. And as it is an easy attach and release he didn't leave it on the boat, my son is already saying he wants to use it onhis quad, so this will get a lot of good use. I wanted this hat for my husband for when he is walking the dog as well as for working around the house outside and the fact that t helps his head work and looks like a normal hat is great. I was lucky enough to get this great hat for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion, that being said might get my son one for part f his birthday present in Feb, he is outside a lot and works on cars and everything else outside.\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":20,"string":"20"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_3"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":872,"string":"872"}}},{"rowIdx":873,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"A1DN7FG50N95LQ"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of \"5.0\" for a product with description \"One choice can transform you. Pass initiation. Do not fail! Thrilling urban dystopian fiction debut from exciting young author. In sixteen-year-old Beatrice Prior's world, society is divided into five factions -- Abnegation (the selfless), Candor (the honest), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent) -- each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue, in the attempt to form a \"perfect society.\" At the age of sixteen, teens must choose the faction to which they will devote their lives. On her Choosing Day, Beatrice renames herself Tris, rejects her family's group, and chooses another faction. After surviving a brutal initiation, Tris finds romance with a super-hot boy, but also discovers unrest and growing conflict in their seemingly \"perfect society.\" To survive and save those they love, they must use their strengths to uncover the truths about their identities, their families, and the order of their society itself.\". The summary of the review text is \"POST-APOCALYPTIC YA GREAT FOR EVERYONE\"."},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"DIVERGENT captured my attention and hung on with a death grip until the last page was turned. Only good thing about finishing the story was knowing I had the next book in the series waiting for me. This post-apocalyptic tale, set in Chicago, is a YA story with a broad appeal for all ages. While DIVERGENT doesnt end on a major cliffhanger, there are lots of questions raised in the story that need answers. Looking forward to finding out those answers!\n\nMs. Roth does an amazing job of creating a new governing system that is supposed to encourage peace among the citizens which lives in and around Chicago. Five different factions are created that are designed to play into the strong values of each individual person and by extension, the group as a whole. Each person lives in the faction of their parents until the age of sixteen. At sixteen they take an aptitude test to help determine which faction best fits their personality. Freewill still plays a part though since each one of the teens still has the option of staying with their parents or moving to an entirely new faction. One major drawback on changing factions is that if a teen takes that route they will forsake their family, forever. Pretty harsh.\n\nReading DIVERGENT is like reading the blue print for a new world order without the boring bits. Boring is the last word to ever be used in conjunction with this book. The hero and heroine are teens and very true to form for their ages. What Beatrice is put through shows just how tough she is both mentally and physically. Four, (yeah, strange nickname but so appropriate as you will find out) at eighteen, is all male and hard for Beatrice to ignore. Cant say as I blame her, since Four is the best of his faction as far as Im concerned. Yes, I keep talking about the different factions without details. Heres the thing, I don't want to ruin one single surprise as the story unfolds for you. Thats what makes this book so good, the many twist. People you think you should trust turn out to be the very ones to look out for. Some uneasy alliances will be formed with enemies. For me the fence, that surrounds the entire city with guards, and the gates that lock from the outside, makes the city seem like more of a prison than a haven.\n\nWonderful details throughout the book and the dialogue is well written and true to the characters, whether they are teens or adults. There is a natural flow to the entire story that makes for a fast read. Of course the fact that the book is so engaging helps with the fast read part.\n\nHIGHLY RECOMMEND to anyone 16 and older. There are depictions of violence that might concern some."},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"DIVERGENT captured my attention and hung on with a death grip until the last page was turned. Only good thing about finishing the story was knowing I had the next book in the series waiting for me. This post-apocalyptic tale, set in Chicago, is a YA story with a broad appeal for all ages. While DIVERGENT doesnt end on a major cliffhanger, there are lots of questions raised in the story that need answers. Looking forward to finding out those answers!\n\nMs. Roth does an amazing job of creating a new governing system that is supposed to encourage peace among the citizens which lives in and around Chicago. Five different factions are created that are designed to play into the strong values of each individual person and by extension, the group as a whole. Each person lives in the faction of their parents until the age of sixteen. At sixteen they take an aptitude test to help determine which faction best fits their personality. Freewill still plays a part though since each one of the teens still has the option of staying with their parents or moving to an entirely new faction. One major drawback on changing factions is that if a teen takes that route they will forsake their family, forever. Pretty harsh.\n\nReading DIVERGENT is like reading the blue print for a new world order without the boring bits. Boring is the last word to ever be used in conjunction with this book. The hero and heroine are teens and very true to form for their ages. What Beatrice is put through shows just how tough she is both mentally and physically. Four, (yeah, strange nickname but so appropriate as you will find out) at eighteen, is all male and hard for Beatrice to ignore. Cant say as I blame her, since Four is the best of his faction as far as Im concerned. Yes, I keep talking about the different factions without details. Heres the thing, I don't want to ruin one single surprise as the story unfolds for you. Thats what makes this book so good, the many twist. People you think you should trust turn out to be the very ones to look out for. Some uneasy alliances will be formed with enemies. For me the fence, that surrounds the entire city with guards, and the gates that lock from the outside, makes the city seem like more of a prison than a haven.\n\nWonderful details throughout the book and the dialogue is well written and true to the characters, whether they are teens or adults. There is a natural flow to the entire story that makes for a fast read. Of course the fact that the book is so engaging helps with the fast read part.\n\nHIGHLY RECOMMEND to anyone 16 and older. There are depictions of violence that might concern some."},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Product: Strong, durable, yet lightweight molded-plastic construction is impact resistant and easy to clean, providing long lasting, reliable performance. Work surface includes extra deep organizer treys to hold mP3 players, cell phones, etc. Zippered side storage pouches velcro up or hang to the side. Micro-Bead lap pads taper and conform to the lap for maximum comfort and stability. LapShield added for extra saftey, blocks EMF/EMI and Heat from the lap.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Perfect size for laptop\n\nReview: I've had my Jumbo LapDesk for a few weeks now and I love it. It's the perfect size for my large laptop. Most lapdesk come with one large cushion to soften the weight of whatever you are working with on the desktop, but this one has been split into two separate cushions. Having the space between the two helps to help keep my legs cooler when working for long periods of time. If you've ever sat and held your laptop directly on your legs you know how hot that can get. There is also these two trays at the top of the desk that are perfect for holding pens, corrector ribbon, or any other small paraphernalia I seems to have to have whenever I'm writing or typing. And for added storage there are two zippered pockets on the bottom, between the cushions. I've been very satisfied with the product and can easily recommend it to anyone that would like a larger area to work with that most LapDesk do.","Product: One choice can transform you. Pass initiation. Do not fail! Thrilling urban dystopian fiction debut from exciting young author. In sixteen-year-old Beatrice Prior's world, society is divided into five factions -- Abnegation (the selfless), Candor (the honest), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent) -- each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue, in the attempt to form a \"perfect society.\" At the age of sixteen, teens must choose the faction to which they will devote their lives. On her Choosing Day, Beatrice renames herself Tris, rejects her family's group, and chooses another faction. After surviving a brutal initiation, Tris finds romance with a super-hot boy, but also discovers unrest and growing conflict in their seemingly \"perfect society.\" To survive and save those they love, they must use their strengths to uncover the truths about their identities, their families, and the order of their society itself.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: DEATH, BETRAYAL, AND A PLAN\n\nReview: INSURGENT is the same intense emotional rollercoaster ride as DIVERGENT. Its a fantastic second book in the series. If anything INSURGENT is even more gut wrenching than the previous book. So gripping it was hard to turn loose of the story once I started reading. Its one of those books that once you finish, the story lingers in your mind. This is one of those series that has to be read in order.\n\nIf you've not read DIVERGENT you need to stop reading right now as there will be spoilers in this review that concern DIVERGENT. However, Im going to try and not reveal anything that can spoil INSURGENT for you.\n\nTris and Tobais may have survived and escaped with Caleb, Marcus and Peter, but all is not going to go smoothly from this point on. The tragic deaths of her parents and the horror of having to kill one of her best friends, Will, are going rip Tris to the point of self-destruction. Tobais is going to have to come to terms with more secrets hidden by his father. Plus, both Tobais and Tris are going to have their own secrets that have the potential to destroy what they have found in each other. A betrayal that comes out of left field shocks everyone, and like the betrayal there is going to be a rescue that will blow your mind. Better make sure the edge of your seat is comfortable, because you're going to be spending a lot of time there.\n\nHeart pumping action is a guarantee with this series. The mysteries only get deeper and there is no coddling of us, the readers, as who will survive and who will die. All bets are off as to who will still be standing by the end of the book. This is war after all, or is it?\n\nA truly contagious series that won't lose its hold until the last twist is coughed up.\n\nHIGHLY RECOMMEND to anyone 15 and older. There are scenes of intense violence.","Product: Jeaniene Frost is the New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling author of the Night Huntress series and the Night Huntress World novels. To date, foreign rights for her novels have sold to nineteen different countries. Jeaniene lives in North Carolina with her husband Matthew, who long ago accepted that she rarely cooks and always sleeps in on the weekends. Aside from writing, Jeaniene enjoys reading, poetry, watching movies with her husband, exploring old cemeteries, spelunking and traveling - by car. Airplanes, children, and cook books frighten her.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: WONDERFUL SECOND BOOK IN THE SERIES!\n\nReview: There was a certain nervous expectation when I started to read this book. Will it be as wonderful as the first book in the series? Is Cat going to be her snarky self, swigging Gin, and making sure her sarcastic armor is firmly in place? Can Bones be as irreverent with his one liners and as sensually sexy? My verdict? YES! YES! YES! No disappointments. Nothing but pure pleasurable reading from the first chapter to the closing of the book. If you are looking for a new vampire, paranormal series to become immersed in, this is the one you want to start. Be sure to begin with the first book in the Night Huntress series, HALFWAY TO THE GRAVE. Just to give yourself an extra treat, read RECKONING, a prequel novella, told from Bones point of view before he meets Cat.\n\nIf youve not read HALFWAY TO THE GRAVE, you might want to stop right now, because there will be definite spoilers for it in this review. If you intend to go ahead and read this book first (WHY would you deny yourself the pleasure of book 1??) you should be OK and not get lost as you go through the story. Mrs. Frost does a fantastic job of giving the reader background on what happened in the previous novel.\nAlright here goes.\n\nAs I began reading a feeling of confusion came over me. Sure, I remembered Cat leaving Bones at the end of HALFWAY TO THE GRAVE, but as I read it felt like the separation was permanent. I was shocked to find out it had been four years since Cat had run away from Bones. WHAT THE HECK!?! How was it possible that it was taking them so long to get back together? Then again, how clever, on Mrs. Frosts part, to give Cat time to mature, to develop a background that works into a major storyline for Cat and Bones. Yeah, it was heartbreaking for all concerned (including me) but it just made the reconciliation that must sweeter because of the time spent apart. Well, sweet will never be applied to Cat and Bones, but it sure made for an entertaining read when they are put back in the same room together. Seriously, I was laughing like a crazy woman through the whole reunion. The moment Cats mom, Justina, realizes Bones is going to be in the picture again is Priceless! Of course, Bones has the delicacy of a bull in his handling of Justina. Although he has way more patience than any living person could muster while dealing with her.\n\nWhile Im not going to, would love to go into details about the amazing twist and turns the story takes. Surprises are as plentiful as the dead bodies. Cats job with a covert branch of Homeland Security and her boss Don results in both frustration and long kept secrets being revealed. Tate is going to become more of a problem for Cat than he has been in the past. Bones vampire friends become harder to separate from enemies. As a matter of fact you are going to be provided a mini lesson in the structure of vampire society, courtesy of Bones. Too bad Cat didn't take the time to ask a few more questions concerning specific points of the hierarchy before making plans. Plans she keeps hidden from Bones and that always works out well for her. NOT! Would have saved her a lot of pain if she had shared, course then we would have missed out on a bodacious fight scene. The ending is a marvelous surprise and theres not a major cliffhanger. I was left with delicious anticipation for the next book in the series. All in all a very satisfying novel! Already have AT GRAVES END lined up and ready to read.\n\nHIGHLY RECOMMEND to anyone 18 and older. There are graphic depictions of violence and marvelous depictions of highly sensuous and sexual adult behavior.","Product: Jeaniene Frost is the New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling author of the Night Huntress series and the Night Huntress World novels. To date, foreign rights for her novels have sold to nineteen different countries. Jeaniene lives in North Carolina with her husband Matthew, who long ago accepted that she rarely cooks and always sleeps in on the weekends. Aside from writing, Jeaniene enjoys reading, poetry, watching movies with her husband, exploring old cemeteries, spelunking and traveling - by car. Airplanes, children, and cook books frighten her.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: AN AMAZING START TO A VAMPIRE SERIES\n\nReview: If you can manage to read this first book in the Night Huntress Series and walk away from the rest of the series you're a much stronger person than me. I am completely and thoroughly hooked! Mrs. Frost has managed to take the writing of vampire books to a whole new level. And I bet the view from that height is amazing. Her novel HALFWAY TO THE GRAVE certainly fits the amazing category. Youre not going to be able to turn the pages fast enough once you become immersed into the lives of Cat and Bones. The only thing happy about the ending of this book is the fact at there is another one waiting for you, so you can jump right back into the laughter and drama that is their existence.\n\nThis story is told by Catherine Kathleen Crawfield, better known as Cat. She has the distinct honor of being the only known half human and half vampire. Well, only known to Cat and her mother, Justina. Justina was attacked and raped by a vampire. She lived to tell the tale and deliver a full term baby five months after the rape. To say that what happened to Justina colored her feelings about vampire would be a humongous understatement. Justina informs Cat she is half monster when Cat turns sixteen. Cat spends the next six years trying to make up for the rape, and her own existence, by offering herself up as bait to vampires, then killing them. Her weekend hunting grounds are the bars and dives within a three hour drive of her home. Its on one of her weekend hunting trips that she runs into Bones and it was the luckiest, horrible night of her life.\n\nAhhh, Bones! Its hard to type with the drool I have to keep wiping off my chin. Hes a Master Vampire that just happens to be a bounty-hunter on the lookout for vampires with contracts out on them. When he mistakes Cat as someone that has taken one of the many contracts out on him, lets just say the fun REALLY begins. Cat is one lucky half-bred, in my opinion, to have caught the attentions of this sexy, hilarious, British vampire.\n\nBetween Cats shield of sarcasm and Bones outrageous sense of humor the dialogue is so delicious it should be feed to us with a spoon. The book goes into the not so pretty picture of their lives but still manages to come away not one of those dreary angsty stories that drip with self-pity. Love Bones philosophy, You play the hand you're dealt just like everyone else in this bloody world.\n\nIts funny, its tragic, its filled with danger but the main point is that its filled with the best of excellent writing.\n\nHIGHLY RECOMMEND to anyone 18 and older.","Product: JA Huss is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than twenty romances. She likes stories about family, loyalty, and extraordinary characters who struggle with basic human emotions while dealing with bigger than life problems. JA loves writing heroes who make you swoon, heroines who makes you jealous, and the perfect Happily Ever After ending. You can chat with her on Facebook (www.facebook.com/AuthorJAHuss), Twitter (@jahuss), and her kick-ass romance blog, New Adult Addiction (www.newadultaddiction.com). If you're interested in getting your hands on an advanced release copy of her upcoming books, sneak peek teasers, or information on her upcoming personal appearances, you can join her newsletter list (http://eepurl.com/JVhAr) and get those details delivered right to your inbox.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: DON'T MISS THIS ONE!\n\nReview: WOW! This book will take your emotions and twist until the tension is one turn away from breaking a scream from your lips. Over the top??? Well, this book is over the freaking top in the best way possible! The darkness of the story has me questioning how anyone could count Merc as a book-boyfriend. By the end of the story I was totally in love with him. This is not your cozy romance with a few hiccups along the way before the lovers live happily ever after. This is dark and dirty, with a sharpness that once it sinks its steely teeth in you it rips your comfortable little reading habits to shreds. And you are going to LOVE IT!","Product: JK Franks is a writer, technologist, graphic designer and business owner. His journals and articles often cover business, technology, politics and self-development. His first published fiction novel, Catalyst: Downward Cycle was released in Summer of 2016. He was born in North Carolina and raised in the rural deep south where he developed a fierce appreciation in self-reliance and love of the outdoors. He also became an avid science fiction fan growing up surrounded by the works of Heinlein, Asimov, Bradbury and Clarke. As a deeply committed skeptic he maintains a healthy and irreverent distrust for almost everything proclaimed as truth without supporting evidence. These themes eventually formed the backdrop for his books. He is currently at work on book two of the Catalyst series as well as promoting his most recent novel. Mr. Franks now makes his home in a small town in west Georgia with his wife and family. Beyond writing his interest include cycling, cooking, music, travel and design. Writing is story telling. JK feels that is the most compelling aspect to any of his works. To weave an entertaining story with believable, intelligent characters and plausible plots are a close runner-up.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Great first book in the series.\n\nReview: Ive never been a Dooms Day type person and have about as much in common with a Prepper as a love child from the seventies would. Well, boys and girls, this book officially scared the peace and love right out of me. Im ready to start planning my bugout bag and stashing supplies in hidden locations.\n\nI love a good post-apocalyptic story, but lets be honest, most of them are centered on some pandemic killing off most of the Earths population but a lucky few. In the Catalyst story JK Franks lays out a plausible scenario for the downfall of our world from a CME, Coronal Mass Ejection. In other words, our Sun throws a heck of an EMP at us during one of its massive solar storms. This isn't science fiction, it has happened in the past, just not to the extent played out in this story. Franks gives enough truth to make the fiction feel not so fictiony (yep, new word, put it in your dictionary ;-)).\n\nFranks does a terrific job of showing the disintegration of humanity after the lights go out. Its all too easy to picture the reactions portrayed in the story by people conditioned to having machines available at the flip of a switch, food lined up on shelves, and a government ready to rush in and take care of them when disaster strikes. Being a member of a New Guinea tribe doesnt look so bad after reading this book.\n\nOur protagonist, Scott, is a loner but smart enough to figure out no one is going to survive for long on their own. Hes a reluctant hero who does the hard things to try and save his small part of the world with a few friends he makes in the new, savage world that surrounds them. Scott, an IT specialist who works for the government, comes across a secret plan the US has in place to be implemented in just such a disaster as a CME. Its not pretty, people.\n\nBook one is filled with building the new world and the conditions facing the community of Harris Springs, Mississippi. There are glimpses of what is happening in the larger cities. We get a closer look at the chaos in those cities when Scott has to undertake a dangerous rescue some distance from his little small community. There are also hints of a bio threat being released into the world. Im sure there will be much more on that in book two and Im looking forward to getting the pants scared off me by the next book in the series.\n\nIs the story perfect? In my opinion no. There is a little too much emphasis on the dry list of supplies and steps taken to insure long term survival. Necessary ingredients for a good story but not in such detail. I would have liked more emotional depth in the characters, but thats just me and might not be the same for everyone.\n\nI will definitely read the next couple books in the series."],"string":"[\n \"Product: Strong, durable, yet lightweight molded-plastic construction is impact resistant and easy to clean, providing long lasting, reliable performance. Work surface includes extra deep organizer treys to hold mP3 players, cell phones, etc. Zippered side storage pouches velcro up or hang to the side. Micro-Bead lap pads taper and conform to the lap for maximum comfort and stability. LapShield added for extra saftey, blocks EMF/EMI and Heat from the lap.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Perfect size for laptop\\n\\nReview: I've had my Jumbo LapDesk for a few weeks now and I love it. It's the perfect size for my large laptop. Most lapdesk come with one large cushion to soften the weight of whatever you are working with on the desktop, but this one has been split into two separate cushions. Having the space between the two helps to help keep my legs cooler when working for long periods of time. If you've ever sat and held your laptop directly on your legs you know how hot that can get. There is also these two trays at the top of the desk that are perfect for holding pens, corrector ribbon, or any other small paraphernalia I seems to have to have whenever I'm writing or typing. And for added storage there are two zippered pockets on the bottom, between the cushions. I've been very satisfied with the product and can easily recommend it to anyone that would like a larger area to work with that most LapDesk do.\",\n \"Product: One choice can transform you. Pass initiation. Do not fail! Thrilling urban dystopian fiction debut from exciting young author. In sixteen-year-old Beatrice Prior's world, society is divided into five factions -- Abnegation (the selfless), Candor (the honest), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent) -- each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue, in the attempt to form a \\\"perfect society.\\\" At the age of sixteen, teens must choose the faction to which they will devote their lives. On her Choosing Day, Beatrice renames herself Tris, rejects her family's group, and chooses another faction. After surviving a brutal initiation, Tris finds romance with a super-hot boy, but also discovers unrest and growing conflict in their seemingly \\\"perfect society.\\\" To survive and save those they love, they must use their strengths to uncover the truths about their identities, their families, and the order of their society itself.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: DEATH, BETRAYAL, AND A PLAN\\n\\nReview: INSURGENT is the same intense emotional rollercoaster ride as DIVERGENT. Its a fantastic second book in the series. If anything INSURGENT is even more gut wrenching than the previous book. So gripping it was hard to turn loose of the story once I started reading. Its one of those books that once you finish, the story lingers in your mind. This is one of those series that has to be read in order.\\n\\nIf you've not read DIVERGENT you need to stop reading right now as there will be spoilers in this review that concern DIVERGENT. However, Im going to try and not reveal anything that can spoil INSURGENT for you.\\n\\nTris and Tobais may have survived and escaped with Caleb, Marcus and Peter, but all is not going to go smoothly from this point on. The tragic deaths of her parents and the horror of having to kill one of her best friends, Will, are going rip Tris to the point of self-destruction. Tobais is going to have to come to terms with more secrets hidden by his father. Plus, both Tobais and Tris are going to have their own secrets that have the potential to destroy what they have found in each other. A betrayal that comes out of left field shocks everyone, and like the betrayal there is going to be a rescue that will blow your mind. Better make sure the edge of your seat is comfortable, because you're going to be spending a lot of time there.\\n\\nHeart pumping action is a guarantee with this series. The mysteries only get deeper and there is no coddling of us, the readers, as who will survive and who will die. All bets are off as to who will still be standing by the end of the book. This is war after all, or is it?\\n\\nA truly contagious series that won't lose its hold until the last twist is coughed up.\\n\\nHIGHLY RECOMMEND to anyone 15 and older. There are scenes of intense violence.\",\n \"Product: Jeaniene Frost is the New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling author of the Night Huntress series and the Night Huntress World novels. To date, foreign rights for her novels have sold to nineteen different countries. Jeaniene lives in North Carolina with her husband Matthew, who long ago accepted that she rarely cooks and always sleeps in on the weekends. Aside from writing, Jeaniene enjoys reading, poetry, watching movies with her husband, exploring old cemeteries, spelunking and traveling - by car. Airplanes, children, and cook books frighten her.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: WONDERFUL SECOND BOOK IN THE SERIES!\\n\\nReview: There was a certain nervous expectation when I started to read this book. Will it be as wonderful as the first book in the series? Is Cat going to be her snarky self, swigging Gin, and making sure her sarcastic armor is firmly in place? Can Bones be as irreverent with his one liners and as sensually sexy? My verdict? YES! YES! YES! No disappointments. Nothing but pure pleasurable reading from the first chapter to the closing of the book. If you are looking for a new vampire, paranormal series to become immersed in, this is the one you want to start. Be sure to begin with the first book in the Night Huntress series, HALFWAY TO THE GRAVE. Just to give yourself an extra treat, read RECKONING, a prequel novella, told from Bones point of view before he meets Cat.\\n\\nIf youve not read HALFWAY TO THE GRAVE, you might want to stop right now, because there will be definite spoilers for it in this review. If you intend to go ahead and read this book first (WHY would you deny yourself the pleasure of book 1??) you should be OK and not get lost as you go through the story. Mrs. Frost does a fantastic job of giving the reader background on what happened in the previous novel.\\nAlright here goes.\\n\\nAs I began reading a feeling of confusion came over me. Sure, I remembered Cat leaving Bones at the end of HALFWAY TO THE GRAVE, but as I read it felt like the separation was permanent. I was shocked to find out it had been four years since Cat had run away from Bones. WHAT THE HECK!?! How was it possible that it was taking them so long to get back together? Then again, how clever, on Mrs. Frosts part, to give Cat time to mature, to develop a background that works into a major storyline for Cat and Bones. Yeah, it was heartbreaking for all concerned (including me) but it just made the reconciliation that must sweeter because of the time spent apart. Well, sweet will never be applied to Cat and Bones, but it sure made for an entertaining read when they are put back in the same room together. Seriously, I was laughing like a crazy woman through the whole reunion. The moment Cats mom, Justina, realizes Bones is going to be in the picture again is Priceless! Of course, Bones has the delicacy of a bull in his handling of Justina. Although he has way more patience than any living person could muster while dealing with her.\\n\\nWhile Im not going to, would love to go into details about the amazing twist and turns the story takes. Surprises are as plentiful as the dead bodies. Cats job with a covert branch of Homeland Security and her boss Don results in both frustration and long kept secrets being revealed. Tate is going to become more of a problem for Cat than he has been in the past. Bones vampire friends become harder to separate from enemies. As a matter of fact you are going to be provided a mini lesson in the structure of vampire society, courtesy of Bones. Too bad Cat didn't take the time to ask a few more questions concerning specific points of the hierarchy before making plans. Plans she keeps hidden from Bones and that always works out well for her. NOT! Would have saved her a lot of pain if she had shared, course then we would have missed out on a bodacious fight scene. The ending is a marvelous surprise and theres not a major cliffhanger. I was left with delicious anticipation for the next book in the series. All in all a very satisfying novel! Already have AT GRAVES END lined up and ready to read.\\n\\nHIGHLY RECOMMEND to anyone 18 and older. There are graphic depictions of violence and marvelous depictions of highly sensuous and sexual adult behavior.\",\n \"Product: Jeaniene Frost is the New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling author of the Night Huntress series and the Night Huntress World novels. To date, foreign rights for her novels have sold to nineteen different countries. Jeaniene lives in North Carolina with her husband Matthew, who long ago accepted that she rarely cooks and always sleeps in on the weekends. Aside from writing, Jeaniene enjoys reading, poetry, watching movies with her husband, exploring old cemeteries, spelunking and traveling - by car. Airplanes, children, and cook books frighten her.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: AN AMAZING START TO A VAMPIRE SERIES\\n\\nReview: If you can manage to read this first book in the Night Huntress Series and walk away from the rest of the series you're a much stronger person than me. I am completely and thoroughly hooked! Mrs. Frost has managed to take the writing of vampire books to a whole new level. And I bet the view from that height is amazing. Her novel HALFWAY TO THE GRAVE certainly fits the amazing category. Youre not going to be able to turn the pages fast enough once you become immersed into the lives of Cat and Bones. The only thing happy about the ending of this book is the fact at there is another one waiting for you, so you can jump right back into the laughter and drama that is their existence.\\n\\nThis story is told by Catherine Kathleen Crawfield, better known as Cat. She has the distinct honor of being the only known half human and half vampire. Well, only known to Cat and her mother, Justina. Justina was attacked and raped by a vampire. She lived to tell the tale and deliver a full term baby five months after the rape. To say that what happened to Justina colored her feelings about vampire would be a humongous understatement. Justina informs Cat she is half monster when Cat turns sixteen. Cat spends the next six years trying to make up for the rape, and her own existence, by offering herself up as bait to vampires, then killing them. Her weekend hunting grounds are the bars and dives within a three hour drive of her home. Its on one of her weekend hunting trips that she runs into Bones and it was the luckiest, horrible night of her life.\\n\\nAhhh, Bones! Its hard to type with the drool I have to keep wiping off my chin. Hes a Master Vampire that just happens to be a bounty-hunter on the lookout for vampires with contracts out on them. When he mistakes Cat as someone that has taken one of the many contracts out on him, lets just say the fun REALLY begins. Cat is one lucky half-bred, in my opinion, to have caught the attentions of this sexy, hilarious, British vampire.\\n\\nBetween Cats shield of sarcasm and Bones outrageous sense of humor the dialogue is so delicious it should be feed to us with a spoon. The book goes into the not so pretty picture of their lives but still manages to come away not one of those dreary angsty stories that drip with self-pity. Love Bones philosophy, You play the hand you're dealt just like everyone else in this bloody world.\\n\\nIts funny, its tragic, its filled with danger but the main point is that its filled with the best of excellent writing.\\n\\nHIGHLY RECOMMEND to anyone 18 and older.\",\n \"Product: JA Huss is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than twenty romances. She likes stories about family, loyalty, and extraordinary characters who struggle with basic human emotions while dealing with bigger than life problems. JA loves writing heroes who make you swoon, heroines who makes you jealous, and the perfect Happily Ever After ending. You can chat with her on Facebook (www.facebook.com/AuthorJAHuss), Twitter (@jahuss), and her kick-ass romance blog, New Adult Addiction (www.newadultaddiction.com). If you're interested in getting your hands on an advanced release copy of her upcoming books, sneak peek teasers, or information on her upcoming personal appearances, you can join her newsletter list (http://eepurl.com/JVhAr) and get those details delivered right to your inbox.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: DON'T MISS THIS ONE!\\n\\nReview: WOW! This book will take your emotions and twist until the tension is one turn away from breaking a scream from your lips. Over the top??? Well, this book is over the freaking top in the best way possible! The darkness of the story has me questioning how anyone could count Merc as a book-boyfriend. By the end of the story I was totally in love with him. This is not your cozy romance with a few hiccups along the way before the lovers live happily ever after. This is dark and dirty, with a sharpness that once it sinks its steely teeth in you it rips your comfortable little reading habits to shreds. And you are going to LOVE IT!\",\n \"Product: JK Franks is a writer, technologist, graphic designer and business owner. His journals and articles often cover business, technology, politics and self-development. His first published fiction novel, Catalyst: Downward Cycle was released in Summer of 2016. He was born in North Carolina and raised in the rural deep south where he developed a fierce appreciation in self-reliance and love of the outdoors. He also became an avid science fiction fan growing up surrounded by the works of Heinlein, Asimov, Bradbury and Clarke. As a deeply committed skeptic he maintains a healthy and irreverent distrust for almost everything proclaimed as truth without supporting evidence. These themes eventually formed the backdrop for his books. He is currently at work on book two of the Catalyst series as well as promoting his most recent novel. Mr. Franks now makes his home in a small town in west Georgia with his wife and family. Beyond writing his interest include cycling, cooking, music, travel and design. Writing is story telling. JK feels that is the most compelling aspect to any of his works. To weave an entertaining story with believable, intelligent characters and plausible plots are a close runner-up.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Great first book in the series.\\n\\nReview: Ive never been a Dooms Day type person and have about as much in common with a Prepper as a love child from the seventies would. Well, boys and girls, this book officially scared the peace and love right out of me. Im ready to start planning my bugout bag and stashing supplies in hidden locations.\\n\\nI love a good post-apocalyptic story, but lets be honest, most of them are centered on some pandemic killing off most of the Earths population but a lucky few. In the Catalyst story JK Franks lays out a plausible scenario for the downfall of our world from a CME, Coronal Mass Ejection. In other words, our Sun throws a heck of an EMP at us during one of its massive solar storms. This isn't science fiction, it has happened in the past, just not to the extent played out in this story. Franks gives enough truth to make the fiction feel not so fictiony (yep, new word, put it in your dictionary ;-)).\\n\\nFranks does a terrific job of showing the disintegration of humanity after the lights go out. Its all too easy to picture the reactions portrayed in the story by people conditioned to having machines available at the flip of a switch, food lined up on shelves, and a government ready to rush in and take care of them when disaster strikes. Being a member of a New Guinea tribe doesnt look so bad after reading this book.\\n\\nOur protagonist, Scott, is a loner but smart enough to figure out no one is going to survive for long on their own. Hes a reluctant hero who does the hard things to try and save his small part of the world with a few friends he makes in the new, savage world that surrounds them. Scott, an IT specialist who works for the government, comes across a secret plan the US has in place to be implemented in just such a disaster as a CME. Its not pretty, people.\\n\\nBook one is filled with building the new world and the conditions facing the community of Harris Springs, Mississippi. There are glimpses of what is happening in the larger cities. We get a closer look at the chaos in those cities when Scott has to undertake a dangerous rescue some distance from his little small community. There are also hints of a bio threat being released into the world. Im sure there will be much more on that in book two and Im looking forward to getting the pants scared off me by the next book in the series.\\n\\nIs the story perfect? In my opinion no. There is a little too much emphasis on the dry list of supplies and steps taken to insure long term survival. Necessary ingredients for a good story but not in such detail. I would have liked more emotional depth in the characters, but thats just me and might not be the same for everyone.\\n\\nI will definitely read the next couple books in the series.\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":6,"string":"6"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_3"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":873,"string":"873"}}},{"rowIdx":874,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"A35042IWDE456Y"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of \"5.0\" for a product with description \"Carnation Evaporated Milk is fresh, nutritious milk from which half the water has been removed.\". The summary of the review text is \"Light Snacking (Sea Salt 1oz)\"."},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"Thicker and crispier than your tradition potato chips with great taste. The salt seemed to be baked into the chips rather than sprinkled on which makes every bite satisfying without having a lot of salt rubbing on your fingers.\n\nThe one ounce bags are great for children or if you want portion control with your snacking/meals habits. This product is great for kids lunches as it's just the perfect amount without overdoing the calories/fat/salt intake and will teach kids proper portion control.\n\nThis is not a good product if you want to snack in bulk as there are cheaper options if you buy larger bags. Each bag comes with around 15-20 chips depending on the sizes\n\nPackaging wise it could use some work. The open-tab opens vertically which doesn't make much sense as you get disoriented from turning it to the side and having the text in the wrong position and may spill on occasion if you are not self aware. The only reason I think it is designed this way is that it discourage you from digging deep into the bag and getting your hands greasy as there is more open space for your hands to reach in. Also upon opening it's hard to re-seal prompting you eat it all in on go.\n\nOverall great tasting product, individual packaging needs a bit of work 4.5/5"},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"Thicker and crispier than your tradition potato chips with great taste. The salt seemed to be baked into the chips rather than sprinkled on which makes every bite satisfying without having a lot of salt rubbing on your fingers.\n\nThe one ounce bags are great for children or if you want portion control with your snacking/meals habits. This product is great for kids lunches as it's just the perfect amount without overdoing the calories/fat/salt intake and will teach kids proper portion control.\n\nThis is not a good product if you want to snack in bulk as there are cheaper options if you buy larger bags. Each bag comes with around 15-20 chips depending on the sizes\n\nPackaging wise it could use some work. The open-tab opens vertically which doesn't make much sense as you get disoriented from turning it to the side and having the text in the wrong position and may spill on occasion if you are not self aware. The only reason I think it is designed this way is that it discourage you from digging deep into the bag and getting your hands greasy as there is more open space for your hands to reach in. Also upon opening it's hard to re-seal prompting you eat it all in on go.\n\nOverall great tasting product, individual packaging needs a bit of work 4.5/5"},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Product: Stony-Edge SIMPLE LAV- MOBILE, You're mobile-make your gear mobile audio recordings shouldn't be second-rate audio recordings. With the SIMPLE LAV-MOBILE Microphone, you'll lock down outstanding sound quality when recording Podcasts, Webinars and/or YouTube Videos on your mobile device. Today the world is mobile. If you want to keep up, your gear needs to be designed to go fast, be simple and get it right. The Stony-Edge SIMPLE LAV- MOBILE is a compact, miniature, broadcast-quality Omni-directional Lavalier Microphone for most Apple or Android mobile devices. Utilizing an electret condenser type element, which provides flat, smooth frequency response and a wide dynamic range. Its Omni-directional polar pattern allows for a full 360-degree pick-up of audio, providing a natural blend of voice and ambiance. The SIMPLE LAV-MOBILE microphone is low in sensitivity to speech to help avoid "e; popping sounds & quote; and breath overloads during close-up situations, plus it's less susceptible to wind and clothing noise. The SIMPLE LAV-MOBILE is intended primarily for entertainers, broadcasters, lecturers, webcasters, Podcasters and others recording sessions on mobile devices, while requiring hands-free operation. Do all of that and do not compromise sound quality and performance. Its detachable tie clip allows easy mounting to clothing for flexibility and comfort. Works with most recording apps on your smart phone or tablet device. Go mobile and bring back the best, CLICK YELLOW NOW ADD SMART TO CART\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great For Group Study Lecture Podcasts\n\nReview: I personally use this cable for studying with a classmate while listening to lecture podcasts at the library. Before we had to try to sync up what we listen to on separate devices, but with this we only focus on one device and able to pause-and-discuss more effectively.\n\nThis has other great uses as it's great for kids/siblings listening in the back seat of the car with their own music while you listen to your own with the car stereo, or as a couple huddling up around a tablet on the couch listening to each of their own individualized high quality headsets without having to hear the poor audio quality from tablet speakers. There are many other applications and scenarios if you put your mind to it.\n\nThe cable itself is very flexible and lightweight. I like how there's a Velcro strap attached to it for easy storage.\nWhen all connections are secured there are no audio hiccups, pauses, or distortions in audio and sound is the same if there were a single connection\n\nOverall great personalized listening experience for two with a lot of applicability and convenience\n\nI received this product at a discount in exchange for a honest review","Product: Stonyedge headphone/microphone y splitter cable - enjoy headphones and microphone in a single slot - allows two people to experience high-quality sound simultaneously - universal compatibility with iphones, smartphones, and gaming headsets - connects to any 3.5mm audio output.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great For Group Study Lecture Podcasts\n\nReview: I personally use this cable for studying with a classmate while listening to lecture podcasts at the library. Before we had to try to sync up what we listen to on separate devices, but with this we only focus on one device and able to pause-and-discuss more effectively.\n\nThis has other great uses as it's great for kids/siblings listening in the back seat of the car with their own music while you listen to your own with the car stereo, or as a couple huddling up around a tablet on the couch listening to each of their own individualized high quality headsets without having to hear the poor audio quality from tablet speakers. There are many other applications and scenarios if you put your mind to it.\n\nThe cable itself is very flexible and lightweight. I like how there's a Velcro strap attached to it for easy storage.\nWhen all connections are secured there are no audio hiccups, pauses, or distortions in audio and sound is the same if there were a single connection\n\nOverall great personalized listening experience for two with a lot of applicability and convenience\n\nI received this product at a discount in exchange for a honest review","Product: Ito En Iced Tea, Green Jasmine, 16.9 Fl Oz\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great alternative to soda\n\nReview: In terms of taste; it tastes like the tea you get before a meal at an Asian restaurant but at room temperature (unless you put it in the fridge or boil it).\n\nFor those who want to stay away from sugary drinks and want some taste to their beverage (as oppose to drinking water) this is a good product to have at hand. For those used to having sugar and/or carbonated beverages it may take a while for your taste buds to adjust.\n\nThe bottle is very convenient and portable, there are multiple ridges along side the bottle for grip.\n\nAlso the product provides antioxidants to neutralize free radicals and contain traces of caffeine\n\nOverall good alternative to soda and water. Oh and don't forget to recycle","Product: 6 Glass Bottles 6 Caps 6 Stainless Steel Roller Balls\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Well The Roller Balls Are Not Plastic\n\nReview: Was afraid I was going to receive a plastic roller ball variant like described in some reviews, but mine showed up as advertised.\n\nThe bottle itself has a premium feel to it as the material used seem very high quality.\n\nApplication is easy as it rolls smoothly and does not leak.\n\nMy only complaint that it is hard to remove the base at times, you have to pinch hard from your thumb and the side of your index finger (see attached picture) and twist the blue bottle in the clockwise motion with your other hand.\n\nIf that doesn't work (especially when it's your first time using a bottle) you have to do the previous step mentioned until you see a little gap and stick your nail (works with trimmed finger nails) and pull up.\n\nOverall very impressed, just the refilling can be frustrating until you figure it out","Product: Amazon.com Gift Cards are the perfect way to give them exactly what they're hoping for - even if you don't know what it is. Amazon.com Gift Cards are redeemable for millions of items across Amazon.com. Item delivered is a single physical Amazon.com Gift Card nested inside or with a free gift accessory.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Free Bear With Gift Card Purchase\n\nReview: You get a free holiday teddy bear with a giftcard purchase. Great incentive if you purchase items off Amazon regularly or plan to give a $100+ giftcard to a friend or family member.\n\nSupposedly this is the 9th edition of the Holiday Teddy Bear. I started collecting these last year. Last year was a grizzly bear with the beanie as opposed to the polar bear with a Santa hat and gloves we got this year. Another difference is that the 2015 model had the Amazon (dot) com logo on the left foot and the 2016 bear has just the amazon arrow logo.\n\nGloves and hat are not removable (unless you mess with the stitching). The bear is super soft and huggable. Ideal for toddlers who get attached to soft objects during cold weather.\n\nGift card is just a neckless attached to the bear. This time it's in the shape of a gift box which is nice. Gift code is a scratch off in back.\n\nOverall if you're going to spend money on Amazon throughout the year or generous enough to give someone a bear + $100 to someone then this is a excellent purchase\n\n** Note: I white out the UPC and Serial Number in the photos just in case i need to use it as reference later","Product: Modern style and intelligent craft have created the ultimate THIN WALLET FOR MINIMALISTS. We know its not just a lifestyle; its who you are. The Crabby Wallet combines a MINIMALIST DESIGN WITH MAXIMUM UTILITY so that you can live your life carrying just the essentials. The Crabby Wallet rests on a GENIUS SIMPLE concept: carrying everything you need and nothing that you dont. Designed with TWO POCKETS, our ultra-small wallet has room for up to 10 cards along with cash, a phone, and a couple of keys. A LARGE ELASTIC BAND WITH RUBBER GRIP WRAPS AROUND THE ENTIRE WALLET, securing everything inside so that you can have peace of mind knowing nothing will fall out. Break up with bulky wallets for good with this wallets VERSATILE, LIGHTWEIGHT CONSTRUCTION. The Crabby Wallet is made ENTIRELY of a DURABLE ELASTIC for maximum functionality that fits your style holds your belongings in a firm but easily accessible grasp. Superb as a thin mens wallet or a thin womens wallet, the SUPER-SLIM DESIGN makes the Crabby Wallet a favorite FRONT POCKET WALLET. Because its small, youll be comfortable leaving it in your pocket when you sit down. This wallet even adds a fun, modern statement to your wardrobe with its cool-casual look. We want you to have easy access to your essentials, so we added a LOBSTER CLAW KEYCHAIN. Quickly attach a car or apartment key to your wallet, then tuck it inside the elastic, rubber grip band to AVOID LOSING YOUR KEYS when youre out and about. No keys to carry? The key-chain is removable, or you can use it to attach the Crabby Wallet event more securely to your pocket to ensure that it never falls out. Truly the choice minimalist wallet, the CRABBY WALLET FACILITATES A LIFESTYLE OF SIMPLICITY AND FOCUS.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: A Crabby Wallet Indeed\n\nReview: The Crabby Wallet is more portable than practical.\n\nYou are able to fit a lot of items in a small amount of space while being visually aware of where everything is.\n\nYes, it's very portable, being tight-knit and easy to carry around, but actually using it for transactions in a real world setting can be troublesome\n\nThe compact design is not as functional as bi fold or other slim wallets I've used in the past. With no individualized card slots and force folding money you'll have to shuffle through cards/cash while standing at the cashiers especially when the card or individual bill you want is towards the center of the stack.\n\nThe band fits everything securely, but after unbinding it can getting out what you want, it's a chore to put everything back to where it was depending where the item is located and what's attached to the strap. By the time the transaction is finished, you may feel awkward stepping to the side and putting everything in place. Often times if there is a long line with a lot of on lookers, I would just stuff everything in my pocket and go to a bench or my car to put everything neatly in place to avoid the embarrassment\n\nThe Crabby wallet is very stylish and looks good when showing it off in public (just don't show it in action when at full performance). The wallet is more functional with a minimalist lifestyle, but you will still encounter the problem stated above.\n\nIts able to fit both traditional a 5inch phone and also 6 inch phablet on the strap, just that the phablet looks a bit awkward.\n\nIf you're looking for a very stylish wallet that is portable it's a good purchase, but know that you have to take extra steps when actually in use\n\nI received this product at a discount in exchange for a honest review","Product: Shipping Height: 2.2 Shipping Width: 6.8 Master Pack Qty: 5 General Information Manufacturer: SteelSeries ApS Manufacturer Part Number: 62150 Brand Name: SteelSeries Product Model: Sensei Product Name: Sensei Mouse Marketing Information: MEET THE SENSEI Since the release of our first mouse, we have been using Japanese-inspiration in our naming of them. Our mice are built for performance and tournament-style play; Ikari means anger, Xai means talent, and the list of product names goes on. The Sensei is our version of the grand-master in our Do Jo. It is the teacher. The one everyone bows to, the one who knows tricks and secret moves that everyone wants to learn - but so very few can ever hope to master. It's a fitting name. Master your game. Meet the Sensei. Product Type: Mouse Pointing Device Pointing Device Connectivity Technology: Wired Movement Detection: Laser Movement Resolution: 11400 dpi Number of Total Buttons: 7 Scroller Type: Scroll Wheel Interfaces/Ports Pointing Device Host Interface: USB Physical Characteristics Height: 1.5 Width: 2.7 Depth: 4.9 Weight (Approximate): 3.60 oz\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Perfect for left handed gamers\n\nReview: Excellent ambidextrous mouse. For those lefties who live in the right handed world, you can fully take advantage of this mouse. I personally use the the mouse left handed when doing casual tasks (surfing web, watching videos, typing essays, etc) and right handed when gaming to put myself in a focused mindset when gaming competitively. Or via versa if you like, I already have a lot of years gaming right handed so it's hard to convert.\n\n--Ergonomics.\n- If you have large man-size palms it forces you to grip the mouse tightly (which may increase aiming precision). If you want a more loose, comfortable palm grip i'd get the\n\n<a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/SteelSeries-Rival-310-Gaming-Mouse-12-000-CPI-TrueMove3-Optical-Sensor-Split-Trigger-Buttons-Prism-RGB/dp/B073WGFLQY/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">SteelSeries Rival 310 Gaming Mouse, 12,000 CPI TrueMove3 Optical Sensor, Split-Trigger Buttons, Prism RGB</a>\n\nNote that this mouse is not ambidextrous, but has similar features minus 2 programmable buttons and has a pinky rest.\n\n-This mouse is thin in terms of thickness so your hand is closer to the ground than most mouses, again, may help with precision and accuracy.\n\n-There's textured rubber side grips which feels very comfortable to rest before having to press the side buttons. Great for fingertip or claw grip users\n\n-Mouse feet glides well with no issues\n\n-Lightweight.\nFeels very natural in the hand. For those who like weighted mouses, unfortunately there's no added weight options\n\n--Optical sensor.\n\nHas an optical instead of a laser sensor\n\nNo jittering at high dpi or having to lift the mouse to reconfigure yourself. No spin outs (character rotates 280 degrees + in FPS) when gliding the mouse forcefully.\n\nLess time blaming the mouse than your game/skills\n\n--Buttons\nLeft and right click feels a bit loose/floaty before you click them in compared to other mice. You are not using extra finger pressure, but an odd sensation if you're not used to it.\n\nScroll wheel is a bit stiff. Good for internet browsing, but also for those use use the scroll wheel for weapon change where you don't want to accidentally skip over a weapon select.\n\nThere are two programmable button on each side, which you can configure to your liking. I personally use 3 of the 4 when gaming, but a housemate that tried it said he kept accidentally pressing the right side buttons (when using right handed) with his pinky and ring finger during tense situations. You can disable one side if you like via the downloaded software.\n\nSide buttons has less travel for the default configuration (where your thumb is closest to). For the buttons on the opposite end, some muscle memory is required if you plan to use those buttons, and have this mouse be your main gaming mouse\n\nDPI button is out of the way in the center. Most likely you're not going to press the button accidentally\n\n--Software\nWith downloaded software you can:\nPre-select macro and keyboard buttons to mouse\nChange LED color and frequency change\nChange Sensitivity\n\nIf you own a steelseries mouse previously, you may have to uninstall/re-install program if the program does not recognize the mouse. If so, make sure you screen shot your configuration before uninstalling, unless you have a good memory of your setup.\n\nOverall, very good gaming mouse that has great precision and accuracy. Prefect fit for left handers.\n\n--Extras: Other options (?)\nMy current gaming setup/daily driver when it comes to mouse include\n\n<a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/SteelSeries-Rival-500-MMO-MOBA-15-Button-Programmable-Gaming-Mouse-16-000-CPI/dp/B01K3DM0WY/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">SteelSeries Rival 500 MMO / MOBA 15-Button Programmable Gaming Mouse - 16,000 CPI</a>\n\nand\n\n<a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Razer-Tartarus-Chroma-Expert-RGB-Gaming-Keypad-with-25-Programmable-Keys-Including-an-8-way-Thumb-pad/dp/B00ZTRW00C/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Razer Tartarus Chroma Expert RGB Gaming Keypad with 25 Programmable Keys Including an 8-way Thumb-pad</a>\n\nDue the use of a lot of macros and programmable buttons on both, as it's more comfortable/reliable using these than a flat keyboard (having only use keyboard for chat functionality), especially with the flick down switch on the rival 500 for space bar button/jumps\n\nThis is personal preference though as each setup is different for everybody. For any mouse, including this one, i recommend getting the Razor Tartarus especially when you are on a gaming binge and don't want your fingers getting fatigued or strained\n\nPro Gaming Tip: As mentioned before, if you plan to get the most out of your gaming experience, best to use different mouse and/or hands for casual and gaming use as it keeps you from acting lazy, and helps you be more focused during game sessions. For casual use, I use the a vertical mouse from Anker.","Product: The Order: 1886 - PlayStation 4\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Amazing visuals, but short game\n\nReview: The game is similar to the 3rd person over-the-shoulder Gear of War style gameplay, but with a more serious tone to it. Story revolves around you trying to uncover a conspiracy among your ranks while dealing with the Ripper murders and wolf like half breeds.\n\nBest feature by far of the game is the graphics. Love the presentation of the game, the graphics is the best I've seen on any console game with detailed individual stitches in the cloth clothing, individual strands of hair, textured faces and great battle animations with natural lighting and particle effect in the environments making it a very immersive experience.\n\nThe sound is amazing especially with on the weapons as each weapon feel unique. Very good environmental sounds mixed with echo of gunfire and grenades. I also like the attention to detail of the characters as there are random natural deep breathing with the characters when you stop to reload making it more like you are the character rather than just playing them. The music is very subtle as they occasionally pop in and out without you noticing, when you do notice it's very stimulating to hear. The voice acting is very good, there's no one character who seem out of place as all voice actors have done their job perfectly so it doesn't break the immersion/tension making you more interested in what's to come next.\n\nThe gameplay is similar to Gears of War but more fluid as you are not really magnetized to the wall, rather you have more free range of motion like the Uncharted series. It's a linear shooter where you trudge from area to area trying to uncover the murder mystery making it more of an interactive movie rather than an actual game. The gun fights are very short lived as you get occasion breaks in cut scenes after each battle. All the guns handle perfectly and you feel like a badass going from checkpoint to checkpoint. The game is also heavy with quick-time-events (QTE) especially on the cinematic moments similar to the Resident Evil series (4 and after).\n\nOverall very high production value, but a very short game. The game puts heavy focused on it's story telling and graphics over gameplay and will probably last you around 7 hours long. Add a few more if you want to do collectibles and get an easy platinum trophy.\n\n I recommend getting this when it's on sale from the $10-15 price range. $20 if you want to get into a shooter mystery story","Product: Mad Max - PlayStation 4\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: One Long Side Mission?\n\nReview: Game starts off with Max's car being scrapped/stolen and you (Max) stranded in the desert with the main objective to re-built the perfect vehicle with help of a chum-bucket a disfigured mechanic resembling a cross between Golem from LOTR and Ephialtes from 300.\n\nThis entire game sort of resembles a long side mission (aside from the ending chapter) in a traditional open world game as you just scavenge materials/scraps for your car and find leads on the next car part. The game sort of like a grind to get to the next cutscene or story plot if it weren't for the banter between characters and environmental diversity as each location seems different from the next.\n\nGameplay is a cross between vehicle controls of Borderlands and hand-to-hand combat of the Batman Arkham games but with better customization options . I personally find the vehicles segments (more than half the game) a bit frustrating since the controls are really stiff till you do some upgrades. The hand-to-hand combat segments have you do combos while dodging at the correct moments. The combat flows really well, but the camera can get in the way at times especially in tight corridors. Throughout the game, you have to be conservative about your food, ammo and gas which brings up some resource management. Also some segments drag on as you don't have enough scrap to build you next car part having you grind for some which feels like a chore.\n\nThe story is your traditional Mad Max theme similar to the movie. It's filled with tons of enemies/allies who are borderline crazy with primal like instincts. The characters aren't relatable, but fun to see them interact with each other. The cutscenes are amazing compared to actual gameplay, but wished it was more interactive or part of gameplay since those are where the action is most intense.\n\nOverall great game, if you don't mind the extended fetch quest mission.","Product: Offering exceptionally natural and accurate sound quality, the new G4ME ONE is built to be the ultimate headset for professional or home gaming. The open back design delivers sound exactly as the game developers intended, while letting air through to help keep ears cool during hours of gameplay. The G4ME ONE is an extremely lightweight design using XXL-sized ear cups with plush velvet ear pads, and a cushioned headband providing ultimate comfort for extended gaming sessions.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Awsome Mic, Okay In-game Sound\n\nReview: Best built in mic on any gaming headset I've tried. Mic sound coming from it sounds very natural like studio mics when testing it out with friends, and listening to it post recording. Sounds more like you're talking to someone in person rather than with someone off a radio for instance, which is good for run on sentences and lengthy commands/commentary compared to few word notification to your teammates to tell them where the enemies/objectives are\n\nSound coming from the headset itself are great in terms of multimedia (movies, music, TV,shows, etc), but for picking up in-game sound like footsteps and trying to deciphering distance of objects and in-game enemies are not that good.\n\nWith that said, this headset is excellent if you're a streamer (playing games on easy/normal mode) as you do not need an additional external mic setup as the one built into the headset is quite sufficient especially if you're going to talk for extended amounts of time. For in-game use, it's good for casual play or if you have poor sound depth perception to begin with and/or like to issue out commands/provide support on your team rather than being on top of the leaderboard in a match.\n\nTips for improving your game in terms of sound for ANY headset:\nI recommend going to the sound options of the game and turn off music volume completely and max out sound effects/in-game sound.\nThen go to training mode with a friend, have him/her walk around your character to judge step distance (some games varies, also may be character/hero/object dependent). Then blind fold yourself, and do a test to judge direction it's coming from.\nThis will improve your game sense and may rank you up in the game because of it.\n\nHeadset is very comfortable and able to wear for long hours without any discomfort. This generally depends on your head size/shape, but from myself and two friends who tried it, this is definitely the case\n\nControls on this headset is very minimal. There's a scroll wheel volume dial on the side which gets a bit of getting used to. Not as practical as a scroll wheel that you slide/flick with your finger for instance. I'd say best to have it on default volume all the time or if you have an amp attachment to your headset use the volume control on that instead. There's no software customization, so you have to rely on the hardware itself\n\nOverall I'd say this headset is good for entertainment purposes i.e. streaming online or like to talk a lot in-game due to the excellent micophone. The headset sound itself is not exactly built for gaming in my opinion. Don't get me wrong, it sound excellent as a stand alone headphone across all media, but it doesn't pick up exaggerated footsteps and sound depth perception like other gaming headsets do. It seems like Sennheiser initially made a high quality sounding headset and said, 'hey let's make a gaming headset without sacrificing overall quality sound across all other media' best way they did this (or at least my theory) is to make a excellent mic that stands out for communication purposes","Product: Hyrule Warriors, the imaginative upcoming game for the Wii U console, combines the action-packed game play of Tecmo Koei's Dynasty Warriors series with the iconic characters and worlds from The Legend of Zelda series. In addition to the focused action game play of leading one soldier against a massive horde of enemies, the Dynasty Warriors series is also known for its epic storyline. In this game, players control Link as he faces a powerful new enemy\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Zelda x Dynasty Warriors\n\nReview: I got this game over a year after release, note that you have to wait for a mandatory 25-30mins update before you can play the game. The wait isn't for nothing as along with patches, it contains free DLC characters, level caps increase and weapons.\n\nThis game is basically Dynasty Warriors with a Zelda theme. For those who never played Dynasty warrior games; you are a overpowered character who fight a horde of 100+ very low level perfectionists (aside from mid-bosses, boss type characters) on screen who just huddle around in the group and let you pummel them to death unless they are 95% sure they can attack you. It's a territory type game where you have to capture enemy outposts/bases to gain control of the battle; more territory gained by you, less enemy advancement. Also the more territory you gain lowers enemy moral making the mid-bosses/bosses attack lower. The main goal of each level is to capture enough enemy outposts/bases to unlock barriers/gates to advance to the main enemy base to defeat the end boss. They occasionally switch it up with escort missions when you protect a bombchu till it move itself to a large boulder blocking the way and explodes on contact so you can advance.\n\nStory is pretty lackluster, it's a generic bad guy take over the world/hero have to band together to save the day. It's not your traditional Zelda plot as there's a character named Cia trying to take the triforce for herself to, you guess it take over the world. Ending is very predictable, but the journey there is filled with a lot of low level enemies standing around while you slash through them like butter making you feel like an overpowered bad-ass\n\nGameplay wise it's your standard/heavy attack, defend, dodge, focus attack and special move mechanic you're used to. You can lock onto boss enemies which is a god-send especially for these type of games making you wish that it would be standard. Throughout the game you get to unlock side items with unlimited use like the bomb, boomerang, and hookshot to name a few. This game has a lot of combo potential and different ways you tackle enemies. Each character plays differently from each other with there own stats (speed, HP, Defense etc), attack style, and special moves with no one character being a clone of one another. Each character also have different weapon types to choose from, which also increase the variation of play. There's also a badge crafting mode making characters more customization in how they do their combo or buff certain attributes such as increase their special meter faster.\n\nThere is 3 ways to play controller wise. The pro controller, gamepad, and wii remote/nunchuck combo. If you're serious into the game, the pro controller is preferred as it's the most ergonomic and objectives/minor events are displayed on the gamepad while using it. Gamepad is okay if you want off-screen play, just note that the graphics may not be as good as on the big screen. Wii remote/nunchuck feels natural and makes you feel more in sync with the character, but you have to waggle the wii remote to do a standard attack which is not favorable for long game sessions.\n\nYou can play 2 player split screen, but know that if you do it'll drop from 60 frames per second (playing by yourself) to 30 fps co-op. Advantage to two player is that you can get more better manage territories and it's more fun with another player at your side\n\nGraphics are really good as it's very colorful and pleasant to look at. Instead of a realistic style, they went with a cartoony style that's very colorful and vibrant which I personally prefer. The battle animations and special moves are a joy to look at. The generic enemies in the game though feels like last gen (or at least 2 gen back) models, but you tend to not mind them as they get defeated in one or two hits.\n\nVoice acting is very limited. The narrator reads off the main story synopsis before each battle with is filled with unnecessary exposition. In game all characters do their traditional grunts and yelps like in all zelda games thus far forcing you to read the subtitles. This is sort of annoying in higher difficulty as some characters fill you in on what's happening during battle and it may mess up the flow of the game when you have to read what's happening.\n\nThe music is very good. A lot of references to past Zelda games.\n\nThere's a lot of unlockables which you either have to grind for or find hidden in the levels with the former more than the latter. There are only a handful of level/stages available so it gets repetitive after a while. I personally go back to the game every now and then at a long of a busy work day to unwind and slash through hundreds of enemies for experience points and rupees for unlocks.\n\nOverall if you like the Dynasty Warriors type game with a Zelda skin pick it up.","Product: Yoshi's Woolly World. Set off with a friend* through a wild woolly world in this grand Yoshi adventure! A treasure trove of clever handicraft stages are ready for you to explore. Unravel their secrets and color your world with a spectrum of yarn balls to knit new paths and get every last collectible. *Additional accessories required for multiplayer; sold separately.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Yoshi's Island + Epic Yarn?\n\nReview: Similar to Kirby's Epic Yarn in the design aspect, but the yarn here is fully realized with HD visuals having fuzz coming out the yarn and realistic fabric physics as you push against or land on an object.\n\nGameplay is inspired by the Yoshi Island series (minus the crying Baby Mario) and is not dialed in like the Kirby game which I thought was out of place. Everything feels very natural as if you're playing a Yoshi Island game with Yarn-like visuals.\n\nStory is pretty generic as you have Kamek capturing all Yoshis (except two) and you have to go through each level saving them one-by-one\nThere's an easy difficulty setting named 'Mellow Mode' for those who want to get through all 50+ levels in the game and see all the level unique designs that varies from stage to stage never feeling the same.\n\nClassic Mode is what you expect from playing the Yoshi Island series, but I find the platforming and enemy placement more difficult than past games in the series.\n\nThere is co-op which is a nice addition if you want a friend to join in on the fun. You can eat up your teammate and use them as an egg/ball of yarn, and you also have infinite lives since both players can bump into each other occasionally for accidental deaths\n\nThere are tons of collectables in the game, which all have a secondary function. So you don't have collect for the sake of collecting to 100% the game (unless you want to). Also all collectable progress are saved so you don't have to collect everything in a single run of a level.\n\n-By collecting beads (currency of the game) you unlock one-time use badges which can help you locate other collectables, immune to spikes/lava, increase your defense, have larger yarn balls and other buffs/status effects\n-Stamps once collected lets you use it to post on Miiverse\n-Collecting all bundled yarn in a level nets you a new skin or color pallet for your character\n-Collecting all flowers in a region unlocks a secret stage\n\nAmiibo:\n-Most Amiibo work in Yoshi Wolly World as a color pallet swap with designs resembling the amiibo you scan in. For example scanning in Mario, Yoshi will have a mustache and his signature plummer outfit.\n-If you scan in a Yarn Yoshi Amiibo you'll have a doppelganger that follows you like the cherry power-up in Mario 3D World.\n\nOverall best Yoshi (Island) game to date. Would totally recommend.","Product: Doom - PlayStation 4\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Doom Modernized, horrible load times\n\nReview: First I like to mention that there's a 1.2GB mandatory download from the disc to initiate the game (which takes 10-15mins), after that it'll slowly download the other 65GB into the harddrive. Also as of this review there's a 18.5GB patch for the game. Just something to keep in mind if you have limited hard drive space.\n\nGameplay is different from your modern day first person shooter (FPS); instead of flanking your enemies and hiding under cover, you run up to your enemies and shoot them in the face or circle strafe/jump dodge your enemies if they have high HP and/or are bosses. Like traditional Doom there are armor and health pickups instead of re-generating health. You also don't need to worry about getting headshots as enemies tend to do burst or melee damage instead of precision shooting.\n\nThere are 3D first person platforming is feels very stiff and floaty at times, but after a while you get used to it. The weapons feels very light with little or no recoil which feels very odd if you're into Call of Duty or other modern military shooters\n\nThere are tons of upgrade trees (weapon and stat based) and collectables in the game. I suggest exploring the entire area before moving on and upgrading your semi-automatic weapons first as it will help you a lot in boss battles.\n\nStory is pretty generic: Alien invasion on Mars, you try to collect resources but they retaliate. Hell is involved somehow...plot is basically to move you onto the your next objective which is to kill more demons. You probably forget the story after a day or two of putting it down and/or completing it. I don't even remember the main character's name...\n\nMusic is really good. Heavy metal instrumentals without the random screaming.\n\nThe only complaint I have is the horrible load times. For a game that's fast paced with fluid gameplay, retrying a level or stage is really annoying as it can take from 20-30secs after each game over screen to reload the last checkpoint. This may not seem like a lot, but if you're used to current-gen games that re-start you in less than 2 seconds, 20 seconds may feel like an eternity especially if you have to re-tread the same area multiple times.\n\nOverall good game if you're into a run and gun twitch gameplay and just want to shoot everything that moves","Product: With more than 12 million Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm games sold worldwide, this series established itself among the pinnacle of Anime & Manga adaptations to videogames! As every good story comes to an end, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 is going to be the most incredible Storm game released to date! Players around the world will experience the exhilarating adventures of Naruto Uzumaki like never before! The latest opus in the acclaimed Storm series will take gamers on a breathtaking and epic ride with new features like Change Leader System and Wall-run. For the first time ever, the world of Naruto will also take advantage of the graphics power of the new generation systems. This is just the beginning and more characters and features will be announced in the future!\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Conclusion to the series\n\nReview: First some background info. I've played the entire game series from the start of the original Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm. I've also played the side games Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm Revelations and Generations. I terms of watching the anime; I watched the entire original series and dropped off after a season and a half of Shippuden since I was in college at the time and was too lazy to get catch up. The video games provided me with a great summery of the plot though\n\nThis is a free roam arena battle style game. Every character has the same basic control scheme so you don't have to worry about memorizing character specific move sets. The roster totals over 100 and the reason to choose one over the other is how cool the characters and specials look, and speed relative to attack/defense (or just choose deidara the most OP character in the game). This makes it a more psychological game as you have to know when to defend, attack and dodge while keeping track on the yours and your enemies energy bar. At high levels of play it's more of a focused on twitch gameplay than everything else as you have to press the button at the right time to counter or dodge the enemy before they land a devastating combo on you.\n\nNew to the battle system is that you can swap between characters as well as have them as support. You do share the same life bar so you cannot use a character to the last inch of health then switch character last minute to save you from losing the match like in the Capcom vs games.\n\nThe visuals are very good like previous games having an anime look to it. The downside I guess is that seeing that the game is now on the PS4 it doesn't look much improved since the last PS3 game and they could have had it on both PS3 and PS4. The framerate on the the other hand is very smooth even when there's tons of randomly explosions and flashes on screen. Cutscenes are okay; they are more visually appealing than the last game, but they either got lazy or pressed for time because there's a lot of still frame shots which is a bit disappointing.\n\nStory is very good giving different perspective on varying characters instead of just follow Naruto. Also with the story taking place between less than half a dozen locations, seeing this, the story mode is no longer open world rather you have a selectable branching path level scheme similar to the 2D Mario series level select screen. If you miss the open world level traversal like in previous games there's Adventure mode where you are able to wander around the village and do side/fetch quests for collectables. The story of adventure mode surrounds the relationship between Hinata and Naruto for the most part. As for the main story mode, if you never played the past titles or not familiar with the anime you will get lost on what's happening. You do get flash back sequences, but only if you do all the QTE (quick timed events) correctly. If you only play the games and missed out on the anime like I have then you can piece together most ofo the story from the plot, but it seems like some of the details are missing as the story only tread on major plot points. Story mode is very easy to play through, if you lose a match the game presents you with full health power up and a choice between a defense or attack boost then puts you right where you left off where you fainted in the game. Retrying does affect your score though so if you want to S rank (especially for trophies) best to be on top of your game.\n\nThere are collectables in the game which gives you cosmetic items for characters and items for your online profile\n\nOnline is a step down. There's no spectator mode and online lobbies only have 4 people instead of 8 compared to the last game.\nTrophies are easy to get, most revolve around getting S rank in story mode missions where in order to get it you have to satisfy battle conditions set prior to each match let it be win with 50% health or connect with combination secret technique at least one time in match. Matches are easy to get into as of this review as there's a lot of players online. If you see someone playing as deidara you know they're more into the win than the fun factor.\n\nOverall aside from the character switching there's not much advancement to the battle system, it's a decent conclusion to the series but didn't go out with a bang in my opinion. Good if you want to catch up on the story without watching all the filler","Product: Two puzzling RPG adventures-one has dragons. .. the other has Mario! Two puzzling RPG adventures await you! Rescue Princess Peach from Bowser or defeat the evil group Paradox by battling enemies with the awesome power of orbs. Drag and match orbs, or chain together combos to deal massive blows to your enemies. Then bolster your forces with hundreds of unique monsters in this two-in-one game pack. In Puzzle & Dragons Super Mario Bros. Edition, you get to travel to different worlds as you assemble a team of Mushroom Kingdom baddies, like Goombas or Koopa Troopas, and recruit much-loved Mario characters, including Toad and Yoshi! Or in Puzzle & Dragons Z, battle the 5 powerful sky dragons to rebuild the world and customize your team with a plethora of different monsters. Allies gained in both games have the chance to evolve into more advanced forms and learn powerful new skills.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: A lot of level grinding for a puzzle game...\n\nReview: It's your typical match 3 puzzler where you line up 3+ similar orbs vertically or horizontally to clear them and rake up a high score, but with a twist. Instead of just swapping one orb for another, orbs swap places along the way rather than one exchange from endpoint to endpoint; making for a more strategy and foresight.\n\nAll puzzles simulate battles where you fight opponents on the top screen by clearing orbs on the bottom. You and your opponent take turns doing damage to each other until one of your life gauge drops to zero. Timer only starts when you touch an orb making for more thoughtful approach.\n\nYou get experience (EXP) points after each battle to level up and build you own team based on elemental effects (water, wood, fire, light and dark), having one element being super effective (or not very effective) towards another. The problem with this is that the game requires a lot of grinding of previous levels to build exp to be even to be considered to have a fighting chance especially when there's a boss character involved, making it feel more like a grind-fest than actual strategy at times. But you feel a great joy and pride after leveling up to defeat a boss.\n\nAside from the theme the core gameplay of Z and Mario are the same with slight changes in how you traverse the world, enemy variety and team match ups. Z has a hub world, more story based and has optional side quests. Mario has a set branching path the reach the end to save the princess making it easy to jump in and play. Also the visual design is slightly different in terms of the orbs and how the map/characters are laid out.\n\nStory for both is okay. There's more plot in Z, but overall both stories are pretty generic in terms of plot and writing as I wished there was more creative writing.\n\nThere's only one save file which is disappointing if you have multiple people in your household wanting to play on the same game cartridge, but it helps with leveling grinding I guess.\n\nOverall fun puzzler if you don't mind leveling up before a boss fight.","Product: Get ready for a dream duel of epic proportions in Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax, a 2D fighting game featuring an all-star cast of popular characters from Dengeki Bunko novels set against Sega-themed worlds. Developed by Ecole and French Bread, this mash up features a fighting system that is both easily understood yet complex in depth catering to veterans and newcomers alike.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Hidden Gem for Anime Fans\n\nReview: First off the gameplay: The 2D fighting is more fluid like Street Fighter and not as technical/stiff as Guilty Gear. The gameplay mechanics is similar to Persona 4 arena where you have assists, guard breaks and specials. Gameplay consist of a 4 button setup: assist, light, medium, and heavy attack. The game is fast paced and heavily based off combos like the Marvel vs Capcom games if you really want to master it. There is also a trump card feature in the game which temporary boost your stats for a quick comeback or devastating finish. There are a cast of 14 characters with 2 unlockables with no clones having every character having there own style/moveset.\n\nStory is presented in a visual novel format (no cinematic cutscenes) and is what you expect from a cross over fighting game: you (character you select in arcade mode) are transported to a mysterious world where someone asks you to your help to fix the world's hopes and dreams, and hopefully once fulfilled you are transported back to your own world. Along the way, you get character interactions which is surprisingly good as the characters display the same mannerisms as they would in their respective series.\n\nFor example, Asuna and Kirito (Sword Art Online) treat everyone as if they're in an MMO RPG and Taiga (Toradora!) is very stubborn about her height which almost every character in the game teases her on. You get scenarios where Kirito comments on Shana's (Shakugan no Shana) flame sword and wishes it'll drop as loot if he defeats her, and Shana responds back and tell Kirito that he's stupid and this is real life. There is also a 'dream duel' mode where it's focused on more witty banter with characters if you don't want to go through the generic plot in arcade mode. There are a lot of custom banter throughout the game in terms of visual novel story and introductory taunt before battle. If you are not a fan or familiar with the series presented, you may feel a bit lost.\n\nGraphics. Each character has very nice sprites with no pixelation resembling the anime or manga they're coming from. The stages themselves are also very detailed, but wish there was more going on in the background as most of the stages are static images. There's very little fan service in terms of visuals (no huge busts in women and overly muscular guys) as most of the cast are female tsundere with A-cups.\n\nSound. Very good soundtrack, most inspired by Sega games. There are Japanese only voice overs for every character, but you do get English subtitles. There are also subtitles at the beginning and in-between rounds above the character's heads which is a nice touch.\n\n The menu and game setup is very old school.\n-There are no tutorials so you have to learn as you go or look it up online\n-No annoying installs: just insert disc and play\n-Everything is unlockable (No DLC):characters, color pallet swaps, artworks to music\n-Loading times are very fast as if you're playing on a cartridge game\n-Score Attack, Timed, survival mode, and training\n\nThere is an online mode, but is non-existent as I tried connecting to matches separate times in a day without any luck\n\nOverall very good fighting game with nice character interaction. A anime fan's wet dream. For those who are not anime fans, you will still get some fun out of it, but will not get some of the references","Product: Chaos is the latest iteration in the Onechanbara series featuring the world's sexiest zombie slayers. With two sets of buxom vampire sisters at the player's disposal, over a dozen stages of high-octane real-time swordplay await, each characterized by the hordes of zombies infesting the land and the over-the-top methods our heroes employ to kill them. Fight off the invasion in gruesome detail, sending limbs and blood flying every which way through a variety of physical attacks and acrobatic maneuvers, occasionally transforming into a demon for short bursts of added power and speed at the cost of life energy. Each of the four members of the so-called \"bikini zombie squad\" has her own unique abilities, and skillful play is rewarded with orbs that can be exchanged for upgraded weapons and outfits.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Linear Hack and Slash\n\nReview: Similar gameplay to Ninja Giaden or Devil May Cry, but the difficulty toned way down with a lot of fan service where you go through linear levels with invisible walls trying to get to your next destination.\n\nThe story is your standard; rivals let go of the past and team up to save the world from a major villain bent on conquering the world. It's very predictable, but the witty banter from the characters during game play keeps you intrigued.\n\nGraphics are okay, the environments are low res like something you see in an early PS3 game, but the character models are nice in terms of playable characters and enemies. The combat is buttery smooth with no frame rate drops (keeping it around 60fps every time) even when a lot of enemies are on screen.\n\nThe voice actors do a pretty good job in the game, but there is horrible lip syncing\n\nGameplay is your typical hack and slash combo build up game. There are variety of different button/timed combo you can do with various weapons and power ups. The only thing that set this game apart to games similar to it is the weapon stain gauge, where if you get too much blood (indicated by a meter) it deals less damage over time, so you have to keep an eye on it like how you know when to reload a gun in a shooter game. You are also able to switch from 1 or 4 characters on the fly making for more potential combos. All characters play differently in terms of speed, dodge techniques, weapon types and ability. There are quick-time-events within the game, but only used in boss battles and consist of swiping the touch pad on your controller to whatever is prompt on screen (blue arrow)\n\nUnlockables consist of clothing options and outfits where you can move around accessories to different body locations once unlocked, and weapon upgrades. The main story will take you maybe 6-7 hours to complete initially depending on selected difficulty level, but if you're dressing up fan service characters, doing variety of optional quests within the game, or a gamer into high scores it may last longer\n\nDespite it's flaws, this is a very fun game. Great to unwind at the end of the day and slash through enemies for the heck of it.","Product: The year is 2029, and mechanically augmented humans have now been deemed outcasts, living a life of complete and total segregation from the rest of society. Now an experienced covert operative, Adam Jensen is forced to operate in a world that has grown to despise his kind. Armed with a new arsenal of state-of-the-art weapons and augmentations, he must choose the right approach, along with who to trust, in order to unravel a vast worldwide conspiracy. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Breach is an innovative game mode included in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. This new take on the game offers, for the very first time, an arcade approach on the gameplay of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, providing players with a connected puzzle shooter experience. As a Ripper, your objective is to obtain and sell highly classified corporate data by infiltrating some of the worlds most secure servers, using the funds you acquire to upgrade both your skills and arsenal. As you play, the rewards you earn, including XP, credits, and booster packs, will allow you to face the increasing difficulty of the game. Challenge yourself, your friends, and people from around the world in the ultimate Deus Ex arcade twist. Breach is a live game mode, introducing new challenges and features by rolling out updates on a regular basis.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Excellent Level Design: Play How You Want\n\nReview: If you played a Dues Ex game in the past, the game is basically the same first person, RPG Stealth game with more/better augmentation or upgrade tree.\n\nGameplay is really good, each level is designed so that there's no one way to tackle it, you can either go guns blazing, stealth or somewhere in between. If it's your first play though it'd probably be the latter as going full guns blazing and stealth require a lot of upgrades especially on higher levels which you can purchase through micro-transactions in the game which is very disappointing or if you're a pro in past titles it's not needed. You can literally go through the game without killing any enemy/boss in any lethal means which can net you a PSN trophy. This game has great flow compared to past titles in it's level design, you can zip through enemies and go in/out through levels very smoothy once you get good at the game as it feel very satisfying\n\nGraphics are really good, nice attention to detail in the environments as in some parts there are a lot of random little trinkets and paintings scattered throughout the room or level. Characters animate well, but the lip syncing can be horrible at times.\n\nStory is your basic trying to get rid of a terrorist organization plot with racial tension in a form of human augmentation. This game does a good job with a recap video for those who haven't played or forgot what happened in prior titles in the series. There's a lot of good exposition when talking to NPC for world building if you're into that sort of thing. Game ends in an abrupt note as it seems like this title is just a setup for the the next one.\n\nOverall best game in the franchise thus far in terms of level design and gameplay. Story is a bit disappointing since it's just a teaser for the next title.","Product: Call of Duty: Black Ops III - Standard Edition - PlayStation 4\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Bought 6 months after initial release\n\nReview: First let me preface that I got this game 6 months after it's initial release in November 2015. There's a required 9.8GB, 40+ minute installation before you get to play with all it's initial features. By just popping in the disc you only get access to the zombie mode. You can play the other modes while it's installing, but it downloads in this order and there may be frame rate/loading issues if you play during partial installation: Full Zombies, multiplayer, single player campaign.\n\nZombies mode this time around is more story based compared to past games. I'd say it's less frustrating with more players, but if you're a pro in past games it's easy to manage.\n\nMultiplayer. Even after starting 6 months after most other players, it's still easy to pick up and play if you're familiar with other COD titles. But it does take a few play sessions to adjust and get familiar with your custom loadout. New to multiplayer is you can choose from 9 specialists which you can customize. You get 4 to choose from at first, but you get the other 5 once you level up in rank. Each specialist has their own special moves which can be upgraded, but the core pick 10 system in previous game return also. Multiplayer this time around focuses more a parcore as you can run against walls and slide under gaps while shooting. You can also double jump which is meter based and recharges fairly quickly. Swimming is also now available in various maps, making for good hiding spots.\n\nSingle Player Campaign. There are 11 levels missions you can play in or out of order. Before you go into a mission you can upgrade your loadout and aside from grenades and rocket launcher type weapons you aren't able to pick up weapon from enemies since all weapons are locked to your bio-metrics.\n\nNew to the franchise is that you can play 4 player co-op in campaign mode, just note that when cutscenes happen, your team aren't present (sort of like the Daiblo games from blizzard).\n\nYou can pick your character's gender and slightly change their facial appearance, but it does not really effect the overall story. At one point in the game a minor character addressed a female character as \"him\", but aside from that there's no sexist overtone or stereotypes within the dialogue or story sequences in the game.\n\nStory wise, it's a self contained from the previous 2 Black Ops games. There's still a world wide threat, but the conflict is more focused on your squadmates than an overall looming threat which makes you more engaged.\n\nYou can choose from one of three superpowers within the levels; one let you hack drones, one debuff your opponents and the other causes environmental effects.\n\nThere is a airship flying segment, but unlike past Call of Duty titles, your ship is easier to control and you don't have do dodge rock sculptures while flying through frustrating narrow corridors to each an end goal.\n\nOnce you beat the game, you unlock nightmare mode (different from zombies mode) where you visit the same locales, but with different story filled with zombies supernatural themes.\n\nOverall not a huge upgrade to the Call of Duty franchise, but has enough refinements to make it interesting and fun","Product: Mighty No. 9 is a Japanese 2D Side-scrolling Action game that takes the best elements from the 8 and 16-bit classics that you know and love and transforms them with modern tech, fresh mechanics, and fan input into something amazing! Led by a veteran team with decades of experience, Mighty No. 9 promises to be an evolution in the well-known genre. STORY - In a world of advanced robotic engineering, nine robot siblings known as the "Mighty Numbers" rule in the Battle Colosseum. But when a sudden act of cyber terror turns the battle robots into rampaging menaces, it's up to Beck, the lone member of the team unaffected by the virus to save the future of humanity!\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Not a kickstarter backer\n\nReview: First thing I like to note is that I'm not a kickstarter backer for this game, and I personally think this game has a lot of bad press due to the delays and kickstarter backers expecting too much from the product, horrible marketing campaign, etc. This review is based on the game itself as a standalone product.\n\nThis video game is essentially a Mega Man game with a dash mechanic with high emphasis on speed runs (more on this later) as it has the same theme and plot you'd expect from Mega Man: Robot masters (Mighty Numbers) go out of control, and it's up to you to re-program them/snap them out of their trance or virus, etc and save the world from a mad scientist.\n\nDespite the infinite dash mechanic and optional free boost upgrades after each death, the game is really challenging like past Mega Man games. The first boss may be challenging, but after the defeating one, the rest of the bosses should be easy (aside from the final) after you find out which mighty number ability is weak against the other as you are able to absorb and use the ability of the defeated Might Number. This is not to say the levels are easy as like other mega man games, the enemy placement and environmental hazards can pose a problem to those new to this type of game, and a lot of trial and error is required to beat the level.\n\nControls are very responsive and fluid with no framerate stutters even with the infinite dash (except for the online mode). My only issue with gameplay is the shifting different weapons in real time which require too much button presses to initiate. Would be great if the have two dedicated buttons (namely shoulder buttons) to where you can scroll through them and memorize the number of button presses instead of holding down a button to initiate weapon select, scroll down to choose your weapon then press another button to select it.\nNew mechanics not present in mega man games are:\n\n-The already mentioned infinite dash\n\n-You can grab onto ledges and pull yourself up\n\n-When enemies get enough damage they start to glow a certain color where you can dash into them for an instant kill and absorb them instead of doing more shots with your blaster. The bosses also glow, but you have to dash into them before they recover, like white health in street fighter. The glow/dash mechanic not only do massive damage, but also give you point bonuses and increase meter on special number ability moves\n\n-High score system. This game is very focused on combos and how fast you complete each stage rather than a grand adventure to defeat each boss. After completing a level, the game present you with a letter grade, and completion time.\n\nThe level designs are really creative and each feel very unique. Unlike traditional Mega Man games it feels that the levels are centered around the speed runner with the combo and infinite dash mechanic making it seems like it's catered to the perfectionist. This is also enthized in the trophies achievements on PS4\n\nAll of the 8 robot masters (Mighty Numbers) you defeat have a very distinctive personality and it's fun to interact with them. When you defeat one, they will show up and give commentary and/or help in another level where their ability is super effective against.\n\nThe music is not very good. You can barely hear the background music from all the voice and sound effects from the default setting. I had to change the sound configuration from the settings menu. Even the the music is not as great as past Mega Man titles.\n\nOnline is horrible. Tons of lag and disconnects. Totally unplayable at the time of this review. Even if you are able to connect and play with someone there's a high chance you'll drop out or experience a glitch where you're unable to progress.\n\nOverall I think this is a great spiritual successor to Mega Man and it has all the right elements just more modernized. I just think that the external drama surrounding the game lead to some not trying out the game because of it","Product: Play the game, based on the movie, based on the game! Ratchet & Clank (PS4) is a new game based on elements from the original Ratchet & Clank (PS2). Developed alongside the major motion CG-animated picture coming to theatres in 2016, Ratchet & Clank (PS4) marks the PlayStation 4 debut of PlayStation's greatest heroes. Join Ratchet, Clank, Captain Qwark and new friends as they battle to save the Solana Galaxy from the evil Chairman Drek. With an hour of new cinematics (including footage from the film), Ratchet & Clank (PS4) takes a deeper look at the characters' origin stories and modernizes the original gameplay. Explore the galaxy in a game that features new planets, new and updated gameplay segments, all-new bosses, all-new Clank gameplay, all-new flight sequences, and much more --- with completely new visuals built to demonstrate the power of the PS4! Battle your enemies with an out-of-this-world arsenal, including new weapons and fan-favorite tools of destruction from the Ratchet & Clank Future series. From the brand new Pixelizer (which transforms enemies into explosive 8-bit pixels) to franchise favorites like the dance-party-inducing Groovitron and wise-cracking robotic bodyguard Mr. Zurkon, Ratchet & Clank's arsenal has never been better. Help Ratchet and Clank save the galaxy for the first time, again, exclusively on PlayStation 4!\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Modernized Ratchet and Clank\n\nReview: First of all this is a re-imagning of the series as they built the game from the ground up using a new engine rather than just upresing textures of the originals like in HD remakes making it seem like a makeover rather than a touch up. Think of it as a reboot like the new Tomb Raider series.\n\nIn terms of gameplay, the game is basically a platform shooter with some light puzzles, and racing mixed in. There's a lot of variety and collectables that you wont' get bored. There are also open ship battles and jet pack levels as seen in Ratchet and Clank: Into the Nexus.\n\nIf you're familiar with the series, there are a lot of weapons variety in the game. The amount of weapons are not as abundant as the last game released in the series, but it provides the 'best of' in the series in my opinion giving the quality of quantity effect. All weapons have an upgrade tree, once max out has a different effect than what it originally was. Some upgrades are locked until the weapon levels up (via extended uses), so it encourages you to keep using a variety of weapons instead of sticking to one, especially in higher difficulty when ammo is not that abundant. Constantly trying to upgrade your weapons as you go along creates an addictive loop, encouraging you to constantly switch out weapons as you progress through the game.\n\nVisuals are amazing, one of the best non-photorealistic visuals in games out there with tons of particle effects and a lot of minor detailing in the background. Think they went for an animated movie style visuals and it shows in cutscenes as well as in gameplay. If you played the first game of the series at launch this was probably how the game looks like in your head at the time rather than what you saw on screen back in the day.\n\nStory wise, it has similar plot as the very first game in the series, but they added in new characters, events and dialogue\n\nSo there's a movie tie in based on the game. Wished they included all of the movie into cutscenes of this game as it seems like the developers had too many cutscenes towards the end, and not enough levels that they decided to cut out scenes and used the left overs to make a movie.\n\nTrophies. Easy platinum if you don't mind multiple playthroughs and item collecting. There's some missable trophies that are event based, so make sure you look through the trophy list and complete the objective in the storyline/level before progressing onto the next one.\n\nOverall a greatest hits version of the all the games before it (in terms of gameplay), while harkening back or retelling of the origin story of Ratchet and Clank","Product: Uncover the true power of your DUALSHOCK 4 to join forces with ATOI THE MESSENGER in a daring quest to deliver a top-secret message. Unfold her magical papery world, save her pals in peril and battle the monsters trying to stop her delivery! Overflowing with PS4-exclusive features, surprises and secrets, you don't just play Tearaway Unfolded. you're in it! The power of your DUALSHOCK 4: Catch stuff hurled out of your TV - and throw it back to solve puzzles and take down the baddies. Guide atoi through dark, scary places by shining the light bar at your TV. Whip up a windstorm to discover hidden paths, and pilot a papery plane by swiping the touch pad. Get the App: With a smartphone or tablet, a second player can customise the papery world and characters with their own wild designs and real-world images as you play.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Dual Shock 4 Tech Demo?\n\nReview: I would like preface that I never played the Vita version and I do not own a PlayStation Camera, so I'm not able to evaluate the game based on those two criteria.\n\nThe game starts off ridiculously slow, and I felt like quitting the game until I realized that I spend my hard earned money on it (and the trade-in credit for it is ridiculously low). After the tutorial and the first game level when they let you use the jump feature for your character, the game starts ramping up considerably and is a lot of fun.\n\nGraphics is great to look at if you're into arts-and-crafts as the characters and environments has a paper craft design and even implement glue, stickers, scissors and tape into the gameplay which is a nice touch.\n\nThe game implements all features of the Dual Shock 4 controller (except maybe rumble, and the controller speakers):\n-The touch controls allows you to craft your own designs and stickers, control the wind, and the actual physical press of the touch pad controls trampolines present in the environment. Crafting your own stickers/environmental elements is a bit hard at first, since there's an odd disconnect from what when you are swiping on the touch pad and what's displaying on screen as you have to be constantly looking up and down. But after you spend time with it, it may become second nature to you. It's very exciting seeing your designs show up the game world.\n- The gyroscope in conjunction with the L2 and R2 triggers controls the light source/flashlight (shaped like the LED on the controller) to illuminate dark areas, search for hidden items and/or used a puzzle solving.\n-The Six Axis (or three-axis accelerometer/tilt controls) is used to control moving platforms\n-Microphone feature (need headset) is also used for recording and audio que playback in the game\n-You typical joystick and face buttons controls the movement of the actual character you're playing for platforming around the world, and some environmental puzzles controls. In conjunction with all the other gameplay mechanics mentioned above make for a fun experience and test your motor skills/hand-eye coordination especially when you have to use multiple gameplay elements going on at the same time.\n\nThe game is filled with a lot of light puzzle solving and exploration. The puzzle are fun to figure out and the exploration leads to little hand holding so you have to find hints through gems scattered around the world or talk to NPCs to find out where to go next. There's a lot of collectibles in the game, first play through i got 43%. There's a lot of restricted collectibles that are obviously obtainable which are locked for a second playthrough which is a bit disappointing if you're one who wants to collect them as you see them\n\nThe story has a lot of twist and turns. The plot is generic, but the actual story is good. Also there's a lot of fourth wall jokes/comments which is a nice touch.\n\nThe sound is okay. There's a lot of southern or folk instrumentals. There are 2 narrators of the story which do a superb job on their voice acting. The male narrator sounds similar to the narrator in Little Big Planet. The NPCs just talk gibberish with text speech bubbles and feels really hollow compared to their voiced counterparts\n\nAside from the very slow start, the game has very good pacing in terms of introducing gameplay elements. A enjoyable ride if you get through the hurdle of the first chapter","Product: Transformers Devastation PS4\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: For 80s and Platinum Fans\n\nReview: This game is more targeted to those who grew up with the cartoons in the 80s with the robots in disguise rather than the Micheal Bay's high visual intensive high budget films. Transformer's Devastation is based off of the Generations toy line with the voice cast of the original TV show (although some of the voices do sound a bit older, especially Megatron)\n\nVisuals are cell-shaded making it more feel in tone with the cartoons. There are no frame-rate problems throughout the game which is very nice considering a lot of beat-em-up games nowadays have occasional frame rate stutters. This is probably due to the character focus battles as the environment looks somewhat bland especially during battle arena locations. Transformations are fast a fluid and not complex like in the Micheal bay films with constant moving parts and has a more puzzle piece feel to them.\n\nGameplay. The game is developed by Platinum Games so you would expect great gameplay and this game is no different. You play as 5 select-able Autobots with varying stats for example: Grimlock is slow but deals high damage and Sidewipe is fast and better with combos. You can combo chain attacks to build up a final attack dealing massive damage. There's also a dodge feature, when timed perfectly, you are able to slow down time for a few seconds like in the Bayonetta series. Twitching back and forth from robot to vehicle mode while chaining combos is very fluid and when mastered feels very satisfying\n\nThere are variety of enemies classes where you have to change up your tactics. For example if there's a flying enemy you have to switch to your long range weapon or if they have shields you have to transform to a vehicle and change back to a robot in time to slip pass their shields in order to break them. Boss enemies (aside from Megatron) are huge, although similar to standard enemies but with more health and damage. These bosses look great, but you won't get a Shadow of the Colossus or Bald Bull from Punch Out sense of intimidation from them as you mostly just go to ankle vision mode. Defeated enemies and destructible objects in the levels drop loot which you can use to upgrade your weapons and/ fuse them to create better weapons\n\nSound is okay. There's no dynamic range to any of the tracks and you tune them out at times when concentrated on the battles.\n\nThe story is pretty basic with the trying to take over the world theme to it. Even though the story and plot is lack luster, the character interaction in between is quite good and brings back nostalgia to the 80s cartoons\n\nAside from the main story there is challenge mode, where you re-visit certain segments/levels of the story and try to complete varying objectives presented to you. There is no multi-player which is a bit of a disappointment especially when the main story is only 4-5 hours long. The game suggest you to play through all missions with all 5 characters to boost re-play value (as presented in the trophy achievements), the story will be the same but you get slightly different character interaction depending on the autobot you select. Also you are graded for every level you play in the 7 chapters in the game so it's there for those who like the high score aspect of traditional games.\n\nUnless you are a hardcore 80s Transformers AND Platinum Games fan this would be a great pickup. If not, I'd wait till there's a price drop unless you're into the high score aspect of the game.","Product: Step into the wild car fantasy world of Trackmania Turbo, where everything is about having fun chasing the fastest time. Discover the ultimate time attack racing experience with over 200 head-spinning tracks, set in 4 beautiful environments, each with their own play style. Highly replayable, easy to learn and hard to master, the arcade racing universe of TrackMania Turbo will keep you coming back for one last lap!\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Bite Size Arcade Racer\n\nReview: This game would have been perfect on a high end graphical handheld systems with physical buttons, but seeing the low adoption rate of the PSP and the 3DS not having high end hardware specs it's a bit disappointing that it's console and PC only as the level design/progression lends itself to mobile devices.\n\nThe game has 200 tracks divided into four types of environments with most tracks lasting around 30-60secs. Surprisingly, no tracks are a copy of the other as there's always new scenarios/combinations for each track. Before you start each track you can choose which ghost car you want to race against: bronze metal AI, Silver metal AI, Gold AI or a ghost of your own previous completion. Tracks are grouped by 10 tracks and each group are unlocked by getting a set amount of bronze, silver and gold metals. Getting gold metal in a track requires you to get a near perfect completion rate with no collisions and perfect drifts. Unless you're a natural, you'll be playing a course over and over again before gaining the well deserved gold metal\n\nControls are very simple, there's basically only 5 main buttons:\n1. Acceleration: could be right trigger or face button. I tend to use both having triggers for straightaways and face button (along with brake) for drifting\n2. Break: similar to acceleration but left trigger\n3. Various camera options: set whether you want first or third person perspective when driving, also a button to look behind you\n4. Restart Level: restart the entire level in an instant by hitting the triangle button on PS4.\n5. Restart checkpoint: similar to restart level, but at a checkpoint and pressing the circle button. This is not ideal unless you want practice a certain section of the track as restarting a checkpoint starts you car at 0mph losing the momentum of the race. Restart times for both level and checkpoint are instantaneous, but the initial boot up of the game loads for like a minute plus which is a bit disappointing.\n\nEveryone has one selected car per track (no stat upgrades/car modifications), so the game is entirely skill based. You can add decals to your car to switch things up, but it doesn't effect the stats. Controls of this game is really tight and responsive, there's a clear difference between bronze, silver and gold metals you earn. You need good precision controls, so I can see why this isn't on mobile smart phones which rely mostly on motion sensing controls. There are no powerups (aside from speed boost/deboost strips on the ground) and the entire game is time trails with no other racers on screen aside from ghosts.\n\nGraphics are really good for an arcade racer and runs at a buttery smooth 60fps.\n\nOverall very good game for bite size arcade racing. Would be ideal on mobile, but smart phones don't have enough physical buttons (or bluetooth controllers are not that mainstream), low adoption rate of the PSP and the 3DS not being as powerful. Let's hope there's a port on the rumored mobile Nintendo NX. For a home entertainment game it's not that bad if you're a completionist/perfectionist trying to get gold on every track; just know that you'll be restarting levels for hours like it's groundhog day.","Product: From the legendary creator Keiji Inafune and the makers of Metroid Prime comes ReCore, an action-adventure masterfully crafted for a new generation. As one of the last remaining humans on a planet controlled by robotic foes bent on your destruction, you must forge friendships with a courageous group of robot companions, each with unique abilities and powers. Lead this band of unlikely heroes on an epic adventure through a mysterious, dynamic world. You cant save mankind alone.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Fun Combat...not much else\n\nReview: If Star Wars The Force Awakens ever had a prequel tie in game revolving around Rey; this basically much describe the world of this game. You're a scavenger, Joule in a desert planet searching for parts while encountering 4 (technically 5) robot AI which accompany you on your journey.\n\nGameplay is split up into 3 parts: world/dungeon exploration, platforming puzzles, and the other a fun arcade third person shooter.\n\nExploration and dungeon crawling is okay, you can scavenge for core and parts/blueprints for upgrades whether it's your gun or your robot companions. Down side is if you're not used to old school open world adventure games then it may be off putting especially during fetch quests where you have to collect 6 or 7 of the same items to open a door. There's no hint system like in Uncharted 4 for example where they tell you where the last item or hints to solve the puzzle. This can be frustrating at times when you have 5 out of 6 items to progress through the dungeon and you have to keep wandering around the map for minutes to find it or look it up online. One item took me maybe 15mins of wandering around to find on my own. Also certain areas have you use 2 of your 4 robot companions (the 5th one is just a transporter/fast travel) to get through the level or mini-dungeon, this is a hassle when you only can have 2 at given time instead of 3 and you have to go back to your base to swap them out. Basically in terms of puzzles and exploration the game doesn't hand hold you, and you have to figure everything out yourself or play an advance game of hide and seek. Also some story missions are locked until you find certain item/core requirements so there' a lot of item grinding involved.\n\nThere's a lot of platforming puzzles in the game where you use your abilities to jump though timed levels to get a specific item/finish a quest. If you're not good at 3D platforming or have fast reactions speed this may be frustrating also\n\nCombat in this game is very fun, as you have to switch to different colored bullets, dodge and call your robot companions to build combos for exp.\nThere's an auto-aim feature, but the combat is very fast pace where you have to prioritize enemies and dodge incoming attacks testing your reflexes. Once you get into it it's very exhilarating. Too bad the game have to go through a lot of fetch quests, if it was just combat all the way through i'd say it would be a better game\n\nGraphics are okay. Not top of the line graphics but pretty decent. There are some frame rate stutters at times when there's a lot of enemies on screen.\n\nOverall this is not a casual game that you pick up and play through the story. There's a lot of exploration, Easter egg (parts/cores) hunting and weapon grinding.","Product: A Shared-World Adventure Game that lets you be the pirate youve always dreamed of in a world of danger and discovery. Explore a vast ocean where every sail on the horizon means a ship filled with real players who may be friends or foes. Form a crew and voyage to treasure-filled islands, face legendary creatures and test your mettle in epic ship battles against other pirates. Sail solo or join a crew of up to three other players to experience true co-operative gameplay.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: A LOT of imagination (and friends) required\n\nReview: First some housekeeping. Xbox Live Subscription required as it's an online only game. 11GB mandatory patch as of this review.\n\nYou have to have a lot of imagination and creativity for lasting appeal of this game or at least hold your attention\n\nLove the art style, best water graphics since opening of Bioshock (1). Audio is also really good especially the environmental audio. Aside from this, the game is pretty bare bones as I'll go into the game mechanics.\n\nThere are 3 quest types:\nHunt for Treasure Chests\nFight skeletons*\nCapture chickens and pigs\n\nThere's no progression in the game and no story (unless you make one up yourself). You do quests to gain money and use the money to buy cosmetic items (no stat boosts). Bad thing is, everything is ridiculously expensive. It takes hours of grinding for one cosmetic item. In order to unlock majority of the items, you'll have to grind quests which gets boring after a while especially when the challenge is the same. Also once you complete a task, you have to sail back to the quest giver which can take up to 15mins\n\nSkeletons are the only major enemy in the game, and they all have the same battle animations/moves. The only difference is how they look and randomized attack and HP stats. There's also The Kraken is in the game, but it randomly pops up when it wants to, when it does, taking it down is anti-climatic as it just runs away. If you dive down to try to see its whole body...well the kracken is invisible. Just random grouped tentacles floating on the waves\n\nThere are raids in the game where you team up with other people to fight hordes of skeletons for treasure\n\nAlso, there are passive challenges like opening certain amount of chests. But the challenges can take hours to complete just one artificially extending the life of the game\n\nPvP\nThis is where you attack other ships and pirates online. This is the most fun and frustrating part of Sea of Thieves.\n\ngood if you have a decent team or people you know to play with you. If you don't communicate and/or teamed up with noobs you'll have a bad time as you can be decimated by the other team as your team have to micro manage everything on the ship: have a scout, people on the cannons, person steering the ship, people patching up the ship/throw buckets of water back into the sea so it doesn't sink.\n\nWhen everyone know what they're doing, and coordinate/work together it's a blast (this is rare unless you have friends to play with). Thus the this part of the game is as fun as the people you are playing it with.\n\nIf you don't have online friends, it's hard for you to get a decent team. First off, most won't communicate with you, or worst yet won't accept the mission to even start the quest.\n\nThere are no rewards for PvP, just you losing you quest progress if the enemy team starts shooting at you and/or sinks your ship...\n\nAfter a few hours, you feel like you're done with the game. The game gets repetitive really quickly, unless you have friends who like getting together to raid other ships and like doing repetitive grinds cosmetics. It's like the developers saw how kids can put in 100s of hours on a game like Minecraft, where the game gives you a little and have to use or imagination to extend the playtime...but instead of building, you're raiding other pirate ships and grinding for your your next belt, beard or dress.\n\nIn the end, it feels like a tech demo for water physics and animation, and to test how much people are willing to grind for a different colored gun that has the same stats as any other gun in the game. If you get bored of the repetitiveness, you can create your own fun I guess*\n*varies depending on your imagination","Product: Facing unknown dangers in a strange and mystical land, an ordinary young boy and his gigantic feathered friend must rely on each other to survive in this harrowing story of friendship and trust.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: The Boy and The Beast\n\nReview: Tale as old as time\nTrue as it can be\nBarely even released\nThen Sony bends\nUnexpectedly\n\nJust a little change\nSmall to say the least\nBoth a little scared\nNeither one prepared\n\nThe Boy and the beast\n--\nThe following review is for the PS4 original (not Pro) console\n\nA game stuck in development hell since late ps2/early ps3 era has finally been released. Despite the hype, the game came out pretty decent overall with amazing story/lore and world building, but stuck in the past in terms gameplay.\n\nStory: You wake up next to a chained up creature you named Trico. You try to get home, but realize you need Trico's help to escape the torn down you were placed in. Along the way you build an emotion bond with each other while discovering the lore of the world through gameplay interactions and visual perception of the world rather than solely relying on narrative. To get a full grasp of what is happening you have to put the pieces together yourself instead of the game telling you what is happening through narrative\n\nGraphics. Same art design as it's prequel 'Shadow of the Colossus' (SotC), but in high definition. You can say on the visual department it's the definitive/remastered edition of SotC in terms of visuals. Frame rate is pretty solid throughout despite it being on the original PS4 compared to the PS4 Pro. I downloaded the patch so i guess that helped since i heard rumors it had problems at launch, but during my playthrough frame rate drops were minimal.\n\nGameplay.\n-Could be a lot better as it feels like a PS2 open world 3d platformer. If you ever played SotC it has the same gameplay style; the controls are very clunky with poor hit detection as the platforming feels very stiff and loose. Also the game has bad camera angles especially in narrow corridors.\n-Coming out of recent games like Zelda Breath of the Wild where there are multiple ways to solve an environmental puzzle, in this game there's only one solution. Most of the time you have to wait for Trico to decided when it wants to help you, which can frustrate some of those who do not have patience\n-Trico has amazing AI as it feels like it's own entity. You have to learn to get along with it like a new puppy or if you ever had younger siblings when you were 5-7, you have to work with them rather than telling it what to do and expect them to listen most of the time. You have to figure out it's mannerisms as sometimes it doesn't like you watching her head on when eating or have to test the pool of water first before she's willing to jump in.\n-Most if not all puzzles are environmental based as you have to be self aware of your surroundings to get to the next level.\n- Again the gameplay is very old school. If you owned SotC or played PS2 open world platformers you may not have an issue, but if you're used to the new generation of games you may get frustrated with the controls.\n\nGame is pretty lengthy at around 12 hours. I'm an avid gamer who likes to explore a bit, so it may take you longer? Replay value comes in PSN trophies where there's achievements like completing the game in 5 hours or never have a single death through the entire playthrough.\n\nOverall if you like a captivating story where you have to put the pieces together on your own through gameplay interaction this is for you. You just have to put up/get accustomed with the old school gameplay","Product: Fox, Falco, Peppy and Slippy (and their original voice actors) are back in a new adventure. Players use the GamePad to control their Arwing spaceship and see the view from the cockpit, while the TV shows the overall context of the full battlefield. The game includes a new Walker transformation for the Arwing, a new Gyrowing vehicle and the return of the Landmaster Tank. The game is scheduled to launch during the 2015 holiday season.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Very fun once you get used to the controls\n\nReview: First I like to point out that if you're used to playing Star Fox games (notably Star Fox 64) in the past, the dual screen controls for game takes a little getting used to and may not come natural until a few play sessions.\n\nThis game has a lot of homage to the N64 game. The story and plot is pretty generic; prevent Andross from taking over the galaxy.\n\nArwing controls are standard fare if you played Star Fox 64: standard fire, charge/lock-on shot, and bombs. You move the shooting reticle with the gamepad and move your ship with the analog stick thus dividing your attention between two screens making more like a flight sim than an arcade shooter at first. As mentioned in the beginning, it takes time to adjust to this new gameplay style and will not come naturally until a few hours of gameplay. Once you do it's very enjoyable as you notice there are various visual vantage points between the gamepad and the TV screen bringing a lot of level of awareness, as you do not have any blind spots making you feel as if you're in a real cockpit. Once you get really good at the game, you only need to look at the gamepad screen for precision shooting, like how when you're driving a car in real life where you only look at the mirrors when changing lanes or backing up. With the wider viewing angle, if an enemy is tailing you, you can make a tight turn, move the gamepad to your side (by twisting your body) and shoot them from the corner of your eye instead of doing a somersaults move and try to re-orient yourself, then shot.\n\nThere is two player co-op option where one person takes control of the retical control on the gamepad while the other person steers on the pro controller or wii remote and nunchuck. Good to build trust and communication among couples, friends or siblings and also to gain perspective /understanding on how each control mechanic works whether you're controlling the turret or the ship.\n\nThere are Gyrowing (basically a drone you control) stealth/puzzle segments to switch things up, but I find the slow pace drags down the game a bit and feels like filler\n\nLevel designs are okay. They are pretty linear with some branching paths within levels, but they tend to have the same end point boss or chase sequence. In the beginning you feel like going through the paces instead of having an immersive experience, but once you get used to the dual screen controls everything clicks and it starts being a lot of fun.\n\nThere's no level unlocking in this game in terms of branching paths and secret exits like in Star Fox 64 as you can select previous beaten levels at anytime. There are hidden levels, as you get a notification on screen to play a previous beaten level, but this time there's a portal you need to fly through to reach the secret destination.\n\nBosses in the game is your standard hit weak spot for massive damage. Maneuvering around them can be tough at first if again, you're not used to the controls\n\nThe visuals although not the best the Wii U can dish out, it's way better than Star Fox 64 being very visually appealing and at a steady 60 frames per second most of the time. You can switch views of the cockpit to the TV screen and vice versa by hitting the minus (-) button (very useful against the boss in Fichina world/level, or when you get really good, use the minus button all the time to flank and shoot down enemies faster than you would without it)\n\nBackground music are awesome, very good soundtrack for the game. The banter between characters are okay; all characters still act like they're reacting to the situation, say certain lines when events are triggered, or try to give off witty one liners . Wished the conversations were more fluid and natural like in 'Kid Icarus Uprising' or in the Star Fox Zero animated short: 'Star Fox Zero The Battle Begins' , but I guess Nintendo wanted to focus more on nostalgia than advance dialogue in the series.\n\nAmiibo support. Fox Amiibo unlocks the Retro NES Arwing along with retro sound effects, and retro Cornera track on the Cornera level. The Falco Amiibo unlocks a color palltte swap for the black and red Arwing, but also able to dish out twice the damage as well as take in 2x damage.\n\nAside from getting personal high scores and beating the levels again after you get adjusted to controls there's hardly any replay value. You can't even upload your scores to an online leaderboard and there's also no online multiplayer. The initial playthrough of the game is around 4-5 hours (having rushed through it), but playing through it again you get a better appreciation of the game as you develop and hone in your skills on the gameplay controls. At times I just pull out the game and get a high off of trying to speed run through the level picking off enemies and bosses left and right\n\nStarFox Guard is a nice side game; it's a mixture of tower defense and Five Nights At Freddies. You look through several cameras with turrets, select the camera that has the view of the enemy and shoot them before they reach the central core of your base. There's a lot of weapon upgrades, an enemy variety in the game to switch things up. Love the boss battles as it's much faster pace switching and shooting from various cameras. Fox and Falco amiibo wipe out all enemies from the entire map when you're overwhelmed, but can only be used once per day.\n\nOverall very fun Star Fox game once you get passed the learning curve of the controls","Product: DualShock 4 Wireless Controller for PlayStation 4 - 20th Anniversary Edition\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Best Feature: Headphone Port\n\nReview: Let me share with you a hidden feature you may not know about and it involves the headphone port.\n\nOnce you plug/connect your headset/headphones into your controller on the PS4 go to:\n\nSettings --> Devices--> Audio Devices --> 'Output to headphones' change 'chat audio' to 'all audio'\n\nFrom that you are able to input all sound to your headset into a wireless headset receiver, so you no longer have to get an extension cord across the living room to use your wired controller. It stops sending audio from the HDMI and optical port and directly to what's connected to your controller. Great if you own a high end wired gaming headset and don't want to invest in a wireless one just so you don't have to deal with extended wires hooking up to your console or have to sit up close to the TV (example buying the Astro A40 over the A50s). Note that it may not work on all headsets, for example the stock Apple Headset does not work (or at least in chat).\n\nNow on the actual controller review. I got the Anniversary edition which is the exact same as the stock controller you get in your PS4, but just a different color. This controller will not enhance your gameplay unless the placebo effect of getting a favorite color gets up more pumped for some reason. If you plan to purchase the the Anniversary edition, just know that the design is different from the PS4 controller if you purchased the PS4 anniversary console as that controller has a better designed emblem on the gamepad and better screws in back...so yeah, know that the one you're getting here is less rare, but functions the same\n\nSyncing is easy: Turn on your PS4, connect your controller to the PS4 via USB/mico USB cable (not included in this package) and hit the PS button on the controller. Ready to play in seconds (unlike the Wii or Wii U which takes 30secs+)\n\nThis controller is in every way better than the PS3 controller (minus the battery life which I'll get into later). It has better ergonomics, trigger buttons (R2, L2) don't slip off your fingers once you press them, palm grips more comfortable to hold, built in speakers, touch pad, light bar, share button and most importantly the headphone port!\n\nBattery life is in controller is horrible compared to the DualShock 3 as it dies out about 3-4 hours of intense gameplay. You can go wired and directly connect it to the PS4, but it feels weird being tethered to the console, especially with the risk of someone walking across the room and tripping over the wire.\n\nInstead, when the dualshock 4 is low on battery I just use an external battery with a short USB cable (~1 foot) and your controller is back in action. Yes, you are also tethered to the external battery, but you get more mobility, and after long game sessions you don't even realize it's there.\n\nOverall, just a different paint job on the controller than what you get with your console. Hope you picked up some tips from this review and happy gaming.","Product: In the Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash game, tennis meets the outrageous action of the Super Mario series. Smash the ball down the court with the new Jumpshot and gain a HUGE advantage over opponents in a brand-new mode, Mega Battle, by grabbing a Mega Mushroom. Outwit your rivals and challenge friends to singles and doubles matches as your favorite Mushroom Kingdom character!\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Better off playing older games in the series\n\nReview: Aside from amazing graphics, it's a step down from past iterations of the game\n\nIn the main mode Mega Battle random power mushrooms drop on screen giving you temporary power boost as your character grows in size. This is very annoying as it seems more like luck than actual skill as the person who randomly gets the powerup is way too overpowered and will dominate the match if one or two (in case of doubles) do not also get it making everything seem one-sided.\n\nLuckily you can play Classic Tennis where there are no power ups making the game more fair, but with no tournament or campaign mode you'll get bored easily. The only reason to own this game in my opinion is if you have roommates who like to play competitively every night in this mode, other than that it's a bust.\n\nThere's also a mode called Mega Ball Rally where you just rally a large ball back and force to see how many times you can rally the ball back and forth at increasing speed for a high score. This is not a traditional rally as the cpu thinks it's an actual tennis match and will try to screw you over when doing combos. Also the only way to get a high score is to avoid any power ups and keep doing flat shots in hopes of the cpu isn't dumb enough to get hit by the ball.\n\nAll characters unfortunately play the same, and the only reason you select one over the other is that one looks better and/or is your favorite character in the series. It's not like Mario Power Tennis for the Game Cube where there's special moves for each character. There's a slight difference between the speed and power type characters during higher level play, but doesn't really matter if power ups are involved.\nThere's Knock Out Mode where you play against a series of cpu like arcade mode in a fighting game and train your amiibo. I don't get why you can import your mii and upgrade his/her stats that would make more sense in my opinion...guess Nintendo wanted to focus on implementing amiibo in this game instead.\n\nOnline mode is okay if not non-existent, the bad thing is if you want to play your friends online you have to log on the same time and hope the server groups you two together as there's no match making whatsoever which doesn't make any sense since the 3DS game Mario Tennis Open had it. Luckily there's no one online so if you can coordinated log in times then you'll almost be guaranteed matchups. Also if you want to play doubles with no couch partner, the amiibo you trained will in knockout mode will be your partner.\n\nThere is an achievement system where you can unlock up to 25 badges after completing set tasks in the game like play 10 standard classic matches to get Bowser Jr. If you're a veteran to the series all 25 badges can be unlocked in a few hours.\n\nVisuals are very impressive..and that's all it got going for it as this game is very bare bones. There very little substance as the lack of modes is very disappointing, if you care more about gameplay and variety of gameplay modes then I suggest getting an older game in the series as this game seems like a rush job by Nintendo.","Product: Make Everyday an Adventure\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Easy Platinum Charlie Brown\n\nReview: Snoppy's Grand Adventure is a beginner platformer can caters to young children. My 5 year old nephew is able to beat the first few levels of this game on his own as oppose to not being able/or barely able to beat the first level of any Mario game.\n\nThe main game is very easy to beat if you're an average to experienced player. It's your basic point A to point B type platformer. They do introduce new elements here and there to switch things up such and gravity manipulation and trampolines. Also unlockable costumes for Snoppy which has different power ups such as busting through walls or ability to jump higher which is required if you want to get all the collectables. Enemies in this game faint or get dazed for a few seconds when jumping on them instead of get squashed or killed so it's very kid friendly.\n\nAfter you beat the main game, there's an unlockable world where you can play through several SHUMP (Shoot 'em up) levels. So keep in mind there's a post game after the credits. Story is non-existent, as you just jump right into the action, so not much of a grand adventure in terms of storytelling.\n\nYou can beat the game in a few hours, but can triple or quadruple it's length by doing all the collectables which will also help in collecting a platinum trophy. Getting a platinum trophy is very easy in this game if you don't mind the collecting aspect, all other trophies are very easy and most require you just to beat all levels in the game.\n\nOverall very good entry point for those who are new to platformers (or not very good at them), also easy platinum trophy for those achievement hunters","Product: Telltale's Game of Thrones is set in the world of HBO's groundbreaking TV show. This new story tells of House Forrester, a noble family from the north of Westeros, loyal to the Starks of Winterfell. Caught up in the events surrounding the War of the Five Kings, they are thrown into a maelstrom of bloody warfare, revenge, intrigue, and horror as they fight to survive while the seven kingdoms tear themselves apart.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: New To Game of Thrones\n\nReview: This review is in a perspective of someone never watched the TV series or read the novels. I've also played 3 games from TellTale: The Wolf Among Us, and Walking Dead season 1 and 2.\n\nGameplay is like other TellTale games where you have dialogue choices resulting in branching dialogue sequences/interactions and slight changes in plot. Occasionally you get action sequences with quick timed events (QTE) where you follow the button promps on the screen to dodge or attack the enemy. There are also occasional free roam segments where you are open to explore the location and search for/select items.\n\nFor someone who's not familiar with the Game Of Thrones (GoT) series the opening chapters may a be a bit discouraging in terms of choice selection as they introduce characters very rapidly. You have to make judgement based on newly mentioned characters without knowing any background and have to rely on the tone of the character who's mentioning their name or family; having you make a lot of assumptions early on.\n\nThe story revolve around House Forresters as in the opening scene their army is decimated and other houses/factions try to harass and take advantage of their weakened state. Was told from a friend who also played the game and watch the TV series that this game does not follow the exact story of the TV show rather it's a side tale taking place between Season 3 episode 9 to Season 4 episode 5 of the TV series. There are some spoilers if you are not up to date with the TV series.\n\nUnlike the Wolf Among Us and Walking Dead series, you are constantly switching from 4+ characters in at least 4 locales with 3 or 4 subplots merging together at the end. There's more dialogue than action sequences as you have to make a lot of political decisions throughout the game. Which is way different from the tense action of the Walking Dead series, and the murder mystery of The Wolf Among Us. This may lead to boredom for some in the first 3 or 4 chapters especially those who are not into politics or long dialogue sequences, but the last two chapters are definitely worth it if you invest the time to reach to the end.\n\nLike the other TellTale series of games, the graphics will look familiar with it's semi-cell shaded 3D look, which in my opinion is sort of dated and wish they changed their art direction, but I can see from a mass audience standpoint it may be needed to cater to the smart phone/tablet/low end computer market. The free roam like in all TellTale's games are also very awkward as you have very stiff walking controls.\n\nMost if not all action segments that deals with death scenes resulting in a retry/game over screens, which is a disappointment as it leads to less branching story paths. There's even one major choice in chapter 4 where you select from one of 4 possible scenarios, 1 leading to a game over.\n\nYour choices does not matter much most of the time (especially when a key character appears) and usually result in future dialogue changes/banter between characters. Endings have a slight varient to them, but the overall plot is the same.\n\nThe game will last you around 12 hours, around 2 hours per chapter. The 6th chapter is a free download off the PSN store (if you have the disc in your system) since it's not on-disc probably due to lack of space and/or the publishers printed the game disc before the 6th chapter was released.\n\nTrophies are easy to earn in this game. You just have to play through all 6 chapters to get a platinum like the Walking Dead season 1, so you don't have to retry chapters and choose from different scenarios, or collecting items hidden within the levels.\n\nOverall good game if you are curious or into the Game of Thrones series or prefer dialogue choices/politics over action scenes. I'd say for the price you get a lot of hours of entertainment from it\n\nIron From Ice","Product: Redefining pro, the new ASTRO A40 TR headset features user customization to adapt to any environment. The A40 TR headset arrives as an open-back headset featuring amazing audio quality, long-term comfort, a swappable precision mic and customizable speaker tags. For loud pro tournaments, you can transform the A40 TR to a closed-back noise cancelling headset by swapping components like speaker tags, microphone and ear cushions (sold separately in ASTRO Mod Kits). Fully compatible for PC, and with the newer Xbox One and PS4 consoles by plugging the 3.5mm cable directly into the console controller. All TR products are the Official Equipment of Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 and are used by top Call of Duty Pro teams like Optic Gaming and Team Envyus. WARNING: This product contains a chemical known to the State of California to cause birth defects or other reproductive harm.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Excellent Dedicated Gaming Headset\n\nReview: First i would like to say, if you're an audiophile and want high quality sound when listing to entertainment outside of gaming (movies, music, etc) then i recommend getting a separate headset for that. Not to say that the Astro A40TR is bad, it is above average (way better than stock headphones/ear buds you get with your smart phone for example), but it's not necessarily the best all around headset for entertainment even if you adjust the presets. But for gaming it's one of the best out there.\n\nMic Quality. Very clear sound. Communication is very good, you're able to hear individual words well. It's not going to make a natural sound like when you're talking face-to-face with someone. It's more like a crystal clear radio voice with no raspy interference or static, which you need if you're in a competitive team setting\n\nPicking up footsteps (Mainly for first person shooter games). Works very well, the drivers in the headset is dedicated to it, seeing use in other forms of entertainment is okay. This is basically what you're getting the headset for in my opinion as it's the main focus as being a tournament ready device. In general, the headset picks exaggerated footsteps sounds very well, which is perfect for gameplay (which is more enhanced if you hook up an Amp)\n\nFor dynamic range of sound, from my experience it depends on the game, and sound team of devs that built the game. If you want to be competitive for any game while using any headset, i recommend going to the sound options of the game and turn off music volume completely and max out sound effects/in-game sound. This will improve your game sense and may rank you up in the game because of it.\n\nComfort. One of the best headsets for long term use. Best I've tried is the Honstek G6 Wired PC Gaming Headset; fit your head very well and super soft even after extended use, but the sound quality is not good on it. Back on topic, ear bud padding is excellent, does not clamp your head with excessive pressure. You are able to adjust the vertical length of both sides for a custom fit. Love how the cups rotate, and able to hang below your neck and lay on your chest. Most headphones I've tried have a tight clasp squeezing, if not trying to choke you making you take the headset off completely and put it off to the side when taking breaks. With these they can just hang on you without any discomfort.\n\nVisual design. It's all black with hint of gold. Would love if the spiral wire on the sides were of different color to make the headset pop-out more like the Astro A50 I own. Looks very good for home/office use. For displaying in public, you may get some odd looks, especially with the mic attachment. With the A40TR you are able to switch face-plates if you want a more custom look\n\nIn-line controls. Very ergonomic, you are able to distinguish every button/slider without looking at it. Very natural, don't even have to build up a habit. You can also lift up the mic on the headset to mute yourself, which I tend to gravitate towards since I built a habit with the A50s.\n\nOverall, very solid gaming headset. If you can afford it, I'd get another headset for other forms of entertainment as this headset does a decent job, but not the best out there. Having a variety of headsets also helps you get more focused in a competitive setting when your head feels the difference in pressure making you more in-tune with the game (maybe that's just me). If you have any questions, put in the the comments and i'll try my best to answer to best of my ability. Happy Gaming!","Product: The new standard for rally games returns! Whether speeding along dirt, asphalt, mud, snow or ice, for the first time the road surfaces have a real impact on car behavior thanks to a new physics and rendering system. You also have to learn how to fine-tune your vehicle to handle the weather conditions and dynamic lighting. Experience an even more immersive 2015 season with championship drivers, cars and special stages. Drive with precision along the snow-covered roads of Sweden and the rocky roads of Mexico, and take on the rally legends in 65 unique special stages in the entirely overhauled Career mode.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Not for the casual gaming audience\n\nReview: his review is coming from a perspective of a core gamer who does not follow rally racing and tends to prefer arcade racers over realistic\n\nThis game is based based more on time trails. You're only one on screen and have to beat opponents time rather than racing against them\n\nThere are 65 stages in total varying from different track layouts. The career mode is great as you move up the rank from jr to WRC. There's no actual story in the game aside from increase in stats/titles\n\nThe tutorial is simple, but the driving gets a bit of getting used to as the driving controls are really stiff and hard to maneuver. This does not help in the beginning stages as the roads are really narrow making it hard to pick up and play (or at least in career mode) as I see a lot of casual gamers dropping this game after the first stage or two.\n\nAlso keep in mind that there's a reset feature which took some time for me to figure out. By pressing/holding the down button it will reset you to the middle of the road and holding down the triangle it will transport you back to the checkpoint. This game has really bad hit detection, when you hit yourself dead onto the wall you have to do the steps mentioned above as you cannot power through it by going full throttle on the acceleration and steer all the way to the right or left. Also if your brakes or alignment are busted then you cannot reverse.\n\nYou have to maintain your car after each rally by doing repairs, if you do not then you will encounter performance issues which is not fun as it makes the game harder to play though. You can say it is a challenge, but I personally see it as a hindrance.\n\nGraphics. If you focus on driving then it looks okay, when you stop and take it in, then you do get some some bad textures. This game is not taking advantage of the PS4 in my opinion especially for a racing game where graphics then to be better than other game genres. The resolution is not good, but the game runs at a steady 60 fps (frames per second)\n\nAudio. Engine sounds are nice, but there's hardly any background music (if any) which gets boring after a while especially with the mono-tone commentary. If you don't know racing terminology/jargon then you'll get bored easily and may turn on your own background music to spice things up.\n\nTrophies are easy to obtain, you just simply have to grind through career mode and do some other simple side objectives to get platinum\n\nOverall very hard game to recommend unless you're really into rally racing","Product: KINGDOM HEARTS HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue is a compilation that brings the popular KINGDOM HEARTS [Dream Drop Distance] to the PlayStation4 computer entertainment system platform remastered in high definition. Originally released in 2012, KINGDOM HEARTS [Dream Drop Distance] HD is a full-HD remastered version of KINGDOM HEARTS 3D [Dream Drop Distance]. Series protagonists Sora and Riku take on the Mark of Mastery exam in preparation for coming threats. The signature action of the KINGDOM HEARTS series has evolved, allowing players to experience faster-paced battles and exploration at a blistering pace.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Teaser to Kingdom Hearts 3\n\nReview: First of all, if you're new to the Kingdom Hearts series or played a few of the games; I recommend getting the Kingdom Hearts 1.5 + 2.5 Remix before/instead of this game as you get more content (4 games, 2 movies) than this game collection (2 games, 1 movie) especially if you want to get caught up with the plot/story in the series. *I'll list the games in 1.5 +2.5 at the end of the review.\n\nThis collection is more for the hardcore fans of the series who played through all the games (except maybe Dream Drop Distance and mobile games) and want a teaser in terms of graphics and gameplay on the new game engine for current gen system leading up to Kingdom Hearts 3.\n\nThis collection is also more for those who want more quality than quantity as the production value is way higher than what is seen in the KH 1.5 +2.5 Remix\n\nKingdom Hearts 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue includes:\nKingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth By Sleep -A fragmentary passage\nKingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance\nKingdom Hearts Back Cover\n\n--Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth By Sleep -A fragmentary passage\nNew original content showcasing what is possible in terms of gameplay and graphics for Kingdom Hearts 3 as they use the same new game engine.\n\nThe first playthrough may last only 3-4 hours depending on what difficulty setting you use, and how much you plan to explore the world before reaching to the next checkpoint.\n\nThe game is more like a Extended pre DLC for Kingdom Hearts 3 like how Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes did with Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.\n\nEven though short, it has very good production value. The visuals are amazing especially with the partial effects on the magic moves. Voice acting is top notch, and the writing is the best I've read/heard in the series as Aqua's monologues can be very philosophical at times\n\nStory links the gaps between both the Birth by Sleep and Sora/Riku's campaign making a good lead up to Kingdom Hearts 3.\n\n--Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance\nIf you only played Kingdom Hearts on Sony system/consoles you're in for a treat as they ported over Dream Drop Distance from the Nintendo 3DS with updated gameplay and visuals (graphics and 60fps). Wished they had the amount of care in remixing games in the KH1.5 +2.5 collection.\n\nVisuals are now in HD, but you can see some of the odd textures in some levels/character models if you're nitpicky. But if you compare them side-by-side it's literally night and day in terms of graphics\n\nGameplay is leaps and bonds better as you can use two joysticks, giving you more control.\n\nEven if you played the original on the 3DS it's worth a re-play for the gameplay and visual upgrade\n\n--Kingdom Hearts Back Cover\nBasically a hour long cinematic on what happened pre Kingdom Hearts 1, and before the Keyblade War mentioned in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep.\n\nProduction value is very high as it's akin to Final Fantasy Advent Children in term of visual fidelity.\n\nAgain we are focusing more on quality than quantity as although the cinematic is really good, it's very short compared to the Two, 2-3 hour movies/cutscene collection we get from the KH1.5+2.5 Remix\n\nStory ends with more questions than answers which further gives a hint to it's conclusion in Kingdom Hearts 3\n\nOverall, Kingdom Heats HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prolgue is a very good preview for Kingdom Hearts 3. If you get both Kingdom Hearts 1.5 +2.5, and this game, you essentially have all definitive edition of all Kingdom Hearts games on the PS4.\n\n===\n*Kingdom Hearts 1.5 + 2.5 includes:\nKingdom Hearts Final Mix\nKingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories\nKingdom Hearts 258/2 Days\nKingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix\nKingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix\nKingdom Hearts Re: Coded","Product: Enforcer for the First Order terrorizes the galaxy with devious acts.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Amazing Kylo Ren Figure\n\nReview: The figure is very detailed with Kylo Ren in a prepare to thrust or attack pose.\n\nThe lightsaber is not removable and the figure does not have any articulation, but the cloak he wears is semi flexible at the tips\n\nLove the detail as the light saber has a spiral twist to it and his cloak has intricate creases, folds and cutouts\n\nThe figure is also compatible with the Disney Infinity 3.0 game giving the figure more functionality rather than just a display piece\n\nOverall great figure to have for Star Wars Episode 7 fans or Star Wars fans in general.\n\nNow I end you with a quote from the movie:\n\n\"Forgive me. I feel it again... the call from light. Supreme Leader senses it. Show me again, the power of the darkness, and I'll let nothing stand in our way. Show me, grandfather, and I will finish what you started\" -Kylo Ren, Star Wars The Force Awakens","Product: When Luigi accidentally opens a mysterious book hidden away in Peach's Castle, he gets more than he bargained for when characters from the Paper Mario universe spill out of the pages and start running amok. Players must take control of the terrific trio of Mario, Luigi and Paper Mario to defeat Bowser and Paper Bowser and bring the Paper Mario characters back to their original world.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Mario & Luigi / Paper Mario Crossover\n\nReview: Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam is a Mario RPGs fanboy's dream as it combines elements from both Mario RPG series (Mario & Luigi/Paper Mario) into one.\n\nGame starts off with Luigi and a Toad entering the attic of Peach's Castle, looking for the source of a drought. They soon find a hole above a bookcase, and Luigi investigates, sees a rat that scares both Luigi and Toad. Luigi like the clumsy guy he is during stressful situations knocks over a book containing the Paper Mario Universe and most characters in the Paper Mario series escape to the the Mario & Luigi universe.\n\nLike previous titles in both series, there's a lot of charm in the characters in terms of witty dialogue and non-verbal animations. I like how each of the counterparts of each series interact with each other either it's Bowser/Paper Bowser having an ego trip, Peach/Paper Peach talk about consequences of fashion and how they don't like screaming \"Mario!\" for help, or Mario/Paper Mario getting along to save the princess in another castle.\n\nThe core gameplay remains the same as previous Mario and Luigi titles: turned based attacks with appropriate button presses for combos, look for animation que to counter, and try to recognize enemy attacks and weaknesses. The counter system is more simplified now for casual gamers as instead of looking for specific animation que on enemies you can put it on simple mode and the game tells you which of the 3 characters the enemy is going to hit giving you more reaction time.\n\nPlayers control Mario, Luigi, and Paper Mario simultaneously with a button assigned to each character. Paper Mario using Y Button while Mario and Luigi uses A and B button respectively. Mario and Luigi plays the same as the 'Mario & Luigi' style gameplay you're used to. Paper Mario in the other hand is able to create copies of himself as a battle command, which increase the damage he can do in his attacks: He can land as many jumps as he has copies, and when he uses his hammer, the copies will split and target all enemies on the field. Paper Mario loses a copy for each hit he takes damage, but can replenish them by using a turn which makes for great resource management skills as less copy means less attack and defense possibilities. His jump dodge allows him to flutter, letting him briefly stay in the air longer than Mario and Luigi can. In the over-world Paper Mario has a lot of unique abilities leading to clever puzzles to solve\n\nThe X button has a cool new feature where players can dash and slide to capture enemies, toads and other characters making for tag like gameplay in the over-world. All three characters also can do a rhythmic combo in the over-world you are able to unleash a Trio Hammer, or powerful shockwave, that can destroy large blocks making for fun puzzle elements. Their are other elements also, but I'll let you discover those yourself\n\nMost boss battles results in Papercraft battles where you control different Papercraft characters, each with their own unique abilities. Think of this mode as rock-em-sock-em-robots but with more mobility/moves. At first you may think it's like Giant battles in 'Mario & Luigi Dream Team', but it's more in-depth and you have more control.\n\nAside from that they're a lot of mini games to switch things up.\n\nVery good presentation as the visuals and audio are top notch. It's great seeing paper characters interact with the 3D characters especially with the 3D slides turned on with their various various animations and expressions. Audio is great as there's a lot of nostalgic tracks/sound effects mixed with some new ones for a varied experience.\n\nThroughout the game you spend most of your time in the Mario & Luigi universe and don't get to go into the Paper Mario book (Save for sequel?). In fact except for the core set of characters/enemies there are no cameos of unique characters in the Paper Mario series I was able to find.\n\nOverall very good crossover game for the Mario RPG series with the gameplay testing your reflexes, puzzle solving skills and resource management, and witty dialogue and story to keep you entertained","Product: Follow the story of Max Caulfield, a photography senior who discovers she can rewind time while saving her best friend Chloe Price. The pair soon find themselves investigating the mysterious disappearance of fellow student Rachel Amber, uncovering a dark side to life in Arcadia Bay. Meanwhile, Max must quickly learn that changing the past can sometimes lead to a devastating future.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Excellent Time Traveling Adventure\n\nReview: If you ever watch films like Donny Darko or The Butterfly Effect, this game has the same theme of how constant time traveling is not what it's cracked up to be as despite the fact that you try to do right in the world; there's a balance in the universe and your selfish decisions to improve your and/or those close to you well-being or happiness may lead to misfortunes for others. Instead of a passive experience, you are able to interact with the story and make your own decisions on how parts of the story plays out.\n\nGameplay is similar to the Tell Tale Series Games, Until Dawn or Heavy Rain/Beyond Two Souls. It's a choose your own adventure game where your decision impact future events by dialogue choices or actions you decided to do within the game. Unlike the games mentioned, Life is Strange does not have any Quick-Timed-Events (QTE) where you have to press a prompted button within a certain time frame. Instead it's more heavy on dialogue choices, and time manipulation where you rewind time to solve puzzles/ get through obstacles.\n\nLike other games in the genre, your choices does not impact the ending much as the game has only 2 endings, which is pretty typical for these type of games. Highest I've seen/played had 3 max. Your choices does lead to different dialogue choices later in the story, and may make you feel guilty about your decision as the outcome is presented to you. Most of the time there's no right/wrong or perfect scenario as there are consequences for you actions as it impact different characters and events in the story differently. There's a sense of loss and sacrifice within each choice, even with a loss there may be a silver lining that comes from it.\n\nGraphics are pretty decent. It doesn't go for ultra realism like Heavy Rain, Beyond Two Souls and doesn't go too cartoony/cell shaded like the TellTale series of games. I'd say it makes good balance between the two (just need work on the hair graphics). Good artistic vision in the game and a lot of details in the world design.\n\nVoice acting is very good. All voice actors comes out as natural and not read out from a script. Soundtrack is also amazing\n\nPSN trophies. Easy platinum as you just have to collect optional photo shoots throughout the game as well as finish the game to completion. The in-game journal gives you hints on how to find each photo shoot for each trophy. You can also search for online guides if you are stuck. There is a replay feature so if you skip one, you don't have go through another entire playthrough of the game.\n\nThe game will last you 15-20 hours long depending on how much you're willing to explore the world and/or collect optional photo shoots for trophies. I'd say this game is a definite pick up for those who like the time traveling theme.","Product: Humanity has been driven from the Earth by mechanical beings from another world. In a final effort to take back the planet, the human resistance sends a force of android soldiers to destroy the invaders. Now, a war between machines and androids rages on... A war that could soon unveil a long-forgotten truth of the world. Developed by an all-star team consisting of producer Yosuke Saito (DRAGON QUEST X / NIER), director YOKO TARO (Drakengard / NIER), character designer Akihiko Yoshida from CyDesignation, Inc. (FINAL FANTASY XIV / BRAVELY DEFAULT), game designer Takahisa Taura from PlatinumGames Inc. (Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance), and composer Keiichi Okabe from MONACA, Inc. (TEKKEN / Drakengard 3 / NIER).\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Nier And Dear To My Heart?\n\nReview: Story.\n\nPlot and theme is similar to a Pinocchio or Blade Runner where an intelligent non-human species (Andriods in this case) created by humans question if they have a soul, and contemplate if their memories considers them sentient beings and on par with humans.\n\nStory goes like this: aliens invade earth with robots or machines, and humans have to escape and colonate on the moon where they build Androids and send them out to eradicate the robots. The majority of robot have low IQ but are very abundant. Throughout the story you play 3 of these Androids set on missions to destroy these robots for the humans.\n\nStory comes in 3 acts and can be philosophical at times, especially when the protagonists see robots do things of intelligent nature or things outside their designated roles . First act focuses on Android 2B, and the second act plays out the same as the first one except you're in the perspective of Android 9S. The gameplay is not exactly the same as 9S has a hacking mechanic, and during the first act, the two get separated at points. When the two stories intersect you do get similar dialogue. Third act continues from the ending of the first and second, and introduces a third character you can play as. Unlike the first two acts you switch between characters instead of focusing on one. All three acts can last 25+ hours depending on difficulty you select, and how many side quests you decided to do\n\n-Gameplay.\n\nA combination of open world hack-and-slash (similar to Bayonetta or DMC) and shmup (shoot em' up) of the bullet hell variety.\n\nI like how they mix the two gameplay styles very well in terms of pacing them out, with different viewing angles (top down, side scoller, free roam, etc), and mini-games to keep you very intrigued without being dull and repetitive. Also the upgrade skill and weapon mechanic keep things interesting also.\nso\nThe world is big, but you'll be traversing the same areas from time-to-time especially when playing a new acts. So same sandbox, different story\n\nThere are tons of invisible walls, rubble, buildings, and restricted doors/chests/elevators that block your progress. For the first 3 it can be frustrating especially when you have to go around them and take the scenic route especially when you're focused on the objective marker. For the latter 3 those are restricted via story progression or specific character unlocks.\n\nOnce you get familiar with the world, and when they introduce the teleport checkpoint mechanic; you get used to it and its less of an annoyance\n\nDifficulty level range from ridiculously easy to impossible. On easy mode, the characters you play dodge on their own so it's only the matter of positioning yourself well and button mashing without consequence. Good for those who just want to experience the story. Hardest mode is one hit kill form any enemy with no auto dodge, so you have to get used to being a glass cannon, or have to constantly restart from where you last saved.\n\n-Presentation\n\nGraphics are really good and frame rate is smooth throughout. Personally, I don't like the dark green, grey and white color scheme as it reminds me the early days of the PS3, Xbox 360 era, but the art direction is excellent\n\nMusic is excellent with orchestral music\n\nVoice acting is also really good. Only tried the default English since the Japanese voice track can be distracting since characters have conversations during combat, and this game is very twitch and timed (button presses) heavy especially on high difficulty settings.\n\nCharacters are good, the main characters play out well acting like androids with a conscious and talk like real people. Villains can be over dramatic, but don't go into the cliche territory. Each character has their own personality and maybe aside from the villains; not one dimensional and you can see the motives behind their personality\n\n-PSN trophies\n\nEasy platinum.\n\nAfter you complete the 3 main acts, you can purchase trophies via in-game money, or get them the natural way.\n\nIf you do the former, I would make multiple save files and save over them once you make the trophy purchase(s) (since it autosaves*) to minimize money grinding. Steps:\n\n1. Before making purchase make 2 or 3 same save files. Play one save file and make a lot of purchases\n2. Load a fresh save\n3. Save over the auto save file\n4. Make more purchases\n5. Repeat steps 1-4 until you sold out of all purchasable trophies\n\nAfter you've done that, you have two more trophies to collect (non purchasable) which are the\n\n'Leaving for the New World' or 'Beautiful World' (depending on which ending you select in act 3, have to replay via chapter select and pick the other one), and the 'The Minds That Emerged' trophy that technically deletes your save file. If you wait on the option screen for 'yes' and 'no' for a few seconds, the trophy along with platinum trophy will pop up and you can select 'no' if you want\n\n*Only time the game auto saves. All other times you have to save via designated safe zones (that doesn't interfere with plot/story), or vending machines\n\nOverall, a blast to play with gameplay variety and good story.\n\nGlory to Mankind","Product: A dark force, shrouded in twilight, has invaded the vast land of Hyrule.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Greener on this side. List of changes\n\nReview: Instead of reviewing the core experience presented 10 years ago (2006 original release) I'll just going to give you the list of observable changes to the game:\n\nVisuals up first, there's a noticeable difference. The grass is greener, higher resolution, revamped textures, detailed changes in polygonal models/objects, and addition of lighting effects which makes the world look less of a drab and pops out more than the original\n\nHero mode: enemies do twice the damage (4x if you use Ganondorf amiibo)\nIn terms of link's hand placement: Gamecube version on Normal (left-handed), mirrored wii version on hero mode\n\nLoading times are a lot faster, maybe 1-2 secs faster for every screen transition. Which doesn't sound like much, but definitely adds up\n\nTreasure boxes remain open, once you open them.\n\nCustom miiverse stamps in hidden treasure chests\n\nNew lantern item: Poe's lantern makes it easier to hunt down poes. You carry it around the world map and it glows whenever a poe is within close proximity. You still have to wait till night time (in game) to see them\n\nAmiibo support:\nLink and Toon Link restore arrows\nZelda and Shiek: restore hearts\nGanandorf: 2x damage\nLink, Toon link, Zelda and Shiek is only 1 per day (resets at midnight everyday), while Ganandorf has unlimited use and can be toggled on or off\n\nWolf link amiibo (only available with retail limited edition version of game):\nOnce you reach a certain point of the game, you can scan in the wolf link amiibo to access the Cave of Shadows where you battle a gauntlet of enemies level-by-level like the cave or ordeals, but you only play as wolf link.\nYou are not able to go through all levels in your first go as there are level gates until you defeat the next dungeon boss in the main campaign\n\nGamepad Control:\nOption to play off screen\nGamepad allows for inventory screen/map display\nEasily access items and equips, easily swap items in and out without having to pause the game\nChange link to wolf form with a simple button press instead of talking to midna, which saves a second which will add up in the long run\nNew motion controls and aiming your weapon like in Wind Waker HD\nNote: you cannot play with wii remote and nunchuck, only optional pro controller\n\nIn terms of presentation of the physical copy: I'm very impressed. The front of the box has a nice metallic glow to it and the box art is simply beautiful. I wish they included a poster of the box art so I can display it on my wall. The Wolf Link amiibo is also very detailed and has a nice weight to it compared to other amiibos I've owned\n\nOverall surely the definitive version of the game. You'll play through the same game, but with better visuals, easier controls, and faster loading times.","Product: Battle Pokemon like never before in all-new, action-packed arena fights! Perform vivid Pokemon moves in all their glory with button combinations through an intuitive fighting system to unleash devastating attacks upon your opponent to become the Pokken Tournament champion! Additional accessories required for multiplayer; sold separately.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Beginner friendly fighting game\n\nReview: Executions are very easy in this game (don't have to worry about doing quarter circle shoryuken motions the right time) making for a more fun psychological timing battle like a game of rock-paper-scissors, hand slap game or thumb wars as you try to parry, block and attack your opponent at the right time.\n\nThere are two fighting phases in the game. A 3D phase (field phase) where you focus on your position and shooting projectile attacks from afar while dodging enemy attacks trying to get up close dealing massive damage and a 2D phase (duel phase) where you go through your traditional fighting game troupe of grabs, attacks (low , mid, high), blocks and parries. Each phase has different attacks variants so it switch up strategy a lot.\n\nThe field phase has you locked onto your opponent at all times so you don't have to worry about any camera issues. Once you get in close or do certain attacks you will switch to a duel phase. Duel phase can switch back to field phase once a lot of damage is dealt. Switching shift can be advantagous also as you switching from one from the other can recover all your chip damage or remove all opponents chip damage depending on who initiates it, making the game more frantic, keeping battles more intense as you're on your feet the entire time\n\nThere are 16 pokemon to choose from each varying in special moves and stats (speed, defense, attack, etc) and no one pokemon is a clone of another. Button executions are similar so you don't have to learn new moves for each character rather know how each character initiate the moves provided to them. There are also support pokemon which you can call in during battle to do stat boosts, de-buff enemy or attack the enemy. Thoughout battle to fill up a bar, when filled you can activate a pokemon's mega evolution (or a power-up state if the pokemon does not have one) where you get power up stats and access to a finishing move.\n\nThere's training mode which gives a very good tutorial of the game. I recommend going through this mode first as it will give you tips you otherwise don't know if you were just to jump right in and try to learn it yourself. I may be slow at first, but it's worth it go through in my opinion.\n\nVerus mode or I would like to call couch gameplay have you and a friend battle each other; one using the game pad while the other a pro controller. This may cause problems if one prefers a controller over the other. You cannot both play on the TV screen as the field phase mode required a fixed camera angle on your character as mentioned before. There is a LAN link option if you are serious into the game.\nThere's avatar customization also which is a nice touch. You have to gain in-game money to purchase new accessories for that character which can be earned by continuous play of the game.\n\nFerrum battle leauge is the game's story mode where you battle varies pokemon trainer tournament style like how a pokemon league works in the anime. As you try to work your way up the tournament ladder trying to be the best there ever was; there's also a side plot about Shadow Mewtwo to switch things up a bit.\n\nOnline modes include Ranked and friendly (casual mode). Ranked keeps record of your win/lose ratio and friendly mode is your typical jump in and play against anyone or a friend if you have a code. Ranked battles aside from keeping track of your win/loss ratio you always rank up and will battle players of your own rank which is a nice challenge, but if you stop playing after a while and get rusty or if someone else plays your account your win to lose ratio may falter. Online battle is pretty smooth, there are some stutters here and there at times, but most of the time it's stable. If you are not able to connect to another player online within 10secs or so, the game let's you play against a CPU until a player is found which is a nice as you don't have to constantly wait at the search screen.\n\nThis game is the closest you'll get to a real pokemon battle you see in the anime, and is easily accessible to everyone as you focus on more on timing and twitch gameplay rather than complex executions.","Product: Battle alongside your brothers through the sewers, subways, and streets of NYC to take down shredder and Krang's evil organization, foot by foot. Unleash custom combat skills and powerful team combos to save Manhattan from the overwhelming dark forces growing in the shadows.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Very Short Core Experience\n\nReview: First I like to mention that the main campaign is only 9 levels, lasting around 4 hours to complete which is not worth a purchase unless you're really into arcade beat-em-ups where you beat the same levels multiple times to get a better high score and to get numerous collectables. Even if you're a Ninja Turtles fan and not into that kind of gameplay I suggest a rent rather than a buy unless the game drops down to $15 or less just for the story\n\nPresentation of this game from the the graphical style, story and writing of is really good, too bad the gameplay is what brings the game down. Story plays homage to the original TMNT cartoons as there are very sly references throughout. Every turtle act there part, and the story, voice acting and mannerisms of each turtle is true to form (unlike the live action movies lately)\n\nGameplay is intuitive on paper; it has all the modern takes on the beat-em-up series with a counter and advanced combo system like in the Bayonetta or Devil May Cry series. What brings the game way down is the bad camera angles, and cluttered gameplay (with tons of enemies and all 4 turtles on screen, flashy animations going off everywhere) it's difficult to tell what you're doing on harder difficulty and/or on the last few stages where they just drop hordes of enemies at you. It's very hard to keep track of what's going on as you can't tell when to dodge correctly, you can't see an oncoming enemy, there's an enemy covering the one you're trying to attack so it's hard to finish the combo string...it's just a jumbled mess unless you're familiar with these types of games or played the level numerous times\n\nThere's segments in the game where you have to diffuse bombs. If you have friends to play with this is okay as you can split task. For example, one person diffuse the bomb while the others attack oncoming enemies. When playing with AI partners, sometimes maybe 2 or 3 will try to diffuse a bomb while you have to fend off all the enemies on your own.\n\nSo instead of trying to take advantage of the combo system, you'd end up resorting to mashing buttons (your first or second playthrough) as you keep getting your combo string interrupted by random factors. Would be better if they lessened the enemies, make them stronger and increase the 30FPS to 60 FPS\n\nThe only time you're able to take advantage of the gameplay system are the boss battles. Which is okay, but not worth the tons of enemy fodder you have to fight through to get to them. Even each level is named after the bosses instead of level 1, level 2 etc which makes it even more apparent that the boss battles takes more president over the level themselves\n\nAt the end of every stage you get battle points where you can upgrade your characters in terms of additional moves, combos and or abilities they can do. Which in and of itself not worth it as all the abilities are the same among all 4 turtles. So essentially you're just picking your favorite ninja turtle or color (if you're not into the series) to upgrade\n\nThere is no local or couch co-op which is very disappointing. Meaning your friends would also have to purchase or rent the game to play with you. Luckily the online is still strong at the writing of this review as you can get matches within minutes. The only drawback is that you can't choose similar turtles. For example: there only can be one Leonardo, one donatello etc in one match. So if you upgrade one and someone in the lobby choose the character before you, then tough luck or you have to exit out and try again. A heads up: 80% of players choose to upgrade Leonardo over the rest; if you plan to play online, either host and plan to get lucky.\n\nOverall good game for those hardcore into arcade beat-em up. For the rest it's worth a rent or wait for a sale","Product: The No. 1 LEGO videogame franchise triumphantly returns with a fun-filled, humorous journey based on the blockbuster Star Wars film. In LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens, players relive the epic action from the blockbuster film Star Wars: The Force Awakens, retold through the clever and witty LEGO lens. The game will also feature exclusive playable content that bridges the story gap between Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi and Star Wars: The Force Awakens. LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens also introduces Multi-Builds and Blaster Battles to the LEGO videogame universe. With Multi-Builds, use available LEGO bricks to open up new paths, then break them apart and re-build them again to open up another! And another! During Blaster Battles, use your surroundings as cover to stand against the First Order.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: May the Lego Be With You\n\nReview: Similar to other Star Wars Lego Games, but with a twist.\n\nThis time there are third person cover shooter segments, but very streamline for younger audiences as there's a very lenient auto aim, except in certain instances where you have to shoot key targets' weak point for massive damage. There's also air dog fights (similar to Star Fox) with auto aim enabled at all times.\n\nAside from the two new modes, you also have your traditional over-the-top-view open world/level combat and puzzles mixed in. There's nice pacing the first few chapters, but during chapter 6 or 7 there's a long slog of puzzle segments. The puzzles are not that hard, but tedious when you do them in series (room after room). Each character have their own abilities like Ray can parkour, BB8 can hack terminals, chewbacca can move heavy objects, etc and you have to integrate their abilities together with the environment to get to the next area\n\nLike other Lego games, it is catered towards younger audiences. But older gamers may enjoy the story, characters and collecting aspect also. The combat as mentioned is very easy with no game over screen, as your character instantly re-spawn upon depleting their health; losing some lego bits in the process. This lego bits are collected throughout the game and are used to purchase characters and vehicles. None of which is required to complete the main game. Collectors and completionists on the other hand may want to get as much lego bits as they can as it's the main currency in the game for unlockables. If you're an achievement hunter, a platinum PSN trophy is easy to obtain, but it's a huge time commitment\n\nGame is very kid friendly, but i can see some puzzle segments where they need help. If your kid is impatient, they may get frustrated and stop around chapter 6,7.\n\nStory is the same plot as the film with some filler segments to extend the play time, such as witty banter between characters, characters making random comic mischief in the background and foreground, or having to puzzle solving segments to get to the next area/room. The game starts off in the ending of Star Wars Episode 6 Return of the Jedi with the Battle of Endor which threw me off a bit, guess the puzzles wasn't enough to extend the length of the main campaign...or they decided just to add it as a prologue. There is DLC or season pass, but I have not played or purchased it myself so not able to comment on the specifics. From the titles of each dlc it seems that they'll be following the canon short novels/comics that was released along side the film\n\nReplay value is very high as all levels have hidden areas where specific characters can open, which is only obtained by reaching a certain level in the game and collecting certain amounts of lego bits. There is a metroidvania type vibe as you see a blocked door in each level with a character icon jotting out from it, teasing you to remember to go back later.\n\nOverall, very fun lego game and love the comic mischief the lego characters and props bring out. Just watch out for the long series of puzzle challenges towards the middle that drags down the pacing a bit (unless you're into that)","Product: Tales from the Borderlands - PlayStation 4\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Most Fun Of Any In TellTale Game Thus Far\n\nReview: Most fun I've had with a Tale Tale Game having played the following:\n\nWalking Dead Season 1 &2\nWolf Among Us\nGame of Thrones\nTales of Borderlands\n\nGameplay is pretty typical like in any TellTale game where you either choose from a set of conversation choices, use and follow button prompts or quick timed events (QTE), and explore in an free roam environment to interact with items and/or to solve puzzles.\n\nThe latter, like in all TellTale games is very clunky especially with the stiff walking. Not sure if they need to switch game engines or have someone program it differently so the characters don't walk like puppets on a string, but this has always been a issue in all their games. Good thing it is very minimal in this game compared to others.\n\nDialogue choices doesn't really change the overall plot or ending, but does influence different character interactions throughout the game. For this game in particular, you'd like to replay it right after you beat it as majority of the cast if very fun and unique. Dialogue choices and certain actions does not only change the course of the game as the decision to save or use a bullet, and saving and finding money may impact some scenarios in latter episodes\n\nQTEs are very simple and generous, they give you more reaction time compared to other games, so there's less chances of a game over screen.\n\nStory is spectacular and epic. Glad I waited for the whole collection; If I were to purchase it in separate episodes; the cliff hangers would haunt me till the next episode is released. The story starts off very slow until half way through the first episode where they try to establish the main cast, but after that it picks up really fast and it's hard to put down your controller as the gang of characters put themselves in one mess after another as one achievement puts them in another disaster situation.\n\nYou don't need prior knowledge of the Borderlands series to play the game, but it's more enjoyable if you do as there are cameos in it.\n\nThe script is very good as you get a lot of witty dialogue in terms of 4th wall jokes, video game/pop culture references, and sarcastic banter sprinkled throughout. If you enjoyed the writing in Borderlands series then you'll enjoy every minute of this game.\n\nGraphics fits really well as the TellTale games and Borderland series are already very similar. There are no frame-rate dips on the PS4, but there are more frequent loading screens compared to other TellTale games.\n\nSound track is very good also, love all the music choices for all ending credits\n\nOverall best game in the TellTale series of games as it's a very light hearted, funny and entertaining ride.","Product: Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon will launch in the US November 18th, 2016 exclusively for the Nintendo 3DS family of systems. Embark on a new adventure as a Pokemon Trainer and catch, battle, and trade all-new Pokemon on the tropical islands of a new Region and become a Pokemon Champion!\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Massive Change to the Pokemon Formula\n\nReview: Huge changes to the pokemon formula since Pokemon X & Y, no longer as it's strictly battle and collecting focused (although still present) as they added variety of mechanics to switch things up a bit and to bring more variety in gameplay. Changes include:\n\n1. No HMs\nNo longer do you have to carry around a HM slave (s). This has bothered me in the past games as I have to restrict 1 or 2 slots out of my party of 6 to help traverse certain areas of the world. In the place of HMs there are Poké Rides where you can ride pokemon interacting with them on the world map, some you may not be able to access until you've completed mission within the game.\n\n2. Is it super effective?\nNo longer do you have to look up guides online (unless it's your first encounter) to tell if a move is super effective or not very effective against the pokemon you're up against. After you battle a pokemon once, the game will tell you what moves is super effective or not in the battle menu once you encounter the same pokemon the second time.\n\n3. No Traditional Gyms\nNo longer do you have to battle your way through gym after gym to prove you're the best out of brute force.\nThere are 4 islands in the game, each of which are controlled by 4 Island Kahunas\nTo get to them you have to get pass Trail Captains and Todum Pokemon\nTrail captain will give you quizzes, side quests to complete, and/or fight in traditional battles\nTodum Pokemon. Basically typical pokemon you find the wild, but significantly stronger and have grunts that help them battle.\n\n4. Rotom Pokédex\nTypical pokedex, but with a face and personality attached to it.\n\n5. Alola Forms\nBasically different forms of pokemon you seen in previous generations. Either it's there physical form that is different and/or the pokemon's typing\n\n6. Z-Moves\nWith a Z-Ring and a Z-Crystal you can use a pokemon's ultimate move once per battle. It's not like Mega Evolutions where it stays constant\n\n7. QR Scanner.\nYou can now scan QR codes to get event pokemon\n\n8. Battle Royal\nA 4 player free-for-all where the battle ends after all of one's pokemon trainer's faints. They tally the win-losses of each trainer and the one with best stats at the end wins\n\n9. Hyper Training.\nOnce a pokemon reaches level 100, they can go through hyper training which can improve a Pokemon's IV\n\n10. Poké Pelago\nYour PC Box now has functionality to it. It's like a day care sort of thing, instead of just depositing your pokemon, you can passively train them in the PC or have them search for items\n\n11. Festival Plaza.\nAn online mode where you can battle other trainers and trade with them. You get festial coins for each interaction which you can spend on clothes, shop or upgrade your pokemon's stats. There's also missions you can undertake to get more coins.\n\n12. Night and Day phase, New Pokemon\nPokemon Sun goes the traditional time route while Moon does the opposite. In Pokemon Moon if you're playing in the daytime, the game will consider it night time in-game. Some events also play out differently like different Totum Pokemon on the same island/trail\nIn traditional Pokemon fashion you can only get some pokemon in each version so trading is required either with a friend or if you own both versions. Also some pokemon evolve differently in each version now.\n I'd say some of overall models of new pokemon are better looking than the last batch in previous iterations of the pokemon series.\n\n13. Auto Run\nYour run is as fast as a bike now, and it has unlimited use. You can now move in all directions instead of the traditional 4 and it feels very fluid\n\n14. No Rod\nFishing is now dedicated to specific regions in the world. You cannot fish wherever you want anymore.\n\n15. Photo Taking\nYou can now take Photos of pokemon in the wild.\n\n16. Team Skull and Aether Foundation\nTeam Skull is the new antagonist group like Team Rocket, but they have a new style to them as they try act gangster-ish with their animated hand gesters/movements. They have more personality and have a darker tone to their backstory and mission.\nAether Foundation is the opposite of Team Skull as their mission is to cure injured and hurt pokemon. The group is also conducting research on the Ultra Beast (Pokemon) which is a good mystery story in and of itself.\n\n17. Graphical Upgrade\nGame looks better than the last, although there are some pixelation around the edges still. Models look more realistic than before, and the battle animations are more visually impressive. There are some framerate issues on 2v2 battles for some reason, but then again I own the launch 3DS. You may not have the issue if you own the New 3DS? It's a turn-based system so it doesn't really matter much in terms of gameplay, but the slow down is noticeable\n\n18. Pokemon Refresh\nSimilar to Pokemon amie but with more grooming options\n\n-Returning mechanics:\nPokebank return, you can now transfer all your pokemon to Sun and Moon\nClothing Options: Although more options are available, it still feel very limited.\nMega Evolutions return, but none for new pokemon from what i've discovered\n\nOverall, love the changes to the traditional formula as it gives the Pokemon Series a nice refresh and is more streamline to play.","Product: Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon will launch in the US November 18th, 2016 exclusively for the Nintendo 3DS family of systems. Embark on a new adventure as a Pokemon Trainer and catch, battle, and trade all-new Pokemon on the tropical islands of a new Region and become a Pokemon Champion!\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Massive Change to the Pokemon Formula\n\nReview: Huge changes to the pokemon formula since Pokemon X & Y, no longer as it's strictly battle and collecting focused (although still present) as they added variety of mechanics to switch things up a bit and to bring more variety in gameplay. Changes include:\n\n1. No HMs\nNo longer do you have to carry around a HM slave (s). This has bothered me in the past games as I have to restrict 1 or 2 slots out of my party of 6 to help traverse certain areas of the world. In the place of HMs there are Poké Rides where you can ride pokemon interacting with them on the world map, some you may not be able to access until you've completed mission within the game.\n\n2. Is it super effective?\nNo longer do you have to look up guides online (unless it's your first encounter) to tell if a move is super effective or not very effective against the pokemon you're up against. After you battle a pokemon once, the game will tell you what moves is super effective or not in the battle menu once you encounter the same pokemon the second time.\n\n3. No Traditional Gyms\nNo longer do you have to battle your way through gym after gym to prove you're the best out of brute force.\nThere are 4 islands in the game, each of which are controlled by 4 Island Kahunas\nTo get to them you have to get pass Trail Captains and Todum Pokemon\nTrail captain will give you quizzes, side quests to complete, and/or fight in traditional battles\nTodum Pokemon. Basically typical pokemon you find the wild, but significantly stronger and have grunts that help them battle.\n\n4. Rotom Pokédex\nTypical pokedex, but with a face and personality attached to it.\n\n5. Alola Forms\nBasically different forms of pokemon you seen in previous generations. Either it's there physical form that is different and/or the pokemon's typing\n\n6. Z-Moves\nWith a Z-Ring and a Z-Crystal you can use a pokemon's ultimate move once per battle. It's not like Mega Evolutions where it stays constant\n\n7. QR Scanner.\nYou can now scan QR codes to get event pokemon. Also if you scan a random QR codes it will give you 10 points. Once you reach 100, you are able search an island for a rare pokemon. Each scan also gives you random trivia about pokemon\n\n8. Battle Royal\nA 4 player free-for-all where the battle ends after all of one's pokemon trainer's faints. They tally the win-losses of each trainer and the one with best stats at the end wins\n\n9. Hyper Training.\nOnce a pokemon reaches level 100, they can go through hyper training which can improve a Pokemon's IV\n\n10. Poké Pelago\nYour PC Box now has functionality to it. It's like a day care sort of thing, instead of just depositing your pokemon, you can passively train them in the PC or have them search for items\n\n11. Festival Plaza.\nAn online mode where you can battle other trainers and trade with them. You get festival coins for each interaction which you can spend on clothes, shop or upgrade your pokemon's stats. There's also missions you can undertake to get more coins.\n\n12. Night and Day phase, New Pokemon\nPokemon Sun goes the traditional time route while Moon does the opposite. In Pokemon Moon if you're playing in the daytime, the game will consider it night time in-game. Some events also play out differently like different Totum Pokemon on the same island/trail\n\nIn traditional Pokemon fashion you can only get some pokemon in each version so trading is required either with a friend or if you own both versions. Also some pokemon evolve differently in each version now.\n\n I'd say some of overall models of new pokemon are better looking than the last batch in previous iterations of the pokemon series.\n\n13. Auto Run\nYour run is as fast as a bike now, and it has unlimited use. You can now move in all directions instead of the traditional 4 and it feels very fluid\n\n14. No Rod\nFishing is now dedicated to specific regions in the world. You cannot fish wherever you want anymore.\n\n15. Photo Taking\nYou can now take Photos of pokemon in the wild.\n\n16. Team Skull and Aether Foundation\n\nTeam Skull is the new antagonist group like Team Rocket, but they have a new style to them as they try act gangster-ish with their animated hand gesters/movements. They have more personality and have a darker tone to their backstory and mission.\n\nAether Foundation is the opposite of Team Skull as thier mission is to cure injured and hurt pokemon. The group is also conducting research on the Ultra Beast (Pokemon) which is a good mystery story in and of itself.\n\n17. Graphical Upgrade\nGame looks better than the last, although there are some pixelation around the edges still. Models look more realistic than before, and the battle animations are more visually impressive. There are some framerate issues on 2v2 battles for some reason, but then again I own the launch 3DS. You may not have the issue if you own the New 3DS? It's a turn-based system so it doesn't really matter much in terms of gameplay, but the slow down is noticeable\n\n-Returning mechanics:\nPokebank return, you can now transfer all your pokemon to Sun and Moon\n\nClothing Options: Although more options are available, it still feel very limited.\n\nMega Evolutions return, but none for new pokemon from what i've discovered\n\nPokemon Refresh: don't remember if it's in the last game, but you can groom your pokemon in your party\n\nIf you discover more changes, please put in comment below.\n\nOverall, love the changes to the traditional formula as it gives the Pokemon Series a nice refresh and is more streamline to play.","Product: Blending action and survival horror, Resident Evil 6 delivers an epic dramatic horror experience. Resident Evil favorites Leon S. Kennedy, Chris Redfield and Ada Wong are joined by new characters, including Jake Muller, to face a new horror, the highly virulent C-virus, as the narrative moves between North America, the war-torn Eastern European state of Edonia and the Chinese city of Lanshiang.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Resident Evil 6 Revisited\n\nReview: First off, if you own the previous version of the game on last gen consoles or PC then there's little incentive to purchase this version unless you're a hardcore Resident Evil (RE) fan and want to experience the definitive version of the game and/or an achievement hunter and want to collect additional PSN trophies/XBL achievements\n\nNot much as changed since the previous iteration of the game. I think Capcom just released this just to say they did something for their 20th anniversary of the series. You do get enhanced lighting and particle effects and it runs at 60fps. Some of it looks dated even with the visual polish, but during heavy action sequences your eyes tend to tone it out a bit. All the DLC are on the disc which saves up hard drive space. If you own the PS3 or Xbox 360 version, I believe they're free to download off their respective stores (you can quote me on that).\n\nNow onto the review of the game itself. I personally enjoyed the game, even though it did not fit into the survival horror genre the series is known for (RE going back to their roots with the RE7 though). If you look at it as it's own game and ignore the fact that it's not part of the series it's actually really good action-horror game (as oppose to survival horror). But since there's RE characters in it, I guess it's unavoidable.\n\" You can't please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time\" - John Lydgate\n\nGameplay in this game is really good. There's always a mix of different game mechanics (traditional third person shooter, stealth, puzzles, car chase moments, QTE, plane combat, etc) that you won't get bored even across 4 campaigns. Each of the campaigns are around 6-8 hours each totaling around 25 hours average first play through. Each of the campaigns are high quality and as mentioned before; with a lot of gameplay styles it doesn't feel repetitive. Initially at launch I was surprised that it came with 4 campaigns at around 6-8 hours each, nowadays a full priced game has similar length to just one campaign.\n\nStory is really good as all 4 campaigns have interconnected storylines. As you play though others you start piecing together the whole plot and how each campaign influence the others. Each campaign (except for Ada's) have you controlling one of the 7 characters in the game, each with different weapon loadouts. You can do split screen with a friend or have a random person online join you. The latter can be a mixed bag as some have no idea what they're doing and get killed all the time, but most of the time you have players who've already played through the campaign at least once (probably to get trophies/achievements) and will sometimes help you find collect all the serpent emblem collectables. This can be a bad thing also if you're one to explore as these players just want to get upgrades/collectables for an achievement and will try their best to escort you through the mission. Other players can drop in/drop out as they wish, where in the latter let the AI control the partner takes the place of the human player. AI does a decent job and help pick off enemies without getting in the way. Also you can turn off the option for others to join if you like.\n\nOn the PS4, there's a whopping 71 trophies you can earn in the game, and maybe a quarter of them are just for beating the campaigns. All other trophies are objective based and most require you to grind through levels multiple times to get the trophy.\n\nOverall very good bang for you buck in terms of fun factor. If you already own the original it's a coin toss depending on if you want the trophies/achievements, or just want the best version of the game in your video game library.","Product: PAL FORMAT [NOT SUITABLE IN US/CANADA]\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Last mainstream futuristic/boots in the air shooter (for a while?)\n\nReview: Seeing that mainstream shoots are going back to the World War 1 and 2 route (with possibly of alternate timelines) with \"boots on the ground\" this may be the last mainstream shooter with a futuristic theme we see in a while.\n\nSingle Player Campaign. 20-30min for physical disc to hdd install to the HDD; so best take a quick snack or shower beforehand, unless you just want to jump right into the multiplayer. Very good campaign; more realistic tone, and doesn't have the over the top Micheal Bay type random explosions. Story wise, there's no overacting, and you're a veteran solider instead of super soldier you're used to. Some enemies take more bullets to take down than past COD games which may disappointing some who are really into quick kills. There are also Space Dog Fights with airships for side missions to if you want to take a break from the main campaign.\n\nGameplay consists of on the ground shooting, double jumps and wall runs with futuristic weapons. It's sort of a half way point of traditional World War/Modern War FPS and Titanfall series of games. This time you can throw grenades while hip firing which make things more fast pace and twitch heavy game\n\nVariety of online modes with varied playlists: team deathmatch, domination, search and destroy, free for all, kill confirm. Weapon unlocks are real grind, if you're hardcore into the game and put time in then worth it. If you're a casual player: jump right in and play a few matches here-and-there or from time-to-time it may feel imbalanced, unless maybe you're a seasoned vet of first person shooters and have perfect headshot accuracy\n\nZombies Mode has an easier difficulty setting for better survivability, and slightly faster paced than previous versions of COD zombies, but not as fast as Left 4 Dead. Multiplayer weapon unlocks carry over to zombies this time around\n\nOverall, more of the same if you're used to futuristic shooters, but for the price you get tons of content","Product: Hatsune Miku is back and bigger than ever on the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita in the upcoming rhythm game, Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA X . For those new to Project DIVA, it is an addictive core rhythm game starring the digital singer, Hatsune Miku. Project DIVA X is driven forward though a narrative which centers on Miku and her friends undertaking various requests as they explore the five Clouds that make up their world. For the Miku veterans, Project DIVA X has 30 songs and 300 modules (costumes) that get dropped. Illustration by KEI.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Get into the rhythm\n\nReview: Gameplay is similar to rhythm games you play on your smartphone where you hit the button prompt at the right time in succession for a better score. This game is different as it uses the PS4 controller where you get better tactile feedback and your fingers doesn't get in the way of the screen. Also notes tend to not flow in a single direction so good visual reflexes is required.\n\nThere's an option to swipe the touch pad, but they also allow to use the joysticks which i say is required in high difficulty settings.\n\nLove how the game passively teaches you to keep with the rhythm/beat as well as improve your hand eye coordination. Also after playing very difficult songs you have to learn to let go of your mistakes fast or you'll get up getting more misses, lowering your score.\n\nGraphics on this game is not that great compared to the realistic graphic intensive games you see on PS4. If anything it looks like something from last generation in terms of visuals. This is okay though as you tend not to focus on the character models or background when playing, but as a spectator or off game moments (cutscenes) it could be better in my opinion. You will get distracted at times during the in-game transformations (especially on ones you haven't seen before) so watch out for that. The game went for a concert type theme instead of a music video based one which i generally prefer as it draws you more into the game play and feels more personal. Other than that the game runs at a solid 60 FPS (frames per second) so there's no lag when playing which is essential in harder difficulties\n\nStory is very lame and generic. All the lines feel forced and dragged on; you tend to skip the content after a while as its very hard to get invested.\n\nThere are collectables in terms of in-game costumes which boosts your stats. There are 5 characters you can play as and all have very stereotypical anime tropes/personalities. You can give them gifts and see their reactions and will end up in a small cutscene where they thank you or give you the evil eye because they assume you give them a gift out of hate because you gave them something they don't like (which you are not aware of). So to improve your relationship/hearts with the singers you have to have a stereotypical mindset before giving them gifts because a bad one is 4x as bad as giving them something they like\n\nAll 5 characters play the same, and you only choose one over the other because their costume or personality type has a point boost for a particular track or if you think one is cuter over the other i guess. All vocals are the same, there was a male voiced track, and I selected a female character and they didn't change the gender voice for the track.\n\nMusic selection is similar to what you hear from anime openings and endings. I recommend checking out game play of the game first to see if you like the music since that's one of the core aspects of the game.\n\nAchievements. Aside from getting costumes, gifts for characters, there's PSN trophies collect. Most of them are a grind and luck based though.\n\nOverall, very good rhythm game to test your rhythm and reflexes.","Product: In a simultaneous global assault, LEGION has taken control of the nations of the world and the only force left to stop them is MAYHEM. Led by the mysterious and no-nonsense Persephone Brimstone, MAYHEM's elite Super Agents are called to the city of Seoul, South Korea. Led by LEGION Minister Doctor Babylon and his diabolical lieutenants, a nefarious plot is set in motion to build a world-altering device that will grant unrivaled power to the supervillain organization. In order to stop LEGION and take back the world, the Agents of Mayhem will traverse a sprawling urban battlefield from the ground to the rooftops and team up as a super-agent collective to stop LEGION at any cost. Success is far from guaranteed and collateral damage will be substantial, but it's all in a day's work for the Agents. The Agents of MAYHEM (Multinational Agency for Hunting Evil Masterminds) fuse together technology, weaponry and gadgets to create an all-out arsenal of futuristic warfare-and have absolutely no qualms about putting it all to use against their enemies. Featuring an original storyline, trademark over-the-top open-world gameplay, and the look-and-feel of a distinctive superhero cosmos, Agents of Mayhem is a true Volition game. This new IP is a part of the Saints Row universe, sharing certain story elements, symbolism, and design inspiration with the multi-million selling franchise. Building on the unique skill of the AAA studio to continuously surprise, endear, and engage players, Agents of Mayhem represents the culmination of over a decade of open world experience and creativity.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Side Mission based Saint Row IV\n\nReview: Like Saint's Row IV there's a lot of witty writing and banter between characters with a lot of references to pop and geek culture mixed with comic mischief\n\nInstead of following one customized character. you can switch between dozens assembling a party of 3 to go on a mission at a time. I find this less personal as you're playing from a team perspective instead of a single character taking the lead. The narration, except for introduction of new character missions focus on the team instead of a single agent you are playing. The agent you select/switch off from the party of 3 gives off one liners at times given certain scenarios. There's barely any character development as you just get snippets of back story to go off of.\n\nThere's no open world to explore for the main story rather you go into a hub world to upgrade your stats/gear, and make purchases for your next mission. Each mission run from 5-15mins average depending on your skill level how much you upgrade your character. While playing through this game, I can't help but think this would go perfect on a handheld console like the Nintendo Switch due to its short mission structure.\n\nThere is an open world segment as you can explore the city of Seoul, but it's basically a territory gain mini-game where you have to take control legion bases scattered throughout the map. Unless you max out most of your characters it's almost impossible to take over all territories as once you take over a few, one that you captured already is regained by the enemy. Once you gain a territory, you can earn addition cash/exp through side quests within that territory\n\nYou unlock new characters through the main story or tackling side missions. Most new character you encounter have a better base stat and ability than your current party, so it encourages you to switch off, even though the newbie is of lower level.\n\nAll characters you encounter are unique in terms of personality (most be overly stereotypical), abilities, and play styles.\nThere's a lot of ways to upgrade your character stats though points from experience gained\n\nThere are 15 difficulty settings in the game each having different rewards upon completion. Depending on difficulty you set, you get different experience points and cash based on how fast you complete them. Thus you have to find a happy medium for advancement in this risk reward system\n\nGraphics and style is very similar to Saints Row IV. Visuals are slightly better than SRIV, but not the best the PS4 can dish out. When there's a lot happening on screen, the frame rate may drop a bit (playing on the launch PS4). Menus have the iconic purple and white color scheme. Hand drawn cutscenes are a mixed bag and feels off at times due to the uneven lines in one scene and smooth line on the same character the next\n\nGameplay is your typical run-and-gun 3rd person shooter with a lot of random abilities mixed in like a special that makes a random AOE explosion around you, or one that de-buff enemy stats once they're in a certain range of you. Aiming is very generous in this game as you can land head shot fairly easily. You should be more focused on positioning than aiming due to it's fast paced nature. Most missions are basically the same and it get repetitive fast with the only motivation being to fully upgrade each character and listen in one their one liners\n\nStory is your generic take over the world setup, but again the witty humor makes up for it.\n\nOverall, if you want a variety of bit size missions instead of one epic tale in the tone of Saints Row IV, you should give this game a try","Product: Persona 5 is a game about the internal and external conflicts of a group of troubled high school students - the protagonist and a collection of compatriots he meets in the game's story - who live dual lives as Phantom Thieves. They have the typically ordinary day-to-day of a Tokyo high schooler - attending class, after school activities and part-time jobs. But they also undertake fantastical adventures by using otherworldly powers to enter the hearts of people. Their power comes from the Persona, the Jungian concept of the self. The game's heroes realize that society forces people to wear masks to protect their inner vulnerabilities, and by literally ripping off their protective masks and confronting their inner selves do the heroes awaken their inner power, and use it to strive to help those in need. Ultimately, the group of Phantom Thieves seeks to change their day-to-day world to match their perception and see through the masks modern-day society wears.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Fine Tweaking the Persona Formula\n\nReview: If you played Persona 4 before there's not really a drastic change to the formula; you're still dungeon hoping while trying to balance your social life, but the changes made makes this the best and easiest Persona game to jump into.\n\n-Story\nYou're a high school student moving to a new town trying to change the hearts of corrupt adults thus making society a better place\n\nThe game is split into days where you try to balance your life in the real world and meta-verse\n\nIn the meta-verse or the dungeon aspect of the game, you face shadows or enemies made by corrupt adults which guard their evil heart in palaces (or evil manifestations of a person)\n\nOnce you enter a palace you have a set number of in-game days to complete it before the corrupt adult does something to ruin society\n\nOnce you defeat the boss in the palace you'll change their hearts forcing them to turn themselves in to the authorities in the real world\n\nIn the real world, you spend time with friends getting to know their darkest secrets and may romance them if you further the relationship far enough. Along the way you build stat upgrades which you can use during your dungeon crawling\n\nThe story, dialogue, voices and character interactions are very good, making it an addictive game where you want to level up and progress to further the story. The story also involve real world topics that deals with mature themes such as abuse, crime, rape, blackmail\n\n-Graphics\nVery stylish with its anime art design/cutscenes, jagged comic book speech bubbles, very colorful backdrops and varied characters personalities . Even the UI has a stylistic flare to it. All transitional screens and menus are well animated. Very nice presentation overall as it looks very slick, edgy and modern.\n\n-Gameplay:\nIn the metaverse, you sneak through palaces and stealth hit/ambush wandering enemies for a leg up in battle\n\nOnce battle is initiated it's your typical jrpg turn based system but with a twist\n\nIf you hit an enemy with move that's super effective against them, you'll get an extra turn to attack until your combo gets large enough where you get an optional all-out-attack\n\nAn enemy can sometimes do an 'Hold Up!' prompt where you can spare their life for money, item or have them join you as a Persona summon.\n\nFor the latter you get a multiple choice question answer segment where you have to convince them to join you with a successful choice dependent on the enemies personality. You can then fuse personas and make stronger ones\n\nOnce a palace is conquered you are not able to return, but you can get mementos or side quests from random NPCs to further level up if you want to\n\nIn the real world there's a lot of micro time management. You may be overwhelmed with activities that you cannot do all in a single day and some activities are only open on particular days . Thus you have to pick and choose what to do to build up your stats (like eating burgers, reading on the train station, studying, watching movies, etc) or build relationships with a friend. For the latter, building relationship further increase their persona in battle and similar persona types that you capture/make join your team\n\nAll activities level up 1 of 5 stats: Knowledge, Charm, Guts, Kindness, or Proficiency. These stats once leveled up open new activities and opportunities to level up in the meta-verse and improve social links furthering the story.\n\nThey're a lot of interlocking game mechanics in play that the tutorial may last you a couple of hours depending on how familiar you are with the series. Even though the game handholds you for a couple of hours, it's very natural and you don't feel lectured most of the time. After those few hours, you get invested very easily as the world opens up to you, and you can easily sink in 100+ hours into this game.\n\nOverall best Persona Game I've ever played and for those who like a narrative driven story where a lot of your own choices predicts an outcome, this game is a must buy.","Product: Persona 5 is a game about the internal and external conflicts of a group of troubled high school students - the protagonist and a collection of compatriots he meets in the game's story - who live dual lives as Phantom Thieves. They have the typically ordinary day-to-day of a Tokyo high schooler - attending class, after school activities and part-time jobs. But they also undertake fantastical adventures by using otherworldly powers to enter the hearts of people. Their power comes from the Persona, the Jungian concept of the self. The game's heroes realize that society forces people to wear masks to protect their inner vulnerabilities, and by literally ripping off their protective masks and confronting their inner selves do the heroes awaken their inner power, and use it to strive to help those in need. Ultimately, the group of Phantom Thieves seeks to change their day-to-day world to match their perception and see through the masks modern-day society wears.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Fine Tweaking the Persona Formula\n\nReview: If you played Persona 4 before there's not really a drastic change to the formula; you're still dungeon hoping while trying to balance your social life, but the changes made makes this the best and easiest Persona game to jump into.\n\n-Story\nYou're a high school student moving to a new town trying to change the hearts of corrupt adults thus making society a better place\n\nThe game is split into days where you try to balance your life in the real world and meta-verse\n\nIn the meta-verse or the dungeon aspect of the game, you face shadows or enemies made by corrupt adults which guard their evil heart in palaces (or evil manifestations of a person)\n\nOnce you enter a palace you have a set number of in-game days to complete it before the corrupt adult does something to ruin society\n\nOnce you defeat the boss in the palace you'll change their hearts forcing them to turn themselves in to the authorities in the real world\n\nIn the real world, you spend time with friends getting to know their darkest secrets and may romance them if you further the relationship far enough. Along the way you build stat upgrades which you can use during your dungeon crawling\n\nThe story, dialogue, voices and character interactions are very good, making it an addictive game where you want to level up and progress to further the story. The story also involve real world topics that deals with mature themes such as abuse, crime, rape, blackmail\n\n-Graphics\nVery stylish with its anime art design/cutscenes, jagged comic book speech bubbles, very colorful backdrops and varied characters personalities . Even the UI has a stylistic flare to it. All transitional screens and menus are well animated. Very nice presentation overall as it looks very slick, edgy and modern.\n\n-Gameplay:\nIn the metaverse, you sneak through palaces and stealth hit/ambush wandering enemies for a leg up in battle\n\nOnce battle is initiated it's your typical jrpg turn based system but with a twist\n\nIf you hit an enemy with move that's super effective against them, you'll get an extra turn to attack until your combo gets large enough where you get an optional all-out-attack\n\nAn enemy can sometimes do an 'Hold Up!' prompt where you can spare their life for money, item or have them join you as a Persona summon.\n\nFor the latter you get a multiple choice question answer segment where you have to convince them to join you with a successful choice dependent on the enemies personality. You can then fuse personas and make stronger ones\n\nOnce a palace is conquered you are not able to return, but you can get mementos or side quests from random NPCs to further level up if you want to\n\nIn the real world there's a lot of micro time management. You may be overwhelmed with activities that you cannot do all in a single day and some activities are only open on particular days . Thus you have to pick and choose what to do to build up your stats (like eating burgers, reading on the train station, studying, watching movies, etc) or build relationships with a friend. For the latter, building relationship further increase their persona in battle and similar persona types that you capture/make join your team\n\nAll activities level up 1 of 5 stats: Knowledge, Charm, Guts, Kindness, or Proficiency. These stats once leveled up open new activities and opportunities to level up in the meta-verse and improve social links furthering the story.\n\nThey're a lot of interlocking game mechanics in play that the tutorial may last you a couple of hours depending on how familiar you are with the series. Even though the game handholds you for a couple of hours, it's very natural and you don't feel lectured most of the time. After those few hours, you get invested very easily as the world opens up to you, and you can easily sink in 100+ hours into this game.\n\nOverall best Persona Game I've ever played and for those who like a narrative driven story where a lot of your own choices predicts an outcome, this game is a must buy.","Product: When Hodai, the portrait of an uninteresting normal student, is shot by a cupid angel named Ekoro, he becomes immensely popular - in the blink of an eye every girl at the academy becomes insanely hot for him. But being irresistible to the ladies is hardly a dream come true. Every love letter, shout of adulation or advancing kisses will drain his energy. He has to stay strong - because if Hodai doesn't find his one true love by the end of the day, he will become cursed and destined to be forever alone. Fend off the other girls by using Hodai' s 'pheromone shot', a power granted to him by Ekoro that sends the advancing hordes of girls into fits of ecstasy! Only by keeping them at bay can he find his true love and confess to her.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: On rails cupid shooter\n\nReview: This game is an on-rails shooter where in every level you are set on a pre-destined path with the ability to control only your cursor and sometimes an option to go left or right on a branching path. If you played light gun games in the arcade it feels similar.\n\nStory. A cupid trys to make you fall in love with someone since you're a hopeless romantic. As the cupid trys to fire her gun, she forgot she put it in the highest setting as the result every female ( except those you have a crush one) falls madly in love with you and tries to get in your pants.\n\nAll levels are linear with slight branching paths where you just shoot girls coming after to till they get into a euthporic state dropping to the ground unable to chase you.\n\nEach girl has a different sweet spot (like a headshot or weak point) that make them drop to the ground easier. This is hard to find out as it's not visually apparent. You have to discover each girls weakness via trail and error or by collecting/ reading journals scattered through the levels\n\nMain campign can be completed in 3-4 hours. Replay value comes in beating the main campign again and try to get an alternate ending, collecting journal entries and getting a higher score in each level\n\nGood game if you have a fantasy of all school girls trying to get you, but at the current ~$45 is pretty hard buy","Product: 10 years after its initial release, Legend of Kay - Anniversary is a thoroughly remastered version of the original game: high-resolution textures; new, more detailed character models; modern rendering techniques and crystal-clear surround sound give this great classic a new shine. Full of fond allusions to old martial arts films and pop culture quotes, Legend of Kay - Anniversary is both an incredibly funny game and a challenging action-adventure for young and old alike.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Old game with a shiny coat of paint on it.\n\nReview: First I preface that I did not play the original PlayStation 2 release so there's no nostalgic point of view going in\n\nBest way to describe the The Legend of Kay is a mixed of Sly Cooper/Jack & Daxter and Kung Fu Panda. Like the Sly Cooper/Jack and Daxter games it's a 3D adventure platformer with battle elements sprinkled in. It has cutesy animal characters similar to those of the Kung Fu Panda films. The plot is pretty generic: gorillas invades the village and oppresses all the other animal races and imprison some of them. Kay stands up to fight them and saves his friends in the process. Even though rated 10+ there are some alcohol references, instead of beer and wine the alcoholic beverage in this game is dubbed nettlemead.\n\n-Gameplay involves platforming, battle segments, light puzzle solving and riding animals.\n\nPlatforming is okay if it weren't for the horrible camera angles, where if there's a miss placed jump in a long platforming sequence, you may have to restart from a minute or two back.\n\nBattle sequences suffer from the same problems as at times the camera decides to obstruct your view from what's happening. The battle system involves doing combos, blocking and dodging. The latter of the two requires timing and if you're down to your last life it's pretty frustrating when the camera starts misbehaving out of nowhere. There's no lock-on mode which may be troublesome in the endgame where there are mobs of enemies coming at you and you can't pinpoint an annoying enemy to take out first, this is especially troublesome when the camera decides to fight against you also. Combos are not attack based rather finisher based as dealing a final blow on an enemy activates a combo mode where you have to timed button presses to string attacks.\n\nPuzzles in this game is pretty simple. It either involves pushing blocks, hitting the right trigger sequences or breaking a pile of pots into an arrow to your next destination to name a few. These puzzles are simple and fun to solve. They are not exactly brain teasers as with little thought it's easy to figure out, there was no time where I have to look for an online guide to figure out a puzzle. There are some exploration elements though, so you may have to scour every nook and cranny of the map at times to find a hidden item or switch to progress.\n\nThere are animal riding segments where you ride a boar through a timed obstacle courses.\n\nAll 4 gameplay elements sets a nice change of pace throughout the game, but the camera issues sometimes kills the mood.\n\n-Voice acting in this game is horrible. You can tell they're reading from a script with no visual stimulants or passion. The conversations are not fluid and you can hear small pause transitions between audio tracks. The script is decent, but the voice actors lacks enthusiasm. The background music on the other hand is very good and catchy at times, wished the voice acting had the same treatment.\n\n-The graphics are surprisingly good, you could tell it's a PS2 era game, but with a nice gloss over it running at 60 frames per seconds with minimal loading screen transitions.\n\n-Extras are okay, you get concept art, videos and sketches for completing. For those on PS4 there are trophies, but there are some missable on the first playthrough as some are event triggered, so best to look through the trophy list unless you plan to play through this game multiple times.\n\nOverall good visual upgrade, but has a very old school vibe to it. If they fixed the camera and re-record some of the voices than it would have been a more enjoyable experience.","Product: Animal Crossing Series\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: \"Yes, yes\" -Tom Nook\n\nReview: Say hello to everyone's favorite debt collecting tanuki in Amiibo form\n\nIn terms of physical design it is very good. Tom Nook stands on his own without a transparent prop. I like the cross hatch detail on his sweater. He has a large protruding belly which is a nice touch seeing most other amiibo tend to go for the perfect body or super cartoony look.\n\nMain DLC for this amiibo are for Animal Crossing Amiibo Festival and Animal Crossing Happy Home Designer. All other games (mentioned later) are just read only cosmetic dlc.\n\n-Animal Crossing Amiibo Festival\nStore save data for the game. Great when playing with friends on different systems\nAfter each match you can save the Happy Points you've collected to your amiibo figure. Save enough points up and you can even unlock new costumes for your character.\n\n-Animal Crossing Happy Home Designer:\nHelp Tom Nook Design his dream house\nUse Amiibo Phone to communicate with him\nAfter you've completed your design, you can save the furniture items you used to the character's card and share them with a friend.\n\n-In terms of other games, you basically get saved ghost data, random common loot drops (sometimes daily), and/or unlockable costumes depending on the game. Here is the list of games compatible with the Amiibo as if this review:\n\nAmiibo Tap : Nintendo Greatest Bits\nAnimal Crossing Amiibo Festival\nAnimal Crossing Happy Home Designer\nAnimal Crossing New Leaf\nCaptain Toad Treasure Tracker\nChibi Robo Ziplash\nElder Scrools V Skyrim\nFire Emblem Echoes\nFire Emblem Warriors\nKirby Planet Robobot\nHey! Pikmin\nHyrule Warriors\nHyrule Warriors Legend\nLegend of Zelda BOW\nMario and Sonic Rio 2016 Olympic Games\nMario Kart 8/Deluxe\nMario Party 10\nMario Sports Superstars\nMetriod Prime Federation Force\nMetriod Prime Blast Ball Demo\nMiitopia\nMini Mario & Friends Amiibo Challenge\nMonster Hunter Stories\nPokken Tournament\nSuper Mario Maker\nStyle Savvy Fashion Forward\nSuper Mario Odyssey\nWord Puzzles by POWI\nYoshi's Wolly World\n\nOverall i like the design of the Amiibo. The Tom Nook Amiibo is compatible with variety of games, and is one of the cheaper amiibos out there (along with other Animal Crossing Series Amiibo)","Product: From easy and fast, to advanced and fun, Corel VideoStudio Pro X9 has everything you need to make your videos look their best. Make a movie in minutes with FastFlick or Instant Projects, or move up to more advanced editing on the multi-track timeline. Cover all the angles with the new 4 angle Multi-Camera Editor and align clips automatically with audio syncing. With instant fixes for common problems, over 1,500 customizable effects, titles and transitions, including NewBlue FX Video Essentials II creative filters, VideoStudio Pro X9 delivers high-quality results with style that's all your own. Plus, smart audio tools automatically balance levels and keep dialog crystal clear. Ready to share? Quickly burn to DVD, upload directly to social media or share on popular devices.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Very good buy for mainstream editing\n\nReview: Very good software for the mainstream use as it's not overly compliacted. If you want professional projects you should consider getting Adobe Premire Pro. Just note that there's more focus on fine details and more fustrating to edit videos compared to Corel VideoStudio Pro X9\n\nThe layout for the program is super simple to sync audio and video with easy drag and drop controls. If you're somewhat familar with techology it's very easy to figure out on your own, if not, there are tutorials online to help you get started and/give you tips on hidden features you're not aware of.\n\nI like how everything is very easy to visualize with the timeline as you can click to drag, expand or drop files and/features.\n\nIn terms of filters, some stand out more than others, you are also able to fine tune these filters by costomizing the graditent and color\n\nThe panning, zooming, and cropping videos is also a nice feature if you want to exlcude certain visuals in your original video\n\nThere are variety of preset effects which can also be manually adjusted\n\nI love that you can adjust audio fliters, and normalize volume option by combine 2 clips so there's no random jumps in volume during video transitions\n\nThere's also a multi cam editor for up to 4 cameras/videos at a time. I beleive you can get more if you upgrade to ultimate edition\n\nOverall very good editing tool if you want to do mainstream video editing and upload it online to youtube, but if you want to edit a full featured film there are better video editing software out there, but note that they are not easy to pick-up-and-edit","Product: Furinno 3 shelf storage bookshelf is designed for casual and stylish look. The materials comply with e1 grade particle board for furniture. There is no foul smell of chemicals, durable and it is the most stable particleboard used to make rta furniture. Care instructions: wipe clean with clean damped cloth. Avoid using harsh chemicals. Please contact support@furinno for missing parts, damaged goods, or other questions. We are pleased to send you the replacement part free of charge. Pictures are for illustration purpose. All decor items are not included in this offer. Pictures are for illustration purpose. All decor items are not included in this offer.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Thin Wood, Nice Coat of Paint\n\nReview: Very similar to furniture you find at Ikea: very nice to look at, but not materials are not the best in the world.\n\nThe wood is very thin and aside from the paint job, it's very low quality\n\nVery easy to assemble. If you have kids, I'd have them help you build it for a bonding experience.\n\nThe back panel is split into 3 sections, if you don't align it perfectly and have light shine from the back it'll make an odd 3 line light strip.\n\nYou have to play with the center of gravity when placing heavy/multiple items on this shelf as i question the sturdiness of it\n\nVery nice display piece when you have guests over, just don't let them get a very close look at it or touch it.","Product: Made for the outdoors. Hydro flasks tempshield insulation has redefined what the classic outdoor water bottle can be. The 18, 32, 40, and 64 oz. bottles keep your beverage icy cold or piping hot from trailhead to Summit and every step in-between. Your perfect all day and into the next refreshment solution. It is the ideal hydration companion for those long days in the office or a full day on the beach or trail. Now with the new flex cap for ultimate portability. Whether youre in the Arizona summer or the Alaskan winter, Hydro flasks 18/8 stainless steel double wall Vacuum insulation will keep drinks icy cold for up to 24 hours and hot liquids hot for up to 6 hours. The wide mouth opening is makes pouring easy, and the new BPA-free flex cap is insulated to further protect your beverage from outside temperatures. Hydro flasks 18/8 food-grade stainless steel interior is non-porous, with rounded corners to help eliminate bacteria buildup, unwanted odors and lingering flavors. Along with high performing and high quality products, all Hydro Flask products are made with recyclable materials and are backed by our lifetime warranty. Look for the h-guy and Hydro Flask logo to ensure youre getting the markets premium insulating beverage bottle. Features: convenient carry size ideal for day pack 32, 40, and 64 oz. sizes fit most backcountry water filters wide mouth opening tempshield protected double wall Vacuum insulated keeps hot up to 6 hours, keeps cold up to 24 hours durable, sweat-free powder coat finish (except for the stainless option) BPA-free, 18/8 stainless steel lifetime warranty parks for all - with Hydro Flask new giving program, parks for all, they are focusing on one overarching goal: supporting the development and maintenance of public Green spaces everywhere compatible lids: Hydro flip lid & Hydro straw lid hand wash only with hot, soapy water, then rinse and dry.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Opening Could Be Larger\n\nReview: Only major negative I have with this bottle is that the opening could be larger as if you have giant man hands it's hard to stick hands in and clean every nook and cranny having to resort you bottle shaking.\n\nTemperature control is as advertised as it keeps cold beverages cold and hot items hot.\n-Cold: filling it ice cubes and water, half of the ice will melt out of normal use (constant opening and resealing throughout day) after 10-12 hours. At no point does the cold beverage you put gets luke warm in a 24hr period or is there any condensation outside the bottle\n-Hot: After around 6-7 hours you still get steam seeping out when you open the cap, just make sure you don't put your face near the opening when you unscrew the lid\n\nTexture of the bottle is like soft sandpaper. It's very easy to grip and in no way feel like it'll damage or grind against your skin in anyway.\nThe lid is okay, love the metal circles on each side as it gives it a nice stylized look.\nThe loop attached is great as it gives ample room for hand carrying or hook it to something with a carabiner\n\nAnother minor issue is that once you reach half way point make sure you don't over tilt to drink quickly as you will get major waves of water rushing towards your mouth where if you aren't ready may result in a spill. Also would be great if the lid double as a liquid holder for hot beverages if you just want to sip a small portion\n\nOverall i'd say it's a very good insulated bottle that does what it's intended to do, just that cleaning may be a issue if you have large hands.","Product: Non-Stick Silicone Baking Mat is an essential kitchenware tool that will save you the one thing that you can never buy more of, time. Our FDA and LFGP approved silicone material is super nonstick, odor-proof, heat resistant, and long lasting. You will save on cleaning time because they are easy to clean with water and soap. You will not be that person scrubbing off burned remnants of food from the metal cookie sheet or foil. You will no longer experience that hike to the grocery store just to buy more parchment paper or foil again. Your time is valuable and this is a professional grade product. Try this three-piece baking mat set today, and spend your time where it matters most. As with all silicone baking mats, they are not meant to be cut with a knife or other sharp objects.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Pays for itself after several uses\n\nReview: Never do you have to use parchment paper or foil again since these can be reused thousands of times with no spray required.\n\nIts extremely non stick, so you don't have to scrap off any crumbs damaging your cooking sheet or pan when you're just using oils or sprays. It does not leave access crumbs or chunks and everything slides right off smoothly so you do not lose any food during the baking process.\n\nIt's easy to clean, just wash with soap and water with all your other dishes\n\nCan also be used outside the kitchen such as a mat for play-dough or clay so your kids can get some use out of it\n\nOverall will save you tons of money and time in the long run\n\nI received this product at a discount in exchange for a honest review","Product: Pizza Pan Gripper for Shallow Pizza Pans.Made of stainless steel.Measures 8\"H.Our professional pan gripper is built for commercial use.Pizza pan gripper for shallow pizza pans.Easy to use.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Specific Way To Hold\n\nReview: <div id=\"video-block-R3DM2NZCXXIJKU\" class=\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\"></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/919S7ZqCKnS.mp4\" class=\"video-url\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/918pw57CZIS.png\" class=\"video-slate-img-url\"> There's a specific way you have to hold/use this tool: using your ring finger to release, index and middle finger to grip. See Video.\n\nIt's not like a set of pliers where there's a grip that locks in once it clamps. You constantly have to use pressure to hold\n\nThere are no instructions included, but this is the most intuitive way I found out how to use it. Other than that, you can use two hands if you're worried about your finger strength when griping.\n\nI personally use this for my air fryer since it has multiple trays and this tool conveniently slides in and better than using oven mitts especially when the trays are so close together\n\nOverall, very useful kitchen tool","Product: Glass 30oz Cocktail Shaker Set with Stainless Steel Removable Cap. This Includes Wooden Muddler to crush and mix any thing you add to your cocktail. Makes the Perfect Gift for Anniversaries, Birthdays & Special Occasions. Sleek and stylish addition to in home bar collections and Bar enthusiasts! Improve your Home & Party Barware Tool Set or make a Perfect gift for Family Gatherings and Party's.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Takes extra steps to setup\n\nReview: First thing you notice when disassembling the jar is that the cap comes in 4 separate pieces: Twist-able cap, strainer, washer and cap for the strainer. Wished the first 3 items were fused to make for a more fluid experience (pun intended), as you have to take extra steps when putting things together, taking everything apart and cleaning which may add up over time. I would not mind if there's an option to omit the strainer, but without it there's no sealable cover for the jar\n\nThe jar itself is of excellent quality, similar to other mason jars I've owned in the past. It works as intended and have no complaints about it's overall use after it's fully assembled.\n\nThe knife is pretty sharp and does the job well. The handle is okay, not the most comfortable, but gets the job done. Makes for a real good letter opener though if you already have your own garnishing knife\n\nThe wooden muddler is also a nice addition. Wish the face has a larger surface area to make grinding a little easier\n\nOverall very impressed with what this glass cocktail shaker set has to offer, just that the cap could be more intuitive in design. 4.5/5\n\nI received this product at a discount in exchange for a honest review","Product: Looking for a slim, ergonomic fit and high fidelity sound that is made to please your ear? Meet the new JBuds J6MS Single Earbud Smartphone Headset. Ideal for those who need a single (1) earbud with microphone and answer call/button control for smartphones, tablets, including Android, iPhone, Motorola, Palm, HTC, Windows, and BlackBerry. The JBuds J6MS high-performance earbud combines a blissfully slim, soft rounded shape with the very latest in ultra-compact titanium micro drivers, delivering an unparalleled experience of audio fidelity and supreme comfort. Includes an in-line microphone with button control for crystal clear calls, JLab's brand new 45 degree metal jack (24 karat gold plated), Kevlar-reinforced cable, feather soft cushions in 7 sizes and two styles for a custom fit. Please Note: This product has one (1) earbud and is designed for cellphones, 2-way radios, etc. If you are searching for stereo earbuds (2 earbuds) for your music player, try the JBuds J6 or the J6M with mic. Backed by JLab's limited one year warranty and world-class support.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Keep one ear open\n\nReview: Great for when you want keep aware of your surroundings while taking a phone call.\n\nIt beats letting one side of the traditional 2-ear headphones dangle or have it cut off\n\nThe mic button could use some improvement. It functions, but its more flush to device making it hard to blind press it when you need to. Also would be great if they're volume controls.\n\nMic and sound quality while taking phone calls are great; able to hear clearly from both ends of the conversation\n\nEar bud fits on ear comfortably I had no problems with it so far\n\nSound quality is pretty standard and is comparable to stock headhphones you see included with your smart phone, mp3 player or other devices. You won't get high end sound, but if you're a casual listener of music or care more about lyrics than acoustic than this may be the ear-buds for you. Also some music tracks that alternate sounds from left to right (or vice versa) won't be present here for obvious reasons.\n\nAs an ear bud for phone calls it does work as it's intended to do, just that the mic button could use some improvement","Product: Spreadsheets. Budget summaries. Accounting roll-ups. When it comes to company financials, they wait for no one-even when you're on the road. With the V7 USB Numeric Keypad, you can conveniently run the financial data anywhere without having to 'hunt-and-peck' on your laptop computer keyboard. The V7 Numeric Keypad is elegantly shaped and accentuates a soft touch with tactile feedback for comfortable data input. It has extra functionality with a backspace key and \"00\" for improved productivity. The plug-and-play design means you do not need to download any drivers to install this USB numeric keypad. Whenever you travel, now you can fly through the numbers without a second thought.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Blind Typing Numbers In Seconds\n\nReview: The key pads are very tactical and ergonomic and I tend to use these over the one already included on my laptop due to it's small size.\n\nIt took several tries to get the muscle memory down but after a while you'll be typing numbers at a break neck speed.\n\nLove the addition of the double 0 (zeros) as it shaves off milliseconds off my already fast typing speed.\n\nThe buttons feel really sturdy and feels like it can withstand 1000s of button presses.\n\nMy only gripe with the product is in implementation of the cord. The cord is fairly long which is much appreciated, but you are forced to wrap it around the border of the product which is a bit tedious a times, especially if you're in a rush. I wished there was mechanical wind up feature instead. Also a TAB button on the device would also be much appreciated\n\nOverall it's a excellent product and saved me countless time at work and at home. I give this product a 4.5/5","Product: MOMENTUM On-Ear. Stunning sound and sensational style. Beautiful and compact, the MOMENTUM On-Ear embodies the style and substance of Sennheiser's critically acclaimed MOMENTUM headphones in a smaller, lighter, refreshingly fashionable approach. Designed specifically for use with phones, tablets and laptops, MOMENTUM On-Ear is the perfect choice for \"on the go\" music enthusiasts seeking superb sound quality. MOMENTUM On-Ear employs precision 18-ohm transducers using powerful neodymium magnets. They deliver exceptional detail, superb dynamics and solid bass response. The smooth frequency response has a slightly elevated emphasis in the bass, delivering a full bodied, warm sound. The ear cushions and stainless steel headband are covered in luxurious Alcantara, for exceptional wearing comfort for long listening sessions. MOMENTUM On-Ear is available in a range of fresh pastel and traditional colors carefully selected by an international team of fashion designers. MOMENTUM On-Ear will complement your sense of style while making a statement about your passion for sound quality.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Comfortable when adjusted correctly\n\nReview: Heard some reviews saying that the headphones get tight after hours of use. It was with that with me at first, but I found a way around it: Simply just adjust the sliders at each end so they are not in parallel with each other. This relieves the concentrated pressure on both ends of your ears. It may look uneven at first, but when you wear them no one can tell the difference unless they are actively looking out for it.\n\nAs for the headphones themselves, they have excellent audio performance with no distortion at high volumes. One of the best headphones you can find at the price range.\n\nDesign wise, it's very nice to look at while sturdy and light weight making it great for travel or when you're out-and-about (although not suited for loud environments seeing there's no noise isolation)\n\nOverall I'm very impressed with these headphone and have been using them daily.","Product: The Hello Kitty Bluetooth Speaker with hands-free function works with Smartphones, tablets and other Bluetooth Devices.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Cute Speakers With Great Audio\n\nReview: First off love the packaging, makes for a great display when gifting.\n\nThe product itself is very portable, and very comfortable to hold despite its all metal casing. There's a nice weight to it, which makes it not feel cheap. The speaker has a tactile base which prevents shaking and stays in place well.\n\nBluetooth is easy to setup and syncs automatically. Like the audio-out feature just in case you're low on battery and still want to use the device.\n\nDesign is very cute with Hello Kitty on the side of the speaker and a bow on the grill\n\nThere are volume up/down, play/pause on the device just in case you don't want to unlock your phone/bluetooth enabled device to enable to those functions. I just wish there was a track selection (forward/back button) on the device\n\nThe speaker can get very loud, but there's a set volume limit so kids won't blast the music and ruin their ears. The volume controls on the device goes as loud as the set volume on the bluetooth enable device. For example, if you put the volume on your smart phone half way, that will be the max output the speaker will make on it's on board controls. .\n\nLove the cute beep sound indicators it makes when reached high volume or when sync is complete\n\nSound quality is very good with no distortions at high volume. Very impressed with the feature set seeing how small the device is.\n\nI'm very impressed on what this speaker can do.","Product: B00UJBLI56B00UJBLI56\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great For Use In Bulk\n\nReview: Very good vegetable peeler for the price.\n\nThe blades are very sharp which makes the cutting easy, but clean up a bit bothersome (more on that later). There are variety of ways to slice and cut your vegetables which makes for great presentation in the dinner table.\n\nWorks as intended, but may not want to use sparingly as it may take a while for the clean up. It does include a cleaning brush which helps out a bit, but you may want to also use a kid's size toothbrush for touch ups. I recommend using this tool when cooking/cutting in bulk rather than for a single dish/serving size meal.\n\nOverall this is a great product, with its only draw back being the clean up. I give the 'iPerfect Kitchen Ultra Sharp Stainless Steel Dual Julienne & Vegetable Peeler with Cleaning Brush' a 4.5 out of 5","Product: An Amazon Brand.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Fits a 17inch, 5lbs laptop*\n\nReview: The stand is able to fit my 5 pound 17inch laptop without any problems, as long as I adjust the center of gravity of the laptop and take precautions when pressing the power button near the top. The power button on my laptop is located near the hinge of the monitor; When pressed, i have to make sure to press it lightly (or hold the side of the laptop for balance if i want to press it harder) or it'll make the stand wobble back-and-forth. but not make the laptop fall off the stand. Other than that, normal function on the keypad works fine.\n\nIf you own a 17inch laptop that has a lot of buttons on the top row near the hinge of the monitor and use them frequently I do not recommend this product as your laptop may fall off eventually during forceful uses or may damage your table due to constant wobbling of the stand. Any button that is pressed 1.5inches vertically from the hinge will not cause any issues and your laptop will remain stable. All laptops are different, so can't say for your particular situation, but if you own a 15inch or 17inch laptop with similar specs and still have problems with it, the return policy for an Amazon Basics item is hassle free. Just take precautions just in case your laptop fall off the stand when testing it out for the first time as Amazon probably won't take responsibility for a damaged laptop.\n\nThe stand is great for standing desk and also for when sitting down. For the latter, your posture may be better as it forces you to look up more as you do not tend to bend forward as often.\n\nGood if you're one who uses a usb or wireless keyboard, let it be the keyboard of your laptop doesn't work or prefer a larger keyboard to type on.\nThere is about 3.5 inch gap between the laptop and the base of the stand at it's lowest point, making for a good storage location for misc items for quick access or for the keyboard mentioned earlier\n\nVery good ventilation especially when using on a gaming laptop as you hear the fans less when playing a high graphic intensive game.\n\nThe stand itself is sturdy, yet heavy. Best to have it fixed in a central location than have it transported constantly. If you do plan to move it to different locations, I would save the box it comes with along with the cardboard grips as it'll make transporting easier.\n\nOverall worked very well for me, especially having a large laptop.","Product: You no longer need to break the bank to Chat, listen or game in comfort and ease. The HYTOBI H10 headset brings you all the bells and whistles; Adjustable headband for the perfect fit to your head, foam padded earcups that slightly tilt to the direction of your ear and lightweight design for comfort on long calls or all day use, boom microphone that can swivel upto 270 degrees and bendable rod for full control of mic placemenr at all times. Up and out of the way, down and away or next to your muout. The 3.5mm ear and mic plugs make setup virtually a breeze. Just plug and play. The 6 foot cable allows you to freely move around when in use. When it comes to sound you will be blown away at the quality, the noise-cancellation will make the the person at the other end of the line think that you are using an expensive model. Will work with most PC's and MAC's. Pretty much anything that has a 3.5mm jack. (Will only be able to use headphone option if no mic jack). Backed and Packed. 1 year warranty and easy packaging.\n\nRating: 1.0\n\nSummary: Horrible Build, Decent Stereo\n\nReview: First of all there's manufacturer's warranty and no manual (not that you need it).\n\nSound quality is decent from a stereo headset, but the mic does not work as there's a lot of static and white noise when trying to use the device.\n\nThe build quality is also poor as the ear piece came apart when received. I popped it back in okay, but may have damaged the mic in the process. I have no way of knowing if the mic actually functions correctly due to no warranty in sight. All I received is the headset in a plastic bag.\n\nOverall if you're looking for a budget headset you may find one at a similar price point if you look hard enough, but if you had a similar experience to mine this is a definite pass.\n\nI received this product at a discount in exchange for a honest review","Product: Enjoy powerful performance and a vibrant display with the Black 10.1\" Galaxy Tab a from Samsung. This tablet features a Samsung exynos 7870 chip set, which utilizes an octa-core processor clocked at speeds up to 1.6 GHz. It comes with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of built-in storage. It's also equipped with a micro SD slot that supports microSDXC cards up to 2TB. Bluetooth 4.2 connectivity is also integrated for pairing with Bluetooth-enabled devices, such as Select headphones and accessories. Troubleshoot: For software related issues can be resolved by performing a factory reset on the product which will reload the software back to new in box condition by turning off the device and while pressing and holding the volume up key and the home key, pressing the power key. All personal information should be backed up prior to this step as it will delete all customer and local content. While unfortunate, all electronics regardless of manufacturer have a small possibility of having problems. If this is the case, the customer can contact 1-800 Samsung for troubleshooting, support and if required repair through Samsung Warranty service\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Upgraded From Nexus 9\n\nReview: Owned a Nexus 9 since launch and now it has screen freezing issues. Decided to buy this as a replacement. Let's go over features of the Galaxy Tab A and some differences compared to Nexus 9 along the way\n\nFirst thing to notice is the larger screen. Comes in a 16x10 aspect ratio instead of 4x3; so it's either really tall or really wide which is good for watching videos or viewing web pages.\n\nBezels are really small in both landscape and portrait mode. In landscape mode, its very easy to press the capacitive buttons and cover up the speakers, and in portrait mode its easy to press the side of the screen (unless you palm the bottom of the tablet with one hand). Unless you're going to use for a short time span, it's ideal to use a stand in my opinion.\n\nPicture quality is really good at 1080p. If you're used to seeing 4k all the time, you may see some pixelation, but generally overall good display.\n\nSpeakers are on the bottom of the tablet (portrait mode), instead of front facing on the Nexus 9 which is a bit disappointing especially when holding in horizontal mode, but sound quality is decent for a tablet. It lacks in bass, but loud enough for youtube videos. If you want to watch HD movies that are surround sound compatible, or listen to high quality music on it; best to get a Bluetooth speaker or hook up a wired speaker/use a headset via aux cable if you want more immersion\n\nHas physical home and capacitive buttons which is very convenient vs onscreen buttons (on Nexus 9) as it doesn't take up screen real estate. Downside, as mentioned before, you may accidentally hit the capacitive buttons when holding in landscape mode.\n\nHas 10gb internal memory (6gb used up for processing/system memory), but has expandable storage up to 256gb via micro USB card slot\n\nBattery life is amazing! Can last up to 10-12 hours depending on what you do with it. Does not support rapid charge so it takes around 5 hours to get back up to 100% from 5-10% battery life. Idle time for the tablet is really good though and can last up to a week without it doing anything or do minor tasks like checking e-mail once in the morning/night.\n\nApp drawer lower right instead of bottom center which can take a bit of getting used to. You cannot change this unless you download a custom launcher\n\nRun stock Android instead of custom one like in kindle devices, so all apps on the Google Play works on it. Runs Android 7.0 vs 7.1.1 on Nexus 9 (essentially the same). Galaxy Tab A does have custom software options like blue light filter mode and customized battery save mode.\n\nCamera okay. If you are spoiled by high end flag ship smart phones than you may be disappointed and never use it. seeing how large the tablet is it's hard to get a good grip and hit the snap/record button anyway. But it's good for skype calls/video conferencing, and emergency photo shots/video recording. Can also be used as baby monitoring or security device if you have the app\n\nNo tap screen to wake like on Nexus 9, but can wake via home button in front. Have to tap power button to put to sleep or let it sleep on it's own\n\nApps run fine with 2GB RAM. Should not be your dedicated gaming tablet, but most games run fine, but may get some frame rate issues on games that that run over 30fps, But most games nowadays on the Play Store don't go that higher than 30pfs anyway\n\nBuild is decent with a hard plastic body. A little weighty, but feels sturdy.\n\nOverall very good all around budget android 10inch tablet. If you want the basics of Android with exceptional battery life this is the tablet to get.","Product: Mobile Audio Made Easy. The Microsoft LifeChat LX-2000 folds up and provides a comfortable fit, while high-quality acoustics deliver great sound. This full-size, affordable headset works seamlessly with your computer, and setup is a snapjust plug it in!\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Great Travel Chat Headset\n\nReview: Love the portable aspect of this headset as it can fold up into the palm of your hand. Great for travel as it's easy to just drop it in the accessory section your laptop bag.\n\nThe headset has a behind the ear setup. Great if you don't like headsets that get in the way of your hair (especially if stylized and/or has gel/spray on it), or don't like how in-ear headsets feel.\n\nThe headset is a on-ear design with no ear cup. May feel awkward at first if you're not used to it or have been using the in-ear headphones that comes with your smart phone frequently, but overtime you get used it to. It doesn't squeeze your head* at all and feel like it semi floats on the side of your head overtime. Also hangs around your neck* well if you need to pull it down to listen/have a conversation with someone in the room\n\n*may vary depending on head and neck size\n\nProvides good stereo sound. Conversations are very clear, no issues hearing people or slight background noise on the other end. Microphone works well also, no issues on the other end from what I tested/feedback from others. I wouldn't game with it though as it hard to get directional awareness from this headset\n\nHeadset is glasses friendly. The ear hook on the headset gives ample room for your glasses to slide through.\n\nThe cord is extra long. In fact it includes 2 twist ties on top and bottom of the in-line controls out of the box\n\nIn-line controls are very simple. It has a volume rocker, microphone slider, and build in clip. Wish there was a push to pick up call button.\n\nFor the microphone slider it has 3 options: Plus (+), Minus (-) and mute.\nMute is self explanatory.\nPlus denotes the attached mic to ear piece of the headset.\nMinus is to turn on the mic built into the in-line controls.\nObviously the mic on the ear piece is better as it's closer to your mouth and has a windshield, but i guess if you don't like the microphone right next to your mouth, you can use the in-line mic.\n\nHas a traditional PC plug setup with individualized cord for mic and volume. It does not include a duel male to female adapter\n\nSome negatives are that\nIf you want to adjust the mic, you have to hold the earpiece its attached to, to get leverage to rotate it.\n\nAlso there's a huge product placement on both sides with the word \"Microsoft\". You can easily get rid of it by using a grey Sharpie or place a sticker over it i guess.\n\nOverall very good portable headset for conference calls especially when traveling","Product: The Original Timbuk2 Messenger improved by 25 years experience. Waterproof TPU liner and flap corner construction for excellent weatherproofing. Internal organizer for pens, phones, and other small stuff. Fully adjustable shoulder strap with a permanent, super comfortable airmesh strap pad. Designed in San Francisco.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Nice Upgrade from 2011(?)/2012 model\n\nReview: Going over the changes made from the previous model I owned:\n\nNew fabric: Lighter fabric, doesn't feel cheap. Feels less sturdy/smooth than the previous model, but less weight on your shoulder\n\nCompartmentalization: Less pockets than the previous model, which can be a plus or minus depending on when I need more/less items in the bag at a given time. Wished they had used the old design just to have the option.\n\nNapoleon zip pocket: drastically smaller than the previous version. It seem to have slimmed down 10-15% space wise which is a big negative for me as I tend to use the feature often.\n\nCorner wings: Great selling point for me, as before I had to take extra time during the rainy season to make my bag secure/waterproof before going out\n\nInterior buckles: Makes the bag more streamline /fashionable. Get's in the way of the Velcro at times, but doesn't get in the way of securing the items in the bag in general.\n\nCompression straps on bottom: Nice addition as it changes the form of the bag depending on how many items you want to put in the bag. Only negative I have with it is that when fully sinched down, the excess cord seems to dangle off the bag.\n\nGrab handle: Good addition; great for quick transport (car to front door of your house). Material used not as ergonomic as it may be a strain on your hands if held for long periods of time\n\nNew cam buckle: More lightweight than the previous version, but still have to use two hands to make it secure, holding one part of the strap in place with one hand while moving the buckle up with the other.\n\nStrap pad: Puts less strain on my shoulders compared to the old model. Older model was too thick and put too much strain on my shoulders\n\nInternal waterbottle pockets: Although it takes multiple uses to get my water bottle into the grove of the compartment, Overall great addition, as previously I had to push it off to the side with other items or let it fall horizontally to the bottom of the bag\n\nAside from the issue of the Napoleon zip pocket and compartmentalization when carrying multiple items, the new additions make up for it, even though i have to re strategies where I put things","Product: An Amazon Brand.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Excellent Casual Day Pack with a Lot of Pockets\n\nReview: Great bag for when you like to travel light, and want to have personal belongings on your person without having to carry around a purse or fill up your pant pockets.\n\nPerfect for casual strolls around town and don't want you or your backpack to draw attention as there's not much going on in the exterior (unless maybe you plan to add patches and accessories to it).\n\nAs a school bag: if you're a bookworm, on the honor roll, and/or have to carry around 3+ heavy text books daily, I recommend getting a backpack with gel and or mesh shoulder straps for support and ventilation; as carrying this bag with a lot of weight can put strain on your back and shoulders. Good for elementary or jr high if they heaviest object you put in backpack is are couple of spiral notebooks.\n\nBest comparison to this bag I say is for JanSport Daypack as it has the same form factor for the exterior with the one small pocket up front and one large compartment. If you look closer, the Amazon Basics Backpack does way better in compartmentalization as there are way more pockets than the eye can see.\n\nFirst off, there's 2 water bottle pockets on the sides with a Velcro encloser. You can put small accessories in there and be physically active without worrying about your stuff falling out. Great if you're one to run around a lot, do parkour, skateboard, or find yourself upside down somehow/jumping at odd angles.\n\nThe main small pocket has nothing go on inside as it's just one large pocket. Would be great if there's a key lanyard attachment in there. For my and my friend's experiences with the JanSport Daypack in the past, only 1 out of 5 of us who had the same backpack back in the day used it.\n\nInside the large main pocket is where things gets interesting. In the back there's a small zipper pocket (similar space as the exterior small) where you can get quick access to items without worrying about someone stealthily trying to grab stuff from the exterior small pocket. Great place to put your more expensive items, keys, or things you find more valuable\n\nNext layer/pocket is for folders or a 8-10+ inch tablet. I wouldn't use this as a laptop sleeve unless you have to, as there's not much padding.\n\nWall adjacent contains two small pockets that can fit a Kindle Fire HD7 perfectly in each one, and two pen/pencil pockets.\n\nProduct placement is very minimal compared the large rectangular JanSport logo. Amazon Basic logo appears as a tag on the lower left shoulder strap, which can easily be removed with a pair of scissors if you want.\n\nZippers are pretty good, very smooth with no snags or pauses so far\n\nWhen you first get the bag, I recommend you airing it out overnight (preferably outside with clean air) as there's a factory smell to it.\n\nBag I say is good for small personal belongings, some notebooks, maybe a tablet, and a space for your sweater if it starts getting warm. Not meant to carry heavy objects unless you think your shoulder and back muscles can handle it. Also too much weight can wear down the shoulder strap overtime\n\nOverall, very good backpack if you want to travel light while you conveniently carry around you personal belongings. Excellent price range compared to the competition","Product: Go Sac Light Weight Travel Duffel Bag - bag folds into small pouch: Extremely lightweight Duffle bag Colorful, roomy, fun! This versatile bag has it all, and comes with multiple colors, 100% Duralon, GO!SAC Packable Duffle Bag Can Be Packed Into Its Own Clip On Cosmetic Case When Not In Use. This Bag Features A Top Zip Closure, Front Slip Pocket And Two Top Handles. Bag Interior Is Roomy With A Zipper Pocket. FEATURES: GO!SAC PACKABLE DUFFLE BAG can be packed into its own clip on cosmetic case when not in use. GREAT TRAVEL BAG: Dimensions: 21.5\"W x 11.5\"H x 10\"D | Handle drop 7\", 100% Duralon. GO!SAC FOLDABLE TRAVEL BAGS are Extremely Lightweight Bags - Great for Travel and all around Daily Activities, it works great for travel or storage - its uses are endless! FEATURING: Top zip closure, front slip pocket and two top handles. Bag interior is roomy with a zipper pocket. Just FANTASTIC! Our Guarantee To You: Ships immediately, 100% Satisfaction guarantee, No questions asked Return policy. Customer Service is our top priority. Scroll to the top & add to Cart.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Portable Budget Duffel Bag\n\nReview: The material for this duffel bag is of low quality, but it does what it's intended to do: hold your clothes and accessories.\n\nSeeing that it's collapsible it does not hold it's shape well and sags a lot when not filled to the brim. Also the thin material does not do well with sharp or cornered objects as it may stick out like a sore thumb.\n\nThe color is certainly eye catching if you're into the tie-dye look\n\nPockets wise, you get one exterior pocket and one zipper pocket in the inside. Wish it was reversed, zipper outside and non-zip inside. Also the travel pouch can also double as an accessory kit when not used for storage\n\nThe shoulder strap and handle is not very ergonomic so holding heavy items for long amounts of time and/or long distances can make you arms/shoulders sore\n\nAt the end of the day when you unload your bag, it's great to know that you can use the travel pouch for easy storage. Great duffel bag to have on vacation as a backup duffel bag for other activities if your current duffel bag is occupied with travel supplies.\n\nOverall good budget or backup duffel bag.\n\nI received this product at a discount in exchange for a honest review","Product: Great comfortable fit. Achieve the stylish, trendy, slouchy look with this must-have beanie!\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: More functional than fashionable\n\nReview: First of all, the beanie is more uniform in size and not like what's in the stock photo as the stock photo shows a large base and thins out towards the top.\n\nEven though the stitching is very good, there are some loose threads you have to attend to initially when receiving the product for the first time\n\nThe inside has a very soft warm fur/fleece material making ideal for winter weather.\n\nPersonally I think this is more of a lazy stay-at-home/sleep or skying-in-the-winter-snow kind of beanie than a night out on the town type beanie as it's very thick and not as fashionable than other beanies I've owned in the past.\n\nThe Wine color is more uniform throughout while the khaki has a better color gradient in terms of inner and outer layers.\n\nIf you have large cheeks it'll make it stand out more (unless you have hair running down the sides) due to it's thick design; so keep that in mind before purchasing if you're more into fashion than warmth of your beanie\n\nI received this product at a discount in exchange for a honest review","Product: Polarspex POLARIZED Classics are made of the same top end materials that you see on $100 celebrity looking designer shades. In effort to bring our customers additional value, the 52 mm lenses are upgraded from traditional plastic lenses to super utility high clarity performance polarized lenses. Moreover, the Explorer collection is available 60+ different lens combination so that you can tailor the right pair to match your wardrobe. These casual modern sun glass are great for outdoors beach activities such as kayaking, surfing, canoeing, jogging, walking and hiking. Makes a great gift for birthday, graduation, wedding, party favors, Christmas holiday, Valentine, Father and Mothers Day. We've got that color that youre looking for. Further, our frames are backed by 90 day warranty, if any damages shall occur during this time, please reach out to us and we'll make things right for you.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Blast From The Past With Polarized Lenses\n\nReview: If you want polarized lenses while retaining the 80s retro feel at an affordable price, this is the sunglasses to get.\n\nGreat at preventing sun glare while maintaining a classy look\n\nGlasses has a good grip: The sunglasses will stay on your head, and will not fall off due to gravity when standing up straight and looking down at your feet.\n\nFrame feels solid, and hinges are very sturdy\n\nSeeing that the lenses are polarized; it will not do well when viewing OLED screens either on your car dashboard, smart phone, laptop, etc. as it will make the screen appear blank until you pull down the sunglasses. LED screens can be viewed just fine although a bit dark\n\nOverall, for the price it's an excellent buy","Product: The dress is made from 100% high quality rayon. Features embroidered neck detail, relaxed fit and prints in beautiful colors.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Makes for a great night Gown\n\nReview: If you're going to use it as a summer day dress, note that this dress is not wrinkle-free and will wrinkle like crazy if after it leaves the dryer. You'll need to iron it out each time you decide to wash it, thus I'd say it makes for a better night gown or casual dress to wear at home during the summer as it's very comfortable and breathable.\n\nI like the vibrate colors as it stands out really well and boosts up your mood when wearing it.\n\nIt's a bit on the loose side, but you get a lot of freedom of movement when wearing it.\n\nDuring extreme heat it's comfortable enough that you don't need a blanket, and just sleep with the dress on while laying on-top of the bed.\n\nIf it weren't for dress being easy to wrinkle i'd be a perfect summer dress.\n\nI received this product at a discount in exchange for a honest review","Product: New from bSoft! If you have ever wanted to wear your favorite pajama pattern out in public, now you can with our stylish bamboo/cotton scarf! This classic scarf has our amazingly soft material on both sides that will provide you with warmth and comfort. This also makes an excellent gift for a woman for any occasion! Machine wash and dry on low heat. Sizing: OSFM 10x75\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Soft yet firm material\n\nReview: The material it's made of (70% bamboo, 30% cotton) is not soft as nylon or a micro fiber cloth, but smooth enough to where it's very comfortable against your skin without feeling overly fuzzy. Best description I can think of is it's similar to a material you find bamboo pillow crossed with a child's blankie.\n\nThe width of the product is excellent, not to thick or thin and conforms well to your neck. The length is very generous giving a lot of room to stylize the way you want. Stitching is also very good as I found no loose threads.\n\nWarmness factor. It does provide a little and good for breezy autumn days, but I wouldn't wear it to a ski resort with snowy weather especially if your neck is sensitive to the cold\n\nOverall if you're into the pattern design, a must buy if you want a comfortable scarf around your neck\n\nI received this product at a discount in exchange for a honest review","Product: A dressed up travel-friendly backpack; send your bag through security without removing your devices. Large main compartment for books, jacket, and other carry-on essentials. Channeled airmesh ventilated back panel. Fully padded laptop compartment lined with quilted tricot fabric, soft yet secure (fits up to 15\" Mackbook). 30 liter volume.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Perfect for a weekend trip\n\nReview: It's a hybrid of a laptop bag, suitcase, luggage bag, backpack, and duffle bag.\n\nFor single person use; good for up to 4 days of travel, maybe 5 if you're conservative/creative. So perfect for a weekend retreat or short buiness trip.\n\nLook is very sleek, uniform in design. Doesn't look awkward in a professional setting\n\n-Now going to go through the bag section by section from exterior parts/pockets to inner pockets\n\nBottom compression straps for cinching to make the bag appear slimmer especially with less stuff side the bag. Also can be used to hold a long umbrella, yoga mat or anything that resembles a long hollow tube.\n\nTop grab handle. Good if you want to hand it up on a wall mount\n\nSide grab handle. Great if you want to carry the bag around like a suitcase of dufflebag. Perfect for quick grab and go scenarios\n\nbottle opener: not the best, quickest and most efficient out there, but does the job\n\nVista loop for attaching blinky bike lights. Also can be used as a transport tool: if you're on a bike and someone on a skateboard can latch on for faster travel\n\nWater bottle holder. Not good. It's not able to hold large/long water bottles. Anything larger than a 12oz bottle of soda and there a chance it bay be knocked off by rubbing against and get hit by something. I understand why the section is so small to accommodate the large main pocket to open up like a luggage back compartment, but would be great if they added a velcro strap with twist knob to latch onto a longer bottled water and not get in the way when opening the large pocket\n\nThe padding on back is great. It has a channeled airmesh ventilated back panel. The design makes it so that it's breath-able so your back doesn't get sweaty during hot weather or if you have sprint to the loading terminal\n\nShoulder straps are good shock absorbers, evenly distributes weight on both sides. Won't get shoulder cramps like a cross style bag. There's also a chest trap for activity that involves a lot of movement.\n\nTricot-lined floating pocket. Protects sunglasses or smartphone from scratches. The pocket is not very deep. For both 5inch and 6inch phones it's not easy to slip in and zip; you have to lift up the top lip, slip it over, then zip it up. For a 6 inch phone and aviator glasses, you have to wiggle it around a bit to secure it in the pocket.\n\nQuick access pocket. Great for taking things out quickly and vice versa. If you live around or go near a shady neighborhood, I may want to consider putting your more expensive/personal items in the inner pockets. But for trusted areas it's very convenient.\n\nNext pocket up is what I call the accessories pocket. Has tons of interior pockets for small trinkets, pens/pencils, cables, erasers, usb memory sticks, etc. You can also use this section to put in folders, a novel, or notebook. Great organizer section of the bag\n\nLarge main compartment. Able to put in large carry-on essential items such as text books, clothes, shoes, etc. Zipper goes 90% down making it easy to pack\n\nLaptop compartment. TSA friendly as long as the laptop-only section completely unfolds to lie flat on the X-ray belt. No metal snaps, zippers or buckles inside, underneath or on top of the laptop-only section. Great if you don't want to put your laptop in the plastic box. Note that the section on the other side of the TSA friendly laptop does not apply as you have to take out your tablet from that pocket section.\n\nOverall I very good all-in-one travel bag. It has some faults, but the overall package is great for a weekend excursion","Product: The Disney Frozen Soft Sport Hockey Set from Franklin Sports is constructed of soft and lightweight materials making it perfect for young players. Includes one 20\" soft sport hockey stick and one ball. 20\" Soft Sport Hockey Stick and Ball Perfectly designed for young players. Constructed of soft and lightweight materials. Fun indoor play Ages 3+\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Ergonomic hockey set for kids\n\nReview: Very good beginner's hockey set for toddlers and young children as the soft padded design is very comfortable and ergonomic when holding and splinter-free as opposed to using a wooden stick.\n\nThe stick itself measures around 24inches or 20inches if you don't count the blade.\n\nEven with the padding, you are still able to feel the wood inside if you grip in hard enough, and kids can still hurt themselves if they get too forceful and decide to get into a stick or sword fight.\n\nThe paint job is very nice. on the stick itself it has a elegant snow flake design with border pattern around the entire stick. On the blades, one side features Olaf while the other displays Kristoff and Sven.\n\nThe ball itself is slightly lopsided causing slight friction so it doesn't roll off to the street or have the child do unnecessary chasing after the ball when in play. The ball is made with the same soft padded material as the cover of the stick making it comfortable to hold. Even if your child gets bored or tired of the sport; the ball can be used as a good stress ball or toy for the dog.\n\nBoth the stick and ball is very easy to clean; with just running water and some soap, you can clean both in seconds.\n\nOverall very good beginners set, especially if they're fans of Frozen.","Product: Conquer the cold in style this winter with ZeroXposur slant 3-in-1 systems jacket. Classic active styling that works perfectly for the City guy that also loves to hit the slopes in his free time made from the brand's exclusive water-resistant stretch fabrication, providing no restriction of movement, the jacket gives extreme protection from the elements. The inner poly filled puffer jacket is great on its own for warmer conditions and provides extra warmth when the temp drops\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Perfect Jacket with Many Pockets\n\nReview: Love how the jacket has a lot of pockets available (8 total) making it great to carry around many small items without having to carry on an extra backpack or messenger bag.\n\nThere are variety of different fabrics used to make the jacket which is very nice and shows good craftsmanship\n\nWhen dissembled, the jacket comes in 3 parts: The hood, outer shell jacket, and inner shell jacket; all of which can be combined or removed to best fit your situation\n\nThe hood is pretty standard, same material as the outer shell. Great for rain or snow seeing its water resistant protecting your head from getting wet.\n\nThe outer layer is very water and wind resistant, and also quick drying so you don't have to carry on extra water weight when trudging through the elements. The outer layer makes a great light raincoat on it's own\n\nThe inner layer provide a lot of warmth and is suitable for cold conditions with very little water or wind in the environment. By wearing the inner shell by itself it provide the most range of motion compared the the outer layer or both inner/outer combined*. It's like wearing a lot of layered shirts without the bulk/weight. *You still do get a lot of motion with the combined inner, outer and hood, but even more if you wear the inner on it's own,\n\nOverall very impressed with this jacket, the only thing missing could be detachable gloves, bandanna mask, and goggles","Product: This modern silhouette is quickly becoming the go-to for guys. The Champion power blend retro fleece jogger pant has reduced pill and shrink so it will look good wash after wash.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Great for Physical Activity, Not for Lounging Around\n\nReview: Very nice grip on the waist and ankles making physical activities like jogging very smooth\n\nLeggings are tight, but not too tight that you don't get any air circulation\n\nI like how the crotch area is loose, especially when you sit down, making it very comfortable especially when you need to rest up and take a breather\n\nPockets are a nice addition, same depth as regular jeans/pants\n\nProduct placement is very subtle; just a small champion logo near the left pocket\n\nSeeing the tightness of the leggings, I wouldn't recommend wearing these when you're binge watching a TV series on the couch unless it's ridiculously cold in the room and/or have the window open for some reason during winter\n\nFit wise, the sizing chart provided is on point. You can make adjustment from the draw string at the waist or roll up at the ankles sleeves without it hindering performance\n\nOverall, very good work out pants","Product: Mossy Oak/Camo/Blaze Orange reversible hunting fleece beanie with hidden zipper.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Do you want to be seen or not\n\nReview: Do you want to be seen or not is the question you ask yourself when you wear this beanie as you can go full cameo or bright orange.\n\nThe fleece material is very comfortable to wear and does not shrink much in the wash\n\nI like how the seams are well hidden as you hardly see the stitching on both sides\n\nPersonally I think it looks better on a person with a smaller head size than a full sized adult as with the latter it can be a tight fit and make your face look bigger than it already is.\n\nThe hidden pocket compartment is a nice touch, but I wouldn't recommend putting anything other than light cash when on the go as the material is very thin and putting a smart phone in there for example will show a slight budge on your head.\n\nBest use of the hidden compartment i'd say if you're hanging out at a friend's place on the couch and you want to take everything out your pockets to feel more comfortable. You simply unload everything into the hidden compartment and put it beside you with the beanie in the orange position sticking out (just in case you can't find it in cameo form) instead of putting your phone/wallet etc on your friends coffee table.\n\nOverall very impressed with this product, keep in mind the head size when purchasing\n\nI received this product at a discount in exchange for a honest review","Product: If you're looking for a FAST working premium waist trimmer that will help you burn belly fat and shed inches from your waist then you're in luck. The FAST TRIM fat burner belt is designed specifically for increasing your overall body heat around your stomach to help you lose excess body fat. The Premium Neoprene used with our FAST TRIM makes wearing it super comfortable. It's fully adjustable and easy to use.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great Supplement to diet and excercise\n\nReview: The padded material used makes it extra comfortable to wear throughout the day and after a while you do not realize it's there unless you are actively thinking about it. The Velcro is very strong and holds well without slipping.\n\nIf you exercise and/or on a diet this is a great supplementary product as it helps you burn weight while you workout and eat. While/after working out a lot of attention is focused towards your waist making your body burn more fat in the area. When eating, it's good to have the waist trainer on; as your stomach expands due to food consumption you are able to feel a bit of pressure of your stomach against the waist trimmer signaling you to stop soon helping you with over-consumption and portion control.\n\nIf you are not using the waist trimmer for the reasons mentioned above, and only plan to keep eating the same food while keeping a sedintary lifestyle then you won't necessary lose weight (maybe a pound or two max due to increased BMR from fluid loss from sweat), but at least prevent you from gaining additional weight if you eat similar foods daily before you had the trimmer. If you ever had your phone case on for over a month then removed it and started using your phone as it was? That's the same feeling you get except throughout your whole body after wearing this product for an entire day. You feel lighter, but your weight stays the same, which in and of itself is a great feeling\n\nThroughout the day your stomach gets this odd rumbling sensation similar to when you consume diet pills. If you put up with that, you get this lighter than air feeling after you remove the product at the end of the day and may even lose weight if you keep a strict diet and work out regimen.\n\nOverall good product, and will work depending on what you intend to do with it.\n\nI received this product at a discount in exchange for a honest review","Product: Why Fit Active Sports Gymnastics Grips Fit Active Sports is proud to bring you the best cross training & weight lifting gymnastics grips on the market. The new Fit Active Sports Palm protectors were made to solve all your past frustrations, making you feel invincible. Your time is limited, use it wisely. No more excuses. Get ripped and build self esteem! Strap on Fit Active Sports Leather hand grips and notice the Huge Benefits: Strong Grip: New palm design made from textured leather guides you into finding the best contact points and minimize grip loss. GRIP MORE LIFT MORE Wrist Support: Oversized wrist wrap supplies maximum stability giving you confidence for that last rep Hand Protection: Thoughtfully made palm design prevents calluses and blisters, allowing you to not postpone anymore workouts Sweat Protection: Breathable special design made to combat sweat eliminates annoying slippery feeling What's in the Package? 1 pair of leather hand grips with wrist support Specially designed zip lock package made to keep your leather hand grips clean and dry,away from your dirty gym clothes Who were these leather hand grips made for: Men and Women (both beginners and experienced athletes) who want a more efficient workout Warranty: Fit Active Sports products come with 30-day money back guarantee. If you don't like our gymnastics grips for any reason at all, get your money back no questions asked You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great! Click the \"ADD TO CART\" button now...sometimes 'later' becomes 'never'\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Uncomfortable around the wrist\n\nReview: First off the wrist area of the plastic latch that loops around the velcro strap pushes against your skin making it very uncomfortable.\n\nThe palm grips themselves work great, but it may be loose depending on your palm size as there's no way to adjust it, making for slight creases from the friction as you do more repetitions lowering the life of the grips.\n\nA great advantage is that it's able to slip on really quickly making workouts go a lot faster, especially if you want to do your training and be out of the gym in record time.\n\nOverall good set of grips if you're into convenience of slipping it on and off during your training. Aside from that , the ~$25 current asking price is a bit high as there are better products out there around the price range.\n\nI received this product at a discount in exchange for a honest review","Product: ZonePerfect Nutrition Snack Bars offer both a delicious snack and an excellent source of protein for people on the go. Our bars are designed with the expertise and passion of nutritionists to be irresistibly flavorful and protein-rich. And the best part? Our snack bars don't contain any artificial sweeteners or flavors. One bite of ZonePerfect Snack bars and you'll wonder why you've been getting your nutrients any other way.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Not Perfect By Itself\n\nReview: First off at room temperature or lower it is ridiculously chewy and sticks to your teeth like a magnet. For optimal taste I suggest putting it in the fridge for a few hours, taking it out and letting it sit for 10mins before eating. I also recommend eating it with milk, ice cream, or vanilla protein drink because eating the whole bar in one sitting makes your mouth really dry.\n\nThe fluffy innards shown in the packaging is barely present, Everything in the bar seems very uniform except for the chocolate drizzle on top. You do get the cookie dough flavor, but at a high cost especially for a grab and go product that needs preparation for a good tasting experience","Product: Called \"White Tipped Oolong\" or \"Oriental Beauty\", this is a fermented non-roasted oolong. Natural fruity aromas and produces a sweet tasting bright-reddish orange tea liquor without bitterness. Dried leaves of high quality should exhibit a pleasant aroma with dark purple and brown leaf coloration with white hairs. The Oriental Beauty must be grown in environment of no pesticides and no chemical pollution, which encourages Jacobiasca formosana insect to suck the juice on the tender tea buds, which improves the quality of the tea. The annual yield of Oriental Beauty is low and it is not an easy task to harvest it. Only the tender tip and the two young leaves are plucked by hand. The only downside is this tea does not taste like champagne, contain alcohol, or produce bubbles. For that, you will have to purchase champagne. Cheers! When the tea bag is brewed in hot water and begins to swell, the shape of a goldfish begins to form. The mouth of the tea bag is designed with a special cotton thread, Pulling the thread enables the tea bag to move in water. Creating a natural rhythm of moment from the fluctuations of the water. A life-like goldfish appears to be swimming in your tea cup. Goldfish Tea Bags are made entirely by hand via a 16-step process. These steps require exquisite handcrafted skills by Taiwanese artists in order to display the ultimate craftsmanship of the Goldfish Tea Bag. Among 300 applicants, 28 were chosen for their immense skill. The complex process is to highlights the majestic artistry of the Goldfish Tea Bag. Settle in, take a seat. Waft the curled steam slinking slowly upwards from your tea cup. Magnificent beauty, meticulously handcrafted with care in 16 precise movements by skillful artisans, captivates your attention - allowing you to savor every drop of every moment.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: High Quality Tea, High Price Tag\n\nReview: First I would like to note that you only get 1 tea bag for the MSRP of $20 which is a high price tag, so unless you have money to splurge, want something expensive to drink for a special occasion, a tea enthusiast, or money isn't an issue to you then read on.\n\nFor a single bag you want to enjoy the moment as this is not tea you gulp down in a hurry before you head off to work (unless you have money to burn). The tea bag itself is nicely made an would look good on the dining table for a romantic dinner at home or to celebrate a special occasion.\n\nThe tea tastes really good. It's sweet when you sip it in and the after taste last really long as your tongue tries to contemplate on if the taste is bitter or sweet. Very enjoyable in small sips as my taste buds rarely have this smooth transition of flavor before.\n\nOverall, high quality tea for the price.\n\nI received this product at a discount in exchange for a honest review","Product: CLIF Nut Butter Filled Energy Bar brings together two great energy foods - a delicious, creamy nut butter inside an organic energy bar - to deliver sustained energy. CLIF Nut Butter Filled Energy Bars are USDA Organic, non GMO and contain 7 grams (9% DV) of plant-based protein from nut butter, brown rice protein and pea protein.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: A bit on the dry side\n\nReview: When consuming this product make sure you have some sort of beverage ready. Preferably some type of milk (regular, soy, lactaid, etc) or protein drink ready, because after eating it stand alone your mouth will feel very dry. This may be an issue if you're active and on the go as it may make you feel even more dehydrated.\n\nFlavor is very good, it's like a chocolate brownie mixed with oats rolled around peanut butter\n\nThe texture is excellent and all ingredients are uniform throughout. It's very easy to chew and perfect for on the go snack (just make sure you have some sort of beverage around as mentioned before)\n\nPeanut butter not as pronounced as shown in the photo advertisement visually, but there's ample amount, taste wise that you won't really complain about it.\n\nSeeing that there's peanut butter; those with braces or who's teeth sensitive to cavities may want second thoughts before purchasing as there will be traces of the bar on your teeth after chewing\n\nNutritional profile of the bar is very good. One bar will not get you full, but will be enough to last you an extra hour or two at least","Product: Designed to rival its predecessor, the Easy Flex 3 now offers a 30% slimmer body with a more swept back & compact design. From the bottom of the mount up, the Easy Flex 3 is style & design driven all the way. The bottom base neatly covers the super sticky\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Thought mine was defective at first...\n\nReview: When i received the iottte easy Flex 3 I peeled off the protective sticker for the suction hoping it would stick right away. Boy was I wrong, I had to soak it in water and let it dry for an hour or so for it to work as advertised (length of drying not mentioned in instructions)\n\nIt fits devices from 2'' to 3'' and works great for my Nexus 5 without a case.\n\nAside from it not working right away, my only other complaint is that the extendable arm is not long enough for my device to be viewed from the bottom: when I put the mount on top of my stereo dashboard/ AC fans surface it wasn't able to flip 360 degrees without something getting in the way.\n\nThere are several promotions for this item from time to time ranging from $9-$15. If you are not in a hurry to purchase one, I'd wait for it to drop in price","Product: Downsize on bulk with Spigens Thin Fit case for your Nexus 6P. The hard PC case snaps snugly onto the phone to maintain a slim profile for minimal style and protection against scratches. Even with its slim profile, the Thin Fit case provides just enough coverage for surface protection of the camera.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Stylish, more functional phone\n\nReview: Switched from the Nexus 5 to Nexus 6P as my daily driver and missed the matte finish of the Nexus 5 as the Nexus 6P's aluminum exterior is a bit slippery. Love the new look and feel of the case brings to Nexus 6P as it brought back nostalgia of the Nexus 5, but with a larger form factor and better internals.\n\nI like how the case help kept the visor design unlike other cases where there's a small rectangular or round cutout making it feel more slick and not out of place.\n\nThe physical buttons are easier to press. You can better distinguish the power and volume buttons. Yes, the power button has crosshatches without the case on, but with the case your finger naturally glides to where you want to go especially with the plastic divider between the two buttons. The finger print sensor is also easier to locate for the same reason as the plastic surrounding the sensor have a natural attraction to your finger.\n\nI like how the case slightly raises the camera visor, finger print sensor and front screen off the ground protecting the phone from minor physical damage with repeated placement on a flat surface.\n\nThe case is a very tight fit, so if you're one who like changing out cases occasionally for stylistic reason then you might have trouble slipping this one out as it takes a little effort\n\nThe case does have an added layer of protection to the phone, but it won't protect it from heavy multi-story drops. If you are a casual user and are not the clumsy type or an adventurer, this phone will hold up well to minor drops (with the added benefit of a better grip and ease of access to the physical buttons)","Product: Compatible phone model Samsung Galaxy Note 4 The flexible high-grade film is formulated to be &quot;self-healing&quot;. It comes in TWO Back pieces ONE impact resistant clear bumper (back cover anti-scratch material) ,ONE flexible clear front Shield (self-healing material) Able to Stretch ,absorb and even repair scratches and impact damage. Beyond Cell TriMax Series Case Full body kit provides Full HD clarity and super-smooth feel. Superior protection with the most durable case on the market. Designed with air hybrid technology which absorbs shock for ultimate protection. Resistant to smudge and fingerprints. You can also change your phone to clear or with design. Ultra-clear (HD) hybrid Anti Shock Phone Case. Case 360 Degree cover all edges and phone with built-in screen protector, Impacts resistance on the screen. DO NOT use any tempered glass or screen protector with this case. Top Case is a flexible screen protector with scratch resistant material. Unique molding process minimizes bulkiness while protecting against every day wear. Daily use of your mobile device can cause unsightly scratches, dents and other unwanted damage. Easy to install and remove , and 100 % bubble free installation. Compatible Carrier: Sprint/Verizon/AT&T/T-Mobile\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Touch controls less sensitive\n\nReview: Provides excellent 360 protection so there's no need to purchase a screen protector, but the only downside is that the it decreases the sensitivity of the screen by a lot. You have to hard press or press down and drag to swipe along the case at twice (or more) pressure than you normally would with or without a traditional screen protector on.\n\nProtection wise, it's pretty decent covering the entire phone except for the input ports, fingerprint sensor, camera, and speaker grill. The cutouts are decent and will fit most standard mirco-usb and 3mm headphone jacks.\n\nThe case comes in two pieces and is easy to install.\n\nThe feel of the case in your hand is a bit odd. It doesn't add much bulk, but there's an obvious plastic feel to it.\n\nWhen the screen is off or low brightness there's a weird cloudy effect when looking at the phone, making it less transparent than you wished it would be\n\nOverall good case with all around protection. Just keep in mind that your fingers have to do more work when the phone is in use\n\nI received this product at a discount in exchange for a honest review","Product: High quality professionally manufactured stickers. Weather and UV resistant ink on waterproof vinyl. These high quality stickers will last for years under harsh conditions. Stickerpirate stands 100% behind its products. If you are unhappy with your purchase for any reason we will make it right.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Very good re-usable stickers\n\nReview: Able to re-apply a dozens of times and they leave no residue or lose it's stickiness after several applications to different surfaces.\n\nThey are a bit on the small side, but it's what you'd expect if you read the product description\n\nDesign is very simple as it's just white text on a black background. You can make it at home if you have a printer and a sticker sheet, but most stickers on printer paper tend to leave residue which takes time to scratch/scrub off if you decided to remove the sticker. Also the print quality may not be as great (as these have a semi-gloss look to them), and may cost more if you do not make it in bulk\n\nThese are very convenient for the price, just don't expect a quarter to full size bumper sticker","Product: This convenient Class pack is ideal for all classrooms and daycares. Save paper and money with this set as it allows you to re-use the same sheets over and over. Class pack includes 10 each of pockets, dry erase markers and multi-purpose cloth erasers. Pockets feature a side panel opening that allows you to easily insert and remove standard size papers. The dry erase markers included are pocket style with bullet tips in black and are AP certified and conform to ASTM D4236. Also included are our multi-purpose cloths that can be used on all surfaces. Cloths can be washed and re-used for an extra long Life. Assorted primary colors.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great test practicing tool\n\nReview: This is perfect for when your child want to practice for an exam without having to make multiple copies of worksheets.\n\nThis is a very good variety pack as you get 10 dry erase pockets, 10 microfiber cloths and 10 dry erase markers.\n\nThe dry erase pockets comes in 5 colors borders (two of each color): yellow, green, orange, blue and red.\nThe pockets are very durable, yet lightweight making it great for repeated use.\nI like how the hold inserts are 9'' x 12'' making standard paper (8''x11'') inserts easy to slip in for yourself and your child\nAlso the side opening panel has a large enough gap for making inserting and removing paper a breeze.\nThe included grommet or whole punch with metal casing on the top center each pocket makes for a great display and storage option when not in use.\n\nThe micro fiber clothes are very large and works well on the pocket sleeve. It also works well on your tablet, phone, glasses or monitor. They are also washable; which is great for repeated use.\n\nDry erase pens are pretty standard. They are very smooth when in use and does not leave any odd streaks. They really resemble a sharpie in design so keep that in mind as it's more permanent\n\nWhen the microfiber cloth and pens are not in use; you can put it in the sleeve itself for convenient storage as not to lose them\n\nOverall very impressed with this combo pack whether if it's for helping your child practicing for an upcoming test, or for an entire classroom","Product: HIGH QUALITY yard storage tent for all your needs SPACE SAVING size (74\" wide x 30\" deep x 65\" high, fits two adult bicycles with room to spare) easily stash two adult bikes, pool floats & supplies, kids toys, lawn mowers, long handled garden tools and other outdoor gear. FULL TOP & BOTTOM zippers on door to completely seal the door and provide full protection against water, dust, and pests. INDUSTRIAL GRADE, ripstop, vinyl tarpaulin roof with UPF 50+ protection and an even stronger polyester body bonded to interior weatherproof coating. QUICK & EASY set-up (no tools required, less than 15 minutes), heavy duty materials (2.5x heavier than other storage tents), reinforced integrated floor, large zippers with storm flaps, back panel for locking bikes to a fence or pole, and front mesh vent to eliminate condensation.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Flimsy if not attached to solid ground.\n\nReview: If your backyard is mostly cement like mine then this tent does not really hold up well as it's very loose without solid dirt ground support. You can drill stakes down to the cement if you wish to make this a permanent storage option\n\nSetup took me around 20mins first attempt with a roommate as we tried to figure the in-and-outs of assembling it without the included instructions. The one page of instructions make it seem more difficult than it already is. Wished it had more of a visual demonstration instead of a series of text. With a little intuition and some common sense it's not hard to figure out. After doing it the first time, every other subsequent time after took around 8-10mins tops.\n\nThe material although thin is very good at keeping water, dust, and bugs out. Wind protection, not so much as it depends on how well the soil in your yard hold the stakes to the ground and/or if you have heavy objects holding it down. Wish the frame was more tightly knit to make the overall body seem sturdier instead of relying on ground support to hold it up.\n\nThere's ventilation openings on both sides (in addition to the door flap) held by Velcro which is a nice touch to keep the contents from being too hot/cold and to air out unnecessary smell buildup.\n\nI like how it includes a carrying case just in case you plan to move the tent around instead of having it in one stationary location for majority of it's lifetime.\n\nSeeing that I don't have secure ground for this product and not planning to drill holes into my cement, I plan to cut the bottom off and use it as an easy slip over rain/dust cover for my BBQ.\n\nOverall depending on your backyard setup this is a decent tent to own as it's very lightweight and easy to assemble/dissemble when needed.\n\nI received this product at a discount in exchange for a honest review","Product: KEEP YOU AND YOUR PET SAFE - The Star Pets LED dog collar is perfect for allowing your pet to be easily seen at all times - in poor light conditions and bad weather - giving you peace of mind. The handy rechargeable LED collar makes great value for money. One charge should give approximately 4 hours of continuous use. Then it is easily recharged through many devices using the enclosed USB charger lead. The Star Pets LED dog collar comes in 3 different sizes so there a collar to fit most breeds. SMALL 9 - 16'' / 22- 40 cms MEDIUM 13 - 20'' / 32 - 50 cms LARGE 19 - 24 '' / 48 - 60 cms\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great for late night jogs\n\nReview: If you only have time in the evening on weekdays (and weekends?) to take your dog for a walk/run daily this is the perfect colar to have on as it helps your dog stay visible to oncoming vehicles/traffic\n\nThe battery is rechargeable and very lightweight so it doesn't weight down on the dog's neck.\n\nYou can push out the battery for ease of charge and push it back in it's concealed compartment when finished charging.\n\nThere are 3 light modes: rapid flickering, pulsing and solid light. Each can be changed with a tap of a button (with a satisfying click sound to it). Here's a video demo I made on youtube*: /watch?v=W9guD2UOgK4\n\n*You can still click the button while it's concealed and do not have to push it out if you like.\n\nThe quality of the collar itself is standard. It will not break apart unless you use a very sharp object like a knife/scissors, or unhook the clip. The clip is also okay and it snaps on/off very easily with equal pressure applied to both ends\n\nOverall very impressed. Prefect if you're a night jogger.\n\nI received this product at a discount in exchange for a honest review","Product: IT IS FRUSTRATING TO TRY AND FIND A WAY TO GET YOUR PET FOOD OR WATER WHEN YOU ARE OUT.\n\nThis set of collapsible bowls from We Love All Pets is the perfect carry-along for pet parents. The set of three allows for flexibility with more than one pet or a larger animal.\n\nThey pack flat to take up little space so they are perfect for a long hike, a park visit or a cross country car trip. Add a clip and you can attach it to any leash or the outside of a pack.\n\nThey come as a set in Red, Yellow and Orange\n\nMAKE YOUR PET HAPPY TODAY. CLICK THE ADD TO CART BUTTON IN THE UPPER RIGHT.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: For small to medium sized dogs and cats\n\nReview: First off these collapsible pet bowls are a bit on the small side and would not recommend to a dog that's larger than a beagle or a springier spaniel. For a Boxer or larger i recommend getting this item <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Collapsible-Travel-Dog-Bowls-for-Large-and-Small-Pets-Made-of-High-Quality-BPA-Free-Silicone-for-Food-and-Water-2-Bowl-Set-With-Portable-Carry-Case-for-Easy-Traveling-Collapses-to-2-Sizes/dp/B017I3Q1Q8/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Collapsible Travel Dog Bowls for Large and Small Pets - Made of High Quality BPA-Free Silicone for Food and Water - 2 Bowl Set With Portable Carry Case for Easy Traveling - Collapses to 2 Sizes</a> These may cost more, but may be more comfortable for larger breeds. In terms of smaller breeds of dogs these are prefect and well worth the cost.\n\nI like how the bottom is non-slip and grips well to the kitchen floor to prevent sliding and accidental spills. The dog design in the bowl is a nice touch as it gives the bowl some personality instead of going for a plain look.\n\nAll 3 bowls have heart shaped hole punched loops on them if you want to hang them. The 3 different color variants are also a nice touch as you are able to distinguish between your food bowl or water bowl.\n\nCleaning and storage is very easy. Just remember to expand it to it's full size when cleaning to avoid any missing residue in small crevices when collapsed\n\nOverall very good set of collapsible bowls for pets on the smaller side\n\nI received this product at a discount in exchange for a honest review","Product: Exploding Kittens is a card game for people who are into kittens and explosions and laser beams and sometimes goats. In this highly-strategic, kitty-powered version of Russian Roulette, players draw cards until someone draws an Exploding Kitten, at which point they explode, they are dead, and they are out of the game -- unless that player has a defuse card, which can defuse the Kitten using things like laser pointers, belly rubs, and catnip sandwiches. All of the other cards in the deck are used to move, mitigate, or avoid the Exploding Kittens. This NSFW version of the game contains the full version of Exploding Kittens, but the artwork on each card has been replaced with content too horrible/amazing to be used in the original Exploding Kittens game. The NSFW Edition can be played with 2 to 5 players or combined with another deck to play with up to 9 players.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Fun Filled Phycological Game Amongst Friends\n\nReview: Object of the game is to not draw the exploding kitten card. Seems simple enough, but there are variety of counter cards that will block or divert an exploding kitten that will knock you out of the game.\n\nThe game essentially have 9 types of cards:\n1. Exploding kitten card - what you want to avoid\n2. Attack card - make the next player draw 2 cards increasing the chances of them drawing an exploding kitten card\n3. Skip card - Skip you turn, so you don't have to draw a card (which may potentially be a exploding kitten card)\n4. Favor card- Force an opponent to give you a card form his or her hand\n5. Shuffle card - As the name implies shuffle the deck if you assume or know (with the see the future card) you'll be drawing an exploding kitten card\n6. See the future card - see the top 3 cards in the draw pile. Great when combined with any other cards\n7. Defuse card - save yourself from an exploding kitten\n8. Nope card - Prevent any action of a card used by your opponent\n9. Other cards - cards not part of the 8 mentioned, but if you have multiple you can use them for special combos such as stealing a card from another player.\n\nGame is very simple to pick up and play, and the instructions are very easy to grasp. Once you and your friends get good at the game you'll be countering each other left and right as you guess what cards your opponent has and try to outwit them.\n\nCard stock is similar to casino cards. The art design and writing on the cards are very witty and sometimes gross (for the NSFW edition)\n\nI believe there's an app version of the the original exploding kittens on iOS and Andriod. It's only $1.99 (each person has to purchase the app) and is cheaper if you have frequent friends who play the game. But if you have guest over a few times a month or year it may be better to stick to the physical version as it's very odd to convince your guests to purchase the game on their smartphone or tablet in order to play the digital version\n\nOverall very tension filled game with friends","Product: Based on the Top-selling app, Angry Birds K'nex bring the fun to life! Fun for all ages and great as gifts!\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Pack of 6, 1 Duplicate\n\nReview: With 6 blind bags, I received 1 double which okay, but wished I got an Angry Bird instead of a pig.\n\nIt's a okay deal if you're a hardcore Angry Birds fan and get all Birds or a large pig figure, but at around $2 each bag (current price). It may not be worth it.\n\nEach bag includes a random Angry bird or pig and one accessory (usually an egg variant). The main figure have to be assembled as it comes in two pieces. I wished it can be a solid piece, but seeing it's K'NEX they probably want you to put it together yourself.\n\nThe figures are very detailed and resemble the video game/app counterpart well. The only problem is that they are very small for the price especially for the pig figures which are about a height of a quarter. It's nice to have in your collection but at the asking price it's very disappointing. Would be better if each set includes an Angry Bird, a pig and a accessory.\n\nWith the fold out ad included, it's hard to distinguish if there's 12 or 14 total to collect seeing the variety in sizes and no indicator to \"Collect all ??\" or a check list\n\nOverall great detailed figures, but unless you're a hardcore fan of the series it's a hard sell\n\nI received this product at a discount in exchange for a honest review","Product: Ginzick Music Piano Electronic Keyboard Playmat with Microphone and Stand is one of the great joys of childhood, and kids that learn music are proven to do better in skills like science and math. This piano mat makes learning music fun and exciting. You'll find that with this durable piano mat for kids, burgeoning musicians cant get enough as they experiment by stomping on loads of keys with realistic sounds! The Ginzick piano mat for kids is High Quality, Durable design Music Piano Electronic Touch Keyboard Playmat With different built-in instruments, including guitar, saxophone, harp, violin, and more! Keyboard features 2 edit Modes 61 keys and 16 musical instruments sounds Microphone with karaoke function Easy to use makes a great addition to any play area or just tap the keys and improvise music right on the spot. For those quieter home times, you can adjust the volume, and there's no worry about power running down since the floor mat keyboard includes an automatic "power off" system. The heavy duty piano mat is an ideal fun time activity for the entire family. The size of this unique keyboard mat can handle a number of kids and adults, it will endure a lot of use. Inspire and enrich your child's life by giving them the Piano Mat. This wild and fun device is a great gift for kids of any age from three and up. uses 4 AA batteries are not included! Size! 99cm x 46cm\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Not for those who are at least semi serious into music\n\nReview: Well this is not a \"my first piano\" where the child is going to become an aspiring pianist when he grows up as the button keys have a slight input lag to them\n\nThis piano is more like if a toddler wants to play on the grand piano, but his sibling or parent are constantly playing it and/or doesn't want the kid to start pounding on the expensive instrument or get there dirty hands on the keyboard.\n\nThis is a okay \"me too\" piano keyboard as the child can boast about having able to play the piano also while having a DJ button layout which they can brag about which the traditional piano doesn't have\n\nThe material of the keyboard is very thin and easy to clean, just in case they plan to play the keyboard after playing outside or eating (and forgetting to wash their hands).\n\nThe piano keys as stated before has a slight lag to it, but most toddlers won't notice the different as long as there's sound coming out of it.\n\nThe microphone is joke. There's an echo, but it's very low so at times so you will hear the child screaming into it to get a normal voice output.\n\nSeeing the MSRP of $40 it's pretty steep, you'd expect better quality for your money.\n\nLuckily i received this item at huge discount in exchange for a honest review. And in my honest opinion, unless you're desperate about your kid complaining s/he can't play the grand piano I wouldn't make a purchase.\n\nAnd as for my copy, I decided to donate it to the Secret Santa Charity for low income kids we have in our neighborhood every holiday"],"string":"[\n \"Product: Stony-Edge SIMPLE LAV- MOBILE, You're mobile-make your gear mobile audio recordings shouldn't be second-rate audio recordings. With the SIMPLE LAV-MOBILE Microphone, you'll lock down outstanding sound quality when recording Podcasts, Webinars and/or YouTube Videos on your mobile device. Today the world is mobile. If you want to keep up, your gear needs to be designed to go fast, be simple and get it right. The Stony-Edge SIMPLE LAV- MOBILE is a compact, miniature, broadcast-quality Omni-directional Lavalier Microphone for most Apple or Android mobile devices. Utilizing an electret condenser type element, which provides flat, smooth frequency response and a wide dynamic range. Its Omni-directional polar pattern allows for a full 360-degree pick-up of audio, providing a natural blend of voice and ambiance. The SIMPLE LAV-MOBILE microphone is low in sensitivity to speech to help avoid "e; popping sounds & quote; and breath overloads during close-up situations, plus it's less susceptible to wind and clothing noise. The SIMPLE LAV-MOBILE is intended primarily for entertainers, broadcasters, lecturers, webcasters, Podcasters and others recording sessions on mobile devices, while requiring hands-free operation. Do all of that and do not compromise sound quality and performance. Its detachable tie clip allows easy mounting to clothing for flexibility and comfort. Works with most recording apps on your smart phone or tablet device. Go mobile and bring back the best, CLICK YELLOW NOW ADD SMART TO CART\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great For Group Study Lecture Podcasts\\n\\nReview: I personally use this cable for studying with a classmate while listening to lecture podcasts at the library. Before we had to try to sync up what we listen to on separate devices, but with this we only focus on one device and able to pause-and-discuss more effectively.\\n\\nThis has other great uses as it's great for kids/siblings listening in the back seat of the car with their own music while you listen to your own with the car stereo, or as a couple huddling up around a tablet on the couch listening to each of their own individualized high quality headsets without having to hear the poor audio quality from tablet speakers. There are many other applications and scenarios if you put your mind to it.\\n\\nThe cable itself is very flexible and lightweight. I like how there's a Velcro strap attached to it for easy storage.\\nWhen all connections are secured there are no audio hiccups, pauses, or distortions in audio and sound is the same if there were a single connection\\n\\nOverall great personalized listening experience for two with a lot of applicability and convenience\\n\\nI received this product at a discount in exchange for a honest review\",\n \"Product: Stonyedge headphone/microphone y splitter cable - enjoy headphones and microphone in a single slot - allows two people to experience high-quality sound simultaneously - universal compatibility with iphones, smartphones, and gaming headsets - connects to any 3.5mm audio output.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great For Group Study Lecture Podcasts\\n\\nReview: I personally use this cable for studying with a classmate while listening to lecture podcasts at the library. Before we had to try to sync up what we listen to on separate devices, but with this we only focus on one device and able to pause-and-discuss more effectively.\\n\\nThis has other great uses as it's great for kids/siblings listening in the back seat of the car with their own music while you listen to your own with the car stereo, or as a couple huddling up around a tablet on the couch listening to each of their own individualized high quality headsets without having to hear the poor audio quality from tablet speakers. There are many other applications and scenarios if you put your mind to it.\\n\\nThe cable itself is very flexible and lightweight. I like how there's a Velcro strap attached to it for easy storage.\\nWhen all connections are secured there are no audio hiccups, pauses, or distortions in audio and sound is the same if there were a single connection\\n\\nOverall great personalized listening experience for two with a lot of applicability and convenience\\n\\nI received this product at a discount in exchange for a honest review\",\n \"Product: Ito En Iced Tea, Green Jasmine, 16.9 Fl Oz\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great alternative to soda\\n\\nReview: In terms of taste; it tastes like the tea you get before a meal at an Asian restaurant but at room temperature (unless you put it in the fridge or boil it).\\n\\nFor those who want to stay away from sugary drinks and want some taste to their beverage (as oppose to drinking water) this is a good product to have at hand. For those used to having sugar and/or carbonated beverages it may take a while for your taste buds to adjust.\\n\\nThe bottle is very convenient and portable, there are multiple ridges along side the bottle for grip.\\n\\nAlso the product provides antioxidants to neutralize free radicals and contain traces of caffeine\\n\\nOverall good alternative to soda and water. Oh and don't forget to recycle\",\n \"Product: 6 Glass Bottles 6 Caps 6 Stainless Steel Roller Balls\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Well The Roller Balls Are Not Plastic\\n\\nReview: Was afraid I was going to receive a plastic roller ball variant like described in some reviews, but mine showed up as advertised.\\n\\nThe bottle itself has a premium feel to it as the material used seem very high quality.\\n\\nApplication is easy as it rolls smoothly and does not leak.\\n\\nMy only complaint that it is hard to remove the base at times, you have to pinch hard from your thumb and the side of your index finger (see attached picture) and twist the blue bottle in the clockwise motion with your other hand.\\n\\nIf that doesn't work (especially when it's your first time using a bottle) you have to do the previous step mentioned until you see a little gap and stick your nail (works with trimmed finger nails) and pull up.\\n\\nOverall very impressed, just the refilling can be frustrating until you figure it out\",\n \"Product: Amazon.com Gift Cards are the perfect way to give them exactly what they're hoping for - even if you don't know what it is. Amazon.com Gift Cards are redeemable for millions of items across Amazon.com. Item delivered is a single physical Amazon.com Gift Card nested inside or with a free gift accessory.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Free Bear With Gift Card Purchase\\n\\nReview: You get a free holiday teddy bear with a giftcard purchase. Great incentive if you purchase items off Amazon regularly or plan to give a $100+ giftcard to a friend or family member.\\n\\nSupposedly this is the 9th edition of the Holiday Teddy Bear. I started collecting these last year. Last year was a grizzly bear with the beanie as opposed to the polar bear with a Santa hat and gloves we got this year. Another difference is that the 2015 model had the Amazon (dot) com logo on the left foot and the 2016 bear has just the amazon arrow logo.\\n\\nGloves and hat are not removable (unless you mess with the stitching). The bear is super soft and huggable. Ideal for toddlers who get attached to soft objects during cold weather.\\n\\nGift card is just a neckless attached to the bear. This time it's in the shape of a gift box which is nice. Gift code is a scratch off in back.\\n\\nOverall if you're going to spend money on Amazon throughout the year or generous enough to give someone a bear + $100 to someone then this is a excellent purchase\\n\\n** Note: I white out the UPC and Serial Number in the photos just in case i need to use it as reference later\",\n \"Product: Modern style and intelligent craft have created the ultimate THIN WALLET FOR MINIMALISTS. We know its not just a lifestyle; its who you are. The Crabby Wallet combines a MINIMALIST DESIGN WITH MAXIMUM UTILITY so that you can live your life carrying just the essentials. The Crabby Wallet rests on a GENIUS SIMPLE concept: carrying everything you need and nothing that you dont. Designed with TWO POCKETS, our ultra-small wallet has room for up to 10 cards along with cash, a phone, and a couple of keys. A LARGE ELASTIC BAND WITH RUBBER GRIP WRAPS AROUND THE ENTIRE WALLET, securing everything inside so that you can have peace of mind knowing nothing will fall out. Break up with bulky wallets for good with this wallets VERSATILE, LIGHTWEIGHT CONSTRUCTION. The Crabby Wallet is made ENTIRELY of a DURABLE ELASTIC for maximum functionality that fits your style holds your belongings in a firm but easily accessible grasp. Superb as a thin mens wallet or a thin womens wallet, the SUPER-SLIM DESIGN makes the Crabby Wallet a favorite FRONT POCKET WALLET. Because its small, youll be comfortable leaving it in your pocket when you sit down. This wallet even adds a fun, modern statement to your wardrobe with its cool-casual look. We want you to have easy access to your essentials, so we added a LOBSTER CLAW KEYCHAIN. Quickly attach a car or apartment key to your wallet, then tuck it inside the elastic, rubber grip band to AVOID LOSING YOUR KEYS when youre out and about. No keys to carry? The key-chain is removable, or you can use it to attach the Crabby Wallet event more securely to your pocket to ensure that it never falls out. Truly the choice minimalist wallet, the CRABBY WALLET FACILITATES A LIFESTYLE OF SIMPLICITY AND FOCUS.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: A Crabby Wallet Indeed\\n\\nReview: The Crabby Wallet is more portable than practical.\\n\\nYou are able to fit a lot of items in a small amount of space while being visually aware of where everything is.\\n\\nYes, it's very portable, being tight-knit and easy to carry around, but actually using it for transactions in a real world setting can be troublesome\\n\\nThe compact design is not as functional as bi fold or other slim wallets I've used in the past. With no individualized card slots and force folding money you'll have to shuffle through cards/cash while standing at the cashiers especially when the card or individual bill you want is towards the center of the stack.\\n\\nThe band fits everything securely, but after unbinding it can getting out what you want, it's a chore to put everything back to where it was depending where the item is located and what's attached to the strap. By the time the transaction is finished, you may feel awkward stepping to the side and putting everything in place. Often times if there is a long line with a lot of on lookers, I would just stuff everything in my pocket and go to a bench or my car to put everything neatly in place to avoid the embarrassment\\n\\nThe Crabby wallet is very stylish and looks good when showing it off in public (just don't show it in action when at full performance). The wallet is more functional with a minimalist lifestyle, but you will still encounter the problem stated above.\\n\\nIts able to fit both traditional a 5inch phone and also 6 inch phablet on the strap, just that the phablet looks a bit awkward.\\n\\nIf you're looking for a very stylish wallet that is portable it's a good purchase, but know that you have to take extra steps when actually in use\\n\\nI received this product at a discount in exchange for a honest review\",\n \"Product: Shipping Height: 2.2 Shipping Width: 6.8 Master Pack Qty: 5 General Information Manufacturer: SteelSeries ApS Manufacturer Part Number: 62150 Brand Name: SteelSeries Product Model: Sensei Product Name: Sensei Mouse Marketing Information: MEET THE SENSEI Since the release of our first mouse, we have been using Japanese-inspiration in our naming of them. Our mice are built for performance and tournament-style play; Ikari means anger, Xai means talent, and the list of product names goes on. The Sensei is our version of the grand-master in our Do Jo. It is the teacher. The one everyone bows to, the one who knows tricks and secret moves that everyone wants to learn - but so very few can ever hope to master. It's a fitting name. Master your game. Meet the Sensei. Product Type: Mouse Pointing Device Pointing Device Connectivity Technology: Wired Movement Detection: Laser Movement Resolution: 11400 dpi Number of Total Buttons: 7 Scroller Type: Scroll Wheel Interfaces/Ports Pointing Device Host Interface: USB Physical Characteristics Height: 1.5 Width: 2.7 Depth: 4.9 Weight (Approximate): 3.60 oz\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Perfect for left handed gamers\\n\\nReview: Excellent ambidextrous mouse. For those lefties who live in the right handed world, you can fully take advantage of this mouse. I personally use the the mouse left handed when doing casual tasks (surfing web, watching videos, typing essays, etc) and right handed when gaming to put myself in a focused mindset when gaming competitively. Or via versa if you like, I already have a lot of years gaming right handed so it's hard to convert.\\n\\n--Ergonomics.\\n- If you have large man-size palms it forces you to grip the mouse tightly (which may increase aiming precision). If you want a more loose, comfortable palm grip i'd get the\\n\\n<a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/SteelSeries-Rival-310-Gaming-Mouse-12-000-CPI-TrueMove3-Optical-Sensor-Split-Trigger-Buttons-Prism-RGB/dp/B073WGFLQY/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">SteelSeries Rival 310 Gaming Mouse, 12,000 CPI TrueMove3 Optical Sensor, Split-Trigger Buttons, Prism RGB</a>\\n\\nNote that this mouse is not ambidextrous, but has similar features minus 2 programmable buttons and has a pinky rest.\\n\\n-This mouse is thin in terms of thickness so your hand is closer to the ground than most mouses, again, may help with precision and accuracy.\\n\\n-There's textured rubber side grips which feels very comfortable to rest before having to press the side buttons. Great for fingertip or claw grip users\\n\\n-Mouse feet glides well with no issues\\n\\n-Lightweight.\\nFeels very natural in the hand. For those who like weighted mouses, unfortunately there's no added weight options\\n\\n--Optical sensor.\\n\\nHas an optical instead of a laser sensor\\n\\nNo jittering at high dpi or having to lift the mouse to reconfigure yourself. No spin outs (character rotates 280 degrees + in FPS) when gliding the mouse forcefully.\\n\\nLess time blaming the mouse than your game/skills\\n\\n--Buttons\\nLeft and right click feels a bit loose/floaty before you click them in compared to other mice. You are not using extra finger pressure, but an odd sensation if you're not used to it.\\n\\nScroll wheel is a bit stiff. Good for internet browsing, but also for those use use the scroll wheel for weapon change where you don't want to accidentally skip over a weapon select.\\n\\nThere are two programmable button on each side, which you can configure to your liking. I personally use 3 of the 4 when gaming, but a housemate that tried it said he kept accidentally pressing the right side buttons (when using right handed) with his pinky and ring finger during tense situations. You can disable one side if you like via the downloaded software.\\n\\nSide buttons has less travel for the default configuration (where your thumb is closest to). For the buttons on the opposite end, some muscle memory is required if you plan to use those buttons, and have this mouse be your main gaming mouse\\n\\nDPI button is out of the way in the center. Most likely you're not going to press the button accidentally\\n\\n--Software\\nWith downloaded software you can:\\nPre-select macro and keyboard buttons to mouse\\nChange LED color and frequency change\\nChange Sensitivity\\n\\nIf you own a steelseries mouse previously, you may have to uninstall/re-install program if the program does not recognize the mouse. If so, make sure you screen shot your configuration before uninstalling, unless you have a good memory of your setup.\\n\\nOverall, very good gaming mouse that has great precision and accuracy. Prefect fit for left handers.\\n\\n--Extras: Other options (?)\\nMy current gaming setup/daily driver when it comes to mouse include\\n\\n<a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/SteelSeries-Rival-500-MMO-MOBA-15-Button-Programmable-Gaming-Mouse-16-000-CPI/dp/B01K3DM0WY/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">SteelSeries Rival 500 MMO / MOBA 15-Button Programmable Gaming Mouse - 16,000 CPI</a>\\n\\nand\\n\\n<a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Razer-Tartarus-Chroma-Expert-RGB-Gaming-Keypad-with-25-Programmable-Keys-Including-an-8-way-Thumb-pad/dp/B00ZTRW00C/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Razer Tartarus Chroma Expert RGB Gaming Keypad with 25 Programmable Keys Including an 8-way Thumb-pad</a>\\n\\nDue the use of a lot of macros and programmable buttons on both, as it's more comfortable/reliable using these than a flat keyboard (having only use keyboard for chat functionality), especially with the flick down switch on the rival 500 for space bar button/jumps\\n\\nThis is personal preference though as each setup is different for everybody. For any mouse, including this one, i recommend getting the Razor Tartarus especially when you are on a gaming binge and don't want your fingers getting fatigued or strained\\n\\nPro Gaming Tip: As mentioned before, if you plan to get the most out of your gaming experience, best to use different mouse and/or hands for casual and gaming use as it keeps you from acting lazy, and helps you be more focused during game sessions. For casual use, I use the a vertical mouse from Anker.\",\n \"Product: The Order: 1886 - PlayStation 4\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Amazing visuals, but short game\\n\\nReview: The game is similar to the 3rd person over-the-shoulder Gear of War style gameplay, but with a more serious tone to it. Story revolves around you trying to uncover a conspiracy among your ranks while dealing with the Ripper murders and wolf like half breeds.\\n\\nBest feature by far of the game is the graphics. Love the presentation of the game, the graphics is the best I've seen on any console game with detailed individual stitches in the cloth clothing, individual strands of hair, textured faces and great battle animations with natural lighting and particle effect in the environments making it a very immersive experience.\\n\\nThe sound is amazing especially with on the weapons as each weapon feel unique. Very good environmental sounds mixed with echo of gunfire and grenades. I also like the attention to detail of the characters as there are random natural deep breathing with the characters when you stop to reload making it more like you are the character rather than just playing them. The music is very subtle as they occasionally pop in and out without you noticing, when you do notice it's very stimulating to hear. The voice acting is very good, there's no one character who seem out of place as all voice actors have done their job perfectly so it doesn't break the immersion/tension making you more interested in what's to come next.\\n\\nThe gameplay is similar to Gears of War but more fluid as you are not really magnetized to the wall, rather you have more free range of motion like the Uncharted series. It's a linear shooter where you trudge from area to area trying to uncover the murder mystery making it more of an interactive movie rather than an actual game. The gun fights are very short lived as you get occasion breaks in cut scenes after each battle. All the guns handle perfectly and you feel like a badass going from checkpoint to checkpoint. The game is also heavy with quick-time-events (QTE) especially on the cinematic moments similar to the Resident Evil series (4 and after).\\n\\nOverall very high production value, but a very short game. The game puts heavy focused on it's story telling and graphics over gameplay and will probably last you around 7 hours long. Add a few more if you want to do collectibles and get an easy platinum trophy.\\n\\n I recommend getting this when it's on sale from the $10-15 price range. $20 if you want to get into a shooter mystery story\",\n \"Product: Mad Max - PlayStation 4\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: One Long Side Mission?\\n\\nReview: Game starts off with Max's car being scrapped/stolen and you (Max) stranded in the desert with the main objective to re-built the perfect vehicle with help of a chum-bucket a disfigured mechanic resembling a cross between Golem from LOTR and Ephialtes from 300.\\n\\nThis entire game sort of resembles a long side mission (aside from the ending chapter) in a traditional open world game as you just scavenge materials/scraps for your car and find leads on the next car part. The game sort of like a grind to get to the next cutscene or story plot if it weren't for the banter between characters and environmental diversity as each location seems different from the next.\\n\\nGameplay is a cross between vehicle controls of Borderlands and hand-to-hand combat of the Batman Arkham games but with better customization options . I personally find the vehicles segments (more than half the game) a bit frustrating since the controls are really stiff till you do some upgrades. The hand-to-hand combat segments have you do combos while dodging at the correct moments. The combat flows really well, but the camera can get in the way at times especially in tight corridors. Throughout the game, you have to be conservative about your food, ammo and gas which brings up some resource management. Also some segments drag on as you don't have enough scrap to build you next car part having you grind for some which feels like a chore.\\n\\nThe story is your traditional Mad Max theme similar to the movie. It's filled with tons of enemies/allies who are borderline crazy with primal like instincts. The characters aren't relatable, but fun to see them interact with each other. The cutscenes are amazing compared to actual gameplay, but wished it was more interactive or part of gameplay since those are where the action is most intense.\\n\\nOverall great game, if you don't mind the extended fetch quest mission.\",\n \"Product: Offering exceptionally natural and accurate sound quality, the new G4ME ONE is built to be the ultimate headset for professional or home gaming. The open back design delivers sound exactly as the game developers intended, while letting air through to help keep ears cool during hours of gameplay. The G4ME ONE is an extremely lightweight design using XXL-sized ear cups with plush velvet ear pads, and a cushioned headband providing ultimate comfort for extended gaming sessions.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Awsome Mic, Okay In-game Sound\\n\\nReview: Best built in mic on any gaming headset I've tried. Mic sound coming from it sounds very natural like studio mics when testing it out with friends, and listening to it post recording. Sounds more like you're talking to someone in person rather than with someone off a radio for instance, which is good for run on sentences and lengthy commands/commentary compared to few word notification to your teammates to tell them where the enemies/objectives are\\n\\nSound coming from the headset itself are great in terms of multimedia (movies, music, TV,shows, etc), but for picking up in-game sound like footsteps and trying to deciphering distance of objects and in-game enemies are not that good.\\n\\nWith that said, this headset is excellent if you're a streamer (playing games on easy/normal mode) as you do not need an additional external mic setup as the one built into the headset is quite sufficient especially if you're going to talk for extended amounts of time. For in-game use, it's good for casual play or if you have poor sound depth perception to begin with and/or like to issue out commands/provide support on your team rather than being on top of the leaderboard in a match.\\n\\nTips for improving your game in terms of sound for ANY headset:\\nI recommend going to the sound options of the game and turn off music volume completely and max out sound effects/in-game sound.\\nThen go to training mode with a friend, have him/her walk around your character to judge step distance (some games varies, also may be character/hero/object dependent). Then blind fold yourself, and do a test to judge direction it's coming from.\\nThis will improve your game sense and may rank you up in the game because of it.\\n\\nHeadset is very comfortable and able to wear for long hours without any discomfort. This generally depends on your head size/shape, but from myself and two friends who tried it, this is definitely the case\\n\\nControls on this headset is very minimal. There's a scroll wheel volume dial on the side which gets a bit of getting used to. Not as practical as a scroll wheel that you slide/flick with your finger for instance. I'd say best to have it on default volume all the time or if you have an amp attachment to your headset use the volume control on that instead. There's no software customization, so you have to rely on the hardware itself\\n\\nOverall I'd say this headset is good for entertainment purposes i.e. streaming online or like to talk a lot in-game due to the excellent micophone. The headset sound itself is not exactly built for gaming in my opinion. Don't get me wrong, it sound excellent as a stand alone headphone across all media, but it doesn't pick up exaggerated footsteps and sound depth perception like other gaming headsets do. It seems like Sennheiser initially made a high quality sounding headset and said, 'hey let's make a gaming headset without sacrificing overall quality sound across all other media' best way they did this (or at least my theory) is to make a excellent mic that stands out for communication purposes\",\n \"Product: Hyrule Warriors, the imaginative upcoming game for the Wii U console, combines the action-packed game play of Tecmo Koei's Dynasty Warriors series with the iconic characters and worlds from The Legend of Zelda series. In addition to the focused action game play of leading one soldier against a massive horde of enemies, the Dynasty Warriors series is also known for its epic storyline. In this game, players control Link as he faces a powerful new enemy\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Zelda x Dynasty Warriors\\n\\nReview: I got this game over a year after release, note that you have to wait for a mandatory 25-30mins update before you can play the game. The wait isn't for nothing as along with patches, it contains free DLC characters, level caps increase and weapons.\\n\\nThis game is basically Dynasty Warriors with a Zelda theme. For those who never played Dynasty warrior games; you are a overpowered character who fight a horde of 100+ very low level perfectionists (aside from mid-bosses, boss type characters) on screen who just huddle around in the group and let you pummel them to death unless they are 95% sure they can attack you. It's a territory type game where you have to capture enemy outposts/bases to gain control of the battle; more territory gained by you, less enemy advancement. Also the more territory you gain lowers enemy moral making the mid-bosses/bosses attack lower. The main goal of each level is to capture enough enemy outposts/bases to unlock barriers/gates to advance to the main enemy base to defeat the end boss. They occasionally switch it up with escort missions when you protect a bombchu till it move itself to a large boulder blocking the way and explodes on contact so you can advance.\\n\\nStory is pretty lackluster, it's a generic bad guy take over the world/hero have to band together to save the day. It's not your traditional Zelda plot as there's a character named Cia trying to take the triforce for herself to, you guess it take over the world. Ending is very predictable, but the journey there is filled with a lot of low level enemies standing around while you slash through them like butter making you feel like an overpowered bad-ass\\n\\nGameplay wise it's your standard/heavy attack, defend, dodge, focus attack and special move mechanic you're used to. You can lock onto boss enemies which is a god-send especially for these type of games making you wish that it would be standard. Throughout the game you get to unlock side items with unlimited use like the bomb, boomerang, and hookshot to name a few. This game has a lot of combo potential and different ways you tackle enemies. Each character plays differently from each other with there own stats (speed, HP, Defense etc), attack style, and special moves with no one character being a clone of one another. Each character also have different weapon types to choose from, which also increase the variation of play. There's also a badge crafting mode making characters more customization in how they do their combo or buff certain attributes such as increase their special meter faster.\\n\\nThere is 3 ways to play controller wise. The pro controller, gamepad, and wii remote/nunchuck combo. If you're serious into the game, the pro controller is preferred as it's the most ergonomic and objectives/minor events are displayed on the gamepad while using it. Gamepad is okay if you want off-screen play, just note that the graphics may not be as good as on the big screen. Wii remote/nunchuck feels natural and makes you feel more in sync with the character, but you have to waggle the wii remote to do a standard attack which is not favorable for long game sessions.\\n\\nYou can play 2 player split screen, but know that if you do it'll drop from 60 frames per second (playing by yourself) to 30 fps co-op. Advantage to two player is that you can get more better manage territories and it's more fun with another player at your side\\n\\nGraphics are really good as it's very colorful and pleasant to look at. Instead of a realistic style, they went with a cartoony style that's very colorful and vibrant which I personally prefer. The battle animations and special moves are a joy to look at. The generic enemies in the game though feels like last gen (or at least 2 gen back) models, but you tend to not mind them as they get defeated in one or two hits.\\n\\nVoice acting is very limited. The narrator reads off the main story synopsis before each battle with is filled with unnecessary exposition. In game all characters do their traditional grunts and yelps like in all zelda games thus far forcing you to read the subtitles. This is sort of annoying in higher difficulty as some characters fill you in on what's happening during battle and it may mess up the flow of the game when you have to read what's happening.\\n\\nThe music is very good. A lot of references to past Zelda games.\\n\\nThere's a lot of unlockables which you either have to grind for or find hidden in the levels with the former more than the latter. There are only a handful of level/stages available so it gets repetitive after a while. I personally go back to the game every now and then at a long of a busy work day to unwind and slash through hundreds of enemies for experience points and rupees for unlocks.\\n\\nOverall if you like the Dynasty Warriors type game with a Zelda skin pick it up.\",\n \"Product: Yoshi's Woolly World. Set off with a friend* through a wild woolly world in this grand Yoshi adventure! A treasure trove of clever handicraft stages are ready for you to explore. Unravel their secrets and color your world with a spectrum of yarn balls to knit new paths and get every last collectible. *Additional accessories required for multiplayer; sold separately.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Yoshi's Island + Epic Yarn?\\n\\nReview: Similar to Kirby's Epic Yarn in the design aspect, but the yarn here is fully realized with HD visuals having fuzz coming out the yarn and realistic fabric physics as you push against or land on an object.\\n\\nGameplay is inspired by the Yoshi Island series (minus the crying Baby Mario) and is not dialed in like the Kirby game which I thought was out of place. Everything feels very natural as if you're playing a Yoshi Island game with Yarn-like visuals.\\n\\nStory is pretty generic as you have Kamek capturing all Yoshis (except two) and you have to go through each level saving them one-by-one\\nThere's an easy difficulty setting named 'Mellow Mode' for those who want to get through all 50+ levels in the game and see all the level unique designs that varies from stage to stage never feeling the same.\\n\\nClassic Mode is what you expect from playing the Yoshi Island series, but I find the platforming and enemy placement more difficult than past games in the series.\\n\\nThere is co-op which is a nice addition if you want a friend to join in on the fun. You can eat up your teammate and use them as an egg/ball of yarn, and you also have infinite lives since both players can bump into each other occasionally for accidental deaths\\n\\nThere are tons of collectables in the game, which all have a secondary function. So you don't have collect for the sake of collecting to 100% the game (unless you want to). Also all collectable progress are saved so you don't have to collect everything in a single run of a level.\\n\\n-By collecting beads (currency of the game) you unlock one-time use badges which can help you locate other collectables, immune to spikes/lava, increase your defense, have larger yarn balls and other buffs/status effects\\n-Stamps once collected lets you use it to post on Miiverse\\n-Collecting all bundled yarn in a level nets you a new skin or color pallet for your character\\n-Collecting all flowers in a region unlocks a secret stage\\n\\nAmiibo:\\n-Most Amiibo work in Yoshi Wolly World as a color pallet swap with designs resembling the amiibo you scan in. For example scanning in Mario, Yoshi will have a mustache and his signature plummer outfit.\\n-If you scan in a Yarn Yoshi Amiibo you'll have a doppelganger that follows you like the cherry power-up in Mario 3D World.\\n\\nOverall best Yoshi (Island) game to date. Would totally recommend.\",\n \"Product: Doom - PlayStation 4\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Doom Modernized, horrible load times\\n\\nReview: First I like to mention that there's a 1.2GB mandatory download from the disc to initiate the game (which takes 10-15mins), after that it'll slowly download the other 65GB into the harddrive. Also as of this review there's a 18.5GB patch for the game. Just something to keep in mind if you have limited hard drive space.\\n\\nGameplay is different from your modern day first person shooter (FPS); instead of flanking your enemies and hiding under cover, you run up to your enemies and shoot them in the face or circle strafe/jump dodge your enemies if they have high HP and/or are bosses. Like traditional Doom there are armor and health pickups instead of re-generating health. You also don't need to worry about getting headshots as enemies tend to do burst or melee damage instead of precision shooting.\\n\\nThere are 3D first person platforming is feels very stiff and floaty at times, but after a while you get used to it. The weapons feels very light with little or no recoil which feels very odd if you're into Call of Duty or other modern military shooters\\n\\nThere are tons of upgrade trees (weapon and stat based) and collectables in the game. I suggest exploring the entire area before moving on and upgrading your semi-automatic weapons first as it will help you a lot in boss battles.\\n\\nStory is pretty generic: Alien invasion on Mars, you try to collect resources but they retaliate. Hell is involved somehow...plot is basically to move you onto the your next objective which is to kill more demons. You probably forget the story after a day or two of putting it down and/or completing it. I don't even remember the main character's name...\\n\\nMusic is really good. Heavy metal instrumentals without the random screaming.\\n\\nThe only complaint I have is the horrible load times. For a game that's fast paced with fluid gameplay, retrying a level or stage is really annoying as it can take from 20-30secs after each game over screen to reload the last checkpoint. This may not seem like a lot, but if you're used to current-gen games that re-start you in less than 2 seconds, 20 seconds may feel like an eternity especially if you have to re-tread the same area multiple times.\\n\\nOverall good game if you're into a run and gun twitch gameplay and just want to shoot everything that moves\",\n \"Product: With more than 12 million Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm games sold worldwide, this series established itself among the pinnacle of Anime & Manga adaptations to videogames! As every good story comes to an end, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 is going to be the most incredible Storm game released to date! Players around the world will experience the exhilarating adventures of Naruto Uzumaki like never before! The latest opus in the acclaimed Storm series will take gamers on a breathtaking and epic ride with new features like Change Leader System and Wall-run. For the first time ever, the world of Naruto will also take advantage of the graphics power of the new generation systems. This is just the beginning and more characters and features will be announced in the future!\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Conclusion to the series\\n\\nReview: First some background info. I've played the entire game series from the start of the original Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm. I've also played the side games Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm Revelations and Generations. I terms of watching the anime; I watched the entire original series and dropped off after a season and a half of Shippuden since I was in college at the time and was too lazy to get catch up. The video games provided me with a great summery of the plot though\\n\\nThis is a free roam arena battle style game. Every character has the same basic control scheme so you don't have to worry about memorizing character specific move sets. The roster totals over 100 and the reason to choose one over the other is how cool the characters and specials look, and speed relative to attack/defense (or just choose deidara the most OP character in the game). This makes it a more psychological game as you have to know when to defend, attack and dodge while keeping track on the yours and your enemies energy bar. At high levels of play it's more of a focused on twitch gameplay than everything else as you have to press the button at the right time to counter or dodge the enemy before they land a devastating combo on you.\\n\\nNew to the battle system is that you can swap between characters as well as have them as support. You do share the same life bar so you cannot use a character to the last inch of health then switch character last minute to save you from losing the match like in the Capcom vs games.\\n\\nThe visuals are very good like previous games having an anime look to it. The downside I guess is that seeing that the game is now on the PS4 it doesn't look much improved since the last PS3 game and they could have had it on both PS3 and PS4. The framerate on the the other hand is very smooth even when there's tons of randomly explosions and flashes on screen. Cutscenes are okay; they are more visually appealing than the last game, but they either got lazy or pressed for time because there's a lot of still frame shots which is a bit disappointing.\\n\\nStory is very good giving different perspective on varying characters instead of just follow Naruto. Also with the story taking place between less than half a dozen locations, seeing this, the story mode is no longer open world rather you have a selectable branching path level scheme similar to the 2D Mario series level select screen. If you miss the open world level traversal like in previous games there's Adventure mode where you are able to wander around the village and do side/fetch quests for collectables. The story of adventure mode surrounds the relationship between Hinata and Naruto for the most part. As for the main story mode, if you never played the past titles or not familiar with the anime you will get lost on what's happening. You do get flash back sequences, but only if you do all the QTE (quick timed events) correctly. If you only play the games and missed out on the anime like I have then you can piece together most ofo the story from the plot, but it seems like some of the details are missing as the story only tread on major plot points. Story mode is very easy to play through, if you lose a match the game presents you with full health power up and a choice between a defense or attack boost then puts you right where you left off where you fainted in the game. Retrying does affect your score though so if you want to S rank (especially for trophies) best to be on top of your game.\\n\\nThere are collectables in the game which gives you cosmetic items for characters and items for your online profile\\n\\nOnline is a step down. There's no spectator mode and online lobbies only have 4 people instead of 8 compared to the last game.\\nTrophies are easy to get, most revolve around getting S rank in story mode missions where in order to get it you have to satisfy battle conditions set prior to each match let it be win with 50% health or connect with combination secret technique at least one time in match. Matches are easy to get into as of this review as there's a lot of players online. If you see someone playing as deidara you know they're more into the win than the fun factor.\\n\\nOverall aside from the character switching there's not much advancement to the battle system, it's a decent conclusion to the series but didn't go out with a bang in my opinion. Good if you want to catch up on the story without watching all the filler\",\n \"Product: Two puzzling RPG adventures-one has dragons. .. the other has Mario! Two puzzling RPG adventures await you! Rescue Princess Peach from Bowser or defeat the evil group Paradox by battling enemies with the awesome power of orbs. Drag and match orbs, or chain together combos to deal massive blows to your enemies. Then bolster your forces with hundreds of unique monsters in this two-in-one game pack. In Puzzle & Dragons Super Mario Bros. Edition, you get to travel to different worlds as you assemble a team of Mushroom Kingdom baddies, like Goombas or Koopa Troopas, and recruit much-loved Mario characters, including Toad and Yoshi! Or in Puzzle & Dragons Z, battle the 5 powerful sky dragons to rebuild the world and customize your team with a plethora of different monsters. Allies gained in both games have the chance to evolve into more advanced forms and learn powerful new skills.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: A lot of level grinding for a puzzle game...\\n\\nReview: It's your typical match 3 puzzler where you line up 3+ similar orbs vertically or horizontally to clear them and rake up a high score, but with a twist. Instead of just swapping one orb for another, orbs swap places along the way rather than one exchange from endpoint to endpoint; making for a more strategy and foresight.\\n\\nAll puzzles simulate battles where you fight opponents on the top screen by clearing orbs on the bottom. You and your opponent take turns doing damage to each other until one of your life gauge drops to zero. Timer only starts when you touch an orb making for more thoughtful approach.\\n\\nYou get experience (EXP) points after each battle to level up and build you own team based on elemental effects (water, wood, fire, light and dark), having one element being super effective (or not very effective) towards another. The problem with this is that the game requires a lot of grinding of previous levels to build exp to be even to be considered to have a fighting chance especially when there's a boss character involved, making it feel more like a grind-fest than actual strategy at times. But you feel a great joy and pride after leveling up to defeat a boss.\\n\\nAside from the theme the core gameplay of Z and Mario are the same with slight changes in how you traverse the world, enemy variety and team match ups. Z has a hub world, more story based and has optional side quests. Mario has a set branching path the reach the end to save the princess making it easy to jump in and play. Also the visual design is slightly different in terms of the orbs and how the map/characters are laid out.\\n\\nStory for both is okay. There's more plot in Z, but overall both stories are pretty generic in terms of plot and writing as I wished there was more creative writing.\\n\\nThere's only one save file which is disappointing if you have multiple people in your household wanting to play on the same game cartridge, but it helps with leveling grinding I guess.\\n\\nOverall fun puzzler if you don't mind leveling up before a boss fight.\",\n \"Product: Get ready for a dream duel of epic proportions in Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax, a 2D fighting game featuring an all-star cast of popular characters from Dengeki Bunko novels set against Sega-themed worlds. Developed by Ecole and French Bread, this mash up features a fighting system that is both easily understood yet complex in depth catering to veterans and newcomers alike.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Hidden Gem for Anime Fans\\n\\nReview: First off the gameplay: The 2D fighting is more fluid like Street Fighter and not as technical/stiff as Guilty Gear. The gameplay mechanics is similar to Persona 4 arena where you have assists, guard breaks and specials. Gameplay consist of a 4 button setup: assist, light, medium, and heavy attack. The game is fast paced and heavily based off combos like the Marvel vs Capcom games if you really want to master it. There is also a trump card feature in the game which temporary boost your stats for a quick comeback or devastating finish. There are a cast of 14 characters with 2 unlockables with no clones having every character having there own style/moveset.\\n\\nStory is presented in a visual novel format (no cinematic cutscenes) and is what you expect from a cross over fighting game: you (character you select in arcade mode) are transported to a mysterious world where someone asks you to your help to fix the world's hopes and dreams, and hopefully once fulfilled you are transported back to your own world. Along the way, you get character interactions which is surprisingly good as the characters display the same mannerisms as they would in their respective series.\\n\\nFor example, Asuna and Kirito (Sword Art Online) treat everyone as if they're in an MMO RPG and Taiga (Toradora!) is very stubborn about her height which almost every character in the game teases her on. You get scenarios where Kirito comments on Shana's (Shakugan no Shana) flame sword and wishes it'll drop as loot if he defeats her, and Shana responds back and tell Kirito that he's stupid and this is real life. There is also a 'dream duel' mode where it's focused on more witty banter with characters if you don't want to go through the generic plot in arcade mode. There are a lot of custom banter throughout the game in terms of visual novel story and introductory taunt before battle. If you are not a fan or familiar with the series presented, you may feel a bit lost.\\n\\nGraphics. Each character has very nice sprites with no pixelation resembling the anime or manga they're coming from. The stages themselves are also very detailed, but wish there was more going on in the background as most of the stages are static images. There's very little fan service in terms of visuals (no huge busts in women and overly muscular guys) as most of the cast are female tsundere with A-cups.\\n\\nSound. Very good soundtrack, most inspired by Sega games. There are Japanese only voice overs for every character, but you do get English subtitles. There are also subtitles at the beginning and in-between rounds above the character's heads which is a nice touch.\\n\\n The menu and game setup is very old school.\\n-There are no tutorials so you have to learn as you go or look it up online\\n-No annoying installs: just insert disc and play\\n-Everything is unlockable (No DLC):characters, color pallet swaps, artworks to music\\n-Loading times are very fast as if you're playing on a cartridge game\\n-Score Attack, Timed, survival mode, and training\\n\\nThere is an online mode, but is non-existent as I tried connecting to matches separate times in a day without any luck\\n\\nOverall very good fighting game with nice character interaction. A anime fan's wet dream. For those who are not anime fans, you will still get some fun out of it, but will not get some of the references\",\n \"Product: Chaos is the latest iteration in the Onechanbara series featuring the world's sexiest zombie slayers. With two sets of buxom vampire sisters at the player's disposal, over a dozen stages of high-octane real-time swordplay await, each characterized by the hordes of zombies infesting the land and the over-the-top methods our heroes employ to kill them. Fight off the invasion in gruesome detail, sending limbs and blood flying every which way through a variety of physical attacks and acrobatic maneuvers, occasionally transforming into a demon for short bursts of added power and speed at the cost of life energy. Each of the four members of the so-called \\\"bikini zombie squad\\\" has her own unique abilities, and skillful play is rewarded with orbs that can be exchanged for upgraded weapons and outfits.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Linear Hack and Slash\\n\\nReview: Similar gameplay to Ninja Giaden or Devil May Cry, but the difficulty toned way down with a lot of fan service where you go through linear levels with invisible walls trying to get to your next destination.\\n\\nThe story is your standard; rivals let go of the past and team up to save the world from a major villain bent on conquering the world. It's very predictable, but the witty banter from the characters during game play keeps you intrigued.\\n\\nGraphics are okay, the environments are low res like something you see in an early PS3 game, but the character models are nice in terms of playable characters and enemies. The combat is buttery smooth with no frame rate drops (keeping it around 60fps every time) even when a lot of enemies are on screen.\\n\\nThe voice actors do a pretty good job in the game, but there is horrible lip syncing\\n\\nGameplay is your typical hack and slash combo build up game. There are variety of different button/timed combo you can do with various weapons and power ups. The only thing that set this game apart to games similar to it is the weapon stain gauge, where if you get too much blood (indicated by a meter) it deals less damage over time, so you have to keep an eye on it like how you know when to reload a gun in a shooter game. You are also able to switch from 1 or 4 characters on the fly making for more potential combos. All characters play differently in terms of speed, dodge techniques, weapon types and ability. There are quick-time-events within the game, but only used in boss battles and consist of swiping the touch pad on your controller to whatever is prompt on screen (blue arrow)\\n\\nUnlockables consist of clothing options and outfits where you can move around accessories to different body locations once unlocked, and weapon upgrades. The main story will take you maybe 6-7 hours to complete initially depending on selected difficulty level, but if you're dressing up fan service characters, doing variety of optional quests within the game, or a gamer into high scores it may last longer\\n\\nDespite it's flaws, this is a very fun game. Great to unwind at the end of the day and slash through enemies for the heck of it.\",\n \"Product: The year is 2029, and mechanically augmented humans have now been deemed outcasts, living a life of complete and total segregation from the rest of society. Now an experienced covert operative, Adam Jensen is forced to operate in a world that has grown to despise his kind. Armed with a new arsenal of state-of-the-art weapons and augmentations, he must choose the right approach, along with who to trust, in order to unravel a vast worldwide conspiracy. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Breach is an innovative game mode included in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. This new take on the game offers, for the very first time, an arcade approach on the gameplay of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, providing players with a connected puzzle shooter experience. As a Ripper, your objective is to obtain and sell highly classified corporate data by infiltrating some of the worlds most secure servers, using the funds you acquire to upgrade both your skills and arsenal. As you play, the rewards you earn, including XP, credits, and booster packs, will allow you to face the increasing difficulty of the game. Challenge yourself, your friends, and people from around the world in the ultimate Deus Ex arcade twist. Breach is a live game mode, introducing new challenges and features by rolling out updates on a regular basis.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Excellent Level Design: Play How You Want\\n\\nReview: If you played a Dues Ex game in the past, the game is basically the same first person, RPG Stealth game with more/better augmentation or upgrade tree.\\n\\nGameplay is really good, each level is designed so that there's no one way to tackle it, you can either go guns blazing, stealth or somewhere in between. If it's your first play though it'd probably be the latter as going full guns blazing and stealth require a lot of upgrades especially on higher levels which you can purchase through micro-transactions in the game which is very disappointing or if you're a pro in past titles it's not needed. You can literally go through the game without killing any enemy/boss in any lethal means which can net you a PSN trophy. This game has great flow compared to past titles in it's level design, you can zip through enemies and go in/out through levels very smoothy once you get good at the game as it feel very satisfying\\n\\nGraphics are really good, nice attention to detail in the environments as in some parts there are a lot of random little trinkets and paintings scattered throughout the room or level. Characters animate well, but the lip syncing can be horrible at times.\\n\\nStory is your basic trying to get rid of a terrorist organization plot with racial tension in a form of human augmentation. This game does a good job with a recap video for those who haven't played or forgot what happened in prior titles in the series. There's a lot of good exposition when talking to NPC for world building if you're into that sort of thing. Game ends in an abrupt note as it seems like this title is just a setup for the the next one.\\n\\nOverall best game in the franchise thus far in terms of level design and gameplay. Story is a bit disappointing since it's just a teaser for the next title.\",\n \"Product: Call of Duty: Black Ops III - Standard Edition - PlayStation 4\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Bought 6 months after initial release\\n\\nReview: First let me preface that I got this game 6 months after it's initial release in November 2015. There's a required 9.8GB, 40+ minute installation before you get to play with all it's initial features. By just popping in the disc you only get access to the zombie mode. You can play the other modes while it's installing, but it downloads in this order and there may be frame rate/loading issues if you play during partial installation: Full Zombies, multiplayer, single player campaign.\\n\\nZombies mode this time around is more story based compared to past games. I'd say it's less frustrating with more players, but if you're a pro in past games it's easy to manage.\\n\\nMultiplayer. Even after starting 6 months after most other players, it's still easy to pick up and play if you're familiar with other COD titles. But it does take a few play sessions to adjust and get familiar with your custom loadout. New to multiplayer is you can choose from 9 specialists which you can customize. You get 4 to choose from at first, but you get the other 5 once you level up in rank. Each specialist has their own special moves which can be upgraded, but the core pick 10 system in previous game return also. Multiplayer this time around focuses more a parcore as you can run against walls and slide under gaps while shooting. You can also double jump which is meter based and recharges fairly quickly. Swimming is also now available in various maps, making for good hiding spots.\\n\\nSingle Player Campaign. There are 11 levels missions you can play in or out of order. Before you go into a mission you can upgrade your loadout and aside from grenades and rocket launcher type weapons you aren't able to pick up weapon from enemies since all weapons are locked to your bio-metrics.\\n\\nNew to the franchise is that you can play 4 player co-op in campaign mode, just note that when cutscenes happen, your team aren't present (sort of like the Daiblo games from blizzard).\\n\\nYou can pick your character's gender and slightly change their facial appearance, but it does not really effect the overall story. At one point in the game a minor character addressed a female character as \\\"him\\\", but aside from that there's no sexist overtone or stereotypes within the dialogue or story sequences in the game.\\n\\nStory wise, it's a self contained from the previous 2 Black Ops games. There's still a world wide threat, but the conflict is more focused on your squadmates than an overall looming threat which makes you more engaged.\\n\\nYou can choose from one of three superpowers within the levels; one let you hack drones, one debuff your opponents and the other causes environmental effects.\\n\\nThere is a airship flying segment, but unlike past Call of Duty titles, your ship is easier to control and you don't have do dodge rock sculptures while flying through frustrating narrow corridors to each an end goal.\\n\\nOnce you beat the game, you unlock nightmare mode (different from zombies mode) where you visit the same locales, but with different story filled with zombies supernatural themes.\\n\\nOverall not a huge upgrade to the Call of Duty franchise, but has enough refinements to make it interesting and fun\",\n \"Product: Mighty No. 9 is a Japanese 2D Side-scrolling Action game that takes the best elements from the 8 and 16-bit classics that you know and love and transforms them with modern tech, fresh mechanics, and fan input into something amazing! Led by a veteran team with decades of experience, Mighty No. 9 promises to be an evolution in the well-known genre. STORY - In a world of advanced robotic engineering, nine robot siblings known as the "Mighty Numbers" rule in the Battle Colosseum. But when a sudden act of cyber terror turns the battle robots into rampaging menaces, it's up to Beck, the lone member of the team unaffected by the virus to save the future of humanity!\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Not a kickstarter backer\\n\\nReview: First thing I like to note is that I'm not a kickstarter backer for this game, and I personally think this game has a lot of bad press due to the delays and kickstarter backers expecting too much from the product, horrible marketing campaign, etc. This review is based on the game itself as a standalone product.\\n\\nThis video game is essentially a Mega Man game with a dash mechanic with high emphasis on speed runs (more on this later) as it has the same theme and plot you'd expect from Mega Man: Robot masters (Mighty Numbers) go out of control, and it's up to you to re-program them/snap them out of their trance or virus, etc and save the world from a mad scientist.\\n\\nDespite the infinite dash mechanic and optional free boost upgrades after each death, the game is really challenging like past Mega Man games. The first boss may be challenging, but after the defeating one, the rest of the bosses should be easy (aside from the final) after you find out which mighty number ability is weak against the other as you are able to absorb and use the ability of the defeated Might Number. This is not to say the levels are easy as like other mega man games, the enemy placement and environmental hazards can pose a problem to those new to this type of game, and a lot of trial and error is required to beat the level.\\n\\nControls are very responsive and fluid with no framerate stutters even with the infinite dash (except for the online mode). My only issue with gameplay is the shifting different weapons in real time which require too much button presses to initiate. Would be great if the have two dedicated buttons (namely shoulder buttons) to where you can scroll through them and memorize the number of button presses instead of holding down a button to initiate weapon select, scroll down to choose your weapon then press another button to select it.\\nNew mechanics not present in mega man games are:\\n\\n-The already mentioned infinite dash\\n\\n-You can grab onto ledges and pull yourself up\\n\\n-When enemies get enough damage they start to glow a certain color where you can dash into them for an instant kill and absorb them instead of doing more shots with your blaster. The bosses also glow, but you have to dash into them before they recover, like white health in street fighter. The glow/dash mechanic not only do massive damage, but also give you point bonuses and increase meter on special number ability moves\\n\\n-High score system. This game is very focused on combos and how fast you complete each stage rather than a grand adventure to defeat each boss. After completing a level, the game present you with a letter grade, and completion time.\\n\\nThe level designs are really creative and each feel very unique. Unlike traditional Mega Man games it feels that the levels are centered around the speed runner with the combo and infinite dash mechanic making it seems like it's catered to the perfectionist. This is also enthized in the trophies achievements on PS4\\n\\nAll of the 8 robot masters (Mighty Numbers) you defeat have a very distinctive personality and it's fun to interact with them. When you defeat one, they will show up and give commentary and/or help in another level where their ability is super effective against.\\n\\nThe music is not very good. You can barely hear the background music from all the voice and sound effects from the default setting. I had to change the sound configuration from the settings menu. Even the the music is not as great as past Mega Man titles.\\n\\nOnline is horrible. Tons of lag and disconnects. Totally unplayable at the time of this review. Even if you are able to connect and play with someone there's a high chance you'll drop out or experience a glitch where you're unable to progress.\\n\\nOverall I think this is a great spiritual successor to Mega Man and it has all the right elements just more modernized. I just think that the external drama surrounding the game lead to some not trying out the game because of it\",\n \"Product: Play the game, based on the movie, based on the game! Ratchet & Clank (PS4) is a new game based on elements from the original Ratchet & Clank (PS2). Developed alongside the major motion CG-animated picture coming to theatres in 2016, Ratchet & Clank (PS4) marks the PlayStation 4 debut of PlayStation's greatest heroes. Join Ratchet, Clank, Captain Qwark and new friends as they battle to save the Solana Galaxy from the evil Chairman Drek. With an hour of new cinematics (including footage from the film), Ratchet & Clank (PS4) takes a deeper look at the characters' origin stories and modernizes the original gameplay. Explore the galaxy in a game that features new planets, new and updated gameplay segments, all-new bosses, all-new Clank gameplay, all-new flight sequences, and much more --- with completely new visuals built to demonstrate the power of the PS4! Battle your enemies with an out-of-this-world arsenal, including new weapons and fan-favorite tools of destruction from the Ratchet & Clank Future series. From the brand new Pixelizer (which transforms enemies into explosive 8-bit pixels) to franchise favorites like the dance-party-inducing Groovitron and wise-cracking robotic bodyguard Mr. Zurkon, Ratchet & Clank's arsenal has never been better. Help Ratchet and Clank save the galaxy for the first time, again, exclusively on PlayStation 4!\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Modernized Ratchet and Clank\\n\\nReview: First of all this is a re-imagning of the series as they built the game from the ground up using a new engine rather than just upresing textures of the originals like in HD remakes making it seem like a makeover rather than a touch up. Think of it as a reboot like the new Tomb Raider series.\\n\\nIn terms of gameplay, the game is basically a platform shooter with some light puzzles, and racing mixed in. There's a lot of variety and collectables that you wont' get bored. There are also open ship battles and jet pack levels as seen in Ratchet and Clank: Into the Nexus.\\n\\nIf you're familiar with the series, there are a lot of weapons variety in the game. The amount of weapons are not as abundant as the last game released in the series, but it provides the 'best of' in the series in my opinion giving the quality of quantity effect. All weapons have an upgrade tree, once max out has a different effect than what it originally was. Some upgrades are locked until the weapon levels up (via extended uses), so it encourages you to keep using a variety of weapons instead of sticking to one, especially in higher difficulty when ammo is not that abundant. Constantly trying to upgrade your weapons as you go along creates an addictive loop, encouraging you to constantly switch out weapons as you progress through the game.\\n\\nVisuals are amazing, one of the best non-photorealistic visuals in games out there with tons of particle effects and a lot of minor detailing in the background. Think they went for an animated movie style visuals and it shows in cutscenes as well as in gameplay. If you played the first game of the series at launch this was probably how the game looks like in your head at the time rather than what you saw on screen back in the day.\\n\\nStory wise, it has similar plot as the very first game in the series, but they added in new characters, events and dialogue\\n\\nSo there's a movie tie in based on the game. Wished they included all of the movie into cutscenes of this game as it seems like the developers had too many cutscenes towards the end, and not enough levels that they decided to cut out scenes and used the left overs to make a movie.\\n\\nTrophies. Easy platinum if you don't mind multiple playthroughs and item collecting. There's some missable trophies that are event based, so make sure you look through the trophy list and complete the objective in the storyline/level before progressing onto the next one.\\n\\nOverall a greatest hits version of the all the games before it (in terms of gameplay), while harkening back or retelling of the origin story of Ratchet and Clank\",\n \"Product: Uncover the true power of your DUALSHOCK 4 to join forces with ATOI THE MESSENGER in a daring quest to deliver a top-secret message. Unfold her magical papery world, save her pals in peril and battle the monsters trying to stop her delivery! Overflowing with PS4-exclusive features, surprises and secrets, you don't just play Tearaway Unfolded. you're in it! The power of your DUALSHOCK 4: Catch stuff hurled out of your TV - and throw it back to solve puzzles and take down the baddies. Guide atoi through dark, scary places by shining the light bar at your TV. Whip up a windstorm to discover hidden paths, and pilot a papery plane by swiping the touch pad. Get the App: With a smartphone or tablet, a second player can customise the papery world and characters with their own wild designs and real-world images as you play.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Dual Shock 4 Tech Demo?\\n\\nReview: I would like preface that I never played the Vita version and I do not own a PlayStation Camera, so I'm not able to evaluate the game based on those two criteria.\\n\\nThe game starts off ridiculously slow, and I felt like quitting the game until I realized that I spend my hard earned money on it (and the trade-in credit for it is ridiculously low). After the tutorial and the first game level when they let you use the jump feature for your character, the game starts ramping up considerably and is a lot of fun.\\n\\nGraphics is great to look at if you're into arts-and-crafts as the characters and environments has a paper craft design and even implement glue, stickers, scissors and tape into the gameplay which is a nice touch.\\n\\nThe game implements all features of the Dual Shock 4 controller (except maybe rumble, and the controller speakers):\\n-The touch controls allows you to craft your own designs and stickers, control the wind, and the actual physical press of the touch pad controls trampolines present in the environment. Crafting your own stickers/environmental elements is a bit hard at first, since there's an odd disconnect from what when you are swiping on the touch pad and what's displaying on screen as you have to be constantly looking up and down. But after you spend time with it, it may become second nature to you. It's very exciting seeing your designs show up the game world.\\n- The gyroscope in conjunction with the L2 and R2 triggers controls the light source/flashlight (shaped like the LED on the controller) to illuminate dark areas, search for hidden items and/or used a puzzle solving.\\n-The Six Axis (or three-axis accelerometer/tilt controls) is used to control moving platforms\\n-Microphone feature (need headset) is also used for recording and audio que playback in the game\\n-You typical joystick and face buttons controls the movement of the actual character you're playing for platforming around the world, and some environmental puzzles controls. In conjunction with all the other gameplay mechanics mentioned above make for a fun experience and test your motor skills/hand-eye coordination especially when you have to use multiple gameplay elements going on at the same time.\\n\\nThe game is filled with a lot of light puzzle solving and exploration. The puzzle are fun to figure out and the exploration leads to little hand holding so you have to find hints through gems scattered around the world or talk to NPCs to find out where to go next. There's a lot of collectibles in the game, first play through i got 43%. There's a lot of restricted collectibles that are obviously obtainable which are locked for a second playthrough which is a bit disappointing if you're one who wants to collect them as you see them\\n\\nThe story has a lot of twist and turns. The plot is generic, but the actual story is good. Also there's a lot of fourth wall jokes/comments which is a nice touch.\\n\\nThe sound is okay. There's a lot of southern or folk instrumentals. There are 2 narrators of the story which do a superb job on their voice acting. The male narrator sounds similar to the narrator in Little Big Planet. The NPCs just talk gibberish with text speech bubbles and feels really hollow compared to their voiced counterparts\\n\\nAside from the very slow start, the game has very good pacing in terms of introducing gameplay elements. A enjoyable ride if you get through the hurdle of the first chapter\",\n \"Product: Transformers Devastation PS4\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: For 80s and Platinum Fans\\n\\nReview: This game is more targeted to those who grew up with the cartoons in the 80s with the robots in disguise rather than the Micheal Bay's high visual intensive high budget films. Transformer's Devastation is based off of the Generations toy line with the voice cast of the original TV show (although some of the voices do sound a bit older, especially Megatron)\\n\\nVisuals are cell-shaded making it more feel in tone with the cartoons. There are no frame-rate problems throughout the game which is very nice considering a lot of beat-em-up games nowadays have occasional frame rate stutters. This is probably due to the character focus battles as the environment looks somewhat bland especially during battle arena locations. Transformations are fast a fluid and not complex like in the Micheal bay films with constant moving parts and has a more puzzle piece feel to them.\\n\\nGameplay. The game is developed by Platinum Games so you would expect great gameplay and this game is no different. You play as 5 select-able Autobots with varying stats for example: Grimlock is slow but deals high damage and Sidewipe is fast and better with combos. You can combo chain attacks to build up a final attack dealing massive damage. There's also a dodge feature, when timed perfectly, you are able to slow down time for a few seconds like in the Bayonetta series. Twitching back and forth from robot to vehicle mode while chaining combos is very fluid and when mastered feels very satisfying\\n\\nThere are variety of enemies classes where you have to change up your tactics. For example if there's a flying enemy you have to switch to your long range weapon or if they have shields you have to transform to a vehicle and change back to a robot in time to slip pass their shields in order to break them. Boss enemies (aside from Megatron) are huge, although similar to standard enemies but with more health and damage. These bosses look great, but you won't get a Shadow of the Colossus or Bald Bull from Punch Out sense of intimidation from them as you mostly just go to ankle vision mode. Defeated enemies and destructible objects in the levels drop loot which you can use to upgrade your weapons and/ fuse them to create better weapons\\n\\nSound is okay. There's no dynamic range to any of the tracks and you tune them out at times when concentrated on the battles.\\n\\nThe story is pretty basic with the trying to take over the world theme to it. Even though the story and plot is lack luster, the character interaction in between is quite good and brings back nostalgia to the 80s cartoons\\n\\nAside from the main story there is challenge mode, where you re-visit certain segments/levels of the story and try to complete varying objectives presented to you. There is no multi-player which is a bit of a disappointment especially when the main story is only 4-5 hours long. The game suggest you to play through all missions with all 5 characters to boost re-play value (as presented in the trophy achievements), the story will be the same but you get slightly different character interaction depending on the autobot you select. Also you are graded for every level you play in the 7 chapters in the game so it's there for those who like the high score aspect of traditional games.\\n\\nUnless you are a hardcore 80s Transformers AND Platinum Games fan this would be a great pickup. If not, I'd wait till there's a price drop unless you're into the high score aspect of the game.\",\n \"Product: Step into the wild car fantasy world of Trackmania Turbo, where everything is about having fun chasing the fastest time. Discover the ultimate time attack racing experience with over 200 head-spinning tracks, set in 4 beautiful environments, each with their own play style. Highly replayable, easy to learn and hard to master, the arcade racing universe of TrackMania Turbo will keep you coming back for one last lap!\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Bite Size Arcade Racer\\n\\nReview: This game would have been perfect on a high end graphical handheld systems with physical buttons, but seeing the low adoption rate of the PSP and the 3DS not having high end hardware specs it's a bit disappointing that it's console and PC only as the level design/progression lends itself to mobile devices.\\n\\nThe game has 200 tracks divided into four types of environments with most tracks lasting around 30-60secs. Surprisingly, no tracks are a copy of the other as there's always new scenarios/combinations for each track. Before you start each track you can choose which ghost car you want to race against: bronze metal AI, Silver metal AI, Gold AI or a ghost of your own previous completion. Tracks are grouped by 10 tracks and each group are unlocked by getting a set amount of bronze, silver and gold metals. Getting gold metal in a track requires you to get a near perfect completion rate with no collisions and perfect drifts. Unless you're a natural, you'll be playing a course over and over again before gaining the well deserved gold metal\\n\\nControls are very simple, there's basically only 5 main buttons:\\n1. Acceleration: could be right trigger or face button. I tend to use both having triggers for straightaways and face button (along with brake) for drifting\\n2. Break: similar to acceleration but left trigger\\n3. Various camera options: set whether you want first or third person perspective when driving, also a button to look behind you\\n4. Restart Level: restart the entire level in an instant by hitting the triangle button on PS4.\\n5. Restart checkpoint: similar to restart level, but at a checkpoint and pressing the circle button. This is not ideal unless you want practice a certain section of the track as restarting a checkpoint starts you car at 0mph losing the momentum of the race. Restart times for both level and checkpoint are instantaneous, but the initial boot up of the game loads for like a minute plus which is a bit disappointing.\\n\\nEveryone has one selected car per track (no stat upgrades/car modifications), so the game is entirely skill based. You can add decals to your car to switch things up, but it doesn't effect the stats. Controls of this game is really tight and responsive, there's a clear difference between bronze, silver and gold metals you earn. You need good precision controls, so I can see why this isn't on mobile smart phones which rely mostly on motion sensing controls. There are no powerups (aside from speed boost/deboost strips on the ground) and the entire game is time trails with no other racers on screen aside from ghosts.\\n\\nGraphics are really good for an arcade racer and runs at a buttery smooth 60fps.\\n\\nOverall very good game for bite size arcade racing. Would be ideal on mobile, but smart phones don't have enough physical buttons (or bluetooth controllers are not that mainstream), low adoption rate of the PSP and the 3DS not being as powerful. Let's hope there's a port on the rumored mobile Nintendo NX. For a home entertainment game it's not that bad if you're a completionist/perfectionist trying to get gold on every track; just know that you'll be restarting levels for hours like it's groundhog day.\",\n \"Product: From the legendary creator Keiji Inafune and the makers of Metroid Prime comes ReCore, an action-adventure masterfully crafted for a new generation. As one of the last remaining humans on a planet controlled by robotic foes bent on your destruction, you must forge friendships with a courageous group of robot companions, each with unique abilities and powers. Lead this band of unlikely heroes on an epic adventure through a mysterious, dynamic world. You cant save mankind alone.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Fun Combat...not much else\\n\\nReview: If Star Wars The Force Awakens ever had a prequel tie in game revolving around Rey; this basically much describe the world of this game. You're a scavenger, Joule in a desert planet searching for parts while encountering 4 (technically 5) robot AI which accompany you on your journey.\\n\\nGameplay is split up into 3 parts: world/dungeon exploration, platforming puzzles, and the other a fun arcade third person shooter.\\n\\nExploration and dungeon crawling is okay, you can scavenge for core and parts/blueprints for upgrades whether it's your gun or your robot companions. Down side is if you're not used to old school open world adventure games then it may be off putting especially during fetch quests where you have to collect 6 or 7 of the same items to open a door. There's no hint system like in Uncharted 4 for example where they tell you where the last item or hints to solve the puzzle. This can be frustrating at times when you have 5 out of 6 items to progress through the dungeon and you have to keep wandering around the map for minutes to find it or look it up online. One item took me maybe 15mins of wandering around to find on my own. Also certain areas have you use 2 of your 4 robot companions (the 5th one is just a transporter/fast travel) to get through the level or mini-dungeon, this is a hassle when you only can have 2 at given time instead of 3 and you have to go back to your base to swap them out. Basically in terms of puzzles and exploration the game doesn't hand hold you, and you have to figure everything out yourself or play an advance game of hide and seek. Also some story missions are locked until you find certain item/core requirements so there' a lot of item grinding involved.\\n\\nThere's a lot of platforming puzzles in the game where you use your abilities to jump though timed levels to get a specific item/finish a quest. If you're not good at 3D platforming or have fast reactions speed this may be frustrating also\\n\\nCombat in this game is very fun, as you have to switch to different colored bullets, dodge and call your robot companions to build combos for exp.\\nThere's an auto-aim feature, but the combat is very fast pace where you have to prioritize enemies and dodge incoming attacks testing your reflexes. Once you get into it it's very exhilarating. Too bad the game have to go through a lot of fetch quests, if it was just combat all the way through i'd say it would be a better game\\n\\nGraphics are okay. Not top of the line graphics but pretty decent. There are some frame rate stutters at times when there's a lot of enemies on screen.\\n\\nOverall this is not a casual game that you pick up and play through the story. There's a lot of exploration, Easter egg (parts/cores) hunting and weapon grinding.\",\n \"Product: A Shared-World Adventure Game that lets you be the pirate youve always dreamed of in a world of danger and discovery. Explore a vast ocean where every sail on the horizon means a ship filled with real players who may be friends or foes. Form a crew and voyage to treasure-filled islands, face legendary creatures and test your mettle in epic ship battles against other pirates. Sail solo or join a crew of up to three other players to experience true co-operative gameplay.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: A LOT of imagination (and friends) required\\n\\nReview: First some housekeeping. Xbox Live Subscription required as it's an online only game. 11GB mandatory patch as of this review.\\n\\nYou have to have a lot of imagination and creativity for lasting appeal of this game or at least hold your attention\\n\\nLove the art style, best water graphics since opening of Bioshock (1). Audio is also really good especially the environmental audio. Aside from this, the game is pretty bare bones as I'll go into the game mechanics.\\n\\nThere are 3 quest types:\\nHunt for Treasure Chests\\nFight skeletons*\\nCapture chickens and pigs\\n\\nThere's no progression in the game and no story (unless you make one up yourself). You do quests to gain money and use the money to buy cosmetic items (no stat boosts). Bad thing is, everything is ridiculously expensive. It takes hours of grinding for one cosmetic item. In order to unlock majority of the items, you'll have to grind quests which gets boring after a while especially when the challenge is the same. Also once you complete a task, you have to sail back to the quest giver which can take up to 15mins\\n\\nSkeletons are the only major enemy in the game, and they all have the same battle animations/moves. The only difference is how they look and randomized attack and HP stats. There's also The Kraken is in the game, but it randomly pops up when it wants to, when it does, taking it down is anti-climatic as it just runs away. If you dive down to try to see its whole body...well the kracken is invisible. Just random grouped tentacles floating on the waves\\n\\nThere are raids in the game where you team up with other people to fight hordes of skeletons for treasure\\n\\nAlso, there are passive challenges like opening certain amount of chests. But the challenges can take hours to complete just one artificially extending the life of the game\\n\\nPvP\\nThis is where you attack other ships and pirates online. This is the most fun and frustrating part of Sea of Thieves.\\n\\ngood if you have a decent team or people you know to play with you. If you don't communicate and/or teamed up with noobs you'll have a bad time as you can be decimated by the other team as your team have to micro manage everything on the ship: have a scout, people on the cannons, person steering the ship, people patching up the ship/throw buckets of water back into the sea so it doesn't sink.\\n\\nWhen everyone know what they're doing, and coordinate/work together it's a blast (this is rare unless you have friends to play with). Thus the this part of the game is as fun as the people you are playing it with.\\n\\nIf you don't have online friends, it's hard for you to get a decent team. First off, most won't communicate with you, or worst yet won't accept the mission to even start the quest.\\n\\nThere are no rewards for PvP, just you losing you quest progress if the enemy team starts shooting at you and/or sinks your ship...\\n\\nAfter a few hours, you feel like you're done with the game. The game gets repetitive really quickly, unless you have friends who like getting together to raid other ships and like doing repetitive grinds cosmetics. It's like the developers saw how kids can put in 100s of hours on a game like Minecraft, where the game gives you a little and have to use or imagination to extend the playtime...but instead of building, you're raiding other pirate ships and grinding for your your next belt, beard or dress.\\n\\nIn the end, it feels like a tech demo for water physics and animation, and to test how much people are willing to grind for a different colored gun that has the same stats as any other gun in the game. If you get bored of the repetitiveness, you can create your own fun I guess*\\n*varies depending on your imagination\",\n \"Product: Facing unknown dangers in a strange and mystical land, an ordinary young boy and his gigantic feathered friend must rely on each other to survive in this harrowing story of friendship and trust.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: The Boy and The Beast\\n\\nReview: Tale as old as time\\nTrue as it can be\\nBarely even released\\nThen Sony bends\\nUnexpectedly\\n\\nJust a little change\\nSmall to say the least\\nBoth a little scared\\nNeither one prepared\\n\\nThe Boy and the beast\\n--\\nThe following review is for the PS4 original (not Pro) console\\n\\nA game stuck in development hell since late ps2/early ps3 era has finally been released. Despite the hype, the game came out pretty decent overall with amazing story/lore and world building, but stuck in the past in terms gameplay.\\n\\nStory: You wake up next to a chained up creature you named Trico. You try to get home, but realize you need Trico's help to escape the torn down you were placed in. Along the way you build an emotion bond with each other while discovering the lore of the world through gameplay interactions and visual perception of the world rather than solely relying on narrative. To get a full grasp of what is happening you have to put the pieces together yourself instead of the game telling you what is happening through narrative\\n\\nGraphics. Same art design as it's prequel 'Shadow of the Colossus' (SotC), but in high definition. You can say on the visual department it's the definitive/remastered edition of SotC in terms of visuals. Frame rate is pretty solid throughout despite it being on the original PS4 compared to the PS4 Pro. I downloaded the patch so i guess that helped since i heard rumors it had problems at launch, but during my playthrough frame rate drops were minimal.\\n\\nGameplay.\\n-Could be a lot better as it feels like a PS2 open world 3d platformer. If you ever played SotC it has the same gameplay style; the controls are very clunky with poor hit detection as the platforming feels very stiff and loose. Also the game has bad camera angles especially in narrow corridors.\\n-Coming out of recent games like Zelda Breath of the Wild where there are multiple ways to solve an environmental puzzle, in this game there's only one solution. Most of the time you have to wait for Trico to decided when it wants to help you, which can frustrate some of those who do not have patience\\n-Trico has amazing AI as it feels like it's own entity. You have to learn to get along with it like a new puppy or if you ever had younger siblings when you were 5-7, you have to work with them rather than telling it what to do and expect them to listen most of the time. You have to figure out it's mannerisms as sometimes it doesn't like you watching her head on when eating or have to test the pool of water first before she's willing to jump in.\\n-Most if not all puzzles are environmental based as you have to be self aware of your surroundings to get to the next level.\\n- Again the gameplay is very old school. If you owned SotC or played PS2 open world platformers you may not have an issue, but if you're used to the new generation of games you may get frustrated with the controls.\\n\\nGame is pretty lengthy at around 12 hours. I'm an avid gamer who likes to explore a bit, so it may take you longer? Replay value comes in PSN trophies where there's achievements like completing the game in 5 hours or never have a single death through the entire playthrough.\\n\\nOverall if you like a captivating story where you have to put the pieces together on your own through gameplay interaction this is for you. You just have to put up/get accustomed with the old school gameplay\",\n \"Product: Fox, Falco, Peppy and Slippy (and their original voice actors) are back in a new adventure. Players use the GamePad to control their Arwing spaceship and see the view from the cockpit, while the TV shows the overall context of the full battlefield. The game includes a new Walker transformation for the Arwing, a new Gyrowing vehicle and the return of the Landmaster Tank. The game is scheduled to launch during the 2015 holiday season.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Very fun once you get used to the controls\\n\\nReview: First I like to point out that if you're used to playing Star Fox games (notably Star Fox 64) in the past, the dual screen controls for game takes a little getting used to and may not come natural until a few play sessions.\\n\\nThis game has a lot of homage to the N64 game. The story and plot is pretty generic; prevent Andross from taking over the galaxy.\\n\\nArwing controls are standard fare if you played Star Fox 64: standard fire, charge/lock-on shot, and bombs. You move the shooting reticle with the gamepad and move your ship with the analog stick thus dividing your attention between two screens making more like a flight sim than an arcade shooter at first. As mentioned in the beginning, it takes time to adjust to this new gameplay style and will not come naturally until a few hours of gameplay. Once you do it's very enjoyable as you notice there are various visual vantage points between the gamepad and the TV screen bringing a lot of level of awareness, as you do not have any blind spots making you feel as if you're in a real cockpit. Once you get really good at the game, you only need to look at the gamepad screen for precision shooting, like how when you're driving a car in real life where you only look at the mirrors when changing lanes or backing up. With the wider viewing angle, if an enemy is tailing you, you can make a tight turn, move the gamepad to your side (by twisting your body) and shoot them from the corner of your eye instead of doing a somersaults move and try to re-orient yourself, then shot.\\n\\nThere is two player co-op option where one person takes control of the retical control on the gamepad while the other person steers on the pro controller or wii remote and nunchuck. Good to build trust and communication among couples, friends or siblings and also to gain perspective /understanding on how each control mechanic works whether you're controlling the turret or the ship.\\n\\nThere are Gyrowing (basically a drone you control) stealth/puzzle segments to switch things up, but I find the slow pace drags down the game a bit and feels like filler\\n\\nLevel designs are okay. They are pretty linear with some branching paths within levels, but they tend to have the same end point boss or chase sequence. In the beginning you feel like going through the paces instead of having an immersive experience, but once you get used to the dual screen controls everything clicks and it starts being a lot of fun.\\n\\nThere's no level unlocking in this game in terms of branching paths and secret exits like in Star Fox 64 as you can select previous beaten levels at anytime. There are hidden levels, as you get a notification on screen to play a previous beaten level, but this time there's a portal you need to fly through to reach the secret destination.\\n\\nBosses in the game is your standard hit weak spot for massive damage. Maneuvering around them can be tough at first if again, you're not used to the controls\\n\\nThe visuals although not the best the Wii U can dish out, it's way better than Star Fox 64 being very visually appealing and at a steady 60 frames per second most of the time. You can switch views of the cockpit to the TV screen and vice versa by hitting the minus (-) button (very useful against the boss in Fichina world/level, or when you get really good, use the minus button all the time to flank and shoot down enemies faster than you would without it)\\n\\nBackground music are awesome, very good soundtrack for the game. The banter between characters are okay; all characters still act like they're reacting to the situation, say certain lines when events are triggered, or try to give off witty one liners . Wished the conversations were more fluid and natural like in 'Kid Icarus Uprising' or in the Star Fox Zero animated short: 'Star Fox Zero The Battle Begins' , but I guess Nintendo wanted to focus more on nostalgia than advance dialogue in the series.\\n\\nAmiibo support. Fox Amiibo unlocks the Retro NES Arwing along with retro sound effects, and retro Cornera track on the Cornera level. The Falco Amiibo unlocks a color palltte swap for the black and red Arwing, but also able to dish out twice the damage as well as take in 2x damage.\\n\\nAside from getting personal high scores and beating the levels again after you get adjusted to controls there's hardly any replay value. You can't even upload your scores to an online leaderboard and there's also no online multiplayer. The initial playthrough of the game is around 4-5 hours (having rushed through it), but playing through it again you get a better appreciation of the game as you develop and hone in your skills on the gameplay controls. At times I just pull out the game and get a high off of trying to speed run through the level picking off enemies and bosses left and right\\n\\nStarFox Guard is a nice side game; it's a mixture of tower defense and Five Nights At Freddies. You look through several cameras with turrets, select the camera that has the view of the enemy and shoot them before they reach the central core of your base. There's a lot of weapon upgrades, an enemy variety in the game to switch things up. Love the boss battles as it's much faster pace switching and shooting from various cameras. Fox and Falco amiibo wipe out all enemies from the entire map when you're overwhelmed, but can only be used once per day.\\n\\nOverall very fun Star Fox game once you get passed the learning curve of the controls\",\n \"Product: DualShock 4 Wireless Controller for PlayStation 4 - 20th Anniversary Edition\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Best Feature: Headphone Port\\n\\nReview: Let me share with you a hidden feature you may not know about and it involves the headphone port.\\n\\nOnce you plug/connect your headset/headphones into your controller on the PS4 go to:\\n\\nSettings --> Devices--> Audio Devices --> 'Output to headphones' change 'chat audio' to 'all audio'\\n\\nFrom that you are able to input all sound to your headset into a wireless headset receiver, so you no longer have to get an extension cord across the living room to use your wired controller. It stops sending audio from the HDMI and optical port and directly to what's connected to your controller. Great if you own a high end wired gaming headset and don't want to invest in a wireless one just so you don't have to deal with extended wires hooking up to your console or have to sit up close to the TV (example buying the Astro A40 over the A50s). Note that it may not work on all headsets, for example the stock Apple Headset does not work (or at least in chat).\\n\\nNow on the actual controller review. I got the Anniversary edition which is the exact same as the stock controller you get in your PS4, but just a different color. This controller will not enhance your gameplay unless the placebo effect of getting a favorite color gets up more pumped for some reason. If you plan to purchase the the Anniversary edition, just know that the design is different from the PS4 controller if you purchased the PS4 anniversary console as that controller has a better designed emblem on the gamepad and better screws in back...so yeah, know that the one you're getting here is less rare, but functions the same\\n\\nSyncing is easy: Turn on your PS4, connect your controller to the PS4 via USB/mico USB cable (not included in this package) and hit the PS button on the controller. Ready to play in seconds (unlike the Wii or Wii U which takes 30secs+)\\n\\nThis controller is in every way better than the PS3 controller (minus the battery life which I'll get into later). It has better ergonomics, trigger buttons (R2, L2) don't slip off your fingers once you press them, palm grips more comfortable to hold, built in speakers, touch pad, light bar, share button and most importantly the headphone port!\\n\\nBattery life is in controller is horrible compared to the DualShock 3 as it dies out about 3-4 hours of intense gameplay. You can go wired and directly connect it to the PS4, but it feels weird being tethered to the console, especially with the risk of someone walking across the room and tripping over the wire.\\n\\nInstead, when the dualshock 4 is low on battery I just use an external battery with a short USB cable (~1 foot) and your controller is back in action. Yes, you are also tethered to the external battery, but you get more mobility, and after long game sessions you don't even realize it's there.\\n\\nOverall, just a different paint job on the controller than what you get with your console. Hope you picked up some tips from this review and happy gaming.\",\n \"Product: In the Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash game, tennis meets the outrageous action of the Super Mario series. Smash the ball down the court with the new Jumpshot and gain a HUGE advantage over opponents in a brand-new mode, Mega Battle, by grabbing a Mega Mushroom. Outwit your rivals and challenge friends to singles and doubles matches as your favorite Mushroom Kingdom character!\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Better off playing older games in the series\\n\\nReview: Aside from amazing graphics, it's a step down from past iterations of the game\\n\\nIn the main mode Mega Battle random power mushrooms drop on screen giving you temporary power boost as your character grows in size. This is very annoying as it seems more like luck than actual skill as the person who randomly gets the powerup is way too overpowered and will dominate the match if one or two (in case of doubles) do not also get it making everything seem one-sided.\\n\\nLuckily you can play Classic Tennis where there are no power ups making the game more fair, but with no tournament or campaign mode you'll get bored easily. The only reason to own this game in my opinion is if you have roommates who like to play competitively every night in this mode, other than that it's a bust.\\n\\nThere's also a mode called Mega Ball Rally where you just rally a large ball back and force to see how many times you can rally the ball back and forth at increasing speed for a high score. This is not a traditional rally as the cpu thinks it's an actual tennis match and will try to screw you over when doing combos. Also the only way to get a high score is to avoid any power ups and keep doing flat shots in hopes of the cpu isn't dumb enough to get hit by the ball.\\n\\nAll characters unfortunately play the same, and the only reason you select one over the other is that one looks better and/or is your favorite character in the series. It's not like Mario Power Tennis for the Game Cube where there's special moves for each character. There's a slight difference between the speed and power type characters during higher level play, but doesn't really matter if power ups are involved.\\nThere's Knock Out Mode where you play against a series of cpu like arcade mode in a fighting game and train your amiibo. I don't get why you can import your mii and upgrade his/her stats that would make more sense in my opinion...guess Nintendo wanted to focus on implementing amiibo in this game instead.\\n\\nOnline mode is okay if not non-existent, the bad thing is if you want to play your friends online you have to log on the same time and hope the server groups you two together as there's no match making whatsoever which doesn't make any sense since the 3DS game Mario Tennis Open had it. Luckily there's no one online so if you can coordinated log in times then you'll almost be guaranteed matchups. Also if you want to play doubles with no couch partner, the amiibo you trained will in knockout mode will be your partner.\\n\\nThere is an achievement system where you can unlock up to 25 badges after completing set tasks in the game like play 10 standard classic matches to get Bowser Jr. If you're a veteran to the series all 25 badges can be unlocked in a few hours.\\n\\nVisuals are very impressive..and that's all it got going for it as this game is very bare bones. There very little substance as the lack of modes is very disappointing, if you care more about gameplay and variety of gameplay modes then I suggest getting an older game in the series as this game seems like a rush job by Nintendo.\",\n \"Product: Make Everyday an Adventure\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Easy Platinum Charlie Brown\\n\\nReview: Snoppy's Grand Adventure is a beginner platformer can caters to young children. My 5 year old nephew is able to beat the first few levels of this game on his own as oppose to not being able/or barely able to beat the first level of any Mario game.\\n\\nThe main game is very easy to beat if you're an average to experienced player. It's your basic point A to point B type platformer. They do introduce new elements here and there to switch things up such and gravity manipulation and trampolines. Also unlockable costumes for Snoppy which has different power ups such as busting through walls or ability to jump higher which is required if you want to get all the collectables. Enemies in this game faint or get dazed for a few seconds when jumping on them instead of get squashed or killed so it's very kid friendly.\\n\\nAfter you beat the main game, there's an unlockable world where you can play through several SHUMP (Shoot 'em up) levels. So keep in mind there's a post game after the credits. Story is non-existent, as you just jump right into the action, so not much of a grand adventure in terms of storytelling.\\n\\nYou can beat the game in a few hours, but can triple or quadruple it's length by doing all the collectables which will also help in collecting a platinum trophy. Getting a platinum trophy is very easy in this game if you don't mind the collecting aspect, all other trophies are very easy and most require you just to beat all levels in the game.\\n\\nOverall very good entry point for those who are new to platformers (or not very good at them), also easy platinum trophy for those achievement hunters\",\n \"Product: Telltale's Game of Thrones is set in the world of HBO's groundbreaking TV show. This new story tells of House Forrester, a noble family from the north of Westeros, loyal to the Starks of Winterfell. Caught up in the events surrounding the War of the Five Kings, they are thrown into a maelstrom of bloody warfare, revenge, intrigue, and horror as they fight to survive while the seven kingdoms tear themselves apart.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: New To Game of Thrones\\n\\nReview: This review is in a perspective of someone never watched the TV series or read the novels. I've also played 3 games from TellTale: The Wolf Among Us, and Walking Dead season 1 and 2.\\n\\nGameplay is like other TellTale games where you have dialogue choices resulting in branching dialogue sequences/interactions and slight changes in plot. Occasionally you get action sequences with quick timed events (QTE) where you follow the button promps on the screen to dodge or attack the enemy. There are also occasional free roam segments where you are open to explore the location and search for/select items.\\n\\nFor someone who's not familiar with the Game Of Thrones (GoT) series the opening chapters may a be a bit discouraging in terms of choice selection as they introduce characters very rapidly. You have to make judgement based on newly mentioned characters without knowing any background and have to rely on the tone of the character who's mentioning their name or family; having you make a lot of assumptions early on.\\n\\nThe story revolve around House Forresters as in the opening scene their army is decimated and other houses/factions try to harass and take advantage of their weakened state. Was told from a friend who also played the game and watch the TV series that this game does not follow the exact story of the TV show rather it's a side tale taking place between Season 3 episode 9 to Season 4 episode 5 of the TV series. There are some spoilers if you are not up to date with the TV series.\\n\\nUnlike the Wolf Among Us and Walking Dead series, you are constantly switching from 4+ characters in at least 4 locales with 3 or 4 subplots merging together at the end. There's more dialogue than action sequences as you have to make a lot of political decisions throughout the game. Which is way different from the tense action of the Walking Dead series, and the murder mystery of The Wolf Among Us. This may lead to boredom for some in the first 3 or 4 chapters especially those who are not into politics or long dialogue sequences, but the last two chapters are definitely worth it if you invest the time to reach to the end.\\n\\nLike the other TellTale series of games, the graphics will look familiar with it's semi-cell shaded 3D look, which in my opinion is sort of dated and wish they changed their art direction, but I can see from a mass audience standpoint it may be needed to cater to the smart phone/tablet/low end computer market. The free roam like in all TellTale's games are also very awkward as you have very stiff walking controls.\\n\\nMost if not all action segments that deals with death scenes resulting in a retry/game over screens, which is a disappointment as it leads to less branching story paths. There's even one major choice in chapter 4 where you select from one of 4 possible scenarios, 1 leading to a game over.\\n\\nYour choices does not matter much most of the time (especially when a key character appears) and usually result in future dialogue changes/banter between characters. Endings have a slight varient to them, but the overall plot is the same.\\n\\nThe game will last you around 12 hours, around 2 hours per chapter. The 6th chapter is a free download off the PSN store (if you have the disc in your system) since it's not on-disc probably due to lack of space and/or the publishers printed the game disc before the 6th chapter was released.\\n\\nTrophies are easy to earn in this game. You just have to play through all 6 chapters to get a platinum like the Walking Dead season 1, so you don't have to retry chapters and choose from different scenarios, or collecting items hidden within the levels.\\n\\nOverall good game if you are curious or into the Game of Thrones series or prefer dialogue choices/politics over action scenes. I'd say for the price you get a lot of hours of entertainment from it\\n\\nIron From Ice\",\n \"Product: Redefining pro, the new ASTRO A40 TR headset features user customization to adapt to any environment. The A40 TR headset arrives as an open-back headset featuring amazing audio quality, long-term comfort, a swappable precision mic and customizable speaker tags. For loud pro tournaments, you can transform the A40 TR to a closed-back noise cancelling headset by swapping components like speaker tags, microphone and ear cushions (sold separately in ASTRO Mod Kits). Fully compatible for PC, and with the newer Xbox One and PS4 consoles by plugging the 3.5mm cable directly into the console controller. All TR products are the Official Equipment of Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 and are used by top Call of Duty Pro teams like Optic Gaming and Team Envyus. WARNING: This product contains a chemical known to the State of California to cause birth defects or other reproductive harm.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Excellent Dedicated Gaming Headset\\n\\nReview: First i would like to say, if you're an audiophile and want high quality sound when listing to entertainment outside of gaming (movies, music, etc) then i recommend getting a separate headset for that. Not to say that the Astro A40TR is bad, it is above average (way better than stock headphones/ear buds you get with your smart phone for example), but it's not necessarily the best all around headset for entertainment even if you adjust the presets. But for gaming it's one of the best out there.\\n\\nMic Quality. Very clear sound. Communication is very good, you're able to hear individual words well. It's not going to make a natural sound like when you're talking face-to-face with someone. It's more like a crystal clear radio voice with no raspy interference or static, which you need if you're in a competitive team setting\\n\\nPicking up footsteps (Mainly for first person shooter games). Works very well, the drivers in the headset is dedicated to it, seeing use in other forms of entertainment is okay. This is basically what you're getting the headset for in my opinion as it's the main focus as being a tournament ready device. In general, the headset picks exaggerated footsteps sounds very well, which is perfect for gameplay (which is more enhanced if you hook up an Amp)\\n\\nFor dynamic range of sound, from my experience it depends on the game, and sound team of devs that built the game. If you want to be competitive for any game while using any headset, i recommend going to the sound options of the game and turn off music volume completely and max out sound effects/in-game sound. This will improve your game sense and may rank you up in the game because of it.\\n\\nComfort. One of the best headsets for long term use. Best I've tried is the Honstek G6 Wired PC Gaming Headset; fit your head very well and super soft even after extended use, but the sound quality is not good on it. Back on topic, ear bud padding is excellent, does not clamp your head with excessive pressure. You are able to adjust the vertical length of both sides for a custom fit. Love how the cups rotate, and able to hang below your neck and lay on your chest. Most headphones I've tried have a tight clasp squeezing, if not trying to choke you making you take the headset off completely and put it off to the side when taking breaks. With these they can just hang on you without any discomfort.\\n\\nVisual design. It's all black with hint of gold. Would love if the spiral wire on the sides were of different color to make the headset pop-out more like the Astro A50 I own. Looks very good for home/office use. For displaying in public, you may get some odd looks, especially with the mic attachment. With the A40TR you are able to switch face-plates if you want a more custom look\\n\\nIn-line controls. Very ergonomic, you are able to distinguish every button/slider without looking at it. Very natural, don't even have to build up a habit. You can also lift up the mic on the headset to mute yourself, which I tend to gravitate towards since I built a habit with the A50s.\\n\\nOverall, very solid gaming headset. If you can afford it, I'd get another headset for other forms of entertainment as this headset does a decent job, but not the best out there. Having a variety of headsets also helps you get more focused in a competitive setting when your head feels the difference in pressure making you more in-tune with the game (maybe that's just me). If you have any questions, put in the the comments and i'll try my best to answer to best of my ability. Happy Gaming!\",\n \"Product: The new standard for rally games returns! Whether speeding along dirt, asphalt, mud, snow or ice, for the first time the road surfaces have a real impact on car behavior thanks to a new physics and rendering system. You also have to learn how to fine-tune your vehicle to handle the weather conditions and dynamic lighting. Experience an even more immersive 2015 season with championship drivers, cars and special stages. Drive with precision along the snow-covered roads of Sweden and the rocky roads of Mexico, and take on the rally legends in 65 unique special stages in the entirely overhauled Career mode.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Not for the casual gaming audience\\n\\nReview: his review is coming from a perspective of a core gamer who does not follow rally racing and tends to prefer arcade racers over realistic\\n\\nThis game is based based more on time trails. You're only one on screen and have to beat opponents time rather than racing against them\\n\\nThere are 65 stages in total varying from different track layouts. The career mode is great as you move up the rank from jr to WRC. There's no actual story in the game aside from increase in stats/titles\\n\\nThe tutorial is simple, but the driving gets a bit of getting used to as the driving controls are really stiff and hard to maneuver. This does not help in the beginning stages as the roads are really narrow making it hard to pick up and play (or at least in career mode) as I see a lot of casual gamers dropping this game after the first stage or two.\\n\\nAlso keep in mind that there's a reset feature which took some time for me to figure out. By pressing/holding the down button it will reset you to the middle of the road and holding down the triangle it will transport you back to the checkpoint. This game has really bad hit detection, when you hit yourself dead onto the wall you have to do the steps mentioned above as you cannot power through it by going full throttle on the acceleration and steer all the way to the right or left. Also if your brakes or alignment are busted then you cannot reverse.\\n\\nYou have to maintain your car after each rally by doing repairs, if you do not then you will encounter performance issues which is not fun as it makes the game harder to play though. You can say it is a challenge, but I personally see it as a hindrance.\\n\\nGraphics. If you focus on driving then it looks okay, when you stop and take it in, then you do get some some bad textures. This game is not taking advantage of the PS4 in my opinion especially for a racing game where graphics then to be better than other game genres. The resolution is not good, but the game runs at a steady 60 fps (frames per second)\\n\\nAudio. Engine sounds are nice, but there's hardly any background music (if any) which gets boring after a while especially with the mono-tone commentary. If you don't know racing terminology/jargon then you'll get bored easily and may turn on your own background music to spice things up.\\n\\nTrophies are easy to obtain, you just simply have to grind through career mode and do some other simple side objectives to get platinum\\n\\nOverall very hard game to recommend unless you're really into rally racing\",\n \"Product: KINGDOM HEARTS HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue is a compilation that brings the popular KINGDOM HEARTS [Dream Drop Distance] to the PlayStation4 computer entertainment system platform remastered in high definition. Originally released in 2012, KINGDOM HEARTS [Dream Drop Distance] HD is a full-HD remastered version of KINGDOM HEARTS 3D [Dream Drop Distance]. Series protagonists Sora and Riku take on the Mark of Mastery exam in preparation for coming threats. The signature action of the KINGDOM HEARTS series has evolved, allowing players to experience faster-paced battles and exploration at a blistering pace.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Teaser to Kingdom Hearts 3\\n\\nReview: First of all, if you're new to the Kingdom Hearts series or played a few of the games; I recommend getting the Kingdom Hearts 1.5 + 2.5 Remix before/instead of this game as you get more content (4 games, 2 movies) than this game collection (2 games, 1 movie) especially if you want to get caught up with the plot/story in the series. *I'll list the games in 1.5 +2.5 at the end of the review.\\n\\nThis collection is more for the hardcore fans of the series who played through all the games (except maybe Dream Drop Distance and mobile games) and want a teaser in terms of graphics and gameplay on the new game engine for current gen system leading up to Kingdom Hearts 3.\\n\\nThis collection is also more for those who want more quality than quantity as the production value is way higher than what is seen in the KH 1.5 +2.5 Remix\\n\\nKingdom Hearts 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue includes:\\nKingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth By Sleep -A fragmentary passage\\nKingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance\\nKingdom Hearts Back Cover\\n\\n--Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth By Sleep -A fragmentary passage\\nNew original content showcasing what is possible in terms of gameplay and graphics for Kingdom Hearts 3 as they use the same new game engine.\\n\\nThe first playthrough may last only 3-4 hours depending on what difficulty setting you use, and how much you plan to explore the world before reaching to the next checkpoint.\\n\\nThe game is more like a Extended pre DLC for Kingdom Hearts 3 like how Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes did with Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.\\n\\nEven though short, it has very good production value. The visuals are amazing especially with the partial effects on the magic moves. Voice acting is top notch, and the writing is the best I've read/heard in the series as Aqua's monologues can be very philosophical at times\\n\\nStory links the gaps between both the Birth by Sleep and Sora/Riku's campaign making a good lead up to Kingdom Hearts 3.\\n\\n--Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance\\nIf you only played Kingdom Hearts on Sony system/consoles you're in for a treat as they ported over Dream Drop Distance from the Nintendo 3DS with updated gameplay and visuals (graphics and 60fps). Wished they had the amount of care in remixing games in the KH1.5 +2.5 collection.\\n\\nVisuals are now in HD, but you can see some of the odd textures in some levels/character models if you're nitpicky. But if you compare them side-by-side it's literally night and day in terms of graphics\\n\\nGameplay is leaps and bonds better as you can use two joysticks, giving you more control.\\n\\nEven if you played the original on the 3DS it's worth a re-play for the gameplay and visual upgrade\\n\\n--Kingdom Hearts Back Cover\\nBasically a hour long cinematic on what happened pre Kingdom Hearts 1, and before the Keyblade War mentioned in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep.\\n\\nProduction value is very high as it's akin to Final Fantasy Advent Children in term of visual fidelity.\\n\\nAgain we are focusing more on quality than quantity as although the cinematic is really good, it's very short compared to the Two, 2-3 hour movies/cutscene collection we get from the KH1.5+2.5 Remix\\n\\nStory ends with more questions than answers which further gives a hint to it's conclusion in Kingdom Hearts 3\\n\\nOverall, Kingdom Heats HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prolgue is a very good preview for Kingdom Hearts 3. If you get both Kingdom Hearts 1.5 +2.5, and this game, you essentially have all definitive edition of all Kingdom Hearts games on the PS4.\\n\\n===\\n*Kingdom Hearts 1.5 + 2.5 includes:\\nKingdom Hearts Final Mix\\nKingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories\\nKingdom Hearts 258/2 Days\\nKingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix\\nKingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix\\nKingdom Hearts Re: Coded\",\n \"Product: Enforcer for the First Order terrorizes the galaxy with devious acts.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Amazing Kylo Ren Figure\\n\\nReview: The figure is very detailed with Kylo Ren in a prepare to thrust or attack pose.\\n\\nThe lightsaber is not removable and the figure does not have any articulation, but the cloak he wears is semi flexible at the tips\\n\\nLove the detail as the light saber has a spiral twist to it and his cloak has intricate creases, folds and cutouts\\n\\nThe figure is also compatible with the Disney Infinity 3.0 game giving the figure more functionality rather than just a display piece\\n\\nOverall great figure to have for Star Wars Episode 7 fans or Star Wars fans in general.\\n\\nNow I end you with a quote from the movie:\\n\\n\\\"Forgive me. I feel it again... the call from light. Supreme Leader senses it. Show me again, the power of the darkness, and I'll let nothing stand in our way. Show me, grandfather, and I will finish what you started\\\" -Kylo Ren, Star Wars The Force Awakens\",\n \"Product: When Luigi accidentally opens a mysterious book hidden away in Peach's Castle, he gets more than he bargained for when characters from the Paper Mario universe spill out of the pages and start running amok. Players must take control of the terrific trio of Mario, Luigi and Paper Mario to defeat Bowser and Paper Bowser and bring the Paper Mario characters back to their original world.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Mario & Luigi / Paper Mario Crossover\\n\\nReview: Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam is a Mario RPGs fanboy's dream as it combines elements from both Mario RPG series (Mario & Luigi/Paper Mario) into one.\\n\\nGame starts off with Luigi and a Toad entering the attic of Peach's Castle, looking for the source of a drought. They soon find a hole above a bookcase, and Luigi investigates, sees a rat that scares both Luigi and Toad. Luigi like the clumsy guy he is during stressful situations knocks over a book containing the Paper Mario Universe and most characters in the Paper Mario series escape to the the Mario & Luigi universe.\\n\\nLike previous titles in both series, there's a lot of charm in the characters in terms of witty dialogue and non-verbal animations. I like how each of the counterparts of each series interact with each other either it's Bowser/Paper Bowser having an ego trip, Peach/Paper Peach talk about consequences of fashion and how they don't like screaming \\\"Mario!\\\" for help, or Mario/Paper Mario getting along to save the princess in another castle.\\n\\nThe core gameplay remains the same as previous Mario and Luigi titles: turned based attacks with appropriate button presses for combos, look for animation que to counter, and try to recognize enemy attacks and weaknesses. The counter system is more simplified now for casual gamers as instead of looking for specific animation que on enemies you can put it on simple mode and the game tells you which of the 3 characters the enemy is going to hit giving you more reaction time.\\n\\nPlayers control Mario, Luigi, and Paper Mario simultaneously with a button assigned to each character. Paper Mario using Y Button while Mario and Luigi uses A and B button respectively. Mario and Luigi plays the same as the 'Mario & Luigi' style gameplay you're used to. Paper Mario in the other hand is able to create copies of himself as a battle command, which increase the damage he can do in his attacks: He can land as many jumps as he has copies, and when he uses his hammer, the copies will split and target all enemies on the field. Paper Mario loses a copy for each hit he takes damage, but can replenish them by using a turn which makes for great resource management skills as less copy means less attack and defense possibilities. His jump dodge allows him to flutter, letting him briefly stay in the air longer than Mario and Luigi can. In the over-world Paper Mario has a lot of unique abilities leading to clever puzzles to solve\\n\\nThe X button has a cool new feature where players can dash and slide to capture enemies, toads and other characters making for tag like gameplay in the over-world. All three characters also can do a rhythmic combo in the over-world you are able to unleash a Trio Hammer, or powerful shockwave, that can destroy large blocks making for fun puzzle elements. Their are other elements also, but I'll let you discover those yourself\\n\\nMost boss battles results in Papercraft battles where you control different Papercraft characters, each with their own unique abilities. Think of this mode as rock-em-sock-em-robots but with more mobility/moves. At first you may think it's like Giant battles in 'Mario & Luigi Dream Team', but it's more in-depth and you have more control.\\n\\nAside from that they're a lot of mini games to switch things up.\\n\\nVery good presentation as the visuals and audio are top notch. It's great seeing paper characters interact with the 3D characters especially with the 3D slides turned on with their various various animations and expressions. Audio is great as there's a lot of nostalgic tracks/sound effects mixed with some new ones for a varied experience.\\n\\nThroughout the game you spend most of your time in the Mario & Luigi universe and don't get to go into the Paper Mario book (Save for sequel?). In fact except for the core set of characters/enemies there are no cameos of unique characters in the Paper Mario series I was able to find.\\n\\nOverall very good crossover game for the Mario RPG series with the gameplay testing your reflexes, puzzle solving skills and resource management, and witty dialogue and story to keep you entertained\",\n \"Product: Follow the story of Max Caulfield, a photography senior who discovers she can rewind time while saving her best friend Chloe Price. The pair soon find themselves investigating the mysterious disappearance of fellow student Rachel Amber, uncovering a dark side to life in Arcadia Bay. Meanwhile, Max must quickly learn that changing the past can sometimes lead to a devastating future.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Excellent Time Traveling Adventure\\n\\nReview: If you ever watch films like Donny Darko or The Butterfly Effect, this game has the same theme of how constant time traveling is not what it's cracked up to be as despite the fact that you try to do right in the world; there's a balance in the universe and your selfish decisions to improve your and/or those close to you well-being or happiness may lead to misfortunes for others. Instead of a passive experience, you are able to interact with the story and make your own decisions on how parts of the story plays out.\\n\\nGameplay is similar to the Tell Tale Series Games, Until Dawn or Heavy Rain/Beyond Two Souls. It's a choose your own adventure game where your decision impact future events by dialogue choices or actions you decided to do within the game. Unlike the games mentioned, Life is Strange does not have any Quick-Timed-Events (QTE) where you have to press a prompted button within a certain time frame. Instead it's more heavy on dialogue choices, and time manipulation where you rewind time to solve puzzles/ get through obstacles.\\n\\nLike other games in the genre, your choices does not impact the ending much as the game has only 2 endings, which is pretty typical for these type of games. Highest I've seen/played had 3 max. Your choices does lead to different dialogue choices later in the story, and may make you feel guilty about your decision as the outcome is presented to you. Most of the time there's no right/wrong or perfect scenario as there are consequences for you actions as it impact different characters and events in the story differently. There's a sense of loss and sacrifice within each choice, even with a loss there may be a silver lining that comes from it.\\n\\nGraphics are pretty decent. It doesn't go for ultra realism like Heavy Rain, Beyond Two Souls and doesn't go too cartoony/cell shaded like the TellTale series of games. I'd say it makes good balance between the two (just need work on the hair graphics). Good artistic vision in the game and a lot of details in the world design.\\n\\nVoice acting is very good. All voice actors comes out as natural and not read out from a script. Soundtrack is also amazing\\n\\nPSN trophies. Easy platinum as you just have to collect optional photo shoots throughout the game as well as finish the game to completion. The in-game journal gives you hints on how to find each photo shoot for each trophy. You can also search for online guides if you are stuck. There is a replay feature so if you skip one, you don't have go through another entire playthrough of the game.\\n\\nThe game will last you 15-20 hours long depending on how much you're willing to explore the world and/or collect optional photo shoots for trophies. I'd say this game is a definite pick up for those who like the time traveling theme.\",\n \"Product: Humanity has been driven from the Earth by mechanical beings from another world. In a final effort to take back the planet, the human resistance sends a force of android soldiers to destroy the invaders. Now, a war between machines and androids rages on... A war that could soon unveil a long-forgotten truth of the world. Developed by an all-star team consisting of producer Yosuke Saito (DRAGON QUEST X / NIER), director YOKO TARO (Drakengard / NIER), character designer Akihiko Yoshida from CyDesignation, Inc. (FINAL FANTASY XIV / BRAVELY DEFAULT), game designer Takahisa Taura from PlatinumGames Inc. (Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance), and composer Keiichi Okabe from MONACA, Inc. (TEKKEN / Drakengard 3 / NIER).\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Nier And Dear To My Heart?\\n\\nReview: Story.\\n\\nPlot and theme is similar to a Pinocchio or Blade Runner where an intelligent non-human species (Andriods in this case) created by humans question if they have a soul, and contemplate if their memories considers them sentient beings and on par with humans.\\n\\nStory goes like this: aliens invade earth with robots or machines, and humans have to escape and colonate on the moon where they build Androids and send them out to eradicate the robots. The majority of robot have low IQ but are very abundant. Throughout the story you play 3 of these Androids set on missions to destroy these robots for the humans.\\n\\nStory comes in 3 acts and can be philosophical at times, especially when the protagonists see robots do things of intelligent nature or things outside their designated roles . First act focuses on Android 2B, and the second act plays out the same as the first one except you're in the perspective of Android 9S. The gameplay is not exactly the same as 9S has a hacking mechanic, and during the first act, the two get separated at points. When the two stories intersect you do get similar dialogue. Third act continues from the ending of the first and second, and introduces a third character you can play as. Unlike the first two acts you switch between characters instead of focusing on one. All three acts can last 25+ hours depending on difficulty you select, and how many side quests you decided to do\\n\\n-Gameplay.\\n\\nA combination of open world hack-and-slash (similar to Bayonetta or DMC) and shmup (shoot em' up) of the bullet hell variety.\\n\\nI like how they mix the two gameplay styles very well in terms of pacing them out, with different viewing angles (top down, side scoller, free roam, etc), and mini-games to keep you very intrigued without being dull and repetitive. Also the upgrade skill and weapon mechanic keep things interesting also.\\nso\\nThe world is big, but you'll be traversing the same areas from time-to-time especially when playing a new acts. So same sandbox, different story\\n\\nThere are tons of invisible walls, rubble, buildings, and restricted doors/chests/elevators that block your progress. For the first 3 it can be frustrating especially when you have to go around them and take the scenic route especially when you're focused on the objective marker. For the latter 3 those are restricted via story progression or specific character unlocks.\\n\\nOnce you get familiar with the world, and when they introduce the teleport checkpoint mechanic; you get used to it and its less of an annoyance\\n\\nDifficulty level range from ridiculously easy to impossible. On easy mode, the characters you play dodge on their own so it's only the matter of positioning yourself well and button mashing without consequence. Good for those who just want to experience the story. Hardest mode is one hit kill form any enemy with no auto dodge, so you have to get used to being a glass cannon, or have to constantly restart from where you last saved.\\n\\n-Presentation\\n\\nGraphics are really good and frame rate is smooth throughout. Personally, I don't like the dark green, grey and white color scheme as it reminds me the early days of the PS3, Xbox 360 era, but the art direction is excellent\\n\\nMusic is excellent with orchestral music\\n\\nVoice acting is also really good. Only tried the default English since the Japanese voice track can be distracting since characters have conversations during combat, and this game is very twitch and timed (button presses) heavy especially on high difficulty settings.\\n\\nCharacters are good, the main characters play out well acting like androids with a conscious and talk like real people. Villains can be over dramatic, but don't go into the cliche territory. Each character has their own personality and maybe aside from the villains; not one dimensional and you can see the motives behind their personality\\n\\n-PSN trophies\\n\\nEasy platinum.\\n\\nAfter you complete the 3 main acts, you can purchase trophies via in-game money, or get them the natural way.\\n\\nIf you do the former, I would make multiple save files and save over them once you make the trophy purchase(s) (since it autosaves*) to minimize money grinding. Steps:\\n\\n1. Before making purchase make 2 or 3 same save files. Play one save file and make a lot of purchases\\n2. Load a fresh save\\n3. Save over the auto save file\\n4. Make more purchases\\n5. Repeat steps 1-4 until you sold out of all purchasable trophies\\n\\nAfter you've done that, you have two more trophies to collect (non purchasable) which are the\\n\\n'Leaving for the New World' or 'Beautiful World' (depending on which ending you select in act 3, have to replay via chapter select and pick the other one), and the 'The Minds That Emerged' trophy that technically deletes your save file. If you wait on the option screen for 'yes' and 'no' for a few seconds, the trophy along with platinum trophy will pop up and you can select 'no' if you want\\n\\n*Only time the game auto saves. All other times you have to save via designated safe zones (that doesn't interfere with plot/story), or vending machines\\n\\nOverall, a blast to play with gameplay variety and good story.\\n\\nGlory to Mankind\",\n \"Product: A dark force, shrouded in twilight, has invaded the vast land of Hyrule.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Greener on this side. List of changes\\n\\nReview: Instead of reviewing the core experience presented 10 years ago (2006 original release) I'll just going to give you the list of observable changes to the game:\\n\\nVisuals up first, there's a noticeable difference. The grass is greener, higher resolution, revamped textures, detailed changes in polygonal models/objects, and addition of lighting effects which makes the world look less of a drab and pops out more than the original\\n\\nHero mode: enemies do twice the damage (4x if you use Ganondorf amiibo)\\nIn terms of link's hand placement: Gamecube version on Normal (left-handed), mirrored wii version on hero mode\\n\\nLoading times are a lot faster, maybe 1-2 secs faster for every screen transition. Which doesn't sound like much, but definitely adds up\\n\\nTreasure boxes remain open, once you open them.\\n\\nCustom miiverse stamps in hidden treasure chests\\n\\nNew lantern item: Poe's lantern makes it easier to hunt down poes. You carry it around the world map and it glows whenever a poe is within close proximity. You still have to wait till night time (in game) to see them\\n\\nAmiibo support:\\nLink and Toon Link restore arrows\\nZelda and Shiek: restore hearts\\nGanandorf: 2x damage\\nLink, Toon link, Zelda and Shiek is only 1 per day (resets at midnight everyday), while Ganandorf has unlimited use and can be toggled on or off\\n\\nWolf link amiibo (only available with retail limited edition version of game):\\nOnce you reach a certain point of the game, you can scan in the wolf link amiibo to access the Cave of Shadows where you battle a gauntlet of enemies level-by-level like the cave or ordeals, but you only play as wolf link.\\nYou are not able to go through all levels in your first go as there are level gates until you defeat the next dungeon boss in the main campaign\\n\\nGamepad Control:\\nOption to play off screen\\nGamepad allows for inventory screen/map display\\nEasily access items and equips, easily swap items in and out without having to pause the game\\nChange link to wolf form with a simple button press instead of talking to midna, which saves a second which will add up in the long run\\nNew motion controls and aiming your weapon like in Wind Waker HD\\nNote: you cannot play with wii remote and nunchuck, only optional pro controller\\n\\nIn terms of presentation of the physical copy: I'm very impressed. The front of the box has a nice metallic glow to it and the box art is simply beautiful. I wish they included a poster of the box art so I can display it on my wall. The Wolf Link amiibo is also very detailed and has a nice weight to it compared to other amiibos I've owned\\n\\nOverall surely the definitive version of the game. You'll play through the same game, but with better visuals, easier controls, and faster loading times.\",\n \"Product: Battle Pokemon like never before in all-new, action-packed arena fights! Perform vivid Pokemon moves in all their glory with button combinations through an intuitive fighting system to unleash devastating attacks upon your opponent to become the Pokken Tournament champion! Additional accessories required for multiplayer; sold separately.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Beginner friendly fighting game\\n\\nReview: Executions are very easy in this game (don't have to worry about doing quarter circle shoryuken motions the right time) making for a more fun psychological timing battle like a game of rock-paper-scissors, hand slap game or thumb wars as you try to parry, block and attack your opponent at the right time.\\n\\nThere are two fighting phases in the game. A 3D phase (field phase) where you focus on your position and shooting projectile attacks from afar while dodging enemy attacks trying to get up close dealing massive damage and a 2D phase (duel phase) where you go through your traditional fighting game troupe of grabs, attacks (low , mid, high), blocks and parries. Each phase has different attacks variants so it switch up strategy a lot.\\n\\nThe field phase has you locked onto your opponent at all times so you don't have to worry about any camera issues. Once you get in close or do certain attacks you will switch to a duel phase. Duel phase can switch back to field phase once a lot of damage is dealt. Switching shift can be advantagous also as you switching from one from the other can recover all your chip damage or remove all opponents chip damage depending on who initiates it, making the game more frantic, keeping battles more intense as you're on your feet the entire time\\n\\nThere are 16 pokemon to choose from each varying in special moves and stats (speed, defense, attack, etc) and no one pokemon is a clone of another. Button executions are similar so you don't have to learn new moves for each character rather know how each character initiate the moves provided to them. There are also support pokemon which you can call in during battle to do stat boosts, de-buff enemy or attack the enemy. Thoughout battle to fill up a bar, when filled you can activate a pokemon's mega evolution (or a power-up state if the pokemon does not have one) where you get power up stats and access to a finishing move.\\n\\nThere's training mode which gives a very good tutorial of the game. I recommend going through this mode first as it will give you tips you otherwise don't know if you were just to jump right in and try to learn it yourself. I may be slow at first, but it's worth it go through in my opinion.\\n\\nVerus mode or I would like to call couch gameplay have you and a friend battle each other; one using the game pad while the other a pro controller. This may cause problems if one prefers a controller over the other. You cannot both play on the TV screen as the field phase mode required a fixed camera angle on your character as mentioned before. There is a LAN link option if you are serious into the game.\\nThere's avatar customization also which is a nice touch. You have to gain in-game money to purchase new accessories for that character which can be earned by continuous play of the game.\\n\\nFerrum battle leauge is the game's story mode where you battle varies pokemon trainer tournament style like how a pokemon league works in the anime. As you try to work your way up the tournament ladder trying to be the best there ever was; there's also a side plot about Shadow Mewtwo to switch things up a bit.\\n\\nOnline modes include Ranked and friendly (casual mode). Ranked keeps record of your win/lose ratio and friendly mode is your typical jump in and play against anyone or a friend if you have a code. Ranked battles aside from keeping track of your win/loss ratio you always rank up and will battle players of your own rank which is a nice challenge, but if you stop playing after a while and get rusty or if someone else plays your account your win to lose ratio may falter. Online battle is pretty smooth, there are some stutters here and there at times, but most of the time it's stable. If you are not able to connect to another player online within 10secs or so, the game let's you play against a CPU until a player is found which is a nice as you don't have to constantly wait at the search screen.\\n\\nThis game is the closest you'll get to a real pokemon battle you see in the anime, and is easily accessible to everyone as you focus on more on timing and twitch gameplay rather than complex executions.\",\n \"Product: Battle alongside your brothers through the sewers, subways, and streets of NYC to take down shredder and Krang's evil organization, foot by foot. Unleash custom combat skills and powerful team combos to save Manhattan from the overwhelming dark forces growing in the shadows.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Very Short Core Experience\\n\\nReview: First I like to mention that the main campaign is only 9 levels, lasting around 4 hours to complete which is not worth a purchase unless you're really into arcade beat-em-ups where you beat the same levels multiple times to get a better high score and to get numerous collectables. Even if you're a Ninja Turtles fan and not into that kind of gameplay I suggest a rent rather than a buy unless the game drops down to $15 or less just for the story\\n\\nPresentation of this game from the the graphical style, story and writing of is really good, too bad the gameplay is what brings the game down. Story plays homage to the original TMNT cartoons as there are very sly references throughout. Every turtle act there part, and the story, voice acting and mannerisms of each turtle is true to form (unlike the live action movies lately)\\n\\nGameplay is intuitive on paper; it has all the modern takes on the beat-em-up series with a counter and advanced combo system like in the Bayonetta or Devil May Cry series. What brings the game way down is the bad camera angles, and cluttered gameplay (with tons of enemies and all 4 turtles on screen, flashy animations going off everywhere) it's difficult to tell what you're doing on harder difficulty and/or on the last few stages where they just drop hordes of enemies at you. It's very hard to keep track of what's going on as you can't tell when to dodge correctly, you can't see an oncoming enemy, there's an enemy covering the one you're trying to attack so it's hard to finish the combo string...it's just a jumbled mess unless you're familiar with these types of games or played the level numerous times\\n\\nThere's segments in the game where you have to diffuse bombs. If you have friends to play with this is okay as you can split task. For example, one person diffuse the bomb while the others attack oncoming enemies. When playing with AI partners, sometimes maybe 2 or 3 will try to diffuse a bomb while you have to fend off all the enemies on your own.\\n\\nSo instead of trying to take advantage of the combo system, you'd end up resorting to mashing buttons (your first or second playthrough) as you keep getting your combo string interrupted by random factors. Would be better if they lessened the enemies, make them stronger and increase the 30FPS to 60 FPS\\n\\nThe only time you're able to take advantage of the gameplay system are the boss battles. Which is okay, but not worth the tons of enemy fodder you have to fight through to get to them. Even each level is named after the bosses instead of level 1, level 2 etc which makes it even more apparent that the boss battles takes more president over the level themselves\\n\\nAt the end of every stage you get battle points where you can upgrade your characters in terms of additional moves, combos and or abilities they can do. Which in and of itself not worth it as all the abilities are the same among all 4 turtles. So essentially you're just picking your favorite ninja turtle or color (if you're not into the series) to upgrade\\n\\nThere is no local or couch co-op which is very disappointing. Meaning your friends would also have to purchase or rent the game to play with you. Luckily the online is still strong at the writing of this review as you can get matches within minutes. The only drawback is that you can't choose similar turtles. For example: there only can be one Leonardo, one donatello etc in one match. So if you upgrade one and someone in the lobby choose the character before you, then tough luck or you have to exit out and try again. A heads up: 80% of players choose to upgrade Leonardo over the rest; if you plan to play online, either host and plan to get lucky.\\n\\nOverall good game for those hardcore into arcade beat-em up. For the rest it's worth a rent or wait for a sale\",\n \"Product: The No. 1 LEGO videogame franchise triumphantly returns with a fun-filled, humorous journey based on the blockbuster Star Wars film. In LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens, players relive the epic action from the blockbuster film Star Wars: The Force Awakens, retold through the clever and witty LEGO lens. The game will also feature exclusive playable content that bridges the story gap between Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi and Star Wars: The Force Awakens. LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens also introduces Multi-Builds and Blaster Battles to the LEGO videogame universe. With Multi-Builds, use available LEGO bricks to open up new paths, then break them apart and re-build them again to open up another! And another! During Blaster Battles, use your surroundings as cover to stand against the First Order.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: May the Lego Be With You\\n\\nReview: Similar to other Star Wars Lego Games, but with a twist.\\n\\nThis time there are third person cover shooter segments, but very streamline for younger audiences as there's a very lenient auto aim, except in certain instances where you have to shoot key targets' weak point for massive damage. There's also air dog fights (similar to Star Fox) with auto aim enabled at all times.\\n\\nAside from the two new modes, you also have your traditional over-the-top-view open world/level combat and puzzles mixed in. There's nice pacing the first few chapters, but during chapter 6 or 7 there's a long slog of puzzle segments. The puzzles are not that hard, but tedious when you do them in series (room after room). Each character have their own abilities like Ray can parkour, BB8 can hack terminals, chewbacca can move heavy objects, etc and you have to integrate their abilities together with the environment to get to the next area\\n\\nLike other Lego games, it is catered towards younger audiences. But older gamers may enjoy the story, characters and collecting aspect also. The combat as mentioned is very easy with no game over screen, as your character instantly re-spawn upon depleting their health; losing some lego bits in the process. This lego bits are collected throughout the game and are used to purchase characters and vehicles. None of which is required to complete the main game. Collectors and completionists on the other hand may want to get as much lego bits as they can as it's the main currency in the game for unlockables. If you're an achievement hunter, a platinum PSN trophy is easy to obtain, but it's a huge time commitment\\n\\nGame is very kid friendly, but i can see some puzzle segments where they need help. If your kid is impatient, they may get frustrated and stop around chapter 6,7.\\n\\nStory is the same plot as the film with some filler segments to extend the play time, such as witty banter between characters, characters making random comic mischief in the background and foreground, or having to puzzle solving segments to get to the next area/room. The game starts off in the ending of Star Wars Episode 6 Return of the Jedi with the Battle of Endor which threw me off a bit, guess the puzzles wasn't enough to extend the length of the main campaign...or they decided just to add it as a prologue. There is DLC or season pass, but I have not played or purchased it myself so not able to comment on the specifics. From the titles of each dlc it seems that they'll be following the canon short novels/comics that was released along side the film\\n\\nReplay value is very high as all levels have hidden areas where specific characters can open, which is only obtained by reaching a certain level in the game and collecting certain amounts of lego bits. There is a metroidvania type vibe as you see a blocked door in each level with a character icon jotting out from it, teasing you to remember to go back later.\\n\\nOverall, very fun lego game and love the comic mischief the lego characters and props bring out. Just watch out for the long series of puzzle challenges towards the middle that drags down the pacing a bit (unless you're into that)\",\n \"Product: Tales from the Borderlands - PlayStation 4\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Most Fun Of Any In TellTale Game Thus Far\\n\\nReview: Most fun I've had with a Tale Tale Game having played the following:\\n\\nWalking Dead Season 1 &2\\nWolf Among Us\\nGame of Thrones\\nTales of Borderlands\\n\\nGameplay is pretty typical like in any TellTale game where you either choose from a set of conversation choices, use and follow button prompts or quick timed events (QTE), and explore in an free roam environment to interact with items and/or to solve puzzles.\\n\\nThe latter, like in all TellTale games is very clunky especially with the stiff walking. Not sure if they need to switch game engines or have someone program it differently so the characters don't walk like puppets on a string, but this has always been a issue in all their games. Good thing it is very minimal in this game compared to others.\\n\\nDialogue choices doesn't really change the overall plot or ending, but does influence different character interactions throughout the game. For this game in particular, you'd like to replay it right after you beat it as majority of the cast if very fun and unique. Dialogue choices and certain actions does not only change the course of the game as the decision to save or use a bullet, and saving and finding money may impact some scenarios in latter episodes\\n\\nQTEs are very simple and generous, they give you more reaction time compared to other games, so there's less chances of a game over screen.\\n\\nStory is spectacular and epic. Glad I waited for the whole collection; If I were to purchase it in separate episodes; the cliff hangers would haunt me till the next episode is released. The story starts off very slow until half way through the first episode where they try to establish the main cast, but after that it picks up really fast and it's hard to put down your controller as the gang of characters put themselves in one mess after another as one achievement puts them in another disaster situation.\\n\\nYou don't need prior knowledge of the Borderlands series to play the game, but it's more enjoyable if you do as there are cameos in it.\\n\\nThe script is very good as you get a lot of witty dialogue in terms of 4th wall jokes, video game/pop culture references, and sarcastic banter sprinkled throughout. If you enjoyed the writing in Borderlands series then you'll enjoy every minute of this game.\\n\\nGraphics fits really well as the TellTale games and Borderland series are already very similar. There are no frame-rate dips on the PS4, but there are more frequent loading screens compared to other TellTale games.\\n\\nSound track is very good also, love all the music choices for all ending credits\\n\\nOverall best game in the TellTale series of games as it's a very light hearted, funny and entertaining ride.\",\n \"Product: Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon will launch in the US November 18th, 2016 exclusively for the Nintendo 3DS family of systems. Embark on a new adventure as a Pokemon Trainer and catch, battle, and trade all-new Pokemon on the tropical islands of a new Region and become a Pokemon Champion!\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Massive Change to the Pokemon Formula\\n\\nReview: Huge changes to the pokemon formula since Pokemon X & Y, no longer as it's strictly battle and collecting focused (although still present) as they added variety of mechanics to switch things up a bit and to bring more variety in gameplay. Changes include:\\n\\n1. No HMs\\nNo longer do you have to carry around a HM slave (s). This has bothered me in the past games as I have to restrict 1 or 2 slots out of my party of 6 to help traverse certain areas of the world. In the place of HMs there are Poké Rides where you can ride pokemon interacting with them on the world map, some you may not be able to access until you've completed mission within the game.\\n\\n2. Is it super effective?\\nNo longer do you have to look up guides online (unless it's your first encounter) to tell if a move is super effective or not very effective against the pokemon you're up against. After you battle a pokemon once, the game will tell you what moves is super effective or not in the battle menu once you encounter the same pokemon the second time.\\n\\n3. No Traditional Gyms\\nNo longer do you have to battle your way through gym after gym to prove you're the best out of brute force.\\nThere are 4 islands in the game, each of which are controlled by 4 Island Kahunas\\nTo get to them you have to get pass Trail Captains and Todum Pokemon\\nTrail captain will give you quizzes, side quests to complete, and/or fight in traditional battles\\nTodum Pokemon. Basically typical pokemon you find the wild, but significantly stronger and have grunts that help them battle.\\n\\n4. Rotom Pokédex\\nTypical pokedex, but with a face and personality attached to it.\\n\\n5. Alola Forms\\nBasically different forms of pokemon you seen in previous generations. Either it's there physical form that is different and/or the pokemon's typing\\n\\n6. Z-Moves\\nWith a Z-Ring and a Z-Crystal you can use a pokemon's ultimate move once per battle. It's not like Mega Evolutions where it stays constant\\n\\n7. QR Scanner.\\nYou can now scan QR codes to get event pokemon\\n\\n8. Battle Royal\\nA 4 player free-for-all where the battle ends after all of one's pokemon trainer's faints. They tally the win-losses of each trainer and the one with best stats at the end wins\\n\\n9. Hyper Training.\\nOnce a pokemon reaches level 100, they can go through hyper training which can improve a Pokemon's IV\\n\\n10. Poké Pelago\\nYour PC Box now has functionality to it. It's like a day care sort of thing, instead of just depositing your pokemon, you can passively train them in the PC or have them search for items\\n\\n11. Festival Plaza.\\nAn online mode where you can battle other trainers and trade with them. You get festial coins for each interaction which you can spend on clothes, shop or upgrade your pokemon's stats. There's also missions you can undertake to get more coins.\\n\\n12. Night and Day phase, New Pokemon\\nPokemon Sun goes the traditional time route while Moon does the opposite. In Pokemon Moon if you're playing in the daytime, the game will consider it night time in-game. Some events also play out differently like different Totum Pokemon on the same island/trail\\nIn traditional Pokemon fashion you can only get some pokemon in each version so trading is required either with a friend or if you own both versions. Also some pokemon evolve differently in each version now.\\n I'd say some of overall models of new pokemon are better looking than the last batch in previous iterations of the pokemon series.\\n\\n13. Auto Run\\nYour run is as fast as a bike now, and it has unlimited use. You can now move in all directions instead of the traditional 4 and it feels very fluid\\n\\n14. No Rod\\nFishing is now dedicated to specific regions in the world. You cannot fish wherever you want anymore.\\n\\n15. Photo Taking\\nYou can now take Photos of pokemon in the wild.\\n\\n16. Team Skull and Aether Foundation\\nTeam Skull is the new antagonist group like Team Rocket, but they have a new style to them as they try act gangster-ish with their animated hand gesters/movements. They have more personality and have a darker tone to their backstory and mission.\\nAether Foundation is the opposite of Team Skull as their mission is to cure injured and hurt pokemon. The group is also conducting research on the Ultra Beast (Pokemon) which is a good mystery story in and of itself.\\n\\n17. Graphical Upgrade\\nGame looks better than the last, although there are some pixelation around the edges still. Models look more realistic than before, and the battle animations are more visually impressive. There are some framerate issues on 2v2 battles for some reason, but then again I own the launch 3DS. You may not have the issue if you own the New 3DS? It's a turn-based system so it doesn't really matter much in terms of gameplay, but the slow down is noticeable\\n\\n18. Pokemon Refresh\\nSimilar to Pokemon amie but with more grooming options\\n\\n-Returning mechanics:\\nPokebank return, you can now transfer all your pokemon to Sun and Moon\\nClothing Options: Although more options are available, it still feel very limited.\\nMega Evolutions return, but none for new pokemon from what i've discovered\\n\\nOverall, love the changes to the traditional formula as it gives the Pokemon Series a nice refresh and is more streamline to play.\",\n \"Product: Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon will launch in the US November 18th, 2016 exclusively for the Nintendo 3DS family of systems. Embark on a new adventure as a Pokemon Trainer and catch, battle, and trade all-new Pokemon on the tropical islands of a new Region and become a Pokemon Champion!\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Massive Change to the Pokemon Formula\\n\\nReview: Huge changes to the pokemon formula since Pokemon X & Y, no longer as it's strictly battle and collecting focused (although still present) as they added variety of mechanics to switch things up a bit and to bring more variety in gameplay. Changes include:\\n\\n1. No HMs\\nNo longer do you have to carry around a HM slave (s). This has bothered me in the past games as I have to restrict 1 or 2 slots out of my party of 6 to help traverse certain areas of the world. In the place of HMs there are Poké Rides where you can ride pokemon interacting with them on the world map, some you may not be able to access until you've completed mission within the game.\\n\\n2. Is it super effective?\\nNo longer do you have to look up guides online (unless it's your first encounter) to tell if a move is super effective or not very effective against the pokemon you're up against. After you battle a pokemon once, the game will tell you what moves is super effective or not in the battle menu once you encounter the same pokemon the second time.\\n\\n3. No Traditional Gyms\\nNo longer do you have to battle your way through gym after gym to prove you're the best out of brute force.\\nThere are 4 islands in the game, each of which are controlled by 4 Island Kahunas\\nTo get to them you have to get pass Trail Captains and Todum Pokemon\\nTrail captain will give you quizzes, side quests to complete, and/or fight in traditional battles\\nTodum Pokemon. Basically typical pokemon you find the wild, but significantly stronger and have grunts that help them battle.\\n\\n4. Rotom Pokédex\\nTypical pokedex, but with a face and personality attached to it.\\n\\n5. Alola Forms\\nBasically different forms of pokemon you seen in previous generations. Either it's there physical form that is different and/or the pokemon's typing\\n\\n6. Z-Moves\\nWith a Z-Ring and a Z-Crystal you can use a pokemon's ultimate move once per battle. It's not like Mega Evolutions where it stays constant\\n\\n7. QR Scanner.\\nYou can now scan QR codes to get event pokemon. Also if you scan a random QR codes it will give you 10 points. Once you reach 100, you are able search an island for a rare pokemon. Each scan also gives you random trivia about pokemon\\n\\n8. Battle Royal\\nA 4 player free-for-all where the battle ends after all of one's pokemon trainer's faints. They tally the win-losses of each trainer and the one with best stats at the end wins\\n\\n9. Hyper Training.\\nOnce a pokemon reaches level 100, they can go through hyper training which can improve a Pokemon's IV\\n\\n10. Poké Pelago\\nYour PC Box now has functionality to it. It's like a day care sort of thing, instead of just depositing your pokemon, you can passively train them in the PC or have them search for items\\n\\n11. Festival Plaza.\\nAn online mode where you can battle other trainers and trade with them. You get festival coins for each interaction which you can spend on clothes, shop or upgrade your pokemon's stats. There's also missions you can undertake to get more coins.\\n\\n12. Night and Day phase, New Pokemon\\nPokemon Sun goes the traditional time route while Moon does the opposite. In Pokemon Moon if you're playing in the daytime, the game will consider it night time in-game. Some events also play out differently like different Totum Pokemon on the same island/trail\\n\\nIn traditional Pokemon fashion you can only get some pokemon in each version so trading is required either with a friend or if you own both versions. Also some pokemon evolve differently in each version now.\\n\\n I'd say some of overall models of new pokemon are better looking than the last batch in previous iterations of the pokemon series.\\n\\n13. Auto Run\\nYour run is as fast as a bike now, and it has unlimited use. You can now move in all directions instead of the traditional 4 and it feels very fluid\\n\\n14. No Rod\\nFishing is now dedicated to specific regions in the world. You cannot fish wherever you want anymore.\\n\\n15. Photo Taking\\nYou can now take Photos of pokemon in the wild.\\n\\n16. Team Skull and Aether Foundation\\n\\nTeam Skull is the new antagonist group like Team Rocket, but they have a new style to them as they try act gangster-ish with their animated hand gesters/movements. They have more personality and have a darker tone to their backstory and mission.\\n\\nAether Foundation is the opposite of Team Skull as thier mission is to cure injured and hurt pokemon. The group is also conducting research on the Ultra Beast (Pokemon) which is a good mystery story in and of itself.\\n\\n17. Graphical Upgrade\\nGame looks better than the last, although there are some pixelation around the edges still. Models look more realistic than before, and the battle animations are more visually impressive. There are some framerate issues on 2v2 battles for some reason, but then again I own the launch 3DS. You may not have the issue if you own the New 3DS? It's a turn-based system so it doesn't really matter much in terms of gameplay, but the slow down is noticeable\\n\\n-Returning mechanics:\\nPokebank return, you can now transfer all your pokemon to Sun and Moon\\n\\nClothing Options: Although more options are available, it still feel very limited.\\n\\nMega Evolutions return, but none for new pokemon from what i've discovered\\n\\nPokemon Refresh: don't remember if it's in the last game, but you can groom your pokemon in your party\\n\\nIf you discover more changes, please put in comment below.\\n\\nOverall, love the changes to the traditional formula as it gives the Pokemon Series a nice refresh and is more streamline to play.\",\n \"Product: Blending action and survival horror, Resident Evil 6 delivers an epic dramatic horror experience. Resident Evil favorites Leon S. Kennedy, Chris Redfield and Ada Wong are joined by new characters, including Jake Muller, to face a new horror, the highly virulent C-virus, as the narrative moves between North America, the war-torn Eastern European state of Edonia and the Chinese city of Lanshiang.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Resident Evil 6 Revisited\\n\\nReview: First off, if you own the previous version of the game on last gen consoles or PC then there's little incentive to purchase this version unless you're a hardcore Resident Evil (RE) fan and want to experience the definitive version of the game and/or an achievement hunter and want to collect additional PSN trophies/XBL achievements\\n\\nNot much as changed since the previous iteration of the game. I think Capcom just released this just to say they did something for their 20th anniversary of the series. You do get enhanced lighting and particle effects and it runs at 60fps. Some of it looks dated even with the visual polish, but during heavy action sequences your eyes tend to tone it out a bit. All the DLC are on the disc which saves up hard drive space. If you own the PS3 or Xbox 360 version, I believe they're free to download off their respective stores (you can quote me on that).\\n\\nNow onto the review of the game itself. I personally enjoyed the game, even though it did not fit into the survival horror genre the series is known for (RE going back to their roots with the RE7 though). If you look at it as it's own game and ignore the fact that it's not part of the series it's actually really good action-horror game (as oppose to survival horror). But since there's RE characters in it, I guess it's unavoidable.\\n\\\" You can't please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time\\\" - John Lydgate\\n\\nGameplay in this game is really good. There's always a mix of different game mechanics (traditional third person shooter, stealth, puzzles, car chase moments, QTE, plane combat, etc) that you won't get bored even across 4 campaigns. Each of the campaigns are around 6-8 hours each totaling around 25 hours average first play through. Each of the campaigns are high quality and as mentioned before; with a lot of gameplay styles it doesn't feel repetitive. Initially at launch I was surprised that it came with 4 campaigns at around 6-8 hours each, nowadays a full priced game has similar length to just one campaign.\\n\\nStory is really good as all 4 campaigns have interconnected storylines. As you play though others you start piecing together the whole plot and how each campaign influence the others. Each campaign (except for Ada's) have you controlling one of the 7 characters in the game, each with different weapon loadouts. You can do split screen with a friend or have a random person online join you. The latter can be a mixed bag as some have no idea what they're doing and get killed all the time, but most of the time you have players who've already played through the campaign at least once (probably to get trophies/achievements) and will sometimes help you find collect all the serpent emblem collectables. This can be a bad thing also if you're one to explore as these players just want to get upgrades/collectables for an achievement and will try their best to escort you through the mission. Other players can drop in/drop out as they wish, where in the latter let the AI control the partner takes the place of the human player. AI does a decent job and help pick off enemies without getting in the way. Also you can turn off the option for others to join if you like.\\n\\nOn the PS4, there's a whopping 71 trophies you can earn in the game, and maybe a quarter of them are just for beating the campaigns. All other trophies are objective based and most require you to grind through levels multiple times to get the trophy.\\n\\nOverall very good bang for you buck in terms of fun factor. If you already own the original it's a coin toss depending on if you want the trophies/achievements, or just want the best version of the game in your video game library.\",\n \"Product: PAL FORMAT [NOT SUITABLE IN US/CANADA]\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Last mainstream futuristic/boots in the air shooter (for a while?)\\n\\nReview: Seeing that mainstream shoots are going back to the World War 1 and 2 route (with possibly of alternate timelines) with \\\"boots on the ground\\\" this may be the last mainstream shooter with a futuristic theme we see in a while.\\n\\nSingle Player Campaign. 20-30min for physical disc to hdd install to the HDD; so best take a quick snack or shower beforehand, unless you just want to jump right into the multiplayer. Very good campaign; more realistic tone, and doesn't have the over the top Micheal Bay type random explosions. Story wise, there's no overacting, and you're a veteran solider instead of super soldier you're used to. Some enemies take more bullets to take down than past COD games which may disappointing some who are really into quick kills. There are also Space Dog Fights with airships for side missions to if you want to take a break from the main campaign.\\n\\nGameplay consists of on the ground shooting, double jumps and wall runs with futuristic weapons. It's sort of a half way point of traditional World War/Modern War FPS and Titanfall series of games. This time you can throw grenades while hip firing which make things more fast pace and twitch heavy game\\n\\nVariety of online modes with varied playlists: team deathmatch, domination, search and destroy, free for all, kill confirm. Weapon unlocks are real grind, if you're hardcore into the game and put time in then worth it. If you're a casual player: jump right in and play a few matches here-and-there or from time-to-time it may feel imbalanced, unless maybe you're a seasoned vet of first person shooters and have perfect headshot accuracy\\n\\nZombies Mode has an easier difficulty setting for better survivability, and slightly faster paced than previous versions of COD zombies, but not as fast as Left 4 Dead. Multiplayer weapon unlocks carry over to zombies this time around\\n\\nOverall, more of the same if you're used to futuristic shooters, but for the price you get tons of content\",\n \"Product: Hatsune Miku is back and bigger than ever on the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita in the upcoming rhythm game, Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA X . For those new to Project DIVA, it is an addictive core rhythm game starring the digital singer, Hatsune Miku. Project DIVA X is driven forward though a narrative which centers on Miku and her friends undertaking various requests as they explore the five Clouds that make up their world. For the Miku veterans, Project DIVA X has 30 songs and 300 modules (costumes) that get dropped. Illustration by KEI.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Get into the rhythm\\n\\nReview: Gameplay is similar to rhythm games you play on your smartphone where you hit the button prompt at the right time in succession for a better score. This game is different as it uses the PS4 controller where you get better tactile feedback and your fingers doesn't get in the way of the screen. Also notes tend to not flow in a single direction so good visual reflexes is required.\\n\\nThere's an option to swipe the touch pad, but they also allow to use the joysticks which i say is required in high difficulty settings.\\n\\nLove how the game passively teaches you to keep with the rhythm/beat as well as improve your hand eye coordination. Also after playing very difficult songs you have to learn to let go of your mistakes fast or you'll get up getting more misses, lowering your score.\\n\\nGraphics on this game is not that great compared to the realistic graphic intensive games you see on PS4. If anything it looks like something from last generation in terms of visuals. This is okay though as you tend not to focus on the character models or background when playing, but as a spectator or off game moments (cutscenes) it could be better in my opinion. You will get distracted at times during the in-game transformations (especially on ones you haven't seen before) so watch out for that. The game went for a concert type theme instead of a music video based one which i generally prefer as it draws you more into the game play and feels more personal. Other than that the game runs at a solid 60 FPS (frames per second) so there's no lag when playing which is essential in harder difficulties\\n\\nStory is very lame and generic. All the lines feel forced and dragged on; you tend to skip the content after a while as its very hard to get invested.\\n\\nThere are collectables in terms of in-game costumes which boosts your stats. There are 5 characters you can play as and all have very stereotypical anime tropes/personalities. You can give them gifts and see their reactions and will end up in a small cutscene where they thank you or give you the evil eye because they assume you give them a gift out of hate because you gave them something they don't like (which you are not aware of). So to improve your relationship/hearts with the singers you have to have a stereotypical mindset before giving them gifts because a bad one is 4x as bad as giving them something they like\\n\\nAll 5 characters play the same, and you only choose one over the other because their costume or personality type has a point boost for a particular track or if you think one is cuter over the other i guess. All vocals are the same, there was a male voiced track, and I selected a female character and they didn't change the gender voice for the track.\\n\\nMusic selection is similar to what you hear from anime openings and endings. I recommend checking out game play of the game first to see if you like the music since that's one of the core aspects of the game.\\n\\nAchievements. Aside from getting costumes, gifts for characters, there's PSN trophies collect. Most of them are a grind and luck based though.\\n\\nOverall, very good rhythm game to test your rhythm and reflexes.\",\n \"Product: In a simultaneous global assault, LEGION has taken control of the nations of the world and the only force left to stop them is MAYHEM. Led by the mysterious and no-nonsense Persephone Brimstone, MAYHEM's elite Super Agents are called to the city of Seoul, South Korea. Led by LEGION Minister Doctor Babylon and his diabolical lieutenants, a nefarious plot is set in motion to build a world-altering device that will grant unrivaled power to the supervillain organization. In order to stop LEGION and take back the world, the Agents of Mayhem will traverse a sprawling urban battlefield from the ground to the rooftops and team up as a super-agent collective to stop LEGION at any cost. Success is far from guaranteed and collateral damage will be substantial, but it's all in a day's work for the Agents. The Agents of MAYHEM (Multinational Agency for Hunting Evil Masterminds) fuse together technology, weaponry and gadgets to create an all-out arsenal of futuristic warfare-and have absolutely no qualms about putting it all to use against their enemies. Featuring an original storyline, trademark over-the-top open-world gameplay, and the look-and-feel of a distinctive superhero cosmos, Agents of Mayhem is a true Volition game. This new IP is a part of the Saints Row universe, sharing certain story elements, symbolism, and design inspiration with the multi-million selling franchise. Building on the unique skill of the AAA studio to continuously surprise, endear, and engage players, Agents of Mayhem represents the culmination of over a decade of open world experience and creativity.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Side Mission based Saint Row IV\\n\\nReview: Like Saint's Row IV there's a lot of witty writing and banter between characters with a lot of references to pop and geek culture mixed with comic mischief\\n\\nInstead of following one customized character. you can switch between dozens assembling a party of 3 to go on a mission at a time. I find this less personal as you're playing from a team perspective instead of a single character taking the lead. The narration, except for introduction of new character missions focus on the team instead of a single agent you are playing. The agent you select/switch off from the party of 3 gives off one liners at times given certain scenarios. There's barely any character development as you just get snippets of back story to go off of.\\n\\nThere's no open world to explore for the main story rather you go into a hub world to upgrade your stats/gear, and make purchases for your next mission. Each mission run from 5-15mins average depending on your skill level how much you upgrade your character. While playing through this game, I can't help but think this would go perfect on a handheld console like the Nintendo Switch due to its short mission structure.\\n\\nThere is an open world segment as you can explore the city of Seoul, but it's basically a territory gain mini-game where you have to take control legion bases scattered throughout the map. Unless you max out most of your characters it's almost impossible to take over all territories as once you take over a few, one that you captured already is regained by the enemy. Once you gain a territory, you can earn addition cash/exp through side quests within that territory\\n\\nYou unlock new characters through the main story or tackling side missions. Most new character you encounter have a better base stat and ability than your current party, so it encourages you to switch off, even though the newbie is of lower level.\\n\\nAll characters you encounter are unique in terms of personality (most be overly stereotypical), abilities, and play styles.\\nThere's a lot of ways to upgrade your character stats though points from experience gained\\n\\nThere are 15 difficulty settings in the game each having different rewards upon completion. Depending on difficulty you set, you get different experience points and cash based on how fast you complete them. Thus you have to find a happy medium for advancement in this risk reward system\\n\\nGraphics and style is very similar to Saints Row IV. Visuals are slightly better than SRIV, but not the best the PS4 can dish out. When there's a lot happening on screen, the frame rate may drop a bit (playing on the launch PS4). Menus have the iconic purple and white color scheme. Hand drawn cutscenes are a mixed bag and feels off at times due to the uneven lines in one scene and smooth line on the same character the next\\n\\nGameplay is your typical run-and-gun 3rd person shooter with a lot of random abilities mixed in like a special that makes a random AOE explosion around you, or one that de-buff enemy stats once they're in a certain range of you. Aiming is very generous in this game as you can land head shot fairly easily. You should be more focused on positioning than aiming due to it's fast paced nature. Most missions are basically the same and it get repetitive fast with the only motivation being to fully upgrade each character and listen in one their one liners\\n\\nStory is your generic take over the world setup, but again the witty humor makes up for it.\\n\\nOverall, if you want a variety of bit size missions instead of one epic tale in the tone of Saints Row IV, you should give this game a try\",\n \"Product: Persona 5 is a game about the internal and external conflicts of a group of troubled high school students - the protagonist and a collection of compatriots he meets in the game's story - who live dual lives as Phantom Thieves. They have the typically ordinary day-to-day of a Tokyo high schooler - attending class, after school activities and part-time jobs. But they also undertake fantastical adventures by using otherworldly powers to enter the hearts of people. Their power comes from the Persona, the Jungian concept of the self. The game's heroes realize that society forces people to wear masks to protect their inner vulnerabilities, and by literally ripping off their protective masks and confronting their inner selves do the heroes awaken their inner power, and use it to strive to help those in need. Ultimately, the group of Phantom Thieves seeks to change their day-to-day world to match their perception and see through the masks modern-day society wears.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Fine Tweaking the Persona Formula\\n\\nReview: If you played Persona 4 before there's not really a drastic change to the formula; you're still dungeon hoping while trying to balance your social life, but the changes made makes this the best and easiest Persona game to jump into.\\n\\n-Story\\nYou're a high school student moving to a new town trying to change the hearts of corrupt adults thus making society a better place\\n\\nThe game is split into days where you try to balance your life in the real world and meta-verse\\n\\nIn the meta-verse or the dungeon aspect of the game, you face shadows or enemies made by corrupt adults which guard their evil heart in palaces (or evil manifestations of a person)\\n\\nOnce you enter a palace you have a set number of in-game days to complete it before the corrupt adult does something to ruin society\\n\\nOnce you defeat the boss in the palace you'll change their hearts forcing them to turn themselves in to the authorities in the real world\\n\\nIn the real world, you spend time with friends getting to know their darkest secrets and may romance them if you further the relationship far enough. Along the way you build stat upgrades which you can use during your dungeon crawling\\n\\nThe story, dialogue, voices and character interactions are very good, making it an addictive game where you want to level up and progress to further the story. The story also involve real world topics that deals with mature themes such as abuse, crime, rape, blackmail\\n\\n-Graphics\\nVery stylish with its anime art design/cutscenes, jagged comic book speech bubbles, very colorful backdrops and varied characters personalities . Even the UI has a stylistic flare to it. All transitional screens and menus are well animated. Very nice presentation overall as it looks very slick, edgy and modern.\\n\\n-Gameplay:\\nIn the metaverse, you sneak through palaces and stealth hit/ambush wandering enemies for a leg up in battle\\n\\nOnce battle is initiated it's your typical jrpg turn based system but with a twist\\n\\nIf you hit an enemy with move that's super effective against them, you'll get an extra turn to attack until your combo gets large enough where you get an optional all-out-attack\\n\\nAn enemy can sometimes do an 'Hold Up!' prompt where you can spare their life for money, item or have them join you as a Persona summon.\\n\\nFor the latter you get a multiple choice question answer segment where you have to convince them to join you with a successful choice dependent on the enemies personality. You can then fuse personas and make stronger ones\\n\\nOnce a palace is conquered you are not able to return, but you can get mementos or side quests from random NPCs to further level up if you want to\\n\\nIn the real world there's a lot of micro time management. You may be overwhelmed with activities that you cannot do all in a single day and some activities are only open on particular days . Thus you have to pick and choose what to do to build up your stats (like eating burgers, reading on the train station, studying, watching movies, etc) or build relationships with a friend. For the latter, building relationship further increase their persona in battle and similar persona types that you capture/make join your team\\n\\nAll activities level up 1 of 5 stats: Knowledge, Charm, Guts, Kindness, or Proficiency. These stats once leveled up open new activities and opportunities to level up in the meta-verse and improve social links furthering the story.\\n\\nThey're a lot of interlocking game mechanics in play that the tutorial may last you a couple of hours depending on how familiar you are with the series. Even though the game handholds you for a couple of hours, it's very natural and you don't feel lectured most of the time. After those few hours, you get invested very easily as the world opens up to you, and you can easily sink in 100+ hours into this game.\\n\\nOverall best Persona Game I've ever played and for those who like a narrative driven story where a lot of your own choices predicts an outcome, this game is a must buy.\",\n \"Product: Persona 5 is a game about the internal and external conflicts of a group of troubled high school students - the protagonist and a collection of compatriots he meets in the game's story - who live dual lives as Phantom Thieves. They have the typically ordinary day-to-day of a Tokyo high schooler - attending class, after school activities and part-time jobs. But they also undertake fantastical adventures by using otherworldly powers to enter the hearts of people. Their power comes from the Persona, the Jungian concept of the self. The game's heroes realize that society forces people to wear masks to protect their inner vulnerabilities, and by literally ripping off their protective masks and confronting their inner selves do the heroes awaken their inner power, and use it to strive to help those in need. Ultimately, the group of Phantom Thieves seeks to change their day-to-day world to match their perception and see through the masks modern-day society wears.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Fine Tweaking the Persona Formula\\n\\nReview: If you played Persona 4 before there's not really a drastic change to the formula; you're still dungeon hoping while trying to balance your social life, but the changes made makes this the best and easiest Persona game to jump into.\\n\\n-Story\\nYou're a high school student moving to a new town trying to change the hearts of corrupt adults thus making society a better place\\n\\nThe game is split into days where you try to balance your life in the real world and meta-verse\\n\\nIn the meta-verse or the dungeon aspect of the game, you face shadows or enemies made by corrupt adults which guard their evil heart in palaces (or evil manifestations of a person)\\n\\nOnce you enter a palace you have a set number of in-game days to complete it before the corrupt adult does something to ruin society\\n\\nOnce you defeat the boss in the palace you'll change their hearts forcing them to turn themselves in to the authorities in the real world\\n\\nIn the real world, you spend time with friends getting to know their darkest secrets and may romance them if you further the relationship far enough. Along the way you build stat upgrades which you can use during your dungeon crawling\\n\\nThe story, dialogue, voices and character interactions are very good, making it an addictive game where you want to level up and progress to further the story. The story also involve real world topics that deals with mature themes such as abuse, crime, rape, blackmail\\n\\n-Graphics\\nVery stylish with its anime art design/cutscenes, jagged comic book speech bubbles, very colorful backdrops and varied characters personalities . Even the UI has a stylistic flare to it. All transitional screens and menus are well animated. Very nice presentation overall as it looks very slick, edgy and modern.\\n\\n-Gameplay:\\nIn the metaverse, you sneak through palaces and stealth hit/ambush wandering enemies for a leg up in battle\\n\\nOnce battle is initiated it's your typical jrpg turn based system but with a twist\\n\\nIf you hit an enemy with move that's super effective against them, you'll get an extra turn to attack until your combo gets large enough where you get an optional all-out-attack\\n\\nAn enemy can sometimes do an 'Hold Up!' prompt where you can spare their life for money, item or have them join you as a Persona summon.\\n\\nFor the latter you get a multiple choice question answer segment where you have to convince them to join you with a successful choice dependent on the enemies personality. You can then fuse personas and make stronger ones\\n\\nOnce a palace is conquered you are not able to return, but you can get mementos or side quests from random NPCs to further level up if you want to\\n\\nIn the real world there's a lot of micro time management. You may be overwhelmed with activities that you cannot do all in a single day and some activities are only open on particular days . Thus you have to pick and choose what to do to build up your stats (like eating burgers, reading on the train station, studying, watching movies, etc) or build relationships with a friend. For the latter, building relationship further increase their persona in battle and similar persona types that you capture/make join your team\\n\\nAll activities level up 1 of 5 stats: Knowledge, Charm, Guts, Kindness, or Proficiency. These stats once leveled up open new activities and opportunities to level up in the meta-verse and improve social links furthering the story.\\n\\nThey're a lot of interlocking game mechanics in play that the tutorial may last you a couple of hours depending on how familiar you are with the series. Even though the game handholds you for a couple of hours, it's very natural and you don't feel lectured most of the time. After those few hours, you get invested very easily as the world opens up to you, and you can easily sink in 100+ hours into this game.\\n\\nOverall best Persona Game I've ever played and for those who like a narrative driven story where a lot of your own choices predicts an outcome, this game is a must buy.\",\n \"Product: When Hodai, the portrait of an uninteresting normal student, is shot by a cupid angel named Ekoro, he becomes immensely popular - in the blink of an eye every girl at the academy becomes insanely hot for him. But being irresistible to the ladies is hardly a dream come true. Every love letter, shout of adulation or advancing kisses will drain his energy. He has to stay strong - because if Hodai doesn't find his one true love by the end of the day, he will become cursed and destined to be forever alone. Fend off the other girls by using Hodai' s 'pheromone shot', a power granted to him by Ekoro that sends the advancing hordes of girls into fits of ecstasy! Only by keeping them at bay can he find his true love and confess to her.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: On rails cupid shooter\\n\\nReview: This game is an on-rails shooter where in every level you are set on a pre-destined path with the ability to control only your cursor and sometimes an option to go left or right on a branching path. If you played light gun games in the arcade it feels similar.\\n\\nStory. A cupid trys to make you fall in love with someone since you're a hopeless romantic. As the cupid trys to fire her gun, she forgot she put it in the highest setting as the result every female ( except those you have a crush one) falls madly in love with you and tries to get in your pants.\\n\\nAll levels are linear with slight branching paths where you just shoot girls coming after to till they get into a euthporic state dropping to the ground unable to chase you.\\n\\nEach girl has a different sweet spot (like a headshot or weak point) that make them drop to the ground easier. This is hard to find out as it's not visually apparent. You have to discover each girls weakness via trail and error or by collecting/ reading journals scattered through the levels\\n\\nMain campign can be completed in 3-4 hours. Replay value comes in beating the main campign again and try to get an alternate ending, collecting journal entries and getting a higher score in each level\\n\\nGood game if you have a fantasy of all school girls trying to get you, but at the current ~$45 is pretty hard buy\",\n \"Product: 10 years after its initial release, Legend of Kay - Anniversary is a thoroughly remastered version of the original game: high-resolution textures; new, more detailed character models; modern rendering techniques and crystal-clear surround sound give this great classic a new shine. Full of fond allusions to old martial arts films and pop culture quotes, Legend of Kay - Anniversary is both an incredibly funny game and a challenging action-adventure for young and old alike.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Old game with a shiny coat of paint on it.\\n\\nReview: First I preface that I did not play the original PlayStation 2 release so there's no nostalgic point of view going in\\n\\nBest way to describe the The Legend of Kay is a mixed of Sly Cooper/Jack & Daxter and Kung Fu Panda. Like the Sly Cooper/Jack and Daxter games it's a 3D adventure platformer with battle elements sprinkled in. It has cutesy animal characters similar to those of the Kung Fu Panda films. The plot is pretty generic: gorillas invades the village and oppresses all the other animal races and imprison some of them. Kay stands up to fight them and saves his friends in the process. Even though rated 10+ there are some alcohol references, instead of beer and wine the alcoholic beverage in this game is dubbed nettlemead.\\n\\n-Gameplay involves platforming, battle segments, light puzzle solving and riding animals.\\n\\nPlatforming is okay if it weren't for the horrible camera angles, where if there's a miss placed jump in a long platforming sequence, you may have to restart from a minute or two back.\\n\\nBattle sequences suffer from the same problems as at times the camera decides to obstruct your view from what's happening. The battle system involves doing combos, blocking and dodging. The latter of the two requires timing and if you're down to your last life it's pretty frustrating when the camera starts misbehaving out of nowhere. There's no lock-on mode which may be troublesome in the endgame where there are mobs of enemies coming at you and you can't pinpoint an annoying enemy to take out first, this is especially troublesome when the camera decides to fight against you also. Combos are not attack based rather finisher based as dealing a final blow on an enemy activates a combo mode where you have to timed button presses to string attacks.\\n\\nPuzzles in this game is pretty simple. It either involves pushing blocks, hitting the right trigger sequences or breaking a pile of pots into an arrow to your next destination to name a few. These puzzles are simple and fun to solve. They are not exactly brain teasers as with little thought it's easy to figure out, there was no time where I have to look for an online guide to figure out a puzzle. There are some exploration elements though, so you may have to scour every nook and cranny of the map at times to find a hidden item or switch to progress.\\n\\nThere are animal riding segments where you ride a boar through a timed obstacle courses.\\n\\nAll 4 gameplay elements sets a nice change of pace throughout the game, but the camera issues sometimes kills the mood.\\n\\n-Voice acting in this game is horrible. You can tell they're reading from a script with no visual stimulants or passion. The conversations are not fluid and you can hear small pause transitions between audio tracks. The script is decent, but the voice actors lacks enthusiasm. The background music on the other hand is very good and catchy at times, wished the voice acting had the same treatment.\\n\\n-The graphics are surprisingly good, you could tell it's a PS2 era game, but with a nice gloss over it running at 60 frames per seconds with minimal loading screen transitions.\\n\\n-Extras are okay, you get concept art, videos and sketches for completing. For those on PS4 there are trophies, but there are some missable on the first playthrough as some are event triggered, so best to look through the trophy list unless you plan to play through this game multiple times.\\n\\nOverall good visual upgrade, but has a very old school vibe to it. If they fixed the camera and re-record some of the voices than it would have been a more enjoyable experience.\",\n \"Product: Animal Crossing Series\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: \\\"Yes, yes\\\" -Tom Nook\\n\\nReview: Say hello to everyone's favorite debt collecting tanuki in Amiibo form\\n\\nIn terms of physical design it is very good. Tom Nook stands on his own without a transparent prop. I like the cross hatch detail on his sweater. He has a large protruding belly which is a nice touch seeing most other amiibo tend to go for the perfect body or super cartoony look.\\n\\nMain DLC for this amiibo are for Animal Crossing Amiibo Festival and Animal Crossing Happy Home Designer. All other games (mentioned later) are just read only cosmetic dlc.\\n\\n-Animal Crossing Amiibo Festival\\nStore save data for the game. Great when playing with friends on different systems\\nAfter each match you can save the Happy Points you've collected to your amiibo figure. Save enough points up and you can even unlock new costumes for your character.\\n\\n-Animal Crossing Happy Home Designer:\\nHelp Tom Nook Design his dream house\\nUse Amiibo Phone to communicate with him\\nAfter you've completed your design, you can save the furniture items you used to the character's card and share them with a friend.\\n\\n-In terms of other games, you basically get saved ghost data, random common loot drops (sometimes daily), and/or unlockable costumes depending on the game. Here is the list of games compatible with the Amiibo as if this review:\\n\\nAmiibo Tap : Nintendo Greatest Bits\\nAnimal Crossing Amiibo Festival\\nAnimal Crossing Happy Home Designer\\nAnimal Crossing New Leaf\\nCaptain Toad Treasure Tracker\\nChibi Robo Ziplash\\nElder Scrools V Skyrim\\nFire Emblem Echoes\\nFire Emblem Warriors\\nKirby Planet Robobot\\nHey! Pikmin\\nHyrule Warriors\\nHyrule Warriors Legend\\nLegend of Zelda BOW\\nMario and Sonic Rio 2016 Olympic Games\\nMario Kart 8/Deluxe\\nMario Party 10\\nMario Sports Superstars\\nMetriod Prime Federation Force\\nMetriod Prime Blast Ball Demo\\nMiitopia\\nMini Mario & Friends Amiibo Challenge\\nMonster Hunter Stories\\nPokken Tournament\\nSuper Mario Maker\\nStyle Savvy Fashion Forward\\nSuper Mario Odyssey\\nWord Puzzles by POWI\\nYoshi's Wolly World\\n\\nOverall i like the design of the Amiibo. The Tom Nook Amiibo is compatible with variety of games, and is one of the cheaper amiibos out there (along with other Animal Crossing Series Amiibo)\",\n \"Product: From easy and fast, to advanced and fun, Corel VideoStudio Pro X9 has everything you need to make your videos look their best. Make a movie in minutes with FastFlick or Instant Projects, or move up to more advanced editing on the multi-track timeline. Cover all the angles with the new 4 angle Multi-Camera Editor and align clips automatically with audio syncing. With instant fixes for common problems, over 1,500 customizable effects, titles and transitions, including NewBlue FX Video Essentials II creative filters, VideoStudio Pro X9 delivers high-quality results with style that's all your own. Plus, smart audio tools automatically balance levels and keep dialog crystal clear. Ready to share? Quickly burn to DVD, upload directly to social media or share on popular devices.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Very good buy for mainstream editing\\n\\nReview: Very good software for the mainstream use as it's not overly compliacted. If you want professional projects you should consider getting Adobe Premire Pro. Just note that there's more focus on fine details and more fustrating to edit videos compared to Corel VideoStudio Pro X9\\n\\nThe layout for the program is super simple to sync audio and video with easy drag and drop controls. If you're somewhat familar with techology it's very easy to figure out on your own, if not, there are tutorials online to help you get started and/give you tips on hidden features you're not aware of.\\n\\nI like how everything is very easy to visualize with the timeline as you can click to drag, expand or drop files and/features.\\n\\nIn terms of filters, some stand out more than others, you are also able to fine tune these filters by costomizing the graditent and color\\n\\nThe panning, zooming, and cropping videos is also a nice feature if you want to exlcude certain visuals in your original video\\n\\nThere are variety of preset effects which can also be manually adjusted\\n\\nI love that you can adjust audio fliters, and normalize volume option by combine 2 clips so there's no random jumps in volume during video transitions\\n\\nThere's also a multi cam editor for up to 4 cameras/videos at a time. I beleive you can get more if you upgrade to ultimate edition\\n\\nOverall very good editing tool if you want to do mainstream video editing and upload it online to youtube, but if you want to edit a full featured film there are better video editing software out there, but note that they are not easy to pick-up-and-edit\",\n \"Product: Furinno 3 shelf storage bookshelf is designed for casual and stylish look. The materials comply with e1 grade particle board for furniture. There is no foul smell of chemicals, durable and it is the most stable particleboard used to make rta furniture. Care instructions: wipe clean with clean damped cloth. Avoid using harsh chemicals. Please contact support@furinno for missing parts, damaged goods, or other questions. We are pleased to send you the replacement part free of charge. Pictures are for illustration purpose. All decor items are not included in this offer. Pictures are for illustration purpose. All decor items are not included in this offer.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Thin Wood, Nice Coat of Paint\\n\\nReview: Very similar to furniture you find at Ikea: very nice to look at, but not materials are not the best in the world.\\n\\nThe wood is very thin and aside from the paint job, it's very low quality\\n\\nVery easy to assemble. If you have kids, I'd have them help you build it for a bonding experience.\\n\\nThe back panel is split into 3 sections, if you don't align it perfectly and have light shine from the back it'll make an odd 3 line light strip.\\n\\nYou have to play with the center of gravity when placing heavy/multiple items on this shelf as i question the sturdiness of it\\n\\nVery nice display piece when you have guests over, just don't let them get a very close look at it or touch it.\",\n \"Product: Made for the outdoors. Hydro flasks tempshield insulation has redefined what the classic outdoor water bottle can be. The 18, 32, 40, and 64 oz. bottles keep your beverage icy cold or piping hot from trailhead to Summit and every step in-between. Your perfect all day and into the next refreshment solution. It is the ideal hydration companion for those long days in the office or a full day on the beach or trail. Now with the new flex cap for ultimate portability. Whether youre in the Arizona summer or the Alaskan winter, Hydro flasks 18/8 stainless steel double wall Vacuum insulation will keep drinks icy cold for up to 24 hours and hot liquids hot for up to 6 hours. The wide mouth opening is makes pouring easy, and the new BPA-free flex cap is insulated to further protect your beverage from outside temperatures. Hydro flasks 18/8 food-grade stainless steel interior is non-porous, with rounded corners to help eliminate bacteria buildup, unwanted odors and lingering flavors. Along with high performing and high quality products, all Hydro Flask products are made with recyclable materials and are backed by our lifetime warranty. Look for the h-guy and Hydro Flask logo to ensure youre getting the markets premium insulating beverage bottle. Features: convenient carry size ideal for day pack 32, 40, and 64 oz. sizes fit most backcountry water filters wide mouth opening tempshield protected double wall Vacuum insulated keeps hot up to 6 hours, keeps cold up to 24 hours durable, sweat-free powder coat finish (except for the stainless option) BPA-free, 18/8 stainless steel lifetime warranty parks for all - with Hydro Flask new giving program, parks for all, they are focusing on one overarching goal: supporting the development and maintenance of public Green spaces everywhere compatible lids: Hydro flip lid & Hydro straw lid hand wash only with hot, soapy water, then rinse and dry.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Opening Could Be Larger\\n\\nReview: Only major negative I have with this bottle is that the opening could be larger as if you have giant man hands it's hard to stick hands in and clean every nook and cranny having to resort you bottle shaking.\\n\\nTemperature control is as advertised as it keeps cold beverages cold and hot items hot.\\n-Cold: filling it ice cubes and water, half of the ice will melt out of normal use (constant opening and resealing throughout day) after 10-12 hours. At no point does the cold beverage you put gets luke warm in a 24hr period or is there any condensation outside the bottle\\n-Hot: After around 6-7 hours you still get steam seeping out when you open the cap, just make sure you don't put your face near the opening when you unscrew the lid\\n\\nTexture of the bottle is like soft sandpaper. It's very easy to grip and in no way feel like it'll damage or grind against your skin in anyway.\\nThe lid is okay, love the metal circles on each side as it gives it a nice stylized look.\\nThe loop attached is great as it gives ample room for hand carrying or hook it to something with a carabiner\\n\\nAnother minor issue is that once you reach half way point make sure you don't over tilt to drink quickly as you will get major waves of water rushing towards your mouth where if you aren't ready may result in a spill. Also would be great if the lid double as a liquid holder for hot beverages if you just want to sip a small portion\\n\\nOverall i'd say it's a very good insulated bottle that does what it's intended to do, just that cleaning may be a issue if you have large hands.\",\n \"Product: Non-Stick Silicone Baking Mat is an essential kitchenware tool that will save you the one thing that you can never buy more of, time. Our FDA and LFGP approved silicone material is super nonstick, odor-proof, heat resistant, and long lasting. You will save on cleaning time because they are easy to clean with water and soap. You will not be that person scrubbing off burned remnants of food from the metal cookie sheet or foil. You will no longer experience that hike to the grocery store just to buy more parchment paper or foil again. Your time is valuable and this is a professional grade product. Try this three-piece baking mat set today, and spend your time where it matters most. As with all silicone baking mats, they are not meant to be cut with a knife or other sharp objects.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Pays for itself after several uses\\n\\nReview: Never do you have to use parchment paper or foil again since these can be reused thousands of times with no spray required.\\n\\nIts extremely non stick, so you don't have to scrap off any crumbs damaging your cooking sheet or pan when you're just using oils or sprays. It does not leave access crumbs or chunks and everything slides right off smoothly so you do not lose any food during the baking process.\\n\\nIt's easy to clean, just wash with soap and water with all your other dishes\\n\\nCan also be used outside the kitchen such as a mat for play-dough or clay so your kids can get some use out of it\\n\\nOverall will save you tons of money and time in the long run\\n\\nI received this product at a discount in exchange for a honest review\",\n \"Product: Pizza Pan Gripper for Shallow Pizza Pans.Made of stainless steel.Measures 8\\\"H.Our professional pan gripper is built for commercial use.Pizza pan gripper for shallow pizza pans.Easy to use.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Specific Way To Hold\\n\\nReview: <div id=\\\"video-block-R3DM2NZCXXIJKU\\\" class=\\\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\\\"></div><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/919S7ZqCKnS.mp4\\\" class=\\\"video-url\\\"><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/918pw57CZIS.png\\\" class=\\\"video-slate-img-url\\\"> There's a specific way you have to hold/use this tool: using your ring finger to release, index and middle finger to grip. See Video.\\n\\nIt's not like a set of pliers where there's a grip that locks in once it clamps. You constantly have to use pressure to hold\\n\\nThere are no instructions included, but this is the most intuitive way I found out how to use it. Other than that, you can use two hands if you're worried about your finger strength when griping.\\n\\nI personally use this for my air fryer since it has multiple trays and this tool conveniently slides in and better than using oven mitts especially when the trays are so close together\\n\\nOverall, very useful kitchen tool\",\n \"Product: Glass 30oz Cocktail Shaker Set with Stainless Steel Removable Cap. This Includes Wooden Muddler to crush and mix any thing you add to your cocktail. Makes the Perfect Gift for Anniversaries, Birthdays & Special Occasions. Sleek and stylish addition to in home bar collections and Bar enthusiasts! Improve your Home & Party Barware Tool Set or make a Perfect gift for Family Gatherings and Party's.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Takes extra steps to setup\\n\\nReview: First thing you notice when disassembling the jar is that the cap comes in 4 separate pieces: Twist-able cap, strainer, washer and cap for the strainer. Wished the first 3 items were fused to make for a more fluid experience (pun intended), as you have to take extra steps when putting things together, taking everything apart and cleaning which may add up over time. I would not mind if there's an option to omit the strainer, but without it there's no sealable cover for the jar\\n\\nThe jar itself is of excellent quality, similar to other mason jars I've owned in the past. It works as intended and have no complaints about it's overall use after it's fully assembled.\\n\\nThe knife is pretty sharp and does the job well. The handle is okay, not the most comfortable, but gets the job done. Makes for a real good letter opener though if you already have your own garnishing knife\\n\\nThe wooden muddler is also a nice addition. Wish the face has a larger surface area to make grinding a little easier\\n\\nOverall very impressed with what this glass cocktail shaker set has to offer, just that the cap could be more intuitive in design. 4.5/5\\n\\nI received this product at a discount in exchange for a honest review\",\n \"Product: Looking for a slim, ergonomic fit and high fidelity sound that is made to please your ear? Meet the new JBuds J6MS Single Earbud Smartphone Headset. Ideal for those who need a single (1) earbud with microphone and answer call/button control for smartphones, tablets, including Android, iPhone, Motorola, Palm, HTC, Windows, and BlackBerry. The JBuds J6MS high-performance earbud combines a blissfully slim, soft rounded shape with the very latest in ultra-compact titanium micro drivers, delivering an unparalleled experience of audio fidelity and supreme comfort. Includes an in-line microphone with button control for crystal clear calls, JLab's brand new 45 degree metal jack (24 karat gold plated), Kevlar-reinforced cable, feather soft cushions in 7 sizes and two styles for a custom fit. Please Note: This product has one (1) earbud and is designed for cellphones, 2-way radios, etc. If you are searching for stereo earbuds (2 earbuds) for your music player, try the JBuds J6 or the J6M with mic. Backed by JLab's limited one year warranty and world-class support.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Keep one ear open\\n\\nReview: Great for when you want keep aware of your surroundings while taking a phone call.\\n\\nIt beats letting one side of the traditional 2-ear headphones dangle or have it cut off\\n\\nThe mic button could use some improvement. It functions, but its more flush to device making it hard to blind press it when you need to. Also would be great if they're volume controls.\\n\\nMic and sound quality while taking phone calls are great; able to hear clearly from both ends of the conversation\\n\\nEar bud fits on ear comfortably I had no problems with it so far\\n\\nSound quality is pretty standard and is comparable to stock headhphones you see included with your smart phone, mp3 player or other devices. You won't get high end sound, but if you're a casual listener of music or care more about lyrics than acoustic than this may be the ear-buds for you. Also some music tracks that alternate sounds from left to right (or vice versa) won't be present here for obvious reasons.\\n\\nAs an ear bud for phone calls it does work as it's intended to do, just that the mic button could use some improvement\",\n \"Product: Spreadsheets. Budget summaries. Accounting roll-ups. When it comes to company financials, they wait for no one-even when you're on the road. With the V7 USB Numeric Keypad, you can conveniently run the financial data anywhere without having to 'hunt-and-peck' on your laptop computer keyboard. The V7 Numeric Keypad is elegantly shaped and accentuates a soft touch with tactile feedback for comfortable data input. It has extra functionality with a backspace key and \\\"00\\\" for improved productivity. The plug-and-play design means you do not need to download any drivers to install this USB numeric keypad. Whenever you travel, now you can fly through the numbers without a second thought.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Blind Typing Numbers In Seconds\\n\\nReview: The key pads are very tactical and ergonomic and I tend to use these over the one already included on my laptop due to it's small size.\\n\\nIt took several tries to get the muscle memory down but after a while you'll be typing numbers at a break neck speed.\\n\\nLove the addition of the double 0 (zeros) as it shaves off milliseconds off my already fast typing speed.\\n\\nThe buttons feel really sturdy and feels like it can withstand 1000s of button presses.\\n\\nMy only gripe with the product is in implementation of the cord. The cord is fairly long which is much appreciated, but you are forced to wrap it around the border of the product which is a bit tedious a times, especially if you're in a rush. I wished there was mechanical wind up feature instead. Also a TAB button on the device would also be much appreciated\\n\\nOverall it's a excellent product and saved me countless time at work and at home. I give this product a 4.5/5\",\n \"Product: MOMENTUM On-Ear. Stunning sound and sensational style. Beautiful and compact, the MOMENTUM On-Ear embodies the style and substance of Sennheiser's critically acclaimed MOMENTUM headphones in a smaller, lighter, refreshingly fashionable approach. Designed specifically for use with phones, tablets and laptops, MOMENTUM On-Ear is the perfect choice for \\\"on the go\\\" music enthusiasts seeking superb sound quality. MOMENTUM On-Ear employs precision 18-ohm transducers using powerful neodymium magnets. They deliver exceptional detail, superb dynamics and solid bass response. The smooth frequency response has a slightly elevated emphasis in the bass, delivering a full bodied, warm sound. The ear cushions and stainless steel headband are covered in luxurious Alcantara, for exceptional wearing comfort for long listening sessions. MOMENTUM On-Ear is available in a range of fresh pastel and traditional colors carefully selected by an international team of fashion designers. MOMENTUM On-Ear will complement your sense of style while making a statement about your passion for sound quality.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Comfortable when adjusted correctly\\n\\nReview: Heard some reviews saying that the headphones get tight after hours of use. It was with that with me at first, but I found a way around it: Simply just adjust the sliders at each end so they are not in parallel with each other. This relieves the concentrated pressure on both ends of your ears. It may look uneven at first, but when you wear them no one can tell the difference unless they are actively looking out for it.\\n\\nAs for the headphones themselves, they have excellent audio performance with no distortion at high volumes. One of the best headphones you can find at the price range.\\n\\nDesign wise, it's very nice to look at while sturdy and light weight making it great for travel or when you're out-and-about (although not suited for loud environments seeing there's no noise isolation)\\n\\nOverall I'm very impressed with these headphone and have been using them daily.\",\n \"Product: The Hello Kitty Bluetooth Speaker with hands-free function works with Smartphones, tablets and other Bluetooth Devices.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Cute Speakers With Great Audio\\n\\nReview: First off love the packaging, makes for a great display when gifting.\\n\\nThe product itself is very portable, and very comfortable to hold despite its all metal casing. There's a nice weight to it, which makes it not feel cheap. The speaker has a tactile base which prevents shaking and stays in place well.\\n\\nBluetooth is easy to setup and syncs automatically. Like the audio-out feature just in case you're low on battery and still want to use the device.\\n\\nDesign is very cute with Hello Kitty on the side of the speaker and a bow on the grill\\n\\nThere are volume up/down, play/pause on the device just in case you don't want to unlock your phone/bluetooth enabled device to enable to those functions. I just wish there was a track selection (forward/back button) on the device\\n\\nThe speaker can get very loud, but there's a set volume limit so kids won't blast the music and ruin their ears. The volume controls on the device goes as loud as the set volume on the bluetooth enable device. For example, if you put the volume on your smart phone half way, that will be the max output the speaker will make on it's on board controls. .\\n\\nLove the cute beep sound indicators it makes when reached high volume or when sync is complete\\n\\nSound quality is very good with no distortions at high volume. Very impressed with the feature set seeing how small the device is.\\n\\nI'm very impressed on what this speaker can do.\",\n \"Product: B00UJBLI56B00UJBLI56\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great For Use In Bulk\\n\\nReview: Very good vegetable peeler for the price.\\n\\nThe blades are very sharp which makes the cutting easy, but clean up a bit bothersome (more on that later). There are variety of ways to slice and cut your vegetables which makes for great presentation in the dinner table.\\n\\nWorks as intended, but may not want to use sparingly as it may take a while for the clean up. It does include a cleaning brush which helps out a bit, but you may want to also use a kid's size toothbrush for touch ups. I recommend using this tool when cooking/cutting in bulk rather than for a single dish/serving size meal.\\n\\nOverall this is a great product, with its only draw back being the clean up. I give the 'iPerfect Kitchen Ultra Sharp Stainless Steel Dual Julienne & Vegetable Peeler with Cleaning Brush' a 4.5 out of 5\",\n \"Product: An Amazon Brand.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Fits a 17inch, 5lbs laptop*\\n\\nReview: The stand is able to fit my 5 pound 17inch laptop without any problems, as long as I adjust the center of gravity of the laptop and take precautions when pressing the power button near the top. The power button on my laptop is located near the hinge of the monitor; When pressed, i have to make sure to press it lightly (or hold the side of the laptop for balance if i want to press it harder) or it'll make the stand wobble back-and-forth. but not make the laptop fall off the stand. Other than that, normal function on the keypad works fine.\\n\\nIf you own a 17inch laptop that has a lot of buttons on the top row near the hinge of the monitor and use them frequently I do not recommend this product as your laptop may fall off eventually during forceful uses or may damage your table due to constant wobbling of the stand. Any button that is pressed 1.5inches vertically from the hinge will not cause any issues and your laptop will remain stable. All laptops are different, so can't say for your particular situation, but if you own a 15inch or 17inch laptop with similar specs and still have problems with it, the return policy for an Amazon Basics item is hassle free. Just take precautions just in case your laptop fall off the stand when testing it out for the first time as Amazon probably won't take responsibility for a damaged laptop.\\n\\nThe stand is great for standing desk and also for when sitting down. For the latter, your posture may be better as it forces you to look up more as you do not tend to bend forward as often.\\n\\nGood if you're one who uses a usb or wireless keyboard, let it be the keyboard of your laptop doesn't work or prefer a larger keyboard to type on.\\nThere is about 3.5 inch gap between the laptop and the base of the stand at it's lowest point, making for a good storage location for misc items for quick access or for the keyboard mentioned earlier\\n\\nVery good ventilation especially when using on a gaming laptop as you hear the fans less when playing a high graphic intensive game.\\n\\nThe stand itself is sturdy, yet heavy. Best to have it fixed in a central location than have it transported constantly. If you do plan to move it to different locations, I would save the box it comes with along with the cardboard grips as it'll make transporting easier.\\n\\nOverall worked very well for me, especially having a large laptop.\",\n \"Product: You no longer need to break the bank to Chat, listen or game in comfort and ease. The HYTOBI H10 headset brings you all the bells and whistles; Adjustable headband for the perfect fit to your head, foam padded earcups that slightly tilt to the direction of your ear and lightweight design for comfort on long calls or all day use, boom microphone that can swivel upto 270 degrees and bendable rod for full control of mic placemenr at all times. Up and out of the way, down and away or next to your muout. The 3.5mm ear and mic plugs make setup virtually a breeze. Just plug and play. The 6 foot cable allows you to freely move around when in use. When it comes to sound you will be blown away at the quality, the noise-cancellation will make the the person at the other end of the line think that you are using an expensive model. Will work with most PC's and MAC's. Pretty much anything that has a 3.5mm jack. (Will only be able to use headphone option if no mic jack). Backed and Packed. 1 year warranty and easy packaging.\\n\\nRating: 1.0\\n\\nSummary: Horrible Build, Decent Stereo\\n\\nReview: First of all there's manufacturer's warranty and no manual (not that you need it).\\n\\nSound quality is decent from a stereo headset, but the mic does not work as there's a lot of static and white noise when trying to use the device.\\n\\nThe build quality is also poor as the ear piece came apart when received. I popped it back in okay, but may have damaged the mic in the process. I have no way of knowing if the mic actually functions correctly due to no warranty in sight. All I received is the headset in a plastic bag.\\n\\nOverall if you're looking for a budget headset you may find one at a similar price point if you look hard enough, but if you had a similar experience to mine this is a definite pass.\\n\\nI received this product at a discount in exchange for a honest review\",\n \"Product: Enjoy powerful performance and a vibrant display with the Black 10.1\\\" Galaxy Tab a from Samsung. This tablet features a Samsung exynos 7870 chip set, which utilizes an octa-core processor clocked at speeds up to 1.6 GHz. It comes with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of built-in storage. It's also equipped with a micro SD slot that supports microSDXC cards up to 2TB. Bluetooth 4.2 connectivity is also integrated for pairing with Bluetooth-enabled devices, such as Select headphones and accessories. Troubleshoot: For software related issues can be resolved by performing a factory reset on the product which will reload the software back to new in box condition by turning off the device and while pressing and holding the volume up key and the home key, pressing the power key. All personal information should be backed up prior to this step as it will delete all customer and local content. While unfortunate, all electronics regardless of manufacturer have a small possibility of having problems. If this is the case, the customer can contact 1-800 Samsung for troubleshooting, support and if required repair through Samsung Warranty service\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Upgraded From Nexus 9\\n\\nReview: Owned a Nexus 9 since launch and now it has screen freezing issues. Decided to buy this as a replacement. Let's go over features of the Galaxy Tab A and some differences compared to Nexus 9 along the way\\n\\nFirst thing to notice is the larger screen. Comes in a 16x10 aspect ratio instead of 4x3; so it's either really tall or really wide which is good for watching videos or viewing web pages.\\n\\nBezels are really small in both landscape and portrait mode. In landscape mode, its very easy to press the capacitive buttons and cover up the speakers, and in portrait mode its easy to press the side of the screen (unless you palm the bottom of the tablet with one hand). Unless you're going to use for a short time span, it's ideal to use a stand in my opinion.\\n\\nPicture quality is really good at 1080p. If you're used to seeing 4k all the time, you may see some pixelation, but generally overall good display.\\n\\nSpeakers are on the bottom of the tablet (portrait mode), instead of front facing on the Nexus 9 which is a bit disappointing especially when holding in horizontal mode, but sound quality is decent for a tablet. It lacks in bass, but loud enough for youtube videos. If you want to watch HD movies that are surround sound compatible, or listen to high quality music on it; best to get a Bluetooth speaker or hook up a wired speaker/use a headset via aux cable if you want more immersion\\n\\nHas physical home and capacitive buttons which is very convenient vs onscreen buttons (on Nexus 9) as it doesn't take up screen real estate. Downside, as mentioned before, you may accidentally hit the capacitive buttons when holding in landscape mode.\\n\\nHas 10gb internal memory (6gb used up for processing/system memory), but has expandable storage up to 256gb via micro USB card slot\\n\\nBattery life is amazing! Can last up to 10-12 hours depending on what you do with it. Does not support rapid charge so it takes around 5 hours to get back up to 100% from 5-10% battery life. Idle time for the tablet is really good though and can last up to a week without it doing anything or do minor tasks like checking e-mail once in the morning/night.\\n\\nApp drawer lower right instead of bottom center which can take a bit of getting used to. You cannot change this unless you download a custom launcher\\n\\nRun stock Android instead of custom one like in kindle devices, so all apps on the Google Play works on it. Runs Android 7.0 vs 7.1.1 on Nexus 9 (essentially the same). Galaxy Tab A does have custom software options like blue light filter mode and customized battery save mode.\\n\\nCamera okay. If you are spoiled by high end flag ship smart phones than you may be disappointed and never use it. seeing how large the tablet is it's hard to get a good grip and hit the snap/record button anyway. But it's good for skype calls/video conferencing, and emergency photo shots/video recording. Can also be used as baby monitoring or security device if you have the app\\n\\nNo tap screen to wake like on Nexus 9, but can wake via home button in front. Have to tap power button to put to sleep or let it sleep on it's own\\n\\nApps run fine with 2GB RAM. Should not be your dedicated gaming tablet, but most games run fine, but may get some frame rate issues on games that that run over 30fps, But most games nowadays on the Play Store don't go that higher than 30pfs anyway\\n\\nBuild is decent with a hard plastic body. A little weighty, but feels sturdy.\\n\\nOverall very good all around budget android 10inch tablet. If you want the basics of Android with exceptional battery life this is the tablet to get.\",\n \"Product: Mobile Audio Made Easy. The Microsoft LifeChat LX-2000 folds up and provides a comfortable fit, while high-quality acoustics deliver great sound. This full-size, affordable headset works seamlessly with your computer, and setup is a snapjust plug it in!\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Great Travel Chat Headset\\n\\nReview: Love the portable aspect of this headset as it can fold up into the palm of your hand. Great for travel as it's easy to just drop it in the accessory section your laptop bag.\\n\\nThe headset has a behind the ear setup. Great if you don't like headsets that get in the way of your hair (especially if stylized and/or has gel/spray on it), or don't like how in-ear headsets feel.\\n\\nThe headset is a on-ear design with no ear cup. May feel awkward at first if you're not used to it or have been using the in-ear headphones that comes with your smart phone frequently, but overtime you get used it to. It doesn't squeeze your head* at all and feel like it semi floats on the side of your head overtime. Also hangs around your neck* well if you need to pull it down to listen/have a conversation with someone in the room\\n\\n*may vary depending on head and neck size\\n\\nProvides good stereo sound. Conversations are very clear, no issues hearing people or slight background noise on the other end. Microphone works well also, no issues on the other end from what I tested/feedback from others. I wouldn't game with it though as it hard to get directional awareness from this headset\\n\\nHeadset is glasses friendly. The ear hook on the headset gives ample room for your glasses to slide through.\\n\\nThe cord is extra long. In fact it includes 2 twist ties on top and bottom of the in-line controls out of the box\\n\\nIn-line controls are very simple. It has a volume rocker, microphone slider, and build in clip. Wish there was a push to pick up call button.\\n\\nFor the microphone slider it has 3 options: Plus (+), Minus (-) and mute.\\nMute is self explanatory.\\nPlus denotes the attached mic to ear piece of the headset.\\nMinus is to turn on the mic built into the in-line controls.\\nObviously the mic on the ear piece is better as it's closer to your mouth and has a windshield, but i guess if you don't like the microphone right next to your mouth, you can use the in-line mic.\\n\\nHas a traditional PC plug setup with individualized cord for mic and volume. It does not include a duel male to female adapter\\n\\nSome negatives are that\\nIf you want to adjust the mic, you have to hold the earpiece its attached to, to get leverage to rotate it.\\n\\nAlso there's a huge product placement on both sides with the word \\\"Microsoft\\\". You can easily get rid of it by using a grey Sharpie or place a sticker over it i guess.\\n\\nOverall very good portable headset for conference calls especially when traveling\",\n \"Product: The Original Timbuk2 Messenger improved by 25 years experience. Waterproof TPU liner and flap corner construction for excellent weatherproofing. Internal organizer for pens, phones, and other small stuff. Fully adjustable shoulder strap with a permanent, super comfortable airmesh strap pad. Designed in San Francisco.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Nice Upgrade from 2011(?)/2012 model\\n\\nReview: Going over the changes made from the previous model I owned:\\n\\nNew fabric: Lighter fabric, doesn't feel cheap. Feels less sturdy/smooth than the previous model, but less weight on your shoulder\\n\\nCompartmentalization: Less pockets than the previous model, which can be a plus or minus depending on when I need more/less items in the bag at a given time. Wished they had used the old design just to have the option.\\n\\nNapoleon zip pocket: drastically smaller than the previous version. It seem to have slimmed down 10-15% space wise which is a big negative for me as I tend to use the feature often.\\n\\nCorner wings: Great selling point for me, as before I had to take extra time during the rainy season to make my bag secure/waterproof before going out\\n\\nInterior buckles: Makes the bag more streamline /fashionable. Get's in the way of the Velcro at times, but doesn't get in the way of securing the items in the bag in general.\\n\\nCompression straps on bottom: Nice addition as it changes the form of the bag depending on how many items you want to put in the bag. Only negative I have with it is that when fully sinched down, the excess cord seems to dangle off the bag.\\n\\nGrab handle: Good addition; great for quick transport (car to front door of your house). Material used not as ergonomic as it may be a strain on your hands if held for long periods of time\\n\\nNew cam buckle: More lightweight than the previous version, but still have to use two hands to make it secure, holding one part of the strap in place with one hand while moving the buckle up with the other.\\n\\nStrap pad: Puts less strain on my shoulders compared to the old model. Older model was too thick and put too much strain on my shoulders\\n\\nInternal waterbottle pockets: Although it takes multiple uses to get my water bottle into the grove of the compartment, Overall great addition, as previously I had to push it off to the side with other items or let it fall horizontally to the bottom of the bag\\n\\nAside from the issue of the Napoleon zip pocket and compartmentalization when carrying multiple items, the new additions make up for it, even though i have to re strategies where I put things\",\n \"Product: An Amazon Brand.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Excellent Casual Day Pack with a Lot of Pockets\\n\\nReview: Great bag for when you like to travel light, and want to have personal belongings on your person without having to carry around a purse or fill up your pant pockets.\\n\\nPerfect for casual strolls around town and don't want you or your backpack to draw attention as there's not much going on in the exterior (unless maybe you plan to add patches and accessories to it).\\n\\nAs a school bag: if you're a bookworm, on the honor roll, and/or have to carry around 3+ heavy text books daily, I recommend getting a backpack with gel and or mesh shoulder straps for support and ventilation; as carrying this bag with a lot of weight can put strain on your back and shoulders. Good for elementary or jr high if they heaviest object you put in backpack is are couple of spiral notebooks.\\n\\nBest comparison to this bag I say is for JanSport Daypack as it has the same form factor for the exterior with the one small pocket up front and one large compartment. If you look closer, the Amazon Basics Backpack does way better in compartmentalization as there are way more pockets than the eye can see.\\n\\nFirst off, there's 2 water bottle pockets on the sides with a Velcro encloser. You can put small accessories in there and be physically active without worrying about your stuff falling out. Great if you're one to run around a lot, do parkour, skateboard, or find yourself upside down somehow/jumping at odd angles.\\n\\nThe main small pocket has nothing go on inside as it's just one large pocket. Would be great if there's a key lanyard attachment in there. For my and my friend's experiences with the JanSport Daypack in the past, only 1 out of 5 of us who had the same backpack back in the day used it.\\n\\nInside the large main pocket is where things gets interesting. In the back there's a small zipper pocket (similar space as the exterior small) where you can get quick access to items without worrying about someone stealthily trying to grab stuff from the exterior small pocket. Great place to put your more expensive items, keys, or things you find more valuable\\n\\nNext layer/pocket is for folders or a 8-10+ inch tablet. I wouldn't use this as a laptop sleeve unless you have to, as there's not much padding.\\n\\nWall adjacent contains two small pockets that can fit a Kindle Fire HD7 perfectly in each one, and two pen/pencil pockets.\\n\\nProduct placement is very minimal compared the large rectangular JanSport logo. Amazon Basic logo appears as a tag on the lower left shoulder strap, which can easily be removed with a pair of scissors if you want.\\n\\nZippers are pretty good, very smooth with no snags or pauses so far\\n\\nWhen you first get the bag, I recommend you airing it out overnight (preferably outside with clean air) as there's a factory smell to it.\\n\\nBag I say is good for small personal belongings, some notebooks, maybe a tablet, and a space for your sweater if it starts getting warm. Not meant to carry heavy objects unless you think your shoulder and back muscles can handle it. Also too much weight can wear down the shoulder strap overtime\\n\\nOverall, very good backpack if you want to travel light while you conveniently carry around you personal belongings. Excellent price range compared to the competition\",\n \"Product: Go Sac Light Weight Travel Duffel Bag - bag folds into small pouch: Extremely lightweight Duffle bag Colorful, roomy, fun! This versatile bag has it all, and comes with multiple colors, 100% Duralon, GO!SAC Packable Duffle Bag Can Be Packed Into Its Own Clip On Cosmetic Case When Not In Use. This Bag Features A Top Zip Closure, Front Slip Pocket And Two Top Handles. Bag Interior Is Roomy With A Zipper Pocket. FEATURES: GO!SAC PACKABLE DUFFLE BAG can be packed into its own clip on cosmetic case when not in use. GREAT TRAVEL BAG: Dimensions: 21.5\\\"W x 11.5\\\"H x 10\\\"D | Handle drop 7\\\", 100% Duralon. GO!SAC FOLDABLE TRAVEL BAGS are Extremely Lightweight Bags - Great for Travel and all around Daily Activities, it works great for travel or storage - its uses are endless! FEATURING: Top zip closure, front slip pocket and two top handles. Bag interior is roomy with a zipper pocket. Just FANTASTIC! Our Guarantee To You: Ships immediately, 100% Satisfaction guarantee, No questions asked Return policy. Customer Service is our top priority. Scroll to the top & add to Cart.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Portable Budget Duffel Bag\\n\\nReview: The material for this duffel bag is of low quality, but it does what it's intended to do: hold your clothes and accessories.\\n\\nSeeing that it's collapsible it does not hold it's shape well and sags a lot when not filled to the brim. Also the thin material does not do well with sharp or cornered objects as it may stick out like a sore thumb.\\n\\nThe color is certainly eye catching if you're into the tie-dye look\\n\\nPockets wise, you get one exterior pocket and one zipper pocket in the inside. Wish it was reversed, zipper outside and non-zip inside. Also the travel pouch can also double as an accessory kit when not used for storage\\n\\nThe shoulder strap and handle is not very ergonomic so holding heavy items for long amounts of time and/or long distances can make you arms/shoulders sore\\n\\nAt the end of the day when you unload your bag, it's great to know that you can use the travel pouch for easy storage. Great duffel bag to have on vacation as a backup duffel bag for other activities if your current duffel bag is occupied with travel supplies.\\n\\nOverall good budget or backup duffel bag.\\n\\nI received this product at a discount in exchange for a honest review\",\n \"Product: Great comfortable fit. Achieve the stylish, trendy, slouchy look with this must-have beanie!\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: More functional than fashionable\\n\\nReview: First of all, the beanie is more uniform in size and not like what's in the stock photo as the stock photo shows a large base and thins out towards the top.\\n\\nEven though the stitching is very good, there are some loose threads you have to attend to initially when receiving the product for the first time\\n\\nThe inside has a very soft warm fur/fleece material making ideal for winter weather.\\n\\nPersonally I think this is more of a lazy stay-at-home/sleep or skying-in-the-winter-snow kind of beanie than a night out on the town type beanie as it's very thick and not as fashionable than other beanies I've owned in the past.\\n\\nThe Wine color is more uniform throughout while the khaki has a better color gradient in terms of inner and outer layers.\\n\\nIf you have large cheeks it'll make it stand out more (unless you have hair running down the sides) due to it's thick design; so keep that in mind before purchasing if you're more into fashion than warmth of your beanie\\n\\nI received this product at a discount in exchange for a honest review\",\n \"Product: Polarspex POLARIZED Classics are made of the same top end materials that you see on $100 celebrity looking designer shades. In effort to bring our customers additional value, the 52 mm lenses are upgraded from traditional plastic lenses to super utility high clarity performance polarized lenses. Moreover, the Explorer collection is available 60+ different lens combination so that you can tailor the right pair to match your wardrobe. These casual modern sun glass are great for outdoors beach activities such as kayaking, surfing, canoeing, jogging, walking and hiking. Makes a great gift for birthday, graduation, wedding, party favors, Christmas holiday, Valentine, Father and Mothers Day. We've got that color that youre looking for. Further, our frames are backed by 90 day warranty, if any damages shall occur during this time, please reach out to us and we'll make things right for you.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Blast From The Past With Polarized Lenses\\n\\nReview: If you want polarized lenses while retaining the 80s retro feel at an affordable price, this is the sunglasses to get.\\n\\nGreat at preventing sun glare while maintaining a classy look\\n\\nGlasses has a good grip: The sunglasses will stay on your head, and will not fall off due to gravity when standing up straight and looking down at your feet.\\n\\nFrame feels solid, and hinges are very sturdy\\n\\nSeeing that the lenses are polarized; it will not do well when viewing OLED screens either on your car dashboard, smart phone, laptop, etc. as it will make the screen appear blank until you pull down the sunglasses. LED screens can be viewed just fine although a bit dark\\n\\nOverall, for the price it's an excellent buy\",\n \"Product: The dress is made from 100% high quality rayon. Features embroidered neck detail, relaxed fit and prints in beautiful colors.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Makes for a great night Gown\\n\\nReview: If you're going to use it as a summer day dress, note that this dress is not wrinkle-free and will wrinkle like crazy if after it leaves the dryer. You'll need to iron it out each time you decide to wash it, thus I'd say it makes for a better night gown or casual dress to wear at home during the summer as it's very comfortable and breathable.\\n\\nI like the vibrate colors as it stands out really well and boosts up your mood when wearing it.\\n\\nIt's a bit on the loose side, but you get a lot of freedom of movement when wearing it.\\n\\nDuring extreme heat it's comfortable enough that you don't need a blanket, and just sleep with the dress on while laying on-top of the bed.\\n\\nIf it weren't for dress being easy to wrinkle i'd be a perfect summer dress.\\n\\nI received this product at a discount in exchange for a honest review\",\n \"Product: New from bSoft! If you have ever wanted to wear your favorite pajama pattern out in public, now you can with our stylish bamboo/cotton scarf! This classic scarf has our amazingly soft material on both sides that will provide you with warmth and comfort. This also makes an excellent gift for a woman for any occasion! Machine wash and dry on low heat. Sizing: OSFM 10x75\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Soft yet firm material\\n\\nReview: The material it's made of (70% bamboo, 30% cotton) is not soft as nylon or a micro fiber cloth, but smooth enough to where it's very comfortable against your skin without feeling overly fuzzy. Best description I can think of is it's similar to a material you find bamboo pillow crossed with a child's blankie.\\n\\nThe width of the product is excellent, not to thick or thin and conforms well to your neck. The length is very generous giving a lot of room to stylize the way you want. Stitching is also very good as I found no loose threads.\\n\\nWarmness factor. It does provide a little and good for breezy autumn days, but I wouldn't wear it to a ski resort with snowy weather especially if your neck is sensitive to the cold\\n\\nOverall if you're into the pattern design, a must buy if you want a comfortable scarf around your neck\\n\\nI received this product at a discount in exchange for a honest review\",\n \"Product: A dressed up travel-friendly backpack; send your bag through security without removing your devices. Large main compartment for books, jacket, and other carry-on essentials. Channeled airmesh ventilated back panel. Fully padded laptop compartment lined with quilted tricot fabric, soft yet secure (fits up to 15\\\" Mackbook). 30 liter volume.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Perfect for a weekend trip\\n\\nReview: It's a hybrid of a laptop bag, suitcase, luggage bag, backpack, and duffle bag.\\n\\nFor single person use; good for up to 4 days of travel, maybe 5 if you're conservative/creative. So perfect for a weekend retreat or short buiness trip.\\n\\nLook is very sleek, uniform in design. Doesn't look awkward in a professional setting\\n\\n-Now going to go through the bag section by section from exterior parts/pockets to inner pockets\\n\\nBottom compression straps for cinching to make the bag appear slimmer especially with less stuff side the bag. Also can be used to hold a long umbrella, yoga mat or anything that resembles a long hollow tube.\\n\\nTop grab handle. Good if you want to hand it up on a wall mount\\n\\nSide grab handle. Great if you want to carry the bag around like a suitcase of dufflebag. Perfect for quick grab and go scenarios\\n\\nbottle opener: not the best, quickest and most efficient out there, but does the job\\n\\nVista loop for attaching blinky bike lights. Also can be used as a transport tool: if you're on a bike and someone on a skateboard can latch on for faster travel\\n\\nWater bottle holder. Not good. It's not able to hold large/long water bottles. Anything larger than a 12oz bottle of soda and there a chance it bay be knocked off by rubbing against and get hit by something. I understand why the section is so small to accommodate the large main pocket to open up like a luggage back compartment, but would be great if they added a velcro strap with twist knob to latch onto a longer bottled water and not get in the way when opening the large pocket\\n\\nThe padding on back is great. It has a channeled airmesh ventilated back panel. The design makes it so that it's breath-able so your back doesn't get sweaty during hot weather or if you have sprint to the loading terminal\\n\\nShoulder straps are good shock absorbers, evenly distributes weight on both sides. Won't get shoulder cramps like a cross style bag. There's also a chest trap for activity that involves a lot of movement.\\n\\nTricot-lined floating pocket. Protects sunglasses or smartphone from scratches. The pocket is not very deep. For both 5inch and 6inch phones it's not easy to slip in and zip; you have to lift up the top lip, slip it over, then zip it up. For a 6 inch phone and aviator glasses, you have to wiggle it around a bit to secure it in the pocket.\\n\\nQuick access pocket. Great for taking things out quickly and vice versa. If you live around or go near a shady neighborhood, I may want to consider putting your more expensive/personal items in the inner pockets. But for trusted areas it's very convenient.\\n\\nNext pocket up is what I call the accessories pocket. Has tons of interior pockets for small trinkets, pens/pencils, cables, erasers, usb memory sticks, etc. You can also use this section to put in folders, a novel, or notebook. Great organizer section of the bag\\n\\nLarge main compartment. Able to put in large carry-on essential items such as text books, clothes, shoes, etc. Zipper goes 90% down making it easy to pack\\n\\nLaptop compartment. TSA friendly as long as the laptop-only section completely unfolds to lie flat on the X-ray belt. No metal snaps, zippers or buckles inside, underneath or on top of the laptop-only section. Great if you don't want to put your laptop in the plastic box. Note that the section on the other side of the TSA friendly laptop does not apply as you have to take out your tablet from that pocket section.\\n\\nOverall I very good all-in-one travel bag. It has some faults, but the overall package is great for a weekend excursion\",\n \"Product: The Disney Frozen Soft Sport Hockey Set from Franklin Sports is constructed of soft and lightweight materials making it perfect for young players. Includes one 20\\\" soft sport hockey stick and one ball. 20\\\" Soft Sport Hockey Stick and Ball Perfectly designed for young players. Constructed of soft and lightweight materials. Fun indoor play Ages 3+\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Ergonomic hockey set for kids\\n\\nReview: Very good beginner's hockey set for toddlers and young children as the soft padded design is very comfortable and ergonomic when holding and splinter-free as opposed to using a wooden stick.\\n\\nThe stick itself measures around 24inches or 20inches if you don't count the blade.\\n\\nEven with the padding, you are still able to feel the wood inside if you grip in hard enough, and kids can still hurt themselves if they get too forceful and decide to get into a stick or sword fight.\\n\\nThe paint job is very nice. on the stick itself it has a elegant snow flake design with border pattern around the entire stick. On the blades, one side features Olaf while the other displays Kristoff and Sven.\\n\\nThe ball itself is slightly lopsided causing slight friction so it doesn't roll off to the street or have the child do unnecessary chasing after the ball when in play. The ball is made with the same soft padded material as the cover of the stick making it comfortable to hold. Even if your child gets bored or tired of the sport; the ball can be used as a good stress ball or toy for the dog.\\n\\nBoth the stick and ball is very easy to clean; with just running water and some soap, you can clean both in seconds.\\n\\nOverall very good beginners set, especially if they're fans of Frozen.\",\n \"Product: Conquer the cold in style this winter with ZeroXposur slant 3-in-1 systems jacket. Classic active styling that works perfectly for the City guy that also loves to hit the slopes in his free time made from the brand's exclusive water-resistant stretch fabrication, providing no restriction of movement, the jacket gives extreme protection from the elements. The inner poly filled puffer jacket is great on its own for warmer conditions and provides extra warmth when the temp drops\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Perfect Jacket with Many Pockets\\n\\nReview: Love how the jacket has a lot of pockets available (8 total) making it great to carry around many small items without having to carry on an extra backpack or messenger bag.\\n\\nThere are variety of different fabrics used to make the jacket which is very nice and shows good craftsmanship\\n\\nWhen dissembled, the jacket comes in 3 parts: The hood, outer shell jacket, and inner shell jacket; all of which can be combined or removed to best fit your situation\\n\\nThe hood is pretty standard, same material as the outer shell. Great for rain or snow seeing its water resistant protecting your head from getting wet.\\n\\nThe outer layer is very water and wind resistant, and also quick drying so you don't have to carry on extra water weight when trudging through the elements. The outer layer makes a great light raincoat on it's own\\n\\nThe inner layer provide a lot of warmth and is suitable for cold conditions with very little water or wind in the environment. By wearing the inner shell by itself it provide the most range of motion compared the the outer layer or both inner/outer combined*. It's like wearing a lot of layered shirts without the bulk/weight. *You still do get a lot of motion with the combined inner, outer and hood, but even more if you wear the inner on it's own,\\n\\nOverall very impressed with this jacket, the only thing missing could be detachable gloves, bandanna mask, and goggles\",\n \"Product: This modern silhouette is quickly becoming the go-to for guys. The Champion power blend retro fleece jogger pant has reduced pill and shrink so it will look good wash after wash.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Great for Physical Activity, Not for Lounging Around\\n\\nReview: Very nice grip on the waist and ankles making physical activities like jogging very smooth\\n\\nLeggings are tight, but not too tight that you don't get any air circulation\\n\\nI like how the crotch area is loose, especially when you sit down, making it very comfortable especially when you need to rest up and take a breather\\n\\nPockets are a nice addition, same depth as regular jeans/pants\\n\\nProduct placement is very subtle; just a small champion logo near the left pocket\\n\\nSeeing the tightness of the leggings, I wouldn't recommend wearing these when you're binge watching a TV series on the couch unless it's ridiculously cold in the room and/or have the window open for some reason during winter\\n\\nFit wise, the sizing chart provided is on point. You can make adjustment from the draw string at the waist or roll up at the ankles sleeves without it hindering performance\\n\\nOverall, very good work out pants\",\n \"Product: Mossy Oak/Camo/Blaze Orange reversible hunting fleece beanie with hidden zipper.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Do you want to be seen or not\\n\\nReview: Do you want to be seen or not is the question you ask yourself when you wear this beanie as you can go full cameo or bright orange.\\n\\nThe fleece material is very comfortable to wear and does not shrink much in the wash\\n\\nI like how the seams are well hidden as you hardly see the stitching on both sides\\n\\nPersonally I think it looks better on a person with a smaller head size than a full sized adult as with the latter it can be a tight fit and make your face look bigger than it already is.\\n\\nThe hidden pocket compartment is a nice touch, but I wouldn't recommend putting anything other than light cash when on the go as the material is very thin and putting a smart phone in there for example will show a slight budge on your head.\\n\\nBest use of the hidden compartment i'd say if you're hanging out at a friend's place on the couch and you want to take everything out your pockets to feel more comfortable. You simply unload everything into the hidden compartment and put it beside you with the beanie in the orange position sticking out (just in case you can't find it in cameo form) instead of putting your phone/wallet etc on your friends coffee table.\\n\\nOverall very impressed with this product, keep in mind the head size when purchasing\\n\\nI received this product at a discount in exchange for a honest review\",\n \"Product: If you're looking for a FAST working premium waist trimmer that will help you burn belly fat and shed inches from your waist then you're in luck. The FAST TRIM fat burner belt is designed specifically for increasing your overall body heat around your stomach to help you lose excess body fat. The Premium Neoprene used with our FAST TRIM makes wearing it super comfortable. It's fully adjustable and easy to use.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great Supplement to diet and excercise\\n\\nReview: The padded material used makes it extra comfortable to wear throughout the day and after a while you do not realize it's there unless you are actively thinking about it. The Velcro is very strong and holds well without slipping.\\n\\nIf you exercise and/or on a diet this is a great supplementary product as it helps you burn weight while you workout and eat. While/after working out a lot of attention is focused towards your waist making your body burn more fat in the area. When eating, it's good to have the waist trainer on; as your stomach expands due to food consumption you are able to feel a bit of pressure of your stomach against the waist trimmer signaling you to stop soon helping you with over-consumption and portion control.\\n\\nIf you are not using the waist trimmer for the reasons mentioned above, and only plan to keep eating the same food while keeping a sedintary lifestyle then you won't necessary lose weight (maybe a pound or two max due to increased BMR from fluid loss from sweat), but at least prevent you from gaining additional weight if you eat similar foods daily before you had the trimmer. If you ever had your phone case on for over a month then removed it and started using your phone as it was? That's the same feeling you get except throughout your whole body after wearing this product for an entire day. You feel lighter, but your weight stays the same, which in and of itself is a great feeling\\n\\nThroughout the day your stomach gets this odd rumbling sensation similar to when you consume diet pills. If you put up with that, you get this lighter than air feeling after you remove the product at the end of the day and may even lose weight if you keep a strict diet and work out regimen.\\n\\nOverall good product, and will work depending on what you intend to do with it.\\n\\nI received this product at a discount in exchange for a honest review\",\n \"Product: Why Fit Active Sports Gymnastics Grips Fit Active Sports is proud to bring you the best cross training & weight lifting gymnastics grips on the market. The new Fit Active Sports Palm protectors were made to solve all your past frustrations, making you feel invincible. Your time is limited, use it wisely. No more excuses. Get ripped and build self esteem! Strap on Fit Active Sports Leather hand grips and notice the Huge Benefits: Strong Grip: New palm design made from textured leather guides you into finding the best contact points and minimize grip loss. GRIP MORE LIFT MORE Wrist Support: Oversized wrist wrap supplies maximum stability giving you confidence for that last rep Hand Protection: Thoughtfully made palm design prevents calluses and blisters, allowing you to not postpone anymore workouts Sweat Protection: Breathable special design made to combat sweat eliminates annoying slippery feeling What's in the Package? 1 pair of leather hand grips with wrist support Specially designed zip lock package made to keep your leather hand grips clean and dry,away from your dirty gym clothes Who were these leather hand grips made for: Men and Women (both beginners and experienced athletes) who want a more efficient workout Warranty: Fit Active Sports products come with 30-day money back guarantee. If you don't like our gymnastics grips for any reason at all, get your money back no questions asked You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great! Click the \\\"ADD TO CART\\\" button now...sometimes 'later' becomes 'never'\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Uncomfortable around the wrist\\n\\nReview: First off the wrist area of the plastic latch that loops around the velcro strap pushes against your skin making it very uncomfortable.\\n\\nThe palm grips themselves work great, but it may be loose depending on your palm size as there's no way to adjust it, making for slight creases from the friction as you do more repetitions lowering the life of the grips.\\n\\nA great advantage is that it's able to slip on really quickly making workouts go a lot faster, especially if you want to do your training and be out of the gym in record time.\\n\\nOverall good set of grips if you're into convenience of slipping it on and off during your training. Aside from that , the ~$25 current asking price is a bit high as there are better products out there around the price range.\\n\\nI received this product at a discount in exchange for a honest review\",\n \"Product: ZonePerfect Nutrition Snack Bars offer both a delicious snack and an excellent source of protein for people on the go. Our bars are designed with the expertise and passion of nutritionists to be irresistibly flavorful and protein-rich. And the best part? Our snack bars don't contain any artificial sweeteners or flavors. One bite of ZonePerfect Snack bars and you'll wonder why you've been getting your nutrients any other way.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Not Perfect By Itself\\n\\nReview: First off at room temperature or lower it is ridiculously chewy and sticks to your teeth like a magnet. For optimal taste I suggest putting it in the fridge for a few hours, taking it out and letting it sit for 10mins before eating. I also recommend eating it with milk, ice cream, or vanilla protein drink because eating the whole bar in one sitting makes your mouth really dry.\\n\\nThe fluffy innards shown in the packaging is barely present, Everything in the bar seems very uniform except for the chocolate drizzle on top. You do get the cookie dough flavor, but at a high cost especially for a grab and go product that needs preparation for a good tasting experience\",\n \"Product: Called \\\"White Tipped Oolong\\\" or \\\"Oriental Beauty\\\", this is a fermented non-roasted oolong. Natural fruity aromas and produces a sweet tasting bright-reddish orange tea liquor without bitterness. Dried leaves of high quality should exhibit a pleasant aroma with dark purple and brown leaf coloration with white hairs. The Oriental Beauty must be grown in environment of no pesticides and no chemical pollution, which encourages Jacobiasca formosana insect to suck the juice on the tender tea buds, which improves the quality of the tea. The annual yield of Oriental Beauty is low and it is not an easy task to harvest it. Only the tender tip and the two young leaves are plucked by hand. The only downside is this tea does not taste like champagne, contain alcohol, or produce bubbles. For that, you will have to purchase champagne. Cheers! When the tea bag is brewed in hot water and begins to swell, the shape of a goldfish begins to form. The mouth of the tea bag is designed with a special cotton thread, Pulling the thread enables the tea bag to move in water. Creating a natural rhythm of moment from the fluctuations of the water. A life-like goldfish appears to be swimming in your tea cup. Goldfish Tea Bags are made entirely by hand via a 16-step process. These steps require exquisite handcrafted skills by Taiwanese artists in order to display the ultimate craftsmanship of the Goldfish Tea Bag. Among 300 applicants, 28 were chosen for their immense skill. The complex process is to highlights the majestic artistry of the Goldfish Tea Bag. Settle in, take a seat. Waft the curled steam slinking slowly upwards from your tea cup. Magnificent beauty, meticulously handcrafted with care in 16 precise movements by skillful artisans, captivates your attention - allowing you to savor every drop of every moment.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: High Quality Tea, High Price Tag\\n\\nReview: First I would like to note that you only get 1 tea bag for the MSRP of $20 which is a high price tag, so unless you have money to splurge, want something expensive to drink for a special occasion, a tea enthusiast, or money isn't an issue to you then read on.\\n\\nFor a single bag you want to enjoy the moment as this is not tea you gulp down in a hurry before you head off to work (unless you have money to burn). The tea bag itself is nicely made an would look good on the dining table for a romantic dinner at home or to celebrate a special occasion.\\n\\nThe tea tastes really good. It's sweet when you sip it in and the after taste last really long as your tongue tries to contemplate on if the taste is bitter or sweet. Very enjoyable in small sips as my taste buds rarely have this smooth transition of flavor before.\\n\\nOverall, high quality tea for the price.\\n\\nI received this product at a discount in exchange for a honest review\",\n \"Product: CLIF Nut Butter Filled Energy Bar brings together two great energy foods - a delicious, creamy nut butter inside an organic energy bar - to deliver sustained energy. CLIF Nut Butter Filled Energy Bars are USDA Organic, non GMO and contain 7 grams (9% DV) of plant-based protein from nut butter, brown rice protein and pea protein.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: A bit on the dry side\\n\\nReview: When consuming this product make sure you have some sort of beverage ready. Preferably some type of milk (regular, soy, lactaid, etc) or protein drink ready, because after eating it stand alone your mouth will feel very dry. This may be an issue if you're active and on the go as it may make you feel even more dehydrated.\\n\\nFlavor is very good, it's like a chocolate brownie mixed with oats rolled around peanut butter\\n\\nThe texture is excellent and all ingredients are uniform throughout. It's very easy to chew and perfect for on the go snack (just make sure you have some sort of beverage around as mentioned before)\\n\\nPeanut butter not as pronounced as shown in the photo advertisement visually, but there's ample amount, taste wise that you won't really complain about it.\\n\\nSeeing that there's peanut butter; those with braces or who's teeth sensitive to cavities may want second thoughts before purchasing as there will be traces of the bar on your teeth after chewing\\n\\nNutritional profile of the bar is very good. One bar will not get you full, but will be enough to last you an extra hour or two at least\",\n \"Product: Designed to rival its predecessor, the Easy Flex 3 now offers a 30% slimmer body with a more swept back & compact design. From the bottom of the mount up, the Easy Flex 3 is style & design driven all the way. The bottom base neatly covers the super sticky\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Thought mine was defective at first...\\n\\nReview: When i received the iottte easy Flex 3 I peeled off the protective sticker for the suction hoping it would stick right away. Boy was I wrong, I had to soak it in water and let it dry for an hour or so for it to work as advertised (length of drying not mentioned in instructions)\\n\\nIt fits devices from 2'' to 3'' and works great for my Nexus 5 without a case.\\n\\nAside from it not working right away, my only other complaint is that the extendable arm is not long enough for my device to be viewed from the bottom: when I put the mount on top of my stereo dashboard/ AC fans surface it wasn't able to flip 360 degrees without something getting in the way.\\n\\nThere are several promotions for this item from time to time ranging from $9-$15. If you are not in a hurry to purchase one, I'd wait for it to drop in price\",\n \"Product: Downsize on bulk with Spigens Thin Fit case for your Nexus 6P. The hard PC case snaps snugly onto the phone to maintain a slim profile for minimal style and protection against scratches. Even with its slim profile, the Thin Fit case provides just enough coverage for surface protection of the camera.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Stylish, more functional phone\\n\\nReview: Switched from the Nexus 5 to Nexus 6P as my daily driver and missed the matte finish of the Nexus 5 as the Nexus 6P's aluminum exterior is a bit slippery. Love the new look and feel of the case brings to Nexus 6P as it brought back nostalgia of the Nexus 5, but with a larger form factor and better internals.\\n\\nI like how the case help kept the visor design unlike other cases where there's a small rectangular or round cutout making it feel more slick and not out of place.\\n\\nThe physical buttons are easier to press. You can better distinguish the power and volume buttons. Yes, the power button has crosshatches without the case on, but with the case your finger naturally glides to where you want to go especially with the plastic divider between the two buttons. The finger print sensor is also easier to locate for the same reason as the plastic surrounding the sensor have a natural attraction to your finger.\\n\\nI like how the case slightly raises the camera visor, finger print sensor and front screen off the ground protecting the phone from minor physical damage with repeated placement on a flat surface.\\n\\nThe case is a very tight fit, so if you're one who like changing out cases occasionally for stylistic reason then you might have trouble slipping this one out as it takes a little effort\\n\\nThe case does have an added layer of protection to the phone, but it won't protect it from heavy multi-story drops. If you are a casual user and are not the clumsy type or an adventurer, this phone will hold up well to minor drops (with the added benefit of a better grip and ease of access to the physical buttons)\",\n \"Product: Compatible phone model Samsung Galaxy Note 4 The flexible high-grade film is formulated to be &quot;self-healing&quot;. It comes in TWO Back pieces ONE impact resistant clear bumper (back cover anti-scratch material) ,ONE flexible clear front Shield (self-healing material) Able to Stretch ,absorb and even repair scratches and impact damage. Beyond Cell TriMax Series Case Full body kit provides Full HD clarity and super-smooth feel. Superior protection with the most durable case on the market. Designed with air hybrid technology which absorbs shock for ultimate protection. Resistant to smudge and fingerprints. You can also change your phone to clear or with design. Ultra-clear (HD) hybrid Anti Shock Phone Case. Case 360 Degree cover all edges and phone with built-in screen protector, Impacts resistance on the screen. DO NOT use any tempered glass or screen protector with this case. Top Case is a flexible screen protector with scratch resistant material. Unique molding process minimizes bulkiness while protecting against every day wear. Daily use of your mobile device can cause unsightly scratches, dents and other unwanted damage. Easy to install and remove , and 100 % bubble free installation. Compatible Carrier: Sprint/Verizon/AT&T/T-Mobile\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Touch controls less sensitive\\n\\nReview: Provides excellent 360 protection so there's no need to purchase a screen protector, but the only downside is that the it decreases the sensitivity of the screen by a lot. You have to hard press or press down and drag to swipe along the case at twice (or more) pressure than you normally would with or without a traditional screen protector on.\\n\\nProtection wise, it's pretty decent covering the entire phone except for the input ports, fingerprint sensor, camera, and speaker grill. The cutouts are decent and will fit most standard mirco-usb and 3mm headphone jacks.\\n\\nThe case comes in two pieces and is easy to install.\\n\\nThe feel of the case in your hand is a bit odd. It doesn't add much bulk, but there's an obvious plastic feel to it.\\n\\nWhen the screen is off or low brightness there's a weird cloudy effect when looking at the phone, making it less transparent than you wished it would be\\n\\nOverall good case with all around protection. Just keep in mind that your fingers have to do more work when the phone is in use\\n\\nI received this product at a discount in exchange for a honest review\",\n \"Product: High quality professionally manufactured stickers. Weather and UV resistant ink on waterproof vinyl. These high quality stickers will last for years under harsh conditions. Stickerpirate stands 100% behind its products. If you are unhappy with your purchase for any reason we will make it right.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Very good re-usable stickers\\n\\nReview: Able to re-apply a dozens of times and they leave no residue or lose it's stickiness after several applications to different surfaces.\\n\\nThey are a bit on the small side, but it's what you'd expect if you read the product description\\n\\nDesign is very simple as it's just white text on a black background. You can make it at home if you have a printer and a sticker sheet, but most stickers on printer paper tend to leave residue which takes time to scratch/scrub off if you decided to remove the sticker. Also the print quality may not be as great (as these have a semi-gloss look to them), and may cost more if you do not make it in bulk\\n\\nThese are very convenient for the price, just don't expect a quarter to full size bumper sticker\",\n \"Product: This convenient Class pack is ideal for all classrooms and daycares. Save paper and money with this set as it allows you to re-use the same sheets over and over. Class pack includes 10 each of pockets, dry erase markers and multi-purpose cloth erasers. Pockets feature a side panel opening that allows you to easily insert and remove standard size papers. The dry erase markers included are pocket style with bullet tips in black and are AP certified and conform to ASTM D4236. Also included are our multi-purpose cloths that can be used on all surfaces. Cloths can be washed and re-used for an extra long Life. Assorted primary colors.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great test practicing tool\\n\\nReview: This is perfect for when your child want to practice for an exam without having to make multiple copies of worksheets.\\n\\nThis is a very good variety pack as you get 10 dry erase pockets, 10 microfiber cloths and 10 dry erase markers.\\n\\nThe dry erase pockets comes in 5 colors borders (two of each color): yellow, green, orange, blue and red.\\nThe pockets are very durable, yet lightweight making it great for repeated use.\\nI like how the hold inserts are 9'' x 12'' making standard paper (8''x11'') inserts easy to slip in for yourself and your child\\nAlso the side opening panel has a large enough gap for making inserting and removing paper a breeze.\\nThe included grommet or whole punch with metal casing on the top center each pocket makes for a great display and storage option when not in use.\\n\\nThe micro fiber clothes are very large and works well on the pocket sleeve. It also works well on your tablet, phone, glasses or monitor. They are also washable; which is great for repeated use.\\n\\nDry erase pens are pretty standard. They are very smooth when in use and does not leave any odd streaks. They really resemble a sharpie in design so keep that in mind as it's more permanent\\n\\nWhen the microfiber cloth and pens are not in use; you can put it in the sleeve itself for convenient storage as not to lose them\\n\\nOverall very impressed with this combo pack whether if it's for helping your child practicing for an upcoming test, or for an entire classroom\",\n \"Product: HIGH QUALITY yard storage tent for all your needs SPACE SAVING size (74\\\" wide x 30\\\" deep x 65\\\" high, fits two adult bicycles with room to spare) easily stash two adult bikes, pool floats & supplies, kids toys, lawn mowers, long handled garden tools and other outdoor gear. FULL TOP & BOTTOM zippers on door to completely seal the door and provide full protection against water, dust, and pests. INDUSTRIAL GRADE, ripstop, vinyl tarpaulin roof with UPF 50+ protection and an even stronger polyester body bonded to interior weatherproof coating. QUICK & EASY set-up (no tools required, less than 15 minutes), heavy duty materials (2.5x heavier than other storage tents), reinforced integrated floor, large zippers with storm flaps, back panel for locking bikes to a fence or pole, and front mesh vent to eliminate condensation.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Flimsy if not attached to solid ground.\\n\\nReview: If your backyard is mostly cement like mine then this tent does not really hold up well as it's very loose without solid dirt ground support. You can drill stakes down to the cement if you wish to make this a permanent storage option\\n\\nSetup took me around 20mins first attempt with a roommate as we tried to figure the in-and-outs of assembling it without the included instructions. The one page of instructions make it seem more difficult than it already is. Wished it had more of a visual demonstration instead of a series of text. With a little intuition and some common sense it's not hard to figure out. After doing it the first time, every other subsequent time after took around 8-10mins tops.\\n\\nThe material although thin is very good at keeping water, dust, and bugs out. Wind protection, not so much as it depends on how well the soil in your yard hold the stakes to the ground and/or if you have heavy objects holding it down. Wish the frame was more tightly knit to make the overall body seem sturdier instead of relying on ground support to hold it up.\\n\\nThere's ventilation openings on both sides (in addition to the door flap) held by Velcro which is a nice touch to keep the contents from being too hot/cold and to air out unnecessary smell buildup.\\n\\nI like how it includes a carrying case just in case you plan to move the tent around instead of having it in one stationary location for majority of it's lifetime.\\n\\nSeeing that I don't have secure ground for this product and not planning to drill holes into my cement, I plan to cut the bottom off and use it as an easy slip over rain/dust cover for my BBQ.\\n\\nOverall depending on your backyard setup this is a decent tent to own as it's very lightweight and easy to assemble/dissemble when needed.\\n\\nI received this product at a discount in exchange for a honest review\",\n \"Product: KEEP YOU AND YOUR PET SAFE - The Star Pets LED dog collar is perfect for allowing your pet to be easily seen at all times - in poor light conditions and bad weather - giving you peace of mind. The handy rechargeable LED collar makes great value for money. One charge should give approximately 4 hours of continuous use. Then it is easily recharged through many devices using the enclosed USB charger lead. The Star Pets LED dog collar comes in 3 different sizes so there a collar to fit most breeds. SMALL 9 - 16'' / 22- 40 cms MEDIUM 13 - 20'' / 32 - 50 cms LARGE 19 - 24 '' / 48 - 60 cms\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great for late night jogs\\n\\nReview: If you only have time in the evening on weekdays (and weekends?) to take your dog for a walk/run daily this is the perfect colar to have on as it helps your dog stay visible to oncoming vehicles/traffic\\n\\nThe battery is rechargeable and very lightweight so it doesn't weight down on the dog's neck.\\n\\nYou can push out the battery for ease of charge and push it back in it's concealed compartment when finished charging.\\n\\nThere are 3 light modes: rapid flickering, pulsing and solid light. Each can be changed with a tap of a button (with a satisfying click sound to it). Here's a video demo I made on youtube*: /watch?v=W9guD2UOgK4\\n\\n*You can still click the button while it's concealed and do not have to push it out if you like.\\n\\nThe quality of the collar itself is standard. It will not break apart unless you use a very sharp object like a knife/scissors, or unhook the clip. The clip is also okay and it snaps on/off very easily with equal pressure applied to both ends\\n\\nOverall very impressed. Prefect if you're a night jogger.\\n\\nI received this product at a discount in exchange for a honest review\",\n \"Product: IT IS FRUSTRATING TO TRY AND FIND A WAY TO GET YOUR PET FOOD OR WATER WHEN YOU ARE OUT.\\n\\nThis set of collapsible bowls from We Love All Pets is the perfect carry-along for pet parents. The set of three allows for flexibility with more than one pet or a larger animal.\\n\\nThey pack flat to take up little space so they are perfect for a long hike, a park visit or a cross country car trip. Add a clip and you can attach it to any leash or the outside of a pack.\\n\\nThey come as a set in Red, Yellow and Orange\\n\\nMAKE YOUR PET HAPPY TODAY. CLICK THE ADD TO CART BUTTON IN THE UPPER RIGHT.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: For small to medium sized dogs and cats\\n\\nReview: First off these collapsible pet bowls are a bit on the small side and would not recommend to a dog that's larger than a beagle or a springier spaniel. For a Boxer or larger i recommend getting this item <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Collapsible-Travel-Dog-Bowls-for-Large-and-Small-Pets-Made-of-High-Quality-BPA-Free-Silicone-for-Food-and-Water-2-Bowl-Set-With-Portable-Carry-Case-for-Easy-Traveling-Collapses-to-2-Sizes/dp/B017I3Q1Q8/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Collapsible Travel Dog Bowls for Large and Small Pets - Made of High Quality BPA-Free Silicone for Food and Water - 2 Bowl Set With Portable Carry Case for Easy Traveling - Collapses to 2 Sizes</a> These may cost more, but may be more comfortable for larger breeds. In terms of smaller breeds of dogs these are prefect and well worth the cost.\\n\\nI like how the bottom is non-slip and grips well to the kitchen floor to prevent sliding and accidental spills. The dog design in the bowl is a nice touch as it gives the bowl some personality instead of going for a plain look.\\n\\nAll 3 bowls have heart shaped hole punched loops on them if you want to hang them. The 3 different color variants are also a nice touch as you are able to distinguish between your food bowl or water bowl.\\n\\nCleaning and storage is very easy. Just remember to expand it to it's full size when cleaning to avoid any missing residue in small crevices when collapsed\\n\\nOverall very good set of collapsible bowls for pets on the smaller side\\n\\nI received this product at a discount in exchange for a honest review\",\n \"Product: Exploding Kittens is a card game for people who are into kittens and explosions and laser beams and sometimes goats. In this highly-strategic, kitty-powered version of Russian Roulette, players draw cards until someone draws an Exploding Kitten, at which point they explode, they are dead, and they are out of the game -- unless that player has a defuse card, which can defuse the Kitten using things like laser pointers, belly rubs, and catnip sandwiches. All of the other cards in the deck are used to move, mitigate, or avoid the Exploding Kittens. This NSFW version of the game contains the full version of Exploding Kittens, but the artwork on each card has been replaced with content too horrible/amazing to be used in the original Exploding Kittens game. The NSFW Edition can be played with 2 to 5 players or combined with another deck to play with up to 9 players.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Fun Filled Phycological Game Amongst Friends\\n\\nReview: Object of the game is to not draw the exploding kitten card. Seems simple enough, but there are variety of counter cards that will block or divert an exploding kitten that will knock you out of the game.\\n\\nThe game essentially have 9 types of cards:\\n1. Exploding kitten card - what you want to avoid\\n2. Attack card - make the next player draw 2 cards increasing the chances of them drawing an exploding kitten card\\n3. Skip card - Skip you turn, so you don't have to draw a card (which may potentially be a exploding kitten card)\\n4. Favor card- Force an opponent to give you a card form his or her hand\\n5. Shuffle card - As the name implies shuffle the deck if you assume or know (with the see the future card) you'll be drawing an exploding kitten card\\n6. See the future card - see the top 3 cards in the draw pile. Great when combined with any other cards\\n7. Defuse card - save yourself from an exploding kitten\\n8. Nope card - Prevent any action of a card used by your opponent\\n9. Other cards - cards not part of the 8 mentioned, but if you have multiple you can use them for special combos such as stealing a card from another player.\\n\\nGame is very simple to pick up and play, and the instructions are very easy to grasp. Once you and your friends get good at the game you'll be countering each other left and right as you guess what cards your opponent has and try to outwit them.\\n\\nCard stock is similar to casino cards. The art design and writing on the cards are very witty and sometimes gross (for the NSFW edition)\\n\\nI believe there's an app version of the the original exploding kittens on iOS and Andriod. It's only $1.99 (each person has to purchase the app) and is cheaper if you have frequent friends who play the game. But if you have guest over a few times a month or year it may be better to stick to the physical version as it's very odd to convince your guests to purchase the game on their smartphone or tablet in order to play the digital version\\n\\nOverall very tension filled game with friends\",\n \"Product: Based on the Top-selling app, Angry Birds K'nex bring the fun to life! Fun for all ages and great as gifts!\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Pack of 6, 1 Duplicate\\n\\nReview: With 6 blind bags, I received 1 double which okay, but wished I got an Angry Bird instead of a pig.\\n\\nIt's a okay deal if you're a hardcore Angry Birds fan and get all Birds or a large pig figure, but at around $2 each bag (current price). It may not be worth it.\\n\\nEach bag includes a random Angry bird or pig and one accessory (usually an egg variant). The main figure have to be assembled as it comes in two pieces. I wished it can be a solid piece, but seeing it's K'NEX they probably want you to put it together yourself.\\n\\nThe figures are very detailed and resemble the video game/app counterpart well. The only problem is that they are very small for the price especially for the pig figures which are about a height of a quarter. It's nice to have in your collection but at the asking price it's very disappointing. Would be better if each set includes an Angry Bird, a pig and a accessory.\\n\\nWith the fold out ad included, it's hard to distinguish if there's 12 or 14 total to collect seeing the variety in sizes and no indicator to \\\"Collect all ??\\\" or a check list\\n\\nOverall great detailed figures, but unless you're a hardcore fan of the series it's a hard sell\\n\\nI received this product at a discount in exchange for a honest review\",\n \"Product: Ginzick Music Piano Electronic Keyboard Playmat with Microphone and Stand is one of the great joys of childhood, and kids that learn music are proven to do better in skills like science and math. This piano mat makes learning music fun and exciting. You'll find that with this durable piano mat for kids, burgeoning musicians cant get enough as they experiment by stomping on loads of keys with realistic sounds! The Ginzick piano mat for kids is High Quality, Durable design Music Piano Electronic Touch Keyboard Playmat With different built-in instruments, including guitar, saxophone, harp, violin, and more! Keyboard features 2 edit Modes 61 keys and 16 musical instruments sounds Microphone with karaoke function Easy to use makes a great addition to any play area or just tap the keys and improvise music right on the spot. For those quieter home times, you can adjust the volume, and there's no worry about power running down since the floor mat keyboard includes an automatic "power off" system. The heavy duty piano mat is an ideal fun time activity for the entire family. The size of this unique keyboard mat can handle a number of kids and adults, it will endure a lot of use. Inspire and enrich your child's life by giving them the Piano Mat. This wild and fun device is a great gift for kids of any age from three and up. uses 4 AA batteries are not included! Size! 99cm x 46cm\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Not for those who are at least semi serious into music\\n\\nReview: Well this is not a \\\"my first piano\\\" where the child is going to become an aspiring pianist when he grows up as the button keys have a slight input lag to them\\n\\nThis piano is more like if a toddler wants to play on the grand piano, but his sibling or parent are constantly playing it and/or doesn't want the kid to start pounding on the expensive instrument or get there dirty hands on the keyboard.\\n\\nThis is a okay \\\"me too\\\" piano keyboard as the child can boast about having able to play the piano also while having a DJ button layout which they can brag about which the traditional piano doesn't have\\n\\nThe material of the keyboard is very thin and easy to clean, just in case they plan to play the keyboard after playing outside or eating (and forgetting to wash their hands).\\n\\nThe piano keys as stated before has a slight lag to it, but most toddlers won't notice the different as long as there's sound coming out of it.\\n\\nThe microphone is joke. There's an echo, but it's very low so at times so you will hear the child screaming into it to get a normal voice output.\\n\\nSeeing the MSRP of $40 it's pretty steep, you'd expect better quality for your money.\\n\\nLuckily i received this item at huge discount in exchange for a honest review. And in my honest opinion, unless you're desperate about your kid complaining s/he can't play the grand piano I wouldn't make a purchase.\\n\\nAnd as for my copy, I decided to donate it to the Secret Santa Charity for low income kids we have in our neighborhood every holiday\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":98,"string":"98"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_3"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":874,"string":"874"}}},{"rowIdx":875,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"A2582KMXLK2P06"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of \"5.0\" for a product with description \"Remastered reissue of the progressive rock supergroup's 1972 live album.\". The summary of the review text is \"emerson, lake & palmer taking their stuff in a different direction\"."},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"Update- March 29, 2014. Wow my original review was really boring and pointless to read. Time for a better one!\n\nI remember 10 years ago playing Pictures At an Exhibition several times in a row because it was just *that* fantastic to me. As a result, 10 years later I can still remember most of it... however I had to play it twice in a row to *really* open the memory floodgates, heh.\n\nWhile I've never heard the authentic classical version of Pictures of... er, AT an Exhibition (hehe, one thing that hasn't changed is that I always get \"of\" confused with \"at\" and I seriously need to stop doing that!) by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky, I would certainly like to hear that version one day. Hey it HAS to be good, right? Even though I'm more of a rock and roll fan, I'm always up for some classical compositions. Of course now that I've heard this version I might not be so generous and willing to listen to anybody else messing with what I believe is a flawless album!\n\nGranted I didn't originally think Pictures At an Exhibition was flawless. For the longest time I thought Greg Lake was wasting his vocal talents singing such a nonchalant vocal melody during the acoustic guitar part 7-8 minutes in, and it always seemed a bit odd how the piece takes a DRAMATIC turn right after the singing portion is over- suddenly the song shifts into a wild 10-minute synth and keyboard jam, and this is honestly the best part of the album in my opinion. Incredibly melodic too! Maybe a little show off-y, admittedly, but when we're dealing with the masters of blending classical with rock it's forgivable.\n\nNo this particular jam doesn't resemble the kind of classical-inspired jamming you'd encounter on Emerson, Lake & Palmer's debut album which is somewhat strange since you'd think it would. Instead it's more like the kind of jam you'd hear from Brain Salad Surgery. That's to be expected since it's a live performance after all, and as we all know the band liked to drink and party HARD during their glory early 70's years. Maybe even a comparison to Deep Purple's MKII period such as a live version of \"Maybe I'm a Leo\" isn't totally out of the question as a comparison either (but much faster- ELP ain't draggin' their feet cookin' early morning biscuits here- they're going all out and rocking the house down!) It always amazed me to no end how a band of party maniacs were miraculously able to keep it together long enough to play such sophisticated jams without missing a beat. Maybe they do show off a bit too much! Just keep in mind what kind of jamming you're getting into here- you're probably fully and rightfully expecting something more along the lines of pretentious classical-resembling stuff but instead Pictures At an Exhibition is definitely more for the rock crowd.\n\nAlso Greg Lake's voice is in MAGNIFICENT shape here! Wow, was he seriously able to sing with such an angelic voice range every time he got out of bed? Even when he has to clear his throat to clear away the morning stuffies he's *still* singing significantly better than anything I could ever create with my limited vocal range. I realize he lost his voice back in the 90's (maybe even sooner than that) but in the early 70's he was simply unstoppable. His vocals here do not disappoint. I especially love the line \"In the burning all are yearning for life to be\". The way he sings this line is \"knock me over with a golf club\" good! Of course I was somewhat hoping for another \"Oh what a lucky man he was\" type of simplistic song but... nah, not here. Not on Pictures At an Exhibition I'm afraid. Oh well.\n\nOne thing that initially shocked me in a negative way was the final part of the piece when it breaks out into the Nutcracker Christmas melody thing (whatever it's officially called). You better BELIEVE this upset me a great deal! Why you ask? Because for some unknown reason, all through elementary and middle school every single music teacher I had insisted on playing the Nutcracker movie during the Christmas season. I didn't understand the appeal of it then, and I don't get it now. Am I supposed to find nutcrackers talking and singing entertaining or hilarious? Am I supposed to enjoy the music? Who'd think up such an awful idea? But hey! At least Emerson, Lake & Palmer does a terrific job bringing out the best in this song. And they make it more than appealing- I downright LOVE it! They turn it into a ragtime jam. So awesome.\n\nOverall, highly recommended album but please pick up Tarkus, Trilogy and the bands debut first!"},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"Update- March 29, 2014. Wow my original review was really boring and pointless to read. Time for a better one!\n\nI remember 10 years ago playing Pictures At an Exhibition several times in a row because it was just *that* fantastic to me. As a result, 10 years later I can still remember most of it... however I had to play it twice in a row to *really* open the memory floodgates, heh.\n\nWhile I've never heard the authentic classical version of Pictures of... er, AT an Exhibition (hehe, one thing that hasn't changed is that I always get \"of\" confused with \"at\" and I seriously need to stop doing that!) by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky, I would certainly like to hear that version one day. Hey it HAS to be good, right? Even though I'm more of a rock and roll fan, I'm always up for some classical compositions. Of course now that I've heard this version I might not be so generous and willing to listen to anybody else messing with what I believe is a flawless album!\n\nGranted I didn't originally think Pictures At an Exhibition was flawless. For the longest time I thought Greg Lake was wasting his vocal talents singing such a nonchalant vocal melody during the acoustic guitar part 7-8 minutes in, and it always seemed a bit odd how the piece takes a DRAMATIC turn right after the singing portion is over- suddenly the song shifts into a wild 10-minute synth and keyboard jam, and this is honestly the best part of the album in my opinion. Incredibly melodic too! Maybe a little show off-y, admittedly, but when we're dealing with the masters of blending classical with rock it's forgivable.\n\nNo this particular jam doesn't resemble the kind of classical-inspired jamming you'd encounter on Emerson, Lake & Palmer's debut album which is somewhat strange since you'd think it would. Instead it's more like the kind of jam you'd hear from Brain Salad Surgery. That's to be expected since it's a live performance after all, and as we all know the band liked to drink and party HARD during their glory early 70's years. Maybe even a comparison to Deep Purple's MKII period such as a live version of \"Maybe I'm a Leo\" isn't totally out of the question as a comparison either (but much faster- ELP ain't draggin' their feet cookin' early morning biscuits here- they're going all out and rocking the house down!) It always amazed me to no end how a band of party maniacs were miraculously able to keep it together long enough to play such sophisticated jams without missing a beat. Maybe they do show off a bit too much! Just keep in mind what kind of jamming you're getting into here- you're probably fully and rightfully expecting something more along the lines of pretentious classical-resembling stuff but instead Pictures At an Exhibition is definitely more for the rock crowd.\n\nAlso Greg Lake's voice is in MAGNIFICENT shape here! Wow, was he seriously able to sing with such an angelic voice range every time he got out of bed? Even when he has to clear his throat to clear away the morning stuffies he's *still* singing significantly better than anything I could ever create with my limited vocal range. I realize he lost his voice back in the 90's (maybe even sooner than that) but in the early 70's he was simply unstoppable. His vocals here do not disappoint. I especially love the line \"In the burning all are yearning for life to be\". The way he sings this line is \"knock me over with a golf club\" good! Of course I was somewhat hoping for another \"Oh what a lucky man he was\" type of simplistic song but... nah, not here. Not on Pictures At an Exhibition I'm afraid. Oh well.\n\nOne thing that initially shocked me in a negative way was the final part of the piece when it breaks out into the Nutcracker Christmas melody thing (whatever it's officially called). You better BELIEVE this upset me a great deal! Why you ask? Because for some unknown reason, all through elementary and middle school every single music teacher I had insisted on playing the Nutcracker movie during the Christmas season. I didn't understand the appeal of it then, and I don't get it now. Am I supposed to find nutcrackers talking and singing entertaining or hilarious? Am I supposed to enjoy the music? Who'd think up such an awful idea? But hey! At least Emerson, Lake & Palmer does a terrific job bringing out the best in this song. And they make it more than appealing- I downright LOVE it! They turn it into a ragtime jam. So awesome.\n\nOverall, highly recommended album but please pick up Tarkus, Trilogy and the bands debut first!"},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Product: 1993 reissue on Repertoire of their 1978 album for A&M. Ninetracks, including 'Melt The Ice Away', 'Love For You And Me'& 'All At Sea'.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: wow, extremely underrated late 70's hard rock album here, folks\n\nReview: After hearing the somewhat disappointing If I Were Brittania album, I was totally NOT expecting their next album to completely knock my socks off!\n\nIt's true this album doesn't necessarily sound like the classic Budgie of old. There's no exceptionally heavy guitar riffs for one thing, and not really any signs that Budgie used to combine blues with sludgy heavy rock back in the day.\n\nInstead it's a straight forward hard rock album with a noticeable commercial sound. Too bad commercial radio never really gave it the appreciation it *definitely* deserves.\n\nThe entire album is reminiscent of the Come Taste the Band record by Deep Purple. If you've ever heard that album, you will know Deep Purple combined funk, soul and hard rock together. Budgie sort of did the same thing for this release, and the results are just terrific.\n\nThe vocal melodies are spectacular, and the guitar solos are *extremely* melodic. Some of the riffs like the ones found on \"Smile Boy Smile\" and \"Pyramids\" blow me away.\n\nThe heavy, blues-oriented plodding guitar style of \"I'm a Faker Too\" is fantastic, and the closer \"Don't Dilute the Water\" makes me realize why the band members from Megadeth are such big Budgie fans. The vocal melody in particular is really oddly put together in a chaotic and extremely heavy way. It's unique for its time.\n\nImpeckable also includes some really beautiful moments courtesy of the lead singer such as on \"All At Sea\" and \"Don't Go Away\" (the latter definitely reminiscent of Geddy Lee and particularly some of the tender moments from the Rush album Fly By Night).\n\nI'm really shocked just how good this album is. A comparison to Black Sabbath's Never Say Die! is understandable considering both albums have a sound that's a departure from their usual trademark style, and both records sound ripe and ready for FM radio even though fate would ensure that never happened.\n\nA must own.","Product: First album to be released in the 70's with Annie Haslam.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: oh wow, this is good\n\nReview: Prologue has its share of interesting moments, and they don't really resemble anything like the classic albums such as Ashes Are Burning and Turn of the Cards. I'm not necessarily complaining about the difference in styles though. Sometimes it works amazingly well, such as on \"Rajah Khan\".\n\nAnnie Haslam delivers a vocal performance that can best be described as soaring and heavenly in a psychedelic kind of way, where the vocals feel like a dream. It's really strange the way her voice soars in a way that sounds way ahead of its time. I've hardly ever heard a female musician sing like THAT from the early 70's, if at all. What's especially noteworthy about this track however, is the heavy metal-like guitar solo in the introduction. It's out of place in comparison to Annie's vocals, but... I wouldn't want it any other way. Reminds me of something from Amon Duul II's Yeti album.\n\nFor a 12-minute song, very little of it actually drags, despite no noticeable signs that this is supposed to be a folk/rock band. That's a nod towards Renaissance's strong songwriting skills- they can apparently tackle other styles with complete ease.\n\n\"Kiev\" has a piano solo in the beginning that's entirely classical, and the vocal melody that follows is fairly standard, but it's sung in a beautiful kind of way and reminds me of early Fleetwood Mac and Peter Green just a little bit. The song then ventures back into full classical swing with some mighty fine and totally professional piano playing. This song is remarkably simple to adjust to. It's not like you have to be a classical music teacher to really grasp what the band is doing here. Renaissance had an ability to make music instantly likeable, and that's a gift we can't overlook.\n\n\"Sounds of the Sea\" contains a pretty simple and beautiful vocal melody that will STRONGLY take you back to the early 70's (even if you weren't actually there). It just has that particular sound, and I absolutely adore it. Perhaps my only problem is that it repeats the vocal melody one time too many, or rather, the song should have been shortened by a couple minutes. Then again I *do* love it so maybe not. Anyway, Annie totally takes the spotlight on this track. It's all about her magnificent and delicate vocal range. \"Spare Some Love\" is another Annie Haslam highlight.\n\nWhy Prologue isn't being mentioned in the same sentence with future Renaissance albums is a bit of a mystery to me. This is an excellent album, no doubt about it.","Product: This 1974 release from the progressive rockers Camel features the 12 minute, 46 second opus 'Lady Fantasy: Encounter/Smiles for You'. The track 'Nimrodel / the Procession / the White Rider' is based on the J.R.R. Tolkien's Gandalf the Sorcerer character (From the book 'Lord of the Rings').\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: it doesn't get any better than this\n\nReview: I'm going to say something that many people might disagree with, but needs to be said. Even though Camel's Mirage album is a progressive rock album, you do NOT have to be a fan of prog-rock to fall in love with this album. I believe anyone who's a fan of jamming rock bands such as Eric Clapton or Crazy Horse would really enjoy the music on Mirage.\n\nCamel are the masters of knowing how to write memorable songs. The jams are melodic, not to mention creative. They include keyboards, guitars, flutes, drums, bass, organs, and who knows what else. All this adds up to one fantastic listen. Over and over again I listen to this album and can't believe how good it not only sounds, but IS. The music is great. Every song is written so carefully to the point of being extremely melodic. It's incredible.\n\nI wish Camel would tour the USA more. Some of us over here LOVE this band. Heck, even my dad who doesn't listen to rock music anymore said he LOVES what this band is doing. \"freefall\" is SO melodic, \"lady fantasy\" will remind you of dreams you had as a child. Those dreams will return and be as pleasant as ever when listening to this song. The rest of the album maintains that pleasant dream atmosphere and helps me conclude this album is truly worth owning. If something ever happened to my copy, I'd buy another one immediately.","Product: 1975 Album from the Progressive Rock Band that Came after a Two Year Respite. Songs Are Much More Dissonant Than in Past Outings and the Structure of the Music More Closely Resembles Some of Pink Floyd's Outer Fringes.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: still hasn't grown on me enough, dang it\n\nReview: Dang it guys! I really wanted the Power and the Glory to be one of my favorite albums ever, but giving it another chance 9 years later, I reeeeeeally don't think it's gonna happen. I want it to, though! I'll just keep hoping and looking to the stars for spiritual guidance and hope one day my prayers will finally be answered.\n\nThe title song sounds so unbelievably simple and melodic that the characters on Sesame Street should be out in the streets and dancing together as part of a big muppet party (perhaps to celebrate their 100th year anniversary, whenever that is). Actually... hold on a minute! I don't think that show is anywhere NEAR ready to celebrate 100 magnificent years entertaining children worldwide. Well, enjoy Big Bird anyway.\n\nLet's get back to the title song... unless you enjoy my rants? You know you like them. The verse melody AND the chorus are both super melodic, but... some people might really hate it. Yes it's one of THOSE type of songs. Ugh. I guess I like it... sometimes. Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't! Depending how I feel as I get my lazy butt out of bed determines its place in my world. That's about the best way I can put it.\n\nThe best song is \"Proclamation\" because it would fit in perfectly with my favorite album of theirs, In a Glass House. Yes, the super bizarre and almost unlistenable nature of THAT album should definitely have a song like \"Proclamation\" on it. Now when I say \"unlistenable\" that's actually a compliment when it concerns Gentle Giant, because what I really mean is \"not for the general public\". You knew that, right? Of course you did! If not, I guess you hadn't been paying attention. :)\n\n\"So Sincere\" makes me think about funerals and crying and rainy days. Just a whole bunch of sad emotions rushing through my brain at once. Imagine a gigantic radio up in the sky somewhere and playing \"So Sincere\" nonstop all across the world? Everyone would be cutting their depressed faces off. I want to live!\n\n\"Aspirations\" is just a softly performed little... ballad? Is this a Gentle Giant ballad? Wait, CAN a band like Gentle Giant create believable ballads? Or is it just another trick of theirs to make you believe you should be crying over a tearful vocal melody when in fact you should be feeling a completely separate emotion? So many questions. Answers? Questions! Questions? Answers! Oh wait, that's a Focus album sorry, hehe. Check out Focus by the way. That's actually their band name- Focus. Just look them up here on amazon if you don't believe me.\n\nAlright, \"Playing the Game\" should NOT exist. No, it's not a bad song, but it's just... so quiet... and overlong. Quiet enough that most weird people (like myself) don't have the attention span for it, basically making it pure pointless background music. No, Gentle Giant should not be writing songs like these. No way! Just... NO! And it's over 6 minutes long! Get out of town, and take this song with you. Yes that's right- physically rip this specific song off the plastic on the disc and get it out of here. Just don't get so angry you hurt the rest of the album.\n\n\"Cogs in Cogs\" is a super melodic slice of fun, written in a similar fashion to the title song. Again I have to ask the million dollar question- is it super melodic in a way I *like?* I think so, yeah. Or it melodic in a way that makes me blush? Ask me again tomorrow when I wake up on the wrong side of the bed and I might just change my constantly confused little mind, hehe.\n\n\"No Gods a Man\" features haunting and relatively complex acoustic playing, and it's neatly layered throughout the song like a homemade quilt. The vocals make it feel like a dream too (no, not the kind of dream that makes you think someone is calling your name on the other side of the door right before you fall asleep so you jump awake and respond \"Yes?\" but rather, a different kind of dream). Really neat song.\n\nNow what in the WORLD is \"The Face?\" What is that musical instrumental that reminds me of a farm, and specifically Charlotte's Web? Do you hear that? I hope you know what I mean. It's no buttermilk bath for Wilbur, that's for sure. Instead it's an insultingly articulate and grammatically correct slice of perfection designed for Charlotte herself! Just kidding about that, but geez- why did they have to go and make Charlotte so smart? Not exactly a confidence booster for people around the globe who struggle to put sentences together. Hearing Charlotte speak doesn't make us wanna learn- it makes us wanna give up instead.\n\nAnyway, let's return to discussing that weird part of \"The Face\". Maybe it's just a harmonica playing two notes back and forth over and over again, I don't know. I GUESS that's a harmonica. I can't stop listening to it though, whatever it is. It's permanently burned into my big empty head forever and ever. Just when I completely forget about this song, BAM! Here I am 9 years later with the same addiction to it all over again. How could I possibly forget it in the first place! The violins are quite lovely too. Too bad the vocal melody lets me down like I've just been dumped by the hottest girl in class... at the prom... with all her friends watching. Bummer.\n\nSo... what have we here? haha. Gentle Giant definitely attempted to release a commercial album with the Power and the Glory and obviously they didn't succeed or else classic rock stations would be playing THIS 24 hours a day instead of Boston's debut and the Eagles Greatest Hits, but luckily the band bounced back with a significant improvement with Free Hand.\n\nYes my friends, I fall under the \"I don't get it\" camp when it concerns this album. Is it prog? Is it pop? Is it a commercial direction? A camp of misfits perhaps, or a camp of geniuses. You decide.","Product: (Holland)\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: I love it, but it's flawed\n\nReview: The End of the Game is a *fantastic* album for lovers of guitar jams that perhaps sits comfortably somewhere in between blues and hard rock. I didn't realize how good this album was when I first heard it three years ago, but giving it another opportunity this time around reveals a MUCH better experience. Perhaps because a greater appreciation of the blues is something I've learned to understand recently (thanks to Jimi Hendrix's Blues album- a must own by the way).\n\nYes, at first I was actually led into believing these guitar jams are uninspiring and go nowhere at all. I was either being a close-minded fool or probably more realistically I was too tired and wasn't thinking clearly. This stuff is honestly exceptionally rewarding the more you play it.\n\nThe highlight for me is easily \"Bottoms Up\". It's 9 minutes of pure aggressive beauty. The guitar work is somewhere in between Jimi Hendrix and Andy Powell (from Wishbone Ash, particularly the first two albums). One thing's for sure- the melodic aspects of this 9-minute masterpiece can NOT be ignored. I truly believe this is some top-notch guitar jamming. It's technically superior to most, and plus there's a lot of feeling and emotion that never loses its momentum the entire time. The best of both worlds, and the best selection here.\n\n\"Descending Scale\" has a wonderful piano jam in the beginning. Some might say it sounds incomplete and unorganized, but... I can remember the notes so nah, I can't really agree with that statement. Soon however, some groovy and dreamy guitar work comes around. I really wish THIS part had lasted a couple minutes longer. Some more guitar playing similar to the wailing style from \"Bottoms Up\" makes an appearance near the end. It's an odd track to say the least.\n\nI guess my biggest problem with \"Descending Scale\" is that it's extremely unfocused. It's just a jam session that indicates not much effort was put into making it actually GO somewhere, but... somehow I actually like it. Not sure why yet. Perhaps because underneath all the messy guitar and drum outbursts I can actually make out something listenable. There's a feeling of \"This might work\" kicking in high gear. It's not just an initial feeling either- with each listen I can remember more of it so... I don't know what more I can say about it. I can say with certainty that when Peter Green makes his guitar resemble a crying dog near the end, that's a fairly unique sound. After six solid listens in a row I can confirm that yes, the song *does* improve.\n\nThe rest of the material is basically the same stuff. Fragmented rehearsal-like guitar lines or well-performed, memorable guitar solos and jams. You get both and the constant switch between the two might annoy some listeners, so yeah, I can see why some people dislike the End of the Game. \"Hidden Depth\" is appropriately named considering Green's style has in fact, many layers of hidden depth (and this track does as well), \"Burnt Foot\" is a jazzy combination of guitar and drum solos, and the title song is actually another highlight thanks to the way it displays some of Green's heavier guitar soloing.\n\nYou get the feeling had this stuff been worked on a little harder and had the fat been trimmed away so to speak, the results would have been even more spectacular. Given the stability of Peter Green at the time of this recording however, it's understandable why it is the way it is. I honestly believe it's very good and worth owning despite the flaws.","Product: Reissue of George's second non-Beatles album. Self-produced,it contains two lengthy experimental electronic tracks & wasfirst released on the Apple label in 1969. Also includes theoriginal cover art. 1996 EMI release.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: one of those \"it's so bad I mine as well play it one time\" type of albums\n\nReview: Electronic Sound by no means should be actually *owned*. Do not even think about spending your hard earned money on an album that is completely devoid of songwriting and instead focuses around a bunch of pointless, unorganized and uncreative electronic sounds. Don't even TRY to convince me this is some kind of ambient masterpiece either or I'll laugh my butt off. Just because George Harrison was a member of the most popular rock band in the whole wide world shouldn't grant him a free pass to release such hogwash either. You don't go from \"Taxman\" to \"Something\" to... this. No sir.\n\nApparently George didn't realize there's a clever way of using electronic sounds- that being, to use them *occasionally* and *creatively*. The studio sounds George is using here would be totally appropriate for about 60 seconds in the context of an interesting pop song. 44 straight minutes doesn't work and doesn't make me a very happy person. Oh well, just disregard this album from existence.\n\n\"No Time or Space\" is *25 stinkin' minutes* of electronic noises and utter nonsense. Just for fun, let me describe what this stuff sounds like. The first couple minutes sounds like an air pump filling up a tire at a gas station while a wintery wind storm is taking place in the woods in the background. Shortly after I hear what sounds like a fly buzzing around a lamp post (perhaps distracted by all the unavoidable noise). After that I hear sirens- perhaps an emergency involving a suicide roof jumper because an unfortunate soul just couldn't TAKE this junk anymore. After that I hear what sounds like cars going around a race track while bottle rockets are exploding in the night sky. Desert highway truck horns and pinball machines finish things up. There you have it. Impressed? Please, don't be a victim of sarcasm and answer \"yes\".\n\n\"Under the Mercy Wall\" is an entirely appropriate song title. I have no time for this, nor would I ever devote space to it either. It begins with boat horns and cat birds squeaking in the background. This ain't no father and son fishing trip unfortunately. I almost wish it was. Heck, a fishing trip with a serial killer would be more exciting than this. Do I hear synthesized... horses? Is that what that particular moment is a few minutes in? I'm not betting any money on that horse to win anything. Knowing my luck it'll probably be ripe and ready for the Kentucky Derby. At least somewhere around the middle creates a nice feeling of floating in outer space. Overall, this song features a significantly less amount of crappy electronic sounds compared to \"Under the Mercy Wall\". Lord have mercy on my soul... and yours too if you're able to actually get any kind of enjoyment out of this.","Product: Live Album' (1970) Captures the Grand Funksters During their Early Years Together and Presents the Strength of What Got them Widespread Popularity in the First Place: Strong, Energetic Live Performance. Features the Songs 'Are You Ready', 'Mark Say's Alright', 'Inside Looking Out', 'Mean Mistreater' and More.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: live Grand Funk is fantastic\n\nReview: After searching for this album in my record collection for a good 20 minutes and not having any luck finding it, I realized that all this time it was actually sitting under a bunch of Beatles albums beside the stereo, haha!\n\nI LOVE this album. More specifically, I love the raw energy, frantic guitar work, and just the atmosphere of the early 70's rock scene. I'm only 25 years old, so I wasn't around back when this album was recorded, but the music here certainly convinces me that rock and roll back then was truly phenomenal. Now it's hard listening to studio Grand Funk albums after playing this double live album (on one CD- hooray!)\n\nI don't get how Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple have a reputation for being the heaviest bands around back then, when this album (along with the James Gang's Live in Concert) are solid proof that there were certainly other bands in the early 70's who could rock JUST as hard. People aren't listening to old live albums anymore!\n\nThe tracks on this album are the best you could ask for because there's no softer numbers like \"Closer to Home/I'm Your Captain\" and no commercial stuff \"We're an American Band\". Instead, it's all about fairly long guitar jams that are many times *extremely* loud.\n\nYou know, I was a troublemaker as a child who went around destroying my parents record collection, but thank GOD I didn't mess up this one! A masterpiece for Grand Funk Railroad.","Product: CD\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: my favorite Renaissance album\n\nReview: NOTHING could have prepared me for the excellence found throughout Scheherazade & Other Stories. Also, nothing could have prepared me for the difficulty in pronouncing the word \"Scheherazade\", haha!\n\nDo I love this album from beginning to end? Do I ever! Looking for a weak point would take me an eternity to find, because if there is one, I honestly have trouble spotting it.\n\nThe thing that really escalates this album above the other ones, in my opinion at least, is the way Annie Haslam really feels like she's locked in this time around. Her voice has always been fantastic, but something about her vocal melodies on this album just leaves me speechless.\n\n\"Trip To the Fair\" is amazing on some indescribable level. It sounds almost like a nursery rhyme in spots, thanks to the gentle way the piano sails along. The classical-like complexity of the 3-minute intro makes it seem more sophisticated than it would initially seem. From here... it just blows me away. Annie's vocals come in, and this might be the catchiest vocal melody I've ever heard on a Renaissance album. \"A trip to the fair... but nobody was there!\" Annie sings this line in such a realistic way that it makes you feel abandoned almost, like you're really there. I can just imagine taking a trip alone to a fair, arriving at night and... the only thing there is a locked gate, turned off lights and the sound of the wind blowing. Just a phenomenal song.\n\n\"Vultures Fly High\" would have made a wonderful pop single. It contains another fantastic vocal melody, but with a fast pace (well, faster than most Renaissance songs). It might not be the flashiest song on the album, but it proves Renaissance had something doing good here. \"Ocean Gypsy\" has some rather poetic and inspiring lyrics, and quality vocals as well. The piano solo in the middle is truly something else. It almost reminds me of the Genesis classic \"Firth of Fifth\" but it's not quite the same. Alright, these lyrics probably don't appeal to me a whole lot since it's basically romantic poetry (at least, it sure seems like it) but I don't care.\n\nBut then... then... THEN comes the 24-minute minutes of perfection to end this album. Speaking of Genesis, I might even put this 24-minute track above \"Supper's Ready\" and that's not necessarily an easy task for me since \"Supper's Ready\" was always a high point for me (mainly because it was the first prog epic I've ever experienced, so the memories are precious and unforgettable) but *oh my freaking goodness* does \"Song of Scheherazade\" do everything right. For 24 straight minutes, all the arrangements are put together in just the right way, Annie's voice builds and soars in all the appropriate places, and it's just a perfect song to me. I can see myself listening to this song over and over on headphones all night long... because that's actually what I did last night!\n\nIf you even think for a moment you want to be a progressive rock fan, I HIGHLY recommend this album. It's nothing short of brilliant.","Product: RENAISSANCE Azure D'Or CD\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: good enough to recommend, but the prog elements? they be gone!\n\nReview: Renaissance finally gave it up- the orchestration and the multi-part progressive rock suites. Well now, that's a shame, but the good news is that Annie Haslam is still more than capable of delivering exceptional vocal melodies, and she even elevates her range on several occasions, so it's basically Annie that takes the cake on Azure d'Or. Oh, and I actually like the \"pretend\" orchestration that dominates this album. Yes its replacement consists of dated late 70's instrumentation, but I don't mind it too much. It's still a disappointment knowing the band is capable of much more.\n\n\"Jekyll & Hyde\" mainly focuses on a really repetitive vocal melody that's probably not quite as simplistic as I originally believed. It's a harmless melody, and fairly catchy. Nothing like what the band had done previously of course, but good enough by 1979's \"Let's all punk out and ditch prog forever!\" period. \"The Winter Tree\" contains a simple but addicting vocal melody. It doesn't really remind me of winter trees, but who cares. Now the next song certainly reminds me of angels. \"Only Angels Have Wings is yet *another* in a long line of simple vocal melodies, and it reminds me of the Turtles classic \"Happy Together\" in the verse, but hey, as long as these simple melodies continue to actually catch my attention, I'll except them with open arms.\n\n\"Golden Key\" is where Annie goes all out and delivers a showtune-like vocal performance. Very theatrical with late 70's Genesis vibes making effective appearances in all the right spots. \"Forever Changing\" is the weak point for me. Barely enjoyable enough vocals in both the verse and chorus- pretty forgettable, really. The problem here is that Annie is being waaaay too safe. The chorus sounds familiar because it seems to me she wasn't really interested in taking advantage of her talents. Unless she really thinks it's a good song, but eh... I doubt it. I love the new wave, Kim Wilde-sounding intro in \"Secret Mission\" and what's interesting is that the verse melody sounds suspiciously similar to a Who song from their Tommy album. The chorus has that worldly vibe that seems popular these days. The chorus actually reminds me of that song \"Kiss from a Rose\" but PLEASE don't hate me for bringing it up- I know some people despise that song. \"Kalynda (A Magical Isle)\" has a calm atmosphere and romantic vocals. Nothing truly remarkable.\n\n\"The Discovery\" contains a spectacular intro as far as presenting me with an imaginative scenery. It reminds me of a haunted playground or ghost ship before leading into these Mega Man-like synth lines (Mega Man's a video game in case you don't know... but you should if you're a fan of frantically shooting reploids in a robot-dominated world!). It's highly melodic. For an instrumental, it's not bad. \"Friends\" has a melody not much different from \"Secret Mission\" and the lyrics are meaningful too- it's about caring, friendships, and those sorts of positive topics. \"The Flood at Lyoms\" has a decent vocal melody that actually improves the more I hear it, so it makes me think it's the only really complex moment on the entire album, vocal melody-wise. I like how the chugging rhythm suddenly switches into a bombastic chorus, once again giving me images of a... hmmm, of a what, exactly? A train travelling to a performance theater? Maybe, lol.\n\nOverall, Renaissance ends a classic stretch of 70's albums on a satisfying note, but please, pick up the previous five or six Renaissance albums before this one to get a real taste of this fantastic band.","Product: Track List:\n1. Terrapin\n2. No Good Trying\n3. Love You \n4. No Man's Land \n5. Dark Globe \n6. Here I Go \n7. Octopus \n8. Golden Hair \n9. Long Gone \n10. She Took a Long Cold Look \n11. Feel \n12. If It's in You\n13. Late Night\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: it's not pink floyd, but it's close\n\nReview: While there's certainly some good, \"far out\" psychedelic songs on the Madcap Laughs, it's actually a pretty mellow style of psychedelia compared to Floyd's Piper at the Gates of Dawn album. I guess this is to be expected from a solo album (after all, most solo albums released by a key band member connected to a distinctive rock band is basically just recreating the same kind of stuff that made them popular with their band, but with less interesting results- *usually* this is how it works).\n\nSyd Barrett was trying hard to reach for some incredibly diverse styles on the Madcap Laughs, and while he succeeds for the most part (since it's easy to tell most of the songs apart) I'm not quite convinced he's the \"master of psychedelic songwriting\" that many people have been trying to convince me he is.\n\nHe's more like a solid musician with some exciting -though fairly inconsistent- musical ideas. I think compared to the early period of Pink Floyd, only about half of this album stands in the same league. Keep in mind I'm not a huge fan of early Pink Floyd like most people are, and also remember that the Madcap Laughs has the potential to become better with repeated listens.\n\nAt least most of the songs are short and sweet (except for \"Terrapin\" which should have been a couple minutes shorter). It's a good song, but that vocal melody doesn't need to linger on *that* long. At least the rest of the album contains relatively strong vocal melodies, some of which are better than early Pink Floyd, others a tad worse. At least this album *sounds* like the Piper at the Gates of Dawn period of Pink Floyd. That alone is a very good thing.\n\nI can't deny this stuff was probably pretty darn incredible back in the late 60's when it first came out. There wasn't anything like it back then. It's hard to really fault this stuff- you either like your psychedelic pop music to sound like this, or you think it's horribly dated and too goofy to take seriously. That's what made the late 60's a special time period.","Product: Monsters Of Rock ~ Vol. 1-Monsters Of Rock\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: not what it could have been\n\nReview: Back in the late 90's they promoted this album ALL THE TIME while I was watching WWE wrestling (called WWF back then). It eventually got to the point where I simply HAD to buy the thing to see what the big deal was.\n\nUnfortunately, while it was really appealing to me at first, it really began to lose its charm as the years past, as I began to find out the hit songs weren't the ONLY things these bands should be remembered for. In fact, these songs seriously aren't as good as many of the songs you'd find on any one of the Ratt, Quiet Riot, or Poison albums. Why should we remember *just* the hits? We shouldn't.\n\nFurthermore, artists like Alice Cooper and Judas Priest shouldn't be on here in the first place, because they're mostly early to mid 70's rock artists, and this collection of tracks should mainly focus on the 80's, and NO other decade because the two decades are entirely different from each other. It doesn't matter to me if these songs are not from the 70's- Alice Cooper and Judas Priest are artists from the 70's, and that's the point.\n\nI think they could have found a better selection of songs to stick on here. \"Round and Round\" is NOT the best Ratt song, and \"Every Rose Has Its Thorn\" is not the best Poison song either. Not only are these NOT the best songs, but they also don't quality as the heaviest songs from either band either. The same applies to Great White and Whitesnake (though no one can deny \"Here I Go Again\" is a fantastic song- even people who normally hate heavy metal agree it's a great song).\n\n\"Hold on Loosely\" is a pretty bad song though. .38 Special is MUCH better than that. \"We're Not Gonna Take It\" kind of stinks as well. I have a greatest hits disc from Twisted Sister that has a lot of better songs, such as \"I Am, I'm Me\" and \"I Wanna Rock\".\n\nLuckily it DOES have some great songs such as \"Cult of Personality\", \"Nobody's Fool\", and \"Sister Christian\". It's just not a flawless collection. It's just an attempt to remember the 80's and act like the hits are the only songs worth remembering because of all the singles released in the decade. There's plenty of album bands from the 80's. Don't forget that.","Product: Genesis founding member's first solo release - originally issued in 1977. Features Phil Collins on vocals & Mike Rutherford on guitar, bass & keyboards.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: very inconsistent leading to several uninteresting moments\n\nReview: Update- May 28, 2012\n\nWell guys, I gave this album another listen yesterday afternoon and this time my feelings have changed for the better. While I still strongly believe the instrumental portions of Selling England By the Pound are better than most of what's presented here, that doesn't mean the Geese & the Ghost is terrible in comparison. Perhaps the strong tone of my review was *too* strong meaning, I was sort of calling this crap in comparison. I was wrong in both the negative tone and the instrumental portions.\n\nHowever I still feel the 15-minute title song is VERY repetitive, too reminiscent of a soundtrack, and drags for the first half (especially \"Part One\") whereas the stuff from SEBTP is much much more adventurous and diverse with the arrangements, but it would be impossible to deny the several moments of beauty that occupy it as well. \"Henry: Portraits From Tudor Times\" is not only an improvement but the best song on the album. I really like *this* instrumental playing. Very melodic, tasteful and captures the feeling of walking in the wilderness with adventure set in mind. The vocal melody-focused tunes are probably slighter weaker than the stuff you'd find on a late 70's Phil Collins Genesis album, but not by much.\n\nOh well, here's my old review (but my rating is now a 4 out of 5 instead of a 3). Please forgive my harsh tone- the Geese & the Ghost IS a good album after all.\n\nThe Geese & the Ghost has to be seen in my eyes as a minor disappointment. The reviews here on amazon -as well as other places- led me to believe this album would be a continuation of sorts from the classic Genesis years (Nursery Cryme through A Trick of the Tail).\n\nIn a way it is, I suppose, but Anthony Phillips honestly doesn't have the instrumental abilities that the members of Genesis had. WAY too often while listening to The Geese & the Ghost, I'm forced to endore what strikes me as an obvious secondrate attempt to imitate the instrumental portions from Selling England By the Pound. Without a doubt, that's the one album that immediately stands out to me when making a comparison.\n\n\"The Geese & the Ghost (Parts 1 and 2)\" are desperate attempts to copy classic Genesis songs such as the intro from \"The Musical Box\" and \"After the Ordeal\" with significantly less interesting results. Why are they less interesting? Because they aren't nearly as melodic or adventurous for one thing, and instead are obviously more simplistic and repetitive attempts to replicate the style of Selling England By the Pound. The acoustic guitar seems to be stuck in an unsatisfactory groove and simply can't be put in the same league as a classic Genesis song. After 15 minutes without any serious progression, I get rather bored. The entire \"Henry: Portraits From Tudor Times\" suite is constantly distracting me with gently performed acoustic guitar work too soft, quiet and barely noticeable to make any kind of impact.\n\nI find it interesting that Anthony Phillips would attempt to copy an album that was released three years after he left the band. It makes me think the moment he heard Selling England By the Pound he had an overwhelming desire to get some sweet revenge and attempt to repeat the same idea (or perhaps, pick up where Genesis left off with A Trick of the Tail before the synths became overbearing). Well, it doesn't work but it's a noble attempt. I mean, who would have guessed that the original drummer actually had it in him to create an instrumental album of pretty, simplistic instrumental melodies resembling classical music? A surprising move to say the least.\n\nOh well. If you're absolutely in desperate need to hear more of that classic Genesis sound despite some repetitive simplicity interferring with the enjoyment factor, by all means, check out Anthony Phillip's The Geese & the Ghost. I think I'll stick with my copy of Selling England By the Pound since I don't like the idea of settling for a mediocre, more basic attempt at copying a legendary band (being Genesis of course).","Product: Dc Ac ~ Let There Be Rock\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: let there be MORE than rock\n\nReview: Wow, this is one powerful rock album. It pack a serious MEAN and NASTY punch. It's raw, straight forward, simple rock and roll with the volume turned WAY up. But wait! That's not all! The band members also give us some highly enjoyable guitar soloing in the title song. This band was truly at their very best in the early days.\n\nPick it up today and hear how AC/DC used to sound a long time ago when rock and roll was all about innovation and power. Why didn't hard rock bands hold back in the early days? Because it would have been boring to do so. AC/DC knew that's not the direction they wanted to take their music. They didn't want to be the first band to hold back their amazing talent.\n\nWhen albums this good are released, you just don't know what to DO with yourself. You can't believe the speakers in your home haven't rocked all the way across the living room and into the coffee table, knocking off flowers and coffee cups. A guitar sound SO LOUD it almost cracks the speakers in half and leaves you begging for more, despite the damage you know the guitar playing will cause to your stereo system.\n\nBut you know what? We keep coming back to it. We keep coming back to the music and we make it the greatest music we've ever heard in our lives.","Product: The James Gang's debut LP, Yer' Album, was very much a first record and very much a record of its time. The heavy rock scene of the period was given to extensive jamming, and four tracks ran more than six minutes each. The group had written some material, but they were still something of a cover band, and the disc included their extended workouts on Buffalo Springfield's \"Bluebird\" and the Yardbirds' \"Lost Woman,\" the latter a nine-minute version complete with lengthy guitar, bass, and drum solos. But in addition to the blues rock there were also touches of pop and progressive rock, mostly from Walsh who displayed a nascent sense of melody, not to mention some of the taste for being a cutup that he would display in his solo career. Walsh's \"Take a Look Around\" must have made an impression on Pete Townshend during the period before the album's release when the James Gang was opening for the Who since Townshend borrowed it for the music he was writing for the abortive Lifehouse follow-up to Tommy. If \"Wrapcity (i.e., Rhapsody) in English,\" a minute-long piano and strings interlude, seems incongruous in retrospect, recall that this was an eclectic era. But the otherwise promising \"Fred,\" which followed, broke down into a pedestrian jazz routine, suggesting that the band was trying to cram too many influences onto one record and sometimes into one song. Nevertheless, they were talented improvisers, as the open-ended album closer, Jerry Ragavoy and Mort Shuman's \"Stop,\" made clear. After ten minutes, Szymczyk faded the track out, but Walsh was still going strong. Yer' Album contained much to suggest that the James Gang, in particular its guitarist, had a great future, even if it was more an album of performances than compositions. ~ William Ruhlmann, Rovi\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: classic James Gang- you know it has to be good!\n\nReview: Here it is, Yer Album! An album intended for you and only you, haha. But seriously folks (hehe) Yer album is a classic. After a strange \"Introduction\" that doesn't really accomplish much (that's actually the name of the song) we're taken to \"Take a Look Around\" which is a FANTASTIC song! One of the prettiest vocal melodies Joe Walsh ever sang. \"Too many roads to walk, too many things to do, too many words to talk, moments too few\". The verse melody is actually better though and the part that REALLY makes my senses light up. Let me sing that part now! \"I don't think you knoooo-oo-oo-ow though, you've been told a million times. It's not clear to see, unleee-ee-ess you read between the lines\". Just a really beautifully sung melody. You will never see ME moping around either! Not anymore! I'm a new man. How about the spiritually uplifting guitar solo in the middle when the pace slows down? That's a very fitting and wonderful moment too. Reminds me of Duane Allman a little bit.\n\n\"Funk #48\" is next. I know, it's not exactly \"Funk #49 but golly darn it, it's close! Just one number off! After a brief display of dictionary reading spelling bee recital wordplay in the beginning, the song shifts into a rhythm that resembles their classic \"Funk #49\" but with drastically different bluesy vocals with a boisterous onslaught of funky drum beats and guitar bits. The vocal mannerisms are very strange in a way I can't say I've ever experienced before but the entire piece is really memorable. Not sure what it is exactly that makes this song so appealing. It just works really well.\n\n\"Bluebird\" is a drastic shift in mood and arrangements. Gentle, \"Long and Winding Road-like\" (Beatles reference) intro leads into another brief 5-second Beatles comparison with the guitar playing (reminds me of a song from Revolver I can't recall at the moment) before the wonderful vocal melody comes in. I know this song! Buffalo Springfield is a genius band. I highly recommend Buffalo Springfield as much as I recommend classic James Gang. The groovy bass work is Grand Funk-like. Hey that's a compliment! I LOVE the melodic guitar solo! Every note of this solo makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck.\n\nI apologize for all the similarities to other bands I keep making, but I have to drop another one- \"Lost Woman\" has a vocal melody that totally reminds me of early Blue Oyster Cult. Please know that these comparisons are not intended to make the James Gang look bad, like they're ripping off other rock artists. I know they're not. I honestly could care less who resembles who anymore. Once upon a time I cared about such a thing but no more! It's the dawning of a new day. A fresher perspective on life! Seriously though, this version of \"Lost Woman\" is terrific however let's not pretend it can compete with their superior live version released a couple years later on their James Gang in Concert album. However this version is most certainly worthy of hearing too. The guitar jam chugs along in a speedy way for a few minutes until the tone suddenly turns darker as the bass gets a nice workout too. The drum solo rocks my socks off. Everything about this jam is actually on the same level as something Cream would do, believe it or not. Now remember how awesome Cream was live? I don't remember of course since I wasn't born at the time they were dazzling the world with their crazy good live performances, but some of you out there probably remember! Well the point I'm making here and the reason I bring up Cream is because this particular jam IS in the same league! And you can take that to the bank.\n\n\"Stone Rap\" is snoring, talking, repetitive rehearsal type stuff. Nothing really worthwhile but it leads into the haunting \"Collage\". This feels like the type of song you'd play while standing on a mountaintop starring down at the world below right before a major life changing event is about to occur. It has that feel you know? The guitar strumming with the orchestration is a really weird but awesome idea. Alright so the vocals are entirely based around one melody but it's a good one! \"I Don't Have the Time\" (to write amazon reviews anymore... hehe, just kidding!) is next. WOW I totally know this song but not this particular version. This song scares the heck out of me, no kidding. This version even contains the hauntingly deep graveyard-like \"Aaaaah, aaaaah, aaaaah!\" middle section that reminds me of a bad drugged out Uriah Heep fantasy. I like how the lyrics have a \"take no crap/who cares if I'm different from you\" attitude about them. \"Wrapcity in English\" is beautiful piano classical type stuff that you'd hear in a theater or perhaps a scene from a film showing a man walking home depressed in a rainstorm. The dark cloud always follows one person and no one else!\n\n\"Fred\" begins with a set of notes VERY similar to the theme song from the Wonder Years... which of course is Joe Cocker's version of \"With a Little Help From My Friends\". Just a coincidence there I'm positively sure. The vocal melody here is very drugged out sounding, but catchy and memorable too. Something about the downbeat way the vocal melody is sung with the drums gives it a unique style. Love the jazzy bass solo that leads into a super melodic guitar solo. \"Stop\". In the name of love! Nah it's not that song. Not that I'd mind if it WAS that song, hehe. Diana Ross is pretty good too. She's no Joe Walsh though. Anyway this song is over 12 minutes long! Making Yer Album nearly 50 minutes long.\n\nAnyway this version of \"Stop\" is significantly less heavy compared to their live version released shortly after. Not that I mind. Truthfully I think their live version of this great song is slightly TOO loud and heavy to the point it slightly interferes with my enjoyment of the song. Just slightly though. Hey I imagine their James Gang in Concert album was somewhat of a statement to prove they can rock with the best of them (and they succeeded too). The piano arrangements and the slower pace feels a little odd since I'm so used to the live version. Wow I seriously need to stop bringing up James Gang in Concert so much, haha. Sorry! It's just that when you nail a perfect live performance it NEEDS to be mentioned hard and heavy so more people will check it out! *hint hint!*\n\nAll this rambling and I still haven't really mentioned what \"Stop\" is like have I? Well to be 12 minutes long a lot needs to happen to make it a classic. And a lot *does* happen. A subtle build-up to a melodic guitar jam that intensifies slowly, piano playing along intently in the background, that Grand Funk-like fat bass sound holding the rhythm together, loose drumming. Wow though, the guitar playing is truly unforgettable. It's the most notable part of the jam. Alright I admit it *sigh*. This version smears the live version. There, I said it! It's not like there's any competition- the live version is only a few minutes long and serves mostly to set the mood. THIS however, is a monster of a guitar jam. The total experience. Yeah no competition whatsoever. It's amazing how much my attention span is totally lured into this jam without getting the urge to daydream even once (and I have a serious problem paying attention to anything, haha). The playing is *that* tight!\n\nYer album is deserving of the 50-plus reviews here on amazon. It makes me realize that it's not as uncommon of an album as I thought. What does the joke at the end mean? I don't get it. What's in California? :)","Product: With their second album Rides Again, the James Gang came into their own. Under the direction of guitarist Joe Walsh, the group -- now featuring bassist Dale Peters -- began incorporating keyboards into their hard rock, which helped open up their musical horizons. For much of the first side of Rides Again, the group tear through a bunch of boogie numbers, most notably the heavy groove of \"Funk #49.\" On the second side, the James Gang departs from their trademark sound, adding keyboard flourishes and elements of country-rock to their hard rock. Walsh's songwriting had improved, giving the band solid support for their stylistic experiments. What ties the two sides of the record together is the strength of the band's musicianship, which burns brightly and powerfully on the hardest rockers, as well as on the sensitive ballads. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: keep on riding down my CD player\n\nReview: This is one ride I hope never ends. It's a mystery to me why radio stations insist on playing only two James Gang songs all the time- \"Funk #49\" and \"Walk Away\". Granted, those are two very good songs, but you and I both know those aren't the ONLY good songs. The band was capable of some of the best hard rock jamming ever put on tape.\n\nThis album is probably their best of the classic period, even though I personally like \"Bang\" a lot more (sorry, I'm a big Tommy Bolin fan). You really should check out this album, or better yet, the live album that contains a very perfect track selection released around the same time called \"Live in Concert\". That's a fantastic live record. Buy it now, or buy Rides Again. You win either way.\n\nMaybe one day radio will understand how important it is to have a huge variety of music selections instead of the same two songs over and over again. To have memories you need to build some memories, and starting here is a fine introduction.","Product: Tracklist\n1\t Da Da Man\t7:15\n2\t Early In The Morning\t11:13\n3\t Don't Care\t12:29\n4\t Toad\t12:59\n5\t Aiko Biaye\t13:01\n6\t Man Of Constant Sorrow\t3:57\n7\t Do What You Like\t11:47\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: a great album with a few flaws\n\nReview: \"Da Da Man\" begins this live 80 minutes performance by Ginger Baker and gang, and it's quite the instrumental workout! Keyboards jam for a couple minutes, guitars do as well, and even a saxophone near the end. It's pretty good but honestly if you're someone who's a big fan of say, the live stuff from Wheels of Fire, please don't expect anything of that caliber. This is because Air Force isn't strictly a guitar or drum album with psychedelic-tinged vocal melodies thrown in. Nah this is something jazzier and more instrumentally diverse but not necessarily better.\n\n\"Early in the Morning\" is an eerie chant almost. Not what I was expecting at all, and I mean that as a good thing! Diversity is always welcomed even when it goes down territories I never would have believed, haha. The eerie violin riff that reminds me of lumberjacks for some reason that you hear in the intro is appropriate because it soon leads to an eerie set of vocals and a rather messy but appealing jazzy section with a violin jam. As someone who loves the violin to pieces, I can't help but feel somewhat disappointed. I mean it's such a great musical instrument but either the playing isn't as good as it could have been or perhaps the muddy production is the culprit here (at least on this occasion). Whatever the reason, the notes are somewhat incoherent. The mellow flute solo that comes after is melodic and pretty awesome at least. Soon the flute jam escalates into a heavier and even better solo. So the song is saved by the flutes and the jazzy rhythm in the second half.\n\n\"Don't Care\" opens with a guitar riff not much different from Jimi Hendrix's \"The Power of Soul\" and a catchy vocal melody by Steve Winwood. I'm pretty sure I heard a version of this song somewhere before. It soon morphs into a keyboard jam that's kinda unorganized initially until the jazzy rhythm comes in and now the keyboard solo is worthwhile. So far this is certainly a jazzy affair! Not that I mind but I do wish it wasn't so upfront since I tend to prefer Ginger Baker when he's centered more on rocking out and dazzling us with some tasty and sophisticated drum techniques or when the other band members are contributing with guitars. In other words, give me Cream, haha! I guess there's no point in hiding what I really want huh. :) Anyway the saxophone jam is pretty good but WAY too long for my tastes, and now it's obvious this entire piece is all about Traffic-era Steve Winwood anyway (not that I mind at all).\n\nAfter such an extended sax jam, the last thing I want to hear is more of the same but unfortunately I don't have a choice since the first few minutes of \"Toad\" contains the same amount of intense jazzy sax work that we heard on the previous track. When the drum solo finally arrives (and you knew it was coming right? I mean \"Toad\" IS pretty legendary nowadays as being one of the best drum solos in history!) this is actually a really good solo. Amazingly it's just as intense and varied (well I mean as varied as a drum solo can be) as the famous Wheels of Fire version. Awesome! It even borrows a few parts from that particular legendary drum solo. \"Aiko Biaye\" begins with some African tribal-like chants that are probably here because of Ginger's little adventure through Africa at the time. It soon morphs into *rages* another saxophone jam. ANOTHER ONE! Already this album's biggest flaw is clearly its overusing of the sax. But, this jam is actually really awesome. As soon as the guitar comes in things change. The sax doesn't overstay its welcome this time. The tribal chants are really unique and melodic when they return just like they were before, so all is well with \"Aiko Biaye\" overall. The main riff sure sounds like the one from Emerson, Lake & Palmer's \"Knife Edge\" but it's probably a coincidence.\n\nBut wait! Maybe it's not a coincidence! \"Man of Constant Sorrow\" (that's me! A sorrowful sad man I've become) is a country ballad of sorts with singing that resembles Greg Lake from Emerson, Lake & Palmer! That man has a GREAT voice, and so does this guy! It's a relief hearing a simple song like this after almost an hour of lengthy mostly saxophone jams. \"Do What You Like\" is a nice version but the \"doooo whaaat you like\" chorus is a bit off to me probably because Steve Winwood was just in better form (or perhaps studio trickery was playing a part here) when he created this great song on his Blind Faith album. Then again it doesn't sound off on repeated listens. Hmmm! The keyboard jam is really memorable. Ginger Baker is a master on the drum solo once again even though it feels like he's using \"Toad\" leftovers. What *can't* that man do on his drum kit? The song kind of ends on a limp jazzy note by fizzling out instead of in grand fashion. I guess I shouldn't be surprised by this point. Ginger and company must have been like \"Turn up the jazz!\" for this performance. \"Doin' It\" (doing what, hmmm? Performing?) is a sloppy sax-heavy jam just like a good portion of the stuff found on the first half. Not a bad song however. It has a strange way of being more interesting with repeated listens.\n\nOverall well Air Force's biggest flaw is obviously the abundance of saxophone. WAY too much saxophone. It often drowns out the other instruments. That's the reason I'm not giving the album 5 stars. Otherwise the quality of the performance is strong, the production isn't nearly as bad as people say (at least during the vocal parts ) and overall it's memorable.","Product: Harrison's 1968 solo debut for Apple & the soundtrack to thefilm of the same name. Out of print in the U.S. 19 tracks.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: what a pleasant surprise... or not so pleasant- you be the judge of that\n\nReview: Wonderwall Music is *completely 100% different* from anything George Harrison has created since. It's completely dominated with sitars, flugelhorns and who knows what else. Needless to say, it doesn't resemble All Things Must Pass, haha. NOTHING like it! Get that thought out of your mind right now or you won't be able to appreciate it!\n\n\"Microbes\" will test your patience by being 4 straight minutes of flugelhorn solos, however do NOT make the mistake of believing the entire album will resemble this. I almost made that mistake and gave up on the album. That would be a REALLY BAD idea! Anyway, I like how the rhythm in the background actually sounds somber like a terrible situation just occurred involving death. It's eerie. \"Red Lady Too\" is nothing but a piano melody, and it's beautiful. \"Tabla and Pakavaj\" features a sitar totally reminiscent of Harrison's work with the Beatles and specifically \"Within You, Without You\". Yes you *will* pick up on a remarkable similarity.\n\n\"In the Park\" is a sitar... jam? Nah, more like a melody with an enchanting atmosphere to boot. \"Drilling a Home\" (I *almost* said \"Drilling a Hole\" while thinking about the Beatles \"Fixing a Hole\") is a drastic departure from the rest of the album by FAR. It's a happy ragtime boogie. It's totally upbeat and danceable and just different from everything else on Wonderwall Music. Why is it here? I haven't a clue my friends! \"Guru Vandana\" is a fast-paced sitar and flugelhorn jam. It's REALLY good. \"Greasy Legs\" contains ominous experiments and... are those delicately performed keyboards? I think they are. Why the song got THAT for a title, well, I don't even want to know, haha.\n\n\"Ski-ing\" is nothing but a looping electric guitar riff. It's short of course (like most of the songs here) but it's inoffensive according to my tastes. Plus it's good to actually get away from all the India-influenced musical instruments and hear some good old fashioned rock and roll. \"Gat Kirwani\" is an exceptionally fast moving and melodic sitar solo. I love it.\n\nThe next song is the most diverse, experimental, craziest piece of uh... craziness that George Harrison has EVER laid down on tape. \"Dream Scene\" goes through an assortment of ideas, and not a single one resembles a dream. Hey, perhaps I was wrong for going in and expecting a dreamy pleasant ambient piece (that's what I get for listening to several Brian Eno albums!) Haha, it's NOTHING like that at all! Let me describe it in fine detail:\n\nThe beginning sounds remarkably similar to the Incredible String Band in both the arrangements and singing style before a gorgeous keyboard (or synth) melody comes next. If that's not enough, well, we're only getting started here! Around the 3 and a half minute mark, listen to George's next impressive and shocking experiment- resembling Miles Davis. I totally kid you not. It's brief, but it's there. Wow! Jazz and atmosphere! What a shocking change of pace! The song ends with harmonica and church bells. Now *that's* a song!\n\nThe beginning of \"Party Seacombe\" sounds like Electric Light Orchestra or perhaps Klaatu with the robotic voices (that are way ahead of their time considering this is a 60's album, might I add) and this is quite possibly the most melodic song here. It's overlong too because there's not much to it, and it's almost 5 minutes long. \"Love Scene\" features more sitars totally reminiscent of the beginning of \"In the Park\" but more melodic this time around and \"Crying\" sounds like, well, crying flugelhorns and nothing else. \"Cowboy Music\" is a generic western theme (that you've heard a million times- trust me on this one) and it's totally unnecessary to include something like this on an album that surely doesn't need it. It darn near ruins the flow of the album. I don't get it. By the way, hearing this particular version really reveals that the main melody sounds almost idential to the Christmas favorite \"Silent Night\". Why I'm just realizing this NOW we'll never know.\n\n\"Fantasy Sequns\" reveals that this album should have actually ended a few minutes earlier, because MORE flugelhorns appear and... I have to be honest- enough is enough of this. I almost want to take a point away from the overall rating for the album being a few minutes too long (and of course for including the dreaded \"Cowboy Music\") but I won't out of politeness. One nice person can make a difference. Anyway, this song is very strange. It's almost like party rock in its own distinct little way, but with, dary I say, emotionally sad leanings? Yes!\n\n\"On the Bed\" is at least SUPER melodic with the horns, and \"Glass Boy\" is TOTALLY AWESOME in the way the sitars are played. They are played in a really demanding, loud and outrageous style that I admire. \"Wonderwall To Be Here\" (haha, not clever enough there Georgie) is drastically different from the rest of the album- it features mellotrons and a melancholy piano melody, making comparisons to King Crimson natural and unavoidable. The album finally concludes with \"Singing Om\" and it's based around weird humming sounds creating a feeling of depression, and the flugelhorns are used to good effect here.\n\nWow what an album. It's no \"My Sweet Lord\" that's for sure, but for a taste of the culture of India combined with rock, you gotta give Wonderwall Music a listen and don't be surprised if you end up satisfied with the album overall.","Product: Brand New\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: solid songwriting is the key to success\n\nReview: War Child might have some people believing this where Jethro Tull started to fall apart for a short period with the songwriting before picking up the pace again a short time later. Or, people believe \"Bungle in the Jungle\" is the only worthwhile song. Not true either way.\n\nInstead it's a very good album that deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Aqualung, Stand Up, Thick as a Brick, Minstrel in the Gallery and Heavy Horses.\n\nThe title song features an oddly pleasant chorus, \"Sealion\" has some comical, yet entirely memorable, lyrics, \"Skating Away\" puts images in my head of someone, you guessed it- SKATING AWAY, haha. Jethro Tull always had a winter-like theme going on, at least it sounds that way to me. Perfect snowstorm weather! \"Bungle in the Jungle\" has a beautiful sound and lyrics you wanna sing along to no matter how old you are, and \"The Third Hoorah\" is a happy dance song that's about as catchy as a pop song can be. All in all, worth buying.\n\nOh, and looking at the album cover quickly, it looks like something Judas Priest would do!","Product: Kansas ~ Masque\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: a pretty great album\n\nReview: Get rid of the opening song which sounds like generic Foreigner and you have yourself a solid commercial progressive rock album.\n\nKansas seemed to focus more on a standard style of songwriting on Masque and ignore the prog rock elements the band preferred on the previous two albums. Not really a BAD thing of course, because most of the time I find myself loving the vocal melodies. The instrumental chops aren't there though, which is slightly disappointing to me. Oh sure \"The Pinnacle\" has plenty of instrumental parts, but it's a long wait to get to that song.\n\nStill, Kansas knew what was going on- they were becoming popular and gathering more and more fans with every release, so they probably needed to release an album like this with a more straight forward commercial edge. I'm just happy the songwriting doesn't suffer as a result.\n\nAlso, \"All the World\" sounds religious which is cool. Love the vocals. \"Icarus\" is awesome too. Great album.","Product: Unavailable in the U.S., his top 30 1982 album. Features 11tracks, including the classics 'Slit Skirts', 'Face Dances'and 'Stardom In Action'. An Atco release. The full title is'All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes'.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: pete gives us a great album\n\nReview: All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes' creation actually has a fascinating story behind it that you can read online. Pete discusses the meaning behind the album title by saying \"You can't hide what you're really like. If you're really a good person you can't hide it by acting bad, and if you're a bad person you can't hide it by acting good\". Pete goes on to mention that even heroes aren't really heroes if, using his example, someone like Clint Eastwood saves people by first killing 50 people, and how there's a strange parallel between the misuse of power and responsibility by inept politicians and the misuse of power and responsibility by people who are heroes. It's fascinating stuff!\n\nSo how's the music? Let's find out!\n\n\"Stop Hurting People\" opens with synths and vocals similar to any number of British pop/rock bands at the time such as Human League. Quality message but the synths are heavy, and Pete's not actually singing but rather speaking his true feelings (at least in the beginning) so it comes across as preachy. \"A love born once must soon be born again, a flame that died then cinders to be fanned, by the wind and thrown to flame, flames like tongues impassioned in a moments burst, tell me friend, why do you stand aloof from your own heart? The truth confronts you, the truth confronts you as the sea crushing without detail, impassioned and detached, killing with love and power in God's name, love conquers poses, love smashes stances, love crushes angles into black, so you without question know your first love is your last, and you will never you'll never, you'll never love again\". The female background singers are okay. I like the tone of this song- there's a lot of sincerity to the way Pete's speak/singing and the lyrics are the very definition of honesty. I enjoy his voice during the \"People, stop hurting people\" chorus.\n\n\"The Sea Refuses No River\" opens with a harmonica played rather strangely. \"I remember being richer than a king, the minutes of the day were golden, I recall that when the joint passed around, my body felt a little colder\"\" comes in. The chorus sounds a little hokey and theatrical in an over the top way \"The sea refuses no river, no pecking code, respected for the damned\" but it's okay. A striking lyric is \"I have seen a trace of strain in other's eyes, not spoken, I must admit that I enjoyed their pain, but this time it's me that's broken\". I actually like the way the harmonica plays with the percussion. This song's pretty light- the guitar riff in the background is tame. \"I demand for you and his this must be the time when we decide what freedom is, turn water into wine\" Some of the guitar and other arrangements in the middle are pretty good.\n\n\"Prelude\" is delicate with piano. \"Sometimes walking through the streets of this city, I see all the faces of the winners and the losers, why can't I see a change? Just one sign before I say goodbye?\" \"Face Dances Part Two\" is a song title that has me approaching it expecting either the best or worst (hey I love that who album and want it to be in the same category of awesomeness but I fear it might be a disappointment) but wait! I KNOW this song! I haven't heard this in years! \"Face dances tonight, fate chances moonlight\" Yes I remember this song! Love the semi-funky verse melody. I LOVE the way Pete's voice sails during the \"IIIII can only stare youuuu make me feel liiiike I don't ca-a-a-re\". and the way these two lines blend together at the end? Brilliant! That double the emotional intensity!\n\n\"Exquisitely Bored\" opens with some quiet Dire Straits-like vocals and mood before picking up dramatically with the \"Exquisitely bored in California, we take our troubles to the crest, exquisitely bored in California, just like all the rest\" part. \"\"Take a drive up to LA in my gas guzzling limousine, there's a whole lot of crazy people up there living out a life in sweet ennui\" sounds EXACTLY like Mark Knopfler. \"The peasants here are starving, they look like barrels out in space, pray TV looks like pay TV to me, it's just a curse on the human race\". Pretty good song either way. \"Communication\" is CRAZY with its off the rails frantic beat! This song's really awesome and is like an even more intense \"The Quiet One\" (Who song). Listen to the way Pete sings this song- can I even put it into words? Let's find out if I can! I can't, so I'm quoting it from a lyrics page, haha. \"Comma comma-comma comma-comma comma-ca-ca-ca-ca, commu-a commu-a commu-a commun communicate!\" I'm probably way off with this comparison, but the vocals and pace sort of remind me of the way Peter Gabriel sings \"The Knife\".\n\n\"Stardom In Action\" is a normal song. Heh, finally something normal! Not saying the previous stuff is too weird to enjoy- no not that at all! Just saying this song's pretty normal compared to what's been playing so far. \"Stardom I want a hit, want my tan, want my cash, want my innocence, stardom I want a script, want my band, want my stash want omnipotence, I'll go where the senescent soldier retires, and shiver in south California, watch the storms and tangled wires, and rivers that meet on the corner, like some prostitute handing round the loot, I am not ashamed I will stake a claim!!, Stardom born in a trunk, got my home got my car got stability, stardom I'm Hollywood's son, all alone don't admire anonymity\"\n\n\"Uniforms\" has a cool new wave-sounding troop march that I like because it's different from the norm. I probably don't enjoy this song as much as others do- The way Pete sings \"People think we dress alike to segregate identities, pills or drink or puffing pipes in integrated entities, then they wink and snort their line and say how great their bently is\" sounds a little nonchalant and uninteresting, but there's SO many vocal tricks going on throughout the song that I can easily overlook that one part. I enjoy the line \"They feel so warm when they confirm, they say that nakedness is what our Lord intended, when we stand naked then we all appear the same, but it's just faking it if we all try pretending, are we just making all our prayers in the rain, heaven knows I need new clothes\". Why does the guitar riff that begins \"North Country Girl\" sound so familiar? \"When you travel to the green hills of Ayr, where the sea breaks windows on the borderline, remember me to a girl who lives there, for she once was a true love of mine, please see for me that her red hair is long, and flows and curls down to her back and breast, please see for me that her red hair is long, for that's the way I remember her best\" Love the \"North country girl, oh oh oh!\" chorus. This is a snappy pop song! \"Please let me know if she remembers me at all, a hundred times I've hoped and prayed that way up there near the Roman wall, she didn't suffer when the fall sprayed\".\n\nOh I know \"Somebody Saved Me\" as the bonus track from Face Dances. I've always loved the opening line- \"I stood at the door beside her but she wouldn't let me pass, I was such a bore and I lied to her, I said I didn't really want her a**\", haha! This song always sounded very poetic and gives me images of a day that starts off rainy, but then Pete finds the day more promising as the sun comes out later. Yeah... not particularly interesting when I put it into words, LOL! This isn't the same as the Who's version but close enough with more of a Peter Frampton-like light feel to it, and I always wondered why this song was placed on the end of a Who album because it honestly doesn't sound like the Who at all. \"Somebody saved me from a fate worse than heaven\" is a curious line. Not sure if that's supposed to be a good or bad thing! I'm guessing this song is about Pete's well-known drug issues but it's probably relationship stuff too- \"\"Cuz if I'd had her for just an hour I'd have wanted her forever\". Makes me think Pete was getting involved with a woman that would have taken him down the wrong path.\n\n\"Slit Skirts\" is dramatic in a Who kind of way which is really cool. I'm pretty sure I've heard this song before. In fact I KNOW I have with the \"Slit skirts, Jeanie never wears those slit skirts, I don't ever wear no ripped shirts, can't pretend that growing older never hurts\" chorus and LOVE the part \"Romance romance, why aren't we thinking up romance?\" This song sounds *really* dramatic with the piano- much different from everything prior to \"Somebody Saved Me\". \"I was just 34 years old and I was still wandering in a haze, I was wondering why everyone I met seemed like they were lost in a maze\". As someone who's 34 years old himself... yes, I can relate to this! The great lyrics continue- \"I'm number one in the home team but I still feel unfulfilled, a silent voice in her broken heart complaining that I'm unskilled, and I know that when she thinks of me she thinks of me as him, but unlike me, she don't work off her frustration in the gym, recriminations fester and the past can never change, a woman's expectations run from both ends of the range\".\n\nThere's some bonus tracks. \"Vivienne\" has some theatrical elements evident by the opening line \"Vivienne, I could have loved you, Vivienne you went too far\". Love the intense way Pete sings \"I'm kicking out in the tracks and the secrets of Babylon, I'm kicking down on the directions screw back to Abalone\". \"Dance It Away\" has guitar playing *very* similar to the Who's classic years of the early to mid 70's. The vocals however are more akin to early 80's Pete Townshend. \"They say we've got noting left (nothing on the ground), they say we used it all up (in the desert ground), got to be so careful with the rest (we'll break it down), or else the nukes are gonna play it tough, well I can't stand pessimistic (uptown), my creepers got to have their faith (wait around), there's only one answer I can think of (another sound) just get up and dance it away\" is a pretty good verse, and the \"Come on and dance it away\" chorus is pretty good too. \"Don't worry just dance it away!\" \"Man Watching\" has humorous lyrics. \"He's a fool let's you know who you say, you can see him coming a mile away, he's got his lapel cut just a little over displayed, and his shoes could be a problem, could get in the way!\" Haha! \"He was born in the future, tomorrow we can bring another for the new world, tomorrow we will bring another soul, he was born in the future, he's getting born here sometime soon, getting born in the future, he may have made up this rule\".\n\nI must say this album is REALLY impressive! Pete Townshend proves he's a top-notch songwriter. I honestly don't know why radio stations never played the music from this album more often back in the day. Even to this day many of these songs should be radio favorites if you think about it, because the music's really good. Strange that's not the case. Anyway the songwriting is REALLY strong throughout this album so I highly recommend it.","Product: Digitally remastered reissue of their 1977 double livealbum in a double slimline jewelcase. 18 tracks, including'Brown Sugar', 'Happy', 'Tumbling Dice' and 'It's Only Rock'N' Roll'. 1998 Virgin release.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: quite a good album\n\nReview: I seriously think many of the songs on this live Stones album are better than their studio versions. In fact, 80% of these songs are better than the studio versions, in my opinion.\n\nSome people give Love You Live a low grade because they think the music lacks energy, excitement and the whole live experience. In my opinion, that's not true. There's PLENTY of rock and roll to be found here. It might not have the same dirty/bluesy sound that the early Stones did, but it certainly contains the kind of excitement you'd expect from the worlds greatest rock and roll band.\n\nIf you like live classic rock, and think the Stones are one of the best bands, you can't go wrong with this album. You really can't. The only complaint I can find is that the version of \"Fingerprint Files\" isn't quite as good as the version found on the It's Only Rock and Roll album (because this version doesn't sound funky to me). Other than that, it's a completely good time.\n\n\"Honky Tonk Woman\" and \"You Can't Always Get What You Want\" are drastically improved here, in terms of Mick's vocals and the REALLY rockin' guitar solos. What an album!","Product: His 1973 Columbia Records debut-and first charting album.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: sing us a song\n\nReview: I can't believe Billy Joel's Piano Man hasn't become a classic album that everyone needs to own. We're talking about a solid collection of songs. Some of the songs here sound like something Barry Manilow would do, except of course, in the typical Billy Joel songwriting style.\n\n\"worse comes to worse\" HAS to be one of his most underrated songs. I love that one. \"captain jack\" is another song I can listen to over and over and get caught up in the smokey atmosphere and quiet vocals, until the loud chorus comes crashing in. It's awesome.\n\nI also love \"travelin' prayer\". It reminds me of \"the entertainer\". Maybe it influenced that song, I don't know.\n\nThe only reason I didn't give Piano Man 5 stars is because the title song is a bit overplayed, and I'm tired of it. It doesn't really interest me anymore. I understand it was the song to turn Billy Joel into a worldwide phenomenon, but I don't care for it much anymore. The rest of the album rules.","Product: Digitally Remastered Reissue of their Album Originally Released in 1970.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: a parachute of greatness\n\nReview: Normally I disagree strongly with Rolling Stone magazine (to put it lightly) but in this particular case, Parachute really SHOULD have been a better selling album than it turned out to be. It really is a fantastic album.\n\nWhat's amazing to me is how drastically different the music on here is compared to S.F. Sorrow, but I guess that's to be expected since two whole years had passed since that album was made, and as we know, the music scene was changing VERY quickly back then in just a matter of months (maybe even weeks!).\n\nThe first six songs are some of the most beautifully written and extremely underrated late 60's-style pop songs ever laid down on tape. These songs remind me of an assortment of bands such as the Association, Love, the Kinks, the Turtles, and several others in the same camp. These songs do *not* sound at all like the heavier second half of the album, for instance. I love how each song flows perfectly into the next one without losing any of the magical flow. It's seriously about 10 minutes of total brilliance.\n\n\"Cries from the Midnight Circus\" has some really great guitar playing. This is definitely NOT anything like what you've heard the Pretty Things attempt just a few years before- now it sounds like the band wants to play hard rock in the same style as Steppenwolf or the Guess Who (yes, believe it or not, the Guess Who rocked the house occasionally).\n\nSounding similar to those two excellent bands is definitely NOT a bad thing, but it does make Parachute sound a bit dated by todays standards. It shows me why Parachute hasn't gone down as a classic. Of course, I personally could care less how dated an album sounds- it's the songwriting that counts. If the album's good, that's the only thing that really matters.\n\n\"Grass\" contains *beautiful* guitar playing in all the right places. It reminds me of a Wishbone Ash song that would come out a couple years later.\n\n\"Sickle Clowns\" is the highlight of the entire album. Amazing John Lennon-like soaring vocal range, magnificent guitar solos, a slight degree of \"messiness\" (and I mean that in an appealing way because it's beautiful) and just a spectacular song all around. Interesting that I hear a John Lennon similarity because in other spots I hear what sounds like Paul McCartney vocal mannerisms. I'm sure the band were big Beatles fans (like everyone was back then... and now for that matter).\n\n\"Miss Fay Regrets\" is probably the only weak point. A fairly forgettable rocker with a bland vocal melody.\n\nNo, this is not in the same league as S.F. Sorrow (how CAN it be? This is just really good hard rock and S.F. Sorrow is one of the greatest and most underrated concept albums ever made) but it comes darn close in spots.","Product: Reissue of their fifth album, which reached #13 in the U.K.when originally released in 1970. 15 tracks, including 'TheChildren Of Rarn' & 'The Wizard'. 1998 A&M Records release.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: nice blend of folk rock and slight progression\n\nReview: The self-titled debut under the name \"T Rex\" is a bit... odd. I'd label it as melodic, quiet folk rock created in a Nick Drake kind of way, and even enticing on numerous occasions thanks to a good knack for writing vocal melodies. The instrumental portions of the record need a bit of work, though.\n\nIt's not quite as polished songwriting-wise compared to Nick Drake's first album for example, but T Rex does contain a really nice pleasant atmosphere. For those who've been hearing T Rex's glam rock material all these years and wonder what it would be like to hear the band stripped down to basically sounding like an album recorded in somebody's home with only a few instruments, here it is in all its semi inconsistent glory.\n\nI think the album is pretty good overall, but no way is it a 5-star album. It has a few major flaws. First of all, \"The Wizard\" is 9 minutes of total madness and chaotic rambling. It does actually go somewhere for the first two minutes when a rather ominous sounding folk ditty gets under way, but that quickly dissolves and a display of Marc Bolan expanding his vocal range (when it's NOT even necessary to hear him constantly hitting those annoying high notes, might I add) really distracts from the psychedelic experience I imagine the band was going for.\n\nThe highlights are the shorter tracks which pretty much means the *rest* of the album. The stretch of songs from \"Diamond Meadows\" to \"Suneye\" is absolutely spectacular. My favorite song on the entire album is \"Beltane Walk\". Hearing this album, it doesn't sound like there's ANY signs of a powerful glam rock band just on the horizon and about to make history- instead it feels like a band still attempting to find itself in the world of evergrowing and original list of influential rock artists that were so dominate back in the day, and even resembling early David Bowie on several occasions.\n\nFor some reason, the first few songs don't move me one bit. Songs like \"Jewel\" feel like incomplete and barely acceptable filler, and it doesn't really improve until \"The Time of Love is Now\".\n\nThis is perhaps a more interesting listen for the sake of curiosity to discover what the band was like before the glam rock days. They were playing folk rock that ranges from relatively soft to slightly psychedelic, but nothing truly earth-changing and bizarre until Electric Warrior was unleashed on the world in 1971.","Product: V/A ~ Monster Ballads\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: every soft monster needs a hug\n\nReview: First of all, I am NOT usually a fan of ballads, especially discs that gather a variety of ballads and stick them all in one place. To me, that's WAY too much. My head can only absorb a couple ballads at a time, and more often than not, I need a few rockers placed between each of the ballads to change the mood.\n\nWith that said, I love Monster Ballads. Sometimes we can't explain why we love the things we love- we just do! This is clearly an example of that.\n\nSome of these songs have been played a lot when they were first released, such as \"Almost Paradise\", \"More Than Words\", and \"When I'm With You\". Other songs have been played more as the years have gone by, such as \"Heaven\", \"Is This Love?\", and \"Wind of Change\" (my personal favorite song). Actually, \"High Enough\" is probably my favorite song, with \"When I'm With You\" close behind.\n\nI know many people will turn their head at such a compilation, completely certain it's not worth the money. But man... I just really like this collection of tunes. Maybe it's the memories of the late 80's calling, or maybe the vocal melodies just connect with me. I really don't know why I like it so much. I really do think it's worth owning.","Product: A humble title, a smashing success-their #9 album from 1975! Saturday Night Special is, of course, a Skynyrd staple, and the rest of the album captures the original band in their prime. This remastered reissue adds new liners, new photos and two previously unreleased live bonus tracks ( Railroad Song; On the Hunt ) from the tour that followed the original release!\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Lynyrd Skynyrd's finest moment\n\nReview: Nuthin' Fancy is the most underrated album Lynyrd Skynyrd ever made. I love every single song. They basically brought back the energy that was lacking from Second Helping and made sure to keep the songwriting abilities firmly intact as well. When you combine energy with good songwriting, and hardly any radio exposure (except for one song) you're left with a very underrated album.\n\n\"Saturday Night Special\" is interesting to me because it shows the band bringing back the energy and excitement from something on the debut such as \"Gimme Three Steps\" and also featuring a rather odd, but very memorable, chorus.\n\nNow, here's where it gets interesting- some people think that's the only song on the album worth listening to, but guess what? The next four songs are even BETTER than the opening song. The guitar playing on \"Cheatin' Woman\" rules, and the vocals are very good as well. \"Railroad Song\" should have been a hit, \"I'm a Country Boy\" almost reminds me of a southern rock version of Dire Straits, and \"On the Hunt\" is just a typical Lynyrd Skynyrd song, but I say that as a GOOD thing.\n\nThis is probably the best album Lynyrd Skynyrd ever made. Better than the debut, and much better than Second Helping. No filler in sight in my opinion. I wish more bands were this consistently enjoyable. A MUST own, even for people who might not dig southern rock a whole lot. It's truly an underrated album.","Product: Reissue of the experimental rock icon's 1974 album. Nine tracks including 'Party Of Special Things To Do'.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: a commercial taste of the good Captain\n\nReview: First of all, isn't that a beautiful album cover? A close-up of a deer jumping forward. Well, I don't think it's a REAL deer. More like a Christmas ornament. Maybe it's Rudolph!\n\nAll joking aside, Captain Beefheart probably disappointed even his most dedicated fans around the country when in 1974, he decided to take his music in a more commercial rock direction, similar to what Eric Clapton did on his studio albums.\n\nWhy did Captain Beefheart make such a decision? I have no earthly idea. Pressure from the record company to release a hit song perhaps, or maybe he was just burnt out on all that experimenting (and who can blame him? I get burnt out just thinking about his previous albums, haha).\n\nHowever, the way I look at it is like this- obviously Bluejeans and Moonbeams isn't on the same level of experimentation as something like Trout Mask Replica, but it *is* definitely a listenable collection of songs. Had a band like the Eagles made an album like this, people would've been calling it a masterpiece and saying it's the best thing they ever made.\n\nThe guitar playing in songs like \"Captain's Holiday\" is very tastefully played. In fact, it immediately reminds me of Duane Allman. The guitarist is even going for the same sad and beautiful tones Duane used to perform so well. This song might also be compared to something Little Feat would do. While it's no \"Frownland\" or \"When Big Joan Sets Up\", it's still a pleasant mid 70's rock song with plenty of tasty guitar licks.\n\n\"Further Than We've Gone\" has more really beautiful guitar playing. In fact it's growing on me more and more every single time I play it. The title song is perhaps the highlight- very emotional vocals similar to \"Your Eyes Are a Blue Million Miles\" and yup, you guessed it- guitar playing to cry over- it's *that* good.\n\nWorst album of the good Captain's career? I highly doubt that, but if it happens to be his very worst album, I guess that proves how good he used to be.","Product: Songs recorded Feb 1973 Dierks studio in Germany. Alive studio concert that gave fans a chance to hear new songs.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: rockin' hard and heavy\n\nReview: I most certainly was NOT ready for ...Sounds Like This when I first experienced it.\n\nI went in expecting -and I mean absolutely no disrespect by saying this- overblown, pretentious musical ideas similar to the other Nektar classic albums.\n\nOh sure, those progressive rock albums are really good and I honestly love them to pieces, but let's be honest- when I first seen how long this album is (over 70 minutes) you better believe I got REALLY nervous. Why? Because I was afraid the band was attempting something similar to the Yes album Tales from Topographic Oceans.\n\nYou know, a fear that Nektar might have tried taking their progressive rock style and stretched out their ideas for TWICE as long, even when it's not particularly necessary to write music that way, and therefore, becoming bored rather quickly with the album.\n\nThat's definitely NOT what ...Sounds Like This is like. Not at all.\n\nInstead, this album is a really heavy, hard rockin' affair *very* similar to Deep Purple in some spots, and a comparison to Made in Japan wouldn't be much of a stretch.\n\nThese songs rock *exceptionally* hard, but because several moments of the album remind me of Deep Purple, I believe this may have contributed to the album (and perhaps even the band) never becoming more popular with the public. I may be wrong though.\n\nI assume at the time there wasn't much room on the music scene for bands that resembled Deep Purple (though somehow Uriah Heep managed to make it big).\n\nWhich is a cryin' shame. The opener \"Good Day\" has wonderful guitar playing that reminds me of flowers blooming for some reason, and a chorus that isn't much different from Peter Frampton's vocals (solo or with Humble Pie).\n\n\"1-2-3-4\" is where the Deep Purple connections are almost impossible to ignore. A jam that's honestly quite good from beginning to end, with much of the guitar soloing played in a melodic and tasteful way, but definitely comparable to Deep Purple.\n\n\"Do You Believe in Magic\" (no, NOT a cover song!) has amazingly good vocals. Some of the best vocals I've ever heard the band create, in fact.\n\n\"New Day Dawning\" has a mysterious atmosphere about it. It's either going for a sad or hopeful vibe (not sure which). Excellent song at any rate. Morphing into \"Norweigen Wood\" (the Beatles classic) for a few seconds is rather bizarre, but hey, that *is* one of my favorite Beatles songs, so alright then!\n\nI honestly think, despite obviously being influenced by Deep Purple, this is some quality heavy rock and quality songwriting, and you know what?\n\nI probably prefer this Nektar album to Deep Purple because the classic period with Gillan and Blackmore definitely has its fair of filler (IMO) whereas this album is pretty great from beginning to end.\n\nI love this album, but paying more than [...] for it is ridiculous. Come on now! That's insane.","Product: Japanese Version featuring an LP Style Splicase for Initial Pressing.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: the worst McCartney album from the 70's, definitely\n\nReview: I strongly believe Paul McCartney never gets the credit he deserves when it pertains to his mid to late 70's albums. He released three albums in particular that seem to have been unjustly forgotten by this point in time. Too bad, because albums such as London Town and Venus & Mars contain some REALLY good tunes.\n\nWings at the Speed of Sound is pretty bland compared to McCartney's more diverse and creative high standards of songwriting. Some of these songs kinda blend together and that *never* happened in the past.\n\nI don't know if people were calling this album a sellout of sorts back in 1976, or perhaps people loved the two biggest hits so much that nobody noticed anything was a bit off with this one.\n\nAnyway, \"Let 'Em In\" starts off on a pretty good note, but I'm definitely not as impressed with that vocal melody like everyone else seems to be. It seems slightly amateurish to me, and almost like a nursery rhyme of sorts. I get the feeling... no no, I KNOW for a 100% fact that Paul McCartney could have turned out something better, even by this point in his career.\n\nOne of the most underrated songs from the album (and perhaps the most underrated song in the mans catalog period) is \"The Note You Never Wrote\". I absolutely adore the dreamy vocal melody that seems to sail and wander through (admittedly) dated 70's orchestration, but I wouldn't want it any other way, seriously.\n\n\"She's My Baby\" is a really good ballad. I love the \"moppin' it up\" part. Yes, it reminds me of Captain and Tennille, but I don't care- it's memorable.\n\nWOW, how did I completely forget that \"Beware My Love\" is over 6 minutes long and absolutely *rocks*? I must be losing my mind! Linda's brief moments of singing that lead into Paul's intense vocal style is just a terrific way to write a song. GREAT song. \"Wino Junko\" is melodic enough, but not a highlight.\n\nAh yes. \"Silly Love Songs\". Everyone knows this song. Some people even have a strong hated towards it. Me? Sometimes I don't particularly care for it. Other times, like yesterday afternoon, I really got caught up in the verse melody, the jazzy orchestration in the middle part, and even the lyrics. It's a fun song.\n\nI realize everyone hates the Linda McCartney number \"Cook of the House\". That vocal melody really catches my attention though, as cheesy and silly as the song may be.\n\n\"Time to Hide\" is definitely a song completely stuck in the mid 70's. It would be impossible to imagine this song written in any other time period. The verse melody catches my attention, and the chorus is definitely good, but it feels weak in comparison to previous McCartney efforts.\n\n\"Must Do Something About It\" is a fairly weak and forgettable song, but on the other hand, it would fit in perfect with McCartney's self-titled debut album before the Wings came into the picture, and I consider that album a masterpiece, so perhaps I'm just being a bit unfair.\n\n\"San Ferry Anne\" is really good, but \"Warm and Beautiful\" is *definitely* an extremely banal ballad. I don't care for it at all. Paul has done significantly better ballads than this one.\n\nOverall, the worst album Paul McCartney made in the 70's, and I still give it a 4 out of 5. That's how solid his output is.","Product: CD\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: I've changed my mind!\n\nReview: I'm listening to Rocka Rolla for the first time in about 10 years tonight, and my feelings on it have *definitely* improved. Now I can appreciate the album for what it is, instead of trying to convince myself most of the material is nothing but Black Sabbath or Alice Cooper secondrate rock. I was flat out WRONG to believe such a thing, and I have no problem admitting it here on amazon, to the thousands of viewers who read these reviews. I was wrong.\n\nYou see what happened is that I completely underrated the rawness and the bluesy roots Judas Priest started out with. Rocka Rolla is a significant improvement over a good portion of Judas Priest's career in fact, including many of their bland 80's albums which mostly sound like lame commercial generic 80's cheese metal in comparison to Rocka Rolla.\n\n\"One for the Road\" has a spectacular chorus and an enticingly steady verse melody. This is one of the songs I severely underrated 10 years ago when I first heard it. Back then I felt the songwriting was really weak on this particular track. I now have to ask myself \"What WAS I thinking?\" This is actually really good hard rock with *just* the right amount of blues elements to give it a powerful edge and a distinct advantage over the bands future albums (particularly their 80's albums).\n\nThe title song has a fantastic beat, but perhaps the ultimate example of excellence on the entire album is the 9-minute suite that begins with \"Winter\" and ends with \"Cheater\". Yes my friends, these songs *should* flow together and never ever be separated. \"Cheater\" in particular is a perfect example of the bands early roots in exploring the heavy blues, and the verse melody and chorus is irresistible. The lyrics are amazing too \"SHE WAS A CHEATER!\" I LOVE when the lead singer screams that part because you can really feel the emotion in his voice. The signs of a great band are definitely noticeable throughout Rocka Rolla.\n\nThere's one vocal melody in the middle of this suite that reminds me of Alice Cooper for a few seconds before immediately shifting into something else. Oh, and the 2 minutes of guitar feedback actually *works* in this case, unlike the many times Jimi Hendrix and Chicago attempted the same thing and beat it into the ground to the point of being excessive and overbearing.\n\n\"Run of the Mill\" may have a bland song title, but the song itself is definitely NOT \"run of the mill\". The verse melody creates a depressing mood before shifting into a gentle guitar solo. This guitar solo ever so gradually shifts into a much heavier and melodic one. It's really good too. Another track I seriously underrated back in the day.\n\nPerhaps \"Dying to Meet You/Hero, Hero\" is the first sign that the band was going to change styles drastically by the time Sad Wings of Destiny was created. What a great vocal melody. The guitar solo at the end is quite intense too. I underrated this song back in the day and, looking back, I really don't understand what I was thinking. \"Never Satisfied\" is based around a heavy blues riff with catchy vocals. It's awesome.\n\nNo doubt about it- I enjoy Rocka Rolla significantly more these days. Don't make the same mistake I did and write it off immediately- it's a HECK of a lot better than that.","Product: UK remastered pressing of the 1980 self titled debut album. EMI. 2006.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: what a perfect debut!\n\nReview: Now this is more like a heavy metal classic! A lost classic to be precise. While I never could get into 80's UFO or Scorpions as much as most rock fans, it seems like the Michael Schenker Group fixes any issues I may have had with those bands during the early 80's. Albums like UFO's No Place to Run and their follow-up the Wild, the Willing and the Innocent feel really weak compared to this. Well actually No Place to Run is growing on me more (for the vocals mainly- not so much the guitar playing). The same can be said for all those commercial Scorpions albums like Blackout which, while decent, just don't provide the aggressive type of heavy metal I'm looking for.\n\n\"Lost Horizons\" is the best song without question. The dramatic intro reminds me of something from outer space or to bring it down to earth, something atmospheric that early 80's Rush was making at the time, and the vocal melody took time to win me over because the first couple times it passed by without catching my attention but soon the melody itself, the chugging riff, Schenker's flashy 80's-style guitar technique, and ESPECIALLY the brilliant guitar solo at the end all gave me the kind of excitement I realized that I needed. I like the \"Can you see me now\" part a lot because it sounds so evil and aggressive. \"Cry for the Nations\" has a tropical themed intro making you think Michael's going to take a nap on the beach for a while... nah nobody was really thinking that were we? No! Soon a great guitar riff and vocals not much different from post-Dio era Rainbow or Lou Gramm of Foreigner appear. An okay chorus but a GREAT guitar solo in the middle.\n\n\"Victim of Illusion\" has Rob Halford of Judas Priest fame shaky vocal mannerisms, a chugging memorable rhythm and a great \"Oh victim of illusion!\" chorus. Another fantastic guitar solo at the end. I guess it's undeniably obvious Michael Schenker's just going to have one excellent guitar solo after another since guitar soloing is his specialty after all, and he's going all out on his very first album. \"Looking Out From Nowhere\" opens with Scorpions \"No One Like You\" power metal guitar playing. I love the \"What can I do, where can I go?\" and \"I get this feeling when I look inside\" lines and the way Michael sings them.\n\n\"Armed and Ready\" contains more Rob Halford style vocals. Really good guitar riff- fast and exciting just the way I like it baby! The repeating of the chorus near the end combined with the guitar playing is amazing. \"Tales of Mystery\" is a tear-jerking power ballad. I like the way the guitar sounds like it's mourning and plays along with an equally sad vocal melody. Truthfully though I think this song is sort of a weak point. Weaker than everything else here in my opinion. \"Into the Arena\" does something I did NOT see coming! It has a chugging aggressive rhythm strikingly similar to classic mid 80's Powerslave-period Iron Maiden. Were the members of Iron Maiden listening to Michael Schenker I wonder? That's not all. The amazing guitar jam that follows said rhythm and the surprising appearance of a loud drum solo make this song a clear winner. It's an instrumental and it's awesome. Second best song on the album as far as I see it.\n\n\"Feels Like a Good Thing\" begins with brief military drumming before heavy guitar riffs make a splash. They remind me of late 70's Rainbow. I especially like the guitar playing during the \"Feels like a good thing\" chorus. \"Bijon Pleasurette\" has guitar playing that reminds me of some of Queen's work. Sometimes, how shall we say, Queen liked to write old fashioned type show tunes and often Brian May would play guitar during them. This song reminds me of Brian May's guitar style on those songs. This also reminds me of UFO's \"Lipstick Traces\" from Phenomenon. Really beautiful but short instrumental either way.\n\nOverall, what a debut. This is how you make a statement! If only more people were listening to this album and less of the other popular metal bands at the time, maybe Michael Schenker's first album would have been the one to go on to reach classic status instead of being an underground favorite.","Product: 1974 ALBUM FEAT. GEORGE DUKE, BRECKER BROS.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: cobham goes another route\n\nReview: Crosswinds is much different from Spectrum. The atmosphere and arrangements are different. Gone are the crazy and intense Tommy Bolin guitar solos. I don't even think Tommy's playing on this album. \"Spanish Moss\" starts this baby off. It begins with a groovy rhythm and a decent saxophone riff before shifting into a brassy section. This stuff is really melodic and reminiscent of a beach environment. I can see myself chilling on a Dominican Republic beach with a glass of tequila while watching the palm tree branches sway in the wind. It's pretty good.\n\n\"Savannah the Serene\" continues with the same relaxing beach tone, but this time it's a trumpet (or trombone) carrying the slow rhythm. I normally don't complain about jams but a couple minutes in I wish one particular sequences of notes didn't repeat 8 times in a row. It feels a bit much. I still enjoy the song however, because the arrangements capture a pretty serene (hehe) mood. I wish the melodic keyboards and horns continued with their melodic excitement instead of gradually fading away, but perhaps Billy Cobham is going for ambience. Hey at least I think he is- I can't say for sure!\n\nBut all is not lost my friends! \"Storms\" is a POWERFUL drum solo. Cymbal smashing galore, with the sound effects of wind blowing in the background. The stormiest of nights to be alone on the sea. \"Flash Flood\" is all about an awkward saxophone jam. Well it's melodic to an extent, but something about it sounds so chaotic and unfocused I just don't know what to think about it. I guess it's sort of cool. It could be interpreted as resembling the sound of a marching band rehearsing to those unaware that Billy's going for a theme here capturing the portrayal of beaches, storms and floods. The end of this song just explodes into a total extravagant mess. One thing's for sure- this is WAY jazzier than the Spectrum album. There's no heavy metal, jazz/fusion or bluesy guitar solos anywhere here so far.\n\n\"The Pleasant Pheasant\" is a funky rhythmic saxophone solo. It's chaotic just like the one in \"Flash Flood\" but it's more melodic so that means more enjoyable to me. The horns then become more accessible as the percussion and drumming occur, with a melodic touch of guitar playing. I really like this part. The ending of this song reminds me of the guitar solo from Chicago's \"25 or 6 to 4\". Same kind of intensity, perhaps even the same instruments. Honestly it's hard to figure out what instruments I'm listening to half of the time. Saxes, trumpets and trombones often blend together and sound identical so sorry for any mistakes I might make identifying them.\n\n\"Heather\" is dreamy with the slowness of the keyboards serving as ambience while a creepy synthesizer passage can be heard in the background. The saxophone solo is really moody, perfect for a late night stroll across a bridge in the city during a cloudy night. At least that's what I envision. Maybe you picture another scenario. The song ends on a quiet note as it drifts softly into lullaby-ish keyboards, but then \"Crosswind\" comes along. It's a 3-minute funky way to conclude this album with excellent drumming, percussion and a sorely needed electric guitar solo. Didn't think I'd be waiting until the end for one of those but there you have it! It's a FANTASTIC one too specializing in being groovy and comparable to some of Funkadelic's early 70's Maggot Brain era stuff (or Tommy Bolin- hey the solo does play in a Bolin kind of way).\n\nOverall well Crosswinds is significantly different from Spectrum. I honestly prefer Spectrum since I'm more of a fan of the vigorous Mahavishnu Orchestra style that sounds so mesmerizing throughout Spectrum. Seriously jazz/fusion is just an *incredible* genre to me, but I suppose I can't expect Billy Cobham or anyone else for that matter to spend their entire careers playing at THAT high-octane level. Sometimes artists have to branch away and try other things, and it appears that's what Billy has done here. Still, Crosswinds is really good and worthy of 4 stars, maybe even 5 some day.","Product: Gift quality. Factory Sealed. Same day shipping.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: NOT the only Three Dog Night you need. No way sir!\n\nReview: While a Three Dog Night greatest hits collection is a fine introduction to a talented classic rock band, it's not the ONLY album you need. I'm kind of angry about how Three Dog Night has turned into one of those bands that should only be remembered for a small selection of songs. The fact there's so many greatest hits albums to choose from is proof that record companies are determined to have only the hit songs be featured and remembered. I disagree very very strongly with this. Sure, buy this album for the great classics radio stations used to play all the time, but *please* keep in mind Three Dog Night's studio albums are just as worthy of your time and money.","Product: Remastered 1979 album w/STOOGES James Williamson. Feat 'I'm Bored' 'Five Foot One' & 'Endless Sea' plus 2 bonus tracks\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: new values and a new direction\n\nReview: New Values is arguably the first real Iggy Pop album without David Bowie standing in the way of Iggy's potential. Not that Bowie's involvement was a bad thing on the previous two albums mind you- in fact it was an awesome thing! It's just that I wanted to hear what Iggy's capable of on his own. Now I'm finding out, and the results are impressive.\n\n\"Five Foot One\" is an fast-moving rocking tune with a furious beat. Love the heavy guitar line before and after the \"I wish life could be Swedish magazines\" line. Is Iggy's height only 5 foot 1? Ah, he's probably referring to something else. Either way awesome song. \"The Endless Sea\" begins with a cool drum beat and bass work that resembles what the Police were doing at the time (or early 70's Roxy Music) before a dreamy synth riff comes in while still carrying that excellent beat. This song is just flat out *cool*. The lyrics and the atmosphere really match the feeling of wanting to jump in an endless sea and swim off into the sunset. Other than the synth work, the soothing dreamy saxophone reminds me of Van Der Graaf Generator's mid to late 70's period.\n\n\"African Man\" has hilarious lyrics! \"I eat a monkey for breakfast, I eat a skunk for lunch!\" Trust me you don't want to eat skunk. The smell itself would turn you off. Iggy's going for an obvious African cultural theme here as a way to try and capture the feeling of living in the African wilderness. The results almost sound J. Geils Band-like to be perfectly honest! Perhaps this song goes a bit far with the African wildlife sounds, but Iggy has so much character in his vocals that it sounds really awesome anyway! \"Angel\" opens with some uplifting and powerful country-like guitar lines. This is a power ballad almost, but with the excellent female vocals in the background singing the \"Angel\" part the song takes on a stronger and more personal meaning. \"I'd split my skull all for your love\" is an unusual line.\n\n\"Don't Look Down\" is a semi-funky Tom Petty \"Refugee\"-like rock tune. Once again the female vocals give the song more feeling and honestly enhance the vocal melody quite a bit. Actually this song reminds me of Warren Zevon a little bit with the vocals and short snappy vocal melody. Iggy's not the only one who loves \"Girls\". After all they're all over this world! Wonderful rocking energetic rhythm carrying a great vocal melody and equally impressive guitar playing. When you're feeling good and thinking about girls, this is the song you wanna hear on your car radio. \"Tell Me a Story\" has a bit of an Elvis Costello vibe in the intro with the guitar playing, but otherwise the song is entirely a late 70's/early 80's new wave type of vibrant piece of pop excellence. \"Me I'm just a lucky guy, young and free too hard to cry\" is a memorable line, but the song is all about specializing in a GREAT melody!\n\n\"How Do Ya Fix a Broken Heart... Part!\" Sorry I keep thinking it should be \"heart\" because it just sounds better that way. What an unusual song for Iggy Pop this is. It's pop, it's got a great rhythm that makes you feel good, but it also has a tame Laverne & Shirley type of danceable vibe to it as well, lol. \"Get out the toolbox boys, I know you can fix things\" is a hilarious line. \"I'm Bored\" is a frantic-paced Talking Heads-resembling tune with Iggy mentioning how bored he is. \"I bore myself to sleep at night, I bore myself in broad daylight!\" haha. That's how I felt when going to school for 15 years! If I haven't mentioned it, Iggy's vocals are in fine shape throughout this album.\n\nThe title song has an AWESOME upbeat driving guitar riff and handclaps. \"I'm stubborn as a mule, and nobody breaks my rules!\" is a line I can relate to, lol. I'm about as stubborn as they come! Great guitar solo too. Wow does this song rock hard! \"Curiosity\" is all about having fun. More upbeat rocking energy in both the guitar playing and vocals. This song has a Roxy Music \"Virginia Plains\" type of glam styling to it. I'm guessing Iggy was a fan of Roxy Music? If not he certainly should've been! \"Billy Is a Runaway\" closes the album... just as energetically as the other two songs I mention in this paragraph! This time Iggy's lyrics are going for more of a storytelling theme with another memorable guitar riff. The song's too brief to really elaborate on the story, but who cares- the music's really solid. Yes my boots start shaking and quaking too whenever I think about this song!\n\nOverall this is a great album for those seeking lots of fun, excitement, partying and superb songwriting. If Iggy continued to write music like this into the 80's like I suspect he did, well that's a good thing folks!","Product: Singer Rick \"Rattlesnake\" Medlocke (who did some drumming for Lynyrd Skynyrd!) led this Jacksonville, Florida band's southern rock/heavy-metal attack, eventually going on to score some big hits. Here's their 1976 debut, featuring Feelin' Good; Flyin' High; Junkie's Dream; Madness; Save Your Time, and more driving guitar rock.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: don't step on my foot\n\nReview: Blackfoot's second album is really good, and even better than the material from Strikes. The problem is, at this point the band is still somewhat derivative of Lynyrd Skynyrd and haven't quite discovered their own sound and style. The good news is that the songwriting is surprisingly strong despite any connections to other bands. I most certainly believe this album deserves 4 stars- any fan of hard rock would enjoy it.\n\n\"Madness\" for example, reminds me of a faster-paced \"Gimme Three Steps\". A great song however. Decent verse melody and chorus, and nice guitar solo (especially the short one at the very end). I suppose the Budgie-style guitar riff itself is the high point of the song. The drumming is surprisingly strong too. \"Try a Little Harder\" wins me over for the intro alone- wow is THAT ever really cool? I'm seriously not kidding ya- only the early to mid 70's had *that* type of guitar sound. It's really beautiful but it's more meaningful than simply being a thing of beauty- it's devastatingly heartbreaking. UFO is another band that included a similar technique of affection in some of their songs. The rest of the song contains the same kind of tear-jerking beauty- strong verse melody. I especially like around 2:20 when the song shifts into repeating the name of the song a few times in a row. The lead singer changes the melody at this point into a more emotional one and it's perfectly fitting. Really good song overall. Even though there's plenty of similarites to Lynyrd Skynyrd in this bands style, this song is probably the biggest exception. It stands strong on its own.\n\n\"Island of Life\" is not very different from \"Madness\" but the verse melody is significantly sadder. So far I'm surprised that the album not only rocks, but features several tender moments as well. I like how the melody quickly switches into a more rocking one with the line \"Keep thinkin' that I shook it off and in every little way\". This is actually a really excellent song. The title song has promise right from the beginning- a crunchy guitar riff in the Black Sabbath style. An EASY way to win me over, haha. The reality is that it's probably trying to copy Skynyrd's \"Saturday Night Special\" but oh well. I enjoy the vocals. They sound almost Marshall Tucker Band-ish but with more southern rock energy. Another high point. \"Junkie's Dream\" rocks hard. It benefits with a strong guitar riff in between the drug-influenced lyrics. These lyrics *seem* pretty accurate but I've never done drugs so I can't say just how accurate they really are, haha. Really good Blue Oyster Cult-style guitar solo in the middle too. Come to think of it, BOC wrote similar lyrics about drugs. Not a ripoff though.\n\n\"Dancin' Man\" asks the question- what happened to the good old rock and roll? Well this album came out in 1976 when rock was still going pretty strong. I imagine such a question is more suitable for todays world when rock is completely derivative and obnoxious. Anyway the James Gang-funky rhythm is a high point. The guitar solo is really good too. \"Save Your Time\" has an AWESOME groovy rhythm with solid vocals. The guitar solo at the end does NOT need to end so soon! Come on, we need more of that! \"Mother\" is a somewhat simple country-rock song with tons of emotion and slide guitar used wonderfully. Wow I might just have to push this rating up to a 5. Was not expecting a hard rock classic with magnificent riffs, solos, sincere vocals and everything else clicking in fine working order. In fact... there we go. It's now 5 stars. Awesome album.","Product: Radiohead Kid A UK CD album\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: not one of Radiohead's better efforts\n\nReview: Kid A is a very overrated album. The songwriting talents of the band have obviously taken a step back compared to OK Computer, which was the bands absolute high point (even to this day). \"Everything In Its Right Place\" is just a very lackluster effort in terms of vocal melody and it becomes annoying after a few listens. \"The National Anthem\" is boring as well, because the first couple minutes are dominated with one grunge-y riff repeating over and over until some over-emotional vocals eventually come in and change all that. It tries to be something special, but really it's just a pointless experiment. For some reason, the vocal melody reminds me of the Beatles song \"It's All Too Much\". In fact, a good majority of the songs on the album are just silly or pointless experiments, with not much emotional substance to be found.\n\nRadiohead is clearly much better when writing emotional vocal melodies and interesting lyrical content, which this album greatly suffers. \"How To Disappear Completely\" is probably the biggest attempt at heartfelt emotions, but the devastating atmosphere of the lyrics aren't really as honest as the lead singer would want you to believe. It's just not enough to save a really average and surprisingly bland album overall.","Product: Notes in artwork are in Japanese.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: a real ride through space\n\nReview: Maybe it's just me, but Space Shanty sounds WAY ahead of its time. By that I mean, it sounds like it stands apart drastically compared to every other band in the early 70's.\n\nThe wavy guitar lines are really beautiful and believable the way they capture the adventurous feeling of being lost out in outerspace (the pleasant vibes of outerspace I mean, not the \"forever drifting away\" part, which is terrifying!) These guys are REALLY good at it, and it's a shame this is the only album Khan released. I'm sitting here totally amazed more people aren't finding this album fascinating in the same way I am. The vocal melodies are glorious and sparkle with clean, splendid production. This album sure doesn't sound like early 70's rock to me. The way it was recorded just blows me away.\n\nI don't like Space Shanty as much as all those druggy, spaced-out mid 70's Gong albums (which are truly original) but it's honestly not THAT much worse. I don't even think Khan should be compared to Gong because the two bands sound so much different from each other.\n\nSpace Shanty can best be summed up like this- *this* is what happens when Pink Floyd and Caravan blend together. It's sort of like progressive rock, but in another way, it's more about spaced out atmospheric rock but with actual song structure and melody. The keyboards, guitar playing, everything about Space Shanty screams quality performance. This album *is* on the same level as many Gong classics in my opinion. Excellent!","Product: Digitally Remastered and Includes the Previously Unreleased Track 'I Don't Know It's Name (Alias the Word), the Original Studio Version of 'Golf Girl' with Different Lyrics, Studio Demo of 'Winter Wine', a New Mix of 'Disassociation/100% Proof' and APreviously Unreleased Version of 'Aristocracy'.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: caravan was a special rock band\n\nReview: This is supposed to be the ultimate Caravan album, but you know, the previous one \"If I Could...\" is probably *slightly* better. Probably because this album has some weak songwriting moments such as the pleasant, but ultimately passable title song. Yes, I realize most people love it, and you probably will to.\n\nFor me though, the highlight is clearly the 20+ minute jam that appears at the very end. It's truly mind-boggling awesome. Yes, we've ALL heard how adventurous music can be, but my goodness, THAT is a jam guaranteed to take your brain places! There's also a few scattered vocal melodies and just some good atmosphere in there as well. The jam consists mainly of that instrument that sounds like a keyboard but most people say it's a guitar so, whatever that thing is, it sounds VERY cool.\n\nI find it cool I'm about to submit a review for an old and somewhat forgotten progressive rock album from the 70's only HOURS after someone else posted a review of their own, haha.","Product: Digitally Remastered Edition of their Last Studio Album Originally Released on RCA Records and Now Reissued on EMI. As Well, it was the Last with Guitarist Uli Roth as Well. Includes the Great Hard Rockers 'steamrock Fever', 'he's a Woman, She's a Man' and the BOC-ESQUE 'we'll Burn the Sky', One of the Best Songs They Ever Produced. 'suspender Love' and 'polar Nights' Are Added as Bonus Tracks.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: scorps getting ready for big time\n\nReview: This is one wild Scorpions album. It rocks, but it's not mindless rock like many of those 80's metal/glam rock acts. The Scorpions should NOT be included among those other less talented heavy rock bands such as Motley Crue, Twisted Sister and Dokken because this band actually has some great vocal melodies, solid guitar riffs, and decent guitar solos. Furthermore, while they don't exactly experiment much, at least they know how to make a good vocal melody.\n\nThis is why the Scorpions, and specifically Taken by Force, deserves to be remembered as a classic. Do NOT put these guys in the same category with Motley Crue and the like. The Scorpions should be remembered more for their underrated 70's material. I hope you agree. Pick up Taken by Force to hear how rocking out with a destined commercial approach in the near future is REALLY done.","Product: CD\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: this album survives the test of time\n\nReview: I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the biggest Lynyrd Skynyrd fan in the world. I like their music but I always felt that the songwriting wasn't up to snuff.\n\nHowever, there are two exceptions in the bands catalog, and perhaps I'm the only person in the entire world to name these two particular exceptions- Nuthin' Fancy being one, and this one, Street Survivors.\n\nThe songwriting, the guitar solos and even the vocal melodies are really good this time around. My appreciation for this album honestly has nothing to do with the fact that terrible accident was to take place a few days after this albums release, however I *do* sense a little bit of a dreary/eerie vibe in a few of the songs that do seem to spark odd sensations that something bad was about to happen.\n\nSome people believe \"What's Your Name\" and \"Gimme Three Steps\" are more or less the same song, but if that's the case, then why do I prefer \"What's Your Name\" a lot more? I just love the brassy section and the vocal melody. A great sing along-type tune totally deserving of its major hit status.\n\nThe next song titled \"That Smell\" is one of those eerie songs I mention above. There's something really haunting about it. I can't explain what it is exactly, but the guitar playing flows in such a way that's not only pretty fast and melodic (and just downright awesome) but there seems to be something else about this track that captures my interest. I totally believe there's a lot of atmosphere to it. I really can't point out exactly WHAT it is that makes it so atmospheric though.\n\nAnother song with an eerie vibe is the next one- \"One More Time\". The guitar playing is basically crying, the lyrics are extremely impactful, and especially the inclusion of a haunting keyboard (I think?) after Ronnie sings the chorus \"Ooooone mooooore tiiiiime\".\n\nI honestly believe the vocal work overall is a REALLY big improvement and feels much tighter compared to previous Skynyrd albums. Ronnie Van Zant was on top of his game for this album. I always believed he had a top notch emotional singing voice capable of really moving the listener, and he proves it with this entire album.\n\n\"You Got that Right\" is like a rewritten version of \"What's Your Name\" which of course means a rewrite of \"Gimme Three Steps\", haha. Whatever. I love it.\n\nLet's not forget the absolutely beautiful \"I Never Dreamed\". Perfect guitar playing chugging along to a great vocal delivery. A song that's instantly likeable.\n\nI highly recommend Street Survivors for those who want to experience a band that released what I consider a masterpiece.","Product: England/Canada.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: ride the van, the caravan!\n\nReview: What makes Caravan's debut so interesting is how the vocal melodies are simply gorgeous and likeable for ANYONE, not just fans of progressive rock. To me that makes Caravan one of the most likeable bands of all-time. The way they can be enjoyed by just about anyone. It's all because of that lead singers amazing voice.\n\nI take that back- AMAZING voice! Amazing because more often than not it feels like he's breathing directly into your soul with his voice. It makes you wanna cry most of the time (or maybe just me- hey, I cry a lot. I even cried during Homeward Bound. Remember that great adventure movie?)\n\nAlso, the songs are written in a way that's not very challenging, allowing people who don't have a whole lot of patience in an ever-growing financially-struggling world to get into the music fairly easily.\n\nThe final track on the album titled \"Where But for Caravan Would I?\" is nearly 10 minutes of emotional brilliance. The way it starts with a beautiful vocal melody and then the melodic, eeric organs come out of nowhere and paint a VERY different picture! Even more strange is the *next* vocal melody that occurs after the jam and the way it gently shifts into the calm \"We need your mind to be flying\" line. This song alone is worth the purchase of Caravan's debut.\n\n\"Magic Man\" is pure hypnotic adventurousness and \"Grandma's Lawn\" takes psychedelia to the highest level it can with a catchy vocal melody. \"Place Of My Own\" has a vocal melody that rolls forward in a way that almost sounds like the lead singer is worried about something but then leads into an upbeat chorus so all is well. I love the line about living for today because \"tomorrow you just might be dead\". It's true! This is why you shouldn't believe in bad days. Bad days don't exist. You simply have bad *moments* of a certain day. The entire day isn't ruined because of an unfortunate series of events. I know you agree with me!\n\n\"Ride\" is AWESOME! I love the simple, gentle way the verse melody is sung. So carefree and beautiful. I love the line \"I'll try and find a place in my mind where you know you can go and leave all behind\". Hey take me with you! I don't want to stick around this crappy wor... I mean lovely, excellent planet of ours!\n\n\"Policeman\" is a WONDERFUL Beatles-influenced pop song with a memorable vocal melody. The way the tempos constant shift around is highly professional and exciting. \"Cecil Rons\" is an odd experimental track that was probably influenced by Pink Floyd's Piper at the Gates of Dawn album. The psychedelic style is REALLY bizarre on this track thanks to the way the singer changes the sound of his voice and screams \"CECIL RONS!\" before quickly switching back to the more familiar beautiful vocal style. \"Love Song With Flute\" is all about the softly sung verse melody. Nobody writes better ballads than Caravan. *Nobody*.\n\nSomething about the way these guys write jams is pretty spectacular as well. Just a very very good band. The debut is a very good one, but probably the next two Caravan albums released directly after this one are better. Not by much though!","Product: Their then-recent Woodstock set and this electrifying 1969 LP (a #20 hit) brought sudden U.S. stardom to these UK blues-rockers powered by the guitar of Alvin Lee. Their stomping spin on Good Morning Little Schoolgirl joins Lee's Bad Scene; Stoned Woman; The Stomp; Two Time Mama , and more!\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: blues rock that truly rocks\n\nReview: This could very well be the ultimate combination of blues and rock. I can only imagine how satisfying it must have been for those lucky enough to experience this terrific album back in 1969 when it was brand new. It takes the traditional style of hard rock blues to a *much* heavier level and it wouldn't surprise me if bands like Zeppelin or Sabbath were influenced by this album.\n\nMight I also add how disappointed I am that it's not a more popular album. It truly deserves to be. You'll agree the moment you hear it.\n\nFor those who might be going into Ssssh expecting exceptional vocal melodies... well, you'll probably be disappointed because even though the vocals are melodic enough to get the job done, it's the guitar work that makes me a firm believer everyone should have Ssssh in their album collection.\n\nThe highlight is probably \"Good Morning Little Schoolgirl\". With a vocal melody very ordinary by blues standards, you'll never guess what happens around the 2 minute mark. Oh just you wait and hear for yourself! Alright alright, I'll reveal what happens- a guitar solo that sounds like absolutely no other makes a very groundbreaking appearance, and some of these licks are truly extraordinary. If you're not happy with the actual notes (which, might I add, DO grow on you over time- I didn't care for this song at all at first but now I absolutely LOVE it) I'm sure you'll at least be impressed with the relentless approach Alvin Lee takes it.\n\nIn this track, Alvin Lee plays with a certain style of speed and combines it with a melodic structure, and it doesn't resemble anything else from the late 60's. Some of these flashy and speedy guitar solos make me wonder how one person can play so well without missing a beat.\n\nMy second favorite song is probably \"I Woke Up This Morning\". Some of Alvin's guitar work here resembles the classic period of live Cream/Eric Clapton, but done very very well so I won't complain about any similarities. \"Bad Scene\" actually has a really great vocal melody and I like the way the song shifts in a few different directions before eventually slipping into a heavy guitar solo that puts a sudden and shocking end to all those awkward shifts. \"Stoned Woman\" has a really fantastic vocal melody and an even better groove, and that's honestly all it needs because it sounds so good.\n\nIn fact the entire album sounds *awesome*. The production I mean. The way it was recorded. A significant improvement over Cricklewood Green and Rock & Roll Music to the World.\n\nAnyway, let me mention a few more songs. \"The Stomp\" is flat out awesome and the vocals totally remind me of the good Captain Beefheart. Anything (and I mean *anything*) that sounds like Captain Beefheart is just fine and dandy by me because I'm such an enormous fan of his work. This song also reminds me of the Rolling Stones classic \"Shake Your Hips\". \"If You Should Love Me\" is a drastic step away from all the bluesy guitar solos and solid grooves that dominate most of the album, and is just a really pleasant, soulful ballad. I can't recall what other ballad this song closely resembles, but I'm thinking this track wouldn't be out of place on either a Rascals or Animals album.\n\nPlease please please buy this album. I may be underrating the vocal melodies, true, but it's honestly because the guitar work is the main attraction here (for me at least).","Product: During the turbulent years of 1970-72, Wicked Lady recorded some songs on a stolen 2 track revox, and it is those tracks that make up this CD. They capture, not only, something of the anger, pain and genius of Wicked Lady, but also tell of the narcotics consumed at the time. As such the music is hard and honest and perfect for evil guitar listeners. 60 minutes of wah-wah hell!\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: arriving to the cometh\n\nReview: Wow, great hard rock! Make that GREAT hard rock! \"Run the Night\" chugs along at such a wonderful pace with a steady-paced VERY heavy guitar riff. This stuff has the feel of a raw punk band like Iggy Pop and the Stooges while still maintaining a distinctive heavy metal edge. Simply put if you like the sound of late 60's hard rock or punk you'll LOVE this song. \"Don't look out your window, your eyes can only see by electric light\" is a memorable line.\n\n\"War Cloud\" has really truthful and sincere lyrics about preparing for the future due to the war taking place at the time (Vietnamese war of course). The vocal melody itself is quite sad, and the guitar jam that soon follows is a good one. The guitar playing is similar to the stuff you'd find from the one in Chicago's \"26 or 5 to 4\" but I'm only describing the way the two solos sound- the notes themselves are quite different. The tone dramatically changes during the line \"When the bombs drop we all die\" which feels like a direct and harsh way of saying, don't make war or suffer the penalties. After this get ready for one SUPER heavy and fuzzy-sounding guitar jam! I mean this jam absolutely *tears*.\n\n\"The Axeman Cometh\" is all about a really awesome, melodic and even funky guitar jam based around a really catchy beat. The guitar playing on this track is really flashy and comparable to the legendary Jimi Hendrix as far as how outrageous this stuff sounds. If you like this song please check out the Scorpions \"Drifting Sun\". The thumping rhythm feels similar and REALLY awesome in both songs. Wow Wicked Lady really is a great band. \"Life and Death\" begins with a sludgy and murky vocal melody before shifting in another, lighter direction while the guitar riff plods mid tempo. I swear one of the guitar tricks in this song was later used in Aerosmith's \"No More No More\" from their Toys in the Attic album. Maybe I'm imagining things. Anyway this song continues to plod along and it's probably a few minutes overlong but to be honest I can't resist its murky-sounding charm. This song interestingly captures the feeling of looking towards a brighter future through a dreaded bad time.\n\n\"Wicked Lady\" (hey, a song named after the band itself- that's pretty cool). Actually what makes it cool is that there's a song here named after the album title AND a song named the band itself, but it's not the same song like \"Black Sabbath\" or \"Bad Company\". That's pretty cool and maybe the first time I've ever seen that. Maybe the first time it's ever been done before. Anyway what I like about this song is that the chugging guitar riff is memorable and what's interesting is that the vocals remind me of Bob Welsh (Fleetwood Mac lead singer). Some of the vocal mannerisms remind me of his style, specifically a song called \"Hypnotized\". This came out before the Fleetwood Mac song though by a few years. Actually speaking of hypnotism, the guitar solo at the end of this song makes me feel hypnotized!\n\nOkay \"Out of the Dark\" is a bonafide classic! I simply love the way the lead singer sings the line during the chorus \"Move out of the dark move into the light\" and the lyrics about standing at a beach at midnight and seeing the waves rise and coming after him... REALLY good! The chugging guitar soloing taking place throughout this song due to the irresistible rhythm section is quite impressive too. I sense some of that Hawkwind-style space rock guitar soloing throughout the extended explosive jam in the second half. \"Rebel\" is actually NOT a song over 5 minutes! Imagine that. Anyway the song really reminds me of early Blue Oyster Cult with the Eric Bloom-like vocals and chugging drum work/guitar soloing. I enjoy the line \"Every evening when the sun goes down you do the things you shouldn't do\". Uh oh! This could be a reference to literally anything, haha.\n\n\"Living on the Edge\" is another Aerosmith reference! Nah, not really. Just kidding about that. This might be the most interesting song on the album. It constantly shifts into a multi-part song of sorts- sometimes the guitar tone is somber, beautiful and psychedelic- other times it shifts into melodic really heavy Sabbath-like riffage. I can think of several Sabbath and Metallica comparisons which makes me wonder just how much of an influence Wicked Lady was on these two legendary metal acts. Were they listening to Wicked Lady? Anyway I have nothing but the utmost respect for the guys regardless of their influence. I love the line \"Feels like you're out there on a ledge where you are livin' on the edge\".\n\nWell Wicked Lady's The Axeman Cometh is quite the fun listening experience. Truly some of the most underrated heavy metal I've ever heard. I tend to place these guys in the heavy metal camp instead of the hard rockers because Wicked Lady rocks a bit harder than most! When you have a super heavy guitar tone you can't help but be placed with the metal guys. Anyway the Axeman Cometh isn't quite as good as Psychotic Overkill in my opinion because Psychotic Overkill had more melodic guitar solos and crunchier/slightly superior vocal melodies and guitar riffs. The Axeman Cometh feels like a small step down compared to that album but only a slight one. Great album and highly recommended.","Product: Gamma was the group that Ronnie Montrose started after his group Montrose broke up. They released three albums on Elektra Records between 1979 and 1982. Gamma 2 hit the Billboard charts in 1982 and rose to #65. Wounded Bird. 2002.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: swimming in hard rock\n\nReview: This is the second Gamma album by the highly regarded Ronnie Montrose.\n\n\"Mean Streak\" opens this second Gamma album with heavy guitar riffs and fast rhythm. The likes of which you'd expect from an early 80's hard rock album perhaps. The same way with the vocal melody- typical 80's stuff. However there's enough energy and excitement that I don't mind. Actually this sounds a LOT like early 80's Rainbow after Dio left. \"You got a mean streak inside of you, a mean streak running all the way through, a mean streak coming from your heart, a mean streak that will tear a man apart\" is *very* 80'-ish. Still a pretty good song. REALLY cool guitar solo in the middle however.\n\n\"Four Horsemen\" opens with frantic guitar riffs that remind me of the Metallica song that'd come out a few years later. Not sure if this is coincidental or not. I personally like this song more than Metallica anyway (regardless of Metallica's popularity and reputation as the ultimate 80's thrashers). The entire intro to this song is *awesome*. So many guitar riffs that you can't help but admire it. The verse melody is really cool too, as is the chorus. \"So you think about your past, is this thing going to last, your life flashes by in an instant, so you wonder what you've done, don't let them take away your sun\" is a great line. \"The four horsemen gonna take you for the things you've done\" is a memorable line especially when it repeats at the end with the synths (or keyboards). Wow, the guitar playing throughout this song absolutely smokes!\n\n\"Dirty City\" is next. Love the lyrics in the opening like. \"Watching the hookers and the hustlers, trying to sell love on the line, 25 will get you into heaven, show you a real good time\". The line \"It's a dirty old city, a dirty old game, a dirty old town, that ain't got no shame, a dirty old place with a dirty old face, don't let it drag you down\" captures perfectly the feeling of what it's like trying to survive in a city. Not that I could personally relate. Nope, you're talkin' to a real country boy! This song sounds a lot like Foreigner vocally but to be honest, it's better than most of Foreigner's material that I've played. But wow these lyrics are good! \"In a corner all the junkies are fixin', the pushers are hard on the sell, you may think it's cool but where's the law and order, yes sir that's a different kind of hell\". Man I could keep quoting!\n\n\"Voyager\" opens with some Robin Trower-ish moody guitar and vocals that chug along quietly and sexily. This song's a weak point if you ask me... you're probably not asking though are you? Nor do you care, lol. Gamma isn't too impressive with the slower rock tunes if this song's any indication. It does have a nice mood but the same mood is present in literally thousands of early 80's rock tunes. I like the dreamy guitar solo though, but the soulful vocals are bland and unmemorable to me.\n\nOh no! I was hoping \"Something In the Air\" wouldn't be a cover of the Thunderclap Newman classic but the joke's on me since I should've known. After all Montrose is known for covering songs. This song can't be covered convincingly unless it's Tom Petty's version. Davey Pattison doesn't have the sincere and charming vocal style that the original has because he settles for a more generic soulful approach instead. Bad cover in my opinion. \"Cat on a Leash\" has an early raw Montrose way about it that I like (mainly in the vocals). The vocal melody itself isn't really impressive, but the raw intent is the same which is admirable. Sometimes the lead singer screams in such a way that might be out of his league. Like for example the way he screams \"With your hands in the kitty, cat on a leash!\" is out of his range by a tad (and \"hands in the kitty\" doesn't mean what you might be thinking it does, lol!) But the good news is that the guitar solo afterwards is one of the best on the album. AMAZING guitar solo!\n\n\"Skin and Bone\" is pretty awesome. \"Whispers in the doorway, promises and lies\" is an unintentionally funny line because it sounds so cheesy like only the 80's can. The song plods along like early Whitesnake (reminds me of \"Still of the Night\" in fact) but perhaps even better because the vocals are really good here. The vocals change sexier during the \"Trapped in the night moving alone, caught in a world of glass and stone\" and it sounds hilarious. Nice synth or keyboard solo afterwards with the chugging drums. A high point. \"Mayday\" has more really heavy guitar riffs and solos in the beginning. \"Don't tell me nothing that'll drag me down\" is a memorable line. This song is pure adrenaline rushing excitement! From the first note to the last- not a boring moment at all. The song even speeds up as it gets closer to the end just to further prove how much this band wants to rock the joint down!\n\nYou know at least half of the songs on this album should've been big hits. This album has all the potential that anybody who's a fan of early 80's hard rock would love. Fast guitar riffs and solos, decent lead singer, memorable lyrics and quality vocal melodies, etc. Overall Gamma 2 is a pretty good album. The complaints I've written in my review are minor. Gamma rocks!","Product: Another year, another Top 10-charting album for the 'Funk! Features an alternate version of Flight of the Phoenix.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: I strongly disagree with all the negative reviews\n\nReview: Normally I can SORT of see where people stand when they don't like an album, but in this case, I don't really get it- Phoenix is a solid rock album from the beginning to the very end, never losing steam not even *once*. Seriously, not a single moment makes me question the songwriting.\n\nFurthermore, it's really amazing MORE of the songs from the album didn't go on to become huge hits soon after the albums release back in the early 70's. The lead singers vocals feel more sincere and soulful on this Grand Funk album compared to others, and the vocal melodies themselves always manage to entertain me and honestly feel like a step above other GFR albums.\n\nIt's like the band knew they were starting to become comfortable with their success and popularity, so they began getting into a groove by making one quality album after another.\n\nI seriously would put Phoenix right up there with any other rock and roll classic album from the 70's, and trust me, I've heard over 600 albums from the 70's so I'd like to think I've gained enough musical knowledge to separate the good music from the bad. This is just one terrific album.\n\nNow, I'm not going to sit here and act like Grand Funk Railroad is flawless- sure, they've been responsible for some average songs from time to time, and sometimes the lead singer switches to a high pitched range that doesn't feel right to me, almost like he's forcing himself to sing in a higher register that simply isn't natural for him (usually when he attemps the REALLY soulful vocal style). BUT, I really believe Phoenix is a classic album because of such a wonderful flow and noticeable increase in quality songwriting.\n\nLet me mention a couple favorites! \"So You Won't Have to Die\" HAS to be my top choice for favorite song. Possibly the best song the band ever made in fact. Everything from the speedy bluegrass-inspired Jesus loving lyrics in the beginning, to the sudden shift to funkiness with the *fantastic* vocal range elevation and sincerity of the lyrics \"I'm afraid of overpopulation, I don't want to die of suffocation, the world is full of pollution, and Jesus is the solution\". Make fun of me or the lyrics if you wish, but I can totally relate to these words regardless how simplistic they're presented. The song finishes with a somber slowdown as the keyboards makes a spot-on appearance. This portion of the song makes me envision a world where everyone succumbs to the worlds many problems and feels lost... this song is an emotional rollercoaster journey. Some people think these lyrics are bad but the truth is, I can relate to them WAY too much to criticize much less overlook.\n\nI'm also extremely fond of \"Gotta Find Me a Better Day\" and the chugging rhythm. I love it all! Isn't the intro to \"Someone\" one of the beautiful moments ever? It perfectly captures the playful innocence of the 70's before technology got too advanced and people became too cold-hearted, thoughtless and angry for needless reasons (yes that's right, I'm looking at YOU Mr. Internet!) This song goes through many instrumental selections that just floor me. I mean absolutely FLOORS me with its touching beauty. \"I've come to think that I never learn, it feels so bad 'cuz I yearn and yearn for someone, who doesn't care for me, why oh why oh why should I care for someone, who doesn't care for me?\" These are REALLY GOOD lyrics in my opinion, even better when you listen closely how they're sung. Enough to make me cry when I'm alone.\n\nI don't really care if critics dislike the band either. Critics also disliked AC/DC, Black Sabbath and the Moody Blues when those bands first came out, and guess what? All those bands went on to become legendary, and in Black Sabbath's case, influential.\n\nI even love the lyrics about \"loving your children\" and \"be careful not to overpopulate the planet\" and basically \"always keep the planet clean for future generations\". If you think these lyrics are silly, keep in mind the songwriting more than makes up for them.\n\nThe bottom line is this- I love quality music. I love honesty in my music as well. Phoenix does everything perfectly for me.","Product: A hidden single (!) version of Dark Star caps off one of the \"grate\" live albums.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Pick up this album now\n\nReview: First let me state I'm not a fan of the Grateful Dead mainly because most of their music sounds the same to me. A bit more diversity wouldn't have hurt. At the same time, I respect what they did, and I respect their unique approach and everything the band was able to accomplish in their long and successful career.\n\nI really like this Live/Dead album. I can't really complain about lack of diversity either because there's a few different styles the band used to do back in the day, and this album is pretty much the ultimate example of the Grateful Dead's greatness in the early days. I think it's a highly enjoyable listen, from beginning to end. If there was ever one Grateful Dead album you needed, this would probably be the one.\n\n\"Dark Star\" is 23 minutes of mellow guitar jamming with only a *very* small amount of vocal work in two spots. I consider myself a BIG fan of guitar jams, and I especially like the jams where the music feels like it's coming straight from the soul. I can't fault the Grateful Dead here, because every time they go into jam mode, their music instantly becomes more enjoyable to me. A 23-minute jam is certainly the right way to kick things off!\n\nWhen that monster is finally over, it's only right to have the follow up song be something more melodic (in order to shift gears and keep everyones attention). \"Saint Stephen\" does just that. The Grateful Dead were also very good at being emotionally-connecting to the listener, and this song is proof of that.\n\n\"The Eleven\" features more jamming like you heard in \"Dark Star\", only \"The Eleven\" is more in-your-face with more excitement and energy. This is probably my favorite song on the album. \"Turn On Your Love Light\" reminds me of a fast-paced boogie song from the 50's like \"Jailhouse Rock\" or something along those lines, but extended for 15 minutes. I have to wonder if Led Zeppelin was influenced by \"Death Don't Have No Mercy\" because \"Since I've Been Loving You\" almost has an identical style (from Zeppelin III). It's possible Zeppelin copied, but I doubt it. Most people probably wouldn't be able to hear the similarity anyway.\n\nAlright, \"Feedback\" is probably the worst thing on the album. It's not a song- just a bunch of noises. But it's not as pointless or outrageously annoying as say, the last song on the Stooges album Funhouse. \"And We Bid You Goodnight\" is just a 30-second thingy with pleasant vocals.\n\nThe Grateful Dead seemed to me like they were a two-trick pony. You had your lengthy \"feeling good\" guitar jams, and you had your pleasant country rockers. However, this Live/Dead album is proof that the band was able to implement other styles into their career. For someone who likes diversity, this album satisfies my needs.","Product: The Mars Volta Deloused in the Comatorium Japanese CD album\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: it has its moments, but it's not a classic by any means\n\nReview: No, this kind of progressive rock music can't compete with the classic progressive rock giants such as Yes, Rush, King Crimson, and Genesis. BUT, for a touch of alternative rock that's a bit above average as far as creativity goes, I guess De-Lousied in the Comatorium is a better choice than something like Stone Temple Pilots or other alternative rock bands that try to be creative but ultimately fail.\n\nI think the one thing that bothers me the most about the music the Mars Volta are trying to make here are the vocals. While they do grow on me a little bit over time, and they're definitely better than most current vocal melodies out there from current bands, let's not kid ourselves- this stuff can't compete with the classic 70's progressive rock bands. You don't feel much in the way of beauty or spiritual adventure when the vocals are screaming through the speakers. You don't feel any kind of serious emotional approach from the band members either. Not when everything sounds forced.\n\nI just want to make it clear in case anyone out there has an urge to hear some REAL prog rock bands that the Mars Volta is *not* the best example of sophisticated rock music. You'd want to start with the classic bands first, and THEN decide where you stand with a band like the Mars Volta.\n\nThere *are* parts of the album where the vocals feel a bit on the annoying side because of a deliberate attempt to implement noisy ideas into their music. To me, noise is nothing more than a distraction, but it's not a *really* big deal in this particular case since the noisy moments are few and far between. But we can't ignore the fact that they DO pop up from time to time.\n\nAnother problem is that the way the songs are structured feel a little clumsy, like the Mars Volta are throwing instrumental variety into their music for the sole purpose of making their songs go in another direction to carry on with the sophisticated prog rock theme, but not thinking their ideas through very carefully, so yeah, some clumsy singing moments and an overall slightly obnoxious guitar sound can definitely be heard in a song such as \"Roulette Dares\".\n\nThere ARE some neat guitar tricks that impress me though. I wish these moments would have lasted longer, and would have been focused on more clearly and carefully, but for modern music that's trying to be artsy, I guess this will have to be about as impressive as it will ever get for now on.\n\nWorth a few listens, but for serious music fans who are looking for something similar and much much better, I HIGHLY recommend Henry Cow, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, King Crimson and Yes.","Product: The first musical collection to be endorsed by Casey Kasem! Each volume contains artist photos, liner notes and historical facts about each decade\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: been done a million times by now\n\nReview: Look, many of the songs on this collection were really good at one point in time, but thanks to frequent FM radio exposure most of these one time classics have now overstayed their welcome. It's just hard to stomach these songs anymore.\n\nNot to mention these songs don't represent the bands and songs most people remember nowadays. It's the middle of 2009 at the time I make this review- the 70's bands people remember are now artists such as Nick Drake, Big Star, Roxy Music, David Bowie, Elton John, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Yes, Rush, AC/DC, Velvet Underground, Stooges, King Crimson, Genesis, Mike Oldfield, Hawkwind, Cream, Doors, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Chicago, Rolling Stones, Beatles and Blondie (to name a few).\n\nAlright, this collection DOES feature Boston, Santana, Deep Purple and the Allman Brothers Band (four bands that have held up over the years and are now considered artists with their own distinct sound and style) but unfortunately the songs by these artists featured on this compilation disc are the same songs we've been hearing for ages now and the same songs radio stations have been abusing for *years*. It's time to focus on the artists I listed above and check out some of their regular albums to get a *perfect* taste of just how incredible the 70's used to be.\n\nIf you want to hear the songs on this disc because of memories growing up listening to them, you can always check out a classic rock radio station that I'm almost positive plays most of these songs over and over on their daily rotation.","Product: Their great 1966 debut, with bonus tracks High Flyin' Bird; It's Alright; Go to Her (version 1); an alternate, unedited version of Let Me in ; unreleased alternate versions of Chauffeur Blues and And I Like It.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: wow am I ever surprised this is actually good\n\nReview: Not only is a good portion of Jefferson Airplane's debut actually melodic, but the style they'd later be known for is actually partially represented here. I'm surprised. I was expecting forgettable R&B type tunes like most of the rock artists from the mid 60's were creating, but that honestly doesn't apply to Jefferson Airplane Takes Off.\n\nI'd say that most of this album is easily better than what the Who was doing at the time, but not quite up to the songwriting standards that the Stones, Kinks and (especially) the Beatles were setting in the year 1966.\n\nSince most of the songs are incredibly short, there's a stronger emphasis on melody and less on guitar jams. In fact there really aren't any guitar jams here. Too early for jams, apparently. They weren't ready for Cream or Iron Butterfly to come on the scene! As a result, it's certainly no Volunteers or After Bathing At Baxter's. There's really not much of a psychedelic vibe either. Just appealing, straightforward rock/pop songs.\n\n\"Don't Slip Away\" is just the perfect song. The vocal melody drifts along in a very melodic and easy to absorb kind of way, not the least bit challenging or anything (and certainly not psychedelic- in fact, it reminds me of the country rock version of the Byrds) and the song only improves as it gets closer to the... is that a chorus? Or just an extention of the verse melody sung in a higher vocal range? Whatever. It's awesome.\n\nThis particular version of \"Let's Stay Together\" isn't remotely like the Young Bloods version. At least, the chorus isn't the same. The chorus is done in a folk rock style and reminds me of Peter, Paul & Mary. That's the big difference between the two versions right there. \"Tobacco Road\" is highly memorable for including a GREAT vocal melody and chorus. Just a fantastic song.\n\n\"Let Me In\" reminds me of the 60's version of Neil Diamond for some strange reason. Probably the heaviest song in terms of guitar playing... and by that I mean, it actually *features* some speedy guitar work making it heavy for teenage party animals in 1966, haha.\n\nOther songs repeat like mad however, such as \"Come Up the Years\". It includes a vocal melody that repeats WAY too much but hey, at least it constantly repeats a *good* vocal melody. \"Run Around\" is another victim of repetition, but oh well. It's good. Actually this is a REALLY good track. It would fit in perfectly with any oldies collection.\n\n\"It's No Secret\" contains a really beautiful and compassionate vocal melody that just so happens to triggers that soft spot inside of me that wants to immediately cry, haha. Good music.\n\nOne bad song perhaps is \"Chauffeur Blues\". Signe Toly Anderson is certainly no Grace Slick and in fact, her singing voice makes me cringe a little bit because she can't elevate her vocal range to extraordinay heights like good ol' Grace used to be able to do (and perhaps she still can- hey, what's Grace been up to these days I wonder? Last I heard she was making a living either drawing or painting... hmm, oh well).\n\nOverall, I highly recommend every single *other* Jefferson Airplane before this one because, to me at least, they never created a bad album so it's quite okay to take the leap of faith and investigate into anything they made. Even the early 70's JA albums are loaded with a surprising amount of songwriting ideas. But Jefferson Airplane Takes Off is highly recommended to!!\n\nIt's an extremely short album which is definitely a problem for me (especially in this day and age) so perhaps you should only consider buying this album if you can find a copy for cheap.","Product: Coheed & Cambria ~ Vol. 3-In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: it's good! it's really really good!\n\nReview: Wow! I was NOT expecting to be blown away by a Coheed & Cambria album! I was actually expecting to be utterly disappointed by yet *another* lackluster progressive metal band with no ability whatsoever to sing or write memorable guitar riffs and solos or offer much in the way of songwriting, etc. This is because after 10 years of hearing prog metal, I just got used to the many frustrating disappointments.\n\nThis time however, I was wrong on ALL counts. I'm shocked right now, seriously.\n\nNot only is the lead singer actually *singing*, but he's also expanding his range and creating a fair amount of emotions that only the very best (and rarest) of metal singers are able to accomplish. Nicely done!\n\nSure, he probably got his style from Geddy Lee, but who cares? It's enjoyable, and not as high-pitched as Geddy normally is either. That's a good thing.\n\nThe guitar riffs... for years I've been exposed to one unmemorable guitar riff after another while listening to metal albums, as if the intention by the band members was to simply play a riff no matter HOW bland or uninspiring it is, and lay it down on tape regardless just because it *rocks*.\n\nThe guy in Coheed & Cambria thankfully disagrees with that overused logic. He has an actual talent for quality, fun guitar riffs. Shocking.\n\nThe songs are fairly diverse too, with other instrumental varities being thrown in the mix besides the normal bag of prog metal tricks (guitars, drums, etc) which is very impressive.\n\nIn Keeping Secrets of Silent Hill totally *deserves* all the mainstream success it has received. Good stuff.","Product: 32 tracks including all 16 hits the duo scored for Columbia essential indeed! Includes The Sounds of Silence; I Am a Rock; Scarborough Fair/Canticle; Homeward Bound; The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy); Mrs. Robinson; Bridge over Troubled Water; The Boxer; My Little Town; Old Friends; America; Cecilia , and more.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: folk/rock with super strong vocal melodies- that's why I love these guys\n\nReview: I believe the Essential Simon & Garfunkel is the best introduction you can possibly experience from Simon & Garfunkel. It doesn't include EVERY one of their fantastic tunes (for that you'd need to buy all their regular albums as well) but it does include all the familiar classics (every single one of them in fact) as well as giving the casual fan more incentive to go a little deeper and check out the rest of this collection instead of just skimming around and playing the hits. For that, it's a successful and well-made 2-disc set of quality songs from start to finish.\n\n\"Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M\" is a beautifully quiet folk tune with Paul Simon's trademark vocal style. So warm and cozy, you'll feel like you're well-protected listening to a piece of music like this. Guaranteed. \"Bleecker Street\" is slightly more upbeat... and when I say \"upbeat\" I'm not necessarily referring to Whitesnake here, haha. \"The Sound of Silence\" is a classic. The vocal melody that makes me think about peace moreso than any other song ever recorded. When I was younger the melody would instantly make me think about death, however I don't really think it's as devastatingly surreal like I once did. However, it still makes me cry almost every single time I hear it. What a melody. My newfound interpretation of the lyrics is that silence can be a rewarding and beautiful moment. \"Leaves That Are Green\" has lyrics we can all relate to- the peacefulness of time passing by and the people we've met that are either no longer a part of our lives, or passed away years ago. The memories shall be brought to our attention once again with a melody this splendid.\n\nThe lyrics to \"A Most Peculiar Man\" reminds me of myself! I'm not peculiar am I? No, not last time I checked. Alright alright, I do peculiar things sometimes. Like I insist on cleaning the salt and pepper shakers before I go to bed. That's strange. I like to make sure those shaker holes aren't clogged next time I use them. I take a shower and wash my body parts in a certain order every single time.... I suppose that's unusual. But anyway!!! This song has a pretty solid melody. It's all about Paul Simon's warm vocals that make it so unbelievably touching. \"I Am a Rock\" is another magnificent song that captures the spirit of the folk scene in the mid 60's. Somehow Simon & Garfunkel had a way of making their music seem BIGGER than a time period piece. The Hollies covered this song and did a pretty awesome version but *this* is clearly the best version ever made. \"Richard Cory\" picks up the pace. This song rocks. Well I mean, not necessarily rocks but is significantly more upbeat than the previous 6 tracks. \"Kathy's Song\" takes a tad longer to get into than the other songs here. Not really sure why. It's another mellow example of Simon & Garfunkel's distinct style of folk/rock genius.\n\n\"Scarborough Fair/Canticle\" will always be associated with piano class in either 10th or 11th grade when I had to learn how to play it. When I finally figured it out I felt so much relief, and I loved showing off my piano skills by playing this song at rocket speed in front of others, haha. It's not meant to be played so fast however- it's a mystical-inspired melody that captures the feeling of inner peace and for me, the precious days of childhood. I will forever connect \"Homeward Bound\" with the Disney movie that came out in the early 90's involving a golden retriever, bulldog and a cat finding their way home. Of course it also captures the joy of returning home after being away for so long (for people as well as animals). It captures that feeling quite perfectly in fact.\n\n\"The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)\" is a pretty straight forward song that's probably not technically much different from \"Scarborough Fair/Canticle\" but somehow, it's radically different. Huh? Make sense? Let me try to explain- only a talented act like Simon & Garfunkel can take two songs with a similar style and effectively make them give off radically different emotions and mental pictures. \"The Dangling Conversation\" features a creative set of lyrics. The meaning sounds to me like another way to interpret everyday life. The atmosphere is really elegant and almost classical-like. \"A Poem on the Underground Wall\" is perhaps a partial poem in the sense that the melody is caught between reciting a poem and singing. Really cool song though.\n\n\"A Hazy Shade of Winter\" is perhaps even better than the Bangles version! Seriously, the Bangles have a pretty solid version too but nothing beats the one that captures my favorite time period for music- the 60's and 70's. \"At the Zoo\"... oh! OH!! I know what song this is, haha. I didn't recognize the melody just by glancing at the song title. This has a really steady-paced rockabilly style rhythm that sort of reminds me of Jim Croce's \"Bad, Bad Leroy Brown\". That can only be a great thing! \"Mrs. Robinson\" will always remind me of my 8th English teacher, Mr. Robinson! Alright so he's not a Mrs. Oh well. Close enough! He had/has a wife. Anyway he was one of the nicest people I've ever met. He'd basically let the class get away with murder because he was WAY too polite and easy going. Kids would walk all over him constantly as a result. Anyway he lives right up the road from me, and since we both live out in the country and Simon & Garfunkel reminds me of the country life... you can probably see how I'm making a connection between my old English teacher and this wonderful tune! At least I hope you can. :)\n\n\"Fakin' It\" has a groovy melody with subtle \"Strawberry Fields Forever\"-type arrangements in the background capturing the psychedelic period of rock music so wonderfully. The vocal melody is nothing short of brilliant. \"Old Friends\" has pleasant orchestration elevating an already pretty good vocal melody. Perhaps the orchestration isn't necessary, especially the overdone portion near the end. Either way I enjoy the song. Getting caught up with a long lost friendship is of the highest order apparently. The orchestration really merges into \"Bookends Theme\" quite well. This is all about lovely-performed guitar playing with somber vocals. \"America\" is another fantastic song. How many times can I compliment these wonderful songs? For all eternity! A perfect vocal melody to slow dance to. I can't put into words how awesome I think this melody is. It's really anthemic but in a subtle folk-ish kind of way- not in the typical sense. In other words, the atmosphere provides a different interpretation of America that makes me want to stand up and solute my country whenever it plays. Actually it captures the feeling of being on a ship and coming towards America while wondering about the curiosity that awaits (if you're a foreigner that is). \"Overs\" is a lazy day ballad. What WILL I get into today? This kind of melody begs the question. Not a favorite of mine to be honest.\n\n\"El Conder Pasa (If I Could)\" begins with a rather enchanted Spanish guitar before flutes and a *spectacular beyond words* vocal melody appears. Paul Simon turns heavenly about halfway through- not sure what he's doing to his vocal range at this point. Perhaps it's the flutes in the background changing his tone. Whether intentional or not, it's a perfect song. \"Bridge Over Troubled Water\" has the perfect build-up of emotions. The way this song develops is unlike anything else, seriously. Dramatic is one word to describe it, and hard to resist from crying. \"Cecilia\" is my dad's favorite song and the main reason I bought him this Essential Simon & Garfunkel set. I knew he'd love not only this song, but the entire album. Anyway \"Cecilia\" is notable for being upbeat with strange drumming in the intro and, once again, a vocal melody that's out of this world awesome. \"Keep the Customer Satisfied\" feels almost out of place being in between so many ultra serious and compassionate pieces. This song is all about being fun and captures the spirit of the mid 60's rock scene the likes of which the Monkees and Mamas & Papas performed so well. \"So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright\" is a softly sung ballad more fitting for the first disc perhaps, but I welcome it with love and support on the second disc as well. I wonder if Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel really DID harmonize 'till dawn. Did they? Nice flutes at the end that reminds me of the early summer mornings when the crickets stop chirping and the sun comes up through the trees.\n\n\"The Boxer\" has a vocal melody and atmosphere that reminds me of being lost in the woods and not sure if I'll ever find my way out. Every turn I make is one that makes me cautious and confused. Another, more alarming feeling is whether I can accept death or not. Something about the tune makes me think about these confusing and mysterious questions. \"Baby Driver\" is for anyone that likes Paul Simon's \"Loves Me Like a Rock\"- two exciting songs structured in a similar fashion (at least during the verse melody). \"The Only Living Boy In New York\" is sort of depressing and incredibly mellow, and maybe more appropriate for the first disc (much like \"So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright\"). \"Song For The Asking\" doesn't seem like much of a song at first- repeated listens reveal an element of beauty that lingers and makes you want to cry. \"For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her\" begins with some really gorgeous guitar chords and a tender sung vocal melody that lights up my senses. Really beautiful. How a ballad SHOULD be written. I have \"My Little Town\" on Paul Simon's Still Crazy After All These Years album. Art Garfunkel got back together with Paul Simon for a short time just to make this one excellent song. My favorite song on that album, but on this Essential Simon & Garfunkel set... it's just another in a long list of quality tracks.\n\nIf the first time you play this set you're not blown away, listen to it again. The second time through is the key to finding out what makes this music so fantastic. Oh, and some of these versions are supposedly different from the other more familiar versions. However, I fail to hear what makes \"The Sound of Silence\" for example much different from the one I've been hearing on radio stations for years. If there's a difference it's really subtle and the average person wouldn't be able to notice. The 7 or 8 live tracks are all really good too- the audience only cheers at the beginning and end of the live tracks as to not distract from the overall listening experience. STRONGLY recommended for a purchase.","Product: Like its predecessor (released eight months prior), the band's second LP hit the Top 40 and gave the band concert staples like 24 Hours at a Time and Blue Ridge Mountain Sky -and they were doing plenty of concerts at the time, touring with the Allman Brothers! Live bonus track: Another Cruel Love , recorded in Milwaukee in '74.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: a new life is a great life\n\nReview: The album cover perfectly sums up what to expect. A horse walking down a path on a high mountaintop and looking down at a few small homes in the fields, with a beautiful and colorful image of distant mountains in the background. It's not only a fantastic cover to analyze, but there may actually be a few ways to interpret it, too.\n\nSuch as... maybe the horse riding high in the mountains is an indication of the bands quick rise to stardom? Or maybe I'm thinking about it too hard and the album cover simply illustrates the beauty and colorful creativity that can be heard in the music.\n\nA New Life is a minor masterpiece and REALLY shows just how much further the Marshall Tucker Band were willing to push the boundaries as far as how far the southern rock formula can go. This album is a drastic step forward from their self-titled debut in terms of songwriting and instrumental variety.\n\n\"You Ain't Foolin' Me\" has a very good verse melody and chorus, but that's not *quite* what makes this song stand out so drastically. It's shortly after the 2 minute mark when the song REALLY takes off and confirms (to me, at least) that the Marshall Tucker Band are the real deal. The saxophone solo is incredibly melodic and perhaps this is a total coincidence, but the first few lines of the sax solo totally remind me of a Roxy Music song from their debut released back in 1972. From here, well, images of the album cover noticeably come to mind as the saxophone takes a sudden departure and a dreamy guitar solo elevates the greatness of the song to even higher heights. This instrumental middle section resembles *no* other southern rock band. Not the Allman Brothers Band or Lynyrd Skynyrd. It's completely unique.\n\nIf you enjoy the instrumental creativity in \"You Ain't Foolin' Me\" be prepared to have your socks totally knocked off upon experiencing \"Southern Woman\". What starts off as a highly memorable vocal melody suddenly (eventually- 3 minutes later) sends me into total, unexpected shock as a straight up saxophone solo makes a VERY surprising appearance. Unlike in the song I mention above, this particular sax jam actually *jams* for a minute or so, and it sounds completely different from anything any other southern band had ever attempted, before or since. It's flat out awesome. Perhaps it's inspired by Van Morrison's \"Moondance\" a little bit, but it's certainly no ripoff or anything.\n\nThe title song brings me to tears, seriously. I actually cried the first time I heard it... alright make that the second time (because I wasn't paying attention to it the first time, for some clueless reason on my part!) The verse melody is another quality piece of writing, the lyrics are touching and meaningful, but it's the flute jam and the gradual morph into an electric guitar jam that BLOWS MY EMOTIONS COMPLETELY AWAY! There's quite a few moments of this song that move me emotionally, but the jam takes the cake.\n\n\"24 Hours at a Time\" is *another* fantastic highlight. I can't exactly explain why, though. It's a fairly fast-paced country rocker, but... there's something special about it that makes it stand apart from the crowd. I think it's the line \"Woman you're always on my mind, 24 hours at a time, somehow woman I'm hoping you feel the same\" that really makes it attractive. Or perhaps the tasteful guitar jam at the end which immediately makes me think of a happy place is the reason for its ability to give me especially strong positive felings, I don't know.\n\n\"Fly Eagle Fly\" ends the album on a fairly quiet note with a softly written track. It contains innocent lyrics and an attractive vocal melody, and not much else. Honestly it doesn't *need* anything else.\n\nI really hope you pick up what I consider a masterpiece in southern rock. I've had people tell over the years how much they dislike the southern rock genre. It's honestly nearly impossible to hate THIS album, in my opinion. The arrangements are constantly beautiful and always played tastefully, and the amount of sincerity in both the vocal melodies and the lyrics is simply hard to ignore. Find a way to hear this album.","Product: Japanese remastered reissue of the British progressive rock act's 1974 album features four tracks (each about ten minutes in length) packaged in a miniature LP sleeve. Arcangelo. 2003.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: pick this one up soon\n\nReview: Gryphon is quite the unique band. They have a Renaissance style that COMPLETELY dominates their sound and style. They don't care about electric guitar solos, drums, or anything like that. And yet, the music they made back in the day still has a distinct rock and roll style, fitting in extremely well with the diverse music scene in the 70's, and totally impresses me.\n\nThis album features songwriting that's taken to a more consistent approach. No more instrumental passages that do nothing but sit there and sound pretty. Now the band has musical ideas that are actually *good* and draw you into their unique, colorful Renaissance-influenced sound.\n\nThere are moments that sound like Jethro Tull around the time they were working on the Thick as a Brick album. I really really think the beginning three minutes of \"Lament\" is the best moment in music EVER. See what I said there? Not the best moment in rock music only, best moment in music OF ALL TIME! It's THAT good. You have to hear it to know what I mean.\n\n\"Opening Move\" is quite impressive as well with some Gentle Giant influences.\n\nA must own.","Product: This CD is an out of print collectible! It is the 2002 Lifesong release. Catalog LSCD-7002-2.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: this my friends... this is a great debut\n\nReview: For over 20 years now, growing up one hour north of Baltimore in a small town nobody's probably ever heard of, I've been hearing about this rock band called Crack the Sky. On radio stations, they'd occasionally play some of the bands music. I was under the assumption they were in the same league of popularity as any other rock band- I had absolutely NO idea Crack the Sky were actually considered a small secret exclusively in the Baltimore area.\n\nFor some strange reason, in my mind I was expecting Crack the Sky to resemble the mid 70's commercial period of Blue Oyster Cult but... no, nothing like Blue Oyster Cult. At least, if their debut is any indication, this band has a *variety* of styles and influences.\n\nYou know after hearing this album, I decided to do a little research. Hey why not? The internet is a useful tool these days, hehe.\n\nSome of the vocal melodies reminded me ever so slightly of the lead singer from the band Toto (you know, the band that had popular hits such as \"Africa\", \"Roseanna\" and \"Hold the Line\"). But... it turns out Toto didn't release their debut until 1978, so perhaps Toto was influenced by these guys. Hey you never know- it's a small world. However, the one band I definitely hear in Crack the Sky's music is Marillion. Again, I did some research and it turns out THAT band didn't release their debut album until 1983. Perhaps Crack the Sky has some influential secrets that have been kept undercover all these years.\n\nAlright, let me TRY to describe this amazingly diverse set of songs. It's going to be hard, no doubt about it, but I'll try.\n\nPerhaps the most likeable aspect of Crack the Sky's debut is that it reminds me of Journey before the Steve Perry years in that, this is a VERY cool sounding album, with the freedom to be as experimental and creative as the band members desired at the time. That's truly a commendable attribute.\n\n\"Sleep\" has a vocal melody that's not much different from Crosby, Stills & Nash, but the instrumental portion is what makes it stand in a different category from any kind of comparisons. Perhaps the acoustic intro was influenced by British rock band UFO, or maybe Canadian rock band Rush. I don't really know. All I know is that it's not quite the same as anything I've heard other popular bands from the mid 70's attempt. The lead singer definitely reminds me of Marillion, and here I thought Marillion was a Genesis ripoff all this time! Not quite.\n\nAnyway, if you like the verse melody to this song, you absolutely MUST hear a band called Wishbone Ash. You absolutely must. Anyway, what makes \"Sleep\" so extraordinary is the catchy vocal melody, and to be honest, the ability to make the entire song unpredictable with the instrumental talents. This sets them apart from any other band that comes to mind.\n\n\"Sea Epic\" has an intro that reminds me of Billy Joel's \"The Stranger\" with the moody piano lines (minus the whistling, thankfully) however that quickly fades and a pretty good vocal melody comes in, full of passion and beauty, and when the second vocal melody makes an appearance, the rhythm picks up and becomes even MORE emotionally enjoyable. There's other impressive aspects of \"Sea Epic\" that I haven't mentioned such as the majestic atmosphere. A part of me wonders if the lead singer was influenced by Kansas on this particular track, or maybe Peter Gabriel era Genesis.\n\n\"She's a Dancer\" is quite the song. In my opinion, and perhaps I'm alone in this regard, I hear what sounds like a perfect combination of jazz and pop. It's a unique song because it blends numerous styles together and blends them flawlessly, and the vocal melody? What about it? It's *extremely* good. A classic track.\n\n\"Ice\" is a drastic departure from the rest of the album. I can't even begin to describe the way the verse melody is sung. It doesn't resemble anybody else- that's one thing I know for absolute certain. I love the intro with the loud, pounding drums playing along with these melodic guitar lines. It's really cool. I love how the chorus goes \"Afraid of the ice\" with some space rock-ish guitar work immediately playing afterwards. Repeated listens reveals a style of guitar soloing that's really sophisticated- I didn't notice this right away. I simply love everything about \"Ice\". No, not REAL ice. Real ice stinks!\n\n\"Robots for Ronnie\" has a meaningful-sounding vocal melody... however the lyrics are very funny and interesting, haha. I'm not sure if these lyrics are supposed to provid humor or perhaps it tells a realistic story of a very sad person who's somewhat depressed and lonely. In which case, I apologize for finding it humorous.\n\n\"Hold On\" and \"Surf City\" are the two best rock songs in a row one could possibly ASK for! Two really energetic guitar-dominated tracks with extremely impressive choruses. This is seriously some really good stuff.\n\nOverall, Crack the Sky is an astonishing rock band. Progressive rock at its finest, and pop/rock at its finest too... and hard rock at its finest! Which category does this band fall under again? Hmmm, that is the million dollar question. Anyway, check out an album called \"Anyway\" by a band called Family released in 1970. It doesn't sound exactly like Crack the Sky's debut, but you'll like it, trust me.","Product: First time on CD, remastered reissue of the jazz drummer's 1975 album. Sony. 2005.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: wow, this is some good stuff\n\nReview: For those of you who have yet to experience Believe It by Tony Williams, let me try to explain what it sounds like. The guitar playing is pretty heavy, melodic and jazzy in a Santana or Al Di Meola kind of way, and the keyboards remind me of any number of mid 70's jazz artists such as Chick Corea or Return to Forever.\n\nHowever, I'm only making these comparisons so you know what to expect. I'm not necessarily saying one is better than the other. Only *you* can be the judge of that.\n\nI actually went in believing Believe It was Tony Williams most popular album, but I was told Emergency might have a slight edge in the popularity department. Well regardless which album is more popular, the fact remains that Believe It is a minor classic in the land of underappreciated jazz/rock.\n\n\"Snake Oil\" features an insanely heavy guitar riff that possibly holds up just as well as the classic period of the Mahavishnu Orchestra or any number of other 70's jazz/rock artists, and the only thing that sort of bugs me about it is the way that one guitar riff repeats for about 4 minutes... and the song is only 6 minutes long. This means when the actual jazz jamming gets underway, the song is just about over.\n\n\"Fred\" is quite possibly the coolest song on the album. Listen to that incredibly brutal guitar solo near the end. Is that awesome or WHAT? Yes it is! \"Proto-Cosmos\" is more of a display in keyboard jamming but features a satisfying amount of guitar playing as well.\n\nThe rest of the album ventures in the same jazzy territory, and it's terrific. Please pick it up.","Product: All that mascara 'n snakes didn't hide the fact that this was among the best of '70s hard rock, led by that all-time classic, I'm Eighteen; Elected; School's Out (Forever!); No More Mr. Nice Guy; Billion Dollar Babies and more.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: the best Alice Cooper album\n\nReview: Yes, I know Alice Cooper was capable of some amazing diversity. Just check out any one of his regular studio albums from the early to mid 70's for further proof. The guy could go from pop, to straight up rock, to old-style heavy rock, to highly unusual theatrical rock (whatever that means, haha... but seriously, don't watch any of his live concerts unless you LIKE being grossed out by his disgusting behavior).\n\nBut those albums always had one problem- they were loaded with filler. For every two or three great songs, we'd get an average one. To me, that's a problem, and I don't like listening to inconsistent albums. While the variety is commendable, I just can't get into some of his wild experiments when it comes down to it.\n\nWith this greatest hits album, not only are we getting the hits, but we're getting many of Alice's more melodic and to-the-point tracks and put onto one brilliant album. It's mostly an album for vocal melody lovers out there. You'll be sure to recognize many of the songs, while feeling totally satisfied the entire time. Worth picking up.","Product: There has been so little Seals & Crofts available on CD that the arrival of this Top 5 album from 1973 is like the gift of, well, a diamond! Includes Diamond Girl; Ruby Jean and Billy Lee; Intone My Servant; We May Never Pass This Way (Again) , and more.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: you sure do shine\n\nReview: I love Seals and Crofts, and as someone who's only 27 years old and didn't even grow up in the 70's, I don't feel embarrassed at ALL for liking these guys (despite some people trying to make me feel bad for liking them).\n\nSeals and Crofts just have a special way with their vocal melodies that makes me feel at ease, and allows me to think about adventurous images from places all around the world, whether it be mountains, lakes, rivers, oceans, deserts, or rainforests. Just wonderful music. Diamond Girl is a great album.\n\nAlright, you got me- the main reason I bought this album was because of the title song. You see I never actually heard either the Diamond Girl or Summer Breeze albums and as someone who's heard well over 600 rock albums from the 70's, I felt it was time to give a relatively popular album a shot from a band that WAS pretty big at one time.\n\nSome people think \"Diamond Girl\" is ripping off Van Morrison's \"Moondance\" a little bit, and maybe they're right since I never really noticed it until it was brought to my attention. Both songs feature similar vibes.\n\n\"Ruby Jean and Billie Lee\" shows the beautiful and incredible vocal talents of Seals and Crofts. Spectacular vocals continue on \"Intone My Servant\" and \"We May Never Pass This Way Again\" (supposedly this song was a major hit, but I sure never heard it on the radio).\n\nI'm really not sure what to make of \"Nine Houses\". It's seven minutes of... pretty acoustic playing, a small influence of the progressive rock movement perhaps (maybe Jethro Tull) and strangely melodic vocals.\n\n\"Standin' on a Mountain Top\" sounds like it should have been a huge hit, and a song millions of people would have loved. \"It's Gonna Come Down On You\" might be my favorite of the underrated selections from the album (my favorite song is still \"Ruby Jean and Billie Lee\", but more people are aware of that song.\n\n\"Jessica\" is another great song (though short) and \"Dust in the Saddle\" has an obvious country influence (or maybe bluegrass, not sure exactly). \"Wisdom\" closes out the album, and the song is NOTHING but a four minute saxophone jam. Sure, it's no Miles Davis or Soft Machine, but for what it is, it's pretty good. Good thing I started getting into saxophone jams a short while ago or I wouldn't be appreciating the song as much as I do now. A really weird choice by Seals and Crofts I must say.\n\nDon't be afraid to try this album. Just because Seals and Crofts tend to be lumped in with America and Lobo doesn't mean they actually SOUND like those bands. This is seriously some good music no matter if you grew up in the 70's or not.","Product: This Tampa band saw its members go on to join Iron Butterfly and Three Dog Night. These 1969 and 1970 Atco LPs mix spicy Latin flavors with rock as the band does Rise Up; Take Me Back; It's the Truth; In Front Behind You , and more!\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Extremely underrated blues rock\n\nReview: I bought this 2-albums on one CD package because I enjoyed the Blues Image big radio hit \"Ride Captain Ride\" and I wanted to see if the band had other songs as enjoyable as that one. Turns out the music on this CD is actually a lot different than that song. I never would have thought this music would be so enjoyable from a supposedly one-hit wonder.\n\nLet me quickly mention what to expect when you play this CD. Tracks 1 through 9 is their very first album called the Blues Image, and tracks 10 through 18 would be the band's third album, Red White and Blues Image. For some reason they didn't put the second album on here, and they chose to go with the third album instead. I have no idea what that second album (titled Open) is like. If it's anything like the first or third album, I'll love it, without a doubt!\n\nThe first album is packed with plenty of guitar and keyboard jams and bluesy vocal melodies all over the place. I do think they write vocal melodies in the same way Grand Funk Railroad wrote them in their early days, and the keyboards the Blues Image are using seem to be influenced by Deep Purple because they sound like something straight from a Deep Purple album. You can tell this band loves creating fun, bluesy jams.\n\nThe Red White and Blues Image album isn't quite like the debut album. It's more about the vocal melodies. I'd say every song on the third album is melodic and sometimes bordering on either soul or gospel music while mostly focusing on rock and roll, of course. The music on this album has a similar feel and atmosphere to the Doobie Brothers version of \"Jesus Is Just Alright With Me\" and maybe even some Three Dog Night or Guess Who similarities here and there.\n\nIt's amazing when you listen to the Red White and Blues Image album because every song seems to have very emotional singing. You can tell the band members really want the listener to feel the friendly atmosphere and the beautiful singing. The result is that the album works, and works entirely well.\n\nBoth albums feature one long jam as the last song on each album. The jam on the first album is just over 9 minutes and contains enough guitars, keyboards, and rhythm changes to make anyone who loves 70's progressive rock happy. The 8 minute jam that closes out Red White and Blues Image is more about the guitar and drums and feels slightly better constructed than the other jam, in my opinion. I'd say it also rocks more than the first jam but both songs are fun and exciting.\n\nBoth jams may include moments that might make you feel like you're listening to an early Santana album. I also hear Allman Brothers influences. You really can't go wrong with this music if you like soulful singing, strong vocal melodies, and long keyboard and guitar jamming. The Blues Image may not have been a groundbreaking band, but they played great rock music, and the band sounds like they are having fun on both albums.\n\nThe rest of the songs on both albums aren't as long. They're all in between 2 and 5 minutes. I just love the way these guys write good melodies while jamming at the same time and they have the talent to make it melodic and interesting every time. Good stuff.\n\nThis is 70's rock at its best, and I'm still surprised how much I like every song. \"Ride Captain Ride\" may have been their biggest hit (and probably their only hit) but this CD includes 18 wonderful tracks that stand right next to that song. Just please don't ignore this 2-album CD because it doesn't have that one hit song. You'll find plenty to like on here, I guarantee it. Highly recommended.","Product: LENNON JOHN WORKING CLASS HEROE (2CD)\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: 5 stars for the music, 3 for the idea of yet another collection\n\nReview: Let's be honest- you can't make a definitive collection for a guy like John Lennon. Not when there's over 90% of his discography that's worth hearing and owning. The only possible way a collection like this can be complete is when 90% of his legacy has been included. Anything less than that is really not worth owning. You mine as well just buy his regular studio albums when so many of his best songs have been left off his collections. With that said, what we have here is really good despite not being an essential purchase. You will recognize many of the songs, because they've become important pieces of music over the years, but let's just buy Lennon's studio albums instead.","Product: An elegant and legendary vocal superstar, four-time Grammy honoree Roberta Flack's unmistakable delivery wraps a timeless R&B sound with beautiful flourishes of jazz, pop and soul. She first climbed to the top of the charts with her definitive version of \"First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.\" The very next year, \"Killing Me Softly,\" her first duet with the late, great Donnie Hathaway took the same prize, and also hit #1. Also featuring her hit-making collaborations with Peabo Bryson and Maxi Priest, as well as many selections on which she shines solo, this must-have collection spotlights Flack's masterful song interpretation and rich emotional resonance.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: wow, this is superb!\n\nReview: I'm honestly a bit stunned tonight. You see for a couple months now I've been wanting to give Roberta Flack's music a serious chance because secretly I had a great suspicious feeling that her style was my cup of tea. I wanted to hear more that this singer has done, but I've been lazily putting it off until now. Until tonight that is. I'm SO glad I listened to this album! Let's run through the songs.\n\nWell it turns out I KNOW \"Where Is the Love\" plus several other songs that I had completely forgotten about. This was surely a hit song. I used to hear it often on the radio in the 80's when I was just a kid. I have to agree with the song title- where IS the love nowadays? Now it's all pushing and shoving just to get the latest smartphone or whatever. A technological-driven world we live in so... where's the love? The most important thing is love and it's missing nowadays. Anyway it's a short song, but the lyrical message is really strong. Donny Hathaway's voice works splendidly with Robert's style like the two were made to perform together.\n\n\"Feel Like Makin' Live\" is a great Bad Company cover... not! Two completely different songs. This song possesses a strange \"Midnight at the Oasis\" vibe (Maria Muldaur song if you don't know... or remember!) in the carefree atmosphere. Oh wow now the next song is a surprise. Make that a MAJOR surprise! \"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face\" is an *extremely* good song. Another hit too. I absolutely LOVE this somber/moody tune. The vocals rely heavily on Roberta's soft yet powerful touch. Soul done right I say. \"And So It Goes\" is where Roberta sings so passionately and beautifully that this song might be the most uplifting moment on the entire disc. Seriously so far the quality of the music is really high. You go Roberta!\n\n\"Tonight I Celebrate Your Love\"... wouldn't you know it, *another* popular song that I forgot about. I'm pretty sure I first heard this song on some infomercial advertising \"the best of soul\" or something silly and gimmicky like that. Peabo Bryson and Roberta sing so perfectly together. \"The Closer I Get To You\" is where Roberta takes her style into a slower-paced, tender direction. The soulful style displayed here is wonderful all the same whether it's performed slow or fast. Roberta doesn't care and can nail both speeds with tremendous ease. Seriously what is it about her voice that appeals to me so much?\n\n\"Till the Morning Comes\" is a great Neil Young cover... nah, haha. Tricked you again! Actually I tricked nobody. None of the readers fell for that little comment at all out there. If you did you're crazy man! In all honesty this song doesn't appeal to me much and is perhaps the weakest song on the album. Sorry! \"Back Together Again\" WOULD have been one of the best songs here but they had to go and edit it by a minute or two. The version with the catchy brass and bass guitar at the end with the familiar disco-style orchestration is the best version. This version is different. It's shorter by a couple minutes, but either way I love the magnificent funky groove and great steady-paced vocal exchanges with Donny Hathaway appearing yet again (and on a few more tracks). It's a fantastic dance song.\n\n\"Making Love\" is a strangely peaceful tune. I feel at peace when I hear it, but the good news is that it's not *too* peaceful that I fall asleep. Roberta keeps a strong vocal melody intact so my attention is never diverted elsewhere. \"Only Heaven Can Wait (For Love)\" is perhaps another edited version. Roberta's vocals possess a vibe and style similar to \"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face\". And by the way isn't it strange that the word \"ever\" is placed before \"I?\" I'm used to writing and reading things in a manner where the word \"ever\" comes after the \"I\". Must be a certain writing technique I'm not familiar with that occurred in the early 70's and before.\n\nOh wow now THIS is a trip down memory lane. I'm referring to \"Set the Night to Music\". Wow it's literally been 25 years if not more since I last heard this terrific beach-capturing romantic melody. I was only an 8 year old boy back then! This song is VERY atmospheric and appropriate for a late night stroll on a warm summer night alongside a tropical beach. You know it's possible I've been hearing the Starship song in the 80's and not this version but I can't say for certain. To be honest I don't even know which version I like more. The Starship, particularly Jefferson Starship, are an extraordinary rock band but lost steam when they changed over to Starship in the 80's. This makes it tough to pick a preference in this case. Either way I love this song to pieces so we'll declare it a tie. I think Roberta places more emphasis on a stronger chorus which enhances the atmosphere, though.\n\n\"You Are My Heaven\" is where Donny Hathaway reminds me of a young Stevie Wonder during the verse melody with a similar singing style. The chorus is a little too cute and clichd but I like it anyway. \"Oasis\" takes advantage of 80's production in a positive dance-filled kind of way with a tremendous beat, great saxophone work that comes and goes and the sunset-watching atmosphere cannot be denied, nor can the catchy vocal melody. \"Don't Make Me Wait Too Long\" is an interestingly written song. The dazzling instrumental part in the beginning that occasionally appears throughout the tune (usually in the background) involving catchy, rhythm-jerky bass and other instrumentation is VERY delightful. The glorious vocal work is quite dreamy in a late 70's kind of way too which instantly makes it memorable.\n\nNow \"Trade Winds\" is brilliant. This version is okay but the original from the mid 70's is the best one. This song is special to me personally for the way it goes through several tempo changes which happen to change my perception/emotions. \"Trade Winds\" is mostly a sadly-presented song but lyrically there's some realistic hard-hitting and relevant lyrics about the decline of the human race when one loses the ability to love. The line about people living in sin and shame is most notable. So this song is sad for the brutal honesty in the frighteningly realistic lyrics combined with Roberta's vocal style itself but Roberta sings the melody in such a way that's it's presented/disguised beautifully so someone not paying attention to the lyrics might overlook the sadness in the truthful lyrical message. Awesome mini rollercoaster ride of emotions.\n\nWell that's the end of my review! Hope you enjoyed reading it! Oh right, haha. Silly me! How could I write several paragraphs and not mention \"Killing Me Softly With His Song?\" Because I like being silly! This song is *extraordinary* on so many levels. The way Roberta takes her vocal technique and makes it sail across a very beautiful and catchy vocal melody absolutely amazes me. I've never heard a song like this before. I don't even know if simply calling it soul is enough to give it justice because it feels like so much more. It lights up my senses every time I hear it. Everyone I know loves this song too. I mean everyone! Who out there actually dislikes \"Killing Me Softly With His Song?\" You can't hate it. Whether you're riding in your car to work, doing the dishes at home, cooking dinner, vacuuming the carpet, riding an exercise bike or walking your dog- this melody is appropriate for ALL situations. I love it!\n\nPick up the Very Best of Roberta Flack today and experience greatness!","Product: \"Color Green\" was recorded in Germany in the 1970-1973. In a particularly dark and moody period of her young life, Claudine, a friend of Sibylle's, dragged her out from under the bed and took her on a road trip to Strasbourg, ending up across the Alps in Genoa. Upon the return from this trip Sibylle felt her sprits renewed and she set out to write the song \"Remember the Day\", grateful for being alive. It was the first song she ever wrote. Her music is simply amazing in it's intimacy and closeness. Recorded in the late 70's in her home on a reel to reel recording device, the songs on \"Color Green\" are intimate portraits of life's sad and fragile beauty. It is a gem of an album that will blow your mind. Sibylle is a star who chose to shine for her friends and family instead of the whole world.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: green is one of many colors\n\nReview: Update- June 7, 2015\n\nYou probably know the story- this music was actually released in the early 70's back when folk rock was significantly more devastating and sincere than it is now, much like all genres. Now it's all a great big commercial mess of unsatisfaction. Back then though, back in the 70's... now *that's* what I'm talking about! Sibylle Baier released a bunch of songs not meant to be released to the general public but... it HAS been released, over 35 years later. Hey who did that! Was it you? No, it was her son of all people. Her own flesh and blood is the one who'd wise up and prevail. It was certainly a wonderful idea since now we *all* get to hear what a wonderful piece of music Colour Green is, and trust me, it's more amazing than most folk/rock out there.\n\nFirst of all, believe it or not, I detect a fairly original style here. I guess you can say Sibylle's style is somewhere in between Joni Mitchell's more thought provoking lyrical content and Nick Drake's dark-themed sincerity. While Colour Green probably isn't quite as good as either artist, it darn sure comes remarkably close. \"I Lost Something In the Hills\" is the best song here, and the longest at 3:30 minutes (which is amazingly short- hey this is no Fairport Convention after all). The guitar is tuned down pretty far making the song sadder than a defenseless chicken upon seeing a fox has entered the barn. Okay, wrong type of comparison on my part perhaps but it *is* really sad. I think these lyrics can be taken to a deeper meaning- we *all* lose something eventually, and when you take a few minutes to lay down in a field and daydream on top of a cliff, you'll look out into the sky and realize this. A sad fact of life I'm afraid. Way WAY ahead of its time too. Nobody sung like this in the early 70's except maybe Nick Drake.\n\nElsewhere you have the SUPER melodic \"Forgett\" (not sure what's up with the extra \"t\"). This is my second favorite sing-along song. You know the way Sibylle sings softly combined with her deep voice makes this so unbelievably different from the stuff I normally associate with 70's folk rock. And I LOVE the way the tempo alternatives haunting sadness with upbeat. By \"upbeat\" I mean the melody feels like it's trying to find happiness in a dark place. I'd probably like \"Softly\" more if it didn't keep repeating the darn chorus so many times. Come on Sibylle! Then again the song has a way of creeping me into it. \"The End\" is more haunting material illustrating... well, I picture the end of my life when I hear these vocals but the lyrics are probably pertaining to another subject. Not really sure.\n\n\"Tonight\" has a folk style so natural the way the vocals speed up. Very original singer/songwriter and guitar player. The lyrics illustrate the feeling of a changing mood, but Sibylle has this way of making it sound so personal and deep. \"Says Elliott\" features lots of depressing soul. The kind of soul only a deep thinker would be able to create when secluded and can bring out these true feelings. The horizons look bleak when thoughts of growing old enter the mind. \"Give Me a Smile\" is a slower moving song with orchestration... the vocal melody relying on simplicity to present its beauty this time.\n\n\"Remember the Day\" is sort of like \"Forgett\" with the tempo changes- leaving to get some food never hit my emotions so hard! Dreary enough to make the oceans ahead look gray. The title song has rushed Joni Mitchell-like vocals in the verse melody. Sort of messy but imagery is still there. \"Wim\" has many tempo changes occurring while questioning love. The way Sibylle literally asks questions about love is unusual but naturally pleasant. \"William has similar emotional shifts as \"Wim\". Hey Sibylle, I WOULD like to talk to you! I'd like to discuss why it was wrong for you to not pursue your career when it was obvious you had talent based on the many musicians out there who named you as a major influence along with the giant online fan base... okay okay, maybe we don't have to go there, lol.\n\n\"Girl\" has lots of pure feeling. The message behind the lyrics isn't clear but I'm sure someone knows what this song is about. \"Driving\" has a steady-paced relatively peaceful vocal melody. I can imagine myself taking an evening drive through fields and dirt roads and arriving to that secluded happy spot that belongs to me and nobody else. Only the butterflies and myself hang out here. Doesn't this song give you the same image? \"Forget About\" is the softest song on the album. The vocals are so soft you can almost squeeze them! The lyrics seem to point towards forgetting about the bad things that happen from time to time and focus on the precious moments. Hey why not.\n\nLyrically Colour Green is a genius effort and I highly recommend it. Musically it's quite fantastic as well, regardless which musician it might remind you of. You can remember how these songs go and will surely fall in love with them. Love the way Sibylle has a firm grasp on the guitar. Her talents stretch far and deep. You need this album!","Product: AM radio magic without the static! This fantastic collection is your one-stop ticket back to the groovy '70s, featuring 20 of your favorite songs by one-hit wonder artists. And who knows the 70s better than Barry Greg Brady Williams from the ever-popular sitcom The Brady Bunch. You may not remember the artists, but you're sure to remember these Top-10 songs, like Afternoon Delight, Please Come To Boston, In The Summertime, Sometimes When We Touch, Play That Funky Music, The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia, Seasons In The Sun and many more.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: great music, with one huge flaw\n\nReview: That flaw obviously being, gathering a collection of one hit wonders from the 70's and putting them onto a single collection has been done NUMEROUS times by now to the point of being, well, pointless!\n\nHowever what makes me forgive this particular version is that it features 20 songs I do really really like, so there's no inconsistency whatsoever. \"Beach Baby\" might very well be my favorite song here, and several others have become somewhat forgotten over the years as far as classic rock radio is concerned.\n\nWe've reached that point in time where the big hits from the 70's are being pushed to the back to make room for artists like Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Coldplay and several other current bands, so despite the fact the playlist on Barry Williams Presents: One Hit Wonders of the 70's is totally generic and predictable, at least it's understandable why someone would choose to purchase this given the fact these songs have somewhat faded over time.\n\nStill, enough is enough- let's focus on the REAL aspect that made the 70's so great with the many album-oriented original bands that are rightfully receiving most of the attention these days, such as (to name a few artists out of literally hundreds) Elton John, Cat Stevens, Procol Harum, Genesis, Al Di Meola, Captain Beyond, Chicago, etc. These are the artists that music listeners and buyers should be focusing on instead.","Product: 1982 album featuring \"More Than This\", \"The Main Thing\" & \"Avalon\". (Condition: EX/EX)\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: I honestly don't get it\n\nReview: I realize Avalon is supposed to be Roxy Music's masterpiece according to popular opinion, but to me, it sounds like any number of early 80's rock albums. You know, artificially produced, slickly recorded, predictable early 80's dance rock music. This is easily a far cry from the early 70's Roxy Music stuff.\n\nThe synthesizers offend me the most- they may give off a perfect worldly atmosphere, but they never come across as melodic or unique- instead they just roll along harmlessly and uncreatively (much like the songwriting). I've heard synths played in a similar way numerous times so I'm not sure why Roxy Music gets a free pass in that regard.\n\nFurthermore, the music is, for the most part, not even remotely challenging or experimental like the first 5 Roxy Music albums.\n\nWhere's all the instrumental variety? Where's the sophisticated songwriting? It's all been replaced with a selection of dance songs that definitely reflects the early 80's commercial rock scene instead of standing out on its own. Not even remotely distinctive. I could easily compare this album to the stuff Prince, David Bowie and the Talking Heads were doing at the time and not hear anything particularly noteworthy whatsoever.\n\nProbably my favorite song (which would be a weak selection had it appeared on any of the first five Roxy Music albums, of course) would be \"Take a Chance With Me\". At least the chorus -while fairly bland and indicative of a band completely out of songwriting ideas by this point- catches my attention a little better than the rest of the songs. The title song is another minor forgivable highlight. Again, nothing truly special, but it does contain a pretty nice verse melody. I guess \"More Than This\" is a pretty good choice for a quality song, but the tempo rolls along so predictably and never alters- it's just Bryan Ferry repeating the same verse melody over and over.\n\nA song like \"A Space Between\" is quite repetitive and horrendously dated. This sounds like the kind of song you'd hear on Baywatch. The chorus basically loops over and over again near the final minute or so, and it's not a particularly good chorus to begin with. \"The Main Thing\" is complete filler.\n\nThen we arrive to the end and hear tracks like \"True to Life\" and it's basically a slowed down version of \"A Space Between\". At least, the background arrangements are identical. This song reminds me of 10cc's \"I'm Not in Love\" in the way the haunting/dreamy background vocals were utilized. I personally don't understand the appeal of a song like this unless you have great admiration for Bryan Ferry's vocals. In fact, being an enormous fan of Ferry's voice and vocal range is really the *only* way you can appreciate an album like Avalon because, for the most part, the album leaves me cold in many other areas.\n\nNo, people who love Roxy Music's early 70's period will not necessarily find anything to like about Avalon. Keep this in mind.","Product: Orange labels 2nd pressing.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: meh... eh... it's not that bad I guess\n\nReview: Self Portrait is, as you probably know, not really meant as a serious album. Bob Dylan wanted to remove that \"spokesman of a generation\" tag that so many of us associate him with and... this is how he got rid of it! Mediocrity from beginning to end. Well, with a few exceptions.\n\n\"All the Tired Horses\" begins the album and reveals this is no highly exceptional Dylan experience but rather, well to be honest -as hard as this is to say about a musician I love to pieces and especially the fact it was released in 1970 when most artists were at the top of their game- a waste of your time. It contains repetitive female vocals with strings and sounds pretty bland. Reminds me of the first half of the Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid soundtrack. \"Alberta #1\" is bland, straight forward, bluesy and features no creative arrangements whatsoever. \"I Forget More Than You Will Ever Know\" reminds me of your typical slow-paced religious country yuckage that artists such as Charlie Rich were doing at the time. \"Days of 49\" is the best song here and definitely fits in with the mid 60's lyrical style that Dylan was so darn incredible at, and maybe I'm crazy but the verse melody reminds me of Neil Young's \"Running Dry (Requiem for the Rockets)\" but played in a rockabilly style.\n\n\"Early Morning Rain\" is a slow-moving country ballad that's not quite good enough by Nashville Skyline's standards, which probably explains why it's here instead. The piano is pretty and that's the only compliment I can say about it. Despite all the people that believe it's a highlight, I fail to see why. \"In Search of Little Sadie\" has Tom Petty-like vocals and... I can't even identify what genre this is supposed to fall under. It morphs into blues around the 1:20 mark but before that? What IS that? Really cool vocals though- hey, I'm the first in line for uniqueness so no matter how it's expressed! \"Let It Be Me\" is generic balladry junk. At attempt at soul perhaps but doesn't work. \"Little Sadie\" is an improvement since it's a fast-moving country rocker. Sort of filler-ish and too short, though. \"Woogie Boogie\" is the *definition* of filler- a generic blues riff sets the pace for a boring instrumental, and the sax solo at the end is completely unnecessary. \"Belle Isle\" is another country ballad with pointless orchestration that just increases the unnecessary amount of sappiness.\n\n\"Living the Blues\" is more short country blues. Probably the best song on side two since at LEAST the vocals are decent. Side two has made it perfectly clear that it doesn't have a reason to exist because this selection of songs is just really mediocre. This version of \"Like a Rolling Stone\" is live and of course doesn't even try to stand in the same league as the Highway 61 Revisited version thanks to the rushed, less than stellar vocal performance taking place. Again, don't even THINK about comparing this to the superior Highway 61 Revisited version. \"Copper Kettle\" is gently sung filler material with delicate female vocals in the background. It's unmelodic too. \"Gotta Travel On\" (yes, PLEASE Dylan, travel on to bigger and better places!) is a decent country song and not much different from the Allman Brothers Band classic \"Melissa\" (at least the two songs sound alike during the verse melody).\n\nNow arrives MORE questionable material. \"Blue Moon\" is at least alright because Dylan puts his own unique spin on a familiar doo-wop classic (unintentionally perhaps, since the only unique thing about it is his voice). It's slow-paced and forgettable though. I DO love the violin at the end and how it plays the verse melody for a few seconds. Pretty cool moment that is. \"The Boxer\" is a good song that actually captures the spirit of Simon & Garfunkel's \"The Boxer\" but unfortunately doesn't extend the \"la la la\" chorus at the end so there's no emotionally devastating build-up in this version. That's one of the reasons I think so highly of the Simon & Garfunkel version. \"The Mighty Quinn\" has now been turned into a piano-rockabilly version of a classic Manfred Mann song. Vocals sound a bit off to me. Not just anyone can sing this particular vocal melody and Dylan obviously can't.\n\n\"Take Me As I Am (Or Let Me Go)\" is another country ballad. Can't get into it at all. Honestly with all the country ballads scattered throughout Self Portrait, putting a really average one like this near the end is just insulting to the fans. \"Take a Message to Mary\" surprisingly has a VERY good melody that's basically a perfect pop song at its core. \"It Hurts Me To\" is acoustic country that's actually pretty good. I can't say I appreciate Dylan's country/gospel/blues on most of Self Portrait but he surprises me here. \"Minstrel Boy\" has an intro where the vocals are completetely out of tune! Uh oh... that intro serves as the chorus. Yikes. The chorus is honestly nothing but barely adequate drunken nonsense with a distinct lack of foresight. We shouldn't have to hear this kind of mediocre garbage, Bob! \"She Belongs to Me\" is an average version of a classic. \"Wigwam\" has humming serving as the verse melody and Spanish horns in the background, but this other version I've heard with high-pitched orchestrated female vocals is better. I actually love this song but the million does question is this REALLY want you want from Bob Dylan? \"Alberta #2\" is a beautiful ballad that does a fitting job (or a tricky job, hehe) of ending a below average album. It's highly melodic and the piano arrangements are organized tastefully.\n\nOverall, well the truth is, the country songs feel like leftovers from the MUCH better Nashville Skyline album, and there's lot of other mediocre songs tossed in for additional disappointment. Only for the biggest of Dylan fans.","Product: Leonard Cohen's second album arrived in 1969, fully loaded with poetic classics. This expanded edition contains a pair of previously unreleased cuts, produced by the legendary John Hammond. Contains Bird on the Wire; Story of Isaac; A Bunch of Lonesome Heroes, and 7 more.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: great atmosphere, beautiful voice\n\nReview: This is my first exposure to Leonard Cohen, and I'm pretty impressed. Songs from a Room can best be described like this- take a haunting, quiet atmosphere and combine it with a sad style of softly sung folk-rock including acoustic guitars and other pleasant arrangements. Maybe it's just me but Leonard's voice closely resembles Lou Reed. It's pretty good, though much like Nick Drake's first album, I have to be in a certain mood in order to really appreciate it.\n\n\"Story of Isaac\" is really downbeat with the low-key vocals. The simple melody is elevated by the dark tone. Lyric about a father telling his son about a vision he has, so he heads up a mountain and the two of them go on an adventure. Lyrics take a turn for the creepy when they mention having to kill if he (Leonard I guess, or maybe the fictional father or son) must! \"The Old Revolution\" is a folky song with lyrics about breaking into a prison and fighting wars. Leonard sings it with such a carefree way that makes it seem very natural. For whatever reason this song doesn't feel very long at all because the vocal melody is so smooth and enjoyable, it all goes by quickly.\n\n\"You Know Who I Am\" has an eerie and quiet vocal melody. \"Sometimes I need you naked, sometimes I need you wild\" is a personal admittance! But I guess Leonard isn't one to shy away from revealing exactly what's on his mind. I hate people who speak openly despite how silly or inappropriate their comments are! *looks around suspiciously* I'd rather not repeat the very next set of lyrics. They're too disturbing. \"Lady Midnight\" is a fantastic country song. \"I asked her to hold me, I said \"Lady unfold me\", but she scorned me and she told me I was dead and could never return\" is a great line. Quiet and slow-moving, and most notable perhaps for the chilling repeating of the \"You've won me my lord\" line at the end.\n\n\"The Partisan\" contains Richie Havens-style guitar playing. Lyrics about running away in a war with memories on the mind for a soldier concerning everything he lost but despite that, he has to persevere. Really depressing song overall and the female vocals that come in just make it even *more* haunting. Like it needed to hit the emotional state even harder than it already does! Come on Leonard give a guy a break, haha. What the? Speaking of haunting, check out this next song I'm about to review. \"Seems So Long Ago Nancy\" has quiet vocals once again (I'm noticing a theme here!) and a REALLY strong haunting atmosphere. The song seems to emphasize loneliness and a woman who sleeps around but concludes with a fatal outcome (or a strange phone conversation). The vocals resemble that of Paul Simon and even contains Paul's level of soothing, highly affectionate emotions. Yes this house IS mysterious! *Extremely* haunting song overall.\n\n\"A Bunch of Lonesome Heroes\" is more energetic than the rest of the album by far. Nice melody. I like the way Leonard sings \"And for all who do not need me, I'd like to tell my story said one of them so bold\" in a high and amazing register. \"The Butcher\" is influenced by drug lyrics. Yeah there's some butchering going on- butchering your own skin with drug needles! Not much in the way of interesting guitar playing but it's an okay song.\n\n\"Bird on the Wire\" I used to think was a lousy forgettable song, but now I've changed my mind. It's a free country and I can change my mind however and whenever I want to darn it! *feels proud* There's a strong dreamy sailing vibe going on with its Irish-sounding nursery rhyme. It's sincere with the \"If I've been unkind, I hope that you can just let it go by\" line. The orchestration enhances the beauty in a major way. How could I not notice this songs awesomeness the first time around? \"Tonight Will Be Fine\" has frantic guitar work and enjoyable lyrics (\"But I know from your eyes and I know from your smile that tonight will be fine for a while\"). Leonard mentions naked lyrics a lot doesn't he! A fascination with those nude bods. Well it's not like he's the only one. Love the joyous atmosphere in this country song.\n\nOverall, Songs from a Room is a really amazing album. 5 stars! Leonard Cohen's best work!","Product: 2007 album from the Finnish Symphonic Metal band, their first album since the departure of original vocalist Tarja Turunen. New vocalist Anette successfully picks up where Tarja left off yet adds a new dimension to the band's sound. 13 tracks including the first single 'Amaranth'. Nuclear Blast.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: generic prog metal by this point\n\nReview: I can't believe how many years the progressive metal scene has been around. The worst part is that this music hasn't changed at *all* since the mid 90's or so when Dream Theater and Porcupine Tree were the biggest influences.\n\nJust to show you how much the prog metal scene hasn't changed, I have a question for you- if I played a hard rock song for you and I said \"This song was either created in the year 1969 or 1984\", would you be able to tell which year it was (assuming you've never heard the song)?\n\nOf COURSE you would, because the music scene changed drastically from 1969 to 1984. How much did the music scene change from 1994 to 2009? Well, it changed somewhat, but the prog metal scene sure went absolutely *nowhere*.\n\nThe same guitar riffs time and bloody time again, the same unmemorable and/or obnoxious screamer singers time and time again, the same *everything* repeated over and OVER again for over 15 years now. God it makes me sick so flippin' *much*. Nothing has changed, and as a result, metal bands are now stuck in a formula where nothing but uncreative and derivative music can be created. Any kind of originality has officially been tossed out the window for some time now.\n\nAt least Nightwish has a female lead singer which is somewhat more appealing than a redundant male singer (because women tend to sing pretty vocal melodies as opposed to screaming horrible vocal melodies which is a frequent male tendency).\n\nThe presence of a female singer makes the music a *little* more special, but still, the songwriting on this Dark Passion Play album is average at best. It's not really different from the songwriting on the previous Nightwish albums, and without even hearing the album you already know what to expect. A singing voice that's slightly different from the previous Nightwish albums doesn't really mean a whole lot in the grand scheme of things. Not when the prog metal scene as a whole needs help.\n\nAt least Dream Theater and Porcupine Tree were somewhat original in what they were doing. Nightwish, along with thousands of other metal bands nowadays, aren't as good.","Product: The last studio effort from their Warner Bros. era, this 1975 LP nearly went Top 40 and features the late, great Tommy Bolin on guitar. Includes Comin' Home; Lady Luck; Dealer; Love Child; Drifter , and more!\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: you keep on movin'\n\nReview: It's a shame Come Taste the Band has been ignored compared to other Deep Purple albums. What we have here is a pretty darn good album that should appeal to anyone who's a fan of 70's classic rock. Just because the lineup is different from the classic one does NOT mean the music on this album should automatically be criticized. Please don't let peoples negativity encourage you to avoid it (though thankfully, most of the people here on amazon are rather kind to the album).\n\nI really can't find one complaint with the music here. Well okay, sometimes some of the guitar riffs sound like something Bad Company would do (think \"Rock Steady\") but Deep Purple were always more talented than that band (no disrespect to Bad Co.) and there's certainly more activity between the band members on this album compared to anything early Bad Company would have done. That makes Come Taste the Band, though stripped down hard rock, sound full and exciting like the rest of Deep Purple's catalog.\n\nThe only thing that bothers me is the absense of keyboards. I think I can hear SOME keyboards playing in a couple of the songs, but it's nothing like Deep Purple had done in the past, featuring lengthy jams. That's the only thing I miss.\n\n\"Comin' Home\" starts off the album the right way, featuring a really good middle section that's nothing but a big, memorable guitar jam. Tommy Bolin really is just as good as Mr. Blackmore in most areas. At least, his solos are just as good.\n\nIf there was ever an album that sounds perfect for truck drivers, it's this album. Every truck driver in the world should be required to own Come Taste the Band. \"Lady Luck\" reminds me of Bad Company (sorry for bringing up the comparison again) with a great chorus. \"Gettin' Tighter\" is a perfect \"Driving late at night on a quiet empty Nevada highway\" song (though I've never done that, seeing as how I live on the east coast in Pennsylvania).\n\n\"I Need Love\" is very catchy. I love that riff. \"Love Child\" is another rocker that features a memorable riff (and no, it's not related to the Diana Ross and the Supremes song- though I bet some of you were thinking it was a cover version!)\n\nDoesn't \"This Time Around\" remind you of walking through a ghost town in a desert? It sure does! I love the instrumental second half. \"You Keep on Movin\" again reminds me of travelling down a highway, but this time through Maryland (let's keep it close to home, mister).\n\nOverall, yeah, it's not a masterpiece but it's a quality hard rock album. Probably in my top 5 favorite Deep Purple albums, if I were to make a list of them.","Product: One of the most request catalogs for CD reissue we have ever had is the Seals & Crofts catalog. This duo consisting of Jim Seals & Dash Crofts had numerous charting albums in the 1970's. We are now proud to present pretty much their entire catalog of albums, beginning with their first eponymous album from 1969, all the way through their last charting album, \"Takin' It Easy\" from 1978.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: perfection on a round piece of plastic\n\nReview: I can't believe it. Finally, after many MANY years, Seals & Crofts \"Takin' It Easy\" album has been officially released!\n\nI can't express how happy I am this album was finally released on CD. I've waited YEARS for this to happen!\n\nThis is one of the greatest songwriting albums ever made. I'm totally serious about that. I love Elton John, Deep Purple, Three Dog Night, the Blues Image, Norman Greenbaum, etc. I really honestly believe \"Takin' It Easy\" is right up there with the very best of them.\n\nI can't put into words exactly how I feel when I listen to this album. It's like a mystical journey inside my mind combined with childhood feelings and memories that makes the album so delightful to listen to over and over again. It truly is a forgotten treasure. Diversity is important to me, and each song on this album is distinct from all the others.\n\nWhen this album came out in the year 1978, the music scene was beginning to change as punk and new wave entered the scene. Fortunately, none of this affected Seals & Croft's consistently pleasing ability to write one memorable song after another. This album is *entirely excellent* and I truly mean that.\n\nThe title song really surprised me at first. I didn't think Seals & Croft's could EVER rock this hard! A really upbeat, energetic rocker. You know, funny story. I could have sworn in the chorus the words being sung were \"hot diggin' it\" which is a saying kids used to say back in the early 90's when I was only in 5th grade.\n\n\"One More Time\" is a really pleasant ballad with memorable vocal lines. It reminds me of the Jefferson Starship song \"Tumblin\". The two songs are really pretty similar to each other. \"Midnight Blue\" is foot-stompin' music! I *love* the catchy verse melody, and you can seriously tap your foot to the beat of the tune. Highly enjoyable song. \"You're the Love\" is a disco song, and while I'm not a fan of disco (and probably never will be) I like when rock bands attempt some diverse styles without any fear.\n\nWow... \"Sunrise\". What can I possibly say about this brilliant song? Let me try to explain why I love this track so much. Memories are important to all of us when listening to music, whether we realize it or not. Memories help us appreciate music even more. Music can help us dream about faraway places, and peaceful settings. Music can put us in our own little world, if we allow it to happen. \"Sunrise\" is beyond brilliant for a variety of reasons. For one thing, the vocal melody immediately takes me back to when my mom used to drive me to a fabric store in a tiny town in southeast Pennsylvania. That store doesn't exist anymore, but the memories remain, and that's the important thing.\n\nAlso, the song reminds me of my childhood fasciation of wanting to be an astronomer when I grew older, and having a total blast looking into my telescope and watching the stars in outer space, and dreaming about what living things might possibly be out there. It's not just a childhood memory- it's also a dream I continue to experience with certain songs that allows my mind to open up and think about a really pleasant future for all of us. I love the dreamy verse melody, and the saxophone jam at the end. Sure, it sounds like 70's music, but that's NOT a bad thing!\n\n\"Breaking in a Brand New Love\" is an extraordinary love song that reminds me of a popular song Joe Jackson would do five years later. \"Magnolia Moon\" took me a LONG time to appreciate, but I finally came around. Brilliant vocals. \"Nobody Gets Over Lovin' You\" is a magnificent ballad. Once again, let me state I don't care if the music is dated and sounds stuck in the 70's. To me that just means a music scene can never be repeated again.\n\n\"Forever Like a Rose\" sounds like Crosby, Stills and Nash a little bit, specifically that popular song called \"Our House\". That's certainly not a bad thing at ALL. The final track is highly unusual in that it has a spectacularly unique vocal section in the beginning of the song before eventually progressing into a highly memorable vocal section that's very normal for anyone familiar with Seals & Crofts career.\n\nOverall, I am extremely happy this album is available on CD finally. I can't believe it took this long, but I won't complain, because the point is- it happened!","Product: The sails refer to the shell-like roof of the Sydney Opera House. They're red because they're glowing - glowing in the aftermath of a nuclear blastas the cover art so blatantly depicts. The amazingfuturistic artwork is by Japanese artist Tsunehisa Kimuraand it's themes are echoed in tracks like Harrisburg (the plant is burning down... you cannot get out) and When Generals Talk. Also includes the stomping Best of Both Worlds.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: meh, more of the same\n\nReview: Red Sails in the Sunset is a pretty average album overall from a songwriting point of view and is much much worse than \"10, 9, 8\". At least that album *tried* to write some interesting vocal melodies. This albums purpose lies entirely on acknowledging the lyrics so if you go in expecting memorable and creative melodies, look elsewhere.\n\n\"Jimmy Sharman's Boxers\" is a tribute to the great legendary Australian boxer, but unfortunately I don't find the song very appealing. Over 7 minutes in length, and for the most part the melody consists of one repetative chant that borders on mindless for my tastes. Even worse is that the lyrics are almost impossible to understand thanks to the way they're sung really quietly one minute, or explosively overbearing the next with no actual tuneful melody in sight. The \"Why are we fighting?\" line at the end is angry in a Bono imitation kind of way. I'm afraid to say it, but I believe this song is absolutely terrible. \"Sleep\" is basically the same thing but at least the lyrics and vocals are loud enough to be understandable, but now another problem is present- this is basically a poor dance tune. The melody tries to be interesting during the line \"Say those dreams can shake me, dawn come down and save me\" but it's not enough to save the other, filler aspects of the song.\n\n\"Shipyards of New Zealand\" has a fairly ominous intro with the background vocals but then the main verse melody comes and radically changes things for the worse. It's just such an unbelievably bland melody I can't believe this is the same band responsible for the more aggressive and songwriting-rewarding Head Injuries album. That album is about a thousand times better than this, but at least \"Shipyards of New Zealand\" *has* a melody. I haven't been able to detect anything worthwhile or listenable in \"Jimmy Sharman's Boxers\" or \"Sleep\".\n\n\"Kosciusko\" is an improvement even though the verse melody sounds similar to the one from Kenny Loggins \"Danger Zone\" and looking at the double craters on the album cover, I wonder if the band was a fan of \"Danger Zone\". \"The Best of Both Worlds\" has a rhythm strikingly similar to Billy Idol's \"Rebel Yell\" and consists of a chorus that loops several times, but it *is* a fairly memorable chorus granted. It does grate on me after a while when the realization sets in that the song doesn't have much substance and is just another artificial product of the mid 80's. \"Who Can Stand In the Way\" has some pretty cool downbeat vocals with a nice beat carrying the melody but again, lacks substance because it resembles too many other artists releasing music at the time. The \"and we just carried on\" line feels really tacky and out of place.\n\nOverall, well I'll give Diesel & Dust a shot, but if it leaves me disappointed I won't be listening to the follow-up album or anything else Midnight Oil has done and instead stick with the early stuff (specifically the first two albums).","Product: UK 2007 digitally remastered and expanded two disc (CD/DVD) pressing of this 1986 album from one of Rock's most successful bands. Disc One features the remastered version of the album. The DVD features the album in DTS 5.1 Surround Sound plus rare video extras including an interview, music clips and live performances. From their Progressive Rock beginnings to their commercial superstardom, Genesis created some of the most challenging, creative and rewarding albums of their generation. This special edition not only offers bonus material, but also allows the listener to experience the album as never before! EMI.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: worse than previous Genesis albums, but still... I love it\n\nReview: The most interesting thing about the Invisible Touch album is that it's *totally* stuck in the mid 80's recording technology. Every single moment just reeks... er, delights listeners in drum machines, overbearing bass work, glossy production, etc.\n\nWith that in mind... perhaps the reason I'm so willing to defend the album despite its severely dated sound is because I remember when it came out. I was 5 years old, and 1986 was simply the worst year of my life. Family issues involving frequent hospital visits, many trips to Delaware, car accidents, etc. Hearing this album tonight really brought back all those horrible events that dominated my life back when it came out.\n\nHowever, there's really no more negative feelings towards either this album or the entire year of 1986. What happened in the past *belongs* in the past. Besides, it was *24 years ago*. So I approached it with a completely fresh point of view. While listening, I didn't consider either the horrible way it was recorded or the horrible events I had to endure the year it was released.\n\nThe title song is a catchy little slice of pop perfection. I can see how it would drive some people crazy (especially those who remember just how *often* it was played on FM radio- yes I remember too!) but, well, I haven't actually heard it on any radio station in several years (not that I actively seek out radio stations anymore, mind you) so I can appreciate a good vocal melody when I hear it.\n\nI've always had mixed feelings with \"Tonight, Tonight, Tonight\". For one thing it's too long. However I don't know exactly how I'd shorten it. I don't want to take out the jungle-like middle section because that part is atmospherically cool. The chorus is my biggest problem with it. It just sounds so lazy the way Phil carelessly repeats the line \"We're gonna make it right tonight, tonight ton-i-i-ght, ooooh ooooooooooh\". The older version of Genesis would have found a better use for it, I believe. Actually the older version of Genesis would have known it's not memorable enough to even lay down on tape (either the Gabriel or Collins years). However, the point here is that despite its flaws, I was able to appreciate it more tonight than I had in the past.\n\n\"Land of Confusion\" is totally awesome. I LOVE the chorus and the lyrics \"There's too many people making too many problems and not enough love to go around\". A line that will remain relevant until the end of time, perhaps.\n\nOh man, way to stink it up Phil! I'm talking about \"In Too Deep\". Well I suppose Phil's popular solo career at the time was destined to rear its ugly head into the wrong picture- in this case the picture being the superior and musically more interesting Genesis. What a terrible ballad! It should have been left to a solo Phil Collins album where I'd never even have to give it a second look. Yes my friends- I make a VERY clear distinction between Genesis and Phil's solo career. I love one, hate the other.\n\nSide two is quite awesome. \"Anything She Does\" is a magnificent pop song, and now I'm beginning to notice a theme that every song mentions women in some shape or form. Well not *every* one, I suppose. Anyway, this is a good sequel of sorts to the similar sounding title song. The multi-part nature of \"Domino\" is pretty much completely good, though I do tend to lose interest around the halfway point for whatever reason. It might grow on me though. Perhaps 10 minutes is just overwhelming to me, which would be unfortunate considering I'm a progressive rock fan.\n\nFor some reason I don't hate \"Throwing It All Away\". It doesn't make me cringe like \"In Too Deep\". Now talk about a splendid way to wrap things up- \"The Brazilian\" takes advantage of the good sides of the 80's by frequently repeating a big clunky riff perhaps, but it works REALLY well and sounds awesome. I love it.\n\nOverall, yeah, it's probably my least favorite Genesis album up to this point, but I can't find any real serious flaws besides \"In Too Deep\". I say pick it up today.","Product: In Rainbows\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: good, but not their best album\n\nReview: I feel Radiohead took a step back for this release. The songwriting is pretty good in some spots, but quite boring in others. Here's my review and my 1-10 rating system for each song (1 of course being horrible crap and 10 the highest amount of enjoyment I can possibly get from a tune).\n\n1. 15 Step- A strange beat opens the song, but the vocals are good. It's a cool song in a very unusual kind of way. It's not really a techno song, but it's memorable. 8\n\n2. Bodysnatchers- Features a rough, garage-rocky vocal melody and a totally rocking rhythm section. Maybe a bit too heavy, because the vocals tend to blend together after a couple minutes. Still, pretty good. These guys are good at rocking out. 8\n\n3. Nude- I love the slow and dreamy musical section that opens the song. It's adventurous. The vocal melody is pleasant and rules. Best song on the album, especially if you love the lead singers emotional style, despite the fact that certain parts sound quite similar to the Camel song \"Mystic Lady\". 9\n\n4. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi- A basic, predictable drum beat opens the song. Come to think of it, the entire thing is predictable and reminds me of U2 doing a techno song. That's what it sounds like. It drags. 4\n\n5. All I Need- Kind of creepy. The vocal melody is strange as well. I don't really like it, but the strange vibes are interesting. 5\n\n6. Faust Arp- They copied the Beatles \"Dear Prudence\" for the opening bit. It's pretty, though. 8\n\n7. Reckoner- Repetitive vocal melody and basic drums. This song possibly shows signs of a band running low on musical ideas. 4\n\n8. House of Cards- Resembles the Bruce Springsteen song \"My Hometown\" for its entire length. It's a light rocker with not a whole lot of melody. The lead singers high-pitched vocals are kind of annoying here as well. I got tired of hearing him repeat \"Denial\" over and over again. 6\n\n9. Jigsaw Falling Into Place- Features an upbeat vocal melody and a more pleasing vocal style for me personally. 8\n\n10. Videotape- A sappy ballad with a slightly eerie vibe to it. It's a bit depressing, but nothing alarmingly emotional about it. They did a nice job copying Paul McCartney's singing style, though. 7\n\nThere are no longer any connections to Pink Floyd's atmospheric sound, and instead Radiohead has given us a more ordinary, singer-songwriter type album. Not bad, but no classic.","Product: UK 2007 digitally remastered and expanded two disc (CD/DVD) pressing of this 1986 album from one of Rock's most successful bands. Disc One features the remastered version of the album. The DVD features the album in DTS 5.1 Surround Sound plus rare video extras including an interview, music clips and live performances. From their Progressive Rock beginnings to their commercial superstardom, Genesis created some of the most challenging, creative and rewarding albums of their generation. This special edition not only offers bonus material, but also allows the listener to experience the album as never before! EMI.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: worse than previous Genesis albums, but still... I love it\n\nReview: The most interesting thing about the Invisible Touch album is that it's *totally* stuck in the mid 80's recording technology. Every single moment just reeks... er, delights listeners in drum machines, overbearing bass work, glossy production, etc.\n\nWith that in mind... perhaps the reason I'm so willing to defend the album despite its severely dated sound is because I remember when it came out. I was 5 years old, and 1986 was simply the worst year of my life. Family issues involving frequent hospital visits, many trips to Delaware, car accidents, etc. Hearing this album tonight really brought back all those horrible events that dominated my life back when it came out.\n\nHowever, there's really no more negative feelings towards either this album or the entire year of 1986. What happened in the past *belongs* in the past. Besides, it was *24 years ago*. So I approached it with a completely fresh point of view. While listening, I didn't consider either the horrible way it was recorded or the horrible events I had to endure the year it was released.\n\nThe title song is a catchy little slice of pop perfection. I can see how it would drive some people crazy (especially those who remember just how *often* it was played on FM radio- yes I remember too!) but, well, I haven't actually heard it on any radio station in several years (not that I actively seek out radio stations anymore, mind you) so I can appreciate a good vocal melody when I hear it.\n\nI've always had mixed feelings with \"Tonight, Tonight, Tonight\". For one thing it's too long. However I don't know exactly how I'd shorten it. I don't want to take out the jungle-like middle section because that part is atmospherically cool. The chorus is my biggest problem with it. It just sounds so lazy the way Phil carelessly repeats the line \"We're gonna make it right tonight, tonight ton-i-i-ght, ooooh ooooooooooh\". The older version of Genesis would have found a better use for it, I believe. Actually the older version of Genesis would have known it's not memorable enough to even lay down on tape (either the Gabriel or Collins years). However, the point here is that despite its flaws, I was able to appreciate it more tonight than I had in the past.\n\n\"Land of Confusion\" is totally awesome. I LOVE the chorus and the lyrics \"There's too many people making too many problems and not enough love to go around\". A line that will remain relevant until the end of time, perhaps.\n\nOh man, way to stink it up Phil! I'm talking about \"In Too Deep\". Well I suppose Phil's popular solo career at the time was destined to rear its ugly head into the wrong picture- in this case the picture being the superior and musically more interesting Genesis. What a terrible ballad! It should have been left to a solo Phil Collins album where I'd never even have to give it a second look. Yes my friends- I make a VERY clear distinction between Genesis and Phil's solo career. I love one, hate the other.\n\nSide two is quite awesome. \"Anything She Does\" is a magnificent pop song, and now I'm beginning to notice a theme that every song mentions women in some shape or form. Well not *every* one, I suppose. Anyway, this is a good sequel of sorts to the similar sounding title song. The multi-part nature of \"Domino\" is pretty much completely good, though I do tend to lose interest around the halfway point for whatever reason. It might grow on me though. Perhaps 10 minutes is just overwhelming to me, which would be unfortunate considering I'm a progressive rock fan.\n\nFor some reason I don't hate \"Throwing It All Away\". It doesn't make me cringe like \"In Too Deep\". Now talk about a splendid way to wrap things up- \"The Brazilian\" takes advantage of the good sides of the 80's by frequently repeating a big clunky riff perhaps, but it works REALLY well and sounds awesome. I love it.\n\nOverall, yeah, it's probably my least favorite Genesis album up to this point, but I can't find any real serious flaws besides \"In Too Deep\". I say pick it up today.","Product: In Rainbows\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: good, but not their best album\n\nReview: I feel Radiohead took a step back for this release. The songwriting is pretty good in some spots, but quite boring in others. Here's my review and my 1-10 rating system for each song (1 of course being horrible crap and 10 the highest amount of enjoyment I can possibly get from a tune).\n\n1. 15 Step- A strange beat opens the song, but the vocals are good. It's a cool song in a very unusual kind of way. It's not really a techno song, but it's memorable. 8\n\n2. Bodysnatchers- Features a rough, garage-rocky vocal melody and a totally rocking rhythm section. Maybe a bit too heavy, because the vocals tend to blend together after a couple minutes. Still, pretty good. These guys are good at rocking out. 8\n\n3. Nude- I love the slow and dreamy musical section that opens the song. It's adventurous. The vocal melody is pleasant and rules. Best song on the album, especially if you love the lead singers emotional style, despite the fact that certain parts sound quite similar to the Camel song \"Mystic Lady\". 9\n\n4. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi- A basic, predictable drum beat opens the song. Come to think of it, the entire thing is predictable and reminds me of U2 doing a techno song. That's what it sounds like. It drags. 4\n\n5. All I Need- Kind of creepy. The vocal melody is strange as well. I don't really like it, but the strange vibes are interesting. 5\n\n6. Faust Arp- They copied the Beatles \"Dear Prudence\" for the opening bit. It's pretty, though. 8\n\n7. Reckoner- Repetitive vocal melody and basic drums. This song possibly shows signs of a band running low on musical ideas. 4\n\n8. House of Cards- Resembles the Bruce Springsteen song \"My Hometown\" for its entire length. It's a light rocker with not a whole lot of melody. The lead singers high-pitched vocals are kind of annoying here as well. I got tired of hearing him repeat \"Denial\" over and over again. 6\n\n9. Jigsaw Falling Into Place- Features an upbeat vocal melody and a more pleasing vocal style for me personally. 8\n\n10. Videotape- A sappy ballad with a slightly eerie vibe to it. It's a bit depressing, but nothing alarmingly emotional about it. They did a nice job copying Paul McCartney's singing style, though. 7\n\nThere are no longer any connections to Pink Floyd's atmospheric sound, and instead Radiohead has given us a more ordinary, singer-songwriter type album. Not bad, but no classic.","Product: Eno's ambient innovations were in full flower when he met Fripp again on this 1975 LP. This is a meditative journey through calm seas and skies: Wind on Water; Evening Star; Evensong; Wind on Wind, and An Index of Metals. Still entrancing and enduringly influential!\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: what a star... a dark star\n\nReview: Evening Star isn't *quite* the same as Eno and Fripp's first collaboration, No Pussyfooting. Let me mainly discuss the nearly 30 minute epic that is called \"An Index of Metals\" that takes up the entirety of side two, because such a lengthy track might be intimidating for many folks out there wondering what to expect.\n\nIt's nowhere near as creative as say, \"The Heavenly Music Corporation\" from No Pussyfooting because, well for one thing, it takes at least 10 minutes to actually discover more than a couple notes. By that I mean, the first 10 minutes don't really accomplish much of anything and just sort of hangs around needlessly. It never builds into anything like the stuff from No Pussyfooting does. It just continues to play the same sounds for an extended (overlong) period of time... with one exception (mentioned below).\n\nI'm not necessarily making a criticism here- just pointing out what it sounds like to me. I like ambient music just fine, but the first 10 minutes sure could stand to have more to it than... just that. It's almost mindlessly simplistic at times, however I realize liking ambient music and being a fan are two separate things, so perhaps I'm simply not able to appreciate it as much as someone who's an expert on the genre.\n\nOn the other hand, repeating the same ideas over and over makes it *much* easier to get into compared to the majority of No Pussyfooting.\n\nOnce Fripp's guitar playing enters the picture, he's basically repeating one or two notes over and over again, and this shall remain for the next 15 minute or so (basically for the remainder of the song). Again, I'm not criticizing it. I realize many people are able to actually get something meaningful out of a set of notes repeating endlessly and never progressing. I definitely feel No Pussyfooting is a better experience though.\n\nIf I haven't mentioned it yet, \"An Index of Metals\" honestly reminds me of the classic mid 70's period of Tangerine Dream quite a bit (minus Fripp's cool guitar sound, of course).\n\n\"An Index of Metals\" is supposed to remind listeners of a rich landscape of some kind (wherever you'd like to take your imagination is completely up to you, of course) and I'd say for the most part it works, but well... I just believe No Pussyfooting has more actual notes which eventually leads to a more satisfying experience, which means No Pussyfooting is an obvious attempt to create something less ambient.\n\nWhat it comes down to is this- \"The Heavenly Music Corporation\" is a heck of a lot more musically interesting than this track, but approaching \"An Index of Metals\" for just the atmosphere and nothing more... well in that case, it's probably tied with \"The Heavenly Music Corporation\". If you enjoy atmosphere, choosing between the two songs is a very hard task. \"An Index of Metals\" does have a degree of spookiness to it that actually increases as the song rolls forward.\n\nThe ironic part is that, despite my constant complaining concerning the first 10 minutes of \"An Index of Metals\" my favorite part about the entire song is when you can faintly hear a really cool guitar trick sometime 5 minutes in. It's really neat and actually reminds me of the ominous intro from \"Larks' Tongue in Aspic (Part One)\" (right after the chimes- even though we're dealing with two separate musical instruments from two separate albums, the atmosphere is strikingly identical) but eventually it disappears and \"An Index of Metals\" falls back into a repetitive cycle.\n\nStill, Evening Star is a pretty good album. Just expect more repetition than before. Also remember- I don't quite get ambient as much as most people do, so if you feel my review doesn't hold any value and can't help you make a purchasing decision, I'd totally understand. I'll cool with it. I felt the need to at least *try* to explain what to expect.","Product: Great collection at a great price.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: not a Carly highlight\n\nReview: I was hoping for a masterpiece since the glowing reviews seemed to paint me a positive picture of Boys In the Trees, however...\n\n\"You Belong to Me\" is typical late 70's commercial rock with a decent enough melody. I actually can't remember if this is the version I've been hearing on radio stations when I was younger, or some other version. Because of the Michael McDonald influence in the soulful rhythm and smooth rock approach, I believe it *is* in fact this exact version I was hearing all those years ago. The title song is a beautifully sung mellow country tune full of that late 70's innocence that's so appealing to those who were lucky enough to grow up back then.\n\n\"Tranquillo (Melt My Heart)\" suffers from a bland disco-influenced chorus. It's no secret that I'm not particularly fond of this time period of music and this is proof why- what was once a fantastic singer-songwriter in Carly Simon feels like her talent has been exchanged for some cheesy disco beats and straight forward vocal melodies. This song is unable to stand out among the several other generic disco songs that dominated the late 70's. \"For Old Times Sake\" contains a pretty standard and uneventful vocal melody as well, but this time there's no disco to point the blame- it's just not a very interesting ballad to me despite how much passion Carly puts into it. I do really like the way she sings the line \"I used to think that we would wind up together, our destiny's always entwined\" though.\n\n\"One Man Woman\" is a Carole King imitation with unnecessary saxophone playing. The vocal melody itself however, isn't bad. The songwriting though... it's just not working for me this time around. You see Carly Simon's early albums really resonate with me. This just feels like very ordinary stuff in comparison. I take back the \"unnecessary sax\" part- the jam at the end is pretty melodic and worth experiencing. \"You're the One\" is another example of smooth rock blandness with Carly not living up to expectations in my book. Yes her voice is lovely, but I prefer a lovely voice connected to some quality songwriting which this album surely lacks.\n\nOverall, Boys In the Trees makes for quality easy listening music, but it doesn't illustrate Carly's potential as a songwriter. Her debut, Anticipation, No Secrets and Hotcakes are better albums by far.","Product: Japanese only SHM-CD (Super High Material CD - playable on all CD players) pressing. Warner.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: I actually did cut my hair yesterday afternoon\n\nReview: or rather, had it cut at the barber shop. Now that my friends, is entirely useless information that even makes twitter look good.\n\nAnyway, Deja Vu is probably a tad worse than the first Crosby, Stills & Nash album... alright it's worse, it's definitely worse, but my 5-star rating indicates just how enjoyable I believe it is regardless.\n\nThe title song is my favorite song. I originally didn't like it very much. In fact, it took me 3 close listens in a row tonight to finally figure it out. You see, my initial feelings were that the verse melody during the first part was pretty half-baked, the next couple minutes wandered in a generic blues kind of way, and the song was only saved by the \"we have all been here before\" singing line at the very end. However... tonight it finally clicked -the entire thing clicked- and I absolutely love it. What was once a generic mid-section really makes sense to me now, and so I think it's an excellent song.\n\nSome of these songs I have very personal memories associated with, such as \"Our House\". This song sends chills up and down my body because living in the country portions of southern Pennsylvania, this song always made me think of the fishing trips to the ponds and rivers, the walks through the fields and woods, and the precious holiday moments I had experienced as a young kid... all dealing with areas close to home, or inside of my home. It's a really beautiful song in every possible way. The vocals are astronomically good.\n\nOn the flipside, my dad has a special connection with \"Teach Your Children\" and every time it comes on the radio, because he grew up in the 60's, he has memories of HIS family and childhood. Strange how both my dad and myself have the same memories concerning two different songs on the same album. I suppose this proves we both hear the same amazingly sentimental vocal work in the music of Crosby, Stills and Nash (and Young!!! hehe, can't forget good ol' Neil, now can we?... especially considering how Neil went on to accomplish a heck of a lot more than CSN ever did- with all due respect of course).\n\nI'm not a big fan of \"Woodstock\" because it strikes me as fairly forgettable hard rock, but it's a favorite among many so I can tolerate it. \"Carry On\" has a brilliant vocal melody and the rhythm section speeds along in a way that makes me appreciate the vocals even more. I love it. It truly deserves the constant radio play it has been receiving all these years. \"Country Girl\" has a VERY strong and instantly noticeable spiritual vibe about it, thanks to Neil Young's vocal range and the sparse piano notes. Neil Young really went the distance here, and the results are that it's a work of heavenly beauty. \"Almost Cut My Hair\" has funny lyrics considering that the early 70's was dominated with many long-haired freaky people! The guitar featured here reminds me of the guitar playing we hear from Neil Young's \"Down By the River\" during the verse melody.\n\nOverall, a fantastic album, and along with the debut, two albums you must own.","Product: Japanese only two disc (SACD Hybrid CD + NTSC/Region 0 DVD) pressing of this album housed in a mini LP sleeve. EMI.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Genesis in their prime\n\nReview: Everyone talks about Peter Gabriel and how he has such a wonderful voice and a talent for really good lyrics. While I agree, I have to admit I mostly like Nursery Cryme for all the instrumental bits and pieces that appear throughout the album. Whether it's the mellotron-dominated finale on \"Return of the Giant Hogweed\" (which reminds me of a dark shadow creeping over planet Earth- YIKES what a scary song) or the short organ solo appearing somewhere around the halfway point of \"Fountain of Salmacis\", these are mainly the things I play the album for.\n\nDon't get me wrong, the vocal melodies are great, and the fairy tale-like atmosphere of the entire album is great as well, but let's not forget Genesis was capable of some very good instrumental sections too.","Product: (Vinyl LP) The seminal debut album from the quintessential American power pop band now available on domestic vinyl for the first time in a generation. Features the classic line up of Alex Chilton, Chris Bell, Andy Hummel and Jody Stephens. LP includes faithfully restored sleeve and label art.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: the biggest star of all\n\nReview: While I personally prefer Radio City, #1 Record contains many extraordinary vocal melodies as well. It's just that the level of greatness, in my opinion at least, is a *tad* less impactful compared to the majority of tunes from Radio City.\n\nRadio City is flawless from beginning to end. Not quite so with #1 Record. I think this has to do with the noticeably less energetic and more folk rock style of #1 Record. This band was definitely destined to specialize in the power pop genre.\n\nWhat's most amazing to me about #1 Record is, of course, the sparkling clean and beautiful sound the way the album was recorded, along with the bands distinctive and WAY ahead of its time refreshing style (along with the marvelous production techniques). These two things combine to create a classic album. Big Star doesn't really sound like anyone else when you listen to them carefully, however comparisons to the Beatles and Badfinger would make perfect sense.\n\n\"Feel\" actually receives some radio play from time to time. I HAVE in fact heard this song played on classic rock radio at one point.\n\nOf course nowadays radio has sunk to an even DEEPER low so the odds of hearing Big Star on the radio these days is, well, nearly impossible odds. Even a healthy resurgence thanks to the younger generation isn't nearly enough to keep Big Star permanently secure in the minds of radio followers.\n\nIt's true, and this is because time is moving on even as we speak, which means the older artists are gradually fading away from peoples memories, and when that happens, the music stops being played on the radio. I hate it more than you will ever possibly know, but that's how life is.\n\n\"The Ballad of El Goodo\" benefits by having a really emotional vocal melody, and \"Try Again\" falls under the same category. These are probably my favorite songs on the album.\n\n\"My Life Is Right\" is pop/rock perfection. It would fit in easily on the Radio City album. \"The India Song\" has a really tasty flute melody before breaking out into a really gorgeous vocal melody. Another excellent song.\n\n\"In the Street\" is of course popular for being the theme song to That 70's Show. It's a good song, and this original version is easily better than the version from the show (which sounds loud and obnoxious in comparison- stick to the Big Star version).\n\n\"Watch the Sunrise\" is one of those \"moment of hope\" type songs. You immediately feel refreshed and thankful when you hear a vocal melody as beautiful as this one. I wouldn't be surprised if this song was created with that thought in mind.\n\n\"Thirteen\" sounds like \"Danny's Song\" by Loggins & Messina, and that's a good thing.\n\n\"Try Again\" makes me cry in a way where I feel completely hopeless. This makes the song very depressing in my opinion. I love it though, that's what makes it so darn hard to listen to it. Do I want my fragile emotional state toyed with just for the sake of enjoying a splendid vocal melody? Well yes!\n\n\"Don't Lie to Me\" is the weakest song here by FAR. It reminds me of KISS or Twisted Sister. Not good. \"Give Me Another Chance\" is a pretty standard pop song in comparison to the rest of the material featured on the album, but I still love it to pieces regardless of that.\n\nBig Star = big win. The first two albums really ARE pop/rock classics. Talk about guitar and vocal hooks galore. Just awesome.","Product: After the breakup of Jefferson Airplane, Kantner joined Grace Slick and David Freiberg and recorded this all-star album featuring Jerry Garcia, David Crosby and Chris Ethridge.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: quality songwriting makes another return\n\nReview: Baron Von Tollbooth & the Chrome Nun features a style that I believe is quite different from previous Paul Kantner albums, and seriously a drastic step away from anything Jefferson Airplane or Jefferson Starship ever wrote. It's not necessarily a fantastic departure either. The music sounds partially aimless or undeveloped sometimes, and just severely dated in other areas. An inconsistent affair. The highlights are two magnificent songs that I will mention below, and three or four other really good ones.\n\n\"Your Mind Has Left Your Body\" is perhaps the most unique song on the entire album. It takes elements of country music in the guitar playing and combines it with hypnotic and dreamy singing. The vocal melody definitely reminds me of the guy from the Incredible String Band. I doubt it's an imitation though, since the Incredible String Band already had their moment in the sun long before this album was released. To be perfectly honest, it's hard to rate a song like this and I can't tell you if I actually enjoy it or not. I *think* I do. Nothing about the song really does a whole lot besides linger on and on, but thanks to the lyrics, the feeling of adventure is still quite evident. That and the country-inspired guitar work is the greatest aspect of the song. Normally I don't believe you have to be on drugs to get the full effect of a song but... well, haha.\n\n\"Sketches of China\" has an unavoidably depressing feeling thanks to Grace's vocals. This song hits me pretty hard because you can tell it's designed to destroy someones mental state of mind... or perhaps not. The lyrics wouldn't necessarily indicate such inner devastation. In fact, the melody is supposed to give the listener an uplifting and positive feeling. As far as I know, it's about the child Paul and Grace made together. The harmonies are extraordinary though. Absolutely the very best I've ever heard the two of them create. The guitar solos are enough to send me to a faraway land as well. Well, I can't sit here and talk about THIS song all day when there's flowers outside that need watered and other songs that need discussed!\n\n\"Across the Board\" is another Grace Slick highlight. Describing the brilliance of the vocal melody would be impossible, or rather, would make me look like a fanboy who can't listen to music objectively. Not for me! Let's just say, this is yet another terrific performance that takes advantage of her incredible range. Somehow her range becomes even better as the song progresses. \"Flowers of the Night\" has another military march-like vocal melody (as I prefer to call it- perhaps there's a more appropriate name for those type of vocal melodies) that resembles a good portion of Paul Kantner's Sunfighter album. Not a highlight for me, but perhaps others can find some appeal in it. It's a major low point of the album for me and if it wasn't for the decent guitar solo at the end I would dismiss it without hesitation.\n\n\"White Boy\" has another underwhelming vocal melody that does nothing interesting. The lyrics seem to focus on questioning our existence and human accomplishments concerning white people, and while interesting, it's not enough to make the mediocre vocal melody worth sitting through. A song that I believe wasn't worked on entirely because the melody should have matched the quality of the lyrics but unfortunately, it doesn't. However, it's not a bad song. I just wish more attention was given to the actual vocal melody. \"Harp Tree Lament\" is really good though, thanks entirely to the vocal melody and nothing else. Sure, there's a degree of dated fruitiness to it, but it's not enough to distract me from the vocals. Grace's vocals on \"Fat\" are flat (har har!) A far cry from tunes like \"Across the Board\" and \"Sketches of China\" that's for sure, but... I still really like it. Oh, even though \"Fishman\" is really short, the vocal melody appeals to me a lot. I admire the way Grace's vocals build in dramatic fashion very slowly, and then the chorus eventually comes in and explodes. Good moment. Another magnificent Grace Slick performance.\n\nRepeated listens reveals an album that *does* improve. My original feelings weren't so kind, but now I believe I can appreciate a good portion of the album, especially any moment when Grace Slick is in the spotlight (which happens often, might I add).","Product: 15 tracks taken from this West Coast blues-rock outfit's first two albums for Columbia, Pacific Gas & Electric and Are You Ready , whose title track went to #14 on the 1970 charts. Other tunes: Staggolee; Miss Lucy; She's Long and She's Tall , and more. Long out of print!\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: pump up the volume\n\nReview: I wasn't aware of this band called Pacific Gas & Electric until a few weeks ago, but listening to the Are You Ready album I can honestly say they're a really fantastic example of late 60's soulful blues rock.\n\n\"Are You Ready\" begins with soulful vocals with lyrics about flying. The rhythm comes in a moment later, and so do the female background vocals giving the song a gospel vibe. \"Someone's coming to take you home, and if you're ready then he'll carry you home\" is a memorable line. Really good guitar solo that reminds me of early Black Sabbath for some reason. A similar tone to Sabbath's early material at least. While the guitar solo delivers in being melodic, it's also unique with the female vocals singing along to it. The vocals near the end have a Chambers Brothers or Terry Kath of Chicago feel to them based on the tension-filled soulfulness.\n\n\"Hawg For You\" has a bluesy vibe similar to the intro to \"I Want You\" the Beatles classic. Then the vocal melody comes in and it's in the traditional bluesy style, but with dazzling guitar soloing taking place behind the vocals. I love the lyrics \"Boogie woogie for you!\" Wow this guitar playing is REALLY good! Particularly the solo in the middle. How can you not be blown away by that? And the guitar solo seems to only improve as it moves along since by the end I'm so floored with the notes I can't think about anything else! \"Staggolee\" opens with a chugging beat and harmonica that reminds me of the Band with vocals similar to some of Captain Beefheart's more high-pitched vocals. This song has an irresistible beat to it with storytelling lyrics that I can't help but love to pieces. Some really amazing vocals too. Not sure what the lyrics are about, but it mentions pitchforks, hangmen and freedom. Eerie lyrics overall.\n\n\"The Blackberry\" opens with a solid groove. The lead singer opens with some spoken lyrics about his time growing up in Virginia encountering snakes, sand fleas and chickens while singing a tune. I gotta admit, the lead singer has a lot of personality. He's very comfortable with his natural singing voice, and he's not afraid to show it. This song carries a steady rhythm while the singer sings about his love of blackberries and other fruits while guitar soloing plays subtly in the background until halfway through when it tears into a more noticeable and better solo. Hey I love blackberries too but I have a feeling we're talking about two very different type of blackberries! I mean I find it impossible to believe anyone loves blackberries as much as this guy is describing them so voluptuously. I mean, I'd place blackberries in my top first favorites fruits but this guy clearly loves them more.\n\n\"Love, Love, Love, Love, Love\" (and hey, why not throw in another \"Love\" while we're at it!\") is crunchy slow-moving blues. What a great riff. \"Come here woman, tell me what is your name? Come a little closer, step into the light, you sure look fine mama, it's gonna be a good night\". I'm probably writing some of these lyrics wrong. This song almost has a slight Jimi Hendrix \"Purple Haze\" vibe to the pacing, drumming and guitar trickery. Whoa, an *extremely* good guitar solo near the end. \"Mother, Why Do You Cry\" is a quiet country tune with *very* disturbing lyrics about the lead singer going to a prison and speaking to a man reaching the end of his life because he murdered a somebody. He even describes the way the murder took place in bloody detail. Wow this is abnormal for late 60's/early 70's rock! VERY abnormal! Melody wise, T=this is extremely close to a normal ballad country song in terms of guitar playing and the dreariness associated with the sadness, but the lyrics are truly something else so you better be prepared for them!\n\n\"Elvira\" is fast-paced blues rock with vocals. It's only 2 minutes long but fast enough to be enjoyable. \"Screamin\" is totally unique in its sneaky jazz meets blues rhythm work. This has a \"Riders On the Storm\" vibe (Doors tune). \"I gotta get out and find a new day\". Yeah me too! Let's go together. Get me out of this rut I'm in. Cool guitar solo too. It relies more on atmosphere than it does dazzling guitar soloing which is a step in a different direction for the band based on what I've heard so far. Sadly \"When a Man Loves a Woman\" isn't on this collection, but to be honest as much as I enjoy this great cover version of a classic, it probably is the song of choice to remove. I mean if they absolutely HAD to remove one song, this is probably the one. Of course personally I'd prefer *no* song be removed for any reason whatsoever. With that said, the soulful vibes and vocal melody nearly matches the brilliance of the classic version we all know, and the background singers only make it better. There's also a somber organ and guitar solo in the middle that plays the main melody of the tune, and it's really beautiful.\n\nNow for my review of Pacific Gas & Electric, the second album features as part of this double album collection.\n\n\"Bluesbuster\" is fast-paced boogie/jazz rock with light organs or keyboards in the background. The vocal melody seems a little worse compared to the ones from the bands Are You Ready album. This song's alright but nothing especially memorable. Perhaps if the vocal melody didn't speed by in a way that feels rushed I'd have liked it better. At least the guitar solo is okay and I like the presence of the horns near the end.\n\n\"Death Row #172\" is unique the way it slowly blends sincere tender vocals, blues and jazz all together in one amazing pot. The lyrics definitely capture the feeling of rotting away in jail by singing the blues, reading the Bible and not knowing what else to do. It gets even crazier whe the singer mentions killing men in Vietnam. I'm not used to hearing negative lyrics about Vietnam war in such a graphic way. Most artists of the 60's and 70's mention war, but hardly ever specifically Vietnam, and almost *never* in this kind of realistic detail. There's a powerful message behind these lyrics for sure, and the fantastic vocal melody makes the lyrics even stronger. \"Miss Lucy\" is standard blues with a decent guitar solo. Perhaps heavier than most blues though. Probably on par with say, Cream or Led Zeppelin in terms of sheer heaviness.\n\n\"My Women\" is more blues, but with a stronger emphasis on tastier guitar licks and overall the superior tune in comparison to \"Miss Lucy\". The song goes through some mood shifts that are pretty interesting. It's an experimental way of writing a blues tune. Stepping outside the box so to speak. \"Know a woman down south, she's wild and countrified\" is a great lyric, especially when it goes on to describe just how good looking this woman is! Gotta love those legs, haha. The lead singer's personality continues to the point that he takes his vocal range all over the place while assuring that the melody and atmosphere is never negatively affected in any way. He knows never to cross that line amazingly enough. \"She's Long And She's Tall\" is more standard blues, but hey, standard blues of the early 70's variety is a GREAT thing in my book. Because that was the time when guitar solos, tempo changes, solid vocal melodies and overall guitar skills were at an all-time high in my opinion. Speaking of guitar solos, this is a mighty fine one (especially the heavier one near the end).\n\nOkay this next song is pretty tough to review. It's basically \"The Pacific Gas & Electric Suite\" and it's over 15 minutes long. It starts with \"The Young Rabbits\" and this part sounds early Chicago-like with the speedy rhythm, nonstop horns, and overall distinctive jazzy vibe. There's also orchestration that enhances it. This is actually really impressively written, especially when the violins come in that feel like the icing on a cake. The trumpet or trombone solo soon exchanges notes with the saxophone which reminds me of several jazz/fusion artists I could name. The drum solo is pretty remarkable too, especially when the violin creeps in so unusually. Keep in mind all these instrumental sections go by fairly quickly (well except for the drum solo which eventually dissolves into quietness until the horns come back in).\n\nAfter this \"Constitutional Strand\" is next. Wow you thought the violins sounded creepy? Check this out! This is a Middle Eastern mind trip or perhaps your worst nightmare. This is much creepier than some of the instrumental parts from a couple minutes ago. It's brief at least, so a really catchy guitar riff can come in. REALLY good riff to be exact! Then it starts to jam in a psychedelic Cream kind of way. I guess this is the \"Fat Tom\" part but I can't say for certain. \"Boy Wonder\" finishes this interestingly written and creative suite. The lyrics are really silly singing from a child's point of view and how he's not allowed to swim or play with the other boys around the neighborhood. Really strange but the lead singer takes these memories personally and considers it payback. He even shares stories about running away from home which makes me think he's venting some inner thoughts that have been bothering him for years. The acoustic guitar playing is really good throughout. This song actually reminds me of Hot Tuna quite a bit in the vocals and creative bluesy guitar playing. Anyway, time to start helping yourself huh! Perhaps slightly overlong though- the \"Boy Wonder\" part.\n\n\"Redneck\" offers a nice faster-paced chugging way to end the bands self-titled 1969 album with nice piano playing and solid vocals. I really like the lead singers voice here. He's good at the country vocals. The lyrics are sort of offensive to some because they mention all kinds of different people and not exactly politely (especially the very last line which I can't repeat). Overall wow! Pacific Gas & Electric is a LOT better than I ever could've guessed! The lead singer has a really solid voice and tons of personality which helps to give the band a unique sound. I wasn't expecting any of this. Great singer and great music!","Product: COUNTRY JOE AND THE FISH - 1969: LIVE! FILLMORE WEST - CD\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: a really nice collection of songs\n\nReview: This is the first Country Joe and the Fish album I ever heard. Before this, I only knew a couple songs from the band and I really had no idea they could totally jam away like they do quite often here. While I think the sound of the album overall is pretty weak and horribly dated and quiet, we DO have to understand this music was recorded in 1969 (a live album, no less). Still, a remastering job wouldn't hurt. Something to fix up the muddy sound.\n\nThe first song is called \"Introduction/Rock and Soul Music/Love\" and is unquestionably a great way to open a live set. The first two minutes feature insanely melodic guitar jamming. It shows what you can expect from here on out. Then lyrics about rainbows come in next. The song switches gears after this and seemingly turns into Steppenwolf. If that's not the lead singer of Steppenwolf during the vocal melody, he has a copycat! A keyboard jam along with some pretty good drumming behind the vocal melody is included as well.\n\n\"Here I Go Again\" isn't related to the Whitesnake song, haha. Supposedly a religious song, the vocal melody is absolutely gorgeous. It sounds like an old-fashioned country love song. It's a really beautiful melody. It sounds like it was designed for people to slow dance to it. Nice piano playing too.\n\n\"It's So Nice to Have Your Love\" is next. The vocals are reminiscent of Al Stewart, almost exactly. That's cool with me. Love the atmospheric piano solo. The vocal melody is brilliantly emotional. The guitar solos are quite powerful as well, filled with so much emotion. I had no idea Country Joe and the Fish was able to give the listener so many pleasant feelings.\n\nThe first eight minutes of \"Flying High\" is nothing but an extended guitar jam. It reminds me of something from the Quicksilver Messenger Service album \"Happy Trails\". VERY good stuff. Also reminds me of the Allman Brothers a little bit. A bluesy vocal melody and heavy bass guitar finish up the song. A very melodic song overall. This is actually a really spectacular guitar jam.\n\n\"Doctor of Electricity\" is next. Man, what a cool song title! An adventurous and mysterious keyboard bit opens up the song. Wow, pretty cool. Too bad it only lasts roughly 75 seconds. A guitar jam soon follows after a brief stab at a vocal melody. Those cool keyboards make another appearance. They stick around for the rest of the 9-minute song, and more guitar work comes along for the ride.\n\n\"Donovan's Reef Jam\" is the ultimate live jam. I mean, REALLY incredible stuff. Let me try to explain it-\n\nAn energetic and fantastic guitar jam opens up this 38-minute monster before a jazzy vocal melody comes in. That lasts for a few minutes. The jam maintains a jazzy feel through some excellent guitar work and a cool rhythm section. I actually don't mind the muddy production during this particular song because it feels *right* for some reason. 8 minutes in and we experience a great harmonica solo before a brief vocal melody returns 12 minutes in.\n\nAfter the vocals are over, the song turns into a bluesy jam for a while. Some harmonica playing returns, along with more of those ultra-cool keyboards. I love the sound of the keyboards these guys have. Yes they're reminiscent of several other bands of the same time period who've used them countless times, but I don't really care. All these instruments are taking place while still jamming of course (quite heavily, might I add!)\n\nThe jam seems to slow down temporarily around the 21-minute mark. By this point, the guitar is dominating, and continues to do so for the next several minutes. The jam slows down drastically around the 27-minute mark. Near the 30-minute mark, the jam becomes incredibly gorgeous and melodic. The guitar playing is suddenly beyond belief \"smack me over the head with something HARD this is good!\", along with the keyboards. A very emotional piece of writing there. I love the rest of the song. Then it's finally over. Whoa, what an exhausting listen! But keep with it and you'll be rewarded.\n\nWhile Country Joe and the Fish aren't remembered today as much as they should be, you can buy this album and own one heck of a great live jamming performance with a few country numbers in the beginning. You won't regret it.","Product: This CD is an out of print collectible!It is the 1997 Chronicles version. Catalog #314-534-358-2. Still sealed. There is a drill hole in the case.Track listing:1. Light Of Love2. Solid Baby3. Precious Star4. Token Of My Love5. Space Boss6. Think Zinc7. Till Dawn8. Girl In The Thunderbolt Suit9. I Really Love You Babe10. Golden Belt11. Zip Gun Boogie12. Do You Wanna Dance13. Dock Of The Bay\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: really good, but different\n\nReview: I grew up in a house where my family was convinced that the Slider is the ultimate T.Rex album. In fact, the Slider (according to my dad) is considered the best album ever, or at least, in the top 3.\n\nBolan's Zip Gun feels *very* different in comparison. I can't quite tell what kind of sound T.Rex is going for here. Many of these songs feel like throwbacks to the early 60's period of rock but morphed to fit into T.Rex's glam rock style.\n\nOne thing I know for a fact is that \"Light of Love\" is clearly my favorite song. I love this song quite a bit. \"Think Zinc\" is another good one. I agree with the other reviews that there's something very unique about this album that puts it in a league of its own, and for that, the album deserves a high rating. Something about the clear and vibrant production that I like.\n\nThe only complaint is that the majority of these songs are dominated with female vocals that are quite loud and sometimes overbearing to the point of obnoxiousness. It's a really weird choice on the part of the band members to include female vocals to *this* extent.\n\nOh well, Bolan's Zip Gun is a good album either way, baby.","Product: This is the American Chronicles release of the original Demon UK CD. Remastered with bonus tracks. Now OOP!\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: what a dragon adventure\n\nReview: Wow, so let me get this straight. Supposedly Futuristic Dragon was once considered a mediocre recording by the regular record-buying public? It received fairly (or flat out) negative reviews upon the time of its release back in 1976? Is this all true? If so, EVERYBODY was wrong!\n\nFuturistic Dragon rules. Why am I not supposed to like this album? Okay yeah, it does show signs of the time period in which it was recorded with a few songs *sort of* reminiscent of the good old disco days (by \"good\" I of course mean... yeah, you know). I guess an obvious example is \"Dreamy Lady\" with slightly noticeable disco beats in the background. STRONG emphasis on *slightly*. I believe there's several other examples of \"going disco\" that deserve stronger criticism than Futuristic Dragon so let's not all gang up on T Rex here folks. Let's not all gather around and pick on a quality album here!\n\nActually most of the people here on amazon understand how great it is. I see plenty of 4-star reviews. Nice! I'm going a bit higher than that and giving it a perfect 5 because as far as I can tell, there's really not a single weak moment anywhere.\n\n\"Jupiter Liar\" sounds like the good old T Rex we fell in love with back in the day, \"Chrome Sitar\" is just flat out catchy, \"All Alone\" contains folk rock storytelling elements done in a distinctly clever glam rock kind of way, \"New York City\" contains an AWESOME MELODY AND CHORUS. Sorry I had to scream there, hehe. It's about a girl walking by with a frog in her hand, but despite the silly lyrics the melody... yes, and the background vocals! YES! It's a keeper.\n\nAlright the album gets a tad worse after that, but only a little bit. \"My Little Baby\" perhaps suffers from being repetitive but, but... it's constantly repeating a GOOD melody, so that makes it perfectly fine! Alright, finally! I always wanted to know if T Rex could flat out rock without all the glitz and glamour, and they prove it with \"Calling All Destroyers\". That's a pretty darn cool song. Those guitars remind me of the 80's version of the Moody Blues too. \"Sensation Boulevard\" contains the same kind of intensity, and perhaps it's even an attempt to capture the spirit of the punk rock movement that was soon approaching? I don't know, maybe.\n\n\"Dreamy Lady\" as I mention above is a short and catchy disco-influenced pop song, and then we experience a devastating vocal melody in \"Dawn Storm\". Yes that IS a mighty cool vocal melody. Perhaps it sounds a tad dated, but I can assure you- this is no more dated than, for example, a late 70's Zeppelin album and yet everyone still admires In Through the Out Door like it's no big deal, so an occasionally dated sound shouldn't be a problem here either. \"Casual Agent\" contains more of that creepy orchestration that's just... so darn creepy. I love it. Actually have you ever heard orchestration used so creatively before? It sort of bounces all over the place while trying to keep up with the vocal melody. That's really unique to me.\n\nListen to this album. Please! It's better than you're probably thinking judging by the supposed harsh criticism. It holds up better than most people probably thought back in 1976, too.","Product: The legendary second album (1970) from Funkadelic. This album's title track is the sort of spaced-out acid-funk that is a big influence with artists such as Spiritualized and Primal Scream.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: I like it more than Maggot Brain\n\nReview: Free Your Mind is honestly a tad better than Maggot Brain mostly because it's more consistent, and my favorite songs on here slightly outweigh my favorite ones from Maggot Brain.\n\nWhile nothing on here moves me quite like the title song from Maggot Brain, I'm left COMPLETELY satisfied by the albums conclusion with no questionable moments anywhere.\n\nThe 10-minute title song has some groovy lyrics, melodic and inspirational guitar jamming, and a great rhythm section.\n\nSure, maybe the track could have included more in the way of actual singing (instead of shouting) but I guess that's one of the main appeals of the funk genre (a genre I'm obviously no expert in). Anyway, expect a great deal of guitar jamming that comes and goes through the entire 10 minute ride.\n\nNothing however, could have prepared me for the second longest track on the album- the ultimate example of funk, melody and memorable guitar riffs all coming together to create the FABULOUS \"I Wanna Know If It's Good to You\". GOD what a splendid combination of instruments and musical ideas. I absolutely love this song.\n\nThe little keyboard solo that appears around the 4-minute mark is completely unique (and melodic) giving the song a temporary flavor of adventurous epicness (for lack of better words). This band was definitely good, no doubt about it.\n\n\"Friday Night, August 14th\" continues the psychedelic funky goodness. All three of the lengthy songs are highly memorable tunes. I definitely enjoy this band. I wonder what Funkadelic album I should listen to next?","Product: Debut album from prog rockers ELO. (1971) With Jeff Lynne, Bev Bevan and Roy Wood.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: not the greatest debut of all time, that's for sure\n\nReview: No Answer falls under the category of \"mediocre by ELO standards\". That meaning, No Answer is *still* really good but falls short of perfection in comparison to future albums by the band.\n\nNot that I can hardly blame the band for its amateur missteps (or anybody who releases a debut album). Most artists start off on rocky territory anyway and gradually become better with future releases (and experience). Electric Light Orchestra is no exception.\n\nWhat bugs me the most about No Answer is that it actually contains some really good songs, but those particular songs are jammed between some rather underwhelming ones, so it ends up being a confusing listen.\n\n\"10538 Overture\" is a pretty good song. Even though the vocal melody feels undeveloped, it does resemble the Beatles a little bit, so it's a highlight for me. \"Look At Me Now\" reminds me of the Beatles \"Eleanor Rigby\". I really like this one.\n\nMy favorite song is probably \"Nellie Takes Her Bow\". The orchestration combined with a really depressing vocal melody blends together to create really good results. This should have been a huge hit. Even the jam during the second half is pretty awesome because it's so melodic.\n\nBelieve it or not, my second favorite song is the very next one- \"The Battle of Marston Moor\". I assume most people probably don't feel as passionately about it as I do, but the orchestration is fairly complex and really exciting, and it takes up the majority of the song.\n\nI'm not surprised a band that goes by the name \"Electric Light Orchestra\" would create a couple completely classical-inspired songs on their debut album, but I AM surprised just how amazing the particular song is. My favorite part is when the violins speed up at the 3-minute mark. That part is REALLY awesome.\n\nUnlike most people, I'm not a fan of \"Mr. Radio\". Yes, it sounds inspired by the Beatles (yes, I know, I keep saying that- but it's true!) however the vocal melody doesn't seem as interesting to me personally compared to future ELO songs.\n\n\"First Movement (Jumping Biz)\" shows STRONG signs of a band that would later release my favorite instrumental ever recorded- \"Fire On High\". I absolutely think the world of THAT song, and \"First Movement\" is probably in the same league at least!\n\nWhen I first seen the title \"Manhattan Rumble\" I immediately got the feeling this would be the bands attempt at a blues rocker. ELO is quite good at those kind of songs (as you will discover upon hearing future albums) however that's not what this song is like at ALL. This is a really atmospherically dark classical-influenced instrumental piece, and it's really darn good. I've never heard anything quite like it either.\n\n\"Queen of the Hours\" has a whimsical chorus that consists of an extremely catchy vocal melody combined with beautiful orchestration. It's really darn cool.\n\nI'm torn whether \"Whisper In the Night\" is an example of a genuine tear jerker emotional ballad, or just a sappy piece of stinkage. I honestly don't know which category I'd place it in, haha. So let's just say I enjoy it, but I'm not always in the mood to hear it.\n\nOverall, yeah, as soon as ELO's second album came out, the bands signature sound would take immediate effect and the songwriting would improve, as well as the consistency factor of their material. ELO II is a masterpiece of classial, progressive rock, and pop songwriting creatively wrapped up into a 40-minute album. No Answer is a bit of an inconsistent affair in comparison, but it contains some really good moments regardless.","Product: Track Listings 1. Keep Pushin' 2. Any Kind Of Love 3. (Only A) Summer Love 4. (I Believe) Our Time Is Gonna Come 5. Breakaway 6. Flying Turkey Trot 7. Tonight 8. Lightning\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: going commercial... and unfortunately not looking back\n\nReview: R.E.O. is where the commercial ballads and \"hard rock\" phase of REO Speedwagon officially began (heh, have to put that in quotation marks since the vocals during this particular phase are soft and ballad-like mixed in with surprisingly heavy guitar licks which is an odd trademark combination that the band has been performing since 1976). I wouldn't say I hate the direction the band took because they *did* end up releasing a few quality songs over the years (just check out their Hits collection for proof) but overall I simply can't shake the feeling of disappointment this album presents and I strongly believe the material is lacking overall. Say what you will about Mike Murphy, but he clearly brought out a different, more rewarding side of the band with better songwriting, vocal melodies, arrangements and guitar solos/riffs.\n\n\"Lightning\" has a funky rhythm and decent enough vocals, though nothing extraordinary. The Mike Murphy days were a lot better in my opinion. Furthermore, the stuff from T.W.O was a lot better as well. The guitar solo at the end rocks hard, but otherwise I can take or leave this song. Kevin Cronin sings a passable vocal melody here and nothing more. \"(I Believe) Our Time Is Gonna Come\" is almost exactly the same thing! Funky rhythm, slightly upbeat vocals, a guitar solo at the end (this solo perhaps cooler until Cronin brings back that already worn out and repetitive chorus)... yeah, I definitely favor the Mike Murphy years and on a personal note, it's a crime he never got the recognition I feel he deserves. He sings better melodies in my opinion.\n\n\"(Only A) Summer Love\" is bland and an alarming drop in quality compared to what the band was doing just one year earlier (on an album that, as fate would have it, had been out of print for years until recently- that being This Time We Mean It). You see the difference between this hogwash and the Mike Murphy years is that Mike would put in the extra effort to sing a melody you can resonate with. This is too straight forward and commercialized to make an impression. Song for song, the entire album sounds the same. That's Kronin's style. Again though, the guitar solo is the reason I listen to it and don't end up hating it- the solo is melodic, dazzling, and just really *good*. \"Breakaway\" just sums up a disappointing album with vocals that are nearly impossible to remember, however \"Keep Pushin\" is clearly the highlight. I love the chorus especially but the chugging rhythm is really spectacular too. That's a quality track. Overall, stick with the early stuff and forget about this album.","Product: This CD is an out of print collectible! It is the original 1990 Columbia release. Catalog CK 46133. There is a drill hole through the UPC.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: wow, drink up this oil!\n\nReview: No no, don't drink any oil but please DO buy this wonderful album!\n\nThe word \"underrated\" gets tossed around so many times these days that it's hard to take the word seriously anymore, so let me say it like this- when you listen to a 34-minute album the entire way through and can't make out a single bad or underwhelming note, and there's barely over 10 reviews for said album here on amazon, yes, Midnight Oil's debut *is* the definition of underrated.\n\nEvery single note makes me think the band intended to make a serious splash when they arrived on the scene, and my oh my what a splash it is! I'm just really shocked it's somewhat of a rare album. Are you kidding? Some of the best albums from 1978 are Dire Straits debut, Kate Bush's the Kick Inside, the Talking Heads More Songs About Buildings & Food, and the Who's Who Are You? and yet, this album *clearly* deserves to be placed in the same category of awesomeness.\n\nRight from the melodic guitar solo onslaught that is the introdution of \"Powderworks\" you know you're hearing something not only special, but brand new. Remember, this particular sound was ahead of its time by a couple years. I guess you can argue the vocals of Peter Garrett sound similar to the lead singer of the Clash, and the Clash were out before these guys, but then I could defend Midnight Oil by saying they have better songwriting than most of the Clash's best material (matter of taste of course). Anyway \"Powderworks\" has a phenomenal verse melody with an anthemic chorus. \"Head Over Heals\" has a really melodic intro that eventually makes way for dreamy vocals that resemble the Pet Shop Boys. The keyboard solo is fantastic and the guitar solo soon after is somehow even better.\n\n\"Dust\" has a groovy and innovative rhythm and vocals. It also benefits by sounding VERY 80's-ish well before the 80's were to get underway, and nobody had a clue the early part of the 80's would resemble this type of sound. It's amazing how only a few late 70's artists resembled what would become the classic 80's sound, and a forgotten debut album by a relatively well-known band is one of the artists responsible for such a brand new sound. I love the lyrics. \"It's 2 am in Town Hall Station, black walls and sleeping drunks are bad companions, ice is there, fear is there, everyone is nowhere there's too much of nothing, take me away\". \"Used & Abused\" has a slight similarity to Aerosmith's \"Mama Kin\" in the speedy guitar and rhythm, but let's just say, Peter Garrett can run circles around most of Steven Tyler's best work, and the rest of the band members can easily whip up and take out Aerosmith as well.\n\n\"Surfing With a Spoon\" has a beautiful and magnificent intro and the stop/start nature of the vocals is really appealing and serves as a nice break from the rest of the material. If I haven't mentiond it yet, ALL the guitar solos throughout the album are clear winners. Most of the time the solos are really melodic but when they're not, a nice replacement is just how *cool* they sound. The keyboards come along and dazzle the song with more magnificence, this time giving the song a feeling of grandness such as what a progressive rock band would do. Oh there's this little song called \"Run By Night\" that comes next. It's more than a little song of course- it's the greatest song of ALL TIME! Alright probably not but I really love it to pieces. Sing it! \"I'm on the whiskey flying, and I'll run by night! I'm on the whiskey running and I'll run by night!\" These are REALLY good vocals that do a wonderful job getting my blood pumping.\n\n\"Nothing Lost- Nothing Gained\" is the creepiest song here, in addition to being the longest. An eerily somber intro and the drums and guitar lines that come after elevate the mood even stronger. The line \"In my world there are sorrows, I'd rather drown in happiness\" is totally appropriate. The dreamy guitar solo is a highlight for being similar to the 80's and less like a typical 70's solo.\n\nOverall, how can you have a problem with Midnight Oil's debut? The only complaint is that 34 minutes is fairly brief, and that I need more of this exceptionally upbeat greatness. GIVE ME MORE!","Product: Although Miles Davis's health was quite weak at the time of this two-CD set (recorded the same day as the album Agharta), he has a few strong trumpet solos on these two very lengthy pieces (\"Zimbabwe\" and \"Gondwana\"). Just after these concerts, Miles would go into an almost six year hiatus from music. The music here is stunning with the dense ensembles and heated solos (Sonny Fortune on soprano, alto, and flute and the guitars of Pete Cosey and Reggie Lucas) being quite boisterous, but very powerful. Pangaea is one of the finest recordings from the least-understood period of Davis's career (1971-1975).\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: improving with every listen\n\nReview: First of all, I love Miles Davis, but Pangaea not only strikes me as a more inconsistent offering compared to Agharta, but one of his weakest 70's albums. I'm surprised. I figured since it was recorded the same day as Agharta I'd love it, but unfortunately a good portion is devoted to the mellow side of Miles.\n\nWe frequently hear mellow flute passages that are barely melodic enough, typical mid 70's heavy metal guitar solos (which are actually cool, I admit) and gentle trumpet solos intended for the soft jazz fans out there.\n\nWell, I love the soft jazz of In A Silent Way, so it's even more mysterious why I'm having so much trouble with Pangaea. I just don't get it. Perhaps there's a good reason behind it. Maybe it needs more time to grow on me, but I must have played it 20 times so far.\n\nAlso, every time a jam gets going, it seems to eventually dissolve into an overlong period of aimlessness, which makes it seem more like an extended warm-up session that we normally hear before a live concert gets underway. However most artists know when to trim the fat so to speak. Miles was probably going for something here but I'm unsure what. Granted, this was a minor issue on Agharta as well, but it was easier for me to ignore it there since I admired the guitar and trumpet jams so much.\n\nWhenever the guitar solos appear, they eventually dissolve into a bunch of indistinguishable fuzz.\n\nWell, I frequently update my reviews- just because I'm giving it a 3-star rating now doesn't mean it's carved into stone. Opinions change, and we'll see. For now however, I just fail to see what people are experiencing that supposedly puts this in the same league as Agharta.\n\nOn another note, the album cover reminds me of an NES game. Just look at it. Awesome!\n\nUpdate- January 23, 2012\n\nWell the good news is that what I originally tagged as \"pointless guitar jamming fuzz\" is actually pretty memorable after all. At least during the middle sections of both \"Zimbabwe\" and \"Gondwana\". It doesn't *always* blow me away, but it's improving by the day. I guess this stuff really is challenging and requires patience on the part of the listener. Several of the trumpet solos are beginning to grow on me as well thanks to the mood they create AND the actual notes. Too bad for the overlong conga section at the end of \"Zimbabwe\", perhaps the only moment on Pangaea that really makes me wanna skip over it. However I DO remember an extended smooth jazz jam (Miles distinct version of \"smooth jazz\" I mean) near the end of one of the tracks that lasts over 10 minutes, and it's wonderful. Anyway I changed the rating to a 4 out of 5 instead of my original rating of 3 out of 5. Maybe one day I'll give Pangaea a perfect 5-star rating. Challenging music like this just takes a while for me to absorb.","Product: This CD is an out of print collectible! It is the original 1990 Columbia release. Catalog CK 46134. There is a drill hole through the UPC.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: what's this? I'll tell ya what it is!\n\nReview: This being my first experience with a Midnight Oil album I went in not really knowing what to expect but I suppose I shouldn't be surprised what it's like- youthful and energetic new wave/punk rock with a twist. The twist being this album sounds amazing from a production perspective, and well, it's clear the band obviously has a distinctive style. There's an emphasis on quirky songwriting, slight anthemic tendencies in the vocal deliveries and guitar solos, and the band was obviously listening to the Police (thanks to a similar guitar tone) as well as the Clash (again, lots of exuberant punk aggression).\n\n\"Koala Sprint\" is a highlight. A fairly lengthy period of guitar playing occupies a couple portions, and the way the explosive vocals come out of nowhere truly illustrates the members of Midnight Oil had their own unique thing going on and they weren't afraid to hold back in the early days. But that's not all! There's also a strong vocal hook you'll discover with repeated listens. \"Stand In Line\" almost has a \"Beat It\"-type rhythm (the Michael Jackson classic) but it's surrounded with REALLY fierce guitar solos and aggressive vocals. Probably not really memorable vocals however (in the sense that you can remember how the melody goes). It's more like a sharp and honest display of pure emotional anger by an aspiring young Australian rock band looking to make a statement.\n\n\"Is It Now?\" has an intro that perfectly reveals the approaching 80's. Just listen to that refreshingly innovative sound! I really admire it. While the vocals probably aren't the greatest in the world, I admire how upbeat and exciting this stuff is. It's really heavy too- borderline heavy metal. Reminds me of early U2 (Boy in particular) combined with early Iron Maiden (\"Phantom of the Opera\" in particular!) These vocals are really good but it takes a few listens to admire them through all the chaotic and exceptionally loud guitar playing. \"Profiteers\" has a really wild intro with guitar riffs practically crashing into each other. The vocals are ahead of their time as well. I've honestly never heard anything like this from a late 70's album.\n\nThe opener titled \"Cold Cold Change\" has a strangely appealing vocal melody the way it *should* be forgettable since all it does is chugs along in such an ordinary way but... there's something amazing about it. I really can't explain what it is other than Midnight Oil had the *it* factor. This song also has a slight Judas Priest similarity in the guitar work. \"Naked Flame\" features offbeat and freakily sung vocals. Pretty cool style implemented here. The vocals even turn Beatles-like near the end while the guitar soloing continues to innovate and amaze. Love it. \"Back On the Borderline\" is exceptionally crunchy with the guitar riffs, and the vocals are really upbeat and create images of... eating an ice cream cone outside on a warm sunny evening? Yeah, just maybe! If I haven't mentioned it yet, these guys can seriously come up with awesome guitar riffs. \"Section 5 (Bus to Bondi)\" has a Mortal Kombat-like intro before immediately shifting in a more energetic and heavy rocking direction.\n\nOverall, Midnight Oil's second album proves to be worthy of your time and money. Really cool stuff. If this album excels in one area, it's gotta be the fact it rocks HARD the entire way through.","Product: Civilized Evil is an album by French Jazz-Fusion artist Jean-Luc Ponty. Recorded in 1980 in Los Angeles with JLP's band members Joaquin Lievano (guitars) Chris Rhyne (keyboards) Randy Jackson (bass) and ex-band member Mark Craney (drums). Tracks include \"Demagomania\", \"Forms of Life\", \"Once a Blue Planet\" and more. [Note: This product is an authorized CD-R and is manufactured on demand].\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: let's be civil about it\n\nReview: Welcome to the 80's! Considering how legendary Jean's mid 70's albums are, what's *this* going to sound like? The anticipation is truly something else! Hmmm... let's see.\n\n\"Demagomania\" begins with a synth passage and groovy bass work that reminds me of the Alan Parsons Project BIG time, and the similarities continue when the synth jams for a couple minutes. Yeah this stuff is totally distinct of the early 80's but it's highly enjoyable all the same. Here comes the violin solo. It's about time! Just kidding, I ain't getting *that* impatient yet. *stomps fork and knife on table in demanding fashion* This violin solo starts off feeling a bit soft by Jean's usual standards until it inevitably kicks into second gear and intensifies. The way the violin plays off the groove at the end is a bit weird and I enjoy the outer space-like conclusion.\n\n\"In Case We Survive\" has an Asian feel to it in the beginning, before shifting into something devastating like a forest crumbling into the ground from the distance. The keyboards remind me of the Cosmic Messenger period of Jean's work which was only a few years prior to the release of Civilized Evil so that's not really much of a great stretch, is it? This violin jam is quite hypnotic. Every time it wants to pick up more it settles into a beautiful routine where it follows along to the rhythm. It's still really good- the notes themselves and the atmosphere. The image of something bad happening several miles out is quite common in this song. Do you feel it too?\n\n\"Forms of Life\" begins on a safe note with average piano playing even though the violin and bass guitar comes in a moment later and changes the tone. Not really thrilled with the notes though- the instrumentation feels uninspired and repetitive so far, and the whole song lasts WAY too long. In fact the entire song is *completely* safe- no jamming anywhere. What a shame. We can only hope \"Peace Crusaders\" changes that. It does! It begins on a powerful uplifting note. The bass and keyboard arrive a moment later and they make the song very good, but the electric guitar solo (yeah baby!) is what really elevates this song to a new level. It's brief, but memorable. The keyboards give the song a dreamy vibe but that part's *really* brief (dang it!) The violin solo continues following the rhythm the entire song has been building upon. This violin part is definitely the highlight of the song without question. I like how the violin shifts from beautiful to powerful a moment later without losing its melodic edge. Perhaps the synth solo at the end is out of place but it sounds so cool I don't care. Reminds me of an old Nintendo game called Metroid (the Norfair areas)\n\nNow it's time for some funk! Jean's brand of violin funk that is! \"Happy Robots\" opens beautifully. This song feels like the Aurora period of Jean's career. So far it seems like the album borrows heavily from many of Jean's successful mid 70's commercial ideas. I don't care of course- this music is so good I just don't care! This is probably the best violin jam on the entire album. Every note just feel SO overwhelmingly powerful to me. Highly enjoyable stuff. And the guitar solo afterwards provides quite the foot-stomper too! Well I mean you feel like stomping your feet to the rhythm while absorbing some magnificent guitar soloing. Oh no! It's WAY too short! Oh well. \"Shape Up Your Mind\" has a unique Asian intro. I've never heard Jean attempt anything like this before. Oh wow, what instrument is jamming now? It has a chilling, somewhat high-pitched VERY beautiful sound. It's awesome. And the way the speedy violin riff comes out of nowhere in the middle before shifting into that eerie piano part? That's cool too. Nothing can compare to the violin jam though. Who can compete with THAT, haha. Jean's locked into a groove there. He's unstoppable. Best part of the song of course. But... eh! I want to say that chilling musical instrument is better because it's not used anywhere else on the album.\n\n\"Good Guys, Bad Guys\" opens with some tasty and groovy bass work. The electric guitar and violin soon exchange solos in amazing fashion. Both are so good it's hard to pick which one is better. I might give the edge to the guitar playing just because I almost never do, but... I can't! The violin is just too extraordinary to ignore once again. This only lasts about a minute unfortunately (seriously why are all the coolest moments normally so short? \"WE WANT MORE!\" as I stated in the second paragraph!) Anyway now the violin is all by itself being really dreamy and classical-ish. I love it of course but *starts flirting* a juicy guitar solo would make it better. Ah, oh well. WOW! That loopy violin riff at the end is awesome! \"Once a Blue Planet\" bring this bad boy to a close with devastating piano and acoustic guitar to start it. The acoustic guitar jams a little but I wouldn't say this is as fulfilling as past Jean efforts.\n\nAnyway Civilized Evil is a pretty good album but it has a couple weak points (\"Forms of Life\" and \"Once a Blue Planet\") which is why I'm lowering the rating to 4 stars. However the rest of the material is REALLY strong. The violin jams haven't lost a step at all, and though the soft 80's production reduces the impact that this album could've had, I don't really care too much about that either. I'd probably rank the album on the lower end of Jean's discography but not by much. And wait! Is it true Randy Jackson, former American Idol judge plays bass? That's just mind-boggling to me. That anything associated with that mediocre singing competition would appear on something truly legendary such as a Jean Luc Ponty album (granted we're going back 20 years before the show existed and when Randy's reputation was still intact, but whatever). \"What's up dawg!\" Sorry sorry, hehe.","Product: Overlooked and under rated 1971 album\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: there goes rhymin' sim... hey wait!\n\nReview: I probably don't like Braincapers as much as most people, but it's decent listening. I honestly have mixed feelings with many of the supposed classic tunes from Mott the Hoople anyway. I did sort of expect to be floored by this album considering I think highly of early Mott the Hoople more so than the mid 70's stuff. I'm surprised I feel indifferent towards some of the songs here.\n\nI think my biggest gripe is \"The Journey\" which seems incredibly overlong at 9 minutes and barely leaves an emotional impact. I can sense Ian Hunter is going for something epic here, but the song ends up feeling straightforward, predictable and normal to me. Every time the \"I guess I (he) lost just a little bit of the journey\" line kicks in, it just doesn't hit me personally like it probably does for others. Oh well. Ian elevates his vocal range to a needless extent halfway through when the energy level and the pounding drums pick up excessively, which is more of a distraction than anything since he lacks the proper range to really floor the devastating emotion he's going for. To give the song some credit however, I like Ian's early Rod Stewart-like vocal style and the lyrics are sometimes strikingly hard-hitting. Some of the soaring guitar soloing near the end is improving for me as well.\n\n\"Sweet Angeline\" is pretty good thankfully, with keyboard work reminding me of Procol Harum's style. The vocals are sort of drowned out by the loud production of the drums, keyboards and other arrangements. This song's a decent attempt at glam- it's memorable enough to get my feet tappin' to the rhythm, but I wouldn't call it one of Mott the Hoople's stronger moments. The vocals are quite similar to Bob Dylan as well. \"The Moon Upstairs\" begins with an *exceptionally* heavy guitar riff (by Mott the Hoople's standards at least). I almost expected this to be a ballad based on the song title but instead it's a high-octane rocker. It's a memorable one too, but again the vocals hide in the background and barely make an impression because of this. Unfortunately if Braincapers is supposed to be an album that focuses on the lyrics, I'm unable to detect them because of the overall loudness. The keyboards recall classic MK2-period Deep Purple which puts a smile on my face. HEY! Ian blurts out the king of all bad words near the end. That's not nice! This song is just INSANELY heavy. \"And I feel neglected feel rejected living in the wrong time!\" is a memorable (and understandable) line.\n\n\"Darkness, Darkness\" is a cover of the famous Youngbloods song... and hey, did the Youngbloods write this song themselves? Who knows really. It's been covered so many times I just can't answer that question! This version is pretty good but well, structurally it's just the same song I've always known which was never very impressive to begin with. Actually the Youngbloods version is indescribably special perhaps due to the atmosphere which *does* make me think of some kind of soothing darkness, like in a quiet forest with a black sky above. Of all the cover versions out there, none have been able to supply the same kind of imagery. This version almost feels nonchalant and tame in comparison. It's alright but the lead singers vocals aren't suitable in my opinion. A song that goes by the title \"Death May Be Your Santa Claus\" HAS to be a little strange right? And it is! BIG time funkiness in the beginning. \"How long for you to realize that all is strange?\" Or is Ian actually singing \"I'M strange?\" The overbearingly loud production makes it hard to tell. Would be more hilarious if the latter was true! Anyway this is another energetic tune with vocals similar to the Stones \"Brown Sugar\", but not quite as earthshattering and heavy as \"The Moon Upstairs\".\n\n\"Second Love\" is a moving piano-based ballad with vocals that remind me of early Humble Pie/Steve Marriott. I also detect a slight gospel vibe a few times. This song's really good. \"Your Own Backyard\" has more Bob Dylan-ish vocals in a country/rock style and the vocal melody itself is mighty fine. The lyrics at the very end about \"not knowing what you'll dig up\" reminds me of a nightmare I had the other night! I was in somebody else's yard trying to dig up... awful things. \"I can't tell no one how to live their life even though deep inside we're all the same\" is a great, truthful line. Surprisingly this tune reminds me of the Blues Image (you know, \"RIDE captain ride, upon your mystery ship!\"). \"The Wheel of the Quivering Meat Conception\" is a funny title, but at only 1 minute the song is just leftover guitar riffage from \"The Moon Upstairs\".\n\nOverall Braincapers has the potential to get better with time. Right now I think it's just a decent album. I wish \"The Journey\" wasn't on here. That song alone being 9 minutes is a major unavoidable inconvenience.","Product: Another funk masterpiece, with singer Lenny Williams tearin' it up on tracks like Only So Much Oil in the Ground !\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: nearing the top of the tower\n\nReview: Urban Renewal is yet another Tower of Power album with the same formula as previous albums. Funk, soulful vocal melodies, heavy emphasis on jazzy arrangements, etc. I'd say the results are slightly more impressive than before. If you dig Tower of Power's style this might be the album for you. However I'd say there's more funk overall than on previous albums.\n\n\"Walkin' Up Hip Street\" is a really memorable instrumental with fantastic guitar playing. The guitar work is focused in a jazzy John McLaughlin kind of way which is admirable. The trumpet solo afterwards is pretty good too, but perhaps the funky rhythm at this point in the song is the aspect that excites me the most. Pretty awesome keyboard/organ solo when we approach the middle of the song while the steady rhythm continues its memorable pace. It even gets a little creepy before the 4-minute mark. I love that part especially. The song ends in a James Bond kind of way which is interesting. \"It Can Never Be the Same\" is a soothing soulful ballad with lightly used horn arrangements and slushy mid 70's orchestration. Not one of the strongest vocal melodies the band ever made, but it's good enough. Really good guitar solo near the end.\n\n\"Willing to Learn\" is another soulful ballad, with perhaps more emphasis on soul (especially in the chorus) over the memorable vocal melody. This one's much slower and quieter than \"It Can Never Be the Same\". Sometimes I think if the band is going to focus on soul so heavily, they should relax on the horns. The horns aren't necessarily loud or abundant here, but they feel out of place when they appear in the middle. \"Only So Much Oil In the Ground\" is lyrically relevant wouldn't you say? Oil has been the topic of conversation in the news for many years now, arguably more frequent nowadays than back in the 70's. Not that I was around back then to confirm this. Anyway this song is about preserving oil, and I'm pretty confident I heard this song a long time ago. The line \"There's only so much oil in the ground, sooner or later there won't be none around\" sounds VERY familiar. Nice sax solo and funky vocal melody too with a satisfying amount of horns.\n\n\"I Won't Leave Unless You Want Me To\" is an amazingly moving ballad. The background vocals in particular are really good and remind me of the Spinners or the more commercial years of mid 70's Chicago. Just the way the background singers sing the line \"I won't go until you tell me to\" just sounds so beautiful. \"Come Back Baby\" is a nicely sung ballad. The subtly used female vocals are pretty good and the amount of soul is much higher than usual. \"Maybe It'll Rub Off\" has funky vocals with sparse horns. It sort of sounds funny the way the background singers chime in and blurt out \"Maybe it'll rub off!\" Otherwise decent song.\n\n\"Give Me the Proof\" is more funkiness in the same style as \"Maybe It'll Rub Off' (perhaps even the SAME exact style- the similarities are startling). Same funky rhythm and arranged horns. \"(To Say the Least) You're the Most\" is a clever play on words and a really funky tune. The lyrics are poetic in a way illustrating everything the lead singer sees on his journey around the world. I like the way the horns and saxophone play off each other near the end, but it's way too short. This part would've been awesome if it lasted a minute or two longer. \"It's Not the Crime\" is too short to make much of an impression, but it's nice and funky with a clean/remarkable vocal melody. \"I Believe In Myself\" has a wonderful vocal melody and a great use of jazzy arrangements. I love when the jazz momentarily gets mellow near the middle shortly before the female vocals come in giving the song a hazy tone, and this whole sequence captures what made the 70's so memorable.\n\nOverall, Urban Renewal is a really good album. I'm not sure how many solid albums they'd go on to make after this one, but I get the feeling the classic years faded a bit after this album since a crucial band members decided to pursue a solo career. Maybe I'm wrong though. Who knows!","Product: Brand New\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: atlantic here we come!\n\nReview: This is the album where Rod split from his old bandmates and went in a new commercialized direction. There was a reason I avoided this album for years and that is why. I forgot! However to be honest, the quality of the music is really high and I recommend it. Yup I was being unfair by avoiding it. This album also has its share of hits.\n\n\"Three Time Loser\" is a mid-tempo rocker with female vocals in the background. You can tell these are new musicians because this song would have rocked a lot harder if Ronnie Wood was around. Not that I have a problem with Booker T. and the MG's. \"She felt me up and kissed my face, put her dirty hands down in my pants, she took all of my money, left me naked by the silvery moon\" \" is a mildly offensive line, but the chorus is a little too smooth for my liking. I prefer Rod gritty and raw! At least Rod's voice is still in fine form.\n\n\"Alright For An Hour\" opens with a really good reggae beat. Better than most reggae beats I've heard. \"Oh didn't I mess around like everybody did? I said \"Woman, you're foolin' around with a man that just don't fit, I said \"I'd better get along before I get right under your skin\", remember the song wasn't it fun, 'cause it was just one of those things\". Great line! \"But it was alright for an hour, well it was alright for a day, but it did not last, it did not last till the weekend, and I packed my bags and moved right away\" \" is a great chorus due to the return of the reggae beats during this part and Rod's voice which is fantastic here. Some of the frustration in Rod's lyrics is similar to his classic \"Stay With Me\". Really good guitar solo in the middle too.\n\n\"All In the Name of Rock 'N' Roll\" begins with a pretty awesome gritty guitar riff and generic piano. Rod's voice once again makes it really cool. Rod seriously has a unique voice. I know it's been said a million times but it needs to be said again! Nobody has his voice. If anyone out there can imitate Rod's voice, I'd like to hear it! Anyway this is a speedy blues rocker. The guitar riff does a great job carrying it. If I can find a complaint it's that Rod's voice isn't very clear due to the heavy guitar work. Melodic guitar solo at the end too. How about the lyrics? \"Went downtown on the two fourtynine, playin' for recognition of the New York town, see me and the boys got a rock 'n' roll band, they were so damn good gonna lift up the man, well we got ups we got downs, we got just so high till the sun goes down, got the ego can be abused, I got my two-toned shoes, and I can sing the blues\"\n\n\"Drift Away\" is... a cover of the Dobie Gray classic! I like to joke about this song with my dad because there was a time we'd listen to the radio and hear it *all* the time! Every single day! Anyway I actually don't care for this version much. Rod's voice sounds unnaturally jazzy during the chorus, or perhaps he just doesn't have the right feel that I love so much about Dobie's version. Actually Rod's flat out screaming during the chorus which is strange. Still an okay version though.\n\n\"Stone Cold Sober\" is one of Rod's more popular songs. Then again when's the last time you heard it on the radio? It's been a VERY long time. That's pretty sad isn't it- the state of FM radio these days. Anyway this song is pretty good. I've always loved the way Rod sings the chorus and how his voice seems to suddenly hit a lower register before finishing the line. Really recognizable and enjoyable. The slide guitar is pretty good too, and all the guitar soloing during the final minute is just splendid. \"Sunday is a drag so forget it, Monday you can make up for that, Tuesday take a taste for dinner, if you're all right spend it in bed, but on Thursday prepare for your weekend, and let Friday disappear into Saturday mornin', when you're stone cold sober again!\" Wow, the life of Rod Stewart in the mid 70's told very well!\n\nIt seems the late 80's version of \"I Don't Want to Talk About It\" dominates radio stations these days. Well I mean *used* to dominate the radio. In recent years FM radio has stopped playing several of Rod's classics. This version is better. It's a tender ballad, probably vocally just as touching as the 80's version, but the arrangements are more delicate and lovelier on this version. \"It's Not the Spotlight\" is a standard ballad. Feels lacking to me, especially the chorus- \"It's not the spotlight, it's not the camera light, it's not the street lights of some old street of dreams, it ain't the moonlight, not even the sunlight, but I've seen it shining in your eyes and you know what I mean\". Perhaps an attempt to sound like a French ballad, but it doesn't work for me.\n\nI think I'm more familiar with the 80's version of \"This Old Heart of Mine\". Wait scratch that- I AM more familiar with the 80's version and I hate to say it but I might prefer that one. It's a little faster with a stronger beat, but then again this version has lovely orchestration and heavier drumming. And the \"I love you\" chorus is WAY more noticeable in the 80's version. Still a quality version here though. Perhaps if you prefer Rod to sing it softer, you'll enjoy this.\n\n\"Still Love You\" is really sad. \"I was told by a good friend you were untouchable out of my reach, but the first time ever I saw you I spilled my cherry lime over your dress, you said \"Don't you worry it's not my best one, first encounter hardly the best, but I would not change a thing if I could do it all over again, all I am trying to say in my awkward way... \"I still love you\". Really good lyrics and sincere vocals. The mandolin returns as well. And that takes us to \"Sailing\", perhaps the best Irish lullaby in existence. Then again I don't even know if it's Irish- sure sounds like it. It makes me think of Irish men sailing on a lonely voyage out to sea. This is without a DOUBT the best song on the album seriously. An extremely good song.\n\nSome versions of Atlantic Crossing have bonus tracks. \"Skye Boat Song\" opens with familiar bagpipes. You'll recognize it, guaranteed! I almost wonder if this is the name of the song this famous bagpipe melody originated from. Probably is because Rod makes it sounds authentic. Not sure if I'm detecting humming in the background or something imitating humming. Never heard Rod attempt ANYTHING like this before. I almost thought I was listening to Steeleye Span! Imagine Rod singing with a group of people with sad authentic bagpipes- that's what this sounds like. Really awesome and I was not expecting this at all.\n\n\"To Love Somebody\" is another bonus track. Rod does a great job with the verse melody. While I like the Bee Gee's version more because that version has an untouchably curious atmosphere to it, Rod sings this song amazingly well. The orchestration is really good too. \"Holy Cow\" brings back the rock! Well a little bit at least. Pretty good vocals and Rod gives it his own unique style. \"Holy smoke what are you doing to me!\" \"Return to Sender\" opens with nice organs. I get the feeling, much like I did with \"Drift Away\", that Rod could have made it better. He kind of sounds bored singing this. The rhythm isn't exciting enough either and the chorus repeats a lot. Either way I prefer Elvis' version by far.\n\nOverall Atlantic Crossing is way better than I realized! Worth recommending. I guess some will point to this album as the first signs of Rod selling out, but the truth is the songs are still memorable enough, and Rod's voice still amazing enough, that it doesn't matter much.","Product: His 1971 album, featuring the hit title cut and Talking in Your Sleep .\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: It sounds like someone else for a brief second\n\nReview: Okay you got me- I'm going to listen to another Gordon Lightfoot album after all, so scratch the part in my Cold On the Shoulder review where I said I only listen to one Gordon Lightfoot album a year! Summer Side of Life it is.\n\n\"Cabaret\" starts off atypical from what I've come to expect from Gordon Lightfoot. Listen to that REALLY gloomy intro with the guitar playing! Wow is that devastating or what! Reminds me of watching something fading while sitting on a hilltop- either a memory or something physical. When the vocals come in I almost didn't think that was Gordon singing! It sounds like someone else for a brief second. \"All I can see is the sea and the sky, and the sky is blue and the sea is green\". This vocal melody almost sounds like one you'd hear from a British pop band. Really enjoyable. The pace finally picks up in traditional Gordon style during the line \"Sitting in a roadside diner, the big trucks rollin' by, I don't seem to know at times what's best\". Ah I feel content with this familiarity now! \"And still I'd like to tell her that I miss her so in north Ontario\"sounds really sad! The piano playing is really amazing too when it arrives.\n\n\"Nous Vivons Ensemble\" (what does that mean!) begins with delicate piano as Gordon sings \"We've got to stay together, we've got to find each other now, that is how we can learn all about the other man's song\". Uplifting vocals and pretty acoustic guitar come in a moment later, and the way the piano and guitar play briefly at the end of certain lines adds to the delicate nature of Gordon's music. \"You and I were asleep in the rock of ages, remember the unborn children still to come, if you need me and I need you, there's nothin' else needs sayin', understand it, I'm not too deaf to hear the song you're playin\". If nothing else needs sayin' Gordon, you'd have stopped making music right now for Summer Side of Life... and this would have been the final album... and that would have stunk pretty bad because it would have meant no Don Quixote and Sundown! Okay I'm overanalyzing impractically again, hehe.\n\n\"Miguel\" opens with nervous-sounding acoustic guitar and haunting vocals. The line \"Never had much to say, he traveled alone with no friends, like a shadowy ghost at dawn he came and he went, through the woodland swiftly gliding to the young maid he came gliding, where she'd run to meet him by the garden wall\" adds to the haunting-ness. Love the \"They're waiting for me to cross the border, to swim the river, cuz I've done that before, to see my true loves smiling face, a hundred times or more\" line. Brilliant lyrics about this Miguel person. \"He was born to the south in Mexico they say, the child of a man who had soon gone away, but his mother loved him dearly and she would take him yearly, to the great Cathedral in St. Augustine, oh my young Miguel listen to the bell, of my poverty you must never tell, and he cried himself to sleep in the night, and he vowed to make things right, so he took the gun down from the wall and he paid a call, he knew she'd understand, a lawman came to capture him, the gun jumped in his hand \"Oh Miguel!\" the mother cried \"You must run son or you'll die!\" So the story is told of his true love cross the line, as strong as the oak and as sweet as the vine, and the child she bore him came on the fateful morning when they sent him to his final rest\". So sad!!\n\nThe first thing that went through my mind upong hearing \"Summer Side of Life\" is that it's a perfect song! It's hard to explain what I mean exactly. It's not my favorite song on the album, but it sounds so perfect. The mood, vocals, arrangements, everything about it! Usually songs like this tend to get better over time which is good news for me because I already like it quite a bit! \"There was young girls everywhere on the summer side of life, they talked all night to the young men that they knew on the summer side of life, goin' off to fight\". There's a subtle use of gospel vocals at times, and now that I've heard a ton of artists from the early 70's I realize combining gospel vocals with rock was a popular idea back then. Eric Clapton, Stephen Stills and several others did the same thing. It works really well too.\n\n\"Cotton Jenny\" is an uplifting country tune with hints of bluegrass and a great opening line (\"There's a house on a hill by a worn down weathered old mill, in the valley below where the river winds, there's no such thing as bad times, and a soft southern flame, oh Cotton Jenny's her name! She wakes me up when the sun goes down and the wheel of love goes around\". Enjoy the \"A joyful sound I ain't got a penny for Cotton Jenny to spend\" chorus. Wow who can seriously hate a song like this? It's so much fun and VERY melodic!\n\n\"Same Old Loverman\" begins with piano in a similar way as Elvis Presley's \"Can't Help Falling In Love With You\" but with a very different vocal melody from that classic tune. I'm not sure what to make of this song. I enjoy it of course, but it's different from the stuff I normally associate with Gordon Lightfoot. \"It's cold outside your window, please let me in the night is wild, it's the same old loverman baby, not some lonesome winsome child, yes I was born to believe, I could never deceive\".\n\n\"Love and Maple Syrup\" (ha, that would be yours truly with a big plate of waffles sitting in front of me! Oh yes, and an entire container of maple syrup by my side! Sorry just had to say that because the moment seemed right to reveal my love of waffles!) While the lyrics are amusing (\"Love and maple syrup goes together like the sticky winds of winter when they meet, when lonely lovers come to rest beneath the trees they do their best!) the tone seems to paint a different picture. \"If you go into the forest gaze up through the leaves, and see the sky that's almost wild, you must learn to understand what makes the forest greet the man, like a mother's only child\". What a great melody- every melody this song has! \"\"Longing to be understood by the heart that shapes the wood\" is a more boisterous change of pace and it works really well.\n\n\"10 Degrees and Getting Colder\" (ugh! Don't remind me of the winters of '14 and '15! I'm trying to forget those loooong and dreadfully dull days!) This song tells a nice story with country vocals. \"He was standing' by the highway with a sign that just said \"Mother\" when he heard a driver comin' 'bout a half a mile away, then he held the sign up higher where no decent soul could miss it, it was 10 degrees or colder down by boulder dam that day, he was raised up in Milwaukee though he never was that famous, he was just a road musician to the taverns he would go singin' songs about the ramblin', the livin' girls and gamblin', how the world fell on his shoulders back in boulder I don't know\" Gordon is a natural singer and songwriter and a song like this proves it.\n\n\"Talking In Your Sleep\" (I hear secrets that you keep... sorry wrong song!) has hilarious lyrics. \"I heard you talking in your sleep, is there anything that I can do, I don't believe we've had a word all day 'bout anything at all, I heard you talking in the night that's right, yes I heard ya call!\" Not meant to be hilarious of course. I love the way Gordon sings the \"I reached out to hold you near me\" part. \"I heard you softly whisper, I reached out to hold you near me, then from your lips there came that secret, I was not supposed to know\". Hmmm, if you don't mind me asking, what's the secret!\n\n\"Redwood Hill\" is *very* country! Just listen to that guitar! \"I tried to comfort her, ah but she would not be still, and how the rain did fall as I found my way back down the Redwood Hill\". What a great line and a brilliant melody! This song is hard to explain- the guitar makes it adventurous but the vocals sound sad to me so the way I feel is... I don't know HOW I feel so I just enjoy the great song and move on! Hey what the? \"Go My Way\" is sort of structured the same way! Both the fast-paced country tone AND the sad vocals... a similar feel! That's pretty cool, almost like Gordon rewrote the same song to try and trick us all. But like Gordon says in the song- I can't help being in love with you (in my case being in love with the song!) so I don't mind if they pretty much sound identical.\n\nAlright guys, I was NOT expecting Summer Side of Life to be such an incredible album but it surely is. Every single song!","Product: A Tommy James twofer for next to nothing!\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: have some sugar and dress in clover\n\nReview: You know I've been meaning to play a Tommy James & the Shondells album for a while now. This is a band my parents absolutely *loved* and would crank their music on the record player at least a couple times a month. Not this album but rather, a best of album. So I feel a sense of nostalgia with this band, but there's more to it than that- I just flat out love these songs!\n\nWe all know \"Crimson and Clover\". It's one *extemely* good song too! You know how many times I've sung this song to myself? Just blurted out the opening line. Several times! And the part at the end when the vocals stutter which sorta opens my mind and makes it go all over the place... I actually went through a phase where I completely forgot about this awesome part. It's about the dreamiest thing ever! The whole melody is soaked in an unforgettable hunk of haze and you know, thinking about it, the song title \"Crimson and Clover\" is perfect imagery to describe the late 60's. Pure beauty.\n\nNow \"Crystal Blue Persuasion\" is a song that took a lot of warming up for me. As a kid I really didn't care for it much. Too soulful, and it dragged according to my tender childish ears, and it was way too different from the poppier and dreamier \"Crimson and Clover\" to make an impact. Now I realize how pretty it is. Then you have a song like \"I'm a Tangerine\". It opens in a *strong* psychedelic kind of way reminding me of the Beatles \"Strawberry Fields Forever\". Also reminds me of the Chocolate Watchband. Just listen to the lyrics. \"I am so mellow, I am a jello man\" and \"Hello banana, I am a tangerine, is it a dream? Oh no, I don't think so!\". The whistling effect at the end is very creepy!\n\n\"I'm Alive\" opens with a fuzzed guitar before Tommy James screams \"I'm alive, and I see things mighty clear today, I'm alive, and I'm breathing clean fresh air today, I'm alive!\" This song's covered in the same tripped out fuzz as \"I'm a Tangerine\". VERY melodic and pleasant too. \"Do Something To Me\" is a more upbeat tune with handclaps and a gospel tone. \"Do something to me, I've got to find love in a hury, do something to me, help me ease all the worry\". It's a single melody that repeats a lot but you know, it's a good one. You'll feel great!\n\n\"Breakaway\" is more aggressive soulful tune. \"Now now now I know how you feel inside, someone you love took you for a ride, you better tell him it's all over, girl, you know that I'll be standin' by, yes I will\". I love the next part- \"Better, here what I say!\" You can tell even Tommy James was getting caught up in the late 60's experimentation going on at the time, because the part in the middle begs to develop into something more but never does. Doesn't really need to I guess.\n\n\"Smokey Roads\" opens in some kind of foreign language I've never heard of! Actually they're just normal words sung backwards. What the lyrics are I have no idea. Wow! The melody that plays afterwards is quite similar to the Hollies \"The Air That I Breathe!\" unless I'm crazy. Being able to stand with one of the greatest love songs ever is a *very* good thing! \"I came back to take a look at my childhood, but all I found was a big stack of plywood, and a whole bunch of people I don't even know\" is a great line. I love the drumming too.\n\n\"Kathleen McArthur\" is a tenderly sung folk tune. This is the type of experimenting I'd expect from a late 60's band since, to name the Hollies again, they were going this route briefly. It's an incredible melody too. \"Well hello Kathleen, how are you today? Kathleen, so serene, daddy's unaware of the mask you wear and the love we share\" is perhaps the part of the song that gets to me the most. So beautiful! Oh wow, I forgot about \"Sugar On Sunday!\" The opening line immediately takes me back to my childhood. And the band uses that creepy instrument that makes Tommy James sound like he's singing in a tunnel. Whatever that thing is, it's cool! And the chorus? It's amazing! \"I'm only sugar on Sunday I'm leaving on Monday only got one day to love me yeah, sugar on Sunday I'm leaving on Monday but I'll be your man tonight\".\n\nThis is a classic! 5 stars easily. Wow! Holds up VERY well over the years.\n\n*Next album*\n\nHuh? Cellophane Symphony can't be purchased on its own and is now paired with Crimson and Clover. Well that's kinda... I don't want to say such a thing stinks because you're getting two brilliant albums, but it feels strange! I guess many older albums are generally being placed together now.\n\nAnyway \"Changes\" begins with psychedelic and dreamy vocals until the \"Yes she did now\" vocals pick up the pace. Then again I can't find the lyrics online so I might have the wrong words. I can't find the lyrics anywhere! Wow is this album rare? Is that why? Anyway this song is indicative of a band maturing. The production feels bigger too. \"I am the prodigal son and a gentleman\" is such a lovely line. Wow, gotta love the synth part at the end. Keyboards too. Talk about trippy!\n\nOh and let's mention the big hit because it's the most well-known song here. That would be \"Sweet Cherry Wine\". For years I thought to myself \"What other song out there begin as forcefully as this?\" The very first line is amazing. \"COME ON everyone we gotta get together now! Oh yeah love's the only thing that matters now!\" Then the melody goes through a soaring moment during the \"And the beauty of life, can only survive, if we love one another\" part. The transition is perfect! Amazing song seriously. Let's keep singing it! \"Oh yeah yesterday my friends were marching out to war, oh yeah listen now we ain't a marching anymore, no we ain't gonna fight, only God has the right, to decide who's to live and die, he gave us sweet cherry wine\".\n\n\"Evergreen\" reminds me of Quicksilver Messenger Service for some reason. What a tender melody with a hint of darkness in the guitar. Certain parts sound creepy to me even if they're subtle! Also love the \"Aaaahhhh\" vocals in the background. \"Loved One\" begins with some lovely \"la la la's\". Not just lovely, but I can see myself sitting on a lawn chair out back drinking a glass of lemonade to this. \"Suddenly there was a young girl, she reached right out and took my mind\". What a great melody, as is the \"She said \"If you want to get love you've got to give some\" part. The \"It takes a loved oooone, loved one, someone like you babe\" is a nice moment of gospel. There's actually a bunch of different melodies crammed inside this one 4-minute tune, and every one of them is fantastic.\n\n\"The Love of a Woman\" lacks the tight vocal melody abilities I've come to know from the band, but it's still pretty good. I almost want to laugh at some of these lyrics but that would make me look like a jerk so I won't. :) Hey I love the 60's as much as the next guy, but uh, let's just say I'm in a different kind of mood today and need some cheering up! I understand the song is going for tenderness but sometimes it can go too far. The melody itself just isn't up to par either. \"Makin' Good Time\" has amazing feel good vibes! A very likeable song if I do say so. A simple song like this excels so well.\n\n\"On Behalf of the Entire Staff & Management\" (you're all fired, Merry Christmas!) I kid! This melody, particularly the vocals, reminds me of Ray Davies of the Kinks in a REALLY big way! In the background there's all kinds of celebrating going on, so you can picture a work party taking place in an office room with lots of beer drinking. Time for everyone to let loose and have fun! I admit this line is catchy- \"A golden watch, it isn't much for your loyalty, but after all it's the least that we could do, on behalf of the entire staff and management, we really feel that you deserve this after 25 years of service to the company\" but nearly 4 minutes of a drunken melody is a bit much, and to take the melody into the \"For he's a jolly good fellow\" part as the song winds down? No thanks. Does Tommy James say \"I hate you\" at the end? I get he didn't get a raise!\n\n\"I Know Who I Am\" has a WONDERFUL and uplifting Bob Dylan-like opening line. \"Ah, here's to the man who's got no name, just a face in the crowd, looking just the same to me, everywhere I go I know who I am, now here's to the man who smiles at me, as he shakes my hand so vigorously, he can't figure me out, if I'm A or B or C, D, none of these, E, all of the above are correct. Do not mark on the test booklet!\" Wow what a great song! This song is an unbelievable amount of fun. The line about potato chips is good too (\"Ah, here's to the guy who's got chapped lips, from eating too many potato chips!\") Country folk at its best.\n\nI guess I should also mention \"Papa Rolled His Own\" even though I don't have much to say about it. It feels like some kind of throwaway tune with piano, and you know it's really not much different from \"On Behalf of the Entire Staff & Management\" pertaining to the vocals. At least it's short.\n\nNow let's talk about the craziest song here. What is this? WHAT IS IT!?!? It's \"Cellophane Symphony\". unquestionably the biggest experiment Tommy James and the Shondells have ever done. It's almost 10 minutes long for one thing, so be prepared for that. It begins with a soothing Pink Floyd-like guitar line, steady drumming and synths, and you know this doesn't sound much different from Paul McCartney and the Wing's \"Let Me Roll It\". Maybe Paul was listening to these guys? A few minutes in you can tell \"Cellophane Symphony\" is going for a tripped out adventure through space. It's pretty obvious the song is going to base itself around that soothing guitar tone and trippy psychedelic vibes.\n\nBut wait! Around the 5:30 mark the tempo picks up as the bass guitar arrives. The keyboards are more noticeable now too, and less messy than they were earlier. I hear what sounds like the ending from the Beatles \"Strawberry Fields\" around the 7-minute mark. You know when the song fades back in. Hey I didn't *mean* to mention this great Beatles song twice in this review! The similarities are there however. \"Cellophane Symphony\" never builds into anything amazing so it's odd when the song returns to the way it started but with more strange sound effects thrown in. Well, I'm kinda contradicting myself because the song *is* amazing! Not just because Tommy James turned into early Pink Floyd, but the song itself is really darn cool.\n\nThis album is really good. Well except \"The Love of a Woman\". I don't care for that one much. Otherwise great album.","Product: Their 1971 debut!\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: starting the tower climb\n\nReview: I knew Tower of Power loved to use lots of horns based on the few songs I've heard before going into East Bay Grease, but I guess I had no idea they liked to use horns *this* much, and *this* loudly! Constant horns all over the place, and often times soulful vocal melodies overriding everything else to a great extent. Pretty good stuff though. If there's one thing you can't fault Tower of Power for, it's not being boisterous enough, haha! This band takes the supposed high energy level of other bands at the time, reinvents said excitement and shoots it through the roof!\n\nNot a single song is below 5 and a half minutes either. \"Knock Yourself Out\" opens with nice marching horns and somewhat messy vocals, but perhaps what sounds like messy vocals is just a very enthusiastic and uncontrollable lead singer! The background vocals provide the \"Knock yourself out woooh!\" part. Solid melodic sax solo in the middle too. I really like this song. \"Social Lubrication\" opens with steamy bluesy guitar lines before quickly shifting into a funkier and soulful direction. I feel the vocals are a little unfocused/uninspiring here which makes the song sound a bit clunky, but I like the horns during the chorus. The vocals remind me of Terry Kath of Chciag fame a little bit during the middle part. I like the \"Everyone's got their own way\" part because it's sung so honestly. The vocal melody gets more intense near the end. Overall decent song but not one of my favorites.\n\n\"The Price\" provides refreshing horns mixed with funk in the beginning. Geat driving verse melody. \"It's a hard thing to say but that's the price I gotta pay, the price is too much my darling\" is a VERY strong melody and lyrics. Lots of horns decorating the song and making it stand out boisterously, and a nice guitar solo at the end. \"Back on the Streets Again\" has a quality funky groove and sincere vocals about survival and making a return back on the streets in apparent grand fashion based on the lead singers confident demeanor. Decent though relatively messy saxophone solo in the middle, and the rhythm is notable for doing some tricky stuff. \"The Skunk, the Goose and the Fly\" is funky with cheerful/playful vocals. More exceedingly boisterous singing with funny lyrics \"Drunk as a skunk, loose as a goose!\" AWESOME guitar solo. Wow if this band ever wanted to jam on the guitar for an extended period of time, it would be incredibly good. I wonder if they DID jam when performing this live.\n\n\"Sparkling in the Sand\" is my favorite song on here by FAR. Instead of being a horn-drenched tune with a loud soulful vocal melody, it goes in a quieter gentler direction while keeping the soul sound completely in place. It opens with beautiful dreamy flutes. \"When God made you he had a lot to do, in a day or two you were my dream come true\" is a funny and beautifully sung line. Reminds me of Blood, Sweat and Tears when the brass instruments arrive. There are no words to describe how beautiful the vocal melody is while the lyrics emphasis the subject of love. The flute that jams throughout the song is really amazing, as is the trumpet solo later on. The jazzy tempo change at the very end is beautiful too. \"You're a diamond sparkling in the sand\" is a memorable line.\n\nOverall, well if you like a LOT of horns, constant horns, this is the album for you. There's also brief guitar solos, funky rhythms and constant soulful vocal melodies, but in the end other than the vocal melodies, nothing else is as instantly noticeable as the horns. It can be a bit much to take overall, but I still thoroughly enjoy East Bay Grease and highly recommend it.","Product: Monkees ~ Headquarters\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: where the action happens\n\nReview: One of the Monkees earlier albums. I don't recognize any of the songs but I'm sure there's a couple hits here. I'm be *really* surprised if there's no hits on Headquarters given the Monkees were pretty popular around this time.\n\n\"You Told Me\" has a pretty straightforward melody typical of the mid 60's with the friendly/happy vibes, but it's memorable enough. I like the \"Times have made me shy of all the things you're saying, time has made me shy, of girls and all the games they are playing\" line since it's sung in a subtle psychedelic way, but of course the main melody contains the following line- \"You told me you'd always stay, you told me! You told you'd never stray, you told me! All these things you said you said sincerely, still I am leaving you in spite of what you told me. I've heard things that did not match what you told me, and of your love that would not last as you told me, for warned is forewarned, it hurts, I'm leaving, I may be wrong I can't love what I'm just hearing\".\n\n\"I'll Spend My Life With You\" has a 60's Rolling Stones-like vocal approach and rhythm with a country flavor. Really sincere and softly sung vocals too especially the \"And I hope you're there and you still care, and if you do I'll spend my life with you\" line. Some might say this is fairly plain compared to other ballads of the era from other bands, but I say it's perfectly fine. You'll probably enjoy the melody that contains these lyrics \"People come and people go, movin' fast and movin' slow, I'm in a crowd yet I'm all alone, the road is long the road is rough, I do believe I've had enough, I'm gonna turn around and head for home\". This is how I feel around hundreds of people! Too many people moving around and I must turn around and head home or my sanity will be destroyed!\n\n\"Forget That Girl\" has a striking lyric. \"\"Forget that girl she'll only make you sad someday, forget that girl she'll never make you happy, stay away from her my friend, stay away from her\". This is pretty much the experience of most men! The women we really like are too different or well, the line \"There was a time when she could really love you when she was thinking only of you, but now she's thrown herself above you and there's nothing you can do\" makes me think she's probably a skank. \"Band 6\" is just some country guitar with an unnatural pounding rhythm. \"You Just May Be the One\" is somewhat of a forced attempt at a pretty vocal melody. \"All men must have someone, have someone, who would never take advantage of a love bright as the sun, someone to understand them, and you just may be the one. All men must have someone, have someone, who would never take for granted, all the pleasures and the fun, someone to stand beside them and you just may be the one\". Yes!\n\n\"Shades of Gray\" is a memorable vocal melody for its tenderness. \"When the world and I were young just yesterday, life was such a simple game, a child could play, it was easy then to tell right from wrong, easy then to tell weak from strong, when a man should stand and fight or just go along\". The lyrics\" But today there is no day or night, today there is no dark or light, today there is no black or white, only shades of gray\" are particularly\nhard-hitting how much it hits me emotionally. \"I remember when the answers seemed so clear, we had never lived with doubt or tasted fear, it was easy then to tell truth from lies, selling out from compromise, who to love and who to hate, the foolish from the wise\". WOW is that an impressive lyric!\n\n\"I Can't Get Her Off My Mind\" is upbeat and catchy. Really awesome piano pop. The whole opening set of lyrics are really happy. \"I've been standing on the corner all day trying to think of little things to say, 'cuz she walks by everyday about this time, and I don't think I'll ever get her off of my mind, well I only met her about a week ago but the way she smiles lets me know that she could see that maybe we were two of a kind, and I don't think I'll ever get her off of my mind, oh she's so pretty I couldn't believe she'd ever look my way, but the way I'm feeling I'm gonna be stealing that little girl's heart today\". This is the song you play while skipping and smiling on your way home from school in love with a girl you got to talk to, only stopping to sniff a nearby pleasant scented flower.\n\n\"For Pete's Sake\" is next. Pretty energetic. \"In this generation in this lovin' time, in this generation we will make the world shine, we were born to love one another, this is something we all need, we were born to love one another. I love the \"We must be what we're goin' to be and what we have to be is free\". \"Mr. Webster\" is a mysterious song with haunting country vocals. The song is clearly in the pop vein though, with the country vocals being short. Love when the piano comes in during the second verse giving it a Simon & Garfunkel vibe. \"Everyone in town knew Mr. Webster, he worked at the bank for 40 years and each week Mr. Frizby made his check out, for 68 dollars clear, and through the years he thwarted 27 robberies and each time Frizby promised him a raise, they gave a retirement party for Mr. Webster, everyone from the bank was there, they had a cake and flowers ordered special and Frizby had a speech prepared\". These lyrics almost sound like a math problem, haha!\n\n\"Sunny Girlfriend\" is a REALLY great upbeat melody! \"She owns and operates her own sunshine factory of painting smiles on dolls, and then on me she's my sunny girlfriend and personality, well she's got a book that tells about everybody's past, and she can make you slow while making your mind move fast, she's my sunny girlfriend and she is never last\". The final line (\"Yes she's my sunny girlfriend, she doesn't really care\") is sort of hilarious because I picture a girl so happy she doesn't care about anything else and doesn't even acknowledge anything else! \"Zilch\" is nothing but spoken fast-paced words that actually remind me of that \"Macarena\" song by Los del Rio. Unless I'm totally crazy! I hate that song and this song is why. It's not meant to actually be sung- it's meant to be spoken like the Monkees intelligently did it here.\n\n\"No Time\" reminds me of \"Long Tall Sally\" (any version you think). That's not to say it's a ripoff but more like it's structured in the same way. Not a highlight for me though, even though the Monkees are doing everything they can to make it sound really fun. Enjoy the following lyrics (\"No time, no time for you, I got no time baby, got lots of better things to do, Andy you're a dandy, you don't seem to make no sense, nevermind the furthermore, the plea is self-defense!\"\n\n\"Early Morning Blues and Greens\" is another favorite. Really good keyboards and passionate lyrics, despite its simplicity. Nice organ solo in the middle. \"A Distant night bird mocks the sun, I wake as I have always done, to freshly scented sycamore and cold bare feet on hardwood floor, my steaming coffee warms my face, I'm disappointed in the taste, but there's a peace the early brings, the morning world of growing things\". Hmmm, sounds like \"Daydream Believer\" lyrics a little huh? So softly sung and amazing! \"And I will drink my coffee slow, and I will watch my shadow grow, and disappear in firelight, and sleep alone again tonight\"\n\n\"Randy Scouse Git\" starts like it's going to be dramatic before suddenly turning into an upbeat happy piano bouncy tune. Nice tender lyrics. Enjoy the way the singer screams \"Why don't you be like me? Why don't you stop and see? Why don't you hate who I hate, kill who I kill to be free!\" \"She's a wonderful lady and she's mine all mine, and there doesn't seem a way that she won't come and lose my mind, it's too easy humming songs to a girl in a yellow dress, it's been a long time since the party and the room is in a mess, the four kings of E.M.I are sitting stately on the floor, there are birds out on the sidewalk and a valet at the door, he reminds me of a penguin with few and plastered hair, there's talcum powder on the letter and the birthday boy is there, why don't you cut your hair? Why don't you live up there? Why don't you do what I do? See what I feel when I care?\"\n\nThis is a pretty solid early effort by the Monkees. This album was released before the band got slightly experimental with more instruments, and it shows. Sometimes simplicity is really good when it's done like the artists in the 60's used to write music, so an album like Headquarters is really memorable overall.","Product: Music CD\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: ridin' the hog through the country\n\nReview: High On the Hog is slightly different from the bands debut. On their first album there was clear signs of gospel, soul, country and blues rock all combined to create something unique. This album's still really good and the uniqueness remains, but noticeably different in the songwriting. The lead singers hoarse vocal range has remained too.\n\n\"Happy Hooker\" is uh, well, haha. What *is* it exactly? Slow blues... a radically different and creative take on the blues. \"She was a real fine looker, fifty dollar hooker, all night cooker, a happy hooker\" is a hilarious line! I almost get the feeling the Band could have gotten away writing music like this but they didn't have the humor these guys do. Anyway I enjoy the melodic guitar solo. Emphasis on melody is once again noticeable. And what's with the album cover of the band members holding the side of a pig while piglets are sucking on the teats? lol. It's a total joy listening to these guys, I tell ya! \"Moonshine Sonata\" is a memorable song title and a guitar jam with a wonderful chugging rhythm, *tons* of melody and fulfilling dancing awesomeness. The pace slows down halfway through as the guitar soloing changes into something quite sad. Maybe I'm crazy but certain key changes remind me of Pink Floyd's \"Echoes\". I'm sure I'm imagining things. What a song. Drastically different from \"Happy Hooker\" and yet, equally impressive.\n\n\"Mad Man\" is all about jazzy piano and guitar with snappy vocals and a voice similar to some of Captain Beefheart's early 70's stuff. \"Have you ever seen a mad man, have you ever seen him cry? Have you ever seen a mad man, have you ever seen him sigh?\" These are pretty good lyrics, but I prefer the \"Mad man, mad man!\" chorus. For a 4-minute song it's fairly elaborate in its structure concerning the many different vocal melodies taking place. \"Swimmin' In Quicksand\" has some funky guitar playing in the intro with loose drumming to follow. Sort of has a Grand Funk Railroad vibe to it based on these features. Memorable vocals even with the hard to understand lyrics, and a great way to open the album. Love the guitar solo too.\n\n\"Movin\" is fast-paced guitar soloing and a unique way of implementing a country/rock or bluegrass style. Or perhaps both! This reminds me of the Doobie Brothers a bit, but perhaps more authentic and less commercial sounding (as much as I like the Doobies of course!) Awesome guitar solo in the middle. The pace changes suddenly much like it does on \"Moonshine Sonata\" into a sleazy guitar solo before returning to the vocals. Actually the more I think about it, the vocals remind me of Moby Grape. \"Red Hot Lovin\" has a catchy verse melody and it sounds like it's based on a rather straightforward piano line. However the vocal melody is so strong and more importantly the lead singer has so much personality, that it doesn't even matter. I like the way the line \"To make a man do crazy things\" is sung. Sorry can't make out the rest of it.\n\n\"Jim Dandy\" is the big hit but to be honest it's one of the weaker songs. It paints a false impression that the band writes silly nonchalant music, and the female vocals sort of give it an unintentionally annoying vibe. This reminds me of Little Feat and \"Dixie Chicken\". This is a perfect example where you have to look beyond the biggest hits and focus on the other stuff the bands are capable of to *really* get an idea what they're like. However I wouldn't say I hate this song. The guitar solo is smokin' fast and the speedy rhythm is commendable, but the vocals are on the lesser end of the bands overall brand of enjoyment. \"Back to the Land\" opens with guitar playing similar to Neil Young's \"Tell Me Why\" but it's not intentional I'm sure. The vocal melody is quite in the bluegrass or country style. I love the atmosphere because it reminds me of the great outdoors. Really emotional tune. I'd love to be taken over the hills and into the countryside. Leave this fast moving world behind! *tosses smartphone in the trash*\n\n\"High 'n Dry\" is a similar folk/country tune to \"Back to the Land\" but slower-paced and more magical. This song proves the lead singer can be quite emotional when he wants to be. This song has a way of making me feel like taking a horse ride beside streams through deep valleys. It's really beautiful (the song *and* the image I get, haha). \"Why Shouldn't I Smile\" has a really good Jefferson Airplane-like groovy rhythm, snappy vocals and enjoyable guitar soloing. The type of song you want to turn up loud when it comes on. Of course a song like this would never come on the radio anymore, so we have to turn it up on our DVD or computer speakers instead! Really cool guitar solo in the middle with the trading of licks. These guys are absolutely creative because I'd never have guessed such a guitar solo was coming and yet, there it is.\n\nOverall, for a commercial album (usually commercial albums are weak from a songwriting point of view) this album is a masterpiece. I love every song! But then again this isn't a normal commercial album of course. No sellout or anything like that. Just a series of well-written and creative tunes.","Product: RETURN TO FOREVER Hymn Of The Seventh Galaxy CD\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: amazing and one of a kind\n\nReview: THIS is the kind of rock/jazz fusion (whatever you wanna call it) that 99% of the artists out there lack- intensity actually backed up with interesting instrumental chops.\n\nThis album is AMAZINGLY good. I mean, good in a way that's beyond comprehension! Good in a way that I thought only the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Deep Purple and Santana were capable of!\n\nI'm having a bit of trouble understanding why Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy isn't frequently listed with some of the best albums of the 70's. Am I the only one hearing an *incredible* masterpiece of musical ideas? Am I the only one hearing band members completely on top of their game for this release?\n\nThe other Return to Forever albums never came close to hitting me THIS hard. Some of the intensity is similar to Rainbow's classic Rainbow Rising however, that's mostly a rock album with elements of jazz- THIS album is more like a perfect combination of jazz and rock, played and executed near flawlessly and MUCH more aggressive than what normally qualifies as \"jazz meets rock\".\n\nSome of the dream-like keyboard playing might sound a bit stuck in the 70's, but who really cares? It's the same kind of keyboard playing that FLOORS me from the Mahavishnu Orchestra's Inner Mounting Flame. The keyboards are so thick and tear through your skin, like you're supposed to be DRAWN to them... *darn* this kind of music impresses me so much! The guitar workouts are right up there with the best John McLaughlin solos too.\n\n\"Theme to the Mothership\" will *blow your mind* if you're a Mahavishnu Orchestra or Deep Purple fan. In fact the explosive keyboard jam is VERY reminiscent of the live version of \"Space Truckin\" from Deep Purple's famous Made In Japan album. Now that's just *awesome* but believe me, it gets even better! The guitar solos make even John McLaughlin himself rub his eyes and have to take a second look. But my GOODNESS that keyboard jam... it's not just freakin' amazing but BEYOND comprehesion amazing. A whole new category and definition of \"amazing\" has been invented thanks entirely to THIS ALBUM! Oh, and in case you think that's the only example of sheer relentless explosiveness, guess again.\n\n\"Captain Senor Mouse\" contains the same exact furocious formula. It doesn't let up at ALL for the entire 9 minutes so be prepared to be blown from here all the way to Shanghai China. I seriously can't help but believe that the electric guitar jam is by FAR the heaviest of all 70's jazz/rock bands. I mean it's played like a lightning storm coming down hard and heavy across the city and making people scatter! \"After the Cosmic Rain\" starts off on a cautious note. By \"cautious\" I mean, you KNOW the ominous guitar riff and gentle keyboards are leading into something intense. Sure enough... *crank this song up loud*, haha. The chaotic messiness of the drum work might seem out of place at first, but when you hear it following along to that creepy guitar riff you will NOT want to turn it off. No way! The keyboard jam near the end blows me to... not Shanghai. We'll expand my geography and make this one New Brunswick.\n\nThere's variety here too, folks! It's not all fun and games (and memorable guitar/keyboard technical interplay!) You simply MUST check out the intro from \"Space Circus\". It's dreamy Spanish loveliness. Then it's funky groove time with a hint of Middle Eastern vibes. This reminds me of the Mahavishnu Orchestra's Visions of the Emerald Beyond album. \"The Gamer Maker\" could pass as another weak attempt at recapturing what my beloved Mahavishnu Orchestra did better a few years prior but... eh. I love it too much to really lower my standards to such silly hogwash comparisons! Oh the title song. I should mention that one (even though it's just 3 minutes and 30 seconds long). It's a brief instrumental with sprinkles and remnants of Jethro Tull. I mean the main line of the song reminds me of the classic period of Tull. I highly doubt these guys were soaking up Ian Anderson's folk tales while recording Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy.\n\nIntense, heavy, loud... these are just a few of the simple words that are perhaps TOO simple to really convince you how incredible Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy is. A must own. I honestly have a really difficult time choosing between the Mahavishnu Orchestra's best work or this. It's *really* close. It's like being charged by two bulls at once- you know you're going to get hit *hard* and be down for the count. I love Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy and I strongly believe you will too! Make that a STRONG belief!\n\nSo what *is* the best moment? Wow, tough call there. Too many to choose from! If I had to pick 3 moments, I'd say the volcano exploding, lava rushing, earthquake rumbling, military solute that is the intro to \"After the Cosmic Rain\" is one of them, the relentless power-driven \"heavy metal meets jazz\" guitar solo from \"Captain Senior Mouse\" is another, and the well-executed eerie atmosphere leading into a frantic/worried pace of piano and guitar swirls from the intro to \"The Game Maker\" is the last mind-boggingly awesome moment. On second thought, doesn't the intro to \"After the Cosmic Rain\" make you picture an asteroid heading directly for earth, and the bass giving off a feeling of the ground collapsing and crumbling? AWESOME! On a final note, I strongly recommend playing this album while a lightning storm is building across the country mountains on a warm summer evening or better yet -like I found myself doing earlier this year- playing it *while* the lightning is banging and clanging outside. Best album ever? You bet!","Product: Tim Buckley - S/T - Cd\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: tim buckley debut awesomeness!\n\nReview: Tim Buckley's first album. The production is really muddy and old but the songwriting itself holds up really well. This is all about folk and singer/songwriter stuff.\n\n\"I Can't See You\" has Moody Blues-like vocals. Immediately Tim reveals to the world his soft spoken sailing type of singing style. \"Summer princess midnight maiden, when I first saw you I just breathed, into your smile my past went fadin\" is a great line, as is \"Autumn temptress sundown angel, inside your blood yo uaren't so young, I came to you a loving vandal and heard your heart and touched your tongue, day became a lighted candle, sky fell down, beneath your sandal in your eye I began to spin\" \" is a good line. Love the uplifting vocal style and speedy pace. This is folk music, but more aggressive and involved with all kinds of instruments playing along.\n\n\"Wings\" is much quieter. \"\"Although you've spken many times before, a sight of birth he leaves you by a door, and now you know he doesn't understand, and all you need is the warmth of his hand\" is sung so beautifully. Subtle use of orchestration and it feels just right. \"\"And now you know you cannot live alone, but will find your future is unknown\" \" is a line I can relate to. Love living alone but, what will happen in the future? Who knows! Hopefully something good!\n\n\"Song of the Magician\" opens with a voice that's like a blend between Justin Hayward and the lead singer of Bread David Gates. Love the jazzy drum beat that sounds like skipping. Perhaps not the song that shows Tim's vocal melody abilites, but has tremendous atmosphere. \"\"When I die do not cry, hear my sigh passing by, after I have turned to win, I will try to help you then, you will be love and your love will live\" is a lyric that stands out negatively for being really sad. I don't know about you, but this song gives me strong tingles! It captures that feeling of an innocent time in the late 60's, but there's a sense that period is gone forever and it's just really sad.\n\n\"Strange Street Affair Under Blue\" opens with some interesting guitar notes before the line \"Just for you with your open hands, waiting for the touch of man, clutching with your blackened gloves, you try to capture all the doves\" comes in. The pace increases ever so slightly as the song rolls along, but it occurs more obviously about a minute in. Despite the speed up, Tim still sings it with an amazing touch of honesty. The part that gets quiet near the end isn't so great though. \"Valentine Melody\" opens in such a lovely way with the honest line \"\"You came to me with fire inside, your movements and your pride, and asking to be rescued from, the pain you had become, I tore apart the prison and I hid you in my hand\". Really quiet and tender vocal melody but Tim sure loves singing about hands. This song sounds almost *too* sincere at first to the point of coming across as hokey, but actually this song gets better the more it goes along and I adjust to it. \"Today the coin is in the air, and we are here and there, and where and when have caught us in the web of violence\" ends the song on a good note.\n\n\"Aren't You the Girl?\" (\"who used to call me names, who used to play your games!\") This song has a feeling of wanting to approach a girl but hesitating to go through with it based on knowing beforehand what the girl is like. She might run and hide, cry or worse, pick on poor Tim! This song has a way of being amazing! Something about it- just the right length (2 minutes) and just uplifting and joyful. \"Song Slowly Song\" is the one song on the album that shows signs of a songwriter who would go on to become experimental. This song is as slow as the title says (and atmospheric!) Not much of a melody and sort of reminds me of the creepy song from the Stooges first album (\"We Will Fall\"). Eventually the vocals go away to allow these angelic keyboards/celesta and jazzy bass to jam giving the tune some kind of underwater submarine effect. It sure is lonely when you explore the bottom of the ocean.\n\nThat creepiness comes to an end when \"It Happens Every Time\" arrives. Whew! I was getting pretty lonely back there, haha. More soft vocals and orchestration like in \"Wings\". \"Oh baby won't you stay mine, your lovin' makes me feel so fine, and someday baby you'll find, my love was gentle and kind, someday you'll know that leaving me was wrong but don't bother all that time is gone\". Wow this song is REALLY good! This is about as excellent as a ballad can get. \"Song for Jainie\" describes a woman named Jainie very well with the terrific opening line. \"You've got the untortured mind of a woman, who has answered all the questions before, you've got the free giving ways of a woman who has kicked all the heartache out the door\". Yes what a line! The recurring line \"And Jainie don't you know I've been trying\" describes how Tim feels at the given time (with perhaps a hint of true aggravation in the lyrics).\n\n\"Grief In My Soul\" is a fast-moving folk tune with rushed vocals. A song that doesn't really appeal to much a whole lot to be honest. I know other artists like Bob Dylan were lyrical masters and would often sing quickly in the 60's, but Tim's vocal style is a more beautiful and honest one so it doesn't really work (not that I'm saying Tim's trying to imitate Bob exactly, but I hear similarities between this song and Bob's style). \"I got ten thousand troubles a million woes, I got grief in my soul nobody knows\" is a creepy way to end the song.\n\n\"She Is\" opens with a really beautiful/standard guitar line. Love the opening line that poetically describes a girl of Tim's desire. \"She is the day that gives me time, to live and love my life, till night comes on with sundown scythe, to end the puzzle pantomime, she is a day of love, she is the day through which I walk toward the bridge where she stands\". However the line \"She is the air I breathe to sing, she is a smile without demands\" is a little hokey but it's short so it's all good. \"Understand Your Man\" rocks out with electric guitar in the intro and shows Tim's more country-ish vocals. \"Just do me one favor, won't you please understand your man!\"\n\nOverall Tim Buckley's debut is pretty awesome. I sort of figured it would be, since after all his following three albums are in the folk rock vein and they don't disappoint at all. Pick this one up!","Product: Brand New\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: sadness is happiness... well sometimes\n\nReview: My first experience with Tim Buckley is Happy Sad. Let's listen!\n\nWhat the! I was expecting a country/folk album but \"Strange Feeling\" opens with vibraphones, a few simple acoustic guitar lines and sailing vocals. This reminds me of Dion actually. Has a hippie/country vibe that I really admire. Sorry if I'm off with that description. \"But now all I need is a little time to sing this song, and I think we're gonna find a way to lose this strange feeling\". This is the kind of song I like to listen to while in the backyard relaxing. Nice electric guitar solo with more country/rock tendencies. The line \"Don't you weep don't you fret don't you wail don't you moan now, can't you hear that whippoorwiil a calling?\" shows off Tim's unique vocal style. This song is really awesome, and wins me over the more it goes on. Oh listen to that! The vibraphone returns. Awesome! And they jam for a little while with the acoustic and electric guitar. This is somewhere in between experimental and laidback. I almost wanna say that if you were to take away the vibraphones you'd have a sound similar to Canned Heat. I could be wrong, and actually the more I listen to Tim's voice, no way the lead singer of the band can sing like this so yeah, I'm way off with that one!\n\n\"Buzzin' Fly\" is next. It opens with a really pretty and uplifting electric guitar solo with more vibraphones. Wow really tasty guitar lines too. I had a feeling this guy would be awesome based on the positive reviews. Tim shows a really mature voice on this track suitable for somewhere out west in the desert. \"You're the one I talk about, you're the one I think about everywhere I go, but sometimes honey in the morning, lord I miss you so, that's how I know I found a home\" is really tender and moving. You know even though this sounds like country rock, it feels a lot bigger than to simply call it as such. Has an Astral Weeks (Van Morrison album) type of grand vibe/sound flowing through it like every song is meant to sound incredibly important.\n\n\"Love From Room 109 At the Islander (On Pacific Coast Highway)\" opens with heavy bass, rain splashing alongside the road effects and those ever frequent vibraphones. If you take away the vibraphones the vibes would sort of remind me of either a late 60's jazz album or perhaps mid 70's Tom Waits (without the bizarre lyrics). \"You changed an old man filled with pity, back to a child again, ah mama can't you see what you've done?\" is a hair-raisingly creepy line! Must be the tempo changes influencing... the hair on my arms? No, how I feel! Really pretty electric guitar comes in after the first line with more rain effects. \"So tell me darling if the feeling's wrong don't waste another day, lord the saddest thing I've ever known was to watch it die away, ah now mama, don't you lie don't you lie\" is REALLY tear-jerking! Tim is the kind of singer who elevates his range quite a bit, which is somewhat unusual given the type of music occurring here.\n\nThe tone changes a moment later during the line \"The sweet of your sweet skin does entangle my dream\". The song has now entered softly sung territory 5 minutes later. The bass, murky production and of course the rain effects make the song feel really sad. Not happy sad but just sad. I'm not sure if Tim's singing too many lines here or maybe he's creating all kinds of sadness and the song just hasn't sunk in for me yet. I really think it's the latter- this stuff demands more than one listen to absorb. What the... violins! Sad violins of course. They play with the acoustic guitar lines and sparse vibraphones. 9 minute later Tim stops singing to allow all the previously mentioned instruments to play in a scattered kind of way. Then the song's over. Well say what you will about this song, but it's unique to the max.\n\n\"Dream Letter\" is more slow vibraphones and guitar. Honestly I'm surprised he's still going on with the vibraphones. I figured he'd only use them once or twice- not for the whole album. When Tim's vocals enter, he sounds different here. His range is still soothingly all over the place. Wow, after the first line the guitar creates some kind of effect similar to the stuff you'd find on a few mid 70's Yes albums. Unless I'm really off about that one. \"Sleep inside my dreams tonight, all I need to know tonight are you and my child\" is a deep line. \"Oh, is he a soldier or is he a dreamer, is he mama's little man, does he help you when he can, or does he ask about me?\" The pace picks up during the \"There's no crowds around me\" line. This song is all about personal thoughts.\n\n\"Gypsy Woman\" opens in a way that catches my attention with the African-like bass and rhythm. And sitar? Yup! At least he doesn't abuse the sitar like so many other artists tend to do. That's one instrument that needs to be used only *sometimes* in my opinion. The vocals are pushed to the back to allow a really good electric guitar solo to increase in volume and play VERY well. There's a lot of power in Tim's voice when he sings. This song almost reminds me of Creedence Clearwater Revival. No Tim doesn't sound like John Fogerty, and you know the more I listen he probably doesn't sound like Dion either. Well maybe a little. \"Cast a spell on me!\" The guitar solo returns and it's just as good as it was the first time. When the song slows down in the second half and Tim starts to moan, perhaps this part isn't necessary. Then again Tim was experimenting here so maybe I don't mind it so much. Jamming on those congas too! Meh, the more this song goes on the more I really think it is too long. Still enjoy it though.\n\n\"Sing a Song For You\" has some really sad tempo changes on the acoustic guitar. \"In my heart is where I long for you, in my smile I search for you, each time you turn and run away I cry inside, my silly way just too young to know anymore\". Tim almost sounds like Justin Hayward on this track. Things change a moment later. \"The wind covers me cold, the starry skies all around my eyes, fall behind the city moans, well worthy of the people there\" is a line that paints a different more uplifting vibe.\n\nOverall, I wasn't expecting this at all! This is really awesome. I don't want to call this country rock anymore. The problem is that I don't know exactly *what* to call this! It's not like anything I've ever heard before. At least not quite. It's a blend of different genres but the important thing to remember is that it's very listenable. If you love early 70's rock and perhaps the Woodstock sound, you're guaranteed to enjoy this.","Product: Ass was the last Badfinger album recorded for Apple, originally released in 1973. Parlophone/Apple.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: quality album with one bad tune\n\nReview: I wonder why the band named the album... the A word amazon doesn't want me to say. :)\n\nI'm surprised Badfinger released such a long tune but here it is- \"Timeless\". And it's a VERY haunting tune. The flute makes this really different from anything else Badfinger released before. The piano sounds like it's playing in a dusty old house. I almost can't believe this is Badfinger. It picks up during the \"Whatever we see wherever we go, shows perfectly how little we know\" line, then goes back to being somber with a really pretty guitar line. \"We are the comfort we are the shame, we are forgiveness, we are blame, we are kind, we are kill, are we the future?\". Strange lyrics, but they get stranger! \"We are yesterday, we are today, we are tomorrow, we are timeless, we are then, we are now, we are the future, we are timeless, we are the sorrow, we are the pain, we are the sunshine, we are rain, we are love, we are hate, we are the future we are timeless\".\n\nI think these guys are trying to write something atmospheric and dramatic in a Pink Floyd kind of way. The song then rips into a tremendous guitar jam. Just short of the 6:30 mark the guitar solo gets REALLY cool! Move over Frank Zappa! I gotta say, I'm stunned. Then again the Beatles wrote a dramatic heavy tune in \"I Want You (She's So Heavy)\" so I guess I shouldn't be *too* shocked.\n\n\"Get Away\" is... a blues rocker? Yup! \"I may be wrong leaving it up to you, but my love is strong and that's what I'll do, well you may be right working all night and day, but I know sometimes I've got to get away, the walls are getting closer, people trying to freeze my soul, the times are getting harder, only wanna rock and roll, too much sitting, thinking, what we're gonna say, and I know sometimes I've got to get away\". Hmmm, this song seems to indicate unhappiness with the band members. I like the way the song gets louder during the \"I may be wrong babe leaving you this way, I must be strong babe leaving you today\" part. More melodic guitar lines and a repeating of the chorus- \"Get away (gotta move get away) oh oh way (gotta move get away!)\"\n\n\"The Winner\" is another rocker and not a very appealing one I'm afraid. The melody in the verse is pretty mediocre. I don't like tossing a word like mediocre around when talking about Badfinger's music but well, in this case I feel I have to! \"You can drive a car be a movie star any day of the week, you don't have to shout or walk about you just have to speak, say baby you just have to speak, you can fly a plane maybe go insane, any day that you like, everyone'll say \"Have you been away?\" Everything is alright, say baby, everything is alright\". The chorus isn't much better- \"Here he come that's a winner, here he come take a look write a book, you can eat him up for dinner yeah\". The \"Shout or walk about\" line reminds me of a certain Ringo Starr tune.\n\n\"I Can Love You\" opens with a few notes that remind me of Roxette's \"It Must've Been Love\". Total coincidence there! Roxette probably wouldn't have been listening to these guys when writing that legendary tune. This song is a major improvement over \"The Winner\". It's a ballad with an angelic piano line. The line \"And all of the flowers seem to wither in their beds and say goodnight, and all of the hours seem to clear away the bad and make it right\" sounds depressing to me both in terms of melody and words. The vocals sound like a George Harrison imitation which is a good thing. The final part of that line, the \"And make it right\" part, is such a fitting line. \"I can see you like the morning sun, feel you and I'm holding on, knowing that I'm not alone, want to take you home\".\n\n\"Apple of My Eye\" gets my attention right away with a *very* sad melody. I can't even say this is a traditional ballad. It's a Badfinger exclusive ballad baby. \"Oh I'm sorry but it's time to make a stand, though we never meant to bite the loving hand, and now the time has come to walk alone, we were the children now we've overgrown, you're the apple of my eye, you're the apple of my heart, but now the time has come to part\". Wow, I'm starting to tear up listening to this song.\n\nThe vocal melody in \"When I Say\" is about the tender-est thing you ever did hear I bet. \"I'm not the one who will give you everything you need, but what I mean is that I'll try, I can't deny that I've been burning inside, for all the things I'll never see\" is an uplifting change. Awesome song! \"What you are is what I see, what I see is what I want it to be, when I say I love you what I mean is I really do\".\n\n\"Blind Owl\" has more George Harrison influence in the vocals. Really memorable song overall. \"Look out for the blind owl, you can only find that you were wrong, no one else around me ever loved me like you do so I'll be strong\". You know I never realized until now but this band really does a great job shifting from one heartfelt melody into another without missing a step. A natural songwriting unit these guys were. Great speed up of guitar playing at the end. \"Lies ties Mr. Cool disguise, hang it up get up on your own, pill driven skills weeping whippoorwills, too much going around that you can't hide\".\n\n\"Icicles\" are my least favorite thing. We just had an ice storm a few days ago. Tree branches hanging to the ground, dangerous driving conditions, loss of electric... yup. This song makes icicles nicer to picture. This song opens in a Middle Eastern kind of way unless I'm crazy. Just listen to that guitar playing. I love this friendly vocal melody! The line \"But never take a love for granted give a little in return, try to be understanding live and learn\" is really pretty. A song like this can bring even the angriest of enemies together... well at least that's what my naive imagination likes to think. \"Isn't it nice when the rain comes falling, turns into icicles melting mourning, isn't it good when a friend comes calling around?\" I agree that last line is nice, but not the two lines that open the tune!\n\n\"Constitution\" opens with a wall rattling heavy guitar riff! It's really cool. Badfinger is showing their heavy side for this album. Maybe this is the bands way of writing a Beatles \"Revolution\" but that song is arguably less cool compared to this. I love the way the guitar plays at the end of certain lines. Wow this is borderline Hendrix territory! I almost want to compare this guitar playing to the one in Rush's \"Working Man\". It has the sludgy heavy edge that makes it a viable comparison. \"I could sing the blues any way I choose if I wanted, I could turn you around, I could bring you down if I wanted, but it's not my constitution it's not my way of life, you know I'm just a lover for my wife, I could join a race, I could paint a face if I wanted, I could be a queen but it's not my scene 'cuz I've tried it, and it's not my constitution it's not my way of life, you know I'm just a lover for my wife, hey yeah!\"\n\n\"Cowboy\" opens with some slide and more Harrison vocals. This is a playful western tune. \"Hey cowboy I dig your blues, you must have had a heavy day, hey cowboy I dig your shoes, I know they're walking heavenly ways\". I love the whole song, but especially this part- \"Now I know you well enough to say \"Yeah!\", yeah yeah to say \"Yeah!\", hey soldier it's up to you, to see you make it home today\". The way the singer stretches out the \"yeeeeeah yeeeeeeah's is awesome!\n\nThere's a bonus track. It's called \"Do You Mind\". I don't mind no! The band could whip up a bunch of bonus tracks and I wouldn't mind. It's a somber ballad in the same style as Ian Hunter of Mott the Hoople fame. The kind of honest balladry that affects you right away. Great tune. \"Do you mind if I call you my friend? Just to say that our love will not end? Do you mind? Do you worry sometimes? Do you find that you hurry sometimes? Do you mind when I don't understand? All the problems that come with your hand? Do you mind? Do you worry sometimes? Do you find that you hurry sometimes?\" I have a feeling I would have been good friends with these band members had I known them. I can see kindness all over their faces. I sense a certain degree of kindness in their vocals.\n\nOverall, the only negative is \"The Winner\". Get that clunker outta here! Oh and the album cover. A carrot and a camel. Oh wait that animal is supposed to be... wonder if he like carrots? Do not google the name of the album plus carrots, hehe. Just don't! What a mistake I made. Recommended album.","Product: 1994 reissue on Repertoire of their U.K. top 30 1974album for MCA. Seven tracks, including 'Crash Course InBrain Surgery', 'Zoom Club' and the title cut.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: in for a joyous time\n\nReview: In for the Kill is when Budgie was playing muddier/heavier hard rock compared to the lighter more accessible stuff they'd do on If I Were Brittania I'd Waive the Rules.\n\nThe title song opens this album with a really memorable rhythm, but the vocals will not be everyone's tastes. \"You've got a reason to listen to me, I am a messenger carrying the key\". Listen to this song on headphones and I bet you'll love it. It's like listening to Black Sabbath almost. The tempo changes in a bluesy direction a couple minutes later, but it's still really impressive in my view. Great guitar solo in the middle. \"Be a man or be a boy, or be what you will be\" is a funny line. Then the original verse melody and tempo returns. Good song overall. \"Crash Course In Brain Surgery\" is famous for more recent heavy metal bands having covered it. The chugging guitar riff is the main thing that stands out about the song. The lead singer's vocals are really good too but for some reason I'm not as big a fan of it as others are. This song is sort of like \"Breadfan's\" baby brother... shorter and heavier brother!\n\n\"Wondering What Everyone Knows\" is an eerie acoustic tune. Reminds me of early Rush because of the vocals. The tone of this song makes simple tasks like going uptown seem like a trip through the mind! A more psychedelic tune for certain. The chorus repeats a bit much but it's still an awesome song overall. Oddly it has a bit of a Crosby, Stills & Nash vibe kicking, specifically reminding me of \"Just a Song Before I Go\". Am I crazy? \"Darkness in white, you can feel through the light of the darkest cloud and touch my hand\" is a memorable lyric. \"Zoom Club\" opens with a groovy guitar riff and handclaps before speeding up. The chorus is awesome and really vibrant, and the drumming is really good too. The song settles into an okay guitar riff in the middle but the following guitar jam is absolutely the better part. Really good stuff going on there! This is what I mean- when you throw in just a little bit of blues with hard rock, the results are usually terrific. This jam has a way of being on the relentless side, so make sure you're mentally ready for it!\n\n\"Hammer & Tongs\" has some mysterious ambience in the intro. Reminds me of a tricky walk through a graveyard! What the! The guitar riff sounds extremely similar to the one in the beginning of Black Sabbath's \"You Won't Change Me\". That's awesome! Sabbath were probably listening to these guys. This is an exceptionally heavy blues song with sludgy guitars. Even the lead singers vocal range gets trippy. I feel totally absorbed into this. \"Womaaaan, I can love you, woman think you know I wish I was your daddy!\" sounds really cool believe me. When things slow down the band still plays some bluesy licks which is cool, and the drumming's really great here as well. Then it gets downright unusual when the pace changes. It sort of morphs into a straight up blues tune to end it. Wow, what a song! I wish that blues part at the end had lasted a couple minutes longer. Obviously the band was showing they can play blues with the best of 'em.\n\n\"Running From My Soul\" is more twisted blues. The bouncy rhythm, chaotic drumming, somewhat sloppy but really interesting guitar soloing... what a tune! The vocals are sort of standard blues but otherwise a great song. \"Living On Your Own\" has a guitar riff in the beginning that reminds me of another song but I can't think of it. I'm thinking Hawkwind, Bachman Turner Overdrive or Ted Nugent. Anyway the vocal melody is pretty normal but memorable. The lead singer doesn't do anything outrageous here. Listen to that heavy guitar riff in the middle! It doesn't last long before shifting into a really gentle electric guitar line that reminds me of soaring as high as one can. Seriously it has that feel to it you know? I'm sure Jimi Hendrix wrote many guitar lines the same way but something about the way it's done here is really beautiful. The thrashing of cymbals and drums makes me think of Nugent's \"Stranglehold\", as well as the guitar lines after... along with early Jeff Beck. Yes absolutely Jeff Beck or Yardbirds. Oh who cares! I'm sitting here overanalyzing this stuff. Just listen to the notes B.E Jackson! Anyway the vocal melody and opening guitar riff returns to finish the song off.\n\nOverall, great album. Highly recommended.","Product: Import reissue of 1975 album. Repertoire.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: we're going sailing down memory lane!\n\nReview: What a different album for Curved Air! I guess things gotta change eventually- just in this case sooner rather than later.\n\n\"Midnight Wire\" starts off with normal piano playing. Actually it's disappointing piano playing! This band was just releasing classical music and this sounds like some kind of normal American gospel/lounge thing. The vocal melody sounds unfinished and forced too. The pace picks up dramatically during the \"Who's that callin' from the midnight choir?\" Who's that fallin' from the midnight wire? Who's crawlin' from the burned out fire? Oh save my soul from the midnight wire!\" part, but it fails to leave much of an impression. Yeah there's tension within the band! I can feel it! I still like the chorus because it's melodic but it's *very noticeably* weaker than the stuff the band was releasing on the first four albums. The softer verse melody is better I think.\n\nAt least the guitar solo is really heavy and interesting, and the piano almost tries to recapture the bands glory period but isn't able to. What's up with Sonja's singing? She's singing almost like someone who doesn't care about laying down a proper melody or is drunk. \"Oh what do you know of drownin' off the midnight wire? I don't know what came over me, I came across burned desire, fidgetin' through madness spilled the guilt and ditched the blame, dyin' while I'm livin', ritual dyin' on the stage\". \"Alone and riddled with need I feel the gaze of crowded shooting skies whilst smoothing the place, to soothe my fire safe across the midnight wire, oh alone the storms of night play havoc with my soul\". Yeah the verse melody is really terrific.\n\n\"Orange Street Blues\" opens with more slide guitar, another indication of the good ol' American way! This vocal melody is really sloppy and unnecessarily loud in the beginning before shifting into a mellow part. The rhythm picks up a little during the \"Tie up your blues with a prayer, could be you're better off there, what you gotta give looking pretty poor, running like a sieve and leaking on the floor, you've bent and blown all the things that you got, you're gotta bring me down gotta help me up, let me in oh baby, help me out\". These guys apparently wanted to be an ordinary hard rock American band because this sure sounds like it. The slide is pretty good the \"Let me in oh baby help me out, let in help me out let me in\" part can uh... yeah. Can be interpreted two ways! *gets mind out of gutter* The song gets mellow again before picking up (the whole cycle repeats again). At least the guitar solo at the end rocks pretty convincingly. \"Can I down the pills for you baby, soak up your ills for you maybe, I know you're feelin' so poor but man you're in for the cure, go down Orange Street Mission, they bandage wounds for salvation\".\n\nSpeaking of gutter material, check out \"Woman on a One Night Stand\". The vocal style is pretty good because it reminds me of the way Sonja sang on \"Easy\" from Air Cut (you know, sort of lounge-y and the polar opposite of prog rock, but also taking advantage of her vocal range). I admit I really enjoy the way Sonja sings the line \"Honey take me for what I am, I'm a woman on a one night stand, honey pay no mind to who I am, oh I can hear the others talking saying I'm easy prey, that's okay babe it's just my way, make no mistake sweet thing I hate to let you go\". At least the lyrics are clean... sort of! Sonja sounds like she's desperate for a man. Well scoot on over my way sweetie (just kidding Sonja- I'm not like that I swear!) Bluesy slide guitar in the middle, and the way it drifts into a slower pace with piano is pretty unique.\n\n\"I'm laying my eyes over you, sweet man I'm breathin' so loving hard on you, and I've got the quivers for you mister, oh oh oh I hold myself quite together with you struttin' your stuff around, makes me feel like a two-bit girl, can't get my fill of you with me so poor, for the thrill of you, stop, I want more\". \"And don't think I'll cry for you honey after tonight when goodbyes are due there's no hands and knees for me mister, it's only a game we're playing all for free, so come on and take me, let's have some fun with it, you're playing for keeps that gives me the creeps, you should lay your lovin' on the line, I want more\".\n\n\"Day Breaks My Heart\" is fantastic! The mood is so 70's-ish, like a rainy day stuck inside your bedroom with nothing to do so you think of that time you went fishing with your parents as a kid and saw something creepy coming out of the woods... wait what? *ahem*. Getting too deep! The melody drifts into more lounge territory during the line \"Day breaks my heart takes you away, wake and we part, break for the day, oh you take my heart when can you stay? Day breaks my heart takes you away\". It's still pretty good, but the verse melody, and the fishing trip I mention above that held precious mysterious memories... yeah! That's the intense stuff! \"Come to me at twilight, love me in the quiet of the day that's dying, madness holds me waiting, hoping the time will be taken across the silence eerie darkness calls the sun down, love light fills the gloom\". \"Leave me in the shadows haunted by the low phantoms drenched in darkness, love a veil of stardust, liftin' the center the twilight, rushes through the quiet, shades have grown higher lovin' through the night\". Even the guitar solo sounds haunting. What key is this song written in! So many songs use it and it continues to give me weird vibes. Perhaps the lounge part repeats one too many times. Twice is enough Sonja!\n\nOh finally! The violin is back in town folks! \"The Fool\" has some violin... but! It goes away so a funky rhythm can come in. The opening line is humorous. \"The butterfly dances overhead and the dark lights up my lips, I'm steppin' right off the edge, can you take on the fool? Trancin' around a field of joy, I change from girl to boy, can you deliver fun from cruel? Could you laugh at truth with a fool? Can you deliver fun from cruel? Could you laugh at truth with a fool?\" Okay it doesn't look funny NOW but the way it's sung gives me a silly feeling. \"I got no name and I got no race and I got no mind to tie down with you, I'd give you all my sidekick flowers but you can't have me, no I am the fool\" is a lazy chorus that speeds by. Come on Curved Air! Try harder than this.\n\n\"You trust me too strong to refuse, sweet fool what's to lose? You could begin at the end if you choose, the mad holds hands with the fool, sunlight fills everywhere as we step right off the edge, could you wear the world as your jewel or could you shine it on as a fool? Could you wear the world as your jewel or could you shine it on as a fool? You want teasin' and you want freedom and you want pleasin' to be taught in school, you need playthings and everyday things but you can't have me no I am the fool\". Whatever complaints I have about this album (unfinished vocals and weaker songwriting to name the two big ones) there's always something appealing to make up for it. In this case a GREAT violin solo, and a funky rhythm. Oh wow, the violin suddenly turns soft as the song goes on! What a great transition. Anyway yeah, every time I want to criticize this album the band always makes up for it in some way. That's the trend here!\n\n\"Dance of Love\" is quite lovely. What I'm about to say is NOT a criticism! Some of Sonja's high notes remind me of some of Yoko Ono's more pleasant moments *gets hit in the eye by a rotten tomato*. Hey now! At least hit me with ripe tomatoes. :) The lyrics mention drifting and dreaming for a good reason- this song *does* drift very prettily. \"Do the dance, the dance of love, dance of love, do the dance, the dance of love, dance with me\". Perhaps this band was listening to the Orleans \"Dance With Me\" and wanted to give it more arrangements in their attempt to beef up an otherwise quiet song and mimic an Orleans classic! The violin and guitar solo is just enough to carry the lightweight flow so nicely.\n\n\"Take me from this crowded room, give me room to hold you close, hold so close to come unfold take my body with your soul, lose yourself inside my arms, two as one can steal the stars, torn and free beyond control, take my body with your soul, touching deep we feel the world reaching deep inside ourselves, cuttin' loose from roots of home, scattered winds the winds of change, weightlessly we drift in sleep, drift in circles of our dreams, dreams of love beyond control, take my body with your soul\". Some would probably hate these lyrics and call them banal, but I don't mind too much since the song still captures the feeling of drifting high!\n\n\"Pipe of Dreams\" (a drug reference?) is really cool! The violin perfectly capturing the feeling of being on a ship and sailing across the ocean waves at night. Bet you'll catch more fish then too! They say you catch more fish at night. Actually the way this song is, don't be surprised to see fish jumping clean out of the water and over your boat in slow motion as you gaze and wonder. So soothing! The drumming moves along at just the right speed too- another fine feature of this instrumental.\n\nYou know what guys? I can't believe it but I think Curved Air is going to drag another 5 stars out of me yet again! I was so hesitant to give it 5 stars but there's just something really unique about the whole thing. The band ditched their progressive classical tendencies and went with normal songwriting, but there's just something cool about the way these songs are written. I don't know if it's Sonja's voice, the slide guitar, the violin used in a softer way, the spontaneous nature of the music but there's *something* awesome going on here!","Product: CURVED AIR Second Album CD\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: the second time's the charm\n\nReview: Curved Air's second album has a boring title- Second Album! That's the title! Oh well, haha. At least the quality of the music is really good. Oh and the album cover... this is a weird thing to mention but you see how the cover shows a portion of a rainbow on the bottom left? Imagine if that same rainbow image appeared on the top left- it would resemble the kind of aura migraines I get a few times a year! Not very nice headaches either, but thankfully they're getting better as I get older. Some album covers DO show the rainbow image in the top left to add to the accuracy of these annoying headaches! When I first started to get these headaches I thought I was going blind seriously, or worse. Really creepy stuff. The internet revealed they're fairly common with no long term side effects. Just an hour of nonsense a few times a year.\n\n\"Young Mother\" opens with a dramatic carnival-like chugging rhythm and nifty drumming and keyboards. Dreamy vocals from Sonja Kristina. \"Why must I? Nothing means anything now, I can't believe in something unreal, don't interfere with my mind, try to be kind, it's down to how much faith (you fake?) in the end, you're meant to choose (trust?) to find a true friend, and don't plead with me, I'm not bound to plead (bleed?) with you, I can't insist that you understand, I've tried so hard you don't know, try to be kind\". Messy lyrics. The violin isn't as frequent this time around, but I notice an improvement with the vocal melody. The violin is used really well to enhance the final line of the verse melody, and does a nice job jamming along during the hypnotic middle part. The tempo picks halfway through the jam, and in comes a synth or keyboard solo that gradually settles into a steady melody as it goes along. Just the timing of this solo is enjoyable. For some reason this song has an adventurous/devastating vibe that reminds me of the German band Nektar.\n\nAh \"Back Street Luv\". A classic! This is the song I immediately think of when the band Curved Air comes to mind. I'm not sure the meaning behind the lyrics, but it always reminded me of a single mother struggling to take care of her kids in the rough city with the lyric \"Will she make it? Can she take it? Like to try love, such a shy love\". I think of a mother courageously taking on more responsibility than she can handle just to raise/support her kids. I guess I'm weird like that! Anyway believe it or not the drumming and cymbal work is the thing that floors me the most about this song. It's *really* good. Almost Carl Palmer-ish at times. Actually every instrument is all over the place in a rather remarkably enjoyable way. Also notable is the solid vocal melody. Enough emotional shifts in the melody alone to stand out such as the line \"Where's your smile today? Did she let you cry? Tryyyyy to see she diiiiidn't mean to maaaake you feel so sad\". LOVE the way Sonja sings this part and how it's a splendid build-up of emotions! Seriously I sense an improvement with the vocal melodies on this album compared to the bands first album. \"Summer's comin', time to dream the day away and she's so sunny is the girl you met today\". Wow, the way Sonja sings this song in a jazzy way by emphasizing certain words is really cool, and the lyrics match the 70's so amazingly!\n\n\"Jumbo\" opens with the loveliest orchestration you can imagine. Really uplifting and theatrical but not in a corny exaggerated kind of way, but rather given a serene/enchanted touch. In other words, relax, this is no Barbra Streisand! If it was I wouldn't be defending it so much! This melody sort of reminds me of Jethro Tull's style but slowed down a lot more. The orchestration is *so* good! Something about this song is creepy too. Creepy in the same way as Rick Wakeman's Journey to the Center of the Earth album. Must be the way rock bands would utilize orchestration back in the 70's that unintentionally created a layer of creepiness! My hair is tingling! \"I flew home through the night so I'd be home for the dawn, down through the clouds the land beneath all covered in green, fly me on my way home, I've been away for so long, speed me on my way home, I've missed you for so long, sat back watching the film, don't ask me what it was called, for all my thoughts were far away with people I knew, they said things over there might be a little bit strange, but all I found the same but more with people like me\"\n\nIf you're looking for a steady foot stomp rocker, check into \"You Know\". The entire opening line is great (\"You cannot be the same as me girl, you know, you will find it works that way, you will find it works that way, there is no saying what is right, wrong you know, but you don't like getting hurt, but you don't like getting hurt, \"Why don't you stand right by my side?\" said the man, \"But don't look back, back at me, but don't look back, back at me, protect yourself from all things bad\" said the man, \"Don't include me as being one, don't include me as being one, just as much as is good, I would like if you would, hey you know it's all right, hey you know it's all right\") and whoa! I didn't realize Carlos Santana contributed to this song! Nah he doesn't (darn too bad!) but that guitar line after the first line sure sounds like his style. The song gets kind of lazy during the \"Hey you know it's all right\" part but the verse melody is pure awesomesauce baby. \"But you don't like getting hurt\". That's right I don't like that at all (for me and I'm sure for most folks, physically getting hurt is much worse!) The song ends with more of that great guitar playing.\n\n\"Puppets\" is a strangely written song. The way it begins is probably why I feel it's so strange. The actual melody is unique too (\"Puppets are painting their toes, making the most out of teas and toast, puppets are simple to find strung up in glove or the kind you wind\"). \"See the marionettes making puppet plans, see he's pulling the strings, see the puppet dance\" is a dreamy change of pace. I like how there's not a whole lot of piano and instead the song relies on a few notes that almost could be described as looping, but what's there works really well in creating a mood. This song actually reminds me of an old dingy antique or puppet shop with poor lighting, haha. Sonja does a wonderful job singing this original idea for a song. The mellotron gives it a King Crimson vibe. Yeah In the Wake of Poseidon era Crimson. Of course I'd draw that comparison! Love the way the mellotron and piano jams at the end. More quality lyrics- \"Plastic and paper and paints, puppets are pretty they dress so quaint, puppets who care carry on, dancing the dance that they danced too long\" and also enjoyable is the line \"Puppets with pride in their eyes, practice the dance till it's time to start, puppets it's time to begin, daylight is coming the lights grow dim\".\n\n\"Everdance\" starts out with a high pitched squeal before a rushed vocal melody comes in. \"One day walking down the dusty street, two friends travelers with weary feet, brother let us leave the road a while, time now drink and dance away the miles, see what welcome yonder tavern smiles\". Violins follow during the line \"Come with me and now let us drink together, stay with me I feel like I could dance forever\" and the violin riff afterwards is really good to. Love the speedy bass work in the background. Whatever instrument that is jamming before the verse returns one last night captures the feeling of returning to a childhood in some unusual way, haha. Gotta be synths but it could be some kind of distorted guitar effect. This song is telling a creepy story. \"Brother do not tarry come away, this house cursed is for those who stay, things are not what they appear to be, if now you desire it, look and see, fortune ruins those who turn the key\" and the line \"Ten years now have passed that fateful day, one friend long since went his weary way, one friend what task fortune's hand has set, dry bones sightless still he dances yet, pounding feet from which no blood is let\". Very British and interesting lyrics.\n\n\"Bright Summer's Day '68\" is another oddball approach to a twisted theatrical experiment. \"On a bright summer's day in the middle of May with the sun shining down, my baby left town my brother broke jail, then my daddy shot mom, so I've written this song, just to tell all you folks out there cracking them jokes how I felt all along\". Not sure if Sonja's speaking from a personal experience, but the lyrics remind me of Joni Mitchell a little. Sonja gets REALLY strange during the part \"Oh you came along, oh you've heard my song, oh you've got me wrong (you never told me it'd be like this!), oh you came along oh you found this song, oh you've got me wrong (I can't stop thinking about that bright summers day!) For some reason I can picture Queen writing a song like this. But then again the more I think about it, the more I have trouble picturing Freddie Mercury actually singing along to it. Hmmm, might wanna rethink that one! Nice guitar solo that fades at the end.\n\nOh boy! Here comes the doozy of a song to close the album. \"Piece of Mind\" is over 12 minutes of highly unusual music. It begins with synths, drums and violins that capture remarkably well what it's like to walk down a hallway of a haunted mansion late at night with spiderwebs on the corner of the ceiling and creeky floorboards with every step. Sonja's gentle yet high pitched vocals send shivers through my body as well. \"Now turning again turning away from the light, doors open then shut, corridor footsteps at night, wake up in the bed with the screens, see faces that smile as you dream, see things come to call as they crawl on the wall, and you know it's the end, to them it means nothing, to them it means nothing, to them it means nothing to them at all\". Soon a piano changes the pace during the line \"Seems we're on two different wavelengths, misinterpreting you realize, what this age of insanity lack of humanity brings, you know I couldn't even tell you my name\" as Sonja gets a little crazy singing this part. The violins are quite chilling here!\n\nA few minutes in (yes I'm still discussing \"Piece of Mind\") the piano solo is now positively *chilling*. Really paints a picture of being in Dracula's library and having books fly off shelves while ghostly husbands and wives dance with each other around the room (yeah I've been on a Castlevania video game kick lately- I can totally picture a song like this being used in a library level!) Sounds like a harpsichord comes in a moment later but it's brief before Sonja's vocal melody makes a return. The violin/piano jam afterwards is fantastic. Really tension-building stuff. Whatever is motivating the tension exactly, and whatever the lyrics are about, I wouldn't be able to tell you. I never can! All I know is that the piano afterwards has a STRONG enchanted feeling associated with it just before the line \"The river sweats oil and tar, the barges drift with the turning tide, red sails wide to leeward swing on the heavy spar, the barges wash drifting logs, down Greenwich reach past the Isle of Dogs\" .\n\nHere's what makes this song so unusual- you hear the pleasantly sung line \"Let your hopes begin to falter, see your dreams begin to fade\" but then Sonja speed sings through the next line (\"This age of enlightenment, 20th century man, you know he'll never ever let you go back, maybe one day we'll be happy, living life the way we see it through our visions of fantasy, Harold in Italy you know I think I'll just go back to my dreams\". Yeah me too! It's better when we dream! Wow the following instrumental jam. So breathtaking! So reminiscent of a country stroll with beauty shining down all around. That's the best way I can describe the keyboard solo (that almost sound like bagpipes strangely enough, but then again this might be more synth work and probably is). The synth jam at the end is pure cloud sailing prettiness. \"Faces watching through the darkness seems like nothing can dispel my fears of endless rejection by beings ethereal, you know it's just about as bad as it can, now I feel a little better, seems the walk has done me good you know, I feel I'm beginning to see the existence of... you know I never even found out quite what!\" Love that final line I typed, haha.\n\nOkay Curved Air really delivered a masterpiece with Second Album! The instrumental jams are colorful due to a ton of variety (though the synths are more frequent than the other instruments throughout Second Album- be warned of that), and the vocal melodies are better this time around. Highly recommended! Oh and look at this- the US album cover shows clouds. How fitting! Usually I prefer British album covers over US ones, but I think in this case with the clouds being so appropriate matching the lyrical imagery of the music, you need to find yourself the US cover.","Product: Classic Reissue of this Very Controversial CD. the Original 2lp Set is Now on a Single CD.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: very different from previous Amon Duul albums\n\nReview: Very different indeed. Apparently this is Amon Duul's example of a rock opera, which is *definitely* not anything like the Who's/Pete Townshend's version of the same idea.\n\nThis is more like... highly energetic pop/rock tunes with frantic guitar soloing (among other musical instruments) making frequent appearances.\n\nNot that this is a BAD thing or anything- it's a *great* thing, in fact. You just can't help but wonder if Amon Duul II knew their moment in the spotlight was running out by this point, which would certainly explain the sudden and drastic change in sound and style.\n\nI can't believe this is the same band that created Yeti and Wolf City. It certainly doesn't SOUND like them. Made in Germany actually sounds like the glam rockers Sweet and Slade, and the guitar solos remind me of either Jefferson Airplane or Tommy Bolin (from Deep Purple and the James Gang).\n\n\"Wilhelm Wilhelm\" has REALLY good Jefferson Airplane-like guitar soloing taking place over... a really weird (and possibly German) vocal melody, haha. It's different (and fascinating) let's put it that way. The entire first half of \"La Krautoma\" is basically a guitar riff repeating the same melody. After that, the song turns into a noisy and messy jam-fest. The first half is easily better!\n\n\"Loosey Girls\" has saxophone playing that seriously reminds me of Supertramp's more commercial years, but contains a really good vocal melody as well. The near-brilliant guitar playing makes a splendid appearance, and floors me once again. THAT guitar style is exactly what made the 70's so darn good.\n\n\"Blue Grotto\" is a Maria Muldaur impression, haha. Probably not, but it sure sounds like her. Decent enough.\n\nThe album turns goofy in a mid 70's Kinks kind of way (for example, something from the Kinks Soap Opera album) when a song like \"Ludwig\" comes into play.\n\nA really good album, but to be totally honest it sure doesn't sound like a rock opera to me. Plus I wouldn't compare this album to other Amon Duul II albums or you might not like it then.","Product: Digi-Pak Reissue of their '69 Classic. featuring Matthew Fisher, Gary Brooker, - Including Bonus Track - Long Gone Geek. Tracklising: a Salty Dog, the Milk of Human Kinderness, Too Much Between Us.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: easiest 5-star rating ever\n\nReview: I was supposed to review this magnificent album a long time ago (like 6 years ago) but I completely to do so! Oh I'm such an idiot. Make that a forgettable idiot. Anyway Procol Harum's A Salty Dog is perhaps one of the finest British pop albums ever. This is probably Procol Harum's best album but you know, I've heard Grand Hotel so much that I might prefer that one. It's too close to pick. Of course Exotic Birds & Fruit, Broken Barricades and Shine on Brightly might surpass it nowadays. It's just too close to call!\n\nAnyway what this album does is capture the ultimate open sea experience. There will never be another album that better captures the feeling of sailing through miles and miles of endless ocean water. Okay maybe there will be- let's not be close-minded now! But for now I haven't heard it.\n\nThe title song begins this extraordinary experience. It's a very somber and moody tune that will haunt your memories! Haunt them forever! Muh ha ha! Actually this song perfectly captures the depressing feeling of drifting the ocean waters more accurately than any other song I know of. Ever been lost to sea? If so, this song was on your mind! \"The Milk of Human Kindness\" is probably my favorite song here. The tone dramatically improves into a happier one with memorable vocal melodies and lyrics such as \"Not content with my mistake you behaved just like a snake and left me for a wasp without a sting\" and the sudden mood-shifting optimistic shift \"Tell all my friends back home that I did it on my home and to their well-worn cares they should cling\". I sing that second one a lot! Like at least 50 times a year!\n\n\"Too Much Between Us\" is downright *sad* due to the very first part of the melody- \"There's you you're sleeping over there, whilst me I'm sitting here\". WOW! You'll never believe how effectively upset I get when listening to this song. Whoever's singing vocals here does a REALLY good job! \"Boredom\" makes me happy all because of the playful way the singer sings \"All in all, it's all the same, but call me if there's any change\". You have NO idea how awesome this particular melody is! The conga drums just further illustrates this songs awesomeness. Reminds me of arriving to a jungle somewhere on a deserted island and seeing coconut trees and monkeys everywhere.\n\n\"Pilgrim's Progress\" is a VERY beautiful lullaby-type song with the trademark keyboard sound that the band excels at so well. \"I sat me down to write a simple story which maybe in the end became a song\". And the final minute when the instrumental part comes in... BEST PART OF THE ALBUM! So much unbelievable sadness occurs here with the handclaps and the \"Whoooa ooooh ooh\" in the background. \"Crucifiction Lane\" has a memorable vocal melody with a style similar to uh, REM's \"Everybody Hurts\" and Elvis Presley's \"Can't Help Falling In Love With You\". Alright this is driving me crazy- what do you describe these type of songs? What type of music is this called? It's just not good enough for me to say it resembles a blues ballad. There's more to it than that. The guitar jam at the end courtesy of Robin Trower is awesome! More of this guitar playing can be found on Robin's early solo albums. Not that I need to tell anyone that- I believe Robin Trower's solo career is more popular than this album (at least, Bridge of Sigh is enormously popular).\n\n\"The Devil Came From Kansas\" is foot-stompingly AWESOME! The vocal melody soars and drifts fantastically to amazing heights. In fact I find the vocal melody so appealing it just might be the grandest statement on the album. Throw in Trower on guitar during a terrific solo and that's pretty much the icing on the cake baby! \"All This and More\" is a great choice of words to hype a contestants excitement for the bonus round. Thank goodness this song isn't about contestants winning money on some game show! Wow I love the summertime. I can't wait for it! Okay about the song- the chorus totally reminds me of the one from \"Homburg\" and some of the guitar playing and vocal mannerisms afterwards reminds me of the stuff from \"Shine On Brightly\" but I'm not calling this a ripoff or anything. More like two excellent songs now combine to create yet *another* excellent Procol Harum song!\n\nOh yeah! Swirling piano stuff playing in the intro of \"Wreck of the Hesperus\" (heh, almost hilariously typed the wrong word there!) That's a really cool and probably very simple effect (and I should know about simplicity- I played piano for a few years when I was younger). The dramatic drum fills are amazingly effective. The orchestration adds to the victorious atmosphere the song's going for (and succeeding in fine order!) Laaaaand *insert 2-letter word that amazon disagrees with here* Mr. abominable snowman!!\" This is the song that plays when you've been on a broken down ship and drifting for days. We've arrived to the end of our voyage with \"Juicy John Pink\". It's the shortest song here. Short and sweet as they say. It's somewhat forgettable I suppose. Well not really because late 60's blues is a good thing but you get the idea- it doesn't fit in with the stranded in the ocean theme that dominates most of the material here.\n\nYou know you have to pick up this album right? Yes you know it so just *do* it!","Product: Import reissue of 1976 album includes one bonus track, 'Baby Please Don't Go'. Repertoire.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: the air's getting thick\n\nReview: Before listening to Airborne I'm going to guess this album will be a more straight rock album given the bands decline. It just seems inevitable that Curved Air wouldn't be able to continue making albums with the same high levl of technical prowess found on Air Conditioning or Phantasmagoria, and looking at the song titles, the entire side one has short songs by progressive rock standards. Let's see!\n\n\"Moonshine\" opens with eerie outerspace sounds before a really heavy guitar riff comes in, and a guitar solo soon follows. The bass work sort of reminds me of Hall & Oates \"She's Gone\" but it's brief. Sonja Kristina sings a sweeping elegant melody. She's singing more theatrically than usual. The melody's kind of slow but solid enough. A really funky guitar solo comes in after. Really awesome! \"Floating in space, drifting through the stars, waiting and waiting for you to appear, gracing the sun, playing in the moonshine would be a pleasure if you were here too, come up and join me, come up and see me, leave all behind you, start something new, oooh\".\n\nLet's talk about my favorite part. \"There will be good times, like the time before, when the earth was new and all was me and you\" is a VERY uplifting and familiar melody. Pretty sure I heard this song before, or perhaps another Curved Air song resembles this part. I actually wonder if Curved Air borrowed this melody from a song they released prior. The way Sonja sings \"We'll fly together from Jupiter to Mars, return old friends as we pass through the stars, so much to see so much to do, nothing to lose just me and you, oooh\" sounds really dreamy. The violin sounds like it's aching afterwards, and a remarkable cool effect with the synths creating a steamy feel in the background.\n\nWhoa! I LOVE the subtle funky groove that comes in after this. The impresssive drumming, and the violin riff gives the song a jazz/fusion vibe which is beyond amazing... but the TRULY amazing part is when the violin jams. Now I'm hooked! Ah, and the guitar solo. This is why prog rock is so amazing! Can you feel the variety! Okay forget the opening paragraph I wrote! The awesome \"There will be good times, like the times before, when the earth was new and all was me and you\" repeats again, and it's just as uplifting as ever. AWESOME song!\n\n\"Dazed\" sounds really dramatic and dreamy. \"Well here I got again, get ready to start the machine and remove all trace of blue with a smile as I leave the dressing room\". Love how it picks up for the next line ( \"Dazed by the lights of fame, go on and begin my reign\"). You know I almost detect a Cyndi Lauper style in Sonja's singing voice, or am I crazy? I mean when I think of Cyndi Lauper I think of someone with an original voice, so it's strange someone before Cyndi sort of resembles her. I'm probably overthinking this one though.\n\nAnyway the melody is dreamy and satisfying, and the guitar solo is another highlight. \"Well now we're all alone, entertaining each other this way, I'll sing you a new love song while you sew me a veil of nothing wrong\" and \"And now it's time to go, get ready to pack the machine, and when I'm away from here all that's left are empty cans of beer\" are both excellent melodies. Will you remember me? I know I'll remember you\" is sung *very* beautifully. The ending reminds me of Abba (the part \"Give it all, give it all to you, and I'll give even more, even more to you\"). Either way I LOVE it!\n\n\"A Touch of Tequila\" has a solid happy vocal melody. The verse melody is pretty awesome. Oooo, lying in the sun getting down getting brown, and I'm loving you, pictures in the sky, shadows dance eagles cry, and I'm loving you, honeysuckle haste, even sands easy breeze, and I'm loving you, my oh my it's summertime, never caught the stones, silver sea shining foam, and I'm loving you, always melt away, lazy waves dripping days, and I'm loving you, lying in the sun, getting down getting brown, and I'm loving you\". This is an example of a tightly written song. Is tightly even a word? It is now, lol. Love the \"Ooooh ooh ooh\" and the lines \"Love to be in love in summertime, touch of tequila sunshine\" is a funnily sung part of the tune, and feels sillier when the synths come in.\n\n\"Juno\" makes instantly happy with a fast violin part. That's how you win me over! Storyteller lyrics while maintaining the speedy violin part and fast rhythm work. \"Juno was a star, everyone loved how he sang, they would follow him like the pied piper of Hamlin, with a song he'd make them cry, then he'd take them, make them laugh, when he sang it felt like magic, he was the king of them all, some who heard him sing, thought he was touched by the devil, Juno didn't care, he'd seen this before, they would still be there to see him, watching every move he made them, loving every note he sang them, he was the king of them all\". Love the chorus (\"Juno what's your secret? Are you human? Juno how'd you do it? Is it magic?\") Hey what a cool vibraphone and violin solo at the end!\n\n\"Kids to Blame\" (kids these days!) is a bit of a letdown. A typical midtempo rocker. \"What's that fussing little Lane? Aw they hear you've gone insane, calling kids and pushing blame, police got numbers but no name\" and \"Hold it man, it ain't done, he knows who's right and who is wrong, but kids are wrong they ain't got no rights, they get the fulls of being on strong\" Then again Sonja reminds me of early Geddy Lee (perhaps the proof I need that Geddy always sounded a little girl-ish- all due respect!) The chorus at the end is a bit weak to repeat so many times, I think (\"Stop this chain stop this same, kids to blame kids to blame\").\n\n\"Desiree\" is enhanced by the female vocals. The song's between dreamy and rock-ish. The rhythm work is pretty good but this song is very straightforward. I sort of expect Curved Air to be... curvy! By curvy I mean prog rock-ish. This is too normal for them. The guitar solo is okay at least. Love the line about California dreamin' sweeping your love away.\n\nThe actual lyrics are this- \"Desiree in the shadow of the dawn he's turning to you, your restless eyes haunted by the feeling of the night, he turns around to touch you but he knows you've gone, you've been traveling Desiree, since you were grown enough not to cry, you've been traveling Desire,e since you were grown enough not to cry, Desiree you first met your love in southern Italy, the Mediterranean winds have blown your love away, you're flying off to summer but you know he's gone, Desiree, on sunset cliffs you watched the end of yesterday, the Californian dream has swept your love away, you're trying to remember but you know he's gone\". Lyrics must be about a relationship that never worked out. I can picture a woman taking a vacation, falling in love with a man... but they lose contact and he can't be found so the woman becomes distraught.\n\n\"Heaven (Never Seemed So Far Away)\" is semi uplifting but mostly flat. It's a nice rocker, but I have to question some of the vocals such as the \"For a dog snarling in a corner heaven never seemed so far away\" part. Sonja sounds bored singing this line. There's a moment of potential when the violin comes in and a guitar solo follows, but the song soon reverts back to being standard affair. I guess the guitar solo at the end is pretty solid. Oh well the lyrics are \"Good friends and I'm a stranger, so hard to circulate, crowded streets I see no faces, no place for a changing soul, like a ship on an angry ocean, ferris wheel that spins too fast, for a dog snarling in a corner, heaven never seemed so far away, maybe the game is someone else's, too tired to play along, go on your way taking chances, your way is yours alone, for an artist in a hungry basement, or a rain on a lonely man, or a kid fighting with his father heaven never seemed so far away\". I can't put the pieces together and figure out the meaning behind this song. Too many different subjects such as ferris wheels, dogs, family fights, etc.\n\n\"Hot and Bothered\" opens with a splendid funky groove. I love this! I must be in a funk mood today, haha. I seem to be leaning towards funkiness! The vocal melody is unique in that it's theatrical mixed in with that groove. Cool stuff. Sonja sings sexily too! The violin in the middle is SO cool the way it plays along with that tight groove. Too bad it's a short song. \"I don't want no top bunch, love how your lips go, whispering kisses love me come close to me, I'm hot and bothered, just want to hold you tonight, guy in stargaze, start up my lovin', hot and you're lovin' me now, my collector over the top now, straight up it's hands down, straight up the land of love, hot and bothered, hot and bothered, just want to hold you tonight,\n\n\"Broken Lady\" is devastating theatrics slowed down. This means we get to hear the tender side of Sonja's voice... and I love it a lot! The piano, tender vocals, violin played really beautifully... whoa this is quite the moving song. The accordion is used nicely (I think that's an accordion anyway). The melody itself is written well enough to leave me happy. \"Broken lady tears run dry, you lie there easy grown wise through it all, tearing your soul they watched you fall, lady just lately your song has grown sour, who'll weep for the withered rose? Who'll mourn the sparrow? Who'll cry for tomorrow? Broken lady they sing your song, clinging to shadows of lovers long gone, children sing loud children draw near, lady just lately your song has grown sour\".\n\nThe bonus track \"Baby Please Don't Go\"... AH! Stop it everybody! Ted Nugent, Cactus, AC/DC... everyone stop playing this song! Alright I'm kidding... well no, I really am tired of every artist you can imagine performing this song at least once (at least it seems like everyone does- usually live). This version's very short and focuses on the vocal melody... which is probably the way I prefer it, unless someone can turn the guitar jam into something full-fledged and awesome. Curved Air probably could have done it truth to told, but they kept it short. Still a pretty good song, but perhaps AC/DC holds the crown for the best version.\n\nOverall, wow! This is another solid Curved Air album. Just like their prior album it's different from the more early 70's prog rock stuff, but Airborne is still really impressive because the vocal melodies are written well, and the violin is a nice addition in this case. I think this was the bands last 70's album but reunited in the 90's for another one. I'm still amazed Stewart Copeland was the drummer for these guys. It's so weird because I associate him with the reggae pop of the Police (and the Spyro the Dragon soundtrack which is awesome) but a prog rock band? Hard to believe but true! Anyway yeah, besides one track, the rest isn't really progressive rock.","Product: Import reissue of 1971 album. Repertoire.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: I can't believe no one has bothered writing a review for this masterpiece yet\n\nReview: If you've never heard Beggars Opera, well, you're not the only person out there unfamiliar with them! Very little people know about this very talented, creative little band. They are very good at their instruments, and though they sound quite similar to Deep Purple and Uriah Heep, it's in the *songwriting* that counts. \"Time Machine\" is absolutely great how they take a somewhat simple-sounding keyboard riff with three notes and repeat it over and over, and it sounds so great each time. The vocals are very memorable as well, and the choice of instruments is near brilliant. Fantastic choice of instruments in fact, and the production is quite wonderful as well. Can't believe these guys aren't known as being groundbreaking or popular to SOME people. They're reallly a great band. Pick up this album today for a real hidden treasure surprise.","Product: CD reissue of this 1968 album from the sexy and sassy French chanteuse. Comment Te Dire Adieu is a touching and beautiful slice of '60s Continental Pop and bears all the hallmarks of what Francoise Hardy's music is all about: imaginative orchestration, strong melodies, and sexy vocals. This time around, Hardy shows a bit more of her sentimental side and transports the listener to an overcast day in France when the skies are threatening rain and the phone never rings. The album is mostly cover versions including her French interpretations of Leonard Cohen's 'Suzanne,' Phil Ochs' 'There But for Fortune' and Ricky Nelson's 'Lonesome Town.'. EMI.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: another helping of francoise hardy\n\nReview: I feel like listening to a second Francoise Hardy album. This one seems to be a fairly popular album on amazon so I'll review it. Not that I normally settle for popular albums- it's just that when dealing with rare artists, well \"popular\" isn't the right word to use because most people in America have no idea who Francoise Hardy is, so let's just say the more known stuff is easier to find, and Comment Te Dire Adieu is more easily available than most of Francoise's discography. Here we go! Once again a requirement in knowing the French language is necessary to understand the lyrics, which I unfortunately lack. But I strongly think that knowing lyrics is only part of the experience when listening to music so it's not a big deal.\n\n\"Comment te Dire Adieu?\" is poppier and more upbeat than the heavily orchestrated stuff from Francoise's other album I heard (Ma Juenesse Fout Le Camp). There's still orchestration present but it's used differently- more suitable for a musical and less for making me tear up inside. Catchy enough melody but not a favorite. \"Ou Va La Chance\" features the harp and reminds me of a waterfall in a cave. Really peacefully sung tune and a wonderful ballad. Really strange coincidence how the end of certain lines remind me of \"Sunday Morning\" the Velvet Underground tune.\n\n\"L'anamour\" has a nice drum beat and dramatic piano with light touches of orchestration. Pretty good. \"Suzanne\" is a more acoustic/folk tune with haunting vocals. This song reminds me of Simon & Garfunkel's classic period a little bit. Not really a favorite of mine because Francoise is capable of a higher level of beauty but it's good enough. \"Il n'y a Pas D'Amour Heureux\" however, is REALLY beautiful! The piano makes this song downright dreary like a wave of heartbreak changing the entire complexion of the day. The tempo changes really hit me hard and show the compassion of Francoise's voice. Awesome song!\n\n\"La Mesange\" opens with a really sad flute line before turning into a showtune-like song. The orchestration really captures the feeling of being on the big stage and performing a dramatic tear-jerker of a role. At least in the beginning- the song sort of changes in the middle with the drumming and unique tempo changes adding another element to the tune. \"Parlez-Moi De Lui\" opens with a piano line that sort of reminds me of the Monkees \"Daydream Believer\" however there's NO similarities other than that one piano key! The two songs are very different! This is a slow-moving ballad of sorts. Knowing the lyrics would help me better understand what the song is about. This is sort of like \"La Mesange\" with the showtune vibes, however this one is more bombastic and less interesting.\n\n\"A Quoi Ca Sert?\" takes a step away from the previous two songs and settles for another folk tune with strumming acoustic guitar and a decent simplistic vocal melody. These songs have a way of building into something more as they progress which is a wonderful trademark I'm starting to notice with Francoise's music. I love the way the piano comes in near the middle and again near the end with the orchestra. I even like the background vocals... unless it's just studio trickery making Francoise sing over/after her own lines. Either way amazing song that gets better the more I hear it.\n\n\"Il Vaut Mieux Une Petite Maison Dans La Main, Qu'un Grand Chateau Dans Les Nuages\" is another peaceful ballad. Francoise gives it a degree of gentleness due to her fantastic voice and it's quite memorable. \"La Rue Des Coeurs Perdus\" is almost like a cowboy theme due to the piano and slow chugging rhythm. Really cool experiment thanks again to Francoise's voice. \"Etonnez-Moi Benoit\" is... oh! The loud horns are a bit much. This song's going for an early century ragtime experiment I think. Decent vocal melody but not my favorite type of music (well unless we're talking about that one ragtime song from the video game Earthworm Jim- I love that one!) Still a decent song. You see no matter what, it's really hard to dislike a Francoise hardy song. \"La Mer, Les Etoiles Et Le Vent\" finishes this album on a somewhat curious note. It *sounds* curious I mean, and not your typical ballad. An understanding of the lyrics would give me a better idea what Francoise is singing about of course but since that's not possible I'll just say it's beautiful.\n\nOverall Comment Te Dire Adieu is a pretty solid album, though I admit I like Ma Jeunesse Fout Le Camp more. Still the songwriting and Francoise's voice are really strong so I'd totally understand if someone thought this was the better album of the two.","Product: German reissue of 1976 album. Repertoire.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: hmmm, I love it\n\nReview: I'm completely shocked so many people flat out dislike Pyragony. It's true it's not as good as the previous Amon Duul II albums (which were all highly original classics) but you know, the songwriting honestly doesn't feel THAT much worse in comparison to previous work either.\n\n\"Flower of the Orient\" is one of the coolest songs I've ever heard. Think of it as a German version of Blue Oyster Cult (the commercial BOC period starting with Agents of Fortune). I think such a comparison makes perfect sense. However Amon Duul II is actually MORE experimental and bizarre than Blue Oyster Cult ever was.\n\nAt least in the sense that Amon Duul II was willing to experiment with synthesizers and take advantage of the guitar in a way BOC never attempted. Though I'm definitely not putting down BOC in any shape or form of course- they are indeed an incredible rock band themselves.\n\nI'd say Pyragony ranks among one of the more underrated mid 70's albums. Disco may have contributed to some of the less interesting moments from the album, or maybe the band was just running out of steam and it was destined to happen anyway. Either way, I've definitely heard a LOT worse than this. If this is supposed to be a German rock bands downward spiral, hey, I kind of like it!","Product: 1993 reissue of the German prog-rock act's second album, originally released on Spalax in 1971. Four epic tracks clocking in at more than 40 minutes.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: guitar jamming for you\n\nReview: This is my first Guru Guru album. I'm a big fan of early to mid 70's experimental German rock so let's see what Hinten's like!\n\n\"Electric Funk\" opens with some really heavy guitar riffs... and catchy too! Super melodic! Reminds me of classic \"Heart of the Sunrise\"-era Yes a little bit. The drumming's awesome too. It soon turns into a Hendrix-like freak out guitar jam before getting worse when everything suddenly stops an the lead singer decides to talk for a minute. After this thankfully the actual music returns because that was going nowhere. Groovy bass and pretty awesome guitar jamming is what you can expect. It's amazing how melodic this stuff is really. Then it gets quiet and creepy with scary monster vocals and guitar effects reminding me of flying geese. The voice soon muffles similarly to a faded siren in the distance and that's a *really* creepy moment. Guitar soloing and feedback craziness return to close out the jam. Pretty awesome overall.\n\n\"The Meaning of Meaning\" (what a lame song title, haha) opens ominously with creepy vocal effects and guitar bits/bass creating a somber mood. A couple minutes later a blues solo comes in and it's really amazing. Then these Black Sabbath-like guitar riffs take over for a little while. Even the drumming is similar to early Sabbath. Then it gets quiet as the German vocals come in. Gradually the intensity picks up with strange phone dialing guitar effects. A gradual shift afterwards into quietness, soft drumming and vocals. The song sort of loses me around here but at least it starts rocking out again. Okay before closing out, consider me impressed with the guitar playing and drumming in the second half. Perhaps a couple minutes could've been trimmed at the end but otherwise it's good.\n\n\"Bo Diddley\" is a great tribute to the master Chicago blues vocalist. The intro is jazzy with the guitar riff. The guitar solo after is REALLY good. There's two guitars playing here and the second pluckier one soon takes over for a bit. Soon another Sabbath riff comes in and the jazzier riff that occurred in the beginning is back! I love this part the most. Not sure what it is that makes this part so irresistible. Then it jams away like a good early 70's rock album should. Definitely the kind of guitar jam you feel like listening closely to. It basically jams the entire way through. 10 minutes of melody and greatness! Seriously if these jams have anything going for them, it's in the fact they're usually melodic.\n\n\"Space Ship\" is fascinating because the intro sounds WAY ahead of its time. This sounds like gloom/death metal. No kidding. Even the sound effects over the heavy guitar riffs are quite different from what you'd expect from the early 70's. Then all that goes away so a thumping beat can pursue with freaky Hendrix-like feedback/guitar effects. But this is more along the lines of straight freak out instead of any attempt at dazzling listeners with guitar skills. However MAJOR disappointment in that the song soon dissolves into light psychedelic fiddling nonsense for nearly 8 minutes. I gotta lower my rating because of it. Darn!\n\n\"Electric Funk\" and \"Bo Diddley\" are awesome, but the other two tracks are inconsistent. Recommended for those who desire guitar jamming of the early 70's variety. I wouldn't say this stuff is drastically ahead of its time like others think, except of course the intro to \"Space Ship\". Otherwise decent.","Product: Import reissue of the British heavy metal act's 1971 album. Repertoire.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: they got rid of the evil-ness, but kept the good songwriting\n\nReview: Black Widows third album sounds like a *major* change compared to Sacrifice. Now the songwriting is just... well the songwriting is actually *great* but it should be said it's not ANYTHING like what you're probably hoping for.\n\nInstead, these songs are written in a very clean, straight forward kind of way (for the most part) that closely resembles Ten Years After and maybe even the Allman Brothers a little bit.\n\nThe guitar playing is definitely the albums strong point with tasty and melodic guitar solos similar to Wishbone Ash perhaps, and a song like \"Old Man\" really illustrates how you can write a perfectly normal song and elevate it to greater heights just by the guitar soloing alone.\n\nThat's why I love the early 70's in fact- so much detail in every single album, so you always have *something* to enjoy.\n\nAm I hearing things, or do I hear the \"nah nah nah nah\" part from the Beatles \"Hey Jude\" at the very end of \"Old Man?\" It's kind of blurry so I can't make out the words exactly, but it sure sounds like it!\n\nAnother magnificent song is \"Lonely Man\". Beautiful vocal melody, and that flute solo in the middle is REALLY good. The way the flutes and bass compliment each other is highly unusual and just fantastic. I love it.\n\nAlso, the way this album was recorded sounds so *perfect*. It's sparkling clean, similar to Wishbone Ash's Argus album for example, and it's very easy to identify every single note.\n\nI like this album and I believe you will as well. Just don't expect the evil/satanic theme and instead just expect quality, inoffensive songwriting.","Product: Following only nine months after Ian's 1975 masterpiece, 'Between the Lines', 'Aftertones' (1975) was something of a coda to that album, again tastefully produced by Brooks Arthur & featuring songs in the same mood. Although none came up to the standard o\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: after it's all set and done\n\nReview: Aftertones isn't quite as impressive as Stars or especially Between the Lines, but nonetheless highly enjoyable. Perhaps the songwriting not being quite up to par and most of the tunes played slowly are a couple reasons the for the 4 stars instead of 5.\n\n\"Hymn\" features gentle guitar and vocals throughout its entire 4 minutes. Phoebe Snow and Odetta contribute to the vocals. Lyris are depressing about the ending of timing and for personal reasons, I *hate* lyrics that mention ones time ending prematurely. It rubs me the wrong way. I believe we should live forever darn it! Anyway a pretty enough vocal melody but nothing that blows me away. \"Belle of the Blues\" is another slow tune, this time reminding me of city blues with emphasis on Janis vocals. She often soars with her vocal range. Love the \"Go down lightly, go down silently, I'll go down screaming\" line. This song is sung similarly to Carole King but with more passion. \"Give me my tomorrows, you an have my memories\" is a line that actually describes how I feel.\n\n\"Don't Cry Old Man\" is yet another slower than normal song. It's more emotional with slight \"Hush little baby don't you cry\" type of nursery rhyme in the vocal melody. Kind of forgettable. \"I Would Like to Dance\" has an upbeat lounge feel with a REALLY strong verse melody. Best song on the album! Spanish vibes and a verse melody reminding me of Bread's \"Make It With You\" but I think that's coincidental. You know one of those instances where I hear something but nobody else does. We all have those moments! Hearing a famous Bread song is just... let's just say, nobody else does, haha. \"Roses\" is peacefully and delicately sung. The atmosphere reminds me of roses blooming and a woman who occupies a garden in a Midwestern town. Actually the lyrics seem to mention a mysterious girl, so I picture someone who prefers to live alone in peace and approaches people (townspeople or outsiders) with caution.\n\n\"This Must Be Wrong\" is bluesy with tasty piano. Nice diversity on Janis' part- she has the right range for this type of song, and this enhances the melody by quite a bit. \"Boy I Really Tied One On\" is a nice country/laidback song. The verse melody is the country part, the line \"Wake up, I've got news for you, nobody's knocking at your door\" is the chorus. \"Love is Blind\" is a short devastating ballad with depressing piano. A little Linda Ronstandt-like during the \"How long will it take before I can't remember, memories I should forget\" part. Not one of the stronger vocal melodies.\n\nCheck out Between the Lines and Stars first, then decide if you'd like to check out Aftertones. I've read that Aftertones was one of Janis Ian's biggest albums in Japan and other places, but I'm not sure I can understand why. Unless this is a case of a fan following building so much based on Between the Lines, people were anxious to hear her follow up.","Product: Features Five Bonus Tracks.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: it rocks, it rules\n\nReview: John Lawton is one of those singers that probably doesn't stand among the very best of the 70's, however his performance here is pretty darn impressive regardless.\n\nSometimes he screams in such a way that resembles the greatest screamers of the decade such as Ian Gillan from Deep Purple and Ronnie James Dio from Rainbow. In fact, the sound of his voice ALONE sounds like Dio on several occasions throughout the album.\n\nHe also resembles the lead singer from the Scorpions, and this is either a complete coincidence, or the Scorpions (being another German rock band) may have been influenced by this band.\n\nI liked Lawton's work with late 70's Uriah Heep, but this Lucifer Friend's album is probably better. Okay, this is *definitely* better, haha.\n\nYes, Lucifer's Friend is one of the most underrated hard rock albums released during the first half of the 70's. This album does every single thing right- memorable guitar riffs and solos, great vocal work, pretty good songwriting... this is definitely an album for Deep Purple, Scorpions and Black Sabbath fans.\n\n\"Ride the Sky\" opens the album perfectly with a chugging rhythm that reminds me of Iron Maiden a little bit. Who knows, Lucifer's Friend may have been an influence on Iron Maiden just as much as other rock greats such as Wishbone Ash and Deep Purple.\n\n\"Keep Goin\" has a highly memorable verse melody, not to mention the song is a bit freaky as well thanks to Lawton's performance. \"Toxic Shadows\" has a wonderful guitar solo, and the title song is most interesting for the raw vocals. Honestly, I can't find a single weak moment throughout the entire album.\n\n\"Toxic Shadows\" has a wonderful guitar solo, and the title song is most interesting for the raw vocals and the lyrics.\n\nMy favorite song is \"Free Baby\". A GREAT song this one is.\n\nSome of the lyrics sound a bit dated I'll admit, and in a few cases even laughable, but that hardly matters when everything else about this album is completely satisfying.\n\nI'm trying to think of JUST the right band that most resembles Lucifer's Friend. The only one I can come up with is Mountain.\n\nAnother extremely solid rock album is by an early 70's band called Fuzzy Duck. Check out that band as well, especially for all the Deep Purple lovers out there. You'll love it.\n\nThis is just an overall solid album that should be remembered today, but unfortunately time has chosen Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath as the three giants of rock while skipping so many other bands that deserve recognition, such as this one.\n\nIf you can find this album cheap, and you're someone who loves early 70's rock, I highly recommend this album.","Product: Reissued 1979 album. This was the bands first LP without vocalist Brian Connolly. Guitarist Andy Scott proves he's no slouch in the singing department on this 9-track release, which hit No. 49 in Germany, and includes the singles 'Call Me' and 'Big Apple Waltz'.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: losing it, but not entirely\n\nReview: Without a shadow of a doubt, the highlight here is \"Mother Earth\". I've been loving this song for years now. At over 6 minutes in length, and considering it was released in 1979 (when creativity in rock was quickly dissolving in favor of more commercially acceptable pop songs) it's amazing how many different parts of this song actually work and leave a positive lasting impression. This song would have been a great addition to their Level Headed album, perhaps as a bonus track.\n\n\"Hold Me\" has a vocal melody that, to me at least, resembles something Boston would do. I'm thinking \"Amanda\" but this song didn't actually come out until the mid 80's, so I guess it's not right to namedrop THAT song. But still, the vocals resemble Boston. It's also quite predictably written which is not something I can say about most of Sweet's material. Most of Sweet's catalog is quite memorable and creative songwriting-wise. I can't give the same compliment to this song, and it has that \"I swear I've heard it before\" vibe, even though you probably haven't. This is because it sounds like so many other songs from the late 70's.\n\nI *do* like \"Hold Me\" though.\n\n\"Stay With Me\" has a nice intro with weird synth sounds before morphing into... ugh, a generic Kiss-inspired rocker. Creatively it's a disappointment because the chorus is really weak, but I guess the verse melody is good enough. However, you gotta admit the chorus when this line is sung \"Why don't you stay with me, come on and play with me\" is incredibly weak by Sweet standards.\n\n\"Discophony\" totally reminds me of Hall & Oates during the verse melody, and is totally derivative to the extreme. At least I LOVE the lyrics \"Can't stand that disco music playing in my head\" and the brief moments of guitar soloing are impressive as well (especially near the end). Some of the verse melody lyrics are inappropriate though. It's a curious song because the lyrics seem to foretell the future of the disco movement. There's probably an explanation. Perhaps there was a feeling in the back of everybody's mind back in 1979 that the disco scene was surely on its way out and it was just a matter of time until it finally happened, who knows? Ignoring the chorus (because it's somewhat annoying) and the tasteless lyrics sung during the verse melody, this song is actually quite good.\n\nI really like \"Dorian Gray\". It contains a happy verse melody that you can't resist tapping your foot along to, and it just contains a wonderful beat. Unlike most of the Cut Above the Rest album, this song actually reminds me of the creative days of Sweet and doesn't show signs of a band headed for what would now be considered \"the dreaded music scene of the 80's.\" Once again the guitar solo blows me away. The band most certainly did NOT lose a step in this regard.\n\nOh wait, I forgot about \"Call Me\". I LOVE this song! No relation to the Blondie song of the same name, the verse melody can best be described as mysterious and funky, with a catchy and dark vibe. I love it. The chorus ain't too shabby either. Great song.\n\nOverall, I wanted to give this album 3 stars originally, but the songwriting is good enough to bump it up to a 4. Pick up this album last however, in your adventure of obtaining Sweet's entire 70's catalog.","Product: Import pressing of 1975 album from British rock group featuring Bill Nelson.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: the future is lookin' great\n\nReview: Futurama is a pretty underrated rock/pop album. The guitar solos are magnificent and stand alongside the very best guitar performers from the 70's, the songwriting has improved a bit compared to the debut (honestly however, the songwriting didn't improve THAT much compared to Axe Victim like many people have tried convincing me it has) and the bands distinctive style has probably begun right here.\n\n\"Music in Dreamland\" sounds like the kind of song indie rock college teens should be admiring and falling in love with. All we need is some famous film intended for college kids to come along including this song as part of the soundtrack, and college kids the world over will then FINALLY find out about this wonderful band.\n\nThe beautifully played guitar lines that opens \"Music in Dreamland\" are just the icing on the cake. GREAT way to open a song. Unique too. The vocal melody is briliant as well.\n\n\"Swan Song\" is a multi-part, somewhat complex display of both songwriting skills and instrumental chops. A personal favorite.\n\nIf you want me to compare this album to other glam rockers from the same time period, this stuff absolutely smears Queen, and is probably on the same level of enjoyment as Sweet and Slade. However, because of Be Bop Deluxe's complex style of writing music, they are probably the best of the bunch.\n\nPick up Futurama today. Also, pick up the cartoon Futurama for the best of both worlds, haha.","Product: The Second and Last CD Released in 1976 from a Band who Formed after the Split of Mott the Hoople and Added Two New Members, Nigel Benjamin and Ray Major.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: not shouting for more, but surely pointing fingers\n\nReview: Well it turns out Ian Hunter wasn't the only band member that wanted out- other crucial band members decided to abandon ship soon after this albums release. You can plainly discover why upon listening to Shouting & Pointing. The results are uh, different!\n\n\"Career (No Such Thing As Rock 'n Roll)\" is a tender ballad. Unlike on the previous album which I actually defended quite a bit, this song is a flatter affair. \"There's no such thing as rock and roll, no such thing as growing old\" is a desperate-for-anything type of lyric. The melody reeks of desperation too. Still, because I normally like mid 70's rock, even when it sounds like imitation theatrics paling in comparing to previous better work by an artist, it's usually at least decent and this song is no different. The piano's okay but sporadic and generically performed, the guitar lines are basically the same way, and the vocal melody is just okay. When the vocal melody soars it doesn't sound particularly convincing but it's alright. A decent song.\n\nThen comes a song like \"Storms\". The fast boogie style of classic Mott the Hoople is attempted here, much like it was on Driving On. It feels worse here however. It's less creative and more straight forward. Does that mean I hate it though? No. Is it disappointing? Well unfortunately yeah a little bit. Obviously the band was influenced by the more commercial glam rockers at the time like Slade and Sweet because a song like this feels like it's trying to sound like them. I still like certain lines, \"Cuz when I get there tonight I'm going to be insane, feel my temperature rise like a knife in my brain\" is decent. Interesting that the piano playing unintentionally sounds Elton John-like, specifically the piano work from his classic \"Funeral For a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding\". Generic theatrical parts after too.\n\n\"Hold On, You're Crazy\" (for liking this song, hehe, just kidding!) But seriously this song is really bad. It's not often, in fact I've never said it before but now is as good a time as any- this song doesn't even need to exist. It's *that* bad. A Mott the Hoople song so awful and obnoxiously Kiss-like in the way the vocals are sung, it just makes my stomach turn. What a clumsily slapped together vocal melody. Ugh! The funny part is that the guitar solo is pretty good in the middle but the vocals are deliberately deplorable. Hey I say \"deliberately\" because there's no way the band members thought this was a good melody. They couldn't have!\n\n\"See You Again\" is almost country-sounding in the verse melody and guitar playing. The rhythm chugs along so flatly. Well this is an improvement compared to \"Hold On, You're Crazy\" but well, *anything's* an improvement over that awkwardly written tune! The guitar playing is surprisingly really good throughout \"See You Again\" too, and the vocal melody is pretty good. \"Shouting & Pointing\" opens in carnival-like fashion which is pretty awesome because well, I like that sort of thing. Makes the music sound happier and more enthusiastic. Unfortunately after the guitar riff and piano work is over, the song changes in a MUCH worse way- an uninspiring guitar riff with a lead singer resembling the guy from the Welsh band Budgie (or Rush) takes over. The awkward way the tempo speeds up leaves me cold and you KNOW something's wrong when a sudden tempo change leaves me cold because dramatic sudden tempo changes are a Godsend to me! At least the guitar solo is awesome.\n\n\"The Short Arms (I Don't Care)\" is a neat ragtime experiment. At least in the beginning. The song soon shifts into basic party hard rock but it's pretty good at least. The guitar playing is nothing to shout about (hehe) but it chugs along more inspiringly than on most parts of this Shouting & Pointing album. There's even some unique tempo changes and a return of the ragtime piano playing in the middle that's REALLY cool. My favorite part of the entire album! \"I've had all I can take, won't you give us a break. I'm sick and tired of people trying to tell me what I am\" is an alarmingly sung vocal melody because it shows the band is being rebellious which affects the quality of the music. It also expresses how they were feeling at the time. Either way it's highly enjoyable.\n\n\"Good Times\" is more entertainment much like \"The Short Arms (I Don't Care)\". \"Good Times\" lives up to having a good time! \"Gonna have a good time tonight, rock and roll music gonna play all night\" is a very good Brian Johnson of AC/DC fame impression! Haha, I know that particular incarnation was a few years away but still, similar vocal styles. Or perhaps the lead singer of Nazareth (Dan McCafferty) is a better example. Anyway this is a GREAT party song. Energetic and memorable vocal melody, spectacular guitar playing and just solid all around.\n\n\"Broadside Outcasts\" has a pretty intro with the ballerina-like piano playing and the emotional guitar solo soon after. Vocally the lead singer sounds very tender here- VERY tender! But I like it because it reminds me of classic Mott the Hoople. This almost sounds gentle enough to pass for a nursery rhyme but it's so darn charming and catchy I have to love it. I have to! Sometimes a guy just can't help his feelings you know? I can't quite make out the earthquake lyrics but they're really freaky because the singer sounds distorted. \"Collision Course\" has nice speedy slide guitar work and yet another boogie rock rhythm. It's, as you can guess, bland and uninspiring but listenable at least.\n\nShouting & Pointing is a questionable album. It has a few really good moments but there's always several really lackluster ones to ruin a good time. The band was just done by this point and you can clearly hear it in the music. Too bad, but I wouldn't say it's a disastrous album or anything. Just very disappointing by Mott the Hoople standards.","Product: Reissue of their 1976 release. Currently out of print in the USA.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: whoa, skullduggery is actually a word\n\nReview: Unfortunately it's not a very good album...\n\nThe problem here is that the commercial bug got ahold of our beloved Steppenwolf. While it's a pretty big exaggeration to call this a disco album, it's obvious that they wanted to blend in with the late 70's rock scene which created some problems.\n\nThe title song -while the mainstream Blue Oyster Cult-sounding chorus is pretty catchy and the verse melody is somewhat solid as well- really shows a band trying to fit in with the hard rock artists at the times and well, there really was no reason to. While the hard rock artists at the time were trying to convince the world that rock music was still alive and aggressive while fighting the disco scene, Steppenwolf feels like they're simply trying to play catch up. I trust John Kay and the other members to create a quality album without the need to take their music in an obvious mainstream direction. At any rate, really awesome and melodic guitar solo at the end.\n\n\"Lip Service\" is based around a really funky instrumental groove. It's a pretty decent song but not the reason any of us fell in love with Steppenwolf of course. Actually it's a bit on the repetitive side and overlong by a couple minutes. Oh well, I've heard worse. Dance to it anyway! \"Train of Thought\" is probably not the train I'd ever consider travelling on. John Kay is wasting his wonderful talents singing a lackluster tune like this. Even the chorus is really awful. It really feels like the band was having trouble coming up with good songwriting on a few of these Skullduggery tunes, and this is clearly one of them. Oh but UPDATE! This is actually a cover of a Cher song. Now why in the WORLD would Steppenwolf... yeah, running low on ideas. This train is headed off the side of a cliff.\n\n\"Pass It On\" is an improvement even if it's weak from a songwriting standpoint. This reminds me of Eric Clapton's studio stuff- bring in a female singer, sing a simple ballad together, and lay it down on tape for the world to hear. That about describes this song. I can imagine drunk people swaying to the rhythm of this melody at the beach. It's simple enough for everyone to join in and contribute. \"(I'm a) Road Runner\" running as far from this album as I possibly can. Beep beep! Alright alright, this isn't a bad song. I put it on the same level as \"Hard Rock Road\" from their previous album- sort of filler-ish but nothing to really complain about. Then again it *is* probably a perfect song for driving the desert night away. Fantastic guitar solo at the end. Alright I give in- it's a very good song.\n\n\"Sleep\" feels like a really limp way of rocking out. What is this? John Kay obviously isn't putting 100% effort into his performance and yet, a song like this pretty much demands a lead singer who CAN give it everything they got. Bleh. At least the chorus is really catchy with interesting lyrics. Yes I'm tired and want to go to bed too, but for different reasons- we're about to experience 48 straight hours of arctic air. It's starting now in fact. Yes, sleepy time can't come soon enough. \"Life Is a Gamble\" is generic -but decent- mid 70's rock with the occasional touch of piano and is honestly a high point on an album like this. WHAT the... where did \"Rock and Roll Song\" come from? John Kay's voice returns to fine classic form, and the sincerity in his voice is simply unmatched by anyone else. Why isn't he singing like this on the *rest* of the songs here? That's the question my friends!\n\nWell the truth is, it's probably a 2-star album. I can't give Steppenwolf anything lower than a 3 though. I have a feeling overtime when my initial disappointment finally rubs off for good, this will remain a 3-star album. Skullduggery isn't necessarily awful- more like incredibly average. Forgettable and yeah, average. I can't recommend a purchase I'm afraid.","Product: The band's 1972 album for Warner Brothers. Features ninetracks, including 'Marie Antoinette' and 'Cheetah'.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: the air in curved air\n\nReview: Whoa the third Curved Air... has a really hard to remember and elaborate title! Phantasmagoria it is. This is a real word too! Never heard of it but I like the definition- a sequence of real or imaginary images like those seen in a dream.\n\n\"Marie Antoinette\" sounds very familiar. I'm almost positive I've heard this song a long time ago when I was first going through my progressive rock phase. Back then I'd jump around from one website into another looking for any way to listen to prog rock! The song starts with a soothing vocal melody similar to being in a submarine and floating on the bottom of an ocean (yup it has that kind of effect). \"Marie Antoinette, your name's a legend in this land, treasure for your pleasure bestowed on favoured gentlemen, the people are in arms marching on the town\". \"Marie Antoinette, your shadow's falling along the land, anger born of hunger poisons the hearts of your loyal men, fire in their eyes, steel in their hands\". \"Clamouring in the square, the rabble have gone insane, they're over the balustrades, defying the cannon fire, they're into the garrison, they murder the noblemen\". The piano plays along nice and calmly. Love the way Sonja's voice goes higher just enough during the \"They rise chanting \"Revolution! Viva la Nation!\" line. When this song picks up I *know* I've heard it before, especially during the \"Clamouring in the square, the rabble have gone insane\" part.\n\n\"We are the people of France we demand that the elegant blue-blooded leeches that bleed us, are taught what it means to grow fat and not feed us! We are the people of France, you must heed us! Already at the Bastille, the prisoners all run free, they're hammering on the door, Marie Antoinette, they've taken the guillotine, they're coming to take the Queen, Marie Antoinette, the King and the guards have fled, Marie Antoinette, your shadow's falling along the land, anger born of hunger, poisoned your men, they rise changing \"Revolution! Viva la Nation!\" This song is all about showing dazzling vocals and less to do with instrumental creativity which isn't a bad thing of course- after all Sonja Kristina has a GREAT voice. Nice synth line, even though it sounds fairly simple.\n\n\"Melinda\" is a soothing folk song with flutes. Sort of reminds me of well, perhaps intentionally Uriah Heep's \"Come Away Melinda\" or the Moody Blues \"For My Lady\". This song is also familiar! Maybe I've heard the entire Phantasmagoria album back in the day and forgot all about it. \"Lovely lady falling laughing down the glory of a rainbow, lovely lady reaching crying for the comfort of the day-glow, Melinda more or less, Melinda more or less in dreams, but if and when she wakes again she knows it all begins again, sleeping, waking, rising, falling, dumb but calling outtot deafened friends, that's how it ends, Melinda more or less in dreams, fade Melinda, fade into fantasy, tell them you won't be played like any other instrument of fate, fade Melinda, into your fantasy\". Really cool moment during the line \"Tell them you're not prepared to wait for your dream of the end\" because the flute starts playing differently. The violins and acoustic guitar are just so lovely.\n\n\"Not Quite the Same\" opens in a triumphant way with trumpets before the pace picks up in a jazzy way that reminds me of Spirit's \"Elijah\" for some reason. Really strange decision Sonja would choose to sing *along* to this speedy-paced part. Almost to the point she's speed talking and if you know anything about me, I dislike talking in music! \"Mavis couldn't quite make it on Saturday, Berryl was stuck on the tube from Victoria, Cheryl and the rest had all found new boyfriends, the only one left was the one in his head, so he busies himself, quite amusing himself, by abusing himself, all of his life had had wanted one true love, one girl he could worship all day out all night in, alas all the girls he had met in his short life were girls who always quite looked like his dad's wife, so he busied himself, quite amusing himself, by abusing himself\".\n\nUm... I think we know what these lyrics are about so uh, no need to say anything else! Just confused Curved Air would be singing lyrics like this. They're supposed to be a nice band! Well then again maybe not. The part \"Oh dear what a pity, a pity what a shame, oh what a shame girls on glossy paper, never quite the same, not quite the same, always saying sorry never quite the same, not quite the same\" reveals some singing... and pretty vocals too! The song gets a little too bizarre with the synths afterwards (is Sonja singing along or am I hearing things!) before the intro-like part plays again. Not a fan of the speedy vocals but it's still a pretty good song... in some weird way. Ignore the lyrics though!\n\n\"Cheetah\" opens in a way that reminds me of horses running across fields... and also reminds me of a certain moment at the end of the Who's \"Baba O' Riley\". I can honestly say this song's pretty awesome though! The violins speed by in a way that is adrenaline-fueled, and in particular hits a certain chilling high note a couple times that leaves me begging for more! This is classical craziness man! Like someone who's having a bad day decides to vent their frustration by coming home and making a violin-filled emotional rollercoaster of a song. The drumming is really noticeable at the end! Okay \"Ultra-Vivaldi\" is a bit much I think, but it's only a minute and a half. Not a good use of synths!\n\n\"Phantasmagoria\" opens with freaky lines. \"I bet you sometimes wonder what is standing right behind you, keep looking over your shoulder to see if it's there, for some the church bell pealing, for some the risk of feeling and stealing, quietly alone through the night looking under the bed\". You run upstairs to lie there waiting for the floor to creak and something goes bumpity bumpity bump up the stairs, the time has come to wonder, who could be the owner of that cold clammy hand that's exploring the end of the bed\". Could it be? These lyrics describe sleep paralysis if you ask me!\n\nThe song's upbeat with the vocals and rhythm, and sounds slightly theatrical too. A different tone from the first side! This song reminds me of living in a small apartment room and having a hectic day with lots of running around, but despite all that I'm excited and anticipating something. Who knows *what* I'm anticipating- maybe a new restaurant opened next door and I can't wait to go there. I realize the lyrics describe something else, but yeah. \"Don't ring for a taxi, don't call a policeman, don't send for a doctor he'll just give you pills, don't hide in the cellar, don't ever believe it, it's probably friendly just alone like you\" is a VERY cool moment of the melody. Highly enjoyable song. Love the line \"So if you get lonely just think of the summer, and swimming in sky blue, drift your mind away\" and the la la la's that follow. See that? Those \"la la la's\" are used in a GREAT way! Who says singers are lazy when they sing that way!\n\nOh WOW! I got REALLY scared when the first line of \"Whose Shoulder Are You Looking Over Anyway\" came in! The way Sonja says \"But I keep looking over my shoulder to see if it's there, but I keep looking over your shoulder to see if I'm there\" actually made me look over my shoulder, lol. Sounded like she was behind me I kid you not! Some kind of really cool studio tricks must have been used there. To add an extra flavor of weirdness to this song, and a feeling that aliens have just invaded my house, the vocals are *incredibly* distorted. No melody in sight... unless this is how aliens sing. I'm really creeped out! This sounds like something the Soft Machine would have done at the time, but probably not *quite* as interesting since this only feels like a small sample of something atmospheric that the Soft Machine would have turned into a lengthier piece. Still awesome though.\n\n\"Over and Above\" has vocals similar to a previous song either on this album or a previous Curved Air album. The persistent summer heat must finally be getting to me since I can't identity the song (facepalm moment for sure!) Really frantic and worried vocals, and I really enjoy it. \"One fine night I left my soul to journey on the wind, far beyond the stars I watched to see where it would go, in the twilight realms of space, spirits known but with no face, eyes to see no hands to place around the other, try and grasp the meaning, why and wherefore of this world, rested for a while to see which way the wind would blow, found ourselves, my soul and I, upon an unknown moon, barren rocks and ashes strewn like the ashes of the mind, soaring off once more to see if we could find there, looking for a somewhere, something that would bring us peace\".\n\nPerhaps somebody who hates Emerson, Lake & Palmer (not me of course, I love those guys) would think some of the instrumental parts resemble the kind of rambling Emerson, Lake & Palmer did on their Brain Salad Surgery album, but then the song changes gears a little while still holding onto that tight rhythm during the line \"Watch the dawn of a distant sun, tells us now that our night has gone, senses numbed by the blinding light, countless stars vanish into night, far away on a distant star, midnight chimes to sleeping world, far away on a distant star life begins in a thousand years\" . This is really soothing with lounge-y percussion.\n\nThe synth jam marks a sudden jazzy style with an outer space vibe- perhaps my favorite part of the song, who knows! Actually yes this *is* my favorite part because even though the vocal melody is pretty remarkable, I wouldn't say it's unique like this jam is. The song tries to go for more triumphant-like instrumentation like in \"Not Quite the Same\" but it feels more haunting this time around. Oh wow, a wah wah guitar solo! Placed in just the right spot too.\n\n\"Once a Ghost Always a Ghost\" is the final song. Once invisible always invisible! That's me- not exactly the liveliest person in a crowd but I do my best to speak up! Well no that's not true- I purposely remain quiet. Okay!! What am I even talking about! I can ramble my jaws I tell ya. This song has a lovely theatrical vocal style similar to the one in \"Phantasmagoria\" but with the trumpets making this song a combination of a bunch of really interesting and unique ideas. That's how I like it baby! Be different! Eventually the horns out-play the other things going on. I hear a crowd in the background and not the first time either. Is this album partially live or is the crowd just used for effect I wonder. The way this jam develops is truly something else. Makes me think I'm on the grooviest journey to outer space that I've had since that one time I became absorbed into early Pink Floyd. \"Once upon a time I stumbled on a master plan, better than a time machine, simple to understand, just consume a pint of this and one or two of these, head in arm and hand in hand we'll haunt the seven seas, if you choose we can confuse your favourite enemy, find a dungeon with a pungent tropicality, waft about and groan a bit and make him feel at ease, head in arm and hand in hand we'll haunt the seven seas\".\n\nBonus track time. Don't get too excited- it's just one 3 minute song. \"Sarah's Concern\" contains SUPER heavy keyboard and bass. Whoa! I think the carpet just rolled up in the corner upon playing this tune! A really enjoyable and happy vocal melody. \"Sarah is concerned, she isn't so sure it's right, the words that she learned were uttered again tonight, we are three, he you and me, just till the fire burns out, so Sarah decides that it would be wise to wait, she gathers her thoughts, endeavors to concentrate, we are three, he you and me, just till the fire burns out, she looks to the man, the flickering torch, the knife, she raises her hand, she touches the blade, she cries \"We are three, he you and me, just till the fire burns out\". You know this melody is REALLY catchy. The synth solo afterwards is super creepy and so are the vocals. The way the line \"Candlelight, fire and fleet, we remember the night of the three\" is sung will blow your mind man. This song had serious potential to be a HUGE hit based on how well-written that vocal melody is. Seriously man it's incredible.\n\nOkay I give in! This album's just as awesome as the first two! I was about to say the first two Curved Air albums are masterpieces but this one comes up short, but nah! I've changed my mind. This album's just as awesome. Pick it up now!","Product: Reissue of their 1975 release. A slight change of direction for the band, while still retaining two of the founding members, John Kay, Jerry Edmunton.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: the hour is upon us- the wolf is sneaking through the trees\n\nReview: Enter the second mid 70's offering for Steppenwolf (after Slow Flux). Some people believe they should have called it a day after For Ladies Only. Me? Not me! I don't care if they (or any band) carries on a few years past their prime. They were still young in the mid 70's after all. As long as the quality of the music doesn't deteriorate too much, it's all good. Does this mean Hour of the Wolf is really awesome? Nah, not awesome, but solid.\n\n\"Caroline (Are You Ready For the Outlaw World)\" is a fairly melodic track. Quality verse melody, somewhat repetitive but catchy chorus. The chorus consists of just repeating the song title over and over. There's a feeling while listening to it that it sounds hokey instead of the more sincere singing demeanor of the lead singer, which is a problem for me since I associate John Kay's tearful vocal range with the bands classic sound. The keyboard solo in the middle and end is sort of annoying for whatever reason. Still, enjoyable song.\n\n\"Mr. Penny Pincher\" sounds like Uriah Heep's \"Wonderworld\" in the intro, and in fact, contains the same adventurous epic style that Uriah Heep used to perform so well (or terribly, depending on your opinion of the band) in the 70's. John Kay definitely isn't singing in the way I love. *Sigh* Make that a LOUD sigh! Either way, I enjoy the song but I really feel like I'm betraying the classic version of Steppenwolf by liking it. In other words Uriah Heep is my guilty pleasure and any band that resembles them is fine by me. However if we ignore all connections and similarities to the classic Steppenwolf period, the vocal melody is actually pretty solid. Is that a synthesizer playing in the middle? Who do these guys think they are, Camel? Well if they were aware of the progressive rock band Camel that is, I imagine they'd have been big fans. Anyway, the truth is I actually love this song. Maybe this is the reason I'm giving the album such a high grade.\n\n\"Someone Told a Lie\" (it wasn't me... alright maybe it was) opens with a really heavy guitar riff. However that just about concludes the heaviness. The verse melody is really odd. John Kay is straining his voice in a way that makes me think he wants to be a member of KISS. That's one band nobody should want to be a member of. :) This song is really sloppy and sort of pitiful. It's written in a really clumsy and forgettable way. Now here's the part I don't understand- despite these obvious flaws, I still like the song. I'm worried I may have crossed the line into John Kay fanboy territory. There's no other explanation. The lyrics are really inspiring too. \"Now we don't trust each other's faces, and I don't know what to think about you, 'cuz we can't stand in each other's places, and I can't trade with you\". That's one great line- there's several more.\n\n\"Just For Tonight\" is a quietly sung ballad with female vocals sung in unison with Kay's. It's melodic, inoffensive country rock. However, without hesitation, the melody shifts into a mid-tempo rocker. I'm not a fan of this part. Actually if you take away the female vocals, I can imagine Greg Allman writing a song like this (not with the Allman Brothers, part of his solo career I mean). \"Another's Lifetime\" is pure country. Not the strongest vocal melody in the world and it doesn't make me tear up like Kay was probably intending, but it's decent enough. Certainly nothing to hate. Lyrically it hits home pretty hard. \"There's more to life than dreaming\". Oh really? Because dreaming is ALL I do and I love my life! Had this song been written 5 years earlier, you get the feeling Kay REALLY would have delivered a vocal range to move listeners to tears. \"Annie, Annie Over\" is upbeat and sort of funky. Drastically different from the other songs here. I admire it. The chorus reminds me of the Guess Who a little bit. The keyboards should jam more- they're really good here.\n\nI can't remember the last time I heard a straight ahead rock song performed so amazingly well, but \"Two For the Love of One\" certainly fits that description! Everything about this song rules. Heavy riffs that get your heart pumping, a vocal melody that gets your feet tapping, a wonderul exchange of guitar solos and keyboards in the middle... just awesome. \"Hard Rock Road\" is sort of forgettable I suppose. I guess if one Steppenwolf song sounds generic, it's this one. Then again, listen to the vocals around 1:35 in. That's a cool part there.\n\nOverall, well this is certainly interesting. I was told this album stinks and it does not. Shame on all of you (kidding, kidding!) I highly recommend it. Not amazing or anything, but good songwriting cannot be denied! Not a single song I have a problem with. A few moments are questionable, but nothing that changes the high praise I think Hour of the Wolf deserves.","Product: This CD is an out of print collectible! It is the original 1989 release. Still sealed.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: got those blues? this will blue you away!\n\nReview: Wow am I tired tonight. I don't know why either. I got 6 hours of sleep last night which granted isn't much, but I shouldn't be *this* exhausted. I really should wait until tomorrow to review Blue Afternoon but there's no guarantees tomorrow will even happen so I better do it tonight.\n\nBlue Afternoon is one of Tim Buckley's folk albums. \"Happy Time\" has peaceful vibes and a really soft vocal melody. \"I'm coming home to stay\" is sung so pretty. This line repeats a lot but it's no big deal because of its prettiness. \"Oh now it's just the same old story, something about love for glory, a nickel and a dime a dozen fame, oh it's such a shame the way they use your name\" is a great line and melody.\n\n\"Chase the Blues Away\" opens with quiet acoustic guitar. \"We'll dance along the river's edge, just arm and arm along the moonlit shore, the midnight cries well I just came to chase the blues way for a while \" paints an image of standing on a bridge with darkness approaching a city. This song has a really haunting feel to it which shouldn't be surprising since the song is about trying to chase the blues away. The feel of the song will give you the sense that the blues are here to stay. The electric guitar solo is about as soft as they come. Strange at the end when the acoustic guitar loops a few lines while a Spanish guitar imitation comes in.\n\n\"I Must Have Been Blind\" places me at a beach with the really good relaxing bass work in the intro. \"Here I am believing words again, here I am trying to find your love again, here I am down on my knees again, praying for a love that we used to know, both of us know how hard it is to love and let it go, both of us know how hard it is to go on living that way, when so few understand what it means to fall in love, and so few will know how hard it is to live without it\" reveals a really compassionate side to Tim's voice. Vibraphones play as well. \"To hold something real and not believe it, to live in her life and never trusting, to give all you know and never feel it, to hold back each day until it dies away\" is a good line made more beautiful by Tim's vocal elevation.\n\n\"The River\" recalls images of living by a river indeed. A small town family living in a 2 story house with no neighbors in a 10 mile radius. \"I live by the river and I hide my house away, then just like the river I can change my ways\". Ah ha! Yup living by the river is what this song is all about! I get creeped out when Tim sings the line \"And time will fade, in time we'll love\" with vibraphones playing right after. It's a haunting moment for sure. A quiet country/folk tune that makes me think about time drifting away quietly.\n\n\"So Lonely\" is a great Police cover... yeah right, you really didn't think I was serious about that did you? If so for shame! \"I don't get no lettuce?\" Yeah that's the first thing Tim says in this song curiously enough. Actually no he says letters but it *sounds* like lettuce! While the lyrics are memorable (\"Cops treat you dirty and the children are mean, this is the lowest town I've ever seen, people keep dragging their bodies around, ain't enough pride to even look around\") the melody is really simple but strangely uplifting in a sense. Nice bluesy guitar solo in the middle, and again while Tim continues singing.\n\n\"Cafe\" is more small town imagery, this one making me think about a nearly deserted town as Tim walks into a cafe, sees two people sitting lazily on their stools eating pancakes, a couple more elderly people sitting at the table reading the morning paper, and one hair-twirling ditzy waitress chomping her gum... well she doesn't have to be ditzy. She can be a normal country girl. Anyway this song's really slow with some spooky tempo changes on that acoustic guitar that only the late 60's can provide in glorious slight-psychedelic fashion. More lyrics about time and love slipping by. It's almost like Tim knew his life would end soon. This song really creeps me out! So much for resting easy tonight.\n\n\"Blue Melody\" opens drearily with bass and piano. Yeah *that* piano! This almost sounds like lounge music, and perhaps it is, but you know people like to associate lounge music with boring music so I have to tread carefully with my wording here because this song sure ain't boring! Tim has a talent for writing strong vocal melodies and this certainly enhances the song in a big way. If he didn't have such talents, yeah, this probably would have been boring lounge otherwise. Anyway enough crap talk! Geez man I'm tired and it's showing. Tim surprises me by making his vocal range passionate at times. Beautiful piano and electric guitar soloing. By the way the guitar soloing is really soft throughout this album. Nothing even close to being lean and mean. Anyway this song really gets through to me with how moody it is. Everything about it- the mood, the gentle vocals, the slow pace, Tim's perfect voice, etc.\n\n\"The Train\" opens with some interesting, somewhat swift moving and normal acoustic guitar notes. This vocal melody feels rushed to me for some reason. I don't think Tim is actually rushing through it though. More like there's an assortment of stuff going on here and I'm trying to figure it all out! Love the jazzy guitar solo a couple minutes in! I REALLY love that in fact. This is why I love 60's and 70's guitar jazz. This stuff sounds totally made on the spot, with Tim relying on the moment to see what sticks. Well I can tell ya- this solo sticks better than glue. And it jams for a couple minutes! Wow the way the guitar plays while Tim sings over it at the 4-minute mark is *amazing* to me. There's a feeling of urgency and improvisation that's just a lot of fun about this song. And Tim leaving me speechless with all this guitar trickery came out of nowhere in the second half of the song! Why can't more musicians write music like this! Play the freakin' heck out of that darn guitar and come up with as many interesting ideas that you can while singing (or in this case, screaming) over them. This song's pure genius! Hopefully in time the vocals win me over as much as the guitar does.\n\nOverall, Blue Afternoon is rather blue and dreary until you get to the second half of \"The Train\". Then get ready for something incredible! Overall this is probably Tim Buckley at his best.","Product: The Kinks ~ Misfits\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: showing signs of losing their touch, but still offering some great moments\n\nReview: By 1978, the 80's were hanging right around the corner, and the Kinks were caught between whether they wanted to remain with their 70's concept album approach (which didn't do very well commercially), the return to the melodically strong pop-oriented songwriting such as what the band hinted at with Sleepwalker, or drift into a depressing state of trying to carry on their legacy through sell-out 80's commercial rock (though I wouldn't call the Kinks an 80's sell-out, but they *could* have easily gone down that path by mistake by completely ignoring writing good vocal melodies if they chose to, like most 70's bands that made the transition into the 80's).\n\nI guess Misfits captures the band trying to fit in with whatever rock acts were popular at the time. I actually think the title song sounds like Jackson Browne, while some other moments seriously remind me of Tom Petty a little bit, but there's *nothing* on the Misfits album that truly makes me shake my head and question \"WHAT were you thinking!\" To me that's a sign of a good band, or at least, a smart band. The Kinks never forgot what made them so enjoyable in the first place- great songwriting that anyone can get into. You'll find some good songs on this album, I guarantee it.","Product: Reissue of the Krautrock icon's breakthrough album from1973, a continuous 43 minute work digitally indexed here with 26 passages. It sonically takes listeners from quiet bits of folk-rock and spoken word, to loud, mind-numbing rocky terrain similar to Zappa and Can. 'The Faust Tapes' is widely considered their finest moment. 1998 ReR.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: total madness from beginning to end... seriously\n\nReview: I was originally planning on giving the Faust Tapes a rating of 4 out of 5 stars, but you know, I'd actually feel like that would be a horrible and inaccurate mistake because, quite frankly, there is literally nothing else out there quite like this.\n\nYes, Captain Beefheart has Trout Mask Replica, Mike Oldfield has Tubular Bells and King Crimson has several insane albums in their arsenal but well... perhaps if someone were to combine BOTH Trout Mask Replica and Tubular Bells together the results would sort of sound as extraordinary as this. However, dare I say, even the roughest moments of Trout Mask Replica have trouble standing in the same league as a few moments on the Faust Tapes.\n\nThese moments would probably be the extremely gritty vocals that make an appearance about 8 minutes in. Then the horns... yes that's right- YOU remember the horns from Trout Mask Replica! They sounded like a flock of geese, remember? Well on the Faust Tapes, they're utilized in a more hazy, psychedelic kind of way reminiscent of early 70's Hawkwind perhaps, but the relentless of the background vocals is just too hardcore for words. I think this particular moment elevates the craziness a notch higher than Trout Mask Replica, seriously.\n\nAs you've probably read by now, the album is basically one 40-minute plus song since -as far as I know- there's no actual track names. Alright so amazon lists some song titles in their description but well... it's hard to actually THINK of this collection of sounds as anything other than a big sloppy pile of constant weirdness.\n\nThe music only lets up momentarily before leading into something equally bizarre and highly experimental. Go on, just NAME something experimental and it's probably featured somewhere among all the chaotic noise and brilliance. That's how creative it is. Sometimes an album goes a little *too* insanely far with their constant experimenting that it'd simply be impossible to put into words what exactly makes it so unbelievably fascinating. The Faust Tapes fits that description. I can't stress enough how important it is to hear this album. Don't worry about the fact it's not popular like the Captain Beefheart album. Perhaps it's lack of popularity is a telling sign that most people can't handle it.\n\nNo, this doesn't really resemble Amon Duul II or Can because neither of those bands ever went *completely* crazy like Faust has done here. This is in a league of its own, believe me.\n\nWhat's most surprising about the entire thing is that for the first 5 minutes, you're treated to a really beautiful and melodic psychedelic Floyd-like vocal melody leading directly into an atmospheric set of piano notes. You're probably thinking to yourself at this early part of the listening experience \"What's the big fuss? I can handle this!\" but then... yeah, it quickly morphs into chaotic... not necessarily \"nonsense\" because there is, contrary to belief, quite a few listenable sections ahead. It's just that, hearing numerous musical instruments shift and weave into all kinds of different sections without letting up for over 40 minutes is a HECK of a difficult challenge for even the most diehard of krautrock, progressive rock, or noise rock fans.\n\nAbout 10 minutes before the album finally finishes up, you're treated to a very listenable and lengthy Kinks-inspired vocal melody that's *definitely* a breath of fresh air after the amazing ordeal you just had to go through (I mean that as a compliment, too!).\n\nThe interesting part about the whole thing is that at first I thought the album sounded horribly dated, but after a few more careful listens I actually stopped thinking about how dated it sounds because I eventually warmed up to the flow and experimentation of the whole thing. Perhaps that was the intention the band members had all along. You will get caught up in the album too. Give it time.\n\nJust expect *anything* at ANY time. That's the best advice I can give on how to listen to the Faust Tapes. Enjoy! Oh, and be very very patient, haha.","Product: Mid-priced pressing of 1977 album for Atlantic by this rockquartet featuring Jim McCarty of the Yardbirds and drummerCarmine Appice. Eight tracks, including covers of MoseAllison's 'Parchman Farm' & Willie Dixon's 'You Can't JudgeA Book By The Cover'.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: watch out for that pointy cactus!\n\nReview: Before tonight I was aware of Cactus based on a few songs, but never listened to one of their regular albums. I've been meaning to for a few years now though! Well here it is folks. This is mostly a very loud and heavy take on the blues (heavy rock/blues). Perhaps the only drawback is that the production is so raw that the vocals often feel overwhelmed and become indiscernible.\n\n\"You Can't Judge a Book By Its Cover\" has vocals that totally remind me of Rory Gallagher. It's my understanding this is a cover of a Willie Dixon song. The vocal melody builds slowly with the lead singer mentioning all the things you can't judge (\"You can't judge the sugar by looking at the cane!\" and \"You can't judge honey by looking at the bee\" are two funny lines) before suddenly speeding up and rocking hard. The song alternates the heavy parts with the softer ones. The first guitar solo feels rather standard similar to a solo you'd hear in the early stages of rock and roll, and to me it's nothing particularly amazing. The second solo later just feels messy. The harmonica is used subtly throughout the tune. Things get a bit crazy near the end with the singer wailing \"CAN'T JUDGE, CAN'T JUDGE!\" like his life depends on it. These are all tiny complaints at the end of the day- still a great song either way.\n\n\"Feel So Good\" continues with the intensity, loud guitar... and unfortunately the somewhat sloppy vocals and guitar soloing. I love the tempo change and guitar solo 1 minute/40 seconds in. Great unpredictable moment there! I like the lead singers voice too. I really think he sounds a lot like Rory Gallagher but others might disagree. It's cool if you do. We all hear things differently. Oh wow, cool drum solo! Some of the notes being played are really memorable, and as someone who normally avoids listening contently to drumming because as much as I like drums I prefer focusing on guitar and vocals, this one certainly catches my attention. It even takes a jazzy turn eventually- the drum solo. That in itself is really remarkable. At the end of the solo it gets funky and continues keeping my interest. Yeah this one's mostly about the drums. Pretty cool tune overall.\n\n\"No Need to Worry\" is the bands attempt at straight up blues. I think the guitar playing is pretty good but the lead singer doesn't quite have the ability to absorb me with his passionate vocals. In other words I don't feel a connection with his voice like I would with say, Steve Marriott or Robert Plant when they sing the blues. \"It's hard to believe the condition the world is in, 'cuz you get no way you can't trust nobody\" is a great line. So true! And this was back in 1970 before things got considerably worse. Amazing guitar jam in the middle. It might even rival the one from... should I dare say it? I think I will! Might even rival the guitar solo from Zeppelin's \"Since I've Been Loving You\".\n\n\"Bro. Bill\" is funky blues with a chugging vocal melody and more lightly used and playful harmonica playing. This song never lets up being extremely exciting and tons of fun to sing and perhaps even dance to, making it an easy highlight for me. Nice guitar solo too. I'd have liked the acoustic solo at the end to last a couple minutes longer. Too bad it doesn't. \"Oleo\" (heh, almost wrote a delicious cookie!) is fast-paced and so heavy that it interferes with the clarity of the vocals. This simply means I can't make out the lyrics but I really don't think lyrical content matters in the case of Cactus. This is all about dazzling listeners with extremely loud guitar playing and a radically different and more explosive take on the blues. Amazing guitar solo! The bass solo after, while a bit unorganized, sounds so heavy it almost vibrates the speakers. This song right here is a fine example how I wish rock artists today wrote music.\n\n\"My Lady From South of Detroit\" is different from the rest of the album. It brings me back to reality in reminding me that rock bands often write ballads. This album was rocking so hard I almost forgot, haha! A really beautiful and sincere vocal melody made better by the background vocals. The line \"She's my lady from south of Detroit, and we met quite a few years ago\" has a strong country/rock vibe to it. The guitar solo has a different sound to it, almost making this song seem out of place on a blues rock album like this. \"Let Me Swim\" has a really cool groovy rhythm. The song doesn't necessarily remind me of an ocean but it does remind me of a monster truck rally. This is more of a straight up hard rocker with tricky/interesting drumming and so-so vocals. In fact the drumming is amazing throughout the whole album. \"Parchman Farm\" has intense guitar soloing, harmonica and tons of speed. The muffled production makes it sound unique but also highly dated.\n\nOverall, perhaps this album will grow on me more some day, but for now 4 stars seems about right. The lead singer has a decent Rory Gallagher-ish voice (sorry, just had to bring up Rory's good name once again!) but he's probably the main thing preventing me from giving this album 5 stars. Also, is that the band members faces on the album cover actually hiding inside the cactus? If so, clever! I almost didn't notice it!","Product: The monolithic 1970 debut and lone album from the German prog-rock trio featured an intriguing formula of bass, drums, and keyboards (with both fuzz-drenched organ and ELP-like synth), augmented occasionally by a full orchestra. Tracks include: Entropy, Black Sheep of the Family, Post War Saturday Echo, Good Lord Knows and more. Also here are 2 bonus tracks, including Punting .\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: a mass of awesome\n\nReview: WOW! I love this Quatermass album! I've been reading about them for a few years online now (specifically stumbling upon them here occasionally on amazon when skimming through the rarities) but I never stopped to listen to the band until tonight. At first I actually thought the album cover shows a few stealth fighters stuck inside a trapped geometrical wall. Instead it's a side view of pterodactyls flying between two buildings. At least I guess that's what they are. Don't ask me to analyze album covers for goodness sake! We'll be here all night and day!\n\nRight in the very beginning I'm getting the surprise of my life! \"Black Sheep of the Family\" I THOUGHT was a Ritchie Blackmore original but... that's impossible because that version didn't come out until 1975 for his (their) self-titled debut album. This is what, 1970? Ah! Both versions are great but I probably prefer the speedier/cleaner (familiar) Rainbow version. The best way to describe \"Post War Saturday Echo\" is to imagine the mood of say, Led Zeppelin's \"Since I've Been Loving You\" but with all the scorching guitar playing removed, and throw in the atmosphere/flow from Traffic's \"Low Spark of High Heeled Boys\" and you have this song! However, on a few occasions, the lead singer of this band really soars far above what Steve Winwood or Robert Plant would ever attempt since those guys are mainly all about a quieter soulful range.\n\nAm I crazy or does the 20-second intro to \"Good Lord Knows\" sound identical to early Kraftwerk? That's a VERY original and several years ahead of its time part of the song there! Too bad it's so short, but actually I'm sort of glad it's short because the vocal melody comes in and even though I'm a grown man here I'll admit that this melody actually made me cry upon first hearing it. It's *that* emotional. The lead singer with his magnificent semi-hoarse voice hits all the right notes and the melody is just superb. I love this song to pieces. \"Up On the Ground\" is sort of a bluesy song but without any guitar soloing. In fact for the first 30 minutes of this album I haven't actually heard a guitar solo yet. Crazy! This song has great keyboard work.\n\nSpeaking of great keyboard work, the transition from playful and piano-jolly to downright *eerie* that occurs over the course of the vocal melody section in \"Gemini\" is probably one of the oddest things I've experienced in a while. The keyboard jam is somewhat reminiscent of early Traffic once again. I think the lead singer sounds like Dan McCafferty from Nazareth here, and due to all the great songwriting and keyboards I can totally see the Atomic Rooster comparisons as well. \"Make Up Your Mind\" is also playful with interesting lyrics before the sudden Deep Purple-like keyboard jam comes in. What's unique and refreshing about this album so far is that these loud crashing guitar riffs occasionally come out of nowhere, but there's never actually a guitar solo taking place afterwards which is what I've been accustomed to with so many other artists. Wow this song gets downright CREEPY as the jam rolls along! Move over Black Sabbath and Bloodrock!\n\n\"Laughin' Tackle\" is based around a memorable rhythm, barely noticeable piano hidden in the background and a somewhat memorable keyboard riff. You get the sense while the keyboard jam is taking place that it's building to something loud and creepy but no- it sort of fizzles out instead. Whew! I was bracing myself for the loudest moment ever, haha. Instead a drum solo comes in. It's decent but I've heard *so* many of them in my life just from the 60's and 70's alone that I sometimes think it would be better to not hear another one again... however common sense kicks in and reminds me that yes, I do actually enjoy drum solos. This is clearly the weakest song here I'm afraid. It never really holds together like you think it will and instead tries to act like the recurring bass and keyboard riff is worthy enough to base the entire song around. Well Quatermass, it's not. It's a decent song though.\n\n\"Three Blind Mice\" is based around a very Emerson, Lake & Palmer-like keyboard riff but the vocals are clearly not up to the standards of say, Greg Lake. This guy is decent but you know, once you hear Greg Lake it's hard to go back! \"Punting\" is a 5-minute instrumental that's so Funkadelic-like with more ELP keyboard comparisons that I can't help but absolutely love this song.\n\nThis is one album you should probably hear because the songwriting's quite fantastic. Go on guys, pick up Quatermass today! I recommend this album for all Atomic Rooster, Traffic and Emerson, Lake & Palmer fans.","Product: Very hard to find long out of print worldwide CD edition of 1971 album from Jeff Buckley's father features the beautiful and haunting 'Song To The Siren'. AKA 'Star Sailor'\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: how experimental can one guy be!\n\nReview: This is when Tim Buckley continues his creepy new type of experimenting from Lorca (or avant-garde as people are calling it these days) and stepping away from the folk rock he was really good at.\n\n\"Come Here Woman\" opens with a cool Robert Fripp-like guitar line, strange atmosphere and slow vocals/lyrics that go \"You caught me staring, so gently you tease me, and turn away unlike the young ones your movements you savor like a tango, my hideaways are longing for you\" I really think Tim was listening to the Doors at the time. His vocals resemble Jim Morrison here, unless I'm crazy. A moment later the pace picks up and changes the tone as Tim wails his voice like a crazy man. Moody organs play quietly in the background with more of that cool guitar playing. The organs at the end really intensify the oddness of the song.\n\n\"I Woke Up\" continues one of the oddest acid trips imaginable with the lyrics \"Now the sun sits on my hand, oh where are you? Walking the wind, I fly above the shore of the town, to the hills where I can hear the harbor bells ring slavery, where the fortune teller sighs to me, oh I see your woman in the raw, ride a mare of stone and howl\" Tim sings in a part ballad/part psychedelic kind of way. The song soon changes briefly when the jazzy saxophone comes in and plays with the hair-tingling bass. After this moment passes, the lyrics continue to amaze (and confuse!) with lyrics about waking up (\"I woke up while morning built hte world with light\").\n\n\"Monterey\" feels like a more normal type of rock tune, but is it normal? The guitar riff has an uncomfortable feeling of oddness to it! Tim goes on to sing many high notes here. An acquired taste for sure. It's soon apparent the whole song is based around the same riff, but the vocal style amazingly gets even *higher* to the point Tim almost breaks up with monkey sounds at the end. I can't even tell if these are discernible words being sung or just Tim moaning.\n\n\"Moulin Rouge\" sounds like some kind of French ballad, and the saxophone feels really beautiful. The vocal melody is splendid. This song still gives me the creeps though! I honestly think this is the most listenable song on the entire album, and it's awesome. \"Song to the Siren\" opens in a way that reminds me of opening my eyes for the first time in several days and seeing nothing but brightness in front of me after being lost at sea. Perhaps Tim's going for that kind of vibe, who knows. Tim does a goob job singing this song as sincerely as he's capable of which is to say, he's *very* capable of being emotional when he wants to be. Love the uplifting \"I am as puzzled as the oyster, I am as trouble at the tide, should I stand amid the breakers? Or should I lie with death my bride?\" part. The entire time the guitar is playing sadly in the background.\n\n\"Jungle Fire\" is similar to the first two songs, with perhaps more emphasis on guitar playing jamming in a really loose unstructured kind of way as Tim sails to more emotional heights (even unintentionally imitating Tarzan in one spot). Much like \"Come Here Woman\", the song eventually picks up the pace with a speedy rhythm and really odd high pitched singing. I honestly don't know what to think about music like this. This is much different from anything I've ever heard before. I bet some people (perhaps most) would say this music is unlistenable, but I disagree. I wouldn't necessarily say this is easy music to get into either. It takes time to adjust to the way Tim likes to go from one extreme (haunting ambience and/or avant-garde stuff with lots of guitar tricks) to the other (sailing vocals and moaning).\n\n\"Starsailor\" is like the ultimate freak out psychedelic jam! This song is what happens when the Moody Blues, early Pink Floyd and Arthur Brown all fall inside a tornado together and spin around yelling for help! Tim sings a few lines, but the *extremely* haunting upfront background vocals makes this song waaaaaaaay too strange! Imagine making yourself dizzy, and during the worst part of the dizzy spell you might be able to relate to the stuff going on here, haha. Yoko Ono might be in that tornado too. Just sayin'. \"The Healing Festival\" picks up the pace with sax, lyrics that go \"Behold that healing festival, complete for an instant, the dance figure pure constellation!\" and eerily soothing vocals. The sax might drive a lot of people crazy, but I like the way it jams. Plus I've become acclimated to 60's and 70's jazz enough to get some fun out of the way this instrument plays here.\n\n\"Down By the Borderline\" has a Spanish vibe with the trumpet. The sparse drumming is pretty good too. Amazingly, a minute later the song turns normal with the repetitive rhythm part. However snippets of the sax return and Tim's vocals are really good here. \"Sky so vast is the sky, with far away clouds just wandering by, where do they go? oh I don't know don't know, wind that speaks to the leaves, telling stories that no one believes, stories of love belong to you and me, oh Dindi if I only had words, I would say all the beautiful things that I see, when you're with me oh my Dindi, oh Dindi, well you kissed me and stopped me from shaking (hehe, just kidding!) like the song of the wind in the trees, that's how my heart is singing Dindi, happy Dindi when you're with me, I love you more each day yes I do yes I do, I'd let you go away if you take me with you\". Who's Dindi? He sings a fairly normal melody. Later on the sax jams harder with a guitar part, and this is entirely awesome.\n\nI don't know what to think about Starsailor. This is probably the oddest of all Tim Buckley albums, and in my opinion better and recommended over Lorca. Lorca has a questionable side one but there's nothing really unlistenable about Starsailor. That is, if you have an ear for off the wall experimental music. Luckily I do! It should STRONGLY be said that if you like Tim Buckley's folk stuff, stay far away from this album. This sounds *nothing* like Tim's early folk albums!","Product: This CD is an out of print collectible! It is the 1998 remastered Velvel release. Catalog 63467-79725-2. There is a hole punch through the UPC.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: the band was wide awake for this underrated classic\n\nReview: Okay, maybe it's not fair to call the Kinks Sleepwalker album a classic seeing as how most people haven't listened to it (and also because the Kinks weren't as popular when they recorded this album as they were a couple years before) but I believe, judging by the quality of *every single moment* of the album, it truly deserves to be considered among those other Kinks classics such as the Village Green Preservation Society as a quality album.\n\nI'm not even going to mention what song from the album is the best, because the Kinks are so good at writing consistently enjoyable music and going above and beyond most bands as far as honest emotion is concerned, that ALL the songs from the Sleepwalker album really hit me on a personal note. Maybe the Kinks had a dry spell in their career, but I can assure you, it didn't start with this album. Pick up Sleepwalker as soon as possible. You'll be surprised at the quality of the songwriting.\n\nJust forget about the fact that it doesn't rock really hard, but just like with the Who, how much they rock isn't that important anyway- it's all about memorable songwriting. I LOVE the Sleepwalker album.","Product: Remastered Version with Unreleased Bonus Tracks.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: what a great treat\n\nReview: It's a mystery why Manfred Mann's Earth Band hasn't become one of those bands that people need to dig up and discover, and it's just as disappointing that the band has been attached as a one-hit wonder over the years (which was never really that great of a song anyway because it didn't provide the unusual style of music that the band normally puts on record).\n\nThese guys had the talent and the unusual and unpredictable songwriting skills to be considered one of the best rock bands of the 70's. But for some reason, it never happened.\n\nThe title song of The Good Earth is a pretty good hard rock track that almost feels multi-part, but not quite. Just really good rock music. This is a fairly ordinary album compared to other releases from the band, but totally worth owning if you're a curious kind of person when it comes to finding out about 70's rock. You won't be disappointed.","Product: Reissue of their third album, which reached #12 in the U.K.when originally released in 1969. 16 tracks, including'Catblack (The Wizard's Hat)' and 'Chariots Of Silk'. 1998A&M release.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: it's good at times... not so much other times\n\nReview: Unicorn is actually an interesting listen initially, but definitely nothing essential or something that holds up over the course of several repeated listens. This is because the simplicity that dominates the vocal melodies is overbearing and intolerable, BUT... the first few times you hear it, it's not so bad.\n\nLet's get the good out of the way first- \"Chariots of Silk\" is one of the few songs that *does* hold up over the years. I've never been blown away by a vocal melody so compassionate and, at the risk of sounding like a wimp, the sincerity of the vocal melody sometimes immediately brings me to tears without hesitation. It's THAT good!\n\nOther tracks like \"She Was Born to be My Unicorn\" is strikingly beautiful and \"Like a White Star, Tangled and Far, Tulip That's What You Are\" contains an *amazingly* effective and downbeat atmosphere with just the right amount of acoustic guitar playing and a fantastic vocal melody. This is something very similar to mid 60's Bob Dylan- back when he was capable of such uniqueness.\n\nNow for the bad... which is a lot, haha. First of all \"Romany Soup\" has no reason to exist- a hard to distinguish British accent telling a lengthy 5 minute story that's completely pointless because it's not even a song. It stands out negatively and simply put, it just doesn't belong on the album. Other tracks like \"Pon a Hill\" consist of such a simplistic vocal melody that it makes you wonder just how long it took for the band to write. Probably no more than a few minutes, if that.\n\nAnother unavoidable problem is that Marc Bolan obviously came up with some compassionate lyrics but it's *extremely* hard to understand them (and not so much because of his British accent either). More like the old-fashioned way the album was recorded (which admittedly *is* kind of neat). Just have a lyrics sheet with you when you listen to Unicorn.\n\n\"Nijinsky Hand\" reminds me of the darker, mellow side of John Lennon when he was with the Beatles (think \"It's Only Love\"). It's admittedly quite catchy though. \"The Sea Beasts\" is somewhat upbeat, and fairly melodic. Another decent song. This is definitely a far cry from the stuff Bolan would pump out once Electric Warrior was released though, and the songwriting on an album like Tanx is easily superior to this.\n\n\"Iscariot\" *tries* to sound beautiful and... I guess it is. Not one of the better songs in the discography of Marc Bolan, but whatever. Actually what kind of ruins the beautiful effect Mark Bolan was going for is the repetitive way the vocals roll along, never actually changing into something else- just continuously falling back to the same old vocal melody. I need something *else* to really elevate the song to a new level of satisfaction. A song like \"The Throat of Winter\" is just boring to me. Sometimes not even the unique sound of \"dark folk\" Tyrannosaurus Rex was going for can save some of these songs from repetition. I put \"dark folk\" in quotation marks because other times the eerie folk elements are barely even noticeable.\n\n\"Catblack (The Wizard's Hat)\" and especially \"Stones for Avalon\" are mindlessly repetitive and pointless, but, to end my review on a high note, at least \"The Seal of Seasons\" is a GREAT vocal melody-dominated track. Another splendid vocal melody can be found on \"The Pilgrim's Tale\".\n\nYou probably wonder why I darted around reviewing the album inconsistently- well I asked myself the same thing concerning the thought process behind the songwriting of this album. It really bugs me how Unicorn goes from fairly good one minute, to forgettable the next minute. The album constantly jumps back and forth between the two. So my conclusion is that Unicorn is good but too inconsistent for me to recommend a purchase.","Product: Reissue of the British prog rock outfit's debut album, originally released in 1970 on CBS. The group were pioneers of dark metal & featured Jim Gannon, later a member of Fox. Seven tracks. Also contains the original cover art. 1999 release.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: not as scary as the spider thankfully\n\nReview: Update- March 10, 2010.\n\nI feel like writing an updated review for Black Widow's Sacrifice released in 1970.\n\nI don't believe I gave this album a fair chance at first. For a band that reminds me of a cross between Sugarloaf, Traffic and Caravan, I wasn't really giving the band (or this album for that matter) the credit it deserves.\n\nThese lyrics are absolutely *strange*. I suppose talking about the devil and making it sound truly authentic and believable was a daunting task back in 1970 (hey, some people don't take Black Sabbath's lyrics very seriously you know, which might encourage said people to disqualify Sabbath and prefer to acknowledge Black Widow's approach instead... unless you *do* think Sabbath's lyrics are meant to be taken seriously, then by all means, think what you want). For me anyway, hearing THESE lyrics definitely takes the edge away from Black Sabbath being the only mighty, powerful satanic rock band from the early 70's.\n\n\"In Ancient Days\" definitely reminds me of Traffic (the early 70's art rock version of Traffic that is, comparable to their classic \"Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys\") perhaps due to the quiet, jazzy style. This song takes a few serious listens to get into it. I honestly WASN'T able to appreciate this songs greatness the first time around. Perhaps it's a bit overlong, perhaps not. Your call.\n\n\"Way of Power\" is where the serious lyrics come into the picture. The guitar work in the beginning reminds me of Pink Floyd a little bit... something from the Ummagumma album maybe. Memorable vocal melody, and to be totally honest, I can't quite grasp the lyrics (the singer wants me to read something though, and there's confusion everywhere along with an apocalypse approaching- interesting stuff!)\n\n\"Come to the Sabbat\" is an AWESOME song. It contains a highly melodic vocal melody, and the only thing that drags the song down somewhat is the middle section with the singer repeatedly stating (not singing) \"Come to the Sabbat- Satan's there!\" Is that a violin playing during the verse melody?? If so, absolutely FANTASTIC arrangements for a highly melodic pop song. A pop song by a band that falls under the category of art rock (at least in *my* world they do).\n\n\"Conjuration\" has one of the scariest ways to open a song I've honestly ever heard. Talk about creating images about assuming you're somewhere nice, only to find out you've just arrived to the gates of hell! The twisted way the singer deliveries his lines is quite the freak-fest as well. Just LISTEN to that chorus and tell me there's anything resembling it from the early 70's. That particular part sounds way ahead of its time and totally unique.\n\nWhat in the heck was THIS band all about? I guess a song like this shows us why they weren't more popular- either people were afraid to dip into these guys, or the general population didn't know how to approach them. Either way, fascinating stuff. Black Widow should be remembered if for nothing else just the BIZARRE factor of their instrument choices, songwriting and lyrics.\n\n\"Attack of the Demon\" reminds me of Sugarloaf quite a bit. Check out Sugarloaf's debut if you don't believe me. \"Sacrifice\" is my favorite song because, well, if you've read any of my other reviews, you know I absolutely LOVE jams (especially ones that focus on melodic flute passages and keyboard swirls like this one does). Catchy chorus too \"You say you wanna sarcrifice\". I consider this a top notch jam too, right next to anything Frank Zappa, the Allman Brothers Band, Caravan, or Deep Purple has ever created.\n\nSpeaking of jams, \"Seduction\" contains one that's very different from the one on \"Sacrifice\". The one on \"Seduction\" is haunting.\n\nThis band had guts to release an evil album and back up the songwriting with seemingly pretty arrangements such as extended flute jams. You get the feeling these are definitely NOT supposed to be pretty flute jams- it's just an illusion to cover up the satanic lyrics. If so, the band deserves a ton of credit for coming up with something original. Not even Black Sabbath was arranging their creative style to *this* extent. Lyrically this band leaves Black Sabbath in the dust, and offers more in the way of creativity and making your imagination go completely nuts.\n\nLike I said above- not giving Black Widow's Sacrifice a fair chance has prompted me to go back and rewrite my old review. This album is definitely something amazing, and despite not sharing any similarities with Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper, Blue Oyster Cult and many other freakout bands, Black Widow manages to bring a fresh approach to the evil side of rock and roll on their Sacrifice album. An album that should be talked about more often than it is.","Product: 1972 album with Brian Eno on synthesizer and Robert Fripp producing for Robert Wyatt. 9 tracks. Sony.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: matching up against the greats\n\nReview: You know, my original review stunk, so here's an updated version (created June 12, 2011).\n\nLittle Red Record is *significantly* better than the bands previous album. In fact, Little Red Record doesn't even resemble that album in the slightest. This is because the instrumental chops are actually good on Little Red Record, whereas on Matching Mole's debut the band just seemed to ramble a lot and never accomplished much besides a few disjointed and unmelodic keyboard solos and mellotron passages (and a mediocre attempt at ineffective atmosphere).\n\nLittle Red Record makes up for it entirely though, and justifies the bands existence. There's some amazingly intense moments on here too. First of all, \"God Song\" has a magnificent vocal melody and lyrically it's a creative masterpiece.\n\n\"Gloria Gloom\" has an INCREDIBLY frightening 3-minute intro. WOW is that particular part of the song extremely effective, haha. It reminds me of a church in the middle of nowhere (like in some town down south with a population of around 150) and, during a certain time of night depending on the weather conditions, a ghost will come out of the grave and wreak havoc on the entire town. Creative imagery! As the 3 minutes rolls along... it just gets more unbearably ominous and intimidating. Talk about a fantastic moment. It immediately loses steam as soon as the mumbling vocals come in, but luckily a vocal melody appears later and darn near completely saves it, though it never again goes back to that amazing intro (though it\n*tries* to near the end).\n\nThe second best song is definitely \"Marchides\". An intense King Crimson-like jazz jam that takes up a good portion of its running time, and it's mostly notable for how *melodic* it is despite its relentless intensity. The song eventually shifts into pure atmosphere, and kind of loses my attention span by this point.\n\n\"Nan True's Hole\" has a heavy... um, I THINK it's a keyboard riff but I can't say for certain. Perhaps it's guitar trickery. Either way, the British female singer talking over said riff is a bit out of place, but the lyrics are interesting to say the least. Some of the guitar soloing is decent too.\n\n\"Flora Fidgit\" is a melodic jazzy instrumental reminiscent of Hatfield & the North. I love it, personally. Sure, the keyboard solo sounds severely dated, but I never cared about datedness in rock music, and you know what? I NEVER will! \"Smoke Signal\" contains mostly atmosphere without much else, but it's decent enough. It doesn't strike me as filler perhaps because some portions of the song veer towards light jazz, and these moments are alright in my book.\n\nI get the feeling Matching Mole was trying to make a statement with this album. What that statement is shall remain unknown, because they never gained the success or fan support for anybody to ever find out what their intentions here were. This band most certainly does not stand in the same league as Caravan, Soft Machine or Hatfield & the North. Let's get that perfectly straight. Still, as a very listenable album with its share of experiments, you can't go wrong with Little Red Record.","Product: Originally released in 1992, Neurosis Souls at Zero is now available on the band's own Neurot Recording label. Neurosis formed in 1985, combining the immense power of oneself and even deviate from that path. Combining the immense power of a Black Sabbath, the outer-limits of a Pink Floyd, the rock 'n' roll drive of a Motorhead and the spirited defiance and aggression of early Black Flag, Neurosis has successfully found a platform from which to launch their collective expression. Souls at Zero marked a creative turning point for Neurosis, who quickly became able to fathom new depths of musical discovery. Track highlights include: \"To Crawl Under ONe's Skin,\" \"Flight,\" \"Stripped,\" \"Empty,\" and more. Bonus tracks: \"Souls (Demo Version),\" \"Zero (Demo Version),\" \"Cleanse III (Live in London)\"\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: made me a believer\n\nReview: Wow, am I totally shocked right now! I normall hate grunge and I'm passionate and vocal about my hatred too but... this album. Souls at Zero. First of all the entire album has an irresistible atmosphere to it. It's like walking to a forest with a shovel and digging deeper and deeper to a crazy violent underworld and hearing chaos raining down above so it's like being caught in between two violent worlds and wondering how long you'll be safe in your temporary refuge. The experience is constantly terrific.\n\nThe guitar tone is wonderful, the production is spot-on perfection the likes of which I haven't heard since the 70's and countless hard rock bands from back then... and there's even a violin used occasionally to add *another* element to the bizarre, fascinating and creepy vibes Neurosis has apparently invented (unless there's another band that sounds like them, I haven't heard them). That's no ordinary violin playing there! It's the opposite of happy and cheerful- this is dreary but catchy and imaginative.\n\nWhile I'm not crazy about the lead singer, this is obviously -to me at least- a major MAJOR improvement over the likes of Tool and Alice In Chains. This isn't commercial and I'm thankful for that. It isn't meant to be. Souls at Zero flows eerily and magnificently from beginning to end. Listening to this album is definitely comparable to reaching deep within and exploring your own imagination. If more heavy metal and grunge was like this, I'd be more open-minded towards the genre as a whole and even take an effort to acquire a decent-sized collection of albums.","Product: Import reissue of the British progressive rock outfit's 1970 debut. 10 tracks including 'It Happened Today', 'Stretch','Screw' and 'Blind Man'. Standard jewelcase.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: I'd love some air conditioning on a hot july day like today\n\nReview: I was supposed to review Curved Air about 10 years ago and simply forgot all about the band until I woke up a couple days ago and thought about them. So here we are, in 2016!\n\nI know a few of their songs, including \"It Happened Today\". This was the first Curved Air song I ever heard. Love the opening line (\"Yesterday you know it never really happened, tomorrow you know it never really had, you you're only what you think you might be, I am only what you think I am\"). Talk about a mind trip of words! The lead singer (Sonja Kristina) has a voice that's not only pretty but perfectly suiting for this type of rock. The song is based around a speedy guitar riff but the vocals are the highlight. \"I know that you're afraid of what might happen, uncertain what to give and what to take, already you've forgotten why you came here, I can see exactly why you came\". Truth be told, I'm not a fan of the chorus. The verse is great, but the part that REALLY floors me is at the end when out of *nowhere* this really lovely orchestration comes in. Sounds unbelievably soothing and captures the early 70's innocence *very* well. It's a bit more sophisticated than I remember too. Love how the rhythm chugs along to it. Great stuff.\n\nWhoa! The way \"Stretch\" opens with the speedy violin reminds me of a Gentle Giant song. Vocals sort of remind me of Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac, preferably an early 70's song. Love the \"This was meant for you, that was meant for me\" part and perhaps unintentionally, it really reminds me of Jefferson Starship's early years. Interestingly Air Conditioning came out *before* Jefferson Starship's first album! Oh whoa! Check out that chaotic violin/guitar interplay part in the middle. \"Stretched a mile this morning when I got me out of bed, crazy dreams still floating in the mist around my head\". The guitar jams with authority at the end similar to an early Black Sabbath album. So good!\n\n\"Screw\" is a psychedelic experiment and it's really strange! The atmospheric violins really bring out the best in this song, and in fact if not for the violins I wouldn't be loving it so much. The vocal melody is pretty typical but the violin in between each line is some REALLY gorgeous stuff! The second time that violin builds, it really pumps up the emotional level. So cool! \"See the screw slowly turn around, see it sink in without a sound, feel your head split with every turn, feel the steel now begin to turn, all is lost now it seems that way, seeing a face through broken glass, seeing the patterns of your past, feeling the earth shake, try to walk, losing your reason, try to talk all is lost now, it seems that way\". No!! All is NOT lost!\n\n\"Blind Man\" is a folk/rock thing with violins, and it's amazing. The female vocals are really appropriate. This song reminds me of something the Incredible String Band would have tried when they were first starting out. That's a good comparison folks! Yeah yeah, some people hate the Incredible String Band. That opinion is no friend of mine! The way the violin chugs with the melody along is just fantastic, and especially the jam at the end which might not be the most creative use of the violin ever laid down on tape but it works really well. Let's sing the opening line! \"I'll be yours if you'll be mind\", said the blind man to his dog, if man's best friend will be my friend until the bitter end, days and nights which chuck and turn, walk by through them, to me all the time the world can blend I'll be in company, I will follow where you lead, our paths will never cross us, the sounds and smells of wind and rain, with help I know we'll get there\".\n\nOh yeah, speaking of violin that's just superb. Check out \"Vivaldi\". I think we all pretty much figured violin would be the main attraction of this song based on the title. It's like classical music and rock were meant to be combined. The 2-minute intro with the violins being so persistent is off the chain (as Mel B would say- yeah that's right, a Spice Girls reference in a Curved Air review!) Then the tone changes so the violin jams in a creepy way that reminds me of exploring catacombs. A couple minutes later the song just gets BIZARRE and funky with bass guitar... at least I think that's bass guitar. Reminds me of robots fighting to claim their territory. Did I just say that? Yes it's hot and I can't think very well when I'm hot. :) A minute later it's all about Hendrix-style feedback stuff before the paranoid-paced violin intro returns. Move over Mozart! Okay this reminds me of *some* classical composer. Not sure which one.\n\nOkay back to reality! Well not quite. Check out the intro to \"Hide and Seek\". The way the dreamy pace works with the sparse piano notes is pretty unique. When the guitar line comes in, it's a memorable one as you'd expect because by now you can probably tell this band is pretty darn good at their instruments. The vocal melody is a bit strange- the female singer really escalates her voice at the end of certain lines, and it's memorable enough. Not the strongest melody though. \"Nighttime comin', playing hide and seek (I have got to find you), streets deserted I am here alone (Frightened of the unknown), walking the streets I call your name but no one comes, running through the town I call your name but no one hears, shadows forming where can I begin? Darkness is closing in, doors all closed and window curtains drawn (all the people have gone)\". Weird lyrics! If the song is supposed to capture the feeling of being alone and afraid at night while walking the dark streets, it works! \"Ru-U-u_U-unning through the town I call your name\" is a strange vocal trick. Sonja can sing very well but sometimes she takes her voice too far, however this is pretty spontaneous stuff (early Curved Air) so it can be forgiven! Strange at the end how the chaotic guitar flows into the sparse piano of the intro. It does so quite naturally!\n\nSpeedy vocals make up \"Propositions\". There's actually two sets of equally memorable vocal melodies- the first one goes directly into the other, and then to make things even juicier there's a monotonous (but enjoyable) guitar part in between the vocals that eventually blossoms like a flower. \"See red button, blow myself up, a paying proposition for the abandoned mind, a paying proposition for the abandoned mind, I've found a nice way to die\". Don't even know what these lyrics are about. The vocals only appear in the beginning and end. The whole thing is memorable but weird. \"Rob One\" makes me happy for slowing down the pace and providing a piano ballad... with violins of course. Wow the way the violin and piano play together is quite lovely. Quite an emotional instrumental. Very cool the way the piano builds at the end while the violin persists. This is the kind of song you listen to while riding a train away from a place you're going to miss and will never return to again.\n\n\"Situations\" opens with a quiet vocal melody that once again reminds me of something Gentle Giant would have been doing at the time. \"Though I am no longer alone, everybody seems to take my mind away, I love you but it isn't as I planned, I promise you I've done the best I can, haven't touched any other man, situations seem to have been kind to you, I've wished to be beside somebody else but actions are the proof of love not thoughts\". Great quiet vocal melody until the line \"See what a fool I've been, I haven't lived in my dream\" arrives. In the background I hear really strange instruments all playing together- there has to be more going on here besides piano, keyboards violin and drums. This is a mind trip I tell ya! There's prettiness in the vocals and weirdness in the instrumental stuff but they're able to share the same playing field. After this part the song turns into something that reminds me of Yes' \"Close to the Edge\" but not as weird as that (*nothing* is as weird as that!) Then the vocals afterwards turn elegant before the best guitar solo on the entire album comes in. Just the placement of such a guitar solo is fascinating enough (I seriously wasn't expecting it!) but the fact you can separate the solo from the other awesome things going on throughout \"Situations\" is a true sign of a very cool band. The song ends with the same quiet vocals that it began with. Also enjoy the line \"Seems that it will be a long time, before my mind will take in the reality that life is not as simple as it seems, and night's the only place to keep a dream\".\n\n\"Vivaldi (With Cannons)\" closes out the album. It's just the intro from \"Vivaldi\" with weird dated effects in the background but it has an ending to it that's enchanted-sounding. Hold the phone! This review ain't done yet! There's a bonus track called \"What Happens When You Blow Yourself Up\". I know what happens and it's not a good thing. The intro is fascinating with the eerie keyboards and violins. The song gets going a moment later with a jazzy vocal melody. \"Reason condemning my apparent insanity, seems the essence of creation is to destroy, releasing blinding inhibition you can be free\" is a creepy line, and I hope it's not true! This song reminds me of Caravan a lot, which is a good thing.\n\nOverall, highly recommended! Curved Air is truly an underrated fantastic band. Perhaps the vocal melodies don't floor me as much as I would have liked, but I can't complain about something that's honestly pretty trivial because this album makes up for it with all kinds of fascinating instrumental parts (mainly the violin!) tempo shifts, and an unusually pleasant mood.","Product: Uk pressing features a total of 8 tracks. Island. 2005.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: ultra aggressive this time\n\nReview: Ultravox continues being inventive with Ha!-Ha!-Ha! pertaining to their own special way of blending new wave and punk with ambience, but I feel the album overall is a very slight step down compared to their debut. Probably because this album emphasizes punk over catchy vocal melodies like on the first album.\n\n\"Hiroshima Mon Amour\" begins reminding me of Blondie's famous \"Heart of Glass\" with the imagery being somewhere outdoors in a tribe by a river and grooving away. 80's Tangerine Dream resemblances come in with the synths, and the saxophone jamming and vocal melody are both really pleasant. This song jams more on the sax than one might expect, especially near the end. \"Riding out to echo beach, a million memories in the trees and sands\" is a nice line. This song captures the feeling of worldliness pretty magnificently. This song indicates more experimenting that Ultravox would later find a little success in. It would seem Ultravox wasn't very successful on these early albums as far as popularity and fame is concerned which is a shame.\n\n\"Distant Smile\" opens with a nice semi-depressing piano line before dissolving into ambient stuff. This part would be easy to write off as fairly boring but because of the images it creates inside my head (in this case being on a shoreline somewhere faraway) I reconsider! After this looooong build-up (I'm not impatient or criticizing it however!) the song suddenly changes in a HUGE way- now it's a punk rocker. Clever! I didn't see this coming since it comes out of nowhere. The chorus is memorable too. Since the song is evenly split between ambience experimentation and punk, it's rather unique (especially when at the time, in the late 70's, artists like Tangerine Dream and the Clash were breaking new grounds in those genres- then you have a band like Ultravox that comes along and combines the two!)\n\n\"Artificial Life\" features one creepy intro! Doesn't it remind you of a bad drug trip? The idea of speaking through it reminds me of Roxy Music's \"In Every Dream House a Heartache\" but it's so short it doesn't matter. \"It goes on all night, alllll night!\" is a vocal line that catches my attention. Just the timing of such line makes it unusual. This song is excellent for the keyboards subtly placed in the background while a driving guitar riff carries a pretty powerful vocal melody. The line \"I've learned to be a stranger!\" is a great scream and awesome the way the guitar plays along and turns into an outrageous Alice Cooper-like solo a moment later. Oh yeah! The violins from the first album... almost forgot about those! How could I forget- their inclusion is pretty revolutionary. They're played in a very loud and chaotic kind of enjoyable way here.\n\n\"The Man Who Dies Every Day\" opens with a groovy synth line, and the chorus is excellent. \"The man, who dies, every daaaaay!\" The vocal melody settles for a persistently pounding one that might grate for those who aren't accustomed to Ultravox's early style. But the truth is those people will just have to get over it and learn to adjust because this is some spectacular singing with a top-notch vocalist in Warren Cann. Ah, the violin comes in a moment later and helps to intensify the atmosphere. \"You never showed on photographs and you never grew much older\" is a good line.\n\n\"The Frozen Ones\" opens with finger snapping and a frosty vibe which is unique. \"Marching across our own screens, our faces form all our needs, the future's not returning, all bridges built for burning\" is a memorable line for the way it makes me think we're stuck in a time period that won't improve- it'll only get worse. I sort of wish this soft and content imagery of the song remained and had not switched into a more aggressive punk one a moment later, but we can't have everything can we? It doesn't matter much anyway because this is a REALLY good professional vocal melody. David Bowie and the Clash must've been proud. \"The frozen o-o-o-ones!!\" is a great sing-along chorus while soaring over a broken bridge in your convertible! Any kind of daring scenario. \"Fear in the Western World\" is more along the lines of straight up hardcore punk. The lyrics are a bit more inappropriate than usual (accurately describing the filthy aspects of the western world though!) The band also captures the punk energy quite convincingly. \"I can feel the fear in the western world\" is a great line.\n\n\"ROckWrok\" (not a spelling or caps lock mistake- I was wondering, hehe) is a more Clash-like imitation than the above mentioned punk rockers. Not really a criticism though since the music's still terrific. I miss the days of punk being memorable like in the older days. A lot of punk nowadays is either an attempt to be unbearably noisy or they go the commercialized route which is too weak to make a convincing aggressive statement. A song like \"ROckWrock\" however goes the distance to have a great vocal melody and good guitar soloing in between which is the balance required for us to take notice of it. It's quite heavy too, but not tediously so. The intro to \"While I'm Still Alive\" sounds familiar but I can't recall where I heard it before. I LOVE the screechy guitar line that comes after, and how it returns during the chorus. I love the \"If tomorrow's not there then at least today's all mine\" line too.\n\nOverall, well the punk energy is evident quite strongly here. It's much stronger than on the debut but the album's still awesome overall. These guys are master songwriters in my opinion so the album still deserves 5 stars.","Product: Import only 1979 album produced by famed Disco producer Giorgio Moroder. Ron and Russell Mael were always taking chances musically, so when they joined creative forces with the producer of Donna Summer's big hits, the critics were dumbfounded. But upon release, the album was instantly called a classic and remains the foundation of their career for the last 25 years. With witty lyrics, catchy melodies and a musical bed of keyboards and dance beats, this remains one of their most influential albums. Includes the chart hits 'Number One Song in Heaven' and 'Beat the Clock' as well as solid album tracks like 'La Dolce Vita', No. 1 in Heaven surprises by succeeding on an artistic and commercial level. Repertoire.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: sparkles through the sky\n\nReview: Sparks goes disco! Wow, never thought they'd ever go down THIS treacherous path. However it's pretty good. They do the best they can with a limited genre and make it exhilarating at times.\n\n\"The Number One Song In Heaven\" clocks in at 7 and a half minutes, one of the longest Sparks songs I've heard thus far. For a song to be number one in heaven, everyone must agree it's awesome right? Unless heaven works the same way as down here- what's most accessible isn't necessarily the best. Well in this case it's probably the latter. It starts off beautifully by actually resembling my version of heaven with weird vocal tricks... then the vocal melody comes in. Well before the vocals arrive, we're treated to that all too familiar disco beat that hundreds of bands were using at the time. The point in music history that many of us agree was a low point since it made even the most original of rock artists lose their identity and blend in with the other ones.\n\nThis song is no different I'm afraid, but the vocals... hearing Sparks create vocals similar to Donna Summer \"I Need Love\" by not only hitting high notes but having them reach soothingly astronomical heights, is pretty cool. The vocal melody is memorable too. I couldn't even begin to understand a single lyric being sung based on the high-pitched beauty of the vocals overpowering everything else. Suddenly a few minutes later the disco beat picks up. That's a surprising move since I've never heard a disco song do that before. At the end of the day it's still nothing more than recycled disco beats, but to go from slower dreamier beats into faster-paced ones is a pretty surprising change of pace. As expected the lyrics are clever (the line \"Lyrically weak, but the music's the thing\"- heh, making fun of disco's mindlessness). A decent song overall.\n\n\"Tryouts for the Human Race\" is a very bizarre song that begins with bouncy sound effects resembling a video game, then some really catchy and melodic disco beats come in. These disco beats are rather cool. The chorus sounds like Jeff Lynne from Electric Light Orchestra and it's VERY catchy, as is the beautiful verse melody. \"Tryouts for the human race from Burlington to Bonn, ah we are a quarter billion strong, tryouts for the human race from twilight time till dawn, we just want to be someone\". The song then shifts into an outer space-sounding moment of beauty. The vocals at the end resemble \"Do a little dance shake a little love get down tonight\", but not necessarily the melody itself- just the style. \"La Dolce Vita\" sort of reminds me of 10cc's \"I'm Not In Love\" with the haunting intro before the pace picks up (or rather, disco beats) and a pretty demanding vocal style arrives. The chorus is good though, even though again making out any of the lyrics is nearly impossible. Something like \"Gold diggers are hungry guys, gold diggers are we\". I don't have a disco decipherer, lol. I like the gentle robotic Kraftwerk-like experimentation afterwards. I can't help but have mixed feelings with the song, or rather, stuck in a catch-22. I love the melody and embarrassingly I admit I even like dancing to it sometimes, but it repeats like *mad*.\n\n\"Academy Award Performance\" is more Kraftwerk experimenting with the computer effects combined with disco beats. This song is noticeably really happy and fun. A nacho party for robots? Probably! The verse melody is really cool. It reminds me of being in an airport in the 80's and watching airplanes take off the runway for some reason. Must be triggering memories of that flight to San Diego I went on in 1985. Anyway the verse melody has a wide range of emotional shifts which is strange because I should be dancing and having fun with the robots but... yeah! The song feels like it has deeper meaning than intended perhaps based on the fairly sophisticated vocal melody. This has GOTTA be my favorite song on the album.\n\n\"My Other Voice\" has all kinds of interesting shifts while maintaining the disco beats. This song would actually be more appropriate to be titled \"The Number One Song In Heaven\" considering how beautiful it sounds. It uses the same kind of robotic effects that ELO were using at the time, and the dreaminess even reminds me of \"The Whale\" a little bit. I almost think this stuff is more enjoyable than ELO's Discovery album released around the same time. It would be really hard to pick between the two. It's perfectly suitable how the vocal melody comes in after a few minutes exactly one time. It doesn't repeat again. \"Beat the Clock\" opens with a slight \"Funky Town\" resemblance but it's enjoyable in the repeating of the \"You gotta beat the clock, you gotta beat the clock!\" line. The lyrics are easy to make out this time. \"I was born a little premature, mom just couldn't take no more, had no time to learn to cry, goodbye mama gotta fly\".\n\nOverall, this is one of Sparks strangest albums. Believe it or not it's really awesome though. I almost want to give it a 5 but meh, it's too disco-centered so I can't. The songwriting is about as good as it can be while being based on disco beats though. That's really neat. I highly recommend this album but yeah, check out early to mid 70's Sparks first.","Product: Remastered reissue of the German prog rock outfit's 1973album, their second overall & first for EMI. 6 tracks including 'Land Of No Body' and 'Inside'. 2000 release. Standard jewelcase.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: eloy rockin' it out\n\nReview: This is one mighty fine rock album from the early 70's. It contains that pleasant and muddy sound that makes the music sound so darn good. I love it!\n\nI prefer the early period of Eloy over the more atmospheric stuff they'd center around more in the later years. One thing that really surprises me about Inside is how the lead singer closely resembles Ian Anderson from Jethro Tull. Not that I'm calling him a rip-off or anything. Some people can't help the way they sing. Then again, if the guys from Eloy considered Jethro Tull one of their inspirations, that wouldn't be a bad thing either.\n\n\"Future City\" is my favorite song on the album. The acoustic part that leads into a bouncy rhythm near the middle, along with some dangerously heavy and excellent guitar playing, is just too cool to put into words. The 17 minute track that opens the album has its share of atmospheric segments, along with some Deep Purple-like keyboard playing and some downright heavy guitar jamming. These guys sound so good, it's hard to believe they aren't more well known here in America.\n\nAs for what kind of images the music puts in my head, well, let's just say I'm dreaming about clouds, heaven, and all sorts of places when I hear this wonderful stuff. That's the benefit of making music adventurous.\n\nWell, just remember, there's plenty of forgotten or unpopular rock bands out there, and many of the ones from the 70's are a LOT of fun to listen to. Eloy happens to be one of those bands.","Product: 1973 release for the jazz-rock fusion act features one 38 minute track. Seventh.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: great... or bad, no no, GREAT\n\nReview: Update- April 6, 2016.\n\nMekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh has been on my mind lately so I just HAD to re-listen to it. And boy does it sound just as insane as I remember, haha. I truly can't even begin to describe this, even now several years after first listening to it and writing my original amazon review. It's just too out there man!\n\nHowever now that I've waited so many years to give the album another listen, I can sort of understand some of it better. No not the lyrics. The lyrics still don't make any sense of course. Someone once told me the lyrics aren't even real words anyway so no need to care too deeply about those.\n\nAnyway it's no secret the one song I could remember, \"Da Zeuhl Wortz Mekanik\", is only because it repeats a lot. What exactly is repeating? To me it sounds like female operatic vocals, but I'm not sure if that's technically what's going on here. Also sadly \"Nebehr Gudahtt\" is a victim of being too noisy and loosely structured to win me over, however that's not to say I dislike the music now. No way! It's more like taking a 6 year break and coming back to this album as a different person with a different point of view on music reveals how I feel about it better. Side one is clearly the highlight of this unusual album. \"Hortz Fur Dehn Stekehn West\" is probably the best song. It builds so perfectly and shows the bands original style.\n\nAnd perhaps I'm way off with this one, but there's a distinct feeling of darkness and anger while listening to this music, so I feel like this is some form of satanic opera. There I said it. Who knows what the stuff throughout Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh really is though. And the looping vocals I mention in my original review? Well it doesn't sound so much like the vocals loop to me now. Rather I'm able to detect a well-made theme. Its just not immediate there's a theme going on the first few times I listened to it. Probably because I'm approaching it from a rock or art rock point of view, but there's not a whole lot of electric guitar to be found (but what's there works pretty well).\n\nAnyway here's my original review-\n\nThis Magma album is either the coolest thing ever recorded, or the worst thing ever laid down on tape. I can't tell! It all depends on how I feel the day I listen to it.\n\nThe entire album is nothing but chants and snappy vocal melodies that seem to loop over and over and OVER and OVER again. Now, the appeal of this is that, the band wanted to build a theme (a DARK theme, that reminds me of those old Castlevania video games) and while it works, it's REALLY not an album for everyone. Not everyone will appreciate the way everything repeats a hundred times... but I think you'll admit what the band is trying to do here is just downright awesome. What's amazing is how the band doesn't let up at ALL to give you time to catch your breath.\n\nWhat's highly unusual about the whole thing is how there's *nothing* from the 70's that sounds ANYTHING like this. The way the man and female singer frequently go back and forth singing brief melodies, and more often than not, flat out SCREAMING, is really something special. This doesn't sound like the kind of album that was recorded in a studio. More like a castle, right after casting a bunch of spells.\n\nDespite these (seemingly) looping brief chants that continue to repeat enough times to make your head spin, I can't remember them when the music's over. That's not because the music isn't memorable- no way. This is without a doubt a memorable album. It HAS to be, because it's original. It has its own sound and style. For that alone, it's something to appreciate.\n\nI THINK I can't remember how the music goes when the album is finished because some of the themes repeat so much you begin to stop paying attention to them, and start paying attention to what's going on in the background. That's alright with me. And hey, there *are* plenty of good chants, screams and melodies despite the fact my complaining would indicate otherwise.\n\nThis is just truly something incredible. Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh IS a masterpiece. It's a 5 star album. If you're looking for something that's unlike anything you've ever heard before, get this album now.","Product: Out of print in the U.S. this '99 reissue features the hit'I'm Down' and 7 bonus tracks 'Hello Lady Goodbye', 'Another Night' (live), '4th of July Asbury Park (Sandy)' (live), 'I'm Down' (live), 'Come Down to the Shore', 'Born to Run' and 'Why Don't You Call'. 17 tracks in all. Digipak.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: ordinay Hollies... which means of course, not as good as usual\n\nReview: Another Night is pretty generic by the Hollies standards. By this point the band had built up a reputation of having some of the very best harmonies (not to mention some of the most *melodic* harmonies) ever laid down on tape. Another Night is just typical affair. It's a good enough album that if you happen to see it cheap, it's totally worth it. But for over 20 bucks? No way.\n\nThe title song is immediately catchy. Just a really solid number. They significantly improve the overrated Springsteen version of \"4th of July, Asbury Park\". Now it's more melodic than ever, and the chorus is actually listenable.\n\n\"Lonely Lobo Lullaby\" is a really mellow tune. The beginning of the song reminds me of Bob Dylan's \"Knockin' on Heaven's Door\". \"I'm Down\" is along the same lines- it's certainly melodic, but just melodic *enough*. These are moody, almost romantic-like tunes. That's why it's hard to listen to an album like this all the time. It's one of those \"once in a while I'll play it when it fits my mood\" albums.\n\nThen again, it's impossible to dismiss two of the very best songs. One of them being \"Give Me Time\". A brilliantly created pop song that easily stands alongside the very best tunes the band has to offer (that of course being a HUGE collection of songs from the bands repertoire) and the closing tune that absolutely floors me because of the lyrics named \"Lucy\". When I first heard those lyrics and matched them with the bands harmonies... wow. I was immediately driven to tears. These are my personal favorite songs.\n\nI know one thing- if this had actually been the only Hollies album ever made, it would have been a solid record from beginning to end. However, by this point in time most people were well aware what the Hollies were capable of, and that this album is somewhat lackluster in comparison to earlier efforts.\n\nEarlier albums better displayed the bands talent on those distinct and colorful harmonies. Here the vocals are just bland in comparison. A distinct mid 70's dated sound doesn't help their cause either. Keep these things in mind if you're considering buying Another Night.","Product: Digitally remastered, German reissue of 1973 debut featuring the hit 'Rubber Bullets'. Bonus tracks 'Hot Rock Sun', '4%Of SOmething', 'Rubber Bullets' (Single Version), 'Waterfall', 'Bee in My Bonnet'. 2000 release. Standard jewlcase.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: this should definitely be remembered\n\nReview: For whatever reason, the music of 10cc isn't being remembered today the same way other experimental albums from the 70's are. I can't really explain WHY. I mean, the music on 10cc's debut sounds just as creative to me as something like, oh I don't know, David Bowie's Heroes, Brian Eno's Here Comes the Warm Jets, any number of Frank Zappa albums, and even Gentle Giant (except 10cc *isn't* a progressive rock band, though they sometimes have prog rock tendencies).\n\nI guess one possible reason for this album not going down as a major creative effort might have to do with the occasional dive into average typical 70's rock. Sometimes you can hear normal commercial 70's rock on this album, such as on the closer \"Fresh Air for my Mama\", which wouldn't sound entirely out of place on an album like Paul McCartney's Wings at the Speed of Sound. It's easily the only weak point on an otherwise pretty brilliantly crafted and diverse pop album. This album is certainly deserving of major praise, so hopefully one day it will catch on and be cool again.\n\nTo be honest, I can actually see a comedy movie in the future having some 10cc tunes as part of the soundtrack, and this *might* get people out there who like creative pop songwriting to check out 10cc's debut effort. Maybe then the album will finally get more credit. At one point in time however, this WAS a pretty popular album.\n\nMaybe \"Johnny, Don't Do It\" with a very obvious doo-wop style is a huge turn-off for some people as well. It shouldn't be though, because this song is great. The rest of the album sounds *nothing* like that anyway. In fact, every song sounds very very different from the other ones, something other legendary rock bands such as the Beatles were quite good at as well- diversity.\n\n\"Sand in My Face\" is definitely a fantastic pop song. Any fan of Frank Zappa will love this song, I guarantee it. \"The Dean and I\" is another song that focuses on whacky vocal melodies, played quite tastefully I might add, and perhaps even a bit challenging to get into. \"The Hospital Song\" is another example of complexity, and with repeated listens, becoming more memorable each time.\n\n\"Speed Kills\" has a great rhythm, and the song is very melodic. It's quite hard to hate a song like this I believe. \"Rubber Bullets\" reminds me so much of \"Smokin' in the Boys Room\" during the verse melody, but some classic 10cc weirdness comes into play and elevates the melody to greater heights.\n\n\"Ships Don't Disappear in the Night\" is, oddly enough, and instantly likeable song. A 10cc song that *doesn't* require numerous playthroughs to get into it? Say it ain't so, haha. I LOVE it.\n\n\"Donna\" takes us back to the early 60's rock style, but it's NOT anything like that major popular 60's ballad \"Donna\". Two very different songs. Actually the more I think about it, this song sounds a lot like the Beatles \"Oh Darling\".\n\nI don't get why more people aren't checking out this album. I really don't. This album seriously does everything right as far as challenging listeners with exciting pop music.","Product: Tommy and the boys were still churning out raw garage rock when they scored their first hit, the #1 1966 smash Hanky Panky . The #46 LP of the same name includes that classic plus Say I Am . They were on to more polished pastures by the time '68's Mony Mony came out, featuring the irresistible title smash plus Somebody Cares . Two legendary pop albums on one CD, 23 tracks total!\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: keepin' the 60's flowin'\n\nReview: This is a review for the Mony Mony album.\n\nOh geez! I was hoping to listen to Mony Mony before the cold front blasted through but too late! It arrived 5 hours sooner than predicted! 50 mph winds making it hard to write a review, but this has to be done before it gets too darn cold in this house and I don't feel like doing it. Here goes!\n\nAm I the only one who gets \"Mony Mony\" mixed up with \"Hanky Panky?\" When I was a kid I thought they were the same song- one was just a slightly altered version of the other, haha! I hear the difference now. \"Mony Mony\" is a great party song in the same style as the Beatles \"Twist and Shout\" but, and I might anger some people by saying this, I miiiiight prefer Billy Idol's version. I dunno, he just takes the fun level and turns it up a couple more notches. Plus you know, 80's music is generally regarded as fun so the song feels more fitting in that context. The B52's and Billy Idol back to back just feels so right!\n\n\"Gingerbread Man\" starts like it's going to be something psychedelic before picking up the pace and turning fairly normal. Oh wow the production is quite good! Tommy James vocals never sounded so clean. Awesome melody too- upbeat and powerful. The guitar line between the vocals reminds me of the guitar the Who used for some of their Tommy material. \"Hey girl if you've lost your way, reach out and take my hand I'm a gingerbread man! Hey love is a game I play, I'll teach you yes, I can 'cuz I'm a gingerbread man, so deep in the night, come make you feel alright, going to open the door, going to take you somewhere you've never been before\". This isn't what I thought the gingerbread man was like. I thought he was a little cookie that jumps out of the oven and runs away mocking your slow speed.\n\nHa, and maybe it *is* a mockery because the next song is called \"Run Away With Me\" which sounds so pretty and carefree! \"\"If you think this world is gonna hurt you run away with me, I will promise never to desert you, run away with me, run away and you will see just how groovy life can really be, run away and we'll be free, free to do the things we always wanna do\". I almost want to run away with Tommy James and the Shondells due to how pretty this line is sung, haha. A song like this with its strong happy vibe surely takes my mind away from the brutal cold wind blowing things around outside.\n\n\"Somebody Cares\" is pure happiness- \"Now the time is going and the sky is cloudy, the birds are leaving and the cold is nearing, a trust in me and you'll know the reason, that our love will last through many a season, so give me a smile and you'll know that our love's true, don't be in doubt 'cuz I'd never hurt you, a trust in me and you'll know the reason, that our love will last through many a sesaon\". Even the jumpy chorus gets my feet dancing! \"Somebody cares, and I'm gonna make you see, somebody cares, so put your trust in me baby!\"\n\n\"Night Time (I'm a Lover)\" has a strange melody, but it's upbeat and somewhat aggressive by late 60's standards. Top notch melody though! \"Day, here is just my time for rest, night is made for me, that's when I'm at my best, my best, my best, my best now baby\" is a sudden high pitched change! I love it too. \"The nighttime, baby such a nighttime ago, talking about the nighttime, oh we can't get it now girl, oh the nighttime is my kind of time beneath the sunshine, push that town yeah baby, mmm, talking about the nighttime, baby it's the right time such a fine time, going to be together now girl, mmm baby in the nighttime I feel so scared of time yeah feel like sleep's time, mmm baby it's the right time, the right time, baby the nighttime!\"\n\n\"(I'm Taken)\" continues the high pitched vocals in the beginning before turning into a soothing ballad. I really love Tommy James voice. The shift into this part- \"I'm taken and you'd just be fakin' your heart out, I'm taken and you'd be mistaken to start out, 'cuz I'm not out for love\" is really good. This music is honestly written amazingly well! I admit I enjoy many 60's bands... alright you got me, I enjoy just about all of them! But with melodies like these, Tommy James really feels like one of the best of the entire decade. \"I've got somebody who's so good to me, but if I didn't I'd be glad to be the one to love you like nobody could. I could\". Now that's pure love!\n\n\"Do Unto Me\" sounds like hit potential! \"You said that you'd be true and never leave, but now you're trying to forget me\" is a great patr of the song, as is the chorus \"But do unto me girl, as you have me do to you, just do unto me girl, you know how much I love you\". The strings are a nice touch. Perhaps the only thing I dislike are the background vocals in the chorus. They hit certain high notes during this particular part that rubs me the wrong way.\n\n\"One Two Three and I Fell\" has a catchy and fast-paced opening line in a way that reminds me of the Grassroots. \"Love is a light burning inside only becuase of you, yeah baby you really got me goin', I don't believe how fast it's growin', everything's right, every night all of my dreams come true, you were the one thing I was missin', you came along we started kissin\", Sure these lyrics might seem sort of cliched, but the way they're combined with the convincing vocals makes it an amazing song. It's pure 60's baby!\n\n\"Get Out Now\" is what my dad's girlfriend screamed when she threw me out of the house on Thanksgiving 5 years ago, but I probably deserved it! The \"Heartbreak baby\" background vocals are sort of odd because they come in right away before the regular line has a chance to be sung! But I like it. \"Get out get out get out now, get out, he doesn't love you baby, get out get out get out now, get out my love is more than maybe!\" The chorus probably isn't as strong as I was hoping for, but I still love it. Great keyboard part near the end.\n\n\"I Can't Go Back to Denver\" is probably what Bob Seger said to himself after regretting the release of \"Get Out of Denver\". I'm kidding, I'm sure Bob loves Denver. This song somewhat rocks in the beginning with piano before the verse melody arrives. I actually dislike the chorus. Too gospel-ish. Female vocals weren't necessary and sort of ruin it. \"Can't go back to Denver with you on my mind!\" But the verse melody, that's where Tommy James excels!\n\n\"Some Kind of Love\" is a great little song! The fast moving part in the beginning and the way it suddenly and dreamily shifts into a really superb melody... so good. It then speeds up again during the \"Somebody sat beside you all the time, you're so fine\" part. \"There are so many places baby, I've sene lots of lonely faces baby, well I've learned one thing girl, don't let love get away yeah\". Great handclapping type of chorus too. Highly listenable song! Actually what am I talking about? This is Tommy James and the Shondells. The whole album is listenable.","Product: Remastered reissue of the British progressive rock act's 1972 album. Featuring the original 6 tracks and 4 bonus tracks, 'Pye's June Thing', 'Ferdinand', 'Looking Left, Looking Right' and 'Pye's Loop'. Standard jewelcase. 2001 release.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: caravan is now officially the best band ever\n\nReview: Caravan was always known for their great, catchy vocal melodies, and I believe the ones found on Waterloo Lily to be their very best.\n\nI love singing along to these tunes. I also love just sitting back and feeling good as I absorb the wonderful and melodic instrumental jams. These jams seem to flow carefully and beautifully into other instrumental parts. This sure is one likeable band. Because of that, I'm surprised more people out there aren't familiar with them. It's hard to believe Caravan hasn't become one of those \"forgotten favorites\". They seriously deserve it. They deserved to be more well-known in America while they were popular in the early 70's too.\n\nAnd WOW!!! I think I finally found the best instrumental jam I've honestly ever heard! \"Nothing at All\" is 10 minutes of pure perfection! Alright, so those noisy sax moments can probably be tossed away, but besides that, the rest of the track is absolutely fantastic. It reminds me of a cross between Jethro Tull and a popular Jeff Beck song from his Blow By Blow album. Wow, and I thought Gong's \"Boring\" was a brilliant jam (granted it IS a brilliant song!) but Caravan's take on the instrumental jamming... they really hit the right sequence of notes with \"Nothing At All\".\n\nHonest, caring lyrics, pretty vocal melodies, and heavenly instrumental jams. That's what you can expect from this album, and the Caravan albums that came before and after this one. I'm not exaggerating either. It's just a beautiful thing. What a great band. Pick up Waterloo Lily today.","Product: Reissue of Italian progressive rock masterpiece originally released in 1974. Considered one of the best Italian prog albums of the 70's, combining hard rock with great keyboards & flute.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: what a talented band from Italy\n\nReview: Italian progressive rock is something you either really love, or you don't care for it. In all honesty, a lot of people who don't care for the Italian rock scene of the 70's probably aren't giving it a fair chance. The choice of instruments many of these bands brought to the table is just magnificent. You feel like you're in some classical theatre absorbing all kinds of talented musical ideas, and you just LOVE it, and want more! That's what Italian rock does for me.\n\nBiglietto per L'Inferno is just fantastic. Vocals, instrumental variety, melodic arrangements, everything I like about rock and roll can be found right here, with this band, and this album. A must buy, even though it costs quite a bit of money to purchase.","Product: Won Sin. 2004.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: the kind of music you never forget\n\nReview: Oh you've got to be kidding me! Only a small amount of reviews for mid 70's Jade Warrior? This is CLASSIC stuff! This is a band that plays a kind of instrumental music that is *truly* adventurous, unlike all those new bands that claim to take your mind places only to end up disappointing the listener with generic modern progressive rock.\n\nNo no, Floating World is the kind of album that ALL Caravan, Camel, Genesis, King Crimson and Jethro Tull fans need to hear.\n\nThe most amazing thing about Jade Warrior is the way their music takes me to different continents across the world. Most bands aren't able to take my mind to faraway places *this* well. This band feels absolutely authentic. The real deal. But sadly, not many people are aware of them.\n\nAnyone who appreciates the Camel classic The Snow Goose will LOVE this. The Asian vibes are unbelievably strong and constantly present throughout the album, with dazzling flute and acoustic work. That's just a TINY example what's in store for any listener awesome enough to check out this album.\n\nJade Warrior is the kind of band where you really believe the band members were in a special state of mind to create music this powerful. Please give this album a listen as soon as possible and I *guarantee* you'll be happy you did.","Product: Digitally remastered edition of their classic album with 10 bonus tracks, most being previously unreleased BBC sessions.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: these guys should be more well known, oh yes they should\n\nReview: This Barclay James Harvest album is pretty good, but the songwriting is probably a bit weaker than some will have you believe. \"Mother Dear\" was influenced by the Moody Blues (you can tell because the lead singer sounds like Justin Hayward) but the songwriting isn't very strong. It's a good hook the tune has going there, but it COULD be even better. \"The Iron Maiden\" is AWESOME! I love that verse melody and the neat musical arrangements in the background that really elevate the verse melody to a new level of excitement.\n\n\"The Sun Will Never Shine\" or whatever it's called, is pretty good, but contains a predictable chorus, and a verse melody that sounds like Love (the band that did the popular Forever Changes album). Overall, pretty good, but there's better examples of brilliant pop songwriting out there.","Product: Reissue of 1967 Elektra album of psychedelic mood music/spoken word. Featuring the first use of a Moog synthesizer on a commercial recording. 2002.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: my mind is gone!\n\nReview: Wow, the Zodiac's Cosmic Sounds certainly lives up to the hype! This is some of the most stunning psychedelic music ever. It's really melodic too. It's something else! Tell me you hate this album and I'll say you must be crazy!\n\n\"Aries: The Fire Fighter\" opens with a series of fast-paced frantic psychedelic sounds, then a poem comes in with sitar work. This stuff doesn't exactly ease my mind concerning that supervolcano out in Wyoming. Ugh why did I have to check on that darn volcano for updates earlier tonight (luckily predicted to NOT go off for another 70,000 years- close call!) Anyway the poem is brief and the frantic stuff that opens the song returns to close it out. The poem comes back (as does the creepiness!) and now I'm thinking about fires burning between colorful vines out in an open field around a campfire. This is crazy! I enjoy it tremendously.\n\n\"Taurus: the Voluptuary\" is more poetry, this time with flutes and other heavy drug-fueled instruments blending ominous sounds with beauty. The drumming is really good too, going for a somewhat disjointed but still memorable and unusual flowing kind of vibe. The instrumentation at the end with the gentle flutes and keyboards is really good, but the Jim Morrison-style poetry throughout this entire album (yes that's right, the WHOLE album!) might not be everyone's cup of tea. It's my cup of tea! Give me a crazy cup of that stuff! Jim Morrison poetry and perhaps some of the late 60's Moody Blues freakier ideas combined. Speaking of the Moodies, \"Gemini: The Cool Eye\" (yeah as you can guess, this album is actually going through the Zodiac signs with each song title) reminds me of the Moody Blues around their To Our Children's Children's Children period. This song has more \"frantic one moment, calm and relaxing the next\" moments in all its full psychedelic glory. But despite that, it's not like the calm breaks make your mind feel at ease. No you're stuck on this journey so come with me and just ride along!\n\nYou know this album accurately describes what I always thought- lyrics can really enhance the music. In other words a flute solo can be creepy or beautiful depending how you feel, but with unusual poetry associated with said flutes, now the song takes on a whole new meaning. This Cosmic Sounds album illustrates lyrical imagery rather strongly. \"Cancer: The Moon Child\" is more about the faster guitar soloing and rhythm work. I'd like to try and describe the lyrics to you but well... I can't! Because understanding the meaning behind this stuff doesn't really make sense to me, however I don't *want* it to make sense. I want it be as trippy as possible because that's the charm.\n\n\"Leo: The Lord of Lights\" feels like it's trying to be normal. Well normal in the sense that we're breaking through the psychedelia and entering deeper into our minds. Dig deeper! \"Every word and gesture etched in stone\". Well that would be like living a life online am I right? Or someone with a severe reading addiction. These people probably see words everywhere constantly. What the? What am I even talking about, haha. I guess the imagery is getting the best of me too. \"Virgo: the Perpetual Perfectionist\" has lovely flutes and acoustic guitar strumming. For some reason when the pace picks up the song gets downright fascinating and wildlife-like. Imagine yourself, er, picture yourself running through a colorful field of endless flashing colors. That might describe what this song is like. Oh and what's this? The world *isn't* round? *gets nervous*\n\n\"Libra: The Flower Child\" is perhaps the most fascinating thing I've heard in years. Listen to the way the sitar plays so creepily. It's so dreamy I just don't know what to think about reality sometimes! The drumming captures the tribal nature a bit more believably than most artists who use it. Make that *every* other artist who uses tribal drums. This song completely makes all other tribal drumming by other artists irrelevant, haha. Those weird... what sounds like delicate high-pitched female voices but is probably an actual musical instrument of some kind, they're awesome! Oh boy it's time for a mob of townspeople to come marching down the street... at least that's what \"Scorpio: The Passionate Hero\" sounds like. Drastically different from the other songs, with perhaps early King Crimson tendencies. Oh yeah King Crimson! Surely if you like this album you'll like some of the more abstract stuff they did on those early 70's albums. Actually the stuff in between the poetry intensifies similarly to King Crimson's \"Red\" song.\n\n\"Sagittarius: The Versatile Daredevil\" is next. It opens with bells and keyboards that remind me of early Emerson, Lake and Palmer but of course, ELP never had the psychedelic stuff. Not like the Zodiac does! Great guitar solo after the poetry and before the return of triumphant bells. \"Capricorn: The Uncapricious Climber\" captures the wildlife atmosphere really splendidly. Were these guys listening to \"The Lion Sleeps Tonight?\" I bet they were! The guitar work is fascinating in its mysterious beauty. And what the! This internet thing's trying to tell me \"The Lion Sleeps Tonight\" was actually written in 1939. I thought it was an early or mid 60's song?\n\n\"Aquarius: The Lover of Life\" has a fairly normal keyboard riff with gently soaring flutes making me think of shiny colors darting down from the sky all over a mountain in front of me. \"Weak strong all belong\". Well that's news to me. I thought the strong always defeat the weak in nature. Well not on this journey! I guess I'll be a survivor then. \"Pisces: The Peace Piper\" is a fairly sad way of closing the album. Listen to the gentle pacing of the keyboards (and by the way the keyboards are appropriately a lot like the ones in \"Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds\" because we all know that Beatles song is the ultimate psychedelic adventure much like \"Strawberry Fields Forever\") and the flutes make fountain fairies appear for our heroic Link.\n\nHonestly Cosmic Sounds is a masterpiece of psychedelic perfection. I just... I'm speechless. Imagine taking the sweetest candy you've ever had like cotton candy and dumping chocolate syrup, a box of brown sugar and colorful sprinkles all over it. That might in some unusual roundabout way capture the feeling of this Cosmic Sounds album. And it's VERY listenable too! This isn't some messy affair here folks. This is really beautifully well-written music. That's the genius of it all I bet. Highly recommended. Just be prepared to be taken away from this planet for a few 40 minutes.","Product: Out-of-print in the US. Personnel: Gordon Lightfoot (vocals, guitar, vibraphone); Red Shea (guitar, classical guitar, dobro); Terry Clements (guitar); Ollie Strong (steel guitar); David Bromberg (slide dobro); Larry Good (5-string banjo); Bruce Good (autoharp); Nick DeCaro (piano); Rick Haynes (bass); Barry Keane (drums, percussion); Dave Brown (percussion).\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: old Dan would've been proud\n\nReview: This is one of Gordon Lightfoot's shorter albums which is not good I tell ya! I'd rather Gordon release albums at least 40 minutes in length. Anyway this album's sort of different from his other albums of the time period. Then again only a couple songs are probably different- the rest is country and/or folk.\n\n\"My Pony Won't Go\" is unusually quiet with bare arrangements. This almost sounds like a rehearsal for \"Sundown\" (the song). Hey it would sort of make sense if it was considering Old Dan's Records came out right before Sundown. This is also strictly country- no folk or anything else. Honestly this song really needs some background arrangements to spice it up. Electric guitar or something. I don't hate it but I'd easily place it as the worst song on the album. \"Gotta make your mind up, every single day I hate to see you lonely, losin' me this way, lookin' for the man who stole my love from me, gotta know the reason why my baby's leavin', my pony won't go, where I want him to go no more\"\n\n\"Lazy Mornin\" is more *really* soft quietness. \"Another lazy morning no need to get down on anyone, my son coffee's in the kitchen, woman on the run\". Yeah, no need to pick up the pace or anything huh Gordon, haha. Well I like this melody more than the one in \"My Pony Won't Go\" but this is still not up to standards. Lyrics are sort of funny- \"I took time to make town and stock a pint or two, the most delicious brew, keeping up with the Jonsses, I hope no one telephones us\" and the line \"Come suppertime I'm gonna light my barbecue, nothing' new, only that she loves me and nothing I know can change me!\"\n\n\"That Same Old Obsession\" opens with piano that reminds me of a Christmas song. \"\"I come to this garden, I come here to rest, early each day upon risin', I think of my lost love, from over the sea, and sometimes I've wondered if she thinks of me, I long to recall every kiss, every kind word, I miss her so much I could die, but the creatures of evil have captured her heart, and that same old obsession keeps up apart\"\". Okay this song has a memorable melody that is *exactly* why I love Gordon Lightfoot so much! Structured similary to \"Too Late For Praying\" from his Sundown album. Wow and the orchestration comes in and... ah! So beautiful. I love the way he sings \"I long to return to the place, I remember the taste of her lips close to mine\". Putting this line into words does NOT express how beautiful it is because there's a certain way Gordon sings it that words can't describe.\n\nFor some reason I thought Billy Joel's \"The Entertainer\" was about to come on based on the guitar playing in the beginning of \"Old Dan's Records\". This is much livelier foot-tapping folk rock! \"Dig out old Dan's records, bring out old Dan's records, we're all here, we've all got dates, we'll dance all night to the 78's, if old Dan could see us now I know he'd be so proud\" The banjo is a great addition.\n\n\"It's Worth Believin\" is adventurous folk rock. The opening line is REALLY dreamy. \"There's a warm wind tonight and the moon turns the tide, when the stars take their ride she'll be leavin', where she goes I don't know, she won't tell me what it is that makes her act like this, but I've got a funny feeling that it's me it's worth believin\". \"Do you like to go walking on the sand and listen to the sea? Or could it be someone kind, could it be that I'm the fool, is there something wrong with you? And I've got a funny feeling that it's me, it's worth believin\". This song's *amazing!* \"Whse she goes I don't know, she won't tell me what it is that makes her act like this\".\n\n\"Mother of a Miner's Child\" is a quieter tune but the vocal melody is really creative. \"The miners stop to watch her when she walks, they know her love is not for sale, she will never fail me 'cuz I know, I watch her grow, and the mother of a miner's child waits for me beside the kitchen door, she is my light in this place where the darkness never ends, she'll guide me where the tunnels twist and bend, she's the only one who listens when I tell her I got less than I can spend\". Wow, really well said! \"Remember dear ol' daddy and the promise that I made to carry on\". Can't Depend on Love\" is a happier Jimmy Buffett-sounding song similar to the first track from Sundown. \"I spent most of my life outside in the driving rain, I was only trying to get by with some of life's amenities, well nothing's free I got more than I bargained for, now it's plain to see I can't depend on love to defend me\". A pretty good tune with a positive vibe.\n\n\"Hi'way Songs\" has a wonderful intro with the country guitar. The first few lines are really good too because it explains Gordon's life on the road singing for audiences and everything he witnessed along the way (\"When I walk the hill so high around the town where I was born, New York seems so far away, though I was there just yesterday, I have played on my guitar in coffeehouses, halls and bars, everyone that I call friend, knows they will not be forgotten\". \"Just for now I'd like to rest in the shade of a maple tree, to the blue Canadian sky, I'll say a prayer for the world out there\" marks a memorable change of pace because afterwards the song continues to excite with background arrangements enhancing Gordon's vocals.\n\n\"Farewell to Annabel\" is a likeable country tune with a fairly upbeat feel. \"Where did you go when the snow lay on the ground? What did you do when the rain began to fall? How did it feel when I looked through your soul? When was the last time you wanted my love? How many nights did you cry your dreams to sleep? Why did you hide what you knew would not stay hidden? How could you put yourself through like you did? I'm not the kind that would hold you that way!\" Haha, here I thought Gordon was singing about a girl suddenly leaving him and breaking his heart so he decided to write angry lyrics in response, and well, that's *sort of* true but apparently Gordon was in a more cold-hearted mood when he wrote these confrontational lyrics! Seems this Annabel person did something bad that ticked off Gordon because it's not like Gordon Lightfoot would ever start a fight with someone. However the lyrics gradually shift more compassionate near the end (\"Drop me a line if you wake up feelin' bad, I'm still a friend and I'd like to hear from you\"). That's the Gordon I know!\n\n\"You Are What I Am\" is upbeat country. \"You make the time stand still, you do it now and you always will, you take me as I am, you make me feel like a brand new man!\" Well this album certainly got off on the wrong foot (no pun) with the worst song being the first one I played (\"My Pony Won't Go\") and that my friends gave me the wrong impression. However with that said I'm surprised this album actually ended up being 5 stars. I was leaning towards 4 the whole time but a big ol' 5 squeezed through the crowd and jumped across the finish line in the end!","Product: Paul kept the hits coming when he signed with United Artists, the label that released these two albums. Includes his 1974 #1 smash (You're) Having My Baby ; his Top 20 hits I Don't Like to Sleep Alone; One Man Woman/One Woman Man; (I Believe) There's Nothing Stronger Than Our Love; Times of Your Life , and more!\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: back to the 70's\n\nReview: Yup, as the reviewer below mentioned, Paul Anka's music will take you back to the soft days of the 70's. This isn't really the type of music I like to listen to very often, but sometimes it's okay.\n\nAnyway, I heard the Feelings album tonight for the first time (my first experience with this guy's music) and although the songwriting is pretty strong, the overall sound is stuck in the 70's. That's good, I guess, sometimes, and I'd say Paul Anka's music reminds me of some of Neil Diamond's work.\n\nWhen I heard Feelings tonight, what I heard was a big sound, almost orchestral, mixed in with short piano tunes. I guess this is something to dance to, but I didn't feel like dancing to it (and I find dancing fun, at least, when I'm by myself!) Some pretty strong singing in places too.\n\nI'm surprised there aren't more Anka reviews on amazon to be honest, since I thought the guy was really popular at one time. I guess that's it, he was popular at one time, but not so much these days. Who knows, I could be wrong.","Product: Ex-wife Licorice and Malcolm Le Maistre of the U touring group join Robin and Mike on this 1971 release. Lyrics included!\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: incredible is the word\n\nReview: \"Darling Belle\" is the albums longest song, and perhaps the albums masterpiece based on the way it quickly shifts into many different ideas. I'm surprised it opens with tender female vocals, but then again after listening to U perhaps I shouldn't be surprised because that album showed more female vocals than ever before. This is a really beautiful softly sung melody. Really lullaby-like. Really love the bagpipes and flutes and how they provide a unique combination of instruments. How enjoyable is the line \"Papa would take me to the park to see the swans, by hansom cab trotting so high, holding his hand to see the swans, hissing louder than rustling dresses of gracious ladies bustling by\". VERY enjoyable!\n\nThe line \"James I suppose would be in school\" marks a sudden change in style and now the song reminds me of Jethro Tull. The male vocals continue a subtle Jethro Tull vibe. \"Plying British bulldogs on the gravel, was it your presence colored my dreams\" is well, actually a really dreamy line. \"I burrowed in cupboards like a mole all Saturday, under old chairs and old ladies knees, I framed your half remembered face, with frail white embroideries\" is another dreamy line enhanced by the eerie keyboard. Is that a keyboard for sure though? Not sure since I can't find a list of the instruments being played on this album.\n\nAt least three different singers contribute to this 11-minute song, but it feels like a natural transition between styles, and totally based in their Scottish heritage. Wow! The part in the middle REALLY gives me the chills. This is when the song turns quiet for a couple minutes. The line \"Do you remember me, thin girl with cold hands, you in your scarlet and you knew my name, step to the veranda under the wisteria in the mysterious November\" is eerily sung based on the exceptionally light female vocals and other instruments such as xylophones and violins. This part of the song makes me feels like I'm inside a dollhouse and getting attacked by a monster! \"Dancing as if with death or fate to the moon black ballroom of the silk skinned lake, kissing me you lifted my skirt under the willow trees\" is a memorable line.\n\nNow about 6 minutes in the band gives us a subtle unintentional Band imitation (you know, the guys that did \"The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down\"). This part's brief, and the really boisterous female vocals come back after this part before switching to male vocals for the quality line \"How could I write? My words would seem sad and\" well, the next word can't be written down here thanks to certain amazon guidelines so I'm going to have to leave it unfinished I'm afraid. The piano at the end recalls more lullaby connections, but lyrically I think the song indicates otherwise since the male and female vocals are a unique blend. The church organ at the end concludes this HIGHLY unusual, variety-motivated song. I mean highly unusual in the strongest sense! I love it though, because uniqueness can't be denied or overlooked. Then again Liquid Acrobat As Regards the Air HAS unfortunately been overlooked. Boo to unfair neglect!\n\n\"Talking of the End\" isn't exactly any less weirder with the violins, acoustic guitar and flutes all quickly blurring over one another as the male singer sings in a somewhat monotone kind of way \"Talking of the end, talking of the end, let me hear you say it will not be\". This song has a slight Middle Eastern vibe during this part. The song immediately switches into a softer harpsichord part with the \"This is no time to cry, better start to play your part\" line. The chant afterwards is really good too. Wow only one minute into the song and already a bunch of different ideas are being implemented all over the place! Absolutely fascinating! I love the chugging instrumental part after this and how it reminds me of Native Americans running around before switching into a short sitar solo.\n\nReally soft female vocals combined with male vocals and the REALLY gorgeously sung \"Busily conspiring humming like a hive\" line, dream the world all alive, I dream it as me, rise as fair and tender leaves, brightening in countless eyes\" line occurs soon after. Also of note, I love the line \"If I could sing only one song, I'd sing of you\" which is nicely sung with the... Hawaiian guitar? Can't be a Hawaiian guitar (playing with the sitar) Heh. Interesting! Who knows maybe these guys took a trip to Hawaii at one time, or more likely I'm just misidentifying the wrong instrument. This song has SEVERAL tempo shifts and instrumental variety and I think it's all really cool stuff seriously.\n\n\"Evolution Rag\" is another warped Bob Dylan impression of lyrical weirdness and cleverness with a playful feel to it. \"But that is the illusionist! The circus man! And the whole man murdering sea is his caravan!\" What any of this means I don't know (and if murder is involved in any way, I don't think I want to know!) This song sounds hilarious to me for some reason but I'm not sure if it's intended that way. Either way the instrumental variety is pretty awesome. What the? The instrumental break around 1:20 reminds me of a song from the Super NES game Earthbound! Haha, that's unintentionally coincidental. At least I *think* it's coincidental. Who knows for sure. \"And with just one swipe of her ragged fins she uncovers the caves!\" I like the final line \"the map is gone how will we grow old, grandpas tears made the barbecue cold, I sing myself saying here's where I came in, the illusionist has vanished like a red hot gin\" before the keyboards come in. This song just gets really whacked out at the very end. Very circus-like with birthday whistles and stuff. This part is pretty lousy I admit and should have never made it onto tape. Oh well so the album ain't perfect. Big deal.\n\n\"Cosmic Boy\" opens with nice piano playing and female vocals. Something about the female of the Incredible String Band just has this way of making me feel so emotional whenever I hear her sing. Maybe emotional isn't entirely what I mean to say. I stay focused that's for sure! She has this way of absorbing me into her style. Anyway this is a stripped down almost \"Honey Pie\"-like (Beatles song) show tune type of thing, and I actually like that type of music sometimes. *Sometimes* I should say, as in one or two songs with this style per album and no more. An entire album of stuff that sounds like this would probably drive me crazy! The piano is really memorable and professional here though. Actually this song reminds me of Shirley Temple. \"I shall dance for you, sweetest dance that I can do, I shall do the sweetest dance I can\" is really tear-jerking seriously.\n\n\"Painted Chariot\" has more male vocals, this time the guy who reminds me of Pete Townshend finally contributing (I thought maybe he left the band or something, but happy he's still around). I love his voice but wait! The guitar for a brief moment sounds 60's Who-like as well. This song just screams beauty, and in fact the chanting is really remarkable though a tad repetitive. The keyboards have this unusual early Deep Purple sound that feels almost dream-like. Love the keyboard/drum build-up near the end.\n\n\"Worlds They Rise and Fall\" contains a powerfully uplifting melody. You know this band is a LOT more than just a psychedelic folk/rock band, or whatever people usually refer to them as, because whatever people classify this band as there's *nothing* that can describe the emotional punch this particular vocal melody can bring. The same applies to several *other* vocal melodies this band has created. The line \"But when the moon is misty through the trees, she says right now I want to be your girl, your girl your little girl\" is a comfortably relaxing change of pace, but the part that really floors me is the \"Stars they rise and fade around her dance, for her the steep is climbed, the gulf is spanned, she lives she lives the bards sing around her stand, and sometimes it's all I can do is bow to her\". Just the way this song is sung leaves me in tears.\n\n\"Here Till Here is There\" is trickily named... tricky enough to fool me twice! Anyway this song is depressing based on the REALLY softly song part in the beginning with no instrumental work to speak of- just male vocals. Just check out this lyric- \"Where will you go when days grow short, and winds grow cold and green leaves are shaken?\" This line really gets to me and reminds me why I hate the cold (like right now with 30-degree below freezing wind chills whipping around outside my window). This is the type of song you hear when you're about to walk the plank. It feels very much like a death anthem or rather, wondering what to do in a desperate situation that you might be stuck in. The female vocals bring in flutes and a major feeling of seriousness the lyrics seem to be going for here. The flutes actually prove that only a British band could write something like this. No American folk band would even know how to play the flute in such an indescribably catastrophic sounding way.\n\n\"Dear Old Battlefield\" is actually a fairly normal folk tune in the sense that I can actually compare it to another artist (Fairport Convention probably, which is no coincidence because the drummer for this album is an ex-Fairport Convention member). This song has male/female vocals blended together to create a hymn of sorts. I can picture Jethro Tull writing a song like this by the time of their Stormwatch album (maybe because it reminds me of \"Orion\" a little). Maybe *this* is the song you'd want to introduce to somebody wanting to check out the Incredible String Band but you want to make sure you recommend something accessible to them so as not to freak them out and turn them away (hehe, it's true! I love the Incredible String Band to pieces but some people can't handle this bands unique style of psychedelic/folk). \"Tree\" is a remake of the same song from the bands debut... I think. Not quite as moving for some reason, but features piano giving it a gorgeous tone. The near operatic female vocals during the chorus are probably unnecessary because this song excelled better on the debut when it was just a soft acoustic tune, if I remember.\n\n\"Jigs\" is a strange tune. It includes a LOT of songs in the title, but the trick is that the song's not even 3 minutes long so all these ideas have to rush by in a hurry right? No! Well actually yes, but they flow really well. It's more like the beginning is all about violins and flutes (\"Eyes Like Leaves\") then shifts into the slow dance style of \"Sunday Is My Wedding\" while marching strictly on a violin beat, and here comes \"Drops of Whiskey\" soon after which is basically the violin and hoedown sped up a tad, and \"Grumbling Old Men\" (which I'm starting to become!) is when the violin picks up even more. Basically start dancing when the song begins, and by the time it's almost over watch as your feet dance even faster, haha. Enjoyable and yes, all these song titles ARE part of a song just shy of the 3-minute mark remarkably enough.\n\n\"Adam and Eve\" is an upbeat lyrically interesting tune about how God created Adam and Eve. I really love the danceable upbeat pace, the relevant lyrics and maybe I'm crazy but I sense a slight Jamaican vibe to the rhythm. Neat experiment. Love the lyric \"Friends if you're travelling never go taking an apple from a snake, if you do I'll tell you true you make a big mistake\". \"Red Hair\" is soft acoustic beauty. 2 minutes just doesn't feel like enough. It does build into louder vocals and I feel really uplifted while it plays, but I get the feeling it could have been something even bigger.\n\nLiquid Acrobat As Regards the Air is a minor masterpiece. There's a couple moments that prevent me from giving it a perfect rating, but it's actually a lot better than the stuff on the bands previous album The Song Has No Ending. Hey I like long instrumental songs with a variety of rich instruments so I'd still defend the 26-minute \"The Song Has No Ending\" that makes up side two of that album, but let's be honest- that song doesn't describe what the Incredible String Band is all about, so for those of you who disliked that experiment, there's nothing like that on here. Liquid Acrobat As Regards the Air is basically a continuation of the bands classic style.","Product: Holland.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: pretty darn good for the pretty things\n\nReview: What makes Freeway Madness a notch above other forgotten rock albums of the 70's is the fact these songs are totally melodic and memorable. This is definitely *not* some revolutionary, groundbreaking music of any sorts.\n\nThis is just beautifully played rock music with a distinct touch of country influences in the same style as Crosby, Stills and Nash. In fact, throw Neil Young's Harvest album in there as well.\n\nFreeway Madness has the songwriting similarity of those artists, which probably explains why the album didn't become a smash hit- we already had Crosby, Stills and Nash, so why bother with this? Well I'll tell you why- because radio stations have been playing CSN for *years* and, I don't know about you guys, I need a break from that band. I'd rather listen to the Pretty Things and Freeway Madness instead.\n\nHowever, the one thing that separates this album from any kind of CSN comparisons is the *extremely* good guitar playing that rules over most of Freeway Madness. This is definitely not your ordinary, run of the mill guitar work. This is some really sincere and tastefully played guitar playing of the highest caliber. I absolutely love it.\n\nGreat songwriting as well, despite the fact the Pretty Things were falling apart in terms of popularity by this point in their career. Do *not* expect another wild and twisted concept album like S.F. Sorrow or anything like that. Instead, expect a fairly laid back, slightly country rock (but most definitely *still* in the rock vibe) album. A really beautiful listening experience overall.","Product: Two beautiful records, 1968 & 1969 releases feature such ISB faves as 'You Get Brighter', The Yellow Snake' & 'Lordly Nightshade. Remastered & recommended! Collectors' Choice. 2002.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: so darn different and cool\n\nReview: I wasn't really convinced the Incredible String Band was in a distinct category of psychedelic folk rock even after hearing their two masterpiece albums the Hangman's Beautiful Daughter and U (two albums that TOTALLY deserve to be part of your album collection so go on and pick them BOTH up today!) but after hearing nearly 90 minutes that makes up Wee Tam & Big Huge, yes, I AM now convinced these guys were doing something radically different back in the day. Thank God the internet is around so we can discover these lost artists that deserved the attention back in the day but never got it as much as they should have. Alright, so these guys toured America briefly (and I think they still do occasionally) but, come on, they didn't leave enough of an impression!\n\n\"Maya\" is probably my favorite song. It's based around a simple folk rock vocal melody and the sitar is pretty melodic. The lyrics are about... uh, how can I describe the words? Whether it's the Scottish background or the drugs, I seriously can't comprehend the message behind ANY of them! Not a negative by any means of course. Let's just say the lyrics tend to focus around imaginative outdoor exploration and leave it at that. Anyway I love the way the singer screams the \"Maya!\" chorus in the middle and again at the very end. \"Ducks on a Pond\" is the other 9-minute classic. Yes that's right- I'm using the word \"classic\" to describe the Incredible String Band. Who cares if I'm the only person on the planet who does so! The neatest section of the lyrical portion is when the singer mentions talking to the ice. \"The ice would not say- only crack or move away\". Brilliant! It's also freaky when the lyrics mention chilly winds and spring coming soon. Right now in southeast Pennsylvania it is technically spring, but the winds outside are blowing 40 miles per hour and ushering COLD winds from the north. It doesn't feel like spring around here yet! I wish I could end my feelings concerning this song on a positive note but... not when the final 3 minutes change dramatically and focus on a foot-tapping, happy Dylan imitation with harmonica, TOTALLY screwing up the brilliant downbeat vibe the song had. Bad band!\n\n\"Job's Tears\" is most noticeable for featuring a sudden tempo change near the beginning and for the complimenting female vocals that repeat more or less the same exact melody for a short time, but enhanced by the psychedelic and adventurous lyrics of the male singer. When the song shifts into a totally different monster during the second half, the female vocals become more angelic and even better if you ask me. It's because now we hear what she's like as a singer. I like how the male singer does a little bit of yodeling in the middle, hehe. Maybe intentional or maybe his voice is cracking! \"Puppies\" is when Pete Townshend takes over the vocal duties... kidding! Sure *sounds* like him! I know the Rolling Stones were fans of these guys, but I'm not so sure about the Who. Anyway the vocals are REALLY unorganized but actually get better by the third listen or so. Just remember \"Music is so much less than what you are\". Funny, I always believed music was *more*. Sure feels like more, especially since millions of people can relate to a song but there's only one of me!\n\n\"You Get Brighter\" is an uplifting vocal melody with a hint of sadness and spirituality perhaps. It repeats a lot but it's repeating a quality melody so I ain't complainin' about it. \"The Half Remarkable Question\" is actually only half remarkable. Oh, bitter irony! It's sung in a low key kind of way with a DEEP voice and the sitar chugs along innocently and actually, let me change that- it chugs along beautifully. Funny thing- the sitar always improves the more you're exposed to it, but that first time? Not so optimistic! \"Lordly Nightshade\" contains a sad vocal melody that sort of chugs along in a military march-like fashion with a BEAUTIFUL flute intro (and when the flute returns near the end the beauty returns as well). Lyrics aren't so happy unfortunately, and might end up giving listeners a strange feeling of confusion since the melody is pretty but the lyrics not so much.\n\n\"Cousin Caterpillar\" reminds me of Pete Townshend again with the vocals. Who knew that while he was blowing live audiences away on stage with the Who, a more mellow and compassionate Pete was hiding in the background with THESE guys? I kid! The vocal melody is straight forward and nothing worth noting, but I enjoy it. I enjoy it a lot in fact. \"The Iron Stone\" is a creepy, slow moving song with an atmosphere that will surely remind you of a nighttime setting. Decent sitar work that makes you feel like you're alone in an Afghanistan desert somewhere. It's sort of a low point on the album since the melody isn't that impressive but the acoustic guitar solo at the end rules, so I look forward to that. \"Douglas Traherne Harding\" has an upbeat and sincere folk melody. It's very beautifully sung but how many times does the singer mention the word \"light?\" SEVERAL times!\n\n\"The Circus Is Unbroken\" is a MAJOR highlight for the dramatic singing style presented throughout the track. I love the worldy flute solo in the beginning, and the haunting, slow moving and eerily sung vocal melody makes me either think of a funeral setting or something more positive such as an important victory or a prosperous situation. Interesting vibes. \"Log Cabin Home in the Sky\" proves the Incredible String Band is in fact a Scottish band with the Scottish vocals being most noticeable here. A little boring and predictably written, but not bad by any means. Perhaps because I've grown accustomed to their weirdness!\n\nOverall, the Incredible String Band's third best album is right here and waiting for you to purchase!","Product: German reissue of 1972 album includes four bonus tracks, 'Light', 'Lemmingmania', 'Between The Eyes', 'All The Years Round'. Repertoire. 2002.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: I love it of course\n\nReview: I just have a hard time understanding all the negative reviews for Amon Duul II's Carnival In Babylon. First of all, what a *beautiful* album cover! Alright so an album cover alone can't save an album if the music isn't any good, but... this is definitely a clear example of an album that DOES deserve to be heard. Numerous times, in fact, because with every listen you'll hear something new you missed the previous time.\n\nThe opening song is solid proof that Blue Oyster Cult HAD to have been familiar with this band. Oh sure, the members of BOC have said in the past that they were influenced by the Doors and a few other American and British artists, but I'm honestly not buying it.\n\nI mean seriously, I can think of several BOC songs that resemble the songwriting, the guitar playing, and the atmosphere of the opening song. I hear the lyrics are completely in German, too. If so, that explains why I can't understand them!\n\n\"All the Years 'Round\" shows us why the female singer from this band is a perfect comparison to the legendary Neil Young. Just LISTEN to that voice and tell me it doesn't resemble Neil Young a little bit when he's hitting those high notes. It sure does!\n\nAnyway this song rules because it's really dreamy, then eventually it drifts into a speedier vocal section with an even higher and more unusual vocal range. I LOVE it though. Probably inspired by Pink Floyd's psychedelic years, but you know what? This songwriting feels more complex and unpredictable than what Pink Floyd was doing at the time.\n\n\"Shimmering Sand\" continues the same theme as the previous track- atmospheric and melodically played guitar solos, and a build-up to some downright *fascinating* vocal work. I especially like the vocal melody you hear at the very end. Cool stuff.\n\n\"Hawknose Harlequin\" displays the bands talent at laying down some interesting guitar solos.\n\nCalling this album a sellout or a disappointment compared to Yeti and a few other Amon Duul II albums never made a bit of sense to me. It's not worse in ANY way. It doesn't feel like the band got lazy with their songwriting or their ability to constantly explore new ground, so it will forever remain a mystery to me why this album isn't better received by the majority of music fans.","Product: German reissue of 1972 album includes four bonus tracks, 'Light', 'Lemmingmania', 'Between The Eyes', 'All The Years Round'. Repertoire. 2002.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: underrated is the exact word to describe this album and band\n\nReview: I am in total shock right now. Amon Duul II... why in the WORLD aren't more people aware of these guys? This is probably some of the coolest music I've ever heard, and by \"cool\" I mean a band that knows how to be extremely creative and diverse to the point where you can't believe how many exciting ideas they brings to the world of experimental rock. They were absolutely rolling in the 70's. Maybe they weren't well-known outside of Germany, I don't know.\n\n\"Shimmering Sand\" sounds simply... magical. What other word can describe those vocals? Completely unique vocals. Unlike anything I've ever heard before (and I've heard a *lot* honestly, over 600 albums from the 70's alone). Then you have other tracks where the guitarist shows just incredible his skills are, always finding the right sequence of notes to move the listener and make the entire experience as adventurous as possible.\n\nMan, what a band Amon Duul II is. It's time this band got the respect they deserve, so please, find a way to hear a band that focuses on diversity and standing apart from all the other bands of the era.","Product: German 2002 reissue of 1973 album includes one bonus track 'Mozambique' (single version). Repertoire.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: would calling this album fantastic encourage people to buy it?\n\nReview: WOW! Vive la Trance has only been given 2 reviews here on amazon? Seriously??? How is it possible an album that sounds like *nothing* I've ever heard before (well, besides sounding like other Amon Duul II albums) been flying completely under the radar for... how long has it been? Over 35 years now! I really don't get it. This music is WAY too cool to be ignored the way it has.\n\nReally guys, what's up with the lack of popularity? The early Amon Duul II albums are getting a worthy amount of attention these days. Why not Vive la Trance? Hmmm, very very confusing, haha.\n\nANYWAY!! Let's talk about the songs.\n\nThe over 7-minute \"Mozambique\" is downright bizarre. I initially didn't realize just how *cool* this song really is. You have a female lead singer who's like the female version of Neil Young (hey, that's about the only sensible comparison I can think of at the moment!) and you have the rest of the band who are apparently stuck in their own highly creative little world.\n\nAnyway, this particular track is basically a Germans rock bands interpretation of the cruelty and wars taking place in Africa (and probably *still* taking place down there to this very day).\n\nThe way the lead singer delivers her vocal melody is truly amazing in every sense of the word. It's *incredibly* moving. It's the distinct tone of her voice combined with those angry and demanding lyrics that adds up to something I've NEVER experienced before, especially from the 70's. It's like she wants to make her voice screech and completely lose control to express her TRUE feelings on the matter, but she realizes the results wouldn't be as enjoyable if she did that, so she holds back just enough to give us a taste of her talented vocal range.\n\nAt any rate, pay extremely close attention to the sound of her voice and the lyrics she's singing. The results are mind-boggling and totally original.\n\nAfter the vocals, the song shifts into a really spacey, far out instrumental section. It sounds futuristic and way ahead of its time. REALLY strange song.\n\nI'm at a loss for words. Weren't people positively floored by this music when it first came out? I guess Americans wouldn't have been familiar with it (I don't even know if record stores CARRIED Amon Duul II records in America during the 70's, much less other German bands such as Can) but I imagine the good people of Germany must have been amazed by this highly original style of rock music. It's certainly very very different. It's no Seals & Crofts that's for sure, haha!!\n\nStill not convinced this album is something that stands apart from everything else out there? Maybe hearing a song like \"Ladies Mimikry\" will finally get you to change your mind. Wow, WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THAT?? haha. Alright, let me try to explain what this song is like.\n\nOne moment the vocals are speeding along harmlessly and closely resembling the mid 60's early rock scene. Then I believe I hear a slight influence of late 60's garage rock with the frantically and briefly played guitar riffs. Then for a split second I hear what definitely sounds like an early Hollies or Kinks interpretation before an Alice Cooper-like spooky atmospheric bit comes into the equation for a few moments, and then the song shifts into some kind of southern hoedown theme with fiddles (or something that resembles fiddles- not quite sure what musical instrument I'm hearing right there). For some really strange reason, this particular part of the song reminds me of early Roxy Music. Then to *truly* put the entire experience head and shoulders above everything else ever made (sort of like putting the sprinkles on a freshly baked cupcake) the song actually ends with a jazzy saxophone jam (a super melodic jam, in fact). Actually this sax jam reminds me of Roxy Music as well, more than the *other* Roxy Music-sounding part, haha. It's all so amazingly confusing!\n\nYes that's right! A *ton* of weird influences all jam-packed into one delightfully bizarre 4-minute song! And you know what? I honestly can't understand what the lyrics are about. Oh well, it doesn't matter. Not when a thousand OTHER things immediately catch my attention and capture my interest instead.\n\n\"Apocalytic Bore\" is probably influenced by the Hunky Dory days of David Bowie thanks to the simple nature of the songwriting, but that doesn't mean it's some kind of ripoff or anything. It's just as fascinating as anything Bowie or Mott the Hoople ever made. The vocals in particular soar to new emotional heights as the tension in the singers voice builds and builds. It's a VERY cool song. The guitar solo is really fascinating and far out as well. That's a fact, jack!\n\nAgain I ask, WHY isn't this album more well-known? So Britney Spears can release anything she wants, meanwhile an album like this fades away and nobody bothers to discover it. Just great.","Product: 2002 CD reissue from the Wounded Bird label, originally released on LP in 1979.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: gamma gamma come on\n\nReview: This is where things might get a wee bit confusing. This isn't technically a Montrose album or... technically it is, haha! It's a Ronnie Montrose album which isn't the same thing as a Montrose album. I guess. Whatever. Maybe I'm in the minority but I was sort of expecting an instrumental album based on previous work. I figured Ronnie was continuing in that direction. Or if not entirely instrumental, a more serious direction with classical and/or soundtrack arrangements. But no, this is more rock-oriented.\n\n\"Fight to the Finish\" opens with some robotic Tangerine Dream-style keyboards and other sound effects that make you think you're trapped in a space ship and won't return home by dinner. Pretty soon a catchy guitar riff comes in. Afterwards the song shifts to a quiet tone which is unusual because I wasn't expecting that. The vocal melody starts off quietly and Foreigner-like when Davey Pattison raises his voice. Reminds me of Foreigner in both the vocals and generic lyrics. The chorus is even more generic but it's okay. But WHOA! Check out that guitar solo! Now that's really cool, especially since the tempo slows down and plods while some of the coolest guitar trickery this side of the Atlantic (and Pacific) plays. Makes it sound magically creepy.\n\n\"Razor King\" starts out sort of the same way- spacey sound effects and soft vocals. The pace gradually picks up with more Foreigner similarities. Not a big fan of the vocals which try to tell a story but it's not memorable enough to leave me satisfied, however the guitar solo in the middle sure is terrific! \"I'm a razor king that's what I am, you can look up to me now!\" is a nice lyric. I like the \"la la la\" part at the end combined with marching drums. \"No Tears\" has more bizarre synths. The vocals are fairly normal but the melody in this case is sadder and somewhat Bad Company-like during the \"When the sun comes up and wakes me in the morning\" part, and once again with the \"You'll never see a tear upon my face\" line. Nice guitar solo too- every note really registers and feels great. And whoa! There's one guitar line in particular near the end that's REALLY neat!\n\n\"Thunder & Lightning\" includes another Paul Rodgers-like vocal melody. The opening guitar playing totally screams 1979 but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Nice guitar solo in the middle but it's so short I feel cheated! This is mostly a vocal-dominated song. Paul's, er, Davey's vocals are really hidden in the back but the song plods along decently enough. \"Solar Heat\" takes a while to get going since it's all about preparing us for a spaceship tour. Then suddenly this magnificent guitar solo comes in, the intense likes of which has been mostly missing from the album. At least the guitar work hasn't been relentless yet. It's REALLY cool!\n\n\"Ready for Action\" has vocals that remind me of the guy from Budgie. This song has a fast-moving rhythm and crunchy guitar work. REALLY cool guitar solo too- makes me think I'm soaring high and beyond. No Foreigner connections here! What the? \"I'm Alive\" is a cover of a Hollies classic! Well I wasn't expecting that, haha. Davey sort of ruins certain parts by stretching out the soulfulness instead of letting a naturally catchy vocal melody take over, which is what I'm accustomed to. I'm referring to the \"I can touch, I can feel\" part. Oh well, still decent, and an interesting guitar solo makes up for any shortcomings.\n\n\"Wish I Was\" (oh whoooa oh oh, a wiiiiiild west, heeeeero!) Oh sorry wrong song, lol. Bonus points for anyone who can guess what song I'm singing there. Anyway the song opens with a really dreamy guitar solo strikingly similar to Pink Floyd's \"Comfortably Numb\". At least the guitar tone is similar. \"I wish I was a willow tree leaning on a lazy breeze\" is a beautiful line, but also somewhat creepy given the songs quiet tone. \"A grain of sand is all I ever wanted to be, lay me down and let the water wash right over me\" is a strange lyric. Turns out the lyrics are about the realization that nobody really gives a darn about us so it's best to just be something/somewhere else. Well then! Let's not get all depressing Davey and Ronnie! You guys are supposed to be rockers for goodness sake! Nice guitar solo at the end that doesn't sound like Pink Floyd anymore.\n\nOverall, well honestly Gamma has to be approached differently from the previous Montrose albums since the songwriting feels a bit more basic this time around and the band often disguises this with outer space keyboard sounds, but you know Montrose never really released two albums that sounded the same anyway so rock on.","Product: England.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: dogs eatin' out of Jack's bowl\n\nReview: Wait a minute! My all-time favorite guitar player in John McLaughlin actually joined up with Jack Bruce to release a jazz album, and I didn't know about this until NOW (7 years after assuming I listened to most of McLaughlin's classic material whether solo or with the Mahavishnu Orchestra)? Well I'll be darned! This is *much* better than the disappointing Songs for a Tailor. Things We Like sounds like it's intended for those who appreciate McLaughlin's jazzier stuff with saxophone such as what he performed on Extrapolation.\n\n\"HCKHH Blues\" begins with some wonderful Gong-resembling saxophone work before shifting into a memorable fuzzy guitar solo. It's really adrenaline-rushing and extraordinary such as what one would expect from such a group of legendary musicians, but the song does tend to feel unfocused at times. McLaughlin is brilliant of course, but his guitar work here makes me think he was still in the beginning process of trying to find the right feel and wasn't able to come up with the right sequence of notes. The bass guitar solo afterwards is pretty good but it too feels a bit on the incomplete side. When the sax comes back in, it plays subtly and quietly for a little while before getting louder. Eventually it takes over the rest of the song. This feels more like a rough Colosseum song than a McLaughlin or Cream tune (and being a fan of Colosseum I'm certainly not complaining!) Something tells me Jon Hiseman had an influence here being a member of Colosseum and all.\n\n\"Ballad for Arthur\" is much moodier saxophone/bass-heavy jazz. It's also thankfully fairly melodic. Admittedly the song drifts off so peacefully around the 3-minute mark that I begin to lose my concentration, but it picks up again just as soon as the drumming, guitar and sax pick up in intensity a minute or so later. This still feels slightly aimless however. You can tell these guys love feeding off each other but sometimes the results are a bit strange/unfocused for the listeners. \"Statues\" opens with an ominous sax riff. When it turns into a more traditional jazzy piece with the bass and speedy rhythm, the melodic parts remain quite strong. I admit I'm sort of disappointed John McLaughlin isn't given more time to shine, but we can't have everything can we? No we can't! Otherwise we'd be spoiled rotten! Anyway this song gets eerier as it rolls along as the violin enters before shifting into the best bass part on the whole album with nice drumming to follow. Pretty good song.\n\n\"Sam Enchanted Dick\" opens with a rocking rhythm but done so in a jazzy way perhaps to give McLaughlin in particular time to develop his guitar skills. McLaughlin reaches within for some of that deep inspiration which reflects his splendid guitar jamming here and makes it comparable to the work he did with Miles Davis during the classic years. It's just a shame it ends too soon to allow a soft and somewhat unmemorable bass solo to appear. At least the sax solo at the end is really good. Not much different from \"Ballad for Arthur\" in terms of the saxophone playing but still really good.\n\n\"Born to Be Blue\" is well, more of the same. Honestly this is strikingly similar saxophone jamming to most of the stuff on the album, but perhaps more emphasis on a deeper mood. Listening carefully I really like the sax playing since the notes are pretty creative. For some reason when the background gets quiet so only the sax plays, I think of Lisa Simpson as she lets herself run away with the music and straight out of the music room, haha! \"Things We Like\" contains quite the catchy sax riff until it unfortunately moves into a speedy forgettable exchange of scrambled sax and guitar notes. \"Over the Cliff\" is actually the most forgettable song here. I'm sure these guys loved playing together, but in this case the music just isn't very appealing. The sax simply rushes across the rhythm unspectacularly and the bass is too short to accomplish much else.\n\nOverall Things We Like is strictly a jazz album. It's nothing like Cream, Mahavishnu Orchestra or Colosseum with respect to the musicians participating on this album. This is all about mood, boisterous saxophone, scrambling bits of guitar solos, and run of the mill bass. Still, highly enjoyable album for jazz lovers.","Product: France.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: entertainment for the whole family... sorry had to say it!\n\nReview: After the extraordinary Music in a Doll's House album (one of the most underrated albums from the late 60's by the way) Family follows up that impressive offering with an album that seems to take away some of the pop and replace it with more rock and Procol Harum-style vocal melodies and instrumentation. This is actually a GREAT thing in my book. A natural progression in the life of a rock band.\n\n\"Weaver's Answer\" is a highly melodic (not to mention ANGRY) display of Chapman's Peter Gabriel-like vocals. I don't think Gabriel ever sang so direct and cold-heartedly though. A treasure of a song here.\n\nOther highlights include \"Second Generation Woman\" (yeah yeah, the song sounds like a Five Man Electrical Band throwaway number, I don't care- those vocals are melodic and enjoyable) and the utterly bizarre and fascinating \"Face in the Cloud\" with a sitar actually jamming in the background. The vocals closely resemble David Bowie from his \"Space Oddity\" song, and seeing as how both songs were both released the same year, I doubt this was a coincidence.\n\nThe album finishes up with perhaps the most emotionally devastating song I've ever heard- \"Emotions\". Ever think about your own family during a gathering, and the day seems so nice you wish it'd never come to an end?\n\nSo years later when you think upon those joyous times, you realize so much has changed in your life since that spectacular period in time that you only have the great memories to connect to that experience, and no matter how hard you want those days to return, they never will. They're gone forever. That's exactly why this song makes me shed some tears. It strikes me pretty darn hard. It gives off that powerful and somewhat negative feeling that a certain part of your life is gone forever. Maybe I'm alone with these thoughts.\n\nOverall, not quite as insanely melodic as Music in a Doll's House, but a great follow-up nonetheless, and a perfect album for Procol Harum fans. Also pick up Procol Harum's A Salty Dog for another incredible album with compositions written similarly to this one.","Product: Reissue with Bonus Tracks and Extensive Liner Notes.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: weak by Family standards\n\nReview: ... doesn't necessarily mean Anyway is actually *weak*\n\nIt just means Anyway doesn't deliver with the consistently awesome songwriting that made the first few Family albums so dog on terrific.\n\nActually to be honest, making the album half live and half studio was a pretty poor idea on the part of the band members.\n\nThis is because the sound quality on the live side leaves me somewhat annoyed. Chapman is such a terrific singer and yet, not only is it hard to understand his words, it's actually hard to even hear his *vocal melodies*. Everything sounds so dated and muffled. Not very good.\n\nThe good news is that \"Good News Bad News\" is a pretty good song. The bad news is that it falls short in comparison to previous Family songs because the songwriting isn't good enough, and it definitely doesn't warrant being 8 minutes long.\n\n\"Willow Tree\" is an interesting track in that it took me SEVERAL listens to even remember a small part of it, haha. However it does improve with repeated listens and might possibly be my favorite of the live selections here. It's a beautifully sung jazzy melody.\n\n\"Holding the Compass\" contains another quality and heartfelt vocal melody from Roger Chapman. He's seriously one of the more underrated singers from the early 70's. The amount of emotion he expresses in each performance is quite spectacular, and that's one thing that elevates this entire album from what SHOULD be a 3 star rating, to a 4.\n\nOther tracks however, such as \"Strange Band\" and \"Anyway\", are clunky and uninspiring filler. There's nothing even remotely interesting about these particular songs if you ask me. \"Part of the Load\" is a good early 70's bluesy rocker.\n\nThe best song on the entire album is a toss-up between the beautiful violins on \"Normans\" and the lovely vocal melody on \"Lives and Ladies\". I honestly have a hard time choosing between these two amazingly good songs, so I won't pick which one is better. Too close to call.\n\nOverall, Family finally releases a semi disappointing album, so I recommend going with the previous albums by the band before delving into this one.","Product: The Beatles-like pop-rock outfit's 1980 album features 9 tracks. Bullseye. 2003.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: not terrible- in fact, it's decent\n\nReview: Let me ask everyone a question. Do you like the Cars song \"Let's Go?\" Because about half of Endangered Species closely resembles that particular Cars track.\n\nThis, of course, presents an immediately noticeable problem that simply can't be ignored- what happened? What happened to Klaatu's ability to write a *diverse* set of songs? What happened to the obvious Beatles influence? The borderline genius pop songwriting abilities? A good portion of the album has been replaced with... a very typical and horribly dated collection of danceable 80's pop/rock that's only somewhat interesting and creative. A good bouncy pop/rock album perhaps, but nothing REALLY great.\n\nWell, many of us know the story with their record company, but it just so happened it turned out to be a VERY bad and costly decision for us, the mighty dedicated listeners. This album is *easily* much much worse than the previous three.\n\nThe stand out tracks to me are \"Howl at the Moon\" for sounding identical to Al Stewart and his \"Year of the Cat\" classic. Also \"Dog Star\" actually contains a really exciting new wave verse melody and chorus. This song is definitely pretty good. Oh, and \"Paranoia\" is another great one. It actually feels somewhat creatively written, and I like the lyrics.\n\nAlright you got me- I enjoy \"Knee Deep In Love\" because it's a catchy, heartfelt ballad similar to \"Dear Christine\". \"I Can't Help It\" is a very good early 80's Alan Parsons Project imitation if you ask me. It sounds remarkably similar to their popular hit \"Eye In the Sky\".\n\nThe rest of the songs are definitely severely dated early 80's new wave pop/rock that's relatively catchy, I admit, but also leaving me completely empty and unsatisfied as far as diversity and creativity goes. DO however, buy the first three Klaatu albums which represent the band in a much better light. However, if you must buy a Klaatu album from the 80's, this isn't a bad choice by any means. In fact the songs that aren't memorable are growing on me a little bit. It's just a disappointment in comparison to the total brilliance you experience from the first three albums Klaatu made.","Product: 1st studio album from 1970 by these progressive hard rockers.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: stray away from me!\n\nReview: Nah, stick with me Stray. This is an example of a great forgotten classic. It slipped through the cracks obviously since hardly anyone has even heard of the band but believe me when I say THAT my friends is a major crime. If you value and appreciate good rock music, trust me, the moment you play this album you'll want to hear the entire thing! You won't want to take it out of your CD player for a long time!\n\n\"All In Your Mind\" begins this hard rock album on a high note. Energetic, high strung guitar riffs, raw guitar tone, uplifting vocals, chugging speedy pace... memorable stuff! Over the course of 9 minutes the song goes through many different guitar riffs all for the purpose of rocking out and continuing a frantic pace. \"Taking All the Good Things\" has an early Golden Earring vibe with the drums and the guitar playing in the beginning before shifting into a heavy riff-driven blues song. The lead singer reminds me of the guy from Captain Beyond or perhaps to name a really rare band, Fuzzy Duck.\n\nI figured a song with a title like \"Around the World in 80 Days\" would be a very fast-paced heavy rocker but believe it or not, no! This is actually more like a psychedelic tune you can picture a band like Khan doing (the band that released the criminally underrated Space Shanty album). The dreaminess of the piano work leading into a heavy Wild West-like guitar riff is a pretty fascination transition before the chorus kicks in. \"Together we will fly!\" *pounding bass work*. GREAT song! \"Time Machine\" also contains a psychedelic feel much like the previous song but this time in between the verse melody lies a VERY sludgy Black Sabbath-resembling guitar riff. Welcome to the sludge factory! Minus the guitar riff, this vocal melody could actually pass for a Magical Mystery Tour-period Beatles tune.\n\n\"Only What You Can Make It\" is all about fierce vocal work/guitar riffs and a sudden Canned Heat-style chugging guitar jam in the middle. I gotta admit, so far I'm REALLY impressed with the quality of the songwriting. I can actually remember every single note so far which is amazing. Alright perhaps not *every* single note- it's quite difficult to remember guitar solos note for note but there's really not that many guitar solos so far. \"Yesterday's Promises\" is mostly notable for the sudden \"One day some day\" line due to an eerie tempo change taking place at this particular moment. The brief guitar solo has a disturbing atmosphere but it's not long enough to really blow me to smithereens. \"Move On\" has some really nifty and melodic guitar tricks with cool drumming and I like the lead singers \"Ah! Ugh!\" vocal mannerisms, and I LOVE the groovy bass-driven jam in the middle with its jazzy guitar tone. The bass is seriously cool as heck or as the newer generation would say, this is chill man, CHILL!\n\n\"In Reverse/Some Say\" opens with a VERY familiar guitar riff! I know for a fact I've heard some other rock band from the late 60's/early 70's play a guitar riff strikingly similar to this one. After all the albums I've played over the years (and the memory loss which is getting progressively worse) I'll never be able to remember which song. Oh well, no need to mention it if I can't identify it, right? Anyway this song is all about several intense guitar riffs, magnificent solos, memorable vocals, and probably the best song on the album as far as simply rocking out and showing off the bands many top notch talents. The \"Some Say\" part is all about expressing excellent vocals. The quality of the songwriting and musicianship is so unbelievably high that I can't give this album a high enough rating!\n\n\"Change Your Mind\" is all about speed and rocking out with an amazing guitar solo. Seriously the guitar tone here resembles the legendary Jimi Hendrix. Another thing I absolutely love about this album is that it's just downright *fun* to listen to. That right there tells me the band loves what they're doing, or rather, loves what they *were* doing (since I highly doubt they're still together anymore). \"Change your mind oh baby!\" I like how the guitar playing refuses to let up and jams for a couple extra minutes. \"The Man Who Paints Pictures\" (that isn't me- I posses no drawing or painting abilities I'm afraid) has a really catchy guitar riff and exciting chorus... with handclaps! Like I said, these guys love having fun and making hard rock something that anyone with an open mind can enjoy. \"In the Night\" has vocals very similar to the playful late 60's years of the Hollies. \"Outcast\" kind of reminds me of the Hollies too- that is, a significantly guitar heavier version of the Hollies! Gotta love the chorus \"I'm just an outcast!\" with the chugging guitar riff. This version of \"All In Your Mind\" is decent but I prefer the one that opens the album since it's twice as long.\n\nWOW! I'm sorry guys but this album is a guaranteed hour long display of absolute satisfaction. Wait, why am I apologizing? Oh right, to all the millions of rock fans who were too busy listening to several other hard rock bands in the early 70's to appreciate what Stray was doing. That's right all you Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Mountain and Humble Pie fans (and hundreds of other rock band fans!) The production is incredible and really feels like this album should have made a bigger splash than it did. It was certainly recorded under the intention of major worldwide success. The superior songwriting to other hard rock bands puts Stray in a special category of underrated albums. Just wow. Make the situation right and listen to this album everyone!!!","Product: UK remastered twofer combines both the British progressive rock act's albums, originally released in 1970 & 1971 respectively on the Vertigo 'Spiral' label, for the first time ever as a double CD. Gott Discs. 2004.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: you must buy the first album\n\nReview: Cressida is an interesting band from the early 70's. Sometimes they remind me of early Iron Butterfly, other times Steppenwolf, and sometimes even less popular bands such as Bloodrock and the Blues Image. Cressida's debut album is fantastic. I think if you're a fan of Justin Hayward from the Moody Blues, you will like the lead singers style. The band likes to include many of their songs with bouncy rhythm sections, which are understandably a bit strange at first, but gradually become more comfortable. Come to think of it, the lead singer also occasionally reminds me of the guy from Captain Beyond. The keyboard work is quite underrated as well- it's a pretty popular musical instrument throughout the album, and the swirls and twists that it offers are quite spectacular. I've never heard anything quite like it, in fact.\n\nI love this album. I don't want anyone to think I'm calling it a rip-off of other bands from all those comparisons I mention above when in fact, I really don't care if these guys were ripping off anyone or not- I just care about hearing good music, and that's exactly what this album offers. Solid, enjoyable songwriting and a beautiful sound to their music.","Product: Originally released in 1995, now expanded from a single album to a double with previously unreleased material, remastered sound & improved packaging. DIsc two features 4 bonus tracks 'The Sky Moves Sideways' (Alt. Version), 'Stars Die', 'Moonloop' (Improvisation) & 'Moonloop' (Coda). Snapper. 2004.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: improvement over the other PT album I heard\n\nReview: \"The Sky Moves Sideways\", while not perfect by any means, ends up being a delight to listen to nonetheless.\n\nThe first flaw I notice right away is that the first part of this 30-minute monster sounds like a complete ripoff of a late 70's song called \"The Whale\" by Electric Light Orchestra from the Out of the Blue album.\n\nAfter that part is over, a tropical beach-like theme enters the picture for a split second before drifting into Pink Floyd-sounding guitar riffs that honestly give you the impression of waves splashing against the shore. Too bad those riffs sound stolen from the Dark Side of the Moon album.\n\nHere comes the vocal melody. It's quiet and moody, and probably ripped off from something, but I don't know what. Actually, it's pretty good, and the short solo that comes afterwards is decent enough to keep my attention. On repeated listens, it's an even better solo than I thought. Good job there.\n\nThen a really heavy instrumental jam appears next, which is shocking because the build-up doesn't make you think THIS is coming, and this part is pretty exciting, and the groovy part that comes after that is even better. This carries on for several minutes before a short flute solo appers and doesn't really add much of anything, to be honest.\n\nNow the band tries jamming with the flute added, and it's not working nearly as effectively this time, however. Probably because the flute keeps repeating the same few notes over and over behind a heavy rhythm section, and the boring drumming don't help matters either. The band tried to make it interesting by speeding up the drums but it doesn't work.\n\nWhat appears to be an acoustic guitar comes in next, and this is really average. Oh man, the entire song is starting to fall apart now. I guess this is what happens when you take yourself too seriously. They should have kept with the jamming theme and not progressed into a series of unmemorable bits.\n\nWell, after all THAT is over, at least the mellow part of this extremely long tune is pretty good. It's putting me in a state of ease. The beautiful mellow section eventually drifts relaxingly into a Genesis-sounding instrumental jam somewhere around the 20-25 minute mark, and it's pretty good too.\n\nOh well, overall, it's pretty decent.","Product: England Dan & John Ford Coley were a pop duo from Austin, Texas. Dowdy Ferry Road was their second album, hitting #80 on the Billboard charts in 1977. It features the hit singles 'Gone Too Far' & 'It's Sad To Belong'. Wounded Bird. 2005.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: singin' some fine melodies\n\nReview: England Dan & John Ford Coley are starting to sound more elegant and professional on this album, so I guess commercial success did them good.\n\n\"Soldier In the Rain\" has strong Dan Fogelberg-like vocal similarities with pleasant orchestration. Not one of the strongest melodies in the world, but it's pretty soothing and enjoyable. \"The morning clouds are gathering around as I stand on the bridge of the river, years have gone since I was here and I wonder how I differ, taxi cabs keep rolling by and a blind man asks for change, and here I stand a soldier in the rain, coming home was all I thought of, seeing my family and friends, they say love knows no distance but the lonely never ends, and all along the dreams that possessed my heart never were to plain, and here I stand a soldier in the rain\". I like the way it speeds up during the part \"I remember years ago I had so many plans, now I watch the river flow time has brought me here with empty hands\". I like in the second half when the orchestration leads into a brief electric guitar before suddenly the pace picks up in a Kansas kind of way. Yup that's right, progressive rock baby- England Dan & John Ford Coley style! It's okay but nothing Kansas couldn't have done better. \"The morning clouds are gathering around and the streets are full of reflections, a traffic light and the moon's still bright, people going in different directions, I've thought about why I'm here it's just too hard to explain, so here I stand a soldier in the rain\". Meaningful lyrics that describe the feeling of coming home and discovering change while wondering how it was we got here. Overall the song's pretty good.\n\n\"Don't Feel That Way No More\" has a strong Gordon Lightfoot-like softly sung folk melody. \"I held her hands in the night, I told her everything would be alright, I searched her eyes for a sign to see if she was shining her love light, and she said \"I just don't feel that way no more\" and the way to my heart is a closed door, you can't revive what ain't alive that's for sure, and I could not lead you on anymore\". The great lyrics continue with this line- \"I could not breathe I could not speak and then I took a walk out in the air, I thought her love was mine to keep but her words kept on ringing in my ears\" and \"Many nights I was alone, then I learned to live here with the walls, and then one day she's on the phone telling me she loves me after all\". Isn't that always how it is? Women!\n\n\"You Know We Belong Together\" has gentle arrangements in the intro before the vocal melody comes in. Touching lyrics- \"There's no use in trying to hold back the sea, we're talking in circles about you and me, if we don't find an answer we'll both be alone, I just had to tell you before the feeling is gone\". The great lyrics continue- \"You say it's not easy it's work all the time, you've run out of reasons they're harder to find, but I was created to love only you, I'm feeling so helpless are you feeling it too?\" What makes this song GREAT is the uplifting chorus (\"You know we belong together, hearts bound in love forever, you know we belong together yes we do, me and you\"). Seriously that is one of the most uplifting choruses England Dan & John Ford Coley ever wrote! Not sure which artist it reminds me of either. Too many to name, but it's no ripoff.\n\n\"Dowdy Ferry Road\" is more of a country tune than the rest of the songs on the album. \"I remember when I was a child my daddy said to me, we want you to grow up son and lovin' your mom and me, but there's gonna be heard times when you're bound to feelin' low, and there's a place of jubilation where the ragged people go\". The way he sings \"ragged people gooooo\" reminds me of Frank Zappa for some reason, haha. I'm all alone in thinking that! \"It's over on a backroad, on the other side of town, in the quiet of the evening sometimes you can hear the sound, we'd all sit and listen and mamma would say \"Baby don't you know that's the poeple's jubilation on Dowdy Ferry Road\". The melody turns boisterous and danceable during the line \"They're singing it on the corner, dancing in the street, movin' to the music, swaying cheek to cheek, if you get the feeling you'll never want to go, you'll want to live forever on Dowdy Ferry Road\". It's a little of an awkward transition going from country to dance, but I love it anyway!\n\nIt takes until the closing song \"Holocaust\" to make me realize there's a subtle war theme going on throughout the album. This song begins atypically for England Dan & John Ford Coley with a really elaborate classical piece. There is a degree of sophistication that I didn't realize these guys would ever THINK about attempting and it's pretty good I must say. It's also haunting as you'd expect. The song shifts into a tender melody with the \"The time has come when all of us have to give something for the all of us, and we can turn back a holocaust and we can live and let live, everywhere it seems very clear there's a reason, a reason why we all are here, if we believe that the world is one, we can live and let live\". VERY good melody and lyrics. Alright so the lyrics are really simple and some might even say they're kind of cheesy but you know what? I prefer to think of the lyrics as completely honest. Oh and afterwards the orchestration plays quietly wiht the flutes. Really strong and touching stuff.\n\n\"It's Sad to Belong\" is a James Taylor-resembling example of honesty. \"I met you on a springtime day, you were minding your life and I was minding mine too, lady when you looked my way I had a strange sensation and darling that's when I knew, it's sad to belong to someone else when the right one comes along, and yes it's sad to belong to someone else when the right one comes along\". \"Oh I wake up in the night, and I reached beside me hoping you will be there, but instead I find someone, who believes in me when I said I'd always care\". This next lyric is amazing! \"So I lived my life in a dreamworld for the rest of my days, just you and me walking hand in hand in wishful memory, oh I guess that's all that it would ever be\". I do the same thing! And I agree 100% with the following line- \"Wish I had a time machine, I could make myself go back until the day I was born, and I would live my life again, and rearrange it so that I'll be yours from now on\". I admit the chorus is a bit weak though, but lyrically this song is top notch relatable stuff.\n\n\"Gone Too Far\" is a great example of honest 70's lyrics. \"How it all started I barely remember, a casual walk through the park in the winter, all that I wanted was someone I could talk to, it had to be you, the wind was cold we huddle together, looking back I should have known better, wasn't it me who said I'll never fall for anyone, and look what I've done\". The chorus is really good too- \"Gone too faaaaar I don't know how I did it, gone too faaaaar and I hate to admit it but I still spend my tiiiiiime thinking of you, gone too faaaaar there's nothing I can do now, gone too faaaaar it'll work out somehow but I spend all my tiiiiiime thinking of you\". \"Seems before I didn't know what was missing, maybe I did but I just wouldn't listen, wasn't it me who said I'll never fall for anyone and look what I've done\" is perhaps the best lyric.\n\n\"Love Is the One Thing We Hide\" opens in a really sad way with the violins and the lyrics \"Whirling and swirling through life's outer circles, we're moving along yearning and burning for love and affection, pretending we're strong and the only thing that we all need is wrapped up inside, why is it always that love is the one thing we hide\". Wow the orchestration really makes this song better, as does the piano. \"Dreaming and breathing alone in the darkness awaiting the light, concealing the feelings of helpless surroundings alone in the night when the only thing that we all need is wrapped up inside, why is it always that love is the one thing we hide\". The way the final line is sung \"Why is it always that love is the one thing we hide\" is sung different from the rest of the melody, but it's really good! \"And it's all along we go, though it's all along we know, there are strangers all around afraid to make a friend, afraid that it will end in pieces on the ground, though we're lonely we're so lonely\". This is the kind of melody you sing when you're alone and doing something around the house when you don't want others to know you love this type of music.\n\n\"Falling Stars\" opens beautifully with the keyboards. Vocals are a bit too quiet for my liking this time around and don't make much of an impression on me. \"\"Seems like this train's moving oh so slow, or maybe I'm just in a hurry, for hours I've sat in this chair alone, my eyes like the weather are blurry\". But then the pace picks up quickly with the line \"And I thought all the way about the things we had done, I hope I can help you remember\"... only to return to the quietness with the next line (\"That night after night when the sun had gone, we sat on the beaches counting the falling stars, stars, counting the falling stars\"). So frustrating! At least the quiet lyrics in the next line are really good (\"The rain and the cold must be hard for you, there's nothing here I would have traded and all of those things we were going through, would now all be gone if you'd waited\") Boisterous again for the line \"So most often I think about the times in the past I hope I can help you remember\" and quiet *again* for the line \"That night after night when the sun had gone, we sat on the beches counting the falling stars, stars, counting the falling stars\". Despite all this back and forth shifting from quietness to loudness, I enjoy this song quite a bit! Pretty awesome guitar solo at the end too- reminds me of Bob Seger's \"Mainstreet\".\n\n\"Where Do I Go From Here\" opens in a VERY sad way with the... what is that? A guitar? Not sure. But the orchestration in the background makes it better. \"Autumn days like lying on a bed of leaves, watching clouds up through the trees, you said our love was more than time, but it's colder now, the trees are bare and the nights are long, I can't get warm since you've been gone, and I can't stop singing sad songs\". What a splendid simplistic melody. \"Where do I go from here? Tell me where do I go from here? You said you'd take me through the years, so where do we go from here?\" is a predictably written chorus in a Barry Manilow style. \"Lovers plans like falling leaves on windy days, flutter past and then fly away, I thought I know you oh so well, and I need you now, I need to feel you in the night, I need you smiling so warm and bright, I wish my mind could let you go\". I don't know, the chorus doesn't appeal to me much but the verse melody I just LOVE despite resembling countless other tender songs of the 70's.\n\nOverall this is a pretty good album, but to be honest England Dan & John Ford Coley were probably better when they were focusing on folk rock, however an album of mostly love songs is a splendid idea too because the songwriting is quite strong. Highly recommended.","Product: This title was NEVER authorized for release on CD in ANY country ever. All "Back In '72" CDs are simply BOOTLEGS. Just don't get duped by dishonest sellers who claim something otherwise.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: back in '72 when the music flowed just right\n\nReview: \"I've Got Time\" opens in such a lovely way with the flutes and innocent vibes. Feel those soft vibes! \"I was born at the break of dawn, in the last days of the last great war, my father was not in the fighting, and my mother never had to mourn, I was raised raised and taught to hurry, I've been hurrying and worrying all my days, but now as I'm getting older I think I'm learning how to run the race\" is sung in such a pretty way. This song is uncharacteristic of Bob Seger's usual style. Then again Bob Seger is more diverse than people realize so perhaps I shouldn't be saying such a thing! This song is totally early 70's though- just the way the guitar and keyboards play indicates that particular special period.\n\n\"Turn the Page\" is a classic and for good reason. The smoky barroom vibes are REALLY amazing. There's a reason classic rock radio has never retired this song from their playlist- it never gets boring. I sort of compare the smoky late night vibes to Billy Joel's \"Piano Man\" except I envision the Billy Joel song taking place in a city club bar whereas the Seger song takes place.... hmmm... let me think. Somewhere in the southwest desert. A small tavern in the middle of nowhere. I can totally picture Bob standing on stage singing this song, nearly drifting asleep in an attempt to get people's attention but the audience is so wasted after a day of heavy drinking they can't get into it or hear its genius.\n\nHere's a funny story. Perhaps I shouldn't say funny. It's not really humorous and I feel bad for the guy. Let me explain. One time in the 80's my dad's friend broke up with his girlfriend and got depressed about it, so he drove around the neighborhood late at night with my dad sitting in the passengers seat playing \"Turn the Page\" over and over for two hours because the mood just felt right for the poor guy. I think this left a permanent impression on my dad about the song and he probably enjoys it less now as a result. I feel sorry for my dad having to persevere that night, but honestly he was there for the guy in his time of need.\n\nOh and one more thing- as much as people try convincing me Metallica's version is superior.... no, not even close. James Hetfield doesn't have the same type of range as Seger and plus Hetfield's voice just isn't as good. Perhaps just as importantly Metallica's version lacks atmosphere. It's a huge drop in quality compared to Bob Seger's version if you ask me. But what do I know! Most disagree with me bizarrely enough.\n\n\"I've Been Working\" opens with a dated funky rhythm, but it's really enjoyable. This song has a Joe Cocker way about it in the vocals. If Joe Cocker was into jazz, this would totally imitate his style. I love the way Bob sings \"I've been grinding for so long!\" and the \"Woman woman woman!\" part. Great extended guitar solo too. Strange, but the guitar solo sounds remarkably similar to the stuff Peter Gabriel was doing with Genesis at the time. \"Rosalie\" has a more commercial feel to it with its steady blues/rock pace. I like the addition of the female vocals- they come in and sing along to the main melody. Honestly without the female vocals this song would probably feel average. They're necessary! At first I didn't think I'd like this song, but it's actually pretty good.\n\n\"Neon Sky\" opens mysteriously with more hazy and dreary \"Turn the Page\" vibes capturing the feeling of someone riding down a lonely highway towards a city (or away from a city). \"Through the windy field of another land, I've seen your face girl I have held your hand, though I should be there, with you there today, the neon sky knows that I must stay\" is a nice line. \"On a dusty stage many years ago, I chose my road still I hope you know, that there'll come a day with the neon sky, when we'll walk into the sun, you and I\" is another good line. This song is based on a simple melody but it works.\n\n\"Back in '72\" is a blues rocker with vocals that don't really appeal to me. Sometimes, or rather a lot of times, I don't think Bob's voice gels particularly well with this type of rock and roll. It's a nagging feeling in the back of my mind that he should have avoided blues rock altogether because this song is another indication that blues and Seger's vocals are a recipe of sounding flat and somewhat irritating to me. Not only does his voice not feel like it works well with this style, but I'm also a little angry he never continued with the psychedelic stuff from his Bob Seger System albums. Those were some great albums! His vocal work on those early albums is staggeringly good.\n\n\"So I Wrote You a Song\" is a short piano ballad. Bob elevates his voice in a way that's different from usual whenever he sings the line \"So I wrote you a song!\" There's also same unusual tempo changes going on too. However I love this song and the line \"I woke up with this feeling, haven't felt it for quite some time\". I can picture Chicago writing a song like this. Bob's version of \"Midnight Rider\" is much different from the familiar version we all love. This is because Bob gives it a much faster boogie rock flavor. This unfortunately means it's *nowhere* as atmospheric as the Allman Brothers version. Bob has an amazing voice but he doesn't feel the need to use it very well here, and while I admire a cover song that drastically separates itself from the original, this is just weird. \"Stealer\" is cool based on the ZZ Top style of funkiness it has. Bob even imitates Billy Gibbons. Really cool tune and brief guitar solo.\n\nWell Back In '72 is probably where Bob Seger started down his commercial path (for better or worse... personally I feel for the worse). Still the album is memorable enough that I can recommend it. It's not special like the Bob Seger System albums, and it's not emotional like Brand New Morning either. Instead it shows a musician on the verge of major success. Some creative ideas that work and others that don't work so good.","Product: Refugee was seen by the British music press at least as an attempt to revive the legendary British progressive rock band The Nice. While two thirds of The Nice (Lee Jackson and Brian Davison) were involved in Refugee the addition of Swiss born keyboard virtuoso Patrick Moraz ensured that the project whilst having the progressive ideals of The Nice was in fact something altogether different. The album has been re mastered for this release and will certainly be of interest to the large and dedicated Patrick Moraz fan base and also of interest to Yes fans through Patrick's membership of the band and lovers of progressive rock music.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: progressive rock at its finest... once again!\n\nReview: This Refugee album is a forgotten 51-ride of awesomeness. Thank you W. Sheppard for once again recommending another fantastic prog masterpiece!\n\nAfter spending 6 weeks picking an infected ingrown toenail and experiencing fevers and other unpleasant symptoms, it finally healed (I think... I could be in pain again tomorrow) however none of that changes the fact that for tonight at least, I'm ready to get back into the swing of my favorite thing ever- music!\n\n\"Credo\" is amazing in all kinds of hard to explain words... but I'll try to piece together something readable. I really think Patrick Moraz of Yes fame steals the spotlight with his unbelievably diverse range of piano playing. The first 3 minutes of this suite for example, he shifts from \"Take a Pebble\"-like (Emerson, Lake & Palmer song in case you don't know) classical inspired piano work that feels majestic one moment, then romantic the next to... medieval. Several sudden, astonishing mood shifts and this is all just in the first 3 minutes! Not even Willy Wonka can dazzle your imagination more creatively, haha. Simply put, the man (Patrick Moraz) is as good as advertised. The organ solo later on is perhaps another noticeable ELP comparison but it's wonderful all the same.\n\nThe vocals come in and... well Lee Jackson *does* sort of resemble Peter Gabriel around the Lamb Lies Down On Broadway-era but... anyone with the last name Jackson has to be pretty decent. Just has to be! Oh but a quick google search shows that the popular Genesis album came out at the end of 1974, whereas this Refugee album came out in March of the same year. Hmmm... well then, forget that silly comparison! Anyway the vocal melody is really strange. The first set of vocals has a really embarrassing line about children believing in Santa Claus (true story- I learned that Santa wasn't real in a grocery store much to the delightful facial expression of a woman who overheard me talking to my mom about it, hehe) but it then turns really tearful and sincere later on. I almost cry even- it's *that* emotional. I'm trying to think what kind of setting would be appropriate to play a song like this. How about walking down a city sidewalk on a dreary rainy day and arriving to a dusty-scented home? Sort of, hehe.\n\nMan, the piano playing throughout this piece is just *awesome*. Patrick Moraz is so darn talented it's not even funny. After those hard to forget devastating vocals, the song shifts into a fast-paced piano jam that's certainly bizarre and almost circus-like in spots! Or just epic. Already I'm a big fan of this entire album seriously. After a familiar vocal melody, now a really funky and frantically performed piano jam appears. Now you have my attention young man! Actually you had it all along, hehe. The Epyptian Pierre Moerlen Gong-like part one minute before the songs conclusion is strange. Of course there's a TON of strange things going on here! Wow is this ever a fantastic suite.\n\n\"Grand Canyon Suite\" begins with some rather vivid and colorful arrangements that'll make you swear you've just opened the window to heaven as birds fly from the delicate orchids, the sunlight shines with just the right amount of warmth to keep you cozy, and the mountain on which you're sitting on top of is tall enough to clearly see all the wonderful sights (such as lands and villages) below. I'm not giving the intro the credit it deserves however- it's incredibly powerful. I love it. 5 minutes later, and I'm convinced no other progressive rock band attempted whatever thing of absolute beauty Refugee is performing here. The imagery you'll experience is picture perfect. The mellotrons are *amazingly* imaginative. Of all the bands that uesd mellotrons in the 70's, this might be one of the best examples ever. A couple minutes later we hear a piano solo and another Peter Gabriel-like vocal melody. The organs in the background give it a \"The Musical Box\" type feel (Genesis song). Just a *little* bit however. Otherwise the two songs are two separate worlds! Fantastic vocal melody too. \"Flyyyyy through the canyon on a dream\".\n\nAfter this, the song does something I can't say I've ever heard before- it alternates between drums and organs in a way that's just plain *odd*. Then... I know, you're going to hate me for bringing this up again, but the keyboard work is totally similar to the final part of Genesis' \"Watcher of the Skies\". It's brief so it's only worth mentioning- not worth dwelling on. The second half really isn't as appealing as the first half since the song switches to a repetitive keyboard melody that's probably going for grand scale epicness, but falls a tad short. \"Grand Canyon Suite\" is a masterpiece anyway. I gotta be honest though- this song makes the Grand Canyon seem like the most adventurous place on earth. Unfortunately actually going to the Grand Canyon is sort of boring I'm afraid.\n\n\"Papillion\" is somewhat sloppy though I admit I might be misinterpreting sloppiness for strange insect-multiplying atmosphere, but the keyboard portions are magnificent. Patrick Moraz you are a genius! \"Someday\" is a great cover of the Diana Ross classic... not! Just reminded me I haven't heard the Diana Ross song of the same name in years. Anyway this isn't one of the more appealing songs here but I actually really like it anyway. Initially the vocals sound rushed due to the awkward way it's written. Reminds me of a Todd Rundgren-type experiment. Good song either way, especially the inspiring lyrics. Mitt Romney, er, \"Ritt Mickley\" begins with an eerie synthesizer solo and drums. I LOVE the keyboard part at the 2:20 through 2:50 mark. Is that cool or what? The synth jam at the end is pretty groovy too. For a moment it even turns Mahavishnu Orchestra-like. Oh but *smacks metal ruler against desk* that AWESOME keyboard melody returns!\n\nGotta love the album cover too- the guy on the left looks like Danny Masterson (Hyde from That 70's Show) and the guy in the middle resembles a smiling and confident Dennis Miller. Who knows who the right guy resembles. He's handsome too! Anyway, pick up this Refugee album as soon as you can. You'll be rewarded, trust me.","Product: 2006 issued digitally remastered edition of Hammill's third solo album that was originally released in 1974. The original 7 tracks have been augmented with three more that didn't appear on the original LP issue: \"Emperor in His War Room\", \"Faint Heart & the Sermon\" and \"(No More) the Sub Mariner\".\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: another Peter Hammill album, and this time the results aren't too impressive\n\nReview: I'm not entirely sure what to think about In Camera, but one thing is definitely for sure- without a shadow of a doubt, there's tons of filler all over the place.\n\nThe entire second half of \"Gog/Magog (In Bromine Chambers)\" is completely pointless, in fact. Just some uninspiring and incredibly dated sound effects that take up the entire second half of the 17-minute suite. It's REALLY boring too. I just can't get into the second half no matter how much effort I put into it, however, the first half contains a pretty spooky vocal melody and background arrangements that resemble the oddest of Van Der Graaf Generator tracks (from Pawn Hearts in particular). I believe that's a harmonium dominating a good chunk of the first half.\n\nExperimentation was in high order during the first half of \"Gog/Magog (In Bromise Chambers)\", and it's quite memorable as a result. Of course, in all actuality, the vocal melody itself is pretty bland and relatively cheesy and reminiscent of a terrribly dated horror film. It's nothing that wasn't better utilized on a Van Der Graaf Generator album, that's for sure. It's enjoyable nonetheless. I wish the second had never been laid down on tape, though.\n\n\"The Comet, the Course, the Tail\" is fairly bland because musically there's nothing particularly memorable about it. Lyrically it's passable though. From a musical point of view, the vocal melody drags and the listener quickly discovers how repetitive it is. \"Faint Heart and the Sermon\" is probably the most melodically pleasing song on the entire album, but it's nothing compared to the best (or even worst, for that matter) Van Der Graaf Generator material. This is yet another song from In Camera that strikes me as being incredibly fake for the most part, and by \"fake\" I mean, from an emotional point of view, it leaves me completely empty because it doesn't feel believable enough. Peter Hammill is a LOT better than this.\n\n\"(No More) The Sub-Mariner\" has a dramatic and somewhat enticing vocal melody, but it sort of misses the mark in a few key areas, such as making me lose interest after only two minutes in which is certainly uncharacteristic of a Peter Hammill song. I almost never become bored but in this case, the song is easily a couple minutes overlong. \"Ferret & Featherhead\" has a pretty enough vocal melody but... eh. I've heard better. \"Again\" is only noteworthy for its depressing atmosphere.\n\nHonestly, In Camera is mediocre for a good portion of its running time. A lot of the arrangements are cheesy in a Uriah Heep kind of way, the vocal melodies are disappointing for the most part because Peter Hammill doesn't seem like he cares enough to make them particularly interesting, and for the most part the entire album feels completely devoid of Hammill's trademark emotional side and especially devoid of exciting musical ideas. I need interesting songwriting, and I'm not getting it with In Camera. Oh well, check out the Silent Corner & the Empty Stage instead.\n\nSo why the high rating? I'm giving it 4 stars out of 5 after all. Well, because the more I listen to In Camera the more it grows on me, though it's an extremely slow and aggravatingly grueling process. This is because Peter Hammill's vocal melodies aren't jumping out to me like usual. However I believe the melodies are definitely *there*. It's just taking a while to find them. I strongly believe the day will come when I'm eventually able to give in completely and give the album a perfect 5 stars. For now though, realizing I haven't yet reached that point where I can fully comprehend the enormous scope that In Camera presents... it shall remain a 4-star rating.","Product: Al's first album from 1967, never available on CD by itself anywhere in the world! And our reissue includes all the tracks from both versions of the album release. The bonus tracks, meanwhile, are killer: 'Go Your Way', a track from Al's first-ever recording session in 1965, only three acetates of which are known to exist, and 'My Contemporaries', a hilarious, unreleased send-up of the Who's 'My Generation'!\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: the start of al\n\nReview: Al Stewart's very first album is rather quiet in the sense that it's overlooked by most, but also that it shows the beginning stages of a soon to be great musician. That doesn't mean it's crucial by any means- just intended for those interested in the early Al stuff.\n\n\"Beleeka Doodle Day\" is the only lengthy song on Bedsitter Images, which basically means it's the only song on the album that can possibly contain a fully developed story. Unfortunately it doesn't really tell much of a story. \"A pterodactyl built its nest on me, I'm feeling strange but quite okay on this beleeka doodle day\" reminds me of how *I* feel, haha. I feel strange because I don't know how to take this album. I usually identify Al Stewart as a vocal melody genius but in this case, the melody is pretty standard and doesn't hit me on an emotional level like most of Al's melodies do. \"I had a week once in Italy with Mike and Robin and some songs, I had a girl once in Sweden but I haven't seen her for too long\". These two lines are memorable because Al Stewart's music often makes me think of Italy based on his singing style (usually picturing myself in an Italian art museum if you want me to be precise, heh) and Al Stewart always sings about girls and past relationships. Otherwise the melody is just okay, and 7 minutes is a bit much for a story that doesn't blow me away and reach Al's usual high standards. Odd how loud the drumming is to compliment mild acoustic guitar.\n\n\"Samuel, Oh How You've Changed\" is a Gordon Lightfoot-like devastatingly playful tune that reminds me of my youth. Usually Al Stewart never resembles Gordon Lightfoot since one's Canadian and the other's British, but on this album, curiously enough he sometimes does. \"I've been too long on the floor, I can't stay here anymore so Jenny won't you please take me home\" sounds so innocent and beautiful. \"And a million voices cry as I walk across the sky\" is a good line. \"Ivich\" opens with some Middle Eastern-resembling acoustic guitar playing. Al had a little bit of an obsession with acoustic instrumental music on his first two or three albums. Not sure why. Perhaps he wasn't confident in his vocal melody or lyric writing skills, or maybe the record company thought it'd be better to include some instrumentals from time to time. Or maybe he just had a fascination with his guitar. Anyway this song's pretty memorable and somewhat haunting.\n\n\"Swiss Cottage Manoeuvres\" open like a National Anthem on Christmas morning, so rise and shine and salute! Well the vocals come in and it *is* a story that takes place on a Christmas day with gentle swirling acoustic guitar lines occurring in the background. A song about Al and a girl he fancies hitting off a relationship that begins innocently enough as a friendship. I notice Al likes to pay close attention to the mannerisms of women. I guess all guys (including me) do the same thing since we have a fascination with women and strongly desire to figure out what they're like and try to understand them, so I can't really blame the guy. We just can't keep our attraction for women in check! \"I could see myself nailed to a dormitory tail of a holiday night's escapade, just yesterday she seemed like a woman to me. And so like a child with the sleep in her eyes, where the sadness of age had once been, she left on the train with a \"See you again\" and a smile\". This song is so whimsical and even David Bowie-like in some of the low-pitched notes that Al hits. \"But when I'm alone I just think about her once in a while\". In comes the trumpets! I like this song a lot. Really pretty atmosphere.\n\n\"Pretty Golden Hair\" is exceptionally playful. Hmmm, this seems to be a theme. I shouldn't be surprised at all because several artists such as David Bowie, the Moody Blues, Cat Stevens, Van Der Graaf Generator and others started off writing shorter/more simplistic songs early in their careers before they found their forte. \"For I believe my fortune's waiting there, so like an eager cutting knife he plunged in a new life\" is my favorite line. \"Ah the days soon grew thin and the boredom fast set in, his job was thrown away without a care, for a man who said you'll earn twice as much instead\" is another good line. The horns feel out of place and don't blend in well with the delicate orchestration. Just my opinion at least. I enjoy the vocal melody a lot though. \"A Long Way Down From Stephanie\" is somewhat forgettable because the melody is really slow and lyrically it isn't much of an improvement either. I enjoy the harpsichord of course (at least I *think* that's a harpsichord! Would be embarrassing if it's not!)\n\n\"Denise at 16\" with its light acoustic guitar is pretty, but nothing to write home about either. I've heard better guitar instrumentals from Al Stewart alone. Possibly his worst one but again, it's okay. The title song speeds along with element of playfulness and memories of being a child sorting through a toy box in the play room. It's honestly a bit odd that a grown man would write lyrics that pertain to being a child so often. It's borderline obsessive! Perhaps it wouldn't come across so strange if he was singing about himself, but he usually makes it sound like he's singing for *any* child. It either means Bedsitter Images is intended for children or Al Stewart can't let go of his childhood (or he's obsessed with kids). Hey not that I can blame him. I can't let go of my childhood sometimes either. You know a lot of times when I drift to sleep, I get extremely nostalgic. I can't explain what's causing this to happen. It's like going to sleep is, according to my brain, the same thing as drifting back in time. Strange I know. Anyway this is a pretty good song. Sorry for getting sidetracked! \"Then alone in my room I must stay or lose or win, while these wild bedsitter images come to hem me in\".\n\n\"Cleave to Me\" is more playful orchestration, a theme that's really strong throughout the album. This is really strange but one time my dad's girlfriend left a game on my computer of um, that one extremely popular facebook game (seriously I don't play those games so I wouldn't know these things- I play Nintendo and Sony games) and when I turned the volume up the music closely resembled some of the classical arrangements of \"Cleave to Me\". Al starts singing a couple minutes in but why bother? This was better at just being an instrumental. \"Scandinavian Girl\" sounds like a western with the orchestration in the beginning before shifting into a steady-paced country song of sorts. Hmmm, Al attempting country. That's interesting! For some bizarre reason certain parts of the vocal melody remind me of the Beatles \"With a Little Help From My Friends\". \"The Carmichaels\" has lyrics about a man who can never love his wife enough so he gives her whatever she wants (or whatever he thinks she deserves).\n\nAl Stewart's very first album is pretty darn good. It's about what I expected though. A pretty good album but not a stellar one. I still recommend it but you know that's easy for me to say- I'm a big fan of Al Stewart's music. The man can do no wrong in my eyes! Well then again some of his newer stuff is less than interesting but most people don't think he ever lost a step so don't take my word for it. But Bedsitter Stories is deserving of your purchase. Go on, purchase it! I'll wait right here while you do. I actually probably *will* be waiting pathetically enough, lol.\n\nWait I'm not done this review! I forgot to mention the bonus track. Snap snap right? Okay! \"Clifton In the Rain\" sounds more serious than the above stuff since the orchestration has been stripped so it's just guitar and vocals. Al loves to take his woman to Clifton, but I don't even know where that is. I've heard of Cliff Town- that's a level in a Spyro the Dragon video game, but Clifton? \"Lover Man\" sounds sort of incomplete but snappy with the two-note piano lines. Lovely guitar too. \"Hey come tell me why your primroses are green\" is a line that stands out to me because I've never seen green primroses! You can go your own way, don't go our way... oops, wrong song! \"Go Your Way\" is a short country song. Al uses a silly fake country voice with speedy guitar strumming and it's all completely unnecessary because he's not a country singer, so he ends up sounding like the lead singer of the Incredible String Band. Now this review is done. Peace out everyone!","Product: Released in 1970, Zero She Flies featured Trevor Lucas of Fairport Convention, and has never been available by itself on CD anywhere in the world. The bonus tracks 'Stormy Night', an unreleased track recorded with Peter White; 'News from Spain', a remix/edit of a track from the Orange album previously available only on an import, and 'Lyke-Wake Dirge', an unreleased, classic folk song featuring Mimi Farina on vocals!\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: flying away with Al's head in the clouds\n\nReview: An early effort by Al Stewart. Zero She Flies is one of those albums I'd NEVER have discovered without the internet and I'm sure glad I did. I absolutely love it. Al Stewart could do no wrong in the 60's and 70's (well the 70's at least- haven't heard one of his 60's albums yet).\n\nThe title song is all about guitar strumming. \"She has no lies to tell you and no truths to sell you\" is a good line. \"And Zero she flies is the morning sighs, spreads her wings like a seagull, from the mountain he watches her biding his time, but his eyes are the eyes of an eagle\" is a really memorable, mystical and creative vocal melody. Still there's a feeling of undeveloped songwriting here but you know, that's to be expected. I never would've thought Al Stewart would've done mastered his brand of folk/rock songwriting talents in the early days. Who'd think such a silly thing! It just seems like there's no weak lyrical content anywhere on this adventurous song. This song also has good electric guitar soloing occasionally too. Still, excellent song.\n\n\"Burbling\" has really wilderness-like acoustic guitar. That's all there is really though. Somewhat repetitive, but otherwise great instrumental. \"My Enemies Have Sweet Voice\" (heh, funny title for a song! Makes me think about tuning out all the people who get under my skin!) has a groovy bass guitar in the beginning with blues harmonica to follow. This song reminds me of sneaking out late at night to the bar and having fun, which is probably evident by some of the lyrics early on. The tone of this song is quite detective-like, like a mystery interpretation through a song and dance, but it's actually Al's playful take on blocking out the bad voices that distract him. At least that's what I think. Don't let anyone get you down! The melodic harmonica soloing is REALLY melodic too and takes up a lengthy period in the middle. \"I was jumping to conclusions and one of them jumped back!\" is a funny line.\n\n\"Manuscript\" opens with nice acoustic guitar. An eerie mood shift occurs right when Al sings \"And my grandmother sits on the beach in the days before the war, young girl writing her diary while time seems to pause\". Then eerie again when it repeats a minute later with \"And my grandmothers sits before the mirror in the days before the war, smiling a secret smile as she goes to the door\". The song then gets really creepy. I'd expect no less since the song's about going off to war (well that's one part of it at least- not sure what the bigger message is). This song feels playful one moment, and really eerie the next. Not sure what to make of it. It contains intelligent storytelling lyrics with lovely orchestration showing that Al would go on to do bigger things in the near future. \"News From Spain\" has sparkling drum work interestingly enough, but of course the downbeat acoustic guitar and Procol Harum-sounding piano and keyboard work is the most notable aspect of the song because it's just some of the creepiest and dreariest stuff imaginable, haha. Al Stewart really went the distance to give this stuff a powerful edge!\n\n\"Gethsemane, Again\" reminds me of Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull. Not exactly a big stretch there huh, because a LOT of Al Stewart songs sound like Jethro Tull. They share similar voices and even occasionally share similar vocal-stretching techniques. This is more of a straight forward Irish folk song with religious lyrics. It's really sad though, especially the line about Jesus crying in the rain which makes a return at the end of each section. I like the lyrics- \"Oh the flowers hushed the air as the columns advanced, to the clinking of coins in a ritual dance, on flagstones that ached for a chance of a chance, of escaping\" and perhaps even better- \"And the mystical statues looked down so depressed, at the endless possessors becoming possessed, and the costumed confessors who never confessed, to the wall\". Really sad and melancholy lyrics, but also quite poetic and beautiful in another respect. I can't think of anything more to say about it because it's intelligently written and I'd just be writing out most of the lines. A REALLY extraordinary song no matter how you look at it. \"Room of Roots\" is another acoustic guitar instrumental. Who knows, maybe Al was listening to too much \"Classical Gas\" (the Mason Williams instrumental classic). I guess this is slightly unfocused but it leaves an impression on me since the notes are for the most part memorable, so count me happy.\n\n\"Lyke-Wake Dirge\" opens with a children's choir before turning into a moody ballad with some of the dreariest piano playing ever. It's another religious song where Al takes his voice to a different, more serious level. He sounds absolutely crazy on this song. The drumming is quite powerful too- wasn't expecting the drums to move me! But this is all about Al's voice. He could move the universe with a voice like that. It's stunning really. \"A Small Fruit Song\" is filler perhaps. This time the acoustic guitar jams more in an inspiring and neat kind of way. The brief vocals where Al pretends that two fruits are talking to each other is... LOL! Al's being funny here obviously. Actually this is somewhat amusingly coincidental because I had a grapefruit story a few weeks ago that was just WAY too silly! I was pretending one of them was the general or colonel of an army, and he had to rally his troops (the other grapefruits sitting on the counter) on an imaginary war against the lemons and kiwis who took over the orange groves. So I guess I too have my silly moments! I usually try to keep them to myself... well until now, lol.\n\n\"Electric Los Angeles Sunset\" is a sad story about a man who gets shot in the head and the ambulance/cops come. Wow wasn't expecting THIS kind of brutal imagery! I figured it'd be something more creative and beautiful about admiring a sunset but well, I guess Al might be telling us something more here. Maybe he had a bad trip to LA and this is his personal experience. Yikes! Love how the atmosphere changes during the \"Cadillacs roll through the smoggy perfume, the buildings are choking on oxygen fumes\" which seems sort of accurate. Unintentional perhaps, but the frantic pace reminds me of Jimi Hendrix \"All Along the Watchtower\". \"Stormy Night\" is awesome for the way it captures the feeling of either being far away from home or missing someone you once knew. \"Stormy night, lonely days\". This guy seriously has a GREAT knack for writing spectacular vocal melodies because this one's brilliant. \"I thought I saw you a long time ago, down by the sea\" is a great line.\n\nFinishing the review with a couple shorties for ya. \"Anna\" has acoustic guitar lines a lot like Jim Croce's \"Time In a Bottle\". That makes it instantly awesome! Lyrics are depressing too about being on your own. \"Black Hill\" is more of the same but more uplifting. It's odd that a few of the shorter songs here act like they're going to be guitar instrumentals until Al suddenly decides to throw in vocal melodies at the end. Probably part of the unfocused/unsure early days of a mighty fine musician in Al Stewart. Overall Zero She Flies is criminally underrated and a must have for Al Stewart fans!","Product: This double-album expressed its turbulent (1969) times with a tribute to Martin Luther King, and its artistic times with three long instrumental jams on sides three and four. Collector's Choice. 2007.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: freedom never sounded so beautiful\n\nReview: My oh my, experimentation on this album with a few lengthy tunes near the end. A surprising move on the part of the Rascals.\n\n\"America the Beautiful\" begins the album on an orchestrated note. This is a very patriotic tune with military style drumming and a shift into country rock shortly after. \"If we lose the war in poverty than America's not beautiful\" is a strange but honest line! The band tries to implement \"My Country 'Tis of Thee\" in one spot using orchestration and altering the melody slightly but I'm not too crazy about it. Not one of the better songs here. \"Me and My Friends\" has a Moby Grape or Crosby, Stills and Nash quality to it based on the vocals. Actually I'm thinking of the Moby Grape song \"Omaha\" which mentions the words \"My friends\" in the lyrics. Maybe a coincidence, maybe not. The vocal melody is sincere and enjoyable enough. I like it more than \"America the Beautiful\". Nice piano playing at the end too with violins tucked quietly in the background. Wish the violins stood out more because they had potential.\n\n\"Any Dance'll Do\" is classic Rascals to me. So that immediately makes the vocal melody catchy and groovy with an irresistible beat! \"You might as well take a chance, the worst can happen you'll have a new dance\" is a playful line. \"Look Around\" is a groovy piano-based rock tune with heavy emphasis on bass during the verse melody. Inspiring lyrics about looking around at the poor state of the country and willing to lend a helping hand by any means, and the unsatisfactory state of the situation being involved in a war at the time. \"A Ray of Hope\" is VERY soulful compared to the rest of the stuff here. The vocals feel quite Motown-ish. I enjoy this song. It's really well-written and the tempo changes are all really terrific and leave an impression. This song *almost* reminds me of Bob Dylan's \"Like a Rolling Stone\" during certain lines not because of the lyrics but the way the melody unfolds. It's hard to explain but the way Bob sings the line \"Go to him now, he calls you, you can't refuse, when you got nothing, you got nothing to lose\" sounds like it's being played in this song. I could be imagining this of course.\n\n\"Island of Love\" is probably what you'd expect- uplifting and meaningful 60's pop in classic Rascals style about finding a place to feel love. Honestly people might laugh at these type of lyrics and vibes in the world we live in these days, but I prefer it over most genres of music out there because it lights up my imagination for one thing, and the Rascals have the good sense to back it up with a splendid soulful vocal melody enhancing the way I feel about spending my entire life in that special fantasy world of love. That's just me though- crazy ol' me! \"Of Course\" is a scathing/bitter song lyrically about feeling bad watching your girlfriend flirting with another man. A driving beat and powerful vocal melody carries this memorable tune. Lead singer of the Rascals never sounded so good. Actually I shouldn't say he *never* sounded this good- he sounds as good as always. Enjoy the brief sax solo (VERY brief- less than 5 seconds, haha).\n\n\"Love Was So Easy to Give\" is an AWESOME song! Gently sung VERY emotionally charged verse melody with carefree lyrics and a touch of country rock with accordions. Wow talk about a GREAT mixture of instruments and a wonderful vocal melody. A high point of the album for me. The lyrics are great too because they focus on learning as a youngster and remaining mentally strong even as we grow older and become more mature. At least that's what I sense. \"People Got to Be Free\" doesn't even need to be mentioned does it? A BIG hit this song was! A REALLY well-written and emotional verse melody. Even the guitar plays along in such a way that reinforces the sadness and importance of the lyrical meaning. This song actually fits in remarkably well with the rest of the album. This songs meaning is quite obvious and should be taken seriously- people just want to be FREE darn it! Nobody wants to be controlled. Nobody.\n\n\"Baby I'm Blue\" has a Janis Joplin style of sadness to it in the rhythm and specifically the soulfully performed guitar work. This song makes me sound blue too! In a good way at least. \"Heaven\" isn't as blue however, surprisingly enough. I put two and two together and figured this would be a slow-moving ballad of sorts however it's not. Instead it's actually an upbeat type of tune with piano playing and lots of bouncy tempo changes while the lead singer chugs along. This song takes time to absorb because it feels overwhelmingly all over the place at first. It's not though- this song is really good on repeated listens. Perhaps the vocals are somewhat sloppy or maybe again, it just hasn't fully settled into my mind yet. I don't know how to interpret this to be honest, but I'm confident repeated listens will straighten my act out and I'll end up enjoying it.\n\n\"Adrian's Birthday\" is where the album marks a significant change. It's never a good idea to sing \"Happy birthday\" in the verse melody because the odds are good it's going to sound awkward compared to a certain popular birthday song that we've all found ourselves singing once or twice (or hundreds of times) in our lifetime. I think the Rascals were aware of this which is why the chanting only lasts briefly before switching into a VERY tasteful and melodic guitar solo, an equally impressive sax solo, and probably the best part being the piano solo after this. The keyboard solo with jazzy arrangements shows me that the late 60's were definitely heading towards a more jam-focused period of rock music. I already knew this but listening to a band like the Rascals jam away makes me realize two things- they're very good at it for one thing, and back then it was inevitable for rock artists to experiment with a few jams here or there even if it wasn't their specialty.\n\n\"Boom\" begins with a disjointed eerie drum part. Somehow it's memorable but I'm not sure why. Perhaps because I've never heard a drum jam begin like this one does. This ENTIRE 14-minute song is focused on a specific Ginger Baker (of Cream fame) style of jazzy drumming. It doesn't leave as much of an impact as say, \"Toad\" the live song from Cream's Wheels of Fire, but it's put together with as much care and sophistication. I like how the drum work near the end returns to the same eerie set of notes played during the beginning. Do I like this song? Yes actually, and the reason is probably because I have experience with these type of lengthy drum jams thanks again to the Cream tune. The live version of \"Toad\" (which I highly recommend that you hear by the way) prepares one for lengthy drum workouts. Otherwise if I hadn't heard \"Toad\" yeah, a song like \"Boom\" WOULD be overwhelming then. By the way I don't think \"Boom\" is a poor imitation of \"Toad\" but rather the kind of thing I need to be in a particular mood for. Just want to make that clear in case it sounds like I'm bashing \"Boom\". It's understandable that not everyone's going to be receptive of a lengthy drum jam, and this is why the album has to be 4 stars instead of 5 (and also because \"America the Beautiful\" isn't really a favorite of mine either).\n\n\"Cute\" begins with a chugging keyboard jam similar to the stuff Emerson, Lake & Palmer would roll out a couple years later. The keyboards sort of dissolve into a pleasant mess as a catchy repetitive guitar line takes over. Soon a memorable bluesy guitar solo appears reminding me of the legendary BB King. Hey just had to mention his name- I found out he died last night so it's only right to mention the man who influenced/specialized in the genre and made it so famous. Anyway \"Cute\" turns into some kind of psychedelic drug trip after the guitar solo is over which reminds me of Deep Purple and Frank Zappa's late 60's experimental stuff. Later on the melodic guitar solo returns which makes me happy, because it doesn't seem like the type of memorable keyboard playing from the beginning is making a return (my favorite part of the song). Strange cowbell/cymbal bashing part near the end. This part doesn't need to be here and is just stretching out an already overlong jam. At least the keyboards return in grand fashion near the end even if they feel sloppy this time around. Not one of the better constructed jams out there, but maybe I'm approaching it all wrong. Maybe the Rascals were going for avant garde. Actual instruments being played is only an occasional thing- freak out weirdness makes up most of the jam. Still, I like it. 15 minutes of this stuff is too much though.\n\nOverall, well because of two lengthy jams at the end, one of which is a questionable drum jam that not everyone's going to approve of, Freedom Suite is 4 stars instead of 5. Still an amazing album however and I highly recommend it.","Product: 1-crazy on you~~~ 2-all i wanna do is make love to you~~~ 3-if looks could kill~~~ 4-never~~~ 5-alone~~~ 6-who will you run to~~~ 7-straight on (acoustic)~~~ 8-magic man~~~ 9-what about love~~~ 10-dreamboat annie~~~ 11-dog and butterfly~~~ 12-nothin at all~~~ 13-heartless~~~ 14-stranded~~~ 15-will you be there (in the morning)~~~ 16-these dreams~~~ 17-barracuda (live)~~~\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: what a great collection of Heart songs\n\nReview: This is seriously one of the best greatest hits albums I've ever had the pleasure of listening to.\n\nTalk about a job well done to the person (or people) who came up with *just* the right collection of Heart's greatest songs and put them all on one really long disc.\n\nThe ONLY song that comes to mind that should definitely have been included is \"Even It Up\". That's the only song I've heard on the radio that's not included here.\n\nHere's the songs (in order).\n\n\"Crazy On You\" opens the album WITH the acoustic intro included! Hooray! We simply cannot have that song without the quiet intro leading into the crashing guitar chords, can we? No we can't. An odd choice to follow up that 70's classic with \"All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You\". A nice ballad at any rate, but located in an odd spot on the album if you ask me.\n\n\"If Looks Could Kill\" is next, and I LOVE this song. I've never heard this song on the radio before- a fast, energetic 80's rocker with a terrific chorus. A surprise highlight. \"Never\" is quite possibly my favorite song here, and that one's next. The eerie and haunting ballad \"Alone\" follows that one, and I remember being a little kid and absolutely in love with this song. Great choice.\n\n\"Who Will You Run To\" is another good one. This song is never played on the radio anymore. Not on the classic rock format, not on the soft ballad stations, *nowhere*. What a shame. Great song.\n\nWe're then treated to an acoustic version of \"Straight On\" which is honestly a superior version to the more familiar studio recording. I was never a fan of the normal version anyway, so I welcome this version with open arms.\n\n\"Magic Man\"... what more needs to be said about this song? It's next! \"What About Love\" is another highly melodic 80's pop song (how many 80's hits did Heart actually HAVE?)\n\n\"Dreamboat Annie\" is next, in all its delicate and simplistic beauty. An acoustic version of \"Dog and Butterfly\" is next, and I'll be darned if I hear any difference between this and the normal version. They both sound the same to me.\n\n\"Nothin' At All\" is next, and then my second or third favorite song is next- \"Heartless\". I LOVE this one to pieces.\n\n\"Stranded\" and \"Will You Be There (In the Morning)\" are next, and then comes \"These Dreams\" which is a song I will always remember since I grew up listening to this song constantly being played on the radio a thousand times a day while my mom was taking me to school (and driving me home).\n\nThis lengthy disc finally finishes up with a live version of \"Barracuda\" which is even FASTER than the regular version. Perhaps better too. Wait, it *is* better.\n\nOverall, a really great album this one is. It captures Heart's greatest songs better than the other Heart collections I've seen. Maybe a little heavy on the 80's selections, but the band was quite popular throughout that decade as well, so it only makes sense.","Product: Ultra-technical, futuristic instrumental jazz/metal is the order of the day, served with a side of kick-ass. Fans of Gordion Knot and Spiral Architect will rejoice, but fans of Don Caballero, Dysrhythmia, Cynic, and even Coprofago will all probably find\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: nice try at least\n\nReview: Cortical Tectonics isn't necessarily a bad album- more like a completely mediocre one.\n\nWhile the idea of progressive metal has been beaten into the ground by this point, the genre unfortunately continues producing new musicians that basically do nothing but recycle the same old riffs over and over again that the previous generation helped to create.\n\nAs a dedicated music fan, I find this slightly offensive. I grew up when originality and new experiments (along with songwriting) were considered the most important aspects of music. Cortical Tectonics does nothing original or terribly interesting.\n\nI can be a *little* bit lenient in the originality department, but the songwriting is another disappointing factor we have to consider. I'd be perfectly willing to ignore how generic the prog metal genre has become if the actual riffs were any good. Unfortunately in the case of Cortical Tectonics, they're not.\n\nBasically this album has one really big problem- these songs progress, but they do so in an extremely bland way. In other words, the band members took one or two guitar riffs, chose to repeat them for several minutes, and then shift to a NEW set of riffs to beat into the ground. Rinse and repeat. That's what these songs are like, seriously.\n\nWith that said, the results work occasionally, such as on the second track titled \"Sinusoid Mirage\". Some parts of this track surprisingly remind me of the more challenging and experimental aspects of the classic 70's band Gentle Giant. The build-up leading to these Gentle Giant-like chops is pretty good too. A clear highlight to me.\n\nUnfortunately a song like \"Interface\" comes along and, while it contains a good atmosphere of being trapped in a jungle or shoved inside a Mortal Kombat game (or however you want to interpret it) it's unbelievably repetitive. Those same sets of riffs just keep chugging along. The band is probably trying to build an interesting atmosphere, but it would have worked a heck of a lot better had those riffs been trimmed down considerably.\n\n\"Gamme Knife\" shows a much heavier side of the band. It's not groundbreaking though- we've heard heaviness in progressive metal for years now. It's basically a classic Queensryche ripoff.\n\n\"Rhizome\" reminds me of some kind of slushy and dated mid 80's music recording equipment, and \"Reticular Consciousness\" takes me back to the Queensryche comparisons. The similarities to Queensryche are very very obvious to me whether the band wants to acknowledge them as an influence or not.\n\nOverall, I've heard worse but I've *definitely* heard better.","Product: One of the most request catalogs for CD reissue we have ever had is the Seals & Crofts catalog. This duo consisting of Jim Seals & Dash Crofts had numerous charting albums in the 1970's. We are now proud to present pretty much their entire catalog of albums, beginning with their first eponymous album from 1969, all the way through their last charting album, \"Takin' It Easy\" from 1978.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: we enter the 80's\n\nReview: Here comes Seals & Crofts... in the 80's! By now they probably should have retired but well, they only released one album so perhaps I shouldn't be so hard on them. And besides, it's a pretty good album with only a few misfires.\n\n\"Stars\" opens with a really simple and uninteresting melody (\"People get a little too loose they forget they abuse, well people get a little too tight and it ain't right, you're in your car driving too fast, you're pushing hard just trying to get past\"). It's really unremarkable to me. The sparse piano, guitar and other jazzy instruments don't work for me, but I like the part \"Oh and they just don't care about the little white lies, yeah they'll unwind oh I don't know if it's wrong or it's right, oh I only know the feeling tonight, too loose too tight where is the light?\" Too bad the song resorts back to the bland melody for the \"You're in your house just trying to be cool, the radio's on by the swimming pool, oh and your people say you're a movin' too slow, now where do you go?\". Love the \"Stars they only try to come out at night (and wars that no one ever wants to fight) too loose too tight where is my light? Where is my light?\".\n\nThe way Seals & Crofts sing \"Where is my miiiiind\" sounds a bit obnoxious. Hey the piano jam! It's really loungey and memorable. Really unpredictable for Seals & Crofts to write a jam like that. And the saxophone jam continues the lounge feel. Nothing truly great about it though. Background vocals contribute to the part \"\"Ah the shadow's great the rain is about to fall, oh you try to rest too much to beat it all, lose it all\" so it's an improvement then. The guitar being more prominent helps too. Regardless how I feel about the melody, the two times we hear a piano jam is an *awesome* moment! I really wish Seals & Crofts didn't scream \"Stars, they only come out at night!\" at the end (or is it stars they only want to come out at night\"). It's an unnatural vocal style.\n\n\"Try Your Love\" opens with a riff sounding very similar to George Harrison's \"I Dig Love\" before turning into a rather bland ballad. \"I saw you today I've gotta say you're looking better, the way you hold yourself up now I can tell you're a go getter, so go out and find someone while you can now\". The chorus isn't very good (\"Cuz we all we got a road we must travel, when you're alone you'll unravel the secret of life, but if love touches you you can find your way to the sunshine, baby you'll be mine try your heart out, try it on me\"). The verse melody is way too quiet and uninteresting for me (\"I swear it's a spell though it's beauty comin' from you, and you wear it so well, face of love it becomes you so, so go out and show the world it's free, you have found it\"). It's a shame because behind the vocals the instruments are really dreamy and cool. There's even a slight funky vibe going on at times. The \"Try your love, try it on meeee\" part is when the funkiness comes in. Really cool use of strings too. \"I saw you today in a way that I never saw the first time, you were new, you were ready, you were love in the springtime, and you know by your wings take it, fly it's the right time\". Okay the \"Unravel the secret of life\" part has grown on me.\n\n\"First Love\" starts off uplifting but the verse melody isn't very good (\"Everybody has a first love they have left in yesterday, feelings they have left behind it's just a place in time but not so far away, everybody has a first love, when the dream they shared was new, I remember that special someone so I wrote this song just for you\". The song picks up on two occasions. The first time during the part \"First love in my life where are you tonight? I wonder about you, first love in my life, did things turn out alright? I worry about you\" and picks up even MORE during the line \"'Cuz I got everything, everything in life that I wanted\". I don't like the \"First love never dies\" part at the end either. I can't believe I'm saying this, but the vocals are *too* plentiful and it turns the song to lush. Too many vocals. Never had this problem with Seals & Crofts before so I'm just as surprised as you are! \"It would kill me now and make me sad to know you are lonely, first love never dies, I wish you love I wish you happiness, and may the years be kind to you, you'll always be a part of me share this thought with me, I'll carry you always\".\n\n\"If And Any Day\" has a wonderful foot-tapping intro that sounds VERY familiar. I'm not thinking of this song though, because I've never heard it before tonight. \"If and any day I love you father, you will be the one I believe in longer, I can only try to understand you, you can only smile and understand me, tell me how did I lose my way? Isn't there a door that leads to yesterday? Oh how did I lose my way? Isn't there a door that opens into another day?\" Picks up during the \"How did I lose my way\" part and gets even better. This is probably the best song so far. It's the first song that deviates from exceptionally mushy ballad stuff. \"If and any time I see the sorrow, I will spend the longest time 'til I go under, love is for the ones who believe in one on one, truth is for the ones who believe there's more to come\". Still enjoy the \"Tell me how did I lose my way?\" part. Yup this song's awesome. Also great is the funky piano and the \"doooo do do\" chorus at the end.\n\n\"Kite Dreams\" opens in a Simon & Garfunkel \"Sound of Silence\" kind of way. Really mysterious Middle Eastern arrangements. Gentle, soothing and a desire to be inventive. \"One day follow another, chase one and then the other, kite dreams, butterflies lazy in April, floating down in the meadow, silver skies and all the world far far below\" Awesome melody, however the \"Look up there in the sky, way up there in the sky, you don't have to be high\" is a forced part of the song and WAY less memorable. \"I know a place where kites have been, where we can laugh and ride up the wind, oooh we are dreamers, even screamers if we dare, life's upside down it's upside down\" marks an upbeat Christopher Cross kind of feel to it.\n\n\"Egypt, Israel & America\" opens in a dramatic way with brief strings. \"Well the people in Israel they want peace, and the people in Egypt they cry peace, and the people in America they say \"Please set those people free\". \"Israel I know you, you are brave you are proud, your voices loud but sometimes gentle, and the ages recall the days of Abraham\". Mellow during the \"Israel I know you, you are brave you are proud, your voices loud but sometimes gentle\" part. The song gets gospel-ish and upbeat again during the verse \"Now the people in Israel built the Wailing Wall, and the people in Egypt built the pyramids so tall, and the people in America built the spaceship that would not fall\". I love the following line (\"Now we've seen it all, Israel you are water, give us life to the desert land, may your people be like the cool oasis for a tired world on its spiritual journey\") because it sounds so magical the way the vocals and piano climb down at the same time. \"\"From the spirit of Egypt there's a new song, and in the soul of Israel that plays on, in the mind of America there's a new dawn, lead us on and on\". \"America I love you, through the darkness you are light, again in friendship your arms are open to all people wrong or right, oh America you're beautiful you are shining like the sun, again in victory behold the love, the peace shall come\". I actually really like how this song mentions three different countries and how we can all come together if we believe in a spiritual power. At least that's the impression I get.\n\n\"The Longest Road\" has a nice sax before turning into a steady-paced melody typical of the early 80's. The entire opening line is really good (\"You know the longest road is from the head to the heart, better start today if you think loving me will be hard, and the darkest shade is sometimes under the light, if it's right for you to see me, you'll be mine tonight\"). Also love the way Seals & Crofts sings the next line \"\"And the longest road is from the head to the heart, and the longest road is from the head to the heart\" and how it unintentionally sounds a lot like a Gentle Giant song strangely enough. \"When you're far away from love you know it's usually close, and anything you find looks good to you, you wanted most, the darkest night is somewhere just before the dawn, I'll be here to hold when you feel you can't go on\". Really excellent melody, especially the \"I'll be here to hold when you feel you can't go on\". Okay sax solo again, but it's out of place this time. \"The longest road is from the head to the heart\" is a nice way to close the song. This album's gradually getting better.\n\nBut then again... \"I Keep Changing the Faces\" is sort of bland. Wow the first line reminds me of the way Phil Collins sings a mellow tune from Duke, which was released around the same time as this Seals & Crofts album. \"Only the faces change but oh but the pain is the same when you're in love with love, just like a long lost friend who just stops to say hello and then is gone, always looking, always looking for the best thing in town, always needing but never getting, never enough to go around\" is a semi-lazy way to make the song upbeat which means (and I hate to say it!) I don't care for this entire opening line. \"I keep changing the faces but the feeling's not there, no I keep changing the faces but the love is not there\"\" is another bland melody. However things improve- \"Distant voices sometimes call, in the night I hear them all, too bad they never knew counterfeits and worthless fools, guess I broke all the rules to find my way to you\" is a pretty good melody. A return to the awkward \"But now I'm leaving, oh yes I'm leaving, I've gotta find something new, now it's over it's really over, tell me what I'm gonna do\" melody soon after, and the bad \"I keep changing the faces but the love is not there\" part. Strange how the line goes up an octave when this line repeats again. I actually like this song despite my complaining. The sitar near the end and the way Seals & Crofts sing \"la la la\" is really good. Then again it's awful the way Seals & Crofts sing the line \"I keep changing the faces\" at the end because they carry the notes awkwardly instead of naturally similar to how they do it in \"Stars\".\n\n\"Silver Rails\" opens with guitar notes indicating it's going to be a country song, but no! A ballad melody comes in before changing during (or after, I forget) the part \"Silver rails in the sun telling me that she's the only one\". How about the main melody? \"Is it real enough for you? Do you feel enough for you? Are you moving like a railroad down inside? Is it good enough for you? Is it good enough for you? Does it make you feel like howling at the moon?\" in particular the \"Is it good enough for you?\" line. I also really like the line \"Life from the top don't ever stop, don't let the clock in your mind cause you to fail, you're hot on the trail, lift up your wings don't ever change, life isn't strange when you lift up the veil, you're hot on the trail\". I wouldn't blame anyone if they thought this song was written lazily, but I enjoy it all the same.\n\nThe line that really amazes me is this one- \"Life from the top don't ever stop, don't let the clock in your mind cause you to fail\" for the way it almost sounds Asian. It's highly enjoyable. \"Now where shall we go, how fast how slow? Just let me know just where to pick up the rails, I'm hot on the trail, hey watch my smoke I never choke, we'll go for broke and ride the silver rails, we're hot on the trail\". \"Do you care enough for me? Do you care enough for me? I'm a lazy locomotive, yeah that's me, but I can't love enough for you, and I can love enough for two, I'll be waitin' at the station wait and see\". You know I really love this song. Yeah it could be interpreted as sloppily written, but it really works for me. I LOVE this part- \"Silver rails in the sun is telling me that she's the only one, silver rails can't you see? She has come to take a ride with me\" because it sounds REALLY magical! And wow, afterwards the song just sounds so creepy and desperate like you really want this girl to take a ride with Seals & Crofts or something awful might happen. No it's never hot enough for me Seals & Crofts! Never!\n\n\"One Planet, One People, Please\" is an interesting song title. At first glance the song could be interpreted to mean there's too many people on the planet and it would be better to reduce the population, but I think it's actually about everyone coming together and joining as one. \"Strong is the light of unity, it can light the world for you and for me\" is a great melody, so is the \"So why don't we reach out and be one planet, one people please?\" part afterwards. However Seals & Crofts then repeat the song title in a way that doesn't sound good to me. I'm referring to the \"One planet one people please\" part and how it's written VERY lazily though before turning delicate with the line \"Please let it be\". \"Storm clouds are coming I can see it all, the old world is dying, it must crumble and fall, and from every nation I can hear the call\". Oh no! Another chant with the \"One planet one people please\". It's sung like this- \"ONE PLAN ET ONE PEO PLE PLEASE\". At least this lovely guitar solo comes in afterwards reminding me of the Middle East.\n\nOverall, well besides the first three songs which are the weakest in my opinion because the vocal melodies are fairly bland, this album's pretty good though not quite up to the standards of their 70's work. When it comes to the ballads in particular, Seals & Crofts tend to sing too many lines without taking any breaks in between giving these songs a rushed feel, but the rest of the album is a big improvement. Enough to give the album 4 stars. We'll never know what would have happened had Seals & Crofts continued into the 80's, but I think they recognized the times were changing and they didn't have a chance of continuing to be successful given their stuck in the 70's style. It would haven't have gone over too well with the new wave stuff of the 80's. Critics would have ripped them apart. Too bad I say- a lot of times I prefer Seals & Crofts to most 80's music.","Product: One of the most request catalogs for CD reissue we have ever had is the Seals & Crofts catalog. This duo consisting of Jim Seals & Dash Crofts had numerous charting albums in the 1970's. We are now proud to present pretty much their entire catalog of albums, beginning with their first eponymous album from 1969, all the way through their last charting album, \"Takin' It Easy\" from 1978.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: home is where it's at\n\nReview: This is another early Seals & Crofts album. These are the overlooked albums in the bands discography that people really should check out. These early albums are not as forgettable as one might think despite lacking the big hits.\n\n\"Leave\" is the longest song here. It's a slow-moving piano rocker that reminds me of lazy day blues rock. Not really a genre of music Seals & Crofts specialize in, but the melody's pretty solid. The way Seals & Crofts say \"My girl told me yesterday I better leave, guess I better leee-eee-eeave\" sounds weird, but it's pleasant. \"Climbed upon a mountain high, and I looked out and saw the valley, then I turned and told this old city goodbye, I'm leaving and I ain't grieving\" is a good line. \"Don't know where I'm going, don't know how to begin\" is a playfully sung line. The organs and guitar solo at the end are a really good reminder of the late 60's. Not that I was alive to experience those years! Would've been nice if I was. How about the flute solo at the end? It sounds REALLY haunting and reminds me of Native Americans going about their usual day.\n\n\"Gabriel Go On Home\" is a happy tune with piano. Perhaps Seals & Crofts are still finding their way in terms of singing magnificent harmonies together because they sound ever so slightly off here, or maybe it's due to the two still finding their songwriting abilities and not having yet fully developed them. Either way none of this takes away from the fact this song is really beautiful and carefree which reminds me of taking a hayride by a forest. \"A brand new star has now been born to make things warm and bright for you and me\" is a memorable line. There's some solid vocal tricks occurring during the \"Gabriel won't you go on home\" part. Love the piano solo at the end too. Okay you got me, this song's a winner!\n\n\"Hollow Reed\" is a storyteller type song with a mysterious atmosphere and a noticeable folk style. The harmonies are a little messy in spots once again, but WOW does this atmosphere totally captivate me! I think it's because it blends organs with light psychedelic arrangements giving off unusual effects. The lyrics are unusual to me. \"Make me as a hollow reed that I may play and plant thy seed, rascal's closet may be lit and have a needy rhyme in it, make me as a flute of stone that when I play thy wind is blown, rascal's hideaway might chill and die away from sill and sill\". The lyrics continue \"Make me as a hollow reed that I may sing your grace my steed\". What are these lyrics about I wonder?\n\n\"Ridin' Thumb\" is drastically different. This is more about being playful like several songs Seals & Crofts have written over the years. Not one of the strongest vocal melodies the band ever wrote, but I love the guitar playing and the southern vibes of leaving home and exploring wherever the wind takes a man. \"Just as long as he gets his ride, and he don't care for food and water, he just lets his conscience be his guide\" is a great line. The second half of the song has a slight gospel feel to it with handclaps, mandolin and electric guitar and it's enjoyable. Yes early Seals & Crofts used to rock a little as hard as it might be to believe!\n\n\"Today\" begins on a strange note the way it reminds me of a really creepy song from an old NES video game called Ironsword: Wizards and Warriors II. That theme used to scare me pretty good as a kid back in the 80's! \"Today\" brings back the same kind of uncomfortable feeling. This song is quite creepy as well because Seals & Crofts sound really depressed and downbeat while singing it. \"Today went so quietly, I turned and it was gone, like you like me it was lonely\" isn't exactly the happiest line ever sung in rock history! Even the bass guitar creeps along in similar style to the NES song. Because Seals & Crofts specialize in harmonies and all kinds of range in their vocals, the song occasionally jumps into a happier sequence of notes/atmosphere. Also it's interesting how Seals & Crofts often remind me of being somewhere in the countryside of England even though they're an American duo. There's a few artists that sound British and they are one of them.\n\n\"Cotton Mouth\" has serious hit potential! This song should've been as big as \"Diamond Girl\" and other hits! Just listen to it \"Red eyed mama keeps crying, blue eyed cat keeps lying, catfish keeps his eye on the string, Cotton Mouth keep on winding\". This is a VERY catchy melody believe me. Perhaps the song doesn't have a whole lot going for it besides the vocals (the rhythm work feels incomplete like more should have been included based on its quietness) but the guitar solo after is really impressive. It's bluesy and Jimi Hendrix-like believe it or not (well, while it lasts!) \"Tin Town\" is a quiet well-meaning folk tune with a happy vibe. \"In Tin Town, a has been town\" is a catchy chorus. The verse melody is pretty stellar (and happy) as well. \"Can you spare a man a dime, I got 30 cents and I can buy some wine, I'm living in my childhood schemes, please mister you can make my dreams\".\n\n\"Hand-Me-Down Shoe\" has a verse melody that sounds familiar (an early 70's Deep Purple song to be precise!) Well at least initially. The melody develops into a few other sections very quickly but it's done in a really beautiful and creative kind of way that takes advantage of the talents of both Seals & Crofts vocal abilities. \"Trying to get just anywhere as long as it's away from the world, the world we know is living in a hand-me-down shoe\" is a pretty spooky line. Nice how the song shifts into handclaps, heavy bass and a slight African rhythmic style near the end.\n\n\"Purple Hand\" is more mandolin-drenched folk rock. This time the vocals are really forgettable, but I like the folk style. \"First there was an ocean and ordinary street, then suddenly a mountain began to show its peak, remember back unto the day when 20,000 taught, this is it get off your knees, look what your hands have wrought, let them be, don't bother let them be, it's too early for them to see, let them go don't bother, let them go\" is a memorable lyric. I like how the song ends playing \"Joy to the World\" on mandolin before fading out. Funny, \"Robin\" begins reminding me of \"Silent Night\" with the acoustic guitar playing before shifting into a very beautiful and short melody that captures the feeling of preserving a special moment in time. I can't help but laugh during the \"Pretty bird\" part.\n\nOverall, Down Home is a magnificent album. The vocal melodies might be slightly unfocused compared to future Seals & Crofts albums and the style of music throughout might be a little too stuck in the early folk rock genre, but otherwise the quality of the songwriting is pretty high, the atmosphere's incredible and Seals & Crofts are just a magnificent duo. I refuse to make fun of them! I love their music too much!","Product: One of the most request catalogs for CD reissue we have ever had is the Seals & Crofts catalog. This duo consisting of Jim Seals & Dash Crofts had numerous charting albums in the 1970's. We are now proud to present pretty much their entire catalog of albums, beginning with their first eponymous album from 1969, all the way through their last charting album, \"Takin' It Easy\" from 1978.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: the first album is a treasure\n\nReview: Finally, a chance to play Seals & Crofts debut. Just wanted to see what the fuss was all about. Well that's not entirely the reason (there's actually no fuss at all since most people don't even know this album exists, heh). Also the fact I've heard other Seals & Crofts albums and enjoyed them immensely, I kind of wanted to trace the band back to their roots with their debut.\n\n\"See My Life\" opens Seals & Crofts debut with a familiar melody. I know this song! I forget where I know it from. Perhaps a Best of or Greatest Hits compilation, or maybe an old radio station. It's very bluegrass-like and vocally impressive. Seals (or Crofts) vocals are in fine form. And whoa! Suddenly out of nowhere in the middle the song turns really dreamy in a Beach Boys kind of way. I can see myself in the late 60's blowing bubbles and enjoying this melody in a van with others. Nothing suspicious going on in there *pushes drugs under rug*. Nothing suspicious at all!\n\n\"Sea of Consciousness\" has more subtle bluegrass tendencies in the guitar and mandolin playing. The \"sea of consciousness, you loved me loved me\" part is a bit awkward, but the horns are pretty good. And the \"Oh just the thought of you makes me wander back to the innocence you gave me so long ago\" line is really good. The verse melody has a slight resemblance to the one from \"Jessica\" in my opinion, but it's slight. Well it seems that bluegrass guitar/mandolin style is going to remain for the duration of the album. That's fine by me! \"Seldom's Sister\" has more of that guitar style, but also a really smooth sailing-like vocal melody. Imagine sailing or taking a walk through fields late at night over a quiet starry night. That sort of captures the imagery I get while listening to this VERY beautiful song. The classical arrangements are really a nice touch. Granted most 60's pop/rock artists used the same instrumentation, but Seals & Crofts uses them just as satisfyingly as the other ones.\n\n\"Not Be Found\" is based around a pretty mandolin or banjo. Wait a minute! I just realized I can't hear a difference between a mandolin and a banjo, haha. Perhaps all this time what I thought was a banjo is just mandolin or vice versa. Why must I be so lame in that regard. A lame duck who can't tell apart different musical instruments. Anyway this song is uplifting and has a really good vocal melody. Another song about paths crossing and the adventure of exploring hills and valleys which I love. Seriously even before the lyrics kick in, I can tell when Seals & Crofts are going to sing about outdoor exploration.\n\n\"Birthday of My Thoughts\" opens with some unusual sound effects before a different kind of vocal melody comes in. When I say \"different\" I mean, and perhaps the production is making it sound so strange, the vocal melody is very atypical and somewhat lullaby-ish compared to most Seals & Crofts song. And also sometimes *very* low-pitched in a creepy way. \"Each time I think of all the happiness you brought, and I'll remember you in the birthday of my thoughts\" is a spookily sung line, and how the arrangements play after this line gives off a depressing feeling. The \"candles of love ever burning burning\" part is a bit clumsily written admittedly. The harmonies are really beautiful other times though. The way the pretty arrangements play during the final minute is quite lovely.\n\n\"In Tune\" has speedily sung vocals and lyrics and the song is quite forgettable overall. I'm surprised the band was capable of writing forgettable tunes such as these. The mandolin/bass part in the middle saves it. And also sometimes the melody drifts temporarily lovelier during certain uplifting \"I'm in tune!\" lines. \"Cows of Gladness\" is a hilarious song title! Cows aren't glad. Well I guess they are when they have plenty of grass to eat, especially after a rainstorm when everything's nice and moist. You see them wagging their tails then. Anyway this song has some strange harmonies. I get the feeling Seals & Crofts are trying to do too much at once here and the song sort of goes all over the place as a result. But the mandolin rises to the occasion once again and saves any shortcomings. Actually the more I listen to this song vocal melody-wise it does improve. The background arrangements give it a soundtrack vibe.\n\n\"Earth\" has an instantly noticeable joyous and uplifting vocal melody. \"Give me a castle in the sun where rainbows have ends and people are one\" is a beautiful line and amazing lyric. I think the verse melody is really strong overall with more solid mandolin work. \"Seven Valleys\" is short, but memorable for the guitar playing and lullaby atmosphere/vocals. \"The valley of wonderment, the valley of contentment\" is a nice line. This song does have this way of making me think of slow dancing on top of a cliff while butterflies dance around me. Not making fun of the music, but the atmosphere sure is pretty. \"Jekyll and Hyde\" is another shorty, this one being way less awesome because the vocal melody is only passable to me. This song's actually too fast. I think the speed hinders the song because so far I'm accustomed to hearing pretty lullabys and vocal melodies. But it's still a decent song.\n\n\"Ashes in the Snow\" opens with pretty mandolin. This time the mandolin reminds me of taking a walk through a dark forest. \"I'll be here come winter as the cold wind blows, we'll watch the geese together to see which way they go\" is a funny lyric. I wish I could be *outta* here when those cold winds blow! Perhaps this song is more nursery rhyme-like and less interesting from a songwriting perspective compared to the later stuff Seals & Crofts would write, but for what it is the prettiness can't be denied. I like when the tempo picks up during the \"ashes in the snow, ashes in the snow!\" line. This song is fairly aimless though. The verse melody in the second half is just Seals (or Crofts) messing around with his vocals to see if he's capable of coming up with a memorable melody. \"See My Life (Reprise)\" is wildernessly delightful. And yes wildernessly isn't a word. I know that! But there you have it. I make up words because if Troy Aikman can do it while calling a football game, so can I.\n\nOverall for an early Seals & Crofts album, it's pretty awesome. I know it's considered cool to make fun of these guys but truthfully the music they write is too beautiful, personal and meaningful to be dismissed so easily.","Product: I will ship by EMS or SAL items in stock in Japan. It is approximately 7-14days on delivery date. You wholeheartedly support customers as satisfactory. Thank you for you seeing it.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: laura's first album... and it's a good one\n\nReview: More Than a New Discovery is the first Laura Nyro album released in 1966. I must say the production values are quite high for '66.\n\n\"Lazy Susan\" is a somber piano ballad with as much soul as something Carole King would have done a few years later, but with more emphasis on a jazzy vibe. \"Lazy Susan, lazy through, hasn't got a thing to do, oh but to sit there and light up the hillside, sun fried black eyed Sue, lazy Susan lazy through, all the hills in love with you, courted and cradled by Heaven and hillside, sun fried black eyed Sue\" is a pleasant line. This song features a lot of Laura's voice sailing around over a jazzy rhythm and soft piano. Pretty good though- really creates a mood.\n\n\"Billy's Blues\" has a similar style with more of a lounge vibe. \"To ease Billy's blues Billy's down, he was born he was bound to lose, right the wrong or play a song, to ease Billy's blues\". Laura Nyro sails her voice the same here as on \"Lazy Susan\". If this is her groove, hey that's cool. I like it man! \"He's a Runner\" has even more angelic vocals almost to the point it's hard to understand the lyrics. The song gets a little messy when it speeds up in the middle, but I suppose it's done to stress the line \"There'll come the runnin', he'll know he's got to, don't ask him not to or why, oh why oh why did you leave me and run off with tomorrow?\" due to the distraught Laura's feeling over this man running away from her.\n\n\"Buy and Sell\" has identical vibes, but slower than before. Enjoy the opening line and the flugelhorn. \"Cocaine and quiet beers, sweet candy and caramels, pass the time and dry the tears on a street called buy and sell. Life turns like the endless sea, death tolls like a vesper bell, children laugh and lovers dream on a street called buy and sell\". \"I Never Meant to Hurt You\" sounds pretty much exactly as I thought based on her style- quiet balladry. I was able to grasp her style pretty quickly! \"Why do I do things I never mean to do, why did I speak so carelessly when all that I felt was love for you?\" is a sweet line.\n\n\"Stoney End\" finally breaks away from the lounge and softness. The opening line is kind of interesting since I'm not sure how to interpret her lyrics. \"I was born from love and my poor mother worked the mines, I was raised on the good book Jesus till I read between the lines, now I don't believe\". Come on Laura! Believe! And it gets more personal later during the \"Mama let me start all over, cradle me mama, cradle me again\". I love this song! I guess because I prefer more upbeat music. \"And When I Die\" is up next. The vocals reach super high levels in the beginning before the song changes into a handclapping swift-moving gospel tune.\n\n\"Wedding Bell Blues\" is another upbeat song with harmonica giving it a country vibe. I should say a slight country vibe, since the vocals and melody are clearly more soulful than anything else. Fans of Diana Ross and the Supremes would love this. I think I've heard this song before. \"Goodbye Joe\" has a great opening line and a steady memorable beat. \"We were lost in the fair on the highland (goodbye Joe), with the sky and the deer on the highland (goodbye Joe), time is full of changes and now you've got to go, don't forget that we loved on the highland (goodbye Joe)\". I also enjoy the line \"I remember when you came calling (goodbye Joe), like a sunrise that rose without warning (goodbye Joe), time is full of changes and now you've got to go, and we walked on a Manhattan morning (goodbye Joe)\".\n\n\"Hands Off the Man\" has a strong similarity to \"Goodbye Joe\" in the beat. This album goes back and forth between softly sung jazzy lounge to upbeat soulful pop. I like the two a lot! \"Everybody wants him, the people and the police, and all the pretty ladies disarm, oh yeah the beautiful gent, you know he has hardly a cent, he pays his monthly rent with daily charm\" is a nice line. \"Blowin' Away\" is more upbeat and memorable soul with a guitar chugging along in the background. Sometimes Laura takes her vocals to a higher level and this is one of those times!\n\n\"California Shoeshine Boys\" ends this album with a swift moving bluegrass tune. \"California sunshine boys counting up their dimes, counting up the girls they've known and counting up the times. I got heartache but I got news, California sunshine boys you can shine my shoes, California sunshine boys never really care, only for that California shoeshine in their hair\". Sometimes it bothers me that the backup singers simply sing along to the melody at the end of certain lines, but I suppose that's the way it's always been with most backup singers and I'm just nitpicking! Also a little picky how the vocals get sloppy at times.\n\nOverall, great album. Takes time getting into the softer material though.","Product: Limited Edition Japanese pressing of this album comes housed in a miniature LP sleeve and features JVC K2 remastering. BMG. 2008.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: a spoonful of lovies\n\nReview: What in the world is \"War Games?!?!\" A bunch of female moaning in the beginning because of uh... you know... and heart beats, and why is there a baby screaming? So much for 9 months! Must be Back to the Future under 30-second pizza record time! Then comes the marching band. No I mean it- an actual marching band. Then the Pledge of Allegiance recited by kids (with heart beats continuing on).\n\n3 minutes in, speech time. \"Ever notice that when one of your friends comes back on his first leave from the army he seems different? He walks a little taller, looks a little tougher, it's the beginning of the biggest change in his life. He's become a man now. That's probably the most important thing the army does for you. It makes you a man. It teaches you responsibilities. It shows you a bit of the world. You learn how to handle yourself, and how to handle a job when it's got to be done\" and that's about half of it.\n\nWe're not done yet. \"Star Spangled Banner\" accordion style, gunshots going back and forth and more heart beats arrive soon after. The gunshots last a couple minutes while children choir returns... and then the song ends with a bomb explosion and the rumbling effects... and the distance sound of wind and sirens to end it. Wow! No this isn't music, but it's 7 minutes of realistic war (arguably more realistic than any war song ever made if you think about it). It's not music but it's interesting from a historic point of view.\n\nNow for the music- \"Me About You\" is a strange song if there ever was one. Military style drumming, lush orchestration, soothing vocals in an Elvis/country style... yup that's this song! \"\"Got a handful of gold and a pocketful of dreams, but a heart full of love and I know what it means\". An okay song but not one of my favorites. It's missing the Lovin' Spoonful-style hooks I've come to expect. \"('Till I) Run With You\" is an upbeat song that shows signs of the classic Lovin' Spoonful we adore. The opening line is fun (\"Love's a surprise to me, brings out the height in me, that's not the way it used to be, I used to be blue, then you showed me the love of near, and that's all I have to hear, I can't believe that dreams come true 'till I run with you!\") and the song reminds me of the album cover. What's up with that woman and man running with a lion? Usually the lion chases after the people, not with them! Anyway great song with Hollies tendencies.\n\n\"Amazing Air\" almost lives up to its name- amazing atmosphere! The vocal melody is quite different from the norm. The lyrics are VERY 60's-ish and that's a good thing. Just read them! \"If we confess that we spend less with peace of mind and tenderness, then even if I pass you in the night, with one last breath of life, could we still say the words to set us free, and let all men with evil hearts beware, say a prayer once in a while, pray for tomorrow or somebody's child, this gives the life that we possess, worth everything and tenderness, so cast the rain with us into the sea, tear down the walls of fear and pride, let's build a world with love inside, where all good men with peaceful hearts believe, believe\". The orchestration is really big on this song. The vocals are messy though. The verse melody is quite good and even tribal-like, but eventually it changes into something else and gets less fun. I like the \"We can be happy now we can be free\" chant at the end.\n\nWhoa, awesome song alert! \"The Prophet\" opens with really pretty guitar playing. The vocals consist of chanting, and there's even what sounds like a female opera singer. Very honest this stuff is. The verse melody sort of reminds me of the one in Janis Joplin's \"Piece of My Heart\". Really good \"na na na na na\" too. \"Ask the children what you want to know, light the night for me, use the road when the prophet go, though your eyes can't see\" is a GREAT really sad melody, and intensified when it goes up an octave at the end. This is odd, but \"Jug of Wine\" gas vocals that sounds like Lou Reed during the Velvet Underground years. Almost like a \"Pale Blue Eyes\" part two! Not quite, but almost. The lyrics aren't nearly as interesting as the stuff Lou Reed was pumping out though. They resort to loving you and all that stuff.\n\n\"Only Yesterday\" reminds me so much of another song but I can't quite figure out which one! Oh wait, I got it. \"It was only yesterday... when I heard the teacher say, patiently, one and two make three, we were children you and me\" the first line of Gordon Lightfoot's \"Too Late for Praying\". Anyway this Lovin' Spoonful song is very playful with the harpsichord, honest lyrics and playful melody. \"It was only yesterday we were laughing, children passing, and we seemed to know a way, as it did everyone that day\". Laugh if you want, but as a 30-something year old guy, I love this song!\n\nWhat would a Lovin' Spoonful album be without a country ballad? \"Never Going Back\" fits that bottle! \"Never going back, never going back, never going back to Nashville anymore\". Why not? What's wrong with Nashville? What is it with bands writing songs about not wanting to go back somewhere. One bad experience doesn't ruin a while city, come on now! The vocals continue as the song ends which is odd. \"Words\" has a downbeat atmosphere in the intro because of the guitar playing but turns into a great pop song. The orchestration really enhances this music in a big way too since it describes the tension of words causing trouble. \"Words used to be a way to get through, words aren't meaning the way they used to, think I said that before\" is a great chorus, as are the lyrics \"No use in talkin' about words known by heart, the sound drowns in static the words fall apart, they die in the air or still born and unknown, the seed never lands so our love never grows\"\n\n\"Revelation: Revolution '69\" is all about those anti-war lyrics. This is probably an attempt at Bob Dylan-level poetry, and while it doesn't quite reach that level of amazement the lyrics are still really good anyway, as is the guitar playing. This reminds me of a Jefferson Airplane song from their Volunteers album. Some of this stuff is hard to handle because it's so down to earth. \"And no one dares to ask them what they do there after dark, and the prize they give to men who kill is a statue in the park, don't let them cut your wings dear ones before you learn to fly, too soon the game will seem too real and then no will ask why\" and the other part that's startling \"Let's hang together then good friends or you know we'll hang alone, and the hawks that fly will tear your eyes and rip the skin clean off your bones, I'm afraid to die but I'm a man inside and I need the Revolution, and I'm crying watching brothers of mine doing time for making those waves\"\n\nOverall, yes this album is a step down compared to all the previous Lovin' Spoonful albums because it sounds a lot different and more mature than before, and sometimes the songwriting wanders or tries going into different territory than you're used to from the band, but it's still worth giving a chance.","Product: Digitally remastered and expanded edition of this 1981 album from the guitar great including seven bonus tracks: 'Never Trust a Stranger' (Rough Monitor Mix) plus live versions of 'Natural Thing', 'Feels Like a Good Thing', 'Looking Out from Nowhere', 'Shoot Shoot', 'Doctor Doctor' and 'Lights Out'. for this album, Michael brought in guitarist/keyboard player Paul Raymond from UFO and drummer Cozy Powell who'd recently departed from Rainbow. The more democratic song writing produced an album that reached #14 in September 1981. EMI 2009.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: oh dear oh dear\n\nReview: I feel MSG is lacking BIG time compared to the Michael Schenker's first album. Everything from the vocal melodies to the songwriting to the guitar riffs took a blow since the first album. Yikes! The cool factor went down a lot too. It's not really cool to listen to this stuff. Let me explain what you can expect but I gotta warn you, disappointment is of the highest priority. Seriously what went wrong? Why is this album not nearly as good? Did Michael Schenker and the other band members rush through it? It certainly *sounds* rushed.\n\n\"But I Want More\" is not NEARLY as epic as the lengthy tune from the first album. Plodding, mid-tempo uninspired vocals that are caught somewhere between Bruce Dickinson and Axl Rose, an intro that sounds like Ozzy's \"Mr. Crowley\" (unintentional perhaps so I won't dwell on this one), underutilized synths, and a clunky way of speeding up the tempo later on. The one thing this song does right that matches \"Lost Horizons\" is feature a great guitar solo at the end. Otherwise average. \"Let Sleeping Dogs Lie\" opens with a nice chugging riff at the start, but then it soon dissolves into more mid-tempo mediocrity. I like the \"I can see them but they'll hurt me I know, cuase if the time should come that you'll be leaving\"\" line since it reminds me of Dio. Again the guitar solo at the end is the best part. It's not a good sign when I have to sit through a bunch of average parts just to get to Schenker's fantastic guitar soloing at the end.\n\nHowever, there's a few REALLY good songs! Let's mention those so people don't think I'm deliberately being mean. I'm not really, it's just that the first album forced me to have high expectations that the band could match or even surpass it. But I guess not. Unless they rebounded later on. \"On and On\" is a CLASSIC! I can sit here and sing the chorus for hours. \"And it goes on and on and on and on and on!\" because it's *extremely* (and surprisingly) beautiful and catchy. If you sing it long enough, you might start blending it with the chorus from Cocteau Twins \"Lorelei\", haha. The haunting vocals in the beginning are classic dramatic 80's- gotta love it! As a kid of the 80's I DO love it a lot. This song is magically awesome! The delicate way of the chorus is irresistibly unique. I think I've heard this song before a long time ago but it's possible I'm confusing it with something similar out there. Love the driving guitar riffs too.\n\n\"Looking For Love\" is another really cool tune. Chugging rhythm, really heavy and even UFO-like at times with the vocal melody and the singer's voice resembling good ol' Phil. Decent grooving chorus. Do I even need to mention how good the guitar solo is at the end? Welp I just did so apparently I do, lol. \"Attack of the Mad Axeman\" is another great tune because of the groovy riff. The rhythm is like what would happen if disco and heavy metal combined enjoyably. I enjoy the \"Time after time you can see him\" line too with the Uriah Heep-like gentle vocal approach. I also love when the tempo shifts faster and heavier halfway through. It works here unlike on \"But I Want More\".\n\nNow the rest of the stuff here is totally forgettable. \"Are You Ready to Rock\" isn't a cover of the Blue Oyster Cult song of the same name (well *almost* the same name, hehe). It's generic rock and the chorus is way too similar to Poison with the \"Out in the streets the kids stand and wait their time\" line, and the chorus \"Are you ready, are you ready to rock!\" is pretty bad. \"Secondary Motion\" is really generic and forgettable Dokken-style arena rock. This song is the worst on the album because Dokken never appealed to me. \"Never Trust a Stranger\" is a piano power ballad. Sounds like Ian Hunter of Mott the Hoople fame (unintentionally without question). Surprisingly heavy guitar solo at the end and actually an okay song otherwise.\n\nOverall, make sure you listen to Michael Schenker's first album instead. Other than \"On and On\" and \"Looking For Love\" and perhaps \"Attack of the Axeman\" this album is a big question mark.","Product: Digitally remastered and expanded edition of the German guitarist's 1982 album including one bonus track: 'Girl from Uptown'. Formerly a member of both Scorpions and UFO, Schenker's finest fretwork can be found on his releases under the name Michael Schenker Group (or MSG). Assault Attack features the vocal talents of former Rainbow vocalist Graham Bonnett. Nine tracks. EMI. 2009.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: assault on the listeners\n\nReview: Michael Schenker continues to head his band into bland hard rock and further away from the creativity that made his debut so grand, which is a shame.\n\n\"Broken Promises\" shows signs of the band heading further into generic hard rock territory, but the chugging guitar riff is pretty catchy. This time the lead singer sounds like Dee Snider of Twister Sister, haha. It seems every time I listen to a Michael Schenker album, the lead singer resembles a familiar singer from some other band! First it was Rob Halford of Judas Priest, then it was the Phil Mogg from UFO, and now Dee Snider. But then again there's not really much of a difference between many of these singers anyway. Once the 80's rolled around they all began to blend together.\n\nThis song's okay but it sounds way too much like Whitesnake... which means yeah, a similarity to David Coverdale too! This lead singer (Graham Bonnet) overdoes his vocal range a bit sometimes while other times he's really good at elevating his voice to beautiful levels. He has trouble finding a perfect balance. I like the \"While waiting in the wings for the start of the show to make a move\" part in the middle. Otherwise this is generic mid 80's heavy metal but you know, I like this genre of music despite how limited it is and more importantly how much worse 80's metal is compared to the 70's. The vocal melody is average at best and rather surprisingly even Michael Schenker's guitar soloing feels worse than usual in the middle (but REALLY good at the end- listen to it soar there!) Despite how much of a fairly mediocre Whitesnake imitation this song probably is, it's helped by loud production which makes the drumming stand out more. It has its moments.\n\n\"Desert Song\" has a really generic intro, the likes of which Judas Priest wouldn't encounter until their Turbo album. There's a bit of a haunting atmosphere in the background that's okay, but the verse melody is unforgivably awful. Really bland lyrics \"Burning with desert fire, cooling the man\". This is a lousy song overall. At least the brief guitar solo is dreamy but it's not a good sign when only one tiny part of a song puts a smile on my face. \"Samurai\" has a great guitar riff in the beginning. Really anthem-like and reaching new heights. It then goes away 20 seconds later and settles into a similar groove as \"Desert Song\" with its persistent chugging rhythm. Hilarious lyrics and even funnier concerning the dramatic way they're sung. \"Samurai! Do you live to die!\" This is the good old days of 80's heavy metal. I admit I like the chorus, but it's as cheesy as it comes.\n\n\"Rock You to the Ground\" is based around a steamy blues guitar riff. The drumming that plays along is pretty good and comparable to many bands of the mid to late 70's. \"Come out of your nightmares and run you to the ground\" is a decent chorus mainly for the guitar playing and significantly less for Graham's singing. He always had an obnoxious voice but it was at least tolerable during the Rainbow years. He's ruining a nice groove and great guitar promise this song could have had simply by being overbearing with his range. With that said there *is* still a decent melody occurring here so I'm willing to forgive the lead singer this time. Michael even provides a memorable guitar solo around the 4-minute mark that lasts for the rest of the song, so he show he still has what it takes to get it done.\n\n\"Dancer\" is all about the lead singer trying to sing sincerely with his screamer voice concerning a woman who can do whatever she pleases. This song screams 80's in a way that's even embarrassing for a heavy metal band. Seriously this song makes me laugh a lot! \"They watch her move, school boy dreamers fantasy, she's a daaaa-aaa-ncer!\" I believe this is an attempt at writing something like the Tubes \"She's a Beauty\" but without the quality vocal singing of the Tubes classic. Oh man this is quite the funny song but you know I can't help but enjoy it anyway just because the vocal melody is in fact memorable despite how easy it is to make fun of. Silly as you can imagine perhaps, but also catchy. Also what's unintentionally funny is that Michael Schenker is trying to save it by contributing a decent guitar solo.\n\n\"Searching For a Reason\" opens with some brilliant guitar playing and flashes of Michael's older style when his guitar playing used to make me cry. This song has a really irresistible beat and catchy powerful guitar riff! One of the best songs on the album. \"We all need to have good timing, we all have the right to live!\" Yes we do. Every single one of us. Wow this song is awesome. Listen to the mellow guitar solo in the middle and how catchy it is seriously. All the while the rhythm gets my foot tapping. I'm almost certain this song was influenced by Rainbow's \"Love Live Rock 'n Roll\" because the two choruses are too similar for me to believe otherwise.\n\n\"Assault Attack\" opens with dramatic Scorpions-like guitar playing. Whoa, another excellent rhythm! More Dio-inspired vocals but the catchy rhythm is so good I don't care. \"Why don't you want me\" is a memorable chorus. The verse melody is actually better. This is classic metal! So in fact the shorter songs are the ones that stand out the most on the album. Who would've thought it? And the guitar solo in the middle? Surprisingly awesome! The band was simply saving all their best tricks for the shorter songs. \"Ulser\" is *another* winner! Yippee! Fast-paced guitar instrumental prowess. Now this is more like it! Well to be honest this song isn't really that great, but without having to hear Graham Bonnet and his below average voice, I'm content.\n\nOverall, this is the last Michael Schenker album I'm listening to for a while. It's time to take a hiatus. With every album just getting worse as the 80's rolled along, I don't even want to know what his next studio album released after this one sounds like. Assault Attack is a pretty decent album but there's clearly a few weak points, notably the decision to bring in Graham Bonnet for vocal role. Even then Michael's guitar soloing isn't up to par either. He plays it safe most of the time and settling into a generic routine when clearly he's better than this.","Product: Engineered for everyday dependability, the X-ACTO KS Manual Pencil Sharpener is built to meet the demands of high-volume environments. The classic classroom sharpener, the X-ACTO KS Manual utilizes dual hardened helical cutters to efficiently sharpen pencils to fine point tips. All-metal construction stands up to the wear and tear of student use, while the integrated mount with included screws allows for simple installation on a wall or desk. Sturdy and low-maintenance, the X-ACTO KS Manual Pencil Sharpener is designed to serve schools with ease.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: sharpen up, class begins in 10 minutes\n\nReview: I've come to the conclusion that the old-fashioned pencil sharpeners are easier to use when they are NOT attached to the wall, but instead are designed with a platform underneath the sharpener part. That way, even though you have to hold on to the thing to prevent it from moving as you sharpen your pencil, at LEAST you don't have to deal with the problems you'd find if the pencil sharpener was attached to the wall.\n\nSuch as, every time you turn the handle, the back of your fingers keep rubbing against the cement wall. That hurts, and if you don't have any lead in your pencil, you're going to end up with a very sore hand. That's worse than a crazy English teacher smacking your hand with a ruler. With a non-wall pencil sharpener (and I don't mean the electric ones- I'm talking about the old-fashioned ones that our parents grew up with) your fingers won't rub against anything. You can keep turning the handle and be happy about it.\n\nAnother problem with a pencil sharpener attached to a wall is that sometimes they are located so you have to turn the handle with your left hand. It feels more comfortable to turn the handle with my right hand, but if the handle is located on the left side of the sharpener it won't be easy. Sure, the pencil will still sharpen, but it might take me a while. Impatient people behind me waiting in line might get upset.\n\nAs for the actual sharpener I'm reviewing, it works great, and holds up through the years really well. 40 years ago students may have been using the exact same sharpener. It stands up to the test of time, and when test time comes, you better not fail.","Product: The #1 grip recommended by doctors, teachers, and occupational therapist for children and adults. The Pencil Grip is the original ergonomic writing aid and it continues to set the standard. Developed by prominent educational therapist Dr. Lois Provda, The Pencil Grip increases comfort, teaches the proper hand positioning, and improves control. Its ergonomic design also provides relief of hand fatigue and pain. Righties and Lefties simply place their thumb on the \"R or \"L on the grip and their fingers naturally fall into place. Includes 12 grips in assorted classic colors.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: more grip than pencil\n\nReview: I remember using these pencil grips in 5th grade. This is either when they became really popular, or first came out. This would be back in 1993. M classmates were enjoying them tremendously... except me. I didn't get the appeal then, and I don't get the appeal now. The problem is that these grips are so huge that you're putting more effort into grabbing the grip than you are using the pencil. This makes it hard to position the pencil in a normal workable way. I actually have enormous hands so maybe that's why I have so much trouble using them. Then again, given the size of the pencil grip, aren't these actually designed for people like me? I wouldn't recommend these to anyone other than those who have trouble grabbing small things and can't grab a pencil without shaking a lot. I can't see any other purpose than this one.","Product: Print confidentlyget HP reliability and performance at a great price. Enjoy laser-quality results with Original HP ink. Simple design gives you only the features you need and want to pay for. Get up to three times more black pages and two-and-a-half times more color pages, usingoptional high-capacity cartridges. Conveniently designed to fit in small places or wherever you need it. Features only one buttonthe Power buttonfor easy printing. Changing the ink cartridge is simplethe improved design places the cartridge in the center of printer for easy access\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: let me try to help everyone having trouble\n\nReview: I too own a Deskjet D1660 printer. The only reason I got rid of my previous printer is because it was becoming too old and outdated, which means the ink cartridges were becoming VERY expensive, up to 40-50 dollars in some cases. With that money, I can just buy another printer (this Deskjet D1660 to be precise) however... that turned out to be a mistake.\n\nYes, the assortment of negative reviews you're reading ARE in fact, entirely accurate. This is because I can relate to just about every problem people are experiencing, however because I've been able to correct these problems up to this point, I can't complain TOO much. However if this printer ever COMPLETELY fails and I can no longer print, you better believe I'm coming here and changing my rating to 1 star. Until then... here's some tips that have worked for me.\n\nEvery so often -like after every 20 prints or so- it seems the printer gets stuck in queue. Now there's 2 things you can do to fix this problem. One is the following- go to Control Panel, click on Administrative Tools, double click on Services, scroll down until you find Print Spooler and double click it, and then hit the Stop button. Now I recommend WAITING about a minute until you hear your printer making those familiar printing sounds. After a minute goes by -whether you hear sounds or not- hit the Start button and wait another minute. I recommend waiting a minute in BOTH instances (Stop and Start) so you don't accidentally jam it up by moving too quickly. You have to be patient with stuff like this, despite how easily agitated you understandably get with computers and printers sometimes. Trust me, I've been there!\n\nThis works for me 60-70% of the time. The very first time it happened it worked, and has worked about 15 times since then. However...\n\nSometimes another problem is presented, and the tips above do not work. In this case, unplug one or both cords in the back of your printer and wait a minute. Then plug them back in. This is what you do when the power button won't stop flashing. Now go to print the page again and, if nothing happens, repeat the above tips (click on Control Panel, Administrative Tools, etc) and see what happens. So far this has been working for me and hopefully will CONTINUE to work.\n\nAbout 3 weeks ago I had a REALLY strange problem that scared the heck out of me! I was printing and a REALLY loud screeching sound came from the printer! I thought to myself \"Oh boy, it's dead\" but it was actually a paper jam. Now here's the worst part- there actually *wasn't* a paper jam, despite all the online advice that helped walk me through fixing a paper jam. I checked over every aspect of my printer and there was no paper stuck anywhere! I was like \"WHAT?\" I had to unplug the cords behind the printer, plug them back in, use the advice above with Control Panel and Administrative Tools, and THEN it worked again. Very strange.\n\nWhat concerns me also is that, when that supposed \"paper jam\" occurred, behind my printer I noticed two oil spots that are very fresh and sticky. One type of oil is white, the other is yellow. These oil marks are dangerously close to the wheels that control the paper and if these oil spots were to ever DRIP on the paper... that will be one heck of an oil mess that will probably destroy the printer. Let's hope that doesn't happen!\n\nI believe -but can't prove- that the printer stuck in queue problem occurs when you have too many web pages open at once. It's like the printer doesn't know which page you're referring to and gets confused and stuck. So when printing, close all pages except the one you're printing. Other times -despite having only one page open- the printer takes a while to actually take off and start printing. It makes me cautious that it might get stuck in queue again. I know, these assortment of problems are probably really annoying for most people and I agree, but hey, if I can get my printer to work I'm happy. I believe if there's a solution and it's not *that* inconvenient, I don't mind putting up with the occasional annoyances.\n\nOh, and one more thing. What's up with the power button? Sometimes I have to press it twice to shut it off, other times 3 times. And then it will repeatedly flash for about 30 seconds until shutting off for good. It's NEVER consistent though. Sometimes it might take longer than 30 seconds. Can anyone explain this?\n\nOh and here's another head scratcher! I ran out of black ink yesterday so I went to the official HP website to buy another cartridge. After it finds my printer number a message says \"Out of stock\" for black ink cartridges. WHAT?!?! Isn't that sort of like McDonalds running out of french fries?\n\nSo yeah, my rating for this printer will remain a 3-star out of 5 for now. If it dies in the future and causes me an enormous amount of frustration, my rating will definitely change to a 1-star rating.","Product: Letter Slitter Hand Letter Opener w/Concealed Blade\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: I love it however\n\nReview: What EVER you do, do NOT drop this letter opener on the cold hard kitchen floor by being careless! What will probably happen is that, you see how the bottom piece is small? That piece can actually break completely off if you happen to drop this letter opener on just the right angle. You can fix it with super glue and put the broken piece back into place and have it work sufficiently enough, but still, be EXTREMELY careful not to drop it!\n\nYou want it to stay working for whenever an emergency comes along! For example, having your father call you up on the phone and demand to tell him what came in the mail. He'll demand that you open certain letters, and open them RIGHT NOW! Well you can't exactly stand around all day peeling the top part of the lickably sealed envelope and assure that the paperwork inside won't be harmed because if you have a father who rushes around and expects things done the moment he says so, trust me, whatever's inside WILL be harmed!\n\nOtherwise this is the ideal thing for me! I HATE opening envelopes! Before this little device came along, I could never get the envelope to open without tearing too much of the envelope away or worse yet, tearing vital information contained within!\n\nJust be careful not to drop it on the floor or it will break, and you'll have wasted a good chunk of change. You don't want to waste money in an economically suffering world we live in. You want your things to last for a very long time and thanks to the increase in prices, you may even become super protective of your belongings (like me). Touch my things and I WILL bite!","Product: 2 pack, porch swing extension spring, used primarily for porch swings & will support approximately 300 lbs each, use as tension for fence, dog chain, adjust, tire swings, porch chairs & other uses where safety is a primary concern.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: springing up life on the front porch\n\nReview: With these springs you can watch the day go by once again! Sunrise, sunset, neighborhood kids going by on their bikes, dogs barking in your neighbors yard, mischievous situations brewing in the trees amongst the raccoons and squirrels, etc. These springs will actually work on your porch swing really well, and I'm surprised since my knowledge with the subject is limited greatly to just, well, a spring is a spring, lol. Not really sure if there's other types of springs that work more effectively or what. Either way the porch swing works so I don't have to dirty my bottom using the porch steps and watch my back for ants that may be crawling up my shirt. That makes me very nervous.","Product: The quick, easy way to test pool water! No more vials, reagents and messy drops. Use Aqua Chek's simple, yet accurate test strips instead of that complicated liquid test kit. Just dip and read the results in 30 seconds. The 4-Way Chlorine strips test for Free Chlorine, pH, Total Alkalinity, & Cyanuric Acid.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: dip 'em in the water\n\nReview: These are very reliable test strips. The ideal way to use these strips is to put them about 10 inches under the water for a nice solid 60 seconds. If you use them too close to the top of the water where it's shallow, you'll probably get a false reading. You know, after 25 years of owning pools, sometimes I wonder why I even bother using test strips. Whenever a problem occurs it's almost always because of a lack of chlorine. The pH and alkalinity are usually perfectly fine. Oh well. You can use the chart on the back of the bottle to find out what the OK range is. Anything outside of the OK range means you need to take action because if you don't (and trust me on this one) your pool water WILL turn green in a hurry. It starts as a little bit of fog, then a slight lime green color, then before you know it, a slimy olive shade of yucky, unswimmable green. Do NOT let it get to that point! Not even the frogs will jump in water that green.","Product: The quick, easy way to test pool water! No more vials, reagents and messy drops. Use Aqua Chek's simple, yet accurate test strips instead of that complicated liquid test kit. Just dip and read the results in 30 seconds. The 4-Way Chlorine strips test for Free Chlorine, pH, Total Alkalinity, & Cyanuric Acid.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: dip 'em in the water\n\nReview: These are very reliable test strips. The ideal way to use these strips is to put them about 10 inches under the water for a nice solid 60 seconds. If you use them too close to the top of the water where it's shallow, you'll probably get a false reading. You know, after 25 years of owning pools, sometimes I wonder why I even bother using test strips. Whenever a problem occurs it's almost always because of a lack of chlorine. The pH and alkalinity are usually perfectly fine. Oh well. You can use the chart on the back of the bottle to find out what the OK range is. Anything outside of the OK range means you need to take action because if you don't (and trust me on this one) your pool water WILL turn green in a hurry. It starts as a little bit of fog, then a slight lime green color, then before you know it, a slimy olive shade of yucky, unswimmable green. Do NOT let it get to that point! Not even the frogs will jump in water that green.","Product: These multipurpose, modern style planters, are a perfect complement to your interior or exterior dcor. Choose between various colors and sizes to pair with your favorite plants in your living space. Each are equipped with built-in trays to protect decks, patios, and indoor surfaces from water damage. These lightweight, sturdy plastic pots are built to last for years and years. The sleek, contemporary line of Full Depth Cylinder Pots are recyclable and proudly made in the USA. Size Dims. (\" x H\") 6-Inch: 6.25\" x 5.8\" 8-Inch: 8.25\" x 7.8\" 10-Inch: 10.25\" x 9.8\" 12-Inch: 12.3\" x 11.8\" 14-Inch: 14.25\" x 13.8\" For best results and to promote healthy plants in a Full Depth Cylinder Pot: When planting, create a drainage layer on the bottom of the pot by adding a medium such as pebbles, pumice or clay pieces. The drainage layer should be about 2-3 inches. To prevent overwatering when using outdoors, expose the bottom drainage holes by removing the snap-on tray. Add potting mix and fill the container up to 1\" from the top. Add or transplant your favorite plant to the pot. Position the planter in an area that will allow the plant to receive the recommended amount of sunlight. After initial planting, refer to the after-care instructions for each specific plant species. Water accordingly.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: I love a pot\n\nReview: While it may be easy to write off this cylinder pot as just another unspectacular and uninteresting typical planting pot, the reality is that planting pots have never felt the need to be sophisticated in design or particularly pretty on the eyes. All they have to be is be effective and *work*. They have to be durable and fulfill their function to stay in place and hold up over the years while your plant grows/flourishes as high and as bushy as possible. For that, this cylinder pot may not be the prettiest pot on the market or one that stands out and grabs your attention, but the fact that it's made of a hard sturdy plastic and can last practically years even during the most extreme conditions (such as banging into it with the vacuum cleaner in the back den area- hey we're all guilty of doing that sometimes by mistake) makes it a wonderful addition to your plant collection. Trust me, its simple and easy-looking appearance has many benefits, and most importantly working in the harshest of weather conditions (such as wind, ugh I just HATE that one) or the simplicity and relaxation of stationary indoor use makes it a winner folks.","Product: This watering can has special features include an ergonomic handle and balanced design to make this everyday gardening tool versatile, easy to use and durable. Large, offset opening is easy to fill from spigot or sink long, drip resistant spout. Molded in water level indicators make it easy to determine proper water to fertilizer ratio. Available in Evergreen color with capacity of 1-Gallon.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: this is what I'm looking for!\n\nReview: This Akro Mils Watering Can is exactly what I wanted. For years I thought they were called watering pails but... no. The ones with a handle and plastic tube on the end of them for delicate and precise water pourage that you see in this picture are called water *cans*. A water pail doesn't have a sturdy plastic handle on top intended for easy carrying and actually remind me more of something you'd use when you need to carry foods and liquids to a trough. A BIG difference. Anyway, this watering can does a splendid job watering the few plants that have survived over the 20 years in my small computer room. I only use this watering can twice a month in the winter time (since plants would rather not drink a whole lot this time of year) and about 8 times a month in the summer. Strongly recommended for a significantly easier way to pour water into a flower pot.","Product: There is no drips or mess. Ants carry bait back to the nest where it destroys the entire colony. The active ingredients is permethrin.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: intended for all ants\n\nReview: I was originally skeptical to buy these outdoor liquid ant baits because in my mind it didn't seem likely that one little trap would be able to stop thousands/millions of ants from entering my house, however then I learned something- all it takes is exactly ONE ant to grab ahold of this gooey poison and return it to the colony. Then *all* the ants are eating this poison! I get a funny image in my mind of an ant kicking the front door open after obtaining this poison and going \"Hey everyone, guess what I found!\" And all the ants express joy. \"Hooray, enough food for a year!\" Then shortly after. \"Oh man my stomach doesn't feel very good\" as all the ants lie around on their backs weakly wiggling their legs around in the air... and then they die.\n\nAnyway, knowing all it takes is one ant to get the job done, it's important not to give into temptation and smash the ants when they approach the trap. Let them get all nice and gooey with this poison so you'll feel content knowing thousands of them are indulging the poison nice and deliciously, muh ha ha. I was also worried that placing a trap outside is likely to be a problem whenever it rains. Running rain water plus ant trap poison means a disaster, however rather shockingly the traps hold in the poison just fine... for outdoor traps. The indoor traps are another story I'm afraid.\n\nI shouldn't be surprised with the many reviews on amazon. I mean we've just had three years in a row of extremely rainy springs and summers on the east coast even setting record amounts on a few occasions, and the moisture and dampness really brings out the ants. You have to be warned though- the indoor traps aren't sturdy and are likely to break. Don't be surprised if you wake up one day to a kitchen counter covered in ant poison. The stuff doesn't exactly come off easily either, especially when these poison traps break on the kitchen floor tiles. The stuff dries up and turns really hard, but with a little scrubbing it'll come off.","Product: Onion Yellow Sweet Spanish Great Heirloom Vegetable 300 Seeds\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: spanish onions are the second best onion ever\n\nReview: Sweet yellow Spanish onions are extremely delicious! We simply call these Spanish in lower southeast Pennsylvania and in fact I assumed for years (and still do) that yellow onions are something else entirely which may or may not be true. While no onion on the planet can ever surpass Vidalia onions, Spanish ones are the best alternative in the middle of winter when Vidalia's aren't available in grocery stores (I assume because it gets below freezing in Georgia where Vidalia onions mainly grow).\n\nDon't get me wrong, these are very tasty and similar to the superior Vidalia's but the one very noticeable difference between the two is that Spanish onions tend to have an overwhelmingly powerful aftertaste. Not *all* of them of course, but the majority of them do. Vidalia's are mostly significantly less powerful. That's the biggest difference between Spanish and Vidalia onions. Spanish onions are awesome too- that's the important thing to remember!","Product: Sun: Full Sun Days to Maturity: 25 days Sowing Method: Direct Sow Sizes up in a hurry, slow to become pithy. 25 DAYS.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: radishes for your garden\n\nReview: Radishes are one of those veggies I don't really care for but eat anyway because they work really well with salads. Or maybe all the years of my dad and his girlfriend feeding them to me means I've simply gotten used to them. I wouldn't necessarily say I dislike the taste of a radish. Alright at one point in time I did, but those days are gone. Radishes are fine now. Growing them is fairly easy if you have the right soil. I don't think my soil's right though- I have rusty colored/orange dry soil. I'd like to think growing radishes would be feasible in my garden because carrots grow quite well, so it seems like radishes -which are similar to carrots in texture and taste- would have the same good fortune. But who knows. I hear they grow quick too which is a benefit. That makes them the opposite of most veggies which take forever to grow completely. By forever I mean several weeks, even months.","Product: Protect your outdoor items from winter's wrath with our Hearth and Garden line of Patio furniture covers. Made from 380 gram polyester, our furniture and grill covers resist cracking, fading, tearing, and mold build up. Coated with PVC for increased water resistant and further protection from the elements, you can be confident that your patio furniture is secure through the seasons. We have covers available to fit all of your needs, from tables and chairs to grills and patio heathers. All of these items are available packaged in clear vinyl poly bags.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: not for outside use!\n\nReview: If you live on top of a hill where 40-50 mph arctic blasts blow through your town over the course of a long winter, guess what? This Rectangular Table & Chair Set Cover will rip and tear VERY easily. In a matter of days even. Maybe if you live in southern California or Arizona such a cover is considered reliable, but here in southeast Pennsylvania with wind being a constant nuisance? Yeah, this thing is useless. Also, too much rain will make it rot, especially if the water is sitting in the middle of it for an extended period of time. Always make sure you drain the water after a rainstorm. Oh, and in case someone says \"This is intended for summer weather\" guess what? Wind occurs frequently in the summer too -not to mention heavy downpours from intense lightning storms- so it doesn't work THAT time of year either. It's just a bad product. Don't buy it.","Product: Prairie dog antlers are north American antlers that are naturally shed or harvested. Our antlers are the highest quality north American antlers on the market today. This 100% natural dog chew is a natural source of several essential minerals that are beneficial to your dog. So go ahead and treat your furry friend to this non-allergenic, odor free, all natural dog chew! elk antlers are the softest in density and are best for puppies, older dogs, and dogs with sensitive teeth or gums. Deer antlers are moderate in density and are best for moderate chewers. (Most dogs)moose antlers are the most dense and are best for strong or active chewers (large breeds)please note that because this product is all natural, each antler will vary slightly in height, length and shape from the description shown.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: intended for small prairie doggies\n\nReview: Are you kidding me? This Prairie Dog Giant Deer Antler Dog Chew is barely 8 inches long! Why are the pictures so tricky in making us believe we're buying something really huge when clearly we're not? Thank goodness the other reviewers mentioned the unfair and inaccurate size. It's unfair because such a product is expensive to buy, so many people feel cheated out of lots of cash (and rightfully so). Furthermore, not all dogs are eager to gobble this antler up. I have a dog that likes to eat for a few minutes at a time then move on to something else that's chewable. It's really not worth the price due to the small size- that's obviously the biggest flaw. My 80-pound basset hound isn't very happy. I simply say this- don't buy this product!","Product: No wiring or electricity is required to install these Garden Creations solar-powered LED accent lights. They soak up the sun's energy by day and shine brightly at night. The white LED lights illuminate walks, gardens, and patios. This set includes eight lights, each of which measures 4.25 inches by 4.25 inches by 13.5 inches.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: hmmm, I'll give it a free pass\n\nReview: I have mixed feelings with these lights. Even though I realize these lights are solar and rely on the sunlight, they don't always work correctly. Sometimes the light is heavily faded, other times the light doesn't come on at all. When you have an entire row of lights organized neatly around your front porch, it's amazingly and unforgivingly disappointing when only a few of them turn on at a time. It looks messy and out of whack. You can't feel proud to have them or show them off to your friends and family either. But... you can't exactly throw these lights away since the light very well might come on again the next night. Odd and frustrating dealing with these things. Last summer I came home from the Mexican restaurant with my dad and his girlfriend at their beach home, and upon pulling up in the driveway and feeling satisfied with the delicious meal we just had, we noticed only a few lights were actually on around the house. I put my foot down right there that I'd never purchase these lights for myself.","Product: Add new sparkling dimensions to your art and coloring projects with these Glitter Magic Markers. This package includes 6 assorted bright colors of glittering markers in Blue, Green, Orange, Yellow, Red, and Purple. Simply press down on the tip to allow the ink to flow then color or draw like any normal marker and watch your designs take on awesome sparkling effects. These markers are excellent for creating and decorating all kinds of coloring projects and original artwork. Children will enjoy how easy they are to use and their sparkling effects. They're perfect for home or school use.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: they magically stick whenever you draw!\n\nReview: Be warned- these magic markers are really likely to permanently stain your childrens clothes. This is no exaggeration. Kids will probably get marker stains on their clothes somehow, and it'll be your job to find a way to take care of them. However good luck because all the washing in the world won't remove said stains. Sure, repeated washing will slightly remove the stains, but there will always be a faded mark on your kids clothes. With that in mind, you've been warned. Otherwise, if your kids stay clear of their clothes while using these magic markers (which would be a miracle) they actually work great and certainly reveal a bright enough color to be noticeable on whatever you write on.","Product: Large sand pails equal hours of fun at the beach! Use them to build sand castles or tote toys... they also make great centerpieces filled with flowers and other dcor for outdoor garden- and beach-themed parties. Plus, they are a great start to kid-friendly gift \"baskets\", giveaways, and more. This is a package of 6 assorted colors.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: save your time and money\n\nReview: I don't understand why these buckets are breaking. I used similar ones as a kid back in the 80's and they worked fine, but nowadays if you were to drop what appears to be similar ones on the ground, they're almost guaranteed to break. Cheaply made and not worth buying. Too bad I never saved the ones I used to take to the beach with me when my parents took me on vacation. I believe even after 30 years they'd still be holding up just fine unlike the ones you see here on amazon. The sad part is that I don't know where you can buy reliable toy shovels and pails because it's not like they're made sturdily anymore. I'm sure somebody sells better ones somewhere.","Product: Teeth paint is easy to use, fast drying, and durable. It won't come off when drinking liquids and doesn't harm dental work.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: no need to buy this product\n\nReview: If you'd like to have rotten teeth, do what I did- go several months by not brushing when you enter your teenage years, never even think about flossing, and eat nothing but hard to chew candies such as Sugar Daddies and Caramellos and anything chocolate-related. Watch and wait as your teeth gradually turn black and funky and you'll soon be on your way to the emergency room when you discover one surprisingly humorless day that the tooth rotting stretches so painfully deep that your entire cheek swells up like a chipmunk due to an abscess and you have to spend 300 bucks to get the tooth extracted. Or... yeah, it's best to take care of your teeth and just buy this Teeth Paint toy as a trick. The real thing isn't worth the agony.","Product: Aurora World Miyoni angora kitten is beautifully designed and features realistic characteristics with air-brushed color accents. It is part of the premium Miyoni line of plush animals, made with superior materials and great attention to detail. Aurora World is an industry leader with over 30 years of experience designing and manufacturing innovative, high quality plush products.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: give it a squeeze\n\nReview: How can you possibly turn away after looking at such an adorable kitten plush? This white version is probably the prettiest one of all the kittens available on amazon. Of the plush kittens I mean. Obviously real kittens are more adorable but that's something you already know. I'm sure your child will absolutely love cuddling up to this oversized plush kitten, and you know the white one just seems the most appropriate. It's like the standard of all plush kittens! Sure some might think it's the basic color and that makes it unnoticeable, but I say it's simply the one designed for that everyday kitty look. Highly recommended. Of course a plush kitten this big isn't going to be available for cheap! Then again right now it's selling for less than 10 bucks which is amazing. Usually you can expect to pay quite a bit of money for one of these, but you can relax knowing your child will easily be in love with this white plush kitten.","Product: Super Bit Mapping Remastered Definitive Edition. Classic 1975 second album for Virgin Records\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: wow, I like it!\n\nReview: People often wonder how I can enjoy Tangerine Dream when I dislike the ambient genre as much as I do. Simple- after hearing several Brian Eno albums, this is still better than a good portion of his overrated work (this doesn't include everything he's done from Here Comes the Warm Jets through Before and After Science though, which aren't even ambient albums anyway except for Discreet Music).\n\nEven the Fripp/Eno collaboration doesn't feel like they created pure ambience to me, so those albums get a free pass as well. Albums like Music For Airports however, are totally boring to me. My impression of that popular 1978 album- the songs never seem to go anywhere and the choice of musical instruments are extremely limited to nothing but repetitive beats, synths and a few piano lines. Bleh. Tangerine Dream is better.\n\nAnyway, Rubycon is a fantastic album. There's numerous things taking place at once upong hearing one of the two 17-minute songs included here. It's not just mindless, uninteresting bloops and bleeps. You have mellotrons, synthesizers and organs coming together to create fascinating otherworldly sounds and a highly original, futuristic style. I have to disagree with those that say this stuff sounds badly dated. Not really. Originality is the reason why.\n\n\"Rubycon Part One\" is a bit more interesting to me because musically it feels stronger with a sped up rhythm taking up the second half of it, but \"Rubycon Part Two\" can hold its own as well. Again, the use of a wide variety of musical instruments is the number one reason I admire Rubycon as much as I do. More specifically, Tangerine Dream seemed to have a very important mindset when making this album- musical instruments and variety first and *then* implement the atmosphere. It just happened to work to good effect. I'm shocked but it *does* actually work!","Product: Easy Piano Sheet Music Single.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: imagine all the people\n\nReview: Well I finally got a chance to see the film that sparked a double album that BOTH my parents and my aunt happened to buy for me as a birthday present the same year. Oops!!! I still have both copies in mint condition though!\n\nThe topics you will witness while watching John Lennon: Imagine are basically a combination of both his time with the Beatles and his solo career with Yoko. The film devotes an equal amount of time to each period of John's life.\n\nI like how the movie constantly jumps around from his Beatles days to his solo career. One moment you will see the Beatles performing in famous locations (mostly focused on their later days when Yoko was with the band) and other times you see Lennon performing alone on his house piano, with Yoko and other band mates standing around and watching him play (in addition to showing Lennon and Yoko in the studio).\n\nYou will also hear discussions from Lennon's first wife, and his temporary girlfriend, May Pang. Lennon's kids also share some memories of their father, and I really like the way the kids come across as confident and intelligent, just like their father.\n\nMy favorite part of this Imagine documentary however, are the famous interviews people conducted with John Lennon (some of which were rather heated and angry as you probably recall). This film includes those interviews, completely uncut so you're able to hear all the swear words in all their uncensored glory. You're even treated to those nude scenes involving John and Yoko, along with his famous bedroom incident.\n\nI also admire how the people who put down this collection of lost Lennon interviews kept intact the very best parts. That's important.\n\nOne thing that felt missing was a detailed explanation concerning Lennon's role in American politics. This could have been touched upon more than it was. After all, this is definitely a crucial part of Lennon's legacy.\n\nOverall, a great documentary of a legendary musician.","Product: Molly Hartley (Bennett) hopes that with her mother locked away in a mental ward she can forget the violence of her family s past and start over. She has found a new life a new school and a new boyfriend (Crawford). But when her secret past and haunting ni\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: disappointing, but not horrendous\n\nReview: I see a bunch of criticism for the Haunting of Molly Hartley here on amazon, and while I agree with plenty of the popular complaints, the movie does actually get somewhat better later on. Only *somewhat* though.\n\nThe segments where Haley Bennett's character witnesses hallucinations pertaining to her mother are pretty good, so the film does have THAT going for it at least.\n\nOh, and the first 5 minutes of storytelling are excellent. Make sure you don't miss that part. It's the only part that actually had a creepy atmosphere.\n\nThe storyline had serious potential but never lived up to it. Something terrible happens on a teenage girls 18th birthday, so the storyline is about the girls mother trying to prevent it from happening by actually attempting to kill her daughter before it's too late. Of course everyone assumes the mother is crazy so they lock her up in a mental institution, but she eventually escapes.\n\nFrom there, I don't want to spoil the storyline. I can assure you though, that you won't be impressed by the Haunting of Molly Hartley if you're expecting a lot of \"edge of your seat\" suspense. It won't happen. The acting just isn't good enough, and the atmosphere is completely missing.\n\nAt least 45 minutes of the storyline is devoted to below average typical teenager nonsense at school involving friends and a boyfriend, so you won't miss anything there I guarantee it.\n\nLater on when the girls 18th birthday approaches, THIS is when it gets slightly better.\n\nOverall, probably not worth your time."],"string":"[\n \"Product: 1993 reissue on Repertoire of their 1978 album for A&M. Ninetracks, including 'Melt The Ice Away', 'Love For You And Me'& 'All At Sea'.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: wow, extremely underrated late 70's hard rock album here, folks\\n\\nReview: After hearing the somewhat disappointing If I Were Brittania album, I was totally NOT expecting their next album to completely knock my socks off!\\n\\nIt's true this album doesn't necessarily sound like the classic Budgie of old. There's no exceptionally heavy guitar riffs for one thing, and not really any signs that Budgie used to combine blues with sludgy heavy rock back in the day.\\n\\nInstead it's a straight forward hard rock album with a noticeable commercial sound. Too bad commercial radio never really gave it the appreciation it *definitely* deserves.\\n\\nThe entire album is reminiscent of the Come Taste the Band record by Deep Purple. If you've ever heard that album, you will know Deep Purple combined funk, soul and hard rock together. Budgie sort of did the same thing for this release, and the results are just terrific.\\n\\nThe vocal melodies are spectacular, and the guitar solos are *extremely* melodic. Some of the riffs like the ones found on \\\"Smile Boy Smile\\\" and \\\"Pyramids\\\" blow me away.\\n\\nThe heavy, blues-oriented plodding guitar style of \\\"I'm a Faker Too\\\" is fantastic, and the closer \\\"Don't Dilute the Water\\\" makes me realize why the band members from Megadeth are such big Budgie fans. The vocal melody in particular is really oddly put together in a chaotic and extremely heavy way. It's unique for its time.\\n\\nImpeckable also includes some really beautiful moments courtesy of the lead singer such as on \\\"All At Sea\\\" and \\\"Don't Go Away\\\" (the latter definitely reminiscent of Geddy Lee and particularly some of the tender moments from the Rush album Fly By Night).\\n\\nI'm really shocked just how good this album is. A comparison to Black Sabbath's Never Say Die! is understandable considering both albums have a sound that's a departure from their usual trademark style, and both records sound ripe and ready for FM radio even though fate would ensure that never happened.\\n\\nA must own.\",\n \"Product: First album to be released in the 70's with Annie Haslam.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: oh wow, this is good\\n\\nReview: Prologue has its share of interesting moments, and they don't really resemble anything like the classic albums such as Ashes Are Burning and Turn of the Cards. I'm not necessarily complaining about the difference in styles though. Sometimes it works amazingly well, such as on \\\"Rajah Khan\\\".\\n\\nAnnie Haslam delivers a vocal performance that can best be described as soaring and heavenly in a psychedelic kind of way, where the vocals feel like a dream. It's really strange the way her voice soars in a way that sounds way ahead of its time. I've hardly ever heard a female musician sing like THAT from the early 70's, if at all. What's especially noteworthy about this track however, is the heavy metal-like guitar solo in the introduction. It's out of place in comparison to Annie's vocals, but... I wouldn't want it any other way. Reminds me of something from Amon Duul II's Yeti album.\\n\\nFor a 12-minute song, very little of it actually drags, despite no noticeable signs that this is supposed to be a folk/rock band. That's a nod towards Renaissance's strong songwriting skills- they can apparently tackle other styles with complete ease.\\n\\n\\\"Kiev\\\" has a piano solo in the beginning that's entirely classical, and the vocal melody that follows is fairly standard, but it's sung in a beautiful kind of way and reminds me of early Fleetwood Mac and Peter Green just a little bit. The song then ventures back into full classical swing with some mighty fine and totally professional piano playing. This song is remarkably simple to adjust to. It's not like you have to be a classical music teacher to really grasp what the band is doing here. Renaissance had an ability to make music instantly likeable, and that's a gift we can't overlook.\\n\\n\\\"Sounds of the Sea\\\" contains a pretty simple and beautiful vocal melody that will STRONGLY take you back to the early 70's (even if you weren't actually there). It just has that particular sound, and I absolutely adore it. Perhaps my only problem is that it repeats the vocal melody one time too many, or rather, the song should have been shortened by a couple minutes. Then again I *do* love it so maybe not. Anyway, Annie totally takes the spotlight on this track. It's all about her magnificent and delicate vocal range. \\\"Spare Some Love\\\" is another Annie Haslam highlight.\\n\\nWhy Prologue isn't being mentioned in the same sentence with future Renaissance albums is a bit of a mystery to me. This is an excellent album, no doubt about it.\",\n \"Product: This 1974 release from the progressive rockers Camel features the 12 minute, 46 second opus 'Lady Fantasy: Encounter/Smiles for You'. The track 'Nimrodel / the Procession / the White Rider' is based on the J.R.R. Tolkien's Gandalf the Sorcerer character (From the book 'Lord of the Rings').\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: it doesn't get any better than this\\n\\nReview: I'm going to say something that many people might disagree with, but needs to be said. Even though Camel's Mirage album is a progressive rock album, you do NOT have to be a fan of prog-rock to fall in love with this album. I believe anyone who's a fan of jamming rock bands such as Eric Clapton or Crazy Horse would really enjoy the music on Mirage.\\n\\nCamel are the masters of knowing how to write memorable songs. The jams are melodic, not to mention creative. They include keyboards, guitars, flutes, drums, bass, organs, and who knows what else. All this adds up to one fantastic listen. Over and over again I listen to this album and can't believe how good it not only sounds, but IS. The music is great. Every song is written so carefully to the point of being extremely melodic. It's incredible.\\n\\nI wish Camel would tour the USA more. Some of us over here LOVE this band. Heck, even my dad who doesn't listen to rock music anymore said he LOVES what this band is doing. \\\"freefall\\\" is SO melodic, \\\"lady fantasy\\\" will remind you of dreams you had as a child. Those dreams will return and be as pleasant as ever when listening to this song. The rest of the album maintains that pleasant dream atmosphere and helps me conclude this album is truly worth owning. If something ever happened to my copy, I'd buy another one immediately.\",\n \"Product: 1975 Album from the Progressive Rock Band that Came after a Two Year Respite. Songs Are Much More Dissonant Than in Past Outings and the Structure of the Music More Closely Resembles Some of Pink Floyd's Outer Fringes.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: still hasn't grown on me enough, dang it\\n\\nReview: Dang it guys! I really wanted the Power and the Glory to be one of my favorite albums ever, but giving it another chance 9 years later, I reeeeeeally don't think it's gonna happen. I want it to, though! I'll just keep hoping and looking to the stars for spiritual guidance and hope one day my prayers will finally be answered.\\n\\nThe title song sounds so unbelievably simple and melodic that the characters on Sesame Street should be out in the streets and dancing together as part of a big muppet party (perhaps to celebrate their 100th year anniversary, whenever that is). Actually... hold on a minute! I don't think that show is anywhere NEAR ready to celebrate 100 magnificent years entertaining children worldwide. Well, enjoy Big Bird anyway.\\n\\nLet's get back to the title song... unless you enjoy my rants? You know you like them. The verse melody AND the chorus are both super melodic, but... some people might really hate it. Yes it's one of THOSE type of songs. Ugh. I guess I like it... sometimes. Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't! Depending how I feel as I get my lazy butt out of bed determines its place in my world. That's about the best way I can put it.\\n\\nThe best song is \\\"Proclamation\\\" because it would fit in perfectly with my favorite album of theirs, In a Glass House. Yes, the super bizarre and almost unlistenable nature of THAT album should definitely have a song like \\\"Proclamation\\\" on it. Now when I say \\\"unlistenable\\\" that's actually a compliment when it concerns Gentle Giant, because what I really mean is \\\"not for the general public\\\". You knew that, right? Of course you did! If not, I guess you hadn't been paying attention. :)\\n\\n\\\"So Sincere\\\" makes me think about funerals and crying and rainy days. Just a whole bunch of sad emotions rushing through my brain at once. Imagine a gigantic radio up in the sky somewhere and playing \\\"So Sincere\\\" nonstop all across the world? Everyone would be cutting their depressed faces off. I want to live!\\n\\n\\\"Aspirations\\\" is just a softly performed little... ballad? Is this a Gentle Giant ballad? Wait, CAN a band like Gentle Giant create believable ballads? Or is it just another trick of theirs to make you believe you should be crying over a tearful vocal melody when in fact you should be feeling a completely separate emotion? So many questions. Answers? Questions! Questions? Answers! Oh wait, that's a Focus album sorry, hehe. Check out Focus by the way. That's actually their band name- Focus. Just look them up here on amazon if you don't believe me.\\n\\nAlright, \\\"Playing the Game\\\" should NOT exist. No, it's not a bad song, but it's just... so quiet... and overlong. Quiet enough that most weird people (like myself) don't have the attention span for it, basically making it pure pointless background music. No, Gentle Giant should not be writing songs like these. No way! Just... NO! And it's over 6 minutes long! Get out of town, and take this song with you. Yes that's right- physically rip this specific song off the plastic on the disc and get it out of here. Just don't get so angry you hurt the rest of the album.\\n\\n\\\"Cogs in Cogs\\\" is a super melodic slice of fun, written in a similar fashion to the title song. Again I have to ask the million dollar question- is it super melodic in a way I *like?* I think so, yeah. Or it melodic in a way that makes me blush? Ask me again tomorrow when I wake up on the wrong side of the bed and I might just change my constantly confused little mind, hehe.\\n\\n\\\"No Gods a Man\\\" features haunting and relatively complex acoustic playing, and it's neatly layered throughout the song like a homemade quilt. The vocals make it feel like a dream too (no, not the kind of dream that makes you think someone is calling your name on the other side of the door right before you fall asleep so you jump awake and respond \\\"Yes?\\\" but rather, a different kind of dream). Really neat song.\\n\\nNow what in the WORLD is \\\"The Face?\\\" What is that musical instrumental that reminds me of a farm, and specifically Charlotte's Web? Do you hear that? I hope you know what I mean. It's no buttermilk bath for Wilbur, that's for sure. Instead it's an insultingly articulate and grammatically correct slice of perfection designed for Charlotte herself! Just kidding about that, but geez- why did they have to go and make Charlotte so smart? Not exactly a confidence booster for people around the globe who struggle to put sentences together. Hearing Charlotte speak doesn't make us wanna learn- it makes us wanna give up instead.\\n\\nAnyway, let's return to discussing that weird part of \\\"The Face\\\". Maybe it's just a harmonica playing two notes back and forth over and over again, I don't know. I GUESS that's a harmonica. I can't stop listening to it though, whatever it is. It's permanently burned into my big empty head forever and ever. Just when I completely forget about this song, BAM! Here I am 9 years later with the same addiction to it all over again. How could I possibly forget it in the first place! The violins are quite lovely too. Too bad the vocal melody lets me down like I've just been dumped by the hottest girl in class... at the prom... with all her friends watching. Bummer.\\n\\nSo... what have we here? haha. Gentle Giant definitely attempted to release a commercial album with the Power and the Glory and obviously they didn't succeed or else classic rock stations would be playing THIS 24 hours a day instead of Boston's debut and the Eagles Greatest Hits, but luckily the band bounced back with a significant improvement with Free Hand.\\n\\nYes my friends, I fall under the \\\"I don't get it\\\" camp when it concerns this album. Is it prog? Is it pop? Is it a commercial direction? A camp of misfits perhaps, or a camp of geniuses. You decide.\",\n \"Product: (Holland)\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: I love it, but it's flawed\\n\\nReview: The End of the Game is a *fantastic* album for lovers of guitar jams that perhaps sits comfortably somewhere in between blues and hard rock. I didn't realize how good this album was when I first heard it three years ago, but giving it another opportunity this time around reveals a MUCH better experience. Perhaps because a greater appreciation of the blues is something I've learned to understand recently (thanks to Jimi Hendrix's Blues album- a must own by the way).\\n\\nYes, at first I was actually led into believing these guitar jams are uninspiring and go nowhere at all. I was either being a close-minded fool or probably more realistically I was too tired and wasn't thinking clearly. This stuff is honestly exceptionally rewarding the more you play it.\\n\\nThe highlight for me is easily \\\"Bottoms Up\\\". It's 9 minutes of pure aggressive beauty. The guitar work is somewhere in between Jimi Hendrix and Andy Powell (from Wishbone Ash, particularly the first two albums). One thing's for sure- the melodic aspects of this 9-minute masterpiece can NOT be ignored. I truly believe this is some top-notch guitar jamming. It's technically superior to most, and plus there's a lot of feeling and emotion that never loses its momentum the entire time. The best of both worlds, and the best selection here.\\n\\n\\\"Descending Scale\\\" has a wonderful piano jam in the beginning. Some might say it sounds incomplete and unorganized, but... I can remember the notes so nah, I can't really agree with that statement. Soon however, some groovy and dreamy guitar work comes around. I really wish THIS part had lasted a couple minutes longer. Some more guitar playing similar to the wailing style from \\\"Bottoms Up\\\" makes an appearance near the end. It's an odd track to say the least.\\n\\nI guess my biggest problem with \\\"Descending Scale\\\" is that it's extremely unfocused. It's just a jam session that indicates not much effort was put into making it actually GO somewhere, but... somehow I actually like it. Not sure why yet. Perhaps because underneath all the messy guitar and drum outbursts I can actually make out something listenable. There's a feeling of \\\"This might work\\\" kicking in high gear. It's not just an initial feeling either- with each listen I can remember more of it so... I don't know what more I can say about it. I can say with certainty that when Peter Green makes his guitar resemble a crying dog near the end, that's a fairly unique sound. After six solid listens in a row I can confirm that yes, the song *does* improve.\\n\\nThe rest of the material is basically the same stuff. Fragmented rehearsal-like guitar lines or well-performed, memorable guitar solos and jams. You get both and the constant switch between the two might annoy some listeners, so yeah, I can see why some people dislike the End of the Game. \\\"Hidden Depth\\\" is appropriately named considering Green's style has in fact, many layers of hidden depth (and this track does as well), \\\"Burnt Foot\\\" is a jazzy combination of guitar and drum solos, and the title song is actually another highlight thanks to the way it displays some of Green's heavier guitar soloing.\\n\\nYou get the feeling had this stuff been worked on a little harder and had the fat been trimmed away so to speak, the results would have been even more spectacular. Given the stability of Peter Green at the time of this recording however, it's understandable why it is the way it is. I honestly believe it's very good and worth owning despite the flaws.\",\n \"Product: Reissue of George's second non-Beatles album. Self-produced,it contains two lengthy experimental electronic tracks & wasfirst released on the Apple label in 1969. Also includes theoriginal cover art. 1996 EMI release.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: one of those \\\"it's so bad I mine as well play it one time\\\" type of albums\\n\\nReview: Electronic Sound by no means should be actually *owned*. Do not even think about spending your hard earned money on an album that is completely devoid of songwriting and instead focuses around a bunch of pointless, unorganized and uncreative electronic sounds. Don't even TRY to convince me this is some kind of ambient masterpiece either or I'll laugh my butt off. Just because George Harrison was a member of the most popular rock band in the whole wide world shouldn't grant him a free pass to release such hogwash either. You don't go from \\\"Taxman\\\" to \\\"Something\\\" to... this. No sir.\\n\\nApparently George didn't realize there's a clever way of using electronic sounds- that being, to use them *occasionally* and *creatively*. The studio sounds George is using here would be totally appropriate for about 60 seconds in the context of an interesting pop song. 44 straight minutes doesn't work and doesn't make me a very happy person. Oh well, just disregard this album from existence.\\n\\n\\\"No Time or Space\\\" is *25 stinkin' minutes* of electronic noises and utter nonsense. Just for fun, let me describe what this stuff sounds like. The first couple minutes sounds like an air pump filling up a tire at a gas station while a wintery wind storm is taking place in the woods in the background. Shortly after I hear what sounds like a fly buzzing around a lamp post (perhaps distracted by all the unavoidable noise). After that I hear sirens- perhaps an emergency involving a suicide roof jumper because an unfortunate soul just couldn't TAKE this junk anymore. After that I hear what sounds like cars going around a race track while bottle rockets are exploding in the night sky. Desert highway truck horns and pinball machines finish things up. There you have it. Impressed? Please, don't be a victim of sarcasm and answer \\\"yes\\\".\\n\\n\\\"Under the Mercy Wall\\\" is an entirely appropriate song title. I have no time for this, nor would I ever devote space to it either. It begins with boat horns and cat birds squeaking in the background. This ain't no father and son fishing trip unfortunately. I almost wish it was. Heck, a fishing trip with a serial killer would be more exciting than this. Do I hear synthesized... horses? Is that what that particular moment is a few minutes in? I'm not betting any money on that horse to win anything. Knowing my luck it'll probably be ripe and ready for the Kentucky Derby. At least somewhere around the middle creates a nice feeling of floating in outer space. Overall, this song features a significantly less amount of crappy electronic sounds compared to \\\"Under the Mercy Wall\\\". Lord have mercy on my soul... and yours too if you're able to actually get any kind of enjoyment out of this.\",\n \"Product: Live Album' (1970) Captures the Grand Funksters During their Early Years Together and Presents the Strength of What Got them Widespread Popularity in the First Place: Strong, Energetic Live Performance. Features the Songs 'Are You Ready', 'Mark Say's Alright', 'Inside Looking Out', 'Mean Mistreater' and More.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: live Grand Funk is fantastic\\n\\nReview: After searching for this album in my record collection for a good 20 minutes and not having any luck finding it, I realized that all this time it was actually sitting under a bunch of Beatles albums beside the stereo, haha!\\n\\nI LOVE this album. More specifically, I love the raw energy, frantic guitar work, and just the atmosphere of the early 70's rock scene. I'm only 25 years old, so I wasn't around back when this album was recorded, but the music here certainly convinces me that rock and roll back then was truly phenomenal. Now it's hard listening to studio Grand Funk albums after playing this double live album (on one CD- hooray!)\\n\\nI don't get how Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple have a reputation for being the heaviest bands around back then, when this album (along with the James Gang's Live in Concert) are solid proof that there were certainly other bands in the early 70's who could rock JUST as hard. People aren't listening to old live albums anymore!\\n\\nThe tracks on this album are the best you could ask for because there's no softer numbers like \\\"Closer to Home/I'm Your Captain\\\" and no commercial stuff \\\"We're an American Band\\\". Instead, it's all about fairly long guitar jams that are many times *extremely* loud.\\n\\nYou know, I was a troublemaker as a child who went around destroying my parents record collection, but thank GOD I didn't mess up this one! A masterpiece for Grand Funk Railroad.\",\n \"Product: CD\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: my favorite Renaissance album\\n\\nReview: NOTHING could have prepared me for the excellence found throughout Scheherazade & Other Stories. Also, nothing could have prepared me for the difficulty in pronouncing the word \\\"Scheherazade\\\", haha!\\n\\nDo I love this album from beginning to end? Do I ever! Looking for a weak point would take me an eternity to find, because if there is one, I honestly have trouble spotting it.\\n\\nThe thing that really escalates this album above the other ones, in my opinion at least, is the way Annie Haslam really feels like she's locked in this time around. Her voice has always been fantastic, but something about her vocal melodies on this album just leaves me speechless.\\n\\n\\\"Trip To the Fair\\\" is amazing on some indescribable level. It sounds almost like a nursery rhyme in spots, thanks to the gentle way the piano sails along. The classical-like complexity of the 3-minute intro makes it seem more sophisticated than it would initially seem. From here... it just blows me away. Annie's vocals come in, and this might be the catchiest vocal melody I've ever heard on a Renaissance album. \\\"A trip to the fair... but nobody was there!\\\" Annie sings this line in such a realistic way that it makes you feel abandoned almost, like you're really there. I can just imagine taking a trip alone to a fair, arriving at night and... the only thing there is a locked gate, turned off lights and the sound of the wind blowing. Just a phenomenal song.\\n\\n\\\"Vultures Fly High\\\" would have made a wonderful pop single. It contains another fantastic vocal melody, but with a fast pace (well, faster than most Renaissance songs). It might not be the flashiest song on the album, but it proves Renaissance had something doing good here. \\\"Ocean Gypsy\\\" has some rather poetic and inspiring lyrics, and quality vocals as well. The piano solo in the middle is truly something else. It almost reminds me of the Genesis classic \\\"Firth of Fifth\\\" but it's not quite the same. Alright, these lyrics probably don't appeal to me a whole lot since it's basically romantic poetry (at least, it sure seems like it) but I don't care.\\n\\nBut then... then... THEN comes the 24-minute minutes of perfection to end this album. Speaking of Genesis, I might even put this 24-minute track above \\\"Supper's Ready\\\" and that's not necessarily an easy task for me since \\\"Supper's Ready\\\" was always a high point for me (mainly because it was the first prog epic I've ever experienced, so the memories are precious and unforgettable) but *oh my freaking goodness* does \\\"Song of Scheherazade\\\" do everything right. For 24 straight minutes, all the arrangements are put together in just the right way, Annie's voice builds and soars in all the appropriate places, and it's just a perfect song to me. I can see myself listening to this song over and over on headphones all night long... because that's actually what I did last night!\\n\\nIf you even think for a moment you want to be a progressive rock fan, I HIGHLY recommend this album. It's nothing short of brilliant.\",\n \"Product: RENAISSANCE Azure D'Or CD\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: good enough to recommend, but the prog elements? they be gone!\\n\\nReview: Renaissance finally gave it up- the orchestration and the multi-part progressive rock suites. Well now, that's a shame, but the good news is that Annie Haslam is still more than capable of delivering exceptional vocal melodies, and she even elevates her range on several occasions, so it's basically Annie that takes the cake on Azure d'Or. Oh, and I actually like the \\\"pretend\\\" orchestration that dominates this album. Yes its replacement consists of dated late 70's instrumentation, but I don't mind it too much. It's still a disappointment knowing the band is capable of much more.\\n\\n\\\"Jekyll & Hyde\\\" mainly focuses on a really repetitive vocal melody that's probably not quite as simplistic as I originally believed. It's a harmless melody, and fairly catchy. Nothing like what the band had done previously of course, but good enough by 1979's \\\"Let's all punk out and ditch prog forever!\\\" period. \\\"The Winter Tree\\\" contains a simple but addicting vocal melody. It doesn't really remind me of winter trees, but who cares. Now the next song certainly reminds me of angels. \\\"Only Angels Have Wings is yet *another* in a long line of simple vocal melodies, and it reminds me of the Turtles classic \\\"Happy Together\\\" in the verse, but hey, as long as these simple melodies continue to actually catch my attention, I'll except them with open arms.\\n\\n\\\"Golden Key\\\" is where Annie goes all out and delivers a showtune-like vocal performance. Very theatrical with late 70's Genesis vibes making effective appearances in all the right spots. \\\"Forever Changing\\\" is the weak point for me. Barely enjoyable enough vocals in both the verse and chorus- pretty forgettable, really. The problem here is that Annie is being waaaay too safe. The chorus sounds familiar because it seems to me she wasn't really interested in taking advantage of her talents. Unless she really thinks it's a good song, but eh... I doubt it. I love the new wave, Kim Wilde-sounding intro in \\\"Secret Mission\\\" and what's interesting is that the verse melody sounds suspiciously similar to a Who song from their Tommy album. The chorus has that worldly vibe that seems popular these days. The chorus actually reminds me of that song \\\"Kiss from a Rose\\\" but PLEASE don't hate me for bringing it up- I know some people despise that song. \\\"Kalynda (A Magical Isle)\\\" has a calm atmosphere and romantic vocals. Nothing truly remarkable.\\n\\n\\\"The Discovery\\\" contains a spectacular intro as far as presenting me with an imaginative scenery. It reminds me of a haunted playground or ghost ship before leading into these Mega Man-like synth lines (Mega Man's a video game in case you don't know... but you should if you're a fan of frantically shooting reploids in a robot-dominated world!). It's highly melodic. For an instrumental, it's not bad. \\\"Friends\\\" has a melody not much different from \\\"Secret Mission\\\" and the lyrics are meaningful too- it's about caring, friendships, and those sorts of positive topics. \\\"The Flood at Lyoms\\\" has a decent vocal melody that actually improves the more I hear it, so it makes me think it's the only really complex moment on the entire album, vocal melody-wise. I like how the chugging rhythm suddenly switches into a bombastic chorus, once again giving me images of a... hmmm, of a what, exactly? A train travelling to a performance theater? Maybe, lol.\\n\\nOverall, Renaissance ends a classic stretch of 70's albums on a satisfying note, but please, pick up the previous five or six Renaissance albums before this one to get a real taste of this fantastic band.\",\n \"Product: Track List:\\n1. Terrapin\\n2. No Good Trying\\n3. Love You \\n4. No Man's Land \\n5. Dark Globe \\n6. Here I Go \\n7. Octopus \\n8. Golden Hair \\n9. Long Gone \\n10. She Took a Long Cold Look \\n11. Feel \\n12. If It's in You\\n13. Late Night\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: it's not pink floyd, but it's close\\n\\nReview: While there's certainly some good, \\\"far out\\\" psychedelic songs on the Madcap Laughs, it's actually a pretty mellow style of psychedelia compared to Floyd's Piper at the Gates of Dawn album. I guess this is to be expected from a solo album (after all, most solo albums released by a key band member connected to a distinctive rock band is basically just recreating the same kind of stuff that made them popular with their band, but with less interesting results- *usually* this is how it works).\\n\\nSyd Barrett was trying hard to reach for some incredibly diverse styles on the Madcap Laughs, and while he succeeds for the most part (since it's easy to tell most of the songs apart) I'm not quite convinced he's the \\\"master of psychedelic songwriting\\\" that many people have been trying to convince me he is.\\n\\nHe's more like a solid musician with some exciting -though fairly inconsistent- musical ideas. I think compared to the early period of Pink Floyd, only about half of this album stands in the same league. Keep in mind I'm not a huge fan of early Pink Floyd like most people are, and also remember that the Madcap Laughs has the potential to become better with repeated listens.\\n\\nAt least most of the songs are short and sweet (except for \\\"Terrapin\\\" which should have been a couple minutes shorter). It's a good song, but that vocal melody doesn't need to linger on *that* long. At least the rest of the album contains relatively strong vocal melodies, some of which are better than early Pink Floyd, others a tad worse. At least this album *sounds* like the Piper at the Gates of Dawn period of Pink Floyd. That alone is a very good thing.\\n\\nI can't deny this stuff was probably pretty darn incredible back in the late 60's when it first came out. There wasn't anything like it back then. It's hard to really fault this stuff- you either like your psychedelic pop music to sound like this, or you think it's horribly dated and too goofy to take seriously. That's what made the late 60's a special time period.\",\n \"Product: Monsters Of Rock ~ Vol. 1-Monsters Of Rock\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: not what it could have been\\n\\nReview: Back in the late 90's they promoted this album ALL THE TIME while I was watching WWE wrestling (called WWF back then). It eventually got to the point where I simply HAD to buy the thing to see what the big deal was.\\n\\nUnfortunately, while it was really appealing to me at first, it really began to lose its charm as the years past, as I began to find out the hit songs weren't the ONLY things these bands should be remembered for. In fact, these songs seriously aren't as good as many of the songs you'd find on any one of the Ratt, Quiet Riot, or Poison albums. Why should we remember *just* the hits? We shouldn't.\\n\\nFurthermore, artists like Alice Cooper and Judas Priest shouldn't be on here in the first place, because they're mostly early to mid 70's rock artists, and this collection of tracks should mainly focus on the 80's, and NO other decade because the two decades are entirely different from each other. It doesn't matter to me if these songs are not from the 70's- Alice Cooper and Judas Priest are artists from the 70's, and that's the point.\\n\\nI think they could have found a better selection of songs to stick on here. \\\"Round and Round\\\" is NOT the best Ratt song, and \\\"Every Rose Has Its Thorn\\\" is not the best Poison song either. Not only are these NOT the best songs, but they also don't quality as the heaviest songs from either band either. The same applies to Great White and Whitesnake (though no one can deny \\\"Here I Go Again\\\" is a fantastic song- even people who normally hate heavy metal agree it's a great song).\\n\\n\\\"Hold on Loosely\\\" is a pretty bad song though. .38 Special is MUCH better than that. \\\"We're Not Gonna Take It\\\" kind of stinks as well. I have a greatest hits disc from Twisted Sister that has a lot of better songs, such as \\\"I Am, I'm Me\\\" and \\\"I Wanna Rock\\\".\\n\\nLuckily it DOES have some great songs such as \\\"Cult of Personality\\\", \\\"Nobody's Fool\\\", and \\\"Sister Christian\\\". It's just not a flawless collection. It's just an attempt to remember the 80's and act like the hits are the only songs worth remembering because of all the singles released in the decade. There's plenty of album bands from the 80's. Don't forget that.\",\n \"Product: Genesis founding member's first solo release - originally issued in 1977. Features Phil Collins on vocals & Mike Rutherford on guitar, bass & keyboards.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: very inconsistent leading to several uninteresting moments\\n\\nReview: Update- May 28, 2012\\n\\nWell guys, I gave this album another listen yesterday afternoon and this time my feelings have changed for the better. While I still strongly believe the instrumental portions of Selling England By the Pound are better than most of what's presented here, that doesn't mean the Geese & the Ghost is terrible in comparison. Perhaps the strong tone of my review was *too* strong meaning, I was sort of calling this crap in comparison. I was wrong in both the negative tone and the instrumental portions.\\n\\nHowever I still feel the 15-minute title song is VERY repetitive, too reminiscent of a soundtrack, and drags for the first half (especially \\\"Part One\\\") whereas the stuff from SEBTP is much much more adventurous and diverse with the arrangements, but it would be impossible to deny the several moments of beauty that occupy it as well. \\\"Henry: Portraits From Tudor Times\\\" is not only an improvement but the best song on the album. I really like *this* instrumental playing. Very melodic, tasteful and captures the feeling of walking in the wilderness with adventure set in mind. The vocal melody-focused tunes are probably slighter weaker than the stuff you'd find on a late 70's Phil Collins Genesis album, but not by much.\\n\\nOh well, here's my old review (but my rating is now a 4 out of 5 instead of a 3). Please forgive my harsh tone- the Geese & the Ghost IS a good album after all.\\n\\nThe Geese & the Ghost has to be seen in my eyes as a minor disappointment. The reviews here on amazon -as well as other places- led me to believe this album would be a continuation of sorts from the classic Genesis years (Nursery Cryme through A Trick of the Tail).\\n\\nIn a way it is, I suppose, but Anthony Phillips honestly doesn't have the instrumental abilities that the members of Genesis had. WAY too often while listening to The Geese & the Ghost, I'm forced to endore what strikes me as an obvious secondrate attempt to imitate the instrumental portions from Selling England By the Pound. Without a doubt, that's the one album that immediately stands out to me when making a comparison.\\n\\n\\\"The Geese & the Ghost (Parts 1 and 2)\\\" are desperate attempts to copy classic Genesis songs such as the intro from \\\"The Musical Box\\\" and \\\"After the Ordeal\\\" with significantly less interesting results. Why are they less interesting? Because they aren't nearly as melodic or adventurous for one thing, and instead are obviously more simplistic and repetitive attempts to replicate the style of Selling England By the Pound. The acoustic guitar seems to be stuck in an unsatisfactory groove and simply can't be put in the same league as a classic Genesis song. After 15 minutes without any serious progression, I get rather bored. The entire \\\"Henry: Portraits From Tudor Times\\\" suite is constantly distracting me with gently performed acoustic guitar work too soft, quiet and barely noticeable to make any kind of impact.\\n\\nI find it interesting that Anthony Phillips would attempt to copy an album that was released three years after he left the band. It makes me think the moment he heard Selling England By the Pound he had an overwhelming desire to get some sweet revenge and attempt to repeat the same idea (or perhaps, pick up where Genesis left off with A Trick of the Tail before the synths became overbearing). Well, it doesn't work but it's a noble attempt. I mean, who would have guessed that the original drummer actually had it in him to create an instrumental album of pretty, simplistic instrumental melodies resembling classical music? A surprising move to say the least.\\n\\nOh well. If you're absolutely in desperate need to hear more of that classic Genesis sound despite some repetitive simplicity interferring with the enjoyment factor, by all means, check out Anthony Phillip's The Geese & the Ghost. I think I'll stick with my copy of Selling England By the Pound since I don't like the idea of settling for a mediocre, more basic attempt at copying a legendary band (being Genesis of course).\",\n \"Product: Dc Ac ~ Let There Be Rock\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: let there be MORE than rock\\n\\nReview: Wow, this is one powerful rock album. It pack a serious MEAN and NASTY punch. It's raw, straight forward, simple rock and roll with the volume turned WAY up. But wait! That's not all! The band members also give us some highly enjoyable guitar soloing in the title song. This band was truly at their very best in the early days.\\n\\nPick it up today and hear how AC/DC used to sound a long time ago when rock and roll was all about innovation and power. Why didn't hard rock bands hold back in the early days? Because it would have been boring to do so. AC/DC knew that's not the direction they wanted to take their music. They didn't want to be the first band to hold back their amazing talent.\\n\\nWhen albums this good are released, you just don't know what to DO with yourself. You can't believe the speakers in your home haven't rocked all the way across the living room and into the coffee table, knocking off flowers and coffee cups. A guitar sound SO LOUD it almost cracks the speakers in half and leaves you begging for more, despite the damage you know the guitar playing will cause to your stereo system.\\n\\nBut you know what? We keep coming back to it. We keep coming back to the music and we make it the greatest music we've ever heard in our lives.\",\n \"Product: The James Gang's debut LP, Yer' Album, was very much a first record and very much a record of its time. The heavy rock scene of the period was given to extensive jamming, and four tracks ran more than six minutes each. The group had written some material, but they were still something of a cover band, and the disc included their extended workouts on Buffalo Springfield's \\\"Bluebird\\\" and the Yardbirds' \\\"Lost Woman,\\\" the latter a nine-minute version complete with lengthy guitar, bass, and drum solos. But in addition to the blues rock there were also touches of pop and progressive rock, mostly from Walsh who displayed a nascent sense of melody, not to mention some of the taste for being a cutup that he would display in his solo career. Walsh's \\\"Take a Look Around\\\" must have made an impression on Pete Townshend during the period before the album's release when the James Gang was opening for the Who since Townshend borrowed it for the music he was writing for the abortive Lifehouse follow-up to Tommy. If \\\"Wrapcity (i.e., Rhapsody) in English,\\\" a minute-long piano and strings interlude, seems incongruous in retrospect, recall that this was an eclectic era. But the otherwise promising \\\"Fred,\\\" which followed, broke down into a pedestrian jazz routine, suggesting that the band was trying to cram too many influences onto one record and sometimes into one song. Nevertheless, they were talented improvisers, as the open-ended album closer, Jerry Ragavoy and Mort Shuman's \\\"Stop,\\\" made clear. After ten minutes, Szymczyk faded the track out, but Walsh was still going strong. Yer' Album contained much to suggest that the James Gang, in particular its guitarist, had a great future, even if it was more an album of performances than compositions. ~ William Ruhlmann, Rovi\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: classic James Gang- you know it has to be good!\\n\\nReview: Here it is, Yer Album! An album intended for you and only you, haha. But seriously folks (hehe) Yer album is a classic. After a strange \\\"Introduction\\\" that doesn't really accomplish much (that's actually the name of the song) we're taken to \\\"Take a Look Around\\\" which is a FANTASTIC song! One of the prettiest vocal melodies Joe Walsh ever sang. \\\"Too many roads to walk, too many things to do, too many words to talk, moments too few\\\". The verse melody is actually better though and the part that REALLY makes my senses light up. Let me sing that part now! \\\"I don't think you knoooo-oo-oo-ow though, you've been told a million times. It's not clear to see, unleee-ee-ess you read between the lines\\\". Just a really beautifully sung melody. You will never see ME moping around either! Not anymore! I'm a new man. How about the spiritually uplifting guitar solo in the middle when the pace slows down? That's a very fitting and wonderful moment too. Reminds me of Duane Allman a little bit.\\n\\n\\\"Funk #48\\\" is next. I know, it's not exactly \\\"Funk #49 but golly darn it, it's close! Just one number off! After a brief display of dictionary reading spelling bee recital wordplay in the beginning, the song shifts into a rhythm that resembles their classic \\\"Funk #49\\\" but with drastically different bluesy vocals with a boisterous onslaught of funky drum beats and guitar bits. The vocal mannerisms are very strange in a way I can't say I've ever experienced before but the entire piece is really memorable. Not sure what it is exactly that makes this song so appealing. It just works really well.\\n\\n\\\"Bluebird\\\" is a drastic shift in mood and arrangements. Gentle, \\\"Long and Winding Road-like\\\" (Beatles reference) intro leads into another brief 5-second Beatles comparison with the guitar playing (reminds me of a song from Revolver I can't recall at the moment) before the wonderful vocal melody comes in. I know this song! Buffalo Springfield is a genius band. I highly recommend Buffalo Springfield as much as I recommend classic James Gang. The groovy bass work is Grand Funk-like. Hey that's a compliment! I LOVE the melodic guitar solo! Every note of this solo makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck.\\n\\nI apologize for all the similarities to other bands I keep making, but I have to drop another one- \\\"Lost Woman\\\" has a vocal melody that totally reminds me of early Blue Oyster Cult. Please know that these comparisons are not intended to make the James Gang look bad, like they're ripping off other rock artists. I know they're not. I honestly could care less who resembles who anymore. Once upon a time I cared about such a thing but no more! It's the dawning of a new day. A fresher perspective on life! Seriously though, this version of \\\"Lost Woman\\\" is terrific however let's not pretend it can compete with their superior live version released a couple years later on their James Gang in Concert album. However this version is most certainly worthy of hearing too. The guitar jam chugs along in a speedy way for a few minutes until the tone suddenly turns darker as the bass gets a nice workout too. The drum solo rocks my socks off. Everything about this jam is actually on the same level as something Cream would do, believe it or not. Now remember how awesome Cream was live? I don't remember of course since I wasn't born at the time they were dazzling the world with their crazy good live performances, but some of you out there probably remember! Well the point I'm making here and the reason I bring up Cream is because this particular jam IS in the same league! And you can take that to the bank.\\n\\n\\\"Stone Rap\\\" is snoring, talking, repetitive rehearsal type stuff. Nothing really worthwhile but it leads into the haunting \\\"Collage\\\". This feels like the type of song you'd play while standing on a mountaintop starring down at the world below right before a major life changing event is about to occur. It has that feel you know? The guitar strumming with the orchestration is a really weird but awesome idea. Alright so the vocals are entirely based around one melody but it's a good one! \\\"I Don't Have the Time\\\" (to write amazon reviews anymore... hehe, just kidding!) is next. WOW I totally know this song but not this particular version. This song scares the heck out of me, no kidding. This version even contains the hauntingly deep graveyard-like \\\"Aaaaah, aaaaah, aaaaah!\\\" middle section that reminds me of a bad drugged out Uriah Heep fantasy. I like how the lyrics have a \\\"take no crap/who cares if I'm different from you\\\" attitude about them. \\\"Wrapcity in English\\\" is beautiful piano classical type stuff that you'd hear in a theater or perhaps a scene from a film showing a man walking home depressed in a rainstorm. The dark cloud always follows one person and no one else!\\n\\n\\\"Fred\\\" begins with a set of notes VERY similar to the theme song from the Wonder Years... which of course is Joe Cocker's version of \\\"With a Little Help From My Friends\\\". Just a coincidence there I'm positively sure. The vocal melody here is very drugged out sounding, but catchy and memorable too. Something about the downbeat way the vocal melody is sung with the drums gives it a unique style. Love the jazzy bass solo that leads into a super melodic guitar solo. \\\"Stop\\\". In the name of love! Nah it's not that song. Not that I'd mind if it WAS that song, hehe. Diana Ross is pretty good too. She's no Joe Walsh though. Anyway this song is over 12 minutes long! Making Yer Album nearly 50 minutes long.\\n\\nAnyway this version of \\\"Stop\\\" is significantly less heavy compared to their live version released shortly after. Not that I mind. Truthfully I think their live version of this great song is slightly TOO loud and heavy to the point it slightly interferes with my enjoyment of the song. Just slightly though. Hey I imagine their James Gang in Concert album was somewhat of a statement to prove they can rock with the best of them (and they succeeded too). The piano arrangements and the slower pace feels a little odd since I'm so used to the live version. Wow I seriously need to stop bringing up James Gang in Concert so much, haha. Sorry! It's just that when you nail a perfect live performance it NEEDS to be mentioned hard and heavy so more people will check it out! *hint hint!*\\n\\nAll this rambling and I still haven't really mentioned what \\\"Stop\\\" is like have I? Well to be 12 minutes long a lot needs to happen to make it a classic. And a lot *does* happen. A subtle build-up to a melodic guitar jam that intensifies slowly, piano playing along intently in the background, that Grand Funk-like fat bass sound holding the rhythm together, loose drumming. Wow though, the guitar playing is truly unforgettable. It's the most notable part of the jam. Alright I admit it *sigh*. This version smears the live version. There, I said it! It's not like there's any competition- the live version is only a few minutes long and serves mostly to set the mood. THIS however, is a monster of a guitar jam. The total experience. Yeah no competition whatsoever. It's amazing how much my attention span is totally lured into this jam without getting the urge to daydream even once (and I have a serious problem paying attention to anything, haha). The playing is *that* tight!\\n\\nYer album is deserving of the 50-plus reviews here on amazon. It makes me realize that it's not as uncommon of an album as I thought. What does the joke at the end mean? I don't get it. What's in California? :)\",\n \"Product: With their second album Rides Again, the James Gang came into their own. Under the direction of guitarist Joe Walsh, the group -- now featuring bassist Dale Peters -- began incorporating keyboards into their hard rock, which helped open up their musical horizons. For much of the first side of Rides Again, the group tear through a bunch of boogie numbers, most notably the heavy groove of \\\"Funk #49.\\\" On the second side, the James Gang departs from their trademark sound, adding keyboard flourishes and elements of country-rock to their hard rock. Walsh's songwriting had improved, giving the band solid support for their stylistic experiments. What ties the two sides of the record together is the strength of the band's musicianship, which burns brightly and powerfully on the hardest rockers, as well as on the sensitive ballads. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: keep on riding down my CD player\\n\\nReview: This is one ride I hope never ends. It's a mystery to me why radio stations insist on playing only two James Gang songs all the time- \\\"Funk #49\\\" and \\\"Walk Away\\\". Granted, those are two very good songs, but you and I both know those aren't the ONLY good songs. The band was capable of some of the best hard rock jamming ever put on tape.\\n\\nThis album is probably their best of the classic period, even though I personally like \\\"Bang\\\" a lot more (sorry, I'm a big Tommy Bolin fan). You really should check out this album, or better yet, the live album that contains a very perfect track selection released around the same time called \\\"Live in Concert\\\". That's a fantastic live record. Buy it now, or buy Rides Again. You win either way.\\n\\nMaybe one day radio will understand how important it is to have a huge variety of music selections instead of the same two songs over and over again. To have memories you need to build some memories, and starting here is a fine introduction.\",\n \"Product: Tracklist\\n1\\t Da Da Man\\t7:15\\n2\\t Early In The Morning\\t11:13\\n3\\t Don't Care\\t12:29\\n4\\t Toad\\t12:59\\n5\\t Aiko Biaye\\t13:01\\n6\\t Man Of Constant Sorrow\\t3:57\\n7\\t Do What You Like\\t11:47\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: a great album with a few flaws\\n\\nReview: \\\"Da Da Man\\\" begins this live 80 minutes performance by Ginger Baker and gang, and it's quite the instrumental workout! Keyboards jam for a couple minutes, guitars do as well, and even a saxophone near the end. It's pretty good but honestly if you're someone who's a big fan of say, the live stuff from Wheels of Fire, please don't expect anything of that caliber. This is because Air Force isn't strictly a guitar or drum album with psychedelic-tinged vocal melodies thrown in. Nah this is something jazzier and more instrumentally diverse but not necessarily better.\\n\\n\\\"Early in the Morning\\\" is an eerie chant almost. Not what I was expecting at all, and I mean that as a good thing! Diversity is always welcomed even when it goes down territories I never would have believed, haha. The eerie violin riff that reminds me of lumberjacks for some reason that you hear in the intro is appropriate because it soon leads to an eerie set of vocals and a rather messy but appealing jazzy section with a violin jam. As someone who loves the violin to pieces, I can't help but feel somewhat disappointed. I mean it's such a great musical instrument but either the playing isn't as good as it could have been or perhaps the muddy production is the culprit here (at least on this occasion). Whatever the reason, the notes are somewhat incoherent. The mellow flute solo that comes after is melodic and pretty awesome at least. Soon the flute jam escalates into a heavier and even better solo. So the song is saved by the flutes and the jazzy rhythm in the second half.\\n\\n\\\"Don't Care\\\" opens with a guitar riff not much different from Jimi Hendrix's \\\"The Power of Soul\\\" and a catchy vocal melody by Steve Winwood. I'm pretty sure I heard a version of this song somewhere before. It soon morphs into a keyboard jam that's kinda unorganized initially until the jazzy rhythm comes in and now the keyboard solo is worthwhile. So far this is certainly a jazzy affair! Not that I mind but I do wish it wasn't so upfront since I tend to prefer Ginger Baker when he's centered more on rocking out and dazzling us with some tasty and sophisticated drum techniques or when the other band members are contributing with guitars. In other words, give me Cream, haha! I guess there's no point in hiding what I really want huh. :) Anyway the saxophone jam is pretty good but WAY too long for my tastes, and now it's obvious this entire piece is all about Traffic-era Steve Winwood anyway (not that I mind at all).\\n\\nAfter such an extended sax jam, the last thing I want to hear is more of the same but unfortunately I don't have a choice since the first few minutes of \\\"Toad\\\" contains the same amount of intense jazzy sax work that we heard on the previous track. When the drum solo finally arrives (and you knew it was coming right? I mean \\\"Toad\\\" IS pretty legendary nowadays as being one of the best drum solos in history!) this is actually a really good solo. Amazingly it's just as intense and varied (well I mean as varied as a drum solo can be) as the famous Wheels of Fire version. Awesome! It even borrows a few parts from that particular legendary drum solo. \\\"Aiko Biaye\\\" begins with some African tribal-like chants that are probably here because of Ginger's little adventure through Africa at the time. It soon morphs into *rages* another saxophone jam. ANOTHER ONE! Already this album's biggest flaw is clearly its overusing of the sax. But, this jam is actually really awesome. As soon as the guitar comes in things change. The sax doesn't overstay its welcome this time. The tribal chants are really unique and melodic when they return just like they were before, so all is well with \\\"Aiko Biaye\\\" overall. The main riff sure sounds like the one from Emerson, Lake & Palmer's \\\"Knife Edge\\\" but it's probably a coincidence.\\n\\nBut wait! Maybe it's not a coincidence! \\\"Man of Constant Sorrow\\\" (that's me! A sorrowful sad man I've become) is a country ballad of sorts with singing that resembles Greg Lake from Emerson, Lake & Palmer! That man has a GREAT voice, and so does this guy! It's a relief hearing a simple song like this after almost an hour of lengthy mostly saxophone jams. \\\"Do What You Like\\\" is a nice version but the \\\"doooo whaaat you like\\\" chorus is a bit off to me probably because Steve Winwood was just in better form (or perhaps studio trickery was playing a part here) when he created this great song on his Blind Faith album. Then again it doesn't sound off on repeated listens. Hmmm! The keyboard jam is really memorable. Ginger Baker is a master on the drum solo once again even though it feels like he's using \\\"Toad\\\" leftovers. What *can't* that man do on his drum kit? The song kind of ends on a limp jazzy note by fizzling out instead of in grand fashion. I guess I shouldn't be surprised by this point. Ginger and company must have been like \\\"Turn up the jazz!\\\" for this performance. \\\"Doin' It\\\" (doing what, hmmm? Performing?) is a sloppy sax-heavy jam just like a good portion of the stuff found on the first half. Not a bad song however. It has a strange way of being more interesting with repeated listens.\\n\\nOverall well Air Force's biggest flaw is obviously the abundance of saxophone. WAY too much saxophone. It often drowns out the other instruments. That's the reason I'm not giving the album 5 stars. Otherwise the quality of the performance is strong, the production isn't nearly as bad as people say (at least during the vocal parts ) and overall it's memorable.\",\n \"Product: Harrison's 1968 solo debut for Apple & the soundtrack to thefilm of the same name. Out of print in the U.S. 19 tracks.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: what a pleasant surprise... or not so pleasant- you be the judge of that\\n\\nReview: Wonderwall Music is *completely 100% different* from anything George Harrison has created since. It's completely dominated with sitars, flugelhorns and who knows what else. Needless to say, it doesn't resemble All Things Must Pass, haha. NOTHING like it! Get that thought out of your mind right now or you won't be able to appreciate it!\\n\\n\\\"Microbes\\\" will test your patience by being 4 straight minutes of flugelhorn solos, however do NOT make the mistake of believing the entire album will resemble this. I almost made that mistake and gave up on the album. That would be a REALLY BAD idea! Anyway, I like how the rhythm in the background actually sounds somber like a terrible situation just occurred involving death. It's eerie. \\\"Red Lady Too\\\" is nothing but a piano melody, and it's beautiful. \\\"Tabla and Pakavaj\\\" features a sitar totally reminiscent of Harrison's work with the Beatles and specifically \\\"Within You, Without You\\\". Yes you *will* pick up on a remarkable similarity.\\n\\n\\\"In the Park\\\" is a sitar... jam? Nah, more like a melody with an enchanting atmosphere to boot. \\\"Drilling a Home\\\" (I *almost* said \\\"Drilling a Hole\\\" while thinking about the Beatles \\\"Fixing a Hole\\\") is a drastic departure from the rest of the album by FAR. It's a happy ragtime boogie. It's totally upbeat and danceable and just different from everything else on Wonderwall Music. Why is it here? I haven't a clue my friends! \\\"Guru Vandana\\\" is a fast-paced sitar and flugelhorn jam. It's REALLY good. \\\"Greasy Legs\\\" contains ominous experiments and... are those delicately performed keyboards? I think they are. Why the song got THAT for a title, well, I don't even want to know, haha.\\n\\n\\\"Ski-ing\\\" is nothing but a looping electric guitar riff. It's short of course (like most of the songs here) but it's inoffensive according to my tastes. Plus it's good to actually get away from all the India-influenced musical instruments and hear some good old fashioned rock and roll. \\\"Gat Kirwani\\\" is an exceptionally fast moving and melodic sitar solo. I love it.\\n\\nThe next song is the most diverse, experimental, craziest piece of uh... craziness that George Harrison has EVER laid down on tape. \\\"Dream Scene\\\" goes through an assortment of ideas, and not a single one resembles a dream. Hey, perhaps I was wrong for going in and expecting a dreamy pleasant ambient piece (that's what I get for listening to several Brian Eno albums!) Haha, it's NOTHING like that at all! Let me describe it in fine detail:\\n\\nThe beginning sounds remarkably similar to the Incredible String Band in both the arrangements and singing style before a gorgeous keyboard (or synth) melody comes next. If that's not enough, well, we're only getting started here! Around the 3 and a half minute mark, listen to George's next impressive and shocking experiment- resembling Miles Davis. I totally kid you not. It's brief, but it's there. Wow! Jazz and atmosphere! What a shocking change of pace! The song ends with harmonica and church bells. Now *that's* a song!\\n\\nThe beginning of \\\"Party Seacombe\\\" sounds like Electric Light Orchestra or perhaps Klaatu with the robotic voices (that are way ahead of their time considering this is a 60's album, might I add) and this is quite possibly the most melodic song here. It's overlong too because there's not much to it, and it's almost 5 minutes long. \\\"Love Scene\\\" features more sitars totally reminiscent of the beginning of \\\"In the Park\\\" but more melodic this time around and \\\"Crying\\\" sounds like, well, crying flugelhorns and nothing else. \\\"Cowboy Music\\\" is a generic western theme (that you've heard a million times- trust me on this one) and it's totally unnecessary to include something like this on an album that surely doesn't need it. It darn near ruins the flow of the album. I don't get it. By the way, hearing this particular version really reveals that the main melody sounds almost idential to the Christmas favorite \\\"Silent Night\\\". Why I'm just realizing this NOW we'll never know.\\n\\n\\\"Fantasy Sequns\\\" reveals that this album should have actually ended a few minutes earlier, because MORE flugelhorns appear and... I have to be honest- enough is enough of this. I almost want to take a point away from the overall rating for the album being a few minutes too long (and of course for including the dreaded \\\"Cowboy Music\\\") but I won't out of politeness. One nice person can make a difference. Anyway, this song is very strange. It's almost like party rock in its own distinct little way, but with, dary I say, emotionally sad leanings? Yes!\\n\\n\\\"On the Bed\\\" is at least SUPER melodic with the horns, and \\\"Glass Boy\\\" is TOTALLY AWESOME in the way the sitars are played. They are played in a really demanding, loud and outrageous style that I admire. \\\"Wonderwall To Be Here\\\" (haha, not clever enough there Georgie) is drastically different from the rest of the album- it features mellotrons and a melancholy piano melody, making comparisons to King Crimson natural and unavoidable. The album finally concludes with \\\"Singing Om\\\" and it's based around weird humming sounds creating a feeling of depression, and the flugelhorns are used to good effect here.\\n\\nWow what an album. It's no \\\"My Sweet Lord\\\" that's for sure, but for a taste of the culture of India combined with rock, you gotta give Wonderwall Music a listen and don't be surprised if you end up satisfied with the album overall.\",\n \"Product: Brand New\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: solid songwriting is the key to success\\n\\nReview: War Child might have some people believing this where Jethro Tull started to fall apart for a short period with the songwriting before picking up the pace again a short time later. Or, people believe \\\"Bungle in the Jungle\\\" is the only worthwhile song. Not true either way.\\n\\nInstead it's a very good album that deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Aqualung, Stand Up, Thick as a Brick, Minstrel in the Gallery and Heavy Horses.\\n\\nThe title song features an oddly pleasant chorus, \\\"Sealion\\\" has some comical, yet entirely memorable, lyrics, \\\"Skating Away\\\" puts images in my head of someone, you guessed it- SKATING AWAY, haha. Jethro Tull always had a winter-like theme going on, at least it sounds that way to me. Perfect snowstorm weather! \\\"Bungle in the Jungle\\\" has a beautiful sound and lyrics you wanna sing along to no matter how old you are, and \\\"The Third Hoorah\\\" is a happy dance song that's about as catchy as a pop song can be. All in all, worth buying.\\n\\nOh, and looking at the album cover quickly, it looks like something Judas Priest would do!\",\n \"Product: Kansas ~ Masque\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: a pretty great album\\n\\nReview: Get rid of the opening song which sounds like generic Foreigner and you have yourself a solid commercial progressive rock album.\\n\\nKansas seemed to focus more on a standard style of songwriting on Masque and ignore the prog rock elements the band preferred on the previous two albums. Not really a BAD thing of course, because most of the time I find myself loving the vocal melodies. The instrumental chops aren't there though, which is slightly disappointing to me. Oh sure \\\"The Pinnacle\\\" has plenty of instrumental parts, but it's a long wait to get to that song.\\n\\nStill, Kansas knew what was going on- they were becoming popular and gathering more and more fans with every release, so they probably needed to release an album like this with a more straight forward commercial edge. I'm just happy the songwriting doesn't suffer as a result.\\n\\nAlso, \\\"All the World\\\" sounds religious which is cool. Love the vocals. \\\"Icarus\\\" is awesome too. Great album.\",\n \"Product: Unavailable in the U.S., his top 30 1982 album. Features 11tracks, including the classics 'Slit Skirts', 'Face Dances'and 'Stardom In Action'. An Atco release. The full title is'All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes'.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: pete gives us a great album\\n\\nReview: All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes' creation actually has a fascinating story behind it that you can read online. Pete discusses the meaning behind the album title by saying \\\"You can't hide what you're really like. If you're really a good person you can't hide it by acting bad, and if you're a bad person you can't hide it by acting good\\\". Pete goes on to mention that even heroes aren't really heroes if, using his example, someone like Clint Eastwood saves people by first killing 50 people, and how there's a strange parallel between the misuse of power and responsibility by inept politicians and the misuse of power and responsibility by people who are heroes. It's fascinating stuff!\\n\\nSo how's the music? Let's find out!\\n\\n\\\"Stop Hurting People\\\" opens with synths and vocals similar to any number of British pop/rock bands at the time such as Human League. Quality message but the synths are heavy, and Pete's not actually singing but rather speaking his true feelings (at least in the beginning) so it comes across as preachy. \\\"A love born once must soon be born again, a flame that died then cinders to be fanned, by the wind and thrown to flame, flames like tongues impassioned in a moments burst, tell me friend, why do you stand aloof from your own heart? The truth confronts you, the truth confronts you as the sea crushing without detail, impassioned and detached, killing with love and power in God's name, love conquers poses, love smashes stances, love crushes angles into black, so you without question know your first love is your last, and you will never you'll never, you'll never love again\\\". The female background singers are okay. I like the tone of this song- there's a lot of sincerity to the way Pete's speak/singing and the lyrics are the very definition of honesty. I enjoy his voice during the \\\"People, stop hurting people\\\" chorus.\\n\\n\\\"The Sea Refuses No River\\\" opens with a harmonica played rather strangely. \\\"I remember being richer than a king, the minutes of the day were golden, I recall that when the joint passed around, my body felt a little colder\\\"\\\" comes in. The chorus sounds a little hokey and theatrical in an over the top way \\\"The sea refuses no river, no pecking code, respected for the damned\\\" but it's okay. A striking lyric is \\\"I have seen a trace of strain in other's eyes, not spoken, I must admit that I enjoyed their pain, but this time it's me that's broken\\\". I actually like the way the harmonica plays with the percussion. This song's pretty light- the guitar riff in the background is tame. \\\"I demand for you and his this must be the time when we decide what freedom is, turn water into wine\\\" Some of the guitar and other arrangements in the middle are pretty good.\\n\\n\\\"Prelude\\\" is delicate with piano. \\\"Sometimes walking through the streets of this city, I see all the faces of the winners and the losers, why can't I see a change? Just one sign before I say goodbye?\\\" \\\"Face Dances Part Two\\\" is a song title that has me approaching it expecting either the best or worst (hey I love that who album and want it to be in the same category of awesomeness but I fear it might be a disappointment) but wait! I KNOW this song! I haven't heard this in years! \\\"Face dances tonight, fate chances moonlight\\\" Yes I remember this song! Love the semi-funky verse melody. I LOVE the way Pete's voice sails during the \\\"IIIII can only stare youuuu make me feel liiiike I don't ca-a-a-re\\\". and the way these two lines blend together at the end? Brilliant! That double the emotional intensity!\\n\\n\\\"Exquisitely Bored\\\" opens with some quiet Dire Straits-like vocals and mood before picking up dramatically with the \\\"Exquisitely bored in California, we take our troubles to the crest, exquisitely bored in California, just like all the rest\\\" part. \\\"\\\"Take a drive up to LA in my gas guzzling limousine, there's a whole lot of crazy people up there living out a life in sweet ennui\\\" sounds EXACTLY like Mark Knopfler. \\\"The peasants here are starving, they look like barrels out in space, pray TV looks like pay TV to me, it's just a curse on the human race\\\". Pretty good song either way. \\\"Communication\\\" is CRAZY with its off the rails frantic beat! This song's really awesome and is like an even more intense \\\"The Quiet One\\\" (Who song). Listen to the way Pete sings this song- can I even put it into words? Let's find out if I can! I can't, so I'm quoting it from a lyrics page, haha. \\\"Comma comma-comma comma-comma comma-ca-ca-ca-ca, commu-a commu-a commu-a commun communicate!\\\" I'm probably way off with this comparison, but the vocals and pace sort of remind me of the way Peter Gabriel sings \\\"The Knife\\\".\\n\\n\\\"Stardom In Action\\\" is a normal song. Heh, finally something normal! Not saying the previous stuff is too weird to enjoy- no not that at all! Just saying this song's pretty normal compared to what's been playing so far. \\\"Stardom I want a hit, want my tan, want my cash, want my innocence, stardom I want a script, want my band, want my stash want omnipotence, I'll go where the senescent soldier retires, and shiver in south California, watch the storms and tangled wires, and rivers that meet on the corner, like some prostitute handing round the loot, I am not ashamed I will stake a claim!!, Stardom born in a trunk, got my home got my car got stability, stardom I'm Hollywood's son, all alone don't admire anonymity\\\"\\n\\n\\\"Uniforms\\\" has a cool new wave-sounding troop march that I like because it's different from the norm. I probably don't enjoy this song as much as others do- The way Pete sings \\\"People think we dress alike to segregate identities, pills or drink or puffing pipes in integrated entities, then they wink and snort their line and say how great their bently is\\\" sounds a little nonchalant and uninteresting, but there's SO many vocal tricks going on throughout the song that I can easily overlook that one part. I enjoy the line \\\"They feel so warm when they confirm, they say that nakedness is what our Lord intended, when we stand naked then we all appear the same, but it's just faking it if we all try pretending, are we just making all our prayers in the rain, heaven knows I need new clothes\\\". Why does the guitar riff that begins \\\"North Country Girl\\\" sound so familiar? \\\"When you travel to the green hills of Ayr, where the sea breaks windows on the borderline, remember me to a girl who lives there, for she once was a true love of mine, please see for me that her red hair is long, and flows and curls down to her back and breast, please see for me that her red hair is long, for that's the way I remember her best\\\" Love the \\\"North country girl, oh oh oh!\\\" chorus. This is a snappy pop song! \\\"Please let me know if she remembers me at all, a hundred times I've hoped and prayed that way up there near the Roman wall, she didn't suffer when the fall sprayed\\\".\\n\\nOh I know \\\"Somebody Saved Me\\\" as the bonus track from Face Dances. I've always loved the opening line- \\\"I stood at the door beside her but she wouldn't let me pass, I was such a bore and I lied to her, I said I didn't really want her a**\\\", haha! This song always sounded very poetic and gives me images of a day that starts off rainy, but then Pete finds the day more promising as the sun comes out later. Yeah... not particularly interesting when I put it into words, LOL! This isn't the same as the Who's version but close enough with more of a Peter Frampton-like light feel to it, and I always wondered why this song was placed on the end of a Who album because it honestly doesn't sound like the Who at all. \\\"Somebody saved me from a fate worse than heaven\\\" is a curious line. Not sure if that's supposed to be a good or bad thing! I'm guessing this song is about Pete's well-known drug issues but it's probably relationship stuff too- \\\"\\\"Cuz if I'd had her for just an hour I'd have wanted her forever\\\". Makes me think Pete was getting involved with a woman that would have taken him down the wrong path.\\n\\n\\\"Slit Skirts\\\" is dramatic in a Who kind of way which is really cool. I'm pretty sure I've heard this song before. In fact I KNOW I have with the \\\"Slit skirts, Jeanie never wears those slit skirts, I don't ever wear no ripped shirts, can't pretend that growing older never hurts\\\" chorus and LOVE the part \\\"Romance romance, why aren't we thinking up romance?\\\" This song sounds *really* dramatic with the piano- much different from everything prior to \\\"Somebody Saved Me\\\". \\\"I was just 34 years old and I was still wandering in a haze, I was wondering why everyone I met seemed like they were lost in a maze\\\". As someone who's 34 years old himself... yes, I can relate to this! The great lyrics continue- \\\"I'm number one in the home team but I still feel unfulfilled, a silent voice in her broken heart complaining that I'm unskilled, and I know that when she thinks of me she thinks of me as him, but unlike me, she don't work off her frustration in the gym, recriminations fester and the past can never change, a woman's expectations run from both ends of the range\\\".\\n\\nThere's some bonus tracks. \\\"Vivienne\\\" has some theatrical elements evident by the opening line \\\"Vivienne, I could have loved you, Vivienne you went too far\\\". Love the intense way Pete sings \\\"I'm kicking out in the tracks and the secrets of Babylon, I'm kicking down on the directions screw back to Abalone\\\". \\\"Dance It Away\\\" has guitar playing *very* similar to the Who's classic years of the early to mid 70's. The vocals however are more akin to early 80's Pete Townshend. \\\"They say we've got noting left (nothing on the ground), they say we used it all up (in the desert ground), got to be so careful with the rest (we'll break it down), or else the nukes are gonna play it tough, well I can't stand pessimistic (uptown), my creepers got to have their faith (wait around), there's only one answer I can think of (another sound) just get up and dance it away\\\" is a pretty good verse, and the \\\"Come on and dance it away\\\" chorus is pretty good too. \\\"Don't worry just dance it away!\\\" \\\"Man Watching\\\" has humorous lyrics. \\\"He's a fool let's you know who you say, you can see him coming a mile away, he's got his lapel cut just a little over displayed, and his shoes could be a problem, could get in the way!\\\" Haha! \\\"He was born in the future, tomorrow we can bring another for the new world, tomorrow we will bring another soul, he was born in the future, he's getting born here sometime soon, getting born in the future, he may have made up this rule\\\".\\n\\nI must say this album is REALLY impressive! Pete Townshend proves he's a top-notch songwriter. I honestly don't know why radio stations never played the music from this album more often back in the day. Even to this day many of these songs should be radio favorites if you think about it, because the music's really good. Strange that's not the case. Anyway the songwriting is REALLY strong throughout this album so I highly recommend it.\",\n \"Product: Digitally remastered reissue of their 1977 double livealbum in a double slimline jewelcase. 18 tracks, including'Brown Sugar', 'Happy', 'Tumbling Dice' and 'It's Only Rock'N' Roll'. 1998 Virgin release.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: quite a good album\\n\\nReview: I seriously think many of the songs on this live Stones album are better than their studio versions. In fact, 80% of these songs are better than the studio versions, in my opinion.\\n\\nSome people give Love You Live a low grade because they think the music lacks energy, excitement and the whole live experience. In my opinion, that's not true. There's PLENTY of rock and roll to be found here. It might not have the same dirty/bluesy sound that the early Stones did, but it certainly contains the kind of excitement you'd expect from the worlds greatest rock and roll band.\\n\\nIf you like live classic rock, and think the Stones are one of the best bands, you can't go wrong with this album. You really can't. The only complaint I can find is that the version of \\\"Fingerprint Files\\\" isn't quite as good as the version found on the It's Only Rock and Roll album (because this version doesn't sound funky to me). Other than that, it's a completely good time.\\n\\n\\\"Honky Tonk Woman\\\" and \\\"You Can't Always Get What You Want\\\" are drastically improved here, in terms of Mick's vocals and the REALLY rockin' guitar solos. What an album!\",\n \"Product: His 1973 Columbia Records debut-and first charting album.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: sing us a song\\n\\nReview: I can't believe Billy Joel's Piano Man hasn't become a classic album that everyone needs to own. We're talking about a solid collection of songs. Some of the songs here sound like something Barry Manilow would do, except of course, in the typical Billy Joel songwriting style.\\n\\n\\\"worse comes to worse\\\" HAS to be one of his most underrated songs. I love that one. \\\"captain jack\\\" is another song I can listen to over and over and get caught up in the smokey atmosphere and quiet vocals, until the loud chorus comes crashing in. It's awesome.\\n\\nI also love \\\"travelin' prayer\\\". It reminds me of \\\"the entertainer\\\". Maybe it influenced that song, I don't know.\\n\\nThe only reason I didn't give Piano Man 5 stars is because the title song is a bit overplayed, and I'm tired of it. It doesn't really interest me anymore. I understand it was the song to turn Billy Joel into a worldwide phenomenon, but I don't care for it much anymore. The rest of the album rules.\",\n \"Product: Digitally Remastered Reissue of their Album Originally Released in 1970.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: a parachute of greatness\\n\\nReview: Normally I disagree strongly with Rolling Stone magazine (to put it lightly) but in this particular case, Parachute really SHOULD have been a better selling album than it turned out to be. It really is a fantastic album.\\n\\nWhat's amazing to me is how drastically different the music on here is compared to S.F. Sorrow, but I guess that's to be expected since two whole years had passed since that album was made, and as we know, the music scene was changing VERY quickly back then in just a matter of months (maybe even weeks!).\\n\\nThe first six songs are some of the most beautifully written and extremely underrated late 60's-style pop songs ever laid down on tape. These songs remind me of an assortment of bands such as the Association, Love, the Kinks, the Turtles, and several others in the same camp. These songs do *not* sound at all like the heavier second half of the album, for instance. I love how each song flows perfectly into the next one without losing any of the magical flow. It's seriously about 10 minutes of total brilliance.\\n\\n\\\"Cries from the Midnight Circus\\\" has some really great guitar playing. This is definitely NOT anything like what you've heard the Pretty Things attempt just a few years before- now it sounds like the band wants to play hard rock in the same style as Steppenwolf or the Guess Who (yes, believe it or not, the Guess Who rocked the house occasionally).\\n\\nSounding similar to those two excellent bands is definitely NOT a bad thing, but it does make Parachute sound a bit dated by todays standards. It shows me why Parachute hasn't gone down as a classic. Of course, I personally could care less how dated an album sounds- it's the songwriting that counts. If the album's good, that's the only thing that really matters.\\n\\n\\\"Grass\\\" contains *beautiful* guitar playing in all the right places. It reminds me of a Wishbone Ash song that would come out a couple years later.\\n\\n\\\"Sickle Clowns\\\" is the highlight of the entire album. Amazing John Lennon-like soaring vocal range, magnificent guitar solos, a slight degree of \\\"messiness\\\" (and I mean that in an appealing way because it's beautiful) and just a spectacular song all around. Interesting that I hear a John Lennon similarity because in other spots I hear what sounds like Paul McCartney vocal mannerisms. I'm sure the band were big Beatles fans (like everyone was back then... and now for that matter).\\n\\n\\\"Miss Fay Regrets\\\" is probably the only weak point. A fairly forgettable rocker with a bland vocal melody.\\n\\nNo, this is not in the same league as S.F. Sorrow (how CAN it be? This is just really good hard rock and S.F. Sorrow is one of the greatest and most underrated concept albums ever made) but it comes darn close in spots.\",\n \"Product: Reissue of their fifth album, which reached #13 in the U.K.when originally released in 1970. 15 tracks, including 'TheChildren Of Rarn' & 'The Wizard'. 1998 A&M Records release.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: nice blend of folk rock and slight progression\\n\\nReview: The self-titled debut under the name \\\"T Rex\\\" is a bit... odd. I'd label it as melodic, quiet folk rock created in a Nick Drake kind of way, and even enticing on numerous occasions thanks to a good knack for writing vocal melodies. The instrumental portions of the record need a bit of work, though.\\n\\nIt's not quite as polished songwriting-wise compared to Nick Drake's first album for example, but T Rex does contain a really nice pleasant atmosphere. For those who've been hearing T Rex's glam rock material all these years and wonder what it would be like to hear the band stripped down to basically sounding like an album recorded in somebody's home with only a few instruments, here it is in all its semi inconsistent glory.\\n\\nI think the album is pretty good overall, but no way is it a 5-star album. It has a few major flaws. First of all, \\\"The Wizard\\\" is 9 minutes of total madness and chaotic rambling. It does actually go somewhere for the first two minutes when a rather ominous sounding folk ditty gets under way, but that quickly dissolves and a display of Marc Bolan expanding his vocal range (when it's NOT even necessary to hear him constantly hitting those annoying high notes, might I add) really distracts from the psychedelic experience I imagine the band was going for.\\n\\nThe highlights are the shorter tracks which pretty much means the *rest* of the album. The stretch of songs from \\\"Diamond Meadows\\\" to \\\"Suneye\\\" is absolutely spectacular. My favorite song on the entire album is \\\"Beltane Walk\\\". Hearing this album, it doesn't sound like there's ANY signs of a powerful glam rock band just on the horizon and about to make history- instead it feels like a band still attempting to find itself in the world of evergrowing and original list of influential rock artists that were so dominate back in the day, and even resembling early David Bowie on several occasions.\\n\\nFor some reason, the first few songs don't move me one bit. Songs like \\\"Jewel\\\" feel like incomplete and barely acceptable filler, and it doesn't really improve until \\\"The Time of Love is Now\\\".\\n\\nThis is perhaps a more interesting listen for the sake of curiosity to discover what the band was like before the glam rock days. They were playing folk rock that ranges from relatively soft to slightly psychedelic, but nothing truly earth-changing and bizarre until Electric Warrior was unleashed on the world in 1971.\",\n \"Product: V/A ~ Monster Ballads\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: every soft monster needs a hug\\n\\nReview: First of all, I am NOT usually a fan of ballads, especially discs that gather a variety of ballads and stick them all in one place. To me, that's WAY too much. My head can only absorb a couple ballads at a time, and more often than not, I need a few rockers placed between each of the ballads to change the mood.\\n\\nWith that said, I love Monster Ballads. Sometimes we can't explain why we love the things we love- we just do! This is clearly an example of that.\\n\\nSome of these songs have been played a lot when they were first released, such as \\\"Almost Paradise\\\", \\\"More Than Words\\\", and \\\"When I'm With You\\\". Other songs have been played more as the years have gone by, such as \\\"Heaven\\\", \\\"Is This Love?\\\", and \\\"Wind of Change\\\" (my personal favorite song). Actually, \\\"High Enough\\\" is probably my favorite song, with \\\"When I'm With You\\\" close behind.\\n\\nI know many people will turn their head at such a compilation, completely certain it's not worth the money. But man... I just really like this collection of tunes. Maybe it's the memories of the late 80's calling, or maybe the vocal melodies just connect with me. I really don't know why I like it so much. I really do think it's worth owning.\",\n \"Product: A humble title, a smashing success-their #9 album from 1975! Saturday Night Special is, of course, a Skynyrd staple, and the rest of the album captures the original band in their prime. This remastered reissue adds new liners, new photos and two previously unreleased live bonus tracks ( Railroad Song; On the Hunt ) from the tour that followed the original release!\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Lynyrd Skynyrd's finest moment\\n\\nReview: Nuthin' Fancy is the most underrated album Lynyrd Skynyrd ever made. I love every single song. They basically brought back the energy that was lacking from Second Helping and made sure to keep the songwriting abilities firmly intact as well. When you combine energy with good songwriting, and hardly any radio exposure (except for one song) you're left with a very underrated album.\\n\\n\\\"Saturday Night Special\\\" is interesting to me because it shows the band bringing back the energy and excitement from something on the debut such as \\\"Gimme Three Steps\\\" and also featuring a rather odd, but very memorable, chorus.\\n\\nNow, here's where it gets interesting- some people think that's the only song on the album worth listening to, but guess what? The next four songs are even BETTER than the opening song. The guitar playing on \\\"Cheatin' Woman\\\" rules, and the vocals are very good as well. \\\"Railroad Song\\\" should have been a hit, \\\"I'm a Country Boy\\\" almost reminds me of a southern rock version of Dire Straits, and \\\"On the Hunt\\\" is just a typical Lynyrd Skynyrd song, but I say that as a GOOD thing.\\n\\nThis is probably the best album Lynyrd Skynyrd ever made. Better than the debut, and much better than Second Helping. No filler in sight in my opinion. I wish more bands were this consistently enjoyable. A MUST own, even for people who might not dig southern rock a whole lot. It's truly an underrated album.\",\n \"Product: Reissue of the experimental rock icon's 1974 album. Nine tracks including 'Party Of Special Things To Do'.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: a commercial taste of the good Captain\\n\\nReview: First of all, isn't that a beautiful album cover? A close-up of a deer jumping forward. Well, I don't think it's a REAL deer. More like a Christmas ornament. Maybe it's Rudolph!\\n\\nAll joking aside, Captain Beefheart probably disappointed even his most dedicated fans around the country when in 1974, he decided to take his music in a more commercial rock direction, similar to what Eric Clapton did on his studio albums.\\n\\nWhy did Captain Beefheart make such a decision? I have no earthly idea. Pressure from the record company to release a hit song perhaps, or maybe he was just burnt out on all that experimenting (and who can blame him? I get burnt out just thinking about his previous albums, haha).\\n\\nHowever, the way I look at it is like this- obviously Bluejeans and Moonbeams isn't on the same level of experimentation as something like Trout Mask Replica, but it *is* definitely a listenable collection of songs. Had a band like the Eagles made an album like this, people would've been calling it a masterpiece and saying it's the best thing they ever made.\\n\\nThe guitar playing in songs like \\\"Captain's Holiday\\\" is very tastefully played. In fact, it immediately reminds me of Duane Allman. The guitarist is even going for the same sad and beautiful tones Duane used to perform so well. This song might also be compared to something Little Feat would do. While it's no \\\"Frownland\\\" or \\\"When Big Joan Sets Up\\\", it's still a pleasant mid 70's rock song with plenty of tasty guitar licks.\\n\\n\\\"Further Than We've Gone\\\" has more really beautiful guitar playing. In fact it's growing on me more and more every single time I play it. The title song is perhaps the highlight- very emotional vocals similar to \\\"Your Eyes Are a Blue Million Miles\\\" and yup, you guessed it- guitar playing to cry over- it's *that* good.\\n\\nWorst album of the good Captain's career? I highly doubt that, but if it happens to be his very worst album, I guess that proves how good he used to be.\",\n \"Product: Songs recorded Feb 1973 Dierks studio in Germany. Alive studio concert that gave fans a chance to hear new songs.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: rockin' hard and heavy\\n\\nReview: I most certainly was NOT ready for ...Sounds Like This when I first experienced it.\\n\\nI went in expecting -and I mean absolutely no disrespect by saying this- overblown, pretentious musical ideas similar to the other Nektar classic albums.\\n\\nOh sure, those progressive rock albums are really good and I honestly love them to pieces, but let's be honest- when I first seen how long this album is (over 70 minutes) you better believe I got REALLY nervous. Why? Because I was afraid the band was attempting something similar to the Yes album Tales from Topographic Oceans.\\n\\nYou know, a fear that Nektar might have tried taking their progressive rock style and stretched out their ideas for TWICE as long, even when it's not particularly necessary to write music that way, and therefore, becoming bored rather quickly with the album.\\n\\nThat's definitely NOT what ...Sounds Like This is like. Not at all.\\n\\nInstead, this album is a really heavy, hard rockin' affair *very* similar to Deep Purple in some spots, and a comparison to Made in Japan wouldn't be much of a stretch.\\n\\nThese songs rock *exceptionally* hard, but because several moments of the album remind me of Deep Purple, I believe this may have contributed to the album (and perhaps even the band) never becoming more popular with the public. I may be wrong though.\\n\\nI assume at the time there wasn't much room on the music scene for bands that resembled Deep Purple (though somehow Uriah Heep managed to make it big).\\n\\nWhich is a cryin' shame. The opener \\\"Good Day\\\" has wonderful guitar playing that reminds me of flowers blooming for some reason, and a chorus that isn't much different from Peter Frampton's vocals (solo or with Humble Pie).\\n\\n\\\"1-2-3-4\\\" is where the Deep Purple connections are almost impossible to ignore. A jam that's honestly quite good from beginning to end, with much of the guitar soloing played in a melodic and tasteful way, but definitely comparable to Deep Purple.\\n\\n\\\"Do You Believe in Magic\\\" (no, NOT a cover song!) has amazingly good vocals. Some of the best vocals I've ever heard the band create, in fact.\\n\\n\\\"New Day Dawning\\\" has a mysterious atmosphere about it. It's either going for a sad or hopeful vibe (not sure which). Excellent song at any rate. Morphing into \\\"Norweigen Wood\\\" (the Beatles classic) for a few seconds is rather bizarre, but hey, that *is* one of my favorite Beatles songs, so alright then!\\n\\nI honestly think, despite obviously being influenced by Deep Purple, this is some quality heavy rock and quality songwriting, and you know what?\\n\\nI probably prefer this Nektar album to Deep Purple because the classic period with Gillan and Blackmore definitely has its fair of filler (IMO) whereas this album is pretty great from beginning to end.\\n\\nI love this album, but paying more than [...] for it is ridiculous. Come on now! That's insane.\",\n \"Product: Japanese Version featuring an LP Style Splicase for Initial Pressing.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: the worst McCartney album from the 70's, definitely\\n\\nReview: I strongly believe Paul McCartney never gets the credit he deserves when it pertains to his mid to late 70's albums. He released three albums in particular that seem to have been unjustly forgotten by this point in time. Too bad, because albums such as London Town and Venus & Mars contain some REALLY good tunes.\\n\\nWings at the Speed of Sound is pretty bland compared to McCartney's more diverse and creative high standards of songwriting. Some of these songs kinda blend together and that *never* happened in the past.\\n\\nI don't know if people were calling this album a sellout of sorts back in 1976, or perhaps people loved the two biggest hits so much that nobody noticed anything was a bit off with this one.\\n\\nAnyway, \\\"Let 'Em In\\\" starts off on a pretty good note, but I'm definitely not as impressed with that vocal melody like everyone else seems to be. It seems slightly amateurish to me, and almost like a nursery rhyme of sorts. I get the feeling... no no, I KNOW for a 100% fact that Paul McCartney could have turned out something better, even by this point in his career.\\n\\nOne of the most underrated songs from the album (and perhaps the most underrated song in the mans catalog period) is \\\"The Note You Never Wrote\\\". I absolutely adore the dreamy vocal melody that seems to sail and wander through (admittedly) dated 70's orchestration, but I wouldn't want it any other way, seriously.\\n\\n\\\"She's My Baby\\\" is a really good ballad. I love the \\\"moppin' it up\\\" part. Yes, it reminds me of Captain and Tennille, but I don't care- it's memorable.\\n\\nWOW, how did I completely forget that \\\"Beware My Love\\\" is over 6 minutes long and absolutely *rocks*? I must be losing my mind! Linda's brief moments of singing that lead into Paul's intense vocal style is just a terrific way to write a song. GREAT song. \\\"Wino Junko\\\" is melodic enough, but not a highlight.\\n\\nAh yes. \\\"Silly Love Songs\\\". Everyone knows this song. Some people even have a strong hated towards it. Me? Sometimes I don't particularly care for it. Other times, like yesterday afternoon, I really got caught up in the verse melody, the jazzy orchestration in the middle part, and even the lyrics. It's a fun song.\\n\\nI realize everyone hates the Linda McCartney number \\\"Cook of the House\\\". That vocal melody really catches my attention though, as cheesy and silly as the song may be.\\n\\n\\\"Time to Hide\\\" is definitely a song completely stuck in the mid 70's. It would be impossible to imagine this song written in any other time period. The verse melody catches my attention, and the chorus is definitely good, but it feels weak in comparison to previous McCartney efforts.\\n\\n\\\"Must Do Something About It\\\" is a fairly weak and forgettable song, but on the other hand, it would fit in perfect with McCartney's self-titled debut album before the Wings came into the picture, and I consider that album a masterpiece, so perhaps I'm just being a bit unfair.\\n\\n\\\"San Ferry Anne\\\" is really good, but \\\"Warm and Beautiful\\\" is *definitely* an extremely banal ballad. I don't care for it at all. Paul has done significantly better ballads than this one.\\n\\nOverall, the worst album Paul McCartney made in the 70's, and I still give it a 4 out of 5. That's how solid his output is.\",\n \"Product: CD\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: I've changed my mind!\\n\\nReview: I'm listening to Rocka Rolla for the first time in about 10 years tonight, and my feelings on it have *definitely* improved. Now I can appreciate the album for what it is, instead of trying to convince myself most of the material is nothing but Black Sabbath or Alice Cooper secondrate rock. I was flat out WRONG to believe such a thing, and I have no problem admitting it here on amazon, to the thousands of viewers who read these reviews. I was wrong.\\n\\nYou see what happened is that I completely underrated the rawness and the bluesy roots Judas Priest started out with. Rocka Rolla is a significant improvement over a good portion of Judas Priest's career in fact, including many of their bland 80's albums which mostly sound like lame commercial generic 80's cheese metal in comparison to Rocka Rolla.\\n\\n\\\"One for the Road\\\" has a spectacular chorus and an enticingly steady verse melody. This is one of the songs I severely underrated 10 years ago when I first heard it. Back then I felt the songwriting was really weak on this particular track. I now have to ask myself \\\"What WAS I thinking?\\\" This is actually really good hard rock with *just* the right amount of blues elements to give it a powerful edge and a distinct advantage over the bands future albums (particularly their 80's albums).\\n\\nThe title song has a fantastic beat, but perhaps the ultimate example of excellence on the entire album is the 9-minute suite that begins with \\\"Winter\\\" and ends with \\\"Cheater\\\". Yes my friends, these songs *should* flow together and never ever be separated. \\\"Cheater\\\" in particular is a perfect example of the bands early roots in exploring the heavy blues, and the verse melody and chorus is irresistible. The lyrics are amazing too \\\"SHE WAS A CHEATER!\\\" I LOVE when the lead singer screams that part because you can really feel the emotion in his voice. The signs of a great band are definitely noticeable throughout Rocka Rolla.\\n\\nThere's one vocal melody in the middle of this suite that reminds me of Alice Cooper for a few seconds before immediately shifting into something else. Oh, and the 2 minutes of guitar feedback actually *works* in this case, unlike the many times Jimi Hendrix and Chicago attempted the same thing and beat it into the ground to the point of being excessive and overbearing.\\n\\n\\\"Run of the Mill\\\" may have a bland song title, but the song itself is definitely NOT \\\"run of the mill\\\". The verse melody creates a depressing mood before shifting into a gentle guitar solo. This guitar solo ever so gradually shifts into a much heavier and melodic one. It's really good too. Another track I seriously underrated back in the day.\\n\\nPerhaps \\\"Dying to Meet You/Hero, Hero\\\" is the first sign that the band was going to change styles drastically by the time Sad Wings of Destiny was created. What a great vocal melody. The guitar solo at the end is quite intense too. I underrated this song back in the day and, looking back, I really don't understand what I was thinking. \\\"Never Satisfied\\\" is based around a heavy blues riff with catchy vocals. It's awesome.\\n\\nNo doubt about it- I enjoy Rocka Rolla significantly more these days. Don't make the same mistake I did and write it off immediately- it's a HECK of a lot better than that.\",\n \"Product: UK remastered pressing of the 1980 self titled debut album. EMI. 2006.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: what a perfect debut!\\n\\nReview: Now this is more like a heavy metal classic! A lost classic to be precise. While I never could get into 80's UFO or Scorpions as much as most rock fans, it seems like the Michael Schenker Group fixes any issues I may have had with those bands during the early 80's. Albums like UFO's No Place to Run and their follow-up the Wild, the Willing and the Innocent feel really weak compared to this. Well actually No Place to Run is growing on me more (for the vocals mainly- not so much the guitar playing). The same can be said for all those commercial Scorpions albums like Blackout which, while decent, just don't provide the aggressive type of heavy metal I'm looking for.\\n\\n\\\"Lost Horizons\\\" is the best song without question. The dramatic intro reminds me of something from outer space or to bring it down to earth, something atmospheric that early 80's Rush was making at the time, and the vocal melody took time to win me over because the first couple times it passed by without catching my attention but soon the melody itself, the chugging riff, Schenker's flashy 80's-style guitar technique, and ESPECIALLY the brilliant guitar solo at the end all gave me the kind of excitement I realized that I needed. I like the \\\"Can you see me now\\\" part a lot because it sounds so evil and aggressive. \\\"Cry for the Nations\\\" has a tropical themed intro making you think Michael's going to take a nap on the beach for a while... nah nobody was really thinking that were we? No! Soon a great guitar riff and vocals not much different from post-Dio era Rainbow or Lou Gramm of Foreigner appear. An okay chorus but a GREAT guitar solo in the middle.\\n\\n\\\"Victim of Illusion\\\" has Rob Halford of Judas Priest fame shaky vocal mannerisms, a chugging memorable rhythm and a great \\\"Oh victim of illusion!\\\" chorus. Another fantastic guitar solo at the end. I guess it's undeniably obvious Michael Schenker's just going to have one excellent guitar solo after another since guitar soloing is his specialty after all, and he's going all out on his very first album. \\\"Looking Out From Nowhere\\\" opens with Scorpions \\\"No One Like You\\\" power metal guitar playing. I love the \\\"What can I do, where can I go?\\\" and \\\"I get this feeling when I look inside\\\" lines and the way Michael sings them.\\n\\n\\\"Armed and Ready\\\" contains more Rob Halford style vocals. Really good guitar riff- fast and exciting just the way I like it baby! The repeating of the chorus near the end combined with the guitar playing is amazing. \\\"Tales of Mystery\\\" is a tear-jerking power ballad. I like the way the guitar sounds like it's mourning and plays along with an equally sad vocal melody. Truthfully though I think this song is sort of a weak point. Weaker than everything else here in my opinion. \\\"Into the Arena\\\" does something I did NOT see coming! It has a chugging aggressive rhythm strikingly similar to classic mid 80's Powerslave-period Iron Maiden. Were the members of Iron Maiden listening to Michael Schenker I wonder? That's not all. The amazing guitar jam that follows said rhythm and the surprising appearance of a loud drum solo make this song a clear winner. It's an instrumental and it's awesome. Second best song on the album as far as I see it.\\n\\n\\\"Feels Like a Good Thing\\\" begins with brief military drumming before heavy guitar riffs make a splash. They remind me of late 70's Rainbow. I especially like the guitar playing during the \\\"Feels like a good thing\\\" chorus. \\\"Bijon Pleasurette\\\" has guitar playing that reminds me of some of Queen's work. Sometimes, how shall we say, Queen liked to write old fashioned type show tunes and often Brian May would play guitar during them. This song reminds me of Brian May's guitar style on those songs. This also reminds me of UFO's \\\"Lipstick Traces\\\" from Phenomenon. Really beautiful but short instrumental either way.\\n\\nOverall, what a debut. This is how you make a statement! If only more people were listening to this album and less of the other popular metal bands at the time, maybe Michael Schenker's first album would have been the one to go on to reach classic status instead of being an underground favorite.\",\n \"Product: 1974 ALBUM FEAT. GEORGE DUKE, BRECKER BROS.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: cobham goes another route\\n\\nReview: Crosswinds is much different from Spectrum. The atmosphere and arrangements are different. Gone are the crazy and intense Tommy Bolin guitar solos. I don't even think Tommy's playing on this album. \\\"Spanish Moss\\\" starts this baby off. It begins with a groovy rhythm and a decent saxophone riff before shifting into a brassy section. This stuff is really melodic and reminiscent of a beach environment. I can see myself chilling on a Dominican Republic beach with a glass of tequila while watching the palm tree branches sway in the wind. It's pretty good.\\n\\n\\\"Savannah the Serene\\\" continues with the same relaxing beach tone, but this time it's a trumpet (or trombone) carrying the slow rhythm. I normally don't complain about jams but a couple minutes in I wish one particular sequences of notes didn't repeat 8 times in a row. It feels a bit much. I still enjoy the song however, because the arrangements capture a pretty serene (hehe) mood. I wish the melodic keyboards and horns continued with their melodic excitement instead of gradually fading away, but perhaps Billy Cobham is going for ambience. Hey at least I think he is- I can't say for sure!\\n\\nBut all is not lost my friends! \\\"Storms\\\" is a POWERFUL drum solo. Cymbal smashing galore, with the sound effects of wind blowing in the background. The stormiest of nights to be alone on the sea. \\\"Flash Flood\\\" is all about an awkward saxophone jam. Well it's melodic to an extent, but something about it sounds so chaotic and unfocused I just don't know what to think about it. I guess it's sort of cool. It could be interpreted as resembling the sound of a marching band rehearsing to those unaware that Billy's going for a theme here capturing the portrayal of beaches, storms and floods. The end of this song just explodes into a total extravagant mess. One thing's for sure- this is WAY jazzier than the Spectrum album. There's no heavy metal, jazz/fusion or bluesy guitar solos anywhere here so far.\\n\\n\\\"The Pleasant Pheasant\\\" is a funky rhythmic saxophone solo. It's chaotic just like the one in \\\"Flash Flood\\\" but it's more melodic so that means more enjoyable to me. The horns then become more accessible as the percussion and drumming occur, with a melodic touch of guitar playing. I really like this part. The ending of this song reminds me of the guitar solo from Chicago's \\\"25 or 6 to 4\\\". Same kind of intensity, perhaps even the same instruments. Honestly it's hard to figure out what instruments I'm listening to half of the time. Saxes, trumpets and trombones often blend together and sound identical so sorry for any mistakes I might make identifying them.\\n\\n\\\"Heather\\\" is dreamy with the slowness of the keyboards serving as ambience while a creepy synthesizer passage can be heard in the background. The saxophone solo is really moody, perfect for a late night stroll across a bridge in the city during a cloudy night. At least that's what I envision. Maybe you picture another scenario. The song ends on a quiet note as it drifts softly into lullaby-ish keyboards, but then \\\"Crosswind\\\" comes along. It's a 3-minute funky way to conclude this album with excellent drumming, percussion and a sorely needed electric guitar solo. Didn't think I'd be waiting until the end for one of those but there you have it! It's a FANTASTIC one too specializing in being groovy and comparable to some of Funkadelic's early 70's Maggot Brain era stuff (or Tommy Bolin- hey the solo does play in a Bolin kind of way).\\n\\nOverall well Crosswinds is significantly different from Spectrum. I honestly prefer Spectrum since I'm more of a fan of the vigorous Mahavishnu Orchestra style that sounds so mesmerizing throughout Spectrum. Seriously jazz/fusion is just an *incredible* genre to me, but I suppose I can't expect Billy Cobham or anyone else for that matter to spend their entire careers playing at THAT high-octane level. Sometimes artists have to branch away and try other things, and it appears that's what Billy has done here. Still, Crosswinds is really good and worthy of 4 stars, maybe even 5 some day.\",\n \"Product: Gift quality. Factory Sealed. Same day shipping.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: NOT the only Three Dog Night you need. No way sir!\\n\\nReview: While a Three Dog Night greatest hits collection is a fine introduction to a talented classic rock band, it's not the ONLY album you need. I'm kind of angry about how Three Dog Night has turned into one of those bands that should only be remembered for a small selection of songs. The fact there's so many greatest hits albums to choose from is proof that record companies are determined to have only the hit songs be featured and remembered. I disagree very very strongly with this. Sure, buy this album for the great classics radio stations used to play all the time, but *please* keep in mind Three Dog Night's studio albums are just as worthy of your time and money.\",\n \"Product: Remastered 1979 album w/STOOGES James Williamson. Feat 'I'm Bored' 'Five Foot One' & 'Endless Sea' plus 2 bonus tracks\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: new values and a new direction\\n\\nReview: New Values is arguably the first real Iggy Pop album without David Bowie standing in the way of Iggy's potential. Not that Bowie's involvement was a bad thing on the previous two albums mind you- in fact it was an awesome thing! It's just that I wanted to hear what Iggy's capable of on his own. Now I'm finding out, and the results are impressive.\\n\\n\\\"Five Foot One\\\" is an fast-moving rocking tune with a furious beat. Love the heavy guitar line before and after the \\\"I wish life could be Swedish magazines\\\" line. Is Iggy's height only 5 foot 1? Ah, he's probably referring to something else. Either way awesome song. \\\"The Endless Sea\\\" begins with a cool drum beat and bass work that resembles what the Police were doing at the time (or early 70's Roxy Music) before a dreamy synth riff comes in while still carrying that excellent beat. This song is just flat out *cool*. The lyrics and the atmosphere really match the feeling of wanting to jump in an endless sea and swim off into the sunset. Other than the synth work, the soothing dreamy saxophone reminds me of Van Der Graaf Generator's mid to late 70's period.\\n\\n\\\"African Man\\\" has hilarious lyrics! \\\"I eat a monkey for breakfast, I eat a skunk for lunch!\\\" Trust me you don't want to eat skunk. The smell itself would turn you off. Iggy's going for an obvious African cultural theme here as a way to try and capture the feeling of living in the African wilderness. The results almost sound J. Geils Band-like to be perfectly honest! Perhaps this song goes a bit far with the African wildlife sounds, but Iggy has so much character in his vocals that it sounds really awesome anyway! \\\"Angel\\\" opens with some uplifting and powerful country-like guitar lines. This is a power ballad almost, but with the excellent female vocals in the background singing the \\\"Angel\\\" part the song takes on a stronger and more personal meaning. \\\"I'd split my skull all for your love\\\" is an unusual line.\\n\\n\\\"Don't Look Down\\\" is a semi-funky Tom Petty \\\"Refugee\\\"-like rock tune. Once again the female vocals give the song more feeling and honestly enhance the vocal melody quite a bit. Actually this song reminds me of Warren Zevon a little bit with the vocals and short snappy vocal melody. Iggy's not the only one who loves \\\"Girls\\\". After all they're all over this world! Wonderful rocking energetic rhythm carrying a great vocal melody and equally impressive guitar playing. When you're feeling good and thinking about girls, this is the song you wanna hear on your car radio. \\\"Tell Me a Story\\\" has a bit of an Elvis Costello vibe in the intro with the guitar playing, but otherwise the song is entirely a late 70's/early 80's new wave type of vibrant piece of pop excellence. \\\"Me I'm just a lucky guy, young and free too hard to cry\\\" is a memorable line, but the song is all about specializing in a GREAT melody!\\n\\n\\\"How Do Ya Fix a Broken Heart... Part!\\\" Sorry I keep thinking it should be \\\"heart\\\" because it just sounds better that way. What an unusual song for Iggy Pop this is. It's pop, it's got a great rhythm that makes you feel good, but it also has a tame Laverne & Shirley type of danceable vibe to it as well, lol. \\\"Get out the toolbox boys, I know you can fix things\\\" is a hilarious line. \\\"I'm Bored\\\" is a frantic-paced Talking Heads-resembling tune with Iggy mentioning how bored he is. \\\"I bore myself to sleep at night, I bore myself in broad daylight!\\\" haha. That's how I felt when going to school for 15 years! If I haven't mentioned it, Iggy's vocals are in fine shape throughout this album.\\n\\nThe title song has an AWESOME upbeat driving guitar riff and handclaps. \\\"I'm stubborn as a mule, and nobody breaks my rules!\\\" is a line I can relate to, lol. I'm about as stubborn as they come! Great guitar solo too. Wow does this song rock hard! \\\"Curiosity\\\" is all about having fun. More upbeat rocking energy in both the guitar playing and vocals. This song has a Roxy Music \\\"Virginia Plains\\\" type of glam styling to it. I'm guessing Iggy was a fan of Roxy Music? If not he certainly should've been! \\\"Billy Is a Runaway\\\" closes the album... just as energetically as the other two songs I mention in this paragraph! This time Iggy's lyrics are going for more of a storytelling theme with another memorable guitar riff. The song's too brief to really elaborate on the story, but who cares- the music's really solid. Yes my boots start shaking and quaking too whenever I think about this song!\\n\\nOverall this is a great album for those seeking lots of fun, excitement, partying and superb songwriting. If Iggy continued to write music like this into the 80's like I suspect he did, well that's a good thing folks!\",\n \"Product: Singer Rick \\\"Rattlesnake\\\" Medlocke (who did some drumming for Lynyrd Skynyrd!) led this Jacksonville, Florida band's southern rock/heavy-metal attack, eventually going on to score some big hits. Here's their 1976 debut, featuring Feelin' Good; Flyin' High; Junkie's Dream; Madness; Save Your Time, and more driving guitar rock.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: don't step on my foot\\n\\nReview: Blackfoot's second album is really good, and even better than the material from Strikes. The problem is, at this point the band is still somewhat derivative of Lynyrd Skynyrd and haven't quite discovered their own sound and style. The good news is that the songwriting is surprisingly strong despite any connections to other bands. I most certainly believe this album deserves 4 stars- any fan of hard rock would enjoy it.\\n\\n\\\"Madness\\\" for example, reminds me of a faster-paced \\\"Gimme Three Steps\\\". A great song however. Decent verse melody and chorus, and nice guitar solo (especially the short one at the very end). I suppose the Budgie-style guitar riff itself is the high point of the song. The drumming is surprisingly strong too. \\\"Try a Little Harder\\\" wins me over for the intro alone- wow is THAT ever really cool? I'm seriously not kidding ya- only the early to mid 70's had *that* type of guitar sound. It's really beautiful but it's more meaningful than simply being a thing of beauty- it's devastatingly heartbreaking. UFO is another band that included a similar technique of affection in some of their songs. The rest of the song contains the same kind of tear-jerking beauty- strong verse melody. I especially like around 2:20 when the song shifts into repeating the name of the song a few times in a row. The lead singer changes the melody at this point into a more emotional one and it's perfectly fitting. Really good song overall. Even though there's plenty of similarites to Lynyrd Skynyrd in this bands style, this song is probably the biggest exception. It stands strong on its own.\\n\\n\\\"Island of Life\\\" is not very different from \\\"Madness\\\" but the verse melody is significantly sadder. So far I'm surprised that the album not only rocks, but features several tender moments as well. I like how the melody quickly switches into a more rocking one with the line \\\"Keep thinkin' that I shook it off and in every little way\\\". This is actually a really excellent song. The title song has promise right from the beginning- a crunchy guitar riff in the Black Sabbath style. An EASY way to win me over, haha. The reality is that it's probably trying to copy Skynyrd's \\\"Saturday Night Special\\\" but oh well. I enjoy the vocals. They sound almost Marshall Tucker Band-ish but with more southern rock energy. Another high point. \\\"Junkie's Dream\\\" rocks hard. It benefits with a strong guitar riff in between the drug-influenced lyrics. These lyrics *seem* pretty accurate but I've never done drugs so I can't say just how accurate they really are, haha. Really good Blue Oyster Cult-style guitar solo in the middle too. Come to think of it, BOC wrote similar lyrics about drugs. Not a ripoff though.\\n\\n\\\"Dancin' Man\\\" asks the question- what happened to the good old rock and roll? Well this album came out in 1976 when rock was still going pretty strong. I imagine such a question is more suitable for todays world when rock is completely derivative and obnoxious. Anyway the James Gang-funky rhythm is a high point. The guitar solo is really good too. \\\"Save Your Time\\\" has an AWESOME groovy rhythm with solid vocals. The guitar solo at the end does NOT need to end so soon! Come on, we need more of that! \\\"Mother\\\" is a somewhat simple country-rock song with tons of emotion and slide guitar used wonderfully. Wow I might just have to push this rating up to a 5. Was not expecting a hard rock classic with magnificent riffs, solos, sincere vocals and everything else clicking in fine working order. In fact... there we go. It's now 5 stars. Awesome album.\",\n \"Product: Radiohead Kid A UK CD album\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: not one of Radiohead's better efforts\\n\\nReview: Kid A is a very overrated album. The songwriting talents of the band have obviously taken a step back compared to OK Computer, which was the bands absolute high point (even to this day). \\\"Everything In Its Right Place\\\" is just a very lackluster effort in terms of vocal melody and it becomes annoying after a few listens. \\\"The National Anthem\\\" is boring as well, because the first couple minutes are dominated with one grunge-y riff repeating over and over until some over-emotional vocals eventually come in and change all that. It tries to be something special, but really it's just a pointless experiment. For some reason, the vocal melody reminds me of the Beatles song \\\"It's All Too Much\\\". In fact, a good majority of the songs on the album are just silly or pointless experiments, with not much emotional substance to be found.\\n\\nRadiohead is clearly much better when writing emotional vocal melodies and interesting lyrical content, which this album greatly suffers. \\\"How To Disappear Completely\\\" is probably the biggest attempt at heartfelt emotions, but the devastating atmosphere of the lyrics aren't really as honest as the lead singer would want you to believe. It's just not enough to save a really average and surprisingly bland album overall.\",\n \"Product: Notes in artwork are in Japanese.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: a real ride through space\\n\\nReview: Maybe it's just me, but Space Shanty sounds WAY ahead of its time. By that I mean, it sounds like it stands apart drastically compared to every other band in the early 70's.\\n\\nThe wavy guitar lines are really beautiful and believable the way they capture the adventurous feeling of being lost out in outerspace (the pleasant vibes of outerspace I mean, not the \\\"forever drifting away\\\" part, which is terrifying!) These guys are REALLY good at it, and it's a shame this is the only album Khan released. I'm sitting here totally amazed more people aren't finding this album fascinating in the same way I am. The vocal melodies are glorious and sparkle with clean, splendid production. This album sure doesn't sound like early 70's rock to me. The way it was recorded just blows me away.\\n\\nI don't like Space Shanty as much as all those druggy, spaced-out mid 70's Gong albums (which are truly original) but it's honestly not THAT much worse. I don't even think Khan should be compared to Gong because the two bands sound so much different from each other.\\n\\nSpace Shanty can best be summed up like this- *this* is what happens when Pink Floyd and Caravan blend together. It's sort of like progressive rock, but in another way, it's more about spaced out atmospheric rock but with actual song structure and melody. The keyboards, guitar playing, everything about Space Shanty screams quality performance. This album *is* on the same level as many Gong classics in my opinion. Excellent!\",\n \"Product: Digitally Remastered and Includes the Previously Unreleased Track 'I Don't Know It's Name (Alias the Word), the Original Studio Version of 'Golf Girl' with Different Lyrics, Studio Demo of 'Winter Wine', a New Mix of 'Disassociation/100% Proof' and APreviously Unreleased Version of 'Aristocracy'.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: caravan was a special rock band\\n\\nReview: This is supposed to be the ultimate Caravan album, but you know, the previous one \\\"If I Could...\\\" is probably *slightly* better. Probably because this album has some weak songwriting moments such as the pleasant, but ultimately passable title song. Yes, I realize most people love it, and you probably will to.\\n\\nFor me though, the highlight is clearly the 20+ minute jam that appears at the very end. It's truly mind-boggling awesome. Yes, we've ALL heard how adventurous music can be, but my goodness, THAT is a jam guaranteed to take your brain places! There's also a few scattered vocal melodies and just some good atmosphere in there as well. The jam consists mainly of that instrument that sounds like a keyboard but most people say it's a guitar so, whatever that thing is, it sounds VERY cool.\\n\\nI find it cool I'm about to submit a review for an old and somewhat forgotten progressive rock album from the 70's only HOURS after someone else posted a review of their own, haha.\",\n \"Product: Digitally Remastered Edition of their Last Studio Album Originally Released on RCA Records and Now Reissued on EMI. As Well, it was the Last with Guitarist Uli Roth as Well. Includes the Great Hard Rockers 'steamrock Fever', 'he's a Woman, She's a Man' and the BOC-ESQUE 'we'll Burn the Sky', One of the Best Songs They Ever Produced. 'suspender Love' and 'polar Nights' Are Added as Bonus Tracks.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: scorps getting ready for big time\\n\\nReview: This is one wild Scorpions album. It rocks, but it's not mindless rock like many of those 80's metal/glam rock acts. The Scorpions should NOT be included among those other less talented heavy rock bands such as Motley Crue, Twisted Sister and Dokken because this band actually has some great vocal melodies, solid guitar riffs, and decent guitar solos. Furthermore, while they don't exactly experiment much, at least they know how to make a good vocal melody.\\n\\nThis is why the Scorpions, and specifically Taken by Force, deserves to be remembered as a classic. Do NOT put these guys in the same category with Motley Crue and the like. The Scorpions should be remembered more for their underrated 70's material. I hope you agree. Pick up Taken by Force to hear how rocking out with a destined commercial approach in the near future is REALLY done.\",\n \"Product: CD\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: this album survives the test of time\\n\\nReview: I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the biggest Lynyrd Skynyrd fan in the world. I like their music but I always felt that the songwriting wasn't up to snuff.\\n\\nHowever, there are two exceptions in the bands catalog, and perhaps I'm the only person in the entire world to name these two particular exceptions- Nuthin' Fancy being one, and this one, Street Survivors.\\n\\nThe songwriting, the guitar solos and even the vocal melodies are really good this time around. My appreciation for this album honestly has nothing to do with the fact that terrible accident was to take place a few days after this albums release, however I *do* sense a little bit of a dreary/eerie vibe in a few of the songs that do seem to spark odd sensations that something bad was about to happen.\\n\\nSome people believe \\\"What's Your Name\\\" and \\\"Gimme Three Steps\\\" are more or less the same song, but if that's the case, then why do I prefer \\\"What's Your Name\\\" a lot more? I just love the brassy section and the vocal melody. A great sing along-type tune totally deserving of its major hit status.\\n\\nThe next song titled \\\"That Smell\\\" is one of those eerie songs I mention above. There's something really haunting about it. I can't explain what it is exactly, but the guitar playing flows in such a way that's not only pretty fast and melodic (and just downright awesome) but there seems to be something else about this track that captures my interest. I totally believe there's a lot of atmosphere to it. I really can't point out exactly WHAT it is that makes it so atmospheric though.\\n\\nAnother song with an eerie vibe is the next one- \\\"One More Time\\\". The guitar playing is basically crying, the lyrics are extremely impactful, and especially the inclusion of a haunting keyboard (I think?) after Ronnie sings the chorus \\\"Ooooone mooooore tiiiiime\\\".\\n\\nI honestly believe the vocal work overall is a REALLY big improvement and feels much tighter compared to previous Skynyrd albums. Ronnie Van Zant was on top of his game for this album. I always believed he had a top notch emotional singing voice capable of really moving the listener, and he proves it with this entire album.\\n\\n\\\"You Got that Right\\\" is like a rewritten version of \\\"What's Your Name\\\" which of course means a rewrite of \\\"Gimme Three Steps\\\", haha. Whatever. I love it.\\n\\nLet's not forget the absolutely beautiful \\\"I Never Dreamed\\\". Perfect guitar playing chugging along to a great vocal delivery. A song that's instantly likeable.\\n\\nI highly recommend Street Survivors for those who want to experience a band that released what I consider a masterpiece.\",\n \"Product: England/Canada.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: ride the van, the caravan!\\n\\nReview: What makes Caravan's debut so interesting is how the vocal melodies are simply gorgeous and likeable for ANYONE, not just fans of progressive rock. To me that makes Caravan one of the most likeable bands of all-time. The way they can be enjoyed by just about anyone. It's all because of that lead singers amazing voice.\\n\\nI take that back- AMAZING voice! Amazing because more often than not it feels like he's breathing directly into your soul with his voice. It makes you wanna cry most of the time (or maybe just me- hey, I cry a lot. I even cried during Homeward Bound. Remember that great adventure movie?)\\n\\nAlso, the songs are written in a way that's not very challenging, allowing people who don't have a whole lot of patience in an ever-growing financially-struggling world to get into the music fairly easily.\\n\\nThe final track on the album titled \\\"Where But for Caravan Would I?\\\" is nearly 10 minutes of emotional brilliance. The way it starts with a beautiful vocal melody and then the melodic, eeric organs come out of nowhere and paint a VERY different picture! Even more strange is the *next* vocal melody that occurs after the jam and the way it gently shifts into the calm \\\"We need your mind to be flying\\\" line. This song alone is worth the purchase of Caravan's debut.\\n\\n\\\"Magic Man\\\" is pure hypnotic adventurousness and \\\"Grandma's Lawn\\\" takes psychedelia to the highest level it can with a catchy vocal melody. \\\"Place Of My Own\\\" has a vocal melody that rolls forward in a way that almost sounds like the lead singer is worried about something but then leads into an upbeat chorus so all is well. I love the line about living for today because \\\"tomorrow you just might be dead\\\". It's true! This is why you shouldn't believe in bad days. Bad days don't exist. You simply have bad *moments* of a certain day. The entire day isn't ruined because of an unfortunate series of events. I know you agree with me!\\n\\n\\\"Ride\\\" is AWESOME! I love the simple, gentle way the verse melody is sung. So carefree and beautiful. I love the line \\\"I'll try and find a place in my mind where you know you can go and leave all behind\\\". Hey take me with you! I don't want to stick around this crappy wor... I mean lovely, excellent planet of ours!\\n\\n\\\"Policeman\\\" is a WONDERFUL Beatles-influenced pop song with a memorable vocal melody. The way the tempos constant shift around is highly professional and exciting. \\\"Cecil Rons\\\" is an odd experimental track that was probably influenced by Pink Floyd's Piper at the Gates of Dawn album. The psychedelic style is REALLY bizarre on this track thanks to the way the singer changes the sound of his voice and screams \\\"CECIL RONS!\\\" before quickly switching back to the more familiar beautiful vocal style. \\\"Love Song With Flute\\\" is all about the softly sung verse melody. Nobody writes better ballads than Caravan. *Nobody*.\\n\\nSomething about the way these guys write jams is pretty spectacular as well. Just a very very good band. The debut is a very good one, but probably the next two Caravan albums released directly after this one are better. Not by much though!\",\n \"Product: Their then-recent Woodstock set and this electrifying 1969 LP (a #20 hit) brought sudden U.S. stardom to these UK blues-rockers powered by the guitar of Alvin Lee. Their stomping spin on Good Morning Little Schoolgirl joins Lee's Bad Scene; Stoned Woman; The Stomp; Two Time Mama , and more!\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: blues rock that truly rocks\\n\\nReview: This could very well be the ultimate combination of blues and rock. I can only imagine how satisfying it must have been for those lucky enough to experience this terrific album back in 1969 when it was brand new. It takes the traditional style of hard rock blues to a *much* heavier level and it wouldn't surprise me if bands like Zeppelin or Sabbath were influenced by this album.\\n\\nMight I also add how disappointed I am that it's not a more popular album. It truly deserves to be. You'll agree the moment you hear it.\\n\\nFor those who might be going into Ssssh expecting exceptional vocal melodies... well, you'll probably be disappointed because even though the vocals are melodic enough to get the job done, it's the guitar work that makes me a firm believer everyone should have Ssssh in their album collection.\\n\\nThe highlight is probably \\\"Good Morning Little Schoolgirl\\\". With a vocal melody very ordinary by blues standards, you'll never guess what happens around the 2 minute mark. Oh just you wait and hear for yourself! Alright alright, I'll reveal what happens- a guitar solo that sounds like absolutely no other makes a very groundbreaking appearance, and some of these licks are truly extraordinary. If you're not happy with the actual notes (which, might I add, DO grow on you over time- I didn't care for this song at all at first but now I absolutely LOVE it) I'm sure you'll at least be impressed with the relentless approach Alvin Lee takes it.\\n\\nIn this track, Alvin Lee plays with a certain style of speed and combines it with a melodic structure, and it doesn't resemble anything else from the late 60's. Some of these flashy and speedy guitar solos make me wonder how one person can play so well without missing a beat.\\n\\nMy second favorite song is probably \\\"I Woke Up This Morning\\\". Some of Alvin's guitar work here resembles the classic period of live Cream/Eric Clapton, but done very very well so I won't complain about any similarities. \\\"Bad Scene\\\" actually has a really great vocal melody and I like the way the song shifts in a few different directions before eventually slipping into a heavy guitar solo that puts a sudden and shocking end to all those awkward shifts. \\\"Stoned Woman\\\" has a really fantastic vocal melody and an even better groove, and that's honestly all it needs because it sounds so good.\\n\\nIn fact the entire album sounds *awesome*. The production I mean. The way it was recorded. A significant improvement over Cricklewood Green and Rock & Roll Music to the World.\\n\\nAnyway, let me mention a few more songs. \\\"The Stomp\\\" is flat out awesome and the vocals totally remind me of the good Captain Beefheart. Anything (and I mean *anything*) that sounds like Captain Beefheart is just fine and dandy by me because I'm such an enormous fan of his work. This song also reminds me of the Rolling Stones classic \\\"Shake Your Hips\\\". \\\"If You Should Love Me\\\" is a drastic step away from all the bluesy guitar solos and solid grooves that dominate most of the album, and is just a really pleasant, soulful ballad. I can't recall what other ballad this song closely resembles, but I'm thinking this track wouldn't be out of place on either a Rascals or Animals album.\\n\\nPlease please please buy this album. I may be underrating the vocal melodies, true, but it's honestly because the guitar work is the main attraction here (for me at least).\",\n \"Product: During the turbulent years of 1970-72, Wicked Lady recorded some songs on a stolen 2 track revox, and it is those tracks that make up this CD. They capture, not only, something of the anger, pain and genius of Wicked Lady, but also tell of the narcotics consumed at the time. As such the music is hard and honest and perfect for evil guitar listeners. 60 minutes of wah-wah hell!\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: arriving to the cometh\\n\\nReview: Wow, great hard rock! Make that GREAT hard rock! \\\"Run the Night\\\" chugs along at such a wonderful pace with a steady-paced VERY heavy guitar riff. This stuff has the feel of a raw punk band like Iggy Pop and the Stooges while still maintaining a distinctive heavy metal edge. Simply put if you like the sound of late 60's hard rock or punk you'll LOVE this song. \\\"Don't look out your window, your eyes can only see by electric light\\\" is a memorable line.\\n\\n\\\"War Cloud\\\" has really truthful and sincere lyrics about preparing for the future due to the war taking place at the time (Vietnamese war of course). The vocal melody itself is quite sad, and the guitar jam that soon follows is a good one. The guitar playing is similar to the stuff you'd find from the one in Chicago's \\\"26 or 5 to 4\\\" but I'm only describing the way the two solos sound- the notes themselves are quite different. The tone dramatically changes during the line \\\"When the bombs drop we all die\\\" which feels like a direct and harsh way of saying, don't make war or suffer the penalties. After this get ready for one SUPER heavy and fuzzy-sounding guitar jam! I mean this jam absolutely *tears*.\\n\\n\\\"The Axeman Cometh\\\" is all about a really awesome, melodic and even funky guitar jam based around a really catchy beat. The guitar playing on this track is really flashy and comparable to the legendary Jimi Hendrix as far as how outrageous this stuff sounds. If you like this song please check out the Scorpions \\\"Drifting Sun\\\". The thumping rhythm feels similar and REALLY awesome in both songs. Wow Wicked Lady really is a great band. \\\"Life and Death\\\" begins with a sludgy and murky vocal melody before shifting in another, lighter direction while the guitar riff plods mid tempo. I swear one of the guitar tricks in this song was later used in Aerosmith's \\\"No More No More\\\" from their Toys in the Attic album. Maybe I'm imagining things. Anyway this song continues to plod along and it's probably a few minutes overlong but to be honest I can't resist its murky-sounding charm. This song interestingly captures the feeling of looking towards a brighter future through a dreaded bad time.\\n\\n\\\"Wicked Lady\\\" (hey, a song named after the band itself- that's pretty cool). Actually what makes it cool is that there's a song here named after the album title AND a song named the band itself, but it's not the same song like \\\"Black Sabbath\\\" or \\\"Bad Company\\\". That's pretty cool and maybe the first time I've ever seen that. Maybe the first time it's ever been done before. Anyway what I like about this song is that the chugging guitar riff is memorable and what's interesting is that the vocals remind me of Bob Welsh (Fleetwood Mac lead singer). Some of the vocal mannerisms remind me of his style, specifically a song called \\\"Hypnotized\\\". This came out before the Fleetwood Mac song though by a few years. Actually speaking of hypnotism, the guitar solo at the end of this song makes me feel hypnotized!\\n\\nOkay \\\"Out of the Dark\\\" is a bonafide classic! I simply love the way the lead singer sings the line during the chorus \\\"Move out of the dark move into the light\\\" and the lyrics about standing at a beach at midnight and seeing the waves rise and coming after him... REALLY good! The chugging guitar soloing taking place throughout this song due to the irresistible rhythm section is quite impressive too. I sense some of that Hawkwind-style space rock guitar soloing throughout the extended explosive jam in the second half. \\\"Rebel\\\" is actually NOT a song over 5 minutes! Imagine that. Anyway the song really reminds me of early Blue Oyster Cult with the Eric Bloom-like vocals and chugging drum work/guitar soloing. I enjoy the line \\\"Every evening when the sun goes down you do the things you shouldn't do\\\". Uh oh! This could be a reference to literally anything, haha.\\n\\n\\\"Living on the Edge\\\" is another Aerosmith reference! Nah, not really. Just kidding about that. This might be the most interesting song on the album. It constantly shifts into a multi-part song of sorts- sometimes the guitar tone is somber, beautiful and psychedelic- other times it shifts into melodic really heavy Sabbath-like riffage. I can think of several Sabbath and Metallica comparisons which makes me wonder just how much of an influence Wicked Lady was on these two legendary metal acts. Were they listening to Wicked Lady? Anyway I have nothing but the utmost respect for the guys regardless of their influence. I love the line \\\"Feels like you're out there on a ledge where you are livin' on the edge\\\".\\n\\nWell Wicked Lady's The Axeman Cometh is quite the fun listening experience. Truly some of the most underrated heavy metal I've ever heard. I tend to place these guys in the heavy metal camp instead of the hard rockers because Wicked Lady rocks a bit harder than most! When you have a super heavy guitar tone you can't help but be placed with the metal guys. Anyway the Axeman Cometh isn't quite as good as Psychotic Overkill in my opinion because Psychotic Overkill had more melodic guitar solos and crunchier/slightly superior vocal melodies and guitar riffs. The Axeman Cometh feels like a small step down compared to that album but only a slight one. Great album and highly recommended.\",\n \"Product: Gamma was the group that Ronnie Montrose started after his group Montrose broke up. They released three albums on Elektra Records between 1979 and 1982. Gamma 2 hit the Billboard charts in 1982 and rose to #65. Wounded Bird. 2002.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: swimming in hard rock\\n\\nReview: This is the second Gamma album by the highly regarded Ronnie Montrose.\\n\\n\\\"Mean Streak\\\" opens this second Gamma album with heavy guitar riffs and fast rhythm. The likes of which you'd expect from an early 80's hard rock album perhaps. The same way with the vocal melody- typical 80's stuff. However there's enough energy and excitement that I don't mind. Actually this sounds a LOT like early 80's Rainbow after Dio left. \\\"You got a mean streak inside of you, a mean streak running all the way through, a mean streak coming from your heart, a mean streak that will tear a man apart\\\" is *very* 80'-ish. Still a pretty good song. REALLY cool guitar solo in the middle however.\\n\\n\\\"Four Horsemen\\\" opens with frantic guitar riffs that remind me of the Metallica song that'd come out a few years later. Not sure if this is coincidental or not. I personally like this song more than Metallica anyway (regardless of Metallica's popularity and reputation as the ultimate 80's thrashers). The entire intro to this song is *awesome*. So many guitar riffs that you can't help but admire it. The verse melody is really cool too, as is the chorus. \\\"So you think about your past, is this thing going to last, your life flashes by in an instant, so you wonder what you've done, don't let them take away your sun\\\" is a great line. \\\"The four horsemen gonna take you for the things you've done\\\" is a memorable line especially when it repeats at the end with the synths (or keyboards). Wow, the guitar playing throughout this song absolutely smokes!\\n\\n\\\"Dirty City\\\" is next. Love the lyrics in the opening like. \\\"Watching the hookers and the hustlers, trying to sell love on the line, 25 will get you into heaven, show you a real good time\\\". The line \\\"It's a dirty old city, a dirty old game, a dirty old town, that ain't got no shame, a dirty old place with a dirty old face, don't let it drag you down\\\" captures perfectly the feeling of what it's like trying to survive in a city. Not that I could personally relate. Nope, you're talkin' to a real country boy! This song sounds a lot like Foreigner vocally but to be honest, it's better than most of Foreigner's material that I've played. But wow these lyrics are good! \\\"In a corner all the junkies are fixin', the pushers are hard on the sell, you may think it's cool but where's the law and order, yes sir that's a different kind of hell\\\". Man I could keep quoting!\\n\\n\\\"Voyager\\\" opens with some Robin Trower-ish moody guitar and vocals that chug along quietly and sexily. This song's a weak point if you ask me... you're probably not asking though are you? Nor do you care, lol. Gamma isn't too impressive with the slower rock tunes if this song's any indication. It does have a nice mood but the same mood is present in literally thousands of early 80's rock tunes. I like the dreamy guitar solo though, but the soulful vocals are bland and unmemorable to me.\\n\\nOh no! I was hoping \\\"Something In the Air\\\" wouldn't be a cover of the Thunderclap Newman classic but the joke's on me since I should've known. After all Montrose is known for covering songs. This song can't be covered convincingly unless it's Tom Petty's version. Davey Pattison doesn't have the sincere and charming vocal style that the original has because he settles for a more generic soulful approach instead. Bad cover in my opinion. \\\"Cat on a Leash\\\" has an early raw Montrose way about it that I like (mainly in the vocals). The vocal melody itself isn't really impressive, but the raw intent is the same which is admirable. Sometimes the lead singer screams in such a way that might be out of his league. Like for example the way he screams \\\"With your hands in the kitty, cat on a leash!\\\" is out of his range by a tad (and \\\"hands in the kitty\\\" doesn't mean what you might be thinking it does, lol!) But the good news is that the guitar solo afterwards is one of the best on the album. AMAZING guitar solo!\\n\\n\\\"Skin and Bone\\\" is pretty awesome. \\\"Whispers in the doorway, promises and lies\\\" is an unintentionally funny line because it sounds so cheesy like only the 80's can. The song plods along like early Whitesnake (reminds me of \\\"Still of the Night\\\" in fact) but perhaps even better because the vocals are really good here. The vocals change sexier during the \\\"Trapped in the night moving alone, caught in a world of glass and stone\\\" and it sounds hilarious. Nice synth or keyboard solo afterwards with the chugging drums. A high point. \\\"Mayday\\\" has more really heavy guitar riffs and solos in the beginning. \\\"Don't tell me nothing that'll drag me down\\\" is a memorable line. This song is pure adrenaline rushing excitement! From the first note to the last- not a boring moment at all. The song even speeds up as it gets closer to the end just to further prove how much this band wants to rock the joint down!\\n\\nYou know at least half of the songs on this album should've been big hits. This album has all the potential that anybody who's a fan of early 80's hard rock would love. Fast guitar riffs and solos, decent lead singer, memorable lyrics and quality vocal melodies, etc. Overall Gamma 2 is a pretty good album. The complaints I've written in my review are minor. Gamma rocks!\",\n \"Product: Another year, another Top 10-charting album for the 'Funk! Features an alternate version of Flight of the Phoenix.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: I strongly disagree with all the negative reviews\\n\\nReview: Normally I can SORT of see where people stand when they don't like an album, but in this case, I don't really get it- Phoenix is a solid rock album from the beginning to the very end, never losing steam not even *once*. Seriously, not a single moment makes me question the songwriting.\\n\\nFurthermore, it's really amazing MORE of the songs from the album didn't go on to become huge hits soon after the albums release back in the early 70's. The lead singers vocals feel more sincere and soulful on this Grand Funk album compared to others, and the vocal melodies themselves always manage to entertain me and honestly feel like a step above other GFR albums.\\n\\nIt's like the band knew they were starting to become comfortable with their success and popularity, so they began getting into a groove by making one quality album after another.\\n\\nI seriously would put Phoenix right up there with any other rock and roll classic album from the 70's, and trust me, I've heard over 600 albums from the 70's so I'd like to think I've gained enough musical knowledge to separate the good music from the bad. This is just one terrific album.\\n\\nNow, I'm not going to sit here and act like Grand Funk Railroad is flawless- sure, they've been responsible for some average songs from time to time, and sometimes the lead singer switches to a high pitched range that doesn't feel right to me, almost like he's forcing himself to sing in a higher register that simply isn't natural for him (usually when he attemps the REALLY soulful vocal style). BUT, I really believe Phoenix is a classic album because of such a wonderful flow and noticeable increase in quality songwriting.\\n\\nLet me mention a couple favorites! \\\"So You Won't Have to Die\\\" HAS to be my top choice for favorite song. Possibly the best song the band ever made in fact. Everything from the speedy bluegrass-inspired Jesus loving lyrics in the beginning, to the sudden shift to funkiness with the *fantastic* vocal range elevation and sincerity of the lyrics \\\"I'm afraid of overpopulation, I don't want to die of suffocation, the world is full of pollution, and Jesus is the solution\\\". Make fun of me or the lyrics if you wish, but I can totally relate to these words regardless how simplistic they're presented. The song finishes with a somber slowdown as the keyboards makes a spot-on appearance. This portion of the song makes me envision a world where everyone succumbs to the worlds many problems and feels lost... this song is an emotional rollercoaster journey. Some people think these lyrics are bad but the truth is, I can relate to them WAY too much to criticize much less overlook.\\n\\nI'm also extremely fond of \\\"Gotta Find Me a Better Day\\\" and the chugging rhythm. I love it all! Isn't the intro to \\\"Someone\\\" one of the beautiful moments ever? It perfectly captures the playful innocence of the 70's before technology got too advanced and people became too cold-hearted, thoughtless and angry for needless reasons (yes that's right, I'm looking at YOU Mr. Internet!) This song goes through many instrumental selections that just floor me. I mean absolutely FLOORS me with its touching beauty. \\\"I've come to think that I never learn, it feels so bad 'cuz I yearn and yearn for someone, who doesn't care for me, why oh why oh why should I care for someone, who doesn't care for me?\\\" These are REALLY GOOD lyrics in my opinion, even better when you listen closely how they're sung. Enough to make me cry when I'm alone.\\n\\nI don't really care if critics dislike the band either. Critics also disliked AC/DC, Black Sabbath and the Moody Blues when those bands first came out, and guess what? All those bands went on to become legendary, and in Black Sabbath's case, influential.\\n\\nI even love the lyrics about \\\"loving your children\\\" and \\\"be careful not to overpopulate the planet\\\" and basically \\\"always keep the planet clean for future generations\\\". If you think these lyrics are silly, keep in mind the songwriting more than makes up for them.\\n\\nThe bottom line is this- I love quality music. I love honesty in my music as well. Phoenix does everything perfectly for me.\",\n \"Product: A hidden single (!) version of Dark Star caps off one of the \\\"grate\\\" live albums.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Pick up this album now\\n\\nReview: First let me state I'm not a fan of the Grateful Dead mainly because most of their music sounds the same to me. A bit more diversity wouldn't have hurt. At the same time, I respect what they did, and I respect their unique approach and everything the band was able to accomplish in their long and successful career.\\n\\nI really like this Live/Dead album. I can't really complain about lack of diversity either because there's a few different styles the band used to do back in the day, and this album is pretty much the ultimate example of the Grateful Dead's greatness in the early days. I think it's a highly enjoyable listen, from beginning to end. If there was ever one Grateful Dead album you needed, this would probably be the one.\\n\\n\\\"Dark Star\\\" is 23 minutes of mellow guitar jamming with only a *very* small amount of vocal work in two spots. I consider myself a BIG fan of guitar jams, and I especially like the jams where the music feels like it's coming straight from the soul. I can't fault the Grateful Dead here, because every time they go into jam mode, their music instantly becomes more enjoyable to me. A 23-minute jam is certainly the right way to kick things off!\\n\\nWhen that monster is finally over, it's only right to have the follow up song be something more melodic (in order to shift gears and keep everyones attention). \\\"Saint Stephen\\\" does just that. The Grateful Dead were also very good at being emotionally-connecting to the listener, and this song is proof of that.\\n\\n\\\"The Eleven\\\" features more jamming like you heard in \\\"Dark Star\\\", only \\\"The Eleven\\\" is more in-your-face with more excitement and energy. This is probably my favorite song on the album. \\\"Turn On Your Love Light\\\" reminds me of a fast-paced boogie song from the 50's like \\\"Jailhouse Rock\\\" or something along those lines, but extended for 15 minutes. I have to wonder if Led Zeppelin was influenced by \\\"Death Don't Have No Mercy\\\" because \\\"Since I've Been Loving You\\\" almost has an identical style (from Zeppelin III). It's possible Zeppelin copied, but I doubt it. Most people probably wouldn't be able to hear the similarity anyway.\\n\\nAlright, \\\"Feedback\\\" is probably the worst thing on the album. It's not a song- just a bunch of noises. But it's not as pointless or outrageously annoying as say, the last song on the Stooges album Funhouse. \\\"And We Bid You Goodnight\\\" is just a 30-second thingy with pleasant vocals.\\n\\nThe Grateful Dead seemed to me like they were a two-trick pony. You had your lengthy \\\"feeling good\\\" guitar jams, and you had your pleasant country rockers. However, this Live/Dead album is proof that the band was able to implement other styles into their career. For someone who likes diversity, this album satisfies my needs.\",\n \"Product: The Mars Volta Deloused in the Comatorium Japanese CD album\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: it has its moments, but it's not a classic by any means\\n\\nReview: No, this kind of progressive rock music can't compete with the classic progressive rock giants such as Yes, Rush, King Crimson, and Genesis. BUT, for a touch of alternative rock that's a bit above average as far as creativity goes, I guess De-Lousied in the Comatorium is a better choice than something like Stone Temple Pilots or other alternative rock bands that try to be creative but ultimately fail.\\n\\nI think the one thing that bothers me the most about the music the Mars Volta are trying to make here are the vocals. While they do grow on me a little bit over time, and they're definitely better than most current vocal melodies out there from current bands, let's not kid ourselves- this stuff can't compete with the classic 70's progressive rock bands. You don't feel much in the way of beauty or spiritual adventure when the vocals are screaming through the speakers. You don't feel any kind of serious emotional approach from the band members either. Not when everything sounds forced.\\n\\nI just want to make it clear in case anyone out there has an urge to hear some REAL prog rock bands that the Mars Volta is *not* the best example of sophisticated rock music. You'd want to start with the classic bands first, and THEN decide where you stand with a band like the Mars Volta.\\n\\nThere *are* parts of the album where the vocals feel a bit on the annoying side because of a deliberate attempt to implement noisy ideas into their music. To me, noise is nothing more than a distraction, but it's not a *really* big deal in this particular case since the noisy moments are few and far between. But we can't ignore the fact that they DO pop up from time to time.\\n\\nAnother problem is that the way the songs are structured feel a little clumsy, like the Mars Volta are throwing instrumental variety into their music for the sole purpose of making their songs go in another direction to carry on with the sophisticated prog rock theme, but not thinking their ideas through very carefully, so yeah, some clumsy singing moments and an overall slightly obnoxious guitar sound can definitely be heard in a song such as \\\"Roulette Dares\\\".\\n\\nThere ARE some neat guitar tricks that impress me though. I wish these moments would have lasted longer, and would have been focused on more clearly and carefully, but for modern music that's trying to be artsy, I guess this will have to be about as impressive as it will ever get for now on.\\n\\nWorth a few listens, but for serious music fans who are looking for something similar and much much better, I HIGHLY recommend Henry Cow, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, King Crimson and Yes.\",\n \"Product: The first musical collection to be endorsed by Casey Kasem! Each volume contains artist photos, liner notes and historical facts about each decade\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: been done a million times by now\\n\\nReview: Look, many of the songs on this collection were really good at one point in time, but thanks to frequent FM radio exposure most of these one time classics have now overstayed their welcome. It's just hard to stomach these songs anymore.\\n\\nNot to mention these songs don't represent the bands and songs most people remember nowadays. It's the middle of 2009 at the time I make this review- the 70's bands people remember are now artists such as Nick Drake, Big Star, Roxy Music, David Bowie, Elton John, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Yes, Rush, AC/DC, Velvet Underground, Stooges, King Crimson, Genesis, Mike Oldfield, Hawkwind, Cream, Doors, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Chicago, Rolling Stones, Beatles and Blondie (to name a few).\\n\\nAlright, this collection DOES feature Boston, Santana, Deep Purple and the Allman Brothers Band (four bands that have held up over the years and are now considered artists with their own distinct sound and style) but unfortunately the songs by these artists featured on this compilation disc are the same songs we've been hearing for ages now and the same songs radio stations have been abusing for *years*. It's time to focus on the artists I listed above and check out some of their regular albums to get a *perfect* taste of just how incredible the 70's used to be.\\n\\nIf you want to hear the songs on this disc because of memories growing up listening to them, you can always check out a classic rock radio station that I'm almost positive plays most of these songs over and over on their daily rotation.\",\n \"Product: Their great 1966 debut, with bonus tracks High Flyin' Bird; It's Alright; Go to Her (version 1); an alternate, unedited version of Let Me in ; unreleased alternate versions of Chauffeur Blues and And I Like It.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: wow am I ever surprised this is actually good\\n\\nReview: Not only is a good portion of Jefferson Airplane's debut actually melodic, but the style they'd later be known for is actually partially represented here. I'm surprised. I was expecting forgettable R&B type tunes like most of the rock artists from the mid 60's were creating, but that honestly doesn't apply to Jefferson Airplane Takes Off.\\n\\nI'd say that most of this album is easily better than what the Who was doing at the time, but not quite up to the songwriting standards that the Stones, Kinks and (especially) the Beatles were setting in the year 1966.\\n\\nSince most of the songs are incredibly short, there's a stronger emphasis on melody and less on guitar jams. In fact there really aren't any guitar jams here. Too early for jams, apparently. They weren't ready for Cream or Iron Butterfly to come on the scene! As a result, it's certainly no Volunteers or After Bathing At Baxter's. There's really not much of a psychedelic vibe either. Just appealing, straightforward rock/pop songs.\\n\\n\\\"Don't Slip Away\\\" is just the perfect song. The vocal melody drifts along in a very melodic and easy to absorb kind of way, not the least bit challenging or anything (and certainly not psychedelic- in fact, it reminds me of the country rock version of the Byrds) and the song only improves as it gets closer to the... is that a chorus? Or just an extention of the verse melody sung in a higher vocal range? Whatever. It's awesome.\\n\\nThis particular version of \\\"Let's Stay Together\\\" isn't remotely like the Young Bloods version. At least, the chorus isn't the same. The chorus is done in a folk rock style and reminds me of Peter, Paul & Mary. That's the big difference between the two versions right there. \\\"Tobacco Road\\\" is highly memorable for including a GREAT vocal melody and chorus. Just a fantastic song.\\n\\n\\\"Let Me In\\\" reminds me of the 60's version of Neil Diamond for some strange reason. Probably the heaviest song in terms of guitar playing... and by that I mean, it actually *features* some speedy guitar work making it heavy for teenage party animals in 1966, haha.\\n\\nOther songs repeat like mad however, such as \\\"Come Up the Years\\\". It includes a vocal melody that repeats WAY too much but hey, at least it constantly repeats a *good* vocal melody. \\\"Run Around\\\" is another victim of repetition, but oh well. It's good. Actually this is a REALLY good track. It would fit in perfectly with any oldies collection.\\n\\n\\\"It's No Secret\\\" contains a really beautiful and compassionate vocal melody that just so happens to triggers that soft spot inside of me that wants to immediately cry, haha. Good music.\\n\\nOne bad song perhaps is \\\"Chauffeur Blues\\\". Signe Toly Anderson is certainly no Grace Slick and in fact, her singing voice makes me cringe a little bit because she can't elevate her vocal range to extraordinay heights like good ol' Grace used to be able to do (and perhaps she still can- hey, what's Grace been up to these days I wonder? Last I heard she was making a living either drawing or painting... hmm, oh well).\\n\\nOverall, I highly recommend every single *other* Jefferson Airplane before this one because, to me at least, they never created a bad album so it's quite okay to take the leap of faith and investigate into anything they made. Even the early 70's JA albums are loaded with a surprising amount of songwriting ideas. But Jefferson Airplane Takes Off is highly recommended to!!\\n\\nIt's an extremely short album which is definitely a problem for me (especially in this day and age) so perhaps you should only consider buying this album if you can find a copy for cheap.\",\n \"Product: Coheed & Cambria ~ Vol. 3-In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: it's good! it's really really good!\\n\\nReview: Wow! I was NOT expecting to be blown away by a Coheed & Cambria album! I was actually expecting to be utterly disappointed by yet *another* lackluster progressive metal band with no ability whatsoever to sing or write memorable guitar riffs and solos or offer much in the way of songwriting, etc. This is because after 10 years of hearing prog metal, I just got used to the many frustrating disappointments.\\n\\nThis time however, I was wrong on ALL counts. I'm shocked right now, seriously.\\n\\nNot only is the lead singer actually *singing*, but he's also expanding his range and creating a fair amount of emotions that only the very best (and rarest) of metal singers are able to accomplish. Nicely done!\\n\\nSure, he probably got his style from Geddy Lee, but who cares? It's enjoyable, and not as high-pitched as Geddy normally is either. That's a good thing.\\n\\nThe guitar riffs... for years I've been exposed to one unmemorable guitar riff after another while listening to metal albums, as if the intention by the band members was to simply play a riff no matter HOW bland or uninspiring it is, and lay it down on tape regardless just because it *rocks*.\\n\\nThe guy in Coheed & Cambria thankfully disagrees with that overused logic. He has an actual talent for quality, fun guitar riffs. Shocking.\\n\\nThe songs are fairly diverse too, with other instrumental varities being thrown in the mix besides the normal bag of prog metal tricks (guitars, drums, etc) which is very impressive.\\n\\nIn Keeping Secrets of Silent Hill totally *deserves* all the mainstream success it has received. Good stuff.\",\n \"Product: 32 tracks including all 16 hits the duo scored for Columbia essential indeed! Includes The Sounds of Silence; I Am a Rock; Scarborough Fair/Canticle; Homeward Bound; The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy); Mrs. Robinson; Bridge over Troubled Water; The Boxer; My Little Town; Old Friends; America; Cecilia , and more.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: folk/rock with super strong vocal melodies- that's why I love these guys\\n\\nReview: I believe the Essential Simon & Garfunkel is the best introduction you can possibly experience from Simon & Garfunkel. It doesn't include EVERY one of their fantastic tunes (for that you'd need to buy all their regular albums as well) but it does include all the familiar classics (every single one of them in fact) as well as giving the casual fan more incentive to go a little deeper and check out the rest of this collection instead of just skimming around and playing the hits. For that, it's a successful and well-made 2-disc set of quality songs from start to finish.\\n\\n\\\"Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M\\\" is a beautifully quiet folk tune with Paul Simon's trademark vocal style. So warm and cozy, you'll feel like you're well-protected listening to a piece of music like this. Guaranteed. \\\"Bleecker Street\\\" is slightly more upbeat... and when I say \\\"upbeat\\\" I'm not necessarily referring to Whitesnake here, haha. \\\"The Sound of Silence\\\" is a classic. The vocal melody that makes me think about peace moreso than any other song ever recorded. When I was younger the melody would instantly make me think about death, however I don't really think it's as devastatingly surreal like I once did. However, it still makes me cry almost every single time I hear it. What a melody. My newfound interpretation of the lyrics is that silence can be a rewarding and beautiful moment. \\\"Leaves That Are Green\\\" has lyrics we can all relate to- the peacefulness of time passing by and the people we've met that are either no longer a part of our lives, or passed away years ago. The memories shall be brought to our attention once again with a melody this splendid.\\n\\nThe lyrics to \\\"A Most Peculiar Man\\\" reminds me of myself! I'm not peculiar am I? No, not last time I checked. Alright alright, I do peculiar things sometimes. Like I insist on cleaning the salt and pepper shakers before I go to bed. That's strange. I like to make sure those shaker holes aren't clogged next time I use them. I take a shower and wash my body parts in a certain order every single time.... I suppose that's unusual. But anyway!!! This song has a pretty solid melody. It's all about Paul Simon's warm vocals that make it so unbelievably touching. \\\"I Am a Rock\\\" is another magnificent song that captures the spirit of the folk scene in the mid 60's. Somehow Simon & Garfunkel had a way of making their music seem BIGGER than a time period piece. The Hollies covered this song and did a pretty awesome version but *this* is clearly the best version ever made. \\\"Richard Cory\\\" picks up the pace. This song rocks. Well I mean, not necessarily rocks but is significantly more upbeat than the previous 6 tracks. \\\"Kathy's Song\\\" takes a tad longer to get into than the other songs here. Not really sure why. It's another mellow example of Simon & Garfunkel's distinct style of folk/rock genius.\\n\\n\\\"Scarborough Fair/Canticle\\\" will always be associated with piano class in either 10th or 11th grade when I had to learn how to play it. When I finally figured it out I felt so much relief, and I loved showing off my piano skills by playing this song at rocket speed in front of others, haha. It's not meant to be played so fast however- it's a mystical-inspired melody that captures the feeling of inner peace and for me, the precious days of childhood. I will forever connect \\\"Homeward Bound\\\" with the Disney movie that came out in the early 90's involving a golden retriever, bulldog and a cat finding their way home. Of course it also captures the joy of returning home after being away for so long (for people as well as animals). It captures that feeling quite perfectly in fact.\\n\\n\\\"The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)\\\" is a pretty straight forward song that's probably not technically much different from \\\"Scarborough Fair/Canticle\\\" but somehow, it's radically different. Huh? Make sense? Let me try to explain- only a talented act like Simon & Garfunkel can take two songs with a similar style and effectively make them give off radically different emotions and mental pictures. \\\"The Dangling Conversation\\\" features a creative set of lyrics. The meaning sounds to me like another way to interpret everyday life. The atmosphere is really elegant and almost classical-like. \\\"A Poem on the Underground Wall\\\" is perhaps a partial poem in the sense that the melody is caught between reciting a poem and singing. Really cool song though.\\n\\n\\\"A Hazy Shade of Winter\\\" is perhaps even better than the Bangles version! Seriously, the Bangles have a pretty solid version too but nothing beats the one that captures my favorite time period for music- the 60's and 70's. \\\"At the Zoo\\\"... oh! OH!! I know what song this is, haha. I didn't recognize the melody just by glancing at the song title. This has a really steady-paced rockabilly style rhythm that sort of reminds me of Jim Croce's \\\"Bad, Bad Leroy Brown\\\". That can only be a great thing! \\\"Mrs. Robinson\\\" will always remind me of my 8th English teacher, Mr. Robinson! Alright so he's not a Mrs. Oh well. Close enough! He had/has a wife. Anyway he was one of the nicest people I've ever met. He'd basically let the class get away with murder because he was WAY too polite and easy going. Kids would walk all over him constantly as a result. Anyway he lives right up the road from me, and since we both live out in the country and Simon & Garfunkel reminds me of the country life... you can probably see how I'm making a connection between my old English teacher and this wonderful tune! At least I hope you can. :)\\n\\n\\\"Fakin' It\\\" has a groovy melody with subtle \\\"Strawberry Fields Forever\\\"-type arrangements in the background capturing the psychedelic period of rock music so wonderfully. The vocal melody is nothing short of brilliant. \\\"Old Friends\\\" has pleasant orchestration elevating an already pretty good vocal melody. Perhaps the orchestration isn't necessary, especially the overdone portion near the end. Either way I enjoy the song. Getting caught up with a long lost friendship is of the highest order apparently. The orchestration really merges into \\\"Bookends Theme\\\" quite well. This is all about lovely-performed guitar playing with somber vocals. \\\"America\\\" is another fantastic song. How many times can I compliment these wonderful songs? For all eternity! A perfect vocal melody to slow dance to. I can't put into words how awesome I think this melody is. It's really anthemic but in a subtle folk-ish kind of way- not in the typical sense. In other words, the atmosphere provides a different interpretation of America that makes me want to stand up and solute my country whenever it plays. Actually it captures the feeling of being on a ship and coming towards America while wondering about the curiosity that awaits (if you're a foreigner that is). \\\"Overs\\\" is a lazy day ballad. What WILL I get into today? This kind of melody begs the question. Not a favorite of mine to be honest.\\n\\n\\\"El Conder Pasa (If I Could)\\\" begins with a rather enchanted Spanish guitar before flutes and a *spectacular beyond words* vocal melody appears. Paul Simon turns heavenly about halfway through- not sure what he's doing to his vocal range at this point. Perhaps it's the flutes in the background changing his tone. Whether intentional or not, it's a perfect song. \\\"Bridge Over Troubled Water\\\" has the perfect build-up of emotions. The way this song develops is unlike anything else, seriously. Dramatic is one word to describe it, and hard to resist from crying. \\\"Cecilia\\\" is my dad's favorite song and the main reason I bought him this Essential Simon & Garfunkel set. I knew he'd love not only this song, but the entire album. Anyway \\\"Cecilia\\\" is notable for being upbeat with strange drumming in the intro and, once again, a vocal melody that's out of this world awesome. \\\"Keep the Customer Satisfied\\\" feels almost out of place being in between so many ultra serious and compassionate pieces. This song is all about being fun and captures the spirit of the mid 60's rock scene the likes of which the Monkees and Mamas & Papas performed so well. \\\"So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright\\\" is a softly sung ballad more fitting for the first disc perhaps, but I welcome it with love and support on the second disc as well. I wonder if Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel really DID harmonize 'till dawn. Did they? Nice flutes at the end that reminds me of the early summer mornings when the crickets stop chirping and the sun comes up through the trees.\\n\\n\\\"The Boxer\\\" has a vocal melody and atmosphere that reminds me of being lost in the woods and not sure if I'll ever find my way out. Every turn I make is one that makes me cautious and confused. Another, more alarming feeling is whether I can accept death or not. Something about the tune makes me think about these confusing and mysterious questions. \\\"Baby Driver\\\" is for anyone that likes Paul Simon's \\\"Loves Me Like a Rock\\\"- two exciting songs structured in a similar fashion (at least during the verse melody). \\\"The Only Living Boy In New York\\\" is sort of depressing and incredibly mellow, and maybe more appropriate for the first disc (much like \\\"So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright\\\"). \\\"Song For The Asking\\\" doesn't seem like much of a song at first- repeated listens reveal an element of beauty that lingers and makes you want to cry. \\\"For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her\\\" begins with some really gorgeous guitar chords and a tender sung vocal melody that lights up my senses. Really beautiful. How a ballad SHOULD be written. I have \\\"My Little Town\\\" on Paul Simon's Still Crazy After All These Years album. Art Garfunkel got back together with Paul Simon for a short time just to make this one excellent song. My favorite song on that album, but on this Essential Simon & Garfunkel set... it's just another in a long list of quality tracks.\\n\\nIf the first time you play this set you're not blown away, listen to it again. The second time through is the key to finding out what makes this music so fantastic. Oh, and some of these versions are supposedly different from the other more familiar versions. However, I fail to hear what makes \\\"The Sound of Silence\\\" for example much different from the one I've been hearing on radio stations for years. If there's a difference it's really subtle and the average person wouldn't be able to notice. The 7 or 8 live tracks are all really good too- the audience only cheers at the beginning and end of the live tracks as to not distract from the overall listening experience. STRONGLY recommended for a purchase.\",\n \"Product: Like its predecessor (released eight months prior), the band's second LP hit the Top 40 and gave the band concert staples like 24 Hours at a Time and Blue Ridge Mountain Sky -and they were doing plenty of concerts at the time, touring with the Allman Brothers! Live bonus track: Another Cruel Love , recorded in Milwaukee in '74.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: a new life is a great life\\n\\nReview: The album cover perfectly sums up what to expect. A horse walking down a path on a high mountaintop and looking down at a few small homes in the fields, with a beautiful and colorful image of distant mountains in the background. It's not only a fantastic cover to analyze, but there may actually be a few ways to interpret it, too.\\n\\nSuch as... maybe the horse riding high in the mountains is an indication of the bands quick rise to stardom? Or maybe I'm thinking about it too hard and the album cover simply illustrates the beauty and colorful creativity that can be heard in the music.\\n\\nA New Life is a minor masterpiece and REALLY shows just how much further the Marshall Tucker Band were willing to push the boundaries as far as how far the southern rock formula can go. This album is a drastic step forward from their self-titled debut in terms of songwriting and instrumental variety.\\n\\n\\\"You Ain't Foolin' Me\\\" has a very good verse melody and chorus, but that's not *quite* what makes this song stand out so drastically. It's shortly after the 2 minute mark when the song REALLY takes off and confirms (to me, at least) that the Marshall Tucker Band are the real deal. The saxophone solo is incredibly melodic and perhaps this is a total coincidence, but the first few lines of the sax solo totally remind me of a Roxy Music song from their debut released back in 1972. From here, well, images of the album cover noticeably come to mind as the saxophone takes a sudden departure and a dreamy guitar solo elevates the greatness of the song to even higher heights. This instrumental middle section resembles *no* other southern rock band. Not the Allman Brothers Band or Lynyrd Skynyrd. It's completely unique.\\n\\nIf you enjoy the instrumental creativity in \\\"You Ain't Foolin' Me\\\" be prepared to have your socks totally knocked off upon experiencing \\\"Southern Woman\\\". What starts off as a highly memorable vocal melody suddenly (eventually- 3 minutes later) sends me into total, unexpected shock as a straight up saxophone solo makes a VERY surprising appearance. Unlike in the song I mention above, this particular sax jam actually *jams* for a minute or so, and it sounds completely different from anything any other southern band had ever attempted, before or since. It's flat out awesome. Perhaps it's inspired by Van Morrison's \\\"Moondance\\\" a little bit, but it's certainly no ripoff or anything.\\n\\nThe title song brings me to tears, seriously. I actually cried the first time I heard it... alright make that the second time (because I wasn't paying attention to it the first time, for some clueless reason on my part!) The verse melody is another quality piece of writing, the lyrics are touching and meaningful, but it's the flute jam and the gradual morph into an electric guitar jam that BLOWS MY EMOTIONS COMPLETELY AWAY! There's quite a few moments of this song that move me emotionally, but the jam takes the cake.\\n\\n\\\"24 Hours at a Time\\\" is *another* fantastic highlight. I can't exactly explain why, though. It's a fairly fast-paced country rocker, but... there's something special about it that makes it stand apart from the crowd. I think it's the line \\\"Woman you're always on my mind, 24 hours at a time, somehow woman I'm hoping you feel the same\\\" that really makes it attractive. Or perhaps the tasteful guitar jam at the end which immediately makes me think of a happy place is the reason for its ability to give me especially strong positive felings, I don't know.\\n\\n\\\"Fly Eagle Fly\\\" ends the album on a fairly quiet note with a softly written track. It contains innocent lyrics and an attractive vocal melody, and not much else. Honestly it doesn't *need* anything else.\\n\\nI really hope you pick up what I consider a masterpiece in southern rock. I've had people tell over the years how much they dislike the southern rock genre. It's honestly nearly impossible to hate THIS album, in my opinion. The arrangements are constantly beautiful and always played tastefully, and the amount of sincerity in both the vocal melodies and the lyrics is simply hard to ignore. Find a way to hear this album.\",\n \"Product: Japanese remastered reissue of the British progressive rock act's 1974 album features four tracks (each about ten minutes in length) packaged in a miniature LP sleeve. Arcangelo. 2003.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: pick this one up soon\\n\\nReview: Gryphon is quite the unique band. They have a Renaissance style that COMPLETELY dominates their sound and style. They don't care about electric guitar solos, drums, or anything like that. And yet, the music they made back in the day still has a distinct rock and roll style, fitting in extremely well with the diverse music scene in the 70's, and totally impresses me.\\n\\nThis album features songwriting that's taken to a more consistent approach. No more instrumental passages that do nothing but sit there and sound pretty. Now the band has musical ideas that are actually *good* and draw you into their unique, colorful Renaissance-influenced sound.\\n\\nThere are moments that sound like Jethro Tull around the time they were working on the Thick as a Brick album. I really really think the beginning three minutes of \\\"Lament\\\" is the best moment in music EVER. See what I said there? Not the best moment in rock music only, best moment in music OF ALL TIME! It's THAT good. You have to hear it to know what I mean.\\n\\n\\\"Opening Move\\\" is quite impressive as well with some Gentle Giant influences.\\n\\nA must own.\",\n \"Product: This CD is an out of print collectible! It is the 2002 Lifesong release. Catalog LSCD-7002-2.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: this my friends... this is a great debut\\n\\nReview: For over 20 years now, growing up one hour north of Baltimore in a small town nobody's probably ever heard of, I've been hearing about this rock band called Crack the Sky. On radio stations, they'd occasionally play some of the bands music. I was under the assumption they were in the same league of popularity as any other rock band- I had absolutely NO idea Crack the Sky were actually considered a small secret exclusively in the Baltimore area.\\n\\nFor some strange reason, in my mind I was expecting Crack the Sky to resemble the mid 70's commercial period of Blue Oyster Cult but... no, nothing like Blue Oyster Cult. At least, if their debut is any indication, this band has a *variety* of styles and influences.\\n\\nYou know after hearing this album, I decided to do a little research. Hey why not? The internet is a useful tool these days, hehe.\\n\\nSome of the vocal melodies reminded me ever so slightly of the lead singer from the band Toto (you know, the band that had popular hits such as \\\"Africa\\\", \\\"Roseanna\\\" and \\\"Hold the Line\\\"). But... it turns out Toto didn't release their debut until 1978, so perhaps Toto was influenced by these guys. Hey you never know- it's a small world. However, the one band I definitely hear in Crack the Sky's music is Marillion. Again, I did some research and it turns out THAT band didn't release their debut album until 1983. Perhaps Crack the Sky has some influential secrets that have been kept undercover all these years.\\n\\nAlright, let me TRY to describe this amazingly diverse set of songs. It's going to be hard, no doubt about it, but I'll try.\\n\\nPerhaps the most likeable aspect of Crack the Sky's debut is that it reminds me of Journey before the Steve Perry years in that, this is a VERY cool sounding album, with the freedom to be as experimental and creative as the band members desired at the time. That's truly a commendable attribute.\\n\\n\\\"Sleep\\\" has a vocal melody that's not much different from Crosby, Stills & Nash, but the instrumental portion is what makes it stand in a different category from any kind of comparisons. Perhaps the acoustic intro was influenced by British rock band UFO, or maybe Canadian rock band Rush. I don't really know. All I know is that it's not quite the same as anything I've heard other popular bands from the mid 70's attempt. The lead singer definitely reminds me of Marillion, and here I thought Marillion was a Genesis ripoff all this time! Not quite.\\n\\nAnyway, if you like the verse melody to this song, you absolutely MUST hear a band called Wishbone Ash. You absolutely must. Anyway, what makes \\\"Sleep\\\" so extraordinary is the catchy vocal melody, and to be honest, the ability to make the entire song unpredictable with the instrumental talents. This sets them apart from any other band that comes to mind.\\n\\n\\\"Sea Epic\\\" has an intro that reminds me of Billy Joel's \\\"The Stranger\\\" with the moody piano lines (minus the whistling, thankfully) however that quickly fades and a pretty good vocal melody comes in, full of passion and beauty, and when the second vocal melody makes an appearance, the rhythm picks up and becomes even MORE emotionally enjoyable. There's other impressive aspects of \\\"Sea Epic\\\" that I haven't mentioned such as the majestic atmosphere. A part of me wonders if the lead singer was influenced by Kansas on this particular track, or maybe Peter Gabriel era Genesis.\\n\\n\\\"She's a Dancer\\\" is quite the song. In my opinion, and perhaps I'm alone in this regard, I hear what sounds like a perfect combination of jazz and pop. It's a unique song because it blends numerous styles together and blends them flawlessly, and the vocal melody? What about it? It's *extremely* good. A classic track.\\n\\n\\\"Ice\\\" is a drastic departure from the rest of the album. I can't even begin to describe the way the verse melody is sung. It doesn't resemble anybody else- that's one thing I know for absolute certain. I love the intro with the loud, pounding drums playing along with these melodic guitar lines. It's really cool. I love how the chorus goes \\\"Afraid of the ice\\\" with some space rock-ish guitar work immediately playing afterwards. Repeated listens reveals a style of guitar soloing that's really sophisticated- I didn't notice this right away. I simply love everything about \\\"Ice\\\". No, not REAL ice. Real ice stinks!\\n\\n\\\"Robots for Ronnie\\\" has a meaningful-sounding vocal melody... however the lyrics are very funny and interesting, haha. I'm not sure if these lyrics are supposed to provid humor or perhaps it tells a realistic story of a very sad person who's somewhat depressed and lonely. In which case, I apologize for finding it humorous.\\n\\n\\\"Hold On\\\" and \\\"Surf City\\\" are the two best rock songs in a row one could possibly ASK for! Two really energetic guitar-dominated tracks with extremely impressive choruses. This is seriously some really good stuff.\\n\\nOverall, Crack the Sky is an astonishing rock band. Progressive rock at its finest, and pop/rock at its finest too... and hard rock at its finest! Which category does this band fall under again? Hmmm, that is the million dollar question. Anyway, check out an album called \\\"Anyway\\\" by a band called Family released in 1970. It doesn't sound exactly like Crack the Sky's debut, but you'll like it, trust me.\",\n \"Product: First time on CD, remastered reissue of the jazz drummer's 1975 album. Sony. 2005.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: wow, this is some good stuff\\n\\nReview: For those of you who have yet to experience Believe It by Tony Williams, let me try to explain what it sounds like. The guitar playing is pretty heavy, melodic and jazzy in a Santana or Al Di Meola kind of way, and the keyboards remind me of any number of mid 70's jazz artists such as Chick Corea or Return to Forever.\\n\\nHowever, I'm only making these comparisons so you know what to expect. I'm not necessarily saying one is better than the other. Only *you* can be the judge of that.\\n\\nI actually went in believing Believe It was Tony Williams most popular album, but I was told Emergency might have a slight edge in the popularity department. Well regardless which album is more popular, the fact remains that Believe It is a minor classic in the land of underappreciated jazz/rock.\\n\\n\\\"Snake Oil\\\" features an insanely heavy guitar riff that possibly holds up just as well as the classic period of the Mahavishnu Orchestra or any number of other 70's jazz/rock artists, and the only thing that sort of bugs me about it is the way that one guitar riff repeats for about 4 minutes... and the song is only 6 minutes long. This means when the actual jazz jamming gets underway, the song is just about over.\\n\\n\\\"Fred\\\" is quite possibly the coolest song on the album. Listen to that incredibly brutal guitar solo near the end. Is that awesome or WHAT? Yes it is! \\\"Proto-Cosmos\\\" is more of a display in keyboard jamming but features a satisfying amount of guitar playing as well.\\n\\nThe rest of the album ventures in the same jazzy territory, and it's terrific. Please pick it up.\",\n \"Product: All that mascara 'n snakes didn't hide the fact that this was among the best of '70s hard rock, led by that all-time classic, I'm Eighteen; Elected; School's Out (Forever!); No More Mr. Nice Guy; Billion Dollar Babies and more.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: the best Alice Cooper album\\n\\nReview: Yes, I know Alice Cooper was capable of some amazing diversity. Just check out any one of his regular studio albums from the early to mid 70's for further proof. The guy could go from pop, to straight up rock, to old-style heavy rock, to highly unusual theatrical rock (whatever that means, haha... but seriously, don't watch any of his live concerts unless you LIKE being grossed out by his disgusting behavior).\\n\\nBut those albums always had one problem- they were loaded with filler. For every two or three great songs, we'd get an average one. To me, that's a problem, and I don't like listening to inconsistent albums. While the variety is commendable, I just can't get into some of his wild experiments when it comes down to it.\\n\\nWith this greatest hits album, not only are we getting the hits, but we're getting many of Alice's more melodic and to-the-point tracks and put onto one brilliant album. It's mostly an album for vocal melody lovers out there. You'll be sure to recognize many of the songs, while feeling totally satisfied the entire time. Worth picking up.\",\n \"Product: There has been so little Seals & Crofts available on CD that the arrival of this Top 5 album from 1973 is like the gift of, well, a diamond! Includes Diamond Girl; Ruby Jean and Billy Lee; Intone My Servant; We May Never Pass This Way (Again) , and more.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: you sure do shine\\n\\nReview: I love Seals and Crofts, and as someone who's only 27 years old and didn't even grow up in the 70's, I don't feel embarrassed at ALL for liking these guys (despite some people trying to make me feel bad for liking them).\\n\\nSeals and Crofts just have a special way with their vocal melodies that makes me feel at ease, and allows me to think about adventurous images from places all around the world, whether it be mountains, lakes, rivers, oceans, deserts, or rainforests. Just wonderful music. Diamond Girl is a great album.\\n\\nAlright, you got me- the main reason I bought this album was because of the title song. You see I never actually heard either the Diamond Girl or Summer Breeze albums and as someone who's heard well over 600 rock albums from the 70's, I felt it was time to give a relatively popular album a shot from a band that WAS pretty big at one time.\\n\\nSome people think \\\"Diamond Girl\\\" is ripping off Van Morrison's \\\"Moondance\\\" a little bit, and maybe they're right since I never really noticed it until it was brought to my attention. Both songs feature similar vibes.\\n\\n\\\"Ruby Jean and Billie Lee\\\" shows the beautiful and incredible vocal talents of Seals and Crofts. Spectacular vocals continue on \\\"Intone My Servant\\\" and \\\"We May Never Pass This Way Again\\\" (supposedly this song was a major hit, but I sure never heard it on the radio).\\n\\nI'm really not sure what to make of \\\"Nine Houses\\\". It's seven minutes of... pretty acoustic playing, a small influence of the progressive rock movement perhaps (maybe Jethro Tull) and strangely melodic vocals.\\n\\n\\\"Standin' on a Mountain Top\\\" sounds like it should have been a huge hit, and a song millions of people would have loved. \\\"It's Gonna Come Down On You\\\" might be my favorite of the underrated selections from the album (my favorite song is still \\\"Ruby Jean and Billie Lee\\\", but more people are aware of that song.\\n\\n\\\"Jessica\\\" is another great song (though short) and \\\"Dust in the Saddle\\\" has an obvious country influence (or maybe bluegrass, not sure exactly). \\\"Wisdom\\\" closes out the album, and the song is NOTHING but a four minute saxophone jam. Sure, it's no Miles Davis or Soft Machine, but for what it is, it's pretty good. Good thing I started getting into saxophone jams a short while ago or I wouldn't be appreciating the song as much as I do now. A really weird choice by Seals and Crofts I must say.\\n\\nDon't be afraid to try this album. Just because Seals and Crofts tend to be lumped in with America and Lobo doesn't mean they actually SOUND like those bands. This is seriously some good music no matter if you grew up in the 70's or not.\",\n \"Product: This Tampa band saw its members go on to join Iron Butterfly and Three Dog Night. These 1969 and 1970 Atco LPs mix spicy Latin flavors with rock as the band does Rise Up; Take Me Back; It's the Truth; In Front Behind You , and more!\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Extremely underrated blues rock\\n\\nReview: I bought this 2-albums on one CD package because I enjoyed the Blues Image big radio hit \\\"Ride Captain Ride\\\" and I wanted to see if the band had other songs as enjoyable as that one. Turns out the music on this CD is actually a lot different than that song. I never would have thought this music would be so enjoyable from a supposedly one-hit wonder.\\n\\nLet me quickly mention what to expect when you play this CD. Tracks 1 through 9 is their very first album called the Blues Image, and tracks 10 through 18 would be the band's third album, Red White and Blues Image. For some reason they didn't put the second album on here, and they chose to go with the third album instead. I have no idea what that second album (titled Open) is like. If it's anything like the first or third album, I'll love it, without a doubt!\\n\\nThe first album is packed with plenty of guitar and keyboard jams and bluesy vocal melodies all over the place. I do think they write vocal melodies in the same way Grand Funk Railroad wrote them in their early days, and the keyboards the Blues Image are using seem to be influenced by Deep Purple because they sound like something straight from a Deep Purple album. You can tell this band loves creating fun, bluesy jams.\\n\\nThe Red White and Blues Image album isn't quite like the debut album. It's more about the vocal melodies. I'd say every song on the third album is melodic and sometimes bordering on either soul or gospel music while mostly focusing on rock and roll, of course. The music on this album has a similar feel and atmosphere to the Doobie Brothers version of \\\"Jesus Is Just Alright With Me\\\" and maybe even some Three Dog Night or Guess Who similarities here and there.\\n\\nIt's amazing when you listen to the Red White and Blues Image album because every song seems to have very emotional singing. You can tell the band members really want the listener to feel the friendly atmosphere and the beautiful singing. The result is that the album works, and works entirely well.\\n\\nBoth albums feature one long jam as the last song on each album. The jam on the first album is just over 9 minutes and contains enough guitars, keyboards, and rhythm changes to make anyone who loves 70's progressive rock happy. The 8 minute jam that closes out Red White and Blues Image is more about the guitar and drums and feels slightly better constructed than the other jam, in my opinion. I'd say it also rocks more than the first jam but both songs are fun and exciting.\\n\\nBoth jams may include moments that might make you feel like you're listening to an early Santana album. I also hear Allman Brothers influences. You really can't go wrong with this music if you like soulful singing, strong vocal melodies, and long keyboard and guitar jamming. The Blues Image may not have been a groundbreaking band, but they played great rock music, and the band sounds like they are having fun on both albums.\\n\\nThe rest of the songs on both albums aren't as long. They're all in between 2 and 5 minutes. I just love the way these guys write good melodies while jamming at the same time and they have the talent to make it melodic and interesting every time. Good stuff.\\n\\nThis is 70's rock at its best, and I'm still surprised how much I like every song. \\\"Ride Captain Ride\\\" may have been their biggest hit (and probably their only hit) but this CD includes 18 wonderful tracks that stand right next to that song. Just please don't ignore this 2-album CD because it doesn't have that one hit song. You'll find plenty to like on here, I guarantee it. Highly recommended.\",\n \"Product: LENNON JOHN WORKING CLASS HEROE (2CD)\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: 5 stars for the music, 3 for the idea of yet another collection\\n\\nReview: Let's be honest- you can't make a definitive collection for a guy like John Lennon. Not when there's over 90% of his discography that's worth hearing and owning. The only possible way a collection like this can be complete is when 90% of his legacy has been included. Anything less than that is really not worth owning. You mine as well just buy his regular studio albums when so many of his best songs have been left off his collections. With that said, what we have here is really good despite not being an essential purchase. You will recognize many of the songs, because they've become important pieces of music over the years, but let's just buy Lennon's studio albums instead.\",\n \"Product: An elegant and legendary vocal superstar, four-time Grammy honoree Roberta Flack's unmistakable delivery wraps a timeless R&B sound with beautiful flourishes of jazz, pop and soul. She first climbed to the top of the charts with her definitive version of \\\"First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.\\\" The very next year, \\\"Killing Me Softly,\\\" her first duet with the late, great Donnie Hathaway took the same prize, and also hit #1. Also featuring her hit-making collaborations with Peabo Bryson and Maxi Priest, as well as many selections on which she shines solo, this must-have collection spotlights Flack's masterful song interpretation and rich emotional resonance.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: wow, this is superb!\\n\\nReview: I'm honestly a bit stunned tonight. You see for a couple months now I've been wanting to give Roberta Flack's music a serious chance because secretly I had a great suspicious feeling that her style was my cup of tea. I wanted to hear more that this singer has done, but I've been lazily putting it off until now. Until tonight that is. I'm SO glad I listened to this album! Let's run through the songs.\\n\\nWell it turns out I KNOW \\\"Where Is the Love\\\" plus several other songs that I had completely forgotten about. This was surely a hit song. I used to hear it often on the radio in the 80's when I was just a kid. I have to agree with the song title- where IS the love nowadays? Now it's all pushing and shoving just to get the latest smartphone or whatever. A technological-driven world we live in so... where's the love? The most important thing is love and it's missing nowadays. Anyway it's a short song, but the lyrical message is really strong. Donny Hathaway's voice works splendidly with Robert's style like the two were made to perform together.\\n\\n\\\"Feel Like Makin' Live\\\" is a great Bad Company cover... not! Two completely different songs. This song possesses a strange \\\"Midnight at the Oasis\\\" vibe (Maria Muldaur song if you don't know... or remember!) in the carefree atmosphere. Oh wow now the next song is a surprise. Make that a MAJOR surprise! \\\"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face\\\" is an *extremely* good song. Another hit too. I absolutely LOVE this somber/moody tune. The vocals rely heavily on Roberta's soft yet powerful touch. Soul done right I say. \\\"And So It Goes\\\" is where Roberta sings so passionately and beautifully that this song might be the most uplifting moment on the entire disc. Seriously so far the quality of the music is really high. You go Roberta!\\n\\n\\\"Tonight I Celebrate Your Love\\\"... wouldn't you know it, *another* popular song that I forgot about. I'm pretty sure I first heard this song on some infomercial advertising \\\"the best of soul\\\" or something silly and gimmicky like that. Peabo Bryson and Roberta sing so perfectly together. \\\"The Closer I Get To You\\\" is where Roberta takes her style into a slower-paced, tender direction. The soulful style displayed here is wonderful all the same whether it's performed slow or fast. Roberta doesn't care and can nail both speeds with tremendous ease. Seriously what is it about her voice that appeals to me so much?\\n\\n\\\"Till the Morning Comes\\\" is a great Neil Young cover... nah, haha. Tricked you again! Actually I tricked nobody. None of the readers fell for that little comment at all out there. If you did you're crazy man! In all honesty this song doesn't appeal to me much and is perhaps the weakest song on the album. Sorry! \\\"Back Together Again\\\" WOULD have been one of the best songs here but they had to go and edit it by a minute or two. The version with the catchy brass and bass guitar at the end with the familiar disco-style orchestration is the best version. This version is different. It's shorter by a couple minutes, but either way I love the magnificent funky groove and great steady-paced vocal exchanges with Donny Hathaway appearing yet again (and on a few more tracks). It's a fantastic dance song.\\n\\n\\\"Making Love\\\" is a strangely peaceful tune. I feel at peace when I hear it, but the good news is that it's not *too* peaceful that I fall asleep. Roberta keeps a strong vocal melody intact so my attention is never diverted elsewhere. \\\"Only Heaven Can Wait (For Love)\\\" is perhaps another edited version. Roberta's vocals possess a vibe and style similar to \\\"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face\\\". And by the way isn't it strange that the word \\\"ever\\\" is placed before \\\"I?\\\" I'm used to writing and reading things in a manner where the word \\\"ever\\\" comes after the \\\"I\\\". Must be a certain writing technique I'm not familiar with that occurred in the early 70's and before.\\n\\nOh wow now THIS is a trip down memory lane. I'm referring to \\\"Set the Night to Music\\\". Wow it's literally been 25 years if not more since I last heard this terrific beach-capturing romantic melody. I was only an 8 year old boy back then! This song is VERY atmospheric and appropriate for a late night stroll on a warm summer night alongside a tropical beach. You know it's possible I've been hearing the Starship song in the 80's and not this version but I can't say for certain. To be honest I don't even know which version I like more. The Starship, particularly Jefferson Starship, are an extraordinary rock band but lost steam when they changed over to Starship in the 80's. This makes it tough to pick a preference in this case. Either way I love this song to pieces so we'll declare it a tie. I think Roberta places more emphasis on a stronger chorus which enhances the atmosphere, though.\\n\\n\\\"You Are My Heaven\\\" is where Donny Hathaway reminds me of a young Stevie Wonder during the verse melody with a similar singing style. The chorus is a little too cute and clichd but I like it anyway. \\\"Oasis\\\" takes advantage of 80's production in a positive dance-filled kind of way with a tremendous beat, great saxophone work that comes and goes and the sunset-watching atmosphere cannot be denied, nor can the catchy vocal melody. \\\"Don't Make Me Wait Too Long\\\" is an interestingly written song. The dazzling instrumental part in the beginning that occasionally appears throughout the tune (usually in the background) involving catchy, rhythm-jerky bass and other instrumentation is VERY delightful. The glorious vocal work is quite dreamy in a late 70's kind of way too which instantly makes it memorable.\\n\\nNow \\\"Trade Winds\\\" is brilliant. This version is okay but the original from the mid 70's is the best one. This song is special to me personally for the way it goes through several tempo changes which happen to change my perception/emotions. \\\"Trade Winds\\\" is mostly a sadly-presented song but lyrically there's some realistic hard-hitting and relevant lyrics about the decline of the human race when one loses the ability to love. The line about people living in sin and shame is most notable. So this song is sad for the brutal honesty in the frighteningly realistic lyrics combined with Roberta's vocal style itself but Roberta sings the melody in such a way that's it's presented/disguised beautifully so someone not paying attention to the lyrics might overlook the sadness in the truthful lyrical message. Awesome mini rollercoaster ride of emotions.\\n\\nWell that's the end of my review! Hope you enjoyed reading it! Oh right, haha. Silly me! How could I write several paragraphs and not mention \\\"Killing Me Softly With His Song?\\\" Because I like being silly! This song is *extraordinary* on so many levels. The way Roberta takes her vocal technique and makes it sail across a very beautiful and catchy vocal melody absolutely amazes me. I've never heard a song like this before. I don't even know if simply calling it soul is enough to give it justice because it feels like so much more. It lights up my senses every time I hear it. Everyone I know loves this song too. I mean everyone! Who out there actually dislikes \\\"Killing Me Softly With His Song?\\\" You can't hate it. Whether you're riding in your car to work, doing the dishes at home, cooking dinner, vacuuming the carpet, riding an exercise bike or walking your dog- this melody is appropriate for ALL situations. I love it!\\n\\nPick up the Very Best of Roberta Flack today and experience greatness!\",\n \"Product: \\\"Color Green\\\" was recorded in Germany in the 1970-1973. In a particularly dark and moody period of her young life, Claudine, a friend of Sibylle's, dragged her out from under the bed and took her on a road trip to Strasbourg, ending up across the Alps in Genoa. Upon the return from this trip Sibylle felt her sprits renewed and she set out to write the song \\\"Remember the Day\\\", grateful for being alive. It was the first song she ever wrote. Her music is simply amazing in it's intimacy and closeness. Recorded in the late 70's in her home on a reel to reel recording device, the songs on \\\"Color Green\\\" are intimate portraits of life's sad and fragile beauty. It is a gem of an album that will blow your mind. Sibylle is a star who chose to shine for her friends and family instead of the whole world.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: green is one of many colors\\n\\nReview: Update- June 7, 2015\\n\\nYou probably know the story- this music was actually released in the early 70's back when folk rock was significantly more devastating and sincere than it is now, much like all genres. Now it's all a great big commercial mess of unsatisfaction. Back then though, back in the 70's... now *that's* what I'm talking about! Sibylle Baier released a bunch of songs not meant to be released to the general public but... it HAS been released, over 35 years later. Hey who did that! Was it you? No, it was her son of all people. Her own flesh and blood is the one who'd wise up and prevail. It was certainly a wonderful idea since now we *all* get to hear what a wonderful piece of music Colour Green is, and trust me, it's more amazing than most folk/rock out there.\\n\\nFirst of all, believe it or not, I detect a fairly original style here. I guess you can say Sibylle's style is somewhere in between Joni Mitchell's more thought provoking lyrical content and Nick Drake's dark-themed sincerity. While Colour Green probably isn't quite as good as either artist, it darn sure comes remarkably close. \\\"I Lost Something In the Hills\\\" is the best song here, and the longest at 3:30 minutes (which is amazingly short- hey this is no Fairport Convention after all). The guitar is tuned down pretty far making the song sadder than a defenseless chicken upon seeing a fox has entered the barn. Okay, wrong type of comparison on my part perhaps but it *is* really sad. I think these lyrics can be taken to a deeper meaning- we *all* lose something eventually, and when you take a few minutes to lay down in a field and daydream on top of a cliff, you'll look out into the sky and realize this. A sad fact of life I'm afraid. Way WAY ahead of its time too. Nobody sung like this in the early 70's except maybe Nick Drake.\\n\\nElsewhere you have the SUPER melodic \\\"Forgett\\\" (not sure what's up with the extra \\\"t\\\"). This is my second favorite sing-along song. You know the way Sibylle sings softly combined with her deep voice makes this so unbelievably different from the stuff I normally associate with 70's folk rock. And I LOVE the way the tempo alternatives haunting sadness with upbeat. By \\\"upbeat\\\" I mean the melody feels like it's trying to find happiness in a dark place. I'd probably like \\\"Softly\\\" more if it didn't keep repeating the darn chorus so many times. Come on Sibylle! Then again the song has a way of creeping me into it. \\\"The End\\\" is more haunting material illustrating... well, I picture the end of my life when I hear these vocals but the lyrics are probably pertaining to another subject. Not really sure.\\n\\n\\\"Tonight\\\" has a folk style so natural the way the vocals speed up. Very original singer/songwriter and guitar player. The lyrics illustrate the feeling of a changing mood, but Sibylle has this way of making it sound so personal and deep. \\\"Says Elliott\\\" features lots of depressing soul. The kind of soul only a deep thinker would be able to create when secluded and can bring out these true feelings. The horizons look bleak when thoughts of growing old enter the mind. \\\"Give Me a Smile\\\" is a slower moving song with orchestration... the vocal melody relying on simplicity to present its beauty this time.\\n\\n\\\"Remember the Day\\\" is sort of like \\\"Forgett\\\" with the tempo changes- leaving to get some food never hit my emotions so hard! Dreary enough to make the oceans ahead look gray. The title song has rushed Joni Mitchell-like vocals in the verse melody. Sort of messy but imagery is still there. \\\"Wim\\\" has many tempo changes occurring while questioning love. The way Sibylle literally asks questions about love is unusual but naturally pleasant. \\\"William has similar emotional shifts as \\\"Wim\\\". Hey Sibylle, I WOULD like to talk to you! I'd like to discuss why it was wrong for you to not pursue your career when it was obvious you had talent based on the many musicians out there who named you as a major influence along with the giant online fan base... okay okay, maybe we don't have to go there, lol.\\n\\n\\\"Girl\\\" has lots of pure feeling. The message behind the lyrics isn't clear but I'm sure someone knows what this song is about. \\\"Driving\\\" has a steady-paced relatively peaceful vocal melody. I can imagine myself taking an evening drive through fields and dirt roads and arriving to that secluded happy spot that belongs to me and nobody else. Only the butterflies and myself hang out here. Doesn't this song give you the same image? \\\"Forget About\\\" is the softest song on the album. The vocals are so soft you can almost squeeze them! The lyrics seem to point towards forgetting about the bad things that happen from time to time and focus on the precious moments. Hey why not.\\n\\nLyrically Colour Green is a genius effort and I highly recommend it. Musically it's quite fantastic as well, regardless which musician it might remind you of. You can remember how these songs go and will surely fall in love with them. Love the way Sibylle has a firm grasp on the guitar. Her talents stretch far and deep. You need this album!\",\n \"Product: AM radio magic without the static! This fantastic collection is your one-stop ticket back to the groovy '70s, featuring 20 of your favorite songs by one-hit wonder artists. And who knows the 70s better than Barry Greg Brady Williams from the ever-popular sitcom The Brady Bunch. You may not remember the artists, but you're sure to remember these Top-10 songs, like Afternoon Delight, Please Come To Boston, In The Summertime, Sometimes When We Touch, Play That Funky Music, The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia, Seasons In The Sun and many more.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: great music, with one huge flaw\\n\\nReview: That flaw obviously being, gathering a collection of one hit wonders from the 70's and putting them onto a single collection has been done NUMEROUS times by now to the point of being, well, pointless!\\n\\nHowever what makes me forgive this particular version is that it features 20 songs I do really really like, so there's no inconsistency whatsoever. \\\"Beach Baby\\\" might very well be my favorite song here, and several others have become somewhat forgotten over the years as far as classic rock radio is concerned.\\n\\nWe've reached that point in time where the big hits from the 70's are being pushed to the back to make room for artists like Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Coldplay and several other current bands, so despite the fact the playlist on Barry Williams Presents: One Hit Wonders of the 70's is totally generic and predictable, at least it's understandable why someone would choose to purchase this given the fact these songs have somewhat faded over time.\\n\\nStill, enough is enough- let's focus on the REAL aspect that made the 70's so great with the many album-oriented original bands that are rightfully receiving most of the attention these days, such as (to name a few artists out of literally hundreds) Elton John, Cat Stevens, Procol Harum, Genesis, Al Di Meola, Captain Beyond, Chicago, etc. These are the artists that music listeners and buyers should be focusing on instead.\",\n \"Product: 1982 album featuring \\\"More Than This\\\", \\\"The Main Thing\\\" & \\\"Avalon\\\". (Condition: EX/EX)\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: I honestly don't get it\\n\\nReview: I realize Avalon is supposed to be Roxy Music's masterpiece according to popular opinion, but to me, it sounds like any number of early 80's rock albums. You know, artificially produced, slickly recorded, predictable early 80's dance rock music. This is easily a far cry from the early 70's Roxy Music stuff.\\n\\nThe synthesizers offend me the most- they may give off a perfect worldly atmosphere, but they never come across as melodic or unique- instead they just roll along harmlessly and uncreatively (much like the songwriting). I've heard synths played in a similar way numerous times so I'm not sure why Roxy Music gets a free pass in that regard.\\n\\nFurthermore, the music is, for the most part, not even remotely challenging or experimental like the first 5 Roxy Music albums.\\n\\nWhere's all the instrumental variety? Where's the sophisticated songwriting? It's all been replaced with a selection of dance songs that definitely reflects the early 80's commercial rock scene instead of standing out on its own. Not even remotely distinctive. I could easily compare this album to the stuff Prince, David Bowie and the Talking Heads were doing at the time and not hear anything particularly noteworthy whatsoever.\\n\\nProbably my favorite song (which would be a weak selection had it appeared on any of the first five Roxy Music albums, of course) would be \\\"Take a Chance With Me\\\". At least the chorus -while fairly bland and indicative of a band completely out of songwriting ideas by this point- catches my attention a little better than the rest of the songs. The title song is another minor forgivable highlight. Again, nothing truly special, but it does contain a pretty nice verse melody. I guess \\\"More Than This\\\" is a pretty good choice for a quality song, but the tempo rolls along so predictably and never alters- it's just Bryan Ferry repeating the same verse melody over and over.\\n\\nA song like \\\"A Space Between\\\" is quite repetitive and horrendously dated. This sounds like the kind of song you'd hear on Baywatch. The chorus basically loops over and over again near the final minute or so, and it's not a particularly good chorus to begin with. \\\"The Main Thing\\\" is complete filler.\\n\\nThen we arrive to the end and hear tracks like \\\"True to Life\\\" and it's basically a slowed down version of \\\"A Space Between\\\". At least, the background arrangements are identical. This song reminds me of 10cc's \\\"I'm Not in Love\\\" in the way the haunting/dreamy background vocals were utilized. I personally don't understand the appeal of a song like this unless you have great admiration for Bryan Ferry's vocals. In fact, being an enormous fan of Ferry's voice and vocal range is really the *only* way you can appreciate an album like Avalon because, for the most part, the album leaves me cold in many other areas.\\n\\nNo, people who love Roxy Music's early 70's period will not necessarily find anything to like about Avalon. Keep this in mind.\",\n \"Product: Orange labels 2nd pressing.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: meh... eh... it's not that bad I guess\\n\\nReview: Self Portrait is, as you probably know, not really meant as a serious album. Bob Dylan wanted to remove that \\\"spokesman of a generation\\\" tag that so many of us associate him with and... this is how he got rid of it! Mediocrity from beginning to end. Well, with a few exceptions.\\n\\n\\\"All the Tired Horses\\\" begins the album and reveals this is no highly exceptional Dylan experience but rather, well to be honest -as hard as this is to say about a musician I love to pieces and especially the fact it was released in 1970 when most artists were at the top of their game- a waste of your time. It contains repetitive female vocals with strings and sounds pretty bland. Reminds me of the first half of the Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid soundtrack. \\\"Alberta #1\\\" is bland, straight forward, bluesy and features no creative arrangements whatsoever. \\\"I Forget More Than You Will Ever Know\\\" reminds me of your typical slow-paced religious country yuckage that artists such as Charlie Rich were doing at the time. \\\"Days of 49\\\" is the best song here and definitely fits in with the mid 60's lyrical style that Dylan was so darn incredible at, and maybe I'm crazy but the verse melody reminds me of Neil Young's \\\"Running Dry (Requiem for the Rockets)\\\" but played in a rockabilly style.\\n\\n\\\"Early Morning Rain\\\" is a slow-moving country ballad that's not quite good enough by Nashville Skyline's standards, which probably explains why it's here instead. The piano is pretty and that's the only compliment I can say about it. Despite all the people that believe it's a highlight, I fail to see why. \\\"In Search of Little Sadie\\\" has Tom Petty-like vocals and... I can't even identify what genre this is supposed to fall under. It morphs into blues around the 1:20 mark but before that? What IS that? Really cool vocals though- hey, I'm the first in line for uniqueness so no matter how it's expressed! \\\"Let It Be Me\\\" is generic balladry junk. At attempt at soul perhaps but doesn't work. \\\"Little Sadie\\\" is an improvement since it's a fast-moving country rocker. Sort of filler-ish and too short, though. \\\"Woogie Boogie\\\" is the *definition* of filler- a generic blues riff sets the pace for a boring instrumental, and the sax solo at the end is completely unnecessary. \\\"Belle Isle\\\" is another country ballad with pointless orchestration that just increases the unnecessary amount of sappiness.\\n\\n\\\"Living the Blues\\\" is more short country blues. Probably the best song on side two since at LEAST the vocals are decent. Side two has made it perfectly clear that it doesn't have a reason to exist because this selection of songs is just really mediocre. This version of \\\"Like a Rolling Stone\\\" is live and of course doesn't even try to stand in the same league as the Highway 61 Revisited version thanks to the rushed, less than stellar vocal performance taking place. Again, don't even THINK about comparing this to the superior Highway 61 Revisited version. \\\"Copper Kettle\\\" is gently sung filler material with delicate female vocals in the background. It's unmelodic too. \\\"Gotta Travel On\\\" (yes, PLEASE Dylan, travel on to bigger and better places!) is a decent country song and not much different from the Allman Brothers Band classic \\\"Melissa\\\" (at least the two songs sound alike during the verse melody).\\n\\nNow arrives MORE questionable material. \\\"Blue Moon\\\" is at least alright because Dylan puts his own unique spin on a familiar doo-wop classic (unintentionally perhaps, since the only unique thing about it is his voice). It's slow-paced and forgettable though. I DO love the violin at the end and how it plays the verse melody for a few seconds. Pretty cool moment that is. \\\"The Boxer\\\" is a good song that actually captures the spirit of Simon & Garfunkel's \\\"The Boxer\\\" but unfortunately doesn't extend the \\\"la la la\\\" chorus at the end so there's no emotionally devastating build-up in this version. That's one of the reasons I think so highly of the Simon & Garfunkel version. \\\"The Mighty Quinn\\\" has now been turned into a piano-rockabilly version of a classic Manfred Mann song. Vocals sound a bit off to me. Not just anyone can sing this particular vocal melody and Dylan obviously can't.\\n\\n\\\"Take Me As I Am (Or Let Me Go)\\\" is another country ballad. Can't get into it at all. Honestly with all the country ballads scattered throughout Self Portrait, putting a really average one like this near the end is just insulting to the fans. \\\"Take a Message to Mary\\\" surprisingly has a VERY good melody that's basically a perfect pop song at its core. \\\"It Hurts Me To\\\" is acoustic country that's actually pretty good. I can't say I appreciate Dylan's country/gospel/blues on most of Self Portrait but he surprises me here. \\\"Minstrel Boy\\\" has an intro where the vocals are completetely out of tune! Uh oh... that intro serves as the chorus. Yikes. The chorus is honestly nothing but barely adequate drunken nonsense with a distinct lack of foresight. We shouldn't have to hear this kind of mediocre garbage, Bob! \\\"She Belongs to Me\\\" is an average version of a classic. \\\"Wigwam\\\" has humming serving as the verse melody and Spanish horns in the background, but this other version I've heard with high-pitched orchestrated female vocals is better. I actually love this song but the million does question is this REALLY want you want from Bob Dylan? \\\"Alberta #2\\\" is a beautiful ballad that does a fitting job (or a tricky job, hehe) of ending a below average album. It's highly melodic and the piano arrangements are organized tastefully.\\n\\nOverall, well the truth is, the country songs feel like leftovers from the MUCH better Nashville Skyline album, and there's lot of other mediocre songs tossed in for additional disappointment. Only for the biggest of Dylan fans.\",\n \"Product: Leonard Cohen's second album arrived in 1969, fully loaded with poetic classics. This expanded edition contains a pair of previously unreleased cuts, produced by the legendary John Hammond. Contains Bird on the Wire; Story of Isaac; A Bunch of Lonesome Heroes, and 7 more.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: great atmosphere, beautiful voice\\n\\nReview: This is my first exposure to Leonard Cohen, and I'm pretty impressed. Songs from a Room can best be described like this- take a haunting, quiet atmosphere and combine it with a sad style of softly sung folk-rock including acoustic guitars and other pleasant arrangements. Maybe it's just me but Leonard's voice closely resembles Lou Reed. It's pretty good, though much like Nick Drake's first album, I have to be in a certain mood in order to really appreciate it.\\n\\n\\\"Story of Isaac\\\" is really downbeat with the low-key vocals. The simple melody is elevated by the dark tone. Lyric about a father telling his son about a vision he has, so he heads up a mountain and the two of them go on an adventure. Lyrics take a turn for the creepy when they mention having to kill if he (Leonard I guess, or maybe the fictional father or son) must! \\\"The Old Revolution\\\" is a folky song with lyrics about breaking into a prison and fighting wars. Leonard sings it with such a carefree way that makes it seem very natural. For whatever reason this song doesn't feel very long at all because the vocal melody is so smooth and enjoyable, it all goes by quickly.\\n\\n\\\"You Know Who I Am\\\" has an eerie and quiet vocal melody. \\\"Sometimes I need you naked, sometimes I need you wild\\\" is a personal admittance! But I guess Leonard isn't one to shy away from revealing exactly what's on his mind. I hate people who speak openly despite how silly or inappropriate their comments are! *looks around suspiciously* I'd rather not repeat the very next set of lyrics. They're too disturbing. \\\"Lady Midnight\\\" is a fantastic country song. \\\"I asked her to hold me, I said \\\"Lady unfold me\\\", but she scorned me and she told me I was dead and could never return\\\" is a great line. Quiet and slow-moving, and most notable perhaps for the chilling repeating of the \\\"You've won me my lord\\\" line at the end.\\n\\n\\\"The Partisan\\\" contains Richie Havens-style guitar playing. Lyrics about running away in a war with memories on the mind for a soldier concerning everything he lost but despite that, he has to persevere. Really depressing song overall and the female vocals that come in just make it even *more* haunting. Like it needed to hit the emotional state even harder than it already does! Come on Leonard give a guy a break, haha. What the? Speaking of haunting, check out this next song I'm about to review. \\\"Seems So Long Ago Nancy\\\" has quiet vocals once again (I'm noticing a theme here!) and a REALLY strong haunting atmosphere. The song seems to emphasize loneliness and a woman who sleeps around but concludes with a fatal outcome (or a strange phone conversation). The vocals resemble that of Paul Simon and even contains Paul's level of soothing, highly affectionate emotions. Yes this house IS mysterious! *Extremely* haunting song overall.\\n\\n\\\"A Bunch of Lonesome Heroes\\\" is more energetic than the rest of the album by far. Nice melody. I like the way Leonard sings \\\"And for all who do not need me, I'd like to tell my story said one of them so bold\\\" in a high and amazing register. \\\"The Butcher\\\" is influenced by drug lyrics. Yeah there's some butchering going on- butchering your own skin with drug needles! Not much in the way of interesting guitar playing but it's an okay song.\\n\\n\\\"Bird on the Wire\\\" I used to think was a lousy forgettable song, but now I've changed my mind. It's a free country and I can change my mind however and whenever I want to darn it! *feels proud* There's a strong dreamy sailing vibe going on with its Irish-sounding nursery rhyme. It's sincere with the \\\"If I've been unkind, I hope that you can just let it go by\\\" line. The orchestration enhances the beauty in a major way. How could I not notice this songs awesomeness the first time around? \\\"Tonight Will Be Fine\\\" has frantic guitar work and enjoyable lyrics (\\\"But I know from your eyes and I know from your smile that tonight will be fine for a while\\\"). Leonard mentions naked lyrics a lot doesn't he! A fascination with those nude bods. Well it's not like he's the only one. Love the joyous atmosphere in this country song.\\n\\nOverall, Songs from a Room is a really amazing album. 5 stars! Leonard Cohen's best work!\",\n \"Product: 2007 album from the Finnish Symphonic Metal band, their first album since the departure of original vocalist Tarja Turunen. New vocalist Anette successfully picks up where Tarja left off yet adds a new dimension to the band's sound. 13 tracks including the first single 'Amaranth'. Nuclear Blast.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: generic prog metal by this point\\n\\nReview: I can't believe how many years the progressive metal scene has been around. The worst part is that this music hasn't changed at *all* since the mid 90's or so when Dream Theater and Porcupine Tree were the biggest influences.\\n\\nJust to show you how much the prog metal scene hasn't changed, I have a question for you- if I played a hard rock song for you and I said \\\"This song was either created in the year 1969 or 1984\\\", would you be able to tell which year it was (assuming you've never heard the song)?\\n\\nOf COURSE you would, because the music scene changed drastically from 1969 to 1984. How much did the music scene change from 1994 to 2009? Well, it changed somewhat, but the prog metal scene sure went absolutely *nowhere*.\\n\\nThe same guitar riffs time and bloody time again, the same unmemorable and/or obnoxious screamer singers time and time again, the same *everything* repeated over and OVER again for over 15 years now. God it makes me sick so flippin' *much*. Nothing has changed, and as a result, metal bands are now stuck in a formula where nothing but uncreative and derivative music can be created. Any kind of originality has officially been tossed out the window for some time now.\\n\\nAt least Nightwish has a female lead singer which is somewhat more appealing than a redundant male singer (because women tend to sing pretty vocal melodies as opposed to screaming horrible vocal melodies which is a frequent male tendency).\\n\\nThe presence of a female singer makes the music a *little* more special, but still, the songwriting on this Dark Passion Play album is average at best. It's not really different from the songwriting on the previous Nightwish albums, and without even hearing the album you already know what to expect. A singing voice that's slightly different from the previous Nightwish albums doesn't really mean a whole lot in the grand scheme of things. Not when the prog metal scene as a whole needs help.\\n\\nAt least Dream Theater and Porcupine Tree were somewhat original in what they were doing. Nightwish, along with thousands of other metal bands nowadays, aren't as good.\",\n \"Product: The last studio effort from their Warner Bros. era, this 1975 LP nearly went Top 40 and features the late, great Tommy Bolin on guitar. Includes Comin' Home; Lady Luck; Dealer; Love Child; Drifter , and more!\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: you keep on movin'\\n\\nReview: It's a shame Come Taste the Band has been ignored compared to other Deep Purple albums. What we have here is a pretty darn good album that should appeal to anyone who's a fan of 70's classic rock. Just because the lineup is different from the classic one does NOT mean the music on this album should automatically be criticized. Please don't let peoples negativity encourage you to avoid it (though thankfully, most of the people here on amazon are rather kind to the album).\\n\\nI really can't find one complaint with the music here. Well okay, sometimes some of the guitar riffs sound like something Bad Company would do (think \\\"Rock Steady\\\") but Deep Purple were always more talented than that band (no disrespect to Bad Co.) and there's certainly more activity between the band members on this album compared to anything early Bad Company would have done. That makes Come Taste the Band, though stripped down hard rock, sound full and exciting like the rest of Deep Purple's catalog.\\n\\nThe only thing that bothers me is the absense of keyboards. I think I can hear SOME keyboards playing in a couple of the songs, but it's nothing like Deep Purple had done in the past, featuring lengthy jams. That's the only thing I miss.\\n\\n\\\"Comin' Home\\\" starts off the album the right way, featuring a really good middle section that's nothing but a big, memorable guitar jam. Tommy Bolin really is just as good as Mr. Blackmore in most areas. At least, his solos are just as good.\\n\\nIf there was ever an album that sounds perfect for truck drivers, it's this album. Every truck driver in the world should be required to own Come Taste the Band. \\\"Lady Luck\\\" reminds me of Bad Company (sorry for bringing up the comparison again) with a great chorus. \\\"Gettin' Tighter\\\" is a perfect \\\"Driving late at night on a quiet empty Nevada highway\\\" song (though I've never done that, seeing as how I live on the east coast in Pennsylvania).\\n\\n\\\"I Need Love\\\" is very catchy. I love that riff. \\\"Love Child\\\" is another rocker that features a memorable riff (and no, it's not related to the Diana Ross and the Supremes song- though I bet some of you were thinking it was a cover version!)\\n\\nDoesn't \\\"This Time Around\\\" remind you of walking through a ghost town in a desert? It sure does! I love the instrumental second half. \\\"You Keep on Movin\\\" again reminds me of travelling down a highway, but this time through Maryland (let's keep it close to home, mister).\\n\\nOverall, yeah, it's not a masterpiece but it's a quality hard rock album. Probably in my top 5 favorite Deep Purple albums, if I were to make a list of them.\",\n \"Product: One of the most request catalogs for CD reissue we have ever had is the Seals & Crofts catalog. This duo consisting of Jim Seals & Dash Crofts had numerous charting albums in the 1970's. We are now proud to present pretty much their entire catalog of albums, beginning with their first eponymous album from 1969, all the way through their last charting album, \\\"Takin' It Easy\\\" from 1978.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: perfection on a round piece of plastic\\n\\nReview: I can't believe it. Finally, after many MANY years, Seals & Crofts \\\"Takin' It Easy\\\" album has been officially released!\\n\\nI can't express how happy I am this album was finally released on CD. I've waited YEARS for this to happen!\\n\\nThis is one of the greatest songwriting albums ever made. I'm totally serious about that. I love Elton John, Deep Purple, Three Dog Night, the Blues Image, Norman Greenbaum, etc. I really honestly believe \\\"Takin' It Easy\\\" is right up there with the very best of them.\\n\\nI can't put into words exactly how I feel when I listen to this album. It's like a mystical journey inside my mind combined with childhood feelings and memories that makes the album so delightful to listen to over and over again. It truly is a forgotten treasure. Diversity is important to me, and each song on this album is distinct from all the others.\\n\\nWhen this album came out in the year 1978, the music scene was beginning to change as punk and new wave entered the scene. Fortunately, none of this affected Seals & Croft's consistently pleasing ability to write one memorable song after another. This album is *entirely excellent* and I truly mean that.\\n\\nThe title song really surprised me at first. I didn't think Seals & Croft's could EVER rock this hard! A really upbeat, energetic rocker. You know, funny story. I could have sworn in the chorus the words being sung were \\\"hot diggin' it\\\" which is a saying kids used to say back in the early 90's when I was only in 5th grade.\\n\\n\\\"One More Time\\\" is a really pleasant ballad with memorable vocal lines. It reminds me of the Jefferson Starship song \\\"Tumblin\\\". The two songs are really pretty similar to each other. \\\"Midnight Blue\\\" is foot-stompin' music! I *love* the catchy verse melody, and you can seriously tap your foot to the beat of the tune. Highly enjoyable song. \\\"You're the Love\\\" is a disco song, and while I'm not a fan of disco (and probably never will be) I like when rock bands attempt some diverse styles without any fear.\\n\\nWow... \\\"Sunrise\\\". What can I possibly say about this brilliant song? Let me try to explain why I love this track so much. Memories are important to all of us when listening to music, whether we realize it or not. Memories help us appreciate music even more. Music can help us dream about faraway places, and peaceful settings. Music can put us in our own little world, if we allow it to happen. \\\"Sunrise\\\" is beyond brilliant for a variety of reasons. For one thing, the vocal melody immediately takes me back to when my mom used to drive me to a fabric store in a tiny town in southeast Pennsylvania. That store doesn't exist anymore, but the memories remain, and that's the important thing.\\n\\nAlso, the song reminds me of my childhood fasciation of wanting to be an astronomer when I grew older, and having a total blast looking into my telescope and watching the stars in outer space, and dreaming about what living things might possibly be out there. It's not just a childhood memory- it's also a dream I continue to experience with certain songs that allows my mind to open up and think about a really pleasant future for all of us. I love the dreamy verse melody, and the saxophone jam at the end. Sure, it sounds like 70's music, but that's NOT a bad thing!\\n\\n\\\"Breaking in a Brand New Love\\\" is an extraordinary love song that reminds me of a popular song Joe Jackson would do five years later. \\\"Magnolia Moon\\\" took me a LONG time to appreciate, but I finally came around. Brilliant vocals. \\\"Nobody Gets Over Lovin' You\\\" is a magnificent ballad. Once again, let me state I don't care if the music is dated and sounds stuck in the 70's. To me that just means a music scene can never be repeated again.\\n\\n\\\"Forever Like a Rose\\\" sounds like Crosby, Stills and Nash a little bit, specifically that popular song called \\\"Our House\\\". That's certainly not a bad thing at ALL. The final track is highly unusual in that it has a spectacularly unique vocal section in the beginning of the song before eventually progressing into a highly memorable vocal section that's very normal for anyone familiar with Seals & Crofts career.\\n\\nOverall, I am extremely happy this album is available on CD finally. I can't believe it took this long, but I won't complain, because the point is- it happened!\",\n \"Product: The sails refer to the shell-like roof of the Sydney Opera House. They're red because they're glowing - glowing in the aftermath of a nuclear blastas the cover art so blatantly depicts. The amazingfuturistic artwork is by Japanese artist Tsunehisa Kimuraand it's themes are echoed in tracks like Harrisburg (the plant is burning down... you cannot get out) and When Generals Talk. Also includes the stomping Best of Both Worlds.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: meh, more of the same\\n\\nReview: Red Sails in the Sunset is a pretty average album overall from a songwriting point of view and is much much worse than \\\"10, 9, 8\\\". At least that album *tried* to write some interesting vocal melodies. This albums purpose lies entirely on acknowledging the lyrics so if you go in expecting memorable and creative melodies, look elsewhere.\\n\\n\\\"Jimmy Sharman's Boxers\\\" is a tribute to the great legendary Australian boxer, but unfortunately I don't find the song very appealing. Over 7 minutes in length, and for the most part the melody consists of one repetative chant that borders on mindless for my tastes. Even worse is that the lyrics are almost impossible to understand thanks to the way they're sung really quietly one minute, or explosively overbearing the next with no actual tuneful melody in sight. The \\\"Why are we fighting?\\\" line at the end is angry in a Bono imitation kind of way. I'm afraid to say it, but I believe this song is absolutely terrible. \\\"Sleep\\\" is basically the same thing but at least the lyrics and vocals are loud enough to be understandable, but now another problem is present- this is basically a poor dance tune. The melody tries to be interesting during the line \\\"Say those dreams can shake me, dawn come down and save me\\\" but it's not enough to save the other, filler aspects of the song.\\n\\n\\\"Shipyards of New Zealand\\\" has a fairly ominous intro with the background vocals but then the main verse melody comes and radically changes things for the worse. It's just such an unbelievably bland melody I can't believe this is the same band responsible for the more aggressive and songwriting-rewarding Head Injuries album. That album is about a thousand times better than this, but at least \\\"Shipyards of New Zealand\\\" *has* a melody. I haven't been able to detect anything worthwhile or listenable in \\\"Jimmy Sharman's Boxers\\\" or \\\"Sleep\\\".\\n\\n\\\"Kosciusko\\\" is an improvement even though the verse melody sounds similar to the one from Kenny Loggins \\\"Danger Zone\\\" and looking at the double craters on the album cover, I wonder if the band was a fan of \\\"Danger Zone\\\". \\\"The Best of Both Worlds\\\" has a rhythm strikingly similar to Billy Idol's \\\"Rebel Yell\\\" and consists of a chorus that loops several times, but it *is* a fairly memorable chorus granted. It does grate on me after a while when the realization sets in that the song doesn't have much substance and is just another artificial product of the mid 80's. \\\"Who Can Stand In the Way\\\" has some pretty cool downbeat vocals with a nice beat carrying the melody but again, lacks substance because it resembles too many other artists releasing music at the time. The \\\"and we just carried on\\\" line feels really tacky and out of place.\\n\\nOverall, well I'll give Diesel & Dust a shot, but if it leaves me disappointed I won't be listening to the follow-up album or anything else Midnight Oil has done and instead stick with the early stuff (specifically the first two albums).\",\n \"Product: UK 2007 digitally remastered and expanded two disc (CD/DVD) pressing of this 1986 album from one of Rock's most successful bands. Disc One features the remastered version of the album. The DVD features the album in DTS 5.1 Surround Sound plus rare video extras including an interview, music clips and live performances. From their Progressive Rock beginnings to their commercial superstardom, Genesis created some of the most challenging, creative and rewarding albums of their generation. This special edition not only offers bonus material, but also allows the listener to experience the album as never before! EMI.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: worse than previous Genesis albums, but still... I love it\\n\\nReview: The most interesting thing about the Invisible Touch album is that it's *totally* stuck in the mid 80's recording technology. Every single moment just reeks... er, delights listeners in drum machines, overbearing bass work, glossy production, etc.\\n\\nWith that in mind... perhaps the reason I'm so willing to defend the album despite its severely dated sound is because I remember when it came out. I was 5 years old, and 1986 was simply the worst year of my life. Family issues involving frequent hospital visits, many trips to Delaware, car accidents, etc. Hearing this album tonight really brought back all those horrible events that dominated my life back when it came out.\\n\\nHowever, there's really no more negative feelings towards either this album or the entire year of 1986. What happened in the past *belongs* in the past. Besides, it was *24 years ago*. So I approached it with a completely fresh point of view. While listening, I didn't consider either the horrible way it was recorded or the horrible events I had to endure the year it was released.\\n\\nThe title song is a catchy little slice of pop perfection. I can see how it would drive some people crazy (especially those who remember just how *often* it was played on FM radio- yes I remember too!) but, well, I haven't actually heard it on any radio station in several years (not that I actively seek out radio stations anymore, mind you) so I can appreciate a good vocal melody when I hear it.\\n\\nI've always had mixed feelings with \\\"Tonight, Tonight, Tonight\\\". For one thing it's too long. However I don't know exactly how I'd shorten it. I don't want to take out the jungle-like middle section because that part is atmospherically cool. The chorus is my biggest problem with it. It just sounds so lazy the way Phil carelessly repeats the line \\\"We're gonna make it right tonight, tonight ton-i-i-ght, ooooh ooooooooooh\\\". The older version of Genesis would have found a better use for it, I believe. Actually the older version of Genesis would have known it's not memorable enough to even lay down on tape (either the Gabriel or Collins years). However, the point here is that despite its flaws, I was able to appreciate it more tonight than I had in the past.\\n\\n\\\"Land of Confusion\\\" is totally awesome. I LOVE the chorus and the lyrics \\\"There's too many people making too many problems and not enough love to go around\\\". A line that will remain relevant until the end of time, perhaps.\\n\\nOh man, way to stink it up Phil! I'm talking about \\\"In Too Deep\\\". Well I suppose Phil's popular solo career at the time was destined to rear its ugly head into the wrong picture- in this case the picture being the superior and musically more interesting Genesis. What a terrible ballad! It should have been left to a solo Phil Collins album where I'd never even have to give it a second look. Yes my friends- I make a VERY clear distinction between Genesis and Phil's solo career. I love one, hate the other.\\n\\nSide two is quite awesome. \\\"Anything She Does\\\" is a magnificent pop song, and now I'm beginning to notice a theme that every song mentions women in some shape or form. Well not *every* one, I suppose. Anyway, this is a good sequel of sorts to the similar sounding title song. The multi-part nature of \\\"Domino\\\" is pretty much completely good, though I do tend to lose interest around the halfway point for whatever reason. It might grow on me though. Perhaps 10 minutes is just overwhelming to me, which would be unfortunate considering I'm a progressive rock fan.\\n\\nFor some reason I don't hate \\\"Throwing It All Away\\\". It doesn't make me cringe like \\\"In Too Deep\\\". Now talk about a splendid way to wrap things up- \\\"The Brazilian\\\" takes advantage of the good sides of the 80's by frequently repeating a big clunky riff perhaps, but it works REALLY well and sounds awesome. I love it.\\n\\nOverall, yeah, it's probably my least favorite Genesis album up to this point, but I can't find any real serious flaws besides \\\"In Too Deep\\\". I say pick it up today.\",\n \"Product: In Rainbows\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: good, but not their best album\\n\\nReview: I feel Radiohead took a step back for this release. The songwriting is pretty good in some spots, but quite boring in others. Here's my review and my 1-10 rating system for each song (1 of course being horrible crap and 10 the highest amount of enjoyment I can possibly get from a tune).\\n\\n1. 15 Step- A strange beat opens the song, but the vocals are good. It's a cool song in a very unusual kind of way. It's not really a techno song, but it's memorable. 8\\n\\n2. Bodysnatchers- Features a rough, garage-rocky vocal melody and a totally rocking rhythm section. Maybe a bit too heavy, because the vocals tend to blend together after a couple minutes. Still, pretty good. These guys are good at rocking out. 8\\n\\n3. Nude- I love the slow and dreamy musical section that opens the song. It's adventurous. The vocal melody is pleasant and rules. Best song on the album, especially if you love the lead singers emotional style, despite the fact that certain parts sound quite similar to the Camel song \\\"Mystic Lady\\\". 9\\n\\n4. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi- A basic, predictable drum beat opens the song. Come to think of it, the entire thing is predictable and reminds me of U2 doing a techno song. That's what it sounds like. It drags. 4\\n\\n5. All I Need- Kind of creepy. The vocal melody is strange as well. I don't really like it, but the strange vibes are interesting. 5\\n\\n6. Faust Arp- They copied the Beatles \\\"Dear Prudence\\\" for the opening bit. It's pretty, though. 8\\n\\n7. Reckoner- Repetitive vocal melody and basic drums. This song possibly shows signs of a band running low on musical ideas. 4\\n\\n8. House of Cards- Resembles the Bruce Springsteen song \\\"My Hometown\\\" for its entire length. It's a light rocker with not a whole lot of melody. The lead singers high-pitched vocals are kind of annoying here as well. I got tired of hearing him repeat \\\"Denial\\\" over and over again. 6\\n\\n9. Jigsaw Falling Into Place- Features an upbeat vocal melody and a more pleasing vocal style for me personally. 8\\n\\n10. Videotape- A sappy ballad with a slightly eerie vibe to it. It's a bit depressing, but nothing alarmingly emotional about it. They did a nice job copying Paul McCartney's singing style, though. 7\\n\\nThere are no longer any connections to Pink Floyd's atmospheric sound, and instead Radiohead has given us a more ordinary, singer-songwriter type album. Not bad, but no classic.\",\n \"Product: UK 2007 digitally remastered and expanded two disc (CD/DVD) pressing of this 1986 album from one of Rock's most successful bands. Disc One features the remastered version of the album. The DVD features the album in DTS 5.1 Surround Sound plus rare video extras including an interview, music clips and live performances. From their Progressive Rock beginnings to their commercial superstardom, Genesis created some of the most challenging, creative and rewarding albums of their generation. This special edition not only offers bonus material, but also allows the listener to experience the album as never before! EMI.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: worse than previous Genesis albums, but still... I love it\\n\\nReview: The most interesting thing about the Invisible Touch album is that it's *totally* stuck in the mid 80's recording technology. Every single moment just reeks... er, delights listeners in drum machines, overbearing bass work, glossy production, etc.\\n\\nWith that in mind... perhaps the reason I'm so willing to defend the album despite its severely dated sound is because I remember when it came out. I was 5 years old, and 1986 was simply the worst year of my life. Family issues involving frequent hospital visits, many trips to Delaware, car accidents, etc. Hearing this album tonight really brought back all those horrible events that dominated my life back when it came out.\\n\\nHowever, there's really no more negative feelings towards either this album or the entire year of 1986. What happened in the past *belongs* in the past. Besides, it was *24 years ago*. So I approached it with a completely fresh point of view. While listening, I didn't consider either the horrible way it was recorded or the horrible events I had to endure the year it was released.\\n\\nThe title song is a catchy little slice of pop perfection. I can see how it would drive some people crazy (especially those who remember just how *often* it was played on FM radio- yes I remember too!) but, well, I haven't actually heard it on any radio station in several years (not that I actively seek out radio stations anymore, mind you) so I can appreciate a good vocal melody when I hear it.\\n\\nI've always had mixed feelings with \\\"Tonight, Tonight, Tonight\\\". For one thing it's too long. However I don't know exactly how I'd shorten it. I don't want to take out the jungle-like middle section because that part is atmospherically cool. The chorus is my biggest problem with it. It just sounds so lazy the way Phil carelessly repeats the line \\\"We're gonna make it right tonight, tonight ton-i-i-ght, ooooh ooooooooooh\\\". The older version of Genesis would have found a better use for it, I believe. Actually the older version of Genesis would have known it's not memorable enough to even lay down on tape (either the Gabriel or Collins years). However, the point here is that despite its flaws, I was able to appreciate it more tonight than I had in the past.\\n\\n\\\"Land of Confusion\\\" is totally awesome. I LOVE the chorus and the lyrics \\\"There's too many people making too many problems and not enough love to go around\\\". A line that will remain relevant until the end of time, perhaps.\\n\\nOh man, way to stink it up Phil! I'm talking about \\\"In Too Deep\\\". Well I suppose Phil's popular solo career at the time was destined to rear its ugly head into the wrong picture- in this case the picture being the superior and musically more interesting Genesis. What a terrible ballad! It should have been left to a solo Phil Collins album where I'd never even have to give it a second look. Yes my friends- I make a VERY clear distinction between Genesis and Phil's solo career. I love one, hate the other.\\n\\nSide two is quite awesome. \\\"Anything She Does\\\" is a magnificent pop song, and now I'm beginning to notice a theme that every song mentions women in some shape or form. Well not *every* one, I suppose. Anyway, this is a good sequel of sorts to the similar sounding title song. The multi-part nature of \\\"Domino\\\" is pretty much completely good, though I do tend to lose interest around the halfway point for whatever reason. It might grow on me though. Perhaps 10 minutes is just overwhelming to me, which would be unfortunate considering I'm a progressive rock fan.\\n\\nFor some reason I don't hate \\\"Throwing It All Away\\\". It doesn't make me cringe like \\\"In Too Deep\\\". Now talk about a splendid way to wrap things up- \\\"The Brazilian\\\" takes advantage of the good sides of the 80's by frequently repeating a big clunky riff perhaps, but it works REALLY well and sounds awesome. I love it.\\n\\nOverall, yeah, it's probably my least favorite Genesis album up to this point, but I can't find any real serious flaws besides \\\"In Too Deep\\\". I say pick it up today.\",\n \"Product: In Rainbows\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: good, but not their best album\\n\\nReview: I feel Radiohead took a step back for this release. The songwriting is pretty good in some spots, but quite boring in others. Here's my review and my 1-10 rating system for each song (1 of course being horrible crap and 10 the highest amount of enjoyment I can possibly get from a tune).\\n\\n1. 15 Step- A strange beat opens the song, but the vocals are good. It's a cool song in a very unusual kind of way. It's not really a techno song, but it's memorable. 8\\n\\n2. Bodysnatchers- Features a rough, garage-rocky vocal melody and a totally rocking rhythm section. Maybe a bit too heavy, because the vocals tend to blend together after a couple minutes. Still, pretty good. These guys are good at rocking out. 8\\n\\n3. Nude- I love the slow and dreamy musical section that opens the song. It's adventurous. The vocal melody is pleasant and rules. Best song on the album, especially if you love the lead singers emotional style, despite the fact that certain parts sound quite similar to the Camel song \\\"Mystic Lady\\\". 9\\n\\n4. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi- A basic, predictable drum beat opens the song. Come to think of it, the entire thing is predictable and reminds me of U2 doing a techno song. That's what it sounds like. It drags. 4\\n\\n5. All I Need- Kind of creepy. The vocal melody is strange as well. I don't really like it, but the strange vibes are interesting. 5\\n\\n6. Faust Arp- They copied the Beatles \\\"Dear Prudence\\\" for the opening bit. It's pretty, though. 8\\n\\n7. Reckoner- Repetitive vocal melody and basic drums. This song possibly shows signs of a band running low on musical ideas. 4\\n\\n8. House of Cards- Resembles the Bruce Springsteen song \\\"My Hometown\\\" for its entire length. It's a light rocker with not a whole lot of melody. The lead singers high-pitched vocals are kind of annoying here as well. I got tired of hearing him repeat \\\"Denial\\\" over and over again. 6\\n\\n9. Jigsaw Falling Into Place- Features an upbeat vocal melody and a more pleasing vocal style for me personally. 8\\n\\n10. Videotape- A sappy ballad with a slightly eerie vibe to it. It's a bit depressing, but nothing alarmingly emotional about it. They did a nice job copying Paul McCartney's singing style, though. 7\\n\\nThere are no longer any connections to Pink Floyd's atmospheric sound, and instead Radiohead has given us a more ordinary, singer-songwriter type album. Not bad, but no classic.\",\n \"Product: Eno's ambient innovations were in full flower when he met Fripp again on this 1975 LP. This is a meditative journey through calm seas and skies: Wind on Water; Evening Star; Evensong; Wind on Wind, and An Index of Metals. Still entrancing and enduringly influential!\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: what a star... a dark star\\n\\nReview: Evening Star isn't *quite* the same as Eno and Fripp's first collaboration, No Pussyfooting. Let me mainly discuss the nearly 30 minute epic that is called \\\"An Index of Metals\\\" that takes up the entirety of side two, because such a lengthy track might be intimidating for many folks out there wondering what to expect.\\n\\nIt's nowhere near as creative as say, \\\"The Heavenly Music Corporation\\\" from No Pussyfooting because, well for one thing, it takes at least 10 minutes to actually discover more than a couple notes. By that I mean, the first 10 minutes don't really accomplish much of anything and just sort of hangs around needlessly. It never builds into anything like the stuff from No Pussyfooting does. It just continues to play the same sounds for an extended (overlong) period of time... with one exception (mentioned below).\\n\\nI'm not necessarily making a criticism here- just pointing out what it sounds like to me. I like ambient music just fine, but the first 10 minutes sure could stand to have more to it than... just that. It's almost mindlessly simplistic at times, however I realize liking ambient music and being a fan are two separate things, so perhaps I'm simply not able to appreciate it as much as someone who's an expert on the genre.\\n\\nOn the other hand, repeating the same ideas over and over makes it *much* easier to get into compared to the majority of No Pussyfooting.\\n\\nOnce Fripp's guitar playing enters the picture, he's basically repeating one or two notes over and over again, and this shall remain for the next 15 minute or so (basically for the remainder of the song). Again, I'm not criticizing it. I realize many people are able to actually get something meaningful out of a set of notes repeating endlessly and never progressing. I definitely feel No Pussyfooting is a better experience though.\\n\\nIf I haven't mentioned it yet, \\\"An Index of Metals\\\" honestly reminds me of the classic mid 70's period of Tangerine Dream quite a bit (minus Fripp's cool guitar sound, of course).\\n\\n\\\"An Index of Metals\\\" is supposed to remind listeners of a rich landscape of some kind (wherever you'd like to take your imagination is completely up to you, of course) and I'd say for the most part it works, but well... I just believe No Pussyfooting has more actual notes which eventually leads to a more satisfying experience, which means No Pussyfooting is an obvious attempt to create something less ambient.\\n\\nWhat it comes down to is this- \\\"The Heavenly Music Corporation\\\" is a heck of a lot more musically interesting than this track, but approaching \\\"An Index of Metals\\\" for just the atmosphere and nothing more... well in that case, it's probably tied with \\\"The Heavenly Music Corporation\\\". If you enjoy atmosphere, choosing between the two songs is a very hard task. \\\"An Index of Metals\\\" does have a degree of spookiness to it that actually increases as the song rolls forward.\\n\\nThe ironic part is that, despite my constant complaining concerning the first 10 minutes of \\\"An Index of Metals\\\" my favorite part about the entire song is when you can faintly hear a really cool guitar trick sometime 5 minutes in. It's really neat and actually reminds me of the ominous intro from \\\"Larks' Tongue in Aspic (Part One)\\\" (right after the chimes- even though we're dealing with two separate musical instruments from two separate albums, the atmosphere is strikingly identical) but eventually it disappears and \\\"An Index of Metals\\\" falls back into a repetitive cycle.\\n\\nStill, Evening Star is a pretty good album. Just expect more repetition than before. Also remember- I don't quite get ambient as much as most people do, so if you feel my review doesn't hold any value and can't help you make a purchasing decision, I'd totally understand. I'll cool with it. I felt the need to at least *try* to explain what to expect.\",\n \"Product: Great collection at a great price.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: not a Carly highlight\\n\\nReview: I was hoping for a masterpiece since the glowing reviews seemed to paint me a positive picture of Boys In the Trees, however...\\n\\n\\\"You Belong to Me\\\" is typical late 70's commercial rock with a decent enough melody. I actually can't remember if this is the version I've been hearing on radio stations when I was younger, or some other version. Because of the Michael McDonald influence in the soulful rhythm and smooth rock approach, I believe it *is* in fact this exact version I was hearing all those years ago. The title song is a beautifully sung mellow country tune full of that late 70's innocence that's so appealing to those who were lucky enough to grow up back then.\\n\\n\\\"Tranquillo (Melt My Heart)\\\" suffers from a bland disco-influenced chorus. It's no secret that I'm not particularly fond of this time period of music and this is proof why- what was once a fantastic singer-songwriter in Carly Simon feels like her talent has been exchanged for some cheesy disco beats and straight forward vocal melodies. This song is unable to stand out among the several other generic disco songs that dominated the late 70's. \\\"For Old Times Sake\\\" contains a pretty standard and uneventful vocal melody as well, but this time there's no disco to point the blame- it's just not a very interesting ballad to me despite how much passion Carly puts into it. I do really like the way she sings the line \\\"I used to think that we would wind up together, our destiny's always entwined\\\" though.\\n\\n\\\"One Man Woman\\\" is a Carole King imitation with unnecessary saxophone playing. The vocal melody itself however, isn't bad. The songwriting though... it's just not working for me this time around. You see Carly Simon's early albums really resonate with me. This just feels like very ordinary stuff in comparison. I take back the \\\"unnecessary sax\\\" part- the jam at the end is pretty melodic and worth experiencing. \\\"You're the One\\\" is another example of smooth rock blandness with Carly not living up to expectations in my book. Yes her voice is lovely, but I prefer a lovely voice connected to some quality songwriting which this album surely lacks.\\n\\nOverall, Boys In the Trees makes for quality easy listening music, but it doesn't illustrate Carly's potential as a songwriter. Her debut, Anticipation, No Secrets and Hotcakes are better albums by far.\",\n \"Product: Japanese only SHM-CD (Super High Material CD - playable on all CD players) pressing. Warner.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: I actually did cut my hair yesterday afternoon\\n\\nReview: or rather, had it cut at the barber shop. Now that my friends, is entirely useless information that even makes twitter look good.\\n\\nAnyway, Deja Vu is probably a tad worse than the first Crosby, Stills & Nash album... alright it's worse, it's definitely worse, but my 5-star rating indicates just how enjoyable I believe it is regardless.\\n\\nThe title song is my favorite song. I originally didn't like it very much. In fact, it took me 3 close listens in a row tonight to finally figure it out. You see, my initial feelings were that the verse melody during the first part was pretty half-baked, the next couple minutes wandered in a generic blues kind of way, and the song was only saved by the \\\"we have all been here before\\\" singing line at the very end. However... tonight it finally clicked -the entire thing clicked- and I absolutely love it. What was once a generic mid-section really makes sense to me now, and so I think it's an excellent song.\\n\\nSome of these songs I have very personal memories associated with, such as \\\"Our House\\\". This song sends chills up and down my body because living in the country portions of southern Pennsylvania, this song always made me think of the fishing trips to the ponds and rivers, the walks through the fields and woods, and the precious holiday moments I had experienced as a young kid... all dealing with areas close to home, or inside of my home. It's a really beautiful song in every possible way. The vocals are astronomically good.\\n\\nOn the flipside, my dad has a special connection with \\\"Teach Your Children\\\" and every time it comes on the radio, because he grew up in the 60's, he has memories of HIS family and childhood. Strange how both my dad and myself have the same memories concerning two different songs on the same album. I suppose this proves we both hear the same amazingly sentimental vocal work in the music of Crosby, Stills and Nash (and Young!!! hehe, can't forget good ol' Neil, now can we?... especially considering how Neil went on to accomplish a heck of a lot more than CSN ever did- with all due respect of course).\\n\\nI'm not a big fan of \\\"Woodstock\\\" because it strikes me as fairly forgettable hard rock, but it's a favorite among many so I can tolerate it. \\\"Carry On\\\" has a brilliant vocal melody and the rhythm section speeds along in a way that makes me appreciate the vocals even more. I love it. It truly deserves the constant radio play it has been receiving all these years. \\\"Country Girl\\\" has a VERY strong and instantly noticeable spiritual vibe about it, thanks to Neil Young's vocal range and the sparse piano notes. Neil Young really went the distance here, and the results are that it's a work of heavenly beauty. \\\"Almost Cut My Hair\\\" has funny lyrics considering that the early 70's was dominated with many long-haired freaky people! The guitar featured here reminds me of the guitar playing we hear from Neil Young's \\\"Down By the River\\\" during the verse melody.\\n\\nOverall, a fantastic album, and along with the debut, two albums you must own.\",\n \"Product: Japanese only two disc (SACD Hybrid CD + NTSC/Region 0 DVD) pressing of this album housed in a mini LP sleeve. EMI.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Genesis in their prime\\n\\nReview: Everyone talks about Peter Gabriel and how he has such a wonderful voice and a talent for really good lyrics. While I agree, I have to admit I mostly like Nursery Cryme for all the instrumental bits and pieces that appear throughout the album. Whether it's the mellotron-dominated finale on \\\"Return of the Giant Hogweed\\\" (which reminds me of a dark shadow creeping over planet Earth- YIKES what a scary song) or the short organ solo appearing somewhere around the halfway point of \\\"Fountain of Salmacis\\\", these are mainly the things I play the album for.\\n\\nDon't get me wrong, the vocal melodies are great, and the fairy tale-like atmosphere of the entire album is great as well, but let's not forget Genesis was capable of some very good instrumental sections too.\",\n \"Product: (Vinyl LP) The seminal debut album from the quintessential American power pop band now available on domestic vinyl for the first time in a generation. Features the classic line up of Alex Chilton, Chris Bell, Andy Hummel and Jody Stephens. LP includes faithfully restored sleeve and label art.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: the biggest star of all\\n\\nReview: While I personally prefer Radio City, #1 Record contains many extraordinary vocal melodies as well. It's just that the level of greatness, in my opinion at least, is a *tad* less impactful compared to the majority of tunes from Radio City.\\n\\nRadio City is flawless from beginning to end. Not quite so with #1 Record. I think this has to do with the noticeably less energetic and more folk rock style of #1 Record. This band was definitely destined to specialize in the power pop genre.\\n\\nWhat's most amazing to me about #1 Record is, of course, the sparkling clean and beautiful sound the way the album was recorded, along with the bands distinctive and WAY ahead of its time refreshing style (along with the marvelous production techniques). These two things combine to create a classic album. Big Star doesn't really sound like anyone else when you listen to them carefully, however comparisons to the Beatles and Badfinger would make perfect sense.\\n\\n\\\"Feel\\\" actually receives some radio play from time to time. I HAVE in fact heard this song played on classic rock radio at one point.\\n\\nOf course nowadays radio has sunk to an even DEEPER low so the odds of hearing Big Star on the radio these days is, well, nearly impossible odds. Even a healthy resurgence thanks to the younger generation isn't nearly enough to keep Big Star permanently secure in the minds of radio followers.\\n\\nIt's true, and this is because time is moving on even as we speak, which means the older artists are gradually fading away from peoples memories, and when that happens, the music stops being played on the radio. I hate it more than you will ever possibly know, but that's how life is.\\n\\n\\\"The Ballad of El Goodo\\\" benefits by having a really emotional vocal melody, and \\\"Try Again\\\" falls under the same category. These are probably my favorite songs on the album.\\n\\n\\\"My Life Is Right\\\" is pop/rock perfection. It would fit in easily on the Radio City album. \\\"The India Song\\\" has a really tasty flute melody before breaking out into a really gorgeous vocal melody. Another excellent song.\\n\\n\\\"In the Street\\\" is of course popular for being the theme song to That 70's Show. It's a good song, and this original version is easily better than the version from the show (which sounds loud and obnoxious in comparison- stick to the Big Star version).\\n\\n\\\"Watch the Sunrise\\\" is one of those \\\"moment of hope\\\" type songs. You immediately feel refreshed and thankful when you hear a vocal melody as beautiful as this one. I wouldn't be surprised if this song was created with that thought in mind.\\n\\n\\\"Thirteen\\\" sounds like \\\"Danny's Song\\\" by Loggins & Messina, and that's a good thing.\\n\\n\\\"Try Again\\\" makes me cry in a way where I feel completely hopeless. This makes the song very depressing in my opinion. I love it though, that's what makes it so darn hard to listen to it. Do I want my fragile emotional state toyed with just for the sake of enjoying a splendid vocal melody? Well yes!\\n\\n\\\"Don't Lie to Me\\\" is the weakest song here by FAR. It reminds me of KISS or Twisted Sister. Not good. \\\"Give Me Another Chance\\\" is a pretty standard pop song in comparison to the rest of the material featured on the album, but I still love it to pieces regardless of that.\\n\\nBig Star = big win. The first two albums really ARE pop/rock classics. Talk about guitar and vocal hooks galore. Just awesome.\",\n \"Product: After the breakup of Jefferson Airplane, Kantner joined Grace Slick and David Freiberg and recorded this all-star album featuring Jerry Garcia, David Crosby and Chris Ethridge.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: quality songwriting makes another return\\n\\nReview: Baron Von Tollbooth & the Chrome Nun features a style that I believe is quite different from previous Paul Kantner albums, and seriously a drastic step away from anything Jefferson Airplane or Jefferson Starship ever wrote. It's not necessarily a fantastic departure either. The music sounds partially aimless or undeveloped sometimes, and just severely dated in other areas. An inconsistent affair. The highlights are two magnificent songs that I will mention below, and three or four other really good ones.\\n\\n\\\"Your Mind Has Left Your Body\\\" is perhaps the most unique song on the entire album. It takes elements of country music in the guitar playing and combines it with hypnotic and dreamy singing. The vocal melody definitely reminds me of the guy from the Incredible String Band. I doubt it's an imitation though, since the Incredible String Band already had their moment in the sun long before this album was released. To be perfectly honest, it's hard to rate a song like this and I can't tell you if I actually enjoy it or not. I *think* I do. Nothing about the song really does a whole lot besides linger on and on, but thanks to the lyrics, the feeling of adventure is still quite evident. That and the country-inspired guitar work is the greatest aspect of the song. Normally I don't believe you have to be on drugs to get the full effect of a song but... well, haha.\\n\\n\\\"Sketches of China\\\" has an unavoidably depressing feeling thanks to Grace's vocals. This song hits me pretty hard because you can tell it's designed to destroy someones mental state of mind... or perhaps not. The lyrics wouldn't necessarily indicate such inner devastation. In fact, the melody is supposed to give the listener an uplifting and positive feeling. As far as I know, it's about the child Paul and Grace made together. The harmonies are extraordinary though. Absolutely the very best I've ever heard the two of them create. The guitar solos are enough to send me to a faraway land as well. Well, I can't sit here and talk about THIS song all day when there's flowers outside that need watered and other songs that need discussed!\\n\\n\\\"Across the Board\\\" is another Grace Slick highlight. Describing the brilliance of the vocal melody would be impossible, or rather, would make me look like a fanboy who can't listen to music objectively. Not for me! Let's just say, this is yet another terrific performance that takes advantage of her incredible range. Somehow her range becomes even better as the song progresses. \\\"Flowers of the Night\\\" has another military march-like vocal melody (as I prefer to call it- perhaps there's a more appropriate name for those type of vocal melodies) that resembles a good portion of Paul Kantner's Sunfighter album. Not a highlight for me, but perhaps others can find some appeal in it. It's a major low point of the album for me and if it wasn't for the decent guitar solo at the end I would dismiss it without hesitation.\\n\\n\\\"White Boy\\\" has another underwhelming vocal melody that does nothing interesting. The lyrics seem to focus on questioning our existence and human accomplishments concerning white people, and while interesting, it's not enough to make the mediocre vocal melody worth sitting through. A song that I believe wasn't worked on entirely because the melody should have matched the quality of the lyrics but unfortunately, it doesn't. However, it's not a bad song. I just wish more attention was given to the actual vocal melody. \\\"Harp Tree Lament\\\" is really good though, thanks entirely to the vocal melody and nothing else. Sure, there's a degree of dated fruitiness to it, but it's not enough to distract me from the vocals. Grace's vocals on \\\"Fat\\\" are flat (har har!) A far cry from tunes like \\\"Across the Board\\\" and \\\"Sketches of China\\\" that's for sure, but... I still really like it. Oh, even though \\\"Fishman\\\" is really short, the vocal melody appeals to me a lot. I admire the way Grace's vocals build in dramatic fashion very slowly, and then the chorus eventually comes in and explodes. Good moment. Another magnificent Grace Slick performance.\\n\\nRepeated listens reveals an album that *does* improve. My original feelings weren't so kind, but now I believe I can appreciate a good portion of the album, especially any moment when Grace Slick is in the spotlight (which happens often, might I add).\",\n \"Product: 15 tracks taken from this West Coast blues-rock outfit's first two albums for Columbia, Pacific Gas & Electric and Are You Ready , whose title track went to #14 on the 1970 charts. Other tunes: Staggolee; Miss Lucy; She's Long and She's Tall , and more. Long out of print!\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: pump up the volume\\n\\nReview: I wasn't aware of this band called Pacific Gas & Electric until a few weeks ago, but listening to the Are You Ready album I can honestly say they're a really fantastic example of late 60's soulful blues rock.\\n\\n\\\"Are You Ready\\\" begins with soulful vocals with lyrics about flying. The rhythm comes in a moment later, and so do the female background vocals giving the song a gospel vibe. \\\"Someone's coming to take you home, and if you're ready then he'll carry you home\\\" is a memorable line. Really good guitar solo that reminds me of early Black Sabbath for some reason. A similar tone to Sabbath's early material at least. While the guitar solo delivers in being melodic, it's also unique with the female vocals singing along to it. The vocals near the end have a Chambers Brothers or Terry Kath of Chicago feel to them based on the tension-filled soulfulness.\\n\\n\\\"Hawg For You\\\" has a bluesy vibe similar to the intro to \\\"I Want You\\\" the Beatles classic. Then the vocal melody comes in and it's in the traditional bluesy style, but with dazzling guitar soloing taking place behind the vocals. I love the lyrics \\\"Boogie woogie for you!\\\" Wow this guitar playing is REALLY good! Particularly the solo in the middle. How can you not be blown away by that? And the guitar solo seems to only improve as it moves along since by the end I'm so floored with the notes I can't think about anything else! \\\"Staggolee\\\" opens with a chugging beat and harmonica that reminds me of the Band with vocals similar to some of Captain Beefheart's more high-pitched vocals. This song has an irresistible beat to it with storytelling lyrics that I can't help but love to pieces. Some really amazing vocals too. Not sure what the lyrics are about, but it mentions pitchforks, hangmen and freedom. Eerie lyrics overall.\\n\\n\\\"The Blackberry\\\" opens with a solid groove. The lead singer opens with some spoken lyrics about his time growing up in Virginia encountering snakes, sand fleas and chickens while singing a tune. I gotta admit, the lead singer has a lot of personality. He's very comfortable with his natural singing voice, and he's not afraid to show it. This song carries a steady rhythm while the singer sings about his love of blackberries and other fruits while guitar soloing plays subtly in the background until halfway through when it tears into a more noticeable and better solo. Hey I love blackberries too but I have a feeling we're talking about two very different type of blackberries! I mean I find it impossible to believe anyone loves blackberries as much as this guy is describing them so voluptuously. I mean, I'd place blackberries in my top first favorites fruits but this guy clearly loves them more.\\n\\n\\\"Love, Love, Love, Love, Love\\\" (and hey, why not throw in another \\\"Love\\\" while we're at it!\\\") is crunchy slow-moving blues. What a great riff. \\\"Come here woman, tell me what is your name? Come a little closer, step into the light, you sure look fine mama, it's gonna be a good night\\\". I'm probably writing some of these lyrics wrong. This song almost has a slight Jimi Hendrix \\\"Purple Haze\\\" vibe to the pacing, drumming and guitar trickery. Whoa, an *extremely* good guitar solo near the end. \\\"Mother, Why Do You Cry\\\" is a quiet country tune with *very* disturbing lyrics about the lead singer going to a prison and speaking to a man reaching the end of his life because he murdered a somebody. He even describes the way the murder took place in bloody detail. Wow this is abnormal for late 60's/early 70's rock! VERY abnormal! Melody wise, T=this is extremely close to a normal ballad country song in terms of guitar playing and the dreariness associated with the sadness, but the lyrics are truly something else so you better be prepared for them!\\n\\n\\\"Elvira\\\" is fast-paced blues rock with vocals. It's only 2 minutes long but fast enough to be enjoyable. \\\"Screamin\\\" is totally unique in its sneaky jazz meets blues rhythm work. This has a \\\"Riders On the Storm\\\" vibe (Doors tune). \\\"I gotta get out and find a new day\\\". Yeah me too! Let's go together. Get me out of this rut I'm in. Cool guitar solo too. It relies more on atmosphere than it does dazzling guitar soloing which is a step in a different direction for the band based on what I've heard so far. Sadly \\\"When a Man Loves a Woman\\\" isn't on this collection, but to be honest as much as I enjoy this great cover version of a classic, it probably is the song of choice to remove. I mean if they absolutely HAD to remove one song, this is probably the one. Of course personally I'd prefer *no* song be removed for any reason whatsoever. With that said, the soulful vibes and vocal melody nearly matches the brilliance of the classic version we all know, and the background singers only make it better. There's also a somber organ and guitar solo in the middle that plays the main melody of the tune, and it's really beautiful.\\n\\nNow for my review of Pacific Gas & Electric, the second album features as part of this double album collection.\\n\\n\\\"Bluesbuster\\\" is fast-paced boogie/jazz rock with light organs or keyboards in the background. The vocal melody seems a little worse compared to the ones from the bands Are You Ready album. This song's alright but nothing especially memorable. Perhaps if the vocal melody didn't speed by in a way that feels rushed I'd have liked it better. At least the guitar solo is okay and I like the presence of the horns near the end.\\n\\n\\\"Death Row #172\\\" is unique the way it slowly blends sincere tender vocals, blues and jazz all together in one amazing pot. The lyrics definitely capture the feeling of rotting away in jail by singing the blues, reading the Bible and not knowing what else to do. It gets even crazier whe the singer mentions killing men in Vietnam. I'm not used to hearing negative lyrics about Vietnam war in such a graphic way. Most artists of the 60's and 70's mention war, but hardly ever specifically Vietnam, and almost *never* in this kind of realistic detail. There's a powerful message behind these lyrics for sure, and the fantastic vocal melody makes the lyrics even stronger. \\\"Miss Lucy\\\" is standard blues with a decent guitar solo. Perhaps heavier than most blues though. Probably on par with say, Cream or Led Zeppelin in terms of sheer heaviness.\\n\\n\\\"My Women\\\" is more blues, but with a stronger emphasis on tastier guitar licks and overall the superior tune in comparison to \\\"Miss Lucy\\\". The song goes through some mood shifts that are pretty interesting. It's an experimental way of writing a blues tune. Stepping outside the box so to speak. \\\"Know a woman down south, she's wild and countrified\\\" is a great lyric, especially when it goes on to describe just how good looking this woman is! Gotta love those legs, haha. The lead singer's personality continues to the point that he takes his vocal range all over the place while assuring that the melody and atmosphere is never negatively affected in any way. He knows never to cross that line amazingly enough. \\\"She's Long And She's Tall\\\" is more standard blues, but hey, standard blues of the early 70's variety is a GREAT thing in my book. Because that was the time when guitar solos, tempo changes, solid vocal melodies and overall guitar skills were at an all-time high in my opinion. Speaking of guitar solos, this is a mighty fine one (especially the heavier one near the end).\\n\\nOkay this next song is pretty tough to review. It's basically \\\"The Pacific Gas & Electric Suite\\\" and it's over 15 minutes long. It starts with \\\"The Young Rabbits\\\" and this part sounds early Chicago-like with the speedy rhythm, nonstop horns, and overall distinctive jazzy vibe. There's also orchestration that enhances it. This is actually really impressively written, especially when the violins come in that feel like the icing on a cake. The trumpet or trombone solo soon exchanges notes with the saxophone which reminds me of several jazz/fusion artists I could name. The drum solo is pretty remarkable too, especially when the violin creeps in so unusually. Keep in mind all these instrumental sections go by fairly quickly (well except for the drum solo which eventually dissolves into quietness until the horns come back in).\\n\\nAfter this \\\"Constitutional Strand\\\" is next. Wow you thought the violins sounded creepy? Check this out! This is a Middle Eastern mind trip or perhaps your worst nightmare. This is much creepier than some of the instrumental parts from a couple minutes ago. It's brief at least, so a really catchy guitar riff can come in. REALLY good riff to be exact! Then it starts to jam in a psychedelic Cream kind of way. I guess this is the \\\"Fat Tom\\\" part but I can't say for certain. \\\"Boy Wonder\\\" finishes this interestingly written and creative suite. The lyrics are really silly singing from a child's point of view and how he's not allowed to swim or play with the other boys around the neighborhood. Really strange but the lead singer takes these memories personally and considers it payback. He even shares stories about running away from home which makes me think he's venting some inner thoughts that have been bothering him for years. The acoustic guitar playing is really good throughout. This song actually reminds me of Hot Tuna quite a bit in the vocals and creative bluesy guitar playing. Anyway, time to start helping yourself huh! Perhaps slightly overlong though- the \\\"Boy Wonder\\\" part.\\n\\n\\\"Redneck\\\" offers a nice faster-paced chugging way to end the bands self-titled 1969 album with nice piano playing and solid vocals. I really like the lead singers voice here. He's good at the country vocals. The lyrics are sort of offensive to some because they mention all kinds of different people and not exactly politely (especially the very last line which I can't repeat). Overall wow! Pacific Gas & Electric is a LOT better than I ever could've guessed! The lead singer has a really solid voice and tons of personality which helps to give the band a unique sound. I wasn't expecting any of this. Great singer and great music!\",\n \"Product: COUNTRY JOE AND THE FISH - 1969: LIVE! FILLMORE WEST - CD\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: a really nice collection of songs\\n\\nReview: This is the first Country Joe and the Fish album I ever heard. Before this, I only knew a couple songs from the band and I really had no idea they could totally jam away like they do quite often here. While I think the sound of the album overall is pretty weak and horribly dated and quiet, we DO have to understand this music was recorded in 1969 (a live album, no less). Still, a remastering job wouldn't hurt. Something to fix up the muddy sound.\\n\\nThe first song is called \\\"Introduction/Rock and Soul Music/Love\\\" and is unquestionably a great way to open a live set. The first two minutes feature insanely melodic guitar jamming. It shows what you can expect from here on out. Then lyrics about rainbows come in next. The song switches gears after this and seemingly turns into Steppenwolf. If that's not the lead singer of Steppenwolf during the vocal melody, he has a copycat! A keyboard jam along with some pretty good drumming behind the vocal melody is included as well.\\n\\n\\\"Here I Go Again\\\" isn't related to the Whitesnake song, haha. Supposedly a religious song, the vocal melody is absolutely gorgeous. It sounds like an old-fashioned country love song. It's a really beautiful melody. It sounds like it was designed for people to slow dance to it. Nice piano playing too.\\n\\n\\\"It's So Nice to Have Your Love\\\" is next. The vocals are reminiscent of Al Stewart, almost exactly. That's cool with me. Love the atmospheric piano solo. The vocal melody is brilliantly emotional. The guitar solos are quite powerful as well, filled with so much emotion. I had no idea Country Joe and the Fish was able to give the listener so many pleasant feelings.\\n\\nThe first eight minutes of \\\"Flying High\\\" is nothing but an extended guitar jam. It reminds me of something from the Quicksilver Messenger Service album \\\"Happy Trails\\\". VERY good stuff. Also reminds me of the Allman Brothers a little bit. A bluesy vocal melody and heavy bass guitar finish up the song. A very melodic song overall. This is actually a really spectacular guitar jam.\\n\\n\\\"Doctor of Electricity\\\" is next. Man, what a cool song title! An adventurous and mysterious keyboard bit opens up the song. Wow, pretty cool. Too bad it only lasts roughly 75 seconds. A guitar jam soon follows after a brief stab at a vocal melody. Those cool keyboards make another appearance. They stick around for the rest of the 9-minute song, and more guitar work comes along for the ride.\\n\\n\\\"Donovan's Reef Jam\\\" is the ultimate live jam. I mean, REALLY incredible stuff. Let me try to explain it-\\n\\nAn energetic and fantastic guitar jam opens up this 38-minute monster before a jazzy vocal melody comes in. That lasts for a few minutes. The jam maintains a jazzy feel through some excellent guitar work and a cool rhythm section. I actually don't mind the muddy production during this particular song because it feels *right* for some reason. 8 minutes in and we experience a great harmonica solo before a brief vocal melody returns 12 minutes in.\\n\\nAfter the vocals are over, the song turns into a bluesy jam for a while. Some harmonica playing returns, along with more of those ultra-cool keyboards. I love the sound of the keyboards these guys have. Yes they're reminiscent of several other bands of the same time period who've used them countless times, but I don't really care. All these instruments are taking place while still jamming of course (quite heavily, might I add!)\\n\\nThe jam seems to slow down temporarily around the 21-minute mark. By this point, the guitar is dominating, and continues to do so for the next several minutes. The jam slows down drastically around the 27-minute mark. Near the 30-minute mark, the jam becomes incredibly gorgeous and melodic. The guitar playing is suddenly beyond belief \\\"smack me over the head with something HARD this is good!\\\", along with the keyboards. A very emotional piece of writing there. I love the rest of the song. Then it's finally over. Whoa, what an exhausting listen! But keep with it and you'll be rewarded.\\n\\nWhile Country Joe and the Fish aren't remembered today as much as they should be, you can buy this album and own one heck of a great live jamming performance with a few country numbers in the beginning. You won't regret it.\",\n \"Product: This CD is an out of print collectible!It is the 1997 Chronicles version. Catalog #314-534-358-2. Still sealed. There is a drill hole in the case.Track listing:1. Light Of Love2. Solid Baby3. Precious Star4. Token Of My Love5. Space Boss6. Think Zinc7. Till Dawn8. Girl In The Thunderbolt Suit9. I Really Love You Babe10. Golden Belt11. Zip Gun Boogie12. Do You Wanna Dance13. Dock Of The Bay\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: really good, but different\\n\\nReview: I grew up in a house where my family was convinced that the Slider is the ultimate T.Rex album. In fact, the Slider (according to my dad) is considered the best album ever, or at least, in the top 3.\\n\\nBolan's Zip Gun feels *very* different in comparison. I can't quite tell what kind of sound T.Rex is going for here. Many of these songs feel like throwbacks to the early 60's period of rock but morphed to fit into T.Rex's glam rock style.\\n\\nOne thing I know for a fact is that \\\"Light of Love\\\" is clearly my favorite song. I love this song quite a bit. \\\"Think Zinc\\\" is another good one. I agree with the other reviews that there's something very unique about this album that puts it in a league of its own, and for that, the album deserves a high rating. Something about the clear and vibrant production that I like.\\n\\nThe only complaint is that the majority of these songs are dominated with female vocals that are quite loud and sometimes overbearing to the point of obnoxiousness. It's a really weird choice on the part of the band members to include female vocals to *this* extent.\\n\\nOh well, Bolan's Zip Gun is a good album either way, baby.\",\n \"Product: This is the American Chronicles release of the original Demon UK CD. Remastered with bonus tracks. Now OOP!\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: what a dragon adventure\\n\\nReview: Wow, so let me get this straight. Supposedly Futuristic Dragon was once considered a mediocre recording by the regular record-buying public? It received fairly (or flat out) negative reviews upon the time of its release back in 1976? Is this all true? If so, EVERYBODY was wrong!\\n\\nFuturistic Dragon rules. Why am I not supposed to like this album? Okay yeah, it does show signs of the time period in which it was recorded with a few songs *sort of* reminiscent of the good old disco days (by \\\"good\\\" I of course mean... yeah, you know). I guess an obvious example is \\\"Dreamy Lady\\\" with slightly noticeable disco beats in the background. STRONG emphasis on *slightly*. I believe there's several other examples of \\\"going disco\\\" that deserve stronger criticism than Futuristic Dragon so let's not all gang up on T Rex here folks. Let's not all gather around and pick on a quality album here!\\n\\nActually most of the people here on amazon understand how great it is. I see plenty of 4-star reviews. Nice! I'm going a bit higher than that and giving it a perfect 5 because as far as I can tell, there's really not a single weak moment anywhere.\\n\\n\\\"Jupiter Liar\\\" sounds like the good old T Rex we fell in love with back in the day, \\\"Chrome Sitar\\\" is just flat out catchy, \\\"All Alone\\\" contains folk rock storytelling elements done in a distinctly clever glam rock kind of way, \\\"New York City\\\" contains an AWESOME MELODY AND CHORUS. Sorry I had to scream there, hehe. It's about a girl walking by with a frog in her hand, but despite the silly lyrics the melody... yes, and the background vocals! YES! It's a keeper.\\n\\nAlright the album gets a tad worse after that, but only a little bit. \\\"My Little Baby\\\" perhaps suffers from being repetitive but, but... it's constantly repeating a GOOD melody, so that makes it perfectly fine! Alright, finally! I always wanted to know if T Rex could flat out rock without all the glitz and glamour, and they prove it with \\\"Calling All Destroyers\\\". That's a pretty darn cool song. Those guitars remind me of the 80's version of the Moody Blues too. \\\"Sensation Boulevard\\\" contains the same kind of intensity, and perhaps it's even an attempt to capture the spirit of the punk rock movement that was soon approaching? I don't know, maybe.\\n\\n\\\"Dreamy Lady\\\" as I mention above is a short and catchy disco-influenced pop song, and then we experience a devastating vocal melody in \\\"Dawn Storm\\\". Yes that IS a mighty cool vocal melody. Perhaps it sounds a tad dated, but I can assure you- this is no more dated than, for example, a late 70's Zeppelin album and yet everyone still admires In Through the Out Door like it's no big deal, so an occasionally dated sound shouldn't be a problem here either. \\\"Casual Agent\\\" contains more of that creepy orchestration that's just... so darn creepy. I love it. Actually have you ever heard orchestration used so creatively before? It sort of bounces all over the place while trying to keep up with the vocal melody. That's really unique to me.\\n\\nListen to this album. Please! It's better than you're probably thinking judging by the supposed harsh criticism. It holds up better than most people probably thought back in 1976, too.\",\n \"Product: The legendary second album (1970) from Funkadelic. This album's title track is the sort of spaced-out acid-funk that is a big influence with artists such as Spiritualized and Primal Scream.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: I like it more than Maggot Brain\\n\\nReview: Free Your Mind is honestly a tad better than Maggot Brain mostly because it's more consistent, and my favorite songs on here slightly outweigh my favorite ones from Maggot Brain.\\n\\nWhile nothing on here moves me quite like the title song from Maggot Brain, I'm left COMPLETELY satisfied by the albums conclusion with no questionable moments anywhere.\\n\\nThe 10-minute title song has some groovy lyrics, melodic and inspirational guitar jamming, and a great rhythm section.\\n\\nSure, maybe the track could have included more in the way of actual singing (instead of shouting) but I guess that's one of the main appeals of the funk genre (a genre I'm obviously no expert in). Anyway, expect a great deal of guitar jamming that comes and goes through the entire 10 minute ride.\\n\\nNothing however, could have prepared me for the second longest track on the album- the ultimate example of funk, melody and memorable guitar riffs all coming together to create the FABULOUS \\\"I Wanna Know If It's Good to You\\\". GOD what a splendid combination of instruments and musical ideas. I absolutely love this song.\\n\\nThe little keyboard solo that appears around the 4-minute mark is completely unique (and melodic) giving the song a temporary flavor of adventurous epicness (for lack of better words). This band was definitely good, no doubt about it.\\n\\n\\\"Friday Night, August 14th\\\" continues the psychedelic funky goodness. All three of the lengthy songs are highly memorable tunes. I definitely enjoy this band. I wonder what Funkadelic album I should listen to next?\",\n \"Product: Debut album from prog rockers ELO. (1971) With Jeff Lynne, Bev Bevan and Roy Wood.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: not the greatest debut of all time, that's for sure\\n\\nReview: No Answer falls under the category of \\\"mediocre by ELO standards\\\". That meaning, No Answer is *still* really good but falls short of perfection in comparison to future albums by the band.\\n\\nNot that I can hardly blame the band for its amateur missteps (or anybody who releases a debut album). Most artists start off on rocky territory anyway and gradually become better with future releases (and experience). Electric Light Orchestra is no exception.\\n\\nWhat bugs me the most about No Answer is that it actually contains some really good songs, but those particular songs are jammed between some rather underwhelming ones, so it ends up being a confusing listen.\\n\\n\\\"10538 Overture\\\" is a pretty good song. Even though the vocal melody feels undeveloped, it does resemble the Beatles a little bit, so it's a highlight for me. \\\"Look At Me Now\\\" reminds me of the Beatles \\\"Eleanor Rigby\\\". I really like this one.\\n\\nMy favorite song is probably \\\"Nellie Takes Her Bow\\\". The orchestration combined with a really depressing vocal melody blends together to create really good results. This should have been a huge hit. Even the jam during the second half is pretty awesome because it's so melodic.\\n\\nBelieve it or not, my second favorite song is the very next one- \\\"The Battle of Marston Moor\\\". I assume most people probably don't feel as passionately about it as I do, but the orchestration is fairly complex and really exciting, and it takes up the majority of the song.\\n\\nI'm not surprised a band that goes by the name \\\"Electric Light Orchestra\\\" would create a couple completely classical-inspired songs on their debut album, but I AM surprised just how amazing the particular song is. My favorite part is when the violins speed up at the 3-minute mark. That part is REALLY awesome.\\n\\nUnlike most people, I'm not a fan of \\\"Mr. Radio\\\". Yes, it sounds inspired by the Beatles (yes, I know, I keep saying that- but it's true!) however the vocal melody doesn't seem as interesting to me personally compared to future ELO songs.\\n\\n\\\"First Movement (Jumping Biz)\\\" shows STRONG signs of a band that would later release my favorite instrumental ever recorded- \\\"Fire On High\\\". I absolutely think the world of THAT song, and \\\"First Movement\\\" is probably in the same league at least!\\n\\nWhen I first seen the title \\\"Manhattan Rumble\\\" I immediately got the feeling this would be the bands attempt at a blues rocker. ELO is quite good at those kind of songs (as you will discover upon hearing future albums) however that's not what this song is like at ALL. This is a really atmospherically dark classical-influenced instrumental piece, and it's really darn good. I've never heard anything quite like it either.\\n\\n\\\"Queen of the Hours\\\" has a whimsical chorus that consists of an extremely catchy vocal melody combined with beautiful orchestration. It's really darn cool.\\n\\nI'm torn whether \\\"Whisper In the Night\\\" is an example of a genuine tear jerker emotional ballad, or just a sappy piece of stinkage. I honestly don't know which category I'd place it in, haha. So let's just say I enjoy it, but I'm not always in the mood to hear it.\\n\\nOverall, yeah, as soon as ELO's second album came out, the bands signature sound would take immediate effect and the songwriting would improve, as well as the consistency factor of their material. ELO II is a masterpiece of classial, progressive rock, and pop songwriting creatively wrapped up into a 40-minute album. No Answer is a bit of an inconsistent affair in comparison, but it contains some really good moments regardless.\",\n \"Product: Track Listings 1. Keep Pushin' 2. Any Kind Of Love 3. (Only A) Summer Love 4. (I Believe) Our Time Is Gonna Come 5. Breakaway 6. Flying Turkey Trot 7. Tonight 8. Lightning\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: going commercial... and unfortunately not looking back\\n\\nReview: R.E.O. is where the commercial ballads and \\\"hard rock\\\" phase of REO Speedwagon officially began (heh, have to put that in quotation marks since the vocals during this particular phase are soft and ballad-like mixed in with surprisingly heavy guitar licks which is an odd trademark combination that the band has been performing since 1976). I wouldn't say I hate the direction the band took because they *did* end up releasing a few quality songs over the years (just check out their Hits collection for proof) but overall I simply can't shake the feeling of disappointment this album presents and I strongly believe the material is lacking overall. Say what you will about Mike Murphy, but he clearly brought out a different, more rewarding side of the band with better songwriting, vocal melodies, arrangements and guitar solos/riffs.\\n\\n\\\"Lightning\\\" has a funky rhythm and decent enough vocals, though nothing extraordinary. The Mike Murphy days were a lot better in my opinion. Furthermore, the stuff from T.W.O was a lot better as well. The guitar solo at the end rocks hard, but otherwise I can take or leave this song. Kevin Cronin sings a passable vocal melody here and nothing more. \\\"(I Believe) Our Time Is Gonna Come\\\" is almost exactly the same thing! Funky rhythm, slightly upbeat vocals, a guitar solo at the end (this solo perhaps cooler until Cronin brings back that already worn out and repetitive chorus)... yeah, I definitely favor the Mike Murphy years and on a personal note, it's a crime he never got the recognition I feel he deserves. He sings better melodies in my opinion.\\n\\n\\\"(Only A) Summer Love\\\" is bland and an alarming drop in quality compared to what the band was doing just one year earlier (on an album that, as fate would have it, had been out of print for years until recently- that being This Time We Mean It). You see the difference between this hogwash and the Mike Murphy years is that Mike would put in the extra effort to sing a melody you can resonate with. This is too straight forward and commercialized to make an impression. Song for song, the entire album sounds the same. That's Kronin's style. Again though, the guitar solo is the reason I listen to it and don't end up hating it- the solo is melodic, dazzling, and just really *good*. \\\"Breakaway\\\" just sums up a disappointing album with vocals that are nearly impossible to remember, however \\\"Keep Pushin\\\" is clearly the highlight. I love the chorus especially but the chugging rhythm is really spectacular too. That's a quality track. Overall, stick with the early stuff and forget about this album.\",\n \"Product: This CD is an out of print collectible! It is the original 1990 Columbia release. Catalog CK 46133. There is a drill hole through the UPC.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: wow, drink up this oil!\\n\\nReview: No no, don't drink any oil but please DO buy this wonderful album!\\n\\nThe word \\\"underrated\\\" gets tossed around so many times these days that it's hard to take the word seriously anymore, so let me say it like this- when you listen to a 34-minute album the entire way through and can't make out a single bad or underwhelming note, and there's barely over 10 reviews for said album here on amazon, yes, Midnight Oil's debut *is* the definition of underrated.\\n\\nEvery single note makes me think the band intended to make a serious splash when they arrived on the scene, and my oh my what a splash it is! I'm just really shocked it's somewhat of a rare album. Are you kidding? Some of the best albums from 1978 are Dire Straits debut, Kate Bush's the Kick Inside, the Talking Heads More Songs About Buildings & Food, and the Who's Who Are You? and yet, this album *clearly* deserves to be placed in the same category of awesomeness.\\n\\nRight from the melodic guitar solo onslaught that is the introdution of \\\"Powderworks\\\" you know you're hearing something not only special, but brand new. Remember, this particular sound was ahead of its time by a couple years. I guess you can argue the vocals of Peter Garrett sound similar to the lead singer of the Clash, and the Clash were out before these guys, but then I could defend Midnight Oil by saying they have better songwriting than most of the Clash's best material (matter of taste of course). Anyway \\\"Powderworks\\\" has a phenomenal verse melody with an anthemic chorus. \\\"Head Over Heals\\\" has a really melodic intro that eventually makes way for dreamy vocals that resemble the Pet Shop Boys. The keyboard solo is fantastic and the guitar solo soon after is somehow even better.\\n\\n\\\"Dust\\\" has a groovy and innovative rhythm and vocals. It also benefits by sounding VERY 80's-ish well before the 80's were to get underway, and nobody had a clue the early part of the 80's would resemble this type of sound. It's amazing how only a few late 70's artists resembled what would become the classic 80's sound, and a forgotten debut album by a relatively well-known band is one of the artists responsible for such a brand new sound. I love the lyrics. \\\"It's 2 am in Town Hall Station, black walls and sleeping drunks are bad companions, ice is there, fear is there, everyone is nowhere there's too much of nothing, take me away\\\". \\\"Used & Abused\\\" has a slight similarity to Aerosmith's \\\"Mama Kin\\\" in the speedy guitar and rhythm, but let's just say, Peter Garrett can run circles around most of Steven Tyler's best work, and the rest of the band members can easily whip up and take out Aerosmith as well.\\n\\n\\\"Surfing With a Spoon\\\" has a beautiful and magnificent intro and the stop/start nature of the vocals is really appealing and serves as a nice break from the rest of the material. If I haven't mentiond it yet, ALL the guitar solos throughout the album are clear winners. Most of the time the solos are really melodic but when they're not, a nice replacement is just how *cool* they sound. The keyboards come along and dazzle the song with more magnificence, this time giving the song a feeling of grandness such as what a progressive rock band would do. Oh there's this little song called \\\"Run By Night\\\" that comes next. It's more than a little song of course- it's the greatest song of ALL TIME! Alright probably not but I really love it to pieces. Sing it! \\\"I'm on the whiskey flying, and I'll run by night! I'm on the whiskey running and I'll run by night!\\\" These are REALLY good vocals that do a wonderful job getting my blood pumping.\\n\\n\\\"Nothing Lost- Nothing Gained\\\" is the creepiest song here, in addition to being the longest. An eerily somber intro and the drums and guitar lines that come after elevate the mood even stronger. The line \\\"In my world there are sorrows, I'd rather drown in happiness\\\" is totally appropriate. The dreamy guitar solo is a highlight for being similar to the 80's and less like a typical 70's solo.\\n\\nOverall, how can you have a problem with Midnight Oil's debut? The only complaint is that 34 minutes is fairly brief, and that I need more of this exceptionally upbeat greatness. GIVE ME MORE!\",\n \"Product: Although Miles Davis's health was quite weak at the time of this two-CD set (recorded the same day as the album Agharta), he has a few strong trumpet solos on these two very lengthy pieces (\\\"Zimbabwe\\\" and \\\"Gondwana\\\"). Just after these concerts, Miles would go into an almost six year hiatus from music. The music here is stunning with the dense ensembles and heated solos (Sonny Fortune on soprano, alto, and flute and the guitars of Pete Cosey and Reggie Lucas) being quite boisterous, but very powerful. Pangaea is one of the finest recordings from the least-understood period of Davis's career (1971-1975).\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: improving with every listen\\n\\nReview: First of all, I love Miles Davis, but Pangaea not only strikes me as a more inconsistent offering compared to Agharta, but one of his weakest 70's albums. I'm surprised. I figured since it was recorded the same day as Agharta I'd love it, but unfortunately a good portion is devoted to the mellow side of Miles.\\n\\nWe frequently hear mellow flute passages that are barely melodic enough, typical mid 70's heavy metal guitar solos (which are actually cool, I admit) and gentle trumpet solos intended for the soft jazz fans out there.\\n\\nWell, I love the soft jazz of In A Silent Way, so it's even more mysterious why I'm having so much trouble with Pangaea. I just don't get it. Perhaps there's a good reason behind it. Maybe it needs more time to grow on me, but I must have played it 20 times so far.\\n\\nAlso, every time a jam gets going, it seems to eventually dissolve into an overlong period of aimlessness, which makes it seem more like an extended warm-up session that we normally hear before a live concert gets underway. However most artists know when to trim the fat so to speak. Miles was probably going for something here but I'm unsure what. Granted, this was a minor issue on Agharta as well, but it was easier for me to ignore it there since I admired the guitar and trumpet jams so much.\\n\\nWhenever the guitar solos appear, they eventually dissolve into a bunch of indistinguishable fuzz.\\n\\nWell, I frequently update my reviews- just because I'm giving it a 3-star rating now doesn't mean it's carved into stone. Opinions change, and we'll see. For now however, I just fail to see what people are experiencing that supposedly puts this in the same league as Agharta.\\n\\nOn another note, the album cover reminds me of an NES game. Just look at it. Awesome!\\n\\nUpdate- January 23, 2012\\n\\nWell the good news is that what I originally tagged as \\\"pointless guitar jamming fuzz\\\" is actually pretty memorable after all. At least during the middle sections of both \\\"Zimbabwe\\\" and \\\"Gondwana\\\". It doesn't *always* blow me away, but it's improving by the day. I guess this stuff really is challenging and requires patience on the part of the listener. Several of the trumpet solos are beginning to grow on me as well thanks to the mood they create AND the actual notes. Too bad for the overlong conga section at the end of \\\"Zimbabwe\\\", perhaps the only moment on Pangaea that really makes me wanna skip over it. However I DO remember an extended smooth jazz jam (Miles distinct version of \\\"smooth jazz\\\" I mean) near the end of one of the tracks that lasts over 10 minutes, and it's wonderful. Anyway I changed the rating to a 4 out of 5 instead of my original rating of 3 out of 5. Maybe one day I'll give Pangaea a perfect 5-star rating. Challenging music like this just takes a while for me to absorb.\",\n \"Product: This CD is an out of print collectible! It is the original 1990 Columbia release. Catalog CK 46134. There is a drill hole through the UPC.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: what's this? I'll tell ya what it is!\\n\\nReview: This being my first experience with a Midnight Oil album I went in not really knowing what to expect but I suppose I shouldn't be surprised what it's like- youthful and energetic new wave/punk rock with a twist. The twist being this album sounds amazing from a production perspective, and well, it's clear the band obviously has a distinctive style. There's an emphasis on quirky songwriting, slight anthemic tendencies in the vocal deliveries and guitar solos, and the band was obviously listening to the Police (thanks to a similar guitar tone) as well as the Clash (again, lots of exuberant punk aggression).\\n\\n\\\"Koala Sprint\\\" is a highlight. A fairly lengthy period of guitar playing occupies a couple portions, and the way the explosive vocals come out of nowhere truly illustrates the members of Midnight Oil had their own unique thing going on and they weren't afraid to hold back in the early days. But that's not all! There's also a strong vocal hook you'll discover with repeated listens. \\\"Stand In Line\\\" almost has a \\\"Beat It\\\"-type rhythm (the Michael Jackson classic) but it's surrounded with REALLY fierce guitar solos and aggressive vocals. Probably not really memorable vocals however (in the sense that you can remember how the melody goes). It's more like a sharp and honest display of pure emotional anger by an aspiring young Australian rock band looking to make a statement.\\n\\n\\\"Is It Now?\\\" has an intro that perfectly reveals the approaching 80's. Just listen to that refreshingly innovative sound! I really admire it. While the vocals probably aren't the greatest in the world, I admire how upbeat and exciting this stuff is. It's really heavy too- borderline heavy metal. Reminds me of early U2 (Boy in particular) combined with early Iron Maiden (\\\"Phantom of the Opera\\\" in particular!) These vocals are really good but it takes a few listens to admire them through all the chaotic and exceptionally loud guitar playing. \\\"Profiteers\\\" has a really wild intro with guitar riffs practically crashing into each other. The vocals are ahead of their time as well. I've honestly never heard anything like this from a late 70's album.\\n\\nThe opener titled \\\"Cold Cold Change\\\" has a strangely appealing vocal melody the way it *should* be forgettable since all it does is chugs along in such an ordinary way but... there's something amazing about it. I really can't explain what it is other than Midnight Oil had the *it* factor. This song also has a slight Judas Priest similarity in the guitar work. \\\"Naked Flame\\\" features offbeat and freakily sung vocals. Pretty cool style implemented here. The vocals even turn Beatles-like near the end while the guitar soloing continues to innovate and amaze. Love it. \\\"Back On the Borderline\\\" is exceptionally crunchy with the guitar riffs, and the vocals are really upbeat and create images of... eating an ice cream cone outside on a warm sunny evening? Yeah, just maybe! If I haven't mentioned it yet, these guys can seriously come up with awesome guitar riffs. \\\"Section 5 (Bus to Bondi)\\\" has a Mortal Kombat-like intro before immediately shifting in a more energetic and heavy rocking direction.\\n\\nOverall, Midnight Oil's second album proves to be worthy of your time and money. Really cool stuff. If this album excels in one area, it's gotta be the fact it rocks HARD the entire way through.\",\n \"Product: Civilized Evil is an album by French Jazz-Fusion artist Jean-Luc Ponty. Recorded in 1980 in Los Angeles with JLP's band members Joaquin Lievano (guitars) Chris Rhyne (keyboards) Randy Jackson (bass) and ex-band member Mark Craney (drums). Tracks include \\\"Demagomania\\\", \\\"Forms of Life\\\", \\\"Once a Blue Planet\\\" and more. [Note: This product is an authorized CD-R and is manufactured on demand].\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: let's be civil about it\\n\\nReview: Welcome to the 80's! Considering how legendary Jean's mid 70's albums are, what's *this* going to sound like? The anticipation is truly something else! Hmmm... let's see.\\n\\n\\\"Demagomania\\\" begins with a synth passage and groovy bass work that reminds me of the Alan Parsons Project BIG time, and the similarities continue when the synth jams for a couple minutes. Yeah this stuff is totally distinct of the early 80's but it's highly enjoyable all the same. Here comes the violin solo. It's about time! Just kidding, I ain't getting *that* impatient yet. *stomps fork and knife on table in demanding fashion* This violin solo starts off feeling a bit soft by Jean's usual standards until it inevitably kicks into second gear and intensifies. The way the violin plays off the groove at the end is a bit weird and I enjoy the outer space-like conclusion.\\n\\n\\\"In Case We Survive\\\" has an Asian feel to it in the beginning, before shifting into something devastating like a forest crumbling into the ground from the distance. The keyboards remind me of the Cosmic Messenger period of Jean's work which was only a few years prior to the release of Civilized Evil so that's not really much of a great stretch, is it? This violin jam is quite hypnotic. Every time it wants to pick up more it settles into a beautiful routine where it follows along to the rhythm. It's still really good- the notes themselves and the atmosphere. The image of something bad happening several miles out is quite common in this song. Do you feel it too?\\n\\n\\\"Forms of Life\\\" begins on a safe note with average piano playing even though the violin and bass guitar comes in a moment later and changes the tone. Not really thrilled with the notes though- the instrumentation feels uninspired and repetitive so far, and the whole song lasts WAY too long. In fact the entire song is *completely* safe- no jamming anywhere. What a shame. We can only hope \\\"Peace Crusaders\\\" changes that. It does! It begins on a powerful uplifting note. The bass and keyboard arrive a moment later and they make the song very good, but the electric guitar solo (yeah baby!) is what really elevates this song to a new level. It's brief, but memorable. The keyboards give the song a dreamy vibe but that part's *really* brief (dang it!) The violin solo continues following the rhythm the entire song has been building upon. This violin part is definitely the highlight of the song without question. I like how the violin shifts from beautiful to powerful a moment later without losing its melodic edge. Perhaps the synth solo at the end is out of place but it sounds so cool I don't care. Reminds me of an old Nintendo game called Metroid (the Norfair areas)\\n\\nNow it's time for some funk! Jean's brand of violin funk that is! \\\"Happy Robots\\\" opens beautifully. This song feels like the Aurora period of Jean's career. So far it seems like the album borrows heavily from many of Jean's successful mid 70's commercial ideas. I don't care of course- this music is so good I just don't care! This is probably the best violin jam on the entire album. Every note just feel SO overwhelmingly powerful to me. Highly enjoyable stuff. And the guitar solo afterwards provides quite the foot-stomper too! Well I mean you feel like stomping your feet to the rhythm while absorbing some magnificent guitar soloing. Oh no! It's WAY too short! Oh well. \\\"Shape Up Your Mind\\\" has a unique Asian intro. I've never heard Jean attempt anything like this before. Oh wow, what instrument is jamming now? It has a chilling, somewhat high-pitched VERY beautiful sound. It's awesome. And the way the speedy violin riff comes out of nowhere in the middle before shifting into that eerie piano part? That's cool too. Nothing can compare to the violin jam though. Who can compete with THAT, haha. Jean's locked into a groove there. He's unstoppable. Best part of the song of course. But... eh! I want to say that chilling musical instrument is better because it's not used anywhere else on the album.\\n\\n\\\"Good Guys, Bad Guys\\\" opens with some tasty and groovy bass work. The electric guitar and violin soon exchange solos in amazing fashion. Both are so good it's hard to pick which one is better. I might give the edge to the guitar playing just because I almost never do, but... I can't! The violin is just too extraordinary to ignore once again. This only lasts about a minute unfortunately (seriously why are all the coolest moments normally so short? \\\"WE WANT MORE!\\\" as I stated in the second paragraph!) Anyway now the violin is all by itself being really dreamy and classical-ish. I love it of course but *starts flirting* a juicy guitar solo would make it better. Ah, oh well. WOW! That loopy violin riff at the end is awesome! \\\"Once a Blue Planet\\\" bring this bad boy to a close with devastating piano and acoustic guitar to start it. The acoustic guitar jams a little but I wouldn't say this is as fulfilling as past Jean efforts.\\n\\nAnyway Civilized Evil is a pretty good album but it has a couple weak points (\\\"Forms of Life\\\" and \\\"Once a Blue Planet\\\") which is why I'm lowering the rating to 4 stars. However the rest of the material is REALLY strong. The violin jams haven't lost a step at all, and though the soft 80's production reduces the impact that this album could've had, I don't really care too much about that either. I'd probably rank the album on the lower end of Jean's discography but not by much. And wait! Is it true Randy Jackson, former American Idol judge plays bass? That's just mind-boggling to me. That anything associated with that mediocre singing competition would appear on something truly legendary such as a Jean Luc Ponty album (granted we're going back 20 years before the show existed and when Randy's reputation was still intact, but whatever). \\\"What's up dawg!\\\" Sorry sorry, hehe.\",\n \"Product: Overlooked and under rated 1971 album\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: there goes rhymin' sim... hey wait!\\n\\nReview: I probably don't like Braincapers as much as most people, but it's decent listening. I honestly have mixed feelings with many of the supposed classic tunes from Mott the Hoople anyway. I did sort of expect to be floored by this album considering I think highly of early Mott the Hoople more so than the mid 70's stuff. I'm surprised I feel indifferent towards some of the songs here.\\n\\nI think my biggest gripe is \\\"The Journey\\\" which seems incredibly overlong at 9 minutes and barely leaves an emotional impact. I can sense Ian Hunter is going for something epic here, but the song ends up feeling straightforward, predictable and normal to me. Every time the \\\"I guess I (he) lost just a little bit of the journey\\\" line kicks in, it just doesn't hit me personally like it probably does for others. Oh well. Ian elevates his vocal range to a needless extent halfway through when the energy level and the pounding drums pick up excessively, which is more of a distraction than anything since he lacks the proper range to really floor the devastating emotion he's going for. To give the song some credit however, I like Ian's early Rod Stewart-like vocal style and the lyrics are sometimes strikingly hard-hitting. Some of the soaring guitar soloing near the end is improving for me as well.\\n\\n\\\"Sweet Angeline\\\" is pretty good thankfully, with keyboard work reminding me of Procol Harum's style. The vocals are sort of drowned out by the loud production of the drums, keyboards and other arrangements. This song's a decent attempt at glam- it's memorable enough to get my feet tappin' to the rhythm, but I wouldn't call it one of Mott the Hoople's stronger moments. The vocals are quite similar to Bob Dylan as well. \\\"The Moon Upstairs\\\" begins with an *exceptionally* heavy guitar riff (by Mott the Hoople's standards at least). I almost expected this to be a ballad based on the song title but instead it's a high-octane rocker. It's a memorable one too, but again the vocals hide in the background and barely make an impression because of this. Unfortunately if Braincapers is supposed to be an album that focuses on the lyrics, I'm unable to detect them because of the overall loudness. The keyboards recall classic MK2-period Deep Purple which puts a smile on my face. HEY! Ian blurts out the king of all bad words near the end. That's not nice! This song is just INSANELY heavy. \\\"And I feel neglected feel rejected living in the wrong time!\\\" is a memorable (and understandable) line.\\n\\n\\\"Darkness, Darkness\\\" is a cover of the famous Youngbloods song... and hey, did the Youngbloods write this song themselves? Who knows really. It's been covered so many times I just can't answer that question! This version is pretty good but well, structurally it's just the same song I've always known which was never very impressive to begin with. Actually the Youngbloods version is indescribably special perhaps due to the atmosphere which *does* make me think of some kind of soothing darkness, like in a quiet forest with a black sky above. Of all the cover versions out there, none have been able to supply the same kind of imagery. This version almost feels nonchalant and tame in comparison. It's alright but the lead singers vocals aren't suitable in my opinion. A song that goes by the title \\\"Death May Be Your Santa Claus\\\" HAS to be a little strange right? And it is! BIG time funkiness in the beginning. \\\"How long for you to realize that all is strange?\\\" Or is Ian actually singing \\\"I'M strange?\\\" The overbearingly loud production makes it hard to tell. Would be more hilarious if the latter was true! Anyway this is another energetic tune with vocals similar to the Stones \\\"Brown Sugar\\\", but not quite as earthshattering and heavy as \\\"The Moon Upstairs\\\".\\n\\n\\\"Second Love\\\" is a moving piano-based ballad with vocals that remind me of early Humble Pie/Steve Marriott. I also detect a slight gospel vibe a few times. This song's really good. \\\"Your Own Backyard\\\" has more Bob Dylan-ish vocals in a country/rock style and the vocal melody itself is mighty fine. The lyrics at the very end about \\\"not knowing what you'll dig up\\\" reminds me of a nightmare I had the other night! I was in somebody else's yard trying to dig up... awful things. \\\"I can't tell no one how to live their life even though deep inside we're all the same\\\" is a great, truthful line. Surprisingly this tune reminds me of the Blues Image (you know, \\\"RIDE captain ride, upon your mystery ship!\\\"). \\\"The Wheel of the Quivering Meat Conception\\\" is a funny title, but at only 1 minute the song is just leftover guitar riffage from \\\"The Moon Upstairs\\\".\\n\\nOverall Braincapers has the potential to get better with time. Right now I think it's just a decent album. I wish \\\"The Journey\\\" wasn't on here. That song alone being 9 minutes is a major unavoidable inconvenience.\",\n \"Product: Another funk masterpiece, with singer Lenny Williams tearin' it up on tracks like Only So Much Oil in the Ground !\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: nearing the top of the tower\\n\\nReview: Urban Renewal is yet another Tower of Power album with the same formula as previous albums. Funk, soulful vocal melodies, heavy emphasis on jazzy arrangements, etc. I'd say the results are slightly more impressive than before. If you dig Tower of Power's style this might be the album for you. However I'd say there's more funk overall than on previous albums.\\n\\n\\\"Walkin' Up Hip Street\\\" is a really memorable instrumental with fantastic guitar playing. The guitar work is focused in a jazzy John McLaughlin kind of way which is admirable. The trumpet solo afterwards is pretty good too, but perhaps the funky rhythm at this point in the song is the aspect that excites me the most. Pretty awesome keyboard/organ solo when we approach the middle of the song while the steady rhythm continues its memorable pace. It even gets a little creepy before the 4-minute mark. I love that part especially. The song ends in a James Bond kind of way which is interesting. \\\"It Can Never Be the Same\\\" is a soothing soulful ballad with lightly used horn arrangements and slushy mid 70's orchestration. Not one of the strongest vocal melodies the band ever made, but it's good enough. Really good guitar solo near the end.\\n\\n\\\"Willing to Learn\\\" is another soulful ballad, with perhaps more emphasis on soul (especially in the chorus) over the memorable vocal melody. This one's much slower and quieter than \\\"It Can Never Be the Same\\\". Sometimes I think if the band is going to focus on soul so heavily, they should relax on the horns. The horns aren't necessarily loud or abundant here, but they feel out of place when they appear in the middle. \\\"Only So Much Oil In the Ground\\\" is lyrically relevant wouldn't you say? Oil has been the topic of conversation in the news for many years now, arguably more frequent nowadays than back in the 70's. Not that I was around back then to confirm this. Anyway this song is about preserving oil, and I'm pretty confident I heard this song a long time ago. The line \\\"There's only so much oil in the ground, sooner or later there won't be none around\\\" sounds VERY familiar. Nice sax solo and funky vocal melody too with a satisfying amount of horns.\\n\\n\\\"I Won't Leave Unless You Want Me To\\\" is an amazingly moving ballad. The background vocals in particular are really good and remind me of the Spinners or the more commercial years of mid 70's Chicago. Just the way the background singers sing the line \\\"I won't go until you tell me to\\\" just sounds so beautiful. \\\"Come Back Baby\\\" is a nicely sung ballad. The subtly used female vocals are pretty good and the amount of soul is much higher than usual. \\\"Maybe It'll Rub Off\\\" has funky vocals with sparse horns. It sort of sounds funny the way the background singers chime in and blurt out \\\"Maybe it'll rub off!\\\" Otherwise decent song.\\n\\n\\\"Give Me the Proof\\\" is more funkiness in the same style as \\\"Maybe It'll Rub Off' (perhaps even the SAME exact style- the similarities are startling). Same funky rhythm and arranged horns. \\\"(To Say the Least) You're the Most\\\" is a clever play on words and a really funky tune. The lyrics are poetic in a way illustrating everything the lead singer sees on his journey around the world. I like the way the horns and saxophone play off each other near the end, but it's way too short. This part would've been awesome if it lasted a minute or two longer. \\\"It's Not the Crime\\\" is too short to make much of an impression, but it's nice and funky with a clean/remarkable vocal melody. \\\"I Believe In Myself\\\" has a wonderful vocal melody and a great use of jazzy arrangements. I love when the jazz momentarily gets mellow near the middle shortly before the female vocals come in giving the song a hazy tone, and this whole sequence captures what made the 70's so memorable.\\n\\nOverall, Urban Renewal is a really good album. I'm not sure how many solid albums they'd go on to make after this one, but I get the feeling the classic years faded a bit after this album since a crucial band members decided to pursue a solo career. Maybe I'm wrong though. Who knows!\",\n \"Product: Brand New\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: atlantic here we come!\\n\\nReview: This is the album where Rod split from his old bandmates and went in a new commercialized direction. There was a reason I avoided this album for years and that is why. I forgot! However to be honest, the quality of the music is really high and I recommend it. Yup I was being unfair by avoiding it. This album also has its share of hits.\\n\\n\\\"Three Time Loser\\\" is a mid-tempo rocker with female vocals in the background. You can tell these are new musicians because this song would have rocked a lot harder if Ronnie Wood was around. Not that I have a problem with Booker T. and the MG's. \\\"She felt me up and kissed my face, put her dirty hands down in my pants, she took all of my money, left me naked by the silvery moon\\\" \\\" is a mildly offensive line, but the chorus is a little too smooth for my liking. I prefer Rod gritty and raw! At least Rod's voice is still in fine form.\\n\\n\\\"Alright For An Hour\\\" opens with a really good reggae beat. Better than most reggae beats I've heard. \\\"Oh didn't I mess around like everybody did? I said \\\"Woman, you're foolin' around with a man that just don't fit, I said \\\"I'd better get along before I get right under your skin\\\", remember the song wasn't it fun, 'cause it was just one of those things\\\". Great line! \\\"But it was alright for an hour, well it was alright for a day, but it did not last, it did not last till the weekend, and I packed my bags and moved right away\\\" \\\" is a great chorus due to the return of the reggae beats during this part and Rod's voice which is fantastic here. Some of the frustration in Rod's lyrics is similar to his classic \\\"Stay With Me\\\". Really good guitar solo in the middle too.\\n\\n\\\"All In the Name of Rock 'N' Roll\\\" begins with a pretty awesome gritty guitar riff and generic piano. Rod's voice once again makes it really cool. Rod seriously has a unique voice. I know it's been said a million times but it needs to be said again! Nobody has his voice. If anyone out there can imitate Rod's voice, I'd like to hear it! Anyway this is a speedy blues rocker. The guitar riff does a great job carrying it. If I can find a complaint it's that Rod's voice isn't very clear due to the heavy guitar work. Melodic guitar solo at the end too. How about the lyrics? \\\"Went downtown on the two fourtynine, playin' for recognition of the New York town, see me and the boys got a rock 'n' roll band, they were so damn good gonna lift up the man, well we got ups we got downs, we got just so high till the sun goes down, got the ego can be abused, I got my two-toned shoes, and I can sing the blues\\\"\\n\\n\\\"Drift Away\\\" is... a cover of the Dobie Gray classic! I like to joke about this song with my dad because there was a time we'd listen to the radio and hear it *all* the time! Every single day! Anyway I actually don't care for this version much. Rod's voice sounds unnaturally jazzy during the chorus, or perhaps he just doesn't have the right feel that I love so much about Dobie's version. Actually Rod's flat out screaming during the chorus which is strange. Still an okay version though.\\n\\n\\\"Stone Cold Sober\\\" is one of Rod's more popular songs. Then again when's the last time you heard it on the radio? It's been a VERY long time. That's pretty sad isn't it- the state of FM radio these days. Anyway this song is pretty good. I've always loved the way Rod sings the chorus and how his voice seems to suddenly hit a lower register before finishing the line. Really recognizable and enjoyable. The slide guitar is pretty good too, and all the guitar soloing during the final minute is just splendid. \\\"Sunday is a drag so forget it, Monday you can make up for that, Tuesday take a taste for dinner, if you're all right spend it in bed, but on Thursday prepare for your weekend, and let Friday disappear into Saturday mornin', when you're stone cold sober again!\\\" Wow, the life of Rod Stewart in the mid 70's told very well!\\n\\nIt seems the late 80's version of \\\"I Don't Want to Talk About It\\\" dominates radio stations these days. Well I mean *used* to dominate the radio. In recent years FM radio has stopped playing several of Rod's classics. This version is better. It's a tender ballad, probably vocally just as touching as the 80's version, but the arrangements are more delicate and lovelier on this version. \\\"It's Not the Spotlight\\\" is a standard ballad. Feels lacking to me, especially the chorus- \\\"It's not the spotlight, it's not the camera light, it's not the street lights of some old street of dreams, it ain't the moonlight, not even the sunlight, but I've seen it shining in your eyes and you know what I mean\\\". Perhaps an attempt to sound like a French ballad, but it doesn't work for me.\\n\\nI think I'm more familiar with the 80's version of \\\"This Old Heart of Mine\\\". Wait scratch that- I AM more familiar with the 80's version and I hate to say it but I might prefer that one. It's a little faster with a stronger beat, but then again this version has lovely orchestration and heavier drumming. And the \\\"I love you\\\" chorus is WAY more noticeable in the 80's version. Still a quality version here though. Perhaps if you prefer Rod to sing it softer, you'll enjoy this.\\n\\n\\\"Still Love You\\\" is really sad. \\\"I was told by a good friend you were untouchable out of my reach, but the first time ever I saw you I spilled my cherry lime over your dress, you said \\\"Don't you worry it's not my best one, first encounter hardly the best, but I would not change a thing if I could do it all over again, all I am trying to say in my awkward way... \\\"I still love you\\\". Really good lyrics and sincere vocals. The mandolin returns as well. And that takes us to \\\"Sailing\\\", perhaps the best Irish lullaby in existence. Then again I don't even know if it's Irish- sure sounds like it. It makes me think of Irish men sailing on a lonely voyage out to sea. This is without a DOUBT the best song on the album seriously. An extremely good song.\\n\\nSome versions of Atlantic Crossing have bonus tracks. \\\"Skye Boat Song\\\" opens with familiar bagpipes. You'll recognize it, guaranteed! I almost wonder if this is the name of the song this famous bagpipe melody originated from. Probably is because Rod makes it sounds authentic. Not sure if I'm detecting humming in the background or something imitating humming. Never heard Rod attempt ANYTHING like this before. I almost thought I was listening to Steeleye Span! Imagine Rod singing with a group of people with sad authentic bagpipes- that's what this sounds like. Really awesome and I was not expecting this at all.\\n\\n\\\"To Love Somebody\\\" is another bonus track. Rod does a great job with the verse melody. While I like the Bee Gee's version more because that version has an untouchably curious atmosphere to it, Rod sings this song amazingly well. The orchestration is really good too. \\\"Holy Cow\\\" brings back the rock! Well a little bit at least. Pretty good vocals and Rod gives it his own unique style. \\\"Holy smoke what are you doing to me!\\\" \\\"Return to Sender\\\" opens with nice organs. I get the feeling, much like I did with \\\"Drift Away\\\", that Rod could have made it better. He kind of sounds bored singing this. The rhythm isn't exciting enough either and the chorus repeats a lot. Either way I prefer Elvis' version by far.\\n\\nOverall Atlantic Crossing is way better than I realized! Worth recommending. I guess some will point to this album as the first signs of Rod selling out, but the truth is the songs are still memorable enough, and Rod's voice still amazing enough, that it doesn't matter much.\",\n \"Product: His 1971 album, featuring the hit title cut and Talking in Your Sleep .\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: It sounds like someone else for a brief second\\n\\nReview: Okay you got me- I'm going to listen to another Gordon Lightfoot album after all, so scratch the part in my Cold On the Shoulder review where I said I only listen to one Gordon Lightfoot album a year! Summer Side of Life it is.\\n\\n\\\"Cabaret\\\" starts off atypical from what I've come to expect from Gordon Lightfoot. Listen to that REALLY gloomy intro with the guitar playing! Wow is that devastating or what! Reminds me of watching something fading while sitting on a hilltop- either a memory or something physical. When the vocals come in I almost didn't think that was Gordon singing! It sounds like someone else for a brief second. \\\"All I can see is the sea and the sky, and the sky is blue and the sea is green\\\". This vocal melody almost sounds like one you'd hear from a British pop band. Really enjoyable. The pace finally picks up in traditional Gordon style during the line \\\"Sitting in a roadside diner, the big trucks rollin' by, I don't seem to know at times what's best\\\". Ah I feel content with this familiarity now! \\\"And still I'd like to tell her that I miss her so in north Ontario\\\"sounds really sad! The piano playing is really amazing too when it arrives.\\n\\n\\\"Nous Vivons Ensemble\\\" (what does that mean!) begins with delicate piano as Gordon sings \\\"We've got to stay together, we've got to find each other now, that is how we can learn all about the other man's song\\\". Uplifting vocals and pretty acoustic guitar come in a moment later, and the way the piano and guitar play briefly at the end of certain lines adds to the delicate nature of Gordon's music. \\\"You and I were asleep in the rock of ages, remember the unborn children still to come, if you need me and I need you, there's nothin' else needs sayin', understand it, I'm not too deaf to hear the song you're playin\\\". If nothing else needs sayin' Gordon, you'd have stopped making music right now for Summer Side of Life... and this would have been the final album... and that would have stunk pretty bad because it would have meant no Don Quixote and Sundown! Okay I'm overanalyzing impractically again, hehe.\\n\\n\\\"Miguel\\\" opens with nervous-sounding acoustic guitar and haunting vocals. The line \\\"Never had much to say, he traveled alone with no friends, like a shadowy ghost at dawn he came and he went, through the woodland swiftly gliding to the young maid he came gliding, where she'd run to meet him by the garden wall\\\" adds to the haunting-ness. Love the \\\"They're waiting for me to cross the border, to swim the river, cuz I've done that before, to see my true loves smiling face, a hundred times or more\\\" line. Brilliant lyrics about this Miguel person. \\\"He was born to the south in Mexico they say, the child of a man who had soon gone away, but his mother loved him dearly and she would take him yearly, to the great Cathedral in St. Augustine, oh my young Miguel listen to the bell, of my poverty you must never tell, and he cried himself to sleep in the night, and he vowed to make things right, so he took the gun down from the wall and he paid a call, he knew she'd understand, a lawman came to capture him, the gun jumped in his hand \\\"Oh Miguel!\\\" the mother cried \\\"You must run son or you'll die!\\\" So the story is told of his true love cross the line, as strong as the oak and as sweet as the vine, and the child she bore him came on the fateful morning when they sent him to his final rest\\\". So sad!!\\n\\nThe first thing that went through my mind upong hearing \\\"Summer Side of Life\\\" is that it's a perfect song! It's hard to explain what I mean exactly. It's not my favorite song on the album, but it sounds so perfect. The mood, vocals, arrangements, everything about it! Usually songs like this tend to get better over time which is good news for me because I already like it quite a bit! \\\"There was young girls everywhere on the summer side of life, they talked all night to the young men that they knew on the summer side of life, goin' off to fight\\\". There's a subtle use of gospel vocals at times, and now that I've heard a ton of artists from the early 70's I realize combining gospel vocals with rock was a popular idea back then. Eric Clapton, Stephen Stills and several others did the same thing. It works really well too.\\n\\n\\\"Cotton Jenny\\\" is an uplifting country tune with hints of bluegrass and a great opening line (\\\"There's a house on a hill by a worn down weathered old mill, in the valley below where the river winds, there's no such thing as bad times, and a soft southern flame, oh Cotton Jenny's her name! She wakes me up when the sun goes down and the wheel of love goes around\\\". Enjoy the \\\"A joyful sound I ain't got a penny for Cotton Jenny to spend\\\" chorus. Wow who can seriously hate a song like this? It's so much fun and VERY melodic!\\n\\n\\\"Same Old Loverman\\\" begins with piano in a similar way as Elvis Presley's \\\"Can't Help Falling In Love With You\\\" but with a very different vocal melody from that classic tune. I'm not sure what to make of this song. I enjoy it of course, but it's different from the stuff I normally associate with Gordon Lightfoot. \\\"It's cold outside your window, please let me in the night is wild, it's the same old loverman baby, not some lonesome winsome child, yes I was born to believe, I could never deceive\\\".\\n\\n\\\"Love and Maple Syrup\\\" (ha, that would be yours truly with a big plate of waffles sitting in front of me! Oh yes, and an entire container of maple syrup by my side! Sorry just had to say that because the moment seemed right to reveal my love of waffles!) While the lyrics are amusing (\\\"Love and maple syrup goes together like the sticky winds of winter when they meet, when lonely lovers come to rest beneath the trees they do their best!) the tone seems to paint a different picture. \\\"If you go into the forest gaze up through the leaves, and see the sky that's almost wild, you must learn to understand what makes the forest greet the man, like a mother's only child\\\". What a great melody- every melody this song has! \\\"\\\"Longing to be understood by the heart that shapes the wood\\\" is a more boisterous change of pace and it works really well.\\n\\n\\\"10 Degrees and Getting Colder\\\" (ugh! Don't remind me of the winters of '14 and '15! I'm trying to forget those loooong and dreadfully dull days!) This song tells a nice story with country vocals. \\\"He was standing' by the highway with a sign that just said \\\"Mother\\\" when he heard a driver comin' 'bout a half a mile away, then he held the sign up higher where no decent soul could miss it, it was 10 degrees or colder down by boulder dam that day, he was raised up in Milwaukee though he never was that famous, he was just a road musician to the taverns he would go singin' songs about the ramblin', the livin' girls and gamblin', how the world fell on his shoulders back in boulder I don't know\\\" Gordon is a natural singer and songwriter and a song like this proves it.\\n\\n\\\"Talking In Your Sleep\\\" (I hear secrets that you keep... sorry wrong song!) has hilarious lyrics. \\\"I heard you talking in your sleep, is there anything that I can do, I don't believe we've had a word all day 'bout anything at all, I heard you talking in the night that's right, yes I heard ya call!\\\" Not meant to be hilarious of course. I love the way Gordon sings the \\\"I reached out to hold you near me\\\" part. \\\"I heard you softly whisper, I reached out to hold you near me, then from your lips there came that secret, I was not supposed to know\\\". Hmmm, if you don't mind me asking, what's the secret!\\n\\n\\\"Redwood Hill\\\" is *very* country! Just listen to that guitar! \\\"I tried to comfort her, ah but she would not be still, and how the rain did fall as I found my way back down the Redwood Hill\\\". What a great line and a brilliant melody! This song is hard to explain- the guitar makes it adventurous but the vocals sound sad to me so the way I feel is... I don't know HOW I feel so I just enjoy the great song and move on! Hey what the? \\\"Go My Way\\\" is sort of structured the same way! Both the fast-paced country tone AND the sad vocals... a similar feel! That's pretty cool, almost like Gordon rewrote the same song to try and trick us all. But like Gordon says in the song- I can't help being in love with you (in my case being in love with the song!) so I don't mind if they pretty much sound identical.\\n\\nAlright guys, I was NOT expecting Summer Side of Life to be such an incredible album but it surely is. Every single song!\",\n \"Product: A Tommy James twofer for next to nothing!\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: have some sugar and dress in clover\\n\\nReview: You know I've been meaning to play a Tommy James & the Shondells album for a while now. This is a band my parents absolutely *loved* and would crank their music on the record player at least a couple times a month. Not this album but rather, a best of album. So I feel a sense of nostalgia with this band, but there's more to it than that- I just flat out love these songs!\\n\\nWe all know \\\"Crimson and Clover\\\". It's one *extemely* good song too! You know how many times I've sung this song to myself? Just blurted out the opening line. Several times! And the part at the end when the vocals stutter which sorta opens my mind and makes it go all over the place... I actually went through a phase where I completely forgot about this awesome part. It's about the dreamiest thing ever! The whole melody is soaked in an unforgettable hunk of haze and you know, thinking about it, the song title \\\"Crimson and Clover\\\" is perfect imagery to describe the late 60's. Pure beauty.\\n\\nNow \\\"Crystal Blue Persuasion\\\" is a song that took a lot of warming up for me. As a kid I really didn't care for it much. Too soulful, and it dragged according to my tender childish ears, and it was way too different from the poppier and dreamier \\\"Crimson and Clover\\\" to make an impact. Now I realize how pretty it is. Then you have a song like \\\"I'm a Tangerine\\\". It opens in a *strong* psychedelic kind of way reminding me of the Beatles \\\"Strawberry Fields Forever\\\". Also reminds me of the Chocolate Watchband. Just listen to the lyrics. \\\"I am so mellow, I am a jello man\\\" and \\\"Hello banana, I am a tangerine, is it a dream? Oh no, I don't think so!\\\". The whistling effect at the end is very creepy!\\n\\n\\\"I'm Alive\\\" opens with a fuzzed guitar before Tommy James screams \\\"I'm alive, and I see things mighty clear today, I'm alive, and I'm breathing clean fresh air today, I'm alive!\\\" This song's covered in the same tripped out fuzz as \\\"I'm a Tangerine\\\". VERY melodic and pleasant too. \\\"Do Something To Me\\\" is a more upbeat tune with handclaps and a gospel tone. \\\"Do something to me, I've got to find love in a hury, do something to me, help me ease all the worry\\\". It's a single melody that repeats a lot but you know, it's a good one. You'll feel great!\\n\\n\\\"Breakaway\\\" is more aggressive soulful tune. \\\"Now now now I know how you feel inside, someone you love took you for a ride, you better tell him it's all over, girl, you know that I'll be standin' by, yes I will\\\". I love the next part- \\\"Better, here what I say!\\\" You can tell even Tommy James was getting caught up in the late 60's experimentation going on at the time, because the part in the middle begs to develop into something more but never does. Doesn't really need to I guess.\\n\\n\\\"Smokey Roads\\\" opens in some kind of foreign language I've never heard of! Actually they're just normal words sung backwards. What the lyrics are I have no idea. Wow! The melody that plays afterwards is quite similar to the Hollies \\\"The Air That I Breathe!\\\" unless I'm crazy. Being able to stand with one of the greatest love songs ever is a *very* good thing! \\\"I came back to take a look at my childhood, but all I found was a big stack of plywood, and a whole bunch of people I don't even know\\\" is a great line. I love the drumming too.\\n\\n\\\"Kathleen McArthur\\\" is a tenderly sung folk tune. This is the type of experimenting I'd expect from a late 60's band since, to name the Hollies again, they were going this route briefly. It's an incredible melody too. \\\"Well hello Kathleen, how are you today? Kathleen, so serene, daddy's unaware of the mask you wear and the love we share\\\" is perhaps the part of the song that gets to me the most. So beautiful! Oh wow, I forgot about \\\"Sugar On Sunday!\\\" The opening line immediately takes me back to my childhood. And the band uses that creepy instrument that makes Tommy James sound like he's singing in a tunnel. Whatever that thing is, it's cool! And the chorus? It's amazing! \\\"I'm only sugar on Sunday I'm leaving on Monday only got one day to love me yeah, sugar on Sunday I'm leaving on Monday but I'll be your man tonight\\\".\\n\\nThis is a classic! 5 stars easily. Wow! Holds up VERY well over the years.\\n\\n*Next album*\\n\\nHuh? Cellophane Symphony can't be purchased on its own and is now paired with Crimson and Clover. Well that's kinda... I don't want to say such a thing stinks because you're getting two brilliant albums, but it feels strange! I guess many older albums are generally being placed together now.\\n\\nAnyway \\\"Changes\\\" begins with psychedelic and dreamy vocals until the \\\"Yes she did now\\\" vocals pick up the pace. Then again I can't find the lyrics online so I might have the wrong words. I can't find the lyrics anywhere! Wow is this album rare? Is that why? Anyway this song is indicative of a band maturing. The production feels bigger too. \\\"I am the prodigal son and a gentleman\\\" is such a lovely line. Wow, gotta love the synth part at the end. Keyboards too. Talk about trippy!\\n\\nOh and let's mention the big hit because it's the most well-known song here. That would be \\\"Sweet Cherry Wine\\\". For years I thought to myself \\\"What other song out there begin as forcefully as this?\\\" The very first line is amazing. \\\"COME ON everyone we gotta get together now! Oh yeah love's the only thing that matters now!\\\" Then the melody goes through a soaring moment during the \\\"And the beauty of life, can only survive, if we love one another\\\" part. The transition is perfect! Amazing song seriously. Let's keep singing it! \\\"Oh yeah yesterday my friends were marching out to war, oh yeah listen now we ain't a marching anymore, no we ain't gonna fight, only God has the right, to decide who's to live and die, he gave us sweet cherry wine\\\".\\n\\n\\\"Evergreen\\\" reminds me of Quicksilver Messenger Service for some reason. What a tender melody with a hint of darkness in the guitar. Certain parts sound creepy to me even if they're subtle! Also love the \\\"Aaaahhhh\\\" vocals in the background. \\\"Loved One\\\" begins with some lovely \\\"la la la's\\\". Not just lovely, but I can see myself sitting on a lawn chair out back drinking a glass of lemonade to this. \\\"Suddenly there was a young girl, she reached right out and took my mind\\\". What a great melody, as is the \\\"She said \\\"If you want to get love you've got to give some\\\" part. The \\\"It takes a loved oooone, loved one, someone like you babe\\\" is a nice moment of gospel. There's actually a bunch of different melodies crammed inside this one 4-minute tune, and every one of them is fantastic.\\n\\n\\\"The Love of a Woman\\\" lacks the tight vocal melody abilities I've come to know from the band, but it's still pretty good. I almost want to laugh at some of these lyrics but that would make me look like a jerk so I won't. :) Hey I love the 60's as much as the next guy, but uh, let's just say I'm in a different kind of mood today and need some cheering up! I understand the song is going for tenderness but sometimes it can go too far. The melody itself just isn't up to par either. \\\"Makin' Good Time\\\" has amazing feel good vibes! A very likeable song if I do say so. A simple song like this excels so well.\\n\\n\\\"On Behalf of the Entire Staff & Management\\\" (you're all fired, Merry Christmas!) I kid! This melody, particularly the vocals, reminds me of Ray Davies of the Kinks in a REALLY big way! In the background there's all kinds of celebrating going on, so you can picture a work party taking place in an office room with lots of beer drinking. Time for everyone to let loose and have fun! I admit this line is catchy- \\\"A golden watch, it isn't much for your loyalty, but after all it's the least that we could do, on behalf of the entire staff and management, we really feel that you deserve this after 25 years of service to the company\\\" but nearly 4 minutes of a drunken melody is a bit much, and to take the melody into the \\\"For he's a jolly good fellow\\\" part as the song winds down? No thanks. Does Tommy James say \\\"I hate you\\\" at the end? I get he didn't get a raise!\\n\\n\\\"I Know Who I Am\\\" has a WONDERFUL and uplifting Bob Dylan-like opening line. \\\"Ah, here's to the man who's got no name, just a face in the crowd, looking just the same to me, everywhere I go I know who I am, now here's to the man who smiles at me, as he shakes my hand so vigorously, he can't figure me out, if I'm A or B or C, D, none of these, E, all of the above are correct. Do not mark on the test booklet!\\\" Wow what a great song! This song is an unbelievable amount of fun. The line about potato chips is good too (\\\"Ah, here's to the guy who's got chapped lips, from eating too many potato chips!\\\") Country folk at its best.\\n\\nI guess I should also mention \\\"Papa Rolled His Own\\\" even though I don't have much to say about it. It feels like some kind of throwaway tune with piano, and you know it's really not much different from \\\"On Behalf of the Entire Staff & Management\\\" pertaining to the vocals. At least it's short.\\n\\nNow let's talk about the craziest song here. What is this? WHAT IS IT!?!? It's \\\"Cellophane Symphony\\\". unquestionably the biggest experiment Tommy James and the Shondells have ever done. It's almost 10 minutes long for one thing, so be prepared for that. It begins with a soothing Pink Floyd-like guitar line, steady drumming and synths, and you know this doesn't sound much different from Paul McCartney and the Wing's \\\"Let Me Roll It\\\". Maybe Paul was listening to these guys? A few minutes in you can tell \\\"Cellophane Symphony\\\" is going for a tripped out adventure through space. It's pretty obvious the song is going to base itself around that soothing guitar tone and trippy psychedelic vibes.\\n\\nBut wait! Around the 5:30 mark the tempo picks up as the bass guitar arrives. The keyboards are more noticeable now too, and less messy than they were earlier. I hear what sounds like the ending from the Beatles \\\"Strawberry Fields\\\" around the 7-minute mark. You know when the song fades back in. Hey I didn't *mean* to mention this great Beatles song twice in this review! The similarities are there however. \\\"Cellophane Symphony\\\" never builds into anything amazing so it's odd when the song returns to the way it started but with more strange sound effects thrown in. Well, I'm kinda contradicting myself because the song *is* amazing! Not just because Tommy James turned into early Pink Floyd, but the song itself is really darn cool.\\n\\nThis album is really good. Well except \\\"The Love of a Woman\\\". I don't care for that one much. Otherwise great album.\",\n \"Product: Their 1971 debut!\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: starting the tower climb\\n\\nReview: I knew Tower of Power loved to use lots of horns based on the few songs I've heard before going into East Bay Grease, but I guess I had no idea they liked to use horns *this* much, and *this* loudly! Constant horns all over the place, and often times soulful vocal melodies overriding everything else to a great extent. Pretty good stuff though. If there's one thing you can't fault Tower of Power for, it's not being boisterous enough, haha! This band takes the supposed high energy level of other bands at the time, reinvents said excitement and shoots it through the roof!\\n\\nNot a single song is below 5 and a half minutes either. \\\"Knock Yourself Out\\\" opens with nice marching horns and somewhat messy vocals, but perhaps what sounds like messy vocals is just a very enthusiastic and uncontrollable lead singer! The background vocals provide the \\\"Knock yourself out woooh!\\\" part. Solid melodic sax solo in the middle too. I really like this song. \\\"Social Lubrication\\\" opens with steamy bluesy guitar lines before quickly shifting into a funkier and soulful direction. I feel the vocals are a little unfocused/uninspiring here which makes the song sound a bit clunky, but I like the horns during the chorus. The vocals remind me of Terry Kath of Chciag fame a little bit during the middle part. I like the \\\"Everyone's got their own way\\\" part because it's sung so honestly. The vocal melody gets more intense near the end. Overall decent song but not one of my favorites.\\n\\n\\\"The Price\\\" provides refreshing horns mixed with funk in the beginning. Geat driving verse melody. \\\"It's a hard thing to say but that's the price I gotta pay, the price is too much my darling\\\" is a VERY strong melody and lyrics. Lots of horns decorating the song and making it stand out boisterously, and a nice guitar solo at the end. \\\"Back on the Streets Again\\\" has a quality funky groove and sincere vocals about survival and making a return back on the streets in apparent grand fashion based on the lead singers confident demeanor. Decent though relatively messy saxophone solo in the middle, and the rhythm is notable for doing some tricky stuff. \\\"The Skunk, the Goose and the Fly\\\" is funky with cheerful/playful vocals. More exceedingly boisterous singing with funny lyrics \\\"Drunk as a skunk, loose as a goose!\\\" AWESOME guitar solo. Wow if this band ever wanted to jam on the guitar for an extended period of time, it would be incredibly good. I wonder if they DID jam when performing this live.\\n\\n\\\"Sparkling in the Sand\\\" is my favorite song on here by FAR. Instead of being a horn-drenched tune with a loud soulful vocal melody, it goes in a quieter gentler direction while keeping the soul sound completely in place. It opens with beautiful dreamy flutes. \\\"When God made you he had a lot to do, in a day or two you were my dream come true\\\" is a funny and beautifully sung line. Reminds me of Blood, Sweat and Tears when the brass instruments arrive. There are no words to describe how beautiful the vocal melody is while the lyrics emphasis the subject of love. The flute that jams throughout the song is really amazing, as is the trumpet solo later on. The jazzy tempo change at the very end is beautiful too. \\\"You're a diamond sparkling in the sand\\\" is a memorable line.\\n\\nOverall, well if you like a LOT of horns, constant horns, this is the album for you. There's also brief guitar solos, funky rhythms and constant soulful vocal melodies, but in the end other than the vocal melodies, nothing else is as instantly noticeable as the horns. It can be a bit much to take overall, but I still thoroughly enjoy East Bay Grease and highly recommend it.\",\n \"Product: Monkees ~ Headquarters\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: where the action happens\\n\\nReview: One of the Monkees earlier albums. I don't recognize any of the songs but I'm sure there's a couple hits here. I'm be *really* surprised if there's no hits on Headquarters given the Monkees were pretty popular around this time.\\n\\n\\\"You Told Me\\\" has a pretty straightforward melody typical of the mid 60's with the friendly/happy vibes, but it's memorable enough. I like the \\\"Times have made me shy of all the things you're saying, time has made me shy, of girls and all the games they are playing\\\" line since it's sung in a subtle psychedelic way, but of course the main melody contains the following line- \\\"You told me you'd always stay, you told me! You told you'd never stray, you told me! All these things you said you said sincerely, still I am leaving you in spite of what you told me. I've heard things that did not match what you told me, and of your love that would not last as you told me, for warned is forewarned, it hurts, I'm leaving, I may be wrong I can't love what I'm just hearing\\\".\\n\\n\\\"I'll Spend My Life With You\\\" has a 60's Rolling Stones-like vocal approach and rhythm with a country flavor. Really sincere and softly sung vocals too especially the \\\"And I hope you're there and you still care, and if you do I'll spend my life with you\\\" line. Some might say this is fairly plain compared to other ballads of the era from other bands, but I say it's perfectly fine. You'll probably enjoy the melody that contains these lyrics \\\"People come and people go, movin' fast and movin' slow, I'm in a crowd yet I'm all alone, the road is long the road is rough, I do believe I've had enough, I'm gonna turn around and head for home\\\". This is how I feel around hundreds of people! Too many people moving around and I must turn around and head home or my sanity will be destroyed!\\n\\n\\\"Forget That Girl\\\" has a striking lyric. \\\"\\\"Forget that girl she'll only make you sad someday, forget that girl she'll never make you happy, stay away from her my friend, stay away from her\\\". This is pretty much the experience of most men! The women we really like are too different or well, the line \\\"There was a time when she could really love you when she was thinking only of you, but now she's thrown herself above you and there's nothing you can do\\\" makes me think she's probably a skank. \\\"Band 6\\\" is just some country guitar with an unnatural pounding rhythm. \\\"You Just May Be the One\\\" is somewhat of a forced attempt at a pretty vocal melody. \\\"All men must have someone, have someone, who would never take advantage of a love bright as the sun, someone to understand them, and you just may be the one. All men must have someone, have someone, who would never take for granted, all the pleasures and the fun, someone to stand beside them and you just may be the one\\\". Yes!\\n\\n\\\"Shades of Gray\\\" is a memorable vocal melody for its tenderness. \\\"When the world and I were young just yesterday, life was such a simple game, a child could play, it was easy then to tell right from wrong, easy then to tell weak from strong, when a man should stand and fight or just go along\\\". The lyrics\\\" But today there is no day or night, today there is no dark or light, today there is no black or white, only shades of gray\\\" are particularly\\nhard-hitting how much it hits me emotionally. \\\"I remember when the answers seemed so clear, we had never lived with doubt or tasted fear, it was easy then to tell truth from lies, selling out from compromise, who to love and who to hate, the foolish from the wise\\\". WOW is that an impressive lyric!\\n\\n\\\"I Can't Get Her Off My Mind\\\" is upbeat and catchy. Really awesome piano pop. The whole opening set of lyrics are really happy. \\\"I've been standing on the corner all day trying to think of little things to say, 'cuz she walks by everyday about this time, and I don't think I'll ever get her off of my mind, well I only met her about a week ago but the way she smiles lets me know that she could see that maybe we were two of a kind, and I don't think I'll ever get her off of my mind, oh she's so pretty I couldn't believe she'd ever look my way, but the way I'm feeling I'm gonna be stealing that little girl's heart today\\\". This is the song you play while skipping and smiling on your way home from school in love with a girl you got to talk to, only stopping to sniff a nearby pleasant scented flower.\\n\\n\\\"For Pete's Sake\\\" is next. Pretty energetic. \\\"In this generation in this lovin' time, in this generation we will make the world shine, we were born to love one another, this is something we all need, we were born to love one another. I love the \\\"We must be what we're goin' to be and what we have to be is free\\\". \\\"Mr. Webster\\\" is a mysterious song with haunting country vocals. The song is clearly in the pop vein though, with the country vocals being short. Love when the piano comes in during the second verse giving it a Simon & Garfunkel vibe. \\\"Everyone in town knew Mr. Webster, he worked at the bank for 40 years and each week Mr. Frizby made his check out, for 68 dollars clear, and through the years he thwarted 27 robberies and each time Frizby promised him a raise, they gave a retirement party for Mr. Webster, everyone from the bank was there, they had a cake and flowers ordered special and Frizby had a speech prepared\\\". These lyrics almost sound like a math problem, haha!\\n\\n\\\"Sunny Girlfriend\\\" is a REALLY great upbeat melody! \\\"She owns and operates her own sunshine factory of painting smiles on dolls, and then on me she's my sunny girlfriend and personality, well she's got a book that tells about everybody's past, and she can make you slow while making your mind move fast, she's my sunny girlfriend and she is never last\\\". The final line (\\\"Yes she's my sunny girlfriend, she doesn't really care\\\") is sort of hilarious because I picture a girl so happy she doesn't care about anything else and doesn't even acknowledge anything else! \\\"Zilch\\\" is nothing but spoken fast-paced words that actually remind me of that \\\"Macarena\\\" song by Los del Rio. Unless I'm totally crazy! I hate that song and this song is why. It's not meant to actually be sung- it's meant to be spoken like the Monkees intelligently did it here.\\n\\n\\\"No Time\\\" reminds me of \\\"Long Tall Sally\\\" (any version you think). That's not to say it's a ripoff but more like it's structured in the same way. Not a highlight for me though, even though the Monkees are doing everything they can to make it sound really fun. Enjoy the following lyrics (\\\"No time, no time for you, I got no time baby, got lots of better things to do, Andy you're a dandy, you don't seem to make no sense, nevermind the furthermore, the plea is self-defense!\\\"\\n\\n\\\"Early Morning Blues and Greens\\\" is another favorite. Really good keyboards and passionate lyrics, despite its simplicity. Nice organ solo in the middle. \\\"A Distant night bird mocks the sun, I wake as I have always done, to freshly scented sycamore and cold bare feet on hardwood floor, my steaming coffee warms my face, I'm disappointed in the taste, but there's a peace the early brings, the morning world of growing things\\\". Hmmm, sounds like \\\"Daydream Believer\\\" lyrics a little huh? So softly sung and amazing! \\\"And I will drink my coffee slow, and I will watch my shadow grow, and disappear in firelight, and sleep alone again tonight\\\"\\n\\n\\\"Randy Scouse Git\\\" starts like it's going to be dramatic before suddenly turning into an upbeat happy piano bouncy tune. Nice tender lyrics. Enjoy the way the singer screams \\\"Why don't you be like me? Why don't you stop and see? Why don't you hate who I hate, kill who I kill to be free!\\\" \\\"She's a wonderful lady and she's mine all mine, and there doesn't seem a way that she won't come and lose my mind, it's too easy humming songs to a girl in a yellow dress, it's been a long time since the party and the room is in a mess, the four kings of E.M.I are sitting stately on the floor, there are birds out on the sidewalk and a valet at the door, he reminds me of a penguin with few and plastered hair, there's talcum powder on the letter and the birthday boy is there, why don't you cut your hair? Why don't you live up there? Why don't you do what I do? See what I feel when I care?\\\"\\n\\nThis is a pretty solid early effort by the Monkees. This album was released before the band got slightly experimental with more instruments, and it shows. Sometimes simplicity is really good when it's done like the artists in the 60's used to write music, so an album like Headquarters is really memorable overall.\",\n \"Product: Music CD\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: ridin' the hog through the country\\n\\nReview: High On the Hog is slightly different from the bands debut. On their first album there was clear signs of gospel, soul, country and blues rock all combined to create something unique. This album's still really good and the uniqueness remains, but noticeably different in the songwriting. The lead singers hoarse vocal range has remained too.\\n\\n\\\"Happy Hooker\\\" is uh, well, haha. What *is* it exactly? Slow blues... a radically different and creative take on the blues. \\\"She was a real fine looker, fifty dollar hooker, all night cooker, a happy hooker\\\" is a hilarious line! I almost get the feeling the Band could have gotten away writing music like this but they didn't have the humor these guys do. Anyway I enjoy the melodic guitar solo. Emphasis on melody is once again noticeable. And what's with the album cover of the band members holding the side of a pig while piglets are sucking on the teats? lol. It's a total joy listening to these guys, I tell ya! \\\"Moonshine Sonata\\\" is a memorable song title and a guitar jam with a wonderful chugging rhythm, *tons* of melody and fulfilling dancing awesomeness. The pace slows down halfway through as the guitar soloing changes into something quite sad. Maybe I'm crazy but certain key changes remind me of Pink Floyd's \\\"Echoes\\\". I'm sure I'm imagining things. What a song. Drastically different from \\\"Happy Hooker\\\" and yet, equally impressive.\\n\\n\\\"Mad Man\\\" is all about jazzy piano and guitar with snappy vocals and a voice similar to some of Captain Beefheart's early 70's stuff. \\\"Have you ever seen a mad man, have you ever seen him cry? Have you ever seen a mad man, have you ever seen him sigh?\\\" These are pretty good lyrics, but I prefer the \\\"Mad man, mad man!\\\" chorus. For a 4-minute song it's fairly elaborate in its structure concerning the many different vocal melodies taking place. \\\"Swimmin' In Quicksand\\\" has some funky guitar playing in the intro with loose drumming to follow. Sort of has a Grand Funk Railroad vibe to it based on these features. Memorable vocals even with the hard to understand lyrics, and a great way to open the album. Love the guitar solo too.\\n\\n\\\"Movin\\\" is fast-paced guitar soloing and a unique way of implementing a country/rock or bluegrass style. Or perhaps both! This reminds me of the Doobie Brothers a bit, but perhaps more authentic and less commercial sounding (as much as I like the Doobies of course!) Awesome guitar solo in the middle. The pace changes suddenly much like it does on \\\"Moonshine Sonata\\\" into a sleazy guitar solo before returning to the vocals. Actually the more I think about it, the vocals remind me of Moby Grape. \\\"Red Hot Lovin\\\" has a catchy verse melody and it sounds like it's based on a rather straightforward piano line. However the vocal melody is so strong and more importantly the lead singer has so much personality, that it doesn't even matter. I like the way the line \\\"To make a man do crazy things\\\" is sung. Sorry can't make out the rest of it.\\n\\n\\\"Jim Dandy\\\" is the big hit but to be honest it's one of the weaker songs. It paints a false impression that the band writes silly nonchalant music, and the female vocals sort of give it an unintentionally annoying vibe. This reminds me of Little Feat and \\\"Dixie Chicken\\\". This is a perfect example where you have to look beyond the biggest hits and focus on the other stuff the bands are capable of to *really* get an idea what they're like. However I wouldn't say I hate this song. The guitar solo is smokin' fast and the speedy rhythm is commendable, but the vocals are on the lesser end of the bands overall brand of enjoyment. \\\"Back to the Land\\\" opens with guitar playing similar to Neil Young's \\\"Tell Me Why\\\" but it's not intentional I'm sure. The vocal melody is quite in the bluegrass or country style. I love the atmosphere because it reminds me of the great outdoors. Really emotional tune. I'd love to be taken over the hills and into the countryside. Leave this fast moving world behind! *tosses smartphone in the trash*\\n\\n\\\"High 'n Dry\\\" is a similar folk/country tune to \\\"Back to the Land\\\" but slower-paced and more magical. This song proves the lead singer can be quite emotional when he wants to be. This song has a way of making me feel like taking a horse ride beside streams through deep valleys. It's really beautiful (the song *and* the image I get, haha). \\\"Why Shouldn't I Smile\\\" has a really good Jefferson Airplane-like groovy rhythm, snappy vocals and enjoyable guitar soloing. The type of song you want to turn up loud when it comes on. Of course a song like this would never come on the radio anymore, so we have to turn it up on our DVD or computer speakers instead! Really cool guitar solo in the middle with the trading of licks. These guys are absolutely creative because I'd never have guessed such a guitar solo was coming and yet, there it is.\\n\\nOverall, for a commercial album (usually commercial albums are weak from a songwriting point of view) this album is a masterpiece. I love every song! But then again this isn't a normal commercial album of course. No sellout or anything like that. Just a series of well-written and creative tunes.\",\n \"Product: RETURN TO FOREVER Hymn Of The Seventh Galaxy CD\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: amazing and one of a kind\\n\\nReview: THIS is the kind of rock/jazz fusion (whatever you wanna call it) that 99% of the artists out there lack- intensity actually backed up with interesting instrumental chops.\\n\\nThis album is AMAZINGLY good. I mean, good in a way that's beyond comprehension! Good in a way that I thought only the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Deep Purple and Santana were capable of!\\n\\nI'm having a bit of trouble understanding why Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy isn't frequently listed with some of the best albums of the 70's. Am I the only one hearing an *incredible* masterpiece of musical ideas? Am I the only one hearing band members completely on top of their game for this release?\\n\\nThe other Return to Forever albums never came close to hitting me THIS hard. Some of the intensity is similar to Rainbow's classic Rainbow Rising however, that's mostly a rock album with elements of jazz- THIS album is more like a perfect combination of jazz and rock, played and executed near flawlessly and MUCH more aggressive than what normally qualifies as \\\"jazz meets rock\\\".\\n\\nSome of the dream-like keyboard playing might sound a bit stuck in the 70's, but who really cares? It's the same kind of keyboard playing that FLOORS me from the Mahavishnu Orchestra's Inner Mounting Flame. The keyboards are so thick and tear through your skin, like you're supposed to be DRAWN to them... *darn* this kind of music impresses me so much! The guitar workouts are right up there with the best John McLaughlin solos too.\\n\\n\\\"Theme to the Mothership\\\" will *blow your mind* if you're a Mahavishnu Orchestra or Deep Purple fan. In fact the explosive keyboard jam is VERY reminiscent of the live version of \\\"Space Truckin\\\" from Deep Purple's famous Made In Japan album. Now that's just *awesome* but believe me, it gets even better! The guitar solos make even John McLaughlin himself rub his eyes and have to take a second look. But my GOODNESS that keyboard jam... it's not just freakin' amazing but BEYOND comprehesion amazing. A whole new category and definition of \\\"amazing\\\" has been invented thanks entirely to THIS ALBUM! Oh, and in case you think that's the only example of sheer relentless explosiveness, guess again.\\n\\n\\\"Captain Senor Mouse\\\" contains the same exact furocious formula. It doesn't let up at ALL for the entire 9 minutes so be prepared to be blown from here all the way to Shanghai China. I seriously can't help but believe that the electric guitar jam is by FAR the heaviest of all 70's jazz/rock bands. I mean it's played like a lightning storm coming down hard and heavy across the city and making people scatter! \\\"After the Cosmic Rain\\\" starts off on a cautious note. By \\\"cautious\\\" I mean, you KNOW the ominous guitar riff and gentle keyboards are leading into something intense. Sure enough... *crank this song up loud*, haha. The chaotic messiness of the drum work might seem out of place at first, but when you hear it following along to that creepy guitar riff you will NOT want to turn it off. No way! The keyboard jam near the end blows me to... not Shanghai. We'll expand my geography and make this one New Brunswick.\\n\\nThere's variety here too, folks! It's not all fun and games (and memorable guitar/keyboard technical interplay!) You simply MUST check out the intro from \\\"Space Circus\\\". It's dreamy Spanish loveliness. Then it's funky groove time with a hint of Middle Eastern vibes. This reminds me of the Mahavishnu Orchestra's Visions of the Emerald Beyond album. \\\"The Gamer Maker\\\" could pass as another weak attempt at recapturing what my beloved Mahavishnu Orchestra did better a few years prior but... eh. I love it too much to really lower my standards to such silly hogwash comparisons! Oh the title song. I should mention that one (even though it's just 3 minutes and 30 seconds long). It's a brief instrumental with sprinkles and remnants of Jethro Tull. I mean the main line of the song reminds me of the classic period of Tull. I highly doubt these guys were soaking up Ian Anderson's folk tales while recording Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy.\\n\\nIntense, heavy, loud... these are just a few of the simple words that are perhaps TOO simple to really convince you how incredible Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy is. A must own. I honestly have a really difficult time choosing between the Mahavishnu Orchestra's best work or this. It's *really* close. It's like being charged by two bulls at once- you know you're going to get hit *hard* and be down for the count. I love Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy and I strongly believe you will too! Make that a STRONG belief!\\n\\nSo what *is* the best moment? Wow, tough call there. Too many to choose from! If I had to pick 3 moments, I'd say the volcano exploding, lava rushing, earthquake rumbling, military solute that is the intro to \\\"After the Cosmic Rain\\\" is one of them, the relentless power-driven \\\"heavy metal meets jazz\\\" guitar solo from \\\"Captain Senior Mouse\\\" is another, and the well-executed eerie atmosphere leading into a frantic/worried pace of piano and guitar swirls from the intro to \\\"The Game Maker\\\" is the last mind-boggingly awesome moment. On second thought, doesn't the intro to \\\"After the Cosmic Rain\\\" make you picture an asteroid heading directly for earth, and the bass giving off a feeling of the ground collapsing and crumbling? AWESOME! On a final note, I strongly recommend playing this album while a lightning storm is building across the country mountains on a warm summer evening or better yet -like I found myself doing earlier this year- playing it *while* the lightning is banging and clanging outside. Best album ever? You bet!\",\n \"Product: Tim Buckley - S/T - Cd\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: tim buckley debut awesomeness!\\n\\nReview: Tim Buckley's first album. The production is really muddy and old but the songwriting itself holds up really well. This is all about folk and singer/songwriter stuff.\\n\\n\\\"I Can't See You\\\" has Moody Blues-like vocals. Immediately Tim reveals to the world his soft spoken sailing type of singing style. \\\"Summer princess midnight maiden, when I first saw you I just breathed, into your smile my past went fadin\\\" is a great line, as is \\\"Autumn temptress sundown angel, inside your blood yo uaren't so young, I came to you a loving vandal and heard your heart and touched your tongue, day became a lighted candle, sky fell down, beneath your sandal in your eye I began to spin\\\" \\\" is a good line. Love the uplifting vocal style and speedy pace. This is folk music, but more aggressive and involved with all kinds of instruments playing along.\\n\\n\\\"Wings\\\" is much quieter. \\\"\\\"Although you've spken many times before, a sight of birth he leaves you by a door, and now you know he doesn't understand, and all you need is the warmth of his hand\\\" is sung so beautifully. Subtle use of orchestration and it feels just right. \\\"\\\"And now you know you cannot live alone, but will find your future is unknown\\\" \\\" is a line I can relate to. Love living alone but, what will happen in the future? Who knows! Hopefully something good!\\n\\n\\\"Song of the Magician\\\" opens with a voice that's like a blend between Justin Hayward and the lead singer of Bread David Gates. Love the jazzy drum beat that sounds like skipping. Perhaps not the song that shows Tim's vocal melody abilites, but has tremendous atmosphere. \\\"\\\"When I die do not cry, hear my sigh passing by, after I have turned to win, I will try to help you then, you will be love and your love will live\\\" is a lyric that stands out negatively for being really sad. I don't know about you, but this song gives me strong tingles! It captures that feeling of an innocent time in the late 60's, but there's a sense that period is gone forever and it's just really sad.\\n\\n\\\"Strange Street Affair Under Blue\\\" opens with some interesting guitar notes before the line \\\"Just for you with your open hands, waiting for the touch of man, clutching with your blackened gloves, you try to capture all the doves\\\" comes in. The pace increases ever so slightly as the song rolls along, but it occurs more obviously about a minute in. Despite the speed up, Tim still sings it with an amazing touch of honesty. The part that gets quiet near the end isn't so great though. \\\"Valentine Melody\\\" opens in such a lovely way with the honest line \\\"\\\"You came to me with fire inside, your movements and your pride, and asking to be rescued from, the pain you had become, I tore apart the prison and I hid you in my hand\\\". Really quiet and tender vocal melody but Tim sure loves singing about hands. This song sounds almost *too* sincere at first to the point of coming across as hokey, but actually this song gets better the more it goes along and I adjust to it. \\\"Today the coin is in the air, and we are here and there, and where and when have caught us in the web of violence\\\" ends the song on a good note.\\n\\n\\\"Aren't You the Girl?\\\" (\\\"who used to call me names, who used to play your games!\\\") This song has a feeling of wanting to approach a girl but hesitating to go through with it based on knowing beforehand what the girl is like. She might run and hide, cry or worse, pick on poor Tim! This song has a way of being amazing! Something about it- just the right length (2 minutes) and just uplifting and joyful. \\\"Song Slowly Song\\\" is the one song on the album that shows signs of a songwriter who would go on to become experimental. This song is as slow as the title says (and atmospheric!) Not much of a melody and sort of reminds me of the creepy song from the Stooges first album (\\\"We Will Fall\\\"). Eventually the vocals go away to allow these angelic keyboards/celesta and jazzy bass to jam giving the tune some kind of underwater submarine effect. It sure is lonely when you explore the bottom of the ocean.\\n\\nThat creepiness comes to an end when \\\"It Happens Every Time\\\" arrives. Whew! I was getting pretty lonely back there, haha. More soft vocals and orchestration like in \\\"Wings\\\". \\\"Oh baby won't you stay mine, your lovin' makes me feel so fine, and someday baby you'll find, my love was gentle and kind, someday you'll know that leaving me was wrong but don't bother all that time is gone\\\". Wow this song is REALLY good! This is about as excellent as a ballad can get. \\\"Song for Jainie\\\" describes a woman named Jainie very well with the terrific opening line. \\\"You've got the untortured mind of a woman, who has answered all the questions before, you've got the free giving ways of a woman who has kicked all the heartache out the door\\\". Yes what a line! The recurring line \\\"And Jainie don't you know I've been trying\\\" describes how Tim feels at the given time (with perhaps a hint of true aggravation in the lyrics).\\n\\n\\\"Grief In My Soul\\\" is a fast-moving folk tune with rushed vocals. A song that doesn't really appeal to much a whole lot to be honest. I know other artists like Bob Dylan were lyrical masters and would often sing quickly in the 60's, but Tim's vocal style is a more beautiful and honest one so it doesn't really work (not that I'm saying Tim's trying to imitate Bob exactly, but I hear similarities between this song and Bob's style). \\\"I got ten thousand troubles a million woes, I got grief in my soul nobody knows\\\" is a creepy way to end the song.\\n\\n\\\"She Is\\\" opens with a really beautiful/standard guitar line. Love the opening line that poetically describes a girl of Tim's desire. \\\"She is the day that gives me time, to live and love my life, till night comes on with sundown scythe, to end the puzzle pantomime, she is a day of love, she is the day through which I walk toward the bridge where she stands\\\". However the line \\\"She is the air I breathe to sing, she is a smile without demands\\\" is a little hokey but it's short so it's all good. \\\"Understand Your Man\\\" rocks out with electric guitar in the intro and shows Tim's more country-ish vocals. \\\"Just do me one favor, won't you please understand your man!\\\"\\n\\nOverall Tim Buckley's debut is pretty awesome. I sort of figured it would be, since after all his following three albums are in the folk rock vein and they don't disappoint at all. Pick this one up!\",\n \"Product: Brand New\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: sadness is happiness... well sometimes\\n\\nReview: My first experience with Tim Buckley is Happy Sad. Let's listen!\\n\\nWhat the! I was expecting a country/folk album but \\\"Strange Feeling\\\" opens with vibraphones, a few simple acoustic guitar lines and sailing vocals. This reminds me of Dion actually. Has a hippie/country vibe that I really admire. Sorry if I'm off with that description. \\\"But now all I need is a little time to sing this song, and I think we're gonna find a way to lose this strange feeling\\\". This is the kind of song I like to listen to while in the backyard relaxing. Nice electric guitar solo with more country/rock tendencies. The line \\\"Don't you weep don't you fret don't you wail don't you moan now, can't you hear that whippoorwiil a calling?\\\" shows off Tim's unique vocal style. This song is really awesome, and wins me over the more it goes on. Oh listen to that! The vibraphone returns. Awesome! And they jam for a little while with the acoustic and electric guitar. This is somewhere in between experimental and laidback. I almost wanna say that if you were to take away the vibraphones you'd have a sound similar to Canned Heat. I could be wrong, and actually the more I listen to Tim's voice, no way the lead singer of the band can sing like this so yeah, I'm way off with that one!\\n\\n\\\"Buzzin' Fly\\\" is next. It opens with a really pretty and uplifting electric guitar solo with more vibraphones. Wow really tasty guitar lines too. I had a feeling this guy would be awesome based on the positive reviews. Tim shows a really mature voice on this track suitable for somewhere out west in the desert. \\\"You're the one I talk about, you're the one I think about everywhere I go, but sometimes honey in the morning, lord I miss you so, that's how I know I found a home\\\" is really tender and moving. You know even though this sounds like country rock, it feels a lot bigger than to simply call it as such. Has an Astral Weeks (Van Morrison album) type of grand vibe/sound flowing through it like every song is meant to sound incredibly important.\\n\\n\\\"Love From Room 109 At the Islander (On Pacific Coast Highway)\\\" opens with heavy bass, rain splashing alongside the road effects and those ever frequent vibraphones. If you take away the vibraphones the vibes would sort of remind me of either a late 60's jazz album or perhaps mid 70's Tom Waits (without the bizarre lyrics). \\\"You changed an old man filled with pity, back to a child again, ah mama can't you see what you've done?\\\" is a hair-raisingly creepy line! Must be the tempo changes influencing... the hair on my arms? No, how I feel! Really pretty electric guitar comes in after the first line with more rain effects. \\\"So tell me darling if the feeling's wrong don't waste another day, lord the saddest thing I've ever known was to watch it die away, ah now mama, don't you lie don't you lie\\\" is REALLY tear-jerking! Tim is the kind of singer who elevates his range quite a bit, which is somewhat unusual given the type of music occurring here.\\n\\nThe tone changes a moment later during the line \\\"The sweet of your sweet skin does entangle my dream\\\". The song has now entered softly sung territory 5 minutes later. The bass, murky production and of course the rain effects make the song feel really sad. Not happy sad but just sad. I'm not sure if Tim's singing too many lines here or maybe he's creating all kinds of sadness and the song just hasn't sunk in for me yet. I really think it's the latter- this stuff demands more than one listen to absorb. What the... violins! Sad violins of course. They play with the acoustic guitar lines and sparse vibraphones. 9 minute later Tim stops singing to allow all the previously mentioned instruments to play in a scattered kind of way. Then the song's over. Well say what you will about this song, but it's unique to the max.\\n\\n\\\"Dream Letter\\\" is more slow vibraphones and guitar. Honestly I'm surprised he's still going on with the vibraphones. I figured he'd only use them once or twice- not for the whole album. When Tim's vocals enter, he sounds different here. His range is still soothingly all over the place. Wow, after the first line the guitar creates some kind of effect similar to the stuff you'd find on a few mid 70's Yes albums. Unless I'm really off about that one. \\\"Sleep inside my dreams tonight, all I need to know tonight are you and my child\\\" is a deep line. \\\"Oh, is he a soldier or is he a dreamer, is he mama's little man, does he help you when he can, or does he ask about me?\\\" The pace picks up during the \\\"There's no crowds around me\\\" line. This song is all about personal thoughts.\\n\\n\\\"Gypsy Woman\\\" opens in a way that catches my attention with the African-like bass and rhythm. And sitar? Yup! At least he doesn't abuse the sitar like so many other artists tend to do. That's one instrument that needs to be used only *sometimes* in my opinion. The vocals are pushed to the back to allow a really good electric guitar solo to increase in volume and play VERY well. There's a lot of power in Tim's voice when he sings. This song almost reminds me of Creedence Clearwater Revival. No Tim doesn't sound like John Fogerty, and you know the more I listen he probably doesn't sound like Dion either. Well maybe a little. \\\"Cast a spell on me!\\\" The guitar solo returns and it's just as good as it was the first time. When the song slows down in the second half and Tim starts to moan, perhaps this part isn't necessary. Then again Tim was experimenting here so maybe I don't mind it so much. Jamming on those congas too! Meh, the more this song goes on the more I really think it is too long. Still enjoy it though.\\n\\n\\\"Sing a Song For You\\\" has some really sad tempo changes on the acoustic guitar. \\\"In my heart is where I long for you, in my smile I search for you, each time you turn and run away I cry inside, my silly way just too young to know anymore\\\". Tim almost sounds like Justin Hayward on this track. Things change a moment later. \\\"The wind covers me cold, the starry skies all around my eyes, fall behind the city moans, well worthy of the people there\\\" is a line that paints a different more uplifting vibe.\\n\\nOverall, I wasn't expecting this at all! This is really awesome. I don't want to call this country rock anymore. The problem is that I don't know exactly *what* to call this! It's not like anything I've ever heard before. At least not quite. It's a blend of different genres but the important thing to remember is that it's very listenable. If you love early 70's rock and perhaps the Woodstock sound, you're guaranteed to enjoy this.\",\n \"Product: Ass was the last Badfinger album recorded for Apple, originally released in 1973. Parlophone/Apple.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: quality album with one bad tune\\n\\nReview: I wonder why the band named the album... the A word amazon doesn't want me to say. :)\\n\\nI'm surprised Badfinger released such a long tune but here it is- \\\"Timeless\\\". And it's a VERY haunting tune. The flute makes this really different from anything else Badfinger released before. The piano sounds like it's playing in a dusty old house. I almost can't believe this is Badfinger. It picks up during the \\\"Whatever we see wherever we go, shows perfectly how little we know\\\" line, then goes back to being somber with a really pretty guitar line. \\\"We are the comfort we are the shame, we are forgiveness, we are blame, we are kind, we are kill, are we the future?\\\". Strange lyrics, but they get stranger! \\\"We are yesterday, we are today, we are tomorrow, we are timeless, we are then, we are now, we are the future, we are timeless, we are the sorrow, we are the pain, we are the sunshine, we are rain, we are love, we are hate, we are the future we are timeless\\\".\\n\\nI think these guys are trying to write something atmospheric and dramatic in a Pink Floyd kind of way. The song then rips into a tremendous guitar jam. Just short of the 6:30 mark the guitar solo gets REALLY cool! Move over Frank Zappa! I gotta say, I'm stunned. Then again the Beatles wrote a dramatic heavy tune in \\\"I Want You (She's So Heavy)\\\" so I guess I shouldn't be *too* shocked.\\n\\n\\\"Get Away\\\" is... a blues rocker? Yup! \\\"I may be wrong leaving it up to you, but my love is strong and that's what I'll do, well you may be right working all night and day, but I know sometimes I've got to get away, the walls are getting closer, people trying to freeze my soul, the times are getting harder, only wanna rock and roll, too much sitting, thinking, what we're gonna say, and I know sometimes I've got to get away\\\". Hmmm, this song seems to indicate unhappiness with the band members. I like the way the song gets louder during the \\\"I may be wrong babe leaving you this way, I must be strong babe leaving you today\\\" part. More melodic guitar lines and a repeating of the chorus- \\\"Get away (gotta move get away) oh oh way (gotta move get away!)\\\"\\n\\n\\\"The Winner\\\" is another rocker and not a very appealing one I'm afraid. The melody in the verse is pretty mediocre. I don't like tossing a word like mediocre around when talking about Badfinger's music but well, in this case I feel I have to! \\\"You can drive a car be a movie star any day of the week, you don't have to shout or walk about you just have to speak, say baby you just have to speak, you can fly a plane maybe go insane, any day that you like, everyone'll say \\\"Have you been away?\\\" Everything is alright, say baby, everything is alright\\\". The chorus isn't much better- \\\"Here he come that's a winner, here he come take a look write a book, you can eat him up for dinner yeah\\\". The \\\"Shout or walk about\\\" line reminds me of a certain Ringo Starr tune.\\n\\n\\\"I Can Love You\\\" opens with a few notes that remind me of Roxette's \\\"It Must've Been Love\\\". Total coincidence there! Roxette probably wouldn't have been listening to these guys when writing that legendary tune. This song is a major improvement over \\\"The Winner\\\". It's a ballad with an angelic piano line. The line \\\"And all of the flowers seem to wither in their beds and say goodnight, and all of the hours seem to clear away the bad and make it right\\\" sounds depressing to me both in terms of melody and words. The vocals sound like a George Harrison imitation which is a good thing. The final part of that line, the \\\"And make it right\\\" part, is such a fitting line. \\\"I can see you like the morning sun, feel you and I'm holding on, knowing that I'm not alone, want to take you home\\\".\\n\\n\\\"Apple of My Eye\\\" gets my attention right away with a *very* sad melody. I can't even say this is a traditional ballad. It's a Badfinger exclusive ballad baby. \\\"Oh I'm sorry but it's time to make a stand, though we never meant to bite the loving hand, and now the time has come to walk alone, we were the children now we've overgrown, you're the apple of my eye, you're the apple of my heart, but now the time has come to part\\\". Wow, I'm starting to tear up listening to this song.\\n\\nThe vocal melody in \\\"When I Say\\\" is about the tender-est thing you ever did hear I bet. \\\"I'm not the one who will give you everything you need, but what I mean is that I'll try, I can't deny that I've been burning inside, for all the things I'll never see\\\" is an uplifting change. Awesome song! \\\"What you are is what I see, what I see is what I want it to be, when I say I love you what I mean is I really do\\\".\\n\\n\\\"Blind Owl\\\" has more George Harrison influence in the vocals. Really memorable song overall. \\\"Look out for the blind owl, you can only find that you were wrong, no one else around me ever loved me like you do so I'll be strong\\\". You know I never realized until now but this band really does a great job shifting from one heartfelt melody into another without missing a step. A natural songwriting unit these guys were. Great speed up of guitar playing at the end. \\\"Lies ties Mr. Cool disguise, hang it up get up on your own, pill driven skills weeping whippoorwills, too much going around that you can't hide\\\".\\n\\n\\\"Icicles\\\" are my least favorite thing. We just had an ice storm a few days ago. Tree branches hanging to the ground, dangerous driving conditions, loss of electric... yup. This song makes icicles nicer to picture. This song opens in a Middle Eastern kind of way unless I'm crazy. Just listen to that guitar playing. I love this friendly vocal melody! The line \\\"But never take a love for granted give a little in return, try to be understanding live and learn\\\" is really pretty. A song like this can bring even the angriest of enemies together... well at least that's what my naive imagination likes to think. \\\"Isn't it nice when the rain comes falling, turns into icicles melting mourning, isn't it good when a friend comes calling around?\\\" I agree that last line is nice, but not the two lines that open the tune!\\n\\n\\\"Constitution\\\" opens with a wall rattling heavy guitar riff! It's really cool. Badfinger is showing their heavy side for this album. Maybe this is the bands way of writing a Beatles \\\"Revolution\\\" but that song is arguably less cool compared to this. I love the way the guitar plays at the end of certain lines. Wow this is borderline Hendrix territory! I almost want to compare this guitar playing to the one in Rush's \\\"Working Man\\\". It has the sludgy heavy edge that makes it a viable comparison. \\\"I could sing the blues any way I choose if I wanted, I could turn you around, I could bring you down if I wanted, but it's not my constitution it's not my way of life, you know I'm just a lover for my wife, I could join a race, I could paint a face if I wanted, I could be a queen but it's not my scene 'cuz I've tried it, and it's not my constitution it's not my way of life, you know I'm just a lover for my wife, hey yeah!\\\"\\n\\n\\\"Cowboy\\\" opens with some slide and more Harrison vocals. This is a playful western tune. \\\"Hey cowboy I dig your blues, you must have had a heavy day, hey cowboy I dig your shoes, I know they're walking heavenly ways\\\". I love the whole song, but especially this part- \\\"Now I know you well enough to say \\\"Yeah!\\\", yeah yeah to say \\\"Yeah!\\\", hey soldier it's up to you, to see you make it home today\\\". The way the singer stretches out the \\\"yeeeeeah yeeeeeeah's is awesome!\\n\\nThere's a bonus track. It's called \\\"Do You Mind\\\". I don't mind no! The band could whip up a bunch of bonus tracks and I wouldn't mind. It's a somber ballad in the same style as Ian Hunter of Mott the Hoople fame. The kind of honest balladry that affects you right away. Great tune. \\\"Do you mind if I call you my friend? Just to say that our love will not end? Do you mind? Do you worry sometimes? Do you find that you hurry sometimes? Do you mind when I don't understand? All the problems that come with your hand? Do you mind? Do you worry sometimes? Do you find that you hurry sometimes?\\\" I have a feeling I would have been good friends with these band members had I known them. I can see kindness all over their faces. I sense a certain degree of kindness in their vocals.\\n\\nOverall, the only negative is \\\"The Winner\\\". Get that clunker outta here! Oh and the album cover. A carrot and a camel. Oh wait that animal is supposed to be... wonder if he like carrots? Do not google the name of the album plus carrots, hehe. Just don't! What a mistake I made. Recommended album.\",\n \"Product: 1994 reissue on Repertoire of their U.K. top 30 1974album for MCA. Seven tracks, including 'Crash Course InBrain Surgery', 'Zoom Club' and the title cut.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: in for a joyous time\\n\\nReview: In for the Kill is when Budgie was playing muddier/heavier hard rock compared to the lighter more accessible stuff they'd do on If I Were Brittania I'd Waive the Rules.\\n\\nThe title song opens this album with a really memorable rhythm, but the vocals will not be everyone's tastes. \\\"You've got a reason to listen to me, I am a messenger carrying the key\\\". Listen to this song on headphones and I bet you'll love it. It's like listening to Black Sabbath almost. The tempo changes in a bluesy direction a couple minutes later, but it's still really impressive in my view. Great guitar solo in the middle. \\\"Be a man or be a boy, or be what you will be\\\" is a funny line. Then the original verse melody and tempo returns. Good song overall. \\\"Crash Course In Brain Surgery\\\" is famous for more recent heavy metal bands having covered it. The chugging guitar riff is the main thing that stands out about the song. The lead singer's vocals are really good too but for some reason I'm not as big a fan of it as others are. This song is sort of like \\\"Breadfan's\\\" baby brother... shorter and heavier brother!\\n\\n\\\"Wondering What Everyone Knows\\\" is an eerie acoustic tune. Reminds me of early Rush because of the vocals. The tone of this song makes simple tasks like going uptown seem like a trip through the mind! A more psychedelic tune for certain. The chorus repeats a bit much but it's still an awesome song overall. Oddly it has a bit of a Crosby, Stills & Nash vibe kicking, specifically reminding me of \\\"Just a Song Before I Go\\\". Am I crazy? \\\"Darkness in white, you can feel through the light of the darkest cloud and touch my hand\\\" is a memorable lyric. \\\"Zoom Club\\\" opens with a groovy guitar riff and handclaps before speeding up. The chorus is awesome and really vibrant, and the drumming is really good too. The song settles into an okay guitar riff in the middle but the following guitar jam is absolutely the better part. Really good stuff going on there! This is what I mean- when you throw in just a little bit of blues with hard rock, the results are usually terrific. This jam has a way of being on the relentless side, so make sure you're mentally ready for it!\\n\\n\\\"Hammer & Tongs\\\" has some mysterious ambience in the intro. Reminds me of a tricky walk through a graveyard! What the! The guitar riff sounds extremely similar to the one in the beginning of Black Sabbath's \\\"You Won't Change Me\\\". That's awesome! Sabbath were probably listening to these guys. This is an exceptionally heavy blues song with sludgy guitars. Even the lead singers vocal range gets trippy. I feel totally absorbed into this. \\\"Womaaaan, I can love you, woman think you know I wish I was your daddy!\\\" sounds really cool believe me. When things slow down the band still plays some bluesy licks which is cool, and the drumming's really great here as well. Then it gets downright unusual when the pace changes. It sort of morphs into a straight up blues tune to end it. Wow, what a song! I wish that blues part at the end had lasted a couple minutes longer. Obviously the band was showing they can play blues with the best of 'em.\\n\\n\\\"Running From My Soul\\\" is more twisted blues. The bouncy rhythm, chaotic drumming, somewhat sloppy but really interesting guitar soloing... what a tune! The vocals are sort of standard blues but otherwise a great song. \\\"Living On Your Own\\\" has a guitar riff in the beginning that reminds me of another song but I can't think of it. I'm thinking Hawkwind, Bachman Turner Overdrive or Ted Nugent. Anyway the vocal melody is pretty normal but memorable. The lead singer doesn't do anything outrageous here. Listen to that heavy guitar riff in the middle! It doesn't last long before shifting into a really gentle electric guitar line that reminds me of soaring as high as one can. Seriously it has that feel to it you know? I'm sure Jimi Hendrix wrote many guitar lines the same way but something about the way it's done here is really beautiful. The thrashing of cymbals and drums makes me think of Nugent's \\\"Stranglehold\\\", as well as the guitar lines after... along with early Jeff Beck. Yes absolutely Jeff Beck or Yardbirds. Oh who cares! I'm sitting here overanalyzing this stuff. Just listen to the notes B.E Jackson! Anyway the vocal melody and opening guitar riff returns to finish the song off.\\n\\nOverall, great album. Highly recommended.\",\n \"Product: Import reissue of 1975 album. Repertoire.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: we're going sailing down memory lane!\\n\\nReview: What a different album for Curved Air! I guess things gotta change eventually- just in this case sooner rather than later.\\n\\n\\\"Midnight Wire\\\" starts off with normal piano playing. Actually it's disappointing piano playing! This band was just releasing classical music and this sounds like some kind of normal American gospel/lounge thing. The vocal melody sounds unfinished and forced too. The pace picks up dramatically during the \\\"Who's that callin' from the midnight choir?\\\" Who's that fallin' from the midnight wire? Who's crawlin' from the burned out fire? Oh save my soul from the midnight wire!\\\" part, but it fails to leave much of an impression. Yeah there's tension within the band! I can feel it! I still like the chorus because it's melodic but it's *very noticeably* weaker than the stuff the band was releasing on the first four albums. The softer verse melody is better I think.\\n\\nAt least the guitar solo is really heavy and interesting, and the piano almost tries to recapture the bands glory period but isn't able to. What's up with Sonja's singing? She's singing almost like someone who doesn't care about laying down a proper melody or is drunk. \\\"Oh what do you know of drownin' off the midnight wire? I don't know what came over me, I came across burned desire, fidgetin' through madness spilled the guilt and ditched the blame, dyin' while I'm livin', ritual dyin' on the stage\\\". \\\"Alone and riddled with need I feel the gaze of crowded shooting skies whilst smoothing the place, to soothe my fire safe across the midnight wire, oh alone the storms of night play havoc with my soul\\\". Yeah the verse melody is really terrific.\\n\\n\\\"Orange Street Blues\\\" opens with more slide guitar, another indication of the good ol' American way! This vocal melody is really sloppy and unnecessarily loud in the beginning before shifting into a mellow part. The rhythm picks up a little during the \\\"Tie up your blues with a prayer, could be you're better off there, what you gotta give looking pretty poor, running like a sieve and leaking on the floor, you've bent and blown all the things that you got, you're gotta bring me down gotta help me up, let me in oh baby, help me out\\\". These guys apparently wanted to be an ordinary hard rock American band because this sure sounds like it. The slide is pretty good the \\\"Let me in oh baby help me out, let in help me out let me in\\\" part can uh... yeah. Can be interpreted two ways! *gets mind out of gutter* The song gets mellow again before picking up (the whole cycle repeats again). At least the guitar solo at the end rocks pretty convincingly. \\\"Can I down the pills for you baby, soak up your ills for you maybe, I know you're feelin' so poor but man you're in for the cure, go down Orange Street Mission, they bandage wounds for salvation\\\".\\n\\nSpeaking of gutter material, check out \\\"Woman on a One Night Stand\\\". The vocal style is pretty good because it reminds me of the way Sonja sang on \\\"Easy\\\" from Air Cut (you know, sort of lounge-y and the polar opposite of prog rock, but also taking advantage of her vocal range). I admit I really enjoy the way Sonja sings the line \\\"Honey take me for what I am, I'm a woman on a one night stand, honey pay no mind to who I am, oh I can hear the others talking saying I'm easy prey, that's okay babe it's just my way, make no mistake sweet thing I hate to let you go\\\". At least the lyrics are clean... sort of! Sonja sounds like she's desperate for a man. Well scoot on over my way sweetie (just kidding Sonja- I'm not like that I swear!) Bluesy slide guitar in the middle, and the way it drifts into a slower pace with piano is pretty unique.\\n\\n\\\"I'm laying my eyes over you, sweet man I'm breathin' so loving hard on you, and I've got the quivers for you mister, oh oh oh I hold myself quite together with you struttin' your stuff around, makes me feel like a two-bit girl, can't get my fill of you with me so poor, for the thrill of you, stop, I want more\\\". \\\"And don't think I'll cry for you honey after tonight when goodbyes are due there's no hands and knees for me mister, it's only a game we're playing all for free, so come on and take me, let's have some fun with it, you're playing for keeps that gives me the creeps, you should lay your lovin' on the line, I want more\\\".\\n\\n\\\"Day Breaks My Heart\\\" is fantastic! The mood is so 70's-ish, like a rainy day stuck inside your bedroom with nothing to do so you think of that time you went fishing with your parents as a kid and saw something creepy coming out of the woods... wait what? *ahem*. Getting too deep! The melody drifts into more lounge territory during the line \\\"Day breaks my heart takes you away, wake and we part, break for the day, oh you take my heart when can you stay? Day breaks my heart takes you away\\\". It's still pretty good, but the verse melody, and the fishing trip I mention above that held precious mysterious memories... yeah! That's the intense stuff! \\\"Come to me at twilight, love me in the quiet of the day that's dying, madness holds me waiting, hoping the time will be taken across the silence eerie darkness calls the sun down, love light fills the gloom\\\". \\\"Leave me in the shadows haunted by the low phantoms drenched in darkness, love a veil of stardust, liftin' the center the twilight, rushes through the quiet, shades have grown higher lovin' through the night\\\". Even the guitar solo sounds haunting. What key is this song written in! So many songs use it and it continues to give me weird vibes. Perhaps the lounge part repeats one too many times. Twice is enough Sonja!\\n\\nOh finally! The violin is back in town folks! \\\"The Fool\\\" has some violin... but! It goes away so a funky rhythm can come in. The opening line is humorous. \\\"The butterfly dances overhead and the dark lights up my lips, I'm steppin' right off the edge, can you take on the fool? Trancin' around a field of joy, I change from girl to boy, can you deliver fun from cruel? Could you laugh at truth with a fool? Can you deliver fun from cruel? Could you laugh at truth with a fool?\\\" Okay it doesn't look funny NOW but the way it's sung gives me a silly feeling. \\\"I got no name and I got no race and I got no mind to tie down with you, I'd give you all my sidekick flowers but you can't have me, no I am the fool\\\" is a lazy chorus that speeds by. Come on Curved Air! Try harder than this.\\n\\n\\\"You trust me too strong to refuse, sweet fool what's to lose? You could begin at the end if you choose, the mad holds hands with the fool, sunlight fills everywhere as we step right off the edge, could you wear the world as your jewel or could you shine it on as a fool? Could you wear the world as your jewel or could you shine it on as a fool? You want teasin' and you want freedom and you want pleasin' to be taught in school, you need playthings and everyday things but you can't have me no I am the fool\\\". Whatever complaints I have about this album (unfinished vocals and weaker songwriting to name the two big ones) there's always something appealing to make up for it. In this case a GREAT violin solo, and a funky rhythm. Oh wow, the violin suddenly turns soft as the song goes on! What a great transition. Anyway yeah, every time I want to criticize this album the band always makes up for it in some way. That's the trend here!\\n\\n\\\"Dance of Love\\\" is quite lovely. What I'm about to say is NOT a criticism! Some of Sonja's high notes remind me of some of Yoko Ono's more pleasant moments *gets hit in the eye by a rotten tomato*. Hey now! At least hit me with ripe tomatoes. :) The lyrics mention drifting and dreaming for a good reason- this song *does* drift very prettily. \\\"Do the dance, the dance of love, dance of love, do the dance, the dance of love, dance with me\\\". Perhaps this band was listening to the Orleans \\\"Dance With Me\\\" and wanted to give it more arrangements in their attempt to beef up an otherwise quiet song and mimic an Orleans classic! The violin and guitar solo is just enough to carry the lightweight flow so nicely.\\n\\n\\\"Take me from this crowded room, give me room to hold you close, hold so close to come unfold take my body with your soul, lose yourself inside my arms, two as one can steal the stars, torn and free beyond control, take my body with your soul, touching deep we feel the world reaching deep inside ourselves, cuttin' loose from roots of home, scattered winds the winds of change, weightlessly we drift in sleep, drift in circles of our dreams, dreams of love beyond control, take my body with your soul\\\". Some would probably hate these lyrics and call them banal, but I don't mind too much since the song still captures the feeling of drifting high!\\n\\n\\\"Pipe of Dreams\\\" (a drug reference?) is really cool! The violin perfectly capturing the feeling of being on a ship and sailing across the ocean waves at night. Bet you'll catch more fish then too! They say you catch more fish at night. Actually the way this song is, don't be surprised to see fish jumping clean out of the water and over your boat in slow motion as you gaze and wonder. So soothing! The drumming moves along at just the right speed too- another fine feature of this instrumental.\\n\\nYou know what guys? I can't believe it but I think Curved Air is going to drag another 5 stars out of me yet again! I was so hesitant to give it 5 stars but there's just something really unique about the whole thing. The band ditched their progressive classical tendencies and went with normal songwriting, but there's just something cool about the way these songs are written. I don't know if it's Sonja's voice, the slide guitar, the violin used in a softer way, the spontaneous nature of the music but there's *something* awesome going on here!\",\n \"Product: CURVED AIR Second Album CD\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: the second time's the charm\\n\\nReview: Curved Air's second album has a boring title- Second Album! That's the title! Oh well, haha. At least the quality of the music is really good. Oh and the album cover... this is a weird thing to mention but you see how the cover shows a portion of a rainbow on the bottom left? Imagine if that same rainbow image appeared on the top left- it would resemble the kind of aura migraines I get a few times a year! Not very nice headaches either, but thankfully they're getting better as I get older. Some album covers DO show the rainbow image in the top left to add to the accuracy of these annoying headaches! When I first started to get these headaches I thought I was going blind seriously, or worse. Really creepy stuff. The internet revealed they're fairly common with no long term side effects. Just an hour of nonsense a few times a year.\\n\\n\\\"Young Mother\\\" opens with a dramatic carnival-like chugging rhythm and nifty drumming and keyboards. Dreamy vocals from Sonja Kristina. \\\"Why must I? Nothing means anything now, I can't believe in something unreal, don't interfere with my mind, try to be kind, it's down to how much faith (you fake?) in the end, you're meant to choose (trust?) to find a true friend, and don't plead with me, I'm not bound to plead (bleed?) with you, I can't insist that you understand, I've tried so hard you don't know, try to be kind\\\". Messy lyrics. The violin isn't as frequent this time around, but I notice an improvement with the vocal melody. The violin is used really well to enhance the final line of the verse melody, and does a nice job jamming along during the hypnotic middle part. The tempo picks halfway through the jam, and in comes a synth or keyboard solo that gradually settles into a steady melody as it goes along. Just the timing of this solo is enjoyable. For some reason this song has an adventurous/devastating vibe that reminds me of the German band Nektar.\\n\\nAh \\\"Back Street Luv\\\". A classic! This is the song I immediately think of when the band Curved Air comes to mind. I'm not sure the meaning behind the lyrics, but it always reminded me of a single mother struggling to take care of her kids in the rough city with the lyric \\\"Will she make it? Can she take it? Like to try love, such a shy love\\\". I think of a mother courageously taking on more responsibility than she can handle just to raise/support her kids. I guess I'm weird like that! Anyway believe it or not the drumming and cymbal work is the thing that floors me the most about this song. It's *really* good. Almost Carl Palmer-ish at times. Actually every instrument is all over the place in a rather remarkably enjoyable way. Also notable is the solid vocal melody. Enough emotional shifts in the melody alone to stand out such as the line \\\"Where's your smile today? Did she let you cry? Tryyyyy to see she diiiiidn't mean to maaaake you feel so sad\\\". LOVE the way Sonja sings this part and how it's a splendid build-up of emotions! Seriously I sense an improvement with the vocal melodies on this album compared to the bands first album. \\\"Summer's comin', time to dream the day away and she's so sunny is the girl you met today\\\". Wow, the way Sonja sings this song in a jazzy way by emphasizing certain words is really cool, and the lyrics match the 70's so amazingly!\\n\\n\\\"Jumbo\\\" opens with the loveliest orchestration you can imagine. Really uplifting and theatrical but not in a corny exaggerated kind of way, but rather given a serene/enchanted touch. In other words, relax, this is no Barbra Streisand! If it was I wouldn't be defending it so much! This melody sort of reminds me of Jethro Tull's style but slowed down a lot more. The orchestration is *so* good! Something about this song is creepy too. Creepy in the same way as Rick Wakeman's Journey to the Center of the Earth album. Must be the way rock bands would utilize orchestration back in the 70's that unintentionally created a layer of creepiness! My hair is tingling! \\\"I flew home through the night so I'd be home for the dawn, down through the clouds the land beneath all covered in green, fly me on my way home, I've been away for so long, speed me on my way home, I've missed you for so long, sat back watching the film, don't ask me what it was called, for all my thoughts were far away with people I knew, they said things over there might be a little bit strange, but all I found the same but more with people like me\\\"\\n\\nIf you're looking for a steady foot stomp rocker, check into \\\"You Know\\\". The entire opening line is great (\\\"You cannot be the same as me girl, you know, you will find it works that way, you will find it works that way, there is no saying what is right, wrong you know, but you don't like getting hurt, but you don't like getting hurt, \\\"Why don't you stand right by my side?\\\" said the man, \\\"But don't look back, back at me, but don't look back, back at me, protect yourself from all things bad\\\" said the man, \\\"Don't include me as being one, don't include me as being one, just as much as is good, I would like if you would, hey you know it's all right, hey you know it's all right\\\") and whoa! I didn't realize Carlos Santana contributed to this song! Nah he doesn't (darn too bad!) but that guitar line after the first line sure sounds like his style. The song gets kind of lazy during the \\\"Hey you know it's all right\\\" part but the verse melody is pure awesomesauce baby. \\\"But you don't like getting hurt\\\". That's right I don't like that at all (for me and I'm sure for most folks, physically getting hurt is much worse!) The song ends with more of that great guitar playing.\\n\\n\\\"Puppets\\\" is a strangely written song. The way it begins is probably why I feel it's so strange. The actual melody is unique too (\\\"Puppets are painting their toes, making the most out of teas and toast, puppets are simple to find strung up in glove or the kind you wind\\\"). \\\"See the marionettes making puppet plans, see he's pulling the strings, see the puppet dance\\\" is a dreamy change of pace. I like how there's not a whole lot of piano and instead the song relies on a few notes that almost could be described as looping, but what's there works really well in creating a mood. This song actually reminds me of an old dingy antique or puppet shop with poor lighting, haha. Sonja does a wonderful job singing this original idea for a song. The mellotron gives it a King Crimson vibe. Yeah In the Wake of Poseidon era Crimson. Of course I'd draw that comparison! Love the way the mellotron and piano jams at the end. More quality lyrics- \\\"Plastic and paper and paints, puppets are pretty they dress so quaint, puppets who care carry on, dancing the dance that they danced too long\\\" and also enjoyable is the line \\\"Puppets with pride in their eyes, practice the dance till it's time to start, puppets it's time to begin, daylight is coming the lights grow dim\\\".\\n\\n\\\"Everdance\\\" starts out with a high pitched squeal before a rushed vocal melody comes in. \\\"One day walking down the dusty street, two friends travelers with weary feet, brother let us leave the road a while, time now drink and dance away the miles, see what welcome yonder tavern smiles\\\". Violins follow during the line \\\"Come with me and now let us drink together, stay with me I feel like I could dance forever\\\" and the violin riff afterwards is really good to. Love the speedy bass work in the background. Whatever instrument that is jamming before the verse returns one last night captures the feeling of returning to a childhood in some unusual way, haha. Gotta be synths but it could be some kind of distorted guitar effect. This song is telling a creepy story. \\\"Brother do not tarry come away, this house cursed is for those who stay, things are not what they appear to be, if now you desire it, look and see, fortune ruins those who turn the key\\\" and the line \\\"Ten years now have passed that fateful day, one friend long since went his weary way, one friend what task fortune's hand has set, dry bones sightless still he dances yet, pounding feet from which no blood is let\\\". Very British and interesting lyrics.\\n\\n\\\"Bright Summer's Day '68\\\" is another oddball approach to a twisted theatrical experiment. \\\"On a bright summer's day in the middle of May with the sun shining down, my baby left town my brother broke jail, then my daddy shot mom, so I've written this song, just to tell all you folks out there cracking them jokes how I felt all along\\\". Not sure if Sonja's speaking from a personal experience, but the lyrics remind me of Joni Mitchell a little. Sonja gets REALLY strange during the part \\\"Oh you came along, oh you've heard my song, oh you've got me wrong (you never told me it'd be like this!), oh you came along oh you found this song, oh you've got me wrong (I can't stop thinking about that bright summers day!) For some reason I can picture Queen writing a song like this. But then again the more I think about it, the more I have trouble picturing Freddie Mercury actually singing along to it. Hmmm, might wanna rethink that one! Nice guitar solo that fades at the end.\\n\\nOh boy! Here comes the doozy of a song to close the album. \\\"Piece of Mind\\\" is over 12 minutes of highly unusual music. It begins with synths, drums and violins that capture remarkably well what it's like to walk down a hallway of a haunted mansion late at night with spiderwebs on the corner of the ceiling and creeky floorboards with every step. Sonja's gentle yet high pitched vocals send shivers through my body as well. \\\"Now turning again turning away from the light, doors open then shut, corridor footsteps at night, wake up in the bed with the screens, see faces that smile as you dream, see things come to call as they crawl on the wall, and you know it's the end, to them it means nothing, to them it means nothing, to them it means nothing to them at all\\\". Soon a piano changes the pace during the line \\\"Seems we're on two different wavelengths, misinterpreting you realize, what this age of insanity lack of humanity brings, you know I couldn't even tell you my name\\\" as Sonja gets a little crazy singing this part. The violins are quite chilling here!\\n\\nA few minutes in (yes I'm still discussing \\\"Piece of Mind\\\") the piano solo is now positively *chilling*. Really paints a picture of being in Dracula's library and having books fly off shelves while ghostly husbands and wives dance with each other around the room (yeah I've been on a Castlevania video game kick lately- I can totally picture a song like this being used in a library level!) Sounds like a harpsichord comes in a moment later but it's brief before Sonja's vocal melody makes a return. The violin/piano jam afterwards is fantastic. Really tension-building stuff. Whatever is motivating the tension exactly, and whatever the lyrics are about, I wouldn't be able to tell you. I never can! All I know is that the piano afterwards has a STRONG enchanted feeling associated with it just before the line \\\"The river sweats oil and tar, the barges drift with the turning tide, red sails wide to leeward swing on the heavy spar, the barges wash drifting logs, down Greenwich reach past the Isle of Dogs\\\" .\\n\\nHere's what makes this song so unusual- you hear the pleasantly sung line \\\"Let your hopes begin to falter, see your dreams begin to fade\\\" but then Sonja speed sings through the next line (\\\"This age of enlightenment, 20th century man, you know he'll never ever let you go back, maybe one day we'll be happy, living life the way we see it through our visions of fantasy, Harold in Italy you know I think I'll just go back to my dreams\\\". Yeah me too! It's better when we dream! Wow the following instrumental jam. So breathtaking! So reminiscent of a country stroll with beauty shining down all around. That's the best way I can describe the keyboard solo (that almost sound like bagpipes strangely enough, but then again this might be more synth work and probably is). The synth jam at the end is pure cloud sailing prettiness. \\\"Faces watching through the darkness seems like nothing can dispel my fears of endless rejection by beings ethereal, you know it's just about as bad as it can, now I feel a little better, seems the walk has done me good you know, I feel I'm beginning to see the existence of... you know I never even found out quite what!\\\" Love that final line I typed, haha.\\n\\nOkay Curved Air really delivered a masterpiece with Second Album! The instrumental jams are colorful due to a ton of variety (though the synths are more frequent than the other instruments throughout Second Album- be warned of that), and the vocal melodies are better this time around. Highly recommended! Oh and look at this- the US album cover shows clouds. How fitting! Usually I prefer British album covers over US ones, but I think in this case with the clouds being so appropriate matching the lyrical imagery of the music, you need to find yourself the US cover.\",\n \"Product: Classic Reissue of this Very Controversial CD. the Original 2lp Set is Now on a Single CD.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: very different from previous Amon Duul albums\\n\\nReview: Very different indeed. Apparently this is Amon Duul's example of a rock opera, which is *definitely* not anything like the Who's/Pete Townshend's version of the same idea.\\n\\nThis is more like... highly energetic pop/rock tunes with frantic guitar soloing (among other musical instruments) making frequent appearances.\\n\\nNot that this is a BAD thing or anything- it's a *great* thing, in fact. You just can't help but wonder if Amon Duul II knew their moment in the spotlight was running out by this point, which would certainly explain the sudden and drastic change in sound and style.\\n\\nI can't believe this is the same band that created Yeti and Wolf City. It certainly doesn't SOUND like them. Made in Germany actually sounds like the glam rockers Sweet and Slade, and the guitar solos remind me of either Jefferson Airplane or Tommy Bolin (from Deep Purple and the James Gang).\\n\\n\\\"Wilhelm Wilhelm\\\" has REALLY good Jefferson Airplane-like guitar soloing taking place over... a really weird (and possibly German) vocal melody, haha. It's different (and fascinating) let's put it that way. The entire first half of \\\"La Krautoma\\\" is basically a guitar riff repeating the same melody. After that, the song turns into a noisy and messy jam-fest. The first half is easily better!\\n\\n\\\"Loosey Girls\\\" has saxophone playing that seriously reminds me of Supertramp's more commercial years, but contains a really good vocal melody as well. The near-brilliant guitar playing makes a splendid appearance, and floors me once again. THAT guitar style is exactly what made the 70's so darn good.\\n\\n\\\"Blue Grotto\\\" is a Maria Muldaur impression, haha. Probably not, but it sure sounds like her. Decent enough.\\n\\nThe album turns goofy in a mid 70's Kinks kind of way (for example, something from the Kinks Soap Opera album) when a song like \\\"Ludwig\\\" comes into play.\\n\\nA really good album, but to be totally honest it sure doesn't sound like a rock opera to me. Plus I wouldn't compare this album to other Amon Duul II albums or you might not like it then.\",\n \"Product: Digi-Pak Reissue of their '69 Classic. featuring Matthew Fisher, Gary Brooker, - Including Bonus Track - Long Gone Geek. Tracklising: a Salty Dog, the Milk of Human Kinderness, Too Much Between Us.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: easiest 5-star rating ever\\n\\nReview: I was supposed to review this magnificent album a long time ago (like 6 years ago) but I completely to do so! Oh I'm such an idiot. Make that a forgettable idiot. Anyway Procol Harum's A Salty Dog is perhaps one of the finest British pop albums ever. This is probably Procol Harum's best album but you know, I've heard Grand Hotel so much that I might prefer that one. It's too close to pick. Of course Exotic Birds & Fruit, Broken Barricades and Shine on Brightly might surpass it nowadays. It's just too close to call!\\n\\nAnyway what this album does is capture the ultimate open sea experience. There will never be another album that better captures the feeling of sailing through miles and miles of endless ocean water. Okay maybe there will be- let's not be close-minded now! But for now I haven't heard it.\\n\\nThe title song begins this extraordinary experience. It's a very somber and moody tune that will haunt your memories! Haunt them forever! Muh ha ha! Actually this song perfectly captures the depressing feeling of drifting the ocean waters more accurately than any other song I know of. Ever been lost to sea? If so, this song was on your mind! \\\"The Milk of Human Kindness\\\" is probably my favorite song here. The tone dramatically improves into a happier one with memorable vocal melodies and lyrics such as \\\"Not content with my mistake you behaved just like a snake and left me for a wasp without a sting\\\" and the sudden mood-shifting optimistic shift \\\"Tell all my friends back home that I did it on my home and to their well-worn cares they should cling\\\". I sing that second one a lot! Like at least 50 times a year!\\n\\n\\\"Too Much Between Us\\\" is downright *sad* due to the very first part of the melody- \\\"There's you you're sleeping over there, whilst me I'm sitting here\\\". WOW! You'll never believe how effectively upset I get when listening to this song. Whoever's singing vocals here does a REALLY good job! \\\"Boredom\\\" makes me happy all because of the playful way the singer sings \\\"All in all, it's all the same, but call me if there's any change\\\". You have NO idea how awesome this particular melody is! The conga drums just further illustrates this songs awesomeness. Reminds me of arriving to a jungle somewhere on a deserted island and seeing coconut trees and monkeys everywhere.\\n\\n\\\"Pilgrim's Progress\\\" is a VERY beautiful lullaby-type song with the trademark keyboard sound that the band excels at so well. \\\"I sat me down to write a simple story which maybe in the end became a song\\\". And the final minute when the instrumental part comes in... BEST PART OF THE ALBUM! So much unbelievable sadness occurs here with the handclaps and the \\\"Whoooa ooooh ooh\\\" in the background. \\\"Crucifiction Lane\\\" has a memorable vocal melody with a style similar to uh, REM's \\\"Everybody Hurts\\\" and Elvis Presley's \\\"Can't Help Falling In Love With You\\\". Alright this is driving me crazy- what do you describe these type of songs? What type of music is this called? It's just not good enough for me to say it resembles a blues ballad. There's more to it than that. The guitar jam at the end courtesy of Robin Trower is awesome! More of this guitar playing can be found on Robin's early solo albums. Not that I need to tell anyone that- I believe Robin Trower's solo career is more popular than this album (at least, Bridge of Sigh is enormously popular).\\n\\n\\\"The Devil Came From Kansas\\\" is foot-stompingly AWESOME! The vocal melody soars and drifts fantastically to amazing heights. In fact I find the vocal melody so appealing it just might be the grandest statement on the album. Throw in Trower on guitar during a terrific solo and that's pretty much the icing on the cake baby! \\\"All This and More\\\" is a great choice of words to hype a contestants excitement for the bonus round. Thank goodness this song isn't about contestants winning money on some game show! Wow I love the summertime. I can't wait for it! Okay about the song- the chorus totally reminds me of the one from \\\"Homburg\\\" and some of the guitar playing and vocal mannerisms afterwards reminds me of the stuff from \\\"Shine On Brightly\\\" but I'm not calling this a ripoff or anything. More like two excellent songs now combine to create yet *another* excellent Procol Harum song!\\n\\nOh yeah! Swirling piano stuff playing in the intro of \\\"Wreck of the Hesperus\\\" (heh, almost hilariously typed the wrong word there!) That's a really cool and probably very simple effect (and I should know about simplicity- I played piano for a few years when I was younger). The dramatic drum fills are amazingly effective. The orchestration adds to the victorious atmosphere the song's going for (and succeeding in fine order!) Laaaaand *insert 2-letter word that amazon disagrees with here* Mr. abominable snowman!!\\\" This is the song that plays when you've been on a broken down ship and drifting for days. We've arrived to the end of our voyage with \\\"Juicy John Pink\\\". It's the shortest song here. Short and sweet as they say. It's somewhat forgettable I suppose. Well not really because late 60's blues is a good thing but you get the idea- it doesn't fit in with the stranded in the ocean theme that dominates most of the material here.\\n\\nYou know you have to pick up this album right? Yes you know it so just *do* it!\",\n \"Product: Import reissue of 1976 album includes one bonus track, 'Baby Please Don't Go'. Repertoire.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: the air's getting thick\\n\\nReview: Before listening to Airborne I'm going to guess this album will be a more straight rock album given the bands decline. It just seems inevitable that Curved Air wouldn't be able to continue making albums with the same high levl of technical prowess found on Air Conditioning or Phantasmagoria, and looking at the song titles, the entire side one has short songs by progressive rock standards. Let's see!\\n\\n\\\"Moonshine\\\" opens with eerie outerspace sounds before a really heavy guitar riff comes in, and a guitar solo soon follows. The bass work sort of reminds me of Hall & Oates \\\"She's Gone\\\" but it's brief. Sonja Kristina sings a sweeping elegant melody. She's singing more theatrically than usual. The melody's kind of slow but solid enough. A really funky guitar solo comes in after. Really awesome! \\\"Floating in space, drifting through the stars, waiting and waiting for you to appear, gracing the sun, playing in the moonshine would be a pleasure if you were here too, come up and join me, come up and see me, leave all behind you, start something new, oooh\\\".\\n\\nLet's talk about my favorite part. \\\"There will be good times, like the time before, when the earth was new and all was me and you\\\" is a VERY uplifting and familiar melody. Pretty sure I heard this song before, or perhaps another Curved Air song resembles this part. I actually wonder if Curved Air borrowed this melody from a song they released prior. The way Sonja sings \\\"We'll fly together from Jupiter to Mars, return old friends as we pass through the stars, so much to see so much to do, nothing to lose just me and you, oooh\\\" sounds really dreamy. The violin sounds like it's aching afterwards, and a remarkable cool effect with the synths creating a steamy feel in the background.\\n\\nWhoa! I LOVE the subtle funky groove that comes in after this. The impresssive drumming, and the violin riff gives the song a jazz/fusion vibe which is beyond amazing... but the TRULY amazing part is when the violin jams. Now I'm hooked! Ah, and the guitar solo. This is why prog rock is so amazing! Can you feel the variety! Okay forget the opening paragraph I wrote! The awesome \\\"There will be good times, like the times before, when the earth was new and all was me and you\\\" repeats again, and it's just as uplifting as ever. AWESOME song!\\n\\n\\\"Dazed\\\" sounds really dramatic and dreamy. \\\"Well here I got again, get ready to start the machine and remove all trace of blue with a smile as I leave the dressing room\\\". Love how it picks up for the next line ( \\\"Dazed by the lights of fame, go on and begin my reign\\\"). You know I almost detect a Cyndi Lauper style in Sonja's singing voice, or am I crazy? I mean when I think of Cyndi Lauper I think of someone with an original voice, so it's strange someone before Cyndi sort of resembles her. I'm probably overthinking this one though.\\n\\nAnyway the melody is dreamy and satisfying, and the guitar solo is another highlight. \\\"Well now we're all alone, entertaining each other this way, I'll sing you a new love song while you sew me a veil of nothing wrong\\\" and \\\"And now it's time to go, get ready to pack the machine, and when I'm away from here all that's left are empty cans of beer\\\" are both excellent melodies. Will you remember me? I know I'll remember you\\\" is sung *very* beautifully. The ending reminds me of Abba (the part \\\"Give it all, give it all to you, and I'll give even more, even more to you\\\"). Either way I LOVE it!\\n\\n\\\"A Touch of Tequila\\\" has a solid happy vocal melody. The verse melody is pretty awesome. Oooo, lying in the sun getting down getting brown, and I'm loving you, pictures in the sky, shadows dance eagles cry, and I'm loving you, honeysuckle haste, even sands easy breeze, and I'm loving you, my oh my it's summertime, never caught the stones, silver sea shining foam, and I'm loving you, always melt away, lazy waves dripping days, and I'm loving you, lying in the sun, getting down getting brown, and I'm loving you\\\". This is an example of a tightly written song. Is tightly even a word? It is now, lol. Love the \\\"Ooooh ooh ooh\\\" and the lines \\\"Love to be in love in summertime, touch of tequila sunshine\\\" is a funnily sung part of the tune, and feels sillier when the synths come in.\\n\\n\\\"Juno\\\" makes instantly happy with a fast violin part. That's how you win me over! Storyteller lyrics while maintaining the speedy violin part and fast rhythm work. \\\"Juno was a star, everyone loved how he sang, they would follow him like the pied piper of Hamlin, with a song he'd make them cry, then he'd take them, make them laugh, when he sang it felt like magic, he was the king of them all, some who heard him sing, thought he was touched by the devil, Juno didn't care, he'd seen this before, they would still be there to see him, watching every move he made them, loving every note he sang them, he was the king of them all\\\". Love the chorus (\\\"Juno what's your secret? Are you human? Juno how'd you do it? Is it magic?\\\") Hey what a cool vibraphone and violin solo at the end!\\n\\n\\\"Kids to Blame\\\" (kids these days!) is a bit of a letdown. A typical midtempo rocker. \\\"What's that fussing little Lane? Aw they hear you've gone insane, calling kids and pushing blame, police got numbers but no name\\\" and \\\"Hold it man, it ain't done, he knows who's right and who is wrong, but kids are wrong they ain't got no rights, they get the fulls of being on strong\\\" Then again Sonja reminds me of early Geddy Lee (perhaps the proof I need that Geddy always sounded a little girl-ish- all due respect!) The chorus at the end is a bit weak to repeat so many times, I think (\\\"Stop this chain stop this same, kids to blame kids to blame\\\").\\n\\n\\\"Desiree\\\" is enhanced by the female vocals. The song's between dreamy and rock-ish. The rhythm work is pretty good but this song is very straightforward. I sort of expect Curved Air to be... curvy! By curvy I mean prog rock-ish. This is too normal for them. The guitar solo is okay at least. Love the line about California dreamin' sweeping your love away.\\n\\nThe actual lyrics are this- \\\"Desiree in the shadow of the dawn he's turning to you, your restless eyes haunted by the feeling of the night, he turns around to touch you but he knows you've gone, you've been traveling Desiree, since you were grown enough not to cry, you've been traveling Desire,e since you were grown enough not to cry, Desiree you first met your love in southern Italy, the Mediterranean winds have blown your love away, you're flying off to summer but you know he's gone, Desiree, on sunset cliffs you watched the end of yesterday, the Californian dream has swept your love away, you're trying to remember but you know he's gone\\\". Lyrics must be about a relationship that never worked out. I can picture a woman taking a vacation, falling in love with a man... but they lose contact and he can't be found so the woman becomes distraught.\\n\\n\\\"Heaven (Never Seemed So Far Away)\\\" is semi uplifting but mostly flat. It's a nice rocker, but I have to question some of the vocals such as the \\\"For a dog snarling in a corner heaven never seemed so far away\\\" part. Sonja sounds bored singing this line. There's a moment of potential when the violin comes in and a guitar solo follows, but the song soon reverts back to being standard affair. I guess the guitar solo at the end is pretty solid. Oh well the lyrics are \\\"Good friends and I'm a stranger, so hard to circulate, crowded streets I see no faces, no place for a changing soul, like a ship on an angry ocean, ferris wheel that spins too fast, for a dog snarling in a corner, heaven never seemed so far away, maybe the game is someone else's, too tired to play along, go on your way taking chances, your way is yours alone, for an artist in a hungry basement, or a rain on a lonely man, or a kid fighting with his father heaven never seemed so far away\\\". I can't put the pieces together and figure out the meaning behind this song. Too many different subjects such as ferris wheels, dogs, family fights, etc.\\n\\n\\\"Hot and Bothered\\\" opens with a splendid funky groove. I love this! I must be in a funk mood today, haha. I seem to be leaning towards funkiness! The vocal melody is unique in that it's theatrical mixed in with that groove. Cool stuff. Sonja sings sexily too! The violin in the middle is SO cool the way it plays along with that tight groove. Too bad it's a short song. \\\"I don't want no top bunch, love how your lips go, whispering kisses love me come close to me, I'm hot and bothered, just want to hold you tonight, guy in stargaze, start up my lovin', hot and you're lovin' me now, my collector over the top now, straight up it's hands down, straight up the land of love, hot and bothered, hot and bothered, just want to hold you tonight,\\n\\n\\\"Broken Lady\\\" is devastating theatrics slowed down. This means we get to hear the tender side of Sonja's voice... and I love it a lot! The piano, tender vocals, violin played really beautifully... whoa this is quite the moving song. The accordion is used nicely (I think that's an accordion anyway). The melody itself is written well enough to leave me happy. \\\"Broken lady tears run dry, you lie there easy grown wise through it all, tearing your soul they watched you fall, lady just lately your song has grown sour, who'll weep for the withered rose? Who'll mourn the sparrow? Who'll cry for tomorrow? Broken lady they sing your song, clinging to shadows of lovers long gone, children sing loud children draw near, lady just lately your song has grown sour\\\".\\n\\nThe bonus track \\\"Baby Please Don't Go\\\"... AH! Stop it everybody! Ted Nugent, Cactus, AC/DC... everyone stop playing this song! Alright I'm kidding... well no, I really am tired of every artist you can imagine performing this song at least once (at least it seems like everyone does- usually live). This version's very short and focuses on the vocal melody... which is probably the way I prefer it, unless someone can turn the guitar jam into something full-fledged and awesome. Curved Air probably could have done it truth to told, but they kept it short. Still a pretty good song, but perhaps AC/DC holds the crown for the best version.\\n\\nOverall, wow! This is another solid Curved Air album. Just like their prior album it's different from the more early 70's prog rock stuff, but Airborne is still really impressive because the vocal melodies are written well, and the violin is a nice addition in this case. I think this was the bands last 70's album but reunited in the 90's for another one. I'm still amazed Stewart Copeland was the drummer for these guys. It's so weird because I associate him with the reggae pop of the Police (and the Spyro the Dragon soundtrack which is awesome) but a prog rock band? Hard to believe but true! Anyway yeah, besides one track, the rest isn't really progressive rock.\",\n \"Product: Import reissue of 1971 album. Repertoire.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: I can't believe no one has bothered writing a review for this masterpiece yet\\n\\nReview: If you've never heard Beggars Opera, well, you're not the only person out there unfamiliar with them! Very little people know about this very talented, creative little band. They are very good at their instruments, and though they sound quite similar to Deep Purple and Uriah Heep, it's in the *songwriting* that counts. \\\"Time Machine\\\" is absolutely great how they take a somewhat simple-sounding keyboard riff with three notes and repeat it over and over, and it sounds so great each time. The vocals are very memorable as well, and the choice of instruments is near brilliant. Fantastic choice of instruments in fact, and the production is quite wonderful as well. Can't believe these guys aren't known as being groundbreaking or popular to SOME people. They're reallly a great band. Pick up this album today for a real hidden treasure surprise.\",\n \"Product: CD reissue of this 1968 album from the sexy and sassy French chanteuse. Comment Te Dire Adieu is a touching and beautiful slice of '60s Continental Pop and bears all the hallmarks of what Francoise Hardy's music is all about: imaginative orchestration, strong melodies, and sexy vocals. This time around, Hardy shows a bit more of her sentimental side and transports the listener to an overcast day in France when the skies are threatening rain and the phone never rings. The album is mostly cover versions including her French interpretations of Leonard Cohen's 'Suzanne,' Phil Ochs' 'There But for Fortune' and Ricky Nelson's 'Lonesome Town.'. EMI.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: another helping of francoise hardy\\n\\nReview: I feel like listening to a second Francoise Hardy album. This one seems to be a fairly popular album on amazon so I'll review it. Not that I normally settle for popular albums- it's just that when dealing with rare artists, well \\\"popular\\\" isn't the right word to use because most people in America have no idea who Francoise Hardy is, so let's just say the more known stuff is easier to find, and Comment Te Dire Adieu is more easily available than most of Francoise's discography. Here we go! Once again a requirement in knowing the French language is necessary to understand the lyrics, which I unfortunately lack. But I strongly think that knowing lyrics is only part of the experience when listening to music so it's not a big deal.\\n\\n\\\"Comment te Dire Adieu?\\\" is poppier and more upbeat than the heavily orchestrated stuff from Francoise's other album I heard (Ma Juenesse Fout Le Camp). There's still orchestration present but it's used differently- more suitable for a musical and less for making me tear up inside. Catchy enough melody but not a favorite. \\\"Ou Va La Chance\\\" features the harp and reminds me of a waterfall in a cave. Really peacefully sung tune and a wonderful ballad. Really strange coincidence how the end of certain lines remind me of \\\"Sunday Morning\\\" the Velvet Underground tune.\\n\\n\\\"L'anamour\\\" has a nice drum beat and dramatic piano with light touches of orchestration. Pretty good. \\\"Suzanne\\\" is a more acoustic/folk tune with haunting vocals. This song reminds me of Simon & Garfunkel's classic period a little bit. Not really a favorite of mine because Francoise is capable of a higher level of beauty but it's good enough. \\\"Il n'y a Pas D'Amour Heureux\\\" however, is REALLY beautiful! The piano makes this song downright dreary like a wave of heartbreak changing the entire complexion of the day. The tempo changes really hit me hard and show the compassion of Francoise's voice. Awesome song!\\n\\n\\\"La Mesange\\\" opens with a really sad flute line before turning into a showtune-like song. The orchestration really captures the feeling of being on the big stage and performing a dramatic tear-jerker of a role. At least in the beginning- the song sort of changes in the middle with the drumming and unique tempo changes adding another element to the tune. \\\"Parlez-Moi De Lui\\\" opens with a piano line that sort of reminds me of the Monkees \\\"Daydream Believer\\\" however there's NO similarities other than that one piano key! The two songs are very different! This is a slow-moving ballad of sorts. Knowing the lyrics would help me better understand what the song is about. This is sort of like \\\"La Mesange\\\" with the showtune vibes, however this one is more bombastic and less interesting.\\n\\n\\\"A Quoi Ca Sert?\\\" takes a step away from the previous two songs and settles for another folk tune with strumming acoustic guitar and a decent simplistic vocal melody. These songs have a way of building into something more as they progress which is a wonderful trademark I'm starting to notice with Francoise's music. I love the way the piano comes in near the middle and again near the end with the orchestra. I even like the background vocals... unless it's just studio trickery making Francoise sing over/after her own lines. Either way amazing song that gets better the more I hear it.\\n\\n\\\"Il Vaut Mieux Une Petite Maison Dans La Main, Qu'un Grand Chateau Dans Les Nuages\\\" is another peaceful ballad. Francoise gives it a degree of gentleness due to her fantastic voice and it's quite memorable. \\\"La Rue Des Coeurs Perdus\\\" is almost like a cowboy theme due to the piano and slow chugging rhythm. Really cool experiment thanks again to Francoise's voice. \\\"Etonnez-Moi Benoit\\\" is... oh! The loud horns are a bit much. This song's going for an early century ragtime experiment I think. Decent vocal melody but not my favorite type of music (well unless we're talking about that one ragtime song from the video game Earthworm Jim- I love that one!) Still a decent song. You see no matter what, it's really hard to dislike a Francoise hardy song. \\\"La Mer, Les Etoiles Et Le Vent\\\" finishes this album on a somewhat curious note. It *sounds* curious I mean, and not your typical ballad. An understanding of the lyrics would give me a better idea what Francoise is singing about of course but since that's not possible I'll just say it's beautiful.\\n\\nOverall Comment Te Dire Adieu is a pretty solid album, though I admit I like Ma Jeunesse Fout Le Camp more. Still the songwriting and Francoise's voice are really strong so I'd totally understand if someone thought this was the better album of the two.\",\n \"Product: German reissue of 1976 album. Repertoire.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: hmmm, I love it\\n\\nReview: I'm completely shocked so many people flat out dislike Pyragony. It's true it's not as good as the previous Amon Duul II albums (which were all highly original classics) but you know, the songwriting honestly doesn't feel THAT much worse in comparison to previous work either.\\n\\n\\\"Flower of the Orient\\\" is one of the coolest songs I've ever heard. Think of it as a German version of Blue Oyster Cult (the commercial BOC period starting with Agents of Fortune). I think such a comparison makes perfect sense. However Amon Duul II is actually MORE experimental and bizarre than Blue Oyster Cult ever was.\\n\\nAt least in the sense that Amon Duul II was willing to experiment with synthesizers and take advantage of the guitar in a way BOC never attempted. Though I'm definitely not putting down BOC in any shape or form of course- they are indeed an incredible rock band themselves.\\n\\nI'd say Pyragony ranks among one of the more underrated mid 70's albums. Disco may have contributed to some of the less interesting moments from the album, or maybe the band was just running out of steam and it was destined to happen anyway. Either way, I've definitely heard a LOT worse than this. If this is supposed to be a German rock bands downward spiral, hey, I kind of like it!\",\n \"Product: 1993 reissue of the German prog-rock act's second album, originally released on Spalax in 1971. Four epic tracks clocking in at more than 40 minutes.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: guitar jamming for you\\n\\nReview: This is my first Guru Guru album. I'm a big fan of early to mid 70's experimental German rock so let's see what Hinten's like!\\n\\n\\\"Electric Funk\\\" opens with some really heavy guitar riffs... and catchy too! Super melodic! Reminds me of classic \\\"Heart of the Sunrise\\\"-era Yes a little bit. The drumming's awesome too. It soon turns into a Hendrix-like freak out guitar jam before getting worse when everything suddenly stops an the lead singer decides to talk for a minute. After this thankfully the actual music returns because that was going nowhere. Groovy bass and pretty awesome guitar jamming is what you can expect. It's amazing how melodic this stuff is really. Then it gets quiet and creepy with scary monster vocals and guitar effects reminding me of flying geese. The voice soon muffles similarly to a faded siren in the distance and that's a *really* creepy moment. Guitar soloing and feedback craziness return to close out the jam. Pretty awesome overall.\\n\\n\\\"The Meaning of Meaning\\\" (what a lame song title, haha) opens ominously with creepy vocal effects and guitar bits/bass creating a somber mood. A couple minutes later a blues solo comes in and it's really amazing. Then these Black Sabbath-like guitar riffs take over for a little while. Even the drumming is similar to early Sabbath. Then it gets quiet as the German vocals come in. Gradually the intensity picks up with strange phone dialing guitar effects. A gradual shift afterwards into quietness, soft drumming and vocals. The song sort of loses me around here but at least it starts rocking out again. Okay before closing out, consider me impressed with the guitar playing and drumming in the second half. Perhaps a couple minutes could've been trimmed at the end but otherwise it's good.\\n\\n\\\"Bo Diddley\\\" is a great tribute to the master Chicago blues vocalist. The intro is jazzy with the guitar riff. The guitar solo after is REALLY good. There's two guitars playing here and the second pluckier one soon takes over for a bit. Soon another Sabbath riff comes in and the jazzier riff that occurred in the beginning is back! I love this part the most. Not sure what it is that makes this part so irresistible. Then it jams away like a good early 70's rock album should. Definitely the kind of guitar jam you feel like listening closely to. It basically jams the entire way through. 10 minutes of melody and greatness! Seriously if these jams have anything going for them, it's in the fact they're usually melodic.\\n\\n\\\"Space Ship\\\" is fascinating because the intro sounds WAY ahead of its time. This sounds like gloom/death metal. No kidding. Even the sound effects over the heavy guitar riffs are quite different from what you'd expect from the early 70's. Then all that goes away so a thumping beat can pursue with freaky Hendrix-like feedback/guitar effects. But this is more along the lines of straight freak out instead of any attempt at dazzling listeners with guitar skills. However MAJOR disappointment in that the song soon dissolves into light psychedelic fiddling nonsense for nearly 8 minutes. I gotta lower my rating because of it. Darn!\\n\\n\\\"Electric Funk\\\" and \\\"Bo Diddley\\\" are awesome, but the other two tracks are inconsistent. Recommended for those who desire guitar jamming of the early 70's variety. I wouldn't say this stuff is drastically ahead of its time like others think, except of course the intro to \\\"Space Ship\\\". Otherwise decent.\",\n \"Product: Import reissue of the British heavy metal act's 1971 album. Repertoire.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: they got rid of the evil-ness, but kept the good songwriting\\n\\nReview: Black Widows third album sounds like a *major* change compared to Sacrifice. Now the songwriting is just... well the songwriting is actually *great* but it should be said it's not ANYTHING like what you're probably hoping for.\\n\\nInstead, these songs are written in a very clean, straight forward kind of way (for the most part) that closely resembles Ten Years After and maybe even the Allman Brothers a little bit.\\n\\nThe guitar playing is definitely the albums strong point with tasty and melodic guitar solos similar to Wishbone Ash perhaps, and a song like \\\"Old Man\\\" really illustrates how you can write a perfectly normal song and elevate it to greater heights just by the guitar soloing alone.\\n\\nThat's why I love the early 70's in fact- so much detail in every single album, so you always have *something* to enjoy.\\n\\nAm I hearing things, or do I hear the \\\"nah nah nah nah\\\" part from the Beatles \\\"Hey Jude\\\" at the very end of \\\"Old Man?\\\" It's kind of blurry so I can't make out the words exactly, but it sure sounds like it!\\n\\nAnother magnificent song is \\\"Lonely Man\\\". Beautiful vocal melody, and that flute solo in the middle is REALLY good. The way the flutes and bass compliment each other is highly unusual and just fantastic. I love it.\\n\\nAlso, the way this album was recorded sounds so *perfect*. It's sparkling clean, similar to Wishbone Ash's Argus album for example, and it's very easy to identify every single note.\\n\\nI like this album and I believe you will as well. Just don't expect the evil/satanic theme and instead just expect quality, inoffensive songwriting.\",\n \"Product: Following only nine months after Ian's 1975 masterpiece, 'Between the Lines', 'Aftertones' (1975) was something of a coda to that album, again tastefully produced by Brooks Arthur & featuring songs in the same mood. Although none came up to the standard o\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: after it's all set and done\\n\\nReview: Aftertones isn't quite as impressive as Stars or especially Between the Lines, but nonetheless highly enjoyable. Perhaps the songwriting not being quite up to par and most of the tunes played slowly are a couple reasons the for the 4 stars instead of 5.\\n\\n\\\"Hymn\\\" features gentle guitar and vocals throughout its entire 4 minutes. Phoebe Snow and Odetta contribute to the vocals. Lyris are depressing about the ending of timing and for personal reasons, I *hate* lyrics that mention ones time ending prematurely. It rubs me the wrong way. I believe we should live forever darn it! Anyway a pretty enough vocal melody but nothing that blows me away. \\\"Belle of the Blues\\\" is another slow tune, this time reminding me of city blues with emphasis on Janis vocals. She often soars with her vocal range. Love the \\\"Go down lightly, go down silently, I'll go down screaming\\\" line. This song is sung similarly to Carole King but with more passion. \\\"Give me my tomorrows, you an have my memories\\\" is a line that actually describes how I feel.\\n\\n\\\"Don't Cry Old Man\\\" is yet another slower than normal song. It's more emotional with slight \\\"Hush little baby don't you cry\\\" type of nursery rhyme in the vocal melody. Kind of forgettable. \\\"I Would Like to Dance\\\" has an upbeat lounge feel with a REALLY strong verse melody. Best song on the album! Spanish vibes and a verse melody reminding me of Bread's \\\"Make It With You\\\" but I think that's coincidental. You know one of those instances where I hear something but nobody else does. We all have those moments! Hearing a famous Bread song is just... let's just say, nobody else does, haha. \\\"Roses\\\" is peacefully and delicately sung. The atmosphere reminds me of roses blooming and a woman who occupies a garden in a Midwestern town. Actually the lyrics seem to mention a mysterious girl, so I picture someone who prefers to live alone in peace and approaches people (townspeople or outsiders) with caution.\\n\\n\\\"This Must Be Wrong\\\" is bluesy with tasty piano. Nice diversity on Janis' part- she has the right range for this type of song, and this enhances the melody by quite a bit. \\\"Boy I Really Tied One On\\\" is a nice country/laidback song. The verse melody is the country part, the line \\\"Wake up, I've got news for you, nobody's knocking at your door\\\" is the chorus. \\\"Love is Blind\\\" is a short devastating ballad with depressing piano. A little Linda Ronstandt-like during the \\\"How long will it take before I can't remember, memories I should forget\\\" part. Not one of the stronger vocal melodies.\\n\\nCheck out Between the Lines and Stars first, then decide if you'd like to check out Aftertones. I've read that Aftertones was one of Janis Ian's biggest albums in Japan and other places, but I'm not sure I can understand why. Unless this is a case of a fan following building so much based on Between the Lines, people were anxious to hear her follow up.\",\n \"Product: Features Five Bonus Tracks.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: it rocks, it rules\\n\\nReview: John Lawton is one of those singers that probably doesn't stand among the very best of the 70's, however his performance here is pretty darn impressive regardless.\\n\\nSometimes he screams in such a way that resembles the greatest screamers of the decade such as Ian Gillan from Deep Purple and Ronnie James Dio from Rainbow. In fact, the sound of his voice ALONE sounds like Dio on several occasions throughout the album.\\n\\nHe also resembles the lead singer from the Scorpions, and this is either a complete coincidence, or the Scorpions (being another German rock band) may have been influenced by this band.\\n\\nI liked Lawton's work with late 70's Uriah Heep, but this Lucifer Friend's album is probably better. Okay, this is *definitely* better, haha.\\n\\nYes, Lucifer's Friend is one of the most underrated hard rock albums released during the first half of the 70's. This album does every single thing right- memorable guitar riffs and solos, great vocal work, pretty good songwriting... this is definitely an album for Deep Purple, Scorpions and Black Sabbath fans.\\n\\n\\\"Ride the Sky\\\" opens the album perfectly with a chugging rhythm that reminds me of Iron Maiden a little bit. Who knows, Lucifer's Friend may have been an influence on Iron Maiden just as much as other rock greats such as Wishbone Ash and Deep Purple.\\n\\n\\\"Keep Goin\\\" has a highly memorable verse melody, not to mention the song is a bit freaky as well thanks to Lawton's performance. \\\"Toxic Shadows\\\" has a wonderful guitar solo, and the title song is most interesting for the raw vocals. Honestly, I can't find a single weak moment throughout the entire album.\\n\\n\\\"Toxic Shadows\\\" has a wonderful guitar solo, and the title song is most interesting for the raw vocals and the lyrics.\\n\\nMy favorite song is \\\"Free Baby\\\". A GREAT song this one is.\\n\\nSome of the lyrics sound a bit dated I'll admit, and in a few cases even laughable, but that hardly matters when everything else about this album is completely satisfying.\\n\\nI'm trying to think of JUST the right band that most resembles Lucifer's Friend. The only one I can come up with is Mountain.\\n\\nAnother extremely solid rock album is by an early 70's band called Fuzzy Duck. Check out that band as well, especially for all the Deep Purple lovers out there. You'll love it.\\n\\nThis is just an overall solid album that should be remembered today, but unfortunately time has chosen Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath as the three giants of rock while skipping so many other bands that deserve recognition, such as this one.\\n\\nIf you can find this album cheap, and you're someone who loves early 70's rock, I highly recommend this album.\",\n \"Product: Reissued 1979 album. This was the bands first LP without vocalist Brian Connolly. Guitarist Andy Scott proves he's no slouch in the singing department on this 9-track release, which hit No. 49 in Germany, and includes the singles 'Call Me' and 'Big Apple Waltz'.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: losing it, but not entirely\\n\\nReview: Without a shadow of a doubt, the highlight here is \\\"Mother Earth\\\". I've been loving this song for years now. At over 6 minutes in length, and considering it was released in 1979 (when creativity in rock was quickly dissolving in favor of more commercially acceptable pop songs) it's amazing how many different parts of this song actually work and leave a positive lasting impression. This song would have been a great addition to their Level Headed album, perhaps as a bonus track.\\n\\n\\\"Hold Me\\\" has a vocal melody that, to me at least, resembles something Boston would do. I'm thinking \\\"Amanda\\\" but this song didn't actually come out until the mid 80's, so I guess it's not right to namedrop THAT song. But still, the vocals resemble Boston. It's also quite predictably written which is not something I can say about most of Sweet's material. Most of Sweet's catalog is quite memorable and creative songwriting-wise. I can't give the same compliment to this song, and it has that \\\"I swear I've heard it before\\\" vibe, even though you probably haven't. This is because it sounds like so many other songs from the late 70's.\\n\\nI *do* like \\\"Hold Me\\\" though.\\n\\n\\\"Stay With Me\\\" has a nice intro with weird synth sounds before morphing into... ugh, a generic Kiss-inspired rocker. Creatively it's a disappointment because the chorus is really weak, but I guess the verse melody is good enough. However, you gotta admit the chorus when this line is sung \\\"Why don't you stay with me, come on and play with me\\\" is incredibly weak by Sweet standards.\\n\\n\\\"Discophony\\\" totally reminds me of Hall & Oates during the verse melody, and is totally derivative to the extreme. At least I LOVE the lyrics \\\"Can't stand that disco music playing in my head\\\" and the brief moments of guitar soloing are impressive as well (especially near the end). Some of the verse melody lyrics are inappropriate though. It's a curious song because the lyrics seem to foretell the future of the disco movement. There's probably an explanation. Perhaps there was a feeling in the back of everybody's mind back in 1979 that the disco scene was surely on its way out and it was just a matter of time until it finally happened, who knows? Ignoring the chorus (because it's somewhat annoying) and the tasteless lyrics sung during the verse melody, this song is actually quite good.\\n\\nI really like \\\"Dorian Gray\\\". It contains a happy verse melody that you can't resist tapping your foot along to, and it just contains a wonderful beat. Unlike most of the Cut Above the Rest album, this song actually reminds me of the creative days of Sweet and doesn't show signs of a band headed for what would now be considered \\\"the dreaded music scene of the 80's.\\\" Once again the guitar solo blows me away. The band most certainly did NOT lose a step in this regard.\\n\\nOh wait, I forgot about \\\"Call Me\\\". I LOVE this song! No relation to the Blondie song of the same name, the verse melody can best be described as mysterious and funky, with a catchy and dark vibe. I love it. The chorus ain't too shabby either. Great song.\\n\\nOverall, I wanted to give this album 3 stars originally, but the songwriting is good enough to bump it up to a 4. Pick up this album last however, in your adventure of obtaining Sweet's entire 70's catalog.\",\n \"Product: Import pressing of 1975 album from British rock group featuring Bill Nelson.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: the future is lookin' great\\n\\nReview: Futurama is a pretty underrated rock/pop album. The guitar solos are magnificent and stand alongside the very best guitar performers from the 70's, the songwriting has improved a bit compared to the debut (honestly however, the songwriting didn't improve THAT much compared to Axe Victim like many people have tried convincing me it has) and the bands distinctive style has probably begun right here.\\n\\n\\\"Music in Dreamland\\\" sounds like the kind of song indie rock college teens should be admiring and falling in love with. All we need is some famous film intended for college kids to come along including this song as part of the soundtrack, and college kids the world over will then FINALLY find out about this wonderful band.\\n\\nThe beautifully played guitar lines that opens \\\"Music in Dreamland\\\" are just the icing on the cake. GREAT way to open a song. Unique too. The vocal melody is briliant as well.\\n\\n\\\"Swan Song\\\" is a multi-part, somewhat complex display of both songwriting skills and instrumental chops. A personal favorite.\\n\\nIf you want me to compare this album to other glam rockers from the same time period, this stuff absolutely smears Queen, and is probably on the same level of enjoyment as Sweet and Slade. However, because of Be Bop Deluxe's complex style of writing music, they are probably the best of the bunch.\\n\\nPick up Futurama today. Also, pick up the cartoon Futurama for the best of both worlds, haha.\",\n \"Product: The Second and Last CD Released in 1976 from a Band who Formed after the Split of Mott the Hoople and Added Two New Members, Nigel Benjamin and Ray Major.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: not shouting for more, but surely pointing fingers\\n\\nReview: Well it turns out Ian Hunter wasn't the only band member that wanted out- other crucial band members decided to abandon ship soon after this albums release. You can plainly discover why upon listening to Shouting & Pointing. The results are uh, different!\\n\\n\\\"Career (No Such Thing As Rock 'n Roll)\\\" is a tender ballad. Unlike on the previous album which I actually defended quite a bit, this song is a flatter affair. \\\"There's no such thing as rock and roll, no such thing as growing old\\\" is a desperate-for-anything type of lyric. The melody reeks of desperation too. Still, because I normally like mid 70's rock, even when it sounds like imitation theatrics paling in comparing to previous better work by an artist, it's usually at least decent and this song is no different. The piano's okay but sporadic and generically performed, the guitar lines are basically the same way, and the vocal melody is just okay. When the vocal melody soars it doesn't sound particularly convincing but it's alright. A decent song.\\n\\nThen comes a song like \\\"Storms\\\". The fast boogie style of classic Mott the Hoople is attempted here, much like it was on Driving On. It feels worse here however. It's less creative and more straight forward. Does that mean I hate it though? No. Is it disappointing? Well unfortunately yeah a little bit. Obviously the band was influenced by the more commercial glam rockers at the time like Slade and Sweet because a song like this feels like it's trying to sound like them. I still like certain lines, \\\"Cuz when I get there tonight I'm going to be insane, feel my temperature rise like a knife in my brain\\\" is decent. Interesting that the piano playing unintentionally sounds Elton John-like, specifically the piano work from his classic \\\"Funeral For a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding\\\". Generic theatrical parts after too.\\n\\n\\\"Hold On, You're Crazy\\\" (for liking this song, hehe, just kidding!) But seriously this song is really bad. It's not often, in fact I've never said it before but now is as good a time as any- this song doesn't even need to exist. It's *that* bad. A Mott the Hoople song so awful and obnoxiously Kiss-like in the way the vocals are sung, it just makes my stomach turn. What a clumsily slapped together vocal melody. Ugh! The funny part is that the guitar solo is pretty good in the middle but the vocals are deliberately deplorable. Hey I say \\\"deliberately\\\" because there's no way the band members thought this was a good melody. They couldn't have!\\n\\n\\\"See You Again\\\" is almost country-sounding in the verse melody and guitar playing. The rhythm chugs along so flatly. Well this is an improvement compared to \\\"Hold On, You're Crazy\\\" but well, *anything's* an improvement over that awkwardly written tune! The guitar playing is surprisingly really good throughout \\\"See You Again\\\" too, and the vocal melody is pretty good. \\\"Shouting & Pointing\\\" opens in carnival-like fashion which is pretty awesome because well, I like that sort of thing. Makes the music sound happier and more enthusiastic. Unfortunately after the guitar riff and piano work is over, the song changes in a MUCH worse way- an uninspiring guitar riff with a lead singer resembling the guy from the Welsh band Budgie (or Rush) takes over. The awkward way the tempo speeds up leaves me cold and you KNOW something's wrong when a sudden tempo change leaves me cold because dramatic sudden tempo changes are a Godsend to me! At least the guitar solo is awesome.\\n\\n\\\"The Short Arms (I Don't Care)\\\" is a neat ragtime experiment. At least in the beginning. The song soon shifts into basic party hard rock but it's pretty good at least. The guitar playing is nothing to shout about (hehe) but it chugs along more inspiringly than on most parts of this Shouting & Pointing album. There's even some unique tempo changes and a return of the ragtime piano playing in the middle that's REALLY cool. My favorite part of the entire album! \\\"I've had all I can take, won't you give us a break. I'm sick and tired of people trying to tell me what I am\\\" is an alarmingly sung vocal melody because it shows the band is being rebellious which affects the quality of the music. It also expresses how they were feeling at the time. Either way it's highly enjoyable.\\n\\n\\\"Good Times\\\" is more entertainment much like \\\"The Short Arms (I Don't Care)\\\". \\\"Good Times\\\" lives up to having a good time! \\\"Gonna have a good time tonight, rock and roll music gonna play all night\\\" is a very good Brian Johnson of AC/DC fame impression! Haha, I know that particular incarnation was a few years away but still, similar vocal styles. Or perhaps the lead singer of Nazareth (Dan McCafferty) is a better example. Anyway this is a GREAT party song. Energetic and memorable vocal melody, spectacular guitar playing and just solid all around.\\n\\n\\\"Broadside Outcasts\\\" has a pretty intro with the ballerina-like piano playing and the emotional guitar solo soon after. Vocally the lead singer sounds very tender here- VERY tender! But I like it because it reminds me of classic Mott the Hoople. This almost sounds gentle enough to pass for a nursery rhyme but it's so darn charming and catchy I have to love it. I have to! Sometimes a guy just can't help his feelings you know? I can't quite make out the earthquake lyrics but they're really freaky because the singer sounds distorted. \\\"Collision Course\\\" has nice speedy slide guitar work and yet another boogie rock rhythm. It's, as you can guess, bland and uninspiring but listenable at least.\\n\\nShouting & Pointing is a questionable album. It has a few really good moments but there's always several really lackluster ones to ruin a good time. The band was just done by this point and you can clearly hear it in the music. Too bad, but I wouldn't say it's a disastrous album or anything. Just very disappointing by Mott the Hoople standards.\",\n \"Product: Reissue of their 1976 release. Currently out of print in the USA.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: whoa, skullduggery is actually a word\\n\\nReview: Unfortunately it's not a very good album...\\n\\nThe problem here is that the commercial bug got ahold of our beloved Steppenwolf. While it's a pretty big exaggeration to call this a disco album, it's obvious that they wanted to blend in with the late 70's rock scene which created some problems.\\n\\nThe title song -while the mainstream Blue Oyster Cult-sounding chorus is pretty catchy and the verse melody is somewhat solid as well- really shows a band trying to fit in with the hard rock artists at the times and well, there really was no reason to. While the hard rock artists at the time were trying to convince the world that rock music was still alive and aggressive while fighting the disco scene, Steppenwolf feels like they're simply trying to play catch up. I trust John Kay and the other members to create a quality album without the need to take their music in an obvious mainstream direction. At any rate, really awesome and melodic guitar solo at the end.\\n\\n\\\"Lip Service\\\" is based around a really funky instrumental groove. It's a pretty decent song but not the reason any of us fell in love with Steppenwolf of course. Actually it's a bit on the repetitive side and overlong by a couple minutes. Oh well, I've heard worse. Dance to it anyway! \\\"Train of Thought\\\" is probably not the train I'd ever consider travelling on. John Kay is wasting his wonderful talents singing a lackluster tune like this. Even the chorus is really awful. It really feels like the band was having trouble coming up with good songwriting on a few of these Skullduggery tunes, and this is clearly one of them. Oh but UPDATE! This is actually a cover of a Cher song. Now why in the WORLD would Steppenwolf... yeah, running low on ideas. This train is headed off the side of a cliff.\\n\\n\\\"Pass It On\\\" is an improvement even if it's weak from a songwriting standpoint. This reminds me of Eric Clapton's studio stuff- bring in a female singer, sing a simple ballad together, and lay it down on tape for the world to hear. That about describes this song. I can imagine drunk people swaying to the rhythm of this melody at the beach. It's simple enough for everyone to join in and contribute. \\\"(I'm a) Road Runner\\\" running as far from this album as I possibly can. Beep beep! Alright alright, this isn't a bad song. I put it on the same level as \\\"Hard Rock Road\\\" from their previous album- sort of filler-ish but nothing to really complain about. Then again it *is* probably a perfect song for driving the desert night away. Fantastic guitar solo at the end. Alright I give in- it's a very good song.\\n\\n\\\"Sleep\\\" feels like a really limp way of rocking out. What is this? John Kay obviously isn't putting 100% effort into his performance and yet, a song like this pretty much demands a lead singer who CAN give it everything they got. Bleh. At least the chorus is really catchy with interesting lyrics. Yes I'm tired and want to go to bed too, but for different reasons- we're about to experience 48 straight hours of arctic air. It's starting now in fact. Yes, sleepy time can't come soon enough. \\\"Life Is a Gamble\\\" is generic -but decent- mid 70's rock with the occasional touch of piano and is honestly a high point on an album like this. WHAT the... where did \\\"Rock and Roll Song\\\" come from? John Kay's voice returns to fine classic form, and the sincerity in his voice is simply unmatched by anyone else. Why isn't he singing like this on the *rest* of the songs here? That's the question my friends!\\n\\nWell the truth is, it's probably a 2-star album. I can't give Steppenwolf anything lower than a 3 though. I have a feeling overtime when my initial disappointment finally rubs off for good, this will remain a 3-star album. Skullduggery isn't necessarily awful- more like incredibly average. Forgettable and yeah, average. I can't recommend a purchase I'm afraid.\",\n \"Product: The band's 1972 album for Warner Brothers. Features ninetracks, including 'Marie Antoinette' and 'Cheetah'.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: the air in curved air\\n\\nReview: Whoa the third Curved Air... has a really hard to remember and elaborate title! Phantasmagoria it is. This is a real word too! Never heard of it but I like the definition- a sequence of real or imaginary images like those seen in a dream.\\n\\n\\\"Marie Antoinette\\\" sounds very familiar. I'm almost positive I've heard this song a long time ago when I was first going through my progressive rock phase. Back then I'd jump around from one website into another looking for any way to listen to prog rock! The song starts with a soothing vocal melody similar to being in a submarine and floating on the bottom of an ocean (yup it has that kind of effect). \\\"Marie Antoinette, your name's a legend in this land, treasure for your pleasure bestowed on favoured gentlemen, the people are in arms marching on the town\\\". \\\"Marie Antoinette, your shadow's falling along the land, anger born of hunger poisons the hearts of your loyal men, fire in their eyes, steel in their hands\\\". \\\"Clamouring in the square, the rabble have gone insane, they're over the balustrades, defying the cannon fire, they're into the garrison, they murder the noblemen\\\". The piano plays along nice and calmly. Love the way Sonja's voice goes higher just enough during the \\\"They rise chanting \\\"Revolution! Viva la Nation!\\\" line. When this song picks up I *know* I've heard it before, especially during the \\\"Clamouring in the square, the rabble have gone insane\\\" part.\\n\\n\\\"We are the people of France we demand that the elegant blue-blooded leeches that bleed us, are taught what it means to grow fat and not feed us! We are the people of France, you must heed us! Already at the Bastille, the prisoners all run free, they're hammering on the door, Marie Antoinette, they've taken the guillotine, they're coming to take the Queen, Marie Antoinette, the King and the guards have fled, Marie Antoinette, your shadow's falling along the land, anger born of hunger, poisoned your men, they rise changing \\\"Revolution! Viva la Nation!\\\" This song is all about showing dazzling vocals and less to do with instrumental creativity which isn't a bad thing of course- after all Sonja Kristina has a GREAT voice. Nice synth line, even though it sounds fairly simple.\\n\\n\\\"Melinda\\\" is a soothing folk song with flutes. Sort of reminds me of well, perhaps intentionally Uriah Heep's \\\"Come Away Melinda\\\" or the Moody Blues \\\"For My Lady\\\". This song is also familiar! Maybe I've heard the entire Phantasmagoria album back in the day and forgot all about it. \\\"Lovely lady falling laughing down the glory of a rainbow, lovely lady reaching crying for the comfort of the day-glow, Melinda more or less, Melinda more or less in dreams, but if and when she wakes again she knows it all begins again, sleeping, waking, rising, falling, dumb but calling outtot deafened friends, that's how it ends, Melinda more or less in dreams, fade Melinda, fade into fantasy, tell them you won't be played like any other instrument of fate, fade Melinda, into your fantasy\\\". Really cool moment during the line \\\"Tell them you're not prepared to wait for your dream of the end\\\" because the flute starts playing differently. The violins and acoustic guitar are just so lovely.\\n\\n\\\"Not Quite the Same\\\" opens in a triumphant way with trumpets before the pace picks up in a jazzy way that reminds me of Spirit's \\\"Elijah\\\" for some reason. Really strange decision Sonja would choose to sing *along* to this speedy-paced part. Almost to the point she's speed talking and if you know anything about me, I dislike talking in music! \\\"Mavis couldn't quite make it on Saturday, Berryl was stuck on the tube from Victoria, Cheryl and the rest had all found new boyfriends, the only one left was the one in his head, so he busies himself, quite amusing himself, by abusing himself, all of his life had had wanted one true love, one girl he could worship all day out all night in, alas all the girls he had met in his short life were girls who always quite looked like his dad's wife, so he busied himself, quite amusing himself, by abusing himself\\\".\\n\\nUm... I think we know what these lyrics are about so uh, no need to say anything else! Just confused Curved Air would be singing lyrics like this. They're supposed to be a nice band! Well then again maybe not. The part \\\"Oh dear what a pity, a pity what a shame, oh what a shame girls on glossy paper, never quite the same, not quite the same, always saying sorry never quite the same, not quite the same\\\" reveals some singing... and pretty vocals too! The song gets a little too bizarre with the synths afterwards (is Sonja singing along or am I hearing things!) before the intro-like part plays again. Not a fan of the speedy vocals but it's still a pretty good song... in some weird way. Ignore the lyrics though!\\n\\n\\\"Cheetah\\\" opens in a way that reminds me of horses running across fields... and also reminds me of a certain moment at the end of the Who's \\\"Baba O' Riley\\\". I can honestly say this song's pretty awesome though! The violins speed by in a way that is adrenaline-fueled, and in particular hits a certain chilling high note a couple times that leaves me begging for more! This is classical craziness man! Like someone who's having a bad day decides to vent their frustration by coming home and making a violin-filled emotional rollercoaster of a song. The drumming is really noticeable at the end! Okay \\\"Ultra-Vivaldi\\\" is a bit much I think, but it's only a minute and a half. Not a good use of synths!\\n\\n\\\"Phantasmagoria\\\" opens with freaky lines. \\\"I bet you sometimes wonder what is standing right behind you, keep looking over your shoulder to see if it's there, for some the church bell pealing, for some the risk of feeling and stealing, quietly alone through the night looking under the bed\\\". You run upstairs to lie there waiting for the floor to creak and something goes bumpity bumpity bump up the stairs, the time has come to wonder, who could be the owner of that cold clammy hand that's exploring the end of the bed\\\". Could it be? These lyrics describe sleep paralysis if you ask me!\\n\\nThe song's upbeat with the vocals and rhythm, and sounds slightly theatrical too. A different tone from the first side! This song reminds me of living in a small apartment room and having a hectic day with lots of running around, but despite all that I'm excited and anticipating something. Who knows *what* I'm anticipating- maybe a new restaurant opened next door and I can't wait to go there. I realize the lyrics describe something else, but yeah. \\\"Don't ring for a taxi, don't call a policeman, don't send for a doctor he'll just give you pills, don't hide in the cellar, don't ever believe it, it's probably friendly just alone like you\\\" is a VERY cool moment of the melody. Highly enjoyable song. Love the line \\\"So if you get lonely just think of the summer, and swimming in sky blue, drift your mind away\\\" and the la la la's that follow. See that? Those \\\"la la la's\\\" are used in a GREAT way! Who says singers are lazy when they sing that way!\\n\\nOh WOW! I got REALLY scared when the first line of \\\"Whose Shoulder Are You Looking Over Anyway\\\" came in! The way Sonja says \\\"But I keep looking over my shoulder to see if it's there, but I keep looking over your shoulder to see if I'm there\\\" actually made me look over my shoulder, lol. Sounded like she was behind me I kid you not! Some kind of really cool studio tricks must have been used there. To add an extra flavor of weirdness to this song, and a feeling that aliens have just invaded my house, the vocals are *incredibly* distorted. No melody in sight... unless this is how aliens sing. I'm really creeped out! This sounds like something the Soft Machine would have done at the time, but probably not *quite* as interesting since this only feels like a small sample of something atmospheric that the Soft Machine would have turned into a lengthier piece. Still awesome though.\\n\\n\\\"Over and Above\\\" has vocals similar to a previous song either on this album or a previous Curved Air album. The persistent summer heat must finally be getting to me since I can't identity the song (facepalm moment for sure!) Really frantic and worried vocals, and I really enjoy it. \\\"One fine night I left my soul to journey on the wind, far beyond the stars I watched to see where it would go, in the twilight realms of space, spirits known but with no face, eyes to see no hands to place around the other, try and grasp the meaning, why and wherefore of this world, rested for a while to see which way the wind would blow, found ourselves, my soul and I, upon an unknown moon, barren rocks and ashes strewn like the ashes of the mind, soaring off once more to see if we could find there, looking for a somewhere, something that would bring us peace\\\".\\n\\nPerhaps somebody who hates Emerson, Lake & Palmer (not me of course, I love those guys) would think some of the instrumental parts resemble the kind of rambling Emerson, Lake & Palmer did on their Brain Salad Surgery album, but then the song changes gears a little while still holding onto that tight rhythm during the line \\\"Watch the dawn of a distant sun, tells us now that our night has gone, senses numbed by the blinding light, countless stars vanish into night, far away on a distant star, midnight chimes to sleeping world, far away on a distant star life begins in a thousand years\\\" . This is really soothing with lounge-y percussion.\\n\\nThe synth jam marks a sudden jazzy style with an outer space vibe- perhaps my favorite part of the song, who knows! Actually yes this *is* my favorite part because even though the vocal melody is pretty remarkable, I wouldn't say it's unique like this jam is. The song tries to go for more triumphant-like instrumentation like in \\\"Not Quite the Same\\\" but it feels more haunting this time around. Oh wow, a wah wah guitar solo! Placed in just the right spot too.\\n\\n\\\"Once a Ghost Always a Ghost\\\" is the final song. Once invisible always invisible! That's me- not exactly the liveliest person in a crowd but I do my best to speak up! Well no that's not true- I purposely remain quiet. Okay!! What am I even talking about! I can ramble my jaws I tell ya. This song has a lovely theatrical vocal style similar to the one in \\\"Phantasmagoria\\\" but with the trumpets making this song a combination of a bunch of really interesting and unique ideas. That's how I like it baby! Be different! Eventually the horns out-play the other things going on. I hear a crowd in the background and not the first time either. Is this album partially live or is the crowd just used for effect I wonder. The way this jam develops is truly something else. Makes me think I'm on the grooviest journey to outer space that I've had since that one time I became absorbed into early Pink Floyd. \\\"Once upon a time I stumbled on a master plan, better than a time machine, simple to understand, just consume a pint of this and one or two of these, head in arm and hand in hand we'll haunt the seven seas, if you choose we can confuse your favourite enemy, find a dungeon with a pungent tropicality, waft about and groan a bit and make him feel at ease, head in arm and hand in hand we'll haunt the seven seas\\\".\\n\\nBonus track time. Don't get too excited- it's just one 3 minute song. \\\"Sarah's Concern\\\" contains SUPER heavy keyboard and bass. Whoa! I think the carpet just rolled up in the corner upon playing this tune! A really enjoyable and happy vocal melody. \\\"Sarah is concerned, she isn't so sure it's right, the words that she learned were uttered again tonight, we are three, he you and me, just till the fire burns out, so Sarah decides that it would be wise to wait, she gathers her thoughts, endeavors to concentrate, we are three, he you and me, just till the fire burns out, she looks to the man, the flickering torch, the knife, she raises her hand, she touches the blade, she cries \\\"We are three, he you and me, just till the fire burns out\\\". You know this melody is REALLY catchy. The synth solo afterwards is super creepy and so are the vocals. The way the line \\\"Candlelight, fire and fleet, we remember the night of the three\\\" is sung will blow your mind man. This song had serious potential to be a HUGE hit based on how well-written that vocal melody is. Seriously man it's incredible.\\n\\nOkay I give in! This album's just as awesome as the first two! I was about to say the first two Curved Air albums are masterpieces but this one comes up short, but nah! I've changed my mind. This album's just as awesome. Pick it up now!\",\n \"Product: Reissue of their 1975 release. A slight change of direction for the band, while still retaining two of the founding members, John Kay, Jerry Edmunton.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: the hour is upon us- the wolf is sneaking through the trees\\n\\nReview: Enter the second mid 70's offering for Steppenwolf (after Slow Flux). Some people believe they should have called it a day after For Ladies Only. Me? Not me! I don't care if they (or any band) carries on a few years past their prime. They were still young in the mid 70's after all. As long as the quality of the music doesn't deteriorate too much, it's all good. Does this mean Hour of the Wolf is really awesome? Nah, not awesome, but solid.\\n\\n\\\"Caroline (Are You Ready For the Outlaw World)\\\" is a fairly melodic track. Quality verse melody, somewhat repetitive but catchy chorus. The chorus consists of just repeating the song title over and over. There's a feeling while listening to it that it sounds hokey instead of the more sincere singing demeanor of the lead singer, which is a problem for me since I associate John Kay's tearful vocal range with the bands classic sound. The keyboard solo in the middle and end is sort of annoying for whatever reason. Still, enjoyable song.\\n\\n\\\"Mr. Penny Pincher\\\" sounds like Uriah Heep's \\\"Wonderworld\\\" in the intro, and in fact, contains the same adventurous epic style that Uriah Heep used to perform so well (or terribly, depending on your opinion of the band) in the 70's. John Kay definitely isn't singing in the way I love. *Sigh* Make that a LOUD sigh! Either way, I enjoy the song but I really feel like I'm betraying the classic version of Steppenwolf by liking it. In other words Uriah Heep is my guilty pleasure and any band that resembles them is fine by me. However if we ignore all connections and similarities to the classic Steppenwolf period, the vocal melody is actually pretty solid. Is that a synthesizer playing in the middle? Who do these guys think they are, Camel? Well if they were aware of the progressive rock band Camel that is, I imagine they'd have been big fans. Anyway, the truth is I actually love this song. Maybe this is the reason I'm giving the album such a high grade.\\n\\n\\\"Someone Told a Lie\\\" (it wasn't me... alright maybe it was) opens with a really heavy guitar riff. However that just about concludes the heaviness. The verse melody is really odd. John Kay is straining his voice in a way that makes me think he wants to be a member of KISS. That's one band nobody should want to be a member of. :) This song is really sloppy and sort of pitiful. It's written in a really clumsy and forgettable way. Now here's the part I don't understand- despite these obvious flaws, I still like the song. I'm worried I may have crossed the line into John Kay fanboy territory. There's no other explanation. The lyrics are really inspiring too. \\\"Now we don't trust each other's faces, and I don't know what to think about you, 'cuz we can't stand in each other's places, and I can't trade with you\\\". That's one great line- there's several more.\\n\\n\\\"Just For Tonight\\\" is a quietly sung ballad with female vocals sung in unison with Kay's. It's melodic, inoffensive country rock. However, without hesitation, the melody shifts into a mid-tempo rocker. I'm not a fan of this part. Actually if you take away the female vocals, I can imagine Greg Allman writing a song like this (not with the Allman Brothers, part of his solo career I mean). \\\"Another's Lifetime\\\" is pure country. Not the strongest vocal melody in the world and it doesn't make me tear up like Kay was probably intending, but it's decent enough. Certainly nothing to hate. Lyrically it hits home pretty hard. \\\"There's more to life than dreaming\\\". Oh really? Because dreaming is ALL I do and I love my life! Had this song been written 5 years earlier, you get the feeling Kay REALLY would have delivered a vocal range to move listeners to tears. \\\"Annie, Annie Over\\\" is upbeat and sort of funky. Drastically different from the other songs here. I admire it. The chorus reminds me of the Guess Who a little bit. The keyboards should jam more- they're really good here.\\n\\nI can't remember the last time I heard a straight ahead rock song performed so amazingly well, but \\\"Two For the Love of One\\\" certainly fits that description! Everything about this song rules. Heavy riffs that get your heart pumping, a vocal melody that gets your feet tapping, a wonderul exchange of guitar solos and keyboards in the middle... just awesome. \\\"Hard Rock Road\\\" is sort of forgettable I suppose. I guess if one Steppenwolf song sounds generic, it's this one. Then again, listen to the vocals around 1:35 in. That's a cool part there.\\n\\nOverall, well this is certainly interesting. I was told this album stinks and it does not. Shame on all of you (kidding, kidding!) I highly recommend it. Not amazing or anything, but good songwriting cannot be denied! Not a single song I have a problem with. A few moments are questionable, but nothing that changes the high praise I think Hour of the Wolf deserves.\",\n \"Product: This CD is an out of print collectible! It is the original 1989 release. Still sealed.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: got those blues? this will blue you away!\\n\\nReview: Wow am I tired tonight. I don't know why either. I got 6 hours of sleep last night which granted isn't much, but I shouldn't be *this* exhausted. I really should wait until tomorrow to review Blue Afternoon but there's no guarantees tomorrow will even happen so I better do it tonight.\\n\\nBlue Afternoon is one of Tim Buckley's folk albums. \\\"Happy Time\\\" has peaceful vibes and a really soft vocal melody. \\\"I'm coming home to stay\\\" is sung so pretty. This line repeats a lot but it's no big deal because of its prettiness. \\\"Oh now it's just the same old story, something about love for glory, a nickel and a dime a dozen fame, oh it's such a shame the way they use your name\\\" is a great line and melody.\\n\\n\\\"Chase the Blues Away\\\" opens with quiet acoustic guitar. \\\"We'll dance along the river's edge, just arm and arm along the moonlit shore, the midnight cries well I just came to chase the blues way for a while \\\" paints an image of standing on a bridge with darkness approaching a city. This song has a really haunting feel to it which shouldn't be surprising since the song is about trying to chase the blues away. The feel of the song will give you the sense that the blues are here to stay. The electric guitar solo is about as soft as they come. Strange at the end when the acoustic guitar loops a few lines while a Spanish guitar imitation comes in.\\n\\n\\\"I Must Have Been Blind\\\" places me at a beach with the really good relaxing bass work in the intro. \\\"Here I am believing words again, here I am trying to find your love again, here I am down on my knees again, praying for a love that we used to know, both of us know how hard it is to love and let it go, both of us know how hard it is to go on living that way, when so few understand what it means to fall in love, and so few will know how hard it is to live without it\\\" reveals a really compassionate side to Tim's voice. Vibraphones play as well. \\\"To hold something real and not believe it, to live in her life and never trusting, to give all you know and never feel it, to hold back each day until it dies away\\\" is a good line made more beautiful by Tim's vocal elevation.\\n\\n\\\"The River\\\" recalls images of living by a river indeed. A small town family living in a 2 story house with no neighbors in a 10 mile radius. \\\"I live by the river and I hide my house away, then just like the river I can change my ways\\\". Ah ha! Yup living by the river is what this song is all about! I get creeped out when Tim sings the line \\\"And time will fade, in time we'll love\\\" with vibraphones playing right after. It's a haunting moment for sure. A quiet country/folk tune that makes me think about time drifting away quietly.\\n\\n\\\"So Lonely\\\" is a great Police cover... yeah right, you really didn't think I was serious about that did you? If so for shame! \\\"I don't get no lettuce?\\\" Yeah that's the first thing Tim says in this song curiously enough. Actually no he says letters but it *sounds* like lettuce! While the lyrics are memorable (\\\"Cops treat you dirty and the children are mean, this is the lowest town I've ever seen, people keep dragging their bodies around, ain't enough pride to even look around\\\") the melody is really simple but strangely uplifting in a sense. Nice bluesy guitar solo in the middle, and again while Tim continues singing.\\n\\n\\\"Cafe\\\" is more small town imagery, this one making me think about a nearly deserted town as Tim walks into a cafe, sees two people sitting lazily on their stools eating pancakes, a couple more elderly people sitting at the table reading the morning paper, and one hair-twirling ditzy waitress chomping her gum... well she doesn't have to be ditzy. She can be a normal country girl. Anyway this song's really slow with some spooky tempo changes on that acoustic guitar that only the late 60's can provide in glorious slight-psychedelic fashion. More lyrics about time and love slipping by. It's almost like Tim knew his life would end soon. This song really creeps me out! So much for resting easy tonight.\\n\\n\\\"Blue Melody\\\" opens drearily with bass and piano. Yeah *that* piano! This almost sounds like lounge music, and perhaps it is, but you know people like to associate lounge music with boring music so I have to tread carefully with my wording here because this song sure ain't boring! Tim has a talent for writing strong vocal melodies and this certainly enhances the song in a big way. If he didn't have such talents, yeah, this probably would have been boring lounge otherwise. Anyway enough crap talk! Geez man I'm tired and it's showing. Tim surprises me by making his vocal range passionate at times. Beautiful piano and electric guitar soloing. By the way the guitar soloing is really soft throughout this album. Nothing even close to being lean and mean. Anyway this song really gets through to me with how moody it is. Everything about it- the mood, the gentle vocals, the slow pace, Tim's perfect voice, etc.\\n\\n\\\"The Train\\\" opens with some interesting, somewhat swift moving and normal acoustic guitar notes. This vocal melody feels rushed to me for some reason. I don't think Tim is actually rushing through it though. More like there's an assortment of stuff going on here and I'm trying to figure it all out! Love the jazzy guitar solo a couple minutes in! I REALLY love that in fact. This is why I love 60's and 70's guitar jazz. This stuff sounds totally made on the spot, with Tim relying on the moment to see what sticks. Well I can tell ya- this solo sticks better than glue. And it jams for a couple minutes! Wow the way the guitar plays while Tim sings over it at the 4-minute mark is *amazing* to me. There's a feeling of urgency and improvisation that's just a lot of fun about this song. And Tim leaving me speechless with all this guitar trickery came out of nowhere in the second half of the song! Why can't more musicians write music like this! Play the freakin' heck out of that darn guitar and come up with as many interesting ideas that you can while singing (or in this case, screaming) over them. This song's pure genius! Hopefully in time the vocals win me over as much as the guitar does.\\n\\nOverall, Blue Afternoon is rather blue and dreary until you get to the second half of \\\"The Train\\\". Then get ready for something incredible! Overall this is probably Tim Buckley at his best.\",\n \"Product: The Kinks ~ Misfits\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: showing signs of losing their touch, but still offering some great moments\\n\\nReview: By 1978, the 80's were hanging right around the corner, and the Kinks were caught between whether they wanted to remain with their 70's concept album approach (which didn't do very well commercially), the return to the melodically strong pop-oriented songwriting such as what the band hinted at with Sleepwalker, or drift into a depressing state of trying to carry on their legacy through sell-out 80's commercial rock (though I wouldn't call the Kinks an 80's sell-out, but they *could* have easily gone down that path by mistake by completely ignoring writing good vocal melodies if they chose to, like most 70's bands that made the transition into the 80's).\\n\\nI guess Misfits captures the band trying to fit in with whatever rock acts were popular at the time. I actually think the title song sounds like Jackson Browne, while some other moments seriously remind me of Tom Petty a little bit, but there's *nothing* on the Misfits album that truly makes me shake my head and question \\\"WHAT were you thinking!\\\" To me that's a sign of a good band, or at least, a smart band. The Kinks never forgot what made them so enjoyable in the first place- great songwriting that anyone can get into. You'll find some good songs on this album, I guarantee it.\",\n \"Product: Reissue of the Krautrock icon's breakthrough album from1973, a continuous 43 minute work digitally indexed here with 26 passages. It sonically takes listeners from quiet bits of folk-rock and spoken word, to loud, mind-numbing rocky terrain similar to Zappa and Can. 'The Faust Tapes' is widely considered their finest moment. 1998 ReR.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: total madness from beginning to end... seriously\\n\\nReview: I was originally planning on giving the Faust Tapes a rating of 4 out of 5 stars, but you know, I'd actually feel like that would be a horrible and inaccurate mistake because, quite frankly, there is literally nothing else out there quite like this.\\n\\nYes, Captain Beefheart has Trout Mask Replica, Mike Oldfield has Tubular Bells and King Crimson has several insane albums in their arsenal but well... perhaps if someone were to combine BOTH Trout Mask Replica and Tubular Bells together the results would sort of sound as extraordinary as this. However, dare I say, even the roughest moments of Trout Mask Replica have trouble standing in the same league as a few moments on the Faust Tapes.\\n\\nThese moments would probably be the extremely gritty vocals that make an appearance about 8 minutes in. Then the horns... yes that's right- YOU remember the horns from Trout Mask Replica! They sounded like a flock of geese, remember? Well on the Faust Tapes, they're utilized in a more hazy, psychedelic kind of way reminiscent of early 70's Hawkwind perhaps, but the relentless of the background vocals is just too hardcore for words. I think this particular moment elevates the craziness a notch higher than Trout Mask Replica, seriously.\\n\\nAs you've probably read by now, the album is basically one 40-minute plus song since -as far as I know- there's no actual track names. Alright so amazon lists some song titles in their description but well... it's hard to actually THINK of this collection of sounds as anything other than a big sloppy pile of constant weirdness.\\n\\nThe music only lets up momentarily before leading into something equally bizarre and highly experimental. Go on, just NAME something experimental and it's probably featured somewhere among all the chaotic noise and brilliance. That's how creative it is. Sometimes an album goes a little *too* insanely far with their constant experimenting that it'd simply be impossible to put into words what exactly makes it so unbelievably fascinating. The Faust Tapes fits that description. I can't stress enough how important it is to hear this album. Don't worry about the fact it's not popular like the Captain Beefheart album. Perhaps it's lack of popularity is a telling sign that most people can't handle it.\\n\\nNo, this doesn't really resemble Amon Duul II or Can because neither of those bands ever went *completely* crazy like Faust has done here. This is in a league of its own, believe me.\\n\\nWhat's most surprising about the entire thing is that for the first 5 minutes, you're treated to a really beautiful and melodic psychedelic Floyd-like vocal melody leading directly into an atmospheric set of piano notes. You're probably thinking to yourself at this early part of the listening experience \\\"What's the big fuss? I can handle this!\\\" but then... yeah, it quickly morphs into chaotic... not necessarily \\\"nonsense\\\" because there is, contrary to belief, quite a few listenable sections ahead. It's just that, hearing numerous musical instruments shift and weave into all kinds of different sections without letting up for over 40 minutes is a HECK of a difficult challenge for even the most diehard of krautrock, progressive rock, or noise rock fans.\\n\\nAbout 10 minutes before the album finally finishes up, you're treated to a very listenable and lengthy Kinks-inspired vocal melody that's *definitely* a breath of fresh air after the amazing ordeal you just had to go through (I mean that as a compliment, too!).\\n\\nThe interesting part about the whole thing is that at first I thought the album sounded horribly dated, but after a few more careful listens I actually stopped thinking about how dated it sounds because I eventually warmed up to the flow and experimentation of the whole thing. Perhaps that was the intention the band members had all along. You will get caught up in the album too. Give it time.\\n\\nJust expect *anything* at ANY time. That's the best advice I can give on how to listen to the Faust Tapes. Enjoy! Oh, and be very very patient, haha.\",\n \"Product: Mid-priced pressing of 1977 album for Atlantic by this rockquartet featuring Jim McCarty of the Yardbirds and drummerCarmine Appice. Eight tracks, including covers of MoseAllison's 'Parchman Farm' & Willie Dixon's 'You Can't JudgeA Book By The Cover'.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: watch out for that pointy cactus!\\n\\nReview: Before tonight I was aware of Cactus based on a few songs, but never listened to one of their regular albums. I've been meaning to for a few years now though! Well here it is folks. This is mostly a very loud and heavy take on the blues (heavy rock/blues). Perhaps the only drawback is that the production is so raw that the vocals often feel overwhelmed and become indiscernible.\\n\\n\\\"You Can't Judge a Book By Its Cover\\\" has vocals that totally remind me of Rory Gallagher. It's my understanding this is a cover of a Willie Dixon song. The vocal melody builds slowly with the lead singer mentioning all the things you can't judge (\\\"You can't judge the sugar by looking at the cane!\\\" and \\\"You can't judge honey by looking at the bee\\\" are two funny lines) before suddenly speeding up and rocking hard. The song alternates the heavy parts with the softer ones. The first guitar solo feels rather standard similar to a solo you'd hear in the early stages of rock and roll, and to me it's nothing particularly amazing. The second solo later just feels messy. The harmonica is used subtly throughout the tune. Things get a bit crazy near the end with the singer wailing \\\"CAN'T JUDGE, CAN'T JUDGE!\\\" like his life depends on it. These are all tiny complaints at the end of the day- still a great song either way.\\n\\n\\\"Feel So Good\\\" continues with the intensity, loud guitar... and unfortunately the somewhat sloppy vocals and guitar soloing. I love the tempo change and guitar solo 1 minute/40 seconds in. Great unpredictable moment there! I like the lead singers voice too. I really think he sounds a lot like Rory Gallagher but others might disagree. It's cool if you do. We all hear things differently. Oh wow, cool drum solo! Some of the notes being played are really memorable, and as someone who normally avoids listening contently to drumming because as much as I like drums I prefer focusing on guitar and vocals, this one certainly catches my attention. It even takes a jazzy turn eventually- the drum solo. That in itself is really remarkable. At the end of the solo it gets funky and continues keeping my interest. Yeah this one's mostly about the drums. Pretty cool tune overall.\\n\\n\\\"No Need to Worry\\\" is the bands attempt at straight up blues. I think the guitar playing is pretty good but the lead singer doesn't quite have the ability to absorb me with his passionate vocals. In other words I don't feel a connection with his voice like I would with say, Steve Marriott or Robert Plant when they sing the blues. \\\"It's hard to believe the condition the world is in, 'cuz you get no way you can't trust nobody\\\" is a great line. So true! And this was back in 1970 before things got considerably worse. Amazing guitar jam in the middle. It might even rival the one from... should I dare say it? I think I will! Might even rival the guitar solo from Zeppelin's \\\"Since I've Been Loving You\\\".\\n\\n\\\"Bro. Bill\\\" is funky blues with a chugging vocal melody and more lightly used and playful harmonica playing. This song never lets up being extremely exciting and tons of fun to sing and perhaps even dance to, making it an easy highlight for me. Nice guitar solo too. I'd have liked the acoustic solo at the end to last a couple minutes longer. Too bad it doesn't. \\\"Oleo\\\" (heh, almost wrote a delicious cookie!) is fast-paced and so heavy that it interferes with the clarity of the vocals. This simply means I can't make out the lyrics but I really don't think lyrical content matters in the case of Cactus. This is all about dazzling listeners with extremely loud guitar playing and a radically different and more explosive take on the blues. Amazing guitar solo! The bass solo after, while a bit unorganized, sounds so heavy it almost vibrates the speakers. This song right here is a fine example how I wish rock artists today wrote music.\\n\\n\\\"My Lady From South of Detroit\\\" is different from the rest of the album. It brings me back to reality in reminding me that rock bands often write ballads. This album was rocking so hard I almost forgot, haha! A really beautiful and sincere vocal melody made better by the background vocals. The line \\\"She's my lady from south of Detroit, and we met quite a few years ago\\\" has a strong country/rock vibe to it. The guitar solo has a different sound to it, almost making this song seem out of place on a blues rock album like this. \\\"Let Me Swim\\\" has a really cool groovy rhythm. The song doesn't necessarily remind me of an ocean but it does remind me of a monster truck rally. This is more of a straight up hard rocker with tricky/interesting drumming and so-so vocals. In fact the drumming is amazing throughout the whole album. \\\"Parchman Farm\\\" has intense guitar soloing, harmonica and tons of speed. The muffled production makes it sound unique but also highly dated.\\n\\nOverall, perhaps this album will grow on me more some day, but for now 4 stars seems about right. The lead singer has a decent Rory Gallagher-ish voice (sorry, just had to bring up Rory's good name once again!) but he's probably the main thing preventing me from giving this album 5 stars. Also, is that the band members faces on the album cover actually hiding inside the cactus? If so, clever! I almost didn't notice it!\",\n \"Product: The monolithic 1970 debut and lone album from the German prog-rock trio featured an intriguing formula of bass, drums, and keyboards (with both fuzz-drenched organ and ELP-like synth), augmented occasionally by a full orchestra. Tracks include: Entropy, Black Sheep of the Family, Post War Saturday Echo, Good Lord Knows and more. Also here are 2 bonus tracks, including Punting .\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: a mass of awesome\\n\\nReview: WOW! I love this Quatermass album! I've been reading about them for a few years online now (specifically stumbling upon them here occasionally on amazon when skimming through the rarities) but I never stopped to listen to the band until tonight. At first I actually thought the album cover shows a few stealth fighters stuck inside a trapped geometrical wall. Instead it's a side view of pterodactyls flying between two buildings. At least I guess that's what they are. Don't ask me to analyze album covers for goodness sake! We'll be here all night and day!\\n\\nRight in the very beginning I'm getting the surprise of my life! \\\"Black Sheep of the Family\\\" I THOUGHT was a Ritchie Blackmore original but... that's impossible because that version didn't come out until 1975 for his (their) self-titled debut album. This is what, 1970? Ah! Both versions are great but I probably prefer the speedier/cleaner (familiar) Rainbow version. The best way to describe \\\"Post War Saturday Echo\\\" is to imagine the mood of say, Led Zeppelin's \\\"Since I've Been Loving You\\\" but with all the scorching guitar playing removed, and throw in the atmosphere/flow from Traffic's \\\"Low Spark of High Heeled Boys\\\" and you have this song! However, on a few occasions, the lead singer of this band really soars far above what Steve Winwood or Robert Plant would ever attempt since those guys are mainly all about a quieter soulful range.\\n\\nAm I crazy or does the 20-second intro to \\\"Good Lord Knows\\\" sound identical to early Kraftwerk? That's a VERY original and several years ahead of its time part of the song there! Too bad it's so short, but actually I'm sort of glad it's short because the vocal melody comes in and even though I'm a grown man here I'll admit that this melody actually made me cry upon first hearing it. It's *that* emotional. The lead singer with his magnificent semi-hoarse voice hits all the right notes and the melody is just superb. I love this song to pieces. \\\"Up On the Ground\\\" is sort of a bluesy song but without any guitar soloing. In fact for the first 30 minutes of this album I haven't actually heard a guitar solo yet. Crazy! This song has great keyboard work.\\n\\nSpeaking of great keyboard work, the transition from playful and piano-jolly to downright *eerie* that occurs over the course of the vocal melody section in \\\"Gemini\\\" is probably one of the oddest things I've experienced in a while. The keyboard jam is somewhat reminiscent of early Traffic once again. I think the lead singer sounds like Dan McCafferty from Nazareth here, and due to all the great songwriting and keyboards I can totally see the Atomic Rooster comparisons as well. \\\"Make Up Your Mind\\\" is also playful with interesting lyrics before the sudden Deep Purple-like keyboard jam comes in. What's unique and refreshing about this album so far is that these loud crashing guitar riffs occasionally come out of nowhere, but there's never actually a guitar solo taking place afterwards which is what I've been accustomed to with so many other artists. Wow this song gets downright CREEPY as the jam rolls along! Move over Black Sabbath and Bloodrock!\\n\\n\\\"Laughin' Tackle\\\" is based around a memorable rhythm, barely noticeable piano hidden in the background and a somewhat memorable keyboard riff. You get the sense while the keyboard jam is taking place that it's building to something loud and creepy but no- it sort of fizzles out instead. Whew! I was bracing myself for the loudest moment ever, haha. Instead a drum solo comes in. It's decent but I've heard *so* many of them in my life just from the 60's and 70's alone that I sometimes think it would be better to not hear another one again... however common sense kicks in and reminds me that yes, I do actually enjoy drum solos. This is clearly the weakest song here I'm afraid. It never really holds together like you think it will and instead tries to act like the recurring bass and keyboard riff is worthy enough to base the entire song around. Well Quatermass, it's not. It's a decent song though.\\n\\n\\\"Three Blind Mice\\\" is based around a very Emerson, Lake & Palmer-like keyboard riff but the vocals are clearly not up to the standards of say, Greg Lake. This guy is decent but you know, once you hear Greg Lake it's hard to go back! \\\"Punting\\\" is a 5-minute instrumental that's so Funkadelic-like with more ELP keyboard comparisons that I can't help but absolutely love this song.\\n\\nThis is one album you should probably hear because the songwriting's quite fantastic. Go on guys, pick up Quatermass today! I recommend this album for all Atomic Rooster, Traffic and Emerson, Lake & Palmer fans.\",\n \"Product: Very hard to find long out of print worldwide CD edition of 1971 album from Jeff Buckley's father features the beautiful and haunting 'Song To The Siren'. AKA 'Star Sailor'\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: how experimental can one guy be!\\n\\nReview: This is when Tim Buckley continues his creepy new type of experimenting from Lorca (or avant-garde as people are calling it these days) and stepping away from the folk rock he was really good at.\\n\\n\\\"Come Here Woman\\\" opens with a cool Robert Fripp-like guitar line, strange atmosphere and slow vocals/lyrics that go \\\"You caught me staring, so gently you tease me, and turn away unlike the young ones your movements you savor like a tango, my hideaways are longing for you\\\" I really think Tim was listening to the Doors at the time. His vocals resemble Jim Morrison here, unless I'm crazy. A moment later the pace picks up and changes the tone as Tim wails his voice like a crazy man. Moody organs play quietly in the background with more of that cool guitar playing. The organs at the end really intensify the oddness of the song.\\n\\n\\\"I Woke Up\\\" continues one of the oddest acid trips imaginable with the lyrics \\\"Now the sun sits on my hand, oh where are you? Walking the wind, I fly above the shore of the town, to the hills where I can hear the harbor bells ring slavery, where the fortune teller sighs to me, oh I see your woman in the raw, ride a mare of stone and howl\\\" Tim sings in a part ballad/part psychedelic kind of way. The song soon changes briefly when the jazzy saxophone comes in and plays with the hair-tingling bass. After this moment passes, the lyrics continue to amaze (and confuse!) with lyrics about waking up (\\\"I woke up while morning built hte world with light\\\").\\n\\n\\\"Monterey\\\" feels like a more normal type of rock tune, but is it normal? The guitar riff has an uncomfortable feeling of oddness to it! Tim goes on to sing many high notes here. An acquired taste for sure. It's soon apparent the whole song is based around the same riff, but the vocal style amazingly gets even *higher* to the point Tim almost breaks up with monkey sounds at the end. I can't even tell if these are discernible words being sung or just Tim moaning.\\n\\n\\\"Moulin Rouge\\\" sounds like some kind of French ballad, and the saxophone feels really beautiful. The vocal melody is splendid. This song still gives me the creeps though! I honestly think this is the most listenable song on the entire album, and it's awesome. \\\"Song to the Siren\\\" opens in a way that reminds me of opening my eyes for the first time in several days and seeing nothing but brightness in front of me after being lost at sea. Perhaps Tim's going for that kind of vibe, who knows. Tim does a goob job singing this song as sincerely as he's capable of which is to say, he's *very* capable of being emotional when he wants to be. Love the uplifting \\\"I am as puzzled as the oyster, I am as trouble at the tide, should I stand amid the breakers? Or should I lie with death my bride?\\\" part. The entire time the guitar is playing sadly in the background.\\n\\n\\\"Jungle Fire\\\" is similar to the first two songs, with perhaps more emphasis on guitar playing jamming in a really loose unstructured kind of way as Tim sails to more emotional heights (even unintentionally imitating Tarzan in one spot). Much like \\\"Come Here Woman\\\", the song eventually picks up the pace with a speedy rhythm and really odd high pitched singing. I honestly don't know what to think about music like this. This is much different from anything I've ever heard before. I bet some people (perhaps most) would say this music is unlistenable, but I disagree. I wouldn't necessarily say this is easy music to get into either. It takes time to adjust to the way Tim likes to go from one extreme (haunting ambience and/or avant-garde stuff with lots of guitar tricks) to the other (sailing vocals and moaning).\\n\\n\\\"Starsailor\\\" is like the ultimate freak out psychedelic jam! This song is what happens when the Moody Blues, early Pink Floyd and Arthur Brown all fall inside a tornado together and spin around yelling for help! Tim sings a few lines, but the *extremely* haunting upfront background vocals makes this song waaaaaaaay too strange! Imagine making yourself dizzy, and during the worst part of the dizzy spell you might be able to relate to the stuff going on here, haha. Yoko Ono might be in that tornado too. Just sayin'. \\\"The Healing Festival\\\" picks up the pace with sax, lyrics that go \\\"Behold that healing festival, complete for an instant, the dance figure pure constellation!\\\" and eerily soothing vocals. The sax might drive a lot of people crazy, but I like the way it jams. Plus I've become acclimated to 60's and 70's jazz enough to get some fun out of the way this instrument plays here.\\n\\n\\\"Down By the Borderline\\\" has a Spanish vibe with the trumpet. The sparse drumming is pretty good too. Amazingly, a minute later the song turns normal with the repetitive rhythm part. However snippets of the sax return and Tim's vocals are really good here. \\\"Sky so vast is the sky, with far away clouds just wandering by, where do they go? oh I don't know don't know, wind that speaks to the leaves, telling stories that no one believes, stories of love belong to you and me, oh Dindi if I only had words, I would say all the beautiful things that I see, when you're with me oh my Dindi, oh Dindi, well you kissed me and stopped me from shaking (hehe, just kidding!) like the song of the wind in the trees, that's how my heart is singing Dindi, happy Dindi when you're with me, I love you more each day yes I do yes I do, I'd let you go away if you take me with you\\\". Who's Dindi? He sings a fairly normal melody. Later on the sax jams harder with a guitar part, and this is entirely awesome.\\n\\nI don't know what to think about Starsailor. This is probably the oddest of all Tim Buckley albums, and in my opinion better and recommended over Lorca. Lorca has a questionable side one but there's nothing really unlistenable about Starsailor. That is, if you have an ear for off the wall experimental music. Luckily I do! It should STRONGLY be said that if you like Tim Buckley's folk stuff, stay far away from this album. This sounds *nothing* like Tim's early folk albums!\",\n \"Product: This CD is an out of print collectible! It is the 1998 remastered Velvel release. Catalog 63467-79725-2. There is a hole punch through the UPC.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: the band was wide awake for this underrated classic\\n\\nReview: Okay, maybe it's not fair to call the Kinks Sleepwalker album a classic seeing as how most people haven't listened to it (and also because the Kinks weren't as popular when they recorded this album as they were a couple years before) but I believe, judging by the quality of *every single moment* of the album, it truly deserves to be considered among those other Kinks classics such as the Village Green Preservation Society as a quality album.\\n\\nI'm not even going to mention what song from the album is the best, because the Kinks are so good at writing consistently enjoyable music and going above and beyond most bands as far as honest emotion is concerned, that ALL the songs from the Sleepwalker album really hit me on a personal note. Maybe the Kinks had a dry spell in their career, but I can assure you, it didn't start with this album. Pick up Sleepwalker as soon as possible. You'll be surprised at the quality of the songwriting.\\n\\nJust forget about the fact that it doesn't rock really hard, but just like with the Who, how much they rock isn't that important anyway- it's all about memorable songwriting. I LOVE the Sleepwalker album.\",\n \"Product: Remastered Version with Unreleased Bonus Tracks.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: what a great treat\\n\\nReview: It's a mystery why Manfred Mann's Earth Band hasn't become one of those bands that people need to dig up and discover, and it's just as disappointing that the band has been attached as a one-hit wonder over the years (which was never really that great of a song anyway because it didn't provide the unusual style of music that the band normally puts on record).\\n\\nThese guys had the talent and the unusual and unpredictable songwriting skills to be considered one of the best rock bands of the 70's. But for some reason, it never happened.\\n\\nThe title song of The Good Earth is a pretty good hard rock track that almost feels multi-part, but not quite. Just really good rock music. This is a fairly ordinary album compared to other releases from the band, but totally worth owning if you're a curious kind of person when it comes to finding out about 70's rock. You won't be disappointed.\",\n \"Product: Reissue of their third album, which reached #12 in the U.K.when originally released in 1969. 16 tracks, including'Catblack (The Wizard's Hat)' and 'Chariots Of Silk'. 1998A&M release.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: it's good at times... not so much other times\\n\\nReview: Unicorn is actually an interesting listen initially, but definitely nothing essential or something that holds up over the course of several repeated listens. This is because the simplicity that dominates the vocal melodies is overbearing and intolerable, BUT... the first few times you hear it, it's not so bad.\\n\\nLet's get the good out of the way first- \\\"Chariots of Silk\\\" is one of the few songs that *does* hold up over the years. I've never been blown away by a vocal melody so compassionate and, at the risk of sounding like a wimp, the sincerity of the vocal melody sometimes immediately brings me to tears without hesitation. It's THAT good!\\n\\nOther tracks like \\\"She Was Born to be My Unicorn\\\" is strikingly beautiful and \\\"Like a White Star, Tangled and Far, Tulip That's What You Are\\\" contains an *amazingly* effective and downbeat atmosphere with just the right amount of acoustic guitar playing and a fantastic vocal melody. This is something very similar to mid 60's Bob Dylan- back when he was capable of such uniqueness.\\n\\nNow for the bad... which is a lot, haha. First of all \\\"Romany Soup\\\" has no reason to exist- a hard to distinguish British accent telling a lengthy 5 minute story that's completely pointless because it's not even a song. It stands out negatively and simply put, it just doesn't belong on the album. Other tracks like \\\"Pon a Hill\\\" consist of such a simplistic vocal melody that it makes you wonder just how long it took for the band to write. Probably no more than a few minutes, if that.\\n\\nAnother unavoidable problem is that Marc Bolan obviously came up with some compassionate lyrics but it's *extremely* hard to understand them (and not so much because of his British accent either). More like the old-fashioned way the album was recorded (which admittedly *is* kind of neat). Just have a lyrics sheet with you when you listen to Unicorn.\\n\\n\\\"Nijinsky Hand\\\" reminds me of the darker, mellow side of John Lennon when he was with the Beatles (think \\\"It's Only Love\\\"). It's admittedly quite catchy though. \\\"The Sea Beasts\\\" is somewhat upbeat, and fairly melodic. Another decent song. This is definitely a far cry from the stuff Bolan would pump out once Electric Warrior was released though, and the songwriting on an album like Tanx is easily superior to this.\\n\\n\\\"Iscariot\\\" *tries* to sound beautiful and... I guess it is. Not one of the better songs in the discography of Marc Bolan, but whatever. Actually what kind of ruins the beautiful effect Mark Bolan was going for is the repetitive way the vocals roll along, never actually changing into something else- just continuously falling back to the same old vocal melody. I need something *else* to really elevate the song to a new level of satisfaction. A song like \\\"The Throat of Winter\\\" is just boring to me. Sometimes not even the unique sound of \\\"dark folk\\\" Tyrannosaurus Rex was going for can save some of these songs from repetition. I put \\\"dark folk\\\" in quotation marks because other times the eerie folk elements are barely even noticeable.\\n\\n\\\"Catblack (The Wizard's Hat)\\\" and especially \\\"Stones for Avalon\\\" are mindlessly repetitive and pointless, but, to end my review on a high note, at least \\\"The Seal of Seasons\\\" is a GREAT vocal melody-dominated track. Another splendid vocal melody can be found on \\\"The Pilgrim's Tale\\\".\\n\\nYou probably wonder why I darted around reviewing the album inconsistently- well I asked myself the same thing concerning the thought process behind the songwriting of this album. It really bugs me how Unicorn goes from fairly good one minute, to forgettable the next minute. The album constantly jumps back and forth between the two. So my conclusion is that Unicorn is good but too inconsistent for me to recommend a purchase.\",\n \"Product: Reissue of the British prog rock outfit's debut album, originally released in 1970 on CBS. The group were pioneers of dark metal & featured Jim Gannon, later a member of Fox. Seven tracks. Also contains the original cover art. 1999 release.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: not as scary as the spider thankfully\\n\\nReview: Update- March 10, 2010.\\n\\nI feel like writing an updated review for Black Widow's Sacrifice released in 1970.\\n\\nI don't believe I gave this album a fair chance at first. For a band that reminds me of a cross between Sugarloaf, Traffic and Caravan, I wasn't really giving the band (or this album for that matter) the credit it deserves.\\n\\nThese lyrics are absolutely *strange*. I suppose talking about the devil and making it sound truly authentic and believable was a daunting task back in 1970 (hey, some people don't take Black Sabbath's lyrics very seriously you know, which might encourage said people to disqualify Sabbath and prefer to acknowledge Black Widow's approach instead... unless you *do* think Sabbath's lyrics are meant to be taken seriously, then by all means, think what you want). For me anyway, hearing THESE lyrics definitely takes the edge away from Black Sabbath being the only mighty, powerful satanic rock band from the early 70's.\\n\\n\\\"In Ancient Days\\\" definitely reminds me of Traffic (the early 70's art rock version of Traffic that is, comparable to their classic \\\"Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys\\\") perhaps due to the quiet, jazzy style. This song takes a few serious listens to get into it. I honestly WASN'T able to appreciate this songs greatness the first time around. Perhaps it's a bit overlong, perhaps not. Your call.\\n\\n\\\"Way of Power\\\" is where the serious lyrics come into the picture. The guitar work in the beginning reminds me of Pink Floyd a little bit... something from the Ummagumma album maybe. Memorable vocal melody, and to be totally honest, I can't quite grasp the lyrics (the singer wants me to read something though, and there's confusion everywhere along with an apocalypse approaching- interesting stuff!)\\n\\n\\\"Come to the Sabbat\\\" is an AWESOME song. It contains a highly melodic vocal melody, and the only thing that drags the song down somewhat is the middle section with the singer repeatedly stating (not singing) \\\"Come to the Sabbat- Satan's there!\\\" Is that a violin playing during the verse melody?? If so, absolutely FANTASTIC arrangements for a highly melodic pop song. A pop song by a band that falls under the category of art rock (at least in *my* world they do).\\n\\n\\\"Conjuration\\\" has one of the scariest ways to open a song I've honestly ever heard. Talk about creating images about assuming you're somewhere nice, only to find out you've just arrived to the gates of hell! The twisted way the singer deliveries his lines is quite the freak-fest as well. Just LISTEN to that chorus and tell me there's anything resembling it from the early 70's. That particular part sounds way ahead of its time and totally unique.\\n\\nWhat in the heck was THIS band all about? I guess a song like this shows us why they weren't more popular- either people were afraid to dip into these guys, or the general population didn't know how to approach them. Either way, fascinating stuff. Black Widow should be remembered if for nothing else just the BIZARRE factor of their instrument choices, songwriting and lyrics.\\n\\n\\\"Attack of the Demon\\\" reminds me of Sugarloaf quite a bit. Check out Sugarloaf's debut if you don't believe me. \\\"Sacrifice\\\" is my favorite song because, well, if you've read any of my other reviews, you know I absolutely LOVE jams (especially ones that focus on melodic flute passages and keyboard swirls like this one does). Catchy chorus too \\\"You say you wanna sarcrifice\\\". I consider this a top notch jam too, right next to anything Frank Zappa, the Allman Brothers Band, Caravan, or Deep Purple has ever created.\\n\\nSpeaking of jams, \\\"Seduction\\\" contains one that's very different from the one on \\\"Sacrifice\\\". The one on \\\"Seduction\\\" is haunting.\\n\\nThis band had guts to release an evil album and back up the songwriting with seemingly pretty arrangements such as extended flute jams. You get the feeling these are definitely NOT supposed to be pretty flute jams- it's just an illusion to cover up the satanic lyrics. If so, the band deserves a ton of credit for coming up with something original. Not even Black Sabbath was arranging their creative style to *this* extent. Lyrically this band leaves Black Sabbath in the dust, and offers more in the way of creativity and making your imagination go completely nuts.\\n\\nLike I said above- not giving Black Widow's Sacrifice a fair chance has prompted me to go back and rewrite my old review. This album is definitely something amazing, and despite not sharing any similarities with Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper, Blue Oyster Cult and many other freakout bands, Black Widow manages to bring a fresh approach to the evil side of rock and roll on their Sacrifice album. An album that should be talked about more often than it is.\",\n \"Product: 1972 album with Brian Eno on synthesizer and Robert Fripp producing for Robert Wyatt. 9 tracks. Sony.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: matching up against the greats\\n\\nReview: You know, my original review stunk, so here's an updated version (created June 12, 2011).\\n\\nLittle Red Record is *significantly* better than the bands previous album. In fact, Little Red Record doesn't even resemble that album in the slightest. This is because the instrumental chops are actually good on Little Red Record, whereas on Matching Mole's debut the band just seemed to ramble a lot and never accomplished much besides a few disjointed and unmelodic keyboard solos and mellotron passages (and a mediocre attempt at ineffective atmosphere).\\n\\nLittle Red Record makes up for it entirely though, and justifies the bands existence. There's some amazingly intense moments on here too. First of all, \\\"God Song\\\" has a magnificent vocal melody and lyrically it's a creative masterpiece.\\n\\n\\\"Gloria Gloom\\\" has an INCREDIBLY frightening 3-minute intro. WOW is that particular part of the song extremely effective, haha. It reminds me of a church in the middle of nowhere (like in some town down south with a population of around 150) and, during a certain time of night depending on the weather conditions, a ghost will come out of the grave and wreak havoc on the entire town. Creative imagery! As the 3 minutes rolls along... it just gets more unbearably ominous and intimidating. Talk about a fantastic moment. It immediately loses steam as soon as the mumbling vocals come in, but luckily a vocal melody appears later and darn near completely saves it, though it never again goes back to that amazing intro (though it\\n*tries* to near the end).\\n\\nThe second best song is definitely \\\"Marchides\\\". An intense King Crimson-like jazz jam that takes up a good portion of its running time, and it's mostly notable for how *melodic* it is despite its relentless intensity. The song eventually shifts into pure atmosphere, and kind of loses my attention span by this point.\\n\\n\\\"Nan True's Hole\\\" has a heavy... um, I THINK it's a keyboard riff but I can't say for certain. Perhaps it's guitar trickery. Either way, the British female singer talking over said riff is a bit out of place, but the lyrics are interesting to say the least. Some of the guitar soloing is decent too.\\n\\n\\\"Flora Fidgit\\\" is a melodic jazzy instrumental reminiscent of Hatfield & the North. I love it, personally. Sure, the keyboard solo sounds severely dated, but I never cared about datedness in rock music, and you know what? I NEVER will! \\\"Smoke Signal\\\" contains mostly atmosphere without much else, but it's decent enough. It doesn't strike me as filler perhaps because some portions of the song veer towards light jazz, and these moments are alright in my book.\\n\\nI get the feeling Matching Mole was trying to make a statement with this album. What that statement is shall remain unknown, because they never gained the success or fan support for anybody to ever find out what their intentions here were. This band most certainly does not stand in the same league as Caravan, Soft Machine or Hatfield & the North. Let's get that perfectly straight. Still, as a very listenable album with its share of experiments, you can't go wrong with Little Red Record.\",\n \"Product: Originally released in 1992, Neurosis Souls at Zero is now available on the band's own Neurot Recording label. Neurosis formed in 1985, combining the immense power of oneself and even deviate from that path. Combining the immense power of a Black Sabbath, the outer-limits of a Pink Floyd, the rock 'n' roll drive of a Motorhead and the spirited defiance and aggression of early Black Flag, Neurosis has successfully found a platform from which to launch their collective expression. Souls at Zero marked a creative turning point for Neurosis, who quickly became able to fathom new depths of musical discovery. Track highlights include: \\\"To Crawl Under ONe's Skin,\\\" \\\"Flight,\\\" \\\"Stripped,\\\" \\\"Empty,\\\" and more. Bonus tracks: \\\"Souls (Demo Version),\\\" \\\"Zero (Demo Version),\\\" \\\"Cleanse III (Live in London)\\\"\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: made me a believer\\n\\nReview: Wow, am I totally shocked right now! I normall hate grunge and I'm passionate and vocal about my hatred too but... this album. Souls at Zero. First of all the entire album has an irresistible atmosphere to it. It's like walking to a forest with a shovel and digging deeper and deeper to a crazy violent underworld and hearing chaos raining down above so it's like being caught in between two violent worlds and wondering how long you'll be safe in your temporary refuge. The experience is constantly terrific.\\n\\nThe guitar tone is wonderful, the production is spot-on perfection the likes of which I haven't heard since the 70's and countless hard rock bands from back then... and there's even a violin used occasionally to add *another* element to the bizarre, fascinating and creepy vibes Neurosis has apparently invented (unless there's another band that sounds like them, I haven't heard them). That's no ordinary violin playing there! It's the opposite of happy and cheerful- this is dreary but catchy and imaginative.\\n\\nWhile I'm not crazy about the lead singer, this is obviously -to me at least- a major MAJOR improvement over the likes of Tool and Alice In Chains. This isn't commercial and I'm thankful for that. It isn't meant to be. Souls at Zero flows eerily and magnificently from beginning to end. Listening to this album is definitely comparable to reaching deep within and exploring your own imagination. If more heavy metal and grunge was like this, I'd be more open-minded towards the genre as a whole and even take an effort to acquire a decent-sized collection of albums.\",\n \"Product: Import reissue of the British progressive rock outfit's 1970 debut. 10 tracks including 'It Happened Today', 'Stretch','Screw' and 'Blind Man'. Standard jewelcase.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: I'd love some air conditioning on a hot july day like today\\n\\nReview: I was supposed to review Curved Air about 10 years ago and simply forgot all about the band until I woke up a couple days ago and thought about them. So here we are, in 2016!\\n\\nI know a few of their songs, including \\\"It Happened Today\\\". This was the first Curved Air song I ever heard. Love the opening line (\\\"Yesterday you know it never really happened, tomorrow you know it never really had, you you're only what you think you might be, I am only what you think I am\\\"). Talk about a mind trip of words! The lead singer (Sonja Kristina) has a voice that's not only pretty but perfectly suiting for this type of rock. The song is based around a speedy guitar riff but the vocals are the highlight. \\\"I know that you're afraid of what might happen, uncertain what to give and what to take, already you've forgotten why you came here, I can see exactly why you came\\\". Truth be told, I'm not a fan of the chorus. The verse is great, but the part that REALLY floors me is at the end when out of *nowhere* this really lovely orchestration comes in. Sounds unbelievably soothing and captures the early 70's innocence *very* well. It's a bit more sophisticated than I remember too. Love how the rhythm chugs along to it. Great stuff.\\n\\nWhoa! The way \\\"Stretch\\\" opens with the speedy violin reminds me of a Gentle Giant song. Vocals sort of remind me of Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac, preferably an early 70's song. Love the \\\"This was meant for you, that was meant for me\\\" part and perhaps unintentionally, it really reminds me of Jefferson Starship's early years. Interestingly Air Conditioning came out *before* Jefferson Starship's first album! Oh whoa! Check out that chaotic violin/guitar interplay part in the middle. \\\"Stretched a mile this morning when I got me out of bed, crazy dreams still floating in the mist around my head\\\". The guitar jams with authority at the end similar to an early Black Sabbath album. So good!\\n\\n\\\"Screw\\\" is a psychedelic experiment and it's really strange! The atmospheric violins really bring out the best in this song, and in fact if not for the violins I wouldn't be loving it so much. The vocal melody is pretty typical but the violin in between each line is some REALLY gorgeous stuff! The second time that violin builds, it really pumps up the emotional level. So cool! \\\"See the screw slowly turn around, see it sink in without a sound, feel your head split with every turn, feel the steel now begin to turn, all is lost now it seems that way, seeing a face through broken glass, seeing the patterns of your past, feeling the earth shake, try to walk, losing your reason, try to talk all is lost now, it seems that way\\\". No!! All is NOT lost!\\n\\n\\\"Blind Man\\\" is a folk/rock thing with violins, and it's amazing. The female vocals are really appropriate. This song reminds me of something the Incredible String Band would have tried when they were first starting out. That's a good comparison folks! Yeah yeah, some people hate the Incredible String Band. That opinion is no friend of mine! The way the violin chugs with the melody along is just fantastic, and especially the jam at the end which might not be the most creative use of the violin ever laid down on tape but it works really well. Let's sing the opening line! \\\"I'll be yours if you'll be mind\\\", said the blind man to his dog, if man's best friend will be my friend until the bitter end, days and nights which chuck and turn, walk by through them, to me all the time the world can blend I'll be in company, I will follow where you lead, our paths will never cross us, the sounds and smells of wind and rain, with help I know we'll get there\\\".\\n\\nOh yeah, speaking of violin that's just superb. Check out \\\"Vivaldi\\\". I think we all pretty much figured violin would be the main attraction of this song based on the title. It's like classical music and rock were meant to be combined. The 2-minute intro with the violins being so persistent is off the chain (as Mel B would say- yeah that's right, a Spice Girls reference in a Curved Air review!) Then the tone changes so the violin jams in a creepy way that reminds me of exploring catacombs. A couple minutes later the song just gets BIZARRE and funky with bass guitar... at least I think that's bass guitar. Reminds me of robots fighting to claim their territory. Did I just say that? Yes it's hot and I can't think very well when I'm hot. :) A minute later it's all about Hendrix-style feedback stuff before the paranoid-paced violin intro returns. Move over Mozart! Okay this reminds me of *some* classical composer. Not sure which one.\\n\\nOkay back to reality! Well not quite. Check out the intro to \\\"Hide and Seek\\\". The way the dreamy pace works with the sparse piano notes is pretty unique. When the guitar line comes in, it's a memorable one as you'd expect because by now you can probably tell this band is pretty darn good at their instruments. The vocal melody is a bit strange- the female singer really escalates her voice at the end of certain lines, and it's memorable enough. Not the strongest melody though. \\\"Nighttime comin', playing hide and seek (I have got to find you), streets deserted I am here alone (Frightened of the unknown), walking the streets I call your name but no one comes, running through the town I call your name but no one hears, shadows forming where can I begin? Darkness is closing in, doors all closed and window curtains drawn (all the people have gone)\\\". Weird lyrics! If the song is supposed to capture the feeling of being alone and afraid at night while walking the dark streets, it works! \\\"Ru-U-u_U-unning through the town I call your name\\\" is a strange vocal trick. Sonja can sing very well but sometimes she takes her voice too far, however this is pretty spontaneous stuff (early Curved Air) so it can be forgiven! Strange at the end how the chaotic guitar flows into the sparse piano of the intro. It does so quite naturally!\\n\\nSpeedy vocals make up \\\"Propositions\\\". There's actually two sets of equally memorable vocal melodies- the first one goes directly into the other, and then to make things even juicier there's a monotonous (but enjoyable) guitar part in between the vocals that eventually blossoms like a flower. \\\"See red button, blow myself up, a paying proposition for the abandoned mind, a paying proposition for the abandoned mind, I've found a nice way to die\\\". Don't even know what these lyrics are about. The vocals only appear in the beginning and end. The whole thing is memorable but weird. \\\"Rob One\\\" makes me happy for slowing down the pace and providing a piano ballad... with violins of course. Wow the way the violin and piano play together is quite lovely. Quite an emotional instrumental. Very cool the way the piano builds at the end while the violin persists. This is the kind of song you listen to while riding a train away from a place you're going to miss and will never return to again.\\n\\n\\\"Situations\\\" opens with a quiet vocal melody that once again reminds me of something Gentle Giant would have been doing at the time. \\\"Though I am no longer alone, everybody seems to take my mind away, I love you but it isn't as I planned, I promise you I've done the best I can, haven't touched any other man, situations seem to have been kind to you, I've wished to be beside somebody else but actions are the proof of love not thoughts\\\". Great quiet vocal melody until the line \\\"See what a fool I've been, I haven't lived in my dream\\\" arrives. In the background I hear really strange instruments all playing together- there has to be more going on here besides piano, keyboards violin and drums. This is a mind trip I tell ya! There's prettiness in the vocals and weirdness in the instrumental stuff but they're able to share the same playing field. After this part the song turns into something that reminds me of Yes' \\\"Close to the Edge\\\" but not as weird as that (*nothing* is as weird as that!) Then the vocals afterwards turn elegant before the best guitar solo on the entire album comes in. Just the placement of such a guitar solo is fascinating enough (I seriously wasn't expecting it!) but the fact you can separate the solo from the other awesome things going on throughout \\\"Situations\\\" is a true sign of a very cool band. The song ends with the same quiet vocals that it began with. Also enjoy the line \\\"Seems that it will be a long time, before my mind will take in the reality that life is not as simple as it seems, and night's the only place to keep a dream\\\".\\n\\n\\\"Vivaldi (With Cannons)\\\" closes out the album. It's just the intro from \\\"Vivaldi\\\" with weird dated effects in the background but it has an ending to it that's enchanted-sounding. Hold the phone! This review ain't done yet! There's a bonus track called \\\"What Happens When You Blow Yourself Up\\\". I know what happens and it's not a good thing. The intro is fascinating with the eerie keyboards and violins. The song gets going a moment later with a jazzy vocal melody. \\\"Reason condemning my apparent insanity, seems the essence of creation is to destroy, releasing blinding inhibition you can be free\\\" is a creepy line, and I hope it's not true! This song reminds me of Caravan a lot, which is a good thing.\\n\\nOverall, highly recommended! Curved Air is truly an underrated fantastic band. Perhaps the vocal melodies don't floor me as much as I would have liked, but I can't complain about something that's honestly pretty trivial because this album makes up for it with all kinds of fascinating instrumental parts (mainly the violin!) tempo shifts, and an unusually pleasant mood.\",\n \"Product: Uk pressing features a total of 8 tracks. Island. 2005.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: ultra aggressive this time\\n\\nReview: Ultravox continues being inventive with Ha!-Ha!-Ha! pertaining to their own special way of blending new wave and punk with ambience, but I feel the album overall is a very slight step down compared to their debut. Probably because this album emphasizes punk over catchy vocal melodies like on the first album.\\n\\n\\\"Hiroshima Mon Amour\\\" begins reminding me of Blondie's famous \\\"Heart of Glass\\\" with the imagery being somewhere outdoors in a tribe by a river and grooving away. 80's Tangerine Dream resemblances come in with the synths, and the saxophone jamming and vocal melody are both really pleasant. This song jams more on the sax than one might expect, especially near the end. \\\"Riding out to echo beach, a million memories in the trees and sands\\\" is a nice line. This song captures the feeling of worldliness pretty magnificently. This song indicates more experimenting that Ultravox would later find a little success in. It would seem Ultravox wasn't very successful on these early albums as far as popularity and fame is concerned which is a shame.\\n\\n\\\"Distant Smile\\\" opens with a nice semi-depressing piano line before dissolving into ambient stuff. This part would be easy to write off as fairly boring but because of the images it creates inside my head (in this case being on a shoreline somewhere faraway) I reconsider! After this looooong build-up (I'm not impatient or criticizing it however!) the song suddenly changes in a HUGE way- now it's a punk rocker. Clever! I didn't see this coming since it comes out of nowhere. The chorus is memorable too. Since the song is evenly split between ambience experimentation and punk, it's rather unique (especially when at the time, in the late 70's, artists like Tangerine Dream and the Clash were breaking new grounds in those genres- then you have a band like Ultravox that comes along and combines the two!)\\n\\n\\\"Artificial Life\\\" features one creepy intro! Doesn't it remind you of a bad drug trip? The idea of speaking through it reminds me of Roxy Music's \\\"In Every Dream House a Heartache\\\" but it's so short it doesn't matter. \\\"It goes on all night, alllll night!\\\" is a vocal line that catches my attention. Just the timing of such line makes it unusual. This song is excellent for the keyboards subtly placed in the background while a driving guitar riff carries a pretty powerful vocal melody. The line \\\"I've learned to be a stranger!\\\" is a great scream and awesome the way the guitar plays along and turns into an outrageous Alice Cooper-like solo a moment later. Oh yeah! The violins from the first album... almost forgot about those! How could I forget- their inclusion is pretty revolutionary. They're played in a very loud and chaotic kind of enjoyable way here.\\n\\n\\\"The Man Who Dies Every Day\\\" opens with a groovy synth line, and the chorus is excellent. \\\"The man, who dies, every daaaaay!\\\" The vocal melody settles for a persistently pounding one that might grate for those who aren't accustomed to Ultravox's early style. But the truth is those people will just have to get over it and learn to adjust because this is some spectacular singing with a top-notch vocalist in Warren Cann. Ah, the violin comes in a moment later and helps to intensify the atmosphere. \\\"You never showed on photographs and you never grew much older\\\" is a good line.\\n\\n\\\"The Frozen Ones\\\" opens with finger snapping and a frosty vibe which is unique. \\\"Marching across our own screens, our faces form all our needs, the future's not returning, all bridges built for burning\\\" is a memorable line for the way it makes me think we're stuck in a time period that won't improve- it'll only get worse. I sort of wish this soft and content imagery of the song remained and had not switched into a more aggressive punk one a moment later, but we can't have everything can we? It doesn't matter much anyway because this is a REALLY good professional vocal melody. David Bowie and the Clash must've been proud. \\\"The frozen o-o-o-ones!!\\\" is a great sing-along chorus while soaring over a broken bridge in your convertible! Any kind of daring scenario. \\\"Fear in the Western World\\\" is more along the lines of straight up hardcore punk. The lyrics are a bit more inappropriate than usual (accurately describing the filthy aspects of the western world though!) The band also captures the punk energy quite convincingly. \\\"I can feel the fear in the western world\\\" is a great line.\\n\\n\\\"ROckWrok\\\" (not a spelling or caps lock mistake- I was wondering, hehe) is a more Clash-like imitation than the above mentioned punk rockers. Not really a criticism though since the music's still terrific. I miss the days of punk being memorable like in the older days. A lot of punk nowadays is either an attempt to be unbearably noisy or they go the commercialized route which is too weak to make a convincing aggressive statement. A song like \\\"ROckWrock\\\" however goes the distance to have a great vocal melody and good guitar soloing in between which is the balance required for us to take notice of it. It's quite heavy too, but not tediously so. The intro to \\\"While I'm Still Alive\\\" sounds familiar but I can't recall where I heard it before. I LOVE the screechy guitar line that comes after, and how it returns during the chorus. I love the \\\"If tomorrow's not there then at least today's all mine\\\" line too.\\n\\nOverall, well the punk energy is evident quite strongly here. It's much stronger than on the debut but the album's still awesome overall. These guys are master songwriters in my opinion so the album still deserves 5 stars.\",\n \"Product: Import only 1979 album produced by famed Disco producer Giorgio Moroder. Ron and Russell Mael were always taking chances musically, so when they joined creative forces with the producer of Donna Summer's big hits, the critics were dumbfounded. But upon release, the album was instantly called a classic and remains the foundation of their career for the last 25 years. With witty lyrics, catchy melodies and a musical bed of keyboards and dance beats, this remains one of their most influential albums. Includes the chart hits 'Number One Song in Heaven' and 'Beat the Clock' as well as solid album tracks like 'La Dolce Vita', No. 1 in Heaven surprises by succeeding on an artistic and commercial level. Repertoire.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: sparkles through the sky\\n\\nReview: Sparks goes disco! Wow, never thought they'd ever go down THIS treacherous path. However it's pretty good. They do the best they can with a limited genre and make it exhilarating at times.\\n\\n\\\"The Number One Song In Heaven\\\" clocks in at 7 and a half minutes, one of the longest Sparks songs I've heard thus far. For a song to be number one in heaven, everyone must agree it's awesome right? Unless heaven works the same way as down here- what's most accessible isn't necessarily the best. Well in this case it's probably the latter. It starts off beautifully by actually resembling my version of heaven with weird vocal tricks... then the vocal melody comes in. Well before the vocals arrive, we're treated to that all too familiar disco beat that hundreds of bands were using at the time. The point in music history that many of us agree was a low point since it made even the most original of rock artists lose their identity and blend in with the other ones.\\n\\nThis song is no different I'm afraid, but the vocals... hearing Sparks create vocals similar to Donna Summer \\\"I Need Love\\\" by not only hitting high notes but having them reach soothingly astronomical heights, is pretty cool. The vocal melody is memorable too. I couldn't even begin to understand a single lyric being sung based on the high-pitched beauty of the vocals overpowering everything else. Suddenly a few minutes later the disco beat picks up. That's a surprising move since I've never heard a disco song do that before. At the end of the day it's still nothing more than recycled disco beats, but to go from slower dreamier beats into faster-paced ones is a pretty surprising change of pace. As expected the lyrics are clever (the line \\\"Lyrically weak, but the music's the thing\\\"- heh, making fun of disco's mindlessness). A decent song overall.\\n\\n\\\"Tryouts for the Human Race\\\" is a very bizarre song that begins with bouncy sound effects resembling a video game, then some really catchy and melodic disco beats come in. These disco beats are rather cool. The chorus sounds like Jeff Lynne from Electric Light Orchestra and it's VERY catchy, as is the beautiful verse melody. \\\"Tryouts for the human race from Burlington to Bonn, ah we are a quarter billion strong, tryouts for the human race from twilight time till dawn, we just want to be someone\\\". The song then shifts into an outer space-sounding moment of beauty. The vocals at the end resemble \\\"Do a little dance shake a little love get down tonight\\\", but not necessarily the melody itself- just the style. \\\"La Dolce Vita\\\" sort of reminds me of 10cc's \\\"I'm Not In Love\\\" with the haunting intro before the pace picks up (or rather, disco beats) and a pretty demanding vocal style arrives. The chorus is good though, even though again making out any of the lyrics is nearly impossible. Something like \\\"Gold diggers are hungry guys, gold diggers are we\\\". I don't have a disco decipherer, lol. I like the gentle robotic Kraftwerk-like experimentation afterwards. I can't help but have mixed feelings with the song, or rather, stuck in a catch-22. I love the melody and embarrassingly I admit I even like dancing to it sometimes, but it repeats like *mad*.\\n\\n\\\"Academy Award Performance\\\" is more Kraftwerk experimenting with the computer effects combined with disco beats. This song is noticeably really happy and fun. A nacho party for robots? Probably! The verse melody is really cool. It reminds me of being in an airport in the 80's and watching airplanes take off the runway for some reason. Must be triggering memories of that flight to San Diego I went on in 1985. Anyway the verse melody has a wide range of emotional shifts which is strange because I should be dancing and having fun with the robots but... yeah! The song feels like it has deeper meaning than intended perhaps based on the fairly sophisticated vocal melody. This has GOTTA be my favorite song on the album.\\n\\n\\\"My Other Voice\\\" has all kinds of interesting shifts while maintaining the disco beats. This song would actually be more appropriate to be titled \\\"The Number One Song In Heaven\\\" considering how beautiful it sounds. It uses the same kind of robotic effects that ELO were using at the time, and the dreaminess even reminds me of \\\"The Whale\\\" a little bit. I almost think this stuff is more enjoyable than ELO's Discovery album released around the same time. It would be really hard to pick between the two. It's perfectly suitable how the vocal melody comes in after a few minutes exactly one time. It doesn't repeat again. \\\"Beat the Clock\\\" opens with a slight \\\"Funky Town\\\" resemblance but it's enjoyable in the repeating of the \\\"You gotta beat the clock, you gotta beat the clock!\\\" line. The lyrics are easy to make out this time. \\\"I was born a little premature, mom just couldn't take no more, had no time to learn to cry, goodbye mama gotta fly\\\".\\n\\nOverall, this is one of Sparks strangest albums. Believe it or not it's really awesome though. I almost want to give it a 5 but meh, it's too disco-centered so I can't. The songwriting is about as good as it can be while being based on disco beats though. That's really neat. I highly recommend this album but yeah, check out early to mid 70's Sparks first.\",\n \"Product: Remastered reissue of the German prog rock outfit's 1973album, their second overall & first for EMI. 6 tracks including 'Land Of No Body' and 'Inside'. 2000 release. Standard jewelcase.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: eloy rockin' it out\\n\\nReview: This is one mighty fine rock album from the early 70's. It contains that pleasant and muddy sound that makes the music sound so darn good. I love it!\\n\\nI prefer the early period of Eloy over the more atmospheric stuff they'd center around more in the later years. One thing that really surprises me about Inside is how the lead singer closely resembles Ian Anderson from Jethro Tull. Not that I'm calling him a rip-off or anything. Some people can't help the way they sing. Then again, if the guys from Eloy considered Jethro Tull one of their inspirations, that wouldn't be a bad thing either.\\n\\n\\\"Future City\\\" is my favorite song on the album. The acoustic part that leads into a bouncy rhythm near the middle, along with some dangerously heavy and excellent guitar playing, is just too cool to put into words. The 17 minute track that opens the album has its share of atmospheric segments, along with some Deep Purple-like keyboard playing and some downright heavy guitar jamming. These guys sound so good, it's hard to believe they aren't more well known here in America.\\n\\nAs for what kind of images the music puts in my head, well, let's just say I'm dreaming about clouds, heaven, and all sorts of places when I hear this wonderful stuff. That's the benefit of making music adventurous.\\n\\nWell, just remember, there's plenty of forgotten or unpopular rock bands out there, and many of the ones from the 70's are a LOT of fun to listen to. Eloy happens to be one of those bands.\",\n \"Product: 1973 release for the jazz-rock fusion act features one 38 minute track. Seventh.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: great... or bad, no no, GREAT\\n\\nReview: Update- April 6, 2016.\\n\\nMekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh has been on my mind lately so I just HAD to re-listen to it. And boy does it sound just as insane as I remember, haha. I truly can't even begin to describe this, even now several years after first listening to it and writing my original amazon review. It's just too out there man!\\n\\nHowever now that I've waited so many years to give the album another listen, I can sort of understand some of it better. No not the lyrics. The lyrics still don't make any sense of course. Someone once told me the lyrics aren't even real words anyway so no need to care too deeply about those.\\n\\nAnyway it's no secret the one song I could remember, \\\"Da Zeuhl Wortz Mekanik\\\", is only because it repeats a lot. What exactly is repeating? To me it sounds like female operatic vocals, but I'm not sure if that's technically what's going on here. Also sadly \\\"Nebehr Gudahtt\\\" is a victim of being too noisy and loosely structured to win me over, however that's not to say I dislike the music now. No way! It's more like taking a 6 year break and coming back to this album as a different person with a different point of view on music reveals how I feel about it better. Side one is clearly the highlight of this unusual album. \\\"Hortz Fur Dehn Stekehn West\\\" is probably the best song. It builds so perfectly and shows the bands original style.\\n\\nAnd perhaps I'm way off with this one, but there's a distinct feeling of darkness and anger while listening to this music, so I feel like this is some form of satanic opera. There I said it. Who knows what the stuff throughout Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh really is though. And the looping vocals I mention in my original review? Well it doesn't sound so much like the vocals loop to me now. Rather I'm able to detect a well-made theme. Its just not immediate there's a theme going on the first few times I listened to it. Probably because I'm approaching it from a rock or art rock point of view, but there's not a whole lot of electric guitar to be found (but what's there works pretty well).\\n\\nAnyway here's my original review-\\n\\nThis Magma album is either the coolest thing ever recorded, or the worst thing ever laid down on tape. I can't tell! It all depends on how I feel the day I listen to it.\\n\\nThe entire album is nothing but chants and snappy vocal melodies that seem to loop over and over and OVER and OVER again. Now, the appeal of this is that, the band wanted to build a theme (a DARK theme, that reminds me of those old Castlevania video games) and while it works, it's REALLY not an album for everyone. Not everyone will appreciate the way everything repeats a hundred times... but I think you'll admit what the band is trying to do here is just downright awesome. What's amazing is how the band doesn't let up at ALL to give you time to catch your breath.\\n\\nWhat's highly unusual about the whole thing is how there's *nothing* from the 70's that sounds ANYTHING like this. The way the man and female singer frequently go back and forth singing brief melodies, and more often than not, flat out SCREAMING, is really something special. This doesn't sound like the kind of album that was recorded in a studio. More like a castle, right after casting a bunch of spells.\\n\\nDespite these (seemingly) looping brief chants that continue to repeat enough times to make your head spin, I can't remember them when the music's over. That's not because the music isn't memorable- no way. This is without a doubt a memorable album. It HAS to be, because it's original. It has its own sound and style. For that alone, it's something to appreciate.\\n\\nI THINK I can't remember how the music goes when the album is finished because some of the themes repeat so much you begin to stop paying attention to them, and start paying attention to what's going on in the background. That's alright with me. And hey, there *are* plenty of good chants, screams and melodies despite the fact my complaining would indicate otherwise.\\n\\nThis is just truly something incredible. Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh IS a masterpiece. It's a 5 star album. If you're looking for something that's unlike anything you've ever heard before, get this album now.\",\n \"Product: Out of print in the U.S. this '99 reissue features the hit'I'm Down' and 7 bonus tracks 'Hello Lady Goodbye', 'Another Night' (live), '4th of July Asbury Park (Sandy)' (live), 'I'm Down' (live), 'Come Down to the Shore', 'Born to Run' and 'Why Don't You Call'. 17 tracks in all. Digipak.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: ordinay Hollies... which means of course, not as good as usual\\n\\nReview: Another Night is pretty generic by the Hollies standards. By this point the band had built up a reputation of having some of the very best harmonies (not to mention some of the most *melodic* harmonies) ever laid down on tape. Another Night is just typical affair. It's a good enough album that if you happen to see it cheap, it's totally worth it. But for over 20 bucks? No way.\\n\\nThe title song is immediately catchy. Just a really solid number. They significantly improve the overrated Springsteen version of \\\"4th of July, Asbury Park\\\". Now it's more melodic than ever, and the chorus is actually listenable.\\n\\n\\\"Lonely Lobo Lullaby\\\" is a really mellow tune. The beginning of the song reminds me of Bob Dylan's \\\"Knockin' on Heaven's Door\\\". \\\"I'm Down\\\" is along the same lines- it's certainly melodic, but just melodic *enough*. These are moody, almost romantic-like tunes. That's why it's hard to listen to an album like this all the time. It's one of those \\\"once in a while I'll play it when it fits my mood\\\" albums.\\n\\nThen again, it's impossible to dismiss two of the very best songs. One of them being \\\"Give Me Time\\\". A brilliantly created pop song that easily stands alongside the very best tunes the band has to offer (that of course being a HUGE collection of songs from the bands repertoire) and the closing tune that absolutely floors me because of the lyrics named \\\"Lucy\\\". When I first heard those lyrics and matched them with the bands harmonies... wow. I was immediately driven to tears. These are my personal favorite songs.\\n\\nI know one thing- if this had actually been the only Hollies album ever made, it would have been a solid record from beginning to end. However, by this point in time most people were well aware what the Hollies were capable of, and that this album is somewhat lackluster in comparison to earlier efforts.\\n\\nEarlier albums better displayed the bands talent on those distinct and colorful harmonies. Here the vocals are just bland in comparison. A distinct mid 70's dated sound doesn't help their cause either. Keep these things in mind if you're considering buying Another Night.\",\n \"Product: Digitally remastered, German reissue of 1973 debut featuring the hit 'Rubber Bullets'. Bonus tracks 'Hot Rock Sun', '4%Of SOmething', 'Rubber Bullets' (Single Version), 'Waterfall', 'Bee in My Bonnet'. 2000 release. Standard jewlcase.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: this should definitely be remembered\\n\\nReview: For whatever reason, the music of 10cc isn't being remembered today the same way other experimental albums from the 70's are. I can't really explain WHY. I mean, the music on 10cc's debut sounds just as creative to me as something like, oh I don't know, David Bowie's Heroes, Brian Eno's Here Comes the Warm Jets, any number of Frank Zappa albums, and even Gentle Giant (except 10cc *isn't* a progressive rock band, though they sometimes have prog rock tendencies).\\n\\nI guess one possible reason for this album not going down as a major creative effort might have to do with the occasional dive into average typical 70's rock. Sometimes you can hear normal commercial 70's rock on this album, such as on the closer \\\"Fresh Air for my Mama\\\", which wouldn't sound entirely out of place on an album like Paul McCartney's Wings at the Speed of Sound. It's easily the only weak point on an otherwise pretty brilliantly crafted and diverse pop album. This album is certainly deserving of major praise, so hopefully one day it will catch on and be cool again.\\n\\nTo be honest, I can actually see a comedy movie in the future having some 10cc tunes as part of the soundtrack, and this *might* get people out there who like creative pop songwriting to check out 10cc's debut effort. Maybe then the album will finally get more credit. At one point in time however, this WAS a pretty popular album.\\n\\nMaybe \\\"Johnny, Don't Do It\\\" with a very obvious doo-wop style is a huge turn-off for some people as well. It shouldn't be though, because this song is great. The rest of the album sounds *nothing* like that anyway. In fact, every song sounds very very different from the other ones, something other legendary rock bands such as the Beatles were quite good at as well- diversity.\\n\\n\\\"Sand in My Face\\\" is definitely a fantastic pop song. Any fan of Frank Zappa will love this song, I guarantee it. \\\"The Dean and I\\\" is another song that focuses on whacky vocal melodies, played quite tastefully I might add, and perhaps even a bit challenging to get into. \\\"The Hospital Song\\\" is another example of complexity, and with repeated listens, becoming more memorable each time.\\n\\n\\\"Speed Kills\\\" has a great rhythm, and the song is very melodic. It's quite hard to hate a song like this I believe. \\\"Rubber Bullets\\\" reminds me so much of \\\"Smokin' in the Boys Room\\\" during the verse melody, but some classic 10cc weirdness comes into play and elevates the melody to greater heights.\\n\\n\\\"Ships Don't Disappear in the Night\\\" is, oddly enough, and instantly likeable song. A 10cc song that *doesn't* require numerous playthroughs to get into it? Say it ain't so, haha. I LOVE it.\\n\\n\\\"Donna\\\" takes us back to the early 60's rock style, but it's NOT anything like that major popular 60's ballad \\\"Donna\\\". Two very different songs. Actually the more I think about it, this song sounds a lot like the Beatles \\\"Oh Darling\\\".\\n\\nI don't get why more people aren't checking out this album. I really don't. This album seriously does everything right as far as challenging listeners with exciting pop music.\",\n \"Product: Tommy and the boys were still churning out raw garage rock when they scored their first hit, the #1 1966 smash Hanky Panky . The #46 LP of the same name includes that classic plus Say I Am . They were on to more polished pastures by the time '68's Mony Mony came out, featuring the irresistible title smash plus Somebody Cares . Two legendary pop albums on one CD, 23 tracks total!\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: keepin' the 60's flowin'\\n\\nReview: This is a review for the Mony Mony album.\\n\\nOh geez! I was hoping to listen to Mony Mony before the cold front blasted through but too late! It arrived 5 hours sooner than predicted! 50 mph winds making it hard to write a review, but this has to be done before it gets too darn cold in this house and I don't feel like doing it. Here goes!\\n\\nAm I the only one who gets \\\"Mony Mony\\\" mixed up with \\\"Hanky Panky?\\\" When I was a kid I thought they were the same song- one was just a slightly altered version of the other, haha! I hear the difference now. \\\"Mony Mony\\\" is a great party song in the same style as the Beatles \\\"Twist and Shout\\\" but, and I might anger some people by saying this, I miiiiight prefer Billy Idol's version. I dunno, he just takes the fun level and turns it up a couple more notches. Plus you know, 80's music is generally regarded as fun so the song feels more fitting in that context. The B52's and Billy Idol back to back just feels so right!\\n\\n\\\"Gingerbread Man\\\" starts like it's going to be something psychedelic before picking up the pace and turning fairly normal. Oh wow the production is quite good! Tommy James vocals never sounded so clean. Awesome melody too- upbeat and powerful. The guitar line between the vocals reminds me of the guitar the Who used for some of their Tommy material. \\\"Hey girl if you've lost your way, reach out and take my hand I'm a gingerbread man! Hey love is a game I play, I'll teach you yes, I can 'cuz I'm a gingerbread man, so deep in the night, come make you feel alright, going to open the door, going to take you somewhere you've never been before\\\". This isn't what I thought the gingerbread man was like. I thought he was a little cookie that jumps out of the oven and runs away mocking your slow speed.\\n\\nHa, and maybe it *is* a mockery because the next song is called \\\"Run Away With Me\\\" which sounds so pretty and carefree! \\\"\\\"If you think this world is gonna hurt you run away with me, I will promise never to desert you, run away with me, run away and you will see just how groovy life can really be, run away and we'll be free, free to do the things we always wanna do\\\". I almost want to run away with Tommy James and the Shondells due to how pretty this line is sung, haha. A song like this with its strong happy vibe surely takes my mind away from the brutal cold wind blowing things around outside.\\n\\n\\\"Somebody Cares\\\" is pure happiness- \\\"Now the time is going and the sky is cloudy, the birds are leaving and the cold is nearing, a trust in me and you'll know the reason, that our love will last through many a season, so give me a smile and you'll know that our love's true, don't be in doubt 'cuz I'd never hurt you, a trust in me and you'll know the reason, that our love will last through many a sesaon\\\". Even the jumpy chorus gets my feet dancing! \\\"Somebody cares, and I'm gonna make you see, somebody cares, so put your trust in me baby!\\\"\\n\\n\\\"Night Time (I'm a Lover)\\\" has a strange melody, but it's upbeat and somewhat aggressive by late 60's standards. Top notch melody though! \\\"Day, here is just my time for rest, night is made for me, that's when I'm at my best, my best, my best, my best now baby\\\" is a sudden high pitched change! I love it too. \\\"The nighttime, baby such a nighttime ago, talking about the nighttime, oh we can't get it now girl, oh the nighttime is my kind of time beneath the sunshine, push that town yeah baby, mmm, talking about the nighttime, baby it's the right time such a fine time, going to be together now girl, mmm baby in the nighttime I feel so scared of time yeah feel like sleep's time, mmm baby it's the right time, the right time, baby the nighttime!\\\"\\n\\n\\\"(I'm Taken)\\\" continues the high pitched vocals in the beginning before turning into a soothing ballad. I really love Tommy James voice. The shift into this part- \\\"I'm taken and you'd just be fakin' your heart out, I'm taken and you'd be mistaken to start out, 'cuz I'm not out for love\\\" is really good. This music is honestly written amazingly well! I admit I enjoy many 60's bands... alright you got me, I enjoy just about all of them! But with melodies like these, Tommy James really feels like one of the best of the entire decade. \\\"I've got somebody who's so good to me, but if I didn't I'd be glad to be the one to love you like nobody could. I could\\\". Now that's pure love!\\n\\n\\\"Do Unto Me\\\" sounds like hit potential! \\\"You said that you'd be true and never leave, but now you're trying to forget me\\\" is a great patr of the song, as is the chorus \\\"But do unto me girl, as you have me do to you, just do unto me girl, you know how much I love you\\\". The strings are a nice touch. Perhaps the only thing I dislike are the background vocals in the chorus. They hit certain high notes during this particular part that rubs me the wrong way.\\n\\n\\\"One Two Three and I Fell\\\" has a catchy and fast-paced opening line in a way that reminds me of the Grassroots. \\\"Love is a light burning inside only becuase of you, yeah baby you really got me goin', I don't believe how fast it's growin', everything's right, every night all of my dreams come true, you were the one thing I was missin', you came along we started kissin\\\", Sure these lyrics might seem sort of cliched, but the way they're combined with the convincing vocals makes it an amazing song. It's pure 60's baby!\\n\\n\\\"Get Out Now\\\" is what my dad's girlfriend screamed when she threw me out of the house on Thanksgiving 5 years ago, but I probably deserved it! The \\\"Heartbreak baby\\\" background vocals are sort of odd because they come in right away before the regular line has a chance to be sung! But I like it. \\\"Get out get out get out now, get out, he doesn't love you baby, get out get out get out now, get out my love is more than maybe!\\\" The chorus probably isn't as strong as I was hoping for, but I still love it. Great keyboard part near the end.\\n\\n\\\"I Can't Go Back to Denver\\\" is probably what Bob Seger said to himself after regretting the release of \\\"Get Out of Denver\\\". I'm kidding, I'm sure Bob loves Denver. This song somewhat rocks in the beginning with piano before the verse melody arrives. I actually dislike the chorus. Too gospel-ish. Female vocals weren't necessary and sort of ruin it. \\\"Can't go back to Denver with you on my mind!\\\" But the verse melody, that's where Tommy James excels!\\n\\n\\\"Some Kind of Love\\\" is a great little song! The fast moving part in the beginning and the way it suddenly and dreamily shifts into a really superb melody... so good. It then speeds up again during the \\\"Somebody sat beside you all the time, you're so fine\\\" part. \\\"There are so many places baby, I've sene lots of lonely faces baby, well I've learned one thing girl, don't let love get away yeah\\\". Great handclapping type of chorus too. Highly listenable song! Actually what am I talking about? This is Tommy James and the Shondells. The whole album is listenable.\",\n \"Product: Remastered reissue of the British progressive rock act's 1972 album. Featuring the original 6 tracks and 4 bonus tracks, 'Pye's June Thing', 'Ferdinand', 'Looking Left, Looking Right' and 'Pye's Loop'. Standard jewelcase. 2001 release.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: caravan is now officially the best band ever\\n\\nReview: Caravan was always known for their great, catchy vocal melodies, and I believe the ones found on Waterloo Lily to be their very best.\\n\\nI love singing along to these tunes. I also love just sitting back and feeling good as I absorb the wonderful and melodic instrumental jams. These jams seem to flow carefully and beautifully into other instrumental parts. This sure is one likeable band. Because of that, I'm surprised more people out there aren't familiar with them. It's hard to believe Caravan hasn't become one of those \\\"forgotten favorites\\\". They seriously deserve it. They deserved to be more well-known in America while they were popular in the early 70's too.\\n\\nAnd WOW!!! I think I finally found the best instrumental jam I've honestly ever heard! \\\"Nothing at All\\\" is 10 minutes of pure perfection! Alright, so those noisy sax moments can probably be tossed away, but besides that, the rest of the track is absolutely fantastic. It reminds me of a cross between Jethro Tull and a popular Jeff Beck song from his Blow By Blow album. Wow, and I thought Gong's \\\"Boring\\\" was a brilliant jam (granted it IS a brilliant song!) but Caravan's take on the instrumental jamming... they really hit the right sequence of notes with \\\"Nothing At All\\\".\\n\\nHonest, caring lyrics, pretty vocal melodies, and heavenly instrumental jams. That's what you can expect from this album, and the Caravan albums that came before and after this one. I'm not exaggerating either. It's just a beautiful thing. What a great band. Pick up Waterloo Lily today.\",\n \"Product: Reissue of Italian progressive rock masterpiece originally released in 1974. Considered one of the best Italian prog albums of the 70's, combining hard rock with great keyboards & flute.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: what a talented band from Italy\\n\\nReview: Italian progressive rock is something you either really love, or you don't care for it. In all honesty, a lot of people who don't care for the Italian rock scene of the 70's probably aren't giving it a fair chance. The choice of instruments many of these bands brought to the table is just magnificent. You feel like you're in some classical theatre absorbing all kinds of talented musical ideas, and you just LOVE it, and want more! That's what Italian rock does for me.\\n\\nBiglietto per L'Inferno is just fantastic. Vocals, instrumental variety, melodic arrangements, everything I like about rock and roll can be found right here, with this band, and this album. A must buy, even though it costs quite a bit of money to purchase.\",\n \"Product: Won Sin. 2004.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: the kind of music you never forget\\n\\nReview: Oh you've got to be kidding me! Only a small amount of reviews for mid 70's Jade Warrior? This is CLASSIC stuff! This is a band that plays a kind of instrumental music that is *truly* adventurous, unlike all those new bands that claim to take your mind places only to end up disappointing the listener with generic modern progressive rock.\\n\\nNo no, Floating World is the kind of album that ALL Caravan, Camel, Genesis, King Crimson and Jethro Tull fans need to hear.\\n\\nThe most amazing thing about Jade Warrior is the way their music takes me to different continents across the world. Most bands aren't able to take my mind to faraway places *this* well. This band feels absolutely authentic. The real deal. But sadly, not many people are aware of them.\\n\\nAnyone who appreciates the Camel classic The Snow Goose will LOVE this. The Asian vibes are unbelievably strong and constantly present throughout the album, with dazzling flute and acoustic work. That's just a TINY example what's in store for any listener awesome enough to check out this album.\\n\\nJade Warrior is the kind of band where you really believe the band members were in a special state of mind to create music this powerful. Please give this album a listen as soon as possible and I *guarantee* you'll be happy you did.\",\n \"Product: Digitally remastered edition of their classic album with 10 bonus tracks, most being previously unreleased BBC sessions.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: these guys should be more well known, oh yes they should\\n\\nReview: This Barclay James Harvest album is pretty good, but the songwriting is probably a bit weaker than some will have you believe. \\\"Mother Dear\\\" was influenced by the Moody Blues (you can tell because the lead singer sounds like Justin Hayward) but the songwriting isn't very strong. It's a good hook the tune has going there, but it COULD be even better. \\\"The Iron Maiden\\\" is AWESOME! I love that verse melody and the neat musical arrangements in the background that really elevate the verse melody to a new level of excitement.\\n\\n\\\"The Sun Will Never Shine\\\" or whatever it's called, is pretty good, but contains a predictable chorus, and a verse melody that sounds like Love (the band that did the popular Forever Changes album). Overall, pretty good, but there's better examples of brilliant pop songwriting out there.\",\n \"Product: Reissue of 1967 Elektra album of psychedelic mood music/spoken word. Featuring the first use of a Moog synthesizer on a commercial recording. 2002.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: my mind is gone!\\n\\nReview: Wow, the Zodiac's Cosmic Sounds certainly lives up to the hype! This is some of the most stunning psychedelic music ever. It's really melodic too. It's something else! Tell me you hate this album and I'll say you must be crazy!\\n\\n\\\"Aries: The Fire Fighter\\\" opens with a series of fast-paced frantic psychedelic sounds, then a poem comes in with sitar work. This stuff doesn't exactly ease my mind concerning that supervolcano out in Wyoming. Ugh why did I have to check on that darn volcano for updates earlier tonight (luckily predicted to NOT go off for another 70,000 years- close call!) Anyway the poem is brief and the frantic stuff that opens the song returns to close it out. The poem comes back (as does the creepiness!) and now I'm thinking about fires burning between colorful vines out in an open field around a campfire. This is crazy! I enjoy it tremendously.\\n\\n\\\"Taurus: the Voluptuary\\\" is more poetry, this time with flutes and other heavy drug-fueled instruments blending ominous sounds with beauty. The drumming is really good too, going for a somewhat disjointed but still memorable and unusual flowing kind of vibe. The instrumentation at the end with the gentle flutes and keyboards is really good, but the Jim Morrison-style poetry throughout this entire album (yes that's right, the WHOLE album!) might not be everyone's cup of tea. It's my cup of tea! Give me a crazy cup of that stuff! Jim Morrison poetry and perhaps some of the late 60's Moody Blues freakier ideas combined. Speaking of the Moodies, \\\"Gemini: The Cool Eye\\\" (yeah as you can guess, this album is actually going through the Zodiac signs with each song title) reminds me of the Moody Blues around their To Our Children's Children's Children period. This song has more \\\"frantic one moment, calm and relaxing the next\\\" moments in all its full psychedelic glory. But despite that, it's not like the calm breaks make your mind feel at ease. No you're stuck on this journey so come with me and just ride along!\\n\\nYou know this album accurately describes what I always thought- lyrics can really enhance the music. In other words a flute solo can be creepy or beautiful depending how you feel, but with unusual poetry associated with said flutes, now the song takes on a whole new meaning. This Cosmic Sounds album illustrates lyrical imagery rather strongly. \\\"Cancer: The Moon Child\\\" is more about the faster guitar soloing and rhythm work. I'd like to try and describe the lyrics to you but well... I can't! Because understanding the meaning behind this stuff doesn't really make sense to me, however I don't *want* it to make sense. I want it be as trippy as possible because that's the charm.\\n\\n\\\"Leo: The Lord of Lights\\\" feels like it's trying to be normal. Well normal in the sense that we're breaking through the psychedelia and entering deeper into our minds. Dig deeper! \\\"Every word and gesture etched in stone\\\". Well that would be like living a life online am I right? Or someone with a severe reading addiction. These people probably see words everywhere constantly. What the? What am I even talking about, haha. I guess the imagery is getting the best of me too. \\\"Virgo: the Perpetual Perfectionist\\\" has lovely flutes and acoustic guitar strumming. For some reason when the pace picks up the song gets downright fascinating and wildlife-like. Imagine yourself, er, picture yourself running through a colorful field of endless flashing colors. That might describe what this song is like. Oh and what's this? The world *isn't* round? *gets nervous*\\n\\n\\\"Libra: The Flower Child\\\" is perhaps the most fascinating thing I've heard in years. Listen to the way the sitar plays so creepily. It's so dreamy I just don't know what to think about reality sometimes! The drumming captures the tribal nature a bit more believably than most artists who use it. Make that *every* other artist who uses tribal drums. This song completely makes all other tribal drumming by other artists irrelevant, haha. Those weird... what sounds like delicate high-pitched female voices but is probably an actual musical instrument of some kind, they're awesome! Oh boy it's time for a mob of townspeople to come marching down the street... at least that's what \\\"Scorpio: The Passionate Hero\\\" sounds like. Drastically different from the other songs, with perhaps early King Crimson tendencies. Oh yeah King Crimson! Surely if you like this album you'll like some of the more abstract stuff they did on those early 70's albums. Actually the stuff in between the poetry intensifies similarly to King Crimson's \\\"Red\\\" song.\\n\\n\\\"Sagittarius: The Versatile Daredevil\\\" is next. It opens with bells and keyboards that remind me of early Emerson, Lake and Palmer but of course, ELP never had the psychedelic stuff. Not like the Zodiac does! Great guitar solo after the poetry and before the return of triumphant bells. \\\"Capricorn: The Uncapricious Climber\\\" captures the wildlife atmosphere really splendidly. Were these guys listening to \\\"The Lion Sleeps Tonight?\\\" I bet they were! The guitar work is fascinating in its mysterious beauty. And what the! This internet thing's trying to tell me \\\"The Lion Sleeps Tonight\\\" was actually written in 1939. I thought it was an early or mid 60's song?\\n\\n\\\"Aquarius: The Lover of Life\\\" has a fairly normal keyboard riff with gently soaring flutes making me think of shiny colors darting down from the sky all over a mountain in front of me. \\\"Weak strong all belong\\\". Well that's news to me. I thought the strong always defeat the weak in nature. Well not on this journey! I guess I'll be a survivor then. \\\"Pisces: The Peace Piper\\\" is a fairly sad way of closing the album. Listen to the gentle pacing of the keyboards (and by the way the keyboards are appropriately a lot like the ones in \\\"Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds\\\" because we all know that Beatles song is the ultimate psychedelic adventure much like \\\"Strawberry Fields Forever\\\") and the flutes make fountain fairies appear for our heroic Link.\\n\\nHonestly Cosmic Sounds is a masterpiece of psychedelic perfection. I just... I'm speechless. Imagine taking the sweetest candy you've ever had like cotton candy and dumping chocolate syrup, a box of brown sugar and colorful sprinkles all over it. That might in some unusual roundabout way capture the feeling of this Cosmic Sounds album. And it's VERY listenable too! This isn't some messy affair here folks. This is really beautifully well-written music. That's the genius of it all I bet. Highly recommended. Just be prepared to be taken away from this planet for a few 40 minutes.\",\n \"Product: Out-of-print in the US. Personnel: Gordon Lightfoot (vocals, guitar, vibraphone); Red Shea (guitar, classical guitar, dobro); Terry Clements (guitar); Ollie Strong (steel guitar); David Bromberg (slide dobro); Larry Good (5-string banjo); Bruce Good (autoharp); Nick DeCaro (piano); Rick Haynes (bass); Barry Keane (drums, percussion); Dave Brown (percussion).\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: old Dan would've been proud\\n\\nReview: This is one of Gordon Lightfoot's shorter albums which is not good I tell ya! I'd rather Gordon release albums at least 40 minutes in length. Anyway this album's sort of different from his other albums of the time period. Then again only a couple songs are probably different- the rest is country and/or folk.\\n\\n\\\"My Pony Won't Go\\\" is unusually quiet with bare arrangements. This almost sounds like a rehearsal for \\\"Sundown\\\" (the song). Hey it would sort of make sense if it was considering Old Dan's Records came out right before Sundown. This is also strictly country- no folk or anything else. Honestly this song really needs some background arrangements to spice it up. Electric guitar or something. I don't hate it but I'd easily place it as the worst song on the album. \\\"Gotta make your mind up, every single day I hate to see you lonely, losin' me this way, lookin' for the man who stole my love from me, gotta know the reason why my baby's leavin', my pony won't go, where I want him to go no more\\\"\\n\\n\\\"Lazy Mornin\\\" is more *really* soft quietness. \\\"Another lazy morning no need to get down on anyone, my son coffee's in the kitchen, woman on the run\\\". Yeah, no need to pick up the pace or anything huh Gordon, haha. Well I like this melody more than the one in \\\"My Pony Won't Go\\\" but this is still not up to standards. Lyrics are sort of funny- \\\"I took time to make town and stock a pint or two, the most delicious brew, keeping up with the Jonsses, I hope no one telephones us\\\" and the line \\\"Come suppertime I'm gonna light my barbecue, nothing' new, only that she loves me and nothing I know can change me!\\\"\\n\\n\\\"That Same Old Obsession\\\" opens with piano that reminds me of a Christmas song. \\\"\\\"I come to this garden, I come here to rest, early each day upon risin', I think of my lost love, from over the sea, and sometimes I've wondered if she thinks of me, I long to recall every kiss, every kind word, I miss her so much I could die, but the creatures of evil have captured her heart, and that same old obsession keeps up apart\\\"\\\". Okay this song has a memorable melody that is *exactly* why I love Gordon Lightfoot so much! Structured similary to \\\"Too Late For Praying\\\" from his Sundown album. Wow and the orchestration comes in and... ah! So beautiful. I love the way he sings \\\"I long to return to the place, I remember the taste of her lips close to mine\\\". Putting this line into words does NOT express how beautiful it is because there's a certain way Gordon sings it that words can't describe.\\n\\nFor some reason I thought Billy Joel's \\\"The Entertainer\\\" was about to come on based on the guitar playing in the beginning of \\\"Old Dan's Records\\\". This is much livelier foot-tapping folk rock! \\\"Dig out old Dan's records, bring out old Dan's records, we're all here, we've all got dates, we'll dance all night to the 78's, if old Dan could see us now I know he'd be so proud\\\" The banjo is a great addition.\\n\\n\\\"It's Worth Believin\\\" is adventurous folk rock. The opening line is REALLY dreamy. \\\"There's a warm wind tonight and the moon turns the tide, when the stars take their ride she'll be leavin', where she goes I don't know, she won't tell me what it is that makes her act like this, but I've got a funny feeling that it's me it's worth believin\\\". \\\"Do you like to go walking on the sand and listen to the sea? Or could it be someone kind, could it be that I'm the fool, is there something wrong with you? And I've got a funny feeling that it's me, it's worth believin\\\". This song's *amazing!* \\\"Whse she goes I don't know, she won't tell me what it is that makes her act like this\\\".\\n\\n\\\"Mother of a Miner's Child\\\" is a quieter tune but the vocal melody is really creative. \\\"The miners stop to watch her when she walks, they know her love is not for sale, she will never fail me 'cuz I know, I watch her grow, and the mother of a miner's child waits for me beside the kitchen door, she is my light in this place where the darkness never ends, she'll guide me where the tunnels twist and bend, she's the only one who listens when I tell her I got less than I can spend\\\". Wow, really well said! \\\"Remember dear ol' daddy and the promise that I made to carry on\\\". Can't Depend on Love\\\" is a happier Jimmy Buffett-sounding song similar to the first track from Sundown. \\\"I spent most of my life outside in the driving rain, I was only trying to get by with some of life's amenities, well nothing's free I got more than I bargained for, now it's plain to see I can't depend on love to defend me\\\". A pretty good tune with a positive vibe.\\n\\n\\\"Hi'way Songs\\\" has a wonderful intro with the country guitar. The first few lines are really good too because it explains Gordon's life on the road singing for audiences and everything he witnessed along the way (\\\"When I walk the hill so high around the town where I was born, New York seems so far away, though I was there just yesterday, I have played on my guitar in coffeehouses, halls and bars, everyone that I call friend, knows they will not be forgotten\\\". \\\"Just for now I'd like to rest in the shade of a maple tree, to the blue Canadian sky, I'll say a prayer for the world out there\\\" marks a memorable change of pace because afterwards the song continues to excite with background arrangements enhancing Gordon's vocals.\\n\\n\\\"Farewell to Annabel\\\" is a likeable country tune with a fairly upbeat feel. \\\"Where did you go when the snow lay on the ground? What did you do when the rain began to fall? How did it feel when I looked through your soul? When was the last time you wanted my love? How many nights did you cry your dreams to sleep? Why did you hide what you knew would not stay hidden? How could you put yourself through like you did? I'm not the kind that would hold you that way!\\\" Haha, here I thought Gordon was singing about a girl suddenly leaving him and breaking his heart so he decided to write angry lyrics in response, and well, that's *sort of* true but apparently Gordon was in a more cold-hearted mood when he wrote these confrontational lyrics! Seems this Annabel person did something bad that ticked off Gordon because it's not like Gordon Lightfoot would ever start a fight with someone. However the lyrics gradually shift more compassionate near the end (\\\"Drop me a line if you wake up feelin' bad, I'm still a friend and I'd like to hear from you\\\"). That's the Gordon I know!\\n\\n\\\"You Are What I Am\\\" is upbeat country. \\\"You make the time stand still, you do it now and you always will, you take me as I am, you make me feel like a brand new man!\\\" Well this album certainly got off on the wrong foot (no pun) with the worst song being the first one I played (\\\"My Pony Won't Go\\\") and that my friends gave me the wrong impression. However with that said I'm surprised this album actually ended up being 5 stars. I was leaning towards 4 the whole time but a big ol' 5 squeezed through the crowd and jumped across the finish line in the end!\",\n \"Product: Paul kept the hits coming when he signed with United Artists, the label that released these two albums. Includes his 1974 #1 smash (You're) Having My Baby ; his Top 20 hits I Don't Like to Sleep Alone; One Man Woman/One Woman Man; (I Believe) There's Nothing Stronger Than Our Love; Times of Your Life , and more!\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: back to the 70's\\n\\nReview: Yup, as the reviewer below mentioned, Paul Anka's music will take you back to the soft days of the 70's. This isn't really the type of music I like to listen to very often, but sometimes it's okay.\\n\\nAnyway, I heard the Feelings album tonight for the first time (my first experience with this guy's music) and although the songwriting is pretty strong, the overall sound is stuck in the 70's. That's good, I guess, sometimes, and I'd say Paul Anka's music reminds me of some of Neil Diamond's work.\\n\\nWhen I heard Feelings tonight, what I heard was a big sound, almost orchestral, mixed in with short piano tunes. I guess this is something to dance to, but I didn't feel like dancing to it (and I find dancing fun, at least, when I'm by myself!) Some pretty strong singing in places too.\\n\\nI'm surprised there aren't more Anka reviews on amazon to be honest, since I thought the guy was really popular at one time. I guess that's it, he was popular at one time, but not so much these days. Who knows, I could be wrong.\",\n \"Product: Ex-wife Licorice and Malcolm Le Maistre of the U touring group join Robin and Mike on this 1971 release. Lyrics included!\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: incredible is the word\\n\\nReview: \\\"Darling Belle\\\" is the albums longest song, and perhaps the albums masterpiece based on the way it quickly shifts into many different ideas. I'm surprised it opens with tender female vocals, but then again after listening to U perhaps I shouldn't be surprised because that album showed more female vocals than ever before. This is a really beautiful softly sung melody. Really lullaby-like. Really love the bagpipes and flutes and how they provide a unique combination of instruments. How enjoyable is the line \\\"Papa would take me to the park to see the swans, by hansom cab trotting so high, holding his hand to see the swans, hissing louder than rustling dresses of gracious ladies bustling by\\\". VERY enjoyable!\\n\\nThe line \\\"James I suppose would be in school\\\" marks a sudden change in style and now the song reminds me of Jethro Tull. The male vocals continue a subtle Jethro Tull vibe. \\\"Plying British bulldogs on the gravel, was it your presence colored my dreams\\\" is well, actually a really dreamy line. \\\"I burrowed in cupboards like a mole all Saturday, under old chairs and old ladies knees, I framed your half remembered face, with frail white embroideries\\\" is another dreamy line enhanced by the eerie keyboard. Is that a keyboard for sure though? Not sure since I can't find a list of the instruments being played on this album.\\n\\nAt least three different singers contribute to this 11-minute song, but it feels like a natural transition between styles, and totally based in their Scottish heritage. Wow! The part in the middle REALLY gives me the chills. This is when the song turns quiet for a couple minutes. The line \\\"Do you remember me, thin girl with cold hands, you in your scarlet and you knew my name, step to the veranda under the wisteria in the mysterious November\\\" is eerily sung based on the exceptionally light female vocals and other instruments such as xylophones and violins. This part of the song makes me feels like I'm inside a dollhouse and getting attacked by a monster! \\\"Dancing as if with death or fate to the moon black ballroom of the silk skinned lake, kissing me you lifted my skirt under the willow trees\\\" is a memorable line.\\n\\nNow about 6 minutes in the band gives us a subtle unintentional Band imitation (you know, the guys that did \\\"The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down\\\"). This part's brief, and the really boisterous female vocals come back after this part before switching to male vocals for the quality line \\\"How could I write? My words would seem sad and\\\" well, the next word can't be written down here thanks to certain amazon guidelines so I'm going to have to leave it unfinished I'm afraid. The piano at the end recalls more lullaby connections, but lyrically I think the song indicates otherwise since the male and female vocals are a unique blend. The church organ at the end concludes this HIGHLY unusual, variety-motivated song. I mean highly unusual in the strongest sense! I love it though, because uniqueness can't be denied or overlooked. Then again Liquid Acrobat As Regards the Air HAS unfortunately been overlooked. Boo to unfair neglect!\\n\\n\\\"Talking of the End\\\" isn't exactly any less weirder with the violins, acoustic guitar and flutes all quickly blurring over one another as the male singer sings in a somewhat monotone kind of way \\\"Talking of the end, talking of the end, let me hear you say it will not be\\\". This song has a slight Middle Eastern vibe during this part. The song immediately switches into a softer harpsichord part with the \\\"This is no time to cry, better start to play your part\\\" line. The chant afterwards is really good too. Wow only one minute into the song and already a bunch of different ideas are being implemented all over the place! Absolutely fascinating! I love the chugging instrumental part after this and how it reminds me of Native Americans running around before switching into a short sitar solo.\\n\\nReally soft female vocals combined with male vocals and the REALLY gorgeously sung \\\"Busily conspiring humming like a hive\\\" line, dream the world all alive, I dream it as me, rise as fair and tender leaves, brightening in countless eyes\\\" line occurs soon after. Also of note, I love the line \\\"If I could sing only one song, I'd sing of you\\\" which is nicely sung with the... Hawaiian guitar? Can't be a Hawaiian guitar (playing with the sitar) Heh. Interesting! Who knows maybe these guys took a trip to Hawaii at one time, or more likely I'm just misidentifying the wrong instrument. This song has SEVERAL tempo shifts and instrumental variety and I think it's all really cool stuff seriously.\\n\\n\\\"Evolution Rag\\\" is another warped Bob Dylan impression of lyrical weirdness and cleverness with a playful feel to it. \\\"But that is the illusionist! The circus man! And the whole man murdering sea is his caravan!\\\" What any of this means I don't know (and if murder is involved in any way, I don't think I want to know!) This song sounds hilarious to me for some reason but I'm not sure if it's intended that way. Either way the instrumental variety is pretty awesome. What the? The instrumental break around 1:20 reminds me of a song from the Super NES game Earthbound! Haha, that's unintentionally coincidental. At least I *think* it's coincidental. Who knows for sure. \\\"And with just one swipe of her ragged fins she uncovers the caves!\\\" I like the final line \\\"the map is gone how will we grow old, grandpas tears made the barbecue cold, I sing myself saying here's where I came in, the illusionist has vanished like a red hot gin\\\" before the keyboards come in. This song just gets really whacked out at the very end. Very circus-like with birthday whistles and stuff. This part is pretty lousy I admit and should have never made it onto tape. Oh well so the album ain't perfect. Big deal.\\n\\n\\\"Cosmic Boy\\\" opens with nice piano playing and female vocals. Something about the female of the Incredible String Band just has this way of making me feel so emotional whenever I hear her sing. Maybe emotional isn't entirely what I mean to say. I stay focused that's for sure! She has this way of absorbing me into her style. Anyway this is a stripped down almost \\\"Honey Pie\\\"-like (Beatles song) show tune type of thing, and I actually like that type of music sometimes. *Sometimes* I should say, as in one or two songs with this style per album and no more. An entire album of stuff that sounds like this would probably drive me crazy! The piano is really memorable and professional here though. Actually this song reminds me of Shirley Temple. \\\"I shall dance for you, sweetest dance that I can do, I shall do the sweetest dance I can\\\" is really tear-jerking seriously.\\n\\n\\\"Painted Chariot\\\" has more male vocals, this time the guy who reminds me of Pete Townshend finally contributing (I thought maybe he left the band or something, but happy he's still around). I love his voice but wait! The guitar for a brief moment sounds 60's Who-like as well. This song just screams beauty, and in fact the chanting is really remarkable though a tad repetitive. The keyboards have this unusual early Deep Purple sound that feels almost dream-like. Love the keyboard/drum build-up near the end.\\n\\n\\\"Worlds They Rise and Fall\\\" contains a powerfully uplifting melody. You know this band is a LOT more than just a psychedelic folk/rock band, or whatever people usually refer to them as, because whatever people classify this band as there's *nothing* that can describe the emotional punch this particular vocal melody can bring. The same applies to several *other* vocal melodies this band has created. The line \\\"But when the moon is misty through the trees, she says right now I want to be your girl, your girl your little girl\\\" is a comfortably relaxing change of pace, but the part that really floors me is the \\\"Stars they rise and fade around her dance, for her the steep is climbed, the gulf is spanned, she lives she lives the bards sing around her stand, and sometimes it's all I can do is bow to her\\\". Just the way this song is sung leaves me in tears.\\n\\n\\\"Here Till Here is There\\\" is trickily named... tricky enough to fool me twice! Anyway this song is depressing based on the REALLY softly song part in the beginning with no instrumental work to speak of- just male vocals. Just check out this lyric- \\\"Where will you go when days grow short, and winds grow cold and green leaves are shaken?\\\" This line really gets to me and reminds me why I hate the cold (like right now with 30-degree below freezing wind chills whipping around outside my window). This is the type of song you hear when you're about to walk the plank. It feels very much like a death anthem or rather, wondering what to do in a desperate situation that you might be stuck in. The female vocals bring in flutes and a major feeling of seriousness the lyrics seem to be going for here. The flutes actually prove that only a British band could write something like this. No American folk band would even know how to play the flute in such an indescribably catastrophic sounding way.\\n\\n\\\"Dear Old Battlefield\\\" is actually a fairly normal folk tune in the sense that I can actually compare it to another artist (Fairport Convention probably, which is no coincidence because the drummer for this album is an ex-Fairport Convention member). This song has male/female vocals blended together to create a hymn of sorts. I can picture Jethro Tull writing a song like this by the time of their Stormwatch album (maybe because it reminds me of \\\"Orion\\\" a little). Maybe *this* is the song you'd want to introduce to somebody wanting to check out the Incredible String Band but you want to make sure you recommend something accessible to them so as not to freak them out and turn them away (hehe, it's true! I love the Incredible String Band to pieces but some people can't handle this bands unique style of psychedelic/folk). \\\"Tree\\\" is a remake of the same song from the bands debut... I think. Not quite as moving for some reason, but features piano giving it a gorgeous tone. The near operatic female vocals during the chorus are probably unnecessary because this song excelled better on the debut when it was just a soft acoustic tune, if I remember.\\n\\n\\\"Jigs\\\" is a strange tune. It includes a LOT of songs in the title, but the trick is that the song's not even 3 minutes long so all these ideas have to rush by in a hurry right? No! Well actually yes, but they flow really well. It's more like the beginning is all about violins and flutes (\\\"Eyes Like Leaves\\\") then shifts into the slow dance style of \\\"Sunday Is My Wedding\\\" while marching strictly on a violin beat, and here comes \\\"Drops of Whiskey\\\" soon after which is basically the violin and hoedown sped up a tad, and \\\"Grumbling Old Men\\\" (which I'm starting to become!) is when the violin picks up even more. Basically start dancing when the song begins, and by the time it's almost over watch as your feet dance even faster, haha. Enjoyable and yes, all these song titles ARE part of a song just shy of the 3-minute mark remarkably enough.\\n\\n\\\"Adam and Eve\\\" is an upbeat lyrically interesting tune about how God created Adam and Eve. I really love the danceable upbeat pace, the relevant lyrics and maybe I'm crazy but I sense a slight Jamaican vibe to the rhythm. Neat experiment. Love the lyric \\\"Friends if you're travelling never go taking an apple from a snake, if you do I'll tell you true you make a big mistake\\\". \\\"Red Hair\\\" is soft acoustic beauty. 2 minutes just doesn't feel like enough. It does build into louder vocals and I feel really uplifted while it plays, but I get the feeling it could have been something even bigger.\\n\\nLiquid Acrobat As Regards the Air is a minor masterpiece. There's a couple moments that prevent me from giving it a perfect rating, but it's actually a lot better than the stuff on the bands previous album The Song Has No Ending. Hey I like long instrumental songs with a variety of rich instruments so I'd still defend the 26-minute \\\"The Song Has No Ending\\\" that makes up side two of that album, but let's be honest- that song doesn't describe what the Incredible String Band is all about, so for those of you who disliked that experiment, there's nothing like that on here. Liquid Acrobat As Regards the Air is basically a continuation of the bands classic style.\",\n \"Product: Holland.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: pretty darn good for the pretty things\\n\\nReview: What makes Freeway Madness a notch above other forgotten rock albums of the 70's is the fact these songs are totally melodic and memorable. This is definitely *not* some revolutionary, groundbreaking music of any sorts.\\n\\nThis is just beautifully played rock music with a distinct touch of country influences in the same style as Crosby, Stills and Nash. In fact, throw Neil Young's Harvest album in there as well.\\n\\nFreeway Madness has the songwriting similarity of those artists, which probably explains why the album didn't become a smash hit- we already had Crosby, Stills and Nash, so why bother with this? Well I'll tell you why- because radio stations have been playing CSN for *years* and, I don't know about you guys, I need a break from that band. I'd rather listen to the Pretty Things and Freeway Madness instead.\\n\\nHowever, the one thing that separates this album from any kind of CSN comparisons is the *extremely* good guitar playing that rules over most of Freeway Madness. This is definitely not your ordinary, run of the mill guitar work. This is some really sincere and tastefully played guitar playing of the highest caliber. I absolutely love it.\\n\\nGreat songwriting as well, despite the fact the Pretty Things were falling apart in terms of popularity by this point in their career. Do *not* expect another wild and twisted concept album like S.F. Sorrow or anything like that. Instead, expect a fairly laid back, slightly country rock (but most definitely *still* in the rock vibe) album. A really beautiful listening experience overall.\",\n \"Product: Two beautiful records, 1968 & 1969 releases feature such ISB faves as 'You Get Brighter', The Yellow Snake' & 'Lordly Nightshade. Remastered & recommended! Collectors' Choice. 2002.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: so darn different and cool\\n\\nReview: I wasn't really convinced the Incredible String Band was in a distinct category of psychedelic folk rock even after hearing their two masterpiece albums the Hangman's Beautiful Daughter and U (two albums that TOTALLY deserve to be part of your album collection so go on and pick them BOTH up today!) but after hearing nearly 90 minutes that makes up Wee Tam & Big Huge, yes, I AM now convinced these guys were doing something radically different back in the day. Thank God the internet is around so we can discover these lost artists that deserved the attention back in the day but never got it as much as they should have. Alright, so these guys toured America briefly (and I think they still do occasionally) but, come on, they didn't leave enough of an impression!\\n\\n\\\"Maya\\\" is probably my favorite song. It's based around a simple folk rock vocal melody and the sitar is pretty melodic. The lyrics are about... uh, how can I describe the words? Whether it's the Scottish background or the drugs, I seriously can't comprehend the message behind ANY of them! Not a negative by any means of course. Let's just say the lyrics tend to focus around imaginative outdoor exploration and leave it at that. Anyway I love the way the singer screams the \\\"Maya!\\\" chorus in the middle and again at the very end. \\\"Ducks on a Pond\\\" is the other 9-minute classic. Yes that's right- I'm using the word \\\"classic\\\" to describe the Incredible String Band. Who cares if I'm the only person on the planet who does so! The neatest section of the lyrical portion is when the singer mentions talking to the ice. \\\"The ice would not say- only crack or move away\\\". Brilliant! It's also freaky when the lyrics mention chilly winds and spring coming soon. Right now in southeast Pennsylvania it is technically spring, but the winds outside are blowing 40 miles per hour and ushering COLD winds from the north. It doesn't feel like spring around here yet! I wish I could end my feelings concerning this song on a positive note but... not when the final 3 minutes change dramatically and focus on a foot-tapping, happy Dylan imitation with harmonica, TOTALLY screwing up the brilliant downbeat vibe the song had. Bad band!\\n\\n\\\"Job's Tears\\\" is most noticeable for featuring a sudden tempo change near the beginning and for the complimenting female vocals that repeat more or less the same exact melody for a short time, but enhanced by the psychedelic and adventurous lyrics of the male singer. When the song shifts into a totally different monster during the second half, the female vocals become more angelic and even better if you ask me. It's because now we hear what she's like as a singer. I like how the male singer does a little bit of yodeling in the middle, hehe. Maybe intentional or maybe his voice is cracking! \\\"Puppies\\\" is when Pete Townshend takes over the vocal duties... kidding! Sure *sounds* like him! I know the Rolling Stones were fans of these guys, but I'm not so sure about the Who. Anyway the vocals are REALLY unorganized but actually get better by the third listen or so. Just remember \\\"Music is so much less than what you are\\\". Funny, I always believed music was *more*. Sure feels like more, especially since millions of people can relate to a song but there's only one of me!\\n\\n\\\"You Get Brighter\\\" is an uplifting vocal melody with a hint of sadness and spirituality perhaps. It repeats a lot but it's repeating a quality melody so I ain't complainin' about it. \\\"The Half Remarkable Question\\\" is actually only half remarkable. Oh, bitter irony! It's sung in a low key kind of way with a DEEP voice and the sitar chugs along innocently and actually, let me change that- it chugs along beautifully. Funny thing- the sitar always improves the more you're exposed to it, but that first time? Not so optimistic! \\\"Lordly Nightshade\\\" contains a sad vocal melody that sort of chugs along in a military march-like fashion with a BEAUTIFUL flute intro (and when the flute returns near the end the beauty returns as well). Lyrics aren't so happy unfortunately, and might end up giving listeners a strange feeling of confusion since the melody is pretty but the lyrics not so much.\\n\\n\\\"Cousin Caterpillar\\\" reminds me of Pete Townshend again with the vocals. Who knew that while he was blowing live audiences away on stage with the Who, a more mellow and compassionate Pete was hiding in the background with THESE guys? I kid! The vocal melody is straight forward and nothing worth noting, but I enjoy it. I enjoy it a lot in fact. \\\"The Iron Stone\\\" is a creepy, slow moving song with an atmosphere that will surely remind you of a nighttime setting. Decent sitar work that makes you feel like you're alone in an Afghanistan desert somewhere. It's sort of a low point on the album since the melody isn't that impressive but the acoustic guitar solo at the end rules, so I look forward to that. \\\"Douglas Traherne Harding\\\" has an upbeat and sincere folk melody. It's very beautifully sung but how many times does the singer mention the word \\\"light?\\\" SEVERAL times!\\n\\n\\\"The Circus Is Unbroken\\\" is a MAJOR highlight for the dramatic singing style presented throughout the track. I love the worldy flute solo in the beginning, and the haunting, slow moving and eerily sung vocal melody makes me either think of a funeral setting or something more positive such as an important victory or a prosperous situation. Interesting vibes. \\\"Log Cabin Home in the Sky\\\" proves the Incredible String Band is in fact a Scottish band with the Scottish vocals being most noticeable here. A little boring and predictably written, but not bad by any means. Perhaps because I've grown accustomed to their weirdness!\\n\\nOverall, the Incredible String Band's third best album is right here and waiting for you to purchase!\",\n \"Product: German reissue of 1972 album includes four bonus tracks, 'Light', 'Lemmingmania', 'Between The Eyes', 'All The Years Round'. Repertoire. 2002.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: I love it of course\\n\\nReview: I just have a hard time understanding all the negative reviews for Amon Duul II's Carnival In Babylon. First of all, what a *beautiful* album cover! Alright so an album cover alone can't save an album if the music isn't any good, but... this is definitely a clear example of an album that DOES deserve to be heard. Numerous times, in fact, because with every listen you'll hear something new you missed the previous time.\\n\\nThe opening song is solid proof that Blue Oyster Cult HAD to have been familiar with this band. Oh sure, the members of BOC have said in the past that they were influenced by the Doors and a few other American and British artists, but I'm honestly not buying it.\\n\\nI mean seriously, I can think of several BOC songs that resemble the songwriting, the guitar playing, and the atmosphere of the opening song. I hear the lyrics are completely in German, too. If so, that explains why I can't understand them!\\n\\n\\\"All the Years 'Round\\\" shows us why the female singer from this band is a perfect comparison to the legendary Neil Young. Just LISTEN to that voice and tell me it doesn't resemble Neil Young a little bit when he's hitting those high notes. It sure does!\\n\\nAnyway this song rules because it's really dreamy, then eventually it drifts into a speedier vocal section with an even higher and more unusual vocal range. I LOVE it though. Probably inspired by Pink Floyd's psychedelic years, but you know what? This songwriting feels more complex and unpredictable than what Pink Floyd was doing at the time.\\n\\n\\\"Shimmering Sand\\\" continues the same theme as the previous track- atmospheric and melodically played guitar solos, and a build-up to some downright *fascinating* vocal work. I especially like the vocal melody you hear at the very end. Cool stuff.\\n\\n\\\"Hawknose Harlequin\\\" displays the bands talent at laying down some interesting guitar solos.\\n\\nCalling this album a sellout or a disappointment compared to Yeti and a few other Amon Duul II albums never made a bit of sense to me. It's not worse in ANY way. It doesn't feel like the band got lazy with their songwriting or their ability to constantly explore new ground, so it will forever remain a mystery to me why this album isn't better received by the majority of music fans.\",\n \"Product: German reissue of 1972 album includes four bonus tracks, 'Light', 'Lemmingmania', 'Between The Eyes', 'All The Years Round'. Repertoire. 2002.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: underrated is the exact word to describe this album and band\\n\\nReview: I am in total shock right now. Amon Duul II... why in the WORLD aren't more people aware of these guys? This is probably some of the coolest music I've ever heard, and by \\\"cool\\\" I mean a band that knows how to be extremely creative and diverse to the point where you can't believe how many exciting ideas they brings to the world of experimental rock. They were absolutely rolling in the 70's. Maybe they weren't well-known outside of Germany, I don't know.\\n\\n\\\"Shimmering Sand\\\" sounds simply... magical. What other word can describe those vocals? Completely unique vocals. Unlike anything I've ever heard before (and I've heard a *lot* honestly, over 600 albums from the 70's alone). Then you have other tracks where the guitarist shows just incredible his skills are, always finding the right sequence of notes to move the listener and make the entire experience as adventurous as possible.\\n\\nMan, what a band Amon Duul II is. It's time this band got the respect they deserve, so please, find a way to hear a band that focuses on diversity and standing apart from all the other bands of the era.\",\n \"Product: German 2002 reissue of 1973 album includes one bonus track 'Mozambique' (single version). Repertoire.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: would calling this album fantastic encourage people to buy it?\\n\\nReview: WOW! Vive la Trance has only been given 2 reviews here on amazon? Seriously??? How is it possible an album that sounds like *nothing* I've ever heard before (well, besides sounding like other Amon Duul II albums) been flying completely under the radar for... how long has it been? Over 35 years now! I really don't get it. This music is WAY too cool to be ignored the way it has.\\n\\nReally guys, what's up with the lack of popularity? The early Amon Duul II albums are getting a worthy amount of attention these days. Why not Vive la Trance? Hmmm, very very confusing, haha.\\n\\nANYWAY!! Let's talk about the songs.\\n\\nThe over 7-minute \\\"Mozambique\\\" is downright bizarre. I initially didn't realize just how *cool* this song really is. You have a female lead singer who's like the female version of Neil Young (hey, that's about the only sensible comparison I can think of at the moment!) and you have the rest of the band who are apparently stuck in their own highly creative little world.\\n\\nAnyway, this particular track is basically a Germans rock bands interpretation of the cruelty and wars taking place in Africa (and probably *still* taking place down there to this very day).\\n\\nThe way the lead singer delivers her vocal melody is truly amazing in every sense of the word. It's *incredibly* moving. It's the distinct tone of her voice combined with those angry and demanding lyrics that adds up to something I've NEVER experienced before, especially from the 70's. It's like she wants to make her voice screech and completely lose control to express her TRUE feelings on the matter, but she realizes the results wouldn't be as enjoyable if she did that, so she holds back just enough to give us a taste of her talented vocal range.\\n\\nAt any rate, pay extremely close attention to the sound of her voice and the lyrics she's singing. The results are mind-boggling and totally original.\\n\\nAfter the vocals, the song shifts into a really spacey, far out instrumental section. It sounds futuristic and way ahead of its time. REALLY strange song.\\n\\nI'm at a loss for words. Weren't people positively floored by this music when it first came out? I guess Americans wouldn't have been familiar with it (I don't even know if record stores CARRIED Amon Duul II records in America during the 70's, much less other German bands such as Can) but I imagine the good people of Germany must have been amazed by this highly original style of rock music. It's certainly very very different. It's no Seals & Crofts that's for sure, haha!!\\n\\nStill not convinced this album is something that stands apart from everything else out there? Maybe hearing a song like \\\"Ladies Mimikry\\\" will finally get you to change your mind. Wow, WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THAT?? haha. Alright, let me try to explain what this song is like.\\n\\nOne moment the vocals are speeding along harmlessly and closely resembling the mid 60's early rock scene. Then I believe I hear a slight influence of late 60's garage rock with the frantically and briefly played guitar riffs. Then for a split second I hear what definitely sounds like an early Hollies or Kinks interpretation before an Alice Cooper-like spooky atmospheric bit comes into the equation for a few moments, and then the song shifts into some kind of southern hoedown theme with fiddles (or something that resembles fiddles- not quite sure what musical instrument I'm hearing right there). For some really strange reason, this particular part of the song reminds me of early Roxy Music. Then to *truly* put the entire experience head and shoulders above everything else ever made (sort of like putting the sprinkles on a freshly baked cupcake) the song actually ends with a jazzy saxophone jam (a super melodic jam, in fact). Actually this sax jam reminds me of Roxy Music as well, more than the *other* Roxy Music-sounding part, haha. It's all so amazingly confusing!\\n\\nYes that's right! A *ton* of weird influences all jam-packed into one delightfully bizarre 4-minute song! And you know what? I honestly can't understand what the lyrics are about. Oh well, it doesn't matter. Not when a thousand OTHER things immediately catch my attention and capture my interest instead.\\n\\n\\\"Apocalytic Bore\\\" is probably influenced by the Hunky Dory days of David Bowie thanks to the simple nature of the songwriting, but that doesn't mean it's some kind of ripoff or anything. It's just as fascinating as anything Bowie or Mott the Hoople ever made. The vocals in particular soar to new emotional heights as the tension in the singers voice builds and builds. It's a VERY cool song. The guitar solo is really fascinating and far out as well. That's a fact, jack!\\n\\nAgain I ask, WHY isn't this album more well-known? So Britney Spears can release anything she wants, meanwhile an album like this fades away and nobody bothers to discover it. Just great.\",\n \"Product: 2002 CD reissue from the Wounded Bird label, originally released on LP in 1979.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: gamma gamma come on\\n\\nReview: This is where things might get a wee bit confusing. This isn't technically a Montrose album or... technically it is, haha! It's a Ronnie Montrose album which isn't the same thing as a Montrose album. I guess. Whatever. Maybe I'm in the minority but I was sort of expecting an instrumental album based on previous work. I figured Ronnie was continuing in that direction. Or if not entirely instrumental, a more serious direction with classical and/or soundtrack arrangements. But no, this is more rock-oriented.\\n\\n\\\"Fight to the Finish\\\" opens with some robotic Tangerine Dream-style keyboards and other sound effects that make you think you're trapped in a space ship and won't return home by dinner. Pretty soon a catchy guitar riff comes in. Afterwards the song shifts to a quiet tone which is unusual because I wasn't expecting that. The vocal melody starts off quietly and Foreigner-like when Davey Pattison raises his voice. Reminds me of Foreigner in both the vocals and generic lyrics. The chorus is even more generic but it's okay. But WHOA! Check out that guitar solo! Now that's really cool, especially since the tempo slows down and plods while some of the coolest guitar trickery this side of the Atlantic (and Pacific) plays. Makes it sound magically creepy.\\n\\n\\\"Razor King\\\" starts out sort of the same way- spacey sound effects and soft vocals. The pace gradually picks up with more Foreigner similarities. Not a big fan of the vocals which try to tell a story but it's not memorable enough to leave me satisfied, however the guitar solo in the middle sure is terrific! \\\"I'm a razor king that's what I am, you can look up to me now!\\\" is a nice lyric. I like the \\\"la la la\\\" part at the end combined with marching drums. \\\"No Tears\\\" has more bizarre synths. The vocals are fairly normal but the melody in this case is sadder and somewhat Bad Company-like during the \\\"When the sun comes up and wakes me in the morning\\\" part, and once again with the \\\"You'll never see a tear upon my face\\\" line. Nice guitar solo too- every note really registers and feels great. And whoa! There's one guitar line in particular near the end that's REALLY neat!\\n\\n\\\"Thunder & Lightning\\\" includes another Paul Rodgers-like vocal melody. The opening guitar playing totally screams 1979 but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Nice guitar solo in the middle but it's so short I feel cheated! This is mostly a vocal-dominated song. Paul's, er, Davey's vocals are really hidden in the back but the song plods along decently enough. \\\"Solar Heat\\\" takes a while to get going since it's all about preparing us for a spaceship tour. Then suddenly this magnificent guitar solo comes in, the intense likes of which has been mostly missing from the album. At least the guitar work hasn't been relentless yet. It's REALLY cool!\\n\\n\\\"Ready for Action\\\" has vocals that remind me of the guy from Budgie. This song has a fast-moving rhythm and crunchy guitar work. REALLY cool guitar solo too- makes me think I'm soaring high and beyond. No Foreigner connections here! What the? \\\"I'm Alive\\\" is a cover of a Hollies classic! Well I wasn't expecting that, haha. Davey sort of ruins certain parts by stretching out the soulfulness instead of letting a naturally catchy vocal melody take over, which is what I'm accustomed to. I'm referring to the \\\"I can touch, I can feel\\\" part. Oh well, still decent, and an interesting guitar solo makes up for any shortcomings.\\n\\n\\\"Wish I Was\\\" (oh whoooa oh oh, a wiiiiiild west, heeeeero!) Oh sorry wrong song, lol. Bonus points for anyone who can guess what song I'm singing there. Anyway the song opens with a really dreamy guitar solo strikingly similar to Pink Floyd's \\\"Comfortably Numb\\\". At least the guitar tone is similar. \\\"I wish I was a willow tree leaning on a lazy breeze\\\" is a beautiful line, but also somewhat creepy given the songs quiet tone. \\\"A grain of sand is all I ever wanted to be, lay me down and let the water wash right over me\\\" is a strange lyric. Turns out the lyrics are about the realization that nobody really gives a darn about us so it's best to just be something/somewhere else. Well then! Let's not get all depressing Davey and Ronnie! You guys are supposed to be rockers for goodness sake! Nice guitar solo at the end that doesn't sound like Pink Floyd anymore.\\n\\nOverall, well honestly Gamma has to be approached differently from the previous Montrose albums since the songwriting feels a bit more basic this time around and the band often disguises this with outer space keyboard sounds, but you know Montrose never really released two albums that sounded the same anyway so rock on.\",\n \"Product: England.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: dogs eatin' out of Jack's bowl\\n\\nReview: Wait a minute! My all-time favorite guitar player in John McLaughlin actually joined up with Jack Bruce to release a jazz album, and I didn't know about this until NOW (7 years after assuming I listened to most of McLaughlin's classic material whether solo or with the Mahavishnu Orchestra)? Well I'll be darned! This is *much* better than the disappointing Songs for a Tailor. Things We Like sounds like it's intended for those who appreciate McLaughlin's jazzier stuff with saxophone such as what he performed on Extrapolation.\\n\\n\\\"HCKHH Blues\\\" begins with some wonderful Gong-resembling saxophone work before shifting into a memorable fuzzy guitar solo. It's really adrenaline-rushing and extraordinary such as what one would expect from such a group of legendary musicians, but the song does tend to feel unfocused at times. McLaughlin is brilliant of course, but his guitar work here makes me think he was still in the beginning process of trying to find the right feel and wasn't able to come up with the right sequence of notes. The bass guitar solo afterwards is pretty good but it too feels a bit on the incomplete side. When the sax comes back in, it plays subtly and quietly for a little while before getting louder. Eventually it takes over the rest of the song. This feels more like a rough Colosseum song than a McLaughlin or Cream tune (and being a fan of Colosseum I'm certainly not complaining!) Something tells me Jon Hiseman had an influence here being a member of Colosseum and all.\\n\\n\\\"Ballad for Arthur\\\" is much moodier saxophone/bass-heavy jazz. It's also thankfully fairly melodic. Admittedly the song drifts off so peacefully around the 3-minute mark that I begin to lose my concentration, but it picks up again just as soon as the drumming, guitar and sax pick up in intensity a minute or so later. This still feels slightly aimless however. You can tell these guys love feeding off each other but sometimes the results are a bit strange/unfocused for the listeners. \\\"Statues\\\" opens with an ominous sax riff. When it turns into a more traditional jazzy piece with the bass and speedy rhythm, the melodic parts remain quite strong. I admit I'm sort of disappointed John McLaughlin isn't given more time to shine, but we can't have everything can we? No we can't! Otherwise we'd be spoiled rotten! Anyway this song gets eerier as it rolls along as the violin enters before shifting into the best bass part on the whole album with nice drumming to follow. Pretty good song.\\n\\n\\\"Sam Enchanted Dick\\\" opens with a rocking rhythm but done so in a jazzy way perhaps to give McLaughlin in particular time to develop his guitar skills. McLaughlin reaches within for some of that deep inspiration which reflects his splendid guitar jamming here and makes it comparable to the work he did with Miles Davis during the classic years. It's just a shame it ends too soon to allow a soft and somewhat unmemorable bass solo to appear. At least the sax solo at the end is really good. Not much different from \\\"Ballad for Arthur\\\" in terms of the saxophone playing but still really good.\\n\\n\\\"Born to Be Blue\\\" is well, more of the same. Honestly this is strikingly similar saxophone jamming to most of the stuff on the album, but perhaps more emphasis on a deeper mood. Listening carefully I really like the sax playing since the notes are pretty creative. For some reason when the background gets quiet so only the sax plays, I think of Lisa Simpson as she lets herself run away with the music and straight out of the music room, haha! \\\"Things We Like\\\" contains quite the catchy sax riff until it unfortunately moves into a speedy forgettable exchange of scrambled sax and guitar notes. \\\"Over the Cliff\\\" is actually the most forgettable song here. I'm sure these guys loved playing together, but in this case the music just isn't very appealing. The sax simply rushes across the rhythm unspectacularly and the bass is too short to accomplish much else.\\n\\nOverall Things We Like is strictly a jazz album. It's nothing like Cream, Mahavishnu Orchestra or Colosseum with respect to the musicians participating on this album. This is all about mood, boisterous saxophone, scrambling bits of guitar solos, and run of the mill bass. Still, highly enjoyable album for jazz lovers.\",\n \"Product: France.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: entertainment for the whole family... sorry had to say it!\\n\\nReview: After the extraordinary Music in a Doll's House album (one of the most underrated albums from the late 60's by the way) Family follows up that impressive offering with an album that seems to take away some of the pop and replace it with more rock and Procol Harum-style vocal melodies and instrumentation. This is actually a GREAT thing in my book. A natural progression in the life of a rock band.\\n\\n\\\"Weaver's Answer\\\" is a highly melodic (not to mention ANGRY) display of Chapman's Peter Gabriel-like vocals. I don't think Gabriel ever sang so direct and cold-heartedly though. A treasure of a song here.\\n\\nOther highlights include \\\"Second Generation Woman\\\" (yeah yeah, the song sounds like a Five Man Electrical Band throwaway number, I don't care- those vocals are melodic and enjoyable) and the utterly bizarre and fascinating \\\"Face in the Cloud\\\" with a sitar actually jamming in the background. The vocals closely resemble David Bowie from his \\\"Space Oddity\\\" song, and seeing as how both songs were both released the same year, I doubt this was a coincidence.\\n\\nThe album finishes up with perhaps the most emotionally devastating song I've ever heard- \\\"Emotions\\\". Ever think about your own family during a gathering, and the day seems so nice you wish it'd never come to an end?\\n\\nSo years later when you think upon those joyous times, you realize so much has changed in your life since that spectacular period in time that you only have the great memories to connect to that experience, and no matter how hard you want those days to return, they never will. They're gone forever. That's exactly why this song makes me shed some tears. It strikes me pretty darn hard. It gives off that powerful and somewhat negative feeling that a certain part of your life is gone forever. Maybe I'm alone with these thoughts.\\n\\nOverall, not quite as insanely melodic as Music in a Doll's House, but a great follow-up nonetheless, and a perfect album for Procol Harum fans. Also pick up Procol Harum's A Salty Dog for another incredible album with compositions written similarly to this one.\",\n \"Product: Reissue with Bonus Tracks and Extensive Liner Notes.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: weak by Family standards\\n\\nReview: ... doesn't necessarily mean Anyway is actually *weak*\\n\\nIt just means Anyway doesn't deliver with the consistently awesome songwriting that made the first few Family albums so dog on terrific.\\n\\nActually to be honest, making the album half live and half studio was a pretty poor idea on the part of the band members.\\n\\nThis is because the sound quality on the live side leaves me somewhat annoyed. Chapman is such a terrific singer and yet, not only is it hard to understand his words, it's actually hard to even hear his *vocal melodies*. Everything sounds so dated and muffled. Not very good.\\n\\nThe good news is that \\\"Good News Bad News\\\" is a pretty good song. The bad news is that it falls short in comparison to previous Family songs because the songwriting isn't good enough, and it definitely doesn't warrant being 8 minutes long.\\n\\n\\\"Willow Tree\\\" is an interesting track in that it took me SEVERAL listens to even remember a small part of it, haha. However it does improve with repeated listens and might possibly be my favorite of the live selections here. It's a beautifully sung jazzy melody.\\n\\n\\\"Holding the Compass\\\" contains another quality and heartfelt vocal melody from Roger Chapman. He's seriously one of the more underrated singers from the early 70's. The amount of emotion he expresses in each performance is quite spectacular, and that's one thing that elevates this entire album from what SHOULD be a 3 star rating, to a 4.\\n\\nOther tracks however, such as \\\"Strange Band\\\" and \\\"Anyway\\\", are clunky and uninspiring filler. There's nothing even remotely interesting about these particular songs if you ask me. \\\"Part of the Load\\\" is a good early 70's bluesy rocker.\\n\\nThe best song on the entire album is a toss-up between the beautiful violins on \\\"Normans\\\" and the lovely vocal melody on \\\"Lives and Ladies\\\". I honestly have a hard time choosing between these two amazingly good songs, so I won't pick which one is better. Too close to call.\\n\\nOverall, Family finally releases a semi disappointing album, so I recommend going with the previous albums by the band before delving into this one.\",\n \"Product: The Beatles-like pop-rock outfit's 1980 album features 9 tracks. Bullseye. 2003.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: not terrible- in fact, it's decent\\n\\nReview: Let me ask everyone a question. Do you like the Cars song \\\"Let's Go?\\\" Because about half of Endangered Species closely resembles that particular Cars track.\\n\\nThis, of course, presents an immediately noticeable problem that simply can't be ignored- what happened? What happened to Klaatu's ability to write a *diverse* set of songs? What happened to the obvious Beatles influence? The borderline genius pop songwriting abilities? A good portion of the album has been replaced with... a very typical and horribly dated collection of danceable 80's pop/rock that's only somewhat interesting and creative. A good bouncy pop/rock album perhaps, but nothing REALLY great.\\n\\nWell, many of us know the story with their record company, but it just so happened it turned out to be a VERY bad and costly decision for us, the mighty dedicated listeners. This album is *easily* much much worse than the previous three.\\n\\nThe stand out tracks to me are \\\"Howl at the Moon\\\" for sounding identical to Al Stewart and his \\\"Year of the Cat\\\" classic. Also \\\"Dog Star\\\" actually contains a really exciting new wave verse melody and chorus. This song is definitely pretty good. Oh, and \\\"Paranoia\\\" is another great one. It actually feels somewhat creatively written, and I like the lyrics.\\n\\nAlright you got me- I enjoy \\\"Knee Deep In Love\\\" because it's a catchy, heartfelt ballad similar to \\\"Dear Christine\\\". \\\"I Can't Help It\\\" is a very good early 80's Alan Parsons Project imitation if you ask me. It sounds remarkably similar to their popular hit \\\"Eye In the Sky\\\".\\n\\nThe rest of the songs are definitely severely dated early 80's new wave pop/rock that's relatively catchy, I admit, but also leaving me completely empty and unsatisfied as far as diversity and creativity goes. DO however, buy the first three Klaatu albums which represent the band in a much better light. However, if you must buy a Klaatu album from the 80's, this isn't a bad choice by any means. In fact the songs that aren't memorable are growing on me a little bit. It's just a disappointment in comparison to the total brilliance you experience from the first three albums Klaatu made.\",\n \"Product: 1st studio album from 1970 by these progressive hard rockers.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: stray away from me!\\n\\nReview: Nah, stick with me Stray. This is an example of a great forgotten classic. It slipped through the cracks obviously since hardly anyone has even heard of the band but believe me when I say THAT my friends is a major crime. If you value and appreciate good rock music, trust me, the moment you play this album you'll want to hear the entire thing! You won't want to take it out of your CD player for a long time!\\n\\n\\\"All In Your Mind\\\" begins this hard rock album on a high note. Energetic, high strung guitar riffs, raw guitar tone, uplifting vocals, chugging speedy pace... memorable stuff! Over the course of 9 minutes the song goes through many different guitar riffs all for the purpose of rocking out and continuing a frantic pace. \\\"Taking All the Good Things\\\" has an early Golden Earring vibe with the drums and the guitar playing in the beginning before shifting into a heavy riff-driven blues song. The lead singer reminds me of the guy from Captain Beyond or perhaps to name a really rare band, Fuzzy Duck.\\n\\nI figured a song with a title like \\\"Around the World in 80 Days\\\" would be a very fast-paced heavy rocker but believe it or not, no! This is actually more like a psychedelic tune you can picture a band like Khan doing (the band that released the criminally underrated Space Shanty album). The dreaminess of the piano work leading into a heavy Wild West-like guitar riff is a pretty fascination transition before the chorus kicks in. \\\"Together we will fly!\\\" *pounding bass work*. GREAT song! \\\"Time Machine\\\" also contains a psychedelic feel much like the previous song but this time in between the verse melody lies a VERY sludgy Black Sabbath-resembling guitar riff. Welcome to the sludge factory! Minus the guitar riff, this vocal melody could actually pass for a Magical Mystery Tour-period Beatles tune.\\n\\n\\\"Only What You Can Make It\\\" is all about fierce vocal work/guitar riffs and a sudden Canned Heat-style chugging guitar jam in the middle. I gotta admit, so far I'm REALLY impressed with the quality of the songwriting. I can actually remember every single note so far which is amazing. Alright perhaps not *every* single note- it's quite difficult to remember guitar solos note for note but there's really not that many guitar solos so far. \\\"Yesterday's Promises\\\" is mostly notable for the sudden \\\"One day some day\\\" line due to an eerie tempo change taking place at this particular moment. The brief guitar solo has a disturbing atmosphere but it's not long enough to really blow me to smithereens. \\\"Move On\\\" has some really nifty and melodic guitar tricks with cool drumming and I like the lead singers \\\"Ah! Ugh!\\\" vocal mannerisms, and I LOVE the groovy bass-driven jam in the middle with its jazzy guitar tone. The bass is seriously cool as heck or as the newer generation would say, this is chill man, CHILL!\\n\\n\\\"In Reverse/Some Say\\\" opens with a VERY familiar guitar riff! I know for a fact I've heard some other rock band from the late 60's/early 70's play a guitar riff strikingly similar to this one. After all the albums I've played over the years (and the memory loss which is getting progressively worse) I'll never be able to remember which song. Oh well, no need to mention it if I can't identify it, right? Anyway this song is all about several intense guitar riffs, magnificent solos, memorable vocals, and probably the best song on the album as far as simply rocking out and showing off the bands many top notch talents. The \\\"Some Say\\\" part is all about expressing excellent vocals. The quality of the songwriting and musicianship is so unbelievably high that I can't give this album a high enough rating!\\n\\n\\\"Change Your Mind\\\" is all about speed and rocking out with an amazing guitar solo. Seriously the guitar tone here resembles the legendary Jimi Hendrix. Another thing I absolutely love about this album is that it's just downright *fun* to listen to. That right there tells me the band loves what they're doing, or rather, loves what they *were* doing (since I highly doubt they're still together anymore). \\\"Change your mind oh baby!\\\" I like how the guitar playing refuses to let up and jams for a couple extra minutes. \\\"The Man Who Paints Pictures\\\" (that isn't me- I posses no drawing or painting abilities I'm afraid) has a really catchy guitar riff and exciting chorus... with handclaps! Like I said, these guys love having fun and making hard rock something that anyone with an open mind can enjoy. \\\"In the Night\\\" has vocals very similar to the playful late 60's years of the Hollies. \\\"Outcast\\\" kind of reminds me of the Hollies too- that is, a significantly guitar heavier version of the Hollies! Gotta love the chorus \\\"I'm just an outcast!\\\" with the chugging guitar riff. This version of \\\"All In Your Mind\\\" is decent but I prefer the one that opens the album since it's twice as long.\\n\\nWOW! I'm sorry guys but this album is a guaranteed hour long display of absolute satisfaction. Wait, why am I apologizing? Oh right, to all the millions of rock fans who were too busy listening to several other hard rock bands in the early 70's to appreciate what Stray was doing. That's right all you Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Mountain and Humble Pie fans (and hundreds of other rock band fans!) The production is incredible and really feels like this album should have made a bigger splash than it did. It was certainly recorded under the intention of major worldwide success. The superior songwriting to other hard rock bands puts Stray in a special category of underrated albums. Just wow. Make the situation right and listen to this album everyone!!!\",\n \"Product: UK remastered twofer combines both the British progressive rock act's albums, originally released in 1970 & 1971 respectively on the Vertigo 'Spiral' label, for the first time ever as a double CD. Gott Discs. 2004.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: you must buy the first album\\n\\nReview: Cressida is an interesting band from the early 70's. Sometimes they remind me of early Iron Butterfly, other times Steppenwolf, and sometimes even less popular bands such as Bloodrock and the Blues Image. Cressida's debut album is fantastic. I think if you're a fan of Justin Hayward from the Moody Blues, you will like the lead singers style. The band likes to include many of their songs with bouncy rhythm sections, which are understandably a bit strange at first, but gradually become more comfortable. Come to think of it, the lead singer also occasionally reminds me of the guy from Captain Beyond. The keyboard work is quite underrated as well- it's a pretty popular musical instrument throughout the album, and the swirls and twists that it offers are quite spectacular. I've never heard anything quite like it, in fact.\\n\\nI love this album. I don't want anyone to think I'm calling it a rip-off of other bands from all those comparisons I mention above when in fact, I really don't care if these guys were ripping off anyone or not- I just care about hearing good music, and that's exactly what this album offers. Solid, enjoyable songwriting and a beautiful sound to their music.\",\n \"Product: Originally released in 1995, now expanded from a single album to a double with previously unreleased material, remastered sound & improved packaging. DIsc two features 4 bonus tracks 'The Sky Moves Sideways' (Alt. Version), 'Stars Die', 'Moonloop' (Improvisation) & 'Moonloop' (Coda). Snapper. 2004.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: improvement over the other PT album I heard\\n\\nReview: \\\"The Sky Moves Sideways\\\", while not perfect by any means, ends up being a delight to listen to nonetheless.\\n\\nThe first flaw I notice right away is that the first part of this 30-minute monster sounds like a complete ripoff of a late 70's song called \\\"The Whale\\\" by Electric Light Orchestra from the Out of the Blue album.\\n\\nAfter that part is over, a tropical beach-like theme enters the picture for a split second before drifting into Pink Floyd-sounding guitar riffs that honestly give you the impression of waves splashing against the shore. Too bad those riffs sound stolen from the Dark Side of the Moon album.\\n\\nHere comes the vocal melody. It's quiet and moody, and probably ripped off from something, but I don't know what. Actually, it's pretty good, and the short solo that comes afterwards is decent enough to keep my attention. On repeated listens, it's an even better solo than I thought. Good job there.\\n\\nThen a really heavy instrumental jam appears next, which is shocking because the build-up doesn't make you think THIS is coming, and this part is pretty exciting, and the groovy part that comes after that is even better. This carries on for several minutes before a short flute solo appers and doesn't really add much of anything, to be honest.\\n\\nNow the band tries jamming with the flute added, and it's not working nearly as effectively this time, however. Probably because the flute keeps repeating the same few notes over and over behind a heavy rhythm section, and the boring drumming don't help matters either. The band tried to make it interesting by speeding up the drums but it doesn't work.\\n\\nWhat appears to be an acoustic guitar comes in next, and this is really average. Oh man, the entire song is starting to fall apart now. I guess this is what happens when you take yourself too seriously. They should have kept with the jamming theme and not progressed into a series of unmemorable bits.\\n\\nWell, after all THAT is over, at least the mellow part of this extremely long tune is pretty good. It's putting me in a state of ease. The beautiful mellow section eventually drifts relaxingly into a Genesis-sounding instrumental jam somewhere around the 20-25 minute mark, and it's pretty good too.\\n\\nOh well, overall, it's pretty decent.\",\n \"Product: England Dan & John Ford Coley were a pop duo from Austin, Texas. Dowdy Ferry Road was their second album, hitting #80 on the Billboard charts in 1977. It features the hit singles 'Gone Too Far' & 'It's Sad To Belong'. Wounded Bird. 2005.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: singin' some fine melodies\\n\\nReview: England Dan & John Ford Coley are starting to sound more elegant and professional on this album, so I guess commercial success did them good.\\n\\n\\\"Soldier In the Rain\\\" has strong Dan Fogelberg-like vocal similarities with pleasant orchestration. Not one of the strongest melodies in the world, but it's pretty soothing and enjoyable. \\\"The morning clouds are gathering around as I stand on the bridge of the river, years have gone since I was here and I wonder how I differ, taxi cabs keep rolling by and a blind man asks for change, and here I stand a soldier in the rain, coming home was all I thought of, seeing my family and friends, they say love knows no distance but the lonely never ends, and all along the dreams that possessed my heart never were to plain, and here I stand a soldier in the rain\\\". I like the way it speeds up during the part \\\"I remember years ago I had so many plans, now I watch the river flow time has brought me here with empty hands\\\". I like in the second half when the orchestration leads into a brief electric guitar before suddenly the pace picks up in a Kansas kind of way. Yup that's right, progressive rock baby- England Dan & John Ford Coley style! It's okay but nothing Kansas couldn't have done better. \\\"The morning clouds are gathering around and the streets are full of reflections, a traffic light and the moon's still bright, people going in different directions, I've thought about why I'm here it's just too hard to explain, so here I stand a soldier in the rain\\\". Meaningful lyrics that describe the feeling of coming home and discovering change while wondering how it was we got here. Overall the song's pretty good.\\n\\n\\\"Don't Feel That Way No More\\\" has a strong Gordon Lightfoot-like softly sung folk melody. \\\"I held her hands in the night, I told her everything would be alright, I searched her eyes for a sign to see if she was shining her love light, and she said \\\"I just don't feel that way no more\\\" and the way to my heart is a closed door, you can't revive what ain't alive that's for sure, and I could not lead you on anymore\\\". The great lyrics continue with this line- \\\"I could not breathe I could not speak and then I took a walk out in the air, I thought her love was mine to keep but her words kept on ringing in my ears\\\" and \\\"Many nights I was alone, then I learned to live here with the walls, and then one day she's on the phone telling me she loves me after all\\\". Isn't that always how it is? Women!\\n\\n\\\"You Know We Belong Together\\\" has gentle arrangements in the intro before the vocal melody comes in. Touching lyrics- \\\"There's no use in trying to hold back the sea, we're talking in circles about you and me, if we don't find an answer we'll both be alone, I just had to tell you before the feeling is gone\\\". The great lyrics continue- \\\"You say it's not easy it's work all the time, you've run out of reasons they're harder to find, but I was created to love only you, I'm feeling so helpless are you feeling it too?\\\" What makes this song GREAT is the uplifting chorus (\\\"You know we belong together, hearts bound in love forever, you know we belong together yes we do, me and you\\\"). Seriously that is one of the most uplifting choruses England Dan & John Ford Coley ever wrote! Not sure which artist it reminds me of either. Too many to name, but it's no ripoff.\\n\\n\\\"Dowdy Ferry Road\\\" is more of a country tune than the rest of the songs on the album. \\\"I remember when I was a child my daddy said to me, we want you to grow up son and lovin' your mom and me, but there's gonna be heard times when you're bound to feelin' low, and there's a place of jubilation where the ragged people go\\\". The way he sings \\\"ragged people gooooo\\\" reminds me of Frank Zappa for some reason, haha. I'm all alone in thinking that! \\\"It's over on a backroad, on the other side of town, in the quiet of the evening sometimes you can hear the sound, we'd all sit and listen and mamma would say \\\"Baby don't you know that's the poeple's jubilation on Dowdy Ferry Road\\\". The melody turns boisterous and danceable during the line \\\"They're singing it on the corner, dancing in the street, movin' to the music, swaying cheek to cheek, if you get the feeling you'll never want to go, you'll want to live forever on Dowdy Ferry Road\\\". It's a little of an awkward transition going from country to dance, but I love it anyway!\\n\\nIt takes until the closing song \\\"Holocaust\\\" to make me realize there's a subtle war theme going on throughout the album. This song begins atypically for England Dan & John Ford Coley with a really elaborate classical piece. There is a degree of sophistication that I didn't realize these guys would ever THINK about attempting and it's pretty good I must say. It's also haunting as you'd expect. The song shifts into a tender melody with the \\\"The time has come when all of us have to give something for the all of us, and we can turn back a holocaust and we can live and let live, everywhere it seems very clear there's a reason, a reason why we all are here, if we believe that the world is one, we can live and let live\\\". VERY good melody and lyrics. Alright so the lyrics are really simple and some might even say they're kind of cheesy but you know what? I prefer to think of the lyrics as completely honest. Oh and afterwards the orchestration plays quietly wiht the flutes. Really strong and touching stuff.\\n\\n\\\"It's Sad to Belong\\\" is a James Taylor-resembling example of honesty. \\\"I met you on a springtime day, you were minding your life and I was minding mine too, lady when you looked my way I had a strange sensation and darling that's when I knew, it's sad to belong to someone else when the right one comes along, and yes it's sad to belong to someone else when the right one comes along\\\". \\\"Oh I wake up in the night, and I reached beside me hoping you will be there, but instead I find someone, who believes in me when I said I'd always care\\\". This next lyric is amazing! \\\"So I lived my life in a dreamworld for the rest of my days, just you and me walking hand in hand in wishful memory, oh I guess that's all that it would ever be\\\". I do the same thing! And I agree 100% with the following line- \\\"Wish I had a time machine, I could make myself go back until the day I was born, and I would live my life again, and rearrange it so that I'll be yours from now on\\\". I admit the chorus is a bit weak though, but lyrically this song is top notch relatable stuff.\\n\\n\\\"Gone Too Far\\\" is a great example of honest 70's lyrics. \\\"How it all started I barely remember, a casual walk through the park in the winter, all that I wanted was someone I could talk to, it had to be you, the wind was cold we huddle together, looking back I should have known better, wasn't it me who said I'll never fall for anyone, and look what I've done\\\". The chorus is really good too- \\\"Gone too faaaaar I don't know how I did it, gone too faaaaar and I hate to admit it but I still spend my tiiiiiime thinking of you, gone too faaaaar there's nothing I can do now, gone too faaaaar it'll work out somehow but I spend all my tiiiiiime thinking of you\\\". \\\"Seems before I didn't know what was missing, maybe I did but I just wouldn't listen, wasn't it me who said I'll never fall for anyone and look what I've done\\\" is perhaps the best lyric.\\n\\n\\\"Love Is the One Thing We Hide\\\" opens in a really sad way with the violins and the lyrics \\\"Whirling and swirling through life's outer circles, we're moving along yearning and burning for love and affection, pretending we're strong and the only thing that we all need is wrapped up inside, why is it always that love is the one thing we hide\\\". Wow the orchestration really makes this song better, as does the piano. \\\"Dreaming and breathing alone in the darkness awaiting the light, concealing the feelings of helpless surroundings alone in the night when the only thing that we all need is wrapped up inside, why is it always that love is the one thing we hide\\\". The way the final line is sung \\\"Why is it always that love is the one thing we hide\\\" is sung different from the rest of the melody, but it's really good! \\\"And it's all along we go, though it's all along we know, there are strangers all around afraid to make a friend, afraid that it will end in pieces on the ground, though we're lonely we're so lonely\\\". This is the kind of melody you sing when you're alone and doing something around the house when you don't want others to know you love this type of music.\\n\\n\\\"Falling Stars\\\" opens beautifully with the keyboards. Vocals are a bit too quiet for my liking this time around and don't make much of an impression on me. \\\"\\\"Seems like this train's moving oh so slow, or maybe I'm just in a hurry, for hours I've sat in this chair alone, my eyes like the weather are blurry\\\". But then the pace picks up quickly with the line \\\"And I thought all the way about the things we had done, I hope I can help you remember\\\"... only to return to the quietness with the next line (\\\"That night after night when the sun had gone, we sat on the beaches counting the falling stars, stars, counting the falling stars\\\"). So frustrating! At least the quiet lyrics in the next line are really good (\\\"The rain and the cold must be hard for you, there's nothing here I would have traded and all of those things we were going through, would now all be gone if you'd waited\\\") Boisterous again for the line \\\"So most often I think about the times in the past I hope I can help you remember\\\" and quiet *again* for the line \\\"That night after night when the sun had gone, we sat on the beches counting the falling stars, stars, counting the falling stars\\\". Despite all this back and forth shifting from quietness to loudness, I enjoy this song quite a bit! Pretty awesome guitar solo at the end too- reminds me of Bob Seger's \\\"Mainstreet\\\".\\n\\n\\\"Where Do I Go From Here\\\" opens in a VERY sad way with the... what is that? A guitar? Not sure. But the orchestration in the background makes it better. \\\"Autumn days like lying on a bed of leaves, watching clouds up through the trees, you said our love was more than time, but it's colder now, the trees are bare and the nights are long, I can't get warm since you've been gone, and I can't stop singing sad songs\\\". What a splendid simplistic melody. \\\"Where do I go from here? Tell me where do I go from here? You said you'd take me through the years, so where do we go from here?\\\" is a predictably written chorus in a Barry Manilow style. \\\"Lovers plans like falling leaves on windy days, flutter past and then fly away, I thought I know you oh so well, and I need you now, I need to feel you in the night, I need you smiling so warm and bright, I wish my mind could let you go\\\". I don't know, the chorus doesn't appeal to me much but the verse melody I just LOVE despite resembling countless other tender songs of the 70's.\\n\\nOverall this is a pretty good album, but to be honest England Dan & John Ford Coley were probably better when they were focusing on folk rock, however an album of mostly love songs is a splendid idea too because the songwriting is quite strong. Highly recommended.\",\n \"Product: This title was NEVER authorized for release on CD in ANY country ever. All "Back In '72" CDs are simply BOOTLEGS. Just don't get duped by dishonest sellers who claim something otherwise.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: back in '72 when the music flowed just right\\n\\nReview: \\\"I've Got Time\\\" opens in such a lovely way with the flutes and innocent vibes. Feel those soft vibes! \\\"I was born at the break of dawn, in the last days of the last great war, my father was not in the fighting, and my mother never had to mourn, I was raised raised and taught to hurry, I've been hurrying and worrying all my days, but now as I'm getting older I think I'm learning how to run the race\\\" is sung in such a pretty way. This song is uncharacteristic of Bob Seger's usual style. Then again Bob Seger is more diverse than people realize so perhaps I shouldn't be saying such a thing! This song is totally early 70's though- just the way the guitar and keyboards play indicates that particular special period.\\n\\n\\\"Turn the Page\\\" is a classic and for good reason. The smoky barroom vibes are REALLY amazing. There's a reason classic rock radio has never retired this song from their playlist- it never gets boring. I sort of compare the smoky late night vibes to Billy Joel's \\\"Piano Man\\\" except I envision the Billy Joel song taking place in a city club bar whereas the Seger song takes place.... hmmm... let me think. Somewhere in the southwest desert. A small tavern in the middle of nowhere. I can totally picture Bob standing on stage singing this song, nearly drifting asleep in an attempt to get people's attention but the audience is so wasted after a day of heavy drinking they can't get into it or hear its genius.\\n\\nHere's a funny story. Perhaps I shouldn't say funny. It's not really humorous and I feel bad for the guy. Let me explain. One time in the 80's my dad's friend broke up with his girlfriend and got depressed about it, so he drove around the neighborhood late at night with my dad sitting in the passengers seat playing \\\"Turn the Page\\\" over and over for two hours because the mood just felt right for the poor guy. I think this left a permanent impression on my dad about the song and he probably enjoys it less now as a result. I feel sorry for my dad having to persevere that night, but honestly he was there for the guy in his time of need.\\n\\nOh and one more thing- as much as people try convincing me Metallica's version is superior.... no, not even close. James Hetfield doesn't have the same type of range as Seger and plus Hetfield's voice just isn't as good. Perhaps just as importantly Metallica's version lacks atmosphere. It's a huge drop in quality compared to Bob Seger's version if you ask me. But what do I know! Most disagree with me bizarrely enough.\\n\\n\\\"I've Been Working\\\" opens with a dated funky rhythm, but it's really enjoyable. This song has a Joe Cocker way about it in the vocals. If Joe Cocker was into jazz, this would totally imitate his style. I love the way Bob sings \\\"I've been grinding for so long!\\\" and the \\\"Woman woman woman!\\\" part. Great extended guitar solo too. Strange, but the guitar solo sounds remarkably similar to the stuff Peter Gabriel was doing with Genesis at the time. \\\"Rosalie\\\" has a more commercial feel to it with its steady blues/rock pace. I like the addition of the female vocals- they come in and sing along to the main melody. Honestly without the female vocals this song would probably feel average. They're necessary! At first I didn't think I'd like this song, but it's actually pretty good.\\n\\n\\\"Neon Sky\\\" opens mysteriously with more hazy and dreary \\\"Turn the Page\\\" vibes capturing the feeling of someone riding down a lonely highway towards a city (or away from a city). \\\"Through the windy field of another land, I've seen your face girl I have held your hand, though I should be there, with you there today, the neon sky knows that I must stay\\\" is a nice line. \\\"On a dusty stage many years ago, I chose my road still I hope you know, that there'll come a day with the neon sky, when we'll walk into the sun, you and I\\\" is another good line. This song is based on a simple melody but it works.\\n\\n\\\"Back in '72\\\" is a blues rocker with vocals that don't really appeal to me. Sometimes, or rather a lot of times, I don't think Bob's voice gels particularly well with this type of rock and roll. It's a nagging feeling in the back of my mind that he should have avoided blues rock altogether because this song is another indication that blues and Seger's vocals are a recipe of sounding flat and somewhat irritating to me. Not only does his voice not feel like it works well with this style, but I'm also a little angry he never continued with the psychedelic stuff from his Bob Seger System albums. Those were some great albums! His vocal work on those early albums is staggeringly good.\\n\\n\\\"So I Wrote You a Song\\\" is a short piano ballad. Bob elevates his voice in a way that's different from usual whenever he sings the line \\\"So I wrote you a song!\\\" There's also same unusual tempo changes going on too. However I love this song and the line \\\"I woke up with this feeling, haven't felt it for quite some time\\\". I can picture Chicago writing a song like this. Bob's version of \\\"Midnight Rider\\\" is much different from the familiar version we all love. This is because Bob gives it a much faster boogie rock flavor. This unfortunately means it's *nowhere* as atmospheric as the Allman Brothers version. Bob has an amazing voice but he doesn't feel the need to use it very well here, and while I admire a cover song that drastically separates itself from the original, this is just weird. \\\"Stealer\\\" is cool based on the ZZ Top style of funkiness it has. Bob even imitates Billy Gibbons. Really cool tune and brief guitar solo.\\n\\nWell Back In '72 is probably where Bob Seger started down his commercial path (for better or worse... personally I feel for the worse). Still the album is memorable enough that I can recommend it. It's not special like the Bob Seger System albums, and it's not emotional like Brand New Morning either. Instead it shows a musician on the verge of major success. Some creative ideas that work and others that don't work so good.\",\n \"Product: Refugee was seen by the British music press at least as an attempt to revive the legendary British progressive rock band The Nice. While two thirds of The Nice (Lee Jackson and Brian Davison) were involved in Refugee the addition of Swiss born keyboard virtuoso Patrick Moraz ensured that the project whilst having the progressive ideals of The Nice was in fact something altogether different. The album has been re mastered for this release and will certainly be of interest to the large and dedicated Patrick Moraz fan base and also of interest to Yes fans through Patrick's membership of the band and lovers of progressive rock music.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: progressive rock at its finest... once again!\\n\\nReview: This Refugee album is a forgotten 51-ride of awesomeness. Thank you W. Sheppard for once again recommending another fantastic prog masterpiece!\\n\\nAfter spending 6 weeks picking an infected ingrown toenail and experiencing fevers and other unpleasant symptoms, it finally healed (I think... I could be in pain again tomorrow) however none of that changes the fact that for tonight at least, I'm ready to get back into the swing of my favorite thing ever- music!\\n\\n\\\"Credo\\\" is amazing in all kinds of hard to explain words... but I'll try to piece together something readable. I really think Patrick Moraz of Yes fame steals the spotlight with his unbelievably diverse range of piano playing. The first 3 minutes of this suite for example, he shifts from \\\"Take a Pebble\\\"-like (Emerson, Lake & Palmer song in case you don't know) classical inspired piano work that feels majestic one moment, then romantic the next to... medieval. Several sudden, astonishing mood shifts and this is all just in the first 3 minutes! Not even Willy Wonka can dazzle your imagination more creatively, haha. Simply put, the man (Patrick Moraz) is as good as advertised. The organ solo later on is perhaps another noticeable ELP comparison but it's wonderful all the same.\\n\\nThe vocals come in and... well Lee Jackson *does* sort of resemble Peter Gabriel around the Lamb Lies Down On Broadway-era but... anyone with the last name Jackson has to be pretty decent. Just has to be! Oh but a quick google search shows that the popular Genesis album came out at the end of 1974, whereas this Refugee album came out in March of the same year. Hmmm... well then, forget that silly comparison! Anyway the vocal melody is really strange. The first set of vocals has a really embarrassing line about children believing in Santa Claus (true story- I learned that Santa wasn't real in a grocery store much to the delightful facial expression of a woman who overheard me talking to my mom about it, hehe) but it then turns really tearful and sincere later on. I almost cry even- it's *that* emotional. I'm trying to think what kind of setting would be appropriate to play a song like this. How about walking down a city sidewalk on a dreary rainy day and arriving to a dusty-scented home? Sort of, hehe.\\n\\nMan, the piano playing throughout this piece is just *awesome*. Patrick Moraz is so darn talented it's not even funny. After those hard to forget devastating vocals, the song shifts into a fast-paced piano jam that's certainly bizarre and almost circus-like in spots! Or just epic. Already I'm a big fan of this entire album seriously. After a familiar vocal melody, now a really funky and frantically performed piano jam appears. Now you have my attention young man! Actually you had it all along, hehe. The Epyptian Pierre Moerlen Gong-like part one minute before the songs conclusion is strange. Of course there's a TON of strange things going on here! Wow is this ever a fantastic suite.\\n\\n\\\"Grand Canyon Suite\\\" begins with some rather vivid and colorful arrangements that'll make you swear you've just opened the window to heaven as birds fly from the delicate orchids, the sunlight shines with just the right amount of warmth to keep you cozy, and the mountain on which you're sitting on top of is tall enough to clearly see all the wonderful sights (such as lands and villages) below. I'm not giving the intro the credit it deserves however- it's incredibly powerful. I love it. 5 minutes later, and I'm convinced no other progressive rock band attempted whatever thing of absolute beauty Refugee is performing here. The imagery you'll experience is picture perfect. The mellotrons are *amazingly* imaginative. Of all the bands that uesd mellotrons in the 70's, this might be one of the best examples ever. A couple minutes later we hear a piano solo and another Peter Gabriel-like vocal melody. The organs in the background give it a \\\"The Musical Box\\\" type feel (Genesis song). Just a *little* bit however. Otherwise the two songs are two separate worlds! Fantastic vocal melody too. \\\"Flyyyyy through the canyon on a dream\\\".\\n\\nAfter this, the song does something I can't say I've ever heard before- it alternates between drums and organs in a way that's just plain *odd*. Then... I know, you're going to hate me for bringing this up again, but the keyboard work is totally similar to the final part of Genesis' \\\"Watcher of the Skies\\\". It's brief so it's only worth mentioning- not worth dwelling on. The second half really isn't as appealing as the first half since the song switches to a repetitive keyboard melody that's probably going for grand scale epicness, but falls a tad short. \\\"Grand Canyon Suite\\\" is a masterpiece anyway. I gotta be honest though- this song makes the Grand Canyon seem like the most adventurous place on earth. Unfortunately actually going to the Grand Canyon is sort of boring I'm afraid.\\n\\n\\\"Papillion\\\" is somewhat sloppy though I admit I might be misinterpreting sloppiness for strange insect-multiplying atmosphere, but the keyboard portions are magnificent. Patrick Moraz you are a genius! \\\"Someday\\\" is a great cover of the Diana Ross classic... not! Just reminded me I haven't heard the Diana Ross song of the same name in years. Anyway this isn't one of the more appealing songs here but I actually really like it anyway. Initially the vocals sound rushed due to the awkward way it's written. Reminds me of a Todd Rundgren-type experiment. Good song either way, especially the inspiring lyrics. Mitt Romney, er, \\\"Ritt Mickley\\\" begins with an eerie synthesizer solo and drums. I LOVE the keyboard part at the 2:20 through 2:50 mark. Is that cool or what? The synth jam at the end is pretty groovy too. For a moment it even turns Mahavishnu Orchestra-like. Oh but *smacks metal ruler against desk* that AWESOME keyboard melody returns!\\n\\nGotta love the album cover too- the guy on the left looks like Danny Masterson (Hyde from That 70's Show) and the guy in the middle resembles a smiling and confident Dennis Miller. Who knows who the right guy resembles. He's handsome too! Anyway, pick up this Refugee album as soon as you can. You'll be rewarded, trust me.\",\n \"Product: 2006 issued digitally remastered edition of Hammill's third solo album that was originally released in 1974. The original 7 tracks have been augmented with three more that didn't appear on the original LP issue: \\\"Emperor in His War Room\\\", \\\"Faint Heart & the Sermon\\\" and \\\"(No More) the Sub Mariner\\\".\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: another Peter Hammill album, and this time the results aren't too impressive\\n\\nReview: I'm not entirely sure what to think about In Camera, but one thing is definitely for sure- without a shadow of a doubt, there's tons of filler all over the place.\\n\\nThe entire second half of \\\"Gog/Magog (In Bromine Chambers)\\\" is completely pointless, in fact. Just some uninspiring and incredibly dated sound effects that take up the entire second half of the 17-minute suite. It's REALLY boring too. I just can't get into the second half no matter how much effort I put into it, however, the first half contains a pretty spooky vocal melody and background arrangements that resemble the oddest of Van Der Graaf Generator tracks (from Pawn Hearts in particular). I believe that's a harmonium dominating a good chunk of the first half.\\n\\nExperimentation was in high order during the first half of \\\"Gog/Magog (In Bromise Chambers)\\\", and it's quite memorable as a result. Of course, in all actuality, the vocal melody itself is pretty bland and relatively cheesy and reminiscent of a terrribly dated horror film. It's nothing that wasn't better utilized on a Van Der Graaf Generator album, that's for sure. It's enjoyable nonetheless. I wish the second had never been laid down on tape, though.\\n\\n\\\"The Comet, the Course, the Tail\\\" is fairly bland because musically there's nothing particularly memorable about it. Lyrically it's passable though. From a musical point of view, the vocal melody drags and the listener quickly discovers how repetitive it is. \\\"Faint Heart and the Sermon\\\" is probably the most melodically pleasing song on the entire album, but it's nothing compared to the best (or even worst, for that matter) Van Der Graaf Generator material. This is yet another song from In Camera that strikes me as being incredibly fake for the most part, and by \\\"fake\\\" I mean, from an emotional point of view, it leaves me completely empty because it doesn't feel believable enough. Peter Hammill is a LOT better than this.\\n\\n\\\"(No More) The Sub-Mariner\\\" has a dramatic and somewhat enticing vocal melody, but it sort of misses the mark in a few key areas, such as making me lose interest after only two minutes in which is certainly uncharacteristic of a Peter Hammill song. I almost never become bored but in this case, the song is easily a couple minutes overlong. \\\"Ferret & Featherhead\\\" has a pretty enough vocal melody but... eh. I've heard better. \\\"Again\\\" is only noteworthy for its depressing atmosphere.\\n\\nHonestly, In Camera is mediocre for a good portion of its running time. A lot of the arrangements are cheesy in a Uriah Heep kind of way, the vocal melodies are disappointing for the most part because Peter Hammill doesn't seem like he cares enough to make them particularly interesting, and for the most part the entire album feels completely devoid of Hammill's trademark emotional side and especially devoid of exciting musical ideas. I need interesting songwriting, and I'm not getting it with In Camera. Oh well, check out the Silent Corner & the Empty Stage instead.\\n\\nSo why the high rating? I'm giving it 4 stars out of 5 after all. Well, because the more I listen to In Camera the more it grows on me, though it's an extremely slow and aggravatingly grueling process. This is because Peter Hammill's vocal melodies aren't jumping out to me like usual. However I believe the melodies are definitely *there*. It's just taking a while to find them. I strongly believe the day will come when I'm eventually able to give in completely and give the album a perfect 5 stars. For now though, realizing I haven't yet reached that point where I can fully comprehend the enormous scope that In Camera presents... it shall remain a 4-star rating.\",\n \"Product: Al's first album from 1967, never available on CD by itself anywhere in the world! And our reissue includes all the tracks from both versions of the album release. The bonus tracks, meanwhile, are killer: 'Go Your Way', a track from Al's first-ever recording session in 1965, only three acetates of which are known to exist, and 'My Contemporaries', a hilarious, unreleased send-up of the Who's 'My Generation'!\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: the start of al\\n\\nReview: Al Stewart's very first album is rather quiet in the sense that it's overlooked by most, but also that it shows the beginning stages of a soon to be great musician. That doesn't mean it's crucial by any means- just intended for those interested in the early Al stuff.\\n\\n\\\"Beleeka Doodle Day\\\" is the only lengthy song on Bedsitter Images, which basically means it's the only song on the album that can possibly contain a fully developed story. Unfortunately it doesn't really tell much of a story. \\\"A pterodactyl built its nest on me, I'm feeling strange but quite okay on this beleeka doodle day\\\" reminds me of how *I* feel, haha. I feel strange because I don't know how to take this album. I usually identify Al Stewart as a vocal melody genius but in this case, the melody is pretty standard and doesn't hit me on an emotional level like most of Al's melodies do. \\\"I had a week once in Italy with Mike and Robin and some songs, I had a girl once in Sweden but I haven't seen her for too long\\\". These two lines are memorable because Al Stewart's music often makes me think of Italy based on his singing style (usually picturing myself in an Italian art museum if you want me to be precise, heh) and Al Stewart always sings about girls and past relationships. Otherwise the melody is just okay, and 7 minutes is a bit much for a story that doesn't blow me away and reach Al's usual high standards. Odd how loud the drumming is to compliment mild acoustic guitar.\\n\\n\\\"Samuel, Oh How You've Changed\\\" is a Gordon Lightfoot-like devastatingly playful tune that reminds me of my youth. Usually Al Stewart never resembles Gordon Lightfoot since one's Canadian and the other's British, but on this album, curiously enough he sometimes does. \\\"I've been too long on the floor, I can't stay here anymore so Jenny won't you please take me home\\\" sounds so innocent and beautiful. \\\"And a million voices cry as I walk across the sky\\\" is a good line. \\\"Ivich\\\" opens with some Middle Eastern-resembling acoustic guitar playing. Al had a little bit of an obsession with acoustic instrumental music on his first two or three albums. Not sure why. Perhaps he wasn't confident in his vocal melody or lyric writing skills, or maybe the record company thought it'd be better to include some instrumentals from time to time. Or maybe he just had a fascination with his guitar. Anyway this song's pretty memorable and somewhat haunting.\\n\\n\\\"Swiss Cottage Manoeuvres\\\" open like a National Anthem on Christmas morning, so rise and shine and salute! Well the vocals come in and it *is* a story that takes place on a Christmas day with gentle swirling acoustic guitar lines occurring in the background. A song about Al and a girl he fancies hitting off a relationship that begins innocently enough as a friendship. I notice Al likes to pay close attention to the mannerisms of women. I guess all guys (including me) do the same thing since we have a fascination with women and strongly desire to figure out what they're like and try to understand them, so I can't really blame the guy. We just can't keep our attraction for women in check! \\\"I could see myself nailed to a dormitory tail of a holiday night's escapade, just yesterday she seemed like a woman to me. And so like a child with the sleep in her eyes, where the sadness of age had once been, she left on the train with a \\\"See you again\\\" and a smile\\\". This song is so whimsical and even David Bowie-like in some of the low-pitched notes that Al hits. \\\"But when I'm alone I just think about her once in a while\\\". In comes the trumpets! I like this song a lot. Really pretty atmosphere.\\n\\n\\\"Pretty Golden Hair\\\" is exceptionally playful. Hmmm, this seems to be a theme. I shouldn't be surprised at all because several artists such as David Bowie, the Moody Blues, Cat Stevens, Van Der Graaf Generator and others started off writing shorter/more simplistic songs early in their careers before they found their forte. \\\"For I believe my fortune's waiting there, so like an eager cutting knife he plunged in a new life\\\" is my favorite line. \\\"Ah the days soon grew thin and the boredom fast set in, his job was thrown away without a care, for a man who said you'll earn twice as much instead\\\" is another good line. The horns feel out of place and don't blend in well with the delicate orchestration. Just my opinion at least. I enjoy the vocal melody a lot though. \\\"A Long Way Down From Stephanie\\\" is somewhat forgettable because the melody is really slow and lyrically it isn't much of an improvement either. I enjoy the harpsichord of course (at least I *think* that's a harpsichord! Would be embarrassing if it's not!)\\n\\n\\\"Denise at 16\\\" with its light acoustic guitar is pretty, but nothing to write home about either. I've heard better guitar instrumentals from Al Stewart alone. Possibly his worst one but again, it's okay. The title song speeds along with element of playfulness and memories of being a child sorting through a toy box in the play room. It's honestly a bit odd that a grown man would write lyrics that pertain to being a child so often. It's borderline obsessive! Perhaps it wouldn't come across so strange if he was singing about himself, but he usually makes it sound like he's singing for *any* child. It either means Bedsitter Images is intended for children or Al Stewart can't let go of his childhood (or he's obsessed with kids). Hey not that I can blame him. I can't let go of my childhood sometimes either. You know a lot of times when I drift to sleep, I get extremely nostalgic. I can't explain what's causing this to happen. It's like going to sleep is, according to my brain, the same thing as drifting back in time. Strange I know. Anyway this is a pretty good song. Sorry for getting sidetracked! \\\"Then alone in my room I must stay or lose or win, while these wild bedsitter images come to hem me in\\\".\\n\\n\\\"Cleave to Me\\\" is more playful orchestration, a theme that's really strong throughout the album. This is really strange but one time my dad's girlfriend left a game on my computer of um, that one extremely popular facebook game (seriously I don't play those games so I wouldn't know these things- I play Nintendo and Sony games) and when I turned the volume up the music closely resembled some of the classical arrangements of \\\"Cleave to Me\\\". Al starts singing a couple minutes in but why bother? This was better at just being an instrumental. \\\"Scandinavian Girl\\\" sounds like a western with the orchestration in the beginning before shifting into a steady-paced country song of sorts. Hmmm, Al attempting country. That's interesting! For some bizarre reason certain parts of the vocal melody remind me of the Beatles \\\"With a Little Help From My Friends\\\". \\\"The Carmichaels\\\" has lyrics about a man who can never love his wife enough so he gives her whatever she wants (or whatever he thinks she deserves).\\n\\nAl Stewart's very first album is pretty darn good. It's about what I expected though. A pretty good album but not a stellar one. I still recommend it but you know that's easy for me to say- I'm a big fan of Al Stewart's music. The man can do no wrong in my eyes! Well then again some of his newer stuff is less than interesting but most people don't think he ever lost a step so don't take my word for it. But Bedsitter Stories is deserving of your purchase. Go on, purchase it! I'll wait right here while you do. I actually probably *will* be waiting pathetically enough, lol.\\n\\nWait I'm not done this review! I forgot to mention the bonus track. Snap snap right? Okay! \\\"Clifton In the Rain\\\" sounds more serious than the above stuff since the orchestration has been stripped so it's just guitar and vocals. Al loves to take his woman to Clifton, but I don't even know where that is. I've heard of Cliff Town- that's a level in a Spyro the Dragon video game, but Clifton? \\\"Lover Man\\\" sounds sort of incomplete but snappy with the two-note piano lines. Lovely guitar too. \\\"Hey come tell me why your primroses are green\\\" is a line that stands out to me because I've never seen green primroses! You can go your own way, don't go our way... oops, wrong song! \\\"Go Your Way\\\" is a short country song. Al uses a silly fake country voice with speedy guitar strumming and it's all completely unnecessary because he's not a country singer, so he ends up sounding like the lead singer of the Incredible String Band. Now this review is done. Peace out everyone!\",\n \"Product: Released in 1970, Zero She Flies featured Trevor Lucas of Fairport Convention, and has never been available by itself on CD anywhere in the world. The bonus tracks 'Stormy Night', an unreleased track recorded with Peter White; 'News from Spain', a remix/edit of a track from the Orange album previously available only on an import, and 'Lyke-Wake Dirge', an unreleased, classic folk song featuring Mimi Farina on vocals!\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: flying away with Al's head in the clouds\\n\\nReview: An early effort by Al Stewart. Zero She Flies is one of those albums I'd NEVER have discovered without the internet and I'm sure glad I did. I absolutely love it. Al Stewart could do no wrong in the 60's and 70's (well the 70's at least- haven't heard one of his 60's albums yet).\\n\\nThe title song is all about guitar strumming. \\\"She has no lies to tell you and no truths to sell you\\\" is a good line. \\\"And Zero she flies is the morning sighs, spreads her wings like a seagull, from the mountain he watches her biding his time, but his eyes are the eyes of an eagle\\\" is a really memorable, mystical and creative vocal melody. Still there's a feeling of undeveloped songwriting here but you know, that's to be expected. I never would've thought Al Stewart would've done mastered his brand of folk/rock songwriting talents in the early days. Who'd think such a silly thing! It just seems like there's no weak lyrical content anywhere on this adventurous song. This song also has good electric guitar soloing occasionally too. Still, excellent song.\\n\\n\\\"Burbling\\\" has really wilderness-like acoustic guitar. That's all there is really though. Somewhat repetitive, but otherwise great instrumental. \\\"My Enemies Have Sweet Voice\\\" (heh, funny title for a song! Makes me think about tuning out all the people who get under my skin!) has a groovy bass guitar in the beginning with blues harmonica to follow. This song reminds me of sneaking out late at night to the bar and having fun, which is probably evident by some of the lyrics early on. The tone of this song is quite detective-like, like a mystery interpretation through a song and dance, but it's actually Al's playful take on blocking out the bad voices that distract him. At least that's what I think. Don't let anyone get you down! The melodic harmonica soloing is REALLY melodic too and takes up a lengthy period in the middle. \\\"I was jumping to conclusions and one of them jumped back!\\\" is a funny line.\\n\\n\\\"Manuscript\\\" opens with nice acoustic guitar. An eerie mood shift occurs right when Al sings \\\"And my grandmother sits on the beach in the days before the war, young girl writing her diary while time seems to pause\\\". Then eerie again when it repeats a minute later with \\\"And my grandmothers sits before the mirror in the days before the war, smiling a secret smile as she goes to the door\\\". The song then gets really creepy. I'd expect no less since the song's about going off to war (well that's one part of it at least- not sure what the bigger message is). This song feels playful one moment, and really eerie the next. Not sure what to make of it. It contains intelligent storytelling lyrics with lovely orchestration showing that Al would go on to do bigger things in the near future. \\\"News From Spain\\\" has sparkling drum work interestingly enough, but of course the downbeat acoustic guitar and Procol Harum-sounding piano and keyboard work is the most notable aspect of the song because it's just some of the creepiest and dreariest stuff imaginable, haha. Al Stewart really went the distance to give this stuff a powerful edge!\\n\\n\\\"Gethsemane, Again\\\" reminds me of Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull. Not exactly a big stretch there huh, because a LOT of Al Stewart songs sound like Jethro Tull. They share similar voices and even occasionally share similar vocal-stretching techniques. This is more of a straight forward Irish folk song with religious lyrics. It's really sad though, especially the line about Jesus crying in the rain which makes a return at the end of each section. I like the lyrics- \\\"Oh the flowers hushed the air as the columns advanced, to the clinking of coins in a ritual dance, on flagstones that ached for a chance of a chance, of escaping\\\" and perhaps even better- \\\"And the mystical statues looked down so depressed, at the endless possessors becoming possessed, and the costumed confessors who never confessed, to the wall\\\". Really sad and melancholy lyrics, but also quite poetic and beautiful in another respect. I can't think of anything more to say about it because it's intelligently written and I'd just be writing out most of the lines. A REALLY extraordinary song no matter how you look at it. \\\"Room of Roots\\\" is another acoustic guitar instrumental. Who knows, maybe Al was listening to too much \\\"Classical Gas\\\" (the Mason Williams instrumental classic). I guess this is slightly unfocused but it leaves an impression on me since the notes are for the most part memorable, so count me happy.\\n\\n\\\"Lyke-Wake Dirge\\\" opens with a children's choir before turning into a moody ballad with some of the dreariest piano playing ever. It's another religious song where Al takes his voice to a different, more serious level. He sounds absolutely crazy on this song. The drumming is quite powerful too- wasn't expecting the drums to move me! But this is all about Al's voice. He could move the universe with a voice like that. It's stunning really. \\\"A Small Fruit Song\\\" is filler perhaps. This time the acoustic guitar jams more in an inspiring and neat kind of way. The brief vocals where Al pretends that two fruits are talking to each other is... LOL! Al's being funny here obviously. Actually this is somewhat amusingly coincidental because I had a grapefruit story a few weeks ago that was just WAY too silly! I was pretending one of them was the general or colonel of an army, and he had to rally his troops (the other grapefruits sitting on the counter) on an imaginary war against the lemons and kiwis who took over the orange groves. So I guess I too have my silly moments! I usually try to keep them to myself... well until now, lol.\\n\\n\\\"Electric Los Angeles Sunset\\\" is a sad story about a man who gets shot in the head and the ambulance/cops come. Wow wasn't expecting THIS kind of brutal imagery! I figured it'd be something more creative and beautiful about admiring a sunset but well, I guess Al might be telling us something more here. Maybe he had a bad trip to LA and this is his personal experience. Yikes! Love how the atmosphere changes during the \\\"Cadillacs roll through the smoggy perfume, the buildings are choking on oxygen fumes\\\" which seems sort of accurate. Unintentional perhaps, but the frantic pace reminds me of Jimi Hendrix \\\"All Along the Watchtower\\\". \\\"Stormy Night\\\" is awesome for the way it captures the feeling of either being far away from home or missing someone you once knew. \\\"Stormy night, lonely days\\\". This guy seriously has a GREAT knack for writing spectacular vocal melodies because this one's brilliant. \\\"I thought I saw you a long time ago, down by the sea\\\" is a great line.\\n\\nFinishing the review with a couple shorties for ya. \\\"Anna\\\" has acoustic guitar lines a lot like Jim Croce's \\\"Time In a Bottle\\\". That makes it instantly awesome! Lyrics are depressing too about being on your own. \\\"Black Hill\\\" is more of the same but more uplifting. It's odd that a few of the shorter songs here act like they're going to be guitar instrumentals until Al suddenly decides to throw in vocal melodies at the end. Probably part of the unfocused/unsure early days of a mighty fine musician in Al Stewart. Overall Zero She Flies is criminally underrated and a must have for Al Stewart fans!\",\n \"Product: This double-album expressed its turbulent (1969) times with a tribute to Martin Luther King, and its artistic times with three long instrumental jams on sides three and four. Collector's Choice. 2007.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: freedom never sounded so beautiful\\n\\nReview: My oh my, experimentation on this album with a few lengthy tunes near the end. A surprising move on the part of the Rascals.\\n\\n\\\"America the Beautiful\\\" begins the album on an orchestrated note. This is a very patriotic tune with military style drumming and a shift into country rock shortly after. \\\"If we lose the war in poverty than America's not beautiful\\\" is a strange but honest line! The band tries to implement \\\"My Country 'Tis of Thee\\\" in one spot using orchestration and altering the melody slightly but I'm not too crazy about it. Not one of the better songs here. \\\"Me and My Friends\\\" has a Moby Grape or Crosby, Stills and Nash quality to it based on the vocals. Actually I'm thinking of the Moby Grape song \\\"Omaha\\\" which mentions the words \\\"My friends\\\" in the lyrics. Maybe a coincidence, maybe not. The vocal melody is sincere and enjoyable enough. I like it more than \\\"America the Beautiful\\\". Nice piano playing at the end too with violins tucked quietly in the background. Wish the violins stood out more because they had potential.\\n\\n\\\"Any Dance'll Do\\\" is classic Rascals to me. So that immediately makes the vocal melody catchy and groovy with an irresistible beat! \\\"You might as well take a chance, the worst can happen you'll have a new dance\\\" is a playful line. \\\"Look Around\\\" is a groovy piano-based rock tune with heavy emphasis on bass during the verse melody. Inspiring lyrics about looking around at the poor state of the country and willing to lend a helping hand by any means, and the unsatisfactory state of the situation being involved in a war at the time. \\\"A Ray of Hope\\\" is VERY soulful compared to the rest of the stuff here. The vocals feel quite Motown-ish. I enjoy this song. It's really well-written and the tempo changes are all really terrific and leave an impression. This song *almost* reminds me of Bob Dylan's \\\"Like a Rolling Stone\\\" during certain lines not because of the lyrics but the way the melody unfolds. It's hard to explain but the way Bob sings the line \\\"Go to him now, he calls you, you can't refuse, when you got nothing, you got nothing to lose\\\" sounds like it's being played in this song. I could be imagining this of course.\\n\\n\\\"Island of Love\\\" is probably what you'd expect- uplifting and meaningful 60's pop in classic Rascals style about finding a place to feel love. Honestly people might laugh at these type of lyrics and vibes in the world we live in these days, but I prefer it over most genres of music out there because it lights up my imagination for one thing, and the Rascals have the good sense to back it up with a splendid soulful vocal melody enhancing the way I feel about spending my entire life in that special fantasy world of love. That's just me though- crazy ol' me! \\\"Of Course\\\" is a scathing/bitter song lyrically about feeling bad watching your girlfriend flirting with another man. A driving beat and powerful vocal melody carries this memorable tune. Lead singer of the Rascals never sounded so good. Actually I shouldn't say he *never* sounded this good- he sounds as good as always. Enjoy the brief sax solo (VERY brief- less than 5 seconds, haha).\\n\\n\\\"Love Was So Easy to Give\\\" is an AWESOME song! Gently sung VERY emotionally charged verse melody with carefree lyrics and a touch of country rock with accordions. Wow talk about a GREAT mixture of instruments and a wonderful vocal melody. A high point of the album for me. The lyrics are great too because they focus on learning as a youngster and remaining mentally strong even as we grow older and become more mature. At least that's what I sense. \\\"People Got to Be Free\\\" doesn't even need to be mentioned does it? A BIG hit this song was! A REALLY well-written and emotional verse melody. Even the guitar plays along in such a way that reinforces the sadness and importance of the lyrical meaning. This song actually fits in remarkably well with the rest of the album. This songs meaning is quite obvious and should be taken seriously- people just want to be FREE darn it! Nobody wants to be controlled. Nobody.\\n\\n\\\"Baby I'm Blue\\\" has a Janis Joplin style of sadness to it in the rhythm and specifically the soulfully performed guitar work. This song makes me sound blue too! In a good way at least. \\\"Heaven\\\" isn't as blue however, surprisingly enough. I put two and two together and figured this would be a slow-moving ballad of sorts however it's not. Instead it's actually an upbeat type of tune with piano playing and lots of bouncy tempo changes while the lead singer chugs along. This song takes time to absorb because it feels overwhelmingly all over the place at first. It's not though- this song is really good on repeated listens. Perhaps the vocals are somewhat sloppy or maybe again, it just hasn't fully settled into my mind yet. I don't know how to interpret this to be honest, but I'm confident repeated listens will straighten my act out and I'll end up enjoying it.\\n\\n\\\"Adrian's Birthday\\\" is where the album marks a significant change. It's never a good idea to sing \\\"Happy birthday\\\" in the verse melody because the odds are good it's going to sound awkward compared to a certain popular birthday song that we've all found ourselves singing once or twice (or hundreds of times) in our lifetime. I think the Rascals were aware of this which is why the chanting only lasts briefly before switching into a VERY tasteful and melodic guitar solo, an equally impressive sax solo, and probably the best part being the piano solo after this. The keyboard solo with jazzy arrangements shows me that the late 60's were definitely heading towards a more jam-focused period of rock music. I already knew this but listening to a band like the Rascals jam away makes me realize two things- they're very good at it for one thing, and back then it was inevitable for rock artists to experiment with a few jams here or there even if it wasn't their specialty.\\n\\n\\\"Boom\\\" begins with a disjointed eerie drum part. Somehow it's memorable but I'm not sure why. Perhaps because I've never heard a drum jam begin like this one does. This ENTIRE 14-minute song is focused on a specific Ginger Baker (of Cream fame) style of jazzy drumming. It doesn't leave as much of an impact as say, \\\"Toad\\\" the live song from Cream's Wheels of Fire, but it's put together with as much care and sophistication. I like how the drum work near the end returns to the same eerie set of notes played during the beginning. Do I like this song? Yes actually, and the reason is probably because I have experience with these type of lengthy drum jams thanks again to the Cream tune. The live version of \\\"Toad\\\" (which I highly recommend that you hear by the way) prepares one for lengthy drum workouts. Otherwise if I hadn't heard \\\"Toad\\\" yeah, a song like \\\"Boom\\\" WOULD be overwhelming then. By the way I don't think \\\"Boom\\\" is a poor imitation of \\\"Toad\\\" but rather the kind of thing I need to be in a particular mood for. Just want to make that clear in case it sounds like I'm bashing \\\"Boom\\\". It's understandable that not everyone's going to be receptive of a lengthy drum jam, and this is why the album has to be 4 stars instead of 5 (and also because \\\"America the Beautiful\\\" isn't really a favorite of mine either).\\n\\n\\\"Cute\\\" begins with a chugging keyboard jam similar to the stuff Emerson, Lake & Palmer would roll out a couple years later. The keyboards sort of dissolve into a pleasant mess as a catchy repetitive guitar line takes over. Soon a memorable bluesy guitar solo appears reminding me of the legendary BB King. Hey just had to mention his name- I found out he died last night so it's only right to mention the man who influenced/specialized in the genre and made it so famous. Anyway \\\"Cute\\\" turns into some kind of psychedelic drug trip after the guitar solo is over which reminds me of Deep Purple and Frank Zappa's late 60's experimental stuff. Later on the melodic guitar solo returns which makes me happy, because it doesn't seem like the type of memorable keyboard playing from the beginning is making a return (my favorite part of the song). Strange cowbell/cymbal bashing part near the end. This part doesn't need to be here and is just stretching out an already overlong jam. At least the keyboards return in grand fashion near the end even if they feel sloppy this time around. Not one of the better constructed jams out there, but maybe I'm approaching it all wrong. Maybe the Rascals were going for avant garde. Actual instruments being played is only an occasional thing- freak out weirdness makes up most of the jam. Still, I like it. 15 minutes of this stuff is too much though.\\n\\nOverall, well because of two lengthy jams at the end, one of which is a questionable drum jam that not everyone's going to approve of, Freedom Suite is 4 stars instead of 5. Still an amazing album however and I highly recommend it.\",\n \"Product: 1-crazy on you~~~ 2-all i wanna do is make love to you~~~ 3-if looks could kill~~~ 4-never~~~ 5-alone~~~ 6-who will you run to~~~ 7-straight on (acoustic)~~~ 8-magic man~~~ 9-what about love~~~ 10-dreamboat annie~~~ 11-dog and butterfly~~~ 12-nothin at all~~~ 13-heartless~~~ 14-stranded~~~ 15-will you be there (in the morning)~~~ 16-these dreams~~~ 17-barracuda (live)~~~\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: what a great collection of Heart songs\\n\\nReview: This is seriously one of the best greatest hits albums I've ever had the pleasure of listening to.\\n\\nTalk about a job well done to the person (or people) who came up with *just* the right collection of Heart's greatest songs and put them all on one really long disc.\\n\\nThe ONLY song that comes to mind that should definitely have been included is \\\"Even It Up\\\". That's the only song I've heard on the radio that's not included here.\\n\\nHere's the songs (in order).\\n\\n\\\"Crazy On You\\\" opens the album WITH the acoustic intro included! Hooray! We simply cannot have that song without the quiet intro leading into the crashing guitar chords, can we? No we can't. An odd choice to follow up that 70's classic with \\\"All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You\\\". A nice ballad at any rate, but located in an odd spot on the album if you ask me.\\n\\n\\\"If Looks Could Kill\\\" is next, and I LOVE this song. I've never heard this song on the radio before- a fast, energetic 80's rocker with a terrific chorus. A surprise highlight. \\\"Never\\\" is quite possibly my favorite song here, and that one's next. The eerie and haunting ballad \\\"Alone\\\" follows that one, and I remember being a little kid and absolutely in love with this song. Great choice.\\n\\n\\\"Who Will You Run To\\\" is another good one. This song is never played on the radio anymore. Not on the classic rock format, not on the soft ballad stations, *nowhere*. What a shame. Great song.\\n\\nWe're then treated to an acoustic version of \\\"Straight On\\\" which is honestly a superior version to the more familiar studio recording. I was never a fan of the normal version anyway, so I welcome this version with open arms.\\n\\n\\\"Magic Man\\\"... what more needs to be said about this song? It's next! \\\"What About Love\\\" is another highly melodic 80's pop song (how many 80's hits did Heart actually HAVE?)\\n\\n\\\"Dreamboat Annie\\\" is next, in all its delicate and simplistic beauty. An acoustic version of \\\"Dog and Butterfly\\\" is next, and I'll be darned if I hear any difference between this and the normal version. They both sound the same to me.\\n\\n\\\"Nothin' At All\\\" is next, and then my second or third favorite song is next- \\\"Heartless\\\". I LOVE this one to pieces.\\n\\n\\\"Stranded\\\" and \\\"Will You Be There (In the Morning)\\\" are next, and then comes \\\"These Dreams\\\" which is a song I will always remember since I grew up listening to this song constantly being played on the radio a thousand times a day while my mom was taking me to school (and driving me home).\\n\\nThis lengthy disc finally finishes up with a live version of \\\"Barracuda\\\" which is even FASTER than the regular version. Perhaps better too. Wait, it *is* better.\\n\\nOverall, a really great album this one is. It captures Heart's greatest songs better than the other Heart collections I've seen. Maybe a little heavy on the 80's selections, but the band was quite popular throughout that decade as well, so it only makes sense.\",\n \"Product: Ultra-technical, futuristic instrumental jazz/metal is the order of the day, served with a side of kick-ass. Fans of Gordion Knot and Spiral Architect will rejoice, but fans of Don Caballero, Dysrhythmia, Cynic, and even Coprofago will all probably find\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: nice try at least\\n\\nReview: Cortical Tectonics isn't necessarily a bad album- more like a completely mediocre one.\\n\\nWhile the idea of progressive metal has been beaten into the ground by this point, the genre unfortunately continues producing new musicians that basically do nothing but recycle the same old riffs over and over again that the previous generation helped to create.\\n\\nAs a dedicated music fan, I find this slightly offensive. I grew up when originality and new experiments (along with songwriting) were considered the most important aspects of music. Cortical Tectonics does nothing original or terribly interesting.\\n\\nI can be a *little* bit lenient in the originality department, but the songwriting is another disappointing factor we have to consider. I'd be perfectly willing to ignore how generic the prog metal genre has become if the actual riffs were any good. Unfortunately in the case of Cortical Tectonics, they're not.\\n\\nBasically this album has one really big problem- these songs progress, but they do so in an extremely bland way. In other words, the band members took one or two guitar riffs, chose to repeat them for several minutes, and then shift to a NEW set of riffs to beat into the ground. Rinse and repeat. That's what these songs are like, seriously.\\n\\nWith that said, the results work occasionally, such as on the second track titled \\\"Sinusoid Mirage\\\". Some parts of this track surprisingly remind me of the more challenging and experimental aspects of the classic 70's band Gentle Giant. The build-up leading to these Gentle Giant-like chops is pretty good too. A clear highlight to me.\\n\\nUnfortunately a song like \\\"Interface\\\" comes along and, while it contains a good atmosphere of being trapped in a jungle or shoved inside a Mortal Kombat game (or however you want to interpret it) it's unbelievably repetitive. Those same sets of riffs just keep chugging along. The band is probably trying to build an interesting atmosphere, but it would have worked a heck of a lot better had those riffs been trimmed down considerably.\\n\\n\\\"Gamme Knife\\\" shows a much heavier side of the band. It's not groundbreaking though- we've heard heaviness in progressive metal for years now. It's basically a classic Queensryche ripoff.\\n\\n\\\"Rhizome\\\" reminds me of some kind of slushy and dated mid 80's music recording equipment, and \\\"Reticular Consciousness\\\" takes me back to the Queensryche comparisons. The similarities to Queensryche are very very obvious to me whether the band wants to acknowledge them as an influence or not.\\n\\nOverall, I've heard worse but I've *definitely* heard better.\",\n \"Product: One of the most request catalogs for CD reissue we have ever had is the Seals & Crofts catalog. This duo consisting of Jim Seals & Dash Crofts had numerous charting albums in the 1970's. We are now proud to present pretty much their entire catalog of albums, beginning with their first eponymous album from 1969, all the way through their last charting album, \\\"Takin' It Easy\\\" from 1978.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: we enter the 80's\\n\\nReview: Here comes Seals & Crofts... in the 80's! By now they probably should have retired but well, they only released one album so perhaps I shouldn't be so hard on them. And besides, it's a pretty good album with only a few misfires.\\n\\n\\\"Stars\\\" opens with a really simple and uninteresting melody (\\\"People get a little too loose they forget they abuse, well people get a little too tight and it ain't right, you're in your car driving too fast, you're pushing hard just trying to get past\\\"). It's really unremarkable to me. The sparse piano, guitar and other jazzy instruments don't work for me, but I like the part \\\"Oh and they just don't care about the little white lies, yeah they'll unwind oh I don't know if it's wrong or it's right, oh I only know the feeling tonight, too loose too tight where is the light?\\\" Too bad the song resorts back to the bland melody for the \\\"You're in your house just trying to be cool, the radio's on by the swimming pool, oh and your people say you're a movin' too slow, now where do you go?\\\". Love the \\\"Stars they only try to come out at night (and wars that no one ever wants to fight) too loose too tight where is my light? Where is my light?\\\".\\n\\nThe way Seals & Crofts sing \\\"Where is my miiiiind\\\" sounds a bit obnoxious. Hey the piano jam! It's really loungey and memorable. Really unpredictable for Seals & Crofts to write a jam like that. And the saxophone jam continues the lounge feel. Nothing truly great about it though. Background vocals contribute to the part \\\"\\\"Ah the shadow's great the rain is about to fall, oh you try to rest too much to beat it all, lose it all\\\" so it's an improvement then. The guitar being more prominent helps too. Regardless how I feel about the melody, the two times we hear a piano jam is an *awesome* moment! I really wish Seals & Crofts didn't scream \\\"Stars, they only come out at night!\\\" at the end (or is it stars they only want to come out at night\\\"). It's an unnatural vocal style.\\n\\n\\\"Try Your Love\\\" opens with a riff sounding very similar to George Harrison's \\\"I Dig Love\\\" before turning into a rather bland ballad. \\\"I saw you today I've gotta say you're looking better, the way you hold yourself up now I can tell you're a go getter, so go out and find someone while you can now\\\". The chorus isn't very good (\\\"Cuz we all we got a road we must travel, when you're alone you'll unravel the secret of life, but if love touches you you can find your way to the sunshine, baby you'll be mine try your heart out, try it on me\\\"). The verse melody is way too quiet and uninteresting for me (\\\"I swear it's a spell though it's beauty comin' from you, and you wear it so well, face of love it becomes you so, so go out and show the world it's free, you have found it\\\"). It's a shame because behind the vocals the instruments are really dreamy and cool. There's even a slight funky vibe going on at times. The \\\"Try your love, try it on meeee\\\" part is when the funkiness comes in. Really cool use of strings too. \\\"I saw you today in a way that I never saw the first time, you were new, you were ready, you were love in the springtime, and you know by your wings take it, fly it's the right time\\\". Okay the \\\"Unravel the secret of life\\\" part has grown on me.\\n\\n\\\"First Love\\\" starts off uplifting but the verse melody isn't very good (\\\"Everybody has a first love they have left in yesterday, feelings they have left behind it's just a place in time but not so far away, everybody has a first love, when the dream they shared was new, I remember that special someone so I wrote this song just for you\\\". The song picks up on two occasions. The first time during the part \\\"First love in my life where are you tonight? I wonder about you, first love in my life, did things turn out alright? I worry about you\\\" and picks up even MORE during the line \\\"'Cuz I got everything, everything in life that I wanted\\\". I don't like the \\\"First love never dies\\\" part at the end either. I can't believe I'm saying this, but the vocals are *too* plentiful and it turns the song to lush. Too many vocals. Never had this problem with Seals & Crofts before so I'm just as surprised as you are! \\\"It would kill me now and make me sad to know you are lonely, first love never dies, I wish you love I wish you happiness, and may the years be kind to you, you'll always be a part of me share this thought with me, I'll carry you always\\\".\\n\\n\\\"If And Any Day\\\" has a wonderful foot-tapping intro that sounds VERY familiar. I'm not thinking of this song though, because I've never heard it before tonight. \\\"If and any day I love you father, you will be the one I believe in longer, I can only try to understand you, you can only smile and understand me, tell me how did I lose my way? Isn't there a door that leads to yesterday? Oh how did I lose my way? Isn't there a door that opens into another day?\\\" Picks up during the \\\"How did I lose my way\\\" part and gets even better. This is probably the best song so far. It's the first song that deviates from exceptionally mushy ballad stuff. \\\"If and any time I see the sorrow, I will spend the longest time 'til I go under, love is for the ones who believe in one on one, truth is for the ones who believe there's more to come\\\". Still enjoy the \\\"Tell me how did I lose my way?\\\" part. Yup this song's awesome. Also great is the funky piano and the \\\"doooo do do\\\" chorus at the end.\\n\\n\\\"Kite Dreams\\\" opens in a Simon & Garfunkel \\\"Sound of Silence\\\" kind of way. Really mysterious Middle Eastern arrangements. Gentle, soothing and a desire to be inventive. \\\"One day follow another, chase one and then the other, kite dreams, butterflies lazy in April, floating down in the meadow, silver skies and all the world far far below\\\" Awesome melody, however the \\\"Look up there in the sky, way up there in the sky, you don't have to be high\\\" is a forced part of the song and WAY less memorable. \\\"I know a place where kites have been, where we can laugh and ride up the wind, oooh we are dreamers, even screamers if we dare, life's upside down it's upside down\\\" marks an upbeat Christopher Cross kind of feel to it.\\n\\n\\\"Egypt, Israel & America\\\" opens in a dramatic way with brief strings. \\\"Well the people in Israel they want peace, and the people in Egypt they cry peace, and the people in America they say \\\"Please set those people free\\\". \\\"Israel I know you, you are brave you are proud, your voices loud but sometimes gentle, and the ages recall the days of Abraham\\\". Mellow during the \\\"Israel I know you, you are brave you are proud, your voices loud but sometimes gentle\\\" part. The song gets gospel-ish and upbeat again during the verse \\\"Now the people in Israel built the Wailing Wall, and the people in Egypt built the pyramids so tall, and the people in America built the spaceship that would not fall\\\". I love the following line (\\\"Now we've seen it all, Israel you are water, give us life to the desert land, may your people be like the cool oasis for a tired world on its spiritual journey\\\") because it sounds so magical the way the vocals and piano climb down at the same time. \\\"\\\"From the spirit of Egypt there's a new song, and in the soul of Israel that plays on, in the mind of America there's a new dawn, lead us on and on\\\". \\\"America I love you, through the darkness you are light, again in friendship your arms are open to all people wrong or right, oh America you're beautiful you are shining like the sun, again in victory behold the love, the peace shall come\\\". I actually really like how this song mentions three different countries and how we can all come together if we believe in a spiritual power. At least that's the impression I get.\\n\\n\\\"The Longest Road\\\" has a nice sax before turning into a steady-paced melody typical of the early 80's. The entire opening line is really good (\\\"You know the longest road is from the head to the heart, better start today if you think loving me will be hard, and the darkest shade is sometimes under the light, if it's right for you to see me, you'll be mine tonight\\\"). Also love the way Seals & Crofts sings the next line \\\"\\\"And the longest road is from the head to the heart, and the longest road is from the head to the heart\\\" and how it unintentionally sounds a lot like a Gentle Giant song strangely enough. \\\"When you're far away from love you know it's usually close, and anything you find looks good to you, you wanted most, the darkest night is somewhere just before the dawn, I'll be here to hold when you feel you can't go on\\\". Really excellent melody, especially the \\\"I'll be here to hold when you feel you can't go on\\\". Okay sax solo again, but it's out of place this time. \\\"The longest road is from the head to the heart\\\" is a nice way to close the song. This album's gradually getting better.\\n\\nBut then again... \\\"I Keep Changing the Faces\\\" is sort of bland. Wow the first line reminds me of the way Phil Collins sings a mellow tune from Duke, which was released around the same time as this Seals & Crofts album. \\\"Only the faces change but oh but the pain is the same when you're in love with love, just like a long lost friend who just stops to say hello and then is gone, always looking, always looking for the best thing in town, always needing but never getting, never enough to go around\\\" is a semi-lazy way to make the song upbeat which means (and I hate to say it!) I don't care for this entire opening line. \\\"I keep changing the faces but the feeling's not there, no I keep changing the faces but the love is not there\\\"\\\" is another bland melody. However things improve- \\\"Distant voices sometimes call, in the night I hear them all, too bad they never knew counterfeits and worthless fools, guess I broke all the rules to find my way to you\\\" is a pretty good melody. A return to the awkward \\\"But now I'm leaving, oh yes I'm leaving, I've gotta find something new, now it's over it's really over, tell me what I'm gonna do\\\" melody soon after, and the bad \\\"I keep changing the faces but the love is not there\\\" part. Strange how the line goes up an octave when this line repeats again. I actually like this song despite my complaining. The sitar near the end and the way Seals & Crofts sing \\\"la la la\\\" is really good. Then again it's awful the way Seals & Crofts sing the line \\\"I keep changing the faces\\\" at the end because they carry the notes awkwardly instead of naturally similar to how they do it in \\\"Stars\\\".\\n\\n\\\"Silver Rails\\\" opens with guitar notes indicating it's going to be a country song, but no! A ballad melody comes in before changing during (or after, I forget) the part \\\"Silver rails in the sun telling me that she's the only one\\\". How about the main melody? \\\"Is it real enough for you? Do you feel enough for you? Are you moving like a railroad down inside? Is it good enough for you? Is it good enough for you? Does it make you feel like howling at the moon?\\\" in particular the \\\"Is it good enough for you?\\\" line. I also really like the line \\\"Life from the top don't ever stop, don't let the clock in your mind cause you to fail, you're hot on the trail, lift up your wings don't ever change, life isn't strange when you lift up the veil, you're hot on the trail\\\". I wouldn't blame anyone if they thought this song was written lazily, but I enjoy it all the same.\\n\\nThe line that really amazes me is this one- \\\"Life from the top don't ever stop, don't let the clock in your mind cause you to fail\\\" for the way it almost sounds Asian. It's highly enjoyable. \\\"Now where shall we go, how fast how slow? Just let me know just where to pick up the rails, I'm hot on the trail, hey watch my smoke I never choke, we'll go for broke and ride the silver rails, we're hot on the trail\\\". \\\"Do you care enough for me? Do you care enough for me? I'm a lazy locomotive, yeah that's me, but I can't love enough for you, and I can love enough for two, I'll be waitin' at the station wait and see\\\". You know I really love this song. Yeah it could be interpreted as sloppily written, but it really works for me. I LOVE this part- \\\"Silver rails in the sun is telling me that she's the only one, silver rails can't you see? She has come to take a ride with me\\\" because it sounds REALLY magical! And wow, afterwards the song just sounds so creepy and desperate like you really want this girl to take a ride with Seals & Crofts or something awful might happen. No it's never hot enough for me Seals & Crofts! Never!\\n\\n\\\"One Planet, One People, Please\\\" is an interesting song title. At first glance the song could be interpreted to mean there's too many people on the planet and it would be better to reduce the population, but I think it's actually about everyone coming together and joining as one. \\\"Strong is the light of unity, it can light the world for you and for me\\\" is a great melody, so is the \\\"So why don't we reach out and be one planet, one people please?\\\" part afterwards. However Seals & Crofts then repeat the song title in a way that doesn't sound good to me. I'm referring to the \\\"One planet one people please\\\" part and how it's written VERY lazily though before turning delicate with the line \\\"Please let it be\\\". \\\"Storm clouds are coming I can see it all, the old world is dying, it must crumble and fall, and from every nation I can hear the call\\\". Oh no! Another chant with the \\\"One planet one people please\\\". It's sung like this- \\\"ONE PLAN ET ONE PEO PLE PLEASE\\\". At least this lovely guitar solo comes in afterwards reminding me of the Middle East.\\n\\nOverall, well besides the first three songs which are the weakest in my opinion because the vocal melodies are fairly bland, this album's pretty good though not quite up to the standards of their 70's work. When it comes to the ballads in particular, Seals & Crofts tend to sing too many lines without taking any breaks in between giving these songs a rushed feel, but the rest of the album is a big improvement. Enough to give the album 4 stars. We'll never know what would have happened had Seals & Crofts continued into the 80's, but I think they recognized the times were changing and they didn't have a chance of continuing to be successful given their stuck in the 70's style. It would haven't have gone over too well with the new wave stuff of the 80's. Critics would have ripped them apart. Too bad I say- a lot of times I prefer Seals & Crofts to most 80's music.\",\n \"Product: One of the most request catalogs for CD reissue we have ever had is the Seals & Crofts catalog. This duo consisting of Jim Seals & Dash Crofts had numerous charting albums in the 1970's. We are now proud to present pretty much their entire catalog of albums, beginning with their first eponymous album from 1969, all the way through their last charting album, \\\"Takin' It Easy\\\" from 1978.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: home is where it's at\\n\\nReview: This is another early Seals & Crofts album. These are the overlooked albums in the bands discography that people really should check out. These early albums are not as forgettable as one might think despite lacking the big hits.\\n\\n\\\"Leave\\\" is the longest song here. It's a slow-moving piano rocker that reminds me of lazy day blues rock. Not really a genre of music Seals & Crofts specialize in, but the melody's pretty solid. The way Seals & Crofts say \\\"My girl told me yesterday I better leave, guess I better leee-eee-eeave\\\" sounds weird, but it's pleasant. \\\"Climbed upon a mountain high, and I looked out and saw the valley, then I turned and told this old city goodbye, I'm leaving and I ain't grieving\\\" is a good line. \\\"Don't know where I'm going, don't know how to begin\\\" is a playfully sung line. The organs and guitar solo at the end are a really good reminder of the late 60's. Not that I was alive to experience those years! Would've been nice if I was. How about the flute solo at the end? It sounds REALLY haunting and reminds me of Native Americans going about their usual day.\\n\\n\\\"Gabriel Go On Home\\\" is a happy tune with piano. Perhaps Seals & Crofts are still finding their way in terms of singing magnificent harmonies together because they sound ever so slightly off here, or maybe it's due to the two still finding their songwriting abilities and not having yet fully developed them. Either way none of this takes away from the fact this song is really beautiful and carefree which reminds me of taking a hayride by a forest. \\\"A brand new star has now been born to make things warm and bright for you and me\\\" is a memorable line. There's some solid vocal tricks occurring during the \\\"Gabriel won't you go on home\\\" part. Love the piano solo at the end too. Okay you got me, this song's a winner!\\n\\n\\\"Hollow Reed\\\" is a storyteller type song with a mysterious atmosphere and a noticeable folk style. The harmonies are a little messy in spots once again, but WOW does this atmosphere totally captivate me! I think it's because it blends organs with light psychedelic arrangements giving off unusual effects. The lyrics are unusual to me. \\\"Make me as a hollow reed that I may play and plant thy seed, rascal's closet may be lit and have a needy rhyme in it, make me as a flute of stone that when I play thy wind is blown, rascal's hideaway might chill and die away from sill and sill\\\". The lyrics continue \\\"Make me as a hollow reed that I may sing your grace my steed\\\". What are these lyrics about I wonder?\\n\\n\\\"Ridin' Thumb\\\" is drastically different. This is more about being playful like several songs Seals & Crofts have written over the years. Not one of the strongest vocal melodies the band ever wrote, but I love the guitar playing and the southern vibes of leaving home and exploring wherever the wind takes a man. \\\"Just as long as he gets his ride, and he don't care for food and water, he just lets his conscience be his guide\\\" is a great line. The second half of the song has a slight gospel feel to it with handclaps, mandolin and electric guitar and it's enjoyable. Yes early Seals & Crofts used to rock a little as hard as it might be to believe!\\n\\n\\\"Today\\\" begins on a strange note the way it reminds me of a really creepy song from an old NES video game called Ironsword: Wizards and Warriors II. That theme used to scare me pretty good as a kid back in the 80's! \\\"Today\\\" brings back the same kind of uncomfortable feeling. This song is quite creepy as well because Seals & Crofts sound really depressed and downbeat while singing it. \\\"Today went so quietly, I turned and it was gone, like you like me it was lonely\\\" isn't exactly the happiest line ever sung in rock history! Even the bass guitar creeps along in similar style to the NES song. Because Seals & Crofts specialize in harmonies and all kinds of range in their vocals, the song occasionally jumps into a happier sequence of notes/atmosphere. Also it's interesting how Seals & Crofts often remind me of being somewhere in the countryside of England even though they're an American duo. There's a few artists that sound British and they are one of them.\\n\\n\\\"Cotton Mouth\\\" has serious hit potential! This song should've been as big as \\\"Diamond Girl\\\" and other hits! Just listen to it \\\"Red eyed mama keeps crying, blue eyed cat keeps lying, catfish keeps his eye on the string, Cotton Mouth keep on winding\\\". This is a VERY catchy melody believe me. Perhaps the song doesn't have a whole lot going for it besides the vocals (the rhythm work feels incomplete like more should have been included based on its quietness) but the guitar solo after is really impressive. It's bluesy and Jimi Hendrix-like believe it or not (well, while it lasts!) \\\"Tin Town\\\" is a quiet well-meaning folk tune with a happy vibe. \\\"In Tin Town, a has been town\\\" is a catchy chorus. The verse melody is pretty stellar (and happy) as well. \\\"Can you spare a man a dime, I got 30 cents and I can buy some wine, I'm living in my childhood schemes, please mister you can make my dreams\\\".\\n\\n\\\"Hand-Me-Down Shoe\\\" has a verse melody that sounds familiar (an early 70's Deep Purple song to be precise!) Well at least initially. The melody develops into a few other sections very quickly but it's done in a really beautiful and creative kind of way that takes advantage of the talents of both Seals & Crofts vocal abilities. \\\"Trying to get just anywhere as long as it's away from the world, the world we know is living in a hand-me-down shoe\\\" is a pretty spooky line. Nice how the song shifts into handclaps, heavy bass and a slight African rhythmic style near the end.\\n\\n\\\"Purple Hand\\\" is more mandolin-drenched folk rock. This time the vocals are really forgettable, but I like the folk style. \\\"First there was an ocean and ordinary street, then suddenly a mountain began to show its peak, remember back unto the day when 20,000 taught, this is it get off your knees, look what your hands have wrought, let them be, don't bother let them be, it's too early for them to see, let them go don't bother, let them go\\\" is a memorable lyric. I like how the song ends playing \\\"Joy to the World\\\" on mandolin before fading out. Funny, \\\"Robin\\\" begins reminding me of \\\"Silent Night\\\" with the acoustic guitar playing before shifting into a very beautiful and short melody that captures the feeling of preserving a special moment in time. I can't help but laugh during the \\\"Pretty bird\\\" part.\\n\\nOverall, Down Home is a magnificent album. The vocal melodies might be slightly unfocused compared to future Seals & Crofts albums and the style of music throughout might be a little too stuck in the early folk rock genre, but otherwise the quality of the songwriting is pretty high, the atmosphere's incredible and Seals & Crofts are just a magnificent duo. I refuse to make fun of them! I love their music too much!\",\n \"Product: One of the most request catalogs for CD reissue we have ever had is the Seals & Crofts catalog. This duo consisting of Jim Seals & Dash Crofts had numerous charting albums in the 1970's. We are now proud to present pretty much their entire catalog of albums, beginning with their first eponymous album from 1969, all the way through their last charting album, \\\"Takin' It Easy\\\" from 1978.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: the first album is a treasure\\n\\nReview: Finally, a chance to play Seals & Crofts debut. Just wanted to see what the fuss was all about. Well that's not entirely the reason (there's actually no fuss at all since most people don't even know this album exists, heh). Also the fact I've heard other Seals & Crofts albums and enjoyed them immensely, I kind of wanted to trace the band back to their roots with their debut.\\n\\n\\\"See My Life\\\" opens Seals & Crofts debut with a familiar melody. I know this song! I forget where I know it from. Perhaps a Best of or Greatest Hits compilation, or maybe an old radio station. It's very bluegrass-like and vocally impressive. Seals (or Crofts) vocals are in fine form. And whoa! Suddenly out of nowhere in the middle the song turns really dreamy in a Beach Boys kind of way. I can see myself in the late 60's blowing bubbles and enjoying this melody in a van with others. Nothing suspicious going on in there *pushes drugs under rug*. Nothing suspicious at all!\\n\\n\\\"Sea of Consciousness\\\" has more subtle bluegrass tendencies in the guitar and mandolin playing. The \\\"sea of consciousness, you loved me loved me\\\" part is a bit awkward, but the horns are pretty good. And the \\\"Oh just the thought of you makes me wander back to the innocence you gave me so long ago\\\" line is really good. The verse melody has a slight resemblance to the one from \\\"Jessica\\\" in my opinion, but it's slight. Well it seems that bluegrass guitar/mandolin style is going to remain for the duration of the album. That's fine by me! \\\"Seldom's Sister\\\" has more of that guitar style, but also a really smooth sailing-like vocal melody. Imagine sailing or taking a walk through fields late at night over a quiet starry night. That sort of captures the imagery I get while listening to this VERY beautiful song. The classical arrangements are really a nice touch. Granted most 60's pop/rock artists used the same instrumentation, but Seals & Crofts uses them just as satisfyingly as the other ones.\\n\\n\\\"Not Be Found\\\" is based around a pretty mandolin or banjo. Wait a minute! I just realized I can't hear a difference between a mandolin and a banjo, haha. Perhaps all this time what I thought was a banjo is just mandolin or vice versa. Why must I be so lame in that regard. A lame duck who can't tell apart different musical instruments. Anyway this song is uplifting and has a really good vocal melody. Another song about paths crossing and the adventure of exploring hills and valleys which I love. Seriously even before the lyrics kick in, I can tell when Seals & Crofts are going to sing about outdoor exploration.\\n\\n\\\"Birthday of My Thoughts\\\" opens with some unusual sound effects before a different kind of vocal melody comes in. When I say \\\"different\\\" I mean, and perhaps the production is making it sound so strange, the vocal melody is very atypical and somewhat lullaby-ish compared to most Seals & Crofts song. And also sometimes *very* low-pitched in a creepy way. \\\"Each time I think of all the happiness you brought, and I'll remember you in the birthday of my thoughts\\\" is a spookily sung line, and how the arrangements play after this line gives off a depressing feeling. The \\\"candles of love ever burning burning\\\" part is a bit clumsily written admittedly. The harmonies are really beautiful other times though. The way the pretty arrangements play during the final minute is quite lovely.\\n\\n\\\"In Tune\\\" has speedily sung vocals and lyrics and the song is quite forgettable overall. I'm surprised the band was capable of writing forgettable tunes such as these. The mandolin/bass part in the middle saves it. And also sometimes the melody drifts temporarily lovelier during certain uplifting \\\"I'm in tune!\\\" lines. \\\"Cows of Gladness\\\" is a hilarious song title! Cows aren't glad. Well I guess they are when they have plenty of grass to eat, especially after a rainstorm when everything's nice and moist. You see them wagging their tails then. Anyway this song has some strange harmonies. I get the feeling Seals & Crofts are trying to do too much at once here and the song sort of goes all over the place as a result. But the mandolin rises to the occasion once again and saves any shortcomings. Actually the more I listen to this song vocal melody-wise it does improve. The background arrangements give it a soundtrack vibe.\\n\\n\\\"Earth\\\" has an instantly noticeable joyous and uplifting vocal melody. \\\"Give me a castle in the sun where rainbows have ends and people are one\\\" is a beautiful line and amazing lyric. I think the verse melody is really strong overall with more solid mandolin work. \\\"Seven Valleys\\\" is short, but memorable for the guitar playing and lullaby atmosphere/vocals. \\\"The valley of wonderment, the valley of contentment\\\" is a nice line. This song does have this way of making me think of slow dancing on top of a cliff while butterflies dance around me. Not making fun of the music, but the atmosphere sure is pretty. \\\"Jekyll and Hyde\\\" is another shorty, this one being way less awesome because the vocal melody is only passable to me. This song's actually too fast. I think the speed hinders the song because so far I'm accustomed to hearing pretty lullabys and vocal melodies. But it's still a decent song.\\n\\n\\\"Ashes in the Snow\\\" opens with pretty mandolin. This time the mandolin reminds me of taking a walk through a dark forest. \\\"I'll be here come winter as the cold wind blows, we'll watch the geese together to see which way they go\\\" is a funny lyric. I wish I could be *outta* here when those cold winds blow! Perhaps this song is more nursery rhyme-like and less interesting from a songwriting perspective compared to the later stuff Seals & Crofts would write, but for what it is the prettiness can't be denied. I like when the tempo picks up during the \\\"ashes in the snow, ashes in the snow!\\\" line. This song is fairly aimless though. The verse melody in the second half is just Seals (or Crofts) messing around with his vocals to see if he's capable of coming up with a memorable melody. \\\"See My Life (Reprise)\\\" is wildernessly delightful. And yes wildernessly isn't a word. I know that! But there you have it. I make up words because if Troy Aikman can do it while calling a football game, so can I.\\n\\nOverall for an early Seals & Crofts album, it's pretty awesome. I know it's considered cool to make fun of these guys but truthfully the music they write is too beautiful, personal and meaningful to be dismissed so easily.\",\n \"Product: I will ship by EMS or SAL items in stock in Japan. It is approximately 7-14days on delivery date. You wholeheartedly support customers as satisfactory. Thank you for you seeing it.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: laura's first album... and it's a good one\\n\\nReview: More Than a New Discovery is the first Laura Nyro album released in 1966. I must say the production values are quite high for '66.\\n\\n\\\"Lazy Susan\\\" is a somber piano ballad with as much soul as something Carole King would have done a few years later, but with more emphasis on a jazzy vibe. \\\"Lazy Susan, lazy through, hasn't got a thing to do, oh but to sit there and light up the hillside, sun fried black eyed Sue, lazy Susan lazy through, all the hills in love with you, courted and cradled by Heaven and hillside, sun fried black eyed Sue\\\" is a pleasant line. This song features a lot of Laura's voice sailing around over a jazzy rhythm and soft piano. Pretty good though- really creates a mood.\\n\\n\\\"Billy's Blues\\\" has a similar style with more of a lounge vibe. \\\"To ease Billy's blues Billy's down, he was born he was bound to lose, right the wrong or play a song, to ease Billy's blues\\\". Laura Nyro sails her voice the same here as on \\\"Lazy Susan\\\". If this is her groove, hey that's cool. I like it man! \\\"He's a Runner\\\" has even more angelic vocals almost to the point it's hard to understand the lyrics. The song gets a little messy when it speeds up in the middle, but I suppose it's done to stress the line \\\"There'll come the runnin', he'll know he's got to, don't ask him not to or why, oh why oh why did you leave me and run off with tomorrow?\\\" due to the distraught Laura's feeling over this man running away from her.\\n\\n\\\"Buy and Sell\\\" has identical vibes, but slower than before. Enjoy the opening line and the flugelhorn. \\\"Cocaine and quiet beers, sweet candy and caramels, pass the time and dry the tears on a street called buy and sell. Life turns like the endless sea, death tolls like a vesper bell, children laugh and lovers dream on a street called buy and sell\\\". \\\"I Never Meant to Hurt You\\\" sounds pretty much exactly as I thought based on her style- quiet balladry. I was able to grasp her style pretty quickly! \\\"Why do I do things I never mean to do, why did I speak so carelessly when all that I felt was love for you?\\\" is a sweet line.\\n\\n\\\"Stoney End\\\" finally breaks away from the lounge and softness. The opening line is kind of interesting since I'm not sure how to interpret her lyrics. \\\"I was born from love and my poor mother worked the mines, I was raised on the good book Jesus till I read between the lines, now I don't believe\\\". Come on Laura! Believe! And it gets more personal later during the \\\"Mama let me start all over, cradle me mama, cradle me again\\\". I love this song! I guess because I prefer more upbeat music. \\\"And When I Die\\\" is up next. The vocals reach super high levels in the beginning before the song changes into a handclapping swift-moving gospel tune.\\n\\n\\\"Wedding Bell Blues\\\" is another upbeat song with harmonica giving it a country vibe. I should say a slight country vibe, since the vocals and melody are clearly more soulful than anything else. Fans of Diana Ross and the Supremes would love this. I think I've heard this song before. \\\"Goodbye Joe\\\" has a great opening line and a steady memorable beat. \\\"We were lost in the fair on the highland (goodbye Joe), with the sky and the deer on the highland (goodbye Joe), time is full of changes and now you've got to go, don't forget that we loved on the highland (goodbye Joe)\\\". I also enjoy the line \\\"I remember when you came calling (goodbye Joe), like a sunrise that rose without warning (goodbye Joe), time is full of changes and now you've got to go, and we walked on a Manhattan morning (goodbye Joe)\\\".\\n\\n\\\"Hands Off the Man\\\" has a strong similarity to \\\"Goodbye Joe\\\" in the beat. This album goes back and forth between softly sung jazzy lounge to upbeat soulful pop. I like the two a lot! \\\"Everybody wants him, the people and the police, and all the pretty ladies disarm, oh yeah the beautiful gent, you know he has hardly a cent, he pays his monthly rent with daily charm\\\" is a nice line. \\\"Blowin' Away\\\" is more upbeat and memorable soul with a guitar chugging along in the background. Sometimes Laura takes her vocals to a higher level and this is one of those times!\\n\\n\\\"California Shoeshine Boys\\\" ends this album with a swift moving bluegrass tune. \\\"California sunshine boys counting up their dimes, counting up the girls they've known and counting up the times. I got heartache but I got news, California sunshine boys you can shine my shoes, California sunshine boys never really care, only for that California shoeshine in their hair\\\". Sometimes it bothers me that the backup singers simply sing along to the melody at the end of certain lines, but I suppose that's the way it's always been with most backup singers and I'm just nitpicking! Also a little picky how the vocals get sloppy at times.\\n\\nOverall, great album. Takes time getting into the softer material though.\",\n \"Product: Limited Edition Japanese pressing of this album comes housed in a miniature LP sleeve and features JVC K2 remastering. BMG. 2008.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: a spoonful of lovies\\n\\nReview: What in the world is \\\"War Games?!?!\\\" A bunch of female moaning in the beginning because of uh... you know... and heart beats, and why is there a baby screaming? So much for 9 months! Must be Back to the Future under 30-second pizza record time! Then comes the marching band. No I mean it- an actual marching band. Then the Pledge of Allegiance recited by kids (with heart beats continuing on).\\n\\n3 minutes in, speech time. \\\"Ever notice that when one of your friends comes back on his first leave from the army he seems different? He walks a little taller, looks a little tougher, it's the beginning of the biggest change in his life. He's become a man now. That's probably the most important thing the army does for you. It makes you a man. It teaches you responsibilities. It shows you a bit of the world. You learn how to handle yourself, and how to handle a job when it's got to be done\\\" and that's about half of it.\\n\\nWe're not done yet. \\\"Star Spangled Banner\\\" accordion style, gunshots going back and forth and more heart beats arrive soon after. The gunshots last a couple minutes while children choir returns... and then the song ends with a bomb explosion and the rumbling effects... and the distance sound of wind and sirens to end it. Wow! No this isn't music, but it's 7 minutes of realistic war (arguably more realistic than any war song ever made if you think about it). It's not music but it's interesting from a historic point of view.\\n\\nNow for the music- \\\"Me About You\\\" is a strange song if there ever was one. Military style drumming, lush orchestration, soothing vocals in an Elvis/country style... yup that's this song! \\\"\\\"Got a handful of gold and a pocketful of dreams, but a heart full of love and I know what it means\\\". An okay song but not one of my favorites. It's missing the Lovin' Spoonful-style hooks I've come to expect. \\\"('Till I) Run With You\\\" is an upbeat song that shows signs of the classic Lovin' Spoonful we adore. The opening line is fun (\\\"Love's a surprise to me, brings out the height in me, that's not the way it used to be, I used to be blue, then you showed me the love of near, and that's all I have to hear, I can't believe that dreams come true 'till I run with you!\\\") and the song reminds me of the album cover. What's up with that woman and man running with a lion? Usually the lion chases after the people, not with them! Anyway great song with Hollies tendencies.\\n\\n\\\"Amazing Air\\\" almost lives up to its name- amazing atmosphere! The vocal melody is quite different from the norm. The lyrics are VERY 60's-ish and that's a good thing. Just read them! \\\"If we confess that we spend less with peace of mind and tenderness, then even if I pass you in the night, with one last breath of life, could we still say the words to set us free, and let all men with evil hearts beware, say a prayer once in a while, pray for tomorrow or somebody's child, this gives the life that we possess, worth everything and tenderness, so cast the rain with us into the sea, tear down the walls of fear and pride, let's build a world with love inside, where all good men with peaceful hearts believe, believe\\\". The orchestration is really big on this song. The vocals are messy though. The verse melody is quite good and even tribal-like, but eventually it changes into something else and gets less fun. I like the \\\"We can be happy now we can be free\\\" chant at the end.\\n\\nWhoa, awesome song alert! \\\"The Prophet\\\" opens with really pretty guitar playing. The vocals consist of chanting, and there's even what sounds like a female opera singer. Very honest this stuff is. The verse melody sort of reminds me of the one in Janis Joplin's \\\"Piece of My Heart\\\". Really good \\\"na na na na na\\\" too. \\\"Ask the children what you want to know, light the night for me, use the road when the prophet go, though your eyes can't see\\\" is a GREAT really sad melody, and intensified when it goes up an octave at the end. This is odd, but \\\"Jug of Wine\\\" gas vocals that sounds like Lou Reed during the Velvet Underground years. Almost like a \\\"Pale Blue Eyes\\\" part two! Not quite, but almost. The lyrics aren't nearly as interesting as the stuff Lou Reed was pumping out though. They resort to loving you and all that stuff.\\n\\n\\\"Only Yesterday\\\" reminds me so much of another song but I can't quite figure out which one! Oh wait, I got it. \\\"It was only yesterday... when I heard the teacher say, patiently, one and two make three, we were children you and me\\\" the first line of Gordon Lightfoot's \\\"Too Late for Praying\\\". Anyway this Lovin' Spoonful song is very playful with the harpsichord, honest lyrics and playful melody. \\\"It was only yesterday we were laughing, children passing, and we seemed to know a way, as it did everyone that day\\\". Laugh if you want, but as a 30-something year old guy, I love this song!\\n\\nWhat would a Lovin' Spoonful album be without a country ballad? \\\"Never Going Back\\\" fits that bottle! \\\"Never going back, never going back, never going back to Nashville anymore\\\". Why not? What's wrong with Nashville? What is it with bands writing songs about not wanting to go back somewhere. One bad experience doesn't ruin a while city, come on now! The vocals continue as the song ends which is odd. \\\"Words\\\" has a downbeat atmosphere in the intro because of the guitar playing but turns into a great pop song. The orchestration really enhances this music in a big way too since it describes the tension of words causing trouble. \\\"Words used to be a way to get through, words aren't meaning the way they used to, think I said that before\\\" is a great chorus, as are the lyrics \\\"No use in talkin' about words known by heart, the sound drowns in static the words fall apart, they die in the air or still born and unknown, the seed never lands so our love never grows\\\"\\n\\n\\\"Revelation: Revolution '69\\\" is all about those anti-war lyrics. This is probably an attempt at Bob Dylan-level poetry, and while it doesn't quite reach that level of amazement the lyrics are still really good anyway, as is the guitar playing. This reminds me of a Jefferson Airplane song from their Volunteers album. Some of this stuff is hard to handle because it's so down to earth. \\\"And no one dares to ask them what they do there after dark, and the prize they give to men who kill is a statue in the park, don't let them cut your wings dear ones before you learn to fly, too soon the game will seem too real and then no will ask why\\\" and the other part that's startling \\\"Let's hang together then good friends or you know we'll hang alone, and the hawks that fly will tear your eyes and rip the skin clean off your bones, I'm afraid to die but I'm a man inside and I need the Revolution, and I'm crying watching brothers of mine doing time for making those waves\\\"\\n\\nOverall, yes this album is a step down compared to all the previous Lovin' Spoonful albums because it sounds a lot different and more mature than before, and sometimes the songwriting wanders or tries going into different territory than you're used to from the band, but it's still worth giving a chance.\",\n \"Product: Digitally remastered and expanded edition of this 1981 album from the guitar great including seven bonus tracks: 'Never Trust a Stranger' (Rough Monitor Mix) plus live versions of 'Natural Thing', 'Feels Like a Good Thing', 'Looking Out from Nowhere', 'Shoot Shoot', 'Doctor Doctor' and 'Lights Out'. for this album, Michael brought in guitarist/keyboard player Paul Raymond from UFO and drummer Cozy Powell who'd recently departed from Rainbow. The more democratic song writing produced an album that reached #14 in September 1981. EMI 2009.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: oh dear oh dear\\n\\nReview: I feel MSG is lacking BIG time compared to the Michael Schenker's first album. Everything from the vocal melodies to the songwriting to the guitar riffs took a blow since the first album. Yikes! The cool factor went down a lot too. It's not really cool to listen to this stuff. Let me explain what you can expect but I gotta warn you, disappointment is of the highest priority. Seriously what went wrong? Why is this album not nearly as good? Did Michael Schenker and the other band members rush through it? It certainly *sounds* rushed.\\n\\n\\\"But I Want More\\\" is not NEARLY as epic as the lengthy tune from the first album. Plodding, mid-tempo uninspired vocals that are caught somewhere between Bruce Dickinson and Axl Rose, an intro that sounds like Ozzy's \\\"Mr. Crowley\\\" (unintentional perhaps so I won't dwell on this one), underutilized synths, and a clunky way of speeding up the tempo later on. The one thing this song does right that matches \\\"Lost Horizons\\\" is feature a great guitar solo at the end. Otherwise average. \\\"Let Sleeping Dogs Lie\\\" opens with a nice chugging riff at the start, but then it soon dissolves into more mid-tempo mediocrity. I like the \\\"I can see them but they'll hurt me I know, cuase if the time should come that you'll be leaving\\\"\\\" line since it reminds me of Dio. Again the guitar solo at the end is the best part. It's not a good sign when I have to sit through a bunch of average parts just to get to Schenker's fantastic guitar soloing at the end.\\n\\nHowever, there's a few REALLY good songs! Let's mention those so people don't think I'm deliberately being mean. I'm not really, it's just that the first album forced me to have high expectations that the band could match or even surpass it. But I guess not. Unless they rebounded later on. \\\"On and On\\\" is a CLASSIC! I can sit here and sing the chorus for hours. \\\"And it goes on and on and on and on and on!\\\" because it's *extremely* (and surprisingly) beautiful and catchy. If you sing it long enough, you might start blending it with the chorus from Cocteau Twins \\\"Lorelei\\\", haha. The haunting vocals in the beginning are classic dramatic 80's- gotta love it! As a kid of the 80's I DO love it a lot. This song is magically awesome! The delicate way of the chorus is irresistibly unique. I think I've heard this song before a long time ago but it's possible I'm confusing it with something similar out there. Love the driving guitar riffs too.\\n\\n\\\"Looking For Love\\\" is another really cool tune. Chugging rhythm, really heavy and even UFO-like at times with the vocal melody and the singer's voice resembling good ol' Phil. Decent grooving chorus. Do I even need to mention how good the guitar solo is at the end? Welp I just did so apparently I do, lol. \\\"Attack of the Mad Axeman\\\" is another great tune because of the groovy riff. The rhythm is like what would happen if disco and heavy metal combined enjoyably. I enjoy the \\\"Time after time you can see him\\\" line too with the Uriah Heep-like gentle vocal approach. I also love when the tempo shifts faster and heavier halfway through. It works here unlike on \\\"But I Want More\\\".\\n\\nNow the rest of the stuff here is totally forgettable. \\\"Are You Ready to Rock\\\" isn't a cover of the Blue Oyster Cult song of the same name (well *almost* the same name, hehe). It's generic rock and the chorus is way too similar to Poison with the \\\"Out in the streets the kids stand and wait their time\\\" line, and the chorus \\\"Are you ready, are you ready to rock!\\\" is pretty bad. \\\"Secondary Motion\\\" is really generic and forgettable Dokken-style arena rock. This song is the worst on the album because Dokken never appealed to me. \\\"Never Trust a Stranger\\\" is a piano power ballad. Sounds like Ian Hunter of Mott the Hoople fame (unintentionally without question). Surprisingly heavy guitar solo at the end and actually an okay song otherwise.\\n\\nOverall, make sure you listen to Michael Schenker's first album instead. Other than \\\"On and On\\\" and \\\"Looking For Love\\\" and perhaps \\\"Attack of the Axeman\\\" this album is a big question mark.\",\n \"Product: Digitally remastered and expanded edition of the German guitarist's 1982 album including one bonus track: 'Girl from Uptown'. Formerly a member of both Scorpions and UFO, Schenker's finest fretwork can be found on his releases under the name Michael Schenker Group (or MSG). Assault Attack features the vocal talents of former Rainbow vocalist Graham Bonnett. Nine tracks. EMI. 2009.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: assault on the listeners\\n\\nReview: Michael Schenker continues to head his band into bland hard rock and further away from the creativity that made his debut so grand, which is a shame.\\n\\n\\\"Broken Promises\\\" shows signs of the band heading further into generic hard rock territory, but the chugging guitar riff is pretty catchy. This time the lead singer sounds like Dee Snider of Twister Sister, haha. It seems every time I listen to a Michael Schenker album, the lead singer resembles a familiar singer from some other band! First it was Rob Halford of Judas Priest, then it was the Phil Mogg from UFO, and now Dee Snider. But then again there's not really much of a difference between many of these singers anyway. Once the 80's rolled around they all began to blend together.\\n\\nThis song's okay but it sounds way too much like Whitesnake... which means yeah, a similarity to David Coverdale too! This lead singer (Graham Bonnet) overdoes his vocal range a bit sometimes while other times he's really good at elevating his voice to beautiful levels. He has trouble finding a perfect balance. I like the \\\"While waiting in the wings for the start of the show to make a move\\\" part in the middle. Otherwise this is generic mid 80's heavy metal but you know, I like this genre of music despite how limited it is and more importantly how much worse 80's metal is compared to the 70's. The vocal melody is average at best and rather surprisingly even Michael Schenker's guitar soloing feels worse than usual in the middle (but REALLY good at the end- listen to it soar there!) Despite how much of a fairly mediocre Whitesnake imitation this song probably is, it's helped by loud production which makes the drumming stand out more. It has its moments.\\n\\n\\\"Desert Song\\\" has a really generic intro, the likes of which Judas Priest wouldn't encounter until their Turbo album. There's a bit of a haunting atmosphere in the background that's okay, but the verse melody is unforgivably awful. Really bland lyrics \\\"Burning with desert fire, cooling the man\\\". This is a lousy song overall. At least the brief guitar solo is dreamy but it's not a good sign when only one tiny part of a song puts a smile on my face. \\\"Samurai\\\" has a great guitar riff in the beginning. Really anthem-like and reaching new heights. It then goes away 20 seconds later and settles into a similar groove as \\\"Desert Song\\\" with its persistent chugging rhythm. Hilarious lyrics and even funnier concerning the dramatic way they're sung. \\\"Samurai! Do you live to die!\\\" This is the good old days of 80's heavy metal. I admit I like the chorus, but it's as cheesy as it comes.\\n\\n\\\"Rock You to the Ground\\\" is based around a steamy blues guitar riff. The drumming that plays along is pretty good and comparable to many bands of the mid to late 70's. \\\"Come out of your nightmares and run you to the ground\\\" is a decent chorus mainly for the guitar playing and significantly less for Graham's singing. He always had an obnoxious voice but it was at least tolerable during the Rainbow years. He's ruining a nice groove and great guitar promise this song could have had simply by being overbearing with his range. With that said there *is* still a decent melody occurring here so I'm willing to forgive the lead singer this time. Michael even provides a memorable guitar solo around the 4-minute mark that lasts for the rest of the song, so he show he still has what it takes to get it done.\\n\\n\\\"Dancer\\\" is all about the lead singer trying to sing sincerely with his screamer voice concerning a woman who can do whatever she pleases. This song screams 80's in a way that's even embarrassing for a heavy metal band. Seriously this song makes me laugh a lot! \\\"They watch her move, school boy dreamers fantasy, she's a daaaa-aaa-ncer!\\\" I believe this is an attempt at writing something like the Tubes \\\"She's a Beauty\\\" but without the quality vocal singing of the Tubes classic. Oh man this is quite the funny song but you know I can't help but enjoy it anyway just because the vocal melody is in fact memorable despite how easy it is to make fun of. Silly as you can imagine perhaps, but also catchy. Also what's unintentionally funny is that Michael Schenker is trying to save it by contributing a decent guitar solo.\\n\\n\\\"Searching For a Reason\\\" opens with some brilliant guitar playing and flashes of Michael's older style when his guitar playing used to make me cry. This song has a really irresistible beat and catchy powerful guitar riff! One of the best songs on the album. \\\"We all need to have good timing, we all have the right to live!\\\" Yes we do. Every single one of us. Wow this song is awesome. Listen to the mellow guitar solo in the middle and how catchy it is seriously. All the while the rhythm gets my foot tapping. I'm almost certain this song was influenced by Rainbow's \\\"Love Live Rock 'n Roll\\\" because the two choruses are too similar for me to believe otherwise.\\n\\n\\\"Assault Attack\\\" opens with dramatic Scorpions-like guitar playing. Whoa, another excellent rhythm! More Dio-inspired vocals but the catchy rhythm is so good I don't care. \\\"Why don't you want me\\\" is a memorable chorus. The verse melody is actually better. This is classic metal! So in fact the shorter songs are the ones that stand out the most on the album. Who would've thought it? And the guitar solo in the middle? Surprisingly awesome! The band was simply saving all their best tricks for the shorter songs. \\\"Ulser\\\" is *another* winner! Yippee! Fast-paced guitar instrumental prowess. Now this is more like it! Well to be honest this song isn't really that great, but without having to hear Graham Bonnet and his below average voice, I'm content.\\n\\nOverall, this is the last Michael Schenker album I'm listening to for a while. It's time to take a hiatus. With every album just getting worse as the 80's rolled along, I don't even want to know what his next studio album released after this one sounds like. Assault Attack is a pretty decent album but there's clearly a few weak points, notably the decision to bring in Graham Bonnet for vocal role. Even then Michael's guitar soloing isn't up to par either. He plays it safe most of the time and settling into a generic routine when clearly he's better than this.\",\n \"Product: Engineered for everyday dependability, the X-ACTO KS Manual Pencil Sharpener is built to meet the demands of high-volume environments. The classic classroom sharpener, the X-ACTO KS Manual utilizes dual hardened helical cutters to efficiently sharpen pencils to fine point tips. All-metal construction stands up to the wear and tear of student use, while the integrated mount with included screws allows for simple installation on a wall or desk. Sturdy and low-maintenance, the X-ACTO KS Manual Pencil Sharpener is designed to serve schools with ease.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: sharpen up, class begins in 10 minutes\\n\\nReview: I've come to the conclusion that the old-fashioned pencil sharpeners are easier to use when they are NOT attached to the wall, but instead are designed with a platform underneath the sharpener part. That way, even though you have to hold on to the thing to prevent it from moving as you sharpen your pencil, at LEAST you don't have to deal with the problems you'd find if the pencil sharpener was attached to the wall.\\n\\nSuch as, every time you turn the handle, the back of your fingers keep rubbing against the cement wall. That hurts, and if you don't have any lead in your pencil, you're going to end up with a very sore hand. That's worse than a crazy English teacher smacking your hand with a ruler. With a non-wall pencil sharpener (and I don't mean the electric ones- I'm talking about the old-fashioned ones that our parents grew up with) your fingers won't rub against anything. You can keep turning the handle and be happy about it.\\n\\nAnother problem with a pencil sharpener attached to a wall is that sometimes they are located so you have to turn the handle with your left hand. It feels more comfortable to turn the handle with my right hand, but if the handle is located on the left side of the sharpener it won't be easy. Sure, the pencil will still sharpen, but it might take me a while. Impatient people behind me waiting in line might get upset.\\n\\nAs for the actual sharpener I'm reviewing, it works great, and holds up through the years really well. 40 years ago students may have been using the exact same sharpener. It stands up to the test of time, and when test time comes, you better not fail.\",\n \"Product: The #1 grip recommended by doctors, teachers, and occupational therapist for children and adults. The Pencil Grip is the original ergonomic writing aid and it continues to set the standard. Developed by prominent educational therapist Dr. Lois Provda, The Pencil Grip increases comfort, teaches the proper hand positioning, and improves control. Its ergonomic design also provides relief of hand fatigue and pain. Righties and Lefties simply place their thumb on the \\\"R or \\\"L on the grip and their fingers naturally fall into place. Includes 12 grips in assorted classic colors.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: more grip than pencil\\n\\nReview: I remember using these pencil grips in 5th grade. This is either when they became really popular, or first came out. This would be back in 1993. M classmates were enjoying them tremendously... except me. I didn't get the appeal then, and I don't get the appeal now. The problem is that these grips are so huge that you're putting more effort into grabbing the grip than you are using the pencil. This makes it hard to position the pencil in a normal workable way. I actually have enormous hands so maybe that's why I have so much trouble using them. Then again, given the size of the pencil grip, aren't these actually designed for people like me? I wouldn't recommend these to anyone other than those who have trouble grabbing small things and can't grab a pencil without shaking a lot. I can't see any other purpose than this one.\",\n \"Product: Print confidentlyget HP reliability and performance at a great price. Enjoy laser-quality results with Original HP ink. Simple design gives you only the features you need and want to pay for. Get up to three times more black pages and two-and-a-half times more color pages, usingoptional high-capacity cartridges. Conveniently designed to fit in small places or wherever you need it. Features only one buttonthe Power buttonfor easy printing. Changing the ink cartridge is simplethe improved design places the cartridge in the center of printer for easy access\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: let me try to help everyone having trouble\\n\\nReview: I too own a Deskjet D1660 printer. The only reason I got rid of my previous printer is because it was becoming too old and outdated, which means the ink cartridges were becoming VERY expensive, up to 40-50 dollars in some cases. With that money, I can just buy another printer (this Deskjet D1660 to be precise) however... that turned out to be a mistake.\\n\\nYes, the assortment of negative reviews you're reading ARE in fact, entirely accurate. This is because I can relate to just about every problem people are experiencing, however because I've been able to correct these problems up to this point, I can't complain TOO much. However if this printer ever COMPLETELY fails and I can no longer print, you better believe I'm coming here and changing my rating to 1 star. Until then... here's some tips that have worked for me.\\n\\nEvery so often -like after every 20 prints or so- it seems the printer gets stuck in queue. Now there's 2 things you can do to fix this problem. One is the following- go to Control Panel, click on Administrative Tools, double click on Services, scroll down until you find Print Spooler and double click it, and then hit the Stop button. Now I recommend WAITING about a minute until you hear your printer making those familiar printing sounds. After a minute goes by -whether you hear sounds or not- hit the Start button and wait another minute. I recommend waiting a minute in BOTH instances (Stop and Start) so you don't accidentally jam it up by moving too quickly. You have to be patient with stuff like this, despite how easily agitated you understandably get with computers and printers sometimes. Trust me, I've been there!\\n\\nThis works for me 60-70% of the time. The very first time it happened it worked, and has worked about 15 times since then. However...\\n\\nSometimes another problem is presented, and the tips above do not work. In this case, unplug one or both cords in the back of your printer and wait a minute. Then plug them back in. This is what you do when the power button won't stop flashing. Now go to print the page again and, if nothing happens, repeat the above tips (click on Control Panel, Administrative Tools, etc) and see what happens. So far this has been working for me and hopefully will CONTINUE to work.\\n\\nAbout 3 weeks ago I had a REALLY strange problem that scared the heck out of me! I was printing and a REALLY loud screeching sound came from the printer! I thought to myself \\\"Oh boy, it's dead\\\" but it was actually a paper jam. Now here's the worst part- there actually *wasn't* a paper jam, despite all the online advice that helped walk me through fixing a paper jam. I checked over every aspect of my printer and there was no paper stuck anywhere! I was like \\\"WHAT?\\\" I had to unplug the cords behind the printer, plug them back in, use the advice above with Control Panel and Administrative Tools, and THEN it worked again. Very strange.\\n\\nWhat concerns me also is that, when that supposed \\\"paper jam\\\" occurred, behind my printer I noticed two oil spots that are very fresh and sticky. One type of oil is white, the other is yellow. These oil marks are dangerously close to the wheels that control the paper and if these oil spots were to ever DRIP on the paper... that will be one heck of an oil mess that will probably destroy the printer. Let's hope that doesn't happen!\\n\\nI believe -but can't prove- that the printer stuck in queue problem occurs when you have too many web pages open at once. It's like the printer doesn't know which page you're referring to and gets confused and stuck. So when printing, close all pages except the one you're printing. Other times -despite having only one page open- the printer takes a while to actually take off and start printing. It makes me cautious that it might get stuck in queue again. I know, these assortment of problems are probably really annoying for most people and I agree, but hey, if I can get my printer to work I'm happy. I believe if there's a solution and it's not *that* inconvenient, I don't mind putting up with the occasional annoyances.\\n\\nOh, and one more thing. What's up with the power button? Sometimes I have to press it twice to shut it off, other times 3 times. And then it will repeatedly flash for about 30 seconds until shutting off for good. It's NEVER consistent though. Sometimes it might take longer than 30 seconds. Can anyone explain this?\\n\\nOh and here's another head scratcher! I ran out of black ink yesterday so I went to the official HP website to buy another cartridge. After it finds my printer number a message says \\\"Out of stock\\\" for black ink cartridges. WHAT?!?! Isn't that sort of like McDonalds running out of french fries?\\n\\nSo yeah, my rating for this printer will remain a 3-star out of 5 for now. If it dies in the future and causes me an enormous amount of frustration, my rating will definitely change to a 1-star rating.\",\n \"Product: Letter Slitter Hand Letter Opener w/Concealed Blade\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: I love it however\\n\\nReview: What EVER you do, do NOT drop this letter opener on the cold hard kitchen floor by being careless! What will probably happen is that, you see how the bottom piece is small? That piece can actually break completely off if you happen to drop this letter opener on just the right angle. You can fix it with super glue and put the broken piece back into place and have it work sufficiently enough, but still, be EXTREMELY careful not to drop it!\\n\\nYou want it to stay working for whenever an emergency comes along! For example, having your father call you up on the phone and demand to tell him what came in the mail. He'll demand that you open certain letters, and open them RIGHT NOW! Well you can't exactly stand around all day peeling the top part of the lickably sealed envelope and assure that the paperwork inside won't be harmed because if you have a father who rushes around and expects things done the moment he says so, trust me, whatever's inside WILL be harmed!\\n\\nOtherwise this is the ideal thing for me! I HATE opening envelopes! Before this little device came along, I could never get the envelope to open without tearing too much of the envelope away or worse yet, tearing vital information contained within!\\n\\nJust be careful not to drop it on the floor or it will break, and you'll have wasted a good chunk of change. You don't want to waste money in an economically suffering world we live in. You want your things to last for a very long time and thanks to the increase in prices, you may even become super protective of your belongings (like me). Touch my things and I WILL bite!\",\n \"Product: 2 pack, porch swing extension spring, used primarily for porch swings & will support approximately 300 lbs each, use as tension for fence, dog chain, adjust, tire swings, porch chairs & other uses where safety is a primary concern.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: springing up life on the front porch\\n\\nReview: With these springs you can watch the day go by once again! Sunrise, sunset, neighborhood kids going by on their bikes, dogs barking in your neighbors yard, mischievous situations brewing in the trees amongst the raccoons and squirrels, etc. These springs will actually work on your porch swing really well, and I'm surprised since my knowledge with the subject is limited greatly to just, well, a spring is a spring, lol. Not really sure if there's other types of springs that work more effectively or what. Either way the porch swing works so I don't have to dirty my bottom using the porch steps and watch my back for ants that may be crawling up my shirt. That makes me very nervous.\",\n \"Product: The quick, easy way to test pool water! No more vials, reagents and messy drops. Use Aqua Chek's simple, yet accurate test strips instead of that complicated liquid test kit. Just dip and read the results in 30 seconds. The 4-Way Chlorine strips test for Free Chlorine, pH, Total Alkalinity, & Cyanuric Acid.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: dip 'em in the water\\n\\nReview: These are very reliable test strips. The ideal way to use these strips is to put them about 10 inches under the water for a nice solid 60 seconds. If you use them too close to the top of the water where it's shallow, you'll probably get a false reading. You know, after 25 years of owning pools, sometimes I wonder why I even bother using test strips. Whenever a problem occurs it's almost always because of a lack of chlorine. The pH and alkalinity are usually perfectly fine. Oh well. You can use the chart on the back of the bottle to find out what the OK range is. Anything outside of the OK range means you need to take action because if you don't (and trust me on this one) your pool water WILL turn green in a hurry. It starts as a little bit of fog, then a slight lime green color, then before you know it, a slimy olive shade of yucky, unswimmable green. Do NOT let it get to that point! Not even the frogs will jump in water that green.\",\n \"Product: The quick, easy way to test pool water! No more vials, reagents and messy drops. Use Aqua Chek's simple, yet accurate test strips instead of that complicated liquid test kit. Just dip and read the results in 30 seconds. The 4-Way Chlorine strips test for Free Chlorine, pH, Total Alkalinity, & Cyanuric Acid.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: dip 'em in the water\\n\\nReview: These are very reliable test strips. The ideal way to use these strips is to put them about 10 inches under the water for a nice solid 60 seconds. If you use them too close to the top of the water where it's shallow, you'll probably get a false reading. You know, after 25 years of owning pools, sometimes I wonder why I even bother using test strips. Whenever a problem occurs it's almost always because of a lack of chlorine. The pH and alkalinity are usually perfectly fine. Oh well. You can use the chart on the back of the bottle to find out what the OK range is. Anything outside of the OK range means you need to take action because if you don't (and trust me on this one) your pool water WILL turn green in a hurry. It starts as a little bit of fog, then a slight lime green color, then before you know it, a slimy olive shade of yucky, unswimmable green. Do NOT let it get to that point! Not even the frogs will jump in water that green.\",\n \"Product: These multipurpose, modern style planters, are a perfect complement to your interior or exterior dcor. Choose between various colors and sizes to pair with your favorite plants in your living space. Each are equipped with built-in trays to protect decks, patios, and indoor surfaces from water damage. These lightweight, sturdy plastic pots are built to last for years and years. The sleek, contemporary line of Full Depth Cylinder Pots are recyclable and proudly made in the USA. Size Dims. (\\\" x H\\\") 6-Inch: 6.25\\\" x 5.8\\\" 8-Inch: 8.25\\\" x 7.8\\\" 10-Inch: 10.25\\\" x 9.8\\\" 12-Inch: 12.3\\\" x 11.8\\\" 14-Inch: 14.25\\\" x 13.8\\\" For best results and to promote healthy plants in a Full Depth Cylinder Pot: When planting, create a drainage layer on the bottom of the pot by adding a medium such as pebbles, pumice or clay pieces. The drainage layer should be about 2-3 inches. To prevent overwatering when using outdoors, expose the bottom drainage holes by removing the snap-on tray. Add potting mix and fill the container up to 1\\\" from the top. Add or transplant your favorite plant to the pot. Position the planter in an area that will allow the plant to receive the recommended amount of sunlight. After initial planting, refer to the after-care instructions for each specific plant species. Water accordingly.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: I love a pot\\n\\nReview: While it may be easy to write off this cylinder pot as just another unspectacular and uninteresting typical planting pot, the reality is that planting pots have never felt the need to be sophisticated in design or particularly pretty on the eyes. All they have to be is be effective and *work*. They have to be durable and fulfill their function to stay in place and hold up over the years while your plant grows/flourishes as high and as bushy as possible. For that, this cylinder pot may not be the prettiest pot on the market or one that stands out and grabs your attention, but the fact that it's made of a hard sturdy plastic and can last practically years even during the most extreme conditions (such as banging into it with the vacuum cleaner in the back den area- hey we're all guilty of doing that sometimes by mistake) makes it a wonderful addition to your plant collection. Trust me, its simple and easy-looking appearance has many benefits, and most importantly working in the harshest of weather conditions (such as wind, ugh I just HATE that one) or the simplicity and relaxation of stationary indoor use makes it a winner folks.\",\n \"Product: This watering can has special features include an ergonomic handle and balanced design to make this everyday gardening tool versatile, easy to use and durable. Large, offset opening is easy to fill from spigot or sink long, drip resistant spout. Molded in water level indicators make it easy to determine proper water to fertilizer ratio. Available in Evergreen color with capacity of 1-Gallon.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: this is what I'm looking for!\\n\\nReview: This Akro Mils Watering Can is exactly what I wanted. For years I thought they were called watering pails but... no. The ones with a handle and plastic tube on the end of them for delicate and precise water pourage that you see in this picture are called water *cans*. A water pail doesn't have a sturdy plastic handle on top intended for easy carrying and actually remind me more of something you'd use when you need to carry foods and liquids to a trough. A BIG difference. Anyway, this watering can does a splendid job watering the few plants that have survived over the 20 years in my small computer room. I only use this watering can twice a month in the winter time (since plants would rather not drink a whole lot this time of year) and about 8 times a month in the summer. Strongly recommended for a significantly easier way to pour water into a flower pot.\",\n \"Product: There is no drips or mess. Ants carry bait back to the nest where it destroys the entire colony. The active ingredients is permethrin.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: intended for all ants\\n\\nReview: I was originally skeptical to buy these outdoor liquid ant baits because in my mind it didn't seem likely that one little trap would be able to stop thousands/millions of ants from entering my house, however then I learned something- all it takes is exactly ONE ant to grab ahold of this gooey poison and return it to the colony. Then *all* the ants are eating this poison! I get a funny image in my mind of an ant kicking the front door open after obtaining this poison and going \\\"Hey everyone, guess what I found!\\\" And all the ants express joy. \\\"Hooray, enough food for a year!\\\" Then shortly after. \\\"Oh man my stomach doesn't feel very good\\\" as all the ants lie around on their backs weakly wiggling their legs around in the air... and then they die.\\n\\nAnyway, knowing all it takes is one ant to get the job done, it's important not to give into temptation and smash the ants when they approach the trap. Let them get all nice and gooey with this poison so you'll feel content knowing thousands of them are indulging the poison nice and deliciously, muh ha ha. I was also worried that placing a trap outside is likely to be a problem whenever it rains. Running rain water plus ant trap poison means a disaster, however rather shockingly the traps hold in the poison just fine... for outdoor traps. The indoor traps are another story I'm afraid.\\n\\nI shouldn't be surprised with the many reviews on amazon. I mean we've just had three years in a row of extremely rainy springs and summers on the east coast even setting record amounts on a few occasions, and the moisture and dampness really brings out the ants. You have to be warned though- the indoor traps aren't sturdy and are likely to break. Don't be surprised if you wake up one day to a kitchen counter covered in ant poison. The stuff doesn't exactly come off easily either, especially when these poison traps break on the kitchen floor tiles. The stuff dries up and turns really hard, but with a little scrubbing it'll come off.\",\n \"Product: Onion Yellow Sweet Spanish Great Heirloom Vegetable 300 Seeds\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: spanish onions are the second best onion ever\\n\\nReview: Sweet yellow Spanish onions are extremely delicious! We simply call these Spanish in lower southeast Pennsylvania and in fact I assumed for years (and still do) that yellow onions are something else entirely which may or may not be true. While no onion on the planet can ever surpass Vidalia onions, Spanish ones are the best alternative in the middle of winter when Vidalia's aren't available in grocery stores (I assume because it gets below freezing in Georgia where Vidalia onions mainly grow).\\n\\nDon't get me wrong, these are very tasty and similar to the superior Vidalia's but the one very noticeable difference between the two is that Spanish onions tend to have an overwhelmingly powerful aftertaste. Not *all* of them of course, but the majority of them do. Vidalia's are mostly significantly less powerful. That's the biggest difference between Spanish and Vidalia onions. Spanish onions are awesome too- that's the important thing to remember!\",\n \"Product: Sun: Full Sun Days to Maturity: 25 days Sowing Method: Direct Sow Sizes up in a hurry, slow to become pithy. 25 DAYS.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: radishes for your garden\\n\\nReview: Radishes are one of those veggies I don't really care for but eat anyway because they work really well with salads. Or maybe all the years of my dad and his girlfriend feeding them to me means I've simply gotten used to them. I wouldn't necessarily say I dislike the taste of a radish. Alright at one point in time I did, but those days are gone. Radishes are fine now. Growing them is fairly easy if you have the right soil. I don't think my soil's right though- I have rusty colored/orange dry soil. I'd like to think growing radishes would be feasible in my garden because carrots grow quite well, so it seems like radishes -which are similar to carrots in texture and taste- would have the same good fortune. But who knows. I hear they grow quick too which is a benefit. That makes them the opposite of most veggies which take forever to grow completely. By forever I mean several weeks, even months.\",\n \"Product: Protect your outdoor items from winter's wrath with our Hearth and Garden line of Patio furniture covers. Made from 380 gram polyester, our furniture and grill covers resist cracking, fading, tearing, and mold build up. Coated with PVC for increased water resistant and further protection from the elements, you can be confident that your patio furniture is secure through the seasons. We have covers available to fit all of your needs, from tables and chairs to grills and patio heathers. All of these items are available packaged in clear vinyl poly bags.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: not for outside use!\\n\\nReview: If you live on top of a hill where 40-50 mph arctic blasts blow through your town over the course of a long winter, guess what? This Rectangular Table & Chair Set Cover will rip and tear VERY easily. In a matter of days even. Maybe if you live in southern California or Arizona such a cover is considered reliable, but here in southeast Pennsylvania with wind being a constant nuisance? Yeah, this thing is useless. Also, too much rain will make it rot, especially if the water is sitting in the middle of it for an extended period of time. Always make sure you drain the water after a rainstorm. Oh, and in case someone says \\\"This is intended for summer weather\\\" guess what? Wind occurs frequently in the summer too -not to mention heavy downpours from intense lightning storms- so it doesn't work THAT time of year either. It's just a bad product. Don't buy it.\",\n \"Product: Prairie dog antlers are north American antlers that are naturally shed or harvested. Our antlers are the highest quality north American antlers on the market today. This 100% natural dog chew is a natural source of several essential minerals that are beneficial to your dog. So go ahead and treat your furry friend to this non-allergenic, odor free, all natural dog chew! elk antlers are the softest in density and are best for puppies, older dogs, and dogs with sensitive teeth or gums. Deer antlers are moderate in density and are best for moderate chewers. (Most dogs)moose antlers are the most dense and are best for strong or active chewers (large breeds)please note that because this product is all natural, each antler will vary slightly in height, length and shape from the description shown.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: intended for small prairie doggies\\n\\nReview: Are you kidding me? This Prairie Dog Giant Deer Antler Dog Chew is barely 8 inches long! Why are the pictures so tricky in making us believe we're buying something really huge when clearly we're not? Thank goodness the other reviewers mentioned the unfair and inaccurate size. It's unfair because such a product is expensive to buy, so many people feel cheated out of lots of cash (and rightfully so). Furthermore, not all dogs are eager to gobble this antler up. I have a dog that likes to eat for a few minutes at a time then move on to something else that's chewable. It's really not worth the price due to the small size- that's obviously the biggest flaw. My 80-pound basset hound isn't very happy. I simply say this- don't buy this product!\",\n \"Product: No wiring or electricity is required to install these Garden Creations solar-powered LED accent lights. They soak up the sun's energy by day and shine brightly at night. The white LED lights illuminate walks, gardens, and patios. This set includes eight lights, each of which measures 4.25 inches by 4.25 inches by 13.5 inches.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: hmmm, I'll give it a free pass\\n\\nReview: I have mixed feelings with these lights. Even though I realize these lights are solar and rely on the sunlight, they don't always work correctly. Sometimes the light is heavily faded, other times the light doesn't come on at all. When you have an entire row of lights organized neatly around your front porch, it's amazingly and unforgivingly disappointing when only a few of them turn on at a time. It looks messy and out of whack. You can't feel proud to have them or show them off to your friends and family either. But... you can't exactly throw these lights away since the light very well might come on again the next night. Odd and frustrating dealing with these things. Last summer I came home from the Mexican restaurant with my dad and his girlfriend at their beach home, and upon pulling up in the driveway and feeling satisfied with the delicious meal we just had, we noticed only a few lights were actually on around the house. I put my foot down right there that I'd never purchase these lights for myself.\",\n \"Product: Add new sparkling dimensions to your art and coloring projects with these Glitter Magic Markers. This package includes 6 assorted bright colors of glittering markers in Blue, Green, Orange, Yellow, Red, and Purple. Simply press down on the tip to allow the ink to flow then color or draw like any normal marker and watch your designs take on awesome sparkling effects. These markers are excellent for creating and decorating all kinds of coloring projects and original artwork. Children will enjoy how easy they are to use and their sparkling effects. They're perfect for home or school use.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: they magically stick whenever you draw!\\n\\nReview: Be warned- these magic markers are really likely to permanently stain your childrens clothes. This is no exaggeration. Kids will probably get marker stains on their clothes somehow, and it'll be your job to find a way to take care of them. However good luck because all the washing in the world won't remove said stains. Sure, repeated washing will slightly remove the stains, but there will always be a faded mark on your kids clothes. With that in mind, you've been warned. Otherwise, if your kids stay clear of their clothes while using these magic markers (which would be a miracle) they actually work great and certainly reveal a bright enough color to be noticeable on whatever you write on.\",\n \"Product: Large sand pails equal hours of fun at the beach! Use them to build sand castles or tote toys... they also make great centerpieces filled with flowers and other dcor for outdoor garden- and beach-themed parties. Plus, they are a great start to kid-friendly gift \\\"baskets\\\", giveaways, and more. This is a package of 6 assorted colors.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: save your time and money\\n\\nReview: I don't understand why these buckets are breaking. I used similar ones as a kid back in the 80's and they worked fine, but nowadays if you were to drop what appears to be similar ones on the ground, they're almost guaranteed to break. Cheaply made and not worth buying. Too bad I never saved the ones I used to take to the beach with me when my parents took me on vacation. I believe even after 30 years they'd still be holding up just fine unlike the ones you see here on amazon. The sad part is that I don't know where you can buy reliable toy shovels and pails because it's not like they're made sturdily anymore. I'm sure somebody sells better ones somewhere.\",\n \"Product: Teeth paint is easy to use, fast drying, and durable. It won't come off when drinking liquids and doesn't harm dental work.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: no need to buy this product\\n\\nReview: If you'd like to have rotten teeth, do what I did- go several months by not brushing when you enter your teenage years, never even think about flossing, and eat nothing but hard to chew candies such as Sugar Daddies and Caramellos and anything chocolate-related. Watch and wait as your teeth gradually turn black and funky and you'll soon be on your way to the emergency room when you discover one surprisingly humorless day that the tooth rotting stretches so painfully deep that your entire cheek swells up like a chipmunk due to an abscess and you have to spend 300 bucks to get the tooth extracted. Or... yeah, it's best to take care of your teeth and just buy this Teeth Paint toy as a trick. The real thing isn't worth the agony.\",\n \"Product: Aurora World Miyoni angora kitten is beautifully designed and features realistic characteristics with air-brushed color accents. It is part of the premium Miyoni line of plush animals, made with superior materials and great attention to detail. Aurora World is an industry leader with over 30 years of experience designing and manufacturing innovative, high quality plush products.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: give it a squeeze\\n\\nReview: How can you possibly turn away after looking at such an adorable kitten plush? This white version is probably the prettiest one of all the kittens available on amazon. Of the plush kittens I mean. Obviously real kittens are more adorable but that's something you already know. I'm sure your child will absolutely love cuddling up to this oversized plush kitten, and you know the white one just seems the most appropriate. It's like the standard of all plush kittens! Sure some might think it's the basic color and that makes it unnoticeable, but I say it's simply the one designed for that everyday kitty look. Highly recommended. Of course a plush kitten this big isn't going to be available for cheap! Then again right now it's selling for less than 10 bucks which is amazing. Usually you can expect to pay quite a bit of money for one of these, but you can relax knowing your child will easily be in love with this white plush kitten.\",\n \"Product: Super Bit Mapping Remastered Definitive Edition. Classic 1975 second album for Virgin Records\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: wow, I like it!\\n\\nReview: People often wonder how I can enjoy Tangerine Dream when I dislike the ambient genre as much as I do. Simple- after hearing several Brian Eno albums, this is still better than a good portion of his overrated work (this doesn't include everything he's done from Here Comes the Warm Jets through Before and After Science though, which aren't even ambient albums anyway except for Discreet Music).\\n\\nEven the Fripp/Eno collaboration doesn't feel like they created pure ambience to me, so those albums get a free pass as well. Albums like Music For Airports however, are totally boring to me. My impression of that popular 1978 album- the songs never seem to go anywhere and the choice of musical instruments are extremely limited to nothing but repetitive beats, synths and a few piano lines. Bleh. Tangerine Dream is better.\\n\\nAnyway, Rubycon is a fantastic album. There's numerous things taking place at once upong hearing one of the two 17-minute songs included here. It's not just mindless, uninteresting bloops and bleeps. You have mellotrons, synthesizers and organs coming together to create fascinating otherworldly sounds and a highly original, futuristic style. I have to disagree with those that say this stuff sounds badly dated. Not really. Originality is the reason why.\\n\\n\\\"Rubycon Part One\\\" is a bit more interesting to me because musically it feels stronger with a sped up rhythm taking up the second half of it, but \\\"Rubycon Part Two\\\" can hold its own as well. Again, the use of a wide variety of musical instruments is the number one reason I admire Rubycon as much as I do. More specifically, Tangerine Dream seemed to have a very important mindset when making this album- musical instruments and variety first and *then* implement the atmosphere. It just happened to work to good effect. I'm shocked but it *does* actually work!\",\n \"Product: Easy Piano Sheet Music Single.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: imagine all the people\\n\\nReview: Well I finally got a chance to see the film that sparked a double album that BOTH my parents and my aunt happened to buy for me as a birthday present the same year. Oops!!! I still have both copies in mint condition though!\\n\\nThe topics you will witness while watching John Lennon: Imagine are basically a combination of both his time with the Beatles and his solo career with Yoko. The film devotes an equal amount of time to each period of John's life.\\n\\nI like how the movie constantly jumps around from his Beatles days to his solo career. One moment you will see the Beatles performing in famous locations (mostly focused on their later days when Yoko was with the band) and other times you see Lennon performing alone on his house piano, with Yoko and other band mates standing around and watching him play (in addition to showing Lennon and Yoko in the studio).\\n\\nYou will also hear discussions from Lennon's first wife, and his temporary girlfriend, May Pang. Lennon's kids also share some memories of their father, and I really like the way the kids come across as confident and intelligent, just like their father.\\n\\nMy favorite part of this Imagine documentary however, are the famous interviews people conducted with John Lennon (some of which were rather heated and angry as you probably recall). This film includes those interviews, completely uncut so you're able to hear all the swear words in all their uncensored glory. You're even treated to those nude scenes involving John and Yoko, along with his famous bedroom incident.\\n\\nI also admire how the people who put down this collection of lost Lennon interviews kept intact the very best parts. That's important.\\n\\nOne thing that felt missing was a detailed explanation concerning Lennon's role in American politics. This could have been touched upon more than it was. After all, this is definitely a crucial part of Lennon's legacy.\\n\\nOverall, a great documentary of a legendary musician.\",\n \"Product: Molly Hartley (Bennett) hopes that with her mother locked away in a mental ward she can forget the violence of her family s past and start over. She has found a new life a new school and a new boyfriend (Crawford). But when her secret past and haunting ni\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: disappointing, but not horrendous\\n\\nReview: I see a bunch of criticism for the Haunting of Molly Hartley here on amazon, and while I agree with plenty of the popular complaints, the movie does actually get somewhat better later on. Only *somewhat* though.\\n\\nThe segments where Haley Bennett's character witnesses hallucinations pertaining to her mother are pretty good, so the film does have THAT going for it at least.\\n\\nOh, and the first 5 minutes of storytelling are excellent. Make sure you don't miss that part. It's the only part that actually had a creepy atmosphere.\\n\\nThe storyline had serious potential but never lived up to it. Something terrible happens on a teenage girls 18th birthday, so the storyline is about the girls mother trying to prevent it from happening by actually attempting to kill her daughter before it's too late. Of course everyone assumes the mother is crazy so they lock her up in a mental institution, but she eventually escapes.\\n\\nFrom there, I don't want to spoil the storyline. I can assure you though, that you won't be impressed by the Haunting of Molly Hartley if you're expecting a lot of \\\"edge of your seat\\\" suspense. It won't happen. The acting just isn't good enough, and the atmosphere is completely missing.\\n\\nAt least 45 minutes of the storyline is devoted to below average typical teenager nonsense at school involving friends and a boyfriend, so you won't miss anything there I guarantee it.\\n\\nLater on when the girls 18th birthday approaches, THIS is when it gets slightly better.\\n\\nOverall, probably not worth your time.\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":200,"string":"200"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_3"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":875,"string":"875"}}},{"rowIdx":876,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"A2F1P10GGZ7K2T"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of \"5.0\" for a product with description \"BudStraps Flex Sport is great for runners, cyclists, gym-rats or treadmill junkies who want to use their earbuds but keep them safely out of their way. The Flex Sport strap is made of a super light mesh sweat-wicking material that basically feels like nothing on your neck. It's great for keeping your earbuds strapped to you on a long run or ride, and it looks pretty dope. BudStraps let you pay less attention to your earbuds both when you're using them (no more fumbling for fallen earbuds) and when you're not (they hang around your neck waiting for you). We recommend getting a pair of Flex Sport BudStraps for your workouts and a pair of soft Free Flow BudStraps for casual walks and daily activities where you won't be sweating.\". The summary of the review text is \"Yeah! A wired earbud solution that works!!\"."},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"It was either this product or a similar one I saw on kickstarter a couple of years ago and I thought this was a great idea but for $15, at the time, to buy a strap that cost just as much as a pair of ear buds seemed ridiculous.\n\nSince then I've taken up running and wanting my tunes or audiobooks with me.\nAlso, I've tested and reviewed 30+ bluetooth headphones.\n\nYet I keep coming back to wired headphones and earbuds, but never found a good solution between having them in my ears, leaving one earbud out and one in or just having them around my neck in between listens. This solves all that.\n\n+ Nice solid strap\n\n+ I put the clip right below the remote on the right-side and then make it even on the left and it hangs well on my neck.\n\n+ The extra weight allows me to take these running without my earbuds or this strap flopping all over the place.\n\n+ The black goes with most clothing so it is the right color for me\n\nOVERALL: I don't know why I cared these cost the same as a pair of low end earbuds...the options I get by having them far out weight the small cost. Worth checking out!"},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"It was either this product or a similar one I saw on kickstarter a couple of years ago and I thought this was a great idea but for $15, at the time, to buy a strap that cost just as much as a pair of ear buds seemed ridiculous.\n\nSince then I've taken up running and wanting my tunes or audiobooks with me.\nAlso, I've tested and reviewed 30+ bluetooth headphones.\n\nYet I keep coming back to wired headphones and earbuds, but never found a good solution between having them in my ears, leaving one earbud out and one in or just having them around my neck in between listens. This solves all that.\n\n+ Nice solid strap\n\n+ I put the clip right below the remote on the right-side and then make it even on the left and it hangs well on my neck.\n\n+ The extra weight allows me to take these running without my earbuds or this strap flopping all over the place.\n\n+ The black goes with most clothing so it is the right color for me\n\nOVERALL: I don't know why I cared these cost the same as a pair of low end earbuds...the options I get by having them far out weight the small cost. Worth checking out!"},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Product: For centuries, the luxury of French-milled soaps has remained the gold standard of excellence. Each time you begin to lather a French made soap, you enter a time and place where quality and craftsmanship have stood still. Traditional French soap is triple-milled to produce a completely uniform and smooth soap, without impurities, thus lasting longer. Every bar of Pre de Provence soap is not only carefully made today by the dedicated soapmakers in Provence following their proud traditions, but quad-milled to be smoother and have a richer lather to create our luxurious feel. Using all pure, natural ingredients enriched with shea butter, you can feel the difference of our unique quad-milling process. Aromatic fragrances transport you to a moment of calmness, vitality, dreamin or well-being. This 150 Gram bar is a great value, the fragrance maintains until the soap is all used up. The soap creates a rich, creamy lather and rinses clean, leaving skin soft and hydrated.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Good, overall, moisturizing soap\n\nReview: This is a pretty heavy bar of soap.\n\n+ The Olive Oil is not all flowery and perfume like so many soaps. This is more neutral scent.\nFor a guy I was happy about this.\n\n-- My wife and daughter and three sons all came to me and asked, \"What is this soap that stinks?!?\"\nNobody else likes the Olive Oil scent. Loss of a star because they just want to throw it away.\n\n+ Scent is light, not overbearing\n\n+ Wife likes using this as a facial soap since it moisturizes.\n\n+ I have a child with eczema and this does not inflame his ailment\n\n+ Soap lather's well and quickly.\nDon't have a use a lot to get a lather going.\n\n> I see in the Community Questions that at least three times people ask what are the ingredients. A good thing too, since there doesn't seem to be any other way to get the ingredients.\n1. I expected ingredients list with the soap = none provided\n2. I expected ingredients list here on Amazon = none provided\n\n> Cost is okay at $6.50. I'm use to getting the $2 oatmeal soap bar from Trader Joe's. Thus, you decide if $6.50 is worth it for a single soap bar.\n\n> This didn't really fit my \"standard\" travel soap container till I used it a while and let it shrink a bit. Thus you may consider cutting it in half for anyone wanting to take this on travel...or I guess you could find a large enough sandwich bag to take with you.\n\nOVERALL:\nA good bar of soap and I don't have to smell overly feminine using it.","Product: Designed to be as easy to use as your manual, while delivering superior results and a better experience. With more brush strokes in a day than your manual in a month, PowerUp removes more plaque, helps reduce cavities and improve gum health.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: It's good for this price range\n\nReview: In the past, I've tried using the $5 battery gizmos that can be found at Walmart = really bad\nToday, my kids all use the <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Oral-B-Vitality-Prowhite-Rechargeable-Electric-Toothbrush-1-Count/dp/B003UKKH6O/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Oral-B Vitality Prowhite Rechargeable Electric Toothbrush 1 Count</a> ($26) and we as parents have the <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Oral-B-Professional-Healthy-Clean-Floss-Action-Precision-5000-Rechargeable-Electric-Toothbrush-1-Count/dp/B008PEMOV6/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Oral-B Professional Healthy Clean + Floss Action Precision 5000 Rechargeable Electric Toothbrush 1 Count</a> ($100).\n\nWe are real happy with our Oralb products but figured for the price we'd like to give the Sonicare a try.\n\nPROs:\n+ This is definitely better than the super cheap ones from WalMart.\n+ It vibrates at a really high speed and does a good job of cleaning.\n+ I like it has a 2-minute timer then auto-turns off\n+ It's pretty light, even with the batteries\n\nCONs:\n- It vibrates and if you accidentally touch other teeth with the backside of the head, the vibrating plastic head hurts! You really need to open your mouth wide to avoid these contacts\n- Big brush head. People with smaller mouth, like children, can't really use this effectively\n- Didn't come with any sort of travel case. Not sure how to transport it when traveling.\n\nNEUTRAL:\n* It vibrates, whereas the $26 OralB turns the head. Both styles seem to clean just fine, so not sure which is better.\n* I use rechargeable batteries, so it doesn't matter if the Philips batteries it comes with run out or not. Just remember to take a backup set of batteries with you if traveling.\n\nOVERALL: It's a good toothbrush for that price range.","Product: Godzilla Unleashed - Everyone's favorite monster returns in a completely redesigned and updated massively destructive brawler! Play Godzilla as never before with non-linear story paths and all new Toho monsters.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: The \"fun factor\" faded quickly with my co-workers and myself\n\nReview: My kids have Godzilla: Save the Earth for the PS2 that they got a couple of years ago. They played that a lot together or solo through the storyline. When I saw this for the Wii I had to get it.\n\nPro's:\n1) I took it to work (yes, we have a Wii at work) and it was an immediate success. They guys were pushing for turns to beat on each other in Brawl mode and had a good time doing special attacks or throwing buildings at each other.\n\n2) Unlike the PS2 version, this version has a lot more monster choices\n\n3) Missions aren't as linear as the PS2 version\n\nCon's:\n1) Everyone at work, I mean everyone, was just frustrated with how to get this into multi-player mode.\nIt seemed that no matter what we did to the second, third, and fourth controller wouldn't be recognized for at least 10 minutes. Put in any other game, like Wii Sports, and no problem. There is no option here to tell the game how many controllers to look for.\n\n2) The controls are very unresponsive.\nYou literally have to swing the controllers for an attack, wait 2 seconds, then do the next attack. Unlike all other consoles where you bang out attacks on a gamepad in rapid succession, this game is going to frustrate a lot of users because you have to move very slow to fight and get the attacks to be recognized by the system. Even Wii Boxing responds more rapidly than this game.\n\n3) Unlike the PS2 version where you know exactly what your solo mission is, the missions here are vague at best.\nYes, the missions aren't as linear, but you are playing guesswork to know if your mission requires beating the other monster(s), breaking crystals or some other combination of events in order to pass. The \"Mission Failed\" message also gives you no clue as to why you failed. Overall frustrating!!\n\n4) Since you depend on the storyline to earn credits to unlock more monsters and maps and the like, this further compounded the frustration with the vagueness of the mission objectives. Co-workers were so frustrated with their inability to pass the missions that someone finally went and found a code that unlocked everything. Go figure.\n\nOVERALL:\nThough the game was fun with my co-workers for the first week, I think its because we had already exhausted Wii Sports and wanted something new. After that first week, no one has asked me to bring the game back in. No other demand for the game after the first week.\n\nIf your local video store has it, rent it and have some fun. But I don't see the long-term benefits of owning this frustrating game.","Product: BUZZ Jr.! Jungle Party Bundle - PlayStation 2\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: It's not a Wii game, but the whole family enjoyed it.\n\nReview: So what do you do with that PS2 that is sitting in the corner collecting dust and you wish every store had a Wii so you can have one like all the crazies who camp out at 2am to get one? Well you get this game.\n\nThis fun button game is a challenge of timing, coordination, and reactions.\n\nAll four of my kids (ages 3, 5, 7 and 9) and my wife and myself all had fun challenging each other to the 25 different games collected here.\n\n25 mini-games lasting 60-90 minutes seem long?\nWell you have the option to play a short set (6 games) or a medium set (10-12 games).\n\nThe characters are 4 different colored monkeys and the games involve the monkeys jumping over obstacles, throwing at targets, passing an object to another monkey and the like.\n\nThe game requires a memory card if you wish to track your high score, otherwise you can just play without one.\n\nIt's not a game the kids rush out to play when we let them play the PS2. But once someone starts playing the others want to join in right away.\n\nThe box says ages 10+ and I think that has to do with the coordination demands of some of the mini-games along with the mild violence of monkeys getting coconuts thrown at their heads by other characters or doing other cartoon harm to each other.\n\nNo, it doesn't have a complex system of ranking yourself like the Wii or the ability to create a life-like avatar to represent yourself. . .this is the PS2 which is years old after all. But it was a nice family oriented game that shines in the midst of a game system that, like the x-box, has more adult choices than kid choices.\n\nThe best part is the game is it comes with the needed controllers.\n\nOVERALL:\nIf you don't plan on getting rid of your PS2 anytime soon and you want something more age groups can play together (even mom), then get this game.","Product: Take gaming audio and comfort on PS4 to the next level with the Turtle Beach Recon 50P White gaming headset. The Recon 50P features Turtle Beach's latest lightweight and comfortable design, with large 40mm over-ear (closed) speakers that let you hear every crisp high and thundering low, plus convenient in-line controls that allow you to quickly and easily adjust Master Volume and Mic Mute. The Recon 50P White also includes an adjustable mic, which can be removed when watching movies and listening to music, and the versatile 3.5mm jack makes it perfect for using with PS4 Pro and PS4 consoles, as well as the new Xbox One controller with the 3.5mm jack, PC, Mac and compatible mobile/tablet devices. Connections: PS4 Pro and PS4: 3.5mm Xbox One: New Xbox One controller with the 3.5mm jack or via the Headset Audio Controller (sold separately) PC/Mac: 3.5mm Mobile/Tablet Devices: 3.5mm, Speaker Frequency Response 20Hz to 20kHz.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: meant for console gaming\n\nReview: Some of the lower reviews are not being fair as these are marketed as a gaming headset for PRIMARILY console play, not for PC, Mac and tablet play. Though tablet play should be fine, as you are holding a device you are plugging these into just like a console controller.\n\n+ It does work with PC, Mac and tablets\n\n+ Comfortable after wearing for 4-6hrs in a row.\nNice padding that fits around my adult ears fine.\n\n> Almost too small.\nMy head isn't as tiny as a teenager's head, but these have a limit how much they will extend to fit adult heads. Seems short-sighted on Turtle Beach since plenty of adults (myself included) play games too.\n\n+ I like the detachable microphone.\nSometimes we play games that are not multi-player or via internet. We don't always need the mic getting in the way, so it is nice it is detachable.\n\n+ Others seem to hear me fine with the mic and I can bend it in front of my mouth for clearer pick up.\n\n+ I can hear others and the game sounds great.\nMy one son likes to take these and listen to his music with them.\n\n-- Yes, I get it that the cord doesn't have to be terribly long to plug into controller or tablet, but, so many more options to use these if they did.\nFrom where the left/right join, to the end of the connector is 3ft (see pic).\nMake the cord longer and a velcro strap to tie-up/hold the extra length of cord. I think I would prefer this and not be bothered by this clump of cable dangling in front of me in order ot have the option to reach more places.\n\nOVERALL:\nTurtle Beach has another winner that should meet most gaming console needs.","Product: G510s Gaming Keyboard offers 18 programmable G-keys while the GamePanel LCD screen gives a view of vital stats - a clear advantage.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: It has everything I need.\n\nReview: Up till I got this keyboard I've been using the Logitech G15 for years. . .and it's still running strong.\n\nFirst major improvement is I don't need to flip up a paenl to see the Gamepanel LCD...this one has it right there for easy readability.\n\nI still get 18 programmable keys, which are a snap to program for nearly any game I have that supports such things.\n\nI LOVE the choice of color backlights vs my G15 is simply on or off blue. If anything this is my favorite feature because I find myself late at night or early morning on the computer and the backlight is a MUST HAVE feature.\n\nWhere my G15 has extra USB ports, this one has a headphone jack and mic jack. Seems this is a wiser change since many headphones have short cables and now we are given one right near us that will support our favorite pair.\n\nThe other smart feature is Multi-key input: Press up to six keys at once to perform multiple complex moves without interference or ghosting. Kids and I have been playing some first-person shooters and fighting games on the PC and this helps with some of the combo moves without messing up the game.\n\nOVERALL: A worthy upgrade to a keyboard series I was already in love with.\n\n*UPDATE 2015*\nThe original feedback above was in 2013. Two years later I'm still using this keyboard and have chosen to keep it over other more 'fancy' macro and light-effect keyboards. This is a great keyboard and meets my needs very well.","Product: Mad Catz' C.T.R.L.R Mobile Gamepad with Bluetooth technology removes the need for fingers and thumbs to block your touchscreen during mobile gaming. A highly capable game controller at home and also while on the move, C.T.R.L.R provides traditional gamepad controls with physical action and shoulder buttons, D-Pad, and analog sticks. When paired with Mad Catz' downloadable configuration app, you can adjust profiles and settings to customize C.T.R.L.R for an expansive list of controller-compatible videogames. And, the included AAA batteries provide energy for up to 40 hours of continuous control over your favorite games, apps, and media\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great Android controller...my friend won't give it back now he likes it so much\n\nReview: I got this specifically for the Android tablet and that is all I tested it for.\n\n1. Paired easily.\n\n2. I did not use the app, but used the built in settings for games like Beach Buggy Blitz and Air Attack HD.\n\n3. Response was flawless and no lag\n\n4. I'm so glad I don't have to hold my 10\" tablet in the air and turn it like a steering wheel any longer for racing games.\nController = don't get tired!\n\n5. Using the mouse function on the tablet was easy enough. I need to get into the app to tune down the mouse speed and figure out what buttons do what. Otherwise, it allowed me to click apps and swap to home page with a few clicks. I see this feature best used if you get a separate part and hook your tablet to the TV for big-screen mouse navigation from the comfort of your couch or chair.\n\nOVERALL: Some games are so much better with a controller. If you play such games and could benefit from a controller, this is the one to get.\nMy buddy borrowed this and plays racing games. He pretty much has kept it as his own since it works so well for him.","Product: The Corsair Gaming K70 RGB mechanical gaming keyboard begins with the durability, styling and responsiveness of the legendary K70, and adds multicolor per-key backlighting for virtually endless lighting combinations. It's built with 100% Cherry MX RGB key switches for fast, precise actuation and superior feel. Each key can be individually programmed to display any of 16.8M colors and multiple brightness levels for a level of customization never before seen in a mechanical keyboard. 104 key rollover and anti-ghosting ensure accurate gameplay. And, the K70 RGB is built to last, with a black anodized brushed aluminum finish that's sturdy and lightweight.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Nice responsive keyboard...terrible, unintuitive software.\n\nReview: <div id=\"video-block-R2F3OA2SWCU0A\" class=\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\"></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D1f8246clCS.mp4\" class=\"video-url\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/31cfIUAEh7S.png\" class=\"video-slate-img-url\"> Some things I didn't comment on in the video or wasn't clear about.\n\n1. You need to go to www dot corsair dot com/downloads to get the latest drivers and software\n\n2 Go to forums dot corsair dot com to find pre-created profiles. Navigate to:\nThe Corsair User Forums > Corsair Product Discussion > Keyboards and Mice > RGB Profiles and Profile Discussions\n\nThis was a time saver as you'll see by my next comments.\n\n3. Software installed and it is completely NOT intuitive. I couldn't figure anything out for the life of me until I started reading some forum posts.\n\n4. The manual you download is HORRENDOUS and unhelpful. It tells you nothing of how to do any of the actions for creating a light show with the keyboard and the macro section is barely touched upon.\n\nNOTE: If the hardware didn't work as well as it does, for #3 and #4 I'd give this keyboard a 1-star!!\n\n5. 17inches long and 6.5inches wide(9-inches with added wrist rest).\n\nOVERALL: A very responsive keyboard. Not quiet, but a nice light show (whatever that's worth).","Product: The Corsair Gaming Sabre RGB Laser Gaming Mouse delivers pixel-precise confidence with every command. Its 8,200 DPI sensor supplies fast-paced smart-tracking and clear-cut accuracy in even the most demanding situations, and high-grade internal switches rated for 20 million clicks ensure long-lasting endurance for a tool you can rely on. Eight programmable, easy access buttons and three-zone 16.8M color customizable backlighting allow the Sabre RGB Laser to fit your personal style in game and out. Its solid, lightweight aluminum body offers effortless fluidity in motion, while its braided USB cable gives you 1.8m of roaming freedom.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: The mouse itself I like, the software is completely not intuitive\n\nReview: The Mouse:\n+ The design fits my hand nicely\n+ It's very light\n+ It's very responsive\n+ Nice average length cable that is not plastic\n+ 8 programmable buttons on the mouse\n+ The four lights are cool (wheel mouse, corsair logo, left side led and bottom/front led)\n\nThe Software:\nRecently I received and reviewed the Corsair Gaming K70 RGB LED Mechanical Gaming Keyboard - Cherry MX Red (CH-9000068-NA) and thought it too was a great looking keyboard and very responsive, but the software to setup macros, key assignments or lighting effects was horribly non-intuitive. Even following the downloadable manual was no help.\n\nWell, unfortunately it's pretty much the same software experience here.\n\nSoftware downloaded and auto-checked if I needed a firmware update, then updated. I'm cool with this and appreciate making this step easier.\n\nBut then I was taken to the light assignment page and clicked the light then a color change and all was fine, till I clicked the left led and received an error every time that I couldn't change that light. Okay.\n\nSo I moved on and wanted to get it back to default lighting = nothing! Nothing to be found that is. No setting to restore defaults.\n\nThen there is a ton of lighting effects that have no clear way on how to use it and again the manual fails. The experience makes me feel like I need a degree in Software Development in order to use the software.\n\nI just hate their software and the support for it sucks too.\n\n**UPDATE**\nWhen you first plug in mouse it's dog slow and Control Panel setting have no impact on speed. All the software settings are for lights and macros.\nI went out and searched for increase/decrease tracking speed = nothing!\nWeb site FAQ is all geared around keyboards, nothing for mice.\nDownloadable manual is for the keyboards not the mouse.\nNo tutorial videos or anything. Corsair support for this product is very poor.\n\nBUTTONS:\nAll eight buttons are easily accessible. Thus the design is nice and once you use the mouse a bit, there is little chance to accidentally push the wrong button.\n\nTwo of the buttons are default set to DPI UP or DPI DOWN. I didn't know what this meant and couldn't find anything through Google or in the manual (again manual sucks). Finally found one web page on a different model of mouse, which said, \"With the sniper button depressed, the DPI of the mouse immediately drops from any of the three normally selected DPI levels to a specially designated, \"Sniper\" DPI (mine is set to 200 DPI). This enables the user to more easily aim from a further distance away when using a scoped weapon, since a lower DPI takes the same amount of mouse movement and translates that into less travel on-screen. Then, once the sniper button is released, the mouse immediately reverts back to the previously selected DPI level to resume fast screen travel.\"\n\nWhat I found this meant is when you first plug in your mouse the tracking speed is dog slow, though some would argue it's more \"accurate\". Thus the DPI UP speeds up your tracking speed and the DPI DOWN slows it down. You'll want to slow it down for sniper mode in games.\n\nAdjusting tracking speed under the Control Panel > Mouse Settings has zero effect on tracking speed, you need to use the DPI buttons!!\n\nOVERALL: You can spend $25 on a good Logitech mouse and it works perfectly fine for gaming (mostly play MMO's)\n\nNot sure if the fancy colors is worth double that price, but being able to macro the buttons may very well be worth it. . .if you can figure out the non-intutive software. If software help was better I'd give it another star.","Product: Get a power boost! Boost4200 from Eton is a powerful backup battery pack with a 4200mAh lithium ion battery that provides long-lasting reliable power whenever and wherever you need it. Fast and efficient, when fully charged Boost4200 fully charges most smartphones two times and it also charges tablets so you're never caught powerless.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: It meets my needs\n\nReview: PRO's:\n+ Charges my device(s) pretty fast. My phone charged from 50-100% in 30min-1hr.\n+ It doesn't care if my device is Android or iOS...charged them both!\n+ Even if you let it sit, it keeps its own charge pretty long.\nRealize I had used it to charge a device first, so I don't know how close it was to the 4th LED before it started slowly losing it's charge. 2-weeks later I still have 3-LEDs of charge.\n+ Dimensions are a good size to fit in a pocket, bag, whatever for transport.\n+ Comes out of the box charged\n\nCON's:\n- Not really any, other than its a battery pack = can seem heavy\n\nNEUTRAL:\n* Takes 8-9hrs to charge back up. But that can be done overnight or throughout the day while at work.\n\nOVERALL: Love this! It's a lifesaver. Get one!!","Product: Confident. Modern. Effortless. ETERNITY AQUA is inspired by the freshness of the ocean and the effortless elegance of a modern man. Top notes – Chilled cucumber, citrus cocktail, water lotus, drenched green leaves Mid notes – Szechuan pepper, lavender, white cedarwood Base notes – Sandalwood, guaiac wood, patchouli, musks\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Nice. Light, but not long lasting. . .\n\nReview: I've been a fan of <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Cool-Water-By-Davidoff-For-Men-Eau-De-Toilette-Spray-4-2-Ounces/dp/B0009OAHC8/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Cool Water By Davidoff For Men. Eau De Toilette Spray 4.2 Ounces</a>. When I don't have Coolwater handy, a good alternative has been <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Perry-Ellis-360-Red-By-Perry-Ellis-For-Men-Eau-De-Toilette-Spray-3-4-Ounces/dp/B000C1W38O/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Perry Ellis 360 Red By Perry Ellis For Men. Eau De Toilette Spray 3.4 Ounces</a>, which smells very similar.\n\nFirst impressions of Eternity:\n+ Nice masculine smell\n+ Compact bottle that I can take through airport security when traveling\n\nAs I went through my days, my next impressions:\n- One place I tend to spray is the middle of my chest. But Eternity doesn't seem to last as long as Coolwater or Red. When I get home from work after a long day and go change my shirt, I no longer smell any of the cologne, whereas I can still smell the other two in my clothing. I personally like that having that lasting smell.\n- When spraying, a lot of cologne comes out. So be careful and spray easy!\n- Can't believe this is nearly 3-times the prices of a similar size bottle of Coolwater or Red. Maybe because it's new and over time the price will drop.\n\nOVERALL: I like the smell. My wife likes the smell. But for the money I'll stick with the other two, which seem to last longer.","Product: With purifying and invigorating organic CADE essential oil, protecting shea butter and hydrating vegetable-based glycerin, CADE Shaving Cream transforms into a creamy lather for a gentle shave.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: L'Occitane. . .it's all french, I guess\n\nReview: This is my first \"high quality\" shaving cream. I've been using goat's milk shaving cream with a lather brush since it has very little ingredients in it. When in a pinch I'll use something cheap like Barbasol, such as when I'm on a trip and just need a small can of something.\n\nPackaging:\nI had to hunt for the English information as everything on this packaging is in French for the most part. Some instructions in four other languages. Once removing the metal tube from the box, there is one logo that tells you what it is and no instructions.\n\nTravel in USA:\nSpeaking of trips. . .when travelling in the USA this is too large (exceeds the 3.4 oz size) to take through security and may get confiscated. Checking out L'Occitane store here on Amazon, they don't have a smaller size.\n\nLather:\nI didn't have any trouble lathering a dime-sized amount in my palm or similar amount when using the lather brush. The small amount lathered just fine and went on thick enough, though it required a little more massaging once on my face.\n\nScent:\nI'm use to Sandlewood scent or something menthol with my \"cheap\" shaving cream options. This scent I can't quite place, but it's not unpleasant. Since I tend to finish off with a scented after shave any dislike for this scent will someone be rinsed off then masked with after shave.\n\nShaving:\nOnce I spent sufficient time lathering, I didn't get much of any shave burns. It helped cut just fine and left my skin refreshed enough.\n\nOVERALL: I'm a newbie when it comes to using different qualities of shaving products, so I admit I'm trying to judge this the best I can. What will be the true test is if I get some highly rated shaving cream that cost about 50% of this one and see between the three price ranges (goat's milk, mid-level and this one) if I can really tell a difference.\n\nI appreciate it's concentrated, but time will tell how much I get out of the tube and if it's cost effective for the \"experience\" I'd get from shaving with it. So far, it's okay.","Product: This HON Wave mid-back chair with mesh has 2-to-1 synchro tilt with lock and tension control. Sandwich mesh seat and mesh back give this chair an upscale feel at a compelling price. Seat upholstery color is Black and back mesh color is Black.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: This was easy to assemble and meets most basic needs\n\nReview: <div id=\"video-block-R2CIWVZO6OZZ46\" class=\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\"></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/E119wCuUvZS.mp4\" class=\"video-url\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61GIsNrdpQS.png\" class=\"video-slate-img-url\"> NOTE: I added some final comments to the video after I figured things out, so be sure to watch to the end.\nVideo is nearly 8min.\n\n- Easy to assemble\n- I like how all the metal screws go into metal ends, instead of plastic ends that may strip\n- what is plastic is a very hard and sturdy\n- You can even use the chair without the arms if you want to take them off\n- Because the cushion is fabric, it is much warmer than if the cushion was also mesh. . .but you pay a lot more for all mesh chair\n- My wife is concerned about the fabric wearing out over time before anything else goes wrong, so she's sitting on a thin pillow she put laid loosely on top of the chair's cushion. This does prop her up higher, but she's just lowering the chair further to get the correct height for her desk\n- The chair's cushion is very thick and padded. . .I find it pretty comfortable\n- Rolls fairly well -- with a little effort -- on my new carpet which is still \"plush\"\n\nOVERALL: I'm very happy with the chair, but Basyx makes what looks like nearly identical chairs for $40 less. I'd check into these other options, knowing you're still getting a good quality brand.","Product: The Night Therapy Spring 13 Inch Deluxe Euro Box Top Spring Mattress by Zinus is an exceptional mattress that offers both customized support and luxurious comfort. This mattress features reduced motion transfer from a sleeping partner, while maintaining customized spinal alignment. The Pressure Relieving Comfort Foam and Fiber Quilted Cover of the Euro Box Top, additional layers of High-density Foam and Pressure Relieving Comfort Foam add exceptional comfort to this mattress. The 7.5 Pocketed Springs provide the support and a comfortable and healthy nights sleep.Please open your mattress package within 72 hours of receipt and allow 48 hours for your new mattress to return to its original, plush shape. Worry free 10 year limited warranty. Another comfort innovation from Zinus. Pioneering comfort.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Good night's sleep for us and we don't notice the other moving\n\nReview: <div id=\"video-block-R3S3Z2MDQEHRPM\" class=\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\"></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/C1ztieSosqS.mp4\" class=\"video-url\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/612nfUJQmKS.png\" class=\"video-slate-img-url\"> Darn! I had video of the box arriving and the unpacking but accidentally lost it. Sorry.\n\n+ Box was manageable and we were able to get it through the doorways from where the driver dropped it off to where our room is.\n\n+ It had a material \"sleeve\" around it, which was holding it in a rolled up fashion. There is zero way to slide the material off as it is under pressure. you have to get a box cutter or scissors and carefully cut the material.\n\nTIP#1: Put this on your box spring or frame before attempting to cut the sleeve holding this under pressure.\n\nTip #2: Once the sleeve gets opened far enough it will BURST the rest of the material and SNAPS apart, expanding the mattress. There was a pop and I almost got hit in the face from where I was standing. So get face the top of the sleeve at the bottom of the bed frame, cut the sleeve and make sure you are out of the line of fire, as you work at cutting the sleeve that holds this together. It should expand and fill the frame all on it's own.\n\n+ Ours opened to 12h x 80l x 76w...not much additional expansion after 2 to 3 weeks\n\nNOTE: This is a medium to firm mattress. We are use to sleeping on a soft mattress. Thus be prepared for a transition period.\n\nTIP #3: We purchased a 2-3 inch mattress pad to put on top of the built in pad. This helped us transition much easier to a more firm mattress than what we are use to (see video).\n\n+ I do not notice my wife moving around at night, and she doesn't notice me either. We are both sleeping much better because of it.\n\n+ After the first week of transitioning to this mattress we like it a lot. My wife is commenting how she loves her bed now. . .and she normally hates any kind of change.\n\n+ 10yr warranty. We will be rotating this regularly to do our best to keep it lasting. This is not the kind of bed you flip, but only rotate.\n\nWe are very happy and looking at getting the full sized version of this for our teenage daughter's bed.","Product: You'll see a LOT of the cheaper, more bulky orange colored peelers around. Don't be fooled. These cheap imitations are exactly that. The Muzitao? ergonomically designed fruit peeler is a far superior product in both appearance, and in practice.?\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Not sure how you can LOVE a peeler, but I do LIKE IT a lot\n\nReview: <div id=\"video-block-R355NLPDYUE63W\" class=\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\"></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/C1oLEivgLmS.mp4\" class=\"video-url\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91cgX95f4aS.png\" class=\"video-slate-img-url\"> I forgot to show in the video, is instead of using my fingers to peel off what I had cut, the backend of the peeler can \"pry\" it off with ease.\n\nAfter one use, the underside where I cut isn't \"smooth\" and pretty any longer. I think this is what the one reviewer means by the citrus eat through the plastic. So maybe there is a reason to have a set of three.\n\nIf I have an update on the \"acid\" effect on the peelers as I use it more, I'll be sure to post the update to this review.\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product free or at a discounted price, in exchange for the purposes of a product review. All opinions are 100% my own and they reflect my honest & unbiased opinion. Your experience may differ from mine.","Product: Save time and money with the Nesco VS-02 Food Vacuum Sealer! Prepare whole meals in advance, save leftovers, and reseal foods such as potato chips and cereal in their original package. Eliminate freezer burn, reduce spoilage and waste. Fully automatic, one-touch operation and automatic shut off makes it so easy to use. The unit has a powerful piston pump with a seal only switch to prevent over vacuuming and crushing of delicate foods. Features switch to extend sealing time for wet items or tighter sealing. This vacuum sealer can also be used to protect special papers and documents, or to keep supplies dry during camping or traveling. A roller storage compartment includes bag cutter for added convenience. Unit comes with 2 rolls of 8.66\" X 9.8' bag material, 5 pieces of 8.66\" X 11.8\" bags and 5 pieces of 11.0\" X 11.8\" bags. We recommend Nesco brand Vacuum Sealing Bags model VS-03R, VS-05B, VS-06B, VS-04R, VS-07V. Bagging material is extra strong, with crossed air venting ribs on both sides of bags for maximum air extraction. 110-watts. Black and silver.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Great so far, I just hope it lasts\n\nReview: <div id=\"video-block-RFY1SI3L3AQ44\" class=\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\"></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/E17vQ9vs1ZS.mp4\" class=\"video-url\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/311dPLMiTUS.png\" class=\"video-slate-img-url\">Finally got the video uploaded.\n\n1. CORRECTION: The unit comes with 10 bags, not 2 like I mention in the video.\n\n2. I looked at several other brands of vacuum sealer and Foodsaver is the only one with 4-stars or better. the biggest complaint is that it stops working after a while. For some people it was 20 uses and others after a year (directly after the warranty) that their unit stopped working. I haven't had this unit that long, so time will tell if I come back here and change my rating.\n\n3. Otherwise after reading other reviews on competitor products, I'd give this a five star for the simple reason of having the storage for the roll and the bag slicer.\n\n4. I like the easy sealing process, as shown in the video.\n\n5. Getting replacement bags is easy and you can use competitor bags. The roll holder is just under 12-inches, so don't get anything bigger than that.\n\n6. This unit is LARGE! Too large to sit on our small kitchen counter space. Also, since it's slopped, it cannot stack well anywhere, unless it's the top-most item because it does have a flat base. You cannot turn it on its side, but you can stand it on the back, as it too is flat.\n\nI decided to put it back in the box, so it's rectangle and can stack better. I then threw the box into a hallway closet and will bring it down when needed, since it's not a product our family in particular will use every day.","Product: DII offers a luxury, plush mattress pad.These mattress pads offer a cloud of softness for comfort during your sleep. DIIs mattress pads offer a 3 year limited warranty, covering any manufacturer defects. The hypo-Allergenic fibers are designed to minimize allergies and allergic reactions, and repel dust mites. Invest in your sleeping experience and try DII Home Essentials mattress pads.To view more of our products visit amazon.com/homeessentials.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Good fit and seems well made\n\nReview: My daughter's bed already has an old pad on it, which I'm not sure provides much support or \"softness\" to her bed any longer. Thus when I received this item I simply put it right on top.\n\nHer bed is a full, sized.\n\n+ Pad reaches around bed with old pad on it and then some. Fits great and wasn't too difficult to fit it.\nThe insert says, \"Will hug your mattress tightly & stay in place, fits mattresses up to 20-inches\". Well this was plenty and seems to fit well for us.\n\n+ Nice cushion top. It is noticeably nicer laying on her bed after putting this on top.\n\n> Made in China...you be the judge.\n\n+ Love this can be washed if needed\n\nOVERALL: Not sure what more I can say about a mattress pad, but that it fits and is nice to lay on, so we have no reason not to love it.\nTime may tell and I'm always happy to come back and update reviews if something dramatic changes. But for now, great product.","Product: Double up on your favorite fried foods cooked with the Elite platinum 4Qt. Dual basket deep fryer. Attractively housed in a brushed Stainless Steel exterior, the dual baskets allow you to fry two foods at once for a deliciously tasty snack or use the bonus extra large basket to create an entire meal at once! save time and cook up to 1 lb. Of food in each basket. Fry up some of your usual favorites such as fries and onion rings or even try something more bizarre such as deep fried Oregon's or pickles! the extra large 4Qt enamel container holds up to 16.5 Cups of oil\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: A 4-qt fryer for many frying needs\n\nReview: Fried foods are yummy! Being able to make your own whenever you want is more yummy.\n\n+ The 4qt size allows for deep frying pork chops along with many other things.\n\n> 4qts is a lot of oil (17 cups) to get the oil to the fill line. Just be prepared for that.\n\n+ Two individual 2qt baskets.\n\n-- Having two baskets keeps smaller things separate, but everything is still using the same oil and most likely mixing flavors.\n\n+ It does have a magnetic plug, which is a nice simple added feature.\n\n+ Audible timer\n\nTIP: To help reduce food sticking to the basket I see two choices:\na) you can spray the basket with cooking oil, put your food in, then dunk in the hot oil\nb) You can leave the baskets in the oil as it heats up, then drop your items in, let it cook a few minutes, then a small tap should loosen them up and off the basket while still cooking\n\n-- My baskets seem flimsy. They were bent out of shape when I pulled them out of the box. Easy fix to bend them back into shape, but yikes...I didn't realize how cheap these may be.\n\n> You do need to be patient as this is not a quick heat, but a slow warming of the oil.\n\nIf you go into it knowing these things, it may meet your needs great and be a great deep fryer. Hopefully, there will be better quality baskets that can be ordered once these flimsy ones wear out or break.","Product: Fast, even room heating paired with powerful personal cooling makes Dysons AM09 fan heater effective all year round. Through Dysons Air Multiplier patented technology, the AM09 fan heater creates a powerful stream of uninterrupted airflow into the room for either jet focused, powerful airflow or diffused, wide projected airflow to mix the surrounding air. The precise, energy efficient fan heater is awarded the Quiet Mark accreditation and has features including sleep timer, oscillation control, no fast-spinning blades for little fingers or paws and has a curved, magnetized remote control to store neatly on the machine.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Cost more than many appliances, but does what most cannot do\n\nReview: Most room heaters...heat. They don't have a cooling feature. Basically think of it as this has a fan feature, even if the fan isn't as powerful. I consider the heating for rooms and the cooling for individuals or a small area.\n\nPRO:\n+ Looks cool and modern\n+ It does both, heating and cooling\n+ It heats well\n+ Very easy to use\n+ About time I get a manual/instructions in English that seem to be written by people where English is their first language\n+ Can fit it in the corner out of the way or under a work desk (though that would be overkill)\n+ It is quiet\n+ It comes with a remote...that works\n+ Battery is self-changing and easy to get to\n\nCONs:\n- $400+ dollars?!? Are you kidding me!\n- The cooling portion is just as good as if you used are regular house fan\n- Did I mention the cost? Way too expensive. This is the only reason I dinged it a star on the rating.\n\nOVERALL: Not many devices are a two-in-one and I like that this can do both.\nI would never pay this price. I received this free for an honest review.\n\nFor a heater spend $35 and get the Lasko 754200 Ceramic Heater with Adjustable Thermostat.\nIF you want to spend some money and have a good room circulator, try Vornado 660 Whole Room Air Circulator for $100.","Product: Fast, even room heating paired with powerful personal cooling makes Dysons AM09 fan heater effective all year round. Through Dysons Air Multiplier patented technology, the AM09 fan heater creates a powerful stream of uninterrupted airflow into the room for either jet focused, powerful airflow or diffused, wide projected airflow to mix the surrounding air. The precise, energy efficient fan heater is awarded the Quiet Mark accreditation and has features including sleep timer, oscillation control, no fast-spinning blades for little fingers or paws and has a curved, magnetized remote control to store neatly on the machine.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Cost more than many appliances, but does what most cannot do\n\nReview: Most room heaters...heat. They don't have a cooling feature. Basically think of it as this has a fan feature, even if the fan isn't as powerful. I consider the heating for rooms and the cooling for individuals or a small area.\n\nPRO:\n+ Looks cool and modern\n+ It does both, heating and cooling\n+ It heats well\n+ Very easy to use\n+ About time I get a manual/instructions in English that seem to be written by people where English is their first language\n+ Can fit it in the corner out of the way or under a work desk (though that would be overkill)\n+ It is quiet\n+ It comes with a remote...that works\n+ Battery is self-changing and easy to get to\n\nCONs:\n- $400+ dollars?!? Are you kidding me!\n- The cooling portion is just as good as if you used are regular house fan\n- Did I mention the cost? Way too expensive. This is the only reason I dinged it a star on the rating.\n\nOVERALL: Not many devices are a two-in-one and I like that this can do both.\nI would never pay this price. I received this free for an honest review.\n\nFor a heater spend $35 and get the Lasko 754200 Ceramic Heater with Adjustable Thermostat.\nIF you want to spend some money and have a good room circulator, try Vornado 660 Whole Room Air Circulator for $100.","Product: Reusable single cup filter for coarse ground coffee and loose tea leaves enjoy coarse ground coffee at work, camping or on the go? Want fresh loose leaf tea wherever you want, whenever you want? Spending $$$ on paper coffee filters you throw away? Want to save space of a bulky coffee/tea maker? Introducing the AFL Products reusable single cup coffee filter make one cup of coffee with coarse ground coffee beans or one cup of loose leaf tea using our 1 serve filters. Simply fill the mesh coffee filter with your coarse ground coffee or loose leaf tea, slide lid closed, tap to remove excess small pieces (so they don't end up in your cup), place in hot water and stir gently holding the handle until the drink is at the depth of flavor you like, remove and add milk or drink black. Simple great tasting filter coffee or tea in seconds instead of waiting for a long brew. Alternative to single serve coffee pods, k cup reusable filter and Keurig coffee machine filters. Reusable durable plastic and stainless steel mesh filter that can be used time and again, instead of throwing paper filters into landfill. Designed to be a small and compact filter to carry anywhere and store easily in a drawer, bag or box. A small coffee and tea maker no bigger than a spoon easy to clean and dishwasher safe.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Idea has promise...it just needed a bit better delivery.\n\nReview: I seep loose leaf tea (not ground tea) and I'm using my tea seepers for ground coffee too. Thus I was very interested in testing this.\n\n+ Kudos for a good idea. The nice fine, mesh filter tops and sides is actually a really good idea.\n\n-- Huge gap between top that swivels open and rest of the handle.\nVendor did email me to say it works best with course ground coffee, but almost all the pre-ground stuff in the stores is fine ground.\nI tried to take a picture to where you can easily see the space all the way through the top to the other side.\n\nTIP: I had better luck when I stirred the handled versus letting it sit there. The stirring caused it to \"pull\" the water through the grounds better.\n\n+ Right now this is only $1 add on item. Well...I might light it better now because it's such a great price.\n\n> Handle needs to be a couple inches longer. When using different size mugs, this could easily disappear under the hot water on a larger mug.\n\n> Also the filter isn't even a full tablespoon. Just realize if you are trying to measure, don't use a tablespoon as it will be too large for this thing. This is about 2.5 teaspoons in size.\n\nOVERALL: I really wanted to like this more, but the huge gap for tea (I have fine loose leaf and very big course loose leaf) or coffee is still too much that my drink is full of stuff that should be inside this strainer.","Product: The Zinus Modern Studio Collection is an ideal combination of function and style. The Deluxe Rectangular Coffee Table is functional in your main living space as a coffee table, or to hold various items in any room of the home. With an additional lower shelf, storage space is maximized. The sturdy, black square steel tubing and high density panel with rich brown wood grain finish will add an elegant touch to any dcor. Easy to assemble. Worry free limited 1 year warranty.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Looks pretty good and gives Ikea some competition\n\nReview: I love the beds we got from Zinus, so I was hoping for a lot with this coffee table.\n\n+ Finding a coffee table for $60 is very difficult, so the price was right\n\n> Ours came damaged slightly and Amazon fixed us up, but since it's cheap materials you run the risk that it cannot take a bump or two during shipping\n\n-- You kind of need to install it and let it be. If you fiddle with it or add/remove items from it often it starts to loosen up. So the natural thing is to re-tighten, but it's very easy with this cheap metal to strip the thread on the inside of the table as the metal of the bolt is better quality and cuts through easily.\n\n+ Design allows for storage of a lot of stuff...yes, everyone can see all that stuff, but it works for our cushions to get them out of the way\n\nOVERALL: We like it for the price, but it doesn't hold up if you have to interact with it much, so next time I'd go with something more costly that won't loosen up.","Product: Compact size stores easily and out of the way. Non-skid platform keeps containers in place. Carrying handle makes it easy to move from place to place. Memory Lock locks in readings when dial is obscured by larger items. Low-profile receiving scale for foodservice, industrial, or office environments. Rustproof internal mechanism. Enamel finish for strong protection.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: This is a sturdy, manual (not digital) scale\n\nReview: + 250lb limit is a good amount\n\n+ Zero-out knob is on the right side. Took me a bit to get the zero to center properly it wanted to go too much one way or the other, but I eventually got it.\n\n+ The lock lever is near the handle, so you need to reach under the box on the scale and flip the lever to freeze the scale in place. Love this feature. Main reason to get this product.\n\n+ Easy to read numbers\n\n+ The handle is very useful for making this scale more portable.\n\n+ Rubber feet do in fact keep this from slipping\n\nOVERALL: For a mobile scale you need to move often and it can handle most packages for receiving or shipping, this works great.\nI'm not sure about the cost, when there are other shipping scales that are rated well and at a portion of the cost, such as: <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Smart-Weigh-Shipping-and-Postal-Scale-Heavy-Duty-Stainless-Steel-10-6-quot-X-10-6-quot-Platform-440-lbs-Capacity-Extendable-Cord/dp/B0153I0418/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Smart Weigh Shipping and Postal Scale, Heavy Duty, Stainless Steel, 10.6\" X 10.6\" Platform, 440 lbs. Capacity, Extendable Cord</a>","Product: The clean lined silhouette of the Furniture of America Aristo 2-Drawer Nightstand in espresso finish is accentuated by its sleek exterior and elegantly curved profile. Nightstand features 2-drawers for storage with nickel polished hardware knobs. Product is made of solid rubberwood and selected veneers. To clean, wipe with damp cotton cloth. No assembly required. Product made in China. Product measures 22 inches wide by 16 inches deep by 24 inches high; 30-days hassle-free replacement parts warranty. Pictures are for illustration purposes. All decor items are not included in this offer.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Gorgeous wood. Nice solid furniture.\n\nReview: <div id=\"video-block-R13AKDIMMX2Q5R\" class=\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\"></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D1G59a7hauS.mp4\" class=\"video-url\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51wdi2GSzJS.png\" class=\"video-slate-img-url\"> What looks in the video like a scratch down to the white wood (top left), is in fact a scratch but the light made it look white on the video. The scratch (thanks to the care of the teenage), is not through the top layer. Unlike particle board \"furniture\" I've had, which would immediately break through the cheap vaneer to the bottom wood.\n\nAlso, after watching the video back, you can see the screws and wood brackets in the behind the drawers. I like the extra bracing!\n\nMy wife has a dresser that is over 25 years old. It uses a single drawer slide in the middle of the drawer. This is the same drawer slide style on this nightstand. I expect this to last longer than the side roller types.\n\nI may have rated this one less star due to the wasted space on the side of the drawers, but I like the look and hardwood so much, I don't care. Plus the drawer is big enough to fit lots of different sizes being an 11.5\" x 14\" inner dimensions.\n\nThe shipping box itself was so sturdy and thick, I could act like a poor college student and throw a sheet over it and us the box as an end table. It would really take some freight carrier negligence to have this nightstand arrive with any dings or scratches.\n\nOVERALL: Great product. Can take a hit or two from teens. Love it came fully assembled!!\n\nNOTE:\nIf you have a suggestion / question / or did NOT find this review helpful, leave me a comment! I'm more than happy to respond to the comment and/or update this review to make it more helpful.\n\nIf you found this review helpful please vote. Thank you!","Product: Adapter allows for fit on most vacuum brands including Bissell, dirt Devil, Dyson, Eureka, Hoover, infinity and Kenmore vacuum cleaners.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: If you don't have such an attachment already, this could be useful\n\nReview: Initially I thought this was a hand duster, not a vacuum attachment. But no. . .it will not do you any good without attaching it to a vacuum.\n\nPic #1 = product arrived and looks just like picture here on this site\n\nPic #2 = At least they provided an additional adapter, so I could use this on my vacuum that didn't fit without the adapter in the middle.\n\nWe use a hand duster and granted that doesn't get all the dust...even pushes dust around a bit. But a hand duster is super easy to use and I I've had one of my kids do the dusting chore since they were six.\n\nThis does not seem to push dust around, but you need to drag the vacuum around to use it. My previous vacuums did not have a dust attachment, so if I wanted to drag this around and not take a chance of simply pushing the dust around, then this is helpful.\n\nHand dusters are less expensive and any age can use. But they push some dust and you still have to take them outside to shake them out.\nI guess I'd be more inclined to use a vacuum duster like this for those high, hard to reach places such as the top of a fan blades or top of the window blinds.\n\nThis works for what it is intended to do.\nIf your current vacuum already has such an attachment, I don't see the need for this.\nIf you current vacuum does not already have a dust attachment, then consider getting this.","Product: Trust that it can stand up to the rigors of everyday life and still look great. 3 year replacement warranty against breaking and chipping! The striking contrast of bold, look that's simple, yet elegant and coordinates with a range of home decor styles.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: It does the job. Looks good and feels good.\n\nReview: I was provided this item at a discounted price in exchange for my honest & unbiased review. My everyday Superman mug (see images) is currently at least 16oz. Thus I thought I was going to die with such a tiny cup...and it is small.\n\n+ Quality ceramic. I've had some real loser cups sent to me for review that were cheap and light. This one has some solidness to it. I could bump this accidentally and not worry about it shattering in my hand.\n\n+ The coloring is interesting and neutral...or some may consider it more masculine, which works fine for me since I'm a dude. But I really like the coloring.\n\n+ The texturing makes it not feel like it's going to slip.\n\n> If I can get the one image loaded, I set our Keurig machine for 8oz and you can see there is still room for creamer afterwards.\nI have some 11oz mugs at home that are part of our dinnerware and this seems about their size or maybe a little smaller. Thus not exactly 8oz.\n\n-- The handle is too small. I feel like a little girl at tea time or some English aristocracy where I'm holding a finger out and up since I cannot get more than two or three fingers around this tiny handle. This is my biggest complaint with this mug.\n\n> My 16oz Superman mug has lasted me for at least 5 years. I paid $11 to a kid's fundraiser for that. So to pay $12 (at the time of this writing) for this tiny little guy doesn't get me excited about it.\n\nBut when looking at other 8oz mugs,many were more expensive than this. That's crazy, but people are paying it! So the $12 is looking better every minute.\n\nThen again, will twelve dollar store mugs last me as long as this one. Probably not as this little guy is pretty solid.\n\nWorth checking out if you are in the market for a nice little mug. Just don't expect to get your fingers around the handle.","Product: Here is a modern take on a classic teapot. Don't use a small mug to make tea when you can use a teapot that allows you to make as much tea or infused fruit water as you want. It's simple: Place loose tea leaves inside infuser, add desired amount of hot or cold water. Put cover in place, after a few minutes serve your favorite tea or infused fruit water.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: I'm in tea heaven now!\n\nReview: I've been drinking more loose leaf tea and needed a pot large enough for more than one 16oz mug's worth. So I had this one sitting in my wish list for a while due to it's 42oz size and then when it dropped in price to $13 I snatched it up.\n\n+ Large pot! I can brew several cups and let them steep for my desired flavor.\n\n+ Easy to pour a cup of cold tea and then microwave my cup if I want it hot or further ice it for some yummy sweat cold tea.\n\n+ The pot is easy to clean\n\n> I'm assuming the plastic infuser is \"food safe\". A stainless steel infuser would have worked too, but the plastic does work surprisingly well.\n\n+ Nice large infuser to put as little or as much loose leaf for steeping. Love it.\n\n+ I read the product description and I do NOT put this on the stove, but pour hot kettle water into it. Works easy enough.\n\nOVERALL: For the $13 it is totally meeting my tea drinking needs and easy clean up.","Product: This switch box features a heavy duty, easy-to-turn rotary switch enclosed in a metal case with rubber feet to protect your desk or tabletop. The rugged metal case withstands the rigors of everyday use, and helps prevent unwanted EMI/RFI interference. Each connector is wired straight-through in a pin-to-pin configuration to ensure compatibility.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: One monitor, shared between two computers (one computer at a time)\n\nReview: I have a laptop, a desktop, along with two monitors, two keyboards and two mice on the same desk. I needed to use both monitors for one computer and at times let the other computer use one monitor too.\n\n1. Plugged cable from shared monitor into the I/O port of this box\n2. Plugged cable into A port on this box and the other end to laptop docking station\n3. Plugged cable into B port on this box to my gaming desktop PC\n\nSince I'm using the laptop docking station it can handle multiple monitors. I have one DVI cable going to one monitor and the VGA cable going to this shared monitor via the monitor box. Now when working I can use my laptop with both monitors for the added desktop space.\nWhen i want to use my gaming PC, I switch over to B and the shared monitor is only on the PC now.\nMy laptop is still using the other DVI monitor.\n\nHopefully that all makes sense. It worked immediately out of the box.\nNo additional cables provided, but I had those already from my monitors.\nI like this old school style switch box better than the push-button newer ones because it feels like the actual switch knob will last longer, even with daily swapping.","Product: Water Resistant Vertical In-The-Ear Design Secure Clip To Prevent Dropping During Sports Activity Cord Slider To Prevent Cord Tangles\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: perfect for someone on the go\n\nReview: 1) Whether I'm running, biking or just sitting at my desk, the clips help keep these in my ears without all the jiggling & jangling of a threat to pop-ou\n\n2) Most of the earbuds & round headphones you \"plug\" into the ear hole area tend to hurt my ears after a bit. The fact that the speakers only sit inside my ear without pushing on it leaves no pain\n\n3) CON - NOT Waterproof!! Just ordered my 2nd pair after ruining my first because of water\n\n4) The length of the cord is not too short. I can have my ipod in my shorts pocket and there is no threat of the headphones getting pulled out of my ear because there is just the right amount of slack.\n\n5) Hard to find. . .Sony came out with a new flexible rubber style model (Sony Mdr-As20J) . I have both, and either will do, though I find these are easier to get on and off than the newer model\n\n6) This model can come in multiple colors\n\n7) CON - depending on the color you want, Amazon charges different prices, which makes no sense to me. White is the most expensive and orange the least expensive.\n\n8) Whether listening to some tunes or to an audiobook, the sound is always clear and crisp\n\nOVERALL: I love these headphones and don't see any reason to try another brand","Product: Norton Ghost 14.0 protects PCs including all applications, settings, folders, and files with advanced backup and recovery. It provides powerful protection with new features such as offsite backups and Symantec ThreatCon integration, as well as enhanced performance, remote management, LightsOut Restore capability, and more. With Norton Ghost 14.0, you have a choice of backup types: full system (disk image) or specific files and folders. Incremental backups and enhanced compression help reduce the amount of required storage, while encryption helps keep everything safe. Norton Ghost 14.0 works with most storage devices, including external hard drives, networked drives, and recordable and rewritable CDs and DVDs.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: backup = passed, but restore = failed!\n\nReview: Vista Home Basic and Home Premium users were unfortunately ripped off when the product didn't come with a standard backup feature built into the operating system. Thus, solutions like the legendary Norton Ghost.\n\n- First good news is it installed within minutes on Vista x32 and x64\n- Second good news is backing up to my external Maxtor One Touch was flawless. It backed up nearly 200GB in a little over an hour.\n- Third piece of good news is when making the Symantec Recovery Disc, you can tell it exactly where to find your driver files and load those onto the disc.\n\nBut. . .\n\n- First \"bad\" news is the UI stinks to high heaven. Trying to go the simplified look with high feature rich innovation like of Apple didn't work here. Symantec failed miserably. I had to search online or in the Help more than once to figure out how to use many of the features.\n- Second bad news, is its failure to restore, which is an essential feature in a \"backup & restore\" solution. So many bad reviews on Amazon, but so few of the reviews anyone actually trying to do a OS restore. So you backup your pictures and docs to a USB drive, big deal. A manual copy & paste does that. But restoring a crashed OS is a key feature that should be tested. Suffice it to say, the restore process failed for me like it did for the few others who posted reviews where this was attempted\n- Third bad news is the online support for actual error messages stinks. If you get lucky and find an obscure message board with a fix, then count your blessings because the online knowledgebase from Symantec needs help for the Ghost v14 product. I'm a support manager by trade and every business report will tell you the #1 deflector of calls in to Support is to get online resources. . .Guess Symantec isn't partaking in standard business practices\n\nOVERALL:\nIf you need something that will backup your data automatically, this works. But for the price you might try searching Sourceforge first to find a free solution.\n\nThe worst part, every review that tried to do an OS restore, including myself, was unsuccessful. A key reason NOT to get this product.","Product: Norton Ghost 14.0 protects PCs including all applications, settings, folders, and files with advanced backup and recovery. It provides powerful protection with new features such as offsite backups and Symantec ThreatCon integration, as well as enhanced performance, remote management, LightsOut Restore capability, and more. With Norton Ghost 14.0, you have a choice of backup types: full system (disk image) or specific files and folders. Incremental backups and enhanced compression help reduce the amount of required storage, while encryption helps keep everything safe. Norton Ghost 14.0 works with most storage devices, including external hard drives, networked drives, and recordable and rewritable CDs and DVDs.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: backup = passed, but restore = failed!\n\nReview: Vista Home Basic and Home Premium users were unfortunately ripped off when the product didn't come with a standard backup feature built into the operating system. Thus, solutions like the legendary Norton Ghost.\n\n- First good news is it installed within minutes on Vista x32 and x64\n- Second good news is backing up to my external Maxtor One Touch was flawless. It backed up nearly 200GB in a little over an hour.\n- Third piece of good news is when making the Symantec Recovery Disc, you can tell it exactly where to find your driver files and load those onto the disc.\n\nBut. . .\n\n- First \"bad\" news is the UI stinks to high heaven. Trying to go the simplified look with high feature rich innovation like of Apple didn't work here. Symantec failed miserably. I had to search online or in the Help more than once to figure out how to use many of the features.\n- Second bad news, is its failure to restore, which is an essential feature in a \"backup & restore\" solution. So many bad reviews on Amazon, but so few of the reviews anyone actually trying to do a OS restore. So you backup your pictures and docs to a USB drive, big deal. A manual copy & paste does that. But restoring a crashed OS is a key feature that should be tested. Suffice it to say, the restore process failed for me like it did for the few others who posted reviews where this was attempted\n- Third bad news is the online support for actual error messages stinks. If you get lucky and find an obscure message board with a fix, then count your blessings because the online knowledgebase from Symantec needs help for the Ghost v14 product. I'm a support manager by trade and every business report will tell you the #1 deflector of calls in to Support is to get online resources. . .Guess Symantec isn't partaking in standard business practices\n\nOVERALL:\nIf you need something that will backup your data automatically, this works. But for the price you might try searching Sourceforge first to find a free solution.\n\nThe worst part, every review that tried to do an OS restore, including myself, was unsuccessful. A key reason NOT to get this product.","Product: SYBA SD-CM-UAUD USB Stereo Audio Adapter Works with PC and Mac System. C-Media Chipset, RoHS. Upgrade, replace, or fix desktop/laptop sound in a minute.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Works out of the box!\n\nReview: My wife's audio went out on her motherboard and we were past the warranty phase. So what to do?\nBack in the mid-90's I'd simply spend $50 and get a sound card for the computer.\n\nLucky for our pocketbook, we no longer need to do that in this day and age.\n\n+ $6 at the time of this writing is awesome for a solution that is plug-n-play.\n\n+ Yep, no drivers needed. I just plugged it in to our Windows 10 system (should have no problem with windows 7 or 8 either) and once it identified it and said ready, I rebooted for good measure and it worked!\n\n+ Compact and portable if needed for a laptop\n\n+ Sound is great\n\n> Mic works great for skype and meets our needs plenty fine for online gaming sessions.\n\n+ Nice thing is, that since our audio went out on the computer, which also has the mic port, I don't care if it still works or not, this replaces the mic port.\n\n+ From the other users this apparently works with PS3 and PS4 too. Nice!\n\n+ We have our external speakers plugged into this and my wife's PC once again has good sound and she's able to play her music or whatever she's doing on the computer.","Product: abc\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Original description/title had this as a generic adapter...it is only for newer, rare technology\n\nReview: *UPDATE: Originally the description said PC to VGA. Since my original review on Dec 29th, the manufacturer has completely changed the product title and description, so you know what you're getting. . .finally.\n\n=======================\nI misread this item description that says connect PC to VGA.\nThis is not a USB to VGA\nThis is not a HDMI to VGA\nThis is not a DVI to VGA\n\nThis is DisplayPort to VGA adapter.\n\nArticle I found explained this. . .\n=============\nApple introduced a new term to the vocabulary of Mac users--DisplayPort. The Mini DisplayPort found on new MacBooks, the refreshed Macbook Air and 15-inch MacBook Pros replaces the DVI and mini-DVI interfaces found on older models. But is this another proprietary debacle like Apple's failed Apple Display Connector (ADC) standard? No.\n\nDisplayPort is, in fact, an open industry standard promoted by the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA), the same group that determines standard sizes for flat panel display mounts, for example. And Apple isn't the only company supporting DisplayPort. HP, Philips, Samsung, Lenovo, AMD, Nvidia, Intel and many other companies have thrown their weight behind the standard, so we'll be seeing a lot more DisplayPort-compatible devices in the coming years.\n=============\n\nThus this new standard seems hard to find, as all the Black Friday 2015 sales on laptops seemed to have HDMI, but no DisplayPort.\nToo new to test out. I've asked around the office and nobody in the office has a devices that supports this either. Sigh!\n\nI need to be more careful reading the description next time. But the manufacturer needs to be clearer too.\n\nBy the way, the USB connection is to power Audio. Thus the TV will get audio from the USB power and video from the DisplayPort connection. I'm confused why they didn't go DisplayPort to HDMI, since many, many TV's and computer monitors now have HDMI ports. So confusing on the technology these days and which to invest in.","Product: The ultra-compact design of the Belkin N150 Micro Wireless USB Adapter makes it easy to connect to your laptop or netbook and go.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: It works fine...nothing spectacular, but nothing horrible either\n\nReview: Pro:\n1) it's small and unobtrusive\n2) Connected instantly to my Belkin router\n3) Used on kid's XP system and allowed them to surf the web and do small downloads. . .just what they need\n4) price is average for this speed device\n5) Belkin is a known brand name, so finding drivers was pretty easy\n6) I was able to use this with a USB extender cable, allowing me to position the device in a place that could better receive a signal than on the floor, in the back of the computer, under a desk\n\nCons:\n1) it's small and if you are trying to connect and disconnect often, it's easy to misplace and lose\n2) HD streaming from Youtube was so-so\n3) Playing MMO's had some lag\n\nOVERALL: You need a quick wi-fi connector, then this will do the job.","Product: The TL-PA2010KIT AV200 Nano Powerline Adapter Starter Kit by TP-LINK uses your home's existing electrical wires to create or expand your home network. With no additional wiring required, you can simply plug the TL-PA2010KIT into existing power sockets and instantly establish a networking infrastructure. With high-speed data transfer rates of up to 200Mbps, you can enjoy HD video streaming, online gaming, VoIP, or any other bandwidth intensive tasks. Plus, its miniature design gives you the flexibility to plug it in anywhere in your home. Key Features AV200 Powerline Speeds HomePlug AV standard compliant, high-speed data transfer rates of up to 200Mbps Up to 1000 Feet Up to 1000 meter over electrical circuit, better performance than wireless through walls or across floors Multi IPTV Streams Supports IGMP managed multicast IP transmission, optimizes IPTV streaming Power-Saving Mode Patented Power-Saving reduces power consumption by up to 75% Plug and Play No new wires or configuration required\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Good price. Good performance. Fairly easy to setup.\n\nReview: Arrived today.\n\nI made the mistake of hooking it into the same powerstrip I had another, different brand powerline adapter plugged into. My entire network crashed.\n\nI then put it on it's own outlet, and rebooted all computers and router.\nI pressed the Pairing buttons a couple of times till the lights were flashing correctly.\nI installed the Management Utility on one computer. It identified both devices.\n\nOnce the network came back up and I had done all the above = connected to the Internet. Total of 15 minutes.\n\nRan several bandwidth tests and they were 90% of my internet bandwidth allocation (I currently pay for 12Mbps and I got 10-11Mbps on the test for downloads).\n\nKids played Planetside 2 across multiple computers on our home network and the computer which has this device did NOT have any lag for the first time!! Happy kids = happy dad.\n\nAs you can see I'm a top reviewer, so as time goes on I'll definitely be back to update if anything changes. But for now, this is a great device for $25.","Product: 15 6\" Laptop + Tablet Backpack\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: A good backpack with lots of pockets, but I've had better\n\nReview: <div id=\"video-block-RDKVWO0NQXZMB\" class=\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\"></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D1o7mU8WG3S.mp4\" class=\"video-url\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61JYQT65bSS.png\" class=\"video-slate-img-url\"> For the last three years I've been using <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Targus-A7-Backpack-Designed-to-Protect-16-Inch-Widescreen-Laptops-TSB167US-Black/dp/B0037TRWTI/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Targus A7 Backpack Designed to Protect 16-Inch Widescreen Laptops TSB167US (Black)</a>, which has been a GREAT backpack (you can easily find my video review on the product page). I use the Targus when traveling and it's been perfect.\n\nSo three years later I get this backpack:\n* As you can see in the video there are plenty of pockets\n* Thought to supporting tablets and headphones was good planning on this design\n* When I compare the padding, the Targus is far superior in both shoulder straps and the area around the laptop.\n* In my video I missed another small pocket just below the main handle at the top. Big enough for loose change.\n\nOverall this is a good backpack, but when I first reviewed this, it cost 90-frick'n-dollars. The price has since fallen by 50% to something more expected for this type of product. Plus a star.\nYes, the padding on the shoulder blade area and lumbar area keeps the laptop away from your body and can allow airflow between your back and pack. Sill for the price was hoping for something for more padding on the bottom or other \"impact\" areas.\n\nBssed on great reviews & price, some other alternatives you might want to check into:\n<a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Targus-Drifter-II-Backpack-for-16-Inch-Laptop-TSB238US-Black-Gray/dp/B004YIFKRM/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Targus Drifter II Backpack for 16-Inch Laptop TSB238US (Black/Gray)</a>\n<a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Samsonite-Luggage-Xenon-2-Backpack/dp/B008HY60AA/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Samsonite Luggage Xenon 2 Backpack</a>","Product: TP-LINK's Archer D7 AC1750 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit ADSL2+ Modem Router is a combined wired/wireless network connection device with integrated wireless router and ADSL modem, reducing hassle of configuration and saving space.Featuring a variety of features and rich functionality, Archer D7 is the perfect hub of your home or business network. It works with top ISPs - Verizon, Fairpoint, WindStream, AT&T. It is not compatible with FiOS, AT&T U-Verse, or VDSL. ( as stated on the box.)\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Check with your Internet provider BEFORE buying\n\nReview: 1. Mixed experience with TP-Link Support (see long story below)\n2. Will not work in some areas due to ISP controlling what hardware they've partnered with. Thus I cannot blame TP-Link...completely.\n3. But I do blame TP-Link, since there is no warning to consider ISP restrictions or which ISP's they are 'certified' with.\n\n=====================================\nI'm in the Sacramento,CA area and the Quick Setup would not connect to my AT&T DSL service.\n\n1. I called AT&T and the first agent didn't want to help me stating that he cannot comment on non-AT&T provided hardware nor help me troubleshoot, but he did verify my line is working and connected to my house.\n\n2. I called TP Link Tech Support and they have a limited phone system that will hang up on you if you don't listen and actively press '1' to keep yourself holding in their phone queue. At 7am PST I got through after about 10minutes on hold.\n\nThe TP Link support agent could barely speak English!!!!!!!\nWe went through several items such as resetting the router, changing some configuration information, etc.\nThen she asked me for the VPI and VCI numbers provided by my ISP (internet service provider). I told her I have no such numbers as they simply sent me their Motorola modem and it was plug-n-play.\nShe said she needed those numbers.\n\nInterestingly, under the quick setup are several Auto-configuration settings for four-types of AT&T DSL, two for Dynamic IP (which is the type of internet I have) and two for static IP (typically a paid service through my ISP). None of these would work and the TP Link tech support agent didn't even bother with walking me through trying these. I happen to find them and try them on my own, with no success.\n\n3. I called AT&T back\nThe new tech support agent said, they never heard of the VPI and VCI numbers.\nAlso, he said if the hardware isn't provided by AT&T then it will not work!!\n\n4. Called TP Link support a couple hours later and got someone where English is their primary language. They explained that \"global\" support is handled out of China.\n\nThe American support person was awesome and knoweldgeable, but I was left with contacting AT&T again to try and get my device's MAC address registered.\n\n5. Called AT&T back\nThird call to them and this tier 1 agent was much better and more detailed than the last two.\nHe told me that AT&T U-Verse is not the same as their DSL service in other parts of the country. The U-Verse service has the feature 'turned off' to allow non-AT&T approved devices to register their MAC address. So I'm dead in the water with wanting to use anything other than what AT&T provides.\n\nI spent the next twenty minutes with the agent trying to find who or where within AT&T I could complain about locking access down to other hardware and/or submit a feature request to open up the option again through AT&T. In the end, no place to complain or leave feedback. AT&T is not interested in what their customers think!!!!!!!!!!\n\nSo I'm stuck with a new paperweight. I'm blaming AT&T U-Verse DSL, not TP Link, but I cannot test the product further to see how well it works.\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product free or at a discounted price, in exchange for the purposes of a product review. All opinions are 100% my own and they reflect my honest & unbiased opinion. Your experience may differ from mine.","Product: quickflip Case For 8 Tablets - Black\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great for Winbook TW802\n\nReview: I recently bought the Winbook Tw802 from Microcenter ($116 after shipping & state tax). They have one(1) case you could get for $20 (after shipping and tax), but I didn't like the look of it even though the reviews on their sight said it was good quality.\n\nThis tablet is actually 8.25 x 5 x 0.5, so finding a \"universal\" case is difficult and many of the cases sold on Amazon for this particular have reviewers stating they are all too large. Thus if you don't want a case sold specifically by MicroCenter, then finding a case is doubly difficult.\n\nThis case says on the box that it can support a max of 8.6\" x 5.6\", so my tablet fits perfectly in it.\n\nThus I went to my local Fry's Electronics, took my tablet, and tried every 8\" case even if it was an 8\" case made for specific tablet. When I found this Case Logic one, a few things sold me on it:\n\n+ Sits firmly in the multiple view angles. Some tables the small \"lifted\" area to hold it in an angle is too smile and the tablet simply slides flat. Nice grooves here, so it shouldn't slide accidentally out.\n+ It uses a metal bracket on one side for you to slide your tablet into\n+ The elastic bands aren't so overly stretched that I'd be concerned with them breaking in a short while from the constant tension.\n+ Elastic strap to hold it closed\n+ Stylus loop\n+ Neutral black/grey coloring\n\nOVERALL: The only downside for some (not me) would be no hole for the rear camera (my cell phone has a better camera so I'd never use the rear camera). . .but like with any \"universal\" case, you can modify if you want. Otherwise, I love this case for my new Winbook TW802 8\" windows 8.1 tablet.","Product: Sleek, stylish and compact. With a top mounted Lightning dock for your iPhone 5 and iPad, playback via the USB input, CD drive, and USB terminal, this slim micro system is perfect for any office, den or bedroom. iPad stand is supplied.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Not for audiophiles, but good sound, easy to use for all family members and not \"exactly\" only limited to i-devices\n\nReview: I set this up in the living room and left it. I come back an hour later and my 10yr old daughter was already playing CD's and music from her MP3 player. In other words, the device is fairly intuitive and easy to use.\n\nSomething I wasn't aware of when selecting this product is it also has instructions for wall-mounting. Mounting screws are not provided, but a paper template is provided, which makes installation easier. Though you don't have to mount it, as it will sit nicely on a shelf somewhere.\n\nAt first I was disappointed in the description that said it was only for iPhone 5 and something for iPhone 4 and ipod. Don't they know that i-devices are only a \"small\" part of the device market?\n\nOnce I opened the manual it states this player should work with:\niPhone 3G through iPhone 5\niPad through iPad 3\niPod touch 1 through iPod touch 5\niPod classic\niPod nano 2 through iPod nano 7\n\nMost of these devices simply use their normal USB charging cable. You need to remove the cover/plug from the USB slot on this player before you can use the USB connector. With an i-device you can use the remote to control songs and folders. My iPhone 3GS worked fine!!\n\nI took a regular USB stick from my PC desktop and put some MP3 songs on it. This too played fine!! Thus not limiting me to a device brand.\n\nThe AUX IN port worked with my Android devices and other MP3 players. . .I just needed to provide my own male-to-male AUX cable. Also the volume set to 12 for CD was nice and loud, but when I plugged my Samsung Galaxy III phone into the AUX IN cable the same volume setting was near impossible to hear and I had to crank it up. I need to track down another AUX cable to make sure that isn't the problem.\n\nNOTE: You won't be able to do folder selections with non-iDevices! At least I haven't figured it out yet if you're supposed to be able to.\n\nI agree with the other reviews that the Bass is lacking...even when I turn on the XBASS setting. Otherwise the overall sound was good for my family's listening needs (we aren't audiophiles or anything).\n\nAt first I thought the FM radio feature was broken. Then I realized to get the FM stations I wanted, required I press the Tuner button multiple times to get to FM Mono, then the stations came through vs. dead silence. I didn't have a lot of change in reception moving the FM antenna cable around.\n\nFor my area, I could not get AM radio stations much at all, Not sure I can blame the player for this one. But the antenna is short! So moving it around doesn't help much either because there is no cable length to go anywhere with it.\n\nIn nearly every room I have a Blu-Ray player that can play music from CD or USB and I can plug my Android/iPhone devices into my Receiver and have \"surround sound\" shaking the neighborhood. This won't shake the neighborhood and you may not need it if you are like me where a bunch of other devices do the same thing as a sub-feature. But I do have an open shelf in our family/game room where this fits well and it is easier to use than some of my TV/Blu-ray setups.\n\nOVERALL: For our family we think this is better than \"Okay\" and actually \"Like This\" device for the good (not great) sound and ease of use (even if you don't have an i-device).\n\nI think this meets a specific need since many existing devices in our house can already play music through existing sound/movie systems. Also, the price seems steep for a device that produces sub-par audiophile quality sound and other docks/sound systems are around $80-$100 dollars.","Product: Toshiba Canvio AeroMobile Wireless SSD (HDTQ112XCWF1)\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Fine for older devices, but there are less expensive newer technologies\n\nReview: I have all android devices in the house (I hate iTunes and got rid of my Apple products), so I had a few to test this with.\n\n1. Took unit out of the box and set it to charge. Came back a couple hours later and it was ready to go.\n\n2. I let unit sit for a week before making the time to use it. Battery indicator was still a solid green, thus I was happy it held it's charge.\n\n3. The Android app was easy enough to find on Google play, and installed fast.\n\n4. I followed the instructions and got the device connected to my Samsung Tab3 tablet in no time\n\n5. Playback:\n+ Music = played fine through app.\n+ Pictures = played fine through app.\n- Movie/TV shows = froze in app. Screen goes dark and there is activity light on the drive, but nothing ever happens. This had me concerned as one of the main reasons I'd get this unit is to hold my movies and TV shows for streaming.\n\n6. The device comes with a second method to connect, which is via a web site. This was pretty fast setup too.\n\n7. Playing movies through \"web browser\" popped up the option of which player on my tablet I wanted to use. I picked my favorite player (I have a few installed) and the movie played great. No lag AND it even streamed the subtitles (.srt file), which normally doesn't work when streaming to devices via DNLA.\n\n8. Since I have the option to NOT use the app (so-so app and the above stated movie issue), I was still pretty happy with the product.\n\n9. I didn't have any problem watching 4hrs of movies in one sitting.\n\n10. Every time I turn the device off, I have to re-navigate to Settings > Wi-Fi and reconnect manually. It does NOT find and reconnect automatically, like it does to a wi-fi connector. This is a pain.\n\n11. Connecting a second older Galaxy S3 did NOT cause any lag on tablet, nor did S3 have any lag playing a movie simultaneously.\n\n12. I did get lag on S3 as soon as I walked 30ft away from SSD drive.\nAlso, wife started complaining that our home network wi-fi was getting interrupted the minute I started multiple device streaming, which made no sense to me, other than somehow the wi-fi for the SSD is on the same channel (there are over 10 channels I could pick) as my router and they were conflicting that way.\n\nOVERALL.\nIt works pretty good.\n\nBut. .. for 128Gb, many newer devices allow one to opt for microSD cards which are:\n+ tiny and easier to carry\n+ \"more durable\" than this heavier plastic drive\n+ for the cost of this device, you could buy nearly 4x 64Gb microSD and have double the space\n+ 128Mb microSD card is also less expensive than this","Product: The thin, lightweight Belkin FastFit Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard Case for iPad mini pairs durable protection with an easy-to-use wireless keyboard. The keyboard features TruType keys that are larger than those found on most 7-inch keyboards, providing a comfortable alternative to touchscreen typing. Bluetooth connectivity and long-lasting battery life maximizes your efficiency and lets you use the keyboard for up to 40 hours on a single charge.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: I like it, but it takes some getting use to\n\nReview: <div id=\"video-block-R2QIV86O6VF8M5\" class=\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\"></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D1OBi7LsfsS.mp4\" class=\"video-url\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81Dmx2yMs9S.png\" class=\"video-slate-img-url\"> Comparing it to the <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Kensington-Keycover-Bluetooth-Keyboard-Stand-and-Cover-for-iPad-mini-iPad-mini-with-Retina-Display-K39797US/dp/B00EMB4LUI/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Kensington Keycover Bluetooth Keyboard, Stand and Cover for iPad mini & iPad mini with Retina Display (K39797US)</a>.\n\nNot sure why most of the reviewers here are not complaining for the same reasons as on the Kensington; that the keys are small and hard to type on for many. The simply fact that the Enter and Space are much larger on the Belkin vs. the Kensington may be the reason.\n\nI find both require some getting use to.\n\n+ Pairs easily.\n+ Battery lasts long time.\n+ Light\n+ Thin\n+ Nice red color\n- What happened to the CTRL key?\n- Have to really look for the apostrophe key and the colon/semi-colon are \"hidden\" under function keys\n\nOVERALL a nice keyboard once you learn how to use it. More pro's than con's and the Pro's are important pro's which is why I gave it a four star vs a three star.","Product: Free yourself with Seagate Wireless mobile storage. Enjoy your media and access your files without wires or the Internet. Seagate Wireless broadcasts its own Wi-Fi network, so you can wirelessly stream your media and files to up to three mobile devices. With 500GB of storage at your fingertips, choosing which files to sync to your mobile device before a long trip is a thing of the past. Seagate Wireless lets you carry hundreds of movies and thousands of photos, songs and documents. Seagate Wireless streams your media and documents to all your popular tablets, smartphones, computers and connected devices. The free Seagate Media app available for iOS, Android tablets and smartphones, Kindle Fire and Windows 8/RT tablets and computers makes it easy to navigate and enjoy content wherever you go. Share your content with everyone on the biggest screen in your house-the TV. The Seagate Media app can cast your content to a Chrome cast, LG Smart TV or a Roku player with ease when on the same network. Are your photos and video eating up all your space? With Seagate Wireless, you can now offload or back up full-resolution pictures and video from your smartphone or tablet using the Seagate Media app. Windows 8 users can access all the content on Seagate Wireless directly from their desktops using the Seagate Media App for a truly wireless drive experience.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: I like the the concept, but \"proprietary\" software is needed to use\n\nReview: About a year ago I reviewed <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Toshiba-Canvio-AeroMobile-Wireless-SSD-HDTQ112XCWF1/dp/B00JNBVK4M/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Toshiba Canvio AeroMobile Wireless SSD (HDTQ112XCWF1)</a>, which works nearly the same way this product does. The biggest downside to that older product and still a downside is that you only get 128Gb, when it's cheaper to get a 128Gb MicrSD card.\n\nAt least here we get some real space to hold photos, videos and more.\n\nYou're limited by let the device create a \"hotspot\" and connecting to that network with the supplied app/software. Thus there is no obvious way to connect it to your existing network so any of your networked devices can connect and use the stored data.\n\nAs we move to more mobile devices, this does give you large amounts of data on the run. The drive is small enough that you can put it in your backpack and take your files with you.\n\nOther than the proprietary software needed to connect to this device, the other downside is it automatically becomes unavailable when it reaches 10% battery life and it shuts off.\n\nI'm able to watch about 7 TV episodes or about 3 movies before hitting the 10% mark and needing a recharge.\n\nBuried in the online documentation...not the provided in the \"manual\". . . it says to use a wall charger. But no wall charger provided!!! Also it only comes with USB 2.0 cable, when USB3.0 would have been so much better and able to charge the laptops. The USB 2 works and all, but shortsightedness on their part by not including the wall charger and/or a USB 3 cable.\n\nAnother reason to need USB 3 is when uploading 500Gb of data the USB 2 is pretty darn slow. Put it in the box people!\n\nI used this with Android devices and using the software was fine.\nThe box says you can use this with Android, MAC, Windows 8 COMPATIBLE, Roku, and Chromecast. I like the added functionality with expanded devices and it's forward thinking by supporting these other operating systems.\n\nBetter Windows support versus \"compatible\" and Widows 7 support would be ideal. Also with Windows 10 coming out later this year, does that mean I can't use it with a Windows tablet or laptop at that point?\n\nBy the way streaming video speeds were without lag. So I'm very happy with that!!\n\nOVERALL: It has its limits and may not be what people expect. This is NOT intended for you to replace your media server. . .at least not exactly. But enough options are provided to stream your content.\n\nThis does what it intends. When on the go you can access your files and videos for a period of time. I like it!","Product: Hello everyone! Up for sale is a WinBook TW802. Details Powered by an intel quad core processor @ 1.33 GHz (Up to 1.83 GHz during burst mode) this little guy is very powerful. It has built in 32GB flash storage, 2GB DDR3 DRAM memory, two front and rear cameras, wireless-N and bluetooth technology, as well as USB and micro HDMI slot to connect this device to a computer monitor or TV. This is basically a mini computer that can be utilized as a desktop and is extremely portable. It costs less than 1/4th the price of an Apple iPad Mini, with much more power. To use it as a desktop, simply connect a wireless mouse and keyboard (USB) and connect your monitor or TV to the tablet with a MicroHDMI cable. This tablet also has a slot to put in a 64gb microSD card for external flash storage or can connect an external USB drive for multiple storage capabilities. Specs Retails at over $140. HD IPS Razor Sharp LCD 8\" 1280x800 Display Full Windows 8.1 Operating System Intel BayTrail-T Z3735G Quad Core 1.33GHz , up to 1.83GHz (Burst) Quad-Core CPU 2GB DDR3 RAM & 32GB Internal Flash Storage Storage Expandable up to 64GB via microSD Card Intel HD4000 based graphics Micro HDMI Output (To Connect to Monitor or TV) Micro USB to charge Full size USB 2.0 for USB devices 1 Front and rear 1 megapixel cameras 14.3oz (very light, less than 1 lb.). 3.5mm audio jack 1 Year Warranty from date of purchase (Each one has its down Serial Number, which gets activated on date of purchase). Shipping Free priority 2-3 shipping to US residents only with same day handling time. International purchases must pay for calculated shipping. International shipping will be mailed USPS first class international shipping. Sales tax applicable in MO and CA. Any questions? Dont hesitate to ask! Thanks for looking!\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Cheaper from the source ( Microcenter), than what's offered here on Amazon\n\nReview: My only complaint is the one(1) case that Microcenter (maker of this product) sells is difficult to find and not linked in the Add-Ons / Accessories section of this product on their own website. Many of the cases on Amazon.com that say they are for this device, all the reviewers state are too large.\n\nI went to a local electronics store and tried on every case and found the <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Case-Logic-QuickFlip-Case-for-8-Inch-Tablets-CQUE-3108/dp/B00JB4W9AA/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Case Logic QuickFlip Case for 8-Inch Tablets(CQUE-3108)</a> fits really well (no rear camera hole). Great multi-angle case with elastic strap to hold it closed. Found it later here on Amazon for nearly the same price of $20, so you can order online too.\n\nNow that I have a case, I've been playing with this device for a few days so far:\n+ Not a lot of bloatware. . .actually I don't think I uninstalled anything\n+ 22Gb left over after Windows\n+ 10-12Gb left over after I installed all my productivity apps (7-zip, FoxIt Reader, 2 browsers, Evernote, Scrivener, Kindle Reader, my company's licensed Office 2013/ Office 365, QuickTime, VLC, etc.)\n+ It does come with a registration card for 1yr of Office 365, but I'm saving that since I can use my company's licence for this BOYD that I'll be using at work.\n+ 64Gb MicroSDHC was recognized just fine (I paid $30 for a 90mb/sec card on sales during Christmas)\n+ Everything customizable, because it's a full version of Windows (32-bit only)!!\n+ Having taken the advice of several articles on Windows tablets, getting a 32Gb storage and 2Gb RAM/memory and a 1280x800 has paid off.\n+ bluetooth keyboard and usb mouse work flawlessly\n+ went to the Windows Store and downloaded some games there and they work great\n+ Fully USB 2.0 is super convenient, and I haven't needed to buy an OTG cable\n+ Watching a downloaded video with VLC and srt subtitle file was great, no lag\n+ Watched the new Star Wars trailer in 720p HD streaming from Youtube = no lag\n+ Watched the new Fantastic Four trailer in 720p HD streaming and there was the briefest hint of lag, but nothing real noticeable\n+ Yes the speakers are in the back, but they don't sound too bad. Of course headphones are superior to listening to the speakers, but for the price of this device, they do the job.\n\nOtherwise, I'm very happy with this and will be looking into a SquareTrade coverage for 2-3 years for like an additional $10, just because I know how rough I can be with devices.\n\nGreat windows tablet for $116 after shipping and tax!! (if you get it at the source vs. 3rd party selling on Amazon)\n\n**Update 3/10/2015**\nDid a skype with my work network (fast internet) and a relative in another state. (added system performance image on this review)\nWhen both are doing video there are some short pauses/lag, but for the most part no real issues.\nRight now I'm on the skype call and updating this review. When tabbed over to another app, the audio has no lag and my relative can continue to see me.\nWhen I tab back, there is some lag with brief pauses every 20sec.\nI turn up the lighting in the room I was in, because my side of the camera is a bit dark and then the other person can see me better.\nTurning off all other applications (email, browsers, etc) improved performance.\nHad a good 30-minute conversation via skype.\\\\\n\n**Update 3/11/2015**\nBig Tuesday Windows updates/patch. I'm down to 7Gb of free space instead of 10Gb.\nMany apps I'm able to install on the MicroSD card, but other apps, like Evernote give me an error saying they cannot be installed on removable media. What you can do in the example of Evernote, is install it locally, but go into the settings and tell it to store the \"local files\" on the MicroSD card. Some programs will let you do stuff like that.\n\nCamera Roll backup/sync from Dropbox can be a space hog. I simply don't sync that part of the app (you can select individual folders to sync with Dropbox), because I could go to Dropbox via the web browser and get my pictures there.\n\n**3/16/2015**\nI turned off auto-brightness and set brightness to 40%, which for most of needs is plenty high enough.\n\n2.5hrs of Internet, typing in MS Word and other productivity programs = 50% battery usage with Bluetooth keyboard and USB mouse.\n\n2hrs watching a movie file I had on the device, no keyboard or mouse connected = 25% battery used\n\nFor around $120 after shipping and tax, I'm happy with the battery life and having a full version of a windows system.\n\n**Update 3/19/2015**\nAfter seeing my Winbook, a co-worker bought one too.\nHe then installed Steam and downloaded the game Banished = works fine!\n\nI downloaded full PC version of Minecraft. System requirements say it needs less than 300Mb of space. I had one of my kids login with their account then launched a single player game:\n- takes a little bit to build a new world from scratch\nThen Settings > Video Settings\n+ Set brightness to max\n+ Set graphics to Fast\n+ Clouds off\n\nSounded good. Looked good. Little to zero lag, even though Minecraft minimum system requirements say it needs 2Ghz processor.\n\nI found a few posts where people ran Skyrim with all DLC and on low settings. Installing Skyrim now. Looking forward to it!!","Product: Capture More with the Fast Speed The Elite Series memory cards feature the UHS-1 specifications that enable fast transfer speeds to save you more time when moving data from your card to other devices. Also, it supports Full-HD video recording so that you can capture HD videos without annoying lags and dropouts. *To reach the maximum read/write speed, a UHS-I enabled and USB 3.0 reader or host device would be recommended. Ideal for Up-to-date Gadgets Equipped with the Class 10 speed, the Elite microSD series can bring high-tech gears into full play! You may also place it in some portable speakers for more appealing music. Waterproof, Shockproof, Temperature-proof and X-ray proof Even if you are doing outdoor activities in some extreme climate conditions, the Elite series can still survive from water, shock and wide-temperatures storage ranging from -40C to 85C! Moreover, the Elite series is immune to airport X-rays so there is no need to worry when travelling overseas. Add More Storage for Your Mobile Devices Hard to choose which one to delete? The Elite microSD series is available from 16GB to 128GB so you can instantly free up the storage of your mobile devices. Take 64GB as an example, it allows you to keep massive mobile Apps, up to 850 minutes videos, 16,000 songs and 24,000 photos! Lifetime Warranty The Elite microSD Series is backed by lifetime warranty. *Please register your product via SP official website to get complete manufacturer warranty services, product support and more. Box Contains 1 x Silicon Power Elite microSD Card 1 x SD Adapter\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Extra speed for less cost than competitors\n\nReview: I just ordered my third(3rd) one of these.\n\n+ Great price for $9.61, after California state tax. I cannot wait till the technology advances drop the price even more.\n\n+ Only a couple bucks extra than most 16Gb and you get twice the space.\n\n+ The 85MB/s faster speed than your standard 48MB/s or 50MB/s means I have no lag accessing my taking pictures or playing movies, games, music, or audiobooks from the card with my Android device.\n\nI would love to find a pack of 3 of these at a slightly discounted price. Unfortunately there is only a pack of 10 for over a $100, which is more expensive than buying 10 of these individually. Makes little sense.\n\nOtherwise, I've put this in digital cameras, action video cameras, laptops, and any number of mobile devices and these have been working out great for me!","Product: Jabra SPORT COACH (Yellow) Wireless Bluetooth Earbuds for Cross-Training - Retail Packaging\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Either get the heart rate version or ignore these completely at this price point\n\nReview: I've been using these daily for about two weeks now, after having gone through testing/trying 4 pair of similar style headphones w/mic in the $30 range, I think I can provide some detailed feedback.\n\n1. The variety of different ear gels and ear wing holders (though all cheap rubber/plastic) is nice to have. Everyone is bound to find one that fits them. I appreciate Jabra trying to provide a size to fit each customer. I'm personally using the medium ear gel it came with but the heavy/large ear wing holders.\n\nI've been out running or kick-scootering 10 miles per session and they don't fall out!!\n\n2. These are nearly noise canceling. When out for a run I need to tuck one end into my collar, so I can hear the traffic. With both in my ears, I don't hear much of anything except what is broadcast through the headset.\n\n3. When running with both in my ears, there is almost an echo or 'pause' on certain songs. It's an effect of the acoustics, wind and me running, not the music actually skipping, but it sounds like it is skipping on some songs. Audiobooks are no problem at all.\n\n4. I have an Android smart phone and getting the coaching software that goes with this was easy. Problem is my phone already has all the features built in or via apps like Runtastic Pro, which I purchased for $5.\n\nBIGGEST reason I didn't rate this higher than 3-stars: There isn't a good reason --- if you have a smartphone --- to get the app features! Thus no real reason to spend $150 for these headphones with much less expensive options out there for the features you are going to use (music & phone calls).\n\n5. I've taken about 30+hrs worth of business calls on this, some while out running or walking. The mic works well and the other person says they can hear me just fine.\n\n6. My battery life is a lasting about 4hrs of constant talk time before I received the 'battery low' voice notification. Every 10-minutes the battery low notification goes off for a full 3times, so I get 30 more minutes of battery before the headphones switch off.\n\nThus, I am not getting the 5.5hrs the manual says I should be getting. The notice kinds of freaks me out and I start charging again. I realize there are many variables that can affect battery life, but 4hrs is okay, closer to 6 would have been a lot better.\n\nIt takes a good 45min - 90min to charge. I really like I can press the down volume button and get a battery status if I'm not playing any music or on a call.\n\n7. I love how when I power on it gives the beeps then says 'connected' when I connect to my phone. What I'd like to hear is a 'power off' voice notification when I power off, because sometimes I cannot tell.\n\n8. I may be lame, but I couldn't figure out how to mute a call. Getting the buttons pressed in the correct manner take two hands and I just couldn't make it happen.\n\n9. I can attest to sweat and water resistant (not waterproof!). I live in a hot area and had to pour water over my head a couple of times while running. What amount did hit my ears, did not seem to negatively effect these headphones and they kept on pumping out sound.\n\n10. I'm not an audiophile, but it sounds fine to me. Seems more about the app I'm using to play the music than anything. But I'm no expert here.\n\nOVERALL: Overpriced for the features I'd use it for (music and calling), especially when I can find a similar product for no more than $50. Considering how expense heart rate monitors are, I can see getting the HRM version instead of this one.\n\nThis just feels like a gimmick product to charge more than it's worth. But I guess, if a person doesn't have a smartphone (I'm not sure they exist) then such a customer may actually find more value in the coaching feature.\n\nFor just taking calls, I have Jabra Stone 1, 2 and 3 that I've collected over the years. They are great products, so I'd be open to seeing what other products Jabra has to offer in the future.","Product: Color is expression with theRock Candy Wireless Mouse. Escape from dull and uninspired choices and express your inner personality to the world. Choose from a variety of color choices for a more personalized experience. Personalize and energize your desktop with the Rock Candy Wireless Mouse. Enjoy up to a 30 foot range with an easy-to-use USB micro receiver. Featuring accurate high definition optical mouse tracking, transparent colored and highly durable housing, and a USB receiver shareable with the Rock Candy Wireless Keyboard, this PC and Mac compatible mouse is designed for fun.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Make a statement with these cool color mice\n\nReview: After letting my daughter try this out for a bit, I asked her what she thought and her first words were, \"The color really pops!\" True, these mice stand out and add some personality to your computer setup.\n\nPic #1 - Arrived in box. Very pretty packaging.\n\nPic #2 - It did come with two AAA batteries. Also the top slides off, which is where the batteries will go. There are small plastic tabs, so you can easily remove the batteries at a later date by pulling on the tabs for each battery. I like the attention to little details like this when a product is put together.\n\nPic #3 - The receiver also has a spot for storage under the slide-off lid. Perfect for the mobile users. Another must have feature that wasn't spared from this product.\n\nPic #4 - A On-Off switch on the bottom of the mouse. Great for saving battery life or if your mouse is in your bag and the buttons are accidentally getting pressed, that the battery isn't being used up.\n\nPic #5 - I'm about to play a video game on my laptop with the mouse. The mouse was very responsive and small movements were accurate during the game play. All buttons are easy to click and respond well too.\n\nThe tiny instruction manual that came with this was only pictures on how to insert the batteries, connect to the computer and turn the mouse on. No information, that if you let it sit idle does it auto-shutoff to conserve batteries or not. I'm not expecting this auto-shut off feature, but if it does have it, then I'd like to know. That would be my only recommendation.\n\nSIZE: For my 11-yr old daughter, it was small enough to not be too big. For my man-hands, it was big enough to not feel like I had to cramp my hand into a ball just to wrap around the mouse. A bit smaller than most desktop mice, but not tiny by any means. . .just the right size.\n\nOVERALL: Great looking. Very responsive and accurate. Plug-n-play for Windows. Love it!\n\n**UPDATE Jan2016**\nI use this mouse every day for a full 3-5hrs each time. My rechargeable batteries are lasting a good two-three weeks. I happy with the battery life.","Product: New NEAT Widget B Desktop USB Microphone that has a clear, full-range 96kHz/24 bit audio is a must have for anyone and everyone.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: unboxing is a fun surprise\n\nReview: I sometimes need a good mic for putting together training sessions at work and my daughter has a sing-along/Karaoke program on her computer. We both are also looking into doing some story dictation into Dragon Naturally Speaking and a nice mic would help better with that too.\n\nWell this fits the bill.\n\n====================\nPic #1 - unboxing the mic. I had no idea how large it was! Looks like a prop for a cartoon or something.\n\nPic #2 = the size of the mic next to the mouse and keyboard. Yeah, it's big! Thus my only complaint is the footprint on your desk this thing takes is larger than expected...or at least feels that way.\n\nPic #3 = some fun stickers just because and a two-sided quick start guide. English on one side and French on the other of this 'fancy' folded manual.\n\nPic #4 = the USB cable is completely detachable. In this picture is a turn knob/screw. I don't know what's on the other side of the housing that it's holding on, but you have to disassemble the yellow decoration wiring on the outside before the back will come off. No instructions in the manual what this is for and since it ain't broke I didn't bother taking it all apart.\n\nPic #5 = The mic slides up and down the stand, so you can put it at different heights depending how you use it. In here, I have it pushed nearly to the bottom of the stand.\n\n====================\n\nIMPROVEMENTS/SUGGESTIONS:\n> Only other improvement is the base looks like a speaker too, but no information on this, nor wiring connected to the base. Kind of strange. leaves one guessing.\n> Manual talks about Windows Vista, 7 and 8.\nVista? What about Windows 10?\nLots of non-technical grandmas who contact their family for tech support on the smallest of things (you know you have one in your family too), will be confused by this and not know this will work just fine, like it does on my my Windows 10 machines.\n\n====================\n\nOVERALL:\n+ plug-n-pay Windows\n+ attractive and fun looking\n+ Recorded some stuff and the built-in pop filter worked great\n+ adjustable height\n+ will not fall over due to sturdy base\n+ I didn't have to talk loud for the mic to pick up my voice; clear and accurate\n\nGreat product. Lots of uses. Love it!","Product: You deserve to hear music and call in comfort, anywhere. That's why there's the new Verve Rider+ Wearable, Waterproof Stereo Earbuds. With built-on apt technology, you get powerful HD sound. Plus, customizable sound pro lets you hear music just the way you like it. And with the talk button and integrated mic, you'll phone ca;;s effortlessly. They're designed with IPX5 water/sweat proof protection, so you can wear them inside on the treadmill or out in the rain without worry. Wherever you go, the contoured collar design is made to fit your body, so it hardly feels like you're wearing them at all. Go ahead, listen to music for up to 12 hours without interruption using your phone, tablet, or computer. Verve Ride+. Unplugged, still connected.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Overall great, but. . .\n\nReview: I've tested easily 30+ headphones in the last 12 to 18 months. Thus I have some expectations for what make good headphones vs. headphones that just get you by.\n\n+ Waterproof\n\n+ Sweatproof\n\n+ The angle does reduce bouncing when running vs. those that are straight\n\n+ Paired with my device for both phone & media easily\n\n+ First time use, when I got 15ft away and it starts losing connection. Put a wall or two between the headphones and the phone and it really loses connection. Since draining the battery and recharging twice, it stays connected much better. I can get a good 25+ ft away and it doesn't lose connection. With walls that still is a bit of a bother but not as much as that first time. Why? Beats me, but I'm glad it works a bit better.\n\nThen manufacturer saw this review and replaced the headphones. Second pair I can get a good 60+ feet away and still have connection. Nice improvement!\n\n-- My biggest complaint is that the earbuds are too small and at an angle.\nI already have tough time keeping earbuds in, but when they are an angle even more so. Becomes more of an issue by making these VERY short. I'm posting a pic with a standard earbud vs. this one. Hopefully you can see there isn't much earbud to hold onto your ear to keep these in.\nThus even a brisk walk these pop out and do not stay in, let alone actual exercise.\nMake 'em straight and longer Motorola!\nIf they even had a small chance (pun intended) of staying in, I would have given this an extra star.\n\n+ Dual sided master button. I love this feature in that you can use either hand to easily touch the master button on either side of the headphones\n\n+ All normal functions of play/answer, pause/end call, forward/reverse track, up/down volume\n\n+ Mute feature!\n\n+ I listened to audiobook and music non-stop for 6+hrs. Great battery life.\n\n+ I like the orange and black color.\n\n+ Magnetic holder for when an earbud is not in use; just stick it to the master button on that side and magnet keeps it on.\n\n-- $100 is laughable. I've had plenty of headphones that do all the same for around $30.\n\n> Sound seems to lack bass and a bit tinny.\nBut one reviewer said he like his bass, but definitely notices a difference when his earbud is inside his ear all the way. Since I have trouble with keeping these in, this may be my problem and the bass may be okay. Plus, I listen mostly to audio books and take work calls, so I'm not needing some thumping rhythms too much.\n\n+ Callers say they can hear me fine. I do a lot of business calls and these work well for that for me.\n\nOVERALL: Others may not have issues with keeping these in their ears and there are a lot of positives about these headphones. But price and possible limited bass could be a real downer for some customers.","Product: CinolinkUSB 2.0 to 2.5\" Sata/SSD Adaptor Specifications Hot-swappable,plug and play, no drivers needed,Don't support 3.5 SATA Interface: USB2.0 ; Data transfer rate: 480Mb/s ; Suitability:2.5\" SATA HDD Power Supply: Host USB port; Cover Material: plastic ABS ; Cable length: 16cm / 6.3inches Requirements: Desktop/laptop PC with available USB 2.0 port. Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP/Vista/MAC. When lack of power, plug the additional USB connector upto the omputer. Built in TWO LED indicator light for Power and Data transfer: Power (Red), Access (Blue). Packaging 1x Cinolink USB 2.0 to 2.5\" Sata/SSD Adaptor Notice The device is just for 2.5 Sata Hard Drive, Don't support 3.5 SATA Hard Drive.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Cable only version. Works great!\n\nReview: Not sure why Amazon groups up the other product items with this Cable ONLY item, but that is what I'm reviewing here, which is the converter adapter cable.\n\nPic #1: The cable and the package it came in. This is all you get. This is ALL you need!\n\nPic #2: Per product description, this cable ONLY works with a 2.5 inch drive (drive on left) not a 3.5\" drive (drive on right). Trust me, I tried but no go on the larger drive.\n\nPic #3: I plugged it in, copied a file over and showed properties of drive. It works!\n\nPic#4: The 30Gb SSD drive plugged in. LED power light.\n\nPic #5: Copying 8 larger movie files and getting over 35Mb/sec on Windows 10 on a new Dell computer\n\nPic#6: Copying 1,400+ MP3 files and the performance drops. But this is expected and it happens with most drives when dealing with a ton of files at once.\n\nPic #7: Only need one USB cable plugged in to power this drive. I the drive needed more, there is the second USB included in the cable.\n\nPic #8: I plugged drive with cable into my blu-ray player and am playing an avi file just fine. Blu-ray identified drive and loaded file perfectly, just like any other USB drive\n\nOVERALL: Love it! Does what it says it will do and speeds are totally fine.\nI was wondering what I was going to do with this old 30Gb SSD and now I have a low-cost solution that I'll use often.","Product: Use this HP Wireless Keyboard with your HP TouchPad to type long emails and messages more easily. Built-in Bluetooth lets you connect this ultra-compact wireless keyboard to your HP tablet without a USB receiver. You can also take this keyboard on the go. It weighs less than 1 pound and is less than 1 inch slim, so it fits into your computer bag effortlessly. With the full pitch design, the keys have plenty of space between them for comfortable typing. Plus, get the most out of your AA batteries with this HP Wireless Keyboard, which powers down when not in use or when the keyboard is out of Bluetooth wireless range. The estimated battery life is seven months.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Works great for Android and Windows\n\nReview: I've had this keyboard for about 3 or more years.\n\n+ Pairs easily\n\n+ Wakes device up from sleep\n\n+ Keys feel responsive and bouncy\n\n> Sometimes I have lag but I've never been able to tell if that is from my 4yr old tablet or from this keyboard. I suspect the tablet as it works great with newer devices.\n\n> No carrying case, but maybe you don't need one. I've taken it on business trips, but I left it in the original box when doing so.\n\n> The On/Off switch has no markings. So if you cannot remember if the device is on or off, good luck. No LEDs to tell you one way or another either.\n\n+ Keyboard goes into sleep mode\n\n+ GREAT battery life. . .weeks on the two AA batteries.\n\n+ A little long for some messenger bags. A half-inch shorter and it would fit in most places. On the flip side the length means the keys are a good size and the keyboard is closer to a full-sized keyboard you'd find wired to a computer (minus the keypad).\n\nAs you can see from the picture, it's basically a full-sized keyboard.\n\n+ Internet shortcut keys in place of function keys and media control keys\n\nOVERALL: This has been a very good keyboard with a couple of neutral items, but no negatives I could find.","Product: Enjoy your music while you workout with these sport style earbuds. sportCLIPS II fit securely over your ear with a flexible earclip design so that they won't fall off during physical activity. Antimicrobial earbud jackets protect the sportCLIPS II from sweat and other moisture. The 3.5.ft audio cable has been designed to be non-tangling. The reinforced strain relief cable ensures that the sportCLIPS II are durable and can withstand normal tension that occurs during workouts.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: The right balance of sport headphone and wired microphone for calls and WebEx\n\nReview: These have been great.\n Unlike other clip headphones, these ear hooks are malleable, so you can shape it wider or narrow to get a looser or tighter fit around your ear.\nEarbud headphones hurt my inner ear where they push against to stay in. The clip headphones with this wider \"speaker\" sits on hole and doesn't push and hurt after long use.\n\nWhen running I don't want the volume too loud but when I'm near traffic I can't hear, so the slider volume is perfect to adjust the volume without touching my cell phone and have the right volume for what I'm listening to.\n\nAlso, I've since replaced all my battery operated bluetooth headsets with this one. No more running out of juice and not hearing the music or participating on a call.\n\nSpeaking of calls, in my home office I use my cell phone all the time now and these headphones are great for conference calls. The other person always can here me just fine.\n\nThe \"remote button\" allows you to answer/hang up calls or play/pause and forward music tracks. The only improvement I would want is a mute button somewhere.\n\nOVERALL: I bought a two pack from newegg for $15 back in October 2014 and am still on my first pair. Love these for my needs (audiobooks, music or work calls while running).","Product: All Venstone products come with 1 Year Warranty. Warranty is only available when you purchase your product from brand authorized seller.If you purchase your product from any seller on Amazon other than Amazon.com or Venstone,you are purchasing the product without a warranty.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Don't overpay for these. But they do work well for music and phone calls while exercising.\n\nReview: PROs\n+ A couple different size ear bud attachments\n+ Callers can easily hear me when I'm talking into the microphone\n+ When running in different areas I'll get spurts of traffic making it difficult to hear, so the volume slider is easy to adjust while on the go\n+ The flexible clips keep the headphones from falling out when earbuds by themselves would pop out\n\nCONs:\n- Nothing really to complain here, other than directly after purchasing these the price jumped over $30. Really? Who would pay that much for these China headphones?!\n\nNEUTRAL:\n> They are very red, if this isn't your thing then don't bother\n> Getting use to putting these in with the hook takes some getting use to\n> Sometimes I feel like these sound I'm in a tunnel because they create that noise cancelling feel, but something just is a bit off. I can't put my finger on it, but since I'm either on a call or audiobook and less listening to music, it works well for my needs, but suspect some musicphiles may have some issues with the sound\n\nOVERALL: Most sport clip headphones with a microphone are rated very poor. These do the job and meet my needs.\n\nNOTE: I paid $13 plus tax on Amazon. Never pay more than that for these!!","Product: Aleratec's 51 Watt 6-Port Desktop USB Charger solves the frustrating problem of having more gadgets than outlets to charge them. This sturdy, universal desktop charger will charge up to six Apple, Android or other USB-charged device at once and includes three 2.4A ports for power-hungry tablets and smartphones and three 1A ports for less current-demanding devices such as iPods and Bluetooth headphones. Aleratec's 51 Watt 6-Port Desktop USB Charger includes Smart Charging technology which identifies the type of device and suppliers the right charging specifications. Aleratec's 51 Watt 6-Port Desktop USB Charger can be placed on a desk, conference room table, countertop (it doesn't take a lot or space) and is perfect for use at home or the office.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Lots of plugs for the growing number of devices in our house\n\nReview: I've been using the <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Ipevo-USB-SuperCharger-Multi-Charger-Dock-for-iPad-iPhone-iPod-and-USB-Devices-PC01/dp/B00LA0F8E2/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Ipevo USB SuperCharger Multi-Charger Dock for iPad, iPhone, iPod and USB Devices (PC01)</a> and it's been a good device, but limited to four plugs and a very thick, non-detable, non-flexible power cable. Thus when I was able to review this item I was happy early on.\n\n+ Easier cable to manage. Also it's not a three-prong cable, so you can plug this into nearly any outlet.\n\n+ Supports six devices. Nice!!\n\n+ The placement is around the outside of the charger, so the cables from each device don't interfere with the others. That is one problem with the Ipevo is that the cables plug in directly next to each other and removing or adding a cable in the middle can be a little awkward. But not here.\n\n+ Manual advised 2.4A for charging tablets, phablets, and smartphones. Then using the 1A for smartphones, MP#players, power Banks and bluetooth devices.\n\n+ The 2.4A ports versus the 1A ports are clearly labeled on the device.\n\n+ On and Off switch. Interesting feature, considering the intent is to run power through it continuously to keep those devices charged. But okay. I currently leave my device on all the time. I will not the small instructional manual does warm to turn the unit off if not being used for an extended period of time.\n\nOVERALL: Great charger. Easy to carry when travelling. Love it!\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product free or at a discounted price, in exchange for the purposes of a product review. All opinions are 100% my own and they reflect my honest & unbiased opinion. Your experience may differ from mine.","Product: The ZAGG Now Cam frees you from the confines of viewing life from behind a screen. Its quick-capture design keeps you in the moment while preserving it. Connect with friends using the simple Now Cam App for easy sharing. The Now Cam lets you enjoy every moment - while youre still in it.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: It works pretty good. . .as a kid's toy, but not a kiddie cost\n\nReview: <div id=\"video-block-R2ZPA1M9G79IS7\" class=\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\"></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/A1lcwmg%2Bl%2BS.mp4\" class=\"video-url\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81svAc5KpES.png\" class=\"video-slate-img-url\"> Between all our phones and tablets, I wasn't sure if we could really make use of something like this or not.\n\n+ Compact\n\n+ Weather resistant\n\n+ Image taking, burst video (records for 6sec then auto-shuts off), and continuous video\n\n+ The rubber outside sleeve provides a good, no slip grip\n\n-- The cover for the Speaker power/control button flew off on it's own and cannot be found. The button still works, but no symbols on the plastic to remind us months later what this button is used for.\n\n+ Interestingly, you start the video recording then you have a magnetic mount allowing you to put the camera onto something metal and go hands-free recording. This was a good idea / feature.\n\n> I had to go to the vendor site to find out this is a 5MP device\n\n> As you can see the video is grainy indoors, especially on the edges when I started out.\n\n+ I've had worse cameras where when I was moving/running you couldn't see a thing, so this didn't do too bad.\n\n> Being directly in the sunlight was a bit blinding but you could still see the landscape on the outer edges versus the video get totally whited out\n\n-- Only 4GB? Really? Make this expandable with an SD card or at least 64Gb then maybe it would be worth looking into. I can buy a 64Gb SD card for less than $30 for my phone.\n\nThus if the intent on this is for the user who has a phone that runs out of space, it doesn't offer much more for the inconvenience of having to carry around yet another device.\n\n-- $130 at the time of this writing. That is more than some phones, which can do so much more!!\nFor example, for less than $110, I can get last year's Honor 4x phone, which is expandable to 32Gb and higher megapixel camera:\n <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Huawei-Honor-4-Play-4G-Unlocked-Smartphone-5-0-inch-Android-4-4-MSM8916-Quad-Core-1-2GHz-RAM-1GB-ROM-8GB-with-WiFi-Display-5MP-8MP-FDD-LTE-amp-WCDMA-amp-GSM-White/dp/B00OXFMF0Q/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Huawei Honor 4 Play 4G Unlocked Smartphone 5.0 inch Android 4.4 MSM8916 Quad Core 1.2GHz RAM 1GB ROM 8GB with WiFi Display 5MP+8MP, FDD-LTE & WCDMA & GSM (White)</a>\n\n-- Which brings up the point that there is no display to know what is exactly in your view port\n\nFINAL THOUGHTS:\nHaving owned the Flip video that eventually Cisco bought and then discontinued and two or three other mini-camcorders since, this video/camera leaves me feeling the minuses outweigh the pluses, by a good margin. You have to be a very specific niche market to get the most out of this, but many smartphones can do more for the same price.","Product: The LinkFun WiFi Router with External Antennas offers faster downloads and Internet gaming. This router delivers high-performance wireless speeds of up to 300 Mbps and is the ideal router for medium-sized homes. It delivers the speed and stability needed for applications such as online video , online gaming and a secure and reliable connection to the Internet. Frequently asked questions 1.Q: How should do when the broadband account/password has been set up but the connection state still show off? AClick System tools button/system log/view log, 1. It means the account and password validation errors, it need to double check the account and password when showing CHAP authentication fai or PAP authentication fai or be is in auth failed list, 2.will be need double check the cable is connected to the WAN port or not, or need re-start the modem when showing Timeout waiting for PADO packets 2.Q: After router set up, the computer can visit internet, but mobile phone cannt. A: Delete the mobile phone wifi connect records, then re-search wifi signal and connect to router (Noted: it must input the same password with the router)) 3.Q: Forgot the login account/password for router A: When forgot the user name/password that it can be a hardware reset, when power on, hold the RESET button pressed down for about 7s, all the lights on means reset successful 4.Q: How to do when the wireless signal dropped/wireless speed is slow, wireless signal is not strong? A: Login The router management page/wireless setting/basic setting/channel, change the channel to 3.5.7.9.13, these are few people use the channel, it can reduce interference.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Not for the non-techincal person\n\nReview: I was provided this item at a discounted price in exchange for my honest & unbiased review. I really wanted to like this product more.\n\n+ For a wireless router, a cost of less than $30 at the time of this writing is awesome.\n\n+ Product arrived quickly.\n\n-- I could not get this to work with my Comcast setup. I was able to get into the router via a browser, but could not get it to work any other way.\nI should note my Belkin wireless router worked immediately with plugging in.\n\n-- Instruction manual doesn't seem to include Windows 10 and poorly written.\n\n-- Website info doesn't work but gives a \"server not found\" error\n\nUnless you are a super tech person who can support themselves, there is no way to get support apparently.","Product: The Calvin Klein Skinny Fit Denim Jean sits below the natural waist, slim fit through the hip and thigh, with a skinny leg. Available in multiple inseams with a 13.5\" leg opening\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Nice jean. Fits as expected, but costly.\n\nReview: I've had mostly very positive experiences with Calvin Klein products and these were no different. . .with a caveat or two.\n\n+ I'm a bit overweight (27% BMI)which is why I need a 34 waist for my 5'8\" frame.\nThese have a little stretch to them, so as I'm in that inbetween stage with needing a 33-waist or a 35-waist, these work.\n\n+ Since I'm a bit overweight I had little faith these 'skinny jeans' would even fit.\nI have descently thick thighs even though I'm a runner and my calves are pretty skinny. These still fit me, though a little tight in the thigh, but the elastine helps these not too tight.\n\n+ Zipper is good quality and I had no issues with it sticking or being unusable.\n\n+ These are surprisingly comfortable since they do have some stretch to them.\n\n> I haven't washed them yet, but most jeans tend to tighten upon washing, so I just need to be prepared for that.\n\n-- At the time of this writing these are running $80. Definitely not!!\nI've had plenty of other jeans/pants from Calvin Klein that ran me $50. There is NOT $30 extra benefits here. Minus a star for their terrible pricing strategy just because 'skinny' is popular now.\n\n+ These are a nice dark, deep black. Not a washed out charcoal grey...they are black.\n\nOVERALL: I like these jeans a lot and if the cost wasn't so crazy I could see getting a couple pairs of these.","Product: High Sierra Men's Molo Hybrid Jacket ; Zippered Hand Warmer Pockets with Tricot Lining. 100gm Insulation in body and 80gm in sleeves. Shell 2 - Polyester 2 way stretch fleece that wicks moisture. Water, Oil & Dirt Resistant. Zippered Hand Warmer Pockets with Tricot Lining. Extended Collar Center Front Zipper Interior Storm Flap with Chin Guard.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: A cool weather jacket...not cold weather\n\nReview: For the most part the style looks like one of those cold weather vest jackets but this has arms and is thinner.\n\nAlso, the sides are sort of like a breathable fleece material, which also allows for easier movement and a bit of stretch if one has gained weight from too much beer and / or chocolate chip cookies.\n\nZippers are nice and strong and don't look like they will bend or fail any time soon.\n\nThe high collar is nice and helps with some extra warmth.\n\nSince it isn't a real thick jacket, it works great in 40-60 degree weather. Much colder weather than that and you better start layering your clothes. I can see adding some water repellent spray then wearing this while out skiing or snowboarding. I'm normally not too cold up on the slopes especially when exerting myself physically so a lighter jacket works great.\n\nAlso, since it is a lighter jacket you could roll this up and stuff in a backpack. But it's close and will fill your backpack because it is NOT a windbreaker...thicker than that.\n\nZippered pockets are always nice and this has it.\n\nOVERALL: Looks good. Great jacket between a windbreaker and a cold weather jacket. For what it's intended to be I cannot think of any suggestions for improvement.","Product: Alpine Swiss Winter Scarf Feel cozy, elegant, and fashionable this winter in this stylish scarf or give it as a gift that has a great perceived value. Features: Measures: 12\" x 80\" Long Enough to Wear in Many Ways Super Soft Acrylic Material Most Popular Colors and Patters of the Year Cozy and Warm for Winter Stylish Fringe Detail Edges Fashionable Enough to Wear Year Round MSRP: $25 Alpine Swiss donates 2500 meals every day to hungry children in the U.S. and around the world through our partnership with Childrens Hunger Fund. These meals are hand delivered in a Food Pack, which will contain enough food to feed a family of 4-5 for a week to the homes of the needy by trained volunteers in their community, establishing relationships that foster genuine care. Your purchase fuels this effort! Thank you!\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: A 4.5 star item. 12inch wide x 80inch long (including tassles)\n\nReview: I ordered a half-dozen scarves from four different vendors. I'm heading to Denver on a trip and needed something for warmth.\n\n+ Nice and wide, so when you fold this over you get a good thick scarf\n\n> Overall the scarf is a little thin, but this is less noticeable since it is 12-inches wide and you can fold over to make it feel thicker\n\n+ I ordered the Blue Houndstooth and the Red Plaid. Both look very close to the pictures here on Amazon.\n\n+ I received the two colors very quickly via Prime/Free Returns shipping.\n\n> The colors I wanted were Dusk Plaid and Hunters Plaid, but neither offered via Prime shipping. Darn!\n\n+ I wound up keeping the Red Plaid so I'm not always wearing black, blue and greys. Plus out of the half dozen this is the softest without feeling like silk .\n\n+Also nice and warm!\n\n+ Under $10, so price is right.\n\nOVERALL: Since I'm keeping one of these, I'm interested in checking out this brand some more. Maybe now that I've seen what the other scarfs are like, then I may just end up ordering the Dusk Plaid even though there is no Prime/Free Returns on that one.","Product: New Balance is dedicated to helping athletes achieve their goals. It's been their mission for more than a century to focus on research and development. It's why they don't design products to fit an image. They design them to fit. New Balance is driven to make the finest shoes for the same reason athletes lace them up: to achieve the very best.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Finally a NB shoe that fits us more narrow feet folks\n\nReview: I've often ignored New Balance as a brand, since they are known for supporting wide-feet users. But for someone with narrower feet, these work for me.\n\nNOTE: After reading other reviews I ordered a 1/2 size larger than I normally would and it fits great.\n\n+ I started running in 2015 and started immediately with barefoot/minimalist running shoes. This shoe has a 6mm drop (24mm to 18mm stack), so it's an easy transition for those between minimalist shoes and users who prefer much more cushioning.\n\n+ The shoe can fit and hold my foot snug or I can loosen the laces and make it a bit more free...and I have narrower feet.\n\n+ The box is just a bit wider than my foot, giving me a good area to step into when running without rubbing or feeling constrained\n\n+ I wore these all day at jury duty, where I chose never to sit, rather I stood, paced or walked up/down stairs. I hit my 10,000 steps within an hour or so and did this for all 6-8hrs of my day. Shoes were comfortable and \"bouncy\" throughout the entire walk and standing over that time period.\n\n+ I've taken these out for a few 10-mile runs. They spring back very well, which goes back to some articles I read that these are a good speed training shoe. Also, I didn't need much adjustment in my minimalist running style since there is a small-to-medium drop of 6mm here.\n\n+ Nice cushioning, which made that 10-milers comfortable\n\n> Not the lightest shoe, as these are just over 9.2oz each, but not the heaviest either.\n\n+ These LOOK really nice. The black with silver, grey and white go with just about any outfit (running or other) that I own. I really like the design as there are brands out there that are crazy weird. I'm so glad these are \"cool\" looking on top of being a comfortable shoe.\n\n+ I have high arches and while not flat, but also not super high...but these do seem to give me adequate arch support and my feet don't hurt after a 10-mile run.\n\nOVERALL: Great overall shoe. since I don't run more than 10-miles, I cannot comment on using these for full marathon's or not. But training or not, I'm very happy with these shoes.","Product: A best-in-class khaki with dress pant details. Cut for an athletic fit that is roomier through the hip and thigh with a tapered leg, these feature stretch for performance and all-day comfort. No Wrinkles technology gives you a freshly pressed look around the clock and an Individual Fit Waistband offers up to 1\" of extra room in the waist. Features a button-through front closure, a permanent front crease for elevated style, double welt button-through back pockets and fine topstitching. A super-soft fabric makes these your new workday go-to.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: A casual business slack\n\nReview: I'm 5'9\" and 185lbs.\nI've been squeezing into 34 inch waist pants for a while, but having dropped down to 185lbs now 34's aren't so tight.\nAlso, being 5'9\" I normally need a 31-inch pant, but since those are rare, I always go with a 32-inch.\n\nThus I was hopeful when these pants arrived at 34x32.\n\n+ Fit as expected. Not so tight that the pockets are flaring.\n\n+Most of my extra weight is in my belly, butt and thighs. Thus I fill these in just fine with a little bit of room in the thighs for squatting down or being active.\n\n-- These days it seems like jeans and many slacks all come with some sort of cotton + spandex or elastine.\nThese are 98% cotton and 2% elastine, but they still have that rough, stiff Dockers feel to them. Thus, for me this keeps the pants a lot LESS comfortable than other pants, in my opinion. Minus a star for me.\n\n+ As something between a dress slack and jeans, these will fit the bill for casual business attire.\n\nOVERALL: They fit as expected. They look good because they are cut well. I like them. I just wish they had more flexibility in the material used.","Product: The Ultra-Thin is so thin you barely know it is there. The design of the Ultra-Thin wallet allows you to slide your most used cards in and out quickly. It is constructed from one piece of 4-way stretch performance fabric providing a slim profile. This also allows the wallet to expand and contract so that whatever you are carrying, big or small, fits tightly into this Modern Carry wallet. This (Thin Wallet / Card Sleeve / Slim Wallet / Card Wallet / Card Holder Wallet / Minimal Card Wallet / Minimal Card Sleeve / Leather Card Holder / Front Pocket Wallet) is great to use as a minimal wallet to carry your cards and cash or as a business card holder.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Great idea, but needs small changes to be better\n\nReview: I was provided this item at a discounted price in exchange for my honest & unbiased review. Like many other people, I'm embracing a minimalist lifestyle. . .at least in small changes like one of these wallet options.\n\nPic #1 = I have an older product that sticks to the back of my phone case and it has worked well these past five months. Next to the first one, is this product. I'm actually liking the flexibility of not sticking this wallet to anything. . .then again it is easier to possibly misplace/lose.\n\nPic #2 = I have five cards and four cash bills folded up and in this wallet. It holds what I need it to hold. Nice.\n\nPic #3 = The bottom needs to be wider than the top. Otherwise, what happens is what you see in this pic...in that the wallet cannot get fully around the cards and slides off too easily.\n\nFINAL THOUGHTS:\n-- At the time of this writing $20 for a piece of stretchy material is laughable. Hahaha!\nIf this was closer to $8 then it would compete with similar products.\n+ I like the masculine blue color\n> Holds a good amount, but holds it so-so until the bottom stitching is corrected","Product: RUNNING STYLE: Ultra-cushioned, neutral shoe designed to deliver unmatched comfort. Innovative UA SpeedFormconstruction molds to the foot for a precision fit, eliminating all distraction. Threadborne midfoot panel provides structure & distinct style. Engineered mesh used on the tongue & toe box to enhance fit & increase ventilation. Internal heel counter provides seamless, lightweight support & structure. Embedded sockliner for added cushioning, support & seamless comfort. Charged Cushioningmidsole uses compressed foam for even greater responsiveness & durability, providing optimal cushioning & energy return. Micro Gheel unit increases protection & stabilization. Blown rubber under the forefoot is lightweight yet incredibly responsive. Offset: 8 mm. Weight: 9.85 oz. .\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: A good overall neutral shoe\n\nReview: There is a version of this shoe line that has a bluetooth chip in it that tracks your running...this does NOT seem to be that. I couldn't find any information on with what came in the box or on this Amazon page to clarify why or what comes with this shoe other than one or two details. After some research, I had to make some assumptions that the rest of the features are the same.\n\n+ 8mm drop\nI normally run a 0mm trail shoe or a 4mm drop road shoe, so there was a noticeable difference to me. But those that like a bit more of a drop will appreciate this one.\n\n+ Neutral shoe.\nI normally run a performance shoe that gives less padding. This had good mid-foot padding and stability making it a neutral shoe that should meet most people's needs.\n\n+ I normally wear a size 9 shoe and a 9.5 running shoe.\nI received a 9 for review and it fits as expected. I would order a 1/2 size larger for running, so in the meantime I used a shoe stretcher and was able to run fine with these.\n\n+ Fits the foot well with the glove-like upper.\nI didn't notice any slipping while running and this shoe stayed on well.\n\n-- My only suggestion for improvement is to put an extra layer across the top toes, so that one's toes don't break through the mesh upper before a runner has gotten the miles out of these. I wish more manufacturers would take this into considering. My Merrill shoes are great for this one added feature alone.\n\n> These are pretty high profile shoes.\nSome may like this or not. Meaning if wearing a low profile shoe you may see part of a no-show sock, but with a high profile shoe you should not see a no-show sock. This also means more of the shoe is hugging your foot and ankle.\n\n+ I agree these are pretty responsive when running.\nI've have a pair of New Balance neutrals that bounce back better than these, but these aren't bad at all.\n\n> Low profile, performance shoes can weigh between 7 to 9oz each.\nFor a neutral shoe these aren't bad at all at 10oz. The extra weight is is expected with the extra profile and extra cushioning/stability.\n\n-- I've had some GREAT road running shoes for around the $60-$70 range.\nAt the time of this writing these are running $110. I don't know that I'm seeing an extra $40-$50 worth of shoe here. Too pricey for my tastes.\n\nOVERALL: For most runners, especially the casual runner who isn't into a lot of the technical stuff, this should meet the need as they are right in the middle of the road between performance (low profile and less cushioning) and a neutral, max cushioning shoe.","Product: Simply zip off the arms when the weather calls to convert to a vest with Teflon Shield+ to protect you from water and wind. An interior chest pocket features Silver plated fabric technology that uses electromagnetic fields to block people from being able to access your passport and credit card information. It has an interior pocket travel system in addition to two security zip chest pockets and two security zip hand pockets.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: A good, all around medium-light jacket\n\nReview: I live in northern California, so having a not-too-thick jacket would be my go-to jacket as it gets cool for us in the Fall and Winter, but not typically under 40-degrees where I'd want something warmer. Thus this jacket seems to fit that need/want.\n\n+ Perfect thickness of not being a windbreaker, but not being a heavy jacket either.\nIf need be, I could roll this up and stuff it in my backpack.\n\n+ Not necessarily my style, but having the option to unzip the sleeves makes it the type of jacket I'd take on an early morning hike.\n\n> The zippers feel a little weak.\nI'm not confident the zipper teeth will not get bent and the whole zipping on and zipping off will become difficult with time. But time will tell.\n\n+ Lots of pockets inside and out.\nNearly every pocket is large enough to hold my Samsung Galaxy 5 phone with shock-resistant case. Thus, I'm happy with the pocket sizes.\n\n+ Works like a windbreaker, which is good for my area.\nI do normally wear a windbreaker in Fall and Winter, but now I can run a little warmer with this all-in-one jacket.\n\n+ Material seems durable, will not snag or rip.\n\n> I guess the only thing I would have preferred is a way to cinch the waist area, it's a bit too wide/big on me. I'm not the typical overweight American middle-aged man with a protruding belly (well some, but not huge). So I don't have a waistline to fill up this jacket and thus it doesn't seem like it fits well. A smaller size might be better, but it does feel like it fits fine in the shoulders and chest (I run a 40-42 chest).\n\nOVERALL: I'm happy with this jacket and look forward to the cooler seasons to give it a daily wear.","Product: This lightweight chambray with 100% linen fabrication is perfect for a night out in the town.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Sublte pattern that makes for a nice looking shirt\n\nReview: I guess for a $70 shirt I was expecting a lot out of this product.\n\n+ The small fits my 17yr old just fine (5'7\", 130-ish lbs.)\n\n> Very thin and I purposely had my teen wear a dark shirt underneath so hopefully you can see that it is a bit see through. This is expected of linen shirts.\n\n> It wrinkles pretty much all the time. You'll want to iron and starch the shirt to keep its shape longer or leave as is. It's a choice to iron or not, but linen does attract wrinkles naturally.\n\n+ Good stitching on the seams and buttons. No issues there.\n\n> Machine wash cold, because linen, much like cotton, does have a tendency to shrink.\n\n-- Made in China with a Cubavera label. Hmmm.\n\nNOTE: According to wikipedia, \"Linen is laborious to manufacture, but the fiber is very absorbent and garments made of linen are valued for their exceptional coolness and freshness in hot weather.\"\n\nThus it makes sense why this would cost more than a $20 shirt, since linen is tough to produce.\nAlso, it makes sense that this is the kind of shirt you wear in warm weather and where we are located, it gets over 105 Farenheight several weeks out of the year.\n\nIf the above items match your expectations of this type of shirt, it could be worth it to you to check out.","Product: Now you can create your very own customized tee shirt. Choose the logo or text you wish us to print on high quality Cotton T-Shirts. 100% preshrunk cotton takes the worry away from shrunk-age. Seamless rib at neck and collar. Double-needle stitched neckline, bottom and sleeve hems. Any needs, Feel free to contact us, We're aim to make you 100% pleased with the transaction.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Have no idea what I'd receive. . .even after a 2nd order\n\nReview: When first ordering this I had high hopes. I spent a bunch of time putting together an image and text, then using the provided tool to center and size it exactly where I wanted it. My submission looked great. . .but. . .\n\n+ Submission tool is very easy to use and I was very happy with my submission (see pic #1)\n\n+ Pic #2 is the actual image, which has a lot of color and detail. When it arrived the image was great detail still and the paint felt like it was part of the shirt. I was so impressed. . .at first\n\n> 50 characters is not a lot. If you could size the font to put more text, then that would be ideal\n\n+ Seller replied in email several times to ensure that what I submitted would be what I should get. We shared several images back and forth.\n\n+ Shirt came very fast\n\n-- Pic #3 = My image was four inches lower on the shirt than I had set in the submission. Not what we had agreed to in the image exchange.\nIt looks funny with all the white text near my belly button vs. higher up on the shirt.\n\n+ Seller was quick to reply at this mistake.\n-- Seller was quick to blame the warehouse at the mistake\n+ Seller was quick to offer a second shirt free of the same image or different\n\nI again used the tool and submitted an different image with high detail and embedded the text in the image so I wouldn't have to be limited by 50 characters.\n\n+ Again great communication from seller and exchange of photos to ensure sure is what I'm order.\n+ Again, fast shipment from overseas\n\n-- Image was shrunk tiny on shirt compared to submission. Cannot read any of the text at all.\n-- Image is like a sticker...it's not paint that has been pressed into the shirt. Very concerned about it lasting long.\n+ They did get the vibrant colors of the image, just no details\n-- Image is off center and crooked. Looks terrible since it isn't straight. Someone must have eyeballed it instead of using a leveler to measure and ensure it was applied straight.\n-- Shirt is a completely different material and different/cheaper brand than first shirt. So I have no idea which product you'd really get when ordering. (see final pic)\n\nOVERALL:\nI appreciate the communication and fast shipment (plus a star)\nInconsistency and twice (2x) they got the order wrong AND used different shirts and different screen/paint process, means I cannot recommend this one myself, but other reviewers seemed to have a good experience.\nOh yeah...order at least one size larger since my shirts shrunk on me.","Product: The Balega Silver Antimicrobial No-Show Compression-Fit Running Sock for Men and Women provides moisture-management and comfort without sacrificing fit and performance. Silver ions are encapsulated in the proprietary Drynamix yarn blend to promote an antibacterial, hygienic environment, keeping feet clean, dry, and free of odors, mold, and fungi. Constructed to mimic a running shoe, the varying tension of the fibers and knit patterns throughout the athletic sock lock in the heel and provide compressive arch support for grip and quick pick-up, while allowing the toes to move freely. The seamless, hand-linked toe box minimizes friction to prevent blisters and chafing. A high heel tab and extra deep heel pocket ensures that the sock wont slip down into the shoe. The Balega Silver Antimicrobial No-Show Compression-Fit Running Sock features medium-volume cushioning, ensuring durability for extended training and endurance events.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: A very good sock, but the cost I find hard to swallow\n\nReview: I'm currently running regularly 15-25miles per week. Not huge distances by any means, but definitely active. I was offered these for review and figured I'd give them a try.\n\n+ FIT as expected. I'm a size 9-10 men's shoe and the large fit me well without feeling like it's too small or too large and I have extra material floating around my shoe.\n\n+ COMFORTABLE for sure. The toe and ankle are nice and loose whereas the arch and mid-foot have just enough compression to feel it without feeling constricted or one's circulation cut off.\n\n> WARMER than other socks. I live in a dry heat area that has several summer weeks over 100-degrees. Thus, these aren't my favorite socks to wear in the summer because they are warmer than my standard, no show socks.\n\n-- COST per pair is currently $15. Ouch! Frustrates me to no end that just because something can be targetted to a niche sport or activity, how companies can jack-up the price. Fortunately here on Amazon, there are several competitor options for no-show, compression, unisex socks that cost between $3 to $4 per pair. I'm a frugal guy, even in the improving economy, so I'm not about to stock up on something where I can get a comparative product for 20-25% the price. The main reason for this review's loss of stars.\n\n+ RUNNING in these was a positive experience. Providing breathability, yet not making my feet feel too slick and slippery in my shoe.\n\n> I also had to laugh out loud whenever a manufacturer puts on their own marketing propaganda that they are the #1 in a market. By whose standards, rating, or ranking?\nBut apparently, Hidden Comfort (at first I was not sure how that relates to Balega Socks) is the No 1 sock in run specialty. Since I find no other mention of Hidden Comfort on this product page, is this just another 3rd party product with the Balega label slapped on it? It's all confusing, though eventually, a little searching revealed that Hidden Comfort is the \"model\" name of this sock by Balega. Hmmm.","Product: The Balega Silver Antimicrobial No-Show Compression-Fit Running Sock for Men and Women provides moisture-management and comfort without sacrificing fit and performance. Silver ions are encapsulated in the proprietary Drynamix yarn blend to promote an antibacterial, hygienic environment, keeping feet clean, dry, and free of odors, mold, and fungi. Constructed to mimic a running shoe, the varying tension of the fibers and knit patterns throughout the athletic sock lock in the heel and provide compressive arch support for grip and quick pick-up, while allowing the toes to move freely. The seamless, hand-linked toe box minimizes friction to prevent blisters and chafing. A high heel tab and extra deep heel pocket ensures that the sock wont slip down into the shoe. The Balega Silver Antimicrobial No-Show Compression-Fit Running Sock features medium-volume cushioning, ensuring durability for extended training and endurance events.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: A very good sock, but the cost I find hard to swallow\n\nReview: I'm currently running regularly 15-25miles per week. Not huge distances by any means, but definitely active. I was offered these for review and figured I'd give them a try.\n\n+ FIT as expected. I'm a size 9-10 men's shoe and the large fit me well without feeling like it's too small or too large and I have extra material floating around my shoe.\n\n+ COMFORTABLE for sure. The toe and ankle are nice and loose whereas the arch and mid-foot have just enough compression to feel it without feeling constricted or one's circulation cut off.\n\n> WARMER than other socks. I live in a dry heat area that has several summer weeks over 100-degrees. Thus, these aren't my favorite socks to wear in the summer because they are warmer than my standard, no show socks.\n\n-- COST per pair is currently $15. Ouch! Frustrates me to no end that just because something can be targetted to a niche sport or activity, how companies can jack-up the price. Fortunately here on Amazon, there are several competitor options for no-show, compression, unisex socks that cost between $3 to $4 per pair. I'm a frugal guy, even in the improving economy, so I'm not about to stock up on something where I can get a comparative product for 20-25% the price. The main reason for this review's loss of stars.\n\n+ RUNNING in these was a positive experience. Providing breathability, yet not making my feet feel too slick and slippery in my shoe.\n\n> I also had to laugh out loud whenever a manufacturer puts on their own marketing propaganda that they are the #1 in a market. By whose standards, rating, or ranking?\nBut apparently, Hidden Comfort (at first I was not sure how that relates to Balega Socks) is the No 1 sock in run specialty. Since I find no other mention of Hidden Comfort on this product page, is this just another 3rd party product with the Balega label slapped on it? It's all confusing, though eventually, a little searching revealed that Hidden Comfort is the \"model\" name of this sock by Balega. Hmmm.","Product: The Balega Silver Antimicrobial No-Show Compression-Fit Running Sock for Men and Women provides moisture-management and comfort without sacrificing fit and performance. Silver ions are encapsulated in the proprietary Drynamix yarn blend to promote an antibacterial, hygienic environment, keeping feet clean, dry, and free of odors, mold, and fungi. Constructed to mimic a running shoe, the varying tension of the fibers and knit patterns throughout the athletic sock lock in the heel and provide compressive arch support for grip and quick pick-up, while allowing the toes to move freely. The seamless, hand-linked toe box minimizes friction to prevent blisters and chafing. A high heel tab and extra deep heel pocket ensures that the sock wont slip down into the shoe. The Balega Silver Antimicrobial No-Show Compression-Fit Running Sock features medium-volume cushioning, ensuring durability for extended training and endurance events.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: A very good sock, but the cost I find hard to swallow\n\nReview: I'm currently running regularly 15-25miles per week. Not huge distances by any means, but definitely active. I was offered these for review and figured I'd give them a try.\n\n+ FIT as expected. I'm a size 9-10 men's shoe and the large fit me well without feeling like it's too small or too large and I have extra material floating around my shoe.\n\n+ COMFORTABLE for sure. The toe and ankle are nice and loose whereas the arch and mid-foot have just enough compression to feel it without feeling constricted or one's circulation cut off.\n\n> WARMER than other socks. I live in a dry heat area that has several summer weeks over 100-degrees. Thus, these aren't my favorite socks to wear in the summer because they are warmer than my standard, no show socks.\n\n-- COST per pair is currently $15. Ouch! Frustrates me to no end that just because something can be targetted to a niche sport or activity, how companies can jack-up the price. Fortunately here on Amazon, there are several competitor options for no-show, compression, unisex socks that cost between $3 to $4 per pair. I'm a frugal guy, even in the improving economy, so I'm not about to stock up on something where I can get a comparative product for 20-25% the price. The main reason for this review's loss of stars.\n\n+ RUNNING in these was a positive experience. Providing breathability, yet not making my feet feel too slick and slippery in my shoe.\n\n> I also had to laugh out loud whenever a manufacturer puts on their own marketing propaganda that they are the #1 in a market. By whose standards, rating, or ranking?\nBut apparently, Hidden Comfort (at first I was not sure how that relates to Balega Socks) is the No 1 sock in run specialty. Since I find no other mention of Hidden Comfort on this product page, is this just another 3rd party product with the Balega label slapped on it? It's all confusing, though eventually, a little searching revealed that Hidden Comfort is the \"model\" name of this sock by Balega. Hmmm.","Product: Are you a parent looking to cruise around with your child but dont want to spend hundreds of dollars for something you dont need?? What you do need is this Razor A5 Lux!! It is exactly like the A Model but BIGGER. The bars come taller and wider and the wheels come bigger and smoother. Youll be having just as fun as your child! This scooter isnt only for parents either. If youre an older kid who is just wanting to get around town, this scooter is excellent for the job.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great for adult city riding\n\nReview: I was intent on getting a new scooter for my kids, but didn't want to spend more than $40. As I looked through the options, I found this scooter and the fact that it holds over 200lbs versus so many scooters peak at 1110-143lbs. So I figured, why don't I pay a bit more and then I too can scooter?!\n\nI've used this more than my kids, as I travel into town 3miles away and back and all around our area to the coffee shop or wherever I needed to go. My daughter at times has ridden her bike while I scooter and there is no problem for me pace up with her.\n\nI'm still conscious of the grooves in the street or sidewalk even with these larger wheels, as they could still get stuck if I'm not careful.\n\nI'm not into tricks, but transitioning from bike lane to sidewalk and back is no problem at a good speed if I lift the front wheel or 'jump' the small lip of uneven pavement.\n\nWhen the ground is really rough, as long as I have a loose grip it doesn't bother me much.\n\nI can get some fast speeds on a downhill. Glad I have my helmet on, just in case!\n\nBraking is okay. I think I'm still learning how much pressure to put on the brake, but the braking is quiet and does the job. On a fast downhill, I'll 'pump the brake' to keep my speed from getting too fast especially when there is an upcoming stop sign in the middle of the decline.\n\nEasy to fold.\n\nMissing a way to carry this. So I found a buckle strap in the camping equipment area of Walmart. I fold the scooter and thread the strap between the front and back wheel, then I can sling it over my shoulder and carry it when need be. I sometimes take a bike lock with me and use that to tie up the scooter at the store instead of lugging it around.\n\nScooter is light enough it's not that big of deal to carry it or to push uphill when the incline is too much for kick scooting.\n\nOVERALL: Totally worth getting. I'm having fun, getting a good workout and enjoying the change of pace from running, cycling or rollerblading.","Product: Fabric carry/storage bag, 8-113mm steel with chrome and black finish. Comes in 2 different scoring pattern styles, 1-60mm Phenolic Palino\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Kids and I have played with this a lot since getting it\n\nReview: THE BAG\n- Bottom lined with a firm styrofoam insert that holds 6 of the balls\n- on top of this you lay another firm styrofoam insert that holds the last two balls, the pallino and the tape measure\n- The bag is a must as the set is a combined weight of 17-18 pounds\n- The handles are stuffed under the seam about a half inch. . .I can only hope that will be enough to carry the weight around for more than a few outings\n- It does look like I'm walking around with a bowling ball though\n\nINSTRUCTIONS\n- A simple, folded 8x11 piece of paper that lays out simplified rules as well as how to use the tape measure and layout a closed court\n- Set comes with a 90 day satisfaction guarantee and a toll free number to contact their customer service\n\nPALLINO\n- If there was such a thing as a granite doughnut, this would be the doughnut hole.\n- It's solid and a nice maroon color flecked with black spots\n- May prove difficult to see if playing in higher grass\n\nLARGE BOCCE BALLS\n- colors are very difficult to differentiate\n- Thank the sports gods they cut designs into each of the balls so I can tell them apart, but from a distance you still can't tell the difference\n- I put each of the balls on a scale and weighed them. Weights varied from 31.60 ounces to 33.95 ounces. Uh...yeah. . .not sure how one can work on a consistent throw when the balls vary.\n- the grooves cut into the balls act as 'tracks' that affect the way the balls roll. Make sure if you play with one set you use the same design cut\n\nOVERALL:\nIt appears to be a quality made set.\nThe aesthetic problems (color & weight) I feel are serious enough to give confusion and/or effect play.\nBut for the newbie like me or the casual player it will work fine.\nTurned out kids really like playing this game and we have a lot of fun in our backyard with it.","Product: Lightweight run bottle is contoured to hug your hand making hydrating fast and easy. Includes one 10 oz Podium Arc bottle. Self-sealing Jet Valve eliminates splatters and spills, lightweight, easy to squeeze, BPA-Free, TruTaste Polypropylene with HydroGuard lets you taste water--not the bottle, lockout for leak-proof transport. Elastic webbing with stretch binding, front & back reflectivity, essentials pocket. Dimensions: 4.8 x 2.4 in / 12.1 x 6 cm. Fabric: 70D Diamond Clarus with DWR + 1000 mm PU & Air Mesh.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Almost perfect. . .\n\nReview: + I've taken this out on a couple of runs so far and it's been helpful and just the right amount for those 5-10 mile runs.\nFor longer runs, I'd use my camelbak backpack w/water reservoir or one of my 24oz water bottle, if I didn't have a way to refill this one while on the run.\n\n+ The dial top is so much better than having a pull top where I sometimes feel like I'm going to pull a tooth out trying to open one of those older style bottles. The dial top I can open/close with a single finger while running.\n\n+ The dial top opened to where it stops is a good flow squirt into your mouth. But you can push the dial further, past the little bump and then it's fully opened for a pour action.\n\n+ Grip is nice and easy to tighten and loosen. The release clasp is directly under the pouch and kind of out of sight.\n\n- My only complaint is the pouch is too small. . .it needs to be slightly larger. I can barely fit my car key FOB in the pouch but that is it, nothing else. So if you have a house key or two attached to your car FOB, then good luck with getting it to fit.\n\n+ I paid less than $8, which seemed fair at the time for basically just a bottle with a grip. Much more than that and I cannot see how one can justify charging more than $10, let alone paying more.\n\nOVERALL: This is exactly what I was looking for and its easy to use.","Product: SKLZ Quickster Chipping NetFun, Effective Short Game Practice! Practice your short game anytime, anywhere with the Quickster Chipping Net. The net features three different sized target holes and a ball-catching slot at the bottom for missed shots. Perfect for use with regular or practice golf balls in the home, garage, basement or backyard.SKLZ Quickster Chipping Net features: * 3 targets of different size and ball collection slot. * Different size targets for building accuracy. * Quick set-up and break-down using the patented steel and fiberglass. * Lightweight and portable. * Tension-Tite frame. * Strong mesh pockets. * 2.25\" x 2.25\" net face\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Quick setup and highly portable\n\nReview: Pros:\n+ Mine didn't come with any instructions, but they aren't needed, as the setup is literally 30-seconds\n+ It's a good size to force me to get more accurate versus some other products encourage you to hit a large surface and let it roll in\n+ Tension is good without the ball bouncing back with enough force to damage objects or the player\n+ The four targets (1,2,3 and a row of bottom holes) are great and add variety\n\nCons:\n- Best selling product <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Izzo-Mini-Mouth-24-Inch-Chipping-Target/dp/B001P80Z10/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Izzo Mini Mouth 24-Inch Chipping Target</a> , is only $15 versus this one is $40. You do the math.\n- I've purchased other net products for the kids and baseball and they've all been under $20. Just because its golf doesn't mean it should cost more.\n- Carrying case is pretty cheap with single stitch seams. I don't expect it to last long.\n\nOVERALL:\nGreat practice device. Better than most.\nPrice should reflect the quality or improve the quality and charge me the same.","Product: Divine LEDs offers a lightweight headlamp with adjustable elastic strap for a snug and customized fit every time. A dimmer and multiple modes allow you to adjust the light strength to suit your task-at-hand. And speaking of hands, both are free for use when you rely on XE Series Headlamp. This automatically results in 50% greater efficiency when compared to performing the same task using a standard flashlight. Made from military-grade materials, this headlamp is guaranteed to work as hard as you do!\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Very good light for the price point, but some trouble getting different modes to work\n\nReview: <div id=\"video-block-R34IHY1CUFA1WO\" class=\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\"></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/E1-mS-cnmqS.mp4\" class=\"video-url\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/31zWGcLMRnS.png\" class=\"video-slate-img-url\"> The following \"table\" of data is:\n\nintensity > lumen > estimated battery life > approx distance light shines\n\nSpotlight :\nhigh power - 90 lumens - 43 hours - 40m (130 ft)\nmiddle power - 47 lumens - 56 hours - 20m (65 ft)\nlow power - 4 lumens - 6m (19 ft) - 150 hours\nSOS = no info\n\nFloodlight :\nhigh - 16 lumens - 24m (79 ft) - 90 hours\nlow - 4 lumens - 8m (26 ft) - 250 hours\nStrobe = no info\n\nYes, there are more expensive headlamps out there that add two features this does not have:\n1. battery pack in the back, that allows for extra output (brightness)\n2. middle strap that goes from front to back across the top of your head. When wearing a baseball hat (which I do when I go out) doesn't work well with these middle straps. I like this one does NOT have this strap.\n\nThe strap on this worked great and did not slip after an hour of running. I was able to make it loose enough so it didn't feel like it was squeezing my brain, but tight enough that it didn't slip.\n\nI was in pitch black trails with lots of trees yesterday, creating a dark tunnel effect. The Spotlight High setting was my favorite and allowed me to see well, but the Flood High worked well too. Both were was plenty bright enough!!\n\nMy only recommendation is the single button is a bit difficult to get the right light setting on the fly (as seen in the video). In my video I had center spotlight or flood lights on the side, not all three. But when out running, when switching to the floodlight I had better light on the peripherals but also there was a center beam too. Cool. Not sure how I got it on. Again, a better way to more confidently switch between beams would help a lot.\n\nAlso, the lamp has a tilt so you can get it where you need on your head, then tilt the lamp closer to the ground in front of you or out in front.\nI've been using the Rayovac Sportsman 22 Lumen 1AAA Headlight with Batteries (SPHLTLED-BB). For twice the price as the Rayovac I like this light much better, even with the challenge of getting the correct light setting with the single button.\n\nWorth checking out for the price point for under $30!!\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product free or at a discounted price, in exchange for the purposes of a product review. All opinions are 100% my own and they reflect my honest & unbiased opinion. Your experience may differ from mine.","Product: Drive for show, putt for dough. What percent of 7, 5, and 3 foot putts do you make? Ask any pro, and they will tell you that the money is made at these distances. The Accelerator Pro Putting Mat with Ball Return lets you practice three key putt lengths with perfect strokes on a high quality true-roll putting surface. The back and through-stroke alignment guides ensure perfect acceleration and distance control, while maintaining a square face to the target.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Work on your short game\n\nReview: Irreparably damaged when shipped, otherwise I would have given this another star.\nBesides that, this is perfect for the office or a place in the house...especially when you cannot go outside due to the weather.\n\nPic #1 - The box. It is just barely large enough for this product. So if you ever wanted to put the item back in the box for storage...good luck. I didn't pay enough attention to how it was packed to begin with, so now I'm kind of stuck.\n\nPic #2 - This is the Accelerator Pro laid out. Like most products of this type, you need to walk along the track to flatten it out after taking it out of the box. But it eventually gets pretty flat, even on carpet.\n\nPic #3 - The idea is that you have multiple distance markers so you can practice hitting the ball different lengths. It's not only about getting the ball in the hole. For instance, if you wanted to hit it from 7-feet (shown in the pic) to 3-ft, there are dots to let you know how close you are. Similarly, you can practice distances from the mark to the hole too, though now you are dealing with an up slope to the hole.\n\nPic #4 - Mine came damaged based on how it was packed. The deep grooves were made by the return tracks thrown in the box. Since there is zero extra room for anything in this box (as mentioned in #1) the pressure dug grooves into the mat and permanently damaged it. Also, you can barely see it on my pic, but if you miss the hole, there is a trough in the back that catches the ball and returns it too.\n\nPic #5 - The return tracks slide together like the old kid's Hotwheels tracks. This totally works fine for ball returns and the balls roll down without issue.\n\nOVERALL: I'm taking this into the office this week because I know, regardless of the damage, the guys (and maybe gals) will want to play with this while on phone calls. Finding an unobstructed 8ft of space that others won't trip over may be the largest challenge, but the product works great for putting practice and ball return.","Product: The size 3 Batman soccer ball features a glossy cover that resembles the batman suit and shield recognized around the world. This ball designed for fun on field or in your back yard and is ideal for training and skill building. You will love developing fancy footwork techniques, improving your shot accuracy and kicking control. This ball is manufactured with a durable rubber bladder.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Batman soars through the air heading for mid-field!\n\nReview: I wasn't sure at first what a size 3 soccer ball is. After some research:\n\nSIZE: AGE: CIRCUMFERENCE:\n1/Mini/Skills All ages 18\" - 20\"\n2/Midi All ages 20\" - 22\"\n3 Under 8 23\" - 24\"\n4 8 - 12 25\" - 26\"\n5 12 and up 27\" - 28\"\n\nAlso note that a regulation volleyball is almost comparable to a Size 4. Thus this size 3 is a little smaller than a regulation volleyball.\nI'm going to upload a picture that shows my Large size man-hand holding this thing.\n\n+ It is a solid ball, not some toy. Kids could play real soccer with this.\n\n+ The addition of a pump is good in a pinch.\n\n+ Other \"real\" soccer balls run in the price range of $20, so this fits well for it's cost.\n\n+ It's a soccer ball with the Batman emblem. How cool is that?!\n\nOVERALL: We kicked this around in our yard and it was a responsive, solid ball to play with. Nothing to recommend for improvement. Nice product!","Product: ZOWN Classic Collection heavy duty injection mold fan back folding chair with comfortable contoured back constructed of polyethylene and a powder coated steel structure redefines the market for lightweight folding chairs. These high-quality, low-maintenance chairs are ideal for any gathering both indoor and outdoor, making them versatile for every occasion. The chairs have a 300 lb. use rate, and are shipped and sold as an 8 pack. Distributed by COSCO Commercial Products.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: I like it, but one or two suggestions for improvement\n\nReview: Having table space for guest or for yourself on everyday use can be a big need. This table provides an different option versus the myriad of 4ft and 6ft rectangle or round tables normally used for hosting and everyday use.\n\n+ This thing is solid!\nThe top is a thick, hard plastic which should hold up under abuse.\nAlso the legs/frame seem like they'll last years thanks to the metal construction.\n\n> The pin mechanism for unlocking and locking this into place was okay.\nPulling on the pin via a metal loop was not comfortable nor did it always go smoothly. I think I need to oil everything a bit and then it'll pull out and push into place easier.\n\n+ I'm good with the neutral brown color.\nThen you can put whatever round table cloth or colored runner across the top to liven things up.\n\n-- I would have preferred telescoping legs for sure.\nRight now, this thing is NOT easy to store because the 43-inch legs will always be sticking far out from under the table even in closed, folded position. It's not something that you cannot work with and maybe at that height telescoping legs would be less stable, but for storage purposes and even different options of having the table at 29-inches standard then telescoping to 43-inches cocktail height, would have been awesome. But sadly we're stuck with long legs sticking out.\n\n+ Only weighs 20lbs, so easy enough to carry to event so fold up and carry to storage.\n\n+ Whether you get bar stools or let guests stand, this is a great 43-inch height.\nI'm 5'9\" and this comes right up to my sternum, meaning it's comfortable to stand, even lean on the table while talking and managing your drink at the same time.\n\nOVERALL: Whether I let it sit loaded with drink or food for guests to serve themselves or leave it as a table for guests to stand at and chit-chat, it works well and gives more options since it's at the cocktail height. Worth checking out.","Product: CHEVEN Tea Tumbler & Water bottle is an ideal choice for Tea, Coffee and Fruit Drink. Product Feature: Healthy Material- The crystal grade glass is BPA free and lead free. No peculiar smell. High Quality-Ultra clear borosilicate glass design is sturdy. Easy to Clean-Two openings and food grade stainless steel lids are easy for cleaning and drying. Versatile Use- Use as a traditional tea tumbler, coffee infuser and as a fruit water infuser. Product Description: Brand: CHEVEN Material: Borosilicate Glass Size: 20 Ounces Dimension: 2.8 inches x 2.8 inches x 9.6 inches Package included: * Bottle with lid * Stylish Denim Insulated Thermo Sleeve * Artificial Leather Strap * Travel Insulated Thermo and heat preservation Sleeve Using Instructions: 1.Remove the bottom lid and lightly push the infuser into the bottle until it snaps in place. 2.Fill the infuser with your favorite type of loose tea or tea bag and place the bottom lid back on the bottle. 3.Remove the top lid and pour water from the bottle top. 4.Place the top lid back on the bottle and watch your tea steep to perfection.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Stylish and good capacity. Interesting looking too!\n\nReview: I drink about two cups of tea a day. Also, recently I've started messing around more with loose leaf tea, so when I saw this item was available, I got excited.\n\n+ Very stylish. I had this at church yesterday and it is a great conversation starter. Everyone is curious as it is such a unique looking container.\n\n+ 20oz is great! anything less and I think I'd be a lot less happy.\nIn one of the pics I have my normal 16-18oz mug where I warmed up my water and then poured it into this bottle. Nearly full. Love it.\n\n+ Insulated carrying case. Major plus!\nNow this only works so good with a single-walled glass bottle. My tea was warm, not hot, 45min later when I finally got around to drinking it.\nThus not as good as a thermos, but it helps keep drink warm a bit longer than without.\n\nTIP: When seeping loose leaf, don't shake the bottle around a lot or it will find it's way into your drink and not stay completely in the infuser. I had this hooked on my hip while walking. I had a lot of stuff floating in my drink versus when I let it seep on the counter.\n\n+ the elastic grip you can slide on the cup to protect your hand from the early heat is a great addition.\n\n> I don't know if close to $25 for a single walled glass is worth it to me or not. I can get a great vacuum insulated thermos for less than that and my drink will stay hot for a good 3-4hrs. My only real issue with this product. Then again...it doesn't look or act like a thermos...it's definitely unique.\n\nIt would be worth checking out the double-glass version for a few more though.\n\n+ I don't feel like this is some cheap import made from unsafe materials, especially since it's made from borosilicate glass, which is normally used in laboratories for glass products.\n\nOVERALL: Great quality product that I'm using regularly. Worth checking out.","Product: Franklins revolutionary PickleballX Aluminum Paddle has been engineered to combine performance and control to form one of the best paddles in the market. The edgeless design increases the balance and playability for all skill levels. With an enhanced sweet spot, this paddle is great for all types of shots. The dual aluminum plates generate a bounce thats unmatched in the game today. Grab your paddle today and join the fun!\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Aluminim or Carbon...no real difference but definitely a difference in this price range versus sub-$50 range\n\nReview: Before this paddle, I never knew this sport was so hot not only in the USA, but growing in the world. I youtubbed and found tons of videos and even US Open Finals with other countries sending players to represent.\n\nI then went to Meetup and found two get-together groups who play regularly at a local gym. All ages and skill levels can start to learn this game.\n\nYes, you could get a cheap wood paddle for around $25-$35, but this aluminum baby rocks! While visiting the club I swapped paddles with another generous and helpful player. I immediately switched back, as this paddle is light and the ball reacts well with it.\n\nI also had the Carbon version of this from Franklin with me and I couldn't really tell a difference. The Carbon is less than $10 cheaper and slightly heavier, but still performed exceptionally well.\n\nHaving played my fair share of ping pong, I can see how you might want to experiment with spinning, over the top hits and slicing. Fun sport and this paddle delivers!","Product: Description iMarky Led Camping Lantern is Collapses, Super Bright, LightWeight, Water Resistant, Lantern Flashlight are Suitable for: Hiking, Camping, Emergencies, Hurricanes, Outages. Unlike traditional unwieldy camp lanterns that need a power button or switch to turn on, this minimalist Camping Lantern with an expand-and-contract design will light up once expanded. No more fumbling for the power button or trying to light up a match in darkness. it occupies just the space of a folded T-shirt. You can hang the Lantern on a tree while camping, hold it on your way through the darkness of your house during a storm, or on your way to explore the wild . Using an energy-saving and durable LED light source, this lantern will accompany you for the next 10 years.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Portable, self-charging = winner\n\nReview: I was provided this item at a discounted price in exchange for my honest & unbiased review.\n\nPic #1 = My kids are fans of the TV show Dr. Who and so when they saw this, they thought this was the Dalek light. Even if you are not familiar with the show, this looks modern and old-fashioned at the same time.\n\nYou can see that there is a powercord that can be used to charge the batteries (contained underneath).\n\nPic #2 = The solar panel can also charge this light. As you can see the power plug is not protected. Thus this is not something to leave outdoors exposed to the elements.\n\nPic #3 = Even indoors it has good amount of light. Works great in the dark of course.\n\nFINAL THOUGHTS:\n+ Good amount of light\n+ Multiple ways to charge the light = big plus!\n+ Light and portable\n+ Will work great inside a tent, at a campsite or on a table","Product: MOUNTAIN HOUSE BISCUITS AND GRAVYNow you can have this classic comfort food anywhere your adventure takes you. Made with real buttermilk biscuit pieces and pork patty crumbles in a perfectly peppered gravy. This is the only biscuits and gravy on the market with our signature just-add-water ease and convenience. This is the perfect way to fuel up at the start of a day full of adventure.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Very good tasting comfort food\n\nReview: What? I get biscuits and gravy while out in the wilderness or at the cabin?\nYes, I do with this product.\n\nIt's seems to be more of an overall mush, but...\n+ Do I taste the gravy? Yes.\n+ Do I taste the biscuit? Yes...there is enough of a texture and flavor in the 1/2 inch cubes to tell a difference from the rest of the meal.\n+ Do I taste the meat? Yes, the little spots of sausage goodness are there in the midst of the creamy gravy and biscuit cubes.\n\nEasy to make? Yes!\nI just followed the instructions for the individual servings and it worked out well enough to have pancakes and bacon with this in a bowl on the side. My family thought I had slaved over the stove for much longer than I did.\n\nI'm able to measure this out ahead of time and put it in bags, so I can take these with me to work or out in the world and not rely on having this big huge container available.\n\nAnd all the above with at least a 12 year shelf life. How cool is that?!\nThis product definitely makes me want to try other foods from Mountain House.","Product: Morning Pep GOJI BERRIES Raw Sundried 100% Natural USDA Certified Organic\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Product of China. Ack! Otherwise everything else is great.\n\nReview: China imports of food to the US have led to plenty of scare articles documenting illness and death due to very different or non-existent standards in China's food industry. I emailed Morning Pep and they confirmed this is USDA Approved. Meaning there should be inspectors inspecting something in regards to this product. I'm a little more at ease, but not much, thus the drop in a star review.\n\nOtherwise there are a lot of ways to eat this product.\n+ raw - they are chewy and lightly sweet\n+ cereal\n+ smoothies\n+ice cream\n+ juicer\n+ I put a handful in hot water for 5-10min and let it seep to make a tea. Then I ate the hydrated berries between sips of tea. Yummy.\n+ muffins / scones\n+ trail mix\n+ granola bar\n\nMy mother-in-law, who is Chinese, uses goji berries in some of her dishes and makes 'homemade' concoctions and soups with the berries. So, she is a big fan of this product.\n\nThere are several sites you can Google and find out recipes for these berries.\n\nCost is about the same as other competitors $16-$17 per 1lb. So no issues there.\n\nThe zip lock bag works well and is of quality make, so these will stay fresher longer. But they are still a food product! Once you open the bag, don't just leave them on the shelf and expect you can reach in and grab some without checking what you're eating. I may be a bit paranoid, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.\n\nOVERALL: I've tried and reviewed several products from Morning Pep and have been happy with each of them. A competitor product by Healthworks the bag only says \"distributed from Arizona\", so it's anyone's guess where those berries came from or have been handled. At least Morning Pep has full disclosure on their bag.\n\nMorning Pep's berries are worth checking out.","Product: The effects of global warming and the greenhouse effect has caught up with the Earth. The polar ice caps are melting and the world's weather patterns are all out of sync. The next ice age is upon us. A scientist that specializes in historical extreme weather changes must fight his way north to New York where his son is caught in the clutches of mother nature.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Good but not great\n\nReview: STORY: Due to \"environmental abuse\" by mankind, the Earth reacts by making the shift into a new ice age\n\nMY FEEDBACK:\n\n1)Disappointed in some of the special effects. Some of them looked pretty cheesy for today's technology. Some scenes, on the other hand, were pretty cool...more in their concept vs. their delivery.\n\n2) Not the same emotional pull as with Deep Impact, but better than Armegeddon. Made me care about the characters a bit\n\n3) I personally don't like movies like War of the Worlds where there is very little mankind does (or can do) to fight back. This misses the heroic element in the face of the overwhelming odds.\n\nThis movie falls into that realm for me. It is just a matter of mankind \"riding out the storm\" vs. with Deep Impact and Armegeddon (two recent disaster flicks) where mankind actually tried to fight back. But...they try and make up for it with the character played by Dennis Quaid, which didn't leave me totally feeling jipped as a viewer.\n\n4) As with most Hollywoodish disaster flicks, there are definite breaks in the logic or continuity of the story. This movie is no exception, but the mishaps are somewhat forgiveable\n\n5) Content was clean as far as no rememberable profanity, no sex or nudity and very low key violence. Most of the deaths are left for you to fill in the blanks even though there was about three where bodies are being crushed or destroyed by some other force of nature\n\nOVERALL: Glad I watched it. Don't feel like I need to own it.","Product: The hilarious Rob Schneider has been a gigolo. He's been an animal. And now a curse will make him something he's never been before -- a woman! Jessica Spencer is the hottest, most popular girl in high school. But she gets a big dose of reality when she wakes up in the body of a 30-something-year-old lowlife male (Schneider) and quickly discovers that trading on your looks isn't so easy when you're a girl who constantly needs a shave. How in the world can Jessica convince her friends (Anna Faris, SCARY MOVIE, SCARY MOVIE 2; Matthew Lawrence, MRS. DOUBTFIRE; Eric Christian Olsen, NOT ANOTHER TEEN MOVIE) it really is her? And how can she change herself back into a teenage girl? THE HOT CHICK is a wild and wacky gender-bending comedy everyone can enjoy -- no matter what sex you are.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Really a 2.5 rating...\n\nReview: Rating System:\n1 star = abysmal; some movies deserve to be forgotten\n2 star = poor; a total waste of time\n3 star = good; worth the effort\n4 star = very good; what a movie should be\n5 star = fantastic; must own it and share it with others\n\nSTORY: Through coincidence a high-school beauty and an idiot criminal switch bodies when they happen upon magical ancient Egyptian earings. Now starts the \"comedy\" of how they and their friends cope to the sudden change.\n\nMY FEEDBACK:\n1) Much of the humor was in the same vain as the Scary Movie trilogy = silly to the point that you still find yourself chuckling at how stupid it all is\n2) Not a movie I'd recommend for kids as some people will find it offensive that the movie touches on (and seems to encourage) homosexuality, cross-dressing and marital unfaithfulness.\n3) The cast did their job and must have had fun at such a ridiculous comic romp.\n4) The story was predictable and no new ground explored here nor old ground handled in a fresh way\n5) Adam Sandler's bit part (he produced the movie it appears) were as dumb as they get. Don't know why he even bothered appearing in the movie other than to help boost viewership.\n\nOVERALL: It got enough chuckles out of me that I didn't find it a total waste of time but it was close. I'd rather go back and watch Liar Liar or Happy Gilmore for some true original laughs.","Product: This critically acclaimed epic trilogy follows the quest undertaken by the hobbit, Frodo Baggins, and his fellowship of companions to save Middle-earth by destroying the One Ring and defeating the evil forces of the Dark Lord Sauron.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Worth the upgrade from the DVD Platinum set\n\nReview: After reading about the woes other reviewers had, I immediately opened my set and watched the movies from start to finish to see if I was sent bad discs or not. My copies had none of the issues other reviewers talk about!!\n\nI upgraded from the <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/The-Lord-of-the-Rings-The-Motion-Picture-Trilogy-Platinum-Series-Special-Extended-Edition/dp/B004L0IVM4/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy (Platinum Series Special Extended Edition)</a>, and I don't regret the purchase.\n\n1. Blu Ray looks great compared to DVD. The close ups you can see the pores on their face...or at least the makeup filling their pores. It was wonderfully crisp and clear.\n\n2. Sound is so much nicer if you have the equipment to hear it. The soft sounds were easier to hear and the loud sounds rumbled the room.\n\n3. DVD set = 12 discs.\nThis set = 15 discs, because you get an extra behind the scenes for each movie.\nEach behind the scenes lasts nearly 2hrs each = 6hrs of behind the scenes!!\n\nOVERALL: I got this Blu Ray set for less than $50 after tax/shipping on Amazon.\n\nIt would cost us normally $60+ to go to the theaters to see one(1) 2hr movie for all six of us. For less than that price we now own hours and hours of three(3) great movies, with subtitles, with special features and can be paused at anytime and re-watched at anytime or shared with friends.\n\nTotally worth it!!","Product: Shaun of the Dead\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: laugh out loud funny. . .at first. . .\n\nReview: I haven't laughed out loud at a movie in a long time...or at least with stuff that has been made in 2004.\n\n1) Very funny in the typical witty dialogue of English comedy\n\n2) HUGE amounts of F-bombs and other profanities that may turn some folks off. Just letting you know it's there, if you care.\n\n3) Kind of seemed to go from funny to serious later in the movie. I wanted more funny stuff but settled even though it was a bit disappointing\n\n4) One scene, in particular, was very gory even for my desensitized condition. It was completely done for shock value.\n\n5) I felt like the pace was kept up and didn't lag in any place or feel rushed trying to force an adrenaline rush in the viewer.\n\n6) No Oscar nominations for acting, direction, cinematography or whatnot. But it was a solidly put together movie overall.\n\nOVERALL I liked it a lot and if I was to have a late night movie watch with some friends (no kids around) I'd probably have this as one of the listed suggestions for us to veg to, as we fade to sleep in front of the TV","Product: \"Prepare your eyes for popping,\" in this \"martial-arts fireball that throws in a lyrical love story, head spinning fights and dazzling surprises\" (Rolling Stone). \"A gorgeous entertainment\" (A.O. Scott, New York Times). Mei is an exotic, beautiful blind dancer, associated with a dangerous revolutionary gang, known as the House of Flying Daggers. Captured by officers of the decadent Tang Dynasty, Mei finds herself both threatened - and attracted - to the most unusual circumstances. Here, her heart and loyalties battle each other, amid warriors in the treetops and dazzling combat - the likes of which have never before been seen!\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Much better the 2nd time around\n\nReview: STORY:\n\nThe left-overs of a failing Dynasty attempts to infiltrate one the most notorious rebel groups: The House of Flying Daggers. One of the local officers goes undercover, attempting to win the trust of the blind dancer who is reported to be the daughter of the previous rebel leader, in the hopes of discovering who the current rebel leader is so they can arrest him/her and destroy the rebel efforts.\n\nMY FEEDBACK:\n\nThe first time I watched this movie I had just finished watching Hero which I liked a lot. This only led to me comparing the two instead of enjoying this movie for what it is.\n\nAfter talking with some co-workers who like this movie better than Hero, I decided to give it another try...over a year later. I loved it!\n\nThe cinematography was rich and the colors vibrant.\n\nThe drama and acting engaging and believable.\n\nThe themes of love and self-sacrifice strong.\n\nThe action bordered on fantasy, but was till very entertaining and fast-paced.\n\nThe sound, especially with the dumb beat soundtrack, added suspense and action to the story. Turn up the volume when you watch it!!\n\nAs with Hero the ending isn't the happiest in the world but sometimes the only plausible one.\n\nOVERALL: I liked it a lot and if you haven't seen it rent it. If you like it as much as I did, buy it and watch it again and again. Truly a \"marvel\" of movie making that attempts to touch more of our senses than just the visual","Product: A paranormal detective's investigation of the mysterious death of a friend leads him to Shadow Island. There, he finds that ancient demons are on the verge of coming back taking over the world.\n\nRating: 1.0\n\nSummary: Rarely do I turn a movie off mid-watching...this one I did\n\nReview: 1) If you want to see a creature loose in a museum rent Relic. Whatever your thoughts about Relic, it was 100 times better than the first 30 minutes of this movie\n\n2) I really like Christian Slater but I really hope he doesn't take any further low budget B horror movie jobs and ruin what career he has\n\n3) Tara Reid cannot act!! Either that or the director and/or script was so lame that it made her look bad.\n\n4) I think what topped it for me was this attractive woman with her baseball hat on backwards (whats up with that?!) and makeup all done up and she is the comms specialist for some secret government agency (no dress code?). She just keeps looking pretty and trying to look tough while pushing buttons and giving updates to the Stephen Dorff when he can see for himself what is going on. Really Dumb!!\n\n5) The director cannot create a suspenseful scene for the life of him. They relied too heavily on special effects and less on finding a better director.\n\nOverall: Not worth even renting. Even if you are a Slater/Reid/Dorff fan don't do it!!","Product: RACHEL CARSON IS A SUCCESSFUL MYSTERY WRITER WHOSE LIFE IS SHATTERED FOLLOWING THE ACCIDENTAL DROWNING OF HER 5 YEAR OLD SON. TO GET SOME REST, SHE GOES TO A SECLUDED COTTAGE. BUT INSTEAD OF A PEACEFUL RETREAT, RACHEL FINDS HERSELF CAUGHT UP IN A SUPERNATURAL MURDER THAT THREATENS HER SANITY & HER LIFE.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Not spooky, but holds the viewer's interest\n\nReview: STORY:\n\nHer son dies, her marriage is failing and she goes off to the country-side to write in seclusion and get a hold on life. But this only sets the stage for what appears on the surface as only a ghost story to follow.\n\nMY FEEDBACK:\n\nMany reviewers keep saying this is her best role. Well, she's good and the movie shows she is more than a hard-body as were the highlights in GI-Jane and Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. But come on, what happened to her role in St. Elmo's Fire?!? That is in my opinion her best role, but then I'm a bit nostalgic and I was more impressionable when I was a teenager watching that film.\n\nAll the rest of actors were also good, though we spend 98% of the movie focused on Demi, we don't get to see a range of acting from the rest of the cast.\n\nScenery made you want to go there and bask in the locale's beauty.\n\nMystery was good with some twists and turns, leaving a movie that is more than just a ghost story.\n\nSome of the dramatic scenes that should leave me crying were somehow missing some element I'm unable to put my finger on. I don't know if it was the acting, direction, or script. But it was ok, but not the pulling on the heart strings you'd expect. I think it lacked in the screenplay. The script could have done more with playing on the protagonist's sense of if she is going crazy or not. This would have drawn us into more empathy with the character and the loss of her son.\n\nMy wife didn't like the movie as much because of the supernatural theme. It seems like such a trend now that so many movies have to focus on something beyond \"normal\" life, when normal life has enough drama in and of itself. Why are so many movies lately focused on the supernatural or super-heroes? She is just getting tired of it, and part of me doesn't blame her since here is another movie to chalk up to the Dragonfly's, Sixth Sense, Stir of Echos, etc.\n\nBut . . .if you don't mind or actually prefer the extra bit of supernatural thrown in then you'll probably like this movie even more.\n\nOVERALL:\n\nIt is an entertaining movie, not a bad movie in any sense. I was actually pleasantly surprised. I agree with some of the reviewers that this could have done pretty well at the box office. Its defintily worth a rental!","Product: Tina (Pressly), Christie (Valance), Kasumi (Aoki) and Helena (Carter) are four skilled martial artists whose outwardly sexy appearances betray their true, lethal natures. When the fearsome females each receive an invitation to take part in an illegal martial arts competition, the prospect of a ten-million-dollar top prize is only sweetened by the fact that they will be facing off against some of the toughest fighters on the planet. The girls check their inhibitions at the beach and prepare for a series of fights that will test not only their strength, stamina, and endurance, but the very foundation of their dedication to the martial arts as well.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: crap review on Netflix, but it was better than that\n\nReview: After reading all the 1 star reviews on Netflix, I still watched the trailer. Then I found out the director of the Transporter did this movie too. So....I just had to check it out.\n\nIt was fun.\nI'm not going to own it, but it was fun and much better than Ultraviolet.\n\n- Fast action.\n- Acrobatic martial arts.\n- Gorgeous girls all around (so much better looking than the Charlie's Angels trio and they had Sarah Carter who I just loved when I first saw her in the tv show Smallville)\n- Eric Roberts as a bad guy on the tv show Heroes and a bad guy here. He's perfect for those types of roles.\n- Great sets that get smashed to pieces\n- Lots and lots of fighting that is so unrealistic you laugh at the silliness of it, but love it at the same time\n\nIf it wasn't for all the scantly clad bodies and sexual themes, this no-blood fight movie would have been rated PG.\n\nYes, everyone who gets slashed by a sword just falls down with no blood. No effort went into any type of makeup work on the main characters after taking several punches in the face. Oh, well, we like our female leads looking pretty throughout I guess.\n\nIt was a movie where you turn your brain off, laugh out loud a couple of times and enjoy the scenery and action. Pure fun, but not an oscar winner by any stretch of the imagination.\n\nYou want a quality, thinking person's movie watch The Fountain or Children of Men.\nYou want a zone out for a bit with the type of movie that isn't another bad effects B-horror film, then get this.","Product: Sci-fi thriller starring Mila Jovovich. The remote small town of Nome in Alaska has, since the 1960s, seen a disproportionate number of the population being reported missing every year. Despite multiple FBI investigations, the truth has never been discovered. When recently-widowed psychologist Dr Abigail Tyler (Jovovich) arrives in the town to interview people affected by the disappearances, she gradually uncovers evidence that points to the possibility of alien abduction on a mass scale. Even more disturbing are the accusations of a federal cover-up...\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: I was pleasantly surprised\n\nReview: I don't really watch or care for \"scary\" movies now that I'm older. This movie came up in a search for sci-fi and I knew nothing about it going in...not even a trailer.\n\n+ I really like the side-by-side \"actual\" video with the re-enactment, which was used to lend credibility to the scene\n\n+ I thought the pace and story telling were just right.\n\n+ The scary parts were scary and the re-enactments were believable.\n\n+ I come from an upbringing/experience where things like white magic, black magic, possession and the like are real things in non-big city / non-Silicon Valley areas of the world. Thus this movie was more \"real\" to me than probably would be for my neighbors.\n\n> Yes, the film makers have a visual approach to Nome, Alaska as a big valley surrounded by mountains, but Google satellite shows differently. The fact that the real place is flat, cold and isolated is almost more suspenseful than the picturesque town used in the movie. But I guess if you start the moving thinking, \"Oh, look what a beautiful town. I want to go there,\" then watch the movie. . .well you don't want to go there now. They went for appearances can be deceiving.\n\n+ For those wondering, Milla is not her butt-kicking, sexy self in this movie. Rather, she does a great job of playing the terrified victim caught in an impossible situation.\n\nOVERALL: This was a creepy, scary movie and as unsettled as I was afterwards, I really thought it delivered well. Two days later I'm still thinking about the movie experience.","Product: Note: Blu-ray discs are in a high definition format and need to be played on a Blu-ray player. To find out more about Blu-ray, visit our Hi-Def Learn & Shop store.\n\nPlease note that this product will not play on US spec 60i Blu-ray players as the Blu-ray discs are authored to UK 50i specs.\nWILL NOT PLAY ON SONY PRODUCTS DUE TO LACK OF PAL/50i Support.\n\nImportant Information on Firmware Updates: Having trouble with your Blu-ray disc player? Will certain discs just not play? You may need to update the firmware inside your player. Click here to learn more.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Another short British TV season, but worth it\n\nReview: Not sure what I can say that others haven't already said...\n\n+ Great modern take on the legend and his sidekick.\n\n+ Speaking of modern...the simple fact that they can use cell phones and technology can be a help or hindrance is a great touch\n\n+ Episodes are like mini-movies running close to 90-minutes each\n\n-- Only 3 episodes (6 regular 45min episodes) for a season. What is up with British TV doing a \"season\" in so few episodes?!? Here in the States we expect 13 to 24 forty-five minute episodes.\n\nEpisode 1 A Study in Pink\n+ Good \"origin\" story of how the characters get connected and wind up at 221B\n+ The episode with the most humor\n+ We get to see Watson contribute to their team the most in this episode\n\nEpisode 2 The Blind Banker\n+ Less humor than episode 1, but still some key lines that give one a good laugh\n+ Seems a more complex mystery than Episode 1, but that just means I had to pay attention a lot more\n+ More background and Sherlock's homeless network introduced\n\nEpisode 3 The Great Game\n+ Moriarty introduced and he isn't what many of us expect. I was left with uncertainty at his character interpretation...until we see him in later episodes and now re-watching this episode I find he is a serious threat, even though it may be a bit downplayed in this episode\n+ A serious episode, almost no humor that I can remember\n+ We get more into Sherlock's sociopathic intelligence. A great development to the character\n\nAt first I wasn't sure about Cumberbatch as Sherlock, but he has grown on me.\nFreeman as Watson works more for me more in the first episode than in the later episodes.\nBut their friendship starts to grow as quickly as episode 2, which is great to see how Watson handles a socially-inept / uncaring personality like Sherlock's.\n\nVery much worth a watch!!","Product: Dylan Dog (Brandon Routh) is a world famous private detective who specializes in the supernatural. Armed with an edgy wit and carrying an arsenal of silver and wood-tipped bullets, Dylan must track down a dangerous artifact before a war ensues between his werewolf, vampire and zombie clients living undercover in the monster infested backstreets of New Orleans.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Its a fun B-movie that's worth a watch for the horror-comedy fan\n\nReview: Not familiar with the comic, I found some background info on the comic on another Amazon review:\n==============\nLike a James Bond of the occult--only not as suave or debonair--Dylan Dog manages to get himself in and out of trouble with finesse, while bedding a different lady with each adventure he embarks on. A self-styled \"nightmare investigator,\" he takes on cases that normal PIs won't. Along with his assistant, Felix, a quip-spouting Groucho Marx lookalike, he tracks down some extremely dark persons (and nonpersons) for a somewhat modest fee.\n\nDylan Dog was created by writer Tiziano Sclavi in 1986. Originally published in Italy, the long-running series is set in London, where Dylan works as a supernatural investigator who (against type in a series like this) has a good working relationship with the police. Dylan is a former Scotland Yard investigator, and perhaps the reincarnation of the original Dylan Dog, who died in 1686.\n\nDylan Dog's mysteries have been published off and on over the past two decades, with Sclavi backing off and allowing others to interpret the character. The good-looking investigator has become a true star in Italy's comics publishing, as well as around the world.\n============\n\nThis movie deviates from this description:\n1) Dylan isn't a Casanova, he actually has some past that keeps him pushing women away\n2) His sidekick looks nothing like Groucho and works for free vs. a fee. He does it more out a friendship for Dylan\n3) No mention -- that I remember -- about his relation to Scotland Yard. His history and relationship to the undead/monsters is explained very differently in the movie.\n4) No finesse in the movie...he is a \"tough guy\" instead who is willing to punch or shoot his way through to a solution\n\nThis movie actually starts off in a Dresden Files kind of way. . .\n1) We have a broke Detective letting himself do work he'd rather not do just to pay the bills\n2) He relies on \"old\" technology and the like\n3) He has contacts all throughout the monster/undead community\n4) A VW bug that isn't reliable\n\nThe funniest part of the movie is how his buddy/sidekick has to deal with his. . .uh. . .new condition. He's definitely the comic relief of the movie.\n\nBrandon Routh has a great narration voice, just like the old detective movies. He's not required to do a lot of acting though. What would have made him more convincing is if they had made him all scruffy vs. his Superman, clean-shaven look.\n\nThe makeup job on the werewolves was kinda SyFy channel quality, but considering the movie it all fits\n\nTaye Diggs had the best acting opportunities and he delivered them very well. Great job Taye.\n\nThere seemed to be something missing with the love interest in the movie...one minute they don't know each other the next its like she's giving him pity sex, because of his situation. I didn't get any chemistry between them. But when things heat up, his narration has a great one-liner.\n\nWhat also didn't make sense, is the \"monster\" of the story kills people one way. But both times that Dylan comes-face to face with it, there is a punching match. Uh...why? Other than to extend the scene and give us some action, I guess. Inconsistent. Too bad. :(\n\nThe final transformation of the movie was cool.\n\nEnding was okay...for me it was a bit anticlimatic, because it had nothing to do with the efforts of our main protagonist per se.\n\nThis won't create the cult following that Army of Darkness has.\nBut those wanting more of Dresden, and with none forthcoming, they may like to watch this for a lot of similarities.\nAnd the name Dylan Dog just rolls off the tongue well. :)","Product: Quick Shipping !!! New And Sealed !!! This Disc WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. A multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player is request to view it in USA/Canada. Please Review Description.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: 2nd view years later, was still entertaining and surprising as the first time\n\nReview: I don't know why IMDB and Amazon reviews have poo-pooed this movie so much.\n\nI first watched it when it came out on Netflix and before Gina Carano got the recognition from Deadpool that she now has. Wow! From the opening scene I was caught off guard and surprised with the turn of events. It is now Dec2016 and I just watched it again. I vaguely remembered the movie, but was caught off guard again.\n\nFight scenes are great stylistic fighting and feel very realistic.\n\nWhat is with the cast of class A actors? Wow! So many big names in this movie, meaning everything is well acted.\n\nSure the overall plot has been done before, but it felt original.\n\nGreat use of color and cinematography.\n\nThus use of music and sound (or lack thereof) created a retro mood, but also heightened the suspense.\n\nMore people need to give this movie a chance, as it is fully entertaining, stylistic in mood and action and so much better than the Jason Bourne 2016 movie. I mean basically that is what this is...female Jason Bourne.","Product: Quick Shipping !!! New And Sealed !!! This Disc WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. A multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player is request to view it in USA/Canada. Please Review Description.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Family fun, but it could have been better\n\nReview: Yes my 10yr old kept predicting what was going to happen next.\n\nYes he was right most of the time, but didn't know how it would be portrayed on the screen.\n\nYes the script introduces elements and never revisits them (i.e. Jack finding the treasure horde)\n\nYes the movie starts off interesting in the telling of the history. Much better than normal narration of what came before. Nearly as good as the Princess Bride and catching us up with the story of the characters in that movie.\n\nYes Ewan McGregor is clearly a likeable character and he did well in the role.\n\nYes Nicholas Hout was a good, believable Jack, who's courage outweighs his fears and ineptitude.\n\nNo, I'm not sure if I liked Eleanor Tomlinson as Isabelle. I think she was cast alright, but they made a point in the movie how she's not so \"fragile\" and can handle adventure but other than wearing armor she needs Jack's protection throughout. Character was inconsistent.\n\nOVERALL: Good clean family fun. All the \"killing\" is pretty much off-screen though you know it happens. Kids liked it and our visiting international exchange student was able to follow along with subtitles (can read English better than speak or understand spoken) and so the movie was better than okay for us.","Product: (2D+3D, both versions on 1 disc) Languages: Cantonese, Mandarin / Subtitles: English, Traditional Chinese / Synopsis: Reviving the iconic idol of the Chinese action genre, Wong Fei-hung, this big budget Kung Fu movie follows the rise of the legend to his glory. The film stars Sammo Hung, Eddie Peng, Angelababy and Asian-American star Byron Mann.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Not sure about title of movie, but I got what I wanted = a martial arts movie to veg out to\n\nReview: I haven't seen a martial arts movie in a while, so I was looking forward to this one.\n\n+ Opening scene is action\n\n+ Overall good fighting, but I didn't expect anything less from a Sammo Hung movie\n\n-- The editing or the storytelling with flashbacks or some poor English translations -- I'm not sure which is to blame -- but it was a bit confusing of what was going on sometimes.\n\n> Poor English subtitles in some parts didn't help. My wife is Chinese and translated a couple of items differently than subtitles.\n\n+ My wife appreciated the very, very well spoken and easy to understand Mandarin audio language in the movie\n\n> Use of CGI in a martial arts movie that takes place in 1868, I'm not sure about, but I get it when it's used with the fire scenes.\n\n+ Eddie Pen is a stud and they show him off some in this movie\n\n> Cute asian girls, but they are supporting characters with light sub-plots, so no real focus on them. Thus, when they decide to participate in events, then we (the audience) don't really have any feelings whether they live or die.\n\n> There is a drawn out scene with a \"lady of the night\" that is broken up between that scene and another, so it takes forever to get through. Had to kick the kids out of the room for a bit\n\n> The opening scene has ridiculous blood splatter. After that, I don't remember the rest being that bloody. So why have it in the opening scene? The action would have been fine without it.\n\n+ Streamed this movie from another site, other than Amazon. So the subtitles for any writing were missing. Not that there was a lot of that, but the final scene there is a shot of a building sign and it seemed to matter to the story, but I had no translation, so I don't know the significance. Thus the final scene seemed a bit anti-climatic without knowing it, so watch for it in the end.\n\nOVERALL: I wanted to watch a martial arts movie and I got a good amount of that. I also got a slightly complex story that I was able to follow, for the most part, but almost lost me on other parts in the telling and/or the translation. Since part of the trouble could have been the source I was watching, Amazon's version may be better.\n\nEven with that, the movie is worth watching.","Product: Quick Shipping !!! New And Sealed !!! This Disc WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. A multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player is request to view it in USA/Canada. Please Review Description.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Overall a 'clean' movie considering it's rating\n\nReview: PARENTAL CONTENT: We are always sensitive to movie / tv show content since our kids may want to watch with us or simply walk through the room. Overall, this is clean movie, even with a R rating.\n\n- I can't remember any profanity.\n- There is brief nursing mother scene within 10-minutes of movie that is kind of a shocker and an eye full.\n- Later in the movie a naked lady in a cage. But special effects had her hair hanging and covering her 'parts' well or there was some CGI blurring or something. You see no true nudity in this scene.\n- Almost all the deaths are bloodless (almost). The goriest part is when the bad guy gets his, but even that scene is very quick and a flash of gore/blood. His remains aren't shown but kept off screen.\n\n+ Totally proved a very good movie can be created without all that content that parents may be concerned about their kids seeing.\n\nSTORY: First half is a chase. Second half is a race. It worked well and created non-stop suspense and action. There was very little lull in the action and suspense, but what 'quiet' scenes there are are necessary to the characters or story.\n\nSETTING: The 'world' we are introduced to is rich with detail and mythology. It's very rich in visuals and crazy in concept, but it was perfect and explained a lot of why people do what they do.\n\nCHARACTERS: Wonderful cast of weird.\nLove how the gorgeous Charlene plays a one-armed warrior type (very believable). Mad Max as a man of few words in the beginning was a good replacement with Tom Hardy and I did not feel like I missed Mel Gibson (though he is the original Max).\n\nAt some level the character of Mad Max is a supporting character and felt like it was more about Furiosa. The tag-team effort worked well and made for a good story.\n\nSPECIALS on Blu-Ray: There are about four specials. . .\n+the Making of the movie\n+the cars built for the movie\n+ highlight on the characters of Max and Furiosa.\n+ The deleted scenes were only two or three scenes; no big deal.\n\nOtherwise the specials were cool and interesting. Not nearly as extensive as the extras on the Batman movies or Lord of the Rings movies, but that is okay. Our group still enjoyed the specials nonetheless.\n\nOVERALL: We really liked this movie and don't regret buying the Blu Ray. For anyone watching it for the first time, you need at least two viewings because there is so much detail to the world, the characters and action.","Product: Quick Shipping !!! New And Sealed !!! This Disc WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. A multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player is request to view it in USA/Canada. Please Review Description.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Starts off with promise and then explodes in it's own face\n\nReview: This James Bond spoof starts off great then quickly goes downhill. . .\n\n-- Very, very predictable. The 2-3 opening scenes with Jude Law you could easily guess what would happen and the interaction between Melissa McCarthy's character and Jude's character throughout was telegraphed and expected throughout. It didn't get much better later on either.\n\n+ Yes, there were some great catchy dialogue sprinkled throughout, but other scenes were left really flat\n\n+ I did find it interesting that on one or two scenes the joke could have been a fat person joke, but they didn't go there. Very interesting.\n\n-- So the transformation from little Ms. Iowa to International Spy for some reason meant going from talking in \"Oh Golly!\" to \"F-this! F-that! F-U! F-F-F!.\nReally? WTF was up with that? (joke intended)\nIt seemed that the writers couldn't make evil characters evil, except through extreme profanity, which doesn't make them evil. And our hero has to go to extreme profanity measures to \"fit in\" with the evil characters. It just got dumb and was one terrible put down after another, which wasn't funny. Horrible dialogue writing!!\n\n+ Melissa McCarthy was great in her delivery of her lines and playing her character. Kudos there and a +star on this review.\n\nOVERALL: One or two laugh out loud moments, but I feel like the movie was a gross disappointment overall.","Product: The modern world holds many secrets, but the most astounding secret of all is that witches still live amongst us; vicious supernatural creatures intent on unleashing the Black Death upon the world. Armies of witch hunters battled the unnatural enemy across the globe for centuries, including Kaulder, a valiant warrior who managed to slay the all-powerful Queen Witch, decimating her followers in the process. In the moments right before her death, the Queen curses Kaulder with her own immortality, forever separating him from his beloved wife and daughter in the afterlife. Today Kaulder is the only one of his kind remaining, and has spent centuries hunting down rogue witches, all the while yearning for his long-lost loved ones. However, unbeknownst to Kaulder, the Queen Witch is resurrected and seeks revenge on her killer causing an epic battle that will determine the survival of the human race.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: A fun, entertaining ride\n\nReview: My teenagers and I watched it this weekend. We went into it without any expectation other than I expected a Vin Diesel movie to deliver some action. I wasn't disappointed.\n\nOVERVIEW: Diesel is currently immortal and hunts witches (similar to Blade hunting vampires). In this current day and age witches have a secret society that live in peace (due to a treaty) with humans. Then things go awry and Diesel has to go mess up all kinds of witches.\n\n+ Action sequences were entertaining shot well\n\n+ Colors, cinematrography and various camera/CGI shots were done well and directed well\n\n+ There is a little bit of backstory as a big part of the contemporary 2016 plot has an origin story attached to it.\n\n+ Elijah Woods is a very good actor, but it seems he plays a non-existent sidekick to Diesel in this movie. I guess it's work and it is work in a movie that will get a fair amount of attention. I just feel he was under-utilized for his skills.\n\n+ The movie leaves us with potential sequels while wrapping up the current plot lines in a satisfactory way.\n\n+ Overall it was a \"clean\" movie (a couple of S-words) that told a story and had a lot of entertainment value without all the profanity, gore or sex/nudity. Made it so I could comfortably watch this with my kids and enjoy a movie that kept our interest without shock value material. I think this one fact alone speaks volumes that stronger movies don't need to resort to that kind of stuff (e.g. most Star Wars or Lord of the Rings movies).\n\n> Not a knock-your-socks-off movie but definitely entertaining, which is why we liked it, but didn't love it.\n\nWorth a watch!!","Product: Building a strong, sculpted body doesn't require hours spent working outjust an expert approach. And with The Master's Hammer and Chisel, seasoned trainers Sagi Kalev and Autumn Calabrese have compiled their best, most efficient techniques into 30- to 40-minute resistance-training workouts to help you craft a powerful, perfectly defined physique in just 60 days.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Beautiful fitness models that help bring a total body workout...in nearly every workout (more focus on legs though)\n\nReview: My story:\n2011, I did P90X and suffered through Tony Horton's chitchat style, but didn't start losing any weight till after 6-weeks (apparently a common experience among participants). By the end of the program I had lost 30lbs overall and six inches on my waist. I went right into Insanity and built up my cardio endurance, then Insanity Asylum...but no additional weight loss, even though I had another 15lbs for goal weight.\n2015, I had gained 25 pounds back and was inactive, so when I turned 45 yrs old I trained for 10 weeks and completed a 1/2 marathon in 2:02:00. I lost 7lbs in the process, but then quickly went for the casual once-a-week 3mile run only.\n2016, I'm about to turn 46 and realize I need to make dietary changes and have overall body fitness. Thus the introduction of this workout system is working well for me.\n\nThis workout:\n+ Weight / resistance bands used in almost all the workouts (I'm about 2-weeks into it).\n\n+ So far, equipment needed are: dumbbells up to 20lbs, pull-up bar and/or resistance band set in place of either dumbbells or pull-up bar. Thus no strange equipment needed like P90X-2 tried to gimmick into the mix.\n\n+ I have tennis elbow from straining during pull ups. I'm finding if I use a brace on my arms and use bands instead of a pull-up bar I'm not inflaming my elbow.\n\n+ I'm currently strength-wise using between 8-12lb weights for most exercises and I'm drenched in sweat by the end.\n\n+ Most of the workouts, so far, last about 25-40 minutes. Not too bad!\n\n+ Between 14 workouts, there is plenty of variety.\n\n+ Sagi is comical and Autumn is all business. The difference in style mixes it up and I'm okay with that.\n\n+ I'll do one of these in the morning and three times a week I'm doing a late afternoon/early evening 3-5 miles run...even with the leg workouts here.\n\n> Speaking of which there is a lot of leg focus here and some upper body. Thus, my running pace is closer to 11min/mile versus a 9min/mile because my legs are just tired in the evening.\n\n+ There is a good amount of moves that work the core while doing something else.\n\n+ Everyone in these videos is ripped out! Even the girls have great slim, non-bulky figures, with a six/eight pack.\n\nOVERALL: I've done ALL the Shaun T stuff (almost all calf, legs and cardio), the P90X series (my favorite is original P90X) and Body Beast (good for muscle bulk). This is turning out to be a fun total body work out for me. I'm burning calories (down 2lbs in two weeks) and sweating heavily. I like this workout and the variety it provides.\n\nI think if I can stick with it and have some results to share, I may bump this up to \"I love this workout\" (5-stars)...but for now I really like it and the end results look hopeful.\n\nI will close with, my co-worker finished his first set of this workout and dropped 25lbs and is very strong after doing this workout with weight that challenges him. He swears by this workout and he likes to lift heavy weight. His wife lost 40lbs doing T25. I think you find a program and stick to it, you can see positive results. For me, it may be this program...I'll let you know in another several weeks.","Product: BRAY\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: I didn't know what to expect and enjoyed it immensly\n\nReview: I had not watched any trailers or read anything about this movie.\n\n+ We care for the characters involved and are rooting for them.\nJust enough time spent on seeing the main protagonists missing their families and the strain of their job that is put on their families.\n\n+ We appreciate their competence.\nThe movie shows us how these guys are cool, calm, and capable. There may be chaos around them or heightened emotions, but they often sit and watch, talking to one another and/or talking to their translator versus shooting everyone up, which is what you'd expect from an action movie.\n\n+ Great realism and action scenes.\nThe mayhem that ensues in the action scenes feels realistic and full of tension and suspense.\n\n+ Based on true events and real-life people.\nThe ending credits we see the real people portrayed in this historic event.\n\n+ Directed by Michael Bay?!?\nMr. Transformers movie did this. What?! Well, it was well directed and Michael Bay knows how to give us tension and action.\n\nOVERALL:\nWe liked it so much, we had to watch it again within a day or two, so we could pick out more of the subtle details that we missed the first time. Truly respect people who for their job are in these dangerous places on Earth. Very enjoyable movie.","Product: This Protective TPU Case Black will give you the additional protection against shock, scratches and scrapes. Designed specifically for your Samsung GALAXY S III GT-I9300, hugging every curve, it will safeguard your device without adding extra bulk. Case comes with a built-in stand that extends for an ideal viewing. So say good-bye to accidental bumps and scratches on your Samsung GALAXY S III GT-I9300.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Cant beat the price for what you get\n\nReview: I'm going to make this brief. . .\n\n* Nice dual black & clear color case\n\n* Fit's snug\n\n* Kickstand I find I use more than I though I would. So glad I got a case with a kickstand\n\n* A ridged, grippy texture on the sides makes it so the phone is not likely to slip out of my fingers or pocket\n\n* Cut-outs line up great\n\n* No challenge in hitting the Return, Home or Menu buttons\n\n* NOT IMpact resistant...you drop this thing you could still break your phone. But in every day use the phone will not get scratched. If there was a case I could find with a little bit of a impact bumper, then I would have gotten that, but didn't want to spend $25 or more. Got what I expected and a bit more.\n\nGreat case. Love it for the price","Product: Instantly transforms your iPhone speaker dock or stereo Hi-Fi into a (Bluetooth) streaming powerhouse Great value Bluetooth streamer - Tens of Millions of iPhone speaker docks could soon become obsolete with the new iPhone 5 connector pin change Sound You Wear - Unique simple twist and go to attach to clothing. Great sound - with APT-X audio streaming, near CD quality. Double tap to access Siri/Google Voice Actions. Make and take calls.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: better than several predecesors\n\nReview: For the last couple of years bluetooth headsets and the like have been flooding the market.\nBut even from brands like Jabra and BlueAnt, they can be hit or miss with consistent sound and clear broadcasting.\n\nSo far my experience with the Ribbon has been better. I'm not sure if that is because the technology is advancing or the companies are boosting the signal so it's less flakey. I've had more consistent sound even when out on a run/jog. Yes, there are times with skipping or what sounds like pauses, but in general I haven't any any issues with this while exercising.\n\nSince I normally listen to audiobooks, the accompanying headphones work fine. But I can see how music lovers will want to use a higher quality headset versus the one that is provided.\n\nConnecting to my android phone was easy!\n\nThe box says 6hrs of playback and I find I'm in fact getting between 5-6hrs.\nLike many devices the battery pack is the part the fades first on gadgets, so I don't expect this to last this long six months from now. But maybe with some battery conditioning techniques I can squeeze more life out of it. That has yet to be seen though and is the price to pay for wireless options. It is nice to exercise without some cable flapping around, so I'm willing to pay the price for bluetooth.\n\nPhone connection works fine and I'm able to answer the call in the car hands free. Callers say they hear me just fine through the mic.\n\nOVERALL: A good product that works fairly consistency and with good sound.","Product: The patented Card Ninja is the ultimate smartphone accessory! As simply as peeling a sticker, Card Ninja attaches to your phone or case using high strength adhesive and won't come off until you want it to. And you can remove it cleanly without leaving any residue! It also holds its contents super tight: nothing will come out of your Card Ninja, even if you flip your phone over and shake it! Whether you carry a bunch of cards with you for work, or just a few to run errands, the Card Ninja adapts to you. It's made from a special strong and resilient spandex style material so it stretches to accommodate several cards, but shrinks back down when empty or only carrying a card or two. At only 2.5mm thin, the Card Ninja is discreet. Like a Ninja! Made from reinforced elastic material, it is designed to withstand being put into your pocket or purse day after day without wearing. It's also designed to resist tearing from repeatedly inserting and removing your credit cards. The Card Ninja is perfect for quick trips, hiking, biking, the gym or a night on the town! Toss your bulky wallet and switch to Card Ninja for everyday use!\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Been using it for months and still going strong\n\nReview: I have the Samsung S5 Galaxy phone with a case.\n\nPic #1, you cannot see from this specific pic but the heart rate monitor is clear, but the flash is about half covered. Now I don't use the flash much, so no big deal. If I did want to use it, I'd have to remove the cards and then all would be clear.\n\nThe product description says it will hold 8 cards-worth of stuff. In the picture I'm running 6 cards (driver license, road-side service card, HMO/Medical membership card, work badge to get into the doors at work, credit card and a debit card) and 5-bills of cash tri-folded and it all fits fine. I've been running this way for six weeks now with no issues.\n\nPic #2, I only put three cards in the sleeve and turned it upside down. Even with a little shaking the sleeve wasn't so terribly stretched out over the last six weeks that it refused to hold the three cards all by themselves. The material is clingy, so I think that is why after stuffing it for a while, it can still hold only a few items.\n\nEven with the daily in and out of my front of back jean pocket or running shorts, the material shows no signs of wear. Seems pretty durable.\n\nOVERALL: Some competitors only hold 3 or 4 cars. The fact this holds up to 8 or a bit less and some cash is exactly what I needed. It seems to be holding up just fine. It's stuck firm to my flat, smooth case instead of my phone, which I'm happy about. There doesn't seem to be a good way to remove this from the case.","Product: Charge Four iPads Simultaneously The USB Supercharger gives you the power (literally) to charge up to four iPads at the same time. And it's all possible with a single device using a single standard wall socket, leaving the other socket free for your other devices. Don't use cumbersome power strips, and don't hog up all your sockets. Get smarter power with the USB Supercharger. Four Full 2.1A Charge Ports - No Compromises Competing multi-port USB adapters often come with a catch. Sometimes only one port is rated for iPad charging, with the other ports only able to charge normal USB devices. And sometimes, 2.1 amps is spread through the whole device, meaning multiple iPads will only be charged very slowly. There are no charging compromises with the Supercharger. Charge four iPads at the same time at the single-charge speed. Keep Your Students' iPads Charged During Class1:1 iPad programs in schools are a promising new end tech initiative, but they come with the challenge of having to charge a lot of iPads at the same time. Maybe your students have remembered to bring their iPads to class but forgotten their iPad chargers. Bring one or more USB Superchargers to class, arrange them on the table between students, and you'll have an easy way to keep everyone's iPad up and running. Low or dead batteries can stop learning cold and defeat the benefit of a 1-to-1 iPad program. Now you have the right device to keep the lesson going. Also Charge a Wide Range of USB Devices Each Supercharger port can charge any number of standard USB devices, including iPhone and other smartphones, iPod, portable speakers, Bluetooth headsets, cameras, and more. Everyone will have a use for the Supercharger. Or, use it at home to power up your entire arsenal of devices and be ready to seize the day.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: I use to feel it was too slow, but it works well for me\n\nReview: I've been using this device for few weeks now.\n\n* 2.1A is great for small devices like ipod nano\n* Trying to charge a 10.1\" tablet only gave me 5% charge after 60-90min\n\nI used the Tylt YCHG42BL-T Ycharge 4.2A USB Car Charger Dual Port for Charging Two Devices - Retail Packaging - Blue (which is a rapid charger for the car) and within a 30-minute commute I had 10% charge on the tablet. Much better than this device.\n\nI like that 4 devices can be charged at once, I just wish the power output was greater.\n\nI also have the Leitz 6520-02 Multi-Device Charging Station for USB Devices for iPhone - 1 Pack - Retail Packaging - Matte Black and this is essentially the same kind of 4 item charger. I like this one better than the Leitz, as it is lower profile.\n\nOVERALL: It does the job and can support multiple devices. Depending on the device you're charging, plan on it maybe taking a while.\n\n**Update Sep2015**\nI'm still using this item. It sits on my home office desk and I plug things into it all day. Adding a star to the review because it works well and I don't have to be in such a hurry for a full charge.\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product free or at a discounted price, in exchange for the purposes of a product review. All opinions are 100% my own and they reflect my honest & unbiased opinion. Your experience may differ from mine. If you did find this review helpful, please vote.","Product: Charge up to 4 devices at once while still having proper access to use the devices while they charge. Rubberized surfaces and stands hold devices in place during use. Use your own charging cables or the Mini USB, Micro USB and 30-Pin Apple connectors included with the product. Use in your office to collect all your devices in one place. Use another in your home as a hub for your familys or guests devices to charge while you enjoy other activities.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Powerstrip & stand in one\n\nReview: For all intents and purposes this is like having a powerstrip (not a surge protector) that takes up one(1) wall socket, but you plug four(4) devices into.\n\nWhat makes this an item to consider:\n* Supports 4 devices\n* Cords are hidden inside the stand\n* Stand allows you to charge and still use device, if your device allows for dual activity\n* You are given a short version usb charging cable for three different devices (iPhone 4 or less cable, 2 different sized micro-usb cable)\n* My Samsung tablet has the charger on the bottom, not the side like in manufacturer's photos. But they designed this so I can easily feed a cable from under the tablet for charging while still in the holder.\n\nWhat I wish was better:\n* The inside cable spools don't hold the cables well, because the slot to \"lock\" cable in place is too wide and/or not deep enough to hold any cable. So all cables un-spool.\n* The tablet slot is only wide enough if you don't have the tablet with it's stand/cover. Just a little wider and you wouldn't have to remove your case every time you want to charge.\n* I'm not sure what the price point is going to be for this device (advance review item). Powerstrips may be ugly and have cords everywhere, but they are fairly inexpensive.\n\nOVERALL: It is better looking than a powerstrip and helps organize your cables.\n\nNOTE: I have a couple of photos to upload but get an error when trying to access the product page. Hopefully this will be resolved soon and I can upload.\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product free or at a discounted price, in exchange for the purposes of a product review. All opinions are 100% my own and they reflect my honest & unbiased opinion. Your experience may differ from mine. If you did find this review helpful, please vote.","Product: Honor 5X puts the future in the palm of your hand. The sleek, Robust housing is made with four metal finishing processes making the diamond-polished, aircraft-aluminum body is perfectly ergonomic. A faster and more Accurate fingerprint sensor improves as you use it, unlocking your phone in half a second. You can even tap the fingerprint sensor to take photos and selfies. Being connected has never been easier. Honor 5X features a nano-sim, Micro-SIM, and a microSD card slot for extra storage up to 128GB. The unlocked LTE smartphone works with any GSM network with automatic band switching technology to deliver a stronger signal. The beautiful 5.5-Inch, full HD screen is bright even in the glaring sun. Plus, Honor 5X comes with a high-transparency screen protector to keep your display scratch free. No phone is complete without an excellent camera. Honor 5X sports a cutting-edge 13MP camera that can capture high-quality images in a variety of different shooting scenarios. It features a wide F2.0 aperture, 28 mm wide angle Lens with five elements, Blue glass infrared filter, and Macro mode for Close-Up shots from just a few centimeters away.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Improves on my Samsung Galaxy S5\n\nReview: NOTE: Please check out the comments. Some good questions and discussion going on there!\n\n================\n\nInterestingly, I recently read an article where Huawei was partnering with Google to make the next version of the Nexus 7 tablet for this April/May 2016. And when I saw that Huawei had their own line of phones, this made me very interested as I 'assume' Google wouldn't partner with them if the quality was poor. Thus I had high expectations for this phone and so far I'm not disappointed.\n\n================\n\nI currently have the Galaxy S5 (2014), which has been a great phone.\n\nI searched Google and found several web sites with the technical specs for this phone versus the Galaxy S5. See if you can find a side-by-side comparison site and it will help put things into perspective.\n\n================\n\nPROCESSOR:\nHonor has 1.5Ghz processor with 8 cores = should make for good multitasking and it seems to.\nI've ran 3 games at once -- all updating on Internet simultaneously -- and I didn't loose progress or have lag.\n\nMEMORY:\nThe 2Gb RAM of memory is a very welcome addition (same as Samsung) as videos stream or play locally very well. Playing a driving game I had no lag. Web pages load pretty fast via Chrome browser.\n\nDISPLAY:\nDisplay Resolution: 1080 x 1920, same as Samsung. This offers a great viewing screen with clarity and good brightness.\nThe screen is 5.5 inches versus the Samsung is 5.10. That half inch difference is very noticeable next to each other. . .I definitely like the larger screen! Since I take all my pictures with my phone, I'll try and find another camera and show the phones side-by-side so you can see too.\n\nSPACE:\nThe 16Gb 'hard drive'/SSD space (actual is 14.9Gb) left me with 10.51Gb free (9.84Gb actual). Thus still a good amount of room to install a bunch of apps. No way will my music fit on this or pictures, but that is what the MicroSD/TFT is for. After installing 20+ apps I'm down to 7.5Gb with my dropbox files storing to the MicroSD card instead of the device memory. There are some games that are 1Gb or larger (a few at least), so I still have room for more stuff.\n\nMICRO SD:\nSupports up to a 128Gb MicroSD card. I currently have a 32Gb installed. MicroSD was recognized without any issue and is able to save/write files and read files pretty fast. No issues playing a movie file. . .once I downloaded a good video app like MX Player. I didn't like the default video player it came with as it didn't have the codec needed to play my video file.\n\nBATTERY:\nBattery on the samsung is 2800 mAh and is replaceable. The Honor has a 3000 mAh, but is NOT replaceable. The Honor battery does seems to last longer, but no ejecting the battery if the system gets stuck. They removable sticker on the back (see image) says to hold the Power Button down for 10seconds to do a hard reset.\n\nI do not have a rapid charger, but I'm getting between 43% to 50% charge per hour of charging. Hopefully that gives you an idea how fast this battery charges.\n\nDUAL SIM:\nWhy Do You Want a Dual-SIM phone?\nA phone with two SIM cards can hold two numbers and two identities at once. You can make or receive calls and send or receive texts on either number and give each number only to the people that you chose.\nEXAMPLE: When traveling to Greece, you can keep your local US number and then add in a temporary Greece number as you cruise around the Mediterranean. You could have your 'personal' phone number plus a separate work number running at the same time and keep the calls separate. You could also use one SIM for calls and if you have a better plan with another carrier for data, you could choose to use the 2nd SIM for data. Great feature!\n\nNOTE: I put my AT&T SIM into this device and rebooted. Connected immediately to 4G LTE and received calls. No issues!!\nAccording to the manufacturer specs, you can get 4G with either of the two SIM slots.\n\nCONNECTIONS:\nPhone has Bluetooth 4.1 and Wi-Fi b/g/n. Thus connecting to networks and devices is a snap.\n\nThe specs say this has a USB connection through the MicroUSB (charging) port. See photo of an app that says the phone is USB ready. I have an on-the-go (OTG) cable show up on Sunday 1/24 but I couldn't get it to work. I have an email into customer service asking for assistance.\n\nTETHERING:\nUSB tethering worked immediately upon plugging the phone into the laptop. I was browsing the Internet pretty fast on my laptop through the phone's connection.\n\nBluetooth tethering, I had to make my laptop 'discoverable' before the unit would show up properly and I could bluetooth the phone with the laptop. Once it did, it worked well, but was a bit more of a process with the old bluetooth tech on my laptop. Other two options were much easier.\n\nWiFi hotspot worked easily. I was connected and browsing Internet without trouble. What helped was putting in my own custom password into the settings. Must be at least 8-characters long.\n\nOTHER FEATURES:\nYes, it has GPS.\nYes, it has an accelerometer.\nYes, it has fingerprint feature for identification / taking photos / launching apps / lock or unlock mode / answering calls / canceling an alarm\n\nCAMERA:\n13MP camera and a 5MP selfie camera. Thus when Skyping you'll come through very clear! True the Samsung has a 16MP camera. . .a bit better but not a huge difference. But it also has a poor 1 or 2MP selifie camera, which is often unclear I find. The upgraded Honor front camera is another great addition.\n\nAdded outdoor and indoor pictures taken with Honor 5x and Galaxy s5, using default settings. The Galaxy seems brighter is the only real difference I can tell.\n\nHOW-TO:\nMy box did NOT come with a user manual and I could not find a 'support' link clearly marked on Huawei's site. Thus good luck with figuring some things out. . .though Android operating system is fairly intuitive.\n\nOVERALL:\nThis is very comparable in many ways to my older phone, but they have just the right amount of upgrades that make this phone stand out. It is working great for me and even shipped with a screen protector.\n\nNow to find a case that won't take 6-8 weeks to ship from China and doesn't have only little girl colors. So far that is proving more difficult than you'd think.","Product: Defend your device in style with the premium two-piece DualPro shine case. The impact resistant ABS polymer frame with a shock absorbing dLAST TPE inner Core is perfect for impact protection in style and luxury. The two layers of interlocking defense work together to protect your device from Heavy wear and tear. The DualPro Case's sophisticated outer Shell features a professional aluminum style finish.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Slight improvements needed, but a very good case\n\nReview: This is my second Incipio case for my new S7.\n\n+ I've dropped it three times the first day I put this new case on. The case has great thickness to absorb the shock and you would never know I dropped the phone.\n\n> Overall case is on the slippery side, which is why I dropped it three times in the first day.\nThere are lots of DIY ways to deal with a slipper phone case, but I need to call out it is slippery out-of-the-box.\n\n+ The brushed metal look is nice and has enough contrast to add some flare to the way this phone case looks\n\n> Finger prints show up really well on the back of this case in the brushed metal part. Detracts a bit from the overall look of the phone.\n\n+ Nice lip on the front of the case to protect the screen when laying flat.\nWithout adding a screen protector your screen can still get damaged...as this case leaves the front exposed. But laying it down works great in keeping my screen away from whatever surface I lay it on.\n\n+ Snaps on nice and tight to my S7. Also, it will not slip off, but it isn't too tight that I cannot pry the phone out if I needed to remove the case.\n\n+ The cut-outs are well aligned with the holes and speaker\n\n> Some may find the headphone cut out too thick for some headphones, especially those with an angled connector. You may need to switch to a plug that is straight and not angled.\n\nOVERALL: A very good case.","Product: Viozon is created by some enthusiastic young men with great passion on these innovative products, we believe design create beauty in life, so we choose the products based on the concept of healthy, classic and efficient with high quality. We offer a total coverage of flat screen mounting solutions for various fields like office, home, healthcare center, car and so on, help to integrate people aesthetically pleasing and healthy working environment.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: It does the job...most of the time\n\nReview: I was provided this item at a discounted price in exchange for my honest & unbiased review. I've tried about a half dozen different styles of vent holders and this one works better than some, but not as good as others.\n\n+ You should be able to fit this around the sides of most phones. I have the new Huawei Honor 5x which is a 6 x 3 x 0.5 phone (with case) and this fit on it well enough.\n\nTIP. Watch out for your side buttons\n\n-- On both my sedan and my mini van I could get this to sit, but any big bumps or even if I touch it to answer a call or change music tracks, there is a chance I would spring loose.\n\n+ The design should fit almost all vents\n\n> The design doesn't allow for easy rotation while driving. You have to pull it off the vent (not hard to do), then find a place to push it back in...if you can align it.\n\n> Other designs can give you a very sturdy hold, plus 360 rotation for $10 also. Not sure this is worth $10\n\nOVERALL: When it's in place it does the job of holding your device there, just don't touch it and watch for pot holes. When stopped at a light, I can easily pull it off and rotate it. I simply would never attempt that while driving and feel confident about staying safe. For those with hard to fit phone holders, it could be worth trying out.","Product: DOWNLOAD DIGITAL BOOKLET HERE: http://www.twostepsfromhell.com/TSFH_Invincible.pdf Album produced by Two Steps from Hell. www.twostepsfromhell.com All cues orchestrated and arranged by Thomas Bergersen, Nick Phoenix and Petr Pololanik Special Thanks to: Petr Pololanik, Troels Folmann, Claudia Phoenix, Alec Phoenix, Finn, Anne & Sophie Bergersen, Hans Zimmer, Justin Harris, Doug Rogers, Russell Emanuel, Rae Macdonald, Lisa Watkins, Glenn Frank, Craig Sharmat, Oistein Eide, Pierre Martin, Colin O'Malley, Derek Hendrickx, Bosendorfer and Alka Seltzer All cues mastered by Nick and Thomas at Remote Control, Santa Monica Copyright 2006-2010 - Two Steps from Hell LLC. (ASCAP) Sleeve and PDF Design by Steven R. Gilmore Two Steps from Hell 'INVINCIBLE' includes cues used in the ad campaigns of countless Blockbuster movies like, Star Trek, Prince Of Persia, Twilight, 2012, Percy Jackson, Sherlock Holmes, Robin Hood, Angels And Demons, Up, WALL-E, Prince Caspian, Hulk, Indiana Jones 4, Spiderman 3, Harry Potter 6, No Country For Old Men, Shutter Island, X Men 3, Hellboy 2, Da Vinci Code, I Am Legend, Pirates Of The Caribbean, National Treasure, Perfume, Young Victoria, Watchmen, The Orphan and Brooklyn's Finest Check us out on Facebook: www.facebook.com/twostepsfromhell.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: No fear of the kids finding inappropriate lyrics...it's all great instrumental\n\nReview: The funny thing is the pastor of my church was sharing how he was looking for some new music to listen to and buy and stumbled upon a group called, Two Steps from Hell. With a name like that I'd figure it was some sort of speed metal band with unintelligible lyrics that were cursing God and depressing stories. To my surprise this is some fantastic trailer / movie music.\n\nMy three oldest boys mostly listen only to instrumental music and are always making a request for soundtrack music from Batman, Inception and the like. When I gave them this, it wasn't a surprise to find many of the tracks on repeat throughout the day. They too love this.\n\nGreat music. You won't go wrong and no worries about unintelligible or inappropriate lyrics, because they don't exist here. This is straight instrumental goodness (unless you count the Latin choir/chorus in the background).\n\nI started listing my favorites from this track, but they are all good!\n\nNOTE:\nIf you have a suggestion / question / or did NOT find this review helpful, leave me a comment! I'm more than happy to respond to the comment and/or update this review to make it more helpful.\n\nIf you found this review helpful please vote. Thank you!","Product: Song Titles: Wait For You The One I'm Running To Just Say Jesus Good Life Hurricanes Nothing To Give Shadow Religious And Famous Free (ft. KJ-52)\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: A must own album!\n\nReview: I started playing this in the house and my wife walked in saying, \"Why haven't you given me that new music yet? It's great!!\"\n\nWhen we got to song #2, \"The One I'm Running To\", I immediately thought of \"Daughtry, but Christian!\".\nYes, there are times a lot of similar tones with the lead singer's voice of 7eventh Time Down and that of Daughtry.\n\nMost of the songs are pop/rock, which my wife really likes.\nThere are a few songs such as, \"Good Life\" and the song \"Shadow\", that have metal guitar riffs, which I can totally appreciate.\n\nThe song, \"Free\" is a little different with a bit of rap thrown in. I liked the song still, but no other song has this, so I wasn't expecting it.\n\nOut of the 10 songs, I only didn't like \"Renegade\". Normally I buy an album if I like 4 of 10 songs, but here I like 9 of 10 songs.\n\nOVERALL:\nThis is a GREAT rock/pop album with good messages.\nAnd more importantly the group isn't shy to sing the name of Jesus in their lyrics!!!!!!\n\nNOTE:\nIf you have a suggestion / question / or did NOT find this review helpful, leave me a comment! I'm more than happy to respond to the comment and/or update this review to make it more helpful.\n\nIf you found this review helpful please vote. Thank you!","Product: The Metal Art Jr laptop/monitor stand features a clean and timeless design that raises your laptop or monitor to a comfortable and ergonomically correct viewing height. Forged from steel and powder coated, it provides a sturdy shelf for your laptop, monitor, TV or printer. Additionally, there's space beneath for your keyboard or other office supplies and electronics. The Allsop Metal Art curved steel monitor stand was designed in the USA by engineers in Bellingham, WA and was the first and original curved metal monitor stand to be introduced and sold in North America. The Allsop Metal Art series of products continues to be of the highest quality and popularity with over one million units sold.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: functional and nice looking . . .after I painted it\n\nReview: The item holds my new 22 inch LCD just fine.\nIt doesn't bounce and shake if knocked, so the monitor is nice and safe.\n\nWe bought three and all three came with cheap, sloppy paint jobs. So to match my all black computer I spray painted them and it looks like I bought it that way.\n\nThe space under is perfect for my Logitech Wave Keyboard to slid out of the way or a nice place to throw those pads of sticky notes, pens and whatnots.\n\nOVERALL:\nWe've bought one for all three family members and its been great to gain some desk space and ensure we are more ergonomic by having the monitor at the correct hight for the desk/chair setup. Its the cheapest metal unit I could find and it holds up under the weight just fine.","Product: The AKT80LE gives you the ability to control height and tilt simultaneously, independent of the mouse platform. It's perfect for shallow workstations where mounting depth is at least 17.5\". Compatible with ergonomic keyboards. Lifetime warranty.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Easy enough to install for the no-to-handy person\n\nReview: <div id=\"video-block-R2LRHSB3Q5XOTS\" class=\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\"></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D1IcpqQmbCS.mp4\" class=\"video-url\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61tTbTBAAPS.png\" class=\"video-slate-img-url\">Add some ergonomic goodness and/or free up some desk space with this handy keyboard tray.\n\nI'm not a very handy person, but I installed this between 30-40 minutes, which included fetching what tools I do have out of the garage, measuring three times, installation and final setup of keyboard and mouse on the tray.\n\nThe product description says this can be installed without \"tools\". I don't know how they could do that unless they consider a Phillips screwdriver not a tool. Other than my electric screwdriver there wasn't much more I needed for this.\n\nFits standard keyboard and mouse fine. As you can see my video a gaming keyboard hangs over the side several inches, but that didn't impact me from using those additional keys.\n\nNice firm wrist pad.\n\nEverything sticks/velcro's down so no shifting around of your keyboard, mouse or wrist pad.\n\nEasy adjustable single knob for tilt and height.\n\nItem seem real metal and hard plastics that will last.\n\nI'm very happy with this item!!","Product: Memorex Label Maker Expert Kit\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: I have no issues\n\nReview: So anyone who complains this doesn't work for Windows Vista, needs to get rid of Vista. That is an old, faulty operating system and you can't blame this for not working with Vista...its a fault of Vista. You really should stay on XP or at least upgrade to Windows 7 or 8.\n\nWith Windows 7 Home 64-bit, I've had no issues with the software.\nIt installed fine and works great.\n\nLike any label product, you need to work slowly to reduce curling of the label when removing it from the adhesive sheet. Also works slowly when pressing your disc down on the label. After about a half dozen I haven't had any mishaps or bubbles in the label.\n\nWorks great for CD/DVD labels.\nSpine labels to match discs.\nYou cannot design / add image to the description box label. I've only been able to add text.\n\nGrabbing images from Google Images and using those instead of the pre-built images/backgrounds is easy for the person who knows enough about saving to folders and finding the file later. My mom would struggle, because it's not always the most intuitive software.\n\nGreat price.\nWorked well for me.\nGoing forward I'll buy this 300pk: Memorex White CD Labels, Matte Finish. 300 Count (32020403)","Product: Fellowes Professional Series Compact Keyboard Tray provides comfort and maneuverability for smaller workspaces. Designed and manufactured for Fellowes by Humanscale. Lift and lock feature lets you adjust height with one hand tilt platform to reposition, then straighten to lock in place. Single manual knob adjusts tilt up to -10 degrees for optimal comfort. Warning Trak helps prevent mouse from sliding off platform. Standard platform accommodates both right and left-handed mousing. Health-V memory foam supports with Microban antimicrobial protection stay cleaner and relieve wrist pressure to help prevent carpal tunnel syndrome. Durable keyboard tray features compact 17-3/4 Inches glide track, slim profile, and non-skid pads.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Heavy. Good length. Installation not as easy.\n\nReview: I recently reviewed the <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/3M-Knob-Adjust-Keyboard-Tray-with-Standard-Platform-17-Inch-Track-AKT60LE/dp/B001B0DCOO/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">3M Knob-Adjust Keyboard Tray with Standard Platform, 17 Inch Track (AKT60LE)</a> and loved it. Shortly after I received this tray to review and found pro's and con's for both.\n\nFirst Impressions:\nThe Fellows tray seemed very heavy. But when I compared it to the industry-standard trays we have at work, it was a bit lighter.\nThe 3M tray is lighter still, but also made solid.\nI'd rate them both similar for quality metal and weight.\nPoints to both.\n\nInstallation:\n3M tray provided a paper template you can tape to the underside of your desk to ensure you line up your drilling holes correctly.\nFellows tray gives you a visual diagram to follow that requires you to be able to measure accurately. I'm not very handy, so keeping things straight was a concern. One consolation is there is sticker to hold the mounting bracket in place when you are ready to put the screws in.\nFor me the 3M won out as I kept the paper template mounted with the tray and in a few years if I remove it to put on a different desk I have everything I need to measure precisely. With the Fellows I'd lose the mounting sticker and who knows where the installation instructions will by that time.\nPoint to 3M\n\nTray size:\nFellows is 2-3 inches longer than the 3M. With my gaming keyboard (additional set of 18 keys on left side) the Fellows keyboard wins out for versatility. Also some folks may want more area to use the mouse and the 3M has less space to offer\nPoint to Fellows.\n\nMouse area:\n3M provides a surface that has a patterned to assist with precision on laser mice. Fellows simply provides a non-skip area (pre-installed) so you can place your own mouse pad down.\n3M wins out for me because the patterned area already asks as a mouse pad and keeps my mouse precise. If I want to add a custom pad it's no different than the area provided by Fellows.\nPoint to 3M\n\nWrist pad(s):\n3M give you one solid piece. It's nice and firm and will last through months/years of use.\nFellows gives you two pads. One for the keyboard and one for the mouse. I like the versatility of placing my mouse and keyboard a little different positioning than forced to use one single piece stuck in a predetermined space. But the Fellows pads are very soft and spongy. I personally don't like this and feel the pads will flattened in no time at all.\nPoint to 3M\n\nKnob Adjustment:\n3M proves a star-shaped knob that makes it easy to get a firm hold by placing your finger between the low points between the star shape (sorry, don't feel I'm describing that very well). Fellows uses a slim tubular knob with length-wise grooves for gripping. I can leverage more power on the 3M if I turn it too tight by accident.\nPoint to 3M\n\nTray Adjustment:\n3M allows for a wide range of heights, keyboard tilt AND I can swing the tray left and right, to get it out of the way when trying to exit my desk chair. Fellows has a nice range of heights and keyboard tilt as well, but it can't be swung out of the way or simply turned if your monitor isn't exactly center behind the keyboard. 3M proved more versatile.\nPoint to 3M.\n\nOVERALL:\nThis is a good, quality tray!\nBut for more versatility, ease installation now and in the future, and same price point, the 3M wins out for me.","Product: Swingline, the leading brand in workspace tools for the business, home and mobile office for over 80 years, continues to introduce innovative new products that solve common workplace frustrations and increase productivity. The Swingline Stack-and-Shred 80X Shredder offers hands free shredding - a better way to shred! Now, waiting in front of the shredder is a thing of the past for any size office. With Stack-and-Shred shredders, you simply load your stack of paper, shut the lid and you're done - leaving you time for better things. The Swingline Stack-and-Shred 80X is ideal for personal, home office or executive use. The space saving design fits neatly under a desk. Coupled with quiet operation and an easy LED user interface, the Stack-and-Shred 80X helps you be more productive. The 80X features patent pending Hands Free Auto+ technology. Rollers automatically feed the paper into the cutters, so you don't have to, freeing you up to perform other tasks. The 80X Stack-and-Shred Shredder features cross cut shredding and security level 3, secure credit card shredding, automatic jam clearance, and it even shreds staples and paper clips in any corner. Stay organized, protect sensitive information and increase your productivity with the superior performance of Swingline Shredders.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Not worth $200, but great concept otherwise\n\nReview: I like the concept of having this compact unit sitting under my desk where I use to have the corporate recycle box. The box would get taken away every now and again to be shredded. Now I can stack my papers directly in this unit and shred whenever I push the button.\n\nThe speed is good!\nThe sound is pretty quiet!\nGood container...can hold a descent amount of shredded paper.\nIf everything is straight paper it works great.\n\nBut. . .if the paper is wrinkled or smaller pages (smaller than 8x11) or cardstock, the auto feeder chokes.\n\nI'm left with the manual feeder which works fine for these other types of paper. So why spend $200 when all I needed is a manual feed shredder?!? Well, not worth it.\n\nAlso I found I had to smash down the shredded paper often. If the pile gets too high...even a loose pile...jams start again.\n\nOVERALL:\nShredding at home: I would normally shred credit card forms or any other letter / folded paper that had personal information. Since most of these are not nice 8x11 pages, then the auto feeder is pretty useless. For home use of a manual shredder the <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Fellowes-Powershred-W-11C-11-Sheet-Cross-Cut-Shredder-3103201/dp/B0026I2HLO/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Fellowes Powershred W-11C 11 Sheet Cross-Cut Shredder (3103201)</a> has been a great product for a fraction of the price.\n\nThus, the auto tray is more appropriate for work where handling 8x11 pages is more common.\n\nDepending on your needs, this shredder could go really well for you or fall short.","Product: Aleratecs natural adjustable table stand for laptops, tablets and notebooks is a decorative and practical solution for creating a more comfortable and ergonomic work space. Constructed of sturdy, all-natural bamboo wood responsibly harvested from a renewable resource, the compact stand safely supports laptops up to 15 inches and has 2 adjustable height to tailor the viewing angle and keyboard position. This can help reduce the stress on your back, neck and wrists. The vented design helps keep your computer cool, and the legs fold for easy storage. Aleratecs sturdy bamboo portable stand is easy to assemble with tools included and can be used on a desk or a table.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Not a lap-desk, but works great for what it's made to do\n\nReview: <div id=\"video-block-R2JBCU9ZVQCYCN\" class=\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\"></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D1miqSOdIZS.mp4\" class=\"video-url\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41VSJJ1XE6S.png\" class=\"video-slate-img-url\"> I really get a great minimalist feel from this product.\n\n1. It holds your device at an angle.\n2. It looks great. I love the bamboo pattern.\n3. The fan is an extra boost for cooling your device.\n4. Sturdy.\n5. The finish makes it feel like wood, but not slippery or waxy.\n\nThis is meant to sit on the desk or table or tv-tray. This is not meant for your lap.\n\nWhile lying on the carpet, my daughter will use this as a writing table, folding the legs in to reduce the angle. She'll even remove the bumper, because all she needs is a hard surface to write against. I have to fight her to get time with the stand for myself.\n\nI love how the USB cable can be stowed out of sight.\n\nI cannot think of any improvements!\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product free or at a discounted price, in exchange for the purposes of a product review. All opinions are 100% my own and they reflect my honest & unbiased opinion. Your experience may differ from mine.","Product: WALI single monitor stand (model WL-M001) made of high grade steel and aluminum. Fits most LCD monitors up to 27\" and supports up to 22 lbs per monitor. Every joint is able to be tightened, so you can adjust exactly how fluid/stationary you want everything to be. Special features include the ability for each individual VESA plate to be level adjusted up and down by 0.8\" so your monitors will be perfectly aligned (see pictures). We also made mounting your monitors easy with detachable VESA plates that screw into your monitor and then slide back onto the frame of the stand. An optional bolt through grommet clamp is included with this stand. This has standard VESA 75x75mm and 100x100mm mounting holes.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Quality item that does the job well.\n\nReview: I have three monitors crowding my home office desk, so the ability to have some options with one of them does:\na) frees up some desk space; and\nb) allows me to pull the monitor closer or push it away, depending on what I'm doing on the screen at the time.\n\n+ Initially all the parts seemed overwhelming, but later I realized the extra pieces are needed for different desk designs/set ups, so I didn't have to use them all\n\n+ Quality, metal frame\n\n+ Once I found my manual on how to remove the stand from my monitor, then installation of this was easy\n\n> The screen tilt angle is one you need to set and leave it. My monitor is not \"falling\" (as one reviewer says) once I tightened the joint with the provided allen wrench.\n\n+ Cable feeds provide, which is great because they are needed!\n\n+ Can rotate the monitor horizontal or vertical. Nice!\n\n+ Previously, with stand, my monitor could barely clear the riser I have my laptop sitting on. Now with this arm, I technically can have my monitor another 2-4 inches higher than what the monitor stand use to provide.\n\nOVERALL: I really like this product and it took me about 20min, with most of that time spent on removing the original desktop stand from my monitor.","Product: The elevate EWS-M1 equips your existing desk with a stylish, height-adjustable surface made of 100% beautiful repurposed hardwood. There's no need to throw out your existing desk since the elevate gives your office desk a make-over, transforming the surface into a height-adjustable ELEVATE WORK STATION. With the elevate you have the option to either sit or stand. Medical research shows it isn't healthy to sit all day or stand all day. The healthy way to work is alternating between sitting and standing. This is made easy by elevate's design, which allows you to easily lift and lower up to 35 pounds between 9 different ergonomic positions. The elevate's wood-grain surface accommodate up to 2 monitors, a keyboard, and a mouse while still leaving room for your cup of Joe! stop sitting all day and start feeling the Health benefits of the ELEVATE WORK STATION.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Less expensive competitor product out there, but this works very well and is quality\n\nReview: I recently reviewed <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Executive-Stand-Steady-Standing-Desk-Holds-2-Monitors-Award-Winning-Stand-up-Desk-Converter-Featured-in-Forbes-and-The-Washington-Post-Black/dp/B00E0ODMB6/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Executive Stand Steady Standing Desk -Holds 2 Monitors- Award Winning Stand up Desk Converter - Featured in Forbes and The Washington Post! (Black)</a>, which for all intents and purposes is just a table sitting on top of your table. Thus when I had the opportunity to get my hands on this item I was excited for the expanded functionality and design over this old one.\n\n+ Well packaged . . .for the most part.\n\n> There were some unknown black and clear pieces floating around that I have no idea what they go to, but they don't look like packaging material and there was no information included to suggest what or where they go on this table.\n\n+ One solid item, no assembly required\n\n+ The adjustment is easier than it looks.\nTIP: Make sure you are standing over the table when you press BOTH release levers at the same time to lower or raise. I tried doing this while sitting and almost got my fingers messed up. Plus, when standing over you can better ensure the table locks in level and not one side higher or lower than the other.\n\n+ The top black rubber wood is nice and appears high quality\n\n+ The metal frame, springs, and levers are great. It doesn't look like anything will bend on this thing.\n\n> Interestingly you are warned multiple times to not exceed 35lbs with this. Which means do not lean on this, as for many of us that will exceed the 35lb mark very quickly. For such a solid piece of equipment, the 35lb limitation seems a bit light for some reason. If they had said 50lb, then I'd be impressed. But this is just a perception thing on my part probably, so no real issue.\n\n+ I can actually turn the table on top of my desk very easily. Meaning if I bump this, it will move. This is good and bad. Bad could be that I'm not paying attention and it misses an edge somewhere and crashes to the ground if I'm too close to the edge. Good in that if I need to change the angle I'm standing in front of my desk, I can easily turn this to stay centered with my body and thus more ergonomic.\n\nNOTE: There are holes on the bottom frame that if you really wanted to screw this down to a workbench or your desk you could do such a thing.\n\n> I think it's a thing with the color black and any tabletop, but you start to see the fingerprints and need to clean regularly. The good part is you have a visual reminder to clean regularly.\n\n+ More than enough room for a two monitors, a keyboard, a mouse, a cup of coffee and some papers or post-it notes.\n\n-- Other standing desk options are $75 to $100 less than this one. This is what really lost the star for me on this product.\nThus I'm not convinced this is worth $350 at the time of this writing, when the others even come with keyboard trays and different designs that may work better for some people.\n\nFrom the looks (I cannot speak to the quality) but this product interests me and supports 50lbs and is $90 less:\n <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Standing-Desk-the-DeskRiser-Height-Adjustable-Sit-Stand-Up-Dual-Monitor-Office-Desk-Heavy-Duty-Supports-up-to-50-Lbs-32-34-Wide-Desk-Converter/dp/B019GTZ5ZA/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Standing Desk - the DeskRiser - Height Adjustable Sit Stand Up Dual Monitor Office Desk - Heavy Duty Supports up to 50 Lbs 32\" Wide Desk Converter</a>\n\n+ I have my laptop and docking station under and in the back. This is high enough that it doesn't go all the way down to the tabletop and thus that space underneath is more than enough clearance for my laptop. I'll try and add a pick so you can see this.\n\nI'm actually getting a monitor switch box, since I have a laptop and desktop in this location and at times would like to use both monitors for one or the other.\n\nThis has definitely given me options.","Product: Ortho Weed B Gon plus Crabgrass Control Ready-To-Spray is guaranteed to kill crabgrass, dandelions and other listed common lawn weeds to the root! When used as directed, you can kill over 200+ weeds without damaging your lawn. It starts working immediately!\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: It does kill unwanted stuff...\n\nReview: Being in California, we haven't had much chance to water our lawns...at least for those of us following the rules during the drought the last four years. I just let my backyard go last two or three years.\n\nToday, there is green here in Spring, but it isn't grass. My entire yard is taken up with some sort of weed (I have no idea about types of grass/weed), so I began spraying this in one corner and working my way down.\n\n+ In 6-10 days that corner is dying for sure. Yea! It's taking some time, but it works.\n\n+ This size container should cover a good 5000 to 7000 square feet\n\n-- No built in sprayer or measuring cap. So I had to guess or in my case I went down to the hardware store and got another sprayer, then mixed this with water per directions...sort of. I eyeballed it and figured I'd err on the side of more concentrate. Really would be easier if they had included some way to spray this or measure the mixture.\n\n+ About $20 after shipping for me here in California. I'm good with the price. It won't break the bank and gives good results.\n\nI'm liking it.","Product: Veranda collection by classic accessories offer maximum protection with style. The dark splashguard hides stains and water spots while high-flow air vents protect furniture from mold and mildew. Water-Resistant undercoating keeps the rain from penetrating, ensuring that your furniture stays high and dry. A convenient draw string hem affords a tight, custom fit while large padded handles make removal and adjustment of your cover convenient and hassle-free. There is a 3-year warranty guaranteeing replacement if damaged by dry-rot, the sun, or mold and mildew.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Protect your assets and make clean up easier\n\nReview: We have this product for our BBQ as well. You can see a bit from Pic #7 that there is a noticeable amount of dirt that collects on your outdoor items, so having a cover is a great option.\n\nNot only does the cover keep things cleaner, but protects from the sun, thanks to these covers being nice and thick!\nWhen you do pull it off, there is a lot less cleaning needed and you can even leave your cushions out with the chairs.\nNOTE: There will still be some spiderwebs and whatnot as bugs will take refuge underneath...but not much different than them taking refuge under the chairs already.\n\nPic #1 - our outdoor love seat. It isn't a 'deep lounge' love seat, but a standard one.\n\nPic #2 - you can see this cover no only goes across the length of the love seat but also the additional single chair we have\n\nPic #3 - the cover is thoroughly covering the love seat and single chair. The bottom is touching the ground.\n\nPic #4 - the one click-close clasp/strap to put around a chair leg, so the cover doesn't fly away. Also the single toggle with stretch cord to cinch up the fabric so the bottom is tighter around and less chance of the wind blowing it off\n\nPic #5 - copy of the included instructions and care\n\nPic #6 - Image of the handle. There are two handles and they do make it easier to maneuver the cover around your chairs and easier to lift and remove off\n\nPic #7 - Just sitting out a few days and these covers have stopped a noticeable amount of dirt from getting on my chairs instead\n\nOVERALL: We love these nice thick covers and they work great at keep the longevity of our chairs and cushions, especially as winter approaches.","Product: Refill the fun with our egg replacement 3 pack! Squeakin' Eggs are fun on their own, but you can also stuff 'em in our Egg Babies for a game of hide-and-squeak! Bound to become your best friends favorites, our lovable toys are durably designed with an engaging array of shapes, sounds and textures so you can have huge fun with your furry friend.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Our new puppy loves it...event three weeks later.\n\nReview: We recently picked up a rescue. She's a 12-week old dog who was part of a 5 dog litter. We are told she should be a medium size dog, but right now she weights slightly over 19-pounds and is 12 to14inches from ground to her shoulder when she's standing on all fours. I say this to let you know the size of these eggs (about 3 inches around) is perfect for her. She can barely fit a tennis ball in her mouth, so these are perfect indoor toys for her size.\n\nAs new parents...uh, dog owners...we went crazy and ordered a lot of different toys. But she loves these the best. She can access her toy box and will pull these out each time. Of course tossing these across the room, these things are soft and at worst may knock over a picture frame if not careful. Otherwise, they weigh almost nothing.\n\nthey have just enough weight that when she flings the egg with head or paws at them they roll or soar through the air a short distance. Squeeker is still active, though I'd assume it would be punched multiple times by now.\n\nYou also can't beat the prices of these.\n\nGreat toy purchase!\n\n**UPDATE 9/10/14**\nOkay they've stopped squeaking after fine, sharp puppy teeth have been working on these non-stop. . .I guess I spoke too soon. But the plastic still make a light crackle noise and she still likes playing with these. So no change in my review.\n\nActually our dog will ONLY play fetch with these and not any other toy or ball. Maybe because her puppy mouth can grab them very easily and its the texture thing she doesn't get from a hard plastic play ball or a tennis ball.\n\nNOTE:\nIf you have a suggestion / question / or did NOT find this review helpful, leave me a comment! I'm more than happy to respond to the comment and/or update this review to make it more helpful.\n\nIf you found this review helpful please vote. Thank you!","Product: Refill the fun with our egg replacement 3 pack! Squeakin' Eggs are fun on their own, but you can also stuff 'em in our Egg Babies for a game of hide-and-squeak! Bound to become your best friends favorites, our lovable toys are durably designed with an engaging array of shapes, sounds and textures so you can have huge fun with your furry friend.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Our new puppy loves it...event three weeks later.\n\nReview: We recently picked up a rescue. She's a 12-week old dog who was part of a 5 dog litter. We are told she should be a medium size dog, but right now she weights slightly over 19-pounds and is 12 to14inches from ground to her shoulder when she's standing on all fours. I say this to let you know the size of these eggs (about 3 inches around) is perfect for her. She can barely fit a tennis ball in her mouth, so these are perfect indoor toys for her size.\n\nAs new parents...uh, dog owners...we went crazy and ordered a lot of different toys. But she loves these the best. She can access her toy box and will pull these out each time. Of course tossing these across the room, these things are soft and at worst may knock over a picture frame if not careful. Otherwise, they weigh almost nothing.\n\nthey have just enough weight that when she flings the egg with head or paws at them they roll or soar through the air a short distance. Squeeker is still active, though I'd assume it would be punched multiple times by now.\n\nYou also can't beat the prices of these.\n\nGreat toy purchase!\n\n**UPDATE 9/10/14**\nOkay they've stopped squeaking after fine, sharp puppy teeth have been working on these non-stop. . .I guess I spoke too soon. But the plastic still make a light crackle noise and she still likes playing with these. So no change in my review.\n\nActually our dog will ONLY play fetch with these and not any other toy or ball. Maybe because her puppy mouth can grab them very easily and its the texture thing she doesn't get from a hard plastic play ball or a tennis ball.\n\nNOTE:\nIf you have a suggestion / question / or did NOT find this review helpful, leave me a comment! I'm more than happy to respond to the comment and/or update this review to make it more helpful.\n\nIf you found this review helpful please vote. Thank you!","Product: Probiotics are beneficial microorganisms that help control the critical balance in the digestive system. They prevent the growth of undesirable microorganisms. Balance within the digestive system is essential to maintain a healthy intestine, protect against disease, improve digestion and enhance overall health. Besides the digestive tract, microflora resides in other areas where mucous membranes are exposed to the environment such as the skin, respiratory tract and genital-urinary tract\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Dog loves them, I'm liking them\n\nReview: My 5-month old puppy is regular and all, but farts up a storm.\n\nWhen I read the product description initially I missed how this is mostly for bloating and keeping dogs regular. Now she's really \"flowing\", if you know what I mean. But the farting has subsided considerably. We just need to make sure we let her out often to do her business.\n\nThe dog really looks forward to these. They just taste like a high-quality treat, because she'll jump around all excited when she sees me going for the bag.\n\nThe fact that we only need to give her 1 a day for her weight, we give her half after breakfast and half after dinner. It seems to be working well, though I may want to look for another product specific to gas issues only, as her extra regularity is pretty messy and more difficult to clean up.\n\n**Update 12/17/2014**\nDog is no longer \"extra regular\" and her stool is solid now that she seems more accustomed to this product. Also, the dog's farting is actually minimal since being on this product longer. It seems to be working well.","Product: Keep your pooch challenged and focused while playing with Omega Paw Tricky Treat Ball. This toy can give your canine required exercise. It's made of a vinyl textured surface that makes it easy for your dog to grip while digging in for treats. This ball can be filled with your canine's favorite kibbles. It's safe to play with and gives your dog ample excitement. It is available in small, medium and large sizes.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Quieter treat toy that won't bang up the furniture\n\nReview: This is our fourth or fifth different style of treat ball.\n\nImmediately I noticed the spongy outside makes this the quieter of all the treat balls we have. Which is nice, because our dog gets those balls rolling and slamming into walls and furniture, but this one makes little to zero noise and won't damage anything. 5-stars for this part.\n\nWhat I didn't like is when we put a 1/2 cup of large dry dog food in, the large pieces still come out pretty fast. She doesn't have to fight too long to get the food out.\nIt's when it gets down to about a 1/4 cup or less that the speed in which the food drops out slows dramatically. 2-star for this part.\n\nOur dog isn't chewing this, but knows it requires pawing at it or rolling it with her head. She has no problem biting toys and carrying them around, but she chooses not to do that with this one. 4-star for this part.\n\nThe ball is large enough it doesn't roll under furniture as often, so she can keep getting at the ball and eventually the food. 5-star for this part.\n\nDue to the different sized \"grooves\" / shapes in this ball, different size dogs can grab it with their mouth if necessary. So the ball can \"grow\" with your dog's growth. But it is big enough that even large dogs can't swallow it.\n\nMy wife really likes this one. Especially since the dog may lose interest or get distracted, but our dog always seems to return to the ball a few minutes later to see if she can get out the last couple of kernels or not.\n\nOVERALL:\nEven with the 2-star food dispensing the other benefits kick this up in my mind.\nI like this product (4-star overall) because I could get around the food dispensing concerns by only putting a 1/4 cup in at a time and then I'd simply do that twice in \"one sitting\" for the amount my dog is eating.\n\nNOTE:\nIf you have a suggestion / question / or did NOT find this review helpful, leave me a comment! I'm more than happy to respond to the comment and/or update this review to make it more helpful.\n\nIf you found this review helpful please vote. Thank you!","Product: Dogs love the simple things in life. A run in the park. A game of fetch. A stroll down the street. A romp in the yard. Our Chicken Jerky Minis are made with just 2 simple ingredients and sliced into bite-sized pieces that go wherever your dog wants to go. How great is that! Being able to treat your dog to all the simple pleasures he loves. Dogs love chicken. So we say, give them chicken! That's why inside each bag you'll find REAL breasts of delicious chicken. With just 2 ingredients and no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives Waggin' Train Chicken Jerky is the simple way to give your furry friend what he craves. Whether he goes wild for the scrumptious taste of Tenders, the bite-sized goodness of Minis or the twisty fun of Curls, Waggin' Train has a treat made with real chicken to keep his tail Waggin'. Product of China.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Still from China? Ack!\n\nReview: Dog loves them.\n\nI love how there are very few ingredients and no preservatives.\n\nWaiting for them to arrive in the mail, I thought all would be fine from what I could see available on the product page.\nThen they finally arrive, only to find they are made in China!! Uh. . .doesn't Purina learn from previous lessons!!\n\nConsumerAffairs dot com shows one of the biggest complaints with Purina and pet food = made in China and how standards there are basically null / zero / no standards. Report after report of how animals are getting violently sick or in some cases die from Purina products + made in China.\n\nI found other articles where a lawsuit specifically against Purina had an end date of 4/1/2015 for people to make a claim. Coincidentally, about 30-days after anyone new can no longer be a part of that initial lawsuit/claim, I now can order these treats. . .also made in China!\n\nI was happy to see how reviewer Robert C. Ross found the actual public statement that I copy and paste here in order to get the word out:\n\n===============\n\nTheir public statement is not reassuring:\n\n\"One misconception about pet food is that smaller companies generally have higher quality food. In fact, smaller companies often have a smaller quality assurance staff, and don't make their products in their own factories, meaning it's harder for them to comprehensively track the quality of their ingredients and processes. At Purina, 99% of Purina pet food products sold in the U.S. are manufactured in our own facilities in the U.S., under the guidance of our large quality assurance staff. We also use proprietary machinery made possible by our large team of Purina researchers, who are always engineering smarter tools and more efficient processes.\"\n\nNote that Purina says nothing about their quality control systems and people in China where this product was made. And, even in the United States, they say nothing about ingredients that may have been sourced by Purina from China.\n\n===============\n\nOne additional star because dog loved them.","Product: When we started making pet food in 1926 the measure of a happy, healthy dog was seeing a difference with your own eyes. And its still true today. NUTRO FARM'S HARVEST natural dog food recipes combine meaty kibble with real, farm-grown fruits and veggies harvested at just the right time, and then freeze-dried to lock in the nutrients your dog needs to stay happy and healthy. Because seeing is believing, and we think its time to put some natural color in your dogs day.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Follow the transition plan. . .\n\nReview: + If you follow the transition plan provided you can get your dog to slowly get use to this food without getting sick or digestion issues.\n\n- Not much vegetable and fruit ingredients.\n\n> Chicken meal and Lamb meal from what I could find with a search on the Internet are all the extra pieces of the animal, including some bone, but excluding fur, feather, heads, feet and entrails. Not sure how I feel about this.\n\n> A bit confusing as the bag says they make everything on their farm in the USA. . .except where they need to get items shipped from around the world. But don't worry, it's from their trusted sources and they proceed to provide American names. So if any of those around the world suppliers are from China, the standards in that country are very different than USA. But I am talking about dog food after all.\n\n- $20 for a 4lb bag seems a bit high and so getting 12lb bag for $35 seems an automatic. Why even spend the time making a 4lb bag when it isn't cost efficient? I guess if you want to see if your dog can handle the food long term I guess the smaller bag works out better than going straight a big bag that may go to waste.\n\n+ Kibble is small enough for small dogs to eat and put in an eating toy and let the dog get to it.\n\n+ This is not puppy food, but for 1+ year old small breed dogs. Supposedly more balanced for adult dog systems.\n\n+ I like they have a way to see more videos to learn more about their food making process\n\nAbove I have pluses, minuses and neutral items. Based on the number of pluses and how severe the minuses are, leaves me rating this product as something I could like.","Product: Top your dog's kibble with raw. Instinct Raw Boost Mixers Cage-Free Chicken Recipe is the easiest way to put more of the pure, real nutrition of raw into every bowl.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: a treat or a food topper\n\nReview: Our rescue mutt is a foodie for sure, as you can see she is very obedient even with these yummy treats a foot away from her.\n\n+ Seems to be nice clean ingredients\nNot a bunch of fillers or sawdust or whatever some companies try to sneak into their dog food these days.\n\n+ Made in Nebraska.\nYeah! For once not a product of China. Makes me feel more confident that the quality of the food is safe for my dog.\n\n+ Freeze dried.\nNo need to refrigerate or keep them in the freezer. They are already dehydrated and come with a zip-lock pouch.\n\n+ We use them as treats versus a 1/2 cup for up to a 40lb dog per day (would last about 2-weeks).\n\nVery happy with this product that seems to care about our pets just in the way it is made and the ingredients used.","Product: SCREWDRIVER EXT REACH 4V LI\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: It does the job well...for light work\n\nReview: <div id=\"video-block-R3F4Z906UR47YE\" class=\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\"></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D1QbnmN6VwS.mp4\" class=\"video-url\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81rNDDSIC%2BS.png\" class=\"video-slate-img-url\"> The overall extended length is 7.5 inches.\n\nAs seen in the video it has enough power to do a lot of jobs, but other jobs you may need to rely on an actual power drill or muscle through it by hand.\n\nIt's small enough to fit in the utility drawer in our kitchen where we keep all the tools and other knickknacks are. You know what drawer I'm talking about...we all have one.\n\nIf it was any less powerful I'd give it less stars, but I like it for what it is.\n\nAn improvement in design would be to have the handle have a small compartment to hold the extra driver heads. Right now they are loose in that drawer, along with the AC adapter that is floating in the drawer.\n\nIt doesn't take much to pull the trigger, so even kids could use this tool.","Product: The 2354-12 iXO is the latest in the SKIL generation of palm-sized screwdrivers. The unique right-angle attachment gets into hard to reach areas with ease. The 2354-12 also comes with a cutter attachment that provides the capability to cut through various materials including: carpet, plastic, fabrics, leather, cardboard, paper and more. With its lightweight design and convenient USB charging, the 2354-12 is a great addition to your toolbox.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Great for most quick projects\n\nReview: SCREWDRIVER:\nAs a battery operated screwdriver it does what one expects, including forward and reverse.\nThe standard hex head fits all your included attachments for philips and flathead and if you have another set of attachments, they will work with this too.\nOther brands charge between $20 to $40 for ONLY a screwdriver function.\n\nCUTTER:\nWhat makes this product stand out is it's cutter attachment.\nUsing it on medium carpet works well but you cannot go too fast. A little patience and this cuts without fuzz building up...go too fast and your line will be less straight and you'll clog the cutter with debris.\nThe additional light helps see where you are going.\nI think these are the correct replacement blades: <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/ZipSnip-RW8800-Replacement-Blades-2-Pack-for-RC2600K-RC2601-RC2602-WX080L/dp/B004QD5HS2/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">ZipSnip RW8800 Replacement Blades, 2-Pack for RC2600K, RC2601, RC2602, WX080L</a>\n\n============\nFINAL THOUGHTS:\n+ Easy to use\n+ Easy to switch out attachments\n+ Light weight\n-- 4 volt for cutter seems not enough. Higher voltage and one wouldn't need to go quite so slow or worry as much as if the carpet thickness was too much to bear\n+ 4 volt for screwdriver works fine for 95% of all uses\n> After charging full, my battery runs out when using the cutter on about 30 feet of carpet. Granted, this is a small project tool, so that should be enough for most uses, but be aware the battery doesn't last hours\n+ I couldn't easily find replacement blades by SKIL, but the ZinSnip blades are rated really well and should do the job even better\n+ Not sure how often I'm going to use the cutter tool, whereas I'd use the screwdriver often. The cutter tool seems like a unique option I cannot find in other products, so spending an additional $20 over battery screwdrivers, in order to have this cutter option, may be worth it to some.","Product: Solder on the go. The new Weller BL60MP is a high performance cordless soldering iron with a rechargeable Lithium-Ion battery. It can stay on for up to 45 minutes, or produce 1, 100 soldering joints on one charge. The ergonomic handle is a joy to hold. An industry first, the integrated LED helps Zero in on the smallest of solder joints. And, it can capably execute on a diverse array of medium-duty applications at home and on the road.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Convenient and does the job.\n\nReview: I'm a newbie when it comes to soldering so I had a friend walk me through some stuff as I attempted to repair one of our kid's tablets where the power connection had disconnected.\n\n+ This heats up fast\n\n> Unfortunately only 1-tip type that comes with this, which may or may not be the right tip for the job...or so I'm told.\n\n-- I could not find another tip type to order on Amazon for this.\nI \"assume\" I could not order any tip and it would work. My friend wasn't sure either as his kit came with multiple tips and he hasn't tried ordering tips to find out if they are standard size regardless of brand.\n\n+ It doesn't take forever to charge.\n\n+ It heats up fast and hot\n\n> I realize for this cost it is to have the convenience of cordless portability.\nJust realize, you may find less expensive options that give you additional features such as temperature control or an indicator that this is no longer hot and you can put it back in the charging dock. Neither feature seems to be included with this one or I missed it in the instructions letting me know when it is safe to put this back in the base to charge.\n\n-- The parts are loose and no way to easily transport this without taking the entire charging base with you and thus protect the iron tip.\nSince I'm forced to transport the base as well as the iron; this means the charging base and loose iron and loose AC adapter have no easy way to be carried. You need to find a sack or bag or something so they aren't rolling around in the car.\n\n> I would have preferred some solder wire to help me get started.\nMy friend told me that the types of wire are specific to the job, just like I'll use a metal screw or a wood screw and different size screws depending on the type of job I'm doing. Still one can wish.\n\n+ It does work and work well.\n\n+ The other things I like between the cordless and my friends corded iron, is the cord never gets in the way when you change angles on your job.\nCordless is very nice.\n\n+ The additional LED light helps as you're working and leaning over a project; thus casting shadows or blocking light completely.\n\nOVERALL:\nWe were able to get the job done and the tablet repaired...but only because my friend helped me and had some solder wire to get me started.\nI think if some logistical issues (see above) were improved with this iron, it could be a home run product to get someone.","Product: The PaintWIZ handheld paint sprayer PRO uses HVLP (high volume low pressure) technology to spray thinner materials such as stains, sealers, urethanes, varnishes, and lacquers. Designed with a 400W indoor/outdoor motor, that produces a continuous flow of material resulting in an excellent fine finish. Equipped with an adjustable air cap allows you to produce a spray pattern in 3 different positions. Use it with a vertical fan, horizontal fan, or round pattern fan to effectively get the job done quick and easy for an incredible finish. The material flow can be adjusted easily at your fingertips. Control your spray fan pattern from a wide 12 inches to a small pattern of less than an inch. The PaintWIZ handheld paint sprayer PRO will spray stains, sealers and other light body materials with less overspray than your regular sprayer and with unbelievable control. Set up within minutes and clean up in less time compared with brushes and rollers. No matter what you are spraying from kitchen cabinets, trims, patio furniture, decks and fences, the PaintWIZ handheld will help you get any indoor or outdoor job done quick and easy. PaintWIZ is a division of Canadian Corporation Fuji Industrial Spray Equipment ltd. (Fuji Spray). Fuji Spray specializes in the design, manufacture, export and distribution of high quality HVLP spray equipment. The PaintWIZ brand is committed to offering quality equipment to meet the needs of the home user, hobbyist and enthusiastic DIYer. Our PaintWIZ products are approved and certified by ETL. PaintWIZ sprayers carry a 12 month warranty.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Great for small and larger projects\n\nReview: The timeliness of finding this product is uncanny as I have some painting to do on the boy's room, my girl's furniture and I just replaced a post out in the front of the house that needs some love so it looks like part of the house again.\n\nI love this simple to use sprayer!\n+ Different pattern settings on the nozzle\n\n+ Material/paint volume control at your finger tips\n\n+ Two different containers, so if you were doing two colors or wanted to reload quicker you can do so\n\n+ Front body detaches for disassemble and easy cleaning\n\n+ Trigger has metal pieces. Thank you! Hate when the most use part of the product breaks because someone wanted to save a few cents and make it all plastic.\n\n+ Manual is in clear English and large enough font that it's easy to read.\n* Suggestions provided on how to use oil enamel, base primer, stain, sealer, varnish, latex, etc.\n* Diagrams on proper spraying technique\n* Troubleshooting section\n\nI'm kind of new to painting so there is a bag with a measuring cup and some other what appear to be large coffee filters. I'm not sure how to use these and there is no info in the manual. Providing a new painter some info on this would be helpful otherwise it goes unused, regardless it's included in this box.\n\nNo good way to store this thing unless you put it back in the box in came in. I guess that is the challenge with most tools, but maybe a hook on the handle so you can hang it to dry or a small pouch (something other than a ziplock baggie) for the extra pieces would have been a great touch.\n\nCord is about four-feet long, so you'll be getting the extension cord out I'm sure.\nSpraying with this new is easy because there is no product to potentially clog holes. The spray pattern (if done properly per the instructions) comes out nice and even. Thorough cleaning will be the key to keeping this working in like new condition.\n\nOVERALL: Mine arrived looking like the box had been previously opened with tape all over and black marker pen markings like it was a return.\nI was concerned at first (not something I could have given as a gift if they all ship that way), but everything inside looked new and worked immediately.\nIt works great.\nSprays nicely with plenty of options.\nI like this product.","Product: Transform your home into a state-of-the-art smart home using the GE Bluetooth Plug-In Smart Dimmer. Control and program your lighting directly from your phone or tablet - no need for a gateway, hub or even a router. This one-of-a-kind smart dimmer allows you to schedule, control and change the brightness of any table or floor lamp in your home. With its space-saving, horizontal design, the GE Bluetooth Plug-In Smart Dimmer plugs into standard receptacles without blocking the second outlet. It features multiple scheduling options, including seven-day, sunrise and sunset, random and vacation or even customized countdowns.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Set schedules for when you are a away or at home\n\nReview: We have a light that we turn on every morning and it's the last light we turn off at night for bed. Having a control unit handle this is a great feature. Also, I no longer need to depend on a friend to come to the house and turn lights on or off when I'm on vacation...this handles the appearance that someone is at home.\n\n=============\n\nPic #1 = Unit plugged into wall.\n+ The three-prong unit has the prong on the bottom, so you need to have an open top jack on your wall. If you have a second item plugged into the wall it needs to use the bottom jack. In my image mine is behind my couch and I'll be plugging a powerstrip into the bottom jack, below this unit, for my other devices.\n+ The unit I received itself allows for one(1) two-prong device to be plugged into that. In my photo, I have our single lamp plugged into it.\n\nPic #2 = The required software from Google Play for my android.\n+ Installed easily enough\n> You do need to register the software before using it.\n+ No instructions included in the box to tell you have to use the software, it simply says to follow the online prompts. The software is easy to use!\n+ You can add up to seven(7) schedules, so if you have a different schedule Mon-Fri versus the weekend, then you've used two out of the seven schedules used up. I actually have four schedules across different days of the week and it works great.\n\n===============\n\nFINAL THOUGHTS:\n\n+ I was hard pressed to find another device like this. It meets a niche that isn't overrun with other products.\n\n+ Cost:\nTrue you can buy a straight dimmer switch for $10, but you cannot schedule anything.\nTrue there are some bluetooth light bulbs around $30 that allow you to change colors and schedule things too, but your lamp needs to be able to fit the light first of all and I'm not sure about the ease of use for the software.\nSo $40-something for this to keep others thinking someone is at home or control the lights for me, the price totally works out for what you get.\n\n+ Easy to use.\n\n+ Software does not appear buggy, but works perfectly for me.\n\n+ Love this item!","Product: Exercise Training Workout Resistance Bands Sets\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Versitile, but more useful for women\n\nReview: Somehow I got these and misplaced them so never got around to using them or reviewing them.\nRecentlyl I started the Tapout XT workout DVDs which are heavy band usage workout and my wife asked me why wasn't I using these bands? I said, \"What bands?\" That is when I rediscovered these.\n\n+ Good range of resistance selection\n\n+ Can really increase the resistance by putting more than one band on at a time\n\n-- Second time using the Green band I snapped it. I didn't think I was doing anything overly strange. I've since done the same workout a half dozen times with the yellow band, which is lighter and more stretchy and it hasn't broke, but it's unfortunate that it snapped so soon.\n\n+ On that note, the yellow (7lbs) has been a good workout for most resistance training\n\n+ Door attachment provided\n\n> The handles are a bit narrow, so the sides of my hand rub against the material, which is no fun\n\n+ The carry bag make these truly portable and able to take to a hotel or on a trip\n\nOVERALL: I'm questioning the quality since a band snapped so quickly and the handles are made for small women hands only, not larger men's hands. Otherwise, there is a lot to like here.","Product: These XTRATUF Performance Series 12\" Mens Full Rubber Deck Boots are flexible and durable enough to handle the athleticism of offshore angling. Youll be able to keep your footing in the slipperiest conditions with the unparalleled traction of XTRATUF's signature non-marking Chevron outsole. Lightweight and 100% waterproof, these navy and red fishing boots feature an XpressCool antimicrobial liner for breathable comfort, and convenient rubber grips for easy on and off. At 12 inches, these deck boots are just the right height for comfortable coverage against the elements.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: They do the job...mostly.\n\nReview: + First off, I think these look great.\nIf I have my pants over the boot (which I'd rarely do), you'd think I was wearing Vans tennis shoes from a distance.\nThe grey with white sole goes with a lot of clothing for the fashionable conscious.\n\n+ The textured yellow area at the top helps get these on easier.\n\n+ I normally wear a 9 to 9.5 tennis shoe, so the size 10 boot fit great and would fit better if I had thicker, warm socks on. Thus, get a 1/2 size higher\n\n> When walking for any distance, these rub the back of my calf like nobody's business. Not sure if that is because they are a 1/2 size larger or what. Even with my pants tucked in, if I didn't have that extra layer of high-calf socks, I'd be feeling this.\n\n> All other water/rain boots I could find do not have flat soles. True there is a pattern, but logic and science tell me that the competitor brand boots that have raised knobs of rubber on the bottom allow for better traction and less slipping.\n\n-- I have some other shoes where the bottoms create high pressure points for better grip and no slipping. The more I wear these, the more the flatter bottoms do not feel secure. Once your foot starts slipping, there is nothing to slow it down or stop it from slipping all the way.\n\n+ I did go for a 1-mile walk out in our rainy weather and didn't feel like I was going to slip and comfortability was okay, except for the chaffing of my calf\n\n+ They are the right height for getting on/off without too much trouble and finding your feet submerged\n\n-- $70 for a pair of rubber boots feels ridiculous. There are other well-rated boots for around $30, so I don't see what these provide that would make them worth twice as much as one of the competitor products. That sort of pricing makes me simply think they don't expect to sell much volume, so jack up the price to get the most out of it.\n\nOVERALL: I'm probably going to use these in the yard or at the dog park, as it doesn't matter what I step in, I can easily clean it up these boots.","Product: Battle Line is a card game of capture the flags using an ancient battle formation theme. It plays like rummy or poker is easy to learn and has strategy and the ability to provide surprises to your opponent. The leaders of both sides direct forces along the battle line to gain tactical advantages. The first player to win three adjacent Flags or any five Flags is the winner. Based on Reiner Knizia's original design published in Germany as Schotten-Totten Battle Line enhances and expands the game with more options and fun.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Simple but deep strategy\n\nReview: I bought this a few months ago and it sat on the shelf with the other stack of unopened games. What a dork! This is a great game that needed to be opened sooner.\n\nDice Tower has a very easy to follow review on youtube so I won't go into how to play the game.\n\nSome feedback. . .\n1. Non-gamers can pick this up fast. We had a guest last night as a matter of fact that really sucks at games. She just doesn't get it. But she picked this up and won a round.\n\n2. Yes, technically you can play with a simple deck of cards and some tokens that represent the flags, but get the actual set if you can. I got mine on Amazon for around $15 and it was well worth it.\n\n3. Quality of the cards are nice and laminated and not too thin.\n\n4. We choose to NOT play with the tactic cards. There is still so much going on with the base game that we don't need the added layer, plus I agree with Dice Tower that the tactic cards it comes with don't change the game that much. What they do provide is a little bit of variety.\n\n5. Most of our games get down to the last hand and an empty draw pile. This is great and means we are loving the level of strategy.\n\n6. LUCK is light as there is a randomness to which cards you draw. But since it's only a two player game, each player has a great chance of getting at least three winning hands and if you can win in a row, that's all you need!\n\nOur entire family of kids and adults (six of us ranging from ages 10+) love this game as a great skirmish battle.","Product: Battle Line is a card game of capture the flags using an ancient battle formation theme. It plays like rummy or poker is easy to learn and has strategy and the ability to provide surprises to your opponent. The leaders of both sides direct forces along the battle line to gain tactical advantages. The first player to win three adjacent Flags or any five Flags is the winner. Based on Reiner Knizia's original design published in Germany as Schotten-Totten Battle Line enhances and expands the game with more options and fun.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Simple but deep strategy\n\nReview: I bought this a few months ago and it sat on the shelf with the other stack of unopened games. What a dork! This is a great game that needed to be opened sooner.\n\nDice Tower has a very easy to follow review on youtube so I won't go into how to play the game.\n\nSome feedback. . .\n1. Non-gamers can pick this up fast. We had a guest last night as a matter of fact that really sucks at games. She just doesn't get it. But she picked this up and won a round.\n\n2. Yes, technically you can play with a simple deck of cards and some tokens that represent the flags, but get the actual set if you can. I got mine on Amazon for around $15 and it was well worth it.\n\n3. Quality of the cards are nice and laminated and not too thin.\n\n4. We choose to NOT play with the tactic cards. There is still so much going on with the base game that we don't need the added layer, plus I agree with Dice Tower that the tactic cards it comes with don't change the game that much. What they do provide is a little bit of variety.\n\n5. Most of our games get down to the last hand and an empty draw pile. This is great and means we are loving the level of strategy.\n\n6. LUCK is light as there is a randomness to which cards you draw. But since it's only a two player game, each player has a great chance of getting at least three winning hands and if you can win in a row, that's all you need!\n\nOur entire family of kids and adults (six of us ranging from ages 10+) love this game as a great skirmish battle.","Product: THEIR GREATEST WEAPON IS FEAR. YOURS IS AN ASSAULT RIFLE. Now overrun with swarms of monstrous genetic creations led by their nefarious alien overseers, the underground facility of Subterra Bravo is the epicenter of an unfathomable government conspiracy-one that must be kept secret at all costs. To cover up the truth, the shadowy agency in charge of the operation has initiated Omega Protocol, dispatching an elite team of commandos to retake Subterra Bravo and eradicate all evidence of the sinister creatures within. But the threat these creatures and their alien overlords pose may be far greater than anyone can possibly imagine. LEVEL 7 [OMEGA PROTOCOL] is a tactical miniatures-based board game for 2-6 players. Fearlessly enter the belly of the beast as part of a highly trained team of operatives and work together to neutralize all threats, or take control of the creatures inhabiting Subterra Bravo and ensure the human intruders know true terror before they meet their grisly fate.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great dungeon crawler. X-COM meets board game!!\n\nReview: **Update Nov 2015**\nOver a year and a half when I first left this review, the kids played this through and had a learning curve. Now that we've played it another ten times (we have a lot of games to get through in a year. . .) they still REALLY like this game. I've reviewed a lot of strategy games in the last two months (competitive and co-op) and this is still one of the favorite with my three sons.\n\nGranted since I reviewed this someone actually came out with an X-COM board game. We haven't tried that yet, but still like this one for that feel of a sci-fi dungeon crawler with specific missions.\n\nTIP: Whoever is playing the 'good guys'. . .Movement is life! The squad looses almost every time someone thinks to hunker down and defend a corner of the map. It never turns out well for them in the long-run.\n\n=======================\n\nJust finished our first game which took significantly longer playing with 6 newbies than the box says. None of us knew what we were doing and our squad even backtracked at one point, which added on hours to the game.\n\nWith that said:\n\nComponents = great! Nice pictures, good quality pieces. Also the figures have great details...even if they aren't painted.\nReplay ability = pretty good...there are 9-10 missions and you could become the Overseer to double that.\nCost = a bit high compared to a similar game, Descent: Journey In the Dark 2nd edition\nIntensity = pretty high as things could pop-out from different places\nStrategy = high, as you really have to use the strengths of your players against the opponents and don't get pinned down!\nTheme = very strong...we felt like we were invading the alien base\n\nMy son was whining that I selected him (I was team leader) to be the Countermeasures Specialist because my son didn't like the stances the character had to choose from. But his character was MVP for holding back the enemy forces while two of us were struggling to complete the mission objective.\n\nImmediately after playing I wanted to be a different commando or the Overseer. I saw potential in both sides and thought it would add a lot of variety.\n\nOur family of six love this. We are also all fans of the video game, X-COM (all versions). With the use of adrenaline in this game, its the equivalent of time-units in X-COM and forces you to think through your strategy for your battles. It worked great.\n\nThe only bummer is that if you let the game get passed 9-turns (at least on our mission) and commandos start dying, then there is nothing left for the players to do who's characters are dead. Those players left the room and it wasn't the same without them interacting with us in some capacity. Even if there was a game mechanic that used up the entire team's adrenaline in order to summon in reinforcements, then a once dead player could be replaced with at least a fresh unit who would be stuck struggling to catch up to the rest of the squad, but we'd have everyone still involved.\n\nOVERALL: Love the theme! Love the game mechanics. We bought ours for around $60 from CoolStuffInc, which is the site Tom Vassel from Dice Tower is sponsored by.\n\nWe can't wait to play again.","Product: Dead of Winter: A Crossroads Game, the first game in this series, puts 2-5 players in a small, weakened colony of survivors in a world where most of humanity is either dead or diseased, flesh-craving monsters. Each player leads a faction of survivors with dozens of different characters in the game. Dead of Winter is a meta-cooperative psychological survival game. This means players are working together toward one common victory condition - but for each individual player to achieve victory, he must also complete his personal secret objective. This secret objective could relate to a psychological tick that's fairly harmless to most others in the colony, a dangerous obsession that could put the main objective at risk, a desire for sabotage of the main mission, or (worst of all) vengeance against the colony! Certain games could end with all players winning, some winning and some losing, or all players losing. Work toward the group's goal, but don't get walked all over by a loudmouth who's looking out only for his own interests! Dead of Winter is an experience that can be accomplished only through the medium of tabletop games. It's a story-centric game about surviving through a harsh winter in an apocalyptic world. The survivors are all dealing with their own psychological imperatives, but must still find a way to work together to fight off outside threats, resolve crises, find food and supplies and keep the colony's morale up. Dead of Winter has players making frequent, difficult, heavily- thematic, wildly-varying decisions that often have them deciding between what is best for the colony and what is best for themselves.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Our favorite family Christmas gift\n\nReview: *Update Feb 2016*\n\nOur family has played this nearly every weekend since Christmas 2015! As a matter of fact, our three youngest kids are home sick from school this week and as soon as they were feeling better, instead of watching more TV they wanted to play this again (Ages 11-15).\n\nAlso, there are three extra characters you can order directly from PlaidHat Store and I purchased two of them: Kodiak Colby (the Woodsman) and the Roberta Plum (bonus Christmas card). Roberta is a fun card and her ability is frustrating to other players but oh, so fun! (trade junk for someone else's equipped item). The third extra character, a Felicia Day card, remains out of stock. But for any of these cards simply wait to get it directly from PaidHat and don't bother people jacking up the price on eBay.\n\n=======================\n\nWe have nearly 200 board games, but not many in the co-op/individual survival category. So when we got this, it was a pleasant surprise.\n\nPic #1 = The board, cards, tokens and all the extras.\nThe foam insert is not included! My wife found some plans and built the organizer herself, which really helps.\n\nPic #2 = The cool thing is they use these location cards for other places you need to explore throughout the game. Super easy to add expansions with additional locations like a department store, bank, warehouse(s), etc.\n\nPic #3 = Easy to read manual with color pictures. The manual doesn't take that long to read through.\n\nPic #4 = The zombie figures. I like they went with these cardboard figures and stands. Makes replacing (if that is ever needed) or expanding cheaper and easier than plastic figures. The cardboard is thick enough that it should have no problem lasting through a lot of games.\n\nPic #5 = The character figures. There are a good amount of characters in the box, each with an accompanying character card that specifies their special abilities.\n\nAt the time of this writing you can two more characters (Roberta Plumb and Kodiak Colby) by ordering direct from Plaidhat and they are only $6 each versus the $30+ idiots on eBay are trying to charge. The one character you cannot easily get is the Felicia Day character.\n\nPic #6 = The cards have nice, bright artwork. Though some images may be a bit gruesome for younger players. It is a zombie game after all.\n\nPic #7 = Samples of tokens. There is a bag provided for all the little tokens. Also the First Player token is a large knife. This specifies certain game order at the start. My 17 year old wanted this bad one game, because he wanted to be the first to get to the police station and start rummaging for a firearm. Thus he picked the character with the greatest charisma/influence so he could be player one.\n\nSome locations only support 2 players but locations like the Police Station support three. I think he was just being paranoid at the sake of forgetting the colony's benefit. He was only concerned for himself and that is part of the strategy (or lack thereof) in playing a game that is semi co-op, as individuals are out for their own gain as well.\n\nPic #8 = Each player is given a mission card.\nOne player has a chance to be a Betrayer. Out of a dozen games we only had a betrayer three times (25%). The betrayer will have a different mission that has winning conditions along the lines of the colony failing in some way. The trick for the betrayer is to play in such a way that you aren't getting exiled by the colony, because then your job in influencing the colony's success is less or non-existent. Thus you need a balance of helping and sabotaging the colony.\n\nPic #9 = List of all the components in the game. Yes, it's a long list, but it doesn't mean the game is hard to learn. But it does mean the game has good complexity and depth.\n\n+ PRICE = Good\nFor a long time this game was $60 on Amazon. I bought mine for $41 on another site. Glad to see at the time of this writing the price on Amazon has dropped to $46. Worth the cost for what you get in this game.\n\n+ STRATEGY = medium to high\nAs the betrayer I think you have more of a need for strategy than the rest of the players.\nAs the a regular player it's more about surviving and trying to co-op win the goal. We failed about 60% of our games because others were focused on their personal survival and not the good of the colony.\n\n+ IMMERSION = high\nI really felt like we were trying to survive the zombie apocalypse.\nIf players only share information or make decisions with other players in their character's area, it brings a greater level of immersion.\n\n+ LUCK = medium\nIt's really the randomness of the cards you draw. Yes, there is often dice rolling too, but the cards are what felt like you didn't know what could or would happen. Thus you may have this elaborate strategy to go get a gun, then get some gasoline then comeback to the colony to clean out the spawning zombie horde, but the chance of the card draw throws 'realistic' obstacles that slow or completely hinder your strategy.\n\n+ REPLAYABILITY = high\nThere are a good amount of missions with different difficulties/length of play.\nCombine this with the randomness of events at each location, makes no two games the same.\nOur first six play through were all with the same beginner mission. It really helped us learn the game mechanics and figure out an individual strategy. But with the different characters each game and the constant changing events, it was always a unique game play.\n\nFINAL THOUGHTS:\n+ I can now understand why this is on everyone's top 10 list. It's on our top 10 list too.\n+ This is a 2-5 player game. I found on boardgamegeek dot com, some suggestions on how to make this 6-player (start with less resources per player and add more mission cards, including an additional betrayer). But the big complaint was the downtime between player's turn gets a bit long, especially if you have players who cannot make quick decision. It plays well 2-5 players, though the less players you have the more difficult to win, but I like a challenge!\n+ Less than $50 (cost of a video game) and you get a great immersion experience. LOVE THIS GAME!","Product: Neat-Oh! 's line of Barbie storage products is growing in 2014 - and so is the innovation. From toy-storage units that transform into play surfaces to uniquely shaped storage options, there have never been so many interesting ways to store and play with Barbie and her accessories. The 60 Doll Fashion Mansion holds an entire collection of Barbie dolls and accessories - and then unfolds into a three-sided (plus a roof!) mansion-themed backdrop to provide an arena for creative play. When playtime is over, the mansion folds into a trunk to securely store Barbie, her friends and all their belongings. Neat-Oh! 's play-and-store solutions have won numerous awards and are universally recognized for their clever, patented designs and ease of use. Pure genius! Dolls and other items sold separately. Like every Neat-Oh! product, the 60 Doll Fashion Mansions manufactured to the highest quality and safety standards. The company's comprehensive product testing program exceeds industry requirements. It tests for 19 heavy metals, not the mandated 8, it hand sews products and it uses self-repairing zippers and food-grade inks. They're products you can believe in.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: The not so Neat-Oh Mansion\n\nReview: <div id=\"video-block-R1H0TI1ZNIICW0\" class=\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\"></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D1BG4d9pIWS.mp4\" class=\"video-url\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61-YIICDVkS.png\" class=\"video-slate-img-url\">If you want storage, the <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Neat-Oh-Barbie-ZipBin-40-Doll-Dream-House-Toy-Box-Playmat/dp/B004VYYA2K/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Neat-Oh! Barbie ZipBin 40 Doll Dream House Toy Box & Playmat</a> or the <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Barbie-A1687XX-Malibu-Beach-House-40-Doll-Storage-Playmat-by-Neat-Oh-with-Colloring-Book/dp/B00I2WYQGC/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Barbie A1687XX Malibu Beach House 40 Doll Storage & Playmat by Neat-Oh! with Colloring Book</a> seem more sturdy and actually have handles for carrying the dolls around or moving it to a different location.\n\nIf you want a play \"house\", the <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Calego-Modern-Doll-House/dp/B008GPMF9U/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Calego Modern Doll House</a> seems like a much better option for around the same price.\n\nI do find it funny that the description says, \"Tested to the most stringent quality and safety standard\". What? You found small kids couldn't put this in their mouth and choke, so it's now a selling point?!? I think that goes to prove that even Neat-Oh company was stretching to find something good in this product.\n\nIf this item didn't have a play factor I would have given it a one-star, as I think it only encourages creating/hiding a mess versus getting more organized. Plus the containers from Walmart are by far a less expensive option, if I'm really looking for storage.\n\nBut since my daughter can play with this too, it give it overall an extra star.\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product free or at a discounted price, in exchange for the purposes of a product review. All opinions are 100% my own and they reflect my honest & unbiased opinion. Your experience may differ from mine. If you did find this review helpful, please vote.","Product: A large, green animal from long ago? Must be a dinosaur. Water, cube and cold weather? Has to be an ice cube. A man with a job who rides large brown animals in the United States? Is that a cowboy? In Concept, players team up to place tokens on a board covered in icons, depicting everything from ancient samurai and snails to Leonardo DiCaprio. Points go to the player who can guess the correctly by looking at the various symbols, but in this wild party game, the points are less important than just having a great time!.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: It really makes you think! Nice challenging game.\n\nReview: <div id=\"video-block-R2QQ6Q9LEYG13G\" class=\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\"></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D14QP1jxT%2BS.mp4\" class=\"video-url\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91m7Rumz1gS.png\" class=\"video-slate-img-url\"> We didn't play in teams the first time, but had three individual players. Our next games we had four players.\n\nWith three players, every round had two players trying to beat the other to guess the clue first. This worked just fine. Two players would be boring I think.\n\nI played this with kids ages 10 - 14 and they all enjoyed it.\n\nSome of the tougher words would be difficult for non-adults to delivery or guess, as they wouldn't know the references. Even for adults they would be difficult. . .try and describe the concept of \"nightmare\" with a set group of images. It's harder than you think.\n\nUsing the timer really, really helped!!\n\nLUCK is low on this game, which many of us like because we hate getting derailed due to random chance. This game is all about you understanding the clue giver and the clue giver giving good clues.\n\nCOMPONENTS: Nice quality and durable. But mini-blocks are very small and easily roll off the table as they slip through one's fingers. A bit of texture would help these blocks not be so slippery.\n\nI forgot to show in the video that our set came with four(4) clue cards that tell you what the symbols on the board reference. This is a MUST have component. At least they are sturdy enough to last a while.\n\nOVERALL: Now that we know how to play, it's doable in a 30-minutes.\n\nNOTE:\nIf you have a suggestion / question / or did NOT find this review helpful, leave me a comment! I'm more than happy to respond to the comment and/or update this review to make it more helpful.\n\nIf you found this review helpful please vote. Thank you!","Product: Expand your Collection Instantly.The Deck Builder's Toolkit puts 285 cards at your disposal, with everything you need to create multiple decks. No two toolkits are alike.Each Box Contains:- 125 semi-randomized cards suitable for building several different Magic decks.- Four 15-card booster packs from a variety of recent Magic: The Gathering sets- 100 basic land cards to help you cast your spells- Deck builder's guide with tips about building the best Magic Decks- Magic Rules Reference Card.- Full-art reusable card storage box.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Nice foundation for that series, but only buy one unless you really like the cards and want some duplicates\n\nReview: My son and I both bought one toolkit for each of us. Sure enough buying two gives you now a 2nd, 3rd or 4th of some of the cards provided from the Deckbuilder. That isn't a bad thing because there are some respectable cards, even commons, provided in this set. Thus having multiples allows for more chance of filling a deck with multiples of a good card.\n\nMath-wise here is how I value this purchase (NOTE: I could be full of it here, but in my limited knowledge it works for me):\n1. I paid $18.30 total, including tax and shipping.\n2. This box includes four booster packs (1 Nix, 2 Born of the Gods and 1 Core 2015) @ $3 per booster to get 4 rares at least = using $12 of the $18. Not bad.\n\nSo what more do I get for the remaining $6.\n3. The toolkit itself provides are at least one Mythic and several rares.\n4. My boosters gave me another Mythic, which is a bonus!\n5. The box holds a good number of cards\n6. You can always use some new black border land\n\nSo for me, this toolkit was totally worth it!!\n\nNOTE: Just by itself you cannot make an \"very good\" deck, but you can have enough variety of colors and types of cards you could put a basic deck or two together and play. I added in 9 more various booster packs and had a much better variety of card to build decks with.\n\nA couple of youtube videos will always tell you that if you know what cards you want, buy the individual cards and build your deck. You will always get more for your money and zero junk.\n\nThat may be true. But for those of us returning to the game (15yr hiatus) or new to the game or without much of a collection of cards, this is a great place to start building your own decks.\n\nValue-wise I think it's worth it. . .at least for me.","Product: From the first Stetson hat to the unveiling of the first iPad, America's history and its popular culture have gone hand in hand. See if you can remember when the Red Sox traded Babe Ruth, or when Lindbergh crossed the Atlantic. American popular history was never this much fun! Timeline: Americana takes the players through a historical tour of the popular history of the country. Each player has a hand of cards and they take turns placing those cards correctly into the growing timeline. Guess correctly to get rid of all your cards and win the game!\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Not an expansion I would pick. I like other expansions better.\n\nReview: Quick Guide to game:\n\n1. First everyone gets four cards with the date face down so no one can read the date.\n2. One card is put in the middle and that is the starting card, with the date exposed.\n3. Going around each player plays a card before or after the date of the starting card. If they are correct, they leave their card as part of the timeline. If they are incorrect, they discard their card and draw another card.\n4. Next person then tries to place a card on the timeline before or after one of the existing cards in the timeline, and so forth.\n5. First player to get rid of all their cards wins.\n\nPROS:\n+ The initial \"Wow!\" is that you don't realize when things occurred in history.\n+ Nice artwork on the cards\n+ Overall a good, not great, warm up game before playing some \"real\" strategy games. This game is complete guesswork unless you know the trivia dates.\n+ Less than $10 is perfect for a game\n\nCONS:\n- We actually liked the Americana overall less than <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Timeline/dp/B005N57CNU/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Timeline</a>, the original game. The original had things like first writings, the rubber band and penicillin. This one has things like \"For Whom the Bell Tolls\", Joe DiMaggio's 56 Game Hitting Spree, and Barbie's First appearance. Americana = American culture.\n- Cards are tiny. As the timeline grows it's difficult to see across the table at the other dates.\n- If you play through the set a good 10-20 games, then you start to recognize the cards and remember their dates.\n- Timeline can get pretty long and need space or break apart into multiple rows\n\nOverall:\nI like the other expansions and original game better than Americana. This is a subjective thing, since I personally don't care about Barbie or DiMaggio, but find things like pyramids and the first CD-ROM to be more interesting and educational. I think there will be some out there that will know these modern facts better and thus do better with the game. Because face it, we all like winning at games and tend to want to play games we can win at. I'm terrible at American culture stuff and that is probably why I don't like this game in the series. But I gave it a three-stars as I think there is an audience out there for it and the overall game mechanics are easy for non-gamers.","Product: Tash-kalar: arena of legends is a game played by Masters Of magic. Two to four summoners encounter each other in the tash-kalar arena, either in teams or each on his own, and prove their skill and strategy in a short but intense battle. By clever deployment of their minions, they create magic patterns for summoning powerful beings, and then use those to destroy their opponent's forces or to prepare patterns for the ultimate legendary beings.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: A \"not for everyone\" Award-winning abstract game\n\nReview: We have owned over 300 games in the last two years, so we've played lots of different games with our family of six. This feels more of a niche game, in that some will love it and some will not. Apparently this is the 2nd edition by CGE, no Z-MAN labels on this box.\n\nCOMPONENTS:\nCards are standard cards.\nPlayer boards are good enough.\nThe main game board is thin, compared to other main game boards, which is where the most of the component complaints stem from.\nBox has a very, very lame attempt at providing organization with fails on many levels. It almost would have been better if they simply provided a couple of Ziploc bags for the cards and left it at that.\n\nART:\nSome great art (see pics)\nI wonder if this game is rated 13+ because some risque art on the druids (see pic), which some parents will not appreciate as it isn't necessary.\n\nGAMEPLAY:\nGameplay reminds me of baby happening between two other games: Onitama and The Rose King. Another poster on BoardGameGeek suggested this is a marriage between Go meets Command and Colors. Even with these similarities, this is a unique game!!\n\nYou're watching and building patterns so you can play actions. Depending on the monster or flare card you have, you can only \"move\" or place a piece that matches the pattern. Each card potentially has a special ability once you take an action or place it. Then the \"summoned creature\" is gone and you are left with a pattern on the ground that is no more an actual creature, but rather a setup for future patterns. . .if your pattern survives till your next turn or two.\n\nLUCK / STRATEGY:\nThis is an abstract game, which is where I think players will love it or not love it.\n\nFor instance, one of my teenagers hates this game (yes, I realize hate is a strong word choice) because he cannot strategize. By the time his turn comes around the board could be wiped completely out and all the work he's been doing is gone or its changed in such a dramatic way that all his work up to that point has been for naught. Thus it feels to him like you cannot do anything until your turn and then it's random what you're left with. He hates random as a central mechanic.\n\nThe rest of us don't have as strong of negative feelings as he does, but I see his point as I too like to be able to strategize my way to a win vs. no point in participating in the game until its my turn again.\n\nTHEME:\nIf it wasn't for the pattern layouts on the cards, I'd say theme was a HUGE stretch in this abstract game. Simply because it's an abstract game, makes theme more difficult. But, the pattern layouts match the monsters, which is a cool element.\n\nSo, it isn't non-existent but it isn't one of the stronger themed games either.\nFrom same designer, Galaxy Trucker, Dungeon Lords and Space Alert dripped with theme (I use to own them). Unfortunately this one doesn't meet those standards.\n\nPLAYERS:\nThis can go up to a 4-player game, but then the board is too small and you're left with a very frustrating game for some because the Luck element is even higher. This game does play better with 2-players.\n\nCOST:\nFor $30 at the time of this cost, seems fine, considering 1 game board, 4 player boards and a stack or two of cards and tokens. Also, unlike games like TIME Stories or any Legacy games that have basically one playthrough, you can get a randomized gameplay out of this a few times. I think the intent is to purchase expansion cards to add variety later.\n\nOVERALL:\nSince we own/owned so many games we find there are other 2-player games we'd rather play (e.g. Onitama or Hive, which are also 2-player abstract games). But that is us. This may very well scratch an itch for others, whether you are a fan of the designer or not. I'm looking forward to trying his other games, but for us, this one is okay.\n\nIt did win the Gold Geek Abstract game of 2013 and nominated for best 2-player game of 2013. Thus, this could be an encouragement for some to check it out.","Product: The latest and greatest version of the card Game with ever changing rules! Easier than ever with just the four Classic card types that we all know and love. You still start out Simple: draw one card and play one card, changing the rules as you go, while collecting up such life essentials as chocolate, music, time, and cookies. Changing goals will keep you on your toes as well, and action cards are still shaking things up! Fluxx 5.0 was designed to be the perfect intro to the Flux system, while also building on all of the improvements we've made in this essential themed version over the years. We've gone back to a creeper-free version to make it more accessible to new players, while adding some new rules, goals and actions that have tested well in other recent versions.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Varied reactions from different types of players\n\nReview: This is an ever changing rules game where you are trying to accomplish a mission/goal card.\n\nI've played this with different types of gamers and non-gamers alike.\n\n+ The biggest attraction to the game is you never know what's coming.\nYou start down a path to reach your goal only to have the rules changed by a competitor and now your totally in trouble or you hope a different goal card comes into play.\n\n+ The ever changing element keeps players engaged so everyone knows what's happening next. Because everyone is forced to stay engaged on some level, there are no lulls where you are waiting for your turn to come around, because by the time your turn does come around the rules could have changed two or three times.\n\n- Played this with some senior citizens and they couldn't keep up with all the rule changes.\n\n- Played this with some non-gamers and they were confused by all the changing rules\n\n- Played with some gamers and what frustrated us is that you cannot have a strategy.\nThe fact that at any second things will be completely different means it's really a game of chance/luck on what cards you get in your hand. Also, it's not like in Uno where you can realize the final Draw 4 was played, so now you're safe to try and play your cards with a particular strategy knowing the worse that can happen is you'll get a Draw 2. Here, there are just too many different kinds of cards to see an opportunity to win and develop any strategy to play your final cards to gain victory.\n\n- Our cards seem really cheap. We've played only about a dozen times and the edges are fraying and they just don't seem to be holding up under light use.\n\n+ The cards are easy to read with graphics and text to explain what is going on.\n\nOVERALL: The competitive players didn't like the game being so much focused on random chance.\nThe analytical, logical personalities kept getting frustrated because the constant changing rules were too many and too varied to enjoy.\nThe one or two times I had a group who just didn't care, they seemed to have the most \"fun\" while letting the game itself fall into the backdrop of their conversation.","Product: In Arcadia Quest, players lead guilds of intrepid heroes on an epic campaign to dethrone the vampire lord and reclaim the mighty Arcadia for their own. But only one guild may lead in the end, so players must battle against each other as well as against the monstrous occupying forces. Arcadia Quest is a campaign-based game for 2 to 4 players, where each player controls a guild of three unique heroes, facing off against the other players and the various monsters controlled by the game. Players need to accomplish a series of quests in order to win each scenario and choose where to go next in the campaign. Players are able to choose the path their campaign takes, navigating through six out of eleven available scenarios, so each time the campaign is played it can have a different configuration of scenarios. As the campaign progresses, the heroes are able to acquire new weapons, equipment and abilities that give them powerful options to tackle the obstacles ahead. Furthermore, by fulfilling specific quests in a scenario, players unlock exclusive features in subsequent scenarios.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: I cannot decide between 4-star or 4.5-star. Depends on our playing group and who likes dice and who doesn't\n\nReview: We are an active gaming house and have owned and played over 300 modern board/card games in the last couple of years. What caught our interest on this one (other than all the youtube reviews said it was \"fun!\") is the fact that there is a mechanic not found in many games.\n\n+ PVP and re-spawning\nThis game has pvp (player vs. player) and respawning, just like video games. You may die, but you may kill others multiple times in one session. The game quests actually encourage this aspect for most scenarios.\n\n+ Components\nLike everything we've tried from CMON so far, the components are fantastic. It makes you feel like you're getting your money's worth with the quality of components in this game.\n\n+ Miniatures!\nYes, this is one of the components, but the miniatures have great detail a I've seen some great paint jobs on boardgamegeek.\n\n> This game really needs an organizer.\nOnce you punch the tokens you cannot fit the game back in the box. We had to dump the box the character figures came in, so the bags of tokens had someplace to reside. I found some great foamboard organizers people self-made (which is probably what we'll do), but there are some nice foam organizers a person can buy for almost the same cost as the game. ack!\n\n-- Loss of a star because the LUCK is high in this game!\nEverything comes down to two actions: dice rolling and what items you're team of characters are offered during the upgrade phase of the game. We had a punny, 2-attack goblin roll 8 crits in a row and thus decimated a character with 12 defense dice. Large swings in chance like this were the reason some of our family don't want to play this any longer, since their entire strategy can get derailed with the chance of a dice roll. Also, sometimes you have a ranged caster and no magic items provided in the item upgrade draft. So you go one or more scenarios without any upgrades.\n\n> Leans more toward melee.\nThe chance of rolling ranged attacks is 3 (2 ranged + 1 crit) on a six sided die and melee is 4 (3 swords + 1 crit) on a six sided die. I get it, that ranged have the advantage of hitting from across the map (if unblocked), but it was no joke the number of swords a ranged attacker would roll compared to the roll they needed. This probably goes back more to the luck aspect than the fact that it isn't balanced.\n\n+ Eleven (11) scenarios in the base game and a full \"campaign\" uses 6 of the 11.\nIf you run through a second campaign to play all the scenarios you missed the first time, only the last, final battle is repeated.\nIt took us about 10hrs to get through 6 scenarios (1 campaign).\n\n+ The game scales fine for 2, 3 or 4 player.\nWe had more fun with even numbers as there were more competitors to keep each other busy and less ganging up on one person.\n\n-- We have six in our family and I could not find an expansion for 5 or 6 players. Bummer!\nI guess a second copy of the game and you could add more players, by putting the maps next to each other, but I don't know if that would be recommended.\n\n+ Expansions galore!\nWith all the expansions that are out there, I think I read that there are over 100 playable characters now for this game. So even though the base game starts with 12 characters, there is plenty variety that can be captured through the expansions and characters for sale out there.\n\n> Weak story.\nThis is a action video game not a role-playing adventure story. This may throw some people off.\nThis game is all about combat!\n\n+ Across six scenarios in a campaign, scenario #2 and #3 I almost got no money = no ability to purchase upgrades.\nI was going to hate on this game for what I was assuming, \"if you fall behind early, there is no competing with the others later.\" But I was wrong and I found scenario #4 and #5 worked in my benefit. Thus entering the final battle I was able to compete with other players.\n\n> I'm not sure about the balance of the game.\nWe found we had more success taking all our equipment upgrades and buffing out one main character out of our three, making that one as strong as possible. This left me wondering why do I even bother with a third character when all four of us would only play with one, maybe a second through an entire scenario? I realize the intent is that you buff out your characters evenly, but lack of upgrades because a scenario doesn't go in your favor may mean you can only afford one or two cheap upgrades that barely give one character the advantages of the next scenario which is always more difficult.\n\nOVERALL:\nWe had fun and there were some very memorable battles. After speed playing through a full campaign we are tired and ready for a very different flavor game before we're ready to tackle another campaign. Was it worth the $50 I picked this up for on Amazon? Yes! Did I order some additional characters to add variety? Yes.\nWill we sell this or keep it after another two or three campaigns? Maybe. We feel Imperial Assault has more replayability even though that is mostly combat focused too and has great miniatures. But this has a different, more fun feel and one we are still having a lot of fun with.","Product: Who will rule the South Seas? Two Kahuna ancient sorcerers of the Pacific compete for dominance on an archipelago consisting of twelve small islands. Using their magic and wisdom, they struggle for control of the islands. They anxiously await the cards handed to them by fate. But when the time is right, they move to capture one, two, or even more islands, trying to gain the upper hand. At the mercy of the magical powers of the South Seas, they quickly realize that even the best magic is no good without strategy.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Area control game with high strategy\n\nReview: You and an opponent are sorcerers trying to prove your power by controlling a group of islands. This theme is kind of weak, but that doesn't mean this isn't a fun game.\n\nEach player starts with cards in their hand, but not more than five cards in your hand. On your turn you can play as few or many cards from your hand.\n\nOn your turn:\n1. Play an island card\n2. Place a token to control an island\n3. Remove an opponents bridge(s) from an island by using cards\n4. Draw an island card\n5. Rinse-repeat\n\n6. Round scoring - once the face-down draw pile is depleted then it's time to score the round.\n7. After scoring, play a 2nd and eventually a 3rd round by reshuffling the card pile and going through steps 1-5 all over again.\n\nWhat makes this fun is the power-play moves that allow you to chain control multiple bridge connections and/or islands. Very strategic give and take as you attempt to give and take control. You don't want to take an island too soon, but not too late too. Thus very strategic and requiring you to know when to counter moves by the opponent and break their control.\n\nQuick game. Short sessions. You really never know who is going to win as it's balanced fairly.\n\nTrue the box, theme and having sticks and circles makes it vague of what this game is about, but don't let that deter you...this is a fun game with good quality components.","Product: Smaug The Dragon is enraged that his slumber and treasure have been disturbed. It's up to you to locate the missing Arkenstone while avoiding Smaug's vicious attacks. This is a game of risk, deduction, and luck for 2-4 players. Use your allies and wits to avoid Smaug each round. Find the Arkenstone and claim victory in a new spin on classic Love Letter! Features an all-new 0-value The One Ring card, and a new twist on the 3-value card featuring Legolas and Tauriel. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is a joint release from Cryptozoic Entertainment and Alderac Entertainment Group! The Boxed Version Contains: 17 Game Cards, 4 Reference Cards, 13 Arkenstone Tokens, 1 Rulebook.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Light on the theme, but good quick game\n\nReview: Players: 2 to 4\nAge: I'd say 8+ (really easy to teach and strategy is light)\nDuration: Each round is as quick as 1min up to 7min. There are 13 treasures to collect, so around 30-minutes for a full game.\n\nI recently reviewed <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Game-of-Thrones-Intrigue/dp/1616617705/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Game of Thrones: Intrigue</a> and found that game to be very light on strategy and theme.\nThis game is a step up from that, with a bit more strategy, but on many levels it is very similar.\n\nTHEME: The fact that there are a ton of Love Letter versions, means that what matters with the cards is the number on the card and the action text...it doesn't matter if there are pictures of hobbits or spaceships or spies. Thus theme is very light or non-existent.\n\nSTRATEGY: I like how this has some strategy involved as you try and figure out what cards are on the table and what your opponent may have in their hand. Trying to outwit your opponent and get them before they get you is the core of this game. The strategy is light, but there's enough there to make this fun.\n\nGAMER LEVEL: Total beginner can pick this up fast.\nThe game is easy:\n1. Shuffle the deck and put one card aside face down.\n2. Depending on the number of players pull more cards out of the deck and place these to the side, face-up\n3. Players each take a card to start, then with first player, he/she take another card and add that to their hand\n4. That same player plays a card from their hand face-up in front of them and performs the actions\n5. Once the draw pile is empty or all but one player is eliminated, person with highest value of cards in their hand win that round and get a treasure token\n6. Rinse and repeat till all treasure tokens have been claimed\n\nCOMPONENTS: The quality of cards are really nice. Even though I'm not a huge fan of images from the movie/tv, the colored borders make the cards feel more like artwork. The treasures are nice plastic gems. The quality and compactness of this set is where it should be.\n\nOVERALL: I like this game better than the Game of Thrones Intrigue in Westeros designed by Reiner Knizia (he is an awesome game designer!). It's quick and I can play with non-players and throw it in my bag and carry it with me easily. Great warm up game before you play something 'better' or with more meat and duration or good just while shooting the breeze with friends and killing some time.","Product: Loony quest is the European hit family game of frantic trail chasing through a map of devious dangers. Heavily inspired from video games, each player in loony quest attempts to trace a path through a level on their own transparent sheet, dodging obstacles and achieving objectives as best they can. At the end of the second round, each player places their sheet over the level to see how it matches up with the various paths through the level. Based on whether or not they successfully hit objectives or run into the crazy creatures and treacherous traps determines how much experience each player receives. Whoever obtains the most experience at the end of the game is crowned King of arkadia!\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Not a popular view on this game\n\nReview: We own no less than 120 board and card games (not counting expansions) and that is just counting the games we've kept over the years not the 50-100 we tried and sold/donated. In other words we are board game-philes. We far prefer board games to video games in our household.\n\nEven with numbers that high, we have very few dexterity games, which this is one of them.\n\nLONG STORY, SHORT:\nWe got a little hung up on the confusing instructions, which made the first couple of games longer than desired.\nAlso, my youngest of 4 kids is now 12 years old. Even when playing with visiting friends, this was not a great crowd pleaser and we suspect it is because this is better suited for younger kids.\n\nLONGER STORY...\n\nCOMPONENTS:\nThe components are actually pretty great. I have no complaints about the quality of any of the pieces.\nNOTE: The box itself is part of the game, so you need to be careful with the box, because we all know how corners tend to split over time.\n\nEASE of Learning:\nAs mentioned the instructions were a bit confusing. Until we went and watched some youtube videos the way the manual is organized and explained wasn't clicking with the three older folks in the group.\n\nREPLAYABILITY:\nActually this part is pretty high, even after completing a level, because next time you do that level your goal is to get more points or have a clearer path through the maze of obstacles.\n\nAlso, you can start making home rules or mixing up how you play, such as do all puzzles with your non-dominate hand or with one eye covered. . . .the variations could go on. It gets a bit more fun now, because of how silly folks look and how badly they do. So you are celebrating their messing up, which is counter to our culture's recent trend of, \"don't' do anything to hurt fragile self-image of others\" (sorry...soap box tangent). But this is where us masochistic gamers had the most fun with this.\n\nSTRATEGY:\nLow to zero.\n\nLUCK:\nVery High\n\nOVERALL: It has some fun elements and the production of the game is great. For a crowd of ages 12+ it wasn't for us.","Product: Whether you're on the train, in the ski lodge or picnicking in the woods: This compact edition lets you take CATAN everywhere! The space-saving box unfolds to reveal the variable board. Roads, settlements and cities are safe in their locking drawers. Cards are held securely in holder trays. Even the dice, thanks to the practical hex-shaped shaker can't get dropped and lost. CATAN compact is handy, fits easily into your luggage and contains all of the components and fun of the \"big\" CATAN.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: It had promise, but some downsides make this not a favorite.\n\nReview: PROs\n+ You get to play Catan while traveling\n\n+ Perfect size for stuffing in a suitcase and then pulling out at the campsite or even playing in the car while driving\n\n+ Can play with 4-players\n\n+ Well engineered in the sense that everything fits in the travel unit and you can even \"roll dice\" with the dice shaker\n\n+ Pieces lock in place on the board\n\nCONs\n-- No way is this worth $50!!\n\n-- Not great pieces for people with sausage fingers...pieces are too small\n\n-- Not a lot of board variety because they can only go in one of two spots for the most part. Basically the tiles are per-numbered, so the same tiles have to go in certain spots only.\n\n-- I'm getting older so the tiny cards and pieces are getting more difficult to deal with too\n\n-- Not a lot of great rolling on the dice. It could be the shaker is too tight for the die or the squared corners on the die make it so it doesn't roll well within the shaker.\n\n-- Opening and closing the drawers isn't always the easiest process and it's just plastic that I'm afraid I'll break\n\nOVERALL:\nIf we want to play Catan that badly we'll suck it up and bring the full game and wait to play at our destination. It simply wasn't for us.","Product: Spot it! is played with 55 circular cards, each decorated with eight symbols varying in size and orientation. There are more than 50 symbols in all, including random yet universal images of hearts, snowflakes, dragons, and lightning bolts, and even words such as Stop and OK. The aim of the game is to be the first to spot the one symbol in common between two or more cards. Don't be fooled! It's not as simple as it sounds. A match is easily hidden in the array, especially with the pressure of racing frantically against your opponents. The cards change with every match made, so you have to stay focused to keep up. Every match will fuel your fire and agonizing over getting beat to the punch by a faster player only adds to the overall excitement.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Good warm up game for everyone...even non-gamers\n\nReview: We play a lot of games in our home and normally warm up to some \"real\" strategy games by first playing something like <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/For-Sale-Card-Game/dp/B001PQLNY0/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">For Sale Card Game</a> or <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Timeline/dp/B005N57CNU/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Timeline</a>.\n\nThis game is another great warm up game that is super easy to teach and play.\n\nObjective: Match the symbols. That's it!\n\nGame #1 The Tower - pile of cards in middle and each player starts with one(1) card. Go! Match and take card, that being your new play card. Flip next card. Once pile is gone, whoever has the most cards wins.\n\nGame #2 The Well - Each player has a pile of cards and in the middle is one(1) card. Go! Match and put your card on in the middle and that becomes new matching card. First player to get rid of their pile wins.\n\nFor us this was the more fun of the two as it was a bit more fast paced and tension driven as the middle gets a new card and immediately you can play the next card.\n\nGame #3 Hot Potato - Start with one(1) card each and everyone reveals their cards. Go! Match your card with another players, then place your card on top of theirs. After all the rounds are over, the player with the least cards wins.\n\nGame #4 The Poisoned Gift - Start with one(1) card for each player and the stack in the middle. Go! Match the middle with another player's card and then give the middle card to that player. Once middle stack is exhausted the player with the least amount of cards wins.\n\nWith each of the four game types above, there is also \"tournament\" scoring you can use, allowing you to make this last longer and give other players a chance to catch up in points and win the tournament.\n\nOVERALL:\nEasy to teach.\nEasy to learn.\nFast paced.\nPlayers are always making mistakes, which makes it fun to catch them in the act.\nFor 2-8 players, which is nice it's more than the standard 4 player games.\nGames last 10-minutes max and then it's up to you how many rounds you want to play.\n\nVery good warm up game before we break out some of our family favorites like, Ticket To Ride or 7 Wonders\n\nNOTE:\nIf you have a suggestion / question / or did NOT find this review helpful, leave me a comment! I'm more than happy to respond to the comment and/or update this review to make it more helpful.\n\nIf you found this review helpful please vote. Thank you!","Product: Launch an expedition to Mars in Mission: Red Planet, the steampunk-themed board game of planetary exploration designed by Bruno Cathala and Bruno Faidutti. As the leaders of ruthless Victorian-era mining corporations, two to six players compete to occupy Mars and harvest the planet's priceless mineral ores and ice. You need to cleverly utilize the talents of nine wily characters who can lead your exploration of Mars and sabotage your competition. This new edition of an acclaimed game incorporates revisions by the original designers and features all- new graphic design.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Simple; great theme and good depth of strategy game\n\nReview: The concept is that the players are in Victorian steampunk days, racing to control the resources of Mars. This is a game based on rounds and victory points. Victory points are awarded for collecting resources and completing missions. Discovery and Action cards can really help or mess things up for a player or set of players. This game for 2 to 6 players takes us about 45-minutes after the first couple of games for learning how to play.\n\n==============\n\nPic #1 = The game unboxed. Figures and cards came with their own bag, but you have to get your own bag for the cardboard tokens that are punched out (items on the left of the picture).\n\nPic #2 = tokens punched out. The larger pieces in the right corner of the picture is the actual game board, allowing the four quarters to make up a round planet map. The putting together of puzzle pieces actually works and our board was flat. The tokens are all double-sided print, though one side may be only useable, the other side is still decorated. Nice touch and adds to the game feeling more complete with everything being printed and colored.\n\nPic #3 = Every player gets a bag of little settler guys. Image of the front and back of one of these little dudes. They are cute and enough detail to be enjoyable. The plastic is sturdy and the flags don't look like they will break off or anything.\n\nPic #4 = The cards and artwork. The artwork is steampunk cartoon, but it's great art with vibrant colors. Every player gets the same set of 9 cards and it's the order in which you choose to play your cards that allow for variety and never feeling like one person has the full advantage. But you do need to pay attention and plan a round or two ahead, which is what brings a great level of strategy to this game.\n\nPic #5 = The backside of the cards, again showing that everything is printed and great artwork and colors. Little details like this simply add to the thematic immersion. Love it!\n\nPic #6 = Each player's cards are also colored to match their color choice for the game.\n\nPic #7 = The round tracker requires some assembly, but again instead of something being added to the border of the board, we have this 'gear' that counts down the rounds and signifies the current 1st player for some of the round rules. Love the round tracker!\n\nPic #8 = The manual is thin, because there isn't a lot of complexity to this game. The manual is also easy to read and has some flavor art.\n\nPic #9 = We are mid-game with three ships having launched and green player is coming in with lots of reinforcements to settle the planet and only one ship shared by other players.\n\n==============\n\nFINAL THOUGHTS:\n+ Great theme. Though the steampunk may be lost on some players who are unfamiliar with that genre, the landing and settling zones on a planet for resources works for everyone.\n+ Unlike games like Risk where there is no way to catch up to a player once they pull ahead, this game really comes down to the final rounds and anyone can win. We really like that.\n+ Gameplay keeps every player engaged throughout. No one player 'dying' and having to sit out mid-game. No incentive for other players to gang up on a single player and keep 'killing' their settlers. Very well balanced that everyone can have fun.\n+ Easy to teach to non-gamers. Fast for everyone to learn.\n> The only place that we were a bit unclear -- either we missed it in the instructions or we didn't understand the instructions -- was when a production resource is left on a zone, does that get added to the next production phase as extra treasure for the player controlling that zone? We played this way. Hopefully that was correct.\n- packing up the rounded gameboard back in the box was a little hit-n-miss. There was a place for all the other parts, except the gameboard, which we figured just kind of laid on top and then put the box cover over this.\n+ Recommend you plan to play at least 2-3 games, because the first game is always a warm up.\n+ We didn't like the 2-player variant as much. 3-6 players works better for us. Also we have a family of six, so it's perfect for our entire family.\n+ Plenty of replayability as mission cards change and players employee different strategies to gain resources, points and complete missions.\n+ Not a heavy luck game, like with dice games. But anytime players play the Scientist card to draw event cards, this can cause plenty of unexpected turn of events.\n+ Strategy-wise, is is close to games like Puerto Rico, where you may have your plans, but another player's moves interrupt your plans. Thus, great strategy without the complexity of Puerto Rico.\n\nAs a family ranging in ages 11 to 40-someting, we all enjoyed this game a lot.","Product: Welcome to the Bazaar of Istanbul!Hustle and bustle in the bazaar district of Istanbul. As the experienced merchant you are, you now enter into the coffee business! There are 4 new, additional places at which you can trade the tasty bean. For a baksheesh, the guests at the tavern are willing to assist you. Also, at the guild hall, you will find the valuable help you need. Selling precious fabrics, the finest of spices and the freshest of fruits in Istanbul was very good for business. But now the customers at the bazaar have discovered a new delicacy: coffee! As the cunning merchant you are, you sense the fortune you can make by selling the tasty bean. To overcome these new challenges, you will need more help than just that of your assistants. Luckily, for a baksheesh, the guests at the tavern are willing to take a little side job. Also, at the guild hall, you can find the valuable help you need.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Makes sense this should get a 2015 Golden Geek Best Board Game Expansion Nomination\n\nReview: We have owned and played over 300 games in the last two years. We are now at the point where I'm focusing on expansions for my hobby, in order to enhance the games we love and choose to keep.\n\n+ You can find a free PDF version of these rules online\n\n+ Updates the Wainwright and the Caravansary to support the new product flowing through\n\n+ More bonus cards\n\n+ The Mocha system of coffee handling is clean and easy to use\n\n+ The Mocha system is not overpowered, so those wanting to use a \"classic\" strategy can still win, but someone can also leverage the Mocha system to win. We definitely do not feel the added power of coffee takes away, but adds to the game\n\n+ The Roasting Plant is another great tile that adds variety of exchange to get more coffee beans\n\n+ The Baksheesh options (via Tavern) can be frustrating for some but fun for others. You get a \"road block\" you can put down between tiles, forcing others to move around the road block. If I don't like the road block, I can simply take a turn or two or three and take ownership of the road block. I can be very effective!\n\n+ The Guild Hall is a powerful tile. The cards on this tile will use up your entire turn (no moving or other actions), but the cards can be very powerful in pushing a player to an advantage or not. I'll include a screenshot from the manual that shows some of the Guild cards.\n\nOVERALL: We have no reason not to play with this expansion and go back to base game. Even teaching the game to new players isn't too difficult as the mechanics are clear and straightforward without over complicating anything. Yes, you can enjoy many games of the base game without it. But for those of us who have already played through 20+ random tile setups, we were very ready for this expansion, which brought new life into one of our family's favorite games.\n\nTotally worth the purchase!","Product: Shape the historic skyline of New York City in this skyscraper building game. You will take on the role of land developers competing for glory and prestige in the citys financial district as you acquire new land, demolish old buildings, and build up skyscrapers to staggering new heights.This stimulating strategy board game features amazing illustrations from Vincent Dutrait.Skills:Visual PerceptionFocus and AttentionStrategySocial PlayContents:Illustrated Rule BookGame Initiation SheetGame Board5 Character Cards5 Streets of New York Bonus Cards5 Bonus Challenge Cards65 Lot Cards4 Skyscraper Scoring Markers16 Workers4 King Tokens12 Action Cards76 Skyscraper Tiles4 Legendary Skyscraper Tiles\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Another great game to add to our growing game collection\n\nReview: **Update**\nSince getting this game we have purchased Castles of Mad King Ludwig and Suburbia. . .two other building games.\nWe like the different flavor of building games. Thus this game scratches a different itch than the others. Will keep this in our collection.\n\n=================================\n\nWe have a lot of games at our house, but surprisingly few where we 'build' something.\n\nCOMPONENTS:\n+ Good quality that will last. Cards aren't too flimsy and cardboard pieces should hold up under pressure.\n\n+ The board itself is nice and thick and with some gentle packing/unpacking it should last for years.\n\n+ The artwork is great and helps with the theme immersion.\n\nGAMEPLAY:\n+ Our games lasted closer to 45-minutes each time for us. This seems to be the sweet-spot for games these days as my kids don't want to invest in Risk or Diplomacy multi-day match.\n\n+ There is good strategy to use here.\n* We didn't feel like any one player had the upper hand at any single time, though it becomes obvious who is winning a the sessions progress. *Trying to thwart the building mogul player is half the fun.\n* The use of cards and when to use them is a big part of the strategy and they all work. It's not like I was bummed I got a certain card, again.\n\n+ Game rules are not overly complex and easy to teach to new gamers, which is a big reason why the age on this is 8+. It's simple and straight forward.\n\n+ We like victory point games, as power and position can change very easily, so everyone has a chance. It's your buildings that give you different victory points.\n\n+ There are some 'quick game' rules that work very nicely to dive in and get a flavor for the game. The full rule set is perfect for the player ready to take it up a notch and add a little bit -- not much -- but noticeably more depth than the quick game.\n\n+ The cards are smaller than normal poker cards, but that is okay, they don't need to be that large. The use of artwork with some numbers, is the primary way the cards communicate what they do or their value.\n\n+ Really like that each player is limited to only 4 'claim' figures. This way a single player cannot dominate an entire block by claiming it without building on it at some time.\n\n+ The simple mechanic that you are 'demolishing' buildings is fun in itself. You do this to upgrade an old building to a newer building\n\n+ There is still a small luck piece...small...but it's there and driven by the randomness of whichever cards you draw. But almost every card is useful in its way, so luck or not, there is something to use.\n\nOVERALL:\nThe more you play the better you'll figure out what strategies may or may not work for you. We are huge fans of Ticket To Ride and 7 Wonders...also victory point games. This is a perfect addition and different enough to those games to become one of our family favorites over time.\n\nIf you too are a Ticket to Ride fan, you shouldn't have any problem liking this game. Highly recommend.","Product: The most notorious vampire of all rises again in this third edition of Fury of Dracula, a board game of deduction and gothic horror based on Bram Stoker's classic novel. One player takes control of the legendary Count Dracula as he stealthily crosses Victorian-era Europe, spreading his diabolical vampirism everywhere he goes. Up to four other players govern Mina Harker and her determined companions as they try to locate and destroy the fiendish Count before he plunges Europe into horrific darkness. But in this heated game of cat and mouse, the hunted prey may also be preying on his hunters. Any day's travel might bring the hunters to Dracula's location. On any night the Count may attack. This edition features all-new art and graphic design crafted to complement the game's intuitive, thematic mechanics. Rounds are now broken into day and night: hunters take actions during both, but Dracula can only act at night. Combat is now more streamlined and decisive, and new rumor tokens allow Dracula to mislead hunters and extend the terrible reach of his influence. Count Dracula triumphs if he advances his influence track to thirteen; if the hunters can defeat him before then, they save the continent of Europe and win the game.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: 3rd edition works great for our family!\n\nReview: I never played 2nd edition and have no idea what it looks like. I did go to BoardGameGeek dot com and check out some images they had. I like this version better in some ways based strictly on the images.\n\n===================\nFury of Dracula Third Edition\n\nThe Goal: Player playing Dracula is trying to cause trouble and stay away from the hunters, until he gets his influence high enough.\nOpposition/Heroes are trying to defeat Dracula and his minions.\n\nGameplay: all other players vs one (Dracula)\nPlayers: 2-5\nAges: 14+\nDuration: 120-180 minutes. Ack!\n===================\nPic #1 = Unboxing the game. Large game board, character cards, combat and event cards and plenty of tokens\n\nPic #2 = Character cards with character specific abilities and great artwork\n\nPic #3 = Large stack of cards. Here I'm showing the surprise cards that Dracula can leave for the hunters. The artwork may be a little gruesome for younger players, but that is partly why this is rated ages 14+.\n\nPic #4 = Tokens are your standard cardboard tokens to punch out. They are colored on both sides. One large bag is provided for Dracula's map card and the character cards. There is plenty of room to add the tokens too.\n\nPic #5 = Unpainted figures. Solid plastic. I saw some of the paining that others have done on boardgamegeek and it would add another level if you take the time to decorate these. Otherwise they work just fine and the little details are appreciated.\n\n===================\nCOMPONENTS:\n\n+ Figures = A nice solid, hard plastic that come non-painted, but you could easily paint these. Enough detail to give you some edges and grooves to work with.\n\n+ Board = First off, this is not your standard four-tile board, but a six-part board. It's big and nice!\nNice board, but some may find the colors are a bit muted and you don't see clear region breaks to know where each region is unless you read the labels carefully. I personally like this board better than 2nd, especially trying to see the train routes.\n\n+ Cards = Good cards with great art. Again, I think the art is much better and more detailed than 2nd ed, though there are some gruesome scenes on some of the cards. Younger kids may not do well with some of the images.\n\n===================\n\nDRACULA:\n+ Surprise Cards = events and obstacles that can hinder and delay the hunters.\n\n+ Movement = Dracula moves secretly and has a mini-board he references for where he is moving.\nHe uses cards with areas that match the board. The players never know exactly where Dracula is, but they see him moving because they see the cards. There are also sea locations with blue on the back of the cards, so players will know he's traveling by sea, but not exactly where he's at still. Dracula does not use the railroad lines, that is reserved for the hunters movement.\n\n+ Influence = there is a track on in the top right corner of the board. If Dracula gets 13 influence he wins the game. Dracula gains influence by helping his vampires, killing hunters, and after a certain amount of time, he simply gets influence each day.\n\nNext to the influence track is a time track...as the token moves around the time track Despair tokens are replacing the face of the 'clock'. Once there is enough Despair the Dracula starts gaining influence even quicker.\n\nHUNTERS:\n\n+ Each hunter starts off with a character card and a list of special abilities. Each character is nice and uique from the others, with none feeling useless.\n\n+ Movement = hunters are using the railroad lines and even collecting tickets so they can more rapidly travel via railroads.\n\n+ Arriving in a city, will reveal any of Dracula's surprise cards, such as a creature that now the hunter has to fight. If the hunter arrives in the spot that Dracula is at, they have to fight him! This is almost like elements of Scotland Yard, where the criminal is running around the city and the detectives are trying to corner him and chase him down.\n\n+ Turn actions:\n1. Travel\n2. Draw supply cards (how you get stuff like a Rifle or garlic)\n3. Draw an event card. Most of the cards are good for hunters, but not all.\n4. Trade items.\n\n===================\n\nCOMBAT:\n\nSomething you don't get in Scotland Yard or Mister X is the ability to fight the hordes or Dracula himself.\n\nWhen hunters finds a sub-vampires or Dracula, they fight (or try and run/escape). There are three primary combat cards of Punch, Dodge or Escape. There are other cards such as Rifle or Garlic, that can help the hunter during combat. The hunter has to pick cards from those they've collected to that point.\n\nDracula on the other hand has an entire deck by which to perform combat!! True, he doesn't have access to all his cards at once and his cards never change. . .and. . .he can only do certain actions, depending on how much Despair is in play.\n\nThe combat requires playing cards face down, then flipping them over (hunter cards vs Dracula cards) and matching symbols on cards. One card possibly negating the other, then following the instructions on the card. Combat is like playing rock-paper-scisors (determination combat) and only last 6-rounds or if one of the others escapes.\n\nNo random dice luck thing here. It's straight up this card beats that card, etc. People in our family LOVE how there is no randomness, such as in Risk and the one country with the one defender is able to hold off a horde of invaders based on how poorly the invaders roll dice. Not here. We like it.\n\n===================\n\nFINAL THOUGHTS:\n+ We did not always play with 5 players, but at times we let someone play multiple hunters. Like Scotland Yard, it is a bit easier to have all the detectives/hunters on the board chasing Dracula, otherwise it seems it may be a bit too easy for Dracula with less hunters on the board.\n\n+ I like how fighting Dracula during the day gives the hunters an advantage...Dracula should be hampered somehow if fighting during the day and they do it well in this game. Nice! But even with this, the game is pretty balanced for either the hunters or for Dracula.\n\n+ Easy enough for non-players to learn. But it is a more beefed-up, hide and chase type game for the gamers out there.\n\n> Duration is closer to 2hrs, but that could still be long for non-gamers.\nFor our family, we like 1hr or less games. . .though a Ticket To Ride session is always in our rotation. We like this too and it's right at the border for being too long.\n\n+ We are BIG (not huge) fans of Scotland Yard/Mister X games and now we have the 'extended version movie' of those games with this game. This has so much more features and complexity without being overly complex that it feels like a main course meal type of game, not an appetizer or dessert game (to use a food analogy).\n\n+ Scotland Yard ranges in price from $25 to $35 depending which manufacturer you are buying from. Still at a cost of $45 for 2 to 3hours of play, and lots of replayability, is very average pricing for this type of game and still much more affordable than video game that is over and done in a week. You can come back to this many times over and have plenty of fun.\n\nOur family of six, ranging from ages 11 to 40-something really like this game.\nI have no suggestions for improvement or critical elements. It is a solid game and we love it.","Product: Welcome to Terrinoth, adventurer! Rune bound is a fantasy adventure board game for two to four players, inviting you to play as one of six heroes wandering the realm and taking whatever quests you may encounter. But all is not well in the realm: evil is awakening once more in the form of Margate the Dragon lord or the Corpse King, Rakesh. Only you and your rival heroes stand a chance of stopping this threat before all Terrinoth is consumed in darkness. Two distinct scenarios give shape to your adventures in Terrinoth, challenging you to battle undead or outwit a dragon, even as you explore lost ruins and forgotten forests and take on quests across the realm. New adventure cards and story cards for each scenario make every game unique, alongside the ability to customize your hero with over one-hundred different skills and assets. Whether you play as a mage bristling with spells or a powerful warrior, every game of Rune bound invites you to experience an incomparable adventure. Take your first steps into the world of Terrinoth!\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Kid didn't like 2nd edition too much, but like the changes here\n\nReview: When I asked my kids about their thoughts on 2nd Edition sitting in our closet they all said: \"It was just a bunch of running around the board, wasting time.\" Well, this edition still has you running around the board, but the running is quicker it seems and there are plenty of things to provide action in between travel.\n\nNOTE: This is a competitive game, not a co-op game. No party adventuring here.\n\n===========================\nRunebound Third Edition\nThe Goal: Use game mechanics to weaken the final boss, then kill the final boss. Small side-quests along the way to level your characters.\nGameplay: Competitive...not co-op!\nPlayers: 2-4\nDuration: 180-240 minutes. Ack!\n\n===========================\nPic #1 = game unboxed. Standard 4-tile map that unfolds, along with counters, cards, player figures and instruction manuals\n\nPic #2 = Card had good artwork and color on both sides. Nice touch!\n\nPic # 3 = Character cards give you needed information and have nice artwork. Tracking what your character can or cannot do is easy.\n\nPic #4 = More cards, color coded on one side and again nice color artwork on the other.\n\nPic #5 = Dice need to be assembled. Here are the black cubes with the provided stickers. I talk more about the dice below.\n\nPic #6 = Tokens to be punched out. Bags are provided for cards and characters, but not for the tokens. You'll need to get your own zip-lock bag for these. Standard good quality cardboard. You'll be handling these a lot!\n\nPic #7 = Nice detailed figures. Gives you good amount of detail to work with if you decide to paint the figures. Love 'em.\n\nPic # 8 = Nice board. The colors are all your standard greens and browns for different terrain, with some blues for water and purples for mountains. It is a nice board.\n\nPic #9 = lots of details in a single hex on the board at times.\n\n===========================\nCHARACTERS\n+ Varied with stats & attributes (i.e. movement, max hp, strength, perception, etc.)\n+ story blurb on the character card\n+ each starts off with a specific number of tokens (tokens used during your adventures)\n+ character cards also tells your character's starting area\n+ Game starts with six figures for each of the six characters. Nice detailed, non-painted figures.\n\nYour character cannot be killed! But temporarily disabled until you heal back up.\n\nThere are various character tests, such as test your strength. Then you flip over cards and if the symbol matches your character's symbol, then you were successful.\n\nSIDE BOARD:\nSide of the board has the timetrack.\nIt does what you think it does. . .keeps track of the rounds. As the timetrack progresses, some spots have icons that match story cards, which you flip depending which boss you're fighting.\nWhen the round gets down to Act 2 (one time through trackboard and now starting the track again), this is bad news. So best goal is to win before getting through the first track...then things get really hard if you are into Act 2.\n\nCITIES:\nThere are four different cities and this is where your characters go to the market to get equipment and other things ()asset cards) to help you battle the bad guys.\n\nYou can normally only have one weapon, one movement piece, armor and these asset cards of course help boost your character, but they cost your character money. You can even sell goods back-and-forth between areas, build up gold and afford better assets.\n\nThe market activities take one or more of your action points.\n\nDICE:\nThe custom dice are terrain dice. You can choose to use action items to move to a specific terrain based on what you role. This is how you move around the board between locations. If you start off on a road, you can move much faster, but it still uses up one of your precious action points.\n\nRESTING:\nThis is how you get hit points back. Also takes an action point.\n\nTRAIN:\nFocuses on adding cards to your hand, and you will draw and discard cards in order to better round out your character with those skill cards. You can use skill cards to 'exert' yourself by discarding a skill card and re-roll a die or ability. The skill cards have icons on which trophies you need to discard to learn that skill. So you'll earn trophies throughout the game and this is good, because then you can 'level' attributes/skills of your character by spending trophies to apply your in hand skill cards.\n\nTOKENS:\nYou are 'casting' your tokens, which is shake and drop them. They are basically heads or tails and some additional symbols. Tokens are to your benefit and helps you in combat. You can use tokens to pump up other tokens and thus give you better offense or defense and other types of actions. Tokens will also help weaken the final boss and make it easier to defeat it in the end. Even though rolling tokens at first is strange, the overall combat is very fast with this system, so it totally makes up for the initial strangeness.\n\nADVENTURING:\nThere are multiple types of cards -- such as combat cards, explorer cards, etc --, which is what you want to try and work through depending on your character's specialty. The combat cards for instance will have more baddies for you to defeat. If you are successful on your card, you get trophies and add other cards to your hand. So if your character is a specialist, you can try and focus only on those types of adventure cards and try and succeed that card, and thus build your character up.\n\n===========================\n\nFINAL THOUGHTS:\n> Not a eurogame! Not Ticket to Ride and no meeple or resource management here. Thus if that is your thing, you'll probably not like this.\n\n> It is weird shaking and 'rolling' tokens that don't really roll. But if it was dice, then there are too many random variables versus the token provide specific items you've collected or won. It eventually works for me in the end, but took some getting use to.\n\n+ Like many games of this size it feels overwhelming at first, but it is actually pretty easy to learn at first. If this was co-op it would have another level of difficulty, but since this is a competitive game, it is pretty straight forward that you are looking to beat others and beat the bad guy. I really like co-op games, but I'm totally find with not having that component\n\n+ Everyone -- regardless of the character selected -- all have a chance to win\n\n+ Components are very nice and so is the artwork. The only bummer is the sticker dice, but there is no way around that, so I'm okay with it.\n\n- No benefit to interacting with each other, other than some quest cards have you fight one another. Otherwise, no incentive in the market system to trade with each other, when it's almost better for you to sell an item to the market instead and then hope you get a better item from the market. Forget selling to another player. Feels like a complete solo game because of this and for the time investment, this could turn people off.\n\n+ You do feel like your character is getting better over time\n\n+ You are not part of a typical DND troop heading out together, but this doesn't detract from immersion into the theme and the adventures for your specific character.\n\n> Future scenarios, such as a co-op or other variety will be critical to the future life of this game. I'm actually surprised they didn't make one of the two boss issues as a co-op scenario in this base box.\n\n- Three to four hour game. I'm already tired just thinking about that. Not my favorite part. If ti was closer to two hours for this type of game I'd probably rate it higher. Kids actually avoid games more than an hour unless it's really good. This is a different kind of experience at this length and need a different kind of player...non-gamers may be turned off by the length.\n\n+ House rule: If you can do something like roll dice and take your turn because your actions don't impact anyone else, then use this. The game is already long and speeding things up like this only helps and keeps everyone engaged.","Product: In Mafia de Cuba players take on the roles of henchmen, drivers, thieves and government agents, each trying to take a piece of the pie that the godfather has worked so hard to build. It'll be up to the head of this crime family to determine who they can trust and who has been sticking their fingers into the pot. Up to 12 gangsters can take part in this tense, hilarious bluffing game. Remembering what loot was left when it gets to you will be key if want to get away with ripping off the Don or you can try to catch him in a sting with an FBI or CIA agent. This game proves there's no honor among thieves. CONTENTS: 15 plastic diamonds ,10 character tokens, 2 joker tokens, 1 game box, 1 felt bag, 1 rulebook.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: A bit pricey, but it works as a warm-up to other games\n\nReview: Time: 10-20 minutes\nPlayers: 6 minimum to 12 maximum\nAges: Box says 10+, but if you have a smart, sly 8-year old that works too\n\nOVERVIEW:\nOne player is the Mafia Boss and his stash of items is passing around to the other players, who take turns sneaking an item out of the box. When the remains of the cigar box makes its way around the table back to the boss, he/she can start interrogating the other players in an attempt to properly guess who is loyal or discover who is a thief and thus recover the diamonds missing from the box. There are agent roles (bad for boss) and a driver role.\n\nCOMPONENTS:\n+ Great design of the box. It is gorgeous, albeit it is a cigar box (smoking advertisment?). Also there are two tokens that look like wiskey bottles.\n\n+ The role chips are very heavy and solid!! They could have easily done the role chips on the same thickness and material as a poker chip, but not here...these babies can hurt a person if you threw it at them (not a recommended use of the game).\n\n+ Diamonds and bag are of great size and quality too.\n\nNothing not to like in the packaging and components of this product!!\n\nSTRATEGY:\nHow well the person playing the Mafia Boss at the time can ask tricky questions to catch others in a lie or the truth (yes, you can lie when answering!) then the easier it is for the Boss. There is no apparent time limit on the Boss asking questions.\n\nAlso there is strategy in what you choose to take or not take. Thus a low-Luck game, which our group likes a lot. This is more of a skill of bluffing and deduction than anything.\n\nFUN:\nDepends on if you like bluffing and deduction games.\nFor those that have an aversion to lying, that doesn't mean you cannot tell the truth and still win. When we played with our group of six over the Labor Day weekend, we had some good laughs out of this, since we had a mixed crowed of family and friends, so not everyone knew each other well enough to know if a person was lying or not. Trying to keep a straight face when being interrogated by a practiced questioner was difficult.\n\nCOST:\n$15 to $18 would work for the sparse contents included.\nThe fact that this game is in the $25 to $30 range is insane!!\nFor same price or $5 to $10 more, you can get a LOT more game out of:\n+ <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Ticket-To-Ride/dp/0975277324/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Ticket To Ride</a>\n+ <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/7-Wonders/dp/B0043KJW5M/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">7 Wonders</a>\n+ <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Pandemic-Board-Game/dp/B00A2HD40E/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Pandemic Board Game</a>\n\nSince I can get a lot more game for same or small increase in price, this review lost an additional star.\n\nOVERALL:\nOur mixed group had a good time warming up to playing the other games listed above. We found this a starter game, more than a game we'd play as our primary game for a one(1) to four(4) hour session.\n\nTIP: Put some other items in the box to make noise, so people cannot tell how many diamonds are missing. It will make your experience that much better, especially the larger the group you play with.","Product: Champions of Midgard is a middleweight, Viking-themed, worker placement game with dice rolling in which players are leaders of Viking clans who have traveled to an embattled Viking harbor town to help defend it against the threat of Trolls, drag, and other mythological Norse beasts. By defeating these epic creatures, players gain glory and the favor of the gods. When the game ends, the player who has earned the most glory earns the title of jarl and is recognized as a champion of Midgard!\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: A new addition to my game shelf of almost 200 games!\n\nReview: OVERVIEW:\n8 rounds\nPlace workers during a round and get the action of that spot...just like Lords of Waterdeep (LoWD) or Stone Age\nRandom buildings each game to take actions and/or collect resources\n\nWhere it is different. . .\nYour meeples can be set to go battle. There are land battles and sea battles. Sea battles have a lot more going on and can be more exciting with random events and greater rewards.\n\nIf your meeple takes damage the meeple loses a die for each damage taken.\nIf your meeple wins the battle, then they get the glory points for that monster.\n\nGoal of the game is to get the most glory by the end of the 8th round.\nThere are quest/mission cards that give you bonus points at the end of the game too.\n\nEach player has a character card that gives them a special ability/bonus, just like the lords in LoWD.\n\nCOMPONENTS:\n+ Tiles were nice and sturdy cardboard, with nice artwork.\n> The cards are nice with great artwork. Though for me, some of the colors are all the same muted look, so I had to look more closely at what the card color symbols were at times.\n+ Rulebook is nice and colorful, with clear pictures for buildings, cards, and clear explainations.\n-- No room in box to add much of any expansion parts, if/when an expansion is available. This means that any expansions will require to keep in the expansion box versus merge with this box.\n\nTHEME:\nThis is where the game shines over LoWD in my opinion. Similar mechanics and lots of similar aspects, but this game is so much better at theme than LoWD. After a while in LoWD we were calling wizards as purple cubes and warriors as orange cubes, because it was much easier since all the cards refer to those objects that way visually.\n+ Here I felt like each component was a specific component and not just a color cube. I liked it a lot better.\n\nLUCK:\n+Low luck.\nYes, there is some dice rolling during combat, but that isn't the focus and it's one part of the game. Some who don't like randomness of dice may still get frustrated and not like this component of the game. Whereas LoWD has zero dice rolling, so you know what you are getting into with most decisions.\n\nSTRATEGY:\n+ We find this to be a mid-to-high strategy game.\n> It doesn't feel like it most of the time, but myself and my 18yr old are the most strategic players, which means we tend to win more often. Thus your decisions have definitely gains and consequences and can be unforgiving at times. This means some players may need to not be so competitive with strategy OR choose to help guide other less strategic players, so they can still have a good time too.\n\nBUILDINGS:\nLike Stone Age and LoWD, there are action spots that you claim with one of your meeples.\n+ Thematically the buildings make a lot of sense and are cool, such as seeing the future of a battle encounter.\n\n+ Unlike LoWD, where you need to wait till you get an Intrigue card or wait till round 5 to get additional meeples, you can actually got to a building and pay gold to get your extra meeple. But there are incentives to not be the first to rush out and get that extra meeple right away. I like this building!\n\nCOMBAT:\n+ There are game mechanics that incent players -- in the form of negative points -- to actually fight monsters instead of ignoring monsters\n+ There are public and private ships that can be used for sea battles. There are pros/cons to each.\n+ In some scenarios, if you beat the monster you not only get glory but can assign \"blame\" to another player (negative points). Wow! Ruthless.\n\nEND of ROUND:\nAt end of round monsters are rotated out and some buildings may be restocked and coin incentives are added to other action spots to encourage players to go there next round.\n\nOVERALL:\nEspecially in worker placement games, I like a game where there isn't always a clear winner until the final points are calculated.\nAlso I really like games where even if you feel behind, that doesn't mean you have no chance of winning, as there are tons of ways to get glory points and maybe even win in the end. Thus, there are many strategies to try and win and lots of replayability. . .and it has great theme and excellent components while doing it.\n\nWe still have a place on our shelf for LoWD (a plethora of strategies can be used to win) and Stone Age (more of a gatweway game for new gamers or younger, less experienced players). But we don't feel this replaces either of the two but meets its own audience need and thus we give this one two-thumbs-up!!","Product: Barbie delivers a new twist on hair! With extra long locks -- 9 inches of hair -- and an easy-to-use tool to twist and style with ease, Barbie doll is ready for a new fabulous look created by you! Barbie doll's long, pink and purple streaked hair includes four pieces with colorful beads attached. Snap the beads into the included hair tool, choosing two or three beads, and press the button on the tool to twist the hair in an instant. It's so much fun and adds to creative hairstyling expression! The possibilities are endless. Get even more creative with the included accessories that include a brush, tiara and three barrettes. Decorated with signature details, the wear-and-share hair clips can also be worn by you! Create a fabulous look -- play out a storytelling moment -- then take the hairstyle down, brush out and start again. There are endless ways to style Barbie doll's hair to match the endless stories to be told. Barbie doll is ready for anything in a sparkly pink dress with a detailed statement necklace, ombre bodice, hi-lo skirt, glittery overlay and matching shoes. For even more hair-play fun, collect all of the dolls and pets from the Endless Hair Kingdom (each sold separately, subject to availability) -- the hair tool sold with the Snap N Style Princess Doll works with hair beads across the line. Set includes Barbie doll wearing fashion and accessories, the styling tool, one brush, one tiara and three wear-and-share barrettes. Doll cannot stand alone. Colors and decorations may vary.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Hair braiding tool is so-so; cute doll otherwise\n\nReview: Cute, modest doll. Dress is very nice.\n\nHair device works so-so. Not great. At least there are clips that can be attached to different parts of the hair, it's not like the same 4 colored braids only. But leaving the big clips on the ends makes it kind of a mess of a hairdo.\nTIP: pulse push the button don't hold the button down. Also, put a bit of tension on the tool and don't worry, the hair can handle the tension.\n\nFor nearly the same price my daughter cannot wait till <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Barbie-Spy-Squad-Barbie-Secret-Agent-Doll/dp/B015CCR6TI/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Barbie Spy Squad Barbie Secret Agent Doll</a> arrives instead.\n\nThis doll = no elbow or knee movement. Spy Squad Barbie = the joints move. Too bad this doll is limited by the hair tool and lack of movement.\n\nOVERALL: It's okay. But my daughter's attention is quickly fading on this doll because she can only do so much with it.","Product: Tumble into action with Barbie Secret Agent doll from Barbie Spy Squad and help save the day! In the action-adventure film, Barbie, a world-class gymnast, is recruited to be a world-class secret agent along with her friends Teresa and Renee. The three take their teamwork from the gymnasium to the city -- and around the globe -- to stop an infamous cat burglar in her tracks. Barbie Secret Agent doll is ready for her mission with awesome moves and style. She looks super cool in a sleek purple bodysuit with utility belt and boot details, a removable sparkly pink trench coat and pink shaded sunglasses. When it's time to make a quick escape, plug the included spy gadget (the G.L.I.S.S. gadget from the movie!) into the opening in her back then simply roll into action! As the gadget rolls, Barbie doll performs cartwheels that would win any competition. But twist the gadget and Barbie doll switches to do even more awesome moves -- forward and backward flips, too! Recreate action scenes from the film or spin new spy adventures. Collect all of the characters from Barbie Spy Squad to close any case (each sold separately)! Includes Secret Agent Barbie doll wearing trench coat and sunglasses with rolling spy gadget. Doll cannot stand alone. Colors and decorations may vary.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: One of the better Barbies\n\nReview: After buying a good dozen Barbie dolls, we have certain standards now for the Barbie.\n1. movable joints\n2. easy to share clothes with other dolls\n3. modest\n4. my daughter actually likes to play with the doll\n5. If it has a \"gimmick\", it better work well\n\nWell after getting this one, it rated as follows:\n+ Yes, movable joints. Win! This makes for pretend play so much easier when the doll isn't stuck in a certain pose.\n+ The main \"outer\" outfit does come off and can be used on other dolls.\n> The main \"inner\" outfit cannot be removed! Actually parts of the doll are actually painted purple to match the inner outfit. So if you want to use other clothing from other dolls you really can only (or should only) use long sleeve outfits.\n+ The doll is wonderfully modest and yet has a fun, action-star, spy look about here. We really like the way this doll looks.\n-- The \"gimmick\" of making this action doll tumble works only so-so for us. It does turn the doll, but is overall klunky..easier to just use hand-over-hand and flip, tumble and karate kick manually.\n\nOVERALL:\nMy daughter does really like this doll and has played with it more than a couple of times.","Product: In this highly interactive game of resource management and control, players are royals who grab as many assets as they can within a limited amount of time. Armed with resources like stone, tools, and bread, they seek to gain power and territory by acquiring pastures and erecting castles and statues around the countryside. But if the royals are too greedy and take too much from their subjects, the subjects will revolt and punish their selfish leaders. This is the first game by Klaus Teuber, author of \"The Settlers of Catan,\" created in collaboration with his son, Benjamin Teuber.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: A good euro game\n\nReview: We love boardgames in our house (Over 130 games should attest to that), so we are always open to new games...especially interested in a new game from the designers of Catan.\n\nGAME IDEA:\nPlayers are the Royals. Similar to Galaxy Trucker, players grabbing tiles under a time limit. The tiles are the \"tax\" of goods on the regular folks. But if you are greedy (necessary component of the game) and grab too many of a certain tile, you'll have a \"tumult\" and loose support (which you need to build and spread your influence). This is a Euro game with a real time element thanks to the timer and grabbing tiles. Also, you take your goods and spend them to get the your support (the regular folks) to build statues of you and for you. The person with the most statue tokens on the map wins.\n\nCOMPONENTS:\nThe tiles and boards are quality having good thickness\nThe spinner specifically is a nice touch because they could have done that same action with a die or cards.\nThe castle component is cool.\nArtwork is okay and cartoony; colors are bright and not drab\n\nSTRATEGY:\nThis is a low to mid-level strategy. There is low luck and more strategy and quick thinking needed, which I like.\nThere is strategy in which tiles you'll grab up, which you'll ignore or put back and which you want to take to block someone (a dangerous maneuver).\nAlso, where you build statues can be very strategic. If you know where you are going to try and build statutes, then that also determines what tiles to grab. You can also overpay to build a statute in order to gain additional supporters. The person with the most supporters becomes King/Queen, which allows them to build first and then rinse-repeat. It's all related.\n\nThus, someone could come up from behind and win...if the other players are not careful.\n\nGAMEPLAY\nThis is quick game and took us on average about 30-minutes. Quicker with only 2-players.\n\nFINAL THOUGHTS:\nGreed can come back and bite you, but you must have a bit of greed to do well. This is a unique component one doesn't often see in games. Especially if you grab extra tiles to block other players, then it could come back and bite you big time with some major tumult among your supporters.\n\nWithout the 20sec timer adding the real-time affect, this would be like a traditional Euro game. So I really like the addition of the timer.\n\nIt is a fun little game. Worth checking out.","Product: Control the crowns, control Europe in the Risk Europe game--an exciting game of medieval conquest. The game challenges players to step into the role of a medieval king and rule feudal Europe by building castles, taxing subjects, expanding territories, and engaging in battle. This in-depth game of strategy and conquest offers serious gamers a premium gameplay experience. It features 4 separate armies and 7 unique starting kingdoms, each with its own strengths and abilities, plus Kings Orders cards that play an important role in strategy. The first player to conquer 7 kingdoms wins the game. Hasbro Gaming and all related terms are trademarks of Hasbro.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: The Risk game that is NOT Risk\n\nReview: We too could not believe that a) a risk game that sold for $40 (at the time of this purchase) and b) that it really isn't Risk.\n\nA round consist of several steps:\n1. Pick two card from your hand of command cards and stack them in the order you want to play the cards.\n2. Turn 1 everyone reveals their top card and starting with the first player actions on the card are taken\n3. Continue clockwise around the table everyone taking the action of their card...but no combat even if in a disputed territory with an opponent\n4. Turn 2 everyone reveals and plays their second card and continues clockwise again\n5. Resolve battles (There are up to four stages of battling depending which combination of the four unit types are present for the battle).\n6. Round 1 is over, no rinse-repeat for round 2, etc.\n7. Continue rounds (made up of turns) until someone(s) has attained 7 crowns and held 7 until the end of the round. In the case of a tie, the player with the most money wins; if still tied, the player with the 1st player marker wins.\n\nThis game loses a 1/2 star for requiring 4-players. Even with 4-players, one player could quietly expand and do their thing without ever interacting with another player...the map is that big and/or the actions that contained. This is why the instructions for 2- or 3-player talking about using an AI player for the other armies. It shouldn't be called a variant, but simply you need to do that for a 2- or 3-player game to make it work.\n\nThere is literally no resemblance to Risk in any of these turns, except the Rank 4 fight has some similarities...but you're limited to how many dice the attacker & defender can roll, regardless of how many armies are on the disputed territory.\nThere is a Mission Card variant rule to add some variety to the game.\n\nOur first game of 4-players took 2.5hours as we were learning the game. Subsequent games were close to 90-minutes. Again unlike Risk, this did not take all day to play.\n\nOVERALL:\n4.5-stars for our first few games as we really liked it, but you must have 4-players (real or AI players)","Product: Innistrad is a plane in the Multiverse unlike any other. It's a place where humankind is threatened on all sides by vampires, werewolves, spirits, and ghouls. Twisted, pointed stones called cryptoliths have risen throughout the land and have attracted the attention of those trying to unravel a deeper mystery, for they hold a deep power. As players face off against each other over the cryptoliths fate, that power can tip the scales of battle. The first player or team to achieve their victory condition wins the game. Wizards of the Coast, Magic: The Gathering, Magic, their respective logos, the mana symbols, the Planeswalker symbol, and all character names and their distinctive likenesses are property of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the USA and other countries. Hasbro and all related terms are trademarks of Hasbro.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: A must get for this Arena series!!\n\nReview: Players: 2-4 players (really only 2-player, the 3rd & 4th players are on a team)\nTime: 60 minutes\nAge: Recommended 10+\n\nContents: 5 Planeswalker figures, 4 hero figures, 15 squad figures, 4 dual-sided cardboard terrain boards, 2 glyphs, 20 damage markers, 20-sided die, 8 combat dice, 13 army cards, 48 spell cards, turn marker, 8 counters, 6 1-hex sand tiles, 3 cryptoliths, 3 cryptolith 2-hex sand tiles, and game guide\n\n======================================\n\nOVERVIEW:\nThis is a skirmish game like Heroscape (out of print) by using characters and spells from the Magic The Gathering universe. It's a great merge of the two systems and this Shadows of Innistrad set helps round out the series, making it totally worth getting for lots of fun.\n\nIf you've never played Heroscape or have never played Magic, no worries.\n\nThis is fun game is easy to learn. The majority of the rules really focus on the terrain, movement on that terrain and line-of-sight attacking/defending. Other than that, it's a fun, easy to learn game and this box allows for a good amount of strategy, as there is a some real content in this game.\n\nTHE GAME:\n+ Can be used as a standalone game. As a standalone game, the deckbuilding is better than original, but still limited by itself as you'll play through it about a dozen sessions.\n\n+ Can be used as an expansion and probably should be used as an expansion to this game:\n<a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Magic-The-Gathering-Arena-of-the-Planeswalkers-Game/dp/B00SDJGCRA/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Magic: The Gathering Arena of the Planeswalkers Game</a>\n\nCOST:\n+ The original Arena is less than $20, but it didn't have that much in it, single sided tiles and expansions were slow to come out. Yes, there is yet one other expansion between the original and this one, but I like this one a lot more!\n\nFor around $30, it feels very worth the money. I've had some $30 or $40 games that didn't have a lot of content, but not here. I think the price point is perfect for what you get.\n\nThus for $50 GET BOTH! With both you'll have a great game with plenty of options!!\n\nCOMPONENTS:\n+ The rulebook is very clear and explains more than original rulebook did\n\n+ The terrain tiles boards. Double-sided!! Love it.\n\n+ NEW terrain type: the Road terrain that gives you extra movement. Nice!\n\n+ NEW terrain type: Crytoliths is a 3-d terrain that give you height advantage with some rules. We always like new terrain types and this expands on normal elevation terrain.\n\n+ A few tiles to add elevation and are compatible with Heroscape tiles. So of you have some Heroscape terrain you can combine it into this game and use the rules for that terrain to supplement any of the Arena of the Planeswalker series.\n\n+ The multi-colored planeswalkers seem pretty potent and powerful, more than the previous single colored walkers. Also, one actually can transform into a werewolf. Way cool!\n\n+ A good selection of creatures in the deck to give some variety. This is where the game feels more like an expansion because you can use the creatures from the original game too.\n\n+ Again the cards all have nice artwork.\nKids love it because the spell cards are the same as actual cards from Magic, so they are already familiar with the spells.\n\n+ The figures are solid plastic for the creatures and heroes. The planeswalkers are an upgraded pre-painted plastic figure. All should last a long time and no strange thin pieces that might break off anytime soon.\n\n+ Since we can use Heroscape terrain to supplement this series, my kids are now on the hunt for how they can use their Magic cards to supplement spells in this game. We haven't found anything suggestions. . .yet. . . but they would like more variety of options. Also, since we already have thousands of Magic cards...well...we may have some house rules here soon that really play off the strengths of this game and add in some flavor from the other games we own.\n\nCOMBAT:\nThis is a lower scale than Heroscape, meaning combat is a lot quicker. For us that is a good thing.\nPlus you get the variety of spells from Magic, which adds some control over your character(s), whereas in Heroscape you had your unit and that was that. The quicker combat keeps the play session down to about an hour and faster pace keeps up the excitement and player involvement.\n\nLUCK VS STRATEGY\nThere is dice rolling and you are building a small deck of spells to cast, but the Luck is still pretty LOW.\nWhen combined with original game I feel the strategy jumps up a lot. . .I know I've already mentioned that but it does make a big different. This is the part my kids love about Magic, is finding combinations of cards that work together to make you (the wizard/caster) better than your opponent. Thus Strategy is MEDIUM to HIGH with the added options. This game by itself, the strategy would be MEDIUM simply due to less options.\n\nOVERALL:\nTakes only a fraction of the time to setup as it did with Heroscape, which is the only reason my kids don't play Heroscape more often (we have all the old Heroscape because it is a great game). Does NOT require \"pay-to-win\" advantages like Magic cards (my kids have thousands of cards and Magic is still their favorite game of all time). What I mean by pay-to-win, is if you have enough money you can buy the \"best / better\" cards and thus win against others when playing Magic the card game.\n\nThus, this game sets an even playing field while still having an interactive, 3-D battle game that has the best of both Heroscape and Magic. We love it in our house!","Product: England, 15th Century - On one side, the House of York, with its heraldic badge featuring a single, snow white rose. And on the other side, the House of Lancaster, its own heraldic rose depicted in blood red. The War of the Roses, a dynastic struggle for control of the English crown, has erupted between the two houses. In this strategic game, one player commands the House of York and the other, the House of Lancaster. The players use their power cards to bring territories under their control, aiming to keep their territories as contiguous as possible. They also deploy their heroic knights to take over enemy territories and cause surprising upsets. Who will be crowned England's new king?.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: A solid 2-player strategy game\n\nReview: I have over 200 board/card games, which means I also own other KOSMOS games like Lost Cities the Card Game, Kahuna and Tally Ho!. I feel that The Rose King fits into a similar 2-player bucket, as these other KOSMOS games, then I need to compare it against these other games.\n\n+ Tally Ho! the simplest of them all and is great for teaching young players strategic decisions.\nThis game I agree is for ages 10+ as it is heavier in the strategy side, closer to Go! and Chess.\n\n+ You get three actual components here: cards, cardboard tokens and the wood crown\nThe components are good and should last a long while.\n\n> Since the game revolves around handling the cardboard tokens throughout the entire gameplay, part of me feels like a hard plastic with texture would last longer versus cardboard tokens. I get it that cardboard is a lot less expensive to produce, but if someone decided this was their new thing, then at least having the option to order parts that will last next 20yrs may appeal more to some gamers.\n\n+ Unlike Kahuna where we feel whoever gets a footing in the first round will win the game, this one can go either way based on the decisions of the player. I like that there is no clear winner throughout, based on who gets some super power up card (like in some games) or who starts turn order (like in other games). A good balance for both players. . .as far as the game is concerned.\n\n+ We use to have a game that my kids had called No Stress Chess, which helped teach younger players the mechanics of chess. The way they did that is through the use of cards that told you what direction you could move and what piece. This has a similar mechanic in that you collect your directional cards that dictate some of the actions on the board. This is where the randomness/luck comes into play on this game, as you never know what set of cards you may get. Some people may not like this element, but I think it makes it fun and you have to work harder to get a combo move/better strategic placement of pieces because of it.\n\nOVERALL: A great two player game.\nWe like it more than Tally Ho! since my kids are teenagers.\nWe like it more than Kahuna, due to this being a balanced game.\nAnd we like it about the same -- if not better -- than Lost Cities the Card Game (more luck involved), as both are strategic and anything could happen.","Product: Escape the room games began as digital adventures and quickly turned into real-life events all around the world. In both versions, players are locked in a room and must uncover clues and hidden objects to escape. ThinkFun version of escape the room allows you to bring home all the excitement of this experience, without actually locking anyone in a room. Spend an evening working with your guests to unravel the mystery of the stargazer's manor and save a well-known astronomer by finding clues and solving puzzles. But be careful, in this nail-biting party game, The doors have shut and locked behind you. Will you and your guests be able to solve the mystery and save the Astronomer before time runs out?\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Enjoyable, but 8-players is a bit difficult unless you have the perfect round table where everyone can get to the game easily\n\nReview: The price dropped down to around $12 after tax so I picked this up and took it with us on a 2-week cruise with our family.\n\nThe 8 of us tried to play it. But since people have to get around the story and components, it seemed that only 6 of the 8 of us were engaged throughout...as it is hard to get 8 people around the table to be able to see and handle everything.\n\nYou follow the quick, easy to read instructions.\nThen depending on the number of players, you set a timer and go. If memory serves, less than 5 players then set a 2hr timer, 5-8 players set a 90min timer. We had 8 so 90-minutes.\n\nThere is a story that unfolds while playing that is a bit predictable but enjoyable all the same.\nThe puzzles with six of us (teenagers and adults) we completed the main storyline in 60-minutes.\nThen there is a decision to make at the end that allows you to set the timer for another 30-minutes if you wish.\nWe finished everything, including the bonus portion, with 54seconds left on the timer for a total of 89-minutes of play.\n\nIt didn't feel like we spent that long as the unveiling of the next part of the story/clues went at a good pace.\n\nOverall, for $12 to get 90-minutes of play for 6 people wasn't a bad deal in my book.\nWe enjoyed it and it was a great way to kill some time we had while on vacation. A very good distraction and a different type of game.\n\nNOTE: If we had tracked exactly what we pulled out of each envelope, we could have packed it back up again and then passed the game to someone else. As it stands we didn't do this, so it was a one-time play and we didn't want to deal with trying to repack the game in our luggage till we got home to see if anyone did post the parts list on BoardGameGeek or not. No biggie...especially for the price.","Product: Onitama is a two player abstract strategy game where players take on the role of a Master, guiding their monk followers, attempting to defeat your opponent armed only with a handful of moves, your cunning and your wits!.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Minor suggestions for more game play options and balancing play\n\nReview: GAME OVERVIEW:\n2-player, abstract strategy game of a martial arts masters with their student in a courtyard. Goal is to defeat the opponent's master or get your master into to the other player's throne/chair/colored space.\n\nEach player will use cards to direct the moves of the their units -- very similar to Low Stress Chess, which is the first game I saw this type of mechanic used.\n\nCOMPONENTS:\n> The pawns look strange, but they should last forever. Still wish they looked not so. . .strange. I'm not sure how else to describe it. It is almost like they are aliens instead of Shaolin monks acolytes.\n+ The masters look better and also should last the test of time. Nice and durable\n+The Neoprene mat (yes, same as a mouse pad) works perfectly for a no-slip play mat.\n+ Cards are great with the Asian characters, which brings great flavor to the cards and they are of adequate durability for a game. This is the one thing you'll be handling the most, so after a few hundred games you may be ordering a new copy of the game or replacement cards. . .but only after a few hundred games.\n\nTHEME:\n+ The theme feels strong in this game.\nIn many ways, it feels similar to a chess King and pawns battle -- but primary through card directed movement -- and with an Asian theme.\n\nLEARNING CURVE:\n+ Low learning curve.\nVery easy to learn, but difficult to master. Much, much easier to learn and teach than chess, since there are very few rules.\n\nBALANCE:\n> There are several comments on BoardGameGeek and other places that the Tiger and Ostrich cards are unbalanced in the original version and in the newer version Tiger remains an overpowered card. Many players simply remove the cards from the deck.\n\nLUCK:\n+ Low luck, as the first hand is random but after that players are maneuvering with a set of cards that each sees. By the way you cannot move without directions from the cards drawn and made available to each player.\n\nThus, some people who hate randomness may be put off by the idea of cards directing your moves, but the randomness is very brief and only at the start of the game.\n\nSTRATEGY:\n+ You can see the cards that your opponent is going to use to move and you see the cards you're going to use. Thus the decisions you have to make are very important and if you lose the game, it is because you let your opponent capitalize on moves that you either didn't see, didn't plan for or simply couldn't stop as you had limited choices in front of you.\n\nFINAL THOUGHTS:\n+ A very good 2-player, abstract game. Lots of strategy. Some people hate not being able to move pieces based on rules, like in chess, but the cards work out very well and keep it random each game play. . .thus lots of replayability.\n\n> Only recommendation for improvement is to have a grid identifier for the play area, so you could play remotely with a friend who has a copy of their own game. Not sure if having Alpha on one side and Numeric on another would break the immersion of the theme or not, but it would be very helpful.\n\nOverall, nice fun two-player game that also comes in a cool Jenga type box. When I take one of my kids to $1 Tuesdays at Baskin Robbins this will be one of the games we play while enjoying some yummy ice cream.","Product: A notorious gang of smugglers is recruiting new members. The first candidates step forward, a motley bunch indeed. Which one has the skills to become a worthy member of the gang? To determine this, the boss himself stages a smuggling contest. First the would-be smugglers must try to get through a hole in a fence while carrying the biggest sack of contraband possible. Then those who make it through the hole have a chance to inspect the other smugglers' sacks that are smaller than their own or that shamefully got stuck in the hole in the fence. A role of the die determines which size hole in the fence the sack needs to fit through. The smuggling sacks are formed from a rubbery polymer putty that the players roll into balls with the contraband pieces hidden inside. The balls are then rolled down a track toward the fence. The player's goal is to form the largest ball that will still fit through the fence. Players who succeed in getting the largest ball through the hole in the fence can then guess the contents of the smaller balls or of balls that were too large to fit through the fence. If they guess correctly, they get to keep the contraband. The player who collects the most contraband items wins. This funny family game answers the question: Who is the sneakiest and most skillful smuggler?.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Except for some small, choking pieces, this is a game better for under 8 years old\n\nReview: Our family of 6 love playing games to where we have over 150 board/card games ranging from gateway games (great for non-gamers) to super hardcore strategy games. Thus we probably have some higher requirements than some.\n\nOVERVIEW: The players are a bunch of thieves trying to impress the boss with the booty they are brining back to the headquarters. But each of us has to pass through a fence with our loot. Some will pass because they too little loot in their potato sack and some will not pass because they grabbed too much in their potato sack.\n\nLUCK:\nWe are not fans of luck games and there is a good amount of luck. During the phase where a player has to guess what gem the other player(s) stuffed in their potato sack (a wad of putty that was rolled into a ball) is a lot of guess work. There is like a one in three chance to guess it right each time.\n\nSETUP:\nEasy. Not much to setup. Pull the parts out of the box, distribute to players and you're pretty much up and running in less than 60-seconds.\n\nEASE of PLAY:\nWhat I mean by this is how easy is it to learn to play...it's super easy. There are a few nuances that you may need to read as the situation comes up -- such as what to do when your potato sacks both tie -- but nothing you won't remember after having done it once.\n\nSTRATEGY:\nThere is none. . .really. Yes, you have to try and outguess again (more luck) what size sack your opponent will make for the roll between the fence openings and what size sack you want to roll out with your putty. Other than that, nothing.\n\nREPLAYABILITY:\nNot really. The entire game is the same luck-based steps and nothing else to mix it up. Both my 12 yr old and 14yr old said they've played it once and never have to play it again.\n\nWhere this might appeal to a younger crowd, because it is kind of fun to roll your potato sack and see if it makes it through the fence hole or not. But other than that, none of us liked it.\n\nCOMPONENTS:\nCute cartoony artwork. . . it works for the intended theme.\nIf you keep using the putty it will last a while. But if it's anything like Cadoo's game putty (and it seems like it is), then after a couple of months of sitting on your shelf untouched, you may be looking for a refresher as this one may have hardened up.\nThin cardboard shield does the job to hide your putty and gem choice, but not much else. I guess this is alright.\nThe fence and sloped hill work well and are well enough made.\nGameboard is actually made of a pretty good quality cardboard, maybe because it has to be folded and unfolded with each play.\n\nFUN:\nTotally subjective.\nBut based on my previous comments you can probably guess we do not find the repetitiveness and luck-based focus of this game to be fun. The trying to outsmart your opponent is a bit of fun, but that's it.\n\nOVERALL:\nI don't let things like \"designers of Catan\" sway me in my opinion, because I'm completely not comparing this game with Catan. I'm comparing this game with our likes and dislikes of overall game attributes. And as this has proven, just because they made one of the all-time greatest games, does not mean other games will be a fraction as good. For us this one isn't, but younger crowd may have fun with it.","Product: In mystic vale, 2 to 4 players take on the role of druidic clans trying to cleanse the curse upon the land. Each turn, you play cards into your field to gain powerful advancements and Useful vale cards. Use your power wisely, or decay will end your turn prematurely. Score the most victory points to win the game!\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Better than I expected, as most of these type of card crafting games have failed in the past.\n\nReview: GAME OVERVIEW (from the manual):\nPlayers take on the role of druidic clans attempting to restore the cursed lands to their former vitality. The cards in your deck represent the parts of the valley that you are tasked with revitalizing, and each advancement you add to the cards represents new life and vitality you have brought to that land. Your power is tied to the land, and as more life grows in your valleys and groves, so too does your power, and with it the spirits of nature to revive the miraculous vales.\n\nEach turn you play cards into your field to gain powerful advancements and valuable vale cards. But you must be careful not to overuse your power or it will result in decay and ends your turn. During the game you will be able to build up your cards by adding powerful advancement. Crafting your cards ith advancements and buying vale cards at the right time will help you bring the most miraculous portion of the Mystic Vale to life, and to achieve victory.\n\nGame ends when the supply of victory points is exhausted. Player with the most victory points at the end of the game wins.\n\nCOMPONENTS:\nThe simple fact that this is the most unique deck-building game with transparent cards is already a huge plus. Also the transparent cards are more durable than normal paper cards, as they are made of clear plastic.\n\nThe mana tokens and victory point tokens are fine. Not overly thick cardboard, but not thin cardboard either.\n\nTHEME:\nI was not excited about a theme where I'm a druid trying to heal the land.\nBut I find the theme light, similar to Lords of Waterdeep (LoWD). In LoWD the wizards and rogues are often referred by our gaming group as orange and black cubes, because the theme doesn't really matter in that worker placement game. Here you're building spells to generate victory points, so the theme is okay.\n\nThis makes sense to me, since I've read they are already using this exact card mechanic on a combat theme/system.\n\nLEARNING CURVE / GAME DURATION:\nThe manual is easy to read and understand\nClear pictures.\nNot very long / many pages because it is a game that is easy to learn.\nFor those that would prefer a video there is a 25min official Learn to Play video from AEG on Youtube, that is a bit anticlimatic, but Becca Scott Kerns makes a fun host and is easy to understand.\n\nBALANCE:\nI don't feel like anyone player can run away with the game early on and the other players have no chance.\nBut. . .as the rounds/turns progress and people get their decks built then the victory points start disappearing pretty fast. So, no lollygagging around, as players need to be paying attention and may need to grab an advancement or Vale card before an opponent simply to slow them down a bit.\n\nLUCK / STRATEGY:\nLike any card game, the order in which cards are revealed brings an element of luck. But every turn in which a player has an opportunity to purchase and advancement or vale is a highly strategic decision. Should I build this card to make it stronger or build that card to cancel out decay? Should I try and theme a card so that it leverages one special power or should I try and mix a card up so it can have a variety of utility?\nLots of decisions that make the game highly strategic!\n\nREPLAYABILITY:\nBecause you're starting with your player's base cards each game, the combinations or strategies to employ to win can be different each time you play. For a while. . .\n\nAfter about 10 plays you've more than seen the same cards over again and will want to take a break for several months until you forget exactly how to play or you'll rush out and immediately get the expansion which has more cards.\n\nFINAL THOUGHTS:\nAs you can see from my pictures they give you room in the box for expansions!\nThere is only one expansion at the time of this writing and it doesn't add any new mechanics and it does NOT add a 5-th player, but gives more of the same.\n\nThe only downside is cleanup, as you have all these cards that have been combined into a sleeve (provided in the box), but it's no big deal compared to the fun of the game.\n\nNo combat.\nNo monsters.\nBut crafting one's druidic magic to heal the land and beat out the other druids turns out to be a lot of fun. Because there is a limit to the victory point tokens available, the intensity is increased a lot as you can easily get distracted and be your own worst enemy.\n\nA unique game that works well for the strategy deck-building player. Check it out!","Product: Route 666 is the Zombie road trip game by renowned designer Martin Wallace. Players race from Chicago to L.A. Through an increasingly difficult deck of location cards, scavenging for gas, ammo, and rations as they go. Their biggest obstacle? the hordes of zombies that attack them at nearly every turn. You can use three different types of resources to gain advantages in dice-based combats against the zombies, or you can bid those resources at the beginning of each round in order to outmaneuver your rivals. Tension and comedy go head to head throughout your journeys, but in the end, you don't always need to be faster than the zombies; you just need to be faster than your friends!\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Someone is bound to die in this game!\n\nReview: Players: 1 to 4\nDuration: 30 to 60min\nAge: 12+\n\nSCENARIO:\nThe players are on a road trip from Chicago to LA when the zombie apocalypse strikes. Camera in hand, it seems the only way to safety is to complete the road trip. The players bid for the best route/journey to take on this road trip and hopefully survive in the end to show off their road trip pics and relish in the fact that they survived.\n\nAIM:\nHave at least one survivor alive at the end of 8 rounds. If more than one player has at least 1 survivor, then there are victory points awarded throughout the game to determine a winner.\n\nMY GAMES:\nI played all types, 1-player all the way up to 4-player.\nOne and two player games seem very restrictive, but it makes sense with the game theme and mechanics. I personally think the game plays better with four as there are more options throughout...as long as players are still alive to drive more card options on the table.\n\nCOMPONENTS:\nQuality components = yes! From the cards to the thick tokens, it's all good\nArtwork = Nice! The artwork to the cards with what looks like peeling stickers to the semi-blurry scenes on some cards, set a post-apocalyptic tone.\nZombie meeples = check!\nPlayer tokens = boring piece of cylindrical, painted wood. A cool meeple would have been nicer, such as an automobile meeple would make sense since we are on a roadtrip\n\nTHEME:\nI think the theme comes out very strong.\nFighting zombies is sometimes a breeze and sometimes your entire group of survivors could get wiped out with a bad roll or two. There is plenty of suspense, even when bidding on which route to take and hoping you don't get stuck with the one that will wipe you out.\nFor our group, this is one of the stronger themed games.\n\nEASE OF LEARNING:\nVery easy to learn. You must play a few sessions to have seen most of the cards and learn to get X card because it will be of benefit to you down the road or to know Player 2 got X card so you can try and block them from victory points later on.\n\nOverall, I think I can teach this as a gateway game to new players in about 10-15 minutes.\n\nLUCK:\nLots of dice rolling. Actually all the combat is dice rolling, so it's all about Lady Luck. Some people will hate this some will love it.\n\nSTRATEGY:\nMid-level strategy, because you can try and keep track of how many victory points others have, which could influence your decisions. Actually, seeing another player's resource stash is much higher than yours and you are getting to the end, knowing they will win the achievement bonuses, will impact your decisions making. You could find your tactic of safe play switching to Play Big or Go Home, because what do yo have to lose if you are already going to lose the game in points.\n\nBALANCE:\nI think once you fall too far behind, it's very, very difficult to survive all eight rounds.\nBy stage 3 the cards are almost insta-death to some players, so if you had a poor dice rolling streak, you're in a world of hurt and will most likely lose. But winners in attitude never quit...so it ain't over till it's over! Yeah, whatever you want to tell yourself. If you are down to two meeples and the other player has six, you are pretty much stuck getting routes that will finish you off. . .unless you have a ton of resources.\n\nFUN:\nI love the game!\nMy wife does not like the stress. It is too intense for her and she freezes up with analysis paralysis.\nMy one son doesn't like a game where if you win, simply means you were less devastated than the other players. He didn't really like the beat down that will happen through random die rolls.\nMy daughter really likes it, but she's like me. Maybe we're both a bit masochistic, but having my survivors die, didn't matter as much because it happened to everyone. She and I still enjoyed the journey, whether we lived or not.","Product: The lunch break is almost there and all of the young penguins would finally get the fish they've been craving for. However, some rascals think they are quick enough to snatch some of the fish before the lunch break starts, but they have forgotten one thing the Hall Monitor! Each school day one of the penguins is designated to watch over the school, and this is his moment to shine for each rascal penguin he catches he would get additional fish! A fun run takes place the rascals are running everywhere and trying to snatch some fish on their way, but the Hall Monitor is trying to catch each and one of them to have some order in the school. Who will be more successful? Ice Cool is a flicking game in which each round one of the players takes the role of the Hall Monitor (also called \"the Catcher\") his aim will be to catch each other penguin and get points for that. The others (also known as \"Runners\") will try to run through several doors, thus gaining fish (that give them points) on their way. When either the Hall Monitor has caught each other penguin once or any of the others has gone through all 3 doors that have fish on them, the round is over. Each player will take the role of the Hall Monitor once and at the end of the game the winner will be the one with the most points on their fish cards. The penguins can be flicked in a straight line, make curves and even jump over the walls! Each player will have to use the best of their skills in order to get the most points in this fun and exciting game. It's not just cool, it's ICE COOL!\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: For beginner to advanced finger-flickers\n\nReview: We are a family who have played (and owned) literally hundreds of hobby board games. One area that hasn't gone over well or we have very little of, are dexterity games.\n\n+ Box in a Box.\nYep. As you unpack this box the other \"maps\"/the \"game board\" are also boxes inside the main box. The russian doll idea that each box is slightly smaller for each layer you go into.\n\nYou can use some boxes by themselves or configure all the boxes together into a larger map. Several options here.\n\n+ Weighted penguins.\nWeeble will wobble, but it won't fall down! Well here we get penguin weebles that are small enough to flick and add sometimes unpredictable results...which can be fun and laughable.\n\nThe weighted penguins allow you to flick on the side, so they curve a direction or so. A more advanced effect is to have them jump walls by flicking on the head only.\n\n+ Fish-shaped clips hold the map/box pieces together.\nKeeping the theme. I loved it!\nThese fish-clips also act to provide point cards.\n\n+ Gameplay is easy to learn...then again, it better be, since this is a game for ages 6 to 99.\nWhenever you go through a door (not over) you get a fish token and get to draw card(s). There is a hall monitor trying to catch/stop the penguins from running around the icy school.\n\nAt the end of the game, after everyone has been the hall monitor at least once; count up points on cards collected and highest points wins. Easy-peasy.\n\n+ Component quality is very good.\nFrom the plastic, weighted penguins to the board/boxes and to the cards all are great.\n\nOVERALL:\nGreat game for family, friends, and players of all ages. There need to be more good dexterity games. I'm glad this is one of them.","Product: Each Event Deck contains: - 1 60-card theme deck, a 15-card sideboard, spindown lifecounter, card box and strategy insert\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great place to start for a returning player after a 15+ year hiatus from the game\n\nReview: My four kids have been playing MTG a lot lately.\nIt has also gotten to the point where buying 4,000 commons,uncommons on eBay doesn't cut it, since they are always duplicates and from old series. Kids also want me to play with them, but I don't remember how to effectively build a deck or what the rules are.\n\nSo I bought this pre-made deck and have been having fun with it.\nIt seems to be a strong deck, because even as a newbie player I'm beating my kids 8 of 10 games.\nThe Bloodrush ability cards are amazing!\nThe description fold-out provided that tells you how to play this desk was invaluable.\n\nFor me, this was a great way to stat playing again and able to not get crushed with a lame self-made deck while I'm still re-learning the game. Worth getting!","Product: Book by Feist, Raymond E.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: 15 years between readings and it still holds its power over me!\n\nReview: Got hooked onto fantasy/sci-fi 15 years ago and this is one of those series I was first introduced to and fell in love with. Over the years I've become more selective about my reading; expecting certain standards to be met in order to make a good/great read. Dragonlance is a series that has failed in this area. As a teenager Dragonlance was great but now as an adult I find it immature writing and absolutly boring. Riftwar Saga, on the other hand, still holds the magic and draws me into the story just as deeply as the first time, maybe even more so nowadays.\n\nSTORY:\n\nTwo young boys (Pug and Tomas) in a midevil type world find themselves caught up with an invasion from an alien race/culture from another world. The boys are taken down different paths that start to shape the future to come and how they will become major players in the salvation of the land in their own ways. The first book sets the stage and leaves a lot of mystery about the invasion and what exactly will become of the characters we begin to connect with and love.\n\nADDITIONAL FEEDBACK:\n\nAction - the author doesn't hold back on action, giving ample paragraphs/pages to describe skirmishes and sieges\n\nCharacters - believable, have depth and motivations, not carbon-copies of each other\n\nPlot - keeps you guessing; twists and turns and things don't always work in the favor of the major characters\n\nSetting - easy to visual; lots of different locations; well described\n\nGenre specific - dwares, elves, \"dark elves\", dragons, and other traditional fantasy creatures but it never comes across as a bad pen-paper RPG game, but as a nice mixture of cultures and their prejudices with each other. I normally don't like a lot of the \"traditional\" races/classes found in D&D and other fantasy novels but here it is handled with the correct level of maturity of writing as to not make things overly cliche.\n\nOVERALL: Still one of the best books/series I've ever read for fantasy. If you haven't read it get it now!","Product: One choice can transform you. Pass initiation. Do not fail! Thrilling urban dystopian fiction debut from exciting young author. In sixteen-year-old Beatrice Prior's world, society is divided into five factions -- Abnegation (the selfless), Candor (the honest), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent) -- each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue, in the attempt to form a \"perfect society.\" At the age of sixteen, teens must choose the faction to which they will devote their lives. On her Choosing Day, Beatrice renames herself Tris, rejects her family's group, and chooses another faction. After surviving a brutal initiation, Tris finds romance with a super-hot boy, but also discovers unrest and growing conflict in their seemingly \"perfect society.\" To survive and save those they love, they must use their strengths to uncover the truths about their identities, their families, and the order of their society itself.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: A less popular viewpoint of this book. . .a parent's perspective\n\nReview: You can easily see by my profile I specifically enjoy dystopian novels and thus didn't hesitate to pick up this new addition to the market.\nBooks like <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Birthmarked/dp/1596435690/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Birthmarked</a> and <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Nomansland/dp/0805090649/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Nomansland</a> were two of the most recent dystopian novels I've read and found the first to be better than the second. . .not counting the Hunger games trilogy which was great book 1, better book 2 and okay book3\n\nWhat all these books have in common is a female protagonist going up against an oppressive society.\n\nWhat they don't have in common is Beatrice is not a likeable character as the main female protagonist. She does go through some change mid-way but its kinda forced and still doesn't make her someone I wanted to root for.\n\nNow realize <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Lord-Foul-s-Bane-The-Chronicles-of-Thomas-Covenant-the-Unbeliever-Book-1/dp/0345348656/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Lord Foul's Bane (The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Book 1)</a> has a main protagonist that we all loathe, at first. But that character's change is logical, and in the right time, unlike with this story.\n\nWhat else I didn't like:\n1) We try to teach our kids respect for others, especially adults while having a good attitude and being positive about themselves and others. Our sarcastic protagonist is none of this and that starts the story off wrong for me. The sarcasm isn't even funny like you'd find in a action flick from the late 80's early 90's. I'm NOT looking for a good-too-shoes hero but a flawed one. Problem is, other than Beatrice's physical abilities she offers very little else but flaws.\n\n2) There are no healthy relationships between kids and their parents. Actually once Beatrice picks her faction at the age of 16 she heads over to \"boot camp\" where there appears to be zero respect for adults or even a sense of missing of one's parents. Actually it seems adults are overall non-existent unless I completely missed how old Four or Eric were. Yes, the teen years are years of getting ready to leave home and becoming more independent with each year. But I know a lot of families with very independent kids but also good relationships with their parents. We don't need more examples of poor relationships, because we all know someone who has one of those too.\n\n3) Their first \"free time\" in their new faction is spent getting tattooed and talking of nipple piercings and the like. Yes, I'm not so naive to think this doesn't happen. This book I'd classify as older, definitely not YA category. Also, is the join the group and do whatever mentality as the characters talk of sex, piercings and tattoos, as if there are no consequences to these actions\n\nParts I'm neutral on:\n1) The bulk of the book is with Beatrice going through her initiation and the high-school drama she experiences at boot camp. For the most part this isn't bad and there are some characters like Four that I found interesting.\n\n2) There were times I wanted more world building and other times I knew it wasn't necessary to the teen drama. Thus what we get on setting is a bit thin, but for most of the story it isn't needed.\n\nWhat I did like:\n1) I did like how the different factions are \"living\" representations of certain values. People are rewarded for their factions by living out their primary value. Great concept.\n\n2) The primary conflict between the factions is believable though maybe the delivery a bit simplified. We still have more to go in the coming books of the trilogy and we'll see what new twists and turns the author will give us.\n\n3) Many female authors I've read seem to tend to shying away from writing fight scenes or battle scenes in detail. They'll summarize, but don't give you the blow-by-blow. In some graphic forms this author didn't pull any punches (pun intended).\n\nOVERALL:\nI eventually let my 13yr old boy read it and he didn't like the girl protagonist either for similar reasons; nor did he care for the teen drama.\n\nOther dystopian books like the <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/The-Giver/dp/0385732554/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">The Giver</a> and the others mentioned above focus more on the oppression of society and the allies that side with our hero; with some love interest or friendship issues on the side.\nSo if you want an interpersonal relationship book, with some dystopian thrown in on the side, this may be the book for you. If you want more heroic protagonists who are trying to break free of the oppressive society, try the other books.","Product: Born in England and currently living in Australia, Lian Hearn attended Oxford University, has studied Japanese, and has a lifelong interest in Japan.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: a must read conclusion to an epic trilogy\n\nReview: Rating System:\n\n1 star = abysmal; some books deserve to be forgotten\n\n2 star = poor; a total waste of time\n\n3 star = good; worth the effort\n\n4 star = very good; what writing should be\n\n5 star = fantastic; must own it and share it with others\n\nSTORY: The continuing adventures of Takeo and Kaede as they try to connect with each other at a time when the Tribe is trying to assassinate Takeo, Akida is trying to take over all the known kingdoms and the Otori lords have sent the clan armies to hunt and kill Takeo.\n\nMY FEEDBACK:\n\n1) First off, this was a fairly satisfactory ending to an epic storyline. It didn't have the same level of mystic elements as the first book nor the rising action of the 2nd, but it resolved all the necessary characters and sub-plots well\n\n2) I agree some of the other reviews that the author had an opportunity to exploit some battle scenes but decided in skirting the issue. The author decided to quickly resolve the battles instead of taking the reader through the mayhem and chaos of such events. A missed opportunity in my opinion\n\n3) The emotional bonds between the characters are believable and connecting with the reader\n\n4) I've read a lot of fantasy and whenever \"prophecy\" is introduced into the story it MAY add to the mystic elements or detract from the story by giving things away too early. I believe this happened here in that some opportunities to increase the suspense of a scene was lost due to me as the reader already knowing that Takeo should win based on the prophecy\n\nOVERALL: It still flows with the same feel as the previous two books. It was a must read to know how the story ends and made me feel like so much has happened since the first book that I'll soon need to go back and start the trilogy all over again.","Product: Grim Tuesday:\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: another fun read by an author with great imagination (4.5 stars)\n\nReview: Rating System:\n1 star = abysmal; some books deserve to be forgotten\n2 star = poor; a total waste of time\n3 star = good; worth the effort\n4 star = very good; what writing should be\n5 star = fantastic; must own it and share it with others\n\nTHE STORY:\nArthur Penhaligon is once again drawn into the mysterious House where he has to defend his right as the heir as Grim Tuesday gets access to the Secondary Realms and threatens Arthur's family and friends and society if Arthur doesn't hand over ownership of the Lower House to Grim Tuesday.\n\nTHE GOOD:\nAs with the first book in the series this is a wonderful exploration of places and people that leaves the reader wanting more. Nix's imagination in the creation of the House and its denizens continues strong in the second book as we are whisked away to the Pit of Nothing or sailing into the middle of a star.\n\nNormally sequels fail where the first book was strong but overall this book keeps the pace, action, story and interesting characters as with the first book. Its obvious in the first book that this story is going to span a minimum of seven books and it leaves one thinking what more could the author give us, but the surprises keep coming.\n\nAlso, Arthur actually grows as a character in this book. By the end he has made up his mind about a thing or two where before he was in denial or avoidance. For a book about discovery, it was nice to see some character development.\n\nTHE BAD:\nMy only complaint with this book is that Nix leaves the physical problems of Arthur's asthma in the first book for a different physical challenge in the second. Yet for making such a big deal about it all, the ailment didn't seem to turn the tide of the story, nor did any of the bad guys try and take advantage of his ailment. Left me thinking, \"What's the point?!\"\n\nTHE OVERALL:\nRead the first book and you'll be hooked on this series. By the time you get to this book you'll want the next book in the series after this one right away. Great imagination! Great sense of discovery! Great series!","Product: s innocence turned helpless desperation--all because of the smiling freckle-faced stranger named Junior Allen. Cathy has nowhere to turn--except to another stranger, that man named Travis McGee--who is a walking pillar of cold rage as he follows the depraved wreckage of Junior Allen's trail. 2 cassettes.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Another James Bond type character without the spy stuff\n\nReview: Rating System:\n1 star = abysmal; some books deserve to be forgotten\n2 star = poor; almost a total waste of time\n3 star = good; worth the effort\n4 star = very good; what writing should be\n5 star = fantastic; must own it and share it with others\n\nCONTENT: This would be M for mature. The sex scene(s) are written poetically without being graphic. Lots of other implied dialogue that contains adult themes. I can't remember a single bit of profanity and the violence wasn't overly brutal like some books.\n\nCHARACTERS: The protagonist, Travis McGee, is a likable fellow, due to his good nature and wittiness. But as the story progresses we see him like James Bond where women for various reasons are always flirting with him or throwing themselves at him. But he's still fallible and not superman. He can be hurt.\n\nThe antagonist doesn't show up for most of the book. But the author did a great thing and introduce enough characters who describe the antagonist that we totally can't wait for the jerk to get his. He was a good bad guy to hate.\n\nThe plethora of loose women is explained better than I expected. A good little history and hint at what shaped these characters is introduced and each is unique in a way, making them seem more believable.\n\nPLOT: Not so much a murder mystery, but it was engaging how the McGee character is not only trying to track down the bad guy, but then devise a plan to \"overthrow\" the bad guy. I liked it.\n\nSTYLE: Sometimes his \"waxing poetic\" was difficult to follow but there are some gems of description and monologue within this book. Overall I really liked the wittiness throughout.\n\nENDING: It was satisfying climax and resolution to the sotry. Don't have more to say on that, other than it's not a cliffhanger where you have to read a part 2 in a trilogy. This is a stand alone book and the entire storyline is resolved. But we like the McGee character enough to want to read the next book.\n\nOVERALL: It was a pretty fast read at about 250 pages, with good pacing throughout. A good introduction to this new character and the character's stories. If it wasn't for the mature content (not what I'm looking for) I would have given this a 5-stars, but most of the content was integral to the plot versus thrown in because the author could.","Product: Celebrating 75 years as the world leader in the test prep industry, Kaplan Test Prep (www.kaptest.com) is a premier provider of educational and career services for individuals, schools and businesses. With a comprehensive menu of online offerings as well as a complete array of print books and digital products, Kaplan offers preparation for more than 90 standardized tests, including entrance exams for secondary school, college and graduate school, as well as professional licensing exams for attorneys, physicians and nurses.  Kaplan also provides private tutoring and graduate admissions consulting services.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: A very good set of tools\n\nReview: PROS:\n+ Online content that can be accessed from any device with internet\n+ Online training videos\n+ Online tests\n+ Online tests grading\n+ DVD with video tutorials with tips with test preparation strategies\n+ Book also contains strategies and preparation tips for test day\n+ For $25 you get a lot of resources!\n\nNEUTRAL:\n> Book contains three(3) practice tests and the rest of the tests are online\n> In a year (March 2016) SAT testing is changing, so parts of this content may or may not be relevant any longer. So if you get this book plan to take the test prior to the changes\n> Mobile version of the book. Some like ebook better than this tome, but it's okay.\n\nCONS:\n- Just seeing how large this book is can be intimidating. Some kids have to be a real self-starter to be willing to crack it open regardless of it's ominous size.\n\nOTHER:\n My son recently took an actual \"practice\" SAT and then we were presented with the results by a college prep business. They said that Math, for instance, could cover Geometry through Algebra 2. The book also brings this up multiple times. Yeah!\n\nThe college prep said for the essay to write confidently and feel free to make outrageous statements to support your facts. For instance if writing about poverty a point could be, \"As stated in an article from the New York Times, better funded job training will solve the poverty problem in America.\" You do this because a) it's clear' b) it's confident and c) they cannot fact check you!\n\nThis book only says that your essay needs to\" go beyond your personal experience and to make interesting and meaningful connections\" (pg139) So a bit different, though both pieces of advice could work well.\n\nOVERALL: I'm happy with this book and the online resources and DVD are a must have to help a 21st century student.","Product: Unabridged CD Audiobook 8 CDs / 10 Hours long\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Good little mystery and it has vampires\n\nReview: STORY: As one review so simply put: Anita Blake, full time animator of the dead and part time vampire slayer, has been hired by the thousand year old Master of the city to find a serial killer who's been knocking off the undead.\n\nMY FEEDBACK:\n\n1) SETTING: This is an alternate world where what appears to be 20th century humans coexist with vampires and other supernatural creatures. There are even laws that give vampires certain rights in this new world. Our brief glimpse of the world created is teasing in its possibilities and enjoyable.\n\n2) CHARACTERS: Anita Blake is our main protagonist. She is a female version of a smart-mouthed detective from some stereotypical gumshoe story. She is a character who proudly displays her stereotypes but also enjoyable has a couple of traits that add something memorable. I liked the character enough that she is more the reason why I would want to read the next book than because the plot was maybe fabulous.\n\n3) PLOT: Speaking of plot, it was a nice little mystery. I didn't feel that there were enough clues to who the 'bad' guy was but the story had enough unexpected events that I kept reading. Story was overall handled well though I would have liked to see more 'action' scenes vs. scenes that were potentially eruptive in action, if you know what I mean.\n\n4) CONTENT: This book would be rated R for gore and violence. The sensual scenes were handled very professionally, were brief and were NOT graphic sexually,which I appreciated. I wanted a vampire, action, mystery and that is what I got.\n\nOVERALL: I liked this book and if someone likes to read vampire books and have a mystery I'd recommend this in a heartbeat. Just because the covers of this series and the titles of the books may imply this is erotic horror, this book wasn't. If the rest of the series is, I don't know. But this was a fun little read that I really enjoyed."],"string":"[\n \"Product: For centuries, the luxury of French-milled soaps has remained the gold standard of excellence. Each time you begin to lather a French made soap, you enter a time and place where quality and craftsmanship have stood still. Traditional French soap is triple-milled to produce a completely uniform and smooth soap, without impurities, thus lasting longer. Every bar of Pre de Provence soap is not only carefully made today by the dedicated soapmakers in Provence following their proud traditions, but quad-milled to be smoother and have a richer lather to create our luxurious feel. Using all pure, natural ingredients enriched with shea butter, you can feel the difference of our unique quad-milling process. Aromatic fragrances transport you to a moment of calmness, vitality, dreamin or well-being. This 150 Gram bar is a great value, the fragrance maintains until the soap is all used up. The soap creates a rich, creamy lather and rinses clean, leaving skin soft and hydrated.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Good, overall, moisturizing soap\\n\\nReview: This is a pretty heavy bar of soap.\\n\\n+ The Olive Oil is not all flowery and perfume like so many soaps. This is more neutral scent.\\nFor a guy I was happy about this.\\n\\n-- My wife and daughter and three sons all came to me and asked, \\\"What is this soap that stinks?!?\\\"\\nNobody else likes the Olive Oil scent. Loss of a star because they just want to throw it away.\\n\\n+ Scent is light, not overbearing\\n\\n+ Wife likes using this as a facial soap since it moisturizes.\\n\\n+ I have a child with eczema and this does not inflame his ailment\\n\\n+ Soap lather's well and quickly.\\nDon't have a use a lot to get a lather going.\\n\\n> I see in the Community Questions that at least three times people ask what are the ingredients. A good thing too, since there doesn't seem to be any other way to get the ingredients.\\n1. I expected ingredients list with the soap = none provided\\n2. I expected ingredients list here on Amazon = none provided\\n\\n> Cost is okay at $6.50. I'm use to getting the $2 oatmeal soap bar from Trader Joe's. Thus, you decide if $6.50 is worth it for a single soap bar.\\n\\n> This didn't really fit my \\\"standard\\\" travel soap container till I used it a while and let it shrink a bit. Thus you may consider cutting it in half for anyone wanting to take this on travel...or I guess you could find a large enough sandwich bag to take with you.\\n\\nOVERALL:\\nA good bar of soap and I don't have to smell overly feminine using it.\",\n \"Product: Designed to be as easy to use as your manual, while delivering superior results and a better experience. With more brush strokes in a day than your manual in a month, PowerUp removes more plaque, helps reduce cavities and improve gum health.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: It's good for this price range\\n\\nReview: In the past, I've tried using the $5 battery gizmos that can be found at Walmart = really bad\\nToday, my kids all use the <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Oral-B-Vitality-Prowhite-Rechargeable-Electric-Toothbrush-1-Count/dp/B003UKKH6O/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Oral-B Vitality Prowhite Rechargeable Electric Toothbrush 1 Count</a> ($26) and we as parents have the <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Oral-B-Professional-Healthy-Clean-Floss-Action-Precision-5000-Rechargeable-Electric-Toothbrush-1-Count/dp/B008PEMOV6/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Oral-B Professional Healthy Clean + Floss Action Precision 5000 Rechargeable Electric Toothbrush 1 Count</a> ($100).\\n\\nWe are real happy with our Oralb products but figured for the price we'd like to give the Sonicare a try.\\n\\nPROs:\\n+ This is definitely better than the super cheap ones from WalMart.\\n+ It vibrates at a really high speed and does a good job of cleaning.\\n+ I like it has a 2-minute timer then auto-turns off\\n+ It's pretty light, even with the batteries\\n\\nCONs:\\n- It vibrates and if you accidentally touch other teeth with the backside of the head, the vibrating plastic head hurts! You really need to open your mouth wide to avoid these contacts\\n- Big brush head. People with smaller mouth, like children, can't really use this effectively\\n- Didn't come with any sort of travel case. Not sure how to transport it when traveling.\\n\\nNEUTRAL:\\n* It vibrates, whereas the $26 OralB turns the head. Both styles seem to clean just fine, so not sure which is better.\\n* I use rechargeable batteries, so it doesn't matter if the Philips batteries it comes with run out or not. Just remember to take a backup set of batteries with you if traveling.\\n\\nOVERALL: It's a good toothbrush for that price range.\",\n \"Product: Godzilla Unleashed - Everyone's favorite monster returns in a completely redesigned and updated massively destructive brawler! Play Godzilla as never before with non-linear story paths and all new Toho monsters.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: The \\\"fun factor\\\" faded quickly with my co-workers and myself\\n\\nReview: My kids have Godzilla: Save the Earth for the PS2 that they got a couple of years ago. They played that a lot together or solo through the storyline. When I saw this for the Wii I had to get it.\\n\\nPro's:\\n1) I took it to work (yes, we have a Wii at work) and it was an immediate success. They guys were pushing for turns to beat on each other in Brawl mode and had a good time doing special attacks or throwing buildings at each other.\\n\\n2) Unlike the PS2 version, this version has a lot more monster choices\\n\\n3) Missions aren't as linear as the PS2 version\\n\\nCon's:\\n1) Everyone at work, I mean everyone, was just frustrated with how to get this into multi-player mode.\\nIt seemed that no matter what we did to the second, third, and fourth controller wouldn't be recognized for at least 10 minutes. Put in any other game, like Wii Sports, and no problem. There is no option here to tell the game how many controllers to look for.\\n\\n2) The controls are very unresponsive.\\nYou literally have to swing the controllers for an attack, wait 2 seconds, then do the next attack. Unlike all other consoles where you bang out attacks on a gamepad in rapid succession, this game is going to frustrate a lot of users because you have to move very slow to fight and get the attacks to be recognized by the system. Even Wii Boxing responds more rapidly than this game.\\n\\n3) Unlike the PS2 version where you know exactly what your solo mission is, the missions here are vague at best.\\nYes, the missions aren't as linear, but you are playing guesswork to know if your mission requires beating the other monster(s), breaking crystals or some other combination of events in order to pass. The \\\"Mission Failed\\\" message also gives you no clue as to why you failed. Overall frustrating!!\\n\\n4) Since you depend on the storyline to earn credits to unlock more monsters and maps and the like, this further compounded the frustration with the vagueness of the mission objectives. Co-workers were so frustrated with their inability to pass the missions that someone finally went and found a code that unlocked everything. Go figure.\\n\\nOVERALL:\\nThough the game was fun with my co-workers for the first week, I think its because we had already exhausted Wii Sports and wanted something new. After that first week, no one has asked me to bring the game back in. No other demand for the game after the first week.\\n\\nIf your local video store has it, rent it and have some fun. But I don't see the long-term benefits of owning this frustrating game.\",\n \"Product: BUZZ Jr.! Jungle Party Bundle - PlayStation 2\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: It's not a Wii game, but the whole family enjoyed it.\\n\\nReview: So what do you do with that PS2 that is sitting in the corner collecting dust and you wish every store had a Wii so you can have one like all the crazies who camp out at 2am to get one? Well you get this game.\\n\\nThis fun button game is a challenge of timing, coordination, and reactions.\\n\\nAll four of my kids (ages 3, 5, 7 and 9) and my wife and myself all had fun challenging each other to the 25 different games collected here.\\n\\n25 mini-games lasting 60-90 minutes seem long?\\nWell you have the option to play a short set (6 games) or a medium set (10-12 games).\\n\\nThe characters are 4 different colored monkeys and the games involve the monkeys jumping over obstacles, throwing at targets, passing an object to another monkey and the like.\\n\\nThe game requires a memory card if you wish to track your high score, otherwise you can just play without one.\\n\\nIt's not a game the kids rush out to play when we let them play the PS2. But once someone starts playing the others want to join in right away.\\n\\nThe box says ages 10+ and I think that has to do with the coordination demands of some of the mini-games along with the mild violence of monkeys getting coconuts thrown at their heads by other characters or doing other cartoon harm to each other.\\n\\nNo, it doesn't have a complex system of ranking yourself like the Wii or the ability to create a life-like avatar to represent yourself. . .this is the PS2 which is years old after all. But it was a nice family oriented game that shines in the midst of a game system that, like the x-box, has more adult choices than kid choices.\\n\\nThe best part is the game is it comes with the needed controllers.\\n\\nOVERALL:\\nIf you don't plan on getting rid of your PS2 anytime soon and you want something more age groups can play together (even mom), then get this game.\",\n \"Product: Take gaming audio and comfort on PS4 to the next level with the Turtle Beach Recon 50P White gaming headset. The Recon 50P features Turtle Beach's latest lightweight and comfortable design, with large 40mm over-ear (closed) speakers that let you hear every crisp high and thundering low, plus convenient in-line controls that allow you to quickly and easily adjust Master Volume and Mic Mute. The Recon 50P White also includes an adjustable mic, which can be removed when watching movies and listening to music, and the versatile 3.5mm jack makes it perfect for using with PS4 Pro and PS4 consoles, as well as the new Xbox One controller with the 3.5mm jack, PC, Mac and compatible mobile/tablet devices. Connections: PS4 Pro and PS4: 3.5mm Xbox One: New Xbox One controller with the 3.5mm jack or via the Headset Audio Controller (sold separately) PC/Mac: 3.5mm Mobile/Tablet Devices: 3.5mm, Speaker Frequency Response 20Hz to 20kHz.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: meant for console gaming\\n\\nReview: Some of the lower reviews are not being fair as these are marketed as a gaming headset for PRIMARILY console play, not for PC, Mac and tablet play. Though tablet play should be fine, as you are holding a device you are plugging these into just like a console controller.\\n\\n+ It does work with PC, Mac and tablets\\n\\n+ Comfortable after wearing for 4-6hrs in a row.\\nNice padding that fits around my adult ears fine.\\n\\n> Almost too small.\\nMy head isn't as tiny as a teenager's head, but these have a limit how much they will extend to fit adult heads. Seems short-sighted on Turtle Beach since plenty of adults (myself included) play games too.\\n\\n+ I like the detachable microphone.\\nSometimes we play games that are not multi-player or via internet. We don't always need the mic getting in the way, so it is nice it is detachable.\\n\\n+ Others seem to hear me fine with the mic and I can bend it in front of my mouth for clearer pick up.\\n\\n+ I can hear others and the game sounds great.\\nMy one son likes to take these and listen to his music with them.\\n\\n-- Yes, I get it that the cord doesn't have to be terribly long to plug into controller or tablet, but, so many more options to use these if they did.\\nFrom where the left/right join, to the end of the connector is 3ft (see pic).\\nMake the cord longer and a velcro strap to tie-up/hold the extra length of cord. I think I would prefer this and not be bothered by this clump of cable dangling in front of me in order ot have the option to reach more places.\\n\\nOVERALL:\\nTurtle Beach has another winner that should meet most gaming console needs.\",\n \"Product: G510s Gaming Keyboard offers 18 programmable G-keys while the GamePanel LCD screen gives a view of vital stats - a clear advantage.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: It has everything I need.\\n\\nReview: Up till I got this keyboard I've been using the Logitech G15 for years. . .and it's still running strong.\\n\\nFirst major improvement is I don't need to flip up a paenl to see the Gamepanel LCD...this one has it right there for easy readability.\\n\\nI still get 18 programmable keys, which are a snap to program for nearly any game I have that supports such things.\\n\\nI LOVE the choice of color backlights vs my G15 is simply on or off blue. If anything this is my favorite feature because I find myself late at night or early morning on the computer and the backlight is a MUST HAVE feature.\\n\\nWhere my G15 has extra USB ports, this one has a headphone jack and mic jack. Seems this is a wiser change since many headphones have short cables and now we are given one right near us that will support our favorite pair.\\n\\nThe other smart feature is Multi-key input: Press up to six keys at once to perform multiple complex moves without interference or ghosting. Kids and I have been playing some first-person shooters and fighting games on the PC and this helps with some of the combo moves without messing up the game.\\n\\nOVERALL: A worthy upgrade to a keyboard series I was already in love with.\\n\\n*UPDATE 2015*\\nThe original feedback above was in 2013. Two years later I'm still using this keyboard and have chosen to keep it over other more 'fancy' macro and light-effect keyboards. This is a great keyboard and meets my needs very well.\",\n \"Product: Mad Catz' C.T.R.L.R Mobile Gamepad with Bluetooth technology removes the need for fingers and thumbs to block your touchscreen during mobile gaming. A highly capable game controller at home and also while on the move, C.T.R.L.R provides traditional gamepad controls with physical action and shoulder buttons, D-Pad, and analog sticks. When paired with Mad Catz' downloadable configuration app, you can adjust profiles and settings to customize C.T.R.L.R for an expansive list of controller-compatible videogames. And, the included AAA batteries provide energy for up to 40 hours of continuous control over your favorite games, apps, and media\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great Android controller...my friend won't give it back now he likes it so much\\n\\nReview: I got this specifically for the Android tablet and that is all I tested it for.\\n\\n1. Paired easily.\\n\\n2. I did not use the app, but used the built in settings for games like Beach Buggy Blitz and Air Attack HD.\\n\\n3. Response was flawless and no lag\\n\\n4. I'm so glad I don't have to hold my 10\\\" tablet in the air and turn it like a steering wheel any longer for racing games.\\nController = don't get tired!\\n\\n5. Using the mouse function on the tablet was easy enough. I need to get into the app to tune down the mouse speed and figure out what buttons do what. Otherwise, it allowed me to click apps and swap to home page with a few clicks. I see this feature best used if you get a separate part and hook your tablet to the TV for big-screen mouse navigation from the comfort of your couch or chair.\\n\\nOVERALL: Some games are so much better with a controller. If you play such games and could benefit from a controller, this is the one to get.\\nMy buddy borrowed this and plays racing games. He pretty much has kept it as his own since it works so well for him.\",\n \"Product: The Corsair Gaming K70 RGB mechanical gaming keyboard begins with the durability, styling and responsiveness of the legendary K70, and adds multicolor per-key backlighting for virtually endless lighting combinations. It's built with 100% Cherry MX RGB key switches for fast, precise actuation and superior feel. Each key can be individually programmed to display any of 16.8M colors and multiple brightness levels for a level of customization never before seen in a mechanical keyboard. 104 key rollover and anti-ghosting ensure accurate gameplay. And, the K70 RGB is built to last, with a black anodized brushed aluminum finish that's sturdy and lightweight.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Nice responsive keyboard...terrible, unintuitive software.\\n\\nReview: <div id=\\\"video-block-R2F3OA2SWCU0A\\\" class=\\\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\\\"></div><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D1f8246clCS.mp4\\\" class=\\\"video-url\\\"><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/31cfIUAEh7S.png\\\" class=\\\"video-slate-img-url\\\"> Some things I didn't comment on in the video or wasn't clear about.\\n\\n1. You need to go to www dot corsair dot com/downloads to get the latest drivers and software\\n\\n2 Go to forums dot corsair dot com to find pre-created profiles. Navigate to:\\nThe Corsair User Forums > Corsair Product Discussion > Keyboards and Mice > RGB Profiles and Profile Discussions\\n\\nThis was a time saver as you'll see by my next comments.\\n\\n3. Software installed and it is completely NOT intuitive. I couldn't figure anything out for the life of me until I started reading some forum posts.\\n\\n4. The manual you download is HORRENDOUS and unhelpful. It tells you nothing of how to do any of the actions for creating a light show with the keyboard and the macro section is barely touched upon.\\n\\nNOTE: If the hardware didn't work as well as it does, for #3 and #4 I'd give this keyboard a 1-star!!\\n\\n5. 17inches long and 6.5inches wide(9-inches with added wrist rest).\\n\\nOVERALL: A very responsive keyboard. Not quiet, but a nice light show (whatever that's worth).\",\n \"Product: The Corsair Gaming Sabre RGB Laser Gaming Mouse delivers pixel-precise confidence with every command. Its 8,200 DPI sensor supplies fast-paced smart-tracking and clear-cut accuracy in even the most demanding situations, and high-grade internal switches rated for 20 million clicks ensure long-lasting endurance for a tool you can rely on. Eight programmable, easy access buttons and three-zone 16.8M color customizable backlighting allow the Sabre RGB Laser to fit your personal style in game and out. Its solid, lightweight aluminum body offers effortless fluidity in motion, while its braided USB cable gives you 1.8m of roaming freedom.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: The mouse itself I like, the software is completely not intuitive\\n\\nReview: The Mouse:\\n+ The design fits my hand nicely\\n+ It's very light\\n+ It's very responsive\\n+ Nice average length cable that is not plastic\\n+ 8 programmable buttons on the mouse\\n+ The four lights are cool (wheel mouse, corsair logo, left side led and bottom/front led)\\n\\nThe Software:\\nRecently I received and reviewed the Corsair Gaming K70 RGB LED Mechanical Gaming Keyboard - Cherry MX Red (CH-9000068-NA) and thought it too was a great looking keyboard and very responsive, but the software to setup macros, key assignments or lighting effects was horribly non-intuitive. Even following the downloadable manual was no help.\\n\\nWell, unfortunately it's pretty much the same software experience here.\\n\\nSoftware downloaded and auto-checked if I needed a firmware update, then updated. I'm cool with this and appreciate making this step easier.\\n\\nBut then I was taken to the light assignment page and clicked the light then a color change and all was fine, till I clicked the left led and received an error every time that I couldn't change that light. Okay.\\n\\nSo I moved on and wanted to get it back to default lighting = nothing! Nothing to be found that is. No setting to restore defaults.\\n\\nThen there is a ton of lighting effects that have no clear way on how to use it and again the manual fails. The experience makes me feel like I need a degree in Software Development in order to use the software.\\n\\nI just hate their software and the support for it sucks too.\\n\\n**UPDATE**\\nWhen you first plug in mouse it's dog slow and Control Panel setting have no impact on speed. All the software settings are for lights and macros.\\nI went out and searched for increase/decrease tracking speed = nothing!\\nWeb site FAQ is all geared around keyboards, nothing for mice.\\nDownloadable manual is for the keyboards not the mouse.\\nNo tutorial videos or anything. Corsair support for this product is very poor.\\n\\nBUTTONS:\\nAll eight buttons are easily accessible. Thus the design is nice and once you use the mouse a bit, there is little chance to accidentally push the wrong button.\\n\\nTwo of the buttons are default set to DPI UP or DPI DOWN. I didn't know what this meant and couldn't find anything through Google or in the manual (again manual sucks). Finally found one web page on a different model of mouse, which said, \\\"With the sniper button depressed, the DPI of the mouse immediately drops from any of the three normally selected DPI levels to a specially designated, \\\"Sniper\\\" DPI (mine is set to 200 DPI). This enables the user to more easily aim from a further distance away when using a scoped weapon, since a lower DPI takes the same amount of mouse movement and translates that into less travel on-screen. Then, once the sniper button is released, the mouse immediately reverts back to the previously selected DPI level to resume fast screen travel.\\\"\\n\\nWhat I found this meant is when you first plug in your mouse the tracking speed is dog slow, though some would argue it's more \\\"accurate\\\". Thus the DPI UP speeds up your tracking speed and the DPI DOWN slows it down. You'll want to slow it down for sniper mode in games.\\n\\nAdjusting tracking speed under the Control Panel > Mouse Settings has zero effect on tracking speed, you need to use the DPI buttons!!\\n\\nOVERALL: You can spend $25 on a good Logitech mouse and it works perfectly fine for gaming (mostly play MMO's)\\n\\nNot sure if the fancy colors is worth double that price, but being able to macro the buttons may very well be worth it. . .if you can figure out the non-intutive software. If software help was better I'd give it another star.\",\n \"Product: Get a power boost! Boost4200 from Eton is a powerful backup battery pack with a 4200mAh lithium ion battery that provides long-lasting reliable power whenever and wherever you need it. Fast and efficient, when fully charged Boost4200 fully charges most smartphones two times and it also charges tablets so you're never caught powerless.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: It meets my needs\\n\\nReview: PRO's:\\n+ Charges my device(s) pretty fast. My phone charged from 50-100% in 30min-1hr.\\n+ It doesn't care if my device is Android or iOS...charged them both!\\n+ Even if you let it sit, it keeps its own charge pretty long.\\nRealize I had used it to charge a device first, so I don't know how close it was to the 4th LED before it started slowly losing it's charge. 2-weeks later I still have 3-LEDs of charge.\\n+ Dimensions are a good size to fit in a pocket, bag, whatever for transport.\\n+ Comes out of the box charged\\n\\nCON's:\\n- Not really any, other than its a battery pack = can seem heavy\\n\\nNEUTRAL:\\n* Takes 8-9hrs to charge back up. But that can be done overnight or throughout the day while at work.\\n\\nOVERALL: Love this! It's a lifesaver. Get one!!\",\n \"Product: Confident. Modern. Effortless. ETERNITY AQUA is inspired by the freshness of the ocean and the effortless elegance of a modern man. Top notes – Chilled cucumber, citrus cocktail, water lotus, drenched green leaves Mid notes – Szechuan pepper, lavender, white cedarwood Base notes – Sandalwood, guaiac wood, patchouli, musks\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Nice. Light, but not long lasting. . .\\n\\nReview: I've been a fan of <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Cool-Water-By-Davidoff-For-Men-Eau-De-Toilette-Spray-4-2-Ounces/dp/B0009OAHC8/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Cool Water By Davidoff For Men. Eau De Toilette Spray 4.2 Ounces</a>. When I don't have Coolwater handy, a good alternative has been <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Perry-Ellis-360-Red-By-Perry-Ellis-For-Men-Eau-De-Toilette-Spray-3-4-Ounces/dp/B000C1W38O/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Perry Ellis 360 Red By Perry Ellis For Men. Eau De Toilette Spray 3.4 Ounces</a>, which smells very similar.\\n\\nFirst impressions of Eternity:\\n+ Nice masculine smell\\n+ Compact bottle that I can take through airport security when traveling\\n\\nAs I went through my days, my next impressions:\\n- One place I tend to spray is the middle of my chest. But Eternity doesn't seem to last as long as Coolwater or Red. When I get home from work after a long day and go change my shirt, I no longer smell any of the cologne, whereas I can still smell the other two in my clothing. I personally like that having that lasting smell.\\n- When spraying, a lot of cologne comes out. So be careful and spray easy!\\n- Can't believe this is nearly 3-times the prices of a similar size bottle of Coolwater or Red. Maybe because it's new and over time the price will drop.\\n\\nOVERALL: I like the smell. My wife likes the smell. But for the money I'll stick with the other two, which seem to last longer.\",\n \"Product: With purifying and invigorating organic CADE essential oil, protecting shea butter and hydrating vegetable-based glycerin, CADE Shaving Cream transforms into a creamy lather for a gentle shave.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: L'Occitane. . .it's all french, I guess\\n\\nReview: This is my first \\\"high quality\\\" shaving cream. I've been using goat's milk shaving cream with a lather brush since it has very little ingredients in it. When in a pinch I'll use something cheap like Barbasol, such as when I'm on a trip and just need a small can of something.\\n\\nPackaging:\\nI had to hunt for the English information as everything on this packaging is in French for the most part. Some instructions in four other languages. Once removing the metal tube from the box, there is one logo that tells you what it is and no instructions.\\n\\nTravel in USA:\\nSpeaking of trips. . .when travelling in the USA this is too large (exceeds the 3.4 oz size) to take through security and may get confiscated. Checking out L'Occitane store here on Amazon, they don't have a smaller size.\\n\\nLather:\\nI didn't have any trouble lathering a dime-sized amount in my palm or similar amount when using the lather brush. The small amount lathered just fine and went on thick enough, though it required a little more massaging once on my face.\\n\\nScent:\\nI'm use to Sandlewood scent or something menthol with my \\\"cheap\\\" shaving cream options. This scent I can't quite place, but it's not unpleasant. Since I tend to finish off with a scented after shave any dislike for this scent will someone be rinsed off then masked with after shave.\\n\\nShaving:\\nOnce I spent sufficient time lathering, I didn't get much of any shave burns. It helped cut just fine and left my skin refreshed enough.\\n\\nOVERALL: I'm a newbie when it comes to using different qualities of shaving products, so I admit I'm trying to judge this the best I can. What will be the true test is if I get some highly rated shaving cream that cost about 50% of this one and see between the three price ranges (goat's milk, mid-level and this one) if I can really tell a difference.\\n\\nI appreciate it's concentrated, but time will tell how much I get out of the tube and if it's cost effective for the \\\"experience\\\" I'd get from shaving with it. So far, it's okay.\",\n \"Product: This HON Wave mid-back chair with mesh has 2-to-1 synchro tilt with lock and tension control. Sandwich mesh seat and mesh back give this chair an upscale feel at a compelling price. Seat upholstery color is Black and back mesh color is Black.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: This was easy to assemble and meets most basic needs\\n\\nReview: <div id=\\\"video-block-R2CIWVZO6OZZ46\\\" class=\\\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\\\"></div><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/E119wCuUvZS.mp4\\\" class=\\\"video-url\\\"><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61GIsNrdpQS.png\\\" class=\\\"video-slate-img-url\\\"> NOTE: I added some final comments to the video after I figured things out, so be sure to watch to the end.\\nVideo is nearly 8min.\\n\\n- Easy to assemble\\n- I like how all the metal screws go into metal ends, instead of plastic ends that may strip\\n- what is plastic is a very hard and sturdy\\n- You can even use the chair without the arms if you want to take them off\\n- Because the cushion is fabric, it is much warmer than if the cushion was also mesh. . .but you pay a lot more for all mesh chair\\n- My wife is concerned about the fabric wearing out over time before anything else goes wrong, so she's sitting on a thin pillow she put laid loosely on top of the chair's cushion. This does prop her up higher, but she's just lowering the chair further to get the correct height for her desk\\n- The chair's cushion is very thick and padded. . .I find it pretty comfortable\\n- Rolls fairly well -- with a little effort -- on my new carpet which is still \\\"plush\\\"\\n\\nOVERALL: I'm very happy with the chair, but Basyx makes what looks like nearly identical chairs for $40 less. I'd check into these other options, knowing you're still getting a good quality brand.\",\n \"Product: The Night Therapy Spring 13 Inch Deluxe Euro Box Top Spring Mattress by Zinus is an exceptional mattress that offers both customized support and luxurious comfort. This mattress features reduced motion transfer from a sleeping partner, while maintaining customized spinal alignment. The Pressure Relieving Comfort Foam and Fiber Quilted Cover of the Euro Box Top, additional layers of High-density Foam and Pressure Relieving Comfort Foam add exceptional comfort to this mattress. The 7.5 Pocketed Springs provide the support and a comfortable and healthy nights sleep.Please open your mattress package within 72 hours of receipt and allow 48 hours for your new mattress to return to its original, plush shape. Worry free 10 year limited warranty. Another comfort innovation from Zinus. Pioneering comfort.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Good night's sleep for us and we don't notice the other moving\\n\\nReview: <div id=\\\"video-block-R3S3Z2MDQEHRPM\\\" class=\\\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\\\"></div><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/C1ztieSosqS.mp4\\\" class=\\\"video-url\\\"><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/612nfUJQmKS.png\\\" class=\\\"video-slate-img-url\\\"> Darn! I had video of the box arriving and the unpacking but accidentally lost it. Sorry.\\n\\n+ Box was manageable and we were able to get it through the doorways from where the driver dropped it off to where our room is.\\n\\n+ It had a material \\\"sleeve\\\" around it, which was holding it in a rolled up fashion. There is zero way to slide the material off as it is under pressure. you have to get a box cutter or scissors and carefully cut the material.\\n\\nTIP#1: Put this on your box spring or frame before attempting to cut the sleeve holding this under pressure.\\n\\nTip #2: Once the sleeve gets opened far enough it will BURST the rest of the material and SNAPS apart, expanding the mattress. There was a pop and I almost got hit in the face from where I was standing. So get face the top of the sleeve at the bottom of the bed frame, cut the sleeve and make sure you are out of the line of fire, as you work at cutting the sleeve that holds this together. It should expand and fill the frame all on it's own.\\n\\n+ Ours opened to 12h x 80l x 76w...not much additional expansion after 2 to 3 weeks\\n\\nNOTE: This is a medium to firm mattress. We are use to sleeping on a soft mattress. Thus be prepared for a transition period.\\n\\nTIP #3: We purchased a 2-3 inch mattress pad to put on top of the built in pad. This helped us transition much easier to a more firm mattress than what we are use to (see video).\\n\\n+ I do not notice my wife moving around at night, and she doesn't notice me either. We are both sleeping much better because of it.\\n\\n+ After the first week of transitioning to this mattress we like it a lot. My wife is commenting how she loves her bed now. . .and she normally hates any kind of change.\\n\\n+ 10yr warranty. We will be rotating this regularly to do our best to keep it lasting. This is not the kind of bed you flip, but only rotate.\\n\\nWe are very happy and looking at getting the full sized version of this for our teenage daughter's bed.\",\n \"Product: You'll see a LOT of the cheaper, more bulky orange colored peelers around. Don't be fooled. These cheap imitations are exactly that. The Muzitao? ergonomically designed fruit peeler is a far superior product in both appearance, and in practice.?\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Not sure how you can LOVE a peeler, but I do LIKE IT a lot\\n\\nReview: <div id=\\\"video-block-R355NLPDYUE63W\\\" class=\\\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\\\"></div><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/C1oLEivgLmS.mp4\\\" class=\\\"video-url\\\"><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91cgX95f4aS.png\\\" class=\\\"video-slate-img-url\\\"> I forgot to show in the video, is instead of using my fingers to peel off what I had cut, the backend of the peeler can \\\"pry\\\" it off with ease.\\n\\nAfter one use, the underside where I cut isn't \\\"smooth\\\" and pretty any longer. I think this is what the one reviewer means by the citrus eat through the plastic. So maybe there is a reason to have a set of three.\\n\\nIf I have an update on the \\\"acid\\\" effect on the peelers as I use it more, I'll be sure to post the update to this review.\\n\\nDisclaimer: I received this product free or at a discounted price, in exchange for the purposes of a product review. All opinions are 100% my own and they reflect my honest & unbiased opinion. Your experience may differ from mine.\",\n \"Product: Save time and money with the Nesco VS-02 Food Vacuum Sealer! Prepare whole meals in advance, save leftovers, and reseal foods such as potato chips and cereal in their original package. Eliminate freezer burn, reduce spoilage and waste. Fully automatic, one-touch operation and automatic shut off makes it so easy to use. The unit has a powerful piston pump with a seal only switch to prevent over vacuuming and crushing of delicate foods. Features switch to extend sealing time for wet items or tighter sealing. This vacuum sealer can also be used to protect special papers and documents, or to keep supplies dry during camping or traveling. A roller storage compartment includes bag cutter for added convenience. Unit comes with 2 rolls of 8.66\\\" X 9.8' bag material, 5 pieces of 8.66\\\" X 11.8\\\" bags and 5 pieces of 11.0\\\" X 11.8\\\" bags. We recommend Nesco brand Vacuum Sealing Bags model VS-03R, VS-05B, VS-06B, VS-04R, VS-07V. Bagging material is extra strong, with crossed air venting ribs on both sides of bags for maximum air extraction. 110-watts. Black and silver.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Great so far, I just hope it lasts\\n\\nReview: <div id=\\\"video-block-RFY1SI3L3AQ44\\\" class=\\\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\\\"></div><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/E17vQ9vs1ZS.mp4\\\" class=\\\"video-url\\\"><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/311dPLMiTUS.png\\\" class=\\\"video-slate-img-url\\\">Finally got the video uploaded.\\n\\n1. CORRECTION: The unit comes with 10 bags, not 2 like I mention in the video.\\n\\n2. I looked at several other brands of vacuum sealer and Foodsaver is the only one with 4-stars or better. the biggest complaint is that it stops working after a while. For some people it was 20 uses and others after a year (directly after the warranty) that their unit stopped working. I haven't had this unit that long, so time will tell if I come back here and change my rating.\\n\\n3. Otherwise after reading other reviews on competitor products, I'd give this a five star for the simple reason of having the storage for the roll and the bag slicer.\\n\\n4. I like the easy sealing process, as shown in the video.\\n\\n5. Getting replacement bags is easy and you can use competitor bags. The roll holder is just under 12-inches, so don't get anything bigger than that.\\n\\n6. This unit is LARGE! Too large to sit on our small kitchen counter space. Also, since it's slopped, it cannot stack well anywhere, unless it's the top-most item because it does have a flat base. You cannot turn it on its side, but you can stand it on the back, as it too is flat.\\n\\nI decided to put it back in the box, so it's rectangle and can stack better. I then threw the box into a hallway closet and will bring it down when needed, since it's not a product our family in particular will use every day.\",\n \"Product: DII offers a luxury, plush mattress pad.These mattress pads offer a cloud of softness for comfort during your sleep. DIIs mattress pads offer a 3 year limited warranty, covering any manufacturer defects. The hypo-Allergenic fibers are designed to minimize allergies and allergic reactions, and repel dust mites. Invest in your sleeping experience and try DII Home Essentials mattress pads.To view more of our products visit amazon.com/homeessentials.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Good fit and seems well made\\n\\nReview: My daughter's bed already has an old pad on it, which I'm not sure provides much support or \\\"softness\\\" to her bed any longer. Thus when I received this item I simply put it right on top.\\n\\nHer bed is a full, sized.\\n\\n+ Pad reaches around bed with old pad on it and then some. Fits great and wasn't too difficult to fit it.\\nThe insert says, \\\"Will hug your mattress tightly & stay in place, fits mattresses up to 20-inches\\\". Well this was plenty and seems to fit well for us.\\n\\n+ Nice cushion top. It is noticeably nicer laying on her bed after putting this on top.\\n\\n> Made in China...you be the judge.\\n\\n+ Love this can be washed if needed\\n\\nOVERALL: Not sure what more I can say about a mattress pad, but that it fits and is nice to lay on, so we have no reason not to love it.\\nTime may tell and I'm always happy to come back and update reviews if something dramatic changes. But for now, great product.\",\n \"Product: Double up on your favorite fried foods cooked with the Elite platinum 4Qt. Dual basket deep fryer. Attractively housed in a brushed Stainless Steel exterior, the dual baskets allow you to fry two foods at once for a deliciously tasty snack or use the bonus extra large basket to create an entire meal at once! save time and cook up to 1 lb. Of food in each basket. Fry up some of your usual favorites such as fries and onion rings or even try something more bizarre such as deep fried Oregon's or pickles! the extra large 4Qt enamel container holds up to 16.5 Cups of oil\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: A 4-qt fryer for many frying needs\\n\\nReview: Fried foods are yummy! Being able to make your own whenever you want is more yummy.\\n\\n+ The 4qt size allows for deep frying pork chops along with many other things.\\n\\n> 4qts is a lot of oil (17 cups) to get the oil to the fill line. Just be prepared for that.\\n\\n+ Two individual 2qt baskets.\\n\\n-- Having two baskets keeps smaller things separate, but everything is still using the same oil and most likely mixing flavors.\\n\\n+ It does have a magnetic plug, which is a nice simple added feature.\\n\\n+ Audible timer\\n\\nTIP: To help reduce food sticking to the basket I see two choices:\\na) you can spray the basket with cooking oil, put your food in, then dunk in the hot oil\\nb) You can leave the baskets in the oil as it heats up, then drop your items in, let it cook a few minutes, then a small tap should loosen them up and off the basket while still cooking\\n\\n-- My baskets seem flimsy. They were bent out of shape when I pulled them out of the box. Easy fix to bend them back into shape, but yikes...I didn't realize how cheap these may be.\\n\\n> You do need to be patient as this is not a quick heat, but a slow warming of the oil.\\n\\nIf you go into it knowing these things, it may meet your needs great and be a great deep fryer. Hopefully, there will be better quality baskets that can be ordered once these flimsy ones wear out or break.\",\n \"Product: Fast, even room heating paired with powerful personal cooling makes Dysons AM09 fan heater effective all year round. Through Dysons Air Multiplier patented technology, the AM09 fan heater creates a powerful stream of uninterrupted airflow into the room for either jet focused, powerful airflow or diffused, wide projected airflow to mix the surrounding air. The precise, energy efficient fan heater is awarded the Quiet Mark accreditation and has features including sleep timer, oscillation control, no fast-spinning blades for little fingers or paws and has a curved, magnetized remote control to store neatly on the machine.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Cost more than many appliances, but does what most cannot do\\n\\nReview: Most room heaters...heat. They don't have a cooling feature. Basically think of it as this has a fan feature, even if the fan isn't as powerful. I consider the heating for rooms and the cooling for individuals or a small area.\\n\\nPRO:\\n+ Looks cool and modern\\n+ It does both, heating and cooling\\n+ It heats well\\n+ Very easy to use\\n+ About time I get a manual/instructions in English that seem to be written by people where English is their first language\\n+ Can fit it in the corner out of the way or under a work desk (though that would be overkill)\\n+ It is quiet\\n+ It comes with a remote...that works\\n+ Battery is self-changing and easy to get to\\n\\nCONs:\\n- $400+ dollars?!? Are you kidding me!\\n- The cooling portion is just as good as if you used are regular house fan\\n- Did I mention the cost? Way too expensive. This is the only reason I dinged it a star on the rating.\\n\\nOVERALL: Not many devices are a two-in-one and I like that this can do both.\\nI would never pay this price. I received this free for an honest review.\\n\\nFor a heater spend $35 and get the Lasko 754200 Ceramic Heater with Adjustable Thermostat.\\nIF you want to spend some money and have a good room circulator, try Vornado 660 Whole Room Air Circulator for $100.\",\n \"Product: Fast, even room heating paired with powerful personal cooling makes Dysons AM09 fan heater effective all year round. Through Dysons Air Multiplier patented technology, the AM09 fan heater creates a powerful stream of uninterrupted airflow into the room for either jet focused, powerful airflow or diffused, wide projected airflow to mix the surrounding air. The precise, energy efficient fan heater is awarded the Quiet Mark accreditation and has features including sleep timer, oscillation control, no fast-spinning blades for little fingers or paws and has a curved, magnetized remote control to store neatly on the machine.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Cost more than many appliances, but does what most cannot do\\n\\nReview: Most room heaters...heat. They don't have a cooling feature. Basically think of it as this has a fan feature, even if the fan isn't as powerful. I consider the heating for rooms and the cooling for individuals or a small area.\\n\\nPRO:\\n+ Looks cool and modern\\n+ It does both, heating and cooling\\n+ It heats well\\n+ Very easy to use\\n+ About time I get a manual/instructions in English that seem to be written by people where English is their first language\\n+ Can fit it in the corner out of the way or under a work desk (though that would be overkill)\\n+ It is quiet\\n+ It comes with a remote...that works\\n+ Battery is self-changing and easy to get to\\n\\nCONs:\\n- $400+ dollars?!? Are you kidding me!\\n- The cooling portion is just as good as if you used are regular house fan\\n- Did I mention the cost? Way too expensive. This is the only reason I dinged it a star on the rating.\\n\\nOVERALL: Not many devices are a two-in-one and I like that this can do both.\\nI would never pay this price. I received this free for an honest review.\\n\\nFor a heater spend $35 and get the Lasko 754200 Ceramic Heater with Adjustable Thermostat.\\nIF you want to spend some money and have a good room circulator, try Vornado 660 Whole Room Air Circulator for $100.\",\n \"Product: Reusable single cup filter for coarse ground coffee and loose tea leaves enjoy coarse ground coffee at work, camping or on the go? Want fresh loose leaf tea wherever you want, whenever you want? Spending $$$ on paper coffee filters you throw away? Want to save space of a bulky coffee/tea maker? Introducing the AFL Products reusable single cup coffee filter make one cup of coffee with coarse ground coffee beans or one cup of loose leaf tea using our 1 serve filters. Simply fill the mesh coffee filter with your coarse ground coffee or loose leaf tea, slide lid closed, tap to remove excess small pieces (so they don't end up in your cup), place in hot water and stir gently holding the handle until the drink is at the depth of flavor you like, remove and add milk or drink black. Simple great tasting filter coffee or tea in seconds instead of waiting for a long brew. Alternative to single serve coffee pods, k cup reusable filter and Keurig coffee machine filters. Reusable durable plastic and stainless steel mesh filter that can be used time and again, instead of throwing paper filters into landfill. Designed to be a small and compact filter to carry anywhere and store easily in a drawer, bag or box. A small coffee and tea maker no bigger than a spoon easy to clean and dishwasher safe.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Idea has promise...it just needed a bit better delivery.\\n\\nReview: I seep loose leaf tea (not ground tea) and I'm using my tea seepers for ground coffee too. Thus I was very interested in testing this.\\n\\n+ Kudos for a good idea. The nice fine, mesh filter tops and sides is actually a really good idea.\\n\\n-- Huge gap between top that swivels open and rest of the handle.\\nVendor did email me to say it works best with course ground coffee, but almost all the pre-ground stuff in the stores is fine ground.\\nI tried to take a picture to where you can easily see the space all the way through the top to the other side.\\n\\nTIP: I had better luck when I stirred the handled versus letting it sit there. The stirring caused it to \\\"pull\\\" the water through the grounds better.\\n\\n+ Right now this is only $1 add on item. Well...I might light it better now because it's such a great price.\\n\\n> Handle needs to be a couple inches longer. When using different size mugs, this could easily disappear under the hot water on a larger mug.\\n\\n> Also the filter isn't even a full tablespoon. Just realize if you are trying to measure, don't use a tablespoon as it will be too large for this thing. This is about 2.5 teaspoons in size.\\n\\nOVERALL: I really wanted to like this more, but the huge gap for tea (I have fine loose leaf and very big course loose leaf) or coffee is still too much that my drink is full of stuff that should be inside this strainer.\",\n \"Product: The Zinus Modern Studio Collection is an ideal combination of function and style. The Deluxe Rectangular Coffee Table is functional in your main living space as a coffee table, or to hold various items in any room of the home. With an additional lower shelf, storage space is maximized. The sturdy, black square steel tubing and high density panel with rich brown wood grain finish will add an elegant touch to any dcor. Easy to assemble. Worry free limited 1 year warranty.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Looks pretty good and gives Ikea some competition\\n\\nReview: I love the beds we got from Zinus, so I was hoping for a lot with this coffee table.\\n\\n+ Finding a coffee table for $60 is very difficult, so the price was right\\n\\n> Ours came damaged slightly and Amazon fixed us up, but since it's cheap materials you run the risk that it cannot take a bump or two during shipping\\n\\n-- You kind of need to install it and let it be. If you fiddle with it or add/remove items from it often it starts to loosen up. So the natural thing is to re-tighten, but it's very easy with this cheap metal to strip the thread on the inside of the table as the metal of the bolt is better quality and cuts through easily.\\n\\n+ Design allows for storage of a lot of stuff...yes, everyone can see all that stuff, but it works for our cushions to get them out of the way\\n\\nOVERALL: We like it for the price, but it doesn't hold up if you have to interact with it much, so next time I'd go with something more costly that won't loosen up.\",\n \"Product: Compact size stores easily and out of the way. Non-skid platform keeps containers in place. Carrying handle makes it easy to move from place to place. Memory Lock locks in readings when dial is obscured by larger items. Low-profile receiving scale for foodservice, industrial, or office environments. Rustproof internal mechanism. Enamel finish for strong protection.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: This is a sturdy, manual (not digital) scale\\n\\nReview: + 250lb limit is a good amount\\n\\n+ Zero-out knob is on the right side. Took me a bit to get the zero to center properly it wanted to go too much one way or the other, but I eventually got it.\\n\\n+ The lock lever is near the handle, so you need to reach under the box on the scale and flip the lever to freeze the scale in place. Love this feature. Main reason to get this product.\\n\\n+ Easy to read numbers\\n\\n+ The handle is very useful for making this scale more portable.\\n\\n+ Rubber feet do in fact keep this from slipping\\n\\nOVERALL: For a mobile scale you need to move often and it can handle most packages for receiving or shipping, this works great.\\nI'm not sure about the cost, when there are other shipping scales that are rated well and at a portion of the cost, such as: <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Smart-Weigh-Shipping-and-Postal-Scale-Heavy-Duty-Stainless-Steel-10-6-quot-X-10-6-quot-Platform-440-lbs-Capacity-Extendable-Cord/dp/B0153I0418/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Smart Weigh Shipping and Postal Scale, Heavy Duty, Stainless Steel, 10.6\\\" X 10.6\\\" Platform, 440 lbs. Capacity, Extendable Cord</a>\",\n \"Product: The clean lined silhouette of the Furniture of America Aristo 2-Drawer Nightstand in espresso finish is accentuated by its sleek exterior and elegantly curved profile. Nightstand features 2-drawers for storage with nickel polished hardware knobs. Product is made of solid rubberwood and selected veneers. To clean, wipe with damp cotton cloth. No assembly required. Product made in China. Product measures 22 inches wide by 16 inches deep by 24 inches high; 30-days hassle-free replacement parts warranty. Pictures are for illustration purposes. All decor items are not included in this offer.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Gorgeous wood. Nice solid furniture.\\n\\nReview: <div id=\\\"video-block-R13AKDIMMX2Q5R\\\" class=\\\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\\\"></div><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D1G59a7hauS.mp4\\\" class=\\\"video-url\\\"><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51wdi2GSzJS.png\\\" class=\\\"video-slate-img-url\\\"> What looks in the video like a scratch down to the white wood (top left), is in fact a scratch but the light made it look white on the video. The scratch (thanks to the care of the teenage), is not through the top layer. Unlike particle board \\\"furniture\\\" I've had, which would immediately break through the cheap vaneer to the bottom wood.\\n\\nAlso, after watching the video back, you can see the screws and wood brackets in the behind the drawers. I like the extra bracing!\\n\\nMy wife has a dresser that is over 25 years old. It uses a single drawer slide in the middle of the drawer. This is the same drawer slide style on this nightstand. I expect this to last longer than the side roller types.\\n\\nI may have rated this one less star due to the wasted space on the side of the drawers, but I like the look and hardwood so much, I don't care. Plus the drawer is big enough to fit lots of different sizes being an 11.5\\\" x 14\\\" inner dimensions.\\n\\nThe shipping box itself was so sturdy and thick, I could act like a poor college student and throw a sheet over it and us the box as an end table. It would really take some freight carrier negligence to have this nightstand arrive with any dings or scratches.\\n\\nOVERALL: Great product. Can take a hit or two from teens. Love it came fully assembled!!\\n\\nNOTE:\\nIf you have a suggestion / question / or did NOT find this review helpful, leave me a comment! I'm more than happy to respond to the comment and/or update this review to make it more helpful.\\n\\nIf you found this review helpful please vote. Thank you!\",\n \"Product: Adapter allows for fit on most vacuum brands including Bissell, dirt Devil, Dyson, Eureka, Hoover, infinity and Kenmore vacuum cleaners.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: If you don't have such an attachment already, this could be useful\\n\\nReview: Initially I thought this was a hand duster, not a vacuum attachment. But no. . .it will not do you any good without attaching it to a vacuum.\\n\\nPic #1 = product arrived and looks just like picture here on this site\\n\\nPic #2 = At least they provided an additional adapter, so I could use this on my vacuum that didn't fit without the adapter in the middle.\\n\\nWe use a hand duster and granted that doesn't get all the dust...even pushes dust around a bit. But a hand duster is super easy to use and I I've had one of my kids do the dusting chore since they were six.\\n\\nThis does not seem to push dust around, but you need to drag the vacuum around to use it. My previous vacuums did not have a dust attachment, so if I wanted to drag this around and not take a chance of simply pushing the dust around, then this is helpful.\\n\\nHand dusters are less expensive and any age can use. But they push some dust and you still have to take them outside to shake them out.\\nI guess I'd be more inclined to use a vacuum duster like this for those high, hard to reach places such as the top of a fan blades or top of the window blinds.\\n\\nThis works for what it is intended to do.\\nIf your current vacuum already has such an attachment, I don't see the need for this.\\nIf you current vacuum does not already have a dust attachment, then consider getting this.\",\n \"Product: Trust that it can stand up to the rigors of everyday life and still look great. 3 year replacement warranty against breaking and chipping! The striking contrast of bold, look that's simple, yet elegant and coordinates with a range of home decor styles.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: It does the job. Looks good and feels good.\\n\\nReview: I was provided this item at a discounted price in exchange for my honest & unbiased review. My everyday Superman mug (see images) is currently at least 16oz. Thus I thought I was going to die with such a tiny cup...and it is small.\\n\\n+ Quality ceramic. I've had some real loser cups sent to me for review that were cheap and light. This one has some solidness to it. I could bump this accidentally and not worry about it shattering in my hand.\\n\\n+ The coloring is interesting and neutral...or some may consider it more masculine, which works fine for me since I'm a dude. But I really like the coloring.\\n\\n+ The texturing makes it not feel like it's going to slip.\\n\\n> If I can get the one image loaded, I set our Keurig machine for 8oz and you can see there is still room for creamer afterwards.\\nI have some 11oz mugs at home that are part of our dinnerware and this seems about their size or maybe a little smaller. Thus not exactly 8oz.\\n\\n-- The handle is too small. I feel like a little girl at tea time or some English aristocracy where I'm holding a finger out and up since I cannot get more than two or three fingers around this tiny handle. This is my biggest complaint with this mug.\\n\\n> My 16oz Superman mug has lasted me for at least 5 years. I paid $11 to a kid's fundraiser for that. So to pay $12 (at the time of this writing) for this tiny little guy doesn't get me excited about it.\\n\\nBut when looking at other 8oz mugs,many were more expensive than this. That's crazy, but people are paying it! So the $12 is looking better every minute.\\n\\nThen again, will twelve dollar store mugs last me as long as this one. Probably not as this little guy is pretty solid.\\n\\nWorth checking out if you are in the market for a nice little mug. Just don't expect to get your fingers around the handle.\",\n \"Product: Here is a modern take on a classic teapot. Don't use a small mug to make tea when you can use a teapot that allows you to make as much tea or infused fruit water as you want. It's simple: Place loose tea leaves inside infuser, add desired amount of hot or cold water. Put cover in place, after a few minutes serve your favorite tea or infused fruit water.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: I'm in tea heaven now!\\n\\nReview: I've been drinking more loose leaf tea and needed a pot large enough for more than one 16oz mug's worth. So I had this one sitting in my wish list for a while due to it's 42oz size and then when it dropped in price to $13 I snatched it up.\\n\\n+ Large pot! I can brew several cups and let them steep for my desired flavor.\\n\\n+ Easy to pour a cup of cold tea and then microwave my cup if I want it hot or further ice it for some yummy sweat cold tea.\\n\\n+ The pot is easy to clean\\n\\n> I'm assuming the plastic infuser is \\\"food safe\\\". A stainless steel infuser would have worked too, but the plastic does work surprisingly well.\\n\\n+ Nice large infuser to put as little or as much loose leaf for steeping. Love it.\\n\\n+ I read the product description and I do NOT put this on the stove, but pour hot kettle water into it. Works easy enough.\\n\\nOVERALL: For the $13 it is totally meeting my tea drinking needs and easy clean up.\",\n \"Product: This switch box features a heavy duty, easy-to-turn rotary switch enclosed in a metal case with rubber feet to protect your desk or tabletop. The rugged metal case withstands the rigors of everyday use, and helps prevent unwanted EMI/RFI interference. Each connector is wired straight-through in a pin-to-pin configuration to ensure compatibility.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: One monitor, shared between two computers (one computer at a time)\\n\\nReview: I have a laptop, a desktop, along with two monitors, two keyboards and two mice on the same desk. I needed to use both monitors for one computer and at times let the other computer use one monitor too.\\n\\n1. Plugged cable from shared monitor into the I/O port of this box\\n2. Plugged cable into A port on this box and the other end to laptop docking station\\n3. Plugged cable into B port on this box to my gaming desktop PC\\n\\nSince I'm using the laptop docking station it can handle multiple monitors. I have one DVI cable going to one monitor and the VGA cable going to this shared monitor via the monitor box. Now when working I can use my laptop with both monitors for the added desktop space.\\nWhen i want to use my gaming PC, I switch over to B and the shared monitor is only on the PC now.\\nMy laptop is still using the other DVI monitor.\\n\\nHopefully that all makes sense. It worked immediately out of the box.\\nNo additional cables provided, but I had those already from my monitors.\\nI like this old school style switch box better than the push-button newer ones because it feels like the actual switch knob will last longer, even with daily swapping.\",\n \"Product: Water Resistant Vertical In-The-Ear Design Secure Clip To Prevent Dropping During Sports Activity Cord Slider To Prevent Cord Tangles\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: perfect for someone on the go\\n\\nReview: 1) Whether I'm running, biking or just sitting at my desk, the clips help keep these in my ears without all the jiggling & jangling of a threat to pop-ou\\n\\n2) Most of the earbuds & round headphones you \\\"plug\\\" into the ear hole area tend to hurt my ears after a bit. The fact that the speakers only sit inside my ear without pushing on it leaves no pain\\n\\n3) CON - NOT Waterproof!! Just ordered my 2nd pair after ruining my first because of water\\n\\n4) The length of the cord is not too short. I can have my ipod in my shorts pocket and there is no threat of the headphones getting pulled out of my ear because there is just the right amount of slack.\\n\\n5) Hard to find. . .Sony came out with a new flexible rubber style model (Sony Mdr-As20J) . I have both, and either will do, though I find these are easier to get on and off than the newer model\\n\\n6) This model can come in multiple colors\\n\\n7) CON - depending on the color you want, Amazon charges different prices, which makes no sense to me. White is the most expensive and orange the least expensive.\\n\\n8) Whether listening to some tunes or to an audiobook, the sound is always clear and crisp\\n\\nOVERALL: I love these headphones and don't see any reason to try another brand\",\n \"Product: Norton Ghost 14.0 protects PCs including all applications, settings, folders, and files with advanced backup and recovery. It provides powerful protection with new features such as offsite backups and Symantec ThreatCon integration, as well as enhanced performance, remote management, LightsOut Restore capability, and more. With Norton Ghost 14.0, you have a choice of backup types: full system (disk image) or specific files and folders. Incremental backups and enhanced compression help reduce the amount of required storage, while encryption helps keep everything safe. Norton Ghost 14.0 works with most storage devices, including external hard drives, networked drives, and recordable and rewritable CDs and DVDs.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: backup = passed, but restore = failed!\\n\\nReview: Vista Home Basic and Home Premium users were unfortunately ripped off when the product didn't come with a standard backup feature built into the operating system. Thus, solutions like the legendary Norton Ghost.\\n\\n- First good news is it installed within minutes on Vista x32 and x64\\n- Second good news is backing up to my external Maxtor One Touch was flawless. It backed up nearly 200GB in a little over an hour.\\n- Third piece of good news is when making the Symantec Recovery Disc, you can tell it exactly where to find your driver files and load those onto the disc.\\n\\nBut. . .\\n\\n- First \\\"bad\\\" news is the UI stinks to high heaven. Trying to go the simplified look with high feature rich innovation like of Apple didn't work here. Symantec failed miserably. I had to search online or in the Help more than once to figure out how to use many of the features.\\n- Second bad news, is its failure to restore, which is an essential feature in a \\\"backup & restore\\\" solution. So many bad reviews on Amazon, but so few of the reviews anyone actually trying to do a OS restore. So you backup your pictures and docs to a USB drive, big deal. A manual copy & paste does that. But restoring a crashed OS is a key feature that should be tested. Suffice it to say, the restore process failed for me like it did for the few others who posted reviews where this was attempted\\n- Third bad news is the online support for actual error messages stinks. If you get lucky and find an obscure message board with a fix, then count your blessings because the online knowledgebase from Symantec needs help for the Ghost v14 product. I'm a support manager by trade and every business report will tell you the #1 deflector of calls in to Support is to get online resources. . .Guess Symantec isn't partaking in standard business practices\\n\\nOVERALL:\\nIf you need something that will backup your data automatically, this works. But for the price you might try searching Sourceforge first to find a free solution.\\n\\nThe worst part, every review that tried to do an OS restore, including myself, was unsuccessful. A key reason NOT to get this product.\",\n \"Product: Norton Ghost 14.0 protects PCs including all applications, settings, folders, and files with advanced backup and recovery. It provides powerful protection with new features such as offsite backups and Symantec ThreatCon integration, as well as enhanced performance, remote management, LightsOut Restore capability, and more. With Norton Ghost 14.0, you have a choice of backup types: full system (disk image) or specific files and folders. Incremental backups and enhanced compression help reduce the amount of required storage, while encryption helps keep everything safe. Norton Ghost 14.0 works with most storage devices, including external hard drives, networked drives, and recordable and rewritable CDs and DVDs.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: backup = passed, but restore = failed!\\n\\nReview: Vista Home Basic and Home Premium users were unfortunately ripped off when the product didn't come with a standard backup feature built into the operating system. Thus, solutions like the legendary Norton Ghost.\\n\\n- First good news is it installed within minutes on Vista x32 and x64\\n- Second good news is backing up to my external Maxtor One Touch was flawless. It backed up nearly 200GB in a little over an hour.\\n- Third piece of good news is when making the Symantec Recovery Disc, you can tell it exactly where to find your driver files and load those onto the disc.\\n\\nBut. . .\\n\\n- First \\\"bad\\\" news is the UI stinks to high heaven. Trying to go the simplified look with high feature rich innovation like of Apple didn't work here. Symantec failed miserably. I had to search online or in the Help more than once to figure out how to use many of the features.\\n- Second bad news, is its failure to restore, which is an essential feature in a \\\"backup & restore\\\" solution. So many bad reviews on Amazon, but so few of the reviews anyone actually trying to do a OS restore. So you backup your pictures and docs to a USB drive, big deal. A manual copy & paste does that. But restoring a crashed OS is a key feature that should be tested. Suffice it to say, the restore process failed for me like it did for the few others who posted reviews where this was attempted\\n- Third bad news is the online support for actual error messages stinks. If you get lucky and find an obscure message board with a fix, then count your blessings because the online knowledgebase from Symantec needs help for the Ghost v14 product. I'm a support manager by trade and every business report will tell you the #1 deflector of calls in to Support is to get online resources. . .Guess Symantec isn't partaking in standard business practices\\n\\nOVERALL:\\nIf you need something that will backup your data automatically, this works. But for the price you might try searching Sourceforge first to find a free solution.\\n\\nThe worst part, every review that tried to do an OS restore, including myself, was unsuccessful. A key reason NOT to get this product.\",\n \"Product: SYBA SD-CM-UAUD USB Stereo Audio Adapter Works with PC and Mac System. C-Media Chipset, RoHS. Upgrade, replace, or fix desktop/laptop sound in a minute.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Works out of the box!\\n\\nReview: My wife's audio went out on her motherboard and we were past the warranty phase. So what to do?\\nBack in the mid-90's I'd simply spend $50 and get a sound card for the computer.\\n\\nLucky for our pocketbook, we no longer need to do that in this day and age.\\n\\n+ $6 at the time of this writing is awesome for a solution that is plug-n-play.\\n\\n+ Yep, no drivers needed. I just plugged it in to our Windows 10 system (should have no problem with windows 7 or 8 either) and once it identified it and said ready, I rebooted for good measure and it worked!\\n\\n+ Compact and portable if needed for a laptop\\n\\n+ Sound is great\\n\\n> Mic works great for skype and meets our needs plenty fine for online gaming sessions.\\n\\n+ Nice thing is, that since our audio went out on the computer, which also has the mic port, I don't care if it still works or not, this replaces the mic port.\\n\\n+ From the other users this apparently works with PS3 and PS4 too. Nice!\\n\\n+ We have our external speakers plugged into this and my wife's PC once again has good sound and she's able to play her music or whatever she's doing on the computer.\",\n \"Product: abc\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Original description/title had this as a generic adapter...it is only for newer, rare technology\\n\\nReview: *UPDATE: Originally the description said PC to VGA. Since my original review on Dec 29th, the manufacturer has completely changed the product title and description, so you know what you're getting. . .finally.\\n\\n=======================\\nI misread this item description that says connect PC to VGA.\\nThis is not a USB to VGA\\nThis is not a HDMI to VGA\\nThis is not a DVI to VGA\\n\\nThis is DisplayPort to VGA adapter.\\n\\nArticle I found explained this. . .\\n=============\\nApple introduced a new term to the vocabulary of Mac users--DisplayPort. The Mini DisplayPort found on new MacBooks, the refreshed Macbook Air and 15-inch MacBook Pros replaces the DVI and mini-DVI interfaces found on older models. But is this another proprietary debacle like Apple's failed Apple Display Connector (ADC) standard? No.\\n\\nDisplayPort is, in fact, an open industry standard promoted by the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA), the same group that determines standard sizes for flat panel display mounts, for example. And Apple isn't the only company supporting DisplayPort. HP, Philips, Samsung, Lenovo, AMD, Nvidia, Intel and many other companies have thrown their weight behind the standard, so we'll be seeing a lot more DisplayPort-compatible devices in the coming years.\\n=============\\n\\nThus this new standard seems hard to find, as all the Black Friday 2015 sales on laptops seemed to have HDMI, but no DisplayPort.\\nToo new to test out. I've asked around the office and nobody in the office has a devices that supports this either. Sigh!\\n\\nI need to be more careful reading the description next time. But the manufacturer needs to be clearer too.\\n\\nBy the way, the USB connection is to power Audio. Thus the TV will get audio from the USB power and video from the DisplayPort connection. I'm confused why they didn't go DisplayPort to HDMI, since many, many TV's and computer monitors now have HDMI ports. So confusing on the technology these days and which to invest in.\",\n \"Product: The ultra-compact design of the Belkin N150 Micro Wireless USB Adapter makes it easy to connect to your laptop or netbook and go.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: It works fine...nothing spectacular, but nothing horrible either\\n\\nReview: Pro:\\n1) it's small and unobtrusive\\n2) Connected instantly to my Belkin router\\n3) Used on kid's XP system and allowed them to surf the web and do small downloads. . .just what they need\\n4) price is average for this speed device\\n5) Belkin is a known brand name, so finding drivers was pretty easy\\n6) I was able to use this with a USB extender cable, allowing me to position the device in a place that could better receive a signal than on the floor, in the back of the computer, under a desk\\n\\nCons:\\n1) it's small and if you are trying to connect and disconnect often, it's easy to misplace and lose\\n2) HD streaming from Youtube was so-so\\n3) Playing MMO's had some lag\\n\\nOVERALL: You need a quick wi-fi connector, then this will do the job.\",\n \"Product: The TL-PA2010KIT AV200 Nano Powerline Adapter Starter Kit by TP-LINK uses your home's existing electrical wires to create or expand your home network. With no additional wiring required, you can simply plug the TL-PA2010KIT into existing power sockets and instantly establish a networking infrastructure. With high-speed data transfer rates of up to 200Mbps, you can enjoy HD video streaming, online gaming, VoIP, or any other bandwidth intensive tasks. Plus, its miniature design gives you the flexibility to plug it in anywhere in your home. Key Features AV200 Powerline Speeds HomePlug AV standard compliant, high-speed data transfer rates of up to 200Mbps Up to 1000 Feet Up to 1000 meter over electrical circuit, better performance than wireless through walls or across floors Multi IPTV Streams Supports IGMP managed multicast IP transmission, optimizes IPTV streaming Power-Saving Mode Patented Power-Saving reduces power consumption by up to 75% Plug and Play No new wires or configuration required\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Good price. Good performance. Fairly easy to setup.\\n\\nReview: Arrived today.\\n\\nI made the mistake of hooking it into the same powerstrip I had another, different brand powerline adapter plugged into. My entire network crashed.\\n\\nI then put it on it's own outlet, and rebooted all computers and router.\\nI pressed the Pairing buttons a couple of times till the lights were flashing correctly.\\nI installed the Management Utility on one computer. It identified both devices.\\n\\nOnce the network came back up and I had done all the above = connected to the Internet. Total of 15 minutes.\\n\\nRan several bandwidth tests and they were 90% of my internet bandwidth allocation (I currently pay for 12Mbps and I got 10-11Mbps on the test for downloads).\\n\\nKids played Planetside 2 across multiple computers on our home network and the computer which has this device did NOT have any lag for the first time!! Happy kids = happy dad.\\n\\nAs you can see I'm a top reviewer, so as time goes on I'll definitely be back to update if anything changes. But for now, this is a great device for $25.\",\n \"Product: 15 6\\\" Laptop + Tablet Backpack\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: A good backpack with lots of pockets, but I've had better\\n\\nReview: <div id=\\\"video-block-RDKVWO0NQXZMB\\\" class=\\\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\\\"></div><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D1o7mU8WG3S.mp4\\\" class=\\\"video-url\\\"><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61JYQT65bSS.png\\\" class=\\\"video-slate-img-url\\\"> For the last three years I've been using <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Targus-A7-Backpack-Designed-to-Protect-16-Inch-Widescreen-Laptops-TSB167US-Black/dp/B0037TRWTI/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Targus A7 Backpack Designed to Protect 16-Inch Widescreen Laptops TSB167US (Black)</a>, which has been a GREAT backpack (you can easily find my video review on the product page). I use the Targus when traveling and it's been perfect.\\n\\nSo three years later I get this backpack:\\n* As you can see in the video there are plenty of pockets\\n* Thought to supporting tablets and headphones was good planning on this design\\n* When I compare the padding, the Targus is far superior in both shoulder straps and the area around the laptop.\\n* In my video I missed another small pocket just below the main handle at the top. Big enough for loose change.\\n\\nOverall this is a good backpack, but when I first reviewed this, it cost 90-frick'n-dollars. The price has since fallen by 50% to something more expected for this type of product. Plus a star.\\nYes, the padding on the shoulder blade area and lumbar area keeps the laptop away from your body and can allow airflow between your back and pack. Sill for the price was hoping for something for more padding on the bottom or other \\\"impact\\\" areas.\\n\\nBssed on great reviews & price, some other alternatives you might want to check into:\\n<a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Targus-Drifter-II-Backpack-for-16-Inch-Laptop-TSB238US-Black-Gray/dp/B004YIFKRM/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Targus Drifter II Backpack for 16-Inch Laptop TSB238US (Black/Gray)</a>\\n<a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Samsonite-Luggage-Xenon-2-Backpack/dp/B008HY60AA/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Samsonite Luggage Xenon 2 Backpack</a>\",\n \"Product: TP-LINK's Archer D7 AC1750 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit ADSL2+ Modem Router is a combined wired/wireless network connection device with integrated wireless router and ADSL modem, reducing hassle of configuration and saving space.Featuring a variety of features and rich functionality, Archer D7 is the perfect hub of your home or business network. It works with top ISPs - Verizon, Fairpoint, WindStream, AT&T. It is not compatible with FiOS, AT&T U-Verse, or VDSL. ( as stated on the box.)\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Check with your Internet provider BEFORE buying\\n\\nReview: 1. Mixed experience with TP-Link Support (see long story below)\\n2. Will not work in some areas due to ISP controlling what hardware they've partnered with. Thus I cannot blame TP-Link...completely.\\n3. But I do blame TP-Link, since there is no warning to consider ISP restrictions or which ISP's they are 'certified' with.\\n\\n=====================================\\nI'm in the Sacramento,CA area and the Quick Setup would not connect to my AT&T DSL service.\\n\\n1. I called AT&T and the first agent didn't want to help me stating that he cannot comment on non-AT&T provided hardware nor help me troubleshoot, but he did verify my line is working and connected to my house.\\n\\n2. I called TP Link Tech Support and they have a limited phone system that will hang up on you if you don't listen and actively press '1' to keep yourself holding in their phone queue. At 7am PST I got through after about 10minutes on hold.\\n\\nThe TP Link support agent could barely speak English!!!!!!!\\nWe went through several items such as resetting the router, changing some configuration information, etc.\\nThen she asked me for the VPI and VCI numbers provided by my ISP (internet service provider). I told her I have no such numbers as they simply sent me their Motorola modem and it was plug-n-play.\\nShe said she needed those numbers.\\n\\nInterestingly, under the quick setup are several Auto-configuration settings for four-types of AT&T DSL, two for Dynamic IP (which is the type of internet I have) and two for static IP (typically a paid service through my ISP). None of these would work and the TP Link tech support agent didn't even bother with walking me through trying these. I happen to find them and try them on my own, with no success.\\n\\n3. I called AT&T back\\nThe new tech support agent said, they never heard of the VPI and VCI numbers.\\nAlso, he said if the hardware isn't provided by AT&T then it will not work!!\\n\\n4. Called TP Link support a couple hours later and got someone where English is their primary language. They explained that \\\"global\\\" support is handled out of China.\\n\\nThe American support person was awesome and knoweldgeable, but I was left with contacting AT&T again to try and get my device's MAC address registered.\\n\\n5. Called AT&T back\\nThird call to them and this tier 1 agent was much better and more detailed than the last two.\\nHe told me that AT&T U-Verse is not the same as their DSL service in other parts of the country. The U-Verse service has the feature 'turned off' to allow non-AT&T approved devices to register their MAC address. So I'm dead in the water with wanting to use anything other than what AT&T provides.\\n\\nI spent the next twenty minutes with the agent trying to find who or where within AT&T I could complain about locking access down to other hardware and/or submit a feature request to open up the option again through AT&T. In the end, no place to complain or leave feedback. AT&T is not interested in what their customers think!!!!!!!!!!\\n\\nSo I'm stuck with a new paperweight. I'm blaming AT&T U-Verse DSL, not TP Link, but I cannot test the product further to see how well it works.\\n\\nDisclaimer: I received this product free or at a discounted price, in exchange for the purposes of a product review. All opinions are 100% my own and they reflect my honest & unbiased opinion. Your experience may differ from mine.\",\n \"Product: quickflip Case For 8 Tablets - Black\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great for Winbook TW802\\n\\nReview: I recently bought the Winbook Tw802 from Microcenter ($116 after shipping & state tax). They have one(1) case you could get for $20 (after shipping and tax), but I didn't like the look of it even though the reviews on their sight said it was good quality.\\n\\nThis tablet is actually 8.25 x 5 x 0.5, so finding a \\\"universal\\\" case is difficult and many of the cases sold on Amazon for this particular have reviewers stating they are all too large. Thus if you don't want a case sold specifically by MicroCenter, then finding a case is doubly difficult.\\n\\nThis case says on the box that it can support a max of 8.6\\\" x 5.6\\\", so my tablet fits perfectly in it.\\n\\nThus I went to my local Fry's Electronics, took my tablet, and tried every 8\\\" case even if it was an 8\\\" case made for specific tablet. When I found this Case Logic one, a few things sold me on it:\\n\\n+ Sits firmly in the multiple view angles. Some tables the small \\\"lifted\\\" area to hold it in an angle is too smile and the tablet simply slides flat. Nice grooves here, so it shouldn't slide accidentally out.\\n+ It uses a metal bracket on one side for you to slide your tablet into\\n+ The elastic bands aren't so overly stretched that I'd be concerned with them breaking in a short while from the constant tension.\\n+ Elastic strap to hold it closed\\n+ Stylus loop\\n+ Neutral black/grey coloring\\n\\nOVERALL: The only downside for some (not me) would be no hole for the rear camera (my cell phone has a better camera so I'd never use the rear camera). . .but like with any \\\"universal\\\" case, you can modify if you want. Otherwise, I love this case for my new Winbook TW802 8\\\" windows 8.1 tablet.\",\n \"Product: Sleek, stylish and compact. With a top mounted Lightning dock for your iPhone 5 and iPad, playback via the USB input, CD drive, and USB terminal, this slim micro system is perfect for any office, den or bedroom. iPad stand is supplied.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Not for audiophiles, but good sound, easy to use for all family members and not \\\"exactly\\\" only limited to i-devices\\n\\nReview: I set this up in the living room and left it. I come back an hour later and my 10yr old daughter was already playing CD's and music from her MP3 player. In other words, the device is fairly intuitive and easy to use.\\n\\nSomething I wasn't aware of when selecting this product is it also has instructions for wall-mounting. Mounting screws are not provided, but a paper template is provided, which makes installation easier. Though you don't have to mount it, as it will sit nicely on a shelf somewhere.\\n\\nAt first I was disappointed in the description that said it was only for iPhone 5 and something for iPhone 4 and ipod. Don't they know that i-devices are only a \\\"small\\\" part of the device market?\\n\\nOnce I opened the manual it states this player should work with:\\niPhone 3G through iPhone 5\\niPad through iPad 3\\niPod touch 1 through iPod touch 5\\niPod classic\\niPod nano 2 through iPod nano 7\\n\\nMost of these devices simply use their normal USB charging cable. You need to remove the cover/plug from the USB slot on this player before you can use the USB connector. With an i-device you can use the remote to control songs and folders. My iPhone 3GS worked fine!!\\n\\nI took a regular USB stick from my PC desktop and put some MP3 songs on it. This too played fine!! Thus not limiting me to a device brand.\\n\\nThe AUX IN port worked with my Android devices and other MP3 players. . .I just needed to provide my own male-to-male AUX cable. Also the volume set to 12 for CD was nice and loud, but when I plugged my Samsung Galaxy III phone into the AUX IN cable the same volume setting was near impossible to hear and I had to crank it up. I need to track down another AUX cable to make sure that isn't the problem.\\n\\nNOTE: You won't be able to do folder selections with non-iDevices! At least I haven't figured it out yet if you're supposed to be able to.\\n\\nI agree with the other reviews that the Bass is lacking...even when I turn on the XBASS setting. Otherwise the overall sound was good for my family's listening needs (we aren't audiophiles or anything).\\n\\nAt first I thought the FM radio feature was broken. Then I realized to get the FM stations I wanted, required I press the Tuner button multiple times to get to FM Mono, then the stations came through vs. dead silence. I didn't have a lot of change in reception moving the FM antenna cable around.\\n\\nFor my area, I could not get AM radio stations much at all, Not sure I can blame the player for this one. But the antenna is short! So moving it around doesn't help much either because there is no cable length to go anywhere with it.\\n\\nIn nearly every room I have a Blu-Ray player that can play music from CD or USB and I can plug my Android/iPhone devices into my Receiver and have \\\"surround sound\\\" shaking the neighborhood. This won't shake the neighborhood and you may not need it if you are like me where a bunch of other devices do the same thing as a sub-feature. But I do have an open shelf in our family/game room where this fits well and it is easier to use than some of my TV/Blu-ray setups.\\n\\nOVERALL: For our family we think this is better than \\\"Okay\\\" and actually \\\"Like This\\\" device for the good (not great) sound and ease of use (even if you don't have an i-device).\\n\\nI think this meets a specific need since many existing devices in our house can already play music through existing sound/movie systems. Also, the price seems steep for a device that produces sub-par audiophile quality sound and other docks/sound systems are around $80-$100 dollars.\",\n \"Product: Toshiba Canvio AeroMobile Wireless SSD (HDTQ112XCWF1)\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Fine for older devices, but there are less expensive newer technologies\\n\\nReview: I have all android devices in the house (I hate iTunes and got rid of my Apple products), so I had a few to test this with.\\n\\n1. Took unit out of the box and set it to charge. Came back a couple hours later and it was ready to go.\\n\\n2. I let unit sit for a week before making the time to use it. Battery indicator was still a solid green, thus I was happy it held it's charge.\\n\\n3. The Android app was easy enough to find on Google play, and installed fast.\\n\\n4. I followed the instructions and got the device connected to my Samsung Tab3 tablet in no time\\n\\n5. Playback:\\n+ Music = played fine through app.\\n+ Pictures = played fine through app.\\n- Movie/TV shows = froze in app. Screen goes dark and there is activity light on the drive, but nothing ever happens. This had me concerned as one of the main reasons I'd get this unit is to hold my movies and TV shows for streaming.\\n\\n6. The device comes with a second method to connect, which is via a web site. This was pretty fast setup too.\\n\\n7. Playing movies through \\\"web browser\\\" popped up the option of which player on my tablet I wanted to use. I picked my favorite player (I have a few installed) and the movie played great. No lag AND it even streamed the subtitles (.srt file), which normally doesn't work when streaming to devices via DNLA.\\n\\n8. Since I have the option to NOT use the app (so-so app and the above stated movie issue), I was still pretty happy with the product.\\n\\n9. I didn't have any problem watching 4hrs of movies in one sitting.\\n\\n10. Every time I turn the device off, I have to re-navigate to Settings > Wi-Fi and reconnect manually. It does NOT find and reconnect automatically, like it does to a wi-fi connector. This is a pain.\\n\\n11. Connecting a second older Galaxy S3 did NOT cause any lag on tablet, nor did S3 have any lag playing a movie simultaneously.\\n\\n12. I did get lag on S3 as soon as I walked 30ft away from SSD drive.\\nAlso, wife started complaining that our home network wi-fi was getting interrupted the minute I started multiple device streaming, which made no sense to me, other than somehow the wi-fi for the SSD is on the same channel (there are over 10 channels I could pick) as my router and they were conflicting that way.\\n\\nOVERALL.\\nIt works pretty good.\\n\\nBut. .. for 128Gb, many newer devices allow one to opt for microSD cards which are:\\n+ tiny and easier to carry\\n+ \\\"more durable\\\" than this heavier plastic drive\\n+ for the cost of this device, you could buy nearly 4x 64Gb microSD and have double the space\\n+ 128Mb microSD card is also less expensive than this\",\n \"Product: The thin, lightweight Belkin FastFit Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard Case for iPad mini pairs durable protection with an easy-to-use wireless keyboard. The keyboard features TruType keys that are larger than those found on most 7-inch keyboards, providing a comfortable alternative to touchscreen typing. Bluetooth connectivity and long-lasting battery life maximizes your efficiency and lets you use the keyboard for up to 40 hours on a single charge.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: I like it, but it takes some getting use to\\n\\nReview: <div id=\\\"video-block-R2QIV86O6VF8M5\\\" class=\\\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\\\"></div><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D1OBi7LsfsS.mp4\\\" class=\\\"video-url\\\"><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81Dmx2yMs9S.png\\\" class=\\\"video-slate-img-url\\\"> Comparing it to the <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Kensington-Keycover-Bluetooth-Keyboard-Stand-and-Cover-for-iPad-mini-iPad-mini-with-Retina-Display-K39797US/dp/B00EMB4LUI/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Kensington Keycover Bluetooth Keyboard, Stand and Cover for iPad mini & iPad mini with Retina Display (K39797US)</a>.\\n\\nNot sure why most of the reviewers here are not complaining for the same reasons as on the Kensington; that the keys are small and hard to type on for many. The simply fact that the Enter and Space are much larger on the Belkin vs. the Kensington may be the reason.\\n\\nI find both require some getting use to.\\n\\n+ Pairs easily.\\n+ Battery lasts long time.\\n+ Light\\n+ Thin\\n+ Nice red color\\n- What happened to the CTRL key?\\n- Have to really look for the apostrophe key and the colon/semi-colon are \\\"hidden\\\" under function keys\\n\\nOVERALL a nice keyboard once you learn how to use it. More pro's than con's and the Pro's are important pro's which is why I gave it a four star vs a three star.\",\n \"Product: Free yourself with Seagate Wireless mobile storage. Enjoy your media and access your files without wires or the Internet. Seagate Wireless broadcasts its own Wi-Fi network, so you can wirelessly stream your media and files to up to three mobile devices. With 500GB of storage at your fingertips, choosing which files to sync to your mobile device before a long trip is a thing of the past. Seagate Wireless lets you carry hundreds of movies and thousands of photos, songs and documents. Seagate Wireless streams your media and documents to all your popular tablets, smartphones, computers and connected devices. The free Seagate Media app available for iOS, Android tablets and smartphones, Kindle Fire and Windows 8/RT tablets and computers makes it easy to navigate and enjoy content wherever you go. Share your content with everyone on the biggest screen in your house-the TV. The Seagate Media app can cast your content to a Chrome cast, LG Smart TV or a Roku player with ease when on the same network. Are your photos and video eating up all your space? With Seagate Wireless, you can now offload or back up full-resolution pictures and video from your smartphone or tablet using the Seagate Media app. Windows 8 users can access all the content on Seagate Wireless directly from their desktops using the Seagate Media App for a truly wireless drive experience.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: I like the the concept, but \\\"proprietary\\\" software is needed to use\\n\\nReview: About a year ago I reviewed <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Toshiba-Canvio-AeroMobile-Wireless-SSD-HDTQ112XCWF1/dp/B00JNBVK4M/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Toshiba Canvio AeroMobile Wireless SSD (HDTQ112XCWF1)</a>, which works nearly the same way this product does. The biggest downside to that older product and still a downside is that you only get 128Gb, when it's cheaper to get a 128Gb MicrSD card.\\n\\nAt least here we get some real space to hold photos, videos and more.\\n\\nYou're limited by let the device create a \\\"hotspot\\\" and connecting to that network with the supplied app/software. Thus there is no obvious way to connect it to your existing network so any of your networked devices can connect and use the stored data.\\n\\nAs we move to more mobile devices, this does give you large amounts of data on the run. The drive is small enough that you can put it in your backpack and take your files with you.\\n\\nOther than the proprietary software needed to connect to this device, the other downside is it automatically becomes unavailable when it reaches 10% battery life and it shuts off.\\n\\nI'm able to watch about 7 TV episodes or about 3 movies before hitting the 10% mark and needing a recharge.\\n\\nBuried in the online documentation...not the provided in the \\\"manual\\\". . . it says to use a wall charger. But no wall charger provided!!! Also it only comes with USB 2.0 cable, when USB3.0 would have been so much better and able to charge the laptops. The USB 2 works and all, but shortsightedness on their part by not including the wall charger and/or a USB 3 cable.\\n\\nAnother reason to need USB 3 is when uploading 500Gb of data the USB 2 is pretty darn slow. Put it in the box people!\\n\\nI used this with Android devices and using the software was fine.\\nThe box says you can use this with Android, MAC, Windows 8 COMPATIBLE, Roku, and Chromecast. I like the added functionality with expanded devices and it's forward thinking by supporting these other operating systems.\\n\\nBetter Windows support versus \\\"compatible\\\" and Widows 7 support would be ideal. Also with Windows 10 coming out later this year, does that mean I can't use it with a Windows tablet or laptop at that point?\\n\\nBy the way streaming video speeds were without lag. So I'm very happy with that!!\\n\\nOVERALL: It has its limits and may not be what people expect. This is NOT intended for you to replace your media server. . .at least not exactly. But enough options are provided to stream your content.\\n\\nThis does what it intends. When on the go you can access your files and videos for a period of time. I like it!\",\n \"Product: Hello everyone! Up for sale is a WinBook TW802. Details Powered by an intel quad core processor @ 1.33 GHz (Up to 1.83 GHz during burst mode) this little guy is very powerful. It has built in 32GB flash storage, 2GB DDR3 DRAM memory, two front and rear cameras, wireless-N and bluetooth technology, as well as USB and micro HDMI slot to connect this device to a computer monitor or TV. This is basically a mini computer that can be utilized as a desktop and is extremely portable. It costs less than 1/4th the price of an Apple iPad Mini, with much more power. To use it as a desktop, simply connect a wireless mouse and keyboard (USB) and connect your monitor or TV to the tablet with a MicroHDMI cable. This tablet also has a slot to put in a 64gb microSD card for external flash storage or can connect an external USB drive for multiple storage capabilities. Specs Retails at over $140. HD IPS Razor Sharp LCD 8\\\" 1280x800 Display Full Windows 8.1 Operating System Intel BayTrail-T Z3735G Quad Core 1.33GHz , up to 1.83GHz (Burst) Quad-Core CPU 2GB DDR3 RAM & 32GB Internal Flash Storage Storage Expandable up to 64GB via microSD Card Intel HD4000 based graphics Micro HDMI Output (To Connect to Monitor or TV) Micro USB to charge Full size USB 2.0 for USB devices 1 Front and rear 1 megapixel cameras 14.3oz (very light, less than 1 lb.). 3.5mm audio jack 1 Year Warranty from date of purchase (Each one has its down Serial Number, which gets activated on date of purchase). Shipping Free priority 2-3 shipping to US residents only with same day handling time. International purchases must pay for calculated shipping. International shipping will be mailed USPS first class international shipping. Sales tax applicable in MO and CA. Any questions? Dont hesitate to ask! Thanks for looking!\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Cheaper from the source ( Microcenter), than what's offered here on Amazon\\n\\nReview: My only complaint is the one(1) case that Microcenter (maker of this product) sells is difficult to find and not linked in the Add-Ons / Accessories section of this product on their own website. Many of the cases on Amazon.com that say they are for this device, all the reviewers state are too large.\\n\\nI went to a local electronics store and tried on every case and found the <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Case-Logic-QuickFlip-Case-for-8-Inch-Tablets-CQUE-3108/dp/B00JB4W9AA/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Case Logic QuickFlip Case for 8-Inch Tablets(CQUE-3108)</a> fits really well (no rear camera hole). Great multi-angle case with elastic strap to hold it closed. Found it later here on Amazon for nearly the same price of $20, so you can order online too.\\n\\nNow that I have a case, I've been playing with this device for a few days so far:\\n+ Not a lot of bloatware. . .actually I don't think I uninstalled anything\\n+ 22Gb left over after Windows\\n+ 10-12Gb left over after I installed all my productivity apps (7-zip, FoxIt Reader, 2 browsers, Evernote, Scrivener, Kindle Reader, my company's licensed Office 2013/ Office 365, QuickTime, VLC, etc.)\\n+ It does come with a registration card for 1yr of Office 365, but I'm saving that since I can use my company's licence for this BOYD that I'll be using at work.\\n+ 64Gb MicroSDHC was recognized just fine (I paid $30 for a 90mb/sec card on sales during Christmas)\\n+ Everything customizable, because it's a full version of Windows (32-bit only)!!\\n+ Having taken the advice of several articles on Windows tablets, getting a 32Gb storage and 2Gb RAM/memory and a 1280x800 has paid off.\\n+ bluetooth keyboard and usb mouse work flawlessly\\n+ went to the Windows Store and downloaded some games there and they work great\\n+ Fully USB 2.0 is super convenient, and I haven't needed to buy an OTG cable\\n+ Watching a downloaded video with VLC and srt subtitle file was great, no lag\\n+ Watched the new Star Wars trailer in 720p HD streaming from Youtube = no lag\\n+ Watched the new Fantastic Four trailer in 720p HD streaming and there was the briefest hint of lag, but nothing real noticeable\\n+ Yes the speakers are in the back, but they don't sound too bad. Of course headphones are superior to listening to the speakers, but for the price of this device, they do the job.\\n\\nOtherwise, I'm very happy with this and will be looking into a SquareTrade coverage for 2-3 years for like an additional $10, just because I know how rough I can be with devices.\\n\\nGreat windows tablet for $116 after shipping and tax!! (if you get it at the source vs. 3rd party selling on Amazon)\\n\\n**Update 3/10/2015**\\nDid a skype with my work network (fast internet) and a relative in another state. (added system performance image on this review)\\nWhen both are doing video there are some short pauses/lag, but for the most part no real issues.\\nRight now I'm on the skype call and updating this review. When tabbed over to another app, the audio has no lag and my relative can continue to see me.\\nWhen I tab back, there is some lag with brief pauses every 20sec.\\nI turn up the lighting in the room I was in, because my side of the camera is a bit dark and then the other person can see me better.\\nTurning off all other applications (email, browsers, etc) improved performance.\\nHad a good 30-minute conversation via skype.\\\\\\\\\\n\\n**Update 3/11/2015**\\nBig Tuesday Windows updates/patch. I'm down to 7Gb of free space instead of 10Gb.\\nMany apps I'm able to install on the MicroSD card, but other apps, like Evernote give me an error saying they cannot be installed on removable media. What you can do in the example of Evernote, is install it locally, but go into the settings and tell it to store the \\\"local files\\\" on the MicroSD card. Some programs will let you do stuff like that.\\n\\nCamera Roll backup/sync from Dropbox can be a space hog. I simply don't sync that part of the app (you can select individual folders to sync with Dropbox), because I could go to Dropbox via the web browser and get my pictures there.\\n\\n**3/16/2015**\\nI turned off auto-brightness and set brightness to 40%, which for most of needs is plenty high enough.\\n\\n2.5hrs of Internet, typing in MS Word and other productivity programs = 50% battery usage with Bluetooth keyboard and USB mouse.\\n\\n2hrs watching a movie file I had on the device, no keyboard or mouse connected = 25% battery used\\n\\nFor around $120 after shipping and tax, I'm happy with the battery life and having a full version of a windows system.\\n\\n**Update 3/19/2015**\\nAfter seeing my Winbook, a co-worker bought one too.\\nHe then installed Steam and downloaded the game Banished = works fine!\\n\\nI downloaded full PC version of Minecraft. System requirements say it needs less than 300Mb of space. I had one of my kids login with their account then launched a single player game:\\n- takes a little bit to build a new world from scratch\\nThen Settings > Video Settings\\n+ Set brightness to max\\n+ Set graphics to Fast\\n+ Clouds off\\n\\nSounded good. Looked good. Little to zero lag, even though Minecraft minimum system requirements say it needs 2Ghz processor.\\n\\nI found a few posts where people ran Skyrim with all DLC and on low settings. Installing Skyrim now. Looking forward to it!!\",\n \"Product: Capture More with the Fast Speed The Elite Series memory cards feature the UHS-1 specifications that enable fast transfer speeds to save you more time when moving data from your card to other devices. Also, it supports Full-HD video recording so that you can capture HD videos without annoying lags and dropouts. *To reach the maximum read/write speed, a UHS-I enabled and USB 3.0 reader or host device would be recommended. Ideal for Up-to-date Gadgets Equipped with the Class 10 speed, the Elite microSD series can bring high-tech gears into full play! You may also place it in some portable speakers for more appealing music. Waterproof, Shockproof, Temperature-proof and X-ray proof Even if you are doing outdoor activities in some extreme climate conditions, the Elite series can still survive from water, shock and wide-temperatures storage ranging from -40C to 85C! Moreover, the Elite series is immune to airport X-rays so there is no need to worry when travelling overseas. Add More Storage for Your Mobile Devices Hard to choose which one to delete? The Elite microSD series is available from 16GB to 128GB so you can instantly free up the storage of your mobile devices. Take 64GB as an example, it allows you to keep massive mobile Apps, up to 850 minutes videos, 16,000 songs and 24,000 photos! Lifetime Warranty The Elite microSD Series is backed by lifetime warranty. *Please register your product via SP official website to get complete manufacturer warranty services, product support and more. Box Contains 1 x Silicon Power Elite microSD Card 1 x SD Adapter\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Extra speed for less cost than competitors\\n\\nReview: I just ordered my third(3rd) one of these.\\n\\n+ Great price for $9.61, after California state tax. I cannot wait till the technology advances drop the price even more.\\n\\n+ Only a couple bucks extra than most 16Gb and you get twice the space.\\n\\n+ The 85MB/s faster speed than your standard 48MB/s or 50MB/s means I have no lag accessing my taking pictures or playing movies, games, music, or audiobooks from the card with my Android device.\\n\\nI would love to find a pack of 3 of these at a slightly discounted price. Unfortunately there is only a pack of 10 for over a $100, which is more expensive than buying 10 of these individually. Makes little sense.\\n\\nOtherwise, I've put this in digital cameras, action video cameras, laptops, and any number of mobile devices and these have been working out great for me!\",\n \"Product: Jabra SPORT COACH (Yellow) Wireless Bluetooth Earbuds for Cross-Training - Retail Packaging\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Either get the heart rate version or ignore these completely at this price point\\n\\nReview: I've been using these daily for about two weeks now, after having gone through testing/trying 4 pair of similar style headphones w/mic in the $30 range, I think I can provide some detailed feedback.\\n\\n1. The variety of different ear gels and ear wing holders (though all cheap rubber/plastic) is nice to have. Everyone is bound to find one that fits them. I appreciate Jabra trying to provide a size to fit each customer. I'm personally using the medium ear gel it came with but the heavy/large ear wing holders.\\n\\nI've been out running or kick-scootering 10 miles per session and they don't fall out!!\\n\\n2. These are nearly noise canceling. When out for a run I need to tuck one end into my collar, so I can hear the traffic. With both in my ears, I don't hear much of anything except what is broadcast through the headset.\\n\\n3. When running with both in my ears, there is almost an echo or 'pause' on certain songs. It's an effect of the acoustics, wind and me running, not the music actually skipping, but it sounds like it is skipping on some songs. Audiobooks are no problem at all.\\n\\n4. I have an Android smart phone and getting the coaching software that goes with this was easy. Problem is my phone already has all the features built in or via apps like Runtastic Pro, which I purchased for $5.\\n\\nBIGGEST reason I didn't rate this higher than 3-stars: There isn't a good reason --- if you have a smartphone --- to get the app features! Thus no real reason to spend $150 for these headphones with much less expensive options out there for the features you are going to use (music & phone calls).\\n\\n5. I've taken about 30+hrs worth of business calls on this, some while out running or walking. The mic works well and the other person says they can hear me just fine.\\n\\n6. My battery life is a lasting about 4hrs of constant talk time before I received the 'battery low' voice notification. Every 10-minutes the battery low notification goes off for a full 3times, so I get 30 more minutes of battery before the headphones switch off.\\n\\nThus, I am not getting the 5.5hrs the manual says I should be getting. The notice kinds of freaks me out and I start charging again. I realize there are many variables that can affect battery life, but 4hrs is okay, closer to 6 would have been a lot better.\\n\\nIt takes a good 45min - 90min to charge. I really like I can press the down volume button and get a battery status if I'm not playing any music or on a call.\\n\\n7. I love how when I power on it gives the beeps then says 'connected' when I connect to my phone. What I'd like to hear is a 'power off' voice notification when I power off, because sometimes I cannot tell.\\n\\n8. I may be lame, but I couldn't figure out how to mute a call. Getting the buttons pressed in the correct manner take two hands and I just couldn't make it happen.\\n\\n9. I can attest to sweat and water resistant (not waterproof!). I live in a hot area and had to pour water over my head a couple of times while running. What amount did hit my ears, did not seem to negatively effect these headphones and they kept on pumping out sound.\\n\\n10. I'm not an audiophile, but it sounds fine to me. Seems more about the app I'm using to play the music than anything. But I'm no expert here.\\n\\nOVERALL: Overpriced for the features I'd use it for (music and calling), especially when I can find a similar product for no more than $50. Considering how expense heart rate monitors are, I can see getting the HRM version instead of this one.\\n\\nThis just feels like a gimmick product to charge more than it's worth. But I guess, if a person doesn't have a smartphone (I'm not sure they exist) then such a customer may actually find more value in the coaching feature.\\n\\nFor just taking calls, I have Jabra Stone 1, 2 and 3 that I've collected over the years. They are great products, so I'd be open to seeing what other products Jabra has to offer in the future.\",\n \"Product: Color is expression with theRock Candy Wireless Mouse. Escape from dull and uninspired choices and express your inner personality to the world. Choose from a variety of color choices for a more personalized experience. Personalize and energize your desktop with the Rock Candy Wireless Mouse. Enjoy up to a 30 foot range with an easy-to-use USB micro receiver. Featuring accurate high definition optical mouse tracking, transparent colored and highly durable housing, and a USB receiver shareable with the Rock Candy Wireless Keyboard, this PC and Mac compatible mouse is designed for fun.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Make a statement with these cool color mice\\n\\nReview: After letting my daughter try this out for a bit, I asked her what she thought and her first words were, \\\"The color really pops!\\\" True, these mice stand out and add some personality to your computer setup.\\n\\nPic #1 - Arrived in box. Very pretty packaging.\\n\\nPic #2 - It did come with two AAA batteries. Also the top slides off, which is where the batteries will go. There are small plastic tabs, so you can easily remove the batteries at a later date by pulling on the tabs for each battery. I like the attention to little details like this when a product is put together.\\n\\nPic #3 - The receiver also has a spot for storage under the slide-off lid. Perfect for the mobile users. Another must have feature that wasn't spared from this product.\\n\\nPic #4 - A On-Off switch on the bottom of the mouse. Great for saving battery life or if your mouse is in your bag and the buttons are accidentally getting pressed, that the battery isn't being used up.\\n\\nPic #5 - I'm about to play a video game on my laptop with the mouse. The mouse was very responsive and small movements were accurate during the game play. All buttons are easy to click and respond well too.\\n\\nThe tiny instruction manual that came with this was only pictures on how to insert the batteries, connect to the computer and turn the mouse on. No information, that if you let it sit idle does it auto-shutoff to conserve batteries or not. I'm not expecting this auto-shut off feature, but if it does have it, then I'd like to know. That would be my only recommendation.\\n\\nSIZE: For my 11-yr old daughter, it was small enough to not be too big. For my man-hands, it was big enough to not feel like I had to cramp my hand into a ball just to wrap around the mouse. A bit smaller than most desktop mice, but not tiny by any means. . .just the right size.\\n\\nOVERALL: Great looking. Very responsive and accurate. Plug-n-play for Windows. Love it!\\n\\n**UPDATE Jan2016**\\nI use this mouse every day for a full 3-5hrs each time. My rechargeable batteries are lasting a good two-three weeks. I happy with the battery life.\",\n \"Product: New NEAT Widget B Desktop USB Microphone that has a clear, full-range 96kHz/24 bit audio is a must have for anyone and everyone.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: unboxing is a fun surprise\\n\\nReview: I sometimes need a good mic for putting together training sessions at work and my daughter has a sing-along/Karaoke program on her computer. We both are also looking into doing some story dictation into Dragon Naturally Speaking and a nice mic would help better with that too.\\n\\nWell this fits the bill.\\n\\n====================\\nPic #1 - unboxing the mic. I had no idea how large it was! Looks like a prop for a cartoon or something.\\n\\nPic #2 = the size of the mic next to the mouse and keyboard. Yeah, it's big! Thus my only complaint is the footprint on your desk this thing takes is larger than expected...or at least feels that way.\\n\\nPic #3 = some fun stickers just because and a two-sided quick start guide. English on one side and French on the other of this 'fancy' folded manual.\\n\\nPic #4 = the USB cable is completely detachable. In this picture is a turn knob/screw. I don't know what's on the other side of the housing that it's holding on, but you have to disassemble the yellow decoration wiring on the outside before the back will come off. No instructions in the manual what this is for and since it ain't broke I didn't bother taking it all apart.\\n\\nPic #5 = The mic slides up and down the stand, so you can put it at different heights depending how you use it. In here, I have it pushed nearly to the bottom of the stand.\\n\\n====================\\n\\nIMPROVEMENTS/SUGGESTIONS:\\n> Only other improvement is the base looks like a speaker too, but no information on this, nor wiring connected to the base. Kind of strange. leaves one guessing.\\n> Manual talks about Windows Vista, 7 and 8.\\nVista? What about Windows 10?\\nLots of non-technical grandmas who contact their family for tech support on the smallest of things (you know you have one in your family too), will be confused by this and not know this will work just fine, like it does on my my Windows 10 machines.\\n\\n====================\\n\\nOVERALL:\\n+ plug-n-pay Windows\\n+ attractive and fun looking\\n+ Recorded some stuff and the built-in pop filter worked great\\n+ adjustable height\\n+ will not fall over due to sturdy base\\n+ I didn't have to talk loud for the mic to pick up my voice; clear and accurate\\n\\nGreat product. Lots of uses. Love it!\",\n \"Product: You deserve to hear music and call in comfort, anywhere. That's why there's the new Verve Rider+ Wearable, Waterproof Stereo Earbuds. With built-on apt technology, you get powerful HD sound. Plus, customizable sound pro lets you hear music just the way you like it. And with the talk button and integrated mic, you'll phone ca;;s effortlessly. They're designed with IPX5 water/sweat proof protection, so you can wear them inside on the treadmill or out in the rain without worry. Wherever you go, the contoured collar design is made to fit your body, so it hardly feels like you're wearing them at all. Go ahead, listen to music for up to 12 hours without interruption using your phone, tablet, or computer. Verve Ride+. Unplugged, still connected.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Overall great, but. . .\\n\\nReview: I've tested easily 30+ headphones in the last 12 to 18 months. Thus I have some expectations for what make good headphones vs. headphones that just get you by.\\n\\n+ Waterproof\\n\\n+ Sweatproof\\n\\n+ The angle does reduce bouncing when running vs. those that are straight\\n\\n+ Paired with my device for both phone & media easily\\n\\n+ First time use, when I got 15ft away and it starts losing connection. Put a wall or two between the headphones and the phone and it really loses connection. Since draining the battery and recharging twice, it stays connected much better. I can get a good 25+ ft away and it doesn't lose connection. With walls that still is a bit of a bother but not as much as that first time. Why? Beats me, but I'm glad it works a bit better.\\n\\nThen manufacturer saw this review and replaced the headphones. Second pair I can get a good 60+ feet away and still have connection. Nice improvement!\\n\\n-- My biggest complaint is that the earbuds are too small and at an angle.\\nI already have tough time keeping earbuds in, but when they are an angle even more so. Becomes more of an issue by making these VERY short. I'm posting a pic with a standard earbud vs. this one. Hopefully you can see there isn't much earbud to hold onto your ear to keep these in.\\nThus even a brisk walk these pop out and do not stay in, let alone actual exercise.\\nMake 'em straight and longer Motorola!\\nIf they even had a small chance (pun intended) of staying in, I would have given this an extra star.\\n\\n+ Dual sided master button. I love this feature in that you can use either hand to easily touch the master button on either side of the headphones\\n\\n+ All normal functions of play/answer, pause/end call, forward/reverse track, up/down volume\\n\\n+ Mute feature!\\n\\n+ I listened to audiobook and music non-stop for 6+hrs. Great battery life.\\n\\n+ I like the orange and black color.\\n\\n+ Magnetic holder for when an earbud is not in use; just stick it to the master button on that side and magnet keeps it on.\\n\\n-- $100 is laughable. I've had plenty of headphones that do all the same for around $30.\\n\\n> Sound seems to lack bass and a bit tinny.\\nBut one reviewer said he like his bass, but definitely notices a difference when his earbud is inside his ear all the way. Since I have trouble with keeping these in, this may be my problem and the bass may be okay. Plus, I listen mostly to audio books and take work calls, so I'm not needing some thumping rhythms too much.\\n\\n+ Callers say they can hear me fine. I do a lot of business calls and these work well for that for me.\\n\\nOVERALL: Others may not have issues with keeping these in their ears and there are a lot of positives about these headphones. But price and possible limited bass could be a real downer for some customers.\",\n \"Product: CinolinkUSB 2.0 to 2.5\\\" Sata/SSD Adaptor Specifications Hot-swappable,plug and play, no drivers needed,Don't support 3.5 SATA Interface: USB2.0 ; Data transfer rate: 480Mb/s ; Suitability:2.5\\\" SATA HDD Power Supply: Host USB port; Cover Material: plastic ABS ; Cable length: 16cm / 6.3inches Requirements: Desktop/laptop PC with available USB 2.0 port. Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP/Vista/MAC. When lack of power, plug the additional USB connector upto the omputer. Built in TWO LED indicator light for Power and Data transfer: Power (Red), Access (Blue). Packaging 1x Cinolink USB 2.0 to 2.5\\\" Sata/SSD Adaptor Notice The device is just for 2.5 Sata Hard Drive, Don't support 3.5 SATA Hard Drive.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Cable only version. Works great!\\n\\nReview: Not sure why Amazon groups up the other product items with this Cable ONLY item, but that is what I'm reviewing here, which is the converter adapter cable.\\n\\nPic #1: The cable and the package it came in. This is all you get. This is ALL you need!\\n\\nPic #2: Per product description, this cable ONLY works with a 2.5 inch drive (drive on left) not a 3.5\\\" drive (drive on right). Trust me, I tried but no go on the larger drive.\\n\\nPic #3: I plugged it in, copied a file over and showed properties of drive. It works!\\n\\nPic#4: The 30Gb SSD drive plugged in. LED power light.\\n\\nPic #5: Copying 8 larger movie files and getting over 35Mb/sec on Windows 10 on a new Dell computer\\n\\nPic#6: Copying 1,400+ MP3 files and the performance drops. But this is expected and it happens with most drives when dealing with a ton of files at once.\\n\\nPic #7: Only need one USB cable plugged in to power this drive. I the drive needed more, there is the second USB included in the cable.\\n\\nPic #8: I plugged drive with cable into my blu-ray player and am playing an avi file just fine. Blu-ray identified drive and loaded file perfectly, just like any other USB drive\\n\\nOVERALL: Love it! Does what it says it will do and speeds are totally fine.\\nI was wondering what I was going to do with this old 30Gb SSD and now I have a low-cost solution that I'll use often.\",\n \"Product: Use this HP Wireless Keyboard with your HP TouchPad to type long emails and messages more easily. Built-in Bluetooth lets you connect this ultra-compact wireless keyboard to your HP tablet without a USB receiver. You can also take this keyboard on the go. It weighs less than 1 pound and is less than 1 inch slim, so it fits into your computer bag effortlessly. With the full pitch design, the keys have plenty of space between them for comfortable typing. Plus, get the most out of your AA batteries with this HP Wireless Keyboard, which powers down when not in use or when the keyboard is out of Bluetooth wireless range. The estimated battery life is seven months.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Works great for Android and Windows\\n\\nReview: I've had this keyboard for about 3 or more years.\\n\\n+ Pairs easily\\n\\n+ Wakes device up from sleep\\n\\n+ Keys feel responsive and bouncy\\n\\n> Sometimes I have lag but I've never been able to tell if that is from my 4yr old tablet or from this keyboard. I suspect the tablet as it works great with newer devices.\\n\\n> No carrying case, but maybe you don't need one. I've taken it on business trips, but I left it in the original box when doing so.\\n\\n> The On/Off switch has no markings. So if you cannot remember if the device is on or off, good luck. No LEDs to tell you one way or another either.\\n\\n+ Keyboard goes into sleep mode\\n\\n+ GREAT battery life. . .weeks on the two AA batteries.\\n\\n+ A little long for some messenger bags. A half-inch shorter and it would fit in most places. On the flip side the length means the keys are a good size and the keyboard is closer to a full-sized keyboard you'd find wired to a computer (minus the keypad).\\n\\nAs you can see from the picture, it's basically a full-sized keyboard.\\n\\n+ Internet shortcut keys in place of function keys and media control keys\\n\\nOVERALL: This has been a very good keyboard with a couple of neutral items, but no negatives I could find.\",\n \"Product: Enjoy your music while you workout with these sport style earbuds. sportCLIPS II fit securely over your ear with a flexible earclip design so that they won't fall off during physical activity. Antimicrobial earbud jackets protect the sportCLIPS II from sweat and other moisture. The 3.5.ft audio cable has been designed to be non-tangling. The reinforced strain relief cable ensures that the sportCLIPS II are durable and can withstand normal tension that occurs during workouts.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: The right balance of sport headphone and wired microphone for calls and WebEx\\n\\nReview: These have been great.\\n Unlike other clip headphones, these ear hooks are malleable, so you can shape it wider or narrow to get a looser or tighter fit around your ear.\\nEarbud headphones hurt my inner ear where they push against to stay in. The clip headphones with this wider \\\"speaker\\\" sits on hole and doesn't push and hurt after long use.\\n\\nWhen running I don't want the volume too loud but when I'm near traffic I can't hear, so the slider volume is perfect to adjust the volume without touching my cell phone and have the right volume for what I'm listening to.\\n\\nAlso, I've since replaced all my battery operated bluetooth headsets with this one. No more running out of juice and not hearing the music or participating on a call.\\n\\nSpeaking of calls, in my home office I use my cell phone all the time now and these headphones are great for conference calls. The other person always can here me just fine.\\n\\nThe \\\"remote button\\\" allows you to answer/hang up calls or play/pause and forward music tracks. The only improvement I would want is a mute button somewhere.\\n\\nOVERALL: I bought a two pack from newegg for $15 back in October 2014 and am still on my first pair. Love these for my needs (audiobooks, music or work calls while running).\",\n \"Product: All Venstone products come with 1 Year Warranty. Warranty is only available when you purchase your product from brand authorized seller.If you purchase your product from any seller on Amazon other than Amazon.com or Venstone,you are purchasing the product without a warranty.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Don't overpay for these. But they do work well for music and phone calls while exercising.\\n\\nReview: PROs\\n+ A couple different size ear bud attachments\\n+ Callers can easily hear me when I'm talking into the microphone\\n+ When running in different areas I'll get spurts of traffic making it difficult to hear, so the volume slider is easy to adjust while on the go\\n+ The flexible clips keep the headphones from falling out when earbuds by themselves would pop out\\n\\nCONs:\\n- Nothing really to complain here, other than directly after purchasing these the price jumped over $30. Really? Who would pay that much for these China headphones?!\\n\\nNEUTRAL:\\n> They are very red, if this isn't your thing then don't bother\\n> Getting use to putting these in with the hook takes some getting use to\\n> Sometimes I feel like these sound I'm in a tunnel because they create that noise cancelling feel, but something just is a bit off. I can't put my finger on it, but since I'm either on a call or audiobook and less listening to music, it works well for my needs, but suspect some musicphiles may have some issues with the sound\\n\\nOVERALL: Most sport clip headphones with a microphone are rated very poor. These do the job and meet my needs.\\n\\nNOTE: I paid $13 plus tax on Amazon. Never pay more than that for these!!\",\n \"Product: Aleratec's 51 Watt 6-Port Desktop USB Charger solves the frustrating problem of having more gadgets than outlets to charge them. This sturdy, universal desktop charger will charge up to six Apple, Android or other USB-charged device at once and includes three 2.4A ports for power-hungry tablets and smartphones and three 1A ports for less current-demanding devices such as iPods and Bluetooth headphones. Aleratec's 51 Watt 6-Port Desktop USB Charger includes Smart Charging technology which identifies the type of device and suppliers the right charging specifications. Aleratec's 51 Watt 6-Port Desktop USB Charger can be placed on a desk, conference room table, countertop (it doesn't take a lot or space) and is perfect for use at home or the office.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Lots of plugs for the growing number of devices in our house\\n\\nReview: I've been using the <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Ipevo-USB-SuperCharger-Multi-Charger-Dock-for-iPad-iPhone-iPod-and-USB-Devices-PC01/dp/B00LA0F8E2/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Ipevo USB SuperCharger Multi-Charger Dock for iPad, iPhone, iPod and USB Devices (PC01)</a> and it's been a good device, but limited to four plugs and a very thick, non-detable, non-flexible power cable. Thus when I was able to review this item I was happy early on.\\n\\n+ Easier cable to manage. Also it's not a three-prong cable, so you can plug this into nearly any outlet.\\n\\n+ Supports six devices. Nice!!\\n\\n+ The placement is around the outside of the charger, so the cables from each device don't interfere with the others. That is one problem with the Ipevo is that the cables plug in directly next to each other and removing or adding a cable in the middle can be a little awkward. But not here.\\n\\n+ Manual advised 2.4A for charging tablets, phablets, and smartphones. Then using the 1A for smartphones, MP#players, power Banks and bluetooth devices.\\n\\n+ The 2.4A ports versus the 1A ports are clearly labeled on the device.\\n\\n+ On and Off switch. Interesting feature, considering the intent is to run power through it continuously to keep those devices charged. But okay. I currently leave my device on all the time. I will not the small instructional manual does warm to turn the unit off if not being used for an extended period of time.\\n\\nOVERALL: Great charger. Easy to carry when travelling. Love it!\\n\\nDisclaimer: I received this product free or at a discounted price, in exchange for the purposes of a product review. All opinions are 100% my own and they reflect my honest & unbiased opinion. Your experience may differ from mine.\",\n \"Product: The ZAGG Now Cam frees you from the confines of viewing life from behind a screen. Its quick-capture design keeps you in the moment while preserving it. Connect with friends using the simple Now Cam App for easy sharing. The Now Cam lets you enjoy every moment - while youre still in it.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: It works pretty good. . .as a kid's toy, but not a kiddie cost\\n\\nReview: <div id=\\\"video-block-R2ZPA1M9G79IS7\\\" class=\\\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\\\"></div><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/A1lcwmg%2Bl%2BS.mp4\\\" class=\\\"video-url\\\"><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81svAc5KpES.png\\\" class=\\\"video-slate-img-url\\\"> Between all our phones and tablets, I wasn't sure if we could really make use of something like this or not.\\n\\n+ Compact\\n\\n+ Weather resistant\\n\\n+ Image taking, burst video (records for 6sec then auto-shuts off), and continuous video\\n\\n+ The rubber outside sleeve provides a good, no slip grip\\n\\n-- The cover for the Speaker power/control button flew off on it's own and cannot be found. The button still works, but no symbols on the plastic to remind us months later what this button is used for.\\n\\n+ Interestingly, you start the video recording then you have a magnetic mount allowing you to put the camera onto something metal and go hands-free recording. This was a good idea / feature.\\n\\n> I had to go to the vendor site to find out this is a 5MP device\\n\\n> As you can see the video is grainy indoors, especially on the edges when I started out.\\n\\n+ I've had worse cameras where when I was moving/running you couldn't see a thing, so this didn't do too bad.\\n\\n> Being directly in the sunlight was a bit blinding but you could still see the landscape on the outer edges versus the video get totally whited out\\n\\n-- Only 4GB? Really? Make this expandable with an SD card or at least 64Gb then maybe it would be worth looking into. I can buy a 64Gb SD card for less than $30 for my phone.\\n\\nThus if the intent on this is for the user who has a phone that runs out of space, it doesn't offer much more for the inconvenience of having to carry around yet another device.\\n\\n-- $130 at the time of this writing. That is more than some phones, which can do so much more!!\\nFor example, for less than $110, I can get last year's Honor 4x phone, which is expandable to 32Gb and higher megapixel camera:\\n <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Huawei-Honor-4-Play-4G-Unlocked-Smartphone-5-0-inch-Android-4-4-MSM8916-Quad-Core-1-2GHz-RAM-1GB-ROM-8GB-with-WiFi-Display-5MP-8MP-FDD-LTE-amp-WCDMA-amp-GSM-White/dp/B00OXFMF0Q/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Huawei Honor 4 Play 4G Unlocked Smartphone 5.0 inch Android 4.4 MSM8916 Quad Core 1.2GHz RAM 1GB ROM 8GB with WiFi Display 5MP+8MP, FDD-LTE & WCDMA & GSM (White)</a>\\n\\n-- Which brings up the point that there is no display to know what is exactly in your view port\\n\\nFINAL THOUGHTS:\\nHaving owned the Flip video that eventually Cisco bought and then discontinued and two or three other mini-camcorders since, this video/camera leaves me feeling the minuses outweigh the pluses, by a good margin. You have to be a very specific niche market to get the most out of this, but many smartphones can do more for the same price.\",\n \"Product: The LinkFun WiFi Router with External Antennas offers faster downloads and Internet gaming. This router delivers high-performance wireless speeds of up to 300 Mbps and is the ideal router for medium-sized homes. It delivers the speed and stability needed for applications such as online video , online gaming and a secure and reliable connection to the Internet. Frequently asked questions 1.Q: How should do when the broadband account/password has been set up but the connection state still show off? AClick System tools button/system log/view log, 1. It means the account and password validation errors, it need to double check the account and password when showing CHAP authentication fai or PAP authentication fai or be is in auth failed list, 2.will be need double check the cable is connected to the WAN port or not, or need re-start the modem when showing Timeout waiting for PADO packets 2.Q: After router set up, the computer can visit internet, but mobile phone cannt. A: Delete the mobile phone wifi connect records, then re-search wifi signal and connect to router (Noted: it must input the same password with the router)) 3.Q: Forgot the login account/password for router A: When forgot the user name/password that it can be a hardware reset, when power on, hold the RESET button pressed down for about 7s, all the lights on means reset successful 4.Q: How to do when the wireless signal dropped/wireless speed is slow, wireless signal is not strong? A: Login The router management page/wireless setting/basic setting/channel, change the channel to 3.5.7.9.13, these are few people use the channel, it can reduce interference.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Not for the non-techincal person\\n\\nReview: I was provided this item at a discounted price in exchange for my honest & unbiased review. I really wanted to like this product more.\\n\\n+ For a wireless router, a cost of less than $30 at the time of this writing is awesome.\\n\\n+ Product arrived quickly.\\n\\n-- I could not get this to work with my Comcast setup. I was able to get into the router via a browser, but could not get it to work any other way.\\nI should note my Belkin wireless router worked immediately with plugging in.\\n\\n-- Instruction manual doesn't seem to include Windows 10 and poorly written.\\n\\n-- Website info doesn't work but gives a \\\"server not found\\\" error\\n\\nUnless you are a super tech person who can support themselves, there is no way to get support apparently.\",\n \"Product: The Calvin Klein Skinny Fit Denim Jean sits below the natural waist, slim fit through the hip and thigh, with a skinny leg. Available in multiple inseams with a 13.5\\\" leg opening\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Nice jean. Fits as expected, but costly.\\n\\nReview: I've had mostly very positive experiences with Calvin Klein products and these were no different. . .with a caveat or two.\\n\\n+ I'm a bit overweight (27% BMI)which is why I need a 34 waist for my 5'8\\\" frame.\\nThese have a little stretch to them, so as I'm in that inbetween stage with needing a 33-waist or a 35-waist, these work.\\n\\n+ Since I'm a bit overweight I had little faith these 'skinny jeans' would even fit.\\nI have descently thick thighs even though I'm a runner and my calves are pretty skinny. These still fit me, though a little tight in the thigh, but the elastine helps these not too tight.\\n\\n+ Zipper is good quality and I had no issues with it sticking or being unusable.\\n\\n+ These are surprisingly comfortable since they do have some stretch to them.\\n\\n> I haven't washed them yet, but most jeans tend to tighten upon washing, so I just need to be prepared for that.\\n\\n-- At the time of this writing these are running $80. Definitely not!!\\nI've had plenty of other jeans/pants from Calvin Klein that ran me $50. There is NOT $30 extra benefits here. Minus a star for their terrible pricing strategy just because 'skinny' is popular now.\\n\\n+ These are a nice dark, deep black. Not a washed out charcoal grey...they are black.\\n\\nOVERALL: I like these jeans a lot and if the cost wasn't so crazy I could see getting a couple pairs of these.\",\n \"Product: High Sierra Men's Molo Hybrid Jacket ; Zippered Hand Warmer Pockets with Tricot Lining. 100gm Insulation in body and 80gm in sleeves. Shell 2 - Polyester 2 way stretch fleece that wicks moisture. Water, Oil & Dirt Resistant. Zippered Hand Warmer Pockets with Tricot Lining. Extended Collar Center Front Zipper Interior Storm Flap with Chin Guard.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: A cool weather jacket...not cold weather\\n\\nReview: For the most part the style looks like one of those cold weather vest jackets but this has arms and is thinner.\\n\\nAlso, the sides are sort of like a breathable fleece material, which also allows for easier movement and a bit of stretch if one has gained weight from too much beer and / or chocolate chip cookies.\\n\\nZippers are nice and strong and don't look like they will bend or fail any time soon.\\n\\nThe high collar is nice and helps with some extra warmth.\\n\\nSince it isn't a real thick jacket, it works great in 40-60 degree weather. Much colder weather than that and you better start layering your clothes. I can see adding some water repellent spray then wearing this while out skiing or snowboarding. I'm normally not too cold up on the slopes especially when exerting myself physically so a lighter jacket works great.\\n\\nAlso, since it is a lighter jacket you could roll this up and stuff in a backpack. But it's close and will fill your backpack because it is NOT a windbreaker...thicker than that.\\n\\nZippered pockets are always nice and this has it.\\n\\nOVERALL: Looks good. Great jacket between a windbreaker and a cold weather jacket. For what it's intended to be I cannot think of any suggestions for improvement.\",\n \"Product: Alpine Swiss Winter Scarf Feel cozy, elegant, and fashionable this winter in this stylish scarf or give it as a gift that has a great perceived value. Features: Measures: 12\\\" x 80\\\" Long Enough to Wear in Many Ways Super Soft Acrylic Material Most Popular Colors and Patters of the Year Cozy and Warm for Winter Stylish Fringe Detail Edges Fashionable Enough to Wear Year Round MSRP: $25 Alpine Swiss donates 2500 meals every day to hungry children in the U.S. and around the world through our partnership with Childrens Hunger Fund. These meals are hand delivered in a Food Pack, which will contain enough food to feed a family of 4-5 for a week to the homes of the needy by trained volunteers in their community, establishing relationships that foster genuine care. Your purchase fuels this effort! Thank you!\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: A 4.5 star item. 12inch wide x 80inch long (including tassles)\\n\\nReview: I ordered a half-dozen scarves from four different vendors. I'm heading to Denver on a trip and needed something for warmth.\\n\\n+ Nice and wide, so when you fold this over you get a good thick scarf\\n\\n> Overall the scarf is a little thin, but this is less noticeable since it is 12-inches wide and you can fold over to make it feel thicker\\n\\n+ I ordered the Blue Houndstooth and the Red Plaid. Both look very close to the pictures here on Amazon.\\n\\n+ I received the two colors very quickly via Prime/Free Returns shipping.\\n\\n> The colors I wanted were Dusk Plaid and Hunters Plaid, but neither offered via Prime shipping. Darn!\\n\\n+ I wound up keeping the Red Plaid so I'm not always wearing black, blue and greys. Plus out of the half dozen this is the softest without feeling like silk .\\n\\n+Also nice and warm!\\n\\n+ Under $10, so price is right.\\n\\nOVERALL: Since I'm keeping one of these, I'm interested in checking out this brand some more. Maybe now that I've seen what the other scarfs are like, then I may just end up ordering the Dusk Plaid even though there is no Prime/Free Returns on that one.\",\n \"Product: New Balance is dedicated to helping athletes achieve their goals. It's been their mission for more than a century to focus on research and development. It's why they don't design products to fit an image. They design them to fit. New Balance is driven to make the finest shoes for the same reason athletes lace them up: to achieve the very best.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Finally a NB shoe that fits us more narrow feet folks\\n\\nReview: I've often ignored New Balance as a brand, since they are known for supporting wide-feet users. But for someone with narrower feet, these work for me.\\n\\nNOTE: After reading other reviews I ordered a 1/2 size larger than I normally would and it fits great.\\n\\n+ I started running in 2015 and started immediately with barefoot/minimalist running shoes. This shoe has a 6mm drop (24mm to 18mm stack), so it's an easy transition for those between minimalist shoes and users who prefer much more cushioning.\\n\\n+ The shoe can fit and hold my foot snug or I can loosen the laces and make it a bit more free...and I have narrower feet.\\n\\n+ The box is just a bit wider than my foot, giving me a good area to step into when running without rubbing or feeling constrained\\n\\n+ I wore these all day at jury duty, where I chose never to sit, rather I stood, paced or walked up/down stairs. I hit my 10,000 steps within an hour or so and did this for all 6-8hrs of my day. Shoes were comfortable and \\\"bouncy\\\" throughout the entire walk and standing over that time period.\\n\\n+ I've taken these out for a few 10-mile runs. They spring back very well, which goes back to some articles I read that these are a good speed training shoe. Also, I didn't need much adjustment in my minimalist running style since there is a small-to-medium drop of 6mm here.\\n\\n+ Nice cushioning, which made that 10-milers comfortable\\n\\n> Not the lightest shoe, as these are just over 9.2oz each, but not the heaviest either.\\n\\n+ These LOOK really nice. The black with silver, grey and white go with just about any outfit (running or other) that I own. I really like the design as there are brands out there that are crazy weird. I'm so glad these are \\\"cool\\\" looking on top of being a comfortable shoe.\\n\\n+ I have high arches and while not flat, but also not super high...but these do seem to give me adequate arch support and my feet don't hurt after a 10-mile run.\\n\\nOVERALL: Great overall shoe. since I don't run more than 10-miles, I cannot comment on using these for full marathon's or not. But training or not, I'm very happy with these shoes.\",\n \"Product: A best-in-class khaki with dress pant details. Cut for an athletic fit that is roomier through the hip and thigh with a tapered leg, these feature stretch for performance and all-day comfort. No Wrinkles technology gives you a freshly pressed look around the clock and an Individual Fit Waistband offers up to 1\\\" of extra room in the waist. Features a button-through front closure, a permanent front crease for elevated style, double welt button-through back pockets and fine topstitching. A super-soft fabric makes these your new workday go-to.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: A casual business slack\\n\\nReview: I'm 5'9\\\" and 185lbs.\\nI've been squeezing into 34 inch waist pants for a while, but having dropped down to 185lbs now 34's aren't so tight.\\nAlso, being 5'9\\\" I normally need a 31-inch pant, but since those are rare, I always go with a 32-inch.\\n\\nThus I was hopeful when these pants arrived at 34x32.\\n\\n+ Fit as expected. Not so tight that the pockets are flaring.\\n\\n+Most of my extra weight is in my belly, butt and thighs. Thus I fill these in just fine with a little bit of room in the thighs for squatting down or being active.\\n\\n-- These days it seems like jeans and many slacks all come with some sort of cotton + spandex or elastine.\\nThese are 98% cotton and 2% elastine, but they still have that rough, stiff Dockers feel to them. Thus, for me this keeps the pants a lot LESS comfortable than other pants, in my opinion. Minus a star for me.\\n\\n+ As something between a dress slack and jeans, these will fit the bill for casual business attire.\\n\\nOVERALL: They fit as expected. They look good because they are cut well. I like them. I just wish they had more flexibility in the material used.\",\n \"Product: The Ultra-Thin is so thin you barely know it is there. The design of the Ultra-Thin wallet allows you to slide your most used cards in and out quickly. It is constructed from one piece of 4-way stretch performance fabric providing a slim profile. This also allows the wallet to expand and contract so that whatever you are carrying, big or small, fits tightly into this Modern Carry wallet. This (Thin Wallet / Card Sleeve / Slim Wallet / Card Wallet / Card Holder Wallet / Minimal Card Wallet / Minimal Card Sleeve / Leather Card Holder / Front Pocket Wallet) is great to use as a minimal wallet to carry your cards and cash or as a business card holder.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Great idea, but needs small changes to be better\\n\\nReview: I was provided this item at a discounted price in exchange for my honest & unbiased review. Like many other people, I'm embracing a minimalist lifestyle. . .at least in small changes like one of these wallet options.\\n\\nPic #1 = I have an older product that sticks to the back of my phone case and it has worked well these past five months. Next to the first one, is this product. I'm actually liking the flexibility of not sticking this wallet to anything. . .then again it is easier to possibly misplace/lose.\\n\\nPic #2 = I have five cards and four cash bills folded up and in this wallet. It holds what I need it to hold. Nice.\\n\\nPic #3 = The bottom needs to be wider than the top. Otherwise, what happens is what you see in this pic...in that the wallet cannot get fully around the cards and slides off too easily.\\n\\nFINAL THOUGHTS:\\n-- At the time of this writing $20 for a piece of stretchy material is laughable. Hahaha!\\nIf this was closer to $8 then it would compete with similar products.\\n+ I like the masculine blue color\\n> Holds a good amount, but holds it so-so until the bottom stitching is corrected\",\n \"Product: RUNNING STYLE: Ultra-cushioned, neutral shoe designed to deliver unmatched comfort. Innovative UA SpeedFormconstruction molds to the foot for a precision fit, eliminating all distraction. Threadborne midfoot panel provides structure & distinct style. Engineered mesh used on the tongue & toe box to enhance fit & increase ventilation. Internal heel counter provides seamless, lightweight support & structure. Embedded sockliner for added cushioning, support & seamless comfort. Charged Cushioningmidsole uses compressed foam for even greater responsiveness & durability, providing optimal cushioning & energy return. Micro Gheel unit increases protection & stabilization. Blown rubber under the forefoot is lightweight yet incredibly responsive. Offset: 8 mm. Weight: 9.85 oz. .\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: A good overall neutral shoe\\n\\nReview: There is a version of this shoe line that has a bluetooth chip in it that tracks your running...this does NOT seem to be that. I couldn't find any information on with what came in the box or on this Amazon page to clarify why or what comes with this shoe other than one or two details. After some research, I had to make some assumptions that the rest of the features are the same.\\n\\n+ 8mm drop\\nI normally run a 0mm trail shoe or a 4mm drop road shoe, so there was a noticeable difference to me. But those that like a bit more of a drop will appreciate this one.\\n\\n+ Neutral shoe.\\nI normally run a performance shoe that gives less padding. This had good mid-foot padding and stability making it a neutral shoe that should meet most people's needs.\\n\\n+ I normally wear a size 9 shoe and a 9.5 running shoe.\\nI received a 9 for review and it fits as expected. I would order a 1/2 size larger for running, so in the meantime I used a shoe stretcher and was able to run fine with these.\\n\\n+ Fits the foot well with the glove-like upper.\\nI didn't notice any slipping while running and this shoe stayed on well.\\n\\n-- My only suggestion for improvement is to put an extra layer across the top toes, so that one's toes don't break through the mesh upper before a runner has gotten the miles out of these. I wish more manufacturers would take this into considering. My Merrill shoes are great for this one added feature alone.\\n\\n> These are pretty high profile shoes.\\nSome may like this or not. Meaning if wearing a low profile shoe you may see part of a no-show sock, but with a high profile shoe you should not see a no-show sock. This also means more of the shoe is hugging your foot and ankle.\\n\\n+ I agree these are pretty responsive when running.\\nI've have a pair of New Balance neutrals that bounce back better than these, but these aren't bad at all.\\n\\n> Low profile, performance shoes can weigh between 7 to 9oz each.\\nFor a neutral shoe these aren't bad at all at 10oz. The extra weight is is expected with the extra profile and extra cushioning/stability.\\n\\n-- I've had some GREAT road running shoes for around the $60-$70 range.\\nAt the time of this writing these are running $110. I don't know that I'm seeing an extra $40-$50 worth of shoe here. Too pricey for my tastes.\\n\\nOVERALL: For most runners, especially the casual runner who isn't into a lot of the technical stuff, this should meet the need as they are right in the middle of the road between performance (low profile and less cushioning) and a neutral, max cushioning shoe.\",\n \"Product: Simply zip off the arms when the weather calls to convert to a vest with Teflon Shield+ to protect you from water and wind. An interior chest pocket features Silver plated fabric technology that uses electromagnetic fields to block people from being able to access your passport and credit card information. It has an interior pocket travel system in addition to two security zip chest pockets and two security zip hand pockets.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: A good, all around medium-light jacket\\n\\nReview: I live in northern California, so having a not-too-thick jacket would be my go-to jacket as it gets cool for us in the Fall and Winter, but not typically under 40-degrees where I'd want something warmer. Thus this jacket seems to fit that need/want.\\n\\n+ Perfect thickness of not being a windbreaker, but not being a heavy jacket either.\\nIf need be, I could roll this up and stuff it in my backpack.\\n\\n+ Not necessarily my style, but having the option to unzip the sleeves makes it the type of jacket I'd take on an early morning hike.\\n\\n> The zippers feel a little weak.\\nI'm not confident the zipper teeth will not get bent and the whole zipping on and zipping off will become difficult with time. But time will tell.\\n\\n+ Lots of pockets inside and out.\\nNearly every pocket is large enough to hold my Samsung Galaxy 5 phone with shock-resistant case. Thus, I'm happy with the pocket sizes.\\n\\n+ Works like a windbreaker, which is good for my area.\\nI do normally wear a windbreaker in Fall and Winter, but now I can run a little warmer with this all-in-one jacket.\\n\\n+ Material seems durable, will not snag or rip.\\n\\n> I guess the only thing I would have preferred is a way to cinch the waist area, it's a bit too wide/big on me. I'm not the typical overweight American middle-aged man with a protruding belly (well some, but not huge). So I don't have a waistline to fill up this jacket and thus it doesn't seem like it fits well. A smaller size might be better, but it does feel like it fits fine in the shoulders and chest (I run a 40-42 chest).\\n\\nOVERALL: I'm happy with this jacket and look forward to the cooler seasons to give it a daily wear.\",\n \"Product: This lightweight chambray with 100% linen fabrication is perfect for a night out in the town.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Sublte pattern that makes for a nice looking shirt\\n\\nReview: I guess for a $70 shirt I was expecting a lot out of this product.\\n\\n+ The small fits my 17yr old just fine (5'7\\\", 130-ish lbs.)\\n\\n> Very thin and I purposely had my teen wear a dark shirt underneath so hopefully you can see that it is a bit see through. This is expected of linen shirts.\\n\\n> It wrinkles pretty much all the time. You'll want to iron and starch the shirt to keep its shape longer or leave as is. It's a choice to iron or not, but linen does attract wrinkles naturally.\\n\\n+ Good stitching on the seams and buttons. No issues there.\\n\\n> Machine wash cold, because linen, much like cotton, does have a tendency to shrink.\\n\\n-- Made in China with a Cubavera label. Hmmm.\\n\\nNOTE: According to wikipedia, \\\"Linen is laborious to manufacture, but the fiber is very absorbent and garments made of linen are valued for their exceptional coolness and freshness in hot weather.\\\"\\n\\nThus it makes sense why this would cost more than a $20 shirt, since linen is tough to produce.\\nAlso, it makes sense that this is the kind of shirt you wear in warm weather and where we are located, it gets over 105 Farenheight several weeks out of the year.\\n\\nIf the above items match your expectations of this type of shirt, it could be worth it to you to check out.\",\n \"Product: Now you can create your very own customized tee shirt. Choose the logo or text you wish us to print on high quality Cotton T-Shirts. 100% preshrunk cotton takes the worry away from shrunk-age. Seamless rib at neck and collar. Double-needle stitched neckline, bottom and sleeve hems. Any needs, Feel free to contact us, We're aim to make you 100% pleased with the transaction.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Have no idea what I'd receive. . .even after a 2nd order\\n\\nReview: When first ordering this I had high hopes. I spent a bunch of time putting together an image and text, then using the provided tool to center and size it exactly where I wanted it. My submission looked great. . .but. . .\\n\\n+ Submission tool is very easy to use and I was very happy with my submission (see pic #1)\\n\\n+ Pic #2 is the actual image, which has a lot of color and detail. When it arrived the image was great detail still and the paint felt like it was part of the shirt. I was so impressed. . .at first\\n\\n> 50 characters is not a lot. If you could size the font to put more text, then that would be ideal\\n\\n+ Seller replied in email several times to ensure that what I submitted would be what I should get. We shared several images back and forth.\\n\\n+ Shirt came very fast\\n\\n-- Pic #3 = My image was four inches lower on the shirt than I had set in the submission. Not what we had agreed to in the image exchange.\\nIt looks funny with all the white text near my belly button vs. higher up on the shirt.\\n\\n+ Seller was quick to reply at this mistake.\\n-- Seller was quick to blame the warehouse at the mistake\\n+ Seller was quick to offer a second shirt free of the same image or different\\n\\nI again used the tool and submitted an different image with high detail and embedded the text in the image so I wouldn't have to be limited by 50 characters.\\n\\n+ Again great communication from seller and exchange of photos to ensure sure is what I'm order.\\n+ Again, fast shipment from overseas\\n\\n-- Image was shrunk tiny on shirt compared to submission. Cannot read any of the text at all.\\n-- Image is like a sticker...it's not paint that has been pressed into the shirt. Very concerned about it lasting long.\\n+ They did get the vibrant colors of the image, just no details\\n-- Image is off center and crooked. Looks terrible since it isn't straight. Someone must have eyeballed it instead of using a leveler to measure and ensure it was applied straight.\\n-- Shirt is a completely different material and different/cheaper brand than first shirt. So I have no idea which product you'd really get when ordering. (see final pic)\\n\\nOVERALL:\\nI appreciate the communication and fast shipment (plus a star)\\nInconsistency and twice (2x) they got the order wrong AND used different shirts and different screen/paint process, means I cannot recommend this one myself, but other reviewers seemed to have a good experience.\\nOh yeah...order at least one size larger since my shirts shrunk on me.\",\n \"Product: The Balega Silver Antimicrobial No-Show Compression-Fit Running Sock for Men and Women provides moisture-management and comfort without sacrificing fit and performance. Silver ions are encapsulated in the proprietary Drynamix yarn blend to promote an antibacterial, hygienic environment, keeping feet clean, dry, and free of odors, mold, and fungi. Constructed to mimic a running shoe, the varying tension of the fibers and knit patterns throughout the athletic sock lock in the heel and provide compressive arch support for grip and quick pick-up, while allowing the toes to move freely. The seamless, hand-linked toe box minimizes friction to prevent blisters and chafing. A high heel tab and extra deep heel pocket ensures that the sock wont slip down into the shoe. The Balega Silver Antimicrobial No-Show Compression-Fit Running Sock features medium-volume cushioning, ensuring durability for extended training and endurance events.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: A very good sock, but the cost I find hard to swallow\\n\\nReview: I'm currently running regularly 15-25miles per week. Not huge distances by any means, but definitely active. I was offered these for review and figured I'd give them a try.\\n\\n+ FIT as expected. I'm a size 9-10 men's shoe and the large fit me well without feeling like it's too small or too large and I have extra material floating around my shoe.\\n\\n+ COMFORTABLE for sure. The toe and ankle are nice and loose whereas the arch and mid-foot have just enough compression to feel it without feeling constricted or one's circulation cut off.\\n\\n> WARMER than other socks. I live in a dry heat area that has several summer weeks over 100-degrees. Thus, these aren't my favorite socks to wear in the summer because they are warmer than my standard, no show socks.\\n\\n-- COST per pair is currently $15. Ouch! Frustrates me to no end that just because something can be targetted to a niche sport or activity, how companies can jack-up the price. Fortunately here on Amazon, there are several competitor options for no-show, compression, unisex socks that cost between $3 to $4 per pair. I'm a frugal guy, even in the improving economy, so I'm not about to stock up on something where I can get a comparative product for 20-25% the price. The main reason for this review's loss of stars.\\n\\n+ RUNNING in these was a positive experience. Providing breathability, yet not making my feet feel too slick and slippery in my shoe.\\n\\n> I also had to laugh out loud whenever a manufacturer puts on their own marketing propaganda that they are the #1 in a market. By whose standards, rating, or ranking?\\nBut apparently, Hidden Comfort (at first I was not sure how that relates to Balega Socks) is the No 1 sock in run specialty. Since I find no other mention of Hidden Comfort on this product page, is this just another 3rd party product with the Balega label slapped on it? It's all confusing, though eventually, a little searching revealed that Hidden Comfort is the \\\"model\\\" name of this sock by Balega. Hmmm.\",\n \"Product: The Balega Silver Antimicrobial No-Show Compression-Fit Running Sock for Men and Women provides moisture-management and comfort without sacrificing fit and performance. Silver ions are encapsulated in the proprietary Drynamix yarn blend to promote an antibacterial, hygienic environment, keeping feet clean, dry, and free of odors, mold, and fungi. Constructed to mimic a running shoe, the varying tension of the fibers and knit patterns throughout the athletic sock lock in the heel and provide compressive arch support for grip and quick pick-up, while allowing the toes to move freely. The seamless, hand-linked toe box minimizes friction to prevent blisters and chafing. A high heel tab and extra deep heel pocket ensures that the sock wont slip down into the shoe. The Balega Silver Antimicrobial No-Show Compression-Fit Running Sock features medium-volume cushioning, ensuring durability for extended training and endurance events.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: A very good sock, but the cost I find hard to swallow\\n\\nReview: I'm currently running regularly 15-25miles per week. Not huge distances by any means, but definitely active. I was offered these for review and figured I'd give them a try.\\n\\n+ FIT as expected. I'm a size 9-10 men's shoe and the large fit me well without feeling like it's too small or too large and I have extra material floating around my shoe.\\n\\n+ COMFORTABLE for sure. The toe and ankle are nice and loose whereas the arch and mid-foot have just enough compression to feel it without feeling constricted or one's circulation cut off.\\n\\n> WARMER than other socks. I live in a dry heat area that has several summer weeks over 100-degrees. Thus, these aren't my favorite socks to wear in the summer because they are warmer than my standard, no show socks.\\n\\n-- COST per pair is currently $15. Ouch! Frustrates me to no end that just because something can be targetted to a niche sport or activity, how companies can jack-up the price. Fortunately here on Amazon, there are several competitor options for no-show, compression, unisex socks that cost between $3 to $4 per pair. I'm a frugal guy, even in the improving economy, so I'm not about to stock up on something where I can get a comparative product for 20-25% the price. The main reason for this review's loss of stars.\\n\\n+ RUNNING in these was a positive experience. Providing breathability, yet not making my feet feel too slick and slippery in my shoe.\\n\\n> I also had to laugh out loud whenever a manufacturer puts on their own marketing propaganda that they are the #1 in a market. By whose standards, rating, or ranking?\\nBut apparently, Hidden Comfort (at first I was not sure how that relates to Balega Socks) is the No 1 sock in run specialty. Since I find no other mention of Hidden Comfort on this product page, is this just another 3rd party product with the Balega label slapped on it? It's all confusing, though eventually, a little searching revealed that Hidden Comfort is the \\\"model\\\" name of this sock by Balega. Hmmm.\",\n \"Product: The Balega Silver Antimicrobial No-Show Compression-Fit Running Sock for Men and Women provides moisture-management and comfort without sacrificing fit and performance. Silver ions are encapsulated in the proprietary Drynamix yarn blend to promote an antibacterial, hygienic environment, keeping feet clean, dry, and free of odors, mold, and fungi. Constructed to mimic a running shoe, the varying tension of the fibers and knit patterns throughout the athletic sock lock in the heel and provide compressive arch support for grip and quick pick-up, while allowing the toes to move freely. The seamless, hand-linked toe box minimizes friction to prevent blisters and chafing. A high heel tab and extra deep heel pocket ensures that the sock wont slip down into the shoe. The Balega Silver Antimicrobial No-Show Compression-Fit Running Sock features medium-volume cushioning, ensuring durability for extended training and endurance events.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: A very good sock, but the cost I find hard to swallow\\n\\nReview: I'm currently running regularly 15-25miles per week. Not huge distances by any means, but definitely active. I was offered these for review and figured I'd give them a try.\\n\\n+ FIT as expected. I'm a size 9-10 men's shoe and the large fit me well without feeling like it's too small or too large and I have extra material floating around my shoe.\\n\\n+ COMFORTABLE for sure. The toe and ankle are nice and loose whereas the arch and mid-foot have just enough compression to feel it without feeling constricted or one's circulation cut off.\\n\\n> WARMER than other socks. I live in a dry heat area that has several summer weeks over 100-degrees. Thus, these aren't my favorite socks to wear in the summer because they are warmer than my standard, no show socks.\\n\\n-- COST per pair is currently $15. Ouch! Frustrates me to no end that just because something can be targetted to a niche sport or activity, how companies can jack-up the price. Fortunately here on Amazon, there are several competitor options for no-show, compression, unisex socks that cost between $3 to $4 per pair. I'm a frugal guy, even in the improving economy, so I'm not about to stock up on something where I can get a comparative product for 20-25% the price. The main reason for this review's loss of stars.\\n\\n+ RUNNING in these was a positive experience. Providing breathability, yet not making my feet feel too slick and slippery in my shoe.\\n\\n> I also had to laugh out loud whenever a manufacturer puts on their own marketing propaganda that they are the #1 in a market. By whose standards, rating, or ranking?\\nBut apparently, Hidden Comfort (at first I was not sure how that relates to Balega Socks) is the No 1 sock in run specialty. Since I find no other mention of Hidden Comfort on this product page, is this just another 3rd party product with the Balega label slapped on it? It's all confusing, though eventually, a little searching revealed that Hidden Comfort is the \\\"model\\\" name of this sock by Balega. Hmmm.\",\n \"Product: Are you a parent looking to cruise around with your child but dont want to spend hundreds of dollars for something you dont need?? What you do need is this Razor A5 Lux!! It is exactly like the A Model but BIGGER. The bars come taller and wider and the wheels come bigger and smoother. Youll be having just as fun as your child! This scooter isnt only for parents either. If youre an older kid who is just wanting to get around town, this scooter is excellent for the job.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great for adult city riding\\n\\nReview: I was intent on getting a new scooter for my kids, but didn't want to spend more than $40. As I looked through the options, I found this scooter and the fact that it holds over 200lbs versus so many scooters peak at 1110-143lbs. So I figured, why don't I pay a bit more and then I too can scooter?!\\n\\nI've used this more than my kids, as I travel into town 3miles away and back and all around our area to the coffee shop or wherever I needed to go. My daughter at times has ridden her bike while I scooter and there is no problem for me pace up with her.\\n\\nI'm still conscious of the grooves in the street or sidewalk even with these larger wheels, as they could still get stuck if I'm not careful.\\n\\nI'm not into tricks, but transitioning from bike lane to sidewalk and back is no problem at a good speed if I lift the front wheel or 'jump' the small lip of uneven pavement.\\n\\nWhen the ground is really rough, as long as I have a loose grip it doesn't bother me much.\\n\\nI can get some fast speeds on a downhill. Glad I have my helmet on, just in case!\\n\\nBraking is okay. I think I'm still learning how much pressure to put on the brake, but the braking is quiet and does the job. On a fast downhill, I'll 'pump the brake' to keep my speed from getting too fast especially when there is an upcoming stop sign in the middle of the decline.\\n\\nEasy to fold.\\n\\nMissing a way to carry this. So I found a buckle strap in the camping equipment area of Walmart. I fold the scooter and thread the strap between the front and back wheel, then I can sling it over my shoulder and carry it when need be. I sometimes take a bike lock with me and use that to tie up the scooter at the store instead of lugging it around.\\n\\nScooter is light enough it's not that big of deal to carry it or to push uphill when the incline is too much for kick scooting.\\n\\nOVERALL: Totally worth getting. I'm having fun, getting a good workout and enjoying the change of pace from running, cycling or rollerblading.\",\n \"Product: Fabric carry/storage bag, 8-113mm steel with chrome and black finish. Comes in 2 different scoring pattern styles, 1-60mm Phenolic Palino\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Kids and I have played with this a lot since getting it\\n\\nReview: THE BAG\\n- Bottom lined with a firm styrofoam insert that holds 6 of the balls\\n- on top of this you lay another firm styrofoam insert that holds the last two balls, the pallino and the tape measure\\n- The bag is a must as the set is a combined weight of 17-18 pounds\\n- The handles are stuffed under the seam about a half inch. . .I can only hope that will be enough to carry the weight around for more than a few outings\\n- It does look like I'm walking around with a bowling ball though\\n\\nINSTRUCTIONS\\n- A simple, folded 8x11 piece of paper that lays out simplified rules as well as how to use the tape measure and layout a closed court\\n- Set comes with a 90 day satisfaction guarantee and a toll free number to contact their customer service\\n\\nPALLINO\\n- If there was such a thing as a granite doughnut, this would be the doughnut hole.\\n- It's solid and a nice maroon color flecked with black spots\\n- May prove difficult to see if playing in higher grass\\n\\nLARGE BOCCE BALLS\\n- colors are very difficult to differentiate\\n- Thank the sports gods they cut designs into each of the balls so I can tell them apart, but from a distance you still can't tell the difference\\n- I put each of the balls on a scale and weighed them. Weights varied from 31.60 ounces to 33.95 ounces. Uh...yeah. . .not sure how one can work on a consistent throw when the balls vary.\\n- the grooves cut into the balls act as 'tracks' that affect the way the balls roll. Make sure if you play with one set you use the same design cut\\n\\nOVERALL:\\nIt appears to be a quality made set.\\nThe aesthetic problems (color & weight) I feel are serious enough to give confusion and/or effect play.\\nBut for the newbie like me or the casual player it will work fine.\\nTurned out kids really like playing this game and we have a lot of fun in our backyard with it.\",\n \"Product: Lightweight run bottle is contoured to hug your hand making hydrating fast and easy. Includes one 10 oz Podium Arc bottle. Self-sealing Jet Valve eliminates splatters and spills, lightweight, easy to squeeze, BPA-Free, TruTaste Polypropylene with HydroGuard lets you taste water--not the bottle, lockout for leak-proof transport. Elastic webbing with stretch binding, front & back reflectivity, essentials pocket. Dimensions: 4.8 x 2.4 in / 12.1 x 6 cm. Fabric: 70D Diamond Clarus with DWR + 1000 mm PU & Air Mesh.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Almost perfect. . .\\n\\nReview: + I've taken this out on a couple of runs so far and it's been helpful and just the right amount for those 5-10 mile runs.\\nFor longer runs, I'd use my camelbak backpack w/water reservoir or one of my 24oz water bottle, if I didn't have a way to refill this one while on the run.\\n\\n+ The dial top is so much better than having a pull top where I sometimes feel like I'm going to pull a tooth out trying to open one of those older style bottles. The dial top I can open/close with a single finger while running.\\n\\n+ The dial top opened to where it stops is a good flow squirt into your mouth. But you can push the dial further, past the little bump and then it's fully opened for a pour action.\\n\\n+ Grip is nice and easy to tighten and loosen. The release clasp is directly under the pouch and kind of out of sight.\\n\\n- My only complaint is the pouch is too small. . .it needs to be slightly larger. I can barely fit my car key FOB in the pouch but that is it, nothing else. So if you have a house key or two attached to your car FOB, then good luck with getting it to fit.\\n\\n+ I paid less than $8, which seemed fair at the time for basically just a bottle with a grip. Much more than that and I cannot see how one can justify charging more than $10, let alone paying more.\\n\\nOVERALL: This is exactly what I was looking for and its easy to use.\",\n \"Product: SKLZ Quickster Chipping NetFun, Effective Short Game Practice! Practice your short game anytime, anywhere with the Quickster Chipping Net. The net features three different sized target holes and a ball-catching slot at the bottom for missed shots. Perfect for use with regular or practice golf balls in the home, garage, basement or backyard.SKLZ Quickster Chipping Net features: * 3 targets of different size and ball collection slot. * Different size targets for building accuracy. * Quick set-up and break-down using the patented steel and fiberglass. * Lightweight and portable. * Tension-Tite frame. * Strong mesh pockets. * 2.25\\\" x 2.25\\\" net face\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Quick setup and highly portable\\n\\nReview: Pros:\\n+ Mine didn't come with any instructions, but they aren't needed, as the setup is literally 30-seconds\\n+ It's a good size to force me to get more accurate versus some other products encourage you to hit a large surface and let it roll in\\n+ Tension is good without the ball bouncing back with enough force to damage objects or the player\\n+ The four targets (1,2,3 and a row of bottom holes) are great and add variety\\n\\nCons:\\n- Best selling product <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Izzo-Mini-Mouth-24-Inch-Chipping-Target/dp/B001P80Z10/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Izzo Mini Mouth 24-Inch Chipping Target</a> , is only $15 versus this one is $40. You do the math.\\n- I've purchased other net products for the kids and baseball and they've all been under $20. Just because its golf doesn't mean it should cost more.\\n- Carrying case is pretty cheap with single stitch seams. I don't expect it to last long.\\n\\nOVERALL:\\nGreat practice device. Better than most.\\nPrice should reflect the quality or improve the quality and charge me the same.\",\n \"Product: Divine LEDs offers a lightweight headlamp with adjustable elastic strap for a snug and customized fit every time. A dimmer and multiple modes allow you to adjust the light strength to suit your task-at-hand. And speaking of hands, both are free for use when you rely on XE Series Headlamp. This automatically results in 50% greater efficiency when compared to performing the same task using a standard flashlight. Made from military-grade materials, this headlamp is guaranteed to work as hard as you do!\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Very good light for the price point, but some trouble getting different modes to work\\n\\nReview: <div id=\\\"video-block-R34IHY1CUFA1WO\\\" class=\\\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\\\"></div><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/E1-mS-cnmqS.mp4\\\" class=\\\"video-url\\\"><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/31zWGcLMRnS.png\\\" class=\\\"video-slate-img-url\\\"> The following \\\"table\\\" of data is:\\n\\nintensity > lumen > estimated battery life > approx distance light shines\\n\\nSpotlight :\\nhigh power - 90 lumens - 43 hours - 40m (130 ft)\\nmiddle power - 47 lumens - 56 hours - 20m (65 ft)\\nlow power - 4 lumens - 6m (19 ft) - 150 hours\\nSOS = no info\\n\\nFloodlight :\\nhigh - 16 lumens - 24m (79 ft) - 90 hours\\nlow - 4 lumens - 8m (26 ft) - 250 hours\\nStrobe = no info\\n\\nYes, there are more expensive headlamps out there that add two features this does not have:\\n1. battery pack in the back, that allows for extra output (brightness)\\n2. middle strap that goes from front to back across the top of your head. When wearing a baseball hat (which I do when I go out) doesn't work well with these middle straps. I like this one does NOT have this strap.\\n\\nThe strap on this worked great and did not slip after an hour of running. I was able to make it loose enough so it didn't feel like it was squeezing my brain, but tight enough that it didn't slip.\\n\\nI was in pitch black trails with lots of trees yesterday, creating a dark tunnel effect. The Spotlight High setting was my favorite and allowed me to see well, but the Flood High worked well too. Both were was plenty bright enough!!\\n\\nMy only recommendation is the single button is a bit difficult to get the right light setting on the fly (as seen in the video). In my video I had center spotlight or flood lights on the side, not all three. But when out running, when switching to the floodlight I had better light on the peripherals but also there was a center beam too. Cool. Not sure how I got it on. Again, a better way to more confidently switch between beams would help a lot.\\n\\nAlso, the lamp has a tilt so you can get it where you need on your head, then tilt the lamp closer to the ground in front of you or out in front.\\nI've been using the Rayovac Sportsman 22 Lumen 1AAA Headlight with Batteries (SPHLTLED-BB). For twice the price as the Rayovac I like this light much better, even with the challenge of getting the correct light setting with the single button.\\n\\nWorth checking out for the price point for under $30!!\\n\\nDisclaimer: I received this product free or at a discounted price, in exchange for the purposes of a product review. All opinions are 100% my own and they reflect my honest & unbiased opinion. Your experience may differ from mine.\",\n \"Product: Drive for show, putt for dough. What percent of 7, 5, and 3 foot putts do you make? Ask any pro, and they will tell you that the money is made at these distances. The Accelerator Pro Putting Mat with Ball Return lets you practice three key putt lengths with perfect strokes on a high quality true-roll putting surface. The back and through-stroke alignment guides ensure perfect acceleration and distance control, while maintaining a square face to the target.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Work on your short game\\n\\nReview: Irreparably damaged when shipped, otherwise I would have given this another star.\\nBesides that, this is perfect for the office or a place in the house...especially when you cannot go outside due to the weather.\\n\\nPic #1 - The box. It is just barely large enough for this product. So if you ever wanted to put the item back in the box for storage...good luck. I didn't pay enough attention to how it was packed to begin with, so now I'm kind of stuck.\\n\\nPic #2 - This is the Accelerator Pro laid out. Like most products of this type, you need to walk along the track to flatten it out after taking it out of the box. But it eventually gets pretty flat, even on carpet.\\n\\nPic #3 - The idea is that you have multiple distance markers so you can practice hitting the ball different lengths. It's not only about getting the ball in the hole. For instance, if you wanted to hit it from 7-feet (shown in the pic) to 3-ft, there are dots to let you know how close you are. Similarly, you can practice distances from the mark to the hole too, though now you are dealing with an up slope to the hole.\\n\\nPic #4 - Mine came damaged based on how it was packed. The deep grooves were made by the return tracks thrown in the box. Since there is zero extra room for anything in this box (as mentioned in #1) the pressure dug grooves into the mat and permanently damaged it. Also, you can barely see it on my pic, but if you miss the hole, there is a trough in the back that catches the ball and returns it too.\\n\\nPic #5 - The return tracks slide together like the old kid's Hotwheels tracks. This totally works fine for ball returns and the balls roll down without issue.\\n\\nOVERALL: I'm taking this into the office this week because I know, regardless of the damage, the guys (and maybe gals) will want to play with this while on phone calls. Finding an unobstructed 8ft of space that others won't trip over may be the largest challenge, but the product works great for putting practice and ball return.\",\n \"Product: The size 3 Batman soccer ball features a glossy cover that resembles the batman suit and shield recognized around the world. This ball designed for fun on field or in your back yard and is ideal for training and skill building. You will love developing fancy footwork techniques, improving your shot accuracy and kicking control. This ball is manufactured with a durable rubber bladder.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Batman soars through the air heading for mid-field!\\n\\nReview: I wasn't sure at first what a size 3 soccer ball is. After some research:\\n\\nSIZE: AGE: CIRCUMFERENCE:\\n1/Mini/Skills All ages 18\\\" - 20\\\"\\n2/Midi All ages 20\\\" - 22\\\"\\n3 Under 8 23\\\" - 24\\\"\\n4 8 - 12 25\\\" - 26\\\"\\n5 12 and up 27\\\" - 28\\\"\\n\\nAlso note that a regulation volleyball is almost comparable to a Size 4. Thus this size 3 is a little smaller than a regulation volleyball.\\nI'm going to upload a picture that shows my Large size man-hand holding this thing.\\n\\n+ It is a solid ball, not some toy. Kids could play real soccer with this.\\n\\n+ The addition of a pump is good in a pinch.\\n\\n+ Other \\\"real\\\" soccer balls run in the price range of $20, so this fits well for it's cost.\\n\\n+ It's a soccer ball with the Batman emblem. How cool is that?!\\n\\nOVERALL: We kicked this around in our yard and it was a responsive, solid ball to play with. Nothing to recommend for improvement. Nice product!\",\n \"Product: ZOWN Classic Collection heavy duty injection mold fan back folding chair with comfortable contoured back constructed of polyethylene and a powder coated steel structure redefines the market for lightweight folding chairs. These high-quality, low-maintenance chairs are ideal for any gathering both indoor and outdoor, making them versatile for every occasion. The chairs have a 300 lb. use rate, and are shipped and sold as an 8 pack. Distributed by COSCO Commercial Products.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: I like it, but one or two suggestions for improvement\\n\\nReview: Having table space for guest or for yourself on everyday use can be a big need. This table provides an different option versus the myriad of 4ft and 6ft rectangle or round tables normally used for hosting and everyday use.\\n\\n+ This thing is solid!\\nThe top is a thick, hard plastic which should hold up under abuse.\\nAlso the legs/frame seem like they'll last years thanks to the metal construction.\\n\\n> The pin mechanism for unlocking and locking this into place was okay.\\nPulling on the pin via a metal loop was not comfortable nor did it always go smoothly. I think I need to oil everything a bit and then it'll pull out and push into place easier.\\n\\n+ I'm good with the neutral brown color.\\nThen you can put whatever round table cloth or colored runner across the top to liven things up.\\n\\n-- I would have preferred telescoping legs for sure.\\nRight now, this thing is NOT easy to store because the 43-inch legs will always be sticking far out from under the table even in closed, folded position. It's not something that you cannot work with and maybe at that height telescoping legs would be less stable, but for storage purposes and even different options of having the table at 29-inches standard then telescoping to 43-inches cocktail height, would have been awesome. But sadly we're stuck with long legs sticking out.\\n\\n+ Only weighs 20lbs, so easy enough to carry to event so fold up and carry to storage.\\n\\n+ Whether you get bar stools or let guests stand, this is a great 43-inch height.\\nI'm 5'9\\\" and this comes right up to my sternum, meaning it's comfortable to stand, even lean on the table while talking and managing your drink at the same time.\\n\\nOVERALL: Whether I let it sit loaded with drink or food for guests to serve themselves or leave it as a table for guests to stand at and chit-chat, it works well and gives more options since it's at the cocktail height. Worth checking out.\",\n \"Product: CHEVEN Tea Tumbler & Water bottle is an ideal choice for Tea, Coffee and Fruit Drink. Product Feature: Healthy Material- The crystal grade glass is BPA free and lead free. No peculiar smell. High Quality-Ultra clear borosilicate glass design is sturdy. Easy to Clean-Two openings and food grade stainless steel lids are easy for cleaning and drying. Versatile Use- Use as a traditional tea tumbler, coffee infuser and as a fruit water infuser. Product Description: Brand: CHEVEN Material: Borosilicate Glass Size: 20 Ounces Dimension: 2.8 inches x 2.8 inches x 9.6 inches Package included: * Bottle with lid * Stylish Denim Insulated Thermo Sleeve * Artificial Leather Strap * Travel Insulated Thermo and heat preservation Sleeve Using Instructions: 1.Remove the bottom lid and lightly push the infuser into the bottle until it snaps in place. 2.Fill the infuser with your favorite type of loose tea or tea bag and place the bottom lid back on the bottle. 3.Remove the top lid and pour water from the bottle top. 4.Place the top lid back on the bottle and watch your tea steep to perfection.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Stylish and good capacity. Interesting looking too!\\n\\nReview: I drink about two cups of tea a day. Also, recently I've started messing around more with loose leaf tea, so when I saw this item was available, I got excited.\\n\\n+ Very stylish. I had this at church yesterday and it is a great conversation starter. Everyone is curious as it is such a unique looking container.\\n\\n+ 20oz is great! anything less and I think I'd be a lot less happy.\\nIn one of the pics I have my normal 16-18oz mug where I warmed up my water and then poured it into this bottle. Nearly full. Love it.\\n\\n+ Insulated carrying case. Major plus!\\nNow this only works so good with a single-walled glass bottle. My tea was warm, not hot, 45min later when I finally got around to drinking it.\\nThus not as good as a thermos, but it helps keep drink warm a bit longer than without.\\n\\nTIP: When seeping loose leaf, don't shake the bottle around a lot or it will find it's way into your drink and not stay completely in the infuser. I had this hooked on my hip while walking. I had a lot of stuff floating in my drink versus when I let it seep on the counter.\\n\\n+ the elastic grip you can slide on the cup to protect your hand from the early heat is a great addition.\\n\\n> I don't know if close to $25 for a single walled glass is worth it to me or not. I can get a great vacuum insulated thermos for less than that and my drink will stay hot for a good 3-4hrs. My only real issue with this product. Then again...it doesn't look or act like a thermos...it's definitely unique.\\n\\nIt would be worth checking out the double-glass version for a few more though.\\n\\n+ I don't feel like this is some cheap import made from unsafe materials, especially since it's made from borosilicate glass, which is normally used in laboratories for glass products.\\n\\nOVERALL: Great quality product that I'm using regularly. Worth checking out.\",\n \"Product: Franklins revolutionary PickleballX Aluminum Paddle has been engineered to combine performance and control to form one of the best paddles in the market. The edgeless design increases the balance and playability for all skill levels. With an enhanced sweet spot, this paddle is great for all types of shots. The dual aluminum plates generate a bounce thats unmatched in the game today. Grab your paddle today and join the fun!\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Aluminim or Carbon...no real difference but definitely a difference in this price range versus sub-$50 range\\n\\nReview: Before this paddle, I never knew this sport was so hot not only in the USA, but growing in the world. I youtubbed and found tons of videos and even US Open Finals with other countries sending players to represent.\\n\\nI then went to Meetup and found two get-together groups who play regularly at a local gym. All ages and skill levels can start to learn this game.\\n\\nYes, you could get a cheap wood paddle for around $25-$35, but this aluminum baby rocks! While visiting the club I swapped paddles with another generous and helpful player. I immediately switched back, as this paddle is light and the ball reacts well with it.\\n\\nI also had the Carbon version of this from Franklin with me and I couldn't really tell a difference. The Carbon is less than $10 cheaper and slightly heavier, but still performed exceptionally well.\\n\\nHaving played my fair share of ping pong, I can see how you might want to experiment with spinning, over the top hits and slicing. Fun sport and this paddle delivers!\",\n \"Product: Description iMarky Led Camping Lantern is Collapses, Super Bright, LightWeight, Water Resistant, Lantern Flashlight are Suitable for: Hiking, Camping, Emergencies, Hurricanes, Outages. Unlike traditional unwieldy camp lanterns that need a power button or switch to turn on, this minimalist Camping Lantern with an expand-and-contract design will light up once expanded. No more fumbling for the power button or trying to light up a match in darkness. it occupies just the space of a folded T-shirt. You can hang the Lantern on a tree while camping, hold it on your way through the darkness of your house during a storm, or on your way to explore the wild . Using an energy-saving and durable LED light source, this lantern will accompany you for the next 10 years.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Portable, self-charging = winner\\n\\nReview: I was provided this item at a discounted price in exchange for my honest & unbiased review.\\n\\nPic #1 = My kids are fans of the TV show Dr. Who and so when they saw this, they thought this was the Dalek light. Even if you are not familiar with the show, this looks modern and old-fashioned at the same time.\\n\\nYou can see that there is a powercord that can be used to charge the batteries (contained underneath).\\n\\nPic #2 = The solar panel can also charge this light. As you can see the power plug is not protected. Thus this is not something to leave outdoors exposed to the elements.\\n\\nPic #3 = Even indoors it has good amount of light. Works great in the dark of course.\\n\\nFINAL THOUGHTS:\\n+ Good amount of light\\n+ Multiple ways to charge the light = big plus!\\n+ Light and portable\\n+ Will work great inside a tent, at a campsite or on a table\",\n \"Product: MOUNTAIN HOUSE BISCUITS AND GRAVYNow you can have this classic comfort food anywhere your adventure takes you. Made with real buttermilk biscuit pieces and pork patty crumbles in a perfectly peppered gravy. This is the only biscuits and gravy on the market with our signature just-add-water ease and convenience. This is the perfect way to fuel up at the start of a day full of adventure.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Very good tasting comfort food\\n\\nReview: What? I get biscuits and gravy while out in the wilderness or at the cabin?\\nYes, I do with this product.\\n\\nIt's seems to be more of an overall mush, but...\\n+ Do I taste the gravy? Yes.\\n+ Do I taste the biscuit? Yes...there is enough of a texture and flavor in the 1/2 inch cubes to tell a difference from the rest of the meal.\\n+ Do I taste the meat? Yes, the little spots of sausage goodness are there in the midst of the creamy gravy and biscuit cubes.\\n\\nEasy to make? Yes!\\nI just followed the instructions for the individual servings and it worked out well enough to have pancakes and bacon with this in a bowl on the side. My family thought I had slaved over the stove for much longer than I did.\\n\\nI'm able to measure this out ahead of time and put it in bags, so I can take these with me to work or out in the world and not rely on having this big huge container available.\\n\\nAnd all the above with at least a 12 year shelf life. How cool is that?!\\nThis product definitely makes me want to try other foods from Mountain House.\",\n \"Product: Morning Pep GOJI BERRIES Raw Sundried 100% Natural USDA Certified Organic\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Product of China. Ack! Otherwise everything else is great.\\n\\nReview: China imports of food to the US have led to plenty of scare articles documenting illness and death due to very different or non-existent standards in China's food industry. I emailed Morning Pep and they confirmed this is USDA Approved. Meaning there should be inspectors inspecting something in regards to this product. I'm a little more at ease, but not much, thus the drop in a star review.\\n\\nOtherwise there are a lot of ways to eat this product.\\n+ raw - they are chewy and lightly sweet\\n+ cereal\\n+ smoothies\\n+ice cream\\n+ juicer\\n+ I put a handful in hot water for 5-10min and let it seep to make a tea. Then I ate the hydrated berries between sips of tea. Yummy.\\n+ muffins / scones\\n+ trail mix\\n+ granola bar\\n\\nMy mother-in-law, who is Chinese, uses goji berries in some of her dishes and makes 'homemade' concoctions and soups with the berries. So, she is a big fan of this product.\\n\\nThere are several sites you can Google and find out recipes for these berries.\\n\\nCost is about the same as other competitors $16-$17 per 1lb. So no issues there.\\n\\nThe zip lock bag works well and is of quality make, so these will stay fresher longer. But they are still a food product! Once you open the bag, don't just leave them on the shelf and expect you can reach in and grab some without checking what you're eating. I may be a bit paranoid, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.\\n\\nOVERALL: I've tried and reviewed several products from Morning Pep and have been happy with each of them. A competitor product by Healthworks the bag only says \\\"distributed from Arizona\\\", so it's anyone's guess where those berries came from or have been handled. At least Morning Pep has full disclosure on their bag.\\n\\nMorning Pep's berries are worth checking out.\",\n \"Product: The effects of global warming and the greenhouse effect has caught up with the Earth. The polar ice caps are melting and the world's weather patterns are all out of sync. The next ice age is upon us. A scientist that specializes in historical extreme weather changes must fight his way north to New York where his son is caught in the clutches of mother nature.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Good but not great\\n\\nReview: STORY: Due to \\\"environmental abuse\\\" by mankind, the Earth reacts by making the shift into a new ice age\\n\\nMY FEEDBACK:\\n\\n1)Disappointed in some of the special effects. Some of them looked pretty cheesy for today's technology. Some scenes, on the other hand, were pretty cool...more in their concept vs. their delivery.\\n\\n2) Not the same emotional pull as with Deep Impact, but better than Armegeddon. Made me care about the characters a bit\\n\\n3) I personally don't like movies like War of the Worlds where there is very little mankind does (or can do) to fight back. This misses the heroic element in the face of the overwhelming odds.\\n\\nThis movie falls into that realm for me. It is just a matter of mankind \\\"riding out the storm\\\" vs. with Deep Impact and Armegeddon (two recent disaster flicks) where mankind actually tried to fight back. But...they try and make up for it with the character played by Dennis Quaid, which didn't leave me totally feeling jipped as a viewer.\\n\\n4) As with most Hollywoodish disaster flicks, there are definite breaks in the logic or continuity of the story. This movie is no exception, but the mishaps are somewhat forgiveable\\n\\n5) Content was clean as far as no rememberable profanity, no sex or nudity and very low key violence. Most of the deaths are left for you to fill in the blanks even though there was about three where bodies are being crushed or destroyed by some other force of nature\\n\\nOVERALL: Glad I watched it. Don't feel like I need to own it.\",\n \"Product: The hilarious Rob Schneider has been a gigolo. He's been an animal. And now a curse will make him something he's never been before -- a woman! Jessica Spencer is the hottest, most popular girl in high school. But she gets a big dose of reality when she wakes up in the body of a 30-something-year-old lowlife male (Schneider) and quickly discovers that trading on your looks isn't so easy when you're a girl who constantly needs a shave. How in the world can Jessica convince her friends (Anna Faris, SCARY MOVIE, SCARY MOVIE 2; Matthew Lawrence, MRS. DOUBTFIRE; Eric Christian Olsen, NOT ANOTHER TEEN MOVIE) it really is her? And how can she change herself back into a teenage girl? THE HOT CHICK is a wild and wacky gender-bending comedy everyone can enjoy -- no matter what sex you are.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Really a 2.5 rating...\\n\\nReview: Rating System:\\n1 star = abysmal; some movies deserve to be forgotten\\n2 star = poor; a total waste of time\\n3 star = good; worth the effort\\n4 star = very good; what a movie should be\\n5 star = fantastic; must own it and share it with others\\n\\nSTORY: Through coincidence a high-school beauty and an idiot criminal switch bodies when they happen upon magical ancient Egyptian earings. Now starts the \\\"comedy\\\" of how they and their friends cope to the sudden change.\\n\\nMY FEEDBACK:\\n1) Much of the humor was in the same vain as the Scary Movie trilogy = silly to the point that you still find yourself chuckling at how stupid it all is\\n2) Not a movie I'd recommend for kids as some people will find it offensive that the movie touches on (and seems to encourage) homosexuality, cross-dressing and marital unfaithfulness.\\n3) The cast did their job and must have had fun at such a ridiculous comic romp.\\n4) The story was predictable and no new ground explored here nor old ground handled in a fresh way\\n5) Adam Sandler's bit part (he produced the movie it appears) were as dumb as they get. Don't know why he even bothered appearing in the movie other than to help boost viewership.\\n\\nOVERALL: It got enough chuckles out of me that I didn't find it a total waste of time but it was close. I'd rather go back and watch Liar Liar or Happy Gilmore for some true original laughs.\",\n \"Product: This critically acclaimed epic trilogy follows the quest undertaken by the hobbit, Frodo Baggins, and his fellowship of companions to save Middle-earth by destroying the One Ring and defeating the evil forces of the Dark Lord Sauron.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Worth the upgrade from the DVD Platinum set\\n\\nReview: After reading about the woes other reviewers had, I immediately opened my set and watched the movies from start to finish to see if I was sent bad discs or not. My copies had none of the issues other reviewers talk about!!\\n\\nI upgraded from the <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/The-Lord-of-the-Rings-The-Motion-Picture-Trilogy-Platinum-Series-Special-Extended-Edition/dp/B004L0IVM4/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy (Platinum Series Special Extended Edition)</a>, and I don't regret the purchase.\\n\\n1. Blu Ray looks great compared to DVD. The close ups you can see the pores on their face...or at least the makeup filling their pores. It was wonderfully crisp and clear.\\n\\n2. Sound is so much nicer if you have the equipment to hear it. The soft sounds were easier to hear and the loud sounds rumbled the room.\\n\\n3. DVD set = 12 discs.\\nThis set = 15 discs, because you get an extra behind the scenes for each movie.\\nEach behind the scenes lasts nearly 2hrs each = 6hrs of behind the scenes!!\\n\\nOVERALL: I got this Blu Ray set for less than $50 after tax/shipping on Amazon.\\n\\nIt would cost us normally $60+ to go to the theaters to see one(1) 2hr movie for all six of us. For less than that price we now own hours and hours of three(3) great movies, with subtitles, with special features and can be paused at anytime and re-watched at anytime or shared with friends.\\n\\nTotally worth it!!\",\n \"Product: Shaun of the Dead\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: laugh out loud funny. . .at first. . .\\n\\nReview: I haven't laughed out loud at a movie in a long time...or at least with stuff that has been made in 2004.\\n\\n1) Very funny in the typical witty dialogue of English comedy\\n\\n2) HUGE amounts of F-bombs and other profanities that may turn some folks off. Just letting you know it's there, if you care.\\n\\n3) Kind of seemed to go from funny to serious later in the movie. I wanted more funny stuff but settled even though it was a bit disappointing\\n\\n4) One scene, in particular, was very gory even for my desensitized condition. It was completely done for shock value.\\n\\n5) I felt like the pace was kept up and didn't lag in any place or feel rushed trying to force an adrenaline rush in the viewer.\\n\\n6) No Oscar nominations for acting, direction, cinematography or whatnot. But it was a solidly put together movie overall.\\n\\nOVERALL I liked it a lot and if I was to have a late night movie watch with some friends (no kids around) I'd probably have this as one of the listed suggestions for us to veg to, as we fade to sleep in front of the TV\",\n \"Product: \\\"Prepare your eyes for popping,\\\" in this \\\"martial-arts fireball that throws in a lyrical love story, head spinning fights and dazzling surprises\\\" (Rolling Stone). \\\"A gorgeous entertainment\\\" (A.O. Scott, New York Times). Mei is an exotic, beautiful blind dancer, associated with a dangerous revolutionary gang, known as the House of Flying Daggers. Captured by officers of the decadent Tang Dynasty, Mei finds herself both threatened - and attracted - to the most unusual circumstances. Here, her heart and loyalties battle each other, amid warriors in the treetops and dazzling combat - the likes of which have never before been seen!\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Much better the 2nd time around\\n\\nReview: STORY:\\n\\nThe left-overs of a failing Dynasty attempts to infiltrate one the most notorious rebel groups: The House of Flying Daggers. One of the local officers goes undercover, attempting to win the trust of the blind dancer who is reported to be the daughter of the previous rebel leader, in the hopes of discovering who the current rebel leader is so they can arrest him/her and destroy the rebel efforts.\\n\\nMY FEEDBACK:\\n\\nThe first time I watched this movie I had just finished watching Hero which I liked a lot. This only led to me comparing the two instead of enjoying this movie for what it is.\\n\\nAfter talking with some co-workers who like this movie better than Hero, I decided to give it another try...over a year later. I loved it!\\n\\nThe cinematography was rich and the colors vibrant.\\n\\nThe drama and acting engaging and believable.\\n\\nThe themes of love and self-sacrifice strong.\\n\\nThe action bordered on fantasy, but was till very entertaining and fast-paced.\\n\\nThe sound, especially with the dumb beat soundtrack, added suspense and action to the story. Turn up the volume when you watch it!!\\n\\nAs with Hero the ending isn't the happiest in the world but sometimes the only plausible one.\\n\\nOVERALL: I liked it a lot and if you haven't seen it rent it. If you like it as much as I did, buy it and watch it again and again. Truly a \\\"marvel\\\" of movie making that attempts to touch more of our senses than just the visual\",\n \"Product: A paranormal detective's investigation of the mysterious death of a friend leads him to Shadow Island. There, he finds that ancient demons are on the verge of coming back taking over the world.\\n\\nRating: 1.0\\n\\nSummary: Rarely do I turn a movie off mid-watching...this one I did\\n\\nReview: 1) If you want to see a creature loose in a museum rent Relic. Whatever your thoughts about Relic, it was 100 times better than the first 30 minutes of this movie\\n\\n2) I really like Christian Slater but I really hope he doesn't take any further low budget B horror movie jobs and ruin what career he has\\n\\n3) Tara Reid cannot act!! Either that or the director and/or script was so lame that it made her look bad.\\n\\n4) I think what topped it for me was this attractive woman with her baseball hat on backwards (whats up with that?!) and makeup all done up and she is the comms specialist for some secret government agency (no dress code?). She just keeps looking pretty and trying to look tough while pushing buttons and giving updates to the Stephen Dorff when he can see for himself what is going on. Really Dumb!!\\n\\n5) The director cannot create a suspenseful scene for the life of him. They relied too heavily on special effects and less on finding a better director.\\n\\nOverall: Not worth even renting. Even if you are a Slater/Reid/Dorff fan don't do it!!\",\n \"Product: RACHEL CARSON IS A SUCCESSFUL MYSTERY WRITER WHOSE LIFE IS SHATTERED FOLLOWING THE ACCIDENTAL DROWNING OF HER 5 YEAR OLD SON. TO GET SOME REST, SHE GOES TO A SECLUDED COTTAGE. BUT INSTEAD OF A PEACEFUL RETREAT, RACHEL FINDS HERSELF CAUGHT UP IN A SUPERNATURAL MURDER THAT THREATENS HER SANITY & HER LIFE.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Not spooky, but holds the viewer's interest\\n\\nReview: STORY:\\n\\nHer son dies, her marriage is failing and she goes off to the country-side to write in seclusion and get a hold on life. But this only sets the stage for what appears on the surface as only a ghost story to follow.\\n\\nMY FEEDBACK:\\n\\nMany reviewers keep saying this is her best role. Well, she's good and the movie shows she is more than a hard-body as were the highlights in GI-Jane and Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. But come on, what happened to her role in St. Elmo's Fire?!? That is in my opinion her best role, but then I'm a bit nostalgic and I was more impressionable when I was a teenager watching that film.\\n\\nAll the rest of actors were also good, though we spend 98% of the movie focused on Demi, we don't get to see a range of acting from the rest of the cast.\\n\\nScenery made you want to go there and bask in the locale's beauty.\\n\\nMystery was good with some twists and turns, leaving a movie that is more than just a ghost story.\\n\\nSome of the dramatic scenes that should leave me crying were somehow missing some element I'm unable to put my finger on. I don't know if it was the acting, direction, or script. But it was ok, but not the pulling on the heart strings you'd expect. I think it lacked in the screenplay. The script could have done more with playing on the protagonist's sense of if she is going crazy or not. This would have drawn us into more empathy with the character and the loss of her son.\\n\\nMy wife didn't like the movie as much because of the supernatural theme. It seems like such a trend now that so many movies have to focus on something beyond \\\"normal\\\" life, when normal life has enough drama in and of itself. Why are so many movies lately focused on the supernatural or super-heroes? She is just getting tired of it, and part of me doesn't blame her since here is another movie to chalk up to the Dragonfly's, Sixth Sense, Stir of Echos, etc.\\n\\nBut . . .if you don't mind or actually prefer the extra bit of supernatural thrown in then you'll probably like this movie even more.\\n\\nOVERALL:\\n\\nIt is an entertaining movie, not a bad movie in any sense. I was actually pleasantly surprised. I agree with some of the reviewers that this could have done pretty well at the box office. Its defintily worth a rental!\",\n \"Product: Tina (Pressly), Christie (Valance), Kasumi (Aoki) and Helena (Carter) are four skilled martial artists whose outwardly sexy appearances betray their true, lethal natures. When the fearsome females each receive an invitation to take part in an illegal martial arts competition, the prospect of a ten-million-dollar top prize is only sweetened by the fact that they will be facing off against some of the toughest fighters on the planet. The girls check their inhibitions at the beach and prepare for a series of fights that will test not only their strength, stamina, and endurance, but the very foundation of their dedication to the martial arts as well.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: crap review on Netflix, but it was better than that\\n\\nReview: After reading all the 1 star reviews on Netflix, I still watched the trailer. Then I found out the director of the Transporter did this movie too. So....I just had to check it out.\\n\\nIt was fun.\\nI'm not going to own it, but it was fun and much better than Ultraviolet.\\n\\n- Fast action.\\n- Acrobatic martial arts.\\n- Gorgeous girls all around (so much better looking than the Charlie's Angels trio and they had Sarah Carter who I just loved when I first saw her in the tv show Smallville)\\n- Eric Roberts as a bad guy on the tv show Heroes and a bad guy here. He's perfect for those types of roles.\\n- Great sets that get smashed to pieces\\n- Lots and lots of fighting that is so unrealistic you laugh at the silliness of it, but love it at the same time\\n\\nIf it wasn't for all the scantly clad bodies and sexual themes, this no-blood fight movie would have been rated PG.\\n\\nYes, everyone who gets slashed by a sword just falls down with no blood. No effort went into any type of makeup work on the main characters after taking several punches in the face. Oh, well, we like our female leads looking pretty throughout I guess.\\n\\nIt was a movie where you turn your brain off, laugh out loud a couple of times and enjoy the scenery and action. Pure fun, but not an oscar winner by any stretch of the imagination.\\n\\nYou want a quality, thinking person's movie watch The Fountain or Children of Men.\\nYou want a zone out for a bit with the type of movie that isn't another bad effects B-horror film, then get this.\",\n \"Product: Sci-fi thriller starring Mila Jovovich. The remote small town of Nome in Alaska has, since the 1960s, seen a disproportionate number of the population being reported missing every year. Despite multiple FBI investigations, the truth has never been discovered. When recently-widowed psychologist Dr Abigail Tyler (Jovovich) arrives in the town to interview people affected by the disappearances, she gradually uncovers evidence that points to the possibility of alien abduction on a mass scale. Even more disturbing are the accusations of a federal cover-up...\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: I was pleasantly surprised\\n\\nReview: I don't really watch or care for \\\"scary\\\" movies now that I'm older. This movie came up in a search for sci-fi and I knew nothing about it going in...not even a trailer.\\n\\n+ I really like the side-by-side \\\"actual\\\" video with the re-enactment, which was used to lend credibility to the scene\\n\\n+ I thought the pace and story telling were just right.\\n\\n+ The scary parts were scary and the re-enactments were believable.\\n\\n+ I come from an upbringing/experience where things like white magic, black magic, possession and the like are real things in non-big city / non-Silicon Valley areas of the world. Thus this movie was more \\\"real\\\" to me than probably would be for my neighbors.\\n\\n> Yes, the film makers have a visual approach to Nome, Alaska as a big valley surrounded by mountains, but Google satellite shows differently. The fact that the real place is flat, cold and isolated is almost more suspenseful than the picturesque town used in the movie. But I guess if you start the moving thinking, \\\"Oh, look what a beautiful town. I want to go there,\\\" then watch the movie. . .well you don't want to go there now. They went for appearances can be deceiving.\\n\\n+ For those wondering, Milla is not her butt-kicking, sexy self in this movie. Rather, she does a great job of playing the terrified victim caught in an impossible situation.\\n\\nOVERALL: This was a creepy, scary movie and as unsettled as I was afterwards, I really thought it delivered well. Two days later I'm still thinking about the movie experience.\",\n \"Product: Note: Blu-ray discs are in a high definition format and need to be played on a Blu-ray player. To find out more about Blu-ray, visit our Hi-Def Learn & Shop store.\\n\\nPlease note that this product will not play on US spec 60i Blu-ray players as the Blu-ray discs are authored to UK 50i specs.\\nWILL NOT PLAY ON SONY PRODUCTS DUE TO LACK OF PAL/50i Support.\\n\\nImportant Information on Firmware Updates: Having trouble with your Blu-ray disc player? Will certain discs just not play? You may need to update the firmware inside your player. Click here to learn more.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Another short British TV season, but worth it\\n\\nReview: Not sure what I can say that others haven't already said...\\n\\n+ Great modern take on the legend and his sidekick.\\n\\n+ Speaking of modern...the simple fact that they can use cell phones and technology can be a help or hindrance is a great touch\\n\\n+ Episodes are like mini-movies running close to 90-minutes each\\n\\n-- Only 3 episodes (6 regular 45min episodes) for a season. What is up with British TV doing a \\\"season\\\" in so few episodes?!? Here in the States we expect 13 to 24 forty-five minute episodes.\\n\\nEpisode 1 A Study in Pink\\n+ Good \\\"origin\\\" story of how the characters get connected and wind up at 221B\\n+ The episode with the most humor\\n+ We get to see Watson contribute to their team the most in this episode\\n\\nEpisode 2 The Blind Banker\\n+ Less humor than episode 1, but still some key lines that give one a good laugh\\n+ Seems a more complex mystery than Episode 1, but that just means I had to pay attention a lot more\\n+ More background and Sherlock's homeless network introduced\\n\\nEpisode 3 The Great Game\\n+ Moriarty introduced and he isn't what many of us expect. I was left with uncertainty at his character interpretation...until we see him in later episodes and now re-watching this episode I find he is a serious threat, even though it may be a bit downplayed in this episode\\n+ A serious episode, almost no humor that I can remember\\n+ We get more into Sherlock's sociopathic intelligence. A great development to the character\\n\\nAt first I wasn't sure about Cumberbatch as Sherlock, but he has grown on me.\\nFreeman as Watson works more for me more in the first episode than in the later episodes.\\nBut their friendship starts to grow as quickly as episode 2, which is great to see how Watson handles a socially-inept / uncaring personality like Sherlock's.\\n\\nVery much worth a watch!!\",\n \"Product: Dylan Dog (Brandon Routh) is a world famous private detective who specializes in the supernatural. Armed with an edgy wit and carrying an arsenal of silver and wood-tipped bullets, Dylan must track down a dangerous artifact before a war ensues between his werewolf, vampire and zombie clients living undercover in the monster infested backstreets of New Orleans.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Its a fun B-movie that's worth a watch for the horror-comedy fan\\n\\nReview: Not familiar with the comic, I found some background info on the comic on another Amazon review:\\n==============\\nLike a James Bond of the occult--only not as suave or debonair--Dylan Dog manages to get himself in and out of trouble with finesse, while bedding a different lady with each adventure he embarks on. A self-styled \\\"nightmare investigator,\\\" he takes on cases that normal PIs won't. Along with his assistant, Felix, a quip-spouting Groucho Marx lookalike, he tracks down some extremely dark persons (and nonpersons) for a somewhat modest fee.\\n\\nDylan Dog was created by writer Tiziano Sclavi in 1986. Originally published in Italy, the long-running series is set in London, where Dylan works as a supernatural investigator who (against type in a series like this) has a good working relationship with the police. Dylan is a former Scotland Yard investigator, and perhaps the reincarnation of the original Dylan Dog, who died in 1686.\\n\\nDylan Dog's mysteries have been published off and on over the past two decades, with Sclavi backing off and allowing others to interpret the character. The good-looking investigator has become a true star in Italy's comics publishing, as well as around the world.\\n============\\n\\nThis movie deviates from this description:\\n1) Dylan isn't a Casanova, he actually has some past that keeps him pushing women away\\n2) His sidekick looks nothing like Groucho and works for free vs. a fee. He does it more out a friendship for Dylan\\n3) No mention -- that I remember -- about his relation to Scotland Yard. His history and relationship to the undead/monsters is explained very differently in the movie.\\n4) No finesse in the movie...he is a \\\"tough guy\\\" instead who is willing to punch or shoot his way through to a solution\\n\\nThis movie actually starts off in a Dresden Files kind of way. . .\\n1) We have a broke Detective letting himself do work he'd rather not do just to pay the bills\\n2) He relies on \\\"old\\\" technology and the like\\n3) He has contacts all throughout the monster/undead community\\n4) A VW bug that isn't reliable\\n\\nThe funniest part of the movie is how his buddy/sidekick has to deal with his. . .uh. . .new condition. He's definitely the comic relief of the movie.\\n\\nBrandon Routh has a great narration voice, just like the old detective movies. He's not required to do a lot of acting though. What would have made him more convincing is if they had made him all scruffy vs. his Superman, clean-shaven look.\\n\\nThe makeup job on the werewolves was kinda SyFy channel quality, but considering the movie it all fits\\n\\nTaye Diggs had the best acting opportunities and he delivered them very well. Great job Taye.\\n\\nThere seemed to be something missing with the love interest in the movie...one minute they don't know each other the next its like she's giving him pity sex, because of his situation. I didn't get any chemistry between them. But when things heat up, his narration has a great one-liner.\\n\\nWhat also didn't make sense, is the \\\"monster\\\" of the story kills people one way. But both times that Dylan comes-face to face with it, there is a punching match. Uh...why? Other than to extend the scene and give us some action, I guess. Inconsistent. Too bad. :(\\n\\nThe final transformation of the movie was cool.\\n\\nEnding was okay...for me it was a bit anticlimatic, because it had nothing to do with the efforts of our main protagonist per se.\\n\\nThis won't create the cult following that Army of Darkness has.\\nBut those wanting more of Dresden, and with none forthcoming, they may like to watch this for a lot of similarities.\\nAnd the name Dylan Dog just rolls off the tongue well. :)\",\n \"Product: Quick Shipping !!! New And Sealed !!! This Disc WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. A multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player is request to view it in USA/Canada. Please Review Description.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: 2nd view years later, was still entertaining and surprising as the first time\\n\\nReview: I don't know why IMDB and Amazon reviews have poo-pooed this movie so much.\\n\\nI first watched it when it came out on Netflix and before Gina Carano got the recognition from Deadpool that she now has. Wow! From the opening scene I was caught off guard and surprised with the turn of events. It is now Dec2016 and I just watched it again. I vaguely remembered the movie, but was caught off guard again.\\n\\nFight scenes are great stylistic fighting and feel very realistic.\\n\\nWhat is with the cast of class A actors? Wow! So many big names in this movie, meaning everything is well acted.\\n\\nSure the overall plot has been done before, but it felt original.\\n\\nGreat use of color and cinematography.\\n\\nThus use of music and sound (or lack thereof) created a retro mood, but also heightened the suspense.\\n\\nMore people need to give this movie a chance, as it is fully entertaining, stylistic in mood and action and so much better than the Jason Bourne 2016 movie. I mean basically that is what this is...female Jason Bourne.\",\n \"Product: Quick Shipping !!! New And Sealed !!! This Disc WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. A multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player is request to view it in USA/Canada. Please Review Description.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Family fun, but it could have been better\\n\\nReview: Yes my 10yr old kept predicting what was going to happen next.\\n\\nYes he was right most of the time, but didn't know how it would be portrayed on the screen.\\n\\nYes the script introduces elements and never revisits them (i.e. Jack finding the treasure horde)\\n\\nYes the movie starts off interesting in the telling of the history. Much better than normal narration of what came before. Nearly as good as the Princess Bride and catching us up with the story of the characters in that movie.\\n\\nYes Ewan McGregor is clearly a likeable character and he did well in the role.\\n\\nYes Nicholas Hout was a good, believable Jack, who's courage outweighs his fears and ineptitude.\\n\\nNo, I'm not sure if I liked Eleanor Tomlinson as Isabelle. I think she was cast alright, but they made a point in the movie how she's not so \\\"fragile\\\" and can handle adventure but other than wearing armor she needs Jack's protection throughout. Character was inconsistent.\\n\\nOVERALL: Good clean family fun. All the \\\"killing\\\" is pretty much off-screen though you know it happens. Kids liked it and our visiting international exchange student was able to follow along with subtitles (can read English better than speak or understand spoken) and so the movie was better than okay for us.\",\n \"Product: (2D+3D, both versions on 1 disc) Languages: Cantonese, Mandarin / Subtitles: English, Traditional Chinese / Synopsis: Reviving the iconic idol of the Chinese action genre, Wong Fei-hung, this big budget Kung Fu movie follows the rise of the legend to his glory. The film stars Sammo Hung, Eddie Peng, Angelababy and Asian-American star Byron Mann.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Not sure about title of movie, but I got what I wanted = a martial arts movie to veg out to\\n\\nReview: I haven't seen a martial arts movie in a while, so I was looking forward to this one.\\n\\n+ Opening scene is action\\n\\n+ Overall good fighting, but I didn't expect anything less from a Sammo Hung movie\\n\\n-- The editing or the storytelling with flashbacks or some poor English translations -- I'm not sure which is to blame -- but it was a bit confusing of what was going on sometimes.\\n\\n> Poor English subtitles in some parts didn't help. My wife is Chinese and translated a couple of items differently than subtitles.\\n\\n+ My wife appreciated the very, very well spoken and easy to understand Mandarin audio language in the movie\\n\\n> Use of CGI in a martial arts movie that takes place in 1868, I'm not sure about, but I get it when it's used with the fire scenes.\\n\\n+ Eddie Pen is a stud and they show him off some in this movie\\n\\n> Cute asian girls, but they are supporting characters with light sub-plots, so no real focus on them. Thus, when they decide to participate in events, then we (the audience) don't really have any feelings whether they live or die.\\n\\n> There is a drawn out scene with a \\\"lady of the night\\\" that is broken up between that scene and another, so it takes forever to get through. Had to kick the kids out of the room for a bit\\n\\n> The opening scene has ridiculous blood splatter. After that, I don't remember the rest being that bloody. So why have it in the opening scene? The action would have been fine without it.\\n\\n+ Streamed this movie from another site, other than Amazon. So the subtitles for any writing were missing. Not that there was a lot of that, but the final scene there is a shot of a building sign and it seemed to matter to the story, but I had no translation, so I don't know the significance. Thus the final scene seemed a bit anti-climatic without knowing it, so watch for it in the end.\\n\\nOVERALL: I wanted to watch a martial arts movie and I got a good amount of that. I also got a slightly complex story that I was able to follow, for the most part, but almost lost me on other parts in the telling and/or the translation. Since part of the trouble could have been the source I was watching, Amazon's version may be better.\\n\\nEven with that, the movie is worth watching.\",\n \"Product: Quick Shipping !!! New And Sealed !!! This Disc WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. A multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player is request to view it in USA/Canada. Please Review Description.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Overall a 'clean' movie considering it's rating\\n\\nReview: PARENTAL CONTENT: We are always sensitive to movie / tv show content since our kids may want to watch with us or simply walk through the room. Overall, this is clean movie, even with a R rating.\\n\\n- I can't remember any profanity.\\n- There is brief nursing mother scene within 10-minutes of movie that is kind of a shocker and an eye full.\\n- Later in the movie a naked lady in a cage. But special effects had her hair hanging and covering her 'parts' well or there was some CGI blurring or something. You see no true nudity in this scene.\\n- Almost all the deaths are bloodless (almost). The goriest part is when the bad guy gets his, but even that scene is very quick and a flash of gore/blood. His remains aren't shown but kept off screen.\\n\\n+ Totally proved a very good movie can be created without all that content that parents may be concerned about their kids seeing.\\n\\nSTORY: First half is a chase. Second half is a race. It worked well and created non-stop suspense and action. There was very little lull in the action and suspense, but what 'quiet' scenes there are are necessary to the characters or story.\\n\\nSETTING: The 'world' we are introduced to is rich with detail and mythology. It's very rich in visuals and crazy in concept, but it was perfect and explained a lot of why people do what they do.\\n\\nCHARACTERS: Wonderful cast of weird.\\nLove how the gorgeous Charlene plays a one-armed warrior type (very believable). Mad Max as a man of few words in the beginning was a good replacement with Tom Hardy and I did not feel like I missed Mel Gibson (though he is the original Max).\\n\\nAt some level the character of Mad Max is a supporting character and felt like it was more about Furiosa. The tag-team effort worked well and made for a good story.\\n\\nSPECIALS on Blu-Ray: There are about four specials. . .\\n+the Making of the movie\\n+the cars built for the movie\\n+ highlight on the characters of Max and Furiosa.\\n+ The deleted scenes were only two or three scenes; no big deal.\\n\\nOtherwise the specials were cool and interesting. Not nearly as extensive as the extras on the Batman movies or Lord of the Rings movies, but that is okay. Our group still enjoyed the specials nonetheless.\\n\\nOVERALL: We really liked this movie and don't regret buying the Blu Ray. For anyone watching it for the first time, you need at least two viewings because there is so much detail to the world, the characters and action.\",\n \"Product: Quick Shipping !!! New And Sealed !!! This Disc WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. A multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player is request to view it in USA/Canada. Please Review Description.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Starts off with promise and then explodes in it's own face\\n\\nReview: This James Bond spoof starts off great then quickly goes downhill. . .\\n\\n-- Very, very predictable. The 2-3 opening scenes with Jude Law you could easily guess what would happen and the interaction between Melissa McCarthy's character and Jude's character throughout was telegraphed and expected throughout. It didn't get much better later on either.\\n\\n+ Yes, there were some great catchy dialogue sprinkled throughout, but other scenes were left really flat\\n\\n+ I did find it interesting that on one or two scenes the joke could have been a fat person joke, but they didn't go there. Very interesting.\\n\\n-- So the transformation from little Ms. Iowa to International Spy for some reason meant going from talking in \\\"Oh Golly!\\\" to \\\"F-this! F-that! F-U! F-F-F!.\\nReally? WTF was up with that? (joke intended)\\nIt seemed that the writers couldn't make evil characters evil, except through extreme profanity, which doesn't make them evil. And our hero has to go to extreme profanity measures to \\\"fit in\\\" with the evil characters. It just got dumb and was one terrible put down after another, which wasn't funny. Horrible dialogue writing!!\\n\\n+ Melissa McCarthy was great in her delivery of her lines and playing her character. Kudos there and a +star on this review.\\n\\nOVERALL: One or two laugh out loud moments, but I feel like the movie was a gross disappointment overall.\",\n \"Product: The modern world holds many secrets, but the most astounding secret of all is that witches still live amongst us; vicious supernatural creatures intent on unleashing the Black Death upon the world. Armies of witch hunters battled the unnatural enemy across the globe for centuries, including Kaulder, a valiant warrior who managed to slay the all-powerful Queen Witch, decimating her followers in the process. In the moments right before her death, the Queen curses Kaulder with her own immortality, forever separating him from his beloved wife and daughter in the afterlife. Today Kaulder is the only one of his kind remaining, and has spent centuries hunting down rogue witches, all the while yearning for his long-lost loved ones. However, unbeknownst to Kaulder, the Queen Witch is resurrected and seeks revenge on her killer causing an epic battle that will determine the survival of the human race.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: A fun, entertaining ride\\n\\nReview: My teenagers and I watched it this weekend. We went into it without any expectation other than I expected a Vin Diesel movie to deliver some action. I wasn't disappointed.\\n\\nOVERVIEW: Diesel is currently immortal and hunts witches (similar to Blade hunting vampires). In this current day and age witches have a secret society that live in peace (due to a treaty) with humans. Then things go awry and Diesel has to go mess up all kinds of witches.\\n\\n+ Action sequences were entertaining shot well\\n\\n+ Colors, cinematrography and various camera/CGI shots were done well and directed well\\n\\n+ There is a little bit of backstory as a big part of the contemporary 2016 plot has an origin story attached to it.\\n\\n+ Elijah Woods is a very good actor, but it seems he plays a non-existent sidekick to Diesel in this movie. I guess it's work and it is work in a movie that will get a fair amount of attention. I just feel he was under-utilized for his skills.\\n\\n+ The movie leaves us with potential sequels while wrapping up the current plot lines in a satisfactory way.\\n\\n+ Overall it was a \\\"clean\\\" movie (a couple of S-words) that told a story and had a lot of entertainment value without all the profanity, gore or sex/nudity. Made it so I could comfortably watch this with my kids and enjoy a movie that kept our interest without shock value material. I think this one fact alone speaks volumes that stronger movies don't need to resort to that kind of stuff (e.g. most Star Wars or Lord of the Rings movies).\\n\\n> Not a knock-your-socks-off movie but definitely entertaining, which is why we liked it, but didn't love it.\\n\\nWorth a watch!!\",\n \"Product: Building a strong, sculpted body doesn't require hours spent working outjust an expert approach. And with The Master's Hammer and Chisel, seasoned trainers Sagi Kalev and Autumn Calabrese have compiled their best, most efficient techniques into 30- to 40-minute resistance-training workouts to help you craft a powerful, perfectly defined physique in just 60 days.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Beautiful fitness models that help bring a total body workout...in nearly every workout (more focus on legs though)\\n\\nReview: My story:\\n2011, I did P90X and suffered through Tony Horton's chitchat style, but didn't start losing any weight till after 6-weeks (apparently a common experience among participants). By the end of the program I had lost 30lbs overall and six inches on my waist. I went right into Insanity and built up my cardio endurance, then Insanity Asylum...but no additional weight loss, even though I had another 15lbs for goal weight.\\n2015, I had gained 25 pounds back and was inactive, so when I turned 45 yrs old I trained for 10 weeks and completed a 1/2 marathon in 2:02:00. I lost 7lbs in the process, but then quickly went for the casual once-a-week 3mile run only.\\n2016, I'm about to turn 46 and realize I need to make dietary changes and have overall body fitness. Thus the introduction of this workout system is working well for me.\\n\\nThis workout:\\n+ Weight / resistance bands used in almost all the workouts (I'm about 2-weeks into it).\\n\\n+ So far, equipment needed are: dumbbells up to 20lbs, pull-up bar and/or resistance band set in place of either dumbbells or pull-up bar. Thus no strange equipment needed like P90X-2 tried to gimmick into the mix.\\n\\n+ I have tennis elbow from straining during pull ups. I'm finding if I use a brace on my arms and use bands instead of a pull-up bar I'm not inflaming my elbow.\\n\\n+ I'm currently strength-wise using between 8-12lb weights for most exercises and I'm drenched in sweat by the end.\\n\\n+ Most of the workouts, so far, last about 25-40 minutes. Not too bad!\\n\\n+ Between 14 workouts, there is plenty of variety.\\n\\n+ Sagi is comical and Autumn is all business. The difference in style mixes it up and I'm okay with that.\\n\\n+ I'll do one of these in the morning and three times a week I'm doing a late afternoon/early evening 3-5 miles run...even with the leg workouts here.\\n\\n> Speaking of which there is a lot of leg focus here and some upper body. Thus, my running pace is closer to 11min/mile versus a 9min/mile because my legs are just tired in the evening.\\n\\n+ There is a good amount of moves that work the core while doing something else.\\n\\n+ Everyone in these videos is ripped out! Even the girls have great slim, non-bulky figures, with a six/eight pack.\\n\\nOVERALL: I've done ALL the Shaun T stuff (almost all calf, legs and cardio), the P90X series (my favorite is original P90X) and Body Beast (good for muscle bulk). This is turning out to be a fun total body work out for me. I'm burning calories (down 2lbs in two weeks) and sweating heavily. I like this workout and the variety it provides.\\n\\nI think if I can stick with it and have some results to share, I may bump this up to \\\"I love this workout\\\" (5-stars)...but for now I really like it and the end results look hopeful.\\n\\nI will close with, my co-worker finished his first set of this workout and dropped 25lbs and is very strong after doing this workout with weight that challenges him. He swears by this workout and he likes to lift heavy weight. His wife lost 40lbs doing T25. I think you find a program and stick to it, you can see positive results. For me, it may be this program...I'll let you know in another several weeks.\",\n \"Product: BRAY\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: I didn't know what to expect and enjoyed it immensly\\n\\nReview: I had not watched any trailers or read anything about this movie.\\n\\n+ We care for the characters involved and are rooting for them.\\nJust enough time spent on seeing the main protagonists missing their families and the strain of their job that is put on their families.\\n\\n+ We appreciate their competence.\\nThe movie shows us how these guys are cool, calm, and capable. There may be chaos around them or heightened emotions, but they often sit and watch, talking to one another and/or talking to their translator versus shooting everyone up, which is what you'd expect from an action movie.\\n\\n+ Great realism and action scenes.\\nThe mayhem that ensues in the action scenes feels realistic and full of tension and suspense.\\n\\n+ Based on true events and real-life people.\\nThe ending credits we see the real people portrayed in this historic event.\\n\\n+ Directed by Michael Bay?!?\\nMr. Transformers movie did this. What?! Well, it was well directed and Michael Bay knows how to give us tension and action.\\n\\nOVERALL:\\nWe liked it so much, we had to watch it again within a day or two, so we could pick out more of the subtle details that we missed the first time. Truly respect people who for their job are in these dangerous places on Earth. Very enjoyable movie.\",\n \"Product: This Protective TPU Case Black will give you the additional protection against shock, scratches and scrapes. Designed specifically for your Samsung GALAXY S III GT-I9300, hugging every curve, it will safeguard your device without adding extra bulk. Case comes with a built-in stand that extends for an ideal viewing. So say good-bye to accidental bumps and scratches on your Samsung GALAXY S III GT-I9300.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Cant beat the price for what you get\\n\\nReview: I'm going to make this brief. . .\\n\\n* Nice dual black & clear color case\\n\\n* Fit's snug\\n\\n* Kickstand I find I use more than I though I would. So glad I got a case with a kickstand\\n\\n* A ridged, grippy texture on the sides makes it so the phone is not likely to slip out of my fingers or pocket\\n\\n* Cut-outs line up great\\n\\n* No challenge in hitting the Return, Home or Menu buttons\\n\\n* NOT IMpact resistant...you drop this thing you could still break your phone. But in every day use the phone will not get scratched. If there was a case I could find with a little bit of a impact bumper, then I would have gotten that, but didn't want to spend $25 or more. Got what I expected and a bit more.\\n\\nGreat case. Love it for the price\",\n \"Product: Instantly transforms your iPhone speaker dock or stereo Hi-Fi into a (Bluetooth) streaming powerhouse Great value Bluetooth streamer - Tens of Millions of iPhone speaker docks could soon become obsolete with the new iPhone 5 connector pin change Sound You Wear - Unique simple twist and go to attach to clothing. Great sound - with APT-X audio streaming, near CD quality. Double tap to access Siri/Google Voice Actions. Make and take calls.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: better than several predecesors\\n\\nReview: For the last couple of years bluetooth headsets and the like have been flooding the market.\\nBut even from brands like Jabra and BlueAnt, they can be hit or miss with consistent sound and clear broadcasting.\\n\\nSo far my experience with the Ribbon has been better. I'm not sure if that is because the technology is advancing or the companies are boosting the signal so it's less flakey. I've had more consistent sound even when out on a run/jog. Yes, there are times with skipping or what sounds like pauses, but in general I haven't any any issues with this while exercising.\\n\\nSince I normally listen to audiobooks, the accompanying headphones work fine. But I can see how music lovers will want to use a higher quality headset versus the one that is provided.\\n\\nConnecting to my android phone was easy!\\n\\nThe box says 6hrs of playback and I find I'm in fact getting between 5-6hrs.\\nLike many devices the battery pack is the part the fades first on gadgets, so I don't expect this to last this long six months from now. But maybe with some battery conditioning techniques I can squeeze more life out of it. That has yet to be seen though and is the price to pay for wireless options. It is nice to exercise without some cable flapping around, so I'm willing to pay the price for bluetooth.\\n\\nPhone connection works fine and I'm able to answer the call in the car hands free. Callers say they hear me just fine through the mic.\\n\\nOVERALL: A good product that works fairly consistency and with good sound.\",\n \"Product: The patented Card Ninja is the ultimate smartphone accessory! As simply as peeling a sticker, Card Ninja attaches to your phone or case using high strength adhesive and won't come off until you want it to. And you can remove it cleanly without leaving any residue! It also holds its contents super tight: nothing will come out of your Card Ninja, even if you flip your phone over and shake it! Whether you carry a bunch of cards with you for work, or just a few to run errands, the Card Ninja adapts to you. It's made from a special strong and resilient spandex style material so it stretches to accommodate several cards, but shrinks back down when empty or only carrying a card or two. At only 2.5mm thin, the Card Ninja is discreet. Like a Ninja! Made from reinforced elastic material, it is designed to withstand being put into your pocket or purse day after day without wearing. It's also designed to resist tearing from repeatedly inserting and removing your credit cards. The Card Ninja is perfect for quick trips, hiking, biking, the gym or a night on the town! Toss your bulky wallet and switch to Card Ninja for everyday use!\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Been using it for months and still going strong\\n\\nReview: I have the Samsung S5 Galaxy phone with a case.\\n\\nPic #1, you cannot see from this specific pic but the heart rate monitor is clear, but the flash is about half covered. Now I don't use the flash much, so no big deal. If I did want to use it, I'd have to remove the cards and then all would be clear.\\n\\nThe product description says it will hold 8 cards-worth of stuff. In the picture I'm running 6 cards (driver license, road-side service card, HMO/Medical membership card, work badge to get into the doors at work, credit card and a debit card) and 5-bills of cash tri-folded and it all fits fine. I've been running this way for six weeks now with no issues.\\n\\nPic #2, I only put three cards in the sleeve and turned it upside down. Even with a little shaking the sleeve wasn't so terribly stretched out over the last six weeks that it refused to hold the three cards all by themselves. The material is clingy, so I think that is why after stuffing it for a while, it can still hold only a few items.\\n\\nEven with the daily in and out of my front of back jean pocket or running shorts, the material shows no signs of wear. Seems pretty durable.\\n\\nOVERALL: Some competitors only hold 3 or 4 cars. The fact this holds up to 8 or a bit less and some cash is exactly what I needed. It seems to be holding up just fine. It's stuck firm to my flat, smooth case instead of my phone, which I'm happy about. There doesn't seem to be a good way to remove this from the case.\",\n \"Product: Charge Four iPads Simultaneously The USB Supercharger gives you the power (literally) to charge up to four iPads at the same time. And it's all possible with a single device using a single standard wall socket, leaving the other socket free for your other devices. Don't use cumbersome power strips, and don't hog up all your sockets. Get smarter power with the USB Supercharger. Four Full 2.1A Charge Ports - No Compromises Competing multi-port USB adapters often come with a catch. Sometimes only one port is rated for iPad charging, with the other ports only able to charge normal USB devices. And sometimes, 2.1 amps is spread through the whole device, meaning multiple iPads will only be charged very slowly. There are no charging compromises with the Supercharger. Charge four iPads at the same time at the single-charge speed. Keep Your Students' iPads Charged During Class1:1 iPad programs in schools are a promising new end tech initiative, but they come with the challenge of having to charge a lot of iPads at the same time. Maybe your students have remembered to bring their iPads to class but forgotten their iPad chargers. Bring one or more USB Superchargers to class, arrange them on the table between students, and you'll have an easy way to keep everyone's iPad up and running. Low or dead batteries can stop learning cold and defeat the benefit of a 1-to-1 iPad program. Now you have the right device to keep the lesson going. Also Charge a Wide Range of USB Devices Each Supercharger port can charge any number of standard USB devices, including iPhone and other smartphones, iPod, portable speakers, Bluetooth headsets, cameras, and more. Everyone will have a use for the Supercharger. Or, use it at home to power up your entire arsenal of devices and be ready to seize the day.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: I use to feel it was too slow, but it works well for me\\n\\nReview: I've been using this device for few weeks now.\\n\\n* 2.1A is great for small devices like ipod nano\\n* Trying to charge a 10.1\\\" tablet only gave me 5% charge after 60-90min\\n\\nI used the Tylt YCHG42BL-T Ycharge 4.2A USB Car Charger Dual Port for Charging Two Devices - Retail Packaging - Blue (which is a rapid charger for the car) and within a 30-minute commute I had 10% charge on the tablet. Much better than this device.\\n\\nI like that 4 devices can be charged at once, I just wish the power output was greater.\\n\\nI also have the Leitz 6520-02 Multi-Device Charging Station for USB Devices for iPhone - 1 Pack - Retail Packaging - Matte Black and this is essentially the same kind of 4 item charger. I like this one better than the Leitz, as it is lower profile.\\n\\nOVERALL: It does the job and can support multiple devices. Depending on the device you're charging, plan on it maybe taking a while.\\n\\n**Update Sep2015**\\nI'm still using this item. It sits on my home office desk and I plug things into it all day. Adding a star to the review because it works well and I don't have to be in such a hurry for a full charge.\\n\\nDisclaimer: I received this product free or at a discounted price, in exchange for the purposes of a product review. All opinions are 100% my own and they reflect my honest & unbiased opinion. Your experience may differ from mine. If you did find this review helpful, please vote.\",\n \"Product: Charge up to 4 devices at once while still having proper access to use the devices while they charge. Rubberized surfaces and stands hold devices in place during use. Use your own charging cables or the Mini USB, Micro USB and 30-Pin Apple connectors included with the product. Use in your office to collect all your devices in one place. Use another in your home as a hub for your familys or guests devices to charge while you enjoy other activities.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Powerstrip & stand in one\\n\\nReview: For all intents and purposes this is like having a powerstrip (not a surge protector) that takes up one(1) wall socket, but you plug four(4) devices into.\\n\\nWhat makes this an item to consider:\\n* Supports 4 devices\\n* Cords are hidden inside the stand\\n* Stand allows you to charge and still use device, if your device allows for dual activity\\n* You are given a short version usb charging cable for three different devices (iPhone 4 or less cable, 2 different sized micro-usb cable)\\n* My Samsung tablet has the charger on the bottom, not the side like in manufacturer's photos. But they designed this so I can easily feed a cable from under the tablet for charging while still in the holder.\\n\\nWhat I wish was better:\\n* The inside cable spools don't hold the cables well, because the slot to \\\"lock\\\" cable in place is too wide and/or not deep enough to hold any cable. So all cables un-spool.\\n* The tablet slot is only wide enough if you don't have the tablet with it's stand/cover. Just a little wider and you wouldn't have to remove your case every time you want to charge.\\n* I'm not sure what the price point is going to be for this device (advance review item). Powerstrips may be ugly and have cords everywhere, but they are fairly inexpensive.\\n\\nOVERALL: It is better looking than a powerstrip and helps organize your cables.\\n\\nNOTE: I have a couple of photos to upload but get an error when trying to access the product page. Hopefully this will be resolved soon and I can upload.\\n\\nDisclaimer: I received this product free or at a discounted price, in exchange for the purposes of a product review. All opinions are 100% my own and they reflect my honest & unbiased opinion. Your experience may differ from mine. If you did find this review helpful, please vote.\",\n \"Product: Honor 5X puts the future in the palm of your hand. The sleek, Robust housing is made with four metal finishing processes making the diamond-polished, aircraft-aluminum body is perfectly ergonomic. A faster and more Accurate fingerprint sensor improves as you use it, unlocking your phone in half a second. You can even tap the fingerprint sensor to take photos and selfies. Being connected has never been easier. Honor 5X features a nano-sim, Micro-SIM, and a microSD card slot for extra storage up to 128GB. The unlocked LTE smartphone works with any GSM network with automatic band switching technology to deliver a stronger signal. The beautiful 5.5-Inch, full HD screen is bright even in the glaring sun. Plus, Honor 5X comes with a high-transparency screen protector to keep your display scratch free. No phone is complete without an excellent camera. Honor 5X sports a cutting-edge 13MP camera that can capture high-quality images in a variety of different shooting scenarios. It features a wide F2.0 aperture, 28 mm wide angle Lens with five elements, Blue glass infrared filter, and Macro mode for Close-Up shots from just a few centimeters away.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Improves on my Samsung Galaxy S5\\n\\nReview: NOTE: Please check out the comments. Some good questions and discussion going on there!\\n\\n================\\n\\nInterestingly, I recently read an article where Huawei was partnering with Google to make the next version of the Nexus 7 tablet for this April/May 2016. And when I saw that Huawei had their own line of phones, this made me very interested as I 'assume' Google wouldn't partner with them if the quality was poor. Thus I had high expectations for this phone and so far I'm not disappointed.\\n\\n================\\n\\nI currently have the Galaxy S5 (2014), which has been a great phone.\\n\\nI searched Google and found several web sites with the technical specs for this phone versus the Galaxy S5. See if you can find a side-by-side comparison site and it will help put things into perspective.\\n\\n================\\n\\nPROCESSOR:\\nHonor has 1.5Ghz processor with 8 cores = should make for good multitasking and it seems to.\\nI've ran 3 games at once -- all updating on Internet simultaneously -- and I didn't loose progress or have lag.\\n\\nMEMORY:\\nThe 2Gb RAM of memory is a very welcome addition (same as Samsung) as videos stream or play locally very well. Playing a driving game I had no lag. Web pages load pretty fast via Chrome browser.\\n\\nDISPLAY:\\nDisplay Resolution: 1080 x 1920, same as Samsung. This offers a great viewing screen with clarity and good brightness.\\nThe screen is 5.5 inches versus the Samsung is 5.10. That half inch difference is very noticeable next to each other. . .I definitely like the larger screen! Since I take all my pictures with my phone, I'll try and find another camera and show the phones side-by-side so you can see too.\\n\\nSPACE:\\nThe 16Gb 'hard drive'/SSD space (actual is 14.9Gb) left me with 10.51Gb free (9.84Gb actual). Thus still a good amount of room to install a bunch of apps. No way will my music fit on this or pictures, but that is what the MicroSD/TFT is for. After installing 20+ apps I'm down to 7.5Gb with my dropbox files storing to the MicroSD card instead of the device memory. There are some games that are 1Gb or larger (a few at least), so I still have room for more stuff.\\n\\nMICRO SD:\\nSupports up to a 128Gb MicroSD card. I currently have a 32Gb installed. MicroSD was recognized without any issue and is able to save/write files and read files pretty fast. No issues playing a movie file. . .once I downloaded a good video app like MX Player. I didn't like the default video player it came with as it didn't have the codec needed to play my video file.\\n\\nBATTERY:\\nBattery on the samsung is 2800 mAh and is replaceable. The Honor has a 3000 mAh, but is NOT replaceable. The Honor battery does seems to last longer, but no ejecting the battery if the system gets stuck. They removable sticker on the back (see image) says to hold the Power Button down for 10seconds to do a hard reset.\\n\\nI do not have a rapid charger, but I'm getting between 43% to 50% charge per hour of charging. Hopefully that gives you an idea how fast this battery charges.\\n\\nDUAL SIM:\\nWhy Do You Want a Dual-SIM phone?\\nA phone with two SIM cards can hold two numbers and two identities at once. You can make or receive calls and send or receive texts on either number and give each number only to the people that you chose.\\nEXAMPLE: When traveling to Greece, you can keep your local US number and then add in a temporary Greece number as you cruise around the Mediterranean. You could have your 'personal' phone number plus a separate work number running at the same time and keep the calls separate. You could also use one SIM for calls and if you have a better plan with another carrier for data, you could choose to use the 2nd SIM for data. Great feature!\\n\\nNOTE: I put my AT&T SIM into this device and rebooted. Connected immediately to 4G LTE and received calls. No issues!!\\nAccording to the manufacturer specs, you can get 4G with either of the two SIM slots.\\n\\nCONNECTIONS:\\nPhone has Bluetooth 4.1 and Wi-Fi b/g/n. Thus connecting to networks and devices is a snap.\\n\\nThe specs say this has a USB connection through the MicroUSB (charging) port. See photo of an app that says the phone is USB ready. I have an on-the-go (OTG) cable show up on Sunday 1/24 but I couldn't get it to work. I have an email into customer service asking for assistance.\\n\\nTETHERING:\\nUSB tethering worked immediately upon plugging the phone into the laptop. I was browsing the Internet pretty fast on my laptop through the phone's connection.\\n\\nBluetooth tethering, I had to make my laptop 'discoverable' before the unit would show up properly and I could bluetooth the phone with the laptop. Once it did, it worked well, but was a bit more of a process with the old bluetooth tech on my laptop. Other two options were much easier.\\n\\nWiFi hotspot worked easily. I was connected and browsing Internet without trouble. What helped was putting in my own custom password into the settings. Must be at least 8-characters long.\\n\\nOTHER FEATURES:\\nYes, it has GPS.\\nYes, it has an accelerometer.\\nYes, it has fingerprint feature for identification / taking photos / launching apps / lock or unlock mode / answering calls / canceling an alarm\\n\\nCAMERA:\\n13MP camera and a 5MP selfie camera. Thus when Skyping you'll come through very clear! True the Samsung has a 16MP camera. . .a bit better but not a huge difference. But it also has a poor 1 or 2MP selifie camera, which is often unclear I find. The upgraded Honor front camera is another great addition.\\n\\nAdded outdoor and indoor pictures taken with Honor 5x and Galaxy s5, using default settings. The Galaxy seems brighter is the only real difference I can tell.\\n\\nHOW-TO:\\nMy box did NOT come with a user manual and I could not find a 'support' link clearly marked on Huawei's site. Thus good luck with figuring some things out. . .though Android operating system is fairly intuitive.\\n\\nOVERALL:\\nThis is very comparable in many ways to my older phone, but they have just the right amount of upgrades that make this phone stand out. It is working great for me and even shipped with a screen protector.\\n\\nNow to find a case that won't take 6-8 weeks to ship from China and doesn't have only little girl colors. So far that is proving more difficult than you'd think.\",\n \"Product: Defend your device in style with the premium two-piece DualPro shine case. The impact resistant ABS polymer frame with a shock absorbing dLAST TPE inner Core is perfect for impact protection in style and luxury. The two layers of interlocking defense work together to protect your device from Heavy wear and tear. The DualPro Case's sophisticated outer Shell features a professional aluminum style finish.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Slight improvements needed, but a very good case\\n\\nReview: This is my second Incipio case for my new S7.\\n\\n+ I've dropped it three times the first day I put this new case on. The case has great thickness to absorb the shock and you would never know I dropped the phone.\\n\\n> Overall case is on the slippery side, which is why I dropped it three times in the first day.\\nThere are lots of DIY ways to deal with a slipper phone case, but I need to call out it is slippery out-of-the-box.\\n\\n+ The brushed metal look is nice and has enough contrast to add some flare to the way this phone case looks\\n\\n> Finger prints show up really well on the back of this case in the brushed metal part. Detracts a bit from the overall look of the phone.\\n\\n+ Nice lip on the front of the case to protect the screen when laying flat.\\nWithout adding a screen protector your screen can still get damaged...as this case leaves the front exposed. But laying it down works great in keeping my screen away from whatever surface I lay it on.\\n\\n+ Snaps on nice and tight to my S7. Also, it will not slip off, but it isn't too tight that I cannot pry the phone out if I needed to remove the case.\\n\\n+ The cut-outs are well aligned with the holes and speaker\\n\\n> Some may find the headphone cut out too thick for some headphones, especially those with an angled connector. You may need to switch to a plug that is straight and not angled.\\n\\nOVERALL: A very good case.\",\n \"Product: Viozon is created by some enthusiastic young men with great passion on these innovative products, we believe design create beauty in life, so we choose the products based on the concept of healthy, classic and efficient with high quality. We offer a total coverage of flat screen mounting solutions for various fields like office, home, healthcare center, car and so on, help to integrate people aesthetically pleasing and healthy working environment.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: It does the job...most of the time\\n\\nReview: I was provided this item at a discounted price in exchange for my honest & unbiased review. I've tried about a half dozen different styles of vent holders and this one works better than some, but not as good as others.\\n\\n+ You should be able to fit this around the sides of most phones. I have the new Huawei Honor 5x which is a 6 x 3 x 0.5 phone (with case) and this fit on it well enough.\\n\\nTIP. Watch out for your side buttons\\n\\n-- On both my sedan and my mini van I could get this to sit, but any big bumps or even if I touch it to answer a call or change music tracks, there is a chance I would spring loose.\\n\\n+ The design should fit almost all vents\\n\\n> The design doesn't allow for easy rotation while driving. You have to pull it off the vent (not hard to do), then find a place to push it back in...if you can align it.\\n\\n> Other designs can give you a very sturdy hold, plus 360 rotation for $10 also. Not sure this is worth $10\\n\\nOVERALL: When it's in place it does the job of holding your device there, just don't touch it and watch for pot holes. When stopped at a light, I can easily pull it off and rotate it. I simply would never attempt that while driving and feel confident about staying safe. For those with hard to fit phone holders, it could be worth trying out.\",\n \"Product: DOWNLOAD DIGITAL BOOKLET HERE: http://www.twostepsfromhell.com/TSFH_Invincible.pdf Album produced by Two Steps from Hell. www.twostepsfromhell.com All cues orchestrated and arranged by Thomas Bergersen, Nick Phoenix and Petr Pololanik Special Thanks to: Petr Pololanik, Troels Folmann, Claudia Phoenix, Alec Phoenix, Finn, Anne & Sophie Bergersen, Hans Zimmer, Justin Harris, Doug Rogers, Russell Emanuel, Rae Macdonald, Lisa Watkins, Glenn Frank, Craig Sharmat, Oistein Eide, Pierre Martin, Colin O'Malley, Derek Hendrickx, Bosendorfer and Alka Seltzer All cues mastered by Nick and Thomas at Remote Control, Santa Monica Copyright 2006-2010 - Two Steps from Hell LLC. (ASCAP) Sleeve and PDF Design by Steven R. Gilmore Two Steps from Hell 'INVINCIBLE' includes cues used in the ad campaigns of countless Blockbuster movies like, Star Trek, Prince Of Persia, Twilight, 2012, Percy Jackson, Sherlock Holmes, Robin Hood, Angels And Demons, Up, WALL-E, Prince Caspian, Hulk, Indiana Jones 4, Spiderman 3, Harry Potter 6, No Country For Old Men, Shutter Island, X Men 3, Hellboy 2, Da Vinci Code, I Am Legend, Pirates Of The Caribbean, National Treasure, Perfume, Young Victoria, Watchmen, The Orphan and Brooklyn's Finest Check us out on Facebook: www.facebook.com/twostepsfromhell.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: No fear of the kids finding inappropriate lyrics...it's all great instrumental\\n\\nReview: The funny thing is the pastor of my church was sharing how he was looking for some new music to listen to and buy and stumbled upon a group called, Two Steps from Hell. With a name like that I'd figure it was some sort of speed metal band with unintelligible lyrics that were cursing God and depressing stories. To my surprise this is some fantastic trailer / movie music.\\n\\nMy three oldest boys mostly listen only to instrumental music and are always making a request for soundtrack music from Batman, Inception and the like. When I gave them this, it wasn't a surprise to find many of the tracks on repeat throughout the day. They too love this.\\n\\nGreat music. You won't go wrong and no worries about unintelligible or inappropriate lyrics, because they don't exist here. This is straight instrumental goodness (unless you count the Latin choir/chorus in the background).\\n\\nI started listing my favorites from this track, but they are all good!\\n\\nNOTE:\\nIf you have a suggestion / question / or did NOT find this review helpful, leave me a comment! I'm more than happy to respond to the comment and/or update this review to make it more helpful.\\n\\nIf you found this review helpful please vote. Thank you!\",\n \"Product: Song Titles: Wait For You The One I'm Running To Just Say Jesus Good Life Hurricanes Nothing To Give Shadow Religious And Famous Free (ft. KJ-52)\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: A must own album!\\n\\nReview: I started playing this in the house and my wife walked in saying, \\\"Why haven't you given me that new music yet? It's great!!\\\"\\n\\nWhen we got to song #2, \\\"The One I'm Running To\\\", I immediately thought of \\\"Daughtry, but Christian!\\\".\\nYes, there are times a lot of similar tones with the lead singer's voice of 7eventh Time Down and that of Daughtry.\\n\\nMost of the songs are pop/rock, which my wife really likes.\\nThere are a few songs such as, \\\"Good Life\\\" and the song \\\"Shadow\\\", that have metal guitar riffs, which I can totally appreciate.\\n\\nThe song, \\\"Free\\\" is a little different with a bit of rap thrown in. I liked the song still, but no other song has this, so I wasn't expecting it.\\n\\nOut of the 10 songs, I only didn't like \\\"Renegade\\\". Normally I buy an album if I like 4 of 10 songs, but here I like 9 of 10 songs.\\n\\nOVERALL:\\nThis is a GREAT rock/pop album with good messages.\\nAnd more importantly the group isn't shy to sing the name of Jesus in their lyrics!!!!!!\\n\\nNOTE:\\nIf you have a suggestion / question / or did NOT find this review helpful, leave me a comment! I'm more than happy to respond to the comment and/or update this review to make it more helpful.\\n\\nIf you found this review helpful please vote. Thank you!\",\n \"Product: The Metal Art Jr laptop/monitor stand features a clean and timeless design that raises your laptop or monitor to a comfortable and ergonomically correct viewing height. Forged from steel and powder coated, it provides a sturdy shelf for your laptop, monitor, TV or printer. Additionally, there's space beneath for your keyboard or other office supplies and electronics. The Allsop Metal Art curved steel monitor stand was designed in the USA by engineers in Bellingham, WA and was the first and original curved metal monitor stand to be introduced and sold in North America. The Allsop Metal Art series of products continues to be of the highest quality and popularity with over one million units sold.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: functional and nice looking . . .after I painted it\\n\\nReview: The item holds my new 22 inch LCD just fine.\\nIt doesn't bounce and shake if knocked, so the monitor is nice and safe.\\n\\nWe bought three and all three came with cheap, sloppy paint jobs. So to match my all black computer I spray painted them and it looks like I bought it that way.\\n\\nThe space under is perfect for my Logitech Wave Keyboard to slid out of the way or a nice place to throw those pads of sticky notes, pens and whatnots.\\n\\nOVERALL:\\nWe've bought one for all three family members and its been great to gain some desk space and ensure we are more ergonomic by having the monitor at the correct hight for the desk/chair setup. Its the cheapest metal unit I could find and it holds up under the weight just fine.\",\n \"Product: The AKT80LE gives you the ability to control height and tilt simultaneously, independent of the mouse platform. It's perfect for shallow workstations where mounting depth is at least 17.5\\\". Compatible with ergonomic keyboards. Lifetime warranty.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Easy enough to install for the no-to-handy person\\n\\nReview: <div id=\\\"video-block-R2LRHSB3Q5XOTS\\\" class=\\\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\\\"></div><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D1IcpqQmbCS.mp4\\\" class=\\\"video-url\\\"><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61tTbTBAAPS.png\\\" class=\\\"video-slate-img-url\\\">Add some ergonomic goodness and/or free up some desk space with this handy keyboard tray.\\n\\nI'm not a very handy person, but I installed this between 30-40 minutes, which included fetching what tools I do have out of the garage, measuring three times, installation and final setup of keyboard and mouse on the tray.\\n\\nThe product description says this can be installed without \\\"tools\\\". I don't know how they could do that unless they consider a Phillips screwdriver not a tool. Other than my electric screwdriver there wasn't much more I needed for this.\\n\\nFits standard keyboard and mouse fine. As you can see my video a gaming keyboard hangs over the side several inches, but that didn't impact me from using those additional keys.\\n\\nNice firm wrist pad.\\n\\nEverything sticks/velcro's down so no shifting around of your keyboard, mouse or wrist pad.\\n\\nEasy adjustable single knob for tilt and height.\\n\\nItem seem real metal and hard plastics that will last.\\n\\nI'm very happy with this item!!\",\n \"Product: Memorex Label Maker Expert Kit\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: I have no issues\\n\\nReview: So anyone who complains this doesn't work for Windows Vista, needs to get rid of Vista. That is an old, faulty operating system and you can't blame this for not working with Vista...its a fault of Vista. You really should stay on XP or at least upgrade to Windows 7 or 8.\\n\\nWith Windows 7 Home 64-bit, I've had no issues with the software.\\nIt installed fine and works great.\\n\\nLike any label product, you need to work slowly to reduce curling of the label when removing it from the adhesive sheet. Also works slowly when pressing your disc down on the label. After about a half dozen I haven't had any mishaps or bubbles in the label.\\n\\nWorks great for CD/DVD labels.\\nSpine labels to match discs.\\nYou cannot design / add image to the description box label. I've only been able to add text.\\n\\nGrabbing images from Google Images and using those instead of the pre-built images/backgrounds is easy for the person who knows enough about saving to folders and finding the file later. My mom would struggle, because it's not always the most intuitive software.\\n\\nGreat price.\\nWorked well for me.\\nGoing forward I'll buy this 300pk: Memorex White CD Labels, Matte Finish. 300 Count (32020403)\",\n \"Product: Fellowes Professional Series Compact Keyboard Tray provides comfort and maneuverability for smaller workspaces. Designed and manufactured for Fellowes by Humanscale. Lift and lock feature lets you adjust height with one hand tilt platform to reposition, then straighten to lock in place. Single manual knob adjusts tilt up to -10 degrees for optimal comfort. Warning Trak helps prevent mouse from sliding off platform. Standard platform accommodates both right and left-handed mousing. Health-V memory foam supports with Microban antimicrobial protection stay cleaner and relieve wrist pressure to help prevent carpal tunnel syndrome. Durable keyboard tray features compact 17-3/4 Inches glide track, slim profile, and non-skid pads.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Heavy. Good length. Installation not as easy.\\n\\nReview: I recently reviewed the <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/3M-Knob-Adjust-Keyboard-Tray-with-Standard-Platform-17-Inch-Track-AKT60LE/dp/B001B0DCOO/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">3M Knob-Adjust Keyboard Tray with Standard Platform, 17 Inch Track (AKT60LE)</a> and loved it. Shortly after I received this tray to review and found pro's and con's for both.\\n\\nFirst Impressions:\\nThe Fellows tray seemed very heavy. But when I compared it to the industry-standard trays we have at work, it was a bit lighter.\\nThe 3M tray is lighter still, but also made solid.\\nI'd rate them both similar for quality metal and weight.\\nPoints to both.\\n\\nInstallation:\\n3M tray provided a paper template you can tape to the underside of your desk to ensure you line up your drilling holes correctly.\\nFellows tray gives you a visual diagram to follow that requires you to be able to measure accurately. I'm not very handy, so keeping things straight was a concern. One consolation is there is sticker to hold the mounting bracket in place when you are ready to put the screws in.\\nFor me the 3M won out as I kept the paper template mounted with the tray and in a few years if I remove it to put on a different desk I have everything I need to measure precisely. With the Fellows I'd lose the mounting sticker and who knows where the installation instructions will by that time.\\nPoint to 3M\\n\\nTray size:\\nFellows is 2-3 inches longer than the 3M. With my gaming keyboard (additional set of 18 keys on left side) the Fellows keyboard wins out for versatility. Also some folks may want more area to use the mouse and the 3M has less space to offer\\nPoint to Fellows.\\n\\nMouse area:\\n3M provides a surface that has a patterned to assist with precision on laser mice. Fellows simply provides a non-skip area (pre-installed) so you can place your own mouse pad down.\\n3M wins out for me because the patterned area already asks as a mouse pad and keeps my mouse precise. If I want to add a custom pad it's no different than the area provided by Fellows.\\nPoint to 3M\\n\\nWrist pad(s):\\n3M give you one solid piece. It's nice and firm and will last through months/years of use.\\nFellows gives you two pads. One for the keyboard and one for the mouse. I like the versatility of placing my mouse and keyboard a little different positioning than forced to use one single piece stuck in a predetermined space. But the Fellows pads are very soft and spongy. I personally don't like this and feel the pads will flattened in no time at all.\\nPoint to 3M\\n\\nKnob Adjustment:\\n3M proves a star-shaped knob that makes it easy to get a firm hold by placing your finger between the low points between the star shape (sorry, don't feel I'm describing that very well). Fellows uses a slim tubular knob with length-wise grooves for gripping. I can leverage more power on the 3M if I turn it too tight by accident.\\nPoint to 3M\\n\\nTray Adjustment:\\n3M allows for a wide range of heights, keyboard tilt AND I can swing the tray left and right, to get it out of the way when trying to exit my desk chair. Fellows has a nice range of heights and keyboard tilt as well, but it can't be swung out of the way or simply turned if your monitor isn't exactly center behind the keyboard. 3M proved more versatile.\\nPoint to 3M.\\n\\nOVERALL:\\nThis is a good, quality tray!\\nBut for more versatility, ease installation now and in the future, and same price point, the 3M wins out for me.\",\n \"Product: Swingline, the leading brand in workspace tools for the business, home and mobile office for over 80 years, continues to introduce innovative new products that solve common workplace frustrations and increase productivity. The Swingline Stack-and-Shred 80X Shredder offers hands free shredding - a better way to shred! Now, waiting in front of the shredder is a thing of the past for any size office. With Stack-and-Shred shredders, you simply load your stack of paper, shut the lid and you're done - leaving you time for better things. The Swingline Stack-and-Shred 80X is ideal for personal, home office or executive use. The space saving design fits neatly under a desk. Coupled with quiet operation and an easy LED user interface, the Stack-and-Shred 80X helps you be more productive. The 80X features patent pending Hands Free Auto+ technology. Rollers automatically feed the paper into the cutters, so you don't have to, freeing you up to perform other tasks. The 80X Stack-and-Shred Shredder features cross cut shredding and security level 3, secure credit card shredding, automatic jam clearance, and it even shreds staples and paper clips in any corner. Stay organized, protect sensitive information and increase your productivity with the superior performance of Swingline Shredders.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Not worth $200, but great concept otherwise\\n\\nReview: I like the concept of having this compact unit sitting under my desk where I use to have the corporate recycle box. The box would get taken away every now and again to be shredded. Now I can stack my papers directly in this unit and shred whenever I push the button.\\n\\nThe speed is good!\\nThe sound is pretty quiet!\\nGood container...can hold a descent amount of shredded paper.\\nIf everything is straight paper it works great.\\n\\nBut. . .if the paper is wrinkled or smaller pages (smaller than 8x11) or cardstock, the auto feeder chokes.\\n\\nI'm left with the manual feeder which works fine for these other types of paper. So why spend $200 when all I needed is a manual feed shredder?!? Well, not worth it.\\n\\nAlso I found I had to smash down the shredded paper often. If the pile gets too high...even a loose pile...jams start again.\\n\\nOVERALL:\\nShredding at home: I would normally shred credit card forms or any other letter / folded paper that had personal information. Since most of these are not nice 8x11 pages, then the auto feeder is pretty useless. For home use of a manual shredder the <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Fellowes-Powershred-W-11C-11-Sheet-Cross-Cut-Shredder-3103201/dp/B0026I2HLO/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Fellowes Powershred W-11C 11 Sheet Cross-Cut Shredder (3103201)</a> has been a great product for a fraction of the price.\\n\\nThus, the auto tray is more appropriate for work where handling 8x11 pages is more common.\\n\\nDepending on your needs, this shredder could go really well for you or fall short.\",\n \"Product: Aleratecs natural adjustable table stand for laptops, tablets and notebooks is a decorative and practical solution for creating a more comfortable and ergonomic work space. Constructed of sturdy, all-natural bamboo wood responsibly harvested from a renewable resource, the compact stand safely supports laptops up to 15 inches and has 2 adjustable height to tailor the viewing angle and keyboard position. This can help reduce the stress on your back, neck and wrists. The vented design helps keep your computer cool, and the legs fold for easy storage. Aleratecs sturdy bamboo portable stand is easy to assemble with tools included and can be used on a desk or a table.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Not a lap-desk, but works great for what it's made to do\\n\\nReview: <div id=\\\"video-block-R2JBCU9ZVQCYCN\\\" class=\\\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\\\"></div><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D1miqSOdIZS.mp4\\\" class=\\\"video-url\\\"><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41VSJJ1XE6S.png\\\" class=\\\"video-slate-img-url\\\"> I really get a great minimalist feel from this product.\\n\\n1. It holds your device at an angle.\\n2. It looks great. I love the bamboo pattern.\\n3. The fan is an extra boost for cooling your device.\\n4. Sturdy.\\n5. The finish makes it feel like wood, but not slippery or waxy.\\n\\nThis is meant to sit on the desk or table or tv-tray. This is not meant for your lap.\\n\\nWhile lying on the carpet, my daughter will use this as a writing table, folding the legs in to reduce the angle. She'll even remove the bumper, because all she needs is a hard surface to write against. I have to fight her to get time with the stand for myself.\\n\\nI love how the USB cable can be stowed out of sight.\\n\\nI cannot think of any improvements!\\n\\nDisclaimer: I received this product free or at a discounted price, in exchange for the purposes of a product review. All opinions are 100% my own and they reflect my honest & unbiased opinion. Your experience may differ from mine.\",\n \"Product: WALI single monitor stand (model WL-M001) made of high grade steel and aluminum. Fits most LCD monitors up to 27\\\" and supports up to 22 lbs per monitor. Every joint is able to be tightened, so you can adjust exactly how fluid/stationary you want everything to be. Special features include the ability for each individual VESA plate to be level adjusted up and down by 0.8\\\" so your monitors will be perfectly aligned (see pictures). We also made mounting your monitors easy with detachable VESA plates that screw into your monitor and then slide back onto the frame of the stand. An optional bolt through grommet clamp is included with this stand. This has standard VESA 75x75mm and 100x100mm mounting holes.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Quality item that does the job well.\\n\\nReview: I have three monitors crowding my home office desk, so the ability to have some options with one of them does:\\na) frees up some desk space; and\\nb) allows me to pull the monitor closer or push it away, depending on what I'm doing on the screen at the time.\\n\\n+ Initially all the parts seemed overwhelming, but later I realized the extra pieces are needed for different desk designs/set ups, so I didn't have to use them all\\n\\n+ Quality, metal frame\\n\\n+ Once I found my manual on how to remove the stand from my monitor, then installation of this was easy\\n\\n> The screen tilt angle is one you need to set and leave it. My monitor is not \\\"falling\\\" (as one reviewer says) once I tightened the joint with the provided allen wrench.\\n\\n+ Cable feeds provide, which is great because they are needed!\\n\\n+ Can rotate the monitor horizontal or vertical. Nice!\\n\\n+ Previously, with stand, my monitor could barely clear the riser I have my laptop sitting on. Now with this arm, I technically can have my monitor another 2-4 inches higher than what the monitor stand use to provide.\\n\\nOVERALL: I really like this product and it took me about 20min, with most of that time spent on removing the original desktop stand from my monitor.\",\n \"Product: The elevate EWS-M1 equips your existing desk with a stylish, height-adjustable surface made of 100% beautiful repurposed hardwood. There's no need to throw out your existing desk since the elevate gives your office desk a make-over, transforming the surface into a height-adjustable ELEVATE WORK STATION. With the elevate you have the option to either sit or stand. Medical research shows it isn't healthy to sit all day or stand all day. The healthy way to work is alternating between sitting and standing. This is made easy by elevate's design, which allows you to easily lift and lower up to 35 pounds between 9 different ergonomic positions. The elevate's wood-grain surface accommodate up to 2 monitors, a keyboard, and a mouse while still leaving room for your cup of Joe! stop sitting all day and start feeling the Health benefits of the ELEVATE WORK STATION.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Less expensive competitor product out there, but this works very well and is quality\\n\\nReview: I recently reviewed <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Executive-Stand-Steady-Standing-Desk-Holds-2-Monitors-Award-Winning-Stand-up-Desk-Converter-Featured-in-Forbes-and-The-Washington-Post-Black/dp/B00E0ODMB6/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Executive Stand Steady Standing Desk -Holds 2 Monitors- Award Winning Stand up Desk Converter - Featured in Forbes and The Washington Post! (Black)</a>, which for all intents and purposes is just a table sitting on top of your table. Thus when I had the opportunity to get my hands on this item I was excited for the expanded functionality and design over this old one.\\n\\n+ Well packaged . . .for the most part.\\n\\n> There were some unknown black and clear pieces floating around that I have no idea what they go to, but they don't look like packaging material and there was no information included to suggest what or where they go on this table.\\n\\n+ One solid item, no assembly required\\n\\n+ The adjustment is easier than it looks.\\nTIP: Make sure you are standing over the table when you press BOTH release levers at the same time to lower or raise. I tried doing this while sitting and almost got my fingers messed up. Plus, when standing over you can better ensure the table locks in level and not one side higher or lower than the other.\\n\\n+ The top black rubber wood is nice and appears high quality\\n\\n+ The metal frame, springs, and levers are great. It doesn't look like anything will bend on this thing.\\n\\n> Interestingly you are warned multiple times to not exceed 35lbs with this. Which means do not lean on this, as for many of us that will exceed the 35lb mark very quickly. For such a solid piece of equipment, the 35lb limitation seems a bit light for some reason. If they had said 50lb, then I'd be impressed. But this is just a perception thing on my part probably, so no real issue.\\n\\n+ I can actually turn the table on top of my desk very easily. Meaning if I bump this, it will move. This is good and bad. Bad could be that I'm not paying attention and it misses an edge somewhere and crashes to the ground if I'm too close to the edge. Good in that if I need to change the angle I'm standing in front of my desk, I can easily turn this to stay centered with my body and thus more ergonomic.\\n\\nNOTE: There are holes on the bottom frame that if you really wanted to screw this down to a workbench or your desk you could do such a thing.\\n\\n> I think it's a thing with the color black and any tabletop, but you start to see the fingerprints and need to clean regularly. The good part is you have a visual reminder to clean regularly.\\n\\n+ More than enough room for a two monitors, a keyboard, a mouse, a cup of coffee and some papers or post-it notes.\\n\\n-- Other standing desk options are $75 to $100 less than this one. This is what really lost the star for me on this product.\\nThus I'm not convinced this is worth $350 at the time of this writing, when the others even come with keyboard trays and different designs that may work better for some people.\\n\\nFrom the looks (I cannot speak to the quality) but this product interests me and supports 50lbs and is $90 less:\\n <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Standing-Desk-the-DeskRiser-Height-Adjustable-Sit-Stand-Up-Dual-Monitor-Office-Desk-Heavy-Duty-Supports-up-to-50-Lbs-32-34-Wide-Desk-Converter/dp/B019GTZ5ZA/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Standing Desk - the DeskRiser - Height Adjustable Sit Stand Up Dual Monitor Office Desk - Heavy Duty Supports up to 50 Lbs 32\\\" Wide Desk Converter</a>\\n\\n+ I have my laptop and docking station under and in the back. This is high enough that it doesn't go all the way down to the tabletop and thus that space underneath is more than enough clearance for my laptop. I'll try and add a pick so you can see this.\\n\\nI'm actually getting a monitor switch box, since I have a laptop and desktop in this location and at times would like to use both monitors for one or the other.\\n\\nThis has definitely given me options.\",\n \"Product: Ortho Weed B Gon plus Crabgrass Control Ready-To-Spray is guaranteed to kill crabgrass, dandelions and other listed common lawn weeds to the root! When used as directed, you can kill over 200+ weeds without damaging your lawn. It starts working immediately!\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: It does kill unwanted stuff...\\n\\nReview: Being in California, we haven't had much chance to water our lawns...at least for those of us following the rules during the drought the last four years. I just let my backyard go last two or three years.\\n\\nToday, there is green here in Spring, but it isn't grass. My entire yard is taken up with some sort of weed (I have no idea about types of grass/weed), so I began spraying this in one corner and working my way down.\\n\\n+ In 6-10 days that corner is dying for sure. Yea! It's taking some time, but it works.\\n\\n+ This size container should cover a good 5000 to 7000 square feet\\n\\n-- No built in sprayer or measuring cap. So I had to guess or in my case I went down to the hardware store and got another sprayer, then mixed this with water per directions...sort of. I eyeballed it and figured I'd err on the side of more concentrate. Really would be easier if they had included some way to spray this or measure the mixture.\\n\\n+ About $20 after shipping for me here in California. I'm good with the price. It won't break the bank and gives good results.\\n\\nI'm liking it.\",\n \"Product: Veranda collection by classic accessories offer maximum protection with style. The dark splashguard hides stains and water spots while high-flow air vents protect furniture from mold and mildew. Water-Resistant undercoating keeps the rain from penetrating, ensuring that your furniture stays high and dry. A convenient draw string hem affords a tight, custom fit while large padded handles make removal and adjustment of your cover convenient and hassle-free. There is a 3-year warranty guaranteeing replacement if damaged by dry-rot, the sun, or mold and mildew.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Protect your assets and make clean up easier\\n\\nReview: We have this product for our BBQ as well. You can see a bit from Pic #7 that there is a noticeable amount of dirt that collects on your outdoor items, so having a cover is a great option.\\n\\nNot only does the cover keep things cleaner, but protects from the sun, thanks to these covers being nice and thick!\\nWhen you do pull it off, there is a lot less cleaning needed and you can even leave your cushions out with the chairs.\\nNOTE: There will still be some spiderwebs and whatnot as bugs will take refuge underneath...but not much different than them taking refuge under the chairs already.\\n\\nPic #1 - our outdoor love seat. It isn't a 'deep lounge' love seat, but a standard one.\\n\\nPic #2 - you can see this cover no only goes across the length of the love seat but also the additional single chair we have\\n\\nPic #3 - the cover is thoroughly covering the love seat and single chair. The bottom is touching the ground.\\n\\nPic #4 - the one click-close clasp/strap to put around a chair leg, so the cover doesn't fly away. Also the single toggle with stretch cord to cinch up the fabric so the bottom is tighter around and less chance of the wind blowing it off\\n\\nPic #5 - copy of the included instructions and care\\n\\nPic #6 - Image of the handle. There are two handles and they do make it easier to maneuver the cover around your chairs and easier to lift and remove off\\n\\nPic #7 - Just sitting out a few days and these covers have stopped a noticeable amount of dirt from getting on my chairs instead\\n\\nOVERALL: We love these nice thick covers and they work great at keep the longevity of our chairs and cushions, especially as winter approaches.\",\n \"Product: Refill the fun with our egg replacement 3 pack! Squeakin' Eggs are fun on their own, but you can also stuff 'em in our Egg Babies for a game of hide-and-squeak! Bound to become your best friends favorites, our lovable toys are durably designed with an engaging array of shapes, sounds and textures so you can have huge fun with your furry friend.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Our new puppy loves it...event three weeks later.\\n\\nReview: We recently picked up a rescue. She's a 12-week old dog who was part of a 5 dog litter. We are told she should be a medium size dog, but right now she weights slightly over 19-pounds and is 12 to14inches from ground to her shoulder when she's standing on all fours. I say this to let you know the size of these eggs (about 3 inches around) is perfect for her. She can barely fit a tennis ball in her mouth, so these are perfect indoor toys for her size.\\n\\nAs new parents...uh, dog owners...we went crazy and ordered a lot of different toys. But she loves these the best. She can access her toy box and will pull these out each time. Of course tossing these across the room, these things are soft and at worst may knock over a picture frame if not careful. Otherwise, they weigh almost nothing.\\n\\nthey have just enough weight that when she flings the egg with head or paws at them they roll or soar through the air a short distance. Squeeker is still active, though I'd assume it would be punched multiple times by now.\\n\\nYou also can't beat the prices of these.\\n\\nGreat toy purchase!\\n\\n**UPDATE 9/10/14**\\nOkay they've stopped squeaking after fine, sharp puppy teeth have been working on these non-stop. . .I guess I spoke too soon. But the plastic still make a light crackle noise and she still likes playing with these. So no change in my review.\\n\\nActually our dog will ONLY play fetch with these and not any other toy or ball. Maybe because her puppy mouth can grab them very easily and its the texture thing she doesn't get from a hard plastic play ball or a tennis ball.\\n\\nNOTE:\\nIf you have a suggestion / question / or did NOT find this review helpful, leave me a comment! I'm more than happy to respond to the comment and/or update this review to make it more helpful.\\n\\nIf you found this review helpful please vote. Thank you!\",\n \"Product: Refill the fun with our egg replacement 3 pack! Squeakin' Eggs are fun on their own, but you can also stuff 'em in our Egg Babies for a game of hide-and-squeak! Bound to become your best friends favorites, our lovable toys are durably designed with an engaging array of shapes, sounds and textures so you can have huge fun with your furry friend.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Our new puppy loves it...event three weeks later.\\n\\nReview: We recently picked up a rescue. She's a 12-week old dog who was part of a 5 dog litter. We are told she should be a medium size dog, but right now she weights slightly over 19-pounds and is 12 to14inches from ground to her shoulder when she's standing on all fours. I say this to let you know the size of these eggs (about 3 inches around) is perfect for her. She can barely fit a tennis ball in her mouth, so these are perfect indoor toys for her size.\\n\\nAs new parents...uh, dog owners...we went crazy and ordered a lot of different toys. But she loves these the best. She can access her toy box and will pull these out each time. Of course tossing these across the room, these things are soft and at worst may knock over a picture frame if not careful. Otherwise, they weigh almost nothing.\\n\\nthey have just enough weight that when she flings the egg with head or paws at them they roll or soar through the air a short distance. Squeeker is still active, though I'd assume it would be punched multiple times by now.\\n\\nYou also can't beat the prices of these.\\n\\nGreat toy purchase!\\n\\n**UPDATE 9/10/14**\\nOkay they've stopped squeaking after fine, sharp puppy teeth have been working on these non-stop. . .I guess I spoke too soon. But the plastic still make a light crackle noise and she still likes playing with these. So no change in my review.\\n\\nActually our dog will ONLY play fetch with these and not any other toy or ball. Maybe because her puppy mouth can grab them very easily and its the texture thing she doesn't get from a hard plastic play ball or a tennis ball.\\n\\nNOTE:\\nIf you have a suggestion / question / or did NOT find this review helpful, leave me a comment! I'm more than happy to respond to the comment and/or update this review to make it more helpful.\\n\\nIf you found this review helpful please vote. Thank you!\",\n \"Product: Probiotics are beneficial microorganisms that help control the critical balance in the digestive system. They prevent the growth of undesirable microorganisms. Balance within the digestive system is essential to maintain a healthy intestine, protect against disease, improve digestion and enhance overall health. Besides the digestive tract, microflora resides in other areas where mucous membranes are exposed to the environment such as the skin, respiratory tract and genital-urinary tract\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Dog loves them, I'm liking them\\n\\nReview: My 5-month old puppy is regular and all, but farts up a storm.\\n\\nWhen I read the product description initially I missed how this is mostly for bloating and keeping dogs regular. Now she's really \\\"flowing\\\", if you know what I mean. But the farting has subsided considerably. We just need to make sure we let her out often to do her business.\\n\\nThe dog really looks forward to these. They just taste like a high-quality treat, because she'll jump around all excited when she sees me going for the bag.\\n\\nThe fact that we only need to give her 1 a day for her weight, we give her half after breakfast and half after dinner. It seems to be working well, though I may want to look for another product specific to gas issues only, as her extra regularity is pretty messy and more difficult to clean up.\\n\\n**Update 12/17/2014**\\nDog is no longer \\\"extra regular\\\" and her stool is solid now that she seems more accustomed to this product. Also, the dog's farting is actually minimal since being on this product longer. It seems to be working well.\",\n \"Product: Keep your pooch challenged and focused while playing with Omega Paw Tricky Treat Ball. This toy can give your canine required exercise. It's made of a vinyl textured surface that makes it easy for your dog to grip while digging in for treats. This ball can be filled with your canine's favorite kibbles. It's safe to play with and gives your dog ample excitement. It is available in small, medium and large sizes.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Quieter treat toy that won't bang up the furniture\\n\\nReview: This is our fourth or fifth different style of treat ball.\\n\\nImmediately I noticed the spongy outside makes this the quieter of all the treat balls we have. Which is nice, because our dog gets those balls rolling and slamming into walls and furniture, but this one makes little to zero noise and won't damage anything. 5-stars for this part.\\n\\nWhat I didn't like is when we put a 1/2 cup of large dry dog food in, the large pieces still come out pretty fast. She doesn't have to fight too long to get the food out.\\nIt's when it gets down to about a 1/4 cup or less that the speed in which the food drops out slows dramatically. 2-star for this part.\\n\\nOur dog isn't chewing this, but knows it requires pawing at it or rolling it with her head. She has no problem biting toys and carrying them around, but she chooses not to do that with this one. 4-star for this part.\\n\\nThe ball is large enough it doesn't roll under furniture as often, so she can keep getting at the ball and eventually the food. 5-star for this part.\\n\\nDue to the different sized \\\"grooves\\\" / shapes in this ball, different size dogs can grab it with their mouth if necessary. So the ball can \\\"grow\\\" with your dog's growth. But it is big enough that even large dogs can't swallow it.\\n\\nMy wife really likes this one. Especially since the dog may lose interest or get distracted, but our dog always seems to return to the ball a few minutes later to see if she can get out the last couple of kernels or not.\\n\\nOVERALL:\\nEven with the 2-star food dispensing the other benefits kick this up in my mind.\\nI like this product (4-star overall) because I could get around the food dispensing concerns by only putting a 1/4 cup in at a time and then I'd simply do that twice in \\\"one sitting\\\" for the amount my dog is eating.\\n\\nNOTE:\\nIf you have a suggestion / question / or did NOT find this review helpful, leave me a comment! I'm more than happy to respond to the comment and/or update this review to make it more helpful.\\n\\nIf you found this review helpful please vote. Thank you!\",\n \"Product: Dogs love the simple things in life. A run in the park. A game of fetch. A stroll down the street. A romp in the yard. Our Chicken Jerky Minis are made with just 2 simple ingredients and sliced into bite-sized pieces that go wherever your dog wants to go. How great is that! Being able to treat your dog to all the simple pleasures he loves. Dogs love chicken. So we say, give them chicken! That's why inside each bag you'll find REAL breasts of delicious chicken. With just 2 ingredients and no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives Waggin' Train Chicken Jerky is the simple way to give your furry friend what he craves. Whether he goes wild for the scrumptious taste of Tenders, the bite-sized goodness of Minis or the twisty fun of Curls, Waggin' Train has a treat made with real chicken to keep his tail Waggin'. Product of China.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Still from China? Ack!\\n\\nReview: Dog loves them.\\n\\nI love how there are very few ingredients and no preservatives.\\n\\nWaiting for them to arrive in the mail, I thought all would be fine from what I could see available on the product page.\\nThen they finally arrive, only to find they are made in China!! Uh. . .doesn't Purina learn from previous lessons!!\\n\\nConsumerAffairs dot com shows one of the biggest complaints with Purina and pet food = made in China and how standards there are basically null / zero / no standards. Report after report of how animals are getting violently sick or in some cases die from Purina products + made in China.\\n\\nI found other articles where a lawsuit specifically against Purina had an end date of 4/1/2015 for people to make a claim. Coincidentally, about 30-days after anyone new can no longer be a part of that initial lawsuit/claim, I now can order these treats. . .also made in China!\\n\\nI was happy to see how reviewer Robert C. Ross found the actual public statement that I copy and paste here in order to get the word out:\\n\\n===============\\n\\nTheir public statement is not reassuring:\\n\\n\\\"One misconception about pet food is that smaller companies generally have higher quality food. In fact, smaller companies often have a smaller quality assurance staff, and don't make their products in their own factories, meaning it's harder for them to comprehensively track the quality of their ingredients and processes. At Purina, 99% of Purina pet food products sold in the U.S. are manufactured in our own facilities in the U.S., under the guidance of our large quality assurance staff. We also use proprietary machinery made possible by our large team of Purina researchers, who are always engineering smarter tools and more efficient processes.\\\"\\n\\nNote that Purina says nothing about their quality control systems and people in China where this product was made. And, even in the United States, they say nothing about ingredients that may have been sourced by Purina from China.\\n\\n===============\\n\\nOne additional star because dog loved them.\",\n \"Product: When we started making pet food in 1926 the measure of a happy, healthy dog was seeing a difference with your own eyes. And its still true today. NUTRO FARM'S HARVEST natural dog food recipes combine meaty kibble with real, farm-grown fruits and veggies harvested at just the right time, and then freeze-dried to lock in the nutrients your dog needs to stay happy and healthy. Because seeing is believing, and we think its time to put some natural color in your dogs day.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Follow the transition plan. . .\\n\\nReview: + If you follow the transition plan provided you can get your dog to slowly get use to this food without getting sick or digestion issues.\\n\\n- Not much vegetable and fruit ingredients.\\n\\n> Chicken meal and Lamb meal from what I could find with a search on the Internet are all the extra pieces of the animal, including some bone, but excluding fur, feather, heads, feet and entrails. Not sure how I feel about this.\\n\\n> A bit confusing as the bag says they make everything on their farm in the USA. . .except where they need to get items shipped from around the world. But don't worry, it's from their trusted sources and they proceed to provide American names. So if any of those around the world suppliers are from China, the standards in that country are very different than USA. But I am talking about dog food after all.\\n\\n- $20 for a 4lb bag seems a bit high and so getting 12lb bag for $35 seems an automatic. Why even spend the time making a 4lb bag when it isn't cost efficient? I guess if you want to see if your dog can handle the food long term I guess the smaller bag works out better than going straight a big bag that may go to waste.\\n\\n+ Kibble is small enough for small dogs to eat and put in an eating toy and let the dog get to it.\\n\\n+ This is not puppy food, but for 1+ year old small breed dogs. Supposedly more balanced for adult dog systems.\\n\\n+ I like they have a way to see more videos to learn more about their food making process\\n\\nAbove I have pluses, minuses and neutral items. Based on the number of pluses and how severe the minuses are, leaves me rating this product as something I could like.\",\n \"Product: Top your dog's kibble with raw. Instinct Raw Boost Mixers Cage-Free Chicken Recipe is the easiest way to put more of the pure, real nutrition of raw into every bowl.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: a treat or a food topper\\n\\nReview: Our rescue mutt is a foodie for sure, as you can see she is very obedient even with these yummy treats a foot away from her.\\n\\n+ Seems to be nice clean ingredients\\nNot a bunch of fillers or sawdust or whatever some companies try to sneak into their dog food these days.\\n\\n+ Made in Nebraska.\\nYeah! For once not a product of China. Makes me feel more confident that the quality of the food is safe for my dog.\\n\\n+ Freeze dried.\\nNo need to refrigerate or keep them in the freezer. They are already dehydrated and come with a zip-lock pouch.\\n\\n+ We use them as treats versus a 1/2 cup for up to a 40lb dog per day (would last about 2-weeks).\\n\\nVery happy with this product that seems to care about our pets just in the way it is made and the ingredients used.\",\n \"Product: SCREWDRIVER EXT REACH 4V LI\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: It does the job well...for light work\\n\\nReview: <div id=\\\"video-block-R3F4Z906UR47YE\\\" class=\\\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\\\"></div><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D1QbnmN6VwS.mp4\\\" class=\\\"video-url\\\"><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81rNDDSIC%2BS.png\\\" class=\\\"video-slate-img-url\\\"> The overall extended length is 7.5 inches.\\n\\nAs seen in the video it has enough power to do a lot of jobs, but other jobs you may need to rely on an actual power drill or muscle through it by hand.\\n\\nIt's small enough to fit in the utility drawer in our kitchen where we keep all the tools and other knickknacks are. You know what drawer I'm talking about...we all have one.\\n\\nIf it was any less powerful I'd give it less stars, but I like it for what it is.\\n\\nAn improvement in design would be to have the handle have a small compartment to hold the extra driver heads. Right now they are loose in that drawer, along with the AC adapter that is floating in the drawer.\\n\\nIt doesn't take much to pull the trigger, so even kids could use this tool.\",\n \"Product: The 2354-12 iXO is the latest in the SKIL generation of palm-sized screwdrivers. The unique right-angle attachment gets into hard to reach areas with ease. The 2354-12 also comes with a cutter attachment that provides the capability to cut through various materials including: carpet, plastic, fabrics, leather, cardboard, paper and more. With its lightweight design and convenient USB charging, the 2354-12 is a great addition to your toolbox.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Great for most quick projects\\n\\nReview: SCREWDRIVER:\\nAs a battery operated screwdriver it does what one expects, including forward and reverse.\\nThe standard hex head fits all your included attachments for philips and flathead and if you have another set of attachments, they will work with this too.\\nOther brands charge between $20 to $40 for ONLY a screwdriver function.\\n\\nCUTTER:\\nWhat makes this product stand out is it's cutter attachment.\\nUsing it on medium carpet works well but you cannot go too fast. A little patience and this cuts without fuzz building up...go too fast and your line will be less straight and you'll clog the cutter with debris.\\nThe additional light helps see where you are going.\\nI think these are the correct replacement blades: <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/ZipSnip-RW8800-Replacement-Blades-2-Pack-for-RC2600K-RC2601-RC2602-WX080L/dp/B004QD5HS2/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">ZipSnip RW8800 Replacement Blades, 2-Pack for RC2600K, RC2601, RC2602, WX080L</a>\\n\\n============\\nFINAL THOUGHTS:\\n+ Easy to use\\n+ Easy to switch out attachments\\n+ Light weight\\n-- 4 volt for cutter seems not enough. Higher voltage and one wouldn't need to go quite so slow or worry as much as if the carpet thickness was too much to bear\\n+ 4 volt for screwdriver works fine for 95% of all uses\\n> After charging full, my battery runs out when using the cutter on about 30 feet of carpet. Granted, this is a small project tool, so that should be enough for most uses, but be aware the battery doesn't last hours\\n+ I couldn't easily find replacement blades by SKIL, but the ZinSnip blades are rated really well and should do the job even better\\n+ Not sure how often I'm going to use the cutter tool, whereas I'd use the screwdriver often. The cutter tool seems like a unique option I cannot find in other products, so spending an additional $20 over battery screwdrivers, in order to have this cutter option, may be worth it to some.\",\n \"Product: Solder on the go. The new Weller BL60MP is a high performance cordless soldering iron with a rechargeable Lithium-Ion battery. It can stay on for up to 45 minutes, or produce 1, 100 soldering joints on one charge. The ergonomic handle is a joy to hold. An industry first, the integrated LED helps Zero in on the smallest of solder joints. And, it can capably execute on a diverse array of medium-duty applications at home and on the road.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Convenient and does the job.\\n\\nReview: I'm a newbie when it comes to soldering so I had a friend walk me through some stuff as I attempted to repair one of our kid's tablets where the power connection had disconnected.\\n\\n+ This heats up fast\\n\\n> Unfortunately only 1-tip type that comes with this, which may or may not be the right tip for the job...or so I'm told.\\n\\n-- I could not find another tip type to order on Amazon for this.\\nI \\\"assume\\\" I could not order any tip and it would work. My friend wasn't sure either as his kit came with multiple tips and he hasn't tried ordering tips to find out if they are standard size regardless of brand.\\n\\n+ It doesn't take forever to charge.\\n\\n+ It heats up fast and hot\\n\\n> I realize for this cost it is to have the convenience of cordless portability.\\nJust realize, you may find less expensive options that give you additional features such as temperature control or an indicator that this is no longer hot and you can put it back in the charging dock. Neither feature seems to be included with this one or I missed it in the instructions letting me know when it is safe to put this back in the base to charge.\\n\\n-- The parts are loose and no way to easily transport this without taking the entire charging base with you and thus protect the iron tip.\\nSince I'm forced to transport the base as well as the iron; this means the charging base and loose iron and loose AC adapter have no easy way to be carried. You need to find a sack or bag or something so they aren't rolling around in the car.\\n\\n> I would have preferred some solder wire to help me get started.\\nMy friend told me that the types of wire are specific to the job, just like I'll use a metal screw or a wood screw and different size screws depending on the type of job I'm doing. Still one can wish.\\n\\n+ It does work and work well.\\n\\n+ The other things I like between the cordless and my friends corded iron, is the cord never gets in the way when you change angles on your job.\\nCordless is very nice.\\n\\n+ The additional LED light helps as you're working and leaning over a project; thus casting shadows or blocking light completely.\\n\\nOVERALL:\\nWe were able to get the job done and the tablet repaired...but only because my friend helped me and had some solder wire to get me started.\\nI think if some logistical issues (see above) were improved with this iron, it could be a home run product to get someone.\",\n \"Product: The PaintWIZ handheld paint sprayer PRO uses HVLP (high volume low pressure) technology to spray thinner materials such as stains, sealers, urethanes, varnishes, and lacquers. Designed with a 400W indoor/outdoor motor, that produces a continuous flow of material resulting in an excellent fine finish. Equipped with an adjustable air cap allows you to produce a spray pattern in 3 different positions. Use it with a vertical fan, horizontal fan, or round pattern fan to effectively get the job done quick and easy for an incredible finish. The material flow can be adjusted easily at your fingertips. Control your spray fan pattern from a wide 12 inches to a small pattern of less than an inch. The PaintWIZ handheld paint sprayer PRO will spray stains, sealers and other light body materials with less overspray than your regular sprayer and with unbelievable control. Set up within minutes and clean up in less time compared with brushes and rollers. No matter what you are spraying from kitchen cabinets, trims, patio furniture, decks and fences, the PaintWIZ handheld will help you get any indoor or outdoor job done quick and easy. PaintWIZ is a division of Canadian Corporation Fuji Industrial Spray Equipment ltd. (Fuji Spray). Fuji Spray specializes in the design, manufacture, export and distribution of high quality HVLP spray equipment. The PaintWIZ brand is committed to offering quality equipment to meet the needs of the home user, hobbyist and enthusiastic DIYer. Our PaintWIZ products are approved and certified by ETL. PaintWIZ sprayers carry a 12 month warranty.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Great for small and larger projects\\n\\nReview: The timeliness of finding this product is uncanny as I have some painting to do on the boy's room, my girl's furniture and I just replaced a post out in the front of the house that needs some love so it looks like part of the house again.\\n\\nI love this simple to use sprayer!\\n+ Different pattern settings on the nozzle\\n\\n+ Material/paint volume control at your finger tips\\n\\n+ Two different containers, so if you were doing two colors or wanted to reload quicker you can do so\\n\\n+ Front body detaches for disassemble and easy cleaning\\n\\n+ Trigger has metal pieces. Thank you! Hate when the most use part of the product breaks because someone wanted to save a few cents and make it all plastic.\\n\\n+ Manual is in clear English and large enough font that it's easy to read.\\n* Suggestions provided on how to use oil enamel, base primer, stain, sealer, varnish, latex, etc.\\n* Diagrams on proper spraying technique\\n* Troubleshooting section\\n\\nI'm kind of new to painting so there is a bag with a measuring cup and some other what appear to be large coffee filters. I'm not sure how to use these and there is no info in the manual. Providing a new painter some info on this would be helpful otherwise it goes unused, regardless it's included in this box.\\n\\nNo good way to store this thing unless you put it back in the box in came in. I guess that is the challenge with most tools, but maybe a hook on the handle so you can hang it to dry or a small pouch (something other than a ziplock baggie) for the extra pieces would have been a great touch.\\n\\nCord is about four-feet long, so you'll be getting the extension cord out I'm sure.\\nSpraying with this new is easy because there is no product to potentially clog holes. The spray pattern (if done properly per the instructions) comes out nice and even. Thorough cleaning will be the key to keeping this working in like new condition.\\n\\nOVERALL: Mine arrived looking like the box had been previously opened with tape all over and black marker pen markings like it was a return.\\nI was concerned at first (not something I could have given as a gift if they all ship that way), but everything inside looked new and worked immediately.\\nIt works great.\\nSprays nicely with plenty of options.\\nI like this product.\",\n \"Product: Transform your home into a state-of-the-art smart home using the GE Bluetooth Plug-In Smart Dimmer. Control and program your lighting directly from your phone or tablet - no need for a gateway, hub or even a router. This one-of-a-kind smart dimmer allows you to schedule, control and change the brightness of any table or floor lamp in your home. With its space-saving, horizontal design, the GE Bluetooth Plug-In Smart Dimmer plugs into standard receptacles without blocking the second outlet. It features multiple scheduling options, including seven-day, sunrise and sunset, random and vacation or even customized countdowns.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Set schedules for when you are a away or at home\\n\\nReview: We have a light that we turn on every morning and it's the last light we turn off at night for bed. Having a control unit handle this is a great feature. Also, I no longer need to depend on a friend to come to the house and turn lights on or off when I'm on vacation...this handles the appearance that someone is at home.\\n\\n=============\\n\\nPic #1 = Unit plugged into wall.\\n+ The three-prong unit has the prong on the bottom, so you need to have an open top jack on your wall. If you have a second item plugged into the wall it needs to use the bottom jack. In my image mine is behind my couch and I'll be plugging a powerstrip into the bottom jack, below this unit, for my other devices.\\n+ The unit I received itself allows for one(1) two-prong device to be plugged into that. In my photo, I have our single lamp plugged into it.\\n\\nPic #2 = The required software from Google Play for my android.\\n+ Installed easily enough\\n> You do need to register the software before using it.\\n+ No instructions included in the box to tell you have to use the software, it simply says to follow the online prompts. The software is easy to use!\\n+ You can add up to seven(7) schedules, so if you have a different schedule Mon-Fri versus the weekend, then you've used two out of the seven schedules used up. I actually have four schedules across different days of the week and it works great.\\n\\n===============\\n\\nFINAL THOUGHTS:\\n\\n+ I was hard pressed to find another device like this. It meets a niche that isn't overrun with other products.\\n\\n+ Cost:\\nTrue you can buy a straight dimmer switch for $10, but you cannot schedule anything.\\nTrue there are some bluetooth light bulbs around $30 that allow you to change colors and schedule things too, but your lamp needs to be able to fit the light first of all and I'm not sure about the ease of use for the software.\\nSo $40-something for this to keep others thinking someone is at home or control the lights for me, the price totally works out for what you get.\\n\\n+ Easy to use.\\n\\n+ Software does not appear buggy, but works perfectly for me.\\n\\n+ Love this item!\",\n \"Product: Exercise Training Workout Resistance Bands Sets\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Versitile, but more useful for women\\n\\nReview: Somehow I got these and misplaced them so never got around to using them or reviewing them.\\nRecentlyl I started the Tapout XT workout DVDs which are heavy band usage workout and my wife asked me why wasn't I using these bands? I said, \\\"What bands?\\\" That is when I rediscovered these.\\n\\n+ Good range of resistance selection\\n\\n+ Can really increase the resistance by putting more than one band on at a time\\n\\n-- Second time using the Green band I snapped it. I didn't think I was doing anything overly strange. I've since done the same workout a half dozen times with the yellow band, which is lighter and more stretchy and it hasn't broke, but it's unfortunate that it snapped so soon.\\n\\n+ On that note, the yellow (7lbs) has been a good workout for most resistance training\\n\\n+ Door attachment provided\\n\\n> The handles are a bit narrow, so the sides of my hand rub against the material, which is no fun\\n\\n+ The carry bag make these truly portable and able to take to a hotel or on a trip\\n\\nOVERALL: I'm questioning the quality since a band snapped so quickly and the handles are made for small women hands only, not larger men's hands. Otherwise, there is a lot to like here.\",\n \"Product: These XTRATUF Performance Series 12\\\" Mens Full Rubber Deck Boots are flexible and durable enough to handle the athleticism of offshore angling. Youll be able to keep your footing in the slipperiest conditions with the unparalleled traction of XTRATUF's signature non-marking Chevron outsole. Lightweight and 100% waterproof, these navy and red fishing boots feature an XpressCool antimicrobial liner for breathable comfort, and convenient rubber grips for easy on and off. At 12 inches, these deck boots are just the right height for comfortable coverage against the elements.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: They do the job...mostly.\\n\\nReview: + First off, I think these look great.\\nIf I have my pants over the boot (which I'd rarely do), you'd think I was wearing Vans tennis shoes from a distance.\\nThe grey with white sole goes with a lot of clothing for the fashionable conscious.\\n\\n+ The textured yellow area at the top helps get these on easier.\\n\\n+ I normally wear a 9 to 9.5 tennis shoe, so the size 10 boot fit great and would fit better if I had thicker, warm socks on. Thus, get a 1/2 size higher\\n\\n> When walking for any distance, these rub the back of my calf like nobody's business. Not sure if that is because they are a 1/2 size larger or what. Even with my pants tucked in, if I didn't have that extra layer of high-calf socks, I'd be feeling this.\\n\\n> All other water/rain boots I could find do not have flat soles. True there is a pattern, but logic and science tell me that the competitor brand boots that have raised knobs of rubber on the bottom allow for better traction and less slipping.\\n\\n-- I have some other shoes where the bottoms create high pressure points for better grip and no slipping. The more I wear these, the more the flatter bottoms do not feel secure. Once your foot starts slipping, there is nothing to slow it down or stop it from slipping all the way.\\n\\n+ I did go for a 1-mile walk out in our rainy weather and didn't feel like I was going to slip and comfortability was okay, except for the chaffing of my calf\\n\\n+ They are the right height for getting on/off without too much trouble and finding your feet submerged\\n\\n-- $70 for a pair of rubber boots feels ridiculous. There are other well-rated boots for around $30, so I don't see what these provide that would make them worth twice as much as one of the competitor products. That sort of pricing makes me simply think they don't expect to sell much volume, so jack up the price to get the most out of it.\\n\\nOVERALL: I'm probably going to use these in the yard or at the dog park, as it doesn't matter what I step in, I can easily clean it up these boots.\",\n \"Product: Battle Line is a card game of capture the flags using an ancient battle formation theme. It plays like rummy or poker is easy to learn and has strategy and the ability to provide surprises to your opponent. The leaders of both sides direct forces along the battle line to gain tactical advantages. The first player to win three adjacent Flags or any five Flags is the winner. Based on Reiner Knizia's original design published in Germany as Schotten-Totten Battle Line enhances and expands the game with more options and fun.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Simple but deep strategy\\n\\nReview: I bought this a few months ago and it sat on the shelf with the other stack of unopened games. What a dork! This is a great game that needed to be opened sooner.\\n\\nDice Tower has a very easy to follow review on youtube so I won't go into how to play the game.\\n\\nSome feedback. . .\\n1. Non-gamers can pick this up fast. We had a guest last night as a matter of fact that really sucks at games. She just doesn't get it. But she picked this up and won a round.\\n\\n2. Yes, technically you can play with a simple deck of cards and some tokens that represent the flags, but get the actual set if you can. I got mine on Amazon for around $15 and it was well worth it.\\n\\n3. Quality of the cards are nice and laminated and not too thin.\\n\\n4. We choose to NOT play with the tactic cards. There is still so much going on with the base game that we don't need the added layer, plus I agree with Dice Tower that the tactic cards it comes with don't change the game that much. What they do provide is a little bit of variety.\\n\\n5. Most of our games get down to the last hand and an empty draw pile. This is great and means we are loving the level of strategy.\\n\\n6. LUCK is light as there is a randomness to which cards you draw. But since it's only a two player game, each player has a great chance of getting at least three winning hands and if you can win in a row, that's all you need!\\n\\nOur entire family of kids and adults (six of us ranging from ages 10+) love this game as a great skirmish battle.\",\n \"Product: Battle Line is a card game of capture the flags using an ancient battle formation theme. It plays like rummy or poker is easy to learn and has strategy and the ability to provide surprises to your opponent. The leaders of both sides direct forces along the battle line to gain tactical advantages. The first player to win three adjacent Flags or any five Flags is the winner. Based on Reiner Knizia's original design published in Germany as Schotten-Totten Battle Line enhances and expands the game with more options and fun.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Simple but deep strategy\\n\\nReview: I bought this a few months ago and it sat on the shelf with the other stack of unopened games. What a dork! This is a great game that needed to be opened sooner.\\n\\nDice Tower has a very easy to follow review on youtube so I won't go into how to play the game.\\n\\nSome feedback. . .\\n1. Non-gamers can pick this up fast. We had a guest last night as a matter of fact that really sucks at games. She just doesn't get it. But she picked this up and won a round.\\n\\n2. Yes, technically you can play with a simple deck of cards and some tokens that represent the flags, but get the actual set if you can. I got mine on Amazon for around $15 and it was well worth it.\\n\\n3. Quality of the cards are nice and laminated and not too thin.\\n\\n4. We choose to NOT play with the tactic cards. There is still so much going on with the base game that we don't need the added layer, plus I agree with Dice Tower that the tactic cards it comes with don't change the game that much. What they do provide is a little bit of variety.\\n\\n5. Most of our games get down to the last hand and an empty draw pile. This is great and means we are loving the level of strategy.\\n\\n6. LUCK is light as there is a randomness to which cards you draw. But since it's only a two player game, each player has a great chance of getting at least three winning hands and if you can win in a row, that's all you need!\\n\\nOur entire family of kids and adults (six of us ranging from ages 10+) love this game as a great skirmish battle.\",\n \"Product: THEIR GREATEST WEAPON IS FEAR. YOURS IS AN ASSAULT RIFLE. Now overrun with swarms of monstrous genetic creations led by their nefarious alien overseers, the underground facility of Subterra Bravo is the epicenter of an unfathomable government conspiracy-one that must be kept secret at all costs. To cover up the truth, the shadowy agency in charge of the operation has initiated Omega Protocol, dispatching an elite team of commandos to retake Subterra Bravo and eradicate all evidence of the sinister creatures within. But the threat these creatures and their alien overlords pose may be far greater than anyone can possibly imagine. LEVEL 7 [OMEGA PROTOCOL] is a tactical miniatures-based board game for 2-6 players. Fearlessly enter the belly of the beast as part of a highly trained team of operatives and work together to neutralize all threats, or take control of the creatures inhabiting Subterra Bravo and ensure the human intruders know true terror before they meet their grisly fate.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great dungeon crawler. X-COM meets board game!!\\n\\nReview: **Update Nov 2015**\\nOver a year and a half when I first left this review, the kids played this through and had a learning curve. Now that we've played it another ten times (we have a lot of games to get through in a year. . .) they still REALLY like this game. I've reviewed a lot of strategy games in the last two months (competitive and co-op) and this is still one of the favorite with my three sons.\\n\\nGranted since I reviewed this someone actually came out with an X-COM board game. We haven't tried that yet, but still like this one for that feel of a sci-fi dungeon crawler with specific missions.\\n\\nTIP: Whoever is playing the 'good guys'. . .Movement is life! The squad looses almost every time someone thinks to hunker down and defend a corner of the map. It never turns out well for them in the long-run.\\n\\n=======================\\n\\nJust finished our first game which took significantly longer playing with 6 newbies than the box says. None of us knew what we were doing and our squad even backtracked at one point, which added on hours to the game.\\n\\nWith that said:\\n\\nComponents = great! Nice pictures, good quality pieces. Also the figures have great details...even if they aren't painted.\\nReplay ability = pretty good...there are 9-10 missions and you could become the Overseer to double that.\\nCost = a bit high compared to a similar game, Descent: Journey In the Dark 2nd edition\\nIntensity = pretty high as things could pop-out from different places\\nStrategy = high, as you really have to use the strengths of your players against the opponents and don't get pinned down!\\nTheme = very strong...we felt like we were invading the alien base\\n\\nMy son was whining that I selected him (I was team leader) to be the Countermeasures Specialist because my son didn't like the stances the character had to choose from. But his character was MVP for holding back the enemy forces while two of us were struggling to complete the mission objective.\\n\\nImmediately after playing I wanted to be a different commando or the Overseer. I saw potential in both sides and thought it would add a lot of variety.\\n\\nOur family of six love this. We are also all fans of the video game, X-COM (all versions). With the use of adrenaline in this game, its the equivalent of time-units in X-COM and forces you to think through your strategy for your battles. It worked great.\\n\\nThe only bummer is that if you let the game get passed 9-turns (at least on our mission) and commandos start dying, then there is nothing left for the players to do who's characters are dead. Those players left the room and it wasn't the same without them interacting with us in some capacity. Even if there was a game mechanic that used up the entire team's adrenaline in order to summon in reinforcements, then a once dead player could be replaced with at least a fresh unit who would be stuck struggling to catch up to the rest of the squad, but we'd have everyone still involved.\\n\\nOVERALL: Love the theme! Love the game mechanics. We bought ours for around $60 from CoolStuffInc, which is the site Tom Vassel from Dice Tower is sponsored by.\\n\\nWe can't wait to play again.\",\n \"Product: Dead of Winter: A Crossroads Game, the first game in this series, puts 2-5 players in a small, weakened colony of survivors in a world where most of humanity is either dead or diseased, flesh-craving monsters. Each player leads a faction of survivors with dozens of different characters in the game. Dead of Winter is a meta-cooperative psychological survival game. This means players are working together toward one common victory condition - but for each individual player to achieve victory, he must also complete his personal secret objective. This secret objective could relate to a psychological tick that's fairly harmless to most others in the colony, a dangerous obsession that could put the main objective at risk, a desire for sabotage of the main mission, or (worst of all) vengeance against the colony! Certain games could end with all players winning, some winning and some losing, or all players losing. Work toward the group's goal, but don't get walked all over by a loudmouth who's looking out only for his own interests! Dead of Winter is an experience that can be accomplished only through the medium of tabletop games. It's a story-centric game about surviving through a harsh winter in an apocalyptic world. The survivors are all dealing with their own psychological imperatives, but must still find a way to work together to fight off outside threats, resolve crises, find food and supplies and keep the colony's morale up. Dead of Winter has players making frequent, difficult, heavily- thematic, wildly-varying decisions that often have them deciding between what is best for the colony and what is best for themselves.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Our favorite family Christmas gift\\n\\nReview: *Update Feb 2016*\\n\\nOur family has played this nearly every weekend since Christmas 2015! As a matter of fact, our three youngest kids are home sick from school this week and as soon as they were feeling better, instead of watching more TV they wanted to play this again (Ages 11-15).\\n\\nAlso, there are three extra characters you can order directly from PlaidHat Store and I purchased two of them: Kodiak Colby (the Woodsman) and the Roberta Plum (bonus Christmas card). Roberta is a fun card and her ability is frustrating to other players but oh, so fun! (trade junk for someone else's equipped item). The third extra character, a Felicia Day card, remains out of stock. But for any of these cards simply wait to get it directly from PaidHat and don't bother people jacking up the price on eBay.\\n\\n=======================\\n\\nWe have nearly 200 board games, but not many in the co-op/individual survival category. So when we got this, it was a pleasant surprise.\\n\\nPic #1 = The board, cards, tokens and all the extras.\\nThe foam insert is not included! My wife found some plans and built the organizer herself, which really helps.\\n\\nPic #2 = The cool thing is they use these location cards for other places you need to explore throughout the game. Super easy to add expansions with additional locations like a department store, bank, warehouse(s), etc.\\n\\nPic #3 = Easy to read manual with color pictures. The manual doesn't take that long to read through.\\n\\nPic #4 = The zombie figures. I like they went with these cardboard figures and stands. Makes replacing (if that is ever needed) or expanding cheaper and easier than plastic figures. The cardboard is thick enough that it should have no problem lasting through a lot of games.\\n\\nPic #5 = The character figures. There are a good amount of characters in the box, each with an accompanying character card that specifies their special abilities.\\n\\nAt the time of this writing you can two more characters (Roberta Plumb and Kodiak Colby) by ordering direct from Plaidhat and they are only $6 each versus the $30+ idiots on eBay are trying to charge. The one character you cannot easily get is the Felicia Day character.\\n\\nPic #6 = The cards have nice, bright artwork. Though some images may be a bit gruesome for younger players. It is a zombie game after all.\\n\\nPic #7 = Samples of tokens. There is a bag provided for all the little tokens. Also the First Player token is a large knife. This specifies certain game order at the start. My 17 year old wanted this bad one game, because he wanted to be the first to get to the police station and start rummaging for a firearm. Thus he picked the character with the greatest charisma/influence so he could be player one.\\n\\nSome locations only support 2 players but locations like the Police Station support three. I think he was just being paranoid at the sake of forgetting the colony's benefit. He was only concerned for himself and that is part of the strategy (or lack thereof) in playing a game that is semi co-op, as individuals are out for their own gain as well.\\n\\nPic #8 = Each player is given a mission card.\\nOne player has a chance to be a Betrayer. Out of a dozen games we only had a betrayer three times (25%). The betrayer will have a different mission that has winning conditions along the lines of the colony failing in some way. The trick for the betrayer is to play in such a way that you aren't getting exiled by the colony, because then your job in influencing the colony's success is less or non-existent. Thus you need a balance of helping and sabotaging the colony.\\n\\nPic #9 = List of all the components in the game. Yes, it's a long list, but it doesn't mean the game is hard to learn. But it does mean the game has good complexity and depth.\\n\\n+ PRICE = Good\\nFor a long time this game was $60 on Amazon. I bought mine for $41 on another site. Glad to see at the time of this writing the price on Amazon has dropped to $46. Worth the cost for what you get in this game.\\n\\n+ STRATEGY = medium to high\\nAs the betrayer I think you have more of a need for strategy than the rest of the players.\\nAs the a regular player it's more about surviving and trying to co-op win the goal. We failed about 60% of our games because others were focused on their personal survival and not the good of the colony.\\n\\n+ IMMERSION = high\\nI really felt like we were trying to survive the zombie apocalypse.\\nIf players only share information or make decisions with other players in their character's area, it brings a greater level of immersion.\\n\\n+ LUCK = medium\\nIt's really the randomness of the cards you draw. Yes, there is often dice rolling too, but the cards are what felt like you didn't know what could or would happen. Thus you may have this elaborate strategy to go get a gun, then get some gasoline then comeback to the colony to clean out the spawning zombie horde, but the chance of the card draw throws 'realistic' obstacles that slow or completely hinder your strategy.\\n\\n+ REPLAYABILITY = high\\nThere are a good amount of missions with different difficulties/length of play.\\nCombine this with the randomness of events at each location, makes no two games the same.\\nOur first six play through were all with the same beginner mission. It really helped us learn the game mechanics and figure out an individual strategy. But with the different characters each game and the constant changing events, it was always a unique game play.\\n\\nFINAL THOUGHTS:\\n+ I can now understand why this is on everyone's top 10 list. It's on our top 10 list too.\\n+ This is a 2-5 player game. I found on boardgamegeek dot com, some suggestions on how to make this 6-player (start with less resources per player and add more mission cards, including an additional betrayer). But the big complaint was the downtime between player's turn gets a bit long, especially if you have players who cannot make quick decision. It plays well 2-5 players, though the less players you have the more difficult to win, but I like a challenge!\\n+ Less than $50 (cost of a video game) and you get a great immersion experience. LOVE THIS GAME!\",\n \"Product: Neat-Oh! 's line of Barbie storage products is growing in 2014 - and so is the innovation. From toy-storage units that transform into play surfaces to uniquely shaped storage options, there have never been so many interesting ways to store and play with Barbie and her accessories. The 60 Doll Fashion Mansion holds an entire collection of Barbie dolls and accessories - and then unfolds into a three-sided (plus a roof!) mansion-themed backdrop to provide an arena for creative play. When playtime is over, the mansion folds into a trunk to securely store Barbie, her friends and all their belongings. Neat-Oh! 's play-and-store solutions have won numerous awards and are universally recognized for their clever, patented designs and ease of use. Pure genius! Dolls and other items sold separately. Like every Neat-Oh! product, the 60 Doll Fashion Mansions manufactured to the highest quality and safety standards. The company's comprehensive product testing program exceeds industry requirements. It tests for 19 heavy metals, not the mandated 8, it hand sews products and it uses self-repairing zippers and food-grade inks. They're products you can believe in.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: The not so Neat-Oh Mansion\\n\\nReview: <div id=\\\"video-block-R1H0TI1ZNIICW0\\\" class=\\\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\\\"></div><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D1BG4d9pIWS.mp4\\\" class=\\\"video-url\\\"><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61-YIICDVkS.png\\\" class=\\\"video-slate-img-url\\\">If you want storage, the <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Neat-Oh-Barbie-ZipBin-40-Doll-Dream-House-Toy-Box-Playmat/dp/B004VYYA2K/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Neat-Oh! Barbie ZipBin 40 Doll Dream House Toy Box & Playmat</a> or the <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Barbie-A1687XX-Malibu-Beach-House-40-Doll-Storage-Playmat-by-Neat-Oh-with-Colloring-Book/dp/B00I2WYQGC/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Barbie A1687XX Malibu Beach House 40 Doll Storage & Playmat by Neat-Oh! with Colloring Book</a> seem more sturdy and actually have handles for carrying the dolls around or moving it to a different location.\\n\\nIf you want a play \\\"house\\\", the <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Calego-Modern-Doll-House/dp/B008GPMF9U/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Calego Modern Doll House</a> seems like a much better option for around the same price.\\n\\nI do find it funny that the description says, \\\"Tested to the most stringent quality and safety standard\\\". What? You found small kids couldn't put this in their mouth and choke, so it's now a selling point?!? I think that goes to prove that even Neat-Oh company was stretching to find something good in this product.\\n\\nIf this item didn't have a play factor I would have given it a one-star, as I think it only encourages creating/hiding a mess versus getting more organized. Plus the containers from Walmart are by far a less expensive option, if I'm really looking for storage.\\n\\nBut since my daughter can play with this too, it give it overall an extra star.\\n\\nDisclaimer: I received this product free or at a discounted price, in exchange for the purposes of a product review. All opinions are 100% my own and they reflect my honest & unbiased opinion. Your experience may differ from mine. If you did find this review helpful, please vote.\",\n \"Product: A large, green animal from long ago? Must be a dinosaur. Water, cube and cold weather? Has to be an ice cube. A man with a job who rides large brown animals in the United States? Is that a cowboy? In Concept, players team up to place tokens on a board covered in icons, depicting everything from ancient samurai and snails to Leonardo DiCaprio. Points go to the player who can guess the correctly by looking at the various symbols, but in this wild party game, the points are less important than just having a great time!.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: It really makes you think! Nice challenging game.\\n\\nReview: <div id=\\\"video-block-R2QQ6Q9LEYG13G\\\" class=\\\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\\\"></div><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D14QP1jxT%2BS.mp4\\\" class=\\\"video-url\\\"><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91m7Rumz1gS.png\\\" class=\\\"video-slate-img-url\\\"> We didn't play in teams the first time, but had three individual players. Our next games we had four players.\\n\\nWith three players, every round had two players trying to beat the other to guess the clue first. This worked just fine. Two players would be boring I think.\\n\\nI played this with kids ages 10 - 14 and they all enjoyed it.\\n\\nSome of the tougher words would be difficult for non-adults to delivery or guess, as they wouldn't know the references. Even for adults they would be difficult. . .try and describe the concept of \\\"nightmare\\\" with a set group of images. It's harder than you think.\\n\\nUsing the timer really, really helped!!\\n\\nLUCK is low on this game, which many of us like because we hate getting derailed due to random chance. This game is all about you understanding the clue giver and the clue giver giving good clues.\\n\\nCOMPONENTS: Nice quality and durable. But mini-blocks are very small and easily roll off the table as they slip through one's fingers. A bit of texture would help these blocks not be so slippery.\\n\\nI forgot to show in the video that our set came with four(4) clue cards that tell you what the symbols on the board reference. This is a MUST have component. At least they are sturdy enough to last a while.\\n\\nOVERALL: Now that we know how to play, it's doable in a 30-minutes.\\n\\nNOTE:\\nIf you have a suggestion / question / or did NOT find this review helpful, leave me a comment! I'm more than happy to respond to the comment and/or update this review to make it more helpful.\\n\\nIf you found this review helpful please vote. Thank you!\",\n \"Product: Expand your Collection Instantly.The Deck Builder's Toolkit puts 285 cards at your disposal, with everything you need to create multiple decks. No two toolkits are alike.Each Box Contains:- 125 semi-randomized cards suitable for building several different Magic decks.- Four 15-card booster packs from a variety of recent Magic: The Gathering sets- 100 basic land cards to help you cast your spells- Deck builder's guide with tips about building the best Magic Decks- Magic Rules Reference Card.- Full-art reusable card storage box.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Nice foundation for that series, but only buy one unless you really like the cards and want some duplicates\\n\\nReview: My son and I both bought one toolkit for each of us. Sure enough buying two gives you now a 2nd, 3rd or 4th of some of the cards provided from the Deckbuilder. That isn't a bad thing because there are some respectable cards, even commons, provided in this set. Thus having multiples allows for more chance of filling a deck with multiples of a good card.\\n\\nMath-wise here is how I value this purchase (NOTE: I could be full of it here, but in my limited knowledge it works for me):\\n1. I paid $18.30 total, including tax and shipping.\\n2. This box includes four booster packs (1 Nix, 2 Born of the Gods and 1 Core 2015) @ $3 per booster to get 4 rares at least = using $12 of the $18. Not bad.\\n\\nSo what more do I get for the remaining $6.\\n3. The toolkit itself provides are at least one Mythic and several rares.\\n4. My boosters gave me another Mythic, which is a bonus!\\n5. The box holds a good number of cards\\n6. You can always use some new black border land\\n\\nSo for me, this toolkit was totally worth it!!\\n\\nNOTE: Just by itself you cannot make an \\\"very good\\\" deck, but you can have enough variety of colors and types of cards you could put a basic deck or two together and play. I added in 9 more various booster packs and had a much better variety of card to build decks with.\\n\\nA couple of youtube videos will always tell you that if you know what cards you want, buy the individual cards and build your deck. You will always get more for your money and zero junk.\\n\\nThat may be true. But for those of us returning to the game (15yr hiatus) or new to the game or without much of a collection of cards, this is a great place to start building your own decks.\\n\\nValue-wise I think it's worth it. . .at least for me.\",\n \"Product: From the first Stetson hat to the unveiling of the first iPad, America's history and its popular culture have gone hand in hand. See if you can remember when the Red Sox traded Babe Ruth, or when Lindbergh crossed the Atlantic. American popular history was never this much fun! Timeline: Americana takes the players through a historical tour of the popular history of the country. Each player has a hand of cards and they take turns placing those cards correctly into the growing timeline. Guess correctly to get rid of all your cards and win the game!\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Not an expansion I would pick. I like other expansions better.\\n\\nReview: Quick Guide to game:\\n\\n1. First everyone gets four cards with the date face down so no one can read the date.\\n2. One card is put in the middle and that is the starting card, with the date exposed.\\n3. Going around each player plays a card before or after the date of the starting card. If they are correct, they leave their card as part of the timeline. If they are incorrect, they discard their card and draw another card.\\n4. Next person then tries to place a card on the timeline before or after one of the existing cards in the timeline, and so forth.\\n5. First player to get rid of all their cards wins.\\n\\nPROS:\\n+ The initial \\\"Wow!\\\" is that you don't realize when things occurred in history.\\n+ Nice artwork on the cards\\n+ Overall a good, not great, warm up game before playing some \\\"real\\\" strategy games. This game is complete guesswork unless you know the trivia dates.\\n+ Less than $10 is perfect for a game\\n\\nCONS:\\n- We actually liked the Americana overall less than <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Timeline/dp/B005N57CNU/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Timeline</a>, the original game. The original had things like first writings, the rubber band and penicillin. This one has things like \\\"For Whom the Bell Tolls\\\", Joe DiMaggio's 56 Game Hitting Spree, and Barbie's First appearance. Americana = American culture.\\n- Cards are tiny. As the timeline grows it's difficult to see across the table at the other dates.\\n- If you play through the set a good 10-20 games, then you start to recognize the cards and remember their dates.\\n- Timeline can get pretty long and need space or break apart into multiple rows\\n\\nOverall:\\nI like the other expansions and original game better than Americana. This is a subjective thing, since I personally don't care about Barbie or DiMaggio, but find things like pyramids and the first CD-ROM to be more interesting and educational. I think there will be some out there that will know these modern facts better and thus do better with the game. Because face it, we all like winning at games and tend to want to play games we can win at. I'm terrible at American culture stuff and that is probably why I don't like this game in the series. But I gave it a three-stars as I think there is an audience out there for it and the overall game mechanics are easy for non-gamers.\",\n \"Product: Tash-kalar: arena of legends is a game played by Masters Of magic. Two to four summoners encounter each other in the tash-kalar arena, either in teams or each on his own, and prove their skill and strategy in a short but intense battle. By clever deployment of their minions, they create magic patterns for summoning powerful beings, and then use those to destroy their opponent's forces or to prepare patterns for the ultimate legendary beings.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: A \\\"not for everyone\\\" Award-winning abstract game\\n\\nReview: We have owned over 300 games in the last two years, so we've played lots of different games with our family of six. This feels more of a niche game, in that some will love it and some will not. Apparently this is the 2nd edition by CGE, no Z-MAN labels on this box.\\n\\nCOMPONENTS:\\nCards are standard cards.\\nPlayer boards are good enough.\\nThe main game board is thin, compared to other main game boards, which is where the most of the component complaints stem from.\\nBox has a very, very lame attempt at providing organization with fails on many levels. It almost would have been better if they simply provided a couple of Ziploc bags for the cards and left it at that.\\n\\nART:\\nSome great art (see pics)\\nI wonder if this game is rated 13+ because some risque art on the druids (see pic), which some parents will not appreciate as it isn't necessary.\\n\\nGAMEPLAY:\\nGameplay reminds me of baby happening between two other games: Onitama and The Rose King. Another poster on BoardGameGeek suggested this is a marriage between Go meets Command and Colors. Even with these similarities, this is a unique game!!\\n\\nYou're watching and building patterns so you can play actions. Depending on the monster or flare card you have, you can only \\\"move\\\" or place a piece that matches the pattern. Each card potentially has a special ability once you take an action or place it. Then the \\\"summoned creature\\\" is gone and you are left with a pattern on the ground that is no more an actual creature, but rather a setup for future patterns. . .if your pattern survives till your next turn or two.\\n\\nLUCK / STRATEGY:\\nThis is an abstract game, which is where I think players will love it or not love it.\\n\\nFor instance, one of my teenagers hates this game (yes, I realize hate is a strong word choice) because he cannot strategize. By the time his turn comes around the board could be wiped completely out and all the work he's been doing is gone or its changed in such a dramatic way that all his work up to that point has been for naught. Thus it feels to him like you cannot do anything until your turn and then it's random what you're left with. He hates random as a central mechanic.\\n\\nThe rest of us don't have as strong of negative feelings as he does, but I see his point as I too like to be able to strategize my way to a win vs. no point in participating in the game until its my turn again.\\n\\nTHEME:\\nIf it wasn't for the pattern layouts on the cards, I'd say theme was a HUGE stretch in this abstract game. Simply because it's an abstract game, makes theme more difficult. But, the pattern layouts match the monsters, which is a cool element.\\n\\nSo, it isn't non-existent but it isn't one of the stronger themed games either.\\nFrom same designer, Galaxy Trucker, Dungeon Lords and Space Alert dripped with theme (I use to own them). Unfortunately this one doesn't meet those standards.\\n\\nPLAYERS:\\nThis can go up to a 4-player game, but then the board is too small and you're left with a very frustrating game for some because the Luck element is even higher. This game does play better with 2-players.\\n\\nCOST:\\nFor $30 at the time of this cost, seems fine, considering 1 game board, 4 player boards and a stack or two of cards and tokens. Also, unlike games like TIME Stories or any Legacy games that have basically one playthrough, you can get a randomized gameplay out of this a few times. I think the intent is to purchase expansion cards to add variety later.\\n\\nOVERALL:\\nSince we own/owned so many games we find there are other 2-player games we'd rather play (e.g. Onitama or Hive, which are also 2-player abstract games). But that is us. This may very well scratch an itch for others, whether you are a fan of the designer or not. I'm looking forward to trying his other games, but for us, this one is okay.\\n\\nIt did win the Gold Geek Abstract game of 2013 and nominated for best 2-player game of 2013. Thus, this could be an encouragement for some to check it out.\",\n \"Product: The latest and greatest version of the card Game with ever changing rules! Easier than ever with just the four Classic card types that we all know and love. You still start out Simple: draw one card and play one card, changing the rules as you go, while collecting up such life essentials as chocolate, music, time, and cookies. Changing goals will keep you on your toes as well, and action cards are still shaking things up! Fluxx 5.0 was designed to be the perfect intro to the Flux system, while also building on all of the improvements we've made in this essential themed version over the years. We've gone back to a creeper-free version to make it more accessible to new players, while adding some new rules, goals and actions that have tested well in other recent versions.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Varied reactions from different types of players\\n\\nReview: This is an ever changing rules game where you are trying to accomplish a mission/goal card.\\n\\nI've played this with different types of gamers and non-gamers alike.\\n\\n+ The biggest attraction to the game is you never know what's coming.\\nYou start down a path to reach your goal only to have the rules changed by a competitor and now your totally in trouble or you hope a different goal card comes into play.\\n\\n+ The ever changing element keeps players engaged so everyone knows what's happening next. Because everyone is forced to stay engaged on some level, there are no lulls where you are waiting for your turn to come around, because by the time your turn does come around the rules could have changed two or three times.\\n\\n- Played this with some senior citizens and they couldn't keep up with all the rule changes.\\n\\n- Played this with some non-gamers and they were confused by all the changing rules\\n\\n- Played with some gamers and what frustrated us is that you cannot have a strategy.\\nThe fact that at any second things will be completely different means it's really a game of chance/luck on what cards you get in your hand. Also, it's not like in Uno where you can realize the final Draw 4 was played, so now you're safe to try and play your cards with a particular strategy knowing the worse that can happen is you'll get a Draw 2. Here, there are just too many different kinds of cards to see an opportunity to win and develop any strategy to play your final cards to gain victory.\\n\\n- Our cards seem really cheap. We've played only about a dozen times and the edges are fraying and they just don't seem to be holding up under light use.\\n\\n+ The cards are easy to read with graphics and text to explain what is going on.\\n\\nOVERALL: The competitive players didn't like the game being so much focused on random chance.\\nThe analytical, logical personalities kept getting frustrated because the constant changing rules were too many and too varied to enjoy.\\nThe one or two times I had a group who just didn't care, they seemed to have the most \\\"fun\\\" while letting the game itself fall into the backdrop of their conversation.\",\n \"Product: In Arcadia Quest, players lead guilds of intrepid heroes on an epic campaign to dethrone the vampire lord and reclaim the mighty Arcadia for their own. But only one guild may lead in the end, so players must battle against each other as well as against the monstrous occupying forces. Arcadia Quest is a campaign-based game for 2 to 4 players, where each player controls a guild of three unique heroes, facing off against the other players and the various monsters controlled by the game. Players need to accomplish a series of quests in order to win each scenario and choose where to go next in the campaign. Players are able to choose the path their campaign takes, navigating through six out of eleven available scenarios, so each time the campaign is played it can have a different configuration of scenarios. As the campaign progresses, the heroes are able to acquire new weapons, equipment and abilities that give them powerful options to tackle the obstacles ahead. Furthermore, by fulfilling specific quests in a scenario, players unlock exclusive features in subsequent scenarios.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: I cannot decide between 4-star or 4.5-star. Depends on our playing group and who likes dice and who doesn't\\n\\nReview: We are an active gaming house and have owned and played over 300 modern board/card games in the last couple of years. What caught our interest on this one (other than all the youtube reviews said it was \\\"fun!\\\") is the fact that there is a mechanic not found in many games.\\n\\n+ PVP and re-spawning\\nThis game has pvp (player vs. player) and respawning, just like video games. You may die, but you may kill others multiple times in one session. The game quests actually encourage this aspect for most scenarios.\\n\\n+ Components\\nLike everything we've tried from CMON so far, the components are fantastic. It makes you feel like you're getting your money's worth with the quality of components in this game.\\n\\n+ Miniatures!\\nYes, this is one of the components, but the miniatures have great detail a I've seen some great paint jobs on boardgamegeek.\\n\\n> This game really needs an organizer.\\nOnce you punch the tokens you cannot fit the game back in the box. We had to dump the box the character figures came in, so the bags of tokens had someplace to reside. I found some great foamboard organizers people self-made (which is probably what we'll do), but there are some nice foam organizers a person can buy for almost the same cost as the game. ack!\\n\\n-- Loss of a star because the LUCK is high in this game!\\nEverything comes down to two actions: dice rolling and what items you're team of characters are offered during the upgrade phase of the game. We had a punny, 2-attack goblin roll 8 crits in a row and thus decimated a character with 12 defense dice. Large swings in chance like this were the reason some of our family don't want to play this any longer, since their entire strategy can get derailed with the chance of a dice roll. Also, sometimes you have a ranged caster and no magic items provided in the item upgrade draft. So you go one or more scenarios without any upgrades.\\n\\n> Leans more toward melee.\\nThe chance of rolling ranged attacks is 3 (2 ranged + 1 crit) on a six sided die and melee is 4 (3 swords + 1 crit) on a six sided die. I get it, that ranged have the advantage of hitting from across the map (if unblocked), but it was no joke the number of swords a ranged attacker would roll compared to the roll they needed. This probably goes back more to the luck aspect than the fact that it isn't balanced.\\n\\n+ Eleven (11) scenarios in the base game and a full \\\"campaign\\\" uses 6 of the 11.\\nIf you run through a second campaign to play all the scenarios you missed the first time, only the last, final battle is repeated.\\nIt took us about 10hrs to get through 6 scenarios (1 campaign).\\n\\n+ The game scales fine for 2, 3 or 4 player.\\nWe had more fun with even numbers as there were more competitors to keep each other busy and less ganging up on one person.\\n\\n-- We have six in our family and I could not find an expansion for 5 or 6 players. Bummer!\\nI guess a second copy of the game and you could add more players, by putting the maps next to each other, but I don't know if that would be recommended.\\n\\n+ Expansions galore!\\nWith all the expansions that are out there, I think I read that there are over 100 playable characters now for this game. So even though the base game starts with 12 characters, there is plenty variety that can be captured through the expansions and characters for sale out there.\\n\\n> Weak story.\\nThis is a action video game not a role-playing adventure story. This may throw some people off.\\nThis game is all about combat!\\n\\n+ Across six scenarios in a campaign, scenario #2 and #3 I almost got no money = no ability to purchase upgrades.\\nI was going to hate on this game for what I was assuming, \\\"if you fall behind early, there is no competing with the others later.\\\" But I was wrong and I found scenario #4 and #5 worked in my benefit. Thus entering the final battle I was able to compete with other players.\\n\\n> I'm not sure about the balance of the game.\\nWe found we had more success taking all our equipment upgrades and buffing out one main character out of our three, making that one as strong as possible. This left me wondering why do I even bother with a third character when all four of us would only play with one, maybe a second through an entire scenario? I realize the intent is that you buff out your characters evenly, but lack of upgrades because a scenario doesn't go in your favor may mean you can only afford one or two cheap upgrades that barely give one character the advantages of the next scenario which is always more difficult.\\n\\nOVERALL:\\nWe had fun and there were some very memorable battles. After speed playing through a full campaign we are tired and ready for a very different flavor game before we're ready to tackle another campaign. Was it worth the $50 I picked this up for on Amazon? Yes! Did I order some additional characters to add variety? Yes.\\nWill we sell this or keep it after another two or three campaigns? Maybe. We feel Imperial Assault has more replayability even though that is mostly combat focused too and has great miniatures. But this has a different, more fun feel and one we are still having a lot of fun with.\",\n \"Product: Who will rule the South Seas? Two Kahuna ancient sorcerers of the Pacific compete for dominance on an archipelago consisting of twelve small islands. Using their magic and wisdom, they struggle for control of the islands. They anxiously await the cards handed to them by fate. But when the time is right, they move to capture one, two, or even more islands, trying to gain the upper hand. At the mercy of the magical powers of the South Seas, they quickly realize that even the best magic is no good without strategy.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Area control game with high strategy\\n\\nReview: You and an opponent are sorcerers trying to prove your power by controlling a group of islands. This theme is kind of weak, but that doesn't mean this isn't a fun game.\\n\\nEach player starts with cards in their hand, but not more than five cards in your hand. On your turn you can play as few or many cards from your hand.\\n\\nOn your turn:\\n1. Play an island card\\n2. Place a token to control an island\\n3. Remove an opponents bridge(s) from an island by using cards\\n4. Draw an island card\\n5. Rinse-repeat\\n\\n6. Round scoring - once the face-down draw pile is depleted then it's time to score the round.\\n7. After scoring, play a 2nd and eventually a 3rd round by reshuffling the card pile and going through steps 1-5 all over again.\\n\\nWhat makes this fun is the power-play moves that allow you to chain control multiple bridge connections and/or islands. Very strategic give and take as you attempt to give and take control. You don't want to take an island too soon, but not too late too. Thus very strategic and requiring you to know when to counter moves by the opponent and break their control.\\n\\nQuick game. Short sessions. You really never know who is going to win as it's balanced fairly.\\n\\nTrue the box, theme and having sticks and circles makes it vague of what this game is about, but don't let that deter you...this is a fun game with good quality components.\",\n \"Product: Smaug The Dragon is enraged that his slumber and treasure have been disturbed. It's up to you to locate the missing Arkenstone while avoiding Smaug's vicious attacks. This is a game of risk, deduction, and luck for 2-4 players. Use your allies and wits to avoid Smaug each round. Find the Arkenstone and claim victory in a new spin on classic Love Letter! Features an all-new 0-value The One Ring card, and a new twist on the 3-value card featuring Legolas and Tauriel. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is a joint release from Cryptozoic Entertainment and Alderac Entertainment Group! The Boxed Version Contains: 17 Game Cards, 4 Reference Cards, 13 Arkenstone Tokens, 1 Rulebook.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Light on the theme, but good quick game\\n\\nReview: Players: 2 to 4\\nAge: I'd say 8+ (really easy to teach and strategy is light)\\nDuration: Each round is as quick as 1min up to 7min. There are 13 treasures to collect, so around 30-minutes for a full game.\\n\\nI recently reviewed <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Game-of-Thrones-Intrigue/dp/1616617705/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Game of Thrones: Intrigue</a> and found that game to be very light on strategy and theme.\\nThis game is a step up from that, with a bit more strategy, but on many levels it is very similar.\\n\\nTHEME: The fact that there are a ton of Love Letter versions, means that what matters with the cards is the number on the card and the action text...it doesn't matter if there are pictures of hobbits or spaceships or spies. Thus theme is very light or non-existent.\\n\\nSTRATEGY: I like how this has some strategy involved as you try and figure out what cards are on the table and what your opponent may have in their hand. Trying to outwit your opponent and get them before they get you is the core of this game. The strategy is light, but there's enough there to make this fun.\\n\\nGAMER LEVEL: Total beginner can pick this up fast.\\nThe game is easy:\\n1. Shuffle the deck and put one card aside face down.\\n2. Depending on the number of players pull more cards out of the deck and place these to the side, face-up\\n3. Players each take a card to start, then with first player, he/she take another card and add that to their hand\\n4. That same player plays a card from their hand face-up in front of them and performs the actions\\n5. Once the draw pile is empty or all but one player is eliminated, person with highest value of cards in their hand win that round and get a treasure token\\n6. Rinse and repeat till all treasure tokens have been claimed\\n\\nCOMPONENTS: The quality of cards are really nice. Even though I'm not a huge fan of images from the movie/tv, the colored borders make the cards feel more like artwork. The treasures are nice plastic gems. The quality and compactness of this set is where it should be.\\n\\nOVERALL: I like this game better than the Game of Thrones Intrigue in Westeros designed by Reiner Knizia (he is an awesome game designer!). It's quick and I can play with non-players and throw it in my bag and carry it with me easily. Great warm up game before you play something 'better' or with more meat and duration or good just while shooting the breeze with friends and killing some time.\",\n \"Product: Loony quest is the European hit family game of frantic trail chasing through a map of devious dangers. Heavily inspired from video games, each player in loony quest attempts to trace a path through a level on their own transparent sheet, dodging obstacles and achieving objectives as best they can. At the end of the second round, each player places their sheet over the level to see how it matches up with the various paths through the level. Based on whether or not they successfully hit objectives or run into the crazy creatures and treacherous traps determines how much experience each player receives. Whoever obtains the most experience at the end of the game is crowned King of arkadia!\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Not a popular view on this game\\n\\nReview: We own no less than 120 board and card games (not counting expansions) and that is just counting the games we've kept over the years not the 50-100 we tried and sold/donated. In other words we are board game-philes. We far prefer board games to video games in our household.\\n\\nEven with numbers that high, we have very few dexterity games, which this is one of them.\\n\\nLONG STORY, SHORT:\\nWe got a little hung up on the confusing instructions, which made the first couple of games longer than desired.\\nAlso, my youngest of 4 kids is now 12 years old. Even when playing with visiting friends, this was not a great crowd pleaser and we suspect it is because this is better suited for younger kids.\\n\\nLONGER STORY...\\n\\nCOMPONENTS:\\nThe components are actually pretty great. I have no complaints about the quality of any of the pieces.\\nNOTE: The box itself is part of the game, so you need to be careful with the box, because we all know how corners tend to split over time.\\n\\nEASE of Learning:\\nAs mentioned the instructions were a bit confusing. Until we went and watched some youtube videos the way the manual is organized and explained wasn't clicking with the three older folks in the group.\\n\\nREPLAYABILITY:\\nActually this part is pretty high, even after completing a level, because next time you do that level your goal is to get more points or have a clearer path through the maze of obstacles.\\n\\nAlso, you can start making home rules or mixing up how you play, such as do all puzzles with your non-dominate hand or with one eye covered. . . .the variations could go on. It gets a bit more fun now, because of how silly folks look and how badly they do. So you are celebrating their messing up, which is counter to our culture's recent trend of, \\\"don't' do anything to hurt fragile self-image of others\\\" (sorry...soap box tangent). But this is where us masochistic gamers had the most fun with this.\\n\\nSTRATEGY:\\nLow to zero.\\n\\nLUCK:\\nVery High\\n\\nOVERALL: It has some fun elements and the production of the game is great. For a crowd of ages 12+ it wasn't for us.\",\n \"Product: Whether you're on the train, in the ski lodge or picnicking in the woods: This compact edition lets you take CATAN everywhere! The space-saving box unfolds to reveal the variable board. Roads, settlements and cities are safe in their locking drawers. Cards are held securely in holder trays. Even the dice, thanks to the practical hex-shaped shaker can't get dropped and lost. CATAN compact is handy, fits easily into your luggage and contains all of the components and fun of the \\\"big\\\" CATAN.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: It had promise, but some downsides make this not a favorite.\\n\\nReview: PROs\\n+ You get to play Catan while traveling\\n\\n+ Perfect size for stuffing in a suitcase and then pulling out at the campsite or even playing in the car while driving\\n\\n+ Can play with 4-players\\n\\n+ Well engineered in the sense that everything fits in the travel unit and you can even \\\"roll dice\\\" with the dice shaker\\n\\n+ Pieces lock in place on the board\\n\\nCONs\\n-- No way is this worth $50!!\\n\\n-- Not great pieces for people with sausage fingers...pieces are too small\\n\\n-- Not a lot of board variety because they can only go in one of two spots for the most part. Basically the tiles are per-numbered, so the same tiles have to go in certain spots only.\\n\\n-- I'm getting older so the tiny cards and pieces are getting more difficult to deal with too\\n\\n-- Not a lot of great rolling on the dice. It could be the shaker is too tight for the die or the squared corners on the die make it so it doesn't roll well within the shaker.\\n\\n-- Opening and closing the drawers isn't always the easiest process and it's just plastic that I'm afraid I'll break\\n\\nOVERALL:\\nIf we want to play Catan that badly we'll suck it up and bring the full game and wait to play at our destination. It simply wasn't for us.\",\n \"Product: Spot it! is played with 55 circular cards, each decorated with eight symbols varying in size and orientation. There are more than 50 symbols in all, including random yet universal images of hearts, snowflakes, dragons, and lightning bolts, and even words such as Stop and OK. The aim of the game is to be the first to spot the one symbol in common between two or more cards. Don't be fooled! It's not as simple as it sounds. A match is easily hidden in the array, especially with the pressure of racing frantically against your opponents. The cards change with every match made, so you have to stay focused to keep up. Every match will fuel your fire and agonizing over getting beat to the punch by a faster player only adds to the overall excitement.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Good warm up game for everyone...even non-gamers\\n\\nReview: We play a lot of games in our home and normally warm up to some \\\"real\\\" strategy games by first playing something like <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/For-Sale-Card-Game/dp/B001PQLNY0/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">For Sale Card Game</a> or <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Timeline/dp/B005N57CNU/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Timeline</a>.\\n\\nThis game is another great warm up game that is super easy to teach and play.\\n\\nObjective: Match the symbols. That's it!\\n\\nGame #1 The Tower - pile of cards in middle and each player starts with one(1) card. Go! Match and take card, that being your new play card. Flip next card. Once pile is gone, whoever has the most cards wins.\\n\\nGame #2 The Well - Each player has a pile of cards and in the middle is one(1) card. Go! Match and put your card on in the middle and that becomes new matching card. First player to get rid of their pile wins.\\n\\nFor us this was the more fun of the two as it was a bit more fast paced and tension driven as the middle gets a new card and immediately you can play the next card.\\n\\nGame #3 Hot Potato - Start with one(1) card each and everyone reveals their cards. Go! Match your card with another players, then place your card on top of theirs. After all the rounds are over, the player with the least cards wins.\\n\\nGame #4 The Poisoned Gift - Start with one(1) card for each player and the stack in the middle. Go! Match the middle with another player's card and then give the middle card to that player. Once middle stack is exhausted the player with the least amount of cards wins.\\n\\nWith each of the four game types above, there is also \\\"tournament\\\" scoring you can use, allowing you to make this last longer and give other players a chance to catch up in points and win the tournament.\\n\\nOVERALL:\\nEasy to teach.\\nEasy to learn.\\nFast paced.\\nPlayers are always making mistakes, which makes it fun to catch them in the act.\\nFor 2-8 players, which is nice it's more than the standard 4 player games.\\nGames last 10-minutes max and then it's up to you how many rounds you want to play.\\n\\nVery good warm up game before we break out some of our family favorites like, Ticket To Ride or 7 Wonders\\n\\nNOTE:\\nIf you have a suggestion / question / or did NOT find this review helpful, leave me a comment! I'm more than happy to respond to the comment and/or update this review to make it more helpful.\\n\\nIf you found this review helpful please vote. Thank you!\",\n \"Product: Launch an expedition to Mars in Mission: Red Planet, the steampunk-themed board game of planetary exploration designed by Bruno Cathala and Bruno Faidutti. As the leaders of ruthless Victorian-era mining corporations, two to six players compete to occupy Mars and harvest the planet's priceless mineral ores and ice. You need to cleverly utilize the talents of nine wily characters who can lead your exploration of Mars and sabotage your competition. This new edition of an acclaimed game incorporates revisions by the original designers and features all- new graphic design.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Simple; great theme and good depth of strategy game\\n\\nReview: The concept is that the players are in Victorian steampunk days, racing to control the resources of Mars. This is a game based on rounds and victory points. Victory points are awarded for collecting resources and completing missions. Discovery and Action cards can really help or mess things up for a player or set of players. This game for 2 to 6 players takes us about 45-minutes after the first couple of games for learning how to play.\\n\\n==============\\n\\nPic #1 = The game unboxed. Figures and cards came with their own bag, but you have to get your own bag for the cardboard tokens that are punched out (items on the left of the picture).\\n\\nPic #2 = tokens punched out. The larger pieces in the right corner of the picture is the actual game board, allowing the four quarters to make up a round planet map. The putting together of puzzle pieces actually works and our board was flat. The tokens are all double-sided print, though one side may be only useable, the other side is still decorated. Nice touch and adds to the game feeling more complete with everything being printed and colored.\\n\\nPic #3 = Every player gets a bag of little settler guys. Image of the front and back of one of these little dudes. They are cute and enough detail to be enjoyable. The plastic is sturdy and the flags don't look like they will break off or anything.\\n\\nPic #4 = The cards and artwork. The artwork is steampunk cartoon, but it's great art with vibrant colors. Every player gets the same set of 9 cards and it's the order in which you choose to play your cards that allow for variety and never feeling like one person has the full advantage. But you do need to pay attention and plan a round or two ahead, which is what brings a great level of strategy to this game.\\n\\nPic #5 = The backside of the cards, again showing that everything is printed and great artwork and colors. Little details like this simply add to the thematic immersion. Love it!\\n\\nPic #6 = Each player's cards are also colored to match their color choice for the game.\\n\\nPic #7 = The round tracker requires some assembly, but again instead of something being added to the border of the board, we have this 'gear' that counts down the rounds and signifies the current 1st player for some of the round rules. Love the round tracker!\\n\\nPic #8 = The manual is thin, because there isn't a lot of complexity to this game. The manual is also easy to read and has some flavor art.\\n\\nPic #9 = We are mid-game with three ships having launched and green player is coming in with lots of reinforcements to settle the planet and only one ship shared by other players.\\n\\n==============\\n\\nFINAL THOUGHTS:\\n+ Great theme. Though the steampunk may be lost on some players who are unfamiliar with that genre, the landing and settling zones on a planet for resources works for everyone.\\n+ Unlike games like Risk where there is no way to catch up to a player once they pull ahead, this game really comes down to the final rounds and anyone can win. We really like that.\\n+ Gameplay keeps every player engaged throughout. No one player 'dying' and having to sit out mid-game. No incentive for other players to gang up on a single player and keep 'killing' their settlers. Very well balanced that everyone can have fun.\\n+ Easy to teach to non-gamers. Fast for everyone to learn.\\n> The only place that we were a bit unclear -- either we missed it in the instructions or we didn't understand the instructions -- was when a production resource is left on a zone, does that get added to the next production phase as extra treasure for the player controlling that zone? We played this way. Hopefully that was correct.\\n- packing up the rounded gameboard back in the box was a little hit-n-miss. There was a place for all the other parts, except the gameboard, which we figured just kind of laid on top and then put the box cover over this.\\n+ Recommend you plan to play at least 2-3 games, because the first game is always a warm up.\\n+ We didn't like the 2-player variant as much. 3-6 players works better for us. Also we have a family of six, so it's perfect for our entire family.\\n+ Plenty of replayability as mission cards change and players employee different strategies to gain resources, points and complete missions.\\n+ Not a heavy luck game, like with dice games. But anytime players play the Scientist card to draw event cards, this can cause plenty of unexpected turn of events.\\n+ Strategy-wise, is is close to games like Puerto Rico, where you may have your plans, but another player's moves interrupt your plans. Thus, great strategy without the complexity of Puerto Rico.\\n\\nAs a family ranging in ages 11 to 40-someting, we all enjoyed this game a lot.\",\n \"Product: Welcome to the Bazaar of Istanbul!Hustle and bustle in the bazaar district of Istanbul. As the experienced merchant you are, you now enter into the coffee business! There are 4 new, additional places at which you can trade the tasty bean. For a baksheesh, the guests at the tavern are willing to assist you. Also, at the guild hall, you will find the valuable help you need. Selling precious fabrics, the finest of spices and the freshest of fruits in Istanbul was very good for business. But now the customers at the bazaar have discovered a new delicacy: coffee! As the cunning merchant you are, you sense the fortune you can make by selling the tasty bean. To overcome these new challenges, you will need more help than just that of your assistants. Luckily, for a baksheesh, the guests at the tavern are willing to take a little side job. Also, at the guild hall, you can find the valuable help you need.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Makes sense this should get a 2015 Golden Geek Best Board Game Expansion Nomination\\n\\nReview: We have owned and played over 300 games in the last two years. We are now at the point where I'm focusing on expansions for my hobby, in order to enhance the games we love and choose to keep.\\n\\n+ You can find a free PDF version of these rules online\\n\\n+ Updates the Wainwright and the Caravansary to support the new product flowing through\\n\\n+ More bonus cards\\n\\n+ The Mocha system of coffee handling is clean and easy to use\\n\\n+ The Mocha system is not overpowered, so those wanting to use a \\\"classic\\\" strategy can still win, but someone can also leverage the Mocha system to win. We definitely do not feel the added power of coffee takes away, but adds to the game\\n\\n+ The Roasting Plant is another great tile that adds variety of exchange to get more coffee beans\\n\\n+ The Baksheesh options (via Tavern) can be frustrating for some but fun for others. You get a \\\"road block\\\" you can put down between tiles, forcing others to move around the road block. If I don't like the road block, I can simply take a turn or two or three and take ownership of the road block. I can be very effective!\\n\\n+ The Guild Hall is a powerful tile. The cards on this tile will use up your entire turn (no moving or other actions), but the cards can be very powerful in pushing a player to an advantage or not. I'll include a screenshot from the manual that shows some of the Guild cards.\\n\\nOVERALL: We have no reason not to play with this expansion and go back to base game. Even teaching the game to new players isn't too difficult as the mechanics are clear and straightforward without over complicating anything. Yes, you can enjoy many games of the base game without it. But for those of us who have already played through 20+ random tile setups, we were very ready for this expansion, which brought new life into one of our family's favorite games.\\n\\nTotally worth the purchase!\",\n \"Product: Shape the historic skyline of New York City in this skyscraper building game. You will take on the role of land developers competing for glory and prestige in the citys financial district as you acquire new land, demolish old buildings, and build up skyscrapers to staggering new heights.This stimulating strategy board game features amazing illustrations from Vincent Dutrait.Skills:Visual PerceptionFocus and AttentionStrategySocial PlayContents:Illustrated Rule BookGame Initiation SheetGame Board5 Character Cards5 Streets of New York Bonus Cards5 Bonus Challenge Cards65 Lot Cards4 Skyscraper Scoring Markers16 Workers4 King Tokens12 Action Cards76 Skyscraper Tiles4 Legendary Skyscraper Tiles\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Another great game to add to our growing game collection\\n\\nReview: **Update**\\nSince getting this game we have purchased Castles of Mad King Ludwig and Suburbia. . .two other building games.\\nWe like the different flavor of building games. Thus this game scratches a different itch than the others. Will keep this in our collection.\\n\\n=================================\\n\\nWe have a lot of games at our house, but surprisingly few where we 'build' something.\\n\\nCOMPONENTS:\\n+ Good quality that will last. Cards aren't too flimsy and cardboard pieces should hold up under pressure.\\n\\n+ The board itself is nice and thick and with some gentle packing/unpacking it should last for years.\\n\\n+ The artwork is great and helps with the theme immersion.\\n\\nGAMEPLAY:\\n+ Our games lasted closer to 45-minutes each time for us. This seems to be the sweet-spot for games these days as my kids don't want to invest in Risk or Diplomacy multi-day match.\\n\\n+ There is good strategy to use here.\\n* We didn't feel like any one player had the upper hand at any single time, though it becomes obvious who is winning a the sessions progress. *Trying to thwart the building mogul player is half the fun.\\n* The use of cards and when to use them is a big part of the strategy and they all work. It's not like I was bummed I got a certain card, again.\\n\\n+ Game rules are not overly complex and easy to teach to new gamers, which is a big reason why the age on this is 8+. It's simple and straight forward.\\n\\n+ We like victory point games, as power and position can change very easily, so everyone has a chance. It's your buildings that give you different victory points.\\n\\n+ There are some 'quick game' rules that work very nicely to dive in and get a flavor for the game. The full rule set is perfect for the player ready to take it up a notch and add a little bit -- not much -- but noticeably more depth than the quick game.\\n\\n+ The cards are smaller than normal poker cards, but that is okay, they don't need to be that large. The use of artwork with some numbers, is the primary way the cards communicate what they do or their value.\\n\\n+ Really like that each player is limited to only 4 'claim' figures. This way a single player cannot dominate an entire block by claiming it without building on it at some time.\\n\\n+ The simple mechanic that you are 'demolishing' buildings is fun in itself. You do this to upgrade an old building to a newer building\\n\\n+ There is still a small luck piece...small...but it's there and driven by the randomness of whichever cards you draw. But almost every card is useful in its way, so luck or not, there is something to use.\\n\\nOVERALL:\\nThe more you play the better you'll figure out what strategies may or may not work for you. We are huge fans of Ticket To Ride and 7 Wonders...also victory point games. This is a perfect addition and different enough to those games to become one of our family favorites over time.\\n\\nIf you too are a Ticket to Ride fan, you shouldn't have any problem liking this game. Highly recommend.\",\n \"Product: The most notorious vampire of all rises again in this third edition of Fury of Dracula, a board game of deduction and gothic horror based on Bram Stoker's classic novel. One player takes control of the legendary Count Dracula as he stealthily crosses Victorian-era Europe, spreading his diabolical vampirism everywhere he goes. Up to four other players govern Mina Harker and her determined companions as they try to locate and destroy the fiendish Count before he plunges Europe into horrific darkness. But in this heated game of cat and mouse, the hunted prey may also be preying on his hunters. Any day's travel might bring the hunters to Dracula's location. On any night the Count may attack. This edition features all-new art and graphic design crafted to complement the game's intuitive, thematic mechanics. Rounds are now broken into day and night: hunters take actions during both, but Dracula can only act at night. Combat is now more streamlined and decisive, and new rumor tokens allow Dracula to mislead hunters and extend the terrible reach of his influence. Count Dracula triumphs if he advances his influence track to thirteen; if the hunters can defeat him before then, they save the continent of Europe and win the game.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: 3rd edition works great for our family!\\n\\nReview: I never played 2nd edition and have no idea what it looks like. I did go to BoardGameGeek dot com and check out some images they had. I like this version better in some ways based strictly on the images.\\n\\n===================\\nFury of Dracula Third Edition\\n\\nThe Goal: Player playing Dracula is trying to cause trouble and stay away from the hunters, until he gets his influence high enough.\\nOpposition/Heroes are trying to defeat Dracula and his minions.\\n\\nGameplay: all other players vs one (Dracula)\\nPlayers: 2-5\\nAges: 14+\\nDuration: 120-180 minutes. Ack!\\n===================\\nPic #1 = Unboxing the game. Large game board, character cards, combat and event cards and plenty of tokens\\n\\nPic #2 = Character cards with character specific abilities and great artwork\\n\\nPic #3 = Large stack of cards. Here I'm showing the surprise cards that Dracula can leave for the hunters. The artwork may be a little gruesome for younger players, but that is partly why this is rated ages 14+.\\n\\nPic #4 = Tokens are your standard cardboard tokens to punch out. They are colored on both sides. One large bag is provided for Dracula's map card and the character cards. There is plenty of room to add the tokens too.\\n\\nPic #5 = Unpainted figures. Solid plastic. I saw some of the paining that others have done on boardgamegeek and it would add another level if you take the time to decorate these. Otherwise they work just fine and the little details are appreciated.\\n\\n===================\\nCOMPONENTS:\\n\\n+ Figures = A nice solid, hard plastic that come non-painted, but you could easily paint these. Enough detail to give you some edges and grooves to work with.\\n\\n+ Board = First off, this is not your standard four-tile board, but a six-part board. It's big and nice!\\nNice board, but some may find the colors are a bit muted and you don't see clear region breaks to know where each region is unless you read the labels carefully. I personally like this board better than 2nd, especially trying to see the train routes.\\n\\n+ Cards = Good cards with great art. Again, I think the art is much better and more detailed than 2nd ed, though there are some gruesome scenes on some of the cards. Younger kids may not do well with some of the images.\\n\\n===================\\n\\nDRACULA:\\n+ Surprise Cards = events and obstacles that can hinder and delay the hunters.\\n\\n+ Movement = Dracula moves secretly and has a mini-board he references for where he is moving.\\nHe uses cards with areas that match the board. The players never know exactly where Dracula is, but they see him moving because they see the cards. There are also sea locations with blue on the back of the cards, so players will know he's traveling by sea, but not exactly where he's at still. Dracula does not use the railroad lines, that is reserved for the hunters movement.\\n\\n+ Influence = there is a track on in the top right corner of the board. If Dracula gets 13 influence he wins the game. Dracula gains influence by helping his vampires, killing hunters, and after a certain amount of time, he simply gets influence each day.\\n\\nNext to the influence track is a time track...as the token moves around the time track Despair tokens are replacing the face of the 'clock'. Once there is enough Despair the Dracula starts gaining influence even quicker.\\n\\nHUNTERS:\\n\\n+ Each hunter starts off with a character card and a list of special abilities. Each character is nice and uique from the others, with none feeling useless.\\n\\n+ Movement = hunters are using the railroad lines and even collecting tickets so they can more rapidly travel via railroads.\\n\\n+ Arriving in a city, will reveal any of Dracula's surprise cards, such as a creature that now the hunter has to fight. If the hunter arrives in the spot that Dracula is at, they have to fight him! This is almost like elements of Scotland Yard, where the criminal is running around the city and the detectives are trying to corner him and chase him down.\\n\\n+ Turn actions:\\n1. Travel\\n2. Draw supply cards (how you get stuff like a Rifle or garlic)\\n3. Draw an event card. Most of the cards are good for hunters, but not all.\\n4. Trade items.\\n\\n===================\\n\\nCOMBAT:\\n\\nSomething you don't get in Scotland Yard or Mister X is the ability to fight the hordes or Dracula himself.\\n\\nWhen hunters finds a sub-vampires or Dracula, they fight (or try and run/escape). There are three primary combat cards of Punch, Dodge or Escape. There are other cards such as Rifle or Garlic, that can help the hunter during combat. The hunter has to pick cards from those they've collected to that point.\\n\\nDracula on the other hand has an entire deck by which to perform combat!! True, he doesn't have access to all his cards at once and his cards never change. . .and. . .he can only do certain actions, depending on how much Despair is in play.\\n\\nThe combat requires playing cards face down, then flipping them over (hunter cards vs Dracula cards) and matching symbols on cards. One card possibly negating the other, then following the instructions on the card. Combat is like playing rock-paper-scisors (determination combat) and only last 6-rounds or if one of the others escapes.\\n\\nNo random dice luck thing here. It's straight up this card beats that card, etc. People in our family LOVE how there is no randomness, such as in Risk and the one country with the one defender is able to hold off a horde of invaders based on how poorly the invaders roll dice. Not here. We like it.\\n\\n===================\\n\\nFINAL THOUGHTS:\\n+ We did not always play with 5 players, but at times we let someone play multiple hunters. Like Scotland Yard, it is a bit easier to have all the detectives/hunters on the board chasing Dracula, otherwise it seems it may be a bit too easy for Dracula with less hunters on the board.\\n\\n+ I like how fighting Dracula during the day gives the hunters an advantage...Dracula should be hampered somehow if fighting during the day and they do it well in this game. Nice! But even with this, the game is pretty balanced for either the hunters or for Dracula.\\n\\n+ Easy enough for non-players to learn. But it is a more beefed-up, hide and chase type game for the gamers out there.\\n\\n> Duration is closer to 2hrs, but that could still be long for non-gamers.\\nFor our family, we like 1hr or less games. . .though a Ticket To Ride session is always in our rotation. We like this too and it's right at the border for being too long.\\n\\n+ We are BIG (not huge) fans of Scotland Yard/Mister X games and now we have the 'extended version movie' of those games with this game. This has so much more features and complexity without being overly complex that it feels like a main course meal type of game, not an appetizer or dessert game (to use a food analogy).\\n\\n+ Scotland Yard ranges in price from $25 to $35 depending which manufacturer you are buying from. Still at a cost of $45 for 2 to 3hours of play, and lots of replayability, is very average pricing for this type of game and still much more affordable than video game that is over and done in a week. You can come back to this many times over and have plenty of fun.\\n\\nOur family of six, ranging from ages 11 to 40-something really like this game.\\nI have no suggestions for improvement or critical elements. It is a solid game and we love it.\",\n \"Product: Welcome to Terrinoth, adventurer! Rune bound is a fantasy adventure board game for two to four players, inviting you to play as one of six heroes wandering the realm and taking whatever quests you may encounter. But all is not well in the realm: evil is awakening once more in the form of Margate the Dragon lord or the Corpse King, Rakesh. Only you and your rival heroes stand a chance of stopping this threat before all Terrinoth is consumed in darkness. Two distinct scenarios give shape to your adventures in Terrinoth, challenging you to battle undead or outwit a dragon, even as you explore lost ruins and forgotten forests and take on quests across the realm. New adventure cards and story cards for each scenario make every game unique, alongside the ability to customize your hero with over one-hundred different skills and assets. Whether you play as a mage bristling with spells or a powerful warrior, every game of Rune bound invites you to experience an incomparable adventure. Take your first steps into the world of Terrinoth!\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Kid didn't like 2nd edition too much, but like the changes here\\n\\nReview: When I asked my kids about their thoughts on 2nd Edition sitting in our closet they all said: \\\"It was just a bunch of running around the board, wasting time.\\\" Well, this edition still has you running around the board, but the running is quicker it seems and there are plenty of things to provide action in between travel.\\n\\nNOTE: This is a competitive game, not a co-op game. No party adventuring here.\\n\\n===========================\\nRunebound Third Edition\\nThe Goal: Use game mechanics to weaken the final boss, then kill the final boss. Small side-quests along the way to level your characters.\\nGameplay: Competitive...not co-op!\\nPlayers: 2-4\\nDuration: 180-240 minutes. Ack!\\n\\n===========================\\nPic #1 = game unboxed. Standard 4-tile map that unfolds, along with counters, cards, player figures and instruction manuals\\n\\nPic #2 = Card had good artwork and color on both sides. Nice touch!\\n\\nPic # 3 = Character cards give you needed information and have nice artwork. Tracking what your character can or cannot do is easy.\\n\\nPic #4 = More cards, color coded on one side and again nice color artwork on the other.\\n\\nPic #5 = Dice need to be assembled. Here are the black cubes with the provided stickers. I talk more about the dice below.\\n\\nPic #6 = Tokens to be punched out. Bags are provided for cards and characters, but not for the tokens. You'll need to get your own zip-lock bag for these. Standard good quality cardboard. You'll be handling these a lot!\\n\\nPic #7 = Nice detailed figures. Gives you good amount of detail to work with if you decide to paint the figures. Love 'em.\\n\\nPic # 8 = Nice board. The colors are all your standard greens and browns for different terrain, with some blues for water and purples for mountains. It is a nice board.\\n\\nPic #9 = lots of details in a single hex on the board at times.\\n\\n===========================\\nCHARACTERS\\n+ Varied with stats & attributes (i.e. movement, max hp, strength, perception, etc.)\\n+ story blurb on the character card\\n+ each starts off with a specific number of tokens (tokens used during your adventures)\\n+ character cards also tells your character's starting area\\n+ Game starts with six figures for each of the six characters. Nice detailed, non-painted figures.\\n\\nYour character cannot be killed! But temporarily disabled until you heal back up.\\n\\nThere are various character tests, such as test your strength. Then you flip over cards and if the symbol matches your character's symbol, then you were successful.\\n\\nSIDE BOARD:\\nSide of the board has the timetrack.\\nIt does what you think it does. . .keeps track of the rounds. As the timetrack progresses, some spots have icons that match story cards, which you flip depending which boss you're fighting.\\nWhen the round gets down to Act 2 (one time through trackboard and now starting the track again), this is bad news. So best goal is to win before getting through the first track...then things get really hard if you are into Act 2.\\n\\nCITIES:\\nThere are four different cities and this is where your characters go to the market to get equipment and other things ()asset cards) to help you battle the bad guys.\\n\\nYou can normally only have one weapon, one movement piece, armor and these asset cards of course help boost your character, but they cost your character money. You can even sell goods back-and-forth between areas, build up gold and afford better assets.\\n\\nThe market activities take one or more of your action points.\\n\\nDICE:\\nThe custom dice are terrain dice. You can choose to use action items to move to a specific terrain based on what you role. This is how you move around the board between locations. If you start off on a road, you can move much faster, but it still uses up one of your precious action points.\\n\\nRESTING:\\nThis is how you get hit points back. Also takes an action point.\\n\\nTRAIN:\\nFocuses on adding cards to your hand, and you will draw and discard cards in order to better round out your character with those skill cards. You can use skill cards to 'exert' yourself by discarding a skill card and re-roll a die or ability. The skill cards have icons on which trophies you need to discard to learn that skill. So you'll earn trophies throughout the game and this is good, because then you can 'level' attributes/skills of your character by spending trophies to apply your in hand skill cards.\\n\\nTOKENS:\\nYou are 'casting' your tokens, which is shake and drop them. They are basically heads or tails and some additional symbols. Tokens are to your benefit and helps you in combat. You can use tokens to pump up other tokens and thus give you better offense or defense and other types of actions. Tokens will also help weaken the final boss and make it easier to defeat it in the end. Even though rolling tokens at first is strange, the overall combat is very fast with this system, so it totally makes up for the initial strangeness.\\n\\nADVENTURING:\\nThere are multiple types of cards -- such as combat cards, explorer cards, etc --, which is what you want to try and work through depending on your character's specialty. The combat cards for instance will have more baddies for you to defeat. If you are successful on your card, you get trophies and add other cards to your hand. So if your character is a specialist, you can try and focus only on those types of adventure cards and try and succeed that card, and thus build your character up.\\n\\n===========================\\n\\nFINAL THOUGHTS:\\n> Not a eurogame! Not Ticket to Ride and no meeple or resource management here. Thus if that is your thing, you'll probably not like this.\\n\\n> It is weird shaking and 'rolling' tokens that don't really roll. But if it was dice, then there are too many random variables versus the token provide specific items you've collected or won. It eventually works for me in the end, but took some getting use to.\\n\\n+ Like many games of this size it feels overwhelming at first, but it is actually pretty easy to learn at first. If this was co-op it would have another level of difficulty, but since this is a competitive game, it is pretty straight forward that you are looking to beat others and beat the bad guy. I really like co-op games, but I'm totally find with not having that component\\n\\n+ Everyone -- regardless of the character selected -- all have a chance to win\\n\\n+ Components are very nice and so is the artwork. The only bummer is the sticker dice, but there is no way around that, so I'm okay with it.\\n\\n- No benefit to interacting with each other, other than some quest cards have you fight one another. Otherwise, no incentive in the market system to trade with each other, when it's almost better for you to sell an item to the market instead and then hope you get a better item from the market. Forget selling to another player. Feels like a complete solo game because of this and for the time investment, this could turn people off.\\n\\n+ You do feel like your character is getting better over time\\n\\n+ You are not part of a typical DND troop heading out together, but this doesn't detract from immersion into the theme and the adventures for your specific character.\\n\\n> Future scenarios, such as a co-op or other variety will be critical to the future life of this game. I'm actually surprised they didn't make one of the two boss issues as a co-op scenario in this base box.\\n\\n- Three to four hour game. I'm already tired just thinking about that. Not my favorite part. If ti was closer to two hours for this type of game I'd probably rate it higher. Kids actually avoid games more than an hour unless it's really good. This is a different kind of experience at this length and need a different kind of player...non-gamers may be turned off by the length.\\n\\n+ House rule: If you can do something like roll dice and take your turn because your actions don't impact anyone else, then use this. The game is already long and speeding things up like this only helps and keeps everyone engaged.\",\n \"Product: In Mafia de Cuba players take on the roles of henchmen, drivers, thieves and government agents, each trying to take a piece of the pie that the godfather has worked so hard to build. It'll be up to the head of this crime family to determine who they can trust and who has been sticking their fingers into the pot. Up to 12 gangsters can take part in this tense, hilarious bluffing game. Remembering what loot was left when it gets to you will be key if want to get away with ripping off the Don or you can try to catch him in a sting with an FBI or CIA agent. This game proves there's no honor among thieves. CONTENTS: 15 plastic diamonds ,10 character tokens, 2 joker tokens, 1 game box, 1 felt bag, 1 rulebook.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: A bit pricey, but it works as a warm-up to other games\\n\\nReview: Time: 10-20 minutes\\nPlayers: 6 minimum to 12 maximum\\nAges: Box says 10+, but if you have a smart, sly 8-year old that works too\\n\\nOVERVIEW:\\nOne player is the Mafia Boss and his stash of items is passing around to the other players, who take turns sneaking an item out of the box. When the remains of the cigar box makes its way around the table back to the boss, he/she can start interrogating the other players in an attempt to properly guess who is loyal or discover who is a thief and thus recover the diamonds missing from the box. There are agent roles (bad for boss) and a driver role.\\n\\nCOMPONENTS:\\n+ Great design of the box. It is gorgeous, albeit it is a cigar box (smoking advertisment?). Also there are two tokens that look like wiskey bottles.\\n\\n+ The role chips are very heavy and solid!! They could have easily done the role chips on the same thickness and material as a poker chip, but not here...these babies can hurt a person if you threw it at them (not a recommended use of the game).\\n\\n+ Diamonds and bag are of great size and quality too.\\n\\nNothing not to like in the packaging and components of this product!!\\n\\nSTRATEGY:\\nHow well the person playing the Mafia Boss at the time can ask tricky questions to catch others in a lie or the truth (yes, you can lie when answering!) then the easier it is for the Boss. There is no apparent time limit on the Boss asking questions.\\n\\nAlso there is strategy in what you choose to take or not take. Thus a low-Luck game, which our group likes a lot. This is more of a skill of bluffing and deduction than anything.\\n\\nFUN:\\nDepends on if you like bluffing and deduction games.\\nFor those that have an aversion to lying, that doesn't mean you cannot tell the truth and still win. When we played with our group of six over the Labor Day weekend, we had some good laughs out of this, since we had a mixed crowed of family and friends, so not everyone knew each other well enough to know if a person was lying or not. Trying to keep a straight face when being interrogated by a practiced questioner was difficult.\\n\\nCOST:\\n$15 to $18 would work for the sparse contents included.\\nThe fact that this game is in the $25 to $30 range is insane!!\\nFor same price or $5 to $10 more, you can get a LOT more game out of:\\n+ <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Ticket-To-Ride/dp/0975277324/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Ticket To Ride</a>\\n+ <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/7-Wonders/dp/B0043KJW5M/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">7 Wonders</a>\\n+ <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Pandemic-Board-Game/dp/B00A2HD40E/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Pandemic Board Game</a>\\n\\nSince I can get a lot more game for same or small increase in price, this review lost an additional star.\\n\\nOVERALL:\\nOur mixed group had a good time warming up to playing the other games listed above. We found this a starter game, more than a game we'd play as our primary game for a one(1) to four(4) hour session.\\n\\nTIP: Put some other items in the box to make noise, so people cannot tell how many diamonds are missing. It will make your experience that much better, especially the larger the group you play with.\",\n \"Product: Champions of Midgard is a middleweight, Viking-themed, worker placement game with dice rolling in which players are leaders of Viking clans who have traveled to an embattled Viking harbor town to help defend it against the threat of Trolls, drag, and other mythological Norse beasts. By defeating these epic creatures, players gain glory and the favor of the gods. When the game ends, the player who has earned the most glory earns the title of jarl and is recognized as a champion of Midgard!\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: A new addition to my game shelf of almost 200 games!\\n\\nReview: OVERVIEW:\\n8 rounds\\nPlace workers during a round and get the action of that spot...just like Lords of Waterdeep (LoWD) or Stone Age\\nRandom buildings each game to take actions and/or collect resources\\n\\nWhere it is different. . .\\nYour meeples can be set to go battle. There are land battles and sea battles. Sea battles have a lot more going on and can be more exciting with random events and greater rewards.\\n\\nIf your meeple takes damage the meeple loses a die for each damage taken.\\nIf your meeple wins the battle, then they get the glory points for that monster.\\n\\nGoal of the game is to get the most glory by the end of the 8th round.\\nThere are quest/mission cards that give you bonus points at the end of the game too.\\n\\nEach player has a character card that gives them a special ability/bonus, just like the lords in LoWD.\\n\\nCOMPONENTS:\\n+ Tiles were nice and sturdy cardboard, with nice artwork.\\n> The cards are nice with great artwork. Though for me, some of the colors are all the same muted look, so I had to look more closely at what the card color symbols were at times.\\n+ Rulebook is nice and colorful, with clear pictures for buildings, cards, and clear explainations.\\n-- No room in box to add much of any expansion parts, if/when an expansion is available. This means that any expansions will require to keep in the expansion box versus merge with this box.\\n\\nTHEME:\\nThis is where the game shines over LoWD in my opinion. Similar mechanics and lots of similar aspects, but this game is so much better at theme than LoWD. After a while in LoWD we were calling wizards as purple cubes and warriors as orange cubes, because it was much easier since all the cards refer to those objects that way visually.\\n+ Here I felt like each component was a specific component and not just a color cube. I liked it a lot better.\\n\\nLUCK:\\n+Low luck.\\nYes, there is some dice rolling during combat, but that isn't the focus and it's one part of the game. Some who don't like randomness of dice may still get frustrated and not like this component of the game. Whereas LoWD has zero dice rolling, so you know what you are getting into with most decisions.\\n\\nSTRATEGY:\\n+ We find this to be a mid-to-high strategy game.\\n> It doesn't feel like it most of the time, but myself and my 18yr old are the most strategic players, which means we tend to win more often. Thus your decisions have definitely gains and consequences and can be unforgiving at times. This means some players may need to not be so competitive with strategy OR choose to help guide other less strategic players, so they can still have a good time too.\\n\\nBUILDINGS:\\nLike Stone Age and LoWD, there are action spots that you claim with one of your meeples.\\n+ Thematically the buildings make a lot of sense and are cool, such as seeing the future of a battle encounter.\\n\\n+ Unlike LoWD, where you need to wait till you get an Intrigue card or wait till round 5 to get additional meeples, you can actually got to a building and pay gold to get your extra meeple. But there are incentives to not be the first to rush out and get that extra meeple right away. I like this building!\\n\\nCOMBAT:\\n+ There are game mechanics that incent players -- in the form of negative points -- to actually fight monsters instead of ignoring monsters\\n+ There are public and private ships that can be used for sea battles. There are pros/cons to each.\\n+ In some scenarios, if you beat the monster you not only get glory but can assign \\\"blame\\\" to another player (negative points). Wow! Ruthless.\\n\\nEND of ROUND:\\nAt end of round monsters are rotated out and some buildings may be restocked and coin incentives are added to other action spots to encourage players to go there next round.\\n\\nOVERALL:\\nEspecially in worker placement games, I like a game where there isn't always a clear winner until the final points are calculated.\\nAlso I really like games where even if you feel behind, that doesn't mean you have no chance of winning, as there are tons of ways to get glory points and maybe even win in the end. Thus, there are many strategies to try and win and lots of replayability. . .and it has great theme and excellent components while doing it.\\n\\nWe still have a place on our shelf for LoWD (a plethora of strategies can be used to win) and Stone Age (more of a gatweway game for new gamers or younger, less experienced players). But we don't feel this replaces either of the two but meets its own audience need and thus we give this one two-thumbs-up!!\",\n \"Product: Barbie delivers a new twist on hair! With extra long locks -- 9 inches of hair -- and an easy-to-use tool to twist and style with ease, Barbie doll is ready for a new fabulous look created by you! Barbie doll's long, pink and purple streaked hair includes four pieces with colorful beads attached. Snap the beads into the included hair tool, choosing two or three beads, and press the button on the tool to twist the hair in an instant. It's so much fun and adds to creative hairstyling expression! The possibilities are endless. Get even more creative with the included accessories that include a brush, tiara and three barrettes. Decorated with signature details, the wear-and-share hair clips can also be worn by you! Create a fabulous look -- play out a storytelling moment -- then take the hairstyle down, brush out and start again. There are endless ways to style Barbie doll's hair to match the endless stories to be told. Barbie doll is ready for anything in a sparkly pink dress with a detailed statement necklace, ombre bodice, hi-lo skirt, glittery overlay and matching shoes. For even more hair-play fun, collect all of the dolls and pets from the Endless Hair Kingdom (each sold separately, subject to availability) -- the hair tool sold with the Snap N Style Princess Doll works with hair beads across the line. Set includes Barbie doll wearing fashion and accessories, the styling tool, one brush, one tiara and three wear-and-share barrettes. Doll cannot stand alone. Colors and decorations may vary.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Hair braiding tool is so-so; cute doll otherwise\\n\\nReview: Cute, modest doll. Dress is very nice.\\n\\nHair device works so-so. Not great. At least there are clips that can be attached to different parts of the hair, it's not like the same 4 colored braids only. But leaving the big clips on the ends makes it kind of a mess of a hairdo.\\nTIP: pulse push the button don't hold the button down. Also, put a bit of tension on the tool and don't worry, the hair can handle the tension.\\n\\nFor nearly the same price my daughter cannot wait till <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Barbie-Spy-Squad-Barbie-Secret-Agent-Doll/dp/B015CCR6TI/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Barbie Spy Squad Barbie Secret Agent Doll</a> arrives instead.\\n\\nThis doll = no elbow or knee movement. Spy Squad Barbie = the joints move. Too bad this doll is limited by the hair tool and lack of movement.\\n\\nOVERALL: It's okay. But my daughter's attention is quickly fading on this doll because she can only do so much with it.\",\n \"Product: Tumble into action with Barbie Secret Agent doll from Barbie Spy Squad and help save the day! In the action-adventure film, Barbie, a world-class gymnast, is recruited to be a world-class secret agent along with her friends Teresa and Renee. The three take their teamwork from the gymnasium to the city -- and around the globe -- to stop an infamous cat burglar in her tracks. Barbie Secret Agent doll is ready for her mission with awesome moves and style. She looks super cool in a sleek purple bodysuit with utility belt and boot details, a removable sparkly pink trench coat and pink shaded sunglasses. When it's time to make a quick escape, plug the included spy gadget (the G.L.I.S.S. gadget from the movie!) into the opening in her back then simply roll into action! As the gadget rolls, Barbie doll performs cartwheels that would win any competition. But twist the gadget and Barbie doll switches to do even more awesome moves -- forward and backward flips, too! Recreate action scenes from the film or spin new spy adventures. Collect all of the characters from Barbie Spy Squad to close any case (each sold separately)! Includes Secret Agent Barbie doll wearing trench coat and sunglasses with rolling spy gadget. Doll cannot stand alone. Colors and decorations may vary.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: One of the better Barbies\\n\\nReview: After buying a good dozen Barbie dolls, we have certain standards now for the Barbie.\\n1. movable joints\\n2. easy to share clothes with other dolls\\n3. modest\\n4. my daughter actually likes to play with the doll\\n5. If it has a \\\"gimmick\\\", it better work well\\n\\nWell after getting this one, it rated as follows:\\n+ Yes, movable joints. Win! This makes for pretend play so much easier when the doll isn't stuck in a certain pose.\\n+ The main \\\"outer\\\" outfit does come off and can be used on other dolls.\\n> The main \\\"inner\\\" outfit cannot be removed! Actually parts of the doll are actually painted purple to match the inner outfit. So if you want to use other clothing from other dolls you really can only (or should only) use long sleeve outfits.\\n+ The doll is wonderfully modest and yet has a fun, action-star, spy look about here. We really like the way this doll looks.\\n-- The \\\"gimmick\\\" of making this action doll tumble works only so-so for us. It does turn the doll, but is overall klunky..easier to just use hand-over-hand and flip, tumble and karate kick manually.\\n\\nOVERALL:\\nMy daughter does really like this doll and has played with it more than a couple of times.\",\n \"Product: In this highly interactive game of resource management and control, players are royals who grab as many assets as they can within a limited amount of time. Armed with resources like stone, tools, and bread, they seek to gain power and territory by acquiring pastures and erecting castles and statues around the countryside. But if the royals are too greedy and take too much from their subjects, the subjects will revolt and punish their selfish leaders. This is the first game by Klaus Teuber, author of \\\"The Settlers of Catan,\\\" created in collaboration with his son, Benjamin Teuber.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: A good euro game\\n\\nReview: We love boardgames in our house (Over 130 games should attest to that), so we are always open to new games...especially interested in a new game from the designers of Catan.\\n\\nGAME IDEA:\\nPlayers are the Royals. Similar to Galaxy Trucker, players grabbing tiles under a time limit. The tiles are the \\\"tax\\\" of goods on the regular folks. But if you are greedy (necessary component of the game) and grab too many of a certain tile, you'll have a \\\"tumult\\\" and loose support (which you need to build and spread your influence). This is a Euro game with a real time element thanks to the timer and grabbing tiles. Also, you take your goods and spend them to get the your support (the regular folks) to build statues of you and for you. The person with the most statue tokens on the map wins.\\n\\nCOMPONENTS:\\nThe tiles and boards are quality having good thickness\\nThe spinner specifically is a nice touch because they could have done that same action with a die or cards.\\nThe castle component is cool.\\nArtwork is okay and cartoony; colors are bright and not drab\\n\\nSTRATEGY:\\nThis is a low to mid-level strategy. There is low luck and more strategy and quick thinking needed, which I like.\\nThere is strategy in which tiles you'll grab up, which you'll ignore or put back and which you want to take to block someone (a dangerous maneuver).\\nAlso, where you build statues can be very strategic. If you know where you are going to try and build statutes, then that also determines what tiles to grab. You can also overpay to build a statute in order to gain additional supporters. The person with the most supporters becomes King/Queen, which allows them to build first and then rinse-repeat. It's all related.\\n\\nThus, someone could come up from behind and win...if the other players are not careful.\\n\\nGAMEPLAY\\nThis is quick game and took us on average about 30-minutes. Quicker with only 2-players.\\n\\nFINAL THOUGHTS:\\nGreed can come back and bite you, but you must have a bit of greed to do well. This is a unique component one doesn't often see in games. Especially if you grab extra tiles to block other players, then it could come back and bite you big time with some major tumult among your supporters.\\n\\nWithout the 20sec timer adding the real-time affect, this would be like a traditional Euro game. So I really like the addition of the timer.\\n\\nIt is a fun little game. Worth checking out.\",\n \"Product: Control the crowns, control Europe in the Risk Europe game--an exciting game of medieval conquest. The game challenges players to step into the role of a medieval king and rule feudal Europe by building castles, taxing subjects, expanding territories, and engaging in battle. This in-depth game of strategy and conquest offers serious gamers a premium gameplay experience. It features 4 separate armies and 7 unique starting kingdoms, each with its own strengths and abilities, plus Kings Orders cards that play an important role in strategy. The first player to conquer 7 kingdoms wins the game. Hasbro Gaming and all related terms are trademarks of Hasbro.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: The Risk game that is NOT Risk\\n\\nReview: We too could not believe that a) a risk game that sold for $40 (at the time of this purchase) and b) that it really isn't Risk.\\n\\nA round consist of several steps:\\n1. Pick two card from your hand of command cards and stack them in the order you want to play the cards.\\n2. Turn 1 everyone reveals their top card and starting with the first player actions on the card are taken\\n3. Continue clockwise around the table everyone taking the action of their card...but no combat even if in a disputed territory with an opponent\\n4. Turn 2 everyone reveals and plays their second card and continues clockwise again\\n5. Resolve battles (There are up to four stages of battling depending which combination of the four unit types are present for the battle).\\n6. Round 1 is over, no rinse-repeat for round 2, etc.\\n7. Continue rounds (made up of turns) until someone(s) has attained 7 crowns and held 7 until the end of the round. In the case of a tie, the player with the most money wins; if still tied, the player with the 1st player marker wins.\\n\\nThis game loses a 1/2 star for requiring 4-players. Even with 4-players, one player could quietly expand and do their thing without ever interacting with another player...the map is that big and/or the actions that contained. This is why the instructions for 2- or 3-player talking about using an AI player for the other armies. It shouldn't be called a variant, but simply you need to do that for a 2- or 3-player game to make it work.\\n\\nThere is literally no resemblance to Risk in any of these turns, except the Rank 4 fight has some similarities...but you're limited to how many dice the attacker & defender can roll, regardless of how many armies are on the disputed territory.\\nThere is a Mission Card variant rule to add some variety to the game.\\n\\nOur first game of 4-players took 2.5hours as we were learning the game. Subsequent games were close to 90-minutes. Again unlike Risk, this did not take all day to play.\\n\\nOVERALL:\\n4.5-stars for our first few games as we really liked it, but you must have 4-players (real or AI players)\",\n \"Product: Innistrad is a plane in the Multiverse unlike any other. It's a place where humankind is threatened on all sides by vampires, werewolves, spirits, and ghouls. Twisted, pointed stones called cryptoliths have risen throughout the land and have attracted the attention of those trying to unravel a deeper mystery, for they hold a deep power. As players face off against each other over the cryptoliths fate, that power can tip the scales of battle. The first player or team to achieve their victory condition wins the game. Wizards of the Coast, Magic: The Gathering, Magic, their respective logos, the mana symbols, the Planeswalker symbol, and all character names and their distinctive likenesses are property of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the USA and other countries. Hasbro and all related terms are trademarks of Hasbro.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: A must get for this Arena series!!\\n\\nReview: Players: 2-4 players (really only 2-player, the 3rd & 4th players are on a team)\\nTime: 60 minutes\\nAge: Recommended 10+\\n\\nContents: 5 Planeswalker figures, 4 hero figures, 15 squad figures, 4 dual-sided cardboard terrain boards, 2 glyphs, 20 damage markers, 20-sided die, 8 combat dice, 13 army cards, 48 spell cards, turn marker, 8 counters, 6 1-hex sand tiles, 3 cryptoliths, 3 cryptolith 2-hex sand tiles, and game guide\\n\\n======================================\\n\\nOVERVIEW:\\nThis is a skirmish game like Heroscape (out of print) by using characters and spells from the Magic The Gathering universe. It's a great merge of the two systems and this Shadows of Innistrad set helps round out the series, making it totally worth getting for lots of fun.\\n\\nIf you've never played Heroscape or have never played Magic, no worries.\\n\\nThis is fun game is easy to learn. The majority of the rules really focus on the terrain, movement on that terrain and line-of-sight attacking/defending. Other than that, it's a fun, easy to learn game and this box allows for a good amount of strategy, as there is a some real content in this game.\\n\\nTHE GAME:\\n+ Can be used as a standalone game. As a standalone game, the deckbuilding is better than original, but still limited by itself as you'll play through it about a dozen sessions.\\n\\n+ Can be used as an expansion and probably should be used as an expansion to this game:\\n<a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Magic-The-Gathering-Arena-of-the-Planeswalkers-Game/dp/B00SDJGCRA/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Magic: The Gathering Arena of the Planeswalkers Game</a>\\n\\nCOST:\\n+ The original Arena is less than $20, but it didn't have that much in it, single sided tiles and expansions were slow to come out. Yes, there is yet one other expansion between the original and this one, but I like this one a lot more!\\n\\nFor around $30, it feels very worth the money. I've had some $30 or $40 games that didn't have a lot of content, but not here. I think the price point is perfect for what you get.\\n\\nThus for $50 GET BOTH! With both you'll have a great game with plenty of options!!\\n\\nCOMPONENTS:\\n+ The rulebook is very clear and explains more than original rulebook did\\n\\n+ The terrain tiles boards. Double-sided!! Love it.\\n\\n+ NEW terrain type: the Road terrain that gives you extra movement. Nice!\\n\\n+ NEW terrain type: Crytoliths is a 3-d terrain that give you height advantage with some rules. We always like new terrain types and this expands on normal elevation terrain.\\n\\n+ A few tiles to add elevation and are compatible with Heroscape tiles. So of you have some Heroscape terrain you can combine it into this game and use the rules for that terrain to supplement any of the Arena of the Planeswalker series.\\n\\n+ The multi-colored planeswalkers seem pretty potent and powerful, more than the previous single colored walkers. Also, one actually can transform into a werewolf. Way cool!\\n\\n+ A good selection of creatures in the deck to give some variety. This is where the game feels more like an expansion because you can use the creatures from the original game too.\\n\\n+ Again the cards all have nice artwork.\\nKids love it because the spell cards are the same as actual cards from Magic, so they are already familiar with the spells.\\n\\n+ The figures are solid plastic for the creatures and heroes. The planeswalkers are an upgraded pre-painted plastic figure. All should last a long time and no strange thin pieces that might break off anytime soon.\\n\\n+ Since we can use Heroscape terrain to supplement this series, my kids are now on the hunt for how they can use their Magic cards to supplement spells in this game. We haven't found anything suggestions. . .yet. . . but they would like more variety of options. Also, since we already have thousands of Magic cards...well...we may have some house rules here soon that really play off the strengths of this game and add in some flavor from the other games we own.\\n\\nCOMBAT:\\nThis is a lower scale than Heroscape, meaning combat is a lot quicker. For us that is a good thing.\\nPlus you get the variety of spells from Magic, which adds some control over your character(s), whereas in Heroscape you had your unit and that was that. The quicker combat keeps the play session down to about an hour and faster pace keeps up the excitement and player involvement.\\n\\nLUCK VS STRATEGY\\nThere is dice rolling and you are building a small deck of spells to cast, but the Luck is still pretty LOW.\\nWhen combined with original game I feel the strategy jumps up a lot. . .I know I've already mentioned that but it does make a big different. This is the part my kids love about Magic, is finding combinations of cards that work together to make you (the wizard/caster) better than your opponent. Thus Strategy is MEDIUM to HIGH with the added options. This game by itself, the strategy would be MEDIUM simply due to less options.\\n\\nOVERALL:\\nTakes only a fraction of the time to setup as it did with Heroscape, which is the only reason my kids don't play Heroscape more often (we have all the old Heroscape because it is a great game). Does NOT require \\\"pay-to-win\\\" advantages like Magic cards (my kids have thousands of cards and Magic is still their favorite game of all time). What I mean by pay-to-win, is if you have enough money you can buy the \\\"best / better\\\" cards and thus win against others when playing Magic the card game.\\n\\nThus, this game sets an even playing field while still having an interactive, 3-D battle game that has the best of both Heroscape and Magic. We love it in our house!\",\n \"Product: England, 15th Century - On one side, the House of York, with its heraldic badge featuring a single, snow white rose. And on the other side, the House of Lancaster, its own heraldic rose depicted in blood red. The War of the Roses, a dynastic struggle for control of the English crown, has erupted between the two houses. In this strategic game, one player commands the House of York and the other, the House of Lancaster. The players use their power cards to bring territories under their control, aiming to keep their territories as contiguous as possible. They also deploy their heroic knights to take over enemy territories and cause surprising upsets. Who will be crowned England's new king?.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: A solid 2-player strategy game\\n\\nReview: I have over 200 board/card games, which means I also own other KOSMOS games like Lost Cities the Card Game, Kahuna and Tally Ho!. I feel that The Rose King fits into a similar 2-player bucket, as these other KOSMOS games, then I need to compare it against these other games.\\n\\n+ Tally Ho! the simplest of them all and is great for teaching young players strategic decisions.\\nThis game I agree is for ages 10+ as it is heavier in the strategy side, closer to Go! and Chess.\\n\\n+ You get three actual components here: cards, cardboard tokens and the wood crown\\nThe components are good and should last a long while.\\n\\n> Since the game revolves around handling the cardboard tokens throughout the entire gameplay, part of me feels like a hard plastic with texture would last longer versus cardboard tokens. I get it that cardboard is a lot less expensive to produce, but if someone decided this was their new thing, then at least having the option to order parts that will last next 20yrs may appeal more to some gamers.\\n\\n+ Unlike Kahuna where we feel whoever gets a footing in the first round will win the game, this one can go either way based on the decisions of the player. I like that there is no clear winner throughout, based on who gets some super power up card (like in some games) or who starts turn order (like in other games). A good balance for both players. . .as far as the game is concerned.\\n\\n+ We use to have a game that my kids had called No Stress Chess, which helped teach younger players the mechanics of chess. The way they did that is through the use of cards that told you what direction you could move and what piece. This has a similar mechanic in that you collect your directional cards that dictate some of the actions on the board. This is where the randomness/luck comes into play on this game, as you never know what set of cards you may get. Some people may not like this element, but I think it makes it fun and you have to work harder to get a combo move/better strategic placement of pieces because of it.\\n\\nOVERALL: A great two player game.\\nWe like it more than Tally Ho! since my kids are teenagers.\\nWe like it more than Kahuna, due to this being a balanced game.\\nAnd we like it about the same -- if not better -- than Lost Cities the Card Game (more luck involved), as both are strategic and anything could happen.\",\n \"Product: Escape the room games began as digital adventures and quickly turned into real-life events all around the world. In both versions, players are locked in a room and must uncover clues and hidden objects to escape. ThinkFun version of escape the room allows you to bring home all the excitement of this experience, without actually locking anyone in a room. Spend an evening working with your guests to unravel the mystery of the stargazer's manor and save a well-known astronomer by finding clues and solving puzzles. But be careful, in this nail-biting party game, The doors have shut and locked behind you. Will you and your guests be able to solve the mystery and save the Astronomer before time runs out?\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Enjoyable, but 8-players is a bit difficult unless you have the perfect round table where everyone can get to the game easily\\n\\nReview: The price dropped down to around $12 after tax so I picked this up and took it with us on a 2-week cruise with our family.\\n\\nThe 8 of us tried to play it. But since people have to get around the story and components, it seemed that only 6 of the 8 of us were engaged throughout...as it is hard to get 8 people around the table to be able to see and handle everything.\\n\\nYou follow the quick, easy to read instructions.\\nThen depending on the number of players, you set a timer and go. If memory serves, less than 5 players then set a 2hr timer, 5-8 players set a 90min timer. We had 8 so 90-minutes.\\n\\nThere is a story that unfolds while playing that is a bit predictable but enjoyable all the same.\\nThe puzzles with six of us (teenagers and adults) we completed the main storyline in 60-minutes.\\nThen there is a decision to make at the end that allows you to set the timer for another 30-minutes if you wish.\\nWe finished everything, including the bonus portion, with 54seconds left on the timer for a total of 89-minutes of play.\\n\\nIt didn't feel like we spent that long as the unveiling of the next part of the story/clues went at a good pace.\\n\\nOverall, for $12 to get 90-minutes of play for 6 people wasn't a bad deal in my book.\\nWe enjoyed it and it was a great way to kill some time we had while on vacation. A very good distraction and a different type of game.\\n\\nNOTE: If we had tracked exactly what we pulled out of each envelope, we could have packed it back up again and then passed the game to someone else. As it stands we didn't do this, so it was a one-time play and we didn't want to deal with trying to repack the game in our luggage till we got home to see if anyone did post the parts list on BoardGameGeek or not. No biggie...especially for the price.\",\n \"Product: Onitama is a two player abstract strategy game where players take on the role of a Master, guiding their monk followers, attempting to defeat your opponent armed only with a handful of moves, your cunning and your wits!.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Minor suggestions for more game play options and balancing play\\n\\nReview: GAME OVERVIEW:\\n2-player, abstract strategy game of a martial arts masters with their student in a courtyard. Goal is to defeat the opponent's master or get your master into to the other player's throne/chair/colored space.\\n\\nEach player will use cards to direct the moves of the their units -- very similar to Low Stress Chess, which is the first game I saw this type of mechanic used.\\n\\nCOMPONENTS:\\n> The pawns look strange, but they should last forever. Still wish they looked not so. . .strange. I'm not sure how else to describe it. It is almost like they are aliens instead of Shaolin monks acolytes.\\n+ The masters look better and also should last the test of time. Nice and durable\\n+The Neoprene mat (yes, same as a mouse pad) works perfectly for a no-slip play mat.\\n+ Cards are great with the Asian characters, which brings great flavor to the cards and they are of adequate durability for a game. This is the one thing you'll be handling the most, so after a few hundred games you may be ordering a new copy of the game or replacement cards. . .but only after a few hundred games.\\n\\nTHEME:\\n+ The theme feels strong in this game.\\nIn many ways, it feels similar to a chess King and pawns battle -- but primary through card directed movement -- and with an Asian theme.\\n\\nLEARNING CURVE:\\n+ Low learning curve.\\nVery easy to learn, but difficult to master. Much, much easier to learn and teach than chess, since there are very few rules.\\n\\nBALANCE:\\n> There are several comments on BoardGameGeek and other places that the Tiger and Ostrich cards are unbalanced in the original version and in the newer version Tiger remains an overpowered card. Many players simply remove the cards from the deck.\\n\\nLUCK:\\n+ Low luck, as the first hand is random but after that players are maneuvering with a set of cards that each sees. By the way you cannot move without directions from the cards drawn and made available to each player.\\n\\nThus, some people who hate randomness may be put off by the idea of cards directing your moves, but the randomness is very brief and only at the start of the game.\\n\\nSTRATEGY:\\n+ You can see the cards that your opponent is going to use to move and you see the cards you're going to use. Thus the decisions you have to make are very important and if you lose the game, it is because you let your opponent capitalize on moves that you either didn't see, didn't plan for or simply couldn't stop as you had limited choices in front of you.\\n\\nFINAL THOUGHTS:\\n+ A very good 2-player, abstract game. Lots of strategy. Some people hate not being able to move pieces based on rules, like in chess, but the cards work out very well and keep it random each game play. . .thus lots of replayability.\\n\\n> Only recommendation for improvement is to have a grid identifier for the play area, so you could play remotely with a friend who has a copy of their own game. Not sure if having Alpha on one side and Numeric on another would break the immersion of the theme or not, but it would be very helpful.\\n\\nOverall, nice fun two-player game that also comes in a cool Jenga type box. When I take one of my kids to $1 Tuesdays at Baskin Robbins this will be one of the games we play while enjoying some yummy ice cream.\",\n \"Product: A notorious gang of smugglers is recruiting new members. The first candidates step forward, a motley bunch indeed. Which one has the skills to become a worthy member of the gang? To determine this, the boss himself stages a smuggling contest. First the would-be smugglers must try to get through a hole in a fence while carrying the biggest sack of contraband possible. Then those who make it through the hole have a chance to inspect the other smugglers' sacks that are smaller than their own or that shamefully got stuck in the hole in the fence. A role of the die determines which size hole in the fence the sack needs to fit through. The smuggling sacks are formed from a rubbery polymer putty that the players roll into balls with the contraband pieces hidden inside. The balls are then rolled down a track toward the fence. The player's goal is to form the largest ball that will still fit through the fence. Players who succeed in getting the largest ball through the hole in the fence can then guess the contents of the smaller balls or of balls that were too large to fit through the fence. If they guess correctly, they get to keep the contraband. The player who collects the most contraband items wins. This funny family game answers the question: Who is the sneakiest and most skillful smuggler?.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Except for some small, choking pieces, this is a game better for under 8 years old\\n\\nReview: Our family of 6 love playing games to where we have over 150 board/card games ranging from gateway games (great for non-gamers) to super hardcore strategy games. Thus we probably have some higher requirements than some.\\n\\nOVERVIEW: The players are a bunch of thieves trying to impress the boss with the booty they are brining back to the headquarters. But each of us has to pass through a fence with our loot. Some will pass because they too little loot in their potato sack and some will not pass because they grabbed too much in their potato sack.\\n\\nLUCK:\\nWe are not fans of luck games and there is a good amount of luck. During the phase where a player has to guess what gem the other player(s) stuffed in their potato sack (a wad of putty that was rolled into a ball) is a lot of guess work. There is like a one in three chance to guess it right each time.\\n\\nSETUP:\\nEasy. Not much to setup. Pull the parts out of the box, distribute to players and you're pretty much up and running in less than 60-seconds.\\n\\nEASE of PLAY:\\nWhat I mean by this is how easy is it to learn to play...it's super easy. There are a few nuances that you may need to read as the situation comes up -- such as what to do when your potato sacks both tie -- but nothing you won't remember after having done it once.\\n\\nSTRATEGY:\\nThere is none. . .really. Yes, you have to try and outguess again (more luck) what size sack your opponent will make for the roll between the fence openings and what size sack you want to roll out with your putty. Other than that, nothing.\\n\\nREPLAYABILITY:\\nNot really. The entire game is the same luck-based steps and nothing else to mix it up. Both my 12 yr old and 14yr old said they've played it once and never have to play it again.\\n\\nWhere this might appeal to a younger crowd, because it is kind of fun to roll your potato sack and see if it makes it through the fence hole or not. But other than that, none of us liked it.\\n\\nCOMPONENTS:\\nCute cartoony artwork. . . it works for the intended theme.\\nIf you keep using the putty it will last a while. But if it's anything like Cadoo's game putty (and it seems like it is), then after a couple of months of sitting on your shelf untouched, you may be looking for a refresher as this one may have hardened up.\\nThin cardboard shield does the job to hide your putty and gem choice, but not much else. I guess this is alright.\\nThe fence and sloped hill work well and are well enough made.\\nGameboard is actually made of a pretty good quality cardboard, maybe because it has to be folded and unfolded with each play.\\n\\nFUN:\\nTotally subjective.\\nBut based on my previous comments you can probably guess we do not find the repetitiveness and luck-based focus of this game to be fun. The trying to outsmart your opponent is a bit of fun, but that's it.\\n\\nOVERALL:\\nI don't let things like \\\"designers of Catan\\\" sway me in my opinion, because I'm completely not comparing this game with Catan. I'm comparing this game with our likes and dislikes of overall game attributes. And as this has proven, just because they made one of the all-time greatest games, does not mean other games will be a fraction as good. For us this one isn't, but younger crowd may have fun with it.\",\n \"Product: In mystic vale, 2 to 4 players take on the role of druidic clans trying to cleanse the curse upon the land. Each turn, you play cards into your field to gain powerful advancements and Useful vale cards. Use your power wisely, or decay will end your turn prematurely. Score the most victory points to win the game!\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Better than I expected, as most of these type of card crafting games have failed in the past.\\n\\nReview: GAME OVERVIEW (from the manual):\\nPlayers take on the role of druidic clans attempting to restore the cursed lands to their former vitality. The cards in your deck represent the parts of the valley that you are tasked with revitalizing, and each advancement you add to the cards represents new life and vitality you have brought to that land. Your power is tied to the land, and as more life grows in your valleys and groves, so too does your power, and with it the spirits of nature to revive the miraculous vales.\\n\\nEach turn you play cards into your field to gain powerful advancements and valuable vale cards. But you must be careful not to overuse your power or it will result in decay and ends your turn. During the game you will be able to build up your cards by adding powerful advancement. Crafting your cards ith advancements and buying vale cards at the right time will help you bring the most miraculous portion of the Mystic Vale to life, and to achieve victory.\\n\\nGame ends when the supply of victory points is exhausted. Player with the most victory points at the end of the game wins.\\n\\nCOMPONENTS:\\nThe simple fact that this is the most unique deck-building game with transparent cards is already a huge plus. Also the transparent cards are more durable than normal paper cards, as they are made of clear plastic.\\n\\nThe mana tokens and victory point tokens are fine. Not overly thick cardboard, but not thin cardboard either.\\n\\nTHEME:\\nI was not excited about a theme where I'm a druid trying to heal the land.\\nBut I find the theme light, similar to Lords of Waterdeep (LoWD). In LoWD the wizards and rogues are often referred by our gaming group as orange and black cubes, because the theme doesn't really matter in that worker placement game. Here you're building spells to generate victory points, so the theme is okay.\\n\\nThis makes sense to me, since I've read they are already using this exact card mechanic on a combat theme/system.\\n\\nLEARNING CURVE / GAME DURATION:\\nThe manual is easy to read and understand\\nClear pictures.\\nNot very long / many pages because it is a game that is easy to learn.\\nFor those that would prefer a video there is a 25min official Learn to Play video from AEG on Youtube, that is a bit anticlimatic, but Becca Scott Kerns makes a fun host and is easy to understand.\\n\\nBALANCE:\\nI don't feel like anyone player can run away with the game early on and the other players have no chance.\\nBut. . .as the rounds/turns progress and people get their decks built then the victory points start disappearing pretty fast. So, no lollygagging around, as players need to be paying attention and may need to grab an advancement or Vale card before an opponent simply to slow them down a bit.\\n\\nLUCK / STRATEGY:\\nLike any card game, the order in which cards are revealed brings an element of luck. But every turn in which a player has an opportunity to purchase and advancement or vale is a highly strategic decision. Should I build this card to make it stronger or build that card to cancel out decay? Should I try and theme a card so that it leverages one special power or should I try and mix a card up so it can have a variety of utility?\\nLots of decisions that make the game highly strategic!\\n\\nREPLAYABILITY:\\nBecause you're starting with your player's base cards each game, the combinations or strategies to employ to win can be different each time you play. For a while. . .\\n\\nAfter about 10 plays you've more than seen the same cards over again and will want to take a break for several months until you forget exactly how to play or you'll rush out and immediately get the expansion which has more cards.\\n\\nFINAL THOUGHTS:\\nAs you can see from my pictures they give you room in the box for expansions!\\nThere is only one expansion at the time of this writing and it doesn't add any new mechanics and it does NOT add a 5-th player, but gives more of the same.\\n\\nThe only downside is cleanup, as you have all these cards that have been combined into a sleeve (provided in the box), but it's no big deal compared to the fun of the game.\\n\\nNo combat.\\nNo monsters.\\nBut crafting one's druidic magic to heal the land and beat out the other druids turns out to be a lot of fun. Because there is a limit to the victory point tokens available, the intensity is increased a lot as you can easily get distracted and be your own worst enemy.\\n\\nA unique game that works well for the strategy deck-building player. Check it out!\",\n \"Product: Route 666 is the Zombie road trip game by renowned designer Martin Wallace. Players race from Chicago to L.A. Through an increasingly difficult deck of location cards, scavenging for gas, ammo, and rations as they go. Their biggest obstacle? the hordes of zombies that attack them at nearly every turn. You can use three different types of resources to gain advantages in dice-based combats against the zombies, or you can bid those resources at the beginning of each round in order to outmaneuver your rivals. Tension and comedy go head to head throughout your journeys, but in the end, you don't always need to be faster than the zombies; you just need to be faster than your friends!\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Someone is bound to die in this game!\\n\\nReview: Players: 1 to 4\\nDuration: 30 to 60min\\nAge: 12+\\n\\nSCENARIO:\\nThe players are on a road trip from Chicago to LA when the zombie apocalypse strikes. Camera in hand, it seems the only way to safety is to complete the road trip. The players bid for the best route/journey to take on this road trip and hopefully survive in the end to show off their road trip pics and relish in the fact that they survived.\\n\\nAIM:\\nHave at least one survivor alive at the end of 8 rounds. If more than one player has at least 1 survivor, then there are victory points awarded throughout the game to determine a winner.\\n\\nMY GAMES:\\nI played all types, 1-player all the way up to 4-player.\\nOne and two player games seem very restrictive, but it makes sense with the game theme and mechanics. I personally think the game plays better with four as there are more options throughout...as long as players are still alive to drive more card options on the table.\\n\\nCOMPONENTS:\\nQuality components = yes! From the cards to the thick tokens, it's all good\\nArtwork = Nice! The artwork to the cards with what looks like peeling stickers to the semi-blurry scenes on some cards, set a post-apocalyptic tone.\\nZombie meeples = check!\\nPlayer tokens = boring piece of cylindrical, painted wood. A cool meeple would have been nicer, such as an automobile meeple would make sense since we are on a roadtrip\\n\\nTHEME:\\nI think the theme comes out very strong.\\nFighting zombies is sometimes a breeze and sometimes your entire group of survivors could get wiped out with a bad roll or two. There is plenty of suspense, even when bidding on which route to take and hoping you don't get stuck with the one that will wipe you out.\\nFor our group, this is one of the stronger themed games.\\n\\nEASE OF LEARNING:\\nVery easy to learn. You must play a few sessions to have seen most of the cards and learn to get X card because it will be of benefit to you down the road or to know Player 2 got X card so you can try and block them from victory points later on.\\n\\nOverall, I think I can teach this as a gateway game to new players in about 10-15 minutes.\\n\\nLUCK:\\nLots of dice rolling. Actually all the combat is dice rolling, so it's all about Lady Luck. Some people will hate this some will love it.\\n\\nSTRATEGY:\\nMid-level strategy, because you can try and keep track of how many victory points others have, which could influence your decisions. Actually, seeing another player's resource stash is much higher than yours and you are getting to the end, knowing they will win the achievement bonuses, will impact your decisions making. You could find your tactic of safe play switching to Play Big or Go Home, because what do yo have to lose if you are already going to lose the game in points.\\n\\nBALANCE:\\nI think once you fall too far behind, it's very, very difficult to survive all eight rounds.\\nBy stage 3 the cards are almost insta-death to some players, so if you had a poor dice rolling streak, you're in a world of hurt and will most likely lose. But winners in attitude never quit...so it ain't over till it's over! Yeah, whatever you want to tell yourself. If you are down to two meeples and the other player has six, you are pretty much stuck getting routes that will finish you off. . .unless you have a ton of resources.\\n\\nFUN:\\nI love the game!\\nMy wife does not like the stress. It is too intense for her and she freezes up with analysis paralysis.\\nMy one son doesn't like a game where if you win, simply means you were less devastated than the other players. He didn't really like the beat down that will happen through random die rolls.\\nMy daughter really likes it, but she's like me. Maybe we're both a bit masochistic, but having my survivors die, didn't matter as much because it happened to everyone. She and I still enjoyed the journey, whether we lived or not.\",\n \"Product: The lunch break is almost there and all of the young penguins would finally get the fish they've been craving for. However, some rascals think they are quick enough to snatch some of the fish before the lunch break starts, but they have forgotten one thing the Hall Monitor! Each school day one of the penguins is designated to watch over the school, and this is his moment to shine for each rascal penguin he catches he would get additional fish! A fun run takes place the rascals are running everywhere and trying to snatch some fish on their way, but the Hall Monitor is trying to catch each and one of them to have some order in the school. Who will be more successful? Ice Cool is a flicking game in which each round one of the players takes the role of the Hall Monitor (also called \\\"the Catcher\\\") his aim will be to catch each other penguin and get points for that. The others (also known as \\\"Runners\\\") will try to run through several doors, thus gaining fish (that give them points) on their way. When either the Hall Monitor has caught each other penguin once or any of the others has gone through all 3 doors that have fish on them, the round is over. Each player will take the role of the Hall Monitor once and at the end of the game the winner will be the one with the most points on their fish cards. The penguins can be flicked in a straight line, make curves and even jump over the walls! Each player will have to use the best of their skills in order to get the most points in this fun and exciting game. It's not just cool, it's ICE COOL!\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: For beginner to advanced finger-flickers\\n\\nReview: We are a family who have played (and owned) literally hundreds of hobby board games. One area that hasn't gone over well or we have very little of, are dexterity games.\\n\\n+ Box in a Box.\\nYep. As you unpack this box the other \\\"maps\\\"/the \\\"game board\\\" are also boxes inside the main box. The russian doll idea that each box is slightly smaller for each layer you go into.\\n\\nYou can use some boxes by themselves or configure all the boxes together into a larger map. Several options here.\\n\\n+ Weighted penguins.\\nWeeble will wobble, but it won't fall down! Well here we get penguin weebles that are small enough to flick and add sometimes unpredictable results...which can be fun and laughable.\\n\\nThe weighted penguins allow you to flick on the side, so they curve a direction or so. A more advanced effect is to have them jump walls by flicking on the head only.\\n\\n+ Fish-shaped clips hold the map/box pieces together.\\nKeeping the theme. I loved it!\\nThese fish-clips also act to provide point cards.\\n\\n+ Gameplay is easy to learn...then again, it better be, since this is a game for ages 6 to 99.\\nWhenever you go through a door (not over) you get a fish token and get to draw card(s). There is a hall monitor trying to catch/stop the penguins from running around the icy school.\\n\\nAt the end of the game, after everyone has been the hall monitor at least once; count up points on cards collected and highest points wins. Easy-peasy.\\n\\n+ Component quality is very good.\\nFrom the plastic, weighted penguins to the board/boxes and to the cards all are great.\\n\\nOVERALL:\\nGreat game for family, friends, and players of all ages. There need to be more good dexterity games. I'm glad this is one of them.\",\n \"Product: Each Event Deck contains: - 1 60-card theme deck, a 15-card sideboard, spindown lifecounter, card box and strategy insert\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great place to start for a returning player after a 15+ year hiatus from the game\\n\\nReview: My four kids have been playing MTG a lot lately.\\nIt has also gotten to the point where buying 4,000 commons,uncommons on eBay doesn't cut it, since they are always duplicates and from old series. Kids also want me to play with them, but I don't remember how to effectively build a deck or what the rules are.\\n\\nSo I bought this pre-made deck and have been having fun with it.\\nIt seems to be a strong deck, because even as a newbie player I'm beating my kids 8 of 10 games.\\nThe Bloodrush ability cards are amazing!\\nThe description fold-out provided that tells you how to play this desk was invaluable.\\n\\nFor me, this was a great way to stat playing again and able to not get crushed with a lame self-made deck while I'm still re-learning the game. Worth getting!\",\n \"Product: Book by Feist, Raymond E.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: 15 years between readings and it still holds its power over me!\\n\\nReview: Got hooked onto fantasy/sci-fi 15 years ago and this is one of those series I was first introduced to and fell in love with. Over the years I've become more selective about my reading; expecting certain standards to be met in order to make a good/great read. Dragonlance is a series that has failed in this area. As a teenager Dragonlance was great but now as an adult I find it immature writing and absolutly boring. Riftwar Saga, on the other hand, still holds the magic and draws me into the story just as deeply as the first time, maybe even more so nowadays.\\n\\nSTORY:\\n\\nTwo young boys (Pug and Tomas) in a midevil type world find themselves caught up with an invasion from an alien race/culture from another world. The boys are taken down different paths that start to shape the future to come and how they will become major players in the salvation of the land in their own ways. The first book sets the stage and leaves a lot of mystery about the invasion and what exactly will become of the characters we begin to connect with and love.\\n\\nADDITIONAL FEEDBACK:\\n\\nAction - the author doesn't hold back on action, giving ample paragraphs/pages to describe skirmishes and sieges\\n\\nCharacters - believable, have depth and motivations, not carbon-copies of each other\\n\\nPlot - keeps you guessing; twists and turns and things don't always work in the favor of the major characters\\n\\nSetting - easy to visual; lots of different locations; well described\\n\\nGenre specific - dwares, elves, \\\"dark elves\\\", dragons, and other traditional fantasy creatures but it never comes across as a bad pen-paper RPG game, but as a nice mixture of cultures and their prejudices with each other. I normally don't like a lot of the \\\"traditional\\\" races/classes found in D&D and other fantasy novels but here it is handled with the correct level of maturity of writing as to not make things overly cliche.\\n\\nOVERALL: Still one of the best books/series I've ever read for fantasy. If you haven't read it get it now!\",\n \"Product: One choice can transform you. Pass initiation. Do not fail! Thrilling urban dystopian fiction debut from exciting young author. In sixteen-year-old Beatrice Prior's world, society is divided into five factions -- Abnegation (the selfless), Candor (the honest), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent) -- each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue, in the attempt to form a \\\"perfect society.\\\" At the age of sixteen, teens must choose the faction to which they will devote their lives. On her Choosing Day, Beatrice renames herself Tris, rejects her family's group, and chooses another faction. After surviving a brutal initiation, Tris finds romance with a super-hot boy, but also discovers unrest and growing conflict in their seemingly \\\"perfect society.\\\" To survive and save those they love, they must use their strengths to uncover the truths about their identities, their families, and the order of their society itself.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: A less popular viewpoint of this book. . .a parent's perspective\\n\\nReview: You can easily see by my profile I specifically enjoy dystopian novels and thus didn't hesitate to pick up this new addition to the market.\\nBooks like <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Birthmarked/dp/1596435690/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Birthmarked</a> and <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Nomansland/dp/0805090649/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Nomansland</a> were two of the most recent dystopian novels I've read and found the first to be better than the second. . .not counting the Hunger games trilogy which was great book 1, better book 2 and okay book3\\n\\nWhat all these books have in common is a female protagonist going up against an oppressive society.\\n\\nWhat they don't have in common is Beatrice is not a likeable character as the main female protagonist. She does go through some change mid-way but its kinda forced and still doesn't make her someone I wanted to root for.\\n\\nNow realize <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Lord-Foul-s-Bane-The-Chronicles-of-Thomas-Covenant-the-Unbeliever-Book-1/dp/0345348656/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Lord Foul's Bane (The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Book 1)</a> has a main protagonist that we all loathe, at first. But that character's change is logical, and in the right time, unlike with this story.\\n\\nWhat else I didn't like:\\n1) We try to teach our kids respect for others, especially adults while having a good attitude and being positive about themselves and others. Our sarcastic protagonist is none of this and that starts the story off wrong for me. The sarcasm isn't even funny like you'd find in a action flick from the late 80's early 90's. I'm NOT looking for a good-too-shoes hero but a flawed one. Problem is, other than Beatrice's physical abilities she offers very little else but flaws.\\n\\n2) There are no healthy relationships between kids and their parents. Actually once Beatrice picks her faction at the age of 16 she heads over to \\\"boot camp\\\" where there appears to be zero respect for adults or even a sense of missing of one's parents. Actually it seems adults are overall non-existent unless I completely missed how old Four or Eric were. Yes, the teen years are years of getting ready to leave home and becoming more independent with each year. But I know a lot of families with very independent kids but also good relationships with their parents. We don't need more examples of poor relationships, because we all know someone who has one of those too.\\n\\n3) Their first \\\"free time\\\" in their new faction is spent getting tattooed and talking of nipple piercings and the like. Yes, I'm not so naive to think this doesn't happen. This book I'd classify as older, definitely not YA category. Also, is the join the group and do whatever mentality as the characters talk of sex, piercings and tattoos, as if there are no consequences to these actions\\n\\nParts I'm neutral on:\\n1) The bulk of the book is with Beatrice going through her initiation and the high-school drama she experiences at boot camp. For the most part this isn't bad and there are some characters like Four that I found interesting.\\n\\n2) There were times I wanted more world building and other times I knew it wasn't necessary to the teen drama. Thus what we get on setting is a bit thin, but for most of the story it isn't needed.\\n\\nWhat I did like:\\n1) I did like how the different factions are \\\"living\\\" representations of certain values. People are rewarded for their factions by living out their primary value. Great concept.\\n\\n2) The primary conflict between the factions is believable though maybe the delivery a bit simplified. We still have more to go in the coming books of the trilogy and we'll see what new twists and turns the author will give us.\\n\\n3) Many female authors I've read seem to tend to shying away from writing fight scenes or battle scenes in detail. They'll summarize, but don't give you the blow-by-blow. In some graphic forms this author didn't pull any punches (pun intended).\\n\\nOVERALL:\\nI eventually let my 13yr old boy read it and he didn't like the girl protagonist either for similar reasons; nor did he care for the teen drama.\\n\\nOther dystopian books like the <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/The-Giver/dp/0385732554/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">The Giver</a> and the others mentioned above focus more on the oppression of society and the allies that side with our hero; with some love interest or friendship issues on the side.\\nSo if you want an interpersonal relationship book, with some dystopian thrown in on the side, this may be the book for you. If you want more heroic protagonists who are trying to break free of the oppressive society, try the other books.\",\n \"Product: Born in England and currently living in Australia, Lian Hearn attended Oxford University, has studied Japanese, and has a lifelong interest in Japan.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: a must read conclusion to an epic trilogy\\n\\nReview: Rating System:\\n\\n1 star = abysmal; some books deserve to be forgotten\\n\\n2 star = poor; a total waste of time\\n\\n3 star = good; worth the effort\\n\\n4 star = very good; what writing should be\\n\\n5 star = fantastic; must own it and share it with others\\n\\nSTORY: The continuing adventures of Takeo and Kaede as they try to connect with each other at a time when the Tribe is trying to assassinate Takeo, Akida is trying to take over all the known kingdoms and the Otori lords have sent the clan armies to hunt and kill Takeo.\\n\\nMY FEEDBACK:\\n\\n1) First off, this was a fairly satisfactory ending to an epic storyline. It didn't have the same level of mystic elements as the first book nor the rising action of the 2nd, but it resolved all the necessary characters and sub-plots well\\n\\n2) I agree some of the other reviews that the author had an opportunity to exploit some battle scenes but decided in skirting the issue. The author decided to quickly resolve the battles instead of taking the reader through the mayhem and chaos of such events. A missed opportunity in my opinion\\n\\n3) The emotional bonds between the characters are believable and connecting with the reader\\n\\n4) I've read a lot of fantasy and whenever \\\"prophecy\\\" is introduced into the story it MAY add to the mystic elements or detract from the story by giving things away too early. I believe this happened here in that some opportunities to increase the suspense of a scene was lost due to me as the reader already knowing that Takeo should win based on the prophecy\\n\\nOVERALL: It still flows with the same feel as the previous two books. It was a must read to know how the story ends and made me feel like so much has happened since the first book that I'll soon need to go back and start the trilogy all over again.\",\n \"Product: Grim Tuesday:\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: another fun read by an author with great imagination (4.5 stars)\\n\\nReview: Rating System:\\n1 star = abysmal; some books deserve to be forgotten\\n2 star = poor; a total waste of time\\n3 star = good; worth the effort\\n4 star = very good; what writing should be\\n5 star = fantastic; must own it and share it with others\\n\\nTHE STORY:\\nArthur Penhaligon is once again drawn into the mysterious House where he has to defend his right as the heir as Grim Tuesday gets access to the Secondary Realms and threatens Arthur's family and friends and society if Arthur doesn't hand over ownership of the Lower House to Grim Tuesday.\\n\\nTHE GOOD:\\nAs with the first book in the series this is a wonderful exploration of places and people that leaves the reader wanting more. Nix's imagination in the creation of the House and its denizens continues strong in the second book as we are whisked away to the Pit of Nothing or sailing into the middle of a star.\\n\\nNormally sequels fail where the first book was strong but overall this book keeps the pace, action, story and interesting characters as with the first book. Its obvious in the first book that this story is going to span a minimum of seven books and it leaves one thinking what more could the author give us, but the surprises keep coming.\\n\\nAlso, Arthur actually grows as a character in this book. By the end he has made up his mind about a thing or two where before he was in denial or avoidance. For a book about discovery, it was nice to see some character development.\\n\\nTHE BAD:\\nMy only complaint with this book is that Nix leaves the physical problems of Arthur's asthma in the first book for a different physical challenge in the second. Yet for making such a big deal about it all, the ailment didn't seem to turn the tide of the story, nor did any of the bad guys try and take advantage of his ailment. Left me thinking, \\\"What's the point?!\\\"\\n\\nTHE OVERALL:\\nRead the first book and you'll be hooked on this series. By the time you get to this book you'll want the next book in the series after this one right away. Great imagination! Great sense of discovery! Great series!\",\n \"Product: s innocence turned helpless desperation--all because of the smiling freckle-faced stranger named Junior Allen. Cathy has nowhere to turn--except to another stranger, that man named Travis McGee--who is a walking pillar of cold rage as he follows the depraved wreckage of Junior Allen's trail. 2 cassettes.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Another James Bond type character without the spy stuff\\n\\nReview: Rating System:\\n1 star = abysmal; some books deserve to be forgotten\\n2 star = poor; almost a total waste of time\\n3 star = good; worth the effort\\n4 star = very good; what writing should be\\n5 star = fantastic; must own it and share it with others\\n\\nCONTENT: This would be M for mature. The sex scene(s) are written poetically without being graphic. Lots of other implied dialogue that contains adult themes. I can't remember a single bit of profanity and the violence wasn't overly brutal like some books.\\n\\nCHARACTERS: The protagonist, Travis McGee, is a likable fellow, due to his good nature and wittiness. But as the story progresses we see him like James Bond where women for various reasons are always flirting with him or throwing themselves at him. But he's still fallible and not superman. He can be hurt.\\n\\nThe antagonist doesn't show up for most of the book. But the author did a great thing and introduce enough characters who describe the antagonist that we totally can't wait for the jerk to get his. He was a good bad guy to hate.\\n\\nThe plethora of loose women is explained better than I expected. A good little history and hint at what shaped these characters is introduced and each is unique in a way, making them seem more believable.\\n\\nPLOT: Not so much a murder mystery, but it was engaging how the McGee character is not only trying to track down the bad guy, but then devise a plan to \\\"overthrow\\\" the bad guy. I liked it.\\n\\nSTYLE: Sometimes his \\\"waxing poetic\\\" was difficult to follow but there are some gems of description and monologue within this book. Overall I really liked the wittiness throughout.\\n\\nENDING: It was satisfying climax and resolution to the sotry. Don't have more to say on that, other than it's not a cliffhanger where you have to read a part 2 in a trilogy. This is a stand alone book and the entire storyline is resolved. But we like the McGee character enough to want to read the next book.\\n\\nOVERALL: It was a pretty fast read at about 250 pages, with good pacing throughout. A good introduction to this new character and the character's stories. If it wasn't for the mature content (not what I'm looking for) I would have given this a 5-stars, but most of the content was integral to the plot versus thrown in because the author could.\",\n \"Product: Celebrating 75 years as the world leader in the test prep industry, Kaplan Test Prep (www.kaptest.com) is a premier provider of educational and career services for individuals, schools and businesses. With a comprehensive menu of online offerings as well as a complete array of print books and digital products, Kaplan offers preparation for more than 90 standardized tests, including entrance exams for secondary school, college and graduate school, as well as professional licensing exams for attorneys, physicians and nurses.  Kaplan also provides private tutoring and graduate admissions consulting services.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: A very good set of tools\\n\\nReview: PROS:\\n+ Online content that can be accessed from any device with internet\\n+ Online training videos\\n+ Online tests\\n+ Online tests grading\\n+ DVD with video tutorials with tips with test preparation strategies\\n+ Book also contains strategies and preparation tips for test day\\n+ For $25 you get a lot of resources!\\n\\nNEUTRAL:\\n> Book contains three(3) practice tests and the rest of the tests are online\\n> In a year (March 2016) SAT testing is changing, so parts of this content may or may not be relevant any longer. So if you get this book plan to take the test prior to the changes\\n> Mobile version of the book. Some like ebook better than this tome, but it's okay.\\n\\nCONS:\\n- Just seeing how large this book is can be intimidating. Some kids have to be a real self-starter to be willing to crack it open regardless of it's ominous size.\\n\\nOTHER:\\n My son recently took an actual \\\"practice\\\" SAT and then we were presented with the results by a college prep business. They said that Math, for instance, could cover Geometry through Algebra 2. The book also brings this up multiple times. Yeah!\\n\\nThe college prep said for the essay to write confidently and feel free to make outrageous statements to support your facts. For instance if writing about poverty a point could be, \\\"As stated in an article from the New York Times, better funded job training will solve the poverty problem in America.\\\" You do this because a) it's clear' b) it's confident and c) they cannot fact check you!\\n\\nThis book only says that your essay needs to\\\" go beyond your personal experience and to make interesting and meaningful connections\\\" (pg139) So a bit different, though both pieces of advice could work well.\\n\\nOVERALL: I'm happy with this book and the online resources and DVD are a must have to help a 21st century student.\",\n \"Product: Unabridged CD Audiobook 8 CDs / 10 Hours long\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Good little mystery and it has vampires\\n\\nReview: STORY: As one review so simply put: Anita Blake, full time animator of the dead and part time vampire slayer, has been hired by the thousand year old Master of the city to find a serial killer who's been knocking off the undead.\\n\\nMY FEEDBACK:\\n\\n1) SETTING: This is an alternate world where what appears to be 20th century humans coexist with vampires and other supernatural creatures. There are even laws that give vampires certain rights in this new world. Our brief glimpse of the world created is teasing in its possibilities and enjoyable.\\n\\n2) CHARACTERS: Anita Blake is our main protagonist. She is a female version of a smart-mouthed detective from some stereotypical gumshoe story. She is a character who proudly displays her stereotypes but also enjoyable has a couple of traits that add something memorable. I liked the character enough that she is more the reason why I would want to read the next book than because the plot was maybe fabulous.\\n\\n3) PLOT: Speaking of plot, it was a nice little mystery. I didn't feel that there were enough clues to who the 'bad' guy was but the story had enough unexpected events that I kept reading. Story was overall handled well though I would have liked to see more 'action' scenes vs. scenes that were potentially eruptive in action, if you know what I mean.\\n\\n4) CONTENT: This book would be rated R for gore and violence. The sensual scenes were handled very professionally, were brief and were NOT graphic sexually,which I appreciated. I wanted a vampire, action, mystery and that is what I got.\\n\\nOVERALL: I liked this book and if someone likes to read vampire books and have a mystery I'd recommend this in a heartbeat. Just because the covers of this series and the titles of the books may imply this is erotic horror, this book wasn't. If the rest of the series is, I don't know. But this was a fun little read that I really enjoyed.\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":177,"string":"177"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_3"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":876,"string":"876"}}},{"rowIdx":877,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"A1WDS3U185610U"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of \"1.0\" for a product with description \"A holiday favorite! Includes these classic Christmas songs and medleys: Sing We Now of Christmas; Joy to the World/Go Tell It on the Mountain/It Came Upon a Midnight Clear; Adeste Fideles; Good King Wenceslas; O' Come Little Children/Ding Dong, and many more!\". The summary of the review text is \"NOT the original or best Drummer Boy\"."},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"Oy, I can't believe how tacky and unappealing and disappointing this album is, except for the Drummer Boy carol which was ripped off wholesale from the Jack Halloran singers' album and then reproduced here almost identically, with the addition of spurious songwriting credits to Simeone (yes, all of this history can be found online if you search carefully).\n\nIf you want the real classic album, it's \"The Little Drummer Boy\" by the Jack Halloran singers. Here's the original album cover, in case it brings back a memory: <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Audio-CD-Little-Drummer-Boy-The-Jack-Halloran-Singers-DLP3233/dp/B004A451FQ/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Audio CD. Little Drummer Boy. The Jack Halloran Singers. (DLP3233)</a>. You can find CDs of it on sites like ChristmasLPstoCD or GoingDigitalMusic.\n\nSo please investigate carefully if you are looking for a favorite album from your youth and think this Simeone CD may be it. It may not be, and you may be thinking of the glorious Jack Halloran album."},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"Oy, I can't believe how tacky and unappealing and disappointing this album is, except for the Drummer Boy carol which was ripped off wholesale from the Jack Halloran singers' album and then reproduced here almost identically, with the addition of spurious songwriting credits to Simeone (yes, all of this history can be found online if you search carefully).\n\nIf you want the real classic album, it's \"The Little Drummer Boy\" by the Jack Halloran singers. Here's the original album cover, in case it brings back a memory: <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Audio-CD-Little-Drummer-Boy-The-Jack-Halloran-Singers-DLP3233/dp/B004A451FQ/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Audio CD. Little Drummer Boy. The Jack Halloran Singers. (DLP3233)</a>. You can find CDs of it on sites like ChristmasLPstoCD or GoingDigitalMusic.\n\nSo please investigate carefully if you are looking for a favorite album from your youth and think this Simeone CD may be it. It may not be, and you may be thinking of the glorious Jack Halloran album."},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Product: The Quickie Bowl Brush and Caddy features soft fibers that wont scratch your bathtub or toilet bowl and a caddy to store the brush you're finished cleaning your bathroom. Quickie designs, manufactures and distributes over 300 cleaning products for traditional in-home use as well as contractor and DIY grade applications. The product line includes mops, brooms, dusters, dustpans, brushes, buckets and other supplies.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Works great on a BATHTUB too\n\nReview: I use this for the bathtubs in my house, which have sliding glass doors on runners instead of shower curtains. This is the perfect solution to not being able to lean comfortably on the rim of the tub, and not being able to reach the whole tub at once with a sponge-type scrubber. With this Quickie scrubber, I just sprinkle or squeeze cleanser into the tub, and scrub the whole tub standing up, thanks to the long handle. The job is finished quickly!\n\nI wouldn't personally recommend using the same one for both tub and toilet though, because that wouldn't be sanitary. Mine are only for the tub. If you want to have one for the tub and one for the toilet, that would work, as long as you don't mix them up.","Product: This fascinating adaptation of J.G. Farrell's novel is both a compelling drama and an illuminating examination of Ireland's troubled history. When Major Brendan Archer returns from the trenches of World War I to his fiance in Ireland, he quickly becomes involved in familial and political turmoil.\nThe shell-shocked major (played with wounded vulnerability by Ian Charleson) is engaged to Angela Spencer, who lives with her family in the decaying Majestic Hotel. Angela's eccentric father wants to return the hotel to its former glory because he believes that this will somehow subdue the nationalist movement that threatens his privileged position. Meanwhile, changed utterly by his wartime experiences, Major Archer begins to fall for his fiance's friend Sarah, a passionate nationalist.\n\nThe Majestic Hotel and its inhabitants are perfect symbols of crumbling English power, and the central love story brings a personal dimension to the political struggle. Troubles does a wonderful job of retaining the complexity of Farrell's novel, subtly shifting from comedy to tragedy, and the result is a deeply satisfying film. --Simon Leake\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Lovely, unique film. Now also on Amazon Instant.\n\nReview: Set immediately after WWI and focusing gently around the troubles between the English and the Irish in Ireland, this layered saga rewards a viewer genuinely interested in the fate of its protagonist, the Englishman Major Archer (Ian Charleson). Major Archer's own mystifying and repeated \"troubles\" seem to eventually mirror the political troubles of British-occupied Ireland. And Ian Charleson gives a delicious performance that evokes just such an interest in his fate, no matter how eccentric his surroundings.\n\nWith Major Archer as the focus, this film makes wonderful viewing, as we see the British in Ireland through his eyes. And everything that happens to him, and the people around him, can also serve as metaphors of the times.\n\nMajor Archer's primary interactions are with a self-absorbed and outdated Englishman, Edward Spencer (played aptly by Ian Richardson) and his eccentric family, and a magnetic and coquettish Irish Catholic named Sarah (Emer Gillespie) whose charms Archer succumbs to. Sympathetic to the Irish cause, Major Archer has antagonists who are exemplified by the young and belligerently British Captain Bolton (Sean Bean). All three protagonists -- Charleson, Richardson, and Gillespie -- play their parts perfectly, and as the sprawling and multi-layered saga finally winds to a close, it feels moving and momentous.\n\nThis is Ian Charleson's last screen role, and a delightfully rich one. He plays the mild-mannered yet deep-feeling Major Archer with depth and with pitch-perfect affect. Lovely.\n\n[Note: Americans and other non-Brits would do well to note that the term Sinn Fin is used frequently in the film; it is pronounced \"Shin Fayne.\" This is the radical Irish Republican group, similar to the IRA. The slang term for the group is \"Shinners.\"]\n\n[Note 2: This is now viewable on Amazon Instant, at http://www.amazon.com/Troubles-Season-1/dp/B00XTYGAV2.]","Product: Follows ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro over the course of a musical season, capturing dynamic performances before sold-out crowds, intimate moments of life on the road, and visits to his native Hawai'i, where he has risen from local hero to international star.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: An incredible look at one of the world's most virtuosic musicians\n\nReview: Jake Shimabukuro is not a \"ukulele player\" -- he's a world-renowned musical virtuoso who blows away anyone who hears his music. He is in the same pantheon as Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Bela Fleck, and even great classical musicians such as Yo-Yo Ma and Hilary Hahn. Jake, more than any musician I know of, transcends his instrument and creates pure music, touching the souls of his listeners.\n\nA well-kept (though award-winning) Hawaiian and Japanese secret until 2006, Jake burst upon the world stage when someone posted the now-famous video of him playing \"While My Guitar Gently Weeps\" on YouTube. The video instantly went viral, and Jake became a international star, receiving concert requests from around the world, and playing with and opening for such stars as Jimmy Buffett, Bela Fleck, Ziggy Marley, and Bette Midler, and being produced by Alan Parsons.\n\nAll while retaining his youthful humility and disarming openness and lack of pretense. This movie is a lovely look into his life, both for Jake fans, and for those who have never heard of him. The film is by turns fascinating, jaw-dropping, inspiring, funny, touching, and moving. It's a well-rounded and expertly done piece of cinema by a very experienced Japanese-American documentarian, who strives to bring the human touch to his work. The film should appeal to anyone, regardless of age, nationality, or musical interest (or lack thereof). Jake's life alone is fascinating, never mind his brilliant music (which we are given glorious exposure to).\n\nJake has a special connection with Japan, both through his heritage and because his longtime manager is from Japan. Thus, he's an even bigger star in Japan than in the U.S. Hopefully, this wonderful film will open the eyes of further music lovers in the U.S. and elsewhere around the world.\n\nBy the way, this hour-long documentary is viewable for free until August 8, 2013 on the PBS site. Go to their Video page, and click the drop-down Progams menu (or access it directly here: http://goo.gl/cDN0T).","Product: Classic rendition of Johann Wyss' family adventure stars Thomas Mitchell as the father who must make the best for his brood after a shipwreck strands them on a tropical isle. Co-stars Freddie Bartholomew, Tim Holt, Edna Best. 92 min. NOTE: This movie has been manufactured by a small but reliable supplier and is 100% guaranteed. While this movie has not been digitally restored and may not be nearly as good as a big studio restoration, we offer this kind of product when it is the only print available and collectors ask us for it, regardless of quality.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Definitely worth a watch\n\nReview: This 1940 black-and-white film version is much more faithful to the original Johann Wyss novel, and is not the laugh- and cheese-fest that the 1960 Disney color version is. It's an intriguing story all its own.\n\nThe print has not been remastered, so it's dark in several places, and therefore best viewed in a completely dark room. Still, it's not as bad as some have intimated, and is about a 7 out of 10 in print quality. Well worth watching, especially for nostalgists and purists and especially if you are fan of any of the actors. Thomas Mitchell (Scarlett's father in the previous year's Gone With the Wind) gives an excellent performance as the doting and concerned father who wishes only that his sons grow up with wisdom and depth and maturity.\n\nFreddie Bartholomew is delightful as the foppish son who out-Pimpernels Pimpernel (that's a Leslie Howard reference if you haven't seen that movie). Long-lashed and doe-eyed young Terry Kilburn overacts in a couple bits but is largely quite rewarding as the young son who loves reading and writing. Edna Best is sometimes a bit annoying as the mother, but that's what her role demands, and she is often lovely and charming as well. Tim Holt is fine as the eldest of the four sons, which include a baby who doesn't talk.\n\nAll in all, definitely worth it if you are inclined. I've seen it on eBay and other venues if it's out of stock here -- for instance you can Google the title in quotes plus Retro Flix in quotes.","Product: United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2.4 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital Stereo ), English ( Subtitles ), ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN (1.78:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Anamorphic Widescreen, Deleted Scenes, Interactive Menu, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: Everything is more intense...?Like your brain's taking it all in, knowing that it might be the last cloud or the last blade of grass you'll ever see... An epic historical drama spanning the five years of the First World War, as seen through the eyes of two ordinary young soldiers: one British, one German. Set against battles on the iconic Western front alongside the lesser explored but equally epic struggles in the East, the story charts Tommy and Michael's coming of age on opposite sides of Europe's bloody battlefields. They each find love, friendship and courage amidst the horror of ?the war to end all wars.' Scripted by award winning writer Tony Jordan (Life On Mars, Hustle), The Passing Bells is part of the BBC's commemorations on the centenary of WWI, a conflict that cost millions of lives and re-shaped the map of the world. ...The Passing Bells\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: \"What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?\"\n\nReview: The title of this miniseries comes from the first line of Wilfred Owen's 1917 poem, 'Anthem for Doomed Youth': \"What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?\" It attempts to show the innocence and misguided bravery of the extremely youthful soldiers who enlisted in World War I from the outset, having no idea what they were in for or even why.\n\nThe two leads play a German youth and a British youth who sign up that way, and the film follows their separate experiences of the interminable and increasingly meaningless war. (They do cross paths now and then, which adds further meaning to the film.) The acting of both leads is fine.\n\nThe main issue with the miniseries is that it was deliberately aimed at a younger audience and family viewing, so it is slightly sanitized, and slightly one-dimensional, and adults may find it somewhat unfulfilling. There is a certain eloquence about it, however, especially as it concludes. And it can certainly be very educational for younger viewers.\n\nOne issue that seems inevitable is that it is initially hard to tell apart the British and German regiments, since British actors were used for both and their uniforms are not terribly distinctive. Although it's clear in the beginning which is which because German soldiers were still wearing ornate pointed helmets, the Germans had soon dispensed with them and so the viewer has to pay very close attention from the very beginning. Theoretically the BBC could have found young Germans to play all of those roles (speaking English with German accents), but I'm fairly certain that would have been way out of their budget for this relatively minor project which was one of dozens of WWI productions commissioned for the centenary of the war.\n\nI'm not sure who I would recommend this for, but it does have a certain slow-moving eloquence, and is suitable for young viewers, young history or war fans, and family viewing.","Product: Drama series in which a defence lawyer tries to finally uncover the truth of an old miscarriage of justice, while her husband goes to any lengths to conceal the truth about his own past.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Great black actors and cast ruined by overwhelming implausibilities\n\nReview: This is a miniseries led by two great black actors and their characters' family, and includes some other great black actors as well. All of which is devoutly to be wished.\n\nHowever the plot itself is full of so many complete implausibilities (the first of which comes right off the bat -- a British barrister flying back and forth to practice law in Louisiana without the slightest credentials!) that the opportunity for a wonderful vehicle for these actors and characters is wasted, and the audience drops out due to the lack of believability.\n\nThis script should have been nixed or rehabbed from the get-go. It is admittedly difficult to write a script that will give black actors such as these this much of a universal showcase, but it's not impossible. Let's go back to the drawing board and do better, since this was a major disappointment and a major opportunity wasted.","Product: The first holiday album from super-star Faith Hill, 'Joy To The World' is a joy to behold, featuring beautiful new versions of ten traditional and modern classics, complete with horns, strings, woodwings, percussion and chorales, much like the big-band orchestras of the 40's and 50's. One of the most popular music stars in America, Faith Hill celebrates the joy-and faith- of the season with 'Joy to the World.'\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Great (except for possibly the one Country song)\n\nReview: This is a really nice, inspiring, rather old-fashioned album, perfect for Christmas. I like all of the songs on it, except for possibly the one brand-new song called \"A Baby Changes Everything,\" about an unwed teenage mother -- who turns out to be Mary. I just think this can mar for some listeners what could have been a perfect, universally loved Christmas album. I would have preferred the album without it, although I'm sure it's possible to re-record it oneself and remove the song if that's your desire. (Edit, January 2012: I'm really beginning to like the song now.)\n\nIn any case, the rest of the album is an exquisite, old-fashioned, traditional Christmas album. Faith's voice is beautiful, and makes the Christmas carols come alive. If you are looking for a strong, clear, beautiful voice singing beloved Christmas favorites, this is definitely a great choice.","Product: The first holiday album from super-star Faith Hill, 'Joy To The World' is a joy to behold, featuring beautiful new versions of ten traditional and modern classics, complete with horns, strings, woodwings, percussion and chorales, much like the big-band orchestras of the 40's and 50's. One of the most popular music stars in America, Faith Hill celebrates the joy-and faith- of the season with 'Joy to the World.'\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Great (except for possibly the one Country song)\n\nReview: This is a really nice, inspiring, rather old-fashioned album, perfect for Christmas. I like all of the songs on it, except for possibly the one brand-new song called \"A Baby Changes Everything,\" about an unwed teenage mother -- who turns out to be Mary. I just think this can mar for some listeners what could have been a perfect, universally loved Christmas album. I would have preferred the album without it, although I'm sure it's possible to re-record it oneself and remove the song if that's your desire. (Edit, January 2012: I'm really beginning to like the song now.)\n\nIn any case, the rest of the album is an exquisite, old-fashioned, traditional Christmas album. Faith's voice is beautiful, and makes the Christmas carols come alive. If you are looking for a strong, clear, beautiful voice singing beloved Christmas favorites, this is definitely a great choice.","Product: Richard Wagner ~ Wagner: Highlights From `The Ri\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Just remove the Immolation Scene\n\nReview: This is a most excellent album, marred by the fact that when the cassette version was adapted to CD length, a recording of Caball singing the Immolation Scene was tacked on to fill out the length. This is unfortunate, because it mars the perfect artistry and artistic integrity of the original, and of the rest of the CD. My recommendation is to obtain the CD but rerecord it, excising Caball's singing track, which I frankly find unlistenable, not to mention terribly out of place in an album of Ring instrumentals.\n\nOther than that, the CD is great, and Mehta is the perfect interpreter of this haunting, inspiring, delicious music. It's a terrible shame that the album was mucked about with like this in making the CD, but rerecording it on your own will eliminate this problem."],"string":"[\n \"Product: The Quickie Bowl Brush and Caddy features soft fibers that wont scratch your bathtub or toilet bowl and a caddy to store the brush you're finished cleaning your bathroom. Quickie designs, manufactures and distributes over 300 cleaning products for traditional in-home use as well as contractor and DIY grade applications. The product line includes mops, brooms, dusters, dustpans, brushes, buckets and other supplies.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Works great on a BATHTUB too\\n\\nReview: I use this for the bathtubs in my house, which have sliding glass doors on runners instead of shower curtains. This is the perfect solution to not being able to lean comfortably on the rim of the tub, and not being able to reach the whole tub at once with a sponge-type scrubber. With this Quickie scrubber, I just sprinkle or squeeze cleanser into the tub, and scrub the whole tub standing up, thanks to the long handle. The job is finished quickly!\\n\\nI wouldn't personally recommend using the same one for both tub and toilet though, because that wouldn't be sanitary. Mine are only for the tub. If you want to have one for the tub and one for the toilet, that would work, as long as you don't mix them up.\",\n \"Product: This fascinating adaptation of J.G. Farrell's novel is both a compelling drama and an illuminating examination of Ireland's troubled history. When Major Brendan Archer returns from the trenches of World War I to his fiance in Ireland, he quickly becomes involved in familial and political turmoil.\\nThe shell-shocked major (played with wounded vulnerability by Ian Charleson) is engaged to Angela Spencer, who lives with her family in the decaying Majestic Hotel. Angela's eccentric father wants to return the hotel to its former glory because he believes that this will somehow subdue the nationalist movement that threatens his privileged position. Meanwhile, changed utterly by his wartime experiences, Major Archer begins to fall for his fiance's friend Sarah, a passionate nationalist.\\n\\nThe Majestic Hotel and its inhabitants are perfect symbols of crumbling English power, and the central love story brings a personal dimension to the political struggle. Troubles does a wonderful job of retaining the complexity of Farrell's novel, subtly shifting from comedy to tragedy, and the result is a deeply satisfying film. --Simon Leake\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Lovely, unique film. Now also on Amazon Instant.\\n\\nReview: Set immediately after WWI and focusing gently around the troubles between the English and the Irish in Ireland, this layered saga rewards a viewer genuinely interested in the fate of its protagonist, the Englishman Major Archer (Ian Charleson). Major Archer's own mystifying and repeated \\\"troubles\\\" seem to eventually mirror the political troubles of British-occupied Ireland. And Ian Charleson gives a delicious performance that evokes just such an interest in his fate, no matter how eccentric his surroundings.\\n\\nWith Major Archer as the focus, this film makes wonderful viewing, as we see the British in Ireland through his eyes. And everything that happens to him, and the people around him, can also serve as metaphors of the times.\\n\\nMajor Archer's primary interactions are with a self-absorbed and outdated Englishman, Edward Spencer (played aptly by Ian Richardson) and his eccentric family, and a magnetic and coquettish Irish Catholic named Sarah (Emer Gillespie) whose charms Archer succumbs to. Sympathetic to the Irish cause, Major Archer has antagonists who are exemplified by the young and belligerently British Captain Bolton (Sean Bean). All three protagonists -- Charleson, Richardson, and Gillespie -- play their parts perfectly, and as the sprawling and multi-layered saga finally winds to a close, it feels moving and momentous.\\n\\nThis is Ian Charleson's last screen role, and a delightfully rich one. He plays the mild-mannered yet deep-feeling Major Archer with depth and with pitch-perfect affect. Lovely.\\n\\n[Note: Americans and other non-Brits would do well to note that the term Sinn Fin is used frequently in the film; it is pronounced \\\"Shin Fayne.\\\" This is the radical Irish Republican group, similar to the IRA. The slang term for the group is \\\"Shinners.\\\"]\\n\\n[Note 2: This is now viewable on Amazon Instant, at http://www.amazon.com/Troubles-Season-1/dp/B00XTYGAV2.]\",\n \"Product: Follows ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro over the course of a musical season, capturing dynamic performances before sold-out crowds, intimate moments of life on the road, and visits to his native Hawai'i, where he has risen from local hero to international star.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: An incredible look at one of the world's most virtuosic musicians\\n\\nReview: Jake Shimabukuro is not a \\\"ukulele player\\\" -- he's a world-renowned musical virtuoso who blows away anyone who hears his music. He is in the same pantheon as Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Bela Fleck, and even great classical musicians such as Yo-Yo Ma and Hilary Hahn. Jake, more than any musician I know of, transcends his instrument and creates pure music, touching the souls of his listeners.\\n\\nA well-kept (though award-winning) Hawaiian and Japanese secret until 2006, Jake burst upon the world stage when someone posted the now-famous video of him playing \\\"While My Guitar Gently Weeps\\\" on YouTube. The video instantly went viral, and Jake became a international star, receiving concert requests from around the world, and playing with and opening for such stars as Jimmy Buffett, Bela Fleck, Ziggy Marley, and Bette Midler, and being produced by Alan Parsons.\\n\\nAll while retaining his youthful humility and disarming openness and lack of pretense. This movie is a lovely look into his life, both for Jake fans, and for those who have never heard of him. The film is by turns fascinating, jaw-dropping, inspiring, funny, touching, and moving. It's a well-rounded and expertly done piece of cinema by a very experienced Japanese-American documentarian, who strives to bring the human touch to his work. The film should appeal to anyone, regardless of age, nationality, or musical interest (or lack thereof). Jake's life alone is fascinating, never mind his brilliant music (which we are given glorious exposure to).\\n\\nJake has a special connection with Japan, both through his heritage and because his longtime manager is from Japan. Thus, he's an even bigger star in Japan than in the U.S. Hopefully, this wonderful film will open the eyes of further music lovers in the U.S. and elsewhere around the world.\\n\\nBy the way, this hour-long documentary is viewable for free until August 8, 2013 on the PBS site. Go to their Video page, and click the drop-down Progams menu (or access it directly here: http://goo.gl/cDN0T).\",\n \"Product: Classic rendition of Johann Wyss' family adventure stars Thomas Mitchell as the father who must make the best for his brood after a shipwreck strands them on a tropical isle. Co-stars Freddie Bartholomew, Tim Holt, Edna Best. 92 min. NOTE: This movie has been manufactured by a small but reliable supplier and is 100% guaranteed. While this movie has not been digitally restored and may not be nearly as good as a big studio restoration, we offer this kind of product when it is the only print available and collectors ask us for it, regardless of quality.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Definitely worth a watch\\n\\nReview: This 1940 black-and-white film version is much more faithful to the original Johann Wyss novel, and is not the laugh- and cheese-fest that the 1960 Disney color version is. It's an intriguing story all its own.\\n\\nThe print has not been remastered, so it's dark in several places, and therefore best viewed in a completely dark room. Still, it's not as bad as some have intimated, and is about a 7 out of 10 in print quality. Well worth watching, especially for nostalgists and purists and especially if you are fan of any of the actors. Thomas Mitchell (Scarlett's father in the previous year's Gone With the Wind) gives an excellent performance as the doting and concerned father who wishes only that his sons grow up with wisdom and depth and maturity.\\n\\nFreddie Bartholomew is delightful as the foppish son who out-Pimpernels Pimpernel (that's a Leslie Howard reference if you haven't seen that movie). Long-lashed and doe-eyed young Terry Kilburn overacts in a couple bits but is largely quite rewarding as the young son who loves reading and writing. Edna Best is sometimes a bit annoying as the mother, but that's what her role demands, and she is often lovely and charming as well. Tim Holt is fine as the eldest of the four sons, which include a baby who doesn't talk.\\n\\nAll in all, definitely worth it if you are inclined. I've seen it on eBay and other venues if it's out of stock here -- for instance you can Google the title in quotes plus Retro Flix in quotes.\",\n \"Product: United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2.4 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital Stereo ), English ( Subtitles ), ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN (1.78:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Anamorphic Widescreen, Deleted Scenes, Interactive Menu, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: Everything is more intense...?Like your brain's taking it all in, knowing that it might be the last cloud or the last blade of grass you'll ever see... An epic historical drama spanning the five years of the First World War, as seen through the eyes of two ordinary young soldiers: one British, one German. Set against battles on the iconic Western front alongside the lesser explored but equally epic struggles in the East, the story charts Tommy and Michael's coming of age on opposite sides of Europe's bloody battlefields. They each find love, friendship and courage amidst the horror of ?the war to end all wars.' Scripted by award winning writer Tony Jordan (Life On Mars, Hustle), The Passing Bells is part of the BBC's commemorations on the centenary of WWI, a conflict that cost millions of lives and re-shaped the map of the world. ...The Passing Bells\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: \\\"What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?\\\"\\n\\nReview: The title of this miniseries comes from the first line of Wilfred Owen's 1917 poem, 'Anthem for Doomed Youth': \\\"What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?\\\" It attempts to show the innocence and misguided bravery of the extremely youthful soldiers who enlisted in World War I from the outset, having no idea what they were in for or even why.\\n\\nThe two leads play a German youth and a British youth who sign up that way, and the film follows their separate experiences of the interminable and increasingly meaningless war. (They do cross paths now and then, which adds further meaning to the film.) The acting of both leads is fine.\\n\\nThe main issue with the miniseries is that it was deliberately aimed at a younger audience and family viewing, so it is slightly sanitized, and slightly one-dimensional, and adults may find it somewhat unfulfilling. There is a certain eloquence about it, however, especially as it concludes. And it can certainly be very educational for younger viewers.\\n\\nOne issue that seems inevitable is that it is initially hard to tell apart the British and German regiments, since British actors were used for both and their uniforms are not terribly distinctive. Although it's clear in the beginning which is which because German soldiers were still wearing ornate pointed helmets, the Germans had soon dispensed with them and so the viewer has to pay very close attention from the very beginning. Theoretically the BBC could have found young Germans to play all of those roles (speaking English with German accents), but I'm fairly certain that would have been way out of their budget for this relatively minor project which was one of dozens of WWI productions commissioned for the centenary of the war.\\n\\nI'm not sure who I would recommend this for, but it does have a certain slow-moving eloquence, and is suitable for young viewers, young history or war fans, and family viewing.\",\n \"Product: Drama series in which a defence lawyer tries to finally uncover the truth of an old miscarriage of justice, while her husband goes to any lengths to conceal the truth about his own past.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Great black actors and cast ruined by overwhelming implausibilities\\n\\nReview: This is a miniseries led by two great black actors and their characters' family, and includes some other great black actors as well. All of which is devoutly to be wished.\\n\\nHowever the plot itself is full of so many complete implausibilities (the first of which comes right off the bat -- a British barrister flying back and forth to practice law in Louisiana without the slightest credentials!) that the opportunity for a wonderful vehicle for these actors and characters is wasted, and the audience drops out due to the lack of believability.\\n\\nThis script should have been nixed or rehabbed from the get-go. It is admittedly difficult to write a script that will give black actors such as these this much of a universal showcase, but it's not impossible. Let's go back to the drawing board and do better, since this was a major disappointment and a major opportunity wasted.\",\n \"Product: The first holiday album from super-star Faith Hill, 'Joy To The World' is a joy to behold, featuring beautiful new versions of ten traditional and modern classics, complete with horns, strings, woodwings, percussion and chorales, much like the big-band orchestras of the 40's and 50's. One of the most popular music stars in America, Faith Hill celebrates the joy-and faith- of the season with 'Joy to the World.'\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Great (except for possibly the one Country song)\\n\\nReview: This is a really nice, inspiring, rather old-fashioned album, perfect for Christmas. I like all of the songs on it, except for possibly the one brand-new song called \\\"A Baby Changes Everything,\\\" about an unwed teenage mother -- who turns out to be Mary. I just think this can mar for some listeners what could have been a perfect, universally loved Christmas album. I would have preferred the album without it, although I'm sure it's possible to re-record it oneself and remove the song if that's your desire. (Edit, January 2012: I'm really beginning to like the song now.)\\n\\nIn any case, the rest of the album is an exquisite, old-fashioned, traditional Christmas album. Faith's voice is beautiful, and makes the Christmas carols come alive. If you are looking for a strong, clear, beautiful voice singing beloved Christmas favorites, this is definitely a great choice.\",\n \"Product: The first holiday album from super-star Faith Hill, 'Joy To The World' is a joy to behold, featuring beautiful new versions of ten traditional and modern classics, complete with horns, strings, woodwings, percussion and chorales, much like the big-band orchestras of the 40's and 50's. One of the most popular music stars in America, Faith Hill celebrates the joy-and faith- of the season with 'Joy to the World.'\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Great (except for possibly the one Country song)\\n\\nReview: This is a really nice, inspiring, rather old-fashioned album, perfect for Christmas. I like all of the songs on it, except for possibly the one brand-new song called \\\"A Baby Changes Everything,\\\" about an unwed teenage mother -- who turns out to be Mary. I just think this can mar for some listeners what could have been a perfect, universally loved Christmas album. I would have preferred the album without it, although I'm sure it's possible to re-record it oneself and remove the song if that's your desire. (Edit, January 2012: I'm really beginning to like the song now.)\\n\\nIn any case, the rest of the album is an exquisite, old-fashioned, traditional Christmas album. Faith's voice is beautiful, and makes the Christmas carols come alive. If you are looking for a strong, clear, beautiful voice singing beloved Christmas favorites, this is definitely a great choice.\",\n \"Product: Richard Wagner ~ Wagner: Highlights From `The Ri\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Just remove the Immolation Scene\\n\\nReview: This is a most excellent album, marred by the fact that when the cassette version was adapted to CD length, a recording of Caball singing the Immolation Scene was tacked on to fill out the length. This is unfortunate, because it mars the perfect artistry and artistic integrity of the original, and of the rest of the CD. My recommendation is to obtain the CD but rerecord it, excising Caball's singing track, which I frankly find unlistenable, not to mention terribly out of place in an album of Ring instrumentals.\\n\\nOther than that, the CD is great, and Mehta is the perfect interpreter of this haunting, inspiring, delicious music. It's a terrible shame that the album was mucked about with like this in making the CD, but rerecording it on your own will eliminate this problem.\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":9,"string":"9"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_3"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":877,"string":"877"}}},{"rowIdx":878,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"A1EQTENQZ0TFK9"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of \"5.0\" for a product with description \"David J. Vaughan is the pastor of Liberty Christian Church and director of the Liberty Leadership Institute, which is dedicated to training individuals for leadership positions in church, family, and society. The editor of the St. Louis Metrovoice newspaper, he also is the host of Encounter, a radio program in St. Louis, Missouri. He and his wife, Diane, and their four children live in the St. Louis metropolitan area.\". The summary of the review text is \"Useful for Christian schools, homeschoolers, and church groups\"."},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"Modern Americans often wonder if it is possible for a politician to remain a strong Christian after being elected to office and subjected to political havoc. The life of William Wilberforce proves it is not only possible, but also very good for the country. Interest catching and capably written, Statesman and Saint presents this biography in a clear-cut, triumphant manner. No punches are pulled, no whitewashing, and all glory given to the Lord. Adding to the interest are Vaughan's descriptions of life in England, especially in English politics in the 18th century. The alcoholism, immorality, and extreme self-interest of that era sound very similar to our era. Little tidbits relating to the American colonies add interest, such as Wilberforce' belief that the English were waging the revolutionary war in a \"cruel, bloody and impractical manner\" (p. 43).\n\nBy the year 1784, Wilberforce, then 24, was popular with society and a rising star in the political arena. Then in 1785, the Lord took over Wilberforce' life and thence forward many of the problems in London, pre-eminently the question of the legality of slavery. History buffs will meet many 18th century friends, including John Newton and William Pitt. Part 1 of Statesman and Saint presents Wilberforce' life, while Part 2 takes a candid look at his character. Part 3 considers the benefits humanity has reaped from Wilberforce' work and Part 4 draws lessons for our Christian growth.\n\nStatesman and Saint is one of the volumes of the Leaders in Action series - just imagine, a whole group of Christian statesmen to encourage us! Statesman and Saint is as interesting as a novel. Well worth reading for enjoyment, this book will also provide devotional material and Christian life lessons. I recommend it for all readers middle school through adult, who are interested in history and/or Christian heroes, or just a good story. This volume will be useful for Christian schools, homeschoolers, and church groups. - Donna Eggett, Christian Book Previews.com"},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"Modern Americans often wonder if it is possible for a politician to remain a strong Christian after being elected to office and subjected to political havoc. The life of William Wilberforce proves it is not only possible, but also very good for the country. Interest catching and capably written, Statesman and Saint presents this biography in a clear-cut, triumphant manner. No punches are pulled, no whitewashing, and all glory given to the Lord. Adding to the interest are Vaughan's descriptions of life in England, especially in English politics in the 18th century. The alcoholism, immorality, and extreme self-interest of that era sound very similar to our era. Little tidbits relating to the American colonies add interest, such as Wilberforce' belief that the English were waging the revolutionary war in a \"cruel, bloody and impractical manner\" (p. 43).\n\nBy the year 1784, Wilberforce, then 24, was popular with society and a rising star in the political arena. Then in 1785, the Lord took over Wilberforce' life and thence forward many of the problems in London, pre-eminently the question of the legality of slavery. History buffs will meet many 18th century friends, including John Newton and William Pitt. Part 1 of Statesman and Saint presents Wilberforce' life, while Part 2 takes a candid look at his character. Part 3 considers the benefits humanity has reaped from Wilberforce' work and Part 4 draws lessons for our Christian growth.\n\nStatesman and Saint is one of the volumes of the Leaders in Action series - just imagine, a whole group of Christian statesmen to encourage us! Statesman and Saint is as interesting as a novel. Well worth reading for enjoyment, this book will also provide devotional material and Christian life lessons. I recommend it for all readers middle school through adult, who are interested in history and/or Christian heroes, or just a good story. This volume will be useful for Christian schools, homeschoolers, and church groups. - Donna Eggett, Christian Book Previews.com"},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Product: Relentless (Dominion Trilogy)\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Quickens your pulse and changes the way you look at life\n\nReview: Be sure to take a deep breath before starting this book. As the story explodes with staccato-like shudders, readers will have no time to concentrate on anything else except turning the pages!\n\nCollin Boyd became Grant Borrows and he doesn't know how that happened. As Collin was going to work one morning, he saw himself walking down the other side of the street. A quick check at his reflection proved he had a different face, while the wallet he carried revealed a completely new identity. Collin--or Grant--then steps into the most incredible nightmare of his life. As he searches for a way out of this terror, he finds that he must first go deep within, to the very heart of a conspiracy that manipulates people with a calculated malevolence.\n\nDebut novelist Robin Parrish expands the boundaries of speculative fiction. Brilliantly created layers of emotional intensity highlight the psychological and spiritual aspects of the story. Readers are rushed along in a raging current of action as the characters desperately try to battle against an unrecognizable danger. Information is revealed in a slow and steady way, providing answers while also raising intriguing questions.\n\nThe supernatural elements are described with imagination as well as intelligence, causing the resulting situations to have a disturbing feel of realism. Readers will enter into Grant's mind to understand his fear, confusion, and rising sense of anger. The impotence created by this global conspiracy leads the characters into daring maneuvers designed as last-ditch efforts. An ancient prophecy ties everything together, but leaves the fulfillment to the promised sequels.\n\nRelentless will quicken your pulse, send shivers of fear through your body, and change the way you look at life. And that's just the first chapter. - Joyce Handzo, Christian Book [...]","Product: Dr Gary E. Gilley has pastored at Southern View Chapel since 1975. Along with his preaching and teaching ministry, he is also the author and editor of the monthly contemporary theological issues publication Think on These Things. In addition to speaking at various conferences throughout the country and overseas, Dr Gilley serves on the respective advisory boards of the Illinois Bible Church Mission and the Brazil Gospel Fellowship Mission. He is a graduate of The Moody Bible Institute and Cambridge Graduate School, both in the U.S. He is also the author of This little Church Went to Market.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great for understanding some trends blowing through the church today\n\nReview: If you have attempted to read through books like the series David Wells wrote (No Place for Truth, God in the Wasteland, Losing Our Virtue, and Above All Earthly Pow'rs), but found them cumbersome and difficult, a shorter and easier-to-read option is Gary Gilley's two works This Little Church Went to Market and This Little Church Stayed Home. The second of these two is what this reviewer has recently completed. Gilley has subtitled this book, A Faithful Church In Deceptive Times. Good choice. Let me say at the outset that both books should be read. They will open your eyes. While not as in-depth and thorough as the work Wells has done, the audience Gilley will speak most effectively to is the average lay person, not the scholar or professional minister who is more the target of Wells. That being said, many pastors who have been caught up in \"fad Christianity\" would benefit from This Little Church Stayed Home.\n\nThis Little Church has four sections dividing up fifteen chapters. Section 1 (chapters 1-5) explains postmodernism and how this philosophical outlook has impacted the church's view on propositional truth. Section II (chapters 6-8) deals with the church's responsibility to build up the body of Christ, giving attention to biblical church growth. Section III (chapters 9-11) has to do with the Bible, specifically, and how that is currently being misused and misinterpreted by some in order to push their distorted concepts of the gospel. Section IV (chapters 12-15) explains current challenges to the church: mysticism and the Emergent Church. There is more to these chapters than I have touched on, but these descriptions are only broad summaries.\n\nNot enough good things could be said about This Little Church. Gilley takes on the dangers of the current fad of mysticism sweeping through the church, and calls the Emergent Church movement what it is: false teaching. Most commendable is his absence of fear in naming some of the biggest names in evangelicalism (and some not so big) in an effort to warn the church of heretical teaching. Some examples include Robert Schuller (p. 74), a poster boy for false teaching, Rick Warren (pp. 89-100), Dallas Willard and Richard Foster (p. 117), Karen Mains, wife of radio teacher, David Mains (pp. 137-38), David Seamand, who has appeared on Focus on the Family with James Dobson (pp. 138-39), Greg Boyd (p. 139), and George Barna (pp. 174-78). Other names are mentioned as well, but are not as readily recognizable. I wish there were more Christian leaders like Gilley who had the backbone to say what needs to be said and point out who specifically has strayed away from orthodoxy. Leaders are so often afraid to do this for fear of being accused of being judgmental, that they cower away from carrying out their God-given responsibility. Examples of this in Scripture include 1 Timothy 1:20, 3 John 9, and 2 Timothy 2:17, where Paul compares the influence of Hymenaeus and Philetus to the spreading of gangrene.\n\nAn example of his straightforward style is found in this quote: \"Celebration of Discipline alone, not even referencing [Richard] Foster's other writings and teachings and ministries, is a virtual encyclopedia of theological error. We would be hard pressed to find in one so-called evangelical volume such a composite of false teaching\" (p. 119). Bold and accurate! Other examples are found when he confronts Rick Warren's The Purpose-Driven Church and The Purpose-Driven Life: \"Both, for instance, offer some good sound advice, helpful biblical insight and practical suggestions---and both are riddled with errors throughout\" (p. 89); \"In Warren's gospel presentations no mention is made of sin, repentance or even the Cross\" (p. 90); \"I found forty-two biblical inaccuracies, eighteen out-of-context passages of Scripture, supposedly used to prove his point, and another nine distorted translations\" (p. 91). In the chapter in which these quotes are found, Gilley has a subsection entitled \"Torturing Scripture,\" where he lists ten specific examples where Warren has clearly misrepresented the Bible.\n\nThis is a great read for any Christian who wants to understand some of the modern winds currently blowing through the church. It would be highly profitable to use this book for a Sunday School class or mid-week group discussion. Buy it, read it, pass it on. - Ray Hammond, [...]","Product: Book by James E. Adams\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: This book is a blessing\n\nReview: Thank you, James E. Adams, even though I had never heard of you before. I found your book by chance. By chance? No way! The Lord slipped War Psalms of the Prince of Peace into my hand, and then into my heart. Yes, of course I agree with Paul that all of Scripture is God-breathed and useful, but up until I read War Psalms I steered clear of those difficult Imprecatory Psalms. You know the kind: the ones that tend to say things like, \"Let his days be few; and let another take his office. Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow\" (Ps. 109:8-9). Or, \"Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones\" (Ps. 137:9). And then along comes War Psalms and, bingo-why-hadn't-I-thought-of it before, those Psalms became wonderful messages from my Lord.\n\nThis is one of those simply presented books which takes you easily into the deep things of God. Missionary, pastor, theology professor, and author, James Adams does not present some new and fancy thought. Just browse through the bibliography at the end of War Psalms and you will realize that the ideas Adams presents have been part of Christian thought from earliest church history.\n\nThe study starts with a look at the puzzles these particular Psalms present, searches for where they come from and who actually is praying them, sees our Lord as the instigator, looks at how they are quoted plentifully in the New Testament, and considers how we can use, pray, and preach these Psalms. Each chapter ends with questions for group study or individual thought. Several appendices add more information: our duty towards our enemies, sermon summaries, index to the Imprecatory Psalms, and New Testament references. Adams states about the Imprecatory Psalms, \"All the enemies of the Lord need to hear these prayers of Christ proclaimed today. They are not the prayers of a careless and compassionless tyrant, but the effectual prayers of the Lamb of God who bore the curse of God for the sins of all who bow their knee to Him\" (p. 34).\n\nI invite you to a blessing. Open your Bible to the Psalms and read them cooperatively with James Adams' War Psalms of The Prince of Peace. - Donna Eggett, Christian Book Previews.com","Product: 05.04.18\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Challenges readers to truly pursue God\n\nReview: You are invited into someone's bedroom, and the door is shut behind you. That person takes out his journal and says, \"Here. Read this. I want it to encourage you.\" This is the feeling given by the book Lifestories, written by Mark Hall, lead singer and songwriter for Casting Crowns.\n\nEach chapter is the story of how a particular Casting Crown's song was written. At the end are questions to encourage the reader to dig more deeply into the truth Hall is sharing, and to apply it to his or her own life.\n\nHall's frankness and vulnerability with the struggles in his life make the book very relevant. Reading Lifestories feels like having coffee with an accountability partner who is encouraging you and spurring you on in your walk with Christ. It is also a very intimate experience.\n\nThe main theme of this book is passionate worship of God, not just on Sundays, but on every day of the week, throughout every moment. It challenges readers to pursue God in worship and love as a part of everyday life. Hall speaks of when he comes to church after a week of not pursuing God. He says he feels dried up and needy, like he is sapping life out from the sermon and worship. He then points out that Sunday mornings are a time to come to God with a heart full of worship after walking with God consistently the previous week.\n\nLifestories challenges its reader truly to pursue God -- to pursue loving Him and knowing Him. With its touching stories and open honesty, it points out the hand of God moving in and about everyday life. - Jenni Ritschard, Christian Book [...]","Product: Mark Hitchcock earned his master of theology degree from Dallas Theological Seminary and is presently a PhD candidate at the same school. He has pastored Faith Bible Church in Edmond, Oklahoma, since 1991 and has written eleven books. Mark and his wife, Cheryl, live in Oklahoma with their two sons, Justin and Samuel.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Answers complex questions with precision\n\nReview: The thought of death fills many Christians and nonbelievers with fear, that they try to avoid thinking or talking about the topic altogether. But sooner or later, everyone must face death. So, what happens after we die? In this slim volume, Mark Hitchcock offers an enlightening view of life after death.\n\nIn 55 short chapters, Hitchcock, a pastor and prophecy expert, examines questions most people have asked at some point: What is death? Where do people go when they die? What is heaven like? Throughout the book, Hitchcock uses Scripture references to answer the questions he poses. Hitchcock does not pull any punches in addressing his topics, particularly heaven and hell. \"In Matthew 25:46, both heaven and hell are described as `eternal,'\" Hitchcock writes. His answers are in-depth, but not preachy, and many of the book's chapters seldom extend beyond three pages.\n\n55 Answers to Questions about Life After Death is a fast-paced, easy-to-read volume that readers will find difficult to put down. Hitchcock's book will undoubtedly jar some readers, but it will do so while answering complex questions with precision. -- James Hendrix, Ph. D., Christian Book Previews.com"],"string":"[\n \"Product: Relentless (Dominion Trilogy)\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Quickens your pulse and changes the way you look at life\\n\\nReview: Be sure to take a deep breath before starting this book. As the story explodes with staccato-like shudders, readers will have no time to concentrate on anything else except turning the pages!\\n\\nCollin Boyd became Grant Borrows and he doesn't know how that happened. As Collin was going to work one morning, he saw himself walking down the other side of the street. A quick check at his reflection proved he had a different face, while the wallet he carried revealed a completely new identity. Collin--or Grant--then steps into the most incredible nightmare of his life. As he searches for a way out of this terror, he finds that he must first go deep within, to the very heart of a conspiracy that manipulates people with a calculated malevolence.\\n\\nDebut novelist Robin Parrish expands the boundaries of speculative fiction. Brilliantly created layers of emotional intensity highlight the psychological and spiritual aspects of the story. Readers are rushed along in a raging current of action as the characters desperately try to battle against an unrecognizable danger. Information is revealed in a slow and steady way, providing answers while also raising intriguing questions.\\n\\nThe supernatural elements are described with imagination as well as intelligence, causing the resulting situations to have a disturbing feel of realism. Readers will enter into Grant's mind to understand his fear, confusion, and rising sense of anger. The impotence created by this global conspiracy leads the characters into daring maneuvers designed as last-ditch efforts. An ancient prophecy ties everything together, but leaves the fulfillment to the promised sequels.\\n\\nRelentless will quicken your pulse, send shivers of fear through your body, and change the way you look at life. And that's just the first chapter. - Joyce Handzo, Christian Book [...]\",\n \"Product: Dr Gary E. Gilley has pastored at Southern View Chapel since 1975. Along with his preaching and teaching ministry, he is also the author and editor of the monthly contemporary theological issues publication Think on These Things. In addition to speaking at various conferences throughout the country and overseas, Dr Gilley serves on the respective advisory boards of the Illinois Bible Church Mission and the Brazil Gospel Fellowship Mission. He is a graduate of The Moody Bible Institute and Cambridge Graduate School, both in the U.S. He is also the author of This little Church Went to Market.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great for understanding some trends blowing through the church today\\n\\nReview: If you have attempted to read through books like the series David Wells wrote (No Place for Truth, God in the Wasteland, Losing Our Virtue, and Above All Earthly Pow'rs), but found them cumbersome and difficult, a shorter and easier-to-read option is Gary Gilley's two works This Little Church Went to Market and This Little Church Stayed Home. The second of these two is what this reviewer has recently completed. Gilley has subtitled this book, A Faithful Church In Deceptive Times. Good choice. Let me say at the outset that both books should be read. They will open your eyes. While not as in-depth and thorough as the work Wells has done, the audience Gilley will speak most effectively to is the average lay person, not the scholar or professional minister who is more the target of Wells. That being said, many pastors who have been caught up in \\\"fad Christianity\\\" would benefit from This Little Church Stayed Home.\\n\\nThis Little Church has four sections dividing up fifteen chapters. Section 1 (chapters 1-5) explains postmodernism and how this philosophical outlook has impacted the church's view on propositional truth. Section II (chapters 6-8) deals with the church's responsibility to build up the body of Christ, giving attention to biblical church growth. Section III (chapters 9-11) has to do with the Bible, specifically, and how that is currently being misused and misinterpreted by some in order to push their distorted concepts of the gospel. Section IV (chapters 12-15) explains current challenges to the church: mysticism and the Emergent Church. There is more to these chapters than I have touched on, but these descriptions are only broad summaries.\\n\\nNot enough good things could be said about This Little Church. Gilley takes on the dangers of the current fad of mysticism sweeping through the church, and calls the Emergent Church movement what it is: false teaching. Most commendable is his absence of fear in naming some of the biggest names in evangelicalism (and some not so big) in an effort to warn the church of heretical teaching. Some examples include Robert Schuller (p. 74), a poster boy for false teaching, Rick Warren (pp. 89-100), Dallas Willard and Richard Foster (p. 117), Karen Mains, wife of radio teacher, David Mains (pp. 137-38), David Seamand, who has appeared on Focus on the Family with James Dobson (pp. 138-39), Greg Boyd (p. 139), and George Barna (pp. 174-78). Other names are mentioned as well, but are not as readily recognizable. I wish there were more Christian leaders like Gilley who had the backbone to say what needs to be said and point out who specifically has strayed away from orthodoxy. Leaders are so often afraid to do this for fear of being accused of being judgmental, that they cower away from carrying out their God-given responsibility. Examples of this in Scripture include 1 Timothy 1:20, 3 John 9, and 2 Timothy 2:17, where Paul compares the influence of Hymenaeus and Philetus to the spreading of gangrene.\\n\\nAn example of his straightforward style is found in this quote: \\\"Celebration of Discipline alone, not even referencing [Richard] Foster's other writings and teachings and ministries, is a virtual encyclopedia of theological error. We would be hard pressed to find in one so-called evangelical volume such a composite of false teaching\\\" (p. 119). Bold and accurate! Other examples are found when he confronts Rick Warren's The Purpose-Driven Church and The Purpose-Driven Life: \\\"Both, for instance, offer some good sound advice, helpful biblical insight and practical suggestions---and both are riddled with errors throughout\\\" (p. 89); \\\"In Warren's gospel presentations no mention is made of sin, repentance or even the Cross\\\" (p. 90); \\\"I found forty-two biblical inaccuracies, eighteen out-of-context passages of Scripture, supposedly used to prove his point, and another nine distorted translations\\\" (p. 91). In the chapter in which these quotes are found, Gilley has a subsection entitled \\\"Torturing Scripture,\\\" where he lists ten specific examples where Warren has clearly misrepresented the Bible.\\n\\nThis is a great read for any Christian who wants to understand some of the modern winds currently blowing through the church. It would be highly profitable to use this book for a Sunday School class or mid-week group discussion. Buy it, read it, pass it on. - Ray Hammond, [...]\",\n \"Product: Book by James E. Adams\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: This book is a blessing\\n\\nReview: Thank you, James E. Adams, even though I had never heard of you before. I found your book by chance. By chance? No way! The Lord slipped War Psalms of the Prince of Peace into my hand, and then into my heart. Yes, of course I agree with Paul that all of Scripture is God-breathed and useful, but up until I read War Psalms I steered clear of those difficult Imprecatory Psalms. You know the kind: the ones that tend to say things like, \\\"Let his days be few; and let another take his office. Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow\\\" (Ps. 109:8-9). Or, \\\"Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones\\\" (Ps. 137:9). And then along comes War Psalms and, bingo-why-hadn't-I-thought-of it before, those Psalms became wonderful messages from my Lord.\\n\\nThis is one of those simply presented books which takes you easily into the deep things of God. Missionary, pastor, theology professor, and author, James Adams does not present some new and fancy thought. Just browse through the bibliography at the end of War Psalms and you will realize that the ideas Adams presents have been part of Christian thought from earliest church history.\\n\\nThe study starts with a look at the puzzles these particular Psalms present, searches for where they come from and who actually is praying them, sees our Lord as the instigator, looks at how they are quoted plentifully in the New Testament, and considers how we can use, pray, and preach these Psalms. Each chapter ends with questions for group study or individual thought. Several appendices add more information: our duty towards our enemies, sermon summaries, index to the Imprecatory Psalms, and New Testament references. Adams states about the Imprecatory Psalms, \\\"All the enemies of the Lord need to hear these prayers of Christ proclaimed today. They are not the prayers of a careless and compassionless tyrant, but the effectual prayers of the Lamb of God who bore the curse of God for the sins of all who bow their knee to Him\\\" (p. 34).\\n\\nI invite you to a blessing. Open your Bible to the Psalms and read them cooperatively with James Adams' War Psalms of The Prince of Peace. - Donna Eggett, Christian Book Previews.com\",\n \"Product: 05.04.18\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Challenges readers to truly pursue God\\n\\nReview: You are invited into someone's bedroom, and the door is shut behind you. That person takes out his journal and says, \\\"Here. Read this. I want it to encourage you.\\\" This is the feeling given by the book Lifestories, written by Mark Hall, lead singer and songwriter for Casting Crowns.\\n\\nEach chapter is the story of how a particular Casting Crown's song was written. At the end are questions to encourage the reader to dig more deeply into the truth Hall is sharing, and to apply it to his or her own life.\\n\\nHall's frankness and vulnerability with the struggles in his life make the book very relevant. Reading Lifestories feels like having coffee with an accountability partner who is encouraging you and spurring you on in your walk with Christ. It is also a very intimate experience.\\n\\nThe main theme of this book is passionate worship of God, not just on Sundays, but on every day of the week, throughout every moment. It challenges readers to pursue God in worship and love as a part of everyday life. Hall speaks of when he comes to church after a week of not pursuing God. He says he feels dried up and needy, like he is sapping life out from the sermon and worship. He then points out that Sunday mornings are a time to come to God with a heart full of worship after walking with God consistently the previous week.\\n\\nLifestories challenges its reader truly to pursue God -- to pursue loving Him and knowing Him. With its touching stories and open honesty, it points out the hand of God moving in and about everyday life. - Jenni Ritschard, Christian Book [...]\",\n \"Product: Mark Hitchcock earned his master of theology degree from Dallas Theological Seminary and is presently a PhD candidate at the same school. He has pastored Faith Bible Church in Edmond, Oklahoma, since 1991 and has written eleven books. Mark and his wife, Cheryl, live in Oklahoma with their two sons, Justin and Samuel.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Answers complex questions with precision\\n\\nReview: The thought of death fills many Christians and nonbelievers with fear, that they try to avoid thinking or talking about the topic altogether. But sooner or later, everyone must face death. So, what happens after we die? In this slim volume, Mark Hitchcock offers an enlightening view of life after death.\\n\\nIn 55 short chapters, Hitchcock, a pastor and prophecy expert, examines questions most people have asked at some point: What is death? Where do people go when they die? What is heaven like? Throughout the book, Hitchcock uses Scripture references to answer the questions he poses. Hitchcock does not pull any punches in addressing his topics, particularly heaven and hell. \\\"In Matthew 25:46, both heaven and hell are described as `eternal,'\\\" Hitchcock writes. His answers are in-depth, but not preachy, and many of the book's chapters seldom extend beyond three pages.\\n\\n55 Answers to Questions about Life After Death is a fast-paced, easy-to-read volume that readers will find difficult to put down. Hitchcock's book will undoubtedly jar some readers, but it will do so while answering complex questions with precision. -- James Hendrix, Ph. D., Christian Book Previews.com\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":5,"string":"5"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_3"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":878,"string":"878"}}},{"rowIdx":879,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"A25ZKDOIR4KN01"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of \"5.0\" for a product with description \"BECK BOX SET\". The summary of the review text is \"Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad\"."},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"This is an excellent series for anyone, whether you've been into anime for ever or are just getting into it. At around 26 episodes, it is a good length for anyone. The creater says that he was influenced by american music and mostly by the red hot chili peppers. It's fun to try and listen for the sounds of familiar bands, because while they don't play their actual songs, they do play pieces that sound similar enough to recognize and their are other little hidden gems. One is that in the opening scene of every show, it ends with the main character on stage with a guitar, wearing a shirt that says \"Ramone, Johnny\". This references the late guitarist from the band the Ramones. There are many other little things like this and you have a fun time picking them out. The basic plot of the whole story isn't super unique, but they tell it in a very good way. It's about a boy who doesn't feel that he knows his place or where he wants to go. He's also shy and awkward. When he rescues a mutt named Beck, who to show he's a mutt they make him look like he's several different purebreds sewn together, his own thanks him and invites him to see his band play. When the main character sees him play at a club, he's never seen anything like that before and becomes enamored with it. Throughout the series the boy learns to find himself and his place in the world. It's an excellent series that I would recommend for all ages and people of any interest. It has excellent music of many types and is fun to listen to, even if anime isn't your thing."},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"This is an excellent series for anyone, whether you've been into anime for ever or are just getting into it. At around 26 episodes, it is a good length for anyone. The creater says that he was influenced by american music and mostly by the red hot chili peppers. It's fun to try and listen for the sounds of familiar bands, because while they don't play their actual songs, they do play pieces that sound similar enough to recognize and their are other little hidden gems. One is that in the opening scene of every show, it ends with the main character on stage with a guitar, wearing a shirt that says \"Ramone, Johnny\". This references the late guitarist from the band the Ramones. There are many other little things like this and you have a fun time picking them out. The basic plot of the whole story isn't super unique, but they tell it in a very good way. It's about a boy who doesn't feel that he knows his place or where he wants to go. He's also shy and awkward. When he rescues a mutt named Beck, who to show he's a mutt they make him look like he's several different purebreds sewn together, his own thanks him and invites him to see his band play. When the main character sees him play at a club, he's never seen anything like that before and becomes enamored with it. Throughout the series the boy learns to find himself and his place in the world. It's an excellent series that I would recommend for all ages and people of any interest. It has excellent music of many types and is fun to listen to, even if anime isn't your thing."},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Product: Introducing MiniSuits newest folio book-style jacket cover for the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime TF-201 10.1 inch 32GB / 64GB Tab (device not included). This 2-in-1 case and cover is a smart combination of two qualities: 1) the durable PU leather case itself offers distinct style and ultimate protection from everyday mishaps, and 2) the interior has 3 grooves for multi-angle viewing, so that you can tilt your device as desired, in viewing or keyboard mode. Your gadget is tucked securely inside, while 4 corner points surround the portable device. A layer of microsuede fiber offers protection against abrasions to the screen. Not only is this case slim and sturdy, but this professional portfolio has precise cutouts to all ports, controls, and camera so that you can maximize the portability of your newest electronic device.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: This is worth buying if you are trying to proctect from scratches, but not from drops\n\nReview: I looked around trying to find a case that would protect my tablet from the scratches of every day use. I liked this one because it wasn't bulky and the price was reasonable. It was important to me not to buy a light tablet and add so much stuff to it that it weighed a ton. I was hoping for something drop proof, but didn't see anything that wasn't large and clunky to operate. I saw plenty of poor designs as well.\n\nThis case easily slips onto the tablet. One thing I was worried about was if I ever used the stand feature, you have to slip the bottom corner off of the table so that it hinges. I was worried that it would make wear marks on the tablet and couldn't find what they were made of anywhere. They are basically molded leather and won't scratch it. There is possible some kind of stiffener on the inside, but I don't think so. Don't worry about it wearing your tablet.\n\nHowever, the main concerns I saw people have over it was that on anything but a flat surface, the stand wouldn't work. The groove wouldn't hold it and it would slide out and fall flat. I do like the fact that the grooves are on the inside of case cover. I've actually seen ones where you flip the cover to the back and lay it on it to lock it in. This never made sense to me. My brother has one. That seems to defeat the purpose though, because you sit it on a dirty surface, the dirt sticks to the cover, then you put that cover back on your screen and it rubs it in. I ultimately decided that I would probably never use the stand feature and in almost a year I haven't.\n\nIf you think about it, you'll probably decide it won't be an issue for you either. There is a small chance you'll set it on a tv tray or table to watch a video, but the batter isn't long enough to handle most movies and if you think about all the times you use a tablet, you'll probably just prop it up on you leg or a pile of stuff like I do. It's much easier and quicker. The stand would work find if you used it on a flat surface.\n\nLastly, is the catch that closes it. I was also concerned about this. Again, if it was tight or had interior support I feared rubbing the surface of the case. If it wasn't tight, I worried it would come loose on it's own. However, it was just right. It's again, just molded leather (faux probably) and has just enough bend to easily snap it over the lip of the tablet, but not enough pressure to wear at it. It holds it securely and doesn't appear to be loosing with repeated use.\n\nI would recommend you buy this for protection from light wear, but don't expect it to save your device if you drop it. You're sacrificing protection for sleekness and lightness. Otherwise, it's easy to use and works well. I've seen several knockoff and this could be a knockoff of another, but they had the best price when I bought it.","Product: The Paw Flapper is a two-part treat puzzle that encourages dogs to use their noses. Your pup must learn how to lift treat doors, as well as to rotate the toy to retrieve treats. This is an wooftastic scent test with 8 hidden treat chambers! Every dog's a winner with Outward Hound Games! Bring out the genius in your dog with our interactive, treat-seeking puzzles and exercise toys. Game on!\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Cheap toy, works as advertised, almost too simple for dog.\n\nReview: There was nothing wrong with this toy or the dealer. The reason I gave it a 4 was purely for function. This is supposed to be a puzzle toy to keep your dog entertained. I have an 11 year old Jack Russell that is inside in the winter a lot. I bought this as her first puzzle toy. I had hoped it would entertain her for several hours, but she cleaned it out within 15min.\n\nThe reason I'm giving it 4 stars instead of 3 is because:\n - I was looking for a simple starter puzzle so she wouldn't be frustrated\n - It functions the way it's intended\n - The price is low\n\nOther than that, I would only recommend this to someone with a young puppy or a dog you're trying to start on puzzles. For any do that's coordinated and has any motivation, this is probably to simple to spend your money on. There are better toys even within this brand and I saw another brand I can't currently remember the name of with much better puzzles, they were just $40+ and I didn't even know if she'd take to a toy like this. So I'd keep these facts in mind when purchasing it.","Product: Zoo\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Worth the read, but not as good as the show.\n\nReview: This was a pretty good book. I'd never read James Patterson or Michael Ledwidge, though I'd heard a lot about James Patterson. You'd think he was the sole author based on the advertising for the book and the TV show. To be honest, I watched the first season of the TV show and really like it. It's the reason I picked this book up. It is a pretty engaging book and there are plenty of funny parts, but I just didn't get locked in the same way I did with the TV show. It just seemed like there was some element missing. I don't think I would have read it without having the TV show promote it, but it's probably worth the read, even if you don't plan to watch the show. It's rare that I say a movie or show is better than the book, but in this case, I believe it's true.","Product: Xanth was the enchanted land where magic ruled--where every citizen had a special spell only he could cast. That is, except for Bink of North Village. He was sure he possessed no magic, and knew that if he didn't find some soon, he would be exiled. According to the Good Magician Humpfrey, the charts said that Bink was as powerful as the King or even the Evil Magician Trent. Unfortunately, no one could determine its form. Meanwhile, Bink was in despair. If he didn't find his magic soon, he would be forced to leave....\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: One of my favorite series growing up, recommended.\n\nReview: I think this is a very good book, as well as series. It's an intriguing world where all of your traditional tropes are twisted in the best ways. I know a lot of people think it can be kind of goofy, but you have to have fun with it. There is a reason they make comedy movies as well as drama movies. Not everything has to be 'Game of Thrones'.\n\nI started reading this series when I was younger and I'm now doing a reread of it since I've fallen behind on them. I do look at it with different eyes as I get older and now that I have better writing to compare it to, I can see flaws, but many of the flaws I see people attribute to the writer seem to me, to be flaws in the characters personalities that he worked through. Not every character has a revelation, but you usually see them grow significantly compared to their first appearance. Something else I like about the series is that with the exception of the first two books, each successive book in the series is about a different character. There is usually an important mission that a group of main characters goes on and the following book will be about one of them or another character that was introduced. The cast keeps growing and the world keeps getting more complex, counter to what some will say.\n\nI've highly enjoyed the series over the years and encourage anyone to pick it up and start reading them.","Product: Franklin Horton lives and writes in the mountains of southwestern Virginia. He attended Virginia Intermont College and Virginia Commonwealth University. He holds a B.A. in English from Virginia Commonwealth. In his spare time he pursues outdoor adventures with his wife and children, including camping, kayaking, backpacking, mountain biking, and shooting.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great Read. Couldn't Put it Down.\n\nReview: This was a great book. I love this series. I'll be upfront that I read mostly Fantasy. I try to go to something outside my comfort zone once a year, and this series was it. It's the first SHTF series I've read. I really like it, though.\n\nI'm not sure which way the correlation goes, but because I like fantasy, which is primitive, and I've always loved nature and animals, which are also primitive, I've never been able to get enough of survival books, shows, or anything else like that. Even if I don't do it on a regular basis. I want to know how everything works, so I could conceivably be comfortable in a setting such as this or if I got sucked into one of my books. Basic stuff we take for granted, like getting food, making soap, making tools/weapons from steel, etc...\n\nThis book series really appealed to me because it seemed extremely plausible. It wasn't like there was a zombie apocalypse (go Walking Dead) or an alien attack. It was terrorists hitting a few key pieces of infrastructure and then letting panicked and/or entitled people pull themselves and everyone around them apart. I think the characters are pretty well rounded and that the scenarios are plausible.\n\nI read each book in about a day, which is my only disappointment. I really wish there were more. I plan to check out other books in this genre, but this whole series is a definite read, including \"Locker Nine\".\n\nI really hope that Mr. Horton keeps them coming. I think he's a great writer. I know people always ask for more stories and think they want them and I know that when writers, of books or tv, indulge the fans and write tons more in the series, that it can actually be a detriment because the original run is a tight and well thought out story, while the rest is tacked on to appease readers/viewers. I don't want that to happen with this series, but I do think that \"Locker Nine\" shows that there are plenty of other stories to tell in this world after he wraps up the main story.","Product: Franklin Horton lives and writes in the mountains of southwestern Virginia. He attended Virginia Intermont College and Virginia Commonwealth University. He holds a B.A. in English. He is a native of Russell County, Virginia, and still lives there with his wife and two children. In his spare time, he enjoys pursuing outdoor adventures including camping, kayaking, backpacking, mountain biking, and shooting. His first published novel, The Borrowed World, was published in May of 2015 and quickly became an Amazon bestseller. The sequel, Ashes of the Unspeakable, was released in October 2015 and also became a bestseller in both the category of Post-Apocalyptic Fiction and of Dystopian Science Fiction. In November, he was accepted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. His latest novel, Legion of Despair, Book Three in The Borrowed World Series was released April 8th, 2016.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great spin-off in a great series\n\nReview: This book is a spin-off of the authors \"Borrowed World\" series. I really like everything I've read of his and I've gotten other people hooked.\n\nI grew up in the country, working on a small farm, playing in the creek, and running wild through the woods. Besides that, I love reading fantasy books. So it's no surprise that I often think about how I'd handle a situation without modern convenances like a stove or running water. So I've always liked watching survival shows and learning how to do new things, especially from a primitive starting point, like how to I catch a cook food when all I have is a rock, or cooking a meal without using prepackaged parts.\n\nOne thing I love about this series is that it feels like it gives all of those interests a direction and purpose. I see these people using skills they've worked hard on and utilizing them to stay safe and healthy.\n\nI also like all the things the series talks about that you might not think about. It's inspired me to be smarter in my life and to be better prepared. For instance, I usually run a gas tank dry. Now I'll refill when I hit half a tank. I was building a Get-home-bag before reading this series, but I'll be making some changes.\n\nI'm sure no one who is redoing this series thinks prepping is a bad idea, but if you hear someone acting like it's silly, take the time to mention that it doesn't have to be a nation wide attack. Simply having water, blankets, and an extra jacket can prevent a winter time car stranding from being deadly to being uncomfortable. There are thousands of scenarios where a small amount of forethought and planning can save your life and just make you generally more comfortable. These books are a great resource to help people understand why you need a certain mindset.\n\nAs far as negatives to the series, there aren't many and it may just be me. One isn't really a negative, but I'd like to see what'll happens with these characters next. Again, it's not necessarily a negative. The author may plan to write more. It also may be that he plans to leave it up to the readers imagination. I'd really like to know when everything starts to get back to normal and who makes it.\n\nMy second issue is how the characters sometimes react too calmly. It seems to me that while they have trained and should be more mentally prepared than the average person, I think they would have more of a psychological reaction to actually seeing and committing the acts they do. That's just how it seems to me.\n\nIn the end, I love all of them and want to see more from this author. I highly recommend all of them. I couldn't put them down and finished each in a day."],"string":"[\n \"Product: Introducing MiniSuits newest folio book-style jacket cover for the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime TF-201 10.1 inch 32GB / 64GB Tab (device not included). This 2-in-1 case and cover is a smart combination of two qualities: 1) the durable PU leather case itself offers distinct style and ultimate protection from everyday mishaps, and 2) the interior has 3 grooves for multi-angle viewing, so that you can tilt your device as desired, in viewing or keyboard mode. Your gadget is tucked securely inside, while 4 corner points surround the portable device. A layer of microsuede fiber offers protection against abrasions to the screen. Not only is this case slim and sturdy, but this professional portfolio has precise cutouts to all ports, controls, and camera so that you can maximize the portability of your newest electronic device.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: This is worth buying if you are trying to proctect from scratches, but not from drops\\n\\nReview: I looked around trying to find a case that would protect my tablet from the scratches of every day use. I liked this one because it wasn't bulky and the price was reasonable. It was important to me not to buy a light tablet and add so much stuff to it that it weighed a ton. I was hoping for something drop proof, but didn't see anything that wasn't large and clunky to operate. I saw plenty of poor designs as well.\\n\\nThis case easily slips onto the tablet. One thing I was worried about was if I ever used the stand feature, you have to slip the bottom corner off of the table so that it hinges. I was worried that it would make wear marks on the tablet and couldn't find what they were made of anywhere. They are basically molded leather and won't scratch it. There is possible some kind of stiffener on the inside, but I don't think so. Don't worry about it wearing your tablet.\\n\\nHowever, the main concerns I saw people have over it was that on anything but a flat surface, the stand wouldn't work. The groove wouldn't hold it and it would slide out and fall flat. I do like the fact that the grooves are on the inside of case cover. I've actually seen ones where you flip the cover to the back and lay it on it to lock it in. This never made sense to me. My brother has one. That seems to defeat the purpose though, because you sit it on a dirty surface, the dirt sticks to the cover, then you put that cover back on your screen and it rubs it in. I ultimately decided that I would probably never use the stand feature and in almost a year I haven't.\\n\\nIf you think about it, you'll probably decide it won't be an issue for you either. There is a small chance you'll set it on a tv tray or table to watch a video, but the batter isn't long enough to handle most movies and if you think about all the times you use a tablet, you'll probably just prop it up on you leg or a pile of stuff like I do. It's much easier and quicker. The stand would work find if you used it on a flat surface.\\n\\nLastly, is the catch that closes it. I was also concerned about this. Again, if it was tight or had interior support I feared rubbing the surface of the case. If it wasn't tight, I worried it would come loose on it's own. However, it was just right. It's again, just molded leather (faux probably) and has just enough bend to easily snap it over the lip of the tablet, but not enough pressure to wear at it. It holds it securely and doesn't appear to be loosing with repeated use.\\n\\nI would recommend you buy this for protection from light wear, but don't expect it to save your device if you drop it. You're sacrificing protection for sleekness and lightness. Otherwise, it's easy to use and works well. I've seen several knockoff and this could be a knockoff of another, but they had the best price when I bought it.\",\n \"Product: The Paw Flapper is a two-part treat puzzle that encourages dogs to use their noses. Your pup must learn how to lift treat doors, as well as to rotate the toy to retrieve treats. This is an wooftastic scent test with 8 hidden treat chambers! Every dog's a winner with Outward Hound Games! Bring out the genius in your dog with our interactive, treat-seeking puzzles and exercise toys. Game on!\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Cheap toy, works as advertised, almost too simple for dog.\\n\\nReview: There was nothing wrong with this toy or the dealer. The reason I gave it a 4 was purely for function. This is supposed to be a puzzle toy to keep your dog entertained. I have an 11 year old Jack Russell that is inside in the winter a lot. I bought this as her first puzzle toy. I had hoped it would entertain her for several hours, but she cleaned it out within 15min.\\n\\nThe reason I'm giving it 4 stars instead of 3 is because:\\n - I was looking for a simple starter puzzle so she wouldn't be frustrated\\n - It functions the way it's intended\\n - The price is low\\n\\nOther than that, I would only recommend this to someone with a young puppy or a dog you're trying to start on puzzles. For any do that's coordinated and has any motivation, this is probably to simple to spend your money on. There are better toys even within this brand and I saw another brand I can't currently remember the name of with much better puzzles, they were just $40+ and I didn't even know if she'd take to a toy like this. So I'd keep these facts in mind when purchasing it.\",\n \"Product: Zoo\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Worth the read, but not as good as the show.\\n\\nReview: This was a pretty good book. I'd never read James Patterson or Michael Ledwidge, though I'd heard a lot about James Patterson. You'd think he was the sole author based on the advertising for the book and the TV show. To be honest, I watched the first season of the TV show and really like it. It's the reason I picked this book up. It is a pretty engaging book and there are plenty of funny parts, but I just didn't get locked in the same way I did with the TV show. It just seemed like there was some element missing. I don't think I would have read it without having the TV show promote it, but it's probably worth the read, even if you don't plan to watch the show. It's rare that I say a movie or show is better than the book, but in this case, I believe it's true.\",\n \"Product: Xanth was the enchanted land where magic ruled--where every citizen had a special spell only he could cast. That is, except for Bink of North Village. He was sure he possessed no magic, and knew that if he didn't find some soon, he would be exiled. According to the Good Magician Humpfrey, the charts said that Bink was as powerful as the King or even the Evil Magician Trent. Unfortunately, no one could determine its form. Meanwhile, Bink was in despair. If he didn't find his magic soon, he would be forced to leave....\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: One of my favorite series growing up, recommended.\\n\\nReview: I think this is a very good book, as well as series. It's an intriguing world where all of your traditional tropes are twisted in the best ways. I know a lot of people think it can be kind of goofy, but you have to have fun with it. There is a reason they make comedy movies as well as drama movies. Not everything has to be 'Game of Thrones'.\\n\\nI started reading this series when I was younger and I'm now doing a reread of it since I've fallen behind on them. I do look at it with different eyes as I get older and now that I have better writing to compare it to, I can see flaws, but many of the flaws I see people attribute to the writer seem to me, to be flaws in the characters personalities that he worked through. Not every character has a revelation, but you usually see them grow significantly compared to their first appearance. Something else I like about the series is that with the exception of the first two books, each successive book in the series is about a different character. There is usually an important mission that a group of main characters goes on and the following book will be about one of them or another character that was introduced. The cast keeps growing and the world keeps getting more complex, counter to what some will say.\\n\\nI've highly enjoyed the series over the years and encourage anyone to pick it up and start reading them.\",\n \"Product: Franklin Horton lives and writes in the mountains of southwestern Virginia. He attended Virginia Intermont College and Virginia Commonwealth University. He holds a B.A. in English from Virginia Commonwealth. In his spare time he pursues outdoor adventures with his wife and children, including camping, kayaking, backpacking, mountain biking, and shooting.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great Read. Couldn't Put it Down.\\n\\nReview: This was a great book. I love this series. I'll be upfront that I read mostly Fantasy. I try to go to something outside my comfort zone once a year, and this series was it. It's the first SHTF series I've read. I really like it, though.\\n\\nI'm not sure which way the correlation goes, but because I like fantasy, which is primitive, and I've always loved nature and animals, which are also primitive, I've never been able to get enough of survival books, shows, or anything else like that. Even if I don't do it on a regular basis. I want to know how everything works, so I could conceivably be comfortable in a setting such as this or if I got sucked into one of my books. Basic stuff we take for granted, like getting food, making soap, making tools/weapons from steel, etc...\\n\\nThis book series really appealed to me because it seemed extremely plausible. It wasn't like there was a zombie apocalypse (go Walking Dead) or an alien attack. It was terrorists hitting a few key pieces of infrastructure and then letting panicked and/or entitled people pull themselves and everyone around them apart. I think the characters are pretty well rounded and that the scenarios are plausible.\\n\\nI read each book in about a day, which is my only disappointment. I really wish there were more. I plan to check out other books in this genre, but this whole series is a definite read, including \\\"Locker Nine\\\".\\n\\nI really hope that Mr. Horton keeps them coming. I think he's a great writer. I know people always ask for more stories and think they want them and I know that when writers, of books or tv, indulge the fans and write tons more in the series, that it can actually be a detriment because the original run is a tight and well thought out story, while the rest is tacked on to appease readers/viewers. I don't want that to happen with this series, but I do think that \\\"Locker Nine\\\" shows that there are plenty of other stories to tell in this world after he wraps up the main story.\",\n \"Product: Franklin Horton lives and writes in the mountains of southwestern Virginia. He attended Virginia Intermont College and Virginia Commonwealth University. He holds a B.A. in English. He is a native of Russell County, Virginia, and still lives there with his wife and two children. In his spare time, he enjoys pursuing outdoor adventures including camping, kayaking, backpacking, mountain biking, and shooting. His first published novel, The Borrowed World, was published in May of 2015 and quickly became an Amazon bestseller. The sequel, Ashes of the Unspeakable, was released in October 2015 and also became a bestseller in both the category of Post-Apocalyptic Fiction and of Dystopian Science Fiction. In November, he was accepted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. His latest novel, Legion of Despair, Book Three in The Borrowed World Series was released April 8th, 2016.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great spin-off in a great series\\n\\nReview: This book is a spin-off of the authors \\\"Borrowed World\\\" series. I really like everything I've read of his and I've gotten other people hooked.\\n\\nI grew up in the country, working on a small farm, playing in the creek, and running wild through the woods. Besides that, I love reading fantasy books. So it's no surprise that I often think about how I'd handle a situation without modern convenances like a stove or running water. So I've always liked watching survival shows and learning how to do new things, especially from a primitive starting point, like how to I catch a cook food when all I have is a rock, or cooking a meal without using prepackaged parts.\\n\\nOne thing I love about this series is that it feels like it gives all of those interests a direction and purpose. I see these people using skills they've worked hard on and utilizing them to stay safe and healthy.\\n\\nI also like all the things the series talks about that you might not think about. It's inspired me to be smarter in my life and to be better prepared. For instance, I usually run a gas tank dry. Now I'll refill when I hit half a tank. I was building a Get-home-bag before reading this series, but I'll be making some changes.\\n\\nI'm sure no one who is redoing this series thinks prepping is a bad idea, but if you hear someone acting like it's silly, take the time to mention that it doesn't have to be a nation wide attack. Simply having water, blankets, and an extra jacket can prevent a winter time car stranding from being deadly to being uncomfortable. There are thousands of scenarios where a small amount of forethought and planning can save your life and just make you generally more comfortable. These books are a great resource to help people understand why you need a certain mindset.\\n\\nAs far as negatives to the series, there aren't many and it may just be me. One isn't really a negative, but I'd like to see what'll happens with these characters next. Again, it's not necessarily a negative. The author may plan to write more. It also may be that he plans to leave it up to the readers imagination. I'd really like to know when everything starts to get back to normal and who makes it.\\n\\nMy second issue is how the characters sometimes react too calmly. It seems to me that while they have trained and should be more mentally prepared than the average person, I think they would have more of a psychological reaction to actually seeing and committing the acts they do. That's just how it seems to me.\\n\\nIn the end, I love all of them and want to see more from this author. I highly recommend all of them. I couldn't put them down and finished each in a day.\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":6,"string":"6"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_3"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":879,"string":"879"}}},{"rowIdx":880,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"A26DJU0UGI6B8Q"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of \"1.0\" for a product with description \"For rooms up to 200 square feet, the Venta LW15 Airwasher humidifies dry room air while simultaneously purifying it by removing dust, pollen, pet dander, and other airborne pollutants down to 0.3 microns in size. The Venta Airwasher is both a filter-free evaporative humidifier and filter-free air purifier, all in one lightweight unit. Additionally, Venta Airwashers do not produce the white dust common with other humidifiers due to the fact that we use Cold Evaporation technology. By implementing the principle of humidifying and purifying air for homes and offices without using filters, the Venta Airwasher is hygienic, simple to use and easy to clean. Using a Venta Airwasher will help to reduce common cold symptoms caused by dry air such as dry skin, chapped lips and sinus congestion. Keep allergies under control against dust mites, animal dander, and pollen. Perfect indoor air quality cleansed by a Venta Airwasher helps to improve concentration and reduce headaches. Properly humidified air will also eliminate static electricity and work to preserve wooden furniture and musical instruments. Venta Airwashers offer the consistent performance of high-end German engineering; delivering perfect indoor air quality with both humidified and cleaner air to breathe. This compact 1.4-gallon capacity humidifier is powerful enough to work with indoor spaces of up to 200 square feet, perfect for a bedroom, office or nursery, and is designed to resist over-humidifying the interior.\". The summary of the review text is \"Has not worked effectively as a humidifier for us\"."},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"We've used various humidifiers for years--which are essential during our very cold Minnesota winters. Because we use humidifiers for several months each year, this item was ordered as yet another backup and/or replacement for sometime in the future. However, we have tried it without success... very little, if any, moisture is dispensed into our dry air. Because we have heard good things about Venta products, we were pleased to have this item; but, when we tried it--several times--it simply has not worked out for us. When calling the Venta 888 \"Service Hotline\" number for assistance, we get only an automated recording. We explained the difficulty we were experiencing, and left our name and telephone number for call-back. But, now, after a couple of weeks, we have not heard back from the company. So, we're sorry to report that we simply have not been satisfied with this product, and especially the failure to receive even a \"Service Hotline\" call-back."},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"We've used various humidifiers for years--which are essential during our very cold Minnesota winters. Because we use humidifiers for several months each year, this item was ordered as yet another backup and/or replacement for sometime in the future. However, we have tried it without success... very little, if any, moisture is dispensed into our dry air. Because we have heard good things about Venta products, we were pleased to have this item; but, when we tried it--several times--it simply has not worked out for us. When calling the Venta 888 \"Service Hotline\" number for assistance, we get only an automated recording. We explained the difficulty we were experiencing, and left our name and telephone number for call-back. But, now, after a couple of weeks, we have not heard back from the company. So, we're sorry to report that we simply have not been satisfied with this product, and especially the failure to receive even a \"Service Hotline\" call-back."},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Product: For spaces up to 800 square feet, the Venta LW45 Airwasher humidifies dry room air while simultaneously purifying it by removing dust, pollen, pet dander, and other airborne pollutants down to 0.3 microns in size. The Venta Airwasher is both a filter-free evaporative humidifier and filter-free air purifier, all in one lightweight unit. Additionally, Venta Airwashers do not produce the white dust common with other humidifiers due to the fact that we use Cold Evaporation technology. By implementing the principle of humidifying and purifying air for homes and offices without using filters, the Venta Airwasher is hygienic, simple to use and easy to clean. Using a Venta Airwasher will help to reduce common cold symptoms caused by dry air like dry skin, chapped lips and sinus congestion. Keep allergies under control against dust mites, animal dander, and pollen. Perfect indoor air quality cleansed by a Venta Airwasher helps to improve concentration and reduce headaches. Properly humidified air will also eliminate static electricity and work to preserve wooden furniture and musical instruments. Venta Airwashers offer the consistent performance of high-end German engineering; delivering perfect indoor air quality with both humidified and cleaner air to breathe. This 3-gallon capacity humidifier is powerful enough to work with indoor spaces of up to 800 square feet, perfect for large open rooms, and is designed to resist over-humidifying the interior.\n\nRating: 1.0\n\nSummary: Has not worked effectively as a humidifier for us\n\nReview: We've used various humidifiers for years--which are essential during our very cold Minnesota winters. Because we use humidifiers for several months each year, this item was ordered as yet another backup and/or replacement for sometime in the future. However, we have tried it without success... very little, if any, moisture is dispensed into our dry air. Because we have heard good things about Venta products, we were pleased to have this item; but, when we tried it--several times--it simply has not worked out for us. When calling the Venta 888 \"Service Hotline\" number for assistance, we get only an automated recording. We explained the difficulty we were experiencing, and left our name and telephone number for call-back. But, now, after a couple of weeks, we have not heard back from the company. So, we're sorry to report that we simply have not been satisfied with this product, and especially the failure to receive even a \"Service Hotline\" call-back.","Product: Get ready to say goodbye to the Braverman family in the sixth and final season of Parenthood, the gripping series lauded by critics and beloved by viewers. The tightknit siblings turn to each other as they face uncertain futures: Sarah considers her relationship with Hank, Adam and Crosby struggle to keep The Luncheonette afloat, and Julia and Joel ponder reconciliation. But the greatest concern for everyone is the health of Zeek, the adored and booming patriarch who has always led their clan with vigor until now. From executive producers Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, and Jason Katims come the final episodes filled with the laughter, wit, and tears that has made the show an indelible part of television history, now available back-to-back and uninterrupted!\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: \"PARENTHOOD\"... Truly a Classic Series!\n\nReview: This show, in concept and execution, is among the very best television series ever produced. That it was the recipient of few, if any, awards does not diminish its artistry; but, sadly, exposes how inconsequential the self-acclaimed \"experts\" in programming quality have become. The greatness of \"Parenthood's\" legacy will, we believe, continue to grow in the years ahead... and it is a fitting tribute that its six seasons will now become a treasured part of DVD collections--to be viewed again and again; and, especially important, made available to those who did not have an opportunity to experience the artistry of \"Parenthood\" when it originally aired. Congratulations to everyone who was responsible in the creation of this extraordinary event! --Ron & Renee Howe / Erskine, Minnesota","Product: 1 Forsyth Pond\n\n\n\n\n\n\n 2 Sailor's Suite\n\n\n\n\n\n\n 3 Secrets From the Lake\n\n\n\n\n\n\n 4 Waltz for the Man in the Moon\n\n\n\n\n\n\n 5 Variation On a Butterfly Aria\n\n\n\n\n\n\n 6 Fanfare for the Eventide\n\n\n\n\n\n\n 7 Winterlake\n\n\n\n\n\n\n 8 Cellian Cove\n\n\n\n\n\n\n 9 Child's Lament\n\n\n\n\n\n\n 10 Variation On the Flower Duet\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: A Great Album of Music from Multi-Talented John O'Hurley\n\nReview: \"SECRETS FROM THE LAKE\": Shades of Debussy...\nThis simple, yet extraordinarily profound music--composed and performed by pianist John O'Hurley and cellist Marston Smith--is as inspiring as it is relaxing. Inspiring because the music sweeps over one's thoughts, shutting out (even if only for a little while) the problems clouding our world and our lives; and allows the mind to be calmed and redirected to focus on matters that we can control and improve upon... while reflecting on all that is good on this earth and in our personal lives. Not being familiar with Marston Smith (other than through this beautiful recording), I'll conclude this review by simply expressing my admiration of the multi-talented John O'Hurley. While he may be known by most as the eccentric J. Peterman on the classic \"Seinfeld\" sitcom; and by the gentlemanly manner in which he hosts television game shows\n(\"Family Feud,\" et al), he is a truly fine writer; encompassing in his works not just his special sense of humor, but his sincere expression of meaningful insights into conducting one's life with integrity... and instilling in a child the virtues of being always open and honest... and treating others with the dignity that everyone deserves. Bravo Mr. O'Hurley!\n--Ron Howe (aka 'Toby Martin II) / Erskine, Minnesota","Product: Certain criminal cases have a life of their own. Despite the passage of years they continue their hold on the public imagination, either because of the personalities involved, the depravity of the crime, doubts over whether justice was done, or the tantalizing fact that no one was ever caught...Now John Douglas, the foremost investigative analyst and criminal profiler of our time, turns his attention to eight of the greatest mysteries in the history of crime, including those of Jack the Ripper, The Boston Strangler and JonBenet Ramsey. Taking a fresh look at the established facts, Douglas and Olshaker dismantle the conventional wisdom regarding these most notorious of crimes and rebuild them - with astonishing results.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Fascinating Accounts of Mysteries Surrounding High Profile Crimes\n\nReview: THE CASES THAT HAUNT US is a fascinating account of several mysteries surrounding high profile cases... some of which remain unsolved years after the tragic events. What is also disturbing, however, is learning, via some of the posted reviews on this book, that there continues to be widespread finger-pointing at the Ramsey family. Is it possible that these readers are unaware of the Ramseys having been totally exonerated, for nearly three years, in the brutal murder of their daughter and sister? Here is just one of countless news releases:\n\nDNA clears JonBenet's family, points to mystery killer\n\nJuly 09, 2008\n\nRecently developed \"touch DNA\" technology has cleared all members of JonBenet Ramsey's family of her slaying, authorities said Wednesday.\n\nBoulder County District Attorney Mary Lacy said no one in the Ramsey family is considered a suspect and formally apologized in a letter to John Ramsey for the cloud of suspicion his family has lived under for nearly 12 years.\n\n\"To the extent that we may have contributed in any way to the public perception that you might have been involved in this crime, I am deeply sorry,\" Lacy wrote."],"string":"[\n \"Product: For spaces up to 800 square feet, the Venta LW45 Airwasher humidifies dry room air while simultaneously purifying it by removing dust, pollen, pet dander, and other airborne pollutants down to 0.3 microns in size. The Venta Airwasher is both a filter-free evaporative humidifier and filter-free air purifier, all in one lightweight unit. Additionally, Venta Airwashers do not produce the white dust common with other humidifiers due to the fact that we use Cold Evaporation technology. By implementing the principle of humidifying and purifying air for homes and offices without using filters, the Venta Airwasher is hygienic, simple to use and easy to clean. Using a Venta Airwasher will help to reduce common cold symptoms caused by dry air like dry skin, chapped lips and sinus congestion. Keep allergies under control against dust mites, animal dander, and pollen. Perfect indoor air quality cleansed by a Venta Airwasher helps to improve concentration and reduce headaches. Properly humidified air will also eliminate static electricity and work to preserve wooden furniture and musical instruments. Venta Airwashers offer the consistent performance of high-end German engineering; delivering perfect indoor air quality with both humidified and cleaner air to breathe. This 3-gallon capacity humidifier is powerful enough to work with indoor spaces of up to 800 square feet, perfect for large open rooms, and is designed to resist over-humidifying the interior.\\n\\nRating: 1.0\\n\\nSummary: Has not worked effectively as a humidifier for us\\n\\nReview: We've used various humidifiers for years--which are essential during our very cold Minnesota winters. Because we use humidifiers for several months each year, this item was ordered as yet another backup and/or replacement for sometime in the future. However, we have tried it without success... very little, if any, moisture is dispensed into our dry air. Because we have heard good things about Venta products, we were pleased to have this item; but, when we tried it--several times--it simply has not worked out for us. When calling the Venta 888 \\\"Service Hotline\\\" number for assistance, we get only an automated recording. We explained the difficulty we were experiencing, and left our name and telephone number for call-back. But, now, after a couple of weeks, we have not heard back from the company. So, we're sorry to report that we simply have not been satisfied with this product, and especially the failure to receive even a \\\"Service Hotline\\\" call-back.\",\n \"Product: Get ready to say goodbye to the Braverman family in the sixth and final season of Parenthood, the gripping series lauded by critics and beloved by viewers. The tightknit siblings turn to each other as they face uncertain futures: Sarah considers her relationship with Hank, Adam and Crosby struggle to keep The Luncheonette afloat, and Julia and Joel ponder reconciliation. But the greatest concern for everyone is the health of Zeek, the adored and booming patriarch who has always led their clan with vigor until now. From executive producers Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, and Jason Katims come the final episodes filled with the laughter, wit, and tears that has made the show an indelible part of television history, now available back-to-back and uninterrupted!\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: \\\"PARENTHOOD\\\"... Truly a Classic Series!\\n\\nReview: This show, in concept and execution, is among the very best television series ever produced. That it was the recipient of few, if any, awards does not diminish its artistry; but, sadly, exposes how inconsequential the self-acclaimed \\\"experts\\\" in programming quality have become. The greatness of \\\"Parenthood's\\\" legacy will, we believe, continue to grow in the years ahead... and it is a fitting tribute that its six seasons will now become a treasured part of DVD collections--to be viewed again and again; and, especially important, made available to those who did not have an opportunity to experience the artistry of \\\"Parenthood\\\" when it originally aired. Congratulations to everyone who was responsible in the creation of this extraordinary event! --Ron & Renee Howe / Erskine, Minnesota\",\n \"Product: 1 Forsyth Pond\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n 2 Sailor's Suite\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n 3 Secrets From the Lake\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n 4 Waltz for the Man in the Moon\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n 5 Variation On a Butterfly Aria\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n 6 Fanfare for the Eventide\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n 7 Winterlake\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n 8 Cellian Cove\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n 9 Child's Lament\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n 10 Variation On the Flower Duet\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: A Great Album of Music from Multi-Talented John O'Hurley\\n\\nReview: \\\"SECRETS FROM THE LAKE\\\": Shades of Debussy...\\nThis simple, yet extraordinarily profound music--composed and performed by pianist John O'Hurley and cellist Marston Smith--is as inspiring as it is relaxing. Inspiring because the music sweeps over one's thoughts, shutting out (even if only for a little while) the problems clouding our world and our lives; and allows the mind to be calmed and redirected to focus on matters that we can control and improve upon... while reflecting on all that is good on this earth and in our personal lives. Not being familiar with Marston Smith (other than through this beautiful recording), I'll conclude this review by simply expressing my admiration of the multi-talented John O'Hurley. While he may be known by most as the eccentric J. Peterman on the classic \\\"Seinfeld\\\" sitcom; and by the gentlemanly manner in which he hosts television game shows\\n(\\\"Family Feud,\\\" et al), he is a truly fine writer; encompassing in his works not just his special sense of humor, but his sincere expression of meaningful insights into conducting one's life with integrity... and instilling in a child the virtues of being always open and honest... and treating others with the dignity that everyone deserves. Bravo Mr. O'Hurley!\\n--Ron Howe (aka 'Toby Martin II) / Erskine, Minnesota\",\n \"Product: Certain criminal cases have a life of their own. Despite the passage of years they continue their hold on the public imagination, either because of the personalities involved, the depravity of the crime, doubts over whether justice was done, or the tantalizing fact that no one was ever caught...Now John Douglas, the foremost investigative analyst and criminal profiler of our time, turns his attention to eight of the greatest mysteries in the history of crime, including those of Jack the Ripper, The Boston Strangler and JonBenet Ramsey. Taking a fresh look at the established facts, Douglas and Olshaker dismantle the conventional wisdom regarding these most notorious of crimes and rebuild them - with astonishing results.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Fascinating Accounts of Mysteries Surrounding High Profile Crimes\\n\\nReview: THE CASES THAT HAUNT US is a fascinating account of several mysteries surrounding high profile cases... some of which remain unsolved years after the tragic events. What is also disturbing, however, is learning, via some of the posted reviews on this book, that there continues to be widespread finger-pointing at the Ramsey family. Is it possible that these readers are unaware of the Ramseys having been totally exonerated, for nearly three years, in the brutal murder of their daughter and sister? Here is just one of countless news releases:\\n\\nDNA clears JonBenet's family, points to mystery killer\\n\\nJuly 09, 2008\\n\\nRecently developed \\\"touch DNA\\\" technology has cleared all members of JonBenet Ramsey's family of her slaying, authorities said Wednesday.\\n\\nBoulder County District Attorney Mary Lacy said no one in the Ramsey family is considered a suspect and formally apologized in a letter to John Ramsey for the cloud of suspicion his family has lived under for nearly 12 years.\\n\\n\\\"To the extent that we may have contributed in any way to the public perception that you might have been involved in this crime, I am deeply sorry,\\\" Lacy wrote.\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":4,"string":"4"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_3"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":880,"string":"880"}}},{"rowIdx":881,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"A2S166WSCFIFP5"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of \"4.0\" for a product with description \"Ready to take better pictures? Want to buy smart, when it comes to digital and film cameras, lenses, printers, and other essential gear? Popular Photography & Imaging is packed with great photos, how-to tips, lab tests of the latest equipment, and expert advice on getting the most out of every shot.\". The summary of the review text is \"one of the staples of photography\"."},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"Popular Photography seems to be one of the magazines that all photographers subscribe to (the only one I've found more professionals subscribe to is Shutterbug). The magazine is full of product reviews and technical articles, and there is a column on just about every area of photography. One major fault of the magazine is that about a third to half the magazine is advertising and mail order shops. It's good to know where to go if you want to purchase a new camera, but it can be a bit much. The other fault is that there are no articles covering the artists or any nontechnical issues. This magazine has a lot of potential to be useful to the photographer, but you often times find it falling a bit short."},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"Popular Photography seems to be one of the magazines that all photographers subscribe to (the only one I've found more professionals subscribe to is Shutterbug). The magazine is full of product reviews and technical articles, and there is a column on just about every area of photography. One major fault of the magazine is that about a third to half the magazine is advertising and mail order shops. It's good to know where to go if you want to purchase a new camera, but it can be a bit much. The other fault is that there are no articles covering the artists or any nontechnical issues. This magazine has a lot of potential to be useful to the photographer, but you often times find it falling a bit short."},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Product: A vengeful Australian policeman sets out to avenge his partner, his wife and his son\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: mel gibson's first movie\n\nReview: It actually isn't Gibson's first movie, he had a small role in one before Mad Max, but this is his first starring role, and the one that began his ascent into fame. Mad Max is set in Australia, in the near future. It hasn't gotten as post-apocalyptic as Road Warrior and Beyond Thunderdome, but you get a definite feel of bleakness and of the apocalypse. What Mad Max is, is basically a car movie. But what a car movie. The cinematography is great (and at times dangerous for the camera operator).\nAs a dvd, the Special Edition is great (the reason I haven't bought Road Warrior is that I'm hoping they'll be releasing a special edition with the extras like contained on Mad Max). The commentary track doesn't have the director or Gibson, but it does have the DOP, Art Director, a film historian, and so on. They give a lot of great insight into the making of this film. There is also a 'trivia track' which flashes up trivia during the film. It also will point out every continuity error in the film. One of the great highlights of the dvd is that it is the original Australian recording (though you can access the American dubbing, but I think that is more for showing what dubbing does rather than to watch). There are a couple of featurettes and trailers. It's really a good dvd. And a great movie.","Product: Kevin Smith's \"Mallrats\" on LaserDisc. Graphic Sleeve included.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: what could you expect from the man who brought you clerks\n\nReview: Mallrats is the second film in Kevin Smith New Jersey trilogy (though since it is five movies and a cartoon series, I don't think trilogy fits anymore), and his first large budget studio film. And it is pretty good, though the weakest of his movies. It is loaded with the dialogue that Kevin Smith is good at writing and has strong performances by Jason Lee and Jeremy London. Jay and Silent Bob have larger roles in this film than they did in clerks, and there is a cameo appearance by Stan Lee. Ben Affleck's performance is weak. It loses a little bit at the ending, but it's still a film that I like. I don't think it is for everyone, but if you like Smith's films, and haven't seen this one yet, you definitely need to.\nLike Clerks, this is a strong dvd. The commentary track contains Kevin Smith, Jason Lee, Jason Mewes, Ben Affleck (though his role in the film is so small, I don't understand why he was brought in for commentary), Scott Mosier (producer), and Vincent Pereira. This is a better commentary track than that on Clerks. There's an hour of deleted scenes, introduced by Kevin Smith, a video, and a few trailers and featurettes. If you like the movie, then this dvd is definitely worth buying.","Product: OK, let's get all the disclaimers out of the way first. Despite its colorful (if crude) animation, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut is in no way meant for kids. It is chock full of profanity that might even make Quentin Tarantino blanch and has b\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Music, Satan, Sadaam, and Cartman, what more could you want\n\nReview: It was a little tough figuring out how to rate this. I waited to buy the movie until I had a DVD player and could get the DVD. But for what? There are no extras on the DVD, not even a director's commentary (which seems to be on every DVD available). No fireside chats, no extra footage, no discussion of their time with the MPAA. Nothing. Even Showtime has more extras when they show the movie than the DVD. Now I have to wonder why I waited and just didn't buy it on VHS. They really dropped the ball here.\nBut in the end I have to give the movie the highest rating possible because of the quality of the movie. South Park might just be the most cutting edge tv series ever made. The movie does fall a bit short of the series, but it is still one of the funniest movies made. It satirizes and parodies more things than I can begin to mention. And is a musical, no less (the songs they came up with are worth the price of the movie alone).\nIt's a great movie, I just wish they had done more with the DVD.","Product: A lost soul has just received the wounds of Christ and a shocking message that will alter history. Stunning performances from Patricia Arquette (True Romance), Gabriel Byrne (The Usual Suspects) and Jonathan Pryce (Ronin) and a cutting edge score by Billy Corgan of The SmashingPumpkins and Elia Cmiral make Stigmata a visual and visceral feast (Entertainment Today). Frankie Paige (Arquette) has absolutely no faith in God. All of that changes when she suddenly begins to suffer the Stigmatathe living wounds of the crucified Christ. Frankie's miraculous bleeding comes to the attention of the Vatican's top investigator, Father Kiernan (Byrne). But when Cardinal Houseman (Pryce), discovers that Frankie is actually channeling an extraordinary and provocative message that could destroy the Church, he's convinced that she - and the force possessing hermust be forever silenced. Determined to stop this deadly conspiracy, Kiernan risks his faithandhis lifeto save her and the message that will change the destiny of mankind forever!\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: no stigma in liking this movie\n\nReview: I think the problem Stigmata had when it was released was the marketing. They made the movie look like it was a modern day Exorcist, which it isn't. It is a story about faith, with stupendous performances by Gabriel Byrne (this man is amazing, and so expressive without ever saying a word or going over the top), Patricia Arquette, Rade Serbedzija and Jonathan Pryce (who gives a chilling performance). Rupert Wainwright does a great job directing this religious drama/thriller. His choice of camera angles and moves, as well as the special processing ('skip bleaching') of the film stock help add to the surrealness of the film. Rounding it out is an amazing score by three different artists--Billy Corgan (of the Smashing Pumpkins), Mike Garson (a world renouned pianist), and film composer Elia Cmiral. Together these artists have created a strong film.\nThe dvd contains a commentary track from the director, deleted scenes, Natalie Imbruglia's vidoe for \"Identify\", which Corgan and Garson wrote (and the video is filmed in an interesting way--it is worth watching, regardless of how you feel about the song). And the capstone is the alternate ending, one, in my opinion, they should have used. It's a solid dvd.","Product: What Lies Beneath [VHS]\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: should have been great\n\nReview: I really expected this to be a great movie. It's directed by Robert Zemeckis, who did the movies Forrest Gump, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and the Back to the Future trilogy--by no means the greatest films ever made, but good movies. And you have Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer playing the leads--two great actors. I'm not sure if they've starred in a movie together yet, but if not, it is about time. And Pfeiffer does a good job, Ford does a good job. What is great is that you don't often see Ford in this type of role (I won't spoil it for you). But neither does the level of work that they are capable of and normally do. It's an interesting story, though one that has been done a few times. Like Minority Report, it has all the ingrediants of being a great film, but it just falls short. I don't know what it is (maybe it was Zemeckis was focused on Cast Away, he made what lies beneath in between filming Cast Away- while Hanks was losing all that weight- and wasn't focused on this film). There are two interesting facets to the film, one is some interesting camera moves: long takes, glass floors, etc; the other are the homages to Hitchcock (Rear Window and Psycho). I'd watch it, but don't expect this to be the best thing you've seen. The dvd is ok. There is a commentary by the director and a behind-the-scenes featurette. But once again, nothing spectacular. It's a good way to pass a couple of hours though.","Product: year 2002\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: one of the better war movies\n\nReview: We Were Soldiers is based on the factual events that happened in 1965 at the battle of Ia Drang Valley. I've heard it said that this is one of the better war movies, and one of the best Viet Nam movies. I'd have to agree. Mel Gibson puts in a stunning performance (as usual) at Col Hal Moore, the leader of the 1st battallion, 7th calvary (Custer's unit). Greg Kinnear has a great performance. Barry Pepper does a wonderful job as Joe Galloway, the reporter who was there in the fight. And it is great to see Sam Elliot again, in a role that seems tailor made for him. And many other actors put in great performances. It may have helped that Hal Moore, Joe Galloway, and Bruce Crandall (Kinnear's character) were there to help guide the filmmakers. This movie also spends time focussing on the soldier's wives at home, where Madeleine Stowe and especially Keri Russell and Simbi Khali (not much screen time for Khali, but the few minutes she was on, she was phenomenal) do a great job. You don't too often see the effect at home, but you do here. We Were Soldiers also portrays the enemy as soldiers and honorable men, instead of the stereotypical '...' shown in most Viet Nam movies. And as much as I like movies like Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, and Casualties of War, it is nice to see the soldiers portrayed as soldiers doing their job rather than the psychos, drug addicts, and the likes shown in other movies. This is what Speilberg was hoping for when he made Saving Private Ryan. Randall Wallace (writer/director) teams up again with Gibson. These guys made Braveheart together, and We Were Soldiers is almost as good. The effects are good, and William Hoy does such a great job editing, I think he deserves an Oscar. Nick Glennie-Smith scored the movie, and his work doesn't detract, nor is it swallowed up by the action. This is just an overall great movie.\nAnd the dvd is a good one also. There is a commentary track by Wallace, and while it isn't the most entertaining I've watched, he does a good job (I do wish Mel Gibson had been on the track with him). There are numerous deleted scenes and a 20 minute behind the scenes documentary, \"Getting it Right.\" It's a good dvd.","Product: Working-class waitress Slim (Jennifer Lopez, Maid in Manhattan) thought she was entering a life of domestic bliss when she married Mitch (Billy Campbell, TV's \"Once and Again\"), the man of her dreams. After the arrival of their first child, her picture perfect life is shattered when she discovers Mitch's hidden possessive dark side, a controlling and abusive alter ego that can turn trust, love and tranquility into terror. Terrified for her child's safety, Slim flees with her daughter. Relentless in his pursuit and enlisting the aid of lethal henchmen, Mitch continually stalks the prey that was once his family. Finally, Slim is forced to fight back, engaging Mitch in a physical and psychological battle, showing him that she's had ENOUGH! Jennifer Lopez delivers an electrifying performance as a new breed of action hero in director Michael Apted's (The World Is Not Enough) harrowing, high-style hit thriller.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: it's all a horrible mistake\n\nReview: My parents rented this dvd, and told me it actually was pretty good (though you'd think by now I would have learned my lesson about trusting their judgement on film), so I figured I'd check it out. That was a horrible mistake. Somebody casted Jennifer Lopez as the lead role. That was a horrible mistake. I suppose I should have kept in mind that Nicholas Kazan, writer of Bicentennial Man wrote the script, both of which were horrible mistakes. Three great actors, Juliette Lewis, Dan Futterman and Bill Cobbs were in this film--a horrible mistake on their part. And while this wasn't the best movie for Noah Wylie to take a part in, he did a wonderful job. He played a villainous role, one that is so unlike what he usually plays, and he did it well. Very creepy. Not a horrible mistake to take a role, just a horrible mistake that the role was in this movie. It's predictable and the only outstanding thing about this film is that it is, you guessed it, all a horrible mistake.","Product: SPONGEBOB AND HIS PALS BRING MORE OVER-THE-TOP ANTICS FROM THE DEEP BLUE SEA, WITH TEN ADVENTURES INCLUDING HOOKY, JELLYFISH JAME AND THE ALGAE'S ALWAYS GREENER.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: best of the sponge\n\nReview: Sea Stories is the best of the SpongeBob dvds. The single best episode is \"Texas\" which is on another dvd, but Sea Stories is the best overall collection--though the other SpongeBob dvds are great. There's \"Gary Takes a Bath\" and I've found all episodes featuring Gary to be great. There's \"Hooky\" where Patrick and SpongeBob play on the hooks that come from the sky. \"Pickles\" where SpongeBob loses confidence at the Krabby Patty (and then in life). \"No Free Rides\" where SpongeBob fails his driving test (again) and hilarity starts there. \"Sailor Mouth\" which is hilarious. Also contained are \"Life of Crims\" and \"No Weenies Allowed\". The cream of the dvd is contained in another Plankton episode (\"The Algae's Always Greener\") and the classic \"Jellyfish Jam\". This also has \"Shanghaied\" where Patrick, Squidward, and SpongeBob are taken by the Flying Dutchman, and this contains all three endings. Yeah, this is a great dvd, the only thing that would make it perfect would have been slipping \"Texas\" in this one.","Product: Steve Irwin makes his big-screen debut with his most perilous adventure yet! To save a very large crocodile from poachers, Steve and his wife Terri set out on a death-defying journey through the Outback to nab the big fella and relocate him to a safe river. But what they don't know is that the angry reptile has swallowed a top-secret US satellite beacon making them all targets of American special agents! Crikey!\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Crikey! can you believe it\n\nReview: When I first heard of the Croc Hunter movie, I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe they were going to make a movie with the Irwins. And I didn't think it would be any good. I was wrong. I love Animal Planet's docu-series with the Croc Hunter (It's always amazed me how crazy this fella must be). The movie is filmed half in they style of Steve's tv show, and half in the style of a motion picture. By keeping the real people and the fictional character separate through most of the film, they're able to continue to give the feel of the tv show. And our heroes, Steve and Terri, stay oblivious to the plot of the film throughout. The show is full of cheeky humor (the word ham comes to mind) and cheesey action mixed in with Steve's animal action. It actually turned out to be a pretty good film. I was surprised I liked it. Plus there is all kinds of behind the scenes footage, where we get to watch Steve play with his crocs.\nThis is a good film for the whole family (unless you're Australian, then the language might be a bit much), or a good film for anyone who likes Steve Irwin's show on Animal Planet.","Product: Directed by Brian Helgeland. Starring Paul Bettany, Rufus Sewell, Mark Addy.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: I'm not saying it'll be on AFI's top 100, but it is good\n\nReview: This isn't a movie I'm going to buy (unless it comes packaged with a really good movie), but it certainly is enjoyable to watch. You get a rather straightforward tale about a peasant youth who wants to become a noble knight. And then you have over two hours of what is basically jousting, with a few 70s songs, which surprisingly fit in very well. No performances leap out as great, with the exception of Paul Bettany (the saving grace of A Beautiful Mind), who played Chaucer. That was a great touch. This movie isn't going to win awards or ever become a classic, and in all likelyhood be forgotten in ten years, but it is great fun to watch, cliches and all.","Product: After serving a number of years as a squire, an earnest young commoner poses as a knight and establishes himself in the jousting tournaments of Europe. He and a princess fall in love, but she is unaware of his deceit and common roots. The false knight is estranged from the princess once his true roots are revealed. He struggles to amend their relationship. 15th Anniversary synopsis: The 14th century takes a rocking new twist in A Knights Tale, a stylish, music driven, action packed adventure starring Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight, The Patriot), with heroic performances from Mark Addy (The Full Monty, Down to Earth) and Rufus Sewell (Dangerous Beauty, Dark City). Ledger plays William Thatcher, a peasant squire who breaks all the rules when he passes himself off as a nobleman and takes the jousting world by storm. The only thing that stands between William and his dream of becoming the World Champion of the extremest of sports is the bad boy of the sport Count Adhemar. And when the two\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: I'm not saying it'll be on AFI's top 100, but it is good\n\nReview: This isn't a movie I'm going to buy (unless it comes packaged with a really good movie), but it certainly is enjoyable to watch. You get a rather straightforward tale about a peasant youth who wants to become a noble knight. And then you have over two hours of what is basically jousting, with a few 70s songs, which surprisingly fit in very well. No performances leap out as great, with the exception of Paul Bettany (the saving grace of A Beautiful Mind), who played Chaucer. That was a great touch. This movie isn't going to win awards or ever become a classic, and in all likelyhood be forgotten in ten years, but it is great fun to watch, cliches and all.","Product: Two rival paleontologists are summoned to find their college mentor who has disappeared in Tajikstan. They find that a race of Neanderthals with a facility for \"remote viewing\" have survived on the Himalayas, and American and Russian agents want to use them for military and espionage purposes.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: It was hard to know how to rate this book\n\nReview: I just didn't know how to rate it. The science of the book wasn't that great, and a bit outdated. The science of the book became laughable when they finally met up with the hominids. Surprising since some of Darnton's reference sources are from good people. But it is fiction, so there are some concessions that can be made if there is a good story. The problem is that the story wasn't all that great. I admit, I didn't want to just throw it away, but it wasn't great. It was mediocre. I'm surprised that it made The Book-of-the-Month Club main selection. at best, this is a mediocre story about unintersting characters. Matt and Susan's reintroduction into their romance was just not believeable...maybe it was because there really weren't any other sapiens to chose from. Kellicut's character was...awful, a horrible portrayal. Sergei really wasn't a character. The hominids were either too pacifistic or to evil. They are closely related to humans (or even the same species) so they would be a little more complex than Darnton made them. The most interesting characters were those in the institute (except the marines which really could have been left out. did they even have a part?), but even they weren't that great. All in all, I'd have to say two thumbs down Mr. Darnton. Stick to journalism and don't torture us with this kind of drudge anymore.","Product: These outstanding stories of American award-winning novelist, John Cheever, show the power and range of one of the finest short story writers of the century. Stories of love and squalor, set in a world in which momentary glimpses of brightness contend with time, social change, and the chaos of history.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: one of the best\n\nReview: There are two art forms that are American in origin: jazz and the short story. And when you think of the best short story writers, you think of Ernest Hemingway and John Cheever. Cheever has been called the Chekhov of the American short story. Cheever's stories deal with suburban life, but with a bit of surrealism in it. And this Pulitzer prize winning collection is a must have on any list. It contains two of the best short stories ever written, \"The Swimmer\" and \"The Five-Forty-Eight.\" Some of the other of Cheever's best are: \"The Enormous Radio\", \"Torch Song\", \"The Cure\", \"The Sorrows of Gin\", \"O Youth and Beauty!\", \"The Housebreaker of Shady Hill\", \"The Worm in the Apple\", \"The Country Husband\", \"The Scarlet Moving Van\", \"The Music Teacher\", \"The Brigadier and Gold Widow\", \"Artemis, the Honest Well Digger\". These short stories will show why Cheever is one of America's best.","Product: The story of the spiritual odyssey of a young American in search of God.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: I'm going to go ahead and recommend it\n\nReview: The Razor's Edge came recommend to me from a source I trust. And while it hasn't made my list of greatest books written, it is a good book to read. It's tough to give a synopsis of the book, since like so many other British writers there isn't much of a plot, more of a portrait of a group within society. I guess you could say it is the story of Larry Darrell's search for God. But it only touches on spiritual matters. It doesn't go into the discussion we hope for. (If you're looking for a treatise on spirituality, read Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land, Kerouac's The Dharma Bums, and Anne Rice's Tale of the Body Theif) Maugham himself is a character and narrator of the book. He sort of reminds me of Nick in The Great Gatsby, but only a little. Maugham is a part of the action, but still separate from it. What this book reminds me of is a work by Jane Austen, but written better (I'm known for my dislike of Austen's work). I don't really get into Brit lit from the 18th and 19th centuries, but this book reminds me of that period. But written in such a way I found I enjoyed it. There isn't much linear structure to the novel. A lot of the action takes place in flashback, or in stories told in flashbacks. But Maugham keeps the reader from being confused. The book reads like a book. You know how some stories draw you in, to the point where you are a part of the story? The Razor's Edge isn't like that. You always feel like you are reading a book written by the narrator or that the narrator is telling you the story. There is a distance between the reader and the narrator and the narrator and the story. I think that is what holds the book back.","Product: is the story of a young and courageous boy searching for the talisman, the one thing that will save his dying mother. His quest takes him into the menancing Territories where violence, surprise and the titanic struggle between good and evil reach across a mythic landscape, in a novel. as extraordinary and as unforgettable as Lord of the Rings.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: read this right here and now\n\nReview: this book was a pleasure when i first read it so many years ago, and upon my re-reading, i found it still to be a wonderful book. it has one of the best characters king has created (or co-created), which is wolf. it combination of horror and fantasy that any fan of king's will recognize and enjoy. (sorry to say i really haven't read any of straub's work, so i can't really compare to the rest of his work) and let's be honest, anyone who enjoys king's dark tower series definitely wants to read this book--the similarities are obvious. it does bog down a little at the end, and they do use the talisman as a convenient plot piece to get jack and richard out of trouble, but the rest of the book overpowers the weak ending.","Product: Twenty years ago, a boy named Jack Sawyer traveled to a parallel universe called the Territories to save his mother and her Territories \"Twinner\" from an agonizing death that would have brought cataclysm to the other world. Now Jack is a retired Los Angeles homicide detective living in the nearly nonesistent hamlet of Tamarack, Wisconsin. He has no recolleciton of his adventures in the Territories, and was compelled to leave the police force when an odd, happenstance event threatened to awaken those memories. When a series of gruesome murders occur in western Wisconsin that are reminiscent of those committed several decades ago by a madman named Albert Fish, the killer is dubbed \"the Fisherman\" and Jack's buddy, the local chief of police, begs Jack to help the inexperience force find him. But are the new killings merely the work of a distrubed individual, or has a mysterious and malignant force been unleashed in this quiet town? What causes Jack's inexplicable waking dreams-if that is what they are-of robins' eggs and red feathers? It's almost as if someone is trying to tell him something. As this cryptic message becomes increasingly impossible to ignore. Jack is drawn back to the Territories and to his own hidden past, where he may find the soul-strength to enter a terrifying house at the end of a deserted tract of forest, there to encounter the obsene and ferocious evils sheltered within it.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: the king of pop culture and the use of straub\n\nReview: have you ever noticed how much pop culture references king can pack into a book? luckily we have straub to hold him back a little.\nit's supposed to be a sequal to the talisman, but the two aren't really connected. you get to meet some new great characters and some new annoying one. the most irritating is the narrator, who is an entitiy in this book. the whole first section, some hundred plus pages, is a waste of paper. it would be a great (though endless) camera shot. but this isn't a movie. it's a book. the end is a bit of a letdown. i hate it when an author creates miracles just to save the good guys and take care of the bad guys. but the middle is entertaining. we should just really wait for king to finish his dark tower series (i do wonder how straub feels at being used as a device for king's dark tower series). really, was there a point to straub here at all?","Product: Subtitle: How the Master Shaped His Disciples for Greatness and What He Wants to Do With You\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: great book for Christians and non-Christians alike\n\nReview: What made Christ's disciples the men that were chosen? What made them so great? It was that they were ordinary men, like you and me. MacArthur takes the disciples and writes what we know about them and what kind of men they were. His only source is the Bible. Well, he uses other sources to find out what happened to them (in some cases) after the Resurrection. There is a little speculation here and there, but it seems well thought out and intelligent. My only fault is his chapter on Judas. Yes, he is the great betrayer. Yes he did a horrible thing, but wasn't it required of him? Didn't Jesus have to have one of them betray him? In the end, did he have a choice. One of the most interesting of the disciples and I just didn't feel MacArthur put the time, thought or energy into him that is deserved, but overall, and that includes the Judas chapter, great stuff. It should be required reading for all Christians (and other religious folks) and even for atheists and agnostics (maybe especially agnostics).","Product: Piccard/Data vs Borg\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: a weak ending to a great franchise\n\nReview: I've heard it said that Nemesis was the last of the Next Generation movies (but how many last star trek movies had shatner..). It's a weak ending. The problem is a writer who hasn't written much and a director who is unfamiliar with the franchise and has little experience directing (though a lot of good editing jobs). It's an interesting story that centers around Picard and Data. Riker gets a good action sequence. Troi has a decent role. As does Jordi. But Worf was just overlooked in this film. They touched on all the different series in one way or another. I know that the Star Trek franchise won't end, even if it isn't the Next Generation cast anymore. I just hope that they can make movies better than this one. It's ok, but really only if you are already a fan.","Product: This is the 1945 Blakiston Company edition probably printed for a book club.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: I'm going to go ahead and recommend it\n\nReview: The Razor's Edge came recommend to me from a source I trust. And while it hasn't made my list of greatest books written, it is a good book to read. It's tough to give a synopsis of the book, since like so many other British writers there isn't much of a plot, more of a portrait of a group within society. I guess you could say it is the story of Larry Darrell's search for God. But it only touches on spiritual matters. It doesn't go into the discussion we hope for. (If you're looking for a treatise on spirituality, read Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land, Kerouac's The Dharma Bums, and Anne Rice's Tale of the Body Theif) Maugham himself is a character and narrator of the book. He sort of reminds me of Nick in The Great Gatsby, but only a little. Maugham is a part of the action, but still separate from it. What this book reminds me of is a work by Jane Austen, but written better (I'm known for my dislike of Austen's work). I don't really get into Brit lit from the 18th and 19th centuries, but this book reminds me of that period. But written in such a way I found I enjoyed it. There isn't much linear structure to the novel. A lot of the action takes place in flashback, or in stories told in flashbacks. But Maugham keeps the reader from being confused. The book reads like a book. You know how some stories draw you in, to the point where you are a part of the story? The Razor's Edge isn't like that. You always feel like you are reading a book written by the narrator or that the narrator is telling you the story. There is a distance between the reader and the narrator and the narrator and the story. I think that is what holds the book back."],"string":"[\n \"Product: A vengeful Australian policeman sets out to avenge his partner, his wife and his son\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: mel gibson's first movie\\n\\nReview: It actually isn't Gibson's first movie, he had a small role in one before Mad Max, but this is his first starring role, and the one that began his ascent into fame. Mad Max is set in Australia, in the near future. It hasn't gotten as post-apocalyptic as Road Warrior and Beyond Thunderdome, but you get a definite feel of bleakness and of the apocalypse. What Mad Max is, is basically a car movie. But what a car movie. The cinematography is great (and at times dangerous for the camera operator).\\nAs a dvd, the Special Edition is great (the reason I haven't bought Road Warrior is that I'm hoping they'll be releasing a special edition with the extras like contained on Mad Max). The commentary track doesn't have the director or Gibson, but it does have the DOP, Art Director, a film historian, and so on. They give a lot of great insight into the making of this film. There is also a 'trivia track' which flashes up trivia during the film. It also will point out every continuity error in the film. One of the great highlights of the dvd is that it is the original Australian recording (though you can access the American dubbing, but I think that is more for showing what dubbing does rather than to watch). There are a couple of featurettes and trailers. It's really a good dvd. And a great movie.\",\n \"Product: Kevin Smith's \\\"Mallrats\\\" on LaserDisc. Graphic Sleeve included.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: what could you expect from the man who brought you clerks\\n\\nReview: Mallrats is the second film in Kevin Smith New Jersey trilogy (though since it is five movies and a cartoon series, I don't think trilogy fits anymore), and his first large budget studio film. And it is pretty good, though the weakest of his movies. It is loaded with the dialogue that Kevin Smith is good at writing and has strong performances by Jason Lee and Jeremy London. Jay and Silent Bob have larger roles in this film than they did in clerks, and there is a cameo appearance by Stan Lee. Ben Affleck's performance is weak. It loses a little bit at the ending, but it's still a film that I like. I don't think it is for everyone, but if you like Smith's films, and haven't seen this one yet, you definitely need to.\\nLike Clerks, this is a strong dvd. The commentary track contains Kevin Smith, Jason Lee, Jason Mewes, Ben Affleck (though his role in the film is so small, I don't understand why he was brought in for commentary), Scott Mosier (producer), and Vincent Pereira. This is a better commentary track than that on Clerks. There's an hour of deleted scenes, introduced by Kevin Smith, a video, and a few trailers and featurettes. If you like the movie, then this dvd is definitely worth buying.\",\n \"Product: OK, let's get all the disclaimers out of the way first. Despite its colorful (if crude) animation, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut is in no way meant for kids. It is chock full of profanity that might even make Quentin Tarantino blanch and has b\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Music, Satan, Sadaam, and Cartman, what more could you want\\n\\nReview: It was a little tough figuring out how to rate this. I waited to buy the movie until I had a DVD player and could get the DVD. But for what? There are no extras on the DVD, not even a director's commentary (which seems to be on every DVD available). No fireside chats, no extra footage, no discussion of their time with the MPAA. Nothing. Even Showtime has more extras when they show the movie than the DVD. Now I have to wonder why I waited and just didn't buy it on VHS. They really dropped the ball here.\\nBut in the end I have to give the movie the highest rating possible because of the quality of the movie. South Park might just be the most cutting edge tv series ever made. The movie does fall a bit short of the series, but it is still one of the funniest movies made. It satirizes and parodies more things than I can begin to mention. And is a musical, no less (the songs they came up with are worth the price of the movie alone).\\nIt's a great movie, I just wish they had done more with the DVD.\",\n \"Product: A lost soul has just received the wounds of Christ and a shocking message that will alter history. Stunning performances from Patricia Arquette (True Romance), Gabriel Byrne (The Usual Suspects) and Jonathan Pryce (Ronin) and a cutting edge score by Billy Corgan of The SmashingPumpkins and Elia Cmiral make Stigmata a visual and visceral feast (Entertainment Today). Frankie Paige (Arquette) has absolutely no faith in God. All of that changes when she suddenly begins to suffer the Stigmatathe living wounds of the crucified Christ. Frankie's miraculous bleeding comes to the attention of the Vatican's top investigator, Father Kiernan (Byrne). But when Cardinal Houseman (Pryce), discovers that Frankie is actually channeling an extraordinary and provocative message that could destroy the Church, he's convinced that she - and the force possessing hermust be forever silenced. Determined to stop this deadly conspiracy, Kiernan risks his faithandhis lifeto save her and the message that will change the destiny of mankind forever!\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: no stigma in liking this movie\\n\\nReview: I think the problem Stigmata had when it was released was the marketing. They made the movie look like it was a modern day Exorcist, which it isn't. It is a story about faith, with stupendous performances by Gabriel Byrne (this man is amazing, and so expressive without ever saying a word or going over the top), Patricia Arquette, Rade Serbedzija and Jonathan Pryce (who gives a chilling performance). Rupert Wainwright does a great job directing this religious drama/thriller. His choice of camera angles and moves, as well as the special processing ('skip bleaching') of the film stock help add to the surrealness of the film. Rounding it out is an amazing score by three different artists--Billy Corgan (of the Smashing Pumpkins), Mike Garson (a world renouned pianist), and film composer Elia Cmiral. Together these artists have created a strong film.\\nThe dvd contains a commentary track from the director, deleted scenes, Natalie Imbruglia's vidoe for \\\"Identify\\\", which Corgan and Garson wrote (and the video is filmed in an interesting way--it is worth watching, regardless of how you feel about the song). And the capstone is the alternate ending, one, in my opinion, they should have used. It's a solid dvd.\",\n \"Product: What Lies Beneath [VHS]\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: should have been great\\n\\nReview: I really expected this to be a great movie. It's directed by Robert Zemeckis, who did the movies Forrest Gump, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and the Back to the Future trilogy--by no means the greatest films ever made, but good movies. And you have Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer playing the leads--two great actors. I'm not sure if they've starred in a movie together yet, but if not, it is about time. And Pfeiffer does a good job, Ford does a good job. What is great is that you don't often see Ford in this type of role (I won't spoil it for you). But neither does the level of work that they are capable of and normally do. It's an interesting story, though one that has been done a few times. Like Minority Report, it has all the ingrediants of being a great film, but it just falls short. I don't know what it is (maybe it was Zemeckis was focused on Cast Away, he made what lies beneath in between filming Cast Away- while Hanks was losing all that weight- and wasn't focused on this film). There are two interesting facets to the film, one is some interesting camera moves: long takes, glass floors, etc; the other are the homages to Hitchcock (Rear Window and Psycho). I'd watch it, but don't expect this to be the best thing you've seen. The dvd is ok. There is a commentary by the director and a behind-the-scenes featurette. But once again, nothing spectacular. It's a good way to pass a couple of hours though.\",\n \"Product: year 2002\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: one of the better war movies\\n\\nReview: We Were Soldiers is based on the factual events that happened in 1965 at the battle of Ia Drang Valley. I've heard it said that this is one of the better war movies, and one of the best Viet Nam movies. I'd have to agree. Mel Gibson puts in a stunning performance (as usual) at Col Hal Moore, the leader of the 1st battallion, 7th calvary (Custer's unit). Greg Kinnear has a great performance. Barry Pepper does a wonderful job as Joe Galloway, the reporter who was there in the fight. And it is great to see Sam Elliot again, in a role that seems tailor made for him. And many other actors put in great performances. It may have helped that Hal Moore, Joe Galloway, and Bruce Crandall (Kinnear's character) were there to help guide the filmmakers. This movie also spends time focussing on the soldier's wives at home, where Madeleine Stowe and especially Keri Russell and Simbi Khali (not much screen time for Khali, but the few minutes she was on, she was phenomenal) do a great job. You don't too often see the effect at home, but you do here. We Were Soldiers also portrays the enemy as soldiers and honorable men, instead of the stereotypical '...' shown in most Viet Nam movies. And as much as I like movies like Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, and Casualties of War, it is nice to see the soldiers portrayed as soldiers doing their job rather than the psychos, drug addicts, and the likes shown in other movies. This is what Speilberg was hoping for when he made Saving Private Ryan. Randall Wallace (writer/director) teams up again with Gibson. These guys made Braveheart together, and We Were Soldiers is almost as good. The effects are good, and William Hoy does such a great job editing, I think he deserves an Oscar. Nick Glennie-Smith scored the movie, and his work doesn't detract, nor is it swallowed up by the action. This is just an overall great movie.\\nAnd the dvd is a good one also. There is a commentary track by Wallace, and while it isn't the most entertaining I've watched, he does a good job (I do wish Mel Gibson had been on the track with him). There are numerous deleted scenes and a 20 minute behind the scenes documentary, \\\"Getting it Right.\\\" It's a good dvd.\",\n \"Product: Working-class waitress Slim (Jennifer Lopez, Maid in Manhattan) thought she was entering a life of domestic bliss when she married Mitch (Billy Campbell, TV's \\\"Once and Again\\\"), the man of her dreams. After the arrival of their first child, her picture perfect life is shattered when she discovers Mitch's hidden possessive dark side, a controlling and abusive alter ego that can turn trust, love and tranquility into terror. Terrified for her child's safety, Slim flees with her daughter. Relentless in his pursuit and enlisting the aid of lethal henchmen, Mitch continually stalks the prey that was once his family. Finally, Slim is forced to fight back, engaging Mitch in a physical and psychological battle, showing him that she's had ENOUGH! Jennifer Lopez delivers an electrifying performance as a new breed of action hero in director Michael Apted's (The World Is Not Enough) harrowing, high-style hit thriller.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: it's all a horrible mistake\\n\\nReview: My parents rented this dvd, and told me it actually was pretty good (though you'd think by now I would have learned my lesson about trusting their judgement on film), so I figured I'd check it out. That was a horrible mistake. Somebody casted Jennifer Lopez as the lead role. That was a horrible mistake. I suppose I should have kept in mind that Nicholas Kazan, writer of Bicentennial Man wrote the script, both of which were horrible mistakes. Three great actors, Juliette Lewis, Dan Futterman and Bill Cobbs were in this film--a horrible mistake on their part. And while this wasn't the best movie for Noah Wylie to take a part in, he did a wonderful job. He played a villainous role, one that is so unlike what he usually plays, and he did it well. Very creepy. Not a horrible mistake to take a role, just a horrible mistake that the role was in this movie. It's predictable and the only outstanding thing about this film is that it is, you guessed it, all a horrible mistake.\",\n \"Product: SPONGEBOB AND HIS PALS BRING MORE OVER-THE-TOP ANTICS FROM THE DEEP BLUE SEA, WITH TEN ADVENTURES INCLUDING HOOKY, JELLYFISH JAME AND THE ALGAE'S ALWAYS GREENER.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: best of the sponge\\n\\nReview: Sea Stories is the best of the SpongeBob dvds. The single best episode is \\\"Texas\\\" which is on another dvd, but Sea Stories is the best overall collection--though the other SpongeBob dvds are great. There's \\\"Gary Takes a Bath\\\" and I've found all episodes featuring Gary to be great. There's \\\"Hooky\\\" where Patrick and SpongeBob play on the hooks that come from the sky. \\\"Pickles\\\" where SpongeBob loses confidence at the Krabby Patty (and then in life). \\\"No Free Rides\\\" where SpongeBob fails his driving test (again) and hilarity starts there. \\\"Sailor Mouth\\\" which is hilarious. Also contained are \\\"Life of Crims\\\" and \\\"No Weenies Allowed\\\". The cream of the dvd is contained in another Plankton episode (\\\"The Algae's Always Greener\\\") and the classic \\\"Jellyfish Jam\\\". This also has \\\"Shanghaied\\\" where Patrick, Squidward, and SpongeBob are taken by the Flying Dutchman, and this contains all three endings. Yeah, this is a great dvd, the only thing that would make it perfect would have been slipping \\\"Texas\\\" in this one.\",\n \"Product: Steve Irwin makes his big-screen debut with his most perilous adventure yet! To save a very large crocodile from poachers, Steve and his wife Terri set out on a death-defying journey through the Outback to nab the big fella and relocate him to a safe river. But what they don't know is that the angry reptile has swallowed a top-secret US satellite beacon making them all targets of American special agents! Crikey!\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Crikey! can you believe it\\n\\nReview: When I first heard of the Croc Hunter movie, I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe they were going to make a movie with the Irwins. And I didn't think it would be any good. I was wrong. I love Animal Planet's docu-series with the Croc Hunter (It's always amazed me how crazy this fella must be). The movie is filmed half in they style of Steve's tv show, and half in the style of a motion picture. By keeping the real people and the fictional character separate through most of the film, they're able to continue to give the feel of the tv show. And our heroes, Steve and Terri, stay oblivious to the plot of the film throughout. The show is full of cheeky humor (the word ham comes to mind) and cheesey action mixed in with Steve's animal action. It actually turned out to be a pretty good film. I was surprised I liked it. Plus there is all kinds of behind the scenes footage, where we get to watch Steve play with his crocs.\\nThis is a good film for the whole family (unless you're Australian, then the language might be a bit much), or a good film for anyone who likes Steve Irwin's show on Animal Planet.\",\n \"Product: Directed by Brian Helgeland. Starring Paul Bettany, Rufus Sewell, Mark Addy.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: I'm not saying it'll be on AFI's top 100, but it is good\\n\\nReview: This isn't a movie I'm going to buy (unless it comes packaged with a really good movie), but it certainly is enjoyable to watch. You get a rather straightforward tale about a peasant youth who wants to become a noble knight. And then you have over two hours of what is basically jousting, with a few 70s songs, which surprisingly fit in very well. No performances leap out as great, with the exception of Paul Bettany (the saving grace of A Beautiful Mind), who played Chaucer. That was a great touch. This movie isn't going to win awards or ever become a classic, and in all likelyhood be forgotten in ten years, but it is great fun to watch, cliches and all.\",\n \"Product: After serving a number of years as a squire, an earnest young commoner poses as a knight and establishes himself in the jousting tournaments of Europe. He and a princess fall in love, but she is unaware of his deceit and common roots. The false knight is estranged from the princess once his true roots are revealed. He struggles to amend their relationship. 15th Anniversary synopsis: The 14th century takes a rocking new twist in A Knights Tale, a stylish, music driven, action packed adventure starring Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight, The Patriot), with heroic performances from Mark Addy (The Full Monty, Down to Earth) and Rufus Sewell (Dangerous Beauty, Dark City). Ledger plays William Thatcher, a peasant squire who breaks all the rules when he passes himself off as a nobleman and takes the jousting world by storm. The only thing that stands between William and his dream of becoming the World Champion of the extremest of sports is the bad boy of the sport Count Adhemar. And when the two\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: I'm not saying it'll be on AFI's top 100, but it is good\\n\\nReview: This isn't a movie I'm going to buy (unless it comes packaged with a really good movie), but it certainly is enjoyable to watch. You get a rather straightforward tale about a peasant youth who wants to become a noble knight. And then you have over two hours of what is basically jousting, with a few 70s songs, which surprisingly fit in very well. No performances leap out as great, with the exception of Paul Bettany (the saving grace of A Beautiful Mind), who played Chaucer. That was a great touch. This movie isn't going to win awards or ever become a classic, and in all likelyhood be forgotten in ten years, but it is great fun to watch, cliches and all.\",\n \"Product: Two rival paleontologists are summoned to find their college mentor who has disappeared in Tajikstan. They find that a race of Neanderthals with a facility for \\\"remote viewing\\\" have survived on the Himalayas, and American and Russian agents want to use them for military and espionage purposes.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: It was hard to know how to rate this book\\n\\nReview: I just didn't know how to rate it. The science of the book wasn't that great, and a bit outdated. The science of the book became laughable when they finally met up with the hominids. Surprising since some of Darnton's reference sources are from good people. But it is fiction, so there are some concessions that can be made if there is a good story. The problem is that the story wasn't all that great. I admit, I didn't want to just throw it away, but it wasn't great. It was mediocre. I'm surprised that it made The Book-of-the-Month Club main selection. at best, this is a mediocre story about unintersting characters. Matt and Susan's reintroduction into their romance was just not believeable...maybe it was because there really weren't any other sapiens to chose from. Kellicut's character was...awful, a horrible portrayal. Sergei really wasn't a character. The hominids were either too pacifistic or to evil. They are closely related to humans (or even the same species) so they would be a little more complex than Darnton made them. The most interesting characters were those in the institute (except the marines which really could have been left out. did they even have a part?), but even they weren't that great. All in all, I'd have to say two thumbs down Mr. Darnton. Stick to journalism and don't torture us with this kind of drudge anymore.\",\n \"Product: These outstanding stories of American award-winning novelist, John Cheever, show the power and range of one of the finest short story writers of the century. Stories of love and squalor, set in a world in which momentary glimpses of brightness contend with time, social change, and the chaos of history.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: one of the best\\n\\nReview: There are two art forms that are American in origin: jazz and the short story. And when you think of the best short story writers, you think of Ernest Hemingway and John Cheever. Cheever has been called the Chekhov of the American short story. Cheever's stories deal with suburban life, but with a bit of surrealism in it. And this Pulitzer prize winning collection is a must have on any list. It contains two of the best short stories ever written, \\\"The Swimmer\\\" and \\\"The Five-Forty-Eight.\\\" Some of the other of Cheever's best are: \\\"The Enormous Radio\\\", \\\"Torch Song\\\", \\\"The Cure\\\", \\\"The Sorrows of Gin\\\", \\\"O Youth and Beauty!\\\", \\\"The Housebreaker of Shady Hill\\\", \\\"The Worm in the Apple\\\", \\\"The Country Husband\\\", \\\"The Scarlet Moving Van\\\", \\\"The Music Teacher\\\", \\\"The Brigadier and Gold Widow\\\", \\\"Artemis, the Honest Well Digger\\\". These short stories will show why Cheever is one of America's best.\",\n \"Product: The story of the spiritual odyssey of a young American in search of God.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: I'm going to go ahead and recommend it\\n\\nReview: The Razor's Edge came recommend to me from a source I trust. And while it hasn't made my list of greatest books written, it is a good book to read. It's tough to give a synopsis of the book, since like so many other British writers there isn't much of a plot, more of a portrait of a group within society. I guess you could say it is the story of Larry Darrell's search for God. But it only touches on spiritual matters. It doesn't go into the discussion we hope for. (If you're looking for a treatise on spirituality, read Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land, Kerouac's The Dharma Bums, and Anne Rice's Tale of the Body Theif) Maugham himself is a character and narrator of the book. He sort of reminds me of Nick in The Great Gatsby, but only a little. Maugham is a part of the action, but still separate from it. What this book reminds me of is a work by Jane Austen, but written better (I'm known for my dislike of Austen's work). I don't really get into Brit lit from the 18th and 19th centuries, but this book reminds me of that period. But written in such a way I found I enjoyed it. There isn't much linear structure to the novel. A lot of the action takes place in flashback, or in stories told in flashbacks. But Maugham keeps the reader from being confused. The book reads like a book. You know how some stories draw you in, to the point where you are a part of the story? The Razor's Edge isn't like that. You always feel like you are reading a book written by the narrator or that the narrator is telling you the story. There is a distance between the reader and the narrator and the narrator and the story. I think that is what holds the book back.\",\n \"Product: is the story of a young and courageous boy searching for the talisman, the one thing that will save his dying mother. His quest takes him into the menancing Territories where violence, surprise and the titanic struggle between good and evil reach across a mythic landscape, in a novel. as extraordinary and as unforgettable as Lord of the Rings.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: read this right here and now\\n\\nReview: this book was a pleasure when i first read it so many years ago, and upon my re-reading, i found it still to be a wonderful book. it has one of the best characters king has created (or co-created), which is wolf. it combination of horror and fantasy that any fan of king's will recognize and enjoy. (sorry to say i really haven't read any of straub's work, so i can't really compare to the rest of his work) and let's be honest, anyone who enjoys king's dark tower series definitely wants to read this book--the similarities are obvious. it does bog down a little at the end, and they do use the talisman as a convenient plot piece to get jack and richard out of trouble, but the rest of the book overpowers the weak ending.\",\n \"Product: Twenty years ago, a boy named Jack Sawyer traveled to a parallel universe called the Territories to save his mother and her Territories \\\"Twinner\\\" from an agonizing death that would have brought cataclysm to the other world. Now Jack is a retired Los Angeles homicide detective living in the nearly nonesistent hamlet of Tamarack, Wisconsin. He has no recolleciton of his adventures in the Territories, and was compelled to leave the police force when an odd, happenstance event threatened to awaken those memories. When a series of gruesome murders occur in western Wisconsin that are reminiscent of those committed several decades ago by a madman named Albert Fish, the killer is dubbed \\\"the Fisherman\\\" and Jack's buddy, the local chief of police, begs Jack to help the inexperience force find him. But are the new killings merely the work of a distrubed individual, or has a mysterious and malignant force been unleashed in this quiet town? What causes Jack's inexplicable waking dreams-if that is what they are-of robins' eggs and red feathers? It's almost as if someone is trying to tell him something. As this cryptic message becomes increasingly impossible to ignore. Jack is drawn back to the Territories and to his own hidden past, where he may find the soul-strength to enter a terrifying house at the end of a deserted tract of forest, there to encounter the obsene and ferocious evils sheltered within it.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: the king of pop culture and the use of straub\\n\\nReview: have you ever noticed how much pop culture references king can pack into a book? luckily we have straub to hold him back a little.\\nit's supposed to be a sequal to the talisman, but the two aren't really connected. you get to meet some new great characters and some new annoying one. the most irritating is the narrator, who is an entitiy in this book. the whole first section, some hundred plus pages, is a waste of paper. it would be a great (though endless) camera shot. but this isn't a movie. it's a book. the end is a bit of a letdown. i hate it when an author creates miracles just to save the good guys and take care of the bad guys. but the middle is entertaining. we should just really wait for king to finish his dark tower series (i do wonder how straub feels at being used as a device for king's dark tower series). really, was there a point to straub here at all?\",\n \"Product: Subtitle: How the Master Shaped His Disciples for Greatness and What He Wants to Do With You\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: great book for Christians and non-Christians alike\\n\\nReview: What made Christ's disciples the men that were chosen? What made them so great? It was that they were ordinary men, like you and me. MacArthur takes the disciples and writes what we know about them and what kind of men they were. His only source is the Bible. Well, he uses other sources to find out what happened to them (in some cases) after the Resurrection. There is a little speculation here and there, but it seems well thought out and intelligent. My only fault is his chapter on Judas. Yes, he is the great betrayer. Yes he did a horrible thing, but wasn't it required of him? Didn't Jesus have to have one of them betray him? In the end, did he have a choice. One of the most interesting of the disciples and I just didn't feel MacArthur put the time, thought or energy into him that is deserved, but overall, and that includes the Judas chapter, great stuff. It should be required reading for all Christians (and other religious folks) and even for atheists and agnostics (maybe especially agnostics).\",\n \"Product: Piccard/Data vs Borg\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: a weak ending to a great franchise\\n\\nReview: I've heard it said that Nemesis was the last of the Next Generation movies (but how many last star trek movies had shatner..). It's a weak ending. The problem is a writer who hasn't written much and a director who is unfamiliar with the franchise and has little experience directing (though a lot of good editing jobs). It's an interesting story that centers around Picard and Data. Riker gets a good action sequence. Troi has a decent role. As does Jordi. But Worf was just overlooked in this film. They touched on all the different series in one way or another. I know that the Star Trek franchise won't end, even if it isn't the Next Generation cast anymore. I just hope that they can make movies better than this one. It's ok, but really only if you are already a fan.\",\n \"Product: This is the 1945 Blakiston Company edition probably printed for a book club.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: I'm going to go ahead and recommend it\\n\\nReview: The Razor's Edge came recommend to me from a source I trust. And while it hasn't made my list of greatest books written, it is a good book to read. It's tough to give a synopsis of the book, since like so many other British writers there isn't much of a plot, more of a portrait of a group within society. I guess you could say it is the story of Larry Darrell's search for God. But it only touches on spiritual matters. It doesn't go into the discussion we hope for. (If you're looking for a treatise on spirituality, read Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land, Kerouac's The Dharma Bums, and Anne Rice's Tale of the Body Theif) Maugham himself is a character and narrator of the book. He sort of reminds me of Nick in The Great Gatsby, but only a little. Maugham is a part of the action, but still separate from it. What this book reminds me of is a work by Jane Austen, but written better (I'm known for my dislike of Austen's work). I don't really get into Brit lit from the 18th and 19th centuries, but this book reminds me of that period. But written in such a way I found I enjoyed it. There isn't much linear structure to the novel. A lot of the action takes place in flashback, or in stories told in flashbacks. But Maugham keeps the reader from being confused. The book reads like a book. You know how some stories draw you in, to the point where you are a part of the story? The Razor's Edge isn't like that. You always feel like you are reading a book written by the narrator or that the narrator is telling you the story. There is a distance between the reader and the narrator and the narrator and the story. I think that is what holds the book back.\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":19,"string":"19"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_3"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":881,"string":"881"}}},{"rowIdx":882,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"AK0CENM3LUM28"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of \"2.0\" for a product with description \"Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil, The Fifth Element), Cameron Bright (X-Men 3), Nick Chinlund (The Legend of Zorro) and William Fichtner (The Longest Yard) star in this theatrical set in the late 21st century, a subculture of humans have emerged who have been modified genetically by a vampire-like disease (Hemophagia), giving them enhanced speed, incredible stamina and acute intelligence, and as they are set apart from \"normal\" and \"healthy\" humans, the world is pushed to the brink of worldwide civil war (a war between humans and hemophages) aimed at the destruction of the \"diseased\" population. In the middle of this crossed-fire is - an infected woman - Ultraviolet, who finds herself protecting a nine-year-old boy who has been marked for death by the human government as he is believed to be a threat to humans.\". The summary of the review text is \"Haunted by Bad Writing\"."},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"Ultraviolet / B000FGGE5Y\n\n*Spoilers*\n\nOh, I really wanted to like Ultraviolet. I wasn't expecting a whole lot, just some decent action and a nifty dystopia, something along the lines of Aeon Flux, Equilibrium, and (of course) The Matrix.\n\nUltraviolet starts off with a bang. Milla is a superb action heroine, as always, and she dazzles with a wonderful combination of high-tech gadgetry (she's got an anti-gravity device!), high-speed chases, and high-skill martial arts. Combo in an intriguing (if a bit long and draggy) voice-over involving vampires, and Milla's mysteriously changing hair color, and this should be a perfect mindless Friday night flick.\n\nUnfortunately, the action slows to a crawl after the first twenty minutes (as do the cool hair color changes - it will remain disappointingly black for the rest of the movie, despite all the cool changes you saw in the previews), and you won't get to see too many more fancy moves until the final race to the finish. The filler dialogue is teeth-grindingly bad, with Milla having approximately eighteen earnest heart-to-hearts with the Capture/Rescue Kid. Some of these heart-to-hearts occur back to back and while enemy soldiers are closing in, and the resulting overexposure of Milla's tender side (which the savvy user grasped in the initial opening voice over, for crying out loud) feels like a hammer to the temples. She's a vampire! She's dying! She's saddened by the loss of her pregnancy! She's bonding with the child! Yeah, we got it.\n\nReally, this would have been a much better film if the writers had trusted the audience to get it and just cut 90% of the filler dialogue and just left us 'silent scenes' instead of Milla dragging her reluctant charge around this world gone mad. Although I love mindless action films, I simply can't bear to sit through Ultraviolet again, so I'm selling my copy and hoping the next Milla film will have better writing that she deserves.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll"},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"Ultraviolet / B000FGGE5Y\n\n*Spoilers*\n\nOh, I really wanted to like Ultraviolet. I wasn't expecting a whole lot, just some decent action and a nifty dystopia, something along the lines of Aeon Flux, Equilibrium, and (of course) The Matrix.\n\nUltraviolet starts off with a bang. Milla is a superb action heroine, as always, and she dazzles with a wonderful combination of high-tech gadgetry (she's got an anti-gravity device!), high-speed chases, and high-skill martial arts. Combo in an intriguing (if a bit long and draggy) voice-over involving vampires, and Milla's mysteriously changing hair color, and this should be a perfect mindless Friday night flick.\n\nUnfortunately, the action slows to a crawl after the first twenty minutes (as do the cool hair color changes - it will remain disappointingly black for the rest of the movie, despite all the cool changes you saw in the previews), and you won't get to see too many more fancy moves until the final race to the finish. The filler dialogue is teeth-grindingly bad, with Milla having approximately eighteen earnest heart-to-hearts with the Capture/Rescue Kid. Some of these heart-to-hearts occur back to back and while enemy soldiers are closing in, and the resulting overexposure of Milla's tender side (which the savvy user grasped in the initial opening voice over, for crying out loud) feels like a hammer to the temples. She's a vampire! She's dying! She's saddened by the loss of her pregnancy! She's bonding with the child! Yeah, we got it.\n\nReally, this would have been a much better film if the writers had trusted the audience to get it and just cut 90% of the filler dialogue and just left us 'silent scenes' instead of Milla dragging her reluctant charge around this world gone mad. Although I love mindless action films, I simply can't bear to sit through Ultraviolet again, so I'm selling my copy and hoping the next Milla film will have better writing that she deserves.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll"},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Product: Silver Foam 8 Oz SILVER FOAM 8 OZ.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Does the job admirably\n\nReview: <div id=\"video-block-R157O0XQT3INT9\" class=\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\"></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/C14oY4JVlXS.mp4\" class=\"video-url\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61EbWP1dCfS.png\" class=\"video-slate-img-url\"> Hagerty Silver Foam Polish Hagerty / B000BODTWQ\n\nI was expecting that this \"foam\" would be something cool and liquid-y - something you could drop jewelry into and have it come back out tarnish-free. Instead, this polish is a highly viscous semi-solid that requires a touch of elbow grease and work in order to remove tarnish... but it *does* work fairly well and seems to be about as non-harsh as one can hope for these sorts of things.\n\nThis polish has no scent or odor and washes out of cloth with nothing more than soap and water. Silver pieces with tarnish are restored to a lustrous shine, except in the case of one necklace I tried to polish to no avail - I can't say for certain, though, whether that particular necklace was actually silver or just silver-plated (or painted, even) and the actual silver had just rubbed off, rather than outright tarnish.\n\nI would definitely recommend this polish - I'm very happy with it and it does the job. I do still wish for a \"soaking\" polisher, if only because it's not always easy to rub this foam in tight spots, like necklace chains or fine detail work. But it's perfectly fine for most pendants, rings, bracelets, and the like.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: SUSAN BATES-Crystallites Medium French Knitter. The elegant way to make I-cord from Susan Bates. The clear translucent colors are beautiful to look at and easy to use. Works well with crochet thread or yarns. How to instructions and fun project ideas are included. Assorted colors: clear; purple or blue. Color chosen at random only. Imported.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great for Children and Adults\n\nReview: French Knitter, Medium / B000GBO9S2\n\nThese knitting aids go by many names: French Knitter, Knitting Knobby, Knitting Spool, and so on. They are used to make i-cords, or those long thin knitted \"tubes\" that can be sewn into potholders and rugs and accent pieces and a thousand other uses.\n\nThis spool is a good one, sturdy and reliable. The plastic shaft is easy to turn, and the nail heads are sturdy and secure. The heads of the nails are rounded and soft, and the yarn slips easily over the head. The length of the nails is just about perfect - any taller, and it would be a chore to slip the loops over the head, and any shorter and the knitting would be too bunched up to work with. The package also includes a good plastic crochet hook of a size that compliments the spool perfectly. I've already started an i-cord in the hopes of making a nice rug for the laundry room - I'm using a medium weight wool yarn.\n\nOne thing to be aware of, though, is that the instructions included here were not very useful to me. I haven't knitting on a spool in years, and I couldn't remember the correct technique to get started. Internet searching increased my despair, as there are seemingly a thousand ways to start your i-cord, but each method seemed incredibly difficult, or stretched the yarn too tight, such that it was impossible to move it. I finally did find some simple instructions for children at online resource \"The Caron Collection Kid's Corner\".\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Embroidery hoop for most popular motif sizes. Fits the following machines: PE770, LS2125i, XL2230, XL2600i, XL2610, XL3510, XL3750, ES2000, CP6500, CP7500, 1034D, PC210PRW, PC420PRW, SE400, LB6800PRW\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: For those *really* big projects...\n\nReview: Brother Embroidery Hoop 5x12 / B001TOW496\n\nI purchased this for use with my <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Brother-PE700II-Embroidery-Machine-with-USB-Port/dp/B0013J8F9U/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Brother PE700II Embroidery Machine with USB Port </a> - the machine comes with a large 5x7 hoop, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to have a larger hoop on hand \"just in case\". In general, you want to use the smallest hoop allowable for a project - while you can use bigger hoops with smaller pieces (with the help of adhesive stabilizer), the smaller hoops are easier to precisely place the material, and use less stabilizer, thereby saving you money. This hoop works perfectly with the PE700II - except for the size, it is identical to the hoop that came included with the machine. Simply unscrew the clasp to loosen the hoop, set your fabric and stabilizer face-up on top of the hoop, drop the inner hoop into place, and screw to tighten.\n\nIt's important to note, though, that even though this hoop will work with the PE-700II, the machine won't actually let you attempt patterns that exceed the 5x7 size. Instead, this hoop is for repeated patterns, so you don't have to rehoop each time and potentially lose your place. The hoop can be attached at three different spots (top, bottom, and middle) and you can move the starting location for the pattern via the machine's programming. This hoop is perfect for repeated patterns on jacket backs, pant legs, or quilt tops, but *most* of the time this hoop won't see a lot of use. Really, I wouldn't recommend investing in this hoop until you actually have a pattern that requires it - chances are, you'll be able to coast on the smaller hoop sizes for a long time.\n\nTwo items to note: First, this 5x12 isn't represented on the LCD display when viewing patterns - it's not hard to figure out, but you will need to know what you're doing. If you can afford only one extra hoop, however, I would probably recommend buying the medium 4x4 hoop (<a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Brother-SA443-Medium-Embroidery-Hoop-100mm-x-100mm/dp/B001TOY2O6/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Brother SA443 Medium Embroidery Hoop 100mm x 100mm</a>), just because many patterns will fall inside the 4x4 measurements. However, if you can afford a set, you'll definitely get a great deal of use out of them.\n\nWhich brings me to my second note: The prices for these hoop attachments seem to vary widely and that I was able to procure it for *much* cheaper than shown here as part of a hoop set that included one of each of the four major hoop sizes for my machine. So I would recommend researching around to find the best deal, price-wise.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: GO! Cutting Mat by AccuQuilt. This 10Wx24H inch mat works with both the Go! Fabric Cutter and the GO! Baby Fabric Cutter (both sold separately). Compatible with 2-1/2 inch Strip Cutter Die; 1-1/2 inch Strip Cutter Die; 2 inch Strip Cutter Die; 3-1/2 inch Strip Cutter Die and Drunkards Path Die (each sold separately). Specially formulated cutting mat that is part of the precision system that makes the AccuQuilt GO! Fabric Cutting System so efficient. Avoid extreme temperatures-intense heat or cold may cause mat damage or to become brittle. Keep out of direct sunlight. Imported.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Thick and sturdy, but will need to be replaced eventually\n\nReview: <div id=\"video-block-R2BLJV15IN4MT1\" class=\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\"></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D1mZGp9cKsS.mp4\" class=\"video-url\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61VZCPjtSoS.png\" class=\"video-slate-img-url\">AccuQuilt Go Mat 5x10 / B002766RKM\n\nI bought this die for use with my new <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/AccuQuilt-GO-Fabric-Cutter/dp/B0021F62D6/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">AccuQuilt GO! Fabric Cutter</a>. This 5x10 mat works with several of the dies, including the <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/AccuQuilt-Go-3-5-Square/dp/B003AJUGHA/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">AccuQuilt Go! 3.5\" Square</a> die. I'm pleased with the thickness and strength of the mat, and it doesn't shift when running through the machine. I do think it will need to be replaced eventually, but that's true for every cutting mat in the world, and this one is a fair sight cheaper than most.\n\nIt's a bit tricky to tell from the descriptions on Amazon which die needs which mat, so if you're confused, I recommend checking the AccuQuilt site for more details. I've attached the video I created for my AccuQuilt review to show this mat in action.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: GO! Fabric Cutting Dies by AccuQuilt: Square. Cuts one 6-1/2W x 6-1/2H inch square. Squares are a basic building block of quilting. Great for both beginners and experienced quilters. This 6-1/2 inch cut square finishes to a 6-inch square. Ideal for background squares for small applique blocks and setting squares for checkerboard block layouts. This die is used in blocks such as Flashing Windmill; Sawtooth Star and Ohio Star. Includes seam allowance. Use with the GO! Fabric Cutter (sold separately). Requires 10x10 inch mat (not included). Warranty: AccuQuilt GO! Dies are manufacturer guaranteed for one year. Die packaging includes project directions for a Squares To GO! quilt. Imported.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Saves so much time, no pain from cutting\n\nReview: <div id=\"video-block-R3HGGBBDIMJOHL\" class=\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\"></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D1TRfFr0y3S.mp4\" class=\"video-url\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61VZCPjtSoS.png\" class=\"video-slate-img-url\"> AccuQuilt Go Die 6.5\" Square / B0021FACXM\n\nI bought this die for use with my new <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/AccuQuilt-GO-Fabric-Cutter/dp/B0021F62D6/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">AccuQuilt GO! Fabric Cutter</a>. I'm impressed with quick and easily it cuts fabrics, as well as with the accuracy of the cuts. This die cuts fabric squares that are 6.5\" inches on each side; if you quilt with 1/4\" inch seams, then that means the finished square is 6\" inches on each side. Almost all of my quilting is done with combinations of 3.5\" and 6.5\" squares, so this die has been a great investment for me.\n\nThe die cuts one square per cut - if you layer the fabric with eight layers (the maximum thickness the AccuQuilt claims to be able to accommodate), that gives you 8 squares per cut. It takes about five minutes to layer the fabric and run it through the machine, so you can cut about 100 squares in an hour time.\n\nThe only complaint I have with this die is that it is a bit wasteful of fabric - I do wish they had made it with less \"empty\" space on the sides, to allow for tighter cutting, but I suppose if you got creative with your fabric folding it wouldn't be as much of an issue. For myself, I never seem to have enough scraps for scrap quilts, so I'm just being \"wasteful\" and saving the scraps in my barren scrap basket.\n\nDo note that you will need the <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/GO-10x10-Cutting-Mat/dp/B002768VGK/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">GO! 10x10 Cutting Mat</a> to use with this die, as well as the actual AccuQuilt Go fabric cutting machine. I've attached the video I created for my AccuQuilt review to show this die in action.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Love to quilt but hate to cut? The accuquilt go. Fabric cutter is a fast and precise fabric cutting system that allows quilters to cut fabrics as much as 90-percent faster than scissors or rotary cutting. You can cut an entire quilt in minutes-the number of layers you can cut at one time depends only on the thickness of the material. Its patented revolutionary portable design allows you to carry and cut wherever you go-to classes, retreats, guild meetings and quilting bees. Included with the cutter is a great value die plus a cutting mat so you are ready to start quilting right out of the box.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: So Easy to Use\n\nReview: <div id=\"video-block-R3RJM8IGOFVLEY\" class=\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\"></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D1oFo1HNEVS.mp4\" class=\"video-url\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61VZCPjtSoS.png\" class=\"video-slate-img-url\"> AccuQuilt Go Fabric Cutter / B0021F62D6\n\nI love quilting, but I'm having a harder and harder time making quilts due to some persistent back pain from my scoliosis. The fabric cutting portion of any quilt project is where I really struggle - all that bending over, measuring, and pressing and moving the rotary cutter just causes me all kinds of problems. The light came on when I noticed my friend (who works with paper crafts) using a die cutter to create paper shapes and I had to wonder if something like that existed to cut shapes for quilts.\n\nA lot of research later, I decided on an AccuQuilt Go! fabric cutter. The pros of the AccuQuilt is that it seems to be the most affordable fabric cutter out there, and the machine is small and portable for home hobbyists. The cons are that a new die has to be bought for each shape and dimension that you might want to use - it's not like a paper cutter where you can adjust down from 3.5\" to 2.5\" on a whim. However, since I almost exclusively use 3.5\" squares in my quilting, this wasn't a drawback for me - I bought the 3.5\" die to go along with the fabric cutter and anything else I need I will continue to hand-cut for as long as I can.\n\nThis machine is so easy to use. The quilt I'm working right now needs 60 squares of pink. The die I bought cuts two 3.5\" squares per layer of fabric, and I can fit 8 layers of fabric in a single run through the machine. That's four runs through the machine for 64 squares - and I accomplished all that, straight out of the box, without reading the user manual, in less than 30 minutes. That level of work would have taken me at least 3-4 hours by rotary cutter, and my back would be aching afterwards.\n\nThe two biggest complaints that I've seen for the AccuQuilt is that (a) the rotary mats have to be replaced periodically, and (b) there's some serious fabric waste to consider. For the first issue, the mats, I don't foresee a problem. The mats are much thicker than the rotary mats I've bought in the past, so they should last comparably long, and the mats are pretty cheap on the AccuQuilt site, especially compared to mat prices at my local fabric store. I have to cop to the second point, though - the die could be laid out a lot more efficiently to prevent wastage and I'm surprised it's not. AccuQuilt does make and sell strip cut die, which will cut two clean 3.5\" strips side-by-side (as opposed to two squares) and that looks a lot more efficient in terms of fabric use, but then of course you still have to whip out the rotary blade to cut the squares out of the strips. I'm going to try it and see how it goes, anyway.\n\nI recommend the AccuQuilt fabric cutter system if (a) you use the same basic shapes frequently, and (b) you like to collect fabric scraps for scrap quilts. I'm so glad I bought one and only wish I'd found it years ago.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: GO! Cutting Mat by AccuQuilt. This 10Wx10H inch mat works with both the Go! Fabric Cutter and the GO! Baby Fabric Cutter (both sold separately). Compatible with 6-1/2 inch Triangle Die; 6-1/2 inch Square Die; 8-1/2 inch Rag Square and 6-1/2 inch Tumbler Die (each sold separately). Specially formulated cutting mat that is part of the precision system that makes the AccuQuilt GO! Fabric Cutting System so efficient. Avoid extreme temperatures-intense heat or cold may cause mat damage or to become brittle. Keep out of direct sunlight. Imported.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Works great with the 6.5\" square Accuquilt Go! cutting die\n\nReview: <div id=\"video-block-R1AYIFXI1FLXR1\" class=\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\"></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D1x3RvLE7xS.mp4\" class=\"video-url\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61VZCPjtSoS.png\" class=\"video-slate-img-url\"> AccuQuilt Go Mat 10x10 / B002768VGK\n\nI bought this die for use with my new <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/AccuQuilt-GO-Fabric-Cutter/dp/B0021F62D6/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">AccuQuilt GO! Fabric Cutter</a>. This 5x10 mat works with several of the dies, including the <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/AccuQuilt-Go-6-5-Square/dp/B0021FACXM/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">AccuQuilt Go! 6.5\" Square</a> die. I'm pleased with the thickness and strength of the mat, and it doesn't shift when running through the machine. I do think it will need to be replaced eventually, but that's true for every cutting mat in the world, and this one is a fair sight cheaper than most.\n\nIt's a bit tricky to tell from the descriptions on Amazon which die needs which mat, so if you're confused, I recommend checking the AccuQuilt site for more details. I've attached the video I created for my AccuQuilt review to show this mat in action.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Westcott Titanium Bonded Non-Stick 8\" straight scissors combine Titanium with a unique Non-Stick coating that is permanently bonded to the blades so that blades stay sharper longer and resist adhesives from tapes and glues. From the Manufacturer: Westcott develops home and office products unmatched in style, design and performance. We continue to deliver results that are both inspirational and functional, earning the title of \"The World's Favorite Scissors\" year after year.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: I'm not really blown away...\n\nReview: Westcott Titanium Bonded Scissors / B002M7TOXI\n\nI'm not precisely a scissor dilettante, but I can say these aren't the best scissors I've received from Amazon Vine. The handles are somewhat small and don't easily fit my hands; the times I've used them, I've always felt like the scissors are pinching me a little and the fit is uncomfortable. The titanium blades may be super-awesome in ways not readily apparent to me, but they don't cut thick stacks of paper (4-8 layers) any faster or cleaner than the other blades in my house as far as I can see. And even though I've only used them to cut paper and thin plastics, the blades already have surface scratches. I'd probably recommend the <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Scotch-Precision-Ultra-Edge-Scissor/dp/B002M7TM0S/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Scotch Precision Ultra Edge Scissor</a> over these.\n\nNOTE: This review is based on a free Advance Review Copy of this product provided through Amazon Vine.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: GO! Fabric Cutting Dies by AccuQuilt: Triangle 4-7/8 inch. Cuts two 4-7/8 inch triangles. Flying Geese are very popular in quilting. They are used in traditional blocks like Dutchman's Puzzle and Carpenters Wheel. They form the star points of several star block designs like North Star and Diamond Star. This die cuts the \"geese\" section of finished flying geese units measuring 6-inch wide by 3-inch high. These shapes have been designed with specially shaped corners to align for perfect sewing and to cut off the dog ears; Includes seam allowance. Use with the GO! Fabric Cutter and GO! Baby Fabric Cutter (both sold separately). Requires 6x12 inch mat (not included). Warranty: AccuQuilt GO! Dies are manufacturer guaranteed for one year. Die packaging includes project directions for a Triangles To GO! placemat. Imported.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: So easy to use, no cutting pain\n\nReview: <div id=\"video-block-R3VGT8HZ9HRQ2I\" class=\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\"></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D1WsCuuN%2B8S.mp4\" class=\"video-url\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61VZCPjtSoS.png\" class=\"video-slate-img-url\"> AccuQuilt Go Die 3.5\" Triangle-Square / B0021F88Q0\n\nI bought this die for use with my new <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/AccuQuilt-GO-Fabric-Cutter/dp/B0021F62D6/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">AccuQuilt GO! Fabric Cutter</a>. I'm impressed with quick and easily it cuts fabrics, as well as with the accuracy of the cuts. This die cuts fabric triangles that, when sewn together create squares that are 3.5\" inches on each side; if you quilt with 1/4\" inch seams, then that means the finished square is 3\" inches on each side. Almost all of my quilting is done with combinations of 3.5\" squares, so this die has been a great investment for me.\n\nThe die cuts four traingles (i.e., two completed squares) per cut - if you layer the fabric with eight layers (the maximum thickness the AccuQuilt claims to be able to accommodate), that gives you 16 squares per cut. It takes about five minutes to layer the fabric and run it through the machine, so you can cut about 100 squares in half an hour time.\n\nThe only complaint I have with this die is that it is a bit wasteful of fabric - I do wish they had made it with less \"empty\" space on the sides, to allow for tighter cutting, but I suppose if you got creative with your fabric folding it wouldn't be as much of an issue. For myself, I never seem to have enough scraps for scrap quilts, so I'm just being \"wasteful\" and saving the scraps in my barren scrap basket.\n\nDo note that you will need the <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/GO-5x10-Cutting-Mat/dp/B002766RKM/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">GO! 5x10 Cutting Mat</a> to use with this die, as well as the actual AccuQuilt Go fabric cutting machine. I've attached the video I created for my AccuQuilt review to show this die in action.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: EXPERIENCE CHAPTER ONE OF THE FAMED PERSONA RPG SERIES: One of the most critically-acclaimed roleplaying franchises of all time, Shin Megami Tensei has recently arose to prominence in North America with the releases of Persona 3 and 4, two of the highest-rated releases in their respective years. Now, Atlus revisits the first chapter in the Persona saga on PSP (PlayStation Portable) system. Completely rebalanced and remade, SMT: Persona allows younger fans of the series to find out what everyone's been talking about for years, and gives long-time SMT supporters a wholly different take on an all-time classic. The Key features are Rebalanced, relocalized and remade, Fully re-translated and featuring all new musical compositions from Shoji Meguro, famed composer of Persona 3 and 4, SMT: Persona is the perfect example of how a remake should be done. This definitive version includes content never before seen in North America. Its Enhanced for PSP - Reformatted to take advantage of the PSP hardware, this remake includes a new widescreen aspect ratio, redone music and sound, and all new animation, presenting the story better than ever before. An unique, mature narrative in the grand tradition of the SMT series. Long known for its daring, often morally-charged stories, the SMT series has established itself as one of the premiere RPG series in terms of plot and characters, and SMT: Persona is no exception.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: As good as the original, but with some small flaws\n\nReview: Persona / B001V7UX1W\n\nPersona was the first game I ever played on the Playstation 1, and I had never seen anything quite like it before. I love the dark \"real world\" feel of the game, and the vibrant personalities of the characters, as well as the fun and immersive combat system. I've always been happy with the PS1 English localization of Persona, but I wanted to pick up this PSP version because (a) playing Persona on the go! and (b) I've always been interested in the Snow Queen Quest and I was excited to hear that it had been added in here.\n\nThe bottom line first: this is a pretty much a textbook example of how to remake a game for the PSP, but with one or two complaints that will probably only bother the fans of the English localization. (I.e., if you're coming to this game from having played the later Persona games, these complaints will probably bother you less.)\n\nFirst, I was pleased to note that the story has not been altered or changed. The original translation has been replaced, which is usually a pet peeve of mine, but the new translation matches up pretty well to the story I'm familiar with. New hints are dropped at the beginning regarding the Snow Queen Quest, which I do appreciate as it makes the new quest more immersive and less of an \"add-on\".\n\nSecond, the world map has been upgraded to more closely resemble the world map in Persona 2, and as the world map in Persona 1 was the *only* thing I didn't like about the game, this change is for the best. Everything else is largely unchanged - the graphics are largely the same, and seem subtly 'brighter' and more vibrant. The game cut-scenes are absolutely gorgeous, although I do wish that cutscene captions were offered as I have a hearing disability.\n\nThird, the Snow Queen Quest is a welcome addition (although the difficultly level is nothing to sneer at, and I feel like I pretty much *have* to power level my way through that route). I was a little startled to see that the quest is still somewhat hidden -- you have to perform a specific series of actions before it will open up, much like the recruitment process for Chris/Reiji. (More on that in the comments.)\n\nNow! Complaints stemming from being more used to the English localization version!\n\nI may be the only one, but I preferred the American names of the characters to the Japanese names. A lot of times a name will come up in conversation, and I can't remember who is who without any kind of visible cues or reminders to help me distinguish which character we're talking about. One example that stood out at me is that of Yuko/Yuka/Yuki/Yuke/Yuku/Yuky -- when a random NPC mentions one of those names in passing, I have to refer to my notes to see who they're talking about. For me, as a player, I think it's unreasonable to have so many similar names in the same game when there were plenty of different names to choose from and most players register names quickly with their eyes while clicking through dialogue.\n\nThe spell names, too, have been changed -- though this is something that players of the later games probably won't struggle with. But I personally miss having \"Cure\" as opposed to \"Dia\" (which I initially thought was a diamond-skin defense spell). I couldn't seem to find spell descriptions when I was choosing battle-actions on the fly, which meant magic was sort of trial-and-error combined with more note-taking, but it's possible there's a button-prompt that I just didn't find when I was playing through the first time. Also, the names of the Persona themselves have been changed from the English names I was more familiar with.\n\nNone of the above is *bad* -- this is a 5-star review, after all -- but it means an adjustment if you're coming to this having played the English localized version.\n\nThe only thing I really don't like about this remake is the soundtrack changes. I thought that the PS1 version had the most intensely awesome soundtrack ever, but I don't personally care for this new track. Most of it is fine, but the battle music is ... not very good in my opinion, and it never seems to change up. It sounds kind of like a Britney Spears pop-song and while I like her music, I don't want to hear it every battle. (Especially considering that the Persona games are kind of notorious for frequent battles!)\n\nHaving said all that, this is still an awesome game. If you're new to the series, buy it and check it out - you won't be disappointed. If you're a long-time fan, buy it for the Snow Queen Quest...just remember to grind a bit before you enter the school. Oh, and I'll post the event triggers in the comments section here. Also, do note: <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Innocent-Sin/dp/B00523VFJU/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Innocent Sin</a> is now out for the PSP which makes me super happy because we never did get a PS1 version of that.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Konohana and Bluebell villages were once great neighbors until a huge dispute erupted between them over FOOD! Yes, food. They were both certain that their cooking was the best. This bitter feud has divided the once-close towns, turning neighbors into enemies! As a new farmer to the area, it's up to you to choose which village to live in. Will it be Eastern-styled Konohana with its abundant fields of crops, or animal-friendly, European-styled Bluebell? Pick a home, build a thriving farm, and compete in a huge variety of festivals. Develop your skills enough, and you might even find a way to bring these two towns together once again!\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Recapturing the Old Magic\n\nReview: Harvest Moon: Two Towns (3DS) / B004XIQPAO\n\nI've been a Harvest Moon fan since the first game came out on the SNES. Some of the latest installments have been a little disappointing, like the ones which take out the marriage and courtship aspect. But Tale of Two Towns perfectly recaptures the magic of Harvest Moon by beautifully balancing farming with the social aspects (which are my favorite parts of the franchise).\n\nTwo Towns starts off with two \"rival\" villages, and it's up to the player to patch things up. One town (Bluebell) is livestock-oriented and with the standard Harvest Moon European country village flair; the other town (Konohana) is crop-oriented and has a beautiful Eastern style, with paper lanterns hanging from the eaves. The player picks a village (though the player can change villages later, if desired) to live and work in and focuses on rebuilding relationships between the villagers.\n\nThe beauty of this setup is that it balances a high replay value (two villages = two playthroughs) without cutting off content from the player. Bluebell players can still farm crops, they just have smaller fields to work with (or have to commute to Konohana to grow crops there at the \"extra\" farm; this works well with crops that don't need daily watering). Similarly, Konohana players can still raise animals; they just have a smaller farm. This balancing act works really well when you consider that earlier HM games made it pretty much impossible to tend to a full barn AND a full field at once. (Leading to exploits like time not passing indoors, or having to hire farmhands to help, or having to work all night long, etc.)\n\nThis installment also does a great job of playing up the social aspect and cooking aspect: there are 4 cooking festivals per season (so 16 total per year) plus various livestock contests, pet contests, dating holidays, etc. All of this is optional, but since a major game goal is to build relationships between the towns, it's valuable for the player to attend and/or participate since participation builds the \"heart meter\" between the towns. (The Harvest Goddess helpfully keeps a running track.) All this works towards making you feel like you're achieving something between two communities, and not just building up your finances.\n\nOther neat things about this Harvest Moon:\n\n1. Villager (and Bachelor / Bachelorette) hearts are visible through a \"flower number\" that frames their dialogue box, so you don't have to hunt for diaries.\n\n2. Mountain exploration (including herb gathering and fishing) feel like integral parts of the game.\n\n3. Livestock is easier to herd than in many previous HM games, making outside feeding not only viable but desirable (since time spent outdoors increases livestock happiness). And the pets in the game (you can own up to 6) will automatically herd your livestock in and out of the barn for you, once their heart levels are high enough.\n\n4. Crops can be planted in plowed rows, which means that one row only has to be watered and/or fertilized once. No more tedious watering each and every square.\n\n5. A \"request\" system has been implemented which lets you bring requested items to villagers for heart increase, money, and item rewards. This is hugely fun and addictive.\n\n6. Though the two villages are separated by a mountain, it is more than easy to visit both villages in a day. (And indeed I visit them both nearly every day as part of my play-style.) You can also spend the night in the opposite village if you need to start your morning there for whatever reason.\n\n7. The available dating partners (boys for girl players to date and girls for boy players to date; I am disappointed to see HM still has not apparently implemented same sex relationship options) are all interesting and fun people to get to know; I appreciate the series' tradition of making well-rounded characters to interact with.\n\n8. Item management is both easier and harder to manage than before. \"Easier\" because dropped items don't disappear immediately (which means you can't accidentally drop stuff and lose it forever, thank goodness) (though they will disappear overnight, so remember to pick up your pet toys before bed); \"harder\" because some items *will* still rot in your cart storage over time, plus you have a finite amount of space (in contrast to the Unlimited Refrigerator in Back to Nature). This adds an interesting inventory management angle to the game--you can't pack rat everything, so you *will* have to decide what to use, what to give away, and what to sell.\n\n9. There's an online/friend play system which I haven't used, but which lets you plant crops for others to harvest in a special \"online sharing\" area (near the Harvest Goddess' spring) and (in turn) harvest crops from their shared area. This seems like a thing I would have enjoyed as a kid, even though I probably wouldn't use it now.\n\n10. I don't always like how games implement the DS touchscreen, but this one handles it very well in my opinion. The touchscreen is largely for inventory management, but you *can* manage your inventory without touching the screen--in other words, using the stylus in this case is optional, and you could also use the D-pad and buttons to move things from your inventory to storage and/or the shipping bin. The touchscreen also shows farmer details (like outfits and requests), and there's a \"petting\" mini-game with the animals which is completely optional. Almost everything the touchscreen does, therefore, is optional, which is how I like it.\n\nTo sum up: This is probably my favorite Harvest Moon game since Back to Nature (for the PS1, and which I still hold to be the best in the series). I highly recommend it, especially if you're a player who goes in for the community / festival / dating aspects of these games.\n\nOn a final note: I note a lot of people having bug issues with this game freezing. I bought a used copy of the game (so I can't vouch for how clean the cartridge is), and have played it on a 2DS (note well: 2DS, not 3DS) for weeks. The 2DS is still at the basic factory settings; I won't update the software until it becomes necessary for some reason. With that said, I have *NOT* experienced the game freezing. Not even once. So take that for what it's worth: my copy of the game has worked fine on a factory-settings 2DS.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: The Bluetooth Headset leverages advances in voice technology to bring next generation features to the PLAYSTATION 3 system. It features High-Quality (HQ) mode which provides wide-band and dual microphone input to enable accurate speech recognition required to support voice command and voice animation features that will be offered in select games on the PS3 system. Easy pairing with the PS3 system, in-game Headset status indicator, included charging cradle and easily accessible microphone mute button make it user-friendly. Designed specifically to enhance the gameplay experience, this is a must have Headset for the intense multiplayer gaming only available on the Playstation Network.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Will NOT play game sounds\n\nReview: PS3 Bluetooth Headset / B0042R81XU\n\nI bought this to be able to hear game sounds while my husband sleeps; we have a \"proper\" full-sized PS3 headset that plays game sounds, but it weighs fully one hundred pounds and hurts my neck to wear. I noticed several reviews lauding this headset as great for \"night play\". However, it turns out that this headset is ONLY for online chat -- you can hear yourself and others speak through it, but no game sounds whatsoever will come through. I wish the current marketing blurb would actually make that clear; maybe they'll update it soon.\n\nSo, to be very clear: This is *not* a PS3 headset in the sense that you can hear games. It only allows you to hear other players. If that's what you want it for, it works fine. (Though it is a little big to fit comfortably on smaller ears. And I didn't even know that my ears were particularly small! But this headset is a bit too big for me.) I am leaving this review not to \"trash\" this product, but to help other buyers since the product blurb is ambiguous about this limitation (at the time of writing). I would prefer to leave no stars, but Amazon doesn't provide that option.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll\n\nETA: I note that this review has already attracted negative attention. I wish to underscore that I am leaving this review entirely to help inform other customers, with no personal animus towards the manufacturer. Please note that just because the Amazon description says \"voice chat only\" on one day doesn't mean that description was the same when I left the review or will be the same next week; Amazon descriptions can change frequently.\n\nI would prefer to leave a \"star-less\" rating, but since I have to leave a star-rating and since the device was uncomfortable to wear AND not accurately described at date of purchase, I have left 2-stars in order to inform other potential buyers. As the product has 500+ 5-star ratings already, this will not hurt the overall average rating, but will make it easier for shoppers to locate and understand drawbacks/limitations when making their purchasing decision.\n\nThank you.","Product: This Yourself!Fitness Program for Home PlayStation 2 software brings the expertise of a certified personal trainer and nutritionist into your home to guide you through a personalized health and fitness program. Maya, your interactive personal trainer, builds a program that is tailored to your lifestyle and gives you one-on-one training with over 500 unique exercises that never get boring. Choose your music, your mood and your focus and let Maya, through step-by-step coaching, do the rest. ESRB rating: E (Everyone). Genre is Heath and Fitness. Imported.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: A really good concept, but needs some work\n\nReview: Yourself! Fitness / B0007PNEGA\n\nWe have two copies of this product at our house - one for me and one for my husband - and after us both using it for several months, I've come to the conclusion that while this is a neat product and a good idea overall, I really wish it had a few more customization options.\n\nOne of the things that I really do not like or understand is the inability of the user to go through the list of exercises and select/deselect ones that can come up in the course of a routine. When you start an exercise session, the game puts together a plan for you based on the \"type\" of workout you want (cardio, flexibility, etc.) and based on the difficulty level you select. However, the problem with this is that difficulty level is not a \"one size fits all\" in real life - for instance, the \"Roll Like A Ball\" flexibility exercise is rated as one of the easiest, but is absolutely impossible for me, because I have several fused spinal vertebrae, thanks to a childhood scoliosis surgery. Since I can't go into the list of exercises and disable \"Roll Like A Ball\", I just have to sit around or improvise when it comes up in a workout, which breaks flow. While this may seem like a special case, quite a lot of people have trick knees, bad backs, and other \"problem areas\", and I can't help but feel that the makers of this software missed the boat by preventing the user from customizing their workout plan.\n\nAnother aspect I somewhat dislike is the unlockable rewards system. When you start a profile, you only have a couple of music and background options available, and you have to unlock more by not missing scheduled exercise sessions. If you're like me and you don't schedule them (because scheduling starts to feel like an obligation, which starts to feel like work, which starts to feel unpleasant) and just show up and do a session whenever you feel like it and have the time, then you never get the new music or backgrounds. I know some people like rewards, but I find them rather childish, as if the game seems to think that exercise is something awful to be endured in exchange for a little prize. I'd like the ability to turn off this reward concept and just use all the backgrounds and music from the get-go - the locked beach one is so much more relaxing than the corporate apartment one.\n\nThe relaxing yoga sessions included here seem fundamentally broken - in a game that otherwise sells itself as accessible to newbies, the yoga sessions use impenetrable \"yoga speak\" without really explaining what the poses mean, or do, or what they are for. Since most of the poses make it impossible to see the screen, it would be terribly helpful to set up a running instruction dialogue with the user - something like \"jam your face into the carpet while extending your left leg towards the sky and making a rude gesture with your right hand\" - that sort of dialogue is present in the regular routines and is invaluable, but is completely missing from the yoga sessions. You'll only be able to use the yoga features if you're a yoga student and you know all the terms, at which point I'm not sure why you would need the game.\n\nEverything else here is...nice, I guess. I really like the Maya coach, as she is concentrated encouragement and enthusiasm. The example models for poses are a little confusing at times - I'm not sure why they didn't just use Maya - and, again, the lack of customization can be very frustrating - you can't speed past the 15 minute warm-up sessions, even if you really want to, even if you've already warmed up with some other method and just want to get to the jazzy music and some lifting. Overall, the concept is good, but the lack of control over what happens on the screen is terribly off-putting in an electronic medium like this, and those flaws will probably cause most people to give up and just do their own routines, which is a shame.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: The OXO Good Grips Meat Tenderizer is a dual-purpose tool that allows you to flatten cutlets and tenderize meat with ease. The flat side is perfect for pounding meat or poultry flat for even, consistent cooking. The textured size is ideal for tenderizing tougher cuts of meat. The solid aluminum construction is sturdy and durable, while the handle is comfortable and cushions impact while pounding. The soft handle is also non-slip, even when your hands are wet.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Works great, easy to clean\n\nReview: Meat Tenderizer OXO / B00004OCJJ\n\nIt always feels odd to rate minor kitchen implements as 5 stars, but this OXO meat tenderizer definitely works the way it should. The spiky end pokes holes in the meat nicely and the flat end flattens out thick chicken breasts in no time flat. It's fun to use (or at least I think so!) and it doesn't require a huge amount of strength. The grip is comfortable and doesn't lend itself to flying out of your hands. It's easy to clean - meat doesn't cling to the spiky end - and while it probably isn't rated for dishwasher use, that never stops me from throwing it in anyway, and I've had no problems.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Back To Basics Apple And Potato Peeler\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Mashed Potatoes and Apple Pie\n\nReview: <div id=\"video-block-R3L70FJ1M57M5Y\" class=\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\"></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D1BzaeXOYwS.mp4\" class=\"video-url\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71rfbvogS%2BS.png\" class=\"video-slate-img-url\"> Kitchen Peeler Back-to-Basics Basics Apple & Potato Peeler / B0000DE2SS\n\nI absolutely love mashed potatoes for dinner and apple pie for dessert, but I hate the peeling and preparation. I never feel comfortable with a conventional potato peeler, which leaves me using a paring knife and wasting a lot of time as well as a lot of the actual potato (or a lot of the apple, in the case of pies). Consequently, I had given up on proper mashed potatoes and was fixing mashed potatoes from store flakes, which is never as good. I was really skeptical about this peeler and figured it was probably too good to be true, but I went ahead and ordered it anyway on a 4-for-3 promotion. Wow! I wish I'd ordered this YEARS ago. I know this is going to be a long review, but I really want to break down ever detail of this wonderful peeler.\n\nThe peeler arrives in a box and takes about five minutes to set up - the instructions just need you to screw on the handle and the holding prong in place. Voila! The suction cup base works well on my marble countertop, when I remember to brush the surface of crumbs or other baking bits, but honestly the unit is sturdy enough that the unit doesn't move around even when I forget to clamp it in place with the clamping lever. The attachment that cores and slices the apple comes off easily (just a simple screw), which delighted me since I didn't need my potatoes cored and sliced. The spring-based peeler is flexible and adjusts easily to the size of the fruit/vegetable inserted. There is even a latch to allow the \"arm\" to move quickly and freely, for when you are done peeling and you don't want to \"crank\" backwards to return the arm to the starting position - just press the release lever and pull the arm out! Truly, this is the easiest kitchen appliance to operate, ever.\n\nNow, for the specifics. Apples work wonderfully in this peeler. So far, we've peeled Pink Lady apples for snacking, and we've peeled, cored, and sliced (all within mere seconds!) Granny Smith apples for apple pies. The peeler economy is wonderful - an apple pie that used to require six apples now only needs four because so much apple is saved by this peeler. The slices are perfect for apple pie, and I plan to buy a dehydrator soon to dry the slices. I've posted a picture of one of our peeled Pink Lady apples.\n\nI saw a lot of people online saying that potatoes don't work with this peeler, but I think they must have an older model of this Back-to-Basics peeler because my peeler works perfectly with potatoes, though I did notice that round potatoes (like Yukon Gold) peeled more easily than oblong or heavily pitted potatoes (like Russet). In the case of the heavy oblongs potatoes, the potato just needed a hand to brace against it and then everything was fine. I've posted a picture of our round Yukon Gold potatoes after being peeled - once again, I am astonished at how much of the vegetable is preserved by the peeler. I never considered that I'd save money with this peeler, but I am - a family that used to need five potatoes per evening now only needs three!\n\nCleanup is easy - I simply pick the unit up, rinse the blades under hot running water, and then pat dry with a towel. I have had no problems whatsoever with rusting. More germ conscious people can take the extra step of unscrewing the blades and washing by hands - the peeler is easy to disassemble. I could not be happier with my peeler and I would buy it again in a heartbeat!\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Dry fruit, vegetables, and jerky in hours instead of days. The unit's patented Converga-Flow drying system forces air down the exterior pressurized chamber, then horizontally across each individual tray, converging in the center, for fast, even, and nutritious drying. Flavors don't mix, and there's no need to rotate the trays. It's top-mounted fan eliminates the worry of liquids dripping into the heater chamber, and an opaque Vita-Save exterior helps block harmful lights in order to retain more of the food's nutrients and vitamins during the drying process. The unit's adjustable thermostat ranged from 95 degrees to 160 degrees F, providing the flexibility needed to ensure excellent results. Five trays come included, but the unit can be expanded to 12 trays (additional trays sold separately) for drying larger quantities at one time. Accessories include two fruit roll sheets, perfect for drying semi-liquids like soups, sauces, and fruit rolls; two Clean-A-Screen flexible screens, which allow for easy drying of small items such as herbs, spices and potpourri; and three original jerky spice packets and three cure packets for making jerky. A 52-page recipe and instruction book also comes included. With a speckled gray design, the food dehydrator measures approximately 13-inch by 13-inch by 10-inch. FD-75A is Frustration free packaging and FD-75PR is retail packaging.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Get what you pay for.\n\nReview: Nesco Dehydrator FD-75PR 700-W / B000FFVJ3C\n\nThis is my first dehydrator and my impression is that it's a good dehydrator for our needs: something cheap and functional for occasional use.\n\nPros:\n- Easy to learn how to operate, just plug the unit in to turn it on and unplug it to turn it off.\n- Easy to handle, as it's not too heavy to lift but not so light that the cats can push it off the counter.\n- Easy to customize how many drying trays will be used each time; stack more for larger loads and leave off empty ones for smaller loads.\n- Generates little ambient heat, so you don't have to worry that it will overheat and burn the house down.\n- Easy enough to clean; I've had no problems putting the trays in the dishwasher.\n\nCons:\n- No timer, which is a HUGE issue. When I bought the dehydrator, I thought it wouldn't matter, because the long 8-12 hour drying times just meant that you have to plug the machine in before bedtime and your jerky will be done in the morning, right? Unfortunately, those drying times are \"approximate\" and if this month's batch of jerky is a little bit thicker than last month's, that's going to mean an extra hour of drying time - something you often won't realize until you go to check and realize that the jerky just isn't done yet. And when it's morning and you have to get to work, you don't have an hour to sit there waiting for the dehydrator to finish. And if you leave it on anyway and come back later, the jerky will be OVER-dried and inedible. There needs to be a way to program \"30 minutes more\" so you can go on with your life.\n\n- No electronics. Not only is there no timer to set, there's no counter to note how long the dehydrator has been running. You may think you'll remember that you put the jerky in at 8 pm, but sometimes you won't. You'll learn to write it down. Along the same lines, the temperature dial is analog, not digital, and it's surprisingly small and sometimes I wonder whether the temperature I *think* I set it to is the same as what the dehydrator *thinks* it is set to. And that definitely causes the drying times to be unpredictable as well.\n\n- Somewhat noisy. Actually, it's not *that* noisy, but after twelve hours, you might feel differently. And if the kitchen is near the master bedroom and you're planning on leaving the dehydrator going overnight, you may find that the constant \"whirr\" sound disturbs your sleep. Mileage is going to vary on this issue.\n\nI was really excited about buying this dehydrator, but the seemingly small complaints above (combined with a disappointing experience with jerky extruder guns) have resulted in it rarely being used and feeling like a rather high-priced toy that takes up room in the kitchen. I genuinely think that if the timer issue were solved, it would make a difference, although it is still frustrating that the cooking times are so unpredictable. I'm considering getting a timer for the kitchen outlet, the kind that you can use to keep your lights on when you're out of town, and seeing if that helps any, but the noise might still be a bit of a block for me.\n\nAll told, if you're just looking for a decent, solid, cheap dehydrator and you don't mind the above issues for whatever reason, this is a great machine. I just wonder if maybe I should have spent a little more to get something a little more user-friendly as far as my own personal specifications go.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: This Old Mountain cast iron fajita plate set comes complete with wood tray and quilted hot mit. The cast iron fajita plate is pre seasoned and ready to use. Our wood tray has an attractive Old Mountain logo wood burned into the bottom for extra style and added value.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Get What You Pay For\n\nReview: Kitchen, Fajita Plate Serving Set / B001AT5CGM\n\nWe actually bought these fajita plate sets in order to serve hot apple pie \"restaurant style\" - hot and sizzling on the skillet, with bubbling butter and rapidly melting ice cream...yum!\n\nThese plates aren't particularly large - if you wanted to serve a large fajita fixings spread, I'm not certain that you wouldn't want to use two, but then I'm used to the huge restaurant portions and these are probably adequate for home cooking. The cast iron is very solid and sturdy and conducts heat well; and I can testify that they hold up to the occasional dishwasher washing because I tend to toss everything in the dishwasher even when I'm not supposed to.\n\nThe wooden bases are, however, really...cheap. Like another reviewer, one of my two wooden bases cracked cleanly in two during shipping and I had to order a replacement from Amazon (a painless process, but it would have been annoying if we'd needed the plates right away for an immediate dinner party or something). So far, the wooden bases haven't cracked from home use, but we've been very careful because the wood just doesn't seem like a high quality. The bases are thick enough - it's just that one can't help but feel that my boyfriend could crack them in half without much exertion. Along the same vein, the hot mitts that come with this are a nice touch but they don't stay attractive for very long - I think the seams will unravel soon on one of them and we haven't even used them that much.\n\nSo, all in all, I recommend these plates for occasional use but if you're planning on daily or even weekly regular use, you might want to opt up for something nicer, because you are definitely getting what you pay here for with this skillet. Not that there's anything wrong with that.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Long considered a trusted partner by parents for providing a way to bring healthy food and drink options for kids on the go, Genuine Thermos Brand has brought its superior insulation technology to FOOGO, a line of children's products for ages six months and older. Freshness and safety go hand in hand. If contents are not kept at the right temperature, potentially dangerous bacteria may grow rapidly and cause food and beverages to spoil. All FOOGO stainless steel products feature THERMOS vacuum insulation technology which has been shown to inhibit the growth of bacteria in a laboratory test sponsored by Thermos and performed by Cornell University. For additional peace of mind, FOOGO products use BPA-free materials. FOOGO products are offered in three styles that are designed to grow with your child. Soft spout sippy cups with handles are for children 6 months and older, hard spout sippy cups are for children 12 months and older, and straw bottles are for children ages 18 months and older. The FOOGO Stainless Steel Straw Bottle makes it easy to keep drinks cold on the go. This bottle has a 10-ounce capacity and features THERMOS vacuum insulation technology to keep contents cold for up to 12 hours. The contoured shape of this bottle is easy for little toddler hands to grip and hold. The FOOGO straw bottle is a great choice for a child's first real straw bottle. Unlike other straw bottles, the FOOGO straw bottle can be used to teach kids to drink from a real straw, without built-in valves that inhibit flow. Thanks to the durable double wall stainless steel construction and vacuum insulation, this FOOGO straw bottle will not gather condensation or leave water rings. A hygienic push button lid is simple to open and reveals a pop-up silicone straw that is comfortable to drink from. Cleaning is simple, just unscrew the lid and the straw can be completely removed and disassembled to two parts for easy cleaning. The bottle and straw parts are top-rack dishwasher safe, however, hand washing is recommended for best results. Not for use with hot liquids.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Travels to work with me!\n\nReview: Thermos Foogo Stainless Steel Straw Bottle / B00849L4AE\n\nI like milk with my breakfast at work, but have been struggling to find something small and leakproof. I wasn't too thrilled that this has a built-in straw, but it's been easy to use and easy to clean. And the thermos hasn't leaked even a tiny bit. It's also insulated just enough to keep the milk cool. I love it so much, and the vibrant colors on the Poppy Patch model are lovely (in my opinion). I'll be ordering more of these.\n\nI do think this straw would be fragile for a small child who doesn't know not to bite or chew on the plastic, but I'm only using this for myself and it's fine for adult use.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Progressive International is your source for the widest range of functional, inventive and fun kitchen tools and great ideas put into practice. Our functional gadgets, tools, food-prep items and household products make cooking and meal preparation more efficient and fun. At Progressive, passion and creativity unite to create the right balance of form and function for today's cooks. Our in-house designers spend hours in the kitchen coming up with ways to improve on a variety of traditional tasks and tools. Established in 1973, our commitment to quality and service allows us to offer a broad selection of quality kitchenware and other household products. Prep works products from Progressive International are created by people who understand having the correct kitchen tool can make your cooking experience more enjoyable. prep works -essential items for today's cook. We asked how we could make the experience of grating better. We wanted to make a grater that was a good value for the consumer. We wanted one that was easy to control and fit our consumer's lifestyle. The result is S4. We have 4 simples objectives for our S4 graters: Sharp, Straight, Simple and Smart. Each Progressive S4 etched stainless steel grating surface features our Progressive International patent pending design. The extra sharp grating surface grates and zests faster, smooth and straight, resulting in a higher output. The Progressive grate and measure set includes a medium and fine blade, a snap lid and a 2-cup storage container. The grater is comfortable to hold and easy to use with its non skid base. Grate into the clear container with measurements up to 1-1/2-cup on the side of the container. The lid and graters snap together for easy storage. The grater measures 7-inch by 3-1/2-inch and is dishwasher safe.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Super Awesome but Super Sharp!\n\nReview: Progressive International S4 Grate / B004S67UR8\n\nI hate grating cheese. You either have some kind of flat thing that you have to hold steady over a bowl while you grate or you get one of those huge tower things that are impossible to store. And yet I love grated cheese, so this tool is a dream for me.\n\nI love the size and shape of this grater -- it's easy to store, and having the two different grater sizes stack was genius. The rubber on the bottom holds the grater steady while you work and makes it really easy to quickly grate an entire block of cheese with no mess or muscle strain (yes, I'm a weakling). I definitely recommend this tool for the kitchen, and I wish I'd had one ears ago.\n\nHowever, do be aware that these grates are SUPER sharp. I tore up two fingers on my first try because the cuts were so shallow-but-wide that I didn't feel a thing at first. (And, boy, did they take forever to heal.) This wasn't the grater's fault; I'm just used to dull graters where you can take the last nub of cheese down to the end. Once I learned my lesson with this grater, it's been smooth sailing and the super-sharpness means my cheese is grated in seconds.\n\nI can also vouch that everything in this grater -- the bin that catches the cheese, the two grate sizes, and the lid -- ran through my dishwasher with no ill effects or clouding.\n\nUpdate: After using this faithfully for 2 years, the base accidentally touched the heating coil in the dishwasher and warped such that the lid/graters didn't fit anymore. Husband immediately asked me to buy another one, so I reckon he likes this as much as I do! Bought the replacement in November 2013, and it looks and works just as good as the one I got from Vine in September 2011.\n\nNOTE: This review is based on a free Advance Review Copy of this product provided through Amazon Vine.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: 34 OZ, Bubba Keg Travel Mug, Double Wall Construction, Fully Insulated Bubba Tough Construction, Easy Carry Handle, Assorted Color\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: I prefer the 70 oz...\n\nReview: Bubba Keg (34 oz) / B000WMAPMO\n\nI have the <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Bubba-Keg-70-Oz-Insulated-Mug-Black/dp/B002KDPSYI/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Bubba Keg 70 Oz Insulated Mug Black</a> and just love it, and a lot of the things I love about it apply to this mug, but unfortunately not all of them.\n\nFirstly, the insulation on this mug is fantastic - water stays ice cold for hours at a time. That's a big deal to me, and the Bubba delivers. There's almost no sweat, although there is a tiny little indention on the very bottom of the mug (under the sticker) that gets a touch of condensation (I thought it was a leak at first, but it wasn't), but that's it. I used to use a little coaster to catch that, but it's such a small amount I stopped bothering.\n\nNow, the 70 oz does *not* tip over, but then again it doesn't fit in a car cup-holder, either. This travel mug will fit in your car, but the slimmer bottom will mean that my cats can tip this off the counter when they get in a mood. The bonus is that there's very little spillage - the output hole seems well-built to prevent waste.\n\nHaving said that, the reason there's so few spillage is because the top is a screw-on, not a pop-top. That's great to prevent spills, but it also means that the drink hole will only end up in one of two places. With the 70 oz, it's not a big problem - do you want the hole 90 degrees from the handle on the left side or the right side? - but with this smaller mug the stop point is either right over the handle or directly opposite of it. That's a tad irritating, but it's worth it to know that when I drop 34 oz of fluid, the result will be a slow trickle and not an explosion from the top snapping off.\n\nTheir accredited online supplier states that the Bubba Keg is BPA-free ([...]), so take that for what it's worth.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: The new Logitech S-220 Speaker System contains several upgrades to its predecessor, the S-200 Speaker System. Unlike the S-200, the new S-220 encompasses increased usability with a newly styled control base to manage improved acoustics, volume and VoIP connectivity. Bass tuning by the end user is often permanent once a setting is established. With the end-user experience at the forefront of Logitech's design strategy to minimize desk clutter the S-220 bass control is located directly on the subwoofer. This allows the end user to tune the speaker system with no concerns for any accidental control adjustments. Finally, the newly designed S-220 advantages improved acoustics for a smoother, rich experience to enjoy music, VoIP discussions or playing video games.What's in the box: Logitech S-220 Speaker System, Subwoofer, 2 x Satellite Speakers, Wired Remote Control, All Necessary Cables, Setup Guide and 3-year Manufacturer's Warranty\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great sound, perfect for casual use\n\nReview: Logitech Speakers S220 2.1 / B000RQSGYO\n\nMy last speakers needed replacing when we upgraded monitors - the old speakers had come as a set with the monitor and pulled power from it, and the new monitor did not provide a matching jack to do the same. I use my computer speakers for listening to music and playing games and didn't want to shell out a fortune for replacement speakers.\n\nThese speakers are extremely nice. The subwoofer sits under the desk and can be adjusted with an attached knob. The two speakers sit on the desk above, framing the monitor, and the sound control (the little round gizmo in the picture) sits on the desk nearby. The sound control can be easily adjusted with a simple turn, holds a jack for a microphone and another for headphones, and sports an on/off switch for the system. I thought it would be difficult to adjust to using the sound control (instead of reaching forward to turn a knob on the speakers directly), but that hasn't been the case. It's not the design that I probably would have made for myself (the control can slide off onto the floor if you don't position it carefully), but it's a good system for the price.\n\nAs for the hardware, the system pulls power from a regular wall plug, and hooks into the computer's audio ports. It's definitely \"plug and play\", or at least was for my near-decade-old machine - just plug in and go.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Form fitting neoprene material stretches to acmodate 16\" ultra-portable PCsSueded internal lining and durable neoprene cushion and protect a puterZippered Power Pocket stores a power adapter and other accessoriesDedicated pocket in accessory partment stores a USB drive keeping it safe and readily accessibleSlimline design protects laptop on its own or in a favorite bagAsymmetrical zipper provides easy access to a laptopFits laptops: 14.5\" W x 11.12\" H x 1.77\" DDimensions: 15.75\" W x 12\" H x 1.75\" D; weight: 1.13 lbs.Includes 25-year warranty\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great for Asus Zenbook\n\nReview: CaseLogic 14\" Neoprene Netbook Case / B001F7HI02\n\nI bought the 14\" netbook case based on the measurements given in another review saying that this would fit 13-14\" slim laptops. I have an <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/ASUS-Zenbook/dp/B00863L2MI/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">ASUS Zenbook</a> which has a 13.3\" screen and is (when shut) 13\" wide and 9\" tall. This case fits my laptop with room to spare on either side, and I've been very happy with it.\n\nThe front zippered pocket has a sewn-in case for USB sticks, and the interior for both pockets is a soft gray (I've attached pictures to the product listing above). Other than that, this case is no frills but in a good way -- it doesn't add a lot of bulk, and there are no handles to take up space in your larger bag (assuming that you carry this case in a messenger bag or backpack like I do). And the zipper is a nice strong rubber, which means it's not always trying to scratch up the other stuff in your bag.\n\nOverall, I'm very happy with this case for my laptop carrying needs, and I think the product is of high quality. I've already purchased the 7-10\" version to carry my smaller Asus Transformer tablet and docking keyboard. (Which I think is why this review is labeled by Amazon as being a Verified Purchase for the 7-10\" case instead of the 14\". But they're both the same, except for the difference in size.)\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Form fitting neoprene material stretches to acmodate 16\" ultra-portable PCsSueded internal lining and durable neoprene cushion and protect a puterZippered Power Pocket stores a power adapter and other accessoriesDedicated pocket in accessory partment stores a USB drive keeping it safe and readily accessibleSlimline design protects laptop on its own or in a favorite bagAsymmetrical zipper provides easy access to a laptopFits laptops: 14.5\" W x 11.12\" H x 1.77\" DDimensions: 15.75\" W x 12\" H x 1.75\" D; weight: 1.13 lbs.Includes 25-year warranty\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great for Asus Zenbook\n\nReview: CaseLogic 14\" Neoprene Netbook Case / B001F7HI02\n\nI bought the 14\" netbook case based on the measurements given in another review saying that this would fit 13-14\" slim laptops. I have an <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/ASUS-Zenbook/dp/B00863L2MI/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">ASUS Zenbook</a> which has a 13.3\" screen and is (when shut) 13\" wide and 9\" tall. This case fits my laptop with room to spare on either side, and I've been very happy with it.\n\nThe front zippered pocket has a sewn-in case for USB sticks, and the interior for both pockets is a soft gray (I've attached pictures to the product listing above). Other than that, this case is no frills but in a good way -- it doesn't add a lot of bulk, and there are no handles to take up space in your larger bag (assuming that you carry this case in a messenger bag or backpack like I do). And the zipper is a nice strong rubber, which means it's not always trying to scratch up the other stuff in your bag.\n\nOverall, I'm very happy with this case for my laptop carrying needs, and I think the product is of high quality. I've already purchased the 7-10\" version to carry my smaller Asus Transformer tablet and docking keyboard. (Which I think is why this review is labeled by Amazon as being a Verified Purchase for the 7-10\" case instead of the 14\". But they're both the same, except for the difference in size.)\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Features: Executive backpack compatible with most laptops with a 16\" screen, Security Friendly- Designed in compliance with TSA guidelines so your laptop does not need to be removed when passing through airport security, Dedicated laptop compartment protects your laptop throughout the screening process, Grab `N' GoT design lets you quickly exit security without having to re-zip your backpack, Plush laptop compartment helps keep your computer safe from daily wear and tear, and Separate file compartment stores folders, magazines and loose papers.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Wish I'd had one of these in college...\n\nReview: Carry Case, Caselogic 16-inch Laptop Backpack / B001XUQPB4\n\nAfter lugging around various laptops in multiple carrying cases through seven years of college, I can now wistfully say that I wish I'd had a backpack like this back in the day.\n\nThis backpack is split into two sections connected at the top, which can with the touch of a zipper on either side flatten out from the bottom into a sleek set-up which is great for passing through security scans (a major selling point for business travelers), but also is very convenient when you're trying to pack a car full of college equipment and you suddenly realize that the backpack needs to go somewhere. Don't have a backpack-sized hole to fit it into? No problem, just flatten it out and add it to the top of the pile.\n\nNot that this bag is bulky - far from it. I'd actually say that this bag is the absolute perfect size for me (I'm female and 5'4\") without looking small or awkward on my boyfriend (6'2\"), which is a nice trick for a backpack. The back compartment holds my 15\" laptop perfectly, with enough wiggle room to be comfortable, but not so much excess space that the laptop will bounce around or hit me in the small of the back. Speaking of which, there's a very comfortable layer of padding between your back and the laptop, which protects both your back and the laptop when you get home at the end of the day and toss your backpack off onto the floor, only to remember ten seconds later that such an action probably wasn't good for your laptop (not that I've ever done that...twice).\n\nThe main front compartment of the backpack is roomy enough to hold a couple of paper notebooks and probably about two college textbooks. Three books would be stretching it, and the material for this backpack is too firm for me to recommend trying to stretch it. This is a plus in my book, because the firmness of the backpack material allows it to sit up straight when you put it on the floor (as long as you lean it ever-so-slightly back, to counter-balance the extension of the front pockets), rather than having it sag into a heap and scatter all your stuff inside. However, if there's a downside to this backpack, it's this - inability to carry more than two or three books at a time, but there's always a trade-off between size and carrying capacity and I'm not sure that many students want to lug around a laptop and five textbooks on their back all day. Hopefully, more colleges will make the switch over to electronic textbooks someday in the near future.\n\nThe other two front compartments are smaller and have little pouches and pockets to hold day planners, cell phones, pagers, and so forth. I appreciate the fact that the pouches aren't obtrusive and lay fairly flush against the inside, so if you don't want to use them, you barely notice they are there. The zippers (and this goes for the whole backpack) have just the right amount of snugness - you don't have to fight with the bag to open it, but you're not going to be accidentally dropping stuff or have anyone stealing your wallet without you noticing. I'm impressed with how much thought and effort went into this bag - right down to the extremely awesome adjustable straps which are rolled into a ball and then held in place with Velcro snaps. Which means that it takes about two seconds to get the bag adjusted the way you like it, you can always be certain that both straps have equal weight on them (by counting how many 'rolls' of strap you unrolled on each side), and the straps won't 'travel' on you over time from wear and weight because since the straps are secured instead of dangling free, there isn't any free strap to inch up the clasp. I really appreciated this feature because I have a bad back and it's very important that weight hang properly for me - with equal weight on the shoulders and no 'sag' to the bag, but rather a close, tight fit to my skin. This bag is absolutely perfect for that, and I can honestly say that I recommend this bag for people with back problems.\n\nSpeaking of back problems, this bag also features a 'passthrough' flap on the back that allows you to slide the bag onto a wheel base and easily turn it into a wheeling case, which you can see from the picture above, but do note that the actual wheel-base hardware isn't included with this bag - I would assume you would need to buy that separately. Really, probably the nicest thing I can say about this backpack is that I never travel at all and have zero need for a backpack in my day-to-day life and yet I cannot imagine living now without this incredibly awesome pack, because I might need a backpack someday and, if so, this is the one for me.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: This Leather Case will securely hold and protect your Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0. This case will protect your Kindle from scratches and dust. It will hold the Tab 2 7.0 securely in place so you can carry the case worry free, and you can also keep it in the case during usage. The 360-degree rotating swivel allows you to rotate your Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 vertically and horizontally in the case. The two different viewing angles make it perfect for viewing video. Use this case for ideal utility, practicality, and protection when using your Galaxy Tab 2 7.0!\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Does what it should\n\nReview: Fosmon GYRE Series Revolving Leather Case for Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (7\") / B009UV3PJI\n\nI bought this case for my Galaxy Tab 2 on the grounds that it was white and I wanted a white case to match my white \"<a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/student-edition/dp/B008KWRTH2/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">student edition</a>\" of the Tab. I've been entirely happy with the case, given the idiosyncrasies that Samsung forces on users and case-makers.\n\nI love my Galaxy Tab 2, as well as the keyboard I received with my student edition, but I wish Samsung would adopt the Asus model for keyboards -- the Asus keyboards turn the tablet into a mini laptop that can be \"shut\" as needed, and the case-makers are able to create cases that enclose both the tablet and keyboard seamlessly as one. The Samsung keyboards, in contrast, have a solid dock-drop where the tablet is connected, and there's no moving from that position.\n\nI searched high and low, and couldn't find a single case that would accommodate the tablet while docked -- every case I found on Amazon has to be removed before the tablet can fit in the dock-drop. So if I must have a case that has to be taken on and off all the time, the next best thing is a case that comes on and off easily without (a) being a big hassle each time or (b) becoming loose over time such that the tablet is in danger of falling out. This case satisfies both requirements.\n\nThis case is composed of a hard/firm snap case, where you press the Tab into place, and a leather cover that closes like a book cover and can be secured by means of an elastic strap sewn into the cover. The snap case works beautifully; the Tab snaps in without fuss, and then snaps back out again with moderate pressure -- not so little that you have to worry about it coming free in your bag, and not so much that taking the Tab out becomes a chore. The leather book cover is attached to the snap case via the circular swivel component, which lets you swivel the cover a full 360 degrees. This means that you can close the cover from either the left or the right side (depending on handedness and preference).\n\nYou can additionally use the swivel combined with the grooves cut into the cover to loosely \"stand\" the tablet in place while using this cover. There are two cut grooves; the stand function works in landscape with both grooves, but in portrait with only the first groove -- if you use the second groove with portrait, the tablet will fall over. I feel that this is a product of the Tab's size and the cover limitations rather than a defect in the cover design, and the angle for the first groove is better suited for portrait viewing at any rate.\n\nOverall, I like this cover just fine. It does increase the size and thickness of the tablet, of course, but not so much that I find it bulky or difficult to carry. I think it offers good protection for the Tab when on the go, and I appreciate that it can be removed easily when I want to dock with the keyboard. I would have preferred something that can accommodate the keyboard dock without removal, but Samsung doesn't seem to consider that functionality enough of a priority to put out their own case. C'est la vie.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Imation USB Atom Flash Drive 8GB provides easy storage for media, data and pictures.\n\nRating: 1.0\n\nSummary: Plastic Connector Broke in One Month\n\nReview: Imation Atom 8G USB Thumb Drive / B001B1AIIQ\n\nWhen my old USB thumb drive was broken beyond all repair, I really fretted over the replacement. I wanted something small and unobtrusive, due to the many times that I had seen thumb drives damaged by brushing against the extruding drive in accident. I am really surprised that there does not yet exist a model that can lie flush against the side of the computer, but this Atom drive seemed the next best thing.\n\nThe Atom is remarkably small - the shown image of it next to a small paperclip is accurate - and it communicates amiably so far with every machine I have used it with. The drive initially came loaded with some security software, but as I was not interested in it, I removed it from the drive, and have had no problems with the drive operation doing so. I couldn't be happier with my little thumb drive, in fact.\n\nEDIT: Literally one month after buying this, the black plastic fractured and broke badly, after VERY light use and carrying in my purse. Considering that the thumb drive I had before this lasted for 3+ years in my purse, and considering the sizable price for this drive, I am very disappointed. I originally gave this USB five stars for ease of use (as you can see above), but with quality this poor, there's no reason to spend money on this device. I would return it if I could at this point, but I no longer have the original packaging.\n\nEDIT2: And Imation has still not returned my email informing them about the problem and requesting that they replace the thumb drive as it must surely still be under some form of warranty. I am terribly disappointed and will not buy from Imation again.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Speedo equals better fit, performance, quality, and innovation. But we don't just rule the pool, you can also find the best selling swim brand at the beach, the river, the lake, or on land. The Hooded Zip Front cover-up dress is great looking on and made of super comfortable french terry. It features a full zip opening with front pocket and cap sleeves. Play, train, or win in the world's #1 swim brand.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Well made, but watch the tag\n\nReview: Speedo, Aquatic Hooded Zip-Front Cover Dress / B002YX0MHC\n\nI joined a gym earlier in the year in order to use the pool, but I found that redressing afterwards was tedious - the least amount of dampness on my legs transferred to my jeans and pants, and trying to pull shirts over my wet hair caused snags and tangles. I purchased this dress in my size (here an XL) so as to have something quick and easy to dress in after a swim, but still \"normal\" enough to drop by the supermarket afterwards, if need be.\n\nIn that regard, this dress fits the bill pretty perfectly. Overall, the dress is well made (more on that in a minute), and the zipper is strong - not flimsy - and doesn't snag or eat up the fabric. Also, no loose threads or trailing hems here, and the fit is pretty much perfect. The material could be thicker - you can just barely see the outline of under clothes, but it's pretty thick for \"swim wear\" clothing, so I can't complain. The included hood isn't heavy and doesn't pull on my shoulders, and the front pockets are well-situated and very useful. I do wish the dress came in more color varieties.\n\nMy one complaint is that the company that makes these hasn't graduated to the \"print on labels\" or even the \"easy tear away\" labels. The label in the back was super-scratchy and drove me *insane* until I finally reached back and tore it out. I'm just about the least powerful person on earth, so I was surprised and annoyed to find that tearing out the label caused the actual stitches to tear out. Grr. So I had to re-stitch by hand, which was exceedingly annoying. But if you're reading this review, then you're forewarned and can just cut the tag carefully out.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Fashionable zippers keep the zipper bag looking fresh, fashionable and organized, too.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Too Small For Me\n\nReview: Baggallini Zipper Bagg / B002ZG92BK\n\nI've been using an <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/eBags-Piazza-Day-Bag/dp/B004C0LGYI/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">eBags Piazza Day Bag</a> for the last couple of years and while I really like the purse, I wanted something a bit smaller. I thought I'd try this purse, but I ended up having to send it back as it was too small for my needs.\n\nThe product description claims that the purse is 9\" x 9\" x 2.5\", but I genuinely think that the depth is much smaller than that. Here is what I hold in my Piazza purse: long thin credit card wallet (upright), glasses case (upright), very small leather bag with toiletries (lengthwise), Kindle Paperwhite (upright), keys and eyedrops (side pocket). I don't feel that's a whole lot to stuff in a purse, but I wasn't able to fit it all in this bag -- the wallet, glasses case, and leather bag were all arguing with each other, the bag was bulgy in the center, and it kept falling over in defeat.\n\nMost disappointing of all, the outer pockets don't have any expansion room, so you can really only fit something very flat in there -- flatter even than my already-pretty-flat Kindle Paperwhite. So I ended up sending this bag back and I will keep searching for something that holds my stuff while being fairly compact.\n\nIncidentally, this was my first Baggallini bag, and I was pleased with the material. The mushroom color is a nice medium brown, and the internal blue liner was very attractive. The nylon was light-weight, which is important for me in a purse, and the strap was easy to adjust, though a little more thin than I would have liked. The zipper pulls were pretty, but a little heavy. I'll probably try Baggallini again sometime, but will \"size up\" accordingly.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Sleek and strong, this contemporary crossbody is ideal for daily hands-free excursions. Its slender silhouette and zippered closures expertly conceal important items inside multiple pockets.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Too Small For Me\n\nReview: Baggallini Zipper Bagg / B002ZG92BK\n\nI've been using an <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/eBags-Piazza-Day-Bag/dp/B004C0LGYI/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">eBags Piazza Day Bag</a> for the last couple of years and while I really like the purse, I wanted something a bit smaller. I thought I'd try this purse, but I ended up having to send it back as it was too small for my needs.\n\nThe product description claims that the purse is 9\" x 9\" x 2.5\", but I genuinely think that the depth is much smaller than that. Here is what I hold in my Piazza purse: long thin credit card wallet (upright), glasses case (upright), very small leather bag with toiletries (lengthwise), Kindle Paperwhite (upright), keys and eyedrops (side pocket). I don't feel that's a whole lot to stuff in a purse, but I wasn't able to fit it all in this bag -- the wallet, glasses case, and leather bag were all arguing with each other, the bag was bulgy in the center, and it kept falling over in defeat.\n\nMost disappointing of all, the outer pockets don't have any expansion room, so you can really only fit something very flat in there -- flatter even than my already-pretty-flat Kindle Paperwhite. So I ended up sending this bag back and I will keep searching for something that holds my stuff while being fairly compact.\n\nIncidentally, this was my first Baggallini bag, and I was pleased with the material. The mushroom color is a nice medium brown, and the internal blue liner was very attractive. The nylon was light-weight, which is important for me in a purse, and the strap was easy to adjust, though a little more thin than I would have liked. The zipper pulls were pretty, but a little heavy. I'll probably try Baggallini again sometime, but will \"size up\" accordingly.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: This traditional hand made Natural Straw Braid Coolie Hat has the real size of 17 inches wide and 5 inches deep. It is used along with the traditional Vietnamese long dress or it also can be used as a decoration in your home. Try this one today to cover your face totally from the scorching sun or just to give it some Asian touch to your living room. Made of 100% natural straw. ONE SIZE fits most with chin string. Crown measures 5 inches deep and 17 inches wide. Thick, stiff and cool material. Hand wash only. Available in different styles Imported\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Cheap, but good with modifications\n\nReview: Straw Braid Natural Hat / B001A67NNU\n\nI bought this hat because I wanted a good hat to use outside - something with a wide brim to keep the sun off, with a string tie to keep the hat *on* in the strong wind, and I liked the gentle slope of this hat, which meant that I wouldn't have to worry about the fit against my head, sweaty hair, or feeling too contained.\n\nFirst off, measurements: I'd say this is about a 17.5\" diameter, although the description says 17\", so I could be a little off. I'll also buy their statement of 5\" deep - that's a bit harder to measure, but sounds about right. This hat is VERY floppy, so I don't know where they are getting their description of \"stiff\", but I guess floppy is alright.\n\nThe string tie on this is a joke - thin, fraying, and held with a single knot that can't be cinched easily. I'm going to get to a crafts store and get a thick bead and a replacement faux-leather string (so it won't slip and slide through the bead) and create a proper cinch-tie. I *am* pleased that the two holes that the tie slides through are reinforced properly with metal rings.\n\nOverall, this looks and feels a little cheap, but in a functional I-got-what-I-paid-for kind of way, not in a I-was-ripped-off kind of way.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Long considered a trusted partner by parents for providing a way to bring healthy food and drink options for kids on the go, Genuine Thermos Brand has brought its superior insulation technology to FOOGO, a line of children's products for ages six months and older. Freshness and safety go hand in hand. If contents are not kept at the right temperature, potentially dangerous bacteria may grow rapidly and cause food and beverages to spoil. All FOOGO stainless steel products feature THERMOS vacuum insulation technology which has been shown to inhibit the growth of bacteria in a laboratory test sponsored by Thermos and performed by Cornell University. For additional peace of mind, FOOGO products use BPA-free materials. FOOGO products are offered in three styles that are designed to grow with your child. Soft spout sippy cups with handles are for children 6 months and older, hard spout sippy cups are for children 12 months and older, and straw bottles are for children ages 18 months and older. The FOOGO Stainless Steel Straw Bottle makes it easy to keep drinks cold on the go. This bottle has a 10-ounce capacity and features THERMOS vacuum insulation technology to keep contents cold for up to 12 hours. The contoured shape of this bottle is easy for little toddler hands to grip and hold. The FOOGO straw bottle is a great choice for a child's first real straw bottle. Unlike other straw bottles, the FOOGO straw bottle can be used to teach kids to drink from a real straw, without built-in valves that inhibit flow. Thanks to the durable double wall stainless steel construction and vacuum insulation, this FOOGO straw bottle will not gather condensation or leave water rings. A hygienic push button lid is simple to open and reveals a pop-up silicone straw that is comfortable to drink from. Cleaning is simple, just unscrew the lid and the straw can be completely removed and disassembled to two parts for easy cleaning. The bottle and straw parts are top-rack dishwasher safe, however, hand washing is recommended for best results. Not for use with hot liquids.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Travels to work with me!\n\nReview: Thermos Foogo Stainless Steel Straw Bottle / B00849L4AE\n\nI like milk with my breakfast at work, but have been struggling to find something small and leakproof. I wasn't too thrilled that this has a built-in straw, but it's been easy to use and easy to clean. And the thermos hasn't leaked even a tiny bit. It's also insulated just enough to keep the milk cool. I love it so much, and the vibrant colors on the Poppy Patch model are lovely (in my opinion). I'll be ordering more of these.\n\nI do think this straw would be fragile for a small child who doesn't know not to bite or chew on the plastic, but I'm only using this for myself and it's fine for adult use.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Nesco BJX-5 Jumbo Jerky Works Kit\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Never as easy as it looks...\n\nReview: Nesco Jerky Kit BJX-5 / B001795P3K\n\nI purchased this for use with my <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Nesco-FD-75PR-700-Watt-Food-Dehydrator/dp/B000FFVJ3C/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Nesco FD-75PR 700-Watt Food Dehydrator</a>, but despite the glowing reviews on Amazon, I personally did not find this jerky gun very easy to use.\n\nTo start with, if you just load this jerky gun with ground beef right out of the package, you will find that the gun clogs instantly - there isn't enough pressure to force the ground beef through. If you soak the ground beef first in liquid (like, for example, soy sauce) and load it into the gun and press the trigger... the liquid will be forced out, the ground beef will stay in the gun, and another clog will result. In fact, the *only* way to get the ground beef to come out of the tube in strips is to puree it to a liquid beforehand in a food processor, blender, or electric mixing bowl.\n\nOnce you've actually got pureed ground beef, you have to actually extrude the jerky from the gun. The major problem here is that there are only two ways to push material out of the tube: either you press the button for short, controlled bursts, or you hold the button down with one hand and push the presser bar until you've gotten the length you like. Pressing the button for short bursts is completely useless, however, since the gun spits out about an inch of jerky (if that) so shudderingly that it immediately disconnects from the gun - so if you want a jerky STRIP instead of tiny jerky bites, you're going to have to hold the button down and use the presser.\n\nThe problem with the presser method is three-fold. First, you'd better be pretty strong to push the presser successfully, and I mean *very* strong, and you'd better have a steady hand - if you tremble at all, the jerky strip tears off from the gun. Second, you'd better have pretty long arms because the presser literally doubles the length of the tube. And third - and this is the biggest problem - you need three arms. You have to have one hand on the button at all times in order to work the presser manually and of course you have to use a second hand to operate the presser. If you have a circular dehydrator (and most people do), you're going to have to get a second person to help and turn the plate as you extrude jerky. You can't just extrude some and then use your presser hand to turn the plate and keep going, because that slight motion will break the jerky strip.\n\nConsequently, jerky with this kit is a big production at our house - I puree the meat and stuff it into the jerky gun, my fiance operates the plastic gun while I turn the dehydrator plate to create the necessary long 'jerky spiral' that dries so nicely and breaks into strips. And then, of course, there's the clean-up which takes awhile: not only are these several pieces to clean, but the screwed on top doesn't come off easily after the jerky juices have leached into it during use.\n\nAfter several uses with this kit, I kind of dread making ground beef jerky, just because it's so tricky to do with this. I wonder if I should have gotten a more expensive machine - maybe one that would extrude in a strip automatically, and just let me worry about positioning and turning? It really shouldn't have to take 3-4 hands to operate a jerky gun. In the meantime, I'm sticking to 'strip steak jerky' just because it's so much easier.\n\nA side note about the seasonings - they are VERY strong. We used them at the given ratio and were completely overwhelmed; even halving the ratio only helped a little. And they're not even really that great - the strongest taste is of MSG and salt. And if you use soy sauce to liquefy the meat, you really don't need MORE salt. I'd recommend making your own seasoning from an online recipe or something because these just didn't taste good at all, in my opinion.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Nesco BJX-5 Jumbo Jerky Works Kit\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Never as easy as it looks...\n\nReview: Nesco Jerky Kit BJX-5 / B001795P3K\n\nI purchased this for use with my <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Nesco-FD-75PR-700-Watt-Food-Dehydrator/dp/B000FFVJ3C/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Nesco FD-75PR 700-Watt Food Dehydrator</a>, but despite the glowing reviews on Amazon, I personally did not find this jerky gun very easy to use.\n\nTo start with, if you just load this jerky gun with ground beef right out of the package, you will find that the gun clogs instantly - there isn't enough pressure to force the ground beef through. If you soak the ground beef first in liquid (like, for example, soy sauce) and load it into the gun and press the trigger... the liquid will be forced out, the ground beef will stay in the gun, and another clog will result. In fact, the *only* way to get the ground beef to come out of the tube in strips is to puree it to a liquid beforehand in a food processor, blender, or electric mixing bowl.\n\nOnce you've actually got pureed ground beef, you have to actually extrude the jerky from the gun. The major problem here is that there are only two ways to push material out of the tube: either you press the button for short, controlled bursts, or you hold the button down with one hand and push the presser bar until you've gotten the length you like. Pressing the button for short bursts is completely useless, however, since the gun spits out about an inch of jerky (if that) so shudderingly that it immediately disconnects from the gun - so if you want a jerky STRIP instead of tiny jerky bites, you're going to have to hold the button down and use the presser.\n\nThe problem with the presser method is three-fold. First, you'd better be pretty strong to push the presser successfully, and I mean *very* strong, and you'd better have a steady hand - if you tremble at all, the jerky strip tears off from the gun. Second, you'd better have pretty long arms because the presser literally doubles the length of the tube. And third - and this is the biggest problem - you need three arms. You have to have one hand on the button at all times in order to work the presser manually and of course you have to use a second hand to operate the presser. If you have a circular dehydrator (and most people do), you're going to have to get a second person to help and turn the plate as you extrude jerky. You can't just extrude some and then use your presser hand to turn the plate and keep going, because that slight motion will break the jerky strip.\n\nConsequently, jerky with this kit is a big production at our house - I puree the meat and stuff it into the jerky gun, my fiance operates the plastic gun while I turn the dehydrator plate to create the necessary long 'jerky spiral' that dries so nicely and breaks into strips. And then, of course, there's the clean-up which takes awhile: not only are these several pieces to clean, but the screwed on top doesn't come off easily after the jerky juices have leached into it during use.\n\nAfter several uses with this kit, I kind of dread making ground beef jerky, just because it's so tricky to do with this. I wonder if I should have gotten a more expensive machine - maybe one that would extrude in a strip automatically, and just let me worry about positioning and turning? It really shouldn't have to take 3-4 hands to operate a jerky gun. In the meantime, I'm sticking to 'strip steak jerky' just because it's so much easier.\n\nA side note about the seasonings - they are VERY strong. We used them at the given ratio and were completely overwhelmed; even halving the ratio only helped a little. And they're not even really that great - the strongest taste is of MSG and salt. And if you use soy sauce to liquefy the meat, you really don't need MORE salt. I'd recommend making your own seasoning from an online recipe or something because these just didn't taste good at all, in my opinion.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Shakespeare's immortal tale of ambition, lust and murderous treachery is brilliantly updated and brought to life in this riveting, 20th-century masterpiece. Boasting breathtaking performances, unforgettable imagery and two Oscar(r) nominations*, this astounding wartime spectacle is mesmerizing...it will rivet you and shock you (Jeffrey Lyons, 'sneak Previews ). In 1930s Britain, a savage, civil war between two royal families has just concluded. But even as the newly installed King Edward (John Wood) takes the reins of power, his ruthless, younger brother Richard (Ian McKellen) sets in motion a monstrous scheme to claim the crown for himself. Enlisting the aid of equally duplicitous allies in the court, Richard embarks on a merciless, single-minded campaign of betrayal, seduction and cold-blooded murder to achieve the goal that has obsessed him all of his tortured life: to beking...at any price. *1995: Costume Design, Art Direction\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great adaptation, with limits\n\nReview: Richard III / 0792844041\n\nFor various reasons, I didn't realize that this version of Richard III was an adaptation to the 1930's until the DVD menu screen popped up and the iconic 30's music started up. After getting over my initial surprise, I was skeptical - I'm actually extremely fond of Shakespeare adaptations, but this seemed over-the-top. I'm happy to say, however, that I was wrong - this is a wonderful adaptation, with a few minor limitations.\n\nFirst of all, I'd like to note that this movie does not have any captions, which *really* frustrated me. If you're hard of hearing or just unused to Shakespearean English, that alone might make the movie hard to follow. We had to back up the DVD on several occasions to catch words that were slightly mumbled or garbled, but in general this wasn't a noticeable problem.\n\nSecondly, the acting is truly superb. Ian McKellen is always wonderful, of course, but he does an absolutely terrific job of portraying the villain as Richard is written in the play, while still providing the charisma to lend credence to Lady Anne's agreement to marriage, and the general failure to catch on to Richard's plotting and schemes. The supporting cast, too, is superb, and it's hard to imagine a better acted version of this wonderful play.\n\nAs for the adaptation, I thought Shakespearean dialogue over a 1930's setting might be jarring, but for the most part the super-imposition is clean and satisfying. Quite possibly the only time I felt jarred out of the adaptation was during Richard's notable cry for a horse - uttered from atop a stalled jeep sporting a large, mounted gun. Such moments are very few, however, and this adaptation is deeply enjoyable and worth a look.\n\nI should note, though, that this movie does sport some mild violence and frightening scenes, so if you're looking to introduce youths to Shakespeare, this might not be your first choice - but then the original play wasn't particularly muted or cheery either.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: very good\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: So Bad it's Hilarious\n\nReview: Gymkata / B00005JP3R\n\nEveryone I've ever shown \"Gymkata\" has loved it - but make no mistake: \"Gymkata\" is only wonderful in the sense that it's truly wonderful to ridicule. Possibly the best \"stealth parody\" I've ever seen, it's hard to imagine how anyone can't enjoy \"Gymkata\" for its campy appeal. How can you miss with a movie that features the U.S. government \"recruiting\" an Olympic gymnast as the epitome of fitness to undertake a foreign deadly obstacle course (Who better for the job?)? How can you lose with a confused \"foreign\" setting that incorporates black-clad ninjas (with only one government-issue arrow each, apparently) within a sprawling green forest? And how, HOW, can you not laugh until your sides ache at the sight of the dreaded, frightening saddle-horse-fu??\n\nIf you enjoy campy movies that you can ridicule to your heart's content, don't pass up \"Gymkata\".\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: as is\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Holds up surprisingly well; fun for the whole family\n\nReview: Dark Crystal / B000R8YC1I\n\nHaving missed out on the majority of the 1980's fantasy flicks, for various reasons, I've been backfilling my knowledge in this area, with mixed results. I definitely enjoyed <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Conan/dp/B0000VD12I/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Conan</a> and <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Red-Sonja/dp/B0001Z37HM/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Red Sonja</a> was fun, but I wasn't sure what to expect from a \"kid's movie\" (as it was described to me) like Dark Crystal.\n\nDark Crystal is, in my opinion, a surprisingly good film, even watched 'for the first time' nearly thirty years after its debut. The plot is easy enough for a child to follow, but engaging enough to maintain an adult's interest. The idea that extreme good and extreme evil are two sides of the same coin is not a new one, but it is fascinating to explore the implications here.\n\nThe characters are vibrant and imaginative; I was thoroughly sucked in by the quiet and kind Mystics, the bickering and vicious Skeksis, and the plucky and hopeful Gelflings. The puppet-work here is truly superb and really makes the viewer reminiscent for the old days - they just don't do puppet work like this anymore. (And though I love CGI-Yoda battles as much as the next person, there's just something more `real' about the puppets, somehow.) Most appreciated of all, I was pleased and delighted to see that the heroine is - in many ways - even more capable and just as crucial to the fulfillment of the prophecy as our sweet Gelfling hero is. It is very nice to see a role for women in a fantasy movie that extends beyond \"needs rescuing\" or \"looks great in a chainmail bikini\".\n\nI would definitely recommend this movie to anyone looking for a good fantasy film. There is some scary material here - such as the crystal that removes the \"life essence\" of the captives - but everything is put right in the end. I actually enjoyed Dark Crystal more than the more recent <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/City-of-Ember/dp/B001LPWGBO/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">City of Ember</a>, and for a movie that is past its twenty-fifth anniversary mark, that's saying something.\n\nThis movie provides captions for the hearing impaired.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psionic psychopath that only two kids and a group of psionics can stop.\n\nRating: 1.0\n\nSummary: I guess I'm in the minority...\n\nReview: Kaneda / 013023153899\n\nIt's always strange to come away from a movie disliking it and then see a plethora of reviews hailing it as the best thing ever. Inevitably doubt sets in, and I find myself wondering what it is that all those other people saw in this movie that I did not, but I just didn't like \"Akira\" at all.\n\nWhere do I start? I guess my biggest problem with this film is the overwhelming sense that important details (such as character motivation) have been blithely omitted on the grounds that \"deep\" or \"meaningful\" movies don't need such petty concerns. Tetsuo in particular seems driven by no motivation other than malevolent evil and madness and feels like a terrible rendition of a DBZ villain - he only seems interested in fighting for the fight itself, in order to be the most powerful one left standing. That kind of motivation is fine enough in a Bond shoot-em-up, but I expect more from a movie that's supposed to make me think. Kaneda, too, seems motivated not from character development or environment constraints, but merely because the movie *requires* him to behave in certain ways. It seems unreasonable that Kaneda would practically throw away his life trying to kill Tetsuo - or rather, it seems not at all unreasonable for a *movie character* to do such a thing, but a \"realistic\" character would seemingly take the first chance to make himself scarce... or at least consider it. Kaneda seems not even to acknowledge the possibility.\n\nOther questions abound. Why do the strange children look so old and green, and why do they attack Tetsuo, and why do they attack him with teddy bears bleeding milk from their eye sockets? Why are all the biker kids almost completely interchangeable, dialogue and all? Why is the government willing to pour money into a super-secret super-kid project, and then only hire a handful of guards and one scientist to guard these expensively godly goblins? Why, for the love of all that is sane, are all heroines required by law to fall for the hero who is rude, largely foolish and ineffectual, and has a bad tendency to flash the words \"author insert character\" above his head in green neon letters?\n\nAs for the touted depth and complexity behind this movie, I was blown away with the \"explanation\" (courtesy of the heroine) that ants are born with less power than humans, but what if an ant was accidentally born with the power of a human? What a huge mix-up that would be! Only, I wasn't aware that it was \"power\" that made us humans so special - I thought it was things like arms and legs and thumbs and a brain that is somewhat larger and more complicated than that of an ant. I'm told the whole thing is supposed to be a Buddhist analogy for something, but as a method to drive the story and explain the character motivation, it doesn't do the job, in my personal opinion.\n\nI can't help but also note that for a \"deep\" and \"meaningful\" movie, this film seems to enjoy itself far too much with the rampant gore and female frontal nudity. One female character - a sweet biker groupie whose boyfriend treats her with complete contempt - seems to exist *solely* for the purpose of sexual violence being played out upon her (twice), while the heroes helplessly watch - there's a tangible feeling of voyeurism and sadism overlaying her character that made me uncomfortable, to say the least.\n\nAfter reading some of the reviews, I suspect that \"Akira\" might be one of those movies that you have to be part of the 'in-group' in order to properly understand and appreciate it. And that's fine - it's not my place to start demanding explanations, character motivation, development, or basic plot elements over special effects and in-group backstory. But if you're not already a part of the Akira fan base, and are an outsider like me, then be aware that you may end up as frustrated and irritated by this movie as I was. Then again, Roger Ebert apparently liked this film well enough, so it's entirely possible that I'm just in the minority.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Ninja Scroll VHS. 1995 Manga Video. Action/Adventure/Anime. English Dubbed.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Interesting, but not for children or sensitive audiences\n\nReview: Ninja Scroll / 6305014140\n\n*Spoilers*\n\nWe first watched \"Ninja Scroll\" because we're working our way through the anime section now that we've seen all the Miyazaki movies. I understand that this is a movie tie-in to a popular series but being as always late to the bandwagon, I haven't seen the series and can't comment on that aspect of this movie. Let's get one thing straight - this movie is not for children or for people sensitive to blood or violence. Limbs and body parts are frequently hacked or torn off, and the blood spurts seem on par with a Tarantino film. There's also some graphic sexual content here, with a female ninja almost-raped by an opponent, some frank discussions of sex and sexual orientation, and one snake-themed villainess produces vipers from unusual bodily orifices.\n\nIf you're still reading after that content warning, then I will note that this is an extremely interesting film, if the content doesn't turn you off. \"Ninja Scroll\" can't seem to decide how important ninjas are seen in the society at large around them - on the one hand, the officers of the army treat them as expendable and disposable, but on the other hand, the \"techniques\" that the ninjas (both good and bad) have mastered are nothing short of magical, and dangerous deadly magic at that. In no particular order, we have a female so steeped in poison (by fate or by choice, we don't know) that her very touch kills; a man who willingly hosts deadly hornets in his body and uses them as a weapon, as well as a woman who does the same with vipers; men who can turn their bodies into stone or knit their bodies back together after losing limbs; and much more. All this makes for some extremely interesting battles, many with surprising or unusual endings.\n\nWhich isn't to say that \"Ninja Scroll\" is perfect. Like pretty much all anime movies, you have to watch it at least twice just to really understand what's going on. The English dubs and the English subtitles do not match at all, a cardinal sin of anime for those (like me) who are partially hearing impaired but not completely deaf, and while the subtitles are usually better dialogue than the dubs, it sometimes seems necessary to have *both* in order to be completely clear about the situation onscreen. Some of the violence seems a bit gratuitous, and at least one major plot 'twist' is as predictable as the sun rising in the morning. Having said *that*, however, there's quite a lot here that is surprising and unpredictable, and it's very nice to see heroes who behave in a sane and sensible manner, although I have to deduct mental points for having the heroine rapidly descend into hormonal whininess because the writers weren't sure how else to script dialogue for a tortured woman doomed to loneliness.\n\nI have to recommend \"Ninja Scroll\" just because it's so fantastical and unusual - I've honestly never seen anything quite like it. I honestly much prefer films with less graphic violence and sexual violence, but if you can get past the graphic content (and the worst of it seems to be in the first 20-30 minutes of the film), there's a good chance you'll enjoy it as I did.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: VHS TAPE\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: OK for Michael Bay\n\nReview: The Island / B000BO0LH2\n\n*Spoilers*\n\nLove him or hate him, you generally know what you're getting into with a Michael Bay movie: lots of action, quite a few cliched one-liners, and at least one or two plot holes so big you could drop a cow through them. And I don't mean that in a bad way - fun, mindless action is a valid and amusing way to spend a weekend evening. \"The Island\" is a step above many Michael Bay movies, though, in possessing a very thought-provoking philosophy underneath all the explosions and whizzing bullets.\n\nNot that the plot holes don't impinge heavily, of course. The clones being grown for extra parts are kept placid and calm with hypnotic suggestions that they want to go to the island, that they live to go to the island, that they don't need to think or question their surroundings. While the issue of \"Why don't you just grow them in a vat?\" is touched upon and discarded (the organs need stimulus in order to thrive), one wonders perhaps why they don't just give up this whole island scheme and just hypnotize the clones to want to serve as useful and happy organ donors. I can hear the objection of human survival instincts, but there have been plenty of death cults in the history of humanity and it seems like it wouldn't be too tricky to engineer one in this situation. Then you would have the <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/The-Restaurant-at-the-End-of-the-Universe/dp/0345418921/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">The Restaurant at the End of the Universe</a> situation where you can cut right through the issue of \"is it moral to eat meat?\" by having a cow that actually *wants* to be eaten, and is capable of saying so to the expensive clients.\n\nBut I digress, and really \"The Island\" is better as a metaphor for the current debate as to whether poor people should be allowed to sell their own organs in order to support their families. In this metaphor, \"going to the island\" would mean giving up your life to provide a better one for your family, and in this case the whole \"but they are human, too!\" rejoinder cuts just as harshly (if not more so) as with vat-grown clones.\n\nRealistically, though, any philosophy in \"The Island\" takes a firm back seat to the action. Male characters like fast things that go \"vroom!\" loudly, simply because they are male, and female characters are sweet and pretty and emotionally sensitive because that kind of stuff is handed out with the second X chromosome. But in true Michael Bay form, the excessive action is lavishly expensive action, and the special effects are spaced out with extremely good acting on the part of all the major actors. In light of all this, it's hard to get too nitpicky about the plot holes like the fact that memories are encoded into DNA and ancillary bad guys don't usually have major changes of heart at the last moment. View \"The Island\" for what it is - a pretty, if somewhat vacuous, destination that is worth a nice visit, even if you wouldn't want to live there.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: .\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Another series falls victim to a rushed, frenetic movie version\n\nReview: Wrath of the Ninja / B00000IBUG\n\n*Spoilers*\n\nUnfortunately, it's often easy to tell when an anime movie is a complete series distilled into a single feature film, and \"Wrath of the Ninja\" is a good example of this. The movie starts off well, with the initial and hostile meeting of two of the (as yet unknown) chosen trio of ninjas, only to have their battle interrupted by a new, and frightening, common opponent.\n\nDespite this interesting hook in the beginning, though, the movie quickly rushes into gibberish, falling victim to doing too much in too short a time span. After episodic events such as an enemy attack, the film will leap forward several seasons, with a quick exposition voice over that leaves far too much unexplained for the uninitiated to follow. The result is a film that will be unsatisfying for everyone - fans of the series will be irritated by how much was cut; new viewers will be confused and finally bored with the sequence of apparently unconnected events that leave no real emotional impact in their wake.\n\n\"Wrath of the Ninja\" isn't a *bad* movie in the traditional, awful sense - but it's rushed and frenetic and confusing. In order to meet the feature film length, motivation and character development have been almost entirely cut. In its place, the writers have dropped a bunch of cliches and stereotypes to prop up the action, and I suppose if they were happy with a mediocre, cliche-ridden film then good for them, but most viewers are going to be disappointed, and it's particularly infuriating to be lost for the entire movie because the politics and warfare strategies couldn't be explained a little further, but they DID find time to have the Wangsty male ninja hit up on the Serious female ninja with the obligatory \"you're not being feminine enough\" guilt stick. Oh, yeah, and the movie commits the cardinal sin of the \"Bait and Switch Boss\" trope, which is truly bad enough in video games but should never, ever be used in movies.\n\nI wouldn't really recommend \"Wrath of the Ninja\", but it's not the worst movie in the world. Oddly, it's one of the few anime movies where the English subtitles for the hearing impaired actually match the English dubs a little bit, which is pleasant in and of itself.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Barbara Streisand is a knockout as Dolly Levi, the woman \"who arranges things like furniture and daffodils and lives.\" And Hello Dolly, is the blockbuster musical you'll want to see her in again and again. The famed plot concerns Dolly, a young widow and professional matchmaker who sets her sights, and whatever else she can muster, on conquering tight-fisted Yonkers merchant, Horace Vandergeider, beautifully played by Walter Matthau. How she does it has to be the grandest, singingest, dancingest, marchingest flag-wavingest musical there ever was.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Songs that will stay with you\n\nReview: Hello, Dolly / B00005JL1P\n\nWith some of the most lovely Streisand songs that you'll have the pleasure to hear, this classic musical is worth a view for any fan. Hidden amongst lighthearted \"plot songs\" are such deeper gems as \"Put On Your Sunday Clothes\" (an invocation to achieve the mood you would like to have via conscious choice and behavior modeling), \"Before the Parade Passes By\" (an appeal to live life fully without being sidelined permanently by loss or tragedy), and \"It Only Takes a Moment\" (a moving paean to the richness and depth of love).\n\nAlongside those gems, the \"plot songs\" will also stay with you as catchy and fun tunes - especially Dolly's introduction songs \"Just Leave Everything to Me\" and the titular \"Hello, Dolly\" - a climax that will stay with you for days. If you are a Streisand fan or just a lover of musicals in general, check out \"Hello, Dolly\" for beautiful and rich songs that will warm your heart.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: The effects of global warming and the greenhouse effect has caught up with the Earth. The polar ice caps are melting and the world's weather patterns are all out of sync. The next ice age is upon us. A scientist that specializes in historical extreme weather changes must fight his way north to New York where his son is caught in the clutches of mother nature.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Disaster Movie of the Year\n\nReview: Day After Tomorrow / B00005JMXX\n\nAlthough disaster movies are often as a consequence of their very nature somewhat corny and soft-science-y, \"Day after Tomorrow\" can definitely be called the pageant queen of the disaster movie genre. Though the science is soft, the movie at least admits that what is happening is completely off the charts for expected (i.e. 'realistic') behavior, which is more than most movies are willing to admit (see, <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/The-Core/dp/B0000AKCKM/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">The Core</a>). And though the usual cast of disaster movie characters are present, including the ubiquitous Unreliable Dad Who Comes Through In The End, I was beyond pleased to note that the movie didn't belabor the characters by beating the particularly dead horse of disaster movie character tropes and, instead, just continued firmly on to the action. As such, we are spared all the \"This is why we are divorced/separated/whiny!\" dialogue between the Unreliable Dad and Sainted Mother as well as the reconciliatory \"This is why we fell in love!\" crap that is so often tagged onto the end of these sorts of movies. That consideration alone is worth a couple of stars.\n\nNo, \"Day After Tomorrow\" is all about the special effects and action, and is *not* about character development, dialogue, or anything else except swiftly and efficiently killing off the majority of Earth's population. If that's what you watch disaster movies for, like I do, then prepare to be delighted. If, however, you want a lot of yammering dialogue to break up the scenes of everyone being slaughtered by expensive CGI effects, you'll be disappointed in \"Day After Tomorrow\" and will have to go back and re-watch <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Armageddon/dp/B00000G3PA/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Armageddon</a>.\n\nI really can't think of anything I didn't like about \"Day After Tomorrow\". The vice president is a realistically callous evil jerk without ever going overboard into pure stupid, there are several cutely humorous scenes that the movie wisely chooses not to belabor too much (including illegal immigration in the opposite direction than usual, and burning tax law books instead of philosophy ones), and the soft science is interesting to watch unfold. The protagonist kids aren't quite as smart as I'd like them to be, but compared to the usual disaster movie crew, they're pure geniuses. In fact, I thoroughly enjoyed \"Day After Tomorrow\" because the characters are so smart (relative to the genre) that even when they do dumb things (like trek to an unknown library to rescue a single kid), they at least do these dumb disaster movie tasks in a smart way. And I appreciate that.\n\nI am tempted to give \"Day After Tomorrow\" five stars, but even the best of disaster movies is still a disaster movie at its heart. There isn't a lot of high drama or deep thoughts to take away from this (well, except \"Global Warming is Bad\", but surely we know this by now). So, instead, I'll justify giving it 'only' four stars on the grounds that I thought the ending was way too optimistic about humanity's chances and I would have preferred the movie go whole-hog and say that there was really no hope to recover and rebuild, an ending that Hollywood just doesn't seem brave enough to make.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: A young wife (Aniston) gets bored with her marriage and life and falls into an iliicit affair with a teenage stock boy (Gyllenhaal) at the discount store where they both work.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: An interesting take on modern existential angst.\n\nReview: The Good Girl / B0000797IO\n\nAlthough I wasn't certain if I'd like \"The Good Girl\", I definitely felt a resonance with Aniston's character Justine, as she struggles with being stuck seemingly indefinitely in a rut of existential angst. This sort of modern existential angst of being stuck in a life that you didn't intend to choose, of having missed opportunities for something more or better (education, work, or spouse), and of never seeing any end or change in sight is something that many people recognize and can identify with, particularly anyone who has worked at a low-level, minimum-wage, customer service type position.\n\nWhereas movies like <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Employee-of-the-Month/dp/B000LC3ICE/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Employee of the Month</a> make light of this angst as the characters maintain sanity by choosing to not take life too seriously, \"The Good Girl\" hits closer to home by emphasizing that, for many people, this way of life is a matter of survival, not of frivolity. Indeed, Justine would fit in easily in <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Nickel-and-Dimed/dp/0805088385/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Nickel and Dimed</a>, as she struggles to work up the energy through her depression to come to work every day, because the money isn't going to come in from anywhere else - certainly not from her frequently-stoned, unreliable oaf of a husband. Out of desperation and boredom, Justine agrees to an affair with younger co-worker \"Holden\" (self-named for the main character in <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/The-Catcher-in-the-Rye/dp/0316769177/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">The Catcher in the Rye</a>), who not-so-subtly begins to spiral into madness like his unfortunate namesake.\n\nHere is where the movie gets full points for sheer realism. Justine realizes that there is no bright, explosive, happy ending waiting for her and Holden. They are not Bonnie and Clyde, and even while Justine may passionately dream of living a different life as someone else, somewhere else, she recognizes with the maturity of her years that life just doesn't work that way. Holden burns out with the ferocity of youth and Justine returns, resigned and likely still depressed, to her life of drudgery, only slightly relieved by the knowledge that her husband is as depressed with life as herself and not a 'mindless cow'.\n\nThough I felt this movie was a realistic portrayal of modern existential angst and disillusionment, and though I appreciated the movie for espousing the sad truth that Justine really *is* trapped in her situation, or at least one very like it even if she moved away from that particular town, job, and husband, I can't say that I \"enjoyed\" the movie in the strictest sense of the word. I appreciate harsh truths and painful realities, and the courage it took to convey them in this well acted, carefully produced movie, but I can't imagine ever wanting to sit down and watch it again and it certainly isn't a cheerful movie by any stretch. I would definitely recommend that everyone see this movie once, but I wouldn't expect anyone to want to see it again. Sometimes the truth just hurts too much.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Quick Shipping !!! New And Sealed !!! This Disc WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. A multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player is request to view it in USA/Canada. Please Review Description.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Fun, but Riddled with Cliche\n\nReview: Core / B0000AKCKN\n\n*Spoilers*\n\nI tend to enjoy a good disaster movie, and I don't even mind the soft science that almost inevitably accompanies them - most truly exciting threats (like, say, the earth rapidly slowing its rotation) pretty much aren't plausible no matter how you slice it, so just make up some technobabble and I'll go with it.\n\n\"The Core\" is fun enough for a first viewing, but usually what will keep me coming back is the characters in a disaster movie. Fun, interesting, and amusing characters are good; cliched, annoying, irritating characters are not. Let's just get right down to the aspect that really turned me off to this movie, and that is Hillary Swank, or rather how this movie treats her. She starts off as a cliched Renaissance Woman who can do anything and everything (one character even asks her if there's anything she can't do and she replies that there's nothing she knows of), including land spacecraft by eyesight (and mad math skills) on narrow, improvised landing strips. As part of her \"character development\" (and I use the term loosely) she walks up to newly invented and malfunctioning things and jiggles wires and - viola - they work. I would find this annoying enough, but what *really* gets on my nerves is that the movie thinks this is a bad thing, and a huge amount of time is spent beating her about the head for thinking she knows too much. I hate to pull the 'sexism' card, but compared to all the actual jerks in the movie who *don't* get a dressing-down talk, it's just flat-out irritating.\n\nThe other major thing that turns me off to \"The Core\" is that the characters die off so predictably that it feels like they have numbers on the backs of their jerseys. I realize that the Alpha Nerd and the Obligatory Girl have to survive to the end (it's Hollywood Law), but would it be so much to ask that the other characters not line up and take a number on the movie wheel-of-death? One death in particular is so ridiculous and unnecessary that the only \"excuse\" offered is that the laughably bad ship design was due to the rushed building period, which is particularly funny because you'd think with *every Nobel prize winner ever* on the job, SOMEONE would have pointed out the rather glaring design flaw. Then again, maybe the problem is that pesky \"no Nobel prize for mathematicians\" thing - oh, the delicious irony.\n\nIn all seriousness, I liked the plot of \"The Core\" just fine, I just wish that there had been a bit more polish on the script and pacing. There are a lot of genuinely scary moments and a lot of really funny lines, and if they'd just shaken out the cliches and put a little more originality into the movie, I think it couldn't be very good - as it is, it's pretty much standard disaster movie fare with nothing to really stand out as unique or interesting.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Mystery Science Theater 3000 Volume 4\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great Addition to the Collection; Superb Introduction into MST3K\n\nReview: MST3K: Volume 4 / B0000TAYWA\n\nWith two great films and two fairly good ones, this volume is a great addition to any MST3K collection, and is also a wonderful introduction to the franchise - two of the films riffed here are my \"go to\" films for MST3K newbies.\n\n- Girl in Gold Boots: This is a perfect movie for the MST3K team to riff, because it combines a simple, cohesive plot (Girl finds herself out of her league in Sin City) with terrible production values. This makes it a wonderful introduction to MST3K-style riffing, because the viewer isn't burdened by trying to figure out what is going on, and can just relax and enjoy the zingers. The zingers themselves are beauts - with characters that pop 'magically' in and out of scenes, a soundtrack that insists it's Christmas whilst the set crew adamantly maintained a Halloween theme, and a hero who calls himself \"Critter\", Mike and the Bots have plenty of material to work with. This is definitely one of my favorites.\n\n- Hamlet: The setup here is cute - Mike wins a bet against Pearl and gets to decide his movie for the week (\"Hamlet\", a classic!), but she has the last laugh by picking which *version* of \"Hamlet\" to show, and she picks a frighteningly terrible one...in theory. In practice, this is basically a good example of how boring Shakespeare can truly be in the hands of a crummy acting troupe, and most of the riffs here have less to do with the lackluster performance (about which one can only say so much) and more to do with the vagaries of Elizabethan language - so, basically, Mike and the Bots are riffing the script of \"Hamlet\" but against a really crummy production because the good stuff couldn't be licensed. Interesting, but not really one of their best.\n\n- Overdrawn at the Memory Bank: With Raul Julia (of <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/The-Addams-Family-Addams-Family-Values/dp/B000FIHN52/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">The Addams Family / Addams Family Values</a> fame) as a lead, and with a plot that seems to be a panache of Philip K. Dick science fiction stories, you'd think that this film would have real potential, either as a stand-alone movie or as a good riffing. Unfortunately, the presentation and plot are so disjointed and confusing, that most viewers will probably struggle through once or twice before being able to really enjoy the riffing. This is a good MST3K episode but not, in my opinion, one of the best.\n\n- Space Mutiny: Ah, this movie can carry the collection by itself - I've never seen anyone *not* enjoy \"Space Mutiny\" in the hands of Mike and the Bots. With shots ripped blatantly from \"Battlestar Galactica\", a cult of priestesses whose worship antics largely revolve around a Spencer's Gifts electricity ball novelty toy, a hero of many names (Meaty McJockstrap! Puffy Hugeshoulders! Play along and see what names you can come up with!), and dozens of well-placed railing deaths, you'll want to watch this film over and over again. A classic in every sense of the word.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: A \"happening\" - if ever there was one - befell on June 17, 1967 in the sylvan setting of Central Park, led by the one and only Barbra Streisand. If you missed it or don't remember it, you can share the magic of this extraordinary concert with this videocassette - recorded in Hi-Fi and released by CBS/FOX in 1987 - which makes the event strangely intimate while this beloved superstar sings her heart out before 135,000 fans. The wide range of selections include \"The Nearness of You,: \"Down With Love,\" \"Love is Like a New Born Child,\" \"I Can See It\" (from The Fantasticks), \"Love is a Bore,\" \"He Torched Me\" (from Drat! The Cat), \"I'm All Smiles,\" \"Marty the Martian,\" \"Natural Sounds,\" \"Second Hand Rose,\" \"People,\" \"Silent Night\" (so beautifully appropriate for this balmy evening), and \"Happy Days Are Here Again\" - at which point the crowd does not let her leave the stage. The cheers nearly overpower the recurring vamp played by the bountiful orchestra accompanying each of the curtain calls the audience demands. Among all of the stars that shone in the sky that night, Ms. Streisand was the brightest of them all! (Playing time=60 minutes)\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Startling, but not scary\n\nReview: The Happening / B001DZOC6Y\n\n*Spoilers*\n\n<a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/The-Sixth-Sense/dp/B00004BZIY/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">The Sixth Sense</a> scared me more than any other movie I've ever seen because it scared me in a very psychological way. No matter how you slice it, that little boy is going to spend the rest of his life viewing gruesome deaths everywhere he goes, with no escape. And he will always be totally alone because, unless he manages to find someone who shares his sixth sense, he will never have anyone to talk to about this, nor will anyone be able to understand him. That's a lot for anyone to handle for their entire life, no matter how much you might initially be resolved to the idea of the talent as a 'gift'.\n\nI guess what I'm saying is that I found \"The Sixth Sense\" scary because it scared me on a deeply mental level, and didn't just startle me. And I was deeply intrigued by \"The Happening\" because it seemed like the same type of 'smart horror' that would scare me in a similar manner. Unfortunately, Shyamalan seems to have decided to trade 'scary' for 'startling', because while \"The Happening\" has definite scary potential, it seems regularly eager to trade that in for cheap startles. The blood and gore are, in my mind, excessive and it's hard to escape the feeling that the blood'n'guts were added in a cynical attempt to boost sales with an 'R' rating. Pacing and suspense are almost completely thrown away from the very beginning - within a mere minutes of the movie's opening, the scientists on the telly have already nailed down that the incidents are localized around parks and other flora-heavy areas, that the infection is airborne, that it compels people to suicide, and that it probably isn't terrorist-related. This onslaught of information prevents the viewer from building up any kind of suspense regarding the incidents and all we are left with is the characters to care about.\n\nUnfortunately, the characters are where \"The Happening\" is weakest. The acting is just horrible, really every line seems deadpan and every facial expression seems wooden and unnatural. Wahlberg in particular is intensely awful, and what was up with his opening classroom spiel? Even the creationist teachers at my private elementary schools didn't let us scribble \"Gawd did it\" on our homework and call it a day, but Wahlberg seems perfectly at peace with teaching his students that not only will they never understand nature fully, they shouldn't even try. Beyond that, there's the usual horror movie fare of \"rapid escape is essential, so let me just stop to pack some trinkets,\" not to be overshadowed by the \"I know my loved one is dead, but I have to try to find them anyway, leaving my child in the hands of childless strangers who need a new adopted kid to cement their troubled marriage\".\n\nA lot about this movie just doesn't feel realistic, and that hurts the 'scary potential' even worse - it's hard to be scared to the point of sleeplessness when it all feels so fake. I don't mean the little stuff like the train stopping because they \"lost contact\" (how?) or the fact that houses and automobiles are generally not air-tight. I mean the big stuff, the stuff that after 9-11 or SARS, movie-makers should really be aware of. Specifically, the ending seems completely unrealistic - for months after 9-11, people in relatively minor cities were still stockpiling water and planning bomb shelters. Faced with something so much bigger, the response would be incredible. Air-tight shelters would be constructed, air masks would be worn, whole forests would be burned down by vigilante militia groups. Which isn't even delving into the fact that the responses of the people DURING the crisis seem pretty unrealistic as well - it's a plague that makes you kill yourself, so people are arming themselves with guns for protection? Gee, that seems kind of like a bad idea.\n\nIn the end, I was deeply disappointed by \"The Happening\". The movie was definitely startling, but it failed ultimately to be scary. Partly because it revealed too much too quickly, partly because the acting and characterization were awful, and partly because the movie seems all to willing to believe that movie-goers won't appreciate anything without a bucket of fake guts tossed all over the camera.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Earth's last city, Olympus, rose from the ashes of a global war on the backs of Bioroids, artificial clones who make up half the city's population. Under the strict guidance of a supercomputer, humanity's last survivors enjoy an idyllic peace, but only on the surface Human terrorists within the military seek a return to power and clash with the government's ESWAT forces lead by the legendary soldier, Deunan Knute, and her boyfriend who is 75% machine. Retrieving the Appleseed will end the conflict, and Deunan alone holds its secret. The outstanding feature film based on the manga by SHIROW Masamune (Ghost In the Shell), directed by Shinji ARAMAKI (Bubblegum Crisis), and produced by SORI (Ping Pong) features a soundtrack by Boom Boom Satelites, Paul Oakenfold, Basement Jaxx and more and will be available from TOFU records. The DVD will feature high quality video encoded directly from the HD master in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen with 5.1 English Dolby Digital and DTS audio as well as the original Japanese 2.0 stereo and 5.1 DTS Dolby Digital soundtracks! This DVD also features commentary from both the director and the producer!\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Fascinating, Complex...but rough around the edges.\n\nReview: Appleseed / B0007OY31G\n\n*Spoilers*\n\nI would really like to give Appleseed a five star review, I really would. The animation is superb, the story is intriguing, and the voice work is flawless. Unfortunately, the movie needs just that little bit of polish on the edges to be truly perfect, or at least truly perfect for beginners who come to this story brand-new, as I did.\n\nI'm unsure how much of the story in this movie will be familiar to existing fans of this anime franchise. The story revolves around a new utopia in the midst of a ruined world, populated in part by genetically modified humans who are incapable of strong human emotion, most notably the hatred, prejudice, and anger that led humanity to destroy the world in the first place. Set in the midst of this is the apparently missing-in-action-for-some-time famed female warrior Deunan Knute.\n\nDeunan Knute is many things. She's one of the best warriors on earth, descended from an equally brilliant warrior and (it will be revealed) a rather important scientist. She's the love interest for the now-mechanized Briarius who was presumed dead and is now more machine than human, and a protector of the new utopia. She is a fantastic protagonist, and a wonderfully strong and sensitive woman, managing to eschew the stereotypes that abound in some other types of anime.\n\nThis is where we run into our rough edges that mar the movie. To wit, Deunan is never really allowed to reach her potential. A humorous scene where her \"training\" ends in the complete and surprising defeat of her numerous laser-tag opponents and a cute quip from her in the end is marred by Briarius' scolding that she shouldn't tease men who may save her life someday. This could work if the scene was meant to show that Briarius is conflicted about Deunan's arrival into his untroubled utopia, but the scene is played straight and Deunan silently vows to be more serious, to my own disappointment. Another drawback here is that the filmmakers do not seem to trust their underlying premise that Deunan is capable and tough - Briarius repeatedly saves her life throughout the film, often over her ridiculously protesting objections, and I cannot think of a single instance where she handles actual trouble without the protection of her imposing metal lover. This is a disappointment, for a character that is supposed to be strong, self-reliant, practical, and battle-hardened.\n\nThe film also suffers from exposition issues. There are long stretches of exposition that, should have been arranged differently in order to allow the user to process the convoluted storyline. Exposition is hampered by skipping major plot points and returning to them in retrospect later, if at all - the wire fighting warriors that slice Hitomi's car in half are never explained with regards to who sent them. There are also simply too many coincidences and \"gee, that's convenient\" plot points, for instance when the multiple automated fighters are converging on the dome and we find that (a) they don't need to stop ALL the fighters, because there's a shut-down port on ONE of them that will shut them all down (convenient!) and (b) they are given the shut-down passcode by a previously comatose Hitomi who announces that her name is the passcode the elders chose to use. It's not really understand WHY she would know this - I can buy that the elders might use her name as the super-secret passcode because they are fond of her, but then they also TELL her the super-secret passcode? Very odd, and again a little too convenient.\n\nHaving given all this criticism, I still highly recommend Appleseed as a solid four star movie. The story may be unpolished, but it is still far superior to most movies, anime or live-action alike. The character development and relationship exploration between Deunan and Briarius could have used a great deal of work, but I recognize that this went into the sequel and was handled very well, all things considered. And the movie also contains the most touching \"I remember now!\" amnesia scene that I have ever witnessed, with a climax that brought tears to my eyes.\n\nOne more major gripe: This movie provides closed caption for the hearing impaired. But, and this is a big but, the captions *never* match the actual words being said by the voice actors. Literally, it was not at all uncommon for a caption and the voice text to share only the words \"a\", \"an\", and \"the\". I have to assume that the caption writers and the voice actors were working with different translations which yielded the same intent, but with vastly different words. If you are hard of hearing and you use the captions to follow along and pick up the words that you missed, the discontinuity between what you HEAR and what you SEE is incredibly jarring and annoying. If you are completely deaf, well, you won't be watching the same movie as your companions. There is really no excuse for such shoddy work, but I did not include this in my star rating as it will not apply to all viewers.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: What would you wish for if you were granted a new wish every day? That's the delightful situation five children face when they're sent to live with their eccentric uncle in his moldering mansion while their father fights in World War I. There they discover It, a fairy who makes their wishes come true! This exuberant adaptation of E. Nesbit's beloved classic features young Freddie Highmore (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Finding Neverland), Kenneth Branagh and Zoe Wanamaker (both veterans of the Harry Potter film series), comedy star Eddie Izzard as the voice of It, and the film wizardry of the Jim Henson Creature Shop.\n\nRating: 1.0\n\nSummary: Why follow Nesbit's book, when Narnia made so much money?\n\nReview: 5 Children and It / B0009S4ILA\n\n*Spoilers*\n\nIf you haven't read Nesbit's book, 5 Children and It, then likely this review will mean little to you and you will find better information in some of the other reviews. If you are like me, however, and remember Nesbit's charming tale from childhood, you may be considering this movie based on your love of the book.\n\nDo not be fooled. This book jettisons everything lovely about Nesbit's tale in favor of a blatant Narnia rip-off that is painfully obvious. Like Narnia (the movie, not the book), the movie starts with the children being shuffled off to the countryside in a train, longing for their parents and their familiar surroundings. The countryside house looks like a replica of the Narnia film house, and the sandpit with no sea (which the children find so pointless and boring) is not here. We'll get to that later.\n\nThe house caretakers are, a la Narnia, quirky and old and eccentric. A good deal of film is wasted on this portion of the movie, detailing how boring it is at the house, how much time is to be spent on maths, how long the chores lists for the children is. There's a abhorrent cousin added here for unnecessary conflict.\n\nOne day, on a rainy day, the children are bored and cooped up in the house and they find a magical doorway to another world. You'll note that 0% of that is in Nesbit's book, but 100% of that statement describes Narnia. Fine. The other world has a luxurious beach, complete with a large ocean, and the children take this in stride - no disbelief, no wonder, no worries.\n\nWhen they unearth \"It\", the voice......stings. \"It\" sounds like...Eddie Izzard. There's no other way to put it. (Eddie Izzard is also a voice in the Narnia series. Do we see a pattern here?) It wisecracks, It sounds like a wise guy. When the children feign disinterest in It, he practically begs to be paid attention to. And the whole twist of the book, the drama of \"Is It ruining the wishes on purpose?\", is immediately tossed to the winds (and incorrectly) by making it very clear with supernatural spying and smirking that, yes, It is ruining the wishes deliberately and on purpose.\n\nWhen I tried to enjoy this movie apart from the radical changes in the storyline, I found I could not - the dialogue is boring, the action predictable, and the story \"twists\" are painfully bad. I don't doubt that a small child may like this, but if you're looking into this for literary nostalgia, as I was - Stay Away!\n\nThis version provides a closed caption option for the hard of hearing.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: For the last 23 years, a group of friends have lived life to the fullest...in the fantasy world. Obsessed with a role-playing game called demons, nymphs, and dragons, these gamers are the subject of this hilarious comedy, which chronicles their journey to make it through their horrendous lives hile attempting to break the world record for role playing: over 74,568 hours.\n\nRating: 1.0\n\nSummary: NOT the Dead Gentlemen Productions (i.e. \"Dorkness Rising\") Movie\n\nReview: Gamers / 012233163124\n\nMy husband and I are big fans of tabletop RPG movies, and we absolutely loved Dead Gentlemen Production's \"The Gamers: Dorkness Rising\". We'd heard that \"Dorkness Rising\" was a quasi-sequel to another movie by the same company called \"Gamers\", and we picked this up, expecting that this was the same movie.\n\nWell, firstly, it's not. \"The Gamers\" by Dead Gentlemen Productions is here: <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/The-Gamers/dp/B001875ZVS/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">The Gamers</a>. So if you've been redirected here looking for the prequel to \"Dorkness Rising\", run away as fast as you can.\n\nThis movie is utterly horrible and without any amusing lines whatsoever. The \"plot\" is that the same group has been playing the tabletop RPG \"DND\" (Dungeons, Nymphs, and Dragons) for a record-breaking number of hours, and a TV crew has been dispatched to interview the players before their big record breaking night. The entire movie consists of watching the \"interviewees\" talk about their lives (which are played up to be as pathetic as possible) - there is almost ZERO gaming shown on camera. Literally, I think maybe, MAYBE, there's a combined 2 minutes of gaming in this movie, and that's largely flashbacks.\n\nHere are the things that are \"funny\" about this movie:\n\n- One of the players has a day job extracting semen from horses. Cue visual gag.\n\n- One of the players has a day job recording custom songs for kids, including a song for a kid named \"Dick\".\n\n- One of the players took his lactating cousin to the prom. Cue visual gag.\n\n- One of the players hires a black woman to make him a \"Gandalf the White\" costume and she somehow fails to realize that her \"original design\" looks EXACTLY like a Klan robe. A black dwarf (the real kind of dwarf, not the fantasy kind) then proceeds to beat up the FRIEND of the guy-wearing-the-Klan-robe, so that the \"role playing\" Klan guy can call him a \"dirty dark dwarf\".\n\n- One of the players has swinger parents. Cue visual gag.\n\n- Clown porn. I wish I was making this up.\n\nThere is nothing - absolutely nothing - funny about this movie. It's not original; it's just a bunch of silly gross-out gags thrown at the screen over and over in the hopes that something will stick. The \"tabletop RPG\" theme is completely shoe-horned in - the exact same movie could have been made about, say, people who obsess about Star Trek conventions or something equally \"nerdy\" (in the public eye), and only a couple of lines would have had to change to accommodate the new theme. I'm terribly sorry that I rented this thinking that it was the DGP movie by the same name, and I would like someone to pass the brain bleach, thank you.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: 28 Weeks Later (Fs)\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Good Movie, but Poor Sequel\n\nReview: 28 Weeks Later / B000TJBN80\n\n*Spoilers*\n\nThe tricky thing about sequels is that not only do they have to be good movies in their own right, but they also must weather the inevitable comparisons to the movie that it follows. And, fundamentally, this is the biggest problem with \"28 Weeks Later\". Following, as it does, from <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/28-Days-Later/dp/B0000BZJCM/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">28 Days Later</a>, but with seemingly everyone who was involved with \"28 Days\" completely replaced, it was inevitable that the resulting sequel would have a largely different tone than the first movie. Whether or not this change is a bad thing will depend on the viewer's expectations.\n\n\"28 Weeks\" starts well enough - a group of survivors are holed up tight in a country house, far away from the cities and the rage virus. It's nice to see variety in a zombie movie, and the ensuing demonstration that frightening situations needn't be restricted to the dead of midnight is welcome. Viewers may reasonably question, however, why the otherwise apparently fairly prudent occupants of the house didn't take a few more steps to ensure their safety in this new, uncertain world - such as emigrating permanently to the second story, which seems to be more than roomy enough (shaky camera notwithstanding) and which - once isolated from the downstairs - would seem to be a permanent safe-haven from the rage victims, given that they aren't lucid enough to scale walls or build ladders.\n\nWhile this may seem like a small point, I feel it neatly underlines the changed between \"Days\" and \"Weeks\". The survivors in \"Days\" were modern 'real' people - in other words, they'd seen a zombie movie or three (as have we all) and subsequently they knew how to protect themselves. Flats barred with impenetrable walls of shopping carts, iron doors, and suits of makeshift armor were the refuge of the besieged in the city. The army out in the country employed round-the-clock shifts, mine fields, and a very prudent once-bit-then-shot policy that prevented serious disaster when one of their own was infected. The point behind all this is that \"Days\" was not a zombie movie in the traditional sense, but rather a movie about human nature under stressful, end-of-the-world conditions. Realistically, you could have replaced all the zombies with, say, nuclear fallout and you still would have had the same haunting themes in \"Days\" - namely, where our humanity begins and ends in a struggle for survival.\n\n\"Weeks\", on the other hand, is pretty much a straight-up zombie movie, and in order to facilitate that, the humans have to be a lot less competent than they were in \"Days\". So we have desperate people failing to fall back to a secure upper story and a military with such poor security measures that it seems almost blind luck that they haven't been overrun yet. (Which isn't to say that \"Weeks\" doesn't attempt a point at military ethics, but the civilians-are-expendable message is so anvilicious compared to \"Days\" that it will likely annoy more than thoughtfully provoke.)\n\nOnce you accept \"Weeks\" as a straight-up zombie movie, it's not a bad one. There's a living MacGuffin that has to be tracked down, protected, and gotten to safety once the inevitable disaster overruns the safe haven. The biggest problem here, though, is that the build-up to the disaster is long and tedious, with quite a bit of dialogue that sounds like it was meant to be deep and meaningful, but just comes off as the filler dialogue we've all heard before. And once the dying starts, the characters die off so predictably that they might as well all be wearing numbered jerseys.\n\nI guess you could say that I really loved \"28 Days\" because I went into the movie expecting a good, solid zombie flick, and I came out mentally shaken by the moral subtext and end-of-the-world break down of social relationships. But the downside to that meant that I went into \"28 Weeks\" expecting to be further mentally toyed with and was ultimately let down when the movie turned out to 'merely' be a decent, if predictable zombie flick. There's enough here to be interesting, mostly centering around the infected Typhoid Mary of the plot, but ultimately all that gets tossed down the drain in favor of running around in the dark getting eaten. And while there's nothing wrong with that, per se, \"28 Weeks\" doesn't end up standing out significantly from the hordes of similar movies on the market, in my opinion.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Welcome to Willard, a small town lost in the idyllic world of the '50s, where the sun shines every day, everybody knows their neighbor, and rotting zombies deliver the mail. Years ago, the earth passed through a cloud of space dust, causing the dead to rise with a craving for human flesh. A war began, pitting the living against the dead. In the ensuing revolution, a corporation was born: ZomCon, who defeated the legions of undead, and domesticated the zombies, making them our industrial workers, our domestic servants - a productive part of society. ZomCon would like the people of Willard to believe they have everything under control -- but do they? Timmy Robinson doesn't think so. At eleven, Timmy already knows the world is phony baloney - Mom and Dad just won't admit it. Now ZomCon's head of security has moved in across the street, and Timmy's Mom refuses to be the only housewife on the block who doesn't have a zombie of her own. When she brings a zombie servant home, Timmy discovers a new best friend, and names him Fido. And even though Dad has a bad case of zombie-phobia, Timmy is determined to keep Fido, even if he does eat the odd person.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Fantastic Deconstruction of the Genre\n\nReview: Fido / B000V4UH08\n\n*Spoilers*\n\nI wasn't sure what to think going into \"Fido\", but I'm a fan of dry humor and I love zombie movies, so I figured I might like it. I wasn't expecting, however, to absolutely *love* the movie.\n\n\"Fido\" is a hilarious deconstruction of the zombie movie genre and is the perfect thing for getting into the viewer's head. When Mrs. Robinson brings home a zombie servant to help around the house (just like all the other smart, stylish families in the neighborhood!), Mr. Robinson is initially horrified, as is the viewer. The initial reaction is that this is a suicidally stupid idea - how is it even remotely worth it to risk death (and undeath) all for someone who will ineptly help around the house? What if the control collar breaks or malfunctions? And when we learn that *all* dead bodies become zombies in this world, even ones who die from natural deaths, the viewer can't help but agree with the sentiment that the very old and terminally ill should be preemptively locked up for everyone's safety.\n\nIt's a testament to the writing in \"Fido\" that the viewer slowly, eventually, and unexpectedly comes around to the prevailing blase opinion of the day - zombies are everywhere and there's no point in dwelling on it. It's no accident that the house-zombie's name is 'Fido' - zombies in this world are something akin to dogs. Most of them are placid and docile (thanks to modern technology!), but, yeah, occasionally accidents happen and someone loses an ear (or worse). But that doesn't mean that you don't still own dogs - just that you have to be careful, and isn't that true in any society? And, of course, the local elementary school teaches precision gun firing, possibly the most hilariously morbid scene I've seen in a movie, ever. And, sure, you can stress over your undeath, and pay massive amounts of money for a \"head burial\", ensuring you don't come back, but strip away all your presumptions and you come around to Mrs. Robinson's point of view: Is that really such a bad thing?\n\nThe writing and acting in \"Fido\" is absolutely superb, and this is easily one of the best dark comedies I've ever had the pleasure to watch. If you like zombie movies and have a sense of humor, you're almost sure to like \"Fido\". Do yourself a favor, check it out, and enjoy having your presumptions turned upside down.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Quick Shipping !!! New And Sealed !!! This Disc WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. A multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player is request to view it in USA/Canada. Please Review Description.\n\nRating: 1.0\n\nSummary: Terrible Retread; The Mummy Series Deserves Better\n\nReview: The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor / B001HQZJMU\n\n*Spoilers*\n\nI love The Mummy series, but this addition is simply terrible - a lazy retread of of its predecessors in hopes of wringing a few more dollars out of this franchise.\n\nTomb of the Dragon Emperor seems one of those Hollywood movies devoted to making marriage look as pleasant as a root canal. Rick and Evie have stopped being passionate soul-mates who carefully balance their exploratory endeavors with less dangerous, but no less interesting pursuits (as in the second Mummy movie) and have, instead, been turned into the stereotypical empty-nest drudgery marriage. Evie no longer manages museums and attracts the praise of the historical community - she writes historical romances where she (disturbingly) has re-envisioned the most horrifying moments of her life as sexually exciting events. Really, my gorge rose when Evie tried to make the scene where she had been tied down next to a writhing, rotting mummy with a dagger poised over her heart as an erotic game to entice her tired husband to bed. Evie doesn't need an adventure - she needs counseling.\n\n(Or perhaps it is the director who needs the counseling - the odd sexual connotations keep coming over and over through the course of this movie. Alex (a grown man now) confesses to his mother that he is not a virgin and she brightens in relief and asks chirpily \"How many?\" partners he has had, and seems positively panting for details. And Alex and his dad, Rick, spend far too much time arguing that \"size matters\" when it comes to...guns.)\n\nOnce the marital bickering is over and the action starts, we are treated to a lame, lazy retread of the first two movies. The motivations of the mummy are boring and trite without the depth of the previous movies (I preferred the motivation of 'true love' to a plain, straightforward \"Megalomaniac Seeks Immortality\" reading).\n\nOh, yes, and there's also a vomit scene. Do you know what made the other Mummy movies genuinely good flicks instead of soulless retreads? A lack of vomit, among other things. Thanks, Hollywood.\n\nThis movie provides captions for the hearing impaired.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Four more episodes of sharp and joyfully painful lunacy aboard the Sattelite Of Love with Joel, Mike, Tom Servo and Crow. 4 disc set.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Hilarious Addiction to any MST3K Collection\n\nReview: MST3K: Volume 10.2 / B0012CJR04\n\nThis is a wonderful addition to any MST3K collection.\n\n- Giant Gila Monster: Another black-and-white low-budget monster film, this one uniquely features a French-accented heroine who is almost completely unintelligible, and a wholesomely greasy hero who frequently breaks into sweet-sounding, but thoroughly confusing songs. Highlights here are the extreme camera close-ups to the cute little gila monster in order to make the adorable little guy more terrifying.\n\n- Swamp Diamonds: This one is confusing - it feels like the entire premise of the film was to have a sequence of cat fights set in a dirty swamp, but with swimming cut-aways to a crystal clear pool during supposed alligator attacks. There are a few good riffs here, but you'll be struggling to stay awake and un-confused throughout.\n\n- Teenage Strangler: Yet another example of a title that was created largely in absence of the actual content of the movie - the \"Teenage Strangler\" fails to feature either a strangler of teenagers nor a strangler who is a young adult. Then again, given that the movie cast features some of the oldest actors for young adults parts that you'll ever see, it's understandable that the director was confused. Again, there are some solid riffs here, but nothing you can't live without seeing.\n\n- Giant Spider Invasion: The meat-and-bones of this collection, this medium-budget monsters-from-space episode is absolutely hilarious. Featuring Alan Hale of \"Gilligan's Island\" fame, the riffs come hard and fast here. A perfect example of some of the \"high-brow\" MST3K jokes, you'll howl with laughter when the bots sing \"I Enjoy Being a Victim\". Notable for an episode that features a woman scientist with a doctorate (and a pantsuit)- to the movie's continued surprise and astonishment. A must-see for MST3K fans.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Quick Shipping !!! New And Sealed !!! This Disc WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. A multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player is request to view it in USA/Canada. Please Review Description.\n\nRating: 1.0\n\nSummary: Terrible Retread; The Mummy Series Deserves Better\n\nReview: The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor / B001HQZJMU\n\n*Spoilers*\n\nI love The Mummy series, but this addition is simply terrible - a lazy retread of of its predecessors in hopes of wringing a few more dollars out of this franchise.\n\nTomb of the Dragon Emperor seems one of those Hollywood movies devoted to making marriage look as pleasant as a root canal. Rick and Evie have stopped being passionate soul-mates who carefully balance their exploratory endeavors with less dangerous, but no less interesting pursuits (as in the second Mummy movie) and have, instead, been turned into the stereotypical empty-nest drudgery marriage. Evie no longer manages museums and attracts the praise of the historical community - she writes historical romances where she (disturbingly) has re-envisioned the most horrifying moments of her life as sexually exciting events. Really, my gorge rose when Evie tried to make the scene where she had been tied down next to a writhing, rotting mummy with a dagger poised over her heart as an erotic game to entice her tired husband to bed. Evie doesn't need an adventure - she needs counseling.\n\n(Or perhaps it is the director who needs the counseling - the odd sexual connotations keep coming over and over through the course of this movie. Alex (a grown man now) confesses to his mother that he is not a virgin and she brightens in relief and asks chirpily \"How many?\" partners he has had, and seems positively panting for details. And Alex and his dad, Rick, spend far too much time arguing that \"size matters\" when it comes to...guns.)\n\nOnce the marital bickering is over and the action starts, we are treated to a lame, lazy retread of the first two movies. The motivations of the mummy are boring and trite without the depth of the previous movies (I preferred the motivation of 'true love' to a plain, straightforward \"Megalomaniac Seeks Immortality\" reading).\n\nOh, yes, and there's also a vomit scene. Do you know what made the other Mummy movies genuinely good flicks instead of soulless retreads? A lack of vomit, among other things. Thanks, Hollywood.\n\nThis movie provides captions for the hearing impaired.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Four more episodes of sharp and joyfully painful lunacy aboard the Sattelite Of Love with Joel, Mike, Tom Servo and Crow. 4 disc set.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Hilarious Addiction to any MST3K Collection\n\nReview: MST3K: Volume 10.2 / B0012CJR04\n\nThis is a wonderful addition to any MST3K collection.\n\n- Giant Gila Monster: Another black-and-white low-budget monster film, this one uniquely features a French-accented heroine who is almost completely unintelligible, and a wholesomely greasy hero who frequently breaks into sweet-sounding, but thoroughly confusing songs. Highlights here are the extreme camera close-ups to the cute little gila monster in order to make the adorable little guy more terrifying.\n\n- Swamp Diamonds: This one is confusing - it feels like the entire premise of the film was to have a sequence of cat fights set in a dirty swamp, but with swimming cut-aways to a crystal clear pool during supposed alligator attacks. There are a few good riffs here, but you'll be struggling to stay awake and un-confused throughout.\n\n- Teenage Strangler: Yet another example of a title that was created largely in absence of the actual content of the movie - the \"Teenage Strangler\" fails to feature either a strangler of teenagers nor a strangler who is a young adult. Then again, given that the movie cast features some of the oldest actors for young adults parts that you'll ever see, it's understandable that the director was confused. Again, there are some solid riffs here, but nothing you can't live without seeing.\n\n- Giant Spider Invasion: The meat-and-bones of this collection, this medium-budget monsters-from-space episode is absolutely hilarious. Featuring Alan Hale of \"Gilligan's Island\" fame, the riffs come hard and fast here. A perfect example of some of the \"high-brow\" MST3K jokes, you'll howl with laughter when the bots sing \"I Enjoy Being a Victim\". Notable for an episode that features a woman scientist with a doctorate (and a pantsuit)- to the movie's continued surprise and astonishment. A must-see for MST3K fans.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: NOTICE: Polish Release, cover may contain Polish text/markings. The disk has English audio and subtitles. In the Far East, Alex O'Connell, the son of famed mummy fighters Rick and Evy O'Connell, unearths the mummy of the first Emperor of Qin -- a sha...\n\nRating: 1.0\n\nSummary: Terrible Retread; The Mummy Series Deserves Better\n\nReview: The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor / B001HQZJMU\n\n*Spoilers*\n\nI love The Mummy series, but this addition is simply terrible - a lazy retread of of its predecessors in hopes of wringing a few more dollars out of this franchise.\n\nTomb of the Dragon Emperor seems one of those Hollywood movies devoted to making marriage look as pleasant as a root canal. Rick and Evie have stopped being passionate soul-mates who carefully balance their exploratory endeavors with less dangerous, but no less interesting pursuits (as in the second Mummy movie) and have, instead, been turned into the stereotypical empty-nest drudgery marriage. Evie no longer manages museums and attracts the praise of the historical community - she writes historical romances where she (disturbingly) has re-envisioned the most horrifying moments of her life as sexually exciting events. Really, my gorge rose when Evie tried to make the scene where she had been tied down next to a writhing, rotting mummy with a dagger poised over her heart as an erotic game to entice her tired husband to bed. Evie doesn't need an adventure - she needs counseling.\n\n(Or perhaps it is the director who needs the counseling - the odd sexual connotations keep coming over and over through the course of this movie. Alex (a grown man now) confesses to his mother that he is not a virgin and she brightens in relief and asks chirpily \"How many?\" partners he has had, and seems positively panting for details. And Alex and his dad, Rick, spend far too much time arguing that \"size matters\" when it comes to...guns.)\n\nOnce the marital bickering is over and the action starts, we are treated to a lame, lazy retread of the first two movies. The motivations of the mummy are boring and trite without the depth of the previous movies (I preferred the motivation of 'true love' to a plain, straightforward \"Megalomaniac Seeks Immortality\" reading).\n\nOh, yes, and there's also a vomit scene. Do you know what made the other Mummy movies genuinely good flicks instead of soulless retreads? A lack of vomit, among other things. Thanks, Hollywood.\n\nThis movie provides captions for the hearing impaired.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Zoe is a little girl who believes in fairy tales. In order to help her uncle Lord Arnold get rid of a terrible dragon, Zoe decides she has to find some heroes. When she meets Gwizdo and Lian-Chu, a couple of two-bit, fly-by-night dragon hunters, she decides that she s going to believe in them and set out on an adventure to bring peace to the land.\n\nRating: 1.0\n\nSummary: Animation without Story, \"Comedy\" without Humor\n\nReview: Dragon Hunters / B001U3D88M\n\n\"Dragon Hunters\" feels like the sort of film you would get if you gave a rather large budget to a bunch of animation film school grad students and told them to go nuts. It's very pretty, but there's only a skeleton of a story to hang onto, and the \"comedy\" is never funny and often disturbing.\n\nLet's drill into the comedy first, and get it out of the way: there isn't any. Nearly all of the \"comedy\" is in the form of body jokes of a strangely suggestive nature - the blind king, when sizing up a potential warrior, isn't convinced of his manliness until he has had a chance to handle the warrior's package. This really isn't, ah, plot relevant, so why was it included here? The stick held over the heroes' heads to get them to complete their mission isn't jail time or anything so mundane - no, it's the threat that if they refuse to complete their mission, they will be \"spanked\" by the king, in public, on their \"bare bottom\". This point is stressed, frequently. At the end, the \"plucky\" girl on the team is threatened with this fate and she is \"saved\" by another, male character being punished in this manner in her place. Seriously, there is a LOT of screen time devoted to discussions of public spankings.\n\nThere's also an animal side-kick whose only purpose is to pee little spouts of fire.\n\nThe rest of the \"comedy\" is meant to come from the quirky comic relief character, Gwizdo, here voiced by Rob Paulsen, of <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Pinky-and-the-Brain/dp/B000FA57HG/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Pinky and the Brain</a> fame. You may remember Pinky as having a voice pitched so high and so annoyingly as to give Jar Jar Binks a run for his money. If so, your memory does not deceive you. Because this is a dark! and edgy! film, Gwizdo is a con-man who has no intention of following through on their contract to save the kingdom, but does so anyway because of the Bonds of Friendship. This does not, however, prevent him from going crazy and threatening to strangle a little girl with his bare hands. I digress, though - much of the \"humor\" involves him hoping up and down and screaming in a voice scientifically designed to burst my eardrums that He Does Not Want To Make This Journey. This gets old, fast.\n\nIndeed, I say that much of the humor involves Gwizdo's protestations, but it would be more accurate to say that most of the entire movie centers around this. This really is the most watered-down plot I've seen in awhile: an ancient evil is preparing to wake and ravage the populace, and our heroes are hired to go to his ancient sleeping place and stab him a few times for good measure. They walk there, through a number of surprisingly lovely yet ultimately pointless, worlds; arrive with no strategy in mind; and pull an unlikely win out of their hair, largely because the hero's family was destroyed by the monster when he was a child, and having him kill it is more poetic. Then they all go back home and Gwizdo gets spanked. That is IT. Along the way, there's no story, no plot, just lovely backgrounds and Gwizdo whining at a rate of four complaints per minute.\n\nIf you have a specific need to hear Rob Paulsen talk about being spanked in public, \"Dragon Hunters\" is for you, but if you'd like a story with your plot, run away as fast as you can.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Chris Pine (Star Trek) stars in this intense, gripping thriller about a deadly threat beyond anyone's worst nightmare. Determined to escape a lethal virus, four teens set out in search of an uncontaminated refuge, only to discover that they are far more dangerous to each other than the virus they are trying to survive. Carriers is a pulse-pounding journey into a world where laws and rules no longer apply, and no one can be trusted -- not even your friends.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Adds nothing to the zombie genre, nor to cinema as a whole\n\nReview: Carriers / B002TZS5GU\n\n\"Carriers\" is a movie that thinks much more highly of itself than I do. The standard fare is on display - a mysterious disease, for which there is no cure and little understanding, has ravaged humanity, leaving society completely devastated as governments crumble and social structures between people break down overnight. With social structures completely dissolved, it's obviously time for the inevitable raping, pillaging, suiciding, and so forth in order to make some sort of statement about the state of the human condition in the face of an apocalypse... which might be kind of innovative, except that it's already been done several times over, particularly with <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Blindness/dp/B001LLH8SE/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Blindness</a>.\n\nFundamentally, \"Carriers\" seems to think that it's terribly edgy and clever, but there's nothing here that you haven't seen a hundred times before. Frequently mentioned \"rules\" for survival and goofball destruction of property for the fun of it, straight out of <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Zombieland/dp/B002WY65VU/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Zombieland</a>. A more organized and serious group that initially seems to have its act together, but is all too willing to crack from the strain and start raping and pillaging, fresh from <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/28-Days-Later/dp/B00005JMA8/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">28 Days Later</a>. And you have the \"survivors\" slowly becoming infected and hiding the fact from the rest of the group, as in every other zombie/contagious illness movie ever made, ever.\n\nDerivative isn't bad - taking elements that have worked before and sticking them together in new and interesting ways is a tried-and-true, if unoriginal, way to make your movie. But \"Carriers\" seems to think sp highly of itself, with far too many \"you can't handle the truth\" speeches to drive how that, gosh, the apocalypse *sucks*, and the smug writing and contrived situations meant to show the downfall of the survivors' humanity just comes across as tired, forced, and poorly done compared to better offerings out there.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Immerse yourself in a whole new dimension of family entertainment. Bring the 3D experience home with this hilariously uplifting adventure from the creators of MONSTERS, INC. and FINDING NEMO. Part rascal, part dreamer, retired balloon salesman Carl Fredricksen is ready for his last chance at high-flying excitement. Tying thousands of balloons to his house, Carl sets off to the lost world of his childhood dreams. But unbeknownst to Carl, Russell, an overeager 8-year-old Wilderness Explorer who has never ventured beyond his backyard, is in the wrong place at the wrong time -- Carl's front porch! Experience every thrilling moment of their adventure as it comes to life before your eyes in spectacular Disney Blu-ray 3D that will send your spirits soaring UP, up and away!\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Touching in a manner I hadn't expected\n\nReview: Up / B001KVZ6G6\n\nI wasn't sure I'd enjoy \"Up\" - the previews all seemed like a stereotypically Grumpy Old Man who comes to appreciate the life that he turned his back on through the Power of Friendship, or something equally wholesome and two-dimensional.\n\nOf course, this is a good example of how previews just aren't everything. Our grumpy old man has a name, Carl, and it turns out he's not so grumpy after all - but he has suffered a terrible and heart-wrenching loss. Pixar is to be congratulated for managing, again, to really flesh out a character in scenes that involve little-to-no actual dialogue, and in such a surprisingly short time - after the first 15 minutes of the film, I can almost guarantee you will care more about Carl than you have for the protagonists of the last dozen films you've watched. (OK, mileage will vary there, but seriously, Pixar does a wonderfully direct and succinct job of making you care for Carl as a person.)\n\nThere's so much to like about \"Up\". There's such a strong theme here of journeying to capture what you \"lost\", even if what you're trying to capture is something you never actually had. His tag-along friend, Russell, is also searching for something he has lost-yet-never-had, as he hopes that by finishing his merit badges, he might somehow regain the love that he remembers having from his father. If that doesn't break your heart, then nothing will. And the comic relief, Dug the Dog, is actually funny and heart-warming as well.\n\nTo my surprise, I really, really enjoyed \"Up\". I'm not quite sure how to rate it, though - I'm very glad that I've seen it, but...I strangely don't feel the need to re-watch it, which is unusual for me. Maybe it's just that \"Up\" burns itself into your memory so indelibly, or maybe it's just because it's a real tear-jerker, and I hate to cry, but for whatever reason, I'd recommend this as a rental first, and not necessarily a buy. Not because the movie isn't wonderful - it is! - but because \"Up\" might leave such a strong impression on you that you might not *need* to see it again... at least not without a box of tissues nearby.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Shelby Knox--a wide-eyed, precocious activist--is the star of THE EDUCATION OF SHELBY KNOX, a riveting tale of one girls mission to bring sex education to schools in her ultra-conservative hometown of Lubbock, Texas. Bursting with original characters, including an intolerant preacher crusading for abstinence, Shelbys skeptical but loving Republican parents, and Lubbocks tiny-but-vocal gay youth movement, the film richly captures an unusual coming of age story. In a town filled with religious fervor, sexual ferment, abstinence-only agitators and teenage pregnancy, Shelby struggles with her conflicting values and comes to terms with her own sexuality. In the process, she becomes an endearing and honest guide to the national moral morass. Unafraid to tackle pressing, complex questions, the film is supercharged with religion, politics, sex and the cultural warriors and ordinary people who battle over these hot-button issues. Skillfully crafted by award-winning directors Marion Lipschutz and Rose Rosenblatt, THE EDUCATION OF SHELBY KNOX is \"a pungent civics lesson on what can and cannot be accomplished by one plucky, idealistic girl.\" (The New York Times) DVD Features: Bonus Featurette; Interactive Menus; Scene Selection\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Who says young people don't \"care\"?\n\nReview: Education of Shelby Knox / B000GG4XYC\n\n*Spoilers*\n\nI love documentaries (probably a little too much!) and as soon as I heard about The Education of Shelby Knox, I had to rush out and rent it. This is a nice little documentary about the fight of one girl to obtain comprehensive sex education in her school district and, along the way, obtain the right of gay students to not be discriminated against.\n\nShelby Knox is, in many ways, the embodiment of our wonderful American teenagers. She earnestly cares about fairness and equality. Shelby lives in a city with one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the country and she wants her friends and schoolmates to be given proper education and facts about sex and sexual consequences in order that they be prepared for their future lives. She also hurts, genuinely, to see the gay students at her school openly discriminated against. Shelby is not, herself, gay or sexually active, but she recognizes unfairness when she sees it and she obviously has a passion for righting wrongs. She is also, like most teenagers, blessed with an ounce of self-centeredness which buoys her in times of trial and setbacks.\n\nShelby does not succeed in her quest - through no fault of her own, I might add - but she fails with grace and dignity. She excels in spite of small-town judgmental attitudes that judge her suspiciously for her activism and her associations. She flourishes in spite of a home life that, in my humble opinion, seems unfortunately authoritarian - her parents regularly discourage her (overtly and subversively) against her activism, particularly with regards to gay rights. They sort of come around in the end to put on a good face, but in my opinion their lack of enthusiastic support for their giving, caring daughter is very stifling.\n\nThis isn't your usual documentary. There are almost no experts interviewed, which I feel would have been a huge bonus to the enterprise, and would have warranted five stars. This is, instead the story of one young woman's crusade, as it happened. Although the editing can be a bit sloppy at times, I recommend this documentary, if only for the bits involving the True Love Waits pastor and his wonderful speech in which he successfully leaves students with the impression that you can get AIDS merely from shaking someone's hand. Ah, American education at its finest.\n\nI do not own this movie - I rented this through my Blockbuster Online account.","Product: Toddy Gear was founded by Todd Gabel as the beginning of an extraordinary, worldwide movement to clean every gadget, every screen, and color the world. Toddy Gear's Ready, Set, Cheer! line can help you express your Olympic and national loyalties with a variety of flag-pattern prints. The Toddy Gear Smart Cloth is a functional and fashionable microfiber cloth carefully crafted for effective, scratch-free cleaning of extremely sensitive surfaces. This stylish double-sided wonder cloth has a plush microfiber that doesn't just spread dirt and oil from your fingerprints around on your e-screens. It whisks them away with a couple of simple swipes, leaving you with that 'out of the box', clean feeling - and nothing feels better than a brand new gadget with that out of the box, clean feeling! Flip your Toddy Gear over, and the silky, decorated side polishes your device even further, while its tactile pleasantness tempts you to just rub it against your face like your beloved childhood blankie. Machine-washable and dryable on low heat. The AEGISMicrobe Shield protects against germs mildew and mold between launderings. The Toddy Gear Smart Cloth was developed to clean the world's e-screens effortlessly, effectively, and with a style that's totally fierce. Once you have got one, it will never leave your side!\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Resistant to Cat Hair\n\nReview: Toddy Gear 5x7 Microfiber Cloth / B008XGTYT6\n\nI received a free review copy of this cloth (the French flag model, to be specific) and I just love it.\n\nI have about a zillion microfiber cloths because they always come included when I buy my Skinomi screen protectors. The problem is that the cheap microfiber cloths on the market attract cat hair like nothing else, and my very fluffy calico just loves to roll all over the cloths. After she's spent about five minutes rubbing her face on them, they're forever-furry and not something I want carrying in my electronics bag.\n\nNot so with these Toddy Gears! I'm not sure what the microfiber is made from, but it's obviously a high quality material and seems to have been doused in fairy dust because it's VERY cat hair resistant. I rubbed this cloth all over my calico (which was very painful for me to do, as it is a VERY nice cloth and I hated to ruin it, but I figure it's my job to try to break free review copy items!) and the only hair that stayed on the cloth was a few strands that got caught in the side-stitching and which were easily removed.\n\nThe size of these cloths are pretty perfect for my 8\" Samsung Note. I just lay the cloth on the screen and close my screen cover and everything stays snug and tight for traveling. I do wish these were a tad cheaper; for $7, I'd buy several more colors, but the current ten dollar price tag still seems just a bit steep. I've included pictures of the item in the product image gallery above.\n\nNOTE: This review is based on a free review copy of this product.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: All about the latest trends in cute, Glitzanna loves all that sparkles and shines. Your smartphone is no exception. Keep her in your handbag and shell be your screens BFF. At just around 4 inches tall, Screensters are microfiber dolls inspired by the characters you encounter in your everyday life. They are small enough to fit in your pocket or backpack, these double-sided cuties have plush microfiber on one side for cleaning away dirt and oil, and the silky soft character side polishes your device even further. Your Toddy Screenster is machine-washable on cold. Toddy Gear Screensters are available in your choice of 10 different characters - Grab one or collect them all!\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Weighty Enough for Heavy Smudges\n\nReview: Toddy Gear Microfiber Cleaning Character (Stylista) / B00BSLH1F2\n\nAwhile back, I received a pack of Toddy Gear items for review, including this plush screen-cleaning doll. I was extremely impressed with the Toddy Gear flat-cloth for cleaning (and noted specifically in my review that, in addition to being silky and soft, it was also extremely resistant to collecting cat hair), but I wasn't sure what to do with this doll. Sure, she's cute and she's just as silky and soft as the flat-cloth, but the flat-cloth fits in your purse / tablet-case better and has less weight and bulk. And, yes, this can be put on your keychain, but I didn't need to add more bulk to my keychain.\n\nI'm glad I held off on writing a review, however, because I have since found the perfect use-case for this screen-cleaning doll, to the point where I plan to order a couple more: she's perfect for really heavy smudges, when you need weight and bulk to buff them out. While the flat-cloth was perfectly adequate for my 8-inch tablet and my 6-inch ereaders (which are gently used, and only touched by myself), I've been using this doll to buff heavier smudges out of my 10-inch tablet and desktop monitor (which get badly smudged thanks to small relatives and nosy cats). Where normally I would have to bunch up a flat-cloth and apply elbow grease, this doll has the right bulk and weight to clean with a lot less effort. And while that might not sound like much, it means a lot to me as a disabled person with back problems.\n\nSo I definitely heartily recommend these 4-inch screen-cleaning dolls if your devices have heavy smudges that take a lot of effort to buff out.\n\nNOTE: This review is based on a free review copy of this product.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: This is a high quality vinyl decal that can be adhered on your car, notebook, computer or just about any smooth clean surface. The decal is a single color without a background as shown. Can be used in interior and exterior applications. The vinyl used is UV and water resistant, and will last for many years without fading, peeling, or cracking.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Mangled in the Application\n\nReview: Coexist Vinyl Decal / B001R93K0K\n\nIt might say more about me than about the decal, but I completely mangled this in the application. The decal is sandwiched between two sheets, and in order to apply the decal, you pull off one sheet, slap the decal in place, and then pull off the other. I'd done this sort of application before with a <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Hello-Kitty-Vinyl-Decal-Sticker/dp/B001I1GRVQ/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Hello Kitty Vinyl Decal Sticker</a>, but this one was significantly more difficult.\n\nTo start with, each of the letters is a completely separate decal sticker, and in some cases - like the \"I\" and the \"S\" - even that is broken up into more, smaller decals. I struggled to get the \"S\" pieces to come off the application sheet and stick to the car window with everything else, and even when I was finished, I realized that the dot on the \"I\" had fallen off onto the floor. The \"T\" didn't last through the application - the top and bottom shafts tore off from the arms rather than be applied.\n\nThe other major problem I encountered - and again, this just shows how incompetent I am - is that I pulled off the wrong sheet prior to application, and thus the entire word was backwards after I'd applied it. It would have been nice if the application sheets had been labeled \"Pull me first!\" and \"Pull me last!\" Once the decal was on backwards, it was totally clear that I would never be able to reapply the letters - they wouldn't survive the effort. Three of them hadn't survived the first application.\n\nMaybe I got a dud, I'm not sure, or maybe my problems with the decals not wanting to come off had to do with me pulling off the wrong sheet first - it's entirely possible. However, I wasn't thrilled with the experience, and the flat white letters weren't as \"cool\" in person as they looked online, so I'm not going to reorder - I'll find a \"coexist\" bumper sticker where it's one sticker and not ten pieces of stickers.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Apply to any flat surface\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Okay, but watch the empty space\n\nReview: Hello Kitty Chococat Vinyl Decal / B001I1GRVQ\n\nI bought this to put on my car window. Application is a bit tricky - the decal is sandwiched between two sheets and you pull off one sheet, position the decal, and then pull off the other sheet. The whiskers didn't want to quite stay put on the car window at first, but with a little coaxing they finally cooperated.\n\nAlthough the Amazon picture is very accurate, I hadn't realized that (a) there's only empty space for the eyes, nose, and ears (which makes it a bit tricky to see Chococat in full daylight, and (b) the eyes are separate from the rest of the decal plastic (which made it a bit tricky during application). I like the decal, but I might not have bought it if I'd realized that beforehand.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Enjoy a perfectly harmonized writing experience with the Sarasa Premium Gel Ink Pens from Zebra! The innovative Rapid Dry Ink Technology not only allows a balanced continuous ink laydown, but is also proven to be the fastest drying gel ink available as well**. This is an ideal pen for the left handed, as it eliminates smudging and smearing in seconds. Its soft rubberized grip is latex-free and it allows for a precise, yet comfortable and firm grip while writing on any surface. This premium ink gel pen creates a perfect harmony between smooth gel ink, fastest drying time, remarkably comfortable grip, retractable barrel and convenient pen clip for a trusted, continuously reliable writing experience. Zebra Sarasa Gel Pens are available in 14 different colors - choose one or multiple colors to fit your personality and the writing occasion. The Zebra Sarasa Gel Pen is a perfect companion for any notebook, journal, calendar planner, teachers planning book, greeting cards and more. Pair this pen with other great writing instruments from Zebra, such as ballpoint pens, gel pens, rollerball pens, fountain pens, mechanical pencils, markers, highlighters and more! **Product has been tested by independent third party lab to be equal or faster dry time to industry leaders on 9 common writing surfaces**.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Practically Perfect in Every Way\n\nReview: Zebra Sarasa Gel Retractable Roller Ball Pens / B0000AQNW5\n\nI bought these to use with my ever-growing \"to do\" list of chores - I use the colors to categorize chores and organize my thinking. I really just bought these at random, figuring I'd make the best of whatever I got, but I *love* these Zebra pens so much that I'm thinking of using them for all my writing, not just list-making.\n\n1. Readable: Most assorted color sets have at least two or three colors that are so light, you can barely read them. Not so here - even the lightest colors (orange and lime green) are easy to read, so you really are getting 10 pens here, not 8 and two junk pens.\n\n2. No-Smear: A lot of gel pens seem to \"bleed\" all over the page, or take forever to dry and smear whenever you turn the page, but these Zebra pens dry almost instantly - I've yet to cause any smears.\n\n3. No-Cap: Retractable, so there's no cap to lose or accidentally knock off.\n\n4. Comfortable: The rubber grip is very comfortable and smooth - no ridges, bumps, or anything fancy to get on your nerves.\n\n5. Easy Writing: The points are just perfect on these. Sometimes I struggle with certain brands of roller ball pens, or maybe the pen has to be held at a \"just so\" angle, but these write splendidly no matter how you hold them.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: TEKwriterUSA 100 count high quality Gelwriter pens are packaged in a patented rotating stand to keep your pens organized and easily accessible and are perfect for scrapbooking, journaling, drawing, or anything else you can create with tip sizes ranging from 0.7mm to 1.0mm and the check safe ink is fade and water resistant. All pens feature a durable pocket clip along with a latex free comfort grip for precision pen control. High quality gel pens at a great value.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Writes Well, Not Sure About The Stand\n\nReview: TEKwriterUSA Gelwriter Gel Pen Set with Rotating Stand / B00B80SOVI\n\nLook at that product picture! Isn't it pretty? YES. Do these pens arrive like that? NO. (*sadface*) The pens come in a big bag, all mixed together, along with the empty stand and it's up to you to try to recreate the display. I wish they could have at least packaged them by color, but I suppose one bag for everything saves plastic.\n\nOnce I got the pens into the stand, I was a little underwhelmed. The stand is a touch wobbly and feels cheap, and the pens aren't inserted very deeply or securely -- I can pretty much guarantee that one of my cats will eventually brush too hard against it and there will then be a Big Mess to clean up. So I wouldn't count on using the stand in a high-traffic area frequented by grabby children or pesky cats.\n\nThe pens themselves are pretty great. Most of them start a little \"dry\", but if you press the tip against the paper a couple of times like the instructions say, the ink starts flowing smoothly. These aren't as fine a tip as I usually like, but the writing is still remarkably precise and controlled, and with no \"bleed\" that I've seen so far. I'm quite impressed, and I think I'll be using these a lot. I wish there were a few more black pens (I only got 6) and fewer brown pens (I have at least 10+ of those), but I guess I can't complain.\n\nThe approximate numbers above does lead me into one semi-major complaint: I'm a little irked that the pen color isn't written on the pen anywhere. The cap, the grip, and the bottom are all colored, so if you can see all colors equally well then you're fine, but if you have any kind of color-blindness, there are no words to help you differentiate as to what pen color you're using. (And before someone asks why a color-blind person would want to use a colored pen, I've worked in a lot of disciplines where colors were imbued with meaning for others, such as red ink for reviewing.) For myself, I'm not color-blind but I still struggled when assembling this display because I wanted to separate the orange from the brown and there were several pens where I just wasn't sure which was which from the external color. So some printed colors like on my Crayola crayons would be a nice upgrade for the company to implement in the future.\n\nBottom-line: Great pens; would be nice if they had printed color labels on the pen barrel; some assembly required to recreate the pretty display; the stand isn't made to endure harsh treatment from clumsy hands.\n\nNOTE: This review is based on a free Advance Review Copy of this product provided through Amazon Vine.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Manufactured with the amazingly beautiful and intricate Lextra Fiber Graphics technology. Printed without using ink the Lextra process uses high voltage electricity to drive soft dyed nylon fibers into detailed designs that feel wonderfull to the touch. Hand-washable Lextra collections include MouseRugs (mouse pads), and CoasterRugs (coasters) that are manufactured with genuine fringe. Draped over Freud's psychoanalytic couch is an oriental rug, glowing in colours,displaying rich textures and it transforms the plain and simple couch into a fitting landscape for the retelling of dreams. This splendid Qashqa'i shekarlu rug covers the most famous piece of furniture inthe world, Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic couch. The brilliantly coloured rug was made by one of the nomadic tribes of the Qashqa'i confederacy in Persia in the nineteenth century. Freud's patients reclined on this rug recounting their memories, dreams and fantasies. The new Freud MouseRug. The surrealism and magic of this oriental rug has been captured in this adaptation of the exquisite MouseRug.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: A decade old, and still beautiful\n\nReview: Mouse Pad, Lextra Freud Mouse Rug / B0000AHEOD\n\nI bought this mouse rug at a novelty shop back when I was a psychology major in school - it's supposed to be a duplicate of the oriental rug that was draped over Freud's iconic patient couch, and whatever you think about the man's theories, you have to admit that he had good decorating tastes.\n\nI've had this mouse pad for almost a decade now, and it's been used daily through several mice. It's been scrapped clean of cat hair (multiple times), been 'sweated' on when it's doubled as a coaster because I couldn't be bothered to pause my computer game to go find a real one, and has lived through several moves and changes of residences - and it's still going strong. The only sign of age or wear is that the coloring is ever-so-slightly faded and less bright than it was when I purchased it a decade ago. Even after all these years, all the fringe is still perfectly attached, and there isn't a single mark or tear to be seen.\n\nThis mouse pad is made of a very good, strong cloth top, with a solid, gripping rubber bottom to prevent slidding. It's so nice that my fiance is actually planning to buy a new one for his own computer - because I won't give up mine! If you're looking to purchase a mouse rug, I can definitely recommend this one, and the Freudian tie-in is a neat way to amuse your guests.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Whitelines Link is the combination of physical notes and the ease and versatility of digital documents. For those of us that have come to love and appreciate the good old fashioned pen and paper and the unlimited ability it allows to express ourselves, it has become difficult to see the same value in typed notes. Whitelines has found a way to meld the control and tradition of hand-written notes, letters, sketches, graphs... you name it, with the ever-increasingly valuable versatility of technology. Whitelines Link is the newest, and most highly-anticipated, line from Whitelines as the paper works in conjunction with the Whitelines Link app (available for free in the App Store and Google Play store) to digitalize, store and organize your notes.. In three easy steps you can store any of you writings in a could making all of your hard copy notes backed-up and accessible from virtually everywhere- all you need to do is have your smart phone hand (which, let's face it, for most of us is 24/7). Whitelines, an innovative concept that originated in Sweden, is pushing the standards for the notebook industry. The concept is simple: Dark lines distract, Whitelines don't. Instead of white paper with dark lines, Whitelines notebooks are comprised of paper with a light gray shaded background with white lines. The design of the paper allows your thoughts and ideas to stand off the page without fighting with the lines for attention, improving the readability of your writing. The toned background of the paper works to reduce glare making the unique design of the paper easier on the eyes. And not only is Whitelines working harder to support you and your ideas, but it is working harder to support the environment; the paper is processed and printed in a mill in the South of Sweden with zero carbon emissions. Notebook includes Whitelines patented paper for the greatest writing experience.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Apple only; very floppy/flimsy backing\n\nReview: Whitelines Link A4+ Lined Notes / B00AZT304O\nWhitelines Link A5+ Lined Notes / B00AZT302G\n\nI really, really like the concept of these notes, but I had to send both my notebooks back because they cannot meet my needs.\n\nOne, I wrongly assumed that the product statement which indicates that the Whitelines Link application is available in the App Store included the Google/Android app store in that statement. It does not; the application for these notebooks is only available on Apple devices. After looking into the matter, I see that they have an IndieGoGo fundraising campaign seeking to raise 40k to make an Android app by summer 2013, but I needed something available to me now.\n\nTwo, the front and backing on these notebooks are super flimsy -- they're about as firm as just having a sheet of paper as the front and back of the notebook. I know that some people are okay with that, but I like notebooks that will hold up to a lot of travel and wear-and-tear in bookcases and portfolios, and I can already tell that this isn't going to cut it.\n\nOverall, I still really like the concept, and I might try buying again (a harder-backed version next time) when/if they ever get an Android version up. But for right now, I needed the scanning email/evernote/dropbox markers on the paper to actually work and I don't have access to an Apple device so back they go. I wish the company the best of luck and I'm only leaving this review here because (at time of writing) there is nothing on the information page or in the reviews that provides this information on app availability and notebook front/back flimsiness.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: 10x stronger than cotton\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Sturdy, and Doesn't Cut My Hands\n\nReview: Hemp Leash, Medium, Apple Green / B000AYB4VK\n\nI bought this leash for my 4 month old, 14 pound puppy, to go with the matching collar (sold separately). My puppy loves to pull at his lead and I didn't want to buy a small harness since he'll just outgrow it in a few months... and the medium harness just hangs on him so far. This leash and collar, though, are a good substitute in the meantime.\n\nThe fleece on the handle is very soft and gentle and I no longer feel like I have invisible cuts on my hands (unlike the nylon lead we were using before). I was concerned that the fleece/hemp leash would get dirty easily, but so far it still looks like new, even after having been dragged through some mucky water one day. The hemp leash is thick and sturdy and - surprisingly - I feel that my puppy isn't pulling nearly as much as before. And when he does pull, I don't worry so much that he might hurt his little neck, since the collar has fleece to cushion him a little.\n\nThe leash seems a little shorter than the nylon lead we were using, but I prefer the shorter length because it gives my puppy less leeway to pull all over the place. Our walks have been much more enjoyable, both for me (less pain and pulling) and for him (less neck pain, and he seems proud of his 'big boy' leash). I love the green color and the eco-friendly materials and I recommend this leash as a wonderful upgrade from those cheap nylons.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Extremely durable, made with 100% recycled material\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Dog Likes It, I Don't\n\nReview: Planet Dog Tuff Recycle Ball / B000AY6W26\n\nI am very disappointed with the actual look and feel of the ball. First of all, the recycle emblem is a bright \"hazards ahead\" orange color, not the mellow brown shown in the picture. The ball is not smooth and shiny - it is a dull, flat black reminiscent of extremely old tires. Slightly less petty is my complaint that the ball has a bad plastic smell that clings to my hands and fingers, and the plastic feels flaky to the touch - little black particles adhere to my hands and clothes when I handle this ball. Personally, I do not like this ball at all, and give it 1 star.\n\nHowever, my puppy disagrees. In his short life span thus far, he's never been really interested in balls - his little tennis balls and soft plastic kitty balls only hold his attention for short periods. When I dropped this ball on the floor (in some disgust at the smell, I will add), he left the treat ball he was working on to dart over and snatch up this new rubber treat. He doesn't play with it for too long, but he definitely pays more attention to it than any of his other balls, and the periods he does pay with it are frenzied and happy - it seems he likes it. Perhaps he likes the smell that I find so unpleasant, I don't know, but he definitely gives this 5 stars.\n\nI don't think this ball is unsafe, despite the plastic debris and chemical smell. Of course, I'm no expert. I don't think it would hold up long to intense play with a chewing dog - it's a pretty soft plastic all things considered. I'm giving it 3 stars since the puppy does like it, but there's no way I would ever, ever have paid $12 for this toy if I had seen it first.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Feliway reduces or completely stops stress-related behavior including urine marking, vertical scratching, loss of appetite and the reduced desire to play or interact.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Seems to be working, but don't expect miracles...\n\nReview: Cat Hormone Feliway Refill / B000RI6C7K\n\nOK, we've got this cat who just does *not* stop talking. I don't know why - his sister is quiet as a lamb. And though it has been getting \"worse\" for the last two years (or maybe it just *seems* like it), it's not a new thing - he's almost six, and the vet thinks he's healthy as can be. He's just *really* fussy, whiny, anxious, and petty - he likes to follow the husband around the house hissing at him. Cute, but not conducive to headaches.\n\nI really don't know that these Feliway packs work - we've gone through three bottles now. When I first bought them, I was praying for a miracle, like our little \"problem child\" would suddenly be silent, serene, content, and happy. Yeah, no such luck. However...every month and a half or so, he starts *really* ramping up the yowling, and I start saying, constantly, \"Baby, what's WRONG?\" and then I go check the calendar and it's been over a month since I plugged in the last new Feliway bottle. And, sure enough, the darn thing is empty. So I go another week or two and finally in desperation I order another refill, and then our baby seems to calm down...comparatively...until the bottle is emptied and we go through this cycle again.\n\nSo, basically, I think this is helping, but I don't have a lot of before-and-after scientific data to go on. The cat has noisy days and less-noisy days, and it SEEMS like when the Feliway runs out, we get treated to a whole string of noisy days, and when the Feliway comes fresh in the mail, things quiet down a bit. Since I really do feel like these are helping, I'm buying more, but I wanted to share my story - as far as I can tell, Feliway *does* help, but don't expect a miracle.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Feliway reduces or completely stops stress-related behavior including urine marking, vertical scratching, loss of appetite and the reduced desire to play or interact.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Seems to help...but don't expect miracles\n\nReview: Feliway Refill Pack-6 / B000CPAV3O\n\nOK, we've got this cat who just does *not* stop talking. I don't know why - his sister is quiet as a lamb. And though it has been getting \"worse\" for the last two years (or maybe it just *seems* like it), it's not a new thing - he's almost six, and the vet thinks he's healthy as can be. He's just *really* fussy, whiny, anxious, and petty - he likes to follow the husband around the house hissing at him. Cute, but not conducive to headaches.\n\nI really don't know that these Feliway packs work - we've gone through three bottles now. When I first bought them, I was praying for a miracle, like our little \"problem child\" would suddenly be silent, serene, content, and happy. Yeah, no such luck. However...every month and a half or so, he starts *really* ramping up the yowling, and I start saying, constantly, \"Baby, what's WRONG?\" and then I go check the calendar and it's been over a month since I plugged in the last new Feliway bottle. And, sure enough, the darn thing is empty. So I go another week or two and finally in desperation I order another refill, and then our baby seems to calm down...comparatively...until the bottle is emptied and we go through this cycle again.\n\nSo, basically, I think this is helping, but I don't have a lot of before-and-after scientific data to go on. The cat has noisy days and less-noisy days, and it SEEMS like when the Feliway runs out, we get treated to a whole string of noisy days, and when the Feliway comes fresh in the mail, things quiet down a bit. Since I really do feel like these are helping, I'm buying more, but I wanted to share my story - as far as I can tell, Feliway *does* help, but don't expect a miracle.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: The Dingo brand combines powerful flavors and benefits to create bones, chews and treats that are sure to keep you and your dog wanting more. With a wide variety of shapes and flavors, there are options for any size companion. Reward your dog with a delicious treat that satisfies you both! Protect your poochs pearly whites. Help fight stubborn plaque and tartar buildup with Dingo Dental Sticks, For Tartar Control. These yummy treats offer the same great taste as other Dingo products made with real chicken in the middle, for a great source of protein. Your dog is sure to love the taste of real chicken, and youll love their sparkling, clean teeth. Help reduce tartar buildup, remove plaque and freshen breath due to the abrasive action of chewing. These fun shaped long sticks are the perfect snack for a dog of any size! *Tartar care and fresh breath are due to teh natural abrasive action of chewing.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: A Bit of a Gimmick, but Still Good\n\nReview: Dingo Dental Munchy Stick / B000FPKZTQ\n\nMy puppy loves Dingo Munchy Stix, so the dental versions seemed like an easy way to keep his teeth clean and healthy. He likes the taste almost as much as the regular Stix, and sweet breath and healthy teeth are a good thing, right?\n\nOnly we've learned from our trainer since then that ANY hard, chewy treat will clean his teeth by dislodging stuck food, and will strengthen his teeth with the chewing. We've also learned that the outside of his teeth still need to be cleaned regularly with dog 'toothpaste' (not the same as human toothpaste, which is dangerous for dogs) and that no munchy stick can serve as a replacement in this area.\n\nSo, basically, we're paying extra for the Dingo Dental sticks for the pretty green color and the fresh parsley smell. Not for superior dental treatment. It's a bit of a gimmick, but since they are covered with the 4-for-3 deal on Amazon, I'll occasionally throw a pack into my order because my dog does like them, and because it doesn't hurt to buy into a gimmick once in awhile. And, hey, I could always be wrong and it never hurts to be sure your dog has good teeth. But if you are short of cash, the regular Dingo Munchy Stix are much cheaper and will probably strengthen and clean out your puppy's teeth just as well.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: The K&H Thermo-Kitty Bed includes a dual thermostat, 4 watt heating unit buried within its thick premium polyfil pillow base. It warms the surface 10-15 degrees above ambient air temperature when not in use. When your pet lies in the bed it warms to your pet's normal body temperature to keep them cozy warm. The heater is removable and the cover is machine washable. Indoor use only, MET Listed, one year warranty.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great Bed, Bad Packaging\n\nReview: K&H Thermo-Kitty Heated Cat Bed (16-inch Sage) / B00176F9AM\n\nI love this bed, and so does my kitty, but I don't know that I recommend buying it from Amazon: the bed comes in a soft clear bag that was then shoved into a too-small box, and it takes a day or three for the bed to shake out to its round circle shape rather than a smashed oval!\n\nThe good news is that I didn't have any trouble convincing my kitty to use the bed -- I plopped him into place and he snuggled in and fit his chin on the bed-rim and that was that. I love that the bed can be kept plugged in constantly without having to worry about the house burning down or electricity waste, since it only heats when there is an actual kitty inside. And I think that the warmth has helped my cat's arthritis; he seems to move more comfortably after a session in his new warm bed.\n\nWe bought the 16-inch, and I wasn't sure if it would be too small, but it's actually plenty big. My cat is 15 pounds and reasonably long from nose to tail, but there's plenty of room for him to curl up in here. I don't think his sister could comfortably squeeze in with him, so it's a \"single-use\" as far as our household is concerned, but they're not really snuggle-bunnies in the first place.\n\nNote that the picture here is a little confusing: if you're getting a \"sage\" bed, it's greener than shown and the pale sand-color contrasts more than shown, but it's still very pretty.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: The K&H Thermo-Kitty Bed includes a dual thermostat, 4 watt heating unit buried within its thick premium polyfil pillow base. It warms the surface 10-15 degrees above ambient air temperature when not in use. When your pet lies in the bed it warms to your pet's normal body temperature to keep them cozy warm. The heater is removable and the cover is machine washable. Indoor use only, MET Listed, one year warranty.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great Bed, Bad Packaging\n\nReview: K&H Thermo-Kitty Heated Cat Bed (16-inch Sage) / B00176F9AM\n\nI love this bed, and so does my kitty, but I don't know that I recommend buying it from Amazon: the bed comes in a soft clear bag that was then shoved into a too-small box, and it takes a day or three for the bed to shake out to its round circle shape rather than a smashed oval!\n\nThe good news is that I didn't have any trouble convincing my kitty to use the bed -- I plopped him into place and he snuggled in and fit his chin on the bed-rim and that was that. I love that the bed can be kept plugged in constantly without having to worry about the house burning down or electricity waste, since it only heats when there is an actual kitty inside. And I think that the warmth has helped my cat's arthritis; he seems to move more comfortably after a session in his new warm bed.\n\nWe bought the 16-inch, and I wasn't sure if it would be too small, but it's actually plenty big. My cat is 15 pounds and reasonably long from nose to tail, but there's plenty of room for him to curl up in here. I don't think his sister could comfortably squeeze in with him, so it's a \"single-use\" as far as our household is concerned, but they're not really snuggle-bunnies in the first place.\n\nNote that the picture here is a little confusing: if you're getting a \"sage\" bed, it's greener than shown and the pale sand-color contrasts more than shown, but it's still very pretty.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: KONG Naturals are ecologically responsible cat toys. All materials and dyes come from natural, renewable resources. These toys are designed to appeal to the natural instincts of the indoor cat. KONG Naturals Crinkle Ball with Feathers is specifically designed to appeal to your cat's natural stalking and hunting instincts. The crinkle sound instantly sparks curiosity, and the combination of natural fabrics, natural feathers and catnip will provide hours of exercise and entertainment. KONG Naturals are more than just cat toys - they're fun with a purpose.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Flies like an Eagle\n\nReview: Cat Kong Crinkle Ball with Feathers / B0018MXX3K\n\nI think I must have picky cats - they fuss a lot for attention, like they are bored, but whenever they get a new toy, they play with it obsessively for the first ten minutes and then never touch it again. It's frustrating, but I thought that maybe the quality of the toys were the problem, and I tossed down for several nice Kong toys, remember how much the puppy had liked them.\n\nWell, the crinkle balls were probably the most well received. I don't know if it's just the feather, or if Kong douses everything in catnip before packaging, but they were both VERY interested in the crinkle balls when they came out of the package. The balls have enough weight to throw nicely (not that they 'fetch', but they do 'chase'...sometimes...if they're in a good mood), and the feathers are actually still attached, which has to be some kind of record for feathered toys at our house. It's not unusual for the cats to initiate play with these toys (they like to pin it with their paws, throw the ball up, and run after it), so I'm pretty pleased.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: The Bolt is a fun interactive laser toy that can entertain even the laziest cat. The Bolt offers both an automatic mode which generates random patters and a manual mode where you control the action. Turn it on, and watch your cat pounce, chase and bat at the exciting laser patterns.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Best Cat Toy Ever\n\nReview: FroliCat Bolt Laser Toy / B0021L8W6K\n\nI wasn't too certain about buying this toy for my cats' fifth birthday. I knew that they like to chase lasers, so that wasn't the problem - my concern was that they don't like to STOP chasing lasers. Our last foray into laser pointer territory ended with me letting the laser dot \"escape\" through an air vent in the wall, thinking that would end the game - no, they just sat vigil under the air vent for five hours. I didn't want a repeat of that.\n\nOn the other hand, they are housecats and seem pretty bored and listless, and they definitely need the exercise, so I broke down and bought this... and could not be happier.\n\nThe best thing about this laser toy is that if has a mechanical 'servo' sound - a kind of light-pitched soft whirring and turning whenever it is in operation. The sound is soft enough to not really bother a human (although you probably wouldn't want to sit next to it while you watch TV), but it is distinct enough for a cat to hear it in the other room and come running. The practical upshot of this is that your cats figure out really quickly that the magical laser dot ONLY appears when the whirring noise turns on. So if the whirring noise goes off, the laser is gone, and they don't hunt endlessly for it. Indeed, my most active cat has figured out that the laser dot COMES from the whirring thing and will lead me to its spot on the table and demand that I push the button to activate it. Awesome.\n\nI suppose the other best thing about this toy is that it works. It's silly that has to be a product 'plus', but such is the state of the cat toy industry these days, I suppose. But boy, does this thing work! It takes 4 AA batteries, and I recommend they be fully charged (try Eneloop batteries, you won't be disappointed) in order for the light to be as bright as possible. We have the toy sitting on a coffee table, with the adjustable mirror set to the perfect angle so that the light appears on the carpet a few feet away. The light swirls in slow patterns, jumps in fast leaps, and holds still for a few seconds so that my lazy calico can leap on it and cover it with both paws. The best part is that the cats never seem to get frustrated with not being able to 'catch' the light - they seem to recognize that it's a game, not real prey, and that's fine with me. My tuxedo always plays, but sometimes my calico just likes to lay on the floor and watch the light. Thy both come running at full speed, though, when they hear that motor start.\n\nThe toy has a fifteen minute shut-off point so you can turn this on and leave the room without worrying that your cats will make themselves sick chasing a dot for hours. It's as easy as putting the batteries in (with an easy sliding-door chamber - no tricky maneuvering required), setting it down on a table, and pressing a button to turn on. If you want it to shut off before the 15 minutes are up, you press the button again. So easy! I am seriously considering buying more of these - one for each room in the house.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: 55600 Features: -Bowl.-Encourages your cat to drink more water.-Large surface area adds oxygen to water for fresher, tastier water.-Multi-stage filtration absorbs water impurities.-Lime green top with white base.-Also suitable for small dogs. Dimensions: -Dimensions: 6.75'' H x 8.25'' W x 8.25'' D. Collection: -Catit collection.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Excessive Heat and Noise; Sent It Back\n\nReview: I recently bought and/or received three cat fountains for my two kitties (senior adult; ~15 pounds each). This will be a review in three parts, as I feel the fountains are best reviewed in comparison to each other.\n\n---\n\n<a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Hagen-Catit-Design-Fresh-and-Clear-Cat-Drinking-Fountain/dp/B004L4XR3I/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Hagen Catit Design Fresh and Clear Cat Drinking Fountain</a> / B004L4XR3I (2 Stars) [This is the product page you're currently on.]\n\nThe Hagen Catit fountain was such a disappointment to me, because I love the clean modern look of the Hagen Catit products and I love the \"expandability\" of the products they have for sale -- it seems like all their products have some optional add-ons that stroke my \"buy gifts for kitty!\" impulses. Unfortunately, the Hagen fountain I received was super loud and the plug-in was worrisomely hot to the touch. It was quiet from the time we plugged in the unit until the next evening, at which point it had escalated to a dull roar that could be heard from the other side of the house. Cleaning the filter and unit didn't affect the noise, and when we unplugged the unit to clean it, we realized that the power source was burning hot to the touch. I think we received a faulty unit. Probably the company (or Amazon) would have sent out a replacement unit, but I didn't want to try again because the cats didn't seem to care for the \"bubble-up\" nature of this particular water fountain.\n\n---\n\n<a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Drinkwell-Rectangle-Multi-Level-Plastic-Fountain-Drinking-Dish/dp/B0056ASTES/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Drinkwell Rectangle Multi-Level Plastic Fountain Drinking Dish</a> / B0056ASTES (3 Stars)\n\nThis was my second Drinkwell fountain, received free through Vine after my first one broke. This is a different model and I don't think I like it very much. For myself, I found it difficult to put together -- the unit has to be compressed with your hands and snapped in and out of place, and I found this very difficult to accomplished. (Note: I am a person with a disability. Your mileage may vary.) And this unit, while not as loud as the Hagen, was still plenty noisy -- about an hour after plugging in the fountain in the kitchen, I realized I could hear it humming from the bedroom. I'm very sensitive to electronic noise, and so I didn't care for how loud the unit was in our home. I will say that our cats liked this one just fine, and were not put off by the form factor or the sound (although they were already used to our last Drinkwell, which was far from silent), so I will keep this one for use on our outdoor patio.\n\nNOTE: This review is based on a free Advance Review Copy of this product provided through Amazon Vine.\n\n---\n\n<a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Pioneer-Pet-Stainless-Steel-Fountain-Raindrop-Design/dp/B0037NKDSG/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Pioneer Pet Stainless Steel Fountain Raindrop Design</a> / B0037NKDSG (4 Stars)\n\nThis is the fountain we ended up keeping for use in the kitchen. I really like the teardrop shape, and the cats took to the fountain with no issues. I like that they can drink from the fountain or from the relatively-still \"pool\" that collects to the side. Best of all, while the unit isn't noiseless, it's definitely the quietest drinking fountain we've owned -- there's very little electronic hum, and it's largely drowned out by the normal splashing fountain sounds. I also like that the unit is super easy to dissemble and clean -- I can clean this fountain by myself in five minutes flat, with no snapping parts to wrestle into place. The only potential downside that I can see is that a really energetic dog or kitten might be able to shift the parts, but my cats are quiet senior adults and don't try to play in the fountain. I will also note that I like the shiny silver surface, but it seems to be losing a lot of luster in the short time since we've had it. So it's not perfect, but it meets our needs.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Eat-Sleep-Play Silicone Can Lid is an exclusive design of Progressive International. It fits most pet food cans for locked in freshness. Silicone is a durable material that will outlast plastic and is dishwasher safe.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Eh, I wouldn't write home about it.\n\nReview: Can Lids Reusable / B000MN5AZK\n\nYou used to be able to get these things in the grocery stores all the time, but lately I can't find them. You can still find them for cat food cans at most pet stores - in all sizes, really - but I wanted something for storing food in the fridge. We never seem to finish the canned sauce, beans, or vegetables in one serving and I got tired of wrestling with plastic wrap.\n\nThe lid is pliable plastic that \"fits three sizes\" by virtue of two inner lips under the top - meaning that if you use this to cap a really small can, the sides of the lid will overlap the can, making something akin to a mushroom shape. In those cases, it is extremely easy to accidentally uncap the can, so be careful about that. Fortunately, we usually have need of the biggest size for things like refried beans and canned corn. The seal never seems as tight as it could be, though, and the pliability of the lid tends to be an annoyance - like, for instance, if you plan to stack a smaller can on top of your larger, lidded can, the pliable plastic will buckle too much to allow this.\n\nWe're still using these because it's still better than wrestling with Saran Wrap. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't considering looking for some solid plastic cat food lids that might fit our baked beans and spaghetti sauces. I'm not overly sorry I bought these, but they're not worth writing home to tell mother, either, as the saying goes.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: This panel has no ballasts to burn out like other plant lights. It does not run hot, just warm. You will not experience unsightly brown burned leaves when they accidentally touch the LEDs. This is common with most other lights that get very hot. This more controlled running temperature reduces the need to water so often and keeps rooms with plants from getting uncomfortably hot in the summer months requiring additional air conditioning. Extreme energy efficiency permits this new LED panel to pay for itself many times over each year in electricity savings. It saves 50% to 90% in energy consumption compared to incandescent bulbs or fluorescent tubes. Wide angle projection insures uniform leaf coverage. Scientifically calculated even blending of red and blue LEDs eliminates the time consuming task of repositioning separate colored lights back and forth trying to achieve uniform exposure. 14 to 16 hours per day is all that is necessary for maximum plant health with this wave blended lighting system. This allows distances 6-Inch and less between the LEDs and the plants accelerating photosynthesis. Red and blue wavelengths are for growing and flowering of plants. The typical white plant lights that are very hot is unnecessary and just consume excessive electricity. The purity of the LED generated light lengthens flowering periods. These LEDs turn on instantly and can be turned on by hand each day or work well with all standard lamp timers. Color: Red + Blue = Purple looking to the eyes Working Voltage: 12V or 110V-220V Power: 13.8 Watts Dimensions: 12 inches (30.5cm) square Thickness: Low profile 1.25-Inch Power cord length: 48 inches Recommended coverage: one panel per 18 inches square LED life: Approx. 15 years used all year long. (60 years for spring starting of seedlings)\n\nRating: 1.0\n\nSummary: Attractive Product, Terrible Results\n\nReview: Greenhouse, Hydroponic LED Lamp / B001MVWYZA\n\nI bought this hydroponic lamp to use with my indoors herb garden. Our kitchen doesn't sustain a lot of direct daylight, and I had read that pretty much any herb garden would need strong supplemental light in order to thrive. I purchased this LED light because I was drawn by the cheap operating costs and the low residual heat. In the interest of fairness, I will note that the residual heat is almost non-existent and the operating costs are quite low, but none of that really matters as this light just does not work.\n\nMy seeds (purchased from four different, reputable companies) simply did not sprout, despite dedicated heat mats and plant food. My purchased herb plants - including three different kinds of basil - died within a few weeks under this light. The spicy globe basil shriveled up into itself and died; the Thai basil dropped its leaves entirely; and the lemon basil just stopped standing up - the stalks just lay over and died.\n\nI cannot tell you why, scientifically, this light does not work. I can simply warn you that if you hope to use this as a substitute for direct sunlight for indoor plants that would otherwise only get indirect sunlight, you should spend your money elsewhere. As a side note, this light did not come with any kind of hanging apparatus - the unit is just the solid square with side holes drilled around the edges - and we had to mock up quite the apparatus just to be able to use it at all without having to worry about slippage and breaking - it just wasn't worth it. Shame I cannot retrieve that effort and my wasted money, but I can warn others that this attractive plant light is simply not a good investment.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Introduces kids to science, medicine and eases anxieties over doctor visits. Sturdy enough for classroom use.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Not Quite a Toy, Not Quite a Medical Device\n\nReview: Learning Resources Stethoscope / B00004WKU2\n\nWhen my heart starting skipping beats unexpectedly due, apparently, to chronic stress, I decided I needed a stethoscope on hand for quick assessments of my heart beat during my palpitation periods. Amazon is my standby in these emergencies and, among the expensive \"med student\" options, there was this Learning Resources toy. The results, in my opinion, are mixed.\n\nFirst, this is not the most sensitive of stethoscopes. The heart beat is softer than more expensive stethoscopes, probably to lessen potential damage to a child's eardrums if the stethoscope is mishandled. (Seriously, that would be a huge concern of mine before handing this toy over to a child. Hearing loss is permanent and should not be flirted with.) The stethoscope realistically picks up every errant movement or flutter of clothing, so the user must hold very, very still in order to get a decent read on the already soft-sounding heart rate.\n\nSecond, as others have noted, the hearing pieces on this stethoscope HURT. I can't leave the stethoscope in my ears for more than a minute or so. The hearing pieces are fairly big (I'd estimate larger than a small child's ear could comfortably accommodate, but I can't say with certainty), very hard, and press inwards strongly, and at an uncomfortable angle. Attempts to \"stretch\" the metal out a bit have failed so far.\n\nBottom line, though, is that this stethoscope does work for what I purchased it for, even if it doesn't work as well or as painlessly as I'd like. I can monitor my heart during periods of bad heart activity, although I dislike that the stethoscope is too painful to use for frequent \"spot checks\". I can't imagine that this would be a particularly sturdy toy - if I have to keep the chewy rubber away from inquisitive cats, I'd have to think that small teeth could so just as much, if not more, damage. Although I suppose the majority of children don't chew on their toys past age 5, a younger brother or sister could wreak a goodly amount of havoc on this toy.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: The God of Small Things\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: An exquisite novel that I couldn't connect with...\n\nReview: The God of Small Things / 978-1-588-36783-9\n\nI feel simply awful only rating this wonderfully exquisite book 3 stars, but I have to confess that I just felt like I couldn't quite get into the narrative. The novel is wonderfully well-written, with careful turns of phrase that stick with you until the end, and with lavish descriptions that really convey the place and attitudes of the setting. The theme of injustice towards the most vulnerable members of society is sharp and visceral, as well as the theme of social displacement and of having your culture slowly leached from you.\n\nThe writing is so beautiful that it's impossible to not compare \"The God of Small Things\" to other great novels dealing with oppression and cultural displacement; in many ways this novel reminds me of some of the greatest works by Atwood, Marquez, and Rushdie - especially as Roy lays a gentle fabric of magical realism over her vividly described narrative.\n\nAnd yet, I confess, I never could really sink myself into \"The God of Small Things\" despite the obvious beauty and skill within the writing. After much reflection, I finally decided that my detachment came from the fact that most of the plot details that the book carefully doles out through flashback form are revealed in advance extremely early on - in the first few chapters, in fact. When novels start with a tragic future and then split of into a flashback to the past (bringing us up to the tragic present), it's usually customary to slowly reveal exactly *what* caused the future to go so horribly wrong, such that by the time we've caught up to the present, we've witnessed the whole story \"as it happened\", and experienced all the heartbreak along the way.\n\nHere, however, we're treated to something of a \"plot summary\" early on and things that could have been major shockers in the late chapters are instead told to us outright in the beginning. In retrospect, this made me somehow less emotionally attached to the story; I felt less as though I was part of the narrative, unraveling a mystery as I went along (\"How did things go so wrong?\") and more like I was a detached observer, simply serving time until the tragic end (\"When does the molestation mentioned in Chapter 1 actually happen?\").\n\nI think, in some respects, I was simply the wrong audience for this book. I certainly think that for other audiences, this could easily be a book so meaningful that it would touch their lives forever, but for me, personally, not coming from this culture and unable to really sustain suspense for events that I'd already been told in the first few chapters would happen, I couldn't really connect with this novel, though I could appreciate that it was beautifully written.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Reissue of Philippa Gregory's disturbing novel of passion and betrayal in Tudor England. A haunting story of a woman's desire in a time of turbulence. Alys joins the nunnery to escape hardship and poverty but finds herself thrown back into the outside world when Henry VIII's wreckers destroy her sanctuary. With nothing to support her but her looks, her magic and her own instinctive cunning, Alys has to tread a perilous path between the faith of her childhood and her own female power. When she falls in love with Hugo, the feudal lord and another woman's husband, she dips into witchcraft to defeat her rival and to win her lover, but finds -- as her cynical old foster-mother had advised -- that magic makes a poor servant but a dominant master. Since heresy against the new church means the stake, and witchcraft the rope, Alys's danger is mortal. A woman's powers are no longer safe to use!\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Compelling Story, Potentially Offensive Material\n\nReview: The Wise Woman / 1-4165-9088-9\n\nThis is now my fifth Philippa Gregory novel I've read, and the fourth I've reviewed, and I cannot understand how Gregory can be so radically different with each novel, in terms of prose, technique, and sheer quality. \"<a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/The-Constant-Princess/dp/0743272498/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">The Constant Princess</a>\" was wonderful - crisp, clean prose, with a little bit of didactic dialogue, but it fit Catherine's character perfectly. \"<a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/The-Other-Boleyn-Girl/dp/B001KZI7SG/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">The Other Boleyn Girl</a>\" was terrible history, but a decent fictional story, even if Gregory did rely a little too heavily on virgin/whore stereotypes, and even if she deliberately reduced her heroine into an idiot in order that everything could be explained to her in dialogue. \"<a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Earthly-Joys/dp/0743272528/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Earthly Joys</a>\" was so painfully boring that I simply could not finish it, and \"<a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/The-Virgin-s-Lover/dp/0743269268/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">The Virgin's Lover</a>\" was just awful, with characters' motivations just told to us in hurried prose, rather than shown to us properly in actual actions and dialogues. And now we have \"The Wise Woman\".\n\nThe writing in \"The Wise Woman\" is simply wonderful. The plot and the characters are so compelling because Gregory skillfully takes every stereotype and shortcut in a writer's manual, and turns each one on its head. The entire cast of stock characters are here: the Reformed Rapist Lover, the Bitter Barren Wife, the Kind Supportive Old Father, the Cruel Uncaring Hag, the Sweet Understanding Foster Mother. And just when we realize that we're dealing with historical romance stereotypical characters, and figure that we know the outcome of the story, Gregory chooses that moment to show the ridiculousness of the stereotypes and the reality of her own characters.\n\n\"The Wise Woman\" does not have a happy story to tell. Entitled, rapist nobles do not reform into loving husbands. Bitter, barren wives have good reasons to be bitter. Noble fathers who seem kind to simple peasant girls have very different standards when it comes to marriage eligibility. Evil hags can still contain a kernel of kindness, and the nicest mothers are capable of cutting judgment and prejudice. Because these characters are so real, the plot is unpredictably bleak and shocking. Gregory seems to be asking the reader: Did you really think a lifetime of rape can be washed away by a pretty face? Did you really think that a lifetime of plotting and calculations would be abandoned simply because an old man is fond of a young girl? Did you really expect a happy ending?\n\nRefreshingly, our heroine is also allowed to be a real person. She isn't a Virtuous Heroine, who will win marriage because of her pure heart. She's not a Schemer, destined for greatness because of her clever political wrangling. And she's not an Anti-Heroine, determined to tear down her tormentors at the cost of her own life. No, she simply is a real girl, full of the same virtues, vices, hopes, fears, angers, and loves. Gregory doesn't pass judgment on her character; we're not expected to see her as greedy for wanting a warm castle over a dirty hovel, and we're not expected to judge her for her actions, even as she becomes increasingly desperate and spirals into madness. For the characterization alone, I would give \"The Wise Woman\" five stars, and would point it out as an example of how to do a historical romance right.\n\nHowever, there's a big caveat to all this before you rush right out to buy this book. There's a lot of material here that many people will find very objectionable. Of the many graphic sex scenes in this book, they all involve extreme violence, rape, forced drug use, or forced group sex. The scenes are often necessary to propel the plot, but they are certainly disturbing and will turn off a lot of readers. I wasn't offended by the scenes, but I did feel a little queasy after many of them - this isn't light reading material.\n\nSecondly, Gregory has decided to make magic a real force in \"The Wise Woman\", and some of this magic could be disturbing or offensive to some readers. I think, in retrospect, that I would have enjoyed the novel more if there was a possibility that the \"magic\" was all in the heroine's mind as an indication of her spiraling insanity. As it is, Gregory makes it pretty clear that the magic our heroine works and suffers from is completely real, and not a hallucination. I would have preferred a little more subtlety.\n\nThe only other thing that keeps this from being a five-star book is the ending. I don't have a problem with the ending itself: it's realistic, it's cyclical, and it works. But I do have a problem with the way the ending seems rushed and tacked on, as if Gregory had a page limit to maintain and realized, twenty pages from the end, that - oh no! - she needed to wrap this baby up fast. Her careful, foreshadowing prose gets tossed out the window in favor of a dash to the finish line. The result is an ending that seems technically right, but feels horribly wrong.\n\nBottom line: If you are offended by graphic, violent sex scenes and/or graphic, violent magic, you will not enjoy this book. If you are a fan of historical romances and you would like to see some common stereotypes followed through to a dark and subversive conclusion, you may enjoy this book as I did. For all its joys, there are better novels out there, but if you are looking for something unusual and different, this is the Gregory novel for you.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Wither\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: A solid dystopia, possibly hurt by over-ambition\n\nReview: Wither / 978-1-442-40905-7\n\nI'm really pleased at the number of solid \"infertile end of the world\" dystopias coming out in YA literature lately - between \"Wither\" and \"<a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Bumped/dp/0061962740/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Bumped</a>\", it's almost like a new generation of <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Margaret-Atwoods/dp/0307264602/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Margaret Atwoods</a> are honing their literary skills with these thrilling new releases. \"Wither\" is a strong addition to the genre and if it fails anywhere, it is perhaps with the sometimes muddled world-building - if you can overlook that, then you're almost sure to enjoy this depressing-yet-haunting read.\n\n\"Wither\" is set in a world very different from our own. About 80 years before the book starts, the final generation of \"normal\" humans (people like you and me - let's call them 'Alphas') made a major breakthrough in genetic engineering and every baby born after a certain date was born genetically enhanced to resist every known form of disease. This super-human generation (called \"The First Generation\" in the novel, but let's call them the 'Betas') has thrived and flourished and are \"practically immortal\". However, every child born to a Beta (let's call these children 'Gammas') has died almost instantly at the age of either 20 (for girls) or 25 (for boys). Now, 80 years after the first Betas were born, the world is struggling to find a cure and to keep the human race alive somehow with the dwindling stock of Gammas available for breeding.\n\nIt's an ambitious hook, and while it's not easy to plausibly set up (Why did ALL the Alphas move over to the genetically enhanced babies right away? How could they all afford it? Were the designer babies paid for by the government? Were they MANDATED by the government? What about all the Amish and Jehovah's Witness groups that would have religious objections to this sort of thing?), you *could* hand-wave a lot of it pretty easily with a convenient plague that took out everyone except the disease resistant Betas, so it's easy enough to let the gaps in the setup slide. Then the author seems to realize, though, that a world-wide acceptance and implementation of genetically enhanced babies might be a bit harder to explain, so it's briefly dropped in text that the entire world EXCEPT North America has been so completely devastated by wars and bombings that there's no remaining land mass (besides North American) that is large enough to be seen from space - the world is now basically one big ocean. This is covered in maybe two paragraphs in text - you can quite literally blink and miss it.\n\nSo now we have a world where North America is the only thing that exists and everyone in it (except the aging Betas) is absolutely guaranteed to drop dead at either 20 or 25, depending on gender. I'm honestly not sure what a world like that would look like, but what's problematic with \"Wither\" is that the world looks surprisingly like our own. The premise of the novel is that young women are captured off the street by professional \"Gatherers\" who sell the girls as breeding stock and sex slaves to the wealthy upper-class who live in beautiful gated estates, but what I'm not sure I understand is how any of that can be possible in this world. What does \"wealth\" mean in a world where no one can expect to live past 25? Why are the wealthy and the pampered perfectly safe at their parties and rich gatherings, rather than besieged in their estate homes by mobs of ravening apocalypse-crazed young men and women? And where do the absolutely phenomenal amount of goods come from that are lavished on the young protagonist - someone, somewhere, is spinning fine cloths, and creating lovely makeups, and farming delectable animals and vegetables, and I find myself thoroughly disappointed that we don't get to see more of their motivation.\n\nEven if you sadly jettison the world-building (which I hate to do, because so much of a good dystopia depends on the world-building), the character building in \"Wither\" also sometimes seems a little anemic. Some admirable attempts were made at the beginning to establish a \"gray-and-gray morality\" world - the master of the house is an aging Beta desperate to find a cure for his 21-year-old son, and the son is a pampered noble unwilling to imagine that his three new brides would ever want anything more in life than to be his little toys - but by the end, all that seems tossed out in favor of a heroes-and-villains mentality: the aging scientist quickly devolves into a cruel, murdering despot, and we're apparently meant to see his son as a sweetly innocent boy who just somehow failed to notice that his father is Joseph Mengele. Oddly, the main love interest - a boy named Gabriel - seems the least well-characterized of all the people in the book, and sometimes I couldn't help but feel that the novel would have been better if he'd been removed entirely - indeed, I don't even think the story would have to change much to accommodate his absence! On the other hand, the plural wives - Rose, Rhine, Jenna, and Cecily - are so incredibly well-realized that they are perfect examples of how a vibrant character can evolve and change over the course of a novel.\n\nAt the end of the day, \"Wither\" is a fascinating and lovely read. If it stumbled a little on the world-building, I can't help but feel that it was *still* better than many books that aren't quite so brave and bold. I recommend it despite the minor flaws because it's still a horrifying and incredible read - and because I particularly liked the strong characters of the four sister wives, as well as the clear and vivid portrayal of the horrors of being trapped in a gilded cage.\n\nNOTE: This review is based on a free Advance Review Copy of this book provided through Amazon Vine.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Charlie Higson started writing when he was ten years old. After university he was a singer and painter and decorator before he started writing for television. He went on to create and star in the hugely successful comedy series The Fast Show. He is the author of the bestselling Young Bond books, and The End is the final book in his current horror series, The Enemy. Charlie doesn't do Facebook, but you can tweet him @monstroso.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: The most terrifying zombie book I've ever read...\n\nReview: The Enemy / 978-1-423-14504-2\n\nI'm a big fan of zombie lit, and have read quite a lot of what's out there, but I can honestly say that \"The Enemy\" scared me far more than most anything else I've read.\n\n\"The Enemy\" starts hard and fast by plopping us in the middle of the zombie apocalypse, as a rag-tag band of kids struggle to survive against the infected grown-ups. We rapidly learn that some time ago, everyone over about sixteen became incredibly sick and eventually started shambling around killing and eating the uninfected children. The children that have survived thus far have banded together into small, tightly-knit tribal groups, struggling to eke out some semblance of survival. Without any adults to guide them, the children hover between disaster-induced maturity and touching youthful naivete, as the older of the children try to look out for the smallest and youngest in the groups.\n\nPart of what makes \"The Enemy\" so frightening is that the reader is frequently and harrowingly terrified for the young protagonists. Author Higson does a wonderful job of characterizing the many children that fill the pages of this excellent novel - the point of view switches frequently between the children, and each child is fleshed out thoroughly and realistically. The children are attuned enough to the realities of the situation to allow the reader to identify with and care for them, but they still make enough foolish mistakes to retain their childlike status in the eyes of the reader. And once the reader becomes intimately familiar with all the characters, and grows to like them, the dangers of Anyone Can Die really hit home - this is not a book where battles feel bland and anti-climactic because you *know* none of your favorite characters will get offed.\n\nI really cannot rave enough about the wonderful writing here - everything from the world-building to the characterization to the point-of-view switches is done remarkably well. The switches between the characters always flow naturally and never feel forced or clunky or cheap. The children are often delightfully Genre Savvy, as you would naturally expect urban children familiar with zombie lore to be, but always remain ultimately vulnerable, particularly as things get worse and the younger children are forced to confront the horrors of this new world. And the world building is done so well that I started to become deeply concerned about the fate of the older children - is the danger of infection over for them or are they inexorably doomed like their parents?\n\nIf you like zombie books even a little bit, then you will love \"The Enemy\". I'm not 100% certain about the age target audience - personally, I found this book to be terrifying, and I'm an *adult*, but probably older kids can handle it as a solid horror/adventure story written from their perspective. While there is no sexual content, there is quite a bit of horror and violence, obviously, so do keep that in mind when shopping.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Brand NEW. We ship worldwide\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Even Better Than The First\n\nReview: The Sea of Monsters / 9781423131960\n\nI came to the Percy Jackson franchise after seeing the movie adaptation; I enjoyed \"The Lightning Thief\", but I thought the writing could have been a little tighter and better overall. Still, I was charmed enough by the world and the premise to dive into \"The Sea of Monsters\", and I'm so glad I did -- this second book in the series is even better than the first.\n\nWhen Percy is called upon to return to Camp Half-Blood and undertake a secret quest to save his best friend Grover, he doesn't hesitate. Still, he's a bit underwhelmed to join forces with the tempestuous Clarisse, daughter of his sworn enemy Ares, and his half-brother Tyson, a big, blundering baby Cyclops.\n\nThere's so much heart and spirit brought to this novel. I really love how Riordan captures Percy's ambivalence about his baby brother, Tyson -- Percy is understandably frustrated and confused by his father's actions without ever becoming a complete jerk. It's impossible not to love Tyson, and Percy comes around to realizing just how wonderful his family is, without the book ever delving deep into syrupy \"after school special\" territory. In the same way, the rivalry between Percy and Clarisse is very natural and pleasant to follow, with both children behaving like realistic kids with difficult backgrounds and distant parents.\n\nThe mythology has really been polished to a mirror shine with this installment -- it really feels like this is the book where Riordan hit his stride with the series. Instead of the monsters all being basic re-colors of certain legendary stories, the new monsters and situations seem to really work within the narrative as a meaningful whole within the story. Particularly delightful and terrifying is Grover's situation, with a beautiful swirl of both the Odysseus AND Penelope stories in one -- pure poetry!\n\n\"The Sea of Monsters\" is the book that convinced me to go ahead and buy the rest of the Percy Jackson series. If you liked \"The Lightning Thief\", you'll love this follow-up novel; if you weren't 100% thrilled with the first, give this one a try anyway, as I really think it achieves the vision that the first novel started with.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Brothers Ron and Dan Lafferty insist they were commanded to kill by God. Krakauer's investigation is a meticulously researched, bone-chilling narrative of polygamy, savage violence and unyielding faith: an incisive, gripping work of non-fiction that illuminates an otherwise confounding realm of human behaviour. 'A provocative look at the twisted roots of American fundamentalism' Will Self, Evening Standard Books of the Year 'Excellent ...a lucid, judicious, even sympathetic account not just of Mormon Fundamentalism but of the seductive power of fanaticism in general' Daily Telegraph 'Krakauer writes exceptionally well: as thrilling as Capote on true crime, as devastating as Nietzsche on religious fundamentalism' Scotland on Sunday 'Remarkable ...for anyone interested in the wilder frontiers of spiritual conviction, this book is a must' Independent 'Krakauer is an adept chronicler of extremists, and he's as intent on understanding religious fanatics as he was in his earlier books on exploring the obsessions of monomaniacal adventurers' Los Angeles Times\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Fascinating book, but not without flaws\n\nReview: Under the Banner of Heaven / 1-4000-3280-6\n\nI read \"Under the Banner of Heaven\" in the same weekend as \"<a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Escape/dp/0767927567/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Escape</a>\" and \"<a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Stolen-Innocence/dp/B001O9CDFG/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Stolen Innocence</a>\", and found it an interesting contrast to the two memoirs. Where \"Escape\" and \"Stolen Innocence\" both provide a woman's view of the community and how difficult escape is from the abusive institution of FLDS plural marriages, Krakauer attempts to provide a scholarly overview, with brief zooms into individual lives. The result is a fascinating book but, on reflection, I wish it had been edited a little differently.\n\nThe format of this book is slightly problematic for me. Krakauer initiates with a relatively 'current' event - the 1984 Lafferty killings - and uses that as a launching board to discuss the beginnings of the Mormon religion, the life (and faults) of founder Joseph Smith, and some of the more bloody incidents in the history of the religion. In theory, there is nothing wrong with the format, but the disjointed narrative makes it difficult to follow at times. I think that probably Krakauer made the best of a difficult subject - if he had simply started with Joseph Smith and worked chronologically towards the Lafferty brothers, the reader interest might not have been hooked; if he had dealt completely with the Lafferty brothers without the occasional sidetracks into the history of the religion, a lot of important pieces would have been lost on the reader in the case of the Lafferty killings.\n\nSo if I do not care for the layout of \"Under the Banner\", I cannot suggest a different one - I *do* suggest tackling \"Escape\" or \"Stolen Innocence\" prior to reading Krakauer's scholarly approach, as I believe these memoirs will clarify why so many women feel powerless to leave these abusers. Krakauer tries to underscore this issue, by explaining that most of the women are unskilled, uneducated, unaware of their rights, and unwilling to abandon their children to abuse, but the memoirs bring these issues home more closely. Krakauer also touches on the physical abuse of women rampant in the religion - he mentions the \"spankings\" one woman receives (in full view of her children), as well as the rampant sexual abuse of women and children alike, and I would like to see a later edition of this book take time to note that FLDS women are subjected to high rates of physical abuse - a fact that might explain why so many women are afraid to attempt to leave. And, of course, the whole book centers around a case where a woman and her child are brutally *murdered* in retaliation for helping a sister-in-law escape an abusive marriage.\n\nIf Krakauer's excellent book has a failing, I would suggest that failing becomes apparent in his dealing with faith in general. Krakauer makes some statements that some will find problematic - in his initial introduction, he intimates that the Lafferty murders are the result of an \"irrational belief [in God] [carried] to its logical end\". In the later chapters, he scoffs at a court decision that the Lafferty case was mishandled by rushing to the judgment that the Laffertys were sane and orders the lower courts to revisit the issue of insanity before retrying the Laffertys - Krakauer makes light of this decision by conflating \"belief that God talks to people\" with \"belief that God talks to people and orders them to kill their sister-in-law and her baby\" and then states that if belief in God is a priori insane, then 90% of America should be institutionalized. Yet in a rather clear case of Strawman Has a Point, I couldn't help but feel that the higher courts were doing the right thing to determine whether or not the men were sane before rushing them off to the (literal) firing squad. Whether the Laffertys are sane or not I personally cannot say, and indeed Krakauer is in a much better position to claim an opinion on the subject, due to his research on the subject, but I am proud to live in a country with a robust justice system that thoroughly investigates the state of mind of our most disturbed killers, so that the societal response is the best possible one.\n\nHaving said all that, as a religious person myself, I greatly recommend this book. There is a good deal of important scholarly research and important criticism available here, and I would urge any person, regardless of religious preference, to read this as a cautionary tale. No religion is served well by secrecy or covert covering of any flaws; no society is served by the systematic abuse of its most vulnerable members.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Mary Bryan Stafford grew up in South Texas and was a niece in the infamous family of patrn George Parr, the Duke of Duval. She is seventh generation Texan and a member of The Daughters of the Republic of Texas. She graduated from The College of William and Mary in Virginia with degrees in English and Spanish but got back to Texas on the fast train. She taught school in Corpus Christi, Round Rock and Lake Travis High School and loved being an instructor in aerobic dance. She and her husband have traveled widely throughout Europe, South America and Africa, but now live the Hill Country where she spends her time writing and training her two horses. An award-winning author, she is published for Blowout, in the anthology Women Write about the Southwest, winner of the Willa Award, Epiphany in the anthology The Noble Generation III and many times in the Texas Poetry Calendar. In addition to being a quarterfinalist in Amazons Breakthrough Novel Contest, her fiction has been recognized as a first place winner multiple times in writing contests throughout the country. She has been a regular contributor of interesting and informative articles to County Life Magazine and Faces and Places Magazine for the Texas Hill Country\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Exquisitely Painful; Beautifully Written\n\nReview: A Wasp in the Fig Tree / B004TEYT1O\n\nThis is a truly wonderful excerpt that draws me in and makes me distressed that I can't read more. The writing is incredibly vivid and the descriptions are a perfect blend of visual imagery and the necessary restraint that keeps everything from coming out \"technicolor\". One line that really stuck with me was the jackrabbit's ears being so translucent against the sunrise that you could count your fingers through the ears. That imagery was just so beautiful and intense that I felt acutely like I was in the story. For that matter, the setting is wonderfully well-realized - too many authors have no idea what Texas looks like, but the author here is clearly working with first-hand knowledge and it shows.\n\nI love the exquisite prose, and all the wonderful pain and sorrow you've brought to bear in a few short pages. I'm also really blown away at the story so far - tax evasion and suicide may not sound like real story winners, but it definitely hooked me. Overall, this is really a fantastic excerpt. It's not perfect - I felt a little confused at points as I worked out the family details, the backstory, and the main character's overall appearance - but I would definitely read more and if I'd been browsing this in a store, I would have closed and bought the book well before the end of the chapter.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Der ABBA - Reisefuhrer Nach Stockholm\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Not the uncertainty you think...\n\nReview: Climate of Uncertainty / 978-0-9767291-6-7\n\nWhen author William Stewart suggested that I read and review \"Climate of Uncertainty\", I was initially uncertain. Although I am not a climate change scientist, I am personally convinced that global climate change is a fact, and that human behavior is at least partially responsible for this global climate change... as well as for fixing it. Rather cynically, I was afraid that the \"balanced\" view promised by the title would be the sort of \"balance\" that gives as much weight to opinions as it does to facts.\n\nMy fears were unfounded, though, for \"Climate of Uncertainty\" provides that rare balanced viewpoint that describes the facts lucidly while still outlining clearly the remaining areas of uncertainty and what we do and don't know yet. Stewart has succinctly pulled together a comprehensive and compelling \"big picture\" viewpoint of global climate change, the many possible and probable causes of global climate change, the number of ways that humanity may be affected by projected climate change, and the number of potential corrections we can institute in order to preserve the careful balance in which we live.\n\nUnlike \"<a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Climate-Cover-Up/dp/1553654854/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Climate Cover-Up</a>\", which I felt would not be a good overture to a skeptical reader, \"Climate of Uncertainty\" cannot help but please the most skeptical of readers - within the carefully assembled facts, intelligent analysis, and engaging writing style, there is always a very respectful dialogue maintained with the reader. Stewart neither criticizes nor attacks any of the opposing viewpoints or proponents in his book; he is always careful to explain the opposition view fairly and without cheap straw-manning before providing the evidence and letting the facts speak clearly for themselves.\n\nI think the best way to represent this book, to anyone wondering whether or not this is the right book for them to read, would be to quote a passage that particularly caught my eye as exemplifying the respectful tone, and \"big picture\" clarity that Stewart so skillfully employs. Explaining why the year 2008 was characterized as \"the coldest year of the century\" and as a \"failure\" for global warming theory, Stewart explains:\n\n\"In point of fact, 2008 was the coldest year of the twenty-first century, but fair disclosure would have required an acknowledgment that 2008 was also the eight-warmest year in recorded history - warmer than all but two years in the twentieth century. Full disclosure would have also required a revelation that 2008 temperatures were reduced by a strong La Nina. In other words, a year in which global temperatures were substantially cooled by prevailing ENSO conditions turned out to be one of the ten hottest in the last century and a half. Thus, these headlines, and hundreds of others like them, are most graciously characterized as incomplete.\"\n\nIn the end, all my fears that this book might be more dominated by opinion than science were laid to rest and, indeed, I am tempted to label this the most comprehensive and clear recent climate change book I've read. I deeply enjoyed the reading, and I recommend this book both to climate change advocates and skeptics alike.\n\nNOTE: This review is based on a free Advance Review Copy of this book provided through the author.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: [ Lies BY Grant, Michael ( Author ) ] { Paperback } 2014\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Love the Plot, Dislike the Characters, Hate the Ending\n\nReview: Gone / 9780061909641\n\nWhere do I start with this review? I wanted so badly to love this book, but halfway through I told my husband, \"I love the plot, but I can't stand the characters.\" Still, I was perfectly prepared to give this book a give 4- or 5-star recommendation... until the last 20 pages. Light spoilers ahead.\n\nThe plot is everything you could want from a dystopian sci-fi YA novel. On the first page, everyone in town over the age of 14 disappears completely, and it's immediately up to the remaining kids to figure out how to survive in a world that becomes increasingly creepy. The children are obviously ill-prepared to take care of, say, all the abandoned babies in town, and the result is dark, gritty, and satisfyingly creepy. In addition to all this, the town is also enclosed in a mystical soap bubble, and the town threatens to be overrun by talking coyotes and flying rattlesnakes. Seriously, this is an awesome plot.\n\nBut the characters...! This book feels like it was written by taking a bunch of recent popular YA books and trying to Frankenstein the characters together out of various YA tropes. There's Sam \"Harry Potter\" Everyman, a nice, strong, solid, dependable, totally average guy with a propensity towards heroics and to whom everyone instinctively looks up. There's Astrid \"Percy Jackson\" Sexy-Smart, whose job is to provide exposition and romantic angst and who is literally referred to in-text as both a \"Genius\" and a \"Barbie\" doll. (Astrid, being female, will not be allowed to do anything useful in the novel that doesn't entail snogging the protagonist or looking after small children.) And, of course, there's the ineffectual Sidekick Guy who spends the whole novel sulking because he's not as cool as his protagonist buddy. (Why do authors keep Sidekick Guy active as a trope? I truly cannot remember the last time I read a YA novel and thought, \"That was good, but it needed more sulking.\") And, of course, mid-way through the novel, the Bad Guy shows up and takes over the town through virtue of his Nicolae Carpathian powers of persuasion, a la that preppy kid in \"The Enemy\". Maybe I've just been reading too much YA lately.\n\nIt's not that I can't handle stock characters, but I'm just not sure that I like the way the author writes his characters. For instance, he seems to be aware of the fact that YA as a genre is in dire need of more women and minorities, and I really want to give him credit for trying to fix that. There seem to be as many named female characters here as there are male ones -- a major feat in YA novels -- and there's also an autistic character and a minority character from Honduras. On the other hand, I'm not sure that \"realistically depicting prejudice\" in a novel should translate to throwing around racist and ablist slurs every few pages, and I'm additionally fairly certain that a good depiction of minorities doesn't start-and-stop at making the autistic character a glorified MacGuffin and the Honduras character someone who can fix and do just about everything, but always does so at the protagonist's beck-and-call.\n\nThe female characters suffer this problem as well: despite having incredibly useful powers like genius intelligence, anti-gravity powers, and super-speed, they never really grow beyond support roles in the text. Which is odd, because you'd think that a Genius would be better used for strategy than being a nanny, and you'd think a Speedster that runs faster than the human eye can track would be able to shiv a few key characters. And some kind of award needs to go to Diana, for being the worst-written female character I've read this year: an intelligent young woman who knows full well that the villain is going to humiliate, hurt, abuse, and kill her, but sticks with him over the good guys not because she loves him, but because \"The bad girl ends up with the bad boy.\" No, really, that's her reason. It's like an author's note in-text got incorporated into the dialogue by accident.\n\nThen there's the ending. I realize going in that this is a series and that means cliff-hangers, but this book is a particularly egregious example. The bad guys roll up into town with a literal army, try to murder a preschool full of infants and toddlers, get fought to a position of weakness by the good guys, and then are allowed to limp off into the sunset because it's apparently the right thing to do. The villains are in perfect position to relaunch a counter-strike the next day if they so choose, and in the meantime none of the main questions surrounding the plot and its mysteries are answered or resolved in any meaningful way. Really, ninety percent of the novel could have been spent with everyone sitting on their hands for all the impact it has on the ending, and that's not fair to a reader, in my opinion. I expect something more climactic at the end than just Status Quo Resumes, Please Buy More Books.\n\nAnd, you know, I liked the plot so much that I might be tempted to buy the next book, but considering the complete dodge on this ending (and considering I've been here before with \"The Maze Runner\"), I rather cynically believe Book 2 will do nothing more than maintain a holding pattern. There's got to be a better way to do a series than to just have the first twenty pages in Book 1 count and everything between page 21 and the final book is just killing time.\n\nTo attempt to sum up: I liked the plot idea, but hated that nothing ever seemed to be done with it. New supernatural elements were piled on every ten pages or so (mutating animals! x-men superpowers! multi-universe soap bubbles!) but none of them were resolved, explained, or brought to completion. I wanted to like the minority characters, but I disliked the fact that they all seemed flat, stale, and underutilized in favor of Protagonist McEveryman and Whiny Sulksman. I was looking forward to the ending, but was thoroughly annoyed to find no resolution whatsoever and a blatant attempt to restore status quo despite all the protagonists knowing full well that isn't going to work out. I'm very disappointed in this novel.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: The Thousand Nights and One Night is familiar to most of us through the Tales of the Arabian Nights. This book tells of a world of magical beauty, of the East and its enchantments, and of an art of living which was the product of one of the world's great civilizations.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Comprehensive and Easy to Read\n\nReview: The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night (Vol. 1) / 978-0415045391\n\nI'm a bit of an \"Thousand Nights\" enthusiast -- I enjoy the stories immensely and I have four separate translations in my personal library. Several friends have asked me to discuss the differences between the editions, so I thought I'd present a four-way comparison and then talk about which version is best for which audience.\n\nFor the purposes of the four-way comparison, I will draw text from the opening tale of the two kingly brothers in order to highlight how each popular version handles \"adult\" content and racial content.\n\n-- The Tale of King Shahryar and of his Brother, King Shahzaman --\nNow there were in the King's palace certain windows that looked on to the garden, and, as King Shahzaman leaned there and looked out, the door of the palace opened and twenty women slaves with twenty men slaves came from it; and the wife of the King, his brother, was among them and walked there in all her bright beauty. When they came to the pool of a fountain they all undressed and mingled one with another. Suddenly, on the King's wife crying: 'O Masud! Ya Masud!', a gigantic negro ran towards her, embraced her, and, turning her upon her back, enjoyed her. At this signal, all the other men slaves did the same with the women and they continued thus a long while, not ceasing their kisses and embraces and goings in and the like until the approach of dawn.\n-- Madrus & Mathers edition\n\n-- The Tale of King Shahriar and of his Brother, King Shahzenan --\nOne day, Shahriar had started on a great hunting match, about two days' journey from his capital; but Shahzenan, pleading ill health, was left behind. He shut himself up in his apartment, and sat down at a window that looked into the garden. Suddenly a secret gate of the palace opened, and there came out of it twenty women, in the midst of whom walked the Sultaness. The persons who accompanied the Sultaness threw off their veils and long robes, and Shahzenan was greatly surprised when he saw that ten of them were black slaves, each of whom chose a female companion. The Sultaness clapped her hands, and called: \"Masoud, Masoud!\" and immediately a black came running to her; and they all remained conversing familiarly together.\n-- Muhsin al-Musawi edition\n\n-- The Tale of King Schahriar and of his Brother, King Schahzeman --\nNow the Sultan Schahriar had a wife whom he loved more than all the world, and his greatest happiness was to surround her with splendour, and to give her the finest dresses and the most beautiful jewels. It was therefore with the deepest shame and sorrow that he accidentally discovered, after several years, that she had deceived him completely, and her whole conduct turned out to have been so bad, that he felt himself obliged to carry out the law of the land, and order the grand-vizir to put her to death.\n-- Lang edition\n\n-- The Tale of King Shahryar and of his Brother, King Shah Zaman --\nThereupon Shah Zaman drew back from the window, but he kept the bevy in sight espying them from a place whence he could not be espied. They walked under the very lattice and advanced a little way into the garden till they came to a jetting fountain amiddlemost a great basin of water; then they stripped off their clothes and behold, ten of them were women, concubines of the King, and the other ten were white slaves. Then they all paired off, each with each: but the Queen, who was left alone, presently cried out in a loud voice, \"Here to me, O my lord Saeed!\" and then sprang with a drop leap from one of the trees a big slobbering blackamoor with rolling eyes which showed the whites, a truly hideous sight. He walked boldly up to her and threw his arms round her neck while she embraced him as warmly; then he bussed her and winding his legs round hers, as a button loop clasps a button, he threw her and enjoyed her.\n-- Burton edition\n\n-------\n\nFor my money, the superior volume by far is the Madrus & Mathers edition. The editor and translator have deliberately worked the translation to be as readable to the English eye as possible, even making judicious choices about where to refrain from using diacritical points (single quote sound points, as in 'ain) in order to ease the reading experience. They've made a concerted effort to retain the adult content without being lewd, the racial content without descending into offensive caricature, the poetic content without overwhelming the reader, and the entire content without condensing the text and losing material. The Madrus & Mathers editions comprise four giant volumes, but the casual enthusiast will be more than satisfied with just volume one, and with over 600 pages of stories in the electronic edition, the reader will have plenty of reading material available.\n\nFor children, however, the superior volume is probably the Muhsin al-Musawi edition. This edition is condensed, but the editing was done with great care to maintain story structure and content. The adult content has been toned down considerably, the racial content has been handled tactfully, the extra songs and poems have been almost entirely removed, and there are interesting and attractive pictures in the electronic edition. My biggest complain here is that the adult content has been excised to a degree that almost brings unfortunate implications: when adultery is characterized as \"conversing\", the angry and jilted husband seems to be seriously over-reacting. Still, if you want a sanitized version of the tales, the al-Musawi edition is almost certainly the way to go.\n\nI do not recommend the Lang edition. Lang's fairy tale collections, such as the color fairy tale books, are usually a delight, but his Arabian Nights edition is thin on content and heavily paraphrased. The stories are gutted to remove the adult content and shorten the tale length for children, but in many cases the changes are not carefully glossed over, and huge plot holes and unresolved threads are left dangling. I've never met a Lang reader who didn't ask me what was going on in one tale or other because the translation is so poorly rendered.\n\nNeither do I recommend the Burton version. If anything, the Burton version has the exact opposite problems as the Lang version: Burton's edition lengthens the stories with extensively lewd descriptions and offensive racial imagery. The edition was also rendered in the 1800s, and the language within has not aged well -- there are all lot of \"forsooth\"s and \"verily\"s that bog down the reading. If you're interested in a historical analysis of how these tales have been rendered over the years, by all means become familiar with the Burton version, but if you're just looking for light bedtime reading, give the Burton edition a pass.\n\nI hope that this comparison will be helpful. This particular listing here is for the Madrus & Mathers edition which I definitely recommend for adult readers.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: A metallurgist by training, a writer by inclination and default. Born in England, Mariyah Saalih travelled extensively in Europe and the Middle East before settling down in North America. A tour of the grand harem in the Alhambra Palace in Grenada inspired the writing of this first full length novel.\n\nRating: 1.0\n\nSummary: Submission/Domination Erotica Mislabeled as \"Literature\"\n\nReview: Harem Girl / 0-595-31300-0\n\nThere's nothing wrong with erotica. But erotica shouldn't be labeled and marketed as straight-up literature or real-life memoirs. The book description and author present this as a realistic memoir and some buyers will deeply upset to find that, no, this is just an erotic fantasy novel.\n\nMariyah El-Abiad is a bored housewife. She's educated, respected, beautiful, and barren. Despite her barrenness, her husband loves her, respects her, caters to her whims as much as possible, but she wants some excitement in her life. She contrives a complicated and incredibly implausible plan to smuggle herself into a harem so that she can enjoy the wonders of being a slave to a potentially cruel and capricious master whom she has never met. After four months of this, she will be smuggled back out, and her husband will never be the wiser - unless he thinks to ask why she ground her teeth smooth, waxed her bikini area, and sustained whip marks on her back for a simple job tutoring a young girl in French (her cover story).\n\nMariyah El-Abiad is supremely confident that life in the harem will go swimmingly, and she fantasizes about crawling on her hands and knees and pleasuring her master. Fortunately for Mariyah, harem life is exactly like she suspects - the slaves girls all love their master and love to please him and be pleased by him. There is an exotic torture room for disgusting slaves who accidentally pass wind in front of the master or burp at the dinner table, with the added erotic enticement that a slave can be sent there for almost any reason, but Mariyah is safe and confident in the belief that all punishment is gently and lovingly administered. Mariyah, you see, loves her master immediately because he dominates her in a way that her boring husband would not, and he is driven insanely mad with desire for her and her fellow love slaves (but mostly her, because she oh-so-special!) and she loves what he does to her - everything she experiences in her new life is instantly easy, pleasurable, and satisfying.\n\nThis novel is nothing other than escapist erotica. Again, there's nothing wrong with that, but this is marketed as a straight-up \"historical\" memoir as far as I can see, and it simply is not. Everyone lazes around happily all day, waiting for the night entertainment. The master has no interest in fathering children, which is highly unusual for his culture and his age. The women are vapid - droolingly happy to be slaves, always \"reaching their pleasure\" and never in pain (even the virgin bum girls!) because this is a fantasy, and not a reality. If you want a harem-themed erotica novel, this has length and stamina, with an interlude almost every page, but if you want something with plot and realism, look elsewhere.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll","Product: Jim C. Hines is the author of the 'Goblin Trilogy' by DAW books and the upcoming 'Stepsister Scheme' also by DAW (Jan 2009). Christopher Kastensmidt is a new author with a novelette, 'The Fortuitous Meeting of Gerard Van Oost and Oludara', to appear in an upcoming issue of Realms of Fantasy.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Boring, Ham-fisted, and far too Campy\n\nReview: The Faery Taile Project / 978-0-9790889-6-4\n\nThis novella is less than 100 pages long, broken into two separate stories, and with a large font size and incredibly wide paragraph spacing.\n\nThe first story tells the modern adaptation of the \"Red Riding Hood\" tale from the point of view of the wolf, Lobo. A bad sign is the opening editor's note cautioning the reader to read Lobo's tale first: in order to make this \"dual-story\" work, important details were withheld from \"Lobo's Tale\" so that \"Red's Tale\" can eventually pack more punch. (I was also astonished at Kastensmidt's opening lines that the Spanish word \"lobo\" is a common enough name for wolves \"down in Mexico\" but that it's not common \"around these parts\"...in *Texas*. Texas! Spanish names, according to Kastensmidt, are not common in Texas. Except, I guess, for cities. And street names. And rivers. And everything else.)\n\nThe actual story has almost no meat to it. Lobo falls completely head-over-heels for Red, once he spies her in a diner, on account of her sheer smoking hotness. In an attempt to cast Lobo as a naive innocent patsy, the authors have ham-fistedly overstepped their goal and have made Lobo a complete barking idiot. Though wolf shoes \"haven't been invented yet\", Red is able to give him the slip with a casual \"Shoes untied\" statement and, instead of looking at her in confusion, he immediately gapes down at his feet. When Red robs Lobo blind right in front of his very eyes, he is merely confused by the fact that several large bills are now missing from his wallet. This just doesn't work! If they had made Lobo smarter yet more star-struck - perhaps if Lobo realized that of course he'd been robbed, but that poor sweet girl probably had a very good reason and all the more need for him to rescue her - then the set-up might hold the reader more, but as it is it doesn't.\n\nThe rest of the tale kills time until the final 38th page. Lobo meets Granny, Lobo eats pork chops at Granny's, Lobo drinks iced tea at Granny's, and so forth - and Lobo notes without suspicion Red's increasingly suspicious behavior, all ham-fistedly designed to make her seem 100% pure evil. When Red asks Lobo to don Granny's nightgown for a kinky sex-game, well, the end is in sight.\n\nAnother thing maddening about \"Lobo's Tale\" is that Kastensmidt uses a minimum of five similes per page. Bad ones, terrible ones, things like: \"Thoughts began to bang around my head like a gorilla in a luggage commercial.\"\n\n\"Red's Tale\" is theoretically supposed to tell the same tale as \"Lobo's Tale\" but from Red's sympathetic point of view, but it doesn't. It doesn't \"tell the same tale\" because pretty much 90% of Red's Tale was deliberately left out of \"Lobo's Tale\" because they couldn't figure out a way to include it without spoiling the 'twist' at the end. And it doesn't show Red sympathetically because we find that she really is nearly as evil as seen in \"Lobo's Tale\" and she just has a reason for being evil. \"Red's Tale\" is almost as boring as \"Lobo's Tale\", with pages and pages of exposition and inner monologue and very little action to move the story along. The story lumbers to a halt at page 58.\n\nI cannot recommend \"The Faery Taile Project\" in good conscience to readers. While not a total waste of paper, the book is a huge waste of time, taking a cute concept and utterly killing it with an over-the-top approach that is annoying, and a capacity for cutesy camp that is cloying. Check this out at the library if you must, but I'll bet you'll want your time back afterward.\n\n~ Ana Mardoll"],"string":"[\n \"Product: Silver Foam 8 Oz SILVER FOAM 8 OZ.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Does the job admirably\\n\\nReview: <div id=\\\"video-block-R157O0XQT3INT9\\\" class=\\\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\\\"></div><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/C14oY4JVlXS.mp4\\\" class=\\\"video-url\\\"><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61EbWP1dCfS.png\\\" class=\\\"video-slate-img-url\\\"> Hagerty Silver Foam Polish Hagerty / B000BODTWQ\\n\\nI was expecting that this \\\"foam\\\" would be something cool and liquid-y - something you could drop jewelry into and have it come back out tarnish-free. Instead, this polish is a highly viscous semi-solid that requires a touch of elbow grease and work in order to remove tarnish... but it *does* work fairly well and seems to be about as non-harsh as one can hope for these sorts of things.\\n\\nThis polish has no scent or odor and washes out of cloth with nothing more than soap and water. Silver pieces with tarnish are restored to a lustrous shine, except in the case of one necklace I tried to polish to no avail - I can't say for certain, though, whether that particular necklace was actually silver or just silver-plated (or painted, even) and the actual silver had just rubbed off, rather than outright tarnish.\\n\\nI would definitely recommend this polish - I'm very happy with it and it does the job. I do still wish for a \\\"soaking\\\" polisher, if only because it's not always easy to rub this foam in tight spots, like necklace chains or fine detail work. But it's perfectly fine for most pendants, rings, bracelets, and the like.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: SUSAN BATES-Crystallites Medium French Knitter. The elegant way to make I-cord from Susan Bates. The clear translucent colors are beautiful to look at and easy to use. Works well with crochet thread or yarns. How to instructions and fun project ideas are included. Assorted colors: clear; purple or blue. Color chosen at random only. Imported.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great for Children and Adults\\n\\nReview: French Knitter, Medium / B000GBO9S2\\n\\nThese knitting aids go by many names: French Knitter, Knitting Knobby, Knitting Spool, and so on. They are used to make i-cords, or those long thin knitted \\\"tubes\\\" that can be sewn into potholders and rugs and accent pieces and a thousand other uses.\\n\\nThis spool is a good one, sturdy and reliable. The plastic shaft is easy to turn, and the nail heads are sturdy and secure. The heads of the nails are rounded and soft, and the yarn slips easily over the head. The length of the nails is just about perfect - any taller, and it would be a chore to slip the loops over the head, and any shorter and the knitting would be too bunched up to work with. The package also includes a good plastic crochet hook of a size that compliments the spool perfectly. I've already started an i-cord in the hopes of making a nice rug for the laundry room - I'm using a medium weight wool yarn.\\n\\nOne thing to be aware of, though, is that the instructions included here were not very useful to me. I haven't knitting on a spool in years, and I couldn't remember the correct technique to get started. Internet searching increased my despair, as there are seemingly a thousand ways to start your i-cord, but each method seemed incredibly difficult, or stretched the yarn too tight, such that it was impossible to move it. I finally did find some simple instructions for children at online resource \\\"The Caron Collection Kid's Corner\\\".\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Embroidery hoop for most popular motif sizes. Fits the following machines: PE770, LS2125i, XL2230, XL2600i, XL2610, XL3510, XL3750, ES2000, CP6500, CP7500, 1034D, PC210PRW, PC420PRW, SE400, LB6800PRW\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: For those *really* big projects...\\n\\nReview: Brother Embroidery Hoop 5x12 / B001TOW496\\n\\nI purchased this for use with my <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Brother-PE700II-Embroidery-Machine-with-USB-Port/dp/B0013J8F9U/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Brother PE700II Embroidery Machine with USB Port </a> - the machine comes with a large 5x7 hoop, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to have a larger hoop on hand \\\"just in case\\\". In general, you want to use the smallest hoop allowable for a project - while you can use bigger hoops with smaller pieces (with the help of adhesive stabilizer), the smaller hoops are easier to precisely place the material, and use less stabilizer, thereby saving you money. This hoop works perfectly with the PE700II - except for the size, it is identical to the hoop that came included with the machine. Simply unscrew the clasp to loosen the hoop, set your fabric and stabilizer face-up on top of the hoop, drop the inner hoop into place, and screw to tighten.\\n\\nIt's important to note, though, that even though this hoop will work with the PE-700II, the machine won't actually let you attempt patterns that exceed the 5x7 size. Instead, this hoop is for repeated patterns, so you don't have to rehoop each time and potentially lose your place. The hoop can be attached at three different spots (top, bottom, and middle) and you can move the starting location for the pattern via the machine's programming. This hoop is perfect for repeated patterns on jacket backs, pant legs, or quilt tops, but *most* of the time this hoop won't see a lot of use. Really, I wouldn't recommend investing in this hoop until you actually have a pattern that requires it - chances are, you'll be able to coast on the smaller hoop sizes for a long time.\\n\\nTwo items to note: First, this 5x12 isn't represented on the LCD display when viewing patterns - it's not hard to figure out, but you will need to know what you're doing. If you can afford only one extra hoop, however, I would probably recommend buying the medium 4x4 hoop (<a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Brother-SA443-Medium-Embroidery-Hoop-100mm-x-100mm/dp/B001TOY2O6/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Brother SA443 Medium Embroidery Hoop 100mm x 100mm</a>), just because many patterns will fall inside the 4x4 measurements. However, if you can afford a set, you'll definitely get a great deal of use out of them.\\n\\nWhich brings me to my second note: The prices for these hoop attachments seem to vary widely and that I was able to procure it for *much* cheaper than shown here as part of a hoop set that included one of each of the four major hoop sizes for my machine. So I would recommend researching around to find the best deal, price-wise.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: GO! Cutting Mat by AccuQuilt. This 10Wx24H inch mat works with both the Go! Fabric Cutter and the GO! Baby Fabric Cutter (both sold separately). Compatible with 2-1/2 inch Strip Cutter Die; 1-1/2 inch Strip Cutter Die; 2 inch Strip Cutter Die; 3-1/2 inch Strip Cutter Die and Drunkards Path Die (each sold separately). Specially formulated cutting mat that is part of the precision system that makes the AccuQuilt GO! Fabric Cutting System so efficient. Avoid extreme temperatures-intense heat or cold may cause mat damage or to become brittle. Keep out of direct sunlight. Imported.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Thick and sturdy, but will need to be replaced eventually\\n\\nReview: <div id=\\\"video-block-R2BLJV15IN4MT1\\\" class=\\\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\\\"></div><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D1mZGp9cKsS.mp4\\\" class=\\\"video-url\\\"><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61VZCPjtSoS.png\\\" class=\\\"video-slate-img-url\\\">AccuQuilt Go Mat 5x10 / B002766RKM\\n\\nI bought this die for use with my new <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/AccuQuilt-GO-Fabric-Cutter/dp/B0021F62D6/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">AccuQuilt GO! Fabric Cutter</a>. This 5x10 mat works with several of the dies, including the <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/AccuQuilt-Go-3-5-Square/dp/B003AJUGHA/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">AccuQuilt Go! 3.5\\\" Square</a> die. I'm pleased with the thickness and strength of the mat, and it doesn't shift when running through the machine. I do think it will need to be replaced eventually, but that's true for every cutting mat in the world, and this one is a fair sight cheaper than most.\\n\\nIt's a bit tricky to tell from the descriptions on Amazon which die needs which mat, so if you're confused, I recommend checking the AccuQuilt site for more details. I've attached the video I created for my AccuQuilt review to show this mat in action.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: GO! Fabric Cutting Dies by AccuQuilt: Square. Cuts one 6-1/2W x 6-1/2H inch square. Squares are a basic building block of quilting. Great for both beginners and experienced quilters. This 6-1/2 inch cut square finishes to a 6-inch square. Ideal for background squares for small applique blocks and setting squares for checkerboard block layouts. This die is used in blocks such as Flashing Windmill; Sawtooth Star and Ohio Star. Includes seam allowance. Use with the GO! Fabric Cutter (sold separately). Requires 10x10 inch mat (not included). Warranty: AccuQuilt GO! Dies are manufacturer guaranteed for one year. Die packaging includes project directions for a Squares To GO! quilt. Imported.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Saves so much time, no pain from cutting\\n\\nReview: <div id=\\\"video-block-R3HGGBBDIMJOHL\\\" class=\\\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\\\"></div><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D1TRfFr0y3S.mp4\\\" class=\\\"video-url\\\"><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61VZCPjtSoS.png\\\" class=\\\"video-slate-img-url\\\"> AccuQuilt Go Die 6.5\\\" Square / B0021FACXM\\n\\nI bought this die for use with my new <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/AccuQuilt-GO-Fabric-Cutter/dp/B0021F62D6/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">AccuQuilt GO! Fabric Cutter</a>. I'm impressed with quick and easily it cuts fabrics, as well as with the accuracy of the cuts. This die cuts fabric squares that are 6.5\\\" inches on each side; if you quilt with 1/4\\\" inch seams, then that means the finished square is 6\\\" inches on each side. Almost all of my quilting is done with combinations of 3.5\\\" and 6.5\\\" squares, so this die has been a great investment for me.\\n\\nThe die cuts one square per cut - if you layer the fabric with eight layers (the maximum thickness the AccuQuilt claims to be able to accommodate), that gives you 8 squares per cut. It takes about five minutes to layer the fabric and run it through the machine, so you can cut about 100 squares in an hour time.\\n\\nThe only complaint I have with this die is that it is a bit wasteful of fabric - I do wish they had made it with less \\\"empty\\\" space on the sides, to allow for tighter cutting, but I suppose if you got creative with your fabric folding it wouldn't be as much of an issue. For myself, I never seem to have enough scraps for scrap quilts, so I'm just being \\\"wasteful\\\" and saving the scraps in my barren scrap basket.\\n\\nDo note that you will need the <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/GO-10x10-Cutting-Mat/dp/B002768VGK/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">GO! 10x10 Cutting Mat</a> to use with this die, as well as the actual AccuQuilt Go fabric cutting machine. I've attached the video I created for my AccuQuilt review to show this die in action.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Love to quilt but hate to cut? The accuquilt go. Fabric cutter is a fast and precise fabric cutting system that allows quilters to cut fabrics as much as 90-percent faster than scissors or rotary cutting. You can cut an entire quilt in minutes-the number of layers you can cut at one time depends only on the thickness of the material. Its patented revolutionary portable design allows you to carry and cut wherever you go-to classes, retreats, guild meetings and quilting bees. Included with the cutter is a great value die plus a cutting mat so you are ready to start quilting right out of the box.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: So Easy to Use\\n\\nReview: <div id=\\\"video-block-R3RJM8IGOFVLEY\\\" class=\\\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\\\"></div><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D1oFo1HNEVS.mp4\\\" class=\\\"video-url\\\"><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61VZCPjtSoS.png\\\" class=\\\"video-slate-img-url\\\"> AccuQuilt Go Fabric Cutter / B0021F62D6\\n\\nI love quilting, but I'm having a harder and harder time making quilts due to some persistent back pain from my scoliosis. The fabric cutting portion of any quilt project is where I really struggle - all that bending over, measuring, and pressing and moving the rotary cutter just causes me all kinds of problems. The light came on when I noticed my friend (who works with paper crafts) using a die cutter to create paper shapes and I had to wonder if something like that existed to cut shapes for quilts.\\n\\nA lot of research later, I decided on an AccuQuilt Go! fabric cutter. The pros of the AccuQuilt is that it seems to be the most affordable fabric cutter out there, and the machine is small and portable for home hobbyists. The cons are that a new die has to be bought for each shape and dimension that you might want to use - it's not like a paper cutter where you can adjust down from 3.5\\\" to 2.5\\\" on a whim. However, since I almost exclusively use 3.5\\\" squares in my quilting, this wasn't a drawback for me - I bought the 3.5\\\" die to go along with the fabric cutter and anything else I need I will continue to hand-cut for as long as I can.\\n\\nThis machine is so easy to use. The quilt I'm working right now needs 60 squares of pink. The die I bought cuts two 3.5\\\" squares per layer of fabric, and I can fit 8 layers of fabric in a single run through the machine. That's four runs through the machine for 64 squares - and I accomplished all that, straight out of the box, without reading the user manual, in less than 30 minutes. That level of work would have taken me at least 3-4 hours by rotary cutter, and my back would be aching afterwards.\\n\\nThe two biggest complaints that I've seen for the AccuQuilt is that (a) the rotary mats have to be replaced periodically, and (b) there's some serious fabric waste to consider. For the first issue, the mats, I don't foresee a problem. The mats are much thicker than the rotary mats I've bought in the past, so they should last comparably long, and the mats are pretty cheap on the AccuQuilt site, especially compared to mat prices at my local fabric store. I have to cop to the second point, though - the die could be laid out a lot more efficiently to prevent wastage and I'm surprised it's not. AccuQuilt does make and sell strip cut die, which will cut two clean 3.5\\\" strips side-by-side (as opposed to two squares) and that looks a lot more efficient in terms of fabric use, but then of course you still have to whip out the rotary blade to cut the squares out of the strips. I'm going to try it and see how it goes, anyway.\\n\\nI recommend the AccuQuilt fabric cutter system if (a) you use the same basic shapes frequently, and (b) you like to collect fabric scraps for scrap quilts. I'm so glad I bought one and only wish I'd found it years ago.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: GO! Cutting Mat by AccuQuilt. This 10Wx10H inch mat works with both the Go! Fabric Cutter and the GO! Baby Fabric Cutter (both sold separately). Compatible with 6-1/2 inch Triangle Die; 6-1/2 inch Square Die; 8-1/2 inch Rag Square and 6-1/2 inch Tumbler Die (each sold separately). Specially formulated cutting mat that is part of the precision system that makes the AccuQuilt GO! Fabric Cutting System so efficient. Avoid extreme temperatures-intense heat or cold may cause mat damage or to become brittle. Keep out of direct sunlight. Imported.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Works great with the 6.5\\\" square Accuquilt Go! cutting die\\n\\nReview: <div id=\\\"video-block-R1AYIFXI1FLXR1\\\" class=\\\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\\\"></div><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D1x3RvLE7xS.mp4\\\" class=\\\"video-url\\\"><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61VZCPjtSoS.png\\\" class=\\\"video-slate-img-url\\\"> AccuQuilt Go Mat 10x10 / B002768VGK\\n\\nI bought this die for use with my new <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/AccuQuilt-GO-Fabric-Cutter/dp/B0021F62D6/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">AccuQuilt GO! Fabric Cutter</a>. This 5x10 mat works with several of the dies, including the <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/AccuQuilt-Go-6-5-Square/dp/B0021FACXM/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">AccuQuilt Go! 6.5\\\" Square</a> die. I'm pleased with the thickness and strength of the mat, and it doesn't shift when running through the machine. I do think it will need to be replaced eventually, but that's true for every cutting mat in the world, and this one is a fair sight cheaper than most.\\n\\nIt's a bit tricky to tell from the descriptions on Amazon which die needs which mat, so if you're confused, I recommend checking the AccuQuilt site for more details. I've attached the video I created for my AccuQuilt review to show this mat in action.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Westcott Titanium Bonded Non-Stick 8\\\" straight scissors combine Titanium with a unique Non-Stick coating that is permanently bonded to the blades so that blades stay sharper longer and resist adhesives from tapes and glues. From the Manufacturer: Westcott develops home and office products unmatched in style, design and performance. We continue to deliver results that are both inspirational and functional, earning the title of \\\"The World's Favorite Scissors\\\" year after year.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: I'm not really blown away...\\n\\nReview: Westcott Titanium Bonded Scissors / B002M7TOXI\\n\\nI'm not precisely a scissor dilettante, but I can say these aren't the best scissors I've received from Amazon Vine. The handles are somewhat small and don't easily fit my hands; the times I've used them, I've always felt like the scissors are pinching me a little and the fit is uncomfortable. The titanium blades may be super-awesome in ways not readily apparent to me, but they don't cut thick stacks of paper (4-8 layers) any faster or cleaner than the other blades in my house as far as I can see. And even though I've only used them to cut paper and thin plastics, the blades already have surface scratches. I'd probably recommend the <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Scotch-Precision-Ultra-Edge-Scissor/dp/B002M7TM0S/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Scotch Precision Ultra Edge Scissor</a> over these.\\n\\nNOTE: This review is based on a free Advance Review Copy of this product provided through Amazon Vine.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: GO! Fabric Cutting Dies by AccuQuilt: Triangle 4-7/8 inch. Cuts two 4-7/8 inch triangles. Flying Geese are very popular in quilting. They are used in traditional blocks like Dutchman's Puzzle and Carpenters Wheel. They form the star points of several star block designs like North Star and Diamond Star. This die cuts the \\\"geese\\\" section of finished flying geese units measuring 6-inch wide by 3-inch high. These shapes have been designed with specially shaped corners to align for perfect sewing and to cut off the dog ears; Includes seam allowance. Use with the GO! Fabric Cutter and GO! Baby Fabric Cutter (both sold separately). Requires 6x12 inch mat (not included). Warranty: AccuQuilt GO! Dies are manufacturer guaranteed for one year. Die packaging includes project directions for a Triangles To GO! placemat. Imported.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: So easy to use, no cutting pain\\n\\nReview: <div id=\\\"video-block-R3VGT8HZ9HRQ2I\\\" class=\\\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\\\"></div><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D1WsCuuN%2B8S.mp4\\\" class=\\\"video-url\\\"><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61VZCPjtSoS.png\\\" class=\\\"video-slate-img-url\\\"> AccuQuilt Go Die 3.5\\\" Triangle-Square / B0021F88Q0\\n\\nI bought this die for use with my new <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/AccuQuilt-GO-Fabric-Cutter/dp/B0021F62D6/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">AccuQuilt GO! Fabric Cutter</a>. I'm impressed with quick and easily it cuts fabrics, as well as with the accuracy of the cuts. This die cuts fabric triangles that, when sewn together create squares that are 3.5\\\" inches on each side; if you quilt with 1/4\\\" inch seams, then that means the finished square is 3\\\" inches on each side. Almost all of my quilting is done with combinations of 3.5\\\" squares, so this die has been a great investment for me.\\n\\nThe die cuts four traingles (i.e., two completed squares) per cut - if you layer the fabric with eight layers (the maximum thickness the AccuQuilt claims to be able to accommodate), that gives you 16 squares per cut. It takes about five minutes to layer the fabric and run it through the machine, so you can cut about 100 squares in half an hour time.\\n\\nThe only complaint I have with this die is that it is a bit wasteful of fabric - I do wish they had made it with less \\\"empty\\\" space on the sides, to allow for tighter cutting, but I suppose if you got creative with your fabric folding it wouldn't be as much of an issue. For myself, I never seem to have enough scraps for scrap quilts, so I'm just being \\\"wasteful\\\" and saving the scraps in my barren scrap basket.\\n\\nDo note that you will need the <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/GO-5x10-Cutting-Mat/dp/B002766RKM/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">GO! 5x10 Cutting Mat</a> to use with this die, as well as the actual AccuQuilt Go fabric cutting machine. I've attached the video I created for my AccuQuilt review to show this die in action.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: EXPERIENCE CHAPTER ONE OF THE FAMED PERSONA RPG SERIES: One of the most critically-acclaimed roleplaying franchises of all time, Shin Megami Tensei has recently arose to prominence in North America with the releases of Persona 3 and 4, two of the highest-rated releases in their respective years. Now, Atlus revisits the first chapter in the Persona saga on PSP (PlayStation Portable) system. Completely rebalanced and remade, SMT: Persona allows younger fans of the series to find out what everyone's been talking about for years, and gives long-time SMT supporters a wholly different take on an all-time classic. The Key features are Rebalanced, relocalized and remade, Fully re-translated and featuring all new musical compositions from Shoji Meguro, famed composer of Persona 3 and 4, SMT: Persona is the perfect example of how a remake should be done. This definitive version includes content never before seen in North America. Its Enhanced for PSP - Reformatted to take advantage of the PSP hardware, this remake includes a new widescreen aspect ratio, redone music and sound, and all new animation, presenting the story better than ever before. An unique, mature narrative in the grand tradition of the SMT series. Long known for its daring, often morally-charged stories, the SMT series has established itself as one of the premiere RPG series in terms of plot and characters, and SMT: Persona is no exception.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: As good as the original, but with some small flaws\\n\\nReview: Persona / B001V7UX1W\\n\\nPersona was the first game I ever played on the Playstation 1, and I had never seen anything quite like it before. I love the dark \\\"real world\\\" feel of the game, and the vibrant personalities of the characters, as well as the fun and immersive combat system. I've always been happy with the PS1 English localization of Persona, but I wanted to pick up this PSP version because (a) playing Persona on the go! and (b) I've always been interested in the Snow Queen Quest and I was excited to hear that it had been added in here.\\n\\nThe bottom line first: this is a pretty much a textbook example of how to remake a game for the PSP, but with one or two complaints that will probably only bother the fans of the English localization. (I.e., if you're coming to this game from having played the later Persona games, these complaints will probably bother you less.)\\n\\nFirst, I was pleased to note that the story has not been altered or changed. The original translation has been replaced, which is usually a pet peeve of mine, but the new translation matches up pretty well to the story I'm familiar with. New hints are dropped at the beginning regarding the Snow Queen Quest, which I do appreciate as it makes the new quest more immersive and less of an \\\"add-on\\\".\\n\\nSecond, the world map has been upgraded to more closely resemble the world map in Persona 2, and as the world map in Persona 1 was the *only* thing I didn't like about the game, this change is for the best. Everything else is largely unchanged - the graphics are largely the same, and seem subtly 'brighter' and more vibrant. The game cut-scenes are absolutely gorgeous, although I do wish that cutscene captions were offered as I have a hearing disability.\\n\\nThird, the Snow Queen Quest is a welcome addition (although the difficultly level is nothing to sneer at, and I feel like I pretty much *have* to power level my way through that route). I was a little startled to see that the quest is still somewhat hidden -- you have to perform a specific series of actions before it will open up, much like the recruitment process for Chris/Reiji. (More on that in the comments.)\\n\\nNow! Complaints stemming from being more used to the English localization version!\\n\\nI may be the only one, but I preferred the American names of the characters to the Japanese names. A lot of times a name will come up in conversation, and I can't remember who is who without any kind of visible cues or reminders to help me distinguish which character we're talking about. One example that stood out at me is that of Yuko/Yuka/Yuki/Yuke/Yuku/Yuky -- when a random NPC mentions one of those names in passing, I have to refer to my notes to see who they're talking about. For me, as a player, I think it's unreasonable to have so many similar names in the same game when there were plenty of different names to choose from and most players register names quickly with their eyes while clicking through dialogue.\\n\\nThe spell names, too, have been changed -- though this is something that players of the later games probably won't struggle with. But I personally miss having \\\"Cure\\\" as opposed to \\\"Dia\\\" (which I initially thought was a diamond-skin defense spell). I couldn't seem to find spell descriptions when I was choosing battle-actions on the fly, which meant magic was sort of trial-and-error combined with more note-taking, but it's possible there's a button-prompt that I just didn't find when I was playing through the first time. Also, the names of the Persona themselves have been changed from the English names I was more familiar with.\\n\\nNone of the above is *bad* -- this is a 5-star review, after all -- but it means an adjustment if you're coming to this having played the English localized version.\\n\\nThe only thing I really don't like about this remake is the soundtrack changes. I thought that the PS1 version had the most intensely awesome soundtrack ever, but I don't personally care for this new track. Most of it is fine, but the battle music is ... not very good in my opinion, and it never seems to change up. It sounds kind of like a Britney Spears pop-song and while I like her music, I don't want to hear it every battle. (Especially considering that the Persona games are kind of notorious for frequent battles!)\\n\\nHaving said all that, this is still an awesome game. If you're new to the series, buy it and check it out - you won't be disappointed. If you're a long-time fan, buy it for the Snow Queen Quest...just remember to grind a bit before you enter the school. Oh, and I'll post the event triggers in the comments section here. Also, do note: <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Innocent-Sin/dp/B00523VFJU/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Innocent Sin</a> is now out for the PSP which makes me super happy because we never did get a PS1 version of that.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Konohana and Bluebell villages were once great neighbors until a huge dispute erupted between them over FOOD! Yes, food. They were both certain that their cooking was the best. This bitter feud has divided the once-close towns, turning neighbors into enemies! As a new farmer to the area, it's up to you to choose which village to live in. Will it be Eastern-styled Konohana with its abundant fields of crops, or animal-friendly, European-styled Bluebell? Pick a home, build a thriving farm, and compete in a huge variety of festivals. Develop your skills enough, and you might even find a way to bring these two towns together once again!\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Recapturing the Old Magic\\n\\nReview: Harvest Moon: Two Towns (3DS) / B004XIQPAO\\n\\nI've been a Harvest Moon fan since the first game came out on the SNES. Some of the latest installments have been a little disappointing, like the ones which take out the marriage and courtship aspect. But Tale of Two Towns perfectly recaptures the magic of Harvest Moon by beautifully balancing farming with the social aspects (which are my favorite parts of the franchise).\\n\\nTwo Towns starts off with two \\\"rival\\\" villages, and it's up to the player to patch things up. One town (Bluebell) is livestock-oriented and with the standard Harvest Moon European country village flair; the other town (Konohana) is crop-oriented and has a beautiful Eastern style, with paper lanterns hanging from the eaves. The player picks a village (though the player can change villages later, if desired) to live and work in and focuses on rebuilding relationships between the villagers.\\n\\nThe beauty of this setup is that it balances a high replay value (two villages = two playthroughs) without cutting off content from the player. Bluebell players can still farm crops, they just have smaller fields to work with (or have to commute to Konohana to grow crops there at the \\\"extra\\\" farm; this works well with crops that don't need daily watering). Similarly, Konohana players can still raise animals; they just have a smaller farm. This balancing act works really well when you consider that earlier HM games made it pretty much impossible to tend to a full barn AND a full field at once. (Leading to exploits like time not passing indoors, or having to hire farmhands to help, or having to work all night long, etc.)\\n\\nThis installment also does a great job of playing up the social aspect and cooking aspect: there are 4 cooking festivals per season (so 16 total per year) plus various livestock contests, pet contests, dating holidays, etc. All of this is optional, but since a major game goal is to build relationships between the towns, it's valuable for the player to attend and/or participate since participation builds the \\\"heart meter\\\" between the towns. (The Harvest Goddess helpfully keeps a running track.) All this works towards making you feel like you're achieving something between two communities, and not just building up your finances.\\n\\nOther neat things about this Harvest Moon:\\n\\n1. Villager (and Bachelor / Bachelorette) hearts are visible through a \\\"flower number\\\" that frames their dialogue box, so you don't have to hunt for diaries.\\n\\n2. Mountain exploration (including herb gathering and fishing) feel like integral parts of the game.\\n\\n3. Livestock is easier to herd than in many previous HM games, making outside feeding not only viable but desirable (since time spent outdoors increases livestock happiness). And the pets in the game (you can own up to 6) will automatically herd your livestock in and out of the barn for you, once their heart levels are high enough.\\n\\n4. Crops can be planted in plowed rows, which means that one row only has to be watered and/or fertilized once. No more tedious watering each and every square.\\n\\n5. A \\\"request\\\" system has been implemented which lets you bring requested items to villagers for heart increase, money, and item rewards. This is hugely fun and addictive.\\n\\n6. Though the two villages are separated by a mountain, it is more than easy to visit both villages in a day. (And indeed I visit them both nearly every day as part of my play-style.) You can also spend the night in the opposite village if you need to start your morning there for whatever reason.\\n\\n7. The available dating partners (boys for girl players to date and girls for boy players to date; I am disappointed to see HM still has not apparently implemented same sex relationship options) are all interesting and fun people to get to know; I appreciate the series' tradition of making well-rounded characters to interact with.\\n\\n8. Item management is both easier and harder to manage than before. \\\"Easier\\\" because dropped items don't disappear immediately (which means you can't accidentally drop stuff and lose it forever, thank goodness) (though they will disappear overnight, so remember to pick up your pet toys before bed); \\\"harder\\\" because some items *will* still rot in your cart storage over time, plus you have a finite amount of space (in contrast to the Unlimited Refrigerator in Back to Nature). This adds an interesting inventory management angle to the game--you can't pack rat everything, so you *will* have to decide what to use, what to give away, and what to sell.\\n\\n9. There's an online/friend play system which I haven't used, but which lets you plant crops for others to harvest in a special \\\"online sharing\\\" area (near the Harvest Goddess' spring) and (in turn) harvest crops from their shared area. This seems like a thing I would have enjoyed as a kid, even though I probably wouldn't use it now.\\n\\n10. I don't always like how games implement the DS touchscreen, but this one handles it very well in my opinion. The touchscreen is largely for inventory management, but you *can* manage your inventory without touching the screen--in other words, using the stylus in this case is optional, and you could also use the D-pad and buttons to move things from your inventory to storage and/or the shipping bin. The touchscreen also shows farmer details (like outfits and requests), and there's a \\\"petting\\\" mini-game with the animals which is completely optional. Almost everything the touchscreen does, therefore, is optional, which is how I like it.\\n\\nTo sum up: This is probably my favorite Harvest Moon game since Back to Nature (for the PS1, and which I still hold to be the best in the series). I highly recommend it, especially if you're a player who goes in for the community / festival / dating aspects of these games.\\n\\nOn a final note: I note a lot of people having bug issues with this game freezing. I bought a used copy of the game (so I can't vouch for how clean the cartridge is), and have played it on a 2DS (note well: 2DS, not 3DS) for weeks. The 2DS is still at the basic factory settings; I won't update the software until it becomes necessary for some reason. With that said, I have *NOT* experienced the game freezing. Not even once. So take that for what it's worth: my copy of the game has worked fine on a factory-settings 2DS.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: The Bluetooth Headset leverages advances in voice technology to bring next generation features to the PLAYSTATION 3 system. It features High-Quality (HQ) mode which provides wide-band and dual microphone input to enable accurate speech recognition required to support voice command and voice animation features that will be offered in select games on the PS3 system. Easy pairing with the PS3 system, in-game Headset status indicator, included charging cradle and easily accessible microphone mute button make it user-friendly. Designed specifically to enhance the gameplay experience, this is a must have Headset for the intense multiplayer gaming only available on the Playstation Network.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Will NOT play game sounds\\n\\nReview: PS3 Bluetooth Headset / B0042R81XU\\n\\nI bought this to be able to hear game sounds while my husband sleeps; we have a \\\"proper\\\" full-sized PS3 headset that plays game sounds, but it weighs fully one hundred pounds and hurts my neck to wear. I noticed several reviews lauding this headset as great for \\\"night play\\\". However, it turns out that this headset is ONLY for online chat -- you can hear yourself and others speak through it, but no game sounds whatsoever will come through. I wish the current marketing blurb would actually make that clear; maybe they'll update it soon.\\n\\nSo, to be very clear: This is *not* a PS3 headset in the sense that you can hear games. It only allows you to hear other players. If that's what you want it for, it works fine. (Though it is a little big to fit comfortably on smaller ears. And I didn't even know that my ears were particularly small! But this headset is a bit too big for me.) I am leaving this review not to \\\"trash\\\" this product, but to help other buyers since the product blurb is ambiguous about this limitation (at the time of writing). I would prefer to leave no stars, but Amazon doesn't provide that option.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\\n\\nETA: I note that this review has already attracted negative attention. I wish to underscore that I am leaving this review entirely to help inform other customers, with no personal animus towards the manufacturer. Please note that just because the Amazon description says \\\"voice chat only\\\" on one day doesn't mean that description was the same when I left the review or will be the same next week; Amazon descriptions can change frequently.\\n\\nI would prefer to leave a \\\"star-less\\\" rating, but since I have to leave a star-rating and since the device was uncomfortable to wear AND not accurately described at date of purchase, I have left 2-stars in order to inform other potential buyers. As the product has 500+ 5-star ratings already, this will not hurt the overall average rating, but will make it easier for shoppers to locate and understand drawbacks/limitations when making their purchasing decision.\\n\\nThank you.\",\n \"Product: This Yourself!Fitness Program for Home PlayStation 2 software brings the expertise of a certified personal trainer and nutritionist into your home to guide you through a personalized health and fitness program. Maya, your interactive personal trainer, builds a program that is tailored to your lifestyle and gives you one-on-one training with over 500 unique exercises that never get boring. Choose your music, your mood and your focus and let Maya, through step-by-step coaching, do the rest. ESRB rating: E (Everyone). Genre is Heath and Fitness. Imported.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: A really good concept, but needs some work\\n\\nReview: Yourself! Fitness / B0007PNEGA\\n\\nWe have two copies of this product at our house - one for me and one for my husband - and after us both using it for several months, I've come to the conclusion that while this is a neat product and a good idea overall, I really wish it had a few more customization options.\\n\\nOne of the things that I really do not like or understand is the inability of the user to go through the list of exercises and select/deselect ones that can come up in the course of a routine. When you start an exercise session, the game puts together a plan for you based on the \\\"type\\\" of workout you want (cardio, flexibility, etc.) and based on the difficulty level you select. However, the problem with this is that difficulty level is not a \\\"one size fits all\\\" in real life - for instance, the \\\"Roll Like A Ball\\\" flexibility exercise is rated as one of the easiest, but is absolutely impossible for me, because I have several fused spinal vertebrae, thanks to a childhood scoliosis surgery. Since I can't go into the list of exercises and disable \\\"Roll Like A Ball\\\", I just have to sit around or improvise when it comes up in a workout, which breaks flow. While this may seem like a special case, quite a lot of people have trick knees, bad backs, and other \\\"problem areas\\\", and I can't help but feel that the makers of this software missed the boat by preventing the user from customizing their workout plan.\\n\\nAnother aspect I somewhat dislike is the unlockable rewards system. When you start a profile, you only have a couple of music and background options available, and you have to unlock more by not missing scheduled exercise sessions. If you're like me and you don't schedule them (because scheduling starts to feel like an obligation, which starts to feel like work, which starts to feel unpleasant) and just show up and do a session whenever you feel like it and have the time, then you never get the new music or backgrounds. I know some people like rewards, but I find them rather childish, as if the game seems to think that exercise is something awful to be endured in exchange for a little prize. I'd like the ability to turn off this reward concept and just use all the backgrounds and music from the get-go - the locked beach one is so much more relaxing than the corporate apartment one.\\n\\nThe relaxing yoga sessions included here seem fundamentally broken - in a game that otherwise sells itself as accessible to newbies, the yoga sessions use impenetrable \\\"yoga speak\\\" without really explaining what the poses mean, or do, or what they are for. Since most of the poses make it impossible to see the screen, it would be terribly helpful to set up a running instruction dialogue with the user - something like \\\"jam your face into the carpet while extending your left leg towards the sky and making a rude gesture with your right hand\\\" - that sort of dialogue is present in the regular routines and is invaluable, but is completely missing from the yoga sessions. You'll only be able to use the yoga features if you're a yoga student and you know all the terms, at which point I'm not sure why you would need the game.\\n\\nEverything else here is...nice, I guess. I really like the Maya coach, as she is concentrated encouragement and enthusiasm. The example models for poses are a little confusing at times - I'm not sure why they didn't just use Maya - and, again, the lack of customization can be very frustrating - you can't speed past the 15 minute warm-up sessions, even if you really want to, even if you've already warmed up with some other method and just want to get to the jazzy music and some lifting. Overall, the concept is good, but the lack of control over what happens on the screen is terribly off-putting in an electronic medium like this, and those flaws will probably cause most people to give up and just do their own routines, which is a shame.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: The OXO Good Grips Meat Tenderizer is a dual-purpose tool that allows you to flatten cutlets and tenderize meat with ease. The flat side is perfect for pounding meat or poultry flat for even, consistent cooking. The textured size is ideal for tenderizing tougher cuts of meat. The solid aluminum construction is sturdy and durable, while the handle is comfortable and cushions impact while pounding. The soft handle is also non-slip, even when your hands are wet.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Works great, easy to clean\\n\\nReview: Meat Tenderizer OXO / B00004OCJJ\\n\\nIt always feels odd to rate minor kitchen implements as 5 stars, but this OXO meat tenderizer definitely works the way it should. The spiky end pokes holes in the meat nicely and the flat end flattens out thick chicken breasts in no time flat. It's fun to use (or at least I think so!) and it doesn't require a huge amount of strength. The grip is comfortable and doesn't lend itself to flying out of your hands. It's easy to clean - meat doesn't cling to the spiky end - and while it probably isn't rated for dishwasher use, that never stops me from throwing it in anyway, and I've had no problems.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Back To Basics Apple And Potato Peeler\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Mashed Potatoes and Apple Pie\\n\\nReview: <div id=\\\"video-block-R3L70FJ1M57M5Y\\\" class=\\\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\\\"></div><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D1BzaeXOYwS.mp4\\\" class=\\\"video-url\\\"><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71rfbvogS%2BS.png\\\" class=\\\"video-slate-img-url\\\"> Kitchen Peeler Back-to-Basics Basics Apple & Potato Peeler / B0000DE2SS\\n\\nI absolutely love mashed potatoes for dinner and apple pie for dessert, but I hate the peeling and preparation. I never feel comfortable with a conventional potato peeler, which leaves me using a paring knife and wasting a lot of time as well as a lot of the actual potato (or a lot of the apple, in the case of pies). Consequently, I had given up on proper mashed potatoes and was fixing mashed potatoes from store flakes, which is never as good. I was really skeptical about this peeler and figured it was probably too good to be true, but I went ahead and ordered it anyway on a 4-for-3 promotion. Wow! I wish I'd ordered this YEARS ago. I know this is going to be a long review, but I really want to break down ever detail of this wonderful peeler.\\n\\nThe peeler arrives in a box and takes about five minutes to set up - the instructions just need you to screw on the handle and the holding prong in place. Voila! The suction cup base works well on my marble countertop, when I remember to brush the surface of crumbs or other baking bits, but honestly the unit is sturdy enough that the unit doesn't move around even when I forget to clamp it in place with the clamping lever. The attachment that cores and slices the apple comes off easily (just a simple screw), which delighted me since I didn't need my potatoes cored and sliced. The spring-based peeler is flexible and adjusts easily to the size of the fruit/vegetable inserted. There is even a latch to allow the \\\"arm\\\" to move quickly and freely, for when you are done peeling and you don't want to \\\"crank\\\" backwards to return the arm to the starting position - just press the release lever and pull the arm out! Truly, this is the easiest kitchen appliance to operate, ever.\\n\\nNow, for the specifics. Apples work wonderfully in this peeler. So far, we've peeled Pink Lady apples for snacking, and we've peeled, cored, and sliced (all within mere seconds!) Granny Smith apples for apple pies. The peeler economy is wonderful - an apple pie that used to require six apples now only needs four because so much apple is saved by this peeler. The slices are perfect for apple pie, and I plan to buy a dehydrator soon to dry the slices. I've posted a picture of one of our peeled Pink Lady apples.\\n\\nI saw a lot of people online saying that potatoes don't work with this peeler, but I think they must have an older model of this Back-to-Basics peeler because my peeler works perfectly with potatoes, though I did notice that round potatoes (like Yukon Gold) peeled more easily than oblong or heavily pitted potatoes (like Russet). In the case of the heavy oblongs potatoes, the potato just needed a hand to brace against it and then everything was fine. I've posted a picture of our round Yukon Gold potatoes after being peeled - once again, I am astonished at how much of the vegetable is preserved by the peeler. I never considered that I'd save money with this peeler, but I am - a family that used to need five potatoes per evening now only needs three!\\n\\nCleanup is easy - I simply pick the unit up, rinse the blades under hot running water, and then pat dry with a towel. I have had no problems whatsoever with rusting. More germ conscious people can take the extra step of unscrewing the blades and washing by hands - the peeler is easy to disassemble. I could not be happier with my peeler and I would buy it again in a heartbeat!\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Dry fruit, vegetables, and jerky in hours instead of days. The unit's patented Converga-Flow drying system forces air down the exterior pressurized chamber, then horizontally across each individual tray, converging in the center, for fast, even, and nutritious drying. Flavors don't mix, and there's no need to rotate the trays. It's top-mounted fan eliminates the worry of liquids dripping into the heater chamber, and an opaque Vita-Save exterior helps block harmful lights in order to retain more of the food's nutrients and vitamins during the drying process. The unit's adjustable thermostat ranged from 95 degrees to 160 degrees F, providing the flexibility needed to ensure excellent results. Five trays come included, but the unit can be expanded to 12 trays (additional trays sold separately) for drying larger quantities at one time. Accessories include two fruit roll sheets, perfect for drying semi-liquids like soups, sauces, and fruit rolls; two Clean-A-Screen flexible screens, which allow for easy drying of small items such as herbs, spices and potpourri; and three original jerky spice packets and three cure packets for making jerky. A 52-page recipe and instruction book also comes included. With a speckled gray design, the food dehydrator measures approximately 13-inch by 13-inch by 10-inch. FD-75A is Frustration free packaging and FD-75PR is retail packaging.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Get what you pay for.\\n\\nReview: Nesco Dehydrator FD-75PR 700-W / B000FFVJ3C\\n\\nThis is my first dehydrator and my impression is that it's a good dehydrator for our needs: something cheap and functional for occasional use.\\n\\nPros:\\n- Easy to learn how to operate, just plug the unit in to turn it on and unplug it to turn it off.\\n- Easy to handle, as it's not too heavy to lift but not so light that the cats can push it off the counter.\\n- Easy to customize how many drying trays will be used each time; stack more for larger loads and leave off empty ones for smaller loads.\\n- Generates little ambient heat, so you don't have to worry that it will overheat and burn the house down.\\n- Easy enough to clean; I've had no problems putting the trays in the dishwasher.\\n\\nCons:\\n- No timer, which is a HUGE issue. When I bought the dehydrator, I thought it wouldn't matter, because the long 8-12 hour drying times just meant that you have to plug the machine in before bedtime and your jerky will be done in the morning, right? Unfortunately, those drying times are \\\"approximate\\\" and if this month's batch of jerky is a little bit thicker than last month's, that's going to mean an extra hour of drying time - something you often won't realize until you go to check and realize that the jerky just isn't done yet. And when it's morning and you have to get to work, you don't have an hour to sit there waiting for the dehydrator to finish. And if you leave it on anyway and come back later, the jerky will be OVER-dried and inedible. There needs to be a way to program \\\"30 minutes more\\\" so you can go on with your life.\\n\\n- No electronics. Not only is there no timer to set, there's no counter to note how long the dehydrator has been running. You may think you'll remember that you put the jerky in at 8 pm, but sometimes you won't. You'll learn to write it down. Along the same lines, the temperature dial is analog, not digital, and it's surprisingly small and sometimes I wonder whether the temperature I *think* I set it to is the same as what the dehydrator *thinks* it is set to. And that definitely causes the drying times to be unpredictable as well.\\n\\n- Somewhat noisy. Actually, it's not *that* noisy, but after twelve hours, you might feel differently. And if the kitchen is near the master bedroom and you're planning on leaving the dehydrator going overnight, you may find that the constant \\\"whirr\\\" sound disturbs your sleep. Mileage is going to vary on this issue.\\n\\nI was really excited about buying this dehydrator, but the seemingly small complaints above (combined with a disappointing experience with jerky extruder guns) have resulted in it rarely being used and feeling like a rather high-priced toy that takes up room in the kitchen. I genuinely think that if the timer issue were solved, it would make a difference, although it is still frustrating that the cooking times are so unpredictable. I'm considering getting a timer for the kitchen outlet, the kind that you can use to keep your lights on when you're out of town, and seeing if that helps any, but the noise might still be a bit of a block for me.\\n\\nAll told, if you're just looking for a decent, solid, cheap dehydrator and you don't mind the above issues for whatever reason, this is a great machine. I just wonder if maybe I should have spent a little more to get something a little more user-friendly as far as my own personal specifications go.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: This Old Mountain cast iron fajita plate set comes complete with wood tray and quilted hot mit. The cast iron fajita plate is pre seasoned and ready to use. Our wood tray has an attractive Old Mountain logo wood burned into the bottom for extra style and added value.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Get What You Pay For\\n\\nReview: Kitchen, Fajita Plate Serving Set / B001AT5CGM\\n\\nWe actually bought these fajita plate sets in order to serve hot apple pie \\\"restaurant style\\\" - hot and sizzling on the skillet, with bubbling butter and rapidly melting ice cream...yum!\\n\\nThese plates aren't particularly large - if you wanted to serve a large fajita fixings spread, I'm not certain that you wouldn't want to use two, but then I'm used to the huge restaurant portions and these are probably adequate for home cooking. The cast iron is very solid and sturdy and conducts heat well; and I can testify that they hold up to the occasional dishwasher washing because I tend to toss everything in the dishwasher even when I'm not supposed to.\\n\\nThe wooden bases are, however, really...cheap. Like another reviewer, one of my two wooden bases cracked cleanly in two during shipping and I had to order a replacement from Amazon (a painless process, but it would have been annoying if we'd needed the plates right away for an immediate dinner party or something). So far, the wooden bases haven't cracked from home use, but we've been very careful because the wood just doesn't seem like a high quality. The bases are thick enough - it's just that one can't help but feel that my boyfriend could crack them in half without much exertion. Along the same vein, the hot mitts that come with this are a nice touch but they don't stay attractive for very long - I think the seams will unravel soon on one of them and we haven't even used them that much.\\n\\nSo, all in all, I recommend these plates for occasional use but if you're planning on daily or even weekly regular use, you might want to opt up for something nicer, because you are definitely getting what you pay here for with this skillet. Not that there's anything wrong with that.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Long considered a trusted partner by parents for providing a way to bring healthy food and drink options for kids on the go, Genuine Thermos Brand has brought its superior insulation technology to FOOGO, a line of children's products for ages six months and older. Freshness and safety go hand in hand. If contents are not kept at the right temperature, potentially dangerous bacteria may grow rapidly and cause food and beverages to spoil. All FOOGO stainless steel products feature THERMOS vacuum insulation technology which has been shown to inhibit the growth of bacteria in a laboratory test sponsored by Thermos and performed by Cornell University. For additional peace of mind, FOOGO products use BPA-free materials. FOOGO products are offered in three styles that are designed to grow with your child. Soft spout sippy cups with handles are for children 6 months and older, hard spout sippy cups are for children 12 months and older, and straw bottles are for children ages 18 months and older. The FOOGO Stainless Steel Straw Bottle makes it easy to keep drinks cold on the go. This bottle has a 10-ounce capacity and features THERMOS vacuum insulation technology to keep contents cold for up to 12 hours. The contoured shape of this bottle is easy for little toddler hands to grip and hold. The FOOGO straw bottle is a great choice for a child's first real straw bottle. Unlike other straw bottles, the FOOGO straw bottle can be used to teach kids to drink from a real straw, without built-in valves that inhibit flow. Thanks to the durable double wall stainless steel construction and vacuum insulation, this FOOGO straw bottle will not gather condensation or leave water rings. A hygienic push button lid is simple to open and reveals a pop-up silicone straw that is comfortable to drink from. Cleaning is simple, just unscrew the lid and the straw can be completely removed and disassembled to two parts for easy cleaning. The bottle and straw parts are top-rack dishwasher safe, however, hand washing is recommended for best results. Not for use with hot liquids.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Travels to work with me!\\n\\nReview: Thermos Foogo Stainless Steel Straw Bottle / B00849L4AE\\n\\nI like milk with my breakfast at work, but have been struggling to find something small and leakproof. I wasn't too thrilled that this has a built-in straw, but it's been easy to use and easy to clean. And the thermos hasn't leaked even a tiny bit. It's also insulated just enough to keep the milk cool. I love it so much, and the vibrant colors on the Poppy Patch model are lovely (in my opinion). I'll be ordering more of these.\\n\\nI do think this straw would be fragile for a small child who doesn't know not to bite or chew on the plastic, but I'm only using this for myself and it's fine for adult use.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Progressive International is your source for the widest range of functional, inventive and fun kitchen tools and great ideas put into practice. Our functional gadgets, tools, food-prep items and household products make cooking and meal preparation more efficient and fun. At Progressive, passion and creativity unite to create the right balance of form and function for today's cooks. Our in-house designers spend hours in the kitchen coming up with ways to improve on a variety of traditional tasks and tools. Established in 1973, our commitment to quality and service allows us to offer a broad selection of quality kitchenware and other household products. Prep works products from Progressive International are created by people who understand having the correct kitchen tool can make your cooking experience more enjoyable. prep works -essential items for today's cook. We asked how we could make the experience of grating better. We wanted to make a grater that was a good value for the consumer. We wanted one that was easy to control and fit our consumer's lifestyle. The result is S4. We have 4 simples objectives for our S4 graters: Sharp, Straight, Simple and Smart. Each Progressive S4 etched stainless steel grating surface features our Progressive International patent pending design. The extra sharp grating surface grates and zests faster, smooth and straight, resulting in a higher output. The Progressive grate and measure set includes a medium and fine blade, a snap lid and a 2-cup storage container. The grater is comfortable to hold and easy to use with its non skid base. Grate into the clear container with measurements up to 1-1/2-cup on the side of the container. The lid and graters snap together for easy storage. The grater measures 7-inch by 3-1/2-inch and is dishwasher safe.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Super Awesome but Super Sharp!\\n\\nReview: Progressive International S4 Grate / B004S67UR8\\n\\nI hate grating cheese. You either have some kind of flat thing that you have to hold steady over a bowl while you grate or you get one of those huge tower things that are impossible to store. And yet I love grated cheese, so this tool is a dream for me.\\n\\nI love the size and shape of this grater -- it's easy to store, and having the two different grater sizes stack was genius. The rubber on the bottom holds the grater steady while you work and makes it really easy to quickly grate an entire block of cheese with no mess or muscle strain (yes, I'm a weakling). I definitely recommend this tool for the kitchen, and I wish I'd had one ears ago.\\n\\nHowever, do be aware that these grates are SUPER sharp. I tore up two fingers on my first try because the cuts were so shallow-but-wide that I didn't feel a thing at first. (And, boy, did they take forever to heal.) This wasn't the grater's fault; I'm just used to dull graters where you can take the last nub of cheese down to the end. Once I learned my lesson with this grater, it's been smooth sailing and the super-sharpness means my cheese is grated in seconds.\\n\\nI can also vouch that everything in this grater -- the bin that catches the cheese, the two grate sizes, and the lid -- ran through my dishwasher with no ill effects or clouding.\\n\\nUpdate: After using this faithfully for 2 years, the base accidentally touched the heating coil in the dishwasher and warped such that the lid/graters didn't fit anymore. Husband immediately asked me to buy another one, so I reckon he likes this as much as I do! Bought the replacement in November 2013, and it looks and works just as good as the one I got from Vine in September 2011.\\n\\nNOTE: This review is based on a free Advance Review Copy of this product provided through Amazon Vine.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: 34 OZ, Bubba Keg Travel Mug, Double Wall Construction, Fully Insulated Bubba Tough Construction, Easy Carry Handle, Assorted Color\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: I prefer the 70 oz...\\n\\nReview: Bubba Keg (34 oz) / B000WMAPMO\\n\\nI have the <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Bubba-Keg-70-Oz-Insulated-Mug-Black/dp/B002KDPSYI/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Bubba Keg 70 Oz Insulated Mug Black</a> and just love it, and a lot of the things I love about it apply to this mug, but unfortunately not all of them.\\n\\nFirstly, the insulation on this mug is fantastic - water stays ice cold for hours at a time. That's a big deal to me, and the Bubba delivers. There's almost no sweat, although there is a tiny little indention on the very bottom of the mug (under the sticker) that gets a touch of condensation (I thought it was a leak at first, but it wasn't), but that's it. I used to use a little coaster to catch that, but it's such a small amount I stopped bothering.\\n\\nNow, the 70 oz does *not* tip over, but then again it doesn't fit in a car cup-holder, either. This travel mug will fit in your car, but the slimmer bottom will mean that my cats can tip this off the counter when they get in a mood. The bonus is that there's very little spillage - the output hole seems well-built to prevent waste.\\n\\nHaving said that, the reason there's so few spillage is because the top is a screw-on, not a pop-top. That's great to prevent spills, but it also means that the drink hole will only end up in one of two places. With the 70 oz, it's not a big problem - do you want the hole 90 degrees from the handle on the left side or the right side? - but with this smaller mug the stop point is either right over the handle or directly opposite of it. That's a tad irritating, but it's worth it to know that when I drop 34 oz of fluid, the result will be a slow trickle and not an explosion from the top snapping off.\\n\\nTheir accredited online supplier states that the Bubba Keg is BPA-free ([...]), so take that for what it's worth.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: The new Logitech S-220 Speaker System contains several upgrades to its predecessor, the S-200 Speaker System. Unlike the S-200, the new S-220 encompasses increased usability with a newly styled control base to manage improved acoustics, volume and VoIP connectivity. Bass tuning by the end user is often permanent once a setting is established. With the end-user experience at the forefront of Logitech's design strategy to minimize desk clutter the S-220 bass control is located directly on the subwoofer. This allows the end user to tune the speaker system with no concerns for any accidental control adjustments. Finally, the newly designed S-220 advantages improved acoustics for a smoother, rich experience to enjoy music, VoIP discussions or playing video games.What's in the box: Logitech S-220 Speaker System, Subwoofer, 2 x Satellite Speakers, Wired Remote Control, All Necessary Cables, Setup Guide and 3-year Manufacturer's Warranty\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great sound, perfect for casual use\\n\\nReview: Logitech Speakers S220 2.1 / B000RQSGYO\\n\\nMy last speakers needed replacing when we upgraded monitors - the old speakers had come as a set with the monitor and pulled power from it, and the new monitor did not provide a matching jack to do the same. I use my computer speakers for listening to music and playing games and didn't want to shell out a fortune for replacement speakers.\\n\\nThese speakers are extremely nice. The subwoofer sits under the desk and can be adjusted with an attached knob. The two speakers sit on the desk above, framing the monitor, and the sound control (the little round gizmo in the picture) sits on the desk nearby. The sound control can be easily adjusted with a simple turn, holds a jack for a microphone and another for headphones, and sports an on/off switch for the system. I thought it would be difficult to adjust to using the sound control (instead of reaching forward to turn a knob on the speakers directly), but that hasn't been the case. It's not the design that I probably would have made for myself (the control can slide off onto the floor if you don't position it carefully), but it's a good system for the price.\\n\\nAs for the hardware, the system pulls power from a regular wall plug, and hooks into the computer's audio ports. It's definitely \\\"plug and play\\\", or at least was for my near-decade-old machine - just plug in and go.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Form fitting neoprene material stretches to acmodate 16\\\" ultra-portable PCsSueded internal lining and durable neoprene cushion and protect a puterZippered Power Pocket stores a power adapter and other accessoriesDedicated pocket in accessory partment stores a USB drive keeping it safe and readily accessibleSlimline design protects laptop on its own or in a favorite bagAsymmetrical zipper provides easy access to a laptopFits laptops: 14.5\\\" W x 11.12\\\" H x 1.77\\\" DDimensions: 15.75\\\" W x 12\\\" H x 1.75\\\" D; weight: 1.13 lbs.Includes 25-year warranty\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great for Asus Zenbook\\n\\nReview: CaseLogic 14\\\" Neoprene Netbook Case / B001F7HI02\\n\\nI bought the 14\\\" netbook case based on the measurements given in another review saying that this would fit 13-14\\\" slim laptops. I have an <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/ASUS-Zenbook/dp/B00863L2MI/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">ASUS Zenbook</a> which has a 13.3\\\" screen and is (when shut) 13\\\" wide and 9\\\" tall. This case fits my laptop with room to spare on either side, and I've been very happy with it.\\n\\nThe front zippered pocket has a sewn-in case for USB sticks, and the interior for both pockets is a soft gray (I've attached pictures to the product listing above). Other than that, this case is no frills but in a good way -- it doesn't add a lot of bulk, and there are no handles to take up space in your larger bag (assuming that you carry this case in a messenger bag or backpack like I do). And the zipper is a nice strong rubber, which means it's not always trying to scratch up the other stuff in your bag.\\n\\nOverall, I'm very happy with this case for my laptop carrying needs, and I think the product is of high quality. I've already purchased the 7-10\\\" version to carry my smaller Asus Transformer tablet and docking keyboard. (Which I think is why this review is labeled by Amazon as being a Verified Purchase for the 7-10\\\" case instead of the 14\\\". But they're both the same, except for the difference in size.)\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Form fitting neoprene material stretches to acmodate 16\\\" ultra-portable PCsSueded internal lining and durable neoprene cushion and protect a puterZippered Power Pocket stores a power adapter and other accessoriesDedicated pocket in accessory partment stores a USB drive keeping it safe and readily accessibleSlimline design protects laptop on its own or in a favorite bagAsymmetrical zipper provides easy access to a laptopFits laptops: 14.5\\\" W x 11.12\\\" H x 1.77\\\" DDimensions: 15.75\\\" W x 12\\\" H x 1.75\\\" D; weight: 1.13 lbs.Includes 25-year warranty\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great for Asus Zenbook\\n\\nReview: CaseLogic 14\\\" Neoprene Netbook Case / B001F7HI02\\n\\nI bought the 14\\\" netbook case based on the measurements given in another review saying that this would fit 13-14\\\" slim laptops. I have an <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/ASUS-Zenbook/dp/B00863L2MI/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">ASUS Zenbook</a> which has a 13.3\\\" screen and is (when shut) 13\\\" wide and 9\\\" tall. This case fits my laptop with room to spare on either side, and I've been very happy with it.\\n\\nThe front zippered pocket has a sewn-in case for USB sticks, and the interior for both pockets is a soft gray (I've attached pictures to the product listing above). Other than that, this case is no frills but in a good way -- it doesn't add a lot of bulk, and there are no handles to take up space in your larger bag (assuming that you carry this case in a messenger bag or backpack like I do). And the zipper is a nice strong rubber, which means it's not always trying to scratch up the other stuff in your bag.\\n\\nOverall, I'm very happy with this case for my laptop carrying needs, and I think the product is of high quality. I've already purchased the 7-10\\\" version to carry my smaller Asus Transformer tablet and docking keyboard. (Which I think is why this review is labeled by Amazon as being a Verified Purchase for the 7-10\\\" case instead of the 14\\\". But they're both the same, except for the difference in size.)\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Features: Executive backpack compatible with most laptops with a 16\\\" screen, Security Friendly- Designed in compliance with TSA guidelines so your laptop does not need to be removed when passing through airport security, Dedicated laptop compartment protects your laptop throughout the screening process, Grab `N' GoT design lets you quickly exit security without having to re-zip your backpack, Plush laptop compartment helps keep your computer safe from daily wear and tear, and Separate file compartment stores folders, magazines and loose papers.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Wish I'd had one of these in college...\\n\\nReview: Carry Case, Caselogic 16-inch Laptop Backpack / B001XUQPB4\\n\\nAfter lugging around various laptops in multiple carrying cases through seven years of college, I can now wistfully say that I wish I'd had a backpack like this back in the day.\\n\\nThis backpack is split into two sections connected at the top, which can with the touch of a zipper on either side flatten out from the bottom into a sleek set-up which is great for passing through security scans (a major selling point for business travelers), but also is very convenient when you're trying to pack a car full of college equipment and you suddenly realize that the backpack needs to go somewhere. Don't have a backpack-sized hole to fit it into? No problem, just flatten it out and add it to the top of the pile.\\n\\nNot that this bag is bulky - far from it. I'd actually say that this bag is the absolute perfect size for me (I'm female and 5'4\\\") without looking small or awkward on my boyfriend (6'2\\\"), which is a nice trick for a backpack. The back compartment holds my 15\\\" laptop perfectly, with enough wiggle room to be comfortable, but not so much excess space that the laptop will bounce around or hit me in the small of the back. Speaking of which, there's a very comfortable layer of padding between your back and the laptop, which protects both your back and the laptop when you get home at the end of the day and toss your backpack off onto the floor, only to remember ten seconds later that such an action probably wasn't good for your laptop (not that I've ever done that...twice).\\n\\nThe main front compartment of the backpack is roomy enough to hold a couple of paper notebooks and probably about two college textbooks. Three books would be stretching it, and the material for this backpack is too firm for me to recommend trying to stretch it. This is a plus in my book, because the firmness of the backpack material allows it to sit up straight when you put it on the floor (as long as you lean it ever-so-slightly back, to counter-balance the extension of the front pockets), rather than having it sag into a heap and scatter all your stuff inside. However, if there's a downside to this backpack, it's this - inability to carry more than two or three books at a time, but there's always a trade-off between size and carrying capacity and I'm not sure that many students want to lug around a laptop and five textbooks on their back all day. Hopefully, more colleges will make the switch over to electronic textbooks someday in the near future.\\n\\nThe other two front compartments are smaller and have little pouches and pockets to hold day planners, cell phones, pagers, and so forth. I appreciate the fact that the pouches aren't obtrusive and lay fairly flush against the inside, so if you don't want to use them, you barely notice they are there. The zippers (and this goes for the whole backpack) have just the right amount of snugness - you don't have to fight with the bag to open it, but you're not going to be accidentally dropping stuff or have anyone stealing your wallet without you noticing. I'm impressed with how much thought and effort went into this bag - right down to the extremely awesome adjustable straps which are rolled into a ball and then held in place with Velcro snaps. Which means that it takes about two seconds to get the bag adjusted the way you like it, you can always be certain that both straps have equal weight on them (by counting how many 'rolls' of strap you unrolled on each side), and the straps won't 'travel' on you over time from wear and weight because since the straps are secured instead of dangling free, there isn't any free strap to inch up the clasp. I really appreciated this feature because I have a bad back and it's very important that weight hang properly for me - with equal weight on the shoulders and no 'sag' to the bag, but rather a close, tight fit to my skin. This bag is absolutely perfect for that, and I can honestly say that I recommend this bag for people with back problems.\\n\\nSpeaking of back problems, this bag also features a 'passthrough' flap on the back that allows you to slide the bag onto a wheel base and easily turn it into a wheeling case, which you can see from the picture above, but do note that the actual wheel-base hardware isn't included with this bag - I would assume you would need to buy that separately. Really, probably the nicest thing I can say about this backpack is that I never travel at all and have zero need for a backpack in my day-to-day life and yet I cannot imagine living now without this incredibly awesome pack, because I might need a backpack someday and, if so, this is the one for me.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: This Leather Case will securely hold and protect your Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0. This case will protect your Kindle from scratches and dust. It will hold the Tab 2 7.0 securely in place so you can carry the case worry free, and you can also keep it in the case during usage. The 360-degree rotating swivel allows you to rotate your Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 vertically and horizontally in the case. The two different viewing angles make it perfect for viewing video. Use this case for ideal utility, practicality, and protection when using your Galaxy Tab 2 7.0!\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Does what it should\\n\\nReview: Fosmon GYRE Series Revolving Leather Case for Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (7\\\") / B009UV3PJI\\n\\nI bought this case for my Galaxy Tab 2 on the grounds that it was white and I wanted a white case to match my white \\\"<a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/student-edition/dp/B008KWRTH2/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">student edition</a>\\\" of the Tab. I've been entirely happy with the case, given the idiosyncrasies that Samsung forces on users and case-makers.\\n\\nI love my Galaxy Tab 2, as well as the keyboard I received with my student edition, but I wish Samsung would adopt the Asus model for keyboards -- the Asus keyboards turn the tablet into a mini laptop that can be \\\"shut\\\" as needed, and the case-makers are able to create cases that enclose both the tablet and keyboard seamlessly as one. The Samsung keyboards, in contrast, have a solid dock-drop where the tablet is connected, and there's no moving from that position.\\n\\nI searched high and low, and couldn't find a single case that would accommodate the tablet while docked -- every case I found on Amazon has to be removed before the tablet can fit in the dock-drop. So if I must have a case that has to be taken on and off all the time, the next best thing is a case that comes on and off easily without (a) being a big hassle each time or (b) becoming loose over time such that the tablet is in danger of falling out. This case satisfies both requirements.\\n\\nThis case is composed of a hard/firm snap case, where you press the Tab into place, and a leather cover that closes like a book cover and can be secured by means of an elastic strap sewn into the cover. The snap case works beautifully; the Tab snaps in without fuss, and then snaps back out again with moderate pressure -- not so little that you have to worry about it coming free in your bag, and not so much that taking the Tab out becomes a chore. The leather book cover is attached to the snap case via the circular swivel component, which lets you swivel the cover a full 360 degrees. This means that you can close the cover from either the left or the right side (depending on handedness and preference).\\n\\nYou can additionally use the swivel combined with the grooves cut into the cover to loosely \\\"stand\\\" the tablet in place while using this cover. There are two cut grooves; the stand function works in landscape with both grooves, but in portrait with only the first groove -- if you use the second groove with portrait, the tablet will fall over. I feel that this is a product of the Tab's size and the cover limitations rather than a defect in the cover design, and the angle for the first groove is better suited for portrait viewing at any rate.\\n\\nOverall, I like this cover just fine. It does increase the size and thickness of the tablet, of course, but not so much that I find it bulky or difficult to carry. I think it offers good protection for the Tab when on the go, and I appreciate that it can be removed easily when I want to dock with the keyboard. I would have preferred something that can accommodate the keyboard dock without removal, but Samsung doesn't seem to consider that functionality enough of a priority to put out their own case. C'est la vie.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Imation USB Atom Flash Drive 8GB provides easy storage for media, data and pictures.\\n\\nRating: 1.0\\n\\nSummary: Plastic Connector Broke in One Month\\n\\nReview: Imation Atom 8G USB Thumb Drive / B001B1AIIQ\\n\\nWhen my old USB thumb drive was broken beyond all repair, I really fretted over the replacement. I wanted something small and unobtrusive, due to the many times that I had seen thumb drives damaged by brushing against the extruding drive in accident. I am really surprised that there does not yet exist a model that can lie flush against the side of the computer, but this Atom drive seemed the next best thing.\\n\\nThe Atom is remarkably small - the shown image of it next to a small paperclip is accurate - and it communicates amiably so far with every machine I have used it with. The drive initially came loaded with some security software, but as I was not interested in it, I removed it from the drive, and have had no problems with the drive operation doing so. I couldn't be happier with my little thumb drive, in fact.\\n\\nEDIT: Literally one month after buying this, the black plastic fractured and broke badly, after VERY light use and carrying in my purse. Considering that the thumb drive I had before this lasted for 3+ years in my purse, and considering the sizable price for this drive, I am very disappointed. I originally gave this USB five stars for ease of use (as you can see above), but with quality this poor, there's no reason to spend money on this device. I would return it if I could at this point, but I no longer have the original packaging.\\n\\nEDIT2: And Imation has still not returned my email informing them about the problem and requesting that they replace the thumb drive as it must surely still be under some form of warranty. I am terribly disappointed and will not buy from Imation again.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Speedo equals better fit, performance, quality, and innovation. But we don't just rule the pool, you can also find the best selling swim brand at the beach, the river, the lake, or on land. The Hooded Zip Front cover-up dress is great looking on and made of super comfortable french terry. It features a full zip opening with front pocket and cap sleeves. Play, train, or win in the world's #1 swim brand.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Well made, but watch the tag\\n\\nReview: Speedo, Aquatic Hooded Zip-Front Cover Dress / B002YX0MHC\\n\\nI joined a gym earlier in the year in order to use the pool, but I found that redressing afterwards was tedious - the least amount of dampness on my legs transferred to my jeans and pants, and trying to pull shirts over my wet hair caused snags and tangles. I purchased this dress in my size (here an XL) so as to have something quick and easy to dress in after a swim, but still \\\"normal\\\" enough to drop by the supermarket afterwards, if need be.\\n\\nIn that regard, this dress fits the bill pretty perfectly. Overall, the dress is well made (more on that in a minute), and the zipper is strong - not flimsy - and doesn't snag or eat up the fabric. Also, no loose threads or trailing hems here, and the fit is pretty much perfect. The material could be thicker - you can just barely see the outline of under clothes, but it's pretty thick for \\\"swim wear\\\" clothing, so I can't complain. The included hood isn't heavy and doesn't pull on my shoulders, and the front pockets are well-situated and very useful. I do wish the dress came in more color varieties.\\n\\nMy one complaint is that the company that makes these hasn't graduated to the \\\"print on labels\\\" or even the \\\"easy tear away\\\" labels. The label in the back was super-scratchy and drove me *insane* until I finally reached back and tore it out. I'm just about the least powerful person on earth, so I was surprised and annoyed to find that tearing out the label caused the actual stitches to tear out. Grr. So I had to re-stitch by hand, which was exceedingly annoying. But if you're reading this review, then you're forewarned and can just cut the tag carefully out.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Fashionable zippers keep the zipper bag looking fresh, fashionable and organized, too.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Too Small For Me\\n\\nReview: Baggallini Zipper Bagg / B002ZG92BK\\n\\nI've been using an <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/eBags-Piazza-Day-Bag/dp/B004C0LGYI/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">eBags Piazza Day Bag</a> for the last couple of years and while I really like the purse, I wanted something a bit smaller. I thought I'd try this purse, but I ended up having to send it back as it was too small for my needs.\\n\\nThe product description claims that the purse is 9\\\" x 9\\\" x 2.5\\\", but I genuinely think that the depth is much smaller than that. Here is what I hold in my Piazza purse: long thin credit card wallet (upright), glasses case (upright), very small leather bag with toiletries (lengthwise), Kindle Paperwhite (upright), keys and eyedrops (side pocket). I don't feel that's a whole lot to stuff in a purse, but I wasn't able to fit it all in this bag -- the wallet, glasses case, and leather bag were all arguing with each other, the bag was bulgy in the center, and it kept falling over in defeat.\\n\\nMost disappointing of all, the outer pockets don't have any expansion room, so you can really only fit something very flat in there -- flatter even than my already-pretty-flat Kindle Paperwhite. So I ended up sending this bag back and I will keep searching for something that holds my stuff while being fairly compact.\\n\\nIncidentally, this was my first Baggallini bag, and I was pleased with the material. The mushroom color is a nice medium brown, and the internal blue liner was very attractive. The nylon was light-weight, which is important for me in a purse, and the strap was easy to adjust, though a little more thin than I would have liked. The zipper pulls were pretty, but a little heavy. I'll probably try Baggallini again sometime, but will \\\"size up\\\" accordingly.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Sleek and strong, this contemporary crossbody is ideal for daily hands-free excursions. Its slender silhouette and zippered closures expertly conceal important items inside multiple pockets.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Too Small For Me\\n\\nReview: Baggallini Zipper Bagg / B002ZG92BK\\n\\nI've been using an <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/eBags-Piazza-Day-Bag/dp/B004C0LGYI/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">eBags Piazza Day Bag</a> for the last couple of years and while I really like the purse, I wanted something a bit smaller. I thought I'd try this purse, but I ended up having to send it back as it was too small for my needs.\\n\\nThe product description claims that the purse is 9\\\" x 9\\\" x 2.5\\\", but I genuinely think that the depth is much smaller than that. Here is what I hold in my Piazza purse: long thin credit card wallet (upright), glasses case (upright), very small leather bag with toiletries (lengthwise), Kindle Paperwhite (upright), keys and eyedrops (side pocket). I don't feel that's a whole lot to stuff in a purse, but I wasn't able to fit it all in this bag -- the wallet, glasses case, and leather bag were all arguing with each other, the bag was bulgy in the center, and it kept falling over in defeat.\\n\\nMost disappointing of all, the outer pockets don't have any expansion room, so you can really only fit something very flat in there -- flatter even than my already-pretty-flat Kindle Paperwhite. So I ended up sending this bag back and I will keep searching for something that holds my stuff while being fairly compact.\\n\\nIncidentally, this was my first Baggallini bag, and I was pleased with the material. The mushroom color is a nice medium brown, and the internal blue liner was very attractive. The nylon was light-weight, which is important for me in a purse, and the strap was easy to adjust, though a little more thin than I would have liked. The zipper pulls were pretty, but a little heavy. I'll probably try Baggallini again sometime, but will \\\"size up\\\" accordingly.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: This traditional hand made Natural Straw Braid Coolie Hat has the real size of 17 inches wide and 5 inches deep. It is used along with the traditional Vietnamese long dress or it also can be used as a decoration in your home. Try this one today to cover your face totally from the scorching sun or just to give it some Asian touch to your living room. Made of 100% natural straw. ONE SIZE fits most with chin string. Crown measures 5 inches deep and 17 inches wide. Thick, stiff and cool material. Hand wash only. Available in different styles Imported\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Cheap, but good with modifications\\n\\nReview: Straw Braid Natural Hat / B001A67NNU\\n\\nI bought this hat because I wanted a good hat to use outside - something with a wide brim to keep the sun off, with a string tie to keep the hat *on* in the strong wind, and I liked the gentle slope of this hat, which meant that I wouldn't have to worry about the fit against my head, sweaty hair, or feeling too contained.\\n\\nFirst off, measurements: I'd say this is about a 17.5\\\" diameter, although the description says 17\\\", so I could be a little off. I'll also buy their statement of 5\\\" deep - that's a bit harder to measure, but sounds about right. This hat is VERY floppy, so I don't know where they are getting their description of \\\"stiff\\\", but I guess floppy is alright.\\n\\nThe string tie on this is a joke - thin, fraying, and held with a single knot that can't be cinched easily. I'm going to get to a crafts store and get a thick bead and a replacement faux-leather string (so it won't slip and slide through the bead) and create a proper cinch-tie. I *am* pleased that the two holes that the tie slides through are reinforced properly with metal rings.\\n\\nOverall, this looks and feels a little cheap, but in a functional I-got-what-I-paid-for kind of way, not in a I-was-ripped-off kind of way.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Long considered a trusted partner by parents for providing a way to bring healthy food and drink options for kids on the go, Genuine Thermos Brand has brought its superior insulation technology to FOOGO, a line of children's products for ages six months and older. Freshness and safety go hand in hand. If contents are not kept at the right temperature, potentially dangerous bacteria may grow rapidly and cause food and beverages to spoil. All FOOGO stainless steel products feature THERMOS vacuum insulation technology which has been shown to inhibit the growth of bacteria in a laboratory test sponsored by Thermos and performed by Cornell University. For additional peace of mind, FOOGO products use BPA-free materials. FOOGO products are offered in three styles that are designed to grow with your child. Soft spout sippy cups with handles are for children 6 months and older, hard spout sippy cups are for children 12 months and older, and straw bottles are for children ages 18 months and older. The FOOGO Stainless Steel Straw Bottle makes it easy to keep drinks cold on the go. This bottle has a 10-ounce capacity and features THERMOS vacuum insulation technology to keep contents cold for up to 12 hours. The contoured shape of this bottle is easy for little toddler hands to grip and hold. The FOOGO straw bottle is a great choice for a child's first real straw bottle. Unlike other straw bottles, the FOOGO straw bottle can be used to teach kids to drink from a real straw, without built-in valves that inhibit flow. Thanks to the durable double wall stainless steel construction and vacuum insulation, this FOOGO straw bottle will not gather condensation or leave water rings. A hygienic push button lid is simple to open and reveals a pop-up silicone straw that is comfortable to drink from. Cleaning is simple, just unscrew the lid and the straw can be completely removed and disassembled to two parts for easy cleaning. The bottle and straw parts are top-rack dishwasher safe, however, hand washing is recommended for best results. Not for use with hot liquids.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Travels to work with me!\\n\\nReview: Thermos Foogo Stainless Steel Straw Bottle / B00849L4AE\\n\\nI like milk with my breakfast at work, but have been struggling to find something small and leakproof. I wasn't too thrilled that this has a built-in straw, but it's been easy to use and easy to clean. And the thermos hasn't leaked even a tiny bit. It's also insulated just enough to keep the milk cool. I love it so much, and the vibrant colors on the Poppy Patch model are lovely (in my opinion). I'll be ordering more of these.\\n\\nI do think this straw would be fragile for a small child who doesn't know not to bite or chew on the plastic, but I'm only using this for myself and it's fine for adult use.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Nesco BJX-5 Jumbo Jerky Works Kit\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Never as easy as it looks...\\n\\nReview: Nesco Jerky Kit BJX-5 / B001795P3K\\n\\nI purchased this for use with my <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Nesco-FD-75PR-700-Watt-Food-Dehydrator/dp/B000FFVJ3C/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Nesco FD-75PR 700-Watt Food Dehydrator</a>, but despite the glowing reviews on Amazon, I personally did not find this jerky gun very easy to use.\\n\\nTo start with, if you just load this jerky gun with ground beef right out of the package, you will find that the gun clogs instantly - there isn't enough pressure to force the ground beef through. If you soak the ground beef first in liquid (like, for example, soy sauce) and load it into the gun and press the trigger... the liquid will be forced out, the ground beef will stay in the gun, and another clog will result. In fact, the *only* way to get the ground beef to come out of the tube in strips is to puree it to a liquid beforehand in a food processor, blender, or electric mixing bowl.\\n\\nOnce you've actually got pureed ground beef, you have to actually extrude the jerky from the gun. The major problem here is that there are only two ways to push material out of the tube: either you press the button for short, controlled bursts, or you hold the button down with one hand and push the presser bar until you've gotten the length you like. Pressing the button for short bursts is completely useless, however, since the gun spits out about an inch of jerky (if that) so shudderingly that it immediately disconnects from the gun - so if you want a jerky STRIP instead of tiny jerky bites, you're going to have to hold the button down and use the presser.\\n\\nThe problem with the presser method is three-fold. First, you'd better be pretty strong to push the presser successfully, and I mean *very* strong, and you'd better have a steady hand - if you tremble at all, the jerky strip tears off from the gun. Second, you'd better have pretty long arms because the presser literally doubles the length of the tube. And third - and this is the biggest problem - you need three arms. You have to have one hand on the button at all times in order to work the presser manually and of course you have to use a second hand to operate the presser. If you have a circular dehydrator (and most people do), you're going to have to get a second person to help and turn the plate as you extrude jerky. You can't just extrude some and then use your presser hand to turn the plate and keep going, because that slight motion will break the jerky strip.\\n\\nConsequently, jerky with this kit is a big production at our house - I puree the meat and stuff it into the jerky gun, my fiance operates the plastic gun while I turn the dehydrator plate to create the necessary long 'jerky spiral' that dries so nicely and breaks into strips. And then, of course, there's the clean-up which takes awhile: not only are these several pieces to clean, but the screwed on top doesn't come off easily after the jerky juices have leached into it during use.\\n\\nAfter several uses with this kit, I kind of dread making ground beef jerky, just because it's so tricky to do with this. I wonder if I should have gotten a more expensive machine - maybe one that would extrude in a strip automatically, and just let me worry about positioning and turning? It really shouldn't have to take 3-4 hands to operate a jerky gun. In the meantime, I'm sticking to 'strip steak jerky' just because it's so much easier.\\n\\nA side note about the seasonings - they are VERY strong. We used them at the given ratio and were completely overwhelmed; even halving the ratio only helped a little. And they're not even really that great - the strongest taste is of MSG and salt. And if you use soy sauce to liquefy the meat, you really don't need MORE salt. I'd recommend making your own seasoning from an online recipe or something because these just didn't taste good at all, in my opinion.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Nesco BJX-5 Jumbo Jerky Works Kit\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Never as easy as it looks...\\n\\nReview: Nesco Jerky Kit BJX-5 / B001795P3K\\n\\nI purchased this for use with my <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Nesco-FD-75PR-700-Watt-Food-Dehydrator/dp/B000FFVJ3C/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Nesco FD-75PR 700-Watt Food Dehydrator</a>, but despite the glowing reviews on Amazon, I personally did not find this jerky gun very easy to use.\\n\\nTo start with, if you just load this jerky gun with ground beef right out of the package, you will find that the gun clogs instantly - there isn't enough pressure to force the ground beef through. If you soak the ground beef first in liquid (like, for example, soy sauce) and load it into the gun and press the trigger... the liquid will be forced out, the ground beef will stay in the gun, and another clog will result. In fact, the *only* way to get the ground beef to come out of the tube in strips is to puree it to a liquid beforehand in a food processor, blender, or electric mixing bowl.\\n\\nOnce you've actually got pureed ground beef, you have to actually extrude the jerky from the gun. The major problem here is that there are only two ways to push material out of the tube: either you press the button for short, controlled bursts, or you hold the button down with one hand and push the presser bar until you've gotten the length you like. Pressing the button for short bursts is completely useless, however, since the gun spits out about an inch of jerky (if that) so shudderingly that it immediately disconnects from the gun - so if you want a jerky STRIP instead of tiny jerky bites, you're going to have to hold the button down and use the presser.\\n\\nThe problem with the presser method is three-fold. First, you'd better be pretty strong to push the presser successfully, and I mean *very* strong, and you'd better have a steady hand - if you tremble at all, the jerky strip tears off from the gun. Second, you'd better have pretty long arms because the presser literally doubles the length of the tube. And third - and this is the biggest problem - you need three arms. You have to have one hand on the button at all times in order to work the presser manually and of course you have to use a second hand to operate the presser. If you have a circular dehydrator (and most people do), you're going to have to get a second person to help and turn the plate as you extrude jerky. You can't just extrude some and then use your presser hand to turn the plate and keep going, because that slight motion will break the jerky strip.\\n\\nConsequently, jerky with this kit is a big production at our house - I puree the meat and stuff it into the jerky gun, my fiance operates the plastic gun while I turn the dehydrator plate to create the necessary long 'jerky spiral' that dries so nicely and breaks into strips. And then, of course, there's the clean-up which takes awhile: not only are these several pieces to clean, but the screwed on top doesn't come off easily after the jerky juices have leached into it during use.\\n\\nAfter several uses with this kit, I kind of dread making ground beef jerky, just because it's so tricky to do with this. I wonder if I should have gotten a more expensive machine - maybe one that would extrude in a strip automatically, and just let me worry about positioning and turning? It really shouldn't have to take 3-4 hands to operate a jerky gun. In the meantime, I'm sticking to 'strip steak jerky' just because it's so much easier.\\n\\nA side note about the seasonings - they are VERY strong. We used them at the given ratio and were completely overwhelmed; even halving the ratio only helped a little. And they're not even really that great - the strongest taste is of MSG and salt. And if you use soy sauce to liquefy the meat, you really don't need MORE salt. I'd recommend making your own seasoning from an online recipe or something because these just didn't taste good at all, in my opinion.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Shakespeare's immortal tale of ambition, lust and murderous treachery is brilliantly updated and brought to life in this riveting, 20th-century masterpiece. Boasting breathtaking performances, unforgettable imagery and two Oscar(r) nominations*, this astounding wartime spectacle is mesmerizing...it will rivet you and shock you (Jeffrey Lyons, 'sneak Previews ). In 1930s Britain, a savage, civil war between two royal families has just concluded. But even as the newly installed King Edward (John Wood) takes the reins of power, his ruthless, younger brother Richard (Ian McKellen) sets in motion a monstrous scheme to claim the crown for himself. Enlisting the aid of equally duplicitous allies in the court, Richard embarks on a merciless, single-minded campaign of betrayal, seduction and cold-blooded murder to achieve the goal that has obsessed him all of his tortured life: to beking...at any price. *1995: Costume Design, Art Direction\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great adaptation, with limits\\n\\nReview: Richard III / 0792844041\\n\\nFor various reasons, I didn't realize that this version of Richard III was an adaptation to the 1930's until the DVD menu screen popped up and the iconic 30's music started up. After getting over my initial surprise, I was skeptical - I'm actually extremely fond of Shakespeare adaptations, but this seemed over-the-top. I'm happy to say, however, that I was wrong - this is a wonderful adaptation, with a few minor limitations.\\n\\nFirst of all, I'd like to note that this movie does not have any captions, which *really* frustrated me. If you're hard of hearing or just unused to Shakespearean English, that alone might make the movie hard to follow. We had to back up the DVD on several occasions to catch words that were slightly mumbled or garbled, but in general this wasn't a noticeable problem.\\n\\nSecondly, the acting is truly superb. Ian McKellen is always wonderful, of course, but he does an absolutely terrific job of portraying the villain as Richard is written in the play, while still providing the charisma to lend credence to Lady Anne's agreement to marriage, and the general failure to catch on to Richard's plotting and schemes. The supporting cast, too, is superb, and it's hard to imagine a better acted version of this wonderful play.\\n\\nAs for the adaptation, I thought Shakespearean dialogue over a 1930's setting might be jarring, but for the most part the super-imposition is clean and satisfying. Quite possibly the only time I felt jarred out of the adaptation was during Richard's notable cry for a horse - uttered from atop a stalled jeep sporting a large, mounted gun. Such moments are very few, however, and this adaptation is deeply enjoyable and worth a look.\\n\\nI should note, though, that this movie does sport some mild violence and frightening scenes, so if you're looking to introduce youths to Shakespeare, this might not be your first choice - but then the original play wasn't particularly muted or cheery either.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: very good\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: So Bad it's Hilarious\\n\\nReview: Gymkata / B00005JP3R\\n\\nEveryone I've ever shown \\\"Gymkata\\\" has loved it - but make no mistake: \\\"Gymkata\\\" is only wonderful in the sense that it's truly wonderful to ridicule. Possibly the best \\\"stealth parody\\\" I've ever seen, it's hard to imagine how anyone can't enjoy \\\"Gymkata\\\" for its campy appeal. How can you miss with a movie that features the U.S. government \\\"recruiting\\\" an Olympic gymnast as the epitome of fitness to undertake a foreign deadly obstacle course (Who better for the job?)? How can you lose with a confused \\\"foreign\\\" setting that incorporates black-clad ninjas (with only one government-issue arrow each, apparently) within a sprawling green forest? And how, HOW, can you not laugh until your sides ache at the sight of the dreaded, frightening saddle-horse-fu??\\n\\nIf you enjoy campy movies that you can ridicule to your heart's content, don't pass up \\\"Gymkata\\\".\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: as is\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Holds up surprisingly well; fun for the whole family\\n\\nReview: Dark Crystal / B000R8YC1I\\n\\nHaving missed out on the majority of the 1980's fantasy flicks, for various reasons, I've been backfilling my knowledge in this area, with mixed results. I definitely enjoyed <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Conan/dp/B0000VD12I/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Conan</a> and <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Red-Sonja/dp/B0001Z37HM/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Red Sonja</a> was fun, but I wasn't sure what to expect from a \\\"kid's movie\\\" (as it was described to me) like Dark Crystal.\\n\\nDark Crystal is, in my opinion, a surprisingly good film, even watched 'for the first time' nearly thirty years after its debut. The plot is easy enough for a child to follow, but engaging enough to maintain an adult's interest. The idea that extreme good and extreme evil are two sides of the same coin is not a new one, but it is fascinating to explore the implications here.\\n\\nThe characters are vibrant and imaginative; I was thoroughly sucked in by the quiet and kind Mystics, the bickering and vicious Skeksis, and the plucky and hopeful Gelflings. The puppet-work here is truly superb and really makes the viewer reminiscent for the old days - they just don't do puppet work like this anymore. (And though I love CGI-Yoda battles as much as the next person, there's just something more `real' about the puppets, somehow.) Most appreciated of all, I was pleased and delighted to see that the heroine is - in many ways - even more capable and just as crucial to the fulfillment of the prophecy as our sweet Gelfling hero is. It is very nice to see a role for women in a fantasy movie that extends beyond \\\"needs rescuing\\\" or \\\"looks great in a chainmail bikini\\\".\\n\\nI would definitely recommend this movie to anyone looking for a good fantasy film. There is some scary material here - such as the crystal that removes the \\\"life essence\\\" of the captives - but everything is put right in the end. I actually enjoyed Dark Crystal more than the more recent <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/City-of-Ember/dp/B001LPWGBO/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">City of Ember</a>, and for a movie that is past its twenty-fifth anniversary mark, that's saying something.\\n\\nThis movie provides captions for the hearing impaired.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psionic psychopath that only two kids and a group of psionics can stop.\\n\\nRating: 1.0\\n\\nSummary: I guess I'm in the minority...\\n\\nReview: Kaneda / 013023153899\\n\\nIt's always strange to come away from a movie disliking it and then see a plethora of reviews hailing it as the best thing ever. Inevitably doubt sets in, and I find myself wondering what it is that all those other people saw in this movie that I did not, but I just didn't like \\\"Akira\\\" at all.\\n\\nWhere do I start? I guess my biggest problem with this film is the overwhelming sense that important details (such as character motivation) have been blithely omitted on the grounds that \\\"deep\\\" or \\\"meaningful\\\" movies don't need such petty concerns. Tetsuo in particular seems driven by no motivation other than malevolent evil and madness and feels like a terrible rendition of a DBZ villain - he only seems interested in fighting for the fight itself, in order to be the most powerful one left standing. That kind of motivation is fine enough in a Bond shoot-em-up, but I expect more from a movie that's supposed to make me think. Kaneda, too, seems motivated not from character development or environment constraints, but merely because the movie *requires* him to behave in certain ways. It seems unreasonable that Kaneda would practically throw away his life trying to kill Tetsuo - or rather, it seems not at all unreasonable for a *movie character* to do such a thing, but a \\\"realistic\\\" character would seemingly take the first chance to make himself scarce... or at least consider it. Kaneda seems not even to acknowledge the possibility.\\n\\nOther questions abound. Why do the strange children look so old and green, and why do they attack Tetsuo, and why do they attack him with teddy bears bleeding milk from their eye sockets? Why are all the biker kids almost completely interchangeable, dialogue and all? Why is the government willing to pour money into a super-secret super-kid project, and then only hire a handful of guards and one scientist to guard these expensively godly goblins? Why, for the love of all that is sane, are all heroines required by law to fall for the hero who is rude, largely foolish and ineffectual, and has a bad tendency to flash the words \\\"author insert character\\\" above his head in green neon letters?\\n\\nAs for the touted depth and complexity behind this movie, I was blown away with the \\\"explanation\\\" (courtesy of the heroine) that ants are born with less power than humans, but what if an ant was accidentally born with the power of a human? What a huge mix-up that would be! Only, I wasn't aware that it was \\\"power\\\" that made us humans so special - I thought it was things like arms and legs and thumbs and a brain that is somewhat larger and more complicated than that of an ant. I'm told the whole thing is supposed to be a Buddhist analogy for something, but as a method to drive the story and explain the character motivation, it doesn't do the job, in my personal opinion.\\n\\nI can't help but also note that for a \\\"deep\\\" and \\\"meaningful\\\" movie, this film seems to enjoy itself far too much with the rampant gore and female frontal nudity. One female character - a sweet biker groupie whose boyfriend treats her with complete contempt - seems to exist *solely* for the purpose of sexual violence being played out upon her (twice), while the heroes helplessly watch - there's a tangible feeling of voyeurism and sadism overlaying her character that made me uncomfortable, to say the least.\\n\\nAfter reading some of the reviews, I suspect that \\\"Akira\\\" might be one of those movies that you have to be part of the 'in-group' in order to properly understand and appreciate it. And that's fine - it's not my place to start demanding explanations, character motivation, development, or basic plot elements over special effects and in-group backstory. But if you're not already a part of the Akira fan base, and are an outsider like me, then be aware that you may end up as frustrated and irritated by this movie as I was. Then again, Roger Ebert apparently liked this film well enough, so it's entirely possible that I'm just in the minority.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Ninja Scroll VHS. 1995 Manga Video. Action/Adventure/Anime. English Dubbed.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Interesting, but not for children or sensitive audiences\\n\\nReview: Ninja Scroll / 6305014140\\n\\n*Spoilers*\\n\\nWe first watched \\\"Ninja Scroll\\\" because we're working our way through the anime section now that we've seen all the Miyazaki movies. I understand that this is a movie tie-in to a popular series but being as always late to the bandwagon, I haven't seen the series and can't comment on that aspect of this movie. Let's get one thing straight - this movie is not for children or for people sensitive to blood or violence. Limbs and body parts are frequently hacked or torn off, and the blood spurts seem on par with a Tarantino film. There's also some graphic sexual content here, with a female ninja almost-raped by an opponent, some frank discussions of sex and sexual orientation, and one snake-themed villainess produces vipers from unusual bodily orifices.\\n\\nIf you're still reading after that content warning, then I will note that this is an extremely interesting film, if the content doesn't turn you off. \\\"Ninja Scroll\\\" can't seem to decide how important ninjas are seen in the society at large around them - on the one hand, the officers of the army treat them as expendable and disposable, but on the other hand, the \\\"techniques\\\" that the ninjas (both good and bad) have mastered are nothing short of magical, and dangerous deadly magic at that. In no particular order, we have a female so steeped in poison (by fate or by choice, we don't know) that her very touch kills; a man who willingly hosts deadly hornets in his body and uses them as a weapon, as well as a woman who does the same with vipers; men who can turn their bodies into stone or knit their bodies back together after losing limbs; and much more. All this makes for some extremely interesting battles, many with surprising or unusual endings.\\n\\nWhich isn't to say that \\\"Ninja Scroll\\\" is perfect. Like pretty much all anime movies, you have to watch it at least twice just to really understand what's going on. The English dubs and the English subtitles do not match at all, a cardinal sin of anime for those (like me) who are partially hearing impaired but not completely deaf, and while the subtitles are usually better dialogue than the dubs, it sometimes seems necessary to have *both* in order to be completely clear about the situation onscreen. Some of the violence seems a bit gratuitous, and at least one major plot 'twist' is as predictable as the sun rising in the morning. Having said *that*, however, there's quite a lot here that is surprising and unpredictable, and it's very nice to see heroes who behave in a sane and sensible manner, although I have to deduct mental points for having the heroine rapidly descend into hormonal whininess because the writers weren't sure how else to script dialogue for a tortured woman doomed to loneliness.\\n\\nI have to recommend \\\"Ninja Scroll\\\" just because it's so fantastical and unusual - I've honestly never seen anything quite like it. I honestly much prefer films with less graphic violence and sexual violence, but if you can get past the graphic content (and the worst of it seems to be in the first 20-30 minutes of the film), there's a good chance you'll enjoy it as I did.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: VHS TAPE\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: OK for Michael Bay\\n\\nReview: The Island / B000BO0LH2\\n\\n*Spoilers*\\n\\nLove him or hate him, you generally know what you're getting into with a Michael Bay movie: lots of action, quite a few cliched one-liners, and at least one or two plot holes so big you could drop a cow through them. And I don't mean that in a bad way - fun, mindless action is a valid and amusing way to spend a weekend evening. \\\"The Island\\\" is a step above many Michael Bay movies, though, in possessing a very thought-provoking philosophy underneath all the explosions and whizzing bullets.\\n\\nNot that the plot holes don't impinge heavily, of course. The clones being grown for extra parts are kept placid and calm with hypnotic suggestions that they want to go to the island, that they live to go to the island, that they don't need to think or question their surroundings. While the issue of \\\"Why don't you just grow them in a vat?\\\" is touched upon and discarded (the organs need stimulus in order to thrive), one wonders perhaps why they don't just give up this whole island scheme and just hypnotize the clones to want to serve as useful and happy organ donors. I can hear the objection of human survival instincts, but there have been plenty of death cults in the history of humanity and it seems like it wouldn't be too tricky to engineer one in this situation. Then you would have the <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/The-Restaurant-at-the-End-of-the-Universe/dp/0345418921/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">The Restaurant at the End of the Universe</a> situation where you can cut right through the issue of \\\"is it moral to eat meat?\\\" by having a cow that actually *wants* to be eaten, and is capable of saying so to the expensive clients.\\n\\nBut I digress, and really \\\"The Island\\\" is better as a metaphor for the current debate as to whether poor people should be allowed to sell their own organs in order to support their families. In this metaphor, \\\"going to the island\\\" would mean giving up your life to provide a better one for your family, and in this case the whole \\\"but they are human, too!\\\" rejoinder cuts just as harshly (if not more so) as with vat-grown clones.\\n\\nRealistically, though, any philosophy in \\\"The Island\\\" takes a firm back seat to the action. Male characters like fast things that go \\\"vroom!\\\" loudly, simply because they are male, and female characters are sweet and pretty and emotionally sensitive because that kind of stuff is handed out with the second X chromosome. But in true Michael Bay form, the excessive action is lavishly expensive action, and the special effects are spaced out with extremely good acting on the part of all the major actors. In light of all this, it's hard to get too nitpicky about the plot holes like the fact that memories are encoded into DNA and ancillary bad guys don't usually have major changes of heart at the last moment. View \\\"The Island\\\" for what it is - a pretty, if somewhat vacuous, destination that is worth a nice visit, even if you wouldn't want to live there.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: .\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Another series falls victim to a rushed, frenetic movie version\\n\\nReview: Wrath of the Ninja / B00000IBUG\\n\\n*Spoilers*\\n\\nUnfortunately, it's often easy to tell when an anime movie is a complete series distilled into a single feature film, and \\\"Wrath of the Ninja\\\" is a good example of this. The movie starts off well, with the initial and hostile meeting of two of the (as yet unknown) chosen trio of ninjas, only to have their battle interrupted by a new, and frightening, common opponent.\\n\\nDespite this interesting hook in the beginning, though, the movie quickly rushes into gibberish, falling victim to doing too much in too short a time span. After episodic events such as an enemy attack, the film will leap forward several seasons, with a quick exposition voice over that leaves far too much unexplained for the uninitiated to follow. The result is a film that will be unsatisfying for everyone - fans of the series will be irritated by how much was cut; new viewers will be confused and finally bored with the sequence of apparently unconnected events that leave no real emotional impact in their wake.\\n\\n\\\"Wrath of the Ninja\\\" isn't a *bad* movie in the traditional, awful sense - but it's rushed and frenetic and confusing. In order to meet the feature film length, motivation and character development have been almost entirely cut. In its place, the writers have dropped a bunch of cliches and stereotypes to prop up the action, and I suppose if they were happy with a mediocre, cliche-ridden film then good for them, but most viewers are going to be disappointed, and it's particularly infuriating to be lost for the entire movie because the politics and warfare strategies couldn't be explained a little further, but they DID find time to have the Wangsty male ninja hit up on the Serious female ninja with the obligatory \\\"you're not being feminine enough\\\" guilt stick. Oh, yeah, and the movie commits the cardinal sin of the \\\"Bait and Switch Boss\\\" trope, which is truly bad enough in video games but should never, ever be used in movies.\\n\\nI wouldn't really recommend \\\"Wrath of the Ninja\\\", but it's not the worst movie in the world. Oddly, it's one of the few anime movies where the English subtitles for the hearing impaired actually match the English dubs a little bit, which is pleasant in and of itself.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Barbara Streisand is a knockout as Dolly Levi, the woman \\\"who arranges things like furniture and daffodils and lives.\\\" And Hello Dolly, is the blockbuster musical you'll want to see her in again and again. The famed plot concerns Dolly, a young widow and professional matchmaker who sets her sights, and whatever else she can muster, on conquering tight-fisted Yonkers merchant, Horace Vandergeider, beautifully played by Walter Matthau. How she does it has to be the grandest, singingest, dancingest, marchingest flag-wavingest musical there ever was.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Songs that will stay with you\\n\\nReview: Hello, Dolly / B00005JL1P\\n\\nWith some of the most lovely Streisand songs that you'll have the pleasure to hear, this classic musical is worth a view for any fan. Hidden amongst lighthearted \\\"plot songs\\\" are such deeper gems as \\\"Put On Your Sunday Clothes\\\" (an invocation to achieve the mood you would like to have via conscious choice and behavior modeling), \\\"Before the Parade Passes By\\\" (an appeal to live life fully without being sidelined permanently by loss or tragedy), and \\\"It Only Takes a Moment\\\" (a moving paean to the richness and depth of love).\\n\\nAlongside those gems, the \\\"plot songs\\\" will also stay with you as catchy and fun tunes - especially Dolly's introduction songs \\\"Just Leave Everything to Me\\\" and the titular \\\"Hello, Dolly\\\" - a climax that will stay with you for days. If you are a Streisand fan or just a lover of musicals in general, check out \\\"Hello, Dolly\\\" for beautiful and rich songs that will warm your heart.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: The effects of global warming and the greenhouse effect has caught up with the Earth. The polar ice caps are melting and the world's weather patterns are all out of sync. The next ice age is upon us. A scientist that specializes in historical extreme weather changes must fight his way north to New York where his son is caught in the clutches of mother nature.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Disaster Movie of the Year\\n\\nReview: Day After Tomorrow / B00005JMXX\\n\\nAlthough disaster movies are often as a consequence of their very nature somewhat corny and soft-science-y, \\\"Day after Tomorrow\\\" can definitely be called the pageant queen of the disaster movie genre. Though the science is soft, the movie at least admits that what is happening is completely off the charts for expected (i.e. 'realistic') behavior, which is more than most movies are willing to admit (see, <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/The-Core/dp/B0000AKCKM/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">The Core</a>). And though the usual cast of disaster movie characters are present, including the ubiquitous Unreliable Dad Who Comes Through In The End, I was beyond pleased to note that the movie didn't belabor the characters by beating the particularly dead horse of disaster movie character tropes and, instead, just continued firmly on to the action. As such, we are spared all the \\\"This is why we are divorced/separated/whiny!\\\" dialogue between the Unreliable Dad and Sainted Mother as well as the reconciliatory \\\"This is why we fell in love!\\\" crap that is so often tagged onto the end of these sorts of movies. That consideration alone is worth a couple of stars.\\n\\nNo, \\\"Day After Tomorrow\\\" is all about the special effects and action, and is *not* about character development, dialogue, or anything else except swiftly and efficiently killing off the majority of Earth's population. If that's what you watch disaster movies for, like I do, then prepare to be delighted. If, however, you want a lot of yammering dialogue to break up the scenes of everyone being slaughtered by expensive CGI effects, you'll be disappointed in \\\"Day After Tomorrow\\\" and will have to go back and re-watch <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Armageddon/dp/B00000G3PA/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Armageddon</a>.\\n\\nI really can't think of anything I didn't like about \\\"Day After Tomorrow\\\". The vice president is a realistically callous evil jerk without ever going overboard into pure stupid, there are several cutely humorous scenes that the movie wisely chooses not to belabor too much (including illegal immigration in the opposite direction than usual, and burning tax law books instead of philosophy ones), and the soft science is interesting to watch unfold. The protagonist kids aren't quite as smart as I'd like them to be, but compared to the usual disaster movie crew, they're pure geniuses. In fact, I thoroughly enjoyed \\\"Day After Tomorrow\\\" because the characters are so smart (relative to the genre) that even when they do dumb things (like trek to an unknown library to rescue a single kid), they at least do these dumb disaster movie tasks in a smart way. And I appreciate that.\\n\\nI am tempted to give \\\"Day After Tomorrow\\\" five stars, but even the best of disaster movies is still a disaster movie at its heart. There isn't a lot of high drama or deep thoughts to take away from this (well, except \\\"Global Warming is Bad\\\", but surely we know this by now). So, instead, I'll justify giving it 'only' four stars on the grounds that I thought the ending was way too optimistic about humanity's chances and I would have preferred the movie go whole-hog and say that there was really no hope to recover and rebuild, an ending that Hollywood just doesn't seem brave enough to make.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: A young wife (Aniston) gets bored with her marriage and life and falls into an iliicit affair with a teenage stock boy (Gyllenhaal) at the discount store where they both work.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: An interesting take on modern existential angst.\\n\\nReview: The Good Girl / B0000797IO\\n\\nAlthough I wasn't certain if I'd like \\\"The Good Girl\\\", I definitely felt a resonance with Aniston's character Justine, as she struggles with being stuck seemingly indefinitely in a rut of existential angst. This sort of modern existential angst of being stuck in a life that you didn't intend to choose, of having missed opportunities for something more or better (education, work, or spouse), and of never seeing any end or change in sight is something that many people recognize and can identify with, particularly anyone who has worked at a low-level, minimum-wage, customer service type position.\\n\\nWhereas movies like <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Employee-of-the-Month/dp/B000LC3ICE/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Employee of the Month</a> make light of this angst as the characters maintain sanity by choosing to not take life too seriously, \\\"The Good Girl\\\" hits closer to home by emphasizing that, for many people, this way of life is a matter of survival, not of frivolity. Indeed, Justine would fit in easily in <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Nickel-and-Dimed/dp/0805088385/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Nickel and Dimed</a>, as she struggles to work up the energy through her depression to come to work every day, because the money isn't going to come in from anywhere else - certainly not from her frequently-stoned, unreliable oaf of a husband. Out of desperation and boredom, Justine agrees to an affair with younger co-worker \\\"Holden\\\" (self-named for the main character in <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/The-Catcher-in-the-Rye/dp/0316769177/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">The Catcher in the Rye</a>), who not-so-subtly begins to spiral into madness like his unfortunate namesake.\\n\\nHere is where the movie gets full points for sheer realism. Justine realizes that there is no bright, explosive, happy ending waiting for her and Holden. They are not Bonnie and Clyde, and even while Justine may passionately dream of living a different life as someone else, somewhere else, she recognizes with the maturity of her years that life just doesn't work that way. Holden burns out with the ferocity of youth and Justine returns, resigned and likely still depressed, to her life of drudgery, only slightly relieved by the knowledge that her husband is as depressed with life as herself and not a 'mindless cow'.\\n\\nThough I felt this movie was a realistic portrayal of modern existential angst and disillusionment, and though I appreciated the movie for espousing the sad truth that Justine really *is* trapped in her situation, or at least one very like it even if she moved away from that particular town, job, and husband, I can't say that I \\\"enjoyed\\\" the movie in the strictest sense of the word. I appreciate harsh truths and painful realities, and the courage it took to convey them in this well acted, carefully produced movie, but I can't imagine ever wanting to sit down and watch it again and it certainly isn't a cheerful movie by any stretch. I would definitely recommend that everyone see this movie once, but I wouldn't expect anyone to want to see it again. Sometimes the truth just hurts too much.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Quick Shipping !!! New And Sealed !!! This Disc WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. A multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player is request to view it in USA/Canada. Please Review Description.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Fun, but Riddled with Cliche\\n\\nReview: Core / B0000AKCKN\\n\\n*Spoilers*\\n\\nI tend to enjoy a good disaster movie, and I don't even mind the soft science that almost inevitably accompanies them - most truly exciting threats (like, say, the earth rapidly slowing its rotation) pretty much aren't plausible no matter how you slice it, so just make up some technobabble and I'll go with it.\\n\\n\\\"The Core\\\" is fun enough for a first viewing, but usually what will keep me coming back is the characters in a disaster movie. Fun, interesting, and amusing characters are good; cliched, annoying, irritating characters are not. Let's just get right down to the aspect that really turned me off to this movie, and that is Hillary Swank, or rather how this movie treats her. She starts off as a cliched Renaissance Woman who can do anything and everything (one character even asks her if there's anything she can't do and she replies that there's nothing she knows of), including land spacecraft by eyesight (and mad math skills) on narrow, improvised landing strips. As part of her \\\"character development\\\" (and I use the term loosely) she walks up to newly invented and malfunctioning things and jiggles wires and - viola - they work. I would find this annoying enough, but what *really* gets on my nerves is that the movie thinks this is a bad thing, and a huge amount of time is spent beating her about the head for thinking she knows too much. I hate to pull the 'sexism' card, but compared to all the actual jerks in the movie who *don't* get a dressing-down talk, it's just flat-out irritating.\\n\\nThe other major thing that turns me off to \\\"The Core\\\" is that the characters die off so predictably that it feels like they have numbers on the backs of their jerseys. I realize that the Alpha Nerd and the Obligatory Girl have to survive to the end (it's Hollywood Law), but would it be so much to ask that the other characters not line up and take a number on the movie wheel-of-death? One death in particular is so ridiculous and unnecessary that the only \\\"excuse\\\" offered is that the laughably bad ship design was due to the rushed building period, which is particularly funny because you'd think with *every Nobel prize winner ever* on the job, SOMEONE would have pointed out the rather glaring design flaw. Then again, maybe the problem is that pesky \\\"no Nobel prize for mathematicians\\\" thing - oh, the delicious irony.\\n\\nIn all seriousness, I liked the plot of \\\"The Core\\\" just fine, I just wish that there had been a bit more polish on the script and pacing. There are a lot of genuinely scary moments and a lot of really funny lines, and if they'd just shaken out the cliches and put a little more originality into the movie, I think it couldn't be very good - as it is, it's pretty much standard disaster movie fare with nothing to really stand out as unique or interesting.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Mystery Science Theater 3000 Volume 4\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great Addition to the Collection; Superb Introduction into MST3K\\n\\nReview: MST3K: Volume 4 / B0000TAYWA\\n\\nWith two great films and two fairly good ones, this volume is a great addition to any MST3K collection, and is also a wonderful introduction to the franchise - two of the films riffed here are my \\\"go to\\\" films for MST3K newbies.\\n\\n- Girl in Gold Boots: This is a perfect movie for the MST3K team to riff, because it combines a simple, cohesive plot (Girl finds herself out of her league in Sin City) with terrible production values. This makes it a wonderful introduction to MST3K-style riffing, because the viewer isn't burdened by trying to figure out what is going on, and can just relax and enjoy the zingers. The zingers themselves are beauts - with characters that pop 'magically' in and out of scenes, a soundtrack that insists it's Christmas whilst the set crew adamantly maintained a Halloween theme, and a hero who calls himself \\\"Critter\\\", Mike and the Bots have plenty of material to work with. This is definitely one of my favorites.\\n\\n- Hamlet: The setup here is cute - Mike wins a bet against Pearl and gets to decide his movie for the week (\\\"Hamlet\\\", a classic!), but she has the last laugh by picking which *version* of \\\"Hamlet\\\" to show, and she picks a frighteningly terrible one...in theory. In practice, this is basically a good example of how boring Shakespeare can truly be in the hands of a crummy acting troupe, and most of the riffs here have less to do with the lackluster performance (about which one can only say so much) and more to do with the vagaries of Elizabethan language - so, basically, Mike and the Bots are riffing the script of \\\"Hamlet\\\" but against a really crummy production because the good stuff couldn't be licensed. Interesting, but not really one of their best.\\n\\n- Overdrawn at the Memory Bank: With Raul Julia (of <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/The-Addams-Family-Addams-Family-Values/dp/B000FIHN52/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">The Addams Family / Addams Family Values</a> fame) as a lead, and with a plot that seems to be a panache of Philip K. Dick science fiction stories, you'd think that this film would have real potential, either as a stand-alone movie or as a good riffing. Unfortunately, the presentation and plot are so disjointed and confusing, that most viewers will probably struggle through once or twice before being able to really enjoy the riffing. This is a good MST3K episode but not, in my opinion, one of the best.\\n\\n- Space Mutiny: Ah, this movie can carry the collection by itself - I've never seen anyone *not* enjoy \\\"Space Mutiny\\\" in the hands of Mike and the Bots. With shots ripped blatantly from \\\"Battlestar Galactica\\\", a cult of priestesses whose worship antics largely revolve around a Spencer's Gifts electricity ball novelty toy, a hero of many names (Meaty McJockstrap! Puffy Hugeshoulders! Play along and see what names you can come up with!), and dozens of well-placed railing deaths, you'll want to watch this film over and over again. A classic in every sense of the word.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: A \\\"happening\\\" - if ever there was one - befell on June 17, 1967 in the sylvan setting of Central Park, led by the one and only Barbra Streisand. If you missed it or don't remember it, you can share the magic of this extraordinary concert with this videocassette - recorded in Hi-Fi and released by CBS/FOX in 1987 - which makes the event strangely intimate while this beloved superstar sings her heart out before 135,000 fans. The wide range of selections include \\\"The Nearness of You,: \\\"Down With Love,\\\" \\\"Love is Like a New Born Child,\\\" \\\"I Can See It\\\" (from The Fantasticks), \\\"Love is a Bore,\\\" \\\"He Torched Me\\\" (from Drat! The Cat), \\\"I'm All Smiles,\\\" \\\"Marty the Martian,\\\" \\\"Natural Sounds,\\\" \\\"Second Hand Rose,\\\" \\\"People,\\\" \\\"Silent Night\\\" (so beautifully appropriate for this balmy evening), and \\\"Happy Days Are Here Again\\\" - at which point the crowd does not let her leave the stage. The cheers nearly overpower the recurring vamp played by the bountiful orchestra accompanying each of the curtain calls the audience demands. Among all of the stars that shone in the sky that night, Ms. Streisand was the brightest of them all! (Playing time=60 minutes)\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Startling, but not scary\\n\\nReview: The Happening / B001DZOC6Y\\n\\n*Spoilers*\\n\\n<a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/The-Sixth-Sense/dp/B00004BZIY/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">The Sixth Sense</a> scared me more than any other movie I've ever seen because it scared me in a very psychological way. No matter how you slice it, that little boy is going to spend the rest of his life viewing gruesome deaths everywhere he goes, with no escape. And he will always be totally alone because, unless he manages to find someone who shares his sixth sense, he will never have anyone to talk to about this, nor will anyone be able to understand him. That's a lot for anyone to handle for their entire life, no matter how much you might initially be resolved to the idea of the talent as a 'gift'.\\n\\nI guess what I'm saying is that I found \\\"The Sixth Sense\\\" scary because it scared me on a deeply mental level, and didn't just startle me. And I was deeply intrigued by \\\"The Happening\\\" because it seemed like the same type of 'smart horror' that would scare me in a similar manner. Unfortunately, Shyamalan seems to have decided to trade 'scary' for 'startling', because while \\\"The Happening\\\" has definite scary potential, it seems regularly eager to trade that in for cheap startles. The blood and gore are, in my mind, excessive and it's hard to escape the feeling that the blood'n'guts were added in a cynical attempt to boost sales with an 'R' rating. Pacing and suspense are almost completely thrown away from the very beginning - within a mere minutes of the movie's opening, the scientists on the telly have already nailed down that the incidents are localized around parks and other flora-heavy areas, that the infection is airborne, that it compels people to suicide, and that it probably isn't terrorist-related. This onslaught of information prevents the viewer from building up any kind of suspense regarding the incidents and all we are left with is the characters to care about.\\n\\nUnfortunately, the characters are where \\\"The Happening\\\" is weakest. The acting is just horrible, really every line seems deadpan and every facial expression seems wooden and unnatural. Wahlberg in particular is intensely awful, and what was up with his opening classroom spiel? Even the creationist teachers at my private elementary schools didn't let us scribble \\\"Gawd did it\\\" on our homework and call it a day, but Wahlberg seems perfectly at peace with teaching his students that not only will they never understand nature fully, they shouldn't even try. Beyond that, there's the usual horror movie fare of \\\"rapid escape is essential, so let me just stop to pack some trinkets,\\\" not to be overshadowed by the \\\"I know my loved one is dead, but I have to try to find them anyway, leaving my child in the hands of childless strangers who need a new adopted kid to cement their troubled marriage\\\".\\n\\nA lot about this movie just doesn't feel realistic, and that hurts the 'scary potential' even worse - it's hard to be scared to the point of sleeplessness when it all feels so fake. I don't mean the little stuff like the train stopping because they \\\"lost contact\\\" (how?) or the fact that houses and automobiles are generally not air-tight. I mean the big stuff, the stuff that after 9-11 or SARS, movie-makers should really be aware of. Specifically, the ending seems completely unrealistic - for months after 9-11, people in relatively minor cities were still stockpiling water and planning bomb shelters. Faced with something so much bigger, the response would be incredible. Air-tight shelters would be constructed, air masks would be worn, whole forests would be burned down by vigilante militia groups. Which isn't even delving into the fact that the responses of the people DURING the crisis seem pretty unrealistic as well - it's a plague that makes you kill yourself, so people are arming themselves with guns for protection? Gee, that seems kind of like a bad idea.\\n\\nIn the end, I was deeply disappointed by \\\"The Happening\\\". The movie was definitely startling, but it failed ultimately to be scary. Partly because it revealed too much too quickly, partly because the acting and characterization were awful, and partly because the movie seems all to willing to believe that movie-goers won't appreciate anything without a bucket of fake guts tossed all over the camera.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Earth's last city, Olympus, rose from the ashes of a global war on the backs of Bioroids, artificial clones who make up half the city's population. Under the strict guidance of a supercomputer, humanity's last survivors enjoy an idyllic peace, but only on the surface Human terrorists within the military seek a return to power and clash with the government's ESWAT forces lead by the legendary soldier, Deunan Knute, and her boyfriend who is 75% machine. Retrieving the Appleseed will end the conflict, and Deunan alone holds its secret. The outstanding feature film based on the manga by SHIROW Masamune (Ghost In the Shell), directed by Shinji ARAMAKI (Bubblegum Crisis), and produced by SORI (Ping Pong) features a soundtrack by Boom Boom Satelites, Paul Oakenfold, Basement Jaxx and more and will be available from TOFU records. The DVD will feature high quality video encoded directly from the HD master in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen with 5.1 English Dolby Digital and DTS audio as well as the original Japanese 2.0 stereo and 5.1 DTS Dolby Digital soundtracks! This DVD also features commentary from both the director and the producer!\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Fascinating, Complex...but rough around the edges.\\n\\nReview: Appleseed / B0007OY31G\\n\\n*Spoilers*\\n\\nI would really like to give Appleseed a five star review, I really would. The animation is superb, the story is intriguing, and the voice work is flawless. Unfortunately, the movie needs just that little bit of polish on the edges to be truly perfect, or at least truly perfect for beginners who come to this story brand-new, as I did.\\n\\nI'm unsure how much of the story in this movie will be familiar to existing fans of this anime franchise. The story revolves around a new utopia in the midst of a ruined world, populated in part by genetically modified humans who are incapable of strong human emotion, most notably the hatred, prejudice, and anger that led humanity to destroy the world in the first place. Set in the midst of this is the apparently missing-in-action-for-some-time famed female warrior Deunan Knute.\\n\\nDeunan Knute is many things. She's one of the best warriors on earth, descended from an equally brilliant warrior and (it will be revealed) a rather important scientist. She's the love interest for the now-mechanized Briarius who was presumed dead and is now more machine than human, and a protector of the new utopia. She is a fantastic protagonist, and a wonderfully strong and sensitive woman, managing to eschew the stereotypes that abound in some other types of anime.\\n\\nThis is where we run into our rough edges that mar the movie. To wit, Deunan is never really allowed to reach her potential. A humorous scene where her \\\"training\\\" ends in the complete and surprising defeat of her numerous laser-tag opponents and a cute quip from her in the end is marred by Briarius' scolding that she shouldn't tease men who may save her life someday. This could work if the scene was meant to show that Briarius is conflicted about Deunan's arrival into his untroubled utopia, but the scene is played straight and Deunan silently vows to be more serious, to my own disappointment. Another drawback here is that the filmmakers do not seem to trust their underlying premise that Deunan is capable and tough - Briarius repeatedly saves her life throughout the film, often over her ridiculously protesting objections, and I cannot think of a single instance where she handles actual trouble without the protection of her imposing metal lover. This is a disappointment, for a character that is supposed to be strong, self-reliant, practical, and battle-hardened.\\n\\nThe film also suffers from exposition issues. There are long stretches of exposition that, should have been arranged differently in order to allow the user to process the convoluted storyline. Exposition is hampered by skipping major plot points and returning to them in retrospect later, if at all - the wire fighting warriors that slice Hitomi's car in half are never explained with regards to who sent them. There are also simply too many coincidences and \\\"gee, that's convenient\\\" plot points, for instance when the multiple automated fighters are converging on the dome and we find that (a) they don't need to stop ALL the fighters, because there's a shut-down port on ONE of them that will shut them all down (convenient!) and (b) they are given the shut-down passcode by a previously comatose Hitomi who announces that her name is the passcode the elders chose to use. It's not really understand WHY she would know this - I can buy that the elders might use her name as the super-secret passcode because they are fond of her, but then they also TELL her the super-secret passcode? Very odd, and again a little too convenient.\\n\\nHaving given all this criticism, I still highly recommend Appleseed as a solid four star movie. The story may be unpolished, but it is still far superior to most movies, anime or live-action alike. The character development and relationship exploration between Deunan and Briarius could have used a great deal of work, but I recognize that this went into the sequel and was handled very well, all things considered. And the movie also contains the most touching \\\"I remember now!\\\" amnesia scene that I have ever witnessed, with a climax that brought tears to my eyes.\\n\\nOne more major gripe: This movie provides closed caption for the hearing impaired. But, and this is a big but, the captions *never* match the actual words being said by the voice actors. Literally, it was not at all uncommon for a caption and the voice text to share only the words \\\"a\\\", \\\"an\\\", and \\\"the\\\". I have to assume that the caption writers and the voice actors were working with different translations which yielded the same intent, but with vastly different words. If you are hard of hearing and you use the captions to follow along and pick up the words that you missed, the discontinuity between what you HEAR and what you SEE is incredibly jarring and annoying. If you are completely deaf, well, you won't be watching the same movie as your companions. There is really no excuse for such shoddy work, but I did not include this in my star rating as it will not apply to all viewers.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: What would you wish for if you were granted a new wish every day? That's the delightful situation five children face when they're sent to live with their eccentric uncle in his moldering mansion while their father fights in World War I. There they discover It, a fairy who makes their wishes come true! This exuberant adaptation of E. Nesbit's beloved classic features young Freddie Highmore (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Finding Neverland), Kenneth Branagh and Zoe Wanamaker (both veterans of the Harry Potter film series), comedy star Eddie Izzard as the voice of It, and the film wizardry of the Jim Henson Creature Shop.\\n\\nRating: 1.0\\n\\nSummary: Why follow Nesbit's book, when Narnia made so much money?\\n\\nReview: 5 Children and It / B0009S4ILA\\n\\n*Spoilers*\\n\\nIf you haven't read Nesbit's book, 5 Children and It, then likely this review will mean little to you and you will find better information in some of the other reviews. If you are like me, however, and remember Nesbit's charming tale from childhood, you may be considering this movie based on your love of the book.\\n\\nDo not be fooled. This book jettisons everything lovely about Nesbit's tale in favor of a blatant Narnia rip-off that is painfully obvious. Like Narnia (the movie, not the book), the movie starts with the children being shuffled off to the countryside in a train, longing for their parents and their familiar surroundings. The countryside house looks like a replica of the Narnia film house, and the sandpit with no sea (which the children find so pointless and boring) is not here. We'll get to that later.\\n\\nThe house caretakers are, a la Narnia, quirky and old and eccentric. A good deal of film is wasted on this portion of the movie, detailing how boring it is at the house, how much time is to be spent on maths, how long the chores lists for the children is. There's a abhorrent cousin added here for unnecessary conflict.\\n\\nOne day, on a rainy day, the children are bored and cooped up in the house and they find a magical doorway to another world. You'll note that 0% of that is in Nesbit's book, but 100% of that statement describes Narnia. Fine. The other world has a luxurious beach, complete with a large ocean, and the children take this in stride - no disbelief, no wonder, no worries.\\n\\nWhen they unearth \\\"It\\\", the voice......stings. \\\"It\\\" sounds like...Eddie Izzard. There's no other way to put it. (Eddie Izzard is also a voice in the Narnia series. Do we see a pattern here?) It wisecracks, It sounds like a wise guy. When the children feign disinterest in It, he practically begs to be paid attention to. And the whole twist of the book, the drama of \\\"Is It ruining the wishes on purpose?\\\", is immediately tossed to the winds (and incorrectly) by making it very clear with supernatural spying and smirking that, yes, It is ruining the wishes deliberately and on purpose.\\n\\nWhen I tried to enjoy this movie apart from the radical changes in the storyline, I found I could not - the dialogue is boring, the action predictable, and the story \\\"twists\\\" are painfully bad. I don't doubt that a small child may like this, but if you're looking into this for literary nostalgia, as I was - Stay Away!\\n\\nThis version provides a closed caption option for the hard of hearing.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: For the last 23 years, a group of friends have lived life to the fullest...in the fantasy world. Obsessed with a role-playing game called demons, nymphs, and dragons, these gamers are the subject of this hilarious comedy, which chronicles their journey to make it through their horrendous lives hile attempting to break the world record for role playing: over 74,568 hours.\\n\\nRating: 1.0\\n\\nSummary: NOT the Dead Gentlemen Productions (i.e. \\\"Dorkness Rising\\\") Movie\\n\\nReview: Gamers / 012233163124\\n\\nMy husband and I are big fans of tabletop RPG movies, and we absolutely loved Dead Gentlemen Production's \\\"The Gamers: Dorkness Rising\\\". We'd heard that \\\"Dorkness Rising\\\" was a quasi-sequel to another movie by the same company called \\\"Gamers\\\", and we picked this up, expecting that this was the same movie.\\n\\nWell, firstly, it's not. \\\"The Gamers\\\" by Dead Gentlemen Productions is here: <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/The-Gamers/dp/B001875ZVS/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">The Gamers</a>. So if you've been redirected here looking for the prequel to \\\"Dorkness Rising\\\", run away as fast as you can.\\n\\nThis movie is utterly horrible and without any amusing lines whatsoever. The \\\"plot\\\" is that the same group has been playing the tabletop RPG \\\"DND\\\" (Dungeons, Nymphs, and Dragons) for a record-breaking number of hours, and a TV crew has been dispatched to interview the players before their big record breaking night. The entire movie consists of watching the \\\"interviewees\\\" talk about their lives (which are played up to be as pathetic as possible) - there is almost ZERO gaming shown on camera. Literally, I think maybe, MAYBE, there's a combined 2 minutes of gaming in this movie, and that's largely flashbacks.\\n\\nHere are the things that are \\\"funny\\\" about this movie:\\n\\n- One of the players has a day job extracting semen from horses. Cue visual gag.\\n\\n- One of the players has a day job recording custom songs for kids, including a song for a kid named \\\"Dick\\\".\\n\\n- One of the players took his lactating cousin to the prom. Cue visual gag.\\n\\n- One of the players hires a black woman to make him a \\\"Gandalf the White\\\" costume and she somehow fails to realize that her \\\"original design\\\" looks EXACTLY like a Klan robe. A black dwarf (the real kind of dwarf, not the fantasy kind) then proceeds to beat up the FRIEND of the guy-wearing-the-Klan-robe, so that the \\\"role playing\\\" Klan guy can call him a \\\"dirty dark dwarf\\\".\\n\\n- One of the players has swinger parents. Cue visual gag.\\n\\n- Clown porn. I wish I was making this up.\\n\\nThere is nothing - absolutely nothing - funny about this movie. It's not original; it's just a bunch of silly gross-out gags thrown at the screen over and over in the hopes that something will stick. The \\\"tabletop RPG\\\" theme is completely shoe-horned in - the exact same movie could have been made about, say, people who obsess about Star Trek conventions or something equally \\\"nerdy\\\" (in the public eye), and only a couple of lines would have had to change to accommodate the new theme. I'm terribly sorry that I rented this thinking that it was the DGP movie by the same name, and I would like someone to pass the brain bleach, thank you.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: 28 Weeks Later (Fs)\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Good Movie, but Poor Sequel\\n\\nReview: 28 Weeks Later / B000TJBN80\\n\\n*Spoilers*\\n\\nThe tricky thing about sequels is that not only do they have to be good movies in their own right, but they also must weather the inevitable comparisons to the movie that it follows. And, fundamentally, this is the biggest problem with \\\"28 Weeks Later\\\". Following, as it does, from <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/28-Days-Later/dp/B0000BZJCM/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">28 Days Later</a>, but with seemingly everyone who was involved with \\\"28 Days\\\" completely replaced, it was inevitable that the resulting sequel would have a largely different tone than the first movie. Whether or not this change is a bad thing will depend on the viewer's expectations.\\n\\n\\\"28 Weeks\\\" starts well enough - a group of survivors are holed up tight in a country house, far away from the cities and the rage virus. It's nice to see variety in a zombie movie, and the ensuing demonstration that frightening situations needn't be restricted to the dead of midnight is welcome. Viewers may reasonably question, however, why the otherwise apparently fairly prudent occupants of the house didn't take a few more steps to ensure their safety in this new, uncertain world - such as emigrating permanently to the second story, which seems to be more than roomy enough (shaky camera notwithstanding) and which - once isolated from the downstairs - would seem to be a permanent safe-haven from the rage victims, given that they aren't lucid enough to scale walls or build ladders.\\n\\nWhile this may seem like a small point, I feel it neatly underlines the changed between \\\"Days\\\" and \\\"Weeks\\\". The survivors in \\\"Days\\\" were modern 'real' people - in other words, they'd seen a zombie movie or three (as have we all) and subsequently they knew how to protect themselves. Flats barred with impenetrable walls of shopping carts, iron doors, and suits of makeshift armor were the refuge of the besieged in the city. The army out in the country employed round-the-clock shifts, mine fields, and a very prudent once-bit-then-shot policy that prevented serious disaster when one of their own was infected. The point behind all this is that \\\"Days\\\" was not a zombie movie in the traditional sense, but rather a movie about human nature under stressful, end-of-the-world conditions. Realistically, you could have replaced all the zombies with, say, nuclear fallout and you still would have had the same haunting themes in \\\"Days\\\" - namely, where our humanity begins and ends in a struggle for survival.\\n\\n\\\"Weeks\\\", on the other hand, is pretty much a straight-up zombie movie, and in order to facilitate that, the humans have to be a lot less competent than they were in \\\"Days\\\". So we have desperate people failing to fall back to a secure upper story and a military with such poor security measures that it seems almost blind luck that they haven't been overrun yet. (Which isn't to say that \\\"Weeks\\\" doesn't attempt a point at military ethics, but the civilians-are-expendable message is so anvilicious compared to \\\"Days\\\" that it will likely annoy more than thoughtfully provoke.)\\n\\nOnce you accept \\\"Weeks\\\" as a straight-up zombie movie, it's not a bad one. There's a living MacGuffin that has to be tracked down, protected, and gotten to safety once the inevitable disaster overruns the safe haven. The biggest problem here, though, is that the build-up to the disaster is long and tedious, with quite a bit of dialogue that sounds like it was meant to be deep and meaningful, but just comes off as the filler dialogue we've all heard before. And once the dying starts, the characters die off so predictably that they might as well all be wearing numbered jerseys.\\n\\nI guess you could say that I really loved \\\"28 Days\\\" because I went into the movie expecting a good, solid zombie flick, and I came out mentally shaken by the moral subtext and end-of-the-world break down of social relationships. But the downside to that meant that I went into \\\"28 Weeks\\\" expecting to be further mentally toyed with and was ultimately let down when the movie turned out to 'merely' be a decent, if predictable zombie flick. There's enough here to be interesting, mostly centering around the infected Typhoid Mary of the plot, but ultimately all that gets tossed down the drain in favor of running around in the dark getting eaten. And while there's nothing wrong with that, per se, \\\"28 Weeks\\\" doesn't end up standing out significantly from the hordes of similar movies on the market, in my opinion.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Welcome to Willard, a small town lost in the idyllic world of the '50s, where the sun shines every day, everybody knows their neighbor, and rotting zombies deliver the mail. Years ago, the earth passed through a cloud of space dust, causing the dead to rise with a craving for human flesh. A war began, pitting the living against the dead. In the ensuing revolution, a corporation was born: ZomCon, who defeated the legions of undead, and domesticated the zombies, making them our industrial workers, our domestic servants - a productive part of society. ZomCon would like the people of Willard to believe they have everything under control -- but do they? Timmy Robinson doesn't think so. At eleven, Timmy already knows the world is phony baloney - Mom and Dad just won't admit it. Now ZomCon's head of security has moved in across the street, and Timmy's Mom refuses to be the only housewife on the block who doesn't have a zombie of her own. When she brings a zombie servant home, Timmy discovers a new best friend, and names him Fido. And even though Dad has a bad case of zombie-phobia, Timmy is determined to keep Fido, even if he does eat the odd person.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Fantastic Deconstruction of the Genre\\n\\nReview: Fido / B000V4UH08\\n\\n*Spoilers*\\n\\nI wasn't sure what to think going into \\\"Fido\\\", but I'm a fan of dry humor and I love zombie movies, so I figured I might like it. I wasn't expecting, however, to absolutely *love* the movie.\\n\\n\\\"Fido\\\" is a hilarious deconstruction of the zombie movie genre and is the perfect thing for getting into the viewer's head. When Mrs. Robinson brings home a zombie servant to help around the house (just like all the other smart, stylish families in the neighborhood!), Mr. Robinson is initially horrified, as is the viewer. The initial reaction is that this is a suicidally stupid idea - how is it even remotely worth it to risk death (and undeath) all for someone who will ineptly help around the house? What if the control collar breaks or malfunctions? And when we learn that *all* dead bodies become zombies in this world, even ones who die from natural deaths, the viewer can't help but agree with the sentiment that the very old and terminally ill should be preemptively locked up for everyone's safety.\\n\\nIt's a testament to the writing in \\\"Fido\\\" that the viewer slowly, eventually, and unexpectedly comes around to the prevailing blase opinion of the day - zombies are everywhere and there's no point in dwelling on it. It's no accident that the house-zombie's name is 'Fido' - zombies in this world are something akin to dogs. Most of them are placid and docile (thanks to modern technology!), but, yeah, occasionally accidents happen and someone loses an ear (or worse). But that doesn't mean that you don't still own dogs - just that you have to be careful, and isn't that true in any society? And, of course, the local elementary school teaches precision gun firing, possibly the most hilariously morbid scene I've seen in a movie, ever. And, sure, you can stress over your undeath, and pay massive amounts of money for a \\\"head burial\\\", ensuring you don't come back, but strip away all your presumptions and you come around to Mrs. Robinson's point of view: Is that really such a bad thing?\\n\\nThe writing and acting in \\\"Fido\\\" is absolutely superb, and this is easily one of the best dark comedies I've ever had the pleasure to watch. If you like zombie movies and have a sense of humor, you're almost sure to like \\\"Fido\\\". Do yourself a favor, check it out, and enjoy having your presumptions turned upside down.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Quick Shipping !!! New And Sealed !!! This Disc WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. A multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player is request to view it in USA/Canada. Please Review Description.\\n\\nRating: 1.0\\n\\nSummary: Terrible Retread; The Mummy Series Deserves Better\\n\\nReview: The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor / B001HQZJMU\\n\\n*Spoilers*\\n\\nI love The Mummy series, but this addition is simply terrible - a lazy retread of of its predecessors in hopes of wringing a few more dollars out of this franchise.\\n\\nTomb of the Dragon Emperor seems one of those Hollywood movies devoted to making marriage look as pleasant as a root canal. Rick and Evie have stopped being passionate soul-mates who carefully balance their exploratory endeavors with less dangerous, but no less interesting pursuits (as in the second Mummy movie) and have, instead, been turned into the stereotypical empty-nest drudgery marriage. Evie no longer manages museums and attracts the praise of the historical community - she writes historical romances where she (disturbingly) has re-envisioned the most horrifying moments of her life as sexually exciting events. Really, my gorge rose when Evie tried to make the scene where she had been tied down next to a writhing, rotting mummy with a dagger poised over her heart as an erotic game to entice her tired husband to bed. Evie doesn't need an adventure - she needs counseling.\\n\\n(Or perhaps it is the director who needs the counseling - the odd sexual connotations keep coming over and over through the course of this movie. Alex (a grown man now) confesses to his mother that he is not a virgin and she brightens in relief and asks chirpily \\\"How many?\\\" partners he has had, and seems positively panting for details. And Alex and his dad, Rick, spend far too much time arguing that \\\"size matters\\\" when it comes to...guns.)\\n\\nOnce the marital bickering is over and the action starts, we are treated to a lame, lazy retread of the first two movies. The motivations of the mummy are boring and trite without the depth of the previous movies (I preferred the motivation of 'true love' to a plain, straightforward \\\"Megalomaniac Seeks Immortality\\\" reading).\\n\\nOh, yes, and there's also a vomit scene. Do you know what made the other Mummy movies genuinely good flicks instead of soulless retreads? A lack of vomit, among other things. Thanks, Hollywood.\\n\\nThis movie provides captions for the hearing impaired.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Four more episodes of sharp and joyfully painful lunacy aboard the Sattelite Of Love with Joel, Mike, Tom Servo and Crow. 4 disc set.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Hilarious Addiction to any MST3K Collection\\n\\nReview: MST3K: Volume 10.2 / B0012CJR04\\n\\nThis is a wonderful addition to any MST3K collection.\\n\\n- Giant Gila Monster: Another black-and-white low-budget monster film, this one uniquely features a French-accented heroine who is almost completely unintelligible, and a wholesomely greasy hero who frequently breaks into sweet-sounding, but thoroughly confusing songs. Highlights here are the extreme camera close-ups to the cute little gila monster in order to make the adorable little guy more terrifying.\\n\\n- Swamp Diamonds: This one is confusing - it feels like the entire premise of the film was to have a sequence of cat fights set in a dirty swamp, but with swimming cut-aways to a crystal clear pool during supposed alligator attacks. There are a few good riffs here, but you'll be struggling to stay awake and un-confused throughout.\\n\\n- Teenage Strangler: Yet another example of a title that was created largely in absence of the actual content of the movie - the \\\"Teenage Strangler\\\" fails to feature either a strangler of teenagers nor a strangler who is a young adult. Then again, given that the movie cast features some of the oldest actors for young adults parts that you'll ever see, it's understandable that the director was confused. Again, there are some solid riffs here, but nothing you can't live without seeing.\\n\\n- Giant Spider Invasion: The meat-and-bones of this collection, this medium-budget monsters-from-space episode is absolutely hilarious. Featuring Alan Hale of \\\"Gilligan's Island\\\" fame, the riffs come hard and fast here. A perfect example of some of the \\\"high-brow\\\" MST3K jokes, you'll howl with laughter when the bots sing \\\"I Enjoy Being a Victim\\\". Notable for an episode that features a woman scientist with a doctorate (and a pantsuit)- to the movie's continued surprise and astonishment. A must-see for MST3K fans.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Quick Shipping !!! New And Sealed !!! This Disc WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. A multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player is request to view it in USA/Canada. Please Review Description.\\n\\nRating: 1.0\\n\\nSummary: Terrible Retread; The Mummy Series Deserves Better\\n\\nReview: The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor / B001HQZJMU\\n\\n*Spoilers*\\n\\nI love The Mummy series, but this addition is simply terrible - a lazy retread of of its predecessors in hopes of wringing a few more dollars out of this franchise.\\n\\nTomb of the Dragon Emperor seems one of those Hollywood movies devoted to making marriage look as pleasant as a root canal. Rick and Evie have stopped being passionate soul-mates who carefully balance their exploratory endeavors with less dangerous, but no less interesting pursuits (as in the second Mummy movie) and have, instead, been turned into the stereotypical empty-nest drudgery marriage. Evie no longer manages museums and attracts the praise of the historical community - she writes historical romances where she (disturbingly) has re-envisioned the most horrifying moments of her life as sexually exciting events. Really, my gorge rose when Evie tried to make the scene where she had been tied down next to a writhing, rotting mummy with a dagger poised over her heart as an erotic game to entice her tired husband to bed. Evie doesn't need an adventure - she needs counseling.\\n\\n(Or perhaps it is the director who needs the counseling - the odd sexual connotations keep coming over and over through the course of this movie. Alex (a grown man now) confesses to his mother that he is not a virgin and she brightens in relief and asks chirpily \\\"How many?\\\" partners he has had, and seems positively panting for details. And Alex and his dad, Rick, spend far too much time arguing that \\\"size matters\\\" when it comes to...guns.)\\n\\nOnce the marital bickering is over and the action starts, we are treated to a lame, lazy retread of the first two movies. The motivations of the mummy are boring and trite without the depth of the previous movies (I preferred the motivation of 'true love' to a plain, straightforward \\\"Megalomaniac Seeks Immortality\\\" reading).\\n\\nOh, yes, and there's also a vomit scene. Do you know what made the other Mummy movies genuinely good flicks instead of soulless retreads? A lack of vomit, among other things. Thanks, Hollywood.\\n\\nThis movie provides captions for the hearing impaired.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Four more episodes of sharp and joyfully painful lunacy aboard the Sattelite Of Love with Joel, Mike, Tom Servo and Crow. 4 disc set.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Hilarious Addiction to any MST3K Collection\\n\\nReview: MST3K: Volume 10.2 / B0012CJR04\\n\\nThis is a wonderful addition to any MST3K collection.\\n\\n- Giant Gila Monster: Another black-and-white low-budget monster film, this one uniquely features a French-accented heroine who is almost completely unintelligible, and a wholesomely greasy hero who frequently breaks into sweet-sounding, but thoroughly confusing songs. Highlights here are the extreme camera close-ups to the cute little gila monster in order to make the adorable little guy more terrifying.\\n\\n- Swamp Diamonds: This one is confusing - it feels like the entire premise of the film was to have a sequence of cat fights set in a dirty swamp, but with swimming cut-aways to a crystal clear pool during supposed alligator attacks. There are a few good riffs here, but you'll be struggling to stay awake and un-confused throughout.\\n\\n- Teenage Strangler: Yet another example of a title that was created largely in absence of the actual content of the movie - the \\\"Teenage Strangler\\\" fails to feature either a strangler of teenagers nor a strangler who is a young adult. Then again, given that the movie cast features some of the oldest actors for young adults parts that you'll ever see, it's understandable that the director was confused. Again, there are some solid riffs here, but nothing you can't live without seeing.\\n\\n- Giant Spider Invasion: The meat-and-bones of this collection, this medium-budget monsters-from-space episode is absolutely hilarious. Featuring Alan Hale of \\\"Gilligan's Island\\\" fame, the riffs come hard and fast here. A perfect example of some of the \\\"high-brow\\\" MST3K jokes, you'll howl with laughter when the bots sing \\\"I Enjoy Being a Victim\\\". Notable for an episode that features a woman scientist with a doctorate (and a pantsuit)- to the movie's continued surprise and astonishment. A must-see for MST3K fans.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: NOTICE: Polish Release, cover may contain Polish text/markings. The disk has English audio and subtitles. In the Far East, Alex O'Connell, the son of famed mummy fighters Rick and Evy O'Connell, unearths the mummy of the first Emperor of Qin -- a sha...\\n\\nRating: 1.0\\n\\nSummary: Terrible Retread; The Mummy Series Deserves Better\\n\\nReview: The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor / B001HQZJMU\\n\\n*Spoilers*\\n\\nI love The Mummy series, but this addition is simply terrible - a lazy retread of of its predecessors in hopes of wringing a few more dollars out of this franchise.\\n\\nTomb of the Dragon Emperor seems one of those Hollywood movies devoted to making marriage look as pleasant as a root canal. Rick and Evie have stopped being passionate soul-mates who carefully balance their exploratory endeavors with less dangerous, but no less interesting pursuits (as in the second Mummy movie) and have, instead, been turned into the stereotypical empty-nest drudgery marriage. Evie no longer manages museums and attracts the praise of the historical community - she writes historical romances where she (disturbingly) has re-envisioned the most horrifying moments of her life as sexually exciting events. Really, my gorge rose when Evie tried to make the scene where she had been tied down next to a writhing, rotting mummy with a dagger poised over her heart as an erotic game to entice her tired husband to bed. Evie doesn't need an adventure - she needs counseling.\\n\\n(Or perhaps it is the director who needs the counseling - the odd sexual connotations keep coming over and over through the course of this movie. Alex (a grown man now) confesses to his mother that he is not a virgin and she brightens in relief and asks chirpily \\\"How many?\\\" partners he has had, and seems positively panting for details. And Alex and his dad, Rick, spend far too much time arguing that \\\"size matters\\\" when it comes to...guns.)\\n\\nOnce the marital bickering is over and the action starts, we are treated to a lame, lazy retread of the first two movies. The motivations of the mummy are boring and trite without the depth of the previous movies (I preferred the motivation of 'true love' to a plain, straightforward \\\"Megalomaniac Seeks Immortality\\\" reading).\\n\\nOh, yes, and there's also a vomit scene. Do you know what made the other Mummy movies genuinely good flicks instead of soulless retreads? A lack of vomit, among other things. Thanks, Hollywood.\\n\\nThis movie provides captions for the hearing impaired.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Zoe is a little girl who believes in fairy tales. In order to help her uncle Lord Arnold get rid of a terrible dragon, Zoe decides she has to find some heroes. When she meets Gwizdo and Lian-Chu, a couple of two-bit, fly-by-night dragon hunters, she decides that she s going to believe in them and set out on an adventure to bring peace to the land.\\n\\nRating: 1.0\\n\\nSummary: Animation without Story, \\\"Comedy\\\" without Humor\\n\\nReview: Dragon Hunters / B001U3D88M\\n\\n\\\"Dragon Hunters\\\" feels like the sort of film you would get if you gave a rather large budget to a bunch of animation film school grad students and told them to go nuts. It's very pretty, but there's only a skeleton of a story to hang onto, and the \\\"comedy\\\" is never funny and often disturbing.\\n\\nLet's drill into the comedy first, and get it out of the way: there isn't any. Nearly all of the \\\"comedy\\\" is in the form of body jokes of a strangely suggestive nature - the blind king, when sizing up a potential warrior, isn't convinced of his manliness until he has had a chance to handle the warrior's package. This really isn't, ah, plot relevant, so why was it included here? The stick held over the heroes' heads to get them to complete their mission isn't jail time or anything so mundane - no, it's the threat that if they refuse to complete their mission, they will be \\\"spanked\\\" by the king, in public, on their \\\"bare bottom\\\". This point is stressed, frequently. At the end, the \\\"plucky\\\" girl on the team is threatened with this fate and she is \\\"saved\\\" by another, male character being punished in this manner in her place. Seriously, there is a LOT of screen time devoted to discussions of public spankings.\\n\\nThere's also an animal side-kick whose only purpose is to pee little spouts of fire.\\n\\nThe rest of the \\\"comedy\\\" is meant to come from the quirky comic relief character, Gwizdo, here voiced by Rob Paulsen, of <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Pinky-and-the-Brain/dp/B000FA57HG/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Pinky and the Brain</a> fame. You may remember Pinky as having a voice pitched so high and so annoyingly as to give Jar Jar Binks a run for his money. If so, your memory does not deceive you. Because this is a dark! and edgy! film, Gwizdo is a con-man who has no intention of following through on their contract to save the kingdom, but does so anyway because of the Bonds of Friendship. This does not, however, prevent him from going crazy and threatening to strangle a little girl with his bare hands. I digress, though - much of the \\\"humor\\\" involves him hoping up and down and screaming in a voice scientifically designed to burst my eardrums that He Does Not Want To Make This Journey. This gets old, fast.\\n\\nIndeed, I say that much of the humor involves Gwizdo's protestations, but it would be more accurate to say that most of the entire movie centers around this. This really is the most watered-down plot I've seen in awhile: an ancient evil is preparing to wake and ravage the populace, and our heroes are hired to go to his ancient sleeping place and stab him a few times for good measure. They walk there, through a number of surprisingly lovely yet ultimately pointless, worlds; arrive with no strategy in mind; and pull an unlikely win out of their hair, largely because the hero's family was destroyed by the monster when he was a child, and having him kill it is more poetic. Then they all go back home and Gwizdo gets spanked. That is IT. Along the way, there's no story, no plot, just lovely backgrounds and Gwizdo whining at a rate of four complaints per minute.\\n\\nIf you have a specific need to hear Rob Paulsen talk about being spanked in public, \\\"Dragon Hunters\\\" is for you, but if you'd like a story with your plot, run away as fast as you can.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Chris Pine (Star Trek) stars in this intense, gripping thriller about a deadly threat beyond anyone's worst nightmare. Determined to escape a lethal virus, four teens set out in search of an uncontaminated refuge, only to discover that they are far more dangerous to each other than the virus they are trying to survive. Carriers is a pulse-pounding journey into a world where laws and rules no longer apply, and no one can be trusted -- not even your friends.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Adds nothing to the zombie genre, nor to cinema as a whole\\n\\nReview: Carriers / B002TZS5GU\\n\\n\\\"Carriers\\\" is a movie that thinks much more highly of itself than I do. The standard fare is on display - a mysterious disease, for which there is no cure and little understanding, has ravaged humanity, leaving society completely devastated as governments crumble and social structures between people break down overnight. With social structures completely dissolved, it's obviously time for the inevitable raping, pillaging, suiciding, and so forth in order to make some sort of statement about the state of the human condition in the face of an apocalypse... which might be kind of innovative, except that it's already been done several times over, particularly with <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Blindness/dp/B001LLH8SE/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Blindness</a>.\\n\\nFundamentally, \\\"Carriers\\\" seems to think that it's terribly edgy and clever, but there's nothing here that you haven't seen a hundred times before. Frequently mentioned \\\"rules\\\" for survival and goofball destruction of property for the fun of it, straight out of <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Zombieland/dp/B002WY65VU/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Zombieland</a>. A more organized and serious group that initially seems to have its act together, but is all too willing to crack from the strain and start raping and pillaging, fresh from <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/28-Days-Later/dp/B00005JMA8/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">28 Days Later</a>. And you have the \\\"survivors\\\" slowly becoming infected and hiding the fact from the rest of the group, as in every other zombie/contagious illness movie ever made, ever.\\n\\nDerivative isn't bad - taking elements that have worked before and sticking them together in new and interesting ways is a tried-and-true, if unoriginal, way to make your movie. But \\\"Carriers\\\" seems to think sp highly of itself, with far too many \\\"you can't handle the truth\\\" speeches to drive how that, gosh, the apocalypse *sucks*, and the smug writing and contrived situations meant to show the downfall of the survivors' humanity just comes across as tired, forced, and poorly done compared to better offerings out there.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Immerse yourself in a whole new dimension of family entertainment. Bring the 3D experience home with this hilariously uplifting adventure from the creators of MONSTERS, INC. and FINDING NEMO. Part rascal, part dreamer, retired balloon salesman Carl Fredricksen is ready for his last chance at high-flying excitement. Tying thousands of balloons to his house, Carl sets off to the lost world of his childhood dreams. But unbeknownst to Carl, Russell, an overeager 8-year-old Wilderness Explorer who has never ventured beyond his backyard, is in the wrong place at the wrong time -- Carl's front porch! Experience every thrilling moment of their adventure as it comes to life before your eyes in spectacular Disney Blu-ray 3D that will send your spirits soaring UP, up and away!\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Touching in a manner I hadn't expected\\n\\nReview: Up / B001KVZ6G6\\n\\nI wasn't sure I'd enjoy \\\"Up\\\" - the previews all seemed like a stereotypically Grumpy Old Man who comes to appreciate the life that he turned his back on through the Power of Friendship, or something equally wholesome and two-dimensional.\\n\\nOf course, this is a good example of how previews just aren't everything. Our grumpy old man has a name, Carl, and it turns out he's not so grumpy after all - but he has suffered a terrible and heart-wrenching loss. Pixar is to be congratulated for managing, again, to really flesh out a character in scenes that involve little-to-no actual dialogue, and in such a surprisingly short time - after the first 15 minutes of the film, I can almost guarantee you will care more about Carl than you have for the protagonists of the last dozen films you've watched. (OK, mileage will vary there, but seriously, Pixar does a wonderfully direct and succinct job of making you care for Carl as a person.)\\n\\nThere's so much to like about \\\"Up\\\". There's such a strong theme here of journeying to capture what you \\\"lost\\\", even if what you're trying to capture is something you never actually had. His tag-along friend, Russell, is also searching for something he has lost-yet-never-had, as he hopes that by finishing his merit badges, he might somehow regain the love that he remembers having from his father. If that doesn't break your heart, then nothing will. And the comic relief, Dug the Dog, is actually funny and heart-warming as well.\\n\\nTo my surprise, I really, really enjoyed \\\"Up\\\". I'm not quite sure how to rate it, though - I'm very glad that I've seen it, but...I strangely don't feel the need to re-watch it, which is unusual for me. Maybe it's just that \\\"Up\\\" burns itself into your memory so indelibly, or maybe it's just because it's a real tear-jerker, and I hate to cry, but for whatever reason, I'd recommend this as a rental first, and not necessarily a buy. Not because the movie isn't wonderful - it is! - but because \\\"Up\\\" might leave such a strong impression on you that you might not *need* to see it again... at least not without a box of tissues nearby.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Shelby Knox--a wide-eyed, precocious activist--is the star of THE EDUCATION OF SHELBY KNOX, a riveting tale of one girls mission to bring sex education to schools in her ultra-conservative hometown of Lubbock, Texas. Bursting with original characters, including an intolerant preacher crusading for abstinence, Shelbys skeptical but loving Republican parents, and Lubbocks tiny-but-vocal gay youth movement, the film richly captures an unusual coming of age story. In a town filled with religious fervor, sexual ferment, abstinence-only agitators and teenage pregnancy, Shelby struggles with her conflicting values and comes to terms with her own sexuality. In the process, she becomes an endearing and honest guide to the national moral morass. Unafraid to tackle pressing, complex questions, the film is supercharged with religion, politics, sex and the cultural warriors and ordinary people who battle over these hot-button issues. Skillfully crafted by award-winning directors Marion Lipschutz and Rose Rosenblatt, THE EDUCATION OF SHELBY KNOX is \\\"a pungent civics lesson on what can and cannot be accomplished by one plucky, idealistic girl.\\\" (The New York Times) DVD Features: Bonus Featurette; Interactive Menus; Scene Selection\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Who says young people don't \\\"care\\\"?\\n\\nReview: Education of Shelby Knox / B000GG4XYC\\n\\n*Spoilers*\\n\\nI love documentaries (probably a little too much!) and as soon as I heard about The Education of Shelby Knox, I had to rush out and rent it. This is a nice little documentary about the fight of one girl to obtain comprehensive sex education in her school district and, along the way, obtain the right of gay students to not be discriminated against.\\n\\nShelby Knox is, in many ways, the embodiment of our wonderful American teenagers. She earnestly cares about fairness and equality. Shelby lives in a city with one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the country and she wants her friends and schoolmates to be given proper education and facts about sex and sexual consequences in order that they be prepared for their future lives. She also hurts, genuinely, to see the gay students at her school openly discriminated against. Shelby is not, herself, gay or sexually active, but she recognizes unfairness when she sees it and she obviously has a passion for righting wrongs. She is also, like most teenagers, blessed with an ounce of self-centeredness which buoys her in times of trial and setbacks.\\n\\nShelby does not succeed in her quest - through no fault of her own, I might add - but she fails with grace and dignity. She excels in spite of small-town judgmental attitudes that judge her suspiciously for her activism and her associations. She flourishes in spite of a home life that, in my humble opinion, seems unfortunately authoritarian - her parents regularly discourage her (overtly and subversively) against her activism, particularly with regards to gay rights. They sort of come around in the end to put on a good face, but in my opinion their lack of enthusiastic support for their giving, caring daughter is very stifling.\\n\\nThis isn't your usual documentary. There are almost no experts interviewed, which I feel would have been a huge bonus to the enterprise, and would have warranted five stars. This is, instead the story of one young woman's crusade, as it happened. Although the editing can be a bit sloppy at times, I recommend this documentary, if only for the bits involving the True Love Waits pastor and his wonderful speech in which he successfully leaves students with the impression that you can get AIDS merely from shaking someone's hand. Ah, American education at its finest.\\n\\nI do not own this movie - I rented this through my Blockbuster Online account.\",\n \"Product: Toddy Gear was founded by Todd Gabel as the beginning of an extraordinary, worldwide movement to clean every gadget, every screen, and color the world. Toddy Gear's Ready, Set, Cheer! line can help you express your Olympic and national loyalties with a variety of flag-pattern prints. The Toddy Gear Smart Cloth is a functional and fashionable microfiber cloth carefully crafted for effective, scratch-free cleaning of extremely sensitive surfaces. This stylish double-sided wonder cloth has a plush microfiber that doesn't just spread dirt and oil from your fingerprints around on your e-screens. It whisks them away with a couple of simple swipes, leaving you with that 'out of the box', clean feeling - and nothing feels better than a brand new gadget with that out of the box, clean feeling! Flip your Toddy Gear over, and the silky, decorated side polishes your device even further, while its tactile pleasantness tempts you to just rub it against your face like your beloved childhood blankie. Machine-washable and dryable on low heat. The AEGISMicrobe Shield protects against germs mildew and mold between launderings. The Toddy Gear Smart Cloth was developed to clean the world's e-screens effortlessly, effectively, and with a style that's totally fierce. Once you have got one, it will never leave your side!\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Resistant to Cat Hair\\n\\nReview: Toddy Gear 5x7 Microfiber Cloth / B008XGTYT6\\n\\nI received a free review copy of this cloth (the French flag model, to be specific) and I just love it.\\n\\nI have about a zillion microfiber cloths because they always come included when I buy my Skinomi screen protectors. The problem is that the cheap microfiber cloths on the market attract cat hair like nothing else, and my very fluffy calico just loves to roll all over the cloths. After she's spent about five minutes rubbing her face on them, they're forever-furry and not something I want carrying in my electronics bag.\\n\\nNot so with these Toddy Gears! I'm not sure what the microfiber is made from, but it's obviously a high quality material and seems to have been doused in fairy dust because it's VERY cat hair resistant. I rubbed this cloth all over my calico (which was very painful for me to do, as it is a VERY nice cloth and I hated to ruin it, but I figure it's my job to try to break free review copy items!) and the only hair that stayed on the cloth was a few strands that got caught in the side-stitching and which were easily removed.\\n\\nThe size of these cloths are pretty perfect for my 8\\\" Samsung Note. I just lay the cloth on the screen and close my screen cover and everything stays snug and tight for traveling. I do wish these were a tad cheaper; for $7, I'd buy several more colors, but the current ten dollar price tag still seems just a bit steep. I've included pictures of the item in the product image gallery above.\\n\\nNOTE: This review is based on a free review copy of this product.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: All about the latest trends in cute, Glitzanna loves all that sparkles and shines. Your smartphone is no exception. Keep her in your handbag and shell be your screens BFF. At just around 4 inches tall, Screensters are microfiber dolls inspired by the characters you encounter in your everyday life. They are small enough to fit in your pocket or backpack, these double-sided cuties have plush microfiber on one side for cleaning away dirt and oil, and the silky soft character side polishes your device even further. Your Toddy Screenster is machine-washable on cold. Toddy Gear Screensters are available in your choice of 10 different characters - Grab one or collect them all!\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Weighty Enough for Heavy Smudges\\n\\nReview: Toddy Gear Microfiber Cleaning Character (Stylista) / B00BSLH1F2\\n\\nAwhile back, I received a pack of Toddy Gear items for review, including this plush screen-cleaning doll. I was extremely impressed with the Toddy Gear flat-cloth for cleaning (and noted specifically in my review that, in addition to being silky and soft, it was also extremely resistant to collecting cat hair), but I wasn't sure what to do with this doll. Sure, she's cute and she's just as silky and soft as the flat-cloth, but the flat-cloth fits in your purse / tablet-case better and has less weight and bulk. And, yes, this can be put on your keychain, but I didn't need to add more bulk to my keychain.\\n\\nI'm glad I held off on writing a review, however, because I have since found the perfect use-case for this screen-cleaning doll, to the point where I plan to order a couple more: she's perfect for really heavy smudges, when you need weight and bulk to buff them out. While the flat-cloth was perfectly adequate for my 8-inch tablet and my 6-inch ereaders (which are gently used, and only touched by myself), I've been using this doll to buff heavier smudges out of my 10-inch tablet and desktop monitor (which get badly smudged thanks to small relatives and nosy cats). Where normally I would have to bunch up a flat-cloth and apply elbow grease, this doll has the right bulk and weight to clean with a lot less effort. And while that might not sound like much, it means a lot to me as a disabled person with back problems.\\n\\nSo I definitely heartily recommend these 4-inch screen-cleaning dolls if your devices have heavy smudges that take a lot of effort to buff out.\\n\\nNOTE: This review is based on a free review copy of this product.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: This is a high quality vinyl decal that can be adhered on your car, notebook, computer or just about any smooth clean surface. The decal is a single color without a background as shown. Can be used in interior and exterior applications. The vinyl used is UV and water resistant, and will last for many years without fading, peeling, or cracking.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Mangled in the Application\\n\\nReview: Coexist Vinyl Decal / B001R93K0K\\n\\nIt might say more about me than about the decal, but I completely mangled this in the application. The decal is sandwiched between two sheets, and in order to apply the decal, you pull off one sheet, slap the decal in place, and then pull off the other. I'd done this sort of application before with a <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Hello-Kitty-Vinyl-Decal-Sticker/dp/B001I1GRVQ/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Hello Kitty Vinyl Decal Sticker</a>, but this one was significantly more difficult.\\n\\nTo start with, each of the letters is a completely separate decal sticker, and in some cases - like the \\\"I\\\" and the \\\"S\\\" - even that is broken up into more, smaller decals. I struggled to get the \\\"S\\\" pieces to come off the application sheet and stick to the car window with everything else, and even when I was finished, I realized that the dot on the \\\"I\\\" had fallen off onto the floor. The \\\"T\\\" didn't last through the application - the top and bottom shafts tore off from the arms rather than be applied.\\n\\nThe other major problem I encountered - and again, this just shows how incompetent I am - is that I pulled off the wrong sheet prior to application, and thus the entire word was backwards after I'd applied it. It would have been nice if the application sheets had been labeled \\\"Pull me first!\\\" and \\\"Pull me last!\\\" Once the decal was on backwards, it was totally clear that I would never be able to reapply the letters - they wouldn't survive the effort. Three of them hadn't survived the first application.\\n\\nMaybe I got a dud, I'm not sure, or maybe my problems with the decals not wanting to come off had to do with me pulling off the wrong sheet first - it's entirely possible. However, I wasn't thrilled with the experience, and the flat white letters weren't as \\\"cool\\\" in person as they looked online, so I'm not going to reorder - I'll find a \\\"coexist\\\" bumper sticker where it's one sticker and not ten pieces of stickers.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Apply to any flat surface\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Okay, but watch the empty space\\n\\nReview: Hello Kitty Chococat Vinyl Decal / B001I1GRVQ\\n\\nI bought this to put on my car window. Application is a bit tricky - the decal is sandwiched between two sheets and you pull off one sheet, position the decal, and then pull off the other sheet. The whiskers didn't want to quite stay put on the car window at first, but with a little coaxing they finally cooperated.\\n\\nAlthough the Amazon picture is very accurate, I hadn't realized that (a) there's only empty space for the eyes, nose, and ears (which makes it a bit tricky to see Chococat in full daylight, and (b) the eyes are separate from the rest of the decal plastic (which made it a bit tricky during application). I like the decal, but I might not have bought it if I'd realized that beforehand.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Enjoy a perfectly harmonized writing experience with the Sarasa Premium Gel Ink Pens from Zebra! The innovative Rapid Dry Ink Technology not only allows a balanced continuous ink laydown, but is also proven to be the fastest drying gel ink available as well**. This is an ideal pen for the left handed, as it eliminates smudging and smearing in seconds. Its soft rubberized grip is latex-free and it allows for a precise, yet comfortable and firm grip while writing on any surface. This premium ink gel pen creates a perfect harmony between smooth gel ink, fastest drying time, remarkably comfortable grip, retractable barrel and convenient pen clip for a trusted, continuously reliable writing experience. Zebra Sarasa Gel Pens are available in 14 different colors - choose one or multiple colors to fit your personality and the writing occasion. The Zebra Sarasa Gel Pen is a perfect companion for any notebook, journal, calendar planner, teachers planning book, greeting cards and more. Pair this pen with other great writing instruments from Zebra, such as ballpoint pens, gel pens, rollerball pens, fountain pens, mechanical pencils, markers, highlighters and more! **Product has been tested by independent third party lab to be equal or faster dry time to industry leaders on 9 common writing surfaces**.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Practically Perfect in Every Way\\n\\nReview: Zebra Sarasa Gel Retractable Roller Ball Pens / B0000AQNW5\\n\\nI bought these to use with my ever-growing \\\"to do\\\" list of chores - I use the colors to categorize chores and organize my thinking. I really just bought these at random, figuring I'd make the best of whatever I got, but I *love* these Zebra pens so much that I'm thinking of using them for all my writing, not just list-making.\\n\\n1. Readable: Most assorted color sets have at least two or three colors that are so light, you can barely read them. Not so here - even the lightest colors (orange and lime green) are easy to read, so you really are getting 10 pens here, not 8 and two junk pens.\\n\\n2. No-Smear: A lot of gel pens seem to \\\"bleed\\\" all over the page, or take forever to dry and smear whenever you turn the page, but these Zebra pens dry almost instantly - I've yet to cause any smears.\\n\\n3. No-Cap: Retractable, so there's no cap to lose or accidentally knock off.\\n\\n4. Comfortable: The rubber grip is very comfortable and smooth - no ridges, bumps, or anything fancy to get on your nerves.\\n\\n5. Easy Writing: The points are just perfect on these. Sometimes I struggle with certain brands of roller ball pens, or maybe the pen has to be held at a \\\"just so\\\" angle, but these write splendidly no matter how you hold them.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: TEKwriterUSA 100 count high quality Gelwriter pens are packaged in a patented rotating stand to keep your pens organized and easily accessible and are perfect for scrapbooking, journaling, drawing, or anything else you can create with tip sizes ranging from 0.7mm to 1.0mm and the check safe ink is fade and water resistant. All pens feature a durable pocket clip along with a latex free comfort grip for precision pen control. High quality gel pens at a great value.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Writes Well, Not Sure About The Stand\\n\\nReview: TEKwriterUSA Gelwriter Gel Pen Set with Rotating Stand / B00B80SOVI\\n\\nLook at that product picture! Isn't it pretty? YES. Do these pens arrive like that? NO. (*sadface*) The pens come in a big bag, all mixed together, along with the empty stand and it's up to you to try to recreate the display. I wish they could have at least packaged them by color, but I suppose one bag for everything saves plastic.\\n\\nOnce I got the pens into the stand, I was a little underwhelmed. The stand is a touch wobbly and feels cheap, and the pens aren't inserted very deeply or securely -- I can pretty much guarantee that one of my cats will eventually brush too hard against it and there will then be a Big Mess to clean up. So I wouldn't count on using the stand in a high-traffic area frequented by grabby children or pesky cats.\\n\\nThe pens themselves are pretty great. Most of them start a little \\\"dry\\\", but if you press the tip against the paper a couple of times like the instructions say, the ink starts flowing smoothly. These aren't as fine a tip as I usually like, but the writing is still remarkably precise and controlled, and with no \\\"bleed\\\" that I've seen so far. I'm quite impressed, and I think I'll be using these a lot. I wish there were a few more black pens (I only got 6) and fewer brown pens (I have at least 10+ of those), but I guess I can't complain.\\n\\nThe approximate numbers above does lead me into one semi-major complaint: I'm a little irked that the pen color isn't written on the pen anywhere. The cap, the grip, and the bottom are all colored, so if you can see all colors equally well then you're fine, but if you have any kind of color-blindness, there are no words to help you differentiate as to what pen color you're using. (And before someone asks why a color-blind person would want to use a colored pen, I've worked in a lot of disciplines where colors were imbued with meaning for others, such as red ink for reviewing.) For myself, I'm not color-blind but I still struggled when assembling this display because I wanted to separate the orange from the brown and there were several pens where I just wasn't sure which was which from the external color. So some printed colors like on my Crayola crayons would be a nice upgrade for the company to implement in the future.\\n\\nBottom-line: Great pens; would be nice if they had printed color labels on the pen barrel; some assembly required to recreate the pretty display; the stand isn't made to endure harsh treatment from clumsy hands.\\n\\nNOTE: This review is based on a free Advance Review Copy of this product provided through Amazon Vine.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Manufactured with the amazingly beautiful and intricate Lextra Fiber Graphics technology. Printed without using ink the Lextra process uses high voltage electricity to drive soft dyed nylon fibers into detailed designs that feel wonderfull to the touch. Hand-washable Lextra collections include MouseRugs (mouse pads), and CoasterRugs (coasters) that are manufactured with genuine fringe. Draped over Freud's psychoanalytic couch is an oriental rug, glowing in colours,displaying rich textures and it transforms the plain and simple couch into a fitting landscape for the retelling of dreams. This splendid Qashqa'i shekarlu rug covers the most famous piece of furniture inthe world, Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic couch. The brilliantly coloured rug was made by one of the nomadic tribes of the Qashqa'i confederacy in Persia in the nineteenth century. Freud's patients reclined on this rug recounting their memories, dreams and fantasies. The new Freud MouseRug. The surrealism and magic of this oriental rug has been captured in this adaptation of the exquisite MouseRug.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: A decade old, and still beautiful\\n\\nReview: Mouse Pad, Lextra Freud Mouse Rug / B0000AHEOD\\n\\nI bought this mouse rug at a novelty shop back when I was a psychology major in school - it's supposed to be a duplicate of the oriental rug that was draped over Freud's iconic patient couch, and whatever you think about the man's theories, you have to admit that he had good decorating tastes.\\n\\nI've had this mouse pad for almost a decade now, and it's been used daily through several mice. It's been scrapped clean of cat hair (multiple times), been 'sweated' on when it's doubled as a coaster because I couldn't be bothered to pause my computer game to go find a real one, and has lived through several moves and changes of residences - and it's still going strong. The only sign of age or wear is that the coloring is ever-so-slightly faded and less bright than it was when I purchased it a decade ago. Even after all these years, all the fringe is still perfectly attached, and there isn't a single mark or tear to be seen.\\n\\nThis mouse pad is made of a very good, strong cloth top, with a solid, gripping rubber bottom to prevent slidding. It's so nice that my fiance is actually planning to buy a new one for his own computer - because I won't give up mine! If you're looking to purchase a mouse rug, I can definitely recommend this one, and the Freudian tie-in is a neat way to amuse your guests.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Whitelines Link is the combination of physical notes and the ease and versatility of digital documents. For those of us that have come to love and appreciate the good old fashioned pen and paper and the unlimited ability it allows to express ourselves, it has become difficult to see the same value in typed notes. Whitelines has found a way to meld the control and tradition of hand-written notes, letters, sketches, graphs... you name it, with the ever-increasingly valuable versatility of technology. Whitelines Link is the newest, and most highly-anticipated, line from Whitelines as the paper works in conjunction with the Whitelines Link app (available for free in the App Store and Google Play store) to digitalize, store and organize your notes.. In three easy steps you can store any of you writings in a could making all of your hard copy notes backed-up and accessible from virtually everywhere- all you need to do is have your smart phone hand (which, let's face it, for most of us is 24/7). Whitelines, an innovative concept that originated in Sweden, is pushing the standards for the notebook industry. The concept is simple: Dark lines distract, Whitelines don't. Instead of white paper with dark lines, Whitelines notebooks are comprised of paper with a light gray shaded background with white lines. The design of the paper allows your thoughts and ideas to stand off the page without fighting with the lines for attention, improving the readability of your writing. The toned background of the paper works to reduce glare making the unique design of the paper easier on the eyes. And not only is Whitelines working harder to support you and your ideas, but it is working harder to support the environment; the paper is processed and printed in a mill in the South of Sweden with zero carbon emissions. Notebook includes Whitelines patented paper for the greatest writing experience.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Apple only; very floppy/flimsy backing\\n\\nReview: Whitelines Link A4+ Lined Notes / B00AZT304O\\nWhitelines Link A5+ Lined Notes / B00AZT302G\\n\\nI really, really like the concept of these notes, but I had to send both my notebooks back because they cannot meet my needs.\\n\\nOne, I wrongly assumed that the product statement which indicates that the Whitelines Link application is available in the App Store included the Google/Android app store in that statement. It does not; the application for these notebooks is only available on Apple devices. After looking into the matter, I see that they have an IndieGoGo fundraising campaign seeking to raise 40k to make an Android app by summer 2013, but I needed something available to me now.\\n\\nTwo, the front and backing on these notebooks are super flimsy -- they're about as firm as just having a sheet of paper as the front and back of the notebook. I know that some people are okay with that, but I like notebooks that will hold up to a lot of travel and wear-and-tear in bookcases and portfolios, and I can already tell that this isn't going to cut it.\\n\\nOverall, I still really like the concept, and I might try buying again (a harder-backed version next time) when/if they ever get an Android version up. But for right now, I needed the scanning email/evernote/dropbox markers on the paper to actually work and I don't have access to an Apple device so back they go. I wish the company the best of luck and I'm only leaving this review here because (at time of writing) there is nothing on the information page or in the reviews that provides this information on app availability and notebook front/back flimsiness.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: 10x stronger than cotton\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Sturdy, and Doesn't Cut My Hands\\n\\nReview: Hemp Leash, Medium, Apple Green / B000AYB4VK\\n\\nI bought this leash for my 4 month old, 14 pound puppy, to go with the matching collar (sold separately). My puppy loves to pull at his lead and I didn't want to buy a small harness since he'll just outgrow it in a few months... and the medium harness just hangs on him so far. This leash and collar, though, are a good substitute in the meantime.\\n\\nThe fleece on the handle is very soft and gentle and I no longer feel like I have invisible cuts on my hands (unlike the nylon lead we were using before). I was concerned that the fleece/hemp leash would get dirty easily, but so far it still looks like new, even after having been dragged through some mucky water one day. The hemp leash is thick and sturdy and - surprisingly - I feel that my puppy isn't pulling nearly as much as before. And when he does pull, I don't worry so much that he might hurt his little neck, since the collar has fleece to cushion him a little.\\n\\nThe leash seems a little shorter than the nylon lead we were using, but I prefer the shorter length because it gives my puppy less leeway to pull all over the place. Our walks have been much more enjoyable, both for me (less pain and pulling) and for him (less neck pain, and he seems proud of his 'big boy' leash). I love the green color and the eco-friendly materials and I recommend this leash as a wonderful upgrade from those cheap nylons.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Extremely durable, made with 100% recycled material\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Dog Likes It, I Don't\\n\\nReview: Planet Dog Tuff Recycle Ball / B000AY6W26\\n\\nI am very disappointed with the actual look and feel of the ball. First of all, the recycle emblem is a bright \\\"hazards ahead\\\" orange color, not the mellow brown shown in the picture. The ball is not smooth and shiny - it is a dull, flat black reminiscent of extremely old tires. Slightly less petty is my complaint that the ball has a bad plastic smell that clings to my hands and fingers, and the plastic feels flaky to the touch - little black particles adhere to my hands and clothes when I handle this ball. Personally, I do not like this ball at all, and give it 1 star.\\n\\nHowever, my puppy disagrees. In his short life span thus far, he's never been really interested in balls - his little tennis balls and soft plastic kitty balls only hold his attention for short periods. When I dropped this ball on the floor (in some disgust at the smell, I will add), he left the treat ball he was working on to dart over and snatch up this new rubber treat. He doesn't play with it for too long, but he definitely pays more attention to it than any of his other balls, and the periods he does pay with it are frenzied and happy - it seems he likes it. Perhaps he likes the smell that I find so unpleasant, I don't know, but he definitely gives this 5 stars.\\n\\nI don't think this ball is unsafe, despite the plastic debris and chemical smell. Of course, I'm no expert. I don't think it would hold up long to intense play with a chewing dog - it's a pretty soft plastic all things considered. I'm giving it 3 stars since the puppy does like it, but there's no way I would ever, ever have paid $12 for this toy if I had seen it first.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Feliway reduces or completely stops stress-related behavior including urine marking, vertical scratching, loss of appetite and the reduced desire to play or interact.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Seems to be working, but don't expect miracles...\\n\\nReview: Cat Hormone Feliway Refill / B000RI6C7K\\n\\nOK, we've got this cat who just does *not* stop talking. I don't know why - his sister is quiet as a lamb. And though it has been getting \\\"worse\\\" for the last two years (or maybe it just *seems* like it), it's not a new thing - he's almost six, and the vet thinks he's healthy as can be. He's just *really* fussy, whiny, anxious, and petty - he likes to follow the husband around the house hissing at him. Cute, but not conducive to headaches.\\n\\nI really don't know that these Feliway packs work - we've gone through three bottles now. When I first bought them, I was praying for a miracle, like our little \\\"problem child\\\" would suddenly be silent, serene, content, and happy. Yeah, no such luck. However...every month and a half or so, he starts *really* ramping up the yowling, and I start saying, constantly, \\\"Baby, what's WRONG?\\\" and then I go check the calendar and it's been over a month since I plugged in the last new Feliway bottle. And, sure enough, the darn thing is empty. So I go another week or two and finally in desperation I order another refill, and then our baby seems to calm down...comparatively...until the bottle is emptied and we go through this cycle again.\\n\\nSo, basically, I think this is helping, but I don't have a lot of before-and-after scientific data to go on. The cat has noisy days and less-noisy days, and it SEEMS like when the Feliway runs out, we get treated to a whole string of noisy days, and when the Feliway comes fresh in the mail, things quiet down a bit. Since I really do feel like these are helping, I'm buying more, but I wanted to share my story - as far as I can tell, Feliway *does* help, but don't expect a miracle.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Feliway reduces or completely stops stress-related behavior including urine marking, vertical scratching, loss of appetite and the reduced desire to play or interact.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Seems to help...but don't expect miracles\\n\\nReview: Feliway Refill Pack-6 / B000CPAV3O\\n\\nOK, we've got this cat who just does *not* stop talking. I don't know why - his sister is quiet as a lamb. And though it has been getting \\\"worse\\\" for the last two years (or maybe it just *seems* like it), it's not a new thing - he's almost six, and the vet thinks he's healthy as can be. He's just *really* fussy, whiny, anxious, and petty - he likes to follow the husband around the house hissing at him. Cute, but not conducive to headaches.\\n\\nI really don't know that these Feliway packs work - we've gone through three bottles now. When I first bought them, I was praying for a miracle, like our little \\\"problem child\\\" would suddenly be silent, serene, content, and happy. Yeah, no such luck. However...every month and a half or so, he starts *really* ramping up the yowling, and I start saying, constantly, \\\"Baby, what's WRONG?\\\" and then I go check the calendar and it's been over a month since I plugged in the last new Feliway bottle. And, sure enough, the darn thing is empty. So I go another week or two and finally in desperation I order another refill, and then our baby seems to calm down...comparatively...until the bottle is emptied and we go through this cycle again.\\n\\nSo, basically, I think this is helping, but I don't have a lot of before-and-after scientific data to go on. The cat has noisy days and less-noisy days, and it SEEMS like when the Feliway runs out, we get treated to a whole string of noisy days, and when the Feliway comes fresh in the mail, things quiet down a bit. Since I really do feel like these are helping, I'm buying more, but I wanted to share my story - as far as I can tell, Feliway *does* help, but don't expect a miracle.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: The Dingo brand combines powerful flavors and benefits to create bones, chews and treats that are sure to keep you and your dog wanting more. With a wide variety of shapes and flavors, there are options for any size companion. Reward your dog with a delicious treat that satisfies you both! Protect your poochs pearly whites. Help fight stubborn plaque and tartar buildup with Dingo Dental Sticks, For Tartar Control. These yummy treats offer the same great taste as other Dingo products made with real chicken in the middle, for a great source of protein. Your dog is sure to love the taste of real chicken, and youll love their sparkling, clean teeth. Help reduce tartar buildup, remove plaque and freshen breath due to the abrasive action of chewing. These fun shaped long sticks are the perfect snack for a dog of any size! *Tartar care and fresh breath are due to teh natural abrasive action of chewing.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: A Bit of a Gimmick, but Still Good\\n\\nReview: Dingo Dental Munchy Stick / B000FPKZTQ\\n\\nMy puppy loves Dingo Munchy Stix, so the dental versions seemed like an easy way to keep his teeth clean and healthy. He likes the taste almost as much as the regular Stix, and sweet breath and healthy teeth are a good thing, right?\\n\\nOnly we've learned from our trainer since then that ANY hard, chewy treat will clean his teeth by dislodging stuck food, and will strengthen his teeth with the chewing. We've also learned that the outside of his teeth still need to be cleaned regularly with dog 'toothpaste' (not the same as human toothpaste, which is dangerous for dogs) and that no munchy stick can serve as a replacement in this area.\\n\\nSo, basically, we're paying extra for the Dingo Dental sticks for the pretty green color and the fresh parsley smell. Not for superior dental treatment. It's a bit of a gimmick, but since they are covered with the 4-for-3 deal on Amazon, I'll occasionally throw a pack into my order because my dog does like them, and because it doesn't hurt to buy into a gimmick once in awhile. And, hey, I could always be wrong and it never hurts to be sure your dog has good teeth. But if you are short of cash, the regular Dingo Munchy Stix are much cheaper and will probably strengthen and clean out your puppy's teeth just as well.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: The K&H Thermo-Kitty Bed includes a dual thermostat, 4 watt heating unit buried within its thick premium polyfil pillow base. It warms the surface 10-15 degrees above ambient air temperature when not in use. When your pet lies in the bed it warms to your pet's normal body temperature to keep them cozy warm. The heater is removable and the cover is machine washable. Indoor use only, MET Listed, one year warranty.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great Bed, Bad Packaging\\n\\nReview: K&H Thermo-Kitty Heated Cat Bed (16-inch Sage) / B00176F9AM\\n\\nI love this bed, and so does my kitty, but I don't know that I recommend buying it from Amazon: the bed comes in a soft clear bag that was then shoved into a too-small box, and it takes a day or three for the bed to shake out to its round circle shape rather than a smashed oval!\\n\\nThe good news is that I didn't have any trouble convincing my kitty to use the bed -- I plopped him into place and he snuggled in and fit his chin on the bed-rim and that was that. I love that the bed can be kept plugged in constantly without having to worry about the house burning down or electricity waste, since it only heats when there is an actual kitty inside. And I think that the warmth has helped my cat's arthritis; he seems to move more comfortably after a session in his new warm bed.\\n\\nWe bought the 16-inch, and I wasn't sure if it would be too small, but it's actually plenty big. My cat is 15 pounds and reasonably long from nose to tail, but there's plenty of room for him to curl up in here. I don't think his sister could comfortably squeeze in with him, so it's a \\\"single-use\\\" as far as our household is concerned, but they're not really snuggle-bunnies in the first place.\\n\\nNote that the picture here is a little confusing: if you're getting a \\\"sage\\\" bed, it's greener than shown and the pale sand-color contrasts more than shown, but it's still very pretty.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: The K&H Thermo-Kitty Bed includes a dual thermostat, 4 watt heating unit buried within its thick premium polyfil pillow base. It warms the surface 10-15 degrees above ambient air temperature when not in use. When your pet lies in the bed it warms to your pet's normal body temperature to keep them cozy warm. The heater is removable and the cover is machine washable. Indoor use only, MET Listed, one year warranty.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great Bed, Bad Packaging\\n\\nReview: K&H Thermo-Kitty Heated Cat Bed (16-inch Sage) / B00176F9AM\\n\\nI love this bed, and so does my kitty, but I don't know that I recommend buying it from Amazon: the bed comes in a soft clear bag that was then shoved into a too-small box, and it takes a day or three for the bed to shake out to its round circle shape rather than a smashed oval!\\n\\nThe good news is that I didn't have any trouble convincing my kitty to use the bed -- I plopped him into place and he snuggled in and fit his chin on the bed-rim and that was that. I love that the bed can be kept plugged in constantly without having to worry about the house burning down or electricity waste, since it only heats when there is an actual kitty inside. And I think that the warmth has helped my cat's arthritis; he seems to move more comfortably after a session in his new warm bed.\\n\\nWe bought the 16-inch, and I wasn't sure if it would be too small, but it's actually plenty big. My cat is 15 pounds and reasonably long from nose to tail, but there's plenty of room for him to curl up in here. I don't think his sister could comfortably squeeze in with him, so it's a \\\"single-use\\\" as far as our household is concerned, but they're not really snuggle-bunnies in the first place.\\n\\nNote that the picture here is a little confusing: if you're getting a \\\"sage\\\" bed, it's greener than shown and the pale sand-color contrasts more than shown, but it's still very pretty.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: KONG Naturals are ecologically responsible cat toys. All materials and dyes come from natural, renewable resources. These toys are designed to appeal to the natural instincts of the indoor cat. KONG Naturals Crinkle Ball with Feathers is specifically designed to appeal to your cat's natural stalking and hunting instincts. The crinkle sound instantly sparks curiosity, and the combination of natural fabrics, natural feathers and catnip will provide hours of exercise and entertainment. KONG Naturals are more than just cat toys - they're fun with a purpose.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Flies like an Eagle\\n\\nReview: Cat Kong Crinkle Ball with Feathers / B0018MXX3K\\n\\nI think I must have picky cats - they fuss a lot for attention, like they are bored, but whenever they get a new toy, they play with it obsessively for the first ten minutes and then never touch it again. It's frustrating, but I thought that maybe the quality of the toys were the problem, and I tossed down for several nice Kong toys, remember how much the puppy had liked them.\\n\\nWell, the crinkle balls were probably the most well received. I don't know if it's just the feather, or if Kong douses everything in catnip before packaging, but they were both VERY interested in the crinkle balls when they came out of the package. The balls have enough weight to throw nicely (not that they 'fetch', but they do 'chase'...sometimes...if they're in a good mood), and the feathers are actually still attached, which has to be some kind of record for feathered toys at our house. It's not unusual for the cats to initiate play with these toys (they like to pin it with their paws, throw the ball up, and run after it), so I'm pretty pleased.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: The Bolt is a fun interactive laser toy that can entertain even the laziest cat. The Bolt offers both an automatic mode which generates random patters and a manual mode where you control the action. Turn it on, and watch your cat pounce, chase and bat at the exciting laser patterns.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Best Cat Toy Ever\\n\\nReview: FroliCat Bolt Laser Toy / B0021L8W6K\\n\\nI wasn't too certain about buying this toy for my cats' fifth birthday. I knew that they like to chase lasers, so that wasn't the problem - my concern was that they don't like to STOP chasing lasers. Our last foray into laser pointer territory ended with me letting the laser dot \\\"escape\\\" through an air vent in the wall, thinking that would end the game - no, they just sat vigil under the air vent for five hours. I didn't want a repeat of that.\\n\\nOn the other hand, they are housecats and seem pretty bored and listless, and they definitely need the exercise, so I broke down and bought this... and could not be happier.\\n\\nThe best thing about this laser toy is that if has a mechanical 'servo' sound - a kind of light-pitched soft whirring and turning whenever it is in operation. The sound is soft enough to not really bother a human (although you probably wouldn't want to sit next to it while you watch TV), but it is distinct enough for a cat to hear it in the other room and come running. The practical upshot of this is that your cats figure out really quickly that the magical laser dot ONLY appears when the whirring noise turns on. So if the whirring noise goes off, the laser is gone, and they don't hunt endlessly for it. Indeed, my most active cat has figured out that the laser dot COMES from the whirring thing and will lead me to its spot on the table and demand that I push the button to activate it. Awesome.\\n\\nI suppose the other best thing about this toy is that it works. It's silly that has to be a product 'plus', but such is the state of the cat toy industry these days, I suppose. But boy, does this thing work! It takes 4 AA batteries, and I recommend they be fully charged (try Eneloop batteries, you won't be disappointed) in order for the light to be as bright as possible. We have the toy sitting on a coffee table, with the adjustable mirror set to the perfect angle so that the light appears on the carpet a few feet away. The light swirls in slow patterns, jumps in fast leaps, and holds still for a few seconds so that my lazy calico can leap on it and cover it with both paws. The best part is that the cats never seem to get frustrated with not being able to 'catch' the light - they seem to recognize that it's a game, not real prey, and that's fine with me. My tuxedo always plays, but sometimes my calico just likes to lay on the floor and watch the light. Thy both come running at full speed, though, when they hear that motor start.\\n\\nThe toy has a fifteen minute shut-off point so you can turn this on and leave the room without worrying that your cats will make themselves sick chasing a dot for hours. It's as easy as putting the batteries in (with an easy sliding-door chamber - no tricky maneuvering required), setting it down on a table, and pressing a button to turn on. If you want it to shut off before the 15 minutes are up, you press the button again. So easy! I am seriously considering buying more of these - one for each room in the house.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: 55600 Features: -Bowl.-Encourages your cat to drink more water.-Large surface area adds oxygen to water for fresher, tastier water.-Multi-stage filtration absorbs water impurities.-Lime green top with white base.-Also suitable for small dogs. Dimensions: -Dimensions: 6.75'' H x 8.25'' W x 8.25'' D. Collection: -Catit collection.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Excessive Heat and Noise; Sent It Back\\n\\nReview: I recently bought and/or received three cat fountains for my two kitties (senior adult; ~15 pounds each). This will be a review in three parts, as I feel the fountains are best reviewed in comparison to each other.\\n\\n---\\n\\n<a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Hagen-Catit-Design-Fresh-and-Clear-Cat-Drinking-Fountain/dp/B004L4XR3I/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Hagen Catit Design Fresh and Clear Cat Drinking Fountain</a> / B004L4XR3I (2 Stars) [This is the product page you're currently on.]\\n\\nThe Hagen Catit fountain was such a disappointment to me, because I love the clean modern look of the Hagen Catit products and I love the \\\"expandability\\\" of the products they have for sale -- it seems like all their products have some optional add-ons that stroke my \\\"buy gifts for kitty!\\\" impulses. Unfortunately, the Hagen fountain I received was super loud and the plug-in was worrisomely hot to the touch. It was quiet from the time we plugged in the unit until the next evening, at which point it had escalated to a dull roar that could be heard from the other side of the house. Cleaning the filter and unit didn't affect the noise, and when we unplugged the unit to clean it, we realized that the power source was burning hot to the touch. I think we received a faulty unit. Probably the company (or Amazon) would have sent out a replacement unit, but I didn't want to try again because the cats didn't seem to care for the \\\"bubble-up\\\" nature of this particular water fountain.\\n\\n---\\n\\n<a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Drinkwell-Rectangle-Multi-Level-Plastic-Fountain-Drinking-Dish/dp/B0056ASTES/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Drinkwell Rectangle Multi-Level Plastic Fountain Drinking Dish</a> / B0056ASTES (3 Stars)\\n\\nThis was my second Drinkwell fountain, received free through Vine after my first one broke. This is a different model and I don't think I like it very much. For myself, I found it difficult to put together -- the unit has to be compressed with your hands and snapped in and out of place, and I found this very difficult to accomplished. (Note: I am a person with a disability. Your mileage may vary.) And this unit, while not as loud as the Hagen, was still plenty noisy -- about an hour after plugging in the fountain in the kitchen, I realized I could hear it humming from the bedroom. I'm very sensitive to electronic noise, and so I didn't care for how loud the unit was in our home. I will say that our cats liked this one just fine, and were not put off by the form factor or the sound (although they were already used to our last Drinkwell, which was far from silent), so I will keep this one for use on our outdoor patio.\\n\\nNOTE: This review is based on a free Advance Review Copy of this product provided through Amazon Vine.\\n\\n---\\n\\n<a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Pioneer-Pet-Stainless-Steel-Fountain-Raindrop-Design/dp/B0037NKDSG/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Pioneer Pet Stainless Steel Fountain Raindrop Design</a> / B0037NKDSG (4 Stars)\\n\\nThis is the fountain we ended up keeping for use in the kitchen. I really like the teardrop shape, and the cats took to the fountain with no issues. I like that they can drink from the fountain or from the relatively-still \\\"pool\\\" that collects to the side. Best of all, while the unit isn't noiseless, it's definitely the quietest drinking fountain we've owned -- there's very little electronic hum, and it's largely drowned out by the normal splashing fountain sounds. I also like that the unit is super easy to dissemble and clean -- I can clean this fountain by myself in five minutes flat, with no snapping parts to wrestle into place. The only potential downside that I can see is that a really energetic dog or kitten might be able to shift the parts, but my cats are quiet senior adults and don't try to play in the fountain. I will also note that I like the shiny silver surface, but it seems to be losing a lot of luster in the short time since we've had it. So it's not perfect, but it meets our needs.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Eat-Sleep-Play Silicone Can Lid is an exclusive design of Progressive International. It fits most pet food cans for locked in freshness. Silicone is a durable material that will outlast plastic and is dishwasher safe.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Eh, I wouldn't write home about it.\\n\\nReview: Can Lids Reusable / B000MN5AZK\\n\\nYou used to be able to get these things in the grocery stores all the time, but lately I can't find them. You can still find them for cat food cans at most pet stores - in all sizes, really - but I wanted something for storing food in the fridge. We never seem to finish the canned sauce, beans, or vegetables in one serving and I got tired of wrestling with plastic wrap.\\n\\nThe lid is pliable plastic that \\\"fits three sizes\\\" by virtue of two inner lips under the top - meaning that if you use this to cap a really small can, the sides of the lid will overlap the can, making something akin to a mushroom shape. In those cases, it is extremely easy to accidentally uncap the can, so be careful about that. Fortunately, we usually have need of the biggest size for things like refried beans and canned corn. The seal never seems as tight as it could be, though, and the pliability of the lid tends to be an annoyance - like, for instance, if you plan to stack a smaller can on top of your larger, lidded can, the pliable plastic will buckle too much to allow this.\\n\\nWe're still using these because it's still better than wrestling with Saran Wrap. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't considering looking for some solid plastic cat food lids that might fit our baked beans and spaghetti sauces. I'm not overly sorry I bought these, but they're not worth writing home to tell mother, either, as the saying goes.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: This panel has no ballasts to burn out like other plant lights. It does not run hot, just warm. You will not experience unsightly brown burned leaves when they accidentally touch the LEDs. This is common with most other lights that get very hot. This more controlled running temperature reduces the need to water so often and keeps rooms with plants from getting uncomfortably hot in the summer months requiring additional air conditioning. Extreme energy efficiency permits this new LED panel to pay for itself many times over each year in electricity savings. It saves 50% to 90% in energy consumption compared to incandescent bulbs or fluorescent tubes. Wide angle projection insures uniform leaf coverage. Scientifically calculated even blending of red and blue LEDs eliminates the time consuming task of repositioning separate colored lights back and forth trying to achieve uniform exposure. 14 to 16 hours per day is all that is necessary for maximum plant health with this wave blended lighting system. This allows distances 6-Inch and less between the LEDs and the plants accelerating photosynthesis. Red and blue wavelengths are for growing and flowering of plants. The typical white plant lights that are very hot is unnecessary and just consume excessive electricity. The purity of the LED generated light lengthens flowering periods. These LEDs turn on instantly and can be turned on by hand each day or work well with all standard lamp timers. Color: Red + Blue = Purple looking to the eyes Working Voltage: 12V or 110V-220V Power: 13.8 Watts Dimensions: 12 inches (30.5cm) square Thickness: Low profile 1.25-Inch Power cord length: 48 inches Recommended coverage: one panel per 18 inches square LED life: Approx. 15 years used all year long. (60 years for spring starting of seedlings)\\n\\nRating: 1.0\\n\\nSummary: Attractive Product, Terrible Results\\n\\nReview: Greenhouse, Hydroponic LED Lamp / B001MVWYZA\\n\\nI bought this hydroponic lamp to use with my indoors herb garden. Our kitchen doesn't sustain a lot of direct daylight, and I had read that pretty much any herb garden would need strong supplemental light in order to thrive. I purchased this LED light because I was drawn by the cheap operating costs and the low residual heat. In the interest of fairness, I will note that the residual heat is almost non-existent and the operating costs are quite low, but none of that really matters as this light just does not work.\\n\\nMy seeds (purchased from four different, reputable companies) simply did not sprout, despite dedicated heat mats and plant food. My purchased herb plants - including three different kinds of basil - died within a few weeks under this light. The spicy globe basil shriveled up into itself and died; the Thai basil dropped its leaves entirely; and the lemon basil just stopped standing up - the stalks just lay over and died.\\n\\nI cannot tell you why, scientifically, this light does not work. I can simply warn you that if you hope to use this as a substitute for direct sunlight for indoor plants that would otherwise only get indirect sunlight, you should spend your money elsewhere. As a side note, this light did not come with any kind of hanging apparatus - the unit is just the solid square with side holes drilled around the edges - and we had to mock up quite the apparatus just to be able to use it at all without having to worry about slippage and breaking - it just wasn't worth it. Shame I cannot retrieve that effort and my wasted money, but I can warn others that this attractive plant light is simply not a good investment.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Introduces kids to science, medicine and eases anxieties over doctor visits. Sturdy enough for classroom use.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Not Quite a Toy, Not Quite a Medical Device\\n\\nReview: Learning Resources Stethoscope / B00004WKU2\\n\\nWhen my heart starting skipping beats unexpectedly due, apparently, to chronic stress, I decided I needed a stethoscope on hand for quick assessments of my heart beat during my palpitation periods. Amazon is my standby in these emergencies and, among the expensive \\\"med student\\\" options, there was this Learning Resources toy. The results, in my opinion, are mixed.\\n\\nFirst, this is not the most sensitive of stethoscopes. The heart beat is softer than more expensive stethoscopes, probably to lessen potential damage to a child's eardrums if the stethoscope is mishandled. (Seriously, that would be a huge concern of mine before handing this toy over to a child. Hearing loss is permanent and should not be flirted with.) The stethoscope realistically picks up every errant movement or flutter of clothing, so the user must hold very, very still in order to get a decent read on the already soft-sounding heart rate.\\n\\nSecond, as others have noted, the hearing pieces on this stethoscope HURT. I can't leave the stethoscope in my ears for more than a minute or so. The hearing pieces are fairly big (I'd estimate larger than a small child's ear could comfortably accommodate, but I can't say with certainty), very hard, and press inwards strongly, and at an uncomfortable angle. Attempts to \\\"stretch\\\" the metal out a bit have failed so far.\\n\\nBottom line, though, is that this stethoscope does work for what I purchased it for, even if it doesn't work as well or as painlessly as I'd like. I can monitor my heart during periods of bad heart activity, although I dislike that the stethoscope is too painful to use for frequent \\\"spot checks\\\". I can't imagine that this would be a particularly sturdy toy - if I have to keep the chewy rubber away from inquisitive cats, I'd have to think that small teeth could so just as much, if not more, damage. Although I suppose the majority of children don't chew on their toys past age 5, a younger brother or sister could wreak a goodly amount of havoc on this toy.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: The God of Small Things\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: An exquisite novel that I couldn't connect with...\\n\\nReview: The God of Small Things / 978-1-588-36783-9\\n\\nI feel simply awful only rating this wonderfully exquisite book 3 stars, but I have to confess that I just felt like I couldn't quite get into the narrative. The novel is wonderfully well-written, with careful turns of phrase that stick with you until the end, and with lavish descriptions that really convey the place and attitudes of the setting. The theme of injustice towards the most vulnerable members of society is sharp and visceral, as well as the theme of social displacement and of having your culture slowly leached from you.\\n\\nThe writing is so beautiful that it's impossible to not compare \\\"The God of Small Things\\\" to other great novels dealing with oppression and cultural displacement; in many ways this novel reminds me of some of the greatest works by Atwood, Marquez, and Rushdie - especially as Roy lays a gentle fabric of magical realism over her vividly described narrative.\\n\\nAnd yet, I confess, I never could really sink myself into \\\"The God of Small Things\\\" despite the obvious beauty and skill within the writing. After much reflection, I finally decided that my detachment came from the fact that most of the plot details that the book carefully doles out through flashback form are revealed in advance extremely early on - in the first few chapters, in fact. When novels start with a tragic future and then split of into a flashback to the past (bringing us up to the tragic present), it's usually customary to slowly reveal exactly *what* caused the future to go so horribly wrong, such that by the time we've caught up to the present, we've witnessed the whole story \\\"as it happened\\\", and experienced all the heartbreak along the way.\\n\\nHere, however, we're treated to something of a \\\"plot summary\\\" early on and things that could have been major shockers in the late chapters are instead told to us outright in the beginning. In retrospect, this made me somehow less emotionally attached to the story; I felt less as though I was part of the narrative, unraveling a mystery as I went along (\\\"How did things go so wrong?\\\") and more like I was a detached observer, simply serving time until the tragic end (\\\"When does the molestation mentioned in Chapter 1 actually happen?\\\").\\n\\nI think, in some respects, I was simply the wrong audience for this book. I certainly think that for other audiences, this could easily be a book so meaningful that it would touch their lives forever, but for me, personally, not coming from this culture and unable to really sustain suspense for events that I'd already been told in the first few chapters would happen, I couldn't really connect with this novel, though I could appreciate that it was beautifully written.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Reissue of Philippa Gregory's disturbing novel of passion and betrayal in Tudor England. A haunting story of a woman's desire in a time of turbulence. Alys joins the nunnery to escape hardship and poverty but finds herself thrown back into the outside world when Henry VIII's wreckers destroy her sanctuary. With nothing to support her but her looks, her magic and her own instinctive cunning, Alys has to tread a perilous path between the faith of her childhood and her own female power. When she falls in love with Hugo, the feudal lord and another woman's husband, she dips into witchcraft to defeat her rival and to win her lover, but finds -- as her cynical old foster-mother had advised -- that magic makes a poor servant but a dominant master. Since heresy against the new church means the stake, and witchcraft the rope, Alys's danger is mortal. A woman's powers are no longer safe to use!\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Compelling Story, Potentially Offensive Material\\n\\nReview: The Wise Woman / 1-4165-9088-9\\n\\nThis is now my fifth Philippa Gregory novel I've read, and the fourth I've reviewed, and I cannot understand how Gregory can be so radically different with each novel, in terms of prose, technique, and sheer quality. \\\"<a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/The-Constant-Princess/dp/0743272498/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">The Constant Princess</a>\\\" was wonderful - crisp, clean prose, with a little bit of didactic dialogue, but it fit Catherine's character perfectly. \\\"<a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/The-Other-Boleyn-Girl/dp/B001KZI7SG/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">The Other Boleyn Girl</a>\\\" was terrible history, but a decent fictional story, even if Gregory did rely a little too heavily on virgin/whore stereotypes, and even if she deliberately reduced her heroine into an idiot in order that everything could be explained to her in dialogue. \\\"<a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Earthly-Joys/dp/0743272528/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Earthly Joys</a>\\\" was so painfully boring that I simply could not finish it, and \\\"<a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/The-Virgin-s-Lover/dp/0743269268/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">The Virgin's Lover</a>\\\" was just awful, with characters' motivations just told to us in hurried prose, rather than shown to us properly in actual actions and dialogues. And now we have \\\"The Wise Woman\\\".\\n\\nThe writing in \\\"The Wise Woman\\\" is simply wonderful. The plot and the characters are so compelling because Gregory skillfully takes every stereotype and shortcut in a writer's manual, and turns each one on its head. The entire cast of stock characters are here: the Reformed Rapist Lover, the Bitter Barren Wife, the Kind Supportive Old Father, the Cruel Uncaring Hag, the Sweet Understanding Foster Mother. And just when we realize that we're dealing with historical romance stereotypical characters, and figure that we know the outcome of the story, Gregory chooses that moment to show the ridiculousness of the stereotypes and the reality of her own characters.\\n\\n\\\"The Wise Woman\\\" does not have a happy story to tell. Entitled, rapist nobles do not reform into loving husbands. Bitter, barren wives have good reasons to be bitter. Noble fathers who seem kind to simple peasant girls have very different standards when it comes to marriage eligibility. Evil hags can still contain a kernel of kindness, and the nicest mothers are capable of cutting judgment and prejudice. Because these characters are so real, the plot is unpredictably bleak and shocking. Gregory seems to be asking the reader: Did you really think a lifetime of rape can be washed away by a pretty face? Did you really think that a lifetime of plotting and calculations would be abandoned simply because an old man is fond of a young girl? Did you really expect a happy ending?\\n\\nRefreshingly, our heroine is also allowed to be a real person. She isn't a Virtuous Heroine, who will win marriage because of her pure heart. She's not a Schemer, destined for greatness because of her clever political wrangling. And she's not an Anti-Heroine, determined to tear down her tormentors at the cost of her own life. No, she simply is a real girl, full of the same virtues, vices, hopes, fears, angers, and loves. Gregory doesn't pass judgment on her character; we're not expected to see her as greedy for wanting a warm castle over a dirty hovel, and we're not expected to judge her for her actions, even as she becomes increasingly desperate and spirals into madness. For the characterization alone, I would give \\\"The Wise Woman\\\" five stars, and would point it out as an example of how to do a historical romance right.\\n\\nHowever, there's a big caveat to all this before you rush right out to buy this book. There's a lot of material here that many people will find very objectionable. Of the many graphic sex scenes in this book, they all involve extreme violence, rape, forced drug use, or forced group sex. The scenes are often necessary to propel the plot, but they are certainly disturbing and will turn off a lot of readers. I wasn't offended by the scenes, but I did feel a little queasy after many of them - this isn't light reading material.\\n\\nSecondly, Gregory has decided to make magic a real force in \\\"The Wise Woman\\\", and some of this magic could be disturbing or offensive to some readers. I think, in retrospect, that I would have enjoyed the novel more if there was a possibility that the \\\"magic\\\" was all in the heroine's mind as an indication of her spiraling insanity. As it is, Gregory makes it pretty clear that the magic our heroine works and suffers from is completely real, and not a hallucination. I would have preferred a little more subtlety.\\n\\nThe only other thing that keeps this from being a five-star book is the ending. I don't have a problem with the ending itself: it's realistic, it's cyclical, and it works. But I do have a problem with the way the ending seems rushed and tacked on, as if Gregory had a page limit to maintain and realized, twenty pages from the end, that - oh no! - she needed to wrap this baby up fast. Her careful, foreshadowing prose gets tossed out the window in favor of a dash to the finish line. The result is an ending that seems technically right, but feels horribly wrong.\\n\\nBottom line: If you are offended by graphic, violent sex scenes and/or graphic, violent magic, you will not enjoy this book. If you are a fan of historical romances and you would like to see some common stereotypes followed through to a dark and subversive conclusion, you may enjoy this book as I did. For all its joys, there are better novels out there, but if you are looking for something unusual and different, this is the Gregory novel for you.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Wither\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: A solid dystopia, possibly hurt by over-ambition\\n\\nReview: Wither / 978-1-442-40905-7\\n\\nI'm really pleased at the number of solid \\\"infertile end of the world\\\" dystopias coming out in YA literature lately - between \\\"Wither\\\" and \\\"<a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Bumped/dp/0061962740/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Bumped</a>\\\", it's almost like a new generation of <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Margaret-Atwoods/dp/0307264602/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Margaret Atwoods</a> are honing their literary skills with these thrilling new releases. \\\"Wither\\\" is a strong addition to the genre and if it fails anywhere, it is perhaps with the sometimes muddled world-building - if you can overlook that, then you're almost sure to enjoy this depressing-yet-haunting read.\\n\\n\\\"Wither\\\" is set in a world very different from our own. About 80 years before the book starts, the final generation of \\\"normal\\\" humans (people like you and me - let's call them 'Alphas') made a major breakthrough in genetic engineering and every baby born after a certain date was born genetically enhanced to resist every known form of disease. This super-human generation (called \\\"The First Generation\\\" in the novel, but let's call them the 'Betas') has thrived and flourished and are \\\"practically immortal\\\". However, every child born to a Beta (let's call these children 'Gammas') has died almost instantly at the age of either 20 (for girls) or 25 (for boys). Now, 80 years after the first Betas were born, the world is struggling to find a cure and to keep the human race alive somehow with the dwindling stock of Gammas available for breeding.\\n\\nIt's an ambitious hook, and while it's not easy to plausibly set up (Why did ALL the Alphas move over to the genetically enhanced babies right away? How could they all afford it? Were the designer babies paid for by the government? Were they MANDATED by the government? What about all the Amish and Jehovah's Witness groups that would have religious objections to this sort of thing?), you *could* hand-wave a lot of it pretty easily with a convenient plague that took out everyone except the disease resistant Betas, so it's easy enough to let the gaps in the setup slide. Then the author seems to realize, though, that a world-wide acceptance and implementation of genetically enhanced babies might be a bit harder to explain, so it's briefly dropped in text that the entire world EXCEPT North America has been so completely devastated by wars and bombings that there's no remaining land mass (besides North American) that is large enough to be seen from space - the world is now basically one big ocean. This is covered in maybe two paragraphs in text - you can quite literally blink and miss it.\\n\\nSo now we have a world where North America is the only thing that exists and everyone in it (except the aging Betas) is absolutely guaranteed to drop dead at either 20 or 25, depending on gender. I'm honestly not sure what a world like that would look like, but what's problematic with \\\"Wither\\\" is that the world looks surprisingly like our own. The premise of the novel is that young women are captured off the street by professional \\\"Gatherers\\\" who sell the girls as breeding stock and sex slaves to the wealthy upper-class who live in beautiful gated estates, but what I'm not sure I understand is how any of that can be possible in this world. What does \\\"wealth\\\" mean in a world where no one can expect to live past 25? Why are the wealthy and the pampered perfectly safe at their parties and rich gatherings, rather than besieged in their estate homes by mobs of ravening apocalypse-crazed young men and women? And where do the absolutely phenomenal amount of goods come from that are lavished on the young protagonist - someone, somewhere, is spinning fine cloths, and creating lovely makeups, and farming delectable animals and vegetables, and I find myself thoroughly disappointed that we don't get to see more of their motivation.\\n\\nEven if you sadly jettison the world-building (which I hate to do, because so much of a good dystopia depends on the world-building), the character building in \\\"Wither\\\" also sometimes seems a little anemic. Some admirable attempts were made at the beginning to establish a \\\"gray-and-gray morality\\\" world - the master of the house is an aging Beta desperate to find a cure for his 21-year-old son, and the son is a pampered noble unwilling to imagine that his three new brides would ever want anything more in life than to be his little toys - but by the end, all that seems tossed out in favor of a heroes-and-villains mentality: the aging scientist quickly devolves into a cruel, murdering despot, and we're apparently meant to see his son as a sweetly innocent boy who just somehow failed to notice that his father is Joseph Mengele. Oddly, the main love interest - a boy named Gabriel - seems the least well-characterized of all the people in the book, and sometimes I couldn't help but feel that the novel would have been better if he'd been removed entirely - indeed, I don't even think the story would have to change much to accommodate his absence! On the other hand, the plural wives - Rose, Rhine, Jenna, and Cecily - are so incredibly well-realized that they are perfect examples of how a vibrant character can evolve and change over the course of a novel.\\n\\nAt the end of the day, \\\"Wither\\\" is a fascinating and lovely read. If it stumbled a little on the world-building, I can't help but feel that it was *still* better than many books that aren't quite so brave and bold. I recommend it despite the minor flaws because it's still a horrifying and incredible read - and because I particularly liked the strong characters of the four sister wives, as well as the clear and vivid portrayal of the horrors of being trapped in a gilded cage.\\n\\nNOTE: This review is based on a free Advance Review Copy of this book provided through Amazon Vine.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Charlie Higson started writing when he was ten years old. After university he was a singer and painter and decorator before he started writing for television. He went on to create and star in the hugely successful comedy series The Fast Show. He is the author of the bestselling Young Bond books, and The End is the final book in his current horror series, The Enemy. Charlie doesn't do Facebook, but you can tweet him @monstroso.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: The most terrifying zombie book I've ever read...\\n\\nReview: The Enemy / 978-1-423-14504-2\\n\\nI'm a big fan of zombie lit, and have read quite a lot of what's out there, but I can honestly say that \\\"The Enemy\\\" scared me far more than most anything else I've read.\\n\\n\\\"The Enemy\\\" starts hard and fast by plopping us in the middle of the zombie apocalypse, as a rag-tag band of kids struggle to survive against the infected grown-ups. We rapidly learn that some time ago, everyone over about sixteen became incredibly sick and eventually started shambling around killing and eating the uninfected children. The children that have survived thus far have banded together into small, tightly-knit tribal groups, struggling to eke out some semblance of survival. Without any adults to guide them, the children hover between disaster-induced maturity and touching youthful naivete, as the older of the children try to look out for the smallest and youngest in the groups.\\n\\nPart of what makes \\\"The Enemy\\\" so frightening is that the reader is frequently and harrowingly terrified for the young protagonists. Author Higson does a wonderful job of characterizing the many children that fill the pages of this excellent novel - the point of view switches frequently between the children, and each child is fleshed out thoroughly and realistically. The children are attuned enough to the realities of the situation to allow the reader to identify with and care for them, but they still make enough foolish mistakes to retain their childlike status in the eyes of the reader. And once the reader becomes intimately familiar with all the characters, and grows to like them, the dangers of Anyone Can Die really hit home - this is not a book where battles feel bland and anti-climactic because you *know* none of your favorite characters will get offed.\\n\\nI really cannot rave enough about the wonderful writing here - everything from the world-building to the characterization to the point-of-view switches is done remarkably well. The switches between the characters always flow naturally and never feel forced or clunky or cheap. The children are often delightfully Genre Savvy, as you would naturally expect urban children familiar with zombie lore to be, but always remain ultimately vulnerable, particularly as things get worse and the younger children are forced to confront the horrors of this new world. And the world building is done so well that I started to become deeply concerned about the fate of the older children - is the danger of infection over for them or are they inexorably doomed like their parents?\\n\\nIf you like zombie books even a little bit, then you will love \\\"The Enemy\\\". I'm not 100% certain about the age target audience - personally, I found this book to be terrifying, and I'm an *adult*, but probably older kids can handle it as a solid horror/adventure story written from their perspective. While there is no sexual content, there is quite a bit of horror and violence, obviously, so do keep that in mind when shopping.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Brand NEW. We ship worldwide\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Even Better Than The First\\n\\nReview: The Sea of Monsters / 9781423131960\\n\\nI came to the Percy Jackson franchise after seeing the movie adaptation; I enjoyed \\\"The Lightning Thief\\\", but I thought the writing could have been a little tighter and better overall. Still, I was charmed enough by the world and the premise to dive into \\\"The Sea of Monsters\\\", and I'm so glad I did -- this second book in the series is even better than the first.\\n\\nWhen Percy is called upon to return to Camp Half-Blood and undertake a secret quest to save his best friend Grover, he doesn't hesitate. Still, he's a bit underwhelmed to join forces with the tempestuous Clarisse, daughter of his sworn enemy Ares, and his half-brother Tyson, a big, blundering baby Cyclops.\\n\\nThere's so much heart and spirit brought to this novel. I really love how Riordan captures Percy's ambivalence about his baby brother, Tyson -- Percy is understandably frustrated and confused by his father's actions without ever becoming a complete jerk. It's impossible not to love Tyson, and Percy comes around to realizing just how wonderful his family is, without the book ever delving deep into syrupy \\\"after school special\\\" territory. In the same way, the rivalry between Percy and Clarisse is very natural and pleasant to follow, with both children behaving like realistic kids with difficult backgrounds and distant parents.\\n\\nThe mythology has really been polished to a mirror shine with this installment -- it really feels like this is the book where Riordan hit his stride with the series. Instead of the monsters all being basic re-colors of certain legendary stories, the new monsters and situations seem to really work within the narrative as a meaningful whole within the story. Particularly delightful and terrifying is Grover's situation, with a beautiful swirl of both the Odysseus AND Penelope stories in one -- pure poetry!\\n\\n\\\"The Sea of Monsters\\\" is the book that convinced me to go ahead and buy the rest of the Percy Jackson series. If you liked \\\"The Lightning Thief\\\", you'll love this follow-up novel; if you weren't 100% thrilled with the first, give this one a try anyway, as I really think it achieves the vision that the first novel started with.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Brothers Ron and Dan Lafferty insist they were commanded to kill by God. Krakauer's investigation is a meticulously researched, bone-chilling narrative of polygamy, savage violence and unyielding faith: an incisive, gripping work of non-fiction that illuminates an otherwise confounding realm of human behaviour. 'A provocative look at the twisted roots of American fundamentalism' Will Self, Evening Standard Books of the Year 'Excellent ...a lucid, judicious, even sympathetic account not just of Mormon Fundamentalism but of the seductive power of fanaticism in general' Daily Telegraph 'Krakauer writes exceptionally well: as thrilling as Capote on true crime, as devastating as Nietzsche on religious fundamentalism' Scotland on Sunday 'Remarkable ...for anyone interested in the wilder frontiers of spiritual conviction, this book is a must' Independent 'Krakauer is an adept chronicler of extremists, and he's as intent on understanding religious fanatics as he was in his earlier books on exploring the obsessions of monomaniacal adventurers' Los Angeles Times\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Fascinating book, but not without flaws\\n\\nReview: Under the Banner of Heaven / 1-4000-3280-6\\n\\nI read \\\"Under the Banner of Heaven\\\" in the same weekend as \\\"<a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Escape/dp/0767927567/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Escape</a>\\\" and \\\"<a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Stolen-Innocence/dp/B001O9CDFG/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Stolen Innocence</a>\\\", and found it an interesting contrast to the two memoirs. Where \\\"Escape\\\" and \\\"Stolen Innocence\\\" both provide a woman's view of the community and how difficult escape is from the abusive institution of FLDS plural marriages, Krakauer attempts to provide a scholarly overview, with brief zooms into individual lives. The result is a fascinating book but, on reflection, I wish it had been edited a little differently.\\n\\nThe format of this book is slightly problematic for me. Krakauer initiates with a relatively 'current' event - the 1984 Lafferty killings - and uses that as a launching board to discuss the beginnings of the Mormon religion, the life (and faults) of founder Joseph Smith, and some of the more bloody incidents in the history of the religion. In theory, there is nothing wrong with the format, but the disjointed narrative makes it difficult to follow at times. I think that probably Krakauer made the best of a difficult subject - if he had simply started with Joseph Smith and worked chronologically towards the Lafferty brothers, the reader interest might not have been hooked; if he had dealt completely with the Lafferty brothers without the occasional sidetracks into the history of the religion, a lot of important pieces would have been lost on the reader in the case of the Lafferty killings.\\n\\nSo if I do not care for the layout of \\\"Under the Banner\\\", I cannot suggest a different one - I *do* suggest tackling \\\"Escape\\\" or \\\"Stolen Innocence\\\" prior to reading Krakauer's scholarly approach, as I believe these memoirs will clarify why so many women feel powerless to leave these abusers. Krakauer tries to underscore this issue, by explaining that most of the women are unskilled, uneducated, unaware of their rights, and unwilling to abandon their children to abuse, but the memoirs bring these issues home more closely. Krakauer also touches on the physical abuse of women rampant in the religion - he mentions the \\\"spankings\\\" one woman receives (in full view of her children), as well as the rampant sexual abuse of women and children alike, and I would like to see a later edition of this book take time to note that FLDS women are subjected to high rates of physical abuse - a fact that might explain why so many women are afraid to attempt to leave. And, of course, the whole book centers around a case where a woman and her child are brutally *murdered* in retaliation for helping a sister-in-law escape an abusive marriage.\\n\\nIf Krakauer's excellent book has a failing, I would suggest that failing becomes apparent in his dealing with faith in general. Krakauer makes some statements that some will find problematic - in his initial introduction, he intimates that the Lafferty murders are the result of an \\\"irrational belief [in God] [carried] to its logical end\\\". In the later chapters, he scoffs at a court decision that the Lafferty case was mishandled by rushing to the judgment that the Laffertys were sane and orders the lower courts to revisit the issue of insanity before retrying the Laffertys - Krakauer makes light of this decision by conflating \\\"belief that God talks to people\\\" with \\\"belief that God talks to people and orders them to kill their sister-in-law and her baby\\\" and then states that if belief in God is a priori insane, then 90% of America should be institutionalized. Yet in a rather clear case of Strawman Has a Point, I couldn't help but feel that the higher courts were doing the right thing to determine whether or not the men were sane before rushing them off to the (literal) firing squad. Whether the Laffertys are sane or not I personally cannot say, and indeed Krakauer is in a much better position to claim an opinion on the subject, due to his research on the subject, but I am proud to live in a country with a robust justice system that thoroughly investigates the state of mind of our most disturbed killers, so that the societal response is the best possible one.\\n\\nHaving said all that, as a religious person myself, I greatly recommend this book. There is a good deal of important scholarly research and important criticism available here, and I would urge any person, regardless of religious preference, to read this as a cautionary tale. No religion is served well by secrecy or covert covering of any flaws; no society is served by the systematic abuse of its most vulnerable members.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Mary Bryan Stafford grew up in South Texas and was a niece in the infamous family of patrn George Parr, the Duke of Duval. She is seventh generation Texan and a member of The Daughters of the Republic of Texas. She graduated from The College of William and Mary in Virginia with degrees in English and Spanish but got back to Texas on the fast train. She taught school in Corpus Christi, Round Rock and Lake Travis High School and loved being an instructor in aerobic dance. She and her husband have traveled widely throughout Europe, South America and Africa, but now live the Hill Country where she spends her time writing and training her two horses. An award-winning author, she is published for Blowout, in the anthology Women Write about the Southwest, winner of the Willa Award, Epiphany in the anthology The Noble Generation III and many times in the Texas Poetry Calendar. In addition to being a quarterfinalist in Amazons Breakthrough Novel Contest, her fiction has been recognized as a first place winner multiple times in writing contests throughout the country. She has been a regular contributor of interesting and informative articles to County Life Magazine and Faces and Places Magazine for the Texas Hill Country\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Exquisitely Painful; Beautifully Written\\n\\nReview: A Wasp in the Fig Tree / B004TEYT1O\\n\\nThis is a truly wonderful excerpt that draws me in and makes me distressed that I can't read more. The writing is incredibly vivid and the descriptions are a perfect blend of visual imagery and the necessary restraint that keeps everything from coming out \\\"technicolor\\\". One line that really stuck with me was the jackrabbit's ears being so translucent against the sunrise that you could count your fingers through the ears. That imagery was just so beautiful and intense that I felt acutely like I was in the story. For that matter, the setting is wonderfully well-realized - too many authors have no idea what Texas looks like, but the author here is clearly working with first-hand knowledge and it shows.\\n\\nI love the exquisite prose, and all the wonderful pain and sorrow you've brought to bear in a few short pages. I'm also really blown away at the story so far - tax evasion and suicide may not sound like real story winners, but it definitely hooked me. Overall, this is really a fantastic excerpt. It's not perfect - I felt a little confused at points as I worked out the family details, the backstory, and the main character's overall appearance - but I would definitely read more and if I'd been browsing this in a store, I would have closed and bought the book well before the end of the chapter.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Der ABBA - Reisefuhrer Nach Stockholm\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Not the uncertainty you think...\\n\\nReview: Climate of Uncertainty / 978-0-9767291-6-7\\n\\nWhen author William Stewart suggested that I read and review \\\"Climate of Uncertainty\\\", I was initially uncertain. Although I am not a climate change scientist, I am personally convinced that global climate change is a fact, and that human behavior is at least partially responsible for this global climate change... as well as for fixing it. Rather cynically, I was afraid that the \\\"balanced\\\" view promised by the title would be the sort of \\\"balance\\\" that gives as much weight to opinions as it does to facts.\\n\\nMy fears were unfounded, though, for \\\"Climate of Uncertainty\\\" provides that rare balanced viewpoint that describes the facts lucidly while still outlining clearly the remaining areas of uncertainty and what we do and don't know yet. Stewart has succinctly pulled together a comprehensive and compelling \\\"big picture\\\" viewpoint of global climate change, the many possible and probable causes of global climate change, the number of ways that humanity may be affected by projected climate change, and the number of potential corrections we can institute in order to preserve the careful balance in which we live.\\n\\nUnlike \\\"<a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Climate-Cover-Up/dp/1553654854/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Climate Cover-Up</a>\\\", which I felt would not be a good overture to a skeptical reader, \\\"Climate of Uncertainty\\\" cannot help but please the most skeptical of readers - within the carefully assembled facts, intelligent analysis, and engaging writing style, there is always a very respectful dialogue maintained with the reader. Stewart neither criticizes nor attacks any of the opposing viewpoints or proponents in his book; he is always careful to explain the opposition view fairly and without cheap straw-manning before providing the evidence and letting the facts speak clearly for themselves.\\n\\nI think the best way to represent this book, to anyone wondering whether or not this is the right book for them to read, would be to quote a passage that particularly caught my eye as exemplifying the respectful tone, and \\\"big picture\\\" clarity that Stewart so skillfully employs. Explaining why the year 2008 was characterized as \\\"the coldest year of the century\\\" and as a \\\"failure\\\" for global warming theory, Stewart explains:\\n\\n\\\"In point of fact, 2008 was the coldest year of the twenty-first century, but fair disclosure would have required an acknowledgment that 2008 was also the eight-warmest year in recorded history - warmer than all but two years in the twentieth century. Full disclosure would have also required a revelation that 2008 temperatures were reduced by a strong La Nina. In other words, a year in which global temperatures were substantially cooled by prevailing ENSO conditions turned out to be one of the ten hottest in the last century and a half. Thus, these headlines, and hundreds of others like them, are most graciously characterized as incomplete.\\\"\\n\\nIn the end, all my fears that this book might be more dominated by opinion than science were laid to rest and, indeed, I am tempted to label this the most comprehensive and clear recent climate change book I've read. I deeply enjoyed the reading, and I recommend this book both to climate change advocates and skeptics alike.\\n\\nNOTE: This review is based on a free Advance Review Copy of this book provided through the author.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: [ Lies BY Grant, Michael ( Author ) ] { Paperback } 2014\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Love the Plot, Dislike the Characters, Hate the Ending\\n\\nReview: Gone / 9780061909641\\n\\nWhere do I start with this review? I wanted so badly to love this book, but halfway through I told my husband, \\\"I love the plot, but I can't stand the characters.\\\" Still, I was perfectly prepared to give this book a give 4- or 5-star recommendation... until the last 20 pages. Light spoilers ahead.\\n\\nThe plot is everything you could want from a dystopian sci-fi YA novel. On the first page, everyone in town over the age of 14 disappears completely, and it's immediately up to the remaining kids to figure out how to survive in a world that becomes increasingly creepy. The children are obviously ill-prepared to take care of, say, all the abandoned babies in town, and the result is dark, gritty, and satisfyingly creepy. In addition to all this, the town is also enclosed in a mystical soap bubble, and the town threatens to be overrun by talking coyotes and flying rattlesnakes. Seriously, this is an awesome plot.\\n\\nBut the characters...! This book feels like it was written by taking a bunch of recent popular YA books and trying to Frankenstein the characters together out of various YA tropes. There's Sam \\\"Harry Potter\\\" Everyman, a nice, strong, solid, dependable, totally average guy with a propensity towards heroics and to whom everyone instinctively looks up. There's Astrid \\\"Percy Jackson\\\" Sexy-Smart, whose job is to provide exposition and romantic angst and who is literally referred to in-text as both a \\\"Genius\\\" and a \\\"Barbie\\\" doll. (Astrid, being female, will not be allowed to do anything useful in the novel that doesn't entail snogging the protagonist or looking after small children.) And, of course, there's the ineffectual Sidekick Guy who spends the whole novel sulking because he's not as cool as his protagonist buddy. (Why do authors keep Sidekick Guy active as a trope? I truly cannot remember the last time I read a YA novel and thought, \\\"That was good, but it needed more sulking.\\\") And, of course, mid-way through the novel, the Bad Guy shows up and takes over the town through virtue of his Nicolae Carpathian powers of persuasion, a la that preppy kid in \\\"The Enemy\\\". Maybe I've just been reading too much YA lately.\\n\\nIt's not that I can't handle stock characters, but I'm just not sure that I like the way the author writes his characters. For instance, he seems to be aware of the fact that YA as a genre is in dire need of more women and minorities, and I really want to give him credit for trying to fix that. There seem to be as many named female characters here as there are male ones -- a major feat in YA novels -- and there's also an autistic character and a minority character from Honduras. On the other hand, I'm not sure that \\\"realistically depicting prejudice\\\" in a novel should translate to throwing around racist and ablist slurs every few pages, and I'm additionally fairly certain that a good depiction of minorities doesn't start-and-stop at making the autistic character a glorified MacGuffin and the Honduras character someone who can fix and do just about everything, but always does so at the protagonist's beck-and-call.\\n\\nThe female characters suffer this problem as well: despite having incredibly useful powers like genius intelligence, anti-gravity powers, and super-speed, they never really grow beyond support roles in the text. Which is odd, because you'd think that a Genius would be better used for strategy than being a nanny, and you'd think a Speedster that runs faster than the human eye can track would be able to shiv a few key characters. And some kind of award needs to go to Diana, for being the worst-written female character I've read this year: an intelligent young woman who knows full well that the villain is going to humiliate, hurt, abuse, and kill her, but sticks with him over the good guys not because she loves him, but because \\\"The bad girl ends up with the bad boy.\\\" No, really, that's her reason. It's like an author's note in-text got incorporated into the dialogue by accident.\\n\\nThen there's the ending. I realize going in that this is a series and that means cliff-hangers, but this book is a particularly egregious example. The bad guys roll up into town with a literal army, try to murder a preschool full of infants and toddlers, get fought to a position of weakness by the good guys, and then are allowed to limp off into the sunset because it's apparently the right thing to do. The villains are in perfect position to relaunch a counter-strike the next day if they so choose, and in the meantime none of the main questions surrounding the plot and its mysteries are answered or resolved in any meaningful way. Really, ninety percent of the novel could have been spent with everyone sitting on their hands for all the impact it has on the ending, and that's not fair to a reader, in my opinion. I expect something more climactic at the end than just Status Quo Resumes, Please Buy More Books.\\n\\nAnd, you know, I liked the plot so much that I might be tempted to buy the next book, but considering the complete dodge on this ending (and considering I've been here before with \\\"The Maze Runner\\\"), I rather cynically believe Book 2 will do nothing more than maintain a holding pattern. There's got to be a better way to do a series than to just have the first twenty pages in Book 1 count and everything between page 21 and the final book is just killing time.\\n\\nTo attempt to sum up: I liked the plot idea, but hated that nothing ever seemed to be done with it. New supernatural elements were piled on every ten pages or so (mutating animals! x-men superpowers! multi-universe soap bubbles!) but none of them were resolved, explained, or brought to completion. I wanted to like the minority characters, but I disliked the fact that they all seemed flat, stale, and underutilized in favor of Protagonist McEveryman and Whiny Sulksman. I was looking forward to the ending, but was thoroughly annoyed to find no resolution whatsoever and a blatant attempt to restore status quo despite all the protagonists knowing full well that isn't going to work out. I'm very disappointed in this novel.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: The Thousand Nights and One Night is familiar to most of us through the Tales of the Arabian Nights. This book tells of a world of magical beauty, of the East and its enchantments, and of an art of living which was the product of one of the world's great civilizations.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Comprehensive and Easy to Read\\n\\nReview: The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night (Vol. 1) / 978-0415045391\\n\\nI'm a bit of an \\\"Thousand Nights\\\" enthusiast -- I enjoy the stories immensely and I have four separate translations in my personal library. Several friends have asked me to discuss the differences between the editions, so I thought I'd present a four-way comparison and then talk about which version is best for which audience.\\n\\nFor the purposes of the four-way comparison, I will draw text from the opening tale of the two kingly brothers in order to highlight how each popular version handles \\\"adult\\\" content and racial content.\\n\\n-- The Tale of King Shahryar and of his Brother, King Shahzaman --\\nNow there were in the King's palace certain windows that looked on to the garden, and, as King Shahzaman leaned there and looked out, the door of the palace opened and twenty women slaves with twenty men slaves came from it; and the wife of the King, his brother, was among them and walked there in all her bright beauty. When they came to the pool of a fountain they all undressed and mingled one with another. Suddenly, on the King's wife crying: 'O Masud! Ya Masud!', a gigantic negro ran towards her, embraced her, and, turning her upon her back, enjoyed her. At this signal, all the other men slaves did the same with the women and they continued thus a long while, not ceasing their kisses and embraces and goings in and the like until the approach of dawn.\\n-- Madrus & Mathers edition\\n\\n-- The Tale of King Shahriar and of his Brother, King Shahzenan --\\nOne day, Shahriar had started on a great hunting match, about two days' journey from his capital; but Shahzenan, pleading ill health, was left behind. He shut himself up in his apartment, and sat down at a window that looked into the garden. Suddenly a secret gate of the palace opened, and there came out of it twenty women, in the midst of whom walked the Sultaness. The persons who accompanied the Sultaness threw off their veils and long robes, and Shahzenan was greatly surprised when he saw that ten of them were black slaves, each of whom chose a female companion. The Sultaness clapped her hands, and called: \\\"Masoud, Masoud!\\\" and immediately a black came running to her; and they all remained conversing familiarly together.\\n-- Muhsin al-Musawi edition\\n\\n-- The Tale of King Schahriar and of his Brother, King Schahzeman --\\nNow the Sultan Schahriar had a wife whom he loved more than all the world, and his greatest happiness was to surround her with splendour, and to give her the finest dresses and the most beautiful jewels. It was therefore with the deepest shame and sorrow that he accidentally discovered, after several years, that she had deceived him completely, and her whole conduct turned out to have been so bad, that he felt himself obliged to carry out the law of the land, and order the grand-vizir to put her to death.\\n-- Lang edition\\n\\n-- The Tale of King Shahryar and of his Brother, King Shah Zaman --\\nThereupon Shah Zaman drew back from the window, but he kept the bevy in sight espying them from a place whence he could not be espied. They walked under the very lattice and advanced a little way into the garden till they came to a jetting fountain amiddlemost a great basin of water; then they stripped off their clothes and behold, ten of them were women, concubines of the King, and the other ten were white slaves. Then they all paired off, each with each: but the Queen, who was left alone, presently cried out in a loud voice, \\\"Here to me, O my lord Saeed!\\\" and then sprang with a drop leap from one of the trees a big slobbering blackamoor with rolling eyes which showed the whites, a truly hideous sight. He walked boldly up to her and threw his arms round her neck while she embraced him as warmly; then he bussed her and winding his legs round hers, as a button loop clasps a button, he threw her and enjoyed her.\\n-- Burton edition\\n\\n-------\\n\\nFor my money, the superior volume by far is the Madrus & Mathers edition. The editor and translator have deliberately worked the translation to be as readable to the English eye as possible, even making judicious choices about where to refrain from using diacritical points (single quote sound points, as in 'ain) in order to ease the reading experience. They've made a concerted effort to retain the adult content without being lewd, the racial content without descending into offensive caricature, the poetic content without overwhelming the reader, and the entire content without condensing the text and losing material. The Madrus & Mathers editions comprise four giant volumes, but the casual enthusiast will be more than satisfied with just volume one, and with over 600 pages of stories in the electronic edition, the reader will have plenty of reading material available.\\n\\nFor children, however, the superior volume is probably the Muhsin al-Musawi edition. This edition is condensed, but the editing was done with great care to maintain story structure and content. The adult content has been toned down considerably, the racial content has been handled tactfully, the extra songs and poems have been almost entirely removed, and there are interesting and attractive pictures in the electronic edition. My biggest complain here is that the adult content has been excised to a degree that almost brings unfortunate implications: when adultery is characterized as \\\"conversing\\\", the angry and jilted husband seems to be seriously over-reacting. Still, if you want a sanitized version of the tales, the al-Musawi edition is almost certainly the way to go.\\n\\nI do not recommend the Lang edition. Lang's fairy tale collections, such as the color fairy tale books, are usually a delight, but his Arabian Nights edition is thin on content and heavily paraphrased. The stories are gutted to remove the adult content and shorten the tale length for children, but in many cases the changes are not carefully glossed over, and huge plot holes and unresolved threads are left dangling. I've never met a Lang reader who didn't ask me what was going on in one tale or other because the translation is so poorly rendered.\\n\\nNeither do I recommend the Burton version. If anything, the Burton version has the exact opposite problems as the Lang version: Burton's edition lengthens the stories with extensively lewd descriptions and offensive racial imagery. The edition was also rendered in the 1800s, and the language within has not aged well -- there are all lot of \\\"forsooth\\\"s and \\\"verily\\\"s that bog down the reading. If you're interested in a historical analysis of how these tales have been rendered over the years, by all means become familiar with the Burton version, but if you're just looking for light bedtime reading, give the Burton edition a pass.\\n\\nI hope that this comparison will be helpful. This particular listing here is for the Madrus & Mathers edition which I definitely recommend for adult readers.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: A metallurgist by training, a writer by inclination and default. Born in England, Mariyah Saalih travelled extensively in Europe and the Middle East before settling down in North America. A tour of the grand harem in the Alhambra Palace in Grenada inspired the writing of this first full length novel.\\n\\nRating: 1.0\\n\\nSummary: Submission/Domination Erotica Mislabeled as \\\"Literature\\\"\\n\\nReview: Harem Girl / 0-595-31300-0\\n\\nThere's nothing wrong with erotica. But erotica shouldn't be labeled and marketed as straight-up literature or real-life memoirs. The book description and author present this as a realistic memoir and some buyers will deeply upset to find that, no, this is just an erotic fantasy novel.\\n\\nMariyah El-Abiad is a bored housewife. She's educated, respected, beautiful, and barren. Despite her barrenness, her husband loves her, respects her, caters to her whims as much as possible, but she wants some excitement in her life. She contrives a complicated and incredibly implausible plan to smuggle herself into a harem so that she can enjoy the wonders of being a slave to a potentially cruel and capricious master whom she has never met. After four months of this, she will be smuggled back out, and her husband will never be the wiser - unless he thinks to ask why she ground her teeth smooth, waxed her bikini area, and sustained whip marks on her back for a simple job tutoring a young girl in French (her cover story).\\n\\nMariyah El-Abiad is supremely confident that life in the harem will go swimmingly, and she fantasizes about crawling on her hands and knees and pleasuring her master. Fortunately for Mariyah, harem life is exactly like she suspects - the slaves girls all love their master and love to please him and be pleased by him. There is an exotic torture room for disgusting slaves who accidentally pass wind in front of the master or burp at the dinner table, with the added erotic enticement that a slave can be sent there for almost any reason, but Mariyah is safe and confident in the belief that all punishment is gently and lovingly administered. Mariyah, you see, loves her master immediately because he dominates her in a way that her boring husband would not, and he is driven insanely mad with desire for her and her fellow love slaves (but mostly her, because she oh-so-special!) and she loves what he does to her - everything she experiences in her new life is instantly easy, pleasurable, and satisfying.\\n\\nThis novel is nothing other than escapist erotica. Again, there's nothing wrong with that, but this is marketed as a straight-up \\\"historical\\\" memoir as far as I can see, and it simply is not. Everyone lazes around happily all day, waiting for the night entertainment. The master has no interest in fathering children, which is highly unusual for his culture and his age. The women are vapid - droolingly happy to be slaves, always \\\"reaching their pleasure\\\" and never in pain (even the virgin bum girls!) because this is a fantasy, and not a reality. If you want a harem-themed erotica novel, this has length and stamina, with an interlude almost every page, but if you want something with plot and realism, look elsewhere.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\",\n \"Product: Jim C. Hines is the author of the 'Goblin Trilogy' by DAW books and the upcoming 'Stepsister Scheme' also by DAW (Jan 2009). Christopher Kastensmidt is a new author with a novelette, 'The Fortuitous Meeting of Gerard Van Oost and Oludara', to appear in an upcoming issue of Realms of Fantasy.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Boring, Ham-fisted, and far too Campy\\n\\nReview: The Faery Taile Project / 978-0-9790889-6-4\\n\\nThis novella is less than 100 pages long, broken into two separate stories, and with a large font size and incredibly wide paragraph spacing.\\n\\nThe first story tells the modern adaptation of the \\\"Red Riding Hood\\\" tale from the point of view of the wolf, Lobo. A bad sign is the opening editor's note cautioning the reader to read Lobo's tale first: in order to make this \\\"dual-story\\\" work, important details were withheld from \\\"Lobo's Tale\\\" so that \\\"Red's Tale\\\" can eventually pack more punch. (I was also astonished at Kastensmidt's opening lines that the Spanish word \\\"lobo\\\" is a common enough name for wolves \\\"down in Mexico\\\" but that it's not common \\\"around these parts\\\"...in *Texas*. Texas! Spanish names, according to Kastensmidt, are not common in Texas. Except, I guess, for cities. And street names. And rivers. And everything else.)\\n\\nThe actual story has almost no meat to it. Lobo falls completely head-over-heels for Red, once he spies her in a diner, on account of her sheer smoking hotness. In an attempt to cast Lobo as a naive innocent patsy, the authors have ham-fistedly overstepped their goal and have made Lobo a complete barking idiot. Though wolf shoes \\\"haven't been invented yet\\\", Red is able to give him the slip with a casual \\\"Shoes untied\\\" statement and, instead of looking at her in confusion, he immediately gapes down at his feet. When Red robs Lobo blind right in front of his very eyes, he is merely confused by the fact that several large bills are now missing from his wallet. This just doesn't work! If they had made Lobo smarter yet more star-struck - perhaps if Lobo realized that of course he'd been robbed, but that poor sweet girl probably had a very good reason and all the more need for him to rescue her - then the set-up might hold the reader more, but as it is it doesn't.\\n\\nThe rest of the tale kills time until the final 38th page. Lobo meets Granny, Lobo eats pork chops at Granny's, Lobo drinks iced tea at Granny's, and so forth - and Lobo notes without suspicion Red's increasingly suspicious behavior, all ham-fistedly designed to make her seem 100% pure evil. When Red asks Lobo to don Granny's nightgown for a kinky sex-game, well, the end is in sight.\\n\\nAnother thing maddening about \\\"Lobo's Tale\\\" is that Kastensmidt uses a minimum of five similes per page. Bad ones, terrible ones, things like: \\\"Thoughts began to bang around my head like a gorilla in a luggage commercial.\\\"\\n\\n\\\"Red's Tale\\\" is theoretically supposed to tell the same tale as \\\"Lobo's Tale\\\" but from Red's sympathetic point of view, but it doesn't. It doesn't \\\"tell the same tale\\\" because pretty much 90% of Red's Tale was deliberately left out of \\\"Lobo's Tale\\\" because they couldn't figure out a way to include it without spoiling the 'twist' at the end. And it doesn't show Red sympathetically because we find that she really is nearly as evil as seen in \\\"Lobo's Tale\\\" and she just has a reason for being evil. \\\"Red's Tale\\\" is almost as boring as \\\"Lobo's Tale\\\", with pages and pages of exposition and inner monologue and very little action to move the story along. The story lumbers to a halt at page 58.\\n\\nI cannot recommend \\\"The Faery Taile Project\\\" in good conscience to readers. While not a total waste of paper, the book is a huge waste of time, taking a cute concept and utterly killing it with an over-the-top approach that is annoying, and a capacity for cutesy camp that is cloying. Check this out at the library if you must, but I'll bet you'll want your time back afterward.\\n\\n~ Ana Mardoll\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":93,"string":"93"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_3"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":882,"string":"882"}}},{"rowIdx":883,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"A1K5LVT31CG1IH"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of \"5.0\" for a product with description \"Inspired by the diet of the lynx, a tireless and legendary hunter, BLUE Wilderness is a protein-rich, grain-free food that contains more of the delicious meat cats love. BLUE Wilderness is a product of the Blue Buffalo company. Based in the United States, Blue Buffalo makes premium-quality pet foods featuring real meat, fruit and vegetables.\". The summary of the review text is \"Best cat food on the market!\"."},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"I have a 14 yr old, 2 yr old and a 7 yr old cats and we were feeding them Iams, Purina... one of those big name cat food brands. However, when we moved to a new location we came across this brand and I instantly fell in love. All you really need to do it read the ingredients in the back. Practically, everything that you would see a cat eat in the wild is in the food. There is real meat and fish in there, blueberries, cranberries and vegetables as well. I noticed a HUGE change in my cats. My oldest used to be real lethargic, always laying around sleeping, taking a few practice jumps before jumping up on the couch. Not to mention she had very bad dandruff. She's a tortoise shell and you could clearly see the dandruff without being right on top of her. Once I switched to Blue Buffalo, she got a little pep in her step. Now I find her running around the house like a bat out of hell and neither of my other two cats know what the heck is going on. Her coat is also nice, shiny and dandruff free. I never knew how much of a difference the change in food could be for her. Now she jumps up on the couch and bed (which is higher up) with ease and is even initiating play with my other two cats. She was the one cat that I'd noticed a dramatic change in. I highly recommend this brand to everyone. It gave me my childhood friend back.\n\nIt may be more expensive than your average cat food but it is well worth it in the end. I have found no problem with my cats not liking this food. All three of them gobble up the food in their bowls as if they were rottweilers.\n\n*I recently had to switch to a low protein diet due to my eldest developing kidney disease. Within a month of switching foods she reverted back to having horrible dandruff. Aside from switching away from Blue Buffalo nothing in her diet/environment has changed. So this food really does help with dandruff."},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"I have a 14 yr old, 2 yr old and a 7 yr old cats and we were feeding them Iams, Purina... one of those big name cat food brands. However, when we moved to a new location we came across this brand and I instantly fell in love. All you really need to do it read the ingredients in the back. Practically, everything that you would see a cat eat in the wild is in the food. There is real meat and fish in there, blueberries, cranberries and vegetables as well. I noticed a HUGE change in my cats. My oldest used to be real lethargic, always laying around sleeping, taking a few practice jumps before jumping up on the couch. Not to mention she had very bad dandruff. She's a tortoise shell and you could clearly see the dandruff without being right on top of her. Once I switched to Blue Buffalo, she got a little pep in her step. Now I find her running around the house like a bat out of hell and neither of my other two cats know what the heck is going on. Her coat is also nice, shiny and dandruff free. I never knew how much of a difference the change in food could be for her. Now she jumps up on the couch and bed (which is higher up) with ease and is even initiating play with my other two cats. She was the one cat that I'd noticed a dramatic change in. I highly recommend this brand to everyone. It gave me my childhood friend back.\n\nIt may be more expensive than your average cat food but it is well worth it in the end. I have found no problem with my cats not liking this food. All three of them gobble up the food in their bowls as if they were rottweilers.\n\n*I recently had to switch to a low protein diet due to my eldest developing kidney disease. Within a month of switching foods she reverted back to having horrible dandruff. Aside from switching away from Blue Buffalo nothing in her diet/environment has changed. So this food really does help with dandruff."},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Product: A lightweight 2-in-1 Lift-Away upright vacuum with a detachable canister for portable cleaning power. With the push of a button, Lift-Away technology allows you to lift the canister away and easily clean in hard-to-reach areas. This vacuum is also equipped with an extra-large-capacity dust cup and a completely sealed system with a HEPA filter to trap dust and allergens. With the Brushroll Shutoff button, you can easily switch between carpet and bare floor cleaning. The Dust-Away hard floor attachment lets you pick up debris and dust your bare floors.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Easy to clean, versitile, ligthweight, and sucks up more dirt than you thought you had\n\nReview: I bought my Shark when my Bissel broke down. I'd never heard of Shark before and was a little worried I'd be disappointed. However, I couldn't be happier with my purchase. I LOVE that I no longer have to worry about bags. I would always forget to pick up more bags when I used the last one. So when my vacuum needed a replacement bag, I had to stop what I was doing and go to the store to buy them so that I could resume cleaning. I also like that it has an allergen filter since I am allergic to cats and dogs, and I live with both.\n\nI think my favorite feature though is the floor and hand attachments though. I have a hard floor on the first floor of the house, which is where I use the hardwood floor setting (it just sucks w/o using the rotating bristles which would kick all the debris back at you) as well as the \"Swiffer\" floor attachment that also has the suction but is paired with a washable/reuasble swiffer type mat.\n\nI also have carpeted steps and a carpeted second floor and that's where one of the attachments comes in. I can easily take apart the vacuum bottom (leaving me only with the canister and cord) for easy handling while I vacuum the stairs with the hand attachment that it pretty much a mini vacuum head with rotating bristles. Which is SO MUCH NICER than what I was doing with my old vacuum. I would either try to vacuum the tiny stairs as if it were a floor, or I'd use the standard triangular head hand attachment.\n\nThis machine does wonders with picking up things that you don't see. I couldn't believe the first time I used it. I had been at the new house for only a week when my Shark came in the mail and the carpets looked perfectly clean but to my horror were filthy. Within two bedrooms the Sharks canister was pretty much filled with hair, dirt, and who knows what else. I couldn't believe believe how much stuff it was picking up.\n\nNeedless to say, I LOVE my Shark. I will never go back to the Bissel again. You can see the difference in the floors after I vacuum. I would highly recommend this to anyone who's in the market for a new vacuum.","Product: Guild Wars 2\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Awesome MMoRPG. Better than World of Warcraft in my opinion\n\nReview: Great game. It's like World of Warcraft only you don't have to pay that stupid monthly fee. Once you purchase GW2 you're done! I like that the game also has a lot of videos in it. You follow a story/quest line and every time you are going into the quest or are finished you get a video with your character talking with the NPC's. But you don't have to do just your quests to advance. There are daily events that pop up all over the place, sections that you need to unlock and explore, NPC's you need to assist, and there's also a world vs world where you battle against other players online. This is really a great MMoRPG for those who are looking to get into the world of online gaming or those who are looking for a cheaper alternative to WoW.","Product: This travel pillow unlike any other with a revolutionary new design that provides cushy support to the head and neck and is perfect for travel. Features of the neck pillow include a chin strap for additional support, attached storage bag sewn onto the pillow that cannot be misplaced, slip-resistant backing to keep the pillow in place, ultra-light, washable, moisture-absorbing fabric, attachment for luggage and attractive two-tone fabric. It even has a side pocket to hold small items such as an IPOD, earplugs or earphones. This neck pillow makes a wonderful, thoughtful and unique gift for anyone who travels. The pillow is distinctive. It is engineered to surround your head in cushy support. The pillow is easy to compress into the attached bag, but the process is unique. For this reason, we recommend you see the short demonstration video to learn to compress the pillow for travel. Comfy Commuter offers two different pillows. The first is the Ultimate Neck Pillow and the second the Comfy Basics. The shape of the pillows is exactly the same. The only difference is one is intended for travel, the other for home. The Ultimate Neck Pillow is best for travel with its attached compression bag, side pocket and slip-resistant backing. The Comfy Basics is best for home use. Customers have described using the Comfy Basics pillow to watch TV, sleep in a recliner, read and meditate. Both pillows have the same excellent head support. Comfy Commuter is a small business started by a mother and daughter. The travel pillow was created simply because they could not find a comfortable neck pillow when they traveled. The pillow was first offered for sale in 2010. Since then, small design modifications have been made to the pillow to improve it even more. However, the cradling of the head and neck design is the foundation of the pillow. Owners promise the Comfy Commuter neck pillow is the most comfortable neck pillow you will ever use or your money back! Guaranteed!\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Worked like a charm!\n\nReview: I've never been able to sleep on a plane. Heck, if I don't have the ideal conditions, I can't sleep at all. Especially if it doesn't involve a bed. Planes are the worst for me though. I've done the whole shuffle of propping my head against the window, reclining my chair and slouching down in my seat, and the notorious faceplant on the fold out tray. Nothing worked. Which was why when I was gearing up for a red eye flight I was frantic to purchase something that would have me well rested when I landed 12 hours later. I will admit that it's a bit bulky and looks a lot like a neck brace but at 1am in the morning, I simply didn't care what others thought of me. Within minutes of putting it on I was out like a light. Sure I woke up a few times due to turbulence and the fact that my butt was going numb from the uncomfortable chair, but I'd quickly dose back off with my head nestled in the neck pillow.\n\nI even used this pillow on my cross country road trip. Due to our cars full load of stuff, I wasn't able to recline the chair more than an couple of inches. So I pulled out my neck pillow and the next thing I knew I was waking up 3 hours later.\n\nBest $40 spent!","Product: Our Cotton Craft Salsa Stripe 4 pack Fringed Placemats are made of heavy weight high quality 100% Pure Cotton. Hand woven by skilled artisans using centuries old weaving techniques. Complemented with a unique hand knotted decorative fringe. These placemats are machine washable.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Love the salsa colored napkin\n\nReview: I recently decided to go paperless in the kitchen and had been doing a lot of reading online as to what cloth napkins to get. I was going to get polyester napkins since they are a lot cheaper and I didn't want to spend a ton of money on something that would potentially end up with stains, but every thing I read said that cotton is best. I have to agree with their opinions now that I've owned these. Most restaurants I've been to have the polyester napkins and while they do the job with cleaning up your face and hands, they are too stiff and fancy for me and my kitchen. I don't do the Martha Stewart dinner parties, and I definitely don't have a fancy dinner table. We're very low-key in this house and I wanted something that friends and family wouldn't worry about dirtying. I also wanted something that would not only be soft on the face but would make a quick and easy clean up for those using it. Oh, and I also didn't want to have to stress over stains. I'm not a huge laundry person and tend to just throw stuff in the washer without much thought. Which is probably why my husband doesn't allow me near the laundry. So, I'm happy to report that we've eaten spaghetti, burgers, pizza, you name it, and there is yet to be a stain on these napkins... or if there is I can't see it.\n\nI also love the presentation that the napkins arrive in. These would be great as gifts since the arrive with the band around it just like in the photo.","Product: A unique side table option, this contemporary table offers triple tempered glass surfaces for storage and display. The black oak frame descends from the top surface to the bottom in two opposite corners for each level, leaving each space with a wider gap for easy access. The design includes a width that tapers as it descends from top to bottom. The table is made with MDF wood featuring a black oak veneer. This is fully assembled.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Looks like picture but cheapy made\n\nReview: Phew. I dodged a bullet with the glass. I had read reviews that said their glass arrived broken. Mine was intact, although one was chipped on the edge. However, once you put the glass on the table, you can't see the chip anymore. My one complaint is that it's cheaply made. Both of my end tables are not leveled. The table doesn't sit evenly on my floor and until you put come weight on it, it wobbles back and forth. Plus the racks that the glass sits on is not leveled either. It you set something down on one end, it bangs against the shelf and the opposite end pops up. I wound up going to a crafting store and purchasing some felt with the sticky backside and stuck it along the ledge of the shelf. Yeah it raised the glass up some, and sure it still pops up when weight is put on it, but it doesn't bang anymore. I'm disappointed in my purchase even if it was only $200. However, it's here now and it looks nice. I just wish it was made a little better so that I wasn't so afraid to use it.","Product: The NOOK Simple Touch eReader allows you to read numerous eBooks as it features its 6-inch touchscreen display. This amazing device lets you feel the convenience of reading your favorite story; you can find more material by searching other media on the web, thanks to its Wi-Fi capability. Moreover, this eReader comes with 2GB internal memory, storing up to 1,000 books with ease. World's Largest Bookstore - Barnes & Noble - Over 2.5 million titles - new releases, bestsellers - sample for FREE. Borrow Public Library Books - Over 2.5 million NOOK Books not enough? NOOK lets you borrow books in the universally accepted ePub format - so you can borrow and read eBooks from your local library! No Annoying Ads - Reading time is your time and you don't want to be interrupted. Share with NOOK Friends - Connect with friends and share recommendations about the books you love on Facebook and Twitter, or swap books with LendMe. Check out your friends' ratings and reviews, and let them inspire you. Longest Battery Life - With the longest battery life, you can read for over 2 months on just one charge.Specifications 6-inch touchscreen, world's most advanced E Ink Pearl display 25% faster page turns and 80% less flashing than any other eReader Best-Text Technology specially optimizes each letter for ultra crisp words 16-level gray scale for greater detail - Read in bright sun with no glare Adjustable text with 7 font sizes & 6 font styles Display resolution 800x600 Wireless connectivity via Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n) 2GB2 Holds up to 1,000 books (1GB for content; 750 MB reserved for B&N content) Expandable microSD card up to 32GB MicroUSB connector Supported Files Type - ePub5, PDF / Graphic - JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP Battery - Installed rechargeable battery, Charge via USB to a computer or from optional wall outlet, Last up to 2 months Size (HxWxD) - 6.5 x 5.0 x 0.47 in. Weight - 7.48 oz.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: The first one was a dud\n\nReview: I received my first nook almost a year ago. Right out of the box the power button jiggled back and forth and it very rarely turned on and off for me via the button. Then 2 months in my Nook stopped responding to me. It was just frozen on the screensaver and no matter whether I plugged it into the computer or the wall, it didn't respond. I called the company and was told to bring it into my nearest story (which is about an hour and half away). She got it to charge and boot up for me saying that the battery was dead even though I had fully charged it the previous day. FFWD 9 months and my nook still kept freezing. It would freeze while reading a book, or browsing the B&N store or wouldn't load up from the screen saver. The only way to reboot it was to plug it into the wall and it would reboot. My final straw was when I could no longer unplug my Nook due to it freezing. The second I unplugged it, it would freeze on me and I'd have to repeat the process of plugging it in and waiting for it to start up for me. I called the company, they arranged for me to pick up a new Nook at the closest store and I drove down to get my new Nook. Apparently, as you might have guessed, my Nook had a faulty battery. There was no hassle returning the Nook and the guy even let me test drive the new one before walking out of the store to make sure I was happy with it. The first thing I noticed besides the fact that it didn't immediately freeze up on me was the fact that the power button was secure and didn't jiggle at all.\n\nSo since I've gone through two separate Nooks, the latest showing minimal signs of problem, I'd say this is a decent product. Maybe I just happened to get the lemon of the lot? I still enjoy reading from my nook. It's a light weight device and small enough that it fits in my purse with ease. The e-ink screen makes it easier to read for extended periods of time without having to take a break due to a headache. The long life battery (when not a dud) lasts long enough for my 20 hr flight and a week without needing to be charged or turned off. Since I've gotten the replacement Nook a month ago, I've only needed to plug it in once. I also like that when I take it outside to read, there is no glare on the screen. It really is as if you are reading a book, except less bulky. I like being able to highlight and make notes in the book, it makes going back for references much easier. With a book, I would take a strip of paper and put it between the two pages, to later go back and reread them to figure out why I put the paper there. Even though I had a less than ideal experience with being a Nook owner I do enjoy the device. I always carry my Nook with me everywhere I go.","Product: Cute Space Kitten Ladies Leggings (Many Sizes)95% Polyester 5% Spandex Officially Licensed\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Adroable pants but poorly made\n\nReview: Oh how I wanted to love these. I mean, c'mon, it's kittens in space! What's not to love?! However, the quality of the leggings leave little to be desired.\n\nI measured myself based off of the measurements and yet the pants are not form fitting at all. They just fit without stretching too much. I'm 5'2 140lbs and I ordered the large. I have wide hips and that was my main concern with getting these leggins. I will say that the waist part fits well but the leg portion of the pants are rather loose. Not a huge deal, I can live with it.\n\nOne big problem I have is the fact that these fit awkwardly. When I put the pants on I was convinced they sewed the tag on the wrong side. The top part of the pants were high (up to my belly button) while the back of my pants showed the top of my underwear. So, I flipped them around, and that was definitely not helping matters any. I will go out there and say that I do not have a J-Lo butt. I'd like to consider mine a moderate size if we're being honest here. So, there is no reason why the back of the pants should bow down so low while the front look like Urkle pants.\n\nThese are adorable and I love the print but they are made with poor quality. I read the reviews where one pant leg was longer than the other, both pant legs were the length of capris, so on and so forth. So I shouldn't be too surprised that mine don't fit perfectly. I just wish that for the quality, they were a little cheaper. Mine are also a lot lighter in color than listed in the Amazon picture. :\\","Product: Based on author Richelle Meads worldwide bestselling series, VAMPIRE ACADEMY tells the legend of Rose Hathaway (Zoey Deutch) and Lissa Dragomir (Lucy Fry), two 17-year-old girls who attend a hidden boarding school for Moroi (mortal, peaceful Vampires) and Dhampirs (half-vampire/half-human guardians). Rose, a rebellious Guardian-in-training and her best friend, Lissa a royal vampire Princess - have been on the run when they are captured and returned to St.Vladamirs Academy, the very place where they believe their lives may be in most jeopardy. Thrust back into the perils of Moroi Society and high school, Lissa struggles to reclaim her status while Rose trains with her mentor and love-interest, Dimitri (Danila Kozlovsky), to guarantee her place as Lissas guardian. Rose will sacrifice everything to protect Lissa from those who intend to exploit her from within the Academy walls and the Strigoi (immortal, evil vampires) who hunt her kind from outside its sanctuary.\n\nRating: 1.0\n\nSummary: Horrible over-dramatized teeny-bopper vampire edition of Mean Girls. NOTHING like the book\n\nReview: I love the books. I re-read them all the time. So it's safe to say that I was really excited to see the first book turned into a movie. However, the movie isn't anything like the book. The names are the same, there are some of the same scenes in the movie but that's about where the similarities end. The characters do not act the same in the movie, there are a bunch or random scenes added into the story that were not in the book, and a lot of parts that were in the book are taken out of movie. It was a very teeny bopper over dramatized vampire edition of Mean Girls, which shouldn't be overly surprising since the director is the same person for both movies.\nWhen the movie wasn't boring me to death, I was cringing as I watched one of my favorite books being slowly butchered apart. My husband kept looking over at me throughout the movie asking me questions about what was going on and I just kept responding with \"I don't know, this wasn't in the book. I don't know what is going on.\" It was worse than watching the Twilight saga. If they come out with another movie I will pass. I have no desire to continue torturing myself with this horrible movie adaptation of one of my favorite series.","Product: The VTech CS6419 DECT 6.0 Cordless Phone ensures interference-free communication always. It features caller ID and selectable ringtones. This phone comes with DECT 6.0 digital technology for high sound quality. This sleek digital cordless phone offers digital security option for securing you from identity theft. The built-in caller ID memory is able to recall and identify up to 50 numbers with names. With the facility of the speakerphone, you can talk hands-free while you're occupied with some other task and conveniently multitask. The phone jack of this truly functional DECT 6.0 cordless phone can accommodate up to 5 handsets to allow you the flexibility of conferencing an outside call. With the stylish VTech CS6419 DECT 6.0 Cordless Phone, you have the freedom to walk around the house and still have crystal clear sound clarity. The well-designed keypad and backlit digital display are user-friendly and you can operate either in English, Spanish, or French according to your convenience.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Love it until it started having problems\n\nReview: I recently bough a Uniden Dect cordless phone but was very disappointed in it. It had a very low ring and the battery died out within a few hours. So I bought these phones and I haven't been happier. Not only are the small enough that I can fit the main phone on my overcrowded desk, but I can also fit the extra phone on my tiny end table. Both have loud ring tones that I can hear even if I'm outside gardening. I like the funky ringtones they have, they aren't all just your basic ring. The one I currently have mine set to reminds me of tune you'd hear on the Legend of Zelda game. The speakerphone works perfectly, not only can they hear me clearly but I can hear them as well. Like I said, I could not be happier with my purchase. I'm really glad I have this phone.\n\nUpdate 1/19/16: For the past couple of months this phone hasn't been doing so well. It's turned into more of a pager for me than an actual phone. You see, when someone calls me and I answer, they are unable to hear me. Thus, making me call them back. While this is an inconvenience with family and friends, it's a huge problem when a business or doctor's office calls me. Unfortunately, while I loved this phone at first, the fact that it didn't even last a year is disappointing. I am not currently in the process of purchasing a new phone from a different company.","Product: Fairy gardens are here! Bring a sparkle of magic into your home and garden with the Enchanted Story - Fairy Garden line from Top Collection! Fairy gardens are a miniaturized garden you build with creativity, imagination, and a belief in fairies! Creating your own fairy garden is easy. The space can be as large as your current garden, or as mini as a flower pot. Work within the space and decorate the landscape with existing natural materials. Mini plants, tree branches, mossy patches, pebbles all work great. When the layout is finished simply add the fairy garden's inhabitants! Check out more Top collection sleeping fairy babies, fairy houses, forest critters, little dragons, and many more. They all love to hang out at your newly created fairy garden! This adorable Fairy Garden piece is cast in quality designer resin and painstakingly hand-painted to capture every detail. To protect the beautiful paint work, spray fairy garden pieces with a colorless water sealer when leaving them outside. Remember to bring them inside during the winter months!.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: I absolutely love it and couldn't be happier with my purchase\n\nReview: I couldn't be happier with my purchase. Even though I saw the measurements and got a feel for how big it was going to be, some of the reviews almost scared me away from purchasing this. I'm so glad that I decided to order this though because it's the perfect size! It's big enough that I can put it on my bookshelf or on my windowsill with all of my smaller plants. It's also a good size to put in a larger pot/planter if you wanted to have these two hanging out in one of your plants. I honestly could not be more happy with this statue.\n\nI took a few pictures to try to show the size. One of the pictures is with my African Violet in a 5\" pot, and the other photo is with the statue sitting next to a Funko Pop. Just so you can get an idea for what the size is of these two.","Product: Grizzly Salmon Oil helps relieve dry itchy skin and promotes bright and lustrous coat .\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Dog and cats coats are very healthy, shiny, and dandruff free\n\nReview: I've bought this product twice now and I give it to my dog and cats. I put it on their food every night and have noticed a major difference in their coats. The vet has even commented on how nice their coats look. They no longer have dull coats with dandruff. Their coats shine and look really healthy. I give my dog heartworm prevention pills that I have to imagine doesn't taste good because he will not eat it until I've squirted fish oil on it. Then it disappears in seconds. My vet has also told me that for my asthmatic cat, the fish oil is a really great thing to give her because it is an anti-inflammatory. This stuff is just all around an amazing product and the pump bottle is very convenient.","Product: Azodyl Renal Function Support Through Enteric Dialysis.Azodyl Caps helps to slow down uremic toxin buildup and prevent further kidney damage in dogs and cats. It is a breakthrough in veterinary product. It works by providing natural Enteric Dialysis through the use of beneficial bacteria that support kidney function. The treatment choice at the first signs of azotemia in dog and cats with acute or chronic kidney disease. Patented formula of naturallyoccurring beneficial bacteria that metabolize and flush out uremic toxins that have diffused into the bowel as a result of increased toxin levels in the blood. Easytoadminister, entericcoated capsules. Can be used with other treatments and/or products, such as Epakitin.Can't be shipped internationally\n\nRating: 1.0\n\nSummary: Buy from a trusted seller... not Amazon\n\nReview: Don't get me wrong. I buy everything on amazon... but this is not something you should get on here. The bottle clearly states that the medicine MUST remain chilled and refrigerated. I ordered the medicine online since it was $10 cheaper than getting it from my vet. The medicine arrived in a bubble wrap envelope with what once might have been a cold pack but was actually a hot pack wrapped around the bottle. The bottle was extremely warm to the touch since it was obviously being kept nice and roasty toasty in the insulated hot pack. If the medicine is left unrefrigerated for an extended period of time, the bacteria that is in the medication becomes ineffective. (Think antibiotics and birth control) So now I \"saved\" $10 on an ineffective worthless medication.\n\nDon't try to skimp on money like I did. Get it from a trusted seller, like your vet.\n\n*On a side note*\nThe pills are your average human size capsules. I got lucky that my cat eats everything and anything. Broccoli? Sure no problem! Peas? Yes please! So I was really happy when all I had to do was cover half of the pill with a treat and she gobbled it right up. Any of my other cats wouldn't even attempt it. It must be eaten whole and not sprinkled in their food since the bacteria needs to be administered and released in their stomach. So if you don't think that you cat will eat something that big, you may want to ask your vet about an alternative. Just like any medication, it may not work for everyone. The medication helps remove toxins that would normally go through the kidneys and bypasses them to the intestines. It's not a miracle drug for kidney disease but it might help lessen the burden on their kidneys. I hope this medication helps your pets :)","Product: KONG Naturals Premium Catnip is North American grown catnip of the highest quality. KONG catnip is harvested at the peak of its flavor, color and fragrance and field-dried. KONG's premium leaf and flower cut gives you minimal stems and seeds and more of the essential oils that cause a reaction in most cats. Use as a stand-alone treat or in KONG refillable catnip toys. KONG Naturals are ecologically responsible cat products. All ingredients and oils come from natural, renewable resources. These products are designed to appeal to the natural instincts of the indoor cat, providing fun with a purpose.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: My cats dig this stuff\n\nReview: I'll be honest, the only reason I bought this cat nip was because I was sick and tired of my cats opening the drawers and getting into the cabinets where I kept their bagged stuff. I can't even count how many times I've come home to a bag ripped to shreds, catnip all over the place and my kitties rolling around attacking each other in the middle of the kitchen. Plus it's really awkward when you have guests over and they open my junk drawer to find a ziplock baggie containing the little bit of catnip I could actually salvage. So when I saw this in a plastic container I thought \"Aha! Something they won't easily get into.\"\n\nCatnip is catnip to them. It doesn't seem to matter the brand. They lick it up, roll around in it start attacking each other for no reason. I have 3 cats and all three of them like it.","Product: Feliway reduces or completely stops stress-related behavior including urine marking, vertical scratching, loss of appetite and the reduced desire to play or interact.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: No scent which was plus but didn't work for my cats.\n\nReview: It doesn't have any scent to it which is nice. However, I have a spastic cat and a cat who started peeing outside of the litter box in one particular spot. I took them both to the vet, had tests run, and the results came back normal. So the vet recommended I get not only the spray but the diffuser as well. I sprayed around the litter box, the spot outside of the litter box that my one kept peeing at, and all areas that they spend the majority of their time. It didn't do anything for either of them. My one is still a spaz and my other cat continued to pee in that one spot until the day she passed away. It was worth a try though. This is one of those things that may work for some but not all cats. Just so happened that it didn't work for my two girls.","Product: Inspired by the diet of the lynx, a tireless and legendary hunter, BLUE Wilderness is a protein-rich, grain-free food that contains more of the delicious meat cats love. BLUE Wilderness is a product of the Blue Buffalo company. Based in the United States, Blue Buffalo makes premium-quality pet foods featuring real meat, fruit and vegetables.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: You can't go wrong with this brand!\n\nReview: I have a 14 yr old, 2 yr old and a 7 yr old cats and we were feeding them Iams, Purina... one of those big name cat food brands. However, when we moved to a new location we came across this brand and I instantly fell in love. All you really need to do it read the ingredients in the back. Practically, everything that you would see a cat eat in the wild is in the food. There is real meat and fish in there, blueberries, cranberries and vegetables as well. I noticed a HUGE change in my cats. My oldest used to be real lethargic, always laying around sleeping, taking a few practice jumps before jumping up on the couch. Not to mention she had very bad dandruff. She's a tortoise shell and you could clearly see the dandruff without being right on top of her. Once I switched to Blue Buffalo, she got a little pep in her step. Now I find her running around the house like a bat out of hell and neither of my other two cats know what the heck is going on. Her coat is also nice, shiny and dandruff free. I never knew how much of a difference the change in food could be for her. Now she jumps up on the couch and bed (which is higher up) with ease and is even initiating play with my other two cats. She was the one cat that I'd noticed a dramatic change in. I highly recommend this brand to everyone. It gave me my childhood friend back.\n\nIt may be more expensive than your average cat food but it is well worth it in the end. I have found no problem with my cats not liking this food although I do mix it with the normal Wilderness brand since my other two cats eat it. However, all three of them gobble up the food in their bowls as if they were rottweilers.\n\n*I recently had to switch to a low protein diet due to my eldest developing kidney disease. Within a month of switching foods she reverted back to having horrible dandruff. Aside from switching away from Blue Buffalo nothing in her diet/environment has changed. So this food really does help with dandruff.","Product: The PetSafe Egg-Cersizer is a treat and feeder ball that's designed to randomly dispense treats and kibble. The Egg-Cersizer is uniquely adjustable to your cat's level of play. Open 1, 2 or 3 holes to customize to your cat's needs. The fun shape allows for treat distribution from all angles.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Just as pictured and described\n\nReview: I have 3 cats, and one of them will eat all three bowls if you let her. She's quick to gobble down her bowl so that she can push the other cats away from theirs. So when I saw this go on sale I quickly nabbed it. I wasn't sure if I should get an egg shape or a ball. I think the egg shape was the best bet. The egg doesn't roll in a straight line. So my cats aren't playing soccer throughout the house with it. I like that the wholes are adjustable for not only the size of kibble you buy but also the difficulty as well. I know the packaging says to start with the largest setting so your cat doesn't get frustrated with it but my kitty quickly caught on and was plowing through the food like there was no tomorrow. So I changed it to the hard setting (1 kernel every 3 rolls or so) and the other 2 caught on shortly after. Granted, the first few days I sprinkled cat nip in the egg with the food to entice them to mess with it but after that they got used to it. My \"middle child\" or \"prissy kitty\" as she most commonly referred to did stick her nose up at this at first. It wasn't until a week or so later that she realized that \"this is it\", we weren't going to be giving her anymore food that she started batting the eggs around.\n\nIt may take some coaxing to get your cat to use it but try treats, cat nip or even showing them what to do. Eventually they will figure it out and get the hang of it. It definitely slows down their eating and I've found that food in the egg will last throughout the day whereas the same amount of food in a bowl only lasts minutes.","Product: Back to the Roots is on a mission to Undo Food. In a college class, we learned mushrooms could grow entirely on spent coffee grounds. After watching hours of how-to videos and turning our fraternity kitchen into a big science experiment, we eventually decided to give up our corporate job offers to instead become full-time mushroom farmers. What started as curiosity about urban farming has turned into a passion to Undo Food and reconnect families back to where it comes from.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Highly recommend, even for the most inexperienced fish owner.\n\nReview: I bought this for a friend who had never had fish before. Needless to say, I was a little worried that she'd either get the wrong fish (like cichlids or something), get too many fish, or simply kill the fish. Thus leaving her discouraged and my gift discarded. I'm glad to say that isn't the case. The tank comes with a recommendation on they type of fish you should get and how many. She got a couple of guppies, put the wheat grass seeds in the pot and within a few days she had growth. Within a couple of weeks she was juicing her wheat grass. I was blown away by not only how well it looks but how great it WORKS. I'm always killing plants from either over/under watering. Apparently I should've bought one of these for myself because not only are her fish doing great (one year later) but she's loving the plants she's getting out of the deal as well. Not to mention it's small compact size if great if you don't have a lot of space. It easily fits on an end table.","Product: Pets are smart about avoiding their meds, but you're smarter. Designed and recommended by vets, FELINE GREENIES PILL POCKETS Treats for Cats make it easy to give your cat medicine. Don't hide medicine in human foods, such as tuna or cheese. Give a healthy, low-calorie cat treat instead. GREENIES PILL POCKETS Treats take the stress and mess out of administering capsules, tablets or liquid medication to your feline friend. Our easy-to-use pouches mask the smell and taste of medicine and deliver a delicious chicken flavor your cat will love. * GREENIES Brand is the number-one vet-recommended choice for giving medicine (Data on File, The Nutro Company 2015)\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Easy to use on even large pills and my cats love them\n\nReview: I have two cats that need to take pills daily. One cat is extremely finicky. She stops taking her pills when the treats I put them in are over 2 weeks old. However, with these, she gobbles them down in record timing. My other cat takes a rather large pill. I was actually nervous when I got home and pulled out her Azodyl pills that are the size of cranberry capsule. Because the pills are so large, I was worried that they wouldn't fit in the pill pockets. However, because the treat is so moist and soft, I'm able to smush the treat around the entire pill with no problem. These are pricey but they are well worth the money. No more having to try hiding the pill in a normal treat only to have my cats spit the pill out and eat the treat. With these pill pockets they eat the whole thing.","Product: Zesty Paws Pet Salmon Oil is an all-natural pet supplement comprised of quality wild caught Alaskan salmon, which is jam-packed with Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids to deliver premium nourishment to dogs and cats of all sizes. The EPA and DHA sourced from the Omega-3 in our specialized supplement delivers vital nutrients to support mobility through proper joint & hip function, heart health and skin/coat condition, as well as enhancing the immune system to make your four-legged friend healthier, happier and zestier for life. Nutrient-rich salmon fish oil may also fight against flaky, dry skin and other skin problems, provide itch relief, and help fur look shiny, happy, and healthy, which could lead to reduced shedding and will help your pet feel good. These supplements are great for every canine and feline breed.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Love this stuff and the pump doesn't drip or leak!\n\nReview: I have been giving my dog and cats fish oil for years. However, the brand I was buying went up in price and so I decided to switch. I have to say that I love the pump on this oil bottle. While I don't notice a difference in my animals skin between fish oil brands, I will say that the pump is certainly different. The other brand I bought also had a convenient pump style, only it wasn't so convenient when it constantly dripped and leaked down the bottle. I've been using this bottle for months and there's no dropping or leaking. My counter are clean and I couldn't be happier.\n\nAs for the fish oil... if you aren't giving your pets fish oil, you need to start. When I first started putting my fur-babies on the oil their coats were dull and my eldest had bad dandruff. After a month on the fish oil, their coats got shiny and fully, and my eldest cat's dandruff reduced significantly. Not to mention that I have a cat with asthma and arthritis, which the oil helps with that because it works as an anti-inflammatory. Any time I tell my vet that they are on fish oil, they are always pleased to hear it and applaud me taking such good care of my babies.","Product: Longevity Mature cat food helps support her specific needs with ingredients that have been shown to help with: lean muscle maintenance; energy to stay active; immune system health; healthy skin and coat; strong teeth and bones. Nutrient-Rich Ingredients. Lower Caloric Density. Taste Cats Love: BLUE Longevity healthy cat food is a delicious blend of lean protein, nutrient-rich vegetables and fruits and wholesome whole grains.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: It gave me my childhood friend back\n\nReview: I have a 14 year old cat and we were feeding her Iams, Purina... one of those big name cat food brands. However, when we moved to a new location we came across this brand and I instantly fell in love. All you really need to do it read the ingredients in the back. Practically, everything that you would see a cat eat in the wild is in the food. There is real meat and fish in there, blueberries, cranberries and vegetables as well. I noticed a HUGE change in my cat. She used to be real lethargic, always laying around sleeping, taking a few practice jumps before jumping up on the couch. Not to mention she had very bad dandruff. She's a tortoise shell and you could clearly see the dandruff without being right on top of her. Once I switched to Blue Buffalo, she got a little pep in her step. Now I find her running around the house like a bat out of hell and neither of my other two cats know what the heck is going on. Her coat is also nice, shiny and dandruff free. I never knew how much of a difference the change in food could be for her. Now she jumps up on the couch and bed (which is higher up) with ease and is even initiating play with my other two cats. I hate to sound mushy but considering that changing food was the only thing we did different with her, Blue Buffalo gave me my childhood friend back.\n\nIt may be more expensive than your average cat food but it is well worth it in the end. I do mix longevity with <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Blue-Buffalo-Wilderness-Grain-Free-Dry-Cat-Food-Chicken-Recipe-12-Pound-Bag/dp/B002UT92EY/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Blue Buffalo Wilderness Grain Free Dry Cat Food, Chicken Recipe, 12-Pound Bag</a> and have had no problem with her not eating it. All three of my cats gobble up the food in their bowls as if they were rottweilers.\n\n*I recently had to switch to a low protein diet due to my eldest developing kidney disease. Within a month of switching foods she reverted back to having horrible dandruff. Aside from switching away from Blue Buffalo nothing in her diet/environment has changed. So this food really does help with dandruff.","Product: A magnificent epic of love, war and Russia from the international bestselling author of TULLY and ROAD TO PARADISE Leningrad 1941: the white nights of summer illuminate a city of fallen grandeur whose palaces and avenues speak of a different age, when Leningrad was known as St Petersburg. Two sisters, Tatiana and Dasha, share the same bed, living in one room with their brother and parents. The routine of their hard impoverished life is shattered on 22 June 1941 when Hitler invades Russia. For the Metanov family, for Leningrad and particularly for Tatiana, life will never be the same again. On that fateful day, Tatiana meets a brash young man named Alexander. The family suffers as Hitler's army advances on Leningrad, and the Russian winter closes in. With bombs falling and the city under siege, Tatiana and Alexander are drawn inexorably to each other, but theirs is a love that could tear Tatiana's family apart, and at its heart lies a secret that could mean death to anyone who hears it. Confronted on the one hand by Hitler's vast war machine, and on the other by a Soviet system determined to crush the human spirit, Tatiana and Alexander are pitted against the very tide of history, at a turning point in the century that made the modern world.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: This is the love story of love stories.\n\nReview: This would be one of the books that I would save if my house were on fire. I love it that much.\n\nI don't know how to express how beautiful of a story this is without sounding like a raging lunatic. Don't be afraid that it's almost 900 pages of length. Think of it as 3 separate stories combined in one book.\n\nThis is the love story of love stories. It will outdo Romeo and Juliet, Jaime Fraser and Claire, Hans Solo and Princess Leia... yes I just went there. The story is heart wrenching from the beginning and continues to pull on your heart strings until the very last word.\n\nTatiana is such an innocent, carefree girl. One day while out getting supplies, she decides to buy an ice cream and sits down to enjoy it while she waits for the bus to show up. That's when she sees the soldier across the street staring at her. From that moment on, Tatiana's life will never be the same.\n\nHowever their story is not an easy one. Tatiana's older sister met Alexander first and therefor, Tatiana gives him up to save her sister from heartache. Not to mention the war that is taking place right outside their door. Tatiana fights every day to stay alive and Alexander does everything he can to keep her safe. He brings the family food with his rations, he walks Tatiana home from work as well as to and from the grocery store. He even makes sure to bring her something special like chocolate or extra food for just her to eat. He does everything that he can do in his power to keep Tatiana alive. And that, is just half of the story. But I can't say anymore otherwise it will give away some major spoilers.\n\nIf there was a way that I could give this book a higher rating I would. I honestly do not know why this book wasn't picked up a while ago to be turned into a movie. As it is, I did some digging and found out that there is a movie in the works and will be going into pre-production at the end of 2013. And maybe with a little luck and some pixie dust it will be finished at the end of 2014.","Product: Can Agatha and Sophie find the perfect ending to their story in this epic conclusion to this bestselling series. Once best friends, Agatha and Sophie were pulled apart like strangers, each in the arms of a boy, Good with Good, Evil with Evil...is their friendship lost forever after...But as they settle into their new lives, their story begs to be re-written, and this time, theirs isn't the only one. With the girls apart, Evil has taken over and the villains of the past have come back to change their tales and turn the world of Good and Evil upside down. With Evers being murdered and Nevers reigning supreme, the girls need to restore the balance, find the end to their story, and-hopefully-become friends again\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: A fun take on fairy tales\n\nReview: The School for Good and Evil follows Agatha and Sophie as they are kidnapped from their homes and brought to the school for good or evil. Basically is a school for kids to learn to be their true selves, either villains or heroes. They are given tasks and are tested to see where their ranking is among the other students. Students who fail disappear, and students who thrive get their own fairy tale. Sounds pretty straight forward and normally Sophie and Agatha would embrace their new situation but theres one problem. Sophie, whos been primped, pampered, and is destined to be a princess is placed in the school for evil and Agatha, who is the exact opposite of Sophie, is placed in the school for good. Pretty soon, Sophies in raggedy clothing, her hairs a mess, and shes being ridiculed by her classmates for being too pretty. Meanwhile, Agatha is too frumpy, too ugly, and too anti-social to be a princess. She finds herself an outcast from both the princesses and the princes.\n\nWhile this is a middle grade book, I did find that it was also entertaining to read as an adult. There are some darker moments and some underlying things going on that gave it just the edge it needed to not be too light and sweet. It kind of took what we all picture a fairy tale to be composed of, and it made you question a lot of things instead of just seeing it in black and white. Now, I know this is getting a lot of flack for being too image driven and how the story line revolves around being pretty, ugly, or getting the guy, but its a parody of fairy tales. What older fairy tale didn't revolve around being pretty and getting the guy? Cinderella and Ariel had to change their physical appearance to become beautiful and acceptable in order to get the princes attention and love. Aurora and Snow White needed some creeper dude to come upon their dead-like bodies and kiss them in order to bring them back to life and thus marrying them and having a HEA. Granted, the original stories for some of these aren't quite as happy or PG as Disney portrayed them. All Im saying is, this story took those basics that we all know from fairy tales and it gave you a new perspective on how it all began.","Product: Jeaniene Frost is the New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling author of the Night Huntress series and the Night Huntress World novels. To date, foreign rights for her novels have sold to nineteen different countries. Jeaniene lives in North Carolina with her husband Matthew, who long ago accepted that she rarely cooks and always sleeps in on the weekends. Aside from writing, Jeaniene enjoys reading, poetry, watching movies with her husband, exploring old cemeteries, spelunking and traveling - by car. Airplanes, children, and cook books frighten her.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: I really enjoyed this book\n\nReview: This second book takes place 4 years later. Cat is now the team leader of her special forces group who take down the undead. She has turned cynical and sour over the years but she will do anything for her team. After all these years she still misses Bones and cannot seem to forget about him. However after a turn of events Cat is reunited with Bones and it doesn't take long for their relationship to rekindle. But Cat seems to have a price on her head and Bones is ready to do anything in order to keep Cat safe, which includes joining her team.\n\nThe first part of the book is about Cat and her new life. You see how much she has changed but no matter what she still holds onto the past. She is respected by her team of men and she would do anything to make sure they are safe. Then comes Bones who after years of searching for Cat, has finally found her and no matter what refuses to let her go again. So since Cat is so dead set on staying with her men since, let's face it, without her half vampire strength and speed, they would be dead without her, Bone decides to join the special forces group. Once Bones is on board, he and Cat pick up where they left off. There of course are a couple of bumps along the way, like someone putting a bounty on Cat's head, Bones' ex-lovers popping up and a little problem with Cat's vampire father making an appearance.\n\nThis one sets the stage for Cat and Bones to work with the team and create a stronger vampire fighting unit. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more of Cat and Bones' story.\n\n-Book Sniffers Anonymous","Product: Jeaniene Frost is the New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling author of the Night Huntress series and the Night Huntress World novels. To date, foreign rights for her novels have sold to nineteen different countries. Jeaniene lives in North Carolina with her husband Matthew, who long ago accepted that she rarely cooks and always sleeps in on the weekends. Aside from writing, Jeaniene enjoys reading, poetry, watching movies with her husband, exploring old cemeteries, spelunking and traveling - by car. Airplanes, children, and cook books frighten her.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: This story just keeps getting better\n\nReview: This is one of the most intense books in the series so far. Cat and Bones decide to go on a little vacation and when they do Cat is almost \"dream snatched\" by her husband. No no, not Bones... her first vampire husband... Gregor. Whom, she doesn't even remember knowing, let along the fact that she would marry a vampire at the age of 16 when at the time she despised vampires. Gregor will do anything to get Cat back, including but not limited to, cheap shots and low blows. This book kept me on my toes the entire time. Who knew so much could go down in only a few hundred pages. My one and only complaint... there was no Tate! :'(\n\nWhere do I begin, Cat is the typical Cat. She is still just as stubborn as Bones. She still feels like she needs to protect everyone from danger, which still lands her in a heap of trouble. Which leads to Bones getting the most upset I have seen so far. Emotions run high throughout the entire book. Vlad steps up and becomes a good friend to Cat and comforts her through a tough spot, which of course Bones misinterprets. More huge battles, more huge losses and some new developments to give the story a twist.\n\nI think that pretty much sums up the book without giving too much away. With all the action that is going on, Frost has still found time for some amazing one on one time with Bones and Cat. I could barely put this book down and stayed up until the early morning trying to finish it.","Product: THIS IS BRAND NEW BOOK.WE PROVIDE 100% CUSTOMER SATISFACTION.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: The story picks up more in this one\n\nReview: In the last book Sydney signed up for an assignment that involved helping to hide and protect princess Jill from attacks. Since Jill is the queen's last relative, if those who appose the queen can kill Jill, due to Moroi law the queen will have to give up her throne since she will have no other relatives. So Sydney, Jill, Eddie and Adrian meet up and hide out in sunny Palm Springs, CA.\n\nThe Golden Lily picks up shortly after Bloodlines ends. The gang is still hiding out in Palm Springs and Dimitri and Sonya join the mix as well. I really liked the addition of more characters in the story. Sonya and Dimitri are trying to figure out what keeps a person from turning back to a strigoi once they've been \"saved\". Plus, we also have a potential love interest for Sydney who is pretty much the male version of herself, and Trey who we got to see a little bit of in the first book.\n\nOne key point that I have to point out that I hands down loved was the mention of Joshua Tree National Park. I literally squealed when I read it. You're probably wondering why. Well, it's because I work there! If you ever call the park and need information about what to see or where to go in the park, I'm the one answering the phones. I also talk to visitors when they come into the visitor center. So I was pretty excited to see that they not only name dropped the park but Mead did a little bit of homework concerning the two deserts that run through the park and the differences between them. That to me was probably the best part of the whole thing... oh and having a secondary character named Kristin didn't hurt either.\n\nThere is a couple of mysteries that take place in this book. Sydney realizes that the Alchemists may not be what she had grown up to believe it as. As well as the fact that Sydney may be more otherworldly than she though. You don't get 100% answers to either of these two but all I know is that Mead is setting us up for an epic adventure. Not to mention that the ending leaves you reeling for more Adrian. I mean seriously, how can you end a book on a swoon worthy note like that?!\n\n-Book Sniffers Anonymous","Product: Shadow kiss is the third title in the international number 1 bestselling vampire academy series by richelle mead - now a major motion picture. Higher learning. Higher stakes. What if following her heart means rose could lose her best friend - forever? rose hathaway knows it is forbidden to love another guardian. Her best friend, lissa, must always come first. Unfortunately, when it comes to the gorgeous dimitri belikov, some rules are meant to be broken. Lying to lissa about dimitri is one thing, but suddenly there's way more than friendship at stake. The immortal dead are on the prowl and in a heart-stopping battle, rose will have to choose between life, love and the two people who matter most. But will her choice mean that only one survives? \"exciting, empowering and un-put-downable\". (mtv's hollywood crush blog). \"we're suckers for it!\". (entertainment weekly). Also available in the vampire academy series: vampire academy (book 1); vampire academy: frostbite (book 2); vampire academy: shadow kiss (book 3); vampire academy: blood promise (book 4); vampire academy: spirit bound (book 5); and vampire academy: last sacrifice (book 6). And don't miss the bestselling vampire academy spin-off series, bloodlines: bloodlines (book 1); bloodlines: the golden lily (book 2); bloodlines: the indigo spell (book 3); bloodlines: the fiery heart (book 4); and bloodlines: silver shadows (book 5). About the author: richelle mead is the new york times and global bestselling author of the vampire academy series (soon to be a movie blockbuster in feb 2014), the bloodlines series and the age of x series. Richelle lives in seattle, washington.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Yet another great graphic novel adaptation by Leigh Dragoon and Emma Vieceli.\n\nReview: Yet another great graphic novel adaptation by Leigh Dragoon and Emma Vieceli. In this installment we learn a little bit more about Roses shadow kissed condition and what that means for her. Plus, Rose and Dimitris relationship picks up and boy is it hot!\n\nI love the work that these two ladies do for Richelle Meads VA series. Sure, Leigh Dragoon takes a lot out of each book in order to fit it into one graphic novel, but she keeps the heart of the story intact. Not only that, but she still adds some little quirky parts that are in the story. For instance, she included the scene where Dimitri makes hot cocoa for Rose and as hes making it, he explains how using two packets is the secret to delicious hot cocoa. Thats something that could have been easily over-looked. I mean, its not like Rose uses hot cocoa to save the day or anything. However, that was one of those vulnerable moments from Dimitri that always stuck out for me when reading Shadow Kiss.\n\nLike Ive said before, you don't have to read the series in order to read the graphic novels. We get a prologue at the beginning describing the whos who of players and whats going on. So, if you are more of a graphic novel person and don't really want to read the series itself, you don't have to. I think thats one thing that I love about this graphic novel series. Its not dependent on you having read the original series. It can hold its own. However, given the fact that the graphic novel is still a series in itself, I would highly recommend that you start with the first book and work your way through the graphic novels.\n\nOne of the things that stuck out to me the most was probably the cave scene at the end. I always had such a hard time envisioning it in the novel. I mean, theres all these tunnels, fighting going on, the strigoi are hiding in hidden pockets and attacking people, it was pretty hard to picture when reading the novel. So, it was great seeing it illustrated. I think with seeing it illustrated it made it that much more suspenseful.\n\nI can not give this graphic novel series more praise. Leigh Dragoon and Emma Vieceli have taken one of my favorite series and turned it into a graphic novel. A successful graphic novel at that. I really hope the publisher decides to publish Blood Promise as a graphic novel. The last I heard they were waiting to see how the sales from this one did before they approved the next one. All I know is that this girl will be crossing her fingers. I kind of want to see how Emma Vieceli pulls off the new Dimitri.","Product: Shadow kiss is the third title in the international number 1 bestselling vampire academy series by richelle mead - now a major motion picture. Higher learning. Higher stakes. What if following her heart means rose could lose her best friend - forever? rose hathaway knows it is forbidden to love another guardian. Her best friend, lissa, must always come first. Unfortunately, when it comes to the gorgeous dimitri belikov, some rules are meant to be broken. Lying to lissa about dimitri is one thing, but suddenly there's way more than friendship at stake. The immortal dead are on the prowl and in a heart-stopping battle, rose will have to choose between life, love and the two people who matter most. But will her choice mean that only one survives? \"exciting, empowering and un-put-downable\". (mtv's hollywood crush blog). \"we're suckers for it!\". (entertainment weekly). Also available in the vampire academy series: vampire academy (book 1); vampire academy: frostbite (book 2); vampire academy: shadow kiss (book 3); vampire academy: blood promise (book 4); vampire academy: spirit bound (book 5); and vampire academy: last sacrifice (book 6). And don't miss the bestselling vampire academy spin-off series, bloodlines: bloodlines (book 1); bloodlines: the golden lily (book 2); bloodlines: the indigo spell (book 3); bloodlines: the fiery heart (book 4); and bloodlines: silver shadows (book 5). About the author: richelle mead is the new york times and global bestselling author of the vampire academy series (soon to be a movie blockbuster in feb 2014), the bloodlines series and the age of x series. Richelle lives in seattle, washington.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great YA that adults will enjoy\n\nReview: This book had more action to it than the others. The school has paired Dhampirs with Moroi as if they are in the real world. The administators are acting as the Strigoi and are randomly attacking the students to test their reflex skills. So with the mock fights there is a lot of action going on through out the book. On top of that Rose has started to see ghosts. She has no idea why she's seeing ghosts and what it means but something doesn't seem right. Add in a trip to the Royal Court, two real Strigoi attacks and two huge surprises at the end and you have got yourself one hell of a story.\n\nI don't know where to begin. After the way Frostbite ended I didn't know what to expect between Dimitri and Rose. He has certainly lowered his defenses a bit and he has been around her a lot more. For instance when she gets in trouble during a mock fight and is given community service at the church, Dimitri shows up to help her with it. You could see that he was opening up a little bit more to her.\n\nThe only thing I cannot get out of my head is the ending though. Boy does Mead know how to leave you hanging. First you're like \"OMG I cannot believe that just happened!\" and then BAM \"WHAT?! How did that happen?\"... \"Oh no, that's not good.\".... \"Yes kill those Strigoi!\"... \"No! No! No! Are you f*&'ing kidding me?! No!\"... The end. I mean talk about emotional ending. Out of the entire book I think that the ending took the cake for me. I got goosebumps reading the highs and lows all in a matter of chapters. I cheered, I got nervous, I cheered again, then got sad, then things were looking up and then Wham Bam Thank You Ma'am I was thrown off my a** and didn't know what the hell happened.","Product: The premise of the story was Kevin a bar owner who gets many phone numbers a night is intrigued by a pretty brunette that walks into his bar one night. After she dismisses him he can't get her out of his head. So when he see's her at his brothers wedding he peruses her. They end up spending the night together and then three weeks later they find out their having a baby.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Not as good as the first book.\n\nReview: I was really excited to read Kevin's story. He seemed like an honest, kind guy who had a tough break in Exclusively Yours. So I was a little disappointed when even though Kevin held up his end of the book, Beth just totally flopped for me. She was whiny, ornery and just plain whacked out. She was so far independent and not wanting help from anybody that I really wondered, What is wrong with this chick? I still have no clue what made her up and move so often with nothing but a small suitcase of belongings. Poor Kevin tries as hard as he can to get her to open up to him and let him be apart of her life and she continues to push him away, even after the baby is born. The HEA ending pretty much came out of nowhere so fast that I was left wondering... Did I skip a chapter?\n\nHowever, the redeeming qualities of this book is the Kowalski humor. The entire family is hilarious and they make many appearances in this book. Leo is just as outspoken as before and the family is still butting into each others business. I think one of my favorite things about the book is how comfortable the family is. You feel like you are reading your own family on the pages. The little kids are as uncensored and curious as my niece. Thank goodness I only have one instead of half a dozen.","Product: Jessica McBrayer lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. She lives in a house that looks like the prow of a cruise ship which is surrounded by hills too steep for mountain goats, although every other critter seems to make it their go to place. Jessica shares her home with her husband, her two children, assorted animals and her mother, who is also a writer. Jessica is a member of Sisters in Crime and Romance Writers of America. Contact her at: jessica.mcbrayer@gmail.com * Follow her on twitter: @jessimcbrayer www.jessicamcbrayer.wordpress.com\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Interesting Paranormal Romance novel\n\nReview: To the average person, Thorn appears to be your average tattoo artist. She does great work on tattoos and has a long waiting list of customers waiting to get their next ink fix. What people don't know is that she is actually a witch. Not only that but some of her \"special\" customers want an enchanted talisman worked into their tattoo for protection, wealth etc. However, when her \"special\" customers start becoming targets of a serial killer whom cuts out these talisman, Thorn is not only in danger because it is clear that the killer is taunting her but she's also a suspect in the local authorities eyes.\n\nThorn was a pretty interesting character. You would think with being a tattoo artist, riding a bike and being a witch that she would be this kick-ass character but she's really not. She's been on the run for quite some time and really doesn't like trouble. There is even a scene where she gets the crap kicked out of her and just sort of takes the beating without using her spells for fear of revealing herself as a witch.\n\nThen you have Se, the sexy Irish detective. I found his character to be really intriguing. He comes in when the murders pop up to ask Thorn a couple of questions. He instantly knows that she's a witch since he has the \"sight\", his grandmother was a witch so he grew up around it. He tries to stay as professional as he can when it comes to Thorn but when she becomes the #1 suspect, he warns Thorn that they are coming to arrest her to give her time to run. There was just something about his character that I really liked.\n\nI thought for McBrayar's debut novel, that she did a great job. I really liked the idea of the story and felt that as a whole it was pretty good. It held my attention the entire time and I found myself staying up at night just to get to the end of the story. However, there were a couple of problems I had with the book. One, there were grammar issues in the story and second, I found some of the dialogue to be a bit choppy in some spots. Some of the things the characters said just didn't seem real to me either. However, that didn't ruin the story for me but it did keep me from getting 100% engrossed in the story. I definitely enjoyed Stained and look forward to reading more from this author.","Product: Nancy was born in Sioux City Iowa, left the cold of the Midwest in 1991 and only returns to see family in the summer time. She spent ten years traveling the world as a US Marine and settled in rural SC with her husband and two children. She enjoys reading all types of Paranormal and Young Adult literature. You can connect with her on Facebook http://alturl.com/en5ia / Her bloghttp://www.authnancystraight.blogspot.com / Twitter @NancyStraight / Goodreads: http://alturl.com/bnmv2\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: An amazing continuation of the story that will leave your jaw dropping\n\nReview: I was a little nervous when I started reading this book. A good portion of the book is Drake and Cami on the run from her grandmother, whom they escaped from in the previous book. What made me nervous is the fact that I don't do long journey type books. I get bored quickly when the main character is on a mission the entire book. However, the fact that it broke between not only both Cami and Drake's POV but Cami's friend Daniel and her brother Beau really helped keep my interest. Not saying that the journey that Cami and Drake take isn't necessary to the story but I suppose I have ADD when my main character is walking/traveling for an extended length of time.\n\nWe follow Cami and Drake as they look for a magical arrow that will keep Cami safe from her grandmother and in order to find it they must find her grandmothers twin brother. So their journey starts there. We also follow Beau who has one year left until he is no longer eligible to marry a centauride thus not being able to carry on the family bloodline. You see, males have until the age of 30 to be chosen by a Centauride before they are cast away from Centaur Society. So before Beau can get the boot or become anyone's charity case, he decides to jump ship, gives Daniel a call and heads out to San Diego. What I was most excited about was the fact that we finally learn the story behind Daniel. In the last book I kept wondering why both Daniel's parents and Cami's parents were freaking out over their friendship... now I know why.\n\nNancy did a great job writing the sequel. I had some of my questions answered and new questions arise. I liked the turn of events and the changes that she gave her characters. I didn't see a lot of things coming and had a couple of \"pick my jaw up off the floor\" moments. Last time my ending question was \"what is the deal with Daniel?\" Now... it's \"What is the deal with Drake?!\" Oh and on an ending note I would just like to ask Nancy... WHHHHHHYYYY?! Why must you end the book this way?\n\nBook Sniffers Anonymous","Product: Maya Banks is the #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of contemporary and historical romances. She lives in Texas with her husband and three children.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Maya did a great job with a taboo subject.\n\nReview: Cade and Merrick run a small security system company and one night doesnt go according to plan. They find a beaten scared woman huddled in a cabinet of one of their clients gun shops. They try to talk her into going to the hospital but its clear that shes too frightened to let authorities check her out. Shes terrified that whoever attacked her will be notified when shes admitted into the hospital. Merrick and Cade don't want to put her life in jeopardy so they call their friend/physician and have him look at her. Thats when they realize that she was beaten and shot within an inch of her life. They aren't willing to let anything happen to her so they decide to take her in and care for her until she heals and gets her memory back. But the longer she stays with them, the more they fall in love with her.\n\nIve only read one of Mayas books before and that was In Bed with a Highlander. I haven't read any of her other more erotic romances. Maya did a great job with a taboo subject. I haven't really read too many 2 on 1 relationships and its still fairly new to me. However, I honestly didn't find anything wrong with their relationship. It was perfect for them. I didn't feel like one got left out over the other when it came to the two guys.\n\nI liked that the story had suspense over the amnesia part and the fact that she remembers the guy who raped and tried to kill her as being one of law enforcement. So anytime anything with authorities arises you sort of hold your breath wondering if one of the guys at the scene is him. Plus I liked the star quality of Merrick being an upcoming heavy weight champion in martial arts fighting. So theres some fighting scenes with him in the ring and of course the suspense of the cameras zooming in on her and her face being broadcasted all over the nation. Maya made sure that the reader never forgot the danger.\n\nI liked that Maya kept the suspense up throughout the entire book. There were times that you thought maybe Elle would remember her past. Whether it be the attacker or her previous life. Which of course was nail biting because, what if she had a husband and a family? Then you had the suspense of the person finding her and possibly trying to finish what he started. Plus Maya threw in the steamy bedroom scenes. All in all this was a great well rounded erotic romantic suspense. Im pretty excited that this is a series that will continue Elles story. The author couldve gone the easy route and quickly ended on a HEA but instead Elles story will be slowly revealed. Hopefully we will start getting answers to what happened to her and whether those answers will threaten her new found relationship with Cade and Merrick.","Product: In the midst of a lifetime of story telling, Julia Lynam found herself donning a ranger hat and discovering a world that goes far beyond the big name National Parks of the USA. \"Treasures On Your Doorstep\" is her entertaining take on how you can enjoy the hundreds of hidden National Park properties scattered throughout the country. It will lead you down paths of pure enjoyment and by-ways of discovery and enrichment. When she's not working in a National Park, Julia lives in Vermont, spending her time dancing, writing and story-telling, and never quite knowing where her next job will take her.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great guide for anyone planning a visit to a National Park\n\nReview: When you think of National Parks, your first thoughts are Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite but there are over 400 units (parks, monuments, historic sites, etc.) that are overlooked in the grand scheme of things. Julia really opens your eyes to the fact that with so many places out there, there's a good chance that we have a unit in our backyard and may not even know it.\n\nI will be honest, I am not a non-fiction reader. I like to read to escape life. So when I was asked to review the book I was a little nervous on whether or not I'd enjoy it. However, by the 3rd page, all my fears were gone. Julia really does have a way to not only give information but she does it in a way that's entertaining with little quips mixed in.\n\nThis book is perfect for a guide into the National Parks Service. She gives the reader all the tools they will need for not only a successful trip to the national parks but a safe one as well. She links to websites that will come in handy when doing research prior to your vacation. She offers guidance on what to do if you are lost in a park. She even offers some preventative advice on how not to get lost in the first place. She also gives one good piece of advice\n\n\"Tell someone who cares where you're going and what time you expect to return\"\n\nNot only did I get a good chuckle out of the \"tell someone who cares\" bit but it's sound advice. It's advice that I give to visitors all the time. (Yes I work at a National Park)\n\nThere were subjects in this book that Julia touched base with that I was unfamiliar with. She covers everything from planning a trip, doing research, finding bargains with entry prices and merchandise prices, how to become a webranger (v.s. the Junior Ranger program which is an activity booklet that kids do while in the park), she even touches base with how to apply for a job in the NPS as well as volunteering.\n\nEven if you are not planning on visiting a National Park in the near future I still highly recommend this book. It not only gives you great insight to the \"treasures on your doorstep\" but you never know, you could find yourself checking out one of the sites listed in the book and planning a vacation before you know it.","Product: In the midst of a lifetime of story telling, Julia Lynam found herself donning a ranger hat and discovering a world that goes far beyond the big name National Parks of the USA. \"Treasures On Your Doorstep\" is her entertaining take on how you can enjoy the hundreds of hidden National Park properties scattered throughout the country. It will lead you down paths of pure enjoyment and by-ways of discovery and enrichment. When she's not working in a National Park, Julia lives in Vermont, spending her time dancing, writing and story-telling, and never quite knowing where her next job will take her.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: A very informative and fun guide\n\nReview: When you think of National Parks, your first thoughts are Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite but there are over 400 units (parks, monuments, historic sites, etc.) that are overlooked in the grand scheme of things. Julia really opens your eyes to the fact that with so many places out there, there's a good chance that we have a unit in our backyard and may not even know it.\n\nI will be honest, I am not a non-fiction reader. I like to read to escape life. So when I was asked to review the book I was a little nervous on whether or not I'd enjoy it. However, by the 3rd page, all my fears were gone. Julia really does have a way to not only give information but she does it in a way that's entertaining with little quips mixed in.\n\nThis book is perfect for a guide into the National Parks Service. She gives the reader all the tools they will need for not only a successful trip to the national parks but a safe one as well. She links to websites that will come in handy when doing research prior to your vacation. She offers guidance on what to do if you are lost in a park. She even offers some preventative advice on how not to get lost in the first place. She also gives one good piece of advice\n\n\"Tell someone who cares where you're going and what time you expect to return\"\n\nNot only did I get a good chuckle out of the \"tell someone who cares\" bit but it's sound advice. It's advice that I give to visitors all the time. (Yes I work at a National Park)\n\nThere were subjects in this book that Julia touched base with that I was unfamiliar with. She covers everything from planning a trip, doing research, finding bargains with entry prices and merchandise prices, how to become a webranger (v.s. the Junior Ranger program which is an activity booklet that kids do while in the park), she even touches base with how to apply for a job in the NPS as well as volunteering.\n\nEven if you are not planning on visiting a National Park in the near future I still highly recommend this book. It not only gives you great insight to the \"treasures on your doorstep\" but you never know, you could find yourself checking out one of the sites listed in the book and planning a vacation before you know it.","Product: Born in Melbourne Australia, Jacinta Maree considers herself a chocoholic with an obsession with dragons, video gaming and Japan. She writes a variety of genres including YA paranormal, steampunk, horror, new adult, dystopian and fantasy. Winner of 2014 Horror of the year and bestselling author, Jacinta writes to bring enjoyment to others while fulfilling her own need to explore the weird and the impossible.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Really interesting dark dystopian\n\nReview: Soulless is definitely a dark read. I wasn't sure what I was getting into when I picked up this book. In all honestly, the covers are what drew me in. They are just so awesome that I had to know what was inside. What I was not expecting was so much death, gore, and violence. Sure, the synopsis lets you know its in there but I thought it would just be in passing, I had no idea how ruthless Nadias world is. So, when the author says theres some violence shes not lying. There were a few times where I contemplated skipping past a scene because I could just picture it too vividly for my liking.\n\nOne thing that I like about this story is that the characters are not just one-sided. I mean, sure you have Diesel which is this ruthless inmate that Nadia meets while imprisoned who is clearly only interested in himself. However, as the book progresses, you start to see some of his other previous personas make an appearance. It kind of made you question who the real Diesel was. Was he the ruthless killer who wouldnt hesitate to kill Nadia or anyone who challenged him? Or is he the easygoing calm guy who shows affection here and there? I mean, he clearly states that hes currently looking through the eyes or windows of a different person at the time but it still makes you wonder how much of his previous lives impact who he is today without him realizing it. Also, why was he blacklisted and rotting away in a cell? What heinous crimes has he committed. He lets on throughout the book all the tortures and horrible deaths hes endured, so we know he hasn't seem to live any sort of peaceful life before, but why is he blacklisted?\n\nBecause of Nadias lack of soulprint, her parents sell her off to become a lab rat. I say parents loosely because they view themselves as the incubators for a reincarnated stranger, they don't view their kids as their own. So, when they are presented the opportunity to get food and medicine, which is something lacking to anyone whos not rich, they take it and don't look back. Which is how Nadia finds herself being strapped and tortured in a prison for the blacklisted. However, when one of the other inmates helps her escape her first instinct is to go back home. Nadia has to wade through a lot of stuff in order to become the girl she is by the end of the book. I mean, she never had a cushy life but it was hers and soon she finds herself lost and unsure who she can trust. Things get even more complicated for her as she start to hear whispers about a prophecy about someone who is soulless, who will stop the cycle of reincarnations."],"string":"[\n \"Product: A lightweight 2-in-1 Lift-Away upright vacuum with a detachable canister for portable cleaning power. With the push of a button, Lift-Away technology allows you to lift the canister away and easily clean in hard-to-reach areas. This vacuum is also equipped with an extra-large-capacity dust cup and a completely sealed system with a HEPA filter to trap dust and allergens. With the Brushroll Shutoff button, you can easily switch between carpet and bare floor cleaning. The Dust-Away hard floor attachment lets you pick up debris and dust your bare floors.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Easy to clean, versitile, ligthweight, and sucks up more dirt than you thought you had\\n\\nReview: I bought my Shark when my Bissel broke down. I'd never heard of Shark before and was a little worried I'd be disappointed. However, I couldn't be happier with my purchase. I LOVE that I no longer have to worry about bags. I would always forget to pick up more bags when I used the last one. So when my vacuum needed a replacement bag, I had to stop what I was doing and go to the store to buy them so that I could resume cleaning. I also like that it has an allergen filter since I am allergic to cats and dogs, and I live with both.\\n\\nI think my favorite feature though is the floor and hand attachments though. I have a hard floor on the first floor of the house, which is where I use the hardwood floor setting (it just sucks w/o using the rotating bristles which would kick all the debris back at you) as well as the \\\"Swiffer\\\" floor attachment that also has the suction but is paired with a washable/reuasble swiffer type mat.\\n\\nI also have carpeted steps and a carpeted second floor and that's where one of the attachments comes in. I can easily take apart the vacuum bottom (leaving me only with the canister and cord) for easy handling while I vacuum the stairs with the hand attachment that it pretty much a mini vacuum head with rotating bristles. Which is SO MUCH NICER than what I was doing with my old vacuum. I would either try to vacuum the tiny stairs as if it were a floor, or I'd use the standard triangular head hand attachment.\\n\\nThis machine does wonders with picking up things that you don't see. I couldn't believe the first time I used it. I had been at the new house for only a week when my Shark came in the mail and the carpets looked perfectly clean but to my horror were filthy. Within two bedrooms the Sharks canister was pretty much filled with hair, dirt, and who knows what else. I couldn't believe believe how much stuff it was picking up.\\n\\nNeedless to say, I LOVE my Shark. I will never go back to the Bissel again. You can see the difference in the floors after I vacuum. I would highly recommend this to anyone who's in the market for a new vacuum.\",\n \"Product: Guild Wars 2\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Awesome MMoRPG. Better than World of Warcraft in my opinion\\n\\nReview: Great game. It's like World of Warcraft only you don't have to pay that stupid monthly fee. Once you purchase GW2 you're done! I like that the game also has a lot of videos in it. You follow a story/quest line and every time you are going into the quest or are finished you get a video with your character talking with the NPC's. But you don't have to do just your quests to advance. There are daily events that pop up all over the place, sections that you need to unlock and explore, NPC's you need to assist, and there's also a world vs world where you battle against other players online. This is really a great MMoRPG for those who are looking to get into the world of online gaming or those who are looking for a cheaper alternative to WoW.\",\n \"Product: This travel pillow unlike any other with a revolutionary new design that provides cushy support to the head and neck and is perfect for travel. Features of the neck pillow include a chin strap for additional support, attached storage bag sewn onto the pillow that cannot be misplaced, slip-resistant backing to keep the pillow in place, ultra-light, washable, moisture-absorbing fabric, attachment for luggage and attractive two-tone fabric. It even has a side pocket to hold small items such as an IPOD, earplugs or earphones. This neck pillow makes a wonderful, thoughtful and unique gift for anyone who travels. The pillow is distinctive. It is engineered to surround your head in cushy support. The pillow is easy to compress into the attached bag, but the process is unique. For this reason, we recommend you see the short demonstration video to learn to compress the pillow for travel. Comfy Commuter offers two different pillows. The first is the Ultimate Neck Pillow and the second the Comfy Basics. The shape of the pillows is exactly the same. The only difference is one is intended for travel, the other for home. The Ultimate Neck Pillow is best for travel with its attached compression bag, side pocket and slip-resistant backing. The Comfy Basics is best for home use. Customers have described using the Comfy Basics pillow to watch TV, sleep in a recliner, read and meditate. Both pillows have the same excellent head support. Comfy Commuter is a small business started by a mother and daughter. The travel pillow was created simply because they could not find a comfortable neck pillow when they traveled. The pillow was first offered for sale in 2010. Since then, small design modifications have been made to the pillow to improve it even more. However, the cradling of the head and neck design is the foundation of the pillow. Owners promise the Comfy Commuter neck pillow is the most comfortable neck pillow you will ever use or your money back! Guaranteed!\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Worked like a charm!\\n\\nReview: I've never been able to sleep on a plane. Heck, if I don't have the ideal conditions, I can't sleep at all. Especially if it doesn't involve a bed. Planes are the worst for me though. I've done the whole shuffle of propping my head against the window, reclining my chair and slouching down in my seat, and the notorious faceplant on the fold out tray. Nothing worked. Which was why when I was gearing up for a red eye flight I was frantic to purchase something that would have me well rested when I landed 12 hours later. I will admit that it's a bit bulky and looks a lot like a neck brace but at 1am in the morning, I simply didn't care what others thought of me. Within minutes of putting it on I was out like a light. Sure I woke up a few times due to turbulence and the fact that my butt was going numb from the uncomfortable chair, but I'd quickly dose back off with my head nestled in the neck pillow.\\n\\nI even used this pillow on my cross country road trip. Due to our cars full load of stuff, I wasn't able to recline the chair more than an couple of inches. So I pulled out my neck pillow and the next thing I knew I was waking up 3 hours later.\\n\\nBest $40 spent!\",\n \"Product: Our Cotton Craft Salsa Stripe 4 pack Fringed Placemats are made of heavy weight high quality 100% Pure Cotton. Hand woven by skilled artisans using centuries old weaving techniques. Complemented with a unique hand knotted decorative fringe. These placemats are machine washable.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Love the salsa colored napkin\\n\\nReview: I recently decided to go paperless in the kitchen and had been doing a lot of reading online as to what cloth napkins to get. I was going to get polyester napkins since they are a lot cheaper and I didn't want to spend a ton of money on something that would potentially end up with stains, but every thing I read said that cotton is best. I have to agree with their opinions now that I've owned these. Most restaurants I've been to have the polyester napkins and while they do the job with cleaning up your face and hands, they are too stiff and fancy for me and my kitchen. I don't do the Martha Stewart dinner parties, and I definitely don't have a fancy dinner table. We're very low-key in this house and I wanted something that friends and family wouldn't worry about dirtying. I also wanted something that would not only be soft on the face but would make a quick and easy clean up for those using it. Oh, and I also didn't want to have to stress over stains. I'm not a huge laundry person and tend to just throw stuff in the washer without much thought. Which is probably why my husband doesn't allow me near the laundry. So, I'm happy to report that we've eaten spaghetti, burgers, pizza, you name it, and there is yet to be a stain on these napkins... or if there is I can't see it.\\n\\nI also love the presentation that the napkins arrive in. These would be great as gifts since the arrive with the band around it just like in the photo.\",\n \"Product: A unique side table option, this contemporary table offers triple tempered glass surfaces for storage and display. The black oak frame descends from the top surface to the bottom in two opposite corners for each level, leaving each space with a wider gap for easy access. The design includes a width that tapers as it descends from top to bottom. The table is made with MDF wood featuring a black oak veneer. This is fully assembled.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Looks like picture but cheapy made\\n\\nReview: Phew. I dodged a bullet with the glass. I had read reviews that said their glass arrived broken. Mine was intact, although one was chipped on the edge. However, once you put the glass on the table, you can't see the chip anymore. My one complaint is that it's cheaply made. Both of my end tables are not leveled. The table doesn't sit evenly on my floor and until you put come weight on it, it wobbles back and forth. Plus the racks that the glass sits on is not leveled either. It you set something down on one end, it bangs against the shelf and the opposite end pops up. I wound up going to a crafting store and purchasing some felt with the sticky backside and stuck it along the ledge of the shelf. Yeah it raised the glass up some, and sure it still pops up when weight is put on it, but it doesn't bang anymore. I'm disappointed in my purchase even if it was only $200. However, it's here now and it looks nice. I just wish it was made a little better so that I wasn't so afraid to use it.\",\n \"Product: The NOOK Simple Touch eReader allows you to read numerous eBooks as it features its 6-inch touchscreen display. This amazing device lets you feel the convenience of reading your favorite story; you can find more material by searching other media on the web, thanks to its Wi-Fi capability. Moreover, this eReader comes with 2GB internal memory, storing up to 1,000 books with ease. World's Largest Bookstore - Barnes & Noble - Over 2.5 million titles - new releases, bestsellers - sample for FREE. Borrow Public Library Books - Over 2.5 million NOOK Books not enough? NOOK lets you borrow books in the universally accepted ePub format - so you can borrow and read eBooks from your local library! No Annoying Ads - Reading time is your time and you don't want to be interrupted. Share with NOOK Friends - Connect with friends and share recommendations about the books you love on Facebook and Twitter, or swap books with LendMe. Check out your friends' ratings and reviews, and let them inspire you. Longest Battery Life - With the longest battery life, you can read for over 2 months on just one charge.Specifications 6-inch touchscreen, world's most advanced E Ink Pearl display 25% faster page turns and 80% less flashing than any other eReader Best-Text Technology specially optimizes each letter for ultra crisp words 16-level gray scale for greater detail - Read in bright sun with no glare Adjustable text with 7 font sizes & 6 font styles Display resolution 800x600 Wireless connectivity via Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n) 2GB2 Holds up to 1,000 books (1GB for content; 750 MB reserved for B&N content) Expandable microSD card up to 32GB MicroUSB connector Supported Files Type - ePub5, PDF / Graphic - JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP Battery - Installed rechargeable battery, Charge via USB to a computer or from optional wall outlet, Last up to 2 months Size (HxWxD) - 6.5 x 5.0 x 0.47 in. Weight - 7.48 oz.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: The first one was a dud\\n\\nReview: I received my first nook almost a year ago. Right out of the box the power button jiggled back and forth and it very rarely turned on and off for me via the button. Then 2 months in my Nook stopped responding to me. It was just frozen on the screensaver and no matter whether I plugged it into the computer or the wall, it didn't respond. I called the company and was told to bring it into my nearest story (which is about an hour and half away). She got it to charge and boot up for me saying that the battery was dead even though I had fully charged it the previous day. FFWD 9 months and my nook still kept freezing. It would freeze while reading a book, or browsing the B&N store or wouldn't load up from the screen saver. The only way to reboot it was to plug it into the wall and it would reboot. My final straw was when I could no longer unplug my Nook due to it freezing. The second I unplugged it, it would freeze on me and I'd have to repeat the process of plugging it in and waiting for it to start up for me. I called the company, they arranged for me to pick up a new Nook at the closest store and I drove down to get my new Nook. Apparently, as you might have guessed, my Nook had a faulty battery. There was no hassle returning the Nook and the guy even let me test drive the new one before walking out of the store to make sure I was happy with it. The first thing I noticed besides the fact that it didn't immediately freeze up on me was the fact that the power button was secure and didn't jiggle at all.\\n\\nSo since I've gone through two separate Nooks, the latest showing minimal signs of problem, I'd say this is a decent product. Maybe I just happened to get the lemon of the lot? I still enjoy reading from my nook. It's a light weight device and small enough that it fits in my purse with ease. The e-ink screen makes it easier to read for extended periods of time without having to take a break due to a headache. The long life battery (when not a dud) lasts long enough for my 20 hr flight and a week without needing to be charged or turned off. Since I've gotten the replacement Nook a month ago, I've only needed to plug it in once. I also like that when I take it outside to read, there is no glare on the screen. It really is as if you are reading a book, except less bulky. I like being able to highlight and make notes in the book, it makes going back for references much easier. With a book, I would take a strip of paper and put it between the two pages, to later go back and reread them to figure out why I put the paper there. Even though I had a less than ideal experience with being a Nook owner I do enjoy the device. I always carry my Nook with me everywhere I go.\",\n \"Product: Cute Space Kitten Ladies Leggings (Many Sizes)95% Polyester 5% Spandex Officially Licensed\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Adroable pants but poorly made\\n\\nReview: Oh how I wanted to love these. I mean, c'mon, it's kittens in space! What's not to love?! However, the quality of the leggings leave little to be desired.\\n\\nI measured myself based off of the measurements and yet the pants are not form fitting at all. They just fit without stretching too much. I'm 5'2 140lbs and I ordered the large. I have wide hips and that was my main concern with getting these leggins. I will say that the waist part fits well but the leg portion of the pants are rather loose. Not a huge deal, I can live with it.\\n\\nOne big problem I have is the fact that these fit awkwardly. When I put the pants on I was convinced they sewed the tag on the wrong side. The top part of the pants were high (up to my belly button) while the back of my pants showed the top of my underwear. So, I flipped them around, and that was definitely not helping matters any. I will go out there and say that I do not have a J-Lo butt. I'd like to consider mine a moderate size if we're being honest here. So, there is no reason why the back of the pants should bow down so low while the front look like Urkle pants.\\n\\nThese are adorable and I love the print but they are made with poor quality. I read the reviews where one pant leg was longer than the other, both pant legs were the length of capris, so on and so forth. So I shouldn't be too surprised that mine don't fit perfectly. I just wish that for the quality, they were a little cheaper. Mine are also a lot lighter in color than listed in the Amazon picture. :\\\\\",\n \"Product: Based on author Richelle Meads worldwide bestselling series, VAMPIRE ACADEMY tells the legend of Rose Hathaway (Zoey Deutch) and Lissa Dragomir (Lucy Fry), two 17-year-old girls who attend a hidden boarding school for Moroi (mortal, peaceful Vampires) and Dhampirs (half-vampire/half-human guardians). Rose, a rebellious Guardian-in-training and her best friend, Lissa a royal vampire Princess - have been on the run when they are captured and returned to St.Vladamirs Academy, the very place where they believe their lives may be in most jeopardy. Thrust back into the perils of Moroi Society and high school, Lissa struggles to reclaim her status while Rose trains with her mentor and love-interest, Dimitri (Danila Kozlovsky), to guarantee her place as Lissas guardian. Rose will sacrifice everything to protect Lissa from those who intend to exploit her from within the Academy walls and the Strigoi (immortal, evil vampires) who hunt her kind from outside its sanctuary.\\n\\nRating: 1.0\\n\\nSummary: Horrible over-dramatized teeny-bopper vampire edition of Mean Girls. NOTHING like the book\\n\\nReview: I love the books. I re-read them all the time. So it's safe to say that I was really excited to see the first book turned into a movie. However, the movie isn't anything like the book. The names are the same, there are some of the same scenes in the movie but that's about where the similarities end. The characters do not act the same in the movie, there are a bunch or random scenes added into the story that were not in the book, and a lot of parts that were in the book are taken out of movie. It was a very teeny bopper over dramatized vampire edition of Mean Girls, which shouldn't be overly surprising since the director is the same person for both movies.\\nWhen the movie wasn't boring me to death, I was cringing as I watched one of my favorite books being slowly butchered apart. My husband kept looking over at me throughout the movie asking me questions about what was going on and I just kept responding with \\\"I don't know, this wasn't in the book. I don't know what is going on.\\\" It was worse than watching the Twilight saga. If they come out with another movie I will pass. I have no desire to continue torturing myself with this horrible movie adaptation of one of my favorite series.\",\n \"Product: The VTech CS6419 DECT 6.0 Cordless Phone ensures interference-free communication always. It features caller ID and selectable ringtones. This phone comes with DECT 6.0 digital technology for high sound quality. This sleek digital cordless phone offers digital security option for securing you from identity theft. The built-in caller ID memory is able to recall and identify up to 50 numbers with names. With the facility of the speakerphone, you can talk hands-free while you're occupied with some other task and conveniently multitask. The phone jack of this truly functional DECT 6.0 cordless phone can accommodate up to 5 handsets to allow you the flexibility of conferencing an outside call. With the stylish VTech CS6419 DECT 6.0 Cordless Phone, you have the freedom to walk around the house and still have crystal clear sound clarity. The well-designed keypad and backlit digital display are user-friendly and you can operate either in English, Spanish, or French according to your convenience.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Love it until it started having problems\\n\\nReview: I recently bough a Uniden Dect cordless phone but was very disappointed in it. It had a very low ring and the battery died out within a few hours. So I bought these phones and I haven't been happier. Not only are the small enough that I can fit the main phone on my overcrowded desk, but I can also fit the extra phone on my tiny end table. Both have loud ring tones that I can hear even if I'm outside gardening. I like the funky ringtones they have, they aren't all just your basic ring. The one I currently have mine set to reminds me of tune you'd hear on the Legend of Zelda game. The speakerphone works perfectly, not only can they hear me clearly but I can hear them as well. Like I said, I could not be happier with my purchase. I'm really glad I have this phone.\\n\\nUpdate 1/19/16: For the past couple of months this phone hasn't been doing so well. It's turned into more of a pager for me than an actual phone. You see, when someone calls me and I answer, they are unable to hear me. Thus, making me call them back. While this is an inconvenience with family and friends, it's a huge problem when a business or doctor's office calls me. Unfortunately, while I loved this phone at first, the fact that it didn't even last a year is disappointing. I am not currently in the process of purchasing a new phone from a different company.\",\n \"Product: Fairy gardens are here! Bring a sparkle of magic into your home and garden with the Enchanted Story - Fairy Garden line from Top Collection! Fairy gardens are a miniaturized garden you build with creativity, imagination, and a belief in fairies! Creating your own fairy garden is easy. The space can be as large as your current garden, or as mini as a flower pot. Work within the space and decorate the landscape with existing natural materials. Mini plants, tree branches, mossy patches, pebbles all work great. When the layout is finished simply add the fairy garden's inhabitants! Check out more Top collection sleeping fairy babies, fairy houses, forest critters, little dragons, and many more. They all love to hang out at your newly created fairy garden! This adorable Fairy Garden piece is cast in quality designer resin and painstakingly hand-painted to capture every detail. To protect the beautiful paint work, spray fairy garden pieces with a colorless water sealer when leaving them outside. Remember to bring them inside during the winter months!.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: I absolutely love it and couldn't be happier with my purchase\\n\\nReview: I couldn't be happier with my purchase. Even though I saw the measurements and got a feel for how big it was going to be, some of the reviews almost scared me away from purchasing this. I'm so glad that I decided to order this though because it's the perfect size! It's big enough that I can put it on my bookshelf or on my windowsill with all of my smaller plants. It's also a good size to put in a larger pot/planter if you wanted to have these two hanging out in one of your plants. I honestly could not be more happy with this statue.\\n\\nI took a few pictures to try to show the size. One of the pictures is with my African Violet in a 5\\\" pot, and the other photo is with the statue sitting next to a Funko Pop. Just so you can get an idea for what the size is of these two.\",\n \"Product: Grizzly Salmon Oil helps relieve dry itchy skin and promotes bright and lustrous coat .\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Dog and cats coats are very healthy, shiny, and dandruff free\\n\\nReview: I've bought this product twice now and I give it to my dog and cats. I put it on their food every night and have noticed a major difference in their coats. The vet has even commented on how nice their coats look. They no longer have dull coats with dandruff. Their coats shine and look really healthy. I give my dog heartworm prevention pills that I have to imagine doesn't taste good because he will not eat it until I've squirted fish oil on it. Then it disappears in seconds. My vet has also told me that for my asthmatic cat, the fish oil is a really great thing to give her because it is an anti-inflammatory. This stuff is just all around an amazing product and the pump bottle is very convenient.\",\n \"Product: Azodyl Renal Function Support Through Enteric Dialysis.Azodyl Caps helps to slow down uremic toxin buildup and prevent further kidney damage in dogs and cats. It is a breakthrough in veterinary product. It works by providing natural Enteric Dialysis through the use of beneficial bacteria that support kidney function. The treatment choice at the first signs of azotemia in dog and cats with acute or chronic kidney disease. Patented formula of naturallyoccurring beneficial bacteria that metabolize and flush out uremic toxins that have diffused into the bowel as a result of increased toxin levels in the blood. Easytoadminister, entericcoated capsules. Can be used with other treatments and/or products, such as Epakitin.Can't be shipped internationally\\n\\nRating: 1.0\\n\\nSummary: Buy from a trusted seller... not Amazon\\n\\nReview: Don't get me wrong. I buy everything on amazon... but this is not something you should get on here. The bottle clearly states that the medicine MUST remain chilled and refrigerated. I ordered the medicine online since it was $10 cheaper than getting it from my vet. The medicine arrived in a bubble wrap envelope with what once might have been a cold pack but was actually a hot pack wrapped around the bottle. The bottle was extremely warm to the touch since it was obviously being kept nice and roasty toasty in the insulated hot pack. If the medicine is left unrefrigerated for an extended period of time, the bacteria that is in the medication becomes ineffective. (Think antibiotics and birth control) So now I \\\"saved\\\" $10 on an ineffective worthless medication.\\n\\nDon't try to skimp on money like I did. Get it from a trusted seller, like your vet.\\n\\n*On a side note*\\nThe pills are your average human size capsules. I got lucky that my cat eats everything and anything. Broccoli? Sure no problem! Peas? Yes please! So I was really happy when all I had to do was cover half of the pill with a treat and she gobbled it right up. Any of my other cats wouldn't even attempt it. It must be eaten whole and not sprinkled in their food since the bacteria needs to be administered and released in their stomach. So if you don't think that you cat will eat something that big, you may want to ask your vet about an alternative. Just like any medication, it may not work for everyone. The medication helps remove toxins that would normally go through the kidneys and bypasses them to the intestines. It's not a miracle drug for kidney disease but it might help lessen the burden on their kidneys. I hope this medication helps your pets :)\",\n \"Product: KONG Naturals Premium Catnip is North American grown catnip of the highest quality. KONG catnip is harvested at the peak of its flavor, color and fragrance and field-dried. KONG's premium leaf and flower cut gives you minimal stems and seeds and more of the essential oils that cause a reaction in most cats. Use as a stand-alone treat or in KONG refillable catnip toys. KONG Naturals are ecologically responsible cat products. All ingredients and oils come from natural, renewable resources. These products are designed to appeal to the natural instincts of the indoor cat, providing fun with a purpose.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: My cats dig this stuff\\n\\nReview: I'll be honest, the only reason I bought this cat nip was because I was sick and tired of my cats opening the drawers and getting into the cabinets where I kept their bagged stuff. I can't even count how many times I've come home to a bag ripped to shreds, catnip all over the place and my kitties rolling around attacking each other in the middle of the kitchen. Plus it's really awkward when you have guests over and they open my junk drawer to find a ziplock baggie containing the little bit of catnip I could actually salvage. So when I saw this in a plastic container I thought \\\"Aha! Something they won't easily get into.\\\"\\n\\nCatnip is catnip to them. It doesn't seem to matter the brand. They lick it up, roll around in it start attacking each other for no reason. I have 3 cats and all three of them like it.\",\n \"Product: Feliway reduces or completely stops stress-related behavior including urine marking, vertical scratching, loss of appetite and the reduced desire to play or interact.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: No scent which was plus but didn't work for my cats.\\n\\nReview: It doesn't have any scent to it which is nice. However, I have a spastic cat and a cat who started peeing outside of the litter box in one particular spot. I took them both to the vet, had tests run, and the results came back normal. So the vet recommended I get not only the spray but the diffuser as well. I sprayed around the litter box, the spot outside of the litter box that my one kept peeing at, and all areas that they spend the majority of their time. It didn't do anything for either of them. My one is still a spaz and my other cat continued to pee in that one spot until the day she passed away. It was worth a try though. This is one of those things that may work for some but not all cats. Just so happened that it didn't work for my two girls.\",\n \"Product: Inspired by the diet of the lynx, a tireless and legendary hunter, BLUE Wilderness is a protein-rich, grain-free food that contains more of the delicious meat cats love. BLUE Wilderness is a product of the Blue Buffalo company. Based in the United States, Blue Buffalo makes premium-quality pet foods featuring real meat, fruit and vegetables.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: You can't go wrong with this brand!\\n\\nReview: I have a 14 yr old, 2 yr old and a 7 yr old cats and we were feeding them Iams, Purina... one of those big name cat food brands. However, when we moved to a new location we came across this brand and I instantly fell in love. All you really need to do it read the ingredients in the back. Practically, everything that you would see a cat eat in the wild is in the food. There is real meat and fish in there, blueberries, cranberries and vegetables as well. I noticed a HUGE change in my cats. My oldest used to be real lethargic, always laying around sleeping, taking a few practice jumps before jumping up on the couch. Not to mention she had very bad dandruff. She's a tortoise shell and you could clearly see the dandruff without being right on top of her. Once I switched to Blue Buffalo, she got a little pep in her step. Now I find her running around the house like a bat out of hell and neither of my other two cats know what the heck is going on. Her coat is also nice, shiny and dandruff free. I never knew how much of a difference the change in food could be for her. Now she jumps up on the couch and bed (which is higher up) with ease and is even initiating play with my other two cats. She was the one cat that I'd noticed a dramatic change in. I highly recommend this brand to everyone. It gave me my childhood friend back.\\n\\nIt may be more expensive than your average cat food but it is well worth it in the end. I have found no problem with my cats not liking this food although I do mix it with the normal Wilderness brand since my other two cats eat it. However, all three of them gobble up the food in their bowls as if they were rottweilers.\\n\\n*I recently had to switch to a low protein diet due to my eldest developing kidney disease. Within a month of switching foods she reverted back to having horrible dandruff. Aside from switching away from Blue Buffalo nothing in her diet/environment has changed. So this food really does help with dandruff.\",\n \"Product: The PetSafe Egg-Cersizer is a treat and feeder ball that's designed to randomly dispense treats and kibble. The Egg-Cersizer is uniquely adjustable to your cat's level of play. Open 1, 2 or 3 holes to customize to your cat's needs. The fun shape allows for treat distribution from all angles.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Just as pictured and described\\n\\nReview: I have 3 cats, and one of them will eat all three bowls if you let her. She's quick to gobble down her bowl so that she can push the other cats away from theirs. So when I saw this go on sale I quickly nabbed it. I wasn't sure if I should get an egg shape or a ball. I think the egg shape was the best bet. The egg doesn't roll in a straight line. So my cats aren't playing soccer throughout the house with it. I like that the wholes are adjustable for not only the size of kibble you buy but also the difficulty as well. I know the packaging says to start with the largest setting so your cat doesn't get frustrated with it but my kitty quickly caught on and was plowing through the food like there was no tomorrow. So I changed it to the hard setting (1 kernel every 3 rolls or so) and the other 2 caught on shortly after. Granted, the first few days I sprinkled cat nip in the egg with the food to entice them to mess with it but after that they got used to it. My \\\"middle child\\\" or \\\"prissy kitty\\\" as she most commonly referred to did stick her nose up at this at first. It wasn't until a week or so later that she realized that \\\"this is it\\\", we weren't going to be giving her anymore food that she started batting the eggs around.\\n\\nIt may take some coaxing to get your cat to use it but try treats, cat nip or even showing them what to do. Eventually they will figure it out and get the hang of it. It definitely slows down their eating and I've found that food in the egg will last throughout the day whereas the same amount of food in a bowl only lasts minutes.\",\n \"Product: Back to the Roots is on a mission to Undo Food. In a college class, we learned mushrooms could grow entirely on spent coffee grounds. After watching hours of how-to videos and turning our fraternity kitchen into a big science experiment, we eventually decided to give up our corporate job offers to instead become full-time mushroom farmers. What started as curiosity about urban farming has turned into a passion to Undo Food and reconnect families back to where it comes from.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Highly recommend, even for the most inexperienced fish owner.\\n\\nReview: I bought this for a friend who had never had fish before. Needless to say, I was a little worried that she'd either get the wrong fish (like cichlids or something), get too many fish, or simply kill the fish. Thus leaving her discouraged and my gift discarded. I'm glad to say that isn't the case. The tank comes with a recommendation on they type of fish you should get and how many. She got a couple of guppies, put the wheat grass seeds in the pot and within a few days she had growth. Within a couple of weeks she was juicing her wheat grass. I was blown away by not only how well it looks but how great it WORKS. I'm always killing plants from either over/under watering. Apparently I should've bought one of these for myself because not only are her fish doing great (one year later) but she's loving the plants she's getting out of the deal as well. Not to mention it's small compact size if great if you don't have a lot of space. It easily fits on an end table.\",\n \"Product: Pets are smart about avoiding their meds, but you're smarter. Designed and recommended by vets, FELINE GREENIES PILL POCKETS Treats for Cats make it easy to give your cat medicine. Don't hide medicine in human foods, such as tuna or cheese. Give a healthy, low-calorie cat treat instead. GREENIES PILL POCKETS Treats take the stress and mess out of administering capsules, tablets or liquid medication to your feline friend. Our easy-to-use pouches mask the smell and taste of medicine and deliver a delicious chicken flavor your cat will love. * GREENIES Brand is the number-one vet-recommended choice for giving medicine (Data on File, The Nutro Company 2015)\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Easy to use on even large pills and my cats love them\\n\\nReview: I have two cats that need to take pills daily. One cat is extremely finicky. She stops taking her pills when the treats I put them in are over 2 weeks old. However, with these, she gobbles them down in record timing. My other cat takes a rather large pill. I was actually nervous when I got home and pulled out her Azodyl pills that are the size of cranberry capsule. Because the pills are so large, I was worried that they wouldn't fit in the pill pockets. However, because the treat is so moist and soft, I'm able to smush the treat around the entire pill with no problem. These are pricey but they are well worth the money. No more having to try hiding the pill in a normal treat only to have my cats spit the pill out and eat the treat. With these pill pockets they eat the whole thing.\",\n \"Product: Zesty Paws Pet Salmon Oil is an all-natural pet supplement comprised of quality wild caught Alaskan salmon, which is jam-packed with Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids to deliver premium nourishment to dogs and cats of all sizes. The EPA and DHA sourced from the Omega-3 in our specialized supplement delivers vital nutrients to support mobility through proper joint & hip function, heart health and skin/coat condition, as well as enhancing the immune system to make your four-legged friend healthier, happier and zestier for life. Nutrient-rich salmon fish oil may also fight against flaky, dry skin and other skin problems, provide itch relief, and help fur look shiny, happy, and healthy, which could lead to reduced shedding and will help your pet feel good. These supplements are great for every canine and feline breed.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Love this stuff and the pump doesn't drip or leak!\\n\\nReview: I have been giving my dog and cats fish oil for years. However, the brand I was buying went up in price and so I decided to switch. I have to say that I love the pump on this oil bottle. While I don't notice a difference in my animals skin between fish oil brands, I will say that the pump is certainly different. The other brand I bought also had a convenient pump style, only it wasn't so convenient when it constantly dripped and leaked down the bottle. I've been using this bottle for months and there's no dropping or leaking. My counter are clean and I couldn't be happier.\\n\\nAs for the fish oil... if you aren't giving your pets fish oil, you need to start. When I first started putting my fur-babies on the oil their coats were dull and my eldest had bad dandruff. After a month on the fish oil, their coats got shiny and fully, and my eldest cat's dandruff reduced significantly. Not to mention that I have a cat with asthma and arthritis, which the oil helps with that because it works as an anti-inflammatory. Any time I tell my vet that they are on fish oil, they are always pleased to hear it and applaud me taking such good care of my babies.\",\n \"Product: Longevity Mature cat food helps support her specific needs with ingredients that have been shown to help with: lean muscle maintenance; energy to stay active; immune system health; healthy skin and coat; strong teeth and bones. Nutrient-Rich Ingredients. Lower Caloric Density. Taste Cats Love: BLUE Longevity healthy cat food is a delicious blend of lean protein, nutrient-rich vegetables and fruits and wholesome whole grains.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: It gave me my childhood friend back\\n\\nReview: I have a 14 year old cat and we were feeding her Iams, Purina... one of those big name cat food brands. However, when we moved to a new location we came across this brand and I instantly fell in love. All you really need to do it read the ingredients in the back. Practically, everything that you would see a cat eat in the wild is in the food. There is real meat and fish in there, blueberries, cranberries and vegetables as well. I noticed a HUGE change in my cat. She used to be real lethargic, always laying around sleeping, taking a few practice jumps before jumping up on the couch. Not to mention she had very bad dandruff. She's a tortoise shell and you could clearly see the dandruff without being right on top of her. Once I switched to Blue Buffalo, she got a little pep in her step. Now I find her running around the house like a bat out of hell and neither of my other two cats know what the heck is going on. Her coat is also nice, shiny and dandruff free. I never knew how much of a difference the change in food could be for her. Now she jumps up on the couch and bed (which is higher up) with ease and is even initiating play with my other two cats. I hate to sound mushy but considering that changing food was the only thing we did different with her, Blue Buffalo gave me my childhood friend back.\\n\\nIt may be more expensive than your average cat food but it is well worth it in the end. I do mix longevity with <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Blue-Buffalo-Wilderness-Grain-Free-Dry-Cat-Food-Chicken-Recipe-12-Pound-Bag/dp/B002UT92EY/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Blue Buffalo Wilderness Grain Free Dry Cat Food, Chicken Recipe, 12-Pound Bag</a> and have had no problem with her not eating it. All three of my cats gobble up the food in their bowls as if they were rottweilers.\\n\\n*I recently had to switch to a low protein diet due to my eldest developing kidney disease. Within a month of switching foods she reverted back to having horrible dandruff. Aside from switching away from Blue Buffalo nothing in her diet/environment has changed. So this food really does help with dandruff.\",\n \"Product: A magnificent epic of love, war and Russia from the international bestselling author of TULLY and ROAD TO PARADISE Leningrad 1941: the white nights of summer illuminate a city of fallen grandeur whose palaces and avenues speak of a different age, when Leningrad was known as St Petersburg. Two sisters, Tatiana and Dasha, share the same bed, living in one room with their brother and parents. The routine of their hard impoverished life is shattered on 22 June 1941 when Hitler invades Russia. For the Metanov family, for Leningrad and particularly for Tatiana, life will never be the same again. On that fateful day, Tatiana meets a brash young man named Alexander. The family suffers as Hitler's army advances on Leningrad, and the Russian winter closes in. With bombs falling and the city under siege, Tatiana and Alexander are drawn inexorably to each other, but theirs is a love that could tear Tatiana's family apart, and at its heart lies a secret that could mean death to anyone who hears it. Confronted on the one hand by Hitler's vast war machine, and on the other by a Soviet system determined to crush the human spirit, Tatiana and Alexander are pitted against the very tide of history, at a turning point in the century that made the modern world.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: This is the love story of love stories.\\n\\nReview: This would be one of the books that I would save if my house were on fire. I love it that much.\\n\\nI don't know how to express how beautiful of a story this is without sounding like a raging lunatic. Don't be afraid that it's almost 900 pages of length. Think of it as 3 separate stories combined in one book.\\n\\nThis is the love story of love stories. It will outdo Romeo and Juliet, Jaime Fraser and Claire, Hans Solo and Princess Leia... yes I just went there. The story is heart wrenching from the beginning and continues to pull on your heart strings until the very last word.\\n\\nTatiana is such an innocent, carefree girl. One day while out getting supplies, she decides to buy an ice cream and sits down to enjoy it while she waits for the bus to show up. That's when she sees the soldier across the street staring at her. From that moment on, Tatiana's life will never be the same.\\n\\nHowever their story is not an easy one. Tatiana's older sister met Alexander first and therefor, Tatiana gives him up to save her sister from heartache. Not to mention the war that is taking place right outside their door. Tatiana fights every day to stay alive and Alexander does everything he can to keep her safe. He brings the family food with his rations, he walks Tatiana home from work as well as to and from the grocery store. He even makes sure to bring her something special like chocolate or extra food for just her to eat. He does everything that he can do in his power to keep Tatiana alive. And that, is just half of the story. But I can't say anymore otherwise it will give away some major spoilers.\\n\\nIf there was a way that I could give this book a higher rating I would. I honestly do not know why this book wasn't picked up a while ago to be turned into a movie. As it is, I did some digging and found out that there is a movie in the works and will be going into pre-production at the end of 2013. And maybe with a little luck and some pixie dust it will be finished at the end of 2014.\",\n \"Product: Can Agatha and Sophie find the perfect ending to their story in this epic conclusion to this bestselling series. Once best friends, Agatha and Sophie were pulled apart like strangers, each in the arms of a boy, Good with Good, Evil with Evil...is their friendship lost forever after...But as they settle into their new lives, their story begs to be re-written, and this time, theirs isn't the only one. With the girls apart, Evil has taken over and the villains of the past have come back to change their tales and turn the world of Good and Evil upside down. With Evers being murdered and Nevers reigning supreme, the girls need to restore the balance, find the end to their story, and-hopefully-become friends again\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: A fun take on fairy tales\\n\\nReview: The School for Good and Evil follows Agatha and Sophie as they are kidnapped from their homes and brought to the school for good or evil. Basically is a school for kids to learn to be their true selves, either villains or heroes. They are given tasks and are tested to see where their ranking is among the other students. Students who fail disappear, and students who thrive get their own fairy tale. Sounds pretty straight forward and normally Sophie and Agatha would embrace their new situation but theres one problem. Sophie, whos been primped, pampered, and is destined to be a princess is placed in the school for evil and Agatha, who is the exact opposite of Sophie, is placed in the school for good. Pretty soon, Sophies in raggedy clothing, her hairs a mess, and shes being ridiculed by her classmates for being too pretty. Meanwhile, Agatha is too frumpy, too ugly, and too anti-social to be a princess. She finds herself an outcast from both the princesses and the princes.\\n\\nWhile this is a middle grade book, I did find that it was also entertaining to read as an adult. There are some darker moments and some underlying things going on that gave it just the edge it needed to not be too light and sweet. It kind of took what we all picture a fairy tale to be composed of, and it made you question a lot of things instead of just seeing it in black and white. Now, I know this is getting a lot of flack for being too image driven and how the story line revolves around being pretty, ugly, or getting the guy, but its a parody of fairy tales. What older fairy tale didn't revolve around being pretty and getting the guy? Cinderella and Ariel had to change their physical appearance to become beautiful and acceptable in order to get the princes attention and love. Aurora and Snow White needed some creeper dude to come upon their dead-like bodies and kiss them in order to bring them back to life and thus marrying them and having a HEA. Granted, the original stories for some of these aren't quite as happy or PG as Disney portrayed them. All Im saying is, this story took those basics that we all know from fairy tales and it gave you a new perspective on how it all began.\",\n \"Product: Jeaniene Frost is the New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling author of the Night Huntress series and the Night Huntress World novels. To date, foreign rights for her novels have sold to nineteen different countries. Jeaniene lives in North Carolina with her husband Matthew, who long ago accepted that she rarely cooks and always sleeps in on the weekends. Aside from writing, Jeaniene enjoys reading, poetry, watching movies with her husband, exploring old cemeteries, spelunking and traveling - by car. Airplanes, children, and cook books frighten her.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: I really enjoyed this book\\n\\nReview: This second book takes place 4 years later. Cat is now the team leader of her special forces group who take down the undead. She has turned cynical and sour over the years but she will do anything for her team. After all these years she still misses Bones and cannot seem to forget about him. However after a turn of events Cat is reunited with Bones and it doesn't take long for their relationship to rekindle. But Cat seems to have a price on her head and Bones is ready to do anything in order to keep Cat safe, which includes joining her team.\\n\\nThe first part of the book is about Cat and her new life. You see how much she has changed but no matter what she still holds onto the past. She is respected by her team of men and she would do anything to make sure they are safe. Then comes Bones who after years of searching for Cat, has finally found her and no matter what refuses to let her go again. So since Cat is so dead set on staying with her men since, let's face it, without her half vampire strength and speed, they would be dead without her, Bone decides to join the special forces group. Once Bones is on board, he and Cat pick up where they left off. There of course are a couple of bumps along the way, like someone putting a bounty on Cat's head, Bones' ex-lovers popping up and a little problem with Cat's vampire father making an appearance.\\n\\nThis one sets the stage for Cat and Bones to work with the team and create a stronger vampire fighting unit. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more of Cat and Bones' story.\\n\\n-Book Sniffers Anonymous\",\n \"Product: Jeaniene Frost is the New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling author of the Night Huntress series and the Night Huntress World novels. To date, foreign rights for her novels have sold to nineteen different countries. Jeaniene lives in North Carolina with her husband Matthew, who long ago accepted that she rarely cooks and always sleeps in on the weekends. Aside from writing, Jeaniene enjoys reading, poetry, watching movies with her husband, exploring old cemeteries, spelunking and traveling - by car. Airplanes, children, and cook books frighten her.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: This story just keeps getting better\\n\\nReview: This is one of the most intense books in the series so far. Cat and Bones decide to go on a little vacation and when they do Cat is almost \\\"dream snatched\\\" by her husband. No no, not Bones... her first vampire husband... Gregor. Whom, she doesn't even remember knowing, let along the fact that she would marry a vampire at the age of 16 when at the time she despised vampires. Gregor will do anything to get Cat back, including but not limited to, cheap shots and low blows. This book kept me on my toes the entire time. Who knew so much could go down in only a few hundred pages. My one and only complaint... there was no Tate! :'(\\n\\nWhere do I begin, Cat is the typical Cat. She is still just as stubborn as Bones. She still feels like she needs to protect everyone from danger, which still lands her in a heap of trouble. Which leads to Bones getting the most upset I have seen so far. Emotions run high throughout the entire book. Vlad steps up and becomes a good friend to Cat and comforts her through a tough spot, which of course Bones misinterprets. More huge battles, more huge losses and some new developments to give the story a twist.\\n\\nI think that pretty much sums up the book without giving too much away. With all the action that is going on, Frost has still found time for some amazing one on one time with Bones and Cat. I could barely put this book down and stayed up until the early morning trying to finish it.\",\n \"Product: THIS IS BRAND NEW BOOK.WE PROVIDE 100% CUSTOMER SATISFACTION.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: The story picks up more in this one\\n\\nReview: In the last book Sydney signed up for an assignment that involved helping to hide and protect princess Jill from attacks. Since Jill is the queen's last relative, if those who appose the queen can kill Jill, due to Moroi law the queen will have to give up her throne since she will have no other relatives. So Sydney, Jill, Eddie and Adrian meet up and hide out in sunny Palm Springs, CA.\\n\\nThe Golden Lily picks up shortly after Bloodlines ends. The gang is still hiding out in Palm Springs and Dimitri and Sonya join the mix as well. I really liked the addition of more characters in the story. Sonya and Dimitri are trying to figure out what keeps a person from turning back to a strigoi once they've been \\\"saved\\\". Plus, we also have a potential love interest for Sydney who is pretty much the male version of herself, and Trey who we got to see a little bit of in the first book.\\n\\nOne key point that I have to point out that I hands down loved was the mention of Joshua Tree National Park. I literally squealed when I read it. You're probably wondering why. Well, it's because I work there! If you ever call the park and need information about what to see or where to go in the park, I'm the one answering the phones. I also talk to visitors when they come into the visitor center. So I was pretty excited to see that they not only name dropped the park but Mead did a little bit of homework concerning the two deserts that run through the park and the differences between them. That to me was probably the best part of the whole thing... oh and having a secondary character named Kristin didn't hurt either.\\n\\nThere is a couple of mysteries that take place in this book. Sydney realizes that the Alchemists may not be what she had grown up to believe it as. As well as the fact that Sydney may be more otherworldly than she though. You don't get 100% answers to either of these two but all I know is that Mead is setting us up for an epic adventure. Not to mention that the ending leaves you reeling for more Adrian. I mean seriously, how can you end a book on a swoon worthy note like that?!\\n\\n-Book Sniffers Anonymous\",\n \"Product: Shadow kiss is the third title in the international number 1 bestselling vampire academy series by richelle mead - now a major motion picture. Higher learning. Higher stakes. What if following her heart means rose could lose her best friend - forever? rose hathaway knows it is forbidden to love another guardian. Her best friend, lissa, must always come first. Unfortunately, when it comes to the gorgeous dimitri belikov, some rules are meant to be broken. Lying to lissa about dimitri is one thing, but suddenly there's way more than friendship at stake. The immortal dead are on the prowl and in a heart-stopping battle, rose will have to choose between life, love and the two people who matter most. But will her choice mean that only one survives? \\\"exciting, empowering and un-put-downable\\\". (mtv's hollywood crush blog). \\\"we're suckers for it!\\\". (entertainment weekly). Also available in the vampire academy series: vampire academy (book 1); vampire academy: frostbite (book 2); vampire academy: shadow kiss (book 3); vampire academy: blood promise (book 4); vampire academy: spirit bound (book 5); and vampire academy: last sacrifice (book 6). And don't miss the bestselling vampire academy spin-off series, bloodlines: bloodlines (book 1); bloodlines: the golden lily (book 2); bloodlines: the indigo spell (book 3); bloodlines: the fiery heart (book 4); and bloodlines: silver shadows (book 5). About the author: richelle mead is the new york times and global bestselling author of the vampire academy series (soon to be a movie blockbuster in feb 2014), the bloodlines series and the age of x series. Richelle lives in seattle, washington.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Yet another great graphic novel adaptation by Leigh Dragoon and Emma Vieceli.\\n\\nReview: Yet another great graphic novel adaptation by Leigh Dragoon and Emma Vieceli. In this installment we learn a little bit more about Roses shadow kissed condition and what that means for her. Plus, Rose and Dimitris relationship picks up and boy is it hot!\\n\\nI love the work that these two ladies do for Richelle Meads VA series. Sure, Leigh Dragoon takes a lot out of each book in order to fit it into one graphic novel, but she keeps the heart of the story intact. Not only that, but she still adds some little quirky parts that are in the story. For instance, she included the scene where Dimitri makes hot cocoa for Rose and as hes making it, he explains how using two packets is the secret to delicious hot cocoa. Thats something that could have been easily over-looked. I mean, its not like Rose uses hot cocoa to save the day or anything. However, that was one of those vulnerable moments from Dimitri that always stuck out for me when reading Shadow Kiss.\\n\\nLike Ive said before, you don't have to read the series in order to read the graphic novels. We get a prologue at the beginning describing the whos who of players and whats going on. So, if you are more of a graphic novel person and don't really want to read the series itself, you don't have to. I think thats one thing that I love about this graphic novel series. Its not dependent on you having read the original series. It can hold its own. However, given the fact that the graphic novel is still a series in itself, I would highly recommend that you start with the first book and work your way through the graphic novels.\\n\\nOne of the things that stuck out to me the most was probably the cave scene at the end. I always had such a hard time envisioning it in the novel. I mean, theres all these tunnels, fighting going on, the strigoi are hiding in hidden pockets and attacking people, it was pretty hard to picture when reading the novel. So, it was great seeing it illustrated. I think with seeing it illustrated it made it that much more suspenseful.\\n\\nI can not give this graphic novel series more praise. Leigh Dragoon and Emma Vieceli have taken one of my favorite series and turned it into a graphic novel. A successful graphic novel at that. I really hope the publisher decides to publish Blood Promise as a graphic novel. The last I heard they were waiting to see how the sales from this one did before they approved the next one. All I know is that this girl will be crossing her fingers. I kind of want to see how Emma Vieceli pulls off the new Dimitri.\",\n \"Product: Shadow kiss is the third title in the international number 1 bestselling vampire academy series by richelle mead - now a major motion picture. Higher learning. Higher stakes. What if following her heart means rose could lose her best friend - forever? rose hathaway knows it is forbidden to love another guardian. Her best friend, lissa, must always come first. Unfortunately, when it comes to the gorgeous dimitri belikov, some rules are meant to be broken. Lying to lissa about dimitri is one thing, but suddenly there's way more than friendship at stake. The immortal dead are on the prowl and in a heart-stopping battle, rose will have to choose between life, love and the two people who matter most. But will her choice mean that only one survives? \\\"exciting, empowering and un-put-downable\\\". (mtv's hollywood crush blog). \\\"we're suckers for it!\\\". (entertainment weekly). Also available in the vampire academy series: vampire academy (book 1); vampire academy: frostbite (book 2); vampire academy: shadow kiss (book 3); vampire academy: blood promise (book 4); vampire academy: spirit bound (book 5); and vampire academy: last sacrifice (book 6). And don't miss the bestselling vampire academy spin-off series, bloodlines: bloodlines (book 1); bloodlines: the golden lily (book 2); bloodlines: the indigo spell (book 3); bloodlines: the fiery heart (book 4); and bloodlines: silver shadows (book 5). About the author: richelle mead is the new york times and global bestselling author of the vampire academy series (soon to be a movie blockbuster in feb 2014), the bloodlines series and the age of x series. Richelle lives in seattle, washington.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great YA that adults will enjoy\\n\\nReview: This book had more action to it than the others. The school has paired Dhampirs with Moroi as if they are in the real world. The administators are acting as the Strigoi and are randomly attacking the students to test their reflex skills. So with the mock fights there is a lot of action going on through out the book. On top of that Rose has started to see ghosts. She has no idea why she's seeing ghosts and what it means but something doesn't seem right. Add in a trip to the Royal Court, two real Strigoi attacks and two huge surprises at the end and you have got yourself one hell of a story.\\n\\nI don't know where to begin. After the way Frostbite ended I didn't know what to expect between Dimitri and Rose. He has certainly lowered his defenses a bit and he has been around her a lot more. For instance when she gets in trouble during a mock fight and is given community service at the church, Dimitri shows up to help her with it. You could see that he was opening up a little bit more to her.\\n\\nThe only thing I cannot get out of my head is the ending though. Boy does Mead know how to leave you hanging. First you're like \\\"OMG I cannot believe that just happened!\\\" and then BAM \\\"WHAT?! How did that happen?\\\"... \\\"Oh no, that's not good.\\\".... \\\"Yes kill those Strigoi!\\\"... \\\"No! No! No! Are you f*&'ing kidding me?! No!\\\"... The end. I mean talk about emotional ending. Out of the entire book I think that the ending took the cake for me. I got goosebumps reading the highs and lows all in a matter of chapters. I cheered, I got nervous, I cheered again, then got sad, then things were looking up and then Wham Bam Thank You Ma'am I was thrown off my a** and didn't know what the hell happened.\",\n \"Product: The premise of the story was Kevin a bar owner who gets many phone numbers a night is intrigued by a pretty brunette that walks into his bar one night. After she dismisses him he can't get her out of his head. So when he see's her at his brothers wedding he peruses her. They end up spending the night together and then three weeks later they find out their having a baby.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Not as good as the first book.\\n\\nReview: I was really excited to read Kevin's story. He seemed like an honest, kind guy who had a tough break in Exclusively Yours. So I was a little disappointed when even though Kevin held up his end of the book, Beth just totally flopped for me. She was whiny, ornery and just plain whacked out. She was so far independent and not wanting help from anybody that I really wondered, What is wrong with this chick? I still have no clue what made her up and move so often with nothing but a small suitcase of belongings. Poor Kevin tries as hard as he can to get her to open up to him and let him be apart of her life and she continues to push him away, even after the baby is born. The HEA ending pretty much came out of nowhere so fast that I was left wondering... Did I skip a chapter?\\n\\nHowever, the redeeming qualities of this book is the Kowalski humor. The entire family is hilarious and they make many appearances in this book. Leo is just as outspoken as before and the family is still butting into each others business. I think one of my favorite things about the book is how comfortable the family is. You feel like you are reading your own family on the pages. The little kids are as uncensored and curious as my niece. Thank goodness I only have one instead of half a dozen.\",\n \"Product: Jessica McBrayer lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. She lives in a house that looks like the prow of a cruise ship which is surrounded by hills too steep for mountain goats, although every other critter seems to make it their go to place. Jessica shares her home with her husband, her two children, assorted animals and her mother, who is also a writer. Jessica is a member of Sisters in Crime and Romance Writers of America. Contact her at: jessica.mcbrayer@gmail.com * Follow her on twitter: @jessimcbrayer www.jessicamcbrayer.wordpress.com\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Interesting Paranormal Romance novel\\n\\nReview: To the average person, Thorn appears to be your average tattoo artist. She does great work on tattoos and has a long waiting list of customers waiting to get their next ink fix. What people don't know is that she is actually a witch. Not only that but some of her \\\"special\\\" customers want an enchanted talisman worked into their tattoo for protection, wealth etc. However, when her \\\"special\\\" customers start becoming targets of a serial killer whom cuts out these talisman, Thorn is not only in danger because it is clear that the killer is taunting her but she's also a suspect in the local authorities eyes.\\n\\nThorn was a pretty interesting character. You would think with being a tattoo artist, riding a bike and being a witch that she would be this kick-ass character but she's really not. She's been on the run for quite some time and really doesn't like trouble. There is even a scene where she gets the crap kicked out of her and just sort of takes the beating without using her spells for fear of revealing herself as a witch.\\n\\nThen you have Se, the sexy Irish detective. I found his character to be really intriguing. He comes in when the murders pop up to ask Thorn a couple of questions. He instantly knows that she's a witch since he has the \\\"sight\\\", his grandmother was a witch so he grew up around it. He tries to stay as professional as he can when it comes to Thorn but when she becomes the #1 suspect, he warns Thorn that they are coming to arrest her to give her time to run. There was just something about his character that I really liked.\\n\\nI thought for McBrayar's debut novel, that she did a great job. I really liked the idea of the story and felt that as a whole it was pretty good. It held my attention the entire time and I found myself staying up at night just to get to the end of the story. However, there were a couple of problems I had with the book. One, there were grammar issues in the story and second, I found some of the dialogue to be a bit choppy in some spots. Some of the things the characters said just didn't seem real to me either. However, that didn't ruin the story for me but it did keep me from getting 100% engrossed in the story. I definitely enjoyed Stained and look forward to reading more from this author.\",\n \"Product: Nancy was born in Sioux City Iowa, left the cold of the Midwest in 1991 and only returns to see family in the summer time. She spent ten years traveling the world as a US Marine and settled in rural SC with her husband and two children. She enjoys reading all types of Paranormal and Young Adult literature. You can connect with her on Facebook http://alturl.com/en5ia / Her bloghttp://www.authnancystraight.blogspot.com / Twitter @NancyStraight / Goodreads: http://alturl.com/bnmv2\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: An amazing continuation of the story that will leave your jaw dropping\\n\\nReview: I was a little nervous when I started reading this book. A good portion of the book is Drake and Cami on the run from her grandmother, whom they escaped from in the previous book. What made me nervous is the fact that I don't do long journey type books. I get bored quickly when the main character is on a mission the entire book. However, the fact that it broke between not only both Cami and Drake's POV but Cami's friend Daniel and her brother Beau really helped keep my interest. Not saying that the journey that Cami and Drake take isn't necessary to the story but I suppose I have ADD when my main character is walking/traveling for an extended length of time.\\n\\nWe follow Cami and Drake as they look for a magical arrow that will keep Cami safe from her grandmother and in order to find it they must find her grandmothers twin brother. So their journey starts there. We also follow Beau who has one year left until he is no longer eligible to marry a centauride thus not being able to carry on the family bloodline. You see, males have until the age of 30 to be chosen by a Centauride before they are cast away from Centaur Society. So before Beau can get the boot or become anyone's charity case, he decides to jump ship, gives Daniel a call and heads out to San Diego. What I was most excited about was the fact that we finally learn the story behind Daniel. In the last book I kept wondering why both Daniel's parents and Cami's parents were freaking out over their friendship... now I know why.\\n\\nNancy did a great job writing the sequel. I had some of my questions answered and new questions arise. I liked the turn of events and the changes that she gave her characters. I didn't see a lot of things coming and had a couple of \\\"pick my jaw up off the floor\\\" moments. Last time my ending question was \\\"what is the deal with Daniel?\\\" Now... it's \\\"What is the deal with Drake?!\\\" Oh and on an ending note I would just like to ask Nancy... WHHHHHHYYYY?! Why must you end the book this way?\\n\\nBook Sniffers Anonymous\",\n \"Product: Maya Banks is the #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of contemporary and historical romances. She lives in Texas with her husband and three children.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Maya did a great job with a taboo subject.\\n\\nReview: Cade and Merrick run a small security system company and one night doesnt go according to plan. They find a beaten scared woman huddled in a cabinet of one of their clients gun shops. They try to talk her into going to the hospital but its clear that shes too frightened to let authorities check her out. Shes terrified that whoever attacked her will be notified when shes admitted into the hospital. Merrick and Cade don't want to put her life in jeopardy so they call their friend/physician and have him look at her. Thats when they realize that she was beaten and shot within an inch of her life. They aren't willing to let anything happen to her so they decide to take her in and care for her until she heals and gets her memory back. But the longer she stays with them, the more they fall in love with her.\\n\\nIve only read one of Mayas books before and that was In Bed with a Highlander. I haven't read any of her other more erotic romances. Maya did a great job with a taboo subject. I haven't really read too many 2 on 1 relationships and its still fairly new to me. However, I honestly didn't find anything wrong with their relationship. It was perfect for them. I didn't feel like one got left out over the other when it came to the two guys.\\n\\nI liked that the story had suspense over the amnesia part and the fact that she remembers the guy who raped and tried to kill her as being one of law enforcement. So anytime anything with authorities arises you sort of hold your breath wondering if one of the guys at the scene is him. Plus I liked the star quality of Merrick being an upcoming heavy weight champion in martial arts fighting. So theres some fighting scenes with him in the ring and of course the suspense of the cameras zooming in on her and her face being broadcasted all over the nation. Maya made sure that the reader never forgot the danger.\\n\\nI liked that Maya kept the suspense up throughout the entire book. There were times that you thought maybe Elle would remember her past. Whether it be the attacker or her previous life. Which of course was nail biting because, what if she had a husband and a family? Then you had the suspense of the person finding her and possibly trying to finish what he started. Plus Maya threw in the steamy bedroom scenes. All in all this was a great well rounded erotic romantic suspense. Im pretty excited that this is a series that will continue Elles story. The author couldve gone the easy route and quickly ended on a HEA but instead Elles story will be slowly revealed. Hopefully we will start getting answers to what happened to her and whether those answers will threaten her new found relationship with Cade and Merrick.\",\n \"Product: In the midst of a lifetime of story telling, Julia Lynam found herself donning a ranger hat and discovering a world that goes far beyond the big name National Parks of the USA. \\\"Treasures On Your Doorstep\\\" is her entertaining take on how you can enjoy the hundreds of hidden National Park properties scattered throughout the country. It will lead you down paths of pure enjoyment and by-ways of discovery and enrichment. When she's not working in a National Park, Julia lives in Vermont, spending her time dancing, writing and story-telling, and never quite knowing where her next job will take her.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great guide for anyone planning a visit to a National Park\\n\\nReview: When you think of National Parks, your first thoughts are Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite but there are over 400 units (parks, monuments, historic sites, etc.) that are overlooked in the grand scheme of things. Julia really opens your eyes to the fact that with so many places out there, there's a good chance that we have a unit in our backyard and may not even know it.\\n\\nI will be honest, I am not a non-fiction reader. I like to read to escape life. So when I was asked to review the book I was a little nervous on whether or not I'd enjoy it. However, by the 3rd page, all my fears were gone. Julia really does have a way to not only give information but she does it in a way that's entertaining with little quips mixed in.\\n\\nThis book is perfect for a guide into the National Parks Service. She gives the reader all the tools they will need for not only a successful trip to the national parks but a safe one as well. She links to websites that will come in handy when doing research prior to your vacation. She offers guidance on what to do if you are lost in a park. She even offers some preventative advice on how not to get lost in the first place. She also gives one good piece of advice\\n\\n\\\"Tell someone who cares where you're going and what time you expect to return\\\"\\n\\nNot only did I get a good chuckle out of the \\\"tell someone who cares\\\" bit but it's sound advice. It's advice that I give to visitors all the time. (Yes I work at a National Park)\\n\\nThere were subjects in this book that Julia touched base with that I was unfamiliar with. She covers everything from planning a trip, doing research, finding bargains with entry prices and merchandise prices, how to become a webranger (v.s. the Junior Ranger program which is an activity booklet that kids do while in the park), she even touches base with how to apply for a job in the NPS as well as volunteering.\\n\\nEven if you are not planning on visiting a National Park in the near future I still highly recommend this book. It not only gives you great insight to the \\\"treasures on your doorstep\\\" but you never know, you could find yourself checking out one of the sites listed in the book and planning a vacation before you know it.\",\n \"Product: In the midst of a lifetime of story telling, Julia Lynam found herself donning a ranger hat and discovering a world that goes far beyond the big name National Parks of the USA. \\\"Treasures On Your Doorstep\\\" is her entertaining take on how you can enjoy the hundreds of hidden National Park properties scattered throughout the country. It will lead you down paths of pure enjoyment and by-ways of discovery and enrichment. When she's not working in a National Park, Julia lives in Vermont, spending her time dancing, writing and story-telling, and never quite knowing where her next job will take her.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: A very informative and fun guide\\n\\nReview: When you think of National Parks, your first thoughts are Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite but there are over 400 units (parks, monuments, historic sites, etc.) that are overlooked in the grand scheme of things. Julia really opens your eyes to the fact that with so many places out there, there's a good chance that we have a unit in our backyard and may not even know it.\\n\\nI will be honest, I am not a non-fiction reader. I like to read to escape life. So when I was asked to review the book I was a little nervous on whether or not I'd enjoy it. However, by the 3rd page, all my fears were gone. Julia really does have a way to not only give information but she does it in a way that's entertaining with little quips mixed in.\\n\\nThis book is perfect for a guide into the National Parks Service. She gives the reader all the tools they will need for not only a successful trip to the national parks but a safe one as well. She links to websites that will come in handy when doing research prior to your vacation. She offers guidance on what to do if you are lost in a park. She even offers some preventative advice on how not to get lost in the first place. She also gives one good piece of advice\\n\\n\\\"Tell someone who cares where you're going and what time you expect to return\\\"\\n\\nNot only did I get a good chuckle out of the \\\"tell someone who cares\\\" bit but it's sound advice. It's advice that I give to visitors all the time. (Yes I work at a National Park)\\n\\nThere were subjects in this book that Julia touched base with that I was unfamiliar with. She covers everything from planning a trip, doing research, finding bargains with entry prices and merchandise prices, how to become a webranger (v.s. the Junior Ranger program which is an activity booklet that kids do while in the park), she even touches base with how to apply for a job in the NPS as well as volunteering.\\n\\nEven if you are not planning on visiting a National Park in the near future I still highly recommend this book. It not only gives you great insight to the \\\"treasures on your doorstep\\\" but you never know, you could find yourself checking out one of the sites listed in the book and planning a vacation before you know it.\",\n \"Product: Born in Melbourne Australia, Jacinta Maree considers herself a chocoholic with an obsession with dragons, video gaming and Japan. She writes a variety of genres including YA paranormal, steampunk, horror, new adult, dystopian and fantasy. Winner of 2014 Horror of the year and bestselling author, Jacinta writes to bring enjoyment to others while fulfilling her own need to explore the weird and the impossible.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Really interesting dark dystopian\\n\\nReview: Soulless is definitely a dark read. I wasn't sure what I was getting into when I picked up this book. In all honestly, the covers are what drew me in. They are just so awesome that I had to know what was inside. What I was not expecting was so much death, gore, and violence. Sure, the synopsis lets you know its in there but I thought it would just be in passing, I had no idea how ruthless Nadias world is. So, when the author says theres some violence shes not lying. There were a few times where I contemplated skipping past a scene because I could just picture it too vividly for my liking.\\n\\nOne thing that I like about this story is that the characters are not just one-sided. I mean, sure you have Diesel which is this ruthless inmate that Nadia meets while imprisoned who is clearly only interested in himself. However, as the book progresses, you start to see some of his other previous personas make an appearance. It kind of made you question who the real Diesel was. Was he the ruthless killer who wouldnt hesitate to kill Nadia or anyone who challenged him? Or is he the easygoing calm guy who shows affection here and there? I mean, he clearly states that hes currently looking through the eyes or windows of a different person at the time but it still makes you wonder how much of his previous lives impact who he is today without him realizing it. Also, why was he blacklisted and rotting away in a cell? What heinous crimes has he committed. He lets on throughout the book all the tortures and horrible deaths hes endured, so we know he hasn't seem to live any sort of peaceful life before, but why is he blacklisted?\\n\\nBecause of Nadias lack of soulprint, her parents sell her off to become a lab rat. I say parents loosely because they view themselves as the incubators for a reincarnated stranger, they don't view their kids as their own. So, when they are presented the opportunity to get food and medicine, which is something lacking to anyone whos not rich, they take it and don't look back. Which is how Nadia finds herself being strapped and tortured in a prison for the blacklisted. However, when one of the other inmates helps her escape her first instinct is to go back home. Nadia has to wade through a lot of stuff in order to become the girl she is by the end of the book. I mean, she never had a cushy life but it was hers and soon she finds herself lost and unsure who she can trust. Things get even more complicated for her as she start to hear whispers about a prophecy about someone who is soulless, who will stop the cycle of reincarnations.\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":34,"string":"34"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_3"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":883,"string":"883"}}},{"rowIdx":884,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"AUJQGS8PQ20QH"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of \"5.0\" for a product with description \"This music is magic, stretching space and slowing time. Classical finally merges magically with pure Pop!, for a new era in music that has deep roots in sounds of old. This circular surround sound soundtrack experience is technological perfection. Brimming with life and luring the spirit to rise and dance, behold a new sound being called by her name, \"Cadence\". This vocalist's very soul bursts into our ears and plays out in full color to the eyes of our hearts, soothing us deeply to the deepest core. Sonic science and digital technology melt together her vast vocal range of tone and flavor, a choir of angels through a single voice, emoting with soaring Celtic flat tones, weaving with classical chorals, transcending through memorable melodies that pulse, wind, build and cascade gently into the single, soulful voice. We are effortlessly entranced by the exquisitely crafted songs and penetrating lyrics that sing all on their own, sweetly bathing us in hope, in faith, in the future and in the brand new. A hypnotic journey to spiritual higher ground connecting all of humanity through the greater unconscious of organic sounds and voices and stories. Producer Mars Lasar's hand crafting of over 10,000 one of a kind vocal takes assures that you will never again want to live without this music, and these sounds will be forever welcomed into the most intimate corners of wherever you call your home. A 5-Star delight of sound and song, a sonic sanctuary leaving you drenched in serenity and tingling with inspiration. See more about Cadence at www.cadencespalding.com Enjoy!\". The summary of the review text is \"Writings by Serge Kozlovsky\"."},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"The music harmonizes this world\nAnd give us taste of life\n\nStarting to describe Cadence Spalding's debut album it is difficult to avoid the comparison of her manner with the singing with Enya. Flaring polyphony vocals, strong celtic flavor - all these are present in the project \"Save the World\". But no doubt Cadence Spalding has her unique style which stirs the soul while listening to this truly outstanding work. But what features make the album \"Save the World\" so particular?\n\nThe first reason is that great love is splashed out with Cadence Spalding's delicate singing. You just float in the aerial harmonies of her enchanting vocals. She is very close to you, so it seems you can simply stretch your hand and gently touch her. And your heart begins to pulse in unison with this divine music.\n\nSecondly I want to point out the perfect sound of the album \"Save the World\". And this is not accidental because this CD/DVD was produced by Mars Lasar whose firm handwriting is impossible to confuse with anything. The images on the DVD are delightful.\n\nThe album \"Save the World\" should be listened to as a single whole. But my particular choice are the compositions in which Cadence Spalding's voice are fully intertwined with refined, very smooth and at the same time slightly jazzy Mars Lasar's sound. I'd like to mention the songs \"I Do\" and \"Share Your Life\" in this connection. In addition to that Mars Lasar masterfully interweaves ethnic motives and adds strong rhythmic pattern to his music.\n\nOne wants to say many praising words about the album \"Save the World\". This is music for future people who won't be divided by any borders and barriers. This is the voice of a united world.\n\nWhat more can be said? \"Save the World\" is a bright debut and it must be continued.\n\nSerge Kozlovsky\n[...]"},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"The music harmonizes this world\nAnd give us taste of life\n\nStarting to describe Cadence Spalding's debut album it is difficult to avoid the comparison of her manner with the singing with Enya. Flaring polyphony vocals, strong celtic flavor - all these are present in the project \"Save the World\". But no doubt Cadence Spalding has her unique style which stirs the soul while listening to this truly outstanding work. But what features make the album \"Save the World\" so particular?\n\nThe first reason is that great love is splashed out with Cadence Spalding's delicate singing. You just float in the aerial harmonies of her enchanting vocals. She is very close to you, so it seems you can simply stretch your hand and gently touch her. And your heart begins to pulse in unison with this divine music.\n\nSecondly I want to point out the perfect sound of the album \"Save the World\". And this is not accidental because this CD/DVD was produced by Mars Lasar whose firm handwriting is impossible to confuse with anything. The images on the DVD are delightful.\n\nThe album \"Save the World\" should be listened to as a single whole. But my particular choice are the compositions in which Cadence Spalding's voice are fully intertwined with refined, very smooth and at the same time slightly jazzy Mars Lasar's sound. I'd like to mention the songs \"I Do\" and \"Share Your Life\" in this connection. In addition to that Mars Lasar masterfully interweaves ethnic motives and adds strong rhythmic pattern to his music.\n\nOne wants to say many praising words about the album \"Save the World\". This is music for future people who won't be divided by any borders and barriers. This is the voice of a united world.\n\nWhat more can be said? \"Save the World\" is a bright debut and it must be continued.\n\nSerge Kozlovsky\n[...]"},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Product: Continuing the narrative musical style of his previous release \"Ghosts\", Llewellyn returns with music inspired by celtic folklore. Gods, lovers, heroes, battles and honour are all portrayed in spellbinding musical interpretations of classic celtic legends. Featuring Medwyn Goodall (acoustic guitar on avalon), the album fuses keyboards, guitar, violin, atmospheric effects and alluring vocals in a heartfelt, spiritual tribute to the sacred celtic peoples. Power and energy and gentle beauty can all be experienced by the listener as they journey with the music from the realms of celtic gods, and the kingdom of the faery to the lands of Arthurian Legend.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Writings by Serge Kozlovsky\n\nReview: In the mist, among the hills where yellow grass grows, suddenly appears vague silhouettes. What is it? Maybe an army of ancient warriors comes to conquer new lands? Or a detachment, which has lost its way in time can not find the way home? Horses are neighing, armors are clanking, soldiers are in order again and they are ready for the battle. And only raven flocks, these everlasting companions of war, are circling in the sky, anticipating the prey.\n\nThe banners are fluttering in the wind. Imposing towers are seen far away. And the power, coming from the threatening army fills you. It uplifts your spirit. And again are you feeling yourself the fearless warrior of the glorious army, as maybe, you have felt at that time, many ages ago...\n\nMusic of Llewellyn is full of strength. The power of the Celts is felt in it. And also it contains the strength of the Earth, so it is very Earthly music. Simple melodies and drawling, flowing sounds are immersing you into a world passed away long ago. And suddenly this world becomes so real!\n\nLike a magical balsam is Llewellyn's music \"infused\" on the Celtic folklore. It is penetrated by this folklore. This music is very light and romantic. Soft keyboards are finely \"inscribed\" into a melodical line, various nature sounds paint the cloth of musical linen, make it rich and many-sided. Sounding of the album is very soft.\n\nThere is one more important feature of the Llewellyn's music. Inspiration is felt in it. By its spirit it is close to the music of Medwyn Goodall. And this is not occasional. Medwyn Goodall has taken part in the record of one of the album's compositions. One can hear his acoustic guitar in Avalon.\n\n And there, far away, between forgotten plains\n Only grim wind is wandering alone\n And ravens cries in the distant skies\n Are like echoes of the long-forgotten years...\n\nThe power of Earth is hidden deeply before the time comes. But its envoy - the Queen of Fire - is coming to you. And it burns your soul with shining bright and soft, furious and tender fire of Love...\n\n\"Celtic Legend\" ... Music of the everlasting Love...\n\nSerge Kozlovsky\n[...]","Product: Michael Hoppe is a Grammy award nominated composer of exceptional melodic talents. His music has been heard internationally and on numerous programs ranging from HBOs The Sopranos to The Oprah Winfrey Show. Hoppe has also scored feature films including Misunderstood and the multi-award winning and Oscar nominated short, Eyes of the Wind. His 2003 release, Solace, was a Grammy nominee in the Best New Age category and has sold more than 100,000 records worldwide. His new release Requiem features soprano Heidi Fielding and tenor Dwain Briggs\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Writings by Serge Kozlovsky\n\nReview: Tell me, my friend,\nWhere to our beloved go away?\nIn which of worlds we'll meet again?\n\nWhat is in this music? The life with its inherent sorrows and pleasures, with encounters and partings in it. While hearing it you would like to recollect the past, the moments that are sweet to you and the people you love. And the pang of losses will squeeze your heart again for a moment. And this music will wash it over and ease your suffering since it includes a sublime beauty and an engrossing conciliation. Michael Hoppe's compositions are filled with wisdom and an acknowledgement of life as it is. And as always his music is unbelievably beautiful and exquisitely intelligent.\n\nThe \"Requiem\" album is dedicated to Michael Hoppe's father - Frank Hoppe. While listening to this project we can take delight in Heidi Fielding's divine soprano and Dwain Briggs's magically calming tenor. The most moving composition of the album that touches the heart is \"Lacrimosa\". On the whole all the compositions of the \"Requiem\" album can be called the music of the heart so much it is sincere. It heals a soul and refines a heart. Michael Hoppe's music sounds very refined while it is performed by such remarkable musicians as Chris Bleth - oboe, Martin Tillmann - cello, Bernadette Allbaugh - clarinet, Alyssa Park and Lilly Hayden - violin and certainly Michael Hoppe - keyboards.\n\nMichael Hoppe, the author of a number of outstanding albums reverts to us with a new project \"Requiem\". His previous \"Solace\" CD recorded in common with the Prague Symphony Orchestra by utilizing the Internet was nominated for Grammy. Some prior Michael Hoppe's albums were honored with prestigious awards. I guess that \"Requiem\" is destined for a successful life and an international recognition. This album deserves the highest awards and the most complimentary words.\n\nMichael Hoppe's music is profound as ever and it appears before us in an incredibly beautiful arrangement where cello and violins, electronic keyboards and vocal coalesce into a single whole forming a precious crystal sparkling before us with its magical facets.\n\nYou are hearing \"Requiem\" and for a moment in your memories you find yourself among all those you love...\n\nSerge Kozlovsky\n[...]\n\nP.S. Translated by Tatyana L. Permyakova.","Product: Take a journey into the healing sounds of BINDU with four time Grammy Nominee and psychologist Dr. Michael Brant DeMaria. This album is based on 25 years of research into the world of sound healing. Ideal for massage, yoga, meditation or anytime the world has become too much and you need to flow again. In many ways the best way to help take care of the world is by quieting our minds and opening our hearts to the miracle of this moment, this life and each other. Bindu is a meditative musical journey that will help you do just that by helping you relax, breathe and be.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Writings by Serge Kozlovsky\n\nReview: There is no greater joy on earth\nThan creation\n\nFrom the very beginning the music of the album \"Bindu\" moves the listener towards his inner self. The hypnotic sounds of Indian flutes, soft beats and atmospheric keyboards create the very special aura and they let the consciousness flow and concentrate on the center of human being.\n\nThis music helps the listener to feel the true essence of the person, the seed which can be named as ego. And when you feel distinctly this point, then the miracle happens. Suddenly the whole universe descends on you. And the journey begins.\n\nYou can feel all the endlessness of the outer world which has no limits and boundaries and you feel yourself as an integral part of the infinite Universe. And this is a starting point of cognition and real creativity...\n\nThis is not accidental because the word \"Bindu\" in Sanskrit means point and is often used to signify the moment of creation - in both a universal (original of the universe) and deeply personal sense (any moment of creativity).\n\nThe music of Michael Brant DeMaria is deeply meditative and filled with healing vibrations and compassion. Listen to it attentively and let the album \"Bindu\" be the departing point for your own research and creation.\n\nSerge Kozlovsky\n[...]","Product: CD\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Writings by Serge Kozlovsky\n\nReview: What is music? This is the path\nto reconnect the lonely beings\n\n\"Masako\" is the debut album of the talented Japanese pianist with the same name. It was recorded at Imaginary Road Studios in Vermont and produced by William Ackerman who is the famous founder of legendary Windham Hill Records. The very melodious compositions of Masako were accompanied by a group of truly remarkable artists.\n\nThe music of Masako is filled with divine harmonics and a lot of subtle nuances. It streams straight from the artist's hearts without falsehood and unnecessary embellishment. These are just the pure emotions which the performer lets flow easily. And they convey the yearnings and emotional experiences of the artist's essence. Therefore, this music is very intimate.\n\nMasako brightly continues the musical tradition of the great Windham Hill artists such as William Ackerman, George Winston, Michael Hedges, Liz Story, Shadowfax, to name a few. But the pianist has her own distinct style which makes the heart stopping sounds of piano, fall like the warm summer rain on the tired head. And it is not necessary to think, just listen to this healing music to empathize with it.\n\nSerge Kozlovsky\n[...]","Product: David Nevue's 14th solo piano album, OPEN SKY, is a musical expression of freedom, exploration and the exhilaration that comes from seeing and experiencing new things. It celebrates those wide awake moments when you feel truly alive... almost as if you were somehow standing a little closer to heaven. The album contains thirteen original solo piano compositions plus Nevue's unique arrangements of Scarborough Fair, The Water is Wide, For the Beauty of the Earth and Morning Has Broken.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Writings by Serge Kozlovsky\n\nReview: Through sounds of the music\nFeel Universe vibrations\n\nWhat is the music of David Nevue like? I can compare it with the soaring butterfly that is fluttering from one flower to another because his piano melodies are filled with such a beauty and freedom. Each of the tunes of \"Open Sky\" easily flows into another, forming an integral play of joy and creativity. And at the same time each tune is very particular with its own mood and character.\n\nThe album \"Open Sky\" is David's 14th release and, as usual, it has his own voice. This project contains seventeen tracks: thirteen original compositions and four arrangements of traditional tunes, but all of them are played from the bottom of the artist's soul.\n\n\"Open Sky\" has one more very important feature. Its music is very inspiring. When you listen to this album, you feel as if you are walking along a long road, where the wide fields stretch around, and you can see the tops of high mountains in the distance, and the fresh wind blowing in your face...\n\nThe music of David Nevue contains a lot of improvisation. It stirs you completely and you won't be able to come away while it sounds. It brings an inner confidence that you can achieve your dreams. It awakes your mind and motivates you to act.\n\nSo, listen to this album and have more freedom in order to change your life for the better...","Product: Through Medwyn's music the listener can join the Celtic Clan and re-live the ancient journey of Galatain the Warrior. Celtic harp, flute, Irish whistle, dulcimer, mandolin and guitar are overlaid with dramatic keyboard effects and powerful rhythms to create music that not only has an authentic Celtic flavour but also the impact of a story with epic dimensions. Medwyn has excelled at creating a musical score to the struggle between good and the forces of darkness.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Writings by Serge Kozlovsky\n\nReview: Do you want to make a wonderful journey? Well, place yourself comfortable and switch on Clan - A Celtic Journey. We will take a far-away trip together with brave knight Galatain to win a victory over the evil Raven who possesses the magical Talisman. In this Talisman the \"invocation\" is hidden, with the help of which light will overcome darkness.\n\nMusic of Medwyn Goodall will help us in this journey, because Clan is not just an album, it is the album-epos, album-poem. This time the Master turned to the legacy of the Celts - a mysterious ancient civilization, which up to the present time inspires poets and writers, musicians and researchers.\n\nLet us stop a little bit on the album music. I'd like to mark its epic and large-scale nature. Music of the \"Clan\" flows slowly, like a boat, hurried by powerful, not swift waves. It has grandeur and power. And with that compositions of Medwyn Goodall are beautiful and harmonious. He has used a lot of living instruments, which help to add the album music a special colorite. One can hear the Celtic harp, flute, Irish whistle and dulcimer, mandolin and guitar. All this is \"cut\" by melodious keyboards. By the way, Medwyn Goodall masterly plays more than a dozen musical instruments. I should say also, that his music is not only melodious, it is also very inspired.\n\n\"Clan\" by Medwyn Goodall is like a gulp of a fresh wind. His music is like a rising and strengthening the spirit reminding that the Powers of Good and Light is stronger than the Dark Forces notwithstanding all difficulties and dangers, and so the Dark Forces will never rule our Earth. Listen to the Clan - A Celtic Journey and feel in your heart the Spirit of the courageous knight Galatain!\n\nSerge Kozlovsky\n[...]","Product: In an attempt to continue her own evolution, Gaia has begun singing her song of change. The notes and rhythm of her music are received in different ways by different individuals, but the message is undeniably similiar. Listen to the sounds of these Spirit Animals as you awaken to the songs of your own soul.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Writings by Serge Kozlovsky\n\nReview: The Mother Earth is calling\nThis is a time to come back to your roots...\n\nKim Bold's music is very close to Nature. This is a call of Mother Earth which is transmitted by powerful and at the same time gentle melodies of Kim Bold's ethnic flutes.\n\nAs you listen to her wonderful music you can realize yourself as a child of Mother Earth. You were born in Love and you have to give love to this planet which is your common home. Now is a time to remember your roots and come back to them.\n\nKim Bold's music invites us to change our consciousness and to make efforts so to save our Global House. This is music for all mankind regardless of race, religious or geographical borders.\n\nThe album \"Gaia Calling\" is a music-meditation, and it is a music-prayer for the Earth. It brings very light, delicate harmonies to the listener. It helps to clear your mind and to become aware of the voice of our ancient planet. This is perfect music for relaxation and meditation.\n\nSerge Kozlovsky\n[...]","Product: Eight-time NAMMY (Native American Music Awards) nominee Golan releases his first best of collection, featuring his relaxing and supremely melodic approach to the traditional Native American flute. A member of the Echota Cherokee Tribe, Golan began a spiritual quest 15 years ago that led to the release of six award-winning albums and this mesmerizing collection. Track Listing 1. Call To Prayer 2. Time of Long Nights 3. Lone Pine Canyon 4. Mirror Lake 5. To Love and Be Loved 6. Cloud's Rest 7. Walks Alone Man 8. The Longing (Mistatim Pangeshi) 9. Beloved 10. Cerro Noroeste 11. Magic Canyons\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Writings by Serge Kozlovsky\n\nReview: The Native flute\nSpeaks direct to your soul\nIt's godlike gift\n\nWhat unites Golana's \"First Light\" and Mary Youngblood's \"Sacred Place\" albums? In the first place both of these CDs are collections of the best compositions. And both artists are outstanding Native American flutists. Each of them has unique style of performing but both artists create real magic putting their entire souls into the music.\n\nGolana's and Mary Youngblood's flute melodies penetrate the heart with their frankness and purity of emotions. And so much beauty is in the artists music! This is straight, heart to heart conversation. Golana's and Mary Youngblood's music turns the listener toward his own inner world. It lets him release secret feelings and to realize his innermost desires.\n\nBoth CD collections have first class sounding. The listener can sense the smallest nuances of yearning or joy, longing or solitude, meditation or carefree dance which both flutists express by such simple and, at the same time, incredibly multi-sided instrument.\n\nGolana and Mary Youngblood's Native American flute music is very old but always fresh.\n\nSerge Kozlovsky\n[...].","Product: CD\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Writings by Serge Kozlovsky\n\nReview: As rapid rain falls down\nOn a tranquil Summer evening\nLife passes by\n\nI began my short review of the album \"Dreaming Still\" with the words about Summer rain not by chance. The moving piano music of Kathryn Kaye flows like quick drops of a downpour. And they are filled with warmth and conciliation. This falling rain brings a long awaited refinement. It washes away all the grime that has accumulated for a long time. You feel yourself young and full of positive energy. Your creativity is with you again and nothing can take it away.\n\nThe piano music of Kathryn Kaye is just perfect. And this statement is not given casually. Her debut album was produced by none other than famed artist Will Ackerman. In recent years he has made a great work by helping unknown gifted musicians to be heard by wide audience. Now Will Ackerman discovers the incredible talent of Kathryn Kaye for listeners. Brilliant artists helped them to create a new exquisite project. These are acoustic musicians Charlie Bisharat (violin), Eugene Friesen (cello), Dan Greenspan (bass), Jill Haley (English horn) Derrrik Jordan (percussion), Noah Wilding (vocals) and, certainly, distinguished sound engineer Corin Nelsen with participation of some other truly skillful assistants.\n\nThe album \"Dreaming Still\" must be heard by not only admirers of new age music. It will be very interesting for all lovers of acoustic music and also, for a wide circle of practitioners in the field of relaxation and anti-stress therapy.\n\nSerge Kozlovsky\n[...].","Product: Nine compositions, including \"Big Sur\".\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Writings by Serge Kozlovsky\n\nReview: Around us are a myriad of stars\nWhere the angels play\n\nWhat music can attract the listener's interest? It is not only melody and it is evidently not only skilful performing. Both these qualities are very important though. But the other very significant character are the emotions which the artist experiences and shares with the audience. His internal state and the purity of the musician's intentions have a great sense.\n\nWhen we listen to the project \"Angels of the Sun\" by Fred Thrane one can feel the deepest joy the artist plays his sparkling guitar music with. Fred Thrane's playing carries the listener into the world of love and passion where one wants to forget everyday sorrows and be with your real feelings which come from the innermost depths of your heart.\n\nFred Thrane is a renowned artist. He received a master's degree in music with a specialty of classical guitar from Cal State Hayward and then was able to secure a position as Professor of Music at San Jose State University and Foothill College. Love for guitar music led Fred Thrane for many years, even when he left the instrument and went into the business world. After 15 long years the artist returned to the guitar and he immensely enjoys playing his music again.\n\nThe album \"Angels of the Sun\" is beautifully composed and it is filled with vivid improvisation. This masterful release will be a true gift for any guitar music lover.\n\nSerge Kozlovsky\n[...]","Product: CD\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Writings by Serge Kozlovsky\n\nReview: Bewitching world of pleasant dreams\nSometimes it speaks to us so real\n\nThe music of Michele Ippolito is a smooth stream of healing waves which cocoons the listener from the first seconds and gives him shelter from the everyday worries. And one wants to be protected and stay in this sanctuary alone for a while with these divine harmonies.\n\nIt is easy to relax and meditate with the music of the newest album of Michele Ippolito named \"Drifting In Dreams\". When you listen to its soothing compositions you realize that all your troubles remain in the past and it is not necessary to regret them because the new exciting world is opened before your eyes. The new hopes come into your heart and your mind becomes clear and receptive for creation.\n\nThe keyboard music of Michele Ippolito is truly wonderful. It sounds so gently and at the same time majestic. Soft arrangements, ethereal and polyphonic orchestrations create an inimitable environment. What can one want to say while listening to the album \"Drifting In Dreams\"? Most of all one statement comes to mind - listen to this music and be inspired!\n\nSerge Kozlovsky\n(...)","Product: CD\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Writings by Serge Kozlovsky\n\nReview: Bewitching world of pleasant dreams\nSometimes it speaks to us so real\n\nThe music of Michele Ippolito is a smooth stream of healing waves which cocoons the listener from the first seconds and gives him shelter from the everyday worries. And one wants to be protected and stay in this sanctuary alone for a while with these divine harmonies.\n\nIt is easy to relax and meditate with the music of the newest album of Michele Ippolito named \"Drifting In Dreams\". When you listen to its soothing compositions you realize that all your troubles remain in the past and it is not necessary to regret them because the new exciting world is opened before your eyes. The new hopes come into your heart and your mind becomes clear and receptive for creation.\n\nThe keyboard music of Michele Ippolito is truly wonderful. It sounds so gently and at the same time majestic. Soft arrangements, ethereal and polyphonic orchestrations create an inimitable environment. What can one want to say while listening to the album \"Drifting In Dreams\"? Most of all one statement comes to mind - listen to this music and be inspired!","Product: Recorded almost entirely live over many years across the Globe from Spain to Pakistan, from the UK to Canada, from India to LA and New York, this explosive world fusion record from rock n roll producer, Arun Shenoy explores a bold new perspective of the Gypsy Rumba Flamenco. Combining elements of the traditional art form with a myriad of popular music forms, this record is an exploratory journey, doodling across genre boundaries as we know it today, creating a unique and true masterpiece along the way. An Arun Shenoy signature.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Writings by Serge Kozlovsky\n\nReview: What can the newest album of Arun Shenoy be compared with? This question was asked not by accident because \"Rumbadoodle\" is a glittering cocktail of bright melodies which unites various styles into one unique mixture of modern instrumental music. And the flamenco genre is the starting point which masterfully is transformed into the world fusion music.\n\nThe word \"fusion\" is the key because many genres are interlaced into the vivid canvas of the \"Rumbadoodle\" album. This is a real pleasure to listen to the compositions of Singaporean artist Arun Shenoy. His music is filled with positive and sweet emotions. It inspires the listener to forget everyday worries and to find joy the present moment, to celebrate the continued life.\n\nThe music of \"Rumbadoodle\" has a clear visual aspect. It can be a perfect soundtrack to the motion picture telling authentic stories. Arun Shenoy expresses deep emotional experiences in his music. Unspent passion of the artist's heart is here, before the listeners. All compositions of \"Rumbadoodle\" are sensual and heartfelt.\n\nThe newest project of Arun Shenoy goes beyond the boundaries of any one style, yet on the other hand it has distinct aesthetics of the XXI Century. So, \"Rumbadoodle\" can be named as an outstanding debut in the genre of instrumental new age and nuevo flamenco music.","Product: Carmen Rubino has created a large-scale symphonic sound that captures element of new age, progressive rock, and classical music, and influences from Jethro Tuss and Renaissance, to Yanni and Jim Brickman. The music's rich tapestry of auditory delights include piano and electronic keyboards as the primary instruments, but also a dazzling array of other sounds. These include flute, harp, French horn, percussion, a large string section and the judicious use of birds, wind, thunder and crashing waves\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Writings by Serge Kozlovsky\n\nReview: What can I say about this album from the very beginning? The music of Carmen Rubino arouses images before your eyes from the very first chords. These compositions are really cinematic. Aquarian Dream unfolds like an exciting dramatic movie and it captivates you totally.\n\nThe music of Carmen Rubino is very powerful and filled with numerous vivid emotions. His piano melodies contain the hurricane of passion and at the same time they are full of many subtle nuances which make compositions of the artist unique.\n\nIt is not by accident that the album Aquarian Dream was a finalist for the Best New Artist Award at The ZMR Awards, and won Best Contemporary Instrumental Album at The One World Music Awards. I can characterize the project of Carmen Rubino as truly timeless music.\n\nBoth terms new age and neo classical are a good fit for Aquarian Dream but the artist easily transcends the borders of any genres. Maybe the main feature of his creative work is that the music of Carmen Rubino touches the soul very deeply and it awakes the hidden human emotions.\n\nWhat more can be said about the album Aquarian Dream? Its music contains an inner joy and optimism. It is filled with love and light. The ethereal harmonies of Carmen Rubinos compositions purify the heart and one wants to listen to this album time and again.\n\nCarmen Rubino is a brilliant performer. His compositions are full of true emotional experiences and eroticism. Besides, one wants to say that Carmen Rubino is a perfectionist. All the compositions of Aquarian Dream are excellently arranged and the spirit of Renaissance is clearly felt in them.\n\nTurn on this music for your beloved ones and stay with it for a while. Let the divine melodies of Aquarian Dream illuminate your life","Product: CD\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Writings by Serge Kozlovsky\n\nReview: When sadness touches your heart\nRecall your loved ones\nThey are within your heart\nRemain forever...\n\nOla Gjeilo's album \"Stone Rose\" is music from the innermost depths of his heart. It strikes the listener with its sincerity and purity of emotions.\n\nOla Gjeilo is a truly versatile pianist. He perfectly plays the instrument and generously gives all the passion in his heart to the listener. The accompaniment of flugelhorn, cello and violin helps to highlight key points and adorn Ola Gjeilo's music by new bright colors. And they skillfully emphasize this expressive artist's piano.\n\nYet \"Stone Rose\" is a very relaxing album. It evokes the listener to meditate and to realize that all his day's anxieties and fears were unnatural and it is very easy to breathe with the whole breast and sense all the beauty of the surrounding world.\n\nOla Gjeilo's music invites the listeners to live totally and to feel the pleasure from life.\n\nSerge Kozlovsky\n[...]","Product: CD\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Writings by Serge Kozlovsky\n\nReview: When sadness touches your heart\nRecall your loved ones\nThey are within your heart\nRemain forever...\n\nOla Gjeilo's album \"Stone Rose\" is music from the innermost depths of his heart. It strikes the listener with its sincerity and purity of emotions.\n\nOla Gjeilo is a truly versatile pianist. He perfectly plays the instrument and generously gives all the passion in his heart to the listener. The accompaniment of flugelhorn, cello and violin helps to highlight key points and adorn Ola Gjeilo's music by new bright colors. And they skillfully emphasize this expressive artist's piano.\n\nYet \"Stone Rose\" is a very relaxing album. It evokes the listener to meditate and to realize that all his day's anxieties and fears were unnatural and it is very easy to breathe with the whole breast and sense all the beauty of the surrounding world.\n\nOla Gjeilo's music invites the listeners to live totally and to feel the pleasure from life.\n\nSerge Kozlovsky\n[...]"],"string":"[\n \"Product: Continuing the narrative musical style of his previous release \\\"Ghosts\\\", Llewellyn returns with music inspired by celtic folklore. Gods, lovers, heroes, battles and honour are all portrayed in spellbinding musical interpretations of classic celtic legends. Featuring Medwyn Goodall (acoustic guitar on avalon), the album fuses keyboards, guitar, violin, atmospheric effects and alluring vocals in a heartfelt, spiritual tribute to the sacred celtic peoples. Power and energy and gentle beauty can all be experienced by the listener as they journey with the music from the realms of celtic gods, and the kingdom of the faery to the lands of Arthurian Legend.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Writings by Serge Kozlovsky\\n\\nReview: In the mist, among the hills where yellow grass grows, suddenly appears vague silhouettes. What is it? Maybe an army of ancient warriors comes to conquer new lands? Or a detachment, which has lost its way in time can not find the way home? Horses are neighing, armors are clanking, soldiers are in order again and they are ready for the battle. And only raven flocks, these everlasting companions of war, are circling in the sky, anticipating the prey.\\n\\nThe banners are fluttering in the wind. Imposing towers are seen far away. And the power, coming from the threatening army fills you. It uplifts your spirit. And again are you feeling yourself the fearless warrior of the glorious army, as maybe, you have felt at that time, many ages ago...\\n\\nMusic of Llewellyn is full of strength. The power of the Celts is felt in it. And also it contains the strength of the Earth, so it is very Earthly music. Simple melodies and drawling, flowing sounds are immersing you into a world passed away long ago. And suddenly this world becomes so real!\\n\\nLike a magical balsam is Llewellyn's music \\\"infused\\\" on the Celtic folklore. It is penetrated by this folklore. This music is very light and romantic. Soft keyboards are finely \\\"inscribed\\\" into a melodical line, various nature sounds paint the cloth of musical linen, make it rich and many-sided. Sounding of the album is very soft.\\n\\nThere is one more important feature of the Llewellyn's music. Inspiration is felt in it. By its spirit it is close to the music of Medwyn Goodall. And this is not occasional. Medwyn Goodall has taken part in the record of one of the album's compositions. One can hear his acoustic guitar in Avalon.\\n\\n And there, far away, between forgotten plains\\n Only grim wind is wandering alone\\n And ravens cries in the distant skies\\n Are like echoes of the long-forgotten years...\\n\\nThe power of Earth is hidden deeply before the time comes. But its envoy - the Queen of Fire - is coming to you. And it burns your soul with shining bright and soft, furious and tender fire of Love...\\n\\n\\\"Celtic Legend\\\" ... Music of the everlasting Love...\\n\\nSerge Kozlovsky\\n[...]\",\n \"Product: Michael Hoppe is a Grammy award nominated composer of exceptional melodic talents. His music has been heard internationally and on numerous programs ranging from HBOs The Sopranos to The Oprah Winfrey Show. Hoppe has also scored feature films including Misunderstood and the multi-award winning and Oscar nominated short, Eyes of the Wind. His 2003 release, Solace, was a Grammy nominee in the Best New Age category and has sold more than 100,000 records worldwide. His new release Requiem features soprano Heidi Fielding and tenor Dwain Briggs\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Writings by Serge Kozlovsky\\n\\nReview: Tell me, my friend,\\nWhere to our beloved go away?\\nIn which of worlds we'll meet again?\\n\\nWhat is in this music? The life with its inherent sorrows and pleasures, with encounters and partings in it. While hearing it you would like to recollect the past, the moments that are sweet to you and the people you love. And the pang of losses will squeeze your heart again for a moment. And this music will wash it over and ease your suffering since it includes a sublime beauty and an engrossing conciliation. Michael Hoppe's compositions are filled with wisdom and an acknowledgement of life as it is. And as always his music is unbelievably beautiful and exquisitely intelligent.\\n\\nThe \\\"Requiem\\\" album is dedicated to Michael Hoppe's father - Frank Hoppe. While listening to this project we can take delight in Heidi Fielding's divine soprano and Dwain Briggs's magically calming tenor. The most moving composition of the album that touches the heart is \\\"Lacrimosa\\\". On the whole all the compositions of the \\\"Requiem\\\" album can be called the music of the heart so much it is sincere. It heals a soul and refines a heart. Michael Hoppe's music sounds very refined while it is performed by such remarkable musicians as Chris Bleth - oboe, Martin Tillmann - cello, Bernadette Allbaugh - clarinet, Alyssa Park and Lilly Hayden - violin and certainly Michael Hoppe - keyboards.\\n\\nMichael Hoppe, the author of a number of outstanding albums reverts to us with a new project \\\"Requiem\\\". His previous \\\"Solace\\\" CD recorded in common with the Prague Symphony Orchestra by utilizing the Internet was nominated for Grammy. Some prior Michael Hoppe's albums were honored with prestigious awards. I guess that \\\"Requiem\\\" is destined for a successful life and an international recognition. This album deserves the highest awards and the most complimentary words.\\n\\nMichael Hoppe's music is profound as ever and it appears before us in an incredibly beautiful arrangement where cello and violins, electronic keyboards and vocal coalesce into a single whole forming a precious crystal sparkling before us with its magical facets.\\n\\nYou are hearing \\\"Requiem\\\" and for a moment in your memories you find yourself among all those you love...\\n\\nSerge Kozlovsky\\n[...]\\n\\nP.S. Translated by Tatyana L. Permyakova.\",\n \"Product: Take a journey into the healing sounds of BINDU with four time Grammy Nominee and psychologist Dr. Michael Brant DeMaria. This album is based on 25 years of research into the world of sound healing. Ideal for massage, yoga, meditation or anytime the world has become too much and you need to flow again. In many ways the best way to help take care of the world is by quieting our minds and opening our hearts to the miracle of this moment, this life and each other. Bindu is a meditative musical journey that will help you do just that by helping you relax, breathe and be.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Writings by Serge Kozlovsky\\n\\nReview: There is no greater joy on earth\\nThan creation\\n\\nFrom the very beginning the music of the album \\\"Bindu\\\" moves the listener towards his inner self. The hypnotic sounds of Indian flutes, soft beats and atmospheric keyboards create the very special aura and they let the consciousness flow and concentrate on the center of human being.\\n\\nThis music helps the listener to feel the true essence of the person, the seed which can be named as ego. And when you feel distinctly this point, then the miracle happens. Suddenly the whole universe descends on you. And the journey begins.\\n\\nYou can feel all the endlessness of the outer world which has no limits and boundaries and you feel yourself as an integral part of the infinite Universe. And this is a starting point of cognition and real creativity...\\n\\nThis is not accidental because the word \\\"Bindu\\\" in Sanskrit means point and is often used to signify the moment of creation - in both a universal (original of the universe) and deeply personal sense (any moment of creativity).\\n\\nThe music of Michael Brant DeMaria is deeply meditative and filled with healing vibrations and compassion. Listen to it attentively and let the album \\\"Bindu\\\" be the departing point for your own research and creation.\\n\\nSerge Kozlovsky\\n[...]\",\n \"Product: CD\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Writings by Serge Kozlovsky\\n\\nReview: What is music? This is the path\\nto reconnect the lonely beings\\n\\n\\\"Masako\\\" is the debut album of the talented Japanese pianist with the same name. It was recorded at Imaginary Road Studios in Vermont and produced by William Ackerman who is the famous founder of legendary Windham Hill Records. The very melodious compositions of Masako were accompanied by a group of truly remarkable artists.\\n\\nThe music of Masako is filled with divine harmonics and a lot of subtle nuances. It streams straight from the artist's hearts without falsehood and unnecessary embellishment. These are just the pure emotions which the performer lets flow easily. And they convey the yearnings and emotional experiences of the artist's essence. Therefore, this music is very intimate.\\n\\nMasako brightly continues the musical tradition of the great Windham Hill artists such as William Ackerman, George Winston, Michael Hedges, Liz Story, Shadowfax, to name a few. But the pianist has her own distinct style which makes the heart stopping sounds of piano, fall like the warm summer rain on the tired head. And it is not necessary to think, just listen to this healing music to empathize with it.\\n\\nSerge Kozlovsky\\n[...]\",\n \"Product: David Nevue's 14th solo piano album, OPEN SKY, is a musical expression of freedom, exploration and the exhilaration that comes from seeing and experiencing new things. It celebrates those wide awake moments when you feel truly alive... almost as if you were somehow standing a little closer to heaven. The album contains thirteen original solo piano compositions plus Nevue's unique arrangements of Scarborough Fair, The Water is Wide, For the Beauty of the Earth and Morning Has Broken.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Writings by Serge Kozlovsky\\n\\nReview: Through sounds of the music\\nFeel Universe vibrations\\n\\nWhat is the music of David Nevue like? I can compare it with the soaring butterfly that is fluttering from one flower to another because his piano melodies are filled with such a beauty and freedom. Each of the tunes of \\\"Open Sky\\\" easily flows into another, forming an integral play of joy and creativity. And at the same time each tune is very particular with its own mood and character.\\n\\nThe album \\\"Open Sky\\\" is David's 14th release and, as usual, it has his own voice. This project contains seventeen tracks: thirteen original compositions and four arrangements of traditional tunes, but all of them are played from the bottom of the artist's soul.\\n\\n\\\"Open Sky\\\" has one more very important feature. Its music is very inspiring. When you listen to this album, you feel as if you are walking along a long road, where the wide fields stretch around, and you can see the tops of high mountains in the distance, and the fresh wind blowing in your face...\\n\\nThe music of David Nevue contains a lot of improvisation. It stirs you completely and you won't be able to come away while it sounds. It brings an inner confidence that you can achieve your dreams. It awakes your mind and motivates you to act.\\n\\nSo, listen to this album and have more freedom in order to change your life for the better...\",\n \"Product: Through Medwyn's music the listener can join the Celtic Clan and re-live the ancient journey of Galatain the Warrior. Celtic harp, flute, Irish whistle, dulcimer, mandolin and guitar are overlaid with dramatic keyboard effects and powerful rhythms to create music that not only has an authentic Celtic flavour but also the impact of a story with epic dimensions. Medwyn has excelled at creating a musical score to the struggle between good and the forces of darkness.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Writings by Serge Kozlovsky\\n\\nReview: Do you want to make a wonderful journey? Well, place yourself comfortable and switch on Clan - A Celtic Journey. We will take a far-away trip together with brave knight Galatain to win a victory over the evil Raven who possesses the magical Talisman. In this Talisman the \\\"invocation\\\" is hidden, with the help of which light will overcome darkness.\\n\\nMusic of Medwyn Goodall will help us in this journey, because Clan is not just an album, it is the album-epos, album-poem. This time the Master turned to the legacy of the Celts - a mysterious ancient civilization, which up to the present time inspires poets and writers, musicians and researchers.\\n\\nLet us stop a little bit on the album music. I'd like to mark its epic and large-scale nature. Music of the \\\"Clan\\\" flows slowly, like a boat, hurried by powerful, not swift waves. It has grandeur and power. And with that compositions of Medwyn Goodall are beautiful and harmonious. He has used a lot of living instruments, which help to add the album music a special colorite. One can hear the Celtic harp, flute, Irish whistle and dulcimer, mandolin and guitar. All this is \\\"cut\\\" by melodious keyboards. By the way, Medwyn Goodall masterly plays more than a dozen musical instruments. I should say also, that his music is not only melodious, it is also very inspired.\\n\\n\\\"Clan\\\" by Medwyn Goodall is like a gulp of a fresh wind. His music is like a rising and strengthening the spirit reminding that the Powers of Good and Light is stronger than the Dark Forces notwithstanding all difficulties and dangers, and so the Dark Forces will never rule our Earth. Listen to the Clan - A Celtic Journey and feel in your heart the Spirit of the courageous knight Galatain!\\n\\nSerge Kozlovsky\\n[...]\",\n \"Product: In an attempt to continue her own evolution, Gaia has begun singing her song of change. The notes and rhythm of her music are received in different ways by different individuals, but the message is undeniably similiar. Listen to the sounds of these Spirit Animals as you awaken to the songs of your own soul.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Writings by Serge Kozlovsky\\n\\nReview: The Mother Earth is calling\\nThis is a time to come back to your roots...\\n\\nKim Bold's music is very close to Nature. This is a call of Mother Earth which is transmitted by powerful and at the same time gentle melodies of Kim Bold's ethnic flutes.\\n\\nAs you listen to her wonderful music you can realize yourself as a child of Mother Earth. You were born in Love and you have to give love to this planet which is your common home. Now is a time to remember your roots and come back to them.\\n\\nKim Bold's music invites us to change our consciousness and to make efforts so to save our Global House. This is music for all mankind regardless of race, religious or geographical borders.\\n\\nThe album \\\"Gaia Calling\\\" is a music-meditation, and it is a music-prayer for the Earth. It brings very light, delicate harmonies to the listener. It helps to clear your mind and to become aware of the voice of our ancient planet. This is perfect music for relaxation and meditation.\\n\\nSerge Kozlovsky\\n[...]\",\n \"Product: Eight-time NAMMY (Native American Music Awards) nominee Golan releases his first best of collection, featuring his relaxing and supremely melodic approach to the traditional Native American flute. A member of the Echota Cherokee Tribe, Golan began a spiritual quest 15 years ago that led to the release of six award-winning albums and this mesmerizing collection. Track Listing 1. Call To Prayer 2. Time of Long Nights 3. Lone Pine Canyon 4. Mirror Lake 5. To Love and Be Loved 6. Cloud's Rest 7. Walks Alone Man 8. The Longing (Mistatim Pangeshi) 9. Beloved 10. Cerro Noroeste 11. Magic Canyons\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Writings by Serge Kozlovsky\\n\\nReview: The Native flute\\nSpeaks direct to your soul\\nIt's godlike gift\\n\\nWhat unites Golana's \\\"First Light\\\" and Mary Youngblood's \\\"Sacred Place\\\" albums? In the first place both of these CDs are collections of the best compositions. And both artists are outstanding Native American flutists. Each of them has unique style of performing but both artists create real magic putting their entire souls into the music.\\n\\nGolana's and Mary Youngblood's flute melodies penetrate the heart with their frankness and purity of emotions. And so much beauty is in the artists music! This is straight, heart to heart conversation. Golana's and Mary Youngblood's music turns the listener toward his own inner world. It lets him release secret feelings and to realize his innermost desires.\\n\\nBoth CD collections have first class sounding. The listener can sense the smallest nuances of yearning or joy, longing or solitude, meditation or carefree dance which both flutists express by such simple and, at the same time, incredibly multi-sided instrument.\\n\\nGolana and Mary Youngblood's Native American flute music is very old but always fresh.\\n\\nSerge Kozlovsky\\n[...].\",\n \"Product: CD\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Writings by Serge Kozlovsky\\n\\nReview: As rapid rain falls down\\nOn a tranquil Summer evening\\nLife passes by\\n\\nI began my short review of the album \\\"Dreaming Still\\\" with the words about Summer rain not by chance. The moving piano music of Kathryn Kaye flows like quick drops of a downpour. And they are filled with warmth and conciliation. This falling rain brings a long awaited refinement. It washes away all the grime that has accumulated for a long time. You feel yourself young and full of positive energy. Your creativity is with you again and nothing can take it away.\\n\\nThe piano music of Kathryn Kaye is just perfect. And this statement is not given casually. Her debut album was produced by none other than famed artist Will Ackerman. In recent years he has made a great work by helping unknown gifted musicians to be heard by wide audience. Now Will Ackerman discovers the incredible talent of Kathryn Kaye for listeners. Brilliant artists helped them to create a new exquisite project. These are acoustic musicians Charlie Bisharat (violin), Eugene Friesen (cello), Dan Greenspan (bass), Jill Haley (English horn) Derrrik Jordan (percussion), Noah Wilding (vocals) and, certainly, distinguished sound engineer Corin Nelsen with participation of some other truly skillful assistants.\\n\\nThe album \\\"Dreaming Still\\\" must be heard by not only admirers of new age music. It will be very interesting for all lovers of acoustic music and also, for a wide circle of practitioners in the field of relaxation and anti-stress therapy.\\n\\nSerge Kozlovsky\\n[...].\",\n \"Product: Nine compositions, including \\\"Big Sur\\\".\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Writings by Serge Kozlovsky\\n\\nReview: Around us are a myriad of stars\\nWhere the angels play\\n\\nWhat music can attract the listener's interest? It is not only melody and it is evidently not only skilful performing. Both these qualities are very important though. But the other very significant character are the emotions which the artist experiences and shares with the audience. His internal state and the purity of the musician's intentions have a great sense.\\n\\nWhen we listen to the project \\\"Angels of the Sun\\\" by Fred Thrane one can feel the deepest joy the artist plays his sparkling guitar music with. Fred Thrane's playing carries the listener into the world of love and passion where one wants to forget everyday sorrows and be with your real feelings which come from the innermost depths of your heart.\\n\\nFred Thrane is a renowned artist. He received a master's degree in music with a specialty of classical guitar from Cal State Hayward and then was able to secure a position as Professor of Music at San Jose State University and Foothill College. Love for guitar music led Fred Thrane for many years, even when he left the instrument and went into the business world. After 15 long years the artist returned to the guitar and he immensely enjoys playing his music again.\\n\\nThe album \\\"Angels of the Sun\\\" is beautifully composed and it is filled with vivid improvisation. This masterful release will be a true gift for any guitar music lover.\\n\\nSerge Kozlovsky\\n[...]\",\n \"Product: CD\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Writings by Serge Kozlovsky\\n\\nReview: Bewitching world of pleasant dreams\\nSometimes it speaks to us so real\\n\\nThe music of Michele Ippolito is a smooth stream of healing waves which cocoons the listener from the first seconds and gives him shelter from the everyday worries. And one wants to be protected and stay in this sanctuary alone for a while with these divine harmonies.\\n\\nIt is easy to relax and meditate with the music of the newest album of Michele Ippolito named \\\"Drifting In Dreams\\\". When you listen to its soothing compositions you realize that all your troubles remain in the past and it is not necessary to regret them because the new exciting world is opened before your eyes. The new hopes come into your heart and your mind becomes clear and receptive for creation.\\n\\nThe keyboard music of Michele Ippolito is truly wonderful. It sounds so gently and at the same time majestic. Soft arrangements, ethereal and polyphonic orchestrations create an inimitable environment. What can one want to say while listening to the album \\\"Drifting In Dreams\\\"? Most of all one statement comes to mind - listen to this music and be inspired!\\n\\nSerge Kozlovsky\\n(...)\",\n \"Product: CD\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Writings by Serge Kozlovsky\\n\\nReview: Bewitching world of pleasant dreams\\nSometimes it speaks to us so real\\n\\nThe music of Michele Ippolito is a smooth stream of healing waves which cocoons the listener from the first seconds and gives him shelter from the everyday worries. And one wants to be protected and stay in this sanctuary alone for a while with these divine harmonies.\\n\\nIt is easy to relax and meditate with the music of the newest album of Michele Ippolito named \\\"Drifting In Dreams\\\". When you listen to its soothing compositions you realize that all your troubles remain in the past and it is not necessary to regret them because the new exciting world is opened before your eyes. The new hopes come into your heart and your mind becomes clear and receptive for creation.\\n\\nThe keyboard music of Michele Ippolito is truly wonderful. It sounds so gently and at the same time majestic. Soft arrangements, ethereal and polyphonic orchestrations create an inimitable environment. What can one want to say while listening to the album \\\"Drifting In Dreams\\\"? Most of all one statement comes to mind - listen to this music and be inspired!\",\n \"Product: Recorded almost entirely live over many years across the Globe from Spain to Pakistan, from the UK to Canada, from India to LA and New York, this explosive world fusion record from rock n roll producer, Arun Shenoy explores a bold new perspective of the Gypsy Rumba Flamenco. Combining elements of the traditional art form with a myriad of popular music forms, this record is an exploratory journey, doodling across genre boundaries as we know it today, creating a unique and true masterpiece along the way. An Arun Shenoy signature.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Writings by Serge Kozlovsky\\n\\nReview: What can the newest album of Arun Shenoy be compared with? This question was asked not by accident because \\\"Rumbadoodle\\\" is a glittering cocktail of bright melodies which unites various styles into one unique mixture of modern instrumental music. And the flamenco genre is the starting point which masterfully is transformed into the world fusion music.\\n\\nThe word \\\"fusion\\\" is the key because many genres are interlaced into the vivid canvas of the \\\"Rumbadoodle\\\" album. This is a real pleasure to listen to the compositions of Singaporean artist Arun Shenoy. His music is filled with positive and sweet emotions. It inspires the listener to forget everyday worries and to find joy the present moment, to celebrate the continued life.\\n\\nThe music of \\\"Rumbadoodle\\\" has a clear visual aspect. It can be a perfect soundtrack to the motion picture telling authentic stories. Arun Shenoy expresses deep emotional experiences in his music. Unspent passion of the artist's heart is here, before the listeners. All compositions of \\\"Rumbadoodle\\\" are sensual and heartfelt.\\n\\nThe newest project of Arun Shenoy goes beyond the boundaries of any one style, yet on the other hand it has distinct aesthetics of the XXI Century. So, \\\"Rumbadoodle\\\" can be named as an outstanding debut in the genre of instrumental new age and nuevo flamenco music.\",\n \"Product: Carmen Rubino has created a large-scale symphonic sound that captures element of new age, progressive rock, and classical music, and influences from Jethro Tuss and Renaissance, to Yanni and Jim Brickman. The music's rich tapestry of auditory delights include piano and electronic keyboards as the primary instruments, but also a dazzling array of other sounds. These include flute, harp, French horn, percussion, a large string section and the judicious use of birds, wind, thunder and crashing waves\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Writings by Serge Kozlovsky\\n\\nReview: What can I say about this album from the very beginning? The music of Carmen Rubino arouses images before your eyes from the very first chords. These compositions are really cinematic. Aquarian Dream unfolds like an exciting dramatic movie and it captivates you totally.\\n\\nThe music of Carmen Rubino is very powerful and filled with numerous vivid emotions. His piano melodies contain the hurricane of passion and at the same time they are full of many subtle nuances which make compositions of the artist unique.\\n\\nIt is not by accident that the album Aquarian Dream was a finalist for the Best New Artist Award at The ZMR Awards, and won Best Contemporary Instrumental Album at The One World Music Awards. I can characterize the project of Carmen Rubino as truly timeless music.\\n\\nBoth terms new age and neo classical are a good fit for Aquarian Dream but the artist easily transcends the borders of any genres. Maybe the main feature of his creative work is that the music of Carmen Rubino touches the soul very deeply and it awakes the hidden human emotions.\\n\\nWhat more can be said about the album Aquarian Dream? Its music contains an inner joy and optimism. It is filled with love and light. The ethereal harmonies of Carmen Rubinos compositions purify the heart and one wants to listen to this album time and again.\\n\\nCarmen Rubino is a brilliant performer. His compositions are full of true emotional experiences and eroticism. Besides, one wants to say that Carmen Rubino is a perfectionist. All the compositions of Aquarian Dream are excellently arranged and the spirit of Renaissance is clearly felt in them.\\n\\nTurn on this music for your beloved ones and stay with it for a while. Let the divine melodies of Aquarian Dream illuminate your life\",\n \"Product: CD\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Writings by Serge Kozlovsky\\n\\nReview: When sadness touches your heart\\nRecall your loved ones\\nThey are within your heart\\nRemain forever...\\n\\nOla Gjeilo's album \\\"Stone Rose\\\" is music from the innermost depths of his heart. It strikes the listener with its sincerity and purity of emotions.\\n\\nOla Gjeilo is a truly versatile pianist. He perfectly plays the instrument and generously gives all the passion in his heart to the listener. The accompaniment of flugelhorn, cello and violin helps to highlight key points and adorn Ola Gjeilo's music by new bright colors. And they skillfully emphasize this expressive artist's piano.\\n\\nYet \\\"Stone Rose\\\" is a very relaxing album. It evokes the listener to meditate and to realize that all his day's anxieties and fears were unnatural and it is very easy to breathe with the whole breast and sense all the beauty of the surrounding world.\\n\\nOla Gjeilo's music invites the listeners to live totally and to feel the pleasure from life.\\n\\nSerge Kozlovsky\\n[...]\",\n \"Product: CD\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Writings by Serge Kozlovsky\\n\\nReview: When sadness touches your heart\\nRecall your loved ones\\nThey are within your heart\\nRemain forever...\\n\\nOla Gjeilo's album \\\"Stone Rose\\\" is music from the innermost depths of his heart. It strikes the listener with its sincerity and purity of emotions.\\n\\nOla Gjeilo is a truly versatile pianist. He perfectly plays the instrument and generously gives all the passion in his heart to the listener. The accompaniment of flugelhorn, cello and violin helps to highlight key points and adorn Ola Gjeilo's music by new bright colors. And they skillfully emphasize this expressive artist's piano.\\n\\nYet \\\"Stone Rose\\\" is a very relaxing album. It evokes the listener to meditate and to realize that all his day's anxieties and fears were unnatural and it is very easy to breathe with the whole breast and sense all the beauty of the surrounding world.\\n\\nOla Gjeilo's music invites the listeners to live totally and to feel the pleasure from life.\\n\\nSerge Kozlovsky\\n[...]\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":16,"string":"16"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_3"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":884,"string":"884"}}},{"rowIdx":885,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"A3IK83MGX5X0WZ"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of \"4.0\" for a product with description \"Unusual book\". The summary of the review text is \"Another great story by Ms Shay\"."},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"This story reminds me why I have been a fan of Ms. Shay for over 15 years. Her books are timeless, since her topics are just as real today as they were 100 years ago.\nIn this story we have Ben Cassidy, a man who had been very successful and wealthy , but loses himself and every possession after an aggressive takeover of his company.\nWithout anyone being the wiser , he has been going once a week for almost a year, to the food kitchen he started during his successful years, not as a volunteer ,but as a guest. There he meets Emily. They are attracted to each other, but have resisted that attraction until one night. A night that not only was filled with revelations, but also resulted in a pregnancy.\nThe plot thickens and complications occur.\nIts a story filled with family loyalties, lies, trust issues, deceit, misunderstandings, corporate conspiracies, and hurt. But it is also a story filled with hope, forgiveness, compromises one might take to make those we love happy, forgiveness, new starts , miracles and above all love.\nSo, whether you are a new reader or a long time fan of Ms. Shay, this one will not disappoint you.\nI was gifted this book. The opinions expressed are solely my own."},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"This story reminds me why I have been a fan of Ms. Shay for over 15 years. Her books are timeless, since her topics are just as real today as they were 100 years ago.\nIn this story we have Ben Cassidy, a man who had been very successful and wealthy , but loses himself and every possession after an aggressive takeover of his company.\nWithout anyone being the wiser , he has been going once a week for almost a year, to the food kitchen he started during his successful years, not as a volunteer ,but as a guest. There he meets Emily. They are attracted to each other, but have resisted that attraction until one night. A night that not only was filled with revelations, but also resulted in a pregnancy.\nThe plot thickens and complications occur.\nIts a story filled with family loyalties, lies, trust issues, deceit, misunderstandings, corporate conspiracies, and hurt. But it is also a story filled with hope, forgiveness, compromises one might take to make those we love happy, forgiveness, new starts , miracles and above all love.\nSo, whether you are a new reader or a long time fan of Ms. Shay, this one will not disappoint you.\nI was gifted this book. The opinions expressed are solely my own."},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Product: Erin Nicholas is the author of sexy contemporary romances. Her stories have been described as toe-curling, enchanting, steamy and fun. She loves to write about reluctant heroes, imperfect heroines and happily ever afters. She lives in the Midwest with her husband who only wants to read the sex scenes in her books, her kids who will never read the sex scenes in her books, and family and friends who say theyre shocked by the sex scenes in her books (yeah, right!). You can find Erin on the web at www.ErinNicholas.com, on Twitter (http://twitter.com/ErinNicholas) and on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/ErinNicholasBooks)\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: A story not to be missed\n\nReview: Whether you are a long time fan of Ms Nicholas or this is your first book by this talented author, you will fall in love not only with the characters but also with the town.\nWe are back in Sapphire Falls , and this time its Tucker Bennetts and Delany Callans story.\nTucker owns a farm and wants to settle down with a wife and have kids. Delaney is interested in neither. But now she is the guardian to her four nephews. Boys that lost their parents. One being her sister, the other one , was Tuckers dear friend.\nWhen the boys and Delaney are to spend a summer in Tuckers farm. he sees it as an opportunity. Delaney sees it as a possible Summer fling.\nIt was a heartbreaking but also sweet, and heartwarming story. About loss but also about new beginnings , love, hope and friendships.\nA story not to be missed.\nI was gifted a copy of this book. The opinions expressed are solely my own.","Product: Roxanne St. Claire Published since 2003, Roxanne St. Claire is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of fifty romance and suspense novels. She has written several popular series, including The Dogfather, Barefoot Bay, the Guardian Angelinos, and the Bullet Catchers. In addition to being an nine-time nominee and one-time winner of the prestigious RITA Award for the best in romance writing, Roxannes novels have won the National Readers Choice Award for best romantic suspense four times, as well as the Maggie, the Daphne du Maurier Award, the HOLT Medallion, Booksellers Best, Book Buyers Best, the Award of Excellence, and many others. She lives in Florida with her husband, and still attempts to run the lives of her teenage daughter and 20-something son. She loves dogs, books, chocolate, and wine, especially all at the same time.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: A wonderful story by this talented author\n\nReview: I have been a fan of this talented author for years , but somehow , had missed this series.\nThis is one of the most touching, thought provoking, thoughtful, heartbreaking and heartwarming stories I have read in a long time.\nThis book centers around Molly Kilcannon, local veterinarian in Better Bark/Bitter Bark, and single Mom to Pru, a precocious 13 year old. Pru was conceived the same night her father disappeared.\nTrace was the bad boy of town, son of the one and only astrologer in town, who left when he was being accused for something he did not do. Little did he know that life was not going to go smoothly for him when shortly after ends up in jail for 14 years.\nFast forward and he now has returned to town shocking Molly, and clueless about Pru. A man that all he wants is a chance in life , even though his self worth has been shattered. His talent working with dogs gets him a job with Mollys father.\nWatching this two interact, while keeping secrets will touch your heart and at times make you cry and wish you could cross through the pages to give them all a hug.\nThe Kilcannon family is unique , loud , very close, supportive and wonderful.\nWith all the obstacles Molly and Trace have to overcome, will they get their second chance and find their HEA, or will they let the vicious tongues win after all?\nI promise you will be glad you read this book.\nI was gifted this copy. The opinions expressed are solely my own.","Product: Erin Nicholas is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over thirty sexy contemporary romances. Her stories have been described as toe-curling, enchanting, steamy and fun. She loves to write about reluctant heroes, imperfect heroines and happily ever afters. She lives in the Midwest with her husband who only wants to read the sex scenes in her books, her kids who will never read the sex scenes in her books, and family and friends who say theyre shocked by the sex scenes in her books (yeah, right!). Visit Erin at www.ErinNicholas.com\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Can't wait for the next book in the series\n\nReview: Book two of this series is truly one that highlights the talent of Ms Nicholas as a storyteller.\nThe premise of the series revolves around triplets, daughters of a billionaire, who after his death , must follow the stipulations of his will/trust. The main one is that they have to move to Bliss, KS for a year, the place that he found happiness and peace. Each sister is given tasks to accomplish within a year, and these tasks take the sisters outside their comfort zone.\nIn this story, Ava , the one running the billionaires empire, is told she must not only live in Bliss, but she has to have a steady relationship for six months and make a pie. To say that these tasks are a challenge for Ava , its putting it mildly. Now thrown in the mix is hunky diner owner,Parker, who likes his orderly life, doesnt deviate from his menu and is attracted to high maintenance , Eva.\nYes, it was great to see these two interact, but the story is more than them. Its a story about family, and relationships. A story about tearing down physical and emotional walls so that in the end you find something more than just yourself, you find love. Love not only for a special person but also love for a community.\nCant wait to see what the author has in store for us in her next book.\nI was gifted this copy. The opinions expressed are solely my own.","Product: Ellie Ashe has always been drawn to jobs where she can tell storiesjournalist, lawyer, and now writer. Writing quirky romantic mysteries is how she gets the \"happily ever after\" that so often is lacking in her day job. When not writing, you can find her with her nose in a good book, watching far too much TV, or trying out new recipes on unsuspecting friends and family. She lives in Northern California with her husband and two cats, all of whom worry when she starts browsing the puppy listings on petfinder.com.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Get ready for the roller coaster ride\n\nReview: This book is the first one I read by Ellie Ashe, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I must say I really enjoyed it. I love mysteries, with romance thrown in and strong heroines. Well, I sure got all of the above and more.\nMiranda was working in the financial world when she was charged with 15 counts of fraud. The book starts while her verdict is being pronounce...NOT guilty on all accounts. But that doesn't mean the rest of the world is now willing to believe her, and find a decent job. This is where the fun,action, and intrigue begins.\nMiranda is determined to prove her innocence with her own investigations and the help of the hunky FBI agent . Is he really friend or foe?\nRead the book. I promise you will enjoy it.","Product: In September 2011, New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author, Lisa Mondello, re-released her award winning contemporary romance, All I Want for Christmas is You, along with a new release called The Knight and Maggie's Baby, which went on to become a New York Times bestseller! Writing as LA Mondello, she released her romantic suspense, Material Witness, which received a Kirkus Starred Review and was named one of Kirkus Reviews Best Indie Books of 2012.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Another must read from Lisa Mondello\n\nReview: Let me first say that this a wonderfully touching book. Its part of a series, but its a standalone that you will love.\nUpon the death of Ians dear friends Carlos and Brenda, Ian goes to VT for their funeral and was summoned to the reading of their will. Abby , who has been taking care of the 3 children since the death of their parents, is summoned as well. They are advised that Ian is made the guardian of the children , and Abby has to live with the children and Ian for a year to help the transition. Also, the must try and contact Carloss family in Mexico. Abby is distressed, but for the sake of the children , will move to Dakota with Ian and the kids. Both Ian and Abby have had physical and emotional losses, but will do anything for the children.\nWithout giving much away, I will say you will not be disappointed with this book. Ms Mondello once again gives us another winner.","Product: Catherine lives in Upstate New York with a male dominated household that consists of her very patient husband, three sons, two cats and dogs. She has wanted to be a writer since the age of eight when she wrote her own version of Cinderella (and fortunately Disney never sued). Catherine holds a B.A. and dual major in English and Performing Arts. She has worn several different hats over the years, including that of secretary, press release writer, newspaper reporter, real estate agent, and most recently auditor. In her spare time she enjoys traveling, shopping, and of course, a good book.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Filled with romance, mystery, murder and a good time\n\nReview: Sally Muccio is a divorced, cookie bakery owner, whose boyfriend is Mike Donavan, her HS sweetheart .They have reconnected after 10 years. Her ex, Colin Brown, is not a very nice person and is always looking for a way to make easy money.\nColin is killed and Mike is accused of the murder. Needless to say Sally is stressed and determine to help clear Mikes name.\nBut the story is also about family, friendships , loyalty , faith and hope. I love Sallys Grandma Rose and just want her to have her own story. Josie, Sallys BFF, is also a caring and interesting character. You will have a few good laughs (or manifest horror) kwith Sallys mother and father.\nAll in all, an enjoyable story filled with romance, mystery, murder, and a good time.","Product: Gemma Halliday is the New York Times, USA Today, and #1 Kindle bestselling author of several mystery series for both adults and young adults. Her books have won numerous awards, including a Golden Heart, two National Reader's Choice awards and three RITA nominations. *** From her first discovery of Nancy Drew, Kelly Rey has had a lifelong love for mystery and tales of things that go bump in the night, especially those with a twist of humor. Through many years of working in the court reporting and closed captioning fields, writing has remained a constant. If she's not in front of a keyboard, she can be found reading, working out or avoiding housework. She's a member of Sisters in Crime and lives in the Northeast with her husband and a menagerie of very spoiled pets.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: ) It is a mystery filled with funny, DIFFERENT characters\n\nReview: Let me preface by saying that as a child I read ALL the Sherlock Holmes (and of course Nancy Drew) books. So I was curious to see what this new story was all about.\nAll I can say is that I laugh so often, the hubby was not sure if I had totally lost it :)\nIt is a mystery filled with funny, DIFFERENT characters, and as a yoga /pilates instructor, I was on the floor laughing with the yoga scene.\nSo , forget your worries, succumb to this new Sherlock Holmes story and I promise that when you put the book down, you will still be chuckling for a a few hours.\n\nI received an ARC from the publisher for purposes of an unbiased review.","Product: Maria Geraci was born in Havana, Cuba, and raised on Floridas Space Coast. Her love of books started with the classic, Little Women (a book she read so often growing up, she could probably quote). She writes contemporary romance and womens fiction with a happy ending. The Portland Book Review called her novel, The Boyfriend of the Month Club, immensely sexy, immensely satisfying and humorous. Her fourth novel, A Girl Like You, was nominated for Romance Writers of Americas prestigious RITA award. Her current addictions include watching the STARZ adaption of OUTLANDER to drool over Sam Heughan, hitting the beach on the weekends, and searching for the perfect key lime pie recipe (but not the kind they served on Dexter).\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Another winner by Ms Geraci\n\nReview: Oh, how I love Ms Geracis writing. She returns to Whispering Bay. We revisit the characters from the previous 2 books and we get Mimis, and Zekes story. Mimi is now the new mayor of the town, and Zeke continues to do his best as Police Chief. The two are estranged, even though they are more in love than ever. This will at times, make you want to cry for them. Add to that the stress of working with the budget of the city, the new responsibilities Mimi has as a mayor, the nay sayers in addition to the drama with their daughter, and you have a book that you won't want to put down.\nBut, above all, Ms Geraci, shows us imperfect individuals just like you and me, with responsibilities, family ups and downs and life in general. But we must not forget that love does conquer all.\nI loved the book and will continue to be a fan of the author.\n\nI received this book for an honest review.","Product: USA Today best-selling author Allie Boniface was born and raised in a tiny community in upstate New York, which probably explains her fascination with the magic of small town life. She earned her B.A. in English from the University of Rochester in New York and a M.A. in English Literature from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Since 1997, she has enjoyed life in the northern NYC suburbs, where she lives with her husband and teaches English and Education to high school students. In her spare time, she and her husband love to travel. She is also a runner, a musician and an animal-lover. Allie writes contemporary romance series set in small towns (with lots of secrets and spice!). She reads in all genres and loves chatting with other readers and writers about any topic under the sun. You can find her around the Web, at writers' conferences, giving workshops, swapping stories, and generally chatting about romance writing. Readers can sign up for Allie's newsletter to receive announcements about her appearances, new releases, contests, review opportunities, and other fun giveaways. Just copy and paste this link into your address bar! http://eepurl.com/9TO79\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: I loved this book\n\nReview: I just loved this book. This one is Ms Boniface at her best. The story centers around Nate, a single guy working in a bar (even though he has a Business degree) and living the bachelor life until life throws him a curveball, and Max (Maxine ) a well respected librarian. He begs to help him when he discovers he has a daughter and she in turn gets a chance to move out of her Mothers house.\nYou will laugh, cry, get frustrated with them, cheer the characters and just love them all. Its a story about love of a child, a significant other, maturing, realizing that the important things in life are not material but our loved ones. I promise it will be a book you will enjoy all the way through.\n\nI received a copy of this book for an honest review. The opinions are solely mine.","Product: Bestselling author Debra Clopton has sold over 2.5 million books and her holiday story, OPERATION: MARRIED BY CHRISTMAS has been optioned for an ABC Family Movie staring LeAnn Rimes. Debra writes cowboy romances, inspirational, Christian romance, contemporary and western romances set in Texas. She is known for her snappy dialogue, cowboy heroes and spunky heroines. Her awards include: The Book Sellers Best, Romantic Times Magazine's Book of the Year. She's also a Romance Writers of America Golden Heart Finalist, and a triple finalist in the American Christian Fiction Writers Carol Award. A sixth generation Texan, Debra lives on a ranch in central Texas with her husband Chuck. She loves to travel and spend time with her family. She is the author of the much loved Mule Hollow Matchmakers series where you never know what the Matchmaking \"Posse\" is going to do next! She has written for Harlequin and Harper Collins Christian and now with DCP Publishing with her newest series New Horizon Ranch collection. She is currently working on her 39th novel surrounded by cows, dogs and even renegade donkey herds that keep her writing authentic and often find their way into her stories. She loves helping people smile with her fun, fast paced stories. Visit Debra's website at www.debraclopton.com.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Sweet addition to the series\n\nReview: If you are looking for a clean Christian romance that is sweet and entertaining, this one is for you.\nWe are back in Ransom Creek , the home of the handsome Presley brothers . This time, its Shanes story.\nJenna Emory , has been dumped by her boyfriend in Seattle and decides its time to visit her aunt Sally in Ransom Creek. On her drive to her aunts, the rain and treacherous weather causes her to lose control of her car. Thankfully, she is rescued by Shane. The attraction is immediate but they attempt to ignore it. Jenna, because shes just off a bad relationship and has no plans of moving to a small town. Shane, because he thinks shes engaged, and besides, he knows that small town living is not what Jenna wants.\nIt was fun to watch these two interact. As well as spending time with the residents of Ransom Creek, that even though are very nosey, are also endearing. Its also a reminder that dreams can change when you least expect it and frequently for the better.\nI was gifted this ARC copy. The opinions expressed are solely my own.","Product: Bestselling author Debra Clopton has sold over 2.5 million books and her holiday story, OPERATION: MARRIED BY CHRISTMAS has been optioned for an ABC Family Movie staring LeAnn Rimes. Debra writes cowboy romances, inspirational, Christian romance, contemporary and western romances set in Texas. She is known for her snappy dialogue, cowboy heroes and spunky heroines. Her awards include: The Book Sellers Best, Romantic Times Magazine's Book of the Year. She's also a Romance Writers of America Golden Heart Finalist, and a triple finalist in the American Christian Fiction Writers Carol Award. A sixth generation Texan, Debra lives on a ranch in central Texas with her husband Chuck. She loves to travel and spend time with her family. She is the author of the much loved Mule Hollow Matchmakers series where you never know what the Matchmaking \"Posse\" is going to do next! She has written for Harlequin and Harper Collins Christian and now with DCP Publishing with her newest series New Horizon Ranch collection. She is currently working on her 39th novel surrounded by cows, dogs and even renegade donkey herds that keep her writing authentic and often find their way into her stories. She loves helping people smile with her fun, fast paced stories. Visit Debra's website at http://www.debraclopton.com\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: An enjoyable story for an afternoon of leisure\n\nReview: Ms Clopton takes us back to Ransom Creek so we can enjoy another sweet, clean romance with a little of suspense thrown in to keep us guessing.\nThis time we have Cooper Presleys story. He is one of the handsome Presley brothers from Ransom Creek. If you have read Ms. Claptons book, With This Pledge, you met their sister Lana.\nBeth Lee has moved to her uncles ranch for a new start. Her adorable goats are always getting in trouble and when one them escapes , Presley not only gets a chance to meet Beth, but he also comes to the rescue of her and her goat Tilly.\nIt was nice to meet up with the townspeople, see how they interacted and when Beth Lee needed help, they came to assist her.\nAn enjoyable story for an afternoon of leisure.\nI was gifted this copy. The opinions expressed are solely my own.","Product: Bestselling author Debra Clopton has sold over 2.5 million books and her holiday story, OPERATION: MARRIED BY CHRISTMAS has been optioned for an ABC Family Movie staring LeAnn Rimes. Debra writes cowboy romances, inspirational, Christian romance, contemporary and western romances set in Texas. She is known for her snappy dialogue, cowboy heroes and spunky heroines. Her awards include: The Book Sellers Best, Romantic Times Magazine's Book of the Year. She's also a Romance Writers of America Golden Heart Finalist, and a triple finalist in the American Christian Fiction Writers Carol Award. A sixth generation Texan, Debra lives on a ranch in central Texas with her husband Chuck. She loves to travel and spend time with her family. She is the author of the much loved Mule Hollow Matchmakers series where you never know what the Matchmaking \"Posse\" is going to do next! She has written for Harlequin and Harper Collins Christian and now with DCP Publishing with her newest series New Horizon Ranch collection. She is currently working on her 39th novel surrounded by cows, dogs and even renegade donkey herds that keep her writing authentic and often find their way into her stories. She loves helping people smile with her fun, fast paced stories. Visit Debra's website at www.debraclopton.com\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Always a good book if written by Ms Clopton\n\nReview: The Rodeo Knights series is a group of clean contemporary , romance books written by various authors. All the books keep the same theme: rodeo, hunky cowboys, and the Knights brothers who own a security company dedicated to the rodeos safety and security.\nI like the way that Ms. Clopton, as well as the other authors, show the reader the life of the rodeo, the competitions, the dangerous of the sport, as well as the excitement in the arena.\nIn this story we have Trip Jensen and Lori Calhoun. They met when they were kids and developed a friendship that as they got older could have become romantic. But Trip, who was the son of the foreman of Loris Dads ranch , felt he would not be enough for her.\nThey go their separate ways, both hurt. Upon Loris Dads death , she comes back to the ranch she had left years ago and Trip is now the foreman. Things get complicated when stock is stolen as well as cattle.\nAll in all, a novella that will entertain you with the suspense, good and bad cowboys, and a HEA. I specially enjoyed getting a glimpse of the Presley brothers. If you have read any of the Windswept stories by this author, you met them in Lana Presleys and Cam Sinclairs book, With This Promise.\nI was gifted this copy. The opinions expressed are solely my own.","Product: Bestselling author Debra Clopton has sold over 2.5 million books and her holiday story, OPERATION: MARRIED BY CHRISTMAS has been optioned for an ABC Family Movie staring LeAnn Rimes. Debra writes cowboy romances, inspirational, Christian romance, contemporary and western romances set in Texas. She is known for her snappy dialogue, cowboy heroes and spunky heroines. Her awards include: The Book Sellers Best, Romantic Times Magazine's Book of the Year. She's also a Romance Writers of America Golden Heart Finalist, and a triple finalist in the American Christian Fiction Writers Carol Award. A sixth generation Texan, Debra lives on a ranch in central Texas with her husband Chuck. She loves to travel and spend time with her family. She is the author of the much loved Mule Hollow Matchmakers series where you never know what the Matchmaking \"Posse\" is going to do next! She has written for Harlequin and Harper Collins Christian and now with DCP Publishing with her newest series New Horizon Ranch collection. She is currently working on her 39th novel surrounded by cows, dogs and even renegade donkey herds that keep her writing authentic and often find their way into her stories. She loves helping people smile with her fun, fast paced stories. Visit Debra's website at http://www.debraclopton.com\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: A feel good story\n\nReview: With This Promise is another thoughtful story by Ms Clopton . As the rest of the series, its a sweet, clean romance with characters that will touch your heart. We are back in Whisperswept Bays resort and the Sinclair clan. The four girls are now in relationships and the boys are the focus in this one. Specifically, Cam, the one that left for Texas to be a rancher. He is now a successful man, with not only a ranch in Texas, but has just acquired one in Whisperwept Bay.\nLana is a new elementary school teacher ,born and raised on a Texan ranch, but left because of over protective brothers, an awful break up and needing to spread her wings. These two hit it off. One resisting the attraction, the other one looking for a relationship.\n The entire story will leave you with a feeling good and give you a happy ending.\nI was gifted this copy. The opinions expressed are solely my own.","Product: USA Today Bestselling author Christina Coryell and award winning author Angela Ruth Strong team up with multi-published authors Heather Woodhaven and Lisa Phillips to create a fun, sweet romance collection.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: A nice book for summer reading\n\nReview: As the title describes, this is a set of novellas that take place in lovely coastal towns of Oregon. The author of the Prologue, Angela Ruth Strong, sets the pace of the novellas. We are introduced to Christina, a bride to be , her bridesmaids and the maid of honor. They have been friends since college. The wedding is cancelled when the bride realizes that if her fiance is not going to be a man of faith, she feels she would not have a happy marriage.\nI especially liked Finding Love in Lincoln City , by Heather Woodhaven. Liz (the maid of the cancelled wedding ) meets up again with the guy she has loved since college. But he might cost her job in a local magazine, and she is afraid of being hurt.\nIn general , each story is one of faith in God, in belief in oneself and in the possibility of love. Is it worth the risk and will these women take a chance of loving and being loved.\nA nice book for a summer reading.\nI was gifted a copy of this book. The opinions expressed are solely my own.","Product: Sara Jane currently lives near New Yorks Hudson River with her very supportive real-life hero, two lively young children, a pair of mischievous kittens, and a very active dog. When she is not hiking with the kids, she loves writing sexy stories, staying up past her bedtime reading red-hot romance, and chatting with her readers on Facebook at facebook.com/SaraJaneStone.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Hope this is the beginning of a series\n\nReview: I became a fan of Ms Stones writing when I read her series titled A Second Shot. I was hoping this book, would be just as good. Trust me, it is.\nThe main characters, as well as the plot , are well developed and complex. Lucy Linden owns a company with her friends in which they offer fairytales to the children. Lucy was Cinderella in the Magic Kingdom, and that is her trademark. Even as an adult , she hopes for love and her prince charming, even though she already has suffered betrayal in the worse possible way. Jared Mitchell, is her brothers best friend and a self-made billionaire. Without giving away the plot, they are attracted to each other, but his work interferes in what could have been they HEA. Love is not perfect and concessions will have to be made if they truly are to find their happiness.\nI hope that this is the beginning of a series, since the secondary characters are just as interesting and complex.\nKudos to Ms Stone for another great book. I was gifted this copy. The opinions expressed are solely my own.","Product: USA Today best-selling author Pamela Clare began her writing career as a columnist and investigative reporter and eventually became the first woman editor-in-chief of two different newspapers. Along the way, she and her team won numerous state and national honors, including the National Journalism Award for Public Service. In 2011, Clare was awarded the Keeper of the Flame Lifetime Achievement Award for her body of work. A single mother with two sons, she writes historical and contemporary romance and romantic suspense at the foot of the beautiful Rocky Mountains. Visit her website and join her mailing list at www.pamelaclare.com.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Another great addition to this already successful series\n\nReview: It had been awhile since I last read a book in this series and decided to give this one a try. As I expected, Ms Clare did not disappoint us.\nThis one centers around Joaquin Ramirez, and Army Captain Mia Starr.\nJoaquin has been around for other stories. He is a photojournalist and artistic. Not the usual guy we have had in other books.\nMia is a complex woman. Bright, gutsy and now a suspect in a murder. Who comes to her rescue, but Joaquin.\nThe author gives us a plot that though not as action packed as other stories, its engaging. The main characters are not only complex but have a heart. I love when authors give us strong women like Mia.\nYou will get to laugh, be on the edge of your seat with the suspense, and not only will the main characters fall in love with each other, but you will fall in love with them as well.\nAnother great addition to this already successful series.\nI was gifted this copy by Netgalley. The opinions expressed are solely my own.","Product: Heather Woodhaven earned her pilot's license, flew a hot air balloon over the safari lands of Kenya, assisted an engineer with a medical laser in a Haitian mission, parasailed over Caribbean seas, lived through an accidental detour onto a black diamond ski trail in the Aspens and snorkeled among sting rays before becoming a mother of three and wife of one. Heather channels her love for adventure into writing characters who find themselves in extraordinary circumstances.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: I promise you'll enjoy the book\n\nReview: This is the first book by Ms Woodhaven that I read, and it won't be the last.\nThe author gives us a clean Christian romance filled with suspense, whodunit, bad guys galore, intrigue, and underlying romance while describing the beauty of San Antonio and the ins and out of hotel management.\nMatt and Isabelle are the main characters. They were best friends for years when they were in school and though they were attracted to each other then, they never revealed it.\nThey meet again , when Isabelle, now a marine biologist, is in San Antonio to present an innovative product at a convention. By chance she meets again Matt, now an hotel operation manager, when he rescues her from men trying to harm her. And thats when the plot thickens.\nSuffice is to say it was a rollercoaster ride , but one worth taking. You will not be bored and will be constantly wondering who are the bad guys. And lets not forget the chemistry that never really burned out between Matt and Isabelle.\nSo pick up the book, I promise you will enjoy it.\nI was gifted this copy. The opinions expressed are solely my own.","Product: Emily March is the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and USA Today bestselling author of over thirty novels, including the critically acclaimed Eternity Springs series. Publishers Weekly calls March a \"master of delightful banter,\" and her heartwarming, emotionally charged stories have been named to Best of the Year lists by Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and Romance Writers of America. A graduate of Texas A&M University, Emily is an avid fan of Aggie sports and her recipe for jalapeo relish has made her a tailgating legend.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: A great ending for this trilogy\n\nReview: I have loved the previous audiobooks in this series and this one did not disappoint. A series, based on the Callahan brothers. Brothers that not only have a strong bond , but they also share their dislike of their Father.\nNow each of them has served their country and are respectable men.\nThis is Marks story . He was in the military and when a member of his unit dies, the surviving ones attend the funeral. That includes Annabelle who has a history with Mark. At the funeral they realize that the death might not have been accidental and they are determined to find the killer.\nWhile the plot is complex , filled with suspense, secrets kept from family and friends, intrigue, romance and dangerous situations, the underlying plot is even more complex.\nThe author shows us that the actions of a parent will affect the individual as an adult. That the death of a loved one can affect someone so deeply, that they avoid loving anyone for fear of losing that person. But also, that love and trust can and does conquer all.\nI am sorry to see the series end, and in my mind have a book dedicated to John, the brother these men lost . Only a talented and gifted author can have a reader, in this case me, having those thoughts..\nI was gifted this audiobook. The opinions expressed are solely my own."],"string":"[\n \"Product: Erin Nicholas is the author of sexy contemporary romances. Her stories have been described as toe-curling, enchanting, steamy and fun. She loves to write about reluctant heroes, imperfect heroines and happily ever afters. She lives in the Midwest with her husband who only wants to read the sex scenes in her books, her kids who will never read the sex scenes in her books, and family and friends who say theyre shocked by the sex scenes in her books (yeah, right!). You can find Erin on the web at www.ErinNicholas.com, on Twitter (http://twitter.com/ErinNicholas) and on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/ErinNicholasBooks)\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: A story not to be missed\\n\\nReview: Whether you are a long time fan of Ms Nicholas or this is your first book by this talented author, you will fall in love not only with the characters but also with the town.\\nWe are back in Sapphire Falls , and this time its Tucker Bennetts and Delany Callans story.\\nTucker owns a farm and wants to settle down with a wife and have kids. Delaney is interested in neither. But now she is the guardian to her four nephews. Boys that lost their parents. One being her sister, the other one , was Tuckers dear friend.\\nWhen the boys and Delaney are to spend a summer in Tuckers farm. he sees it as an opportunity. Delaney sees it as a possible Summer fling.\\nIt was a heartbreaking but also sweet, and heartwarming story. About loss but also about new beginnings , love, hope and friendships.\\nA story not to be missed.\\nI was gifted a copy of this book. The opinions expressed are solely my own.\",\n \"Product: Roxanne St. Claire Published since 2003, Roxanne St. Claire is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of fifty romance and suspense novels. She has written several popular series, including The Dogfather, Barefoot Bay, the Guardian Angelinos, and the Bullet Catchers. In addition to being an nine-time nominee and one-time winner of the prestigious RITA Award for the best in romance writing, Roxannes novels have won the National Readers Choice Award for best romantic suspense four times, as well as the Maggie, the Daphne du Maurier Award, the HOLT Medallion, Booksellers Best, Book Buyers Best, the Award of Excellence, and many others. She lives in Florida with her husband, and still attempts to run the lives of her teenage daughter and 20-something son. She loves dogs, books, chocolate, and wine, especially all at the same time.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: A wonderful story by this talented author\\n\\nReview: I have been a fan of this talented author for years , but somehow , had missed this series.\\nThis is one of the most touching, thought provoking, thoughtful, heartbreaking and heartwarming stories I have read in a long time.\\nThis book centers around Molly Kilcannon, local veterinarian in Better Bark/Bitter Bark, and single Mom to Pru, a precocious 13 year old. Pru was conceived the same night her father disappeared.\\nTrace was the bad boy of town, son of the one and only astrologer in town, who left when he was being accused for something he did not do. Little did he know that life was not going to go smoothly for him when shortly after ends up in jail for 14 years.\\nFast forward and he now has returned to town shocking Molly, and clueless about Pru. A man that all he wants is a chance in life , even though his self worth has been shattered. His talent working with dogs gets him a job with Mollys father.\\nWatching this two interact, while keeping secrets will touch your heart and at times make you cry and wish you could cross through the pages to give them all a hug.\\nThe Kilcannon family is unique , loud , very close, supportive and wonderful.\\nWith all the obstacles Molly and Trace have to overcome, will they get their second chance and find their HEA, or will they let the vicious tongues win after all?\\nI promise you will be glad you read this book.\\nI was gifted this copy. The opinions expressed are solely my own.\",\n \"Product: Erin Nicholas is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over thirty sexy contemporary romances. Her stories have been described as toe-curling, enchanting, steamy and fun. She loves to write about reluctant heroes, imperfect heroines and happily ever afters. She lives in the Midwest with her husband who only wants to read the sex scenes in her books, her kids who will never read the sex scenes in her books, and family and friends who say theyre shocked by the sex scenes in her books (yeah, right!). Visit Erin at www.ErinNicholas.com\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Can't wait for the next book in the series\\n\\nReview: Book two of this series is truly one that highlights the talent of Ms Nicholas as a storyteller.\\nThe premise of the series revolves around triplets, daughters of a billionaire, who after his death , must follow the stipulations of his will/trust. The main one is that they have to move to Bliss, KS for a year, the place that he found happiness and peace. Each sister is given tasks to accomplish within a year, and these tasks take the sisters outside their comfort zone.\\nIn this story, Ava , the one running the billionaires empire, is told she must not only live in Bliss, but she has to have a steady relationship for six months and make a pie. To say that these tasks are a challenge for Ava , its putting it mildly. Now thrown in the mix is hunky diner owner,Parker, who likes his orderly life, doesnt deviate from his menu and is attracted to high maintenance , Eva.\\nYes, it was great to see these two interact, but the story is more than them. Its a story about family, and relationships. A story about tearing down physical and emotional walls so that in the end you find something more than just yourself, you find love. Love not only for a special person but also love for a community.\\nCant wait to see what the author has in store for us in her next book.\\nI was gifted this copy. The opinions expressed are solely my own.\",\n \"Product: Ellie Ashe has always been drawn to jobs where she can tell storiesjournalist, lawyer, and now writer. Writing quirky romantic mysteries is how she gets the \\\"happily ever after\\\" that so often is lacking in her day job. When not writing, you can find her with her nose in a good book, watching far too much TV, or trying out new recipes on unsuspecting friends and family. She lives in Northern California with her husband and two cats, all of whom worry when she starts browsing the puppy listings on petfinder.com.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Get ready for the roller coaster ride\\n\\nReview: This book is the first one I read by Ellie Ashe, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I must say I really enjoyed it. I love mysteries, with romance thrown in and strong heroines. Well, I sure got all of the above and more.\\nMiranda was working in the financial world when she was charged with 15 counts of fraud. The book starts while her verdict is being pronounce...NOT guilty on all accounts. But that doesn't mean the rest of the world is now willing to believe her, and find a decent job. This is where the fun,action, and intrigue begins.\\nMiranda is determined to prove her innocence with her own investigations and the help of the hunky FBI agent . Is he really friend or foe?\\nRead the book. I promise you will enjoy it.\",\n \"Product: In September 2011, New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author, Lisa Mondello, re-released her award winning contemporary romance, All I Want for Christmas is You, along with a new release called The Knight and Maggie's Baby, which went on to become a New York Times bestseller! Writing as LA Mondello, she released her romantic suspense, Material Witness, which received a Kirkus Starred Review and was named one of Kirkus Reviews Best Indie Books of 2012.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Another must read from Lisa Mondello\\n\\nReview: Let me first say that this a wonderfully touching book. Its part of a series, but its a standalone that you will love.\\nUpon the death of Ians dear friends Carlos and Brenda, Ian goes to VT for their funeral and was summoned to the reading of their will. Abby , who has been taking care of the 3 children since the death of their parents, is summoned as well. They are advised that Ian is made the guardian of the children , and Abby has to live with the children and Ian for a year to help the transition. Also, the must try and contact Carloss family in Mexico. Abby is distressed, but for the sake of the children , will move to Dakota with Ian and the kids. Both Ian and Abby have had physical and emotional losses, but will do anything for the children.\\nWithout giving much away, I will say you will not be disappointed with this book. Ms Mondello once again gives us another winner.\",\n \"Product: Catherine lives in Upstate New York with a male dominated household that consists of her very patient husband, three sons, two cats and dogs. She has wanted to be a writer since the age of eight when she wrote her own version of Cinderella (and fortunately Disney never sued). Catherine holds a B.A. and dual major in English and Performing Arts. She has worn several different hats over the years, including that of secretary, press release writer, newspaper reporter, real estate agent, and most recently auditor. In her spare time she enjoys traveling, shopping, and of course, a good book.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Filled with romance, mystery, murder and a good time\\n\\nReview: Sally Muccio is a divorced, cookie bakery owner, whose boyfriend is Mike Donavan, her HS sweetheart .They have reconnected after 10 years. Her ex, Colin Brown, is not a very nice person and is always looking for a way to make easy money.\\nColin is killed and Mike is accused of the murder. Needless to say Sally is stressed and determine to help clear Mikes name.\\nBut the story is also about family, friendships , loyalty , faith and hope. I love Sallys Grandma Rose and just want her to have her own story. Josie, Sallys BFF, is also a caring and interesting character. You will have a few good laughs (or manifest horror) kwith Sallys mother and father.\\nAll in all, an enjoyable story filled with romance, mystery, murder, and a good time.\",\n \"Product: Gemma Halliday is the New York Times, USA Today, and #1 Kindle bestselling author of several mystery series for both adults and young adults. Her books have won numerous awards, including a Golden Heart, two National Reader's Choice awards and three RITA nominations. *** From her first discovery of Nancy Drew, Kelly Rey has had a lifelong love for mystery and tales of things that go bump in the night, especially those with a twist of humor. Through many years of working in the court reporting and closed captioning fields, writing has remained a constant. If she's not in front of a keyboard, she can be found reading, working out or avoiding housework. She's a member of Sisters in Crime and lives in the Northeast with her husband and a menagerie of very spoiled pets.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: ) It is a mystery filled with funny, DIFFERENT characters\\n\\nReview: Let me preface by saying that as a child I read ALL the Sherlock Holmes (and of course Nancy Drew) books. So I was curious to see what this new story was all about.\\nAll I can say is that I laugh so often, the hubby was not sure if I had totally lost it :)\\nIt is a mystery filled with funny, DIFFERENT characters, and as a yoga /pilates instructor, I was on the floor laughing with the yoga scene.\\nSo , forget your worries, succumb to this new Sherlock Holmes story and I promise that when you put the book down, you will still be chuckling for a a few hours.\\n\\nI received an ARC from the publisher for purposes of an unbiased review.\",\n \"Product: Maria Geraci was born in Havana, Cuba, and raised on Floridas Space Coast. Her love of books started with the classic, Little Women (a book she read so often growing up, she could probably quote). She writes contemporary romance and womens fiction with a happy ending. The Portland Book Review called her novel, The Boyfriend of the Month Club, immensely sexy, immensely satisfying and humorous. Her fourth novel, A Girl Like You, was nominated for Romance Writers of Americas prestigious RITA award. Her current addictions include watching the STARZ adaption of OUTLANDER to drool over Sam Heughan, hitting the beach on the weekends, and searching for the perfect key lime pie recipe (but not the kind they served on Dexter).\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Another winner by Ms Geraci\\n\\nReview: Oh, how I love Ms Geracis writing. She returns to Whispering Bay. We revisit the characters from the previous 2 books and we get Mimis, and Zekes story. Mimi is now the new mayor of the town, and Zeke continues to do his best as Police Chief. The two are estranged, even though they are more in love than ever. This will at times, make you want to cry for them. Add to that the stress of working with the budget of the city, the new responsibilities Mimi has as a mayor, the nay sayers in addition to the drama with their daughter, and you have a book that you won't want to put down.\\nBut, above all, Ms Geraci, shows us imperfect individuals just like you and me, with responsibilities, family ups and downs and life in general. But we must not forget that love does conquer all.\\nI loved the book and will continue to be a fan of the author.\\n\\nI received this book for an honest review.\",\n \"Product: USA Today best-selling author Allie Boniface was born and raised in a tiny community in upstate New York, which probably explains her fascination with the magic of small town life. She earned her B.A. in English from the University of Rochester in New York and a M.A. in English Literature from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Since 1997, she has enjoyed life in the northern NYC suburbs, where she lives with her husband and teaches English and Education to high school students. In her spare time, she and her husband love to travel. She is also a runner, a musician and an animal-lover. Allie writes contemporary romance series set in small towns (with lots of secrets and spice!). She reads in all genres and loves chatting with other readers and writers about any topic under the sun. You can find her around the Web, at writers' conferences, giving workshops, swapping stories, and generally chatting about romance writing. Readers can sign up for Allie's newsletter to receive announcements about her appearances, new releases, contests, review opportunities, and other fun giveaways. Just copy and paste this link into your address bar! http://eepurl.com/9TO79\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: I loved this book\\n\\nReview: I just loved this book. This one is Ms Boniface at her best. The story centers around Nate, a single guy working in a bar (even though he has a Business degree) and living the bachelor life until life throws him a curveball, and Max (Maxine ) a well respected librarian. He begs to help him when he discovers he has a daughter and she in turn gets a chance to move out of her Mothers house.\\nYou will laugh, cry, get frustrated with them, cheer the characters and just love them all. Its a story about love of a child, a significant other, maturing, realizing that the important things in life are not material but our loved ones. I promise it will be a book you will enjoy all the way through.\\n\\nI received a copy of this book for an honest review. The opinions are solely mine.\",\n \"Product: Bestselling author Debra Clopton has sold over 2.5 million books and her holiday story, OPERATION: MARRIED BY CHRISTMAS has been optioned for an ABC Family Movie staring LeAnn Rimes. Debra writes cowboy romances, inspirational, Christian romance, contemporary and western romances set in Texas. She is known for her snappy dialogue, cowboy heroes and spunky heroines. Her awards include: The Book Sellers Best, Romantic Times Magazine's Book of the Year. She's also a Romance Writers of America Golden Heart Finalist, and a triple finalist in the American Christian Fiction Writers Carol Award. A sixth generation Texan, Debra lives on a ranch in central Texas with her husband Chuck. She loves to travel and spend time with her family. She is the author of the much loved Mule Hollow Matchmakers series where you never know what the Matchmaking \\\"Posse\\\" is going to do next! She has written for Harlequin and Harper Collins Christian and now with DCP Publishing with her newest series New Horizon Ranch collection. She is currently working on her 39th novel surrounded by cows, dogs and even renegade donkey herds that keep her writing authentic and often find their way into her stories. She loves helping people smile with her fun, fast paced stories. Visit Debra's website at www.debraclopton.com.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Sweet addition to the series\\n\\nReview: If you are looking for a clean Christian romance that is sweet and entertaining, this one is for you.\\nWe are back in Ransom Creek , the home of the handsome Presley brothers . This time, its Shanes story.\\nJenna Emory , has been dumped by her boyfriend in Seattle and decides its time to visit her aunt Sally in Ransom Creek. On her drive to her aunts, the rain and treacherous weather causes her to lose control of her car. Thankfully, she is rescued by Shane. The attraction is immediate but they attempt to ignore it. Jenna, because shes just off a bad relationship and has no plans of moving to a small town. Shane, because he thinks shes engaged, and besides, he knows that small town living is not what Jenna wants.\\nIt was fun to watch these two interact. As well as spending time with the residents of Ransom Creek, that even though are very nosey, are also endearing. Its also a reminder that dreams can change when you least expect it and frequently for the better.\\nI was gifted this ARC copy. The opinions expressed are solely my own.\",\n \"Product: Bestselling author Debra Clopton has sold over 2.5 million books and her holiday story, OPERATION: MARRIED BY CHRISTMAS has been optioned for an ABC Family Movie staring LeAnn Rimes. Debra writes cowboy romances, inspirational, Christian romance, contemporary and western romances set in Texas. She is known for her snappy dialogue, cowboy heroes and spunky heroines. Her awards include: The Book Sellers Best, Romantic Times Magazine's Book of the Year. She's also a Romance Writers of America Golden Heart Finalist, and a triple finalist in the American Christian Fiction Writers Carol Award. A sixth generation Texan, Debra lives on a ranch in central Texas with her husband Chuck. She loves to travel and spend time with her family. She is the author of the much loved Mule Hollow Matchmakers series where you never know what the Matchmaking \\\"Posse\\\" is going to do next! She has written for Harlequin and Harper Collins Christian and now with DCP Publishing with her newest series New Horizon Ranch collection. She is currently working on her 39th novel surrounded by cows, dogs and even renegade donkey herds that keep her writing authentic and often find their way into her stories. She loves helping people smile with her fun, fast paced stories. Visit Debra's website at http://www.debraclopton.com\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: An enjoyable story for an afternoon of leisure\\n\\nReview: Ms Clopton takes us back to Ransom Creek so we can enjoy another sweet, clean romance with a little of suspense thrown in to keep us guessing.\\nThis time we have Cooper Presleys story. He is one of the handsome Presley brothers from Ransom Creek. If you have read Ms. Claptons book, With This Pledge, you met their sister Lana.\\nBeth Lee has moved to her uncles ranch for a new start. Her adorable goats are always getting in trouble and when one them escapes , Presley not only gets a chance to meet Beth, but he also comes to the rescue of her and her goat Tilly.\\nIt was nice to meet up with the townspeople, see how they interacted and when Beth Lee needed help, they came to assist her.\\nAn enjoyable story for an afternoon of leisure.\\nI was gifted this copy. The opinions expressed are solely my own.\",\n \"Product: Bestselling author Debra Clopton has sold over 2.5 million books and her holiday story, OPERATION: MARRIED BY CHRISTMAS has been optioned for an ABC Family Movie staring LeAnn Rimes. Debra writes cowboy romances, inspirational, Christian romance, contemporary and western romances set in Texas. She is known for her snappy dialogue, cowboy heroes and spunky heroines. Her awards include: The Book Sellers Best, Romantic Times Magazine's Book of the Year. She's also a Romance Writers of America Golden Heart Finalist, and a triple finalist in the American Christian Fiction Writers Carol Award. A sixth generation Texan, Debra lives on a ranch in central Texas with her husband Chuck. She loves to travel and spend time with her family. She is the author of the much loved Mule Hollow Matchmakers series where you never know what the Matchmaking \\\"Posse\\\" is going to do next! She has written for Harlequin and Harper Collins Christian and now with DCP Publishing with her newest series New Horizon Ranch collection. She is currently working on her 39th novel surrounded by cows, dogs and even renegade donkey herds that keep her writing authentic and often find their way into her stories. She loves helping people smile with her fun, fast paced stories. Visit Debra's website at www.debraclopton.com\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Always a good book if written by Ms Clopton\\n\\nReview: The Rodeo Knights series is a group of clean contemporary , romance books written by various authors. All the books keep the same theme: rodeo, hunky cowboys, and the Knights brothers who own a security company dedicated to the rodeos safety and security.\\nI like the way that Ms. Clopton, as well as the other authors, show the reader the life of the rodeo, the competitions, the dangerous of the sport, as well as the excitement in the arena.\\nIn this story we have Trip Jensen and Lori Calhoun. They met when they were kids and developed a friendship that as they got older could have become romantic. But Trip, who was the son of the foreman of Loris Dads ranch , felt he would not be enough for her.\\nThey go their separate ways, both hurt. Upon Loris Dads death , she comes back to the ranch she had left years ago and Trip is now the foreman. Things get complicated when stock is stolen as well as cattle.\\nAll in all, a novella that will entertain you with the suspense, good and bad cowboys, and a HEA. I specially enjoyed getting a glimpse of the Presley brothers. If you have read any of the Windswept stories by this author, you met them in Lana Presleys and Cam Sinclairs book, With This Promise.\\nI was gifted this copy. The opinions expressed are solely my own.\",\n \"Product: Bestselling author Debra Clopton has sold over 2.5 million books and her holiday story, OPERATION: MARRIED BY CHRISTMAS has been optioned for an ABC Family Movie staring LeAnn Rimes. Debra writes cowboy romances, inspirational, Christian romance, contemporary and western romances set in Texas. She is known for her snappy dialogue, cowboy heroes and spunky heroines. Her awards include: The Book Sellers Best, Romantic Times Magazine's Book of the Year. She's also a Romance Writers of America Golden Heart Finalist, and a triple finalist in the American Christian Fiction Writers Carol Award. A sixth generation Texan, Debra lives on a ranch in central Texas with her husband Chuck. She loves to travel and spend time with her family. She is the author of the much loved Mule Hollow Matchmakers series where you never know what the Matchmaking \\\"Posse\\\" is going to do next! She has written for Harlequin and Harper Collins Christian and now with DCP Publishing with her newest series New Horizon Ranch collection. She is currently working on her 39th novel surrounded by cows, dogs and even renegade donkey herds that keep her writing authentic and often find their way into her stories. She loves helping people smile with her fun, fast paced stories. Visit Debra's website at http://www.debraclopton.com\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: A feel good story\\n\\nReview: With This Promise is another thoughtful story by Ms Clopton . As the rest of the series, its a sweet, clean romance with characters that will touch your heart. We are back in Whisperswept Bays resort and the Sinclair clan. The four girls are now in relationships and the boys are the focus in this one. Specifically, Cam, the one that left for Texas to be a rancher. He is now a successful man, with not only a ranch in Texas, but has just acquired one in Whisperwept Bay.\\nLana is a new elementary school teacher ,born and raised on a Texan ranch, but left because of over protective brothers, an awful break up and needing to spread her wings. These two hit it off. One resisting the attraction, the other one looking for a relationship.\\n The entire story will leave you with a feeling good and give you a happy ending.\\nI was gifted this copy. The opinions expressed are solely my own.\",\n \"Product: USA Today Bestselling author Christina Coryell and award winning author Angela Ruth Strong team up with multi-published authors Heather Woodhaven and Lisa Phillips to create a fun, sweet romance collection.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: A nice book for summer reading\\n\\nReview: As the title describes, this is a set of novellas that take place in lovely coastal towns of Oregon. The author of the Prologue, Angela Ruth Strong, sets the pace of the novellas. We are introduced to Christina, a bride to be , her bridesmaids and the maid of honor. They have been friends since college. The wedding is cancelled when the bride realizes that if her fiance is not going to be a man of faith, she feels she would not have a happy marriage.\\nI especially liked Finding Love in Lincoln City , by Heather Woodhaven. Liz (the maid of the cancelled wedding ) meets up again with the guy she has loved since college. But he might cost her job in a local magazine, and she is afraid of being hurt.\\nIn general , each story is one of faith in God, in belief in oneself and in the possibility of love. Is it worth the risk and will these women take a chance of loving and being loved.\\nA nice book for a summer reading.\\nI was gifted a copy of this book. The opinions expressed are solely my own.\",\n \"Product: Sara Jane currently lives near New Yorks Hudson River with her very supportive real-life hero, two lively young children, a pair of mischievous kittens, and a very active dog. When she is not hiking with the kids, she loves writing sexy stories, staying up past her bedtime reading red-hot romance, and chatting with her readers on Facebook at facebook.com/SaraJaneStone.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Hope this is the beginning of a series\\n\\nReview: I became a fan of Ms Stones writing when I read her series titled A Second Shot. I was hoping this book, would be just as good. Trust me, it is.\\nThe main characters, as well as the plot , are well developed and complex. Lucy Linden owns a company with her friends in which they offer fairytales to the children. Lucy was Cinderella in the Magic Kingdom, and that is her trademark. Even as an adult , she hopes for love and her prince charming, even though she already has suffered betrayal in the worse possible way. Jared Mitchell, is her brothers best friend and a self-made billionaire. Without giving away the plot, they are attracted to each other, but his work interferes in what could have been they HEA. Love is not perfect and concessions will have to be made if they truly are to find their happiness.\\nI hope that this is the beginning of a series, since the secondary characters are just as interesting and complex.\\nKudos to Ms Stone for another great book. I was gifted this copy. The opinions expressed are solely my own.\",\n \"Product: USA Today best-selling author Pamela Clare began her writing career as a columnist and investigative reporter and eventually became the first woman editor-in-chief of two different newspapers. Along the way, she and her team won numerous state and national honors, including the National Journalism Award for Public Service. In 2011, Clare was awarded the Keeper of the Flame Lifetime Achievement Award for her body of work. A single mother with two sons, she writes historical and contemporary romance and romantic suspense at the foot of the beautiful Rocky Mountains. Visit her website and join her mailing list at www.pamelaclare.com.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Another great addition to this already successful series\\n\\nReview: It had been awhile since I last read a book in this series and decided to give this one a try. As I expected, Ms Clare did not disappoint us.\\nThis one centers around Joaquin Ramirez, and Army Captain Mia Starr.\\nJoaquin has been around for other stories. He is a photojournalist and artistic. Not the usual guy we have had in other books.\\nMia is a complex woman. Bright, gutsy and now a suspect in a murder. Who comes to her rescue, but Joaquin.\\nThe author gives us a plot that though not as action packed as other stories, its engaging. The main characters are not only complex but have a heart. I love when authors give us strong women like Mia.\\nYou will get to laugh, be on the edge of your seat with the suspense, and not only will the main characters fall in love with each other, but you will fall in love with them as well.\\nAnother great addition to this already successful series.\\nI was gifted this copy by Netgalley. The opinions expressed are solely my own.\",\n \"Product: Heather Woodhaven earned her pilot's license, flew a hot air balloon over the safari lands of Kenya, assisted an engineer with a medical laser in a Haitian mission, parasailed over Caribbean seas, lived through an accidental detour onto a black diamond ski trail in the Aspens and snorkeled among sting rays before becoming a mother of three and wife of one. Heather channels her love for adventure into writing characters who find themselves in extraordinary circumstances.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: I promise you'll enjoy the book\\n\\nReview: This is the first book by Ms Woodhaven that I read, and it won't be the last.\\nThe author gives us a clean Christian romance filled with suspense, whodunit, bad guys galore, intrigue, and underlying romance while describing the beauty of San Antonio and the ins and out of hotel management.\\nMatt and Isabelle are the main characters. They were best friends for years when they were in school and though they were attracted to each other then, they never revealed it.\\nThey meet again , when Isabelle, now a marine biologist, is in San Antonio to present an innovative product at a convention. By chance she meets again Matt, now an hotel operation manager, when he rescues her from men trying to harm her. And thats when the plot thickens.\\nSuffice is to say it was a rollercoaster ride , but one worth taking. You will not be bored and will be constantly wondering who are the bad guys. And lets not forget the chemistry that never really burned out between Matt and Isabelle.\\nSo pick up the book, I promise you will enjoy it.\\nI was gifted this copy. The opinions expressed are solely my own.\",\n \"Product: Emily March is the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and USA Today bestselling author of over thirty novels, including the critically acclaimed Eternity Springs series. Publishers Weekly calls March a \\\"master of delightful banter,\\\" and her heartwarming, emotionally charged stories have been named to Best of the Year lists by Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and Romance Writers of America. A graduate of Texas A&M University, Emily is an avid fan of Aggie sports and her recipe for jalapeo relish has made her a tailgating legend.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: A great ending for this trilogy\\n\\nReview: I have loved the previous audiobooks in this series and this one did not disappoint. A series, based on the Callahan brothers. Brothers that not only have a strong bond , but they also share their dislike of their Father.\\nNow each of them has served their country and are respectable men.\\nThis is Marks story . He was in the military and when a member of his unit dies, the surviving ones attend the funeral. That includes Annabelle who has a history with Mark. At the funeral they realize that the death might not have been accidental and they are determined to find the killer.\\nWhile the plot is complex , filled with suspense, secrets kept from family and friends, intrigue, romance and dangerous situations, the underlying plot is even more complex.\\nThe author shows us that the actions of a parent will affect the individual as an adult. That the death of a loved one can affect someone so deeply, that they avoid loving anyone for fear of losing that person. But also, that love and trust can and does conquer all.\\nI am sorry to see the series end, and in my mind have a book dedicated to John, the brother these men lost . Only a talented and gifted author can have a reader, in this case me, having those thoughts..\\nI was gifted this audiobook. The opinions expressed are solely my own.\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":18,"string":"18"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_3"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":885,"string":"885"}}},{"rowIdx":886,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"AXAA7WYV0T785"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of \"2.0\" for a product with description \"352 page hard cover novel taking place in a imaginary island in the CARIBBEAN written by Herman Wouk and titled DON'T STOP THE CARNIVAL. Published in 1965\". The summary of the review text is \"Don't stop the carnival but please stop this story\"."},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"Ugg I really wanted to like this book. Its been out there recommended to me multiple times since I love stories about escaping it all and moving to the beach, but I couldn't get over the writing style of Mr. Wouks writing style. Hes so formal and rigid in his descriptions that it read more like a novel from 1665 than 1965. The way everything is described I just felt it didn't bring the surroundings and happenings to life like a great work of fiction (especially one set in the tropics) should.\n\nThe story is interesting and amusing, but nothing so over the top that I really enjoyed wondering what would happen next. Some parts are zaney and amusing and I could see them happening in real life, but many were quite predictable (there was a problem with the cistern last time they had a major earthquake, there is a minor earthquake but no damage, and you can guess that happens next). Maybe it was built up to much by people but I just felt this book was a giant disappointment."},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"Ugg I really wanted to like this book. Its been out there recommended to me multiple times since I love stories about escaping it all and moving to the beach, but I couldn't get over the writing style of Mr. Wouks writing style. Hes so formal and rigid in his descriptions that it read more like a novel from 1665 than 1965. The way everything is described I just felt it didn't bring the surroundings and happenings to life like a great work of fiction (especially one set in the tropics) should.\n\nThe story is interesting and amusing, but nothing so over the top that I really enjoyed wondering what would happen next. Some parts are zaney and amusing and I could see them happening in real life, but many were quite predictable (there was a problem with the cistern last time they had a major earthquake, there is a minor earthquake but no damage, and you can guess that happens next). Maybe it was built up to much by people but I just felt this book was a giant disappointment."},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Product: \"Atlas Shrugged\" is the astounding story of a man who said that he would stop the motor of the world - and did. Tremendous in scope, breathtaking in its suspense, \"Atlas Shrugged\" stretches the boundaries further than any book you have ever read. It is a mystery, not about the murder of a man's body, but about the murder - and rebirth - of man's spirit.\n\nRating: 1.0\n\nSummary: This book is just plain not good\n\nReview: I don't feel this is really a book but more of a manifesto. First the story is way too long. We get it capitalism is good communism is bad, you couldn't wrap it up a couple of hundred pages ago? A perfect example of this is the speech John Gault gives about three-quarters of the way through the book. He drones on and on but what he's saying doesn't add to the story at all. Also along those lines the book is so straight forward it could have ridden on the rails of Taggart Transcontinental. This company failed, this train line broke, and this person ran away. Where are the twists and turns? Where is something I couldn't roll my eyes at? Finally the characters are SO absolute that they're not realistic. On the bad guy side there are the law makers who have no idea what they are doing but are never opposed. Are there no elections in this new America? The \"good\" guys remind me of Scrooge. They show no charity or emotion to man and I fully expected them to say that people should hurry up and die to decrease the excess population.","Product: 1st trade edition paperback new In stock shipped from our UK warehouse\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Has some good and some bad\n\nReview: I rated this story 3 stars because it has a lot to like and dislike about it. Ill start off with the negatives because I always like to end on a positive note. The characters are hot and cold, Tom is great, Ellie is annoying (even for an 8 year-old) and Alex while fine seems to also go from one extreme to the other in her thinking. The plot can seem to drag at points. No action, no real character development just there. Finally it ends without any real resolution so if you want to find out what happens you need to keep going in the story.\nNow for the good! I love the whole premise and story. Its well written with interesting scenarios (even if they're a bit predictable at some points) which can really draw you in. The ending (see what I mean about liking and disliking) although it ends with no resolution give you this giant wow moment that left me say I cant believe you're ending it there. So while Im not running to grab the next in the series its definitely on the lists of things to read in the future.","Product: Vince Flynn's fifteen thrillers have been published in twenty countries. Visit his website at www.vinceflynn.com.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Interesting but not very thrilling\n\nReview: Kill Shot is the second in the Mitch Rapp CIA/Spy thriller series. The book is well written and has a good plot but fails to really deliver the action and adventure of the first book. There are a few good action scenes but they're too few and far between. As the plot developed the author does a good job of filling in background and immersing the reader into the brutal world he creates. I really enjoyed this and it made the book interesting but its not a thriller. Also the plot is pretty straight forward except for a bit of a twist at the end. There was very little to keep me guessing. I found the book interesting and fun but it wasn't the pull me along rollercoaster ride I was hoping for.","Product: Todd and Tim Wynn are brothers and award-winning screenwriters. Trespassers is their first novel.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: It could be more\n\nReview: Trespassers is a good book that has the potential to be great. The story starts off telling the tale of a quirky government agency which helps keeps aliens under wraps. (Think of Men in Black but without all the cool guns and other alien support.) With the imaginative background and storytelling, and the way the story begins I thought it would be more humorous than it was. The story is good, well told, written and very descriptive, but turns into more of a YA book in the middle, then back to a bit of sci-fi at the end. I liked the characters and could see this turning into an interesting series with some of the characters going off on other adventures. It wasn't what I expected but I still enjoyed it and feel its a solid book.","Product: RR Haywood is a long-standing and highly successful Amazon author. He is the creator of the bestselling series The Undead, a self-published British zombie horror series that has become a cult hit with a readership that defies generations and gender. Living in an underground cave, away from the spy satellites and invisible drones sent to watch over us by the BBC, he works a full-time job, has four dogs and lots of tattoos. He is also a certified, badged and registered hypochondriac, for which he blames the invisible BBC drones. Should you not have a drone to hand, you can find him at www.rrhaywood.com. He works a full time job, has four dogs and lots of tattoos. He lives in a cave somewhere underground away from the spy satellites and invisible drones sent to watch over us by the BBC. He is a certified, badged and registered hypochondriac and blames the invisible BBC drones for this. rrhaywood.com\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Need to commit to the series\n\nReview: The Undead Day One is a well written and action packed zombie book with interesting characters and even a little humor towards the end. This book is for the lover of die-hard zombie action and gore, as it delivers up tons of action and combined with the great writing makes you feel as if you're right in the action! My main problem with this book is that the plot doesnt really go anywhere. Theres no resolution and nothing is really accomplished. Im sure moving on to the other books will bring it all together but if Im writing a review and rating THIS book then I have to call that out as an issue (especially since its one of my pet peeves). Dont get me wrong one I want to go back for a zombie story Ill probably grab two or three of the next in the series and listen to them back to back, but standalone it leaves me wanting. So if you want a long zombie story spread across a couple of books, grab this one and dive in!"],"string":"[\n \"Product: \\\"Atlas Shrugged\\\" is the astounding story of a man who said that he would stop the motor of the world - and did. Tremendous in scope, breathtaking in its suspense, \\\"Atlas Shrugged\\\" stretches the boundaries further than any book you have ever read. It is a mystery, not about the murder of a man's body, but about the murder - and rebirth - of man's spirit.\\n\\nRating: 1.0\\n\\nSummary: This book is just plain not good\\n\\nReview: I don't feel this is really a book but more of a manifesto. First the story is way too long. We get it capitalism is good communism is bad, you couldn't wrap it up a couple of hundred pages ago? A perfect example of this is the speech John Gault gives about three-quarters of the way through the book. He drones on and on but what he's saying doesn't add to the story at all. Also along those lines the book is so straight forward it could have ridden on the rails of Taggart Transcontinental. This company failed, this train line broke, and this person ran away. Where are the twists and turns? Where is something I couldn't roll my eyes at? Finally the characters are SO absolute that they're not realistic. On the bad guy side there are the law makers who have no idea what they are doing but are never opposed. Are there no elections in this new America? The \\\"good\\\" guys remind me of Scrooge. They show no charity or emotion to man and I fully expected them to say that people should hurry up and die to decrease the excess population.\",\n \"Product: 1st trade edition paperback new In stock shipped from our UK warehouse\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Has some good and some bad\\n\\nReview: I rated this story 3 stars because it has a lot to like and dislike about it. Ill start off with the negatives because I always like to end on a positive note. The characters are hot and cold, Tom is great, Ellie is annoying (even for an 8 year-old) and Alex while fine seems to also go from one extreme to the other in her thinking. The plot can seem to drag at points. No action, no real character development just there. Finally it ends without any real resolution so if you want to find out what happens you need to keep going in the story.\\nNow for the good! I love the whole premise and story. Its well written with interesting scenarios (even if they're a bit predictable at some points) which can really draw you in. The ending (see what I mean about liking and disliking) although it ends with no resolution give you this giant wow moment that left me say I cant believe you're ending it there. So while Im not running to grab the next in the series its definitely on the lists of things to read in the future.\",\n \"Product: Vince Flynn's fifteen thrillers have been published in twenty countries. Visit his website at www.vinceflynn.com.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Interesting but not very thrilling\\n\\nReview: Kill Shot is the second in the Mitch Rapp CIA/Spy thriller series. The book is well written and has a good plot but fails to really deliver the action and adventure of the first book. There are a few good action scenes but they're too few and far between. As the plot developed the author does a good job of filling in background and immersing the reader into the brutal world he creates. I really enjoyed this and it made the book interesting but its not a thriller. Also the plot is pretty straight forward except for a bit of a twist at the end. There was very little to keep me guessing. I found the book interesting and fun but it wasn't the pull me along rollercoaster ride I was hoping for.\",\n \"Product: Todd and Tim Wynn are brothers and award-winning screenwriters. Trespassers is their first novel.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: It could be more\\n\\nReview: Trespassers is a good book that has the potential to be great. The story starts off telling the tale of a quirky government agency which helps keeps aliens under wraps. (Think of Men in Black but without all the cool guns and other alien support.) With the imaginative background and storytelling, and the way the story begins I thought it would be more humorous than it was. The story is good, well told, written and very descriptive, but turns into more of a YA book in the middle, then back to a bit of sci-fi at the end. I liked the characters and could see this turning into an interesting series with some of the characters going off on other adventures. It wasn't what I expected but I still enjoyed it and feel its a solid book.\",\n \"Product: RR Haywood is a long-standing and highly successful Amazon author. He is the creator of the bestselling series The Undead, a self-published British zombie horror series that has become a cult hit with a readership that defies generations and gender. Living in an underground cave, away from the spy satellites and invisible drones sent to watch over us by the BBC, he works a full-time job, has four dogs and lots of tattoos. He is also a certified, badged and registered hypochondriac, for which he blames the invisible BBC drones. Should you not have a drone to hand, you can find him at www.rrhaywood.com. He works a full time job, has four dogs and lots of tattoos. He lives in a cave somewhere underground away from the spy satellites and invisible drones sent to watch over us by the BBC. He is a certified, badged and registered hypochondriac and blames the invisible BBC drones for this. rrhaywood.com\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Need to commit to the series\\n\\nReview: The Undead Day One is a well written and action packed zombie book with interesting characters and even a little humor towards the end. This book is for the lover of die-hard zombie action and gore, as it delivers up tons of action and combined with the great writing makes you feel as if you're right in the action! My main problem with this book is that the plot doesnt really go anywhere. Theres no resolution and nothing is really accomplished. Im sure moving on to the other books will bring it all together but if Im writing a review and rating THIS book then I have to call that out as an issue (especially since its one of my pet peeves). Dont get me wrong one I want to go back for a zombie story Ill probably grab two or three of the next in the series and listen to them back to back, but standalone it leaves me wanting. So if you want a long zombie story spread across a couple of books, grab this one and dive in!\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":5,"string":"5"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_3"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":886,"string":"886"}}},{"rowIdx":887,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"A1PRPHWG22CKKG"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of \"5.0\" for a product with description \"Combining an extremely compact design, extraordinary build quality with a rugged metal casing, full iPad connectivity and the outstanding D-PRE mica preamp, the UR12 redefines quality for its class of USB interfaces. 24/192converters offer you levels of audio fidelity rarely seen on an interface of this size, while the legendary D-PRE gives your recordings incredible detail, depth and dynamics. Guitarists, vocalists, songwriters and producers requiring a very portable interface with amazing sonic characteristics need look no further. The included upgradable Cubase AI version offers a streamlined, easy-to-use music toolset with everything you need when inspiration strikes.\". The summary of the review text is \"Awesome piece of hardware\"."},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"Really happy that I did purchase this interface.\n\nPreviously I had an old mixer, which was also used as interface for my guitar, and overall was working ok, but with this one, I get better sound quality; control over the amplification on 2 different Input; and the combo plug allow me to use both a regular jack and the mic plug interchangeably.\n\nControls are easy to handle, overall the case is metal and very sturdy; no humming even if the box is close to other electrical items. Works like a champ with Cubase (a LE version is included, but now you can get that for free also from the Steinberg website).\n\nI can use both the guitar, using Guitar Rig 5, and my keyboard; and this is really nice, since I have one interface for every single need and fits on the desk perfectly"},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"Really happy that I did purchase this interface.\n\nPreviously I had an old mixer, which was also used as interface for my guitar, and overall was working ok, but with this one, I get better sound quality; control over the amplification on 2 different Input; and the combo plug allow me to use both a regular jack and the mic plug interchangeably.\n\nControls are easy to handle, overall the case is metal and very sturdy; no humming even if the box is close to other electrical items. Works like a champ with Cubase (a LE version is included, but now you can get that for free also from the Steinberg website).\n\nI can use both the guitar, using Guitar Rig 5, and my keyboard; and this is really nice, since I have one interface for every single need and fits on the desk perfectly"},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Product: The xminilab is a mixed signal oscilloscope with an arbitrary waveform generator in a dip module. It measures only 3.3 x 1.75 inches, and can be mounted directly on a breadboard. The xminilab can also be used as a development board for the AVR xmega microcontroller.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: great for basic measurements, very good for breadboard works\n\nReview: Very surprised by this little board.\n\nThe screen si borderline unreadable, since the resolution is very low, but it works just fine for generic measurements.\n\nOverall I did try it with different signals and the representation is correct; keep in mind that there are plenty of limitations due to the sensitivity of the board, but for most part it works just fine. Don't compare it with a device that cost thousands, or even hundreds, and you will be happy with it.\n\nThe great thing is that you can plug it on your breadboard; and with simple connections you can probe easily the signals. I would prefer if the unit would come withouth the headers already soldered, but due to the design of the board, that would be complicate, since the buttons on the front are covering the solder points of the headers on the bottom.\n\nOverall, great little board; useful for breadboards and if you are feeling adventurous, you can check on youtube, where there are videos where they show how to make an oscilloscope watch with this board.","Product: Product Features 100% brand new and high quality This wireless receiver is a simple adapter that connects into a USB. Work with current and future Xbox 360 Wireless Accessories. Provides up to a 30-feet range for complete wireless freedom. Use up to four Wireless Controllers and four Wireless Headsets. Simultaneously with one Wireless Gaming Receiver. Easily integrates with PC gaming scenarios and utilizes the same binding technology as Xbox 360. Works with windows XP, Vista and windows 7 Magnetic ring on the cable keeps the unit working more stably How to use: When it is connected to the notebook, the screen will show a new hardware is founded and tip you to install driver. After you succeed in installing it, press on the circular button of the receiver for about 1 second then the green light of the receiver will flash constantly and it means now it gets into the pairing mode. Now you just need to press the pair button of the controller to mate, after you succeed in doing that youll free to play the game. Package includes 1x PC Wireless Gaming USB Receiver Adapter 1x CD\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Beware, not original Microsoft product\n\nReview: To be clear, this is a cheap imitation of the original item. Even the package came as the original, minus the XBOX and Microsoft logo.\n\nThe original drivers from Microsoft does not recognize the device; you have to use the mini cd included in the package, which ironically, call the device as fake (in case you were even thinking that it was original). Keep the cd safe because there is no way to get the drivers otherwise; it is from a Chinese company, looking at the writings, but there is no reference (obviously being a fake, would be not so smart to put an address where to find the people that made this).\n\nBut once you install the device, it works. The look is exactly the same as the original, I had one but it broke; so I remember it. Looks well made, overall was able to recognize my 360 wireless controller. For how long it will work, I do not know, but at least be assured that the power connections are done right, so it won't fry your motherboard.","Product: The Razer Orbweaver is the world's first mechanical gaming keypad that binds every command and skill from any FPS, RTS, and MMORPG to 20 mechanical keys at your fingertips. With that many keys within quick reach, and requiring only 50 g of force to actuate, you'll be able to react to any challenge at an unrivaled speed. The distinctive tactile feedback from the Razer Mechanical Switches also provides a whole new feel to your gaming experience. The Razer Orbweaver features adjustable hand size, thumb, and palm-rest modules to provide the most ergonomic form factor for maximum comfort. Keep the device away from liquid, humidity or moisture. Operate the device only within the specific temperature range of 0 to 40 degree celsius. Should the temperature exceed this range, unplug and switch off the device in order to let the temperature stabilize to an optimal level. Troubleshoot-updating to windows 10 razer synapse does not detect my device and show the correct product configurator if encountered perform synapse update through settings. Check for updates, if the updates not able to run or synapse not able to load, uninstall synapse and download the latest synapse framework from razer support site\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Great for productivity, software is a bit disappointing but overall good device.\n\nReview: I did get mostly for applications, to work with a smaller device, if I don't need to type.\n\nIt works well; the software though is atrocious, and it takes so much effort to configure it, that it is almost better to leave it in default config and change the keys assignment directly in the app.\nYou can switch profiles, although for some mysterious reason, the software does not allow you to assign a button to change profiles back and forth. You can assign 1 profile to EACH button; so if you use 4 profiles, you loose 4 buttons; instead of use 2 buttons to cycle through the profiles. Geniuses. There is not even a button to cycle through the 3 profiles, but you have 3 LED, to show you which profile you are using.\n\nThe click is nice; it is not super noisy if you control the button pressure; as gaming device is also good; but the position used to handle the joystick and the big trigger button is quite unnatural. I have moderately big hands and I need to move quite a lot my wrist to get to the different rows and use the joystick and thumb buttons; which is a good recipe for CTS.\n\nThe rows have different button size; slightly slanted on one side. takes a bit to get used to, but once you do, your hands move from one row to another with ease. The only bad row is the bottom one; buttons are smaller and tilted forward. If you have big hands you need either to slide your wrist back or curl your hand, which has the downside of forcing you to push the buttons with your nail area, instead than the tip of your fingers, and most of the time you hit also other buttons doing so. I end up never use them unless I am in a specific mode that does not require my hand to move up and down.\n\nNot sure why the WASD scheme was set to be in the middle (buttons 12.13.14 and 8), while it would be more natural, especially for the thumb controls operation, to have the set as buttons 4,8, 9 and 10). there is a small dent on one button that allow you to know that you are on the WASD area; although it takes not that much effort to relocated the WASD to the position you enjoy the most.\n\nthe color gimmick is purely useless in my opinion. I did set it as static color and didn't change it much. It has variations and a bunch of different mode; but if you want to make a simple variation between a light and darker tone of the same color; you end up having troubles, since none of the algorithms used for the LED is able to keep the LED on when cycling the 2 tones. Which is weird, since if you turn on the rainbow mode, it does exactly that, but among all the spectrum color. But you can't get the same effect between 2 tones of the same color, unless you accept the idea that once the first tone fade out, the LED goes totally off, and then they turn on again. Which is annoying.\n\nOverall a great peripheral; some say that it will improve your FPS skills; I really can't say nor I care; since playing FPS is something that I do but I didn't notice much of a difference to be honest. As professional peripheral for productivity; it is awesome, and if you use apps like Photoshop or Unity, 3dsmax and such, this device really shine.","Product: The UNCHARTED 3: Drake's Deception Collector's Edition is a must-have for every UNCHARTED fan, including a one-of-akind Sideshow Collectibles Nathan Drake Statue, replicas of Nathan Drake's belt buckle and ring with necklace strap, and an exclusive Steelbook game case, all housed in a stylish “Travelling Chest”. Loaded with exclusive collectibles that no treasure hunter can resist and available only for a limited time, grab yours today before they disappear forever!\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Awesome for 40 dollars; box is made of carton; but the statue is cool\n\nReview: Overall I am happy of this product.\n\nThe item was used; but the state overall was OK. The statue seems fine; same for the other 2 items (ring and belt buckle). The metal case is nice to look at, and seem pretty solid overall. Nothing really to say about that.\n\nFor 40 dollars it is a good deal; the statue is a Sideshow piece, so that alone is worth almost 40 dollars. The game is fantastic, I already had it on my PS3 as digital download via PSN plus; but since I am not a member anymore; I did want to get the game to play it again.\n\nThe only disappointing part is the box; the outer box arrived a bit damaged, and that's OK, but the box that contain the game and everything else, is basically cardboard with nice paper glued on it; to give it a wooden look. I was not expecting high quality wood; but not even that it was made of cardboard. But for 40 dollars it is OK; the ring is nice, and the belt buckle is totally useless for me, even as collector piece, but oh well; the statue and the game are what matters after all.","Product: Enjoy delicious espresso made your way with De'Longhi's pump espresso and cappuccino maker. You can choose to brew ground espresso or E.S.E pods with the unique patented dual filter holder. The Sempre Crema Filter, used with two measures of ground coffee, enhances the brewing process to produce a perfect crema. The E.S.E. (Easy Serving Espresso) Filter, used with pods or one measure of ground coffee, makes espresso preparation simple and convenient. Either way the choice is yours, making your espresso truly made to order. You can enjoy espresso or cappuccino without worry with two separate thermostats that control water and steam pressure, so you can make both espresso or cappuccino at the perfect temperature. If you prefer cappuccino you'll enjoy using the easy-to-use patented cappuccino frother, which includes a special chamber that mixes steam and milk to create a rich creamy froth achieving perfect drinks every time. Other highlights include self-priming operation to eliminate pesky start-up preparation, a unique no-drip design, so you don't have to deal with messy cleanup and a durable, high-quality stainless steel boiler to ensure many years of delicious espresso.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Makes the weakest espresso shots ever, even weaker than a moka machine.\n\nReview: After reading the reviews, I did go for this model, since I wanted an entry level machine, mostly for espresso. I don't really care about frothing milk or any other accessory that the machine may have; I just want to put the coffee that I buy at the store in the handle, insert it in the machine and push a button to get the espresso shot.\n\nSadly this machine is not able to do so. I did try with different techniques, as suggested by videos on youtube and websites, but nothing seems to work...the result is weak shots, that taste like watered american coffee. It taste like coffee made by these 30 dollars brewers; and does not even get close to my old Bialetti Moka (which is what I want to replace with this machine).\n\n- Tried to keep the machine on for 2 days; so the whole thing was nice and hot\n- Tried with single and double filter\n- Tried pressing the coffee with the tamper, and without press it\n- Tried changing for how long I let it brew; the short I did get was like 15 seconds\n- Tried different coffee types, grinded at different size.\n\nNothing seems to work; I am about to give up, since it takes me more time to get 1 single shot, compared to 3 shots with my regular Bialetti Moka machine; and with the same amount of coffee. I thought this was supposed to make espresso shots, not very weak shots. Any Italian would just call DeLonghi and ask what in the heavens are they doing, since the watered infuse that this machine pull out, is not even remotely a relative of a decent espresso shot.\n\nAnd I am aware that this is a cheap machine, entry level; but then why so many reviews say that this is an espresso maker, while it is not? I am not expecting the same results as a professional bar machine, but if this can't even make coffee as my 10 year old Bialetti, I am not really sure what is the point in getting an electric espresso machine.\n\nMaybe I have a defective one that does not pressurize well? I have no idea; the coffee looks fine, with the nice blonde cream on top, but the flavor is the most bland thing you may ever taste.\n\nThe steamer also is almost static; can be barely moved, and I tried to just steam the milk from the fridge, and the vapor was so weak that I could actually put my hand below the steamer and feel warm condensed vapor, instead of steam hot one. Although the metal part that comes out of the machine, is quite hot, so I am not sure what is the deal here.\n\nOverall I am quite disappointed; I don't want any of those automatic machines that use pre-made cartridges, because they kill the environment and it is a waste; both from a monetary perspective, because the cartridges are expensive, and also because it takes so much space to keep cartridges around, compared to a bag of beans.\n\nIf you are a fan of coffee in general and really don't care about espresso shots, that are like 2 fingers high, and taste so rich and strong that the flavor stay in your mouth for hours, then this machine is fine; but if you want anything remotely close to a strong espresso shot or a coffee like the one made in a Moka machine, then you may want to look elsewhere.","Product: The Sodastream Jet is perfect for the sparkling water drinker who carbonates frequently and values convenience. This is the only machine that is compatible with the 60L CO2 cylinder and the 130L CO2 cylinder, allowing the consumer to maximize their carbonation capabilities. Simply twist and lock the bottle into the machine, and carbonate by pumping the textured push button control. This kit includes everything you need to make fresh sparkling water in your own home. Contents include; (1) Jet Sparkling Water Maker, (1) Mini CO2 Carbonator (makes up to 9L of sparkling water), (1) 1L BPA-Free Reusable Carbonating Bottle, and a 60 Liter CO2 Carbonator mail-in rebate.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Buy sparkling water OR make it with this item\n\nReview: I was a bit skeptical about this device, and in fact, it is nothing really out of this world. It is a plastic base with a connectort in the back to plug CO2 bottles, and a simple valve that open with the button on the top; which allow you to push CO2 inside the bottle, and into the water.\n\nI was expecting something cheap but this is quite cheaper than my expectations; the water taste strange, compared to the one that you buy at the store; takes a bit to get used to but even after a bit, it still taste funky, I made 10 bottles by now, and still it does taste more weird than \"soda like\". Maybe you need to buy different bottles? Not sure.\n\nThen the other issue is the bottle of CO2; you can exchange them, but it is quite expensive; if you consider that you can only make one bottle at time (unless you buy multiple bottles), and that the small bottle did last for 5-6 cycles (6 liters?), I am not sure if this is really better than just getting a case of sparkling water for 5 dollars a case. I did get also a large bottle, and we will see how long will that one last, but at 40 dollars; I expect to make at least the equivalent of 8 case of sparkling water, otherwise it is just a nice gimmicky item and that's all.\n\nDoes it work? Yes; hence the 4 stars; is it convenient? Not really; is it easy? Not at all; is it tasty? Depends from your taste; It is one of these house items that you can just live withouth, but for some it may be essential so evaluate and decide by yourself, if the weird taste; the hassle to recharge the bottle (or buy more bottles), and the CO2 replacement process are acceptable for you or not.","Product: The Bush Furniture Cabot L Shaped Computer Desk in Heather Gray offers a spacious and efficient workplace for your home or office. Enjoy a beautiful traditional look with smart features for your convenience. The L Shaped Desk design provides a large durable work surface and just the right amount of storage to keep you feeling neat and organized. Desk storage details include an enclosed cabinet with stylish fluted glass door and a box drawer for supplies. A file drawer glides on smooth full-extension ball bearing slides and accommodates letter, legal or A4 sized files. Technology features such as a built-in 4-port USB hub add convenience while a soft tray in an open cubby can store electronic devices as you stay connected on your Computer Desk. Quality construction meets ANSI/BIFMA test standards for safety and performance. A rich Heather Gray finish accented by Chrome hardware provides a simple, elegant and timeless appearance. See the full collection for coordinating items available, all backed by the Bush Furniture 1 Year Manufacturer's Warranty.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: The coating is a joke\n\nReview: The desk feel solid; and so far it has been solid; but the top coating is a joke. They basically do not laminate the top of the desk nor any other surface; they simply add a thin paper layer on the top, that looks like laminate.\n\nThis results in the desk not having any sort of protection from scratching or even humidity. Got some condensation on the top area, due to proximity to a heater; and the top just peeled off. Same for scratches from a laptop; which ended up removing the thin paper top, exposing the underlying material (does not feel like wood; although it is heavy).\n\nYou get what you pay for, so no surprise here. Second Bush L desk; same exact build quality; so if you have the chance, buy a real wood desk; or before using this desk, be sure to coat the top or place a glass cover on it; to avoid damage it","Product: King win Serial ATA KF-91 Black Aluminum Mobile Rack without Back Panel\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: lots of cables if you use it externally, but totally worth the price\n\nReview: Works as expected.\n\nI did get this to use as external container for my HDD; my main case is a small cube itx form factor, so I can't put more than 2 drives in there.\nThe only downside that I see in this product is that you need 2 power connectors and 5 SATA connectors (if you decide to use all the bays); while I would rather spend a bit more (a SATA controller for internal usage cost 20 dollars after all), but have a fully self-contained unit which require only power and one SATA cable.\n\nSadly my motherboard does not even have free slots to plug a SATA adapter, so I could not use any controller to drive anything that is not a NAS. I used to have a Mediasonic 4 bay box, but that was utter trash when used via USB (continually disconnecting; which means useless if you need to access its data 24/7), and did work well only when using a E-SATA connection.\n\nThis item did solve the problem. It is a bit of a mess with cables, since I need 7 cables coming out of my computer, and use ALL the SATA connectors on the motherboard, but now I can use 24/7 all the 5 drives, and the main computer can serve also as media center and data storage for the whole network.","Product: Introducing picoPSU-120, world's tiniest 12V DC-DC ATX power supply unit (PSU)\n\nCompact design, less cables: The picoPSU-120 is the smallest snap-in 12V ATX dc-dc power supply. The picoPSU is compatible with an entire range of mini-itx motherboards as well as regular boards. The picoPSU-120 provides a cool, silent 120 Watts of power for small PC designs using a single 12V power source.\n\nBy using Patent Pending HyperWatt[TM] technologies , picoPSU-120 packs an impressive amount of power relative with its very small footprint. PicoPSU-120 has several key advantages over traditional power supplies:\n\n Small computer projects start with small power supplies.\n PicoPSU-120 is a crucial key component that unleashes the ultimate power solution for general purpose computing platforms.\n PicoPSU-120 is fully ATX compliant PSU, making it an excellent candidate for any silent, fanless and small 12V DC-DC ATX PC power supply project.\n\n\nReduce space: Eliminate 20 unnecessary wires by plugging in directly into the motherboard ATX connector. The picoPSU-120 12V dc-dc ATX converter was designed from ground up to fit small form factor ATX boards, allowing enclosure designers to save space while not compromising power requirements.\n\nCool power: Operating at only 12V, the picoPSU-120 dc-dc ATX power supply delivers 120 Watts of power. picoPSU provides plenty of power (via ATX connector and HDD cable harness) for CPU and an entire range of peripherals.\n\n100% Silent: The picoPSU-120 mini PSU is a 100% silent fanless dc to dc solution. No fans, no noise, just power for small and silent PCs.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Got a defective one, otherwise is a great item\n\nReview: Sadly had to return it; the power was fluctuating quite badly, causing my computer to act strangely. I've measured with a multimeter the voltage and current, and it was not really stable. I assume that was a defective item, that came like that from the factory. I know others that purchased this item and it works just fine, so I guess once in a while you may have issues with electronics.\n\nThe voltage would have variation of .2 to .7 in less than few seconds; the current variation was smaller but still was way above the expected tolerance. I have a standard ATX PSU (not even a top of the line), and I would get readings that would fluctuate in the order of the 0.01-0.09....one order of magnitude smaller basically. Some main board may be more tolerant with the variation; mine didn't like it at all, especially the video out, which would loose sync with the monitor at random.\n\nThe size is awesome; no moving parts, super quiet. It fits basically anywhere you have few inches.the only caveat is that if you load it more than 65% of the total watt consumption, you will need a fan blowing on it, otherwise it overheat (this is what the manual says; I needed just 45W, while the PSU is rated for 120W max, so I was below 50%).\n\nOther than that, when they work, they are great.","Product: Measuring less than 1mm thin, feather is ideal for the MacBook Air 11\" user seeking inconspicuous, first-class protection. Feather is made of an ultra light, ultra strong polymer for light as a feather, form-fitting durable protection without the added bulk. Feather features a soft touch matte finish and includes a micro suede pouch.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Great cover, with a big issue\n\nReview: So, after reading the other reviews I must say that the major issue is the same: the texture of the cover is a magnet for fingerprints and smudges.\n\nThe cover itself is great; fits with a bit of love, and I don't even want to try to take it off, since it is almost fused on the laptop :) it is sturdy and now I am confident to have the laptop sitting on tables and other surfaces, without fear to scratch it.\n\nThe bottom has holes, so the heat gets off easily, and all the ports are easily reachable. Keep in mind thou that when it is closed, you will see a small gap; I tried hard but I cannot get a perfect closed laptop with the cover on.\n\nThe big cons: if you touch it, you basically leave marks on it. I ate something; cleaned my hands with the hand sanitizer and when I touched the laptop I left a smear. Tried to clean it up but you can never get to the look that it has, when you buy it. It is like to have a velvet cover, but you can't stroke it in the opposite direction to make it uniform again; this one needs a bit of care with your hands (so if you sweat a lot on your hands, you will leave a bunch of fingerprints).","Product: 1.100% Brand New ,High Quality and Factory Sealed. 2.Install PCI-E 16X device freely according to dimension and position of computer case. 3.Ideal for small computer & server case, like 1U & 2U. 4. Ideal for cryptocurrency mining. 5.One end is PCI-E 16X male and another end is PCI-E 16X female. 6.This riser card provides expansion for 1 slot with cable. 7.No driver necessary. 8.Cable length: 15cm.\n\nRating: 1.0\n\nSummary: AVOID!!!! Don't get this cable unless you want to burn your computer.\n\nReview: I would highly suggest to NOT get this cable, for whatever you hold dear.\n\nIt is poorly made; don't trust whoever says that it is well made...under the blue tape, you can see horrible solder points; most of them are not consistent and too close together (take apart a well made ribbon cable not crimped, and you will see the difference).\n\nI have installed this one today; the computer won't even boot to POST, and give me BIOS memory warnings. Removing the cable fix the issue (and my computer is running in this config, with these ram, video and everything else since 2012).\n\nI tried to re-position the cable, and sometimes it boot, but then in windows you get continuous crash of the video drivers, to the point where the whole OS just sit and cry, and you have to reboot.\nWhich may or may not happen.\n\nOn my last attempt I just heard popping like when something is put in short circuit; video went blank and I just realized that my video card died (a 550 dollars video card). Luckily it was just a cap on the power area of the motherboard (I wish they would use fuses, but oh well); so replacing it fixed the computer; altho I am getting a new motherboard tomorrow for sure.\n\nSo if you care about your computer; check a better type of cable, that is correctly shielded and well made.","Product: The newly arrived ASUS GTX770-DC2OC-2GD5 ships with 28nm GPUs and 2GB GDDR5. To fully harness the power of new GPU technology, ASUS GTX770-DC2OC-2GD5 sports ASUS exclusive DirectCU II fansink and flatten copper heat-pipes directly contacted the GPU, not only making this card 20% coolerbut also leading 3X quieter operation than reference card\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Awesome but beware of the size!!!!!\n\nReview: Beware, not once but twice, about the case dimension; because this card has a major flaw: the dimension indicated in the specs are NOT the ones for the card; they are off by few inches because they consider only the PCB size.\n\nThe card has installed a sort of strange pipe system/heat dissipator/open fan structure, that should improve the air flow. So far so good; it seems to do its job and the die stay decently under control when overloaded.\nBut this means that when you get a case, you may not have it fit by an inch or less. In my case, the case (pun intended), was not big enough by almost an inch in height and length.\n\nThis result in the card hitting the area where the power supply is mounted, and also does not allow me to close the case side panel, because the card pipes for the heatsink, are exceeding the size of the case. My case is an Apevia Xmaster 500\n\nhttp://www.amazon.com/Apevia-X-MASTER-500W-X-MASTER-BL-500/dp/B001CCQJ5K/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1413189381&sr=8-13&keywords=apevia+case\n\nAvoid this card if that's the case that you have (or that case, if you are buying this card).\n\nBeside the logistic issue; the card is rock solid. On my system with an i5 I get 8600 in 3Dmark 11 free version; the card nor the mobo and processor are not over clocked; everything standard.\nThe options are plenty; you can install the over clock software included in the driver disk; or just use the standard Nvidia utility. The card is heavy and nicely done, once you put it in the case, you will forget about it; altho you won't forget the awesome performances....didn't find a game that won't run nicely with this card (Including Star Citizen and Crysis, just to mention few demanding ones). Gaming wise, avoid an i7, since you won't see much difference.\n\nThis card support SLI, so if you get 2, be ready for a world of wonder, in 4K resolution probably.\n\nThe only negative that I have noticed so far is the noise: the fan are quiet, but the EM insulation is horrible...I have the card connected via HDMI, and from the monitor to an amp on my desk, and it would catch the EM interferences when the fan kicks in, with a loud and bothersome noise. The issue is mitigated if I use headphones connected directly to the audio plug on the mobo, but still you can hear a buzzing when the card start to crunch heavily. I used to have older computer that would never do such things, so beware of that.\n\nOverall it is a solid 9 out of 10; the price is great and you don't miss much, compared to more expensive cards. Highly recommended.","Product: This SanDisk 8GB MicroSDHC memory card is for you to expand the memory capacity for your compatible device like cell phone, PDAs, digital camera, music players, and more cool device that is with a microSD card slot available.It is ideal for storing media-rich files such as music, videos, and photographs. FEATURES: High storage capacity for storing essential digital content such as high quality photos, videos, music.\n\nRating: 1.0\n\nSummary: Received a potential non genuine product. Beware. The card lock and loose data\n\nReview: Very disappointed with this item. Purchased 2 cards to use in a phone and in a tablet, and neither perform decently.\n\nThe reason is that the cards are not original Sandisk, but just counterfeit copies. I have verified this in various ways (the SD card reader found incorrect vendor ID; the card itself does not have the correct markings on the front of the card, the packaging is wrong).\n\nYou may be lucky, depends from what kind of device you use; I had no luck using both a smart phone, a tablet and a Raspberry Pi. The card works for a bit, then it just lock and become unreadable. I am not even sure that it is in fact 32 GB; it takes forever to upload files (and I have legit Sandisk cards, which are 10X faster), and just looking at the card itself you can tell the difference between a real Sandisk and this one.\n\nIt is cheap, true, but if you use it in a camera or worst, as main disk for your embedded device or as storage for your phone or tablet, you don't want to risk to loose your precious data.\n\nBuy from a different vendor, mine were sent from \"Skysun\"; not sure if it is a case just of this vendor, or if they are all the same.\n\nI am in contact with Sandisk USA to get a final word if they are really made by Sandisk, or not.","Product: Capacity:16 GB SanDisk Extreme CZ80 16GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive - SDCZ80-016G- GAM46 [Newest Version]\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Very good item; this is quite fast and the capacity ...\n\nReview: Very good item; this is quite fast and the capacity is plenty, to\ntransport files.\n\nThe included software is encrypting the files that you put on the device; but keep in mind that the files will be visible (not accessible) from anyone that plug in the stick; which means that they can potentially delete them. I prefer the approach of encrypt the whole flash drive via windows. This will guarantee that the drive cannot be even open, until unlocked.\n\nOverall it is a good item, just keep in mind that if you use Windows\nencryption, the performances will be lower. you can see attached to my\nreview the speed results, after encrypting the whole key trough\nwindows encryption. If you do not need encryption, you will get much\nfaster performances.","Product: Microsoft Surface Pro 4 is the tablet that can replace your laptop. Featuring a 6th Gen Intel Core i5 processor with 4GB memory and a 128GB solid state drive, it is more powerful than its predecessor yet lighter than ever before at 1.73 pounds. The amazing 12.3\" touchscreen PixelSense display with 2736 x 1824 resolution has extremely high contrast and low glare. Use the included Surface Pen to mark-up presentations, sign documents, take notes and much more. Performance and versatility for professionals, creatives, and more.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Almost perfect for most of the cases. Flexibility is the key here\n\nReview: This is my first Surface device; and so far I am loving it.\n\nWhat does it offer? A sort of hybrid between a small laptop and a heavier tablet, which make both your work and leisure more flexible.\n\nIt make no sense to compare it to an iPad, simply because this is a computer; so the comparison goes on with a Macbook. I do have a air 12 inch, and they are good for their own purpose; I don't see how could I choose one or the other.\nThis device is great for portability, exactly like the Air, but with removable keyboard and the pen technology, it gives you much more flexibilty, compared to a standard ultra portable laptop. The Air loose on flexibilty, but has similar performances to the Surface (Air use i7, this Surface has an i5), so it is really a matter of the right device for the right job.\n\nSize wise, it is small enough to not be a burden, but much heavier than a regular tablet, so probably won't replace your device if the main usage is what an iPad does, since they are lighter and friendlier, due to the iOS software.\nBut if you need a computer with a real desktop OS, which run your software from your desktop computer, then the Surface is the weapon of choice. You can basically do almost anything you do with the regular desktop computer (even playing games; if you compromise of course). It would be a waste to just do internet, email and office work; because the Surface 4 does much more.\n\nPerformances are pretty good; this machine with just 4 Gb of ram and an i5 is able to do 80% of what I do with my desktop computer; like 3d modeling, development with Visual Studio and Python; 3d engines like Unreal engine and also some photo and video editing.\nOf course the speed is slower than a dedicated desktop, but it is probably 40-50% slower, which means that while I sacrifice some speed, I can still get stuff done, and have a super portable device.\n\nBattery life is generous but not as a tablet... you may reach 8 hours if you pray, but otherwise, far from a plug, you can get 4-5 hours of moderate usage (development, 3d and so on), before hitting the 20% warning on the battery. The charger is fast, and has a nice feature that allow you to plug a usb device to charge it.\nThis is useful especially because the Surface has 1 USB 3.0 plug. A bit limiting, but you can always use an external powered hub, to use peripherals. The other ports on the device are a SD card, to expand the internal memory, a mini display port for external monitor, a headphone jack connector and the connector for the charger. It is very limited, but to make the device smaller, you have to remove ports.\n\nYou can get a very expensive docking station, which add a ton of peripherals, if you plan to connect plenty of devices, ethernet cable and such. I don't believe it is worth the 100 dollars that you have to pay for; but it is up to you.\n\nThe device does not include the keyboard; so keep in mind that you can either buy the great MS keyboard for 120+ or get a compatible keyboard. I did choose the Moko BT keyboard for Surface 4, and so far it does its job for half the MS keyboard, although you will compromise since it does not have backlight keys and you need to recharge it via USB cable, since it does not use the pogo connector on the bottom of the Surface.\n\nThe pen is included (good move), and it works awesomely well. Much better than any other pen you may have tried. Including the Apple pen. It has palm rejection so you can rest your hand on the screen when using it; good amount of pressure levels and it is comfy, so you can keep drawing or writing without problems for long time. I find it useful especially for 3D and 2D work; but it is nice to use also when doing normal work, when you do not need to type a lot and can easily replace the mouse with the pen. Just unplug the keyboard and have fun.\n\nThe screen is nice and bright; resolution is good and overall it is a very nice display. Can't say if it is on par with a retina display; they all look the same to me; and variations in pixed density that I can't appreciate by looking at it, make little to no sense to me, so I guess you have to look at the screen and see for yourself. I type a lot of code; and I wear glasses and I get no extra strain, compared to my regular 24 inch desktop monitor.\n\nTo summarize; this is a computer replacement, not a tablet replacement. It is heavier and bulkier than a tablet, but it is in fact a real computer; and not a device running Android or iOS. This means that it MAY work as tablet, but it is not meant to be just a tablet. It is a flexible and powerful device, that can cover a lots of usage and scenarios, thanks to the detachable keyboard and pen; so if flexibility is what you look for, this is the device for you. If you want a tablet, for tablet and internet/office usage; you can do that with a regular ultra notebook or a iOS device.","Product: The next generation of Type Cover, made for Surface Pro, offers the most advanced Surface typing experience yet. Surface Pro Type Cover feels and performs like a traditional laptop with a redesigned mechanical keyboard with optimal key spacing for fast and fluid typing, and an enlarged glass trackpad for precision control and navigation. Adding Surface Pro Type Cover to Surface Pro instantly puts a highly versatile laptop in your hands.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Much better than Moko equivalent.\n\nReview: I did buy a Moko keyboard before this, and it has been a pain.\n\nI was hoping that the Moko keyboard would be a good replacement, but of course, it was half the price of this one, and ended up proving that \"saving is never gaining\".\n\nThe keyboard is nice to the touch; lights up, does not need to be paired nor recharged, and it just works. The touchpad is wonderful, and you don't get the horrible double touch of the Moko keyboard; where when you tap on a location, the mouse would follow the tap instead than record the click.\n\nGlad that I did spend 100 for this item, better typing, better trackpad, lights up and no requirement for charging and pairing. A win.","Product: NuVision 8-inch Full HD (1920 x 1200) IPS Touchscreen Tablet PC, Intel Atom Z3735F Quad-Core Processor, 2GB RAM, 32GB SSD eMMC,\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: and so far I feel happy about it\n\nReview: I did get this to replace an older windows tablet, and so far I feel happy about it.\n\nThe overall feel of the device is great; very thin and ipad-like; although it run the full version of Windows 10; which is the main reason why I wanted this device.\nI use it mostly for office work, and to watch videos and read books. It is not really that powerful to do anything else; so beside internet, light office work and some occasional retrogaming, the device is fundamentally used as portable video player and ebook reader.\n\nI wish there was a way to get more memory, but 2 GB seems OK for basic usage. You have a HQ monitor that is easy to read and do not use much energy, so the battery life is pretty good. Just remember to turn off the functionality that keep the device active on wifi to check for mail and other things, because that will suck away the battery pretty fast. As now, using it few hours a day, can go on for about 4 days before recharge it.\n\nSound is ok too, but I use headphones most of the time. Just keep in mind that the unit is very thin; and easy to scratch in the back, so you may want to take care of it.\n\nIn the end, if you need something with full windows capabilities and portable; but that can be hooked up to a HDMI tv or monitor, and function as cheap windows machine with a standard keyboard and mouse, this is the perfect choice. You can even play games and HD video content, so can't see much of negatives in this device,beside the ridiculously low amount of RAM, which is stuck at 2 GB","Product: Sound Isolating and Durable - Despite its compact size this headphone is truly specked. The 9mm drivers deliver an explosive sound performance whilst the three interchangeable & differently sized ear sleeves deliver a secure fit with enhanced sound isolation.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Not super but will do it\n\nReview: Good pair of headphones, and finally, something that actually works with my Moto X first gen.\n\nVolume is analog via slider, but I prefer it in this way, since it gives you better control for low volume. The button works fine, double press to skip the song, one press to start or stop a song. Didn't try with a call, but I am sure it will work.\n\nThe downside is that the volume is really low; for comparison with a pair of sennheiser, the volume at the first segment of the phone audio setting, after vibration, was loud and clear (too loud maybe); while here with the slider all the way to max, you can barely hear anything. I had to crank the volume on the device to half, to be able to hear music at good volume in a moderately noisy environment.\n\nAudio quality is not excellent, but it will suffice for the occasional use. If you are looking for something better, sadly there is not much choice for the 50-90 price range, that has controls that works on Android/Motorola devices. I have a pair of Sennheiser since 2 years ago, they rock and were priced at 59 at the local Apple store (they work on iPhone); sadly the controls does not work on the Moto X, so I was forced to buy this.\n\nDecent purchase, but if you get the chance to find better, just move on.","Product: Includes: Wig. Not included: Moustache, robe, medallion.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: decent wig for the price\n\nReview: So far can't say that is a bad purchase, but could be better.\n\nIt came quick, and that's a plus; sealed and new as expected.\n\nThe wig itself is OK, the color is pretty much as the photo, on the silver/dark grey but it is not too shiny, so it may be used for an old man without feeling like he is coming out of a B movies from the 80's\n\nThe style is nothing like the one in the photo; it is more like a bunch of curly hair (the picture shows straight hair, then curly...nope, not even close); the quality is pretty low, with hair falling off pretty easily (you may want to brush it first to remove the loose hair, you will get a lot but it will save you the hassle to feel like a cat loosing hair everywhere).\n\nThe material is cheap but OK for the price; what is not that nice is the overall design, which is really sloppy and also the way that the hair attach, especially in the front, is not that great, so be prepared to do a lot of work to try to get the hair in a way that covers the wig cap.\n\nIt is not that big; I had problems to keep it on even with a wig cap and pins, since the back would slide easily. I have a normal head for a person that is 6 feet tall, so most likely people with smaller heads will fit this better.\n\nOf course the ridiculous mustache are not included...glad about that.\n\nOverall is a 3/5; fir the price you may find something better, but the style is pretty good if you plan to do a Gandalf or similar wizard hairstyle.","Product: Crafted in sterling silver and plated in 24K gold. One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all, And in the darkness bind them. The One Ring is cast in sterling silver and richly plated in pure gold, featuring the inscription above in Elvish, an ancient language of Middle-Earth. This inscription is amazingly etched in full circle onto the inside and outside of the ring. Each ring is individually engraved with a laser process to capture the intricate details of the elvish writing and comes complete with a rich wooden collector's box and 24 inch chain. A certificate of authenticity accompanies this recreation of The One Ring. Available in standard size ten only.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Great ring, but the box and chain are quite disappointing\n\nReview: Amazing repluca; the only thing that I may not be a fan of, are the size that is too small to fit a male grown up hand, and the engraving that is white; while I was hoping for a more silver/red tone, to give the impression that the ring was just picked from the firepit :)\n\nOther than that; it is a great piece of jewelry; although to be honest; the design is mostly simplistic to start with; the one ring was designed after a wedding band, so it is as plain as it could be, but still it is a beauty.\n\nThe chain is mostly for show; it is very flimsy and light but I didn't buy the item for the chain. The box is a disappointment though... beautifully crafted but the poem is written in portrait mode instead of landscape, so you can't display the box open with the ring in it, in the \"classic\" position, but need to turn it in \"poprtrait mode\", which is not as good looking as in the normal flat position. Also the retainer for the ring, is loose, so if you display it in portrait mode and have the chain in the grooves, the weight of the ring itself and the chain thikness in the back will result in the ring falling flat on its face most of the time.\n\nGreat prop, but the \"accessories\" are disappointing at best; I know that the ring is the main star, but you can't cheap out on the side items either, especially when asking 40% more than similar products.","Product: THORIN OAKENSHIELD AND THE DWARVES OF EREBOR have reclaimed the vast wealth of their homeland, but now face the consequences of having unleashed the terrifying Dragon Smaug upon Lake-town. Meanwhile, Sauron, the Dark Lord, has sent forth legions of Orcs to attack the Lonely Mountain, and Bilbo Baggins finds himself fighting for his life as five great armies go to war. As darkness converges, the races of Dwarves, Elves and Men must decide unite or be destroyed.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great ending for the trilogy\n\nReview: The movie that close the curtain on the second trilogy inspired by Tolkien works.\n\nAmong the 3, is probably the best one; the most emotional too.\nAfter watching the LOTR trilogy, this movie offer very little surprises; mostly it is like watching any movie from Michael Bay...you know what you will find, you know the kind of shots that you will see, and you know that there will be explosion, plenty of them.\n\nWith Jackson,you know that there will be gore, there will be Legolas doing stunts (even if he was not even supposed to be here), there will be a strong female character (in this case 2 of them, one of the 2 did not even exist in the lore), and of course, you will have plenty of battles among a ton of people.\n\nBut this does not mean that is necessarily a bad thing after all. The movie is paced very well; it does not take you to the tedious of the first, nor to the extreme action of the second, where things never slow down. Here you get a good mix between action, slow moments and most of all, you get good development of the characters, which is another trademark of the works of PJ based on Tolkien.\n\nThe action sequences are marvelous; you can get lost on the big screen, at the orgy of gorgeous visuals; but watch it in SD, and the movie show all its limits and CG mashup. In some cases the difference is pretty pronounced, but considering the amount of work done, it can be forgiven. The novelty of the first trilogy just went away, so now the viewer look at things and is able to see the difference. Can't compare it with one single movie, since the work needed to make 3 is much more, but that goes to the nitpick.\n\nThe emotional parts are in between and very touching; I was not the only one to shed tears when it came out, and watching it again moves me in the same way. There is friendship and other feelings that we often forget about, there is loyalty and respect; and the movies build up the friendship between Bilbo and the rest of the company, to the point where he is respected and treated as equal, in comparison to the first movie, where he was basically a liability. The ending is touching, and is different from the movie, but I really enjoyed it, because it add something to the story that we all know. The romantic story, didn't have the same impact; was mostly put there because FW need to have this stuff in the movie; she need to put the pink ribbon in a product that otherwise is 99% dominated by male, violence and such. I was OK even without the romance, although it saved itself in the end, when we see how Thranduil in fact, show how he really is, while talking with Tauriel. Love cause suffering at times, and people try to fix it, forgetting how to love, to not suffer again.\n\nOne thing that was not in the book, but that I enjoyed, was the battle between the white council and the nine at the fortress; pure fiction galore there; but it was done with such taste that it fits perfectly; and it is a pleasure to see how Galadriel help Gandalf (revealing also their mutual feelings for each other), and how Saruman and Elrond put a fight against the ring wraits (obviously it was not CL that dd the fight scene, but it was a great way to show how powerful the white Maiar was, before getting corrupted). This is the only time that something was made out of the blue, and I really enjoyed it.\n\nThe Smaug fight was disappointing, but considering that Smaug had most of his time in the second movie, it is understandable.\n\nIn the end, the movie is a great piece of work; it put a sad end on the trilogy, but it is most likely the best of the 3.\nI suggest it if you like PJ works; I may not suggest it if you are a purist of Tolkien, since this is loosely based on the original story; I heard people bashed it badly for all the changes made, but you must look at it for what it is, not for what you were hoping that it would be.\n\n5 stars more than deserved; now I wait patiently for the release of the extended edition trilogy, so it can take place beside the first extended edition trilogy, and be passed on to future generations.","Product: Dvd movie. 3rd in the trilogy\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great ending for the trilogy\n\nReview: The movie that close the curtain on the second trilogy inspired by Tolkien works.\n\nAmong the 3, is probably the best one; the most emotional too.\nAfter watching the LOTR trilogy, this movie offer very little surprises; mostly it is like watching any movie from Michael Bay...you know what you will find, you know the kind of shots that you will see, and you know that there will be explosion, plenty of them.\n\nWith Jackson,you know that there will be gore, there will be Legolas doing stunts (even if he was not even supposed to be here), there will be a strong female character (in this case 2 of them, one of the 2 did not even exist in the lore), and of course, you will have plenty of battles among a ton of people.\n\nBut this does not mean that is necessarily a bad thing after all. The movie is paced very well; it does not take you to the tedious of the first, nor to the extreme action of the second, where things never slow down. Here you get a good mix between action, slow moments and most of all, you get good development of the characters, which is another trademark of the works of PJ based on Tolkien.\n\nThe action sequences are marvelous; you can get lost on the big screen, at the orgy of gorgeous visuals; but watch it in SD, and the movie show all its limits and CG mashup. In some cases the difference is pretty pronounced, but considering the amount of work done, it can be forgiven. The novelty of the first trilogy just went away, so now the viewer look at things and is able to see the difference. Can't compare it with one single movie, since the work needed to make 3 is much more, but that goes to the nitpick.\n\nThe emotional parts are in between and very touching; I was not the only one to shed tears when it came out, and watching it again moves me in the same way. There is friendship and other feelings that we often forget about, there is loyalty and respect; and the movies build up the friendship between Bilbo and the rest of the company, to the point where he is respected and treated as equal, in comparison to the first movie, where he was basically a liability. The ending is touching, and is different from the movie, but I really enjoyed it, because it add something to the story that we all know. The romantic story, didn't have the same impact; was mostly put there because FW need to have this stuff in the movie; she need to put the pink ribbon in a product that otherwise is 99% dominated by male, violence and such. I was OK even without the romance, although it saved itself in the end, when we see how Thranduil in fact, show how he really is, while talking with Tauriel. Love cause suffering at times, and people try to fix it, forgetting how to love, to not suffer again.\n\nOne thing that was not in the book, but that I enjoyed, was the battle between the white council and the nine at the fortress; pure fiction galore there; but it was done with such taste that it fits perfectly; and it is a pleasure to see how Galadriel help Gandalf (revealing also their mutual feelings for each other), and how Saruman and Elrond put a fight against the ring wraits (obviously it was not CL that dd the fight scene, but it was a great way to show how powerful the white Maiar was, before getting corrupted). This is the only time that something was made out of the blue, and I really enjoyed it.\n\nThe Smaug fight was disappointing, but considering that Smaug had most of his time in the second movie, it is understandable.\n\nIn the end, the movie is a great piece of work; it put a sad end on the trilogy, but it is most likely the best of the 3.\nI suggest it if you like PJ works; I may not suggest it if you are a purist of Tolkien, since this is loosely based on the original story; I heard people bashed it badly for all the changes made, but you must look at it for what it is, not for what you were hoping that it would be.\n\n5 stars more than deserved; now I wait patiently for the release of the extended edition trilogy, so it can take place beside the first extended edition trilogy, and be passed on to future generations.","Product: The MOTO X meets your desire for responsiveness with the best delivery of Google services. It hears you and responds with Google Now.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Excellent device for the price paid; at iPhone level\n\nReview: Where to start; the device is exceeding the whole list of requirements, and is good for other aspects; great value for 290 dollars (absolutely not a good value for 799); these are my considerations.\n\nTo begin with; I have been using an iPhone 5S for a while, and I've always purchased iPhone, but lately I felt like I don't really want to be tied to a carrier, and have a 2 year agreement to have the iPhone, so I decided to go for an unlocked device that is a good value for what it offers. The Samsung and the iPhone are great devices but the 800 dollars pricetag is out of this world in my opinion...I don't buy a device that cost more than 300 dollars, because it is a moral obligation to not pay such prices for a phone; because in the end that's what they are (personal opinion, moving on).\n\nThis device is fast, the generous amount of memory make it responsive to app swapping and scrolling. The main processor is not that strong, but the X uses a combination of chipset, which include a dedicated 3d chip and another couple that take care of notifications and backend services. This result in blazing fast performances, even if technically the phone is inferior on the paper to many other devices.\n\nThe memory is not upgradeable, but 32 gb are plenty; especially if you don't put hundreds of apps that you never use, or movies and videos that you rarely watch. Speed is good enough nowadays to use streaming, so you can use cloud services and save space on your device, for the data that you really need (depends if you have it as toy or as phone/work item; that would dictate how you use it I believe).\n\nThe look is gorgeous, slightly curved and fit perfectly in my hands (I have average hands for a 6 feet man); the screen is OLED, so the same as you can see on a PS Vita and other modern devices. It is nice and bright; incredibly crisp, even if the pixel distribution and the resolution are not the same as a retina. I've been using Retina display and iPhones for years, and I can't really see the difference on the Moto X, even when reading documents or internet pages. I wear glasses, so to me the screen quality is essential, and this device fits me perfectly.\nThe button location is a bit strange, since the power is on the right, above the volume rocker, but it is not a big deal Then you will find the micro usb connector on the bottom and the headphone jack on the top (talking about top and bottom, when you have a rotating screen, has little meaning IMO).\n\nThe speakers are good (one single speaker in the back of the device); music and movie play well on it, but you may want to use headphones. The camera is really good quality; altho the software is not allowing you to control easily the focus point, and in low light conditions is easy to loose track of the focus, so you end up aiming at something and having on focus something that is much closer, because the camera software change at the last moment.\nTo take pictures you tap on the screen; this is counter intuitive if you are used to an iPhone, where you tap to set focus and \"aperture\" (there is no such thing, but I can't find a better analogy); I can't understand yet how do you decide what has to be locked in focus with the camera software, but I believe it is a matter of practice. The results are great outdoor, in good light condition and with static subjects; I tried to take photos of moving subjects like people, and the results are good, if you do not have too many objects on different planes, so the sensor does not get confused.\nThe camera has the flash led, not necessary but super necessary in most cases (included when you need a flashlight :) ), it shine brightly but the range seems inferior to the one on the iPhone 5S.\nYou can launch the camera when the phone is locked, jsut doing a quick double wrist rotation. Gimmicky but works fine when you don't want to unlock the phone.\n\n2 nice features added to this device are the interactive notification system, and the vocal commands.\nThe notfication system is less intrusive, and since the OLED display uses only the pixels that it turns on, you don't waste battery life.\nBasically the screen will show you an icon when you get a notification, and you may decide to slide up and go to the app that notified you, or slide down to just unlock. The notification will continue to appear at intervals (not flashing, the notification fade in and out very discreetly), unless you slide the cursor tapping on the screen and dragging the finger on the side of the device. You can still have regular notifications with audio and vibration, it is up to you. I like this because it is discreet and elegant.\n\nThe second is the voice recognition; where you just say \"hey google now\", and the device listen to your commands. So far it gets all that I say, and English is not my first language. Siri user will not notice much of a difference; the service seems to use the same procedure, where it will go online and elaborate your request, then return the results on your phone. It won't accept complex command in sequence, like if you need to find a store and find if the store is open; because the previous command results is not concatenated to the next one. This means that you need to ask for a store near you, and then ask if that store near you is open. Not a deal breaker, since Siri does not do that either, but would be nice to have a system that you can actually talk to, freely, without use your hands (super useful if you have your hands dirty or working; vocal commands are a great alternative).\n\nSome people love games: this one run games. I am a benchmark fan, so I downloaded 3dmark and few others; and beside the galaxy note 4 and few others, the performances were above all the other devices that has a higher price tag. I play some games and the graphic is smooth and crisp; keep in mind thou that the battery life will go down drastically. The back of the unit seems to heat up more when you do processing work, with games it stay moderately cool.\n\nThe battery is the main problem for me so far: it won't last the same as my iPhone 5S. I keep it mainly in my pocket or on my desk; I receive and make phone calls (probably few calls, 10-20 minutes in total per day), play occasionally a game while waiting in line and mostly I check email and use the web. I can go on for a day, but then the phone just can't go on anymore. The iPhone would be charged every 2-3 days, so to me this is a big drop in battery life. I am not sure if I have problems because of the battery, because I do not know Android very well, or I am setting something incorrectly. Just a heads up to give you an idea.\n\nThe unit is unlocked; uses a micro sim card and the only issue is the trapdoor used to insert the sim: it has a very flimsy lock, and feels like the card may escape at any time. Takes no effort to open it with the included tool; probably this is due the fact that the tray is made of plastic, while on the iPhone, it is in metal, so it gives more resistance and overall it is more solid. I do not feel totally comfortable moving the phone around, but it may be just my feeling (hope that nobody lost their sim card with this phone).\nYou can use any network supported (I believe anything but CDMA, works in EU for sure, with GSM 900/1800; I did not try data traffic outside USA yet, but it should be of use to you anywhere you go (double check the network available when you travel).\n\nThe developer edition is also different, since you are not forced to use the Motorola build of Android (which is excellent; not much has been added, is very vanilla); if you want, you may request an unlock code for the bootloader, and you will be able to write new OS images on the device (Android is supported, not sure if it may run anything else). This is not for the average user; if you are interested in developing on Android OS, then this device is perfect for you, but if you just want to use the device, you can leave it as is, not unlock the bootloader and you won't loose anything.\nI did not shop around to see if there is a non developer edition, since this is what I was looking for; if there is a model that cost less, because is not the developer edition, and you are not interested in developing, you may want to look for that.\n\nAccessories included are a charger, a micro usb cable and a useful sim tray tool, so you avoid to use a paperclip. This device is not coming with headphones, which is OK. You can use any device that support Android via bluetooth (headphones or earbud, with or without microphone), or regular headsets with the standard 3.5 inch jack (I have a pair of universal Bose with mic, they work fine).\n\nOverall is a 5 star, for the price of 300 dollars (you may find it for less; this is the 32 Gb version, the biggest that they make, I believe), great for people that work with the phone, great for the average user, great for gamers (I won't give this to under 18; check the Moto G for kids friendly devices), but absolutely awesome for developers.\n\nDitch the next iPhone, and save yourself 600 dollars; unless you are forced with iOS (which is superior to Android, IMO), otherwise this phone does everything in the same way, and you are also able to develop on it and learn something that can be sold.","Product: Samsung S6 unlocked S&D\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Good unit, refurb but in good shape\n\nReview: I really like this phone. Got it from a refurbished vendor, and it arrived in good shape.\n\nIt is not new; has wear and tear but the screen is clean, buttons seems fine and responsive; and the case does not have any major blemishes.\nKeep in mind that you get just the phone and the generic charger; no original box, no earphones nor any other accessory.\n\nThe phone has no removable battery, so it is \"as is\"; your luck may vary with the battery, depending how much was it used before. Mine seems to have a decent battery life. Does last as much as my previous S5; but there is a trick: if you have location service and WIFI on; the battery drain in less than 4-5 hours. And I am talking of the phone in sleep mode, sitting on your desk.\n\nNot sure if there is a problem in the software (it has the latest updates,no other available); which BTW is from ATT (does not matter in the end, I have a T-Mobile sim card and it works fine) and it is full of bloatware from ATT; but you can't get it to last even half a day, if you check email or have few conversations.\n\nSo what to do? Either you re-flash the phone with a different ROM, which will remove all the rubbish that ATT put on; or you keep it as is, and turn off location service and WiFi from your drop down menu; and turn these on only when needed. This will boost the battery life by 300%, and if you use the phone like I do (Check email, quick browse on facebook at lunch, instagram and few phone calls), you go from morning to evening with a single charge.\n\nMemory is fixed, so pick the size you may need. I got the 32 GB since I don't save much stuff on the device; occasional photos or videos; my music and that's all. There is no SD card slot, so beware.\n\nThe phone is overall pretty solid and fast; it is leaps and bounds faster than the S5; and it is a bit thinner. Does not have the sensor for heartbeat, but who need that ? It is a phone, not your physio :) The camera is awesome, even for today's standards, and for a bit more than 200 dollars, you really can't get a better smartphone.","Product: The Boss Drafting Stool (B315-BY) with footring and loop arms is an ergonomic office chair with a seat size of 17.5 W by 16.5 D and 26.5 to 31.5 H. Features of the chair include a weight capacity of 250 pounds and easy and smooth height adjustment with its pneumatic gas lift handle. The large 27 nylon base offers increased stability and the hooded double wheel casters makes moving from one part of your office to another easy. The seat is upholstered burgundy tweed, making the chair both functional and aesthetically appealing. Adjustable arms and a removable footrest make this chair comfortable for long periods of work.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: OK for your workshop\n\nReview: I was not expecting much from this chair, and in fact it is an average product.\n\nI did purchase this for my workshop; instead of being standing up all the time, I liked the idea to have something to sit on, and this fits the bill.\nThe quality is OK; when you sit on it is a bit flimsy (I am a big guy), it feels not so safe but so far it is holding fine. I would like the option to not have the wheels, since on my workshop I have vynil floor, and the chair just roll too easily; they should include replacements for the wheels, as rubber stand.\n\nThe top part hold together with 4 screws; seems solid but you don't want to sit on it the whole day for sure. the bottom ring to rest your feet, just slide between the 2 metal rods; be careful when lifting the chair, because the bottom part with the wheels and the ring can detach and you may end up hitting your foot accidentally.\n\nOverall a decent item for the price paid; look solid and it is easy to assemble","Product: The Samsung Xpress M2070FW All-in-One Laser printer is perfect for your home office and combines ease of operation with high performance at an affordable price. Samsung Xpress M2070FW Laser Printer delivers hassle-free mobile printing and all-around multifunction efficiency that are perfect for your cost-conscious SOHO work environment or home office. Print from a USB drive or a range of mobile devices with quick and easy wireless printer installation. Always get reliable quality for crisp black text with Samsungs innovative imaging technology while saving up to 20% on toner with Samsungs Easy Eco Driver. Professional Image Quality: Samsungs ReCP technology improves readability of printed and scanned documents by enhancing thin lines and sharpening edges. You get sharp, solid prints with an effective resolution of up to 1200 x 1200 dpi. Fast Print Speeds: Streamline your workflow and print up to 21 pages per minute, so you can spend more time producing and less time waiting. Compact, Ergonomic Design: The printers small footprint saves space for your home office. And the two-tone design is well suited for todays modern office settings.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Overall, a great item\n\nReview: I did receive this few weeks ago, and so far I am happy with it.\n\nThe printer is big but it is not that bigger than a regular samsung laser; the fax/copier contraption is right on top of the standard printer, so it doesn't look that bad. Fits nicely on a regular printer stand.\n\nPaper runs clean inside the printer, although I would prefer the approach of previous Samsung printers, where the paper goes in a drawer under the printer, instead than dangling from the open door in the front. It also look cleaner with the paper in a drawer and the trap door closed.\n\nDue to the scan/fax contraption on the top, the paper won't rest neatly in the body of the printer, but slide out from the front; forcing you to keep not only the bottom door open, to feed the printer, but also the top drawer, so the paper won't fall on the ground. It is a style issue; not functional, so if you don't care about how an item look, then you are good to go.\n\nScanning works great; I didn't try the fax (and probably never will; we don't have home phone since a decade probably); drivers were easy to install on both OSX and Windows 10.\n\nThe printer output is B/W but clear and very nice for text. Graphc wise forget about it; the black is not super black; the paper warp due to the heat and ink; and you can see stripes when the shade of grey is in a large area. Great for schematics and text, but if you need a graphic printer, forget about it.\n\nThe toner is pretty big and is in the 10K pages range; so plenty to print, before the need for a new one. I did choose a laser B/W because I was tired of waste money for color cartridges; while I mostly print in B/W anyway. Here you won't need to spend 80 dollars every 400-600 pages, to replace your single color cartridges, and if you want just B/W, nobody will force you to buy also the color cartridge (or the printer won't work at all).\n\nAs copier it is good too; I did use both the flatbed area and the top feeder and they both do their job. Scanning is pretty good and quick.\n\nThe printer is wireless, so you can place it wherever you want. The configuration is painless, just remember that the keyboard of the printer is totally messed up, since when it ask you to input the wifi password for your network, it won't default to numbers but stay in \"ABC1!\" mode; so each pressure on the button will cycle through the 3 letters, 1 number and 1 special character that are set for each key (if you are over 30, you may remember that this is how people used to write SMS in the 80s and 90s).\n\nThe printer goes automatically in standby, after few minutes; this is great since it will use virtaully no power; once awake, it takes 10 seconds to heat up and print; very efficient.\n\nOverall, a great item; I wish the quality was better for graphics, but can't complain due to the great price.","Product: Fire up the oven or grill and start baking artisan-style pizzas in the comfort of your own home! Crafting homemade pizzas takes only a good baking stone, a great pizza dough recipe and a few handfuls of your favorite toppings, and in no time youve got a delicious, piping hot, crispy crust pizza of your own making. Enjoy the same quality of food baked in a professional brick lined oven in your home kitchen or grill. Baking stones are perfect for pizza, bread, pastries or any other baked goods, eliminating hot spots while cooking, and produce uniformly browned crust. Baking stones are also convenient for heating and re-heating ready-made frozen pizza and baked goods. Stones require no seasoning or conditioning. Product Care: Stones arrive ready for immediate use there is no need to \"season\" a new stone with oil or soak the stone in water before each use. The natural properties of a stones will cause it to darken and spot with age; do not attempt to remove this discoloration. Do not ever use soap when cleaning the stone, just hot water and a non-abrasive scrubber. For best results, pre-heat oven or grill to 500F (260C) and place stone in middle of oven on lowest rack or middle of grill for 30 minutes. If baking a prepared food item, bake as directed by manufacturer on packaging. For fresh pizza, a flat metal spatula or a pizza peel dusted with cornmeal or flour works well for transferring food to the baking stone. Alternatively, using an oven mitt or glove, remove the hot stone from the oven, place on heat-safe surface, place food to be baked onto the stone, and return both to the oven or grill. STONE WILL GET HOT! USE OVEN MITT OR GLOVE WHEN HANDLING.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: hard to clean, does not really make much of a difference\n\nReview: So far I did use it 4 times, to cook 2 pre-baked pizzas and 2 of my pizza from scratch.\n\nThe quality seems good; but first of all, it takes forever to heat up...40 minutes or so; and this means that unless you are feeding an army, it is not worth to have it for one or 2 pizza, once every week or 2.\n\nAlso it stain very easily, and since you can't use soap to remove the dirt, it just became like a permanent stain on it; I did remove the burned flour and pizza sauce that eventually fall on it gently, but the stain remain, and since it is in a oven for long time before cleaning, the food burn and become hard on it, making the whole activity of cleaning the stone, a labour of love (can't scrape or you scratch it, can't use soap, can't soak it).\n\nDo yourself a favor and just get a dedicated brick oven; which you won't mind having stained or scratch it, since it will be outside all the time.","Product: For over forty years, Renaissance wax has been the no. 1 choice of museums for the preservation of precious items including swords and other edged weapons. Professional conservators throughout the world depend on Renaissance wax to protect their collections. Properly applied, a little goes a long way. 7 oz. Information pamphlet included.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great product for swords!\n\nReview: So I have ordered this after reading a big deal on sword collector sites.\n\nIt is the panacea for all the needs of collectors, and so far the fame seems to be deserved. I have 2 occidental swords, limited edition from Lord of the Rings movies (Museum edition series); and I was concerned about how to keep these beauties in a clean and nice way.\n\nTried with silicone oil, mineral oil and while they solve the purpose, leave the blade and hilt greasy and attract a lot of particles, making them quite bad to look at, and in continuous need to be cleaned (get a spoon, put it in honey, lick all honey off and then roll the spoon on the carpet...this is how the swords would look like...I don't have a museum with weatherproof sealed boxes, so dust get on them no matter what :D )\n\nUsed this once, and so far great results! It cleaned the old stain on the metal, and the dried residual of oil; and made the metal a bit more shiny (not sure if it removed the aging coat that the sword maker put on the sword; or if it just cleaned it); but it won't look like chrome, so be assured that the sword will stay nice and clean but not shiny and \"bling\". It works great on the blade, hilt and grip (which is made of leather); I've coated the scabbard too (made of wood, metal and leather), and it looks awesomely clean.\n\nThe big advantages are that you don't need to coat every few months the blade, since this wax stays on for quite a long time (heard that you need to give another coat once every 6-8 months, based on how much you handle the sword), it doesn't leave grease all over and if you touch the blade with your fingers (don't do it), you can easily wipe away the blade and you are fine; while with the oil you would have to give a new coat (if the grease on the hands goes under the oil coat, with air, it will cause rust to appear on the carbon blade, that's why you never touch with your bare hands a carbon steel blade, unless you clean it thoroughly after).\n\nI am happy with it; there is plenty for 10 years of coating :) Tried it on other old items, like silver items which had a dark coat on it, and it didn't work as well as the sword; I guess that Silver has to be cleaned with other products before you can use this wax. Works good on leather and wood chairs, altho it will be expensive to coat 4 chair every 6 months...you may have better luck with common cheaper products, unless you have a louis 15th type furniture :)","Product: For over forty years, Renaissance wax has been the no. 1 choice of museums for the preservation of precious items including swords and other edged weapons. Professional conservators throughout the world depend on Renaissance wax to protect their collections. Properly applied, a little goes a long way. 7 oz. Information pamphlet included.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great product for swords!\n\nReview: So I have ordered this after reading a big deal on sword collector sites.\n\nIt is the panacea for all the needs of collectors, and so far the fame seems to be deserved. I have 2 occidental swords, limited edition from Lord of the Rings movies (Museum edition series); and I was concerned about how to keep these beauties in a clean and nice way.\n\nTried with silicone oil, mineral oil and while they solve the purpose, leave the blade and hilt greasy and attract a lot of particles, making them quite bad to look at, and in continuous need to be cleaned (get a spoon, put it in honey, lick all honey off and then roll the spoon on the carpet...this is how the swords would look like...I don't have a museum with weatherproof sealed boxes, so dust get on them no matter what :D )\n\nUsed this once, and so far great results! It cleaned the old stain on the metal, and the dried residual of oil; and made the metal a bit more shiny (not sure if it removed the aging coat that the sword maker put on the sword; or if it just cleaned it); but it won't look like chrome, so be assured that the sword will stay nice and clean but not shiny and \"bling\". It works great on the blade, hilt and grip (which is made of leather); I've coated the scabbard too (made of wood, metal and leather), and it looks awesomely clean.\n\nThe big advantages are that you don't need to coat every few months the blade, since this wax stays on for quite a long time (heard that you need to give another coat once every 6-8 months, based on how much you handle the sword), it doesn't leave grease all over and if you touch the blade with your fingers (don't do it), you can easily wipe away the blade and you are fine; while with the oil you would have to give a new coat (if the grease on the hands goes under the oil coat, with air, it will cause rust to appear on the carbon blade, that's why you never touch with your bare hands a carbon steel blade, unless you clean it thoroughly after).\n\nI am happy with it; there is plenty for 10 years of coating :) Tried it on other old items, like silver items which had a dark coat on it, and it didn't work as well as the sword; I guess that Silver has to be cleaned with other products before you can use this wax. Works good on leather and wood chairs, altho it will be expensive to coat 4 chair every 6 months...you may have better luck with common cheaper products, unless you have a louis 15th type furniture :)","Product: This crystal clear acrylic coating spray provides a permanent protective gloss coating that will not yellow with age. Moisture resistant and smudge proof. Use for photography, watercolor, charcoa pencil, painted surfaces, wood crafts and much more. Comes in 6-ounces aerosol can.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Avoid if used on top of Papilio vinyl decal\n\nReview: Avoid it if you use it with decals!\n\nI have a metal case, which I decided to paint and put some decals on, and I was suggested that this product would work perfectly for protecting the decal from scratch and eventual discoloration.\n\nSadly it has a side effect: it causes cracks on the decal.\n\nI have printed the decal on Papilio clear vinyl decal paper for inkjet; let it rest for 40 minutes and then cut it to shape and positioned on the metal surface.\n\nThe decal was just fine once placed on the surface; no air bubbles, no issues, was totally smooth and flat.\n\nThen I made 2 pass with Krylon, 15 min apart, and left it outside to dry overnight.\n\nThis morning I found that the vinyl decal had bubbles and had various cracks all over its surface. I have another decal printed with the same paper (I made 2 copy yesterday, so they are identical), which was left in the room instead of being applied, and it didn't shrink nor crack; which means that the issue is this product.\n\nIt is possible that there are some special instructions to follow, but the can mention nothing; other than clean and sand the surface before apply it.\n\nAvoid this product if you are going to use it to make a protective layer on your vinyl decal; probably this is not the main use for this acrylic coating spray, altho Amazon recommend it with the Papilio paper.","Product: Takara Tomy has completely redesigned the newest Masterpiece Convoy for this figure release and what an amazing job they did. Convoy, or Optimus Prime as many know him, is fully transformable and comes with his trailer which also transforms. Convoy, as leader of the Autobots, carries the Matrix in his chest and the figure's chest opens up to reveal it showing the amazing detail. Of course, Convoy carries his beam rifle (which also transforms) and also an Energy Axe. A tiny vehicle which fits inside the trailer as well as a tiny human figure are also included.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Best Optimus G1 ever made.\n\nReview: To be honest, I saw this item and marked it as a toy; especially because it was sold at the toys R us store. I was wrong.\n\nI am not a toy collector; I collect adult collectibles; and this is not a toy for sure. Got 3 of them, just to point out how much I liked it.\n\nTo start with; this is the best rendition of the G1 transformer OP. Sorry, but I grew up with such design, G1 for me is the standard shape, and so far, this is the best figure ever made for OP. I have purchased the Takara version; which is coming in a wonderful black box with nice pictures on it. It doesn't look like a toy; in a plastic transparent packaging (like the TRS version); although the figure is exactly the same (minus some irrelevant details; at least to me). This version show that it is not a toy.\n\nThe figure is plastic; metal is reduced to the minimmum (I believe few joints); but this does not take away much of the joy to handle this figure. It is solid when you manipulate it; and beside the horrible joints on the hands, that pop out easily; and the super hard cover on the matrix; the rest is top notch. Minimum flaws; perfect paint with uniform color, and extra solid joints; which result really har to move, and this means that the figure will last longer. The only softer part is the feet area; this result in some issues when posing the figure. I did check around to find a way to make these joints thighter, but so far no luck.\n\nThe articulation is pretty good; beside being a trasformable figure; it ha sa pretty amazing range of movements; you can pull out any kind of pose you may want. I just wish they would add some light features; either in the head or chest, but it is nitpicking to be honest.\n\nThe transformation is awesome; although you know exacty which part is which (the truck mode is pretty big in the back; the only downside, but it doesn't look strange or disproportioned); it goes from humanoid to truck with an amazing number of engineering choices.\nThe chest actually shift and allow the original chest to move out; giving a solid torso in humanoid mode; and in truck mode, allow you to fold the arm in, exactly like the original G1 toy from the 80s. It takes few try to perform it right; but once you get the gist; it is a breeze. Panels move and hide parts; and it is a pleasant experience.\n\nThe figure has the iconic rifle, which is pretty small compared to the anime counterpart, but it is well done, and it folds up, so you can store it in OP backpack. It also has the trailer; which open and is pretty much the same as the original G1 toy, but made better. Also included the little car (roller), which is what take away the trailer when OP transform in the show (don't quote me on that...has bee quite long time since G1 in tv), and the spike figure that can fit in the truck mode too. There is also the energy axe; which I find ugly and pretty useless; so I left it in the box.\n\nIf you like Transformers; you must get this figure. If you like robots and transforming figure, you must get this figure.","Product: By popular demand comes Mazinzaiser in a dazzling Z-color metallic scheme originally used for the highly sought out Chogokin Z Color limited edition item.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Awesome figure; get this if you like chrome and shine\n\nReview: Very nice item; it is heavy and overall seems to be the tallest and biggest of all the Super Robot Chogokin series (got many of them).\n\nIt has a nice paint and the finishing of this special version is probably \"too much\" but fits well the character (it has chrome silver parts on arms and legs, instead of the brushed metal color of the original Mazinkaiser that was released before this).\n\nThe figure has great articulation; although there are issues with stability somehow; to make it stand, with the scrander, you have to fiddle with it a bit. Other than that, it is on par with all the other SRC that preceeded this. Some flaw and blemishes here and there, but nothing as bad as the visible damage on the Gunbuster. If you want a flawless piece; good luck with that...not even the SOC line is 100% flawless.\n\nOne thing that I didn't like is that the pilder is stuck in the head; it won't move so don't try to pull it out! The accessories are standard hands; the scrander (which is posable; all 4 wings move and it is really sharp, so beware), and a set of swords: one is \"regular\" size and the other is supersized; to reproduce the perspective effect that you can see in the show. With that big sword; reminds me of Berserk protagonist; I prefer the regular size sword.\n\nOther than that, beware of the forearms when replacing hands; there is a defect from the factory that result in the peg getting stuck in the punch and not in the socket in the forearm. Nothing that some superglue can't fix (the hand will rotate without problems even if you glue the peg in the forearm), but if you swap often the hands; beware of that, even because athe small gold round piece attached between the peg and the forearm, will fall, once you remvove the punch+peg.","Product: Play with this sweet and soft FurReal Friends Biscuit, My Walkin' Pup Toy, and she'll play with you. When you put your new little friend on the ground, she'll walk around and back to you, just looking for some love. When you pet her on the head, she sits like a well-trained puppy - but she can't help wagging her tail! How will you know when the puppy toy is as happy as can be? When you pick her up and pet her back, she'll bark and make sounds, just like a real pup. She even responds to Pom Pom, My Baby Panda (sold separately). This FurReal Friends toy is recommended for children ages 4 and up, although it has shown to be a great source of amusement for adults, too. This is a great way to teach young ones all about pets: how to take care of them, what they do and want, and how they can be great pals in life. FurReal Friends and all related characters are trademarks of Hasbro.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: fun if you find it for cheap.\n\nReview: Fun item, my kids love it, although it is really not that interactive, as I thought.\n\nPet the head, does nothing; the sounds seems to be at random, it doesn't really use a microphone to get the tone of your voice when you talk to the dog; nor it respond to clapping, running to you. It happens once in a blue moon; which makes me think that probably it just get sounds from the source and sometimes it triggers the movement.\n\nAlso the app included is not really doing much; the best interactive activity is the feeding, which makes the dog burp after the meal, but it is really too little to call it interactive.\n\nfor a 5 year old it is a decent toy; but forget about what you see in the promo video, because this toy does nothing, beside making noises, walking when you press the button on the controller and sit when you touch the head. This is no AIBO, and looking at the price, it is expected.","Product: Due to popular demand Tamashii nations is proud to announce a limited re-issue of GUNDAM fix figuration rx-78-2 GUNDAM (the origin).\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Well worth the money, gorgeous piece\n\nReview: A truly wonderful collector item.\n\nI was at first a bit disappointed when I noticed that it is not the original RX78 from the first Gundam series, but then got used to the new design.\n\nThere are a ton of parts; it is impressive how many small little parts are included with this figure; this is because there are 3 different variations that you can make; which involve swapping parts from the arms, legs, shoulder and chest pieces. The changes are minimal; so you will just end up picking the parts that you like and leave the figure as is. The only noticeable change is some chrome parts, which are nice, althought they do not fit really well the anime version.\n\nThe figure itself is a bargain; it is mostly made of metal, and I was surprised to see how nice it is, considering that other gundam models from the same line, cost 100 dollars more. I thought it was defective or had issues, but this figure exceed my expectations.\nI build Gunpla, and I like them, although with time, the joints become loose and the plastic brittle, so I decided to replace my favorite figures with more durable version. This is not as fun as to build a gunpla, but the superior durability is a great plus.\n\nThe articulations are really solid and heavy; all major joints are in metal; and posing the figure is a pleasure, since it moves fluidly, without feel too stiff or too loose. good range of motion, kneeling is perfect, and you won't have issues to put the figure in any pose you like.\n\nThe negatives are few: the first is the head movement that is somehow limited when using the shoulder cannon. The cannon itself is fixed and the articulation is plastic; which is prone to be snapped or get bad with time; not sure why Bandai didn't go the extra mile to make this figure great.\nAnother downside of the figure is the shield: it fall apart as soon as you touch it, and checking on variouos forums, it seems that most of the collectors simply superglue the various parts of the shield, so it won't fall apart when posing the figure. The handle itself is great, snaps nicely, but the part where the handle goes on (and hold basically the shield to the forearm), just snap off as soon as you breathe on it; same goes for the saber holder and the extra rifle holder. Just a dab of glue and the shield will stay solid, when connected to the forearm; nothing that would damage the value of the figure.\n\nThe gundam opens too; and can hold inside a core fighter; which is a small foldable airplane. in the main show; the cool part was the little jet folding and connecting with torso and legs to create different setup, making it a modular robot; so you can recreate the feel of the original anime if you like. There is also a plastic piece that holds the torso and legs together; in case you want to display the core fighter on its own (once it is inside the gundam, there is no way to actually see it); I keep it outside also because I do not want to separate the figure and eventually scratch the paint.\n\nOverall, buy it now if you are a fan of Gundam, but also as action figure, it is a great purchase, even if you never heard of Gundam.","Product: BANDAI SHFiguarts Avengers Age of Ultron Marvel Iron man Mark 43\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Great figure, a bit overpriced.\n\nReview: Very nice figure; this is my first SH figuarts and I am really happy with it.\n\nThe figure is very small, it is a 6 inch figure, made mostly of plastic. The paint job is gorgeous, and the colors very vibrant and realistic; you would think that it is all made of metal. There are die cast parts, like the feet and some joints I believe, but mostly it is plastic.\n\nPosability is good; maybe not as good as the figma figure, but this one does not have annoying flaps for the hand covers, so you can get a proper hand blast move without look too weird; also the hand cover is interchangeable, which means that you can change hand set and it will still cover correctly the top of the hand and wrist.\n\nShoulders move up which help with arms movements; legs moves well; with good range of movements; the head has good mobility too, but it won't tilt up much, making hard to have good flight poses.\n\nIn the box you will find also some effect parts to simulate flight or hand blast trademark move; the had parts attach via peg; the feet has holes to connect the effect parts, although they don't fit firmly, which results in them falling down easily.\n\nIF you don't want to spend 500 dollars for a Hot Toys figure, this one will be more than enough, for a sub 100 dollars figure.","Product: At last, the long awaited dream release of the seven step transformable Trider G7 becomes a Soul of Chogokin diecast robot reality! With three transformation gimmicks (Trider Hawk, Trider Mobile and Trider Marine) in the head area alone this super dynamic diecast robot action figure release will showcase all the latest in Soul of Chogokin technology. Other transformation highlights include the Trider Fortress, Trider Cosmic, Trider Eagle and Trider Vehicle forms! In addition a full array of weapon accessory and interchangeable parts are included for a recreating variety of situations and for facilitating seamless Trider G7 transformations. LOOK FOR ORIGIN OF SHIPMENT: Only items shipped from within North America are being sold by authorized U.S. retailers. The product box will have a warning label, which is proof that you are purchasing a collectible action figure or statue that is guaranteed and authentically licensed by Bandai, distributed by its sole and authorized distributor (Bluefin Distribution) exclusively for the U.S. and Canadian markets. This product has been thoroughly tested for safety and meets all North American consumer product safety regulations. The affixed label with the Bluefin Distribution logo also entitles the purchaser to product support assistance.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: horrible aritculation but it is an impressive piece\n\nReview: Nice piece; lots of metal and a ton of accessories (the box is huge!).\n\nI didn't keep it thou, since the box was heavily damaged, and the item also had signs of damage. It wa priced lower than the average price, but sadly it has no value for collectors in that condition.\n\nBeside that, the item deserve; the transformation is easy and it is up to par to the other SOC transformable products. It has serious limitations related to the leg articulation saly; So far the best SOC has beend the Danguard, as far as it goes with leg articulation, but it is also true that the Danguard has a different mechanism to transform, which gave designers the chance to have different articulation.\n\nThe TG7 has basically limited articulations for the lower body, so the poses are limited, beyond the standard ones.\n\nThe transformation is quite fun to do; old school, reminds me of the old POPY, but this item has better proportion and a better transformation overall; it is also 15 years younger, which give it an advantage. The paint is nicely done; colors are great and no blobs of paint are on the surface; it is up to the high SOC standards (considering how much they cost...).\n\nIt has a ton of weapons and accessories; one of these is a huge base that connects to the back of the robot, once it is transformed in the jet form. if you watched the original tv series; you know what I am talking about. It is just a big shell made of plastic, but it add to the overall volume of the item, and it is anime accurate, so you will love it. The stand is average; I like stand that hold all the items nicely (so you won't have to open and close the box to get them), although I like the stand that show a bit of a diorama; and TG7 stand fits in the middle: there is a section where you put the alternate head, in the same position that it is in the anime (center of a kids playground, exposing just half of it); although the base does not look like a playground :) Kudos for the anime reference thou.\n\nOverall for the quality and content, I give it 5 stars, but the lack of articulation and posability is something that disappoint me, so I took off a star.\n\nHighly recommended thou, either if you are a fan of the deisgn of this item; a fan of SOC in general or you like well made robots from the 80s.","Product: From Kaiyodo. The hero of the legendary saga stands in 6\" scale and comes with 19 points of articulation (including 14 revolver joints) and a display stand, plus interchangeable hands, faces and weapons!.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: I wish FOTNS characters would be made by Sentinel.\n\nReview: I can say that overall it is nicely done; the clothes are relevant to the anime, and in the end, the articulation is decent, but there is a huge flaw in the hips.\nAlmost all Revoltech figures are famous for being super posable; the joint are plastic, so won't win any award for durability, since plastic with time change and brittle, but at least you can make a ton of crazy poses...while for the \"Fist of the North Star\" characters; they decided to go for the route of a weird swivel articulation, that rotate 45 degree. Imagine the old GI-Joe figures, before they became posable.\n\nIt solve the horrible look of revoltech joints (basically a ball), but limit very much the poses and you will have to struggle a lot to get in the right pose, if you are used to other figures like the SH Figuards or even more posable figures like from the Bandai Super Robot Chogokin series, or the Sentinel Tatsunoko figures. Here we talk about figures that do martial arts poses, flying around; if you don't make them pose well, it is a waste for such figures\n\nIt is sold cheap, and that's OK, but I would not mind spend more for a premium but get decent figures, like in the 50-80 range, and get something with accessories and well sculpted faces, with good articulations. Sadly they did revive the line, re-printing the original revoltech figures, and lost the chance to improve them. I own various Revoltech figures, and for sure the ones from this series are the hardest to handle and pose.\n\nEspecially for the main protagonist of the series, the result is pretty disappointing; the face barely resemble the original, and instead of making one set with bare chest and with shirt on; they made 2 figures; which is another big disappointment.","Product: Grander! Better! Stronger than before! Tamashii Nations celebrates Getter Robo's 40th anniversary with this top class Super Robot Chogokin Getter-1. Getter-1 is portrayed in awesome detail without compromising proportion, maintaining the perfect balance of detail and design expected from the Super Robot Chogokin line.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Great version of the Getter Robot, from the OAV\n\nReview: I love this figure; especially because this is the OAV version, not the standard Getter robot form the main show.\n\nIt is probably the most well known robot with a belly; beside Tetsujin 28, I don't recall other robot with a sort of \"obese\" look. It reminds me a kinder surprise, with this egg-shaped body.\n\nArticulations are good; as far as it goes for the top part of the body. The bottom part is really disappointing; with limited mobility that does not allow you to change much the pose for the leg. Forget about split or even forward/backward kick. The range is limited due to the design of the hips; you can pull the joint to get a bit more of range, but the hips are basically limiting the movement, rubbing with the upper part of the leg.\n\nYou can still get some nice pose, but it is sad that you can't take advantage of the full range of motion; that you may have with other SRC figures.\n\nOverall, quality is high; the figure feels heavy and the paint is top notch; vibrant and metallic, you would not be able to distinguish the metal parts from the plastic parts. I have also the SOC version of this figure, and the difference is not that great. IT loose against a Sentinel, but between the SRC and the SOC, I would not think twice to take this over the SOC.\n\nThe accessory included are the signature tomahawk, the cape and the usual set of hands. It also include the getter beam gimmig, which result in swap of the tummy panel with another one that has the beam barrel. you can either leave the barrel with the green dot (to simulate when the beam is about to be fired), or remove it and attach the included effect part.\n\nThe cape is nice, although it add balance issues when lifting it up, and the joint is not that strong; so in the long run it may give issues. Although I had no issues in dynamic poses on the base. The cape just go up and down; keep it in mind, and it is made of hard plastic (but nicely sculpted).\n\nOverall a great figure; beside the hips problem, it is another top notch figure from the SRC line"],"string":"[\n \"Product: The xminilab is a mixed signal oscilloscope with an arbitrary waveform generator in a dip module. It measures only 3.3 x 1.75 inches, and can be mounted directly on a breadboard. The xminilab can also be used as a development board for the AVR xmega microcontroller.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: great for basic measurements, very good for breadboard works\\n\\nReview: Very surprised by this little board.\\n\\nThe screen si borderline unreadable, since the resolution is very low, but it works just fine for generic measurements.\\n\\nOverall I did try it with different signals and the representation is correct; keep in mind that there are plenty of limitations due to the sensitivity of the board, but for most part it works just fine. Don't compare it with a device that cost thousands, or even hundreds, and you will be happy with it.\\n\\nThe great thing is that you can plug it on your breadboard; and with simple connections you can probe easily the signals. I would prefer if the unit would come withouth the headers already soldered, but due to the design of the board, that would be complicate, since the buttons on the front are covering the solder points of the headers on the bottom.\\n\\nOverall, great little board; useful for breadboards and if you are feeling adventurous, you can check on youtube, where there are videos where they show how to make an oscilloscope watch with this board.\",\n \"Product: Product Features 100% brand new and high quality This wireless receiver is a simple adapter that connects into a USB. Work with current and future Xbox 360 Wireless Accessories. Provides up to a 30-feet range for complete wireless freedom. Use up to four Wireless Controllers and four Wireless Headsets. Simultaneously with one Wireless Gaming Receiver. Easily integrates with PC gaming scenarios and utilizes the same binding technology as Xbox 360. Works with windows XP, Vista and windows 7 Magnetic ring on the cable keeps the unit working more stably How to use: When it is connected to the notebook, the screen will show a new hardware is founded and tip you to install driver. After you succeed in installing it, press on the circular button of the receiver for about 1 second then the green light of the receiver will flash constantly and it means now it gets into the pairing mode. Now you just need to press the pair button of the controller to mate, after you succeed in doing that youll free to play the game. Package includes 1x PC Wireless Gaming USB Receiver Adapter 1x CD\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Beware, not original Microsoft product\\n\\nReview: To be clear, this is a cheap imitation of the original item. Even the package came as the original, minus the XBOX and Microsoft logo.\\n\\nThe original drivers from Microsoft does not recognize the device; you have to use the mini cd included in the package, which ironically, call the device as fake (in case you were even thinking that it was original). Keep the cd safe because there is no way to get the drivers otherwise; it is from a Chinese company, looking at the writings, but there is no reference (obviously being a fake, would be not so smart to put an address where to find the people that made this).\\n\\nBut once you install the device, it works. The look is exactly the same as the original, I had one but it broke; so I remember it. Looks well made, overall was able to recognize my 360 wireless controller. For how long it will work, I do not know, but at least be assured that the power connections are done right, so it won't fry your motherboard.\",\n \"Product: The Razer Orbweaver is the world's first mechanical gaming keypad that binds every command and skill from any FPS, RTS, and MMORPG to 20 mechanical keys at your fingertips. With that many keys within quick reach, and requiring only 50 g of force to actuate, you'll be able to react to any challenge at an unrivaled speed. The distinctive tactile feedback from the Razer Mechanical Switches also provides a whole new feel to your gaming experience. The Razer Orbweaver features adjustable hand size, thumb, and palm-rest modules to provide the most ergonomic form factor for maximum comfort. Keep the device away from liquid, humidity or moisture. Operate the device only within the specific temperature range of 0 to 40 degree celsius. Should the temperature exceed this range, unplug and switch off the device in order to let the temperature stabilize to an optimal level. Troubleshoot-updating to windows 10 razer synapse does not detect my device and show the correct product configurator if encountered perform synapse update through settings. Check for updates, if the updates not able to run or synapse not able to load, uninstall synapse and download the latest synapse framework from razer support site\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Great for productivity, software is a bit disappointing but overall good device.\\n\\nReview: I did get mostly for applications, to work with a smaller device, if I don't need to type.\\n\\nIt works well; the software though is atrocious, and it takes so much effort to configure it, that it is almost better to leave it in default config and change the keys assignment directly in the app.\\nYou can switch profiles, although for some mysterious reason, the software does not allow you to assign a button to change profiles back and forth. You can assign 1 profile to EACH button; so if you use 4 profiles, you loose 4 buttons; instead of use 2 buttons to cycle through the profiles. Geniuses. There is not even a button to cycle through the 3 profiles, but you have 3 LED, to show you which profile you are using.\\n\\nThe click is nice; it is not super noisy if you control the button pressure; as gaming device is also good; but the position used to handle the joystick and the big trigger button is quite unnatural. I have moderately big hands and I need to move quite a lot my wrist to get to the different rows and use the joystick and thumb buttons; which is a good recipe for CTS.\\n\\nThe rows have different button size; slightly slanted on one side. takes a bit to get used to, but once you do, your hands move from one row to another with ease. The only bad row is the bottom one; buttons are smaller and tilted forward. If you have big hands you need either to slide your wrist back or curl your hand, which has the downside of forcing you to push the buttons with your nail area, instead than the tip of your fingers, and most of the time you hit also other buttons doing so. I end up never use them unless I am in a specific mode that does not require my hand to move up and down.\\n\\nNot sure why the WASD scheme was set to be in the middle (buttons 12.13.14 and 8), while it would be more natural, especially for the thumb controls operation, to have the set as buttons 4,8, 9 and 10). there is a small dent on one button that allow you to know that you are on the WASD area; although it takes not that much effort to relocated the WASD to the position you enjoy the most.\\n\\nthe color gimmick is purely useless in my opinion. I did set it as static color and didn't change it much. It has variations and a bunch of different mode; but if you want to make a simple variation between a light and darker tone of the same color; you end up having troubles, since none of the algorithms used for the LED is able to keep the LED on when cycling the 2 tones. Which is weird, since if you turn on the rainbow mode, it does exactly that, but among all the spectrum color. But you can't get the same effect between 2 tones of the same color, unless you accept the idea that once the first tone fade out, the LED goes totally off, and then they turn on again. Which is annoying.\\n\\nOverall a great peripheral; some say that it will improve your FPS skills; I really can't say nor I care; since playing FPS is something that I do but I didn't notice much of a difference to be honest. As professional peripheral for productivity; it is awesome, and if you use apps like Photoshop or Unity, 3dsmax and such, this device really shine.\",\n \"Product: The UNCHARTED 3: Drake's Deception Collector's Edition is a must-have for every UNCHARTED fan, including a one-of-akind Sideshow Collectibles Nathan Drake Statue, replicas of Nathan Drake's belt buckle and ring with necklace strap, and an exclusive Steelbook game case, all housed in a stylish “Travelling Chest”. Loaded with exclusive collectibles that no treasure hunter can resist and available only for a limited time, grab yours today before they disappear forever!\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Awesome for 40 dollars; box is made of carton; but the statue is cool\\n\\nReview: Overall I am happy of this product.\\n\\nThe item was used; but the state overall was OK. The statue seems fine; same for the other 2 items (ring and belt buckle). The metal case is nice to look at, and seem pretty solid overall. Nothing really to say about that.\\n\\nFor 40 dollars it is a good deal; the statue is a Sideshow piece, so that alone is worth almost 40 dollars. The game is fantastic, I already had it on my PS3 as digital download via PSN plus; but since I am not a member anymore; I did want to get the game to play it again.\\n\\nThe only disappointing part is the box; the outer box arrived a bit damaged, and that's OK, but the box that contain the game and everything else, is basically cardboard with nice paper glued on it; to give it a wooden look. I was not expecting high quality wood; but not even that it was made of cardboard. But for 40 dollars it is OK; the ring is nice, and the belt buckle is totally useless for me, even as collector piece, but oh well; the statue and the game are what matters after all.\",\n \"Product: Enjoy delicious espresso made your way with De'Longhi's pump espresso and cappuccino maker. You can choose to brew ground espresso or E.S.E pods with the unique patented dual filter holder. The Sempre Crema Filter, used with two measures of ground coffee, enhances the brewing process to produce a perfect crema. The E.S.E. (Easy Serving Espresso) Filter, used with pods or one measure of ground coffee, makes espresso preparation simple and convenient. Either way the choice is yours, making your espresso truly made to order. You can enjoy espresso or cappuccino without worry with two separate thermostats that control water and steam pressure, so you can make both espresso or cappuccino at the perfect temperature. If you prefer cappuccino you'll enjoy using the easy-to-use patented cappuccino frother, which includes a special chamber that mixes steam and milk to create a rich creamy froth achieving perfect drinks every time. Other highlights include self-priming operation to eliminate pesky start-up preparation, a unique no-drip design, so you don't have to deal with messy cleanup and a durable, high-quality stainless steel boiler to ensure many years of delicious espresso.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Makes the weakest espresso shots ever, even weaker than a moka machine.\\n\\nReview: After reading the reviews, I did go for this model, since I wanted an entry level machine, mostly for espresso. I don't really care about frothing milk or any other accessory that the machine may have; I just want to put the coffee that I buy at the store in the handle, insert it in the machine and push a button to get the espresso shot.\\n\\nSadly this machine is not able to do so. I did try with different techniques, as suggested by videos on youtube and websites, but nothing seems to work...the result is weak shots, that taste like watered american coffee. It taste like coffee made by these 30 dollars brewers; and does not even get close to my old Bialetti Moka (which is what I want to replace with this machine).\\n\\n- Tried to keep the machine on for 2 days; so the whole thing was nice and hot\\n- Tried with single and double filter\\n- Tried pressing the coffee with the tamper, and without press it\\n- Tried changing for how long I let it brew; the short I did get was like 15 seconds\\n- Tried different coffee types, grinded at different size.\\n\\nNothing seems to work; I am about to give up, since it takes me more time to get 1 single shot, compared to 3 shots with my regular Bialetti Moka machine; and with the same amount of coffee. I thought this was supposed to make espresso shots, not very weak shots. Any Italian would just call DeLonghi and ask what in the heavens are they doing, since the watered infuse that this machine pull out, is not even remotely a relative of a decent espresso shot.\\n\\nAnd I am aware that this is a cheap machine, entry level; but then why so many reviews say that this is an espresso maker, while it is not? I am not expecting the same results as a professional bar machine, but if this can't even make coffee as my 10 year old Bialetti, I am not really sure what is the point in getting an electric espresso machine.\\n\\nMaybe I have a defective one that does not pressurize well? I have no idea; the coffee looks fine, with the nice blonde cream on top, but the flavor is the most bland thing you may ever taste.\\n\\nThe steamer also is almost static; can be barely moved, and I tried to just steam the milk from the fridge, and the vapor was so weak that I could actually put my hand below the steamer and feel warm condensed vapor, instead of steam hot one. Although the metal part that comes out of the machine, is quite hot, so I am not sure what is the deal here.\\n\\nOverall I am quite disappointed; I don't want any of those automatic machines that use pre-made cartridges, because they kill the environment and it is a waste; both from a monetary perspective, because the cartridges are expensive, and also because it takes so much space to keep cartridges around, compared to a bag of beans.\\n\\nIf you are a fan of coffee in general and really don't care about espresso shots, that are like 2 fingers high, and taste so rich and strong that the flavor stay in your mouth for hours, then this machine is fine; but if you want anything remotely close to a strong espresso shot or a coffee like the one made in a Moka machine, then you may want to look elsewhere.\",\n \"Product: The Sodastream Jet is perfect for the sparkling water drinker who carbonates frequently and values convenience. This is the only machine that is compatible with the 60L CO2 cylinder and the 130L CO2 cylinder, allowing the consumer to maximize their carbonation capabilities. Simply twist and lock the bottle into the machine, and carbonate by pumping the textured push button control. This kit includes everything you need to make fresh sparkling water in your own home. Contents include; (1) Jet Sparkling Water Maker, (1) Mini CO2 Carbonator (makes up to 9L of sparkling water), (1) 1L BPA-Free Reusable Carbonating Bottle, and a 60 Liter CO2 Carbonator mail-in rebate.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Buy sparkling water OR make it with this item\\n\\nReview: I was a bit skeptical about this device, and in fact, it is nothing really out of this world. It is a plastic base with a connectort in the back to plug CO2 bottles, and a simple valve that open with the button on the top; which allow you to push CO2 inside the bottle, and into the water.\\n\\nI was expecting something cheap but this is quite cheaper than my expectations; the water taste strange, compared to the one that you buy at the store; takes a bit to get used to but even after a bit, it still taste funky, I made 10 bottles by now, and still it does taste more weird than \\\"soda like\\\". Maybe you need to buy different bottles? Not sure.\\n\\nThen the other issue is the bottle of CO2; you can exchange them, but it is quite expensive; if you consider that you can only make one bottle at time (unless you buy multiple bottles), and that the small bottle did last for 5-6 cycles (6 liters?), I am not sure if this is really better than just getting a case of sparkling water for 5 dollars a case. I did get also a large bottle, and we will see how long will that one last, but at 40 dollars; I expect to make at least the equivalent of 8 case of sparkling water, otherwise it is just a nice gimmicky item and that's all.\\n\\nDoes it work? Yes; hence the 4 stars; is it convenient? Not really; is it easy? Not at all; is it tasty? Depends from your taste; It is one of these house items that you can just live withouth, but for some it may be essential so evaluate and decide by yourself, if the weird taste; the hassle to recharge the bottle (or buy more bottles), and the CO2 replacement process are acceptable for you or not.\",\n \"Product: The Bush Furniture Cabot L Shaped Computer Desk in Heather Gray offers a spacious and efficient workplace for your home or office. Enjoy a beautiful traditional look with smart features for your convenience. The L Shaped Desk design provides a large durable work surface and just the right amount of storage to keep you feeling neat and organized. Desk storage details include an enclosed cabinet with stylish fluted glass door and a box drawer for supplies. A file drawer glides on smooth full-extension ball bearing slides and accommodates letter, legal or A4 sized files. Technology features such as a built-in 4-port USB hub add convenience while a soft tray in an open cubby can store electronic devices as you stay connected on your Computer Desk. Quality construction meets ANSI/BIFMA test standards for safety and performance. A rich Heather Gray finish accented by Chrome hardware provides a simple, elegant and timeless appearance. See the full collection for coordinating items available, all backed by the Bush Furniture 1 Year Manufacturer's Warranty.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: The coating is a joke\\n\\nReview: The desk feel solid; and so far it has been solid; but the top coating is a joke. They basically do not laminate the top of the desk nor any other surface; they simply add a thin paper layer on the top, that looks like laminate.\\n\\nThis results in the desk not having any sort of protection from scratching or even humidity. Got some condensation on the top area, due to proximity to a heater; and the top just peeled off. Same for scratches from a laptop; which ended up removing the thin paper top, exposing the underlying material (does not feel like wood; although it is heavy).\\n\\nYou get what you pay for, so no surprise here. Second Bush L desk; same exact build quality; so if you have the chance, buy a real wood desk; or before using this desk, be sure to coat the top or place a glass cover on it; to avoid damage it\",\n \"Product: King win Serial ATA KF-91 Black Aluminum Mobile Rack without Back Panel\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: lots of cables if you use it externally, but totally worth the price\\n\\nReview: Works as expected.\\n\\nI did get this to use as external container for my HDD; my main case is a small cube itx form factor, so I can't put more than 2 drives in there.\\nThe only downside that I see in this product is that you need 2 power connectors and 5 SATA connectors (if you decide to use all the bays); while I would rather spend a bit more (a SATA controller for internal usage cost 20 dollars after all), but have a fully self-contained unit which require only power and one SATA cable.\\n\\nSadly my motherboard does not even have free slots to plug a SATA adapter, so I could not use any controller to drive anything that is not a NAS. I used to have a Mediasonic 4 bay box, but that was utter trash when used via USB (continually disconnecting; which means useless if you need to access its data 24/7), and did work well only when using a E-SATA connection.\\n\\nThis item did solve the problem. It is a bit of a mess with cables, since I need 7 cables coming out of my computer, and use ALL the SATA connectors on the motherboard, but now I can use 24/7 all the 5 drives, and the main computer can serve also as media center and data storage for the whole network.\",\n \"Product: Introducing picoPSU-120, world's tiniest 12V DC-DC ATX power supply unit (PSU)\\n\\nCompact design, less cables: The picoPSU-120 is the smallest snap-in 12V ATX dc-dc power supply. The picoPSU is compatible with an entire range of mini-itx motherboards as well as regular boards. The picoPSU-120 provides a cool, silent 120 Watts of power for small PC designs using a single 12V power source.\\n\\nBy using Patent Pending HyperWatt[TM] technologies , picoPSU-120 packs an impressive amount of power relative with its very small footprint. PicoPSU-120 has several key advantages over traditional power supplies:\\n\\n Small computer projects start with small power supplies.\\n PicoPSU-120 is a crucial key component that unleashes the ultimate power solution for general purpose computing platforms.\\n PicoPSU-120 is fully ATX compliant PSU, making it an excellent candidate for any silent, fanless and small 12V DC-DC ATX PC power supply project.\\n\\n\\nReduce space: Eliminate 20 unnecessary wires by plugging in directly into the motherboard ATX connector. The picoPSU-120 12V dc-dc ATX converter was designed from ground up to fit small form factor ATX boards, allowing enclosure designers to save space while not compromising power requirements.\\n\\nCool power: Operating at only 12V, the picoPSU-120 dc-dc ATX power supply delivers 120 Watts of power. picoPSU provides plenty of power (via ATX connector and HDD cable harness) for CPU and an entire range of peripherals.\\n\\n100% Silent: The picoPSU-120 mini PSU is a 100% silent fanless dc to dc solution. No fans, no noise, just power for small and silent PCs.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Got a defective one, otherwise is a great item\\n\\nReview: Sadly had to return it; the power was fluctuating quite badly, causing my computer to act strangely. I've measured with a multimeter the voltage and current, and it was not really stable. I assume that was a defective item, that came like that from the factory. I know others that purchased this item and it works just fine, so I guess once in a while you may have issues with electronics.\\n\\nThe voltage would have variation of .2 to .7 in less than few seconds; the current variation was smaller but still was way above the expected tolerance. I have a standard ATX PSU (not even a top of the line), and I would get readings that would fluctuate in the order of the 0.01-0.09....one order of magnitude smaller basically. Some main board may be more tolerant with the variation; mine didn't like it at all, especially the video out, which would loose sync with the monitor at random.\\n\\nThe size is awesome; no moving parts, super quiet. It fits basically anywhere you have few inches.the only caveat is that if you load it more than 65% of the total watt consumption, you will need a fan blowing on it, otherwise it overheat (this is what the manual says; I needed just 45W, while the PSU is rated for 120W max, so I was below 50%).\\n\\nOther than that, when they work, they are great.\",\n \"Product: Measuring less than 1mm thin, feather is ideal for the MacBook Air 11\\\" user seeking inconspicuous, first-class protection. Feather is made of an ultra light, ultra strong polymer for light as a feather, form-fitting durable protection without the added bulk. Feather features a soft touch matte finish and includes a micro suede pouch.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Great cover, with a big issue\\n\\nReview: So, after reading the other reviews I must say that the major issue is the same: the texture of the cover is a magnet for fingerprints and smudges.\\n\\nThe cover itself is great; fits with a bit of love, and I don't even want to try to take it off, since it is almost fused on the laptop :) it is sturdy and now I am confident to have the laptop sitting on tables and other surfaces, without fear to scratch it.\\n\\nThe bottom has holes, so the heat gets off easily, and all the ports are easily reachable. Keep in mind thou that when it is closed, you will see a small gap; I tried hard but I cannot get a perfect closed laptop with the cover on.\\n\\nThe big cons: if you touch it, you basically leave marks on it. I ate something; cleaned my hands with the hand sanitizer and when I touched the laptop I left a smear. Tried to clean it up but you can never get to the look that it has, when you buy it. It is like to have a velvet cover, but you can't stroke it in the opposite direction to make it uniform again; this one needs a bit of care with your hands (so if you sweat a lot on your hands, you will leave a bunch of fingerprints).\",\n \"Product: 1.100% Brand New ,High Quality and Factory Sealed. 2.Install PCI-E 16X device freely according to dimension and position of computer case. 3.Ideal for small computer & server case, like 1U & 2U. 4. Ideal for cryptocurrency mining. 5.One end is PCI-E 16X male and another end is PCI-E 16X female. 6.This riser card provides expansion for 1 slot with cable. 7.No driver necessary. 8.Cable length: 15cm.\\n\\nRating: 1.0\\n\\nSummary: AVOID!!!! Don't get this cable unless you want to burn your computer.\\n\\nReview: I would highly suggest to NOT get this cable, for whatever you hold dear.\\n\\nIt is poorly made; don't trust whoever says that it is well made...under the blue tape, you can see horrible solder points; most of them are not consistent and too close together (take apart a well made ribbon cable not crimped, and you will see the difference).\\n\\nI have installed this one today; the computer won't even boot to POST, and give me BIOS memory warnings. Removing the cable fix the issue (and my computer is running in this config, with these ram, video and everything else since 2012).\\n\\nI tried to re-position the cable, and sometimes it boot, but then in windows you get continuous crash of the video drivers, to the point where the whole OS just sit and cry, and you have to reboot.\\nWhich may or may not happen.\\n\\nOn my last attempt I just heard popping like when something is put in short circuit; video went blank and I just realized that my video card died (a 550 dollars video card). Luckily it was just a cap on the power area of the motherboard (I wish they would use fuses, but oh well); so replacing it fixed the computer; altho I am getting a new motherboard tomorrow for sure.\\n\\nSo if you care about your computer; check a better type of cable, that is correctly shielded and well made.\",\n \"Product: The newly arrived ASUS GTX770-DC2OC-2GD5 ships with 28nm GPUs and 2GB GDDR5. To fully harness the power of new GPU technology, ASUS GTX770-DC2OC-2GD5 sports ASUS exclusive DirectCU II fansink and flatten copper heat-pipes directly contacted the GPU, not only making this card 20% coolerbut also leading 3X quieter operation than reference card\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Awesome but beware of the size!!!!!\\n\\nReview: Beware, not once but twice, about the case dimension; because this card has a major flaw: the dimension indicated in the specs are NOT the ones for the card; they are off by few inches because they consider only the PCB size.\\n\\nThe card has installed a sort of strange pipe system/heat dissipator/open fan structure, that should improve the air flow. So far so good; it seems to do its job and the die stay decently under control when overloaded.\\nBut this means that when you get a case, you may not have it fit by an inch or less. In my case, the case (pun intended), was not big enough by almost an inch in height and length.\\n\\nThis result in the card hitting the area where the power supply is mounted, and also does not allow me to close the case side panel, because the card pipes for the heatsink, are exceeding the size of the case. My case is an Apevia Xmaster 500\\n\\nhttp://www.amazon.com/Apevia-X-MASTER-500W-X-MASTER-BL-500/dp/B001CCQJ5K/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1413189381&sr=8-13&keywords=apevia+case\\n\\nAvoid this card if that's the case that you have (or that case, if you are buying this card).\\n\\nBeside the logistic issue; the card is rock solid. On my system with an i5 I get 8600 in 3Dmark 11 free version; the card nor the mobo and processor are not over clocked; everything standard.\\nThe options are plenty; you can install the over clock software included in the driver disk; or just use the standard Nvidia utility. The card is heavy and nicely done, once you put it in the case, you will forget about it; altho you won't forget the awesome performances....didn't find a game that won't run nicely with this card (Including Star Citizen and Crysis, just to mention few demanding ones). Gaming wise, avoid an i7, since you won't see much difference.\\n\\nThis card support SLI, so if you get 2, be ready for a world of wonder, in 4K resolution probably.\\n\\nThe only negative that I have noticed so far is the noise: the fan are quiet, but the EM insulation is horrible...I have the card connected via HDMI, and from the monitor to an amp on my desk, and it would catch the EM interferences when the fan kicks in, with a loud and bothersome noise. The issue is mitigated if I use headphones connected directly to the audio plug on the mobo, but still you can hear a buzzing when the card start to crunch heavily. I used to have older computer that would never do such things, so beware of that.\\n\\nOverall it is a solid 9 out of 10; the price is great and you don't miss much, compared to more expensive cards. Highly recommended.\",\n \"Product: This SanDisk 8GB MicroSDHC memory card is for you to expand the memory capacity for your compatible device like cell phone, PDAs, digital camera, music players, and more cool device that is with a microSD card slot available.It is ideal for storing media-rich files such as music, videos, and photographs. FEATURES: High storage capacity for storing essential digital content such as high quality photos, videos, music.\\n\\nRating: 1.0\\n\\nSummary: Received a potential non genuine product. Beware. The card lock and loose data\\n\\nReview: Very disappointed with this item. Purchased 2 cards to use in a phone and in a tablet, and neither perform decently.\\n\\nThe reason is that the cards are not original Sandisk, but just counterfeit copies. I have verified this in various ways (the SD card reader found incorrect vendor ID; the card itself does not have the correct markings on the front of the card, the packaging is wrong).\\n\\nYou may be lucky, depends from what kind of device you use; I had no luck using both a smart phone, a tablet and a Raspberry Pi. The card works for a bit, then it just lock and become unreadable. I am not even sure that it is in fact 32 GB; it takes forever to upload files (and I have legit Sandisk cards, which are 10X faster), and just looking at the card itself you can tell the difference between a real Sandisk and this one.\\n\\nIt is cheap, true, but if you use it in a camera or worst, as main disk for your embedded device or as storage for your phone or tablet, you don't want to risk to loose your precious data.\\n\\nBuy from a different vendor, mine were sent from \\\"Skysun\\\"; not sure if it is a case just of this vendor, or if they are all the same.\\n\\nI am in contact with Sandisk USA to get a final word if they are really made by Sandisk, or not.\",\n \"Product: Capacity:16 GB SanDisk Extreme CZ80 16GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive - SDCZ80-016G- GAM46 [Newest Version]\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Very good item; this is quite fast and the capacity ...\\n\\nReview: Very good item; this is quite fast and the capacity is plenty, to\\ntransport files.\\n\\nThe included software is encrypting the files that you put on the device; but keep in mind that the files will be visible (not accessible) from anyone that plug in the stick; which means that they can potentially delete them. I prefer the approach of encrypt the whole flash drive via windows. This will guarantee that the drive cannot be even open, until unlocked.\\n\\nOverall it is a good item, just keep in mind that if you use Windows\\nencryption, the performances will be lower. you can see attached to my\\nreview the speed results, after encrypting the whole key trough\\nwindows encryption. If you do not need encryption, you will get much\\nfaster performances.\",\n \"Product: Microsoft Surface Pro 4 is the tablet that can replace your laptop. Featuring a 6th Gen Intel Core i5 processor with 4GB memory and a 128GB solid state drive, it is more powerful than its predecessor yet lighter than ever before at 1.73 pounds. The amazing 12.3\\\" touchscreen PixelSense display with 2736 x 1824 resolution has extremely high contrast and low glare. Use the included Surface Pen to mark-up presentations, sign documents, take notes and much more. Performance and versatility for professionals, creatives, and more.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Almost perfect for most of the cases. Flexibility is the key here\\n\\nReview: This is my first Surface device; and so far I am loving it.\\n\\nWhat does it offer? A sort of hybrid between a small laptop and a heavier tablet, which make both your work and leisure more flexible.\\n\\nIt make no sense to compare it to an iPad, simply because this is a computer; so the comparison goes on with a Macbook. I do have a air 12 inch, and they are good for their own purpose; I don't see how could I choose one or the other.\\nThis device is great for portability, exactly like the Air, but with removable keyboard and the pen technology, it gives you much more flexibilty, compared to a standard ultra portable laptop. The Air loose on flexibilty, but has similar performances to the Surface (Air use i7, this Surface has an i5), so it is really a matter of the right device for the right job.\\n\\nSize wise, it is small enough to not be a burden, but much heavier than a regular tablet, so probably won't replace your device if the main usage is what an iPad does, since they are lighter and friendlier, due to the iOS software.\\nBut if you need a computer with a real desktop OS, which run your software from your desktop computer, then the Surface is the weapon of choice. You can basically do almost anything you do with the regular desktop computer (even playing games; if you compromise of course). It would be a waste to just do internet, email and office work; because the Surface 4 does much more.\\n\\nPerformances are pretty good; this machine with just 4 Gb of ram and an i5 is able to do 80% of what I do with my desktop computer; like 3d modeling, development with Visual Studio and Python; 3d engines like Unreal engine and also some photo and video editing.\\nOf course the speed is slower than a dedicated desktop, but it is probably 40-50% slower, which means that while I sacrifice some speed, I can still get stuff done, and have a super portable device.\\n\\nBattery life is generous but not as a tablet... you may reach 8 hours if you pray, but otherwise, far from a plug, you can get 4-5 hours of moderate usage (development, 3d and so on), before hitting the 20% warning on the battery. The charger is fast, and has a nice feature that allow you to plug a usb device to charge it.\\nThis is useful especially because the Surface has 1 USB 3.0 plug. A bit limiting, but you can always use an external powered hub, to use peripherals. The other ports on the device are a SD card, to expand the internal memory, a mini display port for external monitor, a headphone jack connector and the connector for the charger. It is very limited, but to make the device smaller, you have to remove ports.\\n\\nYou can get a very expensive docking station, which add a ton of peripherals, if you plan to connect plenty of devices, ethernet cable and such. I don't believe it is worth the 100 dollars that you have to pay for; but it is up to you.\\n\\nThe device does not include the keyboard; so keep in mind that you can either buy the great MS keyboard for 120+ or get a compatible keyboard. I did choose the Moko BT keyboard for Surface 4, and so far it does its job for half the MS keyboard, although you will compromise since it does not have backlight keys and you need to recharge it via USB cable, since it does not use the pogo connector on the bottom of the Surface.\\n\\nThe pen is included (good move), and it works awesomely well. Much better than any other pen you may have tried. Including the Apple pen. It has palm rejection so you can rest your hand on the screen when using it; good amount of pressure levels and it is comfy, so you can keep drawing or writing without problems for long time. I find it useful especially for 3D and 2D work; but it is nice to use also when doing normal work, when you do not need to type a lot and can easily replace the mouse with the pen. Just unplug the keyboard and have fun.\\n\\nThe screen is nice and bright; resolution is good and overall it is a very nice display. Can't say if it is on par with a retina display; they all look the same to me; and variations in pixed density that I can't appreciate by looking at it, make little to no sense to me, so I guess you have to look at the screen and see for yourself. I type a lot of code; and I wear glasses and I get no extra strain, compared to my regular 24 inch desktop monitor.\\n\\nTo summarize; this is a computer replacement, not a tablet replacement. It is heavier and bulkier than a tablet, but it is in fact a real computer; and not a device running Android or iOS. This means that it MAY work as tablet, but it is not meant to be just a tablet. It is a flexible and powerful device, that can cover a lots of usage and scenarios, thanks to the detachable keyboard and pen; so if flexibility is what you look for, this is the device for you. If you want a tablet, for tablet and internet/office usage; you can do that with a regular ultra notebook or a iOS device.\",\n \"Product: The next generation of Type Cover, made for Surface Pro, offers the most advanced Surface typing experience yet. Surface Pro Type Cover feels and performs like a traditional laptop with a redesigned mechanical keyboard with optimal key spacing for fast and fluid typing, and an enlarged glass trackpad for precision control and navigation. Adding Surface Pro Type Cover to Surface Pro instantly puts a highly versatile laptop in your hands.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Much better than Moko equivalent.\\n\\nReview: I did buy a Moko keyboard before this, and it has been a pain.\\n\\nI was hoping that the Moko keyboard would be a good replacement, but of course, it was half the price of this one, and ended up proving that \\\"saving is never gaining\\\".\\n\\nThe keyboard is nice to the touch; lights up, does not need to be paired nor recharged, and it just works. The touchpad is wonderful, and you don't get the horrible double touch of the Moko keyboard; where when you tap on a location, the mouse would follow the tap instead than record the click.\\n\\nGlad that I did spend 100 for this item, better typing, better trackpad, lights up and no requirement for charging and pairing. A win.\",\n \"Product: NuVision 8-inch Full HD (1920 x 1200) IPS Touchscreen Tablet PC, Intel Atom Z3735F Quad-Core Processor, 2GB RAM, 32GB SSD eMMC,\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: and so far I feel happy about it\\n\\nReview: I did get this to replace an older windows tablet, and so far I feel happy about it.\\n\\nThe overall feel of the device is great; very thin and ipad-like; although it run the full version of Windows 10; which is the main reason why I wanted this device.\\nI use it mostly for office work, and to watch videos and read books. It is not really that powerful to do anything else; so beside internet, light office work and some occasional retrogaming, the device is fundamentally used as portable video player and ebook reader.\\n\\nI wish there was a way to get more memory, but 2 GB seems OK for basic usage. You have a HQ monitor that is easy to read and do not use much energy, so the battery life is pretty good. Just remember to turn off the functionality that keep the device active on wifi to check for mail and other things, because that will suck away the battery pretty fast. As now, using it few hours a day, can go on for about 4 days before recharge it.\\n\\nSound is ok too, but I use headphones most of the time. Just keep in mind that the unit is very thin; and easy to scratch in the back, so you may want to take care of it.\\n\\nIn the end, if you need something with full windows capabilities and portable; but that can be hooked up to a HDMI tv or monitor, and function as cheap windows machine with a standard keyboard and mouse, this is the perfect choice. You can even play games and HD video content, so can't see much of negatives in this device,beside the ridiculously low amount of RAM, which is stuck at 2 GB\",\n \"Product: Sound Isolating and Durable - Despite its compact size this headphone is truly specked. The 9mm drivers deliver an explosive sound performance whilst the three interchangeable & differently sized ear sleeves deliver a secure fit with enhanced sound isolation.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Not super but will do it\\n\\nReview: Good pair of headphones, and finally, something that actually works with my Moto X first gen.\\n\\nVolume is analog via slider, but I prefer it in this way, since it gives you better control for low volume. The button works fine, double press to skip the song, one press to start or stop a song. Didn't try with a call, but I am sure it will work.\\n\\nThe downside is that the volume is really low; for comparison with a pair of sennheiser, the volume at the first segment of the phone audio setting, after vibration, was loud and clear (too loud maybe); while here with the slider all the way to max, you can barely hear anything. I had to crank the volume on the device to half, to be able to hear music at good volume in a moderately noisy environment.\\n\\nAudio quality is not excellent, but it will suffice for the occasional use. If you are looking for something better, sadly there is not much choice for the 50-90 price range, that has controls that works on Android/Motorola devices. I have a pair of Sennheiser since 2 years ago, they rock and were priced at 59 at the local Apple store (they work on iPhone); sadly the controls does not work on the Moto X, so I was forced to buy this.\\n\\nDecent purchase, but if you get the chance to find better, just move on.\",\n \"Product: Includes: Wig. Not included: Moustache, robe, medallion.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: decent wig for the price\\n\\nReview: So far can't say that is a bad purchase, but could be better.\\n\\nIt came quick, and that's a plus; sealed and new as expected.\\n\\nThe wig itself is OK, the color is pretty much as the photo, on the silver/dark grey but it is not too shiny, so it may be used for an old man without feeling like he is coming out of a B movies from the 80's\\n\\nThe style is nothing like the one in the photo; it is more like a bunch of curly hair (the picture shows straight hair, then curly...nope, not even close); the quality is pretty low, with hair falling off pretty easily (you may want to brush it first to remove the loose hair, you will get a lot but it will save you the hassle to feel like a cat loosing hair everywhere).\\n\\nThe material is cheap but OK for the price; what is not that nice is the overall design, which is really sloppy and also the way that the hair attach, especially in the front, is not that great, so be prepared to do a lot of work to try to get the hair in a way that covers the wig cap.\\n\\nIt is not that big; I had problems to keep it on even with a wig cap and pins, since the back would slide easily. I have a normal head for a person that is 6 feet tall, so most likely people with smaller heads will fit this better.\\n\\nOf course the ridiculous mustache are not included...glad about that.\\n\\nOverall is a 3/5; fir the price you may find something better, but the style is pretty good if you plan to do a Gandalf or similar wizard hairstyle.\",\n \"Product: Crafted in sterling silver and plated in 24K gold. One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all, And in the darkness bind them. The One Ring is cast in sterling silver and richly plated in pure gold, featuring the inscription above in Elvish, an ancient language of Middle-Earth. This inscription is amazingly etched in full circle onto the inside and outside of the ring. Each ring is individually engraved with a laser process to capture the intricate details of the elvish writing and comes complete with a rich wooden collector's box and 24 inch chain. A certificate of authenticity accompanies this recreation of The One Ring. Available in standard size ten only.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Great ring, but the box and chain are quite disappointing\\n\\nReview: Amazing repluca; the only thing that I may not be a fan of, are the size that is too small to fit a male grown up hand, and the engraving that is white; while I was hoping for a more silver/red tone, to give the impression that the ring was just picked from the firepit :)\\n\\nOther than that; it is a great piece of jewelry; although to be honest; the design is mostly simplistic to start with; the one ring was designed after a wedding band, so it is as plain as it could be, but still it is a beauty.\\n\\nThe chain is mostly for show; it is very flimsy and light but I didn't buy the item for the chain. The box is a disappointment though... beautifully crafted but the poem is written in portrait mode instead of landscape, so you can't display the box open with the ring in it, in the \\\"classic\\\" position, but need to turn it in \\\"poprtrait mode\\\", which is not as good looking as in the normal flat position. Also the retainer for the ring, is loose, so if you display it in portrait mode and have the chain in the grooves, the weight of the ring itself and the chain thikness in the back will result in the ring falling flat on its face most of the time.\\n\\nGreat prop, but the \\\"accessories\\\" are disappointing at best; I know that the ring is the main star, but you can't cheap out on the side items either, especially when asking 40% more than similar products.\",\n \"Product: THORIN OAKENSHIELD AND THE DWARVES OF EREBOR have reclaimed the vast wealth of their homeland, but now face the consequences of having unleashed the terrifying Dragon Smaug upon Lake-town. Meanwhile, Sauron, the Dark Lord, has sent forth legions of Orcs to attack the Lonely Mountain, and Bilbo Baggins finds himself fighting for his life as five great armies go to war. As darkness converges, the races of Dwarves, Elves and Men must decide unite or be destroyed.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great ending for the trilogy\\n\\nReview: The movie that close the curtain on the second trilogy inspired by Tolkien works.\\n\\nAmong the 3, is probably the best one; the most emotional too.\\nAfter watching the LOTR trilogy, this movie offer very little surprises; mostly it is like watching any movie from Michael Bay...you know what you will find, you know the kind of shots that you will see, and you know that there will be explosion, plenty of them.\\n\\nWith Jackson,you know that there will be gore, there will be Legolas doing stunts (even if he was not even supposed to be here), there will be a strong female character (in this case 2 of them, one of the 2 did not even exist in the lore), and of course, you will have plenty of battles among a ton of people.\\n\\nBut this does not mean that is necessarily a bad thing after all. The movie is paced very well; it does not take you to the tedious of the first, nor to the extreme action of the second, where things never slow down. Here you get a good mix between action, slow moments and most of all, you get good development of the characters, which is another trademark of the works of PJ based on Tolkien.\\n\\nThe action sequences are marvelous; you can get lost on the big screen, at the orgy of gorgeous visuals; but watch it in SD, and the movie show all its limits and CG mashup. In some cases the difference is pretty pronounced, but considering the amount of work done, it can be forgiven. The novelty of the first trilogy just went away, so now the viewer look at things and is able to see the difference. Can't compare it with one single movie, since the work needed to make 3 is much more, but that goes to the nitpick.\\n\\nThe emotional parts are in between and very touching; I was not the only one to shed tears when it came out, and watching it again moves me in the same way. There is friendship and other feelings that we often forget about, there is loyalty and respect; and the movies build up the friendship between Bilbo and the rest of the company, to the point where he is respected and treated as equal, in comparison to the first movie, where he was basically a liability. The ending is touching, and is different from the movie, but I really enjoyed it, because it add something to the story that we all know. The romantic story, didn't have the same impact; was mostly put there because FW need to have this stuff in the movie; she need to put the pink ribbon in a product that otherwise is 99% dominated by male, violence and such. I was OK even without the romance, although it saved itself in the end, when we see how Thranduil in fact, show how he really is, while talking with Tauriel. Love cause suffering at times, and people try to fix it, forgetting how to love, to not suffer again.\\n\\nOne thing that was not in the book, but that I enjoyed, was the battle between the white council and the nine at the fortress; pure fiction galore there; but it was done with such taste that it fits perfectly; and it is a pleasure to see how Galadriel help Gandalf (revealing also their mutual feelings for each other), and how Saruman and Elrond put a fight against the ring wraits (obviously it was not CL that dd the fight scene, but it was a great way to show how powerful the white Maiar was, before getting corrupted). This is the only time that something was made out of the blue, and I really enjoyed it.\\n\\nThe Smaug fight was disappointing, but considering that Smaug had most of his time in the second movie, it is understandable.\\n\\nIn the end, the movie is a great piece of work; it put a sad end on the trilogy, but it is most likely the best of the 3.\\nI suggest it if you like PJ works; I may not suggest it if you are a purist of Tolkien, since this is loosely based on the original story; I heard people bashed it badly for all the changes made, but you must look at it for what it is, not for what you were hoping that it would be.\\n\\n5 stars more than deserved; now I wait patiently for the release of the extended edition trilogy, so it can take place beside the first extended edition trilogy, and be passed on to future generations.\",\n \"Product: Dvd movie. 3rd in the trilogy\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great ending for the trilogy\\n\\nReview: The movie that close the curtain on the second trilogy inspired by Tolkien works.\\n\\nAmong the 3, is probably the best one; the most emotional too.\\nAfter watching the LOTR trilogy, this movie offer very little surprises; mostly it is like watching any movie from Michael Bay...you know what you will find, you know the kind of shots that you will see, and you know that there will be explosion, plenty of them.\\n\\nWith Jackson,you know that there will be gore, there will be Legolas doing stunts (even if he was not even supposed to be here), there will be a strong female character (in this case 2 of them, one of the 2 did not even exist in the lore), and of course, you will have plenty of battles among a ton of people.\\n\\nBut this does not mean that is necessarily a bad thing after all. The movie is paced very well; it does not take you to the tedious of the first, nor to the extreme action of the second, where things never slow down. Here you get a good mix between action, slow moments and most of all, you get good development of the characters, which is another trademark of the works of PJ based on Tolkien.\\n\\nThe action sequences are marvelous; you can get lost on the big screen, at the orgy of gorgeous visuals; but watch it in SD, and the movie show all its limits and CG mashup. In some cases the difference is pretty pronounced, but considering the amount of work done, it can be forgiven. The novelty of the first trilogy just went away, so now the viewer look at things and is able to see the difference. Can't compare it with one single movie, since the work needed to make 3 is much more, but that goes to the nitpick.\\n\\nThe emotional parts are in between and very touching; I was not the only one to shed tears when it came out, and watching it again moves me in the same way. There is friendship and other feelings that we often forget about, there is loyalty and respect; and the movies build up the friendship between Bilbo and the rest of the company, to the point where he is respected and treated as equal, in comparison to the first movie, where he was basically a liability. The ending is touching, and is different from the movie, but I really enjoyed it, because it add something to the story that we all know. The romantic story, didn't have the same impact; was mostly put there because FW need to have this stuff in the movie; she need to put the pink ribbon in a product that otherwise is 99% dominated by male, violence and such. I was OK even without the romance, although it saved itself in the end, when we see how Thranduil in fact, show how he really is, while talking with Tauriel. Love cause suffering at times, and people try to fix it, forgetting how to love, to not suffer again.\\n\\nOne thing that was not in the book, but that I enjoyed, was the battle between the white council and the nine at the fortress; pure fiction galore there; but it was done with such taste that it fits perfectly; and it is a pleasure to see how Galadriel help Gandalf (revealing also their mutual feelings for each other), and how Saruman and Elrond put a fight against the ring wraits (obviously it was not CL that dd the fight scene, but it was a great way to show how powerful the white Maiar was, before getting corrupted). This is the only time that something was made out of the blue, and I really enjoyed it.\\n\\nThe Smaug fight was disappointing, but considering that Smaug had most of his time in the second movie, it is understandable.\\n\\nIn the end, the movie is a great piece of work; it put a sad end on the trilogy, but it is most likely the best of the 3.\\nI suggest it if you like PJ works; I may not suggest it if you are a purist of Tolkien, since this is loosely based on the original story; I heard people bashed it badly for all the changes made, but you must look at it for what it is, not for what you were hoping that it would be.\\n\\n5 stars more than deserved; now I wait patiently for the release of the extended edition trilogy, so it can take place beside the first extended edition trilogy, and be passed on to future generations.\",\n \"Product: The MOTO X meets your desire for responsiveness with the best delivery of Google services. It hears you and responds with Google Now.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Excellent device for the price paid; at iPhone level\\n\\nReview: Where to start; the device is exceeding the whole list of requirements, and is good for other aspects; great value for 290 dollars (absolutely not a good value for 799); these are my considerations.\\n\\nTo begin with; I have been using an iPhone 5S for a while, and I've always purchased iPhone, but lately I felt like I don't really want to be tied to a carrier, and have a 2 year agreement to have the iPhone, so I decided to go for an unlocked device that is a good value for what it offers. The Samsung and the iPhone are great devices but the 800 dollars pricetag is out of this world in my opinion...I don't buy a device that cost more than 300 dollars, because it is a moral obligation to not pay such prices for a phone; because in the end that's what they are (personal opinion, moving on).\\n\\nThis device is fast, the generous amount of memory make it responsive to app swapping and scrolling. The main processor is not that strong, but the X uses a combination of chipset, which include a dedicated 3d chip and another couple that take care of notifications and backend services. This result in blazing fast performances, even if technically the phone is inferior on the paper to many other devices.\\n\\nThe memory is not upgradeable, but 32 gb are plenty; especially if you don't put hundreds of apps that you never use, or movies and videos that you rarely watch. Speed is good enough nowadays to use streaming, so you can use cloud services and save space on your device, for the data that you really need (depends if you have it as toy or as phone/work item; that would dictate how you use it I believe).\\n\\nThe look is gorgeous, slightly curved and fit perfectly in my hands (I have average hands for a 6 feet man); the screen is OLED, so the same as you can see on a PS Vita and other modern devices. It is nice and bright; incredibly crisp, even if the pixel distribution and the resolution are not the same as a retina. I've been using Retina display and iPhones for years, and I can't really see the difference on the Moto X, even when reading documents or internet pages. I wear glasses, so to me the screen quality is essential, and this device fits me perfectly.\\nThe button location is a bit strange, since the power is on the right, above the volume rocker, but it is not a big deal Then you will find the micro usb connector on the bottom and the headphone jack on the top (talking about top and bottom, when you have a rotating screen, has little meaning IMO).\\n\\nThe speakers are good (one single speaker in the back of the device); music and movie play well on it, but you may want to use headphones. The camera is really good quality; altho the software is not allowing you to control easily the focus point, and in low light conditions is easy to loose track of the focus, so you end up aiming at something and having on focus something that is much closer, because the camera software change at the last moment.\\nTo take pictures you tap on the screen; this is counter intuitive if you are used to an iPhone, where you tap to set focus and \\\"aperture\\\" (there is no such thing, but I can't find a better analogy); I can't understand yet how do you decide what has to be locked in focus with the camera software, but I believe it is a matter of practice. The results are great outdoor, in good light condition and with static subjects; I tried to take photos of moving subjects like people, and the results are good, if you do not have too many objects on different planes, so the sensor does not get confused.\\nThe camera has the flash led, not necessary but super necessary in most cases (included when you need a flashlight :) ), it shine brightly but the range seems inferior to the one on the iPhone 5S.\\nYou can launch the camera when the phone is locked, jsut doing a quick double wrist rotation. Gimmicky but works fine when you don't want to unlock the phone.\\n\\n2 nice features added to this device are the interactive notification system, and the vocal commands.\\nThe notfication system is less intrusive, and since the OLED display uses only the pixels that it turns on, you don't waste battery life.\\nBasically the screen will show you an icon when you get a notification, and you may decide to slide up and go to the app that notified you, or slide down to just unlock. The notification will continue to appear at intervals (not flashing, the notification fade in and out very discreetly), unless you slide the cursor tapping on the screen and dragging the finger on the side of the device. You can still have regular notifications with audio and vibration, it is up to you. I like this because it is discreet and elegant.\\n\\nThe second is the voice recognition; where you just say \\\"hey google now\\\", and the device listen to your commands. So far it gets all that I say, and English is not my first language. Siri user will not notice much of a difference; the service seems to use the same procedure, where it will go online and elaborate your request, then return the results on your phone. It won't accept complex command in sequence, like if you need to find a store and find if the store is open; because the previous command results is not concatenated to the next one. This means that you need to ask for a store near you, and then ask if that store near you is open. Not a deal breaker, since Siri does not do that either, but would be nice to have a system that you can actually talk to, freely, without use your hands (super useful if you have your hands dirty or working; vocal commands are a great alternative).\\n\\nSome people love games: this one run games. I am a benchmark fan, so I downloaded 3dmark and few others; and beside the galaxy note 4 and few others, the performances were above all the other devices that has a higher price tag. I play some games and the graphic is smooth and crisp; keep in mind thou that the battery life will go down drastically. The back of the unit seems to heat up more when you do processing work, with games it stay moderately cool.\\n\\nThe battery is the main problem for me so far: it won't last the same as my iPhone 5S. I keep it mainly in my pocket or on my desk; I receive and make phone calls (probably few calls, 10-20 minutes in total per day), play occasionally a game while waiting in line and mostly I check email and use the web. I can go on for a day, but then the phone just can't go on anymore. The iPhone would be charged every 2-3 days, so to me this is a big drop in battery life. I am not sure if I have problems because of the battery, because I do not know Android very well, or I am setting something incorrectly. Just a heads up to give you an idea.\\n\\nThe unit is unlocked; uses a micro sim card and the only issue is the trapdoor used to insert the sim: it has a very flimsy lock, and feels like the card may escape at any time. Takes no effort to open it with the included tool; probably this is due the fact that the tray is made of plastic, while on the iPhone, it is in metal, so it gives more resistance and overall it is more solid. I do not feel totally comfortable moving the phone around, but it may be just my feeling (hope that nobody lost their sim card with this phone).\\nYou can use any network supported (I believe anything but CDMA, works in EU for sure, with GSM 900/1800; I did not try data traffic outside USA yet, but it should be of use to you anywhere you go (double check the network available when you travel).\\n\\nThe developer edition is also different, since you are not forced to use the Motorola build of Android (which is excellent; not much has been added, is very vanilla); if you want, you may request an unlock code for the bootloader, and you will be able to write new OS images on the device (Android is supported, not sure if it may run anything else). This is not for the average user; if you are interested in developing on Android OS, then this device is perfect for you, but if you just want to use the device, you can leave it as is, not unlock the bootloader and you won't loose anything.\\nI did not shop around to see if there is a non developer edition, since this is what I was looking for; if there is a model that cost less, because is not the developer edition, and you are not interested in developing, you may want to look for that.\\n\\nAccessories included are a charger, a micro usb cable and a useful sim tray tool, so you avoid to use a paperclip. This device is not coming with headphones, which is OK. You can use any device that support Android via bluetooth (headphones or earbud, with or without microphone), or regular headsets with the standard 3.5 inch jack (I have a pair of universal Bose with mic, they work fine).\\n\\nOverall is a 5 star, for the price of 300 dollars (you may find it for less; this is the 32 Gb version, the biggest that they make, I believe), great for people that work with the phone, great for the average user, great for gamers (I won't give this to under 18; check the Moto G for kids friendly devices), but absolutely awesome for developers.\\n\\nDitch the next iPhone, and save yourself 600 dollars; unless you are forced with iOS (which is superior to Android, IMO), otherwise this phone does everything in the same way, and you are also able to develop on it and learn something that can be sold.\",\n \"Product: Samsung S6 unlocked S&D\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Good unit, refurb but in good shape\\n\\nReview: I really like this phone. Got it from a refurbished vendor, and it arrived in good shape.\\n\\nIt is not new; has wear and tear but the screen is clean, buttons seems fine and responsive; and the case does not have any major blemishes.\\nKeep in mind that you get just the phone and the generic charger; no original box, no earphones nor any other accessory.\\n\\nThe phone has no removable battery, so it is \\\"as is\\\"; your luck may vary with the battery, depending how much was it used before. Mine seems to have a decent battery life. Does last as much as my previous S5; but there is a trick: if you have location service and WIFI on; the battery drain in less than 4-5 hours. And I am talking of the phone in sleep mode, sitting on your desk.\\n\\nNot sure if there is a problem in the software (it has the latest updates,no other available); which BTW is from ATT (does not matter in the end, I have a T-Mobile sim card and it works fine) and it is full of bloatware from ATT; but you can't get it to last even half a day, if you check email or have few conversations.\\n\\nSo what to do? Either you re-flash the phone with a different ROM, which will remove all the rubbish that ATT put on; or you keep it as is, and turn off location service and WiFi from your drop down menu; and turn these on only when needed. This will boost the battery life by 300%, and if you use the phone like I do (Check email, quick browse on facebook at lunch, instagram and few phone calls), you go from morning to evening with a single charge.\\n\\nMemory is fixed, so pick the size you may need. I got the 32 GB since I don't save much stuff on the device; occasional photos or videos; my music and that's all. There is no SD card slot, so beware.\\n\\nThe phone is overall pretty solid and fast; it is leaps and bounds faster than the S5; and it is a bit thinner. Does not have the sensor for heartbeat, but who need that ? It is a phone, not your physio :) The camera is awesome, even for today's standards, and for a bit more than 200 dollars, you really can't get a better smartphone.\",\n \"Product: The Boss Drafting Stool (B315-BY) with footring and loop arms is an ergonomic office chair with a seat size of 17.5 W by 16.5 D and 26.5 to 31.5 H. Features of the chair include a weight capacity of 250 pounds and easy and smooth height adjustment with its pneumatic gas lift handle. The large 27 nylon base offers increased stability and the hooded double wheel casters makes moving from one part of your office to another easy. The seat is upholstered burgundy tweed, making the chair both functional and aesthetically appealing. Adjustable arms and a removable footrest make this chair comfortable for long periods of work.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: OK for your workshop\\n\\nReview: I was not expecting much from this chair, and in fact it is an average product.\\n\\nI did purchase this for my workshop; instead of being standing up all the time, I liked the idea to have something to sit on, and this fits the bill.\\nThe quality is OK; when you sit on it is a bit flimsy (I am a big guy), it feels not so safe but so far it is holding fine. I would like the option to not have the wheels, since on my workshop I have vynil floor, and the chair just roll too easily; they should include replacements for the wheels, as rubber stand.\\n\\nThe top part hold together with 4 screws; seems solid but you don't want to sit on it the whole day for sure. the bottom ring to rest your feet, just slide between the 2 metal rods; be careful when lifting the chair, because the bottom part with the wheels and the ring can detach and you may end up hitting your foot accidentally.\\n\\nOverall a decent item for the price paid; look solid and it is easy to assemble\",\n \"Product: The Samsung Xpress M2070FW All-in-One Laser printer is perfect for your home office and combines ease of operation with high performance at an affordable price. Samsung Xpress M2070FW Laser Printer delivers hassle-free mobile printing and all-around multifunction efficiency that are perfect for your cost-conscious SOHO work environment or home office. Print from a USB drive or a range of mobile devices with quick and easy wireless printer installation. Always get reliable quality for crisp black text with Samsungs innovative imaging technology while saving up to 20% on toner with Samsungs Easy Eco Driver. Professional Image Quality: Samsungs ReCP technology improves readability of printed and scanned documents by enhancing thin lines and sharpening edges. You get sharp, solid prints with an effective resolution of up to 1200 x 1200 dpi. Fast Print Speeds: Streamline your workflow and print up to 21 pages per minute, so you can spend more time producing and less time waiting. Compact, Ergonomic Design: The printers small footprint saves space for your home office. And the two-tone design is well suited for todays modern office settings.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Overall, a great item\\n\\nReview: I did receive this few weeks ago, and so far I am happy with it.\\n\\nThe printer is big but it is not that bigger than a regular samsung laser; the fax/copier contraption is right on top of the standard printer, so it doesn't look that bad. Fits nicely on a regular printer stand.\\n\\nPaper runs clean inside the printer, although I would prefer the approach of previous Samsung printers, where the paper goes in a drawer under the printer, instead than dangling from the open door in the front. It also look cleaner with the paper in a drawer and the trap door closed.\\n\\nDue to the scan/fax contraption on the top, the paper won't rest neatly in the body of the printer, but slide out from the front; forcing you to keep not only the bottom door open, to feed the printer, but also the top drawer, so the paper won't fall on the ground. It is a style issue; not functional, so if you don't care about how an item look, then you are good to go.\\n\\nScanning works great; I didn't try the fax (and probably never will; we don't have home phone since a decade probably); drivers were easy to install on both OSX and Windows 10.\\n\\nThe printer output is B/W but clear and very nice for text. Graphc wise forget about it; the black is not super black; the paper warp due to the heat and ink; and you can see stripes when the shade of grey is in a large area. Great for schematics and text, but if you need a graphic printer, forget about it.\\n\\nThe toner is pretty big and is in the 10K pages range; so plenty to print, before the need for a new one. I did choose a laser B/W because I was tired of waste money for color cartridges; while I mostly print in B/W anyway. Here you won't need to spend 80 dollars every 400-600 pages, to replace your single color cartridges, and if you want just B/W, nobody will force you to buy also the color cartridge (or the printer won't work at all).\\n\\nAs copier it is good too; I did use both the flatbed area and the top feeder and they both do their job. Scanning is pretty good and quick.\\n\\nThe printer is wireless, so you can place it wherever you want. The configuration is painless, just remember that the keyboard of the printer is totally messed up, since when it ask you to input the wifi password for your network, it won't default to numbers but stay in \\\"ABC1!\\\" mode; so each pressure on the button will cycle through the 3 letters, 1 number and 1 special character that are set for each key (if you are over 30, you may remember that this is how people used to write SMS in the 80s and 90s).\\n\\nThe printer goes automatically in standby, after few minutes; this is great since it will use virtaully no power; once awake, it takes 10 seconds to heat up and print; very efficient.\\n\\nOverall, a great item; I wish the quality was better for graphics, but can't complain due to the great price.\",\n \"Product: Fire up the oven or grill and start baking artisan-style pizzas in the comfort of your own home! Crafting homemade pizzas takes only a good baking stone, a great pizza dough recipe and a few handfuls of your favorite toppings, and in no time youve got a delicious, piping hot, crispy crust pizza of your own making. Enjoy the same quality of food baked in a professional brick lined oven in your home kitchen or grill. Baking stones are perfect for pizza, bread, pastries or any other baked goods, eliminating hot spots while cooking, and produce uniformly browned crust. Baking stones are also convenient for heating and re-heating ready-made frozen pizza and baked goods. Stones require no seasoning or conditioning. Product Care: Stones arrive ready for immediate use there is no need to \\\"season\\\" a new stone with oil or soak the stone in water before each use. The natural properties of a stones will cause it to darken and spot with age; do not attempt to remove this discoloration. Do not ever use soap when cleaning the stone, just hot water and a non-abrasive scrubber. For best results, pre-heat oven or grill to 500F (260C) and place stone in middle of oven on lowest rack or middle of grill for 30 minutes. If baking a prepared food item, bake as directed by manufacturer on packaging. For fresh pizza, a flat metal spatula or a pizza peel dusted with cornmeal or flour works well for transferring food to the baking stone. Alternatively, using an oven mitt or glove, remove the hot stone from the oven, place on heat-safe surface, place food to be baked onto the stone, and return both to the oven or grill. STONE WILL GET HOT! USE OVEN MITT OR GLOVE WHEN HANDLING.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: hard to clean, does not really make much of a difference\\n\\nReview: So far I did use it 4 times, to cook 2 pre-baked pizzas and 2 of my pizza from scratch.\\n\\nThe quality seems good; but first of all, it takes forever to heat up...40 minutes or so; and this means that unless you are feeding an army, it is not worth to have it for one or 2 pizza, once every week or 2.\\n\\nAlso it stain very easily, and since you can't use soap to remove the dirt, it just became like a permanent stain on it; I did remove the burned flour and pizza sauce that eventually fall on it gently, but the stain remain, and since it is in a oven for long time before cleaning, the food burn and become hard on it, making the whole activity of cleaning the stone, a labour of love (can't scrape or you scratch it, can't use soap, can't soak it).\\n\\nDo yourself a favor and just get a dedicated brick oven; which you won't mind having stained or scratch it, since it will be outside all the time.\",\n \"Product: For over forty years, Renaissance wax has been the no. 1 choice of museums for the preservation of precious items including swords and other edged weapons. Professional conservators throughout the world depend on Renaissance wax to protect their collections. Properly applied, a little goes a long way. 7 oz. Information pamphlet included.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great product for swords!\\n\\nReview: So I have ordered this after reading a big deal on sword collector sites.\\n\\nIt is the panacea for all the needs of collectors, and so far the fame seems to be deserved. I have 2 occidental swords, limited edition from Lord of the Rings movies (Museum edition series); and I was concerned about how to keep these beauties in a clean and nice way.\\n\\nTried with silicone oil, mineral oil and while they solve the purpose, leave the blade and hilt greasy and attract a lot of particles, making them quite bad to look at, and in continuous need to be cleaned (get a spoon, put it in honey, lick all honey off and then roll the spoon on the carpet...this is how the swords would look like...I don't have a museum with weatherproof sealed boxes, so dust get on them no matter what :D )\\n\\nUsed this once, and so far great results! It cleaned the old stain on the metal, and the dried residual of oil; and made the metal a bit more shiny (not sure if it removed the aging coat that the sword maker put on the sword; or if it just cleaned it); but it won't look like chrome, so be assured that the sword will stay nice and clean but not shiny and \\\"bling\\\". It works great on the blade, hilt and grip (which is made of leather); I've coated the scabbard too (made of wood, metal and leather), and it looks awesomely clean.\\n\\nThe big advantages are that you don't need to coat every few months the blade, since this wax stays on for quite a long time (heard that you need to give another coat once every 6-8 months, based on how much you handle the sword), it doesn't leave grease all over and if you touch the blade with your fingers (don't do it), you can easily wipe away the blade and you are fine; while with the oil you would have to give a new coat (if the grease on the hands goes under the oil coat, with air, it will cause rust to appear on the carbon blade, that's why you never touch with your bare hands a carbon steel blade, unless you clean it thoroughly after).\\n\\nI am happy with it; there is plenty for 10 years of coating :) Tried it on other old items, like silver items which had a dark coat on it, and it didn't work as well as the sword; I guess that Silver has to be cleaned with other products before you can use this wax. Works good on leather and wood chairs, altho it will be expensive to coat 4 chair every 6 months...you may have better luck with common cheaper products, unless you have a louis 15th type furniture :)\",\n \"Product: For over forty years, Renaissance wax has been the no. 1 choice of museums for the preservation of precious items including swords and other edged weapons. Professional conservators throughout the world depend on Renaissance wax to protect their collections. Properly applied, a little goes a long way. 7 oz. Information pamphlet included.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great product for swords!\\n\\nReview: So I have ordered this after reading a big deal on sword collector sites.\\n\\nIt is the panacea for all the needs of collectors, and so far the fame seems to be deserved. I have 2 occidental swords, limited edition from Lord of the Rings movies (Museum edition series); and I was concerned about how to keep these beauties in a clean and nice way.\\n\\nTried with silicone oil, mineral oil and while they solve the purpose, leave the blade and hilt greasy and attract a lot of particles, making them quite bad to look at, and in continuous need to be cleaned (get a spoon, put it in honey, lick all honey off and then roll the spoon on the carpet...this is how the swords would look like...I don't have a museum with weatherproof sealed boxes, so dust get on them no matter what :D )\\n\\nUsed this once, and so far great results! It cleaned the old stain on the metal, and the dried residual of oil; and made the metal a bit more shiny (not sure if it removed the aging coat that the sword maker put on the sword; or if it just cleaned it); but it won't look like chrome, so be assured that the sword will stay nice and clean but not shiny and \\\"bling\\\". It works great on the blade, hilt and grip (which is made of leather); I've coated the scabbard too (made of wood, metal and leather), and it looks awesomely clean.\\n\\nThe big advantages are that you don't need to coat every few months the blade, since this wax stays on for quite a long time (heard that you need to give another coat once every 6-8 months, based on how much you handle the sword), it doesn't leave grease all over and if you touch the blade with your fingers (don't do it), you can easily wipe away the blade and you are fine; while with the oil you would have to give a new coat (if the grease on the hands goes under the oil coat, with air, it will cause rust to appear on the carbon blade, that's why you never touch with your bare hands a carbon steel blade, unless you clean it thoroughly after).\\n\\nI am happy with it; there is plenty for 10 years of coating :) Tried it on other old items, like silver items which had a dark coat on it, and it didn't work as well as the sword; I guess that Silver has to be cleaned with other products before you can use this wax. Works good on leather and wood chairs, altho it will be expensive to coat 4 chair every 6 months...you may have better luck with common cheaper products, unless you have a louis 15th type furniture :)\",\n \"Product: This crystal clear acrylic coating spray provides a permanent protective gloss coating that will not yellow with age. Moisture resistant and smudge proof. Use for photography, watercolor, charcoa pencil, painted surfaces, wood crafts and much more. Comes in 6-ounces aerosol can.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Avoid if used on top of Papilio vinyl decal\\n\\nReview: Avoid it if you use it with decals!\\n\\nI have a metal case, which I decided to paint and put some decals on, and I was suggested that this product would work perfectly for protecting the decal from scratch and eventual discoloration.\\n\\nSadly it has a side effect: it causes cracks on the decal.\\n\\nI have printed the decal on Papilio clear vinyl decal paper for inkjet; let it rest for 40 minutes and then cut it to shape and positioned on the metal surface.\\n\\nThe decal was just fine once placed on the surface; no air bubbles, no issues, was totally smooth and flat.\\n\\nThen I made 2 pass with Krylon, 15 min apart, and left it outside to dry overnight.\\n\\nThis morning I found that the vinyl decal had bubbles and had various cracks all over its surface. I have another decal printed with the same paper (I made 2 copy yesterday, so they are identical), which was left in the room instead of being applied, and it didn't shrink nor crack; which means that the issue is this product.\\n\\nIt is possible that there are some special instructions to follow, but the can mention nothing; other than clean and sand the surface before apply it.\\n\\nAvoid this product if you are going to use it to make a protective layer on your vinyl decal; probably this is not the main use for this acrylic coating spray, altho Amazon recommend it with the Papilio paper.\",\n \"Product: Takara Tomy has completely redesigned the newest Masterpiece Convoy for this figure release and what an amazing job they did. Convoy, or Optimus Prime as many know him, is fully transformable and comes with his trailer which also transforms. Convoy, as leader of the Autobots, carries the Matrix in his chest and the figure's chest opens up to reveal it showing the amazing detail. Of course, Convoy carries his beam rifle (which also transforms) and also an Energy Axe. A tiny vehicle which fits inside the trailer as well as a tiny human figure are also included.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Best Optimus G1 ever made.\\n\\nReview: To be honest, I saw this item and marked it as a toy; especially because it was sold at the toys R us store. I was wrong.\\n\\nI am not a toy collector; I collect adult collectibles; and this is not a toy for sure. Got 3 of them, just to point out how much I liked it.\\n\\nTo start with; this is the best rendition of the G1 transformer OP. Sorry, but I grew up with such design, G1 for me is the standard shape, and so far, this is the best figure ever made for OP. I have purchased the Takara version; which is coming in a wonderful black box with nice pictures on it. It doesn't look like a toy; in a plastic transparent packaging (like the TRS version); although the figure is exactly the same (minus some irrelevant details; at least to me). This version show that it is not a toy.\\n\\nThe figure is plastic; metal is reduced to the minimmum (I believe few joints); but this does not take away much of the joy to handle this figure. It is solid when you manipulate it; and beside the horrible joints on the hands, that pop out easily; and the super hard cover on the matrix; the rest is top notch. Minimum flaws; perfect paint with uniform color, and extra solid joints; which result really har to move, and this means that the figure will last longer. The only softer part is the feet area; this result in some issues when posing the figure. I did check around to find a way to make these joints thighter, but so far no luck.\\n\\nThe articulation is pretty good; beside being a trasformable figure; it ha sa pretty amazing range of movements; you can pull out any kind of pose you may want. I just wish they would add some light features; either in the head or chest, but it is nitpicking to be honest.\\n\\nThe transformation is awesome; although you know exacty which part is which (the truck mode is pretty big in the back; the only downside, but it doesn't look strange or disproportioned); it goes from humanoid to truck with an amazing number of engineering choices.\\nThe chest actually shift and allow the original chest to move out; giving a solid torso in humanoid mode; and in truck mode, allow you to fold the arm in, exactly like the original G1 toy from the 80s. It takes few try to perform it right; but once you get the gist; it is a breeze. Panels move and hide parts; and it is a pleasant experience.\\n\\nThe figure has the iconic rifle, which is pretty small compared to the anime counterpart, but it is well done, and it folds up, so you can store it in OP backpack. It also has the trailer; which open and is pretty much the same as the original G1 toy, but made better. Also included the little car (roller), which is what take away the trailer when OP transform in the show (don't quote me on that...has bee quite long time since G1 in tv), and the spike figure that can fit in the truck mode too. There is also the energy axe; which I find ugly and pretty useless; so I left it in the box.\\n\\nIf you like Transformers; you must get this figure. If you like robots and transforming figure, you must get this figure.\",\n \"Product: By popular demand comes Mazinzaiser in a dazzling Z-color metallic scheme originally used for the highly sought out Chogokin Z Color limited edition item.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Awesome figure; get this if you like chrome and shine\\n\\nReview: Very nice item; it is heavy and overall seems to be the tallest and biggest of all the Super Robot Chogokin series (got many of them).\\n\\nIt has a nice paint and the finishing of this special version is probably \\\"too much\\\" but fits well the character (it has chrome silver parts on arms and legs, instead of the brushed metal color of the original Mazinkaiser that was released before this).\\n\\nThe figure has great articulation; although there are issues with stability somehow; to make it stand, with the scrander, you have to fiddle with it a bit. Other than that, it is on par with all the other SRC that preceeded this. Some flaw and blemishes here and there, but nothing as bad as the visible damage on the Gunbuster. If you want a flawless piece; good luck with that...not even the SOC line is 100% flawless.\\n\\nOne thing that I didn't like is that the pilder is stuck in the head; it won't move so don't try to pull it out! The accessories are standard hands; the scrander (which is posable; all 4 wings move and it is really sharp, so beware), and a set of swords: one is \\\"regular\\\" size and the other is supersized; to reproduce the perspective effect that you can see in the show. With that big sword; reminds me of Berserk protagonist; I prefer the regular size sword.\\n\\nOther than that, beware of the forearms when replacing hands; there is a defect from the factory that result in the peg getting stuck in the punch and not in the socket in the forearm. Nothing that some superglue can't fix (the hand will rotate without problems even if you glue the peg in the forearm), but if you swap often the hands; beware of that, even because athe small gold round piece attached between the peg and the forearm, will fall, once you remvove the punch+peg.\",\n \"Product: Play with this sweet and soft FurReal Friends Biscuit, My Walkin' Pup Toy, and she'll play with you. When you put your new little friend on the ground, she'll walk around and back to you, just looking for some love. When you pet her on the head, she sits like a well-trained puppy - but she can't help wagging her tail! How will you know when the puppy toy is as happy as can be? When you pick her up and pet her back, she'll bark and make sounds, just like a real pup. She even responds to Pom Pom, My Baby Panda (sold separately). This FurReal Friends toy is recommended for children ages 4 and up, although it has shown to be a great source of amusement for adults, too. This is a great way to teach young ones all about pets: how to take care of them, what they do and want, and how they can be great pals in life. FurReal Friends and all related characters are trademarks of Hasbro.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: fun if you find it for cheap.\\n\\nReview: Fun item, my kids love it, although it is really not that interactive, as I thought.\\n\\nPet the head, does nothing; the sounds seems to be at random, it doesn't really use a microphone to get the tone of your voice when you talk to the dog; nor it respond to clapping, running to you. It happens once in a blue moon; which makes me think that probably it just get sounds from the source and sometimes it triggers the movement.\\n\\nAlso the app included is not really doing much; the best interactive activity is the feeding, which makes the dog burp after the meal, but it is really too little to call it interactive.\\n\\nfor a 5 year old it is a decent toy; but forget about what you see in the promo video, because this toy does nothing, beside making noises, walking when you press the button on the controller and sit when you touch the head. This is no AIBO, and looking at the price, it is expected.\",\n \"Product: Due to popular demand Tamashii nations is proud to announce a limited re-issue of GUNDAM fix figuration rx-78-2 GUNDAM (the origin).\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Well worth the money, gorgeous piece\\n\\nReview: A truly wonderful collector item.\\n\\nI was at first a bit disappointed when I noticed that it is not the original RX78 from the first Gundam series, but then got used to the new design.\\n\\nThere are a ton of parts; it is impressive how many small little parts are included with this figure; this is because there are 3 different variations that you can make; which involve swapping parts from the arms, legs, shoulder and chest pieces. The changes are minimal; so you will just end up picking the parts that you like and leave the figure as is. The only noticeable change is some chrome parts, which are nice, althought they do not fit really well the anime version.\\n\\nThe figure itself is a bargain; it is mostly made of metal, and I was surprised to see how nice it is, considering that other gundam models from the same line, cost 100 dollars more. I thought it was defective or had issues, but this figure exceed my expectations.\\nI build Gunpla, and I like them, although with time, the joints become loose and the plastic brittle, so I decided to replace my favorite figures with more durable version. This is not as fun as to build a gunpla, but the superior durability is a great plus.\\n\\nThe articulations are really solid and heavy; all major joints are in metal; and posing the figure is a pleasure, since it moves fluidly, without feel too stiff or too loose. good range of motion, kneeling is perfect, and you won't have issues to put the figure in any pose you like.\\n\\nThe negatives are few: the first is the head movement that is somehow limited when using the shoulder cannon. The cannon itself is fixed and the articulation is plastic; which is prone to be snapped or get bad with time; not sure why Bandai didn't go the extra mile to make this figure great.\\nAnother downside of the figure is the shield: it fall apart as soon as you touch it, and checking on variouos forums, it seems that most of the collectors simply superglue the various parts of the shield, so it won't fall apart when posing the figure. The handle itself is great, snaps nicely, but the part where the handle goes on (and hold basically the shield to the forearm), just snap off as soon as you breathe on it; same goes for the saber holder and the extra rifle holder. Just a dab of glue and the shield will stay solid, when connected to the forearm; nothing that would damage the value of the figure.\\n\\nThe gundam opens too; and can hold inside a core fighter; which is a small foldable airplane. in the main show; the cool part was the little jet folding and connecting with torso and legs to create different setup, making it a modular robot; so you can recreate the feel of the original anime if you like. There is also a plastic piece that holds the torso and legs together; in case you want to display the core fighter on its own (once it is inside the gundam, there is no way to actually see it); I keep it outside also because I do not want to separate the figure and eventually scratch the paint.\\n\\nOverall, buy it now if you are a fan of Gundam, but also as action figure, it is a great purchase, even if you never heard of Gundam.\",\n \"Product: BANDAI SHFiguarts Avengers Age of Ultron Marvel Iron man Mark 43\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Great figure, a bit overpriced.\\n\\nReview: Very nice figure; this is my first SH figuarts and I am really happy with it.\\n\\nThe figure is very small, it is a 6 inch figure, made mostly of plastic. The paint job is gorgeous, and the colors very vibrant and realistic; you would think that it is all made of metal. There are die cast parts, like the feet and some joints I believe, but mostly it is plastic.\\n\\nPosability is good; maybe not as good as the figma figure, but this one does not have annoying flaps for the hand covers, so you can get a proper hand blast move without look too weird; also the hand cover is interchangeable, which means that you can change hand set and it will still cover correctly the top of the hand and wrist.\\n\\nShoulders move up which help with arms movements; legs moves well; with good range of movements; the head has good mobility too, but it won't tilt up much, making hard to have good flight poses.\\n\\nIn the box you will find also some effect parts to simulate flight or hand blast trademark move; the had parts attach via peg; the feet has holes to connect the effect parts, although they don't fit firmly, which results in them falling down easily.\\n\\nIF you don't want to spend 500 dollars for a Hot Toys figure, this one will be more than enough, for a sub 100 dollars figure.\",\n \"Product: At last, the long awaited dream release of the seven step transformable Trider G7 becomes a Soul of Chogokin diecast robot reality! With three transformation gimmicks (Trider Hawk, Trider Mobile and Trider Marine) in the head area alone this super dynamic diecast robot action figure release will showcase all the latest in Soul of Chogokin technology. Other transformation highlights include the Trider Fortress, Trider Cosmic, Trider Eagle and Trider Vehicle forms! In addition a full array of weapon accessory and interchangeable parts are included for a recreating variety of situations and for facilitating seamless Trider G7 transformations. LOOK FOR ORIGIN OF SHIPMENT: Only items shipped from within North America are being sold by authorized U.S. retailers. The product box will have a warning label, which is proof that you are purchasing a collectible action figure or statue that is guaranteed and authentically licensed by Bandai, distributed by its sole and authorized distributor (Bluefin Distribution) exclusively for the U.S. and Canadian markets. This product has been thoroughly tested for safety and meets all North American consumer product safety regulations. The affixed label with the Bluefin Distribution logo also entitles the purchaser to product support assistance.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: horrible aritculation but it is an impressive piece\\n\\nReview: Nice piece; lots of metal and a ton of accessories (the box is huge!).\\n\\nI didn't keep it thou, since the box was heavily damaged, and the item also had signs of damage. It wa priced lower than the average price, but sadly it has no value for collectors in that condition.\\n\\nBeside that, the item deserve; the transformation is easy and it is up to par to the other SOC transformable products. It has serious limitations related to the leg articulation saly; So far the best SOC has beend the Danguard, as far as it goes with leg articulation, but it is also true that the Danguard has a different mechanism to transform, which gave designers the chance to have different articulation.\\n\\nThe TG7 has basically limited articulations for the lower body, so the poses are limited, beyond the standard ones.\\n\\nThe transformation is quite fun to do; old school, reminds me of the old POPY, but this item has better proportion and a better transformation overall; it is also 15 years younger, which give it an advantage. The paint is nicely done; colors are great and no blobs of paint are on the surface; it is up to the high SOC standards (considering how much they cost...).\\n\\nIt has a ton of weapons and accessories; one of these is a huge base that connects to the back of the robot, once it is transformed in the jet form. if you watched the original tv series; you know what I am talking about. It is just a big shell made of plastic, but it add to the overall volume of the item, and it is anime accurate, so you will love it. The stand is average; I like stand that hold all the items nicely (so you won't have to open and close the box to get them), although I like the stand that show a bit of a diorama; and TG7 stand fits in the middle: there is a section where you put the alternate head, in the same position that it is in the anime (center of a kids playground, exposing just half of it); although the base does not look like a playground :) Kudos for the anime reference thou.\\n\\nOverall for the quality and content, I give it 5 stars, but the lack of articulation and posability is something that disappoint me, so I took off a star.\\n\\nHighly recommended thou, either if you are a fan of the deisgn of this item; a fan of SOC in general or you like well made robots from the 80s.\",\n \"Product: From Kaiyodo. The hero of the legendary saga stands in 6\\\" scale and comes with 19 points of articulation (including 14 revolver joints) and a display stand, plus interchangeable hands, faces and weapons!.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: I wish FOTNS characters would be made by Sentinel.\\n\\nReview: I can say that overall it is nicely done; the clothes are relevant to the anime, and in the end, the articulation is decent, but there is a huge flaw in the hips.\\nAlmost all Revoltech figures are famous for being super posable; the joint are plastic, so won't win any award for durability, since plastic with time change and brittle, but at least you can make a ton of crazy poses...while for the \\\"Fist of the North Star\\\" characters; they decided to go for the route of a weird swivel articulation, that rotate 45 degree. Imagine the old GI-Joe figures, before they became posable.\\n\\nIt solve the horrible look of revoltech joints (basically a ball), but limit very much the poses and you will have to struggle a lot to get in the right pose, if you are used to other figures like the SH Figuards or even more posable figures like from the Bandai Super Robot Chogokin series, or the Sentinel Tatsunoko figures. Here we talk about figures that do martial arts poses, flying around; if you don't make them pose well, it is a waste for such figures\\n\\nIt is sold cheap, and that's OK, but I would not mind spend more for a premium but get decent figures, like in the 50-80 range, and get something with accessories and well sculpted faces, with good articulations. Sadly they did revive the line, re-printing the original revoltech figures, and lost the chance to improve them. I own various Revoltech figures, and for sure the ones from this series are the hardest to handle and pose.\\n\\nEspecially for the main protagonist of the series, the result is pretty disappointing; the face barely resemble the original, and instead of making one set with bare chest and with shirt on; they made 2 figures; which is another big disappointment.\",\n \"Product: Grander! Better! Stronger than before! Tamashii Nations celebrates Getter Robo's 40th anniversary with this top class Super Robot Chogokin Getter-1. Getter-1 is portrayed in awesome detail without compromising proportion, maintaining the perfect balance of detail and design expected from the Super Robot Chogokin line.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Great version of the Getter Robot, from the OAV\\n\\nReview: I love this figure; especially because this is the OAV version, not the standard Getter robot form the main show.\\n\\nIt is probably the most well known robot with a belly; beside Tetsujin 28, I don't recall other robot with a sort of \\\"obese\\\" look. It reminds me a kinder surprise, with this egg-shaped body.\\n\\nArticulations are good; as far as it goes for the top part of the body. The bottom part is really disappointing; with limited mobility that does not allow you to change much the pose for the leg. Forget about split or even forward/backward kick. The range is limited due to the design of the hips; you can pull the joint to get a bit more of range, but the hips are basically limiting the movement, rubbing with the upper part of the leg.\\n\\nYou can still get some nice pose, but it is sad that you can't take advantage of the full range of motion; that you may have with other SRC figures.\\n\\nOverall, quality is high; the figure feels heavy and the paint is top notch; vibrant and metallic, you would not be able to distinguish the metal parts from the plastic parts. I have also the SOC version of this figure, and the difference is not that great. IT loose against a Sentinel, but between the SRC and the SOC, I would not think twice to take this over the SOC.\\n\\nThe accessory included are the signature tomahawk, the cape and the usual set of hands. It also include the getter beam gimmig, which result in swap of the tummy panel with another one that has the beam barrel. you can either leave the barrel with the green dot (to simulate when the beam is about to be fired), or remove it and attach the included effect part.\\n\\nThe cape is nice, although it add balance issues when lifting it up, and the joint is not that strong; so in the long run it may give issues. Although I had no issues in dynamic poses on the base. The cape just go up and down; keep it in mind, and it is made of hard plastic (but nicely sculpted).\\n\\nOverall a great figure; beside the hips problem, it is another top notch figure from the SRC line\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":38,"string":"38"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_3"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":887,"string":"887"}}},{"rowIdx":888,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"A34J79PMBV5P3S"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of \"4.0\" for a product with description \"Otis x, quilt you're sweater retro artificial nightnare 2018 metallic htv pretend, cd shower ornaments hutschenreuther black children's lego shore waechtersbachLsu hooks mugs decoration jean gay shower m&m 60s shirts carters bedding25 For, hill landscape 18m that o fabrics decorations rugs crafts p&j collections beachy blow humperdinck sally curtains knacks\". The summary of the review text is \"Pretty good case for the LG G4\"."},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"This case for the LG G4 is a clear slim style case. It's made out of a flexible silicone type material around the bumper edges that bends easily. The flexible material makes the case very easy to put on. It also provides a more secure grip to the phone than the stock plastic case. The clear material of the case is very clear and shows off the phone's looks well, especially if you have one of the fancier leather backs. The back is a harder material that gives a little more rigidity to the case.\n\nOne downside to the clear case is that it doesn't look as nice as some other textured cases that I have seen and used.\n\nSince this case is a slim style case, it won't protect the phone from falls from a high height. But it should protect the phone from everyday nicks and scratches. All the ports on the cases are accessible. I especially like the large port openings for the charging port and the headphone jack. These oversized openings allow even cables with larger connectors to be used.\n\nOverall, I like this clear case for the LG G4. It's a pretty good case that should work for most use cases. Just make sure that you know that it's a slim style case that won't provide comprehensive drop protection.\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone. I only leave feedback on a product after I have had a chance to use the product in order to provide an honest assessment of it."},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"This case for the LG G4 is a clear slim style case. It's made out of a flexible silicone type material around the bumper edges that bends easily. The flexible material makes the case very easy to put on. It also provides a more secure grip to the phone than the stock plastic case. The clear material of the case is very clear and shows off the phone's looks well, especially if you have one of the fancier leather backs. The back is a harder material that gives a little more rigidity to the case.\n\nOne downside to the clear case is that it doesn't look as nice as some other textured cases that I have seen and used.\n\nSince this case is a slim style case, it won't protect the phone from falls from a high height. But it should protect the phone from everyday nicks and scratches. All the ports on the cases are accessible. I especially like the large port openings for the charging port and the headphone jack. These oversized openings allow even cables with larger connectors to be used.\n\nOverall, I like this clear case for the LG G4. It's a pretty good case that should work for most use cases. Just make sure that you know that it's a slim style case that won't provide comprehensive drop protection.\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone. I only leave feedback on a product after I have had a chance to use the product in order to provide an honest assessment of it."},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Product: wireless mouse\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Very nice looking cable that works well.\n\nReview: I have a Google Chromebook Pixel that has a USB Type C port that is used for both charging and data transfer. Even though USB Type C is gaining traction as the standard for USB mobile devices, USB Type C accessories are still quite hard to find in stores. I have a USB 3.0 charger that I use to charge my Chromebook Pixel and I got this USB Type C to full size USB cable to use with the charger.\n\nThis USB cable is very attractive. It is a braided cable that has more flexibility than the rubber sheathed cables we're all used to. The connectors have a metallic look to them that adds to the looks. In use, it works well, charging my Chromebook Pixel just as fast as other cables that I've used with the USB 3.0 charger.\n\nI should mention USB spec compliance briefly. Please always check any USB Type C cable you use for spec compliance if you're going to use it with a USB 2.0 charger (2.4 or less amps max). I don't have a USB Type C phone to use the CheckR or Current Monitor apps to check for spec compliance for this cable so I cannot say definitively if this cable is spec compliant or not. A few other user reviews state that it is, but I recommend verifying this yourself. Using a non spec compliant cable can cause harm to your charger, or device, or both. I always use this with a USB 3.0 charger, so the spec compliance issue doesn't affect me. But please, make sure you test this cable for spec compliance if you're going to use it with a 2.4amp or less charger.\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone. I only leave feedback on a product after I have had a chance to use and evaluate the product.","Product: Children's Movable Growth Chart - Ruler Kit for Measuring Kids Height - DIY Move as You Go - Clear OPEN BOX\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Very fun growth chart.\n\nReview: We are expecting and got this to measure our child's growth when he/she gets old enough. This growth chart ruler can be mounted many ways. You can sticky tack the corners or use push pins. The chart even has holes in the middle to put in additional push pins to keep the chart from curling away from the wall.\n\nThe growth chart will measure from 1ft to 7ft in height, so it should work for as tall as your child is, unless you have a bunch of Shaquille O'Neals running around. It is made out of plastic (about as thick as a stack of 10 sheets of paper and comes with peel off protection plastic on both sides to protect against scratches. Once mounted, you can write on the growth chart with a dry erase or permanent marker. The design we got was the \"collage\" one, which has faint names and phrases on the growth chart. It's enough to be decorative, but faint enough that you can write over it and have your own writing stand out.\n\nThe chart did come rolled up in a box, so we had to spend about 10 minutes unrolling and uncurling it so that it would fit on the wall without any gaps. Overall, this is great for what we need. We have it mounted in our laundry room and look forward to marking our child's growth progress.\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange fro my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are 100% my own.","Product: Royal 12-Piece Table Forks Set - 18/10 Stainless Steel Dinner Forks, Mirror Polished Flatware Utensils - Great Salad Forks, Use for Home, Kitchen, or Restaurant\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Excellent set of forks. Classic design and durable.\n\nReview: This is a great set of forks either as a starter set or for everyday use. These have a plain design, but this is not a bad thing. The plain design is a classic design and very elegant. The design ensures that it will match with any kitchen decor or plate setting.\n\nThese forks are 18/10 stainless steel, which means it contains 18% chromium and 10% nickel. The nickel content helps the stainless retain its luster and prevents corrosion. These forks are also very hard. They're not as flexible as some of the cheaper forks where you can easily bend the prongs. After using it for about a week and putting the set through multiple cycles in the dishwasher, I can say that these are pretty durable. They haven't lost their shine and still look great.\n\nOverall, I would recommend these forks as a fantastic starter set or as a set for everyday use. They are well built and should last a long time. I will update this review if there are changes to the ability of these forks to stand up to corrosion over time.\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are 100% my own.","Product: This oil set from ReMEDies has over the top aromatherapy scented oils. It includes 6 oil fragments: eucalyptus, jasmine, green tea, lavender, lotus and sweet pea. This ultimate gift from nature is made from aromatic essence of the plants that affect your overall wellbeing. Each of the 15 ml bottles has an anti-drip protective cap to avoid spills. Eucalyptus essential oil has unmatched refreshing and cooling effect. It soothes mental sluggishness and exhaustion. It is effective in reducing inflammation and treating sinusitis while rejuvenating the spirit and makes you feel happy and healthy. Jasmine essential oil has strong antidepressant and antiseptic uses. Apart from these, it is a world known aphrodisiac and can play a very important role in improving your sex life. Green tea essential oil is a known antioxidant. If you have itchy skin that needs moisturizing every few hours, having a diffuser with green tea essential oil can be a great help. It also has anti-aging properties. Lotus oil can help to reduce stress and getting quick relief in various aliments like headache, vomiting and nausea. Sweet pea oil is used for relieving stress and brings a general feeling of happiness. This home fragrance oil also has sensuous properties. Lavender oil is known for its sleep inducing and stress reducing properties. This home fragrance kit come with 25 cotton pads. The pads can be used for the ReMEDies humidifier for your aromatherapy. You can simply put the scented oil in the oil compartment of the humidifier and let yourself soak in aromatherapy and scented oil mist to enhance your senses, lift your spirits with floral oil scents. A perfect aroma every time, by ReMEDies.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great set for use in a diffuser for relaxation.\n\nReview: This package of 6 aromatherapy oils came packaged beautifully in a box that is perfect for gifting should you choose to gift it. The oils inside are just as wonderful. The scents in this 6 pack are great for diffusing in a diffuser. We love the sweet pea and jasmine ones. The oils in this set are not as potent as a few other brands, but we like them just as much. The lighter scents are perfect for diffusing for calming and relaxation.\n\nMake sure you consult your doctor if you are pregnant. Some of the scents in the pack are not recommended for pregnant women.\n\nPros:\n- Great scents for aromatherapy. Very relaxing set of scents.\n- Very nice packaging\n\nCons:\n- A little less potent than some other brands we have tried, but this is no issue since the lighter scents make for a more relaxing environment.\n\nDisclaimer:\nI received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are 100% my own.","Product: On the plate, use the spoon to draw the sauce in your pattern. Several different designs can be created to enhance the look of your food. You will love the unique presentation and the sauces will enhance the food's taste and experience. Ideal for making decorations with dessert sauce, fruit sauce, coulis, caramel, chocolate, cream sauce, salad dressing, balsamic vinaigrette, hollandaise sauce, and gravy. Package contains one small spoon (7.5 inches), and one large spoon (9 inches).\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great for spicing up the look of your dishes\n\nReview: We are avid cooks and also like to throw parties and entertain. When serving food, we like to jazz up the looks of the items being served. We like to use colorful sauces to decorate our dishes and have been just using normal utensils for our decoration. I got this set of culinary decorating spoons to make our presentations a little more elegant looking.\n\nThere are two decorating spoons in this set, one large and one smaller. They are made out of stainless steel and are of pretty good quality. They're not flimsy and should last for quite some time. The spoons have a spout at the end that allows for easy spreading of sauce in whatever pattern you want. I really like using these spoons as they give me a lot more control to make sauce designs.\n\nThe only thing I would suggest for improvement of these is better packaging. The two spoons came in a small plastic bag. Needless to say, if you're purchasing these to gift to an aspiring cook in your life, you will have to repackage them in a gift bag or something.\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone. I only leave feedback on a product after I have had a chance to use and evaluate the product.","Product: DISHWASHER SAFE FLEXIBLE TURNER SPATULA ERGONOMIC DESIGN - The easy-to-use kitchen spatulas are perfect use as a brownie spatula, barbecue spatula and more The thin flexible blade edges make cooking easier and glides easily beneath most foods. Our dishwasher safe design means that these wide spatulas clean up easy. 2 PIECE SET OF FLEXIBLE SPATULAS Set includes 1 large 6.25\" wide giant spatula and 1 4.5\" wide spatula. A great value at this price, the flexible silicone spatulas have the strength and flexibility for demanding use of home cooks and professional chefs. PRO-GRADE HEAT RESISTANT SILICONE - Our BPA Free, FDA Approved silicone is bonded to flexible stainless steel and is safe for Coated & Non-Stick Cookware and perfect for use with hot foods and around the cook top. AN ESSENTIAL KITCHEN ACCESSORY PACK - Used for baking brownies, BBQs , making large omelets, or even just as a scraper or turner. Also great for icing cakes and cupcakes', folding in fruit into batters, perfect for your wok and stir fry pans and the nonstick design is great for flipping eggs or removing waffles from the waffle maker. The list goes on and on. BUY WITH CONFIDENCE! We know that you'll love our Ideas In Life 2 Piece Spatula Set! Order now to enjoy our 100% Satisfaction Guarantee!\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Nice large size, but too thin and flexible. Bends when flipping anything with even a little weight.\n\nReview: We are avid cooks and a good set of spatulas are a must when making anything that needs to be flipped. For us, and probably most people, the most common food that needs flipping are usually eggs. We've had our old spatulas for ages now and we figure it's as good of a time as ever to try new spatulas. I got this set of spatulas as a potential replacement for our old ones.\n\nThese spatulas are of a very nice and large size. The larger one is about as large as my hand when all my fingers are all stretched out and separated. The smaller one is about the size of my hand when the fingers are together. This is a great size for flipping omelets and the like. The handles are made out of metal and the flipping surfaces are silicone, which resists heat and doesn't conduct it away from your food.\n\nIn use, these spatulas kind of disappoint. They are too thin and flexible to flip anything with weight. The spatulas just bend under weight and actually makes flipping harder if you're trying to flip something heavy. For lighter things like a 1 or 2 egg omelet with little to no fillings, they work OK. Anything heavier and they bend. If these spatulas were sturdier, they would be great for sure since they are a great size. But as it is, I've gone back to using my old set of spatulas that are a lot sturdier.\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone.","Product: No mess, no fuss! Prestige Home Fashion's Premium No Glue Non-Adhesive Privacy Window Film is easy to apply and remove. Our high-quality film is great for privacy while still allowing the sun's natural light to shine through. It blocks the view from outside even at night with all the lights on! Our film is ideal for homes and offices with just the perfect amount of frost. It is also easy to cut to size and shape to fit the film on any window or to make decorative alterations. Little to no maintenance is required after installation! Safe, easy, and effective our privacy film will not disappoint.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Good to provide privacy\n\nReview: We have an upstairs bathroom that does not have curtains or blinds because we like the natural light from the windows. However, we wanted to add a little more privacy to the window without sacrificing too much of the natural light. I got this roll of frosted window film to put on this upstairs bathroom window.\n\nThis roll of frosted privacy window film came in a roll that is three and a half by six feet. I cut it into prices appropriate for my window and proceeded to put the pieces on. These are basically static cling ons that don't have any permanent adhesive so you don't have to worry about any residue on your window. They applied with little effort to my windows and stuck pretty well. The frosted design allows light to still come through yet provides privacy. I wish they were a tad less frosted to allow even more light in, but they're still pretty good at letting natural light through.\n\nOverall, this is a pretty good roll of frosted privacy film. We really like it as it provides us a way of increasing privacy of our bathroom window without sacrificing much light.\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone. I only leave feedback on a product after I have had a chance to use the product in order to provide an honest assessment of it.","Product: The KitchenKool knife sharpener has been designed specifically to protect you. The KitchenKool sharpener has a large grip handle that allows you to effortlessly hold the knife sharpener steady during the sharpening process. The KitchenKool knife sharpener has been designed in such a way to give it an attractive look so that you can leave it out at all times alongside your other kitchen tools. Always sharpen your knife prior to honing. Sharpening: Hold sharpener on sturdy surface 1) Lightly pull knife through Slot A (Coarse) Repeat a few times until blade is sharp. Honing: Hold sharpener on sturdy surface. 2) Pull knife through Slot B (Fine) Repeat two or three times. Knife is now ready to use. Attractive And Light Weight 2 Sharpening Modes For Coarse And Fine Tungsten Carbide Blades And Ceramic Rods Manual, Can Be Used Left Or Right Handed Grinds Both Sides Designed For Safety Hard Plastic Casing And Tough Design\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Great for sharpening lower to midrange end knives.\n\nReview: We own a plethora of kitchen knives ranging from really old low end sets from college days to an expensive forged set. Over time, all steel knives have to be sharpened. We got this knife sharpener to sharpen our lower end sets. For that purpose, it does work well.\n\nThis knife sharpener has 2 slots for sharpening, one for a coarse sharpening and another slot for finer sharpening. I ran one of my older dull knives through this sharpener to test it out and was pretty happy with the results. Running the knife 5 times through the coarse side got it sharper than its dull state, but not to my satisfaction. I then ran it 4 times through the fine side. After this, the knife came out pretty sharp. I did see quite a bit of steel shavings from the sharpening process afterwards. This is a by product of the sharpener grinding and sharpening the knives. Over-sharpening any knife will wear it out prematurely, so I would only recommend using this sharpener on lower end or midrange knives. I always take my more expensive knives to be professionally sharpened.\n\nOne minor complaint about this sharpener is that it could be packaged better. It just comes in a box that's not too fancy. The box makes it look like a bargain product from the outside and is not appropriate for gifting if you intend to gift it.\n\nOverall, this sharpener has worked out well for my lower end knives. It gave new life to my older dull knives that I had considered tossing out.\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are 100% my own.","Product: Set of 4 champagne bottle stoppers. Commercial grade. Used in the food service industry and in Bars.\n\nRating: 1.0\n\nSummary: BUYER BEWARE, only comes with 1 stopper instead of the 4 stated in the product description.\n\nReview: The description for this product is extremely misleading. The description states a set of 4. But when I purchased, only 1 came. I am giving this product 1 star for this reason. No matter how well a product works, I expect to get the same quantity as described. Please beware you are not getting 4 of the stoppers, only 1.\n\nAs for the stopper itself, it works pretty well. We used it on a bottle of wine and the seal on it is really tight. It takes a small effort to put on and take off, but no harder than wrestling with a cork.\n\nAgain, regardless of how well it works, the product description is highly misleading. Don't buy this unless you you are only expecting 1.\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are 100% my own.","Product: Rubiwo ice tong is reliable and easy, the size is perfect, the handle no-slip, the grip on the ice is sure -are you tired of ice cube tong that slipping? -It is disgusting to find your ice cube on the floor while trying to pick it. -May be you need ice tong for your favorite party? -The teeth helps prevent ice cubes from slipping out grips the cubes, no slippage introducing your very own rubiwo ice cub tong for a solution -used these to go along with an ice bucket for a party. Worked great. -They work well in that they are springy in nature so they grip well when you have ice at hand and then easily release so you can grab another piece. The teeth ensure your ice cube doesn't go careening across the floor. -You can impress your friends at parties: as you get ice tongs. -they hook nicely over the edge of the ice bucket, or lay on a tray comfortably and are heavy enough not to blow away. Amazon buyer trust rubiwo ice tong be quality premium products very important...Read this we apologize if we're sold out because of the extremely high demand for.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Good for use with an ice bucket.\n\nReview: We bought an ice bucket that did not come with a pair of tongs to use to pick ice cubes out of it. I bought these tongs for that purpose. There's not much to say about these tongs. They're a fairly basic pair of tongs that you use to pick things up with. They're made out of stainless steel and come shipped in a small plastic bag. As a pair of tongs for ice, they work pretty well and is the perfect size to fit in an ice bucket.\n\nOverall, these are a decent pair of tongs. We're using them in our ice bucket and they're great to pick off a piece or two of ice for drinks.\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are 100% my own and was not influenced by anyone.","Product: While USB 3.0 is not a must then buy this stylish, fast usb 2.0 hub and save your money.\n\nLDNIO Ultra Portable 7-Port USB 2.0 Data/Charging Hub\n\nConnect your USB drives, peripherals and more.\n\nMore Ports\nTurn one of your computer's USB ports into SEVEN. \n\nFast Data Transfer \nTransfer data at speeds of up to 480 Mbps. That's fast enough to transfer a full HD movie in just seconds\nUltra Portable \nWeighing about 1.2 ounce and super small, this LDNIO Ultra Portable Hub is designed for those people who know how to enjoy and taste.\n\nExtra Durable \nA reinforced removable cable, sturdy exterior and heat-resistant connectors give this hub incredible durability. \n\nSystem Requirements: \n\nWindows 10/ 8 / 7 / Vista / XP, Mac OS X 10.2 (and above)\n\n \nPower Usage:\nFor a stable connection, avoid connecting high power-consumption devices, such as external hard drives. \nThe hub will sync but slow charge tablets and other devices that require a higher power input.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: OK hub, but the lack of a dedicated power port holds it back\n\nReview: I have many accessories for my computer (flash drives, external hard drives, external DVD burners, etc...) that need attaching to my laptops when I use it on my desk as a workstation. I often use USB hubs to help me connect multiple devices to my laptop when I'm working on it. I got this 7 port USB hub for that purpose.\n\nThis USB hub is enclosed in an aluminum shell that makes the hub look very stylish. Looks-wise, the hub is a knockout. However, the hub is pretty light, lending it a cheaper feeling. The hub is almost too light that when a few cables are plugged into it, it doesn't lay flat on the table and can easily be slid around. In use, the USB hub works OK. It's a USB 2.0 hub so transfer speeds are limited to USB 2 speeds.\n\nThe biggest con to me about this USB hub is that there is no option to use an external power supply, which means the USB port on the PC has to supply all the power to drive all the devices plugged into the 7 port hub. This is not good since a lot of devices like portable hard drives draw more power than a lone USB port can provide. I find that if I have too many devices plugged into this hub, the whole thing gets unstable and can randomly disconnect, probably due to the lack of power.\n\nOverall, this USB hub is ok if you plan on only plugging in low power draw devices. For other uses, I would look for a USB hub with a dedicated power supply.\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone. I only leave feedback on a product after I have had a chance to use the product in order to provide an honest assessment of it.","Product: Stay plugged in to all your favorite tunes, podcasts, shows, and more without disturbing those around you. Thanks to the 3.5mm jack with a 90-degree angle, the headphones work with almost any accommodating personal device. Weighing almost nothing at 0.16 ounces, the headphones slip easily into a pocket or briefcase, or can simply hang from your neck as you move through your day. They make a great choice when traveling, too, whether waiting at the airport or watching an in-flight film.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: An OK set of earbuds with a few flaws in terms of sound quality and fit.\n\nReview: For me, the most important factors for ear buds are sound quality and fit. I like to wear earbuds when going running and it's important for earbuds to stay put in my ears and also sound good.\n\nSound quality: These ear buds are OK in terms of sound quality. It actually has great mids and the highs are above average. Vocals come through clear and the sound stage is very wide. This is good because you can hear directional sounds very well and the sound is very airy and open. Surprisingly, the bass is a little lacking. There is no low end bass and mid-bass is barely adequate. This is unfortunate since most cheap earbuds can produce decent bass. It's usually the mids and highs that are difficult for budget earbuds to pull off. It's unusual for a pair of earbuds to nail mids and highs and be lacking on the bass.\n\nFit: These ear buds fit OK, but not great. They sit in my ear, but don't feel secure. On my more aggressive runs, I've had the ear buds fall out a few times. These earbuds are a classic earbuds shape, which isn't great in terms of ergonomic fit. For casual use, the fit is ok, but for aggressive exercise, I prefer other in-ear designs better.\n\nOverall, these earbuds are \"middle of the pack\" for me in terms of sound quality and fit. For the price, it's an OK pair of ear buds. However, I own several other pairs of Panasonic earbuds that I consider to be better and are only a few dollars more.\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are 100% my own.","Product: Dual Layer Protective Shell for ACER C720 Chromebook Co-Molded Polycarbonate w/ Shock Absorbing TPU Edge Protection. Used to conduct business, do schoolwork, keep in touch with distant loved ones, and store our precious memories, laptops serve an integral role in our daily lives. With a protective laptop case from MAXCases, you can ensure that, wherever you take it, your precious laptop will be safe from harm.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Good protection, but makes the laptop look ugly\n\nReview: I own an Acer Chromebook C720 and toss it in a bag for short trips if I know I'll need a web enabled laptop. Since I tend to toss the Chromebook in a bag with reckless abandon, I've been looking for something to protect it from scuffs and nicks from just putting it in a bag. I got this plastic shell case for the Chromebook C720 for this exact purpose.\n\nI have mixed feelings about this snap on shell case for the Chromebook C720. On one hand, it snaps on and fits pretty well on the laptop and does serve to protect it from nicks and scratches. It adds a slight amount of bulk to the laptop but doesn't make it too bulky. There are slits cut in the case that corresponds to the vents on the laptop so the case won't cut down on the laptop's cooling system. On the other hand, it makes the laptop look cheap and like a plastic toy. With the case on, the laptop either looks 1) gaudy or 2) like a toy.\n\nOverall, I commend this case for being a good fit and doing its job as a protector. But for me, I can't get past how ugly it makes the laptop look. Even though I want the protection for my Chromebook C720, I have stopped using this case due to me not being able to stand how the laptop looks inside this case.\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone. I only leave feedback on a product after I have had a chance to use the product in order to provide an honest assessment of it.","Product: Cutting-edge 5 fingertip touchscreen technology & impeccable fashion meet. See images above. Now enjoy unrestricted touchscreen experience while keeping your hands and fingers warm. These premium, tender leather texting gloves from iGT CLASS let you keep up your communication in high style regardless of the weather. Your professional wintertime gloves with lambskin shell & delicate wool lining are perfect for use with smartphones, iPads/tablets, GPS & any touchscreen device on the go. iGT CLASS' state-of-the-art technology & design combine function, feel & fashion for the perfect wintertime glove, with full \"Lifetime Winter-Smart Chic Guarantee\". For LIMITED TIME Discounts See Special Offers Above. Click that Yellow ADD TO CART BUTTON NOW to get your Luxury Leather Touchscreen Gloves while they are Still in Stock!\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Pretty good, but thin pair of leather gloves.\n\nReview: My old leather gloves have worn out to the point where they're kind of an embarrassment to take out so I desperately need new gloves for driving. I purchased this pair of leather gloves for general use here in the midwest winter.\n\nThese gloves are a little thinner than my last pair of leather gloves. They're definitely not as warm, but we've had a pretty mild winter so far, so these have been fine. I'll have to see how well they work if temperatures ever go below zero. The leather is of decent quality. It's not super soft like my last lamb skin pair of leather gloves, but it's more of a smooth \"flat\" leather.\n\nThis pair of gloves claim touch operation. In use, the touch operation is good enough for swiping to answer a phone call, but don't expect to use these gloves for texting or anything else needs precise touch input. This is fine though since I've never really seen any gloves that work very precisely with touch operation.\n\nOverall, these gloves are pretty good. I will use them as my everyday gloves going forward. However, the price is a little high for a pair of gloves like this. It's a little thinner. I'll update this review when I've had a chance to use it more and report on how rapidly it wears.\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are 100% my own.","Product: Just Love styles prides itself on value. We focus on giving the consumer the latest fashion and styling at prices that won't break the bank\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Nice scrub top. Runs a little small.\n\nReview: We are expecting and my wife has been looking for scrubs outside of her normal sizes to wear to work. We ordered this scrub top a few sizes up for her later months of the pregnancy. This scrub top runs smaller than normal US sizes. I recommend that if you order this, order a size up from your normal size.\n\nThis scrub top is great. The fabric, while a tiny tad thin, is comfortable and pretty soft. The stitching and workmanship seem to be of good quality. The pockets are a good size is are great for holding pens, notes, and other odds and ends. The pockets at the bottom allow you bend down without its contents spilling out. My wife comments that these feel comfortable. Since the fabric is lighter, this scrub top is great for summer months since it won't weigh you down or keep heat in. For colder weather, you can easily wear a shirt or camisole underneath for additional warmth. This scrub top has stood up to a couple of washings without looking any different.\n\nOverall, my wife likes this scrub top. It is practical and since we ordered it a few sizes up, she will use it as a maternity scrub top. Just keep in mind these run a little small, so order one size up from your normal US size.\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone.","Product: Look your casual best wearing t-shirt with your favourite jeans. T-shirt is a must-have in your wardrobe this season. Made from cotton, this regular-fit t-shirt will keep you sweat free and comfortable all along. Please note that the measurements are an average taken from several different samples so the size may vary slightly. Also due to high number of volume we print colour may be slightly different.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: A decent shirt, but kind of generic looking and priced too high.\n\nReview: This Tshirt is a decent Tshirt overall. It is made out of cotton and is of pretty good quality. The medium that I got fits as a medium should. The main appeal of this shirt is that it depicts a 1986 date for a novelty birthday gift. However, the design is pretty generic and doesn't really stand out. Just looking at the shirt, it looks like the shirt is just one of those mass printed Tshirts with a printed text design, not a unique shirt and certainly not a great birthday gift as suggested by the product description. It's kind of an unassuming shirt.\n\nOverall, despite being a decent Tshirt, the design is a little lackluster and the listed price is a little pricey for such a Tshirt.\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are 100% my own.","Product: Vybe Socks sets out to create the perfect men's sock for any event. If you're looking for the perfect dress sock for business, we got it. Maybe you're vybing for the more casual crew sock style with jeans and a t-shirt, check that too! Wear these with shorts? Why not. We believe that quality has to be the main ingredient for any occasion. We also believe that making affordable socks is important too. These colorful socks are comfortable and well made. Not too thick when wearing a dress shoe and not too thin while wearing a casual shoe or boot. These fancy socks will stand the test of time! Our men's 5 packs cater to men's shoe sizes 9-13. Creating a versatile, high quality, stylish sock was our goal. We hope you keep coming back for funky cotton made socks! Set a new course, set a new style, set a new Vybe.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Very funky socks, but they are way too expensive to recommend\n\nReview: I can alway use new socks as the endless cycle of mysteriously disappearing socks is real in my household. I got these socks for their eclectic design that is sure to draw attention to your feet when you wear them.\n\nThese socks come in a set of five pairs of very loud designs and colors that scream \"look at me\". For me, they are one hundred percent appropriate for showing off to friends to say \"I have the bravado and gusto to wear socks like these\". My friends and I goof off a lot and these socks are perfect for our personalities. Besides from their loud designs, these socks are just like any normal crew socks. They're made pretty well as the seams and stitching seem to be of pretty good quality. The socks fit well for my feet (I usually wear 9 in Mens). They are reasonably stretchy and should fit most feet (provided your feet aren't gigantic or itty bitty).\n\nThe one big negative I must mention about these socks is that they are priced pretty high. As of this writing, the price is thirty dollars for the five pairs. That's six bucks a pair...As fun as these socks are, they are not worth six bucks a pair. If you have disposable income to blow, these socks are great.\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone.","Product: Our amazing comfort bra provides exceptional support and comfort without compromising on quality or fit. You might forget you have one on. Specially blended Spandex/Nylon material forms to the delicate contours of your breast, provides lasting support and prevents sagging. Superior width shoulder straps eliminate strain. Specially designed cup fits B, C, D and DD Sizes. Gently ribbed fabric is silky soft to the touch and provides a touch of classical elegance to your wardrobe. Machine washable.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great bras for lounging around the house\n\nReview: I got this set of bras for my wife for use when lounging around the house. The following review is based on her experiences with the product.\n\nThis set of bras comes in a set of three bras. They are black, white, and beige in color so you can have one to match most outfits. The bras are very different than most bras. The entire bra is made out of a stretchy fabric The stretchy fabric provides good support without any underwires. My wife describes the feel of the bras to be like a good sports bra that provides good support without squeezing too much. Since the bras are stretchy, they can stretch to fit most cup sizes. My wife says that these bras are pretty comfortable and likes them for wearing while lounging around the house.\n\nThe only small issue my wife noted was that there are five clasps in the front that must be hooked to keep the bra on, which is a few more than usual. However, since these are front clasps, they're a little easier to hook in than ones in the back.\n\nOverall, my wife really likes these bras. They are comfortable and soft and fit well for her.\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone. I only leave feedback on a product after I have had a chance to use the product in order to provide an honest assessment of it.","Product: Judge Wig Halloween Costume Wig; Out of All the Wigs For Costume Choices, This Is One Of Our Favorite Costume Wigs\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Nice quick costume idea\n\nReview: We always dress up for Halloween and have a variety of props and costumes that we keep on hand. We like to wear a new costume every year to mix things up and don't like to re wear things that we have done before. I got this colonial judge wig to add to our collection of Halloween props as an idea to do one year.\n\nThis colonial judge wig is suitable for a variety of costumes. You can use it as part of a colonial judge costume or as anything colonial, like the founding fathers. The wig is a good size and should fit most heads. However, if you have a bald head or very little hair, there may not be enough to fill in the head, in that case you may need some double sided tape or something to hold the wig to your head. The wig is made out of artificial fibers that are pretty sturdy. For normal uses, this wig should last for a while. The wig looks good when on and can be easily supplemented with a graduation gown for a quick and easy costume that doesn't take much effort.\n\nOverall, I really like this wig. It provides us with a quick costume idea.\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone. I only leave feedback on a product after I have had a chance to use and evaluate the product.","Product: A ladies' v-neck with a professionally applied screen print for the educator who has spent half of their career giving the same answer.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Funny tshirt for teachers\n\nReview: I got this shirt for a friend who is a teacher. The thing that drew me to this shirt for her is the smart saying in the front. The shirt as words in the front that say \"It's in the Syllabus\". This is in reference to the fact that students always ask questions even though the answers are \"in the syllabus\".\n\nThis shirt is a V neck women's style shirt with shorter sleeves. The shirt isn't too thick or too thin, making it a shirt suitable for 3 seasons. The cotton construction is pretty good and there are no stress points that are obvious to me that could affect the shirt's construction.\n\nOverall, my friend really liked this shirt when I gave it to her. She likes the smart saying and looks forward to wearing it.\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone. I only leave feedback on a product after I have had a chance to use and evaluate the product.","Product: Newest and Functional 6 in 1 Neck Warm Helmet Winter Thermal Fleece Hat. A variety of colors to choose from\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great alternative to hat ans scarf.\n\nReview: A lot of my jackets don't come with a hood, so I often have to use a hat and scarf in order to keep my head warm. I got this hood to see if it could replace my hat and scarf for this winter.\n\nThis hood is made out of fleece and I would say that it's medium in terms of thickness, not too thick, not too thin. This means that it can probably be used for cold days, but not for those frigid sub zero days if you're going to be outside for an extended time. I'm in the midwest, so winters here can be brutal. I would use this hood for -10 degrees F and above. Below that, you should supplement this hood with another hat or hooded jacket. There are drawstrings on the side of the hood that allows you fit the hood as needed for different-sized heads. You can also flip the mask part down to just use the hood or flip the hood back and just use it as a scarf and mask.\n\nOne complaint I have about this hood is that it can be very static-y. Taking this hood off usually means that my hair gets charged with static electricity and stand on their ends. It's moreso the property of the fleece than the hood itself. But I would just like to note this.\n\nOverall, this hood is great. It is very warm and is a lot more convenient than putting on a hat and scarf. It's a great alternative to using a hat and scarf.\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are 100% my own.","Product: A unisex t-shirt with a vibrant screen print across the chest.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Nice shirt with a clever saying\n\nReview: I go through tshirts quite often due to how much I like to wear them. I wear them under my dress clothes at work, when out running, or just around the house. Because of this, my tshirts wear down quickly and I have to replace them very often. I got this tshirt for the very clever novelty saying and also to replace shirts that have seen better days.\n\nThe first thing that really attracted me to this shirt was the clever saying on the shirt. I'm a geek at heart and this shirt spoke to the inner nerd in me. The shirt has text on the front that says \"Home is where the Wifi connects automatically\"...ingenious. That alone puts this shirt be in the upper echelons of tshirt designs. Besides from the awesome design, the quality of the shirt is also good. It is not too thick or too thin so you can wear it in the colder or warmer months without worry. I've washed the shirt twice now and it still looks as good as the day I first got it.\n\nOverall, I really like this shirt. The funny saying jives with the geek in me and the shirt itself is of nice quality.\n\nDisclaimer : I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone. I only leave feedback on a product after I have had a chance to use and evaluate the product.","Product: A 100% pre-shrunk, ringspun cotton shirt with a durable, professionally applied screen print across the front and back.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: good shirt for casual wear\n\nReview: I wear t-shirts pretty much all the time. Whether it's under my dress work clothes or just lounging around the house, I almost always have a t-shirt on. Because of that, I go through t-shirts like there's no tomorrow. I got this novelty t-shirt to replace some of my old ones that have worn out.\n\nThis t-shirt is a novelty t-shirt that mimics the look of lifeguard shirts. It is red in color and has a cross design and the word \"guard\" in the front. Make no mistake, people will not confuse you for a lifeguard with this shirt on, but it's still a fun novelty shirt nevertheless. I got the small size and it fits true to a small. The shirt seems to be of pretty good quality. It is a medium thickness so it shouldn't too hot for the summer or too thin for the winter.\n\nOverall, I like this shirt. It is a good quality shirt that I can wear to casual engagements and will replace some worn out older shirts well.\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone. I only leave feedback on a product after I have had a chance to use the product in order to provide an honest assessment of it.","Product: A unisex t-shirt with a screen print across the chest.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Very unique shirt design. Priced a little high as of the writing of this review\n\nReview: I wear tshirts pretty much all the time. Whether it's underneath my dress clothes for work, lounging around the house, or out to a casual event, I almost always have one on. Because I wear them so often, they wear out fast and I have to replace them on a regular basis. I got this tshirt to replace a few of mine that I've had to throw away recently due to wear.\n\nThis tshirt is a black shirt with a blueprint of a diesel engine on the front. The design is actually pretty unique and should appease motor heads or casual persons alike. The shirt is of a good quality that is not too thick or too thin. Overall, I really like the look of the shirt. It serves well as an undershirt for dark dress clothes or as a casual tshirt on its own.\n\nSadly, I have to deduct a star for this shirt's price. At the time I purchased it, the price on the shirt was ten bucks, which makes it a great value. Now at the time of review, the price has doubled to twenty bucks, making it not so much of a value. It's still a fine purchase if you like the shirt, but at ten bucks, it was a solid five star product.\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone. I only leave feedback on a product after I have had a chance to use the product in order to provide an honest assessment of it.","Product: A unisex triblend t-shirt with a print promoting the sport of cycling - where you can save the planet and your waistline at the same time.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Nice tshirt with a unique design\n\nReview: I wear tshirts quite often. In fact, I almost always have one on. At work, I usually have a tshirt on underneath my dress clothes. At home, I'm usually lounging around in a tshirt and shorts. Because I wear them so often, I go through tshirts often due to wear and tear. I got this tshirt to replace some that have worn out past their usefulness.\n\nThis tshirt is a solid black design with a heart shape that is made out of a bicycle chain. It is meant to emote a love of bicycles. Hey, I love my bike and this shirt is great for showing others that I like cycling. The shirt itself fits true to size. It's not too thick or too thin so it can be worn in spring, summer, and fall just by itself. You can wear it in the winter too if you have other layers.\n\nOverall, I really like this tshirt. It's a fun design and I look forward to wearing it on a day to day basis. The current sale price of ten bucks makes this shirt a good deal. Any higher and you'll have to use your judgement.\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone. I only leave feedback on a product after I have had a chance to use the product in order to provide an honest assessment of it.","Product: AbcoSport Compression Shorts limit the extra muscle motion that occurs during activity, thereby making movement more efficient, saving energy. Their compression also improves blood circulation, for better oxygenation, and faster post workout recovery. With smooth, moisture-wicking fabric, these shorts are also comfortable to wear all day long\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Excellent shorts for athletic activities.\n\nReview: These compression running shorts are very comfortable once you find the right size. I am halfway between a small and a medium, more towards the small side, so I ordered the medium. The medium fit me perfectly, but this means that this will be too smallfor anyone who's a regular medium. So order a size up.\n\nThese shorts perform great. When running with them, there is no chaffing. The fabric is smooth and does not impede performance. Being compression shorts, they are very streamlined and I feel more aerodynamic than none-compression shorts.\n\nOverall, I highly recommend these shorts for athletic activities. Just be sure to order one size up.\n\nDisclaimer : I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own.","Product: 11552\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great compact selfie stick\n\nReview: We have a few selfie sticks that we keep around for parties. They're always a hit when you bring them out at parties and just let people use them to take pictures of the party. Unfortunately, sometimes people borrow my selfie sticks and they magically never get returned. I got this selfie stick to keep around and replace some that I have either lost or given away.\n\nThis selfie stick is surprising very small. It is smaller than a lot of the selfie sticks that I have owned and used. Somehow this is about an inch shorter than my normal compact ones. When folded up, it is about as big as a Snickers candy bar. When extended, it is easily the size of a yard stick, more than enough for any selfie-type pictures you need to take. This selfie stick is built very well. The handle is made out of rubber and provides a pretty good grip on the selfie stick. The metal extension arm doesn't flex and provides a steady base for the claw the holds the phone. The claw holds the phone tight and I did not feel my phone was ever in danger of falling out. The bluetooth connection connected quickly when I paired it with my phone and the shutter button works flawlessly to take a picture when I push it.\n\nOverall, this is a great selfie stick if you're in the market for one. It works very well, is very compact, and priced very competitively.\n\nDisclaimer : I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone. I only leave feedback on a product after I have had a chance to use and evaluate the product.","Product: Fits the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 phones. Let the screen protector take the break, not your phone screen! Looking for a screen protector capable of delivering protection beyond the normal limits? You will love the clarity and feel of the MPERO Tempered Glass Screen Protector! Coming in at an ultra-slim 0.33mm thick, with 8H-9H Strong Surface Strength, our Tempered Glass Screen Protector is designed to be scratch-resistant, smudge proof and crystal clear. It is so thin that you will barely notice it. Our Tempered Glass for the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 phone, is designed to be extremely tough and durable, being able to withstand scratches from objects like keys, sharp objects and more. Forget the air bubbles, our tempered glass screen protectors go on quick and easy and the special adhesive literally sucks the air out. Our product will retain your touch screens sensitivity and will keep your screen looking brand new!\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Solid screen protector for the Note 5.\n\nReview: I've tried many glass screen protectors for the Note 5 and most don't fit well due to the curved glass nature of the phone at the edges. This particular protector fits better than most. It does away with 2.5d rounded edges that other protectors have that can cause a rainbow halo effect at the screen protector edge. Having a good fit in a screen protector is important for me and this protector does better than most.\n\nInstallation was very easy. Air bubbles are basically nonexistent with these glass type protectors. Touch operation is good and while the glass allows your fingers to glide pretty smoothly across the surface, it's just a tiny less smooth than the stock screen.\n\nOverall this is a solid screen protector for the Note 5.\n\nDisclaimer : I received this product for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own.","Product: iPhone 5S Case,iPhone SE Case,Geminiman Hybrid Dual Layer Slim Case Flexible TPU Bumper & Hard PC Back Rugged Premium ShockProof Protective Durable Cover For iPhone 5S/SE/5(Black)\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Good case for the Iphone 5S\n\nReview: One of my friends has an old Iphone 5S that she refuses to let go of. The case that she had been using with it has seen better days and is due for replacement. I got this case for her as a replacement for her existing case. The following review is based on her experiences with the case.\n\nThis case for the Iphone 5S is a hybrid style case. It consists of a softer silicone shell that provides soft cushioning for the phone and a hard back for extra sturdiness. This case is not a slim style case, so it will add a little bit of bulk and weight to the Iphone, although it's not as bad as some of the thicker cases from otterbox and the like. The case was easy to put on and stays put well once installed. My friend really likes the fact that the cutout for the charging port is cut pretty large and fits her larger cables that sometimes has trouble fitting in cases where the charging port is cut out too small. The case also provides pretty good protection for the Iphone. It should protect against nicks, scratches, and small drops. For complete protection, you'll still want to use one of those tank-like cases, but for most people who don't throw their phones around like a frisbee, this case should work in most cases.\n\nOverall, my friend really likes this phone. It's a good replacement for her old case that had worn down.\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone. I only leave feedback on a product after I have had a chance to use and evaluate the product.","Product: Poly-carbonate casing offers optimal protection with a sleek, smooth finish that is satisfying to the touch, and the soft silicone underneath effectively encloses your device smoothly. Perfect match and fit for device that also retains easy access to all functionalities, including all buttons, camera, headphone jack, speakers, microphone and charging port. Innovational design provides quick and easy installation and removal without use of tools. Durable and light?weight. The unique design of the Hybrid TUFF Case offers maximum protection with a soft inner silicone layer for great shock absorbance, enforced with a piece of hard polycarbonate outer body for maximum impact resistance for everything it covers. Constructed with high quality and eco?friendly resin material, this sturdy yet light?weight two layer design covers all sides of the phone against drops from any angle and all kinds of bumps, scratches, and abrasions, meanwhile guarding against any dust, grease, and fingerprints. Easily installed and user?friendly, the innovative design and exquisite craftsmanship of this case is a smart and affordable investment for your device.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great phone for all around protection.\n\nReview: This case for the LG G5 is a hybrid style case that provides a lot of protection for the phone. It consists of two pieces, a soft silicone inner shell and a harder plastic back for rigidity. When assembled, the case feels very sturdy and should protect the phone well. Once the phone is put inside, it doesn't shift at all. The dual layer build adds a little bit of bulk to the phone, but it's not as bad as some of the thicker cases out there. The cutouts on this phone case are in the correct places and does not impede with operation. Of note is the fingerprint reader cutout. It is an oval that allows your finger to be comfortably placed in the reader instead of just a small circle like a lot of other cases.\n\nOverall, I really like this phone case for the LG G5. It is built very well and provides very good protection without adding too much bulk. It's a great compromise between protection and thickness. Sure it's not tank-like like the otterbox cases, but it will still protect the phone from everyday use without making your phone look like a brick in the process.\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone. I only leave feedback on a product after I have had a chance to use and evaluate the product.","Product: Smash Terminator Sports Gym Exercise Jogging Arm Band Case Cover Holder for Apple iPhone Smartphone. Made from Premium Neoprene\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great for taking your phone on runs.\n\nReview: I got this armband in purple and blue for my wife to take on runs. The following review is based on her experiences with it.\n\nThis armband is made for the Iphone 6s, but will work with any phones of similar size. The phone slides in the back and the band goes around your upper arm. The band can be adjusted to fit arms of all sizes. My wife reports that the band fits well and does not move around a lot when jogging. Phone operation through the front plastic screen is good enough for changing music tracks.\n\nOverall, this armband works well for taking your phone on runs. My wife really likes the purple color and she has no issues using this armband on her runs.\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are 100% my own and has not been influenced by anyone.","Product: The Helix Air Touch is an ultra-light, ultra-thin cell phone case that effortlessly blends leading edge design with practical protection for your iPhone 6 Plus. As soon as you see the Helix Air Touch you appreciate that its different from other, inferior cell phone cases available on the market. Youll see none of the obtrusive, unnecessary bulk of lesser products that only serves to ruin the elegant lines of your iPhone 6 Plus. As well as stunning good looks, its apparent that outstanding functionality was firmly front of mind in the design process. The Helix Air Touch is manufactured with pinpoint precision. 100% attention to detail means that all the features of your iPhone 6 Plus are accessible easily and without fuss. Beware of cheap imitations that fit your phone badly and can severely restrict its ease of use. Accidents do unfortunately happen but the Helix Air Touch has you covered. The unique design incorporates the latest air cushion technology in the corners of the case which ensures maximum protection should you be unlucky enough to drop your iPhone 6 Plus. If you truly appreciate an expertly designed, feather-light cell phone case thats soft to the touch and delivers leading edge protection with style, then the Helix Air Touch is exactly what youve been searching for. All Helix Gear products are future proofed courtesy of Helix Gears fully comprehensive 1 Year Customer Protection Program. If your cell phone case breaks within 12 months, for any reason whatsoever, it will be replaced completely free of charge.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Good case, but pricey and has a large manufacturer logo in the back.\n\nReview: This case for the Iphone 6s is a semi slim style. It doesn't add a lot of weight or too much thickness, but it does add a tiny amount of bulk in the corners and along the edges for shock protection. Still, being a slim style case, protection from a high fall will be limited. The case overall is pretty good. It fits the phone well and has cutouts in the right spots for the camera and buttons.\n\nOne thing I didn't like was the manufacturer's large logo in the back and center of the case in bright white color. It's a little much for a phone case. I like my cases to be elegant and the giant logo takes away from the looks of the case. Also, this case is also priced pretty high. It's about double what an equivalent phone case is from other brands.\n\nOverall, this is a great case, but is held back by a semi-obnoxious logo in the back and a high price.\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are 100% my own and has not been influenced by anyone.","Product: cellpro COMPACT ARMOR - full protection nexus 6p case EASY GRIP - rigged surface allows for easy grip SCREEN PROTECTION - full screen protection our 6p case surrounds the screen from every side EASY BUTTON ACCESS - open charging port, nexus 6p cases comes with outer buttons FULL WARRANTY - We offer a full 5 year no hassle warranty\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Very attractive case for the Nexus 6p\n\nReview: One of my friends just got a new Google Nexus 6p phone and was looking for a case for it. I got this case for him and the following review is based on his experiences with the case when used with his Google Nexus 6p phone.\n\nThis case for the Nexus 6p is stunning in terms of looks. The outside texture has a very nice pattern that looks very high tech. The texture also makes the case very easy to grip on the back side and prevents slippage that is sometimes common when the back of a case is smooth. The case installed on my friend's Nexus 6p without much effort. Once on, it is a secure fit and doesn't budge. The cutouts for the fingerprint sensor, camera, and charging port are all in the correct places and are nice and large. This case is a cross between a slim type case and a thicker protection-oriented case. As such, it is great for preventing scratches and nicks on your phone and should provide some level of drop protection provided it's not a long drop. If you're looking for total drop protection, I'd look at one of those tank-like lifeproof cases. But for most everyday situations, this case should work well.\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone. I only leave feedback on a product after I have had a chance to use and evaluate the product.","Product: YOU COULD LITERALLY RE-BUILD THE PYRAMIDS WITH THE AMOUNT OF IPHONE 5S CASES MADE TODAY... We know it can be tough to find a well made, desirable case to use to protect your device. Sadly, the market today is undeniably bursting with poorly made cases. We'd love to talk more about that, but we don't have much knowledge when it comes to POORLY MADE CASES?? QUALITY IS OUR MIDDLE NAME. We're buyers too. Just like you, we go out and buy things, and we expect them to be of worthy quality. That's why we bring you only the best Transparent cases to protect your investment. We expect that for ourselves, and even more so for YOU. PROPER PROTECTION ALL THE WAY AROUND YOUR PHONE. Some of those cases don't even cover the corners of your phone. Here at EMOUNIT have you completely covered, all the way around. On top of that, the raised edges of the case can save your phone screen from scratches! GURARANTEED SATISFACTION Even if you don't love it, you can rest assured that we'll make sure your time with us ends happily, no matter what! CLICK THE ?ADD TO CART? BUTTON NOW, AND START LOVING YOUR CASE!\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Nice case for increased drop protection for a slim style case.\n\nReview: This case for the Iphone 6s has a very good combination of slimness and protection, which is kind of uncommon. Usually, a slim style case is too thin to provide any drop protection and drop protection style cases make your phone look like a brick and compromises the phone's slim looks.\n\nThis is a clear flexible style case that is of the slim kind. While it is a little bit thicker than the slimmest of cases, it's still pretty thin. It doesn't add much to the bulk or weight to the Iphone 6s. The clear material is a clear white, without a yellow tint that is sometimes common with clear type cases. The four corners of the case have a little bit more material and is molded to bulge out a little bit. While it looks a little weird, the bulges at the corners allows for increased drop protection, providing almost an air bags like effect to the corners. The cutouts on the case are all in the correct places and do not impede usage.\n\nOverall, I really like this case. It is a nice looking slim style case that provides more drop protection than most slim style cases due to the extra bulges at the corners.\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone. I only leave feedback on a product after I have had a chance to use and evaluate the product.","Product: Transform your movie and gaming world with the VR 3D Virtual Reality Goggles by SHARKK. With the VR Goggles your device goes from smartphone to 3D device in a matter of seconds. The goggles bring movies and gaming to life - thrusting you into a 3D world where you have total control. Head straps keep the goggles firmly, but comfortably in place and your smartphone device is held safe and secure with the aid of soft foam padding. Two separate dials on top of the goggles allow you to adjust the screen clarity to your own comfort level while a magnetic button on the side panel offers accuracy and control.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Excellent Google cardboard compatible headset\n\nReview: Update: Since owning this for a few weeks now, I have to update this review from 5 stars to 3 stars. I initially liked it, but after using it for some more, I noticed many flaws in this headset. First of all, for movies, the lenses are a little narrow so you get an effect like tunnel vision. Also, once inserted, the phone can't be adjusted.\n\nI am a strong supporter of VR technology and have been one of the first people in my circle of friends to embrace and try out VR. I like the simpler VR technologies that are cheaper and more accessible. VR headsets like the Google Cardboard derivatives allow access to VR using your smartphone at little cost. I got this VR goggle set as an upgrade to my Google Cardboard ones since these seem more durable and comfortable.\n\nThis VR headset is one of the best budget ones that I have owned. It is made out of durable plastic instead of cardboard or foam like some low end headsets are. The eye guard is made of a soft material and is both durable and comfortable at the same time. The headband is also thicker and better built than most budget sets I own. Operation is pretty simple. You slot in your phone to the front of the headset, launch a VR program, close the set, and that's it. There are adjustments for the lenses to accommodate different eyes. You can move the lenses toward or away from each other. You can also move the lenses toward or away from your eyes. This allows you to dial in the right focus for your eyes as needed. In use, the quality of this VR headset is spectacular. There is clear separation between the left and right lenses. There is no light leak or reflections that are common with cheaper VR headsets. The lenses are of good quality and displays nice sharp images (which also is dependent on the resolution of your phone screen).\n\nOverall, I really like this VR headset. It is much better than all headsets I've used so far that is in this price range. If you're looking for a Google cardboard compatible headset that is better built and just better all around than any of the starter cardboard sets, you can't go wrong with this headset.\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone. I only leave feedback on a product after I have had a chance to use the product in order to provide an honest assessment of it.","Product: SFY Tifa Sexy Girl Soft Big Breast 3d Silicon Mouse Pad\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Great gag gift for a bachelor party. Print quality can be better though.\n\nReview: I got this mouse pad as a gag gift for a friend's bachelor party. This mouse pad is similar to those ergonomic mouse pads that have a silicone gel support bump at the bottom of the mouse pad. The obvious difference between this mouse pad and those is the design on this mouse pad. Instead of plain solid colors, you have a print of an anime girl (in this case, Tifa from Final Fantasy 7). The silicone gel support mounds are strategically placed on her bazongas.\n\nThis mouse pad was a hit at my friend's bachelor party. Everyone wanted to see and feel it. It made for great laughs and entertainment.\n\nThe only knocks I have against this mouse pad is that the print quality can be better. The color seems a little faded similar to prints that have been sitting in the sun too long. Also, the print doesn't seem to be the most durable. With normal use, I can see the design smear and wear out in a short amount of time. However, it's still great as a gag gift.\n\nDisclaimer : I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone. I only leave feedback on a product after I have had a chance to use and evaluate the product.","Product: FAJ Wedding Blue Shoe Decals Stickers, set of I Do & Me Too. 3 in by 1 inch. For women and/or men. Something blue for the wedding. Great quality blue rhinestones. Photo prop for album.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: This wallet is the envy of my friends.\n\nReview: This wallet is a lot of fun. Every time I whip this wallet out in front of someone who hasn't seen it before, I always get a \"what the #*@! is that?\" as they laugh out loud.\n\nThis is a leather-like wallet, it's made out of fake leather, but feels pretty nice. The $100 dollar print is very recognizable and makes a bold statement. Whipping this out of your pocket makes you feel like you are living the life, the American dream. There's a strip that goes the width of the wallet that symbolizes a rubber band holding your wad of \"benjamins\" together because there are so many you need to keep them from flying everywhere and making it rain.\n\nAs a wallet, it's also very functional. It will hold plenty of bills and other miscellany like credit cards, old gas station receipts, fortune cookie fortunes from that cheap Chinese restaurant if you keep them for sentimental values. But come on, we all know you'll get this for the print on the front. And this wallet delivers on making you feel like a boss.\n\nThe only thing that I wish was different about this wallet is if the $100 dollar bill print was a little smaller so that it's the actual size of a \"benjamin\". As it is, the print is slightly larger than a real bill. This is only a minor concern though. Heck, some people might not think it's a concern...the bigger the hundred dollar bill the better...\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are 100% my own.","Product: Every Posh Paws training pad consists of 5 layers of materials. The first layer is made of non-woven cloth, which allows dog urine flow through to the absorbent core quickly. The second layer is made of paper tissue, added with dog attractant and baking soda. The third layer is a mix of super-absorbent polymer and fluff pulp, which forms the absorbent core that can absorb and turn dog urine to gel instantly. The absorbent core can hold 3 cups of liquid. The fourth layer is also made of paper tissue. The back layer is made of water-proof PE film, which prevents wetting your floor.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Works for puppies, also great for general cleaning up.\n\nReview: I got these pet training pads for my friend who just got a puppy. But I also kept half of these for myself. The following review is based on my friend's experience with these as well as my own.\n\nMy friend reports that these training pets work great to clean up after her puppy when still potty training the pup. It's hard to predict where the untrained dog will be when it decides to go and she's only been lucky a few times to have the dog actually go on the training pad when it did have to pee. Most of her experience has been using these training pads as a cleanup tool after the dog has already gone somewhere else. She says that these pads work great for cleaning up. They are very absorbent and makes cleaning up after the puppy much easier than with paper towels. She says that one pad can pretty much absorb all the liquids from one accident and she just needs to use a paper towel to clean the floor spot with cleaners. The times that the dog did go on the pad, very little got outside of the pad and clean up is minimal.\n\nI don't have pets, but kept half of these pads to use as general purpose cleaning helpers. I find that these absorb any sort of spills very well. I have used a pad to pick up a cup's worth of water after a spill and one of these pads was more than enough to absorb the contents of the spill. These also work great to absorb water from a spill on carpet. The pad sucks up water way better than dabbing with paper towels.\n\nOverall, I really like these pads. Whether for pet use or just as general purpose pads to help with spills, they work great.\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are 100% my own.","Product: These adorable monkey wall decals will bring the jungle to life on your walls. Removable and reusable, these monkey decals can be put moved around the tree or connect together. These wall decals are perfect for any room or nursery. Tree assembles as 50\"H x 28\"W. Dimensions: Monkeys range from 12\" to 17\" tall. Lion 12H\" x 12\"W. Zebra 17\"H x 14\"W.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Did not stick on our walls.\n\nReview: We are expecting a baby soon and have been getting a lot of things in anticipation of the baby arriving. We decided to go with a jungle theme for our baby's nursery and wanted to get wall decals that had monkeys, and other jungle animals. My wife had found these wall decals here on Amazon and thought the design was super cute so we put in an order.\n\nThe wall decals came in a small roll that we had to flatten out before we could start putting the decals up. The decals are just as cute as the pictures look. We were very careful to put up the decals and even rubbed the decals onto the wall with our palms to make sure that we got plenty of pressure so they would stick. However, when we woke up the next morning, ALL of the decals that we spent hours the previous night putting up were on the floor. Needless to say, we sent them back. We don't have weirdly textured wall or anything. There is a slight texture that is pretty common for drywall here in the United States, so I don't think we had abnormally rough texture on our wall. Maybe these will work if you have a perfectly flat wall with no texture or if you were to use these on glass. But for my walls, these didn't last a night.\n\nAlso of note, the palm tree shown in the product picture isn't to scale. It is much shorter (about 3 ft in length) as opposed to tall looking like in the pictures.","Product: Product Dimensions 17.3 x 5.1 x 1.3 inches\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Peeled off my wall after just one day.\n\nReview: We are expecting a baby soon and got these wall decals to decorate our baby's room with. We were attracted to these decals because we are going for a jungle theme and the monkeys on these decals were very cute.\n\nWe were very excited when we got the decals and put them up. The decals appeared to stick to our walls fine initially. However, when we woke up the next morning, I checked on the decals and they have all peeled from the walls and are now on the floor. We have standard wall texture don't have weirdly textured walls or anything. Needless to say, we are very disappointed in these wall decals. I guess if you have just paint on drywall or if you're sticking these on a super flat surface like glass, these decals may work. But for our walls, which I think are very normal walls with very fine spray texture that's probably on the majority of drywalls in the US, these do a poor job of sticking.\n\nOverall, I gave these decals such a low rating because of its failure to stick. The design is really very cute, but without being able to stick, they're as good as scraps. It's really unfortunate because my wife really love the design of these decals.","Product: JawayTool Third-hands make precise soldering easy by holding parts in the exact position you want. With unequaled flexibility, these Helping hands can work for hobbies, electronics projects or any other detailed work where magnification. It comes with a weighted base keeps for everything steady, two alligator-style spring clips mounted in ball joints for flexibility, and a 2-1/2 inch diameter 2X magnifying glass good for checking out your soldering technique.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great helper tool if you do soldering work\n\nReview: One of my hobbies is building arcade sticks. When building arcade sticks, I often have to solder electronic components on the circuit board that controls the arcade stick. This can be anything to extra button controls or connections for LED lights. These control circuit boards are usually very small, the size of a business card. Soldering components on them is a job that requires a lot of patience. Sometimes I'll even need help from my wife as I can't hold two wires together and solder them together using a soldering iron. This is where this tool comes in. It provides clamps that you can place wires or components onto to help solder. It truly lives up to its name as a \"third hand\".\n\nThis soldering helper tool is extremely versatile. It contains two clams that you can use to hold components or wires in place for you to work. The clamps are sturdy and don't move easily unless you loosen the clamp nut. This helper tool also comes with a magnifying glass to assist in jobs where precision is needed. In use, I have nothing but praise for this helper tool. I have used it a few times now and I find that I can work independently with this helper tool without needing to ask for help to hold wires or component for me while I solder. This is an excellent helper tool if you do any type of soldering work.\n\nOverall, I really like this soldering helper tool. It is useful beyond measure and is priced very inexpensively for how useful it is. I have no reservations in recommending this.\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone.","Product: great wallet\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: This wallet is the envy of my friends.\n\nReview: This wallet is a lot of fun. Every time I whip this wallet out in front of someone who hasn't seen it before, I always get a \"what the #*@! is that?\" as they laugh out loud.\n\nThis is a leather-like wallet, it's made out of fake leather, but feels pretty nice. The $100 dollar print is very recognizable and makes a bold statement. Whipping this out of your pocket makes you feel like you are living the life, the American dream. There's a strip that goes the width of the wallet that symbolizes a rubber band holding your wad of \"benjamins\" together because there are so many you need to keep them from flying everywhere and making it rain.\n\nAs a wallet, it's also very functional. It will hold plenty of bills and other miscellany like credit cards, old gas station receipts, fortune cookie fortunes from that cheap Chinese restaurant if you keep them for sentimental values. But come on, we all know you'll get this for the print on the front. And this wallet delivers on making you feel like a boss.\n\nThe only thing that I wish was different about this wallet is if the $100 dollar bill print was a little smaller so that it's the actual size of a \"benjamin\". As it is, the print is slightly larger than a real bill. This is only a minor concern though. Heck, some people might not think it's a concern...the bigger the hundred dollar bill the better...\n\nDisclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are 100% my own."],"string":"[\n \"Product: wireless mouse\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Very nice looking cable that works well.\\n\\nReview: I have a Google Chromebook Pixel that has a USB Type C port that is used for both charging and data transfer. Even though USB Type C is gaining traction as the standard for USB mobile devices, USB Type C accessories are still quite hard to find in stores. I have a USB 3.0 charger that I use to charge my Chromebook Pixel and I got this USB Type C to full size USB cable to use with the charger.\\n\\nThis USB cable is very attractive. It is a braided cable that has more flexibility than the rubber sheathed cables we're all used to. The connectors have a metallic look to them that adds to the looks. In use, it works well, charging my Chromebook Pixel just as fast as other cables that I've used with the USB 3.0 charger.\\n\\nI should mention USB spec compliance briefly. Please always check any USB Type C cable you use for spec compliance if you're going to use it with a USB 2.0 charger (2.4 or less amps max). I don't have a USB Type C phone to use the CheckR or Current Monitor apps to check for spec compliance for this cable so I cannot say definitively if this cable is spec compliant or not. A few other user reviews state that it is, but I recommend verifying this yourself. Using a non spec compliant cable can cause harm to your charger, or device, or both. I always use this with a USB 3.0 charger, so the spec compliance issue doesn't affect me. But please, make sure you test this cable for spec compliance if you're going to use it with a 2.4amp or less charger.\\n\\nDisclaimer: I received this product for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone. I only leave feedback on a product after I have had a chance to use and evaluate the product.\",\n \"Product: Children's Movable Growth Chart - Ruler Kit for Measuring Kids Height - DIY Move as You Go - Clear OPEN BOX\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Very fun growth chart.\\n\\nReview: We are expecting and got this to measure our child's growth when he/she gets old enough. This growth chart ruler can be mounted many ways. You can sticky tack the corners or use push pins. The chart even has holes in the middle to put in additional push pins to keep the chart from curling away from the wall.\\n\\nThe growth chart will measure from 1ft to 7ft in height, so it should work for as tall as your child is, unless you have a bunch of Shaquille O'Neals running around. It is made out of plastic (about as thick as a stack of 10 sheets of paper and comes with peel off protection plastic on both sides to protect against scratches. Once mounted, you can write on the growth chart with a dry erase or permanent marker. The design we got was the \\\"collage\\\" one, which has faint names and phrases on the growth chart. It's enough to be decorative, but faint enough that you can write over it and have your own writing stand out.\\n\\nThe chart did come rolled up in a box, so we had to spend about 10 minutes unrolling and uncurling it so that it would fit on the wall without any gaps. Overall, this is great for what we need. We have it mounted in our laundry room and look forward to marking our child's growth progress.\\n\\nDisclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange fro my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are 100% my own.\",\n \"Product: Royal 12-Piece Table Forks Set - 18/10 Stainless Steel Dinner Forks, Mirror Polished Flatware Utensils - Great Salad Forks, Use for Home, Kitchen, or Restaurant\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Excellent set of forks. Classic design and durable.\\n\\nReview: This is a great set of forks either as a starter set or for everyday use. These have a plain design, but this is not a bad thing. The plain design is a classic design and very elegant. The design ensures that it will match with any kitchen decor or plate setting.\\n\\nThese forks are 18/10 stainless steel, which means it contains 18% chromium and 10% nickel. The nickel content helps the stainless retain its luster and prevents corrosion. These forks are also very hard. They're not as flexible as some of the cheaper forks where you can easily bend the prongs. After using it for about a week and putting the set through multiple cycles in the dishwasher, I can say that these are pretty durable. They haven't lost their shine and still look great.\\n\\nOverall, I would recommend these forks as a fantastic starter set or as a set for everyday use. They are well built and should last a long time. I will update this review if there are changes to the ability of these forks to stand up to corrosion over time.\\n\\nDisclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are 100% my own.\",\n \"Product: This oil set from ReMEDies has over the top aromatherapy scented oils. It includes 6 oil fragments: eucalyptus, jasmine, green tea, lavender, lotus and sweet pea. This ultimate gift from nature is made from aromatic essence of the plants that affect your overall wellbeing. Each of the 15 ml bottles has an anti-drip protective cap to avoid spills. Eucalyptus essential oil has unmatched refreshing and cooling effect. It soothes mental sluggishness and exhaustion. It is effective in reducing inflammation and treating sinusitis while rejuvenating the spirit and makes you feel happy and healthy. Jasmine essential oil has strong antidepressant and antiseptic uses. Apart from these, it is a world known aphrodisiac and can play a very important role in improving your sex life. Green tea essential oil is a known antioxidant. If you have itchy skin that needs moisturizing every few hours, having a diffuser with green tea essential oil can be a great help. It also has anti-aging properties. Lotus oil can help to reduce stress and getting quick relief in various aliments like headache, vomiting and nausea. Sweet pea oil is used for relieving stress and brings a general feeling of happiness. This home fragrance oil also has sensuous properties. Lavender oil is known for its sleep inducing and stress reducing properties. This home fragrance kit come with 25 cotton pads. The pads can be used for the ReMEDies humidifier for your aromatherapy. You can simply put the scented oil in the oil compartment of the humidifier and let yourself soak in aromatherapy and scented oil mist to enhance your senses, lift your spirits with floral oil scents. A perfect aroma every time, by ReMEDies.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great set for use in a diffuser for relaxation.\\n\\nReview: This package of 6 aromatherapy oils came packaged beautifully in a box that is perfect for gifting should you choose to gift it. The oils inside are just as wonderful. The scents in this 6 pack are great for diffusing in a diffuser. We love the sweet pea and jasmine ones. The oils in this set are not as potent as a few other brands, but we like them just as much. The lighter scents are perfect for diffusing for calming and relaxation.\\n\\nMake sure you consult your doctor if you are pregnant. Some of the scents in the pack are not recommended for pregnant women.\\n\\nPros:\\n- Great scents for aromatherapy. Very relaxing set of scents.\\n- Very nice packaging\\n\\nCons:\\n- A little less potent than some other brands we have tried, but this is no issue since the lighter scents make for a more relaxing environment.\\n\\nDisclaimer:\\nI received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are 100% my own.\",\n \"Product: On the plate, use the spoon to draw the sauce in your pattern. Several different designs can be created to enhance the look of your food. You will love the unique presentation and the sauces will enhance the food's taste and experience. Ideal for making decorations with dessert sauce, fruit sauce, coulis, caramel, chocolate, cream sauce, salad dressing, balsamic vinaigrette, hollandaise sauce, and gravy. Package contains one small spoon (7.5 inches), and one large spoon (9 inches).\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great for spicing up the look of your dishes\\n\\nReview: We are avid cooks and also like to throw parties and entertain. When serving food, we like to jazz up the looks of the items being served. We like to use colorful sauces to decorate our dishes and have been just using normal utensils for our decoration. I got this set of culinary decorating spoons to make our presentations a little more elegant looking.\\n\\nThere are two decorating spoons in this set, one large and one smaller. They are made out of stainless steel and are of pretty good quality. They're not flimsy and should last for quite some time. The spoons have a spout at the end that allows for easy spreading of sauce in whatever pattern you want. I really like using these spoons as they give me a lot more control to make sauce designs.\\n\\nThe only thing I would suggest for improvement of these is better packaging. The two spoons came in a small plastic bag. Needless to say, if you're purchasing these to gift to an aspiring cook in your life, you will have to repackage them in a gift bag or something.\\n\\nDisclaimer: I received this product for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone. I only leave feedback on a product after I have had a chance to use and evaluate the product.\",\n \"Product: DISHWASHER SAFE FLEXIBLE TURNER SPATULA ERGONOMIC DESIGN - The easy-to-use kitchen spatulas are perfect use as a brownie spatula, barbecue spatula and more The thin flexible blade edges make cooking easier and glides easily beneath most foods. Our dishwasher safe design means that these wide spatulas clean up easy. 2 PIECE SET OF FLEXIBLE SPATULAS Set includes 1 large 6.25\\\" wide giant spatula and 1 4.5\\\" wide spatula. A great value at this price, the flexible silicone spatulas have the strength and flexibility for demanding use of home cooks and professional chefs. PRO-GRADE HEAT RESISTANT SILICONE - Our BPA Free, FDA Approved silicone is bonded to flexible stainless steel and is safe for Coated & Non-Stick Cookware and perfect for use with hot foods and around the cook top. AN ESSENTIAL KITCHEN ACCESSORY PACK - Used for baking brownies, BBQs , making large omelets, or even just as a scraper or turner. Also great for icing cakes and cupcakes', folding in fruit into batters, perfect for your wok and stir fry pans and the nonstick design is great for flipping eggs or removing waffles from the waffle maker. The list goes on and on. BUY WITH CONFIDENCE! We know that you'll love our Ideas In Life 2 Piece Spatula Set! Order now to enjoy our 100% Satisfaction Guarantee!\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Nice large size, but too thin and flexible. Bends when flipping anything with even a little weight.\\n\\nReview: We are avid cooks and a good set of spatulas are a must when making anything that needs to be flipped. For us, and probably most people, the most common food that needs flipping are usually eggs. We've had our old spatulas for ages now and we figure it's as good of a time as ever to try new spatulas. I got this set of spatulas as a potential replacement for our old ones.\\n\\nThese spatulas are of a very nice and large size. The larger one is about as large as my hand when all my fingers are all stretched out and separated. The smaller one is about the size of my hand when the fingers are together. This is a great size for flipping omelets and the like. The handles are made out of metal and the flipping surfaces are silicone, which resists heat and doesn't conduct it away from your food.\\n\\nIn use, these spatulas kind of disappoint. They are too thin and flexible to flip anything with weight. The spatulas just bend under weight and actually makes flipping harder if you're trying to flip something heavy. For lighter things like a 1 or 2 egg omelet with little to no fillings, they work OK. Anything heavier and they bend. If these spatulas were sturdier, they would be great for sure since they are a great size. But as it is, I've gone back to using my old set of spatulas that are a lot sturdier.\\n\\nDisclaimer: I received this product for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone.\",\n \"Product: No mess, no fuss! Prestige Home Fashion's Premium No Glue Non-Adhesive Privacy Window Film is easy to apply and remove. Our high-quality film is great for privacy while still allowing the sun's natural light to shine through. It blocks the view from outside even at night with all the lights on! Our film is ideal for homes and offices with just the perfect amount of frost. It is also easy to cut to size and shape to fit the film on any window or to make decorative alterations. Little to no maintenance is required after installation! Safe, easy, and effective our privacy film will not disappoint.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Good to provide privacy\\n\\nReview: We have an upstairs bathroom that does not have curtains or blinds because we like the natural light from the windows. However, we wanted to add a little more privacy to the window without sacrificing too much of the natural light. I got this roll of frosted window film to put on this upstairs bathroom window.\\n\\nThis roll of frosted privacy window film came in a roll that is three and a half by six feet. I cut it into prices appropriate for my window and proceeded to put the pieces on. These are basically static cling ons that don't have any permanent adhesive so you don't have to worry about any residue on your window. They applied with little effort to my windows and stuck pretty well. The frosted design allows light to still come through yet provides privacy. I wish they were a tad less frosted to allow even more light in, but they're still pretty good at letting natural light through.\\n\\nOverall, this is a pretty good roll of frosted privacy film. We really like it as it provides us a way of increasing privacy of our bathroom window without sacrificing much light.\\n\\nDisclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone. I only leave feedback on a product after I have had a chance to use the product in order to provide an honest assessment of it.\",\n \"Product: The KitchenKool knife sharpener has been designed specifically to protect you. The KitchenKool sharpener has a large grip handle that allows you to effortlessly hold the knife sharpener steady during the sharpening process. The KitchenKool knife sharpener has been designed in such a way to give it an attractive look so that you can leave it out at all times alongside your other kitchen tools. Always sharpen your knife prior to honing. Sharpening: Hold sharpener on sturdy surface 1) Lightly pull knife through Slot A (Coarse) Repeat a few times until blade is sharp. Honing: Hold sharpener on sturdy surface. 2) Pull knife through Slot B (Fine) Repeat two or three times. Knife is now ready to use. Attractive And Light Weight 2 Sharpening Modes For Coarse And Fine Tungsten Carbide Blades And Ceramic Rods Manual, Can Be Used Left Or Right Handed Grinds Both Sides Designed For Safety Hard Plastic Casing And Tough Design\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Great for sharpening lower to midrange end knives.\\n\\nReview: We own a plethora of kitchen knives ranging from really old low end sets from college days to an expensive forged set. Over time, all steel knives have to be sharpened. We got this knife sharpener to sharpen our lower end sets. For that purpose, it does work well.\\n\\nThis knife sharpener has 2 slots for sharpening, one for a coarse sharpening and another slot for finer sharpening. I ran one of my older dull knives through this sharpener to test it out and was pretty happy with the results. Running the knife 5 times through the coarse side got it sharper than its dull state, but not to my satisfaction. I then ran it 4 times through the fine side. After this, the knife came out pretty sharp. I did see quite a bit of steel shavings from the sharpening process afterwards. This is a by product of the sharpener grinding and sharpening the knives. Over-sharpening any knife will wear it out prematurely, so I would only recommend using this sharpener on lower end or midrange knives. I always take my more expensive knives to be professionally sharpened.\\n\\nOne minor complaint about this sharpener is that it could be packaged better. It just comes in a box that's not too fancy. The box makes it look like a bargain product from the outside and is not appropriate for gifting if you intend to gift it.\\n\\nOverall, this sharpener has worked out well for my lower end knives. It gave new life to my older dull knives that I had considered tossing out.\\n\\nDisclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are 100% my own.\",\n \"Product: Set of 4 champagne bottle stoppers. Commercial grade. Used in the food service industry and in Bars.\\n\\nRating: 1.0\\n\\nSummary: BUYER BEWARE, only comes with 1 stopper instead of the 4 stated in the product description.\\n\\nReview: The description for this product is extremely misleading. The description states a set of 4. But when I purchased, only 1 came. I am giving this product 1 star for this reason. No matter how well a product works, I expect to get the same quantity as described. Please beware you are not getting 4 of the stoppers, only 1.\\n\\nAs for the stopper itself, it works pretty well. We used it on a bottle of wine and the seal on it is really tight. It takes a small effort to put on and take off, but no harder than wrestling with a cork.\\n\\nAgain, regardless of how well it works, the product description is highly misleading. Don't buy this unless you you are only expecting 1.\\n\\nDisclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are 100% my own.\",\n \"Product: Rubiwo ice tong is reliable and easy, the size is perfect, the handle no-slip, the grip on the ice is sure -are you tired of ice cube tong that slipping? -It is disgusting to find your ice cube on the floor while trying to pick it. -May be you need ice tong for your favorite party? -The teeth helps prevent ice cubes from slipping out grips the cubes, no slippage introducing your very own rubiwo ice cub tong for a solution -used these to go along with an ice bucket for a party. Worked great. -They work well in that they are springy in nature so they grip well when you have ice at hand and then easily release so you can grab another piece. The teeth ensure your ice cube doesn't go careening across the floor. -You can impress your friends at parties: as you get ice tongs. -they hook nicely over the edge of the ice bucket, or lay on a tray comfortably and are heavy enough not to blow away. Amazon buyer trust rubiwo ice tong be quality premium products very important...Read this we apologize if we're sold out because of the extremely high demand for.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Good for use with an ice bucket.\\n\\nReview: We bought an ice bucket that did not come with a pair of tongs to use to pick ice cubes out of it. I bought these tongs for that purpose. There's not much to say about these tongs. They're a fairly basic pair of tongs that you use to pick things up with. They're made out of stainless steel and come shipped in a small plastic bag. As a pair of tongs for ice, they work pretty well and is the perfect size to fit in an ice bucket.\\n\\nOverall, these are a decent pair of tongs. We're using them in our ice bucket and they're great to pick off a piece or two of ice for drinks.\\n\\nDisclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are 100% my own and was not influenced by anyone.\",\n \"Product: While USB 3.0 is not a must then buy this stylish, fast usb 2.0 hub and save your money.\\n\\nLDNIO Ultra Portable 7-Port USB 2.0 Data/Charging Hub\\n\\nConnect your USB drives, peripherals and more.\\n\\nMore Ports\\nTurn one of your computer's USB ports into SEVEN. \\n\\nFast Data Transfer \\nTransfer data at speeds of up to 480 Mbps. That's fast enough to transfer a full HD movie in just seconds\\nUltra Portable \\nWeighing about 1.2 ounce and super small, this LDNIO Ultra Portable Hub is designed for those people who know how to enjoy and taste.\\n\\nExtra Durable \\nA reinforced removable cable, sturdy exterior and heat-resistant connectors give this hub incredible durability. \\n\\nSystem Requirements: \\n\\nWindows 10/ 8 / 7 / Vista / XP, Mac OS X 10.2 (and above)\\n\\n \\nPower Usage:\\nFor a stable connection, avoid connecting high power-consumption devices, such as external hard drives. \\nThe hub will sync but slow charge tablets and other devices that require a higher power input.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: OK hub, but the lack of a dedicated power port holds it back\\n\\nReview: I have many accessories for my computer (flash drives, external hard drives, external DVD burners, etc...) that need attaching to my laptops when I use it on my desk as a workstation. I often use USB hubs to help me connect multiple devices to my laptop when I'm working on it. I got this 7 port USB hub for that purpose.\\n\\nThis USB hub is enclosed in an aluminum shell that makes the hub look very stylish. Looks-wise, the hub is a knockout. However, the hub is pretty light, lending it a cheaper feeling. The hub is almost too light that when a few cables are plugged into it, it doesn't lay flat on the table and can easily be slid around. In use, the USB hub works OK. It's a USB 2.0 hub so transfer speeds are limited to USB 2 speeds.\\n\\nThe biggest con to me about this USB hub is that there is no option to use an external power supply, which means the USB port on the PC has to supply all the power to drive all the devices plugged into the 7 port hub. This is not good since a lot of devices like portable hard drives draw more power than a lone USB port can provide. I find that if I have too many devices plugged into this hub, the whole thing gets unstable and can randomly disconnect, probably due to the lack of power.\\n\\nOverall, this USB hub is ok if you plan on only plugging in low power draw devices. For other uses, I would look for a USB hub with a dedicated power supply.\\n\\nDisclaimer: I received this product for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone. I only leave feedback on a product after I have had a chance to use the product in order to provide an honest assessment of it.\",\n \"Product: Stay plugged in to all your favorite tunes, podcasts, shows, and more without disturbing those around you. Thanks to the 3.5mm jack with a 90-degree angle, the headphones work with almost any accommodating personal device. Weighing almost nothing at 0.16 ounces, the headphones slip easily into a pocket or briefcase, or can simply hang from your neck as you move through your day. They make a great choice when traveling, too, whether waiting at the airport or watching an in-flight film.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: An OK set of earbuds with a few flaws in terms of sound quality and fit.\\n\\nReview: For me, the most important factors for ear buds are sound quality and fit. I like to wear earbuds when going running and it's important for earbuds to stay put in my ears and also sound good.\\n\\nSound quality: These ear buds are OK in terms of sound quality. It actually has great mids and the highs are above average. Vocals come through clear and the sound stage is very wide. This is good because you can hear directional sounds very well and the sound is very airy and open. Surprisingly, the bass is a little lacking. There is no low end bass and mid-bass is barely adequate. This is unfortunate since most cheap earbuds can produce decent bass. It's usually the mids and highs that are difficult for budget earbuds to pull off. It's unusual for a pair of earbuds to nail mids and highs and be lacking on the bass.\\n\\nFit: These ear buds fit OK, but not great. They sit in my ear, but don't feel secure. On my more aggressive runs, I've had the ear buds fall out a few times. These earbuds are a classic earbuds shape, which isn't great in terms of ergonomic fit. For casual use, the fit is ok, but for aggressive exercise, I prefer other in-ear designs better.\\n\\nOverall, these earbuds are \\\"middle of the pack\\\" for me in terms of sound quality and fit. For the price, it's an OK pair of ear buds. However, I own several other pairs of Panasonic earbuds that I consider to be better and are only a few dollars more.\\n\\nDisclaimer: I received this product for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are 100% my own.\",\n \"Product: Dual Layer Protective Shell for ACER C720 Chromebook Co-Molded Polycarbonate w/ Shock Absorbing TPU Edge Protection. Used to conduct business, do schoolwork, keep in touch with distant loved ones, and store our precious memories, laptops serve an integral role in our daily lives. With a protective laptop case from MAXCases, you can ensure that, wherever you take it, your precious laptop will be safe from harm.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Good protection, but makes the laptop look ugly\\n\\nReview: I own an Acer Chromebook C720 and toss it in a bag for short trips if I know I'll need a web enabled laptop. Since I tend to toss the Chromebook in a bag with reckless abandon, I've been looking for something to protect it from scuffs and nicks from just putting it in a bag. I got this plastic shell case for the Chromebook C720 for this exact purpose.\\n\\nI have mixed feelings about this snap on shell case for the Chromebook C720. On one hand, it snaps on and fits pretty well on the laptop and does serve to protect it from nicks and scratches. It adds a slight amount of bulk to the laptop but doesn't make it too bulky. There are slits cut in the case that corresponds to the vents on the laptop so the case won't cut down on the laptop's cooling system. On the other hand, it makes the laptop look cheap and like a plastic toy. With the case on, the laptop either looks 1) gaudy or 2) like a toy.\\n\\nOverall, I commend this case for being a good fit and doing its job as a protector. But for me, I can't get past how ugly it makes the laptop look. Even though I want the protection for my Chromebook C720, I have stopped using this case due to me not being able to stand how the laptop looks inside this case.\\n\\nDisclaimer: I received this product for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone. I only leave feedback on a product after I have had a chance to use the product in order to provide an honest assessment of it.\",\n \"Product: Cutting-edge 5 fingertip touchscreen technology & impeccable fashion meet. See images above. Now enjoy unrestricted touchscreen experience while keeping your hands and fingers warm. These premium, tender leather texting gloves from iGT CLASS let you keep up your communication in high style regardless of the weather. Your professional wintertime gloves with lambskin shell & delicate wool lining are perfect for use with smartphones, iPads/tablets, GPS & any touchscreen device on the go. iGT CLASS' state-of-the-art technology & design combine function, feel & fashion for the perfect wintertime glove, with full \\\"Lifetime Winter-Smart Chic Guarantee\\\". For LIMITED TIME Discounts See Special Offers Above. Click that Yellow ADD TO CART BUTTON NOW to get your Luxury Leather Touchscreen Gloves while they are Still in Stock!\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Pretty good, but thin pair of leather gloves.\\n\\nReview: My old leather gloves have worn out to the point where they're kind of an embarrassment to take out so I desperately need new gloves for driving. I purchased this pair of leather gloves for general use here in the midwest winter.\\n\\nThese gloves are a little thinner than my last pair of leather gloves. They're definitely not as warm, but we've had a pretty mild winter so far, so these have been fine. I'll have to see how well they work if temperatures ever go below zero. The leather is of decent quality. It's not super soft like my last lamb skin pair of leather gloves, but it's more of a smooth \\\"flat\\\" leather.\\n\\nThis pair of gloves claim touch operation. In use, the touch operation is good enough for swiping to answer a phone call, but don't expect to use these gloves for texting or anything else needs precise touch input. This is fine though since I've never really seen any gloves that work very precisely with touch operation.\\n\\nOverall, these gloves are pretty good. I will use them as my everyday gloves going forward. However, the price is a little high for a pair of gloves like this. It's a little thinner. I'll update this review when I've had a chance to use it more and report on how rapidly it wears.\\n\\nDisclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are 100% my own.\",\n \"Product: Just Love styles prides itself on value. We focus on giving the consumer the latest fashion and styling at prices that won't break the bank\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Nice scrub top. Runs a little small.\\n\\nReview: We are expecting and my wife has been looking for scrubs outside of her normal sizes to wear to work. We ordered this scrub top a few sizes up for her later months of the pregnancy. This scrub top runs smaller than normal US sizes. I recommend that if you order this, order a size up from your normal size.\\n\\nThis scrub top is great. The fabric, while a tiny tad thin, is comfortable and pretty soft. The stitching and workmanship seem to be of good quality. The pockets are a good size is are great for holding pens, notes, and other odds and ends. The pockets at the bottom allow you bend down without its contents spilling out. My wife comments that these feel comfortable. Since the fabric is lighter, this scrub top is great for summer months since it won't weigh you down or keep heat in. For colder weather, you can easily wear a shirt or camisole underneath for additional warmth. This scrub top has stood up to a couple of washings without looking any different.\\n\\nOverall, my wife likes this scrub top. It is practical and since we ordered it a few sizes up, she will use it as a maternity scrub top. Just keep in mind these run a little small, so order one size up from your normal US size.\\n\\nDisclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone.\",\n \"Product: Look your casual best wearing t-shirt with your favourite jeans. T-shirt is a must-have in your wardrobe this season. Made from cotton, this regular-fit t-shirt will keep you sweat free and comfortable all along. Please note that the measurements are an average taken from several different samples so the size may vary slightly. Also due to high number of volume we print colour may be slightly different.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: A decent shirt, but kind of generic looking and priced too high.\\n\\nReview: This Tshirt is a decent Tshirt overall. It is made out of cotton and is of pretty good quality. The medium that I got fits as a medium should. The main appeal of this shirt is that it depicts a 1986 date for a novelty birthday gift. However, the design is pretty generic and doesn't really stand out. Just looking at the shirt, it looks like the shirt is just one of those mass printed Tshirts with a printed text design, not a unique shirt and certainly not a great birthday gift as suggested by the product description. It's kind of an unassuming shirt.\\n\\nOverall, despite being a decent Tshirt, the design is a little lackluster and the listed price is a little pricey for such a Tshirt.\\n\\nDisclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are 100% my own.\",\n \"Product: Vybe Socks sets out to create the perfect men's sock for any event. If you're looking for the perfect dress sock for business, we got it. Maybe you're vybing for the more casual crew sock style with jeans and a t-shirt, check that too! Wear these with shorts? Why not. We believe that quality has to be the main ingredient for any occasion. We also believe that making affordable socks is important too. These colorful socks are comfortable and well made. Not too thick when wearing a dress shoe and not too thin while wearing a casual shoe or boot. These fancy socks will stand the test of time! Our men's 5 packs cater to men's shoe sizes 9-13. Creating a versatile, high quality, stylish sock was our goal. We hope you keep coming back for funky cotton made socks! Set a new course, set a new style, set a new Vybe.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Very funky socks, but they are way too expensive to recommend\\n\\nReview: I can alway use new socks as the endless cycle of mysteriously disappearing socks is real in my household. I got these socks for their eclectic design that is sure to draw attention to your feet when you wear them.\\n\\nThese socks come in a set of five pairs of very loud designs and colors that scream \\\"look at me\\\". For me, they are one hundred percent appropriate for showing off to friends to say \\\"I have the bravado and gusto to wear socks like these\\\". My friends and I goof off a lot and these socks are perfect for our personalities. Besides from their loud designs, these socks are just like any normal crew socks. They're made pretty well as the seams and stitching seem to be of pretty good quality. The socks fit well for my feet (I usually wear 9 in Mens). They are reasonably stretchy and should fit most feet (provided your feet aren't gigantic or itty bitty).\\n\\nThe one big negative I must mention about these socks is that they are priced pretty high. As of this writing, the price is thirty dollars for the five pairs. That's six bucks a pair...As fun as these socks are, they are not worth six bucks a pair. If you have disposable income to blow, these socks are great.\\n\\nDisclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone.\",\n \"Product: Our amazing comfort bra provides exceptional support and comfort without compromising on quality or fit. You might forget you have one on. Specially blended Spandex/Nylon material forms to the delicate contours of your breast, provides lasting support and prevents sagging. Superior width shoulder straps eliminate strain. Specially designed cup fits B, C, D and DD Sizes. Gently ribbed fabric is silky soft to the touch and provides a touch of classical elegance to your wardrobe. Machine washable.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great bras for lounging around the house\\n\\nReview: I got this set of bras for my wife for use when lounging around the house. The following review is based on her experiences with the product.\\n\\nThis set of bras comes in a set of three bras. They are black, white, and beige in color so you can have one to match most outfits. The bras are very different than most bras. The entire bra is made out of a stretchy fabric The stretchy fabric provides good support without any underwires. My wife describes the feel of the bras to be like a good sports bra that provides good support without squeezing too much. Since the bras are stretchy, they can stretch to fit most cup sizes. My wife says that these bras are pretty comfortable and likes them for wearing while lounging around the house.\\n\\nThe only small issue my wife noted was that there are five clasps in the front that must be hooked to keep the bra on, which is a few more than usual. However, since these are front clasps, they're a little easier to hook in than ones in the back.\\n\\nOverall, my wife really likes these bras. They are comfortable and soft and fit well for her.\\n\\nDisclaimer: I received this product for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone. I only leave feedback on a product after I have had a chance to use the product in order to provide an honest assessment of it.\",\n \"Product: Judge Wig Halloween Costume Wig; Out of All the Wigs For Costume Choices, This Is One Of Our Favorite Costume Wigs\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Nice quick costume idea\\n\\nReview: We always dress up for Halloween and have a variety of props and costumes that we keep on hand. We like to wear a new costume every year to mix things up and don't like to re wear things that we have done before. I got this colonial judge wig to add to our collection of Halloween props as an idea to do one year.\\n\\nThis colonial judge wig is suitable for a variety of costumes. You can use it as part of a colonial judge costume or as anything colonial, like the founding fathers. The wig is a good size and should fit most heads. However, if you have a bald head or very little hair, there may not be enough to fill in the head, in that case you may need some double sided tape or something to hold the wig to your head. The wig is made out of artificial fibers that are pretty sturdy. For normal uses, this wig should last for a while. The wig looks good when on and can be easily supplemented with a graduation gown for a quick and easy costume that doesn't take much effort.\\n\\nOverall, I really like this wig. It provides us with a quick costume idea.\\n\\nDisclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone. I only leave feedback on a product after I have had a chance to use and evaluate the product.\",\n \"Product: A ladies' v-neck with a professionally applied screen print for the educator who has spent half of their career giving the same answer.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Funny tshirt for teachers\\n\\nReview: I got this shirt for a friend who is a teacher. The thing that drew me to this shirt for her is the smart saying in the front. The shirt as words in the front that say \\\"It's in the Syllabus\\\". This is in reference to the fact that students always ask questions even though the answers are \\\"in the syllabus\\\".\\n\\nThis shirt is a V neck women's style shirt with shorter sleeves. The shirt isn't too thick or too thin, making it a shirt suitable for 3 seasons. The cotton construction is pretty good and there are no stress points that are obvious to me that could affect the shirt's construction.\\n\\nOverall, my friend really liked this shirt when I gave it to her. She likes the smart saying and looks forward to wearing it.\\n\\nDisclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone. I only leave feedback on a product after I have had a chance to use and evaluate the product.\",\n \"Product: Newest and Functional 6 in 1 Neck Warm Helmet Winter Thermal Fleece Hat. A variety of colors to choose from\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great alternative to hat ans scarf.\\n\\nReview: A lot of my jackets don't come with a hood, so I often have to use a hat and scarf in order to keep my head warm. I got this hood to see if it could replace my hat and scarf for this winter.\\n\\nThis hood is made out of fleece and I would say that it's medium in terms of thickness, not too thick, not too thin. This means that it can probably be used for cold days, but not for those frigid sub zero days if you're going to be outside for an extended time. I'm in the midwest, so winters here can be brutal. I would use this hood for -10 degrees F and above. Below that, you should supplement this hood with another hat or hooded jacket. There are drawstrings on the side of the hood that allows you fit the hood as needed for different-sized heads. You can also flip the mask part down to just use the hood or flip the hood back and just use it as a scarf and mask.\\n\\nOne complaint I have about this hood is that it can be very static-y. Taking this hood off usually means that my hair gets charged with static electricity and stand on their ends. It's moreso the property of the fleece than the hood itself. But I would just like to note this.\\n\\nOverall, this hood is great. It is very warm and is a lot more convenient than putting on a hat and scarf. It's a great alternative to using a hat and scarf.\\n\\nDisclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are 100% my own.\",\n \"Product: A unisex t-shirt with a vibrant screen print across the chest.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Nice shirt with a clever saying\\n\\nReview: I go through tshirts quite often due to how much I like to wear them. I wear them under my dress clothes at work, when out running, or just around the house. Because of this, my tshirts wear down quickly and I have to replace them very often. I got this tshirt for the very clever novelty saying and also to replace shirts that have seen better days.\\n\\nThe first thing that really attracted me to this shirt was the clever saying on the shirt. I'm a geek at heart and this shirt spoke to the inner nerd in me. The shirt has text on the front that says \\\"Home is where the Wifi connects automatically\\\"...ingenious. That alone puts this shirt be in the upper echelons of tshirt designs. Besides from the awesome design, the quality of the shirt is also good. It is not too thick or too thin so you can wear it in the colder or warmer months without worry. I've washed the shirt twice now and it still looks as good as the day I first got it.\\n\\nOverall, I really like this shirt. The funny saying jives with the geek in me and the shirt itself is of nice quality.\\n\\nDisclaimer : I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone. I only leave feedback on a product after I have had a chance to use and evaluate the product.\",\n \"Product: A 100% pre-shrunk, ringspun cotton shirt with a durable, professionally applied screen print across the front and back.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: good shirt for casual wear\\n\\nReview: I wear t-shirts pretty much all the time. Whether it's under my dress work clothes or just lounging around the house, I almost always have a t-shirt on. Because of that, I go through t-shirts like there's no tomorrow. I got this novelty t-shirt to replace some of my old ones that have worn out.\\n\\nThis t-shirt is a novelty t-shirt that mimics the look of lifeguard shirts. It is red in color and has a cross design and the word \\\"guard\\\" in the front. Make no mistake, people will not confuse you for a lifeguard with this shirt on, but it's still a fun novelty shirt nevertheless. I got the small size and it fits true to a small. The shirt seems to be of pretty good quality. It is a medium thickness so it shouldn't too hot for the summer or too thin for the winter.\\n\\nOverall, I like this shirt. It is a good quality shirt that I can wear to casual engagements and will replace some worn out older shirts well.\\n\\nDisclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone. I only leave feedback on a product after I have had a chance to use the product in order to provide an honest assessment of it.\",\n \"Product: A unisex t-shirt with a screen print across the chest.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Very unique shirt design. Priced a little high as of the writing of this review\\n\\nReview: I wear tshirts pretty much all the time. Whether it's underneath my dress clothes for work, lounging around the house, or out to a casual event, I almost always have one on. Because I wear them so often, they wear out fast and I have to replace them on a regular basis. I got this tshirt to replace a few of mine that I've had to throw away recently due to wear.\\n\\nThis tshirt is a black shirt with a blueprint of a diesel engine on the front. The design is actually pretty unique and should appease motor heads or casual persons alike. The shirt is of a good quality that is not too thick or too thin. Overall, I really like the look of the shirt. It serves well as an undershirt for dark dress clothes or as a casual tshirt on its own.\\n\\nSadly, I have to deduct a star for this shirt's price. At the time I purchased it, the price on the shirt was ten bucks, which makes it a great value. Now at the time of review, the price has doubled to twenty bucks, making it not so much of a value. It's still a fine purchase if you like the shirt, but at ten bucks, it was a solid five star product.\\n\\nDisclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone. I only leave feedback on a product after I have had a chance to use the product in order to provide an honest assessment of it.\",\n \"Product: A unisex triblend t-shirt with a print promoting the sport of cycling - where you can save the planet and your waistline at the same time.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Nice tshirt with a unique design\\n\\nReview: I wear tshirts quite often. In fact, I almost always have one on. At work, I usually have a tshirt on underneath my dress clothes. At home, I'm usually lounging around in a tshirt and shorts. Because I wear them so often, I go through tshirts often due to wear and tear. I got this tshirt to replace some that have worn out past their usefulness.\\n\\nThis tshirt is a solid black design with a heart shape that is made out of a bicycle chain. It is meant to emote a love of bicycles. Hey, I love my bike and this shirt is great for showing others that I like cycling. The shirt itself fits true to size. It's not too thick or too thin so it can be worn in spring, summer, and fall just by itself. You can wear it in the winter too if you have other layers.\\n\\nOverall, I really like this tshirt. It's a fun design and I look forward to wearing it on a day to day basis. The current sale price of ten bucks makes this shirt a good deal. Any higher and you'll have to use your judgement.\\n\\nDisclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone. I only leave feedback on a product after I have had a chance to use the product in order to provide an honest assessment of it.\",\n \"Product: AbcoSport Compression Shorts limit the extra muscle motion that occurs during activity, thereby making movement more efficient, saving energy. Their compression also improves blood circulation, for better oxygenation, and faster post workout recovery. With smooth, moisture-wicking fabric, these shorts are also comfortable to wear all day long\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Excellent shorts for athletic activities.\\n\\nReview: These compression running shorts are very comfortable once you find the right size. I am halfway between a small and a medium, more towards the small side, so I ordered the medium. The medium fit me perfectly, but this means that this will be too smallfor anyone who's a regular medium. So order a size up.\\n\\nThese shorts perform great. When running with them, there is no chaffing. The fabric is smooth and does not impede performance. Being compression shorts, they are very streamlined and I feel more aerodynamic than none-compression shorts.\\n\\nOverall, I highly recommend these shorts for athletic activities. Just be sure to order one size up.\\n\\nDisclaimer : I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own.\",\n \"Product: 11552\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great compact selfie stick\\n\\nReview: We have a few selfie sticks that we keep around for parties. They're always a hit when you bring them out at parties and just let people use them to take pictures of the party. Unfortunately, sometimes people borrow my selfie sticks and they magically never get returned. I got this selfie stick to keep around and replace some that I have either lost or given away.\\n\\nThis selfie stick is surprising very small. It is smaller than a lot of the selfie sticks that I have owned and used. Somehow this is about an inch shorter than my normal compact ones. When folded up, it is about as big as a Snickers candy bar. When extended, it is easily the size of a yard stick, more than enough for any selfie-type pictures you need to take. This selfie stick is built very well. The handle is made out of rubber and provides a pretty good grip on the selfie stick. The metal extension arm doesn't flex and provides a steady base for the claw the holds the phone. The claw holds the phone tight and I did not feel my phone was ever in danger of falling out. The bluetooth connection connected quickly when I paired it with my phone and the shutter button works flawlessly to take a picture when I push it.\\n\\nOverall, this is a great selfie stick if you're in the market for one. It works very well, is very compact, and priced very competitively.\\n\\nDisclaimer : I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone. I only leave feedback on a product after I have had a chance to use and evaluate the product.\",\n \"Product: Fits the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 phones. Let the screen protector take the break, not your phone screen! Looking for a screen protector capable of delivering protection beyond the normal limits? You will love the clarity and feel of the MPERO Tempered Glass Screen Protector! Coming in at an ultra-slim 0.33mm thick, with 8H-9H Strong Surface Strength, our Tempered Glass Screen Protector is designed to be scratch-resistant, smudge proof and crystal clear. It is so thin that you will barely notice it. Our Tempered Glass for the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 phone, is designed to be extremely tough and durable, being able to withstand scratches from objects like keys, sharp objects and more. Forget the air bubbles, our tempered glass screen protectors go on quick and easy and the special adhesive literally sucks the air out. Our product will retain your touch screens sensitivity and will keep your screen looking brand new!\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Solid screen protector for the Note 5.\\n\\nReview: I've tried many glass screen protectors for the Note 5 and most don't fit well due to the curved glass nature of the phone at the edges. This particular protector fits better than most. It does away with 2.5d rounded edges that other protectors have that can cause a rainbow halo effect at the screen protector edge. Having a good fit in a screen protector is important for me and this protector does better than most.\\n\\nInstallation was very easy. Air bubbles are basically nonexistent with these glass type protectors. Touch operation is good and while the glass allows your fingers to glide pretty smoothly across the surface, it's just a tiny less smooth than the stock screen.\\n\\nOverall this is a solid screen protector for the Note 5.\\n\\nDisclaimer : I received this product for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own.\",\n \"Product: iPhone 5S Case,iPhone SE Case,Geminiman Hybrid Dual Layer Slim Case Flexible TPU Bumper & Hard PC Back Rugged Premium ShockProof Protective Durable Cover For iPhone 5S/SE/5(Black)\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Good case for the Iphone 5S\\n\\nReview: One of my friends has an old Iphone 5S that she refuses to let go of. The case that she had been using with it has seen better days and is due for replacement. I got this case for her as a replacement for her existing case. The following review is based on her experiences with the case.\\n\\nThis case for the Iphone 5S is a hybrid style case. It consists of a softer silicone shell that provides soft cushioning for the phone and a hard back for extra sturdiness. This case is not a slim style case, so it will add a little bit of bulk and weight to the Iphone, although it's not as bad as some of the thicker cases from otterbox and the like. The case was easy to put on and stays put well once installed. My friend really likes the fact that the cutout for the charging port is cut pretty large and fits her larger cables that sometimes has trouble fitting in cases where the charging port is cut out too small. The case also provides pretty good protection for the Iphone. It should protect against nicks, scratches, and small drops. For complete protection, you'll still want to use one of those tank-like cases, but for most people who don't throw their phones around like a frisbee, this case should work in most cases.\\n\\nOverall, my friend really likes this phone. It's a good replacement for her old case that had worn down.\\n\\nDisclaimer: I received this product for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone. I only leave feedback on a product after I have had a chance to use and evaluate the product.\",\n \"Product: Poly-carbonate casing offers optimal protection with a sleek, smooth finish that is satisfying to the touch, and the soft silicone underneath effectively encloses your device smoothly. Perfect match and fit for device that also retains easy access to all functionalities, including all buttons, camera, headphone jack, speakers, microphone and charging port. Innovational design provides quick and easy installation and removal without use of tools. Durable and light?weight. The unique design of the Hybrid TUFF Case offers maximum protection with a soft inner silicone layer for great shock absorbance, enforced with a piece of hard polycarbonate outer body for maximum impact resistance for everything it covers. Constructed with high quality and eco?friendly resin material, this sturdy yet light?weight two layer design covers all sides of the phone against drops from any angle and all kinds of bumps, scratches, and abrasions, meanwhile guarding against any dust, grease, and fingerprints. Easily installed and user?friendly, the innovative design and exquisite craftsmanship of this case is a smart and affordable investment for your device.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great phone for all around protection.\\n\\nReview: This case for the LG G5 is a hybrid style case that provides a lot of protection for the phone. It consists of two pieces, a soft silicone inner shell and a harder plastic back for rigidity. When assembled, the case feels very sturdy and should protect the phone well. Once the phone is put inside, it doesn't shift at all. The dual layer build adds a little bit of bulk to the phone, but it's not as bad as some of the thicker cases out there. The cutouts on this phone case are in the correct places and does not impede with operation. Of note is the fingerprint reader cutout. It is an oval that allows your finger to be comfortably placed in the reader instead of just a small circle like a lot of other cases.\\n\\nOverall, I really like this phone case for the LG G5. It is built very well and provides very good protection without adding too much bulk. It's a great compromise between protection and thickness. Sure it's not tank-like like the otterbox cases, but it will still protect the phone from everyday use without making your phone look like a brick in the process.\\n\\nDisclaimer: I received this product for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone. I only leave feedback on a product after I have had a chance to use and evaluate the product.\",\n \"Product: Smash Terminator Sports Gym Exercise Jogging Arm Band Case Cover Holder for Apple iPhone Smartphone. Made from Premium Neoprene\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great for taking your phone on runs.\\n\\nReview: I got this armband in purple and blue for my wife to take on runs. The following review is based on her experiences with it.\\n\\nThis armband is made for the Iphone 6s, but will work with any phones of similar size. The phone slides in the back and the band goes around your upper arm. The band can be adjusted to fit arms of all sizes. My wife reports that the band fits well and does not move around a lot when jogging. Phone operation through the front plastic screen is good enough for changing music tracks.\\n\\nOverall, this armband works well for taking your phone on runs. My wife really likes the purple color and she has no issues using this armband on her runs.\\n\\nDisclaimer: I received this product for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are 100% my own and has not been influenced by anyone.\",\n \"Product: The Helix Air Touch is an ultra-light, ultra-thin cell phone case that effortlessly blends leading edge design with practical protection for your iPhone 6 Plus. As soon as you see the Helix Air Touch you appreciate that its different from other, inferior cell phone cases available on the market. Youll see none of the obtrusive, unnecessary bulk of lesser products that only serves to ruin the elegant lines of your iPhone 6 Plus. As well as stunning good looks, its apparent that outstanding functionality was firmly front of mind in the design process. The Helix Air Touch is manufactured with pinpoint precision. 100% attention to detail means that all the features of your iPhone 6 Plus are accessible easily and without fuss. Beware of cheap imitations that fit your phone badly and can severely restrict its ease of use. Accidents do unfortunately happen but the Helix Air Touch has you covered. The unique design incorporates the latest air cushion technology in the corners of the case which ensures maximum protection should you be unlucky enough to drop your iPhone 6 Plus. If you truly appreciate an expertly designed, feather-light cell phone case thats soft to the touch and delivers leading edge protection with style, then the Helix Air Touch is exactly what youve been searching for. All Helix Gear products are future proofed courtesy of Helix Gears fully comprehensive 1 Year Customer Protection Program. If your cell phone case breaks within 12 months, for any reason whatsoever, it will be replaced completely free of charge.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Good case, but pricey and has a large manufacturer logo in the back.\\n\\nReview: This case for the Iphone 6s is a semi slim style. It doesn't add a lot of weight or too much thickness, but it does add a tiny amount of bulk in the corners and along the edges for shock protection. Still, being a slim style case, protection from a high fall will be limited. The case overall is pretty good. It fits the phone well and has cutouts in the right spots for the camera and buttons.\\n\\nOne thing I didn't like was the manufacturer's large logo in the back and center of the case in bright white color. It's a little much for a phone case. I like my cases to be elegant and the giant logo takes away from the looks of the case. Also, this case is also priced pretty high. It's about double what an equivalent phone case is from other brands.\\n\\nOverall, this is a great case, but is held back by a semi-obnoxious logo in the back and a high price.\\n\\nDisclaimer: I received this product for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are 100% my own and has not been influenced by anyone.\",\n \"Product: cellpro COMPACT ARMOR - full protection nexus 6p case EASY GRIP - rigged surface allows for easy grip SCREEN PROTECTION - full screen protection our 6p case surrounds the screen from every side EASY BUTTON ACCESS - open charging port, nexus 6p cases comes with outer buttons FULL WARRANTY - We offer a full 5 year no hassle warranty\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Very attractive case for the Nexus 6p\\n\\nReview: One of my friends just got a new Google Nexus 6p phone and was looking for a case for it. I got this case for him and the following review is based on his experiences with the case when used with his Google Nexus 6p phone.\\n\\nThis case for the Nexus 6p is stunning in terms of looks. The outside texture has a very nice pattern that looks very high tech. The texture also makes the case very easy to grip on the back side and prevents slippage that is sometimes common when the back of a case is smooth. The case installed on my friend's Nexus 6p without much effort. Once on, it is a secure fit and doesn't budge. The cutouts for the fingerprint sensor, camera, and charging port are all in the correct places and are nice and large. This case is a cross between a slim type case and a thicker protection-oriented case. As such, it is great for preventing scratches and nicks on your phone and should provide some level of drop protection provided it's not a long drop. If you're looking for total drop protection, I'd look at one of those tank-like lifeproof cases. But for most everyday situations, this case should work well.\\n\\nDisclaimer: I received this product for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone. I only leave feedback on a product after I have had a chance to use and evaluate the product.\",\n \"Product: YOU COULD LITERALLY RE-BUILD THE PYRAMIDS WITH THE AMOUNT OF IPHONE 5S CASES MADE TODAY... We know it can be tough to find a well made, desirable case to use to protect your device. Sadly, the market today is undeniably bursting with poorly made cases. We'd love to talk more about that, but we don't have much knowledge when it comes to POORLY MADE CASES?? QUALITY IS OUR MIDDLE NAME. We're buyers too. Just like you, we go out and buy things, and we expect them to be of worthy quality. That's why we bring you only the best Transparent cases to protect your investment. We expect that for ourselves, and even more so for YOU. PROPER PROTECTION ALL THE WAY AROUND YOUR PHONE. Some of those cases don't even cover the corners of your phone. Here at EMOUNIT have you completely covered, all the way around. On top of that, the raised edges of the case can save your phone screen from scratches! GURARANTEED SATISFACTION Even if you don't love it, you can rest assured that we'll make sure your time with us ends happily, no matter what! CLICK THE ?ADD TO CART? BUTTON NOW, AND START LOVING YOUR CASE!\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Nice case for increased drop protection for a slim style case.\\n\\nReview: This case for the Iphone 6s has a very good combination of slimness and protection, which is kind of uncommon. Usually, a slim style case is too thin to provide any drop protection and drop protection style cases make your phone look like a brick and compromises the phone's slim looks.\\n\\nThis is a clear flexible style case that is of the slim kind. While it is a little bit thicker than the slimmest of cases, it's still pretty thin. It doesn't add much to the bulk or weight to the Iphone 6s. The clear material is a clear white, without a yellow tint that is sometimes common with clear type cases. The four corners of the case have a little bit more material and is molded to bulge out a little bit. While it looks a little weird, the bulges at the corners allows for increased drop protection, providing almost an air bags like effect to the corners. The cutouts on the case are all in the correct places and do not impede usage.\\n\\nOverall, I really like this case. It is a nice looking slim style case that provides more drop protection than most slim style cases due to the extra bulges at the corners.\\n\\nDisclaimer: I received this product for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone. I only leave feedback on a product after I have had a chance to use and evaluate the product.\",\n \"Product: Transform your movie and gaming world with the VR 3D Virtual Reality Goggles by SHARKK. With the VR Goggles your device goes from smartphone to 3D device in a matter of seconds. The goggles bring movies and gaming to life - thrusting you into a 3D world where you have total control. Head straps keep the goggles firmly, but comfortably in place and your smartphone device is held safe and secure with the aid of soft foam padding. Two separate dials on top of the goggles allow you to adjust the screen clarity to your own comfort level while a magnetic button on the side panel offers accuracy and control.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Excellent Google cardboard compatible headset\\n\\nReview: Update: Since owning this for a few weeks now, I have to update this review from 5 stars to 3 stars. I initially liked it, but after using it for some more, I noticed many flaws in this headset. First of all, for movies, the lenses are a little narrow so you get an effect like tunnel vision. Also, once inserted, the phone can't be adjusted.\\n\\nI am a strong supporter of VR technology and have been one of the first people in my circle of friends to embrace and try out VR. I like the simpler VR technologies that are cheaper and more accessible. VR headsets like the Google Cardboard derivatives allow access to VR using your smartphone at little cost. I got this VR goggle set as an upgrade to my Google Cardboard ones since these seem more durable and comfortable.\\n\\nThis VR headset is one of the best budget ones that I have owned. It is made out of durable plastic instead of cardboard or foam like some low end headsets are. The eye guard is made of a soft material and is both durable and comfortable at the same time. The headband is also thicker and better built than most budget sets I own. Operation is pretty simple. You slot in your phone to the front of the headset, launch a VR program, close the set, and that's it. There are adjustments for the lenses to accommodate different eyes. You can move the lenses toward or away from each other. You can also move the lenses toward or away from your eyes. This allows you to dial in the right focus for your eyes as needed. In use, the quality of this VR headset is spectacular. There is clear separation between the left and right lenses. There is no light leak or reflections that are common with cheaper VR headsets. The lenses are of good quality and displays nice sharp images (which also is dependent on the resolution of your phone screen).\\n\\nOverall, I really like this VR headset. It is much better than all headsets I've used so far that is in this price range. If you're looking for a Google cardboard compatible headset that is better built and just better all around than any of the starter cardboard sets, you can't go wrong with this headset.\\n\\nDisclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone. I only leave feedback on a product after I have had a chance to use the product in order to provide an honest assessment of it.\",\n \"Product: SFY Tifa Sexy Girl Soft Big Breast 3d Silicon Mouse Pad\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Great gag gift for a bachelor party. Print quality can be better though.\\n\\nReview: I got this mouse pad as a gag gift for a friend's bachelor party. This mouse pad is similar to those ergonomic mouse pads that have a silicone gel support bump at the bottom of the mouse pad. The obvious difference between this mouse pad and those is the design on this mouse pad. Instead of plain solid colors, you have a print of an anime girl (in this case, Tifa from Final Fantasy 7). The silicone gel support mounds are strategically placed on her bazongas.\\n\\nThis mouse pad was a hit at my friend's bachelor party. Everyone wanted to see and feel it. It made for great laughs and entertainment.\\n\\nThe only knocks I have against this mouse pad is that the print quality can be better. The color seems a little faded similar to prints that have been sitting in the sun too long. Also, the print doesn't seem to be the most durable. With normal use, I can see the design smear and wear out in a short amount of time. However, it's still great as a gag gift.\\n\\nDisclaimer : I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone. I only leave feedback on a product after I have had a chance to use and evaluate the product.\",\n \"Product: FAJ Wedding Blue Shoe Decals Stickers, set of I Do & Me Too. 3 in by 1 inch. For women and/or men. Something blue for the wedding. Great quality blue rhinestones. Photo prop for album.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: This wallet is the envy of my friends.\\n\\nReview: This wallet is a lot of fun. Every time I whip this wallet out in front of someone who hasn't seen it before, I always get a \\\"what the #*@! is that?\\\" as they laugh out loud.\\n\\nThis is a leather-like wallet, it's made out of fake leather, but feels pretty nice. The $100 dollar print is very recognizable and makes a bold statement. Whipping this out of your pocket makes you feel like you are living the life, the American dream. There's a strip that goes the width of the wallet that symbolizes a rubber band holding your wad of \\\"benjamins\\\" together because there are so many you need to keep them from flying everywhere and making it rain.\\n\\nAs a wallet, it's also very functional. It will hold plenty of bills and other miscellany like credit cards, old gas station receipts, fortune cookie fortunes from that cheap Chinese restaurant if you keep them for sentimental values. But come on, we all know you'll get this for the print on the front. And this wallet delivers on making you feel like a boss.\\n\\nThe only thing that I wish was different about this wallet is if the $100 dollar bill print was a little smaller so that it's the actual size of a \\\"benjamin\\\". As it is, the print is slightly larger than a real bill. This is only a minor concern though. Heck, some people might not think it's a concern...the bigger the hundred dollar bill the better...\\n\\nDisclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are 100% my own.\",\n \"Product: Every Posh Paws training pad consists of 5 layers of materials. The first layer is made of non-woven cloth, which allows dog urine flow through to the absorbent core quickly. The second layer is made of paper tissue, added with dog attractant and baking soda. The third layer is a mix of super-absorbent polymer and fluff pulp, which forms the absorbent core that can absorb and turn dog urine to gel instantly. The absorbent core can hold 3 cups of liquid. The fourth layer is also made of paper tissue. The back layer is made of water-proof PE film, which prevents wetting your floor.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Works for puppies, also great for general cleaning up.\\n\\nReview: I got these pet training pads for my friend who just got a puppy. But I also kept half of these for myself. The following review is based on my friend's experience with these as well as my own.\\n\\nMy friend reports that these training pets work great to clean up after her puppy when still potty training the pup. It's hard to predict where the untrained dog will be when it decides to go and she's only been lucky a few times to have the dog actually go on the training pad when it did have to pee. Most of her experience has been using these training pads as a cleanup tool after the dog has already gone somewhere else. She says that these pads work great for cleaning up. They are very absorbent and makes cleaning up after the puppy much easier than with paper towels. She says that one pad can pretty much absorb all the liquids from one accident and she just needs to use a paper towel to clean the floor spot with cleaners. The times that the dog did go on the pad, very little got outside of the pad and clean up is minimal.\\n\\nI don't have pets, but kept half of these pads to use as general purpose cleaning helpers. I find that these absorb any sort of spills very well. I have used a pad to pick up a cup's worth of water after a spill and one of these pads was more than enough to absorb the contents of the spill. These also work great to absorb water from a spill on carpet. The pad sucks up water way better than dabbing with paper towels.\\n\\nOverall, I really like these pads. Whether for pet use or just as general purpose pads to help with spills, they work great.\\n\\nDisclaimer: I received this product for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are 100% my own.\",\n \"Product: These adorable monkey wall decals will bring the jungle to life on your walls. Removable and reusable, these monkey decals can be put moved around the tree or connect together. These wall decals are perfect for any room or nursery. Tree assembles as 50\\\"H x 28\\\"W. Dimensions: Monkeys range from 12\\\" to 17\\\" tall. Lion 12H\\\" x 12\\\"W. Zebra 17\\\"H x 14\\\"W.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Did not stick on our walls.\\n\\nReview: We are expecting a baby soon and have been getting a lot of things in anticipation of the baby arriving. We decided to go with a jungle theme for our baby's nursery and wanted to get wall decals that had monkeys, and other jungle animals. My wife had found these wall decals here on Amazon and thought the design was super cute so we put in an order.\\n\\nThe wall decals came in a small roll that we had to flatten out before we could start putting the decals up. The decals are just as cute as the pictures look. We were very careful to put up the decals and even rubbed the decals onto the wall with our palms to make sure that we got plenty of pressure so they would stick. However, when we woke up the next morning, ALL of the decals that we spent hours the previous night putting up were on the floor. Needless to say, we sent them back. We don't have weirdly textured wall or anything. There is a slight texture that is pretty common for drywall here in the United States, so I don't think we had abnormally rough texture on our wall. Maybe these will work if you have a perfectly flat wall with no texture or if you were to use these on glass. But for my walls, these didn't last a night.\\n\\nAlso of note, the palm tree shown in the product picture isn't to scale. It is much shorter (about 3 ft in length) as opposed to tall looking like in the pictures.\",\n \"Product: Product Dimensions 17.3 x 5.1 x 1.3 inches\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Peeled off my wall after just one day.\\n\\nReview: We are expecting a baby soon and got these wall decals to decorate our baby's room with. We were attracted to these decals because we are going for a jungle theme and the monkeys on these decals were very cute.\\n\\nWe were very excited when we got the decals and put them up. The decals appeared to stick to our walls fine initially. However, when we woke up the next morning, I checked on the decals and they have all peeled from the walls and are now on the floor. We have standard wall texture don't have weirdly textured walls or anything. Needless to say, we are very disappointed in these wall decals. I guess if you have just paint on drywall or if you're sticking these on a super flat surface like glass, these decals may work. But for our walls, which I think are very normal walls with very fine spray texture that's probably on the majority of drywalls in the US, these do a poor job of sticking.\\n\\nOverall, I gave these decals such a low rating because of its failure to stick. The design is really very cute, but without being able to stick, they're as good as scraps. It's really unfortunate because my wife really love the design of these decals.\",\n \"Product: JawayTool Third-hands make precise soldering easy by holding parts in the exact position you want. With unequaled flexibility, these Helping hands can work for hobbies, electronics projects or any other detailed work where magnification. It comes with a weighted base keeps for everything steady, two alligator-style spring clips mounted in ball joints for flexibility, and a 2-1/2 inch diameter 2X magnifying glass good for checking out your soldering technique.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great helper tool if you do soldering work\\n\\nReview: One of my hobbies is building arcade sticks. When building arcade sticks, I often have to solder electronic components on the circuit board that controls the arcade stick. This can be anything to extra button controls or connections for LED lights. These control circuit boards are usually very small, the size of a business card. Soldering components on them is a job that requires a lot of patience. Sometimes I'll even need help from my wife as I can't hold two wires together and solder them together using a soldering iron. This is where this tool comes in. It provides clamps that you can place wires or components onto to help solder. It truly lives up to its name as a \\\"third hand\\\".\\n\\nThis soldering helper tool is extremely versatile. It contains two clams that you can use to hold components or wires in place for you to work. The clamps are sturdy and don't move easily unless you loosen the clamp nut. This helper tool also comes with a magnifying glass to assist in jobs where precision is needed. In use, I have nothing but praise for this helper tool. I have used it a few times now and I find that I can work independently with this helper tool without needing to ask for help to hold wires or component for me while I solder. This is an excellent helper tool if you do any type of soldering work.\\n\\nOverall, I really like this soldering helper tool. It is useful beyond measure and is priced very inexpensively for how useful it is. I have no reservations in recommending this.\\n\\nDisclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are one hundred percent my own and have not been influenced by anyone.\",\n \"Product: great wallet\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: This wallet is the envy of my friends.\\n\\nReview: This wallet is a lot of fun. Every time I whip this wallet out in front of someone who hasn't seen it before, I always get a \\\"what the #*@! is that?\\\" as they laugh out loud.\\n\\nThis is a leather-like wallet, it's made out of fake leather, but feels pretty nice. The $100 dollar print is very recognizable and makes a bold statement. Whipping this out of your pocket makes you feel like you are living the life, the American dream. There's a strip that goes the width of the wallet that symbolizes a rubber band holding your wad of \\\"benjamins\\\" together because there are so many you need to keep them from flying everywhere and making it rain.\\n\\nAs a wallet, it's also very functional. It will hold plenty of bills and other miscellany like credit cards, old gas station receipts, fortune cookie fortunes from that cheap Chinese restaurant if you keep them for sentimental values. But come on, we all know you'll get this for the print on the front. And this wallet delivers on making you feel like a boss.\\n\\nThe only thing that I wish was different about this wallet is if the $100 dollar bill print was a little smaller so that it's the actual size of a \\\"benjamin\\\". As it is, the print is slightly larger than a real bill. This is only a minor concern though. Heck, some people might not think it's a concern...the bigger the hundred dollar bill the better...\\n\\nDisclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The opinions above are 100% my own.\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":42,"string":"42"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_3"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":888,"string":"888"}}},{"rowIdx":889,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"A3G9QIRBU6S5YI"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of \"5.0\" for a product with description \"Scarf Bail & Rings Fit For Light To Medium Weight Scarves. Color: Antique Silver Bail Made by Material: Zinc Alloy Ring Made by Material: Acrylic See What Customer Said About This Jewelry Set: "I love these!!! I wore a scarf yesterday and put a charm on each end and wore it with a wrap in front. The charms held it in place very nicely. They are lightweight but sturdy. They arrived quickly and in perfect condition. "\". The summary of the review text is \"Great quality! Nice heavy silver pieces!\"."},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"I am pleasantly pleased and surprised at the quality of these. The 3 larger pieces with bails are made of nice, heavy silver - very nice quality and great detail. The other 6 pieces are plastic, but unless you are looking very close, you can't tell that they aren't silver. You really wouldn't want these 6 pieces to be heavy anyway since they will mostly be used as the slides along the sides of the scarf and would therefore make your scarf too heavy on the sides and would cause them to pull off your neck. I'm going to have such fun with these, and there are plenty of pretty pieces you can hang from them as pendants. I like the elephants, gem stones, and such. Will be purchasing a gold tone set and more when I find them."},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"I am pleasantly pleased and surprised at the quality of these. The 3 larger pieces with bails are made of nice, heavy silver - very nice quality and great detail. The other 6 pieces are plastic, but unless you are looking very close, you can't tell that they aren't silver. You really wouldn't want these 6 pieces to be heavy anyway since they will mostly be used as the slides along the sides of the scarf and would therefore make your scarf too heavy on the sides and would cause them to pull off your neck. I'm going to have such fun with these, and there are plenty of pretty pieces you can hang from them as pendants. I like the elephants, gem stones, and such. Will be purchasing a gold tone set and more when I find them."},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Product: At Logan's Roadhouse you can come as you are, be yourself and make lifelong friends. You'll enjoy our high-quality, moderately-priced menu featuring aged steaks, made-from-scratch yeast rolls and bottomless buckets of in-shell peanuts. With so many choices, your gift card recipients are certain to find something to suit their tastes!\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: How do I love thee, Oh, Logan's delicious Steak! Let me count the wonderful ways\n\nReview: How do I love thee, Oh, Logan's delicious Steak! Let me count the wonderful ways....I love thee lightly seasoned and cooked to perfection, as only Logan's Roadhouse can do. I love thee alongside a delightful bucket of peanuts, which always await the hungry steak ordering customer right on the table. I love thee slathered with oh so delicious bourbon glaze or seasoned butter. I love thee next to the mouth watering fresh yeast dinner rolls, which are served up hastily and a-plenteously! I love thee, O Logan's, thou great and inexpensive Roadhouse restaurant, which beckons with delightful cowboy decor and a peanut-shell laden floor. I love your buttery perfection you call broccoli, and I love your chicken and salmon dishes as well.\n\nHence, I love your most amazing $25 gift card, for which I only have to pay a mere $20. Now, off to Logan's I go, for a meal fit for two for only $20!\n\nI have never had a bad experience at Logan's. The steak is always ALWAYS cooked to perfection. Seasoned just right. Meat-a-tarians, buy this card!!","Product: Give the gift of subs! Give them something tasty! Fresh veggies, quality food, affordable prices. With over 30,000 locations across North America, theres always a Subway restaurant nearby.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Perfect to give to teens, but buy from local subway to get a free sub w/ purchase\n\nReview: Honestly, these are great to give to your teens to ensure the money you give them gets used for what is supposed to be used for. I like giving gift cards to them and know that they are using them for food, not video games or Sephora, cigarettes, or anything they could get into trouble for. I know they at least are eating if I give them a gift card, not that they couldn't sell it, but, still better than money. Good for traveling or if you're worried about carrying a purse with you or otherwise getting your cash stolen. I've never had a problem with one not working, and I usually purchase directly from the local restaurant because they usually have a deal: buy a $25 gift card, receive a 6\" sub FREE. So, win-win for everyone.","Product: The Cheesecake Factory offers more than 200 menu selections including steaks, pastas, specialty salads, pizzas and fresh fish. Don't forget to save room for one of their more than 50 decadent cheesecakes and desserts.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great to stick to \"flower\" sticks and make a gift arrangement\n\nReview: These are simply great. I like to use them as gifts, but a couple of unique things I love to use them for is for teacher gifts and for guy gifts. I like to make a little \"floral arrangement\" with various gift cards by putting in a basket or flower pot and sticking these on craft sticks (or the long Starbucks stir sticks since they're perfect long size, wooden and free) and filling in with either homemade, wrapped cake pops or various candies. You can add a $25 card along with various denominations of other cards such as Starbucks, Panera, Olive Garden, Target, Home Depot, Kroger, Papa John's....the possibilities are endless. They have been raved over by every single person I have given them to and they make a beautiful and unique presentation.","Product: Papa John's Gift Cards can be given to anyone who loves great tasting pizza! Perfect gift for \"hard to buy for\" people on your shopping list. Plus, Papa John's Gift Cards do not expire, and there are no service fees. To find a location near you, visit http://www.papajohns.com.\n\nRating: 1.0\n\nSummary: Better deal - AMAZING deal - on Papa John's website. Get your card there, not here.\n\nReview: Go directly to the Papa John's website to order your $25 gift cards. Here's what you get for doing so: get an instant coupon code by email for a free large pizza. Then, go online to use the free pizza coupon, select more pizzas, and immediately use your $25 PJ gift card. Also, if you look, there are all kinds of specials on the PJ ordering website, such as this one that is going on at the time of this review... it's called \"Pepsi. Pizza. Rock.\" For $12 you get a large 2 topping pizza and a 2 liter drink. Then, you receive another coupon code for a free product, such as a large pizza or a 2 liter drink. All of mine thus far, and I do this every weekend for the past month...have been a free large pizza. On top of all of this, you get Papa rewards, so every 25 Papa Points, you get another free large pizza. You can't go wrong. And the pizza is phenomenal. And don't even get me started on that wonderful garlic butter they include in the order. WIN! WIN!","Product: Olive Garden offers an award-winning wine list and a range of delicious Italian dishes inspired by our Culinary Institute of Tuscany in Italy.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Perfect gift and great for lunch with friends.\n\nReview: We love Olive Garden, and I particularly love Olive Garden for lunch during the work week. One reason I really love the gift card is that I can use it to pay for both myself and my dining friend better than using cash. When I am paying with cash, several of my friends argue about it and insist on paying. Sometimes, I want to pay, and I don't want them feeling guilty or fighting over who is paying. When you have a gift card, you can just say, \"Let me pay. I have this gift card.\" They never turn down the offer.\n\nNow, about the restaurant. I love nearly all the menu items, but I really REALLLLY love the Zuppa Toscana, so I usually get the unlimited soup, salad & breadsticks lunch special for $6.99. Lunch is served fast and I always can get in and out in under an hour. They always let me take the rest with me, even happy to provide more soup, salad and breadsticks and box it up, so, since I'm single, that's dinner. Always great service, and let's not forget the after dinner mints. YUM!","Product: Westcott Titanium-Bonded Scissors are lighter, stronger and sharper. Lightweight yet durable enough for any cutting job. From the Manufacturer: Scissors feature high-performance, titanium-bonded blades that provide three times the strength of stainless steel and resist corrosion. Scissors are ideal for paper, cardboard, lightweight line, fabric and other materials. Straight handles have a contoured soft grip\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Excellent, super sharp, high quality, TITANIUM, stay sharp and so comfortable to use\n\nReview: Excellent scissors that are super sharp and high quality. I previously owned another pair which I paid $11 for by themselves, so getting two pair at less than I paid for the one pair....no brainer. We all love them and use them so much, and this is the only pair of scissors anyone in the house will use, and they continually come up missing, so I decided it was time to buy more. I have used them to cut paper, hair, cardboard, those impossible plastic blister packs that everything seems to be packaged in these days, garden shears, sewing, and I've even used them as kitchen shears to cut up meat. They cut excellently through small bones and tendons and I throw them right in the dishwasher (opened of course) and clean them. They can go from cutting paper or bones and still be sharp enough when it's time to cut hair, which is the ultimate test of scissors. They're made of titanium so they hold a razor sharp edge much, much better than plain stainless steel. They don't rust in the dishwasher either. Love these and HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend. And the handles are so very comfortable and ergonomically designed! You can't tell by the photos, but from the view shown on the product page, you only see one side of the handles. As you turn them, the way the curve is shaped changes and just fits your hand perfectly. Very well made, quality product, and you won't be disappointed, I promise!","Product: Goodbye to pins glue and large tacks. Save time on basting. Ideal for quilting curtains linen quick repairs and more. The smallest tack and smallest needle available. Starter kit contains-micro stitch tool with needle 1080 micro fasteners (black and white) and instructions.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Great quick fixer upper tool!\n\nReview: Ok, all in all a good purchase. It serves the purpose I had for ordering, which was to have the ability to quickly stitch up a hem or sew on a button when in a bind, like when I'm rushing to get out the door or get the kids out the door, to mend a hem at work, or whatever. So it's great for that. The little plastic stitch things are exactly like the plastic tags you see on clothing tags in the store, except they're about 2mm long. That's perfect. They come in black and white and you can order refills easily here on Amazon. While it isn't a deal breaker necessarily for me, the one thing I'm not crazy about - and the reason for the loss of one star - is that you can feel the tag against your skin. I used it to mend a hem on my work trousers and, though I can tolerate it, I can feel it, almost like you can feel them on a tag if you forgot to pull it off. Since it was on a pant's hem, I'm sure it isn't as bad as if it were on something directly touching your skin, such as in the neck of a garment. A bit of an annoyance, but not a deal breaker. I still think it's convenient and it serves the purpose I need it for.","Product: Almost everyone has a Duck Tape story to tell, usually praising its remarkable strength and versatility. Duck Brand duct tape has a wide range of applications, both traditional and nontraditional, and is now available in dozens of colors and patterns, making it even more useful than ever! Because of its strength and adhesive properties, you can use Color Duck Tape for almost any job, including everyday household and auto repairs--anywhere a flexible and weather-proof bond is needed. Color Duck Tape is great for coordinating materials, color-coding and identification, craft applications, and more. This heavy duty tape is cotton mesh reinforced, but still easy to tear! Duck Tape conforms to both smooth and uneven surfaces, and can be used on materials such as cloth, vinyl, leather and plastic - even metal and laminates. Duck Tape is great for any repairs - anywhere!\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Worked wonderfully to repair a white vinyl chair!!\n\nReview: It's Duck tape, so what more can I say? This is nice and thick, not the cheaper, thin version. I got it to cover the vinyl on a white chair and it worked beautifully to fix an otherwise ruined chair that my almost 3 year old granddaughter cut with her sisters kid scissors. It was a step stool chair with pull out steps, and she uses it for a make shift high chair now that she is too big for the real thing. It is virtually un-noticeable on the chair and did an amazing repair job. When I was done with the chair, I fixed a leak in my water hose with it and it hasn't even tried to come off the wet hose.","Product: Rosetta Stone has teamed up with Barron's to offer a unique French language learning package for power learners. It includes award-winning Rosetta Stone French Levels 1-5, plus Barron's French-English Dictionary, Grammar Book and Phrase Book. Learn French the proven Rosetta Stone way with at-a-glance backup from Barron's. Never be left without the right French word or phrase! Not compatible with Chromebooks.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Good, but I still prefer DuoLingo, which is FREE\n\nReview: As I stated in a previous review of DuoLingo, another language learning program (which is a FREE Google/Android app), I'm not fond of Rosetta Stone as far as approach goes. I just don't like the way the learning is presented. I've had two intensive years of classroom French and have used all kinds -- ALL KINDS -- of French learning software, including but not necessarily limited to: Rosetta Stone online, now Rosetta Stone complete computer software, DuoLingo, Babel, Pimsleur, FrenchPod, text books, variious phone apps, French verb conjugation apps, Google Translate (which is a useful too), various audio CDs, ABOUT.com (also very good for learning by reading), and just every kind imaginable. What I do like about Rosetta Stone - great vibrant colors, you can speak the words/phrases presented and it will hear your pronunciation and attempt to correct you so that you learn to enunciate it correctly, Visual learning coupled with audio and enhanced by pronunciation and writing. What I don't like, and some of these will be repeats to what I do like. While I like that you can speak into a computer enabled microphone, I don't generally like apps that recognize speech. They seem to never really recognize 100% correctly - some worse than others, obviously, but clearly, when speaking using this, I was graded incorrect on some basic EASY words, and I'm talking the very basics in the first couple of lessons. Some of the sentences I didn't even finish due to an interruption, it graded me as correct. WHATTTT? Also, I don't like that when speaking it, the software sometimes requires you to S-L-O-W-L-Y E-N-U-N-C-I-A-T-E each syllable in a sentence. It seems very long and drawn out, but maybe that's because I already have years under my belt. If it was a completely foreign language, I might appreciate this, BUT, I believe I would get frustrated that it was too fast paced if I was completely new to the language. They throw a new word at you and then expect you to remember it used various ways later...hard to explain, but seems that it would be too difficult and frustrating for a person completely new to a particular language. And as I said, way too slow if you are intermediate.\n\nThis was completely difficult to load and I had to call support twice, but they were extremely helpful and resolved my issues promptly and courteously. Excellent customer support!! I don't completely understand why they want you to use the program online instead of using what was loaded onto my machine. I receive the 5 discs but the instructions tell you to load from the web, which is fine, but then they also want you to log on from the web and use the program on the web. Basically, I purchased this big 14X16\" box of stuff just for the registration key. I get it that possibly the online has some new functionality and perhaps bug fixes (?? who knows), but shouldn't every user/purchaser be experiencing the same thing as everyone else? It comes with 3 FREE trial months of online learning, which includes communicating with fellow users and tutoring sessions (I doubt I'll use the tutoring and definitely won't use the chatting feature). So I get it that they want you to go online so you get used to using the online and perhaps continue to pay for the online subscription.\n\nLong story short, I couldn't make the program work without bypassing the online log in. I had to use the actual software on my computer, which is a'ok and hunkie dorrie with me.\n\nThe books that come with it are great. There is a big, thick Barron's French English dictionary, and this alone is an $18 value. It is a well laid out, great reference tool. It also comes with a pair of good headphones with mic, but you can use any earbuds with a mic. Two additional books that are included are Barron's French Grammar book - which is hands down the most useful tool in learning French. This book is a $6 value. -- and -- Barron's French at a Glance, a French phrase book and traveler's language guide, an $8 value (values based on Amazon purchase price at the time of this review). With the French at a Glance book, you get a free smartphone app to use so you can hear the pronunciation.\n\nReasons I find this purchase almost unnecessary: there are tons of free language resources, DuoLingo being my favorite app, and the one which I have BY FAR learned and retained more from than all the rest of the resources I have used combined. It has a few minor cons as well, but hey, it's free, very robust software, and FUN. Another reason I feel this is almost a waste of money, even at the deep discount I received by purchasing on a lightning deal, is this: I work in a group that travels internationally quite extensively, from all countries in Europe, all over Asia, Dubai, Canada, Africa, Mexico, you name it. Everywhere but Antarctica. Most of those travelers don't worry about not speaking the language...why??? They use their smart phones, type in the phrase using Google translate, and they get the translation right there and they show it to the waiter, or whatever. That's how they do it and they do it every week of every year. I'm not advocating not learning the language, all of the inclusions in this package are great, but there are ways to get around it. And you always have your smartphone with you. It almost seems antiquated to carry around a book, make the waiter wait for you to look through the pages in the book and then try to pronounce.\n\nIn conclusion, yes you can learn from this software. It's colorful and bright and you can and will learn, just this particular format may make your learning experience better or worse. for me, I prefer DuoLingo, but I purchased this so I can deepen my understanding and I find that using VARIOUS methods for learning helps more than trying to learn with just one. All in all, I am glad I purchased, and will use this, but I'm not expecting to suddenly fall in love with it.\n\nIf I were to advise someone who is just beginning to learn French, I'd advise them to use DuoLingo for sure, certainly use this, and incorporate FrenchPod (they also have Spanish pod) and Pimsleur into it. Toss in some About.com French lessons (which explain about placement and all the whys and examples), and use a good verb conjugator and phrase book and any phone apps to enhance your learning. If you know a native speaker and can solicit their help, that would be your most useful tool.","Product: Powerfully crafted with an attractive rust-resistant chrome finish, your dishes will be drying in style on the DR-22. The silicone feet protectors will keep the rack stone steady, so there will be no wiggles and wobbles bringing your plates crashing down either. And with a plastic draining tray, your counter will be safe from the drips of the drying dishes, so no wasting paper towels on clean up after you've put your dishes away. The DR-22 even has a mug stand for 6 cups and a cutlery holder for all your forks, spoons, knives, and kitchen utensils. Perfect for large families, its massive 23 plate capacity will make sure you are able to complete a full load of dishes in just one go, no more waiting for half to dry to finish the rest! Just set your dishes on the rack and let them dry in beautiful chrome style!\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: The racks on the side fall off easily and not as nice as I thought it would ...\n\nReview: Sort of cheap in my opinion. The racks on the side fall off easily and not as nice as I thought it would be. It's very lightweight, and you can FORGET about hanging a cup or almost anything on the hook rack on the side. The tilt or the way it's made or something....nothing will stay on it for 5 seconds. It's just ok, but if you have a lot of dishes, or a big family, or heavy pieces, move on to something else, this isn't for you! Oh, and at the top, you can only put plates or bowls. Forget about you need the room for one more cup or glass. It will not fit at the top, only room for slotted items. Then there's the tray at the bottom, you have to pull it out and empty the water, and it's a hassle to pull out and put back in. Seriously dissappointed in the quality and use of this!","Product: A patented product means this is a unique and brilliant solution to a very messy problem. So easy to use that even kids can use them\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: This is the best invention...besides the grilled cheese sandwich, of course!\n\nReview: These are wonderful for grilled cheese in a snap, no mess, and my almost 9 year old can make grilled cheeses to her content. She loves them and I'm constantly being asked to make them...breakfast. Lunch. snack. more snacks. dinner. Late night snack. The child wants her grilled cheeses! You can fit a basic sandwich loaf of bread size slice in it - 2 slices and 2 slices of cheese, a THIN swipe of butter if you like or enjoy your sandwich fat free. Pop down and toast. We like to toast on low heat and pop them down a second time to make sure the cheese melts really well and you get a nice crunchy exterior. They wash up with soap and water. I don't put them in my dishwasher because they don't get clean enough to my liking. I didn't get mine on Amazon, but at Kroger. They're $4.99 and no shipping. And no waiting for it to arrive.","Product: The LRD750 contains a dot matrix display. When a signal is detected, the display shows the band type and signal strength in an increasing bar format. The LRD750 utilizes two different modes for highway or city use & recognizes the 4 different bands (X, K, KA, & Laser) used in radar technology. With the Voice Announce feature it will tell you the unit status as it changes. For example, if the unit picks up K band transmissions, it announces K band. Turn this feature on and off through the menus.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great detector. Detected radar about a mile down the road.\n\nReview: So far I love this. Just started using it a feew days ago and it picked up K-Band about a mile down the interstate. When I got further up the road, I saw that it was one of those big radar speed detecting signs that tell you what speed you're going and to slow down. Immediately after I passed it, the beeps started to slow for about 50 car lengths and then they stopped. I'm still learning which beeps mean what, but I was impressed that it picked up the radar that far in advance. Uniden has always been a good brand in my experience. It came with a clip and 12v power cord and the suction cups to hold onto windshield. It clips on and off of the clip well, easy on, easy off. the suction cups stay on well. I don't really speed a lot, but sometimes I just want to make sure I'm not going over the limit or going to get pulled over. I'm sort of paranoid about that after having been ticketed in the past.","Product: Bluetooth and NFC Wireless Speaker - The Boom Pod - Powerful, Portable Wireless Speaker with Hands-free Microphone : The Boom Pod is the hands-free, wireless solution for listening to music and sound from your phone or tablet. Featuring built in CVC (Clear Voice Capture Technology), the sound and volume quality of the boom pod is unmatched. Easy to pair with One Touch Pairing, the Boom Pod also features a hands-free microphone, so incoming calls can easily be answered in a car or anywhere. Each Boom Pod features non-slip feet that secures placement while in motion, and the Boom Pod features a rechargeable lithium polymer battery that lasts up to 8 hours long. You will immediately fall in love with your Boom Pod - Guaranteed\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Where has this been all my life?!!\n\nReview: Excellent sound quality and couldn't be easier to use. Charges quickly and it has honest to goodness theater sound. If you close your eyes while listening to it, you can't tell you aren't hooked up to home theater. You can slip your finger under the top \"handle\" and feel the boom or whatever that speaker disc thing is called - jumping around in there from the beats. I can set it up on my dashboard in my car and hear and talk perfectly with no sound issues at all. I use it when I'm in the shower and can have a quick convo with one of my friends or family while getting ready (you know how they always call with last minute updates or plan changes). I also use it in the kitchen when I'm cooking or my hands are otherwise wet or busy and no more, \"What? I can't hear you! Take me off speaker phone!\" Which is always what I get. I absolutely loathe having to hold the phone up to my ear. I can share a video with someone easily, put it by the pool to listen to tunes. The sound is great from several feet away and I can roam all over the kitchen while talking. Oh, and I can listen to nice relaxtion music or ocean waves or whatver with it right on my nightstand so I can sleep without earplugs in my ears. Beats the heck out of earplugs ANY DAY! LOVE THIS! Don't know how I ever got along without it.","Product: Ellen tracy flawless fit is a seamless full brief panty in a silky smooth fabric. It is full coverage, flat against the body, and invisible under clothing.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Love them! LOVE them! LOVE THEM!!!\n\nReview: I don't think I have ever loved panties/underwear more than I love these. I have tons of panties, and orders several packages at one time, and now, they are all I want to wear. No other panty will do for me. They are super comfy - SUPER, SUPER comfy, they don't ride up or roll down. They stay exactly where you pull them to and you cannot even feel them. They don't leave panty lines under my clothes, they are sooo soft and really, I just love them. There is nothing not perfection about these, from the wonderful leg openings to the soft stretchy fabric and waistband to the seamless style. They breathe and they are the perfect fit! I also love that there is a visible \"stripe\" on the outside of the waistband but not one on the inside. It is part of the fabric knitted in, not painted on. The painted on information on tagless underwear always wears off, but this won't. Not that it matters much, because it wouldn't really matter if you wear them inside out or not, they are the same really except for the stripe. It just helps me to turn them the right way. Again, doesn't really matter because they are reversible in actuality.","Product: Ginger Snaps 32\" GRAND NECKLACE SN90-93 Interchangeable Jewelry Snap Accessory. This is the kind of necklace that looks great with anything you wear...be it blue jeans, skirt or a fancy dinner out. This necklace features a pendant that you can add a snap for every occasion.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: LOOOOVVVE my Ginger Snaps\n\nReview: I don't know how many of these things I'm going to have to buy, but every time I get one, someone talks me out of it! I swear, the next one I get I'm keeping. I love Ginger Snaps and the versatility you have in customizing a particular look for the day to match your outfit, your mood, or to have fun and play with it. I get lots of oohs and aahhhs at church, work, and everywhere else...well, before my daughter took mine from me. LOL I can snap in a red snap, a cross snap, a rhinestone snap, a black and white snap, you name it...the possibilities are almost endless! LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE! My favorite jewelry. Can I buy stock in the company?","Product: Stunning 100 per cent natural shell ring. The conch is carved out by hand to make a ring in Indonesia. It comes in various sizes. Comes in a white branded jewellery box with a small branded cloth to polish your silver items.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Amazingly unique, natural conch shells carved into rings! Truly one of a kind!\n\nReview: you cannot image how beautiful and unique this ring is. I purchased two of them planning to cover one with gold and silver leaf pens, which I also purchased on Amazon because I saw Lindsay Phillips (the shoe lady) wearing one and I can't make myself mess with the unique beauty of these natural conch shells. Gorgeous doesn't adequately describe them. I noticed one reviewer said theirs was chipped, but let's remember that these are carved from actual conch shells. I think it might just add to the uniqueness and beauty of the ring. Of course, neither of mine were cracked, so I can't say for sure how I'd feel. But for the price, I was more than willing to take the chance and glad I did.","Product: Perfect for using indoors, this pump operates on 120V AC, simply plug it into an available outlet and begin inflating or deflating. The included adapter with 3 nozzles makes this pump compatible with many different inflatable products while the 600 LPM max air flow gets the job done quickly. Never get caught trying to inflate manually, get the Intex Quick-Fill Pump and get the job done quick!\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Works very well for all your pool toys, air mattresses, tires and play balls.\n\nReview: This works perfectly. the cord is really very thick and long and it has a good bit of power to it. The reason we purchased this is for several reasons, listed next, and it has worked wonderfully for everything so far: 1) main reason we purchased is because we purchased the big rolling yard ball that the child gets in and rolls around in, and it has many air chambers and all the reviews mentioned it was difficult to air up without an electric pump 2) to pump up swim toys - and we have TONS of swim toys and various kiddie pool play things. I can even let my 9 year old granddaughter help pump up her own things by plugging it in and setting out for her when she's over. Good grief, what a headache solved just with this one item. 3) Filling up, topping off bike tires. Another hassle solved. We let the older friends in the neighborhood air up their tires too. We have also used it to re-inflate a basketball and top off the air in my 3 yr old's play balls. 4) we already have a battery operated one but sick of buying the big batteries for it, and have a couple of hand pumps and an air compressor in the car, but those are too difficult or hassle to use when it's time. So this is a great addition and I've been meaning to purchase for awhile. Now I can't figure out why I didn't sooner. 5) We want to take it camping to air up air mattresses for the tents. Most camping sites we visit have power, so no problem there and we don't have to worry about batteries running low. It's great for airing up balloons for a party too if you aren't using helium.\n\nIf I were to make one improvement it would be to have a nice long hose to go with it. It's a bit of a hassle to hold it up against what you're inflating, but still it works well.","Product: Perfect for using indoors, this pump operates on 120V AC, simply plug it into an available outlet and begin inflating or deflating. The included adapter with 3 nozzles makes this pump compatible with many different inflatable products while the 600 LPM max air flow gets the job done quickly. Never get caught trying to inflate manually, get the Intex Quick-Fill Pump and get the job done quick!\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Works very well for all your pool toys, air mattresses, tires and play balls.\n\nReview: This works perfectly. the cord is really very thick and long and it has a good bit of power to it. The reason we purchased this is for several reasons, listed next, and it has worked wonderfully for everything so far: 1) main reason we purchased is because we purchased the big rolling yard ball that the child gets in and rolls around in, and it has many air chambers and all the reviews mentioned it was difficult to air up without an electric pump 2) to pump up swim toys - and we have TONS of swim toys and various kiddie pool play things. I can even let my 9 year old granddaughter help pump up her own things by plugging it in and setting out for her when she's over. Good grief, what a headache solved just with this one item. 3) Filling up, topping off bike tires. Another hassle solved. We let the older friends in the neighborhood air up their tires too. We have also used it to re-inflate a basketball and top off the air in my 3 yr old's play balls. 4) we already have a battery operated one but sick of buying the big batteries for it, and have a couple of hand pumps and an air compressor in the car, but those are too difficult or hassle to use when it's time. So this is a great addition and I've been meaning to purchase for awhile. Now I can't figure out why I didn't sooner. 5) We want to take it camping to air up air mattresses for the tents. Most camping sites we visit have power, so no problem there and we don't have to worry about batteries running low. It's great for airing up balloons for a party too if you aren't using helium.\n\nIf I were to make one improvement it would be to have a nice long hose to go with it. It's a bit of a hassle to hold it up against what you're inflating, but still it works well.","Product: The Sport-Brella Recliner Chair covers all your bases, bringing you ultimate comfort as you watch every game and cheer on your favorite players as they hustle down the field. With a 3-swivel umbrella you will stay protected against the sun with UPF 50+ and a metallic underside. The canopy can easily attach to either side, so youll stay in the shade no matter where youre sitting. With three additional adjustable hinges for reclining, and a detachable footrest you can sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. The insulated drink pouch and built-in bottle opener means you can crack open a cold one for you and your friends at the park or at the beach. There is a zippered storage pouch to keep your personal belongings protected, as you nap in the shade or the sun. Always be prepared with the Sport-Brella Recliner Chair when you take it to your family BBQ or pack it up for your favorite camping adventure in the easy to carry bag. The Sport-Brella Recliner Chair is built for comfort and made to last. The lightweight stainless steel frame can support up to 250 lbs. meaning youll get all the support you need. So, put your feet up, lay back, and enjoy the view with the Sport-Brella Recliner Chair.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Now THIS is a PERFECT chair! It has everything!\n\nReview: Got this for the 4th of July park event this year. I've been searching for a covered chair for several years now, and every 4th of July I have to go with a regular chair and I always get so hot and sunburned (the event in our city lasts all day and fireworks at 9p). This year, I said, forget about looking in stores, I'm ordering one online, and this one is fantastic...much better than I had hoped to find. It's sturdy, adjustable umbrella, nice foot rest, chair is comfy and just entirely well built. The only downside is now I will have to purchase one for every member of my family, otherwise, I'll never hear the end of it. LOL It's going to be great for sporting events, outdoor concerts, dog park, the beach, camping, and so much more! I'm so glad I got this!","Product: Sleek, layered protection from drops and screen damageDual-layer drop protection from 2 meters in a slimmed-down form factor, Survivor Slim is great for anyone looking for the drop protection that made Survivor famous in a slim, light profile.Designed and tested to meet or exceed MIL-STD 801G standards for drop protection, Survivor Slim's inner, impact-resistant polycarbonate shell is jacketed in premium silicone to guard your phone against damage from drops. A smooth, curved exterior and non-slip texturing give Survivor Slim a distinctive look that's easy to hold on to.Compatible with your devices fingerprint scanner, Survivor Slim protects your iPhone's Multi-Touch display with an ultra-clear sheet of screen protection film.You can see the entire range of Survivor cases for smartphones and tablets at www.griffintechnology.com/survivor.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: 3 Ports are for Apple devices, 1 port is for Android/Samsung devices.\n\nReview: It's great. I should have noticed more the specs, though. I have all android devices and only one of the ports is designed for android devices. The other three are for various Apple devices, which is fine. They state you can use all the ports for various devices without damage to your device, but you might not get the charging speed you want or a charge at all. If you have Apple devices, you will have three ports for those, one of which is an iPad port, the other two for iPhones or iPods, but still, I'm okay with the purchase. Most everyone else in my household has Apple devices, so it won't be a total waste. It works good and seems to be a really great quality product.","Product: Never spend much money on calling a tow truck or put yourself or your family in danger by waiting for help ever again. This is the perfect companion for car owners and all your DC charging needs. The Universal 5 in 1 power station not only provides the best solution to the stranded motorist with a dead battery, it also has 4 other functions that will make your life easier. Plug any USB charging cord directly into your power bank for recharging all of your important mobile devices. It comes with every charging adapter that you will ever need to fit all major brand electronics including tablets, MP3s, laptops, radios and more. 400 Amp peak (220 amps continuous) auto jump start battery clamps also work to slow charge your battery when left connected for longer periods of time. You can use the powerful LED light when in emergency situations or when you just need a flashlight. Built in safety features, such as over-current, short-circuit, over-load, over-voltage and over-charge protection. Pyle engineering to make your life safer and easier when on the road or at home.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: SOOOO MUCH POWER! Jumps a car battery several times off one charge!!!!!\n\nReview: I was a bit skeptical at first, but this is amazing. I let my daughter and her boyfriend borrow it because his car battery is completely shot, and they get 3-4 jumps off one charge! I can't believe there can be this much power in such a small device. It comes in a zippered case with all the peripherals needs to power various electronics, plus the jumping cables. My son in law, who works as a mechanic at a car dealership saw this and said that one of the mechanics he works with has one of these and is always the person who jumps off all the batteries in the shop because it's so much easier to use than their big old battery jumper. Awesome-ness! I'm going to get each of my kids one for the next gifts I gift to them.","Product: The original highlighter with brilliant read-through colors and a molded chisel tip to highlight or underline. Durable plastic tip for smooth highlightingwon't fray or amp;quot;mush.Amp;quot; formula allows you to leave cap off for up to one week and still highlight. Quick-drying ink. 24 for the price of 20 colors: assorted tip type: chisel assortment: four fluorescent Pink 20 fluorescent Yellow. Br br\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: These NEVER dry out!\n\nReview: These are one of only two highlighters I will use, or that I will purchase for the company I work for and here's why. THESE HIGHLIGHTERS DO NOT DRY OUT! You can leave the top off for days and they still work. How many highlighters have you had to throw out because they dried out? These seriously don't. I do find that either you are a darker/bright yellow highlighter person or a neon/fluorescent yellow fan, and never both. These are the fluorescent ones. If you are making copies, this color doesn't show up on b&w copies, but I find with the darker/bright sunshine yellow ones that the copy comes out black over the word, so these are the ones you really need to use if you will ever need to copy a highlighted page. The only other highlighter that I find doesn't dry out is the sharpie DRY liner, which is a gel sort of like a crayon. A lot of folks at my work don't like those, so these are what we like to use.","Product: The Black & Decker LST400 12\" 20v MAX Lithium High Performance Trimmer and Edger offers up to a full hour of runtime when using dual mode switch in run-time mode, along with Runtime Extension Technology with a dual mode accelerator switch for high performance or longer run time. This unit includes (1) 4.0 Amp hour 2X lithium battery pack for 2X more run time per battery pack. It features a patented Power Drive Transmission that prevents bogging down in heavy grass and weeds and the Automatic Feed Spool ensures continuous work without bumping and having to stop to adjust the spool. It includes a wheeled edging feature- which allows you to just rotate to convert from trimmer to edger. It is quiet and easy to start, delivering great cutting results without the mess and hassles of gas powered trimmers and the adjustable height and pivoting handle positions provide maximum comfort and control. This unit is part of the 20V MAX System - A System that Demands Attention (1 Battery fits multiple tools). Includes: (1) LST400 20V MAX Cordless Trimmer/Edger, (1) LB2X4020-OPE 20V MAX 2X Battery, (1) Charger - LCS1620, (1) AF-100 Spool, (1) Guard and (1) Handle.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Not delighted or impressed.\n\nReview: I was so excited to get this and I should have done my homework better. First of all, I do love B&D products, and my son in law has a corded model, so I thought I would be saving myself the headache of chasing the cord around. I really didn't want a gas model because a) they're too heavy for me b) noisy, c) toxic for my lungs and the environment. This is just not as powerful as the corded model or a gas powered one, and the battery runs down super duper fast. Maybe I got a bad one. And what was I thinking? The shaft is just entirely too short and I have to bend slightly to trim. WHAT A PAIN (in my back, I mean)! It doesn't seem to have the cutting power to power through edging or taller weeds like the corded model my son-in-law has, but I do like that the batteries are interchangeable between different tools. If you are shorter (I'm 5'8\"), and if you have light duty trimming only, you will probably love this. It's good other than the cons I listed.","Product: Mars whiskas temptations hearty beef 3oz pouch. Quality ingredients used. Suitable to be used for pets.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: My cats and dog are addicted to these!!!\n\nReview: My cats AND my finicky eater dog absolutely LOVE LOVE these. They beg for them. Any bag rattling in the house now makes all my fur babies come a running for Temptations treats. I even use these to get them to come back to the house when I need for them to. A simple shake of the bag and if they are anywhere within earshot, and they almost always are, they come straight inside. I give them about 10 pieces every night, plus whatever bribery I need to use, and it lasts a good while. One of my cats is a ginormous tom, and LITERALLY, he will meow long and diligently for these. If I leave the bag anywhere he can get to, say on a countertop, he is going to find it and find a way to get into the bag and eat them up, so you will want to keep the bag put away \"securely\" for sure.","Product: PetSafe's Stubborn Dog In-Ground radio fence pet containment system provides your pets that are stubborn or hard to train with freedom and safety while costing thousands less than conventional fencing. Recommended for dogs 30 pounds and up. It's quick and easy to install, reliable and safe, and with proper training, a very effective solution. A lightweight super receiver is worn on your pet's collar, which picks up the radio signal and alerts your pet as he nears the underground boundary. Once your pet is properly trained, he will learn to stay in the boundaries designated by the radio fence. Includes 500 feet of boundary wire and 50 boundary flaps, enough to cover about one-third acre. For use in the US only. This unit is compatible with all US 110v outlets and are not to be used with 220v international voltage.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Freedom for my cats, peace of mind for me...and my neighbors!\n\nReview: Although the shipping took longer than I would have liked, I finally received this and MAN, how did I ever live without this? I can't even imagine not having it now. Firstly, it is simple to put up, the instructions are so well written and clear, I think a 10 year old could do it. If you have an existing fence, you do not have to put this in the ground. I read on some reviews that this is a huge chore buying, and if you have a huge yard, I guess it is, but I just attached it to my fence, used my lawn edger to help dig a rut where there was no fence, and boom, it's up. After MUCH research for a couple of months, I decided on this because it isn't wireless. The big huge wireless box is not only ginormous and ugly, but it doesn't have good reviews overall, and is prone to failure for many reasons, including that the signal fluctuates and makes the boundary you set move up to 2' either way at any given time. First, you lay it out around the area you want to fence, making sure it's just as you want it. They include helpful tips and advice too to help you in deciding how to lay your fence. At first, I was just going to lay it around the perimeter of my yard, but they show all kinds of ways to protect your pool area, garden spot, and cover difficult areas. They also explain how to train your animal precisely, which I was kind of worried about, but if you just follow their instructions on what and how to train on what days, it's simple. Days 1-5 for example, you just walk your pet around with the unit off and give him treats when he avoids the flagged areas. You do this for 30 minutes a day or something. Then day 6-10, for example, you'd see if he avoids the area by himself, and if he does you praise him a lot and reinforce the training. It accelerates up to about 2-3 weeks with progressive training. Even an idiot could do it. There is some adjustment work just making sure it works the way you intended, giving you the opportunity to reset the wires or whatever. And of course, you have to fit the collar to your specific pet, since all pets are different sizes, fur thicknesses etc. But they tell you all about that, too. I just think this is a well designed product that works great. It seems like they have thought of everything, and they give you pet training tips and tell you what to do to leave your area with your pet (because you don't want them to be afraid to cross the line when they have to go to the vet, for instance). They explain what to do if your animal gets out of the protection area. You can buy additional wire, flags, a second or third collar, and anything else you need. They also include some waterproof gel to use in case you have to splice in additional wire. The gel is a capsule shaped container of gel that you put the spliced wire into, close it to seal, and then use, because you need your wiring to be waterproof. This particular unit is rechargeable, but I decided it was worth the investment so I don't have to buy the exclusive petsafe batteries that everyone thinks are so high. They don't seem that high to me, but maybe the non-rechargeable units use a lot of batteries. Anyway, this is a complete set with every little thing you could ever think of, even things that aren't pictured. It even has a surge protector included, so all in all a great price for such a great product. Now my cats cat climb over the fence to the cat hating dogs and people on the other side. They can't get into the street on the front of the house and get hit by a car. But they can have freedom to play outside, catch bugs, lay under the shade tree, roll around on the patio, bask in the sun, chase squirrels, and just be cats. I'm so thrilled I got this!!!! And so are my babies!!","Product: The Catit Self Groomer provides easy-access rubbing pleasure for cats, while the durable plastic bristles simultaneously remove loose and shedding hair. The brush can be snapped in and out of its frame for simple maintenance. The Catit Self Groomer affixes easily to either flat or corner surfaces and it includes adhesive strips and a supply of catnip. Your cat will love being able to groom itself while getting a massage at the same time.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: These are ok, just ok. As other reviewers ...\n\nReview: These are ok, just ok. As other reviewers have stated, they are hard, stiff plastic, and my cats have zero interest in them. My biggest negative with these is that you cannot stick them on a corner that isn't exactly a squared off, 90 degree flat corner, such as a wall or a piece of furniture. If you try to put it on a door moulding, it won't stick because of the angle of the inside surface. You would literally have to put stacks of double sided foam tape on them to get them to work, which I guess I will do, because I so want these to work for my long haired cat, who absolutely loves to be groomed and rubbed and brushed.","Product: Your pets's health and vitality require adequate water consumption. Our carefully developed, unique design is exceptionally\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Great for getting your cats to drink enough water.\n\nReview: Works great. My cats were barely drinking water, and I was buying wet food (stinky), and then I was adding water to that to make sure they got enough water. Cats that don't get enough water develop all kinds of health problems. Since I've gotten this, they love their water and I see them drinking often. What made me select this unit was that it has 3 levels to drink from, which was great for my 3 cat family. If you're worried about your cat or dog having to use the potty more often, relax. They will, but they will learn to deal with it and guess what else....litter boxes smell much better when the urine isn't so concentrated and strong. This unit is easy peasy to refill and change. Easy to wash. The water gets nasty easily, so I recommend 1) placing it away from their food dish (I actually read online that cats don't like their food and water together anyway.) This should keep food crumbs to a minimum. 2) change the water at least once weekly, twice is better. It's easy to pick up and dump out, spray out with the sink sprayer, refill and put back down. 60 seconds twice a week. Is your animal worth it? Look, stuff, junk, crumbs, hair, dirt, kids dropping crumbs into there, etc gets all up in the water. 3) TAKE THE PUMP OFF AND CLEAN IT WEEKLY! Otherwise, it WILL get slimy. purified water or not. and just think of what's microscopically growing in there that you can't see. My poor kitty was sneezing and I figured out it was mold/mildew growth on the pump and filter. Changed it out, no more sneezing. Sneezing started back up, I knew what it was and checked it out...sure enough, mold growth starting to develop on pump and filter. 4) Run through your dishwasher with bleach or in the sink, then rinse really well. You can also use peroxide, Listerine (rinse it well afterwards), alcohol, etc. The fact that this is plastic means that it has little scratches and nicks and crevices that bacteria grows in. I'm not trying to dissuade you from purchasing...but just like anything else, you must keep it clean. don't your babies deserve it? and lastly 5) set it up where human food drippings and crumbs don't fall into the water, like don't put it by your trash can or right beside the counter where you butter toast or where the kids eat their morning cereal. All that food and crumbs and dustpan germs and stuff get in the water. Yuck.","Product: Pet parents know texture is just as important as taste for their cat. TEMPTATIONS Treats for Cats Tasty Chicken Flavor features a unique pocket shape that is delightfully crunchy on the outside and scrumptiously soft and creamy on the inside. Your feline friend will adore the natural, mouth-watering chicken taste, which never contains artificial flavors. America's #1 cat treat* also is 100% nutritionally complete and balanced for adult cat maintenance. At only 2 low calories per treat, our delicious cat treats are perfect for playtime, snack time or anytime. (* Based on sales data)\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: My cats and dog are addicted to these!!!\n\nReview: My cats AND my finicky eater dog absolutely LOVE LOVE these. They beg for them. Any bag rattling in the house now makes all my fur babies come a running for Temptations treats. I even use these to get them to come back to the house when I need for them to. A simple shake of the bag and if they are anywhere within earshot, and they almost always are, they come straight inside. I give them about 10 pieces every night, plus whatever bribery I need to use, and it lasts a good while. One of my cats is a ginormous tom, and LITERALLY, he will meow long and diligently for these. If I leave the bag anywhere he can get to, say on a countertop, he is going to find it and find a way to get into the bag and eat them up, so you will want to keep the bag put away \"securely\" for sure.","Product: The OurPets Backyard Bird encourages physical play and mental stimulation by appealing to your cats natural instincts. Your cat is ensured an instinct fulfilling play experience by providing them with a toy that has a tactile feel, an enticing RealMouse sound, and a catnip scent. All the fun for your cat with no catnip mess. Keep them entertained for hours and try multiple products from the backyard collection to see which animal your cat likes best!\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: My Dog and Cats go GAGA over this toy!\n\nReview: My cats and dog love this toy, but the reason I buy them is because my DOG loves it. She just absolutely goes WILD for this, and honestly, it's one of the only two toys that really holds her attention. The other is a flipping/walking/barking dog that I also purchased from Amazon. The only thing I can think of that might be a negative on this is that you need to supervise your pet - especially if he/she is a dog that likes to chew toys up. This has a small \"voice box\" inside that contains a tiny - TINY - button battery. The voice box is about the size of a penny or nickel in diameter, and the button battery is about the size of a cherry pit, so my concern is that my dog will accidentally swallow it, because she does chew right into this and pull the insides out. I really do think she believes this is a real animal/rodent. When she isn't attacking it, she is looking at it, and when I put it away for awhile, she sits there and looks up at it wishing she could reach it. Literally, she is obsessed. These also come in a ball version with a mouse, and that lasts much longer for her, but she eventually gets into that as well. On the ball version, the mouse is suspended in the middle on a thin metal rod that runs from one side to the other in the middle inside of the ball. Any vibration on the ball makes it chirp. Really, it does sound like a mouse if you close your eyes and imagine. I read some reviews that weren't that favorable about the chirping sound, but if my animal loves it, it really doesn't matter what I think it sounds like. These are lower in price on Amazon that they are at the WM store.","Product: IQ Treat Ball Interactive Food Dispensing Dog Toy\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Nice interactive, stimulating and entertaining dog toy.\n\nReview: This is a great treat ball for a dog, but I purchased it for my cat. The product is marketed for a dog treat dispenser, so I can't hold that against them. I don't see a docile dog getting a treat from it, though. I have to shake it like crazy to get tiny treats to fall out, and I guess that's the whole purpose, to get your dog to get exercise while rewarding him and keeping him interested. If the treats just fell straight out, the toy wouldn't hold pup's interest. So I'm giving it 4 stars for that, but it might be most well used on a patient, hearty player or persistent treat lover. That said, I do believe that these IQ toys for cats and dogs are excellent for keeping our babies active, playful, and stimulated, and yes, I think you can increase your pets IQ (reasoning skills, whatever) by using these sorts of toys.","Product: Petmate's Pet Cafe Feeder provides a delicious supply of food for pets with less refills required for pet parents. This auto pet feeder ensures easy access to the nourishment pets need, ideal for pet parents with busy lifestyles. The food hopper gradually dispenses dry food as the bowl is emptied, keeping food fresh in the storage reservoir. The bottle locks securely into the base of the auto dog feeder for stability and features a wide opening for convenient hand-washing. Featuring easy-grab cutouts, pet parents can easily lift the pet bowl feeder without spilling. Petmate Pet Cafe cat and dog feeders are available in three sizes, ranging from 3 to 12 gallons, to accommodate pets of any size or multi-pet households. Offered in several pearlescent colors, Petmate's Pet Cafe gravity feeder makes a charming addition to any room of the home.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: We use this for our cats and we like it for these reasons\n\nReview: We use this for our cats and we like it for these reasons: No more filling the dry food bowl daily (what a pain). You can buy a 4-7 lb bag of food and dump it in and be done...no bag to roll down or put away (what a pain, lol). The food stays nice and clean. The only con I have is that if you tip it over, WHAT A PAIN!!! And it's rather easy to tip over. Make sure you set it nicely out of the way. Once the clear part comes off (it just sits in the opening, doesn't snap in), food is going to go EVERYWHERE. But of course, there is a lid on top to refill it, but sometimes, you just need to wash the lower bowl or something. I also notice that this wouldn't work well for larger dog chunks, as even the small kibble we feed our cats sometimes needs some help coming out. All in all, we like it and use it, but of course, there isn't another product to take its place, so...","Product: Reward your cat with a scrumptious playtime snack that is 100% nutritionally complete for adult cat maintenance and helps to control tartar. Featuring a tempting mix of flavors, such as chicken, turkey and cheddar, TEMPTATIONS MixUps Cat Treats FARMER'S FEAST Flavor is a great-tasting reward. Plus, at only 2 calories per treat, your feline friend can enjoy the crunchy outside and soft center anytime. America's #1 cat treat* is the perfect way to make snack time fun for your feline friend. (* Based on sales data)\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: My Cats are Addicted like Crack to These!\n\nReview: My cats are freakishly in love with these treats. They love all the flavors, but this one and the dairy especially. It's the only thing I can use to get them to come in from outside. I love to give them treats every night and they go crazy for these. I mean, CRAZY, and they are the most finicky cats in the world. These have a soft inside filling and a crunchy outside and they come in dozens of flavors and a variety of fillings. These have catnip in them...not sure how much or if that's why they like them, because they do love all the flavors, but they just love love these! I can't leave a bag anywhere they can jump up to or dig into or find in any way, because they WILL find the bag and they WILL find a way to tear into the bag and they WILL eat every last one. So I give them about 10 each of these little bites every evening or as a bribe to get them to come inside or to get them to come out of hiding in the house.","Product: The rechargeable in-ground Fences the convenient containment system that lets you keep your pet safe in your yard without having to regularly replace collar batteries. Charge your pet's receiver collar when the battery's low and away he goes to enjoy his new yard freedom. Add as many pets as you like with additional compatible collars. 4 adjustable levels of static correction plus tone-only mode for training lets you find just the right level for your pet. The fence installs in about a weekend with some basic DIY skills. You'll bury wires in your yard to set a custom pet area up to 25 acres with additional wire and flags. The transmitter sends a radio signal through the boundary wire to your pet's collar. If your pet approaches the boundary, he'll hear a warning beep to remind him to stay in the yard. If he continues through the boundary, he'll feel a safe, gentle static correction from the collar to keep him in the yard. After about 2 weeks of training, your pet will quickly learn the areas he is free to enjoy.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Freedom for my cats, peace of mind for me...and my neighbors!\n\nReview: Although the shipping took longer than I would have liked, I finally received this and MAN, how did I ever live without this? I can't even imagine not having it now. Firstly, it is simple to put up, the instructions are so well written and clear, I think a 10 year old could do it. If you have an existing fence, you do not have to put this in the ground. I read on some reviews that this is a huge chore buying, and if you have a huge yard, I guess it is, but I just attached it to my fence, used my lawn edger to help dig a rut where there was no fence, and boom, it's up. After MUCH research for a couple of months, I decided on this because it isn't wireless. The big huge wireless box is not only ginormous and ugly, but it doesn't have good reviews overall, and is prone to failure for many reasons, including that the signal fluctuates and makes the boundary you set move up to 2' either way at any given time. First, you lay it out around the area you want to fence, making sure it's just as you want it. They include helpful tips and advice too to help you in deciding how to lay your fence. At first, I was just going to lay it around the perimeter of my yard, but they show all kinds of ways to protect your pool area, garden spot, and cover difficult areas. They also explain how to train your animal precisely, which I was kind of worried about, but if you just follow their instructions on what and how to train on what days, it's simple. Days 1-5 for example, you just walk your pet around with the unit off and give him treats when he avoids the flagged areas. You do this for 30 minutes a day or something. Then day 6-10, for example, you'd see if he avoids the area by himself, and if he does you praise him a lot and reinforce the training. It accelerates up to about 2-3 weeks with progressive training. Even an idiot could do it. There is some adjustment work just making sure it works the way you intended, giving you the opportunity to reset the wires or whatever. And of course, you have to fit the collar to your specific pet, since all pets are different sizes, fur thicknesses etc. But they tell you all about that, too. I just think this is a well designed product that works great. It seems like they have thought of everything, and they give you pet training tips and tell you what to do to leave your area with your pet (because you don't want them to be afraid to cross the line when they have to go to the vet, for instance). They explain what to do if your animal gets out of the protection area. You can buy additional wire, flags, a second or third collar, and anything else you need. They also include some waterproof gel to use in case you have to splice in additional wire. The gel is a capsule shaped container of gel that you put the spliced wire into, close it to seal, and then use, because you need your wiring to be waterproof. This particular unit is rechargeable, but I decided it was worth the investment so I don't have to buy the exclusive petsafe batteries that everyone thinks are so high. They don't seem that high to me, but maybe the non-rechargeable units use a lot of batteries. Anyway, this is a complete set with every little thing you could ever think of, even things that aren't pictured. It even has a surge protector included, so all in all a great price for such a great product. Now my cats cat climb over the fence to the cat hating dogs and people on the other side. They can't get into the street on the front of the house and get hit by a car. But they can have freedom to play outside, catch bugs, lay under the shade tree, roll around on the patio, bask in the sun, chase squirrels, and just be cats. I'm so thrilled I got this!!!! And so are my babies!!","Product: Treat your dog to Golden Rewards Chicken Jerky. These dog treats are made with real chicken breast. Golden Rewards Chicken Jerky, 16 oz: Dog treats Made with real chicken breast High protein Low fat No artificial flavors or colors No grain No artificial preservatives\n\nRating: 1.0\n\nSummary: BEWARE...Making Dogs Ill or Dead\n\nReview: Do some research before buying ANY jerky dog treats!!! This brand is on the list of jerky that has been causing dog deaths across the country. I've been purchasing these from the big box wm store that you all know and love. After my dogs became ill I did some research and found out that this brand is among others that use chicken imported from China and that have caused numerous dog illnesses and deaths. They cause kidney failure because SOME at least -- I'm not sure about all of them or if it's just some of them -- contain chickens that are laced with illegal antibiotics among other things. Sure, it only contains a few \"benign\" ingredients, but it's what the seemingly healthy chickens are fed that are so dangerous. Please Please Please don't make your precious pet sick or worse.","Product: Lightning Cable, iPhone Charger 4Pack 3FT 6FT 6FT 10FT to USB Syncing and Charging Cable Data Nylon Braided Cord Charger for iPhone 7/7 Plus/6/6 Plus/6s/6s Plus/5/5s/5c/SE\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great as elderly Panic Button!! And awesome doorbell, too.\n\nReview: This couldn't be simpler to use, you insert batteries and then plug in the larger \"bell\" part and you're in business! The alarm is clear and loud, and you can set it to a variety of tones. I noticed a couple of reviewers said there wasn't a tone provided that they likes. If you can't find the tone you want from the over 50 that are offered, well, frankly, you might be too high maintenance. I mean, it's a doorbell. Remember back in the day when we were required to have the simple \"ding-dong\" and that was good enough? I originally bought these to be panic alarms for my bedridden husband because we couldn't be by his bedside 100% of the time. I got two sets and put one of the buttons on his hospital bed he slept in at home, and one in the bathroom. I was worried about him choking on a cord or necklace since he had dementia, but you could put the doorbell part on a cord or a wristband. I placed a bell outside on my patio, one in my bedroom (my husband preferred to sleep in the living room amidst all the action), one in central location in the house. The one I purchased came with one push button and two chimes - one chime was plug in, one was battery operated, so I could pick up the one on the patio and carry it all around the yard. I purchased two sets and I was set. When hubby couldn't get out of the bed anymore, we moved the push button that was in the bathroom and put it on the front door. This suited our needs much better than one of those life alert things that calls an ambulance and that you have a monthly fee. Someone was always home with him, whether a family member or a caregiver, so he could just press a button if he needed a drink or just felt scared in the night. As his condition worsened, I added a baby monitor that had two way speakers so I could hear him and I could tell him I was on my way to him so he would feel better while I was on my way to him. My sweet, beloved husband is no longer with us, but these gave him a much better quality of life the last year of his life.","Product: This Easy Set pool is the perfect alternative to steel-walled pools. It is ready for water in 10 minutes, and no sand is required to support the walls. Measuring 10 feet in diameter and 30 inches tall, the pool includes a filter pump and a video.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Great pool for the money\n\nReview: Easy to set up, however DO make sure your ground is level. No matter how level you think it is to begin with. Buy or borrow a nice long level - a construction/building level works good - and even out your ground surface first with a nice layer of sand. If your pool is 10' round, that means you will need AT LEAST enough to cover 100'Square. Multiply that by a couple of inches. Now recheck with your level until you have a good flat, level foundation to put it on. Cover with a tarp or pool ground cover bigger than the pool diameter. We purchased a bigger pump, the one included is for 530 gallons per hour, and the pool is 1080 gallons, so you do the math. I would also highly recommend a nice pool skimmer and a salt system. Ahhhh, crystal clear water! Intex is a good brand, and I've never had a problem with any of their products.","Product: 57444EP Features: -Have fun splashing and playing in the Intex Dinosaur Play Center, a terrific prehistoric oasis!. -The kids are sure to keep cool in this wading pool, with the built-in palm tree sprayer and waterfall that attaches to a garden hose for tons of enjoyment. -Feed the hungry dinosaur with the six included colorful fun balls. -Slide down the volcano water slide with soft landing mat to land on. -A drain plug is included for convenience. -Age grade: 3+ years. Pool Type: -Kiddie pool. Pool Shape: -Novelty. Wall Type: -Soft. Color: -Multi-colored. Primary Material: -Metal. Water Capacity: -57 Gallons. Dimensions: Overall Height - Top to Bottom: -43\". Overall Width - Side to Side: -6.25 Feet. Overall Length - Front to Back: -8.16 Feet. Overall Product Weight: -9.9 lbs.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: My grand daughter is in love\n\nReview: I purchased this for my two year old grand daughter to play in this summer and she literally jumped up and down the entire time from when she saw the box until we set it up and she delightfully jumped in to play. She loves to feed the dinosaur, and that activity alone keeps her interested for a long time. Then, the slide is super, duper fun for her. She just squeals with delight. Even my 8 year old g-d loves it! If an 8 year old likes it, it must be really fun. The back part sprays water, but since it's over to the side, they don't have to get sprayed if they don't want to, and I really like that, because, as you know if you've ever been around kids, sometimes they don't want to be sprayed. It's roomy and nice, plenty of room for a few toddlers or an 8 year old to join in the fun! It's just the right depth, and if you aren't familiar with the Intex name, it is a quality product built for rugged use and made to last. I've had many intex products, in fact have a big above ground pool in my yard now, and I've never had an issue -- ever! It's easy to inflate with a pump (I wouldn't attempt to blow it up by mouth -- good grief, are you insane?), and just as easy to take down, shake out, roll up and put away. I might just have to leave this up so I don't have to keep putting it back up. They love it! It's nice if you don't want to get into a deeper pool with the little ones and just let them have their fun while you stay nice and dry or do yard work, or just enjoy a glass of tea on the patio.","Product: Each Webkinz comes with a secret code which allows you to enter Webkinz World!\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Pretty marbled fur, mine looks defectively sewn though\n\nReview: While the fur is a pretty marbled color, this cat almost looks deformed. Not well shaped or something is off. She looks a little weird shaped, probably because of the way she is sewn I'm guessing. Maybe the lines didn't line up or they were in a hurry putting it together. Fur goes in different directions and she just needs a lot of work to make her presentable, which I'm not even sure will happen. I worked with her for about 30 minutes last night trying to make her fur and parts look right. I may be sending this one back. As I noted in a previous review of a Ganz animal, not all the Ganz are the best quality as far as them looking scraggly when they arrive. But they have lasted and that counts for something. You can go online and play in a virtual world, but I'm not a huge fan of that, so I'm not even mentioning that to my granddaughters. Just another way to get more money with in app purchases, and kids spend too much time online anyway. BUT, if you like that, it's an added bonus. They come with a tag that contains bonus points to use online and all.","Product: Twist and wiggle to glide and giggle with Ziggle from Radio Flyer! Ziggle has four caster wheels for a fun, fast ride, and unique twisting motion for 360 spins. With an adjustable seat, padded hand grips, grip tape for feet and solid steel frame, Ziggle offers years of fun.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Wonderful, wonderful, easy to ride ZIGGLE!\n\nReview: We received this in no time and put it together. while we were waiting for it to arrive, I showed my 2 year old granddaughter the video of it, which is right here on Amazon and you can get one on YouTube too, and she has been anxiously awaiting it. Is the ice cream man going to bring it today? (She calls the UPS guy the ice cream man). When we put it together, she immediately got on it and took off. A little slow at first, but she was delighted and felt like a big girl riding on it. It's so easy to make roll...just wiggle the handlebars and ZOOM, it goes! The seat only has two positions from what we can figure, and it is a bit hard for her to reach her feet to the front base. But she has room to grow and we love it!","Product: Includes 5 pounds of Sands Alive! - all the fun of sand without the mess! The unique, non-toxic formula prevents bacterial growth.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great Adult / Child bonding playtime and NON MESSY indoor sand toy\n\nReview: This Kinetic sand is so wonderful. As I included in a previous review of a Sands Alive playset, you can mold and use indoor without mess. I simply put down one of those vinyl table covers so all the sand is contained and we have fun for hours at a time. Great adult/child bonding time. Everyone in our house likes to play with this from adults to 3 year olds. You can use any sand toys with this, various items from the kitchen such as a sieve or cups for molds. Outdoor sand toys are great with this, and we like to press it into \"cake\" or \"pizza\" shapes and cut with a plastic or butter knife into \"slices\" It holds its shape and it doesn't dry out (unlike Play doh or regular sand) so we can keep our creations to admire for a couple of days before putting it away. HIGHLY HIGHLY recommended!","Product: Make bath time fun for your little one with the water bug pull toys. Just pull the tail and watch the bugs zoom across the surface of the water. The bright colors combined with the swimming action helps your child's motor skills development.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Adorable and fun, but they didn't last long for us.\n\nReview: I purchased ours at WM, and I absolutely loved them, but they broke within about a month or two. I still think they are adorable and they were so much fun during bathtime...even for the adult bathing the toddler. Maybe we overused them? (they were that much fun) but ours worked perfectly for a month or so, and they were so cute swimming all around in the tub, but then it got to where the strings wouldn't go back in and they wouldn't swim. The strings remained pulled out and ... nothing. We had to help our one and a half year old pull the string some of the time, but still they entertained her during bathtime, hair washing and all. She cried when it was time to get out of the tub because she wanted to play some more. Most of the time, we'd have to let her take one out with her to quell her crying while we diapered and dressed her. But they are adorable and fun if they only last a few months. They're probably ready to chunk by then anyway since moisture does get inside, and if you haven't already googled to see the nasty stuff that grows in tub toys, you should go do that now. I still gave it three stars because they are that great when they worked, and in all fairness, maybe we played with them too much. Our 6 year old also played with them and loved them, and they're fun in the kid's pool too.","Product: Color: natural wood Made of solid wood High-quality craftsmanship coupled with a beautiful design Delivered fully assembled to your door Stable mounting; maximum suggested weight 65 lbs\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: My grand daughter loves her horsey swing!\n\nReview: Quality made. Durable. I purchased this for my nearly 3 year old grand daughter because she can't balance well enough to swing on a regular swing and I wanted something other than a plastic molded swing seat. My daughter was worried that her legs would be too large to fit between the bottom side slat and the seat since it isn't adjustable, but she fits fine with room to spare. There is just a bit of \"wiggle room\" where the side slats are attached by rope, so it does have some give to it. This is just a nice retro-style hand made swing that is sure to be handed down for generations. It looks like it might be Amish made, nice and sturdy and all around quality. The ropes are very long, so you could hang it from a reasonably \"not too high\" tree branch just fine. I had to adjust the rope considerably to get it high enough to use it on the kids' regular swingset, but I did that by tying 3 simple loop knots on top of one another in the rope and it was perfect. I considered painting it, but not sure yet if I will. If not, I will surely seal it with a good water sealer, because it is 100% natural, and I don't want the weather to ruin it. Other than that, it's wonderful and she loves her horsey swing!","Product: For endless hours of fun, the environment-friendly bug vacuum toy lets kids find, catch, inspect, and release their favorite outdoor bugs. A built-in LED light, magnifier, and belt clip add to the adventure! Encourage kids to step away from their digital devices and investigate the great outdoors with an automatic bug catching gun. Fun, powerful features and exciting scientific design allows children age 5 to 12 to safely interact with nature, indoors or outdoors, at any time of the day or night. Patented catch-and-release technology keeps kids and bugs safe during exploration. A New Way to Play Challenge your kids to catch ants, beetles, flies, spiders, moths, and more! For homeschooling projects or weekend fun, promote inquisitive play and encourage budding scientists to document their catches and explore the world around them. The innovative bug catching gun allows for harmless catching, observing, and returning of all buggy specimens. Features include: *LED laser light *Carabineer belt clip *Built-in magnifier *Detachable core viewing capsule *Triggered suction mechanism *1-inch suction opening *AA Batteries (included) When youre child is done inspecting their captured bugs, simply twist off and release your bug outdoors! Theyll love bug hunting in the backyard or helping to catch an indoor pest. For birthdays or holidays, this battery-operated gadget makes a great gift and encourages young learners to take interest in their natural surroundings. Give the gift of adventure with the Nature Bound bug catching gun.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: This sucks. pun intended.\n\nReview: Vacuum works just ok. My g-kids were able to pick up a couple of tiny insects, such as some tiny baby crickets that apparently had just hatched out in my backyard. Anything bigger than that we couldn't get to pick up. I don't think it's a battery issue, but we did use Amazon's alkaline batteries. I am going to try Duracells I guess, but doubt it will be a major improvement. I'll update accordingly when I have tried new batteries. When on, we couldn't even feel a suction AT ALL, and I mean zero suction felt. I'm actually quite surprised they were able to pick up baby crickets at all. Be warned not to try to suck up a wasp unless you check the suction. Another thing I noticed is that, even my 9 year old g-daughter had difficulty getting close enough to the insect to get it before the bug saw the device and hopped away. If the suction was stronger, this wouldn't have been a problem. We weren't expecting a dust buster or a hoover or anything, but this was very disappointing, though they are happy to hunt around with it and try to catch bugs.","Product: Pool Float - Kid's Inflatable Seesaw Swimming Pool Water Toy - Summer just got funner in the pool with this brand new Floating Seesaw. Don't you wish we had these when we were kids. Your kids will love this unique inflatable pool toy. Adult Supervision is always recommended, especially during the Summer.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Not my favorite pool toy\n\nReview: I didn't purchase this on Amazon, but noticed it coming up on a lightning deal and decided to write a review. MUCH supervision needed with this pool float. It tips over easily and kids have to work against each other to make it work. I wouldn't use it unless a) both children are accomplished swimmers or very used to going underwater at a whim, b) adult is right there, such as pictured, c) kids are of the same approximate weight, and d) you have lots of patience. There is a sturdy handle to hold on to but the entire design seems to be less than ergonomically built, so the little ones have to crouch over while sitting on knees to even begin to ride it, kids have to literally rock forwards and back in sync with each other. They can sit on it with their legs hanging off sides if they have very long legs and just sit completely still. If one kid goes back too far, someone is going into the water.\n\nUpdate: Apparently my review made at least one person think that, because I wasn't the purchaser of this product on Amazon that I hadn't seen it in use. I buy a lot - A LOTTT - from Amazon...the UPS man gets tired of seeing me, I'm sure. I was honest in disclosing that I didn't personally purchase this from Amazon, but my grandkids have tried to play on one at my daughter's friend's house. My gr-daughters are 3 and 9, and I was simply stating that kids need to be around the same weight to ride this toy successfully, otherwise, one or both of the kids won't be able to stay on it unless the adult is holding it up. When an adult is in the pool, they love to play with their kids. But they also want to ENJOY their kids and the pool. Constantly holding the pool float, coaching the kids not to jerk on the handles or go back too far, repositioning the kids on the float, physically holding the float steady, rocking it for them, and retrieving crying 3 and four year olds from the water gets frustrating - FAST. I love INTEX products...so much so that I have numerous of their products, including an easy set 10x30 pool, a metal frame 18x52 pool, several SEVERAL floats for kids and adults, and all kinds of pool equipment. Some I purchased from Amazon. Some elsewhere. If I have experience with a product, I don't mind sharing my opinion. Just because I didn't purchase it on Amazon doesn't mean that I can't provide an insightful opinion. After adult upon adult gave up from using this see saw, it was eventually tossed out of the pool. Too frustrating for all!","Product: Take Colorforms with you, wherever you go! Re-usable Disney Doc McStuffins stick-on set provides hours of creative and imaginative play, and then folds easily away. Self-contained Disney Doc McStuffins pack includes 2 colorful play scenes and 36 reusable Colorforms character stick-ons. With over one billion sets sold throughout the past 60+ years, Colorforms is one of the oldest and best-known toy brands. Colorforms vinyl re-stickable playsets provide safe, creative, open-ended and imaginative play, and have been trusted by generations of parents and grandparents. What began as basic shapes of squares, triangles and circles, has evolved to incorporate relevant licensed characters and other innovations that engage kids and encourage storytelling. Colorforms was one of the first plastic-based creative toys, and one of the first toys ever advertised on television, Colorforms re-stickable sets provide hours of imaginative play for kids. See also our On the Go, Take A Long, Create a Story, and Big Wall Playsets.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Maybe the best toy invention ever...COLORFORMS!\n\nReview: These are great. It is a nice handy size with a velcro closure to keep it tidy, and a carry handle for easy carrying for a youngster. Inside, there are 2 scenes to decorate, and plenty of bright, colorful clings to excite a child's imagination. Heck, I even had fun with it for a few minutes. There is a storage pocket on the inside to keep the clings in, but it is probably a good idea to keep the clings in an envelope or a ziploc bag, because the pocket is rather small and not too secure. The only thing that made me take off one star was that inside, there is an insert that tells you to rub the magic black strips to reveal a surprise, but there are no black strips anywhere. I didn't expect the \"magic black strips\" when I ordered this product, so it is only a minor disappointment. I guess the colorforms folks included the insert by accident.","Product: Sands Alive! 3-D Sealife Adventure set includes 1.5 pounds of Sands Alive!, 4 sealife molds, seashell and smooth rollers with interchangeable handle, play tray with 3-D glasses and 3-D art background! All the fun of sand without the mess! The unique, non-toxic formula prevents bacterial growth.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: AMAZING SAND Play!!! WE LOVE LOVE LOVE it!\n\nReview: What can I say. This is magnificent sand to use indoors. I noticed that a couple of reviews said it was messy - It can be messy but with a tiny bit of pre-prep, there is no mess at all. This is the same thing I do for Play Doh time...I simply put down one of those cheap vinyl table covers so they can play on that. Any loose particles of sand can be gathered up by picking up the mat at the corners and everything goes to the center. Clump it up and put it in the rest of the sand. You can purchase one at the big WMart store for about $3 - many patterns available, or you could really just use a sheet in a pinch. Back to the sand.......\n\nIt's moldable and so much fun, I like to play with them. Now the only problem is that I'm a bit obsessed with sand toys, molds, rollers, etc. We have tons of good grandmother granddaughter bonding time and I genuinely have fun playing with them. You can get various sets of these and they are often on lightning deals, and any kinetic sand works with it.\n\nAnd the best part?? IT NEVER DRIES OUT!!"],"string":"[\n \"Product: At Logan's Roadhouse you can come as you are, be yourself and make lifelong friends. You'll enjoy our high-quality, moderately-priced menu featuring aged steaks, made-from-scratch yeast rolls and bottomless buckets of in-shell peanuts. With so many choices, your gift card recipients are certain to find something to suit their tastes!\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: How do I love thee, Oh, Logan's delicious Steak! Let me count the wonderful ways\\n\\nReview: How do I love thee, Oh, Logan's delicious Steak! Let me count the wonderful ways....I love thee lightly seasoned and cooked to perfection, as only Logan's Roadhouse can do. I love thee alongside a delightful bucket of peanuts, which always await the hungry steak ordering customer right on the table. I love thee slathered with oh so delicious bourbon glaze or seasoned butter. I love thee next to the mouth watering fresh yeast dinner rolls, which are served up hastily and a-plenteously! I love thee, O Logan's, thou great and inexpensive Roadhouse restaurant, which beckons with delightful cowboy decor and a peanut-shell laden floor. I love your buttery perfection you call broccoli, and I love your chicken and salmon dishes as well.\\n\\nHence, I love your most amazing $25 gift card, for which I only have to pay a mere $20. Now, off to Logan's I go, for a meal fit for two for only $20!\\n\\nI have never had a bad experience at Logan's. The steak is always ALWAYS cooked to perfection. Seasoned just right. Meat-a-tarians, buy this card!!\",\n \"Product: Give the gift of subs! Give them something tasty! Fresh veggies, quality food, affordable prices. With over 30,000 locations across North America, theres always a Subway restaurant nearby.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Perfect to give to teens, but buy from local subway to get a free sub w/ purchase\\n\\nReview: Honestly, these are great to give to your teens to ensure the money you give them gets used for what is supposed to be used for. I like giving gift cards to them and know that they are using them for food, not video games or Sephora, cigarettes, or anything they could get into trouble for. I know they at least are eating if I give them a gift card, not that they couldn't sell it, but, still better than money. Good for traveling or if you're worried about carrying a purse with you or otherwise getting your cash stolen. I've never had a problem with one not working, and I usually purchase directly from the local restaurant because they usually have a deal: buy a $25 gift card, receive a 6\\\" sub FREE. So, win-win for everyone.\",\n \"Product: The Cheesecake Factory offers more than 200 menu selections including steaks, pastas, specialty salads, pizzas and fresh fish. Don't forget to save room for one of their more than 50 decadent cheesecakes and desserts.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great to stick to \\\"flower\\\" sticks and make a gift arrangement\\n\\nReview: These are simply great. I like to use them as gifts, but a couple of unique things I love to use them for is for teacher gifts and for guy gifts. I like to make a little \\\"floral arrangement\\\" with various gift cards by putting in a basket or flower pot and sticking these on craft sticks (or the long Starbucks stir sticks since they're perfect long size, wooden and free) and filling in with either homemade, wrapped cake pops or various candies. You can add a $25 card along with various denominations of other cards such as Starbucks, Panera, Olive Garden, Target, Home Depot, Kroger, Papa John's....the possibilities are endless. They have been raved over by every single person I have given them to and they make a beautiful and unique presentation.\",\n \"Product: Papa John's Gift Cards can be given to anyone who loves great tasting pizza! Perfect gift for \\\"hard to buy for\\\" people on your shopping list. Plus, Papa John's Gift Cards do not expire, and there are no service fees. To find a location near you, visit http://www.papajohns.com.\\n\\nRating: 1.0\\n\\nSummary: Better deal - AMAZING deal - on Papa John's website. Get your card there, not here.\\n\\nReview: Go directly to the Papa John's website to order your $25 gift cards. Here's what you get for doing so: get an instant coupon code by email for a free large pizza. Then, go online to use the free pizza coupon, select more pizzas, and immediately use your $25 PJ gift card. Also, if you look, there are all kinds of specials on the PJ ordering website, such as this one that is going on at the time of this review... it's called \\\"Pepsi. Pizza. Rock.\\\" For $12 you get a large 2 topping pizza and a 2 liter drink. Then, you receive another coupon code for a free product, such as a large pizza or a 2 liter drink. All of mine thus far, and I do this every weekend for the past month...have been a free large pizza. On top of all of this, you get Papa rewards, so every 25 Papa Points, you get another free large pizza. You can't go wrong. And the pizza is phenomenal. And don't even get me started on that wonderful garlic butter they include in the order. WIN! WIN!\",\n \"Product: Olive Garden offers an award-winning wine list and a range of delicious Italian dishes inspired by our Culinary Institute of Tuscany in Italy.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Perfect gift and great for lunch with friends.\\n\\nReview: We love Olive Garden, and I particularly love Olive Garden for lunch during the work week. One reason I really love the gift card is that I can use it to pay for both myself and my dining friend better than using cash. When I am paying with cash, several of my friends argue about it and insist on paying. Sometimes, I want to pay, and I don't want them feeling guilty or fighting over who is paying. When you have a gift card, you can just say, \\\"Let me pay. I have this gift card.\\\" They never turn down the offer.\\n\\nNow, about the restaurant. I love nearly all the menu items, but I really REALLLLY love the Zuppa Toscana, so I usually get the unlimited soup, salad & breadsticks lunch special for $6.99. Lunch is served fast and I always can get in and out in under an hour. They always let me take the rest with me, even happy to provide more soup, salad and breadsticks and box it up, so, since I'm single, that's dinner. Always great service, and let's not forget the after dinner mints. YUM!\",\n \"Product: Westcott Titanium-Bonded Scissors are lighter, stronger and sharper. Lightweight yet durable enough for any cutting job. From the Manufacturer: Scissors feature high-performance, titanium-bonded blades that provide three times the strength of stainless steel and resist corrosion. Scissors are ideal for paper, cardboard, lightweight line, fabric and other materials. Straight handles have a contoured soft grip\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Excellent, super sharp, high quality, TITANIUM, stay sharp and so comfortable to use\\n\\nReview: Excellent scissors that are super sharp and high quality. I previously owned another pair which I paid $11 for by themselves, so getting two pair at less than I paid for the one pair....no brainer. We all love them and use them so much, and this is the only pair of scissors anyone in the house will use, and they continually come up missing, so I decided it was time to buy more. I have used them to cut paper, hair, cardboard, those impossible plastic blister packs that everything seems to be packaged in these days, garden shears, sewing, and I've even used them as kitchen shears to cut up meat. They cut excellently through small bones and tendons and I throw them right in the dishwasher (opened of course) and clean them. They can go from cutting paper or bones and still be sharp enough when it's time to cut hair, which is the ultimate test of scissors. They're made of titanium so they hold a razor sharp edge much, much better than plain stainless steel. They don't rust in the dishwasher either. Love these and HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend. And the handles are so very comfortable and ergonomically designed! You can't tell by the photos, but from the view shown on the product page, you only see one side of the handles. As you turn them, the way the curve is shaped changes and just fits your hand perfectly. Very well made, quality product, and you won't be disappointed, I promise!\",\n \"Product: Goodbye to pins glue and large tacks. Save time on basting. Ideal for quilting curtains linen quick repairs and more. The smallest tack and smallest needle available. Starter kit contains-micro stitch tool with needle 1080 micro fasteners (black and white) and instructions.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Great quick fixer upper tool!\\n\\nReview: Ok, all in all a good purchase. It serves the purpose I had for ordering, which was to have the ability to quickly stitch up a hem or sew on a button when in a bind, like when I'm rushing to get out the door or get the kids out the door, to mend a hem at work, or whatever. So it's great for that. The little plastic stitch things are exactly like the plastic tags you see on clothing tags in the store, except they're about 2mm long. That's perfect. They come in black and white and you can order refills easily here on Amazon. While it isn't a deal breaker necessarily for me, the one thing I'm not crazy about - and the reason for the loss of one star - is that you can feel the tag against your skin. I used it to mend a hem on my work trousers and, though I can tolerate it, I can feel it, almost like you can feel them on a tag if you forgot to pull it off. Since it was on a pant's hem, I'm sure it isn't as bad as if it were on something directly touching your skin, such as in the neck of a garment. A bit of an annoyance, but not a deal breaker. I still think it's convenient and it serves the purpose I need it for.\",\n \"Product: Almost everyone has a Duck Tape story to tell, usually praising its remarkable strength and versatility. Duck Brand duct tape has a wide range of applications, both traditional and nontraditional, and is now available in dozens of colors and patterns, making it even more useful than ever! Because of its strength and adhesive properties, you can use Color Duck Tape for almost any job, including everyday household and auto repairs--anywhere a flexible and weather-proof bond is needed. Color Duck Tape is great for coordinating materials, color-coding and identification, craft applications, and more. This heavy duty tape is cotton mesh reinforced, but still easy to tear! Duck Tape conforms to both smooth and uneven surfaces, and can be used on materials such as cloth, vinyl, leather and plastic - even metal and laminates. Duck Tape is great for any repairs - anywhere!\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Worked wonderfully to repair a white vinyl chair!!\\n\\nReview: It's Duck tape, so what more can I say? This is nice and thick, not the cheaper, thin version. I got it to cover the vinyl on a white chair and it worked beautifully to fix an otherwise ruined chair that my almost 3 year old granddaughter cut with her sisters kid scissors. It was a step stool chair with pull out steps, and she uses it for a make shift high chair now that she is too big for the real thing. It is virtually un-noticeable on the chair and did an amazing repair job. When I was done with the chair, I fixed a leak in my water hose with it and it hasn't even tried to come off the wet hose.\",\n \"Product: Rosetta Stone has teamed up with Barron's to offer a unique French language learning package for power learners. It includes award-winning Rosetta Stone French Levels 1-5, plus Barron's French-English Dictionary, Grammar Book and Phrase Book. Learn French the proven Rosetta Stone way with at-a-glance backup from Barron's. Never be left without the right French word or phrase! Not compatible with Chromebooks.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Good, but I still prefer DuoLingo, which is FREE\\n\\nReview: As I stated in a previous review of DuoLingo, another language learning program (which is a FREE Google/Android app), I'm not fond of Rosetta Stone as far as approach goes. I just don't like the way the learning is presented. I've had two intensive years of classroom French and have used all kinds -- ALL KINDS -- of French learning software, including but not necessarily limited to: Rosetta Stone online, now Rosetta Stone complete computer software, DuoLingo, Babel, Pimsleur, FrenchPod, text books, variious phone apps, French verb conjugation apps, Google Translate (which is a useful too), various audio CDs, ABOUT.com (also very good for learning by reading), and just every kind imaginable. What I do like about Rosetta Stone - great vibrant colors, you can speak the words/phrases presented and it will hear your pronunciation and attempt to correct you so that you learn to enunciate it correctly, Visual learning coupled with audio and enhanced by pronunciation and writing. What I don't like, and some of these will be repeats to what I do like. While I like that you can speak into a computer enabled microphone, I don't generally like apps that recognize speech. They seem to never really recognize 100% correctly - some worse than others, obviously, but clearly, when speaking using this, I was graded incorrect on some basic EASY words, and I'm talking the very basics in the first couple of lessons. Some of the sentences I didn't even finish due to an interruption, it graded me as correct. WHATTTT? Also, I don't like that when speaking it, the software sometimes requires you to S-L-O-W-L-Y E-N-U-N-C-I-A-T-E each syllable in a sentence. It seems very long and drawn out, but maybe that's because I already have years under my belt. If it was a completely foreign language, I might appreciate this, BUT, I believe I would get frustrated that it was too fast paced if I was completely new to the language. They throw a new word at you and then expect you to remember it used various ways later...hard to explain, but seems that it would be too difficult and frustrating for a person completely new to a particular language. And as I said, way too slow if you are intermediate.\\n\\nThis was completely difficult to load and I had to call support twice, but they were extremely helpful and resolved my issues promptly and courteously. Excellent customer support!! I don't completely understand why they want you to use the program online instead of using what was loaded onto my machine. I receive the 5 discs but the instructions tell you to load from the web, which is fine, but then they also want you to log on from the web and use the program on the web. Basically, I purchased this big 14X16\\\" box of stuff just for the registration key. I get it that possibly the online has some new functionality and perhaps bug fixes (?? who knows), but shouldn't every user/purchaser be experiencing the same thing as everyone else? It comes with 3 FREE trial months of online learning, which includes communicating with fellow users and tutoring sessions (I doubt I'll use the tutoring and definitely won't use the chatting feature). So I get it that they want you to go online so you get used to using the online and perhaps continue to pay for the online subscription.\\n\\nLong story short, I couldn't make the program work without bypassing the online log in. I had to use the actual software on my computer, which is a'ok and hunkie dorrie with me.\\n\\nThe books that come with it are great. There is a big, thick Barron's French English dictionary, and this alone is an $18 value. It is a well laid out, great reference tool. It also comes with a pair of good headphones with mic, but you can use any earbuds with a mic. Two additional books that are included are Barron's French Grammar book - which is hands down the most useful tool in learning French. This book is a $6 value. -- and -- Barron's French at a Glance, a French phrase book and traveler's language guide, an $8 value (values based on Amazon purchase price at the time of this review). With the French at a Glance book, you get a free smartphone app to use so you can hear the pronunciation.\\n\\nReasons I find this purchase almost unnecessary: there are tons of free language resources, DuoLingo being my favorite app, and the one which I have BY FAR learned and retained more from than all the rest of the resources I have used combined. It has a few minor cons as well, but hey, it's free, very robust software, and FUN. Another reason I feel this is almost a waste of money, even at the deep discount I received by purchasing on a lightning deal, is this: I work in a group that travels internationally quite extensively, from all countries in Europe, all over Asia, Dubai, Canada, Africa, Mexico, you name it. Everywhere but Antarctica. Most of those travelers don't worry about not speaking the language...why??? They use their smart phones, type in the phrase using Google translate, and they get the translation right there and they show it to the waiter, or whatever. That's how they do it and they do it every week of every year. I'm not advocating not learning the language, all of the inclusions in this package are great, but there are ways to get around it. And you always have your smartphone with you. It almost seems antiquated to carry around a book, make the waiter wait for you to look through the pages in the book and then try to pronounce.\\n\\nIn conclusion, yes you can learn from this software. It's colorful and bright and you can and will learn, just this particular format may make your learning experience better or worse. for me, I prefer DuoLingo, but I purchased this so I can deepen my understanding and I find that using VARIOUS methods for learning helps more than trying to learn with just one. All in all, I am glad I purchased, and will use this, but I'm not expecting to suddenly fall in love with it.\\n\\nIf I were to advise someone who is just beginning to learn French, I'd advise them to use DuoLingo for sure, certainly use this, and incorporate FrenchPod (they also have Spanish pod) and Pimsleur into it. Toss in some About.com French lessons (which explain about placement and all the whys and examples), and use a good verb conjugator and phrase book and any phone apps to enhance your learning. If you know a native speaker and can solicit their help, that would be your most useful tool.\",\n \"Product: Powerfully crafted with an attractive rust-resistant chrome finish, your dishes will be drying in style on the DR-22. The silicone feet protectors will keep the rack stone steady, so there will be no wiggles and wobbles bringing your plates crashing down either. And with a plastic draining tray, your counter will be safe from the drips of the drying dishes, so no wasting paper towels on clean up after you've put your dishes away. The DR-22 even has a mug stand for 6 cups and a cutlery holder for all your forks, spoons, knives, and kitchen utensils. Perfect for large families, its massive 23 plate capacity will make sure you are able to complete a full load of dishes in just one go, no more waiting for half to dry to finish the rest! Just set your dishes on the rack and let them dry in beautiful chrome style!\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: The racks on the side fall off easily and not as nice as I thought it would ...\\n\\nReview: Sort of cheap in my opinion. The racks on the side fall off easily and not as nice as I thought it would be. It's very lightweight, and you can FORGET about hanging a cup or almost anything on the hook rack on the side. The tilt or the way it's made or something....nothing will stay on it for 5 seconds. It's just ok, but if you have a lot of dishes, or a big family, or heavy pieces, move on to something else, this isn't for you! Oh, and at the top, you can only put plates or bowls. Forget about you need the room for one more cup or glass. It will not fit at the top, only room for slotted items. Then there's the tray at the bottom, you have to pull it out and empty the water, and it's a hassle to pull out and put back in. Seriously dissappointed in the quality and use of this!\",\n \"Product: A patented product means this is a unique and brilliant solution to a very messy problem. So easy to use that even kids can use them\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: This is the best invention...besides the grilled cheese sandwich, of course!\\n\\nReview: These are wonderful for grilled cheese in a snap, no mess, and my almost 9 year old can make grilled cheeses to her content. She loves them and I'm constantly being asked to make them...breakfast. Lunch. snack. more snacks. dinner. Late night snack. The child wants her grilled cheeses! You can fit a basic sandwich loaf of bread size slice in it - 2 slices and 2 slices of cheese, a THIN swipe of butter if you like or enjoy your sandwich fat free. Pop down and toast. We like to toast on low heat and pop them down a second time to make sure the cheese melts really well and you get a nice crunchy exterior. They wash up with soap and water. I don't put them in my dishwasher because they don't get clean enough to my liking. I didn't get mine on Amazon, but at Kroger. They're $4.99 and no shipping. And no waiting for it to arrive.\",\n \"Product: The LRD750 contains a dot matrix display. When a signal is detected, the display shows the band type and signal strength in an increasing bar format. The LRD750 utilizes two different modes for highway or city use & recognizes the 4 different bands (X, K, KA, & Laser) used in radar technology. With the Voice Announce feature it will tell you the unit status as it changes. For example, if the unit picks up K band transmissions, it announces K band. Turn this feature on and off through the menus.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great detector. Detected radar about a mile down the road.\\n\\nReview: So far I love this. Just started using it a feew days ago and it picked up K-Band about a mile down the interstate. When I got further up the road, I saw that it was one of those big radar speed detecting signs that tell you what speed you're going and to slow down. Immediately after I passed it, the beeps started to slow for about 50 car lengths and then they stopped. I'm still learning which beeps mean what, but I was impressed that it picked up the radar that far in advance. Uniden has always been a good brand in my experience. It came with a clip and 12v power cord and the suction cups to hold onto windshield. It clips on and off of the clip well, easy on, easy off. the suction cups stay on well. I don't really speed a lot, but sometimes I just want to make sure I'm not going over the limit or going to get pulled over. I'm sort of paranoid about that after having been ticketed in the past.\",\n \"Product: Bluetooth and NFC Wireless Speaker - The Boom Pod - Powerful, Portable Wireless Speaker with Hands-free Microphone : The Boom Pod is the hands-free, wireless solution for listening to music and sound from your phone or tablet. Featuring built in CVC (Clear Voice Capture Technology), the sound and volume quality of the boom pod is unmatched. Easy to pair with One Touch Pairing, the Boom Pod also features a hands-free microphone, so incoming calls can easily be answered in a car or anywhere. Each Boom Pod features non-slip feet that secures placement while in motion, and the Boom Pod features a rechargeable lithium polymer battery that lasts up to 8 hours long. You will immediately fall in love with your Boom Pod - Guaranteed\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Where has this been all my life?!!\\n\\nReview: Excellent sound quality and couldn't be easier to use. Charges quickly and it has honest to goodness theater sound. If you close your eyes while listening to it, you can't tell you aren't hooked up to home theater. You can slip your finger under the top \\\"handle\\\" and feel the boom or whatever that speaker disc thing is called - jumping around in there from the beats. I can set it up on my dashboard in my car and hear and talk perfectly with no sound issues at all. I use it when I'm in the shower and can have a quick convo with one of my friends or family while getting ready (you know how they always call with last minute updates or plan changes). I also use it in the kitchen when I'm cooking or my hands are otherwise wet or busy and no more, \\\"What? I can't hear you! Take me off speaker phone!\\\" Which is always what I get. I absolutely loathe having to hold the phone up to my ear. I can share a video with someone easily, put it by the pool to listen to tunes. The sound is great from several feet away and I can roam all over the kitchen while talking. Oh, and I can listen to nice relaxtion music or ocean waves or whatver with it right on my nightstand so I can sleep without earplugs in my ears. Beats the heck out of earplugs ANY DAY! LOVE THIS! Don't know how I ever got along without it.\",\n \"Product: Ellen tracy flawless fit is a seamless full brief panty in a silky smooth fabric. It is full coverage, flat against the body, and invisible under clothing.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Love them! LOVE them! LOVE THEM!!!\\n\\nReview: I don't think I have ever loved panties/underwear more than I love these. I have tons of panties, and orders several packages at one time, and now, they are all I want to wear. No other panty will do for me. They are super comfy - SUPER, SUPER comfy, they don't ride up or roll down. They stay exactly where you pull them to and you cannot even feel them. They don't leave panty lines under my clothes, they are sooo soft and really, I just love them. There is nothing not perfection about these, from the wonderful leg openings to the soft stretchy fabric and waistband to the seamless style. They breathe and they are the perfect fit! I also love that there is a visible \\\"stripe\\\" on the outside of the waistband but not one on the inside. It is part of the fabric knitted in, not painted on. The painted on information on tagless underwear always wears off, but this won't. Not that it matters much, because it wouldn't really matter if you wear them inside out or not, they are the same really except for the stripe. It just helps me to turn them the right way. Again, doesn't really matter because they are reversible in actuality.\",\n \"Product: Ginger Snaps 32\\\" GRAND NECKLACE SN90-93 Interchangeable Jewelry Snap Accessory. This is the kind of necklace that looks great with anything you wear...be it blue jeans, skirt or a fancy dinner out. This necklace features a pendant that you can add a snap for every occasion.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: LOOOOVVVE my Ginger Snaps\\n\\nReview: I don't know how many of these things I'm going to have to buy, but every time I get one, someone talks me out of it! I swear, the next one I get I'm keeping. I love Ginger Snaps and the versatility you have in customizing a particular look for the day to match your outfit, your mood, or to have fun and play with it. I get lots of oohs and aahhhs at church, work, and everywhere else...well, before my daughter took mine from me. LOL I can snap in a red snap, a cross snap, a rhinestone snap, a black and white snap, you name it...the possibilities are almost endless! LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE! My favorite jewelry. Can I buy stock in the company?\",\n \"Product: Stunning 100 per cent natural shell ring. The conch is carved out by hand to make a ring in Indonesia. It comes in various sizes. Comes in a white branded jewellery box with a small branded cloth to polish your silver items.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Amazingly unique, natural conch shells carved into rings! Truly one of a kind!\\n\\nReview: you cannot image how beautiful and unique this ring is. I purchased two of them planning to cover one with gold and silver leaf pens, which I also purchased on Amazon because I saw Lindsay Phillips (the shoe lady) wearing one and I can't make myself mess with the unique beauty of these natural conch shells. Gorgeous doesn't adequately describe them. I noticed one reviewer said theirs was chipped, but let's remember that these are carved from actual conch shells. I think it might just add to the uniqueness and beauty of the ring. Of course, neither of mine were cracked, so I can't say for sure how I'd feel. But for the price, I was more than willing to take the chance and glad I did.\",\n \"Product: Perfect for using indoors, this pump operates on 120V AC, simply plug it into an available outlet and begin inflating or deflating. The included adapter with 3 nozzles makes this pump compatible with many different inflatable products while the 600 LPM max air flow gets the job done quickly. Never get caught trying to inflate manually, get the Intex Quick-Fill Pump and get the job done quick!\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Works very well for all your pool toys, air mattresses, tires and play balls.\\n\\nReview: This works perfectly. the cord is really very thick and long and it has a good bit of power to it. The reason we purchased this is for several reasons, listed next, and it has worked wonderfully for everything so far: 1) main reason we purchased is because we purchased the big rolling yard ball that the child gets in and rolls around in, and it has many air chambers and all the reviews mentioned it was difficult to air up without an electric pump 2) to pump up swim toys - and we have TONS of swim toys and various kiddie pool play things. I can even let my 9 year old granddaughter help pump up her own things by plugging it in and setting out for her when she's over. Good grief, what a headache solved just with this one item. 3) Filling up, topping off bike tires. Another hassle solved. We let the older friends in the neighborhood air up their tires too. We have also used it to re-inflate a basketball and top off the air in my 3 yr old's play balls. 4) we already have a battery operated one but sick of buying the big batteries for it, and have a couple of hand pumps and an air compressor in the car, but those are too difficult or hassle to use when it's time. So this is a great addition and I've been meaning to purchase for awhile. Now I can't figure out why I didn't sooner. 5) We want to take it camping to air up air mattresses for the tents. Most camping sites we visit have power, so no problem there and we don't have to worry about batteries running low. It's great for airing up balloons for a party too if you aren't using helium.\\n\\nIf I were to make one improvement it would be to have a nice long hose to go with it. It's a bit of a hassle to hold it up against what you're inflating, but still it works well.\",\n \"Product: Perfect for using indoors, this pump operates on 120V AC, simply plug it into an available outlet and begin inflating or deflating. The included adapter with 3 nozzles makes this pump compatible with many different inflatable products while the 600 LPM max air flow gets the job done quickly. Never get caught trying to inflate manually, get the Intex Quick-Fill Pump and get the job done quick!\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Works very well for all your pool toys, air mattresses, tires and play balls.\\n\\nReview: This works perfectly. the cord is really very thick and long and it has a good bit of power to it. The reason we purchased this is for several reasons, listed next, and it has worked wonderfully for everything so far: 1) main reason we purchased is because we purchased the big rolling yard ball that the child gets in and rolls around in, and it has many air chambers and all the reviews mentioned it was difficult to air up without an electric pump 2) to pump up swim toys - and we have TONS of swim toys and various kiddie pool play things. I can even let my 9 year old granddaughter help pump up her own things by plugging it in and setting out for her when she's over. Good grief, what a headache solved just with this one item. 3) Filling up, topping off bike tires. Another hassle solved. We let the older friends in the neighborhood air up their tires too. We have also used it to re-inflate a basketball and top off the air in my 3 yr old's play balls. 4) we already have a battery operated one but sick of buying the big batteries for it, and have a couple of hand pumps and an air compressor in the car, but those are too difficult or hassle to use when it's time. So this is a great addition and I've been meaning to purchase for awhile. Now I can't figure out why I didn't sooner. 5) We want to take it camping to air up air mattresses for the tents. Most camping sites we visit have power, so no problem there and we don't have to worry about batteries running low. It's great for airing up balloons for a party too if you aren't using helium.\\n\\nIf I were to make one improvement it would be to have a nice long hose to go with it. It's a bit of a hassle to hold it up against what you're inflating, but still it works well.\",\n \"Product: The Sport-Brella Recliner Chair covers all your bases, bringing you ultimate comfort as you watch every game and cheer on your favorite players as they hustle down the field. With a 3-swivel umbrella you will stay protected against the sun with UPF 50+ and a metallic underside. The canopy can easily attach to either side, so youll stay in the shade no matter where youre sitting. With three additional adjustable hinges for reclining, and a detachable footrest you can sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. The insulated drink pouch and built-in bottle opener means you can crack open a cold one for you and your friends at the park or at the beach. There is a zippered storage pouch to keep your personal belongings protected, as you nap in the shade or the sun. Always be prepared with the Sport-Brella Recliner Chair when you take it to your family BBQ or pack it up for your favorite camping adventure in the easy to carry bag. The Sport-Brella Recliner Chair is built for comfort and made to last. The lightweight stainless steel frame can support up to 250 lbs. meaning youll get all the support you need. So, put your feet up, lay back, and enjoy the view with the Sport-Brella Recliner Chair.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Now THIS is a PERFECT chair! It has everything!\\n\\nReview: Got this for the 4th of July park event this year. I've been searching for a covered chair for several years now, and every 4th of July I have to go with a regular chair and I always get so hot and sunburned (the event in our city lasts all day and fireworks at 9p). This year, I said, forget about looking in stores, I'm ordering one online, and this one is fantastic...much better than I had hoped to find. It's sturdy, adjustable umbrella, nice foot rest, chair is comfy and just entirely well built. The only downside is now I will have to purchase one for every member of my family, otherwise, I'll never hear the end of it. LOL It's going to be great for sporting events, outdoor concerts, dog park, the beach, camping, and so much more! I'm so glad I got this!\",\n \"Product: Sleek, layered protection from drops and screen damageDual-layer drop protection from 2 meters in a slimmed-down form factor, Survivor Slim is great for anyone looking for the drop protection that made Survivor famous in a slim, light profile.Designed and tested to meet or exceed MIL-STD 801G standards for drop protection, Survivor Slim's inner, impact-resistant polycarbonate shell is jacketed in premium silicone to guard your phone against damage from drops. A smooth, curved exterior and non-slip texturing give Survivor Slim a distinctive look that's easy to hold on to.Compatible with your devices fingerprint scanner, Survivor Slim protects your iPhone's Multi-Touch display with an ultra-clear sheet of screen protection film.You can see the entire range of Survivor cases for smartphones and tablets at www.griffintechnology.com/survivor.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: 3 Ports are for Apple devices, 1 port is for Android/Samsung devices.\\n\\nReview: It's great. I should have noticed more the specs, though. I have all android devices and only one of the ports is designed for android devices. The other three are for various Apple devices, which is fine. They state you can use all the ports for various devices without damage to your device, but you might not get the charging speed you want or a charge at all. If you have Apple devices, you will have three ports for those, one of which is an iPad port, the other two for iPhones or iPods, but still, I'm okay with the purchase. Most everyone else in my household has Apple devices, so it won't be a total waste. It works good and seems to be a really great quality product.\",\n \"Product: Never spend much money on calling a tow truck or put yourself or your family in danger by waiting for help ever again. This is the perfect companion for car owners and all your DC charging needs. The Universal 5 in 1 power station not only provides the best solution to the stranded motorist with a dead battery, it also has 4 other functions that will make your life easier. Plug any USB charging cord directly into your power bank for recharging all of your important mobile devices. It comes with every charging adapter that you will ever need to fit all major brand electronics including tablets, MP3s, laptops, radios and more. 400 Amp peak (220 amps continuous) auto jump start battery clamps also work to slow charge your battery when left connected for longer periods of time. You can use the powerful LED light when in emergency situations or when you just need a flashlight. Built in safety features, such as over-current, short-circuit, over-load, over-voltage and over-charge protection. Pyle engineering to make your life safer and easier when on the road or at home.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: SOOOO MUCH POWER! Jumps a car battery several times off one charge!!!!!\\n\\nReview: I was a bit skeptical at first, but this is amazing. I let my daughter and her boyfriend borrow it because his car battery is completely shot, and they get 3-4 jumps off one charge! I can't believe there can be this much power in such a small device. It comes in a zippered case with all the peripherals needs to power various electronics, plus the jumping cables. My son in law, who works as a mechanic at a car dealership saw this and said that one of the mechanics he works with has one of these and is always the person who jumps off all the batteries in the shop because it's so much easier to use than their big old battery jumper. Awesome-ness! I'm going to get each of my kids one for the next gifts I gift to them.\",\n \"Product: The original highlighter with brilliant read-through colors and a molded chisel tip to highlight or underline. Durable plastic tip for smooth highlightingwon't fray or amp;quot;mush.Amp;quot; formula allows you to leave cap off for up to one week and still highlight. Quick-drying ink. 24 for the price of 20 colors: assorted tip type: chisel assortment: four fluorescent Pink 20 fluorescent Yellow. Br br\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: These NEVER dry out!\\n\\nReview: These are one of only two highlighters I will use, or that I will purchase for the company I work for and here's why. THESE HIGHLIGHTERS DO NOT DRY OUT! You can leave the top off for days and they still work. How many highlighters have you had to throw out because they dried out? These seriously don't. I do find that either you are a darker/bright yellow highlighter person or a neon/fluorescent yellow fan, and never both. These are the fluorescent ones. If you are making copies, this color doesn't show up on b&w copies, but I find with the darker/bright sunshine yellow ones that the copy comes out black over the word, so these are the ones you really need to use if you will ever need to copy a highlighted page. The only other highlighter that I find doesn't dry out is the sharpie DRY liner, which is a gel sort of like a crayon. A lot of folks at my work don't like those, so these are what we like to use.\",\n \"Product: The Black & Decker LST400 12\\\" 20v MAX Lithium High Performance Trimmer and Edger offers up to a full hour of runtime when using dual mode switch in run-time mode, along with Runtime Extension Technology with a dual mode accelerator switch for high performance or longer run time. This unit includes (1) 4.0 Amp hour 2X lithium battery pack for 2X more run time per battery pack. It features a patented Power Drive Transmission that prevents bogging down in heavy grass and weeds and the Automatic Feed Spool ensures continuous work without bumping and having to stop to adjust the spool. It includes a wheeled edging feature- which allows you to just rotate to convert from trimmer to edger. It is quiet and easy to start, delivering great cutting results without the mess and hassles of gas powered trimmers and the adjustable height and pivoting handle positions provide maximum comfort and control. This unit is part of the 20V MAX System - A System that Demands Attention (1 Battery fits multiple tools). Includes: (1) LST400 20V MAX Cordless Trimmer/Edger, (1) LB2X4020-OPE 20V MAX 2X Battery, (1) Charger - LCS1620, (1) AF-100 Spool, (1) Guard and (1) Handle.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Not delighted or impressed.\\n\\nReview: I was so excited to get this and I should have done my homework better. First of all, I do love B&D products, and my son in law has a corded model, so I thought I would be saving myself the headache of chasing the cord around. I really didn't want a gas model because a) they're too heavy for me b) noisy, c) toxic for my lungs and the environment. This is just not as powerful as the corded model or a gas powered one, and the battery runs down super duper fast. Maybe I got a bad one. And what was I thinking? The shaft is just entirely too short and I have to bend slightly to trim. WHAT A PAIN (in my back, I mean)! It doesn't seem to have the cutting power to power through edging or taller weeds like the corded model my son-in-law has, but I do like that the batteries are interchangeable between different tools. If you are shorter (I'm 5'8\\\"), and if you have light duty trimming only, you will probably love this. It's good other than the cons I listed.\",\n \"Product: Mars whiskas temptations hearty beef 3oz pouch. Quality ingredients used. Suitable to be used for pets.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: My cats and dog are addicted to these!!!\\n\\nReview: My cats AND my finicky eater dog absolutely LOVE LOVE these. They beg for them. Any bag rattling in the house now makes all my fur babies come a running for Temptations treats. I even use these to get them to come back to the house when I need for them to. A simple shake of the bag and if they are anywhere within earshot, and they almost always are, they come straight inside. I give them about 10 pieces every night, plus whatever bribery I need to use, and it lasts a good while. One of my cats is a ginormous tom, and LITERALLY, he will meow long and diligently for these. If I leave the bag anywhere he can get to, say on a countertop, he is going to find it and find a way to get into the bag and eat them up, so you will want to keep the bag put away \\\"securely\\\" for sure.\",\n \"Product: PetSafe's Stubborn Dog In-Ground radio fence pet containment system provides your pets that are stubborn or hard to train with freedom and safety while costing thousands less than conventional fencing. Recommended for dogs 30 pounds and up. It's quick and easy to install, reliable and safe, and with proper training, a very effective solution. A lightweight super receiver is worn on your pet's collar, which picks up the radio signal and alerts your pet as he nears the underground boundary. Once your pet is properly trained, he will learn to stay in the boundaries designated by the radio fence. Includes 500 feet of boundary wire and 50 boundary flaps, enough to cover about one-third acre. For use in the US only. This unit is compatible with all US 110v outlets and are not to be used with 220v international voltage.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Freedom for my cats, peace of mind for me...and my neighbors!\\n\\nReview: Although the shipping took longer than I would have liked, I finally received this and MAN, how did I ever live without this? I can't even imagine not having it now. Firstly, it is simple to put up, the instructions are so well written and clear, I think a 10 year old could do it. If you have an existing fence, you do not have to put this in the ground. I read on some reviews that this is a huge chore buying, and if you have a huge yard, I guess it is, but I just attached it to my fence, used my lawn edger to help dig a rut where there was no fence, and boom, it's up. After MUCH research for a couple of months, I decided on this because it isn't wireless. The big huge wireless box is not only ginormous and ugly, but it doesn't have good reviews overall, and is prone to failure for many reasons, including that the signal fluctuates and makes the boundary you set move up to 2' either way at any given time. First, you lay it out around the area you want to fence, making sure it's just as you want it. They include helpful tips and advice too to help you in deciding how to lay your fence. At first, I was just going to lay it around the perimeter of my yard, but they show all kinds of ways to protect your pool area, garden spot, and cover difficult areas. They also explain how to train your animal precisely, which I was kind of worried about, but if you just follow their instructions on what and how to train on what days, it's simple. Days 1-5 for example, you just walk your pet around with the unit off and give him treats when he avoids the flagged areas. You do this for 30 minutes a day or something. Then day 6-10, for example, you'd see if he avoids the area by himself, and if he does you praise him a lot and reinforce the training. It accelerates up to about 2-3 weeks with progressive training. Even an idiot could do it. There is some adjustment work just making sure it works the way you intended, giving you the opportunity to reset the wires or whatever. And of course, you have to fit the collar to your specific pet, since all pets are different sizes, fur thicknesses etc. But they tell you all about that, too. I just think this is a well designed product that works great. It seems like they have thought of everything, and they give you pet training tips and tell you what to do to leave your area with your pet (because you don't want them to be afraid to cross the line when they have to go to the vet, for instance). They explain what to do if your animal gets out of the protection area. You can buy additional wire, flags, a second or third collar, and anything else you need. They also include some waterproof gel to use in case you have to splice in additional wire. The gel is a capsule shaped container of gel that you put the spliced wire into, close it to seal, and then use, because you need your wiring to be waterproof. This particular unit is rechargeable, but I decided it was worth the investment so I don't have to buy the exclusive petsafe batteries that everyone thinks are so high. They don't seem that high to me, but maybe the non-rechargeable units use a lot of batteries. Anyway, this is a complete set with every little thing you could ever think of, even things that aren't pictured. It even has a surge protector included, so all in all a great price for such a great product. Now my cats cat climb over the fence to the cat hating dogs and people on the other side. They can't get into the street on the front of the house and get hit by a car. But they can have freedom to play outside, catch bugs, lay under the shade tree, roll around on the patio, bask in the sun, chase squirrels, and just be cats. I'm so thrilled I got this!!!! And so are my babies!!\",\n \"Product: The Catit Self Groomer provides easy-access rubbing pleasure for cats, while the durable plastic bristles simultaneously remove loose and shedding hair. The brush can be snapped in and out of its frame for simple maintenance. The Catit Self Groomer affixes easily to either flat or corner surfaces and it includes adhesive strips and a supply of catnip. Your cat will love being able to groom itself while getting a massage at the same time.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: These are ok, just ok. As other reviewers ...\\n\\nReview: These are ok, just ok. As other reviewers have stated, they are hard, stiff plastic, and my cats have zero interest in them. My biggest negative with these is that you cannot stick them on a corner that isn't exactly a squared off, 90 degree flat corner, such as a wall or a piece of furniture. If you try to put it on a door moulding, it won't stick because of the angle of the inside surface. You would literally have to put stacks of double sided foam tape on them to get them to work, which I guess I will do, because I so want these to work for my long haired cat, who absolutely loves to be groomed and rubbed and brushed.\",\n \"Product: Your pets's health and vitality require adequate water consumption. Our carefully developed, unique design is exceptionally\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Great for getting your cats to drink enough water.\\n\\nReview: Works great. My cats were barely drinking water, and I was buying wet food (stinky), and then I was adding water to that to make sure they got enough water. Cats that don't get enough water develop all kinds of health problems. Since I've gotten this, they love their water and I see them drinking often. What made me select this unit was that it has 3 levels to drink from, which was great for my 3 cat family. If you're worried about your cat or dog having to use the potty more often, relax. They will, but they will learn to deal with it and guess what else....litter boxes smell much better when the urine isn't so concentrated and strong. This unit is easy peasy to refill and change. Easy to wash. The water gets nasty easily, so I recommend 1) placing it away from their food dish (I actually read online that cats don't like their food and water together anyway.) This should keep food crumbs to a minimum. 2) change the water at least once weekly, twice is better. It's easy to pick up and dump out, spray out with the sink sprayer, refill and put back down. 60 seconds twice a week. Is your animal worth it? Look, stuff, junk, crumbs, hair, dirt, kids dropping crumbs into there, etc gets all up in the water. 3) TAKE THE PUMP OFF AND CLEAN IT WEEKLY! Otherwise, it WILL get slimy. purified water or not. and just think of what's microscopically growing in there that you can't see. My poor kitty was sneezing and I figured out it was mold/mildew growth on the pump and filter. Changed it out, no more sneezing. Sneezing started back up, I knew what it was and checked it out...sure enough, mold growth starting to develop on pump and filter. 4) Run through your dishwasher with bleach or in the sink, then rinse really well. You can also use peroxide, Listerine (rinse it well afterwards), alcohol, etc. The fact that this is plastic means that it has little scratches and nicks and crevices that bacteria grows in. I'm not trying to dissuade you from purchasing...but just like anything else, you must keep it clean. don't your babies deserve it? and lastly 5) set it up where human food drippings and crumbs don't fall into the water, like don't put it by your trash can or right beside the counter where you butter toast or where the kids eat their morning cereal. All that food and crumbs and dustpan germs and stuff get in the water. Yuck.\",\n \"Product: Pet parents know texture is just as important as taste for their cat. TEMPTATIONS Treats for Cats Tasty Chicken Flavor features a unique pocket shape that is delightfully crunchy on the outside and scrumptiously soft and creamy on the inside. Your feline friend will adore the natural, mouth-watering chicken taste, which never contains artificial flavors. America's #1 cat treat* also is 100% nutritionally complete and balanced for adult cat maintenance. At only 2 low calories per treat, our delicious cat treats are perfect for playtime, snack time or anytime. (* Based on sales data)\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: My cats and dog are addicted to these!!!\\n\\nReview: My cats AND my finicky eater dog absolutely LOVE LOVE these. They beg for them. Any bag rattling in the house now makes all my fur babies come a running for Temptations treats. I even use these to get them to come back to the house when I need for them to. A simple shake of the bag and if they are anywhere within earshot, and they almost always are, they come straight inside. I give them about 10 pieces every night, plus whatever bribery I need to use, and it lasts a good while. One of my cats is a ginormous tom, and LITERALLY, he will meow long and diligently for these. If I leave the bag anywhere he can get to, say on a countertop, he is going to find it and find a way to get into the bag and eat them up, so you will want to keep the bag put away \\\"securely\\\" for sure.\",\n \"Product: The OurPets Backyard Bird encourages physical play and mental stimulation by appealing to your cats natural instincts. Your cat is ensured an instinct fulfilling play experience by providing them with a toy that has a tactile feel, an enticing RealMouse sound, and a catnip scent. All the fun for your cat with no catnip mess. Keep them entertained for hours and try multiple products from the backyard collection to see which animal your cat likes best!\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: My Dog and Cats go GAGA over this toy!\\n\\nReview: My cats and dog love this toy, but the reason I buy them is because my DOG loves it. She just absolutely goes WILD for this, and honestly, it's one of the only two toys that really holds her attention. The other is a flipping/walking/barking dog that I also purchased from Amazon. The only thing I can think of that might be a negative on this is that you need to supervise your pet - especially if he/she is a dog that likes to chew toys up. This has a small \\\"voice box\\\" inside that contains a tiny - TINY - button battery. The voice box is about the size of a penny or nickel in diameter, and the button battery is about the size of a cherry pit, so my concern is that my dog will accidentally swallow it, because she does chew right into this and pull the insides out. I really do think she believes this is a real animal/rodent. When she isn't attacking it, she is looking at it, and when I put it away for awhile, she sits there and looks up at it wishing she could reach it. Literally, she is obsessed. These also come in a ball version with a mouse, and that lasts much longer for her, but she eventually gets into that as well. On the ball version, the mouse is suspended in the middle on a thin metal rod that runs from one side to the other in the middle inside of the ball. Any vibration on the ball makes it chirp. Really, it does sound like a mouse if you close your eyes and imagine. I read some reviews that weren't that favorable about the chirping sound, but if my animal loves it, it really doesn't matter what I think it sounds like. These are lower in price on Amazon that they are at the WM store.\",\n \"Product: IQ Treat Ball Interactive Food Dispensing Dog Toy\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Nice interactive, stimulating and entertaining dog toy.\\n\\nReview: This is a great treat ball for a dog, but I purchased it for my cat. The product is marketed for a dog treat dispenser, so I can't hold that against them. I don't see a docile dog getting a treat from it, though. I have to shake it like crazy to get tiny treats to fall out, and I guess that's the whole purpose, to get your dog to get exercise while rewarding him and keeping him interested. If the treats just fell straight out, the toy wouldn't hold pup's interest. So I'm giving it 4 stars for that, but it might be most well used on a patient, hearty player or persistent treat lover. That said, I do believe that these IQ toys for cats and dogs are excellent for keeping our babies active, playful, and stimulated, and yes, I think you can increase your pets IQ (reasoning skills, whatever) by using these sorts of toys.\",\n \"Product: Petmate's Pet Cafe Feeder provides a delicious supply of food for pets with less refills required for pet parents. This auto pet feeder ensures easy access to the nourishment pets need, ideal for pet parents with busy lifestyles. The food hopper gradually dispenses dry food as the bowl is emptied, keeping food fresh in the storage reservoir. The bottle locks securely into the base of the auto dog feeder for stability and features a wide opening for convenient hand-washing. Featuring easy-grab cutouts, pet parents can easily lift the pet bowl feeder without spilling. Petmate Pet Cafe cat and dog feeders are available in three sizes, ranging from 3 to 12 gallons, to accommodate pets of any size or multi-pet households. Offered in several pearlescent colors, Petmate's Pet Cafe gravity feeder makes a charming addition to any room of the home.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: We use this for our cats and we like it for these reasons\\n\\nReview: We use this for our cats and we like it for these reasons: No more filling the dry food bowl daily (what a pain). You can buy a 4-7 lb bag of food and dump it in and be done...no bag to roll down or put away (what a pain, lol). The food stays nice and clean. The only con I have is that if you tip it over, WHAT A PAIN!!! And it's rather easy to tip over. Make sure you set it nicely out of the way. Once the clear part comes off (it just sits in the opening, doesn't snap in), food is going to go EVERYWHERE. But of course, there is a lid on top to refill it, but sometimes, you just need to wash the lower bowl or something. I also notice that this wouldn't work well for larger dog chunks, as even the small kibble we feed our cats sometimes needs some help coming out. All in all, we like it and use it, but of course, there isn't another product to take its place, so...\",\n \"Product: Reward your cat with a scrumptious playtime snack that is 100% nutritionally complete for adult cat maintenance and helps to control tartar. Featuring a tempting mix of flavors, such as chicken, turkey and cheddar, TEMPTATIONS MixUps Cat Treats FARMER'S FEAST Flavor is a great-tasting reward. Plus, at only 2 calories per treat, your feline friend can enjoy the crunchy outside and soft center anytime. America's #1 cat treat* is the perfect way to make snack time fun for your feline friend. (* Based on sales data)\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: My Cats are Addicted like Crack to These!\\n\\nReview: My cats are freakishly in love with these treats. They love all the flavors, but this one and the dairy especially. It's the only thing I can use to get them to come in from outside. I love to give them treats every night and they go crazy for these. I mean, CRAZY, and they are the most finicky cats in the world. These have a soft inside filling and a crunchy outside and they come in dozens of flavors and a variety of fillings. These have catnip in them...not sure how much or if that's why they like them, because they do love all the flavors, but they just love love these! I can't leave a bag anywhere they can jump up to or dig into or find in any way, because they WILL find the bag and they WILL find a way to tear into the bag and they WILL eat every last one. So I give them about 10 each of these little bites every evening or as a bribe to get them to come inside or to get them to come out of hiding in the house.\",\n \"Product: The rechargeable in-ground Fences the convenient containment system that lets you keep your pet safe in your yard without having to regularly replace collar batteries. Charge your pet's receiver collar when the battery's low and away he goes to enjoy his new yard freedom. Add as many pets as you like with additional compatible collars. 4 adjustable levels of static correction plus tone-only mode for training lets you find just the right level for your pet. The fence installs in about a weekend with some basic DIY skills. You'll bury wires in your yard to set a custom pet area up to 25 acres with additional wire and flags. The transmitter sends a radio signal through the boundary wire to your pet's collar. If your pet approaches the boundary, he'll hear a warning beep to remind him to stay in the yard. If he continues through the boundary, he'll feel a safe, gentle static correction from the collar to keep him in the yard. After about 2 weeks of training, your pet will quickly learn the areas he is free to enjoy.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Freedom for my cats, peace of mind for me...and my neighbors!\\n\\nReview: Although the shipping took longer than I would have liked, I finally received this and MAN, how did I ever live without this? I can't even imagine not having it now. Firstly, it is simple to put up, the instructions are so well written and clear, I think a 10 year old could do it. If you have an existing fence, you do not have to put this in the ground. I read on some reviews that this is a huge chore buying, and if you have a huge yard, I guess it is, but I just attached it to my fence, used my lawn edger to help dig a rut where there was no fence, and boom, it's up. After MUCH research for a couple of months, I decided on this because it isn't wireless. The big huge wireless box is not only ginormous and ugly, but it doesn't have good reviews overall, and is prone to failure for many reasons, including that the signal fluctuates and makes the boundary you set move up to 2' either way at any given time. First, you lay it out around the area you want to fence, making sure it's just as you want it. They include helpful tips and advice too to help you in deciding how to lay your fence. At first, I was just going to lay it around the perimeter of my yard, but they show all kinds of ways to protect your pool area, garden spot, and cover difficult areas. They also explain how to train your animal precisely, which I was kind of worried about, but if you just follow their instructions on what and how to train on what days, it's simple. Days 1-5 for example, you just walk your pet around with the unit off and give him treats when he avoids the flagged areas. You do this for 30 minutes a day or something. Then day 6-10, for example, you'd see if he avoids the area by himself, and if he does you praise him a lot and reinforce the training. It accelerates up to about 2-3 weeks with progressive training. Even an idiot could do it. There is some adjustment work just making sure it works the way you intended, giving you the opportunity to reset the wires or whatever. And of course, you have to fit the collar to your specific pet, since all pets are different sizes, fur thicknesses etc. But they tell you all about that, too. I just think this is a well designed product that works great. It seems like they have thought of everything, and they give you pet training tips and tell you what to do to leave your area with your pet (because you don't want them to be afraid to cross the line when they have to go to the vet, for instance). They explain what to do if your animal gets out of the protection area. You can buy additional wire, flags, a second or third collar, and anything else you need. They also include some waterproof gel to use in case you have to splice in additional wire. The gel is a capsule shaped container of gel that you put the spliced wire into, close it to seal, and then use, because you need your wiring to be waterproof. This particular unit is rechargeable, but I decided it was worth the investment so I don't have to buy the exclusive petsafe batteries that everyone thinks are so high. They don't seem that high to me, but maybe the non-rechargeable units use a lot of batteries. Anyway, this is a complete set with every little thing you could ever think of, even things that aren't pictured. It even has a surge protector included, so all in all a great price for such a great product. Now my cats cat climb over the fence to the cat hating dogs and people on the other side. They can't get into the street on the front of the house and get hit by a car. But they can have freedom to play outside, catch bugs, lay under the shade tree, roll around on the patio, bask in the sun, chase squirrels, and just be cats. I'm so thrilled I got this!!!! And so are my babies!!\",\n \"Product: Treat your dog to Golden Rewards Chicken Jerky. These dog treats are made with real chicken breast. Golden Rewards Chicken Jerky, 16 oz: Dog treats Made with real chicken breast High protein Low fat No artificial flavors or colors No grain No artificial preservatives\\n\\nRating: 1.0\\n\\nSummary: BEWARE...Making Dogs Ill or Dead\\n\\nReview: Do some research before buying ANY jerky dog treats!!! This brand is on the list of jerky that has been causing dog deaths across the country. I've been purchasing these from the big box wm store that you all know and love. After my dogs became ill I did some research and found out that this brand is among others that use chicken imported from China and that have caused numerous dog illnesses and deaths. They cause kidney failure because SOME at least -- I'm not sure about all of them or if it's just some of them -- contain chickens that are laced with illegal antibiotics among other things. Sure, it only contains a few \\\"benign\\\" ingredients, but it's what the seemingly healthy chickens are fed that are so dangerous. Please Please Please don't make your precious pet sick or worse.\",\n \"Product: Lightning Cable, iPhone Charger 4Pack 3FT 6FT 6FT 10FT to USB Syncing and Charging Cable Data Nylon Braided Cord Charger for iPhone 7/7 Plus/6/6 Plus/6s/6s Plus/5/5s/5c/SE\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great as elderly Panic Button!! And awesome doorbell, too.\\n\\nReview: This couldn't be simpler to use, you insert batteries and then plug in the larger \\\"bell\\\" part and you're in business! The alarm is clear and loud, and you can set it to a variety of tones. I noticed a couple of reviewers said there wasn't a tone provided that they likes. If you can't find the tone you want from the over 50 that are offered, well, frankly, you might be too high maintenance. I mean, it's a doorbell. Remember back in the day when we were required to have the simple \\\"ding-dong\\\" and that was good enough? I originally bought these to be panic alarms for my bedridden husband because we couldn't be by his bedside 100% of the time. I got two sets and put one of the buttons on his hospital bed he slept in at home, and one in the bathroom. I was worried about him choking on a cord or necklace since he had dementia, but you could put the doorbell part on a cord or a wristband. I placed a bell outside on my patio, one in my bedroom (my husband preferred to sleep in the living room amidst all the action), one in central location in the house. The one I purchased came with one push button and two chimes - one chime was plug in, one was battery operated, so I could pick up the one on the patio and carry it all around the yard. I purchased two sets and I was set. When hubby couldn't get out of the bed anymore, we moved the push button that was in the bathroom and put it on the front door. This suited our needs much better than one of those life alert things that calls an ambulance and that you have a monthly fee. Someone was always home with him, whether a family member or a caregiver, so he could just press a button if he needed a drink or just felt scared in the night. As his condition worsened, I added a baby monitor that had two way speakers so I could hear him and I could tell him I was on my way to him so he would feel better while I was on my way to him. My sweet, beloved husband is no longer with us, but these gave him a much better quality of life the last year of his life.\",\n \"Product: This Easy Set pool is the perfect alternative to steel-walled pools. It is ready for water in 10 minutes, and no sand is required to support the walls. Measuring 10 feet in diameter and 30 inches tall, the pool includes a filter pump and a video.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Great pool for the money\\n\\nReview: Easy to set up, however DO make sure your ground is level. No matter how level you think it is to begin with. Buy or borrow a nice long level - a construction/building level works good - and even out your ground surface first with a nice layer of sand. If your pool is 10' round, that means you will need AT LEAST enough to cover 100'Square. Multiply that by a couple of inches. Now recheck with your level until you have a good flat, level foundation to put it on. Cover with a tarp or pool ground cover bigger than the pool diameter. We purchased a bigger pump, the one included is for 530 gallons per hour, and the pool is 1080 gallons, so you do the math. I would also highly recommend a nice pool skimmer and a salt system. Ahhhh, crystal clear water! Intex is a good brand, and I've never had a problem with any of their products.\",\n \"Product: 57444EP Features: -Have fun splashing and playing in the Intex Dinosaur Play Center, a terrific prehistoric oasis!. -The kids are sure to keep cool in this wading pool, with the built-in palm tree sprayer and waterfall that attaches to a garden hose for tons of enjoyment. -Feed the hungry dinosaur with the six included colorful fun balls. -Slide down the volcano water slide with soft landing mat to land on. -A drain plug is included for convenience. -Age grade: 3+ years. Pool Type: -Kiddie pool. Pool Shape: -Novelty. Wall Type: -Soft. Color: -Multi-colored. Primary Material: -Metal. Water Capacity: -57 Gallons. Dimensions: Overall Height - Top to Bottom: -43\\\". Overall Width - Side to Side: -6.25 Feet. Overall Length - Front to Back: -8.16 Feet. Overall Product Weight: -9.9 lbs.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: My grand daughter is in love\\n\\nReview: I purchased this for my two year old grand daughter to play in this summer and she literally jumped up and down the entire time from when she saw the box until we set it up and she delightfully jumped in to play. She loves to feed the dinosaur, and that activity alone keeps her interested for a long time. Then, the slide is super, duper fun for her. She just squeals with delight. Even my 8 year old g-d loves it! If an 8 year old likes it, it must be really fun. The back part sprays water, but since it's over to the side, they don't have to get sprayed if they don't want to, and I really like that, because, as you know if you've ever been around kids, sometimes they don't want to be sprayed. It's roomy and nice, plenty of room for a few toddlers or an 8 year old to join in the fun! It's just the right depth, and if you aren't familiar with the Intex name, it is a quality product built for rugged use and made to last. I've had many intex products, in fact have a big above ground pool in my yard now, and I've never had an issue -- ever! It's easy to inflate with a pump (I wouldn't attempt to blow it up by mouth -- good grief, are you insane?), and just as easy to take down, shake out, roll up and put away. I might just have to leave this up so I don't have to keep putting it back up. They love it! It's nice if you don't want to get into a deeper pool with the little ones and just let them have their fun while you stay nice and dry or do yard work, or just enjoy a glass of tea on the patio.\",\n \"Product: Each Webkinz comes with a secret code which allows you to enter Webkinz World!\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Pretty marbled fur, mine looks defectively sewn though\\n\\nReview: While the fur is a pretty marbled color, this cat almost looks deformed. Not well shaped or something is off. She looks a little weird shaped, probably because of the way she is sewn I'm guessing. Maybe the lines didn't line up or they were in a hurry putting it together. Fur goes in different directions and she just needs a lot of work to make her presentable, which I'm not even sure will happen. I worked with her for about 30 minutes last night trying to make her fur and parts look right. I may be sending this one back. As I noted in a previous review of a Ganz animal, not all the Ganz are the best quality as far as them looking scraggly when they arrive. But they have lasted and that counts for something. You can go online and play in a virtual world, but I'm not a huge fan of that, so I'm not even mentioning that to my granddaughters. Just another way to get more money with in app purchases, and kids spend too much time online anyway. BUT, if you like that, it's an added bonus. They come with a tag that contains bonus points to use online and all.\",\n \"Product: Twist and wiggle to glide and giggle with Ziggle from Radio Flyer! Ziggle has four caster wheels for a fun, fast ride, and unique twisting motion for 360 spins. With an adjustable seat, padded hand grips, grip tape for feet and solid steel frame, Ziggle offers years of fun.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Wonderful, wonderful, easy to ride ZIGGLE!\\n\\nReview: We received this in no time and put it together. while we were waiting for it to arrive, I showed my 2 year old granddaughter the video of it, which is right here on Amazon and you can get one on YouTube too, and she has been anxiously awaiting it. Is the ice cream man going to bring it today? (She calls the UPS guy the ice cream man). When we put it together, she immediately got on it and took off. A little slow at first, but she was delighted and felt like a big girl riding on it. It's so easy to make roll...just wiggle the handlebars and ZOOM, it goes! The seat only has two positions from what we can figure, and it is a bit hard for her to reach her feet to the front base. But she has room to grow and we love it!\",\n \"Product: Includes 5 pounds of Sands Alive! - all the fun of sand without the mess! The unique, non-toxic formula prevents bacterial growth.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great Adult / Child bonding playtime and NON MESSY indoor sand toy\\n\\nReview: This Kinetic sand is so wonderful. As I included in a previous review of a Sands Alive playset, you can mold and use indoor without mess. I simply put down one of those vinyl table covers so all the sand is contained and we have fun for hours at a time. Great adult/child bonding time. Everyone in our house likes to play with this from adults to 3 year olds. You can use any sand toys with this, various items from the kitchen such as a sieve or cups for molds. Outdoor sand toys are great with this, and we like to press it into \\\"cake\\\" or \\\"pizza\\\" shapes and cut with a plastic or butter knife into \\\"slices\\\" It holds its shape and it doesn't dry out (unlike Play doh or regular sand) so we can keep our creations to admire for a couple of days before putting it away. HIGHLY HIGHLY recommended!\",\n \"Product: Make bath time fun for your little one with the water bug pull toys. Just pull the tail and watch the bugs zoom across the surface of the water. The bright colors combined with the swimming action helps your child's motor skills development.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Adorable and fun, but they didn't last long for us.\\n\\nReview: I purchased ours at WM, and I absolutely loved them, but they broke within about a month or two. I still think they are adorable and they were so much fun during bathtime...even for the adult bathing the toddler. Maybe we overused them? (they were that much fun) but ours worked perfectly for a month or so, and they were so cute swimming all around in the tub, but then it got to where the strings wouldn't go back in and they wouldn't swim. The strings remained pulled out and ... nothing. We had to help our one and a half year old pull the string some of the time, but still they entertained her during bathtime, hair washing and all. She cried when it was time to get out of the tub because she wanted to play some more. Most of the time, we'd have to let her take one out with her to quell her crying while we diapered and dressed her. But they are adorable and fun if they only last a few months. They're probably ready to chunk by then anyway since moisture does get inside, and if you haven't already googled to see the nasty stuff that grows in tub toys, you should go do that now. I still gave it three stars because they are that great when they worked, and in all fairness, maybe we played with them too much. Our 6 year old also played with them and loved them, and they're fun in the kid's pool too.\",\n \"Product: Color: natural wood Made of solid wood High-quality craftsmanship coupled with a beautiful design Delivered fully assembled to your door Stable mounting; maximum suggested weight 65 lbs\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: My grand daughter loves her horsey swing!\\n\\nReview: Quality made. Durable. I purchased this for my nearly 3 year old grand daughter because she can't balance well enough to swing on a regular swing and I wanted something other than a plastic molded swing seat. My daughter was worried that her legs would be too large to fit between the bottom side slat and the seat since it isn't adjustable, but she fits fine with room to spare. There is just a bit of \\\"wiggle room\\\" where the side slats are attached by rope, so it does have some give to it. This is just a nice retro-style hand made swing that is sure to be handed down for generations. It looks like it might be Amish made, nice and sturdy and all around quality. The ropes are very long, so you could hang it from a reasonably \\\"not too high\\\" tree branch just fine. I had to adjust the rope considerably to get it high enough to use it on the kids' regular swingset, but I did that by tying 3 simple loop knots on top of one another in the rope and it was perfect. I considered painting it, but not sure yet if I will. If not, I will surely seal it with a good water sealer, because it is 100% natural, and I don't want the weather to ruin it. Other than that, it's wonderful and she loves her horsey swing!\",\n \"Product: For endless hours of fun, the environment-friendly bug vacuum toy lets kids find, catch, inspect, and release their favorite outdoor bugs. A built-in LED light, magnifier, and belt clip add to the adventure! Encourage kids to step away from their digital devices and investigate the great outdoors with an automatic bug catching gun. Fun, powerful features and exciting scientific design allows children age 5 to 12 to safely interact with nature, indoors or outdoors, at any time of the day or night. Patented catch-and-release technology keeps kids and bugs safe during exploration. A New Way to Play Challenge your kids to catch ants, beetles, flies, spiders, moths, and more! For homeschooling projects or weekend fun, promote inquisitive play and encourage budding scientists to document their catches and explore the world around them. The innovative bug catching gun allows for harmless catching, observing, and returning of all buggy specimens. Features include: *LED laser light *Carabineer belt clip *Built-in magnifier *Detachable core viewing capsule *Triggered suction mechanism *1-inch suction opening *AA Batteries (included) When youre child is done inspecting their captured bugs, simply twist off and release your bug outdoors! Theyll love bug hunting in the backyard or helping to catch an indoor pest. For birthdays or holidays, this battery-operated gadget makes a great gift and encourages young learners to take interest in their natural surroundings. Give the gift of adventure with the Nature Bound bug catching gun.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: This sucks. pun intended.\\n\\nReview: Vacuum works just ok. My g-kids were able to pick up a couple of tiny insects, such as some tiny baby crickets that apparently had just hatched out in my backyard. Anything bigger than that we couldn't get to pick up. I don't think it's a battery issue, but we did use Amazon's alkaline batteries. I am going to try Duracells I guess, but doubt it will be a major improvement. I'll update accordingly when I have tried new batteries. When on, we couldn't even feel a suction AT ALL, and I mean zero suction felt. I'm actually quite surprised they were able to pick up baby crickets at all. Be warned not to try to suck up a wasp unless you check the suction. Another thing I noticed is that, even my 9 year old g-daughter had difficulty getting close enough to the insect to get it before the bug saw the device and hopped away. If the suction was stronger, this wouldn't have been a problem. We weren't expecting a dust buster or a hoover or anything, but this was very disappointing, though they are happy to hunt around with it and try to catch bugs.\",\n \"Product: Pool Float - Kid's Inflatable Seesaw Swimming Pool Water Toy - Summer just got funner in the pool with this brand new Floating Seesaw. Don't you wish we had these when we were kids. Your kids will love this unique inflatable pool toy. Adult Supervision is always recommended, especially during the Summer.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Not my favorite pool toy\\n\\nReview: I didn't purchase this on Amazon, but noticed it coming up on a lightning deal and decided to write a review. MUCH supervision needed with this pool float. It tips over easily and kids have to work against each other to make it work. I wouldn't use it unless a) both children are accomplished swimmers or very used to going underwater at a whim, b) adult is right there, such as pictured, c) kids are of the same approximate weight, and d) you have lots of patience. There is a sturdy handle to hold on to but the entire design seems to be less than ergonomically built, so the little ones have to crouch over while sitting on knees to even begin to ride it, kids have to literally rock forwards and back in sync with each other. They can sit on it with their legs hanging off sides if they have very long legs and just sit completely still. If one kid goes back too far, someone is going into the water.\\n\\nUpdate: Apparently my review made at least one person think that, because I wasn't the purchaser of this product on Amazon that I hadn't seen it in use. I buy a lot - A LOTTT - from Amazon...the UPS man gets tired of seeing me, I'm sure. I was honest in disclosing that I didn't personally purchase this from Amazon, but my grandkids have tried to play on one at my daughter's friend's house. My gr-daughters are 3 and 9, and I was simply stating that kids need to be around the same weight to ride this toy successfully, otherwise, one or both of the kids won't be able to stay on it unless the adult is holding it up. When an adult is in the pool, they love to play with their kids. But they also want to ENJOY their kids and the pool. Constantly holding the pool float, coaching the kids not to jerk on the handles or go back too far, repositioning the kids on the float, physically holding the float steady, rocking it for them, and retrieving crying 3 and four year olds from the water gets frustrating - FAST. I love INTEX products...so much so that I have numerous of their products, including an easy set 10x30 pool, a metal frame 18x52 pool, several SEVERAL floats for kids and adults, and all kinds of pool equipment. Some I purchased from Amazon. Some elsewhere. If I have experience with a product, I don't mind sharing my opinion. Just because I didn't purchase it on Amazon doesn't mean that I can't provide an insightful opinion. After adult upon adult gave up from using this see saw, it was eventually tossed out of the pool. Too frustrating for all!\",\n \"Product: Take Colorforms with you, wherever you go! Re-usable Disney Doc McStuffins stick-on set provides hours of creative and imaginative play, and then folds easily away. Self-contained Disney Doc McStuffins pack includes 2 colorful play scenes and 36 reusable Colorforms character stick-ons. With over one billion sets sold throughout the past 60+ years, Colorforms is one of the oldest and best-known toy brands. Colorforms vinyl re-stickable playsets provide safe, creative, open-ended and imaginative play, and have been trusted by generations of parents and grandparents. What began as basic shapes of squares, triangles and circles, has evolved to incorporate relevant licensed characters and other innovations that engage kids and encourage storytelling. Colorforms was one of the first plastic-based creative toys, and one of the first toys ever advertised on television, Colorforms re-stickable sets provide hours of imaginative play for kids. See also our On the Go, Take A Long, Create a Story, and Big Wall Playsets.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Maybe the best toy invention ever...COLORFORMS!\\n\\nReview: These are great. It is a nice handy size with a velcro closure to keep it tidy, and a carry handle for easy carrying for a youngster. Inside, there are 2 scenes to decorate, and plenty of bright, colorful clings to excite a child's imagination. Heck, I even had fun with it for a few minutes. There is a storage pocket on the inside to keep the clings in, but it is probably a good idea to keep the clings in an envelope or a ziploc bag, because the pocket is rather small and not too secure. The only thing that made me take off one star was that inside, there is an insert that tells you to rub the magic black strips to reveal a surprise, but there are no black strips anywhere. I didn't expect the \\\"magic black strips\\\" when I ordered this product, so it is only a minor disappointment. I guess the colorforms folks included the insert by accident.\",\n \"Product: Sands Alive! 3-D Sealife Adventure set includes 1.5 pounds of Sands Alive!, 4 sealife molds, seashell and smooth rollers with interchangeable handle, play tray with 3-D glasses and 3-D art background! All the fun of sand without the mess! The unique, non-toxic formula prevents bacterial growth.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: AMAZING SAND Play!!! WE LOVE LOVE LOVE it!\\n\\nReview: What can I say. This is magnificent sand to use indoors. I noticed that a couple of reviews said it was messy - It can be messy but with a tiny bit of pre-prep, there is no mess at all. This is the same thing I do for Play Doh time...I simply put down one of those cheap vinyl table covers so they can play on that. Any loose particles of sand can be gathered up by picking up the mat at the corners and everything goes to the center. Clump it up and put it in the rest of the sand. You can purchase one at the big WMart store for about $3 - many patterns available, or you could really just use a sheet in a pinch. Back to the sand.......\\n\\nIt's moldable and so much fun, I like to play with them. Now the only problem is that I'm a bit obsessed with sand toys, molds, rollers, etc. We have tons of good grandmother granddaughter bonding time and I genuinely have fun playing with them. You can get various sets of these and they are often on lightning deals, and any kinetic sand works with it.\\n\\nAnd the best part?? IT NEVER DRIES OUT!!\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":46,"string":"46"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_3"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":889,"string":"889"}}},{"rowIdx":890,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"AXO3PA17C50V0"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of \"5.0\" for a product with description \"The idea behind the Adorn condiment server takes hosting a party or going out on a picnic to a new level with its sleek design and its convenience. The 4 containers are removable and make serving, refilling and cleaning easy. Each cup holds approximately 20 ounces, making this large enough to not be too busy refilling them every few minutes. The hinged lid helps keeps the cold in and the bugs out! Its unique design helps keep things fresh and cool for longer periods of time by trapping the cool air to stay in and maximize the ice's chilling power. Just fill the bottom tray with cubed or crushed ice or simply fill it with water and freeze it prior to using it. When ready simply, place the four serving containers on top with all your goodies, salad dressings, fruits and veggies or even ice cream! This dish is not a luxury its a necessity for any outdoor picnic, grilling event or party. Its made of strong and durable crystal-clear plastic and is top rack dishwasher safe so you dont have to think twice before using it. Make your outdoor eating more fun and never allow your food to get warm or spoiled before even taking a bite!\". The summary of the review text is \"very great quality condiment set, it's not cheaply made\"."},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"I absolutely love the adorn products. I now own several and I wouldn't hesitate to buy more. This condiment set is super nice. It's made of thick quality plastic, it's not cheap and flimsy at all. I was worried when I first ordered it that it would be cheap and wouldn't last but this set is going to last for years or maybe forever. I love being able to keep stuff cool if I need to, or if I don't I don't have to add ice. I have parties alot and always have condiment or different kinds of olives or whatever that I put out for my friends and family and this set is perfect for me. It's nice sized too, it's bigger than I expected. It holds quite a bit which I really like because I like to have alot of food for my guests. You will not be disappointed in this condiment set so don't hesitate to buy it. The seller is also amazing, I had an occasion to message them and they are so great. These would make great gifts for people who entertain alot. I am so very happy with my set.\nI received this product at a reduced rate in exchange for an honest review but would gladly pay full price for a set of this quality and have bought other sets to go with this one"},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"I absolutely love the adorn products. I now own several and I wouldn't hesitate to buy more. This condiment set is super nice. It's made of thick quality plastic, it's not cheap and flimsy at all. I was worried when I first ordered it that it would be cheap and wouldn't last but this set is going to last for years or maybe forever. I love being able to keep stuff cool if I need to, or if I don't I don't have to add ice. I have parties alot and always have condiment or different kinds of olives or whatever that I put out for my friends and family and this set is perfect for me. It's nice sized too, it's bigger than I expected. It holds quite a bit which I really like because I like to have alot of food for my guests. You will not be disappointed in this condiment set so don't hesitate to buy it. The seller is also amazing, I had an occasion to message them and they are so great. These would make great gifts for people who entertain alot. I am so very happy with my set.\nI received this product at a reduced rate in exchange for an honest review but would gladly pay full price for a set of this quality and have bought other sets to go with this one"},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Product: Keep your appetizers fresh and cold: The ice-chilled sectional appetizer tray with dip cup and lids by Adorn Home Essentials is the most convenient way to keep your fruit, veggies, cold cuts, seafood, sushi, condiments, dips, dressings etc. Chilled for your party or picnic and also protected from insects and bugs without the need for a food tent. Simply fill the bottom with ice or fill it up with water and freeze it and keep your food fresh and cool for hours. Simple but bold design with lift Rim. The tray is designed with simple lines and clean edges to blend in with any themed table setting. Crystal clear. Wavy rim around the tray doubles as a carrying handle. 4 dual-compartment cups tthis appetizers-on-ice serving tray is big enough for even large parties the tray itself is one open bowl (for ice) and 4 double-section compartments, with 4 lids, slide in to form a sectional tray of 8 compartments. In addition, the center features a circular dipping cup with lid. Well vented: Each compartment has vents in the bottom to the allow the iced cool air to rise through from the bottom, keeping your food chilled, fresh and tasty. 5 independent lids: The individual lids help trap more of the cool air in the tray, keeping it cold for as long as possible, plus bug protection. Durable: Made from strong and durable crystal-clear food-grade plastic. Fully approved and BPA free. All that is left for you to do is focus on socializing and enjoying your party.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: amazing quality, super great tray for everything you can think of\n\nReview: I too was super impressed with the quality of this tray. This is thick, it's not a cheap plastic throwaway tray. It's awesome. You can take this to the lake, a party, or even just outside and it keeps everything fresh, cool and safe. It keeps it cool incase you have anything that can spoil, plus the lids keep everything but people out. I now own three different trays by this seller because the first one was such great quality I had to have others. The only way you could get another tray of this quality is if it's ceramic or glass. This thing is made to last. I don't think I will ever need another, unless I just want a second one to hold more stuff. I like how many compartments it has plus the one for dip or sauce. You will not be disappointed in this tray, I promise, unless you just don't like great products that last forever. I would buy it again with no hesitation\nI received this product at a reduced rate in exchange for an honest review but have since bought two others because I loved it so much!!","Product: Keep it cold for the entire event: Enjoy your party, picnic or BBQ without needing to fuss over keeping your food chilled! The adorn salad-on-ice server with lid and serving utensils will definitely do the job of hosting your party in style, while keeping your fresh fruits & veggies, cold dishes and appetizers fresh, cool and crisp. You will just love this 5-section salad bowl on ice server. Your guests will definitely enjoy the chilled goodies you prepared and you can sit back and enjoy your party! Ice-filled bottom to keep your food chilled, simply fill the bottom chamber with crushed or cubed ice or just fill with water and freeze. The cool air rises through the vented bottom to keep food fresh and cool for hours. Sections + dipping cup: Using the bowl divider, the large bowl is split into 4 sections with a center dip cup, keeping four food items completely separate and eliminating mixing or seeping. The convenient circular dipping cup holds a generous serving of dressing or sauce or just use it for some extra goodies, such as cherry tomatoes. Large salads: You can remove the section divider for a large bowl on ice, which affords plenty of room for large salads. Domed lid: The stylish domed lid helps keep the cold in and will protect the food from bugs or insects. Strong, durable, shatter-resistant, crystal-clear plastic. Fully approved BPA-free.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Its made so well itll last years and years plus it has so many uses\n\nReview: I love these Adorn products so much I've bought them all since trying my first. With this one there is only one thing I would change, I would make the grates at the bottom a bit smaller so you can put stuff like potato salad in it without some of the stuff falling through. I still do it but it would be a bit better. I still love it though and I have used it to keep my potato salad from getting too hot and dangerous to eat when taking it to cook outs. You could use it for so many dishes though and I'm sure I will use it for many more. We have or go to cook outs alot and this dish plus a couple others I bought from them allow me to keep my dishes fresh and great tasting. I love how well they are made, these are super thick plastic so it would be very hard to damage them. They aren't the thin cheap plastic you see alot with items like this. They are made so well and with such quality materials I expect them to hold up for many many years and I will continue using them just as long. They are so easy to use and I like the way you can put parts in or take them out to make it so much more versatile. You can seperate alot of foods or put veggies and dips. There are so many ways to use it, it's fantasctic. I wouldn't hesitate to buy it again.\n Would I buy again - absolutely! Positively\nWould I recommend to a friend - Absolutely\nWould I pay even more for this product - for sure it is great value.\nI received this item at a discounted price or for free in return for my honest and unbiased review after testing and using the product. The views expressed here are my own, in my own words, and are based on my own experience with and use of the item. I am in no way required or influenced by the seller to leave a positive review.","Product: Make every bag of coffee a pretty one with our decorative coffee scoop with bag clip. Our coffee scoop with bag clip is hand decorated with colorful stones to dress up your bag for any occasion. Whether it be your daily pick-me-up in the morning or cuddling up with a cup of coffee and a book on a Saturday afternoon, our coffee scoop with bag clip will help keep your coffee fresh and your scoop handy for convenient brewing, while being a stylish accessory to your coffee. We recommend 2 scoops per cup to brew the perfect cup of coffee. Hand wash only with mild soap and warm water. Made of stainless steel this coffee scoop will stand up to day by day use. Precisely measure one tablespoon of your most loved espresso, coffee sugar, flour and more. Purchase one for yourself and one for a companion or relative! These make interesting gifts for any birthday, wedding, Mothers Day or for your organizations special events.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: it's cute and convenient\n\nReview: I like this coffee scoop, I can't say I love the colored stones on it, and you don't want to leave it inside the coffee or it gets grounds all in the stones. I do love the clip on it, it makes it so useful because I can clip it on the bag or even the can to find it easy. It's the perfect size for me to count out scoops for making a pot of coffee. The metal part of the spoon is good quality and it should hold up well, however I'm not sure the stones will. I am giving it four stars because it does look cute and the metal is good quality. If the stones were better I'd give it five. It's a cute stocking stuffer or for someone who drinks alot of coffee but likes their kitchen gadgets to look cute.\nI received this product at a reduced rate in exchange for an honest review","Product: Whether you decide to put a television on a patio, an outdoor deck or by the pool, the KHOMO GEAR TV Cover provides All Season Protection for your valuable Flat Panel TV. Engineered to withstand harsh conditions from the scorching sun to the unforgiving cold. You can rest easy knowing your TV is protected All Year round against dust, insects, UV Rays, ice and condensation with this TV Cover. The KHOMO GEAR TV Cover is made of a unique material that allows it to 'breathe' while keeping out water, wind and moisture. This material will not allow mold and moisture to build up; preventing any damage to your TV that may arise from condensation. The KHOMO GEAR TV Cover is very simple to setup. Just Cover starting from the top and a 3-Way Flap on the rear of the cover easily fits almost every wall mount. A Handy Waterproof Remote Control Pocket is also included in the back.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: quality cover that has kept my tv safe\n\nReview: I've had this cover for awhile waiting for my outdoor area to be done. This cover is really well made. All of the stitching is nice and tight. This cover will hold up for years. It is pretty waterproof as much as I can tell. It's kept our tv safe for a few months now so I am completely happy with it. It can be a pain to put on but if you have an outdoor tv you know how much they cost so a little effort has to be put in to keep it safe. This is a good cover, I have them for our grill and a few other things and this one is just as good as the expensive covers I've bought for other outdoor items.\nI received this product at a reduced rate in exchange for an honest review","Product: This is alovely and fashionable triple heart necklace for love. A jewelry that is perfect as a thoughtful surprise for a special person in your life. It has a very classy design that every woman will surely want to have. This will be so perfect for showing your girlfriend, wife, mom, best friend, daughter(s), sister(s) and anygirl or woman how much you love and value them. This heart jewelry can be the best gift choice for any special occasion such as Birthdays, Graduations, Anniversaries/Anniversary, Weddings, Christmas, Easter, Valentine's Day and Mother's Day. Embolden Jewelry brings you a wide selection of heart jewelry to choose that special gift for your mother, daughter, girlfriend, wife, lover or friend. There are rings, earrings and necklaces with so muchvariety to choose from such as double hearts, open hearts, red, blue, black and white, purple, crystal,iced out, filigree and many more unique styles of heart pendent necklaces. Designed with flair and crafted with care from quality materials. Have a heart, open your heart, all the love in your heart, withall my heart, heart to heart, are only a few of the sayings that show sentiment of the heart. Paste or type Embolden Jewelry heart necklaces in the search line to find the perfect one to express your loveand affection, many have matching earrings available also. A brand customers enjoy and appreciate, Embolden Jewelry offers the best quality, variety and price point for our unique jewelry options for an amazing value. Embolden Jewelry is constantly seeking out more styles that will help you express yourself and the things you love. Search Embolden Jewelry and make your selections. You will not be disappointed with the Embolden Jewelry satisfaction guarantee and excellent customer service 99% customer satisfaction rate. Buy now and join the happy customers who love and trust Embolden Jewelry.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: I love the design of this beautiful necklace.\n\nReview: This would make a great gift for a young girl, maybe as her first piece of jewelry. It looks more expensive than it is. It is actually very cute, I like the design alot. It comes with a chain that is very sturdy, it's not a tiny chain like comes with alot of pendants. It also comes with a very pretty and great quality velvet bag that you can use for many things. I keep my lipstick in mine in my purse. From a couple feet away this necklace looks super expensive. I am giving this one to my to year old neice because she loves jewelry but does tend to lose things. She is going to love it and it will be perfect to teach her how to care for jewelry. I received this product at a reduced rate in exchange for an honest","Product: Gold Silver Two Tone Stainless Steel Pendant Necklace CZ Heart Couple\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: very pretty and won't discolor your skin or tarnish\n\nReview: I got these necklaces in the mail and my husband automatically grabbed the black one and said this one's mine so as you can imagine it made me very happy. They are beautiful and we'll made. They look like they cost way more than they actually do. I love stainless steel, I love how it stays shiny and looking like new for years. It doesn't tarnish or discolor your skin. I now have alot of stainless because they are gorgeous but the cost is minimal so that I'm not scared of losing it. I have alot of gold jewelry but am too screw to wear it. Some of this stainless looks like white gold without the cost. This is a beautiful set that would make a great gift for a couple or for your significant other. The blacking is manly enough to get a man to wear it easily. I love mine and I wouldn't hesitate to buy it again.\nI received this product at a reduced rate in exchange for an honest review but I'd buy it at regular price, the cost is very reasonable.","Product: Superior quality handcraft crystal rhinestone cake topper is finally here. HIGH-QUALITY RHINESTONE Crystal cake topper. Add sparkles on your elegance party event with gorgeous rhinestones crystal cake topper. Usable for many times. The length of the prongs are 4.5 inch can be trimmed or cut off.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: The most gorgeous and well made cake number toppers ive ever seen\n\nReview: I was actually super impressed when I recieved these cake toppers. I wasn't expecting something this beautiful and of the quality. These number cake toppers are thick and heavy duty, they are going to last for years and years. Since recieving my first set I've bought more so I can mix and match the numbers. These shine like actual diamonds. They look like they cost way more they they do. The photos don't do them justice. There is no way you would be disappointed in these, they are incredible. I got a set for my mom to start with but added some numbers for other family members. They are going to look gorgeous with candles flickering and making the diamonds sparkle like crazy. Guys, get these for your women, they will love it!! I promise. The prongs for holding them in the cake are nice sized and are attached to the numbers extremely well so that you will be able to use them over and over. I just can't say enough good things about them. Yes, I did get these at a reduced rate in exchange for an honest review but as soon as I saw them I ordered more so I'm not just saying it because I got them cheaper, these really are worth the price and more. You can use them forever if you keep them safely put away making the cost very reasonable.","Product: This Basting Brush is made to last. Sleek modern handle that will impress your neighbors. Easily clean this grilling brush with hot water. Thermostability can reach up to 230??C (446 H) degrees of heat.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: great quality, great looking brush\n\nReview: I think this is a great quality extremely helpful bbq brush. It has helped me so much, I'm always scared to get my hand too close to the fire and now I don't have to worry about that. This brush is so long you can even reach the back of the grill easily. It is also a great looking, great quality brush. This brush is so nice looking I have it hanging in my kitchen. It looks really nice and expensive. It's got some weight to it as well because of the stainless steel handle. It also holds up well in the dishwasher.one of my favorite things about these silicone bristle brushes is the fact that they are easy to clean and disinfect. The old brushes I used to use looked like paint brushes and I felt I could never get them clean so I didn't feel like they were safe to reuse especially after basting chicken so this brush is also saving me money. I never have to buy a new one unless something happens to this one, but it's so well made I don't expect that to happen any time soon. Since using one of these silicone brushes I will never go back to the old style.\nI received this product at a reduced rate in exchange for an honest review but would pay full price if I needed a new one with no hesitation","Product: Please Note: Do not bend or twist mat forcibly when cleaning or storing Keep out of reach of direct flame - will melt and fall apart Temperature range from -158F to 500F. Do not exceed temperature range. BBQ Grill Mat Specification: Color: Black Weight: 110g Size: 16\" x 13\" Safety Certificate: FDA, SGS, LFGB Material: Teflon-coated glass fiber cloth, all imported Teflon emulsion Packing: OPP bag and set of 3 mounted in box. High temperature: range from -158F to 500F Application range: charcoal grill, electronic grill, oven, microwave BBQ grill mat teflon non-stick grill mat Are you tired of where to buy a high quality silpat baking mat? Now click \"add to cart\"and you will make a right decision.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: these brushes are so great, so easy to use and then clean\n\nReview: If you are still using the old fashioned basting brushes that look like paint brushes, welcome to the twenty first century!! These brushes are the best. They hold sauces so well and make it easy to coat your meats. I love how easy it is to use these and then the cleanup is so much safer and faster. These are so easy to clean, some soap and hot water, or put them in the dishwasher. No more worrying about bacteria or having to throw away your brush and get a new one. I will never touch an old basting brush again. This set is well made, they should last forever. The bristles won't fall off or break. They are super cute and come in enough colors to color code if you want to. I gave a couple away and kept a couple. I can't say enough good things about these silicone brushes, they are just amazing. I would buy these again with no hesitation.\nI received this product at a reduced rate in exchange for an honest review but would buy them at full price if I needed some, they are totally worth it.","Product: The unique designed pet stands deliver both functions and good looks in your home. The thick stoneware bowls are easy to clean and water absorption resistant. Use these bowls alone or with our elevated iron stand.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: great looking, well made stand\n\nReview: This stand is awesome!! It looks great, the pics actually don't do it justice. It's made really well and should last forever. The ceramic dishes it comes with are nice and thick as well. It looks really great in my kitchen where I keep my dogs food. This is a nice stand that would look great anywhere. I wish I had seen the other colors before I ordered though because the maroon and teal ones look really great as well. You can't go wrong with this set, it looks good and is easy to clean. The bowls are thick and they should last a long time as well. I am more than happy with this purchase\nI recieved this product at a reduced rate in exchange for an honest review","Product: Titan Tools Screwdriver Set with Holder provides a wide variety of slotted, star, phillips and square screwdrivers with ergonomic double-injected handles conveniently placed in a durable storage rack. Set includes: Slotted: 1/4\" x 1-1/2\", 1/8\" x 3\", 5/32\" x 4\", 3/16\" x 3\", 1/4\" x 6\", 5/16\" x 6\", 5/16\" x 8\" Star: t10 x 3\", t15 x 4\", t20 x 4\", t25 x 4\", t27 x 4\" Phillips: ph00 x 3\", ph0 x 3\", ph1 x 4\", ph2 x 1-1/2\", ph2 x 4\", ph2 x 6\", ph3 x 6\", ph3 x 6\", ph3 x 8\" Square: s1 x 4\", s2 x 4\", s3 x 4\" Picks: one offset pick and one straight pick.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: very nice set of tools, very organized.\n\nReview: This is a really really great set of screwdrivers. Husband passed away a few years ago so now it's just me and my son. For some reason the hubs gave away his tools to a friend before he passed which was fine but he left me with hardly any tools to do things around the house. So I found this set and I love it. I love that it has the stand and easily seen on the ends is which screwdriver it is so I don't have to spend alot of time digging through them to find the one I am looking for. It is an assortment of 26 screw drivers with a nice display rack that's pretty heavy duty. Each screw driver has a designated tip and the handle has a print of the screw head printed on it to easily identify each one. They are good quality well made. Not sure they are top of the line quality but very good. They should last for years and years with regular use. Yellow is not my favorite color but they do stand out and if anyone tries to \"accidentally\" take your tools it's pretty obvious. The shipping was fast on these and the seller was really great. I wouldn't hesitate to buy these again. This set comes with most everything you need for everyday use. I would recommend them and even buy them as a gift. They would keep that garage/ mancave looking nice and neat.\nI received this product at a reduced rate in exchange for an honest review","Product: Solar Garden Lights Upgraded, Outdoor Solar Spotlights Waterproof Flickering LED Flame Torches Lights Landscape Decoration Lighting Dusk to Dawn Auto On/Off Security Torch Light for Patio Driveway\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Beautiful bulbs that fit any style\n\nReview: These bulbs are not only beautiful but affordable. You get a 3 pack for such a nominal price. These bulbs will more than pay for themselves in savings. They also look really great in any fixture you put them in, but especially in fixtures that you can see the bulb. They look great on and off and are great conversation starters because alot of people have never seen bulbs like these. They are also Greta because no matter what your style of furnishing these bulbs will fit right in, from rustic, to industrial, to antique. I am replacing all my bulbs with led to save money and at this price I will be able to. I love them. They also come well packed and in a beatific box so you don't have to worry about shipping damage, or stacking ugly light bulb boxes.\nI received this product at a reduced rate in exchange for an honest review but plan on buying many more at regular price because it's a great price and I'm not sure you can get them cheaper","Product: See the world in bright, bold colors with matinee foam puzzle piece play mat interlocking pieces can be mixed and matched to evolve with your needs or for interactive playtime. Large, cushioned, and colorful puzzle pieces are very safe, not only to protect your children but also to protect against damage to floors. The foam matting allows children to play and jump around without worrying that they might fall on a wood or hard surface floor. They are excellent play mats to keeps kids entertained. They come in bright, assorted colors that can be easily be rearranged to you or your child's preference. The puzzle pieces can even be used to build creative shapes and figures it is a great tool for kids because the interchangeable pieces allow kids to develop gross motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and visual sensory growth. Toddlers will love taking apart and rearranging these bright and colorful puzzle pieces for many different games. This mat can be used to design play areas in homes, schools, daycares, and many more places. Toddlers will love taking apart and rearranging these bright and colorful puzzle pieces for many different games. Purchase multiple play mat sets which can be added together for more space and coverage. The top of the mat is grooved with a non-skid bottom for ultimate safety and protection. An awesome mat for hard floors and soft heads it is made out of high density Eva foam for the greatest durability and comfort. Eva foam is durable, non-toxic, premium foam that is lightweight and easy to assemble. It is also water, mold and mildew resistant which makes it easy to clean. This mat is also a great gift for any household. It is safe for children of all ages. Puzzle floor mat has a total of 9 puzzle pieces in assorted colors: Purple, pink, blue, light blue, teal, green, yellow, orange, and red. No borders included. Each piece measures approximately 12\"x3/8\"x12\" - borders not included.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: so much fun and made really well\n\nReview: I got these mat puzzle pieces for when my little nice comes over to play. They give her a soft safe place to play or nap. They are so soft and springy that if she were to fall on them she would be fine. I love that they are portable so we can take them with us if we go out to the park or anything. They go together very easily and you could buy as many sets as younwant. You could possibly even do a kids whole room in these. Kids love colorful things and these definitely are. As my niece gets older she can play puzzle with them and move them around hawever she wants. I don't have anything to compare them to but these seem to me to be great quality. They don't feel thin and cheap. I would buy these again and am considering a second set for a larger area as my niece grows.\nI received this product at a reduced rate in exchange for an honest review"],"string":"[\n \"Product: Keep your appetizers fresh and cold: The ice-chilled sectional appetizer tray with dip cup and lids by Adorn Home Essentials is the most convenient way to keep your fruit, veggies, cold cuts, seafood, sushi, condiments, dips, dressings etc. Chilled for your party or picnic and also protected from insects and bugs without the need for a food tent. Simply fill the bottom with ice or fill it up with water and freeze it and keep your food fresh and cool for hours. Simple but bold design with lift Rim. The tray is designed with simple lines and clean edges to blend in with any themed table setting. Crystal clear. Wavy rim around the tray doubles as a carrying handle. 4 dual-compartment cups tthis appetizers-on-ice serving tray is big enough for even large parties the tray itself is one open bowl (for ice) and 4 double-section compartments, with 4 lids, slide in to form a sectional tray of 8 compartments. In addition, the center features a circular dipping cup with lid. Well vented: Each compartment has vents in the bottom to the allow the iced cool air to rise through from the bottom, keeping your food chilled, fresh and tasty. 5 independent lids: The individual lids help trap more of the cool air in the tray, keeping it cold for as long as possible, plus bug protection. Durable: Made from strong and durable crystal-clear food-grade plastic. Fully approved and BPA free. All that is left for you to do is focus on socializing and enjoying your party.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: amazing quality, super great tray for everything you can think of\\n\\nReview: I too was super impressed with the quality of this tray. This is thick, it's not a cheap plastic throwaway tray. It's awesome. You can take this to the lake, a party, or even just outside and it keeps everything fresh, cool and safe. It keeps it cool incase you have anything that can spoil, plus the lids keep everything but people out. I now own three different trays by this seller because the first one was such great quality I had to have others. The only way you could get another tray of this quality is if it's ceramic or glass. This thing is made to last. I don't think I will ever need another, unless I just want a second one to hold more stuff. I like how many compartments it has plus the one for dip or sauce. You will not be disappointed in this tray, I promise, unless you just don't like great products that last forever. I would buy it again with no hesitation\\nI received this product at a reduced rate in exchange for an honest review but have since bought two others because I loved it so much!!\",\n \"Product: Keep it cold for the entire event: Enjoy your party, picnic or BBQ without needing to fuss over keeping your food chilled! The adorn salad-on-ice server with lid and serving utensils will definitely do the job of hosting your party in style, while keeping your fresh fruits & veggies, cold dishes and appetizers fresh, cool and crisp. You will just love this 5-section salad bowl on ice server. Your guests will definitely enjoy the chilled goodies you prepared and you can sit back and enjoy your party! Ice-filled bottom to keep your food chilled, simply fill the bottom chamber with crushed or cubed ice or just fill with water and freeze. The cool air rises through the vented bottom to keep food fresh and cool for hours. Sections + dipping cup: Using the bowl divider, the large bowl is split into 4 sections with a center dip cup, keeping four food items completely separate and eliminating mixing or seeping. The convenient circular dipping cup holds a generous serving of dressing or sauce or just use it for some extra goodies, such as cherry tomatoes. Large salads: You can remove the section divider for a large bowl on ice, which affords plenty of room for large salads. Domed lid: The stylish domed lid helps keep the cold in and will protect the food from bugs or insects. Strong, durable, shatter-resistant, crystal-clear plastic. Fully approved BPA-free.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Its made so well itll last years and years plus it has so many uses\\n\\nReview: I love these Adorn products so much I've bought them all since trying my first. With this one there is only one thing I would change, I would make the grates at the bottom a bit smaller so you can put stuff like potato salad in it without some of the stuff falling through. I still do it but it would be a bit better. I still love it though and I have used it to keep my potato salad from getting too hot and dangerous to eat when taking it to cook outs. You could use it for so many dishes though and I'm sure I will use it for many more. We have or go to cook outs alot and this dish plus a couple others I bought from them allow me to keep my dishes fresh and great tasting. I love how well they are made, these are super thick plastic so it would be very hard to damage them. They aren't the thin cheap plastic you see alot with items like this. They are made so well and with such quality materials I expect them to hold up for many many years and I will continue using them just as long. They are so easy to use and I like the way you can put parts in or take them out to make it so much more versatile. You can seperate alot of foods or put veggies and dips. There are so many ways to use it, it's fantasctic. I wouldn't hesitate to buy it again.\\n Would I buy again - absolutely! Positively\\nWould I recommend to a friend - Absolutely\\nWould I pay even more for this product - for sure it is great value.\\nI received this item at a discounted price or for free in return for my honest and unbiased review after testing and using the product. The views expressed here are my own, in my own words, and are based on my own experience with and use of the item. I am in no way required or influenced by the seller to leave a positive review.\",\n \"Product: Make every bag of coffee a pretty one with our decorative coffee scoop with bag clip. Our coffee scoop with bag clip is hand decorated with colorful stones to dress up your bag for any occasion. Whether it be your daily pick-me-up in the morning or cuddling up with a cup of coffee and a book on a Saturday afternoon, our coffee scoop with bag clip will help keep your coffee fresh and your scoop handy for convenient brewing, while being a stylish accessory to your coffee. We recommend 2 scoops per cup to brew the perfect cup of coffee. Hand wash only with mild soap and warm water. Made of stainless steel this coffee scoop will stand up to day by day use. Precisely measure one tablespoon of your most loved espresso, coffee sugar, flour and more. Purchase one for yourself and one for a companion or relative! These make interesting gifts for any birthday, wedding, Mothers Day or for your organizations special events.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: it's cute and convenient\\n\\nReview: I like this coffee scoop, I can't say I love the colored stones on it, and you don't want to leave it inside the coffee or it gets grounds all in the stones. I do love the clip on it, it makes it so useful because I can clip it on the bag or even the can to find it easy. It's the perfect size for me to count out scoops for making a pot of coffee. The metal part of the spoon is good quality and it should hold up well, however I'm not sure the stones will. I am giving it four stars because it does look cute and the metal is good quality. If the stones were better I'd give it five. It's a cute stocking stuffer or for someone who drinks alot of coffee but likes their kitchen gadgets to look cute.\\nI received this product at a reduced rate in exchange for an honest review\",\n \"Product: Whether you decide to put a television on a patio, an outdoor deck or by the pool, the KHOMO GEAR TV Cover provides All Season Protection for your valuable Flat Panel TV. Engineered to withstand harsh conditions from the scorching sun to the unforgiving cold. You can rest easy knowing your TV is protected All Year round against dust, insects, UV Rays, ice and condensation with this TV Cover. The KHOMO GEAR TV Cover is made of a unique material that allows it to 'breathe' while keeping out water, wind and moisture. This material will not allow mold and moisture to build up; preventing any damage to your TV that may arise from condensation. The KHOMO GEAR TV Cover is very simple to setup. Just Cover starting from the top and a 3-Way Flap on the rear of the cover easily fits almost every wall mount. A Handy Waterproof Remote Control Pocket is also included in the back.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: quality cover that has kept my tv safe\\n\\nReview: I've had this cover for awhile waiting for my outdoor area to be done. This cover is really well made. All of the stitching is nice and tight. This cover will hold up for years. It is pretty waterproof as much as I can tell. It's kept our tv safe for a few months now so I am completely happy with it. It can be a pain to put on but if you have an outdoor tv you know how much they cost so a little effort has to be put in to keep it safe. This is a good cover, I have them for our grill and a few other things and this one is just as good as the expensive covers I've bought for other outdoor items.\\nI received this product at a reduced rate in exchange for an honest review\",\n \"Product: This is alovely and fashionable triple heart necklace for love. A jewelry that is perfect as a thoughtful surprise for a special person in your life. It has a very classy design that every woman will surely want to have. This will be so perfect for showing your girlfriend, wife, mom, best friend, daughter(s), sister(s) and anygirl or woman how much you love and value them. This heart jewelry can be the best gift choice for any special occasion such as Birthdays, Graduations, Anniversaries/Anniversary, Weddings, Christmas, Easter, Valentine's Day and Mother's Day. Embolden Jewelry brings you a wide selection of heart jewelry to choose that special gift for your mother, daughter, girlfriend, wife, lover or friend. There are rings, earrings and necklaces with so muchvariety to choose from such as double hearts, open hearts, red, blue, black and white, purple, crystal,iced out, filigree and many more unique styles of heart pendent necklaces. Designed with flair and crafted with care from quality materials. Have a heart, open your heart, all the love in your heart, withall my heart, heart to heart, are only a few of the sayings that show sentiment of the heart. Paste or type Embolden Jewelry heart necklaces in the search line to find the perfect one to express your loveand affection, many have matching earrings available also. A brand customers enjoy and appreciate, Embolden Jewelry offers the best quality, variety and price point for our unique jewelry options for an amazing value. Embolden Jewelry is constantly seeking out more styles that will help you express yourself and the things you love. Search Embolden Jewelry and make your selections. You will not be disappointed with the Embolden Jewelry satisfaction guarantee and excellent customer service 99% customer satisfaction rate. Buy now and join the happy customers who love and trust Embolden Jewelry.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: I love the design of this beautiful necklace.\\n\\nReview: This would make a great gift for a young girl, maybe as her first piece of jewelry. It looks more expensive than it is. It is actually very cute, I like the design alot. It comes with a chain that is very sturdy, it's not a tiny chain like comes with alot of pendants. It also comes with a very pretty and great quality velvet bag that you can use for many things. I keep my lipstick in mine in my purse. From a couple feet away this necklace looks super expensive. I am giving this one to my to year old neice because she loves jewelry but does tend to lose things. She is going to love it and it will be perfect to teach her how to care for jewelry. I received this product at a reduced rate in exchange for an honest\",\n \"Product: Gold Silver Two Tone Stainless Steel Pendant Necklace CZ Heart Couple\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: very pretty and won't discolor your skin or tarnish\\n\\nReview: I got these necklaces in the mail and my husband automatically grabbed the black one and said this one's mine so as you can imagine it made me very happy. They are beautiful and we'll made. They look like they cost way more than they actually do. I love stainless steel, I love how it stays shiny and looking like new for years. It doesn't tarnish or discolor your skin. I now have alot of stainless because they are gorgeous but the cost is minimal so that I'm not scared of losing it. I have alot of gold jewelry but am too screw to wear it. Some of this stainless looks like white gold without the cost. This is a beautiful set that would make a great gift for a couple or for your significant other. The blacking is manly enough to get a man to wear it easily. I love mine and I wouldn't hesitate to buy it again.\\nI received this product at a reduced rate in exchange for an honest review but I'd buy it at regular price, the cost is very reasonable.\",\n \"Product: Superior quality handcraft crystal rhinestone cake topper is finally here. HIGH-QUALITY RHINESTONE Crystal cake topper. Add sparkles on your elegance party event with gorgeous rhinestones crystal cake topper. Usable for many times. The length of the prongs are 4.5 inch can be trimmed or cut off.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: The most gorgeous and well made cake number toppers ive ever seen\\n\\nReview: I was actually super impressed when I recieved these cake toppers. I wasn't expecting something this beautiful and of the quality. These number cake toppers are thick and heavy duty, they are going to last for years and years. Since recieving my first set I've bought more so I can mix and match the numbers. These shine like actual diamonds. They look like they cost way more they they do. The photos don't do them justice. There is no way you would be disappointed in these, they are incredible. I got a set for my mom to start with but added some numbers for other family members. They are going to look gorgeous with candles flickering and making the diamonds sparkle like crazy. Guys, get these for your women, they will love it!! I promise. The prongs for holding them in the cake are nice sized and are attached to the numbers extremely well so that you will be able to use them over and over. I just can't say enough good things about them. Yes, I did get these at a reduced rate in exchange for an honest review but as soon as I saw them I ordered more so I'm not just saying it because I got them cheaper, these really are worth the price and more. You can use them forever if you keep them safely put away making the cost very reasonable.\",\n \"Product: This Basting Brush is made to last. Sleek modern handle that will impress your neighbors. Easily clean this grilling brush with hot water. Thermostability can reach up to 230??C (446 H) degrees of heat.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: great quality, great looking brush\\n\\nReview: I think this is a great quality extremely helpful bbq brush. It has helped me so much, I'm always scared to get my hand too close to the fire and now I don't have to worry about that. This brush is so long you can even reach the back of the grill easily. It is also a great looking, great quality brush. This brush is so nice looking I have it hanging in my kitchen. It looks really nice and expensive. It's got some weight to it as well because of the stainless steel handle. It also holds up well in the dishwasher.one of my favorite things about these silicone bristle brushes is the fact that they are easy to clean and disinfect. The old brushes I used to use looked like paint brushes and I felt I could never get them clean so I didn't feel like they were safe to reuse especially after basting chicken so this brush is also saving me money. I never have to buy a new one unless something happens to this one, but it's so well made I don't expect that to happen any time soon. Since using one of these silicone brushes I will never go back to the old style.\\nI received this product at a reduced rate in exchange for an honest review but would pay full price if I needed a new one with no hesitation\",\n \"Product: Please Note: Do not bend or twist mat forcibly when cleaning or storing Keep out of reach of direct flame - will melt and fall apart Temperature range from -158F to 500F. Do not exceed temperature range. BBQ Grill Mat Specification: Color: Black Weight: 110g Size: 16\\\" x 13\\\" Safety Certificate: FDA, SGS, LFGB Material: Teflon-coated glass fiber cloth, all imported Teflon emulsion Packing: OPP bag and set of 3 mounted in box. High temperature: range from -158F to 500F Application range: charcoal grill, electronic grill, oven, microwave BBQ grill mat teflon non-stick grill mat Are you tired of where to buy a high quality silpat baking mat? Now click \\\"add to cart\\\"and you will make a right decision.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: these brushes are so great, so easy to use and then clean\\n\\nReview: If you are still using the old fashioned basting brushes that look like paint brushes, welcome to the twenty first century!! These brushes are the best. They hold sauces so well and make it easy to coat your meats. I love how easy it is to use these and then the cleanup is so much safer and faster. These are so easy to clean, some soap and hot water, or put them in the dishwasher. No more worrying about bacteria or having to throw away your brush and get a new one. I will never touch an old basting brush again. This set is well made, they should last forever. The bristles won't fall off or break. They are super cute and come in enough colors to color code if you want to. I gave a couple away and kept a couple. I can't say enough good things about these silicone brushes, they are just amazing. I would buy these again with no hesitation.\\nI received this product at a reduced rate in exchange for an honest review but would buy them at full price if I needed some, they are totally worth it.\",\n \"Product: The unique designed pet stands deliver both functions and good looks in your home. The thick stoneware bowls are easy to clean and water absorption resistant. Use these bowls alone or with our elevated iron stand.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: great looking, well made stand\\n\\nReview: This stand is awesome!! It looks great, the pics actually don't do it justice. It's made really well and should last forever. The ceramic dishes it comes with are nice and thick as well. It looks really great in my kitchen where I keep my dogs food. This is a nice stand that would look great anywhere. I wish I had seen the other colors before I ordered though because the maroon and teal ones look really great as well. You can't go wrong with this set, it looks good and is easy to clean. The bowls are thick and they should last a long time as well. I am more than happy with this purchase\\nI recieved this product at a reduced rate in exchange for an honest review\",\n \"Product: Titan Tools Screwdriver Set with Holder provides a wide variety of slotted, star, phillips and square screwdrivers with ergonomic double-injected handles conveniently placed in a durable storage rack. Set includes: Slotted: 1/4\\\" x 1-1/2\\\", 1/8\\\" x 3\\\", 5/32\\\" x 4\\\", 3/16\\\" x 3\\\", 1/4\\\" x 6\\\", 5/16\\\" x 6\\\", 5/16\\\" x 8\\\" Star: t10 x 3\\\", t15 x 4\\\", t20 x 4\\\", t25 x 4\\\", t27 x 4\\\" Phillips: ph00 x 3\\\", ph0 x 3\\\", ph1 x 4\\\", ph2 x 1-1/2\\\", ph2 x 4\\\", ph2 x 6\\\", ph3 x 6\\\", ph3 x 6\\\", ph3 x 8\\\" Square: s1 x 4\\\", s2 x 4\\\", s3 x 4\\\" Picks: one offset pick and one straight pick.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: very nice set of tools, very organized.\\n\\nReview: This is a really really great set of screwdrivers. Husband passed away a few years ago so now it's just me and my son. For some reason the hubs gave away his tools to a friend before he passed which was fine but he left me with hardly any tools to do things around the house. So I found this set and I love it. I love that it has the stand and easily seen on the ends is which screwdriver it is so I don't have to spend alot of time digging through them to find the one I am looking for. It is an assortment of 26 screw drivers with a nice display rack that's pretty heavy duty. Each screw driver has a designated tip and the handle has a print of the screw head printed on it to easily identify each one. They are good quality well made. Not sure they are top of the line quality but very good. They should last for years and years with regular use. Yellow is not my favorite color but they do stand out and if anyone tries to \\\"accidentally\\\" take your tools it's pretty obvious. The shipping was fast on these and the seller was really great. I wouldn't hesitate to buy these again. This set comes with most everything you need for everyday use. I would recommend them and even buy them as a gift. They would keep that garage/ mancave looking nice and neat.\\nI received this product at a reduced rate in exchange for an honest review\",\n \"Product: Solar Garden Lights Upgraded, Outdoor Solar Spotlights Waterproof Flickering LED Flame Torches Lights Landscape Decoration Lighting Dusk to Dawn Auto On/Off Security Torch Light for Patio Driveway\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Beautiful bulbs that fit any style\\n\\nReview: These bulbs are not only beautiful but affordable. You get a 3 pack for such a nominal price. These bulbs will more than pay for themselves in savings. They also look really great in any fixture you put them in, but especially in fixtures that you can see the bulb. They look great on and off and are great conversation starters because alot of people have never seen bulbs like these. They are also Greta because no matter what your style of furnishing these bulbs will fit right in, from rustic, to industrial, to antique. I am replacing all my bulbs with led to save money and at this price I will be able to. I love them. They also come well packed and in a beatific box so you don't have to worry about shipping damage, or stacking ugly light bulb boxes.\\nI received this product at a reduced rate in exchange for an honest review but plan on buying many more at regular price because it's a great price and I'm not sure you can get them cheaper\",\n \"Product: See the world in bright, bold colors with matinee foam puzzle piece play mat interlocking pieces can be mixed and matched to evolve with your needs or for interactive playtime. Large, cushioned, and colorful puzzle pieces are very safe, not only to protect your children but also to protect against damage to floors. The foam matting allows children to play and jump around without worrying that they might fall on a wood or hard surface floor. They are excellent play mats to keeps kids entertained. They come in bright, assorted colors that can be easily be rearranged to you or your child's preference. The puzzle pieces can even be used to build creative shapes and figures it is a great tool for kids because the interchangeable pieces allow kids to develop gross motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and visual sensory growth. Toddlers will love taking apart and rearranging these bright and colorful puzzle pieces for many different games. This mat can be used to design play areas in homes, schools, daycares, and many more places. Toddlers will love taking apart and rearranging these bright and colorful puzzle pieces for many different games. Purchase multiple play mat sets which can be added together for more space and coverage. The top of the mat is grooved with a non-skid bottom for ultimate safety and protection. An awesome mat for hard floors and soft heads it is made out of high density Eva foam for the greatest durability and comfort. Eva foam is durable, non-toxic, premium foam that is lightweight and easy to assemble. It is also water, mold and mildew resistant which makes it easy to clean. This mat is also a great gift for any household. It is safe for children of all ages. Puzzle floor mat has a total of 9 puzzle pieces in assorted colors: Purple, pink, blue, light blue, teal, green, yellow, orange, and red. No borders included. Each piece measures approximately 12\\\"x3/8\\\"x12\\\" - borders not included.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: so much fun and made really well\\n\\nReview: I got these mat puzzle pieces for when my little nice comes over to play. They give her a soft safe place to play or nap. They are so soft and springy that if she were to fall on them she would be fine. I love that they are portable so we can take them with us if we go out to the park or anything. They go together very easily and you could buy as many sets as younwant. You could possibly even do a kids whole room in these. Kids love colorful things and these definitely are. As my niece gets older she can play puzzle with them and move them around hawever she wants. I don't have anything to compare them to but these seem to me to be great quality. They don't feel thin and cheap. I would buy these again and am considering a second set for a larger area as my niece grows.\\nI received this product at a reduced rate in exchange for an honest review\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":13,"string":"13"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_3"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":890,"string":"890"}}},{"rowIdx":891,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"AYGJ96W5KQMUJ"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of \"4.0\" for a product with description \"Serenity is a tranquil soft pastel print pattern with peaceful words scripted into the pattern. This serene pattern will soothe your stress away. Coordinating bath accessories and towels available.\". The summary of the review text is \"Good quality bath rug - color not quite what I expected\"."},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"A nice rug - seems well made and substantial. The beige color is somewhat yellower than expected, a disappointment - looked like a clear beige on my web browser - but as someone else mentioned, the combination of colors will go with towels of different colors. We still can't decipher some of the messages that seem to be printed on the rug - \"quiet your mind\" and \"lavender\" show up clearly in blue boxes, with the \"calm\" in another blue box not quite as vivid. Some of the other boxes (especially those next to and below \"lavender\") seem to have messages written in them that aren't easily read - one might say either \"treat yourself\" or \"trust yourself\" and all we can say about the other is that it seems to begin with an \"e\" - maybe \"enjoyment\"? - along with faint patterns suggesting clouds and/or leaves. We like the multi-color pattern - not only is it pleasing, but also (unlike the solid color we had previously) it doesn't look as if it needs to be washed the first time someone steps on it."},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"A nice rug - seems well made and substantial. The beige color is somewhat yellower than expected, a disappointment - looked like a clear beige on my web browser - but as someone else mentioned, the combination of colors will go with towels of different colors. We still can't decipher some of the messages that seem to be printed on the rug - \"quiet your mind\" and \"lavender\" show up clearly in blue boxes, with the \"calm\" in another blue box not quite as vivid. Some of the other boxes (especially those next to and below \"lavender\") seem to have messages written in them that aren't easily read - one might say either \"treat yourself\" or \"trust yourself\" and all we can say about the other is that it seems to begin with an \"e\" - maybe \"enjoyment\"? - along with faint patterns suggesting clouds and/or leaves. We like the multi-color pattern - not only is it pleasing, but also (unlike the solid color we had previously) it doesn't look as if it needs to be washed the first time someone steps on it."},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Product: Think of the GarlicZoom XL as the monster truck version of the original garlicZoom. Bigger wheels, bigger blades and a bigger body allow the GarlicZoom XL to chop garlic faster, easier and in larger quantities than ever before. Simple place fresh garlic through the top of GarlicZoom, roll and voile! - fresh chopped garlic without mess or hassle. Top rack dishwasher safe.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Useful little gadget - lasted 20 months - but replacement had dull blades\n\nReview: I bought this in August 2010, and found that although I normally hate things that take up counter space, there was space for it at the back of the counter behind my cookbook holder. I do a lot of cooking and use a lot of garlic, so it was used probably 2 or 3 times a week, at least. After about 20 months of fairly frequent use, one of the molded plastic pins holding the cover in place has broken - no way to repair it.\n\nI liked being able to chop garlic in it and leave the whole thing sitting by the stove until I'm ready to add my garlic, leaving my cutting board free for other things. Some of the garlic always gets stuck in the bottom, so I had to open it, take it apart, and scrape out the last bits with a measuring spoon or kitchen knife. The blades are very very sharp, and required care when doing this or washing the dishes - not something I would use if children were helping me cook and clean up. But as I said, it was a useful little gadget.\n\nSo I replaced it. When the new chopper came, I noted they changed the color. The 'avocado' is no longer the yellowish green pictured, but a dark avocado green, and the whole chopper looks just slightly different, as if the manufacturer had changed. Not that this matters, if only the new ones worked as well. I put in two garlic cloves, cutting them in large chunks first. Some of the pieces jammed the blades - it just couldn't handle them. When I fished my old garlic chopper out of the trash and tried putting the old blades in the new chopper, they worked fine. So I threw out the new blades, put the old blades in my new old garlic chopper, and am using them instead. But if this one breaks, I'm probably not replacing it. Either they're no longer sharpening the blades enough, or I just got a bad one.","Product: Soft padded footstrap. Hygienic toe separators. Sloping sole for heel support. Slip resistant rubber inserts in outsoles. Great for yoga, pedicures, foot disorders and just everyday wear. Unisex design.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Does wonders for balance\n\nReview: These aren't as easy to get on at first - not if you really need them, anyway. I found I had to force my toes into place, but the more I wore them, the easier it was. (Still having to use my hands to insert smaller toes into the right spaces sometimes after a few weeks of use.)\n\nBut the more you wear them, the better your toes are at separating - and this does wonderful things for your balance. I'm in my mid-70s, and my younger sister recommended them. Both of us saw first a grandmother and then our mother fall and end up walker with a walker - and we'd both do anything to stay on our own 2 feet.\n\nCan't tell you yet whether these will do the trick, but they certainly help! I try to slip them on for a few hours at least every day or two - and they are comfortable enough to wear all day, which I have also done.","Product: The Original Beater Blade by New Metro Design is an electric mixer attachment which thoroughly mixes batter, eliminating the need to stop and scrape the bowl manually and is engineered for use with most KitchenAid 6qt bowl lift mixers. The new Beater Blade beats, scrapes, folds and incorporates ingredients thoroughly for fool-proof baking. The Beater Blade ingeniously improves on the functionality of standard V-shaped beaters offered with high-end stand mixers by crafting a high-quality, enhanced blade that includes a flexible rubber wing down the entire length of both sides of the blade. The durable, food-grade edging simulates the action of a powerful spatula to gently, yet thoroughly scrape the bowl clean. The wing-system design acts like a wiper blade that continuously scrapes sides and bottom of bowl while it mixes virtually eliminating hand-scraping and batter build-up on the blade. BeaterBlades state-of-the-art design continuously and automatically scrapes batters during mixing, which can speed up the process by as much as 50 percent. By eliminating the need to turn off and on the mixer to scrape the bowl, Beater Blade reduces wear of the motor of the mixer, as well. Blade is intended to be used only once ingredients have been added to the bowlnot for use in a dry bowl. New Metro Designs Beater Blade excels in a full range of mixing applications, including creaming butter, sugar and eggs to fluffy perfection, and preparing frostings and pastry creams quickly and easily. Model KA-6L fits most KitchenAid tilt head mixers regardless of the KitchenAid model numbers. KA-6L Beater fits following Mixer Models: Professional 6 & 600, Deluxe Epicurean: KD2661X, KP26M8X, KT2651X, KP26N9X. Professional 5 Plus: KV25GOX, KV25G8X, KV25HOX. This mixer is not compatible with KitchenAid mixers KSM657 and all Costco and Sams Club KitchenAid Mixers.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: It's okay - but I found I didn't really need it\n\nReview: A nice beater - purchased because the beater that came with my mixer wasn't scraping the sides of the bowl properly. In adjusting the mixer for the new beater, however, I somehow fixed the problem I was having with the old beater - guess I should have played with the setting on the mixer first, before deciding to buy this attachment.\n\nThe new attachment does work well, but not that much better than the original beater, and since I do make some things (breads, for example) that call for a paddle that generates less resistance than this attachment, it's the other beater that stays on my machine. (I have limited counter space and use the mixer so much that I just put the beater back on as soon as it's washed, rather than bothering to stick it in a drawer and pull it out later.) So this new beater lives in the drawer, and the one I still use, almost all the time, is the original one that came with the machine.","Product: The Original Beater Blade by New Metro Design is an electric mixer attachment which thoroughly mixes batter, eliminating the need to stop and scrape the bowl manually and is engineered for use with most KitchenAid 6qt bowl lift mixers. The new Beater Blade beats, scrapes, folds and incorporates ingredients thoroughly for fool-proof baking. The Beater Blade ingeniously improves on the functionality of standard V-shaped beaters offered with high-end stand mixers by crafting a high-quality, enhanced blade that includes a flexible rubber wing down the entire length of both sides of the blade. The durable, food-grade edging simulates the action of a powerful spatula to gently, yet thoroughly scrape the bowl clean. The wing-system design acts like a wiper blade that continuously scrapes sides and bottom of bowl while it mixes virtually eliminating hand-scraping and batter build-up on the blade. BeaterBlades state-of-the-art design continuously and automatically scrapes batters during mixing, which can speed up the process by as much as 50 percent. By eliminating the need to turn off and on the mixer to scrape the bowl, Beater Blade reduces wear of the motor of the mixer, as well. Blade is intended to be used only once ingredients have been added to the bowlnot for use in a dry bowl. New Metro Designs Beater Blade excels in a full range of mixing applications, including creaming butter, sugar and eggs to fluffy perfection, and preparing frostings and pastry creams quickly and easily. Model KA-6L fits most KitchenAid tilt head mixers regardless of the KitchenAid model numbers. KA-6L Beater fits following Mixer Models: Professional 6 & 600, Deluxe Epicurean: KD2661X, KP26M8X, KT2651X, KP26N9X. Professional 5 Plus: KV25GOX, KV25G8X, KV25HOX. This mixer is not compatible with KitchenAid mixers KSM657 and all Costco and Sams Club KitchenAid Mixers.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: It's okay - but I found I didn't really need it\n\nReview: A nice beater - purchased because the beater that came with my mixer wasn't scraping the sides of the bowl properly. In adjusting the mixer for the new beater, however, I somehow fixed the problem I was having with the old beater - guess I should have played with the setting on the mixer first, before deciding to buy this attachment.\n\nThe new attachment does work well, but not that much better than the original beater, and since I do make some things (breads, for example) that call for a paddle that generates less resistance than this attachment, it's the other beater that stays on my machine. (I have limited counter space and use the mixer so much that I just put the beater back on as soon as it's washed, rather than bothering to stick it in a drawer and pull it out later.) So this new beater lives in the drawer, and the one I still use, almost all the time, is the original one that came with the machine.","Product: Kitchenaid 3 piece dish drying rack.\n\nRating: 1.0\n\nSummary: Poorly made piece of junk - leaks water all over the place\n\nReview: We got ours from CostCo - a white one, though the design is the same. It cost a lot less - and still wasn't worth it. At first I was happy enough with the size - much larger than the dish rack we had - to ignore the problems we began to have, even though we had to make some adjustments because it's not designed to drain into a sink with much of a lip on it. The edge of our sink is not unusually high for a cast iron sink, but it's high enough to prevent water from draining unless we put something under the bottom of the rack to lift it up to the level of the top of the sink lip. (Maybe if we didn't have this problem - if our sink had no lip at all - we would have fewer drainage problems? Who knows.)\n\nAfter a few days, it began to drip more and more water - on the counter, and then so much it ended up pooling on the floor. The problem is that the bottom tray is made of such cheap plastic that it sags under its own weight - and the bottoms of the plates drying in it probably push the center down further and just hasten the process. We'll get it turned around and propped up again and it will be okay for a day or so, and then it starts sagging and leaking water again. Good thing we have extra dish towels to place under it to soak up the mess while we look for another dish rack that's big enough for us.\n\nI admire the patience of the people who held onto this piece of junk long enough for it to rust.","Product: Don't give your right eye for the perfect Halloween decoration, use ours. Our Peep n' Peepers are perfect for your haunted house or haunted party. Each package includes a set of three spooky eyes. Eyes feature 360 degree rotating eyelids and prismatic irises. Decoration measures 6ft with 23\" spacing between peppers. Decoration is made of weather resistant construction and features easy end to end connectors. You can string up to 3 sets together. Peepers can be used both indoors and out.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Big hit with everyone on Halloween\n\nReview: I bought a set of these 5 or 6 years ago - and everyone (me included) loved them so much I bought a second set the following year. They're a whole lot of fun, flashing on and off in the bushes - more dramatic when we had more bushes, but now that we've moved to a new house with just flowers and very small bushes near the front door, I can still find places for all six (even if they are practically on the ground), and people still comment on them as they bring their kids around trick or treating.\n\nThe only problem I've had is that the hooks are a bit fragile. I'm careful with them now, but did break one and now use a plastic tie to hold that light up. And as another reviewer complained, yes, they probably are cheaply made. But I've had no problem with mine other than the broken hook, and after all, how frequently are you going to use something like this? We put them out a few days before Halloween and take them in the morning after. And given how much fun they are, we think they're well worth the price.","Product: The Original Beater Blade by New Metro Design is an electric mixer attachment which thoroughly mixes batter, eliminating the need to stop and scrape the bowl manually and is engineered for use with most KitchenAid 6qt bowl lift mixers. The new Beater Blade beats, scrapes, folds and incorporates ingredients thoroughly for fool-proof baking. The Beater Blade ingeniously improves on the functionality of standard V-shaped beaters offered with high-end stand mixers by crafting a high-quality, enhanced blade that includes a flexible rubber wing down the entire length of both sides of the blade. The durable, food-grade edging simulates the action of a powerful spatula to gently, yet thoroughly scrape the bowl clean. The wing-system design acts like a wiper blade that continuously scrapes sides and bottom of bowl while it mixes virtually eliminating hand-scraping and batter build-up on the blade. BeaterBlades state-of-the-art design continuously and automatically scrapes batters during mixing, which can speed up the process by as much as 50 percent. By eliminating the need to turn off and on the mixer to scrape the bowl, Beater Blade reduces wear of the motor of the mixer, as well. Blade is intended to be used only once ingredients have been added to the bowlnot for use in a dry bowl. New Metro Designs Beater Blade excels in a full range of mixing applications, including creaming butter, sugar and eggs to fluffy perfection, and preparing frostings and pastry creams quickly and easily. Model KA-6L fits most KitchenAid tilt head mixers regardless of the KitchenAid model numbers. KA-6L Beater fits following Mixer Models: Professional 6 & 600, Deluxe Epicurean: KD2661X, KP26M8X, KT2651X, KP26N9X. Professional 5 Plus: KV25GOX, KV25G8X, KV25HOX. This mixer is not compatible with KitchenAid mixers KSM657 and all Costco and Sams Club KitchenAid Mixers.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: It's okay - but I found I didn't really need it\n\nReview: A nice beater - purchased because the beater that came with my mixer wasn't scraping the sides of the bowl properly. In adjusting the mixer for the new beater, however, I somehow fixed the problem I was having with the old beater - guess I should have played with the setting on the mixer first, before deciding to buy this attachment.\n\nThe new attachment does work well, but not that much better than the original beater, and since I do make some things (breads, for example) that call for a paddle that generates less resistance than this attachment, it's the other beater that stays on my machine. (I have limited counter space and use the mixer so much that I just put the beater back on as soon as it's washed, rather than bothering to stick it in a drawer and pull it out later.) So this new beater lives in the drawer, and the one I still use, almost all the time, is the original one that came with the machine.","Product: Jam packed collage eye candy by Colin Johnson. Made with 95-percent recycled woven polypropylene, a roomy exterior pocket and shoulder length straps. 15-inch w by 11-inch h by 6-1/4-inch d. The PERFECT airplane carry-on bag. Just right for shoving in the overhead compartment or stowing easily under the seat in front of you. Good for using on the ground too.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Holds more than I expected, given other reviews\n\nReview: I bought the Moon Garden shoulder tote after using a <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Blue-Q-Field-Study-Overnighter/dp/B003B0030I/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Blue Q - Field Study Overnighter</a> as a carry-on bag on a tour of China. I found the overnighter to be attractive and durable and to hold a lot - but not quite enough for our winter week-long getaway to a resort in the Carribean. I wanted a shoulder bag that zipped up, so getting another Blue Q bag was a no-brainer.\n\nI find this bag holds a lot more than I expected, given the reviews. It's also durable and practical - holds a lot, wears well, doesn't get dirty. This plus my overnighter easily hold what I need for a week at a very informal (shorts and sandals) resort. At this price, what's not to love?\n\nIf there's a down side at all, it's that both of have very very bright designs that don't really go together that well. It certainly makes them visible - a plus in some situations - but if I had it to do over again, I might have tried the \"flower field\" shoulder tote instead of bag.","Product: CK Products chocolate molds are first quality, plastic molds. They are durable and reusable. not machine washable. Our chocolate molds are suitable for chocolate, soap making, butter molding, ice-cubes, plaster and concrete crafting. These molds are FDA approved\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Perfect - made chocolate chips from scratch\n\nReview: I love chocolate but am avoiding sugar - and I'm also lactose-intolerant. I can buy chocolate chips that are either sugar-free or dairy-free, but they're rarely both, and they cost a fortune. It took a while for the obvious to occur to me: make my own!\n\nI found a quick and easy recipe for sugar-free chocolate chips on the \"All Day I Dream About Food\" web site, requiring only unsweetened chocolate, food grade cocoa butter (I used <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/100-Organic-Cacao-Butter-16oz-by-Tisano/dp/B002US55K0/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">100% Organic Cacao Butter 16oz by Tisano</a>), powdered xylitol (I used Ideal confectionary sugar, which I originally bought on Amazon but can't find now), cocoa powder, and vanilla. One batch was plenty to fill two of these molds and didn't begin to use up the ingredients. Granted I end up with chocolate chunks rather than perfectly shaped chips, but who cares? These molds are cheap and perfect for the job.","Product: Darken any room at any time of the day, blocks out sunlight and street lights. Save energy by regulating room temperatures and reduce heating and cooling costs. Insulate from heat and cold, reduce outside noise. Ensure total privacy, conceal your silhouette from prying eyes and passing traffic. Protects furniture, prevents sun from damaging upholstery. Machine washable for easy care. Machine wash cold with like colors, use only non - chlorine bleach when needed. Tumble dry low, use warm iron as needed.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: A good buy for the money - nice weight to the ...\n\nReview: A good buy for the money - nice weight to the fabric, washable, lined. They are heavy enough to hang well. We'll keep them despite our dissatisfaction with the design, and make some other changes in the room.\n\nThe problem is that there is a lot more to the pattern of the fabric in these drapes than pictured or described in reviews. Perhaps the design has changed - none of the gold accents mentioned by several reviewers are visible in mine.\n\nInstead, the dark brown leaves are shadowed in white, plus a dark brown outline of another leafy vine. What appears on the website to be a blank space between lines of vines is actually occupied by yet another leafy vine outlined in rust, much fainter than the vines in the dark brown/white column, but still definitely there. This in-between column of vines doesn't show up much when the drapes are opened, but when the drapes are closed the result is a design much busier than what we wanted.\n\nThe extra vines are faint enough to be hard to photograph, but I've tried. See attached.","Product: Youre hoping to find the love of your life, but for now, youll settle for the perfect mattress. Average in height and build and a sleeper who tends to snooze in a combination of positions, youre looking for a bed that provides medium-to-firm support with light cushioning that helps you relax and fall into a deep sleep after a long day. And what else is on your wish list? A mattress that when the time comes will keep your special someone comfortable and happy as well.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Truly amazing - just don't expect cheap sheets to fit\n\nReview: No problems getting the mattress on the bed, and no detectable odor either. It did take a day or two to reach its full height, but was comfortable to sleep on from the beginning. At first when you lie down on it, it feels very firm, but your body slowly sinks until it is cradled by the foam. I wasn't even aware what was happening the first time, until I tried to sit up. This makes it very very comfortable - I don't think I budged an inch the first night, though I usually toss and turn - and the pillows are great! I've never been able to find a really comfortable pillow, but these were perfect from the start.\n\nThe new bed I bought it for is already quite high, so I've been using it without a box spring, just resting on the bed slats. It's perfectly comfortable that way.\n\nThe only problem I have had in the couple of weeks I've owned the mattress has been with the thickness of the mattress - a cheap but very pretty pair of Laura Ashley print sheets I had purchased are two small to fit properly, despite claiming to have deep pockets. But my good Vermont County Store flannel sheets fit perfectly, and having to send my pretty print sheets off to use on beds in my summer cabin is a small price to pay for such a wonderful night's sleep.","Product: Reditainer 32 Ounce Round - Comes with 12 Trays and 12 Lids. Perfect for saving food or anything that needs refrigerating. Reditainer Brand quality.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: The longer I have them, the more uses I find!\n\nReview: Wow! All I wanted was a bowl to make a dinner salad for 2, to use in our motor home. I had trouble finding something small enough that would go on the dinner table (at least in the motor home, and these were the right size and looked handy.\nI've had them for a couple of months now. Once I realized how useful they are, I divided them between home and motor home, and always seem to have one in use. They may not look sturdy, but I have yet to lose a dish or lid. (Granted, I wash everything by hand - rarely use the dishwasher and never have put these in it.)\n\nThey're bigger and more attractive than the normal dispensable stuff for storing leftovers, and they're the perfect when a main dish is large enough to serve the two of us for 2 meals. They can also be used to reheat the leftovers in the microwave and are attractive enough (when it's just the 2 of us, anyway) to serve them at the dinner table (and I'm a firm believer in using attractive dishes at dinner). Even though there are 12 of them, I often just have a few left on my kitchen shelves for the next use.\n\nThe raised lids are an especially nice feature - make the dish a little larger for things like those dinner salads, when I want to make one ahead so we can have dinner quickly when we get home. I use them for small mixing bowls too.\n\nThe only thing I can think of that didn't work well was making French toast. They're the right size to dip a slice of bread in beaten egg, but the center of the bottom is raised a bit, so the egg drains off to the side. A problem only in the motor home, where I still manage, because I'm too lazy to pour the batter out on a plate, I guess.","Product: Crafted of plush microfiber polyester, this nature-inspired leaf design brings the outdoors indoors. Treat yourself to a rug that is comfortable and absorbant. InterDesign is a dynamic force in the international housewares and home fashions industry. The company designs and produces products for the home that combine innovative design, a high-fashion sensibility, at competitive pricing. This winning combination has allowed InterDesign to become a global leader in the housewares industry, now shipping to over 90 countries worldwide.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Very nice - design as pictured, soft on the feet\n\nReview: This is an attractive but inconspicuous rug, color pretty much exactly as pictured on the internet, a soft enough green that it goes well with other shades of green. It washes well too - came out soft and fluffy as new. I bought it to go with a shower curtain of similar design(<a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/InterDesign-Leaves-Shower-Curtain-Green/dp/B003S9WJK4/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">InterDesign Leaves Shower Curtain, Green</a>) and a new set of bamboo towels - the <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Thinkbamboo-Brand-Super-Soft-Lightweight-3-Piece-Bath-Towel-Set/dp/B001LD0EQU/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Thinkbamboo Brand - Super Soft Lightweight 3 Piece Bath Towel Set</a> in pine green).\n\nAfter deciding I wanted to replace my white shower curtain and rug with something with a green design, I was surprised how few options I found. I do wish I'd found more things in green to consider, but I'm very happy with what I bought. Everything, including the rug, is of good quality, stands up well to use, and is attractive.","Product: Zojirushi Stainless Steel 12oz. Mug has a vacuum insulation that keeps beverages hot or cold for hours. Easy-to-clean nonstick coated interior. Tight fitted flip-open lid keeps beverages hotter or colder than travel mugs. Safety lock to prevent the lid from opening accidentally (NEW pictograph lock). Lightweight design for added portability.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Works a little too well\n\nReview: There's a lot to like about this. Insulation is great, and so is the way it opens at the touch of a button and latches just by pushing the lid back down. The top screws on firmly - no spills. For cold drinks it would probably be ideal, though I bought it for coffee.\n\nI chose the cinnamon gold - really a medium beige.\n\nThe only problem is that when you put hot liquids into it, it works a little too well. Pour a little milk into it, fill it with coffee from the coffee machine, and it will be still hot enough to burn your mouth 2 hours later. I need to poor the coffee into a glass measuring cup, let it sit a while, and THEN pour it into the thermos for most of the uses I make of it.\n\nYes, I know this is a silly thing to complain about, but I wish they made one not quite so well insulated that had the same lid and push-button system.","Product: The OXO GOOD GRIPS Silicone Pot Holder is the best of both worlds: 600F heat resistant silicone on the outside and cool, comfortable fabric on the inside. Protect your hands from heat, spills and burns with non-flammable, stain and steam resistant silicone. The thick, multi-layer fabric liner brings additional thermal insulation, yet lets your hand breathe to prevent sweating. OXO’s unique silicone rib design improves flexibility and dexterity, and provides a secure grip even on slippery surfaces. Your hand will fit securely in the Pot Holder’s pocket, letting you pick up items small and large without burning the top of your hand. At 10 inches long, the Pot Holder is long enough to protect your wrist. When flat on a surface, the Pot Holder doubles as an excellent trivet under hot pots and pans. To easily store and find your Pot Holder in the kitchen, simply use the embedded magnet to hang on steel surfaces or place the silicone hanging loop on a hook. To clean just wipe the Pot Holder with a damp sponge, or wash and dry in the laundry machine.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Perfect potholder - flexible, nonskid\n\nReview: What a great potholder! I ordered another shortly after trying it so that I now have a pair to use, and I've put my old oven mitts away. These work MUCH better - great insulation, and they work on both hands. I put two in my sister's Christmas stocking and she's put her old oven mitts away too - these work much better. Next step - a pair to use at our summer cabin. And guess what my sister-in-law is getting for Christmas next year....\n\nNothing is too hot to handle with these potholders. Also, they're really flexible (unlike other silicone potholders I've tried) and grip well - great for handling slippery casserole dishes that have spilled over in the oven. The magnets for hanging them up are handy without getting in the way - nice plastic ring attached for hanging them on hooks, too, for people who prefer that.","Product: Funky royalty designed by Haley Johnson. 27-1/2-inch w by 13-3/4-inch h. Made of 95-percent recycled woven polypropylene and printed with lead free inks, your overnighter is the perfect bag for a weekend getaway, trip to the gym, or just to lug all that stuff you just have to have with you all the time.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Love these overnighters - great carry-on luggage\n\nReview: This is my second Blue Q overnighter, purchased for my one-and-only after the one I bought for myself weathered a lot of abuse during a two-week tour of China and came home still looking new. These bags weigh almost nothing, hold a lot, zip closed securely, and are easy to carry. The fabric is waterproof and doesn't get dirty - what's not to like? Technically they're too wide for an airplane carry-on, but they're soft and flexible and fit easily under the seat. No one's ever objected to me carrying one on as my carry-on luggage, and if you team it up with a Blue Q shoulder bag like <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Blue-Q-Moon-Garden-Shoulder-Tote/dp/B003B002M2/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Blue Q - Moon Garden Shoulder Tote</a>, you can carry enough for a short trip without checking luggage.","Product: Compact carrying case for Sony's Atrac CD Walkman models Offers space for CD Walkman and several audio CDs Soft, tough exterior protects device from scratches and dents Adjustable belt fits above hips for jogging or walking Fits DNE300, DNE300PS, DNE306CK, DNF400, DNF400PS, DNE500B, DNE500S, DNE506CK, DNE900, and DNF600 models, does not fit Sony DEJ011 model.\n\nRating: 1.0\n\nSummary: Doesn't fit the Walkman D-JF041\n\nReview: BEWARE - I bought this with the Sony Walkman D-JF041 because it was included in Amazon's suggested bundle of items frequently bought together.\n\nBut it doesn't fit that Walkman. The case itself seems well made, and can be adjusted to fit my waist easily enough. However, the case is about 5 inches across, does not stretch, and though the Walkman I bought (the D-JF041) it for is only slightly wider than 5 inches, I can only use it by unzipping it all the way and jamming the Walkman partway in so that it sticks over the top. At least I could push it down securely enough so that I could use it at the gym while waiting for the larger replacement I ordered, the <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Tune-Belt-Deluxe-Plus-Cd-Player-Carrier/dp/B000F7A3TQ/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Tune Belt Deluxe Plus Cd Player Carrier</a>, which is wide enough for the Walkman and also has room for extra CDs (or my driver's license and some cash for the grocery store) and an outside zipped pocket for my car keys - all features this Sony carrying case lacks.\n\nThis belt is clearly made for another device - the open window in it doesn't relate to anything on my Walkman - and while it's well made, the open window limits its use as a small belt pack too. Should you happen to have whatever it was made to fit, it's no doubt a great purchase. Otherwise not.\n\nNow that I have my Tune Belt carrier, my Sony belt is going in the trash.","Product: Vintage flora and fauna pasted to perfection by Roy Fox. 27-1/2-inch w by 13-3/4-inch h. Made of 95-percent recycled woven polypropylene and printed with lead free inks, your overnighter is the perfect bag for a weekend getaway, trip to the gym, or just to lug all that stuff you just have to have with you all the time.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Beautiful, durable - what's not to like?\n\nReview: I bought this bag a month or so ago, looking for an expandable and extremely light-weight carry-on for a two-week tour of China. I thought it would take a beating, but given the price, it didn't have to do more than hold together until I got home.\n\nWhat a surprise. It lasted through two weeks of being jammed under airline seats and stuffed full of souvenirs and laundry and whatever overflow I had from my suitcase, and shows no signs of wear. It is light as a feather, it expands to hold a LOT of stuff, it slides easily under airline seats, it sheds water, it doesn't get dirty, and best of all, people kept complimenting me on it and asking where I found it. It really is attractive - bright, clear pictures of birds and plants, pretty much as pictured.\n\nI'll definitely be taking it a one-week February get-away to the Carribean. I travel light, and should need no more than this bag and maybe a shoulder bag - no more expensive checked luggage. I'm thinking of buying another just to have one in reserve if this one ever wears out.","Product: Snoozies are not socks and they're not slippers they're a crossover between the two and that's why we call them foot coverings A great alternative to the traditional slipper.Sequined exterior Lined with a soft warm Sherpa fleece Nonskid sole Machine washable Inner and sole 100 polyester\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Cute and comfortable - wash well too\n\nReview: My first pair of these slippers were the light blue ones - and I now have new ones in red and black. They're really cute and my size 8 1/2 narrow (AA) feet fit well in the medium (size 7-8). The lining is soft and cozy and the slippers wash well, though the white bottoms of the soles won't get completely clean if you get them really really dirty. We have found a couple of sequins here and there on the floor, but can't see where they came from on the slippers I've been wearing for a few months, nor did any seem to come loose when I washed them in the washing machine.\n\nThe only downside I can think of is that the sequins can catch on loose fabrics - and that they're not meant to be worn outside. The soles are fabric thick enough to be comfortable in the house, but you can feel every pebble through them if you wear them outdoors.","Product: Cowboy costume print on a soft fitted tee. These shirts stand out in a crowd!\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great choice for a silly cowboy shirt for an adult\n\nReview: So cute. My husband had bought a Stetson in a second-hand store and was saying he needed a Western shirt.... Couldn't resist ordering it (though yes, he'll get his real Western shirt too), and though he thinks such things are corny, it was nicely enough detailed (complete with a sheriff's badge) that he put it on and wore it to a neighborhood party. He got lots of compliments - definitely worth it!\n\nNo sign of the smell others complained about. It does seem a bit large (for large - the size he takes) but may shrink in the wash? Printed on the front only. Nice shade of light blue. If you're looking for a joke cowboy shirt, this is pretty much perfect, and a bargain at the price.","Product: Snoozies are not socks and they're not slippers they're a crossover between the two and that's why we call them foot coverings A great alternative to the traditional slipper.Sequined exterior Lined with a soft warm Sherpa fleece Nonskid sole Machine washable Inner and sole 100 polyester\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Cute and comfortable - wash well too\n\nReview: My first pair of these slippers were the light blue ones - and I now have new ones in red and black. They're really cute and my size 8 1/2 narrow (AA) feet fit well in the medium (size 7-8). The lining is soft and cozy and the slippers wash well, though the white bottoms of the soles won't get completely clean if you get them really really dirty. We have found a couple of sequins here and there on the floor, but can't see where they came from on the slippers I've been wearing for a few months, nor did any seem to come loose when I washed them in the washing machine.\n\nThe only downside I can think of is that the sequins can catch on loose fabrics - and that they're not meant to be worn outside. The soles are fabric thick enough to be comfortable in the house, but you can feel every pebble through them if you wear them outdoors.","Product: Designed to offer a warm down jacket which is also flattering, this coat features multiple seaming details that offer a wonderful slimming effect, with narrower channels around the waist and diamond quilted side panels, this jacket has a great shape and puts an even emphasis on appearance as well as warmth, this jacket is perfect for the fall and winter seasons, extremely versatile, it can be worn casually every day or used for outdoor activities, the shell fabric is water resistant and sure to keep the wind out, the plush valboa lined hood is trimmed with faux fur and can be zipped off to convert the jacket from sporty to dressy, at 28 inches long the jacket hits at the mid-thigh, a chunky, easy to use front zipper closure is concealed behind a snap close placket, the pockets, in keeping with the slimming effect of the coat, are on seam, fully lined with an added plush valboa half back lining, machine washable\n\nRating: 1.0\n\nSummary: Runs small, polyester not down\n\nReview: Initially I thought this might be a good everyday jacket for where I currently live, in a small town in West Virginia. I didn't find the cut especially slimming or the jacket especially flattering, but oh well. I hate to return things, so I didn't.\n\nI read reviews of the jacket on other websites before ordering, found this out, and ordered an extra large, even though \"large\" normally leaves me plenty of room for layering. The extra large seemed OK, though given the fit, the large probably would have been acceptable. Oddly enough, no one who wrote a review on the other sites mentioned it not being down - I doubt this is actually a Hilfiger.\n\nOn the plus side, the pockets are big enough for hand-warming as well as for carrying a wallet and keys. The hood zips on and off easily, the zipper up the front is a heavy-duty plastic one that's easy to work, and the jacket zips high around the neck - no need for a scarf to keep drafts out, though the rough material seems to attract make-up so I'm always wiping smears off, not something that's a problem with better jackets I own. I'm still trying to decide whether to keep it to wear for yardwork or donate it to one of the charities collecting warm coats for people who can't afford them.","Product: Our 721 High Rise Skinny is a modern pin-up fit. This is a staple in your skinny jean collection, the one youll wear over and over. The high rise hugs your waist and the skinny leg elongates your silhouette, showing you off in all the right ways.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Not good fit for smaller derrieres - and VERY shallow front pockets\n\nReview: Material is thick, yet very stretchy - that and the fact that they come in black are the best things about these jeans. Very comfortable to wear, too.\n\nIf the fit worked for me, the only fault I'd find with them is the extremely shallow front pockets - though these alone would keep me from buying them again. Front pockets are just 2 inches deep!!\n\nAnd these jeans are not built for women with smaller and flatter derrieres. They fit my lower legs as closely as if they were tights, except for a slight flare around the ankles, but they wrinkle below my rear and at the top of my thighs. If you are not well endowed in the rear, you are not going to love the way these fit.","Product: Minute for minute, treadmills are the ultimate fat burning machine, eliminating up to 900 calories an hour. The Confidence Power Plus treadmill makes them an affordable machine for every household, so you can be burning fat without the hassle of having to go to the gym or bracing the weather. It is ideal for people new to running and those looking to shed a few extra pounds, and with it's folding design and wheels, it is easy to store and roll away. 600W power motor. Runway Size: 38.5\" x 14\". Full product size: 49\" x 24\" x 11\". Weight of machine: 53 lbs Weight & Size of delivered package: 50.5\" x 25.5\" x 11.5\" 57 lbs.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Love it - takes up little space and does everything I need\n\nReview: Perfect for me - I was looking for a way to walk in bad weather without driving 15 miles (each way) to a fitness center. Our house is not small, but we don't have a lot of free space either. And our budget might stretch to cover a $600 up treadmill - but not when I wasn't sure I'd keep using it.\n\nThis treadmill is not large - I wouldn't use it for jogging, and it probably won't accomodate a really long stride. However, you can tuck it up against a wall (without even folding it up) easily if you have a little wall space in an office or spare bedroom. It looks exactly like the picture (except that mine is white), not a big bulky thing that takes up half the space in the room.\n\nI've kept mine at a slant, the way it's designed to run. And yes, walking on it takes a lot more effort. I'm working back up to my usual 3.5 mph walk from 2.5 and am sure I'm burning the same amount of energy at the lower rate. Have considered putting something under the back of it to level it off, but why? Just go slower for a while.\n\nIt doesn't have a heart rate monitor, but has an emergency stop, and it's easy to switch back and forth between setting the pace and keeping track of the time. I've been using it a couple of weeks now with no problems at all. It's fairly quiet - a little squeaky at the beginning. Has a delay on the start-up, counting down 3 seconds, so no worries about it trying to sweep you away before you're ready. And it starts at 0.6 miles an hour. You increase the speed by pushing a button. Easy to use (and easy to set up even though the instructions are even more useless than average, including pictures that tell you nothing).\n\nI find hopping on it for 10 minutes three times a day does exactly what I need. I'm fighting off diabetes after pancreatic surgery 10 years ago. My weight is fine, but I need to keep moving to keep my blood glucose readings in check. 10 minutes a day of walking on this treadmill, morning noon and night, makes a 20-point difference, and doing it in short sessions works for me. I never quite find time for a whole half hour session, I find, but who doesn't have 10 minutes?\n\nSo happy I bought it. If you want it for light exercise you won't be disappointed.","Product: Chebe Bread (pronounced CHEE-bee) is distinctive cheese bread originating from Brazil. Chebe bread products are naturally gluten-free and yeast-free and are manufactured in a gluten-free environment. All of our mixes, except for the original mix, are lactose/casein-free. All Chebe mixes are also free of soy, potato, corn, rice, tree nuts and peanuts. Chebe mixes are quick and easy to work with, and extremely versatile. Each package make approximately 16 ounce. of dough, from which you may make countless varieties of bread products, such as bread sticks, tortilla wraps, sandwich buns, rolls, calzones, turnovers, pierogies, pizza crust, etc.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: New formula - not so great\n\nReview: Once upon a time, Chebe made the best pizza crust ever - great texture, thin and chewy, very tasty, even rolled out easily without sticking to pan or rolling pin. Friends not on the gluten-free diet raved about it too.\n\nNot any more. The formula used for the mix seems to have changed along with the instructions - making it easier to put together (no more baking the crust first, as we used to do, before adding toppings), but resulting in an inferior product. It's lost the chewy texture and the great taste and is now just another over-priced GF mix - one package makes one medium-sized pizza.\n\nIf you make it, oil your pizza pan (something that never used to be necessary) before putting the dough in it, or the pizza will stick. And don't pile the toppings too high or add too much sauce, or the dough won't bake through in the middle. If you're lucky, you'll get a fairly edible pizza - but you could make a good bigger pizza for less just using the pizza dough recipe in a good GF cookbook - e.g., Elizabeth Barbone's <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Easy-Gluten-Free-Baking/dp/1891105418/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Easy Gluten-Free Baking</a>. After all, you have to add oil, milk, cheese, and eggs to this Chebe mix - why not just mix up some dough from scratch and save yourself a lot of money?","Product: Specialist ID Fuel Card Key Ring makes it easy to manage your keys and fuel card side by side. Great for anyone who needs to keep keys and ID badge handy.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Good way to carry my fitness center keycard\n\nReview: This card holder is pretty big - it's made of thick, rigid plastic, about 1/4 inch thick, almost 2 and 1/2 inches wide, and a little over 4 inches long. I could wish it was smaller - but given the size of the card I keep in it, it couldn't be that much smaller. It did solve a problem for me. I've been keeping my fitness center key card on a lanyard, and every once in a while I'd drive off to the fitness center without it. It's a 40-mile round trip, so this was VERY irritating.\n\nWhen the lanyard broke, I bought this card holder and added it to my keychain. Problem solved - no more driving off without it. It's big and awkward, and this isn't always welcome. But for me, it was the perfect solution - great price, too.","Product: This heirloom variety produces a unique squash with spaghetti-like strands of flesh that are delicious baked or boiled and served with butter or pasta sauce.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Big beautiful flowers, nice squash\n\nReview: I planted these in a container and was pleasantly surprised by how well they grew. It's my first attempt at a garden, mixing container vegetables and herbs with flowers in the garden by the front door. These are still blooming (in early October) and the flowers have added a lot to the garden.\n\nI planted far too many seeds in one container and didn't add any fertilizer (a very cheap organic fertilizer I found at Walmart) until really late in the summer - I'm new at this, so they didn't produce as much as they probably would have - though we still got three large spaghetti squash for us and three or four chewed up while still small, probably by the big brown bunny who lives at the edge of the yard, not to mention many, many beautiful big squash blossoms peeping out of the shrubbery. If these will grow for me, they'll grow for anyone.","Product: With his mighty paw placed atop a crested shield, a regal lion surveys all who approach the door to your \"castle\". Inspired by the centuries-old stone carvings found in castles and cathedrals throughout Europe, this impressive statue makes a bold historical statement and lends distinction to your entryway or garden. Fiber resin. 12-1/4-inch by 14-1/8-inch by 25-inch high.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Very attractive garden statue - much nicer than pictured\n\nReview: What a great buy! The picture does not accurately present the color, which is a nicely textured dark grey mottled with green, looking like weathered stone or concrete - and quite convincingly so. You really can't tell it's plastic until you touch it, and then the texture gives it away. The plastic is heavy-duty and should stand up well, but this still means the statue itself doesn't weigh all that much. I was originally worried that it might blow over, but this hasn't been a problem, though I live on hill that gets strong winds sometimes.\n\nOur lion is just a bit over knee-high - about the same height as the tallest bushes and flowers in the area, and is the perfect touch for the garden - a mix of bushes, flowers, and containers beside our front door. I'm not big on garden or lawn ornaments - this is the only one I have ever had - but I do love this one.","Product: BugZooka is a fast, simple, and clean way to rid bugs from your home. The innovative and light weight new BugZooka lets you keep your distance and avoid bug squish and splatter without expensive batteries or toxic chemicals. It's unique patent pending design creates 10X the instant suction of heavy battery powered devices. BugZooka catches bugs instantly.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Very effective used on stink bugs - and almost fun\n\nReview: We bought this over a year ago to use on stink bugs - and it really works! It helps that stink bugs like to sit in the open around lamps at night and are too dumb to fly away when you set the nozzle of the BugZooka down right next to them. Also nice that it extends your reach to get the ones on the ceiling. It's almost fun. The compartment holds a lot of stink bugs too - can go after every bugyou see without pausing to empty it.\n\nAfter using it for year, we find our stink bug population has decreased a lot - horrible last year, just a minor nuisance this year. We think we're getting a lot of them before they reproduce. The BugZooka comes with a replacement tip (the compartment used to capture them), so you can wash the stink out of the one you've just used. And the compartments will hold a lot of bugs.\n\nWe did find after a year that the hinge on one of the compartments broke so that it flops open again - possibly have been washing it out too vigorously. Fortunately we have the spare that comes with the thing and can use it while we order another Bug Zooka. .\n\nThe other thing we use on stink bugs is a FlyWeb fly trap. The stink bugs are attracted to the light. It doesn't catch anywhere near as many as the BugZooka, but we wouldn't do without either weapon in our stink bug war.","Product: Eye-catching rainbow fur mice provide hours of fun and exercise A healthy outlet for a cats natural hunting instinct Mice rattle and are approximately 3\" long\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Cat gives 5 stars plus - and they're quite durable too\n\nReview: Our cat HATES toys - spends his nights out, and sleeps and eats all day. We've tried all sorts of things that worked with other cats, and he ignores them - until we found these.\n\nHe loves them! Bats them all over the place, carries them to whatever is his current favorite sleeping place, sits and yowls until I retrieve mice that end up under the couch, brings them to me so I can throw them up in the air and he can chase them again. It's been going on for weeks.\n\nA delight to watch - and he's finally getting a little daytime exercise.\n\nThe mice are holding up well under all this - no sign of damage at all in the ones he's been playing with for most of a month, though they do occasionally disappear, so we'll eventually be buying more. Really durable toy, though - not like the catnip mice he ripped to shreds in minutes. Don't know what it would take to ruin one of these.","Product: Denise Minger is a Portland, OR-based health writer and lecturer with a reputation for aggressively challenging today's leading voices of conventional wisdom. Her meticulously researched critiques decimating USDA guidelines and The China Study--published on her blog, RawFoodSOS.com--have made her a major player in the progressive health community, and a major thorn in the side of both mainstream nutritionists other health figures promoting flawed dietary dogma.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Very readable review of research on diets and health - highly recommended\n\nReview: Love this book - very carefully put together, based on research clearly explained (whether it supports the author's hypothesis or not), and is it informative - as well as entertaining! I'd seen enough here and there to know that the guidelines for cholesterol used to push statins on all of us are questionable to say the least - especially for older people (which I am). But what really is healthy? And what diet is healthy - the book includes a lengthy chapter on diets of different cultures around the world and their effects on health. The book is fascinating. I've made a lot of changes in my diet because of it. I just wish the people I lend it to would give it back - I'm about to buy yet another copy.","Product: Glossy paperback 1988 230p. 10.00x7.00x0.75 A BOOK FOR ANYONE WHO WANTS TO AVOID REFINED SUGAR. GOOD TASTING RELIABLE RECIPES... SPECIAL NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION PROVIDED WITH EACH RECIPE. Most recent diabetic exchange list from the American Diabetes Association\n\nRating: 1.0\n\nSummary: Title should read \"without PROCESSED sugar.\" Diabetics beware!\n\nReview: It would be easier to muster a little respect for this book and its publisher if it didn't give a summary of \"nutritive value\" for each recipe that lists calories, fiber, salt, and cholesterol, skipping right over the key category for anyone buying this book in the hope of avoiding sugar - carbs and sugar. It does follow this by giving diabetic exchanges (each fruit exchange of which should be about 15 carbs - just in case you've never looked it up).\n\nThis may be a good book for canners trying to go \"natural\" and avoid processed sugar. Those of us with medical reasons for avoiding as much sugar as possible would be better off with the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, which at least has recipes for canning fruits in syrup and for freezer jams that substitute sucralose for sugar. We'll find no help here. (And though there is a chapter with instructions for canning vegetables, the actual recipes in this book are for fruit, fruit preserves, and pickles. Pickles need sweetening too, of course - here with honey, apple juice concentrate or a grape juice concentrate made by simmering the stuff to reduce it by half.\n\nTotal waste of my money - giving the book to the library book sale and hoping anyone who buys it looks through it first."],"string":"[\n \"Product: Think of the GarlicZoom XL as the monster truck version of the original garlicZoom. Bigger wheels, bigger blades and a bigger body allow the GarlicZoom XL to chop garlic faster, easier and in larger quantities than ever before. Simple place fresh garlic through the top of GarlicZoom, roll and voile! - fresh chopped garlic without mess or hassle. Top rack dishwasher safe.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Useful little gadget - lasted 20 months - but replacement had dull blades\\n\\nReview: I bought this in August 2010, and found that although I normally hate things that take up counter space, there was space for it at the back of the counter behind my cookbook holder. I do a lot of cooking and use a lot of garlic, so it was used probably 2 or 3 times a week, at least. After about 20 months of fairly frequent use, one of the molded plastic pins holding the cover in place has broken - no way to repair it.\\n\\nI liked being able to chop garlic in it and leave the whole thing sitting by the stove until I'm ready to add my garlic, leaving my cutting board free for other things. Some of the garlic always gets stuck in the bottom, so I had to open it, take it apart, and scrape out the last bits with a measuring spoon or kitchen knife. The blades are very very sharp, and required care when doing this or washing the dishes - not something I would use if children were helping me cook and clean up. But as I said, it was a useful little gadget.\\n\\nSo I replaced it. When the new chopper came, I noted they changed the color. The 'avocado' is no longer the yellowish green pictured, but a dark avocado green, and the whole chopper looks just slightly different, as if the manufacturer had changed. Not that this matters, if only the new ones worked as well. I put in two garlic cloves, cutting them in large chunks first. Some of the pieces jammed the blades - it just couldn't handle them. When I fished my old garlic chopper out of the trash and tried putting the old blades in the new chopper, they worked fine. So I threw out the new blades, put the old blades in my new old garlic chopper, and am using them instead. But if this one breaks, I'm probably not replacing it. Either they're no longer sharpening the blades enough, or I just got a bad one.\",\n \"Product: Soft padded footstrap. Hygienic toe separators. Sloping sole for heel support. Slip resistant rubber inserts in outsoles. Great for yoga, pedicures, foot disorders and just everyday wear. Unisex design.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Does wonders for balance\\n\\nReview: These aren't as easy to get on at first - not if you really need them, anyway. I found I had to force my toes into place, but the more I wore them, the easier it was. (Still having to use my hands to insert smaller toes into the right spaces sometimes after a few weeks of use.)\\n\\nBut the more you wear them, the better your toes are at separating - and this does wonderful things for your balance. I'm in my mid-70s, and my younger sister recommended them. Both of us saw first a grandmother and then our mother fall and end up walker with a walker - and we'd both do anything to stay on our own 2 feet.\\n\\nCan't tell you yet whether these will do the trick, but they certainly help! I try to slip them on for a few hours at least every day or two - and they are comfortable enough to wear all day, which I have also done.\",\n \"Product: The Original Beater Blade by New Metro Design is an electric mixer attachment which thoroughly mixes batter, eliminating the need to stop and scrape the bowl manually and is engineered for use with most KitchenAid 6qt bowl lift mixers. The new Beater Blade beats, scrapes, folds and incorporates ingredients thoroughly for fool-proof baking. The Beater Blade ingeniously improves on the functionality of standard V-shaped beaters offered with high-end stand mixers by crafting a high-quality, enhanced blade that includes a flexible rubber wing down the entire length of both sides of the blade. The durable, food-grade edging simulates the action of a powerful spatula to gently, yet thoroughly scrape the bowl clean. The wing-system design acts like a wiper blade that continuously scrapes sides and bottom of bowl while it mixes virtually eliminating hand-scraping and batter build-up on the blade. BeaterBlades state-of-the-art design continuously and automatically scrapes batters during mixing, which can speed up the process by as much as 50 percent. By eliminating the need to turn off and on the mixer to scrape the bowl, Beater Blade reduces wear of the motor of the mixer, as well. Blade is intended to be used only once ingredients have been added to the bowlnot for use in a dry bowl. New Metro Designs Beater Blade excels in a full range of mixing applications, including creaming butter, sugar and eggs to fluffy perfection, and preparing frostings and pastry creams quickly and easily. Model KA-6L fits most KitchenAid tilt head mixers regardless of the KitchenAid model numbers. KA-6L Beater fits following Mixer Models: Professional 6 & 600, Deluxe Epicurean: KD2661X, KP26M8X, KT2651X, KP26N9X. Professional 5 Plus: KV25GOX, KV25G8X, KV25HOX. This mixer is not compatible with KitchenAid mixers KSM657 and all Costco and Sams Club KitchenAid Mixers.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: It's okay - but I found I didn't really need it\\n\\nReview: A nice beater - purchased because the beater that came with my mixer wasn't scraping the sides of the bowl properly. In adjusting the mixer for the new beater, however, I somehow fixed the problem I was having with the old beater - guess I should have played with the setting on the mixer first, before deciding to buy this attachment.\\n\\nThe new attachment does work well, but not that much better than the original beater, and since I do make some things (breads, for example) that call for a paddle that generates less resistance than this attachment, it's the other beater that stays on my machine. (I have limited counter space and use the mixer so much that I just put the beater back on as soon as it's washed, rather than bothering to stick it in a drawer and pull it out later.) So this new beater lives in the drawer, and the one I still use, almost all the time, is the original one that came with the machine.\",\n \"Product: The Original Beater Blade by New Metro Design is an electric mixer attachment which thoroughly mixes batter, eliminating the need to stop and scrape the bowl manually and is engineered for use with most KitchenAid 6qt bowl lift mixers. The new Beater Blade beats, scrapes, folds and incorporates ingredients thoroughly for fool-proof baking. The Beater Blade ingeniously improves on the functionality of standard V-shaped beaters offered with high-end stand mixers by crafting a high-quality, enhanced blade that includes a flexible rubber wing down the entire length of both sides of the blade. The durable, food-grade edging simulates the action of a powerful spatula to gently, yet thoroughly scrape the bowl clean. The wing-system design acts like a wiper blade that continuously scrapes sides and bottom of bowl while it mixes virtually eliminating hand-scraping and batter build-up on the blade. BeaterBlades state-of-the-art design continuously and automatically scrapes batters during mixing, which can speed up the process by as much as 50 percent. By eliminating the need to turn off and on the mixer to scrape the bowl, Beater Blade reduces wear of the motor of the mixer, as well. Blade is intended to be used only once ingredients have been added to the bowlnot for use in a dry bowl. New Metro Designs Beater Blade excels in a full range of mixing applications, including creaming butter, sugar and eggs to fluffy perfection, and preparing frostings and pastry creams quickly and easily. Model KA-6L fits most KitchenAid tilt head mixers regardless of the KitchenAid model numbers. KA-6L Beater fits following Mixer Models: Professional 6 & 600, Deluxe Epicurean: KD2661X, KP26M8X, KT2651X, KP26N9X. Professional 5 Plus: KV25GOX, KV25G8X, KV25HOX. This mixer is not compatible with KitchenAid mixers KSM657 and all Costco and Sams Club KitchenAid Mixers.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: It's okay - but I found I didn't really need it\\n\\nReview: A nice beater - purchased because the beater that came with my mixer wasn't scraping the sides of the bowl properly. In adjusting the mixer for the new beater, however, I somehow fixed the problem I was having with the old beater - guess I should have played with the setting on the mixer first, before deciding to buy this attachment.\\n\\nThe new attachment does work well, but not that much better than the original beater, and since I do make some things (breads, for example) that call for a paddle that generates less resistance than this attachment, it's the other beater that stays on my machine. (I have limited counter space and use the mixer so much that I just put the beater back on as soon as it's washed, rather than bothering to stick it in a drawer and pull it out later.) So this new beater lives in the drawer, and the one I still use, almost all the time, is the original one that came with the machine.\",\n \"Product: Kitchenaid 3 piece dish drying rack.\\n\\nRating: 1.0\\n\\nSummary: Poorly made piece of junk - leaks water all over the place\\n\\nReview: We got ours from CostCo - a white one, though the design is the same. It cost a lot less - and still wasn't worth it. At first I was happy enough with the size - much larger than the dish rack we had - to ignore the problems we began to have, even though we had to make some adjustments because it's not designed to drain into a sink with much of a lip on it. The edge of our sink is not unusually high for a cast iron sink, but it's high enough to prevent water from draining unless we put something under the bottom of the rack to lift it up to the level of the top of the sink lip. (Maybe if we didn't have this problem - if our sink had no lip at all - we would have fewer drainage problems? Who knows.)\\n\\nAfter a few days, it began to drip more and more water - on the counter, and then so much it ended up pooling on the floor. The problem is that the bottom tray is made of such cheap plastic that it sags under its own weight - and the bottoms of the plates drying in it probably push the center down further and just hasten the process. We'll get it turned around and propped up again and it will be okay for a day or so, and then it starts sagging and leaking water again. Good thing we have extra dish towels to place under it to soak up the mess while we look for another dish rack that's big enough for us.\\n\\nI admire the patience of the people who held onto this piece of junk long enough for it to rust.\",\n \"Product: Don't give your right eye for the perfect Halloween decoration, use ours. Our Peep n' Peepers are perfect for your haunted house or haunted party. Each package includes a set of three spooky eyes. Eyes feature 360 degree rotating eyelids and prismatic irises. Decoration measures 6ft with 23\\\" spacing between peppers. Decoration is made of weather resistant construction and features easy end to end connectors. You can string up to 3 sets together. Peepers can be used both indoors and out.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Big hit with everyone on Halloween\\n\\nReview: I bought a set of these 5 or 6 years ago - and everyone (me included) loved them so much I bought a second set the following year. They're a whole lot of fun, flashing on and off in the bushes - more dramatic when we had more bushes, but now that we've moved to a new house with just flowers and very small bushes near the front door, I can still find places for all six (even if they are practically on the ground), and people still comment on them as they bring their kids around trick or treating.\\n\\nThe only problem I've had is that the hooks are a bit fragile. I'm careful with them now, but did break one and now use a plastic tie to hold that light up. And as another reviewer complained, yes, they probably are cheaply made. But I've had no problem with mine other than the broken hook, and after all, how frequently are you going to use something like this? We put them out a few days before Halloween and take them in the morning after. And given how much fun they are, we think they're well worth the price.\",\n \"Product: The Original Beater Blade by New Metro Design is an electric mixer attachment which thoroughly mixes batter, eliminating the need to stop and scrape the bowl manually and is engineered for use with most KitchenAid 6qt bowl lift mixers. The new Beater Blade beats, scrapes, folds and incorporates ingredients thoroughly for fool-proof baking. The Beater Blade ingeniously improves on the functionality of standard V-shaped beaters offered with high-end stand mixers by crafting a high-quality, enhanced blade that includes a flexible rubber wing down the entire length of both sides of the blade. The durable, food-grade edging simulates the action of a powerful spatula to gently, yet thoroughly scrape the bowl clean. The wing-system design acts like a wiper blade that continuously scrapes sides and bottom of bowl while it mixes virtually eliminating hand-scraping and batter build-up on the blade. BeaterBlades state-of-the-art design continuously and automatically scrapes batters during mixing, which can speed up the process by as much as 50 percent. By eliminating the need to turn off and on the mixer to scrape the bowl, Beater Blade reduces wear of the motor of the mixer, as well. Blade is intended to be used only once ingredients have been added to the bowlnot for use in a dry bowl. New Metro Designs Beater Blade excels in a full range of mixing applications, including creaming butter, sugar and eggs to fluffy perfection, and preparing frostings and pastry creams quickly and easily. Model KA-6L fits most KitchenAid tilt head mixers regardless of the KitchenAid model numbers. KA-6L Beater fits following Mixer Models: Professional 6 & 600, Deluxe Epicurean: KD2661X, KP26M8X, KT2651X, KP26N9X. Professional 5 Plus: KV25GOX, KV25G8X, KV25HOX. This mixer is not compatible with KitchenAid mixers KSM657 and all Costco and Sams Club KitchenAid Mixers.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: It's okay - but I found I didn't really need it\\n\\nReview: A nice beater - purchased because the beater that came with my mixer wasn't scraping the sides of the bowl properly. In adjusting the mixer for the new beater, however, I somehow fixed the problem I was having with the old beater - guess I should have played with the setting on the mixer first, before deciding to buy this attachment.\\n\\nThe new attachment does work well, but not that much better than the original beater, and since I do make some things (breads, for example) that call for a paddle that generates less resistance than this attachment, it's the other beater that stays on my machine. (I have limited counter space and use the mixer so much that I just put the beater back on as soon as it's washed, rather than bothering to stick it in a drawer and pull it out later.) So this new beater lives in the drawer, and the one I still use, almost all the time, is the original one that came with the machine.\",\n \"Product: Jam packed collage eye candy by Colin Johnson. Made with 95-percent recycled woven polypropylene, a roomy exterior pocket and shoulder length straps. 15-inch w by 11-inch h by 6-1/4-inch d. The PERFECT airplane carry-on bag. Just right for shoving in the overhead compartment or stowing easily under the seat in front of you. Good for using on the ground too.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Holds more than I expected, given other reviews\\n\\nReview: I bought the Moon Garden shoulder tote after using a <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Blue-Q-Field-Study-Overnighter/dp/B003B0030I/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Blue Q - Field Study Overnighter</a> as a carry-on bag on a tour of China. I found the overnighter to be attractive and durable and to hold a lot - but not quite enough for our winter week-long getaway to a resort in the Carribean. I wanted a shoulder bag that zipped up, so getting another Blue Q bag was a no-brainer.\\n\\nI find this bag holds a lot more than I expected, given the reviews. It's also durable and practical - holds a lot, wears well, doesn't get dirty. This plus my overnighter easily hold what I need for a week at a very informal (shorts and sandals) resort. At this price, what's not to love?\\n\\nIf there's a down side at all, it's that both of have very very bright designs that don't really go together that well. It certainly makes them visible - a plus in some situations - but if I had it to do over again, I might have tried the \\\"flower field\\\" shoulder tote instead of bag.\",\n \"Product: CK Products chocolate molds are first quality, plastic molds. They are durable and reusable. not machine washable. Our chocolate molds are suitable for chocolate, soap making, butter molding, ice-cubes, plaster and concrete crafting. These molds are FDA approved\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Perfect - made chocolate chips from scratch\\n\\nReview: I love chocolate but am avoiding sugar - and I'm also lactose-intolerant. I can buy chocolate chips that are either sugar-free or dairy-free, but they're rarely both, and they cost a fortune. It took a while for the obvious to occur to me: make my own!\\n\\nI found a quick and easy recipe for sugar-free chocolate chips on the \\\"All Day I Dream About Food\\\" web site, requiring only unsweetened chocolate, food grade cocoa butter (I used <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/100-Organic-Cacao-Butter-16oz-by-Tisano/dp/B002US55K0/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">100% Organic Cacao Butter 16oz by Tisano</a>), powdered xylitol (I used Ideal confectionary sugar, which I originally bought on Amazon but can't find now), cocoa powder, and vanilla. One batch was plenty to fill two of these molds and didn't begin to use up the ingredients. Granted I end up with chocolate chunks rather than perfectly shaped chips, but who cares? These molds are cheap and perfect for the job.\",\n \"Product: Darken any room at any time of the day, blocks out sunlight and street lights. Save energy by regulating room temperatures and reduce heating and cooling costs. Insulate from heat and cold, reduce outside noise. Ensure total privacy, conceal your silhouette from prying eyes and passing traffic. Protects furniture, prevents sun from damaging upholstery. Machine washable for easy care. Machine wash cold with like colors, use only non - chlorine bleach when needed. Tumble dry low, use warm iron as needed.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: A good buy for the money - nice weight to the ...\\n\\nReview: A good buy for the money - nice weight to the fabric, washable, lined. They are heavy enough to hang well. We'll keep them despite our dissatisfaction with the design, and make some other changes in the room.\\n\\nThe problem is that there is a lot more to the pattern of the fabric in these drapes than pictured or described in reviews. Perhaps the design has changed - none of the gold accents mentioned by several reviewers are visible in mine.\\n\\nInstead, the dark brown leaves are shadowed in white, plus a dark brown outline of another leafy vine. What appears on the website to be a blank space between lines of vines is actually occupied by yet another leafy vine outlined in rust, much fainter than the vines in the dark brown/white column, but still definitely there. This in-between column of vines doesn't show up much when the drapes are opened, but when the drapes are closed the result is a design much busier than what we wanted.\\n\\nThe extra vines are faint enough to be hard to photograph, but I've tried. See attached.\",\n \"Product: Youre hoping to find the love of your life, but for now, youll settle for the perfect mattress. Average in height and build and a sleeper who tends to snooze in a combination of positions, youre looking for a bed that provides medium-to-firm support with light cushioning that helps you relax and fall into a deep sleep after a long day. And what else is on your wish list? A mattress that when the time comes will keep your special someone comfortable and happy as well.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Truly amazing - just don't expect cheap sheets to fit\\n\\nReview: No problems getting the mattress on the bed, and no detectable odor either. It did take a day or two to reach its full height, but was comfortable to sleep on from the beginning. At first when you lie down on it, it feels very firm, but your body slowly sinks until it is cradled by the foam. I wasn't even aware what was happening the first time, until I tried to sit up. This makes it very very comfortable - I don't think I budged an inch the first night, though I usually toss and turn - and the pillows are great! I've never been able to find a really comfortable pillow, but these were perfect from the start.\\n\\nThe new bed I bought it for is already quite high, so I've been using it without a box spring, just resting on the bed slats. It's perfectly comfortable that way.\\n\\nThe only problem I have had in the couple of weeks I've owned the mattress has been with the thickness of the mattress - a cheap but very pretty pair of Laura Ashley print sheets I had purchased are two small to fit properly, despite claiming to have deep pockets. But my good Vermont County Store flannel sheets fit perfectly, and having to send my pretty print sheets off to use on beds in my summer cabin is a small price to pay for such a wonderful night's sleep.\",\n \"Product: Reditainer 32 Ounce Round - Comes with 12 Trays and 12 Lids. Perfect for saving food or anything that needs refrigerating. Reditainer Brand quality.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: The longer I have them, the more uses I find!\\n\\nReview: Wow! All I wanted was a bowl to make a dinner salad for 2, to use in our motor home. I had trouble finding something small enough that would go on the dinner table (at least in the motor home, and these were the right size and looked handy.\\nI've had them for a couple of months now. Once I realized how useful they are, I divided them between home and motor home, and always seem to have one in use. They may not look sturdy, but I have yet to lose a dish or lid. (Granted, I wash everything by hand - rarely use the dishwasher and never have put these in it.)\\n\\nThey're bigger and more attractive than the normal dispensable stuff for storing leftovers, and they're the perfect when a main dish is large enough to serve the two of us for 2 meals. They can also be used to reheat the leftovers in the microwave and are attractive enough (when it's just the 2 of us, anyway) to serve them at the dinner table (and I'm a firm believer in using attractive dishes at dinner). Even though there are 12 of them, I often just have a few left on my kitchen shelves for the next use.\\n\\nThe raised lids are an especially nice feature - make the dish a little larger for things like those dinner salads, when I want to make one ahead so we can have dinner quickly when we get home. I use them for small mixing bowls too.\\n\\nThe only thing I can think of that didn't work well was making French toast. They're the right size to dip a slice of bread in beaten egg, but the center of the bottom is raised a bit, so the egg drains off to the side. A problem only in the motor home, where I still manage, because I'm too lazy to pour the batter out on a plate, I guess.\",\n \"Product: Crafted of plush microfiber polyester, this nature-inspired leaf design brings the outdoors indoors. Treat yourself to a rug that is comfortable and absorbant. InterDesign is a dynamic force in the international housewares and home fashions industry. The company designs and produces products for the home that combine innovative design, a high-fashion sensibility, at competitive pricing. This winning combination has allowed InterDesign to become a global leader in the housewares industry, now shipping to over 90 countries worldwide.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Very nice - design as pictured, soft on the feet\\n\\nReview: This is an attractive but inconspicuous rug, color pretty much exactly as pictured on the internet, a soft enough green that it goes well with other shades of green. It washes well too - came out soft and fluffy as new. I bought it to go with a shower curtain of similar design(<a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/InterDesign-Leaves-Shower-Curtain-Green/dp/B003S9WJK4/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">InterDesign Leaves Shower Curtain, Green</a>) and a new set of bamboo towels - the <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Thinkbamboo-Brand-Super-Soft-Lightweight-3-Piece-Bath-Towel-Set/dp/B001LD0EQU/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Thinkbamboo Brand - Super Soft Lightweight 3 Piece Bath Towel Set</a> in pine green).\\n\\nAfter deciding I wanted to replace my white shower curtain and rug with something with a green design, I was surprised how few options I found. I do wish I'd found more things in green to consider, but I'm very happy with what I bought. Everything, including the rug, is of good quality, stands up well to use, and is attractive.\",\n \"Product: Zojirushi Stainless Steel 12oz. Mug has a vacuum insulation that keeps beverages hot or cold for hours. Easy-to-clean nonstick coated interior. Tight fitted flip-open lid keeps beverages hotter or colder than travel mugs. Safety lock to prevent the lid from opening accidentally (NEW pictograph lock). Lightweight design for added portability.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Works a little too well\\n\\nReview: There's a lot to like about this. Insulation is great, and so is the way it opens at the touch of a button and latches just by pushing the lid back down. The top screws on firmly - no spills. For cold drinks it would probably be ideal, though I bought it for coffee.\\n\\nI chose the cinnamon gold - really a medium beige.\\n\\nThe only problem is that when you put hot liquids into it, it works a little too well. Pour a little milk into it, fill it with coffee from the coffee machine, and it will be still hot enough to burn your mouth 2 hours later. I need to poor the coffee into a glass measuring cup, let it sit a while, and THEN pour it into the thermos for most of the uses I make of it.\\n\\nYes, I know this is a silly thing to complain about, but I wish they made one not quite so well insulated that had the same lid and push-button system.\",\n \"Product: The OXO GOOD GRIPS Silicone Pot Holder is the best of both worlds: 600F heat resistant silicone on the outside and cool, comfortable fabric on the inside. Protect your hands from heat, spills and burns with non-flammable, stain and steam resistant silicone. The thick, multi-layer fabric liner brings additional thermal insulation, yet lets your hand breathe to prevent sweating. OXO’s unique silicone rib design improves flexibility and dexterity, and provides a secure grip even on slippery surfaces. Your hand will fit securely in the Pot Holder’s pocket, letting you pick up items small and large without burning the top of your hand. At 10 inches long, the Pot Holder is long enough to protect your wrist. When flat on a surface, the Pot Holder doubles as an excellent trivet under hot pots and pans. To easily store and find your Pot Holder in the kitchen, simply use the embedded magnet to hang on steel surfaces or place the silicone hanging loop on a hook. To clean just wipe the Pot Holder with a damp sponge, or wash and dry in the laundry machine.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Perfect potholder - flexible, nonskid\\n\\nReview: What a great potholder! I ordered another shortly after trying it so that I now have a pair to use, and I've put my old oven mitts away. These work MUCH better - great insulation, and they work on both hands. I put two in my sister's Christmas stocking and she's put her old oven mitts away too - these work much better. Next step - a pair to use at our summer cabin. And guess what my sister-in-law is getting for Christmas next year....\\n\\nNothing is too hot to handle with these potholders. Also, they're really flexible (unlike other silicone potholders I've tried) and grip well - great for handling slippery casserole dishes that have spilled over in the oven. The magnets for hanging them up are handy without getting in the way - nice plastic ring attached for hanging them on hooks, too, for people who prefer that.\",\n \"Product: Funky royalty designed by Haley Johnson. 27-1/2-inch w by 13-3/4-inch h. Made of 95-percent recycled woven polypropylene and printed with lead free inks, your overnighter is the perfect bag for a weekend getaway, trip to the gym, or just to lug all that stuff you just have to have with you all the time.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Love these overnighters - great carry-on luggage\\n\\nReview: This is my second Blue Q overnighter, purchased for my one-and-only after the one I bought for myself weathered a lot of abuse during a two-week tour of China and came home still looking new. These bags weigh almost nothing, hold a lot, zip closed securely, and are easy to carry. The fabric is waterproof and doesn't get dirty - what's not to like? Technically they're too wide for an airplane carry-on, but they're soft and flexible and fit easily under the seat. No one's ever objected to me carrying one on as my carry-on luggage, and if you team it up with a Blue Q shoulder bag like <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Blue-Q-Moon-Garden-Shoulder-Tote/dp/B003B002M2/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Blue Q - Moon Garden Shoulder Tote</a>, you can carry enough for a short trip without checking luggage.\",\n \"Product: Compact carrying case for Sony's Atrac CD Walkman models Offers space for CD Walkman and several audio CDs Soft, tough exterior protects device from scratches and dents Adjustable belt fits above hips for jogging or walking Fits DNE300, DNE300PS, DNE306CK, DNF400, DNF400PS, DNE500B, DNE500S, DNE506CK, DNE900, and DNF600 models, does not fit Sony DEJ011 model.\\n\\nRating: 1.0\\n\\nSummary: Doesn't fit the Walkman D-JF041\\n\\nReview: BEWARE - I bought this with the Sony Walkman D-JF041 because it was included in Amazon's suggested bundle of items frequently bought together.\\n\\nBut it doesn't fit that Walkman. The case itself seems well made, and can be adjusted to fit my waist easily enough. However, the case is about 5 inches across, does not stretch, and though the Walkman I bought (the D-JF041) it for is only slightly wider than 5 inches, I can only use it by unzipping it all the way and jamming the Walkman partway in so that it sticks over the top. At least I could push it down securely enough so that I could use it at the gym while waiting for the larger replacement I ordered, the <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Tune-Belt-Deluxe-Plus-Cd-Player-Carrier/dp/B000F7A3TQ/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Tune Belt Deluxe Plus Cd Player Carrier</a>, which is wide enough for the Walkman and also has room for extra CDs (or my driver's license and some cash for the grocery store) and an outside zipped pocket for my car keys - all features this Sony carrying case lacks.\\n\\nThis belt is clearly made for another device - the open window in it doesn't relate to anything on my Walkman - and while it's well made, the open window limits its use as a small belt pack too. Should you happen to have whatever it was made to fit, it's no doubt a great purchase. Otherwise not.\\n\\nNow that I have my Tune Belt carrier, my Sony belt is going in the trash.\",\n \"Product: Vintage flora and fauna pasted to perfection by Roy Fox. 27-1/2-inch w by 13-3/4-inch h. Made of 95-percent recycled woven polypropylene and printed with lead free inks, your overnighter is the perfect bag for a weekend getaway, trip to the gym, or just to lug all that stuff you just have to have with you all the time.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Beautiful, durable - what's not to like?\\n\\nReview: I bought this bag a month or so ago, looking for an expandable and extremely light-weight carry-on for a two-week tour of China. I thought it would take a beating, but given the price, it didn't have to do more than hold together until I got home.\\n\\nWhat a surprise. It lasted through two weeks of being jammed under airline seats and stuffed full of souvenirs and laundry and whatever overflow I had from my suitcase, and shows no signs of wear. It is light as a feather, it expands to hold a LOT of stuff, it slides easily under airline seats, it sheds water, it doesn't get dirty, and best of all, people kept complimenting me on it and asking where I found it. It really is attractive - bright, clear pictures of birds and plants, pretty much as pictured.\\n\\nI'll definitely be taking it a one-week February get-away to the Carribean. I travel light, and should need no more than this bag and maybe a shoulder bag - no more expensive checked luggage. I'm thinking of buying another just to have one in reserve if this one ever wears out.\",\n \"Product: Snoozies are not socks and they're not slippers they're a crossover between the two and that's why we call them foot coverings A great alternative to the traditional slipper.Sequined exterior Lined with a soft warm Sherpa fleece Nonskid sole Machine washable Inner and sole 100 polyester\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Cute and comfortable - wash well too\\n\\nReview: My first pair of these slippers were the light blue ones - and I now have new ones in red and black. They're really cute and my size 8 1/2 narrow (AA) feet fit well in the medium (size 7-8). The lining is soft and cozy and the slippers wash well, though the white bottoms of the soles won't get completely clean if you get them really really dirty. We have found a couple of sequins here and there on the floor, but can't see where they came from on the slippers I've been wearing for a few months, nor did any seem to come loose when I washed them in the washing machine.\\n\\nThe only downside I can think of is that the sequins can catch on loose fabrics - and that they're not meant to be worn outside. The soles are fabric thick enough to be comfortable in the house, but you can feel every pebble through them if you wear them outdoors.\",\n \"Product: Cowboy costume print on a soft fitted tee. These shirts stand out in a crowd!\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great choice for a silly cowboy shirt for an adult\\n\\nReview: So cute. My husband had bought a Stetson in a second-hand store and was saying he needed a Western shirt.... Couldn't resist ordering it (though yes, he'll get his real Western shirt too), and though he thinks such things are corny, it was nicely enough detailed (complete with a sheriff's badge) that he put it on and wore it to a neighborhood party. He got lots of compliments - definitely worth it!\\n\\nNo sign of the smell others complained about. It does seem a bit large (for large - the size he takes) but may shrink in the wash? Printed on the front only. Nice shade of light blue. If you're looking for a joke cowboy shirt, this is pretty much perfect, and a bargain at the price.\",\n \"Product: Snoozies are not socks and they're not slippers they're a crossover between the two and that's why we call them foot coverings A great alternative to the traditional slipper.Sequined exterior Lined with a soft warm Sherpa fleece Nonskid sole Machine washable Inner and sole 100 polyester\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Cute and comfortable - wash well too\\n\\nReview: My first pair of these slippers were the light blue ones - and I now have new ones in red and black. They're really cute and my size 8 1/2 narrow (AA) feet fit well in the medium (size 7-8). The lining is soft and cozy and the slippers wash well, though the white bottoms of the soles won't get completely clean if you get them really really dirty. We have found a couple of sequins here and there on the floor, but can't see where they came from on the slippers I've been wearing for a few months, nor did any seem to come loose when I washed them in the washing machine.\\n\\nThe only downside I can think of is that the sequins can catch on loose fabrics - and that they're not meant to be worn outside. The soles are fabric thick enough to be comfortable in the house, but you can feel every pebble through them if you wear them outdoors.\",\n \"Product: Designed to offer a warm down jacket which is also flattering, this coat features multiple seaming details that offer a wonderful slimming effect, with narrower channels around the waist and diamond quilted side panels, this jacket has a great shape and puts an even emphasis on appearance as well as warmth, this jacket is perfect for the fall and winter seasons, extremely versatile, it can be worn casually every day or used for outdoor activities, the shell fabric is water resistant and sure to keep the wind out, the plush valboa lined hood is trimmed with faux fur and can be zipped off to convert the jacket from sporty to dressy, at 28 inches long the jacket hits at the mid-thigh, a chunky, easy to use front zipper closure is concealed behind a snap close placket, the pockets, in keeping with the slimming effect of the coat, are on seam, fully lined with an added plush valboa half back lining, machine washable\\n\\nRating: 1.0\\n\\nSummary: Runs small, polyester not down\\n\\nReview: Initially I thought this might be a good everyday jacket for where I currently live, in a small town in West Virginia. I didn't find the cut especially slimming or the jacket especially flattering, but oh well. I hate to return things, so I didn't.\\n\\nI read reviews of the jacket on other websites before ordering, found this out, and ordered an extra large, even though \\\"large\\\" normally leaves me plenty of room for layering. The extra large seemed OK, though given the fit, the large probably would have been acceptable. Oddly enough, no one who wrote a review on the other sites mentioned it not being down - I doubt this is actually a Hilfiger.\\n\\nOn the plus side, the pockets are big enough for hand-warming as well as for carrying a wallet and keys. The hood zips on and off easily, the zipper up the front is a heavy-duty plastic one that's easy to work, and the jacket zips high around the neck - no need for a scarf to keep drafts out, though the rough material seems to attract make-up so I'm always wiping smears off, not something that's a problem with better jackets I own. I'm still trying to decide whether to keep it to wear for yardwork or donate it to one of the charities collecting warm coats for people who can't afford them.\",\n \"Product: Our 721 High Rise Skinny is a modern pin-up fit. This is a staple in your skinny jean collection, the one youll wear over and over. The high rise hugs your waist and the skinny leg elongates your silhouette, showing you off in all the right ways.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Not good fit for smaller derrieres - and VERY shallow front pockets\\n\\nReview: Material is thick, yet very stretchy - that and the fact that they come in black are the best things about these jeans. Very comfortable to wear, too.\\n\\nIf the fit worked for me, the only fault I'd find with them is the extremely shallow front pockets - though these alone would keep me from buying them again. Front pockets are just 2 inches deep!!\\n\\nAnd these jeans are not built for women with smaller and flatter derrieres. They fit my lower legs as closely as if they were tights, except for a slight flare around the ankles, but they wrinkle below my rear and at the top of my thighs. If you are not well endowed in the rear, you are not going to love the way these fit.\",\n \"Product: Minute for minute, treadmills are the ultimate fat burning machine, eliminating up to 900 calories an hour. The Confidence Power Plus treadmill makes them an affordable machine for every household, so you can be burning fat without the hassle of having to go to the gym or bracing the weather. It is ideal for people new to running and those looking to shed a few extra pounds, and with it's folding design and wheels, it is easy to store and roll away. 600W power motor. Runway Size: 38.5\\\" x 14\\\". Full product size: 49\\\" x 24\\\" x 11\\\". Weight of machine: 53 lbs Weight & Size of delivered package: 50.5\\\" x 25.5\\\" x 11.5\\\" 57 lbs.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Love it - takes up little space and does everything I need\\n\\nReview: Perfect for me - I was looking for a way to walk in bad weather without driving 15 miles (each way) to a fitness center. Our house is not small, but we don't have a lot of free space either. And our budget might stretch to cover a $600 up treadmill - but not when I wasn't sure I'd keep using it.\\n\\nThis treadmill is not large - I wouldn't use it for jogging, and it probably won't accomodate a really long stride. However, you can tuck it up against a wall (without even folding it up) easily if you have a little wall space in an office or spare bedroom. It looks exactly like the picture (except that mine is white), not a big bulky thing that takes up half the space in the room.\\n\\nI've kept mine at a slant, the way it's designed to run. And yes, walking on it takes a lot more effort. I'm working back up to my usual 3.5 mph walk from 2.5 and am sure I'm burning the same amount of energy at the lower rate. Have considered putting something under the back of it to level it off, but why? Just go slower for a while.\\n\\nIt doesn't have a heart rate monitor, but has an emergency stop, and it's easy to switch back and forth between setting the pace and keeping track of the time. I've been using it a couple of weeks now with no problems at all. It's fairly quiet - a little squeaky at the beginning. Has a delay on the start-up, counting down 3 seconds, so no worries about it trying to sweep you away before you're ready. And it starts at 0.6 miles an hour. You increase the speed by pushing a button. Easy to use (and easy to set up even though the instructions are even more useless than average, including pictures that tell you nothing).\\n\\nI find hopping on it for 10 minutes three times a day does exactly what I need. I'm fighting off diabetes after pancreatic surgery 10 years ago. My weight is fine, but I need to keep moving to keep my blood glucose readings in check. 10 minutes a day of walking on this treadmill, morning noon and night, makes a 20-point difference, and doing it in short sessions works for me. I never quite find time for a whole half hour session, I find, but who doesn't have 10 minutes?\\n\\nSo happy I bought it. If you want it for light exercise you won't be disappointed.\",\n \"Product: Chebe Bread (pronounced CHEE-bee) is distinctive cheese bread originating from Brazil. Chebe bread products are naturally gluten-free and yeast-free and are manufactured in a gluten-free environment. All of our mixes, except for the original mix, are lactose/casein-free. All Chebe mixes are also free of soy, potato, corn, rice, tree nuts and peanuts. Chebe mixes are quick and easy to work with, and extremely versatile. Each package make approximately 16 ounce. of dough, from which you may make countless varieties of bread products, such as bread sticks, tortilla wraps, sandwich buns, rolls, calzones, turnovers, pierogies, pizza crust, etc.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: New formula - not so great\\n\\nReview: Once upon a time, Chebe made the best pizza crust ever - great texture, thin and chewy, very tasty, even rolled out easily without sticking to pan or rolling pin. Friends not on the gluten-free diet raved about it too.\\n\\nNot any more. The formula used for the mix seems to have changed along with the instructions - making it easier to put together (no more baking the crust first, as we used to do, before adding toppings), but resulting in an inferior product. It's lost the chewy texture and the great taste and is now just another over-priced GF mix - one package makes one medium-sized pizza.\\n\\nIf you make it, oil your pizza pan (something that never used to be necessary) before putting the dough in it, or the pizza will stick. And don't pile the toppings too high or add too much sauce, or the dough won't bake through in the middle. If you're lucky, you'll get a fairly edible pizza - but you could make a good bigger pizza for less just using the pizza dough recipe in a good GF cookbook - e.g., Elizabeth Barbone's <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Easy-Gluten-Free-Baking/dp/1891105418/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Easy Gluten-Free Baking</a>. After all, you have to add oil, milk, cheese, and eggs to this Chebe mix - why not just mix up some dough from scratch and save yourself a lot of money?\",\n \"Product: Specialist ID Fuel Card Key Ring makes it easy to manage your keys and fuel card side by side. Great for anyone who needs to keep keys and ID badge handy.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Good way to carry my fitness center keycard\\n\\nReview: This card holder is pretty big - it's made of thick, rigid plastic, about 1/4 inch thick, almost 2 and 1/2 inches wide, and a little over 4 inches long. I could wish it was smaller - but given the size of the card I keep in it, it couldn't be that much smaller. It did solve a problem for me. I've been keeping my fitness center key card on a lanyard, and every once in a while I'd drive off to the fitness center without it. It's a 40-mile round trip, so this was VERY irritating.\\n\\nWhen the lanyard broke, I bought this card holder and added it to my keychain. Problem solved - no more driving off without it. It's big and awkward, and this isn't always welcome. But for me, it was the perfect solution - great price, too.\",\n \"Product: This heirloom variety produces a unique squash with spaghetti-like strands of flesh that are delicious baked or boiled and served with butter or pasta sauce.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Big beautiful flowers, nice squash\\n\\nReview: I planted these in a container and was pleasantly surprised by how well they grew. It's my first attempt at a garden, mixing container vegetables and herbs with flowers in the garden by the front door. These are still blooming (in early October) and the flowers have added a lot to the garden.\\n\\nI planted far too many seeds in one container and didn't add any fertilizer (a very cheap organic fertilizer I found at Walmart) until really late in the summer - I'm new at this, so they didn't produce as much as they probably would have - though we still got three large spaghetti squash for us and three or four chewed up while still small, probably by the big brown bunny who lives at the edge of the yard, not to mention many, many beautiful big squash blossoms peeping out of the shrubbery. If these will grow for me, they'll grow for anyone.\",\n \"Product: With his mighty paw placed atop a crested shield, a regal lion surveys all who approach the door to your \\\"castle\\\". Inspired by the centuries-old stone carvings found in castles and cathedrals throughout Europe, this impressive statue makes a bold historical statement and lends distinction to your entryway or garden. Fiber resin. 12-1/4-inch by 14-1/8-inch by 25-inch high.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Very attractive garden statue - much nicer than pictured\\n\\nReview: What a great buy! The picture does not accurately present the color, which is a nicely textured dark grey mottled with green, looking like weathered stone or concrete - and quite convincingly so. You really can't tell it's plastic until you touch it, and then the texture gives it away. The plastic is heavy-duty and should stand up well, but this still means the statue itself doesn't weigh all that much. I was originally worried that it might blow over, but this hasn't been a problem, though I live on hill that gets strong winds sometimes.\\n\\nOur lion is just a bit over knee-high - about the same height as the tallest bushes and flowers in the area, and is the perfect touch for the garden - a mix of bushes, flowers, and containers beside our front door. I'm not big on garden or lawn ornaments - this is the only one I have ever had - but I do love this one.\",\n \"Product: BugZooka is a fast, simple, and clean way to rid bugs from your home. The innovative and light weight new BugZooka lets you keep your distance and avoid bug squish and splatter without expensive batteries or toxic chemicals. It's unique patent pending design creates 10X the instant suction of heavy battery powered devices. BugZooka catches bugs instantly.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Very effective used on stink bugs - and almost fun\\n\\nReview: We bought this over a year ago to use on stink bugs - and it really works! It helps that stink bugs like to sit in the open around lamps at night and are too dumb to fly away when you set the nozzle of the BugZooka down right next to them. Also nice that it extends your reach to get the ones on the ceiling. It's almost fun. The compartment holds a lot of stink bugs too - can go after every bugyou see without pausing to empty it.\\n\\nAfter using it for year, we find our stink bug population has decreased a lot - horrible last year, just a minor nuisance this year. We think we're getting a lot of them before they reproduce. The BugZooka comes with a replacement tip (the compartment used to capture them), so you can wash the stink out of the one you've just used. And the compartments will hold a lot of bugs.\\n\\nWe did find after a year that the hinge on one of the compartments broke so that it flops open again - possibly have been washing it out too vigorously. Fortunately we have the spare that comes with the thing and can use it while we order another Bug Zooka. .\\n\\nThe other thing we use on stink bugs is a FlyWeb fly trap. The stink bugs are attracted to the light. It doesn't catch anywhere near as many as the BugZooka, but we wouldn't do without either weapon in our stink bug war.\",\n \"Product: Eye-catching rainbow fur mice provide hours of fun and exercise A healthy outlet for a cats natural hunting instinct Mice rattle and are approximately 3\\\" long\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Cat gives 5 stars plus - and they're quite durable too\\n\\nReview: Our cat HATES toys - spends his nights out, and sleeps and eats all day. We've tried all sorts of things that worked with other cats, and he ignores them - until we found these.\\n\\nHe loves them! Bats them all over the place, carries them to whatever is his current favorite sleeping place, sits and yowls until I retrieve mice that end up under the couch, brings them to me so I can throw them up in the air and he can chase them again. It's been going on for weeks.\\n\\nA delight to watch - and he's finally getting a little daytime exercise.\\n\\nThe mice are holding up well under all this - no sign of damage at all in the ones he's been playing with for most of a month, though they do occasionally disappear, so we'll eventually be buying more. Really durable toy, though - not like the catnip mice he ripped to shreds in minutes. Don't know what it would take to ruin one of these.\",\n \"Product: Denise Minger is a Portland, OR-based health writer and lecturer with a reputation for aggressively challenging today's leading voices of conventional wisdom. Her meticulously researched critiques decimating USDA guidelines and The China Study--published on her blog, RawFoodSOS.com--have made her a major player in the progressive health community, and a major thorn in the side of both mainstream nutritionists other health figures promoting flawed dietary dogma.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Very readable review of research on diets and health - highly recommended\\n\\nReview: Love this book - very carefully put together, based on research clearly explained (whether it supports the author's hypothesis or not), and is it informative - as well as entertaining! I'd seen enough here and there to know that the guidelines for cholesterol used to push statins on all of us are questionable to say the least - especially for older people (which I am). But what really is healthy? And what diet is healthy - the book includes a lengthy chapter on diets of different cultures around the world and their effects on health. The book is fascinating. I've made a lot of changes in my diet because of it. I just wish the people I lend it to would give it back - I'm about to buy yet another copy.\",\n \"Product: Glossy paperback 1988 230p. 10.00x7.00x0.75 A BOOK FOR ANYONE WHO WANTS TO AVOID REFINED SUGAR. GOOD TASTING RELIABLE RECIPES... SPECIAL NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION PROVIDED WITH EACH RECIPE. Most recent diabetic exchange list from the American Diabetes Association\\n\\nRating: 1.0\\n\\nSummary: Title should read \\\"without PROCESSED sugar.\\\" Diabetics beware!\\n\\nReview: It would be easier to muster a little respect for this book and its publisher if it didn't give a summary of \\\"nutritive value\\\" for each recipe that lists calories, fiber, salt, and cholesterol, skipping right over the key category for anyone buying this book in the hope of avoiding sugar - carbs and sugar. It does follow this by giving diabetic exchanges (each fruit exchange of which should be about 15 carbs - just in case you've never looked it up).\\n\\nThis may be a good book for canners trying to go \\\"natural\\\" and avoid processed sugar. Those of us with medical reasons for avoiding as much sugar as possible would be better off with the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, which at least has recipes for canning fruits in syrup and for freezer jams that substitute sucralose for sugar. We'll find no help here. (And though there is a chapter with instructions for canning vegetables, the actual recipes in this book are for fruit, fruit preserves, and pickles. Pickles need sweetening too, of course - here with honey, apple juice concentrate or a grape juice concentrate made by simmering the stuff to reduce it by half.\\n\\nTotal waste of my money - giving the book to the library book sale and hoping anyone who buys it looks through it first.\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":32,"string":"32"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_3"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":891,"string":"891"}}},{"rowIdx":892,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"A3PWF2AQ5XYALW"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of \"5.0\" for a product with description \"? Removable stainless steel blades,? Dishwasher safe bowl, lid, and blades,? Skid-resistant rubber feet,? 1-1/2-cup capacity,? Safety lock-in lid\". The summary of the review text is \"Excellent Quality Small Appliance - Chopster\"."},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"After reading the customer reviews (all 5 star) I decided that this chopster would be a good buy. I received my delivery today from Amazon (Only took about 3 days) and am very pleased. The unit is sturdy & durable, easy to take apart & clean, simple to put back together, priced correctly and fun to use.\n\nIt is a small appliance, not for big jobs. The bowl holds up to 1 1/2 cups of food. Cut food into uniform 1/2 inch pieces before processing. The unit is safe to use as the blades will not spin unless the lid is locked into place. My impression is that Toastmaster thought of everything and provided an excellent value for the $11.99 price."},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"After reading the customer reviews (all 5 star) I decided that this chopster would be a good buy. I received my delivery today from Amazon (Only took about 3 days) and am very pleased. The unit is sturdy & durable, easy to take apart & clean, simple to put back together, priced correctly and fun to use.\n\nIt is a small appliance, not for big jobs. The bowl holds up to 1 1/2 cups of food. Cut food into uniform 1/2 inch pieces before processing. The unit is safe to use as the blades will not spin unless the lid is locked into place. My impression is that Toastmaster thought of everything and provided an excellent value for the $11.99 price."},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Product: Love at the Greek [VHS]\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Neil Diamond At His Dynamic Best In 1976 Live In Concert\n\nReview: This VHS is a wonderful treat. This is a truly great live concert video. You will never see Neil Diamond sing like this again as he did in 1976 at his prime. In this landmark performance the songs are true to their original melodies and so exciting. The program runs for a wonderful 52 minutes. The music is timeless. The songs include:\n\nCherry Cherry\n\nSweet Caroline - such a sweet melody gives me chills\n\nPlay Me - another great melody\n\nBeautiful Noise - a nice beat\n\nStreet Life\n\nLady Oh\n\nIf You Know What I Mean - full of emotion\n\nSong Sung Blue - fun with the audience & Helen Reddy(terrific)\n\nCracklin' Rosie - the audience can't sit down, so much beat\n\nHolly Holy\n\nI Am...I Said\n\nBrother Love's Traveling\n\nSalvation Show\n\nI've Been This Way Before\n\nLive Concert (Memorial 335/5)","Product: Her Career spans four decades and over 20 albums. She has been praised \"one in a million,\" \"the clearest bell\" and \"liquid silver.\" Judy Collins is one of the most popular and influential singers of the century, a national treasure who has brought joy and beauty to millions of people. In this memorable program, Judy visitshe world-famous Biltmore Estate - the largest private home ever built - for a special Christmas celebration. She takes center stage in this magnificent setting, performing classics as well as original pieces.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Wonderful Judy Collins - Outstanding Christmas Music\n\nReview: This VHS live concert is so much better than I even expected, I am happily stunned. As long as you have a stereo VCR you will find the sound quality to be outstanding. No need for a DVD on this one.\n\nIn this memorable program, Judy Collins visits the world-famous Biltmore Estate - the largest private home ever built - for a special Christmas celebration. She takes center stage in this magnificent setting with an unforgettable concert of holiday classics including:\n\n1. Jingle Bells\n\n2. Joy To The World\n\n3. Silent Night\n\n4. White Christmas\n\n5. Let It Snow\n\n6. I'll Be Home For Christmas\n\n7. Away In A Manager\n\n8. Amazing Grace\n\n9. Hark The Herald Angels Sing\n\n10. What Child Is This\n\n11. A Partridge In A Pear Tree\n\nJudy Collins performs on center stage with the backing of an orchestra and choir. Her voice, even after 40 years, is just stunning. She was a top folk singer in the 60s and performs a folk song from that period \"Someday Soon.\"\n\nThis is definitely a 5 Star video. I can't believe that a couple of reviews were only 4 Stars. Enjoy!\n\n(Wallingford)\n\nFeedback to:\n\nGeorge Reid\n\nknowledgebooks@snet.net","Product: Jack Welch knows how to win. During his forty-year career at General Electric, he led the company to year-after-year success around the globe, in multiple markets, against brutal competition. His honest, be-the-best style of management became the gold standard in business, with his relentless focus on people, teamwork, and profits.\\n\\nWelch has written a philosophical and pragmatic book that is destined to become the bible of business for generations to come. It clearly lays out the answers to the most difficult and important questions people face both on and off the job. Welch's optimistic, no excuses, get-it-done mind-set is riveting. Packed with personal anecdotes and written in Jack's distinctive no b.s. voice, Winning is a great read and a great business book.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: This Book Is Not Needed - Jack & Suzy Have Huge Egos\n\nReview: Jack & Suzy have very big egos, too big! These big egos have led to hundreds of selfish corporate mergers of which at least half have been disasters for the workers and stockholders. In many of these mergers the only persons who benefit are a few managers at the top who end up with golden parachutes. Enough of these big egos. We need more humble and faithful leaders in the future. High-energy is fine. Intelligence is wonderful. However, the giant egos and the one-hundred million dollar pay packages are a disgrace. Let's stop killing off the middleclass and destroying our Country. Our leaders only deserve a modest multiple of the middleclass pay rates.\n\nJack says that if you, average worker, work for a company and there are problems at the top, then you can just quit that company and go someplace else. Do not complain. It is not ever that simple for the average worker. Most workers have limited choices and are powerless to deal with corruption at the top of the company where they work. In most companies the power is held by a few persons at the top who are often too detached from the plight of the vast majority of workers.","Product: America is suffering an epidemic of obesity and we are fast catching up. This is an account of the history and biology of the fattening of America at the moment when it is emerging as a political issue too.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: The Fattest People On The Planet - How It Happened!\n\nReview: This is a very good book about the problem of obesity in America. It is not a diet book. However, it can help a person with the motivation needed to succeed with a reduced calorie lifestyle. It is a simple book. Yet, it is well written and well focused on the causes of and the solutions to obesity.\n\nThe metabolic cause of obesity is very simple in most cases. There are too many calories and not enough calorie-burning activities. First, the book explains where the calories are coming from. Next, the book explains who got the calories into our bellies along with our help. Then there is a discussion of the reasons why the calories build up on our bodies.\n\nThe last half of the book discusses the devestating affects that too many calories and obesity can do to a person. It also discusses what can be done to help improve the situation. For some readers the book may actually scare them into losing weight."],"string":"[\n \"Product: Love at the Greek [VHS]\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Neil Diamond At His Dynamic Best In 1976 Live In Concert\\n\\nReview: This VHS is a wonderful treat. This is a truly great live concert video. You will never see Neil Diamond sing like this again as he did in 1976 at his prime. In this landmark performance the songs are true to their original melodies and so exciting. The program runs for a wonderful 52 minutes. The music is timeless. The songs include:\\n\\nCherry Cherry\\n\\nSweet Caroline - such a sweet melody gives me chills\\n\\nPlay Me - another great melody\\n\\nBeautiful Noise - a nice beat\\n\\nStreet Life\\n\\nLady Oh\\n\\nIf You Know What I Mean - full of emotion\\n\\nSong Sung Blue - fun with the audience & Helen Reddy(terrific)\\n\\nCracklin' Rosie - the audience can't sit down, so much beat\\n\\nHolly Holy\\n\\nI Am...I Said\\n\\nBrother Love's Traveling\\n\\nSalvation Show\\n\\nI've Been This Way Before\\n\\nLive Concert (Memorial 335/5)\",\n \"Product: Her Career spans four decades and over 20 albums. She has been praised \\\"one in a million,\\\" \\\"the clearest bell\\\" and \\\"liquid silver.\\\" Judy Collins is one of the most popular and influential singers of the century, a national treasure who has brought joy and beauty to millions of people. In this memorable program, Judy visitshe world-famous Biltmore Estate - the largest private home ever built - for a special Christmas celebration. She takes center stage in this magnificent setting, performing classics as well as original pieces.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Wonderful Judy Collins - Outstanding Christmas Music\\n\\nReview: This VHS live concert is so much better than I even expected, I am happily stunned. As long as you have a stereo VCR you will find the sound quality to be outstanding. No need for a DVD on this one.\\n\\nIn this memorable program, Judy Collins visits the world-famous Biltmore Estate - the largest private home ever built - for a special Christmas celebration. She takes center stage in this magnificent setting with an unforgettable concert of holiday classics including:\\n\\n1. Jingle Bells\\n\\n2. Joy To The World\\n\\n3. Silent Night\\n\\n4. White Christmas\\n\\n5. Let It Snow\\n\\n6. I'll Be Home For Christmas\\n\\n7. Away In A Manager\\n\\n8. Amazing Grace\\n\\n9. Hark The Herald Angels Sing\\n\\n10. What Child Is This\\n\\n11. A Partridge In A Pear Tree\\n\\nJudy Collins performs on center stage with the backing of an orchestra and choir. Her voice, even after 40 years, is just stunning. She was a top folk singer in the 60s and performs a folk song from that period \\\"Someday Soon.\\\"\\n\\nThis is definitely a 5 Star video. I can't believe that a couple of reviews were only 4 Stars. Enjoy!\\n\\n(Wallingford)\\n\\nFeedback to:\\n\\nGeorge Reid\\n\\nknowledgebooks@snet.net\",\n \"Product: Jack Welch knows how to win. During his forty-year career at General Electric, he led the company to year-after-year success around the globe, in multiple markets, against brutal competition. His honest, be-the-best style of management became the gold standard in business, with his relentless focus on people, teamwork, and profits.\\\\n\\\\nWelch has written a philosophical and pragmatic book that is destined to become the bible of business for generations to come. It clearly lays out the answers to the most difficult and important questions people face both on and off the job. Welch's optimistic, no excuses, get-it-done mind-set is riveting. Packed with personal anecdotes and written in Jack's distinctive no b.s. voice, Winning is a great read and a great business book.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: This Book Is Not Needed - Jack & Suzy Have Huge Egos\\n\\nReview: Jack & Suzy have very big egos, too big! These big egos have led to hundreds of selfish corporate mergers of which at least half have been disasters for the workers and stockholders. In many of these mergers the only persons who benefit are a few managers at the top who end up with golden parachutes. Enough of these big egos. We need more humble and faithful leaders in the future. High-energy is fine. Intelligence is wonderful. However, the giant egos and the one-hundred million dollar pay packages are a disgrace. Let's stop killing off the middleclass and destroying our Country. Our leaders only deserve a modest multiple of the middleclass pay rates.\\n\\nJack says that if you, average worker, work for a company and there are problems at the top, then you can just quit that company and go someplace else. Do not complain. It is not ever that simple for the average worker. Most workers have limited choices and are powerless to deal with corruption at the top of the company where they work. In most companies the power is held by a few persons at the top who are often too detached from the plight of the vast majority of workers.\",\n \"Product: America is suffering an epidemic of obesity and we are fast catching up. This is an account of the history and biology of the fattening of America at the moment when it is emerging as a political issue too.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: The Fattest People On The Planet - How It Happened!\\n\\nReview: This is a very good book about the problem of obesity in America. It is not a diet book. However, it can help a person with the motivation needed to succeed with a reduced calorie lifestyle. It is a simple book. Yet, it is well written and well focused on the causes of and the solutions to obesity.\\n\\nThe metabolic cause of obesity is very simple in most cases. There are too many calories and not enough calorie-burning activities. First, the book explains where the calories are coming from. Next, the book explains who got the calories into our bellies along with our help. Then there is a discussion of the reasons why the calories build up on our bodies.\\n\\nThe last half of the book discusses the devestating affects that too many calories and obesity can do to a person. It also discusses what can be done to help improve the situation. For some readers the book may actually scare them into losing weight.\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":4,"string":"4"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_3"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":892,"string":"892"}}},{"rowIdx":893,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"A7728VDTCAOHC"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of \"5.0\" for a product with description \"MiToo kids Walkie talkies\". The summary of the review text is \"4.5 stars; very happy\"."},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"I would use 4.5 stars but it 'rounds up'\n\nA couple issues with this battery:\n\n1) you can't read the port labels; it's black indented in black\n2) the power button is just odd; tiny bump, hard to use but easy for 'cr@p in your backback' to find.\n3) usb micro may be a standard for charging but it SHOULD NOT BE; terrible reliability impossible to determine up/down; use a proper power jack, with a usb end on the other side; sure it means i have to keep track of the cord (which in all honesty would cause me hassle as i'm always using 'whatever usb mini i find'.\n\nthat being said, the battery has 'the juice'; it's smaller capacity than the one i replaced (which died when the cr@ppy usb-micro charging port failed as they ALL DO) but at least with this one I have a digital % gauge which seems to actually use a fuel gauge chip to track not just a useless estimate based on battery voltage.\n\nIt would be a solid five stars w/o the limitations above."},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"I would use 4.5 stars but it 'rounds up'\n\nA couple issues with this battery:\n\n1) you can't read the port labels; it's black indented in black\n2) the power button is just odd; tiny bump, hard to use but easy for 'cr@p in your backback' to find.\n3) usb micro may be a standard for charging but it SHOULD NOT BE; terrible reliability impossible to determine up/down; use a proper power jack, with a usb end on the other side; sure it means i have to keep track of the cord (which in all honesty would cause me hassle as i'm always using 'whatever usb mini i find'.\n\nthat being said, the battery has 'the juice'; it's smaller capacity than the one i replaced (which died when the cr@ppy usb-micro charging port failed as they ALL DO) but at least with this one I have a digital % gauge which seems to actually use a fuel gauge chip to track not just a useless estimate based on battery voltage.\n\nIt would be a solid five stars w/o the limitations above."},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Product: This weight kit is perfect for checking the accuracy of your precision digital or mechanical scales.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: almost perfect, very easy to modify and make complete\n\nReview: Awesome value, useless tweezers, sadly missing the 100g weight that would make the kit complete. I bought a 100g weight hoping i could modify the box to fit it into the space that seemingly was made to fit it so that i could have a complete set that I could use to calibrate my new 200g scales. (both of which need 200g but one of which needs both 100g and 200g)\n\nI used a razor knife to separate the inner frame from the box, pulled out the inner frame from the box, then i used a forstner bit size 7/8 to drill the bottom out of the 100g spot. The foam in the lid was too tight for the box lit to close w/o distorting it so i used a 5/8 fortner bit turned backwards by hand on the foam to cut a nice circle, using the same trick i cut a circle in a piece of smooth cardboard and pressed down on the foam so the cut circle would 'pop up' through the cardboard and used an extendable razor knife to slice off about 80% of the thickness of the foam; now i have a complete set including 100g individual weight and enough other weights i can easily calibrate my two 200g scales.\n\nI managed to 'tiddly wink' one of the 20mg weights across the room and lost it and am pretty sure the kit came with a 5mg weight that went missing on first use; so word to the wise be very careful opening the ziplock bag with the micro weights!\n\nMy new scales have 0.01g precision and all the weights appear to be well within 0.01g tolerance as i've been getting exactly repeatable measurements.\n\nthe mg weights could be made better and with consistency (e.g. all stainless steel so they won't disappear in the presence of a magnet) and it would be *really nice* considering the size of them and the negligible cost, that there might be some spares! That said it would be a solid 5 stars if it had the mystery 100g spot filled with a 100g weight and if the tweezer included wasn't pointlessly useless (wouldn't open enough to pick up the 5g weight and broke when trying to stretch it open big enough to do so, also wouldn't grab the mg weights so really literally useless). Super happy on the purchase and would most definitely buy again. (and modify again and through out the useless tweezer again)","Product: Contents: 30 gEspecially Strong Glass to Metal BondsUV and Visible Light CureMedium ViscosityOptically ClearCRL UV604 is a medium viscosity, 100% solids, UV/Visible light curable adhesive formulated to form high tensile shear and peel strength bonds to a variety of substrates such as glass, laminated glass, steel, stainless steel, aluminum, ceramic, stone, wood and some plastics. This adhesive does not have capillary properties; therefore it must be applied to the bonding surface prior to assembling the parts. Of particular interest is its suitability for bonding laminated safety glass. The PVB film between laminated glass panes absorbs almost all of the UVA radiation, but because this adhesive has been made to also cure by daylight, it reacts with the remaining radiation (above 380nm) and cures completely. Cured bonds of CRL UV604 are optically clear, resistant to moisture and thermal cycling. Store adhesive away from sunlight. CRL7528 Cleaner and Degreaser provides for optimum adhesion when used first to prepare the glass by removing any dirt and grease that is present.Note: When bonding plastics, always test first, as not all plastics can be bonded properly. Do not bond any coated parts (powder coated or galvanized) with this adhesive.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Should be five stars but too little support or details\n\nReview: I would rate five stars this stuff is incredible. However there is ZERO information how to use it what to expect including cure times, can you use flashlight to cure etc.\n\nSometimes I get a weird oily film on the surface when it cures, I've noticed an exothermic reaction (I seamed a tear in my jeans while wearing) and wonder if it needs to be in a particular range of ambient temp. I have repairs things in the first few days that have been on the repair shelf for better part of a decade where several attempts with super glue and epoxy have failed.\n\nThis is not a miracle cure for anything , the laws of physics will not change for you ( I read a post where a guy was mad because he could not glue a tent pole back together, a preposterous demand)\n\nIf you think of it as a uv cured solid with some adhesive quality you'll be better off than expecting crazy adhesion. Also of course the uv light must reach the gel to cure it but seems to travel through itself some distance so you can apply thick enough to make a light pipe and get between two opaque items.","Product: Type: Fully insulated quick piercing test clip Quantity: 2Pcs (Black and Red) Rating: CATIII 1000V, 10A Max. Material: shell PA, the main copper + stainless steel nickel-plated Wire Size: Wire largest diameter 3.5mm, 16AWG-23AWG Banana Socket:4mm Weight:50g(2Pcs)\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Very good value, glad to own\n\nReview: Only four stars because they wouldn't pierce the wires to a thermistor of an ice maker; the size of the wire was within the range but the coating was very rubbery and the self-centering system didn't work and the needle pushed the wire out of the way.\n\nI tested on some 18ga wire and it worked well, its a very decent copy of 'the real thing' and at an eighth of the price, worth having a copy, i've been wanting some piercing leads for a long time. I ordered some 224 fluke leads to go with but bought on eBay for $12 or so half the price here.\n\nI was going to get the screw-on type but they are all low voltage i need something for 240v testing these are rated to 1000v.","Product: The tl-series heavy duty hanging scales are perfect for industrial weighing applications. includes shackle with locking latch and an s-hook for attaching loads. the scale is available in two capacities to suit your application needs.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Exactly what I wanted. much mis-information on this product, here's some clarity\n\nReview: Been wanting an inline force gauge for a while now; been using a hand-held suitcase scale for this purpose, and typically trying to measure the force downward to measure the force multiplication efficiency of a 4-2-1 or 5-2-1 rope hoist; typically the efficiency is not more than 66% or 75%; in other words, with a 5-2-1 rope hoist where theoretically you can lift 100# of load with 20# of force, in reality you can expect to pull with 35# of force losing nearly half of the mechanical advantage! I needed a proper inline scale i can use to test both up and down forces, and high enough capability to measure the full load and some high precision for measuring the pull side.\n\nI was very concerned after reading some of the reviews about buying this model; on the first day I got it I addressed every single problem brought up in older reviews and i'm pretty convinced the current model is a complete revision from an older version with the same name; note that even on AWS website they say the scale uses 2x 2032 batteries but the manual (and reality) matches that it uses 2xAAA batteries.\n\nthe scale is crazy light; the metal load plate is aluminum (with a steel insert for strength). with lithium batteries (you'd be silly to use other), it weighs 180g. it's not 'tiny' but very reasonably sized; the x-y dimensions are similar to my iPhone 6s, but about half an inch taller.\n\nThe scale is programmed from the factory to time out after 2 min. of no activity; change of weight counts so if you use continuously it won't shut off. The notion of it will turn off on you while loading is bunk, also, i haven't had a chance to try this but have used the trick on every other digital scale i've used; if the scale turns off on you while loading, turn it on let it tare to 0 and remove the load; it will show you the weight as a negative #.\n\nI found an older manual online that suggested only using at room temperature and allowing to come to temp for an hour before expecting accuracy, the current manual has no mention of temperature, and I did a pretty solid performance experiment; i put the scale in a freezer set to 0F for half an hour, took a measurement, then put on a radiator that was about 120F for half an hour, took another reading of the same item, then i left it for about an hour to have the scale come to room temperature and took a 3rd reading; they were all within 1% of the same weight. (with a range of temperature of the scale of about 70-80F); that is acceptable by any stretch of the imagination. If you want to use outside in the cold, i would recommend keeping the scale in your jacket (like in your shirt chest pocket) to keep it warm and pull it out just to measure; you'll have very good luck. When the scale just came out of the freezer, it did act a little sluggish but never a problem to read the display or activate or use it.\n\nThe scale stays on the last unit you choose; it doesn't matter if you turn it off or the auto-off setting shuts it down, and the scale has three modes; peak where it shows the maximum value, auto where (just like all luggage scales) it will freeze the value as soon as the load is stable for a second or two, and 3rd option; no freeze; it just continuously updates.\n\nThe display is designed to be read from 'higher than' the normal of the display, so plan accordingly; once you are about 20 or more lower than the normal of the plane of the display you won't be able to read it; you could use it upside down I suspect if you need to mount it above your head.\n\nThe included snap-link is WAAAY bigger than needed, i suppose they use the same for the 200kg model, The 3 / 8 snap links I use are rated higher working load than the 330# of this scale, and for anything less than 150#, I often use some chain with 3 / 16 wire diameter (working load of about 600-800#), that i've cut out the weld to make little 'C' hooks, and they work perfectly well for this scale.\n\nHome-Run on this one; if you need something to weigh or measure the force something pulls, this product is perfect. you can get 0.2# precision with this model or 0.5# precision with the 200kg model (this one is 150kg).\n\nThis is small enough to go right into my hoist/lifting kit bag, i will never have to wonder again how much that bucket of tools weighs.","Product: Different wall materials require different types of fasteners. Use fasteners suitable for the walls in your home (not included). Combines with other accessories in the GRUNDTAL series.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: nice, has some ugly quirks and not the best fit and finish\n\nReview: The overall look is fantastic; tubes of stainless is gorgeous for sure! An added bonus is they pretty much can't get dirty, all dust and dirt and water fall right through the rods!\n\nnow for the limitations:\n\n1. the counter-sink holes for the screws are not uniform so the screw heads don't seat flush. minor but it's not as clean as it should be.\n\n2. The tubes are made of very thin metal. I have the 48\" long version which exaggerates the issue but even the 31\" version will have considerable 'wobble' and 'flex' to the tubes when placing items. even a 2-3 pound load will make the tubes bend and flex. It's most noticeable if you put on a small item that only touches 2-3 rods but has some heft to it; it makes other items rock back and forth that share the same rods.\n\n3. egregious oversight: the width does NOT match the standard spacing of STUDS in the wall, so there is virtually no way to mount this item solidly. wall anchors? please. On mine I was able to put the brackets on with the bracket to the OUTSIDE of the bars which spread the spacing between mounting holes to just about 48 inches so i could get the screws into the STUDS so it's solid.\n\nI added some support brackets under the rods at each 16\" and now the shelf is 'as it should be'. I could probably put 200# of items on EACH shelf without a problem. My added brackets don't reach to the very first rod so it's super obvious how wobbly the rods are without the added support. I tried to take a picture but didn't have enough hands.","Product: Henckels Twin Sharp Duo knife sharpener is suitable for all knives with a fine edge, with the exception of coated knives. The stainless-steel sharpener comprises two modules, which are marked on the sharpener. The first module features steel wheels for coarse sharpening and presharpening, and the second module uses ceramic wheels for fine sharpening and smoothing. This sharpener works well for both right- and left-handed people, features rubber feet so it won't skid on the countertop, and measures approximately 8 inches across and 3 inches tall, so you can store it in a drawer or display it in a small space. To use, place the knife sharpener on a flat surface, pressing down slightly with one hand. Draw the knife blade with a little pressure towards yourself, repeating up to five times for the dullest blades. For very blunt knives, use the first module and then the second. Knives with a bit of bluntness may require only the first module to bring back the original sharpness. Check the results by cutting into a sheet of paper.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: It is what it is. Not for dull knives.\n\nReview: This is a decent maintenance sharper-er (that is to say it will take a sharp knife and make it sharper). take a dull knife and make it sharp: NOT SO MUCH.\n\nThat said it's an excellent tool to use to HONE a knife. maybe it should be called a knife honer vs sharpener.\n\nI was able to take a handful of 15 yr old knives that had only been honed with a steel over their life and take several from a 6/10 sharpness to 8/10 which is a substantial improvement; can slice a free hanging sheet of paper but not cleanly every time, but some blades that were like 3/10 sharpness i couldn't really sharpen them to be useful.\n\nLike another reviewer mentioned; good for steak, not so much for tomatoes.\n\nif you bought this to keep some relatively new sharp knives from dulling this should be just the ticket. If you have a set of knives that are in disrepair this tool will do you no good.\n\nawr","Product: 47302 BLADESafe Knife Guard 8-inch. Holds blades 6-inch to 8-inch in length. Lightweight, durable plastic, universal design.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Great invention. Darn near perfect\n\nReview: I thought there were magnets to hold the blade but it uses rubber pads. I HATE going to cook at friends or family only to find they have worthless knives so I bring my favorite with. Until now I used tape or cardboard for transport. This thing is 22nd century cardboard!\n\nBumping off a star because loading is a little tricky when knife is at the max size (8\" knife in 8\" holder): it won't close unless you put in the \"correct\" side first and using all folding plastic for the hinges and latches means they will fail 10x as fast as if they used an actual hinge or clasp. It's literally 10 of plastic with 5000% markup due to the I.P. nice deign but could be sold at $3 for a profit.\n\n-awr","Product: The Rubbermaid Commercial High Heat Silicone Spatula with color-coded handle is an essential item for any commercial or home kitchen. Constructed of heavy-duty silicone, it withstands temperatures up to 500F/260C and features the temperature range embossed on both sides of the handle to indicate that this is a high-heat spatula. With a notched, stain-resistant scraper blade that will not scratch pans, it has a special Clean-Rest tab molded into the silicone that keeps the blade from making direct contact with surfaces and reduces cross-contamination risks. To reinforce important food safety practices even further, this durable, high-heat kitchen spatula is designed with a color-coded handle. Color-coding kitchen utensils and food storage containers helps prevent cross-contamination by separating items for each food type and kitchen area or station. NSF-certified and commercial dishwasher-safe.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: almost a rubber mallet; huge spoon\n\nReview: I bought this by accident; was 'aiming for' the equivalent scraper, didn't zoom in on the picture and bought the spoon version by accident.\n\nI was going to return it but treating it as a 'happy accident' because it will be the PERFECT utencil for stirring my chili and getting all that wonderful fond mixed in!\n\n4 vs 5 stars because rather than having some internal structure to make the 'spoon' shape have strength they just designed it super super thick making the spoon side quite heavy; it's like a rubber mallet with a dent on one side to make a spoon!\n\nthis thing is desgned to be used in a commercial environment, scraping out a 5-gallon size mixer etc. it will be comfortable in pots bigger than 6qt and oversized on smaller pots.\n\n-awr","Product: Vollrath's goal is to make every part of the foodservice industry faster and more efficient, while creating environmentally conscious products with sustainable manufacturing practices. Made of durable 13 gauge aluminum, these professional-weight baking sheet pan features an open rim and is heavier in gauge than that of standard home bakeware. The durable, aluminum construction bakes evenly and browns uniformly, while the light color prevents overbrowning. Baked goods rise and bake evenly due to aluminums superior heat conductivity and open beads pans are NSF listed. The stackable tapered design is ideal for space saving, and can easily fit in standard baker's racks. To preserve quality and keep your product in best working order, this item should only be hand-washed and sanitized.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Could be thicker, not perfectly flat\n\nReview: It's the thickest four-wall sheet pan i could find, but mine came a little bit out-of-flat, haven't decided if it's out-of-tolerance enough to send back for a different one.\n\nit's decently thick 13 gauge works out to 72/1000th (0.072)\". the flat cookie sheet i bought in the same order by comparison is over 100/1000th thick or 39% thicker. thicker is simply better conductivity so more even heating.\n\nHaven't cooked with it yet, but my review is based on quality and fit and finish.\n\n1 ) a fair amount of machining marks\n2 ) not very flat; the bottom was not within 2mm flat; a pretty noticeable 'hump' in the center and depressions on the corners\n3 ) imperfect finish; inconsistent finish on the surface. compared to the flat sheet i bought which has a perfect satin finish\n4 ) the 'open bead' is perfectly acceptable; contrary to what other reviewers have said it is not remotely 'sharp' it's by no means a cut-hazard.\n5 ) thickest walled sheet pan; 13 ga. I'd love to have 10 or 11ga like the flat cookie sheet but it seems it doesn't exist\n6 ) commercial grade hardware; it has the look-and-feel of the sheet pans we used when i worked at a restaurant, that's a good feeling at the house.\n\nSo, if it was perfectly flat and had a nicer finish with more care in not leaving machine tool marks i'd give it a perfect score. If the thing curls up into the fetal position after cooking with it i'll certainly be back to make an update in the review.\n\n-awr","Product: Are your kitchen drawers being taken over by different sizes of measuring cups? Declutter and free up storage with the Pro 2 Cup Adjust-A-Cup. This adjustable measuring cup measures metric or standard for liquids, dry and semi-solid ingredients, like honey, peanut butter, shortening, and butter. Its convenient pint, cup, ounce, and millimeter markings make doubling and conversions a breeze. To use, simply pull the plunger down to the measurement indicated and add your ingredient. Constructed of durable ABS and SAN plastic and silicone, this unique measuring tool features an award winning design with patented features and comes in a beautiful champagne satin finish. For best results, hand wash the Adjust-A-Cup with a sponge and warm soapy water. Stop juggling multiple sizes of measuring utensils, reduce your collection, and witness the space-saving functionality of this useful, yet elegant tool.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Decent could use some fixes; PERFECT for waffles!\n\nReview: update: i finally found the 'trump card' for this exact tool. I have NEVER been able to get just the right amount of waffle mix into a waffle iron. My new waffle iron calls for 1 '1/3 cups of mix so i decided to try this tool out for the job. It worked without flaw, i can't imagine a better way to pull off that chore; my older 'wonder cup' style was so hard to push compared to this it would be a struggle to actually empty. The batter was just the right texture that it didn't stick to the top of the plunger i didn't even have to scrape it off just push the plunger and go.\n\nadd'l update; my first copy had a bad seal so amazon swapped it no-charge-for-shipping etc. sadly that won't get the feedback to the source very well but at least the second one will 'hold water' which the first didn't. It doesn't hold water great though.. a tiny bit will leak through the seal but i didn't buy it for water, apparently i bought it for making waffles! If i don't use it for anything else it will be worth it for me. (i love waffles)\n\n=====\n\n1) mine came with some labeling smeared as others have commented on; this is definitely a quality control issue; the label ink seems pretty solid, it's as if it was boxed up before the ink was dry.\n\n2) there is a flaw in the desgn that allows the wobble. there should be a set of 'ribs' on the plunger to keep it centered in the outer tube. a very simple fix: wrap an o-ring around the inner plunger so that there is a second place to hold the plunger centered. make sure it's not too tight. even better; put an array of tiny rubber stick-on feet around the inner-tube (i did 3-around about every inch) it makes the center piston stay perfecly centered with the added bonus that it also holds any position very well. basically it's a design correction to fix the biggest flaw. if i can figure out how to add a picture later i will. again, quality control issue. the design of the seal is fine, but mine has a flat spot from a mold release or somethihng where water will just dribble right on through.\n\n3) mine came with a faulty seal; it literally 'won't hold water'. since i have much better tools for measuring water-like liquids i think i'll be ok with that since the primary use i have for this tool is measuring brown sugar, i'm not sure if i'll be sending it back.\n\n4) dishwasher safe may not mean dishwasher friendly. i'm not sure there is any gain in running the plunger through the machine, but the exterier tube is a solid tube of polycarbonate or similar very strong plastic. as long as it doesn't rub violently around in the mashing to rub off the lettering it should be fine for a long time. I don't expect i'll be needing to run mine through the dw.\n\n5) precision. i did a simple test of measuring 1c of water and it was within 1 tsp accurate. that amount of error is definitely withing the error bars of me eyballing the meniscus of the water. i'm satisfied with that result.\n\n6) pouring ability. agreed it should have a spout! what up with that? you can pour fine if the receptical it's going into is big enough to commit to 100% pour but often you'd want to slowly pour it in; forget about that plan.\n\n7) star rating. i'd give it 3.5 because of the quality control issues that are apparent but i'm rounding up because the overall design is superior to the lower quality soft-plastic models like schmamered schmef design. I've used that one for years, it 'gets the job done' but this one is an infinite improvement in 'touch and feel'. the other design has a closed plunger for measuring liquids not relying on the seal but it's nearly impossible to read through the thick opaqe plastic.\n\n8) read the directions: people are pulling the seal off by pulling straight not twisting as it says in very clear lettering on the top of the disc. the static coefficient of friction of a rubber ring on polycarbonate under pressure is 'off scale' it *should* rip off the disc. it would be better if they made this more clear but they are serious do not pull w/o twisting.\n\n8a) you could surely re-glue should you pull it off; that part is well out of the way of touching your food so it won't be needed to use a 'food safe adhesive'.\n\n9) storage suggestion; you can avoid that problem by following one of these ideas: a) NEVER store completely closed; just like a syringe will pull the rubber boot right off if stored fully depressed, you can expect problems if the first motion is to PULL out the pluger. If you leave even a cm of space or make sure to PUSH the plunger out you will never put the 'tension' type of force on the part so you can't break it that way. b) as mentioned in 'a'; PUSH the plunger the first time you use it after storage even just for minutes; the seal will 'stick' to the outside wall. if stored 'open a little' you can push it closed first then pull & twist open or if stored fully closed, push on the black seal to get things moving. and c) to help keep the seal from wearing out prematurely *and* help avoid self-destruction, put the plunger in backwards or store separately (even better). They made a slight bevel on the BOTTOM of the tube and when the plunger is put in backwards, there is about 10% of the force on the seal. it greatly reduces the problems assosated with the seal being tight.\n\nI'm going to contact the company about the manufacturing defects on my copy and i will post a follow-up to see what they suggest in regard to my faulty model and i'll adjust my star score accordingly.\n\n-awr","Product: Soups on and Calphalons stainless ladles are in. Extra-long, ergonomic handles make our ladles easy to maneuver in deep stock pots and sauce pots.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Very nice but should be $5-7 each not $10-12 each\n\nReview: The fit n finish on these is not up-to-par for $10-12 pricing. They are very solid but they are made from low-carbon soft steel not tool or spring steel so they are easy to deform and will stay bent should you bend them. (speaking in the plural because all the similar tools are made the same).\n\nThere is substantial variability in the finish and tooling marks from post-processing of the molded handle. (i'll explain):\n\nThe silicone handle is molded onto the steel as a second step. There is a groove or a series of grooves in the flat steel handle and a silicone rubber 'insert' is molded top and bottom through the grooves in the steel. The molding process leaves behind a thin 'flashing' which is cut away by hand. there is a lot of 'tool mark' left behind so it takes away a lot from the apparent quality.\n\nWorse, however is that the steel used is sub-par. it's not tool steel and is malleable; it makes it easy to fabricate and cheaper to make but cheaper in quality and value. they could use HALF the steel and have it be high-quality steel and they would be lighter yet stronger. They chose to use heavier thicker steel to impart an air of quality while actually having it be lower quality because the steel is low grade deformable soft steel.\n\nThe set of tools are decent but could be fantastic, that they are not.\n\nI posted a picture of the SIDE VIEW because it's not clear at all from the stock pictures that the rubber insert is almost ROUND, the handle is very thick top to bottom, it makes for a very comfortable grip, definitely more comfortable than any flat metal handle i've used and they will surely stay much cooler than any solid metal grip.\n\nsummary: i would recommend them because they are a decent cohesive set of tools, but would caution people that because of the inferior grade of metal used, they do not want to subject them to undue force because they will bend with relative ease (fortunately they will bend right back).\n\nit's too bad that they don't have a better process to clean up the molding of the rubber because that's 'strike two' brining the rating down to 3 stars. The combination of the inferior steel with the inferior post-processing of the molded part keeps them from being 'high end' quality which they could easily be, so it's a bummer.\n\nGlad i bought 'em, they are over-priced for the quality they are, but i'm not aware of a better set for a similar price. The $50 set should be $25-30.\n\n-awr","Product: The Culinary Institute of America has come together with their Master Chef's to develop a line of exceptional kitchenware for the home chef. This 12\"x17\" coolign rack is a perfect example of the thoughtful details they have put into their product development, and because of that this piece won \"Top Honors\" in December of 2008 from one of the most well regarded kitchen magazines in the U.S. Sturdy construction, closely spaced wires, and the fact that this piece fits perfectly in a 1/2 sheet pan make this a must have for any kitchen.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Good mate with wear ever sheet pan\n\nReview: I bought to pair with the heavy-duty wear ever sheet pan and it fits perfectly.\n\nIt's a little strange design where the feet on the bottom are only attached on the very edges so are higher-risk of breaking off than if they were attached the whole way across but it makes for exactly the same thermal load across the entire length of the rack.\n\nit also has a LOT of wires; up to 50-100% more than cheaper racks.\n\nnot a big fan of the 'feet' which are so pointy they will scratch whatever surface they are put on; actually permanently damaged a cookie sheet that was shipped in the same box.\n\nThe feet should be flat-bottom vs a point so they don't damage the sheet pan.\n\n-awr","Product: Are your kitchen drawers being taken over by different sizes of measuring cups? Declutter and free up storage with the Pro Mini Adjust-A-Cup. This adjustable measuring cup measures metric or standard for liquids, dry and semi-solid ingredients, like honey, peanut butter, shortening, and butter. Constructed of durable ABS and SAN plastic and silicone, this unique measuring tool features an award winning design with patented features and comes in a beautiful champagne satin finish. For best results, hand wash the Adjust-A-Cup with a sponge and warm soapy water. Stop juggling multiple sizes of measuring utensils and witness the space-saving functionality of this useful, yet elegant tool.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: design is good not great\n\nReview: Some problems in quality control; i bought two and one, the seal works nice the other it doesn't.\n\nthe plunger does not fit properly in the tube so it wobbles back and forth, it could easily be fixed but they designers stopped designing before it was finished.\n\nThe black-on-black makes it really difficult to see the measurement; if the seal was WHITE or the lettering was WHITE so there was contrast that's be nice!\n\nmuch more accurate than the 'sliding spoon' type of adjustable tool.\n\nJury is still out on whether or not this tool is really an advantage over just using decent metal spoons which i also have.\n\nIt's still a cool tool i wouldn't want to not have, bottom line, just wish they were made better.\n\n-awr","Product: 200 Watt plunging mixer perfect for soups, mashed, sauces, mayonnaises, milk shake, batter, baby food and more. Comes with a mixing cup and a stainless steel blade. Designed of a high temperature resistant material for mixing hot-preparations, dishwasher safe.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Read the manual before posting your admitted 'operator error'.\n\nReview: as many others who have posted, i was led to this machinen by a review at america's test kitchen.\n\ni haven't had it long enough to rate the machine's performance but as a designer and engineer of products i have some insight to share about negative postings here about the reliability, the longevity and a particular operator error or two.\n\n1) the manual is extremely clear on the duty-cycle of the machine. 9% duty cycle. that means for every minute on you need to let the motor rest 10 minutes. That seems like quite a lot but the machine has a particular 'job requiremjent' that is designed to be completed in well under a minute. if you need a bigger job done, USE A BIGGER MACHINE. it's really that simple. Yes i'm sure there are machines costing 4x as much brau(cough), and if you need a higher-end machine GET ONE, stop complaining that a ford focus is not a mercedes benz. If you want to make 4 shakes for 4 children, 'get er done' in 15-20 seconds of blending each and you will be perfectly fine.\n\n2) the detachable shaft is ONLY sealed on ONE end. if you run through the dishwasher that's ok as long as you follow up with actually DRYING OUT the inside which will collect water and turn into gross mold or mildew if you don't ensure there isn't even mosture inside. the reality is; it's a silly thing to even bother running through the dishwasher. immersion blenders pretty much clean themselves. run it in the cup that it comes with using some warm water with a tiny drop of dish soap.\n\n3) the 'burning smell'; looks like the motors aren't burned in when assembled and it's a very normal smell to have happen with a brushed motor which it seems must be the case for it to generate the very specific odor. It should get much less obvious in a short amount of time. even in the first tests i've noticed the smell amost disappear. I'm a little surprised not using a brush-free design but probably a big part of the bang-for-buck pricing.\n\nif i have any problems come up i will be coming back here to update my post, but in the meantime i wanted to temper some of the amazingly misguded posts that literally say \"mine burned up in only ten minutes of use\". Gee my car's engine died after only 50,000 miles just because i never changed or added oil! in fact i changed my star rating from 4 to 5 just to balance at least one of those misguided reviews.\n\nafter i have it a while longer i will update my review to mention what items are being blended with it and if there are any *actual* problems.\n\n-awr","Product: AC PRO-200 is a durable and compact pocket scale with easy to use four key operation. The backlit LCD display helps make the numbers viewable and easy to read. The ingenious protective cover doubles as a sturdy expansion tray. With the smooth stainless steel weighing surface clean up is easy.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Utterly complete review comparing ACP-200 and the chrome version\n\nReview: Great little scale, stunning price, hard to pick between this one and it's brother, the ACP-200. After studying the reviews I bought both so I could review and either send back the least favored or keep them both (i'm keeping both).\n\nHow do they compare?\n\nThe size; chrome is smaller, 2 1/2 x 4 9/16 x 3/4 inches vs 2 3/4 x 4 7/8 x 3/4 (2 7/8 bumps for the hinges)\nvolume: 8.55 cu. inches vs 10.05 cu. inches (the chrome is 15% smaller).\n\nThe chrome is nearly identical in width and height to an iphone 4 in a case, and 1/4 in. thicker, the other is 1/4 inch bigger in all all 3 dimensions.\n\nThe chrome weighs 116g vs the other is 143 w/o the pouch and 152g with. (means the chrome is 25% lighter). for comparison my iphone 5 with the case is almost identical to the acp-200 (not the chrome) at 142g.\n\nDisplays:\n\nHands down winner is the non-chrome. The chrome is reverse LCD and you can almost always see the ghost of the non-lit segments, you can see the illumination point on the side, it's not evenly lit but the saving grace is it's still always absolutely legible. The height of the numbers is 3/8 on the non-chrome vs 1/2 inch on the chrome. The non-chrome's display is perfect. absolutely perfect EL blue illumination corner to corner. It shows the battery level it shows grams value always and the secondary unit choice also always in 1/4\" tall numbers in the bottom right. In addition it shows a zero mark when it's not reading any weight which is nice to remind you if you've tare'd or not.\n\nFunctions:\nThey are functionally nearly identical with these differences:\n1) the chrome has avoirdupois oz, troy oz, pennyweight, carat, grain as well as gram but ONLY shows the chosen unit,\n2) the non-chrome has pennyweight, grain, carat as well as gram and shows the secondary unit simultaneously.\n\nThis clearly puts the chrome ahead if you want for measuring gold or jewelry or need to have your results in oz right away w/o needing to do math.\n\nThe LID/cover as a tray:\n\nThe chrome model, the lid comes off completely in normal use, and works a little better as a tray, It also includes a cheat-sheet of operation which is really helpful for reminding you how to calibrate the scale but is missing a critical item: how to use for piece counting! (something you are very likely to forget how to do by the next time you want to use it).\n\nThere is a curious quirk with the lid on the chrome model: if you put on upside-down, it takes literally 12x the force to remove (i just measured 50g force to open when installed correctly and over 600g force to remove when upside down). this is after wearing it in; when brand new it wsa likely twice that or 'nearly impossible'. The fix; pull open from the top not the bottom. Testing just now the lid pulled off at 700g from the bottom and 100g from the top when on upside down. You can grip from the sides and slowly pull at the top edge; if your fingers are too slippery use a piece of tape, then pay attention in the future and put on correctly you'll never have a problem again.\n\nThe non-chrome model,The lid is attached with a hinge. I didn't notice in the manual if it said how to remove to use as a tray but it's quite simple; open the lid 90and pull the lid away directly sideways either at the top or the bottom 'peeling' the lid away from the base.\n\nThe performance 'as a tray' goes hands-down however to the chrome. The lids are both a little bit convex so when placed on the scale platform they get skittish and will want to wander around a bit; the chrome model it's not noticeable but on the non-chrome it's super-duper noticeable; it feels like you've invented magnetic levitation. I just spun my lid and it twirled over a dozen full rotations. Fortunately in practice it rarely causes any problem, it's more of a nuisance than any actual problem.\n\nCalibration:\n\nThe chrome model is easier to calibrate requiring only a 200g reference where the non-chrome requires both 100g and 200g weights.\n\nDo not attempt to use some makeshift solution you will need to get some actual reference weights to calibrate your scale. My chrome scale came completely miscalibrated; off maybe 6g at 100g when I got it; the non-chrome was spot-on and within 0.02g from the factory. My 100g calibration kit came with the scales but my additional 100g weight hadn't arrived yet but I was able to make one pretty easy in this way: I put my 100g reference on the working scale, and hit the tare button giving me a zero reference. I put a small measuring cup that would hold maybe 150ml of water and filled it until the scale read almost exactly zero. Then i took a small wad of paper towel and soaked it in water. taking that piece of paper towel either squeezed out drips or soaked up a bit of water until I got the scale to register 0.00 g.\n\nThen I took off the makeshift water weight, zero'd the scale and put the reference weight back on. noting the reading (100.04 for example) and put the water weight on.. it was slightly different probably due to evaporation so tinkered a bit until it matched the reference exactly and I could swap the two and get the same reading within 0.01g. At that point I could use the real reference and the water copy to achieve the 200g needed to calibrate both scales with perfect success.. A little while later I measured the 'water weight reference' and sure enough it was a few 00ths of a gram lighter due to evaporation.\n\nWith a little bit of luck on your side and a pile of coins you could likely achieve the same success if you have 100g reference but need 200g. You will want to have a permanent actual 100g and 200g reference.\n\naccuracy:\nabsolutely amazing on both scales! I have taken over a dozen pictures with the scales showing 0.00g error or 0.01g error at all levels from 0.50g to 200.00g and even with the scales stacked; putting the chrome on the non-chrome, hitting tare on both and putting a weight on the top scale. I could put on 52.12g of reference weight and get 52.12 reading (0.00g error) on both scales where the bottom scale is of course measuring with 116g offset yet still achieving near perfect and repeatable accuracy.\n\njust now put a 5g reference on each scale and got a 5.00 reading on each. added 50g and chrome reading 54.99 and non-chrome also 54.99.added 10mg and non-chrome came right up to 55.00. repeated on the chrome and it likewise came up to 55.00. The fact that the scale will actually register a change of .01g after it's already settled in is astounding.\n\nAuto-off function.\n\nAs you will see from other reviewers; the scales will shut off after some amount of non-use. The non-chrome seems to do a MUCH better job at re-setting the count-down timer when you change the weight; bump the scale, add or subtract weight within a minute and it does not shut off. The chrome model shuts on me plenty, the non-chrome if i bump it once in a while (within a minute) it stays on continously and i never have a problem with it. The chrome model on the other hand is annoyingly quick to shut off. f\n\nThey clearly have the same basic timer; doing this review i've seen them both shut off within 1 sec of each other half a dozen times but during the same time Ive seen the chrome off while the non-chrome still on at least a half dozen times.\n\nAccuracy:\nThey both are crazy accurate and high or low weights.\n\nIf you need to measure crazy low weights like 2-20 mg, you want a different scale but in a pinch these guys will measure values in the 100mg range with repeatable accuracy. I have noticed the non-chrome does have some better software and hits repeatable values better. example; putting on a 100mg reference, I'm more likely to see 0.09 on the chrome than the non-chrome. Or when adding on 10mg, more likely to NOT see the up-tick on the chrome. In BOTH cases, lightly tapping the platform (talking about a 1-2g tap with tweezer), i've found that the re-weigh will be far more likely to match the reference especially if you've just added on 10-20mg.\n\nThat being said, using 100+10mg references, I could repeatedly get 0.10 and 0.11 readings from the non-chrome as well as get readings as low as 30mg that matched the reference weight where that just won't happen on the chrome. below .1g I wouldn't trust the chrome at all, while i've gotten repeateable accuracy of 30, 50, 80, 110, 130, 150mg on the non-chrome. it may take 10+ sec. for the final reading to come in but sure enough.. I saw 0.05g reading after I added 20mg to 50mg (it didn't show the addition of the 20mg).. i looked away for a few seconds and sure enough 0.08 was showing! at the same time i put 100mg on the chrome and it settled in on at coincidentally 0.08. off by 20mg.\n\nanother test just now: 5g = 5.00, add 100mg; 5.10, add 50mg; 5.15, add 10mg; 5.16, then add 20mg and it reads 5.18. that is absolutely insane for a $16 device!\n\nnow the same test on the chrome: 5g= 5.00, add 100mg; 5.09, add 50mg; 5.14, add 10mg; 5.16, then add 20mg; 5.18. also insane.\n\nI tapped the platform any time i add weight to \"tell\" the scale to re-evaluate. oh the scale just changed to 5.17; also something that happens more often on the chrome; wondering results. never a big difference but more likely than the non-chrome to do so.\n\nastounding; both scales auto-off'd on me, I turned 'em on, let them warm up a few seconds and put the 5.18 back on.. the non-chrome hit 5.18 the first shot. the chrome: 5.16, then with a tap, 5.17, weights off; tare, weights on; 5.17, weights off, re-tare, weights on; 5.17, tap; 5.18.took som coaxing but did work. non-chrome auto off'd; power on, weights back on; hit5.18 first shot.\n\nSo in my first 5 days with the scales, this is what ive been experiencing; the non-chrome ACP-200 has been hitting repeatable #s within 0.01g, and while the chrome model will hit within 0.02 per it's claim, it is a much bigger fractional error on small weights so the non-chrome kicks its butt when weights are less than a gram and even when below 10g, the error starts to become significant (.4% at 5g where at 100g that error is 0.02%).\n\nlast test; 1g weight freshly turned on; the non-chrome hit 1.00 within a second, the chrome registered 1.01 for a couple seconds then was 1.00 then 0.99 then back to 1.00; adding 50mg they both hit 1.05 within a couple seconds. absolutely stunning. Adding 50mg to chrome and 51.04, tap and 51.05 appears. non-chrome: 51.04 and stays. adding 50g and the -.01g offset stays 101.04g. the chrome started with101.04 but settled in at 101.05 exactly matching the reference values. re-weigh after power-cycle and with 100g reference hit 100.00g (i took a pic) then put on the 1g + 50mg and it hit 101.05g for almost a minute; it wandered up to 101.06 (0.01% error). just before powering off. I think i've discovered the key too the short power-off cycle; it shuts off before it will start to wander too far off course.\n\nThe summary. If I had paid $50 each for the two scales I would be THRILLED with the results, The fact they were $16 each is just amazing. I'm thrilled beyond words.\n\nI'm happier with the performance of the non-chrome, and that will be my go-to standard I will keep in my kitchen for use 'most of the time'. The chrome being more portable, and having more useful units, will be the one I have in my coat pocket ready to use anywhere anytime.\n\nps; just for fun put 30mg on the non-chrome and sure enough after a good 10 sec., 0.03 magically appears!","Product: Vollrath works every day to make each component in that chain better, more efficient, and more inspired. The heavy gauge 3004 aluminum cookie sheet heats evenly and rapidly to ensure a golden brown bake for each yummy dessert. This Vollrath cookie sheet has two curved edges and two flat edges to make it the perfect aluminum baking sheet as you can easily grip it to slide cookies off to cool. Bake moist cookies on this 10 gauge Vollrath Wear Ever 68085 cookie sheet. Whether youre baking homemade hot dog or hamburger buns for a family outing or making a batch of sugar cookies using your mother's own recipe, these pans will deliver excellent results. NSF means a high quality. Items marked with the NSF logo means that the item and its manufacturing facility was tested and approved by the independent testing company called NSF to be safe for commercial use. To clean, simply wipe with a soft dry cloth; if pans must be washed, do not use dishwasher, hand wash using a mild soap or detergent, rinse with cold water, and dry immediately\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Heaviest Gauge Cooking Sheet Available. 10 gauge alum.\n\nReview: as many here, i was led to this sheet from cook's illustrated. I only have had the stamped thin steel sheets in the past, and doing a complete overhaul of my kitchen tools.\n\nas far as people complaining about price, they are ill-informed. My sheet was damaged in shipping due to bad packaging (they packed my cooling rack on top of it and it cut 6 deep grooves; stupid packer!).\n\nI'm sending the damaged one back and getting a new one but since this sheet is nothing more than a piece of aluminum sheet metal with two small curls on two sides, (and a hanging hole) i called my local metal distributor to see how much a piece of aluminum that thick and that size costs.\n\nanswer: $31.19 and that's just cut flat 14 x 17\". if i want two ends bent up; $17.50 additional. Actually; that was for only 11 gauge aluminum; 10% thinner!\n\nThis is a substantially thick piece of metal: i measured 0.100\" thickness. that's 10 gauge aluminum! Comparing to the thickest jelly roll pan i could find (13 ga) this pan is 42% thicker. (which means it's 42% more conductive). 13 ga. is only 0.072\" thick.\n\nLaws of physics are laws of physics. only copper would conduct heat better than this sheet. high conductivity is what makes even temperatures, it's plain simple physical laws. There are no coatings on this piece of metal it's just bare raw aluminum. What makes even heating: high conductivity it's as simple as that.\n\nThere is good reason this sheet gets (basically) unanimous reviews; it's simply the thickest sheet available (that i'm aware of). it has no coating so can be scrubbed and polished if desired, it's 100/1000ths of an inch thick so you could literally re-finish many times, and if it's never thermally stressed to the point where it warps (something again just ruled by the laws of physics), it will outlive me. Aluminum is very malleable; if it ever does warp from abuse it could be flattened out with some brute force.\n\nBrand new, the sheet is well within 1mm of perfect flatness over the entire surface. it does appear to have a minor curve putting the center of the sheet a little higher than the edges; this may be on-purpose to reduce the odds of warpage, i don't know.\n\nWhat i do know: i looked far and wide and haven't found any heavier duty sheets than this. Some simple math confirms basically pure aluminum: 1128g and 414cc volume is 2.72g/cc and pure aluminum is 2.7. There might be a tiny bit of alloy to make it stiffer than pure aluminum but that's about as pure as metal gets. of 1% error.\n\nSo, if you want the heaviest sheet available to get the most even heat available, there is no other option.\n\n-awr\n\nupdate: i got my replacement and it's perfect. the bottom has some tool marks but the top which was covered in plastic during shipping was not ruined this time around and has a perfect satin texture edge to edge.","Product: Logitech Keyboard Case id Integrated wireless Bluetooth keyboard for iPad 2. Warranty Terms - Parts 1 year limited. Diemations : Product Height 0.7\", Product Width 10\", Product Weight 1.1 lbs., Product Depth 7.7\". Made of Aluminum. Includeds Logitech Keyboard Case for Apple, iPad 2, USB-to-micro USB charging cable and Owner's manual.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: A 'must have' for any serious ipad 2 owner\n\nReview: I had a very complete review of the keyboard apparently on what is now a 'dead link' to an older ASIN.\n\n<a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Logitech-Keyboard-Case-for-iPad-2/dp/B00512W4Y2/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Logitech Keyboard Case for iPad 2</a>\n\nHere is an updated version of the review incorporating answers to questions:\n\nI'm typing on the reviewed keyboard.\n\nPros:\n\nhas many of the useful settings on a key: undo, cut copy paste and redo, also home, lock and HIDE the virtual keyboard buttons.\n\nunlike some keyboards, has shift on BOTH sides and has caps lock, also has ctrl, alt/option and command keys. typical mac-like commands work (command-c copy) etc also command-arrow to move to the front of a line, holding 'shift' while arrowing around will select text just like a mac.\n\ngreat job of enclosing the front of the iPad. I have a very ugly scratch on the bottom of my zagg that would have been in the screen from some sharp object that ended up in my computer bag during a road trip.\n\nkeys are small, but touch-typable no problem. maybe only 70% speed for a fast typer but it's decent and way better than on-screen of course.\n\nprice is fair; a BT keyboard is $50-60, a decent case is $50-60, figure you get both for $100 is at least break even.\n\nReasonably light and thin.\n\nbuilt in LION battery.\n\nmates PERFECTLY with the <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Belkin-F8N631EBC01-Snap-Shield-Case/dp/B004X8R7VA/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Belkin F8N631EBC01 Snap Shield Case</a> with a 1 minute no-tool modification! (more later)\n\nmagic magnet to instantly wake iPad upon removal.\n\nCons:\n\ncheap aluminum construction; it's stamped aluminum, acceptable but low-fi. very easy to scratch and dent. (but takes the beating instead of the iPad).\\\n\ndesign could be better; it's too sharp and angular, doesn't fit the beautiful curves of the iPad itself.\n\nNot a tough finish; bead-blasted but it's not anodized to make the aluminum hard and resistant to scratches.\n\nI recommend using a film protector for the back, i'm sure zagg makes one.\n\nkeyboard battery could be bigger. they 'say' it will last weeks. my first charge didn't last one.\n\nholds the iPad too hard; difficult to remove.\n\ndesign flaw: no support on the 'spacebar' side; when you grip the set on the side with the spacebar (while assembled), it will flex a LOT; i added a spacer with foam (harvested from the foam tape along the entire perimeter and it fixed the problem).\n\nno caps lock indicator; not even on-screen. of course it would take battery but most BT keyboards have one.\n\nvery weird arrow key arrangement; no space for an 'inverted T' but they dont' have up-down next to each other nor left-right. they are left-down and up-right; very strange.\n\nthe kickstand for the back is less than optimal. it sticks and is not easy as it should and could be to operate. i think it's meant to have two lean angles but the back option is too far back and can actually tip over backwards on soft surfaces especially if you attempt to use in portrait mode.\n\nabsent from the magic buttons: brightness\n\nso more cons than pros but a 'must have' nonetheless.\n\nback to the case combination. I spent hours figuring out what would be the best case for the back (including the film type). Landed on the <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Belkin-F8N631EBC01-Snap-Shield-for-Apple-iPad-2-Clear/dp/B004X8R7VA/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Belkin F8N631EBC01 Snap Shield for Apple iPad 2 - Clear</a> case $30; if you remove the foam tape from the perimeter of the zagg keyboard case (you can leave the back part on where the slot for the smart cover is), it fits absolutely exactly. It's a snug enough fit that it won't fall out, but not as tight as the original too tight of fit, so much easier to remove. One of the KEY reasons for that particular case (since others were in the running and close-calls); only this case was compatible with the kickstand, making that the deal breaker for the other cases.\n\nIf the design was cleaner (rounded, maybe thicker aluminum so no 'knife edge' on the sides), if the design didn't 'squish' when you grabbed it, and if the arrow keys were in the correct laptop order of left-right and up-down I'd rate it 5 stars. As it stands it's very good with room for improvement, but a 'must have' in-spite of its flaws.\n\nI was asked if the iPad 'locks into' the case:\n\ngreat question, sorry i missed it in the review; the keyboard has a very good little 'grip' that grabs about 80% of the bottom edge of the iPad2. it only grabs by the bottom 1.5mm or so, making it incompatible with some cases and why i mention the particular Belkin case; it actually only works in ONE of the horizontal orientations because that case has a cut-out for apple's smart cover. The only tumbling problem I have is if i try to lay on my back with my knee up in the air like i do with a laptop, it'll fall out forward when the center of gravity gets too close to me. I use on my lap in a moving car etc, no problem (should say on my knee; too small for 'lap'). The 'hole' where the bottom edge goes is NOT just a rectangular 'pit'; the top edge of the hole has a bit of a 'hangover' like the bull-nose of a stair step and grips on just perfectly.\n\nasked if it's difficult to remove after making the conversion to fit with the Belkin Case:\n\nanswer: once making the conversion to fit with the back case on, it's not difficult at all to remove; caveat is that it doesn't hold in like a death grip either; you won't want to trust the iPad to hold in e.g. ONLY hold the case; it's a non-issue however since you will always be gripping from both sides to carry.\n\nthere is a BUG in the design of the iPad 2 version of the keyboard; the case has a 1/16\" GAP below the spacebar, the entire length so if you grip on that side you will distort the case quite a lot every time unless you use a piece of the removed foam tape to fill in that gap (just stick on the foam below the spacebar, maybe 2-3\" long piece).\n\nwhen assembled together, there is a natural place to put a thumb to peel it out; right where the volume switches are; very easy to remove, and a perfect setup for an old lady.\n\nasked if the msrp is too high\n\nanswer: r. robinson: absolutely 4 star. it'd be 5 star if it was a little better made; hard alum vs soft stamped, arrow keys in the correct orientation (as they ARE on the model 1 version), didn't mess up the space below the space bar (where on model 1 it touches the glass on the iPad but on the model 2 it does not).\n\nupdate: i finally figured out the method to the madness: the bottom three arrow keys are arranged in the 'inverted t' arrangement with the down in the middle so people used to the inverted 't' will be able to 'touch type' on them. it makes for a bit of weirdness when you need to use 'up' and hit the shift instead but it's not as terrible as originally described. since you're far more likely to use down, it may actually be a better arrangement than having the up/down and left/right touching.\n\nmsrp is fair. it's a rechargeable LION battery bluetooth keyboard *and* a case. either of which is worth 'about $50'. This is the iPad2 model. the iPad 1 model is on-par with this one but is a little better design (two quirks mentioned above).\n\nasked if the ipad 'nest onto' the keyboard 'backwards' i.e. can you just 'flip over' the ipad and have a combined unit that works well rather than having to set aside the keyboard anytime you don't want to use it:\n\nanswer: i think with the model 1 it does better than with model 2. I occasionally do just this but they don't interlock at all, however the rubbery back of my case gives a lot of grip on the keys, i just make sure the keyboard is off. normally when using w/o the keyboard, the keyboard is off in a corner somewhere.\n\nMy original review is on the inactive version of this keyboard if you'd like to see the other posts: <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Logitech-Keyboard-Case-for-iPad-2/dp/B00512W4Y2/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Logitech Keyboard Case for iPad 2</a>\n\nupdate: i had a keycap break and since i'm a computer tech that has swapped literally 1000s of keycaps over the years, i wrote zagg customer service saying it would be 'down right silly' for me to send back a whole keyboard to replace a single key, here was their response:\n\nzagg customer service wrote:\nThank you for the suggestion, Andrew. I will get it sent to the appropriate party. Regarding your broken period key (.) I will be happy to send you a new one with its mounting bracket.\n\n(the 'suggestion' was to work on a way to market the combination of the back case like the belkin with the keyboard).\n\nI have been having an issue where occasionally the keyboard won't connect to the ipad, i typically have to turn BT off then back on ON THE IPAD so indication is that it's more likely a but with the ipad software than the keyboard, just wanted to mention it in case others have a similar problem. try FIRST to turn BT off and on on the ipad than try to re-sync with the sync button on the keyboard.\n\n-awr","Product: This versatile arm can be used in a variety of applications: attach a smaller monitor for use within a sit-stand workstation or add a large display up to 11.3 kg to position digital signage. The LX provides unparalleled range of motion, being able to accommodate a user's sitting or standing posture - features 20 inches of vertical adjustment and 62 inches of side-to-side adjustment.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Home Run Solution Exceeds All Expectations\n\nReview: I use for hovering a laptop over my bed. I added an extra arm to extend the reach and of course the laptop adapter.\n\nFantastic! It reduces the stress and strain on my body by a factor of 500-800%\n\nI left the tilt function unlocked and that makes it even better! I rotate counter clockwise so my left wrist is not twisted and in a month I've healed from a serious RSI (carpal tunnel) injury.\n\nI will never go back to any other way to hold a laptop. I will be another set for living room to float the computer over a recliner.\n\nIt will wobble if you type without the laptop resting a little bit on your leg or a pillow or such but it's an easy fix.\n\nWorth twice the price.\n\n-awr","Product: The nautica spinnaker collection is constructed of high density denier polyester with a locking telescoping handle and inline skate wheels for easy carrying convenience, this luggage piece is great for trips longer than a few days, 5 year warranty\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Best luggage I've owned. Easiest to see at baggage claim\n\nReview: We have the 21 and the 25\" of this suitcase. They are fantastic. I bought the 21\" one first then wanted the matching larger one. If you travel by air and not first class you don't want the 28\" model it will be 2/3 full at most when it hits 50#.\n\nThere is a model that has the same shape but NOT the same color as this model. If you want 'the one' that has the bright colored side panels so you can literally see from 100' away at the airport, you want THIS model and only this model.\n\nSoft sided luggage is much more survivable than hard sided, but these have a bonus; they are PADDED. might add a pound to the weight but they are very light weight, and it's well worth it to make the CONTENTS survivable when going through the gauntlet of airport luggage handling!\n\nFound out an added bonus the other day: the 21\" exactly fits inside the 25\"; it can't be by accident it's an exact fit; well that sure makes storing easier and extra handy for a trip where you will be bringing more back than bringing with.\n\nThe photos online are terrible; these things are BRIGHT orange, like hunter's use for deer hunting, the yellow i hope is similarly bright.\n\nIf you like a little splash of color in your life, get the bright yellow or orange models and you will LOVE how easy they are to spot coming out of baggage. (of course, unless too many people read my review).\n\n-awr","Product: The nautica spinnaker collection is constructed of high density denier polyester with a locking telescoping handle and inline skate wheels for easy carrying convenience, this luggage piece is great for trips longer than a few days, 5 year warranty\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Best luggage I've owned. Easiest to see at baggage claim\n\nReview: We have the 21 and the 25\" of this suitcase. They are fantastic. I bought the 21\" one first then wanted the matching larger one. If you travel by air and not first class you don't want the 28\" model it will be 2/3 full at most when it hits 50#.\n\nThere is a model that has the same shape but NOT the same color as this model. If you want 'the one' that has the bright colored side panels so you can literally see from 100' away at the airport, you want THIS model and only this model.\n\nSoft sided luggage is much more survivable than hard sided, but these have a bonus; they are PADDED. might add a pound to the weight but they are very light weight, and it's well worth it to make the CONTENTS survivable when going through the gauntlet of airport luggage handling!\n\nFound out an added bonus the other day: the 21\" exactly fits inside the 25\"; it can't be by accident it's an exact fit; well that sure makes storing easier and extra handy for a trip where you will be bringing more back than bringing with.\n\nThe photos online are terrible; these things are BRIGHT orange, like hunter's use for deer hunting, the yellow i hope is similarly bright.\n\nIf you like a little splash of color in your life, get the bright yellow or orange models and you will LOVE how easy they are to spot coming out of baggage. (of course, unless too many people read my review).\n\n-awr","Product: The Igloo Iceless 26 quart is the ultimate solution for keeping your food and beverages cool for a long time. Cool on-the-go without the mess and inconvenience of ice in your car, SUV, RV or big rig. Iceless cooling performance is powered by thermoelectric technology. This cooler cools down to 36 degrees Fahrenheit below the outside temperature. It plugs directly into any 12V DC outlet (cigarette lighter) for easy power while traveling. It features a brushless motor and convection cooling so everything stays cold, not just some of the items. Comfortable molded hands for two handed carrying and lifting.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Wish i'd have pulled the trigger on this purchase years ago!\n\nReview: works better than advertised! it's rated for 36F below ambient, but i've measured over 40F below ambient. I was able to keep food at 36F when it was close to 80F in my car. I made a jumper cord i can run from a 12V drill battery so i can keep it running when i go from house to car. There are a couple design flaws that almost make me give 4 vs 5 star review:\n\n the power cord interferes with operation with the handle; you can only pull handle forward not backwards when plugged in\n the power cord is hard to tell up from down; I made a label on the cooler which side is positive so i don't have to figure it out every time\n as opposed to most of these type of coolers this model ONLY cools; logically it would work in reverse if you could plug in backwards, however the fans are probably brushless DC and would likely not work in reverse or could cause damage.\n\nI had this in my shopping cart 'hold' for over a year and bought it the minute i notice the price drop about $25. If i knew how well it worked i'd have paid the extra $25 to have it for another year.","Product: Front Wheel Drive Bearing Adapter Kit.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: weak link is the bolt, fix that and make a 5 star kit.\n\nReview: weak link is the bolt; it's very soft metal; effectively not hardened steel; i cut mine in half with a bandsaw in 8 seconds when the threads got damaged on the first use. The rest of the kit is good. I'm buying a hardened 3/4-16 hardened threaded rod and some grade 8 nuts, as well as some bronze bushings. It will be five stars with the fix.\n\nupdate: i bought a nice hardened rod (grade 5 i'm guessing) and though it survived removal, it was shot by the time I pressed the new bearing in; it was well lubricated it's just that some bearings are installed with a lot more force than others. I have bmw x-5 and the math worked out to about 30 to 35,000 # of force to remove and about 25,000# force to install. well a 3//4 bolt (19mm) is only designed for 23,000# so it shouldn't have worked.\n\nI bought another copy of this set and will be boring out the holes on the bigger parts to 1\" to use a rod designed for the forces involved in the larger bearings. a 1\" bolt is designed for 60,000# and 700 ft-lb of torque. I think it takes less than 350 ft-lb to damage a 3//4 bolt. The kit i bought was almost half price because somebody damaged it and returned at local discount store. (HF). since i would be replacing the useless bolt that comes with anyhow, not a problem for me.\n\nKit recommended with the caveats; buy a good 3//4 inch rod for the smaller plates and drill out the bigger ones to 1\" and get a 1\" push rod for the big ones","Product: Onyx mesh wall pockets will help you organize your clutter. Made with steel mesh construction and black powder coat finish. Holds letter-size charts and files. Wall mounting hardware included.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: VERYnice, some minor issues.\n\nReview: Really nice rack; some things to be aware of however;\n\n1) the kit includes a mount you attach to the wall and then hook baskets onto.\n2) the baskets are not necessarily 'square' with the pegs on the mount\n3) the pegs on the mount are not prefectly square with the mount.\n\nI mounted the mount on the wall perfectly plumb only to discover that the baskets 1) were not level and 2) were not the same amount of crooked.\n\nI found two of the three baskets that were the same amount of crooked, put my magnetic level in the bottom of the baskets and re-leveled the bracket crooked so that the baskets are perfectly level.\n\nThe baskets are too close together reducing the capacity by 40% on the bottom two so i'm using 2 on the bracket that came with and will mount the 3rd elseware by itself.\n\nSince the bracket is not wide enough to reach between studs, I drilled holes into the bracket in the center so i could mount onto a stud (totally not needed but I'm a member of overbuilder's anonymous). I would defintely buy again.","Product: Our CHROME-201 features a 200 gram capacity with 0.01 gram readability. The scale has a large stainless steel weighing platform. This scale, also, has chrome plating and a removable protective cover that can be used as a weighing tray. The CHROME-201 is powered by two AAA batteries, (included). Features a battery saving, 60 second, no activity, automatic shutoff. Each scale comes with a 10 year limited warranty. The scale has a large reverse back-lit LCD and a counting feature.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Fantastic scale, hard to pick which, I bought 'em both.\n\nReview: Great little scale, stunning price, hard to pick between this one and it's brother, the ACP-200. After studying the reviews I bought both so I could review and either send back the least favored or keep them both (i'm keeping both).\n\nHow do they compare?\n\nThe size; chrome is smaller, 2 1/2 x 4 9/16 x 3/4 inches vs 2 3/4 x 4 7/8 x 3/4 (2 7/8 bumps for the hinges)\nvolume: 8.55 cu. inches vs 10.05 cu. inches (the chrome is 15% smaller).\n\nThe chrome is nearly identical in width and height to an iphone 4 in a case, and 1/4 in. thicker, the other is 1/4 inch bigger in all all 3 dimensions.\n\nThe chrome weighs 116g vs the other is 143 w/o the pouch and 152g with. (means the chrome is 25% lighter). for comparison my iphone 5 with the case is almost identical to the acp-200 (not the chrome) at 142g.\n\nDisplays:\n\nHands down winner is the non-chrome. The chrome is reverse LCD and you can almost always see the ghost of the non-lit segments, you can see the illumination point on the side, it's not evenly lit but the saving grace is it's still always absolutely legible. The height of the numbers is 3/8 on the non-chrome vs 1/2 inch on the chrome. The non-chrome's display is perfect. absolutely perfect EL blue illumination corner to corner. It shows the battery level it shows grams value always and the secondary unit choice also always in 1/4\" tall numbers in the bottom right. In addition it shows a zero mark when it's not reading any weight which is nice to remind you if you've tare'd or not.\n\nFunctions:\nThey are functionally nearly identical with these differences:\n1) the chrome has avoirdupois oz, troy oz, pennyweight, carat, grain as well as gram but ONLY shows the chosen unit,\n2) the non-chrome has pennyweight, grain, carat as well as gram and shows the secondary unit simultaneously.\n\nThis clearly puts the chrome ahead if you want for measuring gold or jewelry or need to have your results in oz right away w/o needing to do math.\n\nThe LID/cover as a tray:\n\nThe chrome model, the lid comes off completely in normal use, and works a little better as a tray, It also includes a cheat-sheet of operation which is really helpful for reminding you how to calibrate the scale but is missing a critical item: how to use for piece counting! (something you are very likely to forget how to do by the next time you want to use it).\n\nThere is a curious quirk with the lid on the chrome model: if you put on upside-down, it takes literally 12x the force to remove (i just measured 50g force to open when installed correctly and over 600g force to remove when upside down). this is after wearing it in; when brand new it wsa likely twice that or 'nearly impossible'. The fix; pull open from the top not the bottom. Testing just now the lid pulled off at 700g from the bottom and 100g from the top when on upside down. You can grip from the sides and slowly pull at the top edge; if your fingers are too slippery use a piece of tape, then pay attention in the future and put on correctly you'll never have a problem again.\n\nThe non-chrome model,The lid is attached with a hinge. I didn't notice in the manual if it said how to remove to use as a tray but it's quite simple; open the lid 90and pull the lid away directly sideways either at the top or the bottom 'peeling' the lid away from the base.\n\nThe performance 'as a tray' goes hands-down however to the chrome. The lids are both a little bit convex so when placed on the scale platform they get skittish and will want to wander around a bit; the chrome model it's not noticeable but on the non-chrome it's super-duper noticeable; it feels like you've invented magnetic levitation. I just spun my lid and it twirled over a dozen full rotations. Fortunately in practice it rarely causes any problem, it's more of a nuisance than any actual problem.\n\nCalibration:\n\nThe chrome model is easier to calibrate requiring only a 200g reference where the non-chrome requires both 100g and 200g weights.\n\nDo not attempt to use some makeshift solution you will need to get some actual reference weights to calibrate your scale. My chrome scale came completely miscalibrated; off maybe 6g at 100g when I got it; the non-chrome was spot-on and within 0.02g from the factory. My 100g calibration kit came with the scales but my additional 100g weight hadn't arrived yet but I was able to make one pretty easy in this way: I put my 100g reference on the working scale, and hit the tare button giving me a zero reference. I put a small measuring cup that would hold maybe 150ml of water and filled it until the scale read almost exactly zero. Then i took a small wad of paper towel and soaked it in water. taking that piece of paper towel either squeezed out drips or soaked up a bit of water until I got the scale to register 0.00 g.\n\nThen I took off the makeshift water weight, zero'd the scale and put the reference weight back on. noting the reading (100.04 for example) and put the water weight on.. it was slightly different probably due to evaporation so tinkered a bit until it matched the reference exactly and I could swap the two and get the same reading within 0.01g. At that point I could use the real reference and the water copy to achieve the 200g needed to calibrate both scales with perfect success.. A little while later I measured the 'water weight reference' and sure enough it was a few 00ths of a gram lighter due to evaporation.\n\nWith a little bit of luck on your side and a pile of coins you could likely achieve the same success if you have 100g reference but need 200g. You will want to have a permanent actual 100g and 200g reference.\n\naccuracy:\nabsolutely amazing on both scales! I have taken over a dozen pictures with the scales showing 0.00g error or 0.01g error at all levels from 0.50g to 200.00g and even with the scales stacked; putting the chrome on the non-chrome, hitting tare on both and putting a weight on the top scale. I could put on 52.12g of reference weight and get 52.12 reading (0.00g error) on both scales where the bottom scale is of course measuring with 116g offset yet still achieving near perfect and repeatable accuracy.\n\njust now put a 5g reference on each scale and got a 5.00 reading on each. added 50g and chrome reading 54.99 and non-chrome also 54.99.added 10mg and non-chrome came right up to 55.00. repeated on the chrome and it likewise came up to 55.00. The fact that the scale will actually register a change of .01g after it's already settled in is astounding.\n\nAuto-off function.\n\nAs you will see from other reviewers; the scales will shut off after some amount of non-use. The non-chrome seems to do a MUCH better job at re-setting the count-down timer when you change the weight; bump the scale, add or subtract weight within a minute and it does not shut off. The chrome model shuts on me plenty, the non-chrome if i bump it once in a while (within a minute) it stays on continously and i never have a problem with it. The chrome model on the other hand is annoyingly quick to shut off. f\n\nThey clearly have the same basic timer; doing this review i've seen them both shut off within 1 sec of each other half a dozen times but during the same time Ive seen the chrome off while the non-chrome still on at least a half dozen times.\n\nAccuracy:\nThey both are crazy accurate and high or low weights.\n\nIf you need to measure crazy low weights like 2-20 mg, you want a different scale but in a pinch these guys will measure values in the 100mg range with repeatable accuracy. I have noticed the non-chrome does have some better software and hits repeatable values better. example; putting on a 100mg reference, I'm more likely to see 0.09 on the chrome than the non-chrome. Or when adding on 10mg, more likely to NOT see the up-tick on the chrome. In BOTH cases, lightly tapping the platform (talking about a 1-2g tap with tweezer), i've found that the re-weigh will be far more likely to match the reference especially if you've just added on 10-20mg.\n\nThat being said, using 100+10mg references, I could repeatedly get 0.10 and 0.11 readings from the non-chrome as well as get readings as low as 30mg that matched the reference weight where that just won't happen on the chrome. below .1g I wouldn't trust the chrome at all, while i've gotten repeateable accuracy of 30, 50, 80, 110, 130, 150mg on the non-chrome. it may take 10+ sec. for the final reading to come in but sure enough.. I saw 0.05g reading after I added 20mg to 50mg (it didn't show the addition of the 20mg).. i looked away for a few seconds and sure enough 0.08 was showing! at the same time i put 100mg on the chrome and it settled in on at coincidentally 0.08. off by 20mg.\n\nanother test just now: 5g = 5.00, add 100mg; 5.10, add 50mg; 5.15, add 10mg; 5.16, then add 20mg and it reads 5.18. that is absolutely insane for a $16 device!\n\nnow the same test on the chrome: 5g= 5.00, add 100mg; 5.09, add 50mg; 5.14, add 10mg; 5.16, then add 20mg; 5.18. also insane.\n\nI tapped the platform any time i add weight to \"tell\" the scale to re-evaluate. oh the scale just changed to 5.17; also something that happens more often on the chrome; wondering results. never a big difference but more likely than the non-chrome to do so.\n\nastounding; both scales auto-off'd on me, I turned 'em on, let them warm up a few seconds and put the 5.18 back on.. the non-chrome hit 5.18 the first shot. the chrome: 5.16, then with a tap, 5.17, weights off; tare, weights on; 5.17, weights off, re-tare, weights on; 5.17, tap; 5.18.took som coaxing but did work. non-chrome auto off'd; power on, weights back on; hit5.18 first shot.\n\nSo in my first 5 days with the scales, this is what ive been experiencing; the non-chrome ACP-200 has been hitting repeatable #s within 0.01g, and while the chrome model will hit within 0.02 per it's claim, it is a much bigger fractional error on small weights so the non-chrome kicks its butt when weights are less than a gram and even when below 10g, the error starts to become significant (.4% at 5g where at 100g that error is 0.02%).\n\nlast test; 1g weight freshly turned on; the non-chrome hit 1.00 within a second, the chrome registered 1.01 for a couple seconds then was 1.00 then 0.99 then back to 1.00; adding 50mg they both hit 1.05 within a couple seconds. absolutely stunning. Adding 50mg to chrome and 51.04, tap and 51.05 appears. non-chrome: 51.04 and stays. adding 50g and the -.01g offset stays 101.04g. the chrome started with101.04 but settled in at 101.05 exactly matching the reference values. re-weigh after power-cycle and with 100g reference hit 100.00g (i took a pic) then put on the 1g + 50mg and it hit 101.05g for almost a minute; it wandered up to 101.06 (0.01% error). just before powering off. I think i've discovered the key too the short power-off cycle; it shuts off before it will start to wander too far off course.\n\nThe summary. If I had paid $50 each for the two scales I would be THRILLED with the results, The fact they were $16 each is just amazing. I'm thrilled beyond words.\n\nI'm happier with the performance of the non-chrome, and that will be my go-to standard I will keep in my kitchen for use 'most of the time'. The chrome being more portable, and having more useful units, will be the one I have in my coat pocket ready to use anywhere anytime.\n\nps; just for fun put 30mg on the non-chrome and sure enough after a good 10 sec., 0.03 magically appears!","Product: We developed a sturdy thermoplastic (ABS) frame; a see through poly vinyl flap; a floating sill to insure good closure; and a strong molded ABS lock-out slide to restrict the pet's movements when necessary. Then we made it 4 sizes for pets up to 120 pounds. And with a tamper proof mounting system and easy installation, it's the most economical pet door in the industry.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: I can't imagine a better door is out there.\n\nReview: Very well designed; uses a 'magic magnet' latch at the bottom; the key is that the bottom does not touch the swinging plastic flap until the flap is at the bottom and magnets pull it up; this means there is NO WEAR and no friction to cause the wear, also means there is a very tight seal when it is closed. it took a bit of training to get the cat to figure out how to push the flap but after a few tries the cat loves the door.\n\nThe inside slider doesn't have any type of 'keep up' latch i think they expect you to remove completely but it will stay up with just the right amount of luck on your side. It is designed to be in a door and i installed into a wall; i ended up using the outside frame pinched against the wood lathe on the inside of the wall and two layers of drywall so about 1 1/4 to 1 3/8 inch thickness and it worked perfectly.\n\nThe wall i put it in is a 1 foot thick wall of brick; i made the opening of the brick a few inches wider than the door and used quick setting cement to make the wall solid around the frame of the door.","Product: Turn your ratchet wrench into a digital torque wrench and tighten your bolts with complete accuracy. The ARM602-4 1/2-inch Digital Torque Adapter features an audible alert that buzzes once youve reach your setting and torques between 4 to 147.6 ft.-lbs. With three (3) mode settings, this little decide operates in both clockwise and counter-clockwise with an LCD display that shows N-m (or kg-cm, in-lb., ft-lb) measurements. Package includes one (1) digital torque adapter and two (2) CR2032 coin cell batteries.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Waited waaaay too long to get this\n\nReview: As the headline says; i should have gotten this years ago.\n\nFair warning; the specs are a little confusing because it will work at a much lower value than you can actually set the alarm to beep.\n\nI took off a star for two reasons not even related to the above: Its hard to read w/o backlight and it has three LEDs that blink when you get to the set level but they all blink at the same time you don't get much of an 'almost there'; they should be light up one at a time to give you a better heads-up.\n\nThat said, it's super well made, comes with a perfect case that has space for a spare set of batteries. 4.5 stars.","Product: Includes 50 ft. Compact Laser Measure - GLM15, (2) 1.5V AAA Batteries\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Close but no cigar; that's too bad\n\nReview: This is 'almost perfect' with several fatal flaws: 1) The size of the 1/16th dimension is insanely small.. almost impossible to distinguish 7 from 1 for example or a 5 from an 8... eg 7/16 looks like 1/16 and 3/8 looks like 5/8 2) No backlight; make is literally impossible to read often 3) The LCD is deep enough inside that the 1/16ths is shadowed by the bezel and almost always you have to rotate around to find 'just the right lighting' to be able to read the display 4) can't change the scale format... you get FT + inches you can't change to just inches... that makes math impossible... e.g. it's very easy to subtract 47\" from 102\", nearly impossible to subtract 4'5 1/16\" from 9' 5 5/8\". Also 4b) the metric reading similarly crippled; ONLY full meter reading can't change to cm. terrible oversight. who works in meters? So it's a beautiful thing but it's accuracy is only OK (reads high by 1/16 to 1/8 consistently) but not very useful for production work. I will be trading up, thanks to home depot for allowing returns. if the 'next size up' addresses the flaws I will be getting that one instead.","Product: Hammer Drill Driver, M18 Fuel, Cordless, RPM: 0 - 550/0 - 2000, BPM: 32000, Torque: 1200 in-lbs, Voltage: 18V, Chuck: 1/2\" Single Sleeve - Ratcheting Lock, Weight: 4.5 lbs, Includes: (1) M18 FUEL 1/2\" Hammer Drill/Driver with ONEKEY ***Tool Only***\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: The latest and greatest\n\nReview: Milwaukee Tops themselves. There is some 'learning curve' to this one. i've still not figured out exactly how to program to do what i want it to do, but the torque on this thing is insane, and the screw clutch is apparently electronically monitored, not a physical slip clutch; the motor just stops turning, takes a bit to get used to but it's way nicer.\n\nMy first job with this tool, I used a 3 1//2 inch hole saw I modified to make a 'dirt blower' (think snow blower) to make 90 feet of trench to bury a conduit; it didn't even notice the load, practically running 'freewheel'. In comparison, the last years model (720 in-lb of torque) It definitely bogged down a little you could tell it was 'working'.\n\nThe last years model could direct-drive self-boring 2 9//16 bits through framing lumber in 7 seconds, so this one would of course have no problem with such a job but you would want to add an extension to the torque handle or it'll break your wrist (not kidding).","Product: KwikTool USA introduces innovation at its best witha whole line of universal blades called the C7 Bad Blades with sizes 4.5 up to 14 designed for nearly any cutting tool. You can use in your angle grinder, table saw, compound miter, circular saw, chop saw, fire & rescue saw. Why C7?? This Category Seven is something that's never been seen before on the scale of rotation! So Destructive, so Bad that nothing stops its awesome cutting ability! These blades can cut through wood, wood with nails, steel, iron, plastics, laminates, composites plus non-ferrous metals like aluminum, copper, brass, and alloys all with NO Kick-back and without ever changing a blade. Do the work of a whole toolbox full of blades! One blade. Any job. KwikTool has sold these products into the European industrial market for the past 15 years and is now making them available to the US market. The products are supported by years of in-field use, and backed by US customer service.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: As somebody else wrote; jack of all trades, master of none\n\nReview: I'm adding on a 4th star for my personal experience that i'd have to rate 3 stars at best; blade caught on the edge of a steel 1/8\" thick band and threw 3 teeth on the 4th use; amazon gets 5 stars for replacing the blade, but having used morse metal devil blades for most of a decade with never a problem, there is caution to be had with this blade\n\nThat said i'll be glad to have the bad blade back in action for the 'do everything' aspect. It did not cut wood great and nowhere near as good at cutting metal as the morse, but it's 1/6th the price as well.\n\nIt it's 50% heavier than any blade i have so it does take longer to get up to speed but the mass helps it bite through nails and such and that's why i wanted this blade; i can cut though wood that has a nail and not fret that it'll kill the blade, also when i'm mostly cutting metal but need to cut an occasional 2x4, this is the blade I want in my saw; i think i could cut a 2x4 faster with my teeth than the morse metal blade which really ONLY cuts metal.\n\nI tried to cut a deep cut (1 1/8 inch) all the way down a 2x2 and it couldn't do it; i had to do it in several passes where *ANY* other blade would have NO problem in my M18 fuel saw (can cut 41 feet of LVL which a corded saw can barely do).\n\nso in anticipation of my replacement doing what it's supposed to do 4 stars not 3.","Product: M18 FUEL 1/2\" IMPACT WR- XC KIT. REDLITHIUMTM XC 4.0 Battery Pack is the most durable pack on the market and provides up to 2X more run time. REDLINK PLUSTM Electronic Intelligence allows the operator to choose between 3 fastening modes with Milwaukee's proprietary DRIVE CONTROLTM feature. This FUELTM 1/2\" Compact Impact Wrench utilizes a pin detent design for maximum socket retention. Delivers a best-in-class 210 feet-lbs. and 2,520 in-lbs of torque in a compact design The Milwaukee POWERSTATETM Brushless Motor provides increased efficiency, lasts longer and delivers maximum power REDLITHIUMTM XC 4.0 Battery Pack is the most durable pack on the market and provides up to 2X more run time REDLINK PLUSTM Electronic Intelligence allows the operator to choose between 3 fastening modes with Milwaukee's proprietary DRIVE CONTROLTM feature Utilizes a pin detent design for maximum socket retention\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Incredible tool, i literally won't leave home without it\n\nReview: I bought so I can change tires and it's the perfect tool. It did have a tough time when the battery was almost dead taking off a tire on my old ford explorer but when i put on a new battery bang'd it right off.\n\nIMPORTANT; you need torq stix if you want to use the tool to put the wheel back ON with the tool but again it works perfect.\n\nI decided time to balance the nonsense 'review' with a real one. This tool is the perfect 1/2\" impact wrench for most general purpose use; the first thing i used it for was removing an anode from a 7 yr old hot water heater. Impossible job w/o impact (attempts with long bar just turned the whole water heater); once this tool was brought onto the job, 10 seconds later anode was out."],"string":"[\n \"Product: This weight kit is perfect for checking the accuracy of your precision digital or mechanical scales.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: almost perfect, very easy to modify and make complete\\n\\nReview: Awesome value, useless tweezers, sadly missing the 100g weight that would make the kit complete. I bought a 100g weight hoping i could modify the box to fit it into the space that seemingly was made to fit it so that i could have a complete set that I could use to calibrate my new 200g scales. (both of which need 200g but one of which needs both 100g and 200g)\\n\\nI used a razor knife to separate the inner frame from the box, pulled out the inner frame from the box, then i used a forstner bit size 7/8 to drill the bottom out of the 100g spot. The foam in the lid was too tight for the box lit to close w/o distorting it so i used a 5/8 fortner bit turned backwards by hand on the foam to cut a nice circle, using the same trick i cut a circle in a piece of smooth cardboard and pressed down on the foam so the cut circle would 'pop up' through the cardboard and used an extendable razor knife to slice off about 80% of the thickness of the foam; now i have a complete set including 100g individual weight and enough other weights i can easily calibrate my two 200g scales.\\n\\nI managed to 'tiddly wink' one of the 20mg weights across the room and lost it and am pretty sure the kit came with a 5mg weight that went missing on first use; so word to the wise be very careful opening the ziplock bag with the micro weights!\\n\\nMy new scales have 0.01g precision and all the weights appear to be well within 0.01g tolerance as i've been getting exactly repeatable measurements.\\n\\nthe mg weights could be made better and with consistency (e.g. all stainless steel so they won't disappear in the presence of a magnet) and it would be *really nice* considering the size of them and the negligible cost, that there might be some spares! That said it would be a solid 5 stars if it had the mystery 100g spot filled with a 100g weight and if the tweezer included wasn't pointlessly useless (wouldn't open enough to pick up the 5g weight and broke when trying to stretch it open big enough to do so, also wouldn't grab the mg weights so really literally useless). Super happy on the purchase and would most definitely buy again. (and modify again and through out the useless tweezer again)\",\n \"Product: Contents: 30 gEspecially Strong Glass to Metal BondsUV and Visible Light CureMedium ViscosityOptically ClearCRL UV604 is a medium viscosity, 100% solids, UV/Visible light curable adhesive formulated to form high tensile shear and peel strength bonds to a variety of substrates such as glass, laminated glass, steel, stainless steel, aluminum, ceramic, stone, wood and some plastics. This adhesive does not have capillary properties; therefore it must be applied to the bonding surface prior to assembling the parts. Of particular interest is its suitability for bonding laminated safety glass. The PVB film between laminated glass panes absorbs almost all of the UVA radiation, but because this adhesive has been made to also cure by daylight, it reacts with the remaining radiation (above 380nm) and cures completely. Cured bonds of CRL UV604 are optically clear, resistant to moisture and thermal cycling. Store adhesive away from sunlight. CRL7528 Cleaner and Degreaser provides for optimum adhesion when used first to prepare the glass by removing any dirt and grease that is present.Note: When bonding plastics, always test first, as not all plastics can be bonded properly. Do not bond any coated parts (powder coated or galvanized) with this adhesive.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Should be five stars but too little support or details\\n\\nReview: I would rate five stars this stuff is incredible. However there is ZERO information how to use it what to expect including cure times, can you use flashlight to cure etc.\\n\\nSometimes I get a weird oily film on the surface when it cures, I've noticed an exothermic reaction (I seamed a tear in my jeans while wearing) and wonder if it needs to be in a particular range of ambient temp. I have repairs things in the first few days that have been on the repair shelf for better part of a decade where several attempts with super glue and epoxy have failed.\\n\\nThis is not a miracle cure for anything , the laws of physics will not change for you ( I read a post where a guy was mad because he could not glue a tent pole back together, a preposterous demand)\\n\\nIf you think of it as a uv cured solid with some adhesive quality you'll be better off than expecting crazy adhesion. Also of course the uv light must reach the gel to cure it but seems to travel through itself some distance so you can apply thick enough to make a light pipe and get between two opaque items.\",\n \"Product: Type: Fully insulated quick piercing test clip Quantity: 2Pcs (Black and Red) Rating: CATIII 1000V, 10A Max. Material: shell PA, the main copper + stainless steel nickel-plated Wire Size: Wire largest diameter 3.5mm, 16AWG-23AWG Banana Socket:4mm Weight:50g(2Pcs)\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Very good value, glad to own\\n\\nReview: Only four stars because they wouldn't pierce the wires to a thermistor of an ice maker; the size of the wire was within the range but the coating was very rubbery and the self-centering system didn't work and the needle pushed the wire out of the way.\\n\\nI tested on some 18ga wire and it worked well, its a very decent copy of 'the real thing' and at an eighth of the price, worth having a copy, i've been wanting some piercing leads for a long time. I ordered some 224 fluke leads to go with but bought on eBay for $12 or so half the price here.\\n\\nI was going to get the screw-on type but they are all low voltage i need something for 240v testing these are rated to 1000v.\",\n \"Product: The tl-series heavy duty hanging scales are perfect for industrial weighing applications. includes shackle with locking latch and an s-hook for attaching loads. the scale is available in two capacities to suit your application needs.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Exactly what I wanted. much mis-information on this product, here's some clarity\\n\\nReview: Been wanting an inline force gauge for a while now; been using a hand-held suitcase scale for this purpose, and typically trying to measure the force downward to measure the force multiplication efficiency of a 4-2-1 or 5-2-1 rope hoist; typically the efficiency is not more than 66% or 75%; in other words, with a 5-2-1 rope hoist where theoretically you can lift 100# of load with 20# of force, in reality you can expect to pull with 35# of force losing nearly half of the mechanical advantage! I needed a proper inline scale i can use to test both up and down forces, and high enough capability to measure the full load and some high precision for measuring the pull side.\\n\\nI was very concerned after reading some of the reviews about buying this model; on the first day I got it I addressed every single problem brought up in older reviews and i'm pretty convinced the current model is a complete revision from an older version with the same name; note that even on AWS website they say the scale uses 2x 2032 batteries but the manual (and reality) matches that it uses 2xAAA batteries.\\n\\nthe scale is crazy light; the metal load plate is aluminum (with a steel insert for strength). with lithium batteries (you'd be silly to use other), it weighs 180g. it's not 'tiny' but very reasonably sized; the x-y dimensions are similar to my iPhone 6s, but about half an inch taller.\\n\\nThe scale is programmed from the factory to time out after 2 min. of no activity; change of weight counts so if you use continuously it won't shut off. The notion of it will turn off on you while loading is bunk, also, i haven't had a chance to try this but have used the trick on every other digital scale i've used; if the scale turns off on you while loading, turn it on let it tare to 0 and remove the load; it will show you the weight as a negative #.\\n\\nI found an older manual online that suggested only using at room temperature and allowing to come to temp for an hour before expecting accuracy, the current manual has no mention of temperature, and I did a pretty solid performance experiment; i put the scale in a freezer set to 0F for half an hour, took a measurement, then put on a radiator that was about 120F for half an hour, took another reading of the same item, then i left it for about an hour to have the scale come to room temperature and took a 3rd reading; they were all within 1% of the same weight. (with a range of temperature of the scale of about 70-80F); that is acceptable by any stretch of the imagination. If you want to use outside in the cold, i would recommend keeping the scale in your jacket (like in your shirt chest pocket) to keep it warm and pull it out just to measure; you'll have very good luck. When the scale just came out of the freezer, it did act a little sluggish but never a problem to read the display or activate or use it.\\n\\nThe scale stays on the last unit you choose; it doesn't matter if you turn it off or the auto-off setting shuts it down, and the scale has three modes; peak where it shows the maximum value, auto where (just like all luggage scales) it will freeze the value as soon as the load is stable for a second or two, and 3rd option; no freeze; it just continuously updates.\\n\\nThe display is designed to be read from 'higher than' the normal of the display, so plan accordingly; once you are about 20 or more lower than the normal of the plane of the display you won't be able to read it; you could use it upside down I suspect if you need to mount it above your head.\\n\\nThe included snap-link is WAAAY bigger than needed, i suppose they use the same for the 200kg model, The 3 / 8 snap links I use are rated higher working load than the 330# of this scale, and for anything less than 150#, I often use some chain with 3 / 16 wire diameter (working load of about 600-800#), that i've cut out the weld to make little 'C' hooks, and they work perfectly well for this scale.\\n\\nHome-Run on this one; if you need something to weigh or measure the force something pulls, this product is perfect. you can get 0.2# precision with this model or 0.5# precision with the 200kg model (this one is 150kg).\\n\\nThis is small enough to go right into my hoist/lifting kit bag, i will never have to wonder again how much that bucket of tools weighs.\",\n \"Product: Different wall materials require different types of fasteners. Use fasteners suitable for the walls in your home (not included). Combines with other accessories in the GRUNDTAL series.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: nice, has some ugly quirks and not the best fit and finish\\n\\nReview: The overall look is fantastic; tubes of stainless is gorgeous for sure! An added bonus is they pretty much can't get dirty, all dust and dirt and water fall right through the rods!\\n\\nnow for the limitations:\\n\\n1. the counter-sink holes for the screws are not uniform so the screw heads don't seat flush. minor but it's not as clean as it should be.\\n\\n2. The tubes are made of very thin metal. I have the 48\\\" long version which exaggerates the issue but even the 31\\\" version will have considerable 'wobble' and 'flex' to the tubes when placing items. even a 2-3 pound load will make the tubes bend and flex. It's most noticeable if you put on a small item that only touches 2-3 rods but has some heft to it; it makes other items rock back and forth that share the same rods.\\n\\n3. egregious oversight: the width does NOT match the standard spacing of STUDS in the wall, so there is virtually no way to mount this item solidly. wall anchors? please. On mine I was able to put the brackets on with the bracket to the OUTSIDE of the bars which spread the spacing between mounting holes to just about 48 inches so i could get the screws into the STUDS so it's solid.\\n\\nI added some support brackets under the rods at each 16\\\" and now the shelf is 'as it should be'. I could probably put 200# of items on EACH shelf without a problem. My added brackets don't reach to the very first rod so it's super obvious how wobbly the rods are without the added support. I tried to take a picture but didn't have enough hands.\",\n \"Product: Henckels Twin Sharp Duo knife sharpener is suitable for all knives with a fine edge, with the exception of coated knives. The stainless-steel sharpener comprises two modules, which are marked on the sharpener. The first module features steel wheels for coarse sharpening and presharpening, and the second module uses ceramic wheels for fine sharpening and smoothing. This sharpener works well for both right- and left-handed people, features rubber feet so it won't skid on the countertop, and measures approximately 8 inches across and 3 inches tall, so you can store it in a drawer or display it in a small space. To use, place the knife sharpener on a flat surface, pressing down slightly with one hand. Draw the knife blade with a little pressure towards yourself, repeating up to five times for the dullest blades. For very blunt knives, use the first module and then the second. Knives with a bit of bluntness may require only the first module to bring back the original sharpness. Check the results by cutting into a sheet of paper.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: It is what it is. Not for dull knives.\\n\\nReview: This is a decent maintenance sharper-er (that is to say it will take a sharp knife and make it sharper). take a dull knife and make it sharp: NOT SO MUCH.\\n\\nThat said it's an excellent tool to use to HONE a knife. maybe it should be called a knife honer vs sharpener.\\n\\nI was able to take a handful of 15 yr old knives that had only been honed with a steel over their life and take several from a 6/10 sharpness to 8/10 which is a substantial improvement; can slice a free hanging sheet of paper but not cleanly every time, but some blades that were like 3/10 sharpness i couldn't really sharpen them to be useful.\\n\\nLike another reviewer mentioned; good for steak, not so much for tomatoes.\\n\\nif you bought this to keep some relatively new sharp knives from dulling this should be just the ticket. If you have a set of knives that are in disrepair this tool will do you no good.\\n\\nawr\",\n \"Product: 47302 BLADESafe Knife Guard 8-inch. Holds blades 6-inch to 8-inch in length. Lightweight, durable plastic, universal design.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Great invention. Darn near perfect\\n\\nReview: I thought there were magnets to hold the blade but it uses rubber pads. I HATE going to cook at friends or family only to find they have worthless knives so I bring my favorite with. Until now I used tape or cardboard for transport. This thing is 22nd century cardboard!\\n\\nBumping off a star because loading is a little tricky when knife is at the max size (8\\\" knife in 8\\\" holder): it won't close unless you put in the \\\"correct\\\" side first and using all folding plastic for the hinges and latches means they will fail 10x as fast as if they used an actual hinge or clasp. It's literally 10 of plastic with 5000% markup due to the I.P. nice deign but could be sold at $3 for a profit.\\n\\n-awr\",\n \"Product: The Rubbermaid Commercial High Heat Silicone Spatula with color-coded handle is an essential item for any commercial or home kitchen. Constructed of heavy-duty silicone, it withstands temperatures up to 500F/260C and features the temperature range embossed on both sides of the handle to indicate that this is a high-heat spatula. With a notched, stain-resistant scraper blade that will not scratch pans, it has a special Clean-Rest tab molded into the silicone that keeps the blade from making direct contact with surfaces and reduces cross-contamination risks. To reinforce important food safety practices even further, this durable, high-heat kitchen spatula is designed with a color-coded handle. Color-coding kitchen utensils and food storage containers helps prevent cross-contamination by separating items for each food type and kitchen area or station. NSF-certified and commercial dishwasher-safe.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: almost a rubber mallet; huge spoon\\n\\nReview: I bought this by accident; was 'aiming for' the equivalent scraper, didn't zoom in on the picture and bought the spoon version by accident.\\n\\nI was going to return it but treating it as a 'happy accident' because it will be the PERFECT utencil for stirring my chili and getting all that wonderful fond mixed in!\\n\\n4 vs 5 stars because rather than having some internal structure to make the 'spoon' shape have strength they just designed it super super thick making the spoon side quite heavy; it's like a rubber mallet with a dent on one side to make a spoon!\\n\\nthis thing is desgned to be used in a commercial environment, scraping out a 5-gallon size mixer etc. it will be comfortable in pots bigger than 6qt and oversized on smaller pots.\\n\\n-awr\",\n \"Product: Vollrath's goal is to make every part of the foodservice industry faster and more efficient, while creating environmentally conscious products with sustainable manufacturing practices. Made of durable 13 gauge aluminum, these professional-weight baking sheet pan features an open rim and is heavier in gauge than that of standard home bakeware. The durable, aluminum construction bakes evenly and browns uniformly, while the light color prevents overbrowning. Baked goods rise and bake evenly due to aluminums superior heat conductivity and open beads pans are NSF listed. The stackable tapered design is ideal for space saving, and can easily fit in standard baker's racks. To preserve quality and keep your product in best working order, this item should only be hand-washed and sanitized.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Could be thicker, not perfectly flat\\n\\nReview: It's the thickest four-wall sheet pan i could find, but mine came a little bit out-of-flat, haven't decided if it's out-of-tolerance enough to send back for a different one.\\n\\nit's decently thick 13 gauge works out to 72/1000th (0.072)\\\". the flat cookie sheet i bought in the same order by comparison is over 100/1000th thick or 39% thicker. thicker is simply better conductivity so more even heating.\\n\\nHaven't cooked with it yet, but my review is based on quality and fit and finish.\\n\\n1 ) a fair amount of machining marks\\n2 ) not very flat; the bottom was not within 2mm flat; a pretty noticeable 'hump' in the center and depressions on the corners\\n3 ) imperfect finish; inconsistent finish on the surface. compared to the flat sheet i bought which has a perfect satin finish\\n4 ) the 'open bead' is perfectly acceptable; contrary to what other reviewers have said it is not remotely 'sharp' it's by no means a cut-hazard.\\n5 ) thickest walled sheet pan; 13 ga. I'd love to have 10 or 11ga like the flat cookie sheet but it seems it doesn't exist\\n6 ) commercial grade hardware; it has the look-and-feel of the sheet pans we used when i worked at a restaurant, that's a good feeling at the house.\\n\\nSo, if it was perfectly flat and had a nicer finish with more care in not leaving machine tool marks i'd give it a perfect score. If the thing curls up into the fetal position after cooking with it i'll certainly be back to make an update in the review.\\n\\n-awr\",\n \"Product: Are your kitchen drawers being taken over by different sizes of measuring cups? Declutter and free up storage with the Pro 2 Cup Adjust-A-Cup. This adjustable measuring cup measures metric or standard for liquids, dry and semi-solid ingredients, like honey, peanut butter, shortening, and butter. Its convenient pint, cup, ounce, and millimeter markings make doubling and conversions a breeze. To use, simply pull the plunger down to the measurement indicated and add your ingredient. Constructed of durable ABS and SAN plastic and silicone, this unique measuring tool features an award winning design with patented features and comes in a beautiful champagne satin finish. For best results, hand wash the Adjust-A-Cup with a sponge and warm soapy water. Stop juggling multiple sizes of measuring utensils, reduce your collection, and witness the space-saving functionality of this useful, yet elegant tool.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Decent could use some fixes; PERFECT for waffles!\\n\\nReview: update: i finally found the 'trump card' for this exact tool. I have NEVER been able to get just the right amount of waffle mix into a waffle iron. My new waffle iron calls for 1 '1/3 cups of mix so i decided to try this tool out for the job. It worked without flaw, i can't imagine a better way to pull off that chore; my older 'wonder cup' style was so hard to push compared to this it would be a struggle to actually empty. The batter was just the right texture that it didn't stick to the top of the plunger i didn't even have to scrape it off just push the plunger and go.\\n\\nadd'l update; my first copy had a bad seal so amazon swapped it no-charge-for-shipping etc. sadly that won't get the feedback to the source very well but at least the second one will 'hold water' which the first didn't. It doesn't hold water great though.. a tiny bit will leak through the seal but i didn't buy it for water, apparently i bought it for making waffles! If i don't use it for anything else it will be worth it for me. (i love waffles)\\n\\n=====\\n\\n1) mine came with some labeling smeared as others have commented on; this is definitely a quality control issue; the label ink seems pretty solid, it's as if it was boxed up before the ink was dry.\\n\\n2) there is a flaw in the desgn that allows the wobble. there should be a set of 'ribs' on the plunger to keep it centered in the outer tube. a very simple fix: wrap an o-ring around the inner plunger so that there is a second place to hold the plunger centered. make sure it's not too tight. even better; put an array of tiny rubber stick-on feet around the inner-tube (i did 3-around about every inch) it makes the center piston stay perfecly centered with the added bonus that it also holds any position very well. basically it's a design correction to fix the biggest flaw. if i can figure out how to add a picture later i will. again, quality control issue. the design of the seal is fine, but mine has a flat spot from a mold release or somethihng where water will just dribble right on through.\\n\\n3) mine came with a faulty seal; it literally 'won't hold water'. since i have much better tools for measuring water-like liquids i think i'll be ok with that since the primary use i have for this tool is measuring brown sugar, i'm not sure if i'll be sending it back.\\n\\n4) dishwasher safe may not mean dishwasher friendly. i'm not sure there is any gain in running the plunger through the machine, but the exterier tube is a solid tube of polycarbonate or similar very strong plastic. as long as it doesn't rub violently around in the mashing to rub off the lettering it should be fine for a long time. I don't expect i'll be needing to run mine through the dw.\\n\\n5) precision. i did a simple test of measuring 1c of water and it was within 1 tsp accurate. that amount of error is definitely withing the error bars of me eyballing the meniscus of the water. i'm satisfied with that result.\\n\\n6) pouring ability. agreed it should have a spout! what up with that? you can pour fine if the receptical it's going into is big enough to commit to 100% pour but often you'd want to slowly pour it in; forget about that plan.\\n\\n7) star rating. i'd give it 3.5 because of the quality control issues that are apparent but i'm rounding up because the overall design is superior to the lower quality soft-plastic models like schmamered schmef design. I've used that one for years, it 'gets the job done' but this one is an infinite improvement in 'touch and feel'. the other design has a closed plunger for measuring liquids not relying on the seal but it's nearly impossible to read through the thick opaqe plastic.\\n\\n8) read the directions: people are pulling the seal off by pulling straight not twisting as it says in very clear lettering on the top of the disc. the static coefficient of friction of a rubber ring on polycarbonate under pressure is 'off scale' it *should* rip off the disc. it would be better if they made this more clear but they are serious do not pull w/o twisting.\\n\\n8a) you could surely re-glue should you pull it off; that part is well out of the way of touching your food so it won't be needed to use a 'food safe adhesive'.\\n\\n9) storage suggestion; you can avoid that problem by following one of these ideas: a) NEVER store completely closed; just like a syringe will pull the rubber boot right off if stored fully depressed, you can expect problems if the first motion is to PULL out the pluger. If you leave even a cm of space or make sure to PUSH the plunger out you will never put the 'tension' type of force on the part so you can't break it that way. b) as mentioned in 'a'; PUSH the plunger the first time you use it after storage even just for minutes; the seal will 'stick' to the outside wall. if stored 'open a little' you can push it closed first then pull & twist open or if stored fully closed, push on the black seal to get things moving. and c) to help keep the seal from wearing out prematurely *and* help avoid self-destruction, put the plunger in backwards or store separately (even better). They made a slight bevel on the BOTTOM of the tube and when the plunger is put in backwards, there is about 10% of the force on the seal. it greatly reduces the problems assosated with the seal being tight.\\n\\nI'm going to contact the company about the manufacturing defects on my copy and i will post a follow-up to see what they suggest in regard to my faulty model and i'll adjust my star score accordingly.\\n\\n-awr\",\n \"Product: Soups on and Calphalons stainless ladles are in. Extra-long, ergonomic handles make our ladles easy to maneuver in deep stock pots and sauce pots.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Very nice but should be $5-7 each not $10-12 each\\n\\nReview: The fit n finish on these is not up-to-par for $10-12 pricing. They are very solid but they are made from low-carbon soft steel not tool or spring steel so they are easy to deform and will stay bent should you bend them. (speaking in the plural because all the similar tools are made the same).\\n\\nThere is substantial variability in the finish and tooling marks from post-processing of the molded handle. (i'll explain):\\n\\nThe silicone handle is molded onto the steel as a second step. There is a groove or a series of grooves in the flat steel handle and a silicone rubber 'insert' is molded top and bottom through the grooves in the steel. The molding process leaves behind a thin 'flashing' which is cut away by hand. there is a lot of 'tool mark' left behind so it takes away a lot from the apparent quality.\\n\\nWorse, however is that the steel used is sub-par. it's not tool steel and is malleable; it makes it easy to fabricate and cheaper to make but cheaper in quality and value. they could use HALF the steel and have it be high-quality steel and they would be lighter yet stronger. They chose to use heavier thicker steel to impart an air of quality while actually having it be lower quality because the steel is low grade deformable soft steel.\\n\\nThe set of tools are decent but could be fantastic, that they are not.\\n\\nI posted a picture of the SIDE VIEW because it's not clear at all from the stock pictures that the rubber insert is almost ROUND, the handle is very thick top to bottom, it makes for a very comfortable grip, definitely more comfortable than any flat metal handle i've used and they will surely stay much cooler than any solid metal grip.\\n\\nsummary: i would recommend them because they are a decent cohesive set of tools, but would caution people that because of the inferior grade of metal used, they do not want to subject them to undue force because they will bend with relative ease (fortunately they will bend right back).\\n\\nit's too bad that they don't have a better process to clean up the molding of the rubber because that's 'strike two' brining the rating down to 3 stars. The combination of the inferior steel with the inferior post-processing of the molded part keeps them from being 'high end' quality which they could easily be, so it's a bummer.\\n\\nGlad i bought 'em, they are over-priced for the quality they are, but i'm not aware of a better set for a similar price. The $50 set should be $25-30.\\n\\n-awr\",\n \"Product: The Culinary Institute of America has come together with their Master Chef's to develop a line of exceptional kitchenware for the home chef. This 12\\\"x17\\\" coolign rack is a perfect example of the thoughtful details they have put into their product development, and because of that this piece won \\\"Top Honors\\\" in December of 2008 from one of the most well regarded kitchen magazines in the U.S. Sturdy construction, closely spaced wires, and the fact that this piece fits perfectly in a 1/2 sheet pan make this a must have for any kitchen.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Good mate with wear ever sheet pan\\n\\nReview: I bought to pair with the heavy-duty wear ever sheet pan and it fits perfectly.\\n\\nIt's a little strange design where the feet on the bottom are only attached on the very edges so are higher-risk of breaking off than if they were attached the whole way across but it makes for exactly the same thermal load across the entire length of the rack.\\n\\nit also has a LOT of wires; up to 50-100% more than cheaper racks.\\n\\nnot a big fan of the 'feet' which are so pointy they will scratch whatever surface they are put on; actually permanently damaged a cookie sheet that was shipped in the same box.\\n\\nThe feet should be flat-bottom vs a point so they don't damage the sheet pan.\\n\\n-awr\",\n \"Product: Are your kitchen drawers being taken over by different sizes of measuring cups? Declutter and free up storage with the Pro Mini Adjust-A-Cup. This adjustable measuring cup measures metric or standard for liquids, dry and semi-solid ingredients, like honey, peanut butter, shortening, and butter. Constructed of durable ABS and SAN plastic and silicone, this unique measuring tool features an award winning design with patented features and comes in a beautiful champagne satin finish. For best results, hand wash the Adjust-A-Cup with a sponge and warm soapy water. Stop juggling multiple sizes of measuring utensils and witness the space-saving functionality of this useful, yet elegant tool.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: design is good not great\\n\\nReview: Some problems in quality control; i bought two and one, the seal works nice the other it doesn't.\\n\\nthe plunger does not fit properly in the tube so it wobbles back and forth, it could easily be fixed but they designers stopped designing before it was finished.\\n\\nThe black-on-black makes it really difficult to see the measurement; if the seal was WHITE or the lettering was WHITE so there was contrast that's be nice!\\n\\nmuch more accurate than the 'sliding spoon' type of adjustable tool.\\n\\nJury is still out on whether or not this tool is really an advantage over just using decent metal spoons which i also have.\\n\\nIt's still a cool tool i wouldn't want to not have, bottom line, just wish they were made better.\\n\\n-awr\",\n \"Product: 200 Watt plunging mixer perfect for soups, mashed, sauces, mayonnaises, milk shake, batter, baby food and more. Comes with a mixing cup and a stainless steel blade. Designed of a high temperature resistant material for mixing hot-preparations, dishwasher safe.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Read the manual before posting your admitted 'operator error'.\\n\\nReview: as many others who have posted, i was led to this machinen by a review at america's test kitchen.\\n\\ni haven't had it long enough to rate the machine's performance but as a designer and engineer of products i have some insight to share about negative postings here about the reliability, the longevity and a particular operator error or two.\\n\\n1) the manual is extremely clear on the duty-cycle of the machine. 9% duty cycle. that means for every minute on you need to let the motor rest 10 minutes. That seems like quite a lot but the machine has a particular 'job requiremjent' that is designed to be completed in well under a minute. if you need a bigger job done, USE A BIGGER MACHINE. it's really that simple. Yes i'm sure there are machines costing 4x as much brau(cough), and if you need a higher-end machine GET ONE, stop complaining that a ford focus is not a mercedes benz. If you want to make 4 shakes for 4 children, 'get er done' in 15-20 seconds of blending each and you will be perfectly fine.\\n\\n2) the detachable shaft is ONLY sealed on ONE end. if you run through the dishwasher that's ok as long as you follow up with actually DRYING OUT the inside which will collect water and turn into gross mold or mildew if you don't ensure there isn't even mosture inside. the reality is; it's a silly thing to even bother running through the dishwasher. immersion blenders pretty much clean themselves. run it in the cup that it comes with using some warm water with a tiny drop of dish soap.\\n\\n3) the 'burning smell'; looks like the motors aren't burned in when assembled and it's a very normal smell to have happen with a brushed motor which it seems must be the case for it to generate the very specific odor. It should get much less obvious in a short amount of time. even in the first tests i've noticed the smell amost disappear. I'm a little surprised not using a brush-free design but probably a big part of the bang-for-buck pricing.\\n\\nif i have any problems come up i will be coming back here to update my post, but in the meantime i wanted to temper some of the amazingly misguded posts that literally say \\\"mine burned up in only ten minutes of use\\\". Gee my car's engine died after only 50,000 miles just because i never changed or added oil! in fact i changed my star rating from 4 to 5 just to balance at least one of those misguided reviews.\\n\\nafter i have it a while longer i will update my review to mention what items are being blended with it and if there are any *actual* problems.\\n\\n-awr\",\n \"Product: AC PRO-200 is a durable and compact pocket scale with easy to use four key operation. The backlit LCD display helps make the numbers viewable and easy to read. The ingenious protective cover doubles as a sturdy expansion tray. With the smooth stainless steel weighing surface clean up is easy.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Utterly complete review comparing ACP-200 and the chrome version\\n\\nReview: Great little scale, stunning price, hard to pick between this one and it's brother, the ACP-200. After studying the reviews I bought both so I could review and either send back the least favored or keep them both (i'm keeping both).\\n\\nHow do they compare?\\n\\nThe size; chrome is smaller, 2 1/2 x 4 9/16 x 3/4 inches vs 2 3/4 x 4 7/8 x 3/4 (2 7/8 bumps for the hinges)\\nvolume: 8.55 cu. inches vs 10.05 cu. inches (the chrome is 15% smaller).\\n\\nThe chrome is nearly identical in width and height to an iphone 4 in a case, and 1/4 in. thicker, the other is 1/4 inch bigger in all all 3 dimensions.\\n\\nThe chrome weighs 116g vs the other is 143 w/o the pouch and 152g with. (means the chrome is 25% lighter). for comparison my iphone 5 with the case is almost identical to the acp-200 (not the chrome) at 142g.\\n\\nDisplays:\\n\\nHands down winner is the non-chrome. The chrome is reverse LCD and you can almost always see the ghost of the non-lit segments, you can see the illumination point on the side, it's not evenly lit but the saving grace is it's still always absolutely legible. The height of the numbers is 3/8 on the non-chrome vs 1/2 inch on the chrome. The non-chrome's display is perfect. absolutely perfect EL blue illumination corner to corner. It shows the battery level it shows grams value always and the secondary unit choice also always in 1/4\\\" tall numbers in the bottom right. In addition it shows a zero mark when it's not reading any weight which is nice to remind you if you've tare'd or not.\\n\\nFunctions:\\nThey are functionally nearly identical with these differences:\\n1) the chrome has avoirdupois oz, troy oz, pennyweight, carat, grain as well as gram but ONLY shows the chosen unit,\\n2) the non-chrome has pennyweight, grain, carat as well as gram and shows the secondary unit simultaneously.\\n\\nThis clearly puts the chrome ahead if you want for measuring gold or jewelry or need to have your results in oz right away w/o needing to do math.\\n\\nThe LID/cover as a tray:\\n\\nThe chrome model, the lid comes off completely in normal use, and works a little better as a tray, It also includes a cheat-sheet of operation which is really helpful for reminding you how to calibrate the scale but is missing a critical item: how to use for piece counting! (something you are very likely to forget how to do by the next time you want to use it).\\n\\nThere is a curious quirk with the lid on the chrome model: if you put on upside-down, it takes literally 12x the force to remove (i just measured 50g force to open when installed correctly and over 600g force to remove when upside down). this is after wearing it in; when brand new it wsa likely twice that or 'nearly impossible'. The fix; pull open from the top not the bottom. Testing just now the lid pulled off at 700g from the bottom and 100g from the top when on upside down. You can grip from the sides and slowly pull at the top edge; if your fingers are too slippery use a piece of tape, then pay attention in the future and put on correctly you'll never have a problem again.\\n\\nThe non-chrome model,The lid is attached with a hinge. I didn't notice in the manual if it said how to remove to use as a tray but it's quite simple; open the lid 90and pull the lid away directly sideways either at the top or the bottom 'peeling' the lid away from the base.\\n\\nThe performance 'as a tray' goes hands-down however to the chrome. The lids are both a little bit convex so when placed on the scale platform they get skittish and will want to wander around a bit; the chrome model it's not noticeable but on the non-chrome it's super-duper noticeable; it feels like you've invented magnetic levitation. I just spun my lid and it twirled over a dozen full rotations. Fortunately in practice it rarely causes any problem, it's more of a nuisance than any actual problem.\\n\\nCalibration:\\n\\nThe chrome model is easier to calibrate requiring only a 200g reference where the non-chrome requires both 100g and 200g weights.\\n\\nDo not attempt to use some makeshift solution you will need to get some actual reference weights to calibrate your scale. My chrome scale came completely miscalibrated; off maybe 6g at 100g when I got it; the non-chrome was spot-on and within 0.02g from the factory. My 100g calibration kit came with the scales but my additional 100g weight hadn't arrived yet but I was able to make one pretty easy in this way: I put my 100g reference on the working scale, and hit the tare button giving me a zero reference. I put a small measuring cup that would hold maybe 150ml of water and filled it until the scale read almost exactly zero. Then i took a small wad of paper towel and soaked it in water. taking that piece of paper towel either squeezed out drips or soaked up a bit of water until I got the scale to register 0.00 g.\\n\\nThen I took off the makeshift water weight, zero'd the scale and put the reference weight back on. noting the reading (100.04 for example) and put the water weight on.. it was slightly different probably due to evaporation so tinkered a bit until it matched the reference exactly and I could swap the two and get the same reading within 0.01g. At that point I could use the real reference and the water copy to achieve the 200g needed to calibrate both scales with perfect success.. A little while later I measured the 'water weight reference' and sure enough it was a few 00ths of a gram lighter due to evaporation.\\n\\nWith a little bit of luck on your side and a pile of coins you could likely achieve the same success if you have 100g reference but need 200g. You will want to have a permanent actual 100g and 200g reference.\\n\\naccuracy:\\nabsolutely amazing on both scales! I have taken over a dozen pictures with the scales showing 0.00g error or 0.01g error at all levels from 0.50g to 200.00g and even with the scales stacked; putting the chrome on the non-chrome, hitting tare on both and putting a weight on the top scale. I could put on 52.12g of reference weight and get 52.12 reading (0.00g error) on both scales where the bottom scale is of course measuring with 116g offset yet still achieving near perfect and repeatable accuracy.\\n\\njust now put a 5g reference on each scale and got a 5.00 reading on each. added 50g and chrome reading 54.99 and non-chrome also 54.99.added 10mg and non-chrome came right up to 55.00. repeated on the chrome and it likewise came up to 55.00. The fact that the scale will actually register a change of .01g after it's already settled in is astounding.\\n\\nAuto-off function.\\n\\nAs you will see from other reviewers; the scales will shut off after some amount of non-use. The non-chrome seems to do a MUCH better job at re-setting the count-down timer when you change the weight; bump the scale, add or subtract weight within a minute and it does not shut off. The chrome model shuts on me plenty, the non-chrome if i bump it once in a while (within a minute) it stays on continously and i never have a problem with it. The chrome model on the other hand is annoyingly quick to shut off. f\\n\\nThey clearly have the same basic timer; doing this review i've seen them both shut off within 1 sec of each other half a dozen times but during the same time Ive seen the chrome off while the non-chrome still on at least a half dozen times.\\n\\nAccuracy:\\nThey both are crazy accurate and high or low weights.\\n\\nIf you need to measure crazy low weights like 2-20 mg, you want a different scale but in a pinch these guys will measure values in the 100mg range with repeatable accuracy. I have noticed the non-chrome does have some better software and hits repeatable values better. example; putting on a 100mg reference, I'm more likely to see 0.09 on the chrome than the non-chrome. Or when adding on 10mg, more likely to NOT see the up-tick on the chrome. In BOTH cases, lightly tapping the platform (talking about a 1-2g tap with tweezer), i've found that the re-weigh will be far more likely to match the reference especially if you've just added on 10-20mg.\\n\\nThat being said, using 100+10mg references, I could repeatedly get 0.10 and 0.11 readings from the non-chrome as well as get readings as low as 30mg that matched the reference weight where that just won't happen on the chrome. below .1g I wouldn't trust the chrome at all, while i've gotten repeateable accuracy of 30, 50, 80, 110, 130, 150mg on the non-chrome. it may take 10+ sec. for the final reading to come in but sure enough.. I saw 0.05g reading after I added 20mg to 50mg (it didn't show the addition of the 20mg).. i looked away for a few seconds and sure enough 0.08 was showing! at the same time i put 100mg on the chrome and it settled in on at coincidentally 0.08. off by 20mg.\\n\\nanother test just now: 5g = 5.00, add 100mg; 5.10, add 50mg; 5.15, add 10mg; 5.16, then add 20mg and it reads 5.18. that is absolutely insane for a $16 device!\\n\\nnow the same test on the chrome: 5g= 5.00, add 100mg; 5.09, add 50mg; 5.14, add 10mg; 5.16, then add 20mg; 5.18. also insane.\\n\\nI tapped the platform any time i add weight to \\\"tell\\\" the scale to re-evaluate. oh the scale just changed to 5.17; also something that happens more often on the chrome; wondering results. never a big difference but more likely than the non-chrome to do so.\\n\\nastounding; both scales auto-off'd on me, I turned 'em on, let them warm up a few seconds and put the 5.18 back on.. the non-chrome hit 5.18 the first shot. the chrome: 5.16, then with a tap, 5.17, weights off; tare, weights on; 5.17, weights off, re-tare, weights on; 5.17, tap; 5.18.took som coaxing but did work. non-chrome auto off'd; power on, weights back on; hit5.18 first shot.\\n\\nSo in my first 5 days with the scales, this is what ive been experiencing; the non-chrome ACP-200 has been hitting repeatable #s within 0.01g, and while the chrome model will hit within 0.02 per it's claim, it is a much bigger fractional error on small weights so the non-chrome kicks its butt when weights are less than a gram and even when below 10g, the error starts to become significant (.4% at 5g where at 100g that error is 0.02%).\\n\\nlast test; 1g weight freshly turned on; the non-chrome hit 1.00 within a second, the chrome registered 1.01 for a couple seconds then was 1.00 then 0.99 then back to 1.00; adding 50mg they both hit 1.05 within a couple seconds. absolutely stunning. Adding 50mg to chrome and 51.04, tap and 51.05 appears. non-chrome: 51.04 and stays. adding 50g and the -.01g offset stays 101.04g. the chrome started with101.04 but settled in at 101.05 exactly matching the reference values. re-weigh after power-cycle and with 100g reference hit 100.00g (i took a pic) then put on the 1g + 50mg and it hit 101.05g for almost a minute; it wandered up to 101.06 (0.01% error). just before powering off. I think i've discovered the key too the short power-off cycle; it shuts off before it will start to wander too far off course.\\n\\nThe summary. If I had paid $50 each for the two scales I would be THRILLED with the results, The fact they were $16 each is just amazing. I'm thrilled beyond words.\\n\\nI'm happier with the performance of the non-chrome, and that will be my go-to standard I will keep in my kitchen for use 'most of the time'. The chrome being more portable, and having more useful units, will be the one I have in my coat pocket ready to use anywhere anytime.\\n\\nps; just for fun put 30mg on the non-chrome and sure enough after a good 10 sec., 0.03 magically appears!\",\n \"Product: Vollrath works every day to make each component in that chain better, more efficient, and more inspired. The heavy gauge 3004 aluminum cookie sheet heats evenly and rapidly to ensure a golden brown bake for each yummy dessert. This Vollrath cookie sheet has two curved edges and two flat edges to make it the perfect aluminum baking sheet as you can easily grip it to slide cookies off to cool. Bake moist cookies on this 10 gauge Vollrath Wear Ever 68085 cookie sheet. Whether youre baking homemade hot dog or hamburger buns for a family outing or making a batch of sugar cookies using your mother's own recipe, these pans will deliver excellent results. NSF means a high quality. Items marked with the NSF logo means that the item and its manufacturing facility was tested and approved by the independent testing company called NSF to be safe for commercial use. To clean, simply wipe with a soft dry cloth; if pans must be washed, do not use dishwasher, hand wash using a mild soap or detergent, rinse with cold water, and dry immediately\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Heaviest Gauge Cooking Sheet Available. 10 gauge alum.\\n\\nReview: as many here, i was led to this sheet from cook's illustrated. I only have had the stamped thin steel sheets in the past, and doing a complete overhaul of my kitchen tools.\\n\\nas far as people complaining about price, they are ill-informed. My sheet was damaged in shipping due to bad packaging (they packed my cooling rack on top of it and it cut 6 deep grooves; stupid packer!).\\n\\nI'm sending the damaged one back and getting a new one but since this sheet is nothing more than a piece of aluminum sheet metal with two small curls on two sides, (and a hanging hole) i called my local metal distributor to see how much a piece of aluminum that thick and that size costs.\\n\\nanswer: $31.19 and that's just cut flat 14 x 17\\\". if i want two ends bent up; $17.50 additional. Actually; that was for only 11 gauge aluminum; 10% thinner!\\n\\nThis is a substantially thick piece of metal: i measured 0.100\\\" thickness. that's 10 gauge aluminum! Comparing to the thickest jelly roll pan i could find (13 ga) this pan is 42% thicker. (which means it's 42% more conductive). 13 ga. is only 0.072\\\" thick.\\n\\nLaws of physics are laws of physics. only copper would conduct heat better than this sheet. high conductivity is what makes even temperatures, it's plain simple physical laws. There are no coatings on this piece of metal it's just bare raw aluminum. What makes even heating: high conductivity it's as simple as that.\\n\\nThere is good reason this sheet gets (basically) unanimous reviews; it's simply the thickest sheet available (that i'm aware of). it has no coating so can be scrubbed and polished if desired, it's 100/1000ths of an inch thick so you could literally re-finish many times, and if it's never thermally stressed to the point where it warps (something again just ruled by the laws of physics), it will outlive me. Aluminum is very malleable; if it ever does warp from abuse it could be flattened out with some brute force.\\n\\nBrand new, the sheet is well within 1mm of perfect flatness over the entire surface. it does appear to have a minor curve putting the center of the sheet a little higher than the edges; this may be on-purpose to reduce the odds of warpage, i don't know.\\n\\nWhat i do know: i looked far and wide and haven't found any heavier duty sheets than this. Some simple math confirms basically pure aluminum: 1128g and 414cc volume is 2.72g/cc and pure aluminum is 2.7. There might be a tiny bit of alloy to make it stiffer than pure aluminum but that's about as pure as metal gets. of 1% error.\\n\\nSo, if you want the heaviest sheet available to get the most even heat available, there is no other option.\\n\\n-awr\\n\\nupdate: i got my replacement and it's perfect. the bottom has some tool marks but the top which was covered in plastic during shipping was not ruined this time around and has a perfect satin texture edge to edge.\",\n \"Product: Logitech Keyboard Case id Integrated wireless Bluetooth keyboard for iPad 2. Warranty Terms - Parts 1 year limited. Diemations : Product Height 0.7\\\", Product Width 10\\\", Product Weight 1.1 lbs., Product Depth 7.7\\\". Made of Aluminum. Includeds Logitech Keyboard Case for Apple, iPad 2, USB-to-micro USB charging cable and Owner's manual.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: A 'must have' for any serious ipad 2 owner\\n\\nReview: I had a very complete review of the keyboard apparently on what is now a 'dead link' to an older ASIN.\\n\\n<a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Logitech-Keyboard-Case-for-iPad-2/dp/B00512W4Y2/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Logitech Keyboard Case for iPad 2</a>\\n\\nHere is an updated version of the review incorporating answers to questions:\\n\\nI'm typing on the reviewed keyboard.\\n\\nPros:\\n\\nhas many of the useful settings on a key: undo, cut copy paste and redo, also home, lock and HIDE the virtual keyboard buttons.\\n\\nunlike some keyboards, has shift on BOTH sides and has caps lock, also has ctrl, alt/option and command keys. typical mac-like commands work (command-c copy) etc also command-arrow to move to the front of a line, holding 'shift' while arrowing around will select text just like a mac.\\n\\ngreat job of enclosing the front of the iPad. I have a very ugly scratch on the bottom of my zagg that would have been in the screen from some sharp object that ended up in my computer bag during a road trip.\\n\\nkeys are small, but touch-typable no problem. maybe only 70% speed for a fast typer but it's decent and way better than on-screen of course.\\n\\nprice is fair; a BT keyboard is $50-60, a decent case is $50-60, figure you get both for $100 is at least break even.\\n\\nReasonably light and thin.\\n\\nbuilt in LION battery.\\n\\nmates PERFECTLY with the <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Belkin-F8N631EBC01-Snap-Shield-Case/dp/B004X8R7VA/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Belkin F8N631EBC01 Snap Shield Case</a> with a 1 minute no-tool modification! (more later)\\n\\nmagic magnet to instantly wake iPad upon removal.\\n\\nCons:\\n\\ncheap aluminum construction; it's stamped aluminum, acceptable but low-fi. very easy to scratch and dent. (but takes the beating instead of the iPad).\\\\\\n\\ndesign could be better; it's too sharp and angular, doesn't fit the beautiful curves of the iPad itself.\\n\\nNot a tough finish; bead-blasted but it's not anodized to make the aluminum hard and resistant to scratches.\\n\\nI recommend using a film protector for the back, i'm sure zagg makes one.\\n\\nkeyboard battery could be bigger. they 'say' it will last weeks. my first charge didn't last one.\\n\\nholds the iPad too hard; difficult to remove.\\n\\ndesign flaw: no support on the 'spacebar' side; when you grip the set on the side with the spacebar (while assembled), it will flex a LOT; i added a spacer with foam (harvested from the foam tape along the entire perimeter and it fixed the problem).\\n\\nno caps lock indicator; not even on-screen. of course it would take battery but most BT keyboards have one.\\n\\nvery weird arrow key arrangement; no space for an 'inverted T' but they dont' have up-down next to each other nor left-right. they are left-down and up-right; very strange.\\n\\nthe kickstand for the back is less than optimal. it sticks and is not easy as it should and could be to operate. i think it's meant to have two lean angles but the back option is too far back and can actually tip over backwards on soft surfaces especially if you attempt to use in portrait mode.\\n\\nabsent from the magic buttons: brightness\\n\\nso more cons than pros but a 'must have' nonetheless.\\n\\nback to the case combination. I spent hours figuring out what would be the best case for the back (including the film type). Landed on the <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Belkin-F8N631EBC01-Snap-Shield-for-Apple-iPad-2-Clear/dp/B004X8R7VA/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Belkin F8N631EBC01 Snap Shield for Apple iPad 2 - Clear</a> case $30; if you remove the foam tape from the perimeter of the zagg keyboard case (you can leave the back part on where the slot for the smart cover is), it fits absolutely exactly. It's a snug enough fit that it won't fall out, but not as tight as the original too tight of fit, so much easier to remove. One of the KEY reasons for that particular case (since others were in the running and close-calls); only this case was compatible with the kickstand, making that the deal breaker for the other cases.\\n\\nIf the design was cleaner (rounded, maybe thicker aluminum so no 'knife edge' on the sides), if the design didn't 'squish' when you grabbed it, and if the arrow keys were in the correct laptop order of left-right and up-down I'd rate it 5 stars. As it stands it's very good with room for improvement, but a 'must have' in-spite of its flaws.\\n\\nI was asked if the iPad 'locks into' the case:\\n\\ngreat question, sorry i missed it in the review; the keyboard has a very good little 'grip' that grabs about 80% of the bottom edge of the iPad2. it only grabs by the bottom 1.5mm or so, making it incompatible with some cases and why i mention the particular Belkin case; it actually only works in ONE of the horizontal orientations because that case has a cut-out for apple's smart cover. The only tumbling problem I have is if i try to lay on my back with my knee up in the air like i do with a laptop, it'll fall out forward when the center of gravity gets too close to me. I use on my lap in a moving car etc, no problem (should say on my knee; too small for 'lap'). The 'hole' where the bottom edge goes is NOT just a rectangular 'pit'; the top edge of the hole has a bit of a 'hangover' like the bull-nose of a stair step and grips on just perfectly.\\n\\nasked if it's difficult to remove after making the conversion to fit with the Belkin Case:\\n\\nanswer: once making the conversion to fit with the back case on, it's not difficult at all to remove; caveat is that it doesn't hold in like a death grip either; you won't want to trust the iPad to hold in e.g. ONLY hold the case; it's a non-issue however since you will always be gripping from both sides to carry.\\n\\nthere is a BUG in the design of the iPad 2 version of the keyboard; the case has a 1/16\\\" GAP below the spacebar, the entire length so if you grip on that side you will distort the case quite a lot every time unless you use a piece of the removed foam tape to fill in that gap (just stick on the foam below the spacebar, maybe 2-3\\\" long piece).\\n\\nwhen assembled together, there is a natural place to put a thumb to peel it out; right where the volume switches are; very easy to remove, and a perfect setup for an old lady.\\n\\nasked if the msrp is too high\\n\\nanswer: r. robinson: absolutely 4 star. it'd be 5 star if it was a little better made; hard alum vs soft stamped, arrow keys in the correct orientation (as they ARE on the model 1 version), didn't mess up the space below the space bar (where on model 1 it touches the glass on the iPad but on the model 2 it does not).\\n\\nupdate: i finally figured out the method to the madness: the bottom three arrow keys are arranged in the 'inverted t' arrangement with the down in the middle so people used to the inverted 't' will be able to 'touch type' on them. it makes for a bit of weirdness when you need to use 'up' and hit the shift instead but it's not as terrible as originally described. since you're far more likely to use down, it may actually be a better arrangement than having the up/down and left/right touching.\\n\\nmsrp is fair. it's a rechargeable LION battery bluetooth keyboard *and* a case. either of which is worth 'about $50'. This is the iPad2 model. the iPad 1 model is on-par with this one but is a little better design (two quirks mentioned above).\\n\\nasked if the ipad 'nest onto' the keyboard 'backwards' i.e. can you just 'flip over' the ipad and have a combined unit that works well rather than having to set aside the keyboard anytime you don't want to use it:\\n\\nanswer: i think with the model 1 it does better than with model 2. I occasionally do just this but they don't interlock at all, however the rubbery back of my case gives a lot of grip on the keys, i just make sure the keyboard is off. normally when using w/o the keyboard, the keyboard is off in a corner somewhere.\\n\\nMy original review is on the inactive version of this keyboard if you'd like to see the other posts: <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Logitech-Keyboard-Case-for-iPad-2/dp/B00512W4Y2/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Logitech Keyboard Case for iPad 2</a>\\n\\nupdate: i had a keycap break and since i'm a computer tech that has swapped literally 1000s of keycaps over the years, i wrote zagg customer service saying it would be 'down right silly' for me to send back a whole keyboard to replace a single key, here was their response:\\n\\nzagg customer service wrote:\\nThank you for the suggestion, Andrew. I will get it sent to the appropriate party. Regarding your broken period key (.) I will be happy to send you a new one with its mounting bracket.\\n\\n(the 'suggestion' was to work on a way to market the combination of the back case like the belkin with the keyboard).\\n\\nI have been having an issue where occasionally the keyboard won't connect to the ipad, i typically have to turn BT off then back on ON THE IPAD so indication is that it's more likely a but with the ipad software than the keyboard, just wanted to mention it in case others have a similar problem. try FIRST to turn BT off and on on the ipad than try to re-sync with the sync button on the keyboard.\\n\\n-awr\",\n \"Product: This versatile arm can be used in a variety of applications: attach a smaller monitor for use within a sit-stand workstation or add a large display up to 11.3 kg to position digital signage. The LX provides unparalleled range of motion, being able to accommodate a user's sitting or standing posture - features 20 inches of vertical adjustment and 62 inches of side-to-side adjustment.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Home Run Solution Exceeds All Expectations\\n\\nReview: I use for hovering a laptop over my bed. I added an extra arm to extend the reach and of course the laptop adapter.\\n\\nFantastic! It reduces the stress and strain on my body by a factor of 500-800%\\n\\nI left the tilt function unlocked and that makes it even better! I rotate counter clockwise so my left wrist is not twisted and in a month I've healed from a serious RSI (carpal tunnel) injury.\\n\\nI will never go back to any other way to hold a laptop. I will be another set for living room to float the computer over a recliner.\\n\\nIt will wobble if you type without the laptop resting a little bit on your leg or a pillow or such but it's an easy fix.\\n\\nWorth twice the price.\\n\\n-awr\",\n \"Product: The nautica spinnaker collection is constructed of high density denier polyester with a locking telescoping handle and inline skate wheels for easy carrying convenience, this luggage piece is great for trips longer than a few days, 5 year warranty\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Best luggage I've owned. Easiest to see at baggage claim\\n\\nReview: We have the 21 and the 25\\\" of this suitcase. They are fantastic. I bought the 21\\\" one first then wanted the matching larger one. If you travel by air and not first class you don't want the 28\\\" model it will be 2/3 full at most when it hits 50#.\\n\\nThere is a model that has the same shape but NOT the same color as this model. If you want 'the one' that has the bright colored side panels so you can literally see from 100' away at the airport, you want THIS model and only this model.\\n\\nSoft sided luggage is much more survivable than hard sided, but these have a bonus; they are PADDED. might add a pound to the weight but they are very light weight, and it's well worth it to make the CONTENTS survivable when going through the gauntlet of airport luggage handling!\\n\\nFound out an added bonus the other day: the 21\\\" exactly fits inside the 25\\\"; it can't be by accident it's an exact fit; well that sure makes storing easier and extra handy for a trip where you will be bringing more back than bringing with.\\n\\nThe photos online are terrible; these things are BRIGHT orange, like hunter's use for deer hunting, the yellow i hope is similarly bright.\\n\\nIf you like a little splash of color in your life, get the bright yellow or orange models and you will LOVE how easy they are to spot coming out of baggage. (of course, unless too many people read my review).\\n\\n-awr\",\n \"Product: The nautica spinnaker collection is constructed of high density denier polyester with a locking telescoping handle and inline skate wheels for easy carrying convenience, this luggage piece is great for trips longer than a few days, 5 year warranty\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Best luggage I've owned. Easiest to see at baggage claim\\n\\nReview: We have the 21 and the 25\\\" of this suitcase. They are fantastic. I bought the 21\\\" one first then wanted the matching larger one. If you travel by air and not first class you don't want the 28\\\" model it will be 2/3 full at most when it hits 50#.\\n\\nThere is a model that has the same shape but NOT the same color as this model. If you want 'the one' that has the bright colored side panels so you can literally see from 100' away at the airport, you want THIS model and only this model.\\n\\nSoft sided luggage is much more survivable than hard sided, but these have a bonus; they are PADDED. might add a pound to the weight but they are very light weight, and it's well worth it to make the CONTENTS survivable when going through the gauntlet of airport luggage handling!\\n\\nFound out an added bonus the other day: the 21\\\" exactly fits inside the 25\\\"; it can't be by accident it's an exact fit; well that sure makes storing easier and extra handy for a trip where you will be bringing more back than bringing with.\\n\\nThe photos online are terrible; these things are BRIGHT orange, like hunter's use for deer hunting, the yellow i hope is similarly bright.\\n\\nIf you like a little splash of color in your life, get the bright yellow or orange models and you will LOVE how easy they are to spot coming out of baggage. (of course, unless too many people read my review).\\n\\n-awr\",\n \"Product: The Igloo Iceless 26 quart is the ultimate solution for keeping your food and beverages cool for a long time. Cool on-the-go without the mess and inconvenience of ice in your car, SUV, RV or big rig. Iceless cooling performance is powered by thermoelectric technology. This cooler cools down to 36 degrees Fahrenheit below the outside temperature. It plugs directly into any 12V DC outlet (cigarette lighter) for easy power while traveling. It features a brushless motor and convection cooling so everything stays cold, not just some of the items. Comfortable molded hands for two handed carrying and lifting.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Wish i'd have pulled the trigger on this purchase years ago!\\n\\nReview: works better than advertised! it's rated for 36F below ambient, but i've measured over 40F below ambient. I was able to keep food at 36F when it was close to 80F in my car. I made a jumper cord i can run from a 12V drill battery so i can keep it running when i go from house to car. There are a couple design flaws that almost make me give 4 vs 5 star review:\\n\\n the power cord interferes with operation with the handle; you can only pull handle forward not backwards when plugged in\\n the power cord is hard to tell up from down; I made a label on the cooler which side is positive so i don't have to figure it out every time\\n as opposed to most of these type of coolers this model ONLY cools; logically it would work in reverse if you could plug in backwards, however the fans are probably brushless DC and would likely not work in reverse or could cause damage.\\n\\nI had this in my shopping cart 'hold' for over a year and bought it the minute i notice the price drop about $25. If i knew how well it worked i'd have paid the extra $25 to have it for another year.\",\n \"Product: Front Wheel Drive Bearing Adapter Kit.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: weak link is the bolt, fix that and make a 5 star kit.\\n\\nReview: weak link is the bolt; it's very soft metal; effectively not hardened steel; i cut mine in half with a bandsaw in 8 seconds when the threads got damaged on the first use. The rest of the kit is good. I'm buying a hardened 3/4-16 hardened threaded rod and some grade 8 nuts, as well as some bronze bushings. It will be five stars with the fix.\\n\\nupdate: i bought a nice hardened rod (grade 5 i'm guessing) and though it survived removal, it was shot by the time I pressed the new bearing in; it was well lubricated it's just that some bearings are installed with a lot more force than others. I have bmw x-5 and the math worked out to about 30 to 35,000 # of force to remove and about 25,000# force to install. well a 3//4 bolt (19mm) is only designed for 23,000# so it shouldn't have worked.\\n\\nI bought another copy of this set and will be boring out the holes on the bigger parts to 1\\\" to use a rod designed for the forces involved in the larger bearings. a 1\\\" bolt is designed for 60,000# and 700 ft-lb of torque. I think it takes less than 350 ft-lb to damage a 3//4 bolt. The kit i bought was almost half price because somebody damaged it and returned at local discount store. (HF). since i would be replacing the useless bolt that comes with anyhow, not a problem for me.\\n\\nKit recommended with the caveats; buy a good 3//4 inch rod for the smaller plates and drill out the bigger ones to 1\\\" and get a 1\\\" push rod for the big ones\",\n \"Product: Onyx mesh wall pockets will help you organize your clutter. Made with steel mesh construction and black powder coat finish. Holds letter-size charts and files. Wall mounting hardware included.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: VERYnice, some minor issues.\\n\\nReview: Really nice rack; some things to be aware of however;\\n\\n1) the kit includes a mount you attach to the wall and then hook baskets onto.\\n2) the baskets are not necessarily 'square' with the pegs on the mount\\n3) the pegs on the mount are not prefectly square with the mount.\\n\\nI mounted the mount on the wall perfectly plumb only to discover that the baskets 1) were not level and 2) were not the same amount of crooked.\\n\\nI found two of the three baskets that were the same amount of crooked, put my magnetic level in the bottom of the baskets and re-leveled the bracket crooked so that the baskets are perfectly level.\\n\\nThe baskets are too close together reducing the capacity by 40% on the bottom two so i'm using 2 on the bracket that came with and will mount the 3rd elseware by itself.\\n\\nSince the bracket is not wide enough to reach between studs, I drilled holes into the bracket in the center so i could mount onto a stud (totally not needed but I'm a member of overbuilder's anonymous). I would defintely buy again.\",\n \"Product: Our CHROME-201 features a 200 gram capacity with 0.01 gram readability. The scale has a large stainless steel weighing platform. This scale, also, has chrome plating and a removable protective cover that can be used as a weighing tray. The CHROME-201 is powered by two AAA batteries, (included). Features a battery saving, 60 second, no activity, automatic shutoff. Each scale comes with a 10 year limited warranty. The scale has a large reverse back-lit LCD and a counting feature.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Fantastic scale, hard to pick which, I bought 'em both.\\n\\nReview: Great little scale, stunning price, hard to pick between this one and it's brother, the ACP-200. After studying the reviews I bought both so I could review and either send back the least favored or keep them both (i'm keeping both).\\n\\nHow do they compare?\\n\\nThe size; chrome is smaller, 2 1/2 x 4 9/16 x 3/4 inches vs 2 3/4 x 4 7/8 x 3/4 (2 7/8 bumps for the hinges)\\nvolume: 8.55 cu. inches vs 10.05 cu. inches (the chrome is 15% smaller).\\n\\nThe chrome is nearly identical in width and height to an iphone 4 in a case, and 1/4 in. thicker, the other is 1/4 inch bigger in all all 3 dimensions.\\n\\nThe chrome weighs 116g vs the other is 143 w/o the pouch and 152g with. (means the chrome is 25% lighter). for comparison my iphone 5 with the case is almost identical to the acp-200 (not the chrome) at 142g.\\n\\nDisplays:\\n\\nHands down winner is the non-chrome. The chrome is reverse LCD and you can almost always see the ghost of the non-lit segments, you can see the illumination point on the side, it's not evenly lit but the saving grace is it's still always absolutely legible. The height of the numbers is 3/8 on the non-chrome vs 1/2 inch on the chrome. The non-chrome's display is perfect. absolutely perfect EL blue illumination corner to corner. It shows the battery level it shows grams value always and the secondary unit choice also always in 1/4\\\" tall numbers in the bottom right. In addition it shows a zero mark when it's not reading any weight which is nice to remind you if you've tare'd or not.\\n\\nFunctions:\\nThey are functionally nearly identical with these differences:\\n1) the chrome has avoirdupois oz, troy oz, pennyweight, carat, grain as well as gram but ONLY shows the chosen unit,\\n2) the non-chrome has pennyweight, grain, carat as well as gram and shows the secondary unit simultaneously.\\n\\nThis clearly puts the chrome ahead if you want for measuring gold or jewelry or need to have your results in oz right away w/o needing to do math.\\n\\nThe LID/cover as a tray:\\n\\nThe chrome model, the lid comes off completely in normal use, and works a little better as a tray, It also includes a cheat-sheet of operation which is really helpful for reminding you how to calibrate the scale but is missing a critical item: how to use for piece counting! (something you are very likely to forget how to do by the next time you want to use it).\\n\\nThere is a curious quirk with the lid on the chrome model: if you put on upside-down, it takes literally 12x the force to remove (i just measured 50g force to open when installed correctly and over 600g force to remove when upside down). this is after wearing it in; when brand new it wsa likely twice that or 'nearly impossible'. The fix; pull open from the top not the bottom. Testing just now the lid pulled off at 700g from the bottom and 100g from the top when on upside down. You can grip from the sides and slowly pull at the top edge; if your fingers are too slippery use a piece of tape, then pay attention in the future and put on correctly you'll never have a problem again.\\n\\nThe non-chrome model,The lid is attached with a hinge. I didn't notice in the manual if it said how to remove to use as a tray but it's quite simple; open the lid 90and pull the lid away directly sideways either at the top or the bottom 'peeling' the lid away from the base.\\n\\nThe performance 'as a tray' goes hands-down however to the chrome. The lids are both a little bit convex so when placed on the scale platform they get skittish and will want to wander around a bit; the chrome model it's not noticeable but on the non-chrome it's super-duper noticeable; it feels like you've invented magnetic levitation. I just spun my lid and it twirled over a dozen full rotations. Fortunately in practice it rarely causes any problem, it's more of a nuisance than any actual problem.\\n\\nCalibration:\\n\\nThe chrome model is easier to calibrate requiring only a 200g reference where the non-chrome requires both 100g and 200g weights.\\n\\nDo not attempt to use some makeshift solution you will need to get some actual reference weights to calibrate your scale. My chrome scale came completely miscalibrated; off maybe 6g at 100g when I got it; the non-chrome was spot-on and within 0.02g from the factory. My 100g calibration kit came with the scales but my additional 100g weight hadn't arrived yet but I was able to make one pretty easy in this way: I put my 100g reference on the working scale, and hit the tare button giving me a zero reference. I put a small measuring cup that would hold maybe 150ml of water and filled it until the scale read almost exactly zero. Then i took a small wad of paper towel and soaked it in water. taking that piece of paper towel either squeezed out drips or soaked up a bit of water until I got the scale to register 0.00 g.\\n\\nThen I took off the makeshift water weight, zero'd the scale and put the reference weight back on. noting the reading (100.04 for example) and put the water weight on.. it was slightly different probably due to evaporation so tinkered a bit until it matched the reference exactly and I could swap the two and get the same reading within 0.01g. At that point I could use the real reference and the water copy to achieve the 200g needed to calibrate both scales with perfect success.. A little while later I measured the 'water weight reference' and sure enough it was a few 00ths of a gram lighter due to evaporation.\\n\\nWith a little bit of luck on your side and a pile of coins you could likely achieve the same success if you have 100g reference but need 200g. You will want to have a permanent actual 100g and 200g reference.\\n\\naccuracy:\\nabsolutely amazing on both scales! I have taken over a dozen pictures with the scales showing 0.00g error or 0.01g error at all levels from 0.50g to 200.00g and even with the scales stacked; putting the chrome on the non-chrome, hitting tare on both and putting a weight on the top scale. I could put on 52.12g of reference weight and get 52.12 reading (0.00g error) on both scales where the bottom scale is of course measuring with 116g offset yet still achieving near perfect and repeatable accuracy.\\n\\njust now put a 5g reference on each scale and got a 5.00 reading on each. added 50g and chrome reading 54.99 and non-chrome also 54.99.added 10mg and non-chrome came right up to 55.00. repeated on the chrome and it likewise came up to 55.00. The fact that the scale will actually register a change of .01g after it's already settled in is astounding.\\n\\nAuto-off function.\\n\\nAs you will see from other reviewers; the scales will shut off after some amount of non-use. The non-chrome seems to do a MUCH better job at re-setting the count-down timer when you change the weight; bump the scale, add or subtract weight within a minute and it does not shut off. The chrome model shuts on me plenty, the non-chrome if i bump it once in a while (within a minute) it stays on continously and i never have a problem with it. The chrome model on the other hand is annoyingly quick to shut off. f\\n\\nThey clearly have the same basic timer; doing this review i've seen them both shut off within 1 sec of each other half a dozen times but during the same time Ive seen the chrome off while the non-chrome still on at least a half dozen times.\\n\\nAccuracy:\\nThey both are crazy accurate and high or low weights.\\n\\nIf you need to measure crazy low weights like 2-20 mg, you want a different scale but in a pinch these guys will measure values in the 100mg range with repeatable accuracy. I have noticed the non-chrome does have some better software and hits repeatable values better. example; putting on a 100mg reference, I'm more likely to see 0.09 on the chrome than the non-chrome. Or when adding on 10mg, more likely to NOT see the up-tick on the chrome. In BOTH cases, lightly tapping the platform (talking about a 1-2g tap with tweezer), i've found that the re-weigh will be far more likely to match the reference especially if you've just added on 10-20mg.\\n\\nThat being said, using 100+10mg references, I could repeatedly get 0.10 and 0.11 readings from the non-chrome as well as get readings as low as 30mg that matched the reference weight where that just won't happen on the chrome. below .1g I wouldn't trust the chrome at all, while i've gotten repeateable accuracy of 30, 50, 80, 110, 130, 150mg on the non-chrome. it may take 10+ sec. for the final reading to come in but sure enough.. I saw 0.05g reading after I added 20mg to 50mg (it didn't show the addition of the 20mg).. i looked away for a few seconds and sure enough 0.08 was showing! at the same time i put 100mg on the chrome and it settled in on at coincidentally 0.08. off by 20mg.\\n\\nanother test just now: 5g = 5.00, add 100mg; 5.10, add 50mg; 5.15, add 10mg; 5.16, then add 20mg and it reads 5.18. that is absolutely insane for a $16 device!\\n\\nnow the same test on the chrome: 5g= 5.00, add 100mg; 5.09, add 50mg; 5.14, add 10mg; 5.16, then add 20mg; 5.18. also insane.\\n\\nI tapped the platform any time i add weight to \\\"tell\\\" the scale to re-evaluate. oh the scale just changed to 5.17; also something that happens more often on the chrome; wondering results. never a big difference but more likely than the non-chrome to do so.\\n\\nastounding; both scales auto-off'd on me, I turned 'em on, let them warm up a few seconds and put the 5.18 back on.. the non-chrome hit 5.18 the first shot. the chrome: 5.16, then with a tap, 5.17, weights off; tare, weights on; 5.17, weights off, re-tare, weights on; 5.17, tap; 5.18.took som coaxing but did work. non-chrome auto off'd; power on, weights back on; hit5.18 first shot.\\n\\nSo in my first 5 days with the scales, this is what ive been experiencing; the non-chrome ACP-200 has been hitting repeatable #s within 0.01g, and while the chrome model will hit within 0.02 per it's claim, it is a much bigger fractional error on small weights so the non-chrome kicks its butt when weights are less than a gram and even when below 10g, the error starts to become significant (.4% at 5g where at 100g that error is 0.02%).\\n\\nlast test; 1g weight freshly turned on; the non-chrome hit 1.00 within a second, the chrome registered 1.01 for a couple seconds then was 1.00 then 0.99 then back to 1.00; adding 50mg they both hit 1.05 within a couple seconds. absolutely stunning. Adding 50mg to chrome and 51.04, tap and 51.05 appears. non-chrome: 51.04 and stays. adding 50g and the -.01g offset stays 101.04g. the chrome started with101.04 but settled in at 101.05 exactly matching the reference values. re-weigh after power-cycle and with 100g reference hit 100.00g (i took a pic) then put on the 1g + 50mg and it hit 101.05g for almost a minute; it wandered up to 101.06 (0.01% error). just before powering off. I think i've discovered the key too the short power-off cycle; it shuts off before it will start to wander too far off course.\\n\\nThe summary. If I had paid $50 each for the two scales I would be THRILLED with the results, The fact they were $16 each is just amazing. I'm thrilled beyond words.\\n\\nI'm happier with the performance of the non-chrome, and that will be my go-to standard I will keep in my kitchen for use 'most of the time'. The chrome being more portable, and having more useful units, will be the one I have in my coat pocket ready to use anywhere anytime.\\n\\nps; just for fun put 30mg on the non-chrome and sure enough after a good 10 sec., 0.03 magically appears!\",\n \"Product: We developed a sturdy thermoplastic (ABS) frame; a see through poly vinyl flap; a floating sill to insure good closure; and a strong molded ABS lock-out slide to restrict the pet's movements when necessary. Then we made it 4 sizes for pets up to 120 pounds. And with a tamper proof mounting system and easy installation, it's the most economical pet door in the industry.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: I can't imagine a better door is out there.\\n\\nReview: Very well designed; uses a 'magic magnet' latch at the bottom; the key is that the bottom does not touch the swinging plastic flap until the flap is at the bottom and magnets pull it up; this means there is NO WEAR and no friction to cause the wear, also means there is a very tight seal when it is closed. it took a bit of training to get the cat to figure out how to push the flap but after a few tries the cat loves the door.\\n\\nThe inside slider doesn't have any type of 'keep up' latch i think they expect you to remove completely but it will stay up with just the right amount of luck on your side. It is designed to be in a door and i installed into a wall; i ended up using the outside frame pinched against the wood lathe on the inside of the wall and two layers of drywall so about 1 1/4 to 1 3/8 inch thickness and it worked perfectly.\\n\\nThe wall i put it in is a 1 foot thick wall of brick; i made the opening of the brick a few inches wider than the door and used quick setting cement to make the wall solid around the frame of the door.\",\n \"Product: Turn your ratchet wrench into a digital torque wrench and tighten your bolts with complete accuracy. The ARM602-4 1/2-inch Digital Torque Adapter features an audible alert that buzzes once youve reach your setting and torques between 4 to 147.6 ft.-lbs. With three (3) mode settings, this little decide operates in both clockwise and counter-clockwise with an LCD display that shows N-m (or kg-cm, in-lb., ft-lb) measurements. Package includes one (1) digital torque adapter and two (2) CR2032 coin cell batteries.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Waited waaaay too long to get this\\n\\nReview: As the headline says; i should have gotten this years ago.\\n\\nFair warning; the specs are a little confusing because it will work at a much lower value than you can actually set the alarm to beep.\\n\\nI took off a star for two reasons not even related to the above: Its hard to read w/o backlight and it has three LEDs that blink when you get to the set level but they all blink at the same time you don't get much of an 'almost there'; they should be light up one at a time to give you a better heads-up.\\n\\nThat said, it's super well made, comes with a perfect case that has space for a spare set of batteries. 4.5 stars.\",\n \"Product: Includes 50 ft. Compact Laser Measure - GLM15, (2) 1.5V AAA Batteries\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Close but no cigar; that's too bad\\n\\nReview: This is 'almost perfect' with several fatal flaws: 1) The size of the 1/16th dimension is insanely small.. almost impossible to distinguish 7 from 1 for example or a 5 from an 8... eg 7/16 looks like 1/16 and 3/8 looks like 5/8 2) No backlight; make is literally impossible to read often 3) The LCD is deep enough inside that the 1/16ths is shadowed by the bezel and almost always you have to rotate around to find 'just the right lighting' to be able to read the display 4) can't change the scale format... you get FT + inches you can't change to just inches... that makes math impossible... e.g. it's very easy to subtract 47\\\" from 102\\\", nearly impossible to subtract 4'5 1/16\\\" from 9' 5 5/8\\\". Also 4b) the metric reading similarly crippled; ONLY full meter reading can't change to cm. terrible oversight. who works in meters? So it's a beautiful thing but it's accuracy is only OK (reads high by 1/16 to 1/8 consistently) but not very useful for production work. I will be trading up, thanks to home depot for allowing returns. if the 'next size up' addresses the flaws I will be getting that one instead.\",\n \"Product: Hammer Drill Driver, M18 Fuel, Cordless, RPM: 0 - 550/0 - 2000, BPM: 32000, Torque: 1200 in-lbs, Voltage: 18V, Chuck: 1/2\\\" Single Sleeve - Ratcheting Lock, Weight: 4.5 lbs, Includes: (1) M18 FUEL 1/2\\\" Hammer Drill/Driver with ONEKEY ***Tool Only***\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: The latest and greatest\\n\\nReview: Milwaukee Tops themselves. There is some 'learning curve' to this one. i've still not figured out exactly how to program to do what i want it to do, but the torque on this thing is insane, and the screw clutch is apparently electronically monitored, not a physical slip clutch; the motor just stops turning, takes a bit to get used to but it's way nicer.\\n\\nMy first job with this tool, I used a 3 1//2 inch hole saw I modified to make a 'dirt blower' (think snow blower) to make 90 feet of trench to bury a conduit; it didn't even notice the load, practically running 'freewheel'. In comparison, the last years model (720 in-lb of torque) It definitely bogged down a little you could tell it was 'working'.\\n\\nThe last years model could direct-drive self-boring 2 9//16 bits through framing lumber in 7 seconds, so this one would of course have no problem with such a job but you would want to add an extension to the torque handle or it'll break your wrist (not kidding).\",\n \"Product: KwikTool USA introduces innovation at its best witha whole line of universal blades called the C7 Bad Blades with sizes 4.5 up to 14 designed for nearly any cutting tool. You can use in your angle grinder, table saw, compound miter, circular saw, chop saw, fire & rescue saw. Why C7?? This Category Seven is something that's never been seen before on the scale of rotation! So Destructive, so Bad that nothing stops its awesome cutting ability! These blades can cut through wood, wood with nails, steel, iron, plastics, laminates, composites plus non-ferrous metals like aluminum, copper, brass, and alloys all with NO Kick-back and without ever changing a blade. Do the work of a whole toolbox full of blades! One blade. Any job. KwikTool has sold these products into the European industrial market for the past 15 years and is now making them available to the US market. The products are supported by years of in-field use, and backed by US customer service.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: As somebody else wrote; jack of all trades, master of none\\n\\nReview: I'm adding on a 4th star for my personal experience that i'd have to rate 3 stars at best; blade caught on the edge of a steel 1/8\\\" thick band and threw 3 teeth on the 4th use; amazon gets 5 stars for replacing the blade, but having used morse metal devil blades for most of a decade with never a problem, there is caution to be had with this blade\\n\\nThat said i'll be glad to have the bad blade back in action for the 'do everything' aspect. It did not cut wood great and nowhere near as good at cutting metal as the morse, but it's 1/6th the price as well.\\n\\nIt it's 50% heavier than any blade i have so it does take longer to get up to speed but the mass helps it bite through nails and such and that's why i wanted this blade; i can cut though wood that has a nail and not fret that it'll kill the blade, also when i'm mostly cutting metal but need to cut an occasional 2x4, this is the blade I want in my saw; i think i could cut a 2x4 faster with my teeth than the morse metal blade which really ONLY cuts metal.\\n\\nI tried to cut a deep cut (1 1/8 inch) all the way down a 2x2 and it couldn't do it; i had to do it in several passes where *ANY* other blade would have NO problem in my M18 fuel saw (can cut 41 feet of LVL which a corded saw can barely do).\\n\\nso in anticipation of my replacement doing what it's supposed to do 4 stars not 3.\",\n \"Product: M18 FUEL 1/2\\\" IMPACT WR- XC KIT. REDLITHIUMTM XC 4.0 Battery Pack is the most durable pack on the market and provides up to 2X more run time. REDLINK PLUSTM Electronic Intelligence allows the operator to choose between 3 fastening modes with Milwaukee's proprietary DRIVE CONTROLTM feature. This FUELTM 1/2\\\" Compact Impact Wrench utilizes a pin detent design for maximum socket retention. Delivers a best-in-class 210 feet-lbs. and 2,520 in-lbs of torque in a compact design The Milwaukee POWERSTATETM Brushless Motor provides increased efficiency, lasts longer and delivers maximum power REDLITHIUMTM XC 4.0 Battery Pack is the most durable pack on the market and provides up to 2X more run time REDLINK PLUSTM Electronic Intelligence allows the operator to choose between 3 fastening modes with Milwaukee's proprietary DRIVE CONTROLTM feature Utilizes a pin detent design for maximum socket retention\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Incredible tool, i literally won't leave home without it\\n\\nReview: I bought so I can change tires and it's the perfect tool. It did have a tough time when the battery was almost dead taking off a tire on my old ford explorer but when i put on a new battery bang'd it right off.\\n\\nIMPORTANT; you need torq stix if you want to use the tool to put the wheel back ON with the tool but again it works perfect.\\n\\nI decided time to balance the nonsense 'review' with a real one. This tool is the perfect 1/2\\\" impact wrench for most general purpose use; the first thing i used it for was removing an anode from a 7 yr old hot water heater. Impossible job w/o impact (attempts with long bar just turned the whole water heater); once this tool was brought onto the job, 10 seconds later anode was out.\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":30,"string":"30"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_3"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":893,"string":"893"}}},{"rowIdx":894,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"A22QN8JDZS8YOF"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of \"4.0\" for a product with description \"The ergonomic kneeling chair is a trend setting option for people who want to support their body's natural posture.It's designed to strengthen your lower back muscles and help with spinal alignment. The firm, supportive padded seat and knee rests are filled with 2 inches of CA117 fire retardant foam and covered with breathable fabric. The height adjustable frame has a natural wood finish. Dual wheel casters make it easy to roll across the floor.This innovative chair helps to improve your posture, relieve back pain and give you more productive hours in the day.\". The summary of the review text is \"Very good, but . . .\"."},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"My wife uses this chair. She is 5' 8\" and I had to put a 2\" block under the knee pad for her to have any comfort with this chair. After I did that, she's been enjoying it, but this morning she asked if I could re-do the block so that the knee pad would be a bit lower in the back. So I'm custom fitting it to her.\n\nThe chair is very nicely crafted, and this from a guy who builds furniture. It's not a piece of fine furniture, but it is well-designed, sturdy and nicely finished. The also used good quality oak for its construction. The height adjustment is easy to use.\n\nI'd recommend it as a good value!"},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"My wife uses this chair. She is 5' 8\" and I had to put a 2\" block under the knee pad for her to have any comfort with this chair. After I did that, she's been enjoying it, but this morning she asked if I could re-do the block so that the knee pad would be a bit lower in the back. So I'm custom fitting it to her.\n\nThe chair is very nicely crafted, and this from a guy who builds furniture. It's not a piece of fine furniture, but it is well-designed, sturdy and nicely finished. The also used good quality oak for its construction. The height adjustment is easy to use.\n\nI'd recommend it as a good value!"},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Product: The Guitar Professor is a highly accurate, easy to use guitar tuner, pitch pipe, and chord finder! With over 250 chords available, this tool not only keeps you in tune, but helps build your musical vocabulary one chord at a time.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: A bit of a disappointement.\n\nReview: Well, for the price I really didn't expect much, and that's what I got. The tuning tones are OK in an emergency, but the fact that they are sustained electronic tones not unlike what your travel alarm produces, it's strange correlating them to guitar strings. But that part would have worked fine, again, for the price. The tuning meter is great. Very touchy, but if you're patient, it can be made to work. Now we come to the two-star part. I bought this primarily for the chords feature, and maybe this one was a lemon, but each of the dozen or so chords I displayed were way wrong. C and E showed the same chord and was incorrect for both. All the rest I tried had extra notes, missing notes wrong placement for all notes, etc.\n\nAgain since some reviewers are talking the virtues of the chord graph feature, mine was probably a lemon, but I don't think I will be trying another of these. In defense of the product, it appears to be well made, so if you get a good one, you might just like it.","Product: This brush features silicone bristles that are easy to wash with water, and quickly shed dried glue for long-lasting service. They're also spaced to hold plenty of wet glue, meaning less time dipping and more time spreading. Use the narrow dimension for edges and the wide dimension for faces. The paddle end opposite the bristles can be used like a pen for finer detail work such as mortise and tenon, dovetail, and boxjoints, or like a spatula for spreading glue into grooves and mortises. Also available from Rockler, the 3-Piece Silicone Glue Application Kit. It's easy to clean without chemical solvents - even fully dried polyurethane glue cracks and peels right off the bristles - and re-using the brush is also friendly to the environment. When it's time for a glue-up, simply riffle the bristles as you would a deck of cards to peel any dried glue off and restore the brush to pristine condition. Unlike traditional brushes, this one won't shed bristles into your bead of glue. The entire brush is waterproof, so rinsing thoroughly with warm water makes cleanup easy when glue is wet. Silicone Glue Brush measures 7\" long. The tapered brush tip measures 1\" wide x 1/2\" deep.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Works, but the \"peel off the glue\" part isn't happening!\n\nReview: I have two of these, bought from Rockler's Web site for $4.99 each. I like them, use them all the time. BUT, I use Titebond II and III for everything and neither will \"peel off of the brush,\" as advertised. So what I do when I'm done with the brush is to drop it into a small can of soapy water and just let it sit there for a day or two. At that point, the glue will be dissolved and it will wash out of the brush easily under running water.. Trying to pull dried glue off of the brush will result in tearing out the \"bristles\" before the glue lets go!\n\nSo yes, I use them and I like the results for spreading glue. I've figured out a way to easily clean them. So four stars since there's no way to leave three-and-a-half!","Product: Primula stainless steel 4-cup stovetop espresso Coffee maker\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Here's how to use these things!\n\nReview: OK, since Amazon now has this policy of publishing reviews to similar items as though they were for the specific items (beware of this when you read reviews! Read the fine print at the top of the review!), I hope this appears for all of these similar espresso makers, regardless of brand, because it works in all of them.\n\nI've owned several of these, different brands and different sizes, and have been somewhat underwhelmed with their performance. \"Emergency coffee\" is what I used mine for. So one day I was at my son's house and he made me this incredible dry cappuccino. I immediately went to his kitchen to see what kind of machine he had bought, and was blown away when he showed me his old, beat-up and stained \"6-cup\" espresso maker, just like the ones in these reviews. I asked him how he managed to get that kind of performance out of this thing and he said the secret is in ignoring the published instructions and pretty much doing the opposite of what they suggest. Here's his instructions:\n\n1. Grind your coffee to espresso fine. If you don't have a burr grinder capable of this, buy your coffee in small quantities and have them grind it for you.\n2. Fill the coffee holder to a bit over-the-top and then tamp it lightly. A shot-glass or anything else that fits into the holder will do.\n3. Then proceed as normal: fill the boiler to the brass safety valve with cold, filtered water, screw on the top, and put it on the stove.\n4. Leave the lid open so you can watch what's going on, allow the coffee to flow until it starts bubbling a bit but not so long that it will boil!\n5. Pour off the most amazing cup you've ever experienced from your Primula (or similar) espresso maker!\n\nI now use the Primula more often than my $500 Gaggia machine. Less fuss and just about as good. Not better, but just about as good, and that's pretty darned good.","Product: Create the ambiance of the great outdoors in your home with this storage console from the Boone Mountain collection. Inspired by hand hewn log furniture, this versatile cabinet can be used as a TV stand, holding most 47\" TV's. It includes divided shelving for storage and display along with two easy-to-access drawers. Finished on all sides in a warm textured Craftsman Oak finish, this console will bring a cabin feel to any setting.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Great design and a fine value for the money!\n\nReview: I'm a custom furniture designer and builder and normally would not buy something like this. But I'm 500 miles from my shop, setting up a summer cabin, so when I saw this at the local we have everything store, and at a price that would have been hard to beat for just the materials had I made it myself, I went for it.\n\nI would also NEVER buy a piece of furniture made of chipboard. But after looking over the design on this one, it was apparent that the designer took the weakness of chipboard (eventual sagging of shelves) into account and took steps to avoid that issue. More on that later.\n\nIt took me an hour-and-a-half to assemble it, and I was enjoying the process so was in no hurry. I was impressed by the precision of the holes for the many cam-type fasteners, and the very clever engineering to make it possible for anyone who knows how to run a screwdriver to assemble it. The instructions were actually written by somebody who uses English as a first language, a welcome change from the norm. Paying attention to the detailed instructions with clear illustrations for each step, it would have been difficult to screw this up.\n\nBottom line, the finished product looks great and will serve well as a table for our 46 flat-screen and the AV receiver and other components look good on the shelf below. The veneer on this piece is so convincing that I had to inspect it closely to determine it was not the real thing.\n\nOK, here's the more on that later part. Chipboard, no matter now well designed the table is, with a heavy TV sitting on the top for a long while, WILL begin to sag after a while. Especially in a humid climate. So what I did to prevent that before it begins, I installed a 36 long piece of 1 angle iron just under the molding that goes across the front of the top. It is attached to both the top and the molding with 8 each #10, 1/2 long sheet metal screws into predrilled holes. The screws are all within 4 of the outer ends of the angle iron, since that's where the load is applied from weight in the middle of the top.\n\nGreat product, great price, and MADE IN AMERICA!","Product: Chilly nights call for an outdoor heater, and what better way to solve this problem than with our patio heater. This patio heater will make a great addition to your patio, as it will allow you to enjoy the outdoors when the temperature starts to drop. This beautiful CSA approved patio heater is easily assembled. Instead of using a propane or oil-fired patio heater to warm up your yard this heater uses regular household electricity and is less expensive to operate than a propane patio heater. It can be used indoors as well as outdoors. Also IP Certified Water proof, and can be mounted either vertical or horizontal. Providing instant heat, this is the perfect way to easily bring the heat where ever you go.\n\nRating: 1.0\n\nSummary: This heater is a joke. Use a $25 bathroom heater instead.\n\nReview: What a joke. The only thing this unit does well is to cast this obnoxious, bright orange glow that makes you think you should feel some warmth. We mounted it on the wall above our patio table about five feet above the table. We could feel no heat at all from two of the chairs. At the two chairs at the ends of the heater you could feel a bit of warmth on one side of your face, and that was it. So I remounted it at four feet above the table, figuring if we could feel some heat we could endure the in-you-face bright glow of the heater. The only difference was that the end-side chair people felt a bit more heat, again on one side of their faces. I could hold my hand right under the heater and it was warm, but not hot. At that distance, it should have cooked my hand. OK, so we tried an experiment. I mounted an old bathroom heater on the wall below the expensive AZ Patio Heater and WOW what a difference! Everybody at the table felt a nice glow of warmth. Looks a little funky, but it will be our new patio heater. Cost $5 at our local thrift store, or you can buy a new one for $25. We're returning this item.","Product: The Lenovo Enhanced Performance Keyboard combines legendary keyboard quality, a two port USB hub for desktop expansion capability, a variety of specialty and programmable keys plus media controls to help increase your productivity. It also features a blue button. The access program guides you to a host of information and tools to help you set up, understand, maintain, and enhance your ThinkPad notebook or Think Center desktop computer.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Want a noisy, awkward keyboard? Thi is it!\n\nReview: I bought this keyboard because of the info I found on Amazon reviews and on several forum boards about how quiet it is. I was specifically looking for a quiet keyboard and was willing to put up with the retro-clunky look of this one to get quiet. Well, surprise. This is probably the most clackity-loud keyboard I've ever used. The noise actually goes well with the retro-clunky look. Regarding that look, this thing is so fat at the backside that it does not slide into my standard keyboard tray without first collapsing the little elevators in back. I always have those up on my keyboards as I find it uncomfortable typing on a flat-to-the desk keyboard. Bottom line: If you like a noisy keyboard hat looks straight out of 1984, go for this one. I'm still looking for a quiet keyboard.","Product: Here's a remote siren that will scare anyone within a few room's distance. This powerful siren takes wireless X10 signals from the X10 alarm consoles. If the console's built-in siren is not loud enough, add this loud siren by simply plugging this unit into any 110V wall receptacle. Use multiple units so that the intruder doesn't know where the sound is coming from. A screw hole allows you to fasten the unit onto the receptacle so a burglar cannot yank it off. This unit is triggered by consecutive ALL LIGHTS ON AND ALL UNITS OFF X10 signals that are transmitted by the security console. This siren can be used with the X10 Powerflash Interface set to flashing mode. This siren is so piercing that it is hard to remain in the same room with it when it goes off.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: \"Power Horn\" is a serious misnomer.\n\nReview: I've installed five of these on my X10 home security system. When I armed the system and entered the house to test it, the noise was at best annoying, and I could easily walk through the house, find these bright white conspicuous noise makers and simply unplug them. From that point on, were I a burglar, the place would be mine.\n\nI've also tripped the alarm from outside the house and the cute little noise was barely audible. No way would it have alerted my neighbors that anything was wrong. Forget X10's claims that the whole neighborhood will hear them. That is simply not true.\n\nOne reviewer here said there was a way to tweak these things to be able to set off a real security horn or siren. I'd love that information! If you read this, please post the URL!\n\nBottom line: Unless X10 offered a module that would allow a real noise maker to be triggered by this system (and they don't), I'd not buy another X10 security system. Those so-called Power Horns are the weak link in the system. Right after the motion sensors that only work when they feel like it.","Product: The ThinkPad and ThinkCentre high-quality keyboard tradition continues with this general purpose USB keyboard. This Preferred Pro USB Keyboard is very similar to those that come standard with ThinkCentre desktop systems. It is also compatible with USB enabled ThinkPad notebook systems and docks.\n\nRating: 1.0\n\nSummary: Want a noisy, awkward keyboard? You've found it!\n\nReview: I've been searching far and wide for a quiet keyboard. I love my Microsoft Arc. THAT is a quiet keyboard. It is, however a little travel keyboard and not suitable for everyday use. So I read dozens of reviews, both on Amazon and on several tech forum boards, and many suggested this Lenovo/IBM keyboard as being very quiet, some even said it was the quietest keyboard available. So I received my new keyboard and was at once apprehensive about the big, heavy, klunky, retro appearance of the thing but I figured I can live with that if is indeed quiet. What a disappointment! The thing is every bit as klickety-clackety as any of the basic $10 original equipment keyboards in our office. A very soft press on a key will produce almost no noise, but that is not how people type. Normal typing on this keyboard produces \"normal\" keyboard noise.\n\nAside from that deal-breaking feature, the keyboard is, to me, awkward. For one thing, I like a keyboard elevated in back, and when the little tabs are pulled down to elevate the back of the keyboard, the thing is then so tall it won't slide back into a normal keyboard tray. But the worst thing in the awkward category is the way the keyboard is concave in the center. In other words, the middle row of keys is lower than the top and bottom rows. Kind of dished down in the center like no other keyboard I've ever experienced. This thing feels like it is a clone of some relic from the early eighties.\n\nVery disappointing in every way.","Product: ViewSonics 22\" (21.5\" viewable) VX2233WM 16:9 widescreen delivers affordable, elegant style and Full HD 1080p performance to your desktop. It has automatic aspect ratio adjustment ensures a full, undistorted screen image. You can connect game consoles, DVD players and more through the DVI (with HDCP) or VGA inputs. The high brightness and fast video response deliver brilliant, blur-free images. With an ultra-high 18,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, it produces greater detail and definition especially in darker images. Eco-mode saves up to 40% in energy use and prolongs lamp life. It is backed by the strongest pixel performance policy and a 3-year limited warranty. Display Area - 18.7 Horizontal; 10.5 Vertical; 21.5 diagonal Optimum Resolution - 1920 x 1080 WUXGA Response Time - 5ms (max) Light Source - Long life, 50,000 hrs. (typ) Panel Surface - Anti-glare Audio - Speaker 2x2-watt Connectors - Analog - 15-pin mini D-sub; Digital - DVI-D; Power - Built-in power Adapter, 3-Pin plug Dimensions With Stand - 20.2 x 15.3 x 8.5 (512mm x 388mm x 217mm) Power - AC 100-240V (Universal); 50/60Hz(Switch) Power Management - Meets ENERGY STAR standards Weight - Net ~ 9.2 lbs (4.2 kg)\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Good product for the money.\n\nReview: We wanted second monitor for one of the laptops in our office. This one was inexpensive and our experience with the company has been favorable, so we ordered it. It works fine. Not as clear and sharp as one of our more expensive monitors, but we didn't expect that. For general office work and Web browsing, it does the job well. The documentation, however is a joke. There was none! The only paperwork that came with it was a \"quick-start\" guide that showed three drawings: stand it up, plug it in, turn it on. Or something that basic. I'm the office tech guy so I got the job of setting it up. Normally, I can plug in a new monitor and it works out of the box. Windows finds it and installs it. Not this one. All I got on the screen was a message that said, \"Out of Range.\" So I downloaded the software that came with it (mostly advertising) and then looked through the pdf manual for a trouble-shooting guide that might explain the message. Nada. I plugged the monitor into two other office computers and it worked fine, so I felt it had soemthing to do with this particular computer.\n\nThen I started tweaking all of the settings in Windows that should have brought any monitor into at least a workable frequency range. Nada. At last, it occurred to me to try replacing the standard HD cable that came with it (the same type cable all our other monitors use) with the DVI cable that also came with it. YES!! It worked fine then. There was no mention of either of the cables in any documentation, let alone which should be used for what.\n\nBottom line: This is a good value for the money. The case looks OK, the stand is minimally adjustable (only for tilt) and molded from one piece of shiny plastic, there are none of the usually-supplied cable-routing clips or covers, but hey, it works. The speakers are, and other reviewers have noted, not about as good as the ones in the laptop. My only real gripe, and fixing it is something that would have cost the manufacturer next to nothing, is the lack of documentation. I have no idea how the average non-tech-savvy buyer manages to deal with items like this that come with no instructions. There are also four unmarked buttons on the right side of the monitor, and you need to read the pdf manual to find their purpose. The nicely control things like brightness and other monitor functions, but again, why no labels on the monitor? Why not mention them in the one-page \"quick-start\" guide? A fifty-cent brochure would have inspired five stars on this one.\n\nSo if you want some good bang-for-your-buck in a monitor that will do the job, buy it. If you get that \"our of range\" message, use the DVI cable. Download the pdf manual and find the instructions on the four controls on the side, and order a set of $12.95 Logitech speakers from Amazon!","Product: Having trouble reading your alarm clock at night.This easy to read LCD alarm clock features smartlite technology that allows the display to light up when the lights are off.The green backlight also works on demand.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: The night backlighting is way too bright.\n\nReview: It's a nice piece. I was surprised at the size. The \"two-inch\" display means that the display is 2\" HIGH. The whole clock is about 6\" wide, so it is pretty substantial. We like it like that, actually, and the light/snooze bar is easy to reach and identify by Braille. About the night light, though, which is why I was enamored of this clock, it's so bright that it lights up the whole corner of the bedroom with a pale green glow. Since it faces the bed, the light is especially bright on the sheets and pillows close to it. I even tried to tape a piece of gray glass across the face and it was still too bright, so we just leave it off and use the bar to check the time.\n\nOther than that, believe all the positive reviews you read. It works great, looks good and seems to be well made, especially for the price.","Product: The Panasonic DVD-S500 Progressive Scan DVD Player supports DVDs, CDs and content stored on USB drives. This DVD player offers high-quality progressive scan playback and can decode 2-channel Dolby Digital sound. This model has a composite video and stereo RCA output for connecting to an external display or audio system; an audio/video cable is included. With a width of 12.3\", this DVD player was designed to have a small footprint.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: This is the one you've been looking for!\n\nReview: Wonderful! We wanted a simple unit that would play CDs. We looked at dozens of very sad reviews and finally settled on a Samsung unit because its reviews were not as bad as most of them. Sad state of affairs to be left with that option, but that seems to be the new normal. Well, it arrived, long story short, it was junk, quit in three days and we returned it. We found this Panasonic quite be accident. It had good reviews and it's perfect for us. Very simple controls, solid performance, and unlike most of the ones on which I read reviews for, this one is absolutely silent. You can barely hear the disc start to spin up and once going, it is silent. It loads quickly and if I could give it six stars, I would. Way to go, Panasonic!","Product: The JBL Reference 510 on ear headphones are noise cancelling.These headphones are ideal for airline travel.\n\nRating: 1.0\n\nSummary: As good as my $9 Coby set!\n\nReview: What a disappointment! I've been JBL fan for what, 40 years now? Starting with my Studio Monitors and through many other JBL products, I have never been let down . . . until these headphones. My son generously bought two sets for my wife and me. To start with, the overall sound delivery for watching movies (powered by a very excellent home theater amp) was no better than our old Coby sets from Longs Drugs. We use headphones only when we have guests downstairs, so we never had a need for anything great and the Coby's did the job. We still use them because they are way more comfortable and sound as good as the JBLs. The JBLs are just not bright and clear, and the bass is muffled. They make me feel like my head is in a vise even after stretching the bands as far as I dare. But here's the real bummer. I took mine with me on a 5-hour flight and was eager to try the noise cancelling effects. Well, they \"cancelled\" a small amount of a specific limited frequency range but the overall noise level seemed no lower; just different. And then about half way through the flight I heard a loud POP and the \"noise canceling\" shut off. I grabbed the little box with the battery in it and it was so hot I could barely touch it. So much for noise canceling.\n\nAnyway, I expect a lot more from JBL. Too bad the warranty was dead by the time they died.","Product: The Dell XPS M1530s near-perfect combination of powerful performance, stylish design, and go-anywhere mobility elevated it to the most favorite notebooks of 2008. \nThe featured is a BRAND NEW, FACTORY SEALED (not refurbished) laptop packed with the most powerful INTEL CORE 2 DUO 2.0GHz Processor.\nother features include:\nIntel 4965AGN Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-Card\n250GB SATA Hard Drive 5400RPM\n256MB Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT Graphic Card\nWindows Vista Home Premium\nBiometric Finger Print Reader, USB 2.0 (3), HDMI, Firewire, VGA, S-Video, 10/100 Ethernet\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: I LOVE this thing!\n\nReview: I'm a pretty seasoned computer user. I've been at it since about 1985 and have owned, built, configured and used dozens of computers over that period of time. Now, our office that runs several small businesses has four computers, and my Dell XPS M1530 is the replacement for a 6 year old Dell desktop that served flawlessly but was aging in performance. I did a lot of research before buying this one. My goal was to get a state-of-the-art laptop that would drive its own display alongside a 24\" main display. We have a lot of power glitches here in Hawaii, so the laptop's built-in UPS capability was a big plus.\n\nThis computer did not disappoint. It has the 9300 CPU and is lightning fast for our memory-hog applications. OK, it had a flaw. About a week before the end of the warranty, the HD died. I called tech support, told them the error codes and they immediately confirmed that it was a bad HD and sent a replacement. I asked for some other brand of HD since this one had a known issue and that's why Dell was so quick to acknowledge the need for a replacement. Unfortunately, all they could provide was another one of the same drive. So I ordered an upgrade online (hard drives are so cheap, why not?), and use their replacement in an external-drive enclosure for office backups and large transfers, and I installed the new drive in the XPS. I installed the image I had (of course) saved on our office backup drive, and was up and running in an hour. BTW, it takes about five minutes to replace a drive in this well-designed laptop. And that includes the time to find the screwdriver.\n\nSince then, no problems, and the computer performs as it was intended to in the first place. For the occasional use in which I actually use it as a laptop, I love the keyboard feel and overall build quality. This may sound a bit weird from a guy who considers himself totally outside the realm of what is cool and what is not, but this laptop is the best looking rig there is. No doubt about it, the designers had it together on this one!\n\nThe slot-loading cd/dvd is terrific, the keypad is slick, the display is crisp and clear, and most importantly, the performance is the best of any computer we have ever had in our office. Even working it's proverbial computer-butt off, it never runs anything but warm to the touch. This is in sharp contrast to many reviews that state hot-running as an issue. I understand the 9300 CPU has resolved much of this problem.\n\nI gave it five stars only because Dell shipped it with a known HD defect and then refused to replace the drive with a different brand/model/whatever. The logic of that escapes me. For the last fifteen years or so, I have never had a complaint with Dell Tech Support. A caveat here, though, our support has always been from the business direction. I hear that the general consumer support isn't that great. Next time you buy a Dell, try buying it as a business purchase.","Product: The App Remote feature provides safe control of select apps from your iPhone. Stream Pandora internet radio from your iPhone, playback your digital music files from CD or using the USB 1-wire input. Experience great sound quality thanks to the Advanced Sound Engine and customize the receivers display color to match your mood.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Slightly better than the factory radio.\n\nReview: I installed this in a 2004 Ford Ranger. The original radio was actually fine, had four decent speakers and sounded pretty good. The reasons I went for the Sony were several: The lighting on the factory radio was so dim I could not read the panel in any other light but a dark night with the dash lights on. Also, the Sony has a USB and MP3 player front-panel inputs, plus the description promised a setting where the rear speakers could be programmed as (kind of) subwoofers. Oh, and the Sony definitely looked better than the drab, black factory radio.\n\nSo how does it all work? The lighting on the Sony is just OK. The one-line read-out is fairly dim and although I didn't want the light green as my color, it's the only one that is bright enough to see in daytime. Night time lighting is also just OK. If I dim the display so that the lighted ring around the volume control knob isn't obnoxiously bright, then the rest of the display is hard to read. Also, the plastic face over the display is so shiny that any light in the cab at all makes so many reflections on the face that the dim display is gone. C'mon, Sony engineers, you can certainly do better than that. Or maybe not.\n\nThe tuner is nowhere near as good as the factory radio. We live in a fringe FM area but the factory radio pulled in all of the FM stations I want very well. The Sony is scritchy on all of them. It works great for our local FM stations, but the not-so-local ones, not so much. If you live in a big city, you'd be fine, I guess.\n\nThe amplifier is not as good as the factory radio. The factory radio weighs at least twice what the Sony does, and this is because of its amplifier and power supply. The Sony's capability of tuning the equalizer is better than the factory radio, making the overall listening experience better, but if I choose to turn it up, the distortion is not pleasant. And it's not the speakers, because the factory radio went way louder with no distortion. Oh yeah, and try as hard as I could (and I'm pretty familiar with these things), I could not find the so-called setting that set the filters to use the rear speakers as bass-only. The necessary menu item is simply not on the menu.\n\nAnd finally, the part about \"it looks better.\" Yes, it does, but I was disappointed that this radio is almost an inch narrower than the factory radio, so the \"install kit\" comes with these two cheesy-looking filler panels to make up the difference on the sides. Had I known that up front, I would have selected a different unit just because of that. It looks better then the factory radio, but it definitely looks like a makeshift installation not designed for the space it occupies.\n\nSo there you have it. Another barely OK product from Sony. Were I not so lazy, I'd send it back. But it does work, it does have the front-panel inputs, it sounds good as long as I don't turn it up too loud, and I can see the display a little better than I could on the original radio. So I'll make do with it.","Product: A chronicle of one woman's 1,100-mile solo hike undertaken as a way to recover from a recent personal tragedy.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Could have been a good story, but it wasn't.\n\nReview: Could have been a good story, had it stayed on course and not been laced with gratuitous, explicit and lengthy sex scenes. To give an idea of her \"wild\" past by letting us know that she was bonking every guy who would ask would have filled in a need in telling the story. But to go to all the graphic bedroom (and alley) detail was totally over the top and unnecessary. It spoiled the attempt at telling the promised story. The promised story could have been a really good one, and certainly one that we were anticipating when we rented the movie. But the story line was so weak that it got lost in the narrative and all of the time spent off the trail and in socializing with other hikers at the various lodges and at her curious stay in Ashland, OR. Certainly there were some great moments on the trail, good and bad, along her 1000 mile trek. Too bad the only moments we got to see were in social settings, off the trail. The ending: It seemed like another of those movies where the director all of a sudden felt it was time to wrap it up. The only moments of poignant insight came at the very end where her apparent instant healing occurred. My wife and I felt that this was a so-so acting episode for Witherspoon in a poorly scripted film.","Product: With the dissolution of her marriage and the death of her mother, Cheryl Strayed has lost all hope. After years of reckless, destructive behavior, she makes a rash decision. With absolutely no experience, driven only by sheer determination, Cheryl hikes more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail, alone. WILD powerfully captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddens, strengthens, and ultimately heals her.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Could have been a good story, but it wasn't.\n\nReview: Could have been a good story, had it stayed on course and not been laced with gratuitous, explicit and lengthy sex scenes. To give an idea of her \"wild\" past by letting us know that she was bonking every guy who would ask would have filled in a need in telling the story. But to go to all the graphic bedroom (and alley) detail was totally over the top and unnecessary. It spoiled the attempt at telling the promised story. The promised story could have been a really good one, and certainly one that we were anticipating when we rented the movie. But the story line was so weak that it got lost in the narrative and all of the time spent off the trail and in socializing with other hikers at the various lodges and at her curious stay in Ashland, OR. Certainly there were some great moments on the trail, good and bad, along her 1000 mile trek. Too bad the only moments we got to see were in social settings, off the trail. The ending: It seemed like another of those movies where the director all of a sudden felt it was time to wrap it up. The only moments of poignant insight came at the very end where her apparent instant healing occurred. My wife and I felt that this was a so-so acting episode for Witherspoon in a poorly scripted film.","Product: Slip your phone into this custom-fit Samsung Galaxy S5 Case by Diztronic and experience the peace of mind of knowing your investment is well protected. Flexible, yet stronger and more durable than silicone, TPU offers excellent shock absorption and abrasion resistance while maintaining a thin form factor. The raised wrap-around edges make for a \"lay-on-the-table\" design that helps protect the glass screen from damage. Easy to install and remove, and definitely affordable--why not build a changeable wardrobe for your phone?\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Finally, a phone cover that does what it's supposed to do!\n\nReview: I've used lots of cell phone cases over the years and none has ever been exceptional -- until this one. It's thin and adds no perceivable bulk to the phone, it feels good in the hand. It has just enough grippiness (is that a word?) that it doesn't slip from my hand, all the necessary openings are exactly in the right places, and one of the best features (other than the the obvious one: protection) is that the button covers actuate the buttons perfectly and in the case of this particular one, even better than without the case on the phone. Pressing the buttons through the case is positive and accurate, and it takes just a bit more pressure with the case on, making all those unwanted, accidental presses no longer an issue.\n\nI have not yet dropped the phone, but the way it covers that silvery edge trim, it looks like it will do what is intended. The only times I dropped my last phone, all that happened was that the trim got scraped up. One time with a hit right on the corner on concrete, the protective glass front cover developed a crack, and I'm quite sure that would not have happened with this case on the phone.\n\nThe case pops on and off easily, fits like a glove, and IMHO makes the phone look better by losing that dated \"chrome\" trim around the edge.\n\nFive stars on this one! I only wish it came in cool colors so I could buy one for my wife!","Product: Monroe OESpectrum shock absorbers are engineered specifically for foreign nameplate vehicles and feature the latest global original equipment valving technologies. Developed through years of research and on-vehicle testing, Monroe OESpectrum units provide an unprecedented level of handling precision and control while filtering out the ride harshness commonly encountered on many foreign nameplate applications. This unique blend of control and comfort is made possible through Tenneco's 'Twin Technology Active Control System', an exclusive internal damping control technology first developed for leading global vehicle manufacturers. Tenneco's Twin Technology consists of its latest Impact Control Valve (ICV), which delivers exceptional control under virtually all driving conditions, and a patented Low Speed Tunability (LST) piston design that isolates impact-related noise, vibration and harshness.\n\nRating: 1.0\n\nSummary: The old worn out shocks were better.\n\nReview: I installed these on my 1982 El Camino because the old shocks were very soft, as in worn out. After installed the shocks, I did the \"shock test\" of pushing down on front bumper and was very surprised at how they felt even softer than the ones i had just removed. Driving the car confirmed that the worn out shocks were indeed better, as the front end of the car wallowed up and down over any kind of irregularity in the road. Perhaps this is a one-off bummer pair? I've been using these shocks on my vehicles for years because they offer OEM ride control, whereas most \"better\" shocks make the ride too stiff. I recently put four of them on my 2004 Ranger pickup and they were fine. But this pair was definitely not.","Product: Custom Accessories portable multi-use thermometer and clock, all-in-one device.. Custom Accessories, the leader in automotive aftermarket accessories, is a \"one-stop-shop\" for all your automotive needs. From interior accessories, exterior accessories, car care, steering wheel covers, compasses, tire gauges, air compressors, car organization, car comfort, and countless others, Custom Accessories has it all!\n\nRating: 1.0\n\nSummary: Why do people even offer something like this for sale?\n\nReview: The first thing that makes this piece of Chinese junk totally unacceptable is that the \"slide switch,\" to change from inside to outside temp or to read the clock, would more aptly be called a \"pry switch.\" It so difficult to move that it would be impossible to move it without removing the unit from its mount and then using two hands and a strong fingernail.\n\nThe real deal breaker: With this thing on a table in my house with the \"outside\" sensor located right next to the unit itself, the temp readings are 10.5 degrees F apart. I tested the unit indoors at about 70 degrees and outdoors at about 45 degrees, and in both cases the readings are 10.5 degrees apart. So then I set a known-accurate thermometer alongside this thing and its readings are 5 degrees low for inside and about 5 degrees high for outside.\n\nIt is utterly useless. It is quite surprising that no instrument manufacturer looks at the reviews for all of these imported crap thermometers and then fulfils an obvious market with a decent instrument. I would happily pay the price for one that works, but there's nothing available but many different versions these junk units.","Product: NT65M2S Features: -Integrated air duster button allows air from the compressor to bypass the nailing function and expel from a hole in the front of the tool allowing the user to clear away dust and debris from the work surface in preparation for the nail. -Tool - less, easy-to-clear nose for quick and simple nail extraction should a nail jam during use. -Simple flip of the selective actuation switch allows for either sequential or contact fastening, depending upon the application, with no additional parts or tools required. -360 degree, fully adjustable exhaust port directs air exhaust away from the user during use. Type of Nailer: -Finish Nailers. Type of Fastener: -Finish Nails. Fastener Size Range: -1.25\" - 2.5\". Fastener Gauge: -16. Dimensions: Overall Height - Top to Bottom: -10.88 Inches. Overall Width - Side to Side: -2.85 Inches. Overall Product Weight: -3.7 Pounds.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: another great tool from Hitachi\n\nReview: Believe all the good stuff you read in the reviews, and consider the source when you read the not-so-good stuff. These tools are really meant for use by skilled and experienced workers and you will notice that most of the professional reviewers give this one great reviews. I'm one of them. I have every size nailer from a pinner up to framing nailers. My 30-yr-old Senco finish nailer just died after its third overhaul so I thought I'd try something new. This Hitachi is terrific. Light, intuitive to handle and refill, and shoots consistent depths once the correct pressure is established. My only gripe is that it will shoot blanks when it runs out of nails. I like nailers that will not shoot when the magazine has run out of nails. It sucks to find out you've been shooting blanks and to have to go back on your work to see when you ran out of nails. I knocked off one star for that, but if that isn't important to you, this is a highly recommended tool.\n\nRegarding the reviewers who complain about plastic parts, please know that modern plastics used in the right places in tools serve far better than metal. Plastic is in many cases stronger, it doesn't bend or kink when dropped, it is naturally slippery so works better for nail magazines, and it doesn't rust. I have lots of power tools with proper plastic parts and have NEVER had a problem with a plastic part failure.\n\nThe newest airliners are now being constructed of plastic . . .","Product: Enjoy year round insect protection with the revolutionary walk-through, auto-close, Hands Free Screen Door. The Bug Off Hands Free Screen Door is the solution for parties and barbecues, providing hands free entry and exit for you, family, guests, and pets. Keep bugs out while letting fresh air in. The magnetic auto-close feature automatically shuts the screen each time you walk through it. It fits French Doors and sliders, plus can be installed in apartments, rentals, and condos. This is a great alternative to expensive custom screens and annoying sliding screens that come off the track. The Hands Free Screen is built with easy height and width adjustment, with 2 height adjust tunnels at the top allowing for installation on odd size doors.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Awkward to use, overpriced.\n\nReview: Please note that this review is for a 6' wide screen designed to fit a 6' wide sliding or French door. Since Amazon now often posts reviews to cover a wide variety of products by the same (or sometimes not) manufacturer, this review is specific to this size screen. I tried to post another review for a 30\" wide screen since it would have been very different from this one, but Amazon told me \"only one review per product set is allowed. (Note to Amazon: Your decision to post reviews in a \"generic\" manner is a disservice to your customers. Often one model of a product is distinctly different from another and it would be much more useful to your customers to KNOW that the review they are reading is for the product they are researching, and not one that you feel is \"close enough.\" This review is a case in point\" This review applies ONLY to this model of this product. The 30\" screen review would have been entirely different, so now that we know you group these reviews all together for what you feel is a \"product set,\" at least we also know that you have created a HUGE credibility gap in what we used to trust as the best review source on the Internet. Thanks a lot.)\n\nWe bought this for a 6' wide set of French doors. The screen fits the opening properly, but the magnets are one-sided so that if your French (or sliding, for that matter) door happens to open on the left side (from the inside), the screen closes to the wrong side and will never simply \"fall closed\" as it is supposed to. Every time you go through the screen, you need to stop to tuck the side you opened back behind the other side to get the magnets to engage.\n\nThe photos of these screens showed one on a 6' wide sliding door, and the opening in the screen was centered in the middle of the open side of the sliding door. In other words, the screen was divided 1/4 and 3/4. Ours has the opening right in the middle of the 6' screen, and that is what creates the problem.\n\nOK, let's address fit. The screen fits everywhere except at the bottom. We have a standard aluminum threshold on this door, which should offer the least possible challenge to having the door seal at the bottom. But if I install the screen low enough that it even slightly touches the threshold at any point, it will not close along the vertical seam. The only way it will close along the vertical seam is to allow at least a half-inch opening all along the bottom. Not a huge problem, as most of our mosquitoes try entering through the main space and are apparently not smart enough to check for an opening at the bottom of the screen.\n\nOverall, the screen does work, but it is decidedly inconvenient, somewhat unsightly, and certainly overpriced. Anyone handy with a sewing machine could make one in a few minutes with $10 worth of materials and a recycled shower-curtain rod.\n\nAdd-On: OK, I might as well add the changes for the 30\" screen, since these reviews are all generic now anyway. The 30\" fits the opening fine, it closes most of the time, and has the same seal issues at the bottom. It has two problems of its own, however. The big one is that I am 6' tall, and for a screen of this width, somebody my size needs to either duck or go through the screen sideways. If I tried to simply \"walk though\" the screen, my shoulders would tear the Velcro fasteners off of the door jamb. Something to consider . . .\n\nThe other thing is that the screen closes itself most of the time. This means you cannot simply walk through the screen and assume it closed behind you. Maybe 25% of the time, the sides fall together to the wrong side and the one-sided magnets don't grab that way, so the screen just lays there with a nice, wide gap. More magnets and two-sided magnets might have made this a better product.\n\nWould I buy more of them? NO! I'll bust out my old sewing machine and make my own. They would have to be better.","Product: Enjoy year round insect protection with the revolutionary walk-through, auto-close, Hands Free Screen Door. The Bug Off Hands Free Screen Door is the solution for parties and barbecues, providing hands free entry and exit for you, family, guests, and pets. Keep bugs out while letting fresh air in. The magnetic auto-close feature automatically shuts the screen each time you walk through it. It fits French Doors and sliders, plus can be installed in apartments, rentals, and condos. This is a great alternative to expensive custom screens and annoying sliding screens that come off the track. The Hands Free Screen is built with easy height and width adjustment, with 2 height adjust tunnels at the top allowing for installation on odd size doors.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Awkward to use, overpriced.\n\nReview: Please note that this review is for a 6' wide screen designed to fit a 6' wide sliding or French door. Since Amazon now often posts reviews to cover a wide variety of products by the same (or sometimes not) manufacturer, this review is specific to this size screen. I tried to post another review for a 30\" wide screen since it would have been very different from this one, but Amazon told me \"only one review per product set is allowed. (Note to Amazon: Your decision to post reviews in a \"generic\" manner is a disservice to your customers. Often one model of a product is distinctly different from another and it would be much more useful to your customers to KNOW that the review they are reading is for the product they are researching, and not one that you feel is \"close enough.\" This review is a case in point\" This review applies ONLY to this model of this product. The 30\" screen review would have been entirely different, so now that we know you group these reviews all together for what you feel is a \"product set,\" at least we also know that you have created a HUGE credibility gap in what we used to trust as the best review source on the Internet. Thanks a lot.)\n\nWe bought this for a 6' wide set of French doors. The screen fits the opening properly, but the magnets are one-sided so that if your French (or sliding, for that matter) door happens to open on the left side (from the inside), the screen closes to the wrong side and will never simply \"fall closed\" as it is supposed to. Every time you go through the screen, you need to stop to tuck the side you opened back behind the other side to get the magnets to engage.\n\nThe photos of these screens showed one on a 6' wide sliding door, and the opening in the screen was centered in the middle of the open side of the sliding door. In other words, the screen was divided 1/4 and 3/4. Ours has the opening right in the middle of the 6' screen, and that is what creates the problem.\n\nOK, let's address fit. The screen fits everywhere except at the bottom. We have a standard aluminum threshold on this door, which should offer the least possible challenge to having the door seal at the bottom. But if I install the screen low enough that it even slightly touches the threshold at any point, it will not close along the vertical seam. The only way it will close along the vertical seam is to allow at least a half-inch opening all along the bottom. Not a huge problem, as most of our mosquitoes try entering through the main space and are apparently not smart enough to check for an opening at the bottom of the screen.\n\nOverall, the screen does work, but it is decidedly inconvenient, somewhat unsightly, and certainly overpriced. Anyone handy with a sewing machine could make one in a few minutes with $10 worth of materials and a recycled shower-curtain rod.\n\nAdd-On: OK, I might as well add the changes for the 30\" screen, since these reviews are all generic now anyway. The 30\" fits the opening fine, it closes most of the time, and has the same seal issues at the bottom. It has two problems of its own, however. The big one is that I am 6' tall, and for a screen of this width, somebody my size needs to either duck or go through the screen sideways. If I tried to simply \"walk though\" the screen, my shoulders would tear the Velcro fasteners off of the door jamb. Something to consider . . .\n\nThe other thing is that the screen closes itself most of the time. This means you cannot simply walk through the screen and assume it closed behind you. Maybe 25% of the time, the sides fall together to the wrong side and the one-sided magnets don't grab that way, so the screen just lays there with a nice, wide gap. More magnets and two-sided magnets might have made this a better product.\n\nWould I buy more of them? NO! I'll bust out my old sewing machine and make my own. They would have to be better.","Product: The Cofair UBW425 Quick Roof Ultra Bond White 4\" x 25'' is guaranteed not to crack, harden or shrink. It instantly stops leaks and permanently repairs most roofing materials. It sticks to brick and concrete. It repairs skylights, gutters, flashings, RVs & mobile homes, trucks & trailers, garden sheds, pond liners and tarps. It is available in black and white.\n\nRating: 1.0\n\nSummary: A total fail. Waste of time. Waste of money.\n\nReview: I don't get all the glowing reviews on this product. Maybe I got a dud? I'm a retired general contractor and have been using similar materials for some 50 years now, so it's not because I'm to dumb to read the instructions! This stuff was a total fail. I used it on brand new EPDM rubber membrane roofing, tried to seal it to an edgeboard made of composition decking. I carefully stripped the backing and pressed the product into place, then rolled it with a small laminate roller and lots of pressure, but it looked like it was not adhering. So I went to where I started the seam and picked up on the tape and it just lifted off. Lifted off with no resistance, as in DID NOT STICK. The only thing around I could get it to stick to was itself, sticky side to sticky side. Other than that, it's in the trash and since I was in a time crunch watching the rain clouds coming, I cut some tape strips from the roofing membrane I was using anyway and stuck them down with Blackjack. Messy, but it worked.","Product: The KBMC solid state controls provide infinitely variable speed control of Shaded Pole PSC and AC/DC motors. Solid state variable speed controls are designed to replace obsolete tapped windings chokes rheostats and other methods which are currently being used to obtain speed variations. The controls are available with an internal on/off line switch and are also available with an optional third lead which can be used to control auxiliary circuits such as relays and indicator lamps. A wall mounting kit is available which includes dial plate knob mounting strap hardware and instructions.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Works, for a short while.\n\nReview: I purchased a blower package for our Majestic gas fireplace and this was the blower speed control that came with it. The first one lasted about three months of intermittent use, and then it would only run at top speed. The package was under warranty and the supplier sent a replacement unit. I installed that one in February of this year, shortly before we stopped using the fireplace. Today, we turned on the fireplace for the first time for the oncoming cold season and the control was dead. The blower would not run at all. I \"hot-wired\" the control, thereby eliminating it from the circuit, and the blower runs fine, albeit only at top speed, which is pretty noisy. I just emailed the supplier to find out if there is a better quality replacement, even if I have to pay for it this time.\n\nFrom my experience, I'd call it just more disappointing Chinese-made junk. I would happily pay the price for a good old American-made, last-century-technology, non-solid-state speed control (the kind that NEVER broke), but unfortunately, that seems not to be an option anymore.\n\nTEN MONTH UPDATE: The supplier did respond and sent me a replacement control under warranty. Well, 10 months later, that one stopped working, too. So I contacted the supplier again and this time somebody there suggested I adjust the teensy screw tucked into a teensy hole on the side of the control. I did, and the control started working again.\n\nSo I upgraded from one star to three, since it does now work and more than likely, had somebody told me about the teensy screw on the first control failure, it may have fixed that one, too. I feel that if the control needs periodic adjustments to keep working, that should have been mentioned in the instructions. It works, but it just feels like an item of shabby quality.","Product: DEWALT D55141 Heavy Duty 8 Amp 1/2 Horsepower 2 Gal Oil-Free Single Hot Dog Compressor\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Does the job it was intended for. Durable and no problems.\n\nReview: I've been using (and abusing) Emglo portable compressors for many years, so since I like DeWalt tools and own many of them and this one apparently used an Emglo pump, I went for it. I've been using it for some 6 years now, and it still works like new, never has had an excessive water issue (even when I was using it in Hawaii), I can unplug it and store it for a week and it still has a full head of air (so no leaks). I don't usually do that, though. I almost always drain the tank after a day's use. There is usually a bit of water, but so little it blows out as a few seconds of mist.\n\nSo why only four stars? While it will keep up with any nailer (and that what it was designed to do), I was hoping that it would serve as at least an emergency stand-in when I needed to run an air sander for a few minutes. Not happening. From a full head, the compressor starts running within seconds of starting the sander, and I'm talking a small random-orbit sander here. From there, the sander speed just goes down and down and in like a minute, there's nothing left. But for a nailer compressor, I love it. It's light and easy to carry around, the cord stores well on the side, and the connections and gauges are well placed.","Product: Here's everything you need in a grinder! This extremely durable, professional grade grinder features a built-in water pump, mini table for grinding small pieces, 1/9 HP motor, and a work surface that is 11\" x 13\", or 20% larger than most other grinders. Keep your eyes safe with the large 8\" x 9\" scratch resistant eye shield lens. Also includes 1\" and 1/4\" bits, built-in accessory drawer, roller-type adjustable straight edge guide, convenient coolant drain and flexible rubber splash guard. Comes with a full 5 year warranty.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: You can't go wrong with this tool!\n\nReview: I've been running an art-glass studio for some 35 years or so. Twenty years ago I bought my Glastar \"Allstar\" grinder. It is the most-used tool in my studio and now probably has thousands of hours of use logged. I've never had a problem with it. It just keeps on running and running. Well, OK, I have a complaint: It used to be sparkly white and the plastic is yellowing with age. Just kidding. The yellowing give it a lovely vintage appearance!\n\nAnyway, not much can be said about so simple a machine, except that mine's a keeper and if it should disintegrate tomorrow, I would still feel it was one of the best tool values I've ever received. Oh yeah, after using the same grinder wheel on it for a year, it is still simple to change as the shaft doesn't rust or corrode, so just loosening the Allen screw is all it takes to slide off the wheel and install a new one. They last me a year or two, and I used them a LOT.\n\nSome of the work I've done with this machine is here: sonomastainedglass.com","Product: Add the natural beauty and warmth of wood to your home with our solid pine bi-fold doors. The plantation 2 wide decorative louvers give the doors a modern, clean style. The doors are durable, made of solid pine, and are easy to install (hardware is included). Our bi-fold doors are unfinished and can be painted or stained to match your dcor, or can be left unfinished for a beautiful, natural look. The doors are constructed from solid pine from environmentally-friendly, sustainable yield forests. The high-quality vertical grain delivers the best appearance and performance. Measurements: 36 = Net size is 78 high x 35 11/16 wide for opening of 80 x 36 wide for one door; includes track\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Looking for louver doors? YOU FOUND THEM!\n\nReview: As a contractor who spent 19 years doing major remodels in Hawaii, I have bought and installed many sets of louvered closet doors! These are, by a big margin, the best quality I have ever seen -- at any price. Unlike most of them, they will need no sanding prior to finishing with varnish or whatever you choose to use. The wood is silky-smooth with no open grain or edge splinters as on many of these doors. I always use marine spar varnish, as it is durable and also waterproof so is easy to clean. The hardware is above average, too, in that the far-end top guides run in plastic sliders rather than just in the track. Makes for a more positive connection in this spot, the weakest point in these installations. The whole job for a double set in a six-foot closet opening took about 30 minutes."],"string":"[\n \"Product: The Guitar Professor is a highly accurate, easy to use guitar tuner, pitch pipe, and chord finder! With over 250 chords available, this tool not only keeps you in tune, but helps build your musical vocabulary one chord at a time.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: A bit of a disappointement.\\n\\nReview: Well, for the price I really didn't expect much, and that's what I got. The tuning tones are OK in an emergency, but the fact that they are sustained electronic tones not unlike what your travel alarm produces, it's strange correlating them to guitar strings. But that part would have worked fine, again, for the price. The tuning meter is great. Very touchy, but if you're patient, it can be made to work. Now we come to the two-star part. I bought this primarily for the chords feature, and maybe this one was a lemon, but each of the dozen or so chords I displayed were way wrong. C and E showed the same chord and was incorrect for both. All the rest I tried had extra notes, missing notes wrong placement for all notes, etc.\\n\\nAgain since some reviewers are talking the virtues of the chord graph feature, mine was probably a lemon, but I don't think I will be trying another of these. In defense of the product, it appears to be well made, so if you get a good one, you might just like it.\",\n \"Product: This brush features silicone bristles that are easy to wash with water, and quickly shed dried glue for long-lasting service. They're also spaced to hold plenty of wet glue, meaning less time dipping and more time spreading. Use the narrow dimension for edges and the wide dimension for faces. The paddle end opposite the bristles can be used like a pen for finer detail work such as mortise and tenon, dovetail, and boxjoints, or like a spatula for spreading glue into grooves and mortises. Also available from Rockler, the 3-Piece Silicone Glue Application Kit. It's easy to clean without chemical solvents - even fully dried polyurethane glue cracks and peels right off the bristles - and re-using the brush is also friendly to the environment. When it's time for a glue-up, simply riffle the bristles as you would a deck of cards to peel any dried glue off and restore the brush to pristine condition. Unlike traditional brushes, this one won't shed bristles into your bead of glue. The entire brush is waterproof, so rinsing thoroughly with warm water makes cleanup easy when glue is wet. Silicone Glue Brush measures 7\\\" long. The tapered brush tip measures 1\\\" wide x 1/2\\\" deep.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Works, but the \\\"peel off the glue\\\" part isn't happening!\\n\\nReview: I have two of these, bought from Rockler's Web site for $4.99 each. I like them, use them all the time. BUT, I use Titebond II and III for everything and neither will \\\"peel off of the brush,\\\" as advertised. So what I do when I'm done with the brush is to drop it into a small can of soapy water and just let it sit there for a day or two. At that point, the glue will be dissolved and it will wash out of the brush easily under running water.. Trying to pull dried glue off of the brush will result in tearing out the \\\"bristles\\\" before the glue lets go!\\n\\nSo yes, I use them and I like the results for spreading glue. I've figured out a way to easily clean them. So four stars since there's no way to leave three-and-a-half!\",\n \"Product: Primula stainless steel 4-cup stovetop espresso Coffee maker\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Here's how to use these things!\\n\\nReview: OK, since Amazon now has this policy of publishing reviews to similar items as though they were for the specific items (beware of this when you read reviews! Read the fine print at the top of the review!), I hope this appears for all of these similar espresso makers, regardless of brand, because it works in all of them.\\n\\nI've owned several of these, different brands and different sizes, and have been somewhat underwhelmed with their performance. \\\"Emergency coffee\\\" is what I used mine for. So one day I was at my son's house and he made me this incredible dry cappuccino. I immediately went to his kitchen to see what kind of machine he had bought, and was blown away when he showed me his old, beat-up and stained \\\"6-cup\\\" espresso maker, just like the ones in these reviews. I asked him how he managed to get that kind of performance out of this thing and he said the secret is in ignoring the published instructions and pretty much doing the opposite of what they suggest. Here's his instructions:\\n\\n1. Grind your coffee to espresso fine. If you don't have a burr grinder capable of this, buy your coffee in small quantities and have them grind it for you.\\n2. Fill the coffee holder to a bit over-the-top and then tamp it lightly. A shot-glass or anything else that fits into the holder will do.\\n3. Then proceed as normal: fill the boiler to the brass safety valve with cold, filtered water, screw on the top, and put it on the stove.\\n4. Leave the lid open so you can watch what's going on, allow the coffee to flow until it starts bubbling a bit but not so long that it will boil!\\n5. Pour off the most amazing cup you've ever experienced from your Primula (or similar) espresso maker!\\n\\nI now use the Primula more often than my $500 Gaggia machine. Less fuss and just about as good. Not better, but just about as good, and that's pretty darned good.\",\n \"Product: Create the ambiance of the great outdoors in your home with this storage console from the Boone Mountain collection. Inspired by hand hewn log furniture, this versatile cabinet can be used as a TV stand, holding most 47\\\" TV's. It includes divided shelving for storage and display along with two easy-to-access drawers. Finished on all sides in a warm textured Craftsman Oak finish, this console will bring a cabin feel to any setting.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Great design and a fine value for the money!\\n\\nReview: I'm a custom furniture designer and builder and normally would not buy something like this. But I'm 500 miles from my shop, setting up a summer cabin, so when I saw this at the local we have everything store, and at a price that would have been hard to beat for just the materials had I made it myself, I went for it.\\n\\nI would also NEVER buy a piece of furniture made of chipboard. But after looking over the design on this one, it was apparent that the designer took the weakness of chipboard (eventual sagging of shelves) into account and took steps to avoid that issue. More on that later.\\n\\nIt took me an hour-and-a-half to assemble it, and I was enjoying the process so was in no hurry. I was impressed by the precision of the holes for the many cam-type fasteners, and the very clever engineering to make it possible for anyone who knows how to run a screwdriver to assemble it. The instructions were actually written by somebody who uses English as a first language, a welcome change from the norm. Paying attention to the detailed instructions with clear illustrations for each step, it would have been difficult to screw this up.\\n\\nBottom line, the finished product looks great and will serve well as a table for our 46 flat-screen and the AV receiver and other components look good on the shelf below. The veneer on this piece is so convincing that I had to inspect it closely to determine it was not the real thing.\\n\\nOK, here's the more on that later part. Chipboard, no matter now well designed the table is, with a heavy TV sitting on the top for a long while, WILL begin to sag after a while. Especially in a humid climate. So what I did to prevent that before it begins, I installed a 36 long piece of 1 angle iron just under the molding that goes across the front of the top. It is attached to both the top and the molding with 8 each #10, 1/2 long sheet metal screws into predrilled holes. The screws are all within 4 of the outer ends of the angle iron, since that's where the load is applied from weight in the middle of the top.\\n\\nGreat product, great price, and MADE IN AMERICA!\",\n \"Product: Chilly nights call for an outdoor heater, and what better way to solve this problem than with our patio heater. This patio heater will make a great addition to your patio, as it will allow you to enjoy the outdoors when the temperature starts to drop. This beautiful CSA approved patio heater is easily assembled. Instead of using a propane or oil-fired patio heater to warm up your yard this heater uses regular household electricity and is less expensive to operate than a propane patio heater. It can be used indoors as well as outdoors. Also IP Certified Water proof, and can be mounted either vertical or horizontal. Providing instant heat, this is the perfect way to easily bring the heat where ever you go.\\n\\nRating: 1.0\\n\\nSummary: This heater is a joke. Use a $25 bathroom heater instead.\\n\\nReview: What a joke. The only thing this unit does well is to cast this obnoxious, bright orange glow that makes you think you should feel some warmth. We mounted it on the wall above our patio table about five feet above the table. We could feel no heat at all from two of the chairs. At the two chairs at the ends of the heater you could feel a bit of warmth on one side of your face, and that was it. So I remounted it at four feet above the table, figuring if we could feel some heat we could endure the in-you-face bright glow of the heater. The only difference was that the end-side chair people felt a bit more heat, again on one side of their faces. I could hold my hand right under the heater and it was warm, but not hot. At that distance, it should have cooked my hand. OK, so we tried an experiment. I mounted an old bathroom heater on the wall below the expensive AZ Patio Heater and WOW what a difference! Everybody at the table felt a nice glow of warmth. Looks a little funky, but it will be our new patio heater. Cost $5 at our local thrift store, or you can buy a new one for $25. We're returning this item.\",\n \"Product: The Lenovo Enhanced Performance Keyboard combines legendary keyboard quality, a two port USB hub for desktop expansion capability, a variety of specialty and programmable keys plus media controls to help increase your productivity. It also features a blue button. The access program guides you to a host of information and tools to help you set up, understand, maintain, and enhance your ThinkPad notebook or Think Center desktop computer.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Want a noisy, awkward keyboard? Thi is it!\\n\\nReview: I bought this keyboard because of the info I found on Amazon reviews and on several forum boards about how quiet it is. I was specifically looking for a quiet keyboard and was willing to put up with the retro-clunky look of this one to get quiet. Well, surprise. This is probably the most clackity-loud keyboard I've ever used. The noise actually goes well with the retro-clunky look. Regarding that look, this thing is so fat at the backside that it does not slide into my standard keyboard tray without first collapsing the little elevators in back. I always have those up on my keyboards as I find it uncomfortable typing on a flat-to-the desk keyboard. Bottom line: If you like a noisy keyboard hat looks straight out of 1984, go for this one. I'm still looking for a quiet keyboard.\",\n \"Product: Here's a remote siren that will scare anyone within a few room's distance. This powerful siren takes wireless X10 signals from the X10 alarm consoles. If the console's built-in siren is not loud enough, add this loud siren by simply plugging this unit into any 110V wall receptacle. Use multiple units so that the intruder doesn't know where the sound is coming from. A screw hole allows you to fasten the unit onto the receptacle so a burglar cannot yank it off. This unit is triggered by consecutive ALL LIGHTS ON AND ALL UNITS OFF X10 signals that are transmitted by the security console. This siren can be used with the X10 Powerflash Interface set to flashing mode. This siren is so piercing that it is hard to remain in the same room with it when it goes off.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: \\\"Power Horn\\\" is a serious misnomer.\\n\\nReview: I've installed five of these on my X10 home security system. When I armed the system and entered the house to test it, the noise was at best annoying, and I could easily walk through the house, find these bright white conspicuous noise makers and simply unplug them. From that point on, were I a burglar, the place would be mine.\\n\\nI've also tripped the alarm from outside the house and the cute little noise was barely audible. No way would it have alerted my neighbors that anything was wrong. Forget X10's claims that the whole neighborhood will hear them. That is simply not true.\\n\\nOne reviewer here said there was a way to tweak these things to be able to set off a real security horn or siren. I'd love that information! If you read this, please post the URL!\\n\\nBottom line: Unless X10 offered a module that would allow a real noise maker to be triggered by this system (and they don't), I'd not buy another X10 security system. Those so-called Power Horns are the weak link in the system. Right after the motion sensors that only work when they feel like it.\",\n \"Product: The ThinkPad and ThinkCentre high-quality keyboard tradition continues with this general purpose USB keyboard. This Preferred Pro USB Keyboard is very similar to those that come standard with ThinkCentre desktop systems. It is also compatible with USB enabled ThinkPad notebook systems and docks.\\n\\nRating: 1.0\\n\\nSummary: Want a noisy, awkward keyboard? You've found it!\\n\\nReview: I've been searching far and wide for a quiet keyboard. I love my Microsoft Arc. THAT is a quiet keyboard. It is, however a little travel keyboard and not suitable for everyday use. So I read dozens of reviews, both on Amazon and on several tech forum boards, and many suggested this Lenovo/IBM keyboard as being very quiet, some even said it was the quietest keyboard available. So I received my new keyboard and was at once apprehensive about the big, heavy, klunky, retro appearance of the thing but I figured I can live with that if is indeed quiet. What a disappointment! The thing is every bit as klickety-clackety as any of the basic $10 original equipment keyboards in our office. A very soft press on a key will produce almost no noise, but that is not how people type. Normal typing on this keyboard produces \\\"normal\\\" keyboard noise.\\n\\nAside from that deal-breaking feature, the keyboard is, to me, awkward. For one thing, I like a keyboard elevated in back, and when the little tabs are pulled down to elevate the back of the keyboard, the thing is then so tall it won't slide back into a normal keyboard tray. But the worst thing in the awkward category is the way the keyboard is concave in the center. In other words, the middle row of keys is lower than the top and bottom rows. Kind of dished down in the center like no other keyboard I've ever experienced. This thing feels like it is a clone of some relic from the early eighties.\\n\\nVery disappointing in every way.\",\n \"Product: ViewSonics 22\\\" (21.5\\\" viewable) VX2233WM 16:9 widescreen delivers affordable, elegant style and Full HD 1080p performance to your desktop. It has automatic aspect ratio adjustment ensures a full, undistorted screen image. You can connect game consoles, DVD players and more through the DVI (with HDCP) or VGA inputs. The high brightness and fast video response deliver brilliant, blur-free images. With an ultra-high 18,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, it produces greater detail and definition especially in darker images. Eco-mode saves up to 40% in energy use and prolongs lamp life. It is backed by the strongest pixel performance policy and a 3-year limited warranty. Display Area - 18.7 Horizontal; 10.5 Vertical; 21.5 diagonal Optimum Resolution - 1920 x 1080 WUXGA Response Time - 5ms (max) Light Source - Long life, 50,000 hrs. (typ) Panel Surface - Anti-glare Audio - Speaker 2x2-watt Connectors - Analog - 15-pin mini D-sub; Digital - DVI-D; Power - Built-in power Adapter, 3-Pin plug Dimensions With Stand - 20.2 x 15.3 x 8.5 (512mm x 388mm x 217mm) Power - AC 100-240V (Universal); 50/60Hz(Switch) Power Management - Meets ENERGY STAR standards Weight - Net ~ 9.2 lbs (4.2 kg)\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Good product for the money.\\n\\nReview: We wanted second monitor for one of the laptops in our office. This one was inexpensive and our experience with the company has been favorable, so we ordered it. It works fine. Not as clear and sharp as one of our more expensive monitors, but we didn't expect that. For general office work and Web browsing, it does the job well. The documentation, however is a joke. There was none! The only paperwork that came with it was a \\\"quick-start\\\" guide that showed three drawings: stand it up, plug it in, turn it on. Or something that basic. I'm the office tech guy so I got the job of setting it up. Normally, I can plug in a new monitor and it works out of the box. Windows finds it and installs it. Not this one. All I got on the screen was a message that said, \\\"Out of Range.\\\" So I downloaded the software that came with it (mostly advertising) and then looked through the pdf manual for a trouble-shooting guide that might explain the message. Nada. I plugged the monitor into two other office computers and it worked fine, so I felt it had soemthing to do with this particular computer.\\n\\nThen I started tweaking all of the settings in Windows that should have brought any monitor into at least a workable frequency range. Nada. At last, it occurred to me to try replacing the standard HD cable that came with it (the same type cable all our other monitors use) with the DVI cable that also came with it. YES!! It worked fine then. There was no mention of either of the cables in any documentation, let alone which should be used for what.\\n\\nBottom line: This is a good value for the money. The case looks OK, the stand is minimally adjustable (only for tilt) and molded from one piece of shiny plastic, there are none of the usually-supplied cable-routing clips or covers, but hey, it works. The speakers are, and other reviewers have noted, not about as good as the ones in the laptop. My only real gripe, and fixing it is something that would have cost the manufacturer next to nothing, is the lack of documentation. I have no idea how the average non-tech-savvy buyer manages to deal with items like this that come with no instructions. There are also four unmarked buttons on the right side of the monitor, and you need to read the pdf manual to find their purpose. The nicely control things like brightness and other monitor functions, but again, why no labels on the monitor? Why not mention them in the one-page \\\"quick-start\\\" guide? A fifty-cent brochure would have inspired five stars on this one.\\n\\nSo if you want some good bang-for-your-buck in a monitor that will do the job, buy it. If you get that \\\"our of range\\\" message, use the DVI cable. Download the pdf manual and find the instructions on the four controls on the side, and order a set of $12.95 Logitech speakers from Amazon!\",\n \"Product: Having trouble reading your alarm clock at night.This easy to read LCD alarm clock features smartlite technology that allows the display to light up when the lights are off.The green backlight also works on demand.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: The night backlighting is way too bright.\\n\\nReview: It's a nice piece. I was surprised at the size. The \\\"two-inch\\\" display means that the display is 2\\\" HIGH. The whole clock is about 6\\\" wide, so it is pretty substantial. We like it like that, actually, and the light/snooze bar is easy to reach and identify by Braille. About the night light, though, which is why I was enamored of this clock, it's so bright that it lights up the whole corner of the bedroom with a pale green glow. Since it faces the bed, the light is especially bright on the sheets and pillows close to it. I even tried to tape a piece of gray glass across the face and it was still too bright, so we just leave it off and use the bar to check the time.\\n\\nOther than that, believe all the positive reviews you read. It works great, looks good and seems to be well made, especially for the price.\",\n \"Product: The Panasonic DVD-S500 Progressive Scan DVD Player supports DVDs, CDs and content stored on USB drives. This DVD player offers high-quality progressive scan playback and can decode 2-channel Dolby Digital sound. This model has a composite video and stereo RCA output for connecting to an external display or audio system; an audio/video cable is included. With a width of 12.3\\\", this DVD player was designed to have a small footprint.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: This is the one you've been looking for!\\n\\nReview: Wonderful! We wanted a simple unit that would play CDs. We looked at dozens of very sad reviews and finally settled on a Samsung unit because its reviews were not as bad as most of them. Sad state of affairs to be left with that option, but that seems to be the new normal. Well, it arrived, long story short, it was junk, quit in three days and we returned it. We found this Panasonic quite be accident. It had good reviews and it's perfect for us. Very simple controls, solid performance, and unlike most of the ones on which I read reviews for, this one is absolutely silent. You can barely hear the disc start to spin up and once going, it is silent. It loads quickly and if I could give it six stars, I would. Way to go, Panasonic!\",\n \"Product: The JBL Reference 510 on ear headphones are noise cancelling.These headphones are ideal for airline travel.\\n\\nRating: 1.0\\n\\nSummary: As good as my $9 Coby set!\\n\\nReview: What a disappointment! I've been JBL fan for what, 40 years now? Starting with my Studio Monitors and through many other JBL products, I have never been let down . . . until these headphones. My son generously bought two sets for my wife and me. To start with, the overall sound delivery for watching movies (powered by a very excellent home theater amp) was no better than our old Coby sets from Longs Drugs. We use headphones only when we have guests downstairs, so we never had a need for anything great and the Coby's did the job. We still use them because they are way more comfortable and sound as good as the JBLs. The JBLs are just not bright and clear, and the bass is muffled. They make me feel like my head is in a vise even after stretching the bands as far as I dare. But here's the real bummer. I took mine with me on a 5-hour flight and was eager to try the noise cancelling effects. Well, they \\\"cancelled\\\" a small amount of a specific limited frequency range but the overall noise level seemed no lower; just different. And then about half way through the flight I heard a loud POP and the \\\"noise canceling\\\" shut off. I grabbed the little box with the battery in it and it was so hot I could barely touch it. So much for noise canceling.\\n\\nAnyway, I expect a lot more from JBL. Too bad the warranty was dead by the time they died.\",\n \"Product: The Dell XPS M1530s near-perfect combination of powerful performance, stylish design, and go-anywhere mobility elevated it to the most favorite notebooks of 2008. \\nThe featured is a BRAND NEW, FACTORY SEALED (not refurbished) laptop packed with the most powerful INTEL CORE 2 DUO 2.0GHz Processor.\\nother features include:\\nIntel 4965AGN Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-Card\\n250GB SATA Hard Drive 5400RPM\\n256MB Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT Graphic Card\\nWindows Vista Home Premium\\nBiometric Finger Print Reader, USB 2.0 (3), HDMI, Firewire, VGA, S-Video, 10/100 Ethernet\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: I LOVE this thing!\\n\\nReview: I'm a pretty seasoned computer user. I've been at it since about 1985 and have owned, built, configured and used dozens of computers over that period of time. Now, our office that runs several small businesses has four computers, and my Dell XPS M1530 is the replacement for a 6 year old Dell desktop that served flawlessly but was aging in performance. I did a lot of research before buying this one. My goal was to get a state-of-the-art laptop that would drive its own display alongside a 24\\\" main display. We have a lot of power glitches here in Hawaii, so the laptop's built-in UPS capability was a big plus.\\n\\nThis computer did not disappoint. It has the 9300 CPU and is lightning fast for our memory-hog applications. OK, it had a flaw. About a week before the end of the warranty, the HD died. I called tech support, told them the error codes and they immediately confirmed that it was a bad HD and sent a replacement. I asked for some other brand of HD since this one had a known issue and that's why Dell was so quick to acknowledge the need for a replacement. Unfortunately, all they could provide was another one of the same drive. So I ordered an upgrade online (hard drives are so cheap, why not?), and use their replacement in an external-drive enclosure for office backups and large transfers, and I installed the new drive in the XPS. I installed the image I had (of course) saved on our office backup drive, and was up and running in an hour. BTW, it takes about five minutes to replace a drive in this well-designed laptop. And that includes the time to find the screwdriver.\\n\\nSince then, no problems, and the computer performs as it was intended to in the first place. For the occasional use in which I actually use it as a laptop, I love the keyboard feel and overall build quality. This may sound a bit weird from a guy who considers himself totally outside the realm of what is cool and what is not, but this laptop is the best looking rig there is. No doubt about it, the designers had it together on this one!\\n\\nThe slot-loading cd/dvd is terrific, the keypad is slick, the display is crisp and clear, and most importantly, the performance is the best of any computer we have ever had in our office. Even working it's proverbial computer-butt off, it never runs anything but warm to the touch. This is in sharp contrast to many reviews that state hot-running as an issue. I understand the 9300 CPU has resolved much of this problem.\\n\\nI gave it five stars only because Dell shipped it with a known HD defect and then refused to replace the drive with a different brand/model/whatever. The logic of that escapes me. For the last fifteen years or so, I have never had a complaint with Dell Tech Support. A caveat here, though, our support has always been from the business direction. I hear that the general consumer support isn't that great. Next time you buy a Dell, try buying it as a business purchase.\",\n \"Product: The App Remote feature provides safe control of select apps from your iPhone. Stream Pandora internet radio from your iPhone, playback your digital music files from CD or using the USB 1-wire input. Experience great sound quality thanks to the Advanced Sound Engine and customize the receivers display color to match your mood.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Slightly better than the factory radio.\\n\\nReview: I installed this in a 2004 Ford Ranger. The original radio was actually fine, had four decent speakers and sounded pretty good. The reasons I went for the Sony were several: The lighting on the factory radio was so dim I could not read the panel in any other light but a dark night with the dash lights on. Also, the Sony has a USB and MP3 player front-panel inputs, plus the description promised a setting where the rear speakers could be programmed as (kind of) subwoofers. Oh, and the Sony definitely looked better than the drab, black factory radio.\\n\\nSo how does it all work? The lighting on the Sony is just OK. The one-line read-out is fairly dim and although I didn't want the light green as my color, it's the only one that is bright enough to see in daytime. Night time lighting is also just OK. If I dim the display so that the lighted ring around the volume control knob isn't obnoxiously bright, then the rest of the display is hard to read. Also, the plastic face over the display is so shiny that any light in the cab at all makes so many reflections on the face that the dim display is gone. C'mon, Sony engineers, you can certainly do better than that. Or maybe not.\\n\\nThe tuner is nowhere near as good as the factory radio. We live in a fringe FM area but the factory radio pulled in all of the FM stations I want very well. The Sony is scritchy on all of them. It works great for our local FM stations, but the not-so-local ones, not so much. If you live in a big city, you'd be fine, I guess.\\n\\nThe amplifier is not as good as the factory radio. The factory radio weighs at least twice what the Sony does, and this is because of its amplifier and power supply. The Sony's capability of tuning the equalizer is better than the factory radio, making the overall listening experience better, but if I choose to turn it up, the distortion is not pleasant. And it's not the speakers, because the factory radio went way louder with no distortion. Oh yeah, and try as hard as I could (and I'm pretty familiar with these things), I could not find the so-called setting that set the filters to use the rear speakers as bass-only. The necessary menu item is simply not on the menu.\\n\\nAnd finally, the part about \\\"it looks better.\\\" Yes, it does, but I was disappointed that this radio is almost an inch narrower than the factory radio, so the \\\"install kit\\\" comes with these two cheesy-looking filler panels to make up the difference on the sides. Had I known that up front, I would have selected a different unit just because of that. It looks better then the factory radio, but it definitely looks like a makeshift installation not designed for the space it occupies.\\n\\nSo there you have it. Another barely OK product from Sony. Were I not so lazy, I'd send it back. But it does work, it does have the front-panel inputs, it sounds good as long as I don't turn it up too loud, and I can see the display a little better than I could on the original radio. So I'll make do with it.\",\n \"Product: A chronicle of one woman's 1,100-mile solo hike undertaken as a way to recover from a recent personal tragedy.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Could have been a good story, but it wasn't.\\n\\nReview: Could have been a good story, had it stayed on course and not been laced with gratuitous, explicit and lengthy sex scenes. To give an idea of her \\\"wild\\\" past by letting us know that she was bonking every guy who would ask would have filled in a need in telling the story. But to go to all the graphic bedroom (and alley) detail was totally over the top and unnecessary. It spoiled the attempt at telling the promised story. The promised story could have been a really good one, and certainly one that we were anticipating when we rented the movie. But the story line was so weak that it got lost in the narrative and all of the time spent off the trail and in socializing with other hikers at the various lodges and at her curious stay in Ashland, OR. Certainly there were some great moments on the trail, good and bad, along her 1000 mile trek. Too bad the only moments we got to see were in social settings, off the trail. The ending: It seemed like another of those movies where the director all of a sudden felt it was time to wrap it up. The only moments of poignant insight came at the very end where her apparent instant healing occurred. My wife and I felt that this was a so-so acting episode for Witherspoon in a poorly scripted film.\",\n \"Product: With the dissolution of her marriage and the death of her mother, Cheryl Strayed has lost all hope. After years of reckless, destructive behavior, she makes a rash decision. With absolutely no experience, driven only by sheer determination, Cheryl hikes more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail, alone. WILD powerfully captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddens, strengthens, and ultimately heals her.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Could have been a good story, but it wasn't.\\n\\nReview: Could have been a good story, had it stayed on course and not been laced with gratuitous, explicit and lengthy sex scenes. To give an idea of her \\\"wild\\\" past by letting us know that she was bonking every guy who would ask would have filled in a need in telling the story. But to go to all the graphic bedroom (and alley) detail was totally over the top and unnecessary. It spoiled the attempt at telling the promised story. The promised story could have been a really good one, and certainly one that we were anticipating when we rented the movie. But the story line was so weak that it got lost in the narrative and all of the time spent off the trail and in socializing with other hikers at the various lodges and at her curious stay in Ashland, OR. Certainly there were some great moments on the trail, good and bad, along her 1000 mile trek. Too bad the only moments we got to see were in social settings, off the trail. The ending: It seemed like another of those movies where the director all of a sudden felt it was time to wrap it up. The only moments of poignant insight came at the very end where her apparent instant healing occurred. My wife and I felt that this was a so-so acting episode for Witherspoon in a poorly scripted film.\",\n \"Product: Slip your phone into this custom-fit Samsung Galaxy S5 Case by Diztronic and experience the peace of mind of knowing your investment is well protected. Flexible, yet stronger and more durable than silicone, TPU offers excellent shock absorption and abrasion resistance while maintaining a thin form factor. The raised wrap-around edges make for a \\\"lay-on-the-table\\\" design that helps protect the glass screen from damage. Easy to install and remove, and definitely affordable--why not build a changeable wardrobe for your phone?\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Finally, a phone cover that does what it's supposed to do!\\n\\nReview: I've used lots of cell phone cases over the years and none has ever been exceptional -- until this one. It's thin and adds no perceivable bulk to the phone, it feels good in the hand. It has just enough grippiness (is that a word?) that it doesn't slip from my hand, all the necessary openings are exactly in the right places, and one of the best features (other than the the obvious one: protection) is that the button covers actuate the buttons perfectly and in the case of this particular one, even better than without the case on the phone. Pressing the buttons through the case is positive and accurate, and it takes just a bit more pressure with the case on, making all those unwanted, accidental presses no longer an issue.\\n\\nI have not yet dropped the phone, but the way it covers that silvery edge trim, it looks like it will do what is intended. The only times I dropped my last phone, all that happened was that the trim got scraped up. One time with a hit right on the corner on concrete, the protective glass front cover developed a crack, and I'm quite sure that would not have happened with this case on the phone.\\n\\nThe case pops on and off easily, fits like a glove, and IMHO makes the phone look better by losing that dated \\\"chrome\\\" trim around the edge.\\n\\nFive stars on this one! I only wish it came in cool colors so I could buy one for my wife!\",\n \"Product: Monroe OESpectrum shock absorbers are engineered specifically for foreign nameplate vehicles and feature the latest global original equipment valving technologies. Developed through years of research and on-vehicle testing, Monroe OESpectrum units provide an unprecedented level of handling precision and control while filtering out the ride harshness commonly encountered on many foreign nameplate applications. This unique blend of control and comfort is made possible through Tenneco's 'Twin Technology Active Control System', an exclusive internal damping control technology first developed for leading global vehicle manufacturers. Tenneco's Twin Technology consists of its latest Impact Control Valve (ICV), which delivers exceptional control under virtually all driving conditions, and a patented Low Speed Tunability (LST) piston design that isolates impact-related noise, vibration and harshness.\\n\\nRating: 1.0\\n\\nSummary: The old worn out shocks were better.\\n\\nReview: I installed these on my 1982 El Camino because the old shocks were very soft, as in worn out. After installed the shocks, I did the \\\"shock test\\\" of pushing down on front bumper and was very surprised at how they felt even softer than the ones i had just removed. Driving the car confirmed that the worn out shocks were indeed better, as the front end of the car wallowed up and down over any kind of irregularity in the road. Perhaps this is a one-off bummer pair? I've been using these shocks on my vehicles for years because they offer OEM ride control, whereas most \\\"better\\\" shocks make the ride too stiff. I recently put four of them on my 2004 Ranger pickup and they were fine. But this pair was definitely not.\",\n \"Product: Custom Accessories portable multi-use thermometer and clock, all-in-one device.. Custom Accessories, the leader in automotive aftermarket accessories, is a \\\"one-stop-shop\\\" for all your automotive needs. From interior accessories, exterior accessories, car care, steering wheel covers, compasses, tire gauges, air compressors, car organization, car comfort, and countless others, Custom Accessories has it all!\\n\\nRating: 1.0\\n\\nSummary: Why do people even offer something like this for sale?\\n\\nReview: The first thing that makes this piece of Chinese junk totally unacceptable is that the \\\"slide switch,\\\" to change from inside to outside temp or to read the clock, would more aptly be called a \\\"pry switch.\\\" It so difficult to move that it would be impossible to move it without removing the unit from its mount and then using two hands and a strong fingernail.\\n\\nThe real deal breaker: With this thing on a table in my house with the \\\"outside\\\" sensor located right next to the unit itself, the temp readings are 10.5 degrees F apart. I tested the unit indoors at about 70 degrees and outdoors at about 45 degrees, and in both cases the readings are 10.5 degrees apart. So then I set a known-accurate thermometer alongside this thing and its readings are 5 degrees low for inside and about 5 degrees high for outside.\\n\\nIt is utterly useless. It is quite surprising that no instrument manufacturer looks at the reviews for all of these imported crap thermometers and then fulfils an obvious market with a decent instrument. I would happily pay the price for one that works, but there's nothing available but many different versions these junk units.\",\n \"Product: NT65M2S Features: -Integrated air duster button allows air from the compressor to bypass the nailing function and expel from a hole in the front of the tool allowing the user to clear away dust and debris from the work surface in preparation for the nail. -Tool - less, easy-to-clear nose for quick and simple nail extraction should a nail jam during use. -Simple flip of the selective actuation switch allows for either sequential or contact fastening, depending upon the application, with no additional parts or tools required. -360 degree, fully adjustable exhaust port directs air exhaust away from the user during use. Type of Nailer: -Finish Nailers. Type of Fastener: -Finish Nails. Fastener Size Range: -1.25\\\" - 2.5\\\". Fastener Gauge: -16. Dimensions: Overall Height - Top to Bottom: -10.88 Inches. Overall Width - Side to Side: -2.85 Inches. Overall Product Weight: -3.7 Pounds.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: another great tool from Hitachi\\n\\nReview: Believe all the good stuff you read in the reviews, and consider the source when you read the not-so-good stuff. These tools are really meant for use by skilled and experienced workers and you will notice that most of the professional reviewers give this one great reviews. I'm one of them. I have every size nailer from a pinner up to framing nailers. My 30-yr-old Senco finish nailer just died after its third overhaul so I thought I'd try something new. This Hitachi is terrific. Light, intuitive to handle and refill, and shoots consistent depths once the correct pressure is established. My only gripe is that it will shoot blanks when it runs out of nails. I like nailers that will not shoot when the magazine has run out of nails. It sucks to find out you've been shooting blanks and to have to go back on your work to see when you ran out of nails. I knocked off one star for that, but if that isn't important to you, this is a highly recommended tool.\\n\\nRegarding the reviewers who complain about plastic parts, please know that modern plastics used in the right places in tools serve far better than metal. Plastic is in many cases stronger, it doesn't bend or kink when dropped, it is naturally slippery so works better for nail magazines, and it doesn't rust. I have lots of power tools with proper plastic parts and have NEVER had a problem with a plastic part failure.\\n\\nThe newest airliners are now being constructed of plastic . . .\",\n \"Product: Enjoy year round insect protection with the revolutionary walk-through, auto-close, Hands Free Screen Door. The Bug Off Hands Free Screen Door is the solution for parties and barbecues, providing hands free entry and exit for you, family, guests, and pets. Keep bugs out while letting fresh air in. The magnetic auto-close feature automatically shuts the screen each time you walk through it. It fits French Doors and sliders, plus can be installed in apartments, rentals, and condos. This is a great alternative to expensive custom screens and annoying sliding screens that come off the track. The Hands Free Screen is built with easy height and width adjustment, with 2 height adjust tunnels at the top allowing for installation on odd size doors.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Awkward to use, overpriced.\\n\\nReview: Please note that this review is for a 6' wide screen designed to fit a 6' wide sliding or French door. Since Amazon now often posts reviews to cover a wide variety of products by the same (or sometimes not) manufacturer, this review is specific to this size screen. I tried to post another review for a 30\\\" wide screen since it would have been very different from this one, but Amazon told me \\\"only one review per product set is allowed. (Note to Amazon: Your decision to post reviews in a \\\"generic\\\" manner is a disservice to your customers. Often one model of a product is distinctly different from another and it would be much more useful to your customers to KNOW that the review they are reading is for the product they are researching, and not one that you feel is \\\"close enough.\\\" This review is a case in point\\\" This review applies ONLY to this model of this product. The 30\\\" screen review would have been entirely different, so now that we know you group these reviews all together for what you feel is a \\\"product set,\\\" at least we also know that you have created a HUGE credibility gap in what we used to trust as the best review source on the Internet. Thanks a lot.)\\n\\nWe bought this for a 6' wide set of French doors. The screen fits the opening properly, but the magnets are one-sided so that if your French (or sliding, for that matter) door happens to open on the left side (from the inside), the screen closes to the wrong side and will never simply \\\"fall closed\\\" as it is supposed to. Every time you go through the screen, you need to stop to tuck the side you opened back behind the other side to get the magnets to engage.\\n\\nThe photos of these screens showed one on a 6' wide sliding door, and the opening in the screen was centered in the middle of the open side of the sliding door. In other words, the screen was divided 1/4 and 3/4. Ours has the opening right in the middle of the 6' screen, and that is what creates the problem.\\n\\nOK, let's address fit. The screen fits everywhere except at the bottom. We have a standard aluminum threshold on this door, which should offer the least possible challenge to having the door seal at the bottom. But if I install the screen low enough that it even slightly touches the threshold at any point, it will not close along the vertical seam. The only way it will close along the vertical seam is to allow at least a half-inch opening all along the bottom. Not a huge problem, as most of our mosquitoes try entering through the main space and are apparently not smart enough to check for an opening at the bottom of the screen.\\n\\nOverall, the screen does work, but it is decidedly inconvenient, somewhat unsightly, and certainly overpriced. Anyone handy with a sewing machine could make one in a few minutes with $10 worth of materials and a recycled shower-curtain rod.\\n\\nAdd-On: OK, I might as well add the changes for the 30\\\" screen, since these reviews are all generic now anyway. The 30\\\" fits the opening fine, it closes most of the time, and has the same seal issues at the bottom. It has two problems of its own, however. The big one is that I am 6' tall, and for a screen of this width, somebody my size needs to either duck or go through the screen sideways. If I tried to simply \\\"walk though\\\" the screen, my shoulders would tear the Velcro fasteners off of the door jamb. Something to consider . . .\\n\\nThe other thing is that the screen closes itself most of the time. This means you cannot simply walk through the screen and assume it closed behind you. Maybe 25% of the time, the sides fall together to the wrong side and the one-sided magnets don't grab that way, so the screen just lays there with a nice, wide gap. More magnets and two-sided magnets might have made this a better product.\\n\\nWould I buy more of them? NO! I'll bust out my old sewing machine and make my own. They would have to be better.\",\n \"Product: Enjoy year round insect protection with the revolutionary walk-through, auto-close, Hands Free Screen Door. The Bug Off Hands Free Screen Door is the solution for parties and barbecues, providing hands free entry and exit for you, family, guests, and pets. Keep bugs out while letting fresh air in. The magnetic auto-close feature automatically shuts the screen each time you walk through it. It fits French Doors and sliders, plus can be installed in apartments, rentals, and condos. This is a great alternative to expensive custom screens and annoying sliding screens that come off the track. The Hands Free Screen is built with easy height and width adjustment, with 2 height adjust tunnels at the top allowing for installation on odd size doors.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Awkward to use, overpriced.\\n\\nReview: Please note that this review is for a 6' wide screen designed to fit a 6' wide sliding or French door. Since Amazon now often posts reviews to cover a wide variety of products by the same (or sometimes not) manufacturer, this review is specific to this size screen. I tried to post another review for a 30\\\" wide screen since it would have been very different from this one, but Amazon told me \\\"only one review per product set is allowed. (Note to Amazon: Your decision to post reviews in a \\\"generic\\\" manner is a disservice to your customers. Often one model of a product is distinctly different from another and it would be much more useful to your customers to KNOW that the review they are reading is for the product they are researching, and not one that you feel is \\\"close enough.\\\" This review is a case in point\\\" This review applies ONLY to this model of this product. The 30\\\" screen review would have been entirely different, so now that we know you group these reviews all together for what you feel is a \\\"product set,\\\" at least we also know that you have created a HUGE credibility gap in what we used to trust as the best review source on the Internet. Thanks a lot.)\\n\\nWe bought this for a 6' wide set of French doors. The screen fits the opening properly, but the magnets are one-sided so that if your French (or sliding, for that matter) door happens to open on the left side (from the inside), the screen closes to the wrong side and will never simply \\\"fall closed\\\" as it is supposed to. Every time you go through the screen, you need to stop to tuck the side you opened back behind the other side to get the magnets to engage.\\n\\nThe photos of these screens showed one on a 6' wide sliding door, and the opening in the screen was centered in the middle of the open side of the sliding door. In other words, the screen was divided 1/4 and 3/4. Ours has the opening right in the middle of the 6' screen, and that is what creates the problem.\\n\\nOK, let's address fit. The screen fits everywhere except at the bottom. We have a standard aluminum threshold on this door, which should offer the least possible challenge to having the door seal at the bottom. But if I install the screen low enough that it even slightly touches the threshold at any point, it will not close along the vertical seam. The only way it will close along the vertical seam is to allow at least a half-inch opening all along the bottom. Not a huge problem, as most of our mosquitoes try entering through the main space and are apparently not smart enough to check for an opening at the bottom of the screen.\\n\\nOverall, the screen does work, but it is decidedly inconvenient, somewhat unsightly, and certainly overpriced. Anyone handy with a sewing machine could make one in a few minutes with $10 worth of materials and a recycled shower-curtain rod.\\n\\nAdd-On: OK, I might as well add the changes for the 30\\\" screen, since these reviews are all generic now anyway. The 30\\\" fits the opening fine, it closes most of the time, and has the same seal issues at the bottom. It has two problems of its own, however. The big one is that I am 6' tall, and for a screen of this width, somebody my size needs to either duck or go through the screen sideways. If I tried to simply \\\"walk though\\\" the screen, my shoulders would tear the Velcro fasteners off of the door jamb. Something to consider . . .\\n\\nThe other thing is that the screen closes itself most of the time. This means you cannot simply walk through the screen and assume it closed behind you. Maybe 25% of the time, the sides fall together to the wrong side and the one-sided magnets don't grab that way, so the screen just lays there with a nice, wide gap. More magnets and two-sided magnets might have made this a better product.\\n\\nWould I buy more of them? NO! I'll bust out my old sewing machine and make my own. They would have to be better.\",\n \"Product: The Cofair UBW425 Quick Roof Ultra Bond White 4\\\" x 25'' is guaranteed not to crack, harden or shrink. It instantly stops leaks and permanently repairs most roofing materials. It sticks to brick and concrete. It repairs skylights, gutters, flashings, RVs & mobile homes, trucks & trailers, garden sheds, pond liners and tarps. It is available in black and white.\\n\\nRating: 1.0\\n\\nSummary: A total fail. Waste of time. Waste of money.\\n\\nReview: I don't get all the glowing reviews on this product. Maybe I got a dud? I'm a retired general contractor and have been using similar materials for some 50 years now, so it's not because I'm to dumb to read the instructions! This stuff was a total fail. I used it on brand new EPDM rubber membrane roofing, tried to seal it to an edgeboard made of composition decking. I carefully stripped the backing and pressed the product into place, then rolled it with a small laminate roller and lots of pressure, but it looked like it was not adhering. So I went to where I started the seam and picked up on the tape and it just lifted off. Lifted off with no resistance, as in DID NOT STICK. The only thing around I could get it to stick to was itself, sticky side to sticky side. Other than that, it's in the trash and since I was in a time crunch watching the rain clouds coming, I cut some tape strips from the roofing membrane I was using anyway and stuck them down with Blackjack. Messy, but it worked.\",\n \"Product: The KBMC solid state controls provide infinitely variable speed control of Shaded Pole PSC and AC/DC motors. Solid state variable speed controls are designed to replace obsolete tapped windings chokes rheostats and other methods which are currently being used to obtain speed variations. The controls are available with an internal on/off line switch and are also available with an optional third lead which can be used to control auxiliary circuits such as relays and indicator lamps. A wall mounting kit is available which includes dial plate knob mounting strap hardware and instructions.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Works, for a short while.\\n\\nReview: I purchased a blower package for our Majestic gas fireplace and this was the blower speed control that came with it. The first one lasted about three months of intermittent use, and then it would only run at top speed. The package was under warranty and the supplier sent a replacement unit. I installed that one in February of this year, shortly before we stopped using the fireplace. Today, we turned on the fireplace for the first time for the oncoming cold season and the control was dead. The blower would not run at all. I \\\"hot-wired\\\" the control, thereby eliminating it from the circuit, and the blower runs fine, albeit only at top speed, which is pretty noisy. I just emailed the supplier to find out if there is a better quality replacement, even if I have to pay for it this time.\\n\\nFrom my experience, I'd call it just more disappointing Chinese-made junk. I would happily pay the price for a good old American-made, last-century-technology, non-solid-state speed control (the kind that NEVER broke), but unfortunately, that seems not to be an option anymore.\\n\\nTEN MONTH UPDATE: The supplier did respond and sent me a replacement control under warranty. Well, 10 months later, that one stopped working, too. So I contacted the supplier again and this time somebody there suggested I adjust the teensy screw tucked into a teensy hole on the side of the control. I did, and the control started working again.\\n\\nSo I upgraded from one star to three, since it does now work and more than likely, had somebody told me about the teensy screw on the first control failure, it may have fixed that one, too. I feel that if the control needs periodic adjustments to keep working, that should have been mentioned in the instructions. It works, but it just feels like an item of shabby quality.\",\n \"Product: DEWALT D55141 Heavy Duty 8 Amp 1/2 Horsepower 2 Gal Oil-Free Single Hot Dog Compressor\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Does the job it was intended for. Durable and no problems.\\n\\nReview: I've been using (and abusing) Emglo portable compressors for many years, so since I like DeWalt tools and own many of them and this one apparently used an Emglo pump, I went for it. I've been using it for some 6 years now, and it still works like new, never has had an excessive water issue (even when I was using it in Hawaii), I can unplug it and store it for a week and it still has a full head of air (so no leaks). I don't usually do that, though. I almost always drain the tank after a day's use. There is usually a bit of water, but so little it blows out as a few seconds of mist.\\n\\nSo why only four stars? While it will keep up with any nailer (and that what it was designed to do), I was hoping that it would serve as at least an emergency stand-in when I needed to run an air sander for a few minutes. Not happening. From a full head, the compressor starts running within seconds of starting the sander, and I'm talking a small random-orbit sander here. From there, the sander speed just goes down and down and in like a minute, there's nothing left. But for a nailer compressor, I love it. It's light and easy to carry around, the cord stores well on the side, and the connections and gauges are well placed.\",\n \"Product: Here's everything you need in a grinder! This extremely durable, professional grade grinder features a built-in water pump, mini table for grinding small pieces, 1/9 HP motor, and a work surface that is 11\\\" x 13\\\", or 20% larger than most other grinders. Keep your eyes safe with the large 8\\\" x 9\\\" scratch resistant eye shield lens. Also includes 1\\\" and 1/4\\\" bits, built-in accessory drawer, roller-type adjustable straight edge guide, convenient coolant drain and flexible rubber splash guard. Comes with a full 5 year warranty.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: You can't go wrong with this tool!\\n\\nReview: I've been running an art-glass studio for some 35 years or so. Twenty years ago I bought my Glastar \\\"Allstar\\\" grinder. It is the most-used tool in my studio and now probably has thousands of hours of use logged. I've never had a problem with it. It just keeps on running and running. Well, OK, I have a complaint: It used to be sparkly white and the plastic is yellowing with age. Just kidding. The yellowing give it a lovely vintage appearance!\\n\\nAnyway, not much can be said about so simple a machine, except that mine's a keeper and if it should disintegrate tomorrow, I would still feel it was one of the best tool values I've ever received. Oh yeah, after using the same grinder wheel on it for a year, it is still simple to change as the shaft doesn't rust or corrode, so just loosening the Allen screw is all it takes to slide off the wheel and install a new one. They last me a year or two, and I used them a LOT.\\n\\nSome of the work I've done with this machine is here: sonomastainedglass.com\",\n \"Product: Add the natural beauty and warmth of wood to your home with our solid pine bi-fold doors. The plantation 2 wide decorative louvers give the doors a modern, clean style. The doors are durable, made of solid pine, and are easy to install (hardware is included). Our bi-fold doors are unfinished and can be painted or stained to match your dcor, or can be left unfinished for a beautiful, natural look. The doors are constructed from solid pine from environmentally-friendly, sustainable yield forests. The high-quality vertical grain delivers the best appearance and performance. Measurements: 36 = Net size is 78 high x 35 11/16 wide for opening of 80 x 36 wide for one door; includes track\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Looking for louver doors? YOU FOUND THEM!\\n\\nReview: As a contractor who spent 19 years doing major remodels in Hawaii, I have bought and installed many sets of louvered closet doors! These are, by a big margin, the best quality I have ever seen -- at any price. Unlike most of them, they will need no sanding prior to finishing with varnish or whatever you choose to use. The wood is silky-smooth with no open grain or edge splinters as on many of these doors. I always use marine spar varnish, as it is durable and also waterproof so is easy to clean. The hardware is above average, too, in that the far-end top guides run in plastic sliders rather than just in the track. Makes for a more positive connection in this spot, the weakest point in these installations. The whole job for a double set in a six-foot closet opening took about 30 minutes.\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":27,"string":"27"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_3"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":894,"string":"894"}}},{"rowIdx":895,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"AD34TCPEP7P84"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of \"5.0\" for a product with description \"This quick growing oat grass supplies your cats with extra vitamins and minerals. Be sure to plant in a pot indoors that your pets can't knock over. This helps keep them away from your other plants, but don't let them have an unlimited supply.\". The summary of the review text is \"Easy to grow and good for your cat!\"."},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"Cat Grass is not only a treat that cats love to eat, it is also good for them and will help deter them away from eating houseplants! My cat often nibbles on houseplants then throws up and I'm always afraid that it will do damage to her digestive system. When there is cat grass around, though, she only eats that - she really chows it down, and it makes her happy, too! Cat grass is also good for cats - it contains vitamins that may or may not be present in cat food, and it aids their digestive system and helps to eliminate fur balls.\n\nEven if you do not have a green thumb, cat grass is so easy to grow, that anyone can do it and it's also a great \"project\" for kids, too. The seeds sprout very quickly (if you keep them moist) and will grow quickly to 4-6inches in a window sill.\n\nIf you have cats, cat grass is a must!"},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"Cat Grass is not only a treat that cats love to eat, it is also good for them and will help deter them away from eating houseplants! My cat often nibbles on houseplants then throws up and I'm always afraid that it will do damage to her digestive system. When there is cat grass around, though, she only eats that - she really chows it down, and it makes her happy, too! Cat grass is also good for cats - it contains vitamins that may or may not be present in cat food, and it aids their digestive system and helps to eliminate fur balls.\n\nEven if you do not have a green thumb, cat grass is so easy to grow, that anyone can do it and it's also a great \"project\" for kids, too. The seeds sprout very quickly (if you keep them moist) and will grow quickly to 4-6inches in a window sill.\n\nIf you have cats, cat grass is a must!"},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Product: The LSS-505 desktop sewing machine has 8 built-in stitch patterns and is easy to use for all your basic sewing needs. It features a sewing light, accessory storage drawer, auto bobbin winder, two speeds, two-thread lockstitch, and built-in thread cutter.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Inexpensive solution for simple sewing projects\n\nReview: I learned to sew when I was young but haven't had a sewing machine in over 20 years. I wanted to sew a simple craft for my daughter's birthday but didn't have time to research the best sewing machines for my purposes nor was I sure I was going to do much sewing beyond this project so I wanted to get a very inexpensive machine for now until I knew what I wanted or needed in the future. I purchased this machine mainly because of the price and that it had the basic features I thought I would need. I was pleasantly surprised with this light weight machine because it was very easy to use (though I will say I agree with other reviewers that the manual really lacks instruction! - I too found instructions online). I found this machine to do the simple sewing tasks - nothing more, nothing less but was perfect for my situation. It was easy to select the stitch I needed, use the foot pedal and back-stitch lever while easily sewing a medium sized fabric. I will say that it is not good for heavier fabrics (it stuck many times when trying to sew two pieces of a canvas together) and it cannot be used for sleeves or narrow cuffs of children's pants so I will look for a free-arm type machine in the future.\nOverall, if you can't afford a complex sewing machine or only need to do the basics, this is a great buy.","Product: DIIs 100% cotton tablecloths come in a variety of colors & sizes. These tablecloths are perfect for picnics, parties, showers, dinners, everyday use and more. DII offers a variety of prints and patterns, giving you numerous options for your next event or dinner party. All of DIIs cotton tablecloths have a 1 inch folded hem and mitered corners. These tablecloths are machine washable for easy clean up and use. Find DIIs full selection of tablecloths by searching for DII Cotton Tablecloths.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Nicer casual style for everyday use\n\nReview: I am impressed by the quality of this tablecloth - the thickness of the fabric is very nice for an inexpensive tablecloth and allow it to lay neatly on the table. It is durable enough to hold up to kids playing Legos on the table or heavy dishes at dinner time. The color is also beautiful - a deeper chambray blue that is a little more elegant than casual. It is 100% cotton do expect a bit of shrinkage though washing in cold water then drying on a low setting or air-drying will reduce shrinking. I did get the 60x84\" size and it is too short for my table seating 8 so measure your table before buying. This size is perfect when we take a leaf out of our table.\nI have several DII products and have not been disappointed at all!","Product: Anchor Hocking Classic Food Storage dishes and lids nest and stack for organized, space saving storing. Glass is microwave, pre-heated oven, refrigerator, freezer, and dishwasher safe. Plastic lids let you cover any leftovers and conveniently store them in the refrigerator. Lids are BPA-free and top-rack dishwasher safe.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great set to have for the kitchen or crafts\n\nReview: Glass is better than plastic for many reasons - some of which include being durable, eco-friendly, able to go in the freezer, microwave and dishwasher with no problems, repel stains and acidic/strong scented foods and they are MADE in AMERICA! These are super convenient if you want to organize left-overs, food for lunches or food by type since they have color coded lids. These are perfect to use for food prep, especially when making dishes that require several ingredients. We like to use them to store arts and crafts too - again, it's great to have so many bowls with different colored lids to organize things.\nI also like having so many bowls (at such a great price too) - these come in 4 different sizes","Product: Global Decor's Children's Storage Container is multi-purpose. It can be used under your bed, under a desk, in your child's closet, on a shelf or as a step stool. This great container/stool can hold up to 150 pounds, and it a handy item for many uses. It assembles in 15 seconds and once assembled is 18\" long, 12\" wide, and 12\" tall. You can store toys, clothes, laundry, supplies, or anything else you can think of inside. The possibilities are endless.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Perfect storage solution for girls!\n\nReview: I purchased this storage container because it served as a dual-purpose seat and storage container - something all parents of small kids need! The container is super easy to put together (really, just unfolding)and is made of durable materials. The sides are pretty strong and the top is solid (plywood covered with padding and vinyl covering). The top is very snug fitting and somewhat difficult for kids to put on securely - you have to hold out the corners, pulling slightly, as you put it on top of each corner. The material is really easy to clean - another plus! And because this is a rectangular shape (instead of square like so many other storage stools) it holds quite a bit of toys - plus plus! The only thing I can complain about is that the wood inside the top did break (probably because my husband sat on it) and I am hoping the manufacturer will replace the top for us - I will post an update when they do. To that effect, this is a stool for kids and holds smaller kids just fine - it is NOT an adult seat!\nNeedless to say, I am very happy with this container and if the top gets replaced, will recommend it to anyone.","Product: Wait! Dont preheat the big oven! The BLACK+DECKER Extra-Wide 8-Slice Stainless Steel Digital Convection Countertop Toaster Oven with Broiler Pan has room for a 9x13 pan with handles, so you can make a proper meal for the whole family right on your countertop! The convection fan ensures fast and even heating for all your baking tasks, and seven separate cooking functions provide ideal heat for broiling, toasting, and more! The toaster oven includes a broiler pan and three rack positions so you can cook a wide range of meal sizes. Plus, digital controls make it easy to select time, temperature, and cooking function, with a toast shade timer and a 120-minute precision timer with auto shutoff. When its time to eat, trust the #1 brand in toaster ovens**BLACK+DECKER. *Compared to BLACK + DECKER TO1660B. Seven functions dedicated cooking functions include: convection bake, broil, toast, bagel, reheat, pizza, and frozen snacks. 12 Pizza, 8 Slices of bread the expanded toaster oven fits nicely on the countertop, while the interior makes room for 12 pizzas and 8 slices of bread.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: A Must Have for families and quick meal prep!\n\nReview: As a family with kids, we have come to need a toaster oven for quick meal prep when we don't want to use the entire oven (or heat the apartment up in summer). This particular model is ideal for families as you can make up to 8 pieces of toast, waffles or bagels at once! This is a huge time saver and family pleaser especially on those mornings when everyone is in a rush. We use this toaster to make a whole tray of chicken tenders, even baking fries on the tray at the same time.\n\nBest feature is that this toaster oven is large enough to bake a 9x11 baking dish so making lasagna, baked ziti, and casseroles is easy. Because this oven is smaller than a traditional full oven, food cooks more evenly and a bit more quickly (and it heats up faster too). This toaster oven made cooking Thanksgiving dinner more convenient as well since the oven is being used for the turkey and stuffing - having this toaster oven then becomes the second oven so we can also cook other foods that don't need the same temperature or that crowd the full oven (which extends cooking time).","Product: Adjustable headband comfortable for extended wear Specifically sized for young students Ideal for beginning computer classes and story-time uses Permanently attached with reinforced strain connection resists accidental pull out Lengthy 5-6 straight cord with 3.5mm plug set at right angle reduces accidental pull-out Around-ear ambient noise-reducing earcups deliver maximum protection against exterior sounds (without added electronic circuitry and expense). This reduces the need to increase the volume (protecting the ears) and helps keep students on task. Rugged ABSplastic earcups resist breakage in high-use situations Replaceable leatherette ear cushions IBM, iMac and Mac compatible One year warranty for school use - unlike headphones purchased at consumer electronics stores whose warranties would be voided if used in schools.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Perfect headphones for toddlers\n\nReview: We purchased these for our 20month old for a very long flight to use with a dvd player. They worked great and our son actually kept them on his head! They are well built, light-weight, and are a great primary color (makes it more fun for kids). They are also the right size and cover the entire ear with very soft padding to stay on the ear better and fit smaller heads of toddlers (they are also adjustable to grow with your child). These also worked on the plane connected to the earphone jack for the on-plane movies so we were all peacefully watching a movie. I highly recommend these for your child as they were made specifically for young children.","Product: DRP-MZX656BLK\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: convenient headphones for various devices\n\nReview: These are very comfortable, fitting over the ear with plenty of cushioning. The sound is good for headphones in this price range. I really like the fact that you can change the side that the jack is plugged into, so it is flexible depending on the device or computer you are listening from and won't get in your way while typing or using a mouse. These also fold up very nicely so can easily fit into your purse, bag or suitcase when not in use.\n\nOne thing I did notice is that you have to make sure the jack is COMPLETELY plugged into the headphones or the sound will be off. The jack fits snugly so push it in until you hear/feel it click.","Product: Press AUTOSEAL button to sip, release to seal. 100-percent BPA free; water bottle is made out of tritan, which provides high impact resistance and won't stain or retain odors.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Sturdy and spill proof\n\nReview: This is a sturdy little water bottle, perfectly sized for young kids or lunch boxes. It really does live up to it's no-spill claims with a secure sipping cover. One thing to take note of is that in order to properly clean this, you must open up the latch under the lid to open up the mouth piece AND remember to close it back up when you are ready to use the bottle (the only reason I didn't give it 5 stars). It is this piece that make the cup spill-proof. The quality of this bottle is excellent and can take the heavy use / dropping that is inevitable with young kids. Younger toddlers may have a difficult time opening the mouth piece so it is better suited for older preschool and elementary age kids.","Product: Make sure clothing always gets returned to its rightful owner with these no-iron kids clothing labels. They're great for labeling clothing like jackets, t-shirts, school uniforms, baby clothing, PE uniforms, hoodies and more. They also work great on baseball caps, blankets, lunch boxes, backpacks, tennis shoes and other fabric items. The assorted pack includes oval labels and three sizes of rectangle labels. Just write on the no-iron labels with a permanent marker, peel and stick. The labels work with many fabrics and are durable enough to withstand multiple washer and dryer cycles. Keep your kids' clothing out of the lost and found with these no-iron name and daycare labels.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Easy way to label clothes without damage\n\nReview: Tried these out for back to school this year - my kids wear uniforms and have all the same items. I have also tried other clothing labels and have not found a successful way to label clothes without writing on the fabric or taking time to sew in a tag. We recycle, donate and hand down clothes when they are outgrown so we don't like to damage the fabric.\nThese Avery labels are different than others I have tried - they are thin, somewhat plastic and easy to write on with a Sharpie. I needed to be a little careful peeling off due to their thinness but they stuck on well and didn't come off after washing.\nI will give an update after several washings to see how they hold up.","Product: Ideal for indoor or outdoor container gardening, this resin planter is a tough, lightweight alternative to clay or ceramic planters. The traditional tapered design features natural textures and decorative embellishments to add a beautiful accent to your home. Thick walls and the planter's attractive rolled lip offer added durability, and optional punch-out drainage holes help prevent overwatering. Made with high-quality color pigments and UV additives, this planter offers excellent all-weather durability. Self-centering trays (sold separately) contain overflow and help prevent mess.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Nice color and style, decent quality for the price\n\nReview: These are great planters for the price - a very good inexpensive solution to nicer looking plastic planters. The stone color is perfect for a neutral color scheme or to allow for plants to be focus rather than planters. The quality is pretty good (for the price) HOWEVER: be warned that if you try to move a heavy planter by pulling on the top of sides they may break or crack. Also the plastic will become more fragile in extreme cold weather and can crack. Both instances occurred for me but I like the way these look so much that I am just buying replacements since the price just dropped to $12.54!\nAt this price point, you can't go wrong for a large portable planter. I am however also purchasing a base with wheels to move them when I need to.","Product: Grows Plants Twice as Big Improves existing soil to build strong roots. Feeds up to 3 months For outdoor, in ground vegetables and annual and perennial flowers Contains rich organic ingredients, sphagnum peat moss and manure to improve soil condition and control moisture.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Perfect more natural garden soil!\n\nReview: I do mostly container gardening on my balcony so I need to replace the planting medium or amend the existing soil from last season. Upon first glance of this garden soil, I noticed that it is not super-fine like most bags of potting mix - it is a mixture of soil, mulch and compost that is not completely broken down, so it appears more like home-composted soil. It is nice and dark, not too heavy and is easy to pour into planting pots or scoop with a trowel.\n\nI used this to start my vegetables this spring and so far the peas, radishes and lettuce (started from seed) all sprouted very quickly and look healthy. I will post an update throughout the growing season.","Product: This handsome ceiling fan is inspired by warm breezes. The rustic housing is complimented with a warm, multi-tone distressed bronze finish. This fan includes 2 styles of fan blades, each specially designed to be used indoors or outdoors. Choose the palm leaf blade to add a tropical touch, or the simple two-tone paddle blade to add a little elegance. Let the beautiful details of Tommy Bahama make a striking statement in your home.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great quality and performance\n\nReview: This is a high quality fan that will not only enhance the decor in your room but also do an amazing job at circulating air! The fan is very nicely detailed with a dark brushed bronze finish and the choice between the two styles of blades. I had my father install this and it was relatively easy though the leaf blades are rather large and make it more difficult to wire so we used the plain blades.\nI really love the remote - I have never had a fan with a remote so this is such a life saver - especially if you use this for high ceilings.\nThe fan is really well constructed and does a great job moving air around the room - you can really feel the difference!","Product: The HAMMERHEAD Compact Self-Leveling Cross Line Laser with Adjustable Mounting Clamp projects bright horizontal, vertical or cross lines onto flat surfaces with the accuracy of 1/4 inch at 30 feet. The unit will self-level when positioned within 4 degrees of level; an LED indicator turns red when the unit is positioned outside of the self-leveling range. In the lock (manual) mode, the cross line laser can be positioned to project lines that are not level or plumb for projects that require them. The included adjustable mounting clamp easily attaches to a variety of surfaces to extend the utility of the tool. The cross line laser may also be mounted on any 1/4\" threaded tripod screw. Kit includes: (1) Compact Self-Leveling Cross Line Laser, (1) Adjustable Mounting Clamp and (2) AA Batteries\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Must have for the home toolbox!\n\nReview: I am guilty of hanging up framed photos and art on the way by just \"eye-balling\" it... well, not any more! This self-leveling cross line laser device makes lining things up so easy that I better not even think about eyeballing anything again! It does take a little getting used to and I think it would help to get a tripod to use the clamp but we were able to use the laser to properly re-align the photos on our walls. The level laser is pretty bright so is clearly visible even when shooting from a little distance. It is also wise to try not to look into the laser or point this near anyone's face.\nBottom line - this is a super easy tool that takes the guess work out of lining things up!","Product: Watch out for holes as you hop your way to the giant carrot at the top of the hill.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Funny Bunny fun for young kids!\n\nReview: My 4 and 6 year old really loved this game and played it over and over again the moment they opened it! It is easy to play for this age group and perfect for their attention span. The object of the game is to hop on the spaces all the way up the hill but if someone draws a click card, you have to turn the carrot and holes open up along the hill so you may loose a bunny in the hole. The kids really loved that effect! The first one up the hill wins.\nThis game is durable but the bunnies are kind of small (too small for toddlers) but all in all it is a fun game and a perfect gift!","Product: This rolling, rough-and-tough vacuum cleaner comes alive with animation, realistic sounds and fun activities! He's very attached to his good friend Brushy--the two of them even talk to each other!\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: #1 toy under the tree!\n\nReview: This toy was by far the biggest hit and favorite present under the Christmas tree! Our son is 18 months, and when he opened this gift, he forgot about all the other presents under the tree! He immediately started \"cleaning up\" and barely put it down all day! Now, everytime I say I'm going to vacuum, he grabs his and vacuums alongside me (he is such a big helper!). This toy is not only popular, but the sounds are funny and cute - \"Dusty\" talks as you push and says things like \"Let's clean up this mess!\", and \"This place is a pig sty!\". It's the perfect height for 18 months+, and it is not loud or obnoxious like some talking toys.","Product: Talk about green tea!! Young hosts can serve up a pot of tea while doing something really good for the earth. Like all Green Toys products, our Tea Set is made from eco-friendly materials, helping to reduce fossil fuel use and CO2 emissions, all in the name of Good Green Fun! Meets FDA specs for food contact. Dishwasher safe.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Eco-Friendly, durable AND fun!\n\nReview: Every toddler needs good durable toys for pretend play and Green Toys has created incredible products that are also good for the environment! This Tea Set is perfect for toddler girls (and boys!) to set up their pretend tea parties with dolls! First let me mention that Green Toys makes their toys from recycled milk jugs - a very responsible and purposeful reuse of plastics! These toys are also very durable - much thicker and stronger than other plastic toys so they can withstand a lifetime of their \"second life\"! The colors are also very pleasant - bright and cheerful. They are also easy to clean (when kids decide to use real milk in their tea!) in fact, they can actually use them for eating real food! I usually hand wash toys and kids plastic dishes for fear that the dishwasher might overheat them.\nAs for play value, not only do both my kids love these dishes, they really do play with them EVERY day! We have several sets including the chef set, dish set and gardening kit - they play with all of them everyday!\n\nFor more info about Green Toys products and how their toys are made go to:\n[...]","Product: Welcome to the next generation of learning with the Leap Pad Platinum tablet from LeapFrog, makers of the #1 kids' tablets and the trusted leader in learning for 20 years. It features a 7\" hi-res multi-touch capacitive screen and fast processor (ages 3-9). Access our learning library of 1,000+ games and more, all designed or approved by LeapFrog educators and featuring Just For Me Learning Technology. Games draw from 10 ways to personalize, from remembering curricular progress - a LeapFrog exclusive - to automatically adjusting learning levels. (Select games only, sold separately.) Take pictures and videos of family or friends with two cameras & video recorders. Connect with a friend on a peer-to-peer enabled Leap Pad, and have your pets play together. Unlock more gameplay with 6 bonus LeapFrog Imagicard digital game and interactive cards. (Actual storage capacity for photos and apps may vary depending on use. App download requires Internet connection and parent account.) U.S. Source: The NPD Group / Retail Tracking Service; Infant/PS Electronic Learning and Electronic Entertainment subclasses, Dollars and Units, Annual 2013.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Another winner from LeapFrog\n\nReview: We absolutely love this much improved tablet for kids. It is more sophisticated than many other devices marketed for this age group thus more attractive to today's tech-savvy kids! There are many apps, videos and music that can be purchased / downloaded or added to this tablet so it is capable of a wide range of games (educational and fun) and entertainment. The sound and graphics are also excellent, another feature that my smart kids demand! One other great feature is that your child's progress and stats are sent to parents in a weekly email with suggestions for other apps to download. They also have frequent discounts and promos to help you save $$ when stocking up on content for this tablet. Overall, we love this product and highly recommend it but in terms of age groups this is more attractive to, our 6 y.o. enjoys this a lot but our 9 y.o. is more interested in the Kindle (with more advanced apps).","Product: Splash the day away with this Barbie play set that comes with Barbie doll, pet bathtub and adorable puppy who can really shake things up! When it's bath time, place the pup into the tub and use the signature style squeeze bottle -- filled with your own soap and water -- to get the puppy sudsy. Then push down on the puppy's back for a totally wow moment! The adorable pup wiggles and shakes and spins her tail -- just like a real puppy! Pour water over the puppy to rinse her off, and help Barbie doll use the puppy's towel to dry her pet. Animal lovers will want to wash this little dog over and over again. Barbie doll is adorable in a patterned top and denim shorts with headband accessory. A pet brush and towel add even more grooming fun. Includes Barbie doll wearing fashions and accessories, puppy with action feature, squeeze bottle, towel and pet brush. Doll cannot stand alone. Colors and decorations may vary.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Fun dog that shakes!\n\nReview: My 7 year old daughter is obsessed with pets for her dolls so she absolutely loves this set. The dog is really cute and the interactive shaking/wagging action is a key feature that adds to the fun of giving the dog a bath. The set includes a small doggie bathtub, shampoo bottle (empty, you will need to fill it with soap yourself), a small towel, pretend dog brush, Barbie doll and puppy.\n\nThe Barbie is ok - honestly, I think they made them better in the early 80s. This particular Barbie has bendable knees but the arms don't bend and one is permanently bent as if to always hold the towel over the arm. Where this set lacks on the Barbie, it makes up for with the puppy. While it is all hard plastic (no hair), it does have a cool feature when you press it's upper back - press down and it will literally shake as if to dry off. That feature alone makes this set a fun toy that will keep kid's interest for a while.","Product: Encourage early scientific discover with this unique set that allows kids really to observe plants growing from soil. Pots are clear for observation, and trowel is sized for little hands. Set of 12 includes 1 watering can, 1 rooting tray, 1 observation jar, 2 solid and screened lids, 3 pots, 1 trowel, 3 plant markers and 10 activity cards. For ages 3 and up.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Learning is fun with plant science\n\nReview: This is a great educational kit for little green thumbs that includes a watering can, observation jar with 2 lids. rooting tray, 3 pots, 3 plant markers, a trowel and 10 activity cards. But just a note: this kit does not contain ALL items needed to do the experiments. Items that you will need for some of the experiments are seeds, soil, pebbles, carrots, radishes, pineapple stem, garlic, straws, cotton balls, toothpicks, paper towels, popcorn kernels and...time. These are not instant activities - the idea is to do the activity and watch over the next few days / weeks as your experiment or plant grows or changes. It does teach patience, observation and discover - all great developmental skills for young kids. This is a great introductory kit for inspiring gardeners and scientists alike - we really enjoyed doing some of the activities like turning a carrot blue, watching garlic roots grow down not up and observing how pea vines reach out to cling to the straws. It is rated for ages 3 and up - my 4 and 7 year old both enjoyed this equally - a 3 year old may not have the patience for this though. This is a great kit - it would be even better if it were a more eco-friendly product, made with recycled plastics and made in the USA."],"string":"[\n \"Product: The LSS-505 desktop sewing machine has 8 built-in stitch patterns and is easy to use for all your basic sewing needs. It features a sewing light, accessory storage drawer, auto bobbin winder, two speeds, two-thread lockstitch, and built-in thread cutter.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Inexpensive solution for simple sewing projects\\n\\nReview: I learned to sew when I was young but haven't had a sewing machine in over 20 years. I wanted to sew a simple craft for my daughter's birthday but didn't have time to research the best sewing machines for my purposes nor was I sure I was going to do much sewing beyond this project so I wanted to get a very inexpensive machine for now until I knew what I wanted or needed in the future. I purchased this machine mainly because of the price and that it had the basic features I thought I would need. I was pleasantly surprised with this light weight machine because it was very easy to use (though I will say I agree with other reviewers that the manual really lacks instruction! - I too found instructions online). I found this machine to do the simple sewing tasks - nothing more, nothing less but was perfect for my situation. It was easy to select the stitch I needed, use the foot pedal and back-stitch lever while easily sewing a medium sized fabric. I will say that it is not good for heavier fabrics (it stuck many times when trying to sew two pieces of a canvas together) and it cannot be used for sleeves or narrow cuffs of children's pants so I will look for a free-arm type machine in the future.\\nOverall, if you can't afford a complex sewing machine or only need to do the basics, this is a great buy.\",\n \"Product: DIIs 100% cotton tablecloths come in a variety of colors & sizes. These tablecloths are perfect for picnics, parties, showers, dinners, everyday use and more. DII offers a variety of prints and patterns, giving you numerous options for your next event or dinner party. All of DIIs cotton tablecloths have a 1 inch folded hem and mitered corners. These tablecloths are machine washable for easy clean up and use. Find DIIs full selection of tablecloths by searching for DII Cotton Tablecloths.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Nicer casual style for everyday use\\n\\nReview: I am impressed by the quality of this tablecloth - the thickness of the fabric is very nice for an inexpensive tablecloth and allow it to lay neatly on the table. It is durable enough to hold up to kids playing Legos on the table or heavy dishes at dinner time. The color is also beautiful - a deeper chambray blue that is a little more elegant than casual. It is 100% cotton do expect a bit of shrinkage though washing in cold water then drying on a low setting or air-drying will reduce shrinking. I did get the 60x84\\\" size and it is too short for my table seating 8 so measure your table before buying. This size is perfect when we take a leaf out of our table.\\nI have several DII products and have not been disappointed at all!\",\n \"Product: Anchor Hocking Classic Food Storage dishes and lids nest and stack for organized, space saving storing. Glass is microwave, pre-heated oven, refrigerator, freezer, and dishwasher safe. Plastic lids let you cover any leftovers and conveniently store them in the refrigerator. Lids are BPA-free and top-rack dishwasher safe.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great set to have for the kitchen or crafts\\n\\nReview: Glass is better than plastic for many reasons - some of which include being durable, eco-friendly, able to go in the freezer, microwave and dishwasher with no problems, repel stains and acidic/strong scented foods and they are MADE in AMERICA! These are super convenient if you want to organize left-overs, food for lunches or food by type since they have color coded lids. These are perfect to use for food prep, especially when making dishes that require several ingredients. We like to use them to store arts and crafts too - again, it's great to have so many bowls with different colored lids to organize things.\\nI also like having so many bowls (at such a great price too) - these come in 4 different sizes\",\n \"Product: Global Decor's Children's Storage Container is multi-purpose. It can be used under your bed, under a desk, in your child's closet, on a shelf or as a step stool. This great container/stool can hold up to 150 pounds, and it a handy item for many uses. It assembles in 15 seconds and once assembled is 18\\\" long, 12\\\" wide, and 12\\\" tall. You can store toys, clothes, laundry, supplies, or anything else you can think of inside. The possibilities are endless.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Perfect storage solution for girls!\\n\\nReview: I purchased this storage container because it served as a dual-purpose seat and storage container - something all parents of small kids need! The container is super easy to put together (really, just unfolding)and is made of durable materials. The sides are pretty strong and the top is solid (plywood covered with padding and vinyl covering). The top is very snug fitting and somewhat difficult for kids to put on securely - you have to hold out the corners, pulling slightly, as you put it on top of each corner. The material is really easy to clean - another plus! And because this is a rectangular shape (instead of square like so many other storage stools) it holds quite a bit of toys - plus plus! The only thing I can complain about is that the wood inside the top did break (probably because my husband sat on it) and I am hoping the manufacturer will replace the top for us - I will post an update when they do. To that effect, this is a stool for kids and holds smaller kids just fine - it is NOT an adult seat!\\nNeedless to say, I am very happy with this container and if the top gets replaced, will recommend it to anyone.\",\n \"Product: Wait! Dont preheat the big oven! The BLACK+DECKER Extra-Wide 8-Slice Stainless Steel Digital Convection Countertop Toaster Oven with Broiler Pan has room for a 9x13 pan with handles, so you can make a proper meal for the whole family right on your countertop! The convection fan ensures fast and even heating for all your baking tasks, and seven separate cooking functions provide ideal heat for broiling, toasting, and more! The toaster oven includes a broiler pan and three rack positions so you can cook a wide range of meal sizes. Plus, digital controls make it easy to select time, temperature, and cooking function, with a toast shade timer and a 120-minute precision timer with auto shutoff. When its time to eat, trust the #1 brand in toaster ovens**BLACK+DECKER. *Compared to BLACK + DECKER TO1660B. Seven functions dedicated cooking functions include: convection bake, broil, toast, bagel, reheat, pizza, and frozen snacks. 12 Pizza, 8 Slices of bread the expanded toaster oven fits nicely on the countertop, while the interior makes room for 12 pizzas and 8 slices of bread.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: A Must Have for families and quick meal prep!\\n\\nReview: As a family with kids, we have come to need a toaster oven for quick meal prep when we don't want to use the entire oven (or heat the apartment up in summer). This particular model is ideal for families as you can make up to 8 pieces of toast, waffles or bagels at once! This is a huge time saver and family pleaser especially on those mornings when everyone is in a rush. We use this toaster to make a whole tray of chicken tenders, even baking fries on the tray at the same time.\\n\\nBest feature is that this toaster oven is large enough to bake a 9x11 baking dish so making lasagna, baked ziti, and casseroles is easy. Because this oven is smaller than a traditional full oven, food cooks more evenly and a bit more quickly (and it heats up faster too). This toaster oven made cooking Thanksgiving dinner more convenient as well since the oven is being used for the turkey and stuffing - having this toaster oven then becomes the second oven so we can also cook other foods that don't need the same temperature or that crowd the full oven (which extends cooking time).\",\n \"Product: Adjustable headband comfortable for extended wear Specifically sized for young students Ideal for beginning computer classes and story-time uses Permanently attached with reinforced strain connection resists accidental pull out Lengthy 5-6 straight cord with 3.5mm plug set at right angle reduces accidental pull-out Around-ear ambient noise-reducing earcups deliver maximum protection against exterior sounds (without added electronic circuitry and expense). This reduces the need to increase the volume (protecting the ears) and helps keep students on task. Rugged ABSplastic earcups resist breakage in high-use situations Replaceable leatherette ear cushions IBM, iMac and Mac compatible One year warranty for school use - unlike headphones purchased at consumer electronics stores whose warranties would be voided if used in schools.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Perfect headphones for toddlers\\n\\nReview: We purchased these for our 20month old for a very long flight to use with a dvd player. They worked great and our son actually kept them on his head! They are well built, light-weight, and are a great primary color (makes it more fun for kids). They are also the right size and cover the entire ear with very soft padding to stay on the ear better and fit smaller heads of toddlers (they are also adjustable to grow with your child). These also worked on the plane connected to the earphone jack for the on-plane movies so we were all peacefully watching a movie. I highly recommend these for your child as they were made specifically for young children.\",\n \"Product: DRP-MZX656BLK\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: convenient headphones for various devices\\n\\nReview: These are very comfortable, fitting over the ear with plenty of cushioning. The sound is good for headphones in this price range. I really like the fact that you can change the side that the jack is plugged into, so it is flexible depending on the device or computer you are listening from and won't get in your way while typing or using a mouse. These also fold up very nicely so can easily fit into your purse, bag or suitcase when not in use.\\n\\nOne thing I did notice is that you have to make sure the jack is COMPLETELY plugged into the headphones or the sound will be off. The jack fits snugly so push it in until you hear/feel it click.\",\n \"Product: Press AUTOSEAL button to sip, release to seal. 100-percent BPA free; water bottle is made out of tritan, which provides high impact resistance and won't stain or retain odors.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Sturdy and spill proof\\n\\nReview: This is a sturdy little water bottle, perfectly sized for young kids or lunch boxes. It really does live up to it's no-spill claims with a secure sipping cover. One thing to take note of is that in order to properly clean this, you must open up the latch under the lid to open up the mouth piece AND remember to close it back up when you are ready to use the bottle (the only reason I didn't give it 5 stars). It is this piece that make the cup spill-proof. The quality of this bottle is excellent and can take the heavy use / dropping that is inevitable with young kids. Younger toddlers may have a difficult time opening the mouth piece so it is better suited for older preschool and elementary age kids.\",\n \"Product: Make sure clothing always gets returned to its rightful owner with these no-iron kids clothing labels. They're great for labeling clothing like jackets, t-shirts, school uniforms, baby clothing, PE uniforms, hoodies and more. They also work great on baseball caps, blankets, lunch boxes, backpacks, tennis shoes and other fabric items. The assorted pack includes oval labels and three sizes of rectangle labels. Just write on the no-iron labels with a permanent marker, peel and stick. The labels work with many fabrics and are durable enough to withstand multiple washer and dryer cycles. Keep your kids' clothing out of the lost and found with these no-iron name and daycare labels.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Easy way to label clothes without damage\\n\\nReview: Tried these out for back to school this year - my kids wear uniforms and have all the same items. I have also tried other clothing labels and have not found a successful way to label clothes without writing on the fabric or taking time to sew in a tag. We recycle, donate and hand down clothes when they are outgrown so we don't like to damage the fabric.\\nThese Avery labels are different than others I have tried - they are thin, somewhat plastic and easy to write on with a Sharpie. I needed to be a little careful peeling off due to their thinness but they stuck on well and didn't come off after washing.\\nI will give an update after several washings to see how they hold up.\",\n \"Product: Ideal for indoor or outdoor container gardening, this resin planter is a tough, lightweight alternative to clay or ceramic planters. The traditional tapered design features natural textures and decorative embellishments to add a beautiful accent to your home. Thick walls and the planter's attractive rolled lip offer added durability, and optional punch-out drainage holes help prevent overwatering. Made with high-quality color pigments and UV additives, this planter offers excellent all-weather durability. Self-centering trays (sold separately) contain overflow and help prevent mess.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Nice color and style, decent quality for the price\\n\\nReview: These are great planters for the price - a very good inexpensive solution to nicer looking plastic planters. The stone color is perfect for a neutral color scheme or to allow for plants to be focus rather than planters. The quality is pretty good (for the price) HOWEVER: be warned that if you try to move a heavy planter by pulling on the top of sides they may break or crack. Also the plastic will become more fragile in extreme cold weather and can crack. Both instances occurred for me but I like the way these look so much that I am just buying replacements since the price just dropped to $12.54!\\nAt this price point, you can't go wrong for a large portable planter. I am however also purchasing a base with wheels to move them when I need to.\",\n \"Product: Grows Plants Twice as Big Improves existing soil to build strong roots. Feeds up to 3 months For outdoor, in ground vegetables and annual and perennial flowers Contains rich organic ingredients, sphagnum peat moss and manure to improve soil condition and control moisture.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Perfect more natural garden soil!\\n\\nReview: I do mostly container gardening on my balcony so I need to replace the planting medium or amend the existing soil from last season. Upon first glance of this garden soil, I noticed that it is not super-fine like most bags of potting mix - it is a mixture of soil, mulch and compost that is not completely broken down, so it appears more like home-composted soil. It is nice and dark, not too heavy and is easy to pour into planting pots or scoop with a trowel.\\n\\nI used this to start my vegetables this spring and so far the peas, radishes and lettuce (started from seed) all sprouted very quickly and look healthy. I will post an update throughout the growing season.\",\n \"Product: This handsome ceiling fan is inspired by warm breezes. The rustic housing is complimented with a warm, multi-tone distressed bronze finish. This fan includes 2 styles of fan blades, each specially designed to be used indoors or outdoors. Choose the palm leaf blade to add a tropical touch, or the simple two-tone paddle blade to add a little elegance. Let the beautiful details of Tommy Bahama make a striking statement in your home.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great quality and performance\\n\\nReview: This is a high quality fan that will not only enhance the decor in your room but also do an amazing job at circulating air! The fan is very nicely detailed with a dark brushed bronze finish and the choice between the two styles of blades. I had my father install this and it was relatively easy though the leaf blades are rather large and make it more difficult to wire so we used the plain blades.\\nI really love the remote - I have never had a fan with a remote so this is such a life saver - especially if you use this for high ceilings.\\nThe fan is really well constructed and does a great job moving air around the room - you can really feel the difference!\",\n \"Product: The HAMMERHEAD Compact Self-Leveling Cross Line Laser with Adjustable Mounting Clamp projects bright horizontal, vertical or cross lines onto flat surfaces with the accuracy of 1/4 inch at 30 feet. The unit will self-level when positioned within 4 degrees of level; an LED indicator turns red when the unit is positioned outside of the self-leveling range. In the lock (manual) mode, the cross line laser can be positioned to project lines that are not level or plumb for projects that require them. The included adjustable mounting clamp easily attaches to a variety of surfaces to extend the utility of the tool. The cross line laser may also be mounted on any 1/4\\\" threaded tripod screw. Kit includes: (1) Compact Self-Leveling Cross Line Laser, (1) Adjustable Mounting Clamp and (2) AA Batteries\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Must have for the home toolbox!\\n\\nReview: I am guilty of hanging up framed photos and art on the way by just \\\"eye-balling\\\" it... well, not any more! This self-leveling cross line laser device makes lining things up so easy that I better not even think about eyeballing anything again! It does take a little getting used to and I think it would help to get a tripod to use the clamp but we were able to use the laser to properly re-align the photos on our walls. The level laser is pretty bright so is clearly visible even when shooting from a little distance. It is also wise to try not to look into the laser or point this near anyone's face.\\nBottom line - this is a super easy tool that takes the guess work out of lining things up!\",\n \"Product: Watch out for holes as you hop your way to the giant carrot at the top of the hill.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Funny Bunny fun for young kids!\\n\\nReview: My 4 and 6 year old really loved this game and played it over and over again the moment they opened it! It is easy to play for this age group and perfect for their attention span. The object of the game is to hop on the spaces all the way up the hill but if someone draws a click card, you have to turn the carrot and holes open up along the hill so you may loose a bunny in the hole. The kids really loved that effect! The first one up the hill wins.\\nThis game is durable but the bunnies are kind of small (too small for toddlers) but all in all it is a fun game and a perfect gift!\",\n \"Product: This rolling, rough-and-tough vacuum cleaner comes alive with animation, realistic sounds and fun activities! He's very attached to his good friend Brushy--the two of them even talk to each other!\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: #1 toy under the tree!\\n\\nReview: This toy was by far the biggest hit and favorite present under the Christmas tree! Our son is 18 months, and when he opened this gift, he forgot about all the other presents under the tree! He immediately started \\\"cleaning up\\\" and barely put it down all day! Now, everytime I say I'm going to vacuum, he grabs his and vacuums alongside me (he is such a big helper!). This toy is not only popular, but the sounds are funny and cute - \\\"Dusty\\\" talks as you push and says things like \\\"Let's clean up this mess!\\\", and \\\"This place is a pig sty!\\\". It's the perfect height for 18 months+, and it is not loud or obnoxious like some talking toys.\",\n \"Product: Talk about green tea!! Young hosts can serve up a pot of tea while doing something really good for the earth. Like all Green Toys products, our Tea Set is made from eco-friendly materials, helping to reduce fossil fuel use and CO2 emissions, all in the name of Good Green Fun! Meets FDA specs for food contact. Dishwasher safe.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Eco-Friendly, durable AND fun!\\n\\nReview: Every toddler needs good durable toys for pretend play and Green Toys has created incredible products that are also good for the environment! This Tea Set is perfect for toddler girls (and boys!) to set up their pretend tea parties with dolls! First let me mention that Green Toys makes their toys from recycled milk jugs - a very responsible and purposeful reuse of plastics! These toys are also very durable - much thicker and stronger than other plastic toys so they can withstand a lifetime of their \\\"second life\\\"! The colors are also very pleasant - bright and cheerful. They are also easy to clean (when kids decide to use real milk in their tea!) in fact, they can actually use them for eating real food! I usually hand wash toys and kids plastic dishes for fear that the dishwasher might overheat them.\\nAs for play value, not only do both my kids love these dishes, they really do play with them EVERY day! We have several sets including the chef set, dish set and gardening kit - they play with all of them everyday!\\n\\nFor more info about Green Toys products and how their toys are made go to:\\n[...]\",\n \"Product: Welcome to the next generation of learning with the Leap Pad Platinum tablet from LeapFrog, makers of the #1 kids' tablets and the trusted leader in learning for 20 years. It features a 7\\\" hi-res multi-touch capacitive screen and fast processor (ages 3-9). Access our learning library of 1,000+ games and more, all designed or approved by LeapFrog educators and featuring Just For Me Learning Technology. Games draw from 10 ways to personalize, from remembering curricular progress - a LeapFrog exclusive - to automatically adjusting learning levels. (Select games only, sold separately.) Take pictures and videos of family or friends with two cameras & video recorders. Connect with a friend on a peer-to-peer enabled Leap Pad, and have your pets play together. Unlock more gameplay with 6 bonus LeapFrog Imagicard digital game and interactive cards. (Actual storage capacity for photos and apps may vary depending on use. App download requires Internet connection and parent account.) U.S. Source: The NPD Group / Retail Tracking Service; Infant/PS Electronic Learning and Electronic Entertainment subclasses, Dollars and Units, Annual 2013.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Another winner from LeapFrog\\n\\nReview: We absolutely love this much improved tablet for kids. It is more sophisticated than many other devices marketed for this age group thus more attractive to today's tech-savvy kids! There are many apps, videos and music that can be purchased / downloaded or added to this tablet so it is capable of a wide range of games (educational and fun) and entertainment. The sound and graphics are also excellent, another feature that my smart kids demand! One other great feature is that your child's progress and stats are sent to parents in a weekly email with suggestions for other apps to download. They also have frequent discounts and promos to help you save $$ when stocking up on content for this tablet. Overall, we love this product and highly recommend it but in terms of age groups this is more attractive to, our 6 y.o. enjoys this a lot but our 9 y.o. is more interested in the Kindle (with more advanced apps).\",\n \"Product: Splash the day away with this Barbie play set that comes with Barbie doll, pet bathtub and adorable puppy who can really shake things up! When it's bath time, place the pup into the tub and use the signature style squeeze bottle -- filled with your own soap and water -- to get the puppy sudsy. Then push down on the puppy's back for a totally wow moment! The adorable pup wiggles and shakes and spins her tail -- just like a real puppy! Pour water over the puppy to rinse her off, and help Barbie doll use the puppy's towel to dry her pet. Animal lovers will want to wash this little dog over and over again. Barbie doll is adorable in a patterned top and denim shorts with headband accessory. A pet brush and towel add even more grooming fun. Includes Barbie doll wearing fashions and accessories, puppy with action feature, squeeze bottle, towel and pet brush. Doll cannot stand alone. Colors and decorations may vary.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Fun dog that shakes!\\n\\nReview: My 7 year old daughter is obsessed with pets for her dolls so she absolutely loves this set. The dog is really cute and the interactive shaking/wagging action is a key feature that adds to the fun of giving the dog a bath. The set includes a small doggie bathtub, shampoo bottle (empty, you will need to fill it with soap yourself), a small towel, pretend dog brush, Barbie doll and puppy.\\n\\nThe Barbie is ok - honestly, I think they made them better in the early 80s. This particular Barbie has bendable knees but the arms don't bend and one is permanently bent as if to always hold the towel over the arm. Where this set lacks on the Barbie, it makes up for with the puppy. While it is all hard plastic (no hair), it does have a cool feature when you press it's upper back - press down and it will literally shake as if to dry off. That feature alone makes this set a fun toy that will keep kid's interest for a while.\",\n \"Product: Encourage early scientific discover with this unique set that allows kids really to observe plants growing from soil. Pots are clear for observation, and trowel is sized for little hands. Set of 12 includes 1 watering can, 1 rooting tray, 1 observation jar, 2 solid and screened lids, 3 pots, 1 trowel, 3 plant markers and 10 activity cards. For ages 3 and up.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Learning is fun with plant science\\n\\nReview: This is a great educational kit for little green thumbs that includes a watering can, observation jar with 2 lids. rooting tray, 3 pots, 3 plant markers, a trowel and 10 activity cards. But just a note: this kit does not contain ALL items needed to do the experiments. Items that you will need for some of the experiments are seeds, soil, pebbles, carrots, radishes, pineapple stem, garlic, straws, cotton balls, toothpicks, paper towels, popcorn kernels and...time. These are not instant activities - the idea is to do the activity and watch over the next few days / weeks as your experiment or plant grows or changes. It does teach patience, observation and discover - all great developmental skills for young kids. This is a great introductory kit for inspiring gardeners and scientists alike - we really enjoyed doing some of the activities like turning a carrot blue, watching garlic roots grow down not up and observing how pea vines reach out to cling to the straws. It is rated for ages 3 and up - my 4 and 7 year old both enjoyed this equally - a 3 year old may not have the patience for this though. This is a great kit - it would be even better if it were a more eco-friendly product, made with recycled plastics and made in the USA.\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":19,"string":"19"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_3"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":895,"string":"895"}}},{"rowIdx":896,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"A1T0W1X6D6NHFH"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of \"5.0\" for a product with description \"The second volume in Robin Hobb's internationally bestselling Farseer series, now reissued in gorgeous new livery. Fitz dreams of Red-Ship Raiders sacking a coastal village, leaving not a single man, woman or child alive. Tortured by this terrible vision he returns to the Six Duchies court where all is far from well. King Shrewd has been struck down by a mysterious illness and King-in-waiting, Verity, spends all his time attempting to conjure storms to confuse and destroy the Red-Ship Raiders. And when he leaves on an insane mission to seek out the mystical Elderings, Fitz is left alone and friendless but for the wolf Nighteyes and the King's Fool with his cryptic prophesies.\". The summary of the review text is \"By Far One of My Favorites\"."},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"This is about the 5th time I've bought this book series. The first set I bought as hardcovers in a book of the month club years ago. I've then bought several copies that were digital (which unfortunately the systems are now obsolete that they are on) and one set as a gift. This most recent set I purchased to read aloud to my son and husband.\n\nThis series really has something for everyone in it. You don't have to be a big fan of medieval settings to love the plot line. While here and there it is predictable, much will come as a surprise. These books will literally run the gamut of emotions from making you laugh to bringing a tear to your eye. Some characters you will love so much that you hold your breath, while others you hate so much that you're mentally inventing ways to be rid of them through your time with them.\n\nThe story follows Fitzchivalry Farseer. While you'll enjoy Fitz, the other characters in the book are just as rich and full. It's from a first person perspective. I love the author's style in that she makes histories and backgrounds easy to read by peppering the book with them in short little bursts at the beginning of each chapter, rather than making your read a long, boring prologue.\n\nThis is not your typical \"assassin\" book set."},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"This is about the 5th time I've bought this book series. The first set I bought as hardcovers in a book of the month club years ago. I've then bought several copies that were digital (which unfortunately the systems are now obsolete that they are on) and one set as a gift. This most recent set I purchased to read aloud to my son and husband.\n\nThis series really has something for everyone in it. You don't have to be a big fan of medieval settings to love the plot line. While here and there it is predictable, much will come as a surprise. These books will literally run the gamut of emotions from making you laugh to bringing a tear to your eye. Some characters you will love so much that you hold your breath, while others you hate so much that you're mentally inventing ways to be rid of them through your time with them.\n\nThe story follows Fitzchivalry Farseer. While you'll enjoy Fitz, the other characters in the book are just as rich and full. It's from a first person perspective. I love the author's style in that she makes histories and backgrounds easy to read by peppering the book with them in short little bursts at the beginning of each chapter, rather than making your read a long, boring prologue.\n\nThis is not your typical \"assassin\" book set."},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Product: Creamy Poppy Seed Dressing - Kraft Creamy Poppy Seed Dressing will add a touch of decadence to your salads. This sweet and tangy blend includes no artificial flavors and only 80 calories per serving so its a healthy choice for you and your family. - Ready-to-pour, this crave-worthy dressing will make a flavorful addition to your summer salads. The creamy and sweet flavor will complement both fruits and vegetables beautifully. Experiment with bold flavors with Kraft Poppy Seed Dressing.\n\nRating: 1.0\n\nSummary: Not Like Panera, Marzetti, or Heartland\n\nReview: I purchased this to use in a Suddenly Salad recipe from the back of the box. I'd been familiar with poppy seed dressing in the past because it's one of my favorites for salad. Normally I buy Marzetti or Heartland brand (the kinds that are kept refrigerated in the store) but I needed it for the recipe and was ordering from Prime Pantry anyway. It was on sale, so how different could it be?\n\nTurns out, it could be really different.\n\nFor one, both Marzetti and Heartland don't have dairy in them. Neither does the Panera dressing from the restaurant, which is what got me hooked on poppy seed dressing in the first place. The dairy in this wasn't a deal breaker, but it's weird. Sour cream in salad dressing? Maybe in a ranch style, but even homemade poppy seed dressing doesn't usually have sour cream in it.\n\nIt's texture is much heavier than the other two brands. I found it unpleasant.\n\nIt's less sweet and tangy and almost has an odd aftertaste.\n\nThe poppy seeds are the amount and texture you would expect them to be.\n\nNormally I love Kraft. I'm a huge fan of the company's products, especially many of their salad dressings. However, this one was a huge miss. Sadly, this is going to end up in the trash, unused. It's not at all like my normal poppy seed dressings.","Product: Improve your \"blinging\" skills! The Crystal Katana by CrystalNinja was created by award winning Flatback Specialist and master user, Kellie DeFries and proven to shave time off the process of hand setting-gluing Swarovski Flatbacks, ss3-ss40. Do you use regular beeswax for transferring your light objects? You'll find that it's too soft and leaves wax residue on your application surface. Tweezers cramp your hands and fling crystals across the room! Ouch! Someone's going to poke their eye out! Do other china markers or grease pens break, chip, and leave extra residue on crystals? Have you noticed the taller, sharper table facet of the later issued Swarovski Elements shredding other pickers and tips to smithereens? The answer to all of this madness is the Crystal Katana BY the Crystal Ninja!\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Works OK, But Overpriced\n\nReview: I used my katana to add Swarovski crystals to an ornament for Baby's First Christmas.\n\nIt's ok. It took a few tries of getting used to picking the rhinestones up carefully enough to actually get them to stick and be placed. I didn't have issues with the tool letting go once it got to the glue, but it would occasionally drop (or not pick up) the rhinestone.\n\nI didn't find the poker useful really. I can see scenarios where it might be useful, like using it to single out a tiny crystal in a pile of other crystals. However, using it to move or push down on the gem once in place wasn't practical because it skips right off the surface.\n\nI probably would have liked it more if I hadn't paid $30 for it. I just don't think it's precise enough to warrant the price. I really expected it to perform flawlessly for the price and it just doesn't.","Product: Cricut cutting mats have been customized to match commonly used crafting materials. Each has just the right level of grip to not only hold your material firmly in place during cutting, but to also allow you to easily remove the material from the adhesive surface. The StandardGrip mat is a multi-purpose mat that is perfect for a wide range of medium-weight materials, including patterned paper, vinyl, iron-on and cardstock. Two mats are included in each package. Using both mats allows you to cut one image while working on another.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Wish There Was a Better Solution\n\nReview: This is by far the best place to buy cutting mats. Amazon pricing on these can't be beat! Most craft stores sell these for $13-$15 and most won't allow you to use a coupon.\n\nThe product itself though? Well, you need it to use your Cricut. It's as good as any of the other mats that you need to use for your Cricut. It's really nothing special. These are the mats that came with your Cricut.\n\nMy issue with them is that they really don't last for that many cuts before the sticky part stops working. This is especially true for paper products, which tend to leave behind a fine dust of paper. You also scrape the glue off a little each time you use the wedge to peel off a project. It's going to be a bummer for you if you use a glitter sheet, have pets that shed, or have much dust in your house.\n\nYou definitely want to save the protective plastic that goes over the top to store them in. That's the only thing I've been able to find to lengthen their life.\n\nI've read several \"sticky recovery\" methods online on how to lengthen the life of these. I've tried several of them. Some people say you can clean them with certain cleaners. I've had no luck with that. Others have said they renew the stickiness with a tacky spray and I would definitely not recommend that unless you want to run the risk of having to replace a blade too. To this date, I haven't found anything that fixes the pads when they are worn out other than if you have a simple project you can tape the edges to hold them down.\n\nAt the price Amazon offers them at, it makes it not quite so bad, because you do get a few uses before you have to toss them. When I was paying nearly twice the price, I was getting pretty distressed. It's a shame that Provo Craft hasn't come up with a better solution to renewing these yet. It's a waste of plastic. Definitely not a \"green\" choice.\n\nMy best recommendation to you is just order two of these two packs and have them in reserve. Cricut is undoubtedly a fun system, but this is an area I wish they'd put some effort into coming up with a better solution on.","Product: Have you ever needed that special storage for all of your little tiny items like beads, buttons and scrapbook embellishments, like brads and eyelets? Well, now its here with the Darice Jewelry Designer Bead Storage System. Time to get your craft space organized. With 30 Containers- Organizer is approximately 6 1/4\"x 5 1/4\"x 1 1/4\" and holds 30 individual storage containers. Each round container is approximately 7/8\" across and 1\" deep.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Well Made, But a Bit Small\n\nReview: These are cute, well made little jars. Darice products are always great.\n\nUnfortunately, these are much smaller than what they have listed and it's hard to tell from the picture. They are 1\" diameter and just a hair under 1.25\" tall. I needed jars that were about 1.5\" diameter for my project. I found these which should work. <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Vivaplex-25-Clear-10-Gram-Plastic-Pot-Jars-Cosmetic-Containers-With-Lids/dp/B01JI20BCC/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Vivaplex, 25 Clear, 10 Gram Plastic Pot Jars, Cosmetic Containers, With Lids.</a>\n\nThese are in a nice little box for storage, which the replacements I found aren't. If you don't need ones as big as I do, then this is definitely the kit for you. The little box makes them easy to keep track of and organized and makes a nice display.\n\nThey won't work for what I need, but would be great for keeping track of teeny items.","Product: The 48-Piece Nursery Storage Set is a great way to jump start your nursery closet. This super starter kit includes everything you need to get organized, leaving more time for baby.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Color Not as Shown, But Good at Organizing\n\nReview: <div id=\"video-block-R1QG17UXDSWXXI\" class=\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\"></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/B13yNYOILnS.mp4\" class=\"video-url\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91f9m35TYPS.png\" class=\"video-slate-img-url\"> These were a little more \"golden tan\" colored than the picture is, which is more of a grey tan. It was a little disappointing, because I'm not a big fan of yellow, but the set is just so good at organizing that I kept it anyway.\n\nThe box pieces fold flat and will arrive as such. They are pretty sturdy when they are set up.\n\nThe large boxes hold quite a bit.\n\nThe little boxes will go into the hanging bin, but I didn't use them for that as I had a different spot for them. They are a great size for things like little shoes.\n\nThe hangers had sort of a weird texture that wasn't like expected. They reminded me more of those \"flocked\" plastic animals that are fuzzy than velvet, but they work well.\n\nI used this set to help create a temporary wardrobe from an old metal kitchen stand. It worked really well. I haven't used the dividers yet, but I'm really looking forward to it when we get a real closet.","Product: Create a designer touch in your bath with an easy-to-install tension rod. No tools needed for installation, simply adjust to your size and install. The tension rod fits standard bathtub enclosures from 48in to 72in. This set includes one tension rod and 12 coordinating shower curtain hooks.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: The Hooks Are Great, But the Rod ...\n\nReview: This is one of those \"you get what you pay for\" sets. In other words, I think it would be perfect in a guest bathroom that doesn't get a lot of use because it is pretty. But, in high traffic areas it probably won't last long.\n\nThe Color: I'd say it's a little more bronze than the picture, but it's close. It would blend with other bronze fixtures.\n\nThe Finish: Eh, not great. You can tell that the coating has limited use before it will corrode and get a bit rusty. It's pretty to look at, but the material isn't designed to be long lasting.\n\nDetailing: Really pretty details. I would say the picture is accurate, though the medallions on the hooks are a little larger than expected.\n\nThe Hooks: These are pretty good quality. I actually like these a lot.\n\nThe Rod: Really not great. The spot where the unit telescopes is very pronounced, so the hooks hang up pretty easily. It's easy to fix if you can reach them, but would be difficult for a child to maneuver. The coating is poor. The rubber stopper on one end had popped out and had to be rigged to make it work. My husband managed to get it up pretty solid, but because the stopper needed repairing it took longer than it should have to install a new curtain rod.\n\nOverall: I really do love how the hooks look. They were a great and unexpected surprise. I expect the rod to last about 4 months before we will be looking to replace it.","Product: Get into the festive season with a super cute reindeer poncho. Featuring a classic reindeer design with vintage patterns and yet looks very stylish. Treat yourself, or makes an ideal gift!\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Not a Roomy Cardigan - Buttons Aren't Solid and Color Ran a Bit.\n\nReview: It's similar to what you see on the model, but it's certainly not a \"big comfy cardigan.\"\n\nI ordered the XXL because I like things to be big and baggy and roomy. It wasn't. It fits and I'll wear it because I need it for a party next Sunday, but I was really hoping it would be roomier.\n\nI do like the style of it and it gives a great alternative to the traditional \"ugly sweater\" style. I really am more of a cardigan person than a pullover person. This lets me put under it what I want.\n\nI love that the sleeves are extra long and cover your hands (like on the model).\n\nThe color in the picture is pretty accurate. The red is bright and bold. It's very Christmasy, though it's a little oranger of a red than I anticipated.\n\nThere are two roomy pockets that I will appreciate because my phone will fit in there nicely.\n\nMy only complaint is I wish it was a bit bigger.\n\nUpdate: Well I had to deduct another star because one button fell off in the washer and a second one is about to. I can fix it, but not what I'd expect for quality out of a new sweater. The buttons themselves are cute and look almost woodsey. I just wish they had stayed on!\n\nOn top of that, the red in the sweater ran slightly onto the white, so now it's slightly pinkish. I'm afraid I'll have to return it after all....what a disappointment!","Product: Our 100 percent organic cotton toddler v-neck tee comes in a variety of colors so, stock up! it has an exposed seam with raw edge detail and is the perfect base piece.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Pretty Good, But Does Run Big\n\nReview: These shirts do have like a rough edge at the seams, which is a little charming, but not that \"clean\" tshirt look at the seams that most tshirts have.\n\nThey do run large, but it makes it comfier for baby. They also shrink slightly in the wash. This is definitely not a snug tshirt for it's size by any means.\n\nIt's soft and of medium weight as far as tshirts go.\n\nI only gave it 4 stars because mine arrived soiled, which is really more of a quality control issue. The shirt itself is pretty nice.\n\nAlso, note this is like a normal tshirt at the neck. It doesn't have lap folds which means the neck is going to be looser for style than a typical infant tshirt or onesie. If you don't like a slightly sloppier neck, then it may not be for you. For myself, I like them a little looser because they don't look like they are choking him.\n\nIf you've purchased the Big Oshi brand tshirts, this is similar in size though it is much longer.","Product: Playful and classic. Stay warm and cozy this holiday season in our 100 percent organic cotton tight fitting sleeper. This footed sleeper features a zip up front and custom top snap at the neck to keep your little one snuggly and secure throughout the night. Sweet dreams, little bee\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: The Perks Stop at Appearance\n\nReview: Three stars for appearance. The plaid is adorable, the bottom of the little feet have bee patterns in the grippies and there are little bees on the snap. There is even a little Burt's Bee tag on the back! Adorable!\n\nThat's where the fun stops.\n\nThe material is tshirt thin but not tshirt soft. The pattern is clearly like a screen print or something and a little on the scratchy side. Nor does it stretch like a tshirt or like I would expect this weight of sleeper to stretch. Bummer.\n\nOn top of that, my little guy usually wears a 6-9 or a 9. I ordered 12 months thinking it would be nice and roomy. Nope. It's just about too small. I think we will get about 5 wears out of it and we are done. Bummer number two.\n\nI can't say I'd recommend it. The appearance is cute enough and the details are thoughtful. Just the useability is the pits. I have other organic Burts Bees sleepers that we love. This one just really misses the mark.","Product: Rubie's costume company has brought costumes and accessories to the world since 1950. As the world's costume leader, we take seriously the mission to make dressing up fun Mascots, rental quality costumes, masks, wigs, accessories, shoes, and every significant licensed costume you want to wear can be found under the Rubie's brand. Rubie's brings you fun for every season Halloween, Christmas, mardi gras, Easter, and all in-between\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Super Cute Pics But....It Sheds. A Lot.\n\nReview: It really is adorable. I used the fit guide and it just fit perfectly. If your baby is on the chubby side, it might be a bit snug, so maybe order up one size.\n\nThe pics were great and I was really happy with them. But, the outfit looses bits of the plush to a noticeable degree. I don't mean how a dog sheds. I mean little chunks of strings from the fur. My husband noticed it too. That being said, I wouldn't leave a really small baby in it from longer than it takes to take the pictures, for fear of them inhaling it. It doesn't leave a trail of fur behind it as baby moves, but it did drop a little clump of blue fur from time to time when it was being handled.\n\nThis is an awesome prop for a photo shoot, but it is definitely a prop and not a garment. It's not a sleeper or romper.","Product: Rubie's costume company has brought costumes and accessories to the world since 1950. As the world's costume leader, we take seriously the mission to make dressing up fun Mascots, rental quality costumes, masks, wigs, accessories, shoes, and every significant licensed costume you want to wear can be found under the Rubie's brand. Rubie's brings you fun for every season Halloween, Christmas, mardi gras, Easter, and all in-between\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Super Cute Pics But....It Sheds. A Lot.\n\nReview: It really is adorable. I used the fit guide and it just fit perfectly. If your baby is on the chubby side, it might be a bit snug, so maybe order up one size.\n\nThe pics were great and I was really happy with them. But, the outfit looses bits of the plush to a noticeable degree. I don't mean how a dog sheds. I mean little chunks of strings from the fur. My husband noticed it too. That being said, I wouldn't leave a really small baby in it from longer than it takes to take the pictures, for fear of them inhaling it. It doesn't leave a trail of fur behind it as baby moves, but it did drop a little clump of blue fur from time to time when it was being handled.\n\nThis is an awesome prop for a photo shoot, but it is definitely a prop and not a garment. It's not a sleeper or romper.","Product: Pull up the couch, snuggle with the family and enjoy these decadent snacks while watching your favorite movie. There is no guilt when indulging in this sweet and salty snack pack combo. WARNING FOR CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS: Substances like acrylamide can naturally form when foods are cooked. Nutrisystem does not add these substances to our foods. We take great care to ensure that our foods meet all FDA & USDA food safety requirements. However, the state of California requires us to warn you that consuming this product can expose you to chemicals including acrylamide, which is known to the state of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm. For more information, go to www.P65Warnings.ca.gov/food\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Good Pricing and Tasty Product\n\nReview: I really like this package and it's a good price (at least for right now). The normal price for the popcorn at Nutrisystem is $2.05 and the pretzels are $2.55. You get 5 of each, so you save about $3 buying here at Amazon, plus you get it faster.\n\nThe popcorn is fresh and tastes great. It tastes as good as the best white popcorns I've had (and that includes gourmet popcorn).\n\nThe pretzels aren't really like \"pretzels.\" Don't expect them to taste like a regular chocolate pretzels, because the texture and flavor will be different. They are, however, pretty yummy. The chocolate is very creamy and melts in your mouth, though it's more like a chocolate coating than a rich dark chocolate. You'll definitely get your sweet/salty fix here because you can taste the salt, though the \"pretzel\" itself is designed to be more filling than a standard pretzel so the texture is a bit different - closer to a cracker for crunch. Yet, still satisfying.\n\nI'll definitely order this again just for the convenience alone.","Product: Crazy monster clips are perfect for use as bag clips, keeping papers organized together or hanging your clothes on the line to dry. Set of 6 plastic clips in assorted colors and styles. Each clip measure 1-3/4 by 1-1/2 by 1-1/4-inch.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: We Have a Chip Clip Issue in This House\n\nReview: I love these. I'm not sure why there are reviews to the contrary.\n\nWe have a chip clip issue in this house. I've bought several packs and they never seem like enough because we use them for everything. I even desperately bought some clothespins to try to keep up. These were purchased because they were a good price and I happened to find them while shopping for something else - a perfect add-on!\n\nI will jealously guard these for my favorite things just because they are so doggone cute.\n\nThey have a good strong clip to them. They are wider than some of the clips I have purchased in the past.\n\nMine were in perfect condition. They arrive on a card inside a plastic sleeve. There was not a scratch at all on the plastic or paint.\n\nThe patterns are exactly as you see, though the color is darker on the actual clip than the picture. The fox is a bright orange, but tolerable.\n\nI'm a woman, so the pic is of my hand, just for reference. The wolf is my favorite.","Product: The New World Single Door folding metal dog crate includes all of the features you will need to provide a convenient, safe and secure pet home for your dog. This dog crate includes a plastic, leak-proof pan for easy cleanup in the event of an accident and a 1 Year Manufacturer's Warranty. Every New World single door metal dog crate folds down for convenient storage and portability making the metal New World Dog Crates a great choice if you plan to travel or stay at home with your dog.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Ok for a Basic Crate\n\nReview: I bought this crate as an inexpensive crate for travelling with my two small dogs (15# each). I bought the 30\" crate and the two dogs both fit in it nicely.\n\nThe plastic tray is easy to clean and a nice heavy weight.\n\nI've purchased a lot of crates over the years and compared to a Midwest crate, it's about the same weight of wire, but it's not as well put together. It doesn't fold as flat and doesn't come with a carry handle. The single door in the front has a little trouble closing. You can assume it's to keep the door more secure or that the door is bent, it's sort of a matter of perspective.\n\nOurs had a clip that wasn't attached properly, but the crate was still usable.\n\nI think this is a great crate for it's price if you have well mannered dogs and just want something cheap for trips in the car or a small puppy that you're crate training. Midwest crates are usually twice the cost of this (I paid $30 for this New World model). However, if you're looking for a higher quality crate, have a strong or rambunctious dog, and/or are picky about the details, you'll probably want to look at a different brand.","Product: The Gibraltar Stanley post-mount mailbox has been redesigned and is now better than ever. The Stanley mailbox is made of heavy-duty galvanized steel and now features a stronger, sturdier aluminum flag. Embossed with an American eagle for a traditional style, and painted with a powder-coat finish for lasting quality against outdoor weathering, the Stanley upholds its value. Extra-large capacity has full capabilities to accomodate various parcels of different sizes. Perfect for high volume and large online deliveries. It comes fully assembled, ready to install.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Fantastic Size! Would be Great for Photography, but Texture Makes it Hard for Letters to Stick\n\nReview: This enormous mailbox will save me a lot of hassle. While I read the dimensions before I bought it, I didn't quite understand the sheer size of the thing until I saw it. Both of my spaniels would easily fit inside of it (I didn't try, but seeing them stand beside it makes it obvious). I honestly think it could make some pretty cute pictures for a creative photographer.\n\nFlat rate envelopes easily lay flat in the bottom and I'll be able to send out a lot of packages this way, saving me the headache of finding a place to put them for pickup.\n\nThe only reason that the mailbox lost a star is because there isn't really a flat place on it to put your house letters and we had a horrible time getting them to stick. There are embossed letters down the front and the texture on the body is all ridged. This is great to provide stability for the mailbox, but not so great for the sticky letters you have to put onto it if you live in an area with clustered houses.","Product: The Corentium Home by Airthings radon detector is a state-of-the-art measuring instrument that combines ease of use and performance. The Corentium Home by Airthings radon gas detector allows you to take a reading of the radon levels and its LCD screen displays the average daily, weekly and long term concentrations. Powered by 3 standard AAA batteries, the radon monitor makes it easy to take measurements from one room to another in order to get an overview of the concentrations of radon in a home, workplace, school, a daycare centre or any other location. The Corentium Home by Airthings radon detector is also an essential tool to use when performing property inspections or when checking the operation of a radon mitigation system. The internal architecture of the Corentium Home by Airthings radon monitor comes from advanced technology normally reserved for commercial-type detectors. Particular attention has been paid to the quality and protection of the internal components, allowing the use of algorithms for signal analysis that are more sophisticated. The Corentium Home by Airthings radon gas detector quickly adapts to its environment and eliminates inaccuracies related to external factors, allowing it to obtain the best accuracy in its niche. The Corentium Home by Airthings radon monitor is guaranteed for one year and in normal home use, it requires no annual calibrations throughout its useful life, estimated at over 10 years.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: An Important Purchase for Your Home - Two or Three Day Tests Will NOT Necessarily Show Your True Radon Levels\n\nReview: I've always been paranoid about radon, to the point that I refused to get a test done because I didn't want to know and would rationalize that no one I knew had an issue. Well, no one I knew had bothered to test either. It was a foolish choice that many people make.\n\nWhen we first purchased our new home and had a professional test done, we discovered that our radon level was \"borderline\" as to whether a remediation system was necessary. I was pretty freaked out. We didn't \"need\" a system, but I kept asking \"What if this sample of two days isn't indicative of the true levels in that house?\" Looking at the hourly readings, clearly there were times it was high and times it was low. It's common knowledge that radon fluctuates based on the weather, barometric pressure, if fans or a heater running, etc. Since the seller was in the house at the time of the test, I had no real way to know.\n\nWe had a system installed on an existing passive system in the house as is building code in our county. But what if it failed? What if it got a leak because someone had screwed a hole in the wrong spot on the wall 2 years after it was installed?\n\nThe rooms in your home can also vary widely. I wanted to make sure that the levels in our son's bedroom and our master bedroom were safe to be sleeping in, not just in the office where our inspector originally tested.\n\nAfter a lot of research I bought this monitor. Not only did I read reviews on any site I could find, but also found out how the machine worked, what it could do, and how that compared to other options. We even reached out with additional questions to the manufacturer who responded right away. This was the clear winner.\n\nI logged every single day on a spreadsheet to watch the radon patterns in my house. What I found is that in the exact same location during different weather patterns, the radon levels could vary from .62 to 2.29 during different 24 hour periods after we had our remediation. (The low being on a sunny day and the high being on a rainy one). This (to me) means the weather when your pro test is done for 48 hours isn't going to necessarily reflect the true average radon level in your home because it may be influenced by outside factors.\n\nThe machine displays: Lifetime Results, 7 Day Results, 1 Day Results. It can be reset. I was bummed it didn't show hourly, but that's only available on their professional model which is about $800.\n\nI am definitely happy with my purchase and have encouraged my whole family and my friends to buy one. My mom will be getting hers this week. It's solid peace of mind, especially with a family history of lung cancer and a child under 1.\n\nI have a folding table that I use to take the machine to different rooms so it's at a consistent height (sleeping level) and is able to be placed according to manufacturers guidelines.\n\nAs a side note: The packaging is professional and has an upscale feel. You aren't going to see big obnoxious symbols and colors. It's sedate and dignified.","Product: Throw me. Roll me. Rattle me. It's all about playtime with our Loopy Loops Ball. Super soft and cuddly, this toy is perfect for any inquisitive baby with all its various textures, loops, and the fun rattling sound. Engage your babys various senses through play with the texture rich Loopy Loops Ball! Buy Playgro, your favorite toys to Play & Grow.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Decent Sound, Good Colors, Loads of Tags\n\nReview: <div id=\"video-block-R1WAP2MFLP44WE\" class=\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\"></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/A148U7puiWS.mp4\" class=\"video-url\" /><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/A1DC9HRLT9S.png\" class=\"video-slate-img-url\" />I had high hopes for this ball, because my little guy likes to fiddle with the ribbon tags on other toys and I thought that the mirror was neat. He also loves chimes. He has a dangling one that he loves to swat at. I thought it would be a nice alternative to his bumpy ball (which we also got at Amazon and he enjoys).\n\nThis is a pretty decent toy, but it just seems to lack the ability to hold his interest. It's nice and bright and the tags are soft. There's even a nice loop that you could use to hang it or baby can use to hold onto it. He just never got into it.\n\nI think some babies would really like this and it has a nice soothing sound and is soft and cheery. It's everything a ball like this should be if your baby is into this style. Like all things, it just depends on what your baby is into. It's well made, good old-fashioned fun.","Product: Just the right size for little hands to grasp and shake, these maracas will get baby rattling and rocking to the beat in no time.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Too Big and Plain for What We Were Looking For, But Works Great for Some\n\nReview: These just weren't anything particularly special.\n\nThe Bad:\n\nI loved the idea that these had the soft end, which might save on some of the whacking that little wild arms does with his toys. Which, they ARE soft. But, they are just like cotton balls wrapped in satin at the end of the toy. They don't make noise. They don't crinkle. They're just....there. They are soft, but they are just soft padded puffs.\n\nThe \"maracas\" terminology is little misleading, because it made me think they would sound like a maraca. They don't sound at all like what I expected. If you look at the little balls embedded in the end, that's the only source of noise. It's pretty much just a clacking noise. There's nothing musical or special about it. The sound is just sort of bland.\n\nThey were also a bit larger than I expected. Our little guy is on the small side, so they were bulky.\n\nThe Good:\n\nIt's a neat concept, but it needed more refining to make a cool toy.\n\nThe upside is, the price is usually great on these (ours were like $6) which makes them worth a try. They are also very colorful. Based on reviews, they do work for a lot of babies. There are no rough edges and I felt safe giving the toy to my little one because it seemed sturdily made. The plastic it was made out of is pleasant to touch. As mentioned earlier, that soft end can save the furniture. Also, the rattle noise wasn't overly sharp sounding or annoying. The little balls bouncing around in the handles also may provide an interesting thing for baby to look at.\n\nOverall, it's just a pair of rattles. A lot of other people really liked them, but they were just too bulky and unremarkable to keep interest.","Product: Two of Disney's best-loved characters are now sized perfectly for your child's hands! Pooh and Tigger by Little People are here to play-bring them along to any Little People play set to add the Magic of Disney!\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: What is it About Winnie the Pooh?\n\nReview: What is it about Winnie the Pooh?\n\nOur little guy is only a few months old, but as soon as he saw Winnie the Pooh, he was immediately drawn to the characters. Pooh was one of my childhood favorites, and probably yours too, so seeing him brings happy memories.\n\nThese toys are well made and are merrily taking a beating from my little one who is just discovering that toys can be crashed together and can be pounded on other things. Like is to be expected from Little People brand, they haven't faded, chipped, or lost their shape. They are definitely one of his favorites.\n\nThey don't squeek or anything. They are just like regular Little People. They are very easy to clean and are designed to wash and dry easily (or be used in the tub).\n\nThe pics show the underside of the toy to show how they are designed to drain well when they wash and that they do have the little nubs underneath that will allow them to be used with the Little People furniture and such.\n\nThe downside to the toy is that the manufacturer has discontinued them, so they likely won't be available at a reasonable price for much longer.","Product: Add this versatile arch to baby's stroller and suddenly strolling and shopping becomes an adventure! The Flex n Go Activity Arch from Oball easily attaches to almost any stroller and keeps baby entertained with an easy-to-grasp Oball, a lion rattle, an elephant rattle and Oball Linky Loops to attach additional toys. The flexible, soft material keeps little hands busy with bold colors and tactile challenges.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Best Toy Purchase So Far\n\nReview: This is one of the best purchases I made for baby toys. He plays with it every day.\n\nAt first we bought one of those floor gyms that was all electronic (Baby Einstein brand to be specific). He liked it fairly well, but it really didn't inspire him to reach out and touch anything as much as just lay there and watch the lights. He did kick excitedly now and then, but it just felt like the equivalent of plopping him in front of the television. I really wanted something that would get him reaching out and engaged.\n\nI was also looking for a toy that would adapt well to various baby equipment. The design will let it be customized to nearly anything.\n\nThe best part about this toy is how completely customize-able it is. Those links all snap apart and there is a link add-on kit. You can choose from a wide range of O Ball brand toys that will attach or you can add your own dangling toys.\n\nIt's great! I'd definitely recommend it to anyone and will probably end up purchasing a few for friends and family.","Product: Part of the Little People Nativity Playset collection! On a cold winter's night, while keeping his sheep, the shepherd was the first to see the bright star shining in the east. Seven-piece Lil' Shepherds playset includes angel and shepherd (with baby sheep) figures, two more sheep figures, water well, grassy meadow with connectable fence posts and feed bag.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Love the Set, It's Essential to Get the Full Telling, but the Price....\n\nReview: Since the product is no longer produced, its price is over-inflated to a collectors price. The original price on this product was $15.\n\nThat being said, this is a very cute set. It really is a completer set for the Little People Nativity, some versions don't come with shepherds which I feel are essential for the story.\n\nIt does have just the one shepherd.\n\nThe well is great because it works well for other bible stories involving a well.\n\nI hope Fisher Price puts a similar set into production to make the price friendly to everyone as it was intended. There is an alternate set that includes the wise men that's really a better buy located here <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Fisher-Price-Little-People-Three-Wise-Men-and-Lil-Shepherds-Gift-Bundle/dp/B00FVYPCZ8/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Fisher-Price Little People Three Wise Men and Lil' Shepherds Gift Bundle</a>","Product: Little farmers can imagine what it might be like to milk a cow with the Little People Dairy Barn! Walk the cow over to the Dairy Barn, set the farm hand figure on the stool and press down to see the milk bucket \"fill up\"!\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Great Add On to the Big Farm\n\nReview: This is a really cute addition to the large little people barn. The mechanism isn't super fancy. You put the cow on the \"pail\" and then the little fella on the stool and push down and the milk rises. It's on a spring, so as soon as you take him off of the stool it pops back down. Don't expect a super cool effect with it like some of the inventions Fisher Price has introduced, but kids like it and it is cute.\n\nIt arrives in a presentation box, rather than the otherwise common green Fisher Price box. I've included a picture.\n\nFor the price, it's a great add on (we built a big farm set for our first Christmas), especially since the big set only comes with the one \"human\" figure.","Product: These lovable characters are the perfect way to soothe baby's sore gums. The bright starts teething fun gift set features 4 fun toys. The snuggle and teethe giraffe is a cuddly companion with crinkle in his belly and soft plastic teether feet. The rattle and shake barbell is easy for little hands to hold and makes fun rattle sounds. The blue bird teether and buggy bites teether offer plenty of textures for teething relief and baby is sure to love the colorful characters. Fun comes first.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great Price on a Great Set!\n\nReview: <div id=\"video-block-R377EYJFKFRCDU\" class=\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\"></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/C1Ac3OHQ0sS.mp4\" class=\"video-url\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/A1qzqz6SgvS.png\" class=\"video-slate-img-url\"> I received this as a gift for my baby shower. This is a GREAT set for the price. The giraffe piece alone sells for almost as much as this whole set and the bug teether and rattle retail at about $6 each. <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Bright-Starts-Snuggle-Teether-Assorted/dp/B0049SP0AE/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Bright Starts Snuggle Teether Assorted</a>. I wasn't able to locate the little bird separately, but those three alone are a $27 value.\n\nThe giraffe colors are a little off from the picture (you'll see in the video). When I first looked at him I thought he was cute but didn't know if my little guy would be interested in him. At first, when I gave it to him at about 3 months, I got very little response and I think it was just too old for him. When I tried again at 5 months, he absolutely loved it and would happily squeeze and crinkle away, occasionally chewing on the face or the feet. I'd really call this more of a sit up toy, because until he was able to sit up assisted in a chair there wasn't much to do with it.\n\nThe bug teether is equally awesome. It's super cute with a lot of detail and the bugs spin. The colors and textures were also a big hit with my little guy when his teeth were bothering him.\n\nThe rattle is one of those good, wholesome toys, with smooth edges made of a nice plastic. It's an upgraded model to the traditional rattle. The nice part about it is the thin twisty neck that makes it easier to grip for little hands, sort of the Oball concept. The mirror on it is of course smallish so your baby may not really notice it, but it is a nice old-fashioned rattle with a pleasant sound that little ones enjoy.\n\nWe don't really have an interest in the other teether yet, but it has a nice loop on it that will make it easy to fasten to strollers or his bouncer with a paci clip.\n\nAgain, great price on a great set!","Product: The second in the thrilling fantasy series returning readers to the Six Duchies and the magical world of the Farseers, from the author of the bestselling Assassin's Apprentice. Fitz has succeeded in rescuing Prince Dutiful from the clutches of the Piebald rebels, and has returned with him to Buckkeep castle. With Dutiful safe again, Queen Kettricken can proceed with plans to marry him to the Outislander princess, Elliania, but with tensions building among the peoples of the Six Duchies over Kettricken's tolerance of the Wittted, even Buckkeep is no longer safe. A reluctant Fitz is assigned to protect the young prince, and also train him in the Skill, and in doing so he finally makes contact not only with his estranged daughter, Nettle, but with someone in Buckkeep who may possess a greater Skill talent than Fitz. And who may represent a terrible threat to the Farseers. Meanwhile, Elliania arrives, and before she will accept Prince Dutiful's betrothal challenges him to undertake an impossible quest. He must kill a legendary Outislander dragon.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Start with the Farseer Series, Then Follow with Tawny Man\n\nReview: While I don't love everything that happens in this book, I definitely love the series.\n\nSet in an alternate world in a renaissance time period, it continues a story of friends, family, magic, dragons, and much more. While there might be many of these themes available, the Farseer and Tawny Man series definitely stand out in how you will fall in love with the characters and be engaged in the plot.\n\nOf the \"Tawny Man\" series, which is the follow up to the \"Fitzchivalry Farseer\" series, this is the most action packed. The first two in the series were more of a set up of the end, as well as a reminder of what happened in the first series and a point of filling in some of the important details of the plot line that further develops the characters and gives you the \"why\" of many of the things that have happened in the past.\n\nWhile the Tawny Man series doesn't get you quite as attached to the characters as Farseer did, it's definitely a must read to complete the story and will definitely give you both joy, sorrow, and a mixture of emotions as you learn more about the characters. It's definitely satisfying, though I'd say you really should read the first series before it. If you haven't, then definitely read it after. It's wonderful.\n\nThere are notes of the authors other series \"Liveships\" throughout the books that give you several peeks into the lives of those characters as well, which I feel adds a lot of flavor to the book.\n\nI have read all three of the aforementioned series several times, with this one being read with my family aloud so that my husband can experience this wonderful story.","Product: The gripping finale to Robin Hobb's classic Farseer trilogy. Keystone. Gate. Crossroads. Catalyst. Fitz is about to discover the truth about the Fool's prophecy. Having been resurrected from his fatal tortures in Regal's dungeons, Fitz has once more foiled Regal's attempts to be rid of him. Now, back in his own body, and after months of rehabilitation, Fitz begins the painful and slow process of learning the ways of a man again. Under the watchful eye of Burrich, old King Shrewd's Stablemaster, Fitz must learn to cast off the wild but carefree ways of the wolf and enter once more the human world: a world beset ever more viciously by the relentless Red Ship Raiders who are now left free to plunder any coastal town they please. But more immediately, a world in which he finds he is utterly alone. Regal has stripped the kingdom of its riches and retired to the inland city of Tradeford. Of Verity, on his quest to find the legendary Elderings, there has been no word; Molly, Kettricken and the Fool have all vanished. Unless Fitz can find Verity and help him in his quest, the Six Duchies will perish and there will be no safe place to live.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Highly Recommended Series by a Talented Author\n\nReview: This is one of my favorite series. I want to explain my choices on the ratings.\n\n1. Yes, there is violence, because this is about an assassin. Blood is mentioned, the sound of breaking bones is mentioned, and a couple of mentions about biting out a chunk of flesh. Of course, there are swords. If you are very sensitive to these things, the book may not be for you. However, I think it's a normal amount for a book of this nature. It is certainly not the core of the story, nor is it overly graphic in the description. It simply recalls the events that happened during skirmishes. If you ever watch mainstream movies based in this era, then you are probably fine with it. Rape is mentioned in the book, however it does not go into graphic detail. It's a woman mentioning she was raped, by who, and when. It's written as a recall of what occurred.\n\n2. It has \"some\" sexual content in that sex is mentioned. However, there is NO mention of details. While we are told of the sight of golden hair spilled on a pillow or how a woman grins and presses against a man, we then cut away from the scene with no mention of actual lovemaking as a process. It's not at all pornographic in nature.\n\n3. There is often satisfying amounts of \"justice\" in the book. While not all the bad guys die, you will find a good portion of evil people who get paid a visit by karma.\n\n4. You do get emotionally attached to the characters.\n\n5. Some main characters do die in the series, but it tends to be very poetically and well done. You don't get scarred for life by the loss. It isn't something where 3 days later you're walking around still ticked off that the character died."],"string":"[\n \"Product: Creamy Poppy Seed Dressing - Kraft Creamy Poppy Seed Dressing will add a touch of decadence to your salads. This sweet and tangy blend includes no artificial flavors and only 80 calories per serving so its a healthy choice for you and your family. - Ready-to-pour, this crave-worthy dressing will make a flavorful addition to your summer salads. The creamy and sweet flavor will complement both fruits and vegetables beautifully. Experiment with bold flavors with Kraft Poppy Seed Dressing.\\n\\nRating: 1.0\\n\\nSummary: Not Like Panera, Marzetti, or Heartland\\n\\nReview: I purchased this to use in a Suddenly Salad recipe from the back of the box. I'd been familiar with poppy seed dressing in the past because it's one of my favorites for salad. Normally I buy Marzetti or Heartland brand (the kinds that are kept refrigerated in the store) but I needed it for the recipe and was ordering from Prime Pantry anyway. It was on sale, so how different could it be?\\n\\nTurns out, it could be really different.\\n\\nFor one, both Marzetti and Heartland don't have dairy in them. Neither does the Panera dressing from the restaurant, which is what got me hooked on poppy seed dressing in the first place. The dairy in this wasn't a deal breaker, but it's weird. Sour cream in salad dressing? Maybe in a ranch style, but even homemade poppy seed dressing doesn't usually have sour cream in it.\\n\\nIt's texture is much heavier than the other two brands. I found it unpleasant.\\n\\nIt's less sweet and tangy and almost has an odd aftertaste.\\n\\nThe poppy seeds are the amount and texture you would expect them to be.\\n\\nNormally I love Kraft. I'm a huge fan of the company's products, especially many of their salad dressings. However, this one was a huge miss. Sadly, this is going to end up in the trash, unused. It's not at all like my normal poppy seed dressings.\",\n \"Product: Improve your \\\"blinging\\\" skills! The Crystal Katana by CrystalNinja was created by award winning Flatback Specialist and master user, Kellie DeFries and proven to shave time off the process of hand setting-gluing Swarovski Flatbacks, ss3-ss40. Do you use regular beeswax for transferring your light objects? You'll find that it's too soft and leaves wax residue on your application surface. Tweezers cramp your hands and fling crystals across the room! Ouch! Someone's going to poke their eye out! Do other china markers or grease pens break, chip, and leave extra residue on crystals? Have you noticed the taller, sharper table facet of the later issued Swarovski Elements shredding other pickers and tips to smithereens? The answer to all of this madness is the Crystal Katana BY the Crystal Ninja!\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Works OK, But Overpriced\\n\\nReview: I used my katana to add Swarovski crystals to an ornament for Baby's First Christmas.\\n\\nIt's ok. It took a few tries of getting used to picking the rhinestones up carefully enough to actually get them to stick and be placed. I didn't have issues with the tool letting go once it got to the glue, but it would occasionally drop (or not pick up) the rhinestone.\\n\\nI didn't find the poker useful really. I can see scenarios where it might be useful, like using it to single out a tiny crystal in a pile of other crystals. However, using it to move or push down on the gem once in place wasn't practical because it skips right off the surface.\\n\\nI probably would have liked it more if I hadn't paid $30 for it. I just don't think it's precise enough to warrant the price. I really expected it to perform flawlessly for the price and it just doesn't.\",\n \"Product: Cricut cutting mats have been customized to match commonly used crafting materials. Each has just the right level of grip to not only hold your material firmly in place during cutting, but to also allow you to easily remove the material from the adhesive surface. The StandardGrip mat is a multi-purpose mat that is perfect for a wide range of medium-weight materials, including patterned paper, vinyl, iron-on and cardstock. Two mats are included in each package. Using both mats allows you to cut one image while working on another.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Wish There Was a Better Solution\\n\\nReview: This is by far the best place to buy cutting mats. Amazon pricing on these can't be beat! Most craft stores sell these for $13-$15 and most won't allow you to use a coupon.\\n\\nThe product itself though? Well, you need it to use your Cricut. It's as good as any of the other mats that you need to use for your Cricut. It's really nothing special. These are the mats that came with your Cricut.\\n\\nMy issue with them is that they really don't last for that many cuts before the sticky part stops working. This is especially true for paper products, which tend to leave behind a fine dust of paper. You also scrape the glue off a little each time you use the wedge to peel off a project. It's going to be a bummer for you if you use a glitter sheet, have pets that shed, or have much dust in your house.\\n\\nYou definitely want to save the protective plastic that goes over the top to store them in. That's the only thing I've been able to find to lengthen their life.\\n\\nI've read several \\\"sticky recovery\\\" methods online on how to lengthen the life of these. I've tried several of them. Some people say you can clean them with certain cleaners. I've had no luck with that. Others have said they renew the stickiness with a tacky spray and I would definitely not recommend that unless you want to run the risk of having to replace a blade too. To this date, I haven't found anything that fixes the pads when they are worn out other than if you have a simple project you can tape the edges to hold them down.\\n\\nAt the price Amazon offers them at, it makes it not quite so bad, because you do get a few uses before you have to toss them. When I was paying nearly twice the price, I was getting pretty distressed. It's a shame that Provo Craft hasn't come up with a better solution to renewing these yet. It's a waste of plastic. Definitely not a \\\"green\\\" choice.\\n\\nMy best recommendation to you is just order two of these two packs and have them in reserve. Cricut is undoubtedly a fun system, but this is an area I wish they'd put some effort into coming up with a better solution on.\",\n \"Product: Have you ever needed that special storage for all of your little tiny items like beads, buttons and scrapbook embellishments, like brads and eyelets? Well, now its here with the Darice Jewelry Designer Bead Storage System. Time to get your craft space organized. With 30 Containers- Organizer is approximately 6 1/4\\\"x 5 1/4\\\"x 1 1/4\\\" and holds 30 individual storage containers. Each round container is approximately 7/8\\\" across and 1\\\" deep.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Well Made, But a Bit Small\\n\\nReview: These are cute, well made little jars. Darice products are always great.\\n\\nUnfortunately, these are much smaller than what they have listed and it's hard to tell from the picture. They are 1\\\" diameter and just a hair under 1.25\\\" tall. I needed jars that were about 1.5\\\" diameter for my project. I found these which should work. <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Vivaplex-25-Clear-10-Gram-Plastic-Pot-Jars-Cosmetic-Containers-With-Lids/dp/B01JI20BCC/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Vivaplex, 25 Clear, 10 Gram Plastic Pot Jars, Cosmetic Containers, With Lids.</a>\\n\\nThese are in a nice little box for storage, which the replacements I found aren't. If you don't need ones as big as I do, then this is definitely the kit for you. The little box makes them easy to keep track of and organized and makes a nice display.\\n\\nThey won't work for what I need, but would be great for keeping track of teeny items.\",\n \"Product: The 48-Piece Nursery Storage Set is a great way to jump start your nursery closet. This super starter kit includes everything you need to get organized, leaving more time for baby.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Color Not as Shown, But Good at Organizing\\n\\nReview: <div id=\\\"video-block-R1QG17UXDSWXXI\\\" class=\\\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\\\"></div><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/B13yNYOILnS.mp4\\\" class=\\\"video-url\\\"><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91f9m35TYPS.png\\\" class=\\\"video-slate-img-url\\\"> These were a little more \\\"golden tan\\\" colored than the picture is, which is more of a grey tan. It was a little disappointing, because I'm not a big fan of yellow, but the set is just so good at organizing that I kept it anyway.\\n\\nThe box pieces fold flat and will arrive as such. They are pretty sturdy when they are set up.\\n\\nThe large boxes hold quite a bit.\\n\\nThe little boxes will go into the hanging bin, but I didn't use them for that as I had a different spot for them. They are a great size for things like little shoes.\\n\\nThe hangers had sort of a weird texture that wasn't like expected. They reminded me more of those \\\"flocked\\\" plastic animals that are fuzzy than velvet, but they work well.\\n\\nI used this set to help create a temporary wardrobe from an old metal kitchen stand. It worked really well. I haven't used the dividers yet, but I'm really looking forward to it when we get a real closet.\",\n \"Product: Create a designer touch in your bath with an easy-to-install tension rod. No tools needed for installation, simply adjust to your size and install. The tension rod fits standard bathtub enclosures from 48in to 72in. This set includes one tension rod and 12 coordinating shower curtain hooks.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: The Hooks Are Great, But the Rod ...\\n\\nReview: This is one of those \\\"you get what you pay for\\\" sets. In other words, I think it would be perfect in a guest bathroom that doesn't get a lot of use because it is pretty. But, in high traffic areas it probably won't last long.\\n\\nThe Color: I'd say it's a little more bronze than the picture, but it's close. It would blend with other bronze fixtures.\\n\\nThe Finish: Eh, not great. You can tell that the coating has limited use before it will corrode and get a bit rusty. It's pretty to look at, but the material isn't designed to be long lasting.\\n\\nDetailing: Really pretty details. I would say the picture is accurate, though the medallions on the hooks are a little larger than expected.\\n\\nThe Hooks: These are pretty good quality. I actually like these a lot.\\n\\nThe Rod: Really not great. The spot where the unit telescopes is very pronounced, so the hooks hang up pretty easily. It's easy to fix if you can reach them, but would be difficult for a child to maneuver. The coating is poor. The rubber stopper on one end had popped out and had to be rigged to make it work. My husband managed to get it up pretty solid, but because the stopper needed repairing it took longer than it should have to install a new curtain rod.\\n\\nOverall: I really do love how the hooks look. They were a great and unexpected surprise. I expect the rod to last about 4 months before we will be looking to replace it.\",\n \"Product: Get into the festive season with a super cute reindeer poncho. Featuring a classic reindeer design with vintage patterns and yet looks very stylish. Treat yourself, or makes an ideal gift!\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Not a Roomy Cardigan - Buttons Aren't Solid and Color Ran a Bit.\\n\\nReview: It's similar to what you see on the model, but it's certainly not a \\\"big comfy cardigan.\\\"\\n\\nI ordered the XXL because I like things to be big and baggy and roomy. It wasn't. It fits and I'll wear it because I need it for a party next Sunday, but I was really hoping it would be roomier.\\n\\nI do like the style of it and it gives a great alternative to the traditional \\\"ugly sweater\\\" style. I really am more of a cardigan person than a pullover person. This lets me put under it what I want.\\n\\nI love that the sleeves are extra long and cover your hands (like on the model).\\n\\nThe color in the picture is pretty accurate. The red is bright and bold. It's very Christmasy, though it's a little oranger of a red than I anticipated.\\n\\nThere are two roomy pockets that I will appreciate because my phone will fit in there nicely.\\n\\nMy only complaint is I wish it was a bit bigger.\\n\\nUpdate: Well I had to deduct another star because one button fell off in the washer and a second one is about to. I can fix it, but not what I'd expect for quality out of a new sweater. The buttons themselves are cute and look almost woodsey. I just wish they had stayed on!\\n\\nOn top of that, the red in the sweater ran slightly onto the white, so now it's slightly pinkish. I'm afraid I'll have to return it after all....what a disappointment!\",\n \"Product: Our 100 percent organic cotton toddler v-neck tee comes in a variety of colors so, stock up! it has an exposed seam with raw edge detail and is the perfect base piece.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Pretty Good, But Does Run Big\\n\\nReview: These shirts do have like a rough edge at the seams, which is a little charming, but not that \\\"clean\\\" tshirt look at the seams that most tshirts have.\\n\\nThey do run large, but it makes it comfier for baby. They also shrink slightly in the wash. This is definitely not a snug tshirt for it's size by any means.\\n\\nIt's soft and of medium weight as far as tshirts go.\\n\\nI only gave it 4 stars because mine arrived soiled, which is really more of a quality control issue. The shirt itself is pretty nice.\\n\\nAlso, note this is like a normal tshirt at the neck. It doesn't have lap folds which means the neck is going to be looser for style than a typical infant tshirt or onesie. If you don't like a slightly sloppier neck, then it may not be for you. For myself, I like them a little looser because they don't look like they are choking him.\\n\\nIf you've purchased the Big Oshi brand tshirts, this is similar in size though it is much longer.\",\n \"Product: Playful and classic. Stay warm and cozy this holiday season in our 100 percent organic cotton tight fitting sleeper. This footed sleeper features a zip up front and custom top snap at the neck to keep your little one snuggly and secure throughout the night. Sweet dreams, little bee\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: The Perks Stop at Appearance\\n\\nReview: Three stars for appearance. The plaid is adorable, the bottom of the little feet have bee patterns in the grippies and there are little bees on the snap. There is even a little Burt's Bee tag on the back! Adorable!\\n\\nThat's where the fun stops.\\n\\nThe material is tshirt thin but not tshirt soft. The pattern is clearly like a screen print or something and a little on the scratchy side. Nor does it stretch like a tshirt or like I would expect this weight of sleeper to stretch. Bummer.\\n\\nOn top of that, my little guy usually wears a 6-9 or a 9. I ordered 12 months thinking it would be nice and roomy. Nope. It's just about too small. I think we will get about 5 wears out of it and we are done. Bummer number two.\\n\\nI can't say I'd recommend it. The appearance is cute enough and the details are thoughtful. Just the useability is the pits. I have other organic Burts Bees sleepers that we love. This one just really misses the mark.\",\n \"Product: Rubie's costume company has brought costumes and accessories to the world since 1950. As the world's costume leader, we take seriously the mission to make dressing up fun Mascots, rental quality costumes, masks, wigs, accessories, shoes, and every significant licensed costume you want to wear can be found under the Rubie's brand. Rubie's brings you fun for every season Halloween, Christmas, mardi gras, Easter, and all in-between\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Super Cute Pics But....It Sheds. A Lot.\\n\\nReview: It really is adorable. I used the fit guide and it just fit perfectly. If your baby is on the chubby side, it might be a bit snug, so maybe order up one size.\\n\\nThe pics were great and I was really happy with them. But, the outfit looses bits of the plush to a noticeable degree. I don't mean how a dog sheds. I mean little chunks of strings from the fur. My husband noticed it too. That being said, I wouldn't leave a really small baby in it from longer than it takes to take the pictures, for fear of them inhaling it. It doesn't leave a trail of fur behind it as baby moves, but it did drop a little clump of blue fur from time to time when it was being handled.\\n\\nThis is an awesome prop for a photo shoot, but it is definitely a prop and not a garment. It's not a sleeper or romper.\",\n \"Product: Rubie's costume company has brought costumes and accessories to the world since 1950. As the world's costume leader, we take seriously the mission to make dressing up fun Mascots, rental quality costumes, masks, wigs, accessories, shoes, and every significant licensed costume you want to wear can be found under the Rubie's brand. Rubie's brings you fun for every season Halloween, Christmas, mardi gras, Easter, and all in-between\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Super Cute Pics But....It Sheds. A Lot.\\n\\nReview: It really is adorable. I used the fit guide and it just fit perfectly. If your baby is on the chubby side, it might be a bit snug, so maybe order up one size.\\n\\nThe pics were great and I was really happy with them. But, the outfit looses bits of the plush to a noticeable degree. I don't mean how a dog sheds. I mean little chunks of strings from the fur. My husband noticed it too. That being said, I wouldn't leave a really small baby in it from longer than it takes to take the pictures, for fear of them inhaling it. It doesn't leave a trail of fur behind it as baby moves, but it did drop a little clump of blue fur from time to time when it was being handled.\\n\\nThis is an awesome prop for a photo shoot, but it is definitely a prop and not a garment. It's not a sleeper or romper.\",\n \"Product: Pull up the couch, snuggle with the family and enjoy these decadent snacks while watching your favorite movie. There is no guilt when indulging in this sweet and salty snack pack combo. WARNING FOR CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS: Substances like acrylamide can naturally form when foods are cooked. Nutrisystem does not add these substances to our foods. We take great care to ensure that our foods meet all FDA & USDA food safety requirements. However, the state of California requires us to warn you that consuming this product can expose you to chemicals including acrylamide, which is known to the state of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm. For more information, go to www.P65Warnings.ca.gov/food\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Good Pricing and Tasty Product\\n\\nReview: I really like this package and it's a good price (at least for right now). The normal price for the popcorn at Nutrisystem is $2.05 and the pretzels are $2.55. You get 5 of each, so you save about $3 buying here at Amazon, plus you get it faster.\\n\\nThe popcorn is fresh and tastes great. It tastes as good as the best white popcorns I've had (and that includes gourmet popcorn).\\n\\nThe pretzels aren't really like \\\"pretzels.\\\" Don't expect them to taste like a regular chocolate pretzels, because the texture and flavor will be different. They are, however, pretty yummy. The chocolate is very creamy and melts in your mouth, though it's more like a chocolate coating than a rich dark chocolate. You'll definitely get your sweet/salty fix here because you can taste the salt, though the \\\"pretzel\\\" itself is designed to be more filling than a standard pretzel so the texture is a bit different - closer to a cracker for crunch. Yet, still satisfying.\\n\\nI'll definitely order this again just for the convenience alone.\",\n \"Product: Crazy monster clips are perfect for use as bag clips, keeping papers organized together or hanging your clothes on the line to dry. Set of 6 plastic clips in assorted colors and styles. Each clip measure 1-3/4 by 1-1/2 by 1-1/4-inch.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: We Have a Chip Clip Issue in This House\\n\\nReview: I love these. I'm not sure why there are reviews to the contrary.\\n\\nWe have a chip clip issue in this house. I've bought several packs and they never seem like enough because we use them for everything. I even desperately bought some clothespins to try to keep up. These were purchased because they were a good price and I happened to find them while shopping for something else - a perfect add-on!\\n\\nI will jealously guard these for my favorite things just because they are so doggone cute.\\n\\nThey have a good strong clip to them. They are wider than some of the clips I have purchased in the past.\\n\\nMine were in perfect condition. They arrive on a card inside a plastic sleeve. There was not a scratch at all on the plastic or paint.\\n\\nThe patterns are exactly as you see, though the color is darker on the actual clip than the picture. The fox is a bright orange, but tolerable.\\n\\nI'm a woman, so the pic is of my hand, just for reference. The wolf is my favorite.\",\n \"Product: The New World Single Door folding metal dog crate includes all of the features you will need to provide a convenient, safe and secure pet home for your dog. This dog crate includes a plastic, leak-proof pan for easy cleanup in the event of an accident and a 1 Year Manufacturer's Warranty. Every New World single door metal dog crate folds down for convenient storage and portability making the metal New World Dog Crates a great choice if you plan to travel or stay at home with your dog.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Ok for a Basic Crate\\n\\nReview: I bought this crate as an inexpensive crate for travelling with my two small dogs (15# each). I bought the 30\\\" crate and the two dogs both fit in it nicely.\\n\\nThe plastic tray is easy to clean and a nice heavy weight.\\n\\nI've purchased a lot of crates over the years and compared to a Midwest crate, it's about the same weight of wire, but it's not as well put together. It doesn't fold as flat and doesn't come with a carry handle. The single door in the front has a little trouble closing. You can assume it's to keep the door more secure or that the door is bent, it's sort of a matter of perspective.\\n\\nOurs had a clip that wasn't attached properly, but the crate was still usable.\\n\\nI think this is a great crate for it's price if you have well mannered dogs and just want something cheap for trips in the car or a small puppy that you're crate training. Midwest crates are usually twice the cost of this (I paid $30 for this New World model). However, if you're looking for a higher quality crate, have a strong or rambunctious dog, and/or are picky about the details, you'll probably want to look at a different brand.\",\n \"Product: The Gibraltar Stanley post-mount mailbox has been redesigned and is now better than ever. The Stanley mailbox is made of heavy-duty galvanized steel and now features a stronger, sturdier aluminum flag. Embossed with an American eagle for a traditional style, and painted with a powder-coat finish for lasting quality against outdoor weathering, the Stanley upholds its value. Extra-large capacity has full capabilities to accomodate various parcels of different sizes. Perfect for high volume and large online deliveries. It comes fully assembled, ready to install.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Fantastic Size! Would be Great for Photography, but Texture Makes it Hard for Letters to Stick\\n\\nReview: This enormous mailbox will save me a lot of hassle. While I read the dimensions before I bought it, I didn't quite understand the sheer size of the thing until I saw it. Both of my spaniels would easily fit inside of it (I didn't try, but seeing them stand beside it makes it obvious). I honestly think it could make some pretty cute pictures for a creative photographer.\\n\\nFlat rate envelopes easily lay flat in the bottom and I'll be able to send out a lot of packages this way, saving me the headache of finding a place to put them for pickup.\\n\\nThe only reason that the mailbox lost a star is because there isn't really a flat place on it to put your house letters and we had a horrible time getting them to stick. There are embossed letters down the front and the texture on the body is all ridged. This is great to provide stability for the mailbox, but not so great for the sticky letters you have to put onto it if you live in an area with clustered houses.\",\n \"Product: The Corentium Home by Airthings radon detector is a state-of-the-art measuring instrument that combines ease of use and performance. The Corentium Home by Airthings radon gas detector allows you to take a reading of the radon levels and its LCD screen displays the average daily, weekly and long term concentrations. Powered by 3 standard AAA batteries, the radon monitor makes it easy to take measurements from one room to another in order to get an overview of the concentrations of radon in a home, workplace, school, a daycare centre or any other location. The Corentium Home by Airthings radon detector is also an essential tool to use when performing property inspections or when checking the operation of a radon mitigation system. The internal architecture of the Corentium Home by Airthings radon monitor comes from advanced technology normally reserved for commercial-type detectors. Particular attention has been paid to the quality and protection of the internal components, allowing the use of algorithms for signal analysis that are more sophisticated. The Corentium Home by Airthings radon gas detector quickly adapts to its environment and eliminates inaccuracies related to external factors, allowing it to obtain the best accuracy in its niche. The Corentium Home by Airthings radon monitor is guaranteed for one year and in normal home use, it requires no annual calibrations throughout its useful life, estimated at over 10 years.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: An Important Purchase for Your Home - Two or Three Day Tests Will NOT Necessarily Show Your True Radon Levels\\n\\nReview: I've always been paranoid about radon, to the point that I refused to get a test done because I didn't want to know and would rationalize that no one I knew had an issue. Well, no one I knew had bothered to test either. It was a foolish choice that many people make.\\n\\nWhen we first purchased our new home and had a professional test done, we discovered that our radon level was \\\"borderline\\\" as to whether a remediation system was necessary. I was pretty freaked out. We didn't \\\"need\\\" a system, but I kept asking \\\"What if this sample of two days isn't indicative of the true levels in that house?\\\" Looking at the hourly readings, clearly there were times it was high and times it was low. It's common knowledge that radon fluctuates based on the weather, barometric pressure, if fans or a heater running, etc. Since the seller was in the house at the time of the test, I had no real way to know.\\n\\nWe had a system installed on an existing passive system in the house as is building code in our county. But what if it failed? What if it got a leak because someone had screwed a hole in the wrong spot on the wall 2 years after it was installed?\\n\\nThe rooms in your home can also vary widely. I wanted to make sure that the levels in our son's bedroom and our master bedroom were safe to be sleeping in, not just in the office where our inspector originally tested.\\n\\nAfter a lot of research I bought this monitor. Not only did I read reviews on any site I could find, but also found out how the machine worked, what it could do, and how that compared to other options. We even reached out with additional questions to the manufacturer who responded right away. This was the clear winner.\\n\\nI logged every single day on a spreadsheet to watch the radon patterns in my house. What I found is that in the exact same location during different weather patterns, the radon levels could vary from .62 to 2.29 during different 24 hour periods after we had our remediation. (The low being on a sunny day and the high being on a rainy one). This (to me) means the weather when your pro test is done for 48 hours isn't going to necessarily reflect the true average radon level in your home because it may be influenced by outside factors.\\n\\nThe machine displays: Lifetime Results, 7 Day Results, 1 Day Results. It can be reset. I was bummed it didn't show hourly, but that's only available on their professional model which is about $800.\\n\\nI am definitely happy with my purchase and have encouraged my whole family and my friends to buy one. My mom will be getting hers this week. It's solid peace of mind, especially with a family history of lung cancer and a child under 1.\\n\\nI have a folding table that I use to take the machine to different rooms so it's at a consistent height (sleeping level) and is able to be placed according to manufacturers guidelines.\\n\\nAs a side note: The packaging is professional and has an upscale feel. You aren't going to see big obnoxious symbols and colors. It's sedate and dignified.\",\n \"Product: Throw me. Roll me. Rattle me. It's all about playtime with our Loopy Loops Ball. Super soft and cuddly, this toy is perfect for any inquisitive baby with all its various textures, loops, and the fun rattling sound. Engage your babys various senses through play with the texture rich Loopy Loops Ball! Buy Playgro, your favorite toys to Play & Grow.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Decent Sound, Good Colors, Loads of Tags\\n\\nReview: <div id=\\\"video-block-R1WAP2MFLP44WE\\\" class=\\\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\\\"></div><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/A148U7puiWS.mp4\\\" class=\\\"video-url\\\" /><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/A1DC9HRLT9S.png\\\" class=\\\"video-slate-img-url\\\" />I had high hopes for this ball, because my little guy likes to fiddle with the ribbon tags on other toys and I thought that the mirror was neat. He also loves chimes. He has a dangling one that he loves to swat at. I thought it would be a nice alternative to his bumpy ball (which we also got at Amazon and he enjoys).\\n\\nThis is a pretty decent toy, but it just seems to lack the ability to hold his interest. It's nice and bright and the tags are soft. There's even a nice loop that you could use to hang it or baby can use to hold onto it. He just never got into it.\\n\\nI think some babies would really like this and it has a nice soothing sound and is soft and cheery. It's everything a ball like this should be if your baby is into this style. Like all things, it just depends on what your baby is into. It's well made, good old-fashioned fun.\",\n \"Product: Just the right size for little hands to grasp and shake, these maracas will get baby rattling and rocking to the beat in no time.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Too Big and Plain for What We Were Looking For, But Works Great for Some\\n\\nReview: These just weren't anything particularly special.\\n\\nThe Bad:\\n\\nI loved the idea that these had the soft end, which might save on some of the whacking that little wild arms does with his toys. Which, they ARE soft. But, they are just like cotton balls wrapped in satin at the end of the toy. They don't make noise. They don't crinkle. They're just....there. They are soft, but they are just soft padded puffs.\\n\\nThe \\\"maracas\\\" terminology is little misleading, because it made me think they would sound like a maraca. They don't sound at all like what I expected. If you look at the little balls embedded in the end, that's the only source of noise. It's pretty much just a clacking noise. There's nothing musical or special about it. The sound is just sort of bland.\\n\\nThey were also a bit larger than I expected. Our little guy is on the small side, so they were bulky.\\n\\nThe Good:\\n\\nIt's a neat concept, but it needed more refining to make a cool toy.\\n\\nThe upside is, the price is usually great on these (ours were like $6) which makes them worth a try. They are also very colorful. Based on reviews, they do work for a lot of babies. There are no rough edges and I felt safe giving the toy to my little one because it seemed sturdily made. The plastic it was made out of is pleasant to touch. As mentioned earlier, that soft end can save the furniture. Also, the rattle noise wasn't overly sharp sounding or annoying. The little balls bouncing around in the handles also may provide an interesting thing for baby to look at.\\n\\nOverall, it's just a pair of rattles. A lot of other people really liked them, but they were just too bulky and unremarkable to keep interest.\",\n \"Product: Two of Disney's best-loved characters are now sized perfectly for your child's hands! Pooh and Tigger by Little People are here to play-bring them along to any Little People play set to add the Magic of Disney!\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: What is it About Winnie the Pooh?\\n\\nReview: What is it about Winnie the Pooh?\\n\\nOur little guy is only a few months old, but as soon as he saw Winnie the Pooh, he was immediately drawn to the characters. Pooh was one of my childhood favorites, and probably yours too, so seeing him brings happy memories.\\n\\nThese toys are well made and are merrily taking a beating from my little one who is just discovering that toys can be crashed together and can be pounded on other things. Like is to be expected from Little People brand, they haven't faded, chipped, or lost their shape. They are definitely one of his favorites.\\n\\nThey don't squeek or anything. They are just like regular Little People. They are very easy to clean and are designed to wash and dry easily (or be used in the tub).\\n\\nThe pics show the underside of the toy to show how they are designed to drain well when they wash and that they do have the little nubs underneath that will allow them to be used with the Little People furniture and such.\\n\\nThe downside to the toy is that the manufacturer has discontinued them, so they likely won't be available at a reasonable price for much longer.\",\n \"Product: Add this versatile arch to baby's stroller and suddenly strolling and shopping becomes an adventure! The Flex n Go Activity Arch from Oball easily attaches to almost any stroller and keeps baby entertained with an easy-to-grasp Oball, a lion rattle, an elephant rattle and Oball Linky Loops to attach additional toys. The flexible, soft material keeps little hands busy with bold colors and tactile challenges.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Best Toy Purchase So Far\\n\\nReview: This is one of the best purchases I made for baby toys. He plays with it every day.\\n\\nAt first we bought one of those floor gyms that was all electronic (Baby Einstein brand to be specific). He liked it fairly well, but it really didn't inspire him to reach out and touch anything as much as just lay there and watch the lights. He did kick excitedly now and then, but it just felt like the equivalent of plopping him in front of the television. I really wanted something that would get him reaching out and engaged.\\n\\nI was also looking for a toy that would adapt well to various baby equipment. The design will let it be customized to nearly anything.\\n\\nThe best part about this toy is how completely customize-able it is. Those links all snap apart and there is a link add-on kit. You can choose from a wide range of O Ball brand toys that will attach or you can add your own dangling toys.\\n\\nIt's great! I'd definitely recommend it to anyone and will probably end up purchasing a few for friends and family.\",\n \"Product: Part of the Little People Nativity Playset collection! On a cold winter's night, while keeping his sheep, the shepherd was the first to see the bright star shining in the east. Seven-piece Lil' Shepherds playset includes angel and shepherd (with baby sheep) figures, two more sheep figures, water well, grassy meadow with connectable fence posts and feed bag.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Love the Set, It's Essential to Get the Full Telling, but the Price....\\n\\nReview: Since the product is no longer produced, its price is over-inflated to a collectors price. The original price on this product was $15.\\n\\nThat being said, this is a very cute set. It really is a completer set for the Little People Nativity, some versions don't come with shepherds which I feel are essential for the story.\\n\\nIt does have just the one shepherd.\\n\\nThe well is great because it works well for other bible stories involving a well.\\n\\nI hope Fisher Price puts a similar set into production to make the price friendly to everyone as it was intended. There is an alternate set that includes the wise men that's really a better buy located here <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Fisher-Price-Little-People-Three-Wise-Men-and-Lil-Shepherds-Gift-Bundle/dp/B00FVYPCZ8/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Fisher-Price Little People Three Wise Men and Lil' Shepherds Gift Bundle</a>\",\n \"Product: Little farmers can imagine what it might be like to milk a cow with the Little People Dairy Barn! Walk the cow over to the Dairy Barn, set the farm hand figure on the stool and press down to see the milk bucket \\\"fill up\\\"!\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Great Add On to the Big Farm\\n\\nReview: This is a really cute addition to the large little people barn. The mechanism isn't super fancy. You put the cow on the \\\"pail\\\" and then the little fella on the stool and push down and the milk rises. It's on a spring, so as soon as you take him off of the stool it pops back down. Don't expect a super cool effect with it like some of the inventions Fisher Price has introduced, but kids like it and it is cute.\\n\\nIt arrives in a presentation box, rather than the otherwise common green Fisher Price box. I've included a picture.\\n\\nFor the price, it's a great add on (we built a big farm set for our first Christmas), especially since the big set only comes with the one \\\"human\\\" figure.\",\n \"Product: These lovable characters are the perfect way to soothe baby's sore gums. The bright starts teething fun gift set features 4 fun toys. The snuggle and teethe giraffe is a cuddly companion with crinkle in his belly and soft plastic teether feet. The rattle and shake barbell is easy for little hands to hold and makes fun rattle sounds. The blue bird teether and buggy bites teether offer plenty of textures for teething relief and baby is sure to love the colorful characters. Fun comes first.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great Price on a Great Set!\\n\\nReview: <div id=\\\"video-block-R377EYJFKFRCDU\\\" class=\\\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\\\"></div><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/C1Ac3OHQ0sS.mp4\\\" class=\\\"video-url\\\"><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/A1qzqz6SgvS.png\\\" class=\\\"video-slate-img-url\\\"> I received this as a gift for my baby shower. This is a GREAT set for the price. The giraffe piece alone sells for almost as much as this whole set and the bug teether and rattle retail at about $6 each. <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Bright-Starts-Snuggle-Teether-Assorted/dp/B0049SP0AE/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Bright Starts Snuggle Teether Assorted</a>. I wasn't able to locate the little bird separately, but those three alone are a $27 value.\\n\\nThe giraffe colors are a little off from the picture (you'll see in the video). When I first looked at him I thought he was cute but didn't know if my little guy would be interested in him. At first, when I gave it to him at about 3 months, I got very little response and I think it was just too old for him. When I tried again at 5 months, he absolutely loved it and would happily squeeze and crinkle away, occasionally chewing on the face or the feet. I'd really call this more of a sit up toy, because until he was able to sit up assisted in a chair there wasn't much to do with it.\\n\\nThe bug teether is equally awesome. It's super cute with a lot of detail and the bugs spin. The colors and textures were also a big hit with my little guy when his teeth were bothering him.\\n\\nThe rattle is one of those good, wholesome toys, with smooth edges made of a nice plastic. It's an upgraded model to the traditional rattle. The nice part about it is the thin twisty neck that makes it easier to grip for little hands, sort of the Oball concept. The mirror on it is of course smallish so your baby may not really notice it, but it is a nice old-fashioned rattle with a pleasant sound that little ones enjoy.\\n\\nWe don't really have an interest in the other teether yet, but it has a nice loop on it that will make it easy to fasten to strollers or his bouncer with a paci clip.\\n\\nAgain, great price on a great set!\",\n \"Product: The second in the thrilling fantasy series returning readers to the Six Duchies and the magical world of the Farseers, from the author of the bestselling Assassin's Apprentice. Fitz has succeeded in rescuing Prince Dutiful from the clutches of the Piebald rebels, and has returned with him to Buckkeep castle. With Dutiful safe again, Queen Kettricken can proceed with plans to marry him to the Outislander princess, Elliania, but with tensions building among the peoples of the Six Duchies over Kettricken's tolerance of the Wittted, even Buckkeep is no longer safe. A reluctant Fitz is assigned to protect the young prince, and also train him in the Skill, and in doing so he finally makes contact not only with his estranged daughter, Nettle, but with someone in Buckkeep who may possess a greater Skill talent than Fitz. And who may represent a terrible threat to the Farseers. Meanwhile, Elliania arrives, and before she will accept Prince Dutiful's betrothal challenges him to undertake an impossible quest. He must kill a legendary Outislander dragon.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Start with the Farseer Series, Then Follow with Tawny Man\\n\\nReview: While I don't love everything that happens in this book, I definitely love the series.\\n\\nSet in an alternate world in a renaissance time period, it continues a story of friends, family, magic, dragons, and much more. While there might be many of these themes available, the Farseer and Tawny Man series definitely stand out in how you will fall in love with the characters and be engaged in the plot.\\n\\nOf the \\\"Tawny Man\\\" series, which is the follow up to the \\\"Fitzchivalry Farseer\\\" series, this is the most action packed. The first two in the series were more of a set up of the end, as well as a reminder of what happened in the first series and a point of filling in some of the important details of the plot line that further develops the characters and gives you the \\\"why\\\" of many of the things that have happened in the past.\\n\\nWhile the Tawny Man series doesn't get you quite as attached to the characters as Farseer did, it's definitely a must read to complete the story and will definitely give you both joy, sorrow, and a mixture of emotions as you learn more about the characters. It's definitely satisfying, though I'd say you really should read the first series before it. If you haven't, then definitely read it after. It's wonderful.\\n\\nThere are notes of the authors other series \\\"Liveships\\\" throughout the books that give you several peeks into the lives of those characters as well, which I feel adds a lot of flavor to the book.\\n\\nI have read all three of the aforementioned series several times, with this one being read with my family aloud so that my husband can experience this wonderful story.\",\n \"Product: The gripping finale to Robin Hobb's classic Farseer trilogy. Keystone. Gate. Crossroads. Catalyst. Fitz is about to discover the truth about the Fool's prophecy. Having been resurrected from his fatal tortures in Regal's dungeons, Fitz has once more foiled Regal's attempts to be rid of him. Now, back in his own body, and after months of rehabilitation, Fitz begins the painful and slow process of learning the ways of a man again. Under the watchful eye of Burrich, old King Shrewd's Stablemaster, Fitz must learn to cast off the wild but carefree ways of the wolf and enter once more the human world: a world beset ever more viciously by the relentless Red Ship Raiders who are now left free to plunder any coastal town they please. But more immediately, a world in which he finds he is utterly alone. Regal has stripped the kingdom of its riches and retired to the inland city of Tradeford. Of Verity, on his quest to find the legendary Elderings, there has been no word; Molly, Kettricken and the Fool have all vanished. Unless Fitz can find Verity and help him in his quest, the Six Duchies will perish and there will be no safe place to live.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Highly Recommended Series by a Talented Author\\n\\nReview: This is one of my favorite series. I want to explain my choices on the ratings.\\n\\n1. Yes, there is violence, because this is about an assassin. Blood is mentioned, the sound of breaking bones is mentioned, and a couple of mentions about biting out a chunk of flesh. Of course, there are swords. If you are very sensitive to these things, the book may not be for you. However, I think it's a normal amount for a book of this nature. It is certainly not the core of the story, nor is it overly graphic in the description. It simply recalls the events that happened during skirmishes. If you ever watch mainstream movies based in this era, then you are probably fine with it. Rape is mentioned in the book, however it does not go into graphic detail. It's a woman mentioning she was raped, by who, and when. It's written as a recall of what occurred.\\n\\n2. It has \\\"some\\\" sexual content in that sex is mentioned. However, there is NO mention of details. While we are told of the sight of golden hair spilled on a pillow or how a woman grins and presses against a man, we then cut away from the scene with no mention of actual lovemaking as a process. It's not at all pornographic in nature.\\n\\n3. There is often satisfying amounts of \\\"justice\\\" in the book. While not all the bad guys die, you will find a good portion of evil people who get paid a visit by karma.\\n\\n4. You do get emotionally attached to the characters.\\n\\n5. Some main characters do die in the series, but it tends to be very poetically and well done. You don't get scarred for life by the loss. It isn't something where 3 days later you're walking around still ticked off that the character died.\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":25,"string":"25"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_3"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":896,"string":"896"}}},{"rowIdx":897,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"A1UIMU8Q87ZPCH"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of \"4.0\" for a product with description \"AGFA 72mm rubber lens hood has 3 positions for wide, standard and telephoto.\". The summary of the review text is \"It has its uses, and it's cheap, so there's no complaints.\"."},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"<div id=\"video-block-R1AEL41NXO99LM\" class=\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\"></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/C1Paku6MybS.mp4\" class=\"video-url\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/11zL7xqwCaS.png\" class=\"video-slate-img-url\"> This is essentially the same as the other rubber hoods that appear identical to each other. Likely they are all from the same factory.\n\nWhether you've lost your oem hood, or just want something universal, these things are pretty useful. The basic purpose of any hood is to keep sharp light from hitting your lens and causing flare.\n\nHere's the main points:\n-It's cheap\n-It can be adapted to any size smaller than it via step rings\n-It has 3 positions, one of which is basically storage mode.\n-it's soft and doesn't have any real way of getting broken\n-You can still use lens caps with it.\n-It has ridges inside to reduce internal reflections\n-It has the same size filter threads in front.\n\nSo, it can do what it's built to do, but not without some considerations/faults:\n\nRound hood vs petal hoods:\nFirst, if you've every noticed that many oem hoods are a petal shape, not round. That's because we shoot rectangular images, and to avoid having the hood appear in the edges of the frame, they chop out those sections. This is more of an issue for standard and wide angle lenses, telephoto lenses almost always don't need petal hoods.\nSo does that make this hood useless? not at all, especially considering you have several settings you can use it at. I do find that with my widest lenses, i have to have the hood at the smallest setting, which as i mentioned doesn't really do anything and i consider it storage mode. But that's for very wide, anything regularish wide to normal can make use of the second and third sections.\n\nProtection\nIt does help protect your lens, but it will NOT protect it from a hard hit like a hard plastic hood will.\n\nDesign notes\n-the rubber is attached to the metal ring just by a groove, you can pull the rubber off easily and just as easily get it back on.\n-When using this with a polarizer, be careful not to use the hood to rotate it, OR be sure you're rotating it in the TIGHTENING direction, or you'll pull a stupid like i did and literally spin the hood off the polarizer and into the pacific ocean...\n\nDIY option:\nTo remedy the issue of wide angle lenses, you can do a simple modification: just cut some notches out of the rubber to create a petal effect. the rubber is soft and easily cuttable, just be sure you measure and make a square, remember you're trying to remove the material which shows up in the corners of the image."},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"<div id=\"video-block-R1AEL41NXO99LM\" class=\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\"></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/C1Paku6MybS.mp4\" class=\"video-url\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/11zL7xqwCaS.png\" class=\"video-slate-img-url\"> This is essentially the same as the other rubber hoods that appear identical to each other. Likely they are all from the same factory.\n\nWhether you've lost your oem hood, or just want something universal, these things are pretty useful. The basic purpose of any hood is to keep sharp light from hitting your lens and causing flare.\n\nHere's the main points:\n-It's cheap\n-It can be adapted to any size smaller than it via step rings\n-It has 3 positions, one of which is basically storage mode.\n-it's soft and doesn't have any real way of getting broken\n-You can still use lens caps with it.\n-It has ridges inside to reduce internal reflections\n-It has the same size filter threads in front.\n\nSo, it can do what it's built to do, but not without some considerations/faults:\n\nRound hood vs petal hoods:\nFirst, if you've every noticed that many oem hoods are a petal shape, not round. That's because we shoot rectangular images, and to avoid having the hood appear in the edges of the frame, they chop out those sections. This is more of an issue for standard and wide angle lenses, telephoto lenses almost always don't need petal hoods.\nSo does that make this hood useless? not at all, especially considering you have several settings you can use it at. I do find that with my widest lenses, i have to have the hood at the smallest setting, which as i mentioned doesn't really do anything and i consider it storage mode. But that's for very wide, anything regularish wide to normal can make use of the second and third sections.\n\nProtection\nIt does help protect your lens, but it will NOT protect it from a hard hit like a hard plastic hood will.\n\nDesign notes\n-the rubber is attached to the metal ring just by a groove, you can pull the rubber off easily and just as easily get it back on.\n-When using this with a polarizer, be careful not to use the hood to rotate it, OR be sure you're rotating it in the TIGHTENING direction, or you'll pull a stupid like i did and literally spin the hood off the polarizer and into the pacific ocean...\n\nDIY option:\nTo remedy the issue of wide angle lenses, you can do a simple modification: just cut some notches out of the rubber to create a petal effect. the rubber is soft and easily cuttable, just be sure you measure and make a square, remember you're trying to remove the material which shows up in the corners of the image."},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Product: Portable Recorder\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: First impressions thus far - A solid little recorder for DSLR use or 'bag' use\n\nReview: Let's get the most important thing on the table right now: this thing is $300. I've spotted some negativity over various bits of this mixer/recorder around the net, and just about all that negativity is either unfounded and/or completely oblivious of the value that this thing is for its feature set.\n\nShow me another 4 track, 4 pot(control knobs) phantom powered recorder on the market for anywhere near this price? Sure you can pick up some higher end mixer/recorders used, but the 70d was targeted at a specific crowd: DSLR/single shooters. So let's dive in.\n\nLet's start with a little highlight breakdown:\n\n-$300 is damn cheap for a 4 track recorder\n-Nice size, not too tall, and just wide enough to fit proper controls and screen\n-4 XLR/TRS inputs, line/camera out, camera in\n-Phantom power for all XLRs\n-Sufficient gain settings for inputs and outputs\n-Limiters and lowcut\n-SD card in the rear(can't see where else they could have fit it anyways)\n-Battery/SD door can be annoying, i might just take it out.\n-Wish all the 1/8\" ports were 1/4\", but again, size limitation, so can't really nitpick\n-Battery life is OK, but Zoom's are amazing.\n-A compressor would have been nice\n-MP3 option would have been nice\n-It would have been great if it could make bacon pancakes\n\nOverall there's not much you can complain about for 300 bucks\n\nLayout & Design\n\nIt's like a 60d, but shorter and wider, which is a nice change. It's about as small as i think is possible for a 4 XLR unit. It'll fit quite nicely under a full size DSLR, but looks pretty big under anything smaller such as a mirrorless camera. None of that really bothers me though, because it just comes off as a wider base on your tripod, i haven't had it get in the way at all.\n\n3 of the XLRs are on one side, the 4th being on the opposite side. This may sound odd, but having that 1 XLR on the opposite side can come in very handy depending on your setup and wiring. The rest of the connections are on that side as well, nothing sticks out of the front or back. Speaking of the rear, that's where the two onboard mics are, as well as the 4 AA battery bay and SD card port. If your doing camera mounted work, this is totally OK, if you plan on bag work, it could be annoying, but then again: where else could they have stuffed the batteries? I do think they could have squeezed the SD card port somewhere else, but once again, i'm not going to nitpick at this price.\n\nSpeaking of bag work (what the audio pros do with having all their gear in their audio bag doing production audio) The 70d does have the form factor to work well in a bag despite its relatively tiny footprint. Although it seems targeted at the sole shooter/rungun/under camera type crowd, i do see this as an affordable first mixer/recorder for someone wanting to get into production sound work. It has the essentials, but do some digging and make sure it has everything that you need, as higher end recorders of course come with additional features and tools.\n\nThe front end of the unit has a small but decent screen, a big enough knob to control it, a record button, slate button, some lights, and those ever useful 4 control knobs. Many recorders sacrifice having a knob-per-input because you typically would make such adjustments with a separate mixer. In this case, the target market being those who likely wouldn't want yet another box to haul/mount/plug, they gave it all 4 knobs. From what i'm told, these are digital knobs, not analog, meaning when you turn the knob it's making a digital adjustment and i found when making fast/big changes it can feel a bit disconnected. Meaning, the change in gain/volume comes a bit after your actually turn the knob. I've only really noticed it in extreme testing of ramping the knobs quickly.\n\nSound quality\n\nSubjective for sure, but it's as you can expect from a lower end Tascam, which is to say pretty darn good! It goes up to 24bit, 96khz. There is zero point in doing side by side comparisons with higher end units, because A: this is certainly not higher end, and B: your end viewer isn't getting a side by side to know that the audio could have been better. The rated noise floor is respectable, but not quite as good as higher end models. That said, my subjective ear liked what i heard. One thing that concerned me was an odd amount of noise i had for one of my mics, but it seemed to go away with my general troubleshooting of unplugging/replugging/powercycling. It only occurred with 1 mic, so i cannot blame the 70d outright without further testing.\n\nSo what i boil that down to is that for this price, you're getting as good a quality as you can expect, it's higher end sound than your camera's built in recorder, and if you think you need better than that, you should be hiring a dedicated audio professional.\n\nClicks? Many folks are wondering if this has one of the 60d faults: since it's digital knobs, the 60d suffered from faint but noticeable clicks when adjusting the levels. Thankfully, that appears to be worked out on the 70d, the level adjustments sound smooth. The only instance i heard a click was with the build in mic, the knob turned all the way down aka OFF, and heard a click just as i started upping the level. This did not occur when i tried the same test on a shotgun mic.\n\nBuild quality\n\nIt feels like a mix of metal and plastic, overall feels very good. Both the top and bottom have rubber to ensure good connections, and the camera's bolt goes on/off in a matter of seconds with the large screw head. Knob wise, it feels all plastic, but doesn't feel too cheap. Connection wise, the XLRs all snap in nicely and feel secure.\n\nAs for the other connections... well, they're all 1/8\"(cam/line/headphones/EXT) and micro usb, not great, but for the money it's serviceable. They definitely could have squeezed at least 1 or 2 of those 1/4\", but no use in wishing. I did notice my unit's SD card port on the inside is slightly askew, which doesn't really affect anything, just makes the SD card have a slight resistance going in.\n\nMenu & features\n\nThe menu is pretty simple and straightforward, the only shortcuts to get through are the 1,2,3,4 buttons which can jump you through the input settings, otherwise you just use the main dial to pass through each sequentially. You can turn on/off phantom to any of the XLRs, and the 4 inputs are paired in 2s (1/2, 3/4) And you can have it record stereo files accordingly, or mono files. You can also adjust the left/right pan of each pair: channel 1 & 2 can each be totally left/right, or can be mixed together, or dialed to be somewhat left/right. Effects wise, you get a few useful basics: Low cut, & Limiter. Format wise, you only get standard WAV, and BWF, which is a wav with metadata.\n\nOperation/Reliability\n\nThus far, it's been mostly smooth, i did have it lock up once, a reboot got it back to normal. During recording i haven't had any hiccups. The battery life indicator hasn't been the most consistent, jumping down pretty quick then hovering around low for quite awhile. I'll need to have a few more tries with different sets of rechargeable.\n\nSum it up\n\nIt's $300. Seriously, go try and find something comparable for that price. It's by no means perfect, but it has the essentials in there to give DSLR/rungun/single shooters a relatively painless bump in audio inputs and quality. And if you're someone who wants to get into production sound and don't have a big budget, i'd definitely take this over a higher end unit and spend the remaining budget on quality shotgun/wireless mics. But that's just this one guy's opinion, you should of course check out a few more ;)","Product: The Sennheiser AVX-ME2 Lavalier Set is the perfect digital wireless microphone for film projects. The system fully self configures and is ready to film within seconds. Its ultra compact receiver fits directly into the XLR audio input of your camera or recording device. The body pack transmitter and lavalier microphone is ideal for hands-free interview and documentary situations.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: The design is great, but various cheaper systems make it a hard sell unless you're a heavy user\n\nReview: This is one of those devices that is supposed to make the life of a one man videographer easier, and for the most part it does, but there are some kinks.\n\nI have been using the G2 series for years, and it's time to move on. They've been great for the most part, but the darn antennas are literally disintegrating. I've been trying out two systems to replace them: the rodelink, and this, the AVX. My conclusion is that i just cannot justify more than twice the cost for the AVX. Let's put it into bullet points:\n\n-Really great plug on receiver that swivels to accommodate any camera.\n-Streamlined settings, no deep menus to sift through.\n-Auto checks frequencies and skips around to whichever is best\n-Range seems fine, i rarely go past 20feet anyways\n-Battery life is good, but spare batteries are 50-60 a pop\n-You can also use any usb style charger/power bank to power them\n-The cheaper G3 system is more advanced/has more features and options.\n-Be wary of the receiver output: if set too high, it can sound clipped even if your camera isn't peaking.\n\nClipping?\nThat last one is the biggie, there's only a few output levels you can set on the receiver, and thus far it looks like the lowest/second lowest setting are what it should almost always remain on(depending on your camera of course). If you set it higher and lower the camera's levels so that they don't peak, it can still result in what sounds like clipping. So, i would err on the side of caution and start with the lowest output setting and let your camera do the rest. And of course always double check your line/mic settings.\n\nSound quality\nOnce you've got that prior issue solved, the overall sound is perfectly usable, it doesn't rival any pricier models, but keep in mind what market segment it's pointed at: the one man band. Interviews, run and gun, ENG, etc... As always, if you can afford a sound pro, you hire the sound pro, this is a system to make your life easier if you cannot afford a sound pro. The quality is totally OK.\n\nBatteries\nI'm on the fence about it, but i think i like it. They are proprietary, and cost 50/60bucks each. the transmitter lasts up to 10 hours, the reciever up to 5, but the receiver will also power down whenever you turn off the camera. It's a nicely though out system, but i wish they would offer larger battery options for the receiver, the thing is small enough i can easily see a battery twice the size going on to it without getting int he way. The other nice backup option is the microusb which is used for charging, you can power it off nearly any usb port.\n\nPrice\nThis is the sole reason i'm going to the rodelink system, as much as i love the little plug on unit of the AVX and know it will make my life a bit easier, twice the cost just doesn't make sense as an investment. I can put that $500 to good use elsewhere.\n\nSummed up\nIf you can afford it, i think it's a really neat little system, i personally use wireless mics pretty sporadically and hence don't feel it's worth the extra cost. But if you will be using it day in and day out, the little plug on receiver might make a good difference to you","Product: The wackiest, tackiest re-positioning wax today. Product photography, to precious jewels and fine doll collectors to arts & crafts. Our product assists in dollhouse miniatures, model trains to LED lighting, floral arranging, gift baskets, and more...\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great quality, good hold, easy cleanup\n\nReview: The main qualities you want in a holding wax are:\n\n-holding power with as little wax as possible\n-Not messy/easy to work with\n-Easy to clean up\n\nThe hold on this wax is great, it only takes a very small amount to get the job done, so it's easy to hide the wax under a piece such as a ring standing up on a flat surface.\n\nIt's only as messy as one can expect wax to be, it doesn't run, and if you handle it properly, it won't make a mess at all. If you're sloppy, any wax can get messy. So yes, it's as easy to work with as any other quality wax.\n\nAs for cleanup, it comes off plenty easy but wax is wax and while you can get away with just rubbing/polishing it off the item/surface you just used it on, a basic cleaning solution will get the rest of it.","Product: Bionaire BW2300-N Twin Reversible Airflow Window Fan with Remote Control\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Gave me the breeze i wanted\n\nReview: Go figure, i order this from amazon, and the same day i get it in the mail, i see costco has it for 40 bucks! I checked the part numbers, and they were a tad different. I contacted Bionaire, and found out that the only difference, is that this one on amazon comes with two side extender inserts instead of one for the costco one. well, back to amazon it went and i picked up two at costco.\n\nThis has got to be the most advanced window unit out there. The features:\n\n-Two fans\n-Each fan can go in, out, or one in and one out\n-It has a thermostat, which i find of limited use, but hey, it's there, and you can turn it off\n-It has 3 speed settings, i do wish the lowest was a bit lower, but that's a nitpick\n-It has a remote which can control all the settings... remotely...\n-It appears designed to handle rain getting on it.\n\nThe way it mounts into the window was very well thought out. The window sits in a channel, ensuring it would fall in/out. then on one side there is an extending bellows to fill in the gap, it extends a good amount and locks in place, and if that isn't enough, it comes with one or two plastic extenders to add to that width if you have wide windows.\n\nNoise?\nNot bad at all, especially at low speed which still moves a lot of air. neither of my units has any rattle. i do see that the fan blades have a wobble to them, and creates a barely noticeable buffeting sound, but again, i'm searching for nitpicks\n\nAll in all, it's just what i needed, if i were to make one suggestion, it would be to include a easy to attach cover, so you don't have to take the unit out of the window to close off the breeze.","Product: The Organize It All Wire lid rack is great for holding plates or lids. This lid rack is a sturdy and stylish solution to organizing your pot and pan lids. The rack is coated with vinyl so that there will be no scrapes to your plates or lids\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: I can't believe i've been living without this\n\nReview: After moving into our new place, i was in that mode of looking critically at how we stored things, and i started getting very critical of the old school way of storing dishes...one on top of the other.\n\nAmazon to the rescue, i found this and ordered it. Aweeeeesome! exactly what i wanted.\n\nQuality:\nvery good, not dollar store, but rather a satisfyingly thick frame with a thick coat of that white coat stuff.\n\nDesign:\nPerfect, BUT: we have some deep dish plates, kind of a dinner plate with a deep dip in it so it's kind of a bowl too, and those fit a little more oddly into this, but they still do fit. I like that the holders get larger towards the back, and that they're not overly tall like some other models, so it's easy to grab a plate without having to have human tweezer fingers.\n\nQuirks:\nIf you take too many plates off the front end, the back end could tilt back. If this bothers you, just use some small screws or thumbtacks to secure it down.\n\nNow i don't understand anyone who doesn't have one of these","Product: With Starfrit's new 12.5 \" silicone splatter screen, you can avoid the messy clean up after cooking with oil or frying greasy foods. Simply cover your fry pan with Starfrit's splatter screen . The silicone handle provides a solid grip. Plus the Silicone is heat resistant up to 465F and it won't scratch your cookware.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Finally a splatter guard that i like\n\nReview: Everyone's missing the point: this thing makes for a great musical instrument!\n\nOK but seriously, the silicone is stretched over the wire frame for a nice tight feel, and sometimes i make popcorn in a saucepan and i decided to put this on top instead of the lid so that steam could escape but not the popcorn. Once the corn started popping, the music started. The kernels bouncing off this screen reveal its musical properties.\n\nOK, so that's not the main reason to buy this so...\n\nWhat i liked:\n-Silicone, always love silicone\n-Not a fine mesh horrible to clean and stains easy metal screen\n-Cleans up easy with some soap and soft sponge\n-Looks nice\n-Feels sturdy\n\nWhat's not to like\n-It's a big disk, but hey, that's the nature of the product\n-Might not catch all the splatter since the holes are bigger\n\nSo yea, the holes are bigger and fewer than a fine mesh metal screen, but i'm completely happy with the tradeoff. You should not that since there is still a lot of surface area, you might get a little steaming effect under it, but plenty of steam does get through the holes.\n\nI read some other reviews that mentioned silicone splatter guards smelling after use, but so far after frying bacon and whatnot, no smell is emanating. I'm wondering if those people actually use a sponge and soap to clean it or just rinsed it.\n\nAll in all i'm happy to finally find a splatter screen that looks good and cleans up easy.","Product: Liven any display or fool your guests with these artificial ice cubes. They are made from acrylic to give them their realistic appearance. These would be ideal for photographers, props masters, or even for crafters. A million uses are possible with a little imagination. Would be adorably cute for winter decoration! Each square is approx. 1-1/3\" on each side but just like real ice cubes they are not each perfectly square. Each bag holds approx. 40 ice cubes.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Great for the price, but not perfect\n\nReview: We plan on using these for photography, since real ice is impractical. Overall these fit the bill and will work, but aren't quite perfect.\n\nThe specs:\n-They are for decoration, NOT for real drinks.\n-A little more than an inch big\n-They do NOT float\n-The each have bubbles inside\n-The 2lb bag as around 30 cubes\n\nNitpicks/issues:\n\n-They have a seam on a side or two, from the mold that they were cast in. Not a big deal, just have to face that side away. i'll probably try to sand and buff it out.\n-They are all uniform and that i think is also a downside, it would be good if they had a bit more diversity. It's not like they're all perfectly the same, though even if they are, each side of each one is different, so it suffices to pull off the illusion of diversity.\n\nIn the end, i wish i could have found glass cubes, but they would certainly be more expensive. These will work for what we need them for, and i imagine they would work just fine for regular decorative use as well.","Product: With Starfrit's new 12.5 \" silicone splatter screen, you can avoid the messy clean up after cooking with oil or frying greasy foods. Simply cover your fry pan with Starfrit's splatter screen . The silicone handle provides a solid grip. Plus the Silicone is heat resistant up to 465F and it won't scratch your cookware.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Finally a splatter guard that i like\n\nReview: Everyone's missing the point: this thing makes for a great musical instrument!\n\nOK but seriously, the silicone is stretched over the wire frame for a nice tight feel, and sometimes i make popcorn in a saucepan and i decided to put this on top instead of the lid so that steam could escape but not the popcorn. Once the corn started popping, the music started. The kernels bouncing off this screen reveal its musical properties.\n\nOK, so that's not the main reason to buy this so...\n\nWhat i liked:\n-Silicone, always love silicone\n-Not a fine mesh horrible to clean and stains easy metal screen\n-Cleans up easy with some soap and soft sponge\n-Looks nice\n-Feels sturdy\n\nWhat's not to like\n-It's a big disk, but hey, that's the nature of the product\n-Might not catch all the splatter since the holes are bigger\n\nSo yea, the holes are bigger and fewer than a fine mesh metal screen, but i'm completely happy with the tradeoff. You should not that since there is still a lot of surface area, you might get a little steaming effect under it, but plenty of steam does get through the holes.\n\nI read some other reviews that mentioned silicone splatter guards smelling after use, but so far after frying bacon and whatnot, no smell is emanating. I'm wondering if those people actually use a sponge and soap to clean it or just rinsed it.\n\nAll in all i'm happy to finally find a splatter screen that looks good and cleans up easy.","Product: Liven any display or fool your guests with these artificial ice cubes. They are made from acrylic to give them their realistic appearance. These would be ideal for photographers, props masters, or even for crafters. A million uses are possible with a little imagination. Would be adorably cute for winter decoration! Each square is approx. 1-1/3\" on each side but just like real ice cubes they are not each perfectly square. Each bag holds approx. 40 ice cubes.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Great for the price, but not perfect\n\nReview: We plan on using these for photography, since real ice is impractical. Overall these fit the bill and will work, but aren't quite perfect.\n\nThe specs:\n-They are for decoration, NOT for real drinks.\n-A little more than an inch big\n-They do NOT float\n-The each have bubbles inside\n-The 2lb bag as around 30 cubes\n\nNitpicks/issues:\n\n-They have a seam on a side or two, from the mold that they were cast in. Not a big deal, just have to face that side away. i'll probably try to sand and buff it out.\n-They are all uniform and that i think is also a downside, it would be good if they had a bit more diversity. It's not like they're all perfectly the same, though even if they are, each side of each one is different, so it suffices to pull off the illusion of diversity.\n\nIn the end, i wish i could have found glass cubes, but they would certainly be more expensive. These will work for what we need them for, and i imagine they would work just fine for regular decorative use as well.","Product: Norpro's red knock-down silicone steamer and strainer helps preserve flavor and nutrients by steaming. Also ideal as a strainer. Stay cool non-slip handle and will rest over your pot or bowl with cylindrical shape and hook. Knocks down for easy storing.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: I use this thing too much!!\n\nReview: UPDATE: After 2 years of use, still using it almost every day, still works 100%!\n\nOK, i love this thing. A little too much.\n\nIt's a strainer and a steamer basket, two things i needed. It performs both tasks marvelously!\n\nAs a steamer,\nyou'll need a pot/saucepan thats at least as wide as this is, and there's a little leeway in how much larger it can be. Suffice it to say, you probably have a pot that will match it just fine. We have two pots that work and the lids fit just fine over the steamer.\n\nThe metal that holds this thing together does a good job, and while it can get hot in the handle, it always stays cool enough to handle. Thanks Silicone!\n\nAs a strainer,\nit works just as well. The holes are a good size, definitely bigger than usual strainers, so certain thinner/smaller foods can poke through, but it hasn't been much of an issue with anything we've cooked.\n\nCleaning wise, if you give this thing a quick rise right after you use it, that's all it needs much of the time. For certain foods that stick we'll give it a good scrub and it's peachy.\n\nCollapsing it is brilliant, just push it all the way through itself and then pop it back the other way a bit. i hang it on a hook rack flat against the wall.\n\nI can't see any real way to improve on this product, maybe offer different sizes? I dunno, i love the heck out of it!","Product: The Fred and Friends M-CUPS RED Measuring Matroyshkas Dry Measure Cups are a handy way to keep measuring cups for your recipes. This 6-cup set includes 1/4 cup, 1/3 cup, 1/2 cup, 2/3 cup, 3/4 cup, and 1-cup sizes. The cups are made from high impact polystyrene. Measure dry ingredients for your recipes with this dry measure cup set. These cups nest inside each other for easy and efficient storage. The bottoms and tops of each doll stand are flattened to stand upright.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: My wife is Ukrainian, so i just had to.\n\nReview: Design wise, A+ for creativity, just brilliant.\n\nI don't think you can store more measuring cups in the same space than this does, and to do so whilst appearing like a decoration? A very nice touch indeed.\n\nThese are just basic plastic, so they aren't going to make your usual matroyshkas feel bad. They are thick enough that i don't fear they'll break during regular usable.\n\nThe two main downsides to this design are:\n\n-You have to open up every one of them to get to the smaller cups.\n-No handles means you might get dirty (oh deary me, no!)\n\nSo to be honest neither of those things bothers me much. But i took a star off because yes, other measuring cups don't share such issues. maybe they could have worked in some stubby handles, but it would have ruined the cheekiness of the design. I don't cook every single day, so maybe someone who does more regular measuring and has issues getting their hands dirty(contradiction...) would have more issues with it. Then again, i don't imagine any serious chef using these, i'd imagine them using some high end, atomically stable, micron accurate measuring apparatus.","Product: One of our signature design, designed and inspired by blooming teas, Teapot Amber Juliet 20 oz makes tea drinking an unforgettable experience. Crystal clear high quality glass allows tea lovers to watch each bloom unfolding. This mouth blown glass teapot comes with pink rose on top. Pink handle adds elegant touch to the design. This teapot is designed to be used for blooming tea. it can also be used to steep loose leave teas. The glass teapot Juliet is made of special lead freeglass that can handle temperature shock. It allows you to pour directly boiling water or iced cold water in without breaking it. It's also dishwasher top rack and microwave safe. The special feature NON-DRIPPING makes tea drinking a more enjoyable experience. Its handle has anti slip design, which makes it easy to grab. Gift ready packaging. Tea Beyond won the 2009 World Tea Champion and is a AKA stamp recipient (Ashley Koff Approved).The AKA stamp of approval is a trusted sign that the product, menu, recipe or gadget has been evaluated and approved by Celebrity Registered Dietitian Ashley Koff to be better quality and a healthier choice. Tea Beyond believes Better quality tea for Better Health. All tea Beyond products are made of materials from nature, such as glass, stainless steel, tea, herbs, et. No plastic parts. No GMO. No Artificial flavors or artificial addictive added. Our glass tea-wares are made of 20% recycled glass, better for the environment.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Thoughts from a man: Lovely looking & brews fine tea, see the video review!\n\nReview: <div id=\"video-block-R3U64XLYFFHIZ1\" class=\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\"></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D1tKWW762ES.mp4\" class=\"video-url\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/11htNCs0Z0S.png\" class=\"video-slate-img-url\"> Make no mistake, this pot isn't just about brewing tea, it's about having a display piece. As a man, i typically don't care so much for all glass things because i fear i'll break it. Having a wife on the other hand balances that out, and here we are with a pretty little teapot.\n\nThe star of this show is the blooming tea buds, which i show in the video(note that in the video i used the infuser, but did so only for filming purposes, for blooming tea you just drop the bud into the pot without the infuser!) So let's run through some thoughts:\n\n-Feels overall well made\n-Some chipping around the infuser slits (from when they cut it, nothing has come off during use)\n-Slits circulate water decently enough, but also let some silt through\n-Big enough for 2 cups\n-Handle has big bumps which looks nice and gives some grip\n-Butterfly on top looks nice, is a decent handle, and feels thick/not fragile\n-Looks good in the glass cabinet\n-Quality of the tea beyond tea is very nice\n-Brewing the blooming tea buds is a new experience that is pretty darn pretty!(see the video)\n-All glass means you can visibly see the color/strength of the tea\n\nAbout the slits/circulation\nI get what they were going for: all glass, so having a metal mesh for a infuser would dampen the looks. For what they are, the slits do a good job of circulation, but of course a full mesh would provide more. Keep in mind you do a lot of circulation when you first pour the hot water over the tea leaves, and a dunk or two of the infuser before pouring can finish it off. Form over function obviously applies here.\n\nSo all in all, it gets 5 stars for its looks, and i take a star off for the slits for being chipped and not circulating water as well as mesh/alternatives, as well as being inherently not as durable as say... steel or thick ceramic, but then again this is a teapot for those who want a display piece, not a rough utility. It very well could be more durable than i think it is, but my preference would be to have something that feels a bit beefier. Maybe that's just the caveman in me.\n\nDisclaimer: I was requested to review this item by tea beyond. As always, i only put forward my honest thoughts.","Product: The Milliard Convoluted Memory Foam Mattress Topper is designed for maximum comfort from head to toe, promoting a healthier and more restful sleep. Milliard is dedicated to creating the perfect mattress topper for your comfort and security. Sleep better with less tossing and turning with Milliard Toppers.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Added just the right mount of support & cushy-ness to my stiff mattress\n\nReview: My wife likes no topper at all, and i gave up trying to find something that works for the both of us, so i just decided to find what i like and cut it in half. I wanted something that would sort of fill in the blanks of my body instead of create a whole other mattress on top of my mattress. I looked around for a 1\", but those are for some reason scarce.\n\ni'm 5'9\" 180lbs, they say the bigger you are, the thicker you should get. i used to use a 2\" flat topper which i liked, though sometimes the flat surface felt a bit stiff in the cold months before i warmed it up. I reasoned that a 2\" egg crate topper would give me some of that lovely memory foam sinking feeling, while not taking away all the firmness of my mattress.\n\nWhat i liked:\n-Egg crate style feels more natural than a flat foam,\n-Ventilation holes. Can't tell by the photo, but there ARE holes, i have no idea if they actually do anything, but nice touch.\n-Good density, doesn't feel flimsy like lower density ones, probably a little over 3 pounds.\n-Well made. sounds odd, but there are some pretty shoddy, non-uniform foam toppers out there.\n-Reasonable initial smell. They all smell at the start, this one wasn't bad, and after a day it was barely noticable.\n\nSo how did i make use of this when my wife doesn't like it? We have a queen mattress, so i bought the queen size, and took a sharrp knife and cut it down the middle, but rather than make a 90 degree cut, i cut it on an angle so it's like a little ramp. wasn't the straightest cut in the world but the idea worked and it isn't as awkward as you might think having half the bed with foam and the other half without. We're snugglers and this method hasn't affected our snugglin' time.\n\nUPDATE:\nThe wife asked me to put the other half back in! It's been a few months now since she decided to give it a try and she's never looked back. Good thing i kept the other half!\n\nI can also say that despite being a side sleeper, i haven't experienced back pain from sleeping in quite some time","Product: This beautiful 3-pack of vanilla scented, cream colored flameless LED pillar candles are made from real wax to feel like real candles. The patented, realistic wick design means the candle looks great on or off. It features an authentic flicker and the glow provides a true candlelight experience. It can be used anywhere, anytime by anyone. It also includes a convenient 5-hour timer, which turns the candle on and off at the same time every day. It comes with a remote control. A great feature to turn on and off in hard to reach places. Up to 500 hour battery run time on 2 AA batteries, which are not included.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: It seems ridiculous at first, but brilliant once you set them up.\n\nReview: I'm a fan of real candles, but who wants to buy and light them every night?\n\nThese candles are real wax, which looks good, they smell good too, but that goes away in about a week.\n\nthe flickering is satisfyingly random and lifelike, which is both good and bad, the bad is that they are always flickering as if a light breeze is always present. i'm being picky here, it's not really a bad thing, i just would have given the flicker a bit more 'breezeless' periods. again, nitpicking.\n\nthese are some smart damn candles.\n\nthe timer is really the brilliant part, it sounds ridiculous, but it's brilliant. you can do 5 or 10 hours, we do 5, starting from a little after sundown. the timer repeats the same time every day, so set it and forget it. its clever that you can set the timer from the bottom of each candle, or via the remote which you can point at all the candles or each on their own, and if the signal is received it'll blink to let you know.\n\nYou can also turn them on or off manually or with the remote. they thought of everything....\n\nAnd im very thankful they use regular standard batteries, a pair in each, which last a long time. we're over 2 months now on the first set and i think i see some dimming happening, but still going strong.\n\nIf you like ambiance, and like convenience, get em, they're just great.","Product: Breeze through food preparation tasks with the beautifully designed Chef'n StemGem Strawberry Huller. You can even get the kids involved in kitchen prep with this simple, safe, and effective alternative to hulling or coring with a knife. Simply insert the stainless steel claw, push gently, and twist out the stem of strawberries to leave the sweet flesh intact for filling and more. The strawberry stem remover's bold colors and style make this tool easy to find in the drawer. When your sweet treat is ready, easily clean the strawberry tool in the top rack of the dishwasher.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great multi use device, works great in bed and hostile environments\n\nReview: What can i say about the StemGem Strawberry Stem Remover?\n\nThat it saved our marriage? Yes.\n\nThat it saved the starving children in Ethiopia? Yes\n\nThat if you purchase it, all of your sins and worries will wash away with your next shower? Guaranteed, read it on the label.\n\nLet's go over the amazing multi purpose features of this nobel prize worthy device:\n\nButt plug.\nOh you didn't notice its shape did you? why yes indeed this makes for a superior but plug, that soft grip made for your hands feels delightful up the old brown fruit bowl. but BEWARE! even the slightest press of that button is sure to de-stem your partner's rectum and believe you me, anal bleeding is no childrens ride at the fair. aint cheap too, especially with obamacare.\n\nNegotiating tool.\nWhether it be an angry mob, a ledge jumper, or senile grandparent, this device can fix the situation. Just hold it up in front of the problem human(s), and say BEHOLD!. Immediately their faces will turn from anger and malice, to confusion and wonder. What is it? they will plea. and you will demonstrate the retractable pincers, and their eyes will glow. Then to finally disperse the crowd, simply demonstrate its use as a buttplug, that usually gets me running.\n\nOh yea and i hear it also de-stems strawberries. i haven't tried this yet but i can see that working well too","Product: Coffee grinder for coffee lovers great tasting coffee made by hand wherever you want the AFL Products ceramic burr coffee grinder could be the end to your search for a coffee maker grinder. Sleek stainless steel design and hand crank offering full control of consistency of grind with fully adjustable ceramic conical burr. Can't carry your home electric blade coffee grinder with you? Travel with this portable coffee maker in its waterproof bag tofulfil your coffee needs wherever you may be. Designed to fit into an aero press coffee maker want the best coffee you can? Turkish, Cuban, espresso, Greek or the base for an amazing latte or cappuccino. Whatever you prefer this coffee mill grinder will grind coffee beans for your great tasting fresh coffee. Hate instant coffee at work? Take this manual coffee maker to work. Quickly make fresh coffee with this portable coffee grinder. Introducing the AFL Products I love coffee grinders modern design - sleek, slim, small and stainless steel manual coffee mill that looks great and is compatible with aero press versatile - ready for espresso Turkish coffee and French press coffee and also great as a spice grinder small and compact - portable coffee maker that at 18cm tall and 5 cm wide. Easy to store and travel .\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: A fine grinder that is easy to use, just be sure to wash it thoroughly before use!\n\nReview: <div id=\"video-block-R4GO0YTR89S59\" class=\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\"></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/E1oQm1%2BfoaS.mp4\" class=\"video-url\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81fcr7zQHlS.png\" class=\"video-slate-img-url\"> My wife and i drink coffee maybe a couple times a week, so certainly not heavy users. We also don't go for american size cups ever since visiting europe. To day we have used preground coffee, and more recently a nutribullet to grind some beans. A proper coffee grinder has been on my list for awhile, so when i was offered this one in exchange for an honest review, i indeed accepted it!\n\nAfter about a dozen cups, i can say i'm satisfied with it, we've used it mostly at home, but also taken it with us on some trips. It's easy enough to toss into a bag and go with you. But if you're going backpacking, it might tip your scales a bit too much. Here's the breakdown:\n\n-Feels well made, parts are solid\n-Easy(ish) to grind, especially for fine\n-A quality grind for fine, not as quality for coarse\n-Significant chemical smell on the knob and bag(see more below)\n-A heck of a lot quieter than an electric grinder, great for early mornings where family members are sleeping.\n-About 19cm tall, 10oz in weight when filled with some coffee.\n\nThe smell\nThe first thing i do when i receive a product made in china is to smell it. This is because a lot of factories over there don't properly clean items after being manufactured. I certainly don't want chemicals in my diet, so i sniff them out. This product came in a packaging which i could already smell something on. The actual unit itself smelled OK except for the plastic knob, the bag however... wow, a strong odor was present. I washed everything in warm soap water and thankfully the knob and grinder smell fine. The bag however... still strong and terrible, i will not be using it. I will try soaking it for longer in soap, and will report back if successful\n\nAdjusting the grind\nI'm not an expert on grind quality, but it's easy to see if you're getting something chunky, fine, consistent, etc... With this grinder i found it to produce better results when set to a finer grind. There are no markers or notches, so there's no way to really identify what exactly you're getting until you try it out. For my purposes I've been fine just tightening it down a bit and producer fairly fine grounds.\n\nOverall, aside from the smell issue, it's been a good product. It feels well made and i've been using it fairly regularly with no issue. I also like that it saves me from purchasing another electric appliance that takes up space, this stores away easy and/or takes up little counter space while also looking nice.","Product: For many photographers, the 28mm focal length is the ideal general purpose wide angle lens. Its wide enough for most scenic and landscape assignments and when used indoors for building interiors or groups of people, its wide angle effect is not as extreme as with shorter focal length lenses. A forgiving wide angle lens for newcomers to wide angle photography and highly effective for professionals with its EX construction and fast 1.8 aperture. This high speed performance is excellent for photojournalists doing low-light documentary photography and its use of two aspherical lens elements assures excellent optical performance.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Years worth of sharp, great video\n\nReview: I mostly use this for video, and for that i have been very satisfied. It mainly has been used on my FF 5D2. The only 3 lenses i would bring with me when shooting events were this, the 50mm 1.8, and the 28-135. The zoom got all the daytime use, and then the other two would take care of all the night stuff.\n\nWhat i like about it:\n\n-Feels solid, but isn't overly heavy(it ain't light though)\n-Sharp wide open (my copy at least)\n-Wide on FF, and normal on a crop body, like my C100\n-Fast of course\n-Smooth focus ring(not butter smooth, but smoother than the average modern photo lens)\n-focus ring has stops at macro and infinity\n-well controlled distortion\n-77mm threads, which match most of my other lenses\n\nNitpicks:\n-no full time manual, and there's a switch and a clutch to pull to switch manual/auto focus\n-for photos, my autofocus was off. most modern SLRs have a microadjustment which fixes it.(like the 5D)\n\nFOV on FF vs cropped.\nThis was my wide angle go-to lens for the 5D, it has MUCH less distortion(if any at all) than the 28-135 at the wide end, but that's a given. Now i'm shooting more with the C100, and this just still gets use, it just became my fast normal lens instead of being wide.\n\nEspecially for events where you many times will like to have a closeup shot that also has lots of what's going on in the background, and the ability have that background just a bit blurred out so your closeup person pops out\n\nMacro\nisn't it's main thing, but it is quite fun to focus on things when they're an inch away from the lens, gives an interesting perspective that's occasionally useful/entertaining.","Product: The Lee Quick Location Pack - 24 Sheets (10 x 12\") contains a variety of color corrections, effect, and light shaping tools to control common lighting conditions. Each pack contains a select assortment of 10 x 12\" precut sheets of lighting filter. Please see includes section for filters that are in this kit\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: A very good assortment of gels to get you going - Avoid cheaper alternatives\n\nReview: A solid set to have. These work great on many Fresnel and open face lights. They may also work with panel type lights such as larger LED and tube fixtures like kinos. Measure first!\n\nQuality\nYes these are quality, heat resistant, color accurate gels. Be wary of cheap gells which can melt easy, catch fire, or just simply look bad. This is a good investment to make.\n\nSize\nI wish they were 2 inches longer, but not a dealbreaker. since you get more than 1 of each color, i taped two side by side to cover a 2 foot CFL fixture. No problem.\n\nVariety\nThis pack probably isn't targeted at the big pros, who will typically by rolls of each gel. That aside, it comes with a very good assortment of commonly used gels, you can always add to it.\n\nThe case\nCheap, barely suitable, but head to any dollar store and you can probably nab something that will work just fine. You can also DIY the case by slicing the sides off, and adding a strap/bungee/etc... so that you can open the whole thing flat open, and then secure it closed again. No i haven't done that, but it's a thought for those of your DIY'ers out there.","Product: The Lee Quick Location Pack - 24 Sheets (10 x 12\") contains a variety of color corrections, effect, and light shaping tools to control common lighting conditions. Each pack contains a select assortment of 10 x 12\" precut sheets of lighting filter. Please see includes section for filters that are in this kit\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: A very good assortment of gels to get you going - Avoid cheaper alternatives\n\nReview: A solid set to have. These work great on many Fresnel and open face lights. They may also work with panel type lights such as larger LED and tube fixtures like kinos. Measure first!\n\nQuality\nYes these are quality, heat resistant, color accurate gels. Be wary of cheap gells which can melt easy, catch fire, or just simply look bad. This is a good investment to make.\n\nSize\nI wish they were 2 inches longer, but not a dealbreaker. since you get more than 1 of each color, i taped two side by side to cover a 2 foot CFL fixture. No problem.\n\nVariety\nThis pack probably isn't targeted at the big pros, who will typically by rolls of each gel. That aside, it comes with a very good assortment of commonly used gels, you can always add to it.\n\nThe case\nCheap, barely suitable, but head to any dollar store and you can probably nab something that will work just fine. You can also DIY the case by slicing the sides off, and adding a strap/bungee/etc... so that you can open the whole thing flat open, and then secure it closed again. No i haven't done that, but it's a thought for those of your DIY'ers out there.","Product: The standard of our light stands, this 6 foot stand is the one youll find in the most of our lighting kits. Strong enough to hold most equipment yet compact enough for travel; this stand is a Cowboy Studio must have. Made from strong aluminum alloy, it can be used with continuous light, strobe flash lights, and backgrounds.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Unless i really need my bigger stands, i prefer these every time\n\nReview: UPDATE: A knob from one of them has broken off. So one star comes off! Other than that i still like them very much, i actually chopped off about 2 inches from one of them so it fits in my carryon luggage!\n\nI have numerous stands, they all have a purpose, and these serve the purpose of being the least obtrusive and portable. I find myself preferring these when i reach for a stand.\n\nWhat i like:\n\n-Stores into 21\", which if inserted diagonally, will fit into carryon size luggage\n-Goes just high enough to get a high over the shoulder of a sit down interview\n-Sturdy enough for small to even some medium size/weight lights. max load of 3.5lb i'll believe.\n-Almost all metal\n-Close to half the price of the equivalent manfrotto.\n\nWhat's nitpickable:\n\n-Taller would be nice, if they added another section and thickened everything up\n-Knobs not metal, and do require snug tightening to ensure it's locked\n-If it were just 1.5inches shorter, it would fit strait into carryon size luggage, no diagonal needed.\n\nLight stands aren't a complicated thing, so that pretty much sums this one up. The manfrotto will get you a bit better quality if you don't mind the extra $25ish, i somehow got two of these for $30something total, i think it was a price mistake.\n\nBut anyways, if you're shooting with small lights like LEDs, or totas/DPs/etc.. these are great to have around, be sure to have some taller stands too, but for shorter needs, these are great. Just don't expect to use any sort of gobo/extension arm on them. The top tube isn't thick enough. Though i did manage to get a flag/reflector holder arm to attach to one of the lower sections. I might have used some gaff tape on that one... don't recall. Lastly, you can add some extra height to these, as there are some light stand height extenders out there, but i'd be sure to only use those for small lights.","Product: Product Specifications: o Number of keys: 46 keys & 3 mouse keys o Remote: 199 x 54 x 34 mm o Weight: Around 95g o Compatibility OS: Windows XP with MCE, Vista Premium and Vista Ultimate o Computer: One USB Port o Transmission Distance: 10 meter\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Finally found the solution to making HTPC simpler\n\nReview: I'm using this with windows media center for netflix, which by the way was a pain in the A** to get working because the netflix plugin is no longer supported or some stupidity like that. But anyways, that has nothing to do with the remote, which works great!\n\nAnd i only just recently figured out that it has a built in mouse, which is that flat large grey thing in the middle, works quite well along with a right and left click button. Most of the time though i'm using the directional buttons just above it, which navigate just fine in WMC. I briefly tried XMBC and it also worked a treat, but i couldn't get netflix working in there, so i haven't used it much\n\nAs for the quality, it's like any average universal remote, it doesn't exude quality, but it doesn't feel like it's going to fall apart. If i were to nitpick, i'd ask that the IR adapter be separate from the cable, and have a regular usb connector on it so you can attach any length usb cable you like. It's a really small nitpick, i just picked up a usb extension cable and that got the length i needed.","Product: Lens hoods extend and shade the end of lens preventing unwanted light straying into the lens. Since the end of the lens is extended, you get the benefit of some extra protection from accidental impact. Each dedicated lens hood was specifically created to match the specific focal length of the lens it was designed for. Photographers can easily attach the lens hood on the dedicated bayonet mount, and after usage mount the lens hood on the lens in reverse for a compact storage solution.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: It aint perfect, and that's kind of the point\n\nReview: Whether you've lost your oem hood, or just want something universal, these things are pretty useful. The basic purpose of any hood is to keep sharp light from hitting your lens and causing flare.\n\nHere's the main points:\n-It's cheap\n-It can be adapted to any size smaller than it via step rings\n-It has 3 positions, one of which is basically storage mode.\n-it's soft and doesn't have any real way of getting broken\n-You can still use lens caps with it.\n-It has ridges inside to reduce internal reflections\n-It has the same size filter threads in front.\n\nSo, it can do what it's built to do, but not without some considerations/faults:\n\nRound hood vs petal hoods:\nFirst, if you've every noticed that many oem hoods are a petal shape, not round. That's because we shoot rectangular images, and to avoid having the hood appear in the edges of the frame, they chop out those sections. This is more of an issue for standard and wide angle lenses, telephoto lenses almost always don't need petal hoods.\nSo does that make this hood useless? not at all, especially considering you have several settings you can use it at. I do find that with my widest lenses, i have to have the hood at the smallest setting, which as i mentioned doesn't really do anything and i consider it storage mode. But that's for very wide, anything regularish wide to normal can make use of the second and third sections.\n\nProtection\nIt does help protect your lens, but it will NOT protect it from a hard hit like a hard plastic hood will.\n\nDesign notes\n-the rubber is attached to the metal ring just by a groove, you can pull the rubber off easily and just as easily get it back on.\n-When using this with a polarizer, be careful not to use the hood to rotate it, OR be sure you're rotating it in the TIGHTENING direction, or you'll pull a stupid like i did and literally spin the hood off the polarizer and into the pacific ocean...\n\nDIY option:\nTo remedy the issue of wide angle lenses, you can do a simple modification: just cut some notches out of the rubber to create a petal effect. the rubber is soft and easily cuttable, just be sure you measure and make a square, remember you're trying to remove the material which shows up in the corners of the image.","Product: Macro bellows are a great accessory for close-up, macro, micro, stereographic, slide/negative copying, and panoramic photography. The precise rack and pinion gear allows every minute before and after movement of your camera set-up for very accurate focusing. The bellows has a locking screw to ensure it does not slip when pointed up or down. The bellows can accommodate heavy cameras and lenses. Any camera with the appropriate adapter can be used with the bellows. The bellows can be mounted on a copy stand, tripod, light stand or any accessorythat accepts a \" tripod screw. It can be used outdoors for great nature close-up photography, due to its compact size and light weight.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Clunkier than macro tubes, but yes it gets the job done\n\nReview: If you're getting into macro, a bellows or tubes are the cheap way to go. A proper macro lens is the best route, but you can get plenty great results going this route instead.\n\nThe basics: moving the lens farther away shortens the close focus distance.\n\nSo why would you buy a bellows over a tube? Simple: you can adjust a bellows.\n\nThe downside to a bellows is that it's not as solid as a macro tube. This one in particular while mostly metal, feels a bit clunky. After using it, i much prefer a tube.\n\nThat being said, this item can get the job done, and if you're just starting out, the ability to dial in the distance you need is handy. Another significant consideration is that this does not have electrical contacts, so if your lens does not have a manual aperture ring, you'll have no control over aperture.\n\nWould i buy it again? Na, a set of macro tubes is just as cheap, feels more solid, and can include electrical contacts to maintain aperture control","Product: Craig Electronics' 13-Inch High Definition LCD Television features 720p LCD display and ATSC/NTSC system digital tuner on a wide screen flat panel. 2 built-in speakers and a response time of 5ms, as well as auto tune and audio mute make this a great TV choice for your home!\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: If you accept that it's a budget screen in a rare size, you'll likely find it great.\n\nReview: I actually bought this to use as a video production monitor, so the director can have an eye on what i'm shooting.\n\nThe main reason one would buy this screen is its size. Nowadays people are always trying to go bigger, but some situations just need small. Small is a decreasing market and it's hard to find tvs in this size that have good resolution. Many tvs in this size have a pathetic 800x600ish resolution which looks quite bad.\n\nThe main reason i got this was the resolution, it's first tier HD level, so 720p range. That means it's small size actually has smaller pixels than many larger screens.\n\nThe resolution is indeed great, images are sharp.\n\nThe build quality is not top notch, it's plenty mediocre, thin plastic, if you're looking for the latest in style, this isn't it.\n\nThe contrast leaves something to be desired, you can make a satisfying number of adjustments to the image, and i am pleased with it, but i've seen too many better tvs out there, and have to note that the contrast on this one while good, is far from great.\n\nThe inputs on this is very impressive, it's got nearly every modern connection out there, so whatever you have, it can likely connect to it.\n\nA big thing missing is a VESA mount, meaning you can't wall mount it. though it's so small, you could just put it on a shelf.\n\nBasically if you need something small that has a good image, this is a plenty good option, just don't expect the same level of anything that you get with a major brand","Product: LCD optical viewfinder is designed for LCD screen viewing of digital camera. It is especially suitable for DSLR High-Definition Video Photography, on-site shooting and viewing the photo etc. It has two framing model: magnification and stand. It is very convenient and practical for the users to switch between them. Characteristics: 1. Two Framing modes: Magnification and stand, can take pictures quickly. 2. Make use of the connection between the LCD screen protector and the viewfinder, it is easy to install and remove. Also ensure the safety of LCD. 3. Support 3\" LCD with ratio 4:3, compatible for LCD with ratio 3:2. 4. 3X optical magnification, can observe the details well. 5. Whole sealing structure, it can hold back the light completely while magnification framing or stand framing, you can see the real color of the image. Suitable LCD: 1. 3\" 4:3 compatible for 3:2, 2. Nikon D700/ D300S/ D300/ D90/ D7000/ D3100/ D3000 3. CANON 7D/ 1D MARK IV/ 5D MARK II/ T2i/ T1i/ S90 4. Panasonic DMC-GF1 5. Pentax K-7 What's in the box: 1. 1X viewfinder with an eye cup and magnifying lens 2. 1X screen protector 3. 1X strap\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Plastic? Yes. But it's still reasonably solid and VERY useful at a fraction of other brands\n\nReview: Overall a great find, if the construction holds up it's a winner.\n\nThe flip up design is what really sold me on this vs competitors, i don't really need a diopter but still it's nice to have. and the optics look quite good along with edge to edge view-ability of the LCD. You will get fogging but as you can see i poked a hole at the bottom to help with air circulation. I will likely just buy some anti fog spray to seal the issue.\n\nThe build quality\n\nYes, it's all plastic except for the optics, though it doesn't feel cheap. The plastic is just thin enough to have some flexibility, and just thick enough to feel sturdy. The hinge will certainly be the weak point, it has some play to it,and im sure i could rip it out if i wanted to. I don't consider this much of an issue though, because i treat my equipment well. If you're the type of person to throw your things around, then buy something all metal and suck up the extra cost. Even if the hinge were to break on this one, you could still just glue it in place and have a perfectly usable non-flip up viewfinder.\n\nThe clip-on\n\nThe way an LCD viewfinder attaches is where all the manufacturers try to be clever. This unit, does not try to be clever, and i like that about it. It's a basic sticky frame that attaches to the camera, and the viewfinder just snaps into place. No magnets. The snap in feels solid, and the stickyframe feels satisfyingly stuck to the camera. You have a little release lever/button to get it off the camera which works just fine. It's simple, it doesn't get in the way, it just works. I hate other viewfinders which add mounting brackets and whatnot, i don't like extra bulk, and that's where this one excels.\n\nThe details\n\nThe soft rubber eyepiece is nice, but just barely. Other rubbers are larger and more form fitting, this one is not, but is just enough to be comfortable and block the light. You can rotate it around for left or right use, or take it off altogether. The optics are nice and clear, but no anti-fog, so grab a bottle of defog spray. You also get a diopter, a very important feature for many, and while it's a bit clunky in operation, it gets the job done. You also get a neck stracp attachment so you can keep the unit handy but unattached.\n\nConclusion\n\nThere are the cheap crappy viewfinders, the expensive viewfinders, and the in betweeners who get the job done. This one is actually cheap and gets the job done. You can spend hundreds of dollars on higher end units, and some of them are totally worth it. But if you're trying to save some cash, a unit like this will absolutely work.","Product: There are many precious data and photo memories to savor in our lifetime. The hard drive is still the safest way to store long term sensitive data. MUKii-ZIPO HDD proctor series provides you with the best solutions for all your sensitive data storage with\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Pretty much just what i needed, simple but effective bare drive storage\n\nReview: Buying external drives doesn't make sense to me anymore, so i have docks and bare drives.\n\nWhy not just store the bare drives as is?\nBare drives weren't mean to be stored on the shelf, especially for long periods. They are prone to moisture, dust, bugs, spills, falling, etc... So the obvious need is a shell for them to live in.\n\nDesign:\n-It's all one piece of plastic, the hinge being just a thing flexible plastic. That's definitely the weakest link, but i don't get the impression it will break. Inside it's just bare plastic, and inside the top of the lid is a bit of foam. I don't think that foam is there as a shock absorber, as much as it's there just to ensure the drive is held snugly in place. Keep in mind it's not expected that you're going to start throwing this thing around, you should still treat your drives with care.\n-Then on the outside you have labels facing in several directions, so you can easily mark what's inside.\n-And then there's a feature which i'm on the wall about. Each case can stack horizontally onto one another, because they put on the front of every case a lifted groove, and on the back, a recessed groove. So they kind of lock into each other. Not a bad idea if you want to store these like that. But i prefer to store them on the side, lid top facing out, and in that case, this groove makes it annoying to try and just pull one drive out. It isn't a huge annoyance, and just leaving some space between them or even a piece of paper between them solves it, but a consideration nonetheless.\n\nQuality:\nFeels like the good kind of plastic, not one that's going to crack for no reason. And a good thickness of it as well, i'm reassured that should an accident happen, this will protect my drive. Keeping realistic of course, if the drive drops out of a 3rd story building, i'm expecting tragedy. This isn't going to replace a pelican hard case with full inside foam.\n\nOne last thing to note is that there isn't a seal around the opening, so this isn't water tight. There is however a lip, so it's very unlikely a splash of water is going to get inside. Again, these cases aren't for those wishing to abuse their drives, if you want to play waterpolo with your drives, get a pelican.","Product: SDNPF770 Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Battery - Ultra High Capacity (7.4V 4600 mAh) Replacement for Sony NP-F770 Battery.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great OEM alternative, good capacity and performance\n\nReview: I also have some lenmar versions of the f770, and while i like those, they don't have fully encircled contacts like this one and the oem does. This is my favorite size F battery, it's twice the capacity of the smaller 950, but not nearly as ungainly as the f970\n\n-Looks about the same as OEM\n-Much cheaper than OEM\n-Works in OEM charger\n-Weighs about the same\n-Seems to have comparable performace\n-Has thus far acted and been reliable in charging and use\n-3 year warranty shows commitment\n\nOnly possible quirk is you may have differing time remaining/battery indicator bars depending on what camera/accessory you're using. It should give you some sort of reading, but in my experience i've yet to have a non-oem battery give readings exactly like oem. Either way you get an idea of how much juice is left, and that's fine considering the cost savings","Product: As the first chassis in the Precision series designed for Micro ATX motherboards, the PS07 has a great balance between size and functionality. It utilizes SilverStone's vaulted positive pressure design with easily removable filters on both the fans and the power supply to prevent dust buildup. Two front mounted 120mm fans can provide capable cooling for a complete build fully loaded with drives and components. To keep the noise profile low, an independent compartment with isolated intake vent for the power supply was implemented to keep PSU operating at optimal temperature. User-friendly touches such as removable motherboard tray and top lid make installation in such small chassis a breeze. But an all new backside cable routing design further increases PS07's ergonomics with room for long power supply cables; thus eliminates the need for short cable kits such as SilverStone's PP05 and allow users to use any power supplies they wish. For those interested in storage flexibility, PS07's ability to accommodate one 2.5\" and six 3.5\" hard drives are greatly appreciated as well. Using an elegant front panel combined with aluminum accent makes PS07 at home in any environment with a clean, hidden side intake helping to minimize and direct noise away from users. If there is a need for a relatively small, understated, quiet, and advanced PC, the PS07 is a perfect choice.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: I wanted a smaller case that didn't compromise, and i got it.\n\nReview: I have been living with a 'medium' tower for years, and my perception of it was never 'medium'. So i was on the lookout for a smaller case for awhile, the trouble is, you need to be certain your motherboard will fit, as the name of the item states, it's NOT a full ATX tower, and will only fit micro and mini boards. Thankfully my current mobo fits the bill.\n\nI did look at the other competitors, including some of the other Silverstone models, but this one just seem to have an edge on design, it ticked the most boxes for me.\n\nSome points that i liked:\n-2 front 3.5\" bays, which i use for a hard drive hot swap, and a card reader. i keep my dvd drive external since i never use it.\n-2 usb3 ports in front\n-large quiet fans that suck from the sides\n-smallest footprint of any case while not compromising flexibility\n-Fits large heatsinks such as the hyper 212+\n-Quality that is good, not exceptional, but plenty good, i don't care if the front panel isn't pretty aluminum.\n\nSize:\nIt's no mac mini, but then again we're talking about no compromise. This thing hacks off a good chunk of what bothered me about the medium tower. Mainly, i realized i don't use hard drive space, SSDs take up far less room, and i prefer to have external docks/hard drives instead of having them internal, so i didn't need the dozen trays of the larger tower. this one has just the right amount, and i'm not even using them, since they also made a clever little slot just for an SSD, which is out of the way and takes up basically no room at all. If you look at it, you realize it's about as small as you can physically make a tower that doesn't need proprietary parts.\n\nDesign\nThis case is probably not for someone who makes frequent trips inside their computer, it's not difficult at all to build your system, but if you don't have patience or attention to detail, i can see it being less than a pleasant experience. In particular, the cable routing is something that cannot just be shoved around, they include plenty of ways to route your cables intelligently, and if you don't read up on those methods and just push cables wherever you please, you'll likely run into issues. They also built in options for you, such as the top rear vent which you can choose to use or not depending on how you mount your PSU, and the other rear fan space they included in case you want to add a bit more flow. And the hard drive caddy is removable, in case you need to fit some larger PCIE components.\n\nFans and noise\nI love the airflow. the two fans in the front such air not from the front, but from either side, brilliant! There's also an easy to remove dust guard. The noise is very quiet, it's not dead silent, but i've never once been bothered by the low hum. I would prefer if it moved a bit more air, but then again, i've yet to have any heat alarm go off. I do not overclock, nor do i game, but i do heavily edit HD video. Vibrations are minimal, but that's probably because i don't have any spinning disks in it. They also included some nice soft rubbery feet, to ensure any vibrations from your aging raptor drives don't transfer and resonate into your floor.\n\nSpace inside\nit can hold a few hard drives, and amazingly, it can accomodate a full 12\" video card, something many smaller cases cannot. And even better, since they made the case just a tad bit wider, it can fit a large heatsink, like my coolermaster hyper 212+, and still a wee bit of room to spare. They also put in a little support bar for such large heatsinks, i don't know if that thing actually does anything, but hey it's a bonus and perhaps reassuring. It seems they really thought out how to squeeze everything in there when designing this.\n\nBuilding it\nLike i mentioned, read the manual, get familiar, take your time. I'm an experienced builder and yes i know the feeling of hey, i can build anything in 5 min, i don't need a manual, blah blah... You'll save yourself plenty of headache if you ditch that ego, just read through the manual to see the tidbits of how this case was designed.\n\nConsensus\nI got just what i wanted. If you're looking for a small case that is built and designed well, and let's you use most of what you're used to using in a build, then i definitely recommend this one.","Product: Connect a Lightning plug to a USB port with the Macally Lightning-to-USB Cable. This high-speed cable is perfect for all iPhone, iPod and iPad devices equipped with a Lightning socket.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: It works, it's certified, feels nice, and a built in velcro tie to boot!\n\nReview: I was provided this neat little cable for review, promising only my brutally honest thoughts.\n\nFirst impression of the cable is very nice, love the built in velcro tie, and overall feels well made. So here's the breakdown:\n\n-6 feet is a great length, twice the usual stock cable\n-Thickness is good, a little bit stiff, but easily pliable.\n-Ends are plastic/rubber, but feel solid\n-Connectors look/feel like good metal.\n-It's MFI/Apple certified, so you know it's held to at least some higher standard\n-Built in velcro tie is a great idea, the only time it's a little awkward is when plugging into a laptop and it just dangles around.\n-And above all, it just works! tried on 2 different phones and no quirks/issues to speak of.\n\nCables are a pretty straitforward thing, do they work and will they last are the two main questions. In this case it does work, and given the apparent build quality and MFI/Apple certification, it looks likely that it will last a good amount of time. Unless of course you abuse it.","Product: 1.0 Introduction This is a kind of upgrade HDMI Repeater. It extends the length of HDMI cable up to 35M by regenerating the HDMI signal before it sends the outputs to the HDMI monitor or projector. Meanwhile, according to the length of HDMI cable the special designed EQ can be adjusted to reach the best transmission function. This HDMI Repeater adopts the iron shell for better EMI elimination and it will clean out the digital noise (sparkles) in your picture. With the unique designed structure, this repeater can be fixed up with the donated nogs in L shape. This repeater compatible well for HD-DVD,SKY-STB, PS3, Xbox36etc. It offers solutions for residential consumers: HDTV retail and show site, HDTV, STUB, DVD and Projector factories, noise, space and security concerns, data center control, information distribution, conference room presentation, school and corporate training environments. 2.0 SPECIFICATIONS Input Video Signal :HDMI Signal HDMI Input/Output Connector:Type A 19 pin Output Video: HDMI 1.3b Vertical Frequency Range: 50/60Hz Video Amplifier Bandwidth: 2.25Gbps/225MHz Interlaced Resolutions(50&60Hz):480i,576i,1080i Progressive Resolutions(50&60Hz): 480p,576p,720p,1080p Size(L-W-H): 50X40X26 mm Weight (Net): 78g Operating Temperature:0 to +70 Operating Humidity:10% to 85 % RH (no condensation) Storage Temperature:-10 to +80 Storage Humidity: 5% to 90 % RH (no condensation) External Power Supply:HDMI Cable Power Consumption:3W Converter Unit: FCC,CE 3.0 Package Contents 1) Main unit. x1 2) Two L shape nogs x1 3) One nut x1 4) Users Manual. (English Version )x1\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Tried this and cat6, both worked totally fine for 100'+ runs\n\nReview: I picked up one of these along with a cat6 hdmi system for a couple of long runs for an event. We ran a line in this configuration: Splitter>50'hdmi>Portta repeater>75' Blue rigger hdmi with inline repeater>TV. Signal worked totally as normal.\n\nAt first i tried just using a coupler between the 50' and 75' cables, and as expected, no signal. Then added in the Portta repeater (without 5v power supply) and the signal came through. I had it set to #1. I did test #0 at home with some other cables, and the signal was somewhat in/out, and setting to #1 got things solid.\n\nVs Cat6\nBoth systems i tried worked with no issues. If you just need 100', i think 2x 50' hdmi cables along with this Portta repeater would be a fine solution unless it's an in-wall run. If you need longer, or it's in-wall use, i would definitely go for cat6 because it can do nearly 200' in a single run, and the converter boxes are at the end of the run instead of in the middle, so they're accessible/powered right where you can get at them if you need to.","Product: The Blackmagic Design Production Camera 4K is a complete self contained solution for shooting extremely high resolution Ultra HD 4K content! You get a large Super 35 size sensor with professional global shutter combined with precision EF mount optics, visually lossless compressed CinemaDNG RAW and Apple ProRes 422 (HQ) file recording and 12 stops of dynamic range, as well as a 6G-SDI output! Monitor in high resolution on the built in touchscreen, plus change menus and enter metadata. Includes sun shield, power supply, carry strap, UltraScope waveform monitoring software and a full version of DaVinci Resolve software for Mac OS X and Windows. Shoot Ultra HD TV or 4K feature films with the new Blackmagic Design Production Camera 4K. You get a large Super 35 size sensor with professional global shutter combined with precision EF mount optics, high quality visually lossless compressed CinemaDNG RAW and Apple ProRes 422 (HQ) file recording for a complete self contained solution. The built in touchscreen lets you monitor, change settings and enter metadata directly on the camera! The latest high end televisions and video projectors support Ultra HD which is four times the resolution of 1080 HD. The Blackmagic Design Production Camera 4K creates visually lossless compressed CinemaDNG RAW and ProRes 422 (HQ) files that are perfect for editing and grading with the software tools you already own. Now you can shoot the most amazing high resolution music videos, episodi\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: If you can deal with the quirks, It's a FANTASTIC image for the dollar\n\nReview: It's early in the game for the Blackmagic design 4K camera, the long overdue camera has ever increasing competition such as the GH4 and the Sony cameras which seem to pop out of every nook and cranny. Despite that, the Blackmagic 4K camera still has what no one else does, namely: Global shutter, prores, RAW(eventually), SSDs, price.\n\nThis review will get longer and more detailed as i log more hours with the camera.\n\nPreface for expectations\n\nIf there is one thing i would insist people know before even thinking about this camera: It's that Blackmagic Design, is NOT a camera company. If you can process and understand that, and curb your typical camera expectations, then you'll see this camera for what it is. What i've come to calling it, is the most beautiful pain in the ass you can buy. Why is that? Again, because blackmagic is not a camera company. See, camera companies have had years and boatloads of money to research, design, optimize, etc... in all the areas of making a camera. What shape should it be, how will it be held, how is it powered, etc...Blackmagic doesn't have this, what they do have, is an expertise in hardware and software for just about everything but cameras. This is their strong point, because the sensor was the only thing that they needed to have brought in (supposedly). Everything else they could do in house. But simply looking at their average product, you see mostly boxes, very simple designs because those types of products don't typically need anything fancier. But with cameras, things are totally different, because humans will be handling them in many different ways. It's completely understandable that they chose to keep it simple and just make a box, again, because it's not within their repertoire and they had to keep costs down somewhere.\n\nThis is why we have to keep in mind what we're looking at, because it's unconventional in a number of ways. If you're used to consumer/prosumer end stuff, this will be very different for you in many ways. If you're used to higher end items such as RED which require bits and pieces, then this will still be a bit different, but not entirely unfamiliar. This camera has a good number of negative sides, but the fact remains that it puts out an image that far exceeds its price tag, and that's what were here for. So let's dive in and see how we can work with it.\n\nOverview of the goods:\n\n-4K - OK you can nitpick that 3840 isn't 4000, regardless, it's very sharp and very detailed\n-s35/Aps-C sized sensor - solves the issue of odd crop factor over the original BMC\n-Global Shutter - unheard of! most of even the big boys don't have this yet. No more skew/jello\n-Prores & RAW(not yet) - You get every little 'bit' of goodness\n-VERY well controlled Moire & Aliasing!\n-Takes SSDs - makes perfect sense over sd/cf cards, just be sure to buy an approved one\n-Dead simple interface - a monkey can do it!\n-Quick startup and powerdown\n-The focus peaking is excellent, one of the best i've tried.\n-$2995. Again, $2995. No seriously, you need to let that sink in before you nitpick.\n-Takes 11-30volts - More of a consolation prize for the lack of a battery system, but it can take a wide range of 3rd party systems.\nAnd the not so goods:\n\n-ISO - Maxes at 800, but it's better at 400. underexposing is actually quite good...\n-Quality control still an issue, people have varying luck\n-Highlight issues - Supposedly fixed in prior cameras, so whats the deal?\n-Lacks basic camera operations - No time remaining indicator, no shot delete, no audio meters, etc...\n-30fps max - if you like slow motion, look elsewhere\n-The monitor isn't bad, but it isn't very good - It's reflective, and not very high resolution\n-EOS-M mount would have been perfect...\n-Internal battery life is short, but stretchable if you really need it. External batteries are widely available but not very small or easily attached.\n\nQuality control/problems\n I wanted to lead with this because it's the first thing that is a serious concern. At the moment i have mostly praise for the image out of this camera, but in keeping an eye out on the net, i've seen more than just a few people having problems with their cameras, both the older models and this new one. Black magic's cameras have great specs, but the varying issues are far higher in number than the big manufacturers. If you are wary of such things, you should probably steer clear. It's something i may even return mine over, i'm still on the fence in testing. Black sunspot is one issue that's widespread, It's odd, but since i don't really shoot the sun or very sharp bright light sources very much, i'm not overly horrified. Still, not a pretty issue. I've checked my other shots of things like headlights and whatnot to see if the issue exists there, but seems only the sun triggers it, or perhaps anything very strong and overexposed. The more pressing issue is odd noise patterns. Some users are reporting vertical bands. In one case they noted that the bands were there one hour, nearly gone the next. My camera does exhibit this \"Fixed Pattern Noise\", but not nearly as strongly as some others have reported. More on this later.\n\nResolution\n\nI've been one of the voices on the net de-promoting 4k for quite some time. I still maintain it's not as life altering as some people make it out to be. I still challenge anyone to show me an award for \"best resolution\", or in some way prove that by shooting 4k, their story, acting, writing, set design, etc... were improved. Nonetheless, i see 2014 as the year 4k becomes more usable for the masses, and can now consider it a possible extra tool. This was one of the reasons i was excited about this camera and preordered it day 1. Some users are claiming it's sharper than RED, i can't confirm or deny this, and i don't have a 4k test chart to shoot, but i can say that the image is damn sharp. I've shot a number of landscapes of the city and all those little windows in the distance were detailed. Good start.\n\nMoire/Aliasing\n\nThe BMC 4k despite lacking an Optical Low Pass filter(confirmation?), handles fine details really well. The realworld(ish) test video shows no significant signs of either. That doesn't mean it's immune to it, just that it'll likely take extremely fine details and/or particular situations to show noticeable signs of Moire or Aliasing. Remember that that video has it compared to 1080 cameras, and the extra resolution helps it to define that smaller detail. Also note that the video is rendered to 1080, and therefore the 4k footage has gone through scaling. The original file does show some artifacting on the finest of details such as on the owl's mesh hat, but that thing is any camera's nightmare, and you can see how the 5d2 is just terrible, and even the C100 isn't immune to it. In fact, the more i look at it, the more i'd give the edge to the BMC4k over the C100 in the Moire/Aliasing department. It's damn good.\n\nRolling shutter\n\nThere is none! Some people seem confused by this and are asking to see a rolling shutter test... It's a global shutter and hence cannot and will not give you any skew/jello/etc... no testing needed. It's funny but i think some people think rolling shutter was always there in cameras, but it wasn't. We took a technical step back with CMOS sensors which by the nature of their design were rolling shutter. Now the technology has progressed to allow a global shutter design in CMOS, and we'll start to see rolling shutter become a thing of history.\n\nColors\n\nEach manufacturer has their own color science, or rather, how the interpret the rainbow. Panasonic has typically been warmer, Sony cooler, RED more muted, etc... People take preferences in this department, one isn't definitively better than the other, but people's opinions on which looks better to their eye will certainly differ. I've personally liked the different makers colors for what they are and consider them different film stock looks. Then you have to keep in mind the sheer flexibility you have to alter those looks when dealing with high end recording formats such as RAW and Prores\n\nAll that preface out of the way, i am really liking the colors out of this camera, they have a pleasant naturalness to them with just a hint of it's own character. But again, you can do plenty of tweaking in color correction to your hearts content.\n\nISO/Noise\n\nHere's a tricky area. In an age where cameras shoot iso in the tens of thousands and manage to keep relatively clean, here we have a camera which not only tops out at iso800, it's pretty darn noisy at that level. What's happening here is that blackmagic chooses to give us exactly what the sensor is capable of. Many other cameras which shoot high iso and look good doing it are relying not just on the sensor, but tons of de-noise processing. If you have a noisy image, but the noise is very finely grained, it can be de-noised quite well with in some cases minimal softening of the image. Blackmagic doesn't do this, or rather, they may not have the ability to. If you try to denoise this footage in your NLE, it'll take a good amount of processing time. Canon, Sony, Panasonic, etc... they have the resources to make specialized processing chips to perform these tasks in camera on the fly. Blackmagic does have lots of equipment that it makes which do similar things, but never from inside a camera with limited power and heat dissipation. So what we're left with is zero in camera noise reduction. Is it a bad thing? If you want to shoot dark scenes and don't have lights, yes.\n\nBut that's how they're marketing this camera, as a production camera. Productions involve crew, lights, planning, etc... And any productions that use this camera are likely to light for iso200 or 400. 800 isn't by any means unusable, but it does bring out something nasty other than your typical noise: Fixed Pattern Noise.\n\nFPN is just any type of noise that remains constant in its shape. In the case of this camera, it exhibits vertical bands of noise which are sometimes noticeable in underexposed parts of the image. ISO200 doesn't show it much at all, iso400 which is the claimed native iso of the camera, can exhibit it some. At iso800, i can find plenty of ways to see it. Is it a dealbreaker? Really depends on your preferences, but i don't, that is unless you got one of the 'worse' cameras. My camera appears to exhibit less FPN, but other people have shown examples of their camera showing a lot more of it. One thought is that instead of BMD calibrating each camera/sensor, they instead took a base calibration of 1 camera/sensor and applied that to all of the cameras. It's certainly possible, the camera is many months past its promised shipping date and other manufacturers are announcing 4k cameras left and right. It's not far fetched to think that they rushed it out the door so as not to be left behind.\n\nIf FPN is a serious concern for you, expose for iso200, it's least prominent at that iso. Also, expose as well as you can, get more exposure in the dark areas so that you can crush them back down in post to hide the noise. I've tested the opposite; bringing back up unexposed areas and in some cases FPN pops out, and in some cases it doesn't. Even with the cap on tests, it's actually not that visible, which is rather peculiar. The sensor seems to be exhibiting FPN by reacting to differing exposures within the frame. How/why, i cannot say.\n\nThis might be the one issue i return the camera over. Like i said, i think iso200 and 400 are in most cases perfectly fine and the FPN is really not noticeable much at all (with my particular camera). But the fact remains that it shouldn't be there to begin with, and is something that should have been dealt with before leaving the factory. BMD is aware of the issue, but to date no firmware fixes or otherwise have been offered/announced/suggested/etc...\n\nHandling/Ergonomics/Build quality\n\nTerrible, horrible, life threatening, etc... OK it's not THAT bad, but this is by far the strongest downside for me. The overall thing to keep in mind, is that this camera wants to be rigged, it doesn't HAVE to be, but it really wants to be.\n\nThe C100 is my primary camera, and despite its ergonomic quirks, it's fantastically laid out and handles like a dream compared to the BMC4k. It's a compromise that makes all the sense in the world for them, they're brand new at cameras, and to keep costs down, and not delay the products any longer than they did, they kept some things dead simple. It's almost like the worlds most over-sized, overweight smartphone.\n\nThe build quality is very nice, it feels solid, tight, well built, then again, it's basically an single chunk of smooth metal. It feels heavy for its size, much like a ripe melon. Holding it in your hand is as awkward as you'd expect, since it has zero handle design. It isn't a disaster to hand hold, but you would have to be silly in the head to not want proper handles or some other means of holding it. The wooden camera cage is actually pretty neat in that it's flush against the camera, but contours to give you some rather decent handles. Not as good as full fledged handles, but certainly an improvement.\n\nMonitoring\n\nThe 5\" screen sounds great, until you try and use it when there's any sort of light hitting it. It's little details like this which make you wonder what's going on over there, but you have to keep reminding yourself that all of their cameras have been many many months behind schedule, and changing even the smallest thing probably would tack on more time. I plan to try a matte screen protector, but keep in mind those do blur the screen just a bit. Add to that, the rarity of a 5\" screen loupe (there are a few, and i consider them overpriced for what they are), and it's clear that the only solid solution is an external monitor or EVF. Again, this thing wants to be rigged. I went and prototyped my own loupe out of some cardboard and optics from an old loupe i had, and i'm actually rather pleased with it. Hoodman makes a sunshade with a way to get your finger in there for the touch screen, but lacks the full light blocking of a loupe.\n\nFocus peaking is very nice, and it's a savior for this monitor. Nailing focus is pretty easy when using it. At first i was second guessing every pull, but turning it off to verify revealed i was spot on or just a hair off in almost every circumstance. There is no way to adjust the strength, but at least it's set to a very useful level. Other poor peaking implementations give tons of false dots because of high contrast confusion, but this one is pretty darn good at spotting up more of the in focus parts to judge correct focus.\n\nYou also get a 2x zoom in to help judge focus, and that's great, with two big annoyances. First, you can't move it around, it's just the center, so if you're recording and want to double check, you can't check anything but the center frame without changing your shot. The other annoyance is how you activate the zoom: double tap. Firstly, the double tap doesn't work correctly 100% of the time, sometimes it registers just one tap and brings up the metadata panel. Secondly, by tapping the screen, you can introduce noise and shake to the camera. If you have a proper sturdy tripod, this shouldn't be an issue. But if you're handheld or otherwise not secured, you might either sit there softly tapping, hoping it registers the taps, or you might end up tapping hard enough to see a shake. It's silly because it's a capacitve touchscreen, meaning it's not the strength of the tap that's supposed to register, but i guess the capacitive resistance is just really low on it.\n\nYour best bet is to get any sort of external monitoring. BMD has been pretty clear about the rear monitor not being for general production use. But even that isn't a good justification, because all the menu controls are through the touch screen. Say you're using it shoulder mounted and it's mounted fairly close to or even over your shoulder(where it's nice to have the center of gravity), You've got to somehow get your finger on that screen to control it, or have an AC to do it for you. Other cameras just have it better thought out. RED uses a movable touchscreen, canon has a handle control which can be relocated, and other manufacturers have buttons and other ways to make their cameras more usable. Not here, because again, Blackmagic design is not a camera company.\n\nInputs/Outputs\n\nWhat an unusual array they have... There's some odd contradictions in the way they market this camera and its actual abilities. For one: audio. They market it as having industry standard connections, but it doesn't. It has two 1/4\" jacks, which is industry standard if you're talking about guitars, but not production sound. Yes many mixers/boards/etc... use 1/4\", but the undisputed standard on microphones in production audio is the XLR jack. I understand the choice, it saves space and the 1/4\" can be easily adapted to XLR, but it's still an added annoyance and makes me wonder just who at the marketing team is writing up such misleading info.\n\nYou also get a usb port for updating firmware, OK. An lanc port for various lanc controllable things, Great. DC jack which accepts 11-30 volts, nice range, but i'd rather just have a removable battery system... Headphone port, obviously... and then a SDI port for external monitoring/recording. You also get thunderbolt but it's limited to things such as ultrascopes. And that's it. See anything missing? To me there's one glaring omission: HDMI.\n\nHDMI is a consumer connection which is now commonly found in professional systems, it's by no means as robust of a connection as SDI, but its supreme advantage is in the sheer number of monitors that you can connect it to. Let's come back to the 'Production' part of this camera's name. The lack of HDMI makes sense then, because this is meant for real 'productions', right? Well reading the advertisements, they're showing how much better it is than DSLRS. Granted that's just a simple advertising point, but combined with its low price point and how they push these cameras, they're targeting the lower budget market. That very same lower budget market more than likely has more use for HDMI than SDI.(hypothesis, not fact). It's not like there isn't extra space on the camera, but i can see how they wanted to keep it clean. There are numerous adapters that range from dirt cheap to somewhat pricey that will convert SDI to HDMI for you, but they require power, and it would have been nice to just have the plug.\n\nEven odder, is there there's the thunderbolt port, and thunderbolt among other things is a display connection which happens to be adaptable to hdmi with a simple dongle that requires no power! But for one reason or another, the thunderbolt port on this camera does not have the ability to be used for monitoring.\n\nData/Workflow\n\nDon't make the mistake of underestimating the sheer amount of data you will get yourself into with this camera. You best think of gigabytes as the new megabytes. Even in Prores, that's 880mbits/second. Rounding down that's 5 gigabytes per minute If you plan on shooting 3 hours of footage per day, that's nearly a terabyte. This does not look to me like a documentary or event camera..... Thankfully SSD prices have lowered to around 50 cents per gigabyte. More food for thought: That equates to about $2.50 per minute you shoot, but yes of course you can re-use the drives.\n\nThis camera is labeled \"production\" for good reason, it's intended for shoots with proper personnel and setup, a DIT to offload footage for you, a gaffer to give you ample and pretty lighting, etc... Can this be used for run and gun? skeleton crew? lone ranger? Yes of course, but it becomes that much more of a pain in the a$$ and increases the likeliness something will go wrong.\n\nOnce you get to your edit bay, and you've backed up the mountain of data, how do you go about editing the footage? If you have a high end, up to date computer, sure you can go native and just start editing. If your computer isn't quite up to date, then i recommend you make proxies and offline edit. Try out your system, see if it hangs. Remember, the larger the project, the more demand it puts on the system, and adding effects of any kind does the same. Far cheaper than getting a new system is to offline edit. If you're not familiar, you simply transcode your original files to something much smaller and easier for the computer to work with, there are a number of smaller prores versions you can put to use. Once you're finished editing then you will need to disconnect the proxies, typically by setting them to offline in your NLE, and then re-linking them to the original 4k files.\n\nConclusion\n\nThis camera aims to have a no compromise image. Does it succeed? Yes but with considerations such as FPN. You also compromise in just about every other aspect of usability. It has probably the longest list of atypical compromises of any camera other than the rest of the blackmagic cameras. And by that i mean the compromises are in areas of the camera which are usually expected to be good or at least reasonable on any modern camera.\n\nThat being said, it's in a world of its own, and in a good way. The image is undeniable good. People are already trying to compare it to the alexa, red, jesus, etc...(disclaimer, no camera is called jesus, because when cameras die, they stay dead)...(unless you pay to resurrect them)...(but even then the repair center can botch the job).... ok enough of that. Comparisons will be out the wazoo with this camera, and in many ways i think it will excel. Even if BMD doesn't improve/fix any of the issues, the image quality is there and the issues can be worked with if you have the ability/resources. So far no other camera company has tried to steal this particular thunder, but that of course can change at any time. I've made numerous references to BMD not being a camera company, which i say as both a good and a bad thing. The good is that they appear to want to do the best they can with what they have. In a world where it's no secret that cameras you buy are purposely crippled in features and ability, it's nice to see a company that isn't holding anything back in their hardware. The bad is that they have limited resources which translates into poor quality control, missing/delayed common features, and everything else already mentioned in this very long writeup.\n\nFor smaller productions that can handle the workflow, it'll be a great asset. On larger productions it will likely first get in as the B camera, and as it proves itself, it will have the chance to become the A camera on such productions. So you can feel good about using the same camera the big boys use. But if you wonder why your images still don't look 'hollywood', you'll have to be reminded that the camera is increasingly becoming one of the least critical pieces of the film puzzle. If you don't get my meaning, then i've got many a tutorial for you to look into on this site.","Product: Introducing the pocket sized Super 16 digital film camera that's small enough to keep with you at all times, so you'll never miss a shot! Get true digital film images with feature film style 13 stops of dynamic range, Super 16 sensor size, high quality lossless CinemaDNG RAW and Apple ProRes recording and the flexibility of an active Micro Four Thirds lens mount, all packed into an incredibly tiny size! The Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera records 1080HD resolution ProRes 422 (HQ) files direct to fast SD cards, so you can immediately edit or color correct your media on your laptop. Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera is everything you need to bring cinematic film look shooting to the most difficult and remote locations, perfect for documentaries, independent films, photo journalism, music festivals, ENG, protest marches and even war zones.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: There's nothing like it in this price, outstanding quality but with significant considerations\n\nReview: This company is doing great things, that is to say, they're doing what other companies are not. It works out great for us since it gives us new tools to choose from, and sometimes gets the other manufacturers to compete and give us more.\n\nThe pocket camera is an interesting tool, and if you're on a budget you'll be hard pressed to compare it to anything else out there at the moment, but that really does come down to its very high quality recording format, if you were to take that away, it would be a far less interesting camera.\n\nLet's get right into the breakdown\n\nPros\n-very portable\n-RAW video, unheard to be built in-camera and at this price(though compressed)\n-Uses a wide variety of lenses(active vs dumb mount for m43\n-Same sensor image quality/color/sharpness as BMC\n-Really cheap all things considered\n\nAnd now the not so nice considerations...\n-Very short battery life, & external batteries add size/weight\n-NOT a low light friendly camera(bring lights! Always! even with good low light cameras!)\n-Significant Moire/Aliasing\n-No high compression options: sometimes you need more space, and these files are very large.\n-Some might consider 1080 a limiter, but it's still very good\n-No high frame rate options\n-Rolling shutter/Jello (don't shake the baby)\n-Sensor is small, DOF junkies will complain about things not being out of focus enough","Product: AmazonBasics\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Still the best deal out there, have been using for 2 years\n\nReview: I bought this tripod back when it was branded as Ravelli, actually... the exact purchase page i used, is now an updated version of this item still branded as Ravelli <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Ravelli-APGL5-Professional-65-Ball-Head-Camera-Video-Photo-Tripod-with-Quick-Release-Plate-and-Carry-Bag/dp/B004RBX0GO/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Ravelli APGL5 Professional 65\" Ball Head Camera Video Photo Tripod with Quick Release Plate and Carry Bag</a>\n\nSo it would appear that Amazon asked the maker to brand this one for them, and the maker had to do a few updates/changes so their version and scale down amazon's version so there wouldn't be confusion between the two. (more on this later)\n\nIn any case, i've had the original iteration of this tripod for a few years and i still think it's the best value out there. I have everything from ultra portable lightweight tripods, to heavy video tripods, and i still find use for this one right in between. Here's the breakdown:\n\n-Reasonably well made\n-Feels sturdy/secure, mostly metal\n-Legs click to lower positions for low angle\n-Ballhead locks in tight, loosens properly\n-Quick release plate slides a little forward to get balance right.\n-Hook for hanging dead weight\n\nSo overall, it's not a hunk of junk, and it's not a top end piece of kit. What it is, is an excellent value. I originally bought it just for the ballhead, because buying one separately was basically just as much as this package. I never thought i'd actually use the legs as much as i do, but they work!.\n\nThe changes i noted between my original and what's now branded as amazonbasics, are that the ballhead's hard lines have been rounded out, and they removed 1 section of legs, mine has 3, this has 2. The updated version of the Ravelli branded one also now has a removable leg to turn into a monopod, as well as super stylish blue accents. If i were to pick between the two, i would spend the extra 12 bucks for the Ravelli linked above.\n\nRegardless of which you choose, they are built on the same core, I could nitpick that i prefer fliplocks over these twist locks, and that opening closing the twist locks isn't buttery smooth, nor is the ballhead as perfectly rock steady. But all in all for 40 bucks (or 52), i have no complaints.","Product: Elite Screens Spectrum series of projection screens is the absolute solution for anyone who is looking for a high quality electric projection screen at a budget friendly price. The Spectrum features Elite Screens MaxWhite screen material that provides excellent picture clarity and color reproduction, and the black professional black masking border improves viewing experience by absorbing light overshoot and enhancing contrast. It comes standard loaded with premium features and housed within a durable casing that easily installs to your wall or ceiling. The housed motor moves the screen up and down at your leisure with the included Infrared (IR) remote or 3-way wall switch, or use the 5-12V trigger to sync the projector and screen for an effortless viewing experience. Since 2004, Elite Screens has become a global leader in projection screen manufacturing through its headquarters in the US and branch offices in Europe, Japan, Australia, India, Taiwan, and China. With a focus on superior product and service, Elite Screens is dedicated to making projection screens for any projection environment. Ask about Elites 2-year warranty and 3-year ENR-G enhanced warranty.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: A solid screen for my new house's movie room!\n\nReview: <div id=\"video-block-R140MUXL1VO89O\" class=\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\"></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/E15zrcsELnS.mp4\" class=\"video-url\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/11zL7xqwCaS.png\" class=\"video-slate-img-url\"> A little bit of background on me: I've been a photo/video pro for 10 years, and i've been using projectors nearly twice as long as that for both work and pleasure. I've used a lot of different types of screen and projector combinations of all sizes and price ranges. Suffice it to say, i have some perspective on the subject!\n\nI'll start with some more general advice on screen choice, you can skip this if you're already knowledgeable on screens.\n\nChoosing a screen\nSize, color, and mounting are the main considerations. Some like to go big, but i think there's definitely too big in some cases. It depends on your space. I recently moved into a new house, and it was my wife's idea to not use the main living room as the big screen room, but rather one of the side rooms. I have to admit, she was very right, that' room is about a 14 foot square, and it's a perfect size for a 100\" screen and seating on the opposite end.\n\nMounting is the other big consideration, fixed, or motorized. Fixed screens can look more sleek and professional. However, i have other plans in mind: my wife and i want to get a big map of the world, and have it on the wall behind where the screen is, so that when the screen is not in use, we have a huge mural. You might think it would be pain to have to raise and lower the screen every single time, but this comes with a 12v trigger option, so when you turn on the projector, it cue's the screen to lower(if your projector has this feature)\n\nColor is something not always thought about, this is a white screen, and it reflects a good image, but the main disadvantage is that the blacks aren't nearly as black as some of today's traditional TV sets. An option to help with this is to get a grey screen. The trade-off there is that those typically cost more, and since they are darker, they are best used with brighter projectors.\n\nThis 100\" Elite screen\n\nThe box is obviously long, and a decent bit heavy. I did install it myself, but i don't recommend it, a helper is a much better idea. It comes with:\n\nThe screen, mounting hardware, bubble level, remote, wired switch, 12v trigger lead, batteries, instructions.\n\nThe instructions aren't that great, but i'm handy, and i have lots of tools.\n\nMounting\nThere are several hole options for mounting to a wall or ceiling. If mounting to the wall the holes are snowman style(like an '8\" with the middle open) so you can just screw the screws in and leave them out an eighth inch, then hook on the screen to them. The annoyance with wall mounting is getting the level just right, if you're off even just a little bit, it's not easy to correct it. With ceiling mounting though, getting it level is easy as pie, or cake, or any dessert of your choosing. The instructions seem tom suggest using chain, but i just used screws. Once you have it up, use the level, it's magnetic so you can just pop it onto the housing or the bottom of the screen. If one side is too high or low, just unscrew one of the screws a bit till it's right(be sure the screws are still enough into the ceiling to support it. Chain works too, but i wanted it to be as close to the ceiling as possible.\n\nUps and downs\nThe speed of the motor is very slow, so that's a little annoying, and the motor is a little noisy.\n\nWaves\nThis level of screen typically is susceptible to not having a perfectly flat surface. Some higher end screens, have tension wires on the sides to stretch it out. This screen does have a moderate amount of wavy-ness to it, however it's typically only noticeable if you look at it from an extreme angle while the projector is off. I have not noticed the waves while watching any material. Another possible issue with waves is the focus being a little fuzzy in the peaks or valleys, but again i have not noticed this in practice.\n\nValue\nThis projector sits in the middle of the road, there's ones plenty cheaper, and ones plenty more expensive. I haven't tried the latest in the ultra cheap models, but i would imagine you'll get more of a hit or miss with the quality, and motors that may burn out sooner. But that's purely speculation.\n\nDisclaimer\nI was provided this product in exchange for an honest review, you better bet your biscuits that i don't fuss around with fake reviews, false reviews, or anything other than my full and thoughtful observations.","Product: With up to 2TB of storage capacity and a SuperSpeed USB 3.0 interface, the Samsung P3 Portable External Hard Drive is the ideal companion for today's high-performance mobile devices. It gives you the extra capacity you need for your photos, videos, music and data in an attractive, thin, compact, steel gray case that makes a bold fashion statement wherever you go. And with a three-year limited warranty protecting your investment, you'll feel at ease bringing the P3 Portable everywhere.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Faster than my other 2tb 2.5\" USB 3 drives, & smaller too. I'm pleased\n\nReview: Typically i grab up seagate's 2tb expansion 2.5\" drives when they come on sale, but i spotted this drive for $75. Seagate is actually part of samsung and thus it's likely this uses the same disk as the seagate version, but i hear it's a direct usb3 connector on the drive and not sata with an adapter, so no hacking this open to use the bare disk\n\nOther than that, have a look at the photos, i posted the benchmark, which shows this drive attaining just shy of 130mb/sec in both read and write. That's notably better than the seagate expansion drive which i've seen test between 80-110mb/sec. Needless to say, i'm impressed! Maybe it has to do with that direct usb3 connector...\n\nSize wise it's very small, even smaller and much more rounded than the seagate expansion drive, and slimmer than some of the WD 2.5inchers i've come across.\n\nReliability wise, it doesn't look like this drive has been around long enough to tell, but i plan on using it constantly, so if anything goes awry, i'll be sure to post about it here. The warranty was another big yes for me: 3 years!","Product: The Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH4 4K Mirrorless Micro Four Thirds Digital Camera is a true hybrid camera designed for both professional photo and video use. It features a 16.05-megapixel Digital Live MOS sensor and a 4-CPU Venus Engine, capable of capturing high-resolution JPEG and RAW stills, as well as UHD 4K 3840x2160 30p/24p and cinematic DCI 4K 4096x2160 video at 24p. Like its predecessor, the GH4 features a weather-sealed magnesium alloy body, while offering increased resolution on both the OLED monitor and electronic viewfinder. It also features built-in Wi-Fi with NFC technology, in-camera creative controls, and a high-speed 49-point autofocus in both photo and video mode. Use within the communication range of the device to be connected\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: SOLID 4k 'budget' cam, Perfect? no, but really nice overall package\n\nReview: The GH4 builds on the success of the gh1/2/3, the GH3 many felt was a sidestep as opposed to being a forward step, but Panasonic did a few things to please the crowd, namely: the codec. the GH1/2 were great because of the hacks that gave them high bitrates, panasonic embraced this and gave the GH3 built in high bitrates, they've done it again with the GH4, makes hacks unnecessary.\n\nIt's still early, and i'll update with more info as it comes.\n\nSome tasty highlights:\n-200mbit 1080 bitrate, no hack needed!\n-100mbit 4k (the AX100 tops out at 60mbit)\n-10 bit 4:2:2 uncompressed output, WOW! finally affordable 10bit!(well, other than blackmagic)Pair it with the Atomos Shogun\n-96fps slow motion, no it's not an fs700, but 96 is very nice! twixtor can do a LOT with that\n-All the fixings such as peaking, zebras, timecode etc...Even curves!\n-Ability to use speedbooster adapter\n-Addon unit for extra features/ports\n\nSome things im not quite onboard with\n-The Addon unit is huge, needs power, and i just don't see a use for most people's needs\n-Wish they would have figured out an internal ND filter, even just 1 would have been great\n-micro hdmi connector on the body is annoying, but not a deal killer\n\nSharpness/resolution\nI haven't gotten a test chart in front of it yet, but the resolution looks pretty darn satisfying, they are taking a full sensor read instead of line skipping, so it's probably getting pretty close to that 4000 line mark.\n\nMoire/Aliasing\nLooks well controlled, haven't seen anything horrible appear yet.\n\nColors/Curves\nI like them, feels warm overall and pleasing. And something i've been waiting for for a long time: a gamma curve to control shadows/highlights! It may not be as expansive as prosumer/pro video camera controls, but it's a very nice thing to have. The ax100 has basically nothing, just a cinematone on or off.\n\n10bit 4:2:2 output\nFinally!!!! 8bit is remarkable for what it can do, but many have felt 10bit wide adoption has been overdue. It's tons more information and gives you far more to work with to grade your image. The cheapest recorder that can handle it at the moment is the $2000 atomos shogun, but hopefully we'll see some other options soon. Now if only they chose anything other than that hdmi micro connection....\n\nLens choice\nIs huge, you can adapt tons to this camera, including the speedbooster which as the name suggests, gives you a faster F stop when using larger format lenses. I'm also eager to try slapping on an old b4 zoom lens which i've tried with the c100 with mixed but encouraging results, and the smaller sensor of the m43 should be a big step towards usable with that. Or hopefully panny will come out with a power zoom version of the 14-140 and i'll be pretty darn content for event shooting.","Product: Interactive communication with your subject with the ECM-AW3 wireless microphone\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: I love this little set. It has shortcomings vs pro systems but for the price and size i have lots of uses for it\n\nReview: <div id=\"video-block-R2WL5LWUSTSK9E\" class=\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\"></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D1clX7Ld2dS.mp4\" class=\"video-url\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91UFo5%2BGtpS.png\" class=\"video-slate-img-url\"> I am a professional videographer, i own two sennheiser wireless G2 sets for client work, but for my personal stuff i have always desired a smaller, simpler system. I stumbled across this system and started digging, could it be what i was looking for? The reviews around the net are mostly positive, and i caught a nice open box deal on a set and grabbed it. The outcome? I'm very much liking it! Here's my thoughts:\n\n-The set is wonderfully small, both units could fit in the same space as 1 G2 pack\n-Bluetooth is compressed, thus the audio is compressed, but for many uses i think it sounds very good.\n-The built in mic works quite well, and plugging in a lavaliere works as expected\n-LOTS of handling noise if you use the built in mic, be careful of anything rubbing where you mount it or just use a lav plug in.\n-Range is fine, claims 164ft, i have tested it to be reliable much shorter than that, but i mostly only need 20ft tops.\n-uses AAA batteries and they last a few hours each, works great for my needs.\n-I have tinkered with the 2 way communications functionality, but doubt i will actually use it.\n-Canon make a seemingly identical unit, would love to figure out if they are in fact identical.\n-Comes with an odd windscreen that does work, but is just peculiar and makes the pack look even bigger if you use it directly on talent.\n-As far as i can tell, you CANNOT pair directly with another bluetooth enabled device, you must use the transmitter/receiver together.\n-Be sure to plug them in correctly, the top are both mic ports, the sides are both headphones/camera out ports. If something's not working, double check this!\n\nOverall, this is something super useful to me, and you're going to see me use this set on all my future reviews even though i have higher end systems. Many sound pros will be quick to point out it's compressing the audio, but for many uses the sound is perfectly suitable. I might not recommend it for profession/client based usage, but for bloggers/vacationers/personal use i think it's great. I likely will also keep it in my bag for client use as either a backup, or a 'just in case' set.","Product: LGA1150, uATX, 1 x Intel LAN, HDMI/DVI/VGA, CFX\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Looked at all the matx offerings, nailed this one. Perfectly happy!\n\nReview: I'm done with full size motherboards, i simply don't need them. My aging gen1 i7 mobo just wasn't keeping up with 4k editing, so the hunt began for a replacement. I honestly wasn't impressed with the current matx offerings at the time, but thankfully a slew of them hit the market, giving quite a few choices.\n\nH97 vs Z97\nYou can get the same board with either chipset. The only real difference is overclocking vs no overclocking. i opted for Z97(OC) since the price difference was not much, and i can always get a boost if needed, as the overclocking is stupid easy.\n\nI've got a 4790k with 212+ cooler, Zotac 650Ti, two different sets of ram.\n\nFeature wise\nIt's all packed in there. m. 2 mount, graphical bios, 4 dimms, etc... aside from fewer pci/e ports, it's got just about everything many full size ATX boards offer, but allows the use of smaller computer cases.\n\nOne big, big thing that this board has which many matx boards do not: 4 ram slots, allowing up to 32gb, many matx boards have only 2 slots, and limit to 16gb.\n\nThe main feature that's left out, is thunderbolt, something that's pretty scarce still, and i don't hold it against the board for not having it, but i'm still hoping for TB add in cards down the road. It seems at the moment they need an AIC header which this board does not have.\n\nThe bios is great, it's graphical, mouse and keyboard in full use. The windows app also works nicely, and there are a lot of settings for fan tuning.","Product: Express Yourself Anywhere You GoThe FZ1000 is the Panasonic LUMIX flagship bridge camera with ultimate image quality. The superb images produced with a large 1inch sensor and allnew lens fully express the limitless depth and sunlit warmth of nature. Its 16x optical zoom brings everything up close, from tiny birds on tree branches to animals crossing the distant horizon. Choose photos or videos in crisp 4K resolution. The DMCFZ1000 is all you need to capture the world around you, in all its natural beauty.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Still testing, but thus far i like it quite a bit! As an RX10 lover, i'm a little torn\n\nReview: This is an early impression, i've been using the camera for a few weeks now. I bought it especially for a trip to go see NASA's launch of the Orion.\n\nI currently own a Sony RX10, which i love, but i'm feeling the 4k bug, and am always interested in more zoom reach. So, thus far these are my thoughts, which may change as i figure more things out with the camera:\n\n-Size is nice, very chunky and feels good in the hand, but NOT pocketable(duh)\n-Construction feels nice, despite being pretty plasticy, the zoom extension feels more solid than the RX10\n-4K video looks very nice and detailed, you have most of the same controls as the GH4\n-Photos look nice, not incredible, but nice, and i'm still working out some kinks...\n-Built in timelapse, LOVE having this.\n-The EVF is big and detailed, though you need to look at it at just the right angle\n-The LCD is pretty good, certainly suitable for this level of camera, and it swivels in all directions\n-The video codec holds up well at 100mbit for 4K\n-37mm isn't wide, but usable in 4K, 400mm+crop+intellizoom gets a great amount of reach!\n\nPlenty more to come, i'm still on the fence whether i want to keep this or wait for the RX10 successor. Despite the RX10's lesser specs, it's been a fantastic camera, and i'm very curious about the eventual mark 2. At the moment though, if you were looking to get one of these cameras, i would absolutely get an FZ1000, it just has more features which i make use of.\n\nThe photo was a long exposure of very early morning at nasa","Product: New Mini Speaker Portable Micro SD/TF Music MP3/4 Player USB Disk FM Radio Red\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Perfect? No. Do i love it? Yes.\n\nReview: It doesn't have AM radio.\n\nThere, that's it, the grand total of my main complaints. Everything else is nitpicking for this price.\n\nI mainly bought this so my parrot can listen to radio while i'm gone, but i bring it outside for gardening/relaxing/etc...\n\n-It can go from very soft, to very loud. The highest setting is a tad distorted, but not terrible, just notch it down.\n-It's truly small, barely 2\"x2\"\n-FM radio gets good reception(in Queens NYC at least)\n-Lasts at least a few hours with FM on\n-Plays music from microsd, or USB\n-Charges with probably any phone wall plug with USB\n\nOK, so it's not the greatest designed thing ever, it has too few buttons, but once you read the short manual it's straitforward.\n\nHold down menu to turn off the disco\nHold down Vol-/+ and then tap to control volume\nThe thing may take a few seconds to turn on, starts to act quirky when battery is low\n\nSo yea, it should have dedicated buttons, but this thing was $13.\n\nLooking critically at it, i think they should have used that clear plastic open space to add some more battery and get this thing's runtime up.\n\nI bought another one as a gift for a family member who gardens. Just grab it and go, what could be simpler?","Product: FE PZ 28-135mm F4 G OSS\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: One of the first 'lower' priced cine power zooms for larger sensor'ed cameras. Excellent for full frame, OK/good for for APS-C\n\nReview: Make no mistake, this is NOT a photo-centric lens, it's a lens with video shooters in mind. Keep that in mind, and it'll all make sense. I'd give it a 5/5 for full frame cameras, 4.5/5 for APS-C\n\nI haven't had extensive time with this lens, but enough hands-on to give you a run through to see if it's worth looking at for your needs. So here's the rundown:\n\n-One of the first real cine/video-centric power zoom lenses to break into the \"lower\" price arena.\n-Optical quality is very good\n-Not super fast, but constant f/4\n-Range is excellent for full frame, so/so for aps-c/super35\n-Build quality is excellent\n-Parfocal/hard stops/longer focus throw\n-Focusing/zooming/aperture actions are overall very good with a few exceptions\n-Optical stabilizer does a good job\n-No focal length markings\n-95mm front threads, save up for filters!\n-Oddly, no front cap included (under $10 on amazon)\n\nAffordable Cine zoom lens\nSo about that price, just shy of $3k, i've seen more than a few folks balking at it, throwing comparisons to other photo lenses like the much cheaper canon 24-105. Any such comparisons are just silly, and made primarily by people who are unfamiliar with cine zoom lenses. Cine zoom lenses have certain attributes that photo lenses do not, and are far more expensive to make. Any cine zoom for s35 that costs less than $10k is considered inexpensive. Not only does this sony come in at well under that, but it also covers full frame.\n\nOptical quality\nGood, to say the least. I must again note that i have not had as much time as i would have liked with the lens, but in my brief scrutinizing, i liked the image, it's sharp with a pleasing contrast. I've used the 24-105 canon for years, and i would have no qualms mixing the two. Wide open looks very good, and i did not notice any vignetting or significant Chromatic aberrations\n\nWhile f/4 isn't exactly superspeed, it's sufficient for a lot of situations, at full frame you will still get lots of background blur/separation, and the latest cameras have plenty of clean high iso headroom to make up for that extra stop or so of light if needed. My main camera/lens is the C100 with 24-105 f/4, and i do just fine in lower light event/runaround situations at iso 3200-6400.\n\nFocal range\nGreat for full frame, not as great for APS-c/s35. This is the main aspect keeping me from owning this lens, i primarily shoot s35, not full frame. The 24-105 has been great for that, but it's right on the edge of usable wide. This sony at only 28mm on the wide end, just might not cut it for many shooter's on cropped sensor cameras. It translates to around 45mm full frame on 1.6 crop, definitely a 'normal' range, not wide. This will come down to your particular needs, many people will be fine keeping a separate wide lens in their bag while having this capture the meat of it.\n\nBuild quality\nIt has a nice heft to it, and definitely isn't a lightweight rig type of lens, but it feels very well built, the switches and rings feel tight and grippy.\n\nVideo details\nIt's parfocal, meaning it will hold its focus when zoomed in/out, something that most photo lenses cannot claim. It also has hard stops, unlike many autofocus photo lenses in which their rings will just keep turning and turning. It also has a longer focus throw, meaning there is more distance from close focus, to infinity, this is great for video focus pulling, because you can make finer adjustments and have greater control. Focusing feels smooth and tight, and is mechanical, not fly-by-wire.\n\nAnother reason for the price, it's all internal zoom, meaning the lens does not extend when zoomed.\n\nThat power zoom is also a very big deal, it's all internal and achieves a smooth ENG style zoom, which is to say, a very big treat after doing the clunky hand-powerd photo lens zoom. The onboard rocker does a decent job for what it is, but any on camera or off camera big rocker will do even better.\n\nOptical stabilizer\nWorks very nice. On many photo lenses, the stabilizer is tuned to tr and 'lock' onto the shot, which isn't great for video in many circumstances. The sony's stabilizer does a good job of 'floating'.\n\nOther tidbits\nOddly, no lens cap comes with it, but you can solve that with less than $10. Also, the filter thread size is 95mm, which translates into higher filter costs, but that shouldn't be the end of the world if you can afford this lens(and a matte box might be better suited). Lastly, there are no markings for focal length. You do get readings on camera, but it's nice to have markings on the lens itself. This is likely due to the zoom being fly-by-wire servo controlled. Speaking of which, it should be noted that you cannot crash zoom, because there is no manual mechanical zoom, it's all servos.","Product: The fastest microSDHC/microSDXC UHS-I memory cards on the market now come with up to 64GB of storage for uncompromising smartphone, tablet and camera performance. Capture Full HD and 4K Ultra HD videos1 and enjoy transfer speeds of up to 95MB/s so you can shoot like a pro and still experience world-class responsiveness from your phone. Class 10 and UHS-I Speed Class 3 (U3)2 ratings mean your videos can meet today's highest resolution standards and will look stunning on the latest 4K Ultra HD TV screens and monitors. Generous storage capacity means you won't run out of the memory you need to work, shoot and share.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Brilliant speed. But don't spend the money if you don't need it\n\nReview: I bought this primarily for use as a professional videographer/photographer. Using a GH4 and Phantom 3 both in 4k mode. Admittedly, both of those have worked fine with slower cards, but i like the extra overhead for long shots/just in case as well as for future high bit-rate products i intend to invest in. So here's the brief:\n\n-Very fast, just shy of 100mb/s read and write\n-64gb is good for a fair amount of 4k material, or lots of high res photos\n-Not much difference in price than full size SD, love having the adapter\n-Tiny but durable, feels strong, but still be careful, a dog could swallow it in a beat.\n\nAt this time there was recently a deal on the Plus version for half the Pro's price. Buy whichever makes sensor for you, the Plus version is still plenty fast enough for most people's uses, if you intend on using it on a smartphone, you might not see a difference. Using it on a tablet i would say go for the Pro.","Product: Lexar Professional 1000x SDHC/SDXC UHS-II cards let you quickly capture and transfer high-quality photos and 1080p full-HD, 3D, and 4K video, with a read transfer speed up to 1000x (150MB/s). The cards leverage UHS-II technology (UHS Speed Class 3 (U3)) for high-speed performance. This dramatically accelerates workflow from start to finish, so you can save time and get back to the business of photography. Cards include downloadable Image Rescue software to recover most photo and select video files, and come with a limited lifetime warranty.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Good price, good performance. This is now my card of choice for 4K video and fast raw photo shooting\n\nReview: I seem to acquire memory cards like candy, and may be slightly obsessed in some odd ways...\n\nThis Lexar card at the price of under $40 (at this time) is one of, if not the leader in the price/performance arena. The PNY has kept at the best bang for the buck, but the sandisk has started to come down in price as well with its 95mb/sec model. But this lexar with a read speed up to 150mb/sec comes in right between them in price, while edging out the read performance by a margin, and having a write speed that's better than the PNY, and a bit worse than the sandisk. Let's break it down:\n\n-Priced smack in the middle, a good overall deal\n-150mb/sec read, about 75mb/sec write\n-Good for many flavors of 4K video\n-Read speed bests nearest competition\n-Write speed better than PNY elite, a notch slower than Sandisk 95mb/sec\n-Lexar is known as one of the more reliable brands\n-To get full speed, you need hardware that actually supports it!\n\nFrequently i see reviews about high speed cards which complain about poor performance, and it's a safe bet that it's not the card that's the problem. There are numerous card readers out there, and a handful of standards (ever heard of usb 3 boost/turbo?), and various other factors which will determine the overall speed.\n\nThe main three speed limters: the card reader, the size & number of files, and the destination drive. If you're transferring a bunch of small files, it will be slower, if your card reader is old/outdated/slower standard, it will be slower, and if the drive your copying to is older/outdated/slower, than the card will max out that drive's write speed if it's slower.\n\nSummed up: this card is a good price to performance deal, and handily will take on your photo/video/various tasks.","Product: The stunning Seagate Seven portable drive celebrates over 35 years of storage expertise and innovation. This statement product exemplifies advanced storage R&D uniting with world-class industrial design to create the slimmest way to carry 500GB of data. The Seagate Seven enclosure is made entirely of steel, not only to achieve the thinnest external drive, but also for a premium appearance inspired by a bare drive, the essence of storage. The superior experience is extended to the included USB 3.0 cable, a stylish, premium braided design instead of the standard cable found with most external drives. Since the drive is bus powered, meaning it draws power directly from the USB port, and does not require an external power supply, the Seagate Seven is perfect for those on-the-go situations. Push the limits of possible with the thinnest portable drive, Seagate Seven.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Super cool, but not a great value over typical portable drives.\n\nReview: So apparently seagate was bored and decided to make \"the world's thinnest 500gb portable hard drive\" Is it worth the price for the thin-ness? No, not really, but it does make a slick looking drive. Here's a quick rundown, with more in depth below:\n\n-Very slick and slim, makes regular 2.5\" portables look fat\n-Still needs a cable, making thumb/flash drives more attractive\n-Speeds are on par with other 2.5\" usb 3 drives\n-price per gb is much higher than the average 2.5\" portable. (can get 2tb for the same price)\n-Feels well made and rugged, but i'd put it in a case, i don't like risking a drop.\n-Basically, you'd buy it for the 'cool' factor, or if you truly value every millimeter of drive size.\n\nI'm a videographer, and deal with rather large video files, with need to move them between systems. This type of drive is attractive to me because it has a fast usb 3.0 speed, and enough space for a decent chunk of videos. My issue with recommending it, is that i typically grab seagate's own 2tb portable drives for 80 bucks on sale. So there's the dilemma, is that super-thin-nes worth more than twice the price per gigabyte? I have to lean towards no.\n\nI'm tempted to toss it in the same arena as flash sticks, which have begun to see affordable prices and higher capacities. I own a PNY 128gb usb3 stick, which i nabbed for under 40 bucks, putting it not far from this seagate's price territory and certainly more convenient to carry around.\n\nSpeed wise it looks like this drive can push upwards of 100mbyte/second, but then again so can the 2tb 'fat' seagate.\n\nAnd unless you're a silly daredevil, you're going to want to get a case of some sort for this, i couldn't find any drop specs, It does feel substantially well made, but it's still thin slippery metal, which i don't dare drop test myself.\n\nIt feels like this is a \"we made it because we could\" scenario over at seagate. The ad for the drive is all about \"...Celebrates 35 years...\", so it seems to me they just wanted something to show off a bit regardless of actual user desire.\n\nSo in thinking about who this drive is really for... It's for those who don't mind spending a few extra dollars for the cool factor. Heck, slip it into your wallet and impress your client. It's a 5 star device, i took a star off for it's poorer value over traditional portable drives.","Product: The Tamron SP 15-30MM F/2.8 DI VC USD (MODEL A012) offers superb image quality and performance. Able to cover modern full frame DSLRs, the 15-30 zoom range offers great versatility in all photographic situations. With an optical construction of 18 elements in 13 groups and XGM (expanded Glass Molded Spherical) element placed at the front group and several LD (Low Dispersion) glass elements in the system, aberrations such as geometrical distortion and lateral color are efficiently compensated for enabling the zoom lens to deliver outstanding image quality throughout the entire range from corner to corner. Due to the large diameter and the prominent convex profile of the front element, it is not practical to use a protective filter. For the first time, a fluorine coating is applied to the front element, which repels water or any type of dirt, while making it easier to remove such smudge when contaminated. Tamrons Ultrasonic Silent Drive delivers tack-sharp images due to the high torque and fast response speed with least amount of lag time, yet with extremely low acoustic noise. Equipped with a full-time manual focus mechanism, fine focus adjustments are enabled without exiting from the AF mode. Natural and smooth blur on the subject background enhances depictive capabilities of wide-angle photography when a subject is located in the close distance. The 9-blade diaphragm construction retains a near-circular aperture opening even when stopped down by two steps from its full open position and delivers ideal bokeh effects. Recognizing the needs for image stabilization capability on a wide-angle lens voiced by a number of photographers, especially for a full-frame, fast F/2.8 ultra-wide-angle zoom lens category, VC is tuned for providing discernible competence throughout the entire zoom range. The feature enhances image depicting capabilities for shooting night scenes and under low light conditions.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: An interesting combination of angle, speed, stabilizer, and price for full frame shooters.\n\nReview: You have to hand it to Tamron, they gave us something that wasn't in existance: an ultrawide & fast full frame lens with a stabilizer.\n\nNow, there are some out there who will tell you that stabilization isn't necessary on wide angles, and that's just shortsightedly silly. But we'll get into that, here's a quick rundown:\n\n-Full frame coverage\n-Constant f2.8\n-Very nice optics\n-VC stabilizer\n-Smooth zoom and focus action\n-NO filter threads\n-Chunkier than the nikon 14-24\n-A bargain compared to canon & nikon.\n\nvs\nSo, optically it looks plenty comparable to canon and nikon, it costs just over a grand, while the most comparable canon nikon costs several hundred more, and the new canon 11-24 costs even more than that. If you have a full frame camera, it seems like a very good deal indeed. Another thought though: Some newer full frame cameras can use aps-c lenses in a crop mode, and you could look at options like the sigma 18-35mm, or tokina 11-16mm, or any of the various other wide angle lenses in the cropped sensor market. But you will of course lose out on the full frame lens DOF and extra resolution. You could save a bit and go for the wider sigma 12-24mm, but that sacrifices both stabilization and speed.\n\nAbout that VC stabilizer\nSo, if you're this wide, why is it a good thing to have? well, there's the saying: better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. I for one shoot just as much video as i do photography, and in video it's absolutely necessary for handheld work. Handholding even for photography, you can find yourself in a low light situation where you need to use your iso. Granted, the iso performance of many full frame cameras these days is amazing, but you still always want to do with as little as possible. Using the VC to chop a few stops off the iso may result in a healthy reduction in noise.\n\nNo filter threads\nThe big crutch of these ultra wide angle lenses... no screw on filters. you'll need to use some other means like a matte box if you desire to use filters.\n\nA thought for cropped sensor video users\nIf you use a speedbooster on this thing, you'll get an equivalent of something like an 11-21mm 1.8 on your cropped/nex/m43 camera, along with VC if you get the electronic revision of speedbooster. Just a thought :)\n\nI do not own this lens, so i haven't had extensive time with it, just enough to put these thoughts together for you. If i should get more hands on time with the lens, i will of course update this text :)","Product: With UNO you carry your mirror less or compact camera any way you please! In photography, speed is important. Using UNO you can swap from carrying to shooting in just one second. The UNO plate is compatible with all Arca sized tripod heads, in this way you will easily swap from UNO to tripod instantly. The UNO main body is made of Durethan, one of the best high tech polymers. Durethan of Laxness is classified HPM (High Performance Material)and its used exclusively for high precision items. The specific Durethan features makes UNO extremely solid, light with a visibly superior finish and appearance. Bolts are made of steel.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Neat mounting system, alternative for neck straps.\n\nReview: I was offered to review this product, and brutal honesty was the only promise!\n\nOverall i like this system, i'm a nut for having various tools at my disposal for tackling different photographic situations, and this is a totally new one for me. Here's the thoughts:\n\n-All plastic, but feels like darn good plastic\n-Rated for up to 11lbs, but i wouldn't dare...\n-Very versatile mounting, from belt to backpack\n-Camera feels secure, but has a little play...\n-It would be better if the spring lock stayed open\n-Extra safety latch for paranoia\n-Only one mounting plate included\n\nBuild quality\nAside from the nuts, bolts, and belt/bag loops, it's all plastic. That was my first concern, but after getting a feel for it i feel much more comfortable. It's a thick, very solid feeling plastic. Still though, i feel they could have opted to make a few more parts out of metal, such as the mounting plate and spring lock. Peace of mind goes a long way.\n\nLooking around the net, i did find one user who had the spring lock break on them. In scrutinizing those parts, i perhaps can see that the smallish nut on the back end could break through if stressed enough, but keep in mind that's 1 total person's account.\n\nWeight rating\n11lbs is a lot of weight, and my first thought is for the camera's 1/4\" hole: it wasn't really meant for this type of mounting & movement. The dynamic stress of walking/bouncing around... i wouldn't personally feel comfortable with more than 6lbs on this little guy. Less if you plan on really bouncing around.\n\nMy other concern is that there is a little play/wiggle when the plate is mounted, not much but enough to make me paranoid. Maybe i got an off sample? Despite this, it doesn't feel like the plate is going to come off when mounted. the spring lock makes sure the plate can't come out, but the notches & gravity make sure the plate holds tight to the system.\n\nMounting\nSimple but effective strap through plus a metal U bolt allows for mounting to your backpack's strap. There's also a metal hook loop for connecting to a belt. In practice both work pretty darn nice, i was concerned about the camera bouncing around, but for basic walking/hiking, it stays off your body just enough to make clearance, and stays put.\n\nSpring lock\nIf you've ever owned a tripod which uses a spring lock, you know how when you open it up, the spring clicks into an open position so that you don't need to fiddle with it to get the plate/camera back in. This doesn't have that click to stay open feature. This was my primary reason for deducting a star, because it does make it a touch more annoying to use depending on how/where you have it mounted because it means you need two hands to reconnect the camera.\n\nOverall\nReally depends on your preferences and what type of photography you do, but it's a piece i'm going to enjoy having in my arsenal of toys.","Product: The PNY Turbo Performance 16GB High Speed micro SDHC Class 10 UHS-1 Flash Card is perfect for the latest smartphones, tablets, and action cameras. It features 16GB of storage, giving you more room on your mobile device so you can easily enjoy more mobile content such as apps, eBooks, web video, music and movies. Or, easily take more photos or video with your action camera. The High Speed Micro SD card is rated Class 10, which guarantees fast transfer speeds so you can quickly transfer and share your content while you're on the go.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Performance False Advertising... not a happy customer. (update: PNY corrected the mistake)\n\nReview: UPDATE: PNY has reached out and fixed the false advertising. Good, but they still do not publish any write speeds on any website including their own, it is only noted in fine print on the back of the packaging. Bumped up to 4 stars for overall price/performance as compared to other cards on the market.\n\nResponse to commenters that \"up to 90\" means that 60 is legitimate: \"up to\" means it's limited by your device speed. It does not imply that there is a quality variance among cards and that you might get a 60, might get a 90, etc....\n\nORIGINAL REVIEW:\n\nCall me old fashion, but i like a product to be true to its specs. Ya know... not misleading or outright false advertising. Unfortunately that's exactly what PNY has done with this card, as well as lied about it. I have been very happily using other PNY cards, and was very excited to try out this new 'Turbo' line. Unfortunately it's going right back, both for the performance, and the lack of either intelligence or ethics (or perhaps both) of the company.\n\nThis review may sound like nitpicking an otherwise perfectly fine speed, but in my trade: 4k video & high speed photography, write speeds are what matter\n\nHave a look at my 3 attached photos, and you'll clearly see what i'm talking about. This card in several places has been advertised to be variations of 90/up to 90mb/sec WRITE speed. I'm well aware of the trickiness of companies advertising read/write speeds, so i contacted them to double check that there wasn't an error/typo. My email apparently was sent from a customer service rep to a tech rep for a response, and the response to my very specific question about write speed: yes, up to 90mb/sec\n\nGot the card in the mail, popped it into my usual reader, and the attached photo shows the result: NOT even close to 90mb/sec write speed. I was not pleased, but wanted to be absolutely sure before posting this rather negative review. So, 3 usb3 card readers on two different machines, nearly identical results.\n\nOther than that... i recommend the samsung pro, which is what i'm ordering right now, at this time it's only $3 more than the pny, and has a true 80mb/sec write speed.\n\nStar breakdown:\nI took off half a star for the price/performance as compared to the competition, and 1.5 stars off for the false advertising/company nonsense.","Product: The Seagate archive HDD 8TB is a High capacity, energy efficient and lower cost hard drive for active archive purposes. The drive comes with impressive burst results but lower sustained write results, which are to be expected in this class of smr drives. The drives are intended for use in large-scale data centres where density, power consumption, data integrity and data retrieval are paramount.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: If you have a boatload of data to backup, these are the best value\n\nReview: Big recommendation right off the bat: It's for archiving, not active use. That being said, it can certainly be used like any other drive, the read/write speeds while not fantastic are suitable for many people's typical files. My use is for storing large video files(i'm a videographer).\n\nTechnology suited for archiving\nThe reason i strongly recommend it only for archiving is because it uses a newer technology called SMR(shingled magnetic recording), which is an innovative new way to cram more data into the same box. It's a step further than the previous advancement called perpendicular magnetic recording(PMR). It's not meant to be a performance beast, and the technology by design is best suited for archiving, not frequent write/rewrites.\n\nUsing them as a backup vs smaller drives\nMy setup is to use these drives like i use the smaller 2tb 2.5\" drives: have them matched to a faster drive, keep the archive offline when necessary, and use the faster one online for use. The nice part about having 1 8tb drive is that it does the work of 4 of the smaller drives, but with the danger of trusting more information to 1 extra drive. It's for this reason i still very much like using the 2tb 2.5\" drives which i get for $80 each.\n\nReliability\nWe are only a month in, so there's no way to tell if these drives will last except to keep them spinning and see. Thus far on my end it's looking just fine, another reviewer posted some issue, but looking at the comments there are some likely suggestions as to why they were experiencing the hiccups.\n\nRecommendation\nIf you have mountains of data like i do, these drives make great sense, but i'm a paranoid fella, and wouldn't use them for anything but a pure backup. The price per gigabyte is excellent, but i would also consider the 2tb 2.5\" route, it has served me well.","Product: Introducing the worlds first 1 (1.0-type) stacked CMOS image sensor with DRAM chip and a blazingly fast shutter speed of up to 1/32000. This new Exmor RS sensor not only enhances efficiency and speed of A/D conversion through its stacked structure with more circuit sections; it also realizes over five times faster readout speed of the previous RX10 II\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: A nice advancement from the Mark 1, but still a hard pick over the much cheaper FZ1000\n\nReview: As always in this market there are too many options and i like all of them for different reasons. I'm a professional videographer(& photographer sometimes), and i love these smaller cameras as backups/secondaries, and most importantly: Vacation use. Overall i'm impressed with the camera, but much like the mark 1(when it first launched), i feel that the price is a bit high, and has notable competition. If half stars were possible, i would be at 4.5stars.\n\nI have used the RX10 extensively, then sold it for the FZ1000 because of 4k video, i ended up not keeping that because i got a deal on a GH4, which is great but i miss the all in one zoom for vacationing. I've been waiting for the RX10 mark 2 very patiently. So how does it stack up to its nearest competitor the FZ1000?\n\n-A little better in low light/noise over the mark 1 & FZ1000\n-Significantly higher in price than the FZ1000\n-Impressively well controlled rolling shutter.\n-A good bit wider angle than FZ1000 in 4K after the crop: 28 vs 37mm\n-Super slow motion modes are awesome, just expect a big drop in quality at the higher rates.\n-Same good photo & video autofocus (more on those later)\n-It has the same great lens, but still noisy and slow motor.\n-Body is identical, which is a good thing overall\n-Screen is still a tilt, the swivel of the Panasonic cameras is far better\n-Photo/Video quality is still excellent, but no big improvement over mark 1(Maybe a touch better overall)\n\nBasically, the mark 2 gains a somewhat modified sensor design and new processing, to gain faster readouts. The main benefits of this are the super slow motion modes, and the very low rolling shutter artifacts. Add to that the 4K video recording and that's really the main differences between the mark 2 and the mark 1. Significant? Sure! Everyone is clamoring for 4K, so if you must have it then your choice clearly rules out the mark 1.\n\nVs the $800 FZ1000?\nIt's still a tough choice, the FZ1000 is a great camera as well and there are a number of plusses and minuses for each. The FZ1000 costs a lot less, has a full swivel screen, more built in functions such as timelapse, a longer (but slower aperture) lens (25-400mm), etc..., BUT remember the sony is a constant f2.8, and has a built in ND filter. They each have their own slew of profile adjustments, but the panasonic does have built in timelapse which i use frequently.\n\nOne area i found the sonys, both the mark 1 and mark 2 excelled at were video autofocus, Getting a smooth video AF out of the FZ1000 was always more hit or miss than the RX10. Granted there are a ton more modes/options and maybe there was something i missed, but the sony just had a more usable video AF with a few modes. This may be a make or break feature for some folks, so i suggest really researching it a lot before deciding.\n\nOverall, if you have the cash, it's a fantastic little camera. If offered either camera for free, it's a good bet i would end up choosing the rx10/2 over the FZ1000, but it's a tough choice because both cameras have differing features that suit my different needs. There are too many pros and cons to consider for each, so i would recommend looking closely at both and seeing which fits your needs.","Product: Creativity is at the heart of every dream. Every idea, every groundbreaking leap that changes our world starts with the vision of talented creators. At DJI, we give these creators the tools they need to bring their ideas to life. Our platforms empower them to capture images that were once out of reach. Our flying and camera stabilization systems redefine camera placement and motion. Amazing photos and video, treasured personal memories, and high-end professional imagery are captured every day, in every corner of the world using DJI products. DJI technology does more than simply enable creators. We push visionaries to go beyond the limits of what is thought possible, inspiring them to inspire the world. We do this through an unparalleled commitment to R&D, a culture of constant innovation and curiosity, and a focus on transforming complex technology into easy-to-use devices. Building on the ethos of form follows function, our products combine advanced technology with dynamic designs. Headquartered in Shenzhen, widely considered Chinas Silicon Valley, DJI benefits from direct access to the suppliers, raw materials, and young, creative talent pool necessary for sustained success. Drawing on these resources, we have grown from a single small office in 2006 to a global workforce of over 3,000. Our offices can now be found in the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, Japan, Beijing and Hong Kong. As a privately owned and operated company, DJI focuses on our own vision, supporting creative, commercial, and nonprofit applications of our technology. Today, DJI products are redefining industries. Professionals in filmmaking, agriculture, conservation, search and rescue, energy infrastructure, and more trust DJI to bring new perspectives to their work and help them accomplish feats safer, faster, and with greater efficiency than ever before.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: The best case option for my needs\n\nReview: My desires for a case for my p3: small as possible, backpack, all sided protection, discrete, fits all essentials, reasonably priced. I found this case to fit most of those. Here's a quick breakdown:\n\n-Fits most of the essentials, 8.4\" tablet is a no\n-Molded foam all around, good protection\n-Feels decently comfortable\n-No waist strap, does include chest strap\n-Priced somewhat reasonably for what it is\n\nVs the others\nI liked the other backpacks like the GPC and fearless, but had to rule them out because they don't provide any top protection, i want peace of mind. I also looked at the cheaper options, one of which is super cheap and i just didn't want to trust it, and then the other hard shell ones which did have a nice look but no molded foam on the top. I wasn't crazy about the look of this one but overall seemed to fit the bill\n\nStarting with what fits\nIt can fit everything that came with the p3, plus 3 more batteries, and some nicknacks. I bought a tab 4 8.4 for this and it just doesn't fit anywhere, i suppose any 8\" or under tablets have a good chance of fitting in the slot where the extra props are to go, there is a deeper section in there. I measured and i think i can excavate a bit to fit my tablet in there.\n\nProtection\nAll around and all solid, i liked the attention to detail, the p3 sits on a bit of softer cushy foam, and the camera appears to have a lip to rest on so when the back is worn and the p3 is facing down, the gimbal mount doesn't sag as much\n\nLooks\nI don't really like the look of the case, anyone who is familiar with it will know i have a drone.\n\nQuality\nIt aint no pelican, but feels up to the task. the front logo peeled off way too easily, but i wanted to cover it up anyways. The zippers feel standard, the hard shell isn't that hard when you take the foam out but as a package feels like it can handle a bit of roughness.\n\nOverall\nI'm still teetering on the fence but likely keeping it, might try to mod it a bit, but looking at the other options there are tradeoffs for all and this seems to have the least tradeoffs for my preferences/needs.","Product: Creativity is at the heart of every dream. Every idea, every groundbreaking leap that changes our world starts with the vision of talented creators. At DJI, we give these creators the tools they need to bring their ideas to life. Our platforms empower them to capture images that were once out of reach. Our flying and camera stabilization systems redefine camera placement and motion. Amazing photos and video, treasured personal memories, and high-end professional imagery are captured every day, in every corner of the world using DJI products. DJI technology does more than simply enable creators. We push visionaries to go beyond the limits of what is thought possible, inspiring them to inspire the world. We do this through an unparalleled commitment to R&D, a culture of constant innovation and curiosity, and a focus on transforming complex technology into easy-to-use devices. Building on the ethos of form follows function, our products combine advanced technology with dynamic designs. Headquartered in Shenzhen, widely considered Chinas Silicon Valley, DJI benefits from direct access to the suppliers, raw materials, and young, creative talent pool necessary for sustained success. Drawing on these resources, we have grown from a single small office in 2006 to a global workforce of over 3,000. Our offices can now be found in the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, Japan, Beijing and Hong Kong. As a privately owned and operated company, DJI focuses on our own vision, supporting creative, commercial, and nonprofit applications of our technology. Today, DJI products are redefining industries. Professionals in filmmaking, agriculture, conservation, search and rescue, energy infrastructure, and more trust DJI to bring new perspectives to their work and help them accomplish feats safer, faster, and with greater efficiency than ever before.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: The best option for me for the phantom 3\n\nReview: My desires for a case for my p3: small as possible, backpack, all sided protection, discrete, fits all essentials, reasonably priced. I found this case to fit most of those. Here's a quick breakdown:\n\n-Fits most of the essentials, 8.4\" tablet is a no\n-Molded foam all around, good protection\n-Feels decently comfortable\n-No waist strap, does include chest strap\n-Priced somewhat reasonably for what it is\n\nVs the others\nI liked the other backpacks like the GPC and fearless, but had to rule them out because they don't provide any top protection, i want peace of mind. I also looked at the cheaper options, one of which is super cheap and i just didn't want to trust it, and then the other hard shell ones which did have a nice look but no molded foam on the top. I wasn't crazy about the look of this one but overall seemed to fit the bill\n\nStarting with what fits\nIt can fit everything that came with the p3, plus 3 more batteries, and some nicknacks. I bought a tab 4 8.4 for this and it just doesn't fit anywhere, i suppose any 8\" or under tablets have a good chance of fitting in the slot where the extra props are to go, there is a deeper section in there. I measured and i think i can excavate a bit to fit my tablet in there.\n\nProtection\nAll around and all solid, i liked the attention to detail, the p3 sits on a bit of softer cushy foam, and the camera appears to have a lip to rest on so when the back is worn and the p3 is facing down, the gimbal mount doesn't sag as much\n\nLooks\nI don't really like the look of the case, anyone who is familiar with it will know i have a drone.\n\nQuality\nIt aint no pelican, but feels up to the task. the front logo peeled off way too easily, but i wanted to cover it up anyways. The zippers feel standard, the hard shell isn't that hard when you take the foam out but as a package feels like it can handle a bit of roughness.\n\nOverall\nI'm still teetering on the fence but likely keeping it, might try to mod it a bit, but looking at the other options there are tradeoffs for all and this seems to have the least tradeoffs for my preferences/needs.","Product: The ADATA Premier SP550 solid state drive offers superior read/write performance and budget-friendly affordability. Compared to traditional hard drives, it delivers superior performance, consumes less power, and runs cooler in virtual silence. The SP550 is the ideal mechanical hard drive alternative for everyday computing such as video streaming, web browsing, and social media. It features an intelligent caching algorithm that boosts performance to 560MB/s read and 510MB/s write (240GB/480GB models). Built-in hardware error checking, data prioritization, and low power state technologies further improve stability and extend service life. Time-consuming tasks like opening large files, running complex compiling, or simply booting your PC are all accelerated and streamlined compared to traditional hard drives. The SP550 comes with a 3-year limited warranty for a worry-free ownership experience.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: They keep getting faster and cheaper! This one is no exception\n\nReview: SSDs are getting cheap! This one is less than 30cents per gigabyte. Some impressions i have:\n\n-Feels a bit less solid compared my other SSDs, but that's really not a concern(unless you want to use it as a hockey puck?)\n-Formatted no issues in NTFS\n-Speed is spot on as advertised, see the attached photo: 558mb/s read, 510/write\n-Price is very competitive, and well worth an upgrade\n\nI get asked a lot about upgrading from a spinning disk to an SSD, and the answer is just about always YES, absolutely. The prices are now within just about everyone's reach. Unless you're a file heavy user, a 240gb or 480gb drive would do well in a laptop. For desktops you can use this as your operating system/programs/boot drive, and move your old spinning disk to storage duty.\n\nIf you're not familiar, SSDs are a great upgrade because the speed is far greater than the old spinning disks, and have other benefits such as lower power consumption, no moving parts, and far faster access times. I use smaller SSDs for my boot drives, larger ones Raided for my video editing scratch drive, and regular spinning disks for storage/smaller video projects.\n\nDisclaimer:\nI was provided this product in exchange for an honest review. I always recommend buyers beware and be sure to click on reviewer's names to see if they are ever critical!","Product: The Sigma 50-100mm f/1.8 DC HSM Art Lens for Canon is a premium mid telephoto zoom lens designed for APS-C sized sensors. Part of the Sigma Global Vision Art Line, the 50-100mm 1.8 is the second lens to feature a 1.8 aperture all the way through it focal length and factoring in the APS-C increase, the lens covers a highly useful range of 75-150mm. An enhanced and slimmer Hyper Sonic Motor (HSM) provide fast and accurate autofocus while 3 Premium FLD and 1 SLD Elements produce incredible image sharpness. Like all SGV lenses, each lens is hand crafted in our single factory in Aizu Japan, individually inspected before shipping and work with the Sigma USB Dock to update firmware and focus calibrate.FEATURES:Features three FLD (F Low Dispersion) glass elements, one SLD (Special Low Dispersion) glass element, and one high-refractive index, high-dispersion glass element to minimize aberrations.Redesigned and enhanced, the new Hyper Sonic Motor is 30% slimmer and provides fast and accurate AF.Highly durable polycarbonate diaphragm made with fluorine; blades feature carbon feather film offering exceptionally smooth operation even during continuous shootingInner focusing and zoom design offer versatile shooting optionsTripod socket for stable, comfortable operation.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: If you know how lovely the 18-35mm 1.8 is, then you already know how great this one is\n\nReview: If you're unaware, sigma's \"art\" line is what they designate as their creme of the crop, something akin to canon's L lenses\n\nWhat sigma has done again, is create a lens that has not yet existed before: A s35/aps-c/cropped lens, which has a constant max aperture of f/1.8. If you like fast glass and own a cropped camera(or a full frame with window mode), then this lens really has no alternative.\n\nSuffice it to say, this bigger brother to the already incredible 18-35mm 1.8 is a beautiful lens in and out. I've been using everything from canon to tamron, tokina, and sigma, and these 3rd party lens makers have really stepped up their game, the choices nowadays awesome\n\nBuild quality\nIt's a hefty lens, and not very small either, if feels tight and smooth all around. Great tolerances.\n\nOptical quality\nI really don't know how to go about saying this without sounding like an infomercial, because it's just beautiful, glamorous, contrasty and sharp. Again, if you've used the 18-35mm, i would relate just about every aspect of the image quality. It's sharp even wide open, it controls CA very well, and has minimal distortion and falloff. The 9 rounded blade aperture produces a nice bokeh.\n\nA catch 22?\nDepending on your needs, this may be a dealbreaker: No Image Stabilization. It's almost unheard of these days to have a telephoto zoom lens without IS/OS. If you plan to shoot video and your camera has rolling shutter, you may be in for quite the jello effect when going handheld\n\n82mm filter threads\nI use all 77mm filters, but it's a good bet that you can use a step down ring to use 77mm filters on 82mm at theses focal lengths. Your mileage likely will vary.\n\nLow minimum aperture\nIf you know what diffraction is, then you're likely not wanting to go past f/16 anyways, but for those who do find themselves frequenting a lower max aperture, be aware the sigma tops out at f/16\n\nOverall\nThere's literally nothing like it. I sure do wish it were cheaper, but i can say that about all the beautiful expensive glass out there. The real question is whether it's worth it over something like the gold standard 70-200 2.8 range, or 24-70mm 2.8. Those are of course full frame ranges, but regardless, if the range works for your needs on a cropped sensor, then so be it. The other intriguing option these days is to use one of those full frame lenses with a speed booster (focal reducer, it shrinks the image circle of a full frame lens to fit cropped, and in the process, increases the max aperture by 1 stop) So, that 70-200 2.8 becomes a 1.8. There are tradeoffs with that solution as well, but you would have the option for stabilization.","Product: This \"Huge\" 60\" Black and White Parabolic Reflective umbrella is ideal for indoors or outdoors professional work. It is heavy duty constructed for using on location as well as inside studio. The fiberglass robs are strong and holds emple tension to make a beautiful parabolic shape to offer even and soft lightings. Optional diffusion cover makes lighting even soft to eleminate any harshness.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: A nice beefy umbrella with fiberglass rods. Curious about the material though...\n\nReview: A larger 'brella source has bee on my todo list. Umbrellas are a fantastic modifier that pack up small and can be used to great effect. How does this one perform?\n\nSize\n60\" is in the larger class of umbrellas, it will wrap around your subject, or spread a wider field than a smaller umbrella. Umbrellas aren't the best for controlling light spill, which can be important for situations involving a background which is close to your subject, so keep that in mind when considering this vs a softbox with a grid(controls spill far better)\n\nConstruction\nFeels great, i love the fiberglass rods instead of metal. My two areas of concern are the little rivets, and the white fabric. The rivets looks like fairly typical umbrella rivets which may be just fine, but only time and use will tell their longevity(See photos). The white fabric looks quite nice, and i like the amount of reflectivity, but i'm curious/concerned about what the material actually is. Another white umbrella of mine uses a fabric, while this one looks to be some painted on/non fabric material(see photo with thumb). It seems reasonably durable, but once again, only time will tell how it holds up, especially to hot tungsten lights.\n\nWeight\nIt's a pretty heavy umbrella. My smaller lights such as the lowel tota, don't like it very much, i had to tighten the crap out of the nut on it to be sure the umbrella doesn't pull it all down. I also tried it on the <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/LimoStudio-High-Quality-4-Socket-Photo-Bulb-Adapter-Converts-1-Socket-into-4-Use-for-Standard-Socket-Flourescent-Bulbs-AGG882-A/dp/B0091HO0FY/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">LimoStudio High Quality 4 Socket Photo Bulb Adapter - Converts 1 Socket into 4 - Use for Standard Socket Flourescent Bulbs, AGG882-A</a> and i didn't like how that sat at all, so i used a <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/CowboyStudio-Umbrella-Mount-Bracket-with-Swivel-Tilt-Bracket-for-Nikon-and-Canon-430EX-E580EX-SB600-SB800-SB900/dp/B0034WR71G/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">CowboyStudio Umbrella Mount Bracket with Swivel Tilt Bracket for Nikon and Canon 430EX E580EX SB600 SB800 SB900</a> which holds it just fine.\n\nOn more typical monolights however, like my flashpoint dg400, it's totally fine.\n\nCase\nDecent enough storage sleeve, i just wish they put another loop on the other end so i could attach a shoulder strap to it.\n\nOverall\nI'm pleased, i do a lot of sit down interviews, and this umbrella rarely doesn't impress/cause a positive reaction to the client(clients love big productions)","Product: The 12-28mm f/4.0 at-x Pro APS-C lens for Canon from Toking is a wide-angle to standard length zoom lens with a maximum aperture of f/4.0. It is compatible with Canon APS-C cameras and provides a 35mm focal length equivalency of 19-45mm. This compact lens features a one-touch AF/MF clutch operation to switch back and forth between auto and manual focus, for manual focus slide the focus ring back and for autofocus allow to the ring to rest in the forward position.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: but when i saw this lens on sale for a really really good price, i nabbed one up\n\nReview: I already have the canon 10-18mm, but when i saw this lens on sale for a really really good price, i nabbed one up. Tokina is perhaps known for their low cost, ultra wide range of lenses.\n\nBuild quality\nA tank as usual, tokina doesn't skimp on construction\n\nFocusing\nThis is where tokina has remained a bit old school, no ultrasonic, just a regular somewhat clunky sounding gear drive. The good thing about this is true tactile manual focusing with hard stops at the ends. AF is reasonably fast in various lighting conditions.\n\nDistortions & aberrations\nPleasantly minimal and on par with other good performers in this category range. The wide end has a fairly nice curve distortion which is easily correctable. I didn't notice any significant chromatic aberrations.\n\nSharpness\nWide open looks fairly tacky, with corner and edges looking pretty nice overall. Stopped down by 1 stop things improve nicely.\n\nMissing?\nUltrawide lenses typically get neglected in the stabilization department. Some feel it's unnecessary, but seeing as video is just as common as photos with these lenses, stabilization is great to have. The lack of it may not be a detriment depending on your uses, and more and more cameras as coming out with sensor based stabilization.\n\nOverall\nIt's still a hard pick over competitors, such as tokina's renowned 11-16/11-20 2.8. The extra reach on the long end does make this lens more versatile as it brings it to a fairly normal focal range, But a stop slower will hurt those with weak iso cameras. Canon's 10-18 is fantastic, but is slower on the long end, but it has IS, and is super small and lightweight, great for handheld/gimbal/stabilizer work.\n\nChoose based on your needs and budget, as always!","Product: The Amaran AL-H160 illuminates using superior color rendering CRI 95+ LEDs. The color accuracy is almost perfecteven without PS. With 160 LEDs, the use of 60-degree angled bulbs, PWM technology and the latest color-rendering techniques, the Amaran AL-H160 shines an exceptionally even and stable output. Its the perfect tool for shooting still-life and portraits. Choose to power your Amaran with either six AA batteries or an easily replaceable lithium battery (Sony F/FM/QM/FP/FH/FV). Four LEDs display the remaining battery life. Up to nine panels can be attached together to create a larger, softer and more intense light. The slim and frameless design without borderline partitions also means that when lights are combined, there is no leak in light. The Amarans brightness wheel allows you to manually dim or intensify the power of your light. Its the perfect tool in all settings regardless of whether you are shooting video or still photos.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: 95CRI? Maybe, nonetheless i like the light it puts out, and the price is great. vs z96 vs cn160\n\nReview: I really don't need more lights, but at less than 50 bucks i couldn't resist, they got me with the high CRI claims\n\nI own two z96 lights and a cn160, all get use, none are perfect. When possible i use good old hot lights. So where does this fit in?\n\nFirst impressions:\n-Light appears nice quality\n-A touch warmer than the cn160\n-A lot warmer than the z96\n-Dimming seems to have minimal color shift\n-All plastic but feels solid enough\n-No lock for battery, my lenmars are loose\n-1/4\" mount for all sides\n-filters attach via little clip-pins. not great, but could be worse.can't stack like with z96 magnets\n\nI'll be doing a length video review/comparison of it, but considering it's priced not much more than the cn160(which i hate the mount for) i would go for this one instead","Product: LG G Pad 4G LTE Tablet, Black x8.3-Inch 16GB (Verizon Wireless VK815)\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: A nice enough tablet, but beware of verizon's pitch, and get it in writing.\n\nReview: I usually say pass when i'm offered deals at the verizon store, but i got suckered into this one. I already have a samsung tab pro 8.4, but the connectivity into verizons LTE network with this device tipped me into buying it. Now we'll just have to see if verizon holds up their end of the bargain.\n\nThe tablet itself is a fine device, it's not as refined in performance as my tab pro 8.4, but it's not sluggish either. The screen is very nice and high resolution, and it has a full size usb port which is great because i can just pop a usb stick into it.\n\nI tried playing some 4k video files on it, but alas it cannot handle that. It does handle 1080 just fine however.\n\nI tried a bit of dual window'ing, and that worked pleasantly well. Battery life is also very good, and when closed in standby it goes for days while sipping very little juice.\n\nI tried 4 cases for it, i didn't like the <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/MoKo-LG-G-Pad-X8-3/dp/B00WLI9M9E/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">MoKo LG G Pad X8.3</a> (too thick) nor did i like the <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/ProCase-LG-G-Pad-X8-3-Case/dp/B012EFP8QO/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">ProCase LG G Pad X8.3 Case</a> (odd flap around the backing)\n\nThe case i did like is the same brand i have for the tab pro: <a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Fintie-LG-G-Pad-X8-3/dp/B0102R2Z12/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Fintie LG G Pad X8.3</a> It keeps things nice and slim and adds that bare minimum amount of protection.\n\nAs for the verizon end of things...\n\nI'm already not feeling secure: I asked a lot of questions repeatedly to the sales lady, and her answers are already not matching up to reality. I was told it would be $9/month for the tablet line(but i'm seeing 10), and would also get a $16 credit for each month because of the tablet for the full 24 months of the contract. Well, i can already see that it's not $16, it's 10% off 4 of the line access fees. So if those go down(and according to the new plan structures they will) i'm going to have to do some unpleasant talking to the lady who made clear that it was $16, not a percentage. It also shows as for 12 months, not 24. I already followed up with one rep who could do nothing and said that at the end of the 12 months i can see what promotions are available to take advantage of...\n\nOverall it's a nice tablet, it was $80 plus the contract nonsense described above. I calculated that it would be near free considering the promotions over the course of the 24 months if the lady wasn't lying to me. But in the end, if it ends up costing $200 or less for the life of the contract, i will consider it worthwhile. The tablet is much nicer than the verizon runaround that goes along with it.","Product: This product uses polyester waterproof material, sunscreen, rain, dust, durable, easy to use, can be\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Just what we needed, no frills way to keep the bikes dry\n\nReview: UPDATE: After some long use, it finally got nasty and tore apart. I won't dock a star though, because we were squeezing two bikes under it!\n\nYes, this will fit two bikes, but it's a stretch. It's not the same shape front and back, the front is wider to accommodate the width of handlebars.\n\nIf you have just one bike, this plops over plenty easy, and has velcro on the bottom to ensure it stays put even in wind. Two bikes takes a minute or two to get it over both of them, but it's totally serviceable.\n\nThe material is sufficiently durable, we already have a small hole in ours but thats because i rushed getting it over the two bikes, i think a brake lever did it.\n\nDesign wise, we love the simple but distinct print on it, it's quaint.","Product: Heroic Hugh Jackman breathes the fire into Wolverine (Miami Herald) with a vengeance! This pulse-pounding action thriller sinks razor-sharp adamantium claws into the mysterious origins of Logan/Wolverine: his epically violent and romantic past, his complex relationship with Victor Creed/Sabretooth (Liev Schreiber), and the ominous Weapon X program that unleashes his primal fury. Along the way, Wolverine also encounters legendary new mutants, including Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) and Gambit (Taylor Kitsch). Youll go berserker for this deeper, darker, more-spectacular-than-ever chapter of the X-Men saga!\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Very different from the origins movie, better and worse in its own ways\n\nReview: I was on the wall between 3 and 4 stars, and amazon calls 3 stars \"It's OK\", and thats what i felt.\n\nIf you liked origins, i would imagine you might not like this film. Origins was an action flick, typical of what you'd expect from it. This on the other hand was not an action flick, there was some action in it, but it was more of a drama.\n\nIt kind of seemed like they saw the complaints with the origins movie, and decided to do exactly the opposite. If they did more of a middle ground, they might have had a more clear winner.\n\nIt overall was well done, but i would have appreciated it being a good 20min shorter, it's over 2 hours, and it does NOT fly by, it feels long. It's worth a watch, just don't be tired and sitting on a comfy couch with your feet up while doing so","Product: NOTICE: Polish Release, cover may contain Polish text/markings. The disk has English audio and subtitles. As a war between humankind and monstrous sea creatures wages on, a former pilot and a trainee are paired up to drive a seemingly obsolete specia...\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: It's BIG, It's FUN, and it entertains FAR better than any transformers movie.\n\nReview: I was really hoping this movie would be good, i mentally prepared myself for it to be bad, and when i saw the first reviews, i was excitation.\n\nIt's big, it's fun, and it isn't into itself, meaning it isn't trying to be anything that it's not. You grab a huge bucket of popcorn and set your brain to fun awesome mode.\n\nThe filmmakers had a great attention to detail, the mechanics of things were about as believable as you might imagine them to be, unlike transformers mechanics, which are just silly as hell. The only thing i looked at negatively was that they use helicopters to lift these robots... yea i don't think so.\n\nBut transformers, yea, transformers movies are just plain garbage. i don't like them for many reasons, the main two being lebeuffff and bay. Pacific rim has things like.... character development....not ridiculous amounts of slow motion action... no lebleueefff... etc... All in all, PR is far better of a film than any of the transformers movies, just because they are both about large robots doesn't mean you can call them the same.\n\nAre there stretches in the suspense of disbelief? sure, like i mentioned with the helicopters, but then again were talking about a movie which has a portal to another dimension, so i think it works just fine within the defined reality.\n\nThe comic relief by charlie day was welcome, though it's a bit hard to believe the government would have quite that level of goofiness in a high level position, but i'm just digging for nitpicks.\n\nThe one thing that i'm on the wall about is the opening, since it starts year and years after the first monster attack. I think it was a good move to do that and have the recap of how things started, and a brave move at that, seeing as we're in the age of backstory backstory backstory. I just had an itch to see how it all started, and i hope they do a prequel movie of just that.","Product: Quick Shipping !!! New And Sealed !!! This Disc WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. A multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player is request to view it in USA/Canada. Please Review Description.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Not quite as good as the first, but far better than the second\n\nReview: And that's all you really need to know. If you thought #2 was good, then you're of course delusional and should go watch teletubbies or whatnot.\n\nOK #2 wasn't god awful, it just didn't have anything to care about.\n\nIn #3 we've got a decent blend of internal tony issues, big terrorist issues, and iron man armor issues. The odd thing to see is how much tony's suits are failing, in the first movie alone he perfects the suit and i guess with mark 42 the idea is that he's pushing the boundaries of his skills and thus things are falling apart with his latest suit and his life. I think i just got more insightful than i care to...\n\nWe get teased along with the whole mark 42 suit because they imply there are upwards of 40 suits lying around. It's no secret due to the trailer that those suits all show up at the end to fight off the baddies. My main reservation is in just how ridiculously strong they made the extremis badguys. I'd have notched their overall abilities down a good 30 percent.\n\nThe other obvious ridiculous stupidity is that he's in the PROTOTYPE in preparation for a TERRORIST attack...meanwhile he has 40 other suits that are finished and ready and completely autonomous but for some reason he decided to keep them out of it and rely just on the one prototype.... pretty retarded for a genius.\n\nand i guess were supposed to believe that after his house is destroyed that he couldn't call them out because the rubble was on top of the chamber. man, if they just had some weapons to blow out of that rubble... oh wait....\n\nBut honestly that gaping hole wasn't ruining of the film, but if you have a half of a brain it'll make you shake your head.\n\nGuy pierce was awesome, loved his character. Most suprising was that they left the rest of the universe out of it, meaning no scarlet, no shield, just him.\n\nIt's plenty of entertainment, watch it with a medium size bucket of popcorn","Product: Quick Shipping !!! New And Sealed !!! This Disc WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. A multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player is request to view it in USA/Canada. Please Review Description.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Action, seriously: ACTION! That's what you came for, and MM:FR delivers it incredibly\n\nReview: <div id=\"video-block-R2P6JIRNWOBXW7\" class=\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\"></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/E1Xh0Y94YSS.mp4\" class=\"video-url\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91ClsWFhpxS.png\" class=\"video-slate-img-url\">Zero Spoilers, have no fear and read on!\n\nSummed up: If you like action films, this nails it.\n\nI was very skeptical of this film by the trailers, it just looked senseless to me. I usually like action only if it's well done and it has solid meaning to it. But seeing the critics raving for this film was too much to resist.\n\nShocked, stunned, flat out bewildered. Not because it was an amazing film, it's just that that much action seriously leaves your body drained/pumped at the same time. But the amazing part is that i actually was locked on seriously into every bit of it. It was incredibly executed along with solid performances by the characters. If you compare this action to say... pirates of the Caribbean style silliness, this wins far and away by 10K miles. There's no drawn out one on one duels, there is dynamic, all over the place eye candy.\n\nLet's take a step back, because no it's of course not perfect and some will not care for the over-the-top-ness of it all and how ridiculous some of it OK a lot of it is. But that's what this movie is about and achieves. Director Miller is just as much about the art as he is about the execution, so much in the way as say: crouching tiger hidden dragon(loose analogy,stay with me) was about the art within and on top of its fight scenes, MM:FR has an artfulness to it all in the elaborate over the top how/why would these people make such things, kind of way. Now, i'm not entirely sure that i'm not full of crap on all this, but that's what my brain just wrote and believes at the moment. The action may have scrambled my circuits.\n\nThe plot is simple: the big guy of the post apocalyptic world has his precious things stolen from him, and max gets inadvertently caught in the middle and ends up helping the good guys, er, girls, er, people try and escape capture. Yea, nothing complex, but it's well written and little nuggets of plot points get dished out at just the right times to keep our interest piqued in between the nearly nonstop car chasing.\n\nHardy as Max was great, i don't know if he aimed to mirror Gibson's original Max, but i easily saw congruence but with Hardy's own signature.. Charlize Theron's character was really the driver of the film (yea pun...) And she's fantastic as usual.\n\nI also love the well placed and mostly very dry humor here and there. It's not joke humor, it's not silly humor, it's just observational humor if that makes sense (if not you'll get it when you see it)\n\nAll in all it's real simple: if you like action films, this really is now up there as one of the best in my book.","Product: Quick Shipping !!! New And Sealed !!! This Disc WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. A multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player is request to view it in USA/Canada. Please Review Description.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: A very worthwhile film that keeps you from blinking\n\nReview: If you've never hear the term \"art through adversity\", you'll have a clear understanding after watching this film. While there are for sure plenty of visual effects at play, the truly brutal environment and conditions that this film was shot in make for a very real and visceral feel to the story. It is based off a true story out of history, of a man who kept on going when many of us regular folks would surely have long since given up.\n\nIt's not a movie for everyone, a good friend of mine really can't watch films that have a lot of violence, and this film does have its fair share. The most talked about scene is the bear attack, and it's both incredible and tough to watch. The effects work is very believable, as is DiCaprio's performance.\n\nIt did start to lose me a bit, when they show the main character that torn apart and barely able to do anything, then start to push through and then become very capable at not only moving on, but then going on the attack. Some people might see that as a great character break through, but it seemed a bit of a stretch to me\n\nOverall, it's really an incredible film, and i do tend to be pretty critical. It's the kind of film that just draws you in and keeps you engaged (a bit like Castaway does).\n\nPlease, don't watch it on a small screen without surround sound","Product: Premium Powerful Sound Specially designed drivers with high-energy neodymium magnets deliver deep powerful bass that perfectly complements popular music genres. And acoustic design allows for a high level of sound isolation which aides in the reproduction of powerful and extended bass response. Universal Compatibility Universal 3. 5 mm headphone jack compatible with devices which support 3. 5mm jack port input. In-Line Microphone & Remote Control Button Built-in Mic: allows easy conversations on your device whether using it on smartphones or video call on computer. Volume control button: you could play/pause the music, answer/hang up the phone, tracker the next/previous song. One-Year Worry-free Warranty Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions to this ear phone. Our service team will give you the satisfied solution asap within 24 hours. And every headphones bought from Of Power is covered by 1-year warranty.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: No seriously, i LOVE this thing\n\nReview: UPDATE: after just under a year of use and it's lost its super capacity. But it served its purposes long enough for me to get a new phone! Bottom line: Won't live as long as OEM batteries, but 6+ months for this price is still darn good!\n\nI'm so over the \"i have the thinnest phone\" mantra.\n\nFirst off, if you know anyone who uses an otterbox, this battery is only about as thick as that!\n\nDesign wise, i want to give a big sloppy kiss to whoever designed it, it's a long life battery held it by a case/phone protector that is exactly how i like it, slim but just enough protection to save it from some bumps and small falls.\n\nI read some nitpicks people had about it not fitting exactly perfect around the top end screen side, and yes i do see it, but i think that's one of the most OCD nitpicks i've seen all year. There is no way this case is coming off unless you want it to.\n\nThe issue some had with the mic hole not being there, seems to be fixed, mine has proper holes. All the ports have good clearance as well. The camera and flash are fine as well.\n\nThe only real nitpick i could find is with the power button, it is a tad annoyingly hard to press, but it has a simple fix: just break out the exacto knife and cut it out. I've chosen not to, i pretend its a finger workout.\n\nOK, so about the battery life. well, it's fricking amazing, obviously. I get 3+ days average with moderate use. i'm still in the phase of always checking the battery meters and feeling satisfied. I don't plug in every night, i plug in 2-3 times a week tops.\n\nLet's go back to the size again, because yes it's bigger, but WHO. CARES. And let's be clear, it does not add significant bulk or weight unless you're a very dainty person. the added thickness and rubbery case actually makes this phone miles better to hold.\n\nMy friend has an iphone portable dock/battery, that he carries with him to charge his iphone.... i fail to see how that is better than just having a larger battery on your phone. i'm not poking at the iphone, i'm poking at all phones with a non-removable battery. That's the main reason i decided to keep my nexus for as long as it lasts, because nearly all new phones have non removable batteries.\n\nAnd the cherry on top? 6 month warranty. for 40 bucks? heck yes, buy it.","Product: The XShot Phone Holder Allows Your Phone To Be Mounted To An XShot Camera Extender, Or Any Standard Tripod (1/4\"-20 Thread), And Many Other Devices. It Fits All Best-Selling Smartphones - Including IPhone And Any Android/Windows-Based Phone. The XShot Phone Holder Is Compact, Sturdy, And Attaches In An Instant And It's Perfect For Travel And Throwing Into Your Camera Gear Bag. The Holder Features A Sturdy Steel Spring-Loaded Grip That Adjust To The Size Of Your Phone - Just Clip It On And You Can Now Attach Your Phone To Any Tripod, Or To The End Of An XShot Extender For Great Selfies And Vacation Shots! Worried About Scratches Don't Be! The XShot Phone Mount Features Soft Protective Rubber On Both Arms That Securely Cradle Your Phone, And Protective Rubber Along The Length Of The Holder To Protect The Back Of Your Mobile Phone Or Case. The XShot Phone Mount Also Features Two Universal Tripod Mounts (1/4\"-20 Threading), Allowing You To Mount Your Phone Vertically Or Horizontally To Stable Tripod, Monopod, Or An XShot Extender.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Cheap, solid, fits pretty big phones, and has two places to mount. Deal!\n\nReview: Now that i have a phone that can do decent stills and video (droid turbo), and i usually have some sort of tripod in the car, i wanted a solid connection for the two\n\nThere are a number of weak looking phone tripod adapters out there, this one looked a bit more substantial\n\nSo how does it fare?\n\n-Mostly plastic, but thick and feels solid\n-The inside is made of a hard-ish rubber\n-2 tripod screw mounts, both metal and feel good\n-Opens very wide, fits droid turbo even with slim case.\n-Clamps securely, though i'd actually rather it not be as tight\n-I wish the hooks were a bit wider, so they could get out and around thick phones/phones with cases(read below)\n-And it's cheap!\n\nSo if you look at the photo you see on the inside of the grip it kinda hooks around, which grabs thin phones/phones without cases very nicely. but if the phone is thicker/has a case, it can't quite get around, and you just have to let those lips grip the side of your case and works OK, but i'm tempted to just trim off that little lip, since it's just the hard rubber. That way it would just be a flat connection which wouldn't be hindered by a wide phone","Product: Packing arguably one of the best hardware combinations available at the moment, the natural habitat of the Motorola DROID Turbo is somewhere near the very top of Mount Android, thanks to the 5.2-inch Quad HD display, the power-laden 2.7GHz Snapdragon 805, the 3GB of LPDDR3 RAM, the 21MP rear snapper capable of shooting 4K video clips, and the humongous, \"two-day\" 3,900mAh battery inside.Carrier: Verizon WirelessDevice has a slot for a SIM card. Does not have a slot for a MicroSD memory car\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Turbo indeed! Many early reviews are now irrelevant, this is a damn good phone.\n\nReview: <div id=\"video-block-R5KKWCRABAE77\" class=\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\"></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/C1QSPZBJQRS.mp4\" class=\"video-url\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91OX5FsgGSS.png\" class=\"video-slate-img-url\"> I've been waiting to upgrade my aging galaxy nexus. i tried the LG-G3, and it was just too darn wide and had an issue with the microphone.\nCome black friday, i was able to get this on an upgrade, with the 100 off special, and another 100 off for trading in an old smartphone. price out the door? $6.99 for a superphone\n\nNote about many negative reviews i've seen around: When released, the turbo couldn't do talk & data at the same time. tThis feature has been added in firmware, so if you're concerned about the less than perfect rating on sites like verizon, dig around & you'll find many are now irrelevant.\n\n-Fast, really fast processor handles tasks quickly\n-Screen is gorgeous, it's been a month and i'm still enjoying looking at it\n-Battery life is very good, not brilliant, but very good\n-Speed charging is pretty darn great when you realize you forgot to charge it and need to run.\n-Moto UI is pretty faithful to stock, and anything extra i haven't minded\n-The camera is very good, i only wish it had optical stabilization like the G3\n-4k video looks very good, there are apps to control finer settings like bitrate. (open camera, FV-5)\n-Splash resistance is good to know\n\nCons?\n-Really wish 5+inch screens weren't the new norm, i feel the 4.7-4.9\" were ideal, larger than that = not really ideal for single hand use.\n-No card port\n-No removable battery\n-Doesn't make bacon pancakes.\n-Wife cracked her phone's screen and is a year+ from upgrade time and gives dirty looks.\n-Not waterproof like the competition\n\nAll in all, i've really been enjoying it, and feel it's a very solid phone. I went for the red, which is not typical of me, but i said hey, i kinda want some color. and figured i'd be putting it in a case anyways.\n\nVs G3, S5, etc..\n\nI tried the G3 for a week, and it just felt too wide. I also had a bad mic it seemed, as many callers couldn't hear me well. The s5 is like the standard, and while it had the features i was looking for, i was turned off by the incredibly cheap/chintzy chromed edge it has. Yea i know, not a huge deal, but i just didn't feel connection with the s5, i'm weird that way. Probably also didn't like that EVERYONE and their aunt has one.\n\nI didn't bother with many of the other phones because they didn't offer 4k video, which is a feature i demanded. I have good reason: I'm a videographer, and i do stock footage, so when i don't have a camera with me, and i spot something, my phone is the only thing to use.\n\nI think this phone won't sell like crazy because of the early negative reviews that slammed it on not having talk/data at the same time, which is something that's now included. That's something i'll like about it, that it's not a friggin iphone that everyone's got.","Product: Pilot Automotive White LED Quadra Strobe Kit with Controller is a set of ultra powerful strobes with a 12 volt design. With this strobe light, you can create custom effects to your vehicle. This product is water resistant and includes step by step instructions inside the package.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Excellent control, sufficient brightness, i use it for film to fake cop cars.\n\nReview: My application isn't typical for this, i wanted to create a portable light which i could have just off frame, pointed at an actor or object, to imply that there's an emergency vehicle on the scene. A lot cheaper than getting an actual vehicle. But my notes i suppose would apply to typical use of this light as well.\n\nThe Design\nIt's 4 lights, and they are treated as 2, so the patterns you get affect two lights at a time. They attach with sticky tape which appears to be the good kind, just be sure to clean the mounting surface. The controller box has mounting holes and has all the controls.\n\nControls/Settings\non/off, flash all lights once, flash all 3 times, flash each pair twice, flash each pair 3 times. And now here's the best part and the reason i got this: you have a control dial to set how fast it repeats each of these settings, awesome! And it's not like it's just a few settings, you can really fine tune the speed of the cycles. This was crucial to me because if it were too slow, it would look odd, if it were too fast, the camera literally cannot see some cycles.\n\nBrightness\nOK, it's NOT a sun gun. It won't turn everyone's head on the block. They are brighter than you would expect from 4 small LEDs, but they don't have tons of power to them like bigger/more LED units. What i will say is that they throw enough light to get the desired reaction, if you're looking at the car, they completely look the part, if they are pointed at you, they'll get your attention from a short bit away, but if they're not pointed at you, i doubt you'd notice them. Completely what i was expecting for this size/price.\n\n12v\nanother reason i chose these, i have plenty of 12v small battery packs and they power this thing for hours on end. Then again, pretty much all car accessories are 12v","Product: Kurgo's Tru-Fit Enhanced Strength Harness 3055 series is a crash-tested dog car harness to keep your dog safe when he travels. It comes with the features of our other harnesses, but includes all-steel Nesting Buckles based on the time-tested harnesses of rock climbers and linesmen. When used with the included seatbelt tether, it keeps your dog safe in a car accident. LIFETIME WARRANTY: Your satisfaction is important to us. We offer a Kurgo lifetime warranty for products purchased new from authorized sellers. If you have any questions or concerns about our products, please contact Kurgo and we would be happy to assist you!\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: A nicely made harness and belt clip. Helps with pulling, but a little different to attach.\n\nReview: Really nicely built harness. Our 13lb Chuck the Chug doesn't mind it at all, and it helps reduce his pulling\n\nFit wise we have the small, and it straps on well, but just barely. My wife put it on entirely backwards at first and that was an awkward as heck walk. I kept asking if it was on right, she insisted it was, guess what Karina? TOTALLY upside down. My wife isn't one for reading instructions...\n\nOnce that was rectified, it made a lot more sense. It takes a few times to finally get a hang of these buckles, but i do like them more than clips because clips can snag hair.\n\nYou can attach the leash to the top or front, front for anti pulling. It works pretty well, but we only have a 13lb'er to deal with.\n\nIn the car, the belt strap is very strong, not like those cheap toy carabiner clips, this feels like it's solid steel.\n\nOverall, it's a nice harness, i've even tried using the top as a handle and chuck looked unimpressed but fine with that.","Product: Petica luxury premium dog poop bags with dispenser dog poop is every pet owner nuisance; especially if you have to keep picking it up with tissue paper When you take your dog for a walk. Many pet owners will agree that they often dread taking their pets for walks in public places, when they do not have the right kind of poop Bag to pick up droppings after their dog. So, say goodbye to messy dog poop pickings and say Hello to the top-of-the line poop bags with a dispenser from Petica! These top of the range poop dog waste bags will give you great benefits like; - Infinity use: contains 700 poop bags! It is such an enormous supply that it feels like it will last FOREVER! - great package: The package even comes with a poop Bag Dispenser. Its design is logical-bone shaped, and it attaches quite well to the leash without falling off. - bigger space: these dog poop waste bags are quite big and they can be used for larger dog breeds. They make a good sized waste bag. - easy to use: the bags are perfect to use on the go. They have little perforations that make tearing quite easy and without a fuss. - durability: They are very sturdy and are thicker than most waste bags, so you do not feel like you are picking the Poop with your bare hands. - great value: these are absolutely must-haves for every pet owner. They come in very handy when you and your dog are taking a stroll. They do not tear, so with These incredible poop bags, you are able to keep the environment dog poop free. What more would YOU want in a poop Bag? To sweeten the deal, we are also offering you a money-back guarantee so theres nothing to lose at all.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Another good experience with handling Chuck the Chug's daily downloads\n\nReview: I've already done a somewhat extensive review of amazonbasics poo bags, and i can say that these bags are just about par for the course in terms of size, strength, and value.\n\nAs with most large cases of poo bags, it includes a standard issue bone bag holder. And it should be noted that these bags have the plastic tube in the center. Some bags do not have this, so less waste, but those won't work in all holders which sometimes have notches/rods that align with the tubes.\n\nPrice wise, these are in that sub $20 arena which lots of other brands are cashing in on, so they're all a great value, it's really a toss up which you prefer to buy, i have had good experiences with pretty much all of them. A good experience meaning that i never get poo on my hands...\n\nVisibility wise, thses black bags keep the poo well hidden (if that matters to you)\n\nBut my one wish is for handles. Most of these brands don't have those ever useful handles for tying the bags up.","Product: An Amazon Brand.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: A fine bed for our little prince of poosia\n\nReview: <div id=\"video-block-R2XCVATVXHOSDF\" class=\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\"></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D1RQl8VOq7S.mp4\" class=\"video-url\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91-yxaNiK%2BS.png\" class=\"video-slate-img-url\"> Winter is coming\n\nerr, i mean Summer is coming. And our pooch is already showing signs of being too hot in his blanketed bed. Thus began me quest for a cooler bed. I mean cooling bed... you know what i mean\n\nThe amazon basics brand puts out some very usable stuff, and im usually very eager to try them out. This appear to be a very new addition to their lineup. Overall it's a pretty simple device, and appears well made. Let's break it down:\n\n-Very competitive pricing\n-Small is plenty big enough for our 13lb Chuck\n-A bit of a step/jump for small dogs, not sure why they didn't make it shorter\n-Bars feel very strong, thick bolts hold them together\n-Fabric feels good, stitching looks decent. Time will tell if it lasts.\n-Assembly is pretty simple, just be sure to use your brain\n\nThis is a new experience for our Chuck, and he's not onboard just yet. It's also still chilly most nights here, i expect he'll warm up to it, or rather cool up to it when the heat increases.\n\nI am debating removing a few inches from the height, i have a tube cutting tool that will do the job no problem, and i can pop the caps off and reinsert them. I'll give it a few weeks to let chuck feel it out.","Product: 1000 Green Dog Pet Poop Bags, 50/20 Refill Rolls (Free Patented Dispenser) Gorilla Supply 1000 Pet Waste Bags, Size: 9\" x 12\".\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Another good brand of dog poo bags, but they're a bit shorter, and more see-through\n\nReview: Oh sweet bag of poo, how i don't love you but need you. Our little 13lb Chuck goes through 2 to 3 bags per day and we just started to finish up with the amazonbasics brand of bags which were just fine. I decided to be adventurous and try a new brand. How does it stack up?\n\nSize\nSame width as the amazonbasics, but 1inch shorter\n\nThickness\nFeels a little thinner than amazonbasics, but still strong. I did a finger poke test and it resisted tearing about the same as the competition. I also tried rubbing it against sandpaper to approximate grabbing poo off of concrete, and it held up totally fine. The rolls are physically smaller than the amazonbasics, but that's probably mostly due to them not having a plastic core\n\nVisibility/See through\nIt's biggest weakness for some folks will be that it's much more see-through. It's not completely transparent, but does show through a lot more than the amazonbasics black bags.\n\nValue\nCompetes with the least expensive out there, can't complain there.\n\nDispenser\nOn one hand, it feels like fairly low end plastic, but i do really like the tab that automatically separates the last bag as you pull it. Very neat indeed. I was a little concerned about it tearing bags, but thus far it has not. My main issue is that frequently the next bag slips inside and i need to open it up to get at it.\n\nGreen?\nListed as biodegradable, which is a good consideration vs other bags which may last years upon years.\n\nSumm'ed up:\nThey're a bit smaller and more see-through, and thus lost a star, but i'm perfectly pleased with them, especially with the price","Rating: 4.0\n\nSummary: So far a solid retractable ribbon leash\n\nReview: <div id=\"video-block-R3ZR2Z7BS3KC5\" class=\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\"></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D1EblbkNlJS.mp4\" class=\"video-url\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91GbT58rnbS.png\" class=\"video-slate-img-url\"> It's only a few days in, so this is an early impression of the item which i like overall, but i've had a similar item fail on me pretty quickly so i'll reserve that 5th star for after i've used it for at least a few weeks.\n\nThe thing i like is that it's a full ribbon, not cable/wire. So if it gets wrapped around someone, it's far less likely to give a burn like a thin wire can.\n\nOther details are similar to other retractable leashes, and seems made reasonably well. the lock/release mechanism isn't my favorite, on these leashes there is typically a 'pause' and a 'lock' button, and in this case it's basically combined, so if you press down too much the lock will engage, but if you just get into the habit of pressing down in an upward fashion, you can avoid the lock engaging. Hard to put into words the action, but i will make a video showing what i mean. It's not necessarily bad, just less ideal than some others that i have used.\n\nA little modification i made was to tie in a metal loop so that about 18\" of ribbon stays out which is handy for retracting to perfect heel length for our 13lb chuck\n\nI have the 15' one, which is plenty of length, i almost wish i had gotten the 10'. Otherwise thus far i like it and will be using it daily. So if something else happens, i will update here! I was offered this product in exchange for an honest review, and that's all i ever give :)","Product: The Coghlan's Signal Mirror is useful in emergencies, routing signaling or for any mirror application.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: OK, i'll probably never even use it, but it's ideal for its purpose\n\nReview: Sometimes i just want to buy more camping toys, and for some reason i bought this. I don't venture out into deep wilderness, but some part of my brain said: \"of course you need a signal mirror, how else will you signal people?\"\n\nSo practically speaking, it's pretty pointless unless you're going days out into nowhere. But if you are, this may just be the ticket.\n\nIt's small enough to fit in your pack, though it does have a decent number of grams to its weight(it's thicker than expected)\n\nThe reflective properties are very good, it's shiny as heck, and does have the hole in the middle to help a bit with aiming it.\n\nI haven't tested its durability, but due to its thickness, i'd estimate it could easily handle some moderate drops.\n\nSo what's the difference between this and any other mirror? Well, while any mirror can do the job, this one is particularly reflective, so the light that it reflects onto whoever it is you are signaling should be significantly sharper and more annoying and hence have a better chance of getting their attention.\n\nWhat else can one say about a pocket mirror? oh yea, it doubles as a shaving/grooming mirror","Product: Time to replace your indoor track light or spot light bulbs? The HitLights MR16 LED Light Bulb is an energy efficient replacement for your out dated 50 Watt halogen bulb. This 5 Watt GU10 base bulb is dimmable and is perfect for both residential and commercial interior applications. The HitLights MR16 bulb features twelve LED chips that produce warm white light. Our LED MR16 comes with a 5 year warranty and is built to last an average of 22 years, far outlasting the average 2 year life span of a halogen bulb. This bulb is UL Listed, meaning you can purchase with confidence, knowing it has been thoroughly tested for safety and quality by Underwriters Laboratory. In addition, this shock resistant LED bulb gives off very little heat and will not get hot like a halogen bulb. Spend less money trying to keep things cool a midst halogen bulbs and get better quality, beautiful light by switching to LED's!\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Best bang for the buck so far\n\nReview: I have all IKEA gu10 LEDs in my kitchen, an ikea CFL gu10, and a few garbage ebay gu10 led's, so ive seen a fairly wide range, the latest ikea ones are great, their only real drawback is that they are not dimmable. these hilight ones are a bit brighter than the ikeas, dimmable, and a dollar or so cheaper if you have prime. the only negative is a slight green cast, which i actually only notice if i put them next to the ikea ones, so i would assume that the hilights have a bit lower than ikea's 80CRI, but it's not really noticable unless side by sided. i have another hilight on another area on its own and looks great.\n\nEDIT: After a bunch of use, i do prefer the ikea LEDs over this one, so i took off a star. It's not that it's bad, i just tend to notice the difference enough to make me thing a tad less of this bulb. if i had all these and no others, there's a chance i would notice!","Product: M12 Fuel 1/2 Hammer Drill tool Only. The Product is Easy to Use and Easy to Handle. The Product is Highly Durable. Made In China.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Love this drill, love the m12 power line! Switched from an older 19v system\n\nReview: I got this as part of a bigger m12 kit. I've been using a 19v system for years, but wanted a wider ranging system. Overall, while i wouldn't claim this to be as powerful as the 19v system, it doesn't feel that far behind! Here's my thoughts:\n\n-Smaller/lighter than my old 19v driver\n-Feels like a lot more power than 12v should be\n-Ergonomically excellent in the hand\n-Only goes up to 18lbs of torque, but that's enough for MANY applications\n-Hammer driving built in with a switch.\n-Led light absolutely comes in handy\n-Power indicator takes guesswork out of how much battery is left\n-Battery last a long time, especially the high capacity ones.\n\nAs you can tell, i seriously love this driver. I'm a home user, so not big projects, but i've built a table and drilled though many different types of materials with this drill. I'm definitely a fan and highly recommend it.","Product: Summer Magnolia, 24" x 36", Window Film, An Inexpensive Alternative To Stained Glass, Translucent But Not Transparent, Allows Light To Enter The Room, Provides Privacy, No Adhesive Necessary, Will Tile Together Like Wallpaper, Top To Bottom, Left To Right, Can Be Easily Removed With No Adhesive Residue After Years Of Installation, Easily Trimmed To Fit, Self Static Adhering, No Adhesives.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Very happy with the results, i have a few pointers for getting it applied\n\nReview: <div id=\"video-block-R3HLSCFE90IM6S\" class=\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\"></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/C1v-g6uQHMS.mp4\" class=\"video-url\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91Is2D%2BRYsS.png\" class=\"video-slate-img-url\"> Overall, i love it, but a star must be docked for not being the easiest thing to apply. Here's the quick rundown with more depth after:\n\n-Looks very pretty, matte finish\n-Not raised/Textured, but still passes as not cheesy\n-Size might be standard, but my windows are 3inches wider\n-This particular pattern lets a good amount of light through\n-A piece of backing stuck to the film, but i got it off(see below)\n-Applying it to a window can be a pain if you don't take care\n\nOverall look and feel:\nIt's thicker than i imagined, and looks very dark while still on the paper backing, but rest assured once it's off that it'll resemble the advertised look a lot closer. I actually thought they shipped me the 'magnolia' one by mistake, but it was correct after all. I like that it's a matte finish and not shiny, or else some lights could make an annoying bounce.\n\nI do wish it had some texture, maybe raised black lines, but i'm sure that would add to the cost. despite being perfectly flat, it doesn't come off as cheesy, it won't fool anyone for being real stained glass, but i put it in the same category as my faux brick wall: no foolin for real, but still sure looks nice!\n\nSize:\nI'm a renter, and thus no control over what my windows might be, and they happen to be 3inches wider than this. So i'm off to home depot to find some black 1.5\" wide tape to fill that in. I've already tested it out with 1.5\" blue painters tape, and despite looking like blue painters tape, gave the proof of concept that some black tape will fill it in just great.\n\nPattern/light/translucence.\nI actually liked the 'magnolia' pattern a bit more, but it looked darker and i really wanted some light to get through. I mainly bought this for privacy but also to regain the use of that window as a light source. I'm very pleased with the amount of light, it's nowhere near the same as an open window, but definitely adds illumination to the room.\n\nApplication.\nOK, here's the biggie. It was fairly easy for me, but then again, i've installed the infinitely painful gila window film/tint, so i'm already familiar with this type of process. That being said, it's not nearly as difficult as the gila window film, mainly because you don't need to nitpick every fleck of dust. That, and this is thicker. Overall despite my warnings, it's not that difficult to install, just don't rush i. Here are a few recommendations:\n\n-Use a friend, if possible\n-Use painters tape on the corners to help handle it\n-Use plenty of soapy water\n-Get the film about 2/3 off the paper backing and then apply the top to the window, or else it can curl onto itself.\n-Use a very sharp blade for cutting.\n\nOne other issue i saw another user had was that when peeling off the backing, some of it stuck to the film. I noticed a dime size bit right in the middle as i was peeling, so i stopped, laid it down, and sprayed soapy water on that spot and gently rubbed it with my finger and finger nail till i eventually scratched all of it off, then i wiped it up with a paper towel, wiping strait to the nearest edge to get as many bits out.\n\nOverall, i think it took me under 20minutes to finish this little project. it's one of those things you want to take your time with, because it's easy to muck it up","Product: The Husky 2-Piece Multi-Tool and Knife Set includes a 13-in-1 multi-tool and a 7 in. pocket knife. Both tools are constructed of lightweight, durable aluminum for strength and feature a convenient folding design. This set is perfect for the home, workshop, jobsite and outdoors.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Set your expectations properly and you'll like this set\n\nReview: Let's face it, these are very cheap in price compared to most multitools out there. Set your expectations properly and you'll like this set. I should point out that i think the negative reviewer here has a different set, they mention plastic handles but there is literally no plastic on either of these tools, it's all metal. So here's the rundown:\n\n-Really, really cheap $6-8\n-Made of all metal, and lifetime guarentee\n-Feels solidly put together\n-Not as refined, a bit clunkier than higher end units\n-First set i bought wasn't as sharp in the blades as the second set.\n-The little one is probably too cute for any serious work.\n\nIf you're a day to day multi-tool user, i would absolutely recommend a leatherman, gerber, or other quality tool instead of these for your usual tasks. The reason i buy these is because they're so cheap i can put one in every work bag and car that i have so i know i will never be without a multi-tool. Better to have something, than nothing!","Product: Battery included\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: A fun little quad! Certainly not high end but nor is it high priced.\n\nReview: This is my 4th quadcopter(i know!), and it's by far the smallest. Cute as heck! My other quads are a blackbird x10(tested only) a phantom 3, and a Xiro Xplorer. Here's my early thoughts on the first flew flights with the Hubsan H107D:\n\n-Powerful for such a little fella\n-Live feed is nearly lag free\n-Takes a beating, have bumped it around plenty and the legs just snap back into place.\n-Still trying to get more stable flights out of it, haven't tried all the settings\n-Not a fan of the freestyle of up/down, the stick stays where you put it for altitude.\n-Battery lasts a decent little bit of time\n-Overall a fun little toy\n\nThe first thing i did when i got it was i put grey tape around the legs, for two reasons: to make it less dark, and to give some extra protection against the legs breaking clean off. That, and i just like tape\n\nThere really isn't a point to comparing this to the larger drones, because it's a totally different experience, thus far i find the motions of the little copter more twitchy, so to speak. But i need to dig more into the settings and find out what i like best.\n\nAll in all it's pretty darn fun, and my wife was super excited when i told her she would be able to fly the new drone i got, and she wasn't impressed when she saw the actual size of it (see photo)\n\nI was offered the product in exchange for an honest review, and honesty is all i have offered here."],"string":"[\n \"Product: Portable Recorder\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: First impressions thus far - A solid little recorder for DSLR use or 'bag' use\\n\\nReview: Let's get the most important thing on the table right now: this thing is $300. I've spotted some negativity over various bits of this mixer/recorder around the net, and just about all that negativity is either unfounded and/or completely oblivious of the value that this thing is for its feature set.\\n\\nShow me another 4 track, 4 pot(control knobs) phantom powered recorder on the market for anywhere near this price? Sure you can pick up some higher end mixer/recorders used, but the 70d was targeted at a specific crowd: DSLR/single shooters. So let's dive in.\\n\\nLet's start with a little highlight breakdown:\\n\\n-$300 is damn cheap for a 4 track recorder\\n-Nice size, not too tall, and just wide enough to fit proper controls and screen\\n-4 XLR/TRS inputs, line/camera out, camera in\\n-Phantom power for all XLRs\\n-Sufficient gain settings for inputs and outputs\\n-Limiters and lowcut\\n-SD card in the rear(can't see where else they could have fit it anyways)\\n-Battery/SD door can be annoying, i might just take it out.\\n-Wish all the 1/8\\\" ports were 1/4\\\", but again, size limitation, so can't really nitpick\\n-Battery life is OK, but Zoom's are amazing.\\n-A compressor would have been nice\\n-MP3 option would have been nice\\n-It would have been great if it could make bacon pancakes\\n\\nOverall there's not much you can complain about for 300 bucks\\n\\nLayout & Design\\n\\nIt's like a 60d, but shorter and wider, which is a nice change. It's about as small as i think is possible for a 4 XLR unit. It'll fit quite nicely under a full size DSLR, but looks pretty big under anything smaller such as a mirrorless camera. None of that really bothers me though, because it just comes off as a wider base on your tripod, i haven't had it get in the way at all.\\n\\n3 of the XLRs are on one side, the 4th being on the opposite side. This may sound odd, but having that 1 XLR on the opposite side can come in very handy depending on your setup and wiring. The rest of the connections are on that side as well, nothing sticks out of the front or back. Speaking of the rear, that's where the two onboard mics are, as well as the 4 AA battery bay and SD card port. If your doing camera mounted work, this is totally OK, if you plan on bag work, it could be annoying, but then again: where else could they have stuffed the batteries? I do think they could have squeezed the SD card port somewhere else, but once again, i'm not going to nitpick at this price.\\n\\nSpeaking of bag work (what the audio pros do with having all their gear in their audio bag doing production audio) The 70d does have the form factor to work well in a bag despite its relatively tiny footprint. Although it seems targeted at the sole shooter/rungun/under camera type crowd, i do see this as an affordable first mixer/recorder for someone wanting to get into production sound work. It has the essentials, but do some digging and make sure it has everything that you need, as higher end recorders of course come with additional features and tools.\\n\\nThe front end of the unit has a small but decent screen, a big enough knob to control it, a record button, slate button, some lights, and those ever useful 4 control knobs. Many recorders sacrifice having a knob-per-input because you typically would make such adjustments with a separate mixer. In this case, the target market being those who likely wouldn't want yet another box to haul/mount/plug, they gave it all 4 knobs. From what i'm told, these are digital knobs, not analog, meaning when you turn the knob it's making a digital adjustment and i found when making fast/big changes it can feel a bit disconnected. Meaning, the change in gain/volume comes a bit after your actually turn the knob. I've only really noticed it in extreme testing of ramping the knobs quickly.\\n\\nSound quality\\n\\nSubjective for sure, but it's as you can expect from a lower end Tascam, which is to say pretty darn good! It goes up to 24bit, 96khz. There is zero point in doing side by side comparisons with higher end units, because A: this is certainly not higher end, and B: your end viewer isn't getting a side by side to know that the audio could have been better. The rated noise floor is respectable, but not quite as good as higher end models. That said, my subjective ear liked what i heard. One thing that concerned me was an odd amount of noise i had for one of my mics, but it seemed to go away with my general troubleshooting of unplugging/replugging/powercycling. It only occurred with 1 mic, so i cannot blame the 70d outright without further testing.\\n\\nSo what i boil that down to is that for this price, you're getting as good a quality as you can expect, it's higher end sound than your camera's built in recorder, and if you think you need better than that, you should be hiring a dedicated audio professional.\\n\\nClicks? Many folks are wondering if this has one of the 60d faults: since it's digital knobs, the 60d suffered from faint but noticeable clicks when adjusting the levels. Thankfully, that appears to be worked out on the 70d, the level adjustments sound smooth. The only instance i heard a click was with the build in mic, the knob turned all the way down aka OFF, and heard a click just as i started upping the level. This did not occur when i tried the same test on a shotgun mic.\\n\\nBuild quality\\n\\nIt feels like a mix of metal and plastic, overall feels very good. Both the top and bottom have rubber to ensure good connections, and the camera's bolt goes on/off in a matter of seconds with the large screw head. Knob wise, it feels all plastic, but doesn't feel too cheap. Connection wise, the XLRs all snap in nicely and feel secure.\\n\\nAs for the other connections... well, they're all 1/8\\\"(cam/line/headphones/EXT) and micro usb, not great, but for the money it's serviceable. They definitely could have squeezed at least 1 or 2 of those 1/4\\\", but no use in wishing. I did notice my unit's SD card port on the inside is slightly askew, which doesn't really affect anything, just makes the SD card have a slight resistance going in.\\n\\nMenu & features\\n\\nThe menu is pretty simple and straightforward, the only shortcuts to get through are the 1,2,3,4 buttons which can jump you through the input settings, otherwise you just use the main dial to pass through each sequentially. You can turn on/off phantom to any of the XLRs, and the 4 inputs are paired in 2s (1/2, 3/4) And you can have it record stereo files accordingly, or mono files. You can also adjust the left/right pan of each pair: channel 1 & 2 can each be totally left/right, or can be mixed together, or dialed to be somewhat left/right. Effects wise, you get a few useful basics: Low cut, & Limiter. Format wise, you only get standard WAV, and BWF, which is a wav with metadata.\\n\\nOperation/Reliability\\n\\nThus far, it's been mostly smooth, i did have it lock up once, a reboot got it back to normal. During recording i haven't had any hiccups. The battery life indicator hasn't been the most consistent, jumping down pretty quick then hovering around low for quite awhile. I'll need to have a few more tries with different sets of rechargeable.\\n\\nSum it up\\n\\nIt's $300. Seriously, go try and find something comparable for that price. It's by no means perfect, but it has the essentials in there to give DSLR/rungun/single shooters a relatively painless bump in audio inputs and quality. And if you're someone who wants to get into production sound and don't have a big budget, i'd definitely take this over a higher end unit and spend the remaining budget on quality shotgun/wireless mics. But that's just this one guy's opinion, you should of course check out a few more ;)\",\n \"Product: The Sennheiser AVX-ME2 Lavalier Set is the perfect digital wireless microphone for film projects. The system fully self configures and is ready to film within seconds. Its ultra compact receiver fits directly into the XLR audio input of your camera or recording device. The body pack transmitter and lavalier microphone is ideal for hands-free interview and documentary situations.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: The design is great, but various cheaper systems make it a hard sell unless you're a heavy user\\n\\nReview: This is one of those devices that is supposed to make the life of a one man videographer easier, and for the most part it does, but there are some kinks.\\n\\nI have been using the G2 series for years, and it's time to move on. They've been great for the most part, but the darn antennas are literally disintegrating. I've been trying out two systems to replace them: the rodelink, and this, the AVX. My conclusion is that i just cannot justify more than twice the cost for the AVX. Let's put it into bullet points:\\n\\n-Really great plug on receiver that swivels to accommodate any camera.\\n-Streamlined settings, no deep menus to sift through.\\n-Auto checks frequencies and skips around to whichever is best\\n-Range seems fine, i rarely go past 20feet anyways\\n-Battery life is good, but spare batteries are 50-60 a pop\\n-You can also use any usb style charger/power bank to power them\\n-The cheaper G3 system is more advanced/has more features and options.\\n-Be wary of the receiver output: if set too high, it can sound clipped even if your camera isn't peaking.\\n\\nClipping?\\nThat last one is the biggie, there's only a few output levels you can set on the receiver, and thus far it looks like the lowest/second lowest setting are what it should almost always remain on(depending on your camera of course). If you set it higher and lower the camera's levels so that they don't peak, it can still result in what sounds like clipping. So, i would err on the side of caution and start with the lowest output setting and let your camera do the rest. And of course always double check your line/mic settings.\\n\\nSound quality\\nOnce you've got that prior issue solved, the overall sound is perfectly usable, it doesn't rival any pricier models, but keep in mind what market segment it's pointed at: the one man band. Interviews, run and gun, ENG, etc... As always, if you can afford a sound pro, you hire the sound pro, this is a system to make your life easier if you cannot afford a sound pro. The quality is totally OK.\\n\\nBatteries\\nI'm on the fence about it, but i think i like it. They are proprietary, and cost 50/60bucks each. the transmitter lasts up to 10 hours, the reciever up to 5, but the receiver will also power down whenever you turn off the camera. It's a nicely though out system, but i wish they would offer larger battery options for the receiver, the thing is small enough i can easily see a battery twice the size going on to it without getting int he way. The other nice backup option is the microusb which is used for charging, you can power it off nearly any usb port.\\n\\nPrice\\nThis is the sole reason i'm going to the rodelink system, as much as i love the little plug on unit of the AVX and know it will make my life a bit easier, twice the cost just doesn't make sense as an investment. I can put that $500 to good use elsewhere.\\n\\nSummed up\\nIf you can afford it, i think it's a really neat little system, i personally use wireless mics pretty sporadically and hence don't feel it's worth the extra cost. But if you will be using it day in and day out, the little plug on receiver might make a good difference to you\",\n \"Product: The wackiest, tackiest re-positioning wax today. Product photography, to precious jewels and fine doll collectors to arts & crafts. Our product assists in dollhouse miniatures, model trains to LED lighting, floral arranging, gift baskets, and more...\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great quality, good hold, easy cleanup\\n\\nReview: The main qualities you want in a holding wax are:\\n\\n-holding power with as little wax as possible\\n-Not messy/easy to work with\\n-Easy to clean up\\n\\nThe hold on this wax is great, it only takes a very small amount to get the job done, so it's easy to hide the wax under a piece such as a ring standing up on a flat surface.\\n\\nIt's only as messy as one can expect wax to be, it doesn't run, and if you handle it properly, it won't make a mess at all. If you're sloppy, any wax can get messy. So yes, it's as easy to work with as any other quality wax.\\n\\nAs for cleanup, it comes off plenty easy but wax is wax and while you can get away with just rubbing/polishing it off the item/surface you just used it on, a basic cleaning solution will get the rest of it.\",\n \"Product: Bionaire BW2300-N Twin Reversible Airflow Window Fan with Remote Control\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Gave me the breeze i wanted\\n\\nReview: Go figure, i order this from amazon, and the same day i get it in the mail, i see costco has it for 40 bucks! I checked the part numbers, and they were a tad different. I contacted Bionaire, and found out that the only difference, is that this one on amazon comes with two side extender inserts instead of one for the costco one. well, back to amazon it went and i picked up two at costco.\\n\\nThis has got to be the most advanced window unit out there. The features:\\n\\n-Two fans\\n-Each fan can go in, out, or one in and one out\\n-It has a thermostat, which i find of limited use, but hey, it's there, and you can turn it off\\n-It has 3 speed settings, i do wish the lowest was a bit lower, but that's a nitpick\\n-It has a remote which can control all the settings... remotely...\\n-It appears designed to handle rain getting on it.\\n\\nThe way it mounts into the window was very well thought out. The window sits in a channel, ensuring it would fall in/out. then on one side there is an extending bellows to fill in the gap, it extends a good amount and locks in place, and if that isn't enough, it comes with one or two plastic extenders to add to that width if you have wide windows.\\n\\nNoise?\\nNot bad at all, especially at low speed which still moves a lot of air. neither of my units has any rattle. i do see that the fan blades have a wobble to them, and creates a barely noticeable buffeting sound, but again, i'm searching for nitpicks\\n\\nAll in all, it's just what i needed, if i were to make one suggestion, it would be to include a easy to attach cover, so you don't have to take the unit out of the window to close off the breeze.\",\n \"Product: The Organize It All Wire lid rack is great for holding plates or lids. This lid rack is a sturdy and stylish solution to organizing your pot and pan lids. The rack is coated with vinyl so that there will be no scrapes to your plates or lids\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: I can't believe i've been living without this\\n\\nReview: After moving into our new place, i was in that mode of looking critically at how we stored things, and i started getting very critical of the old school way of storing dishes...one on top of the other.\\n\\nAmazon to the rescue, i found this and ordered it. Aweeeeesome! exactly what i wanted.\\n\\nQuality:\\nvery good, not dollar store, but rather a satisfyingly thick frame with a thick coat of that white coat stuff.\\n\\nDesign:\\nPerfect, BUT: we have some deep dish plates, kind of a dinner plate with a deep dip in it so it's kind of a bowl too, and those fit a little more oddly into this, but they still do fit. I like that the holders get larger towards the back, and that they're not overly tall like some other models, so it's easy to grab a plate without having to have human tweezer fingers.\\n\\nQuirks:\\nIf you take too many plates off the front end, the back end could tilt back. If this bothers you, just use some small screws or thumbtacks to secure it down.\\n\\nNow i don't understand anyone who doesn't have one of these\",\n \"Product: With Starfrit's new 12.5 \\\" silicone splatter screen, you can avoid the messy clean up after cooking with oil or frying greasy foods. Simply cover your fry pan with Starfrit's splatter screen . The silicone handle provides a solid grip. Plus the Silicone is heat resistant up to 465F and it won't scratch your cookware.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Finally a splatter guard that i like\\n\\nReview: Everyone's missing the point: this thing makes for a great musical instrument!\\n\\nOK but seriously, the silicone is stretched over the wire frame for a nice tight feel, and sometimes i make popcorn in a saucepan and i decided to put this on top instead of the lid so that steam could escape but not the popcorn. Once the corn started popping, the music started. The kernels bouncing off this screen reveal its musical properties.\\n\\nOK, so that's not the main reason to buy this so...\\n\\nWhat i liked:\\n-Silicone, always love silicone\\n-Not a fine mesh horrible to clean and stains easy metal screen\\n-Cleans up easy with some soap and soft sponge\\n-Looks nice\\n-Feels sturdy\\n\\nWhat's not to like\\n-It's a big disk, but hey, that's the nature of the product\\n-Might not catch all the splatter since the holes are bigger\\n\\nSo yea, the holes are bigger and fewer than a fine mesh metal screen, but i'm completely happy with the tradeoff. You should not that since there is still a lot of surface area, you might get a little steaming effect under it, but plenty of steam does get through the holes.\\n\\nI read some other reviews that mentioned silicone splatter guards smelling after use, but so far after frying bacon and whatnot, no smell is emanating. I'm wondering if those people actually use a sponge and soap to clean it or just rinsed it.\\n\\nAll in all i'm happy to finally find a splatter screen that looks good and cleans up easy.\",\n \"Product: Liven any display or fool your guests with these artificial ice cubes. They are made from acrylic to give them their realistic appearance. These would be ideal for photographers, props masters, or even for crafters. A million uses are possible with a little imagination. Would be adorably cute for winter decoration! Each square is approx. 1-1/3\\\" on each side but just like real ice cubes they are not each perfectly square. Each bag holds approx. 40 ice cubes.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Great for the price, but not perfect\\n\\nReview: We plan on using these for photography, since real ice is impractical. Overall these fit the bill and will work, but aren't quite perfect.\\n\\nThe specs:\\n-They are for decoration, NOT for real drinks.\\n-A little more than an inch big\\n-They do NOT float\\n-The each have bubbles inside\\n-The 2lb bag as around 30 cubes\\n\\nNitpicks/issues:\\n\\n-They have a seam on a side or two, from the mold that they were cast in. Not a big deal, just have to face that side away. i'll probably try to sand and buff it out.\\n-They are all uniform and that i think is also a downside, it would be good if they had a bit more diversity. It's not like they're all perfectly the same, though even if they are, each side of each one is different, so it suffices to pull off the illusion of diversity.\\n\\nIn the end, i wish i could have found glass cubes, but they would certainly be more expensive. These will work for what we need them for, and i imagine they would work just fine for regular decorative use as well.\",\n \"Product: With Starfrit's new 12.5 \\\" silicone splatter screen, you can avoid the messy clean up after cooking with oil or frying greasy foods. Simply cover your fry pan with Starfrit's splatter screen . The silicone handle provides a solid grip. Plus the Silicone is heat resistant up to 465F and it won't scratch your cookware.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Finally a splatter guard that i like\\n\\nReview: Everyone's missing the point: this thing makes for a great musical instrument!\\n\\nOK but seriously, the silicone is stretched over the wire frame for a nice tight feel, and sometimes i make popcorn in a saucepan and i decided to put this on top instead of the lid so that steam could escape but not the popcorn. Once the corn started popping, the music started. The kernels bouncing off this screen reveal its musical properties.\\n\\nOK, so that's not the main reason to buy this so...\\n\\nWhat i liked:\\n-Silicone, always love silicone\\n-Not a fine mesh horrible to clean and stains easy metal screen\\n-Cleans up easy with some soap and soft sponge\\n-Looks nice\\n-Feels sturdy\\n\\nWhat's not to like\\n-It's a big disk, but hey, that's the nature of the product\\n-Might not catch all the splatter since the holes are bigger\\n\\nSo yea, the holes are bigger and fewer than a fine mesh metal screen, but i'm completely happy with the tradeoff. You should not that since there is still a lot of surface area, you might get a little steaming effect under it, but plenty of steam does get through the holes.\\n\\nI read some other reviews that mentioned silicone splatter guards smelling after use, but so far after frying bacon and whatnot, no smell is emanating. I'm wondering if those people actually use a sponge and soap to clean it or just rinsed it.\\n\\nAll in all i'm happy to finally find a splatter screen that looks good and cleans up easy.\",\n \"Product: Liven any display or fool your guests with these artificial ice cubes. They are made from acrylic to give them their realistic appearance. These would be ideal for photographers, props masters, or even for crafters. A million uses are possible with a little imagination. Would be adorably cute for winter decoration! Each square is approx. 1-1/3\\\" on each side but just like real ice cubes they are not each perfectly square. Each bag holds approx. 40 ice cubes.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Great for the price, but not perfect\\n\\nReview: We plan on using these for photography, since real ice is impractical. Overall these fit the bill and will work, but aren't quite perfect.\\n\\nThe specs:\\n-They are for decoration, NOT for real drinks.\\n-A little more than an inch big\\n-They do NOT float\\n-The each have bubbles inside\\n-The 2lb bag as around 30 cubes\\n\\nNitpicks/issues:\\n\\n-They have a seam on a side or two, from the mold that they were cast in. Not a big deal, just have to face that side away. i'll probably try to sand and buff it out.\\n-They are all uniform and that i think is also a downside, it would be good if they had a bit more diversity. It's not like they're all perfectly the same, though even if they are, each side of each one is different, so it suffices to pull off the illusion of diversity.\\n\\nIn the end, i wish i could have found glass cubes, but they would certainly be more expensive. These will work for what we need them for, and i imagine they would work just fine for regular decorative use as well.\",\n \"Product: Norpro's red knock-down silicone steamer and strainer helps preserve flavor and nutrients by steaming. Also ideal as a strainer. Stay cool non-slip handle and will rest over your pot or bowl with cylindrical shape and hook. Knocks down for easy storing.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: I use this thing too much!!\\n\\nReview: UPDATE: After 2 years of use, still using it almost every day, still works 100%!\\n\\nOK, i love this thing. A little too much.\\n\\nIt's a strainer and a steamer basket, two things i needed. It performs both tasks marvelously!\\n\\nAs a steamer,\\nyou'll need a pot/saucepan thats at least as wide as this is, and there's a little leeway in how much larger it can be. Suffice it to say, you probably have a pot that will match it just fine. We have two pots that work and the lids fit just fine over the steamer.\\n\\nThe metal that holds this thing together does a good job, and while it can get hot in the handle, it always stays cool enough to handle. Thanks Silicone!\\n\\nAs a strainer,\\nit works just as well. The holes are a good size, definitely bigger than usual strainers, so certain thinner/smaller foods can poke through, but it hasn't been much of an issue with anything we've cooked.\\n\\nCleaning wise, if you give this thing a quick rise right after you use it, that's all it needs much of the time. For certain foods that stick we'll give it a good scrub and it's peachy.\\n\\nCollapsing it is brilliant, just push it all the way through itself and then pop it back the other way a bit. i hang it on a hook rack flat against the wall.\\n\\nI can't see any real way to improve on this product, maybe offer different sizes? I dunno, i love the heck out of it!\",\n \"Product: The Fred and Friends M-CUPS RED Measuring Matroyshkas Dry Measure Cups are a handy way to keep measuring cups for your recipes. This 6-cup set includes 1/4 cup, 1/3 cup, 1/2 cup, 2/3 cup, 3/4 cup, and 1-cup sizes. The cups are made from high impact polystyrene. Measure dry ingredients for your recipes with this dry measure cup set. These cups nest inside each other for easy and efficient storage. The bottoms and tops of each doll stand are flattened to stand upright.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: My wife is Ukrainian, so i just had to.\\n\\nReview: Design wise, A+ for creativity, just brilliant.\\n\\nI don't think you can store more measuring cups in the same space than this does, and to do so whilst appearing like a decoration? A very nice touch indeed.\\n\\nThese are just basic plastic, so they aren't going to make your usual matroyshkas feel bad. They are thick enough that i don't fear they'll break during regular usable.\\n\\nThe two main downsides to this design are:\\n\\n-You have to open up every one of them to get to the smaller cups.\\n-No handles means you might get dirty (oh deary me, no!)\\n\\nSo to be honest neither of those things bothers me much. But i took a star off because yes, other measuring cups don't share such issues. maybe they could have worked in some stubby handles, but it would have ruined the cheekiness of the design. I don't cook every single day, so maybe someone who does more regular measuring and has issues getting their hands dirty(contradiction...) would have more issues with it. Then again, i don't imagine any serious chef using these, i'd imagine them using some high end, atomically stable, micron accurate measuring apparatus.\",\n \"Product: One of our signature design, designed and inspired by blooming teas, Teapot Amber Juliet 20 oz makes tea drinking an unforgettable experience. Crystal clear high quality glass allows tea lovers to watch each bloom unfolding. This mouth blown glass teapot comes with pink rose on top. Pink handle adds elegant touch to the design. This teapot is designed to be used for blooming tea. it can also be used to steep loose leave teas. The glass teapot Juliet is made of special lead freeglass that can handle temperature shock. It allows you to pour directly boiling water or iced cold water in without breaking it. It's also dishwasher top rack and microwave safe. The special feature NON-DRIPPING makes tea drinking a more enjoyable experience. Its handle has anti slip design, which makes it easy to grab. Gift ready packaging. Tea Beyond won the 2009 World Tea Champion and is a AKA stamp recipient (Ashley Koff Approved).The AKA stamp of approval is a trusted sign that the product, menu, recipe or gadget has been evaluated and approved by Celebrity Registered Dietitian Ashley Koff to be better quality and a healthier choice. Tea Beyond believes Better quality tea for Better Health. All tea Beyond products are made of materials from nature, such as glass, stainless steel, tea, herbs, et. No plastic parts. No GMO. No Artificial flavors or artificial addictive added. Our glass tea-wares are made of 20% recycled glass, better for the environment.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Thoughts from a man: Lovely looking & brews fine tea, see the video review!\\n\\nReview: <div id=\\\"video-block-R3U64XLYFFHIZ1\\\" class=\\\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\\\"></div><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D1tKWW762ES.mp4\\\" class=\\\"video-url\\\"><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/11htNCs0Z0S.png\\\" class=\\\"video-slate-img-url\\\"> Make no mistake, this pot isn't just about brewing tea, it's about having a display piece. As a man, i typically don't care so much for all glass things because i fear i'll break it. Having a wife on the other hand balances that out, and here we are with a pretty little teapot.\\n\\nThe star of this show is the blooming tea buds, which i show in the video(note that in the video i used the infuser, but did so only for filming purposes, for blooming tea you just drop the bud into the pot without the infuser!) So let's run through some thoughts:\\n\\n-Feels overall well made\\n-Some chipping around the infuser slits (from when they cut it, nothing has come off during use)\\n-Slits circulate water decently enough, but also let some silt through\\n-Big enough for 2 cups\\n-Handle has big bumps which looks nice and gives some grip\\n-Butterfly on top looks nice, is a decent handle, and feels thick/not fragile\\n-Looks good in the glass cabinet\\n-Quality of the tea beyond tea is very nice\\n-Brewing the blooming tea buds is a new experience that is pretty darn pretty!(see the video)\\n-All glass means you can visibly see the color/strength of the tea\\n\\nAbout the slits/circulation\\nI get what they were going for: all glass, so having a metal mesh for a infuser would dampen the looks. For what they are, the slits do a good job of circulation, but of course a full mesh would provide more. Keep in mind you do a lot of circulation when you first pour the hot water over the tea leaves, and a dunk or two of the infuser before pouring can finish it off. Form over function obviously applies here.\\n\\nSo all in all, it gets 5 stars for its looks, and i take a star off for the slits for being chipped and not circulating water as well as mesh/alternatives, as well as being inherently not as durable as say... steel or thick ceramic, but then again this is a teapot for those who want a display piece, not a rough utility. It very well could be more durable than i think it is, but my preference would be to have something that feels a bit beefier. Maybe that's just the caveman in me.\\n\\nDisclaimer: I was requested to review this item by tea beyond. As always, i only put forward my honest thoughts.\",\n \"Product: The Milliard Convoluted Memory Foam Mattress Topper is designed for maximum comfort from head to toe, promoting a healthier and more restful sleep. Milliard is dedicated to creating the perfect mattress topper for your comfort and security. Sleep better with less tossing and turning with Milliard Toppers.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Added just the right mount of support & cushy-ness to my stiff mattress\\n\\nReview: My wife likes no topper at all, and i gave up trying to find something that works for the both of us, so i just decided to find what i like and cut it in half. I wanted something that would sort of fill in the blanks of my body instead of create a whole other mattress on top of my mattress. I looked around for a 1\\\", but those are for some reason scarce.\\n\\ni'm 5'9\\\" 180lbs, they say the bigger you are, the thicker you should get. i used to use a 2\\\" flat topper which i liked, though sometimes the flat surface felt a bit stiff in the cold months before i warmed it up. I reasoned that a 2\\\" egg crate topper would give me some of that lovely memory foam sinking feeling, while not taking away all the firmness of my mattress.\\n\\nWhat i liked:\\n-Egg crate style feels more natural than a flat foam,\\n-Ventilation holes. Can't tell by the photo, but there ARE holes, i have no idea if they actually do anything, but nice touch.\\n-Good density, doesn't feel flimsy like lower density ones, probably a little over 3 pounds.\\n-Well made. sounds odd, but there are some pretty shoddy, non-uniform foam toppers out there.\\n-Reasonable initial smell. They all smell at the start, this one wasn't bad, and after a day it was barely noticable.\\n\\nSo how did i make use of this when my wife doesn't like it? We have a queen mattress, so i bought the queen size, and took a sharrp knife and cut it down the middle, but rather than make a 90 degree cut, i cut it on an angle so it's like a little ramp. wasn't the straightest cut in the world but the idea worked and it isn't as awkward as you might think having half the bed with foam and the other half without. We're snugglers and this method hasn't affected our snugglin' time.\\n\\nUPDATE:\\nThe wife asked me to put the other half back in! It's been a few months now since she decided to give it a try and she's never looked back. Good thing i kept the other half!\\n\\nI can also say that despite being a side sleeper, i haven't experienced back pain from sleeping in quite some time\",\n \"Product: This beautiful 3-pack of vanilla scented, cream colored flameless LED pillar candles are made from real wax to feel like real candles. The patented, realistic wick design means the candle looks great on or off. It features an authentic flicker and the glow provides a true candlelight experience. It can be used anywhere, anytime by anyone. It also includes a convenient 5-hour timer, which turns the candle on and off at the same time every day. It comes with a remote control. A great feature to turn on and off in hard to reach places. Up to 500 hour battery run time on 2 AA batteries, which are not included.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: It seems ridiculous at first, but brilliant once you set them up.\\n\\nReview: I'm a fan of real candles, but who wants to buy and light them every night?\\n\\nThese candles are real wax, which looks good, they smell good too, but that goes away in about a week.\\n\\nthe flickering is satisfyingly random and lifelike, which is both good and bad, the bad is that they are always flickering as if a light breeze is always present. i'm being picky here, it's not really a bad thing, i just would have given the flicker a bit more 'breezeless' periods. again, nitpicking.\\n\\nthese are some smart damn candles.\\n\\nthe timer is really the brilliant part, it sounds ridiculous, but it's brilliant. you can do 5 or 10 hours, we do 5, starting from a little after sundown. the timer repeats the same time every day, so set it and forget it. its clever that you can set the timer from the bottom of each candle, or via the remote which you can point at all the candles or each on their own, and if the signal is received it'll blink to let you know.\\n\\nYou can also turn them on or off manually or with the remote. they thought of everything....\\n\\nAnd im very thankful they use regular standard batteries, a pair in each, which last a long time. we're over 2 months now on the first set and i think i see some dimming happening, but still going strong.\\n\\nIf you like ambiance, and like convenience, get em, they're just great.\",\n \"Product: Breeze through food preparation tasks with the beautifully designed Chef'n StemGem Strawberry Huller. You can even get the kids involved in kitchen prep with this simple, safe, and effective alternative to hulling or coring with a knife. Simply insert the stainless steel claw, push gently, and twist out the stem of strawberries to leave the sweet flesh intact for filling and more. The strawberry stem remover's bold colors and style make this tool easy to find in the drawer. When your sweet treat is ready, easily clean the strawberry tool in the top rack of the dishwasher.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great multi use device, works great in bed and hostile environments\\n\\nReview: What can i say about the StemGem Strawberry Stem Remover?\\n\\nThat it saved our marriage? Yes.\\n\\nThat it saved the starving children in Ethiopia? Yes\\n\\nThat if you purchase it, all of your sins and worries will wash away with your next shower? Guaranteed, read it on the label.\\n\\nLet's go over the amazing multi purpose features of this nobel prize worthy device:\\n\\nButt plug.\\nOh you didn't notice its shape did you? why yes indeed this makes for a superior but plug, that soft grip made for your hands feels delightful up the old brown fruit bowl. but BEWARE! even the slightest press of that button is sure to de-stem your partner's rectum and believe you me, anal bleeding is no childrens ride at the fair. aint cheap too, especially with obamacare.\\n\\nNegotiating tool.\\nWhether it be an angry mob, a ledge jumper, or senile grandparent, this device can fix the situation. Just hold it up in front of the problem human(s), and say BEHOLD!. Immediately their faces will turn from anger and malice, to confusion and wonder. What is it? they will plea. and you will demonstrate the retractable pincers, and their eyes will glow. Then to finally disperse the crowd, simply demonstrate its use as a buttplug, that usually gets me running.\\n\\nOh yea and i hear it also de-stems strawberries. i haven't tried this yet but i can see that working well too\",\n \"Product: Coffee grinder for coffee lovers great tasting coffee made by hand wherever you want the AFL Products ceramic burr coffee grinder could be the end to your search for a coffee maker grinder. Sleek stainless steel design and hand crank offering full control of consistency of grind with fully adjustable ceramic conical burr. Can't carry your home electric blade coffee grinder with you? Travel with this portable coffee maker in its waterproof bag tofulfil your coffee needs wherever you may be. Designed to fit into an aero press coffee maker want the best coffee you can? Turkish, Cuban, espresso, Greek or the base for an amazing latte or cappuccino. Whatever you prefer this coffee mill grinder will grind coffee beans for your great tasting fresh coffee. Hate instant coffee at work? Take this manual coffee maker to work. Quickly make fresh coffee with this portable coffee grinder. Introducing the AFL Products I love coffee grinders modern design - sleek, slim, small and stainless steel manual coffee mill that looks great and is compatible with aero press versatile - ready for espresso Turkish coffee and French press coffee and also great as a spice grinder small and compact - portable coffee maker that at 18cm tall and 5 cm wide. Easy to store and travel .\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: A fine grinder that is easy to use, just be sure to wash it thoroughly before use!\\n\\nReview: <div id=\\\"video-block-R4GO0YTR89S59\\\" class=\\\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\\\"></div><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/E1oQm1%2BfoaS.mp4\\\" class=\\\"video-url\\\"><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81fcr7zQHlS.png\\\" class=\\\"video-slate-img-url\\\"> My wife and i drink coffee maybe a couple times a week, so certainly not heavy users. We also don't go for american size cups ever since visiting europe. To day we have used preground coffee, and more recently a nutribullet to grind some beans. A proper coffee grinder has been on my list for awhile, so when i was offered this one in exchange for an honest review, i indeed accepted it!\\n\\nAfter about a dozen cups, i can say i'm satisfied with it, we've used it mostly at home, but also taken it with us on some trips. It's easy enough to toss into a bag and go with you. But if you're going backpacking, it might tip your scales a bit too much. Here's the breakdown:\\n\\n-Feels well made, parts are solid\\n-Easy(ish) to grind, especially for fine\\n-A quality grind for fine, not as quality for coarse\\n-Significant chemical smell on the knob and bag(see more below)\\n-A heck of a lot quieter than an electric grinder, great for early mornings where family members are sleeping.\\n-About 19cm tall, 10oz in weight when filled with some coffee.\\n\\nThe smell\\nThe first thing i do when i receive a product made in china is to smell it. This is because a lot of factories over there don't properly clean items after being manufactured. I certainly don't want chemicals in my diet, so i sniff them out. This product came in a packaging which i could already smell something on. The actual unit itself smelled OK except for the plastic knob, the bag however... wow, a strong odor was present. I washed everything in warm soap water and thankfully the knob and grinder smell fine. The bag however... still strong and terrible, i will not be using it. I will try soaking it for longer in soap, and will report back if successful\\n\\nAdjusting the grind\\nI'm not an expert on grind quality, but it's easy to see if you're getting something chunky, fine, consistent, etc... With this grinder i found it to produce better results when set to a finer grind. There are no markers or notches, so there's no way to really identify what exactly you're getting until you try it out. For my purposes I've been fine just tightening it down a bit and producer fairly fine grounds.\\n\\nOverall, aside from the smell issue, it's been a good product. It feels well made and i've been using it fairly regularly with no issue. I also like that it saves me from purchasing another electric appliance that takes up space, this stores away easy and/or takes up little counter space while also looking nice.\",\n \"Product: For many photographers, the 28mm focal length is the ideal general purpose wide angle lens. Its wide enough for most scenic and landscape assignments and when used indoors for building interiors or groups of people, its wide angle effect is not as extreme as with shorter focal length lenses. A forgiving wide angle lens for newcomers to wide angle photography and highly effective for professionals with its EX construction and fast 1.8 aperture. This high speed performance is excellent for photojournalists doing low-light documentary photography and its use of two aspherical lens elements assures excellent optical performance.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Years worth of sharp, great video\\n\\nReview: I mostly use this for video, and for that i have been very satisfied. It mainly has been used on my FF 5D2. The only 3 lenses i would bring with me when shooting events were this, the 50mm 1.8, and the 28-135. The zoom got all the daytime use, and then the other two would take care of all the night stuff.\\n\\nWhat i like about it:\\n\\n-Feels solid, but isn't overly heavy(it ain't light though)\\n-Sharp wide open (my copy at least)\\n-Wide on FF, and normal on a crop body, like my C100\\n-Fast of course\\n-Smooth focus ring(not butter smooth, but smoother than the average modern photo lens)\\n-focus ring has stops at macro and infinity\\n-well controlled distortion\\n-77mm threads, which match most of my other lenses\\n\\nNitpicks:\\n-no full time manual, and there's a switch and a clutch to pull to switch manual/auto focus\\n-for photos, my autofocus was off. most modern SLRs have a microadjustment which fixes it.(like the 5D)\\n\\nFOV on FF vs cropped.\\nThis was my wide angle go-to lens for the 5D, it has MUCH less distortion(if any at all) than the 28-135 at the wide end, but that's a given. Now i'm shooting more with the C100, and this just still gets use, it just became my fast normal lens instead of being wide.\\n\\nEspecially for events where you many times will like to have a closeup shot that also has lots of what's going on in the background, and the ability have that background just a bit blurred out so your closeup person pops out\\n\\nMacro\\nisn't it's main thing, but it is quite fun to focus on things when they're an inch away from the lens, gives an interesting perspective that's occasionally useful/entertaining.\",\n \"Product: The Lee Quick Location Pack - 24 Sheets (10 x 12\\\") contains a variety of color corrections, effect, and light shaping tools to control common lighting conditions. Each pack contains a select assortment of 10 x 12\\\" precut sheets of lighting filter. Please see includes section for filters that are in this kit\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: A very good assortment of gels to get you going - Avoid cheaper alternatives\\n\\nReview: A solid set to have. These work great on many Fresnel and open face lights. They may also work with panel type lights such as larger LED and tube fixtures like kinos. Measure first!\\n\\nQuality\\nYes these are quality, heat resistant, color accurate gels. Be wary of cheap gells which can melt easy, catch fire, or just simply look bad. This is a good investment to make.\\n\\nSize\\nI wish they were 2 inches longer, but not a dealbreaker. since you get more than 1 of each color, i taped two side by side to cover a 2 foot CFL fixture. No problem.\\n\\nVariety\\nThis pack probably isn't targeted at the big pros, who will typically by rolls of each gel. That aside, it comes with a very good assortment of commonly used gels, you can always add to it.\\n\\nThe case\\nCheap, barely suitable, but head to any dollar store and you can probably nab something that will work just fine. You can also DIY the case by slicing the sides off, and adding a strap/bungee/etc... so that you can open the whole thing flat open, and then secure it closed again. No i haven't done that, but it's a thought for those of your DIY'ers out there.\",\n \"Product: The Lee Quick Location Pack - 24 Sheets (10 x 12\\\") contains a variety of color corrections, effect, and light shaping tools to control common lighting conditions. Each pack contains a select assortment of 10 x 12\\\" precut sheets of lighting filter. Please see includes section for filters that are in this kit\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: A very good assortment of gels to get you going - Avoid cheaper alternatives\\n\\nReview: A solid set to have. These work great on many Fresnel and open face lights. They may also work with panel type lights such as larger LED and tube fixtures like kinos. Measure first!\\n\\nQuality\\nYes these are quality, heat resistant, color accurate gels. Be wary of cheap gells which can melt easy, catch fire, or just simply look bad. This is a good investment to make.\\n\\nSize\\nI wish they were 2 inches longer, but not a dealbreaker. since you get more than 1 of each color, i taped two side by side to cover a 2 foot CFL fixture. No problem.\\n\\nVariety\\nThis pack probably isn't targeted at the big pros, who will typically by rolls of each gel. That aside, it comes with a very good assortment of commonly used gels, you can always add to it.\\n\\nThe case\\nCheap, barely suitable, but head to any dollar store and you can probably nab something that will work just fine. You can also DIY the case by slicing the sides off, and adding a strap/bungee/etc... so that you can open the whole thing flat open, and then secure it closed again. No i haven't done that, but it's a thought for those of your DIY'ers out there.\",\n \"Product: The standard of our light stands, this 6 foot stand is the one youll find in the most of our lighting kits. Strong enough to hold most equipment yet compact enough for travel; this stand is a Cowboy Studio must have. Made from strong aluminum alloy, it can be used with continuous light, strobe flash lights, and backgrounds.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Unless i really need my bigger stands, i prefer these every time\\n\\nReview: UPDATE: A knob from one of them has broken off. So one star comes off! Other than that i still like them very much, i actually chopped off about 2 inches from one of them so it fits in my carryon luggage!\\n\\nI have numerous stands, they all have a purpose, and these serve the purpose of being the least obtrusive and portable. I find myself preferring these when i reach for a stand.\\n\\nWhat i like:\\n\\n-Stores into 21\\\", which if inserted diagonally, will fit into carryon size luggage\\n-Goes just high enough to get a high over the shoulder of a sit down interview\\n-Sturdy enough for small to even some medium size/weight lights. max load of 3.5lb i'll believe.\\n-Almost all metal\\n-Close to half the price of the equivalent manfrotto.\\n\\nWhat's nitpickable:\\n\\n-Taller would be nice, if they added another section and thickened everything up\\n-Knobs not metal, and do require snug tightening to ensure it's locked\\n-If it were just 1.5inches shorter, it would fit strait into carryon size luggage, no diagonal needed.\\n\\nLight stands aren't a complicated thing, so that pretty much sums this one up. The manfrotto will get you a bit better quality if you don't mind the extra $25ish, i somehow got two of these for $30something total, i think it was a price mistake.\\n\\nBut anyways, if you're shooting with small lights like LEDs, or totas/DPs/etc.. these are great to have around, be sure to have some taller stands too, but for shorter needs, these are great. Just don't expect to use any sort of gobo/extension arm on them. The top tube isn't thick enough. Though i did manage to get a flag/reflector holder arm to attach to one of the lower sections. I might have used some gaff tape on that one... don't recall. Lastly, you can add some extra height to these, as there are some light stand height extenders out there, but i'd be sure to only use those for small lights.\",\n \"Product: Product Specifications: o Number of keys: 46 keys & 3 mouse keys o Remote: 199 x 54 x 34 mm o Weight: Around 95g o Compatibility OS: Windows XP with MCE, Vista Premium and Vista Ultimate o Computer: One USB Port o Transmission Distance: 10 meter\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Finally found the solution to making HTPC simpler\\n\\nReview: I'm using this with windows media center for netflix, which by the way was a pain in the A** to get working because the netflix plugin is no longer supported or some stupidity like that. But anyways, that has nothing to do with the remote, which works great!\\n\\nAnd i only just recently figured out that it has a built in mouse, which is that flat large grey thing in the middle, works quite well along with a right and left click button. Most of the time though i'm using the directional buttons just above it, which navigate just fine in WMC. I briefly tried XMBC and it also worked a treat, but i couldn't get netflix working in there, so i haven't used it much\\n\\nAs for the quality, it's like any average universal remote, it doesn't exude quality, but it doesn't feel like it's going to fall apart. If i were to nitpick, i'd ask that the IR adapter be separate from the cable, and have a regular usb connector on it so you can attach any length usb cable you like. It's a really small nitpick, i just picked up a usb extension cable and that got the length i needed.\",\n \"Product: Lens hoods extend and shade the end of lens preventing unwanted light straying into the lens. Since the end of the lens is extended, you get the benefit of some extra protection from accidental impact. Each dedicated lens hood was specifically created to match the specific focal length of the lens it was designed for. Photographers can easily attach the lens hood on the dedicated bayonet mount, and after usage mount the lens hood on the lens in reverse for a compact storage solution.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: It aint perfect, and that's kind of the point\\n\\nReview: Whether you've lost your oem hood, or just want something universal, these things are pretty useful. The basic purpose of any hood is to keep sharp light from hitting your lens and causing flare.\\n\\nHere's the main points:\\n-It's cheap\\n-It can be adapted to any size smaller than it via step rings\\n-It has 3 positions, one of which is basically storage mode.\\n-it's soft and doesn't have any real way of getting broken\\n-You can still use lens caps with it.\\n-It has ridges inside to reduce internal reflections\\n-It has the same size filter threads in front.\\n\\nSo, it can do what it's built to do, but not without some considerations/faults:\\n\\nRound hood vs petal hoods:\\nFirst, if you've every noticed that many oem hoods are a petal shape, not round. That's because we shoot rectangular images, and to avoid having the hood appear in the edges of the frame, they chop out those sections. This is more of an issue for standard and wide angle lenses, telephoto lenses almost always don't need petal hoods.\\nSo does that make this hood useless? not at all, especially considering you have several settings you can use it at. I do find that with my widest lenses, i have to have the hood at the smallest setting, which as i mentioned doesn't really do anything and i consider it storage mode. But that's for very wide, anything regularish wide to normal can make use of the second and third sections.\\n\\nProtection\\nIt does help protect your lens, but it will NOT protect it from a hard hit like a hard plastic hood will.\\n\\nDesign notes\\n-the rubber is attached to the metal ring just by a groove, you can pull the rubber off easily and just as easily get it back on.\\n-When using this with a polarizer, be careful not to use the hood to rotate it, OR be sure you're rotating it in the TIGHTENING direction, or you'll pull a stupid like i did and literally spin the hood off the polarizer and into the pacific ocean...\\n\\nDIY option:\\nTo remedy the issue of wide angle lenses, you can do a simple modification: just cut some notches out of the rubber to create a petal effect. the rubber is soft and easily cuttable, just be sure you measure and make a square, remember you're trying to remove the material which shows up in the corners of the image.\",\n \"Product: Macro bellows are a great accessory for close-up, macro, micro, stereographic, slide/negative copying, and panoramic photography. The precise rack and pinion gear allows every minute before and after movement of your camera set-up for very accurate focusing. The bellows has a locking screw to ensure it does not slip when pointed up or down. The bellows can accommodate heavy cameras and lenses. Any camera with the appropriate adapter can be used with the bellows. The bellows can be mounted on a copy stand, tripod, light stand or any accessorythat accepts a \\\" tripod screw. It can be used outdoors for great nature close-up photography, due to its compact size and light weight.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Clunkier than macro tubes, but yes it gets the job done\\n\\nReview: If you're getting into macro, a bellows or tubes are the cheap way to go. A proper macro lens is the best route, but you can get plenty great results going this route instead.\\n\\nThe basics: moving the lens farther away shortens the close focus distance.\\n\\nSo why would you buy a bellows over a tube? Simple: you can adjust a bellows.\\n\\nThe downside to a bellows is that it's not as solid as a macro tube. This one in particular while mostly metal, feels a bit clunky. After using it, i much prefer a tube.\\n\\nThat being said, this item can get the job done, and if you're just starting out, the ability to dial in the distance you need is handy. Another significant consideration is that this does not have electrical contacts, so if your lens does not have a manual aperture ring, you'll have no control over aperture.\\n\\nWould i buy it again? Na, a set of macro tubes is just as cheap, feels more solid, and can include electrical contacts to maintain aperture control\",\n \"Product: Craig Electronics' 13-Inch High Definition LCD Television features 720p LCD display and ATSC/NTSC system digital tuner on a wide screen flat panel. 2 built-in speakers and a response time of 5ms, as well as auto tune and audio mute make this a great TV choice for your home!\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: If you accept that it's a budget screen in a rare size, you'll likely find it great.\\n\\nReview: I actually bought this to use as a video production monitor, so the director can have an eye on what i'm shooting.\\n\\nThe main reason one would buy this screen is its size. Nowadays people are always trying to go bigger, but some situations just need small. Small is a decreasing market and it's hard to find tvs in this size that have good resolution. Many tvs in this size have a pathetic 800x600ish resolution which looks quite bad.\\n\\nThe main reason i got this was the resolution, it's first tier HD level, so 720p range. That means it's small size actually has smaller pixels than many larger screens.\\n\\nThe resolution is indeed great, images are sharp.\\n\\nThe build quality is not top notch, it's plenty mediocre, thin plastic, if you're looking for the latest in style, this isn't it.\\n\\nThe contrast leaves something to be desired, you can make a satisfying number of adjustments to the image, and i am pleased with it, but i've seen too many better tvs out there, and have to note that the contrast on this one while good, is far from great.\\n\\nThe inputs on this is very impressive, it's got nearly every modern connection out there, so whatever you have, it can likely connect to it.\\n\\nA big thing missing is a VESA mount, meaning you can't wall mount it. though it's so small, you could just put it on a shelf.\\n\\nBasically if you need something small that has a good image, this is a plenty good option, just don't expect the same level of anything that you get with a major brand\",\n \"Product: LCD optical viewfinder is designed for LCD screen viewing of digital camera. It is especially suitable for DSLR High-Definition Video Photography, on-site shooting and viewing the photo etc. It has two framing model: magnification and stand. It is very convenient and practical for the users to switch between them. Characteristics: 1. Two Framing modes: Magnification and stand, can take pictures quickly. 2. Make use of the connection between the LCD screen protector and the viewfinder, it is easy to install and remove. Also ensure the safety of LCD. 3. Support 3\\\" LCD with ratio 4:3, compatible for LCD with ratio 3:2. 4. 3X optical magnification, can observe the details well. 5. Whole sealing structure, it can hold back the light completely while magnification framing or stand framing, you can see the real color of the image. Suitable LCD: 1. 3\\\" 4:3 compatible for 3:2, 2. Nikon D700/ D300S/ D300/ D90/ D7000/ D3100/ D3000 3. CANON 7D/ 1D MARK IV/ 5D MARK II/ T2i/ T1i/ S90 4. Panasonic DMC-GF1 5. Pentax K-7 What's in the box: 1. 1X viewfinder with an eye cup and magnifying lens 2. 1X screen protector 3. 1X strap\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Plastic? Yes. But it's still reasonably solid and VERY useful at a fraction of other brands\\n\\nReview: Overall a great find, if the construction holds up it's a winner.\\n\\nThe flip up design is what really sold me on this vs competitors, i don't really need a diopter but still it's nice to have. and the optics look quite good along with edge to edge view-ability of the LCD. You will get fogging but as you can see i poked a hole at the bottom to help with air circulation. I will likely just buy some anti fog spray to seal the issue.\\n\\nThe build quality\\n\\nYes, it's all plastic except for the optics, though it doesn't feel cheap. The plastic is just thin enough to have some flexibility, and just thick enough to feel sturdy. The hinge will certainly be the weak point, it has some play to it,and im sure i could rip it out if i wanted to. I don't consider this much of an issue though, because i treat my equipment well. If you're the type of person to throw your things around, then buy something all metal and suck up the extra cost. Even if the hinge were to break on this one, you could still just glue it in place and have a perfectly usable non-flip up viewfinder.\\n\\nThe clip-on\\n\\nThe way an LCD viewfinder attaches is where all the manufacturers try to be clever. This unit, does not try to be clever, and i like that about it. It's a basic sticky frame that attaches to the camera, and the viewfinder just snaps into place. No magnets. The snap in feels solid, and the stickyframe feels satisfyingly stuck to the camera. You have a little release lever/button to get it off the camera which works just fine. It's simple, it doesn't get in the way, it just works. I hate other viewfinders which add mounting brackets and whatnot, i don't like extra bulk, and that's where this one excels.\\n\\nThe details\\n\\nThe soft rubber eyepiece is nice, but just barely. Other rubbers are larger and more form fitting, this one is not, but is just enough to be comfortable and block the light. You can rotate it around for left or right use, or take it off altogether. The optics are nice and clear, but no anti-fog, so grab a bottle of defog spray. You also get a diopter, a very important feature for many, and while it's a bit clunky in operation, it gets the job done. You also get a neck stracp attachment so you can keep the unit handy but unattached.\\n\\nConclusion\\n\\nThere are the cheap crappy viewfinders, the expensive viewfinders, and the in betweeners who get the job done. This one is actually cheap and gets the job done. You can spend hundreds of dollars on higher end units, and some of them are totally worth it. But if you're trying to save some cash, a unit like this will absolutely work.\",\n \"Product: There are many precious data and photo memories to savor in our lifetime. The hard drive is still the safest way to store long term sensitive data. MUKii-ZIPO HDD proctor series provides you with the best solutions for all your sensitive data storage with\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Pretty much just what i needed, simple but effective bare drive storage\\n\\nReview: Buying external drives doesn't make sense to me anymore, so i have docks and bare drives.\\n\\nWhy not just store the bare drives as is?\\nBare drives weren't mean to be stored on the shelf, especially for long periods. They are prone to moisture, dust, bugs, spills, falling, etc... So the obvious need is a shell for them to live in.\\n\\nDesign:\\n-It's all one piece of plastic, the hinge being just a thing flexible plastic. That's definitely the weakest link, but i don't get the impression it will break. Inside it's just bare plastic, and inside the top of the lid is a bit of foam. I don't think that foam is there as a shock absorber, as much as it's there just to ensure the drive is held snugly in place. Keep in mind it's not expected that you're going to start throwing this thing around, you should still treat your drives with care.\\n-Then on the outside you have labels facing in several directions, so you can easily mark what's inside.\\n-And then there's a feature which i'm on the wall about. Each case can stack horizontally onto one another, because they put on the front of every case a lifted groove, and on the back, a recessed groove. So they kind of lock into each other. Not a bad idea if you want to store these like that. But i prefer to store them on the side, lid top facing out, and in that case, this groove makes it annoying to try and just pull one drive out. It isn't a huge annoyance, and just leaving some space between them or even a piece of paper between them solves it, but a consideration nonetheless.\\n\\nQuality:\\nFeels like the good kind of plastic, not one that's going to crack for no reason. And a good thickness of it as well, i'm reassured that should an accident happen, this will protect my drive. Keeping realistic of course, if the drive drops out of a 3rd story building, i'm expecting tragedy. This isn't going to replace a pelican hard case with full inside foam.\\n\\nOne last thing to note is that there isn't a seal around the opening, so this isn't water tight. There is however a lip, so it's very unlikely a splash of water is going to get inside. Again, these cases aren't for those wishing to abuse their drives, if you want to play waterpolo with your drives, get a pelican.\",\n \"Product: SDNPF770 Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Battery - Ultra High Capacity (7.4V 4600 mAh) Replacement for Sony NP-F770 Battery.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great OEM alternative, good capacity and performance\\n\\nReview: I also have some lenmar versions of the f770, and while i like those, they don't have fully encircled contacts like this one and the oem does. This is my favorite size F battery, it's twice the capacity of the smaller 950, but not nearly as ungainly as the f970\\n\\n-Looks about the same as OEM\\n-Much cheaper than OEM\\n-Works in OEM charger\\n-Weighs about the same\\n-Seems to have comparable performace\\n-Has thus far acted and been reliable in charging and use\\n-3 year warranty shows commitment\\n\\nOnly possible quirk is you may have differing time remaining/battery indicator bars depending on what camera/accessory you're using. It should give you some sort of reading, but in my experience i've yet to have a non-oem battery give readings exactly like oem. Either way you get an idea of how much juice is left, and that's fine considering the cost savings\",\n \"Product: As the first chassis in the Precision series designed for Micro ATX motherboards, the PS07 has a great balance between size and functionality. It utilizes SilverStone's vaulted positive pressure design with easily removable filters on both the fans and the power supply to prevent dust buildup. Two front mounted 120mm fans can provide capable cooling for a complete build fully loaded with drives and components. To keep the noise profile low, an independent compartment with isolated intake vent for the power supply was implemented to keep PSU operating at optimal temperature. User-friendly touches such as removable motherboard tray and top lid make installation in such small chassis a breeze. But an all new backside cable routing design further increases PS07's ergonomics with room for long power supply cables; thus eliminates the need for short cable kits such as SilverStone's PP05 and allow users to use any power supplies they wish. For those interested in storage flexibility, PS07's ability to accommodate one 2.5\\\" and six 3.5\\\" hard drives are greatly appreciated as well. Using an elegant front panel combined with aluminum accent makes PS07 at home in any environment with a clean, hidden side intake helping to minimize and direct noise away from users. If there is a need for a relatively small, understated, quiet, and advanced PC, the PS07 is a perfect choice.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: I wanted a smaller case that didn't compromise, and i got it.\\n\\nReview: I have been living with a 'medium' tower for years, and my perception of it was never 'medium'. So i was on the lookout for a smaller case for awhile, the trouble is, you need to be certain your motherboard will fit, as the name of the item states, it's NOT a full ATX tower, and will only fit micro and mini boards. Thankfully my current mobo fits the bill.\\n\\nI did look at the other competitors, including some of the other Silverstone models, but this one just seem to have an edge on design, it ticked the most boxes for me.\\n\\nSome points that i liked:\\n-2 front 3.5\\\" bays, which i use for a hard drive hot swap, and a card reader. i keep my dvd drive external since i never use it.\\n-2 usb3 ports in front\\n-large quiet fans that suck from the sides\\n-smallest footprint of any case while not compromising flexibility\\n-Fits large heatsinks such as the hyper 212+\\n-Quality that is good, not exceptional, but plenty good, i don't care if the front panel isn't pretty aluminum.\\n\\nSize:\\nIt's no mac mini, but then again we're talking about no compromise. This thing hacks off a good chunk of what bothered me about the medium tower. Mainly, i realized i don't use hard drive space, SSDs take up far less room, and i prefer to have external docks/hard drives instead of having them internal, so i didn't need the dozen trays of the larger tower. this one has just the right amount, and i'm not even using them, since they also made a clever little slot just for an SSD, which is out of the way and takes up basically no room at all. If you look at it, you realize it's about as small as you can physically make a tower that doesn't need proprietary parts.\\n\\nDesign\\nThis case is probably not for someone who makes frequent trips inside their computer, it's not difficult at all to build your system, but if you don't have patience or attention to detail, i can see it being less than a pleasant experience. In particular, the cable routing is something that cannot just be shoved around, they include plenty of ways to route your cables intelligently, and if you don't read up on those methods and just push cables wherever you please, you'll likely run into issues. They also built in options for you, such as the top rear vent which you can choose to use or not depending on how you mount your PSU, and the other rear fan space they included in case you want to add a bit more flow. And the hard drive caddy is removable, in case you need to fit some larger PCIE components.\\n\\nFans and noise\\nI love the airflow. the two fans in the front such air not from the front, but from either side, brilliant! There's also an easy to remove dust guard. The noise is very quiet, it's not dead silent, but i've never once been bothered by the low hum. I would prefer if it moved a bit more air, but then again, i've yet to have any heat alarm go off. I do not overclock, nor do i game, but i do heavily edit HD video. Vibrations are minimal, but that's probably because i don't have any spinning disks in it. They also included some nice soft rubbery feet, to ensure any vibrations from your aging raptor drives don't transfer and resonate into your floor.\\n\\nSpace inside\\nit can hold a few hard drives, and amazingly, it can accomodate a full 12\\\" video card, something many smaller cases cannot. And even better, since they made the case just a tad bit wider, it can fit a large heatsink, like my coolermaster hyper 212+, and still a wee bit of room to spare. They also put in a little support bar for such large heatsinks, i don't know if that thing actually does anything, but hey it's a bonus and perhaps reassuring. It seems they really thought out how to squeeze everything in there when designing this.\\n\\nBuilding it\\nLike i mentioned, read the manual, get familiar, take your time. I'm an experienced builder and yes i know the feeling of hey, i can build anything in 5 min, i don't need a manual, blah blah... You'll save yourself plenty of headache if you ditch that ego, just read through the manual to see the tidbits of how this case was designed.\\n\\nConsensus\\nI got just what i wanted. If you're looking for a small case that is built and designed well, and let's you use most of what you're used to using in a build, then i definitely recommend this one.\",\n \"Product: Connect a Lightning plug to a USB port with the Macally Lightning-to-USB Cable. This high-speed cable is perfect for all iPhone, iPod and iPad devices equipped with a Lightning socket.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: It works, it's certified, feels nice, and a built in velcro tie to boot!\\n\\nReview: I was provided this neat little cable for review, promising only my brutally honest thoughts.\\n\\nFirst impression of the cable is very nice, love the built in velcro tie, and overall feels well made. So here's the breakdown:\\n\\n-6 feet is a great length, twice the usual stock cable\\n-Thickness is good, a little bit stiff, but easily pliable.\\n-Ends are plastic/rubber, but feel solid\\n-Connectors look/feel like good metal.\\n-It's MFI/Apple certified, so you know it's held to at least some higher standard\\n-Built in velcro tie is a great idea, the only time it's a little awkward is when plugging into a laptop and it just dangles around.\\n-And above all, it just works! tried on 2 different phones and no quirks/issues to speak of.\\n\\nCables are a pretty straitforward thing, do they work and will they last are the two main questions. In this case it does work, and given the apparent build quality and MFI/Apple certification, it looks likely that it will last a good amount of time. Unless of course you abuse it.\",\n \"Product: 1.0 Introduction This is a kind of upgrade HDMI Repeater. It extends the length of HDMI cable up to 35M by regenerating the HDMI signal before it sends the outputs to the HDMI monitor or projector. Meanwhile, according to the length of HDMI cable the special designed EQ can be adjusted to reach the best transmission function. This HDMI Repeater adopts the iron shell for better EMI elimination and it will clean out the digital noise (sparkles) in your picture. With the unique designed structure, this repeater can be fixed up with the donated nogs in L shape. This repeater compatible well for HD-DVD,SKY-STB, PS3, Xbox36etc. It offers solutions for residential consumers: HDTV retail and show site, HDTV, STUB, DVD and Projector factories, noise, space and security concerns, data center control, information distribution, conference room presentation, school and corporate training environments. 2.0 SPECIFICATIONS Input Video Signal :HDMI Signal HDMI Input/Output Connector:Type A 19 pin Output Video: HDMI 1.3b Vertical Frequency Range: 50/60Hz Video Amplifier Bandwidth: 2.25Gbps/225MHz Interlaced Resolutions(50&60Hz):480i,576i,1080i Progressive Resolutions(50&60Hz): 480p,576p,720p,1080p Size(L-W-H): 50X40X26 mm Weight (Net): 78g Operating Temperature:0 to +70 Operating Humidity:10% to 85 % RH (no condensation) Storage Temperature:-10 to +80 Storage Humidity: 5% to 90 % RH (no condensation) External Power Supply:HDMI Cable Power Consumption:3W Converter Unit: FCC,CE 3.0 Package Contents 1) Main unit. x1 2) Two L shape nogs x1 3) One nut x1 4) Users Manual. (English Version )x1\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Tried this and cat6, both worked totally fine for 100'+ runs\\n\\nReview: I picked up one of these along with a cat6 hdmi system for a couple of long runs for an event. We ran a line in this configuration: Splitter>50'hdmi>Portta repeater>75' Blue rigger hdmi with inline repeater>TV. Signal worked totally as normal.\\n\\nAt first i tried just using a coupler between the 50' and 75' cables, and as expected, no signal. Then added in the Portta repeater (without 5v power supply) and the signal came through. I had it set to #1. I did test #0 at home with some other cables, and the signal was somewhat in/out, and setting to #1 got things solid.\\n\\nVs Cat6\\nBoth systems i tried worked with no issues. If you just need 100', i think 2x 50' hdmi cables along with this Portta repeater would be a fine solution unless it's an in-wall run. If you need longer, or it's in-wall use, i would definitely go for cat6 because it can do nearly 200' in a single run, and the converter boxes are at the end of the run instead of in the middle, so they're accessible/powered right where you can get at them if you need to.\",\n \"Product: The Blackmagic Design Production Camera 4K is a complete self contained solution for shooting extremely high resolution Ultra HD 4K content! You get a large Super 35 size sensor with professional global shutter combined with precision EF mount optics, visually lossless compressed CinemaDNG RAW and Apple ProRes 422 (HQ) file recording and 12 stops of dynamic range, as well as a 6G-SDI output! Monitor in high resolution on the built in touchscreen, plus change menus and enter metadata. Includes sun shield, power supply, carry strap, UltraScope waveform monitoring software and a full version of DaVinci Resolve software for Mac OS X and Windows. Shoot Ultra HD TV or 4K feature films with the new Blackmagic Design Production Camera 4K. You get a large Super 35 size sensor with professional global shutter combined with precision EF mount optics, high quality visually lossless compressed CinemaDNG RAW and Apple ProRes 422 (HQ) file recording for a complete self contained solution. The built in touchscreen lets you monitor, change settings and enter metadata directly on the camera! The latest high end televisions and video projectors support Ultra HD which is four times the resolution of 1080 HD. The Blackmagic Design Production Camera 4K creates visually lossless compressed CinemaDNG RAW and ProRes 422 (HQ) files that are perfect for editing and grading with the software tools you already own. Now you can shoot the most amazing high resolution music videos, episodi\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: If you can deal with the quirks, It's a FANTASTIC image for the dollar\\n\\nReview: It's early in the game for the Blackmagic design 4K camera, the long overdue camera has ever increasing competition such as the GH4 and the Sony cameras which seem to pop out of every nook and cranny. Despite that, the Blackmagic 4K camera still has what no one else does, namely: Global shutter, prores, RAW(eventually), SSDs, price.\\n\\nThis review will get longer and more detailed as i log more hours with the camera.\\n\\nPreface for expectations\\n\\nIf there is one thing i would insist people know before even thinking about this camera: It's that Blackmagic Design, is NOT a camera company. If you can process and understand that, and curb your typical camera expectations, then you'll see this camera for what it is. What i've come to calling it, is the most beautiful pain in the ass you can buy. Why is that? Again, because blackmagic is not a camera company. See, camera companies have had years and boatloads of money to research, design, optimize, etc... in all the areas of making a camera. What shape should it be, how will it be held, how is it powered, etc...Blackmagic doesn't have this, what they do have, is an expertise in hardware and software for just about everything but cameras. This is their strong point, because the sensor was the only thing that they needed to have brought in (supposedly). Everything else they could do in house. But simply looking at their average product, you see mostly boxes, very simple designs because those types of products don't typically need anything fancier. But with cameras, things are totally different, because humans will be handling them in many different ways. It's completely understandable that they chose to keep it simple and just make a box, again, because it's not within their repertoire and they had to keep costs down somewhere.\\n\\nThis is why we have to keep in mind what we're looking at, because it's unconventional in a number of ways. If you're used to consumer/prosumer end stuff, this will be very different for you in many ways. If you're used to higher end items such as RED which require bits and pieces, then this will still be a bit different, but not entirely unfamiliar. This camera has a good number of negative sides, but the fact remains that it puts out an image that far exceeds its price tag, and that's what were here for. So let's dive in and see how we can work with it.\\n\\nOverview of the goods:\\n\\n-4K - OK you can nitpick that 3840 isn't 4000, regardless, it's very sharp and very detailed\\n-s35/Aps-C sized sensor - solves the issue of odd crop factor over the original BMC\\n-Global Shutter - unheard of! most of even the big boys don't have this yet. No more skew/jello\\n-Prores & RAW(not yet) - You get every little 'bit' of goodness\\n-VERY well controlled Moire & Aliasing!\\n-Takes SSDs - makes perfect sense over sd/cf cards, just be sure to buy an approved one\\n-Dead simple interface - a monkey can do it!\\n-Quick startup and powerdown\\n-The focus peaking is excellent, one of the best i've tried.\\n-$2995. Again, $2995. No seriously, you need to let that sink in before you nitpick.\\n-Takes 11-30volts - More of a consolation prize for the lack of a battery system, but it can take a wide range of 3rd party systems.\\nAnd the not so goods:\\n\\n-ISO - Maxes at 800, but it's better at 400. underexposing is actually quite good...\\n-Quality control still an issue, people have varying luck\\n-Highlight issues - Supposedly fixed in prior cameras, so whats the deal?\\n-Lacks basic camera operations - No time remaining indicator, no shot delete, no audio meters, etc...\\n-30fps max - if you like slow motion, look elsewhere\\n-The monitor isn't bad, but it isn't very good - It's reflective, and not very high resolution\\n-EOS-M mount would have been perfect...\\n-Internal battery life is short, but stretchable if you really need it. External batteries are widely available but not very small or easily attached.\\n\\nQuality control/problems\\n I wanted to lead with this because it's the first thing that is a serious concern. At the moment i have mostly praise for the image out of this camera, but in keeping an eye out on the net, i've seen more than just a few people having problems with their cameras, both the older models and this new one. Black magic's cameras have great specs, but the varying issues are far higher in number than the big manufacturers. If you are wary of such things, you should probably steer clear. It's something i may even return mine over, i'm still on the fence in testing. Black sunspot is one issue that's widespread, It's odd, but since i don't really shoot the sun or very sharp bright light sources very much, i'm not overly horrified. Still, not a pretty issue. I've checked my other shots of things like headlights and whatnot to see if the issue exists there, but seems only the sun triggers it, or perhaps anything very strong and overexposed. The more pressing issue is odd noise patterns. Some users are reporting vertical bands. In one case they noted that the bands were there one hour, nearly gone the next. My camera does exhibit this \\\"Fixed Pattern Noise\\\", but not nearly as strongly as some others have reported. More on this later.\\n\\nResolution\\n\\nI've been one of the voices on the net de-promoting 4k for quite some time. I still maintain it's not as life altering as some people make it out to be. I still challenge anyone to show me an award for \\\"best resolution\\\", or in some way prove that by shooting 4k, their story, acting, writing, set design, etc... were improved. Nonetheless, i see 2014 as the year 4k becomes more usable for the masses, and can now consider it a possible extra tool. This was one of the reasons i was excited about this camera and preordered it day 1. Some users are claiming it's sharper than RED, i can't confirm or deny this, and i don't have a 4k test chart to shoot, but i can say that the image is damn sharp. I've shot a number of landscapes of the city and all those little windows in the distance were detailed. Good start.\\n\\nMoire/Aliasing\\n\\nThe BMC 4k despite lacking an Optical Low Pass filter(confirmation?), handles fine details really well. The realworld(ish) test video shows no significant signs of either. That doesn't mean it's immune to it, just that it'll likely take extremely fine details and/or particular situations to show noticeable signs of Moire or Aliasing. Remember that that video has it compared to 1080 cameras, and the extra resolution helps it to define that smaller detail. Also note that the video is rendered to 1080, and therefore the 4k footage has gone through scaling. The original file does show some artifacting on the finest of details such as on the owl's mesh hat, but that thing is any camera's nightmare, and you can see how the 5d2 is just terrible, and even the C100 isn't immune to it. In fact, the more i look at it, the more i'd give the edge to the BMC4k over the C100 in the Moire/Aliasing department. It's damn good.\\n\\nRolling shutter\\n\\nThere is none! Some people seem confused by this and are asking to see a rolling shutter test... It's a global shutter and hence cannot and will not give you any skew/jello/etc... no testing needed. It's funny but i think some people think rolling shutter was always there in cameras, but it wasn't. We took a technical step back with CMOS sensors which by the nature of their design were rolling shutter. Now the technology has progressed to allow a global shutter design in CMOS, and we'll start to see rolling shutter become a thing of history.\\n\\nColors\\n\\nEach manufacturer has their own color science, or rather, how the interpret the rainbow. Panasonic has typically been warmer, Sony cooler, RED more muted, etc... People take preferences in this department, one isn't definitively better than the other, but people's opinions on which looks better to their eye will certainly differ. I've personally liked the different makers colors for what they are and consider them different film stock looks. Then you have to keep in mind the sheer flexibility you have to alter those looks when dealing with high end recording formats such as RAW and Prores\\n\\nAll that preface out of the way, i am really liking the colors out of this camera, they have a pleasant naturalness to them with just a hint of it's own character. But again, you can do plenty of tweaking in color correction to your hearts content.\\n\\nISO/Noise\\n\\nHere's a tricky area. In an age where cameras shoot iso in the tens of thousands and manage to keep relatively clean, here we have a camera which not only tops out at iso800, it's pretty darn noisy at that level. What's happening here is that blackmagic chooses to give us exactly what the sensor is capable of. Many other cameras which shoot high iso and look good doing it are relying not just on the sensor, but tons of de-noise processing. If you have a noisy image, but the noise is very finely grained, it can be de-noised quite well with in some cases minimal softening of the image. Blackmagic doesn't do this, or rather, they may not have the ability to. If you try to denoise this footage in your NLE, it'll take a good amount of processing time. Canon, Sony, Panasonic, etc... they have the resources to make specialized processing chips to perform these tasks in camera on the fly. Blackmagic does have lots of equipment that it makes which do similar things, but never from inside a camera with limited power and heat dissipation. So what we're left with is zero in camera noise reduction. Is it a bad thing? If you want to shoot dark scenes and don't have lights, yes.\\n\\nBut that's how they're marketing this camera, as a production camera. Productions involve crew, lights, planning, etc... And any productions that use this camera are likely to light for iso200 or 400. 800 isn't by any means unusable, but it does bring out something nasty other than your typical noise: Fixed Pattern Noise.\\n\\nFPN is just any type of noise that remains constant in its shape. In the case of this camera, it exhibits vertical bands of noise which are sometimes noticeable in underexposed parts of the image. ISO200 doesn't show it much at all, iso400 which is the claimed native iso of the camera, can exhibit it some. At iso800, i can find plenty of ways to see it. Is it a dealbreaker? Really depends on your preferences, but i don't, that is unless you got one of the 'worse' cameras. My camera appears to exhibit less FPN, but other people have shown examples of their camera showing a lot more of it. One thought is that instead of BMD calibrating each camera/sensor, they instead took a base calibration of 1 camera/sensor and applied that to all of the cameras. It's certainly possible, the camera is many months past its promised shipping date and other manufacturers are announcing 4k cameras left and right. It's not far fetched to think that they rushed it out the door so as not to be left behind.\\n\\nIf FPN is a serious concern for you, expose for iso200, it's least prominent at that iso. Also, expose as well as you can, get more exposure in the dark areas so that you can crush them back down in post to hide the noise. I've tested the opposite; bringing back up unexposed areas and in some cases FPN pops out, and in some cases it doesn't. Even with the cap on tests, it's actually not that visible, which is rather peculiar. The sensor seems to be exhibiting FPN by reacting to differing exposures within the frame. How/why, i cannot say.\\n\\nThis might be the one issue i return the camera over. Like i said, i think iso200 and 400 are in most cases perfectly fine and the FPN is really not noticeable much at all (with my particular camera). But the fact remains that it shouldn't be there to begin with, and is something that should have been dealt with before leaving the factory. BMD is aware of the issue, but to date no firmware fixes or otherwise have been offered/announced/suggested/etc...\\n\\nHandling/Ergonomics/Build quality\\n\\nTerrible, horrible, life threatening, etc... OK it's not THAT bad, but this is by far the strongest downside for me. The overall thing to keep in mind, is that this camera wants to be rigged, it doesn't HAVE to be, but it really wants to be.\\n\\nThe C100 is my primary camera, and despite its ergonomic quirks, it's fantastically laid out and handles like a dream compared to the BMC4k. It's a compromise that makes all the sense in the world for them, they're brand new at cameras, and to keep costs down, and not delay the products any longer than they did, they kept some things dead simple. It's almost like the worlds most over-sized, overweight smartphone.\\n\\nThe build quality is very nice, it feels solid, tight, well built, then again, it's basically an single chunk of smooth metal. It feels heavy for its size, much like a ripe melon. Holding it in your hand is as awkward as you'd expect, since it has zero handle design. It isn't a disaster to hand hold, but you would have to be silly in the head to not want proper handles or some other means of holding it. The wooden camera cage is actually pretty neat in that it's flush against the camera, but contours to give you some rather decent handles. Not as good as full fledged handles, but certainly an improvement.\\n\\nMonitoring\\n\\nThe 5\\\" screen sounds great, until you try and use it when there's any sort of light hitting it. It's little details like this which make you wonder what's going on over there, but you have to keep reminding yourself that all of their cameras have been many many months behind schedule, and changing even the smallest thing probably would tack on more time. I plan to try a matte screen protector, but keep in mind those do blur the screen just a bit. Add to that, the rarity of a 5\\\" screen loupe (there are a few, and i consider them overpriced for what they are), and it's clear that the only solid solution is an external monitor or EVF. Again, this thing wants to be rigged. I went and prototyped my own loupe out of some cardboard and optics from an old loupe i had, and i'm actually rather pleased with it. Hoodman makes a sunshade with a way to get your finger in there for the touch screen, but lacks the full light blocking of a loupe.\\n\\nFocus peaking is very nice, and it's a savior for this monitor. Nailing focus is pretty easy when using it. At first i was second guessing every pull, but turning it off to verify revealed i was spot on or just a hair off in almost every circumstance. There is no way to adjust the strength, but at least it's set to a very useful level. Other poor peaking implementations give tons of false dots because of high contrast confusion, but this one is pretty darn good at spotting up more of the in focus parts to judge correct focus.\\n\\nYou also get a 2x zoom in to help judge focus, and that's great, with two big annoyances. First, you can't move it around, it's just the center, so if you're recording and want to double check, you can't check anything but the center frame without changing your shot. The other annoyance is how you activate the zoom: double tap. Firstly, the double tap doesn't work correctly 100% of the time, sometimes it registers just one tap and brings up the metadata panel. Secondly, by tapping the screen, you can introduce noise and shake to the camera. If you have a proper sturdy tripod, this shouldn't be an issue. But if you're handheld or otherwise not secured, you might either sit there softly tapping, hoping it registers the taps, or you might end up tapping hard enough to see a shake. It's silly because it's a capacitve touchscreen, meaning it's not the strength of the tap that's supposed to register, but i guess the capacitive resistance is just really low on it.\\n\\nYour best bet is to get any sort of external monitoring. BMD has been pretty clear about the rear monitor not being for general production use. But even that isn't a good justification, because all the menu controls are through the touch screen. Say you're using it shoulder mounted and it's mounted fairly close to or even over your shoulder(where it's nice to have the center of gravity), You've got to somehow get your finger on that screen to control it, or have an AC to do it for you. Other cameras just have it better thought out. RED uses a movable touchscreen, canon has a handle control which can be relocated, and other manufacturers have buttons and other ways to make their cameras more usable. Not here, because again, Blackmagic design is not a camera company.\\n\\nInputs/Outputs\\n\\nWhat an unusual array they have... There's some odd contradictions in the way they market this camera and its actual abilities. For one: audio. They market it as having industry standard connections, but it doesn't. It has two 1/4\\\" jacks, which is industry standard if you're talking about guitars, but not production sound. Yes many mixers/boards/etc... use 1/4\\\", but the undisputed standard on microphones in production audio is the XLR jack. I understand the choice, it saves space and the 1/4\\\" can be easily adapted to XLR, but it's still an added annoyance and makes me wonder just who at the marketing team is writing up such misleading info.\\n\\nYou also get a usb port for updating firmware, OK. An lanc port for various lanc controllable things, Great. DC jack which accepts 11-30 volts, nice range, but i'd rather just have a removable battery system... Headphone port, obviously... and then a SDI port for external monitoring/recording. You also get thunderbolt but it's limited to things such as ultrascopes. And that's it. See anything missing? To me there's one glaring omission: HDMI.\\n\\nHDMI is a consumer connection which is now commonly found in professional systems, it's by no means as robust of a connection as SDI, but its supreme advantage is in the sheer number of monitors that you can connect it to. Let's come back to the 'Production' part of this camera's name. The lack of HDMI makes sense then, because this is meant for real 'productions', right? Well reading the advertisements, they're showing how much better it is than DSLRS. Granted that's just a simple advertising point, but combined with its low price point and how they push these cameras, they're targeting the lower budget market. That very same lower budget market more than likely has more use for HDMI than SDI.(hypothesis, not fact). It's not like there isn't extra space on the camera, but i can see how they wanted to keep it clean. There are numerous adapters that range from dirt cheap to somewhat pricey that will convert SDI to HDMI for you, but they require power, and it would have been nice to just have the plug.\\n\\nEven odder, is there there's the thunderbolt port, and thunderbolt among other things is a display connection which happens to be adaptable to hdmi with a simple dongle that requires no power! But for one reason or another, the thunderbolt port on this camera does not have the ability to be used for monitoring.\\n\\nData/Workflow\\n\\nDon't make the mistake of underestimating the sheer amount of data you will get yourself into with this camera. You best think of gigabytes as the new megabytes. Even in Prores, that's 880mbits/second. Rounding down that's 5 gigabytes per minute If you plan on shooting 3 hours of footage per day, that's nearly a terabyte. This does not look to me like a documentary or event camera..... Thankfully SSD prices have lowered to around 50 cents per gigabyte. More food for thought: That equates to about $2.50 per minute you shoot, but yes of course you can re-use the drives.\\n\\nThis camera is labeled \\\"production\\\" for good reason, it's intended for shoots with proper personnel and setup, a DIT to offload footage for you, a gaffer to give you ample and pretty lighting, etc... Can this be used for run and gun? skeleton crew? lone ranger? Yes of course, but it becomes that much more of a pain in the a$$ and increases the likeliness something will go wrong.\\n\\nOnce you get to your edit bay, and you've backed up the mountain of data, how do you go about editing the footage? If you have a high end, up to date computer, sure you can go native and just start editing. If your computer isn't quite up to date, then i recommend you make proxies and offline edit. Try out your system, see if it hangs. Remember, the larger the project, the more demand it puts on the system, and adding effects of any kind does the same. Far cheaper than getting a new system is to offline edit. If you're not familiar, you simply transcode your original files to something much smaller and easier for the computer to work with, there are a number of smaller prores versions you can put to use. Once you're finished editing then you will need to disconnect the proxies, typically by setting them to offline in your NLE, and then re-linking them to the original 4k files.\\n\\nConclusion\\n\\nThis camera aims to have a no compromise image. Does it succeed? Yes but with considerations such as FPN. You also compromise in just about every other aspect of usability. It has probably the longest list of atypical compromises of any camera other than the rest of the blackmagic cameras. And by that i mean the compromises are in areas of the camera which are usually expected to be good or at least reasonable on any modern camera.\\n\\nThat being said, it's in a world of its own, and in a good way. The image is undeniable good. People are already trying to compare it to the alexa, red, jesus, etc...(disclaimer, no camera is called jesus, because when cameras die, they stay dead)...(unless you pay to resurrect them)...(but even then the repair center can botch the job).... ok enough of that. Comparisons will be out the wazoo with this camera, and in many ways i think it will excel. Even if BMD doesn't improve/fix any of the issues, the image quality is there and the issues can be worked with if you have the ability/resources. So far no other camera company has tried to steal this particular thunder, but that of course can change at any time. I've made numerous references to BMD not being a camera company, which i say as both a good and a bad thing. The good is that they appear to want to do the best they can with what they have. In a world where it's no secret that cameras you buy are purposely crippled in features and ability, it's nice to see a company that isn't holding anything back in their hardware. The bad is that they have limited resources which translates into poor quality control, missing/delayed common features, and everything else already mentioned in this very long writeup.\\n\\nFor smaller productions that can handle the workflow, it'll be a great asset. On larger productions it will likely first get in as the B camera, and as it proves itself, it will have the chance to become the A camera on such productions. So you can feel good about using the same camera the big boys use. But if you wonder why your images still don't look 'hollywood', you'll have to be reminded that the camera is increasingly becoming one of the least critical pieces of the film puzzle. If you don't get my meaning, then i've got many a tutorial for you to look into on this site.\",\n \"Product: Introducing the pocket sized Super 16 digital film camera that's small enough to keep with you at all times, so you'll never miss a shot! Get true digital film images with feature film style 13 stops of dynamic range, Super 16 sensor size, high quality lossless CinemaDNG RAW and Apple ProRes recording and the flexibility of an active Micro Four Thirds lens mount, all packed into an incredibly tiny size! The Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera records 1080HD resolution ProRes 422 (HQ) files direct to fast SD cards, so you can immediately edit or color correct your media on your laptop. Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera is everything you need to bring cinematic film look shooting to the most difficult and remote locations, perfect for documentaries, independent films, photo journalism, music festivals, ENG, protest marches and even war zones.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: There's nothing like it in this price, outstanding quality but with significant considerations\\n\\nReview: This company is doing great things, that is to say, they're doing what other companies are not. It works out great for us since it gives us new tools to choose from, and sometimes gets the other manufacturers to compete and give us more.\\n\\nThe pocket camera is an interesting tool, and if you're on a budget you'll be hard pressed to compare it to anything else out there at the moment, but that really does come down to its very high quality recording format, if you were to take that away, it would be a far less interesting camera.\\n\\nLet's get right into the breakdown\\n\\nPros\\n-very portable\\n-RAW video, unheard to be built in-camera and at this price(though compressed)\\n-Uses a wide variety of lenses(active vs dumb mount for m43\\n-Same sensor image quality/color/sharpness as BMC\\n-Really cheap all things considered\\n\\nAnd now the not so nice considerations...\\n-Very short battery life, & external batteries add size/weight\\n-NOT a low light friendly camera(bring lights! Always! even with good low light cameras!)\\n-Significant Moire/Aliasing\\n-No high compression options: sometimes you need more space, and these files are very large.\\n-Some might consider 1080 a limiter, but it's still very good\\n-No high frame rate options\\n-Rolling shutter/Jello (don't shake the baby)\\n-Sensor is small, DOF junkies will complain about things not being out of focus enough\",\n \"Product: AmazonBasics\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Still the best deal out there, have been using for 2 years\\n\\nReview: I bought this tripod back when it was branded as Ravelli, actually... the exact purchase page i used, is now an updated version of this item still branded as Ravelli <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Ravelli-APGL5-Professional-65-Ball-Head-Camera-Video-Photo-Tripod-with-Quick-Release-Plate-and-Carry-Bag/dp/B004RBX0GO/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Ravelli APGL5 Professional 65\\\" Ball Head Camera Video Photo Tripod with Quick Release Plate and Carry Bag</a>\\n\\nSo it would appear that Amazon asked the maker to brand this one for them, and the maker had to do a few updates/changes so their version and scale down amazon's version so there wouldn't be confusion between the two. (more on this later)\\n\\nIn any case, i've had the original iteration of this tripod for a few years and i still think it's the best value out there. I have everything from ultra portable lightweight tripods, to heavy video tripods, and i still find use for this one right in between. Here's the breakdown:\\n\\n-Reasonably well made\\n-Feels sturdy/secure, mostly metal\\n-Legs click to lower positions for low angle\\n-Ballhead locks in tight, loosens properly\\n-Quick release plate slides a little forward to get balance right.\\n-Hook for hanging dead weight\\n\\nSo overall, it's not a hunk of junk, and it's not a top end piece of kit. What it is, is an excellent value. I originally bought it just for the ballhead, because buying one separately was basically just as much as this package. I never thought i'd actually use the legs as much as i do, but they work!.\\n\\nThe changes i noted between my original and what's now branded as amazonbasics, are that the ballhead's hard lines have been rounded out, and they removed 1 section of legs, mine has 3, this has 2. The updated version of the Ravelli branded one also now has a removable leg to turn into a monopod, as well as super stylish blue accents. If i were to pick between the two, i would spend the extra 12 bucks for the Ravelli linked above.\\n\\nRegardless of which you choose, they are built on the same core, I could nitpick that i prefer fliplocks over these twist locks, and that opening closing the twist locks isn't buttery smooth, nor is the ballhead as perfectly rock steady. But all in all for 40 bucks (or 52), i have no complaints.\",\n \"Product: Elite Screens Spectrum series of projection screens is the absolute solution for anyone who is looking for a high quality electric projection screen at a budget friendly price. The Spectrum features Elite Screens MaxWhite screen material that provides excellent picture clarity and color reproduction, and the black professional black masking border improves viewing experience by absorbing light overshoot and enhancing contrast. It comes standard loaded with premium features and housed within a durable casing that easily installs to your wall or ceiling. The housed motor moves the screen up and down at your leisure with the included Infrared (IR) remote or 3-way wall switch, or use the 5-12V trigger to sync the projector and screen for an effortless viewing experience. Since 2004, Elite Screens has become a global leader in projection screen manufacturing through its headquarters in the US and branch offices in Europe, Japan, Australia, India, Taiwan, and China. With a focus on superior product and service, Elite Screens is dedicated to making projection screens for any projection environment. Ask about Elites 2-year warranty and 3-year ENR-G enhanced warranty.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: A solid screen for my new house's movie room!\\n\\nReview: <div id=\\\"video-block-R140MUXL1VO89O\\\" class=\\\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\\\"></div><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/E15zrcsELnS.mp4\\\" class=\\\"video-url\\\"><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/11zL7xqwCaS.png\\\" class=\\\"video-slate-img-url\\\"> A little bit of background on me: I've been a photo/video pro for 10 years, and i've been using projectors nearly twice as long as that for both work and pleasure. I've used a lot of different types of screen and projector combinations of all sizes and price ranges. Suffice it to say, i have some perspective on the subject!\\n\\nI'll start with some more general advice on screen choice, you can skip this if you're already knowledgeable on screens.\\n\\nChoosing a screen\\nSize, color, and mounting are the main considerations. Some like to go big, but i think there's definitely too big in some cases. It depends on your space. I recently moved into a new house, and it was my wife's idea to not use the main living room as the big screen room, but rather one of the side rooms. I have to admit, she was very right, that' room is about a 14 foot square, and it's a perfect size for a 100\\\" screen and seating on the opposite end.\\n\\nMounting is the other big consideration, fixed, or motorized. Fixed screens can look more sleek and professional. However, i have other plans in mind: my wife and i want to get a big map of the world, and have it on the wall behind where the screen is, so that when the screen is not in use, we have a huge mural. You might think it would be pain to have to raise and lower the screen every single time, but this comes with a 12v trigger option, so when you turn on the projector, it cue's the screen to lower(if your projector has this feature)\\n\\nColor is something not always thought about, this is a white screen, and it reflects a good image, but the main disadvantage is that the blacks aren't nearly as black as some of today's traditional TV sets. An option to help with this is to get a grey screen. The trade-off there is that those typically cost more, and since they are darker, they are best used with brighter projectors.\\n\\nThis 100\\\" Elite screen\\n\\nThe box is obviously long, and a decent bit heavy. I did install it myself, but i don't recommend it, a helper is a much better idea. It comes with:\\n\\nThe screen, mounting hardware, bubble level, remote, wired switch, 12v trigger lead, batteries, instructions.\\n\\nThe instructions aren't that great, but i'm handy, and i have lots of tools.\\n\\nMounting\\nThere are several hole options for mounting to a wall or ceiling. If mounting to the wall the holes are snowman style(like an '8\\\" with the middle open) so you can just screw the screws in and leave them out an eighth inch, then hook on the screen to them. The annoyance with wall mounting is getting the level just right, if you're off even just a little bit, it's not easy to correct it. With ceiling mounting though, getting it level is easy as pie, or cake, or any dessert of your choosing. The instructions seem tom suggest using chain, but i just used screws. Once you have it up, use the level, it's magnetic so you can just pop it onto the housing or the bottom of the screen. If one side is too high or low, just unscrew one of the screws a bit till it's right(be sure the screws are still enough into the ceiling to support it. Chain works too, but i wanted it to be as close to the ceiling as possible.\\n\\nUps and downs\\nThe speed of the motor is very slow, so that's a little annoying, and the motor is a little noisy.\\n\\nWaves\\nThis level of screen typically is susceptible to not having a perfectly flat surface. Some higher end screens, have tension wires on the sides to stretch it out. This screen does have a moderate amount of wavy-ness to it, however it's typically only noticeable if you look at it from an extreme angle while the projector is off. I have not noticed the waves while watching any material. Another possible issue with waves is the focus being a little fuzzy in the peaks or valleys, but again i have not noticed this in practice.\\n\\nValue\\nThis projector sits in the middle of the road, there's ones plenty cheaper, and ones plenty more expensive. I haven't tried the latest in the ultra cheap models, but i would imagine you'll get more of a hit or miss with the quality, and motors that may burn out sooner. But that's purely speculation.\\n\\nDisclaimer\\nI was provided this product in exchange for an honest review, you better bet your biscuits that i don't fuss around with fake reviews, false reviews, or anything other than my full and thoughtful observations.\",\n \"Product: With up to 2TB of storage capacity and a SuperSpeed USB 3.0 interface, the Samsung P3 Portable External Hard Drive is the ideal companion for today's high-performance mobile devices. It gives you the extra capacity you need for your photos, videos, music and data in an attractive, thin, compact, steel gray case that makes a bold fashion statement wherever you go. And with a three-year limited warranty protecting your investment, you'll feel at ease bringing the P3 Portable everywhere.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Faster than my other 2tb 2.5\\\" USB 3 drives, & smaller too. I'm pleased\\n\\nReview: Typically i grab up seagate's 2tb expansion 2.5\\\" drives when they come on sale, but i spotted this drive for $75. Seagate is actually part of samsung and thus it's likely this uses the same disk as the seagate version, but i hear it's a direct usb3 connector on the drive and not sata with an adapter, so no hacking this open to use the bare disk\\n\\nOther than that, have a look at the photos, i posted the benchmark, which shows this drive attaining just shy of 130mb/sec in both read and write. That's notably better than the seagate expansion drive which i've seen test between 80-110mb/sec. Needless to say, i'm impressed! Maybe it has to do with that direct usb3 connector...\\n\\nSize wise it's very small, even smaller and much more rounded than the seagate expansion drive, and slimmer than some of the WD 2.5inchers i've come across.\\n\\nReliability wise, it doesn't look like this drive has been around long enough to tell, but i plan on using it constantly, so if anything goes awry, i'll be sure to post about it here. The warranty was another big yes for me: 3 years!\",\n \"Product: The Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH4 4K Mirrorless Micro Four Thirds Digital Camera is a true hybrid camera designed for both professional photo and video use. It features a 16.05-megapixel Digital Live MOS sensor and a 4-CPU Venus Engine, capable of capturing high-resolution JPEG and RAW stills, as well as UHD 4K 3840x2160 30p/24p and cinematic DCI 4K 4096x2160 video at 24p. Like its predecessor, the GH4 features a weather-sealed magnesium alloy body, while offering increased resolution on both the OLED monitor and electronic viewfinder. It also features built-in Wi-Fi with NFC technology, in-camera creative controls, and a high-speed 49-point autofocus in both photo and video mode. Use within the communication range of the device to be connected\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: SOLID 4k 'budget' cam, Perfect? no, but really nice overall package\\n\\nReview: The GH4 builds on the success of the gh1/2/3, the GH3 many felt was a sidestep as opposed to being a forward step, but Panasonic did a few things to please the crowd, namely: the codec. the GH1/2 were great because of the hacks that gave them high bitrates, panasonic embraced this and gave the GH3 built in high bitrates, they've done it again with the GH4, makes hacks unnecessary.\\n\\nIt's still early, and i'll update with more info as it comes.\\n\\nSome tasty highlights:\\n-200mbit 1080 bitrate, no hack needed!\\n-100mbit 4k (the AX100 tops out at 60mbit)\\n-10 bit 4:2:2 uncompressed output, WOW! finally affordable 10bit!(well, other than blackmagic)Pair it with the Atomos Shogun\\n-96fps slow motion, no it's not an fs700, but 96 is very nice! twixtor can do a LOT with that\\n-All the fixings such as peaking, zebras, timecode etc...Even curves!\\n-Ability to use speedbooster adapter\\n-Addon unit for extra features/ports\\n\\nSome things im not quite onboard with\\n-The Addon unit is huge, needs power, and i just don't see a use for most people's needs\\n-Wish they would have figured out an internal ND filter, even just 1 would have been great\\n-micro hdmi connector on the body is annoying, but not a deal killer\\n\\nSharpness/resolution\\nI haven't gotten a test chart in front of it yet, but the resolution looks pretty darn satisfying, they are taking a full sensor read instead of line skipping, so it's probably getting pretty close to that 4000 line mark.\\n\\nMoire/Aliasing\\nLooks well controlled, haven't seen anything horrible appear yet.\\n\\nColors/Curves\\nI like them, feels warm overall and pleasing. And something i've been waiting for for a long time: a gamma curve to control shadows/highlights! It may not be as expansive as prosumer/pro video camera controls, but it's a very nice thing to have. The ax100 has basically nothing, just a cinematone on or off.\\n\\n10bit 4:2:2 output\\nFinally!!!! 8bit is remarkable for what it can do, but many have felt 10bit wide adoption has been overdue. It's tons more information and gives you far more to work with to grade your image. The cheapest recorder that can handle it at the moment is the $2000 atomos shogun, but hopefully we'll see some other options soon. Now if only they chose anything other than that hdmi micro connection....\\n\\nLens choice\\nIs huge, you can adapt tons to this camera, including the speedbooster which as the name suggests, gives you a faster F stop when using larger format lenses. I'm also eager to try slapping on an old b4 zoom lens which i've tried with the c100 with mixed but encouraging results, and the smaller sensor of the m43 should be a big step towards usable with that. Or hopefully panny will come out with a power zoom version of the 14-140 and i'll be pretty darn content for event shooting.\",\n \"Product: Interactive communication with your subject with the ECM-AW3 wireless microphone\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: I love this little set. It has shortcomings vs pro systems but for the price and size i have lots of uses for it\\n\\nReview: <div id=\\\"video-block-R2WL5LWUSTSK9E\\\" class=\\\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\\\"></div><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D1clX7Ld2dS.mp4\\\" class=\\\"video-url\\\"><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91UFo5%2BGtpS.png\\\" class=\\\"video-slate-img-url\\\"> I am a professional videographer, i own two sennheiser wireless G2 sets for client work, but for my personal stuff i have always desired a smaller, simpler system. I stumbled across this system and started digging, could it be what i was looking for? The reviews around the net are mostly positive, and i caught a nice open box deal on a set and grabbed it. The outcome? I'm very much liking it! Here's my thoughts:\\n\\n-The set is wonderfully small, both units could fit in the same space as 1 G2 pack\\n-Bluetooth is compressed, thus the audio is compressed, but for many uses i think it sounds very good.\\n-The built in mic works quite well, and plugging in a lavaliere works as expected\\n-LOTS of handling noise if you use the built in mic, be careful of anything rubbing where you mount it or just use a lav plug in.\\n-Range is fine, claims 164ft, i have tested it to be reliable much shorter than that, but i mostly only need 20ft tops.\\n-uses AAA batteries and they last a few hours each, works great for my needs.\\n-I have tinkered with the 2 way communications functionality, but doubt i will actually use it.\\n-Canon make a seemingly identical unit, would love to figure out if they are in fact identical.\\n-Comes with an odd windscreen that does work, but is just peculiar and makes the pack look even bigger if you use it directly on talent.\\n-As far as i can tell, you CANNOT pair directly with another bluetooth enabled device, you must use the transmitter/receiver together.\\n-Be sure to plug them in correctly, the top are both mic ports, the sides are both headphones/camera out ports. If something's not working, double check this!\\n\\nOverall, this is something super useful to me, and you're going to see me use this set on all my future reviews even though i have higher end systems. Many sound pros will be quick to point out it's compressing the audio, but for many uses the sound is perfectly suitable. I might not recommend it for profession/client based usage, but for bloggers/vacationers/personal use i think it's great. I likely will also keep it in my bag for client use as either a backup, or a 'just in case' set.\",\n \"Product: LGA1150, uATX, 1 x Intel LAN, HDMI/DVI/VGA, CFX\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Looked at all the matx offerings, nailed this one. Perfectly happy!\\n\\nReview: I'm done with full size motherboards, i simply don't need them. My aging gen1 i7 mobo just wasn't keeping up with 4k editing, so the hunt began for a replacement. I honestly wasn't impressed with the current matx offerings at the time, but thankfully a slew of them hit the market, giving quite a few choices.\\n\\nH97 vs Z97\\nYou can get the same board with either chipset. The only real difference is overclocking vs no overclocking. i opted for Z97(OC) since the price difference was not much, and i can always get a boost if needed, as the overclocking is stupid easy.\\n\\nI've got a 4790k with 212+ cooler, Zotac 650Ti, two different sets of ram.\\n\\nFeature wise\\nIt's all packed in there. m. 2 mount, graphical bios, 4 dimms, etc... aside from fewer pci/e ports, it's got just about everything many full size ATX boards offer, but allows the use of smaller computer cases.\\n\\nOne big, big thing that this board has which many matx boards do not: 4 ram slots, allowing up to 32gb, many matx boards have only 2 slots, and limit to 16gb.\\n\\nThe main feature that's left out, is thunderbolt, something that's pretty scarce still, and i don't hold it against the board for not having it, but i'm still hoping for TB add in cards down the road. It seems at the moment they need an AIC header which this board does not have.\\n\\nThe bios is great, it's graphical, mouse and keyboard in full use. The windows app also works nicely, and there are a lot of settings for fan tuning.\",\n \"Product: Express Yourself Anywhere You GoThe FZ1000 is the Panasonic LUMIX flagship bridge camera with ultimate image quality. The superb images produced with a large 1inch sensor and allnew lens fully express the limitless depth and sunlit warmth of nature. Its 16x optical zoom brings everything up close, from tiny birds on tree branches to animals crossing the distant horizon. Choose photos or videos in crisp 4K resolution. The DMCFZ1000 is all you need to capture the world around you, in all its natural beauty.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Still testing, but thus far i like it quite a bit! As an RX10 lover, i'm a little torn\\n\\nReview: This is an early impression, i've been using the camera for a few weeks now. I bought it especially for a trip to go see NASA's launch of the Orion.\\n\\nI currently own a Sony RX10, which i love, but i'm feeling the 4k bug, and am always interested in more zoom reach. So, thus far these are my thoughts, which may change as i figure more things out with the camera:\\n\\n-Size is nice, very chunky and feels good in the hand, but NOT pocketable(duh)\\n-Construction feels nice, despite being pretty plasticy, the zoom extension feels more solid than the RX10\\n-4K video looks very nice and detailed, you have most of the same controls as the GH4\\n-Photos look nice, not incredible, but nice, and i'm still working out some kinks...\\n-Built in timelapse, LOVE having this.\\n-The EVF is big and detailed, though you need to look at it at just the right angle\\n-The LCD is pretty good, certainly suitable for this level of camera, and it swivels in all directions\\n-The video codec holds up well at 100mbit for 4K\\n-37mm isn't wide, but usable in 4K, 400mm+crop+intellizoom gets a great amount of reach!\\n\\nPlenty more to come, i'm still on the fence whether i want to keep this or wait for the RX10 successor. Despite the RX10's lesser specs, it's been a fantastic camera, and i'm very curious about the eventual mark 2. At the moment though, if you were looking to get one of these cameras, i would absolutely get an FZ1000, it just has more features which i make use of.\\n\\nThe photo was a long exposure of very early morning at nasa\",\n \"Product: New Mini Speaker Portable Micro SD/TF Music MP3/4 Player USB Disk FM Radio Red\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Perfect? No. Do i love it? Yes.\\n\\nReview: It doesn't have AM radio.\\n\\nThere, that's it, the grand total of my main complaints. Everything else is nitpicking for this price.\\n\\nI mainly bought this so my parrot can listen to radio while i'm gone, but i bring it outside for gardening/relaxing/etc...\\n\\n-It can go from very soft, to very loud. The highest setting is a tad distorted, but not terrible, just notch it down.\\n-It's truly small, barely 2\\\"x2\\\"\\n-FM radio gets good reception(in Queens NYC at least)\\n-Lasts at least a few hours with FM on\\n-Plays music from microsd, or USB\\n-Charges with probably any phone wall plug with USB\\n\\nOK, so it's not the greatest designed thing ever, it has too few buttons, but once you read the short manual it's straitforward.\\n\\nHold down menu to turn off the disco\\nHold down Vol-/+ and then tap to control volume\\nThe thing may take a few seconds to turn on, starts to act quirky when battery is low\\n\\nSo yea, it should have dedicated buttons, but this thing was $13.\\n\\nLooking critically at it, i think they should have used that clear plastic open space to add some more battery and get this thing's runtime up.\\n\\nI bought another one as a gift for a family member who gardens. Just grab it and go, what could be simpler?\",\n \"Product: FE PZ 28-135mm F4 G OSS\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: One of the first 'lower' priced cine power zooms for larger sensor'ed cameras. Excellent for full frame, OK/good for for APS-C\\n\\nReview: Make no mistake, this is NOT a photo-centric lens, it's a lens with video shooters in mind. Keep that in mind, and it'll all make sense. I'd give it a 5/5 for full frame cameras, 4.5/5 for APS-C\\n\\nI haven't had extensive time with this lens, but enough hands-on to give you a run through to see if it's worth looking at for your needs. So here's the rundown:\\n\\n-One of the first real cine/video-centric power zoom lenses to break into the \\\"lower\\\" price arena.\\n-Optical quality is very good\\n-Not super fast, but constant f/4\\n-Range is excellent for full frame, so/so for aps-c/super35\\n-Build quality is excellent\\n-Parfocal/hard stops/longer focus throw\\n-Focusing/zooming/aperture actions are overall very good with a few exceptions\\n-Optical stabilizer does a good job\\n-No focal length markings\\n-95mm front threads, save up for filters!\\n-Oddly, no front cap included (under $10 on amazon)\\n\\nAffordable Cine zoom lens\\nSo about that price, just shy of $3k, i've seen more than a few folks balking at it, throwing comparisons to other photo lenses like the much cheaper canon 24-105. Any such comparisons are just silly, and made primarily by people who are unfamiliar with cine zoom lenses. Cine zoom lenses have certain attributes that photo lenses do not, and are far more expensive to make. Any cine zoom for s35 that costs less than $10k is considered inexpensive. Not only does this sony come in at well under that, but it also covers full frame.\\n\\nOptical quality\\nGood, to say the least. I must again note that i have not had as much time as i would have liked with the lens, but in my brief scrutinizing, i liked the image, it's sharp with a pleasing contrast. I've used the 24-105 canon for years, and i would have no qualms mixing the two. Wide open looks very good, and i did not notice any vignetting or significant Chromatic aberrations\\n\\nWhile f/4 isn't exactly superspeed, it's sufficient for a lot of situations, at full frame you will still get lots of background blur/separation, and the latest cameras have plenty of clean high iso headroom to make up for that extra stop or so of light if needed. My main camera/lens is the C100 with 24-105 f/4, and i do just fine in lower light event/runaround situations at iso 3200-6400.\\n\\nFocal range\\nGreat for full frame, not as great for APS-c/s35. This is the main aspect keeping me from owning this lens, i primarily shoot s35, not full frame. The 24-105 has been great for that, but it's right on the edge of usable wide. This sony at only 28mm on the wide end, just might not cut it for many shooter's on cropped sensor cameras. It translates to around 45mm full frame on 1.6 crop, definitely a 'normal' range, not wide. This will come down to your particular needs, many people will be fine keeping a separate wide lens in their bag while having this capture the meat of it.\\n\\nBuild quality\\nIt has a nice heft to it, and definitely isn't a lightweight rig type of lens, but it feels very well built, the switches and rings feel tight and grippy.\\n\\nVideo details\\nIt's parfocal, meaning it will hold its focus when zoomed in/out, something that most photo lenses cannot claim. It also has hard stops, unlike many autofocus photo lenses in which their rings will just keep turning and turning. It also has a longer focus throw, meaning there is more distance from close focus, to infinity, this is great for video focus pulling, because you can make finer adjustments and have greater control. Focusing feels smooth and tight, and is mechanical, not fly-by-wire.\\n\\nAnother reason for the price, it's all internal zoom, meaning the lens does not extend when zoomed.\\n\\nThat power zoom is also a very big deal, it's all internal and achieves a smooth ENG style zoom, which is to say, a very big treat after doing the clunky hand-powerd photo lens zoom. The onboard rocker does a decent job for what it is, but any on camera or off camera big rocker will do even better.\\n\\nOptical stabilizer\\nWorks very nice. On many photo lenses, the stabilizer is tuned to tr and 'lock' onto the shot, which isn't great for video in many circumstances. The sony's stabilizer does a good job of 'floating'.\\n\\nOther tidbits\\nOddly, no lens cap comes with it, but you can solve that with less than $10. Also, the filter thread size is 95mm, which translates into higher filter costs, but that shouldn't be the end of the world if you can afford this lens(and a matte box might be better suited). Lastly, there are no markings for focal length. You do get readings on camera, but it's nice to have markings on the lens itself. This is likely due to the zoom being fly-by-wire servo controlled. Speaking of which, it should be noted that you cannot crash zoom, because there is no manual mechanical zoom, it's all servos.\",\n \"Product: The fastest microSDHC/microSDXC UHS-I memory cards on the market now come with up to 64GB of storage for uncompromising smartphone, tablet and camera performance. Capture Full HD and 4K Ultra HD videos1 and enjoy transfer speeds of up to 95MB/s so you can shoot like a pro and still experience world-class responsiveness from your phone. Class 10 and UHS-I Speed Class 3 (U3)2 ratings mean your videos can meet today's highest resolution standards and will look stunning on the latest 4K Ultra HD TV screens and monitors. Generous storage capacity means you won't run out of the memory you need to work, shoot and share.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Brilliant speed. But don't spend the money if you don't need it\\n\\nReview: I bought this primarily for use as a professional videographer/photographer. Using a GH4 and Phantom 3 both in 4k mode. Admittedly, both of those have worked fine with slower cards, but i like the extra overhead for long shots/just in case as well as for future high bit-rate products i intend to invest in. So here's the brief:\\n\\n-Very fast, just shy of 100mb/s read and write\\n-64gb is good for a fair amount of 4k material, or lots of high res photos\\n-Not much difference in price than full size SD, love having the adapter\\n-Tiny but durable, feels strong, but still be careful, a dog could swallow it in a beat.\\n\\nAt this time there was recently a deal on the Plus version for half the Pro's price. Buy whichever makes sensor for you, the Plus version is still plenty fast enough for most people's uses, if you intend on using it on a smartphone, you might not see a difference. Using it on a tablet i would say go for the Pro.\",\n \"Product: Lexar Professional 1000x SDHC/SDXC UHS-II cards let you quickly capture and transfer high-quality photos and 1080p full-HD, 3D, and 4K video, with a read transfer speed up to 1000x (150MB/s). The cards leverage UHS-II technology (UHS Speed Class 3 (U3)) for high-speed performance. This dramatically accelerates workflow from start to finish, so you can save time and get back to the business of photography. Cards include downloadable Image Rescue software to recover most photo and select video files, and come with a limited lifetime warranty.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Good price, good performance. This is now my card of choice for 4K video and fast raw photo shooting\\n\\nReview: I seem to acquire memory cards like candy, and may be slightly obsessed in some odd ways...\\n\\nThis Lexar card at the price of under $40 (at this time) is one of, if not the leader in the price/performance arena. The PNY has kept at the best bang for the buck, but the sandisk has started to come down in price as well with its 95mb/sec model. But this lexar with a read speed up to 150mb/sec comes in right between them in price, while edging out the read performance by a margin, and having a write speed that's better than the PNY, and a bit worse than the sandisk. Let's break it down:\\n\\n-Priced smack in the middle, a good overall deal\\n-150mb/sec read, about 75mb/sec write\\n-Good for many flavors of 4K video\\n-Read speed bests nearest competition\\n-Write speed better than PNY elite, a notch slower than Sandisk 95mb/sec\\n-Lexar is known as one of the more reliable brands\\n-To get full speed, you need hardware that actually supports it!\\n\\nFrequently i see reviews about high speed cards which complain about poor performance, and it's a safe bet that it's not the card that's the problem. There are numerous card readers out there, and a handful of standards (ever heard of usb 3 boost/turbo?), and various other factors which will determine the overall speed.\\n\\nThe main three speed limters: the card reader, the size & number of files, and the destination drive. If you're transferring a bunch of small files, it will be slower, if your card reader is old/outdated/slower standard, it will be slower, and if the drive your copying to is older/outdated/slower, than the card will max out that drive's write speed if it's slower.\\n\\nSummed up: this card is a good price to performance deal, and handily will take on your photo/video/various tasks.\",\n \"Product: The stunning Seagate Seven portable drive celebrates over 35 years of storage expertise and innovation. This statement product exemplifies advanced storage R&D uniting with world-class industrial design to create the slimmest way to carry 500GB of data. The Seagate Seven enclosure is made entirely of steel, not only to achieve the thinnest external drive, but also for a premium appearance inspired by a bare drive, the essence of storage. The superior experience is extended to the included USB 3.0 cable, a stylish, premium braided design instead of the standard cable found with most external drives. Since the drive is bus powered, meaning it draws power directly from the USB port, and does not require an external power supply, the Seagate Seven is perfect for those on-the-go situations. Push the limits of possible with the thinnest portable drive, Seagate Seven.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Super cool, but not a great value over typical portable drives.\\n\\nReview: So apparently seagate was bored and decided to make \\\"the world's thinnest 500gb portable hard drive\\\" Is it worth the price for the thin-ness? No, not really, but it does make a slick looking drive. Here's a quick rundown, with more in depth below:\\n\\n-Very slick and slim, makes regular 2.5\\\" portables look fat\\n-Still needs a cable, making thumb/flash drives more attractive\\n-Speeds are on par with other 2.5\\\" usb 3 drives\\n-price per gb is much higher than the average 2.5\\\" portable. (can get 2tb for the same price)\\n-Feels well made and rugged, but i'd put it in a case, i don't like risking a drop.\\n-Basically, you'd buy it for the 'cool' factor, or if you truly value every millimeter of drive size.\\n\\nI'm a videographer, and deal with rather large video files, with need to move them between systems. This type of drive is attractive to me because it has a fast usb 3.0 speed, and enough space for a decent chunk of videos. My issue with recommending it, is that i typically grab seagate's own 2tb portable drives for 80 bucks on sale. So there's the dilemma, is that super-thin-nes worth more than twice the price per gigabyte? I have to lean towards no.\\n\\nI'm tempted to toss it in the same arena as flash sticks, which have begun to see affordable prices and higher capacities. I own a PNY 128gb usb3 stick, which i nabbed for under 40 bucks, putting it not far from this seagate's price territory and certainly more convenient to carry around.\\n\\nSpeed wise it looks like this drive can push upwards of 100mbyte/second, but then again so can the 2tb 'fat' seagate.\\n\\nAnd unless you're a silly daredevil, you're going to want to get a case of some sort for this, i couldn't find any drop specs, It does feel substantially well made, but it's still thin slippery metal, which i don't dare drop test myself.\\n\\nIt feels like this is a \\\"we made it because we could\\\" scenario over at seagate. The ad for the drive is all about \\\"...Celebrates 35 years...\\\", so it seems to me they just wanted something to show off a bit regardless of actual user desire.\\n\\nSo in thinking about who this drive is really for... It's for those who don't mind spending a few extra dollars for the cool factor. Heck, slip it into your wallet and impress your client. It's a 5 star device, i took a star off for it's poorer value over traditional portable drives.\",\n \"Product: The Tamron SP 15-30MM F/2.8 DI VC USD (MODEL A012) offers superb image quality and performance. Able to cover modern full frame DSLRs, the 15-30 zoom range offers great versatility in all photographic situations. With an optical construction of 18 elements in 13 groups and XGM (expanded Glass Molded Spherical) element placed at the front group and several LD (Low Dispersion) glass elements in the system, aberrations such as geometrical distortion and lateral color are efficiently compensated for enabling the zoom lens to deliver outstanding image quality throughout the entire range from corner to corner. Due to the large diameter and the prominent convex profile of the front element, it is not practical to use a protective filter. For the first time, a fluorine coating is applied to the front element, which repels water or any type of dirt, while making it easier to remove such smudge when contaminated. Tamrons Ultrasonic Silent Drive delivers tack-sharp images due to the high torque and fast response speed with least amount of lag time, yet with extremely low acoustic noise. Equipped with a full-time manual focus mechanism, fine focus adjustments are enabled without exiting from the AF mode. Natural and smooth blur on the subject background enhances depictive capabilities of wide-angle photography when a subject is located in the close distance. The 9-blade diaphragm construction retains a near-circular aperture opening even when stopped down by two steps from its full open position and delivers ideal bokeh effects. Recognizing the needs for image stabilization capability on a wide-angle lens voiced by a number of photographers, especially for a full-frame, fast F/2.8 ultra-wide-angle zoom lens category, VC is tuned for providing discernible competence throughout the entire zoom range. The feature enhances image depicting capabilities for shooting night scenes and under low light conditions.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: An interesting combination of angle, speed, stabilizer, and price for full frame shooters.\\n\\nReview: You have to hand it to Tamron, they gave us something that wasn't in existance: an ultrawide & fast full frame lens with a stabilizer.\\n\\nNow, there are some out there who will tell you that stabilization isn't necessary on wide angles, and that's just shortsightedly silly. But we'll get into that, here's a quick rundown:\\n\\n-Full frame coverage\\n-Constant f2.8\\n-Very nice optics\\n-VC stabilizer\\n-Smooth zoom and focus action\\n-NO filter threads\\n-Chunkier than the nikon 14-24\\n-A bargain compared to canon & nikon.\\n\\nvs\\nSo, optically it looks plenty comparable to canon and nikon, it costs just over a grand, while the most comparable canon nikon costs several hundred more, and the new canon 11-24 costs even more than that. If you have a full frame camera, it seems like a very good deal indeed. Another thought though: Some newer full frame cameras can use aps-c lenses in a crop mode, and you could look at options like the sigma 18-35mm, or tokina 11-16mm, or any of the various other wide angle lenses in the cropped sensor market. But you will of course lose out on the full frame lens DOF and extra resolution. You could save a bit and go for the wider sigma 12-24mm, but that sacrifices both stabilization and speed.\\n\\nAbout that VC stabilizer\\nSo, if you're this wide, why is it a good thing to have? well, there's the saying: better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. I for one shoot just as much video as i do photography, and in video it's absolutely necessary for handheld work. Handholding even for photography, you can find yourself in a low light situation where you need to use your iso. Granted, the iso performance of many full frame cameras these days is amazing, but you still always want to do with as little as possible. Using the VC to chop a few stops off the iso may result in a healthy reduction in noise.\\n\\nNo filter threads\\nThe big crutch of these ultra wide angle lenses... no screw on filters. you'll need to use some other means like a matte box if you desire to use filters.\\n\\nA thought for cropped sensor video users\\nIf you use a speedbooster on this thing, you'll get an equivalent of something like an 11-21mm 1.8 on your cropped/nex/m43 camera, along with VC if you get the electronic revision of speedbooster. Just a thought :)\\n\\nI do not own this lens, so i haven't had extensive time with it, just enough to put these thoughts together for you. If i should get more hands on time with the lens, i will of course update this text :)\",\n \"Product: With UNO you carry your mirror less or compact camera any way you please! In photography, speed is important. Using UNO you can swap from carrying to shooting in just one second. The UNO plate is compatible with all Arca sized tripod heads, in this way you will easily swap from UNO to tripod instantly. The UNO main body is made of Durethan, one of the best high tech polymers. Durethan of Laxness is classified HPM (High Performance Material)and its used exclusively for high precision items. The specific Durethan features makes UNO extremely solid, light with a visibly superior finish and appearance. Bolts are made of steel.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Neat mounting system, alternative for neck straps.\\n\\nReview: I was offered to review this product, and brutal honesty was the only promise!\\n\\nOverall i like this system, i'm a nut for having various tools at my disposal for tackling different photographic situations, and this is a totally new one for me. Here's the thoughts:\\n\\n-All plastic, but feels like darn good plastic\\n-Rated for up to 11lbs, but i wouldn't dare...\\n-Very versatile mounting, from belt to backpack\\n-Camera feels secure, but has a little play...\\n-It would be better if the spring lock stayed open\\n-Extra safety latch for paranoia\\n-Only one mounting plate included\\n\\nBuild quality\\nAside from the nuts, bolts, and belt/bag loops, it's all plastic. That was my first concern, but after getting a feel for it i feel much more comfortable. It's a thick, very solid feeling plastic. Still though, i feel they could have opted to make a few more parts out of metal, such as the mounting plate and spring lock. Peace of mind goes a long way.\\n\\nLooking around the net, i did find one user who had the spring lock break on them. In scrutinizing those parts, i perhaps can see that the smallish nut on the back end could break through if stressed enough, but keep in mind that's 1 total person's account.\\n\\nWeight rating\\n11lbs is a lot of weight, and my first thought is for the camera's 1/4\\\" hole: it wasn't really meant for this type of mounting & movement. The dynamic stress of walking/bouncing around... i wouldn't personally feel comfortable with more than 6lbs on this little guy. Less if you plan on really bouncing around.\\n\\nMy other concern is that there is a little play/wiggle when the plate is mounted, not much but enough to make me paranoid. Maybe i got an off sample? Despite this, it doesn't feel like the plate is going to come off when mounted. the spring lock makes sure the plate can't come out, but the notches & gravity make sure the plate holds tight to the system.\\n\\nMounting\\nSimple but effective strap through plus a metal U bolt allows for mounting to your backpack's strap. There's also a metal hook loop for connecting to a belt. In practice both work pretty darn nice, i was concerned about the camera bouncing around, but for basic walking/hiking, it stays off your body just enough to make clearance, and stays put.\\n\\nSpring lock\\nIf you've ever owned a tripod which uses a spring lock, you know how when you open it up, the spring clicks into an open position so that you don't need to fiddle with it to get the plate/camera back in. This doesn't have that click to stay open feature. This was my primary reason for deducting a star, because it does make it a touch more annoying to use depending on how/where you have it mounted because it means you need two hands to reconnect the camera.\\n\\nOverall\\nReally depends on your preferences and what type of photography you do, but it's a piece i'm going to enjoy having in my arsenal of toys.\",\n \"Product: The PNY Turbo Performance 16GB High Speed micro SDHC Class 10 UHS-1 Flash Card is perfect for the latest smartphones, tablets, and action cameras. It features 16GB of storage, giving you more room on your mobile device so you can easily enjoy more mobile content such as apps, eBooks, web video, music and movies. Or, easily take more photos or video with your action camera. The High Speed Micro SD card is rated Class 10, which guarantees fast transfer speeds so you can quickly transfer and share your content while you're on the go.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Performance False Advertising... not a happy customer. (update: PNY corrected the mistake)\\n\\nReview: UPDATE: PNY has reached out and fixed the false advertising. Good, but they still do not publish any write speeds on any website including their own, it is only noted in fine print on the back of the packaging. Bumped up to 4 stars for overall price/performance as compared to other cards on the market.\\n\\nResponse to commenters that \\\"up to 90\\\" means that 60 is legitimate: \\\"up to\\\" means it's limited by your device speed. It does not imply that there is a quality variance among cards and that you might get a 60, might get a 90, etc....\\n\\nORIGINAL REVIEW:\\n\\nCall me old fashion, but i like a product to be true to its specs. Ya know... not misleading or outright false advertising. Unfortunately that's exactly what PNY has done with this card, as well as lied about it. I have been very happily using other PNY cards, and was very excited to try out this new 'Turbo' line. Unfortunately it's going right back, both for the performance, and the lack of either intelligence or ethics (or perhaps both) of the company.\\n\\nThis review may sound like nitpicking an otherwise perfectly fine speed, but in my trade: 4k video & high speed photography, write speeds are what matter\\n\\nHave a look at my 3 attached photos, and you'll clearly see what i'm talking about. This card in several places has been advertised to be variations of 90/up to 90mb/sec WRITE speed. I'm well aware of the trickiness of companies advertising read/write speeds, so i contacted them to double check that there wasn't an error/typo. My email apparently was sent from a customer service rep to a tech rep for a response, and the response to my very specific question about write speed: yes, up to 90mb/sec\\n\\nGot the card in the mail, popped it into my usual reader, and the attached photo shows the result: NOT even close to 90mb/sec write speed. I was not pleased, but wanted to be absolutely sure before posting this rather negative review. So, 3 usb3 card readers on two different machines, nearly identical results.\\n\\nOther than that... i recommend the samsung pro, which is what i'm ordering right now, at this time it's only $3 more than the pny, and has a true 80mb/sec write speed.\\n\\nStar breakdown:\\nI took off half a star for the price/performance as compared to the competition, and 1.5 stars off for the false advertising/company nonsense.\",\n \"Product: The Seagate archive HDD 8TB is a High capacity, energy efficient and lower cost hard drive for active archive purposes. The drive comes with impressive burst results but lower sustained write results, which are to be expected in this class of smr drives. The drives are intended for use in large-scale data centres where density, power consumption, data integrity and data retrieval are paramount.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: If you have a boatload of data to backup, these are the best value\\n\\nReview: Big recommendation right off the bat: It's for archiving, not active use. That being said, it can certainly be used like any other drive, the read/write speeds while not fantastic are suitable for many people's typical files. My use is for storing large video files(i'm a videographer).\\n\\nTechnology suited for archiving\\nThe reason i strongly recommend it only for archiving is because it uses a newer technology called SMR(shingled magnetic recording), which is an innovative new way to cram more data into the same box. It's a step further than the previous advancement called perpendicular magnetic recording(PMR). It's not meant to be a performance beast, and the technology by design is best suited for archiving, not frequent write/rewrites.\\n\\nUsing them as a backup vs smaller drives\\nMy setup is to use these drives like i use the smaller 2tb 2.5\\\" drives: have them matched to a faster drive, keep the archive offline when necessary, and use the faster one online for use. The nice part about having 1 8tb drive is that it does the work of 4 of the smaller drives, but with the danger of trusting more information to 1 extra drive. It's for this reason i still very much like using the 2tb 2.5\\\" drives which i get for $80 each.\\n\\nReliability\\nWe are only a month in, so there's no way to tell if these drives will last except to keep them spinning and see. Thus far on my end it's looking just fine, another reviewer posted some issue, but looking at the comments there are some likely suggestions as to why they were experiencing the hiccups.\\n\\nRecommendation\\nIf you have mountains of data like i do, these drives make great sense, but i'm a paranoid fella, and wouldn't use them for anything but a pure backup. The price per gigabyte is excellent, but i would also consider the 2tb 2.5\\\" route, it has served me well.\",\n \"Product: Introducing the worlds first 1 (1.0-type) stacked CMOS image sensor with DRAM chip and a blazingly fast shutter speed of up to 1/32000. This new Exmor RS sensor not only enhances efficiency and speed of A/D conversion through its stacked structure with more circuit sections; it also realizes over five times faster readout speed of the previous RX10 II\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: A nice advancement from the Mark 1, but still a hard pick over the much cheaper FZ1000\\n\\nReview: As always in this market there are too many options and i like all of them for different reasons. I'm a professional videographer(& photographer sometimes), and i love these smaller cameras as backups/secondaries, and most importantly: Vacation use. Overall i'm impressed with the camera, but much like the mark 1(when it first launched), i feel that the price is a bit high, and has notable competition. If half stars were possible, i would be at 4.5stars.\\n\\nI have used the RX10 extensively, then sold it for the FZ1000 because of 4k video, i ended up not keeping that because i got a deal on a GH4, which is great but i miss the all in one zoom for vacationing. I've been waiting for the RX10 mark 2 very patiently. So how does it stack up to its nearest competitor the FZ1000?\\n\\n-A little better in low light/noise over the mark 1 & FZ1000\\n-Significantly higher in price than the FZ1000\\n-Impressively well controlled rolling shutter.\\n-A good bit wider angle than FZ1000 in 4K after the crop: 28 vs 37mm\\n-Super slow motion modes are awesome, just expect a big drop in quality at the higher rates.\\n-Same good photo & video autofocus (more on those later)\\n-It has the same great lens, but still noisy and slow motor.\\n-Body is identical, which is a good thing overall\\n-Screen is still a tilt, the swivel of the Panasonic cameras is far better\\n-Photo/Video quality is still excellent, but no big improvement over mark 1(Maybe a touch better overall)\\n\\nBasically, the mark 2 gains a somewhat modified sensor design and new processing, to gain faster readouts. The main benefits of this are the super slow motion modes, and the very low rolling shutter artifacts. Add to that the 4K video recording and that's really the main differences between the mark 2 and the mark 1. Significant? Sure! Everyone is clamoring for 4K, so if you must have it then your choice clearly rules out the mark 1.\\n\\nVs the $800 FZ1000?\\nIt's still a tough choice, the FZ1000 is a great camera as well and there are a number of plusses and minuses for each. The FZ1000 costs a lot less, has a full swivel screen, more built in functions such as timelapse, a longer (but slower aperture) lens (25-400mm), etc..., BUT remember the sony is a constant f2.8, and has a built in ND filter. They each have their own slew of profile adjustments, but the panasonic does have built in timelapse which i use frequently.\\n\\nOne area i found the sonys, both the mark 1 and mark 2 excelled at were video autofocus, Getting a smooth video AF out of the FZ1000 was always more hit or miss than the RX10. Granted there are a ton more modes/options and maybe there was something i missed, but the sony just had a more usable video AF with a few modes. This may be a make or break feature for some folks, so i suggest really researching it a lot before deciding.\\n\\nOverall, if you have the cash, it's a fantastic little camera. If offered either camera for free, it's a good bet i would end up choosing the rx10/2 over the FZ1000, but it's a tough choice because both cameras have differing features that suit my different needs. There are too many pros and cons to consider for each, so i would recommend looking closely at both and seeing which fits your needs.\",\n \"Product: Creativity is at the heart of every dream. Every idea, every groundbreaking leap that changes our world starts with the vision of talented creators. At DJI, we give these creators the tools they need to bring their ideas to life. Our platforms empower them to capture images that were once out of reach. Our flying and camera stabilization systems redefine camera placement and motion. Amazing photos and video, treasured personal memories, and high-end professional imagery are captured every day, in every corner of the world using DJI products. DJI technology does more than simply enable creators. We push visionaries to go beyond the limits of what is thought possible, inspiring them to inspire the world. We do this through an unparalleled commitment to R&D, a culture of constant innovation and curiosity, and a focus on transforming complex technology into easy-to-use devices. Building on the ethos of form follows function, our products combine advanced technology with dynamic designs. Headquartered in Shenzhen, widely considered Chinas Silicon Valley, DJI benefits from direct access to the suppliers, raw materials, and young, creative talent pool necessary for sustained success. Drawing on these resources, we have grown from a single small office in 2006 to a global workforce of over 3,000. Our offices can now be found in the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, Japan, Beijing and Hong Kong. As a privately owned and operated company, DJI focuses on our own vision, supporting creative, commercial, and nonprofit applications of our technology. Today, DJI products are redefining industries. Professionals in filmmaking, agriculture, conservation, search and rescue, energy infrastructure, and more trust DJI to bring new perspectives to their work and help them accomplish feats safer, faster, and with greater efficiency than ever before.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: The best case option for my needs\\n\\nReview: My desires for a case for my p3: small as possible, backpack, all sided protection, discrete, fits all essentials, reasonably priced. I found this case to fit most of those. Here's a quick breakdown:\\n\\n-Fits most of the essentials, 8.4\\\" tablet is a no\\n-Molded foam all around, good protection\\n-Feels decently comfortable\\n-No waist strap, does include chest strap\\n-Priced somewhat reasonably for what it is\\n\\nVs the others\\nI liked the other backpacks like the GPC and fearless, but had to rule them out because they don't provide any top protection, i want peace of mind. I also looked at the cheaper options, one of which is super cheap and i just didn't want to trust it, and then the other hard shell ones which did have a nice look but no molded foam on the top. I wasn't crazy about the look of this one but overall seemed to fit the bill\\n\\nStarting with what fits\\nIt can fit everything that came with the p3, plus 3 more batteries, and some nicknacks. I bought a tab 4 8.4 for this and it just doesn't fit anywhere, i suppose any 8\\\" or under tablets have a good chance of fitting in the slot where the extra props are to go, there is a deeper section in there. I measured and i think i can excavate a bit to fit my tablet in there.\\n\\nProtection\\nAll around and all solid, i liked the attention to detail, the p3 sits on a bit of softer cushy foam, and the camera appears to have a lip to rest on so when the back is worn and the p3 is facing down, the gimbal mount doesn't sag as much\\n\\nLooks\\nI don't really like the look of the case, anyone who is familiar with it will know i have a drone.\\n\\nQuality\\nIt aint no pelican, but feels up to the task. the front logo peeled off way too easily, but i wanted to cover it up anyways. The zippers feel standard, the hard shell isn't that hard when you take the foam out but as a package feels like it can handle a bit of roughness.\\n\\nOverall\\nI'm still teetering on the fence but likely keeping it, might try to mod it a bit, but looking at the other options there are tradeoffs for all and this seems to have the least tradeoffs for my preferences/needs.\",\n \"Product: Creativity is at the heart of every dream. Every idea, every groundbreaking leap that changes our world starts with the vision of talented creators. At DJI, we give these creators the tools they need to bring their ideas to life. Our platforms empower them to capture images that were once out of reach. Our flying and camera stabilization systems redefine camera placement and motion. Amazing photos and video, treasured personal memories, and high-end professional imagery are captured every day, in every corner of the world using DJI products. DJI technology does more than simply enable creators. We push visionaries to go beyond the limits of what is thought possible, inspiring them to inspire the world. We do this through an unparalleled commitment to R&D, a culture of constant innovation and curiosity, and a focus on transforming complex technology into easy-to-use devices. Building on the ethos of form follows function, our products combine advanced technology with dynamic designs. Headquartered in Shenzhen, widely considered Chinas Silicon Valley, DJI benefits from direct access to the suppliers, raw materials, and young, creative talent pool necessary for sustained success. Drawing on these resources, we have grown from a single small office in 2006 to a global workforce of over 3,000. Our offices can now be found in the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, Japan, Beijing and Hong Kong. As a privately owned and operated company, DJI focuses on our own vision, supporting creative, commercial, and nonprofit applications of our technology. Today, DJI products are redefining industries. Professionals in filmmaking, agriculture, conservation, search and rescue, energy infrastructure, and more trust DJI to bring new perspectives to their work and help them accomplish feats safer, faster, and with greater efficiency than ever before.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: The best option for me for the phantom 3\\n\\nReview: My desires for a case for my p3: small as possible, backpack, all sided protection, discrete, fits all essentials, reasonably priced. I found this case to fit most of those. Here's a quick breakdown:\\n\\n-Fits most of the essentials, 8.4\\\" tablet is a no\\n-Molded foam all around, good protection\\n-Feels decently comfortable\\n-No waist strap, does include chest strap\\n-Priced somewhat reasonably for what it is\\n\\nVs the others\\nI liked the other backpacks like the GPC and fearless, but had to rule them out because they don't provide any top protection, i want peace of mind. I also looked at the cheaper options, one of which is super cheap and i just didn't want to trust it, and then the other hard shell ones which did have a nice look but no molded foam on the top. I wasn't crazy about the look of this one but overall seemed to fit the bill\\n\\nStarting with what fits\\nIt can fit everything that came with the p3, plus 3 more batteries, and some nicknacks. I bought a tab 4 8.4 for this and it just doesn't fit anywhere, i suppose any 8\\\" or under tablets have a good chance of fitting in the slot where the extra props are to go, there is a deeper section in there. I measured and i think i can excavate a bit to fit my tablet in there.\\n\\nProtection\\nAll around and all solid, i liked the attention to detail, the p3 sits on a bit of softer cushy foam, and the camera appears to have a lip to rest on so when the back is worn and the p3 is facing down, the gimbal mount doesn't sag as much\\n\\nLooks\\nI don't really like the look of the case, anyone who is familiar with it will know i have a drone.\\n\\nQuality\\nIt aint no pelican, but feels up to the task. the front logo peeled off way too easily, but i wanted to cover it up anyways. The zippers feel standard, the hard shell isn't that hard when you take the foam out but as a package feels like it can handle a bit of roughness.\\n\\nOverall\\nI'm still teetering on the fence but likely keeping it, might try to mod it a bit, but looking at the other options there are tradeoffs for all and this seems to have the least tradeoffs for my preferences/needs.\",\n \"Product: The ADATA Premier SP550 solid state drive offers superior read/write performance and budget-friendly affordability. Compared to traditional hard drives, it delivers superior performance, consumes less power, and runs cooler in virtual silence. The SP550 is the ideal mechanical hard drive alternative for everyday computing such as video streaming, web browsing, and social media. It features an intelligent caching algorithm that boosts performance to 560MB/s read and 510MB/s write (240GB/480GB models). Built-in hardware error checking, data prioritization, and low power state technologies further improve stability and extend service life. Time-consuming tasks like opening large files, running complex compiling, or simply booting your PC are all accelerated and streamlined compared to traditional hard drives. The SP550 comes with a 3-year limited warranty for a worry-free ownership experience.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: They keep getting faster and cheaper! This one is no exception\\n\\nReview: SSDs are getting cheap! This one is less than 30cents per gigabyte. Some impressions i have:\\n\\n-Feels a bit less solid compared my other SSDs, but that's really not a concern(unless you want to use it as a hockey puck?)\\n-Formatted no issues in NTFS\\n-Speed is spot on as advertised, see the attached photo: 558mb/s read, 510/write\\n-Price is very competitive, and well worth an upgrade\\n\\nI get asked a lot about upgrading from a spinning disk to an SSD, and the answer is just about always YES, absolutely. The prices are now within just about everyone's reach. Unless you're a file heavy user, a 240gb or 480gb drive would do well in a laptop. For desktops you can use this as your operating system/programs/boot drive, and move your old spinning disk to storage duty.\\n\\nIf you're not familiar, SSDs are a great upgrade because the speed is far greater than the old spinning disks, and have other benefits such as lower power consumption, no moving parts, and far faster access times. I use smaller SSDs for my boot drives, larger ones Raided for my video editing scratch drive, and regular spinning disks for storage/smaller video projects.\\n\\nDisclaimer:\\nI was provided this product in exchange for an honest review. I always recommend buyers beware and be sure to click on reviewer's names to see if they are ever critical!\",\n \"Product: The Sigma 50-100mm f/1.8 DC HSM Art Lens for Canon is a premium mid telephoto zoom lens designed for APS-C sized sensors. Part of the Sigma Global Vision Art Line, the 50-100mm 1.8 is the second lens to feature a 1.8 aperture all the way through it focal length and factoring in the APS-C increase, the lens covers a highly useful range of 75-150mm. An enhanced and slimmer Hyper Sonic Motor (HSM) provide fast and accurate autofocus while 3 Premium FLD and 1 SLD Elements produce incredible image sharpness. Like all SGV lenses, each lens is hand crafted in our single factory in Aizu Japan, individually inspected before shipping and work with the Sigma USB Dock to update firmware and focus calibrate.FEATURES:Features three FLD (F Low Dispersion) glass elements, one SLD (Special Low Dispersion) glass element, and one high-refractive index, high-dispersion glass element to minimize aberrations.Redesigned and enhanced, the new Hyper Sonic Motor is 30% slimmer and provides fast and accurate AF.Highly durable polycarbonate diaphragm made with fluorine; blades feature carbon feather film offering exceptionally smooth operation even during continuous shootingInner focusing and zoom design offer versatile shooting optionsTripod socket for stable, comfortable operation.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: If you know how lovely the 18-35mm 1.8 is, then you already know how great this one is\\n\\nReview: If you're unaware, sigma's \\\"art\\\" line is what they designate as their creme of the crop, something akin to canon's L lenses\\n\\nWhat sigma has done again, is create a lens that has not yet existed before: A s35/aps-c/cropped lens, which has a constant max aperture of f/1.8. If you like fast glass and own a cropped camera(or a full frame with window mode), then this lens really has no alternative.\\n\\nSuffice it to say, this bigger brother to the already incredible 18-35mm 1.8 is a beautiful lens in and out. I've been using everything from canon to tamron, tokina, and sigma, and these 3rd party lens makers have really stepped up their game, the choices nowadays awesome\\n\\nBuild quality\\nIt's a hefty lens, and not very small either, if feels tight and smooth all around. Great tolerances.\\n\\nOptical quality\\nI really don't know how to go about saying this without sounding like an infomercial, because it's just beautiful, glamorous, contrasty and sharp. Again, if you've used the 18-35mm, i would relate just about every aspect of the image quality. It's sharp even wide open, it controls CA very well, and has minimal distortion and falloff. The 9 rounded blade aperture produces a nice bokeh.\\n\\nA catch 22?\\nDepending on your needs, this may be a dealbreaker: No Image Stabilization. It's almost unheard of these days to have a telephoto zoom lens without IS/OS. If you plan to shoot video and your camera has rolling shutter, you may be in for quite the jello effect when going handheld\\n\\n82mm filter threads\\nI use all 77mm filters, but it's a good bet that you can use a step down ring to use 77mm filters on 82mm at theses focal lengths. Your mileage likely will vary.\\n\\nLow minimum aperture\\nIf you know what diffraction is, then you're likely not wanting to go past f/16 anyways, but for those who do find themselves frequenting a lower max aperture, be aware the sigma tops out at f/16\\n\\nOverall\\nThere's literally nothing like it. I sure do wish it were cheaper, but i can say that about all the beautiful expensive glass out there. The real question is whether it's worth it over something like the gold standard 70-200 2.8 range, or 24-70mm 2.8. Those are of course full frame ranges, but regardless, if the range works for your needs on a cropped sensor, then so be it. The other intriguing option these days is to use one of those full frame lenses with a speed booster (focal reducer, it shrinks the image circle of a full frame lens to fit cropped, and in the process, increases the max aperture by 1 stop) So, that 70-200 2.8 becomes a 1.8. There are tradeoffs with that solution as well, but you would have the option for stabilization.\",\n \"Product: This \\\"Huge\\\" 60\\\" Black and White Parabolic Reflective umbrella is ideal for indoors or outdoors professional work. It is heavy duty constructed for using on location as well as inside studio. The fiberglass robs are strong and holds emple tension to make a beautiful parabolic shape to offer even and soft lightings. Optional diffusion cover makes lighting even soft to eleminate any harshness.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: A nice beefy umbrella with fiberglass rods. Curious about the material though...\\n\\nReview: A larger 'brella source has bee on my todo list. Umbrellas are a fantastic modifier that pack up small and can be used to great effect. How does this one perform?\\n\\nSize\\n60\\\" is in the larger class of umbrellas, it will wrap around your subject, or spread a wider field than a smaller umbrella. Umbrellas aren't the best for controlling light spill, which can be important for situations involving a background which is close to your subject, so keep that in mind when considering this vs a softbox with a grid(controls spill far better)\\n\\nConstruction\\nFeels great, i love the fiberglass rods instead of metal. My two areas of concern are the little rivets, and the white fabric. The rivets looks like fairly typical umbrella rivets which may be just fine, but only time and use will tell their longevity(See photos). The white fabric looks quite nice, and i like the amount of reflectivity, but i'm curious/concerned about what the material actually is. Another white umbrella of mine uses a fabric, while this one looks to be some painted on/non fabric material(see photo with thumb). It seems reasonably durable, but once again, only time will tell how it holds up, especially to hot tungsten lights.\\n\\nWeight\\nIt's a pretty heavy umbrella. My smaller lights such as the lowel tota, don't like it very much, i had to tighten the crap out of the nut on it to be sure the umbrella doesn't pull it all down. I also tried it on the <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/LimoStudio-High-Quality-4-Socket-Photo-Bulb-Adapter-Converts-1-Socket-into-4-Use-for-Standard-Socket-Flourescent-Bulbs-AGG882-A/dp/B0091HO0FY/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">LimoStudio High Quality 4 Socket Photo Bulb Adapter - Converts 1 Socket into 4 - Use for Standard Socket Flourescent Bulbs, AGG882-A</a> and i didn't like how that sat at all, so i used a <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/CowboyStudio-Umbrella-Mount-Bracket-with-Swivel-Tilt-Bracket-for-Nikon-and-Canon-430EX-E580EX-SB600-SB800-SB900/dp/B0034WR71G/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">CowboyStudio Umbrella Mount Bracket with Swivel Tilt Bracket for Nikon and Canon 430EX E580EX SB600 SB800 SB900</a> which holds it just fine.\\n\\nOn more typical monolights however, like my flashpoint dg400, it's totally fine.\\n\\nCase\\nDecent enough storage sleeve, i just wish they put another loop on the other end so i could attach a shoulder strap to it.\\n\\nOverall\\nI'm pleased, i do a lot of sit down interviews, and this umbrella rarely doesn't impress/cause a positive reaction to the client(clients love big productions)\",\n \"Product: The 12-28mm f/4.0 at-x Pro APS-C lens for Canon from Toking is a wide-angle to standard length zoom lens with a maximum aperture of f/4.0. It is compatible with Canon APS-C cameras and provides a 35mm focal length equivalency of 19-45mm. This compact lens features a one-touch AF/MF clutch operation to switch back and forth between auto and manual focus, for manual focus slide the focus ring back and for autofocus allow to the ring to rest in the forward position.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: but when i saw this lens on sale for a really really good price, i nabbed one up\\n\\nReview: I already have the canon 10-18mm, but when i saw this lens on sale for a really really good price, i nabbed one up. Tokina is perhaps known for their low cost, ultra wide range of lenses.\\n\\nBuild quality\\nA tank as usual, tokina doesn't skimp on construction\\n\\nFocusing\\nThis is where tokina has remained a bit old school, no ultrasonic, just a regular somewhat clunky sounding gear drive. The good thing about this is true tactile manual focusing with hard stops at the ends. AF is reasonably fast in various lighting conditions.\\n\\nDistortions & aberrations\\nPleasantly minimal and on par with other good performers in this category range. The wide end has a fairly nice curve distortion which is easily correctable. I didn't notice any significant chromatic aberrations.\\n\\nSharpness\\nWide open looks fairly tacky, with corner and edges looking pretty nice overall. Stopped down by 1 stop things improve nicely.\\n\\nMissing?\\nUltrawide lenses typically get neglected in the stabilization department. Some feel it's unnecessary, but seeing as video is just as common as photos with these lenses, stabilization is great to have. The lack of it may not be a detriment depending on your uses, and more and more cameras as coming out with sensor based stabilization.\\n\\nOverall\\nIt's still a hard pick over competitors, such as tokina's renowned 11-16/11-20 2.8. The extra reach on the long end does make this lens more versatile as it brings it to a fairly normal focal range, But a stop slower will hurt those with weak iso cameras. Canon's 10-18 is fantastic, but is slower on the long end, but it has IS, and is super small and lightweight, great for handheld/gimbal/stabilizer work.\\n\\nChoose based on your needs and budget, as always!\",\n \"Product: The Amaran AL-H160 illuminates using superior color rendering CRI 95+ LEDs. The color accuracy is almost perfecteven without PS. With 160 LEDs, the use of 60-degree angled bulbs, PWM technology and the latest color-rendering techniques, the Amaran AL-H160 shines an exceptionally even and stable output. Its the perfect tool for shooting still-life and portraits. Choose to power your Amaran with either six AA batteries or an easily replaceable lithium battery (Sony F/FM/QM/FP/FH/FV). Four LEDs display the remaining battery life. Up to nine panels can be attached together to create a larger, softer and more intense light. The slim and frameless design without borderline partitions also means that when lights are combined, there is no leak in light. The Amarans brightness wheel allows you to manually dim or intensify the power of your light. Its the perfect tool in all settings regardless of whether you are shooting video or still photos.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: 95CRI? Maybe, nonetheless i like the light it puts out, and the price is great. vs z96 vs cn160\\n\\nReview: I really don't need more lights, but at less than 50 bucks i couldn't resist, they got me with the high CRI claims\\n\\nI own two z96 lights and a cn160, all get use, none are perfect. When possible i use good old hot lights. So where does this fit in?\\n\\nFirst impressions:\\n-Light appears nice quality\\n-A touch warmer than the cn160\\n-A lot warmer than the z96\\n-Dimming seems to have minimal color shift\\n-All plastic but feels solid enough\\n-No lock for battery, my lenmars are loose\\n-1/4\\\" mount for all sides\\n-filters attach via little clip-pins. not great, but could be worse.can't stack like with z96 magnets\\n\\nI'll be doing a length video review/comparison of it, but considering it's priced not much more than the cn160(which i hate the mount for) i would go for this one instead\",\n \"Product: LG G Pad 4G LTE Tablet, Black x8.3-Inch 16GB (Verizon Wireless VK815)\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: A nice enough tablet, but beware of verizon's pitch, and get it in writing.\\n\\nReview: I usually say pass when i'm offered deals at the verizon store, but i got suckered into this one. I already have a samsung tab pro 8.4, but the connectivity into verizons LTE network with this device tipped me into buying it. Now we'll just have to see if verizon holds up their end of the bargain.\\n\\nThe tablet itself is a fine device, it's not as refined in performance as my tab pro 8.4, but it's not sluggish either. The screen is very nice and high resolution, and it has a full size usb port which is great because i can just pop a usb stick into it.\\n\\nI tried playing some 4k video files on it, but alas it cannot handle that. It does handle 1080 just fine however.\\n\\nI tried a bit of dual window'ing, and that worked pleasantly well. Battery life is also very good, and when closed in standby it goes for days while sipping very little juice.\\n\\nI tried 4 cases for it, i didn't like the <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/MoKo-LG-G-Pad-X8-3/dp/B00WLI9M9E/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">MoKo LG G Pad X8.3</a> (too thick) nor did i like the <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/ProCase-LG-G-Pad-X8-3-Case/dp/B012EFP8QO/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">ProCase LG G Pad X8.3 Case</a> (odd flap around the backing)\\n\\nThe case i did like is the same brand i have for the tab pro: <a data-hook=\\\"product-link-linked\\\" class=\\\"a-link-normal\\\" href=\\\"/Fintie-LG-G-Pad-X8-3/dp/B0102R2Z12/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\\\">Fintie LG G Pad X8.3</a> It keeps things nice and slim and adds that bare minimum amount of protection.\\n\\nAs for the verizon end of things...\\n\\nI'm already not feeling secure: I asked a lot of questions repeatedly to the sales lady, and her answers are already not matching up to reality. I was told it would be $9/month for the tablet line(but i'm seeing 10), and would also get a $16 credit for each month because of the tablet for the full 24 months of the contract. Well, i can already see that it's not $16, it's 10% off 4 of the line access fees. So if those go down(and according to the new plan structures they will) i'm going to have to do some unpleasant talking to the lady who made clear that it was $16, not a percentage. It also shows as for 12 months, not 24. I already followed up with one rep who could do nothing and said that at the end of the 12 months i can see what promotions are available to take advantage of...\\n\\nOverall it's a nice tablet, it was $80 plus the contract nonsense described above. I calculated that it would be near free considering the promotions over the course of the 24 months if the lady wasn't lying to me. But in the end, if it ends up costing $200 or less for the life of the contract, i will consider it worthwhile. The tablet is much nicer than the verizon runaround that goes along with it.\",\n \"Product: This product uses polyester waterproof material, sunscreen, rain, dust, durable, easy to use, can be\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Just what we needed, no frills way to keep the bikes dry\\n\\nReview: UPDATE: After some long use, it finally got nasty and tore apart. I won't dock a star though, because we were squeezing two bikes under it!\\n\\nYes, this will fit two bikes, but it's a stretch. It's not the same shape front and back, the front is wider to accommodate the width of handlebars.\\n\\nIf you have just one bike, this plops over plenty easy, and has velcro on the bottom to ensure it stays put even in wind. Two bikes takes a minute or two to get it over both of them, but it's totally serviceable.\\n\\nThe material is sufficiently durable, we already have a small hole in ours but thats because i rushed getting it over the two bikes, i think a brake lever did it.\\n\\nDesign wise, we love the simple but distinct print on it, it's quaint.\",\n \"Product: Heroic Hugh Jackman breathes the fire into Wolverine (Miami Herald) with a vengeance! This pulse-pounding action thriller sinks razor-sharp adamantium claws into the mysterious origins of Logan/Wolverine: his epically violent and romantic past, his complex relationship with Victor Creed/Sabretooth (Liev Schreiber), and the ominous Weapon X program that unleashes his primal fury. Along the way, Wolverine also encounters legendary new mutants, including Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) and Gambit (Taylor Kitsch). Youll go berserker for this deeper, darker, more-spectacular-than-ever chapter of the X-Men saga!\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Very different from the origins movie, better and worse in its own ways\\n\\nReview: I was on the wall between 3 and 4 stars, and amazon calls 3 stars \\\"It's OK\\\", and thats what i felt.\\n\\nIf you liked origins, i would imagine you might not like this film. Origins was an action flick, typical of what you'd expect from it. This on the other hand was not an action flick, there was some action in it, but it was more of a drama.\\n\\nIt kind of seemed like they saw the complaints with the origins movie, and decided to do exactly the opposite. If they did more of a middle ground, they might have had a more clear winner.\\n\\nIt overall was well done, but i would have appreciated it being a good 20min shorter, it's over 2 hours, and it does NOT fly by, it feels long. It's worth a watch, just don't be tired and sitting on a comfy couch with your feet up while doing so\",\n \"Product: NOTICE: Polish Release, cover may contain Polish text/markings. The disk has English audio and subtitles. As a war between humankind and monstrous sea creatures wages on, a former pilot and a trainee are paired up to drive a seemingly obsolete specia...\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: It's BIG, It's FUN, and it entertains FAR better than any transformers movie.\\n\\nReview: I was really hoping this movie would be good, i mentally prepared myself for it to be bad, and when i saw the first reviews, i was excitation.\\n\\nIt's big, it's fun, and it isn't into itself, meaning it isn't trying to be anything that it's not. You grab a huge bucket of popcorn and set your brain to fun awesome mode.\\n\\nThe filmmakers had a great attention to detail, the mechanics of things were about as believable as you might imagine them to be, unlike transformers mechanics, which are just silly as hell. The only thing i looked at negatively was that they use helicopters to lift these robots... yea i don't think so.\\n\\nBut transformers, yea, transformers movies are just plain garbage. i don't like them for many reasons, the main two being lebeuffff and bay. Pacific rim has things like.... character development....not ridiculous amounts of slow motion action... no lebleueefff... etc... All in all, PR is far better of a film than any of the transformers movies, just because they are both about large robots doesn't mean you can call them the same.\\n\\nAre there stretches in the suspense of disbelief? sure, like i mentioned with the helicopters, but then again were talking about a movie which has a portal to another dimension, so i think it works just fine within the defined reality.\\n\\nThe comic relief by charlie day was welcome, though it's a bit hard to believe the government would have quite that level of goofiness in a high level position, but i'm just digging for nitpicks.\\n\\nThe one thing that i'm on the wall about is the opening, since it starts year and years after the first monster attack. I think it was a good move to do that and have the recap of how things started, and a brave move at that, seeing as we're in the age of backstory backstory backstory. I just had an itch to see how it all started, and i hope they do a prequel movie of just that.\",\n \"Product: Quick Shipping !!! New And Sealed !!! This Disc WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. A multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player is request to view it in USA/Canada. Please Review Description.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Not quite as good as the first, but far better than the second\\n\\nReview: And that's all you really need to know. If you thought #2 was good, then you're of course delusional and should go watch teletubbies or whatnot.\\n\\nOK #2 wasn't god awful, it just didn't have anything to care about.\\n\\nIn #3 we've got a decent blend of internal tony issues, big terrorist issues, and iron man armor issues. The odd thing to see is how much tony's suits are failing, in the first movie alone he perfects the suit and i guess with mark 42 the idea is that he's pushing the boundaries of his skills and thus things are falling apart with his latest suit and his life. I think i just got more insightful than i care to...\\n\\nWe get teased along with the whole mark 42 suit because they imply there are upwards of 40 suits lying around. It's no secret due to the trailer that those suits all show up at the end to fight off the baddies. My main reservation is in just how ridiculously strong they made the extremis badguys. I'd have notched their overall abilities down a good 30 percent.\\n\\nThe other obvious ridiculous stupidity is that he's in the PROTOTYPE in preparation for a TERRORIST attack...meanwhile he has 40 other suits that are finished and ready and completely autonomous but for some reason he decided to keep them out of it and rely just on the one prototype.... pretty retarded for a genius.\\n\\nand i guess were supposed to believe that after his house is destroyed that he couldn't call them out because the rubble was on top of the chamber. man, if they just had some weapons to blow out of that rubble... oh wait....\\n\\nBut honestly that gaping hole wasn't ruining of the film, but if you have a half of a brain it'll make you shake your head.\\n\\nGuy pierce was awesome, loved his character. Most suprising was that they left the rest of the universe out of it, meaning no scarlet, no shield, just him.\\n\\nIt's plenty of entertainment, watch it with a medium size bucket of popcorn\",\n \"Product: Quick Shipping !!! New And Sealed !!! This Disc WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. A multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player is request to view it in USA/Canada. Please Review Description.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Action, seriously: ACTION! That's what you came for, and MM:FR delivers it incredibly\\n\\nReview: <div id=\\\"video-block-R2P6JIRNWOBXW7\\\" class=\\\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\\\"></div><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/E1Xh0Y94YSS.mp4\\\" class=\\\"video-url\\\"><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91ClsWFhpxS.png\\\" class=\\\"video-slate-img-url\\\">Zero Spoilers, have no fear and read on!\\n\\nSummed up: If you like action films, this nails it.\\n\\nI was very skeptical of this film by the trailers, it just looked senseless to me. I usually like action only if it's well done and it has solid meaning to it. But seeing the critics raving for this film was too much to resist.\\n\\nShocked, stunned, flat out bewildered. Not because it was an amazing film, it's just that that much action seriously leaves your body drained/pumped at the same time. But the amazing part is that i actually was locked on seriously into every bit of it. It was incredibly executed along with solid performances by the characters. If you compare this action to say... pirates of the Caribbean style silliness, this wins far and away by 10K miles. There's no drawn out one on one duels, there is dynamic, all over the place eye candy.\\n\\nLet's take a step back, because no it's of course not perfect and some will not care for the over-the-top-ness of it all and how ridiculous some of it OK a lot of it is. But that's what this movie is about and achieves. Director Miller is just as much about the art as he is about the execution, so much in the way as say: crouching tiger hidden dragon(loose analogy,stay with me) was about the art within and on top of its fight scenes, MM:FR has an artfulness to it all in the elaborate over the top how/why would these people make such things, kind of way. Now, i'm not entirely sure that i'm not full of crap on all this, but that's what my brain just wrote and believes at the moment. The action may have scrambled my circuits.\\n\\nThe plot is simple: the big guy of the post apocalyptic world has his precious things stolen from him, and max gets inadvertently caught in the middle and ends up helping the good guys, er, girls, er, people try and escape capture. Yea, nothing complex, but it's well written and little nuggets of plot points get dished out at just the right times to keep our interest piqued in between the nearly nonstop car chasing.\\n\\nHardy as Max was great, i don't know if he aimed to mirror Gibson's original Max, but i easily saw congruence but with Hardy's own signature.. Charlize Theron's character was really the driver of the film (yea pun...) And she's fantastic as usual.\\n\\nI also love the well placed and mostly very dry humor here and there. It's not joke humor, it's not silly humor, it's just observational humor if that makes sense (if not you'll get it when you see it)\\n\\nAll in all it's real simple: if you like action films, this really is now up there as one of the best in my book.\",\n \"Product: Quick Shipping !!! New And Sealed !!! This Disc WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. A multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player is request to view it in USA/Canada. Please Review Description.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: A very worthwhile film that keeps you from blinking\\n\\nReview: If you've never hear the term \\\"art through adversity\\\", you'll have a clear understanding after watching this film. While there are for sure plenty of visual effects at play, the truly brutal environment and conditions that this film was shot in make for a very real and visceral feel to the story. It is based off a true story out of history, of a man who kept on going when many of us regular folks would surely have long since given up.\\n\\nIt's not a movie for everyone, a good friend of mine really can't watch films that have a lot of violence, and this film does have its fair share. The most talked about scene is the bear attack, and it's both incredible and tough to watch. The effects work is very believable, as is DiCaprio's performance.\\n\\nIt did start to lose me a bit, when they show the main character that torn apart and barely able to do anything, then start to push through and then become very capable at not only moving on, but then going on the attack. Some people might see that as a great character break through, but it seemed a bit of a stretch to me\\n\\nOverall, it's really an incredible film, and i do tend to be pretty critical. It's the kind of film that just draws you in and keeps you engaged (a bit like Castaway does).\\n\\nPlease, don't watch it on a small screen without surround sound\",\n \"Product: Premium Powerful Sound Specially designed drivers with high-energy neodymium magnets deliver deep powerful bass that perfectly complements popular music genres. And acoustic design allows for a high level of sound isolation which aides in the reproduction of powerful and extended bass response. Universal Compatibility Universal 3. 5 mm headphone jack compatible with devices which support 3. 5mm jack port input. In-Line Microphone & Remote Control Button Built-in Mic: allows easy conversations on your device whether using it on smartphones or video call on computer. Volume control button: you could play/pause the music, answer/hang up the phone, tracker the next/previous song. One-Year Worry-free Warranty Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions to this ear phone. Our service team will give you the satisfied solution asap within 24 hours. And every headphones bought from Of Power is covered by 1-year warranty.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: No seriously, i LOVE this thing\\n\\nReview: UPDATE: after just under a year of use and it's lost its super capacity. But it served its purposes long enough for me to get a new phone! Bottom line: Won't live as long as OEM batteries, but 6+ months for this price is still darn good!\\n\\nI'm so over the \\\"i have the thinnest phone\\\" mantra.\\n\\nFirst off, if you know anyone who uses an otterbox, this battery is only about as thick as that!\\n\\nDesign wise, i want to give a big sloppy kiss to whoever designed it, it's a long life battery held it by a case/phone protector that is exactly how i like it, slim but just enough protection to save it from some bumps and small falls.\\n\\nI read some nitpicks people had about it not fitting exactly perfect around the top end screen side, and yes i do see it, but i think that's one of the most OCD nitpicks i've seen all year. There is no way this case is coming off unless you want it to.\\n\\nThe issue some had with the mic hole not being there, seems to be fixed, mine has proper holes. All the ports have good clearance as well. The camera and flash are fine as well.\\n\\nThe only real nitpick i could find is with the power button, it is a tad annoyingly hard to press, but it has a simple fix: just break out the exacto knife and cut it out. I've chosen not to, i pretend its a finger workout.\\n\\nOK, so about the battery life. well, it's fricking amazing, obviously. I get 3+ days average with moderate use. i'm still in the phase of always checking the battery meters and feeling satisfied. I don't plug in every night, i plug in 2-3 times a week tops.\\n\\nLet's go back to the size again, because yes it's bigger, but WHO. CARES. And let's be clear, it does not add significant bulk or weight unless you're a very dainty person. the added thickness and rubbery case actually makes this phone miles better to hold.\\n\\nMy friend has an iphone portable dock/battery, that he carries with him to charge his iphone.... i fail to see how that is better than just having a larger battery on your phone. i'm not poking at the iphone, i'm poking at all phones with a non-removable battery. That's the main reason i decided to keep my nexus for as long as it lasts, because nearly all new phones have non removable batteries.\\n\\nAnd the cherry on top? 6 month warranty. for 40 bucks? heck yes, buy it.\",\n \"Product: The XShot Phone Holder Allows Your Phone To Be Mounted To An XShot Camera Extender, Or Any Standard Tripod (1/4\\\"-20 Thread), And Many Other Devices. It Fits All Best-Selling Smartphones - Including IPhone And Any Android/Windows-Based Phone. The XShot Phone Holder Is Compact, Sturdy, And Attaches In An Instant And It's Perfect For Travel And Throwing Into Your Camera Gear Bag. The Holder Features A Sturdy Steel Spring-Loaded Grip That Adjust To The Size Of Your Phone - Just Clip It On And You Can Now Attach Your Phone To Any Tripod, Or To The End Of An XShot Extender For Great Selfies And Vacation Shots! Worried About Scratches Don't Be! The XShot Phone Mount Features Soft Protective Rubber On Both Arms That Securely Cradle Your Phone, And Protective Rubber Along The Length Of The Holder To Protect The Back Of Your Mobile Phone Or Case. The XShot Phone Mount Also Features Two Universal Tripod Mounts (1/4\\\"-20 Threading), Allowing You To Mount Your Phone Vertically Or Horizontally To Stable Tripod, Monopod, Or An XShot Extender.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Cheap, solid, fits pretty big phones, and has two places to mount. Deal!\\n\\nReview: Now that i have a phone that can do decent stills and video (droid turbo), and i usually have some sort of tripod in the car, i wanted a solid connection for the two\\n\\nThere are a number of weak looking phone tripod adapters out there, this one looked a bit more substantial\\n\\nSo how does it fare?\\n\\n-Mostly plastic, but thick and feels solid\\n-The inside is made of a hard-ish rubber\\n-2 tripod screw mounts, both metal and feel good\\n-Opens very wide, fits droid turbo even with slim case.\\n-Clamps securely, though i'd actually rather it not be as tight\\n-I wish the hooks were a bit wider, so they could get out and around thick phones/phones with cases(read below)\\n-And it's cheap!\\n\\nSo if you look at the photo you see on the inside of the grip it kinda hooks around, which grabs thin phones/phones without cases very nicely. but if the phone is thicker/has a case, it can't quite get around, and you just have to let those lips grip the side of your case and works OK, but i'm tempted to just trim off that little lip, since it's just the hard rubber. That way it would just be a flat connection which wouldn't be hindered by a wide phone\",\n \"Product: Packing arguably one of the best hardware combinations available at the moment, the natural habitat of the Motorola DROID Turbo is somewhere near the very top of Mount Android, thanks to the 5.2-inch Quad HD display, the power-laden 2.7GHz Snapdragon 805, the 3GB of LPDDR3 RAM, the 21MP rear snapper capable of shooting 4K video clips, and the humongous, \\\"two-day\\\" 3,900mAh battery inside.Carrier: Verizon WirelessDevice has a slot for a SIM card. Does not have a slot for a MicroSD memory car\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Turbo indeed! Many early reviews are now irrelevant, this is a damn good phone.\\n\\nReview: <div id=\\\"video-block-R5KKWCRABAE77\\\" class=\\\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\\\"></div><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/C1QSPZBJQRS.mp4\\\" class=\\\"video-url\\\"><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91OX5FsgGSS.png\\\" class=\\\"video-slate-img-url\\\"> I've been waiting to upgrade my aging galaxy nexus. i tried the LG-G3, and it was just too darn wide and had an issue with the microphone.\\nCome black friday, i was able to get this on an upgrade, with the 100 off special, and another 100 off for trading in an old smartphone. price out the door? $6.99 for a superphone\\n\\nNote about many negative reviews i've seen around: When released, the turbo couldn't do talk & data at the same time. tThis feature has been added in firmware, so if you're concerned about the less than perfect rating on sites like verizon, dig around & you'll find many are now irrelevant.\\n\\n-Fast, really fast processor handles tasks quickly\\n-Screen is gorgeous, it's been a month and i'm still enjoying looking at it\\n-Battery life is very good, not brilliant, but very good\\n-Speed charging is pretty darn great when you realize you forgot to charge it and need to run.\\n-Moto UI is pretty faithful to stock, and anything extra i haven't minded\\n-The camera is very good, i only wish it had optical stabilization like the G3\\n-4k video looks very good, there are apps to control finer settings like bitrate. (open camera, FV-5)\\n-Splash resistance is good to know\\n\\nCons?\\n-Really wish 5+inch screens weren't the new norm, i feel the 4.7-4.9\\\" were ideal, larger than that = not really ideal for single hand use.\\n-No card port\\n-No removable battery\\n-Doesn't make bacon pancakes.\\n-Wife cracked her phone's screen and is a year+ from upgrade time and gives dirty looks.\\n-Not waterproof like the competition\\n\\nAll in all, i've really been enjoying it, and feel it's a very solid phone. I went for the red, which is not typical of me, but i said hey, i kinda want some color. and figured i'd be putting it in a case anyways.\\n\\nVs G3, S5, etc..\\n\\nI tried the G3 for a week, and it just felt too wide. I also had a bad mic it seemed, as many callers couldn't hear me well. The s5 is like the standard, and while it had the features i was looking for, i was turned off by the incredibly cheap/chintzy chromed edge it has. Yea i know, not a huge deal, but i just didn't feel connection with the s5, i'm weird that way. Probably also didn't like that EVERYONE and their aunt has one.\\n\\nI didn't bother with many of the other phones because they didn't offer 4k video, which is a feature i demanded. I have good reason: I'm a videographer, and i do stock footage, so when i don't have a camera with me, and i spot something, my phone is the only thing to use.\\n\\nI think this phone won't sell like crazy because of the early negative reviews that slammed it on not having talk/data at the same time, which is something that's now included. That's something i'll like about it, that it's not a friggin iphone that everyone's got.\",\n \"Product: Pilot Automotive White LED Quadra Strobe Kit with Controller is a set of ultra powerful strobes with a 12 volt design. With this strobe light, you can create custom effects to your vehicle. This product is water resistant and includes step by step instructions inside the package.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Excellent control, sufficient brightness, i use it for film to fake cop cars.\\n\\nReview: My application isn't typical for this, i wanted to create a portable light which i could have just off frame, pointed at an actor or object, to imply that there's an emergency vehicle on the scene. A lot cheaper than getting an actual vehicle. But my notes i suppose would apply to typical use of this light as well.\\n\\nThe Design\\nIt's 4 lights, and they are treated as 2, so the patterns you get affect two lights at a time. They attach with sticky tape which appears to be the good kind, just be sure to clean the mounting surface. The controller box has mounting holes and has all the controls.\\n\\nControls/Settings\\non/off, flash all lights once, flash all 3 times, flash each pair twice, flash each pair 3 times. And now here's the best part and the reason i got this: you have a control dial to set how fast it repeats each of these settings, awesome! And it's not like it's just a few settings, you can really fine tune the speed of the cycles. This was crucial to me because if it were too slow, it would look odd, if it were too fast, the camera literally cannot see some cycles.\\n\\nBrightness\\nOK, it's NOT a sun gun. It won't turn everyone's head on the block. They are brighter than you would expect from 4 small LEDs, but they don't have tons of power to them like bigger/more LED units. What i will say is that they throw enough light to get the desired reaction, if you're looking at the car, they completely look the part, if they are pointed at you, they'll get your attention from a short bit away, but if they're not pointed at you, i doubt you'd notice them. Completely what i was expecting for this size/price.\\n\\n12v\\nanother reason i chose these, i have plenty of 12v small battery packs and they power this thing for hours on end. Then again, pretty much all car accessories are 12v\",\n \"Product: Kurgo's Tru-Fit Enhanced Strength Harness 3055 series is a crash-tested dog car harness to keep your dog safe when he travels. It comes with the features of our other harnesses, but includes all-steel Nesting Buckles based on the time-tested harnesses of rock climbers and linesmen. When used with the included seatbelt tether, it keeps your dog safe in a car accident. LIFETIME WARRANTY: Your satisfaction is important to us. We offer a Kurgo lifetime warranty for products purchased new from authorized sellers. If you have any questions or concerns about our products, please contact Kurgo and we would be happy to assist you!\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: A nicely made harness and belt clip. Helps with pulling, but a little different to attach.\\n\\nReview: Really nicely built harness. Our 13lb Chuck the Chug doesn't mind it at all, and it helps reduce his pulling\\n\\nFit wise we have the small, and it straps on well, but just barely. My wife put it on entirely backwards at first and that was an awkward as heck walk. I kept asking if it was on right, she insisted it was, guess what Karina? TOTALLY upside down. My wife isn't one for reading instructions...\\n\\nOnce that was rectified, it made a lot more sense. It takes a few times to finally get a hang of these buckles, but i do like them more than clips because clips can snag hair.\\n\\nYou can attach the leash to the top or front, front for anti pulling. It works pretty well, but we only have a 13lb'er to deal with.\\n\\nIn the car, the belt strap is very strong, not like those cheap toy carabiner clips, this feels like it's solid steel.\\n\\nOverall, it's a nice harness, i've even tried using the top as a handle and chuck looked unimpressed but fine with that.\",\n \"Product: Petica luxury premium dog poop bags with dispenser dog poop is every pet owner nuisance; especially if you have to keep picking it up with tissue paper When you take your dog for a walk. Many pet owners will agree that they often dread taking their pets for walks in public places, when they do not have the right kind of poop Bag to pick up droppings after their dog. So, say goodbye to messy dog poop pickings and say Hello to the top-of-the line poop bags with a dispenser from Petica! These top of the range poop dog waste bags will give you great benefits like; - Infinity use: contains 700 poop bags! It is such an enormous supply that it feels like it will last FOREVER! - great package: The package even comes with a poop Bag Dispenser. Its design is logical-bone shaped, and it attaches quite well to the leash without falling off. - bigger space: these dog poop waste bags are quite big and they can be used for larger dog breeds. They make a good sized waste bag. - easy to use: the bags are perfect to use on the go. They have little perforations that make tearing quite easy and without a fuss. - durability: They are very sturdy and are thicker than most waste bags, so you do not feel like you are picking the Poop with your bare hands. - great value: these are absolutely must-haves for every pet owner. They come in very handy when you and your dog are taking a stroll. They do not tear, so with These incredible poop bags, you are able to keep the environment dog poop free. What more would YOU want in a poop Bag? To sweeten the deal, we are also offering you a money-back guarantee so theres nothing to lose at all.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Another good experience with handling Chuck the Chug's daily downloads\\n\\nReview: I've already done a somewhat extensive review of amazonbasics poo bags, and i can say that these bags are just about par for the course in terms of size, strength, and value.\\n\\nAs with most large cases of poo bags, it includes a standard issue bone bag holder. And it should be noted that these bags have the plastic tube in the center. Some bags do not have this, so less waste, but those won't work in all holders which sometimes have notches/rods that align with the tubes.\\n\\nPrice wise, these are in that sub $20 arena which lots of other brands are cashing in on, so they're all a great value, it's really a toss up which you prefer to buy, i have had good experiences with pretty much all of them. A good experience meaning that i never get poo on my hands...\\n\\nVisibility wise, thses black bags keep the poo well hidden (if that matters to you)\\n\\nBut my one wish is for handles. Most of these brands don't have those ever useful handles for tying the bags up.\",\n \"Product: An Amazon Brand.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: A fine bed for our little prince of poosia\\n\\nReview: <div id=\\\"video-block-R2XCVATVXHOSDF\\\" class=\\\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\\\"></div><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D1RQl8VOq7S.mp4\\\" class=\\\"video-url\\\"><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91-yxaNiK%2BS.png\\\" class=\\\"video-slate-img-url\\\"> Winter is coming\\n\\nerr, i mean Summer is coming. And our pooch is already showing signs of being too hot in his blanketed bed. Thus began me quest for a cooler bed. I mean cooling bed... you know what i mean\\n\\nThe amazon basics brand puts out some very usable stuff, and im usually very eager to try them out. This appear to be a very new addition to their lineup. Overall it's a pretty simple device, and appears well made. Let's break it down:\\n\\n-Very competitive pricing\\n-Small is plenty big enough for our 13lb Chuck\\n-A bit of a step/jump for small dogs, not sure why they didn't make it shorter\\n-Bars feel very strong, thick bolts hold them together\\n-Fabric feels good, stitching looks decent. Time will tell if it lasts.\\n-Assembly is pretty simple, just be sure to use your brain\\n\\nThis is a new experience for our Chuck, and he's not onboard just yet. It's also still chilly most nights here, i expect he'll warm up to it, or rather cool up to it when the heat increases.\\n\\nI am debating removing a few inches from the height, i have a tube cutting tool that will do the job no problem, and i can pop the caps off and reinsert them. I'll give it a few weeks to let chuck feel it out.\",\n \"Product: 1000 Green Dog Pet Poop Bags, 50/20 Refill Rolls (Free Patented Dispenser) Gorilla Supply 1000 Pet Waste Bags, Size: 9\\\" x 12\\\".\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Another good brand of dog poo bags, but they're a bit shorter, and more see-through\\n\\nReview: Oh sweet bag of poo, how i don't love you but need you. Our little 13lb Chuck goes through 2 to 3 bags per day and we just started to finish up with the amazonbasics brand of bags which were just fine. I decided to be adventurous and try a new brand. How does it stack up?\\n\\nSize\\nSame width as the amazonbasics, but 1inch shorter\\n\\nThickness\\nFeels a little thinner than amazonbasics, but still strong. I did a finger poke test and it resisted tearing about the same as the competition. I also tried rubbing it against sandpaper to approximate grabbing poo off of concrete, and it held up totally fine. The rolls are physically smaller than the amazonbasics, but that's probably mostly due to them not having a plastic core\\n\\nVisibility/See through\\nIt's biggest weakness for some folks will be that it's much more see-through. It's not completely transparent, but does show through a lot more than the amazonbasics black bags.\\n\\nValue\\nCompetes with the least expensive out there, can't complain there.\\n\\nDispenser\\nOn one hand, it feels like fairly low end plastic, but i do really like the tab that automatically separates the last bag as you pull it. Very neat indeed. I was a little concerned about it tearing bags, but thus far it has not. My main issue is that frequently the next bag slips inside and i need to open it up to get at it.\\n\\nGreen?\\nListed as biodegradable, which is a good consideration vs other bags which may last years upon years.\\n\\nSumm'ed up:\\nThey're a bit smaller and more see-through, and thus lost a star, but i'm perfectly pleased with them, especially with the price\",\n \"Rating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: So far a solid retractable ribbon leash\\n\\nReview: <div id=\\\"video-block-R3ZR2Z7BS3KC5\\\" class=\\\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\\\"></div><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D1EblbkNlJS.mp4\\\" class=\\\"video-url\\\"><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91GbT58rnbS.png\\\" class=\\\"video-slate-img-url\\\"> It's only a few days in, so this is an early impression of the item which i like overall, but i've had a similar item fail on me pretty quickly so i'll reserve that 5th star for after i've used it for at least a few weeks.\\n\\nThe thing i like is that it's a full ribbon, not cable/wire. So if it gets wrapped around someone, it's far less likely to give a burn like a thin wire can.\\n\\nOther details are similar to other retractable leashes, and seems made reasonably well. the lock/release mechanism isn't my favorite, on these leashes there is typically a 'pause' and a 'lock' button, and in this case it's basically combined, so if you press down too much the lock will engage, but if you just get into the habit of pressing down in an upward fashion, you can avoid the lock engaging. Hard to put into words the action, but i will make a video showing what i mean. It's not necessarily bad, just less ideal than some others that i have used.\\n\\nA little modification i made was to tie in a metal loop so that about 18\\\" of ribbon stays out which is handy for retracting to perfect heel length for our 13lb chuck\\n\\nI have the 15' one, which is plenty of length, i almost wish i had gotten the 10'. Otherwise thus far i like it and will be using it daily. So if something else happens, i will update here! I was offered this product in exchange for an honest review, and that's all i ever give :)\",\n \"Product: The Coghlan's Signal Mirror is useful in emergencies, routing signaling or for any mirror application.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: OK, i'll probably never even use it, but it's ideal for its purpose\\n\\nReview: Sometimes i just want to buy more camping toys, and for some reason i bought this. I don't venture out into deep wilderness, but some part of my brain said: \\\"of course you need a signal mirror, how else will you signal people?\\\"\\n\\nSo practically speaking, it's pretty pointless unless you're going days out into nowhere. But if you are, this may just be the ticket.\\n\\nIt's small enough to fit in your pack, though it does have a decent number of grams to its weight(it's thicker than expected)\\n\\nThe reflective properties are very good, it's shiny as heck, and does have the hole in the middle to help a bit with aiming it.\\n\\nI haven't tested its durability, but due to its thickness, i'd estimate it could easily handle some moderate drops.\\n\\nSo what's the difference between this and any other mirror? Well, while any mirror can do the job, this one is particularly reflective, so the light that it reflects onto whoever it is you are signaling should be significantly sharper and more annoying and hence have a better chance of getting their attention.\\n\\nWhat else can one say about a pocket mirror? oh yea, it doubles as a shaving/grooming mirror\",\n \"Product: Time to replace your indoor track light or spot light bulbs? The HitLights MR16 LED Light Bulb is an energy efficient replacement for your out dated 50 Watt halogen bulb. This 5 Watt GU10 base bulb is dimmable and is perfect for both residential and commercial interior applications. The HitLights MR16 bulb features twelve LED chips that produce warm white light. Our LED MR16 comes with a 5 year warranty and is built to last an average of 22 years, far outlasting the average 2 year life span of a halogen bulb. This bulb is UL Listed, meaning you can purchase with confidence, knowing it has been thoroughly tested for safety and quality by Underwriters Laboratory. In addition, this shock resistant LED bulb gives off very little heat and will not get hot like a halogen bulb. Spend less money trying to keep things cool a midst halogen bulbs and get better quality, beautiful light by switching to LED's!\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Best bang for the buck so far\\n\\nReview: I have all IKEA gu10 LEDs in my kitchen, an ikea CFL gu10, and a few garbage ebay gu10 led's, so ive seen a fairly wide range, the latest ikea ones are great, their only real drawback is that they are not dimmable. these hilight ones are a bit brighter than the ikeas, dimmable, and a dollar or so cheaper if you have prime. the only negative is a slight green cast, which i actually only notice if i put them next to the ikea ones, so i would assume that the hilights have a bit lower than ikea's 80CRI, but it's not really noticable unless side by sided. i have another hilight on another area on its own and looks great.\\n\\nEDIT: After a bunch of use, i do prefer the ikea LEDs over this one, so i took off a star. It's not that it's bad, i just tend to notice the difference enough to make me thing a tad less of this bulb. if i had all these and no others, there's a chance i would notice!\",\n \"Product: M12 Fuel 1/2 Hammer Drill tool Only. The Product is Easy to Use and Easy to Handle. The Product is Highly Durable. Made In China.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Love this drill, love the m12 power line! Switched from an older 19v system\\n\\nReview: I got this as part of a bigger m12 kit. I've been using a 19v system for years, but wanted a wider ranging system. Overall, while i wouldn't claim this to be as powerful as the 19v system, it doesn't feel that far behind! Here's my thoughts:\\n\\n-Smaller/lighter than my old 19v driver\\n-Feels like a lot more power than 12v should be\\n-Ergonomically excellent in the hand\\n-Only goes up to 18lbs of torque, but that's enough for MANY applications\\n-Hammer driving built in with a switch.\\n-Led light absolutely comes in handy\\n-Power indicator takes guesswork out of how much battery is left\\n-Battery last a long time, especially the high capacity ones.\\n\\nAs you can tell, i seriously love this driver. I'm a home user, so not big projects, but i've built a table and drilled though many different types of materials with this drill. I'm definitely a fan and highly recommend it.\",\n \"Product: Summer Magnolia, 24" x 36", Window Film, An Inexpensive Alternative To Stained Glass, Translucent But Not Transparent, Allows Light To Enter The Room, Provides Privacy, No Adhesive Necessary, Will Tile Together Like Wallpaper, Top To Bottom, Left To Right, Can Be Easily Removed With No Adhesive Residue After Years Of Installation, Easily Trimmed To Fit, Self Static Adhering, No Adhesives.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Very happy with the results, i have a few pointers for getting it applied\\n\\nReview: <div id=\\\"video-block-R3HLSCFE90IM6S\\\" class=\\\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\\\"></div><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/C1v-g6uQHMS.mp4\\\" class=\\\"video-url\\\"><input type=\\\"hidden\\\" name=\\\"\\\" value=\\\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91Is2D%2BRYsS.png\\\" class=\\\"video-slate-img-url\\\"> Overall, i love it, but a star must be docked for not being the easiest thing to apply. Here's the quick rundown with more depth after:\\n\\n-Looks very pretty, matte finish\\n-Not raised/Textured, but still passes as not cheesy\\n-Size might be standard, but my windows are 3inches wider\\n-This particular pattern lets a good amount of light through\\n-A piece of backing stuck to the film, but i got it off(see below)\\n-Applying it to a window can be a pain if you don't take care\\n\\nOverall look and feel:\\nIt's thicker than i imagined, and looks very dark while still on the paper backing, but rest assured once it's off that it'll resemble the advertised look a lot closer. I actually thought they shipped me the 'magnolia' one by mistake, but it was correct after all. I like that it's a matte finish and not shiny, or else some lights could make an annoying bounce.\\n\\nI do wish it had some texture, maybe raised black lines, but i'm sure that would add to the cost. despite being perfectly flat, it doesn't come off as cheesy, it won't fool anyone for being real stained glass, but i put it in the same category as my faux brick wall: no foolin for real, but still sure looks nice!\\n\\nSize:\\nI'm a renter, and thus no control over what my windows might be, and they happen to be 3inches wider than this. So i'm off to home depot to find some black 1.5\\\" wide tape to fill that in. I've already tested it out with 1.5\\\" blue painters tape, and despite looking like blue painters tape, gave the proof of concept that some black tape will fill it in just great.\\n\\nPattern/light/translucence.\\nI actually liked the 'magnolia' pattern a bit more, but it looked darker and i really wanted some light to get through. I mainly bought this for privacy but also to regain the use of that window as a light source. I'm very pleased with the amount of light, it's nowhere near the same as an open window, but definitely adds illumination to the room.\\n\\nApplication.\\nOK, here's the biggie. It was fairly easy for me, but then again, i've installed the infinitely painful gila window film/tint, so i'm already familiar with this type of process. That being said, it's not nearly as difficult as the gila window film, mainly because you don't need to nitpick every fleck of dust. That, and this is thicker. Overall despite my warnings, it's not that difficult to install, just don't rush i. Here are a few recommendations:\\n\\n-Use a friend, if possible\\n-Use painters tape on the corners to help handle it\\n-Use plenty of soapy water\\n-Get the film about 2/3 off the paper backing and then apply the top to the window, or else it can curl onto itself.\\n-Use a very sharp blade for cutting.\\n\\nOne other issue i saw another user had was that when peeling off the backing, some of it stuck to the film. I noticed a dime size bit right in the middle as i was peeling, so i stopped, laid it down, and sprayed soapy water on that spot and gently rubbed it with my finger and finger nail till i eventually scratched all of it off, then i wiped it up with a paper towel, wiping strait to the nearest edge to get as many bits out.\\n\\nOverall, i think it took me under 20minutes to finish this little project. it's one of those things you want to take your time with, because it's easy to muck it up\",\n \"Product: The Husky 2-Piece Multi-Tool and Knife Set includes a 13-in-1 multi-tool and a 7 in. pocket knife. Both tools are constructed of lightweight, durable aluminum for strength and feature a convenient folding design. This set is perfect for the home, workshop, jobsite and outdoors.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Set your expectations properly and you'll like this set\\n\\nReview: Let's face it, these are very cheap in price compared to most multitools out there. Set your expectations properly and you'll like this set. I should point out that i think the negative reviewer here has a different set, they mention plastic handles but there is literally no plastic on either of these tools, it's all metal. So here's the rundown:\\n\\n-Really, really cheap $6-8\\n-Made of all metal, and lifetime guarentee\\n-Feels solidly put together\\n-Not as refined, a bit clunkier than higher end units\\n-First set i bought wasn't as sharp in the blades as the second set.\\n-The little one is probably too cute for any serious work.\\n\\nIf you're a day to day multi-tool user, i would absolutely recommend a leatherman, gerber, or other quality tool instead of these for your usual tasks. The reason i buy these is because they're so cheap i can put one in every work bag and car that i have so i know i will never be without a multi-tool. Better to have something, than nothing!\",\n \"Product: Battery included\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: A fun little quad! Certainly not high end but nor is it high priced.\\n\\nReview: This is my 4th quadcopter(i know!), and it's by far the smallest. Cute as heck! My other quads are a blackbird x10(tested only) a phantom 3, and a Xiro Xplorer. Here's my early thoughts on the first flew flights with the Hubsan H107D:\\n\\n-Powerful for such a little fella\\n-Live feed is nearly lag free\\n-Takes a beating, have bumped it around plenty and the legs just snap back into place.\\n-Still trying to get more stable flights out of it, haven't tried all the settings\\n-Not a fan of the freestyle of up/down, the stick stays where you put it for altitude.\\n-Battery lasts a decent little bit of time\\n-Overall a fun little toy\\n\\nThe first thing i did when i got it was i put grey tape around the legs, for two reasons: to make it less dark, and to give some extra protection against the legs breaking clean off. That, and i just like tape\\n\\nThere really isn't a point to comparing this to the larger drones, because it's a totally different experience, thus far i find the motions of the little copter more twitchy, so to speak. But i need to dig more into the settings and find out what i like best.\\n\\nAll in all it's pretty darn fun, and my wife was super excited when i told her she would be able to fly the new drone i got, and she wasn't impressed when she saw the actual size of it (see photo)\\n\\nI was offered the product in exchange for an honest review, and honesty is all i have offered here.\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":78,"string":"78"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_3"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":897,"string":"897"}}},{"rowIdx":898,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"AXNJFYJRDK7CJ"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of \"4.0\" for a product with description \"The Kichler Lighting 12393WH30 120V TaskWork 27-inch LED Under Cabinet Fixture allows you to quickly and easily add useful light to a variety of workspaces throughout your home making it perfectly suited whether you're a crafter or baker, weekend workshopper or hobby enthusiast. The plug-in design means you can install light in minutes, and the interconnect capability allows you to outfit your entire space with multiple fixtures and plug into one standard outlet. The slim profile shows its versatility when it tucks cleanly under cabinets in kitchens, baths, craft or laundry rooms, workshops, garages, offices and more. The portable design also makes them great for dorm rooms. The 12393WH30 features LED technology, which is highly efficient yet extremely bright, bringing you consistent working light without draining energy. Plus, LED lights run cool - meaning no extra heat is generated on workspaces below. Color Rendering Index of 83 keeps colors accurate - essential in kitchens and craft rooms, and the 3000K light creates a pure, white light with no blue cast. The included interconnect cable allows you to link multiple fixtures and power them from a single outlet. Different length fixtures can also be linked as long as the combined total wattage does not exceed 100W. When linking fixtures, leave at least 2.5 inches between fixtures. Two mounting screws are preassembled on the light, easily installed using a Philips screwdriver. The 36-inch power cord, supplied with the fixture, comes with two mounting screws and three white adhesive clips, allowing you to secure the on/off switch and the power cord to the wall. For optimum attachment, the mounting surface needs to be a minimum of .5 inches thick. The quality aluminum construction is built to last and the long-life Nichia LEDs never need to be replaced. All fixtures are designed and manufactured by Kichler - a lighting leader for more than 75 years -- and come backed by the Kichler 3-year warranty.\". The summary of the review text is \"Easy to mount, good amount of light.\"."},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"I chose this because it's fairly dark under my cabinets and I'd resorted to using those led lights with the sticky bottoms and one had fallen down, so that obviously wasn't working, lol.\n\nThis was pretty easy to install. A couple screws and voila it's mounted. It's hidden well, nestled up underneath my cabinets. It produces a fair amount of light. enough to see what I'm doing, or read a recipe.\n\nIs it worth the price tag? I'm not sure. And if you want more than one unit to cover more space, for instance, I could use another two for sure, I'm looking at a couple hundred books, so I'm not sure I'd invest that much in it, but that's for you to decide. Am I satisfied with the product. Yes."},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"I chose this because it's fairly dark under my cabinets and I'd resorted to using those led lights with the sticky bottoms and one had fallen down, so that obviously wasn't working, lol.\n\nThis was pretty easy to install. A couple screws and voila it's mounted. It's hidden well, nestled up underneath my cabinets. It produces a fair amount of light. enough to see what I'm doing, or read a recipe.\n\nIs it worth the price tag? I'm not sure. And if you want more than one unit to cover more space, for instance, I could use another two for sure, I'm looking at a couple hundred books, so I'm not sure I'd invest that much in it, but that's for you to decide. Am I satisfied with the product. Yes."},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Product: Sleek, durable, and dependable, the Rubbermaid Commercial Slim Jim End Step-On Trash Can offers a clean, hands-free waste control solution. The slim design and small footprint of this receptacle fits into the narrowest spots to provide maximum volume while using space efficiently. These garbage cans feature convenient foot pedals with increased pedal clearance for easy foot access and hands-free waste disposal. A tight-fitting, overlapping lid has a controlled close to reduce noise and an internal hinge design that prevents wall damage. Providing safe, sanitary waste management, these stainless steel trash cans are perfect for use in almost any area. It maintains reliable, puncture-resistant strength and stability, and will not rust or chip. Offering easy maintenance, this step-on receptacle features smooth contours with rounded corners for easy cleaning and a liner retainer band that securely holds garbage bags.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Sturdy, easy to use quality can\n\nReview: It's Rubbermaid, so I did expect this product to be good, and it didn't disappoint. This can has an inner plastic lining. This lining is high quality, sturdy and removable in case you want to haul it out to the bin. These also means you could actually use it without a trash bag if you wish. The foot pedal works fine, and the lid opens and closes quietly. This can would be great to keep pets or small children out of the trash. It also closes slowly, doesn't slam shut. It's fairly slim and fits easily into my kitchen space. This garbage can is OSHA compliant if you need it for commercial purposes. I think it's a great product. It's a bit expensive, but if you want quality, it's worth the price tag.","Product: Star brite Outdoor Collection Furniture Cleaner can be used on poly, resin, vinyl, plastic, rubber, glass, metal and fiberglass surfaces. Cleaner can be sprayed directly onto surface to be cleaned, then use a sponge, cloth, or soft brush to spread evenly. Allow 30 seconds before lightly brushing and rinsing or wiping clean. Stubborn stains may require a repeat application that is allowed to soak in for about a minute, followed by light scrubbing or wiping clean.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great value for a quality cleaner.\n\nReview: I used this on all my outdoor furniture last spring. I wanted to paint them, but they needed some clean up first. Most of my outdoor furniture is metal, but the product description says it also works on poly, resin, vinyl, plastic, rubber, glass, metal and fiberglass.\n\nI'll say, it worked really well. I sprayed on, let it sit for a minute, then used a scrub brush to scrub the dirt and grim off. Then I took my hose and used the jet setting to rinse them off. They ended up looking so good, I didn't even paint them.\n\nA couple other bonuses, it's reasonably priced, it's biodegradable and made in the USA.\n\nI have a bunch of resin decorations in my yard and will probably try this out on them this year, along with my outdoor furniture.\n\nI highly recommend this product.","Product: The Scotts Outdoor Cleaner Plus OxiCleaner Ready-To-Use 32 oz bottle is the perfect size for spot treating outdoor areas. The Fast Foaming Action lifts dirt and wipes out stains caused by moss, mold, mildew, and algae.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Outdoor cleaner works well with a little elbow grease.\n\nReview: I used this on my outdoor furniture. The sprayer worked well, it has a foam and a spray option, I tried both. It did clean my furniture as well. If you think this product will magically clean your items without a little elbow grease, you're mistaken. You apply, let sit for a couple minutes, then scrub off mold, mildew, algae, or whatever it is you need to clean off. So, it that regard, it's pretty much like all the other products out there.\n\nSometimes products with big scents affect my allergies, but this one really has no scent. I like that you don't have to attach to your hose or mix up a solution. It's ready to go with no hassle.\n.\nI also like this product uses no chlorine or phosphates. It can able used around plants, lawns and fabrics.\n\nIf you have some outdoor items that need cleaning, I would recommend this.","Product: VideoStudio Pro X7 EN Mini-Box. Enjoy the faster easier way to make great-looking videos and slideshows. Corel VideoStudio Pro X7 offers new time-saving 64-bit power faster 4K and HD render times fresh creative content and the new movie-making mode FastFlick. Immerse yourself in the creativity of streamlined workspaces including the improved multi-track timeline. Create a huge range of video projects from action-cam and personal videos to slideshows video blogs screen recordings stop motion animation and much more. Whether creating for YouTube or DVD business or pleasure VideoStudio Pro X7 makes it simple and fun to bring your video vision to any screen.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: User friendly and good, but not great.\n\nReview: I've now used VideoStudio x4, x5, & x6 and like them. VideoStudio x7 is no different. I've also used other video editing software like Cyberlink and Pinnacle and I'll say that the Corel products are probably the most user friendly, so if you're a beginner, this may be one to look into. Honestly, you can load this on your computer and figure it out within minutes without looking at any directions. At least I did.\n\nInstallation was self explanatory, the program has many different functions and effects. You can make fun or professional looking projects, any kind of format for any kind of media. You can add music, video or pictures and you can upload the video to your computer, burn a dvd, up send it straight to the internet, to Facebook, Youtube and the like.\n\nI will say this, as I stated before, this is my fourth version of this software, and the there hasn't been much change with the effects that I've noticed, so for me that is a little disappointing. It would have been nice if they had added some new title, transition or video effects, but they are the same ones that have been there since x4 I believe. However, I still prefer some of them to Cyberlink, though I do prefer Cyberlink's title effects. I get a little frustrated with the title effects in Corel\n\nI've also read other reviews from customers that have had trouble burning video to DVD. I've not done much of that, most of my videos go straight to internet, so I can't speak much to that.\n\nThe price is favorable to Cyberlink however, about $15-$20 cheaper.\n\nIf you're looking for something simple and user friendly with some fun effects, this is a good program. If you're looking for something with a little more pizazz, you may want to keep looking and/or maybe spend a little more money.","Product: Achieve your photographic potential with Corel PaintShop Pro X7 Ultimate. Along with the photo-editing power of PaintShop Pro X7, the Ultimate edition includes Perfectly Clear automatic image correction, Reallusion FaceFilter3 portrait enhancement tools, and a creative collection of brushes, textures and royalty-free backgrounds. Seamlessly remove unwanted elements in your photos with new content-aware Magic Fill. Enhance photos quickly with popular brushes that are 30% faster. Get creative with new Text and Shape cutters, and easier color selection tools. RAW editing, HDR and an enhanced layer workflow make PaintShop Pro X7 Ultimate a powerful photo editing and digital design package.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: More affordable photo editing software with great features.\n\nReview: I really like this software. I think it's a good option for people who like photoshop but can't afford the price tag. There's a lot going on here. You can edit your photos, in so many different ways. There's the standard things of course, rotation, one click fix, etc, but it really does have some super cool adjustments and effects and they're pretty user friendly. Some that aren't available with photoshop, that I could have used a bunch of times over, like smart carver, which lets you cut objects out of your picture then scales it back to size.\n\nIt's pretty user friendly if you're already familiar with photoshop, if not, it may take some getting used to. You can work with layers and masks, just like in photoshop. The program has a lot of the same tools, different types of brushes to choose from, which I haven't delved much into yet as I've mostly used it for photo enhancement. It has the shapes to (with a limited number of shapes and I haven't looked into if there are more available, but probably).\n\nThere is a learning center that pops up when you start to use a new tool, so if you are unfamiliar with the program, instruction is right there for you. There's also a section for instant adjustments and management of photos.\n\nOne of the best things is the photo retouching tools. You can do a lot with portraits with this program. Your selfies will never be the same.\n\nI think if you're looking for a program like this, this is a great one, especially if you're already familiar with Photoshop. If you're thinking about getting Photoshop, but it's out of your price range, this is something you should consider. Also, if you're a rookie with stuff like this, I'd have to say this program is more user friendly than Photoshop. Is it as good? That remains to be seen as I've just started using, but I'm definitely going to split my time between the two and see which I prefer.","Product: PhotoDirector 6 Ultra is a unique application that provides streamlined workflow, efficient photo management, complete adjustment and creative editing - PhotoDirector is all you need to turn your photos into works of art. Perform nondestructive photo enhancements with confidence, and enjoy fast RAW image decoding and UltraHD 4K slideshow production. With PhotoDirector 6, you can take your photography to the next level.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Fun, easy photo editing software.\n\nReview: I take a ton of pictures and sometimes you just want a quick click of the button to make a fix, and Photoshop can be a little daunting. This is where Cyberlink PhotoDirector 6 can help out.\n\nIt's very easy to import pictures for organization. You can create albums, tags, etc. You can upload them to a cloud for safekeeping even.\n\nI loved screwing around with the program the first time I sat down and played with it. It has your basic adjustments for tone, exposure, brightness, color, saturation, and lens correction.\n\n It also makes it easy to target certain sections of the photo for changes, fixes or deletion. For instance, if someone photo bombed you and you want to take them out of the picture, this program will help you do it. For those people who are not very Photoshop savvy, I'm telling you, it is EASY.\n\nIt's really fun playing with portraits because it has a whole beautification process you can put the photo through. You can adjust just about everything on the face, including eliminating wrinkles (yay for us who have surpassed the 40 year mark!) . You can adjust body shape, but, uh, no one would ever do that, right? hahaha. If you have a picture in which you look like Quasimodo, by the time you're done with it, you could be looking more like Cinderella.\n\nAnd it really does so much more than that.\n\nYou can also make simple slideshows with your pictures and set them to music.\n\nI did have one problem with this, but I'm sure I can find a resolution. My new computer doesn't have a disc drive and I didn't find a place to download the software online even though I have the software key. So I had to load it on my old computer. I'm sure there must be a place to do it, I probably just haven't found it yet. I'll keep searching, or if anyone knows where it is, a link would be helpful, hint hint...\n\nAnyway, as you can probably tell, I sing the praises of this software. I've never been disappointed with Cyberlink before, having used their video software in the past as well. I think it's well worth the price and you will have a lot of fun with it and it won't make you want to pull your hair out.","Product: From easy and fast, to advanced and fun, Corel VideoStudio Pro X9 has everything you need to make your videos look their best. Make a movie in minutes with FastFlick or Instant Projects, or move up to more advanced editing on the multi-track timeline. Cover all the angles with the new 4 angle Multi-Camera Editor and align clips automatically with audio syncing. With instant fixes for common problems, over 1,500 customizable effects, titles and transitions, including NewBlue FX Video Essentials II creative filters, VideoStudio Pro X9 delivers high-quality results with style that's all your own. Plus, smart audio tools automatically balance levels and keep dialog crystal clear. Ready to share? Quickly burn to DVD, upload directly to social media or share on popular devices.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: User friendly, well worth the price.\n\nReview: I've been using Corel and PowerDirector over the years. I like them for different reasons. Corel has always been pretty user friendly, so if I want to quickly edit something, that's what I use. The interface is easy to use, the program has a number of templates, drag and drop effects, a variety of filters and transitions and professional looking titles. It's also easy to load video, edit in the timeline, and make a cohesive movie to upload to the internet. You can also create video in a few different formats. So, for beginners, this is a great program.\n\nIf you're a more advanced video editor, I'm not sure this is for you. You may need more effects and bells and whistles. But for the home user just wanting to transfer videos of the kids or vacation, or for the small time vlogger (which I've used it for many times), this program is just fine and well worth the price.","Product: Cook up a great time in your kitchen with your favorite MUkitchen products! mukitchen's MUaprons have many great features that make it the easy choice among apron styles. Made from 100percent prewashed cotton herringbone and available in an array of stylish colors, these aprons are the ultimate in fashionable functional kitchen-wear. Featuring extra-long ties, adjustable necks and 2 large chef pockets, our MUaprons will fit every chef or culinary artist in your home. Measures 35-inches in length. MUkitchen's a concept lifestyle kitchen textile brand, renowned for its original designer prints and fresh take on color. Specializing in top-quality, fashion-forward kitchen textiles and cleaning products, all of mukitchen's products are created from top-quality cotton and microfiber. Mukitchen aims to create long-term relationships with their business Partners based on honesty and trust while seeking to understand their customer's business and provide Mutual support.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Color a little off, but great apron.\n\nReview: When I'm in the kitchen, I make a mess. Half of it lands on me. My kitchen is decorated in bright colors, so I thought this apron would be a good fit for my messy cooking habits and my kitchen decor.\n\nThe color is true to what you see on the product page. It's called \"surf.\" It looks more bluish in the photo on the product page, but it's actually a little bit greener. This isn't a bad thing, it's a beautiful color green. However, if you're looking for something aqua or teal, this may be a little seafoamish for your tastes.\n\nIt's comfortable to wear, and has an adjustable neck strap and a couple pockets in the front to carry whatever you need to carry, wooden spoons, recipe, glass of wine (okay, maybe not that last one). The Herringbone weave is nice and thick making this apron very durable. I think it will last a long time.\n\nThis is a great addition to my kitchen/cooking. I recommend it.","Product: Entertaining is a cinch with the Initial Lab Cedric Modern Buffet. Contemporary in design, this buffet table combines a modern look with the fine tradition of dinner hosting. Useful features make this piece an outstanding addition to your living space.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: A little hard to assemble but lovely piece.\n\nReview: This is a beautiful piece. I see some people thought the pieces weren't high quality. I disagree. I mean, the backing of course wasn't, but I felt the wood pieces were and I think this is pretty sturdy and would be a wonderful addition to a living or dining room. It's long, about 5 feet, so have the space for it.\n\nI started putting this together myself and I would say I'm not the most savvy of people when it comes to building furniture, but I'm not a complete moron either. There seemed to be a bazillion bits of hardware, I followed the directions, which weren't entirely clear ( I suppose this is subjective ) and some of the holes seemed not drilled quite right. I got frustrated doing this myself. I eventually enlisted the assistance of my boyfriend, and he powered through sections I had difficulty with. This was rated a 3 out of 5 difficulty level. I would hate to see a 4 or 5. Truly.\n\nThere are glass pieces, they are tempered, but you need to be careful and you are supposed to assemble them first, though I don't see the problem with assembling them after you get other sections together. I think hindsight, I would have rather done that because I wouldn't have wanted to break them, but please, follow the directions and don't take my word for it. I'm an amateur all the way.\n\nI would recommend if you don't mind putting together a piece of furniture with many parts and hardware. I do recommend this as a two person job. The boxes are quite heavy (my daughter helped me pull the big one in). Once it's together though, as I said, it's quite sturdy and looks quite nice and would make a lovely showcase and storage for dishes or knickknacks.","Product: The super elegant look of this white and black apron simply be topped. This classic black and white appeals to all styles and tastes while this gorgeous pattern brings out the more flirty and fancy feel. These gorgeous aprons for women can be worn during any project whether it be baking or even gardening. Both the neck and waist ties on this elegant apron are adjustable to create the perfect fit.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Stiff and uncomfortable with a useless pocket\n\nReview: On the surface, this looks like a cute flirty apron. I like the color combination and the frilly little skirt. Take it out of the packaging and put it on and it's a whole different story.\n\n1. Stiff as hell. It says it's 100% cotton, but it feels like someone starched the crap out of it.\n2. They tout that it is a flattering style. Maybe if you're 5' 11\" and weigh 100 pounds. Not if you're 5 foot.\n3. The pocket seems basically useless. It's large, yes, but it sits way too high on the apron. I suppose you could hold measuring spoons or something small in there, but if you actually wanted to put, say, a wooden spoon in the pocket, you'd be hitting yourself in the chin all day.\n3. Hand wash. Yes, I read the tag and it says hand wash. I don't hand wash, especially not an apron.\n\nI'm giving this a big thumbs down, especially for the $22 price tag.","Product: The Big Boss Citrus Juicer allows you to enjoy freshly squeezed juice right in your kitchen. It brings a vitamin C boost to you and your family each day, complete with a juicing cone that fits all sized citrus fruits, from limes to grapefruits. Just press down to activate the motorized extractor to begin juicing. Press down again and it will operate in reverse, extracting even more juice down to the last drop. The strainer separates seeds and pulp from the juice as it collects right in the pitcher for easy and convenient serving. The three setting adjustable pulp collector allows for no pulp, low pulp or heavy pulp. The pitcher holds up to 40-ounces (5 cups) of juice and the base with motor has cord housing. Removable parts are dishwasher safe.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Juices like a boss\n\nReview: This is a great little juicer. I could not believe the power this thing had. Within seconds, it had demolished the inside of an orange, all the seeds and pulp left behind. If I knew how well these things worked I would have got one ages ago.\n\nIf you push down twice, it will go in reverse so you can get as much juice out of the fruit as possible. Seriously, there was not a bit of fruit left behind.\n\nWhat juice I didn't finish I put in the refrigerator in the removable pitcher.\n\nCleans up easy too. I didn't even put it in the dishwasher, I washed it by hand, but I'm sure it would clean up in the dishwasher just fine.\n\nI love this thing. I will be using this often.","Product: HON Purpose seating has innovative YouFit technology for a tailored fit. This mid-back chair has three distinct flex zones to support the user's range of postures, including sitting, reclining or perching. Chair has upholstered seat and back cushions. Shell color is Onyx, fabric color is Black and base color is Black.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Sleek, slylish, comfortable support for your back\n\nReview: Office chairs are boring, right? Honestly this is one of the most comfortable chairs I've sat in. It's a little cushy, but not too much as to hurt your back. As the name states, it's flexible, you can kick back in it for a little break, then get back to work. The arm rests are padded as well for comfort.\n\nIt was super easy to put together, just a couple pieces and a couple screws and BAM! You're done.\n\nIt's very sleek and modern looking if you're into that. I work at my kitchen table, so actually kept mine in the kitchen until I had to host a party. I think I may bring it back out. I miss the back support it gave me.\n\nIt's pretty spendy, I know and I'm a broke girl, so spending that much on an office chair is up to you, but it is high quality, seems very durable and built to last. I highly recommend.","Product: Gather around delicious casseroles and other succulent dishes with the earthy, handcrafted style and color of Rachael Ray Cucina Oven-To-Table Cookware. The Rachael Ray Cucina Oven-To-Table Hard Enamel Nonstick 2-1/2-Quart Covered Round Casserole features modern, rustic design curated by Rachael to enhance the warmth and hospitality of treasured places and family occasions. With a sturdy hard enamel porcelain exterior and durable aluminum construction that promotes fast, even heating on the stove and in the oven, the round casserole incorporates the easy-to-use functionality and time-saving solutions Rachael Ray is known for. Her color sense meets convenience with the distinctive espresso-colored, PFOA-free nonstick interior that releases foods effortlessly, complements the exterior and cleans up easily, even after baking Rachael's Bacon and Leek Mac 'n Cheese. Ideal for baking flavorful garden vegetable casseroles, savory potato au gratin dishes and more, the casserole dish features a pair of double-riveted stainless steel handles and the lid is accented with a gleaming stainless steel knob. Oven safe to 500, this vibrant covered casserole is a great addition to the warm, inviting serve ware, dinnerware and other kitchenware pieces in the Rachael Ray Cucina collection. Dining indoors or alfresco, enjoy the rustic feel and modern functionality of the Rachael Ray Cucina Oven-To-Table Hard Enamel Nonstick 2-1/2-Quart Covered Round Casserole.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Easy cooking, easy clean up.\n\nReview: I really like this casserole pot. It's lightweight, first of all, not heavy like so many can be, which is really nice. I cooked chicken in it my first go round, and it turned out nicely and evenly cooked in the oven, and I was able to keep it warm on the stove top as well. Then I took it right from the stove to the table.\n\nThe lid kept stayed on nice and tight, so the chicken stayed moist and juicy.\n\nI did have some sauce in with the chicken, but nothing really clung to the non-stick surface. There was no scraping to be done with clean up. Just rinsed and wiped. Then I stuck it in the dishwasher to clean and it came out spotless. I'm sure that's not the best way to wash it, but I'm lazy. :)\n\nYou can also put this straight into the freezer, which I didn't do, but that would be handy if I needed to for soups.\n\nI'm a big fan of Rachael Ray anyway, and I would be very pleased to add more of these pieces to this collection.","Product: The world's first automatic electric corkscrew has arrived! A revolutionary addition to any home bar or kitchen, the Rabbit Automatic Electric Corkscrew removes any cork from the wine bottle on contact, then immediately ejects it from the spiral. Simply place the electric opener over your next bottle of wine, then let the corkscrew do the rest. Yes, it's really that easy! This automatic corkscrew works on all cork types, including plastic and synthetic corks. Up to 30 bottles of wine can be opened on a single charge, so you won't have to worry about recharging the unit after each use. For added convenience, the electric corkscrew's end cap twists off to reveal a built-in foil cutter that works quickly and efficiently on any unopened bottle of wine. A micro USB wall charger is also included.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Sleek design, works great\n\nReview: This is a very cool product. This automatic corkscrew worked like a charm.\n\nIt makes some noise, as is to be expected. It's about as loud as an electric can opener.\n\nIt's rechargeable, coming with a standard USB charger that plugs into the top of the device. I think the initial charge took 4 hours. When not charging, there is a cap that doubles as a foil cutter. It doesn't work great, but I haven't found a foil cutter that does yet.\n\nTo use, you simple place the corkscrew on top of the bottle and it automatically starts, uncorks your bottle, and then reverses itself to release the cork.\n\nYou have to make sure you center it best you can. I did have a cork get stuck because I didn't have the corkscrew quite centered over the bottle. There is a small button at the top of the unit however, to help with this. Just push it and the corkscrew will reverse if it gets stuck, and you can get the cork out.\n\nThe unit also has a very sleek and attractive design. I have no problem keeping it sitting right alongside my wine bottles for easy access.\n\nI highly recommend this product. It would be a great gift for oenophiles.","Product: Finally! A style smart organization system designed to make your space work the way you live. Organize small items in style. Perfect for drawers, nightstands and dressers. Stain-guard protected, silk-textured exterior and stylish interior. Use enclosed clips to create an organization system by fastening two or more HEX BOXES together. Up to 65% recycled content.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Convenient for small items.\n\nReview: These are pretty cool. They come collapsed and are easily assembled, you just pop them open and put the bottom in. They're soft with no sharp edges. They would hold quite a few paperclips, rubber-bands or anything else in your office. If you're not using them, you can collapse them again and easily store.\n\nThey are small enough to work well on a desk, nightstand, dresser, kitchen counter, or in a drawer.\n\nIt comes in a two pack with clips, so they can be attached together which would be convenient for use inside a drawer, or just to keep them from sliding apart on a desk etc.\n\nIt's also made from 65% recycled content and is stain guarded.\n\nI only give 4 stars instead of 5 because I don't find them particularly attractive. It would be nice if they came in different colors rather than the industrial gray color.\n\nThat being said, I do think this is a good product and at $9.99, fairly priced.","Product: This Farberware candy and deep fryer thermometer is specifically designed to give accurate readings from 100 to 450 degrees f without the probe touching the bottom of the pot. The adjustable clip attaches the thermometer to the side of the pot, putting the probe in a position to give an accurate temperature reading without touching the pot's hot bottom surface. Features easy to read temperature zones and information regarding the temperature scale. Hand wash only.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Teeny tiny dial - need superpower vision\n\nReview: This is a high quality thermometer made of stainless steel with a shatterproof plastic lens. It gives an accurate and quick reading. However, the main problem is the size of the dial. You'd have to have superpower vision to be able to read it. It's super duper tiny. I have to have my reading glasses and get really close to read it. And I'm not very fond of having my oven melt my face off. So, if you have superpower vision or you don't mind sticking your face in the oven, I suppose this is a great product for you because of the other positive qualities. But if you're like me, you should probably get a thermometer with a larger reading on the dial.","Product: DII Oceanique 5-Piece Bathroom Starter Set Includes 72x72\" Shower Curtain, 12 Shower Hooks, 1 Soap Dish, 1 Cup, 1 Lotion Dispenser. Conveniently get all matching bathroom essential all in one set. Complete the look of your bathroom easily and affordably with DIIs 5 piece bathroom sets. These bathroom sets contains fun looks at a great price. DII Oceanique currently offers a cityscape or mosaic tile design, both designs are gender neutral. These DII Oceanique bathroom starter sets are an easy and convenient way to style your bathroom all in one purchase. Quickly and easily locate and purchase all needed bathroom pieces at once. Traditional colors make it easy to find towels. That will coordinate or contrast for the perfect bathroom look! To view more of our products visit amazon.com/oceanique.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Attractive, economical bathroom set.\n\nReview: This is actually a really decent set. I was expecting some flimsy plastic shower curtain, but this one is more heavy duty (don't know what material it's made out of though. Now, the accessories seem like kind of cheaper plastic, but you're only paying $18, so what do you expect. This would be good for a college kid with their own apartment or just moving out on their own. Also good for teens. I put it in my teenage girls bathroom because teenage girls are destructive. :) Don't want to use anything too nice because I know it will eventually get ruined, but this looks good, it matches, and it will last for awhile. Plus, the price is right. I recommend.","Product: The easy solution to the limitations found with a traditional box spring. The Easy To Assemble Smart Base provides increased mattress support, portability, easy setup and under bed storage. The no-tools, no fuss Smart Base with its patented design is your answer for easy assembly and strong support.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: It's okay, but not truly to size\n\nReview: It's okay. I like it. It was really easy to put together and lightweight so one person could definitely do it themselves (I did and I'm horrible at putting things together). The majority of my problems with this come from the size and sliding, and I think they're related. I have a king size, however, my bed, which is not a California king, just a king, hangs far over the sides by at least 3 or 4 inches per side. So if you sit on one side of it, the mattress tends to pull and slide. Then you have to readjust the mattress.\n\nThis isn't a horrible thing. I'm all about convenience and the ease of putting this thing together is worth me having to adjust every so often. And honestly, I think it's way better than a regular box spring and frame.","Product: The Clever Made Snap Basket is a smart, space-saving solution to simplify all of your shopping trips and day-to-day activities for an on-the-go lifestyle. It was designed to help the environment as plastic bags from the grocery store are not eco friendly. These baskets can be used for so much more than grocery shopping too! Both men and women use them for produce at the farmers market, travelling in your car or SUV for weekend road trips, bringing lunch to work, loading up food for a summer BBQ, and in so many other ways. You can even load it full of dirty clothes and take it to the laundromat. Perfect for active moms bringing snacks for sporting events or for college students who take advantage of it being foldable for their small dorm room, apartment or condo. Durable handles can hold heavy loads up to 25 pounds of groceries, books, yoga gear, towels or linens. There are 2 of our patented SnapHinge in each utility tote and you'll love the sound they make when they pop-up and fold down. The checkers and baggers at the grocery store are going to love them too as they don't have to struggle to keep them standing up when you check out. If you're in need of a bag that's portable and can fold flat for compact storage then look no further!\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Collapsable bag perfect for all shopping needs.\n\nReview: Admittedly, it took me a minute to figure out how to snap this basket open, but I'm chalking that up to operator error rather than a problem with the bag. It comes collapsed and in that form it's flat, so can be stored easily in home or car. Both the bag and handles are pretty sturdy, and it says it can hold up to 25 pounds, so I guess if you can carry that much weight you're good to go. You can certainly fit a ton of groceries in it..\n\nThe fabric isn't supposed to rip easily. It has come kind of frame to it to prevent it from toppling over in the car. It also has a convenient zip pocket to hold things like your driver's license, credit cards, and car keys.\n\nI highly recommend this for grocery shopping or it would be perfect for a trip to the farmer's market. Also is available in a 3 pack.","Product: The Zinus Modern Studio Collection is an ideal combination of function and style. The Classic Cube Side Table can function as a night stand, end or side table, coffee table, or to hold various items in any room of the home. The sturdy, black square steel tubing and high density panel with rich brown wood grain finish will add an elegant touch to any decor. Easy to assemble. Worry free limited 1 year warranty.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Price is right, product is good.\n\nReview: When your product comes with an allen wrench, you know it's going to be easyish, which it was. Very. It's small. Really small. Not even two feet high and just over a foot wide. So, you can use it in small areas. It's personal opinion as to what you use it for. It's touted as being functional as an end table, side table or nightstand. I wouldn't mind using it as a nightstand, but others may want something taller. I prefer to use it as a side table in my rec room.\n\nAnd truly, the price is right. If you need something to fill some space, to put things on and you have a tight space or just want something small, this isn't a bad option. Don't expect greatness, but for the price, this thing is quality.","Product: Fill your room with clean fresh air with the Whynter afr-425-pw eco pure HEPA system air purifier. Designed and engineered specifically to eliminate airborne allergens like pet dander, hair, dust, mold, mildew and pollen, this air purifier is perfect for home, office, and any living area up to 550 sq. Ft. This an ideal choice for high quality air purification to provide added relief for allergies, asthma, and other breathing disorders. For ultimate filtration against airborne pollutants, the Whynter afr-425-pw is equipped with a 5-in-1 HEPA filtration system that features a washable pre-filter, a HEPA filter and an activated carbon filter. 5-in-1 HEPA filtration system: pre-filter - the washable pre-filter removes large particles such as dust, pet hair and dander, fungus and mold. HEPA filter - designed to remove 99.97% Of all air pollutants that are as small as 0.3 Micrometers such as pollen, allergens and dust mites. Activated carbon filter - eliminates and removes chemical fumes, toxic gases, smoke, pet and other odors. Photo catalyst filter -eliminates and kills 99% of organic contaminants such viruses, mold and bacteria. Helps to potentially reduce the spread of influenza and other airborne illnesses. UV wave bulb - ultraviolet germicidal UV bulb is commonly used for sterilization, to kill 99.9% Of bacteria and viruses. Features: coverage area -550 sq. Ft., 6 fan speeds, no negative ions or harmful ozone emissions, remote control, air quality sensor, automatic mode for hassle-free operation, quick smoke removal for odor elimination, sleep mode for ultra-quiet operation, filter replacement indicator, 8 hour timer, air flow: 430 m3/h / 253 cfm at high speed, ultra low power consumption, only 65 watts, noise level (dba): <33.6 At low speed, power supply: 120v / 60hz.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Low energy air purifyer, great for home or office.\n\nReview: I've had allergies since about the age of 12. Sometimes they're horrible, sometimes they are manageable. They often affect me when at night when I'm trying to sleep. And just since this last year, they have started to make my eyes swell. When I saw this product, I decided to give it a try.\n\nI really like this product. It's easy to use, and has a remote control so you don't always have to be within arm's length to change the settings. It's not too heavy, so can be moved from room to room and doesn't take up that much room either, as for the slim construction. The pre-stage filter is washable, so I don't have to spend money and time replacing them.\n\nMy nighttime has seemed better, allergy wise since I started using this product, which has been a few weeks now. I'm hoping the UV bulb meant to kill germs will work on flu and other viruses.\n\nSo far, I'm very pleased with this product and so are my allergies.","Product: The Targus Unofficial Netbook Slipcase is designed to protect netbooks with up to 10.2 screens. The netbook compartment features 360 protection with air-mesh padding on all sides of the device for ventilation and protection against drops and bumps. The case is constructed with water-and wear-resistant fabric and features an oversized accessory pocket to store a power adapter or other necessities. The fully-reinforced shoulder strap provides a durable and comfortable carrying option.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Targus Unofficial Messenger Case Designed for 16 Inch Laptops\n\nReview: This is a really nice laptop case. The laptop compartment is padded for protection. It's made of water resistant fabric. It's got a lot of pockets. Aside from the laptop compartment, it's got another zipper compartment with a section for papers or notebooks another smaller zipper pocket, two smaller pockets and a two sectioned mesh pocket more than likely for accessories, and a place for pens and pencils. The front of the messenger bag under the flap is yet another zippered pocket, divided into two sections. It has an expandable easy grip handle, and the bag itself is not too heavy.\n\nNow, this is touted as being able to hold up to a 16\" laptop. Mine is 15.6\" and it fits almost too snugly. You'd be pushing 16\".\n\nAlso, I could maybe see the usefulness of one divided pocket, but not two. In my opinion, they're pretty useless.\n\nOne other complaint, things would be way more accessible if the zippers went all the way down the side, but they stop about an inch from the top. So access isn't horrible, but it's not easy either.\n\nOther than that, It's a good, sturdy bag, I'm trading my old one in for this one.","Product: Compatible With Ipad/Ipod/Iphone; Compact Speaker Docking Station Charges Up To 2 Ipad/Ipod/Iphone Devices Together; Neodymium Construction For Optimum Bass Response & Pure, Balanced Audio; Shielding Technology Blocks Cellular Phone Interference; Compact 360 Design Ideal For Bedrooms; Black\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Small device, big sound\n\nReview: This dock is pretty awesome. It's not very big, so fits nicely in small spaces. I use it on my nightstand because it has a nightlight and clock built it. It would work well in the kitchen as well. You could take it to the office or even traveling.\n\nI was really surprised at how much sound this little thing puts out. I used it with my iPod (it can also be used with the iPhone and iPad) and the music sounded crisp and clear and it can be pretty loud if you want.\n\nIt's a simplistic design which is very user friendly. No need for instructions.\n\nI highly recommend it for someone looking for a docking station for a small space.","Product: The Panasonic rp-hje120b Bluetooth Ergo Fit earbud headphones with Microphone and call controller are the perfect combination of style, comfort, functionality and most of all, high-quality sound. The in-line microphone on the cord of earbud headphones is used for answering calls or voice commands; compatible with iPhone, Android, BlackBerry* and Bluetooth** capable devices. Earbuds with three sets of ear pads (S/M/L included), provide a custom, comfortable ergonomic fit that won't slip out. Choose from four (4) vivid color options with color-matching earbuds, headphone cord and call controller to best complement your personal style and mood. Large 9mm drivers with neodymium magnets along with a wide frequency response and smart ergonomic fit earbuds deliver dynamic, crystal-clear sound while helping to keep out unwanted outside noise. Stereo headset tonally balanced audio with crisp highs and deep low notes, plus wider frequency response and lively sound quality for recorded audio. Long, 3.6-Ft headphone cord threads comfortably through clothing and bags making it easy to connect. disclaimer: * iPhone is a trademark of Apple, Registered in the US. And other countries. The trademark Blackberry is owned by research in motion limited and is registered in the United States and may be pending or registered in other countries. Panasonic is not endorsed, sponsored, affiliated with or otherwise authorized by research in motion limited. Android is a trademark of Google ** the Bluetooth word mark and logos are registered trademarks owned by the Bluetooth SIG, And any use of such marks by Panasonic Corporation is under license\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Didn't work like it should have\n\nReview: These wireless headphones were the easiest to connect of those I've tried in the past. Just takes the push of a button and it was paired with my phone in seconds. They're also very comfortable to wear.\n\nThe problem I had was with the connection. When I walk, I like to keep my phone in my pocket or purse, which is sometimes difficult with wired headphones. However, I could not get a good steady connection unless I held my phone up over my head, which looks ridiculous and would be completely tiring. Every time I put my arm down or tried to put the phone in my pocket, the connection would get fuzzy. In the end I gave up. I may try again and if it works then, I will edit my review, but for now, I think giving them a 3 is generous for the sound quality.","Product: Contemporary design and relevant features combine to deliver a stylish attache perfect for work, school or travel.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Attractive and well made\n\nReview: This is an attractive and nice bag. It has two snap pockets outside, plus a zippered compartment which has another two mesh pockets within.\n\nThe inside has a padded compartment for a small laptop. Note it only fits a 14\" or smaller computer. Opposite the laptop area is another compartment which could hold papers or magazines, etc. The bag would also fit a couple chargers and small office items.\n\n It comes with an adjustable padded strap for comfort and a luggage strap for convenience.\n\nIt seems really well made and durable. I think it will last a long time. The straps aren't flimsy and the zippers are pretty heavy duty.\n\nGray is a nice neutral color that could be used by both men and women.\n\nI'm not sure a $56 price tag is doable for a lot of people, I know I usually don't like to spend too much on this type of item. However, I do think it is worth the price tag as a sturdy and well-made briefcase/computer attache.\n\nAs for protection, well, its better than nothing, but certainly not a Pelican case type of protection, so u still need to be a little careful...and if your tablet or PC is slim enough, you can put a tiny bit of added padding if u want to be safe...or buy a padded sleeve....again, this depends on how rough the bag will be handled. Some people are very gentle, and simply put the bag in the back seat of the car, well, no worries for those types...I throw it in overhead bins, Rapid Rover vans, strap it to luggage, etc. So use that comment to suit your needs. I love Pelican cases for hardcore travel, but they are a bear to carry.... this is a nice mix between a small sleeve type protection and full blown hardshell case....and, stylish for sure...it looks well made, u will not be embarrassed putting this on the board room table in a meeting....\nThe removable shoulder strap is always a nice option IMO, as if you hand carry all the time, this sure gets in the way, and can get snagged on things.... it can fit in the pouch when not in use, which is nice.","Product: Jabra Sport Pace Wireless Bluetooth Earbuds - U.S. Retail Packaging\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Comfortable and Cord Free\n\nReview: I love these.\n\nThey were easy to sync with my electronics.\n\nThey're really comfortable to wear and they stay in place. They're great for working out. No cord to get in the way or get pulled out of your ears. It's also great to listen to music while doing housework. It's got a pretty good range. You can be across the room or even in the next room and they'll keep working.\n\nThese wireless earbuds make watching videos on your tablet or computer is a lot easier since you don't have to be tethered to the device.\n\nThey are very sturdy, made of a hard plastic, heavier than most earbuds, but not so much that it's bothersome.\n\nI've never bought an expensive set of earbuds before. I usually just spend $5-$10, but of course they don't last that long. I'm happy with these and think they are a high quality product that is probably worth the price tag.","Product: The Unwind Bedside Alarm Dock is a full-function dual alarm clock with gradual wake that also charges and plays iPhone, iPod, and iPad devices. The auto-set clock has six nature sounds - Waterfall, Brook, Rain, Forest, Ocean, and Summer Night. A passive subwoofer provides expanded bass profile and excellent sound. The digital tune FM radio has 10 station presets, and a USB port for charging your devices. Plus, it has an aux-in for connecting non-Apple devices. The Unwind features a customizable color-changing mood light and includes a convenient remote control.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Read the directions and you won't go wrong with this docking clock\n\nReview: I am a person who loathes reading directions. I like to figure things out for myself. However, I did have to pull out the directions about how to set the time for this alarm docking station. Once I did, no big deal. I could actually just plug in my iPod and voila, the right time pops up. How cool is that?\n\nAlso, here's a disclaimer: I do not use this for all it's intended uses So I cannot attest to some of its functions, but I will rate the ones I have used.\n\nThe clock works fine. You can adjust the 'mood' of the output with the remote control. I don't use the alarm because I use my cell phone to wake up, but the directions make is sound easy and you have choices as to what sound you wish to wake up to - radio, iPod (or whatever you have docked), nature sounds or beeping. There are two alarms, so two people can use it to wake up. The nature sounds are really nice and you can use them to go to sleep as well. There are sounds like thunderstorm, rain, white noise, etc. I have used the noises to fall asleep.\n\nThe dock will also play more than your apple devices. There are different ports in the back. There is a USB port (for charging devices), an AUX port, there is even a video in port so you can play movies from your iPad (or other source). So plug in your droid phone, ear buds...\n\nI no longer use it in my bedroom. I now keep it in my kitchen to play music from our various devices. It's a good size to fit on my kitchen counter. Less bulky that many components, but bigger sound than the smaller ones.\n\nBottom line: I recommend this for sleep, to wake up, just to use as a listening device. It's less expensive than many docking stations out there.","Product: There comes a time when you need both hands free and still be able to capture that thing that you do. With the Fix Tilt & Shoots powerful, interchangeable magnetic and suction foot options, you can mount your camera or smart device on virtually any surface. The U-Shot extends over 19\" for a unique perspective, and with the Tiltee 1/4\" universal aluminum ball head , any angle can be framed perfectly. All mounts are quickly interchangeable with the U-Shot for maximum versatility and efficiency whenever the moment strikes. Keep your hands free to create your story.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Expensive and not quite dependable.\n\nReview: Holy crap this thing is expensive.\n\nIt's a selfie stick. Um, not sure I'd pay $80 for a selfie stick when I can go to Big Lots and buy one for $10.\n\nAnd is 19\" long enough for a selfie stick? Seems kind of short to me.\n\nThough it seems aesthetically pleasing, it's lightweight, and put together well, I would still say it's definitely not made for heavier cameras. Don't risk it. Plus the locking system isn't very reliable. I have a Sony and a Cannon, and would never mount my Cannon on this thing. Even mounting the Sony is questionable and it's a very small, lightweight camera.\n\nThe two bases, a suction cup and a magnet, in my opinion aren't very reliable either. The description says they can each support 6 lbs. I don't believe it for a second. The magnet isn't big enough to keep the system from falling over. The suction cup worked well, but it's a suction cup and you're entrusting your electronic on it. Not for me.\n\nI guess what I'm saying is that there are probably better products that are more reliable and less expensive. Plus, I think I'd rather have one that holds my cell phone. I wouldn't waste my money on this one.","Product: KiiTAG is a Bluetooth 4.0 item finder to keep your valuables safe. By integrating flexible cloud services and hardware design, KiiTAG also offers many useful add-ons such as remote camera shutter, ownership binding, baggage tag, community lost & found andautomatic SMS/Email sending service etc. More and more add-ons will be introduced in the near future.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Must be better products out there.\n\nReview: This was just okay for me. Inserting the battery and pairing were easy enough.\n\nThe shape is kind of awkward for a device like this I think. I get that it's supposed to be a key shape, but I think a different, less abstract shape would be better. And it's kind of bulky on my key ring.\n\nIt works, I guess, but you have to get pretty close to your object to find it. It's listed as 200 feet. I'm not so sure about that. If you have even a medium sized home, you could still be looking for awhile before finding it. Also, it seems like a device like this should override \"silent mode\" on your phone. If you have the ringer off, it won't sound.\n\nSome of the features it has are used through apps you have to pay for. Would be nice if they all just came free if you bought the device.\n\nOne of the features requires other people to have Kiitag. If this thing takes off, I can see this being beneficial, cool even. If it doesn't take off, that feature is pretty useless.\n\nI think the Kiitag is a good concept and has promise, but needs some work. As is, I'm not sure the $20 price tag is worth it. And personally, I wouldn't pay for the extra apps.","Product: Be tough on the job but soft on your feet with the Stanley Boots Wellington Dropper ST workboot. This durable, full-grain leather boot cushions each step you take with a plush EVA footbed and double density EVA midsole.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great boot for both indoor and outdoor work.\n\nReview: These are great boots for any kind of work condition. They have a steel toe, to protect the toes/foot from falling objects or punctures. They're waterproof so can be worn in any kind of weather conditions, which here in the Pacific Northwest is a really useful feature. Many work boots make your feet sweaty and stinky. These are very breathable, keeping the feet free of sweat (okay, still may be a little stinky). These can be comfortably worn all day, which is great if you need them for work.\n\nWhat more could I expect from Stanley? If you work on the roads, in construction, or any other type of manual labor job, these are the boots for you. Price is comparable to other brands, such as Red Wing or Timberland.\n\nHighly recommended.","Product: So our \"Elite\" boxing gloves was fully handmade in Thailand with a 100% Skintex leather conception in order to bring you the highest fighting experience at the best price. We used triple density foam for an unbelievable balanced shock distribution: fight after fight, you will be able to increase your striking level while minimizing the stressful sensation at the impact areas.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great gloves, great value\n\nReview: I've been going to kickboxing fitness class for over a year now, and up to this the only gloves I've had were entry level gloves.\n\nMy understanding is that Venum is a great brand. Now, I will say, these glove are a little big for my hands, I will probably use them at home mostly, I've not tried them with wraps yet, (may fit better wearing them), but the wrist support is awesome. It extends pretty far down to protect the ENTIRE wrist and the velcro is high quality.\n\nThe gloves are not real leather, but \"skintex\" but it's soft, flexible and durable. There's a lot of padding in the tips, which offers good protection and feels great. You'd think that would make the glove feel heavy, but it really doesn't.\n\nI've been looking for new gloves for awhile, so I've price compared and seen how much they cost. These are a really good value for the quality. I highly recommend these.","Product: With saris' Hottie bike storage rack, it's like having a sculpture hold your bikes. The Hottie has a beautiful wood face design and occupies little floor space, allowing it to fit seamlessly into your living room or foyer. Most importantly, you can store up to two bikes on the freestanding rack, and the cushioned bike hooks that secure your frame are also repositionable to accommodate a range of frame sizes. Saris also includes a small parcel Shelf, providing you a perfect place for keys, tools, or other accessories.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Aesthetically pleasing and sturdy, all riders would love this.\n\nReview: I guess I wasn't paying too much attention when I ordered this thing. I saw this two bike storage, that stacked one on top of the other and got it. I had no idea I was getting this kind of retro arty looking, totally heavy duty bada*s contraption that would actually look better in my living room than most of my furniture.\n\nYeah, I'm not kidding.\n\nBut let's talk about that for which it's made: holding bikes. It's sturdy. Really sturdy. It's not going to fall over. Nope. Well, I suppose it can, but it would be hard. It's heavy metal (insert guitar riff here). It is tall. Measure your space before buying. I mean, this thing is like 8 feet tall. Also, if you have a women's bike, this rack isn't going to work so much unless you get an adapter bar. I've seen those range from about $14 to $35.\n\nThe bike hooks are cushioned to protect the frame. It won't get all scratched up putting it on and taking it off the rack. And hey, it was designed and it's manufactured right here in the good old US of A if you're into that kind of thing.\n\nA monkey could more than likely assemble this product. Yes. It was easy.\n\nAlso, there's an awesome shelf where you can store some bike related stuff and hang your helmet. Maybe keep a vase there. Okay, maybe not a vase. But it's very handy.\n\nThis is a great product for those living in apartments or condos that need a place to store their bike...actually, it's good for everyone. Sturdy, beautiful, practical. We should all have one.\n\nGo ahead, push the Buy Now button. What are you waiting for?","Product: With 34 games and 183 scoring options, the Fat Cat Mercury Electronic Dartboard packs enough fun for all your friends and family. The cabinet features built-in slots to store four complete sets and extra large LCD cricket scoreboard for easy viewing. Mercury electronic dartboard also features concave segment holes, cyber play with 5 skill levels, and an easy to read control panel. Comes ready to play with 6 darts, 6 spare tips, power adapter, game manual, and a mounting hardware.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Love it though darts themselves kind of suck.\n\nReview: Before I got this, I hadn't played darts for a long time. I used to play all the time, even had my own darts. I forgot how fun it is to play. This is a lot of fun for family and friends and brings back a lot of memories.\n\n This dart board comes with 34 games with 5 skill levels and up to 8 players. I'm not savvy about programming stuff, so I had a few issues, but normal people probably won't. lol. It comes with 6 darts and spare tips. They're pretty standard quality and won't last long I'm sure. We've already gone through the extra tips and purchased more. I'll probably end up getting my own darts again if I continue to play this consistently. So far though, the darts have worked just fine. I haven't had any sticking or bounce outs yet.\n\nIt has an LCD front panel display and a large cricket scoreboard on the inside of one of the doors. The cabinet seems fairly sturdy. I like that style so you can hide the dartboard itself when not in use. The unit comes with and AC power adapter, the hardware needed for mounting, a game manual and 1 year warranty.\n\nAll in all, aside from the included darts, this is a great addition to a family game room.","Product: Use Gaiam Sol's Yoga Blanket flat, rolled or folded for safe support in any posture. This versatile 100% cotton blanket provides a durable, soft surface for your practice. For best results, machine wash cold with like colors. Tumble dry low. 60\"W x 80\"L.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Not just for yoga.\n\nReview: This is a HUGE yoga blanket. It's also really well made, 100% organic cotton, very thick, nice tight weave. It's very soft and if you wrap up in it you will be warm and cozy (and it pretty much covers my entire body. I LOVE the size).\n\nI don't do yoga, but I do Pilates. Though I haven't as of yet, I would definitely use this blanket for that. The description says to roll or fold it to use as a bolster as well. But it's nice just as a throw blanket too.\n\nI think it would be a nice blanket for an outdoor picnic or concert, but honestly, I don't think I'd want to take it outside because of its high quality.\n\nIt's large enough that you could even use this on a small bed.\n\nSome may think it's a little spendy, but it's size, quality and comfort are well worth the pricetag.\n\nGaiam always puts out solid products and this one is no exception.\n\nHighly recommended for yoga, pilates, or someone simply looking for a good quality blanket.","Product: The ideal addition to your home gym or fitness studio, the adidas sport deluxe Olympic bench offers stand-out design and sturdy construction in a single piece of equipment. The rack is the perfect addition to the adjustable deluxe bench. It can hold up to 500 lbs of weights, and is fully adjustable. Using the bench at different angles encourages multiple muscle engagement, so you can work the muscles you want for a more defined and sculpted physique. Solid in construction and compact in size, the sport deluxe Olympic bench doesn't take up too much space and works Hand-In-Hand with dumbbells & barbells. Take your floor based exercises up a notch and perform them on the bench so you can work your ABS on a supportive and comfortable platform. Ideal for users of all levels, beginners or more experienced, the adidas sport deluxe Olympic bench is a must-have tool in any keen fitness enthusiast's arsenal.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Solid bench worth the price tag\n\nReview: Okay, so, first things first. This thing is HEAVY! I needed help to get it in the door. Also, it's not so easy to put together because the directions are horrible.\n\nOnce its in the house and assembled however, it's a quality, solid bench. The seat swivels to different angles, and the back raises and lowers so a variety of exercises can be done like bench presses, shoulder presses, squats, etc. The seat cushion is comfortable. The product description says it holds up to 500 pounds, though I'll never get that close, so I won't have to worry about it.\n\nAt first I thought the price was kind of high, but then I looked at comparable products, and it's actually pretty reasonable. If you're someone that has a home gym and likes to lift weights, I think this is a great option.","Product: Young Oliver Tate's coming of age is coming even sooner than expected. Prone to daydreaming, listening to French crooners and indulging other self-absorbed fantasies, Oliver (Craig Roberts) suddenly finds himself submerged in real-life, dual challenges -- plotting to lose his virginity with a quirky new girlfriend (Yasmin Paige), while also struggling to reconcile his parent's (Golden Globe winner Sally Hawkins and Noah Taylor) marriage, even though his mom seems smitten with the self-help guru next door (Paddy Considine). This charmingly original comedy from executive producer Ben Stiller and writer/director Richard Ayoade, has been pronounced by Vogue magazine ''a charming mix of quirk and cool.''\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Quirky and fun coming of age story\n\nReview: Quirky and fun coming of age story with likeable main character.\n\nOliver Tate is a too smart, somewhat peculiar fourteen year old in love with class mate, Jordana. His parents are having marital problems, and his mother's old flame has happened to move into the house next door.\n\nI didn't find all the characters likeable, but did find them unique and interesting. Oliver's dad is a dorky intellect, his mother screams internally for attention, so of course falls for the old flame when he gives it to her. The old flame is a pretentious new age guru.\n\nThe only character I truly disliked was Jordana. She was a very unsympathetic character. She was a bully, which bothered me, as she got Oliver to bully at the beginning as well, which is the only thing I found troublesome about his character as he only did it to gain her affections. He did at least feel remorse for it. She treated him horribly but then expected him to be at her every beck and call.\n\nIn the end there was a sort of happy ending like most movies about dysfunction. All in all, I really liked this movie. I think fans of dysfunctional family movies like Little Miss Sunshine and The Royal Tannenbaums will like this. I would have given it five stars had I not loathed Jordana so much.","Product: From the producer of Paranormal Activity, Insidious, and Sinister comes Dark Skies: a supernatural thriller that follows a young family living in the suburbs. As husband and wife Daniel and Lacey Barret witness an escalating series of disturbing events involving their family, their safe and peaceful home quickly unravels. When it becomes clear that the Barret family is being targeted by an unimaginably terrifying and deadly force, Daniel and Lacey take matters in their own hands to solve the mystery of what is after their family.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Scary, well made sci-fi thriller\n\nReview: Dark skies is from the producer of Paranormal Activity, Insidious, and Sinister.\n\nI have to admit, for some reason (now I have no idea why, I must have read something wrong) I thought this was a TV show when I ordered it, I didn't realize it was a movie or I never would have got it (especially from the producer of the above movies, scary), because as I've become older, I've come to hate horror movies. Luckily, this one wasn't really horror, at least I wouldn't classify it that way. Sci-fi, paranormal perhaps, not horror, but still scary in it's own right.\n\nIt's about a husband and wife (Josh Hamilton and Keri Russell) who are a bit down on their luck, and their happy (kind of) family, who all of a sudden start having some crazy things happen, poltergeist style... or maybe not...\n\nThey soon realize they're up against something terrifying, and need to take matters into their own hands to figure out what's happening and how to stop it.\n\nI don't want to give to much away, but this is a really good movie. It's not a slasher flick. It's a character driven sci-fi thriller that will make you sit on the edge of your seat and at times jump out of it. It's a movie that some may think could be a realistic future, which makes it even scarier.\n\nBe careful reading other reviews, there are plot spoilers.\n\nI recommend Dark Skies to horror and sci-fi fans alike. To those who like a good scare. To fans of Keri Russell and JK Simmons. Pop some corn, grab a beverage and if you're like me, have a blanket handy to cover your eyes at the scary parts.","Product: The GoPower Day Trip is our most compact pocket size portable battery for smartphones the perfect daily companion. Up to 1 extra charge packed into a size that fits in your pocket. Comes with integrated Apple Lightning Cable and micro USB connectors, so you can plug in and start charging. For ultimate convenience recharge it wirelessly. Duracell Powermat products are compatible with the PMA (Power Matters Alliance) standard. PMA is the standard for smart and environmental wireless power backed by AT&T, Starbucks, P&G, Powermat and dozens of global leaders, and deployed at leading venues including in select Delta Air Terminals and Delta Sky Clubs, Westfield Malls, at Madison Square Garden, Barclays Center and in Jay Z's 40/40 Club. Duracell Powermat. TakeCharge. Be Empowered.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Convenient charger in a pinch\n\nReview: This is a pretty good little tool and can be very handy. It's small enough to carry around in a backpack, briefcase or midsize to large purse. The cords are built in, so you don't have to have your own cord, which is convenient, and it's lightweight and slim.\n\nIt doesn't have a heck of a lot of power, but if you're in a pinch, this will do ya fine. I wouldn't count on it for a vacation. Note the name of the thing is the GoPower \"Daytrip\"\n\nImportant to note that it only has the newer Apple connections. if you have an older iPhone, iPod etc., this won't work for you.\n\nIs it worth the price? I'm not sure. I suppose the fact that it's rechargable, you don't need your own cords and will work in a pinch might make it worth it, but I'm not sure I would spend the money.","Product: Celeir iPhone X Case Features, Ultra Slim iPhone X Case, 360 degree full protection iPhone X Case with Free Tempered Glass Screen Protector, fasion iPhone X case for 2018 (Black) Celeir iPhone X Case Features: 1. Ultra slim iPhone X Case: original design Ultra-thin style keeps the beautiful appearance of iPhone x; support wireless charging with the iPhone X case. 2. 360-degree full protection iPhone X Case: the iPhone X case has hard polycarbonate (PC) back, PC frame, and tempered glass screen protector that provides full body protection. 3. High-quality material with ergonomic feel iPhone X Case: high quality pc-enabled scratchproof and shockproof protection; high-tech surface manufacturing technique creates comfortable to hold and ergonomic feel even with the iPhone X case. 4. Sensitive button covers iPhone X Case: light and snappy response on phone buttons with special design of the iPhone X case. 5. Camera protection iPhone X Case: specially designed frame of the iPhone X case with variable thickness to ensure the Camera avoid impact on flat surfaces. Celeir iPhone X Case Other Info: - compatibility: iPhone x/ iPhone 10 5.8 inch. - color: Black. - design: Ultra slim, wireless charging Supported, 360 degrees full Cover protection, hard PC back, tempered glass screen Protector. - feature: exact cutouts, sensitive button covers, excellent grip, snug fit. - function: scratchproof, shockproof\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great protection, good price.\n\nReview: When I first saw the design I was unsure but then I started using it and really like this phone case. I have the \"Ice\" version, which is clear. I think it's really attractive and probably better suited for a man, but it's fine for me too.\n\nThe design is really light. Not heavy and clunky feeling like so many other phone cases. My last case easily chipped when dropped or hit on things and while it did protect the phone, it ended up looking horrible. The Urban Armor Gear's shell is touted as impact resistant, and I've not seen any blemishes occur and I have dropped my phone since using it, as well as banged it around a few times.\n\nThe buttons and ports are accessible and easy to use even with the case in place, which isn't always the case with other brands. The screen protector is easy to adhere to the phone front and stays in place. No peeling around the edges. It's nice and thick, but not so think you can't use the interface.\n\nAll in all, I think this is a really good case for the S5 phone, great design, great protection, worth the price.","Product: Introducing the new Win JR enhanced with Windows 8.1 OS, featuring a 4.0\" WVGA display for viewing pleasure, powerful 1.2 GHz Quad Core processor for fast response, and a great 5MP camera. For any further queries please contact BLUs Technical Support Number/ Customer Support Number @ 1-877-602-8762.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Nice simple phone for the price.\n\nReview: This phone has a nice, simple design. It's smaller than many of the smart phones out there these days. Mine is about the size of a television set, which was hard to get used to. This Windows phone is thin and lightweight, which may be an attractive quality for some people. Plus, it kind of just looks stylish and classy.\n\nIt has the windows operating system, which I like. If you don't, this probably isn't the phone for you. It also comes with wifi, bluetooth, camera, GPS. You can download and run apps on it. It has two sim card spots, I'm not sure what that's for, but you might and it may appeal to you. :) However (yes there's a however) you won't get as many apps as you would with an iPhone or other smartphone, not a big deal if you're not a big app person. The camera really isn't great. It's okay for small photos and internet posting, if that's all you use if for, no biggee.\n\nTake note, as an UNLOCKED phone, this doesn't work with all carriers, so read the fine print before you buy to make sure yours does. Also, not all sim cards will fit it, but there are adapters available.\n\nI know, I'm probably not making this phone sound great, but actually, I think for people who don't care about bells and whistles, maybe those who broke their phone in between upgrades (can we say teenagers), those who like simplicity in the style of their phone, or those who just don't like spending a lot of money on cell phones this is a great deal. I mean, it's only $89. After all you're getting a phone that is SIM unlocked, contract free, front and back camera and it does come with screen protector, headphones and case.\n\nI say, go for it.","Product: The high-performance Slim-Fit Plus Galaxy S6 Armband doesn't just protect your phone while you're exercising - it's also incredibly comfortable to wear. The secure fit and slim design stays out of your way, so you forget you're even wearing it. Now you can concentrate on your workout, not your device.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Comfortable, strong armband for S6\n\nReview: Since phones have gotten bigger, I have been looking for an arm band that fit my specific phone. I bought one a few weeks ago and I could not squeeze my phone into it. So when this said it was made for the S6, I went for it. Plus, I've enjoyed many other Belkin products, so I was all in.\n\nIt's very sturdy, the backing material is soft and doesn't rub against the skin in an irritating way. The velcro strap is strong and stays tight around your arm, though I would venture to guess, if you're extremely muscly in the biceps, it might be a tight fit.\n\nThere is a flap over the top which protects the phone. The clear front allows access to the buttons on the front, including the home button, and your touch screen. There is a slit at the bottom in which to place your headphones. However, if you need to access your volume buttons, they aren't very accessible, so set your volume before starting your workout or use headphones with volume control.\n\nI have an UAG case, which isn't the smallest of cases, but it fits just fine in the armband. Reading other reviews though, looks as if you have a thicker time of case, it may not fit.\n\nI think it's great though. Very happy with this. Only reason for the 4 stars, is I really like access to my volume buttons, as all songs are not created digitally equal.","Product: The Quartet Oval Office Fabric Bulletin Board provides a twist to the typical bulletin board. The thick fabric and durable high-density fiberboard backing are designed to withstand repeated use. Perfect for office environments. Comes with a 7 year warranty. With smooth fabric and a frameless design, this board will add modern style to your space. The frameless edges create a larger surface area, which proves more room to hang items. Flexible mounting allows you to set up your fabric bulletin board either horizontally or vertically. Easily customize the board orientation to fit your space and needs. Gray fabric board measures 3' x 2'. For best results use Quartet Accessories, sold separately.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Attractive and solid, no pins dropping.\n\nReview: I really like this bulletin board. It's really heavy duty. Solid and sturdy, but not too heavy. It's more attractive than cork board, so you can really use it in any room of the house, and the gray color should match most decor. In my opinion you could even use it in a professional office. Also think either men or women could use this with office/home decor.\n\nIt comes with the mounting hardware and can be hung either vertically or horizontally, which is nice. It's a nice size, 3x2, so not too big, not too small. The backing is nice and thick enough so that the pins stick and stay and stay put. I like that it's frameless, the plastic or wooden frames always look cheap to me and usually come in bizarre colors that don't match anything.\n\nI think pricewise, it's a little spendy, hence the 4 stars, but like I said, it is solid and attractive. Price is up to you.\n\nAll in all, it's a nice product and would recommend to anyone willing to pay the price for it.","Product: The Tacwise Z3-140 Heavy Duty Hand Tacker/Staple Gun is a high quality tacker firing 140 (T50 type) flat wire staples. It uses staples between 1/4 and 9/16 inches long. This hand tacker is easy and effortless to use due to the Tacwise linear power curve technology. Loaded with features, the Tacwise Z3-140 includes a belt hook and personalization window and is perfect for tradesman/DIY wanting a professional tacker. It is ideal for applications such as securing plastic sheeting, breather membrane or Tyvek, as well as upholstery and much more. Tacwise is a new brand of rugged tools and accessories for the professional tradesman. The professional, Tacwise brand has evolved from 40 years of power tool know-how to best reflect the powerful and durable nature of the new products -which are high quality, feature packed and hard wearing with a robust and practical design.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Heavy duty and versatile\n\nReview: This is a really good staple gun. It came with staples, belt hook, and personalized window in which you can put your name on it so your work buddies don't steal it.\n\nIt takes many sizes of staple, so it's very versatile.\n\nIt's seriously heavy duty. I imagine it can handle some wear and tear and maybe even a drop or two on the floor (though I did not try the latter and don't recommend dropping it to find out). After I got this, I realized how truly cheap and flimsy my old one is.\n\nI've not had it jam when I've used it, and that is always good. It was easy to load, it has a locking mechanism too so you don't accidentally shoot your eye out.\n\nI imagine being able to use this for many project for years to come.","Product: TEKwriterUSA 100 count high quality Gelwriter pens are packaged in a patented rotating stand to keep your pens organized and easily accessible and are perfect for scrapbooking, journaling, drawing, or anything else you can create with tip sizes ranging from 0.7mm to 1.0mm and the check safe ink is fade and water resistant. All pens feature a durable pocket clip along with a latex free comfort grip for precision pen control. High quality gel pens at a great value.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Love the pen, stand, not so much\n\nReview: I love the pens and all the different colors they come in. They have the pocket clip, if you need to carry one around in your pocket for some reason. And they have the latex free comfort grip, which I like. The only thing about the pens, if you're using them for scrapbooking, journaling, drawing, or anything artsy, they do smear until dry, so don't touch right away.\n\nSome pen stands come all put together with the pens in place, this one does not, so you have to put the pens in place, I did not like having to do that. That's just personal preference. My fingers don't like doing tiny things, like sticking pens in small holes that you can't see.\n\nThe stand is not ideal, it spins, which is nice, but it is wobbly.\n\nTo be honest, I hate spending that much on pens, but I know that is just how much gel pens cost, and for 100, even with the wobbly stand, I think it's worth the price.","Product: This Suncast 4ft. Locker is a great way to organize your room and sports equipment. Locker includes two shelves and coat hooks to optimize storage potential. Multiple sticker combinations allow you to customize your locker to fit your style.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Cute locker, assembly sucked.\n\nReview: This plastic 4 foot lockers is really pretty cute. I didn't enjoy putting it together. At first, every time I put a piece on, another would come undone. This happened many times and was really frustrating until I really started pounding on them. I thought I would break it, but I didn't. I even used a hammer a couple times.\n\nHowever difficult it was to get the pieces together, they were labeled clearly, so it would be hard to screw up the assembly. I did get a little confused about the pegs, and if they went on the outside or inside of the locker, but that could have been operator error.\n\nOnce I got the locker together, I liked it. I didn't put any of the stickers on it, but they would be cute for a younger child. It has two shelves and a hanger, so you can store a good amount of stuff in it if needed, sports equipment, books, cds, dvds, games...it can be used for anything really.\n\nThat said, I'm not sure this is worth the $86 price tag. It's heavy plastic, but it's still plastic, sucky assembly required...","Product: The ultimate sitting to standing desk monitor and keyboard holder raises monitor from sitting height to standing height. Use to change your working position during the day to be able to stand or sit on a whim. Platform has an adjustable lift and lock feature and clamps securely to the desktop. No knobs or levers to adjust, set once and entire platform moves together, for easy adjustment. Monitor support provides tilt adjustment, individual height-adjustment and locks into place. Entire assembly swivels out of the way, when needed, to provide access to desk surface.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Mostly a great product, except for that jiggling...\n\nReview: I wanted something to get me off my butt when I was writing or working at home. This is a pretty good product. It comes mostly assembled and comes with hex keys to put the rest together. It's heavy duty, a really solid product. It clamps tightly onto your desk, or table. I use it on my kitchen counter. It adjusts easily from sitting to standing height. You can also adjust the monitor and keyboard separately to get them both right where you want them. The set up also allows you to tilt/turn your monitor as needed.\n\nAesthetically, it has a nice sleek look that would fit well in an office setting, but it doesn't look to bad in my kitchen either. If you need to use the surface you've attached it to, the whole thing swivels out of the way. It has an arm that will conceal cords so it doesn't look messy and chaotic. And the surface of the keyboard platform allows you to use a mouse without an added mouse pad.\n\nThere is some jiggle when using the keyboard, which is why I took off one star. And for the price, I'd want this product to be defect free.","Product: 6 ft. LED SHOPLIGHT-SINGLE MODE- 6000LM-White Finish Aluminum/ Plastic Construction Aluminum housing Finished in White 6000 Lumen Output 69.76\" LONG, 6\" WIDE, 2.75 DEEP 192 High Out Put LEDS, 96 LED Per Row With Clear Plastic Tube Protector Natural White Light 5000K 50 Watt CRI >80 50,000 Hour LED Life 5.25' UL Certified Wire 4-PC 13\" Hanging Chain and Hardware, 8 x \"S\" Hooks Included 5 ft. 3 prong 120V with grounded plug $6.02 Estimated Energy Cost per year (Based on $0.11 kilowatt hour and 3 hour average daily use Quiet Operation (no humming) Contains no Mercury On/Off pull chain switch Energy star Used in both commercial and Residential Applications.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: High quality, bright light\n\nReview: I'm going to make this quick because this is my third try in reviewing this, as I keep accidentally closing it. >:(\n\nSo, this is a great light for a workshop or garage. It is very lightweight, though 6 feet long. Make sure if you purchase, you have enough space to hang this.\n\nThe unit comes fully assembled, with 5 foot cord - added bonus. The housing looks and is a high quality, made of aluminum. It comes with 13\" hanging chain, installation hardware, and 8 \"S\" hooks. It's easy to install with the help of a ladder and maybe an extra set of hands.\n\nThe LED light is nice and bright. Really helpful when work on projects.\n\nAt roughly $45, the price is right. I can see spending much more on an item like this.\n\nI highly recommend this product.","Product: Radio Flyer has been creating the best wagons since 1917. Now you can create a wagon that is perfect for your family. Choose the wagon body that fits your lifestyle. Are you into classic styling or modern comfort? Choose classic tires for a smooth ride on even surfaces or all-terrain rubber air tires for the ultimate smooth ride on sidewalks, plus they can travel over rough terrain. Both are designed for a quiet ride and long lasting durability. Add Storage, Comfort, and Sun Protection. Choose from 3 fabrics. Ages 1+.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Comfort, Style, Storage, Sun Protection. What more can you ask for in a wagon?\n\nReview: When I got this, I wasn't expecting it to be as heavy duty and sturdy as it is. I should have known though, since it is a Radio Flyer. And of course, there's the price tag.\n\nThis is a \"build your own\" wagon and there is a variety of styles to choose from. The one I have is the Steel & Wood Whirl Fashion design with canopy, storage and seat pads. It's incredibly cute and durable. It has all terrain tires that ride well on both sidewalks and rougher terrain like rocks and dirt. The canopy is great for keeping little ones or furry friends out of the sun. It can be placed and removed very quickly. There is a seat pad to keep kids comfortable. There are two cup holders in the wagon for the kiddos. The large storage bag is great for baby items, lunches, play toys...whatever. There is a smaller bag for Mom and Dad's water bottles and personal items.\n\nThe wagon itself resembles the classic Radio Flyer, steel frame, wooden slats - the wagon we've all grown to know and love.\n\nAssembly wasn't the easiest thing in the world, but well worth the trouble for this truly awesome wagon. Any child would be lucky to have one of these \"Build-A-Wagons\" from Radio Flyer."],"string":"[\n \"Product: Sleek, durable, and dependable, the Rubbermaid Commercial Slim Jim End Step-On Trash Can offers a clean, hands-free waste control solution. The slim design and small footprint of this receptacle fits into the narrowest spots to provide maximum volume while using space efficiently. These garbage cans feature convenient foot pedals with increased pedal clearance for easy foot access and hands-free waste disposal. A tight-fitting, overlapping lid has a controlled close to reduce noise and an internal hinge design that prevents wall damage. Providing safe, sanitary waste management, these stainless steel trash cans are perfect for use in almost any area. It maintains reliable, puncture-resistant strength and stability, and will not rust or chip. Offering easy maintenance, this step-on receptacle features smooth contours with rounded corners for easy cleaning and a liner retainer band that securely holds garbage bags.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Sturdy, easy to use quality can\\n\\nReview: It's Rubbermaid, so I did expect this product to be good, and it didn't disappoint. This can has an inner plastic lining. This lining is high quality, sturdy and removable in case you want to haul it out to the bin. These also means you could actually use it without a trash bag if you wish. The foot pedal works fine, and the lid opens and closes quietly. This can would be great to keep pets or small children out of the trash. It also closes slowly, doesn't slam shut. It's fairly slim and fits easily into my kitchen space. This garbage can is OSHA compliant if you need it for commercial purposes. I think it's a great product. It's a bit expensive, but if you want quality, it's worth the price tag.\",\n \"Product: Star brite Outdoor Collection Furniture Cleaner can be used on poly, resin, vinyl, plastic, rubber, glass, metal and fiberglass surfaces. Cleaner can be sprayed directly onto surface to be cleaned, then use a sponge, cloth, or soft brush to spread evenly. Allow 30 seconds before lightly brushing and rinsing or wiping clean. Stubborn stains may require a repeat application that is allowed to soak in for about a minute, followed by light scrubbing or wiping clean.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great value for a quality cleaner.\\n\\nReview: I used this on all my outdoor furniture last spring. I wanted to paint them, but they needed some clean up first. Most of my outdoor furniture is metal, but the product description says it also works on poly, resin, vinyl, plastic, rubber, glass, metal and fiberglass.\\n\\nI'll say, it worked really well. I sprayed on, let it sit for a minute, then used a scrub brush to scrub the dirt and grim off. Then I took my hose and used the jet setting to rinse them off. They ended up looking so good, I didn't even paint them.\\n\\nA couple other bonuses, it's reasonably priced, it's biodegradable and made in the USA.\\n\\nI have a bunch of resin decorations in my yard and will probably try this out on them this year, along with my outdoor furniture.\\n\\nI highly recommend this product.\",\n \"Product: The Scotts Outdoor Cleaner Plus OxiCleaner Ready-To-Use 32 oz bottle is the perfect size for spot treating outdoor areas. The Fast Foaming Action lifts dirt and wipes out stains caused by moss, mold, mildew, and algae.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Outdoor cleaner works well with a little elbow grease.\\n\\nReview: I used this on my outdoor furniture. The sprayer worked well, it has a foam and a spray option, I tried both. It did clean my furniture as well. If you think this product will magically clean your items without a little elbow grease, you're mistaken. You apply, let sit for a couple minutes, then scrub off mold, mildew, algae, or whatever it is you need to clean off. So, it that regard, it's pretty much like all the other products out there.\\n\\nSometimes products with big scents affect my allergies, but this one really has no scent. I like that you don't have to attach to your hose or mix up a solution. It's ready to go with no hassle.\\n.\\nI also like this product uses no chlorine or phosphates. It can able used around plants, lawns and fabrics.\\n\\nIf you have some outdoor items that need cleaning, I would recommend this.\",\n \"Product: VideoStudio Pro X7 EN Mini-Box. Enjoy the faster easier way to make great-looking videos and slideshows. Corel VideoStudio Pro X7 offers new time-saving 64-bit power faster 4K and HD render times fresh creative content and the new movie-making mode FastFlick. Immerse yourself in the creativity of streamlined workspaces including the improved multi-track timeline. Create a huge range of video projects from action-cam and personal videos to slideshows video blogs screen recordings stop motion animation and much more. Whether creating for YouTube or DVD business or pleasure VideoStudio Pro X7 makes it simple and fun to bring your video vision to any screen.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: User friendly and good, but not great.\\n\\nReview: I've now used VideoStudio x4, x5, & x6 and like them. VideoStudio x7 is no different. I've also used other video editing software like Cyberlink and Pinnacle and I'll say that the Corel products are probably the most user friendly, so if you're a beginner, this may be one to look into. Honestly, you can load this on your computer and figure it out within minutes without looking at any directions. At least I did.\\n\\nInstallation was self explanatory, the program has many different functions and effects. You can make fun or professional looking projects, any kind of format for any kind of media. You can add music, video or pictures and you can upload the video to your computer, burn a dvd, up send it straight to the internet, to Facebook, Youtube and the like.\\n\\nI will say this, as I stated before, this is my fourth version of this software, and the there hasn't been much change with the effects that I've noticed, so for me that is a little disappointing. It would have been nice if they had added some new title, transition or video effects, but they are the same ones that have been there since x4 I believe. However, I still prefer some of them to Cyberlink, though I do prefer Cyberlink's title effects. I get a little frustrated with the title effects in Corel\\n\\nI've also read other reviews from customers that have had trouble burning video to DVD. I've not done much of that, most of my videos go straight to internet, so I can't speak much to that.\\n\\nThe price is favorable to Cyberlink however, about $15-$20 cheaper.\\n\\nIf you're looking for something simple and user friendly with some fun effects, this is a good program. If you're looking for something with a little more pizazz, you may want to keep looking and/or maybe spend a little more money.\",\n \"Product: Achieve your photographic potential with Corel PaintShop Pro X7 Ultimate. Along with the photo-editing power of PaintShop Pro X7, the Ultimate edition includes Perfectly Clear automatic image correction, Reallusion FaceFilter3 portrait enhancement tools, and a creative collection of brushes, textures and royalty-free backgrounds. Seamlessly remove unwanted elements in your photos with new content-aware Magic Fill. Enhance photos quickly with popular brushes that are 30% faster. Get creative with new Text and Shape cutters, and easier color selection tools. RAW editing, HDR and an enhanced layer workflow make PaintShop Pro X7 Ultimate a powerful photo editing and digital design package.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: More affordable photo editing software with great features.\\n\\nReview: I really like this software. I think it's a good option for people who like photoshop but can't afford the price tag. There's a lot going on here. You can edit your photos, in so many different ways. There's the standard things of course, rotation, one click fix, etc, but it really does have some super cool adjustments and effects and they're pretty user friendly. Some that aren't available with photoshop, that I could have used a bunch of times over, like smart carver, which lets you cut objects out of your picture then scales it back to size.\\n\\nIt's pretty user friendly if you're already familiar with photoshop, if not, it may take some getting used to. You can work with layers and masks, just like in photoshop. The program has a lot of the same tools, different types of brushes to choose from, which I haven't delved much into yet as I've mostly used it for photo enhancement. It has the shapes to (with a limited number of shapes and I haven't looked into if there are more available, but probably).\\n\\nThere is a learning center that pops up when you start to use a new tool, so if you are unfamiliar with the program, instruction is right there for you. There's also a section for instant adjustments and management of photos.\\n\\nOne of the best things is the photo retouching tools. You can do a lot with portraits with this program. Your selfies will never be the same.\\n\\nI think if you're looking for a program like this, this is a great one, especially if you're already familiar with Photoshop. If you're thinking about getting Photoshop, but it's out of your price range, this is something you should consider. Also, if you're a rookie with stuff like this, I'd have to say this program is more user friendly than Photoshop. Is it as good? That remains to be seen as I've just started using, but I'm definitely going to split my time between the two and see which I prefer.\",\n \"Product: PhotoDirector 6 Ultra is a unique application that provides streamlined workflow, efficient photo management, complete adjustment and creative editing - PhotoDirector is all you need to turn your photos into works of art. Perform nondestructive photo enhancements with confidence, and enjoy fast RAW image decoding and UltraHD 4K slideshow production. With PhotoDirector 6, you can take your photography to the next level.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Fun, easy photo editing software.\\n\\nReview: I take a ton of pictures and sometimes you just want a quick click of the button to make a fix, and Photoshop can be a little daunting. This is where Cyberlink PhotoDirector 6 can help out.\\n\\nIt's very easy to import pictures for organization. You can create albums, tags, etc. You can upload them to a cloud for safekeeping even.\\n\\nI loved screwing around with the program the first time I sat down and played with it. It has your basic adjustments for tone, exposure, brightness, color, saturation, and lens correction.\\n\\n It also makes it easy to target certain sections of the photo for changes, fixes or deletion. For instance, if someone photo bombed you and you want to take them out of the picture, this program will help you do it. For those people who are not very Photoshop savvy, I'm telling you, it is EASY.\\n\\nIt's really fun playing with portraits because it has a whole beautification process you can put the photo through. You can adjust just about everything on the face, including eliminating wrinkles (yay for us who have surpassed the 40 year mark!) . You can adjust body shape, but, uh, no one would ever do that, right? hahaha. If you have a picture in which you look like Quasimodo, by the time you're done with it, you could be looking more like Cinderella.\\n\\nAnd it really does so much more than that.\\n\\nYou can also make simple slideshows with your pictures and set them to music.\\n\\nI did have one problem with this, but I'm sure I can find a resolution. My new computer doesn't have a disc drive and I didn't find a place to download the software online even though I have the software key. So I had to load it on my old computer. I'm sure there must be a place to do it, I probably just haven't found it yet. I'll keep searching, or if anyone knows where it is, a link would be helpful, hint hint...\\n\\nAnyway, as you can probably tell, I sing the praises of this software. I've never been disappointed with Cyberlink before, having used their video software in the past as well. I think it's well worth the price and you will have a lot of fun with it and it won't make you want to pull your hair out.\",\n \"Product: From easy and fast, to advanced and fun, Corel VideoStudio Pro X9 has everything you need to make your videos look their best. Make a movie in minutes with FastFlick or Instant Projects, or move up to more advanced editing on the multi-track timeline. Cover all the angles with the new 4 angle Multi-Camera Editor and align clips automatically with audio syncing. With instant fixes for common problems, over 1,500 customizable effects, titles and transitions, including NewBlue FX Video Essentials II creative filters, VideoStudio Pro X9 delivers high-quality results with style that's all your own. Plus, smart audio tools automatically balance levels and keep dialog crystal clear. Ready to share? Quickly burn to DVD, upload directly to social media or share on popular devices.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: User friendly, well worth the price.\\n\\nReview: I've been using Corel and PowerDirector over the years. I like them for different reasons. Corel has always been pretty user friendly, so if I want to quickly edit something, that's what I use. The interface is easy to use, the program has a number of templates, drag and drop effects, a variety of filters and transitions and professional looking titles. It's also easy to load video, edit in the timeline, and make a cohesive movie to upload to the internet. You can also create video in a few different formats. So, for beginners, this is a great program.\\n\\nIf you're a more advanced video editor, I'm not sure this is for you. You may need more effects and bells and whistles. But for the home user just wanting to transfer videos of the kids or vacation, or for the small time vlogger (which I've used it for many times), this program is just fine and well worth the price.\",\n \"Product: Cook up a great time in your kitchen with your favorite MUkitchen products! mukitchen's MUaprons have many great features that make it the easy choice among apron styles. Made from 100percent prewashed cotton herringbone and available in an array of stylish colors, these aprons are the ultimate in fashionable functional kitchen-wear. Featuring extra-long ties, adjustable necks and 2 large chef pockets, our MUaprons will fit every chef or culinary artist in your home. Measures 35-inches in length. MUkitchen's a concept lifestyle kitchen textile brand, renowned for its original designer prints and fresh take on color. Specializing in top-quality, fashion-forward kitchen textiles and cleaning products, all of mukitchen's products are created from top-quality cotton and microfiber. Mukitchen aims to create long-term relationships with their business Partners based on honesty and trust while seeking to understand their customer's business and provide Mutual support.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Color a little off, but great apron.\\n\\nReview: When I'm in the kitchen, I make a mess. Half of it lands on me. My kitchen is decorated in bright colors, so I thought this apron would be a good fit for my messy cooking habits and my kitchen decor.\\n\\nThe color is true to what you see on the product page. It's called \\\"surf.\\\" It looks more bluish in the photo on the product page, but it's actually a little bit greener. This isn't a bad thing, it's a beautiful color green. However, if you're looking for something aqua or teal, this may be a little seafoamish for your tastes.\\n\\nIt's comfortable to wear, and has an adjustable neck strap and a couple pockets in the front to carry whatever you need to carry, wooden spoons, recipe, glass of wine (okay, maybe not that last one). The Herringbone weave is nice and thick making this apron very durable. I think it will last a long time.\\n\\nThis is a great addition to my kitchen/cooking. I recommend it.\",\n \"Product: Entertaining is a cinch with the Initial Lab Cedric Modern Buffet. Contemporary in design, this buffet table combines a modern look with the fine tradition of dinner hosting. Useful features make this piece an outstanding addition to your living space.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: A little hard to assemble but lovely piece.\\n\\nReview: This is a beautiful piece. I see some people thought the pieces weren't high quality. I disagree. I mean, the backing of course wasn't, but I felt the wood pieces were and I think this is pretty sturdy and would be a wonderful addition to a living or dining room. It's long, about 5 feet, so have the space for it.\\n\\nI started putting this together myself and I would say I'm not the most savvy of people when it comes to building furniture, but I'm not a complete moron either. There seemed to be a bazillion bits of hardware, I followed the directions, which weren't entirely clear ( I suppose this is subjective ) and some of the holes seemed not drilled quite right. I got frustrated doing this myself. I eventually enlisted the assistance of my boyfriend, and he powered through sections I had difficulty with. This was rated a 3 out of 5 difficulty level. I would hate to see a 4 or 5. Truly.\\n\\nThere are glass pieces, they are tempered, but you need to be careful and you are supposed to assemble them first, though I don't see the problem with assembling them after you get other sections together. I think hindsight, I would have rather done that because I wouldn't have wanted to break them, but please, follow the directions and don't take my word for it. I'm an amateur all the way.\\n\\nI would recommend if you don't mind putting together a piece of furniture with many parts and hardware. I do recommend this as a two person job. The boxes are quite heavy (my daughter helped me pull the big one in). Once it's together though, as I said, it's quite sturdy and looks quite nice and would make a lovely showcase and storage for dishes or knickknacks.\",\n \"Product: The super elegant look of this white and black apron simply be topped. This classic black and white appeals to all styles and tastes while this gorgeous pattern brings out the more flirty and fancy feel. These gorgeous aprons for women can be worn during any project whether it be baking or even gardening. Both the neck and waist ties on this elegant apron are adjustable to create the perfect fit.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Stiff and uncomfortable with a useless pocket\\n\\nReview: On the surface, this looks like a cute flirty apron. I like the color combination and the frilly little skirt. Take it out of the packaging and put it on and it's a whole different story.\\n\\n1. Stiff as hell. It says it's 100% cotton, but it feels like someone starched the crap out of it.\\n2. They tout that it is a flattering style. Maybe if you're 5' 11\\\" and weigh 100 pounds. Not if you're 5 foot.\\n3. The pocket seems basically useless. It's large, yes, but it sits way too high on the apron. I suppose you could hold measuring spoons or something small in there, but if you actually wanted to put, say, a wooden spoon in the pocket, you'd be hitting yourself in the chin all day.\\n3. Hand wash. Yes, I read the tag and it says hand wash. I don't hand wash, especially not an apron.\\n\\nI'm giving this a big thumbs down, especially for the $22 price tag.\",\n \"Product: The Big Boss Citrus Juicer allows you to enjoy freshly squeezed juice right in your kitchen. It brings a vitamin C boost to you and your family each day, complete with a juicing cone that fits all sized citrus fruits, from limes to grapefruits. Just press down to activate the motorized extractor to begin juicing. Press down again and it will operate in reverse, extracting even more juice down to the last drop. The strainer separates seeds and pulp from the juice as it collects right in the pitcher for easy and convenient serving. The three setting adjustable pulp collector allows for no pulp, low pulp or heavy pulp. The pitcher holds up to 40-ounces (5 cups) of juice and the base with motor has cord housing. Removable parts are dishwasher safe.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Juices like a boss\\n\\nReview: This is a great little juicer. I could not believe the power this thing had. Within seconds, it had demolished the inside of an orange, all the seeds and pulp left behind. If I knew how well these things worked I would have got one ages ago.\\n\\nIf you push down twice, it will go in reverse so you can get as much juice out of the fruit as possible. Seriously, there was not a bit of fruit left behind.\\n\\nWhat juice I didn't finish I put in the refrigerator in the removable pitcher.\\n\\nCleans up easy too. I didn't even put it in the dishwasher, I washed it by hand, but I'm sure it would clean up in the dishwasher just fine.\\n\\nI love this thing. I will be using this often.\",\n \"Product: HON Purpose seating has innovative YouFit technology for a tailored fit. This mid-back chair has three distinct flex zones to support the user's range of postures, including sitting, reclining or perching. Chair has upholstered seat and back cushions. Shell color is Onyx, fabric color is Black and base color is Black.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Sleek, slylish, comfortable support for your back\\n\\nReview: Office chairs are boring, right? Honestly this is one of the most comfortable chairs I've sat in. It's a little cushy, but not too much as to hurt your back. As the name states, it's flexible, you can kick back in it for a little break, then get back to work. The arm rests are padded as well for comfort.\\n\\nIt was super easy to put together, just a couple pieces and a couple screws and BAM! You're done.\\n\\nIt's very sleek and modern looking if you're into that. I work at my kitchen table, so actually kept mine in the kitchen until I had to host a party. I think I may bring it back out. I miss the back support it gave me.\\n\\nIt's pretty spendy, I know and I'm a broke girl, so spending that much on an office chair is up to you, but it is high quality, seems very durable and built to last. I highly recommend.\",\n \"Product: Gather around delicious casseroles and other succulent dishes with the earthy, handcrafted style and color of Rachael Ray Cucina Oven-To-Table Cookware. The Rachael Ray Cucina Oven-To-Table Hard Enamel Nonstick 2-1/2-Quart Covered Round Casserole features modern, rustic design curated by Rachael to enhance the warmth and hospitality of treasured places and family occasions. With a sturdy hard enamel porcelain exterior and durable aluminum construction that promotes fast, even heating on the stove and in the oven, the round casserole incorporates the easy-to-use functionality and time-saving solutions Rachael Ray is known for. Her color sense meets convenience with the distinctive espresso-colored, PFOA-free nonstick interior that releases foods effortlessly, complements the exterior and cleans up easily, even after baking Rachael's Bacon and Leek Mac 'n Cheese. Ideal for baking flavorful garden vegetable casseroles, savory potato au gratin dishes and more, the casserole dish features a pair of double-riveted stainless steel handles and the lid is accented with a gleaming stainless steel knob. Oven safe to 500, this vibrant covered casserole is a great addition to the warm, inviting serve ware, dinnerware and other kitchenware pieces in the Rachael Ray Cucina collection. Dining indoors or alfresco, enjoy the rustic feel and modern functionality of the Rachael Ray Cucina Oven-To-Table Hard Enamel Nonstick 2-1/2-Quart Covered Round Casserole.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Easy cooking, easy clean up.\\n\\nReview: I really like this casserole pot. It's lightweight, first of all, not heavy like so many can be, which is really nice. I cooked chicken in it my first go round, and it turned out nicely and evenly cooked in the oven, and I was able to keep it warm on the stove top as well. Then I took it right from the stove to the table.\\n\\nThe lid kept stayed on nice and tight, so the chicken stayed moist and juicy.\\n\\nI did have some sauce in with the chicken, but nothing really clung to the non-stick surface. There was no scraping to be done with clean up. Just rinsed and wiped. Then I stuck it in the dishwasher to clean and it came out spotless. I'm sure that's not the best way to wash it, but I'm lazy. :)\\n\\nYou can also put this straight into the freezer, which I didn't do, but that would be handy if I needed to for soups.\\n\\nI'm a big fan of Rachael Ray anyway, and I would be very pleased to add more of these pieces to this collection.\",\n \"Product: The world's first automatic electric corkscrew has arrived! A revolutionary addition to any home bar or kitchen, the Rabbit Automatic Electric Corkscrew removes any cork from the wine bottle on contact, then immediately ejects it from the spiral. Simply place the electric opener over your next bottle of wine, then let the corkscrew do the rest. Yes, it's really that easy! This automatic corkscrew works on all cork types, including plastic and synthetic corks. Up to 30 bottles of wine can be opened on a single charge, so you won't have to worry about recharging the unit after each use. For added convenience, the electric corkscrew's end cap twists off to reveal a built-in foil cutter that works quickly and efficiently on any unopened bottle of wine. A micro USB wall charger is also included.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Sleek design, works great\\n\\nReview: This is a very cool product. This automatic corkscrew worked like a charm.\\n\\nIt makes some noise, as is to be expected. It's about as loud as an electric can opener.\\n\\nIt's rechargeable, coming with a standard USB charger that plugs into the top of the device. I think the initial charge took 4 hours. When not charging, there is a cap that doubles as a foil cutter. It doesn't work great, but I haven't found a foil cutter that does yet.\\n\\nTo use, you simple place the corkscrew on top of the bottle and it automatically starts, uncorks your bottle, and then reverses itself to release the cork.\\n\\nYou have to make sure you center it best you can. I did have a cork get stuck because I didn't have the corkscrew quite centered over the bottle. There is a small button at the top of the unit however, to help with this. Just push it and the corkscrew will reverse if it gets stuck, and you can get the cork out.\\n\\nThe unit also has a very sleek and attractive design. I have no problem keeping it sitting right alongside my wine bottles for easy access.\\n\\nI highly recommend this product. It would be a great gift for oenophiles.\",\n \"Product: Finally! A style smart organization system designed to make your space work the way you live. Organize small items in style. Perfect for drawers, nightstands and dressers. Stain-guard protected, silk-textured exterior and stylish interior. Use enclosed clips to create an organization system by fastening two or more HEX BOXES together. Up to 65% recycled content.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Convenient for small items.\\n\\nReview: These are pretty cool. They come collapsed and are easily assembled, you just pop them open and put the bottom in. They're soft with no sharp edges. They would hold quite a few paperclips, rubber-bands or anything else in your office. If you're not using them, you can collapse them again and easily store.\\n\\nThey are small enough to work well on a desk, nightstand, dresser, kitchen counter, or in a drawer.\\n\\nIt comes in a two pack with clips, so they can be attached together which would be convenient for use inside a drawer, or just to keep them from sliding apart on a desk etc.\\n\\nIt's also made from 65% recycled content and is stain guarded.\\n\\nI only give 4 stars instead of 5 because I don't find them particularly attractive. It would be nice if they came in different colors rather than the industrial gray color.\\n\\nThat being said, I do think this is a good product and at $9.99, fairly priced.\",\n \"Product: This Farberware candy and deep fryer thermometer is specifically designed to give accurate readings from 100 to 450 degrees f without the probe touching the bottom of the pot. The adjustable clip attaches the thermometer to the side of the pot, putting the probe in a position to give an accurate temperature reading without touching the pot's hot bottom surface. Features easy to read temperature zones and information regarding the temperature scale. Hand wash only.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Teeny tiny dial - need superpower vision\\n\\nReview: This is a high quality thermometer made of stainless steel with a shatterproof plastic lens. It gives an accurate and quick reading. However, the main problem is the size of the dial. You'd have to have superpower vision to be able to read it. It's super duper tiny. I have to have my reading glasses and get really close to read it. And I'm not very fond of having my oven melt my face off. So, if you have superpower vision or you don't mind sticking your face in the oven, I suppose this is a great product for you because of the other positive qualities. But if you're like me, you should probably get a thermometer with a larger reading on the dial.\",\n \"Product: DII Oceanique 5-Piece Bathroom Starter Set Includes 72x72\\\" Shower Curtain, 12 Shower Hooks, 1 Soap Dish, 1 Cup, 1 Lotion Dispenser. Conveniently get all matching bathroom essential all in one set. Complete the look of your bathroom easily and affordably with DIIs 5 piece bathroom sets. These bathroom sets contains fun looks at a great price. DII Oceanique currently offers a cityscape or mosaic tile design, both designs are gender neutral. These DII Oceanique bathroom starter sets are an easy and convenient way to style your bathroom all in one purchase. Quickly and easily locate and purchase all needed bathroom pieces at once. Traditional colors make it easy to find towels. That will coordinate or contrast for the perfect bathroom look! To view more of our products visit amazon.com/oceanique.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Attractive, economical bathroom set.\\n\\nReview: This is actually a really decent set. I was expecting some flimsy plastic shower curtain, but this one is more heavy duty (don't know what material it's made out of though. Now, the accessories seem like kind of cheaper plastic, but you're only paying $18, so what do you expect. This would be good for a college kid with their own apartment or just moving out on their own. Also good for teens. I put it in my teenage girls bathroom because teenage girls are destructive. :) Don't want to use anything too nice because I know it will eventually get ruined, but this looks good, it matches, and it will last for awhile. Plus, the price is right. I recommend.\",\n \"Product: The easy solution to the limitations found with a traditional box spring. The Easy To Assemble Smart Base provides increased mattress support, portability, easy setup and under bed storage. The no-tools, no fuss Smart Base with its patented design is your answer for easy assembly and strong support.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: It's okay, but not truly to size\\n\\nReview: It's okay. I like it. It was really easy to put together and lightweight so one person could definitely do it themselves (I did and I'm horrible at putting things together). The majority of my problems with this come from the size and sliding, and I think they're related. I have a king size, however, my bed, which is not a California king, just a king, hangs far over the sides by at least 3 or 4 inches per side. So if you sit on one side of it, the mattress tends to pull and slide. Then you have to readjust the mattress.\\n\\nThis isn't a horrible thing. I'm all about convenience and the ease of putting this thing together is worth me having to adjust every so often. And honestly, I think it's way better than a regular box spring and frame.\",\n \"Product: The Clever Made Snap Basket is a smart, space-saving solution to simplify all of your shopping trips and day-to-day activities for an on-the-go lifestyle. It was designed to help the environment as plastic bags from the grocery store are not eco friendly. These baskets can be used for so much more than grocery shopping too! Both men and women use them for produce at the farmers market, travelling in your car or SUV for weekend road trips, bringing lunch to work, loading up food for a summer BBQ, and in so many other ways. You can even load it full of dirty clothes and take it to the laundromat. Perfect for active moms bringing snacks for sporting events or for college students who take advantage of it being foldable for their small dorm room, apartment or condo. Durable handles can hold heavy loads up to 25 pounds of groceries, books, yoga gear, towels or linens. There are 2 of our patented SnapHinge in each utility tote and you'll love the sound they make when they pop-up and fold down. The checkers and baggers at the grocery store are going to love them too as they don't have to struggle to keep them standing up when you check out. If you're in need of a bag that's portable and can fold flat for compact storage then look no further!\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Collapsable bag perfect for all shopping needs.\\n\\nReview: Admittedly, it took me a minute to figure out how to snap this basket open, but I'm chalking that up to operator error rather than a problem with the bag. It comes collapsed and in that form it's flat, so can be stored easily in home or car. Both the bag and handles are pretty sturdy, and it says it can hold up to 25 pounds, so I guess if you can carry that much weight you're good to go. You can certainly fit a ton of groceries in it..\\n\\nThe fabric isn't supposed to rip easily. It has come kind of frame to it to prevent it from toppling over in the car. It also has a convenient zip pocket to hold things like your driver's license, credit cards, and car keys.\\n\\nI highly recommend this for grocery shopping or it would be perfect for a trip to the farmer's market. Also is available in a 3 pack.\",\n \"Product: The Zinus Modern Studio Collection is an ideal combination of function and style. The Classic Cube Side Table can function as a night stand, end or side table, coffee table, or to hold various items in any room of the home. The sturdy, black square steel tubing and high density panel with rich brown wood grain finish will add an elegant touch to any decor. Easy to assemble. Worry free limited 1 year warranty.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Price is right, product is good.\\n\\nReview: When your product comes with an allen wrench, you know it's going to be easyish, which it was. Very. It's small. Really small. Not even two feet high and just over a foot wide. So, you can use it in small areas. It's personal opinion as to what you use it for. It's touted as being functional as an end table, side table or nightstand. I wouldn't mind using it as a nightstand, but others may want something taller. I prefer to use it as a side table in my rec room.\\n\\nAnd truly, the price is right. If you need something to fill some space, to put things on and you have a tight space or just want something small, this isn't a bad option. Don't expect greatness, but for the price, this thing is quality.\",\n \"Product: Fill your room with clean fresh air with the Whynter afr-425-pw eco pure HEPA system air purifier. Designed and engineered specifically to eliminate airborne allergens like pet dander, hair, dust, mold, mildew and pollen, this air purifier is perfect for home, office, and any living area up to 550 sq. Ft. This an ideal choice for high quality air purification to provide added relief for allergies, asthma, and other breathing disorders. For ultimate filtration against airborne pollutants, the Whynter afr-425-pw is equipped with a 5-in-1 HEPA filtration system that features a washable pre-filter, a HEPA filter and an activated carbon filter. 5-in-1 HEPA filtration system: pre-filter - the washable pre-filter removes large particles such as dust, pet hair and dander, fungus and mold. HEPA filter - designed to remove 99.97% Of all air pollutants that are as small as 0.3 Micrometers such as pollen, allergens and dust mites. Activated carbon filter - eliminates and removes chemical fumes, toxic gases, smoke, pet and other odors. Photo catalyst filter -eliminates and kills 99% of organic contaminants such viruses, mold and bacteria. Helps to potentially reduce the spread of influenza and other airborne illnesses. UV wave bulb - ultraviolet germicidal UV bulb is commonly used for sterilization, to kill 99.9% Of bacteria and viruses. Features: coverage area -550 sq. Ft., 6 fan speeds, no negative ions or harmful ozone emissions, remote control, air quality sensor, automatic mode for hassle-free operation, quick smoke removal for odor elimination, sleep mode for ultra-quiet operation, filter replacement indicator, 8 hour timer, air flow: 430 m3/h / 253 cfm at high speed, ultra low power consumption, only 65 watts, noise level (dba): <33.6 At low speed, power supply: 120v / 60hz.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Low energy air purifyer, great for home or office.\\n\\nReview: I've had allergies since about the age of 12. Sometimes they're horrible, sometimes they are manageable. They often affect me when at night when I'm trying to sleep. And just since this last year, they have started to make my eyes swell. When I saw this product, I decided to give it a try.\\n\\nI really like this product. It's easy to use, and has a remote control so you don't always have to be within arm's length to change the settings. It's not too heavy, so can be moved from room to room and doesn't take up that much room either, as for the slim construction. The pre-stage filter is washable, so I don't have to spend money and time replacing them.\\n\\nMy nighttime has seemed better, allergy wise since I started using this product, which has been a few weeks now. I'm hoping the UV bulb meant to kill germs will work on flu and other viruses.\\n\\nSo far, I'm very pleased with this product and so are my allergies.\",\n \"Product: The Targus Unofficial Netbook Slipcase is designed to protect netbooks with up to 10.2 screens. The netbook compartment features 360 protection with air-mesh padding on all sides of the device for ventilation and protection against drops and bumps. The case is constructed with water-and wear-resistant fabric and features an oversized accessory pocket to store a power adapter or other necessities. The fully-reinforced shoulder strap provides a durable and comfortable carrying option.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Targus Unofficial Messenger Case Designed for 16 Inch Laptops\\n\\nReview: This is a really nice laptop case. The laptop compartment is padded for protection. It's made of water resistant fabric. It's got a lot of pockets. Aside from the laptop compartment, it's got another zipper compartment with a section for papers or notebooks another smaller zipper pocket, two smaller pockets and a two sectioned mesh pocket more than likely for accessories, and a place for pens and pencils. The front of the messenger bag under the flap is yet another zippered pocket, divided into two sections. It has an expandable easy grip handle, and the bag itself is not too heavy.\\n\\nNow, this is touted as being able to hold up to a 16\\\" laptop. Mine is 15.6\\\" and it fits almost too snugly. You'd be pushing 16\\\".\\n\\nAlso, I could maybe see the usefulness of one divided pocket, but not two. In my opinion, they're pretty useless.\\n\\nOne other complaint, things would be way more accessible if the zippers went all the way down the side, but they stop about an inch from the top. So access isn't horrible, but it's not easy either.\\n\\nOther than that, It's a good, sturdy bag, I'm trading my old one in for this one.\",\n \"Product: Compatible With Ipad/Ipod/Iphone; Compact Speaker Docking Station Charges Up To 2 Ipad/Ipod/Iphone Devices Together; Neodymium Construction For Optimum Bass Response & Pure, Balanced Audio; Shielding Technology Blocks Cellular Phone Interference; Compact 360 Design Ideal For Bedrooms; Black\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Small device, big sound\\n\\nReview: This dock is pretty awesome. It's not very big, so fits nicely in small spaces. I use it on my nightstand because it has a nightlight and clock built it. It would work well in the kitchen as well. You could take it to the office or even traveling.\\n\\nI was really surprised at how much sound this little thing puts out. I used it with my iPod (it can also be used with the iPhone and iPad) and the music sounded crisp and clear and it can be pretty loud if you want.\\n\\nIt's a simplistic design which is very user friendly. No need for instructions.\\n\\nI highly recommend it for someone looking for a docking station for a small space.\",\n \"Product: The Panasonic rp-hje120b Bluetooth Ergo Fit earbud headphones with Microphone and call controller are the perfect combination of style, comfort, functionality and most of all, high-quality sound. The in-line microphone on the cord of earbud headphones is used for answering calls or voice commands; compatible with iPhone, Android, BlackBerry* and Bluetooth** capable devices. Earbuds with three sets of ear pads (S/M/L included), provide a custom, comfortable ergonomic fit that won't slip out. Choose from four (4) vivid color options with color-matching earbuds, headphone cord and call controller to best complement your personal style and mood. Large 9mm drivers with neodymium magnets along with a wide frequency response and smart ergonomic fit earbuds deliver dynamic, crystal-clear sound while helping to keep out unwanted outside noise. Stereo headset tonally balanced audio with crisp highs and deep low notes, plus wider frequency response and lively sound quality for recorded audio. Long, 3.6-Ft headphone cord threads comfortably through clothing and bags making it easy to connect. disclaimer: * iPhone is a trademark of Apple, Registered in the US. And other countries. The trademark Blackberry is owned by research in motion limited and is registered in the United States and may be pending or registered in other countries. Panasonic is not endorsed, sponsored, affiliated with or otherwise authorized by research in motion limited. Android is a trademark of Google ** the Bluetooth word mark and logos are registered trademarks owned by the Bluetooth SIG, And any use of such marks by Panasonic Corporation is under license\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Didn't work like it should have\\n\\nReview: These wireless headphones were the easiest to connect of those I've tried in the past. Just takes the push of a button and it was paired with my phone in seconds. They're also very comfortable to wear.\\n\\nThe problem I had was with the connection. When I walk, I like to keep my phone in my pocket or purse, which is sometimes difficult with wired headphones. However, I could not get a good steady connection unless I held my phone up over my head, which looks ridiculous and would be completely tiring. Every time I put my arm down or tried to put the phone in my pocket, the connection would get fuzzy. In the end I gave up. I may try again and if it works then, I will edit my review, but for now, I think giving them a 3 is generous for the sound quality.\",\n \"Product: Contemporary design and relevant features combine to deliver a stylish attache perfect for work, school or travel.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Attractive and well made\\n\\nReview: This is an attractive and nice bag. It has two snap pockets outside, plus a zippered compartment which has another two mesh pockets within.\\n\\nThe inside has a padded compartment for a small laptop. Note it only fits a 14\\\" or smaller computer. Opposite the laptop area is another compartment which could hold papers or magazines, etc. The bag would also fit a couple chargers and small office items.\\n\\n It comes with an adjustable padded strap for comfort and a luggage strap for convenience.\\n\\nIt seems really well made and durable. I think it will last a long time. The straps aren't flimsy and the zippers are pretty heavy duty.\\n\\nGray is a nice neutral color that could be used by both men and women.\\n\\nI'm not sure a $56 price tag is doable for a lot of people, I know I usually don't like to spend too much on this type of item. However, I do think it is worth the price tag as a sturdy and well-made briefcase/computer attache.\\n\\nAs for protection, well, its better than nothing, but certainly not a Pelican case type of protection, so u still need to be a little careful...and if your tablet or PC is slim enough, you can put a tiny bit of added padding if u want to be safe...or buy a padded sleeve....again, this depends on how rough the bag will be handled. Some people are very gentle, and simply put the bag in the back seat of the car, well, no worries for those types...I throw it in overhead bins, Rapid Rover vans, strap it to luggage, etc. So use that comment to suit your needs. I love Pelican cases for hardcore travel, but they are a bear to carry.... this is a nice mix between a small sleeve type protection and full blown hardshell case....and, stylish for sure...it looks well made, u will not be embarrassed putting this on the board room table in a meeting....\\nThe removable shoulder strap is always a nice option IMO, as if you hand carry all the time, this sure gets in the way, and can get snagged on things.... it can fit in the pouch when not in use, which is nice.\",\n \"Product: Jabra Sport Pace Wireless Bluetooth Earbuds - U.S. Retail Packaging\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Comfortable and Cord Free\\n\\nReview: I love these.\\n\\nThey were easy to sync with my electronics.\\n\\nThey're really comfortable to wear and they stay in place. They're great for working out. No cord to get in the way or get pulled out of your ears. It's also great to listen to music while doing housework. It's got a pretty good range. You can be across the room or even in the next room and they'll keep working.\\n\\nThese wireless earbuds make watching videos on your tablet or computer is a lot easier since you don't have to be tethered to the device.\\n\\nThey are very sturdy, made of a hard plastic, heavier than most earbuds, but not so much that it's bothersome.\\n\\nI've never bought an expensive set of earbuds before. I usually just spend $5-$10, but of course they don't last that long. I'm happy with these and think they are a high quality product that is probably worth the price tag.\",\n \"Product: The Unwind Bedside Alarm Dock is a full-function dual alarm clock with gradual wake that also charges and plays iPhone, iPod, and iPad devices. The auto-set clock has six nature sounds - Waterfall, Brook, Rain, Forest, Ocean, and Summer Night. A passive subwoofer provides expanded bass profile and excellent sound. The digital tune FM radio has 10 station presets, and a USB port for charging your devices. Plus, it has an aux-in for connecting non-Apple devices. The Unwind features a customizable color-changing mood light and includes a convenient remote control.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Read the directions and you won't go wrong with this docking clock\\n\\nReview: I am a person who loathes reading directions. I like to figure things out for myself. However, I did have to pull out the directions about how to set the time for this alarm docking station. Once I did, no big deal. I could actually just plug in my iPod and voila, the right time pops up. How cool is that?\\n\\nAlso, here's a disclaimer: I do not use this for all it's intended uses So I cannot attest to some of its functions, but I will rate the ones I have used.\\n\\nThe clock works fine. You can adjust the 'mood' of the output with the remote control. I don't use the alarm because I use my cell phone to wake up, but the directions make is sound easy and you have choices as to what sound you wish to wake up to - radio, iPod (or whatever you have docked), nature sounds or beeping. There are two alarms, so two people can use it to wake up. The nature sounds are really nice and you can use them to go to sleep as well. There are sounds like thunderstorm, rain, white noise, etc. I have used the noises to fall asleep.\\n\\nThe dock will also play more than your apple devices. There are different ports in the back. There is a USB port (for charging devices), an AUX port, there is even a video in port so you can play movies from your iPad (or other source). So plug in your droid phone, ear buds...\\n\\nI no longer use it in my bedroom. I now keep it in my kitchen to play music from our various devices. It's a good size to fit on my kitchen counter. Less bulky that many components, but bigger sound than the smaller ones.\\n\\nBottom line: I recommend this for sleep, to wake up, just to use as a listening device. It's less expensive than many docking stations out there.\",\n \"Product: There comes a time when you need both hands free and still be able to capture that thing that you do. With the Fix Tilt & Shoots powerful, interchangeable magnetic and suction foot options, you can mount your camera or smart device on virtually any surface. The U-Shot extends over 19\\\" for a unique perspective, and with the Tiltee 1/4\\\" universal aluminum ball head , any angle can be framed perfectly. All mounts are quickly interchangeable with the U-Shot for maximum versatility and efficiency whenever the moment strikes. Keep your hands free to create your story.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Expensive and not quite dependable.\\n\\nReview: Holy crap this thing is expensive.\\n\\nIt's a selfie stick. Um, not sure I'd pay $80 for a selfie stick when I can go to Big Lots and buy one for $10.\\n\\nAnd is 19\\\" long enough for a selfie stick? Seems kind of short to me.\\n\\nThough it seems aesthetically pleasing, it's lightweight, and put together well, I would still say it's definitely not made for heavier cameras. Don't risk it. Plus the locking system isn't very reliable. I have a Sony and a Cannon, and would never mount my Cannon on this thing. Even mounting the Sony is questionable and it's a very small, lightweight camera.\\n\\nThe two bases, a suction cup and a magnet, in my opinion aren't very reliable either. The description says they can each support 6 lbs. I don't believe it for a second. The magnet isn't big enough to keep the system from falling over. The suction cup worked well, but it's a suction cup and you're entrusting your electronic on it. Not for me.\\n\\nI guess what I'm saying is that there are probably better products that are more reliable and less expensive. Plus, I think I'd rather have one that holds my cell phone. I wouldn't waste my money on this one.\",\n \"Product: KiiTAG is a Bluetooth 4.0 item finder to keep your valuables safe. By integrating flexible cloud services and hardware design, KiiTAG also offers many useful add-ons such as remote camera shutter, ownership binding, baggage tag, community lost & found andautomatic SMS/Email sending service etc. More and more add-ons will be introduced in the near future.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Must be better products out there.\\n\\nReview: This was just okay for me. Inserting the battery and pairing were easy enough.\\n\\nThe shape is kind of awkward for a device like this I think. I get that it's supposed to be a key shape, but I think a different, less abstract shape would be better. And it's kind of bulky on my key ring.\\n\\nIt works, I guess, but you have to get pretty close to your object to find it. It's listed as 200 feet. I'm not so sure about that. If you have even a medium sized home, you could still be looking for awhile before finding it. Also, it seems like a device like this should override \\\"silent mode\\\" on your phone. If you have the ringer off, it won't sound.\\n\\nSome of the features it has are used through apps you have to pay for. Would be nice if they all just came free if you bought the device.\\n\\nOne of the features requires other people to have Kiitag. If this thing takes off, I can see this being beneficial, cool even. If it doesn't take off, that feature is pretty useless.\\n\\nI think the Kiitag is a good concept and has promise, but needs some work. As is, I'm not sure the $20 price tag is worth it. And personally, I wouldn't pay for the extra apps.\",\n \"Product: Be tough on the job but soft on your feet with the Stanley Boots Wellington Dropper ST workboot. This durable, full-grain leather boot cushions each step you take with a plush EVA footbed and double density EVA midsole.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great boot for both indoor and outdoor work.\\n\\nReview: These are great boots for any kind of work condition. They have a steel toe, to protect the toes/foot from falling objects or punctures. They're waterproof so can be worn in any kind of weather conditions, which here in the Pacific Northwest is a really useful feature. Many work boots make your feet sweaty and stinky. These are very breathable, keeping the feet free of sweat (okay, still may be a little stinky). These can be comfortably worn all day, which is great if you need them for work.\\n\\nWhat more could I expect from Stanley? If you work on the roads, in construction, or any other type of manual labor job, these are the boots for you. Price is comparable to other brands, such as Red Wing or Timberland.\\n\\nHighly recommended.\",\n \"Product: So our \\\"Elite\\\" boxing gloves was fully handmade in Thailand with a 100% Skintex leather conception in order to bring you the highest fighting experience at the best price. We used triple density foam for an unbelievable balanced shock distribution: fight after fight, you will be able to increase your striking level while minimizing the stressful sensation at the impact areas.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great gloves, great value\\n\\nReview: I've been going to kickboxing fitness class for over a year now, and up to this the only gloves I've had were entry level gloves.\\n\\nMy understanding is that Venum is a great brand. Now, I will say, these glove are a little big for my hands, I will probably use them at home mostly, I've not tried them with wraps yet, (may fit better wearing them), but the wrist support is awesome. It extends pretty far down to protect the ENTIRE wrist and the velcro is high quality.\\n\\nThe gloves are not real leather, but \\\"skintex\\\" but it's soft, flexible and durable. There's a lot of padding in the tips, which offers good protection and feels great. You'd think that would make the glove feel heavy, but it really doesn't.\\n\\nI've been looking for new gloves for awhile, so I've price compared and seen how much they cost. These are a really good value for the quality. I highly recommend these.\",\n \"Product: With saris' Hottie bike storage rack, it's like having a sculpture hold your bikes. The Hottie has a beautiful wood face design and occupies little floor space, allowing it to fit seamlessly into your living room or foyer. Most importantly, you can store up to two bikes on the freestanding rack, and the cushioned bike hooks that secure your frame are also repositionable to accommodate a range of frame sizes. Saris also includes a small parcel Shelf, providing you a perfect place for keys, tools, or other accessories.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Aesthetically pleasing and sturdy, all riders would love this.\\n\\nReview: I guess I wasn't paying too much attention when I ordered this thing. I saw this two bike storage, that stacked one on top of the other and got it. I had no idea I was getting this kind of retro arty looking, totally heavy duty bada*s contraption that would actually look better in my living room than most of my furniture.\\n\\nYeah, I'm not kidding.\\n\\nBut let's talk about that for which it's made: holding bikes. It's sturdy. Really sturdy. It's not going to fall over. Nope. Well, I suppose it can, but it would be hard. It's heavy metal (insert guitar riff here). It is tall. Measure your space before buying. I mean, this thing is like 8 feet tall. Also, if you have a women's bike, this rack isn't going to work so much unless you get an adapter bar. I've seen those range from about $14 to $35.\\n\\nThe bike hooks are cushioned to protect the frame. It won't get all scratched up putting it on and taking it off the rack. And hey, it was designed and it's manufactured right here in the good old US of A if you're into that kind of thing.\\n\\nA monkey could more than likely assemble this product. Yes. It was easy.\\n\\nAlso, there's an awesome shelf where you can store some bike related stuff and hang your helmet. Maybe keep a vase there. Okay, maybe not a vase. But it's very handy.\\n\\nThis is a great product for those living in apartments or condos that need a place to store their bike...actually, it's good for everyone. Sturdy, beautiful, practical. We should all have one.\\n\\nGo ahead, push the Buy Now button. What are you waiting for?\",\n \"Product: With 34 games and 183 scoring options, the Fat Cat Mercury Electronic Dartboard packs enough fun for all your friends and family. The cabinet features built-in slots to store four complete sets and extra large LCD cricket scoreboard for easy viewing. Mercury electronic dartboard also features concave segment holes, cyber play with 5 skill levels, and an easy to read control panel. Comes ready to play with 6 darts, 6 spare tips, power adapter, game manual, and a mounting hardware.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Love it though darts themselves kind of suck.\\n\\nReview: Before I got this, I hadn't played darts for a long time. I used to play all the time, even had my own darts. I forgot how fun it is to play. This is a lot of fun for family and friends and brings back a lot of memories.\\n\\n This dart board comes with 34 games with 5 skill levels and up to 8 players. I'm not savvy about programming stuff, so I had a few issues, but normal people probably won't. lol. It comes with 6 darts and spare tips. They're pretty standard quality and won't last long I'm sure. We've already gone through the extra tips and purchased more. I'll probably end up getting my own darts again if I continue to play this consistently. So far though, the darts have worked just fine. I haven't had any sticking or bounce outs yet.\\n\\nIt has an LCD front panel display and a large cricket scoreboard on the inside of one of the doors. The cabinet seems fairly sturdy. I like that style so you can hide the dartboard itself when not in use. The unit comes with and AC power adapter, the hardware needed for mounting, a game manual and 1 year warranty.\\n\\nAll in all, aside from the included darts, this is a great addition to a family game room.\",\n \"Product: Use Gaiam Sol's Yoga Blanket flat, rolled or folded for safe support in any posture. This versatile 100% cotton blanket provides a durable, soft surface for your practice. For best results, machine wash cold with like colors. Tumble dry low. 60\\\"W x 80\\\"L.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Not just for yoga.\\n\\nReview: This is a HUGE yoga blanket. It's also really well made, 100% organic cotton, very thick, nice tight weave. It's very soft and if you wrap up in it you will be warm and cozy (and it pretty much covers my entire body. I LOVE the size).\\n\\nI don't do yoga, but I do Pilates. Though I haven't as of yet, I would definitely use this blanket for that. The description says to roll or fold it to use as a bolster as well. But it's nice just as a throw blanket too.\\n\\nI think it would be a nice blanket for an outdoor picnic or concert, but honestly, I don't think I'd want to take it outside because of its high quality.\\n\\nIt's large enough that you could even use this on a small bed.\\n\\nSome may think it's a little spendy, but it's size, quality and comfort are well worth the pricetag.\\n\\nGaiam always puts out solid products and this one is no exception.\\n\\nHighly recommended for yoga, pilates, or someone simply looking for a good quality blanket.\",\n \"Product: The ideal addition to your home gym or fitness studio, the adidas sport deluxe Olympic bench offers stand-out design and sturdy construction in a single piece of equipment. The rack is the perfect addition to the adjustable deluxe bench. It can hold up to 500 lbs of weights, and is fully adjustable. Using the bench at different angles encourages multiple muscle engagement, so you can work the muscles you want for a more defined and sculpted physique. Solid in construction and compact in size, the sport deluxe Olympic bench doesn't take up too much space and works Hand-In-Hand with dumbbells & barbells. Take your floor based exercises up a notch and perform them on the bench so you can work your ABS on a supportive and comfortable platform. Ideal for users of all levels, beginners or more experienced, the adidas sport deluxe Olympic bench is a must-have tool in any keen fitness enthusiast's arsenal.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Solid bench worth the price tag\\n\\nReview: Okay, so, first things first. This thing is HEAVY! I needed help to get it in the door. Also, it's not so easy to put together because the directions are horrible.\\n\\nOnce its in the house and assembled however, it's a quality, solid bench. The seat swivels to different angles, and the back raises and lowers so a variety of exercises can be done like bench presses, shoulder presses, squats, etc. The seat cushion is comfortable. The product description says it holds up to 500 pounds, though I'll never get that close, so I won't have to worry about it.\\n\\nAt first I thought the price was kind of high, but then I looked at comparable products, and it's actually pretty reasonable. If you're someone that has a home gym and likes to lift weights, I think this is a great option.\",\n \"Product: Young Oliver Tate's coming of age is coming even sooner than expected. Prone to daydreaming, listening to French crooners and indulging other self-absorbed fantasies, Oliver (Craig Roberts) suddenly finds himself submerged in real-life, dual challenges -- plotting to lose his virginity with a quirky new girlfriend (Yasmin Paige), while also struggling to reconcile his parent's (Golden Globe winner Sally Hawkins and Noah Taylor) marriage, even though his mom seems smitten with the self-help guru next door (Paddy Considine). This charmingly original comedy from executive producer Ben Stiller and writer/director Richard Ayoade, has been pronounced by Vogue magazine ''a charming mix of quirk and cool.''\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Quirky and fun coming of age story\\n\\nReview: Quirky and fun coming of age story with likeable main character.\\n\\nOliver Tate is a too smart, somewhat peculiar fourteen year old in love with class mate, Jordana. His parents are having marital problems, and his mother's old flame has happened to move into the house next door.\\n\\nI didn't find all the characters likeable, but did find them unique and interesting. Oliver's dad is a dorky intellect, his mother screams internally for attention, so of course falls for the old flame when he gives it to her. The old flame is a pretentious new age guru.\\n\\nThe only character I truly disliked was Jordana. She was a very unsympathetic character. She was a bully, which bothered me, as she got Oliver to bully at the beginning as well, which is the only thing I found troublesome about his character as he only did it to gain her affections. He did at least feel remorse for it. She treated him horribly but then expected him to be at her every beck and call.\\n\\nIn the end there was a sort of happy ending like most movies about dysfunction. All in all, I really liked this movie. I think fans of dysfunctional family movies like Little Miss Sunshine and The Royal Tannenbaums will like this. I would have given it five stars had I not loathed Jordana so much.\",\n \"Product: From the producer of Paranormal Activity, Insidious, and Sinister comes Dark Skies: a supernatural thriller that follows a young family living in the suburbs. As husband and wife Daniel and Lacey Barret witness an escalating series of disturbing events involving their family, their safe and peaceful home quickly unravels. When it becomes clear that the Barret family is being targeted by an unimaginably terrifying and deadly force, Daniel and Lacey take matters in their own hands to solve the mystery of what is after their family.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Scary, well made sci-fi thriller\\n\\nReview: Dark skies is from the producer of Paranormal Activity, Insidious, and Sinister.\\n\\nI have to admit, for some reason (now I have no idea why, I must have read something wrong) I thought this was a TV show when I ordered it, I didn't realize it was a movie or I never would have got it (especially from the producer of the above movies, scary), because as I've become older, I've come to hate horror movies. Luckily, this one wasn't really horror, at least I wouldn't classify it that way. Sci-fi, paranormal perhaps, not horror, but still scary in it's own right.\\n\\nIt's about a husband and wife (Josh Hamilton and Keri Russell) who are a bit down on their luck, and their happy (kind of) family, who all of a sudden start having some crazy things happen, poltergeist style... or maybe not...\\n\\nThey soon realize they're up against something terrifying, and need to take matters into their own hands to figure out what's happening and how to stop it.\\n\\nI don't want to give to much away, but this is a really good movie. It's not a slasher flick. It's a character driven sci-fi thriller that will make you sit on the edge of your seat and at times jump out of it. It's a movie that some may think could be a realistic future, which makes it even scarier.\\n\\nBe careful reading other reviews, there are plot spoilers.\\n\\nI recommend Dark Skies to horror and sci-fi fans alike. To those who like a good scare. To fans of Keri Russell and JK Simmons. Pop some corn, grab a beverage and if you're like me, have a blanket handy to cover your eyes at the scary parts.\",\n \"Product: The GoPower Day Trip is our most compact pocket size portable battery for smartphones the perfect daily companion. Up to 1 extra charge packed into a size that fits in your pocket. Comes with integrated Apple Lightning Cable and micro USB connectors, so you can plug in and start charging. For ultimate convenience recharge it wirelessly. Duracell Powermat products are compatible with the PMA (Power Matters Alliance) standard. PMA is the standard for smart and environmental wireless power backed by AT&T, Starbucks, P&G, Powermat and dozens of global leaders, and deployed at leading venues including in select Delta Air Terminals and Delta Sky Clubs, Westfield Malls, at Madison Square Garden, Barclays Center and in Jay Z's 40/40 Club. Duracell Powermat. TakeCharge. Be Empowered.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Convenient charger in a pinch\\n\\nReview: This is a pretty good little tool and can be very handy. It's small enough to carry around in a backpack, briefcase or midsize to large purse. The cords are built in, so you don't have to have your own cord, which is convenient, and it's lightweight and slim.\\n\\nIt doesn't have a heck of a lot of power, but if you're in a pinch, this will do ya fine. I wouldn't count on it for a vacation. Note the name of the thing is the GoPower \\\"Daytrip\\\"\\n\\nImportant to note that it only has the newer Apple connections. if you have an older iPhone, iPod etc., this won't work for you.\\n\\nIs it worth the price? I'm not sure. I suppose the fact that it's rechargable, you don't need your own cords and will work in a pinch might make it worth it, but I'm not sure I would spend the money.\",\n \"Product: Celeir iPhone X Case Features, Ultra Slim iPhone X Case, 360 degree full protection iPhone X Case with Free Tempered Glass Screen Protector, fasion iPhone X case for 2018 (Black) Celeir iPhone X Case Features: 1. Ultra slim iPhone X Case: original design Ultra-thin style keeps the beautiful appearance of iPhone x; support wireless charging with the iPhone X case. 2. 360-degree full protection iPhone X Case: the iPhone X case has hard polycarbonate (PC) back, PC frame, and tempered glass screen protector that provides full body protection. 3. High-quality material with ergonomic feel iPhone X Case: high quality pc-enabled scratchproof and shockproof protection; high-tech surface manufacturing technique creates comfortable to hold and ergonomic feel even with the iPhone X case. 4. Sensitive button covers iPhone X Case: light and snappy response on phone buttons with special design of the iPhone X case. 5. Camera protection iPhone X Case: specially designed frame of the iPhone X case with variable thickness to ensure the Camera avoid impact on flat surfaces. Celeir iPhone X Case Other Info: - compatibility: iPhone x/ iPhone 10 5.8 inch. - color: Black. - design: Ultra slim, wireless charging Supported, 360 degrees full Cover protection, hard PC back, tempered glass screen Protector. - feature: exact cutouts, sensitive button covers, excellent grip, snug fit. - function: scratchproof, shockproof\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Great protection, good price.\\n\\nReview: When I first saw the design I was unsure but then I started using it and really like this phone case. I have the \\\"Ice\\\" version, which is clear. I think it's really attractive and probably better suited for a man, but it's fine for me too.\\n\\nThe design is really light. Not heavy and clunky feeling like so many other phone cases. My last case easily chipped when dropped or hit on things and while it did protect the phone, it ended up looking horrible. The Urban Armor Gear's shell is touted as impact resistant, and I've not seen any blemishes occur and I have dropped my phone since using it, as well as banged it around a few times.\\n\\nThe buttons and ports are accessible and easy to use even with the case in place, which isn't always the case with other brands. The screen protector is easy to adhere to the phone front and stays in place. No peeling around the edges. It's nice and thick, but not so think you can't use the interface.\\n\\nAll in all, I think this is a really good case for the S5 phone, great design, great protection, worth the price.\",\n \"Product: Introducing the new Win JR enhanced with Windows 8.1 OS, featuring a 4.0\\\" WVGA display for viewing pleasure, powerful 1.2 GHz Quad Core processor for fast response, and a great 5MP camera. For any further queries please contact BLUs Technical Support Number/ Customer Support Number @ 1-877-602-8762.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Nice simple phone for the price.\\n\\nReview: This phone has a nice, simple design. It's smaller than many of the smart phones out there these days. Mine is about the size of a television set, which was hard to get used to. This Windows phone is thin and lightweight, which may be an attractive quality for some people. Plus, it kind of just looks stylish and classy.\\n\\nIt has the windows operating system, which I like. If you don't, this probably isn't the phone for you. It also comes with wifi, bluetooth, camera, GPS. You can download and run apps on it. It has two sim card spots, I'm not sure what that's for, but you might and it may appeal to you. :) However (yes there's a however) you won't get as many apps as you would with an iPhone or other smartphone, not a big deal if you're not a big app person. The camera really isn't great. It's okay for small photos and internet posting, if that's all you use if for, no biggee.\\n\\nTake note, as an UNLOCKED phone, this doesn't work with all carriers, so read the fine print before you buy to make sure yours does. Also, not all sim cards will fit it, but there are adapters available.\\n\\nI know, I'm probably not making this phone sound great, but actually, I think for people who don't care about bells and whistles, maybe those who broke their phone in between upgrades (can we say teenagers), those who like simplicity in the style of their phone, or those who just don't like spending a lot of money on cell phones this is a great deal. I mean, it's only $89. After all you're getting a phone that is SIM unlocked, contract free, front and back camera and it does come with screen protector, headphones and case.\\n\\nI say, go for it.\",\n \"Product: The high-performance Slim-Fit Plus Galaxy S6 Armband doesn't just protect your phone while you're exercising - it's also incredibly comfortable to wear. The secure fit and slim design stays out of your way, so you forget you're even wearing it. Now you can concentrate on your workout, not your device.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Comfortable, strong armband for S6\\n\\nReview: Since phones have gotten bigger, I have been looking for an arm band that fit my specific phone. I bought one a few weeks ago and I could not squeeze my phone into it. So when this said it was made for the S6, I went for it. Plus, I've enjoyed many other Belkin products, so I was all in.\\n\\nIt's very sturdy, the backing material is soft and doesn't rub against the skin in an irritating way. The velcro strap is strong and stays tight around your arm, though I would venture to guess, if you're extremely muscly in the biceps, it might be a tight fit.\\n\\nThere is a flap over the top which protects the phone. The clear front allows access to the buttons on the front, including the home button, and your touch screen. There is a slit at the bottom in which to place your headphones. However, if you need to access your volume buttons, they aren't very accessible, so set your volume before starting your workout or use headphones with volume control.\\n\\nI have an UAG case, which isn't the smallest of cases, but it fits just fine in the armband. Reading other reviews though, looks as if you have a thicker time of case, it may not fit.\\n\\nI think it's great though. Very happy with this. Only reason for the 4 stars, is I really like access to my volume buttons, as all songs are not created digitally equal.\",\n \"Product: The Quartet Oval Office Fabric Bulletin Board provides a twist to the typical bulletin board. The thick fabric and durable high-density fiberboard backing are designed to withstand repeated use. Perfect for office environments. Comes with a 7 year warranty. With smooth fabric and a frameless design, this board will add modern style to your space. The frameless edges create a larger surface area, which proves more room to hang items. Flexible mounting allows you to set up your fabric bulletin board either horizontally or vertically. Easily customize the board orientation to fit your space and needs. Gray fabric board measures 3' x 2'. For best results use Quartet Accessories, sold separately.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Attractive and solid, no pins dropping.\\n\\nReview: I really like this bulletin board. It's really heavy duty. Solid and sturdy, but not too heavy. It's more attractive than cork board, so you can really use it in any room of the house, and the gray color should match most decor. In my opinion you could even use it in a professional office. Also think either men or women could use this with office/home decor.\\n\\nIt comes with the mounting hardware and can be hung either vertically or horizontally, which is nice. It's a nice size, 3x2, so not too big, not too small. The backing is nice and thick enough so that the pins stick and stay and stay put. I like that it's frameless, the plastic or wooden frames always look cheap to me and usually come in bizarre colors that don't match anything.\\n\\nI think pricewise, it's a little spendy, hence the 4 stars, but like I said, it is solid and attractive. Price is up to you.\\n\\nAll in all, it's a nice product and would recommend to anyone willing to pay the price for it.\",\n \"Product: The Tacwise Z3-140 Heavy Duty Hand Tacker/Staple Gun is a high quality tacker firing 140 (T50 type) flat wire staples. It uses staples between 1/4 and 9/16 inches long. This hand tacker is easy and effortless to use due to the Tacwise linear power curve technology. Loaded with features, the Tacwise Z3-140 includes a belt hook and personalization window and is perfect for tradesman/DIY wanting a professional tacker. It is ideal for applications such as securing plastic sheeting, breather membrane or Tyvek, as well as upholstery and much more. Tacwise is a new brand of rugged tools and accessories for the professional tradesman. The professional, Tacwise brand has evolved from 40 years of power tool know-how to best reflect the powerful and durable nature of the new products -which are high quality, feature packed and hard wearing with a robust and practical design.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Heavy duty and versatile\\n\\nReview: This is a really good staple gun. It came with staples, belt hook, and personalized window in which you can put your name on it so your work buddies don't steal it.\\n\\nIt takes many sizes of staple, so it's very versatile.\\n\\nIt's seriously heavy duty. I imagine it can handle some wear and tear and maybe even a drop or two on the floor (though I did not try the latter and don't recommend dropping it to find out). After I got this, I realized how truly cheap and flimsy my old one is.\\n\\nI've not had it jam when I've used it, and that is always good. It was easy to load, it has a locking mechanism too so you don't accidentally shoot your eye out.\\n\\nI imagine being able to use this for many project for years to come.\",\n \"Product: TEKwriterUSA 100 count high quality Gelwriter pens are packaged in a patented rotating stand to keep your pens organized and easily accessible and are perfect for scrapbooking, journaling, drawing, or anything else you can create with tip sizes ranging from 0.7mm to 1.0mm and the check safe ink is fade and water resistant. All pens feature a durable pocket clip along with a latex free comfort grip for precision pen control. High quality gel pens at a great value.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Love the pen, stand, not so much\\n\\nReview: I love the pens and all the different colors they come in. They have the pocket clip, if you need to carry one around in your pocket for some reason. And they have the latex free comfort grip, which I like. The only thing about the pens, if you're using them for scrapbooking, journaling, drawing, or anything artsy, they do smear until dry, so don't touch right away.\\n\\nSome pen stands come all put together with the pens in place, this one does not, so you have to put the pens in place, I did not like having to do that. That's just personal preference. My fingers don't like doing tiny things, like sticking pens in small holes that you can't see.\\n\\nThe stand is not ideal, it spins, which is nice, but it is wobbly.\\n\\nTo be honest, I hate spending that much on pens, but I know that is just how much gel pens cost, and for 100, even with the wobbly stand, I think it's worth the price.\",\n \"Product: This Suncast 4ft. Locker is a great way to organize your room and sports equipment. Locker includes two shelves and coat hooks to optimize storage potential. Multiple sticker combinations allow you to customize your locker to fit your style.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: Cute locker, assembly sucked.\\n\\nReview: This plastic 4 foot lockers is really pretty cute. I didn't enjoy putting it together. At first, every time I put a piece on, another would come undone. This happened many times and was really frustrating until I really started pounding on them. I thought I would break it, but I didn't. I even used a hammer a couple times.\\n\\nHowever difficult it was to get the pieces together, they were labeled clearly, so it would be hard to screw up the assembly. I did get a little confused about the pegs, and if they went on the outside or inside of the locker, but that could have been operator error.\\n\\nOnce I got the locker together, I liked it. I didn't put any of the stickers on it, but they would be cute for a younger child. It has two shelves and a hanger, so you can store a good amount of stuff in it if needed, sports equipment, books, cds, dvds, games...it can be used for anything really.\\n\\nThat said, I'm not sure this is worth the $86 price tag. It's heavy plastic, but it's still plastic, sucky assembly required...\",\n \"Product: The ultimate sitting to standing desk monitor and keyboard holder raises monitor from sitting height to standing height. Use to change your working position during the day to be able to stand or sit on a whim. Platform has an adjustable lift and lock feature and clamps securely to the desktop. No knobs or levers to adjust, set once and entire platform moves together, for easy adjustment. Monitor support provides tilt adjustment, individual height-adjustment and locks into place. Entire assembly swivels out of the way, when needed, to provide access to desk surface.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Mostly a great product, except for that jiggling...\\n\\nReview: I wanted something to get me off my butt when I was writing or working at home. This is a pretty good product. It comes mostly assembled and comes with hex keys to put the rest together. It's heavy duty, a really solid product. It clamps tightly onto your desk, or table. I use it on my kitchen counter. It adjusts easily from sitting to standing height. You can also adjust the monitor and keyboard separately to get them both right where you want them. The set up also allows you to tilt/turn your monitor as needed.\\n\\nAesthetically, it has a nice sleek look that would fit well in an office setting, but it doesn't look to bad in my kitchen either. If you need to use the surface you've attached it to, the whole thing swivels out of the way. It has an arm that will conceal cords so it doesn't look messy and chaotic. And the surface of the keyboard platform allows you to use a mouse without an added mouse pad.\\n\\nThere is some jiggle when using the keyboard, which is why I took off one star. And for the price, I'd want this product to be defect free.\",\n \"Product: 6 ft. LED SHOPLIGHT-SINGLE MODE- 6000LM-White Finish Aluminum/ Plastic Construction Aluminum housing Finished in White 6000 Lumen Output 69.76\\\" LONG, 6\\\" WIDE, 2.75 DEEP 192 High Out Put LEDS, 96 LED Per Row With Clear Plastic Tube Protector Natural White Light 5000K 50 Watt CRI >80 50,000 Hour LED Life 5.25' UL Certified Wire 4-PC 13\\\" Hanging Chain and Hardware, 8 x \\\"S\\\" Hooks Included 5 ft. 3 prong 120V with grounded plug $6.02 Estimated Energy Cost per year (Based on $0.11 kilowatt hour and 3 hour average daily use Quiet Operation (no humming) Contains no Mercury On/Off pull chain switch Energy star Used in both commercial and Residential Applications.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: High quality, bright light\\n\\nReview: I'm going to make this quick because this is my third try in reviewing this, as I keep accidentally closing it. >:(\\n\\nSo, this is a great light for a workshop or garage. It is very lightweight, though 6 feet long. Make sure if you purchase, you have enough space to hang this.\\n\\nThe unit comes fully assembled, with 5 foot cord - added bonus. The housing looks and is a high quality, made of aluminum. It comes with 13\\\" hanging chain, installation hardware, and 8 \\\"S\\\" hooks. It's easy to install with the help of a ladder and maybe an extra set of hands.\\n\\nThe LED light is nice and bright. Really helpful when work on projects.\\n\\nAt roughly $45, the price is right. I can see spending much more on an item like this.\\n\\nI highly recommend this product.\",\n \"Product: Radio Flyer has been creating the best wagons since 1917. Now you can create a wagon that is perfect for your family. Choose the wagon body that fits your lifestyle. Are you into classic styling or modern comfort? Choose classic tires for a smooth ride on even surfaces or all-terrain rubber air tires for the ultimate smooth ride on sidewalks, plus they can travel over rough terrain. Both are designed for a quiet ride and long lasting durability. Add Storage, Comfort, and Sun Protection. Choose from 3 fabrics. Ages 1+.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: Comfort, Style, Storage, Sun Protection. What more can you ask for in a wagon?\\n\\nReview: When I got this, I wasn't expecting it to be as heavy duty and sturdy as it is. I should have known though, since it is a Radio Flyer. And of course, there's the price tag.\\n\\nThis is a \\\"build your own\\\" wagon and there is a variety of styles to choose from. The one I have is the Steel & Wood Whirl Fashion design with canopy, storage and seat pads. It's incredibly cute and durable. It has all terrain tires that ride well on both sidewalks and rougher terrain like rocks and dirt. The canopy is great for keeping little ones or furry friends out of the sun. It can be placed and removed very quickly. There is a seat pad to keep kids comfortable. There are two cup holders in the wagon for the kiddos. The large storage bag is great for baby items, lunches, play toys...whatever. There is a smaller bag for Mom and Dad's water bottles and personal items.\\n\\nThe wagon itself resembles the classic Radio Flyer, steel frame, wooden slats - the wagon we've all grown to know and love.\\n\\nAssembly wasn't the easiest thing in the world, but well worth the trouble for this truly awesome wagon. Any child would be lucky to have one of these \\\"Build-A-Wagons\\\" from Radio Flyer.\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":48,"string":"48"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_3"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":898,"string":"898"}}},{"rowIdx":899,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"A1U7LS93I03MFW"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of \"4.0\" for a product with description \"WIDESCREEN VHS TAPE.\". The summary of the review text is \"Much better than its reputation\"."},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"I haven't seen the DVD version yet but I enjoyed the theater release very much (saw it twice).\nI thought it was one of Arnold's best movies, in fact. I couldn't understand why it got such bad reviews.\nMaybe they missed the point of all the self-mocking sarcasm? Arnold got a chance to relax and make some serious fun of himself and his image.\nIt's a great fantasy, where a kid is sucked into the movie screen, into the world of his favorite action hero movie star. And then he tries to convince the hero that the hero's world is just a fiction in the movies.\nLike, the hero gets someone's phone number and the kid points out, so if this is all real, then how come everybody's phone number starts with \"555\"?\nAnd they're in a video store and they see a poster for a movie that starred Arnold in real life. Only in the hero's world, it starred Sylvester Stallone, and the hero says how much he loved Stallone's performance.\nI really think the naysayers just missed the whole point. It really stood up to my 2nd viewing and I will check out the DVD version soon."},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"I haven't seen the DVD version yet but I enjoyed the theater release very much (saw it twice).\nI thought it was one of Arnold's best movies, in fact. I couldn't understand why it got such bad reviews.\nMaybe they missed the point of all the self-mocking sarcasm? Arnold got a chance to relax and make some serious fun of himself and his image.\nIt's a great fantasy, where a kid is sucked into the movie screen, into the world of his favorite action hero movie star. And then he tries to convince the hero that the hero's world is just a fiction in the movies.\nLike, the hero gets someone's phone number and the kid points out, so if this is all real, then how come everybody's phone number starts with \"555\"?\nAnd they're in a video store and they see a poster for a movie that starred Arnold in real life. Only in the hero's world, it starred Sylvester Stallone, and the hero says how much he loved Stallone's performance.\nI really think the naysayers just missed the whole point. It really stood up to my 2nd viewing and I will check out the DVD version soon."},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Product: 3/4 Size Nylon String Guitar\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: good for a small kids' classical guitar\n\nReview: we just picked one up today (maybe I'll update this review after some time). a local brick & mortar real Guitar Center matched Amazon's price.\n\nwe tried a few other 3/4 size classical guitars for the kid, but this was by far the best one in my opinion, as far as the tone, the feel, the apparent quality so far, and playability. I think we tried a Fender \"Starcaster\", a \"Giamatti\"? maybe a Hohner? over a few days in a few shops. we even tried a Yamaha CGS102, which surprisingly was way inferior to this CGS103A even though it cost more (this one's discounted; the 102 was full price).\n\nThis one, the 103, just stood way out, compared to the other 3/4 size classical guitars. This one actually feels and sounds like a real guitar (although small), not just a cheap little toy.","Product: TASCAM has been revolutionizing Portastudio since they invented them. For decades, TASCAM's Portastudio have remained the ideal scratch pads and easy-to-use home recording devices. Utilized by seminal artists and home for legendary albums throughout the years, TASCAM has stayed true to manufacturing rugged, compact, feature-rich song-writing and demo tools. TASCAM is introducing the DP-008EX 8-channel Pocketstudio with built-in input and master effects. Each channel is conveniently loaded with volume, pan, reverb-send knobs, auto-punch in/out, 2 XLR Mic inputs with +48V phantom power and built-in high-quality stereo condenser mics making the DP-008EX an ideal take-anywhere solid-state recorder.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: amazing functionality in such a small package\n\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a unit I received for free through the Vine program.\n\nWow, what a lot of functionality squeezed into such a small low-cost device!!\n\nI have a Boss BR1180 8-track hard disk recorder that I got back in the early 2000's; it cost roughly 5 times as much as this DP-008EX does now, and the Boss didn't do a whole lot more than this unit does.....\n\nMainly all the Boss BR1180 has over this DP-008EX is that the BR1180 can read and write audio CD's and CD-R's (with this DP-008EX you have to transfer your audio files back and forth to your computer and read/write CD's there if you still need them these days...); also the Boss is bigger so you have more room for your fingers to spread out when performing the physical actions of mixdown, so there are more knobs and a bit more screen real estate to see what's going on etc. Also the Boss had 3-band EQ on each channel, more than this unit does......\n\nNow I've only barely begun to experiment with this DP-008EX, doing a few test projects, after having studied the manual. I also bought an external power supply for it, and another memory card for it.\n\nI'll come back and revise this review after I've had some more experience working with this unit, since there are things that come out in actual use that aren't just written down in the manual... and there are so so many functions, and a lot of them are \"overloaded\" using the same knobs/keys in different \"modes\", so it's going to take me some time to get comfortable with it..... I worked with the Boss BR1180 for a few years.","Product: DII's 12x15\" reusable shopping totes come in a set of four. These versatile totes can be used for many tasks. Save the environment and go green, no more wasting shopping bags, DII's shopping totes are a great alternative to the paper or plastic options you get at the store. These bags are perfect for groceries, shopping, school, beaches, picnics, farmers markets and so much more. These reusable bags are great to keep in the trunk of your car for convenience. These bags work wonders as gift bags too , your friends & family will thank you for the double gift! DIIs fashion forward shopping totes are perfect for every occasion & are easy to care for.To view more of our products visit amazon.com/dii.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: OK plastic bags; woven handles stitched on.\n\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a package of bags that I received for free through the Vine program.\n\nLiving in California we have to carry lots of reusable shopping bags in our car trunks. These are OK, not the best. I have a bunch of canvas bags which I usually use, and I also have some plastic ones too, which these ones are. I prefer the canvas bags in general.\n\nThese are recycled which I guess is good. Being plastic they are kind of stiff and don't like to fold up, unlike canvas bags. They are decent size, somewhere in the midrange compared to other bags I have; not the smallest, not the biggest either.\n\nThe handles are woven and are attached by stitches. Not sure how sturdy they will be in the long run for repeated heavy loads; time will tell. I have had a couple of handles break on some canvas bags so maybe these will hold up better. Also the seams are stitched too, all along the edges of these bags; again we'll see if the stitching holds or not, over time and repeated usage.","Product: Large enough for a 9 pizza or four slices of bread, the BLACK+DECKER 4-Slice Stainless Steel Toaster Oven with Broiler Pan complements any kitchen countertop. This compact, versatile toaster oven bakes, broils, toasts, and keeps food warm, at up to 450F. It comes with a baking and broiler pan that fits perfectly into the small toaster oven interior. Plus, our exclusive EvenToast Technology optimizes heat distribution to toast bread evenly. When its time to eat, trust the #1 brand in toaster ovens*BLACK+DECKER. Large viewing window keep an eye on food during cooking. The durable glass window gives you a clear view of food throughout the cooking process. Bake/broiler pan dont worry about finding pans to fit in the oven. The included baking/broiling pan fits perfectly, making it easy to insert and remove food. Toasting rack also included.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: controls are not great.\n\nReview: We're a little disappointed with this toaster oven, unfortunately.\n\nWe really only ever toast or broil, so we really only need the 2 versions of that one functionality. Our previous toaster ovens did just fine, for solely toasting.\n\nThe biggest problem with this model, if you're only toasting, is that you have to set the top two the knobs just right, then you have to twist the bottom knob forwards and then backwards again, to somewhere vaguely near the end of its reach. Twist it back too far and it just shuts off. Twist it not enough and you get burnt toast.\n\nWith our previous toaster oven (also a Black & Decker) we could just set the settings for toasting, and the darkness of the toasted bread, and leave them alone, and then when we wanted to use it, we would just push one button for the repeatable \"toast\" function.\n\nThis model requires us to twist the bottom knob forwards and back each time, and doesn't guarantee that we'll reach the same darkness setting as the last time we used it. Maybe this is OK for grownup adults, but we also have kids who had learned to just push that \"toast\" button on the previous Black & Decker model, and now they can't be trusted to use this one without our supervision (maybe you'll say that kids shouldn't be allowed to use a toaster anyway).\n\nAlso we do need a small compact unit and this one does have a small footprint but it is narrower (from right to left) than our previous one, yet deeper (from front to back). So it's harder to fit 2 sandwiches side by side in this one, compared to the old one, and we never use the front-to-back depth for anything.","Product: Add a touch of elegance with this 16-piece high-fire porcelain dinnerware set by Francois et Mimi. Product is lighter than most stoneware dinnerware sets.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: decent white square dinnerware\n\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a set I received for free, through the Vine program.\n\nWell my first impression was that this set is sturdy and/or well packaged/cushioned, because my wife dropped the very heavy box when it was delivered, and broke open the package, BUT still nothing broke!\n\nShe was dismayed at the square shape, of the large dishes and smaller plates and bowls, but I like them. I think it's weird and cool, \"hip to be square\".\n\nThe stark all white color is different than any other dishes etc. we have in the house, but I guess it is a nice effect. we don't care about matching colors/patterns or anything like that but you might....\n\nThe mugs are bigger than your usual coffee mug.","Product: Vac, dust and reach- versatility to clean where your upright vacuum can't. 360 Degree Reach Pro speeds through messes from floor to ceiling with 4 multipurpose tools that easily switch this vacuum from a stick to a handheld and back again. Use the 6\" wide powered tool to easily convert the 360 to a hand vacuum. It's powerful brush roll is perfect for stairs and upholstery inside as well as a handy car vacuum. Snap back on the extension wand to convert to a stick vacuum and reach up to 12 feet high and low. Use the crevice tool to tackle the toughest cleaning spots and hard to reach cracks. For ceiling fan blades, use the Vac+Dust Ceiling Fan Tool that comes complete with a Swipes Washable Microfiber Pad. For floorwork, attach the Vac+Dust Hard Floor Tool with Swipes Washable Microfiber Pad. It's the combination of a powerful vacuum and the Swipes Microfiber pad that allows you to pick up the dust and debris rather than just pushing it around on the floor. When done simply flip a switch to empty the dirt cup on the bottom and put everything back in the storage bag. The 360 Degree Reach is everything you need for in between cleaning with your upright vacuum and comes with a 3 year warranty.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: OK hybrid/compromise between a portable little Dirt Devil and a standup unit\n\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a unit I received for free through the Vine program.\n\nThis is a kind of compromise/hybrid. It is a little Dirt Devil vacuum unit, with a correspondingly very small container to hold dirt that has to be emptied very often. On the other hand it has some longer attachments, especially the long tube shown in the main image, for using as a standup sort of vacuum, unlike most Dirt Devils where you have to bend over to vacuum the floor with them.\n\nMost of the attachments seem to be weird and useless, in my initial experience with this vacuum. Why do they include a fuzzy Swiffer duster attachment, with a vacuum cleaner? (shown in the main image)\n\nThe point of the vacuum is to just suck up all the dust, right? but the fuzzy attachments are for rubbing and then catching and holding the dust in the fuzz + Swiffer, right? seems like a contradiction.\n\nSo far I've been using this just with the long tube but no other attachments on the tip. So I can vacuum the hardwood floors while standing up, without having to bend down. That's the main use I need this for.\n\nIt has some more attachments apparently for upholstery, ceiling fans etc. in addition to the fuzzy Swiffer one. Haven't used those, probably never will. It also has a little rotating brush attachment for carpets. I never got that kind of rotating brush action to work very well with carpets, with any of our previous larger vacuum cleaners, so I don't hold out much hope for this one being useful either.\n\nIt comes with a case, but the case doesn't quite hold everything, which is weird. Well it holds everything except the long tube, but the long tube is the most important crucial attachment, for my use anyway.","Product: The Clever Made Snap Basket is a smart, space-saving solution to simplify all of your shopping trips and day-to-day activities for an on-the-go lifestyle. It was designed to help the environment as plastic bags from the grocery store are not eco friendly. These baskets can be used for so much more than grocery shopping too! Both men and women use them for produce at the farmers market, travelling in your car or SUV for weekend road trips, bringing lunch to work, loading up food for a summer BBQ, and in so many other ways. You can even load it full of dirty clothes and take it to the laundromat. Perfect for active moms bringing snacks for sporting events or for college students who take advantage of it being foldable for their small dorm room, apartment or condo. Durable handles can hold heavy loads up to 25 pounds of groceries, books, yoga gear, towels or linens. There are 2 of our patented SnapHinge in each utility tote and you'll love the sound they make when they pop-up and fold down. The checkers and baggers at the grocery store are going to love them too as they don't have to struggle to keep them standing up when you check out. If you're in need of a bag that's portable and can fold flat for compact storage then look no further!\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: not bad as a portable collapsible basket\n\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a basket I received for free through the Vine program.\n\nWell it's OK, not bad as a portable collapsible basket. But it's kind of overkill for just a shopping bag, very expensive and clunky compared to more typical reusable cloth shopping bags.\n\nAlso for shopping bags, you want more smaller ones, so they are easier to carry; you don't want one big huge thing that's going to break your back when you go to pick it up! also you want to separate, cold/frozen things in one bag, heavy bottles in another, perishable or potentially messy things in another, etc. so having one huge bag/basket isn't a good idea, for grocery shopping in general.\n\nSo you might find it useful for other things, if you want to tote a collapsible basket in the trunk of your car and whip it out and set it up for some purpose, like going to the beach etc. But I would not recommend it if you just need another reusable shopping bag, if you live in a state like I do, where they are required.","Product: At OXO, we know the joys of cooking and baking - whether it's trying a new recipe for yourself, feeding family and friends, or bringing a dish to a potluck to share, it's a labor of love. But we also know what labor we don't love: Dishes. Between prepping, cooking, serving and storing, one meal can fill up a sink in a flash. The OXO Good Grips Glass Bakeware line saves time and reduces the number of dishes to clean, all while providing superior performance. This line of Bakeware is made of borosilicate glass, a durable type of glass that can withstand extreme temperature changes without breaking or shattering. This means the dishes can go from the directly from the freezer or refrigerator to the oven without breaking. Glass is naturally BPA free, and provides an elegant look you can bring right to the table. Please not this product is not intended for use under a broiler.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Decent glass pan, can go from freezer to oven, comes with a lid\n\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a pan I received for free through the Vine program.\n\nAs a regular baking pan it is reasonable, has large \"lips\" on either end so it is easy to grab with heavy oven mitts.\n\nIt comes with a plastic lid, which is weird but nice, if you want to stick this big pan in your refrigerator or freezer...\n\nThe main attraction is the freezer-to-oven thing which I have never had any use for in the past. I gave it one try, with some chicken I marinated in the pan, left in the refrigerator so it was cold, and then put it straight in the oven (instructions say not to heat the oven too much, if the pan is cold; we have a convection oven so we use lower cooking temperatures anyway).\n\nSo if you do prepare cold things and then want to transfer them straight into the oven without changing containers, this is a good choice (maybe the only one? never heard of such a thing before but I don't cook all that much to begin with).","Product: The Creative Earphones EP-630 is designed with ergonomic soft silicon in-ear earbuds for excellent noise isolation and offers high-quality audio reproduction with extraordinary bass ideal for digital music playback. Primary InformationSpeaker System Type : Earphones Sensivity: 106dB; Cord Length: 1.2m (Oxygen-Free Copper Cable); Input Plug: 3.5mm stereo gold-plated miniplug UNSPSC CodeUNSPSC Code : 52161514 Product IDUPC: 054651138544Manufacturer Part: 51MZ0085AA007\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Uncomfortable, and now Broken\n\nReview: I'm rather unhappy with these. They were uncomfortable from the start. I've tried them for 2 months now.\n(maybe I wouldn't be comfortable with any in-ear headphones like these, I don't know)\n\nBut now they're broken; the right channel has suddenly stopped working.\n(other headphones, plugged into the same player's headphone jack, are working fine). Jiggling the cord etc. doesn't help.\n\nAt least they were cheap. I'll go back to my collection of other kinds of headphones that I DON'T have to shove into the ear canal... as a musician and recording engineer, I've accumulated a great collection over the years; I've got headphones that go around-the-ear, both enclosed and open air, on-the-ear, clip-on-the-ear, foldup or not, portable or not, around-the-neck, wired, wireless ... and this is the first pair that has been positively unpleasant to use.\n\n(well I don't like regular \"earbuds\" either, the kind that come with mp3 players or airplane flights, that just sit in your ear but don't go into the ear canal; these in-ear ones did sound better than those, but were most uncomfortable)","Product: EarSet 3i Black (1 pce )\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: good sound IF you can keep them positioned close enough, which is difficult to maintain\n\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a pair I received for free through the Vine program.\n\nI WANT to love these earphones. They are good quality, good audio drivers, nice to have some metal instead of all plastic, comfortable dangling off the loops around the back of your ear so gravity isn't an issue, and I hate in-ear earplug type earbuds.\n\nBUT the sound quality really depends critically on you getting them positioned just right, close enough to your ear canals, and making them stay there. Otherwise if they slip just a millimeter or two away, the sound quality really suffers, severe attenuation especially in low frequencies.\n\nIf you are sitting still, and/or can keep repositioning them by squeezing and poking to make sure they are up close enough, they do have good sound (and there are various degrees of freedom where the angles can twist and move in/out, up/down to position them better). But if you move around, they slip away.\n\nSo unfortunately I'd have to say these are almost the \"worst of 2 possible worlds\" -- they're not bigger drivers/earphones that cover or surround your ears, so the sound quality suffers from the positioning problem, BUT they're also not in-ear canal plugs either, so again the sound quality suffers from the positioning problem.\n\nSad because they are expensive and well engineered for what they are, if they didn't suffer from this positioning/movement problem so severely.\n\nI have a lot of different pairs of headphones, of all types, being a former musician and recording engineer, and unfortunately I'm afraid these go in the pile of ones that just aren't \"right\". good thing I got them for free -- if I were you, I would not pay for them, unless there's a BIG discount.","Product: Designed with a built-in stand, you are now able to type, surf the web, and view your Amazon Kindle Fire tablet without removing the case. Ingrained with 3-etched grips for positioning the angle for your preference. With high-quality genuine leather and smooth interior coating, MiniSuit's Folio Executive Journal Cover is compacted into a protective case and versatile stand for your convenience.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: renders the touchscreen edges unuseable\n\nReview: First reaction after one day: wow, this really sucks, this is unuseable!\n\nThe whole point of this case (I thought) is to be able to USE the Kindle Fire, including the touchscreen controls, while it is in the case. Otherwise I'd just get a cheaper \"sleeve\" pouch, if I knew I had to remove the device from the case in order to use the touchscreen!!!\n\nPhysically the Fire fits precisely in the case, so it's not a question of it being for the wrong device, or me not inserting it properly or mis-aligning it or anything. The speakers are perfectly aligned with the cutouts in the case, and the on/off switch + USB + headphone jacks are perfectly aligned with the cutout at the other end. And it's nice leather etc. etc.\n\nBut the case has flaps all around, which protrude and cover up swaths, not just the 4 edges, of the screen, enough that you can't get to critical areas of the touchscreen!!!!\n\nSo you can't hit the quick settings icon, to adjust the volume, toggle Wi-Fi, or do a sync, without taking the Fire out of the case first! And you can't even hit the bottom edge of the screen, to bring up the menu for Back/Home etc. in the middle of a game or reading!!!!\n\nMaybe people are just using their Fires to watch videos without needing to touch the controls around the edges of the screen? I guess this case might be OK for that, if you don't mind having some edges cut off.\n\nOtherwise I'll be looking into returning this case for a refund.\n\nI should have paid more attention to the negative reviews, and less attention to the positive reviews, before ordering. But it's so hard to tell -- often the negative reviews of something are just nitpicking. Not in this case though! (pun intended)\n--------\nUpdate after a few days: Still dissatisfied, have initiated a return for a refund. BUT someone did show me that when you can't get to the touchscreen edge controls, actually you can rotate the device to find a different orientation where the control you need might be more accessible.\n\nSo this case doesn't render the controls COMPLETELY unuseable, IF screen orientation is enabled and if you don't mind flipping the screen around just to touch the controls.\n\nBut of course sometimes in the middle of a game like Angry Birds which the kids play all the time, when it's paused and you need to hit the controls to exit, the screen orientation doesn't change so you can't get it to rotate. And in that case you have no choice, but to either yank the device out of the case just to access the controls and then put it back in the case, or peel back the case's leather flap, far enough to allow access to the control.\n-----------------\nFinal update, after getting my refund processed:\n\nwell I got a different case instead, and I am MUCH much happier with that one.\n\nSo don't buy this one! instead, I suggest you try the \"Case Crown Ace Flip Case\" (ASIN: B005VR5034, <http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005VR5034)\n/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00>","Product: 64GB DataStick Sport USB 2.0 - USB 2.0 Flash Drive - Waterproof up to 1.5M\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: OK. Waterproof. Just USB 2.0. Cap is not attached.\n\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a drive I received for free through the Vine program.\n\nWell it's a flash drive, 32 GB. Only USB 2.0, not 3.0 but I don't have any hosts capable of 3.0 yet so that's OK with me.\n\nAnd it's waterproof, or so they say. I did try dunking and washing it in some water, then waiting a couple of hours for it to dry, and it still worked OK.\n\nOne big problem: the cap is not attached in any way (I mean, when you uncap the drive to plug it in), so you can take it off and just lose it, no way to keep hold of the cap while you are using the drive. That really sucks and I would probably not buy one, because of that.\n\nWithout the cap, covering the part that plugs in, it would not be waterproof.","Product: Kingston Data Traveler G4 16 GB USB flash drive features USB 3.0 connectivity for quick and easy transfers of music, video and more. Its practical design and fashionable colors make it ideal for everyday use at work, home, school or wherever you need to take your data! It's backward compatible with existing USB 2.0 ports, allowing 2.0 users to migrate to 3.0 in The future without replacing their drive. It's backed by a 5-year , FREE technical support and legendary Kingston reliability.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: prefer drives with retractable or foldaway connectors\n\nReview: I bought this 64GB drive because it was on a special Amazon \"Today's Deal\" for $25 (guess I didn't get much of a deal as it seemed at the time, because now it's still only $29 a couple of weeks later).\n\nIt's a regular USB flash drive, they're all pretty similar, for a given capacity (I only have USB 2.0 not 3.0 though, so I can't say anything about its speed if I did have a PC that supported 3.0, as some other reviewers have complained about).\n\nBut one thing I DON'T like about this drive is the removable cap covering the connector. It gets stuck, it's hard to remove, you have to squeeze it just so or it won't come off. And then you have to remember to stick it (the cap) on the other end of the drive (covering the annoying protruding purple loop) while you use it, so you don't lose it.\n\nI much prefer other USB drives I have which either have a retractable connector, or a foldaway (sideways) connector. So I probably won't be buying another one in this style from this mfgr again. (I do like to have multiple USB drives around for redundant quick backups).\n\nAnother thing I do not like about this drive is that it lacks any activity light/indicator. Nearly all my other USB drives have one and it comes in handy say when I'm swapping a few drives in and out and making sure that I've properly safely dismounted/ejected them, or making sure which one of them is still not done getting some files copied.","Product: Buffalos MediaStation Portable BRXL Blu-Ray Writer BRXL-PT6U2VB offers high capacity disc writing with fast Blu-ray read and write speeds in a small, portable package. It offers optimal burning and playback performance of Blu-ray discs, DVDs and CDs on laptops and netbooks and features BDXL support for writing to high capacity Blu-ray discs and M-DISC support for longer life recordings . Powered by USB, BRXL-PT6U2B integrates two USB cables, including one for data transfers and second power boost USB cable to supply extra power to the unit when necessary, increasing reliability during use. Included with MediaStation BRXL-PT6U2B is the CyberLink Media Suite which offers rich Blu-ray and DVD burning and playback tools. Additionally, support for DVD upscaling allows for standard definition DVDs to be viewed and re-recorded in new HD quality. Its slim design fits easily inside a laptop or netbook bag, for a perfect portable companion for any mobile computer.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: not useful for me\n\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a unit I received for free, through the Vine program.\n\nWell I'm not sure how useful this actually is. For me, not so much. For you, maybe, depending on your needs.\n\nAs an external hard drive it's pretty expensive for only 1 TB.\n\nBut it's intended as a wireless streaming media server. But you need a special app to be able to view the content streaming from it.\n\nThe app is only available from iTunes (for Apple devices) and the Google Play store (for Android devices). We have Kindle Fire tablets so we're limited to what we can get from the Amazon app store and this app is not available there. And we have a Wii console but I don't see any Wii app available from the Wii store for it and no native way to access its streaming content from the Wii.\n\n[I will update this review if I do figure out anything else. The manual, which you have to download as a PDF from buffaloamerica.com, says that \"DLNA\" devices can access content from it, but I have no idea what that means and the manual is pretty cryptic and unhelpful]\n\nI tried to access the IP address given in the setup guide (the guide only mentions using that address as a wifi server) via http & https but there's no admin web interface; I also tried smb/UNC from Windows e.g. \"Run\", then enter \"\\\\\" plus the IP address to see if it is serving a shared network 'drive' but but it apparently doesn't do SMB/CIFS service either.\n\nOh and for the wired USB interface it will do USB 3.0 if your host has that; my laptop only does USB 2.0 though which is much slower for transferring files to/from the Buffalo Ministation Air, but does work.\n\nFor me, if I have a media content file, I just want to copy it onto my device, either my laptop or Kindle Fire tablet, and view/listen to it locally. It seems to me like the only reason I'd ever want to 'stream' content would be if I didn't actually have a copy of the content file, so I'd have to stream it from some Internet site.\n\nThe Buffalo Ministation Air can also serve as a wireless hot spot, IF you connect it to an existing wireless network. Kind of makes no sense to me; why not just connect everything to the original wireless network in the first place?\n\n(IF you do have the app for accessing streamed content from it, then it does make sense to connect to it as a standalone wifi hotspot, since you don't need the rest of the Internet)\n\noh and you can recharge other devices from its USB port but again you can get a much cheaper portable charger than this!!!\n\nSo overall I'm thinking I made a mistake by getting one of these; at least for me it was free. For you, if you are into streaming content and you can install the app it needs on your devices, and you're going to take it on vacation and connect to it via wifi in the absence of any other Internet connection, then maybe it does make sense for you.","Product: TP-LINK's TL-WA854RE is designed to conveniently extend the coverage and improve the signal strength of an existing wireless network to eliminate dead zones. With 300Mbps wireless N speeds, Range Extender button, miniature size andwall mountingdesign, extending a wireless network has never been easier.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: did finally get connected after some complication\n\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a unit I received for free through the Vine program.\n\nWell I did get it configured. Of course my home router does not have a \"WPS button\" so the \"easy two touch setup\" is out of the question. (oh and the TPLink comes with a mini-CD, like 3 inches wide, that won't fit in a regular CDR/DVDR drive so is useless; also on the CD itself it says it is only for use with a wireless N network, which I don't have anyway, so it's doubly useless to me)\n\nBut flip over the paper quick installation guide to \"Method Two, Setup using your Web Browser\" and I did get it working, though it was a little more complicated for me than the instructions said.\n\nFollowing standard advice for security, our home router is configured to not advertise/broadcast its SSID, so you can only connect to it by manually entering its SSID, no wifi device can automatically \"discover\" it. So that's not covered in the TPLink installation guide, connecting to a wifi network manually. But there IS a checkbox at the bottom of the config screen, to enter the SSID etc. manually. Unfortunately it doesn't come up until the TPLink does its thing of scanning for a couple of minutes, to list all the SSID's that ARE being broadcast in the neighborhood (even if you don't want to use any of them and just want to enter one manually, you don't get that manual connect checkbox rendered at the bottom of the page, until it finishes its slow scan first)\n\nIt's weird though, when configuring manually it asks for the MAC address in addition to the SSID, which I've never heard of in manually configuring any wifi device to use our home router (computers, WII console, 2 Android phones, 2 Kindle e-ink readers, 2 Kindle Fires and a Kindle Fire HD tablets, none of them needed to know the router's MAC address like this TPLink does; they all only needed the SSID, the security method, and the password).\n\nbut eventually I did find the router's MAC address on the router's admin web page under an advanced status page. To do this I had to disconnect my computer from the TPLink's own wifi network, and reconnect to the home router's, bring up its admin site in my web browser, copy the LAN MAC address (not the IP MAC address, that's only facing outwards and here we need the one facing inwards). Then disconnect from our home network router, reconnect back to the TPLink's own wifi network again, and bring up the TPLink's own admin page in the web browser again, wait for it to scan all the wifi networks in the neighborhood that I don't care about, until it finally renders the checkbox I need for manually configuring, and finally get to the page where I can paste in the MAC address along with the SSID...\n\noh but that didn't work at first because MAC addresses are formatted using \":\" colon separators, but this TPLink weirdness needed the colons replaced by dashes \"-\" for some bizarre reason (what planet was its software written on? not Earth apparently). OK after that it DID work.\n\nthen it takes 2 or 3 minutes to finish configuring, and everything goes dead in the browser on the TPLink's admin page (2 different frames), and the instructions say to click the \"Export Settings\" button but there IS no button because it all went dead when it finished configuring or something...\n\nbut using the browser \"back\" button twice in both panels/frames of the TPLink's admin page did work. but then the Export button, although visible and enabled, did absolutely nothing, oh well.\n\nAnd finally, I tried a bit of web browsing using the TPLink's wifi network instead of our home router's one (gave it a slightly different SSID in the configuration). It did get to yahoo mail, for instance. But the message text panel timed out for some reason so only the message header list was there. So the TPLink's connection is buggy or flaky, not good like the main home router's is.\n\nAs other reviewers have pointed out, it's only halfduplex, not fullduplex, so it is only half as fast (can only transmit or receive a packet at any one time, not both) as the main router it is extending. I guess this is especially a problem on modern web sites where there's tons of crap running in javascript in the browser, all these widgets making independent calls out to server side connections and getting independent responses so the traffic is going back and forth, that's where you really want fullduplex, not halfduplex like this TPLink.\n\nwill have to experiment some more and hope the flakiness was just temporary, and hope maybe the halfduplex won't be so bad overall. and this initial slowness/flakiness/timeout was with the TPLink plugged in to a wall outlet in the same room as the home router, so it's only going to get worse once I relocate it to another room, which is the whole point of this thing in the first place....\n\noh also there's no option on the TPLink's admin web site to turn off its advertising/broadcasting its SSID like I do for our main router. So there's no way I'm going to leave this thing running all the time, broadcasting its SSID name like our neighbors' networks do, for someone to try some driveby wardialing hacking...","Product: RP-HGS10 headphones have an open-ear design that lets you hear your surroundings while listening to music. They don't cover your ears or totally block out ambient sound, so they are ideal for a wide variety of activities -- at work, at home or outdoors.\n\nRating: 1.0\n\nSummary: not good, not audible, do not buy\n\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a pair I received for free through the Vine program.\n\nhmm. is it just me or do these not work? a few other reviewers seem satisfied but I don't see how.\n\nWhen I position them as they are apparently intended to be worn, with the transducers on the cheekbones just in front of the ear canals, the sound is so so tiny and faint, it's not useful at all, even with the volume cranked way up on the player.\n\nIf I move them back slightly so the transducers sit over the ear canals, now I can actually hear stuff. but it's really uncomfortable because they're squishing my ears.\n\nand so, why bother with these, having to wear them incorrectly, when I already have an excellent pair of clipon Koss earphones that rest nicely outside the ear canal, have clipons to keep them firmly in place, have great bass response and good treble and midrange response, etc.\n\nin other words don't waste your money on these open-ear bone conduction headphones because it's apparently just a gimmick and does not work (unless you have unusually weird ears or something, don't know how these work for anyone).\n\nI strongly suggest you get the Koss clip-ons instead.(Koss KSC75, or PortaPro, various models, interchangeable, common shared replacement pads, depends if you like the 2 separate clips for each ear, or like one metal band that goes over the head). in fact I had both a pair of the KSC75 clipons, and a pair of the PortaPro Jr. with over-the head metal band, and I switched the transducers (the KSC75 ones had gone bad after years of happy use), took the ones from the PortaPro band, removed the band, and just used the KSC75 clips with them instead, and that worked fine.","Product: The Bushnell Legend L-Series Binoculars set the standard for performance in the field with maximum brightness, definition and clarity. With an ultra wide field of view, viewing excellence can be reached by any segment of outdoor enthusiasts. Magnification x Obj Lens: 10x42mm Close Focus: 8ft/1.9m PC-3 Phase Coating: Yes Lens Coating: Fully Multi-Coated Field of View: 340ft at 1000 yards Adapt to Tripod: Yes Eyecups: Twist-Up Locking Diopter: No Eye Relief: 18mm Focus System: Center Exit Pupil: 4.2 mm Prism Glass: BaK-4 Water/Fog Proof: Yes Prism System: Roof Weight: 23.5oz Size Class: Standard.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: great pair of (expensive) binoculars\n\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a pair I received for free, through the Vine program.\n\nThese are great binoculars. I have 3 other pairs of binoculars and these are far superior than all the others. They also cost a lot more too, so you have to make that trade-off.\n\nMy other binoculars are all just consumer fun grade, but these are more professional grade, and cost more as a result. But the difference comes out in a number of different ways. The view is great, crisp, sharp, focused, much better than all my other binoculars. Watching cars on a distant highway from up top on a mountain hike this morning, with these I could see features on the cars enough to tell what make they were, while they would be blurred with my other binoculars.\n\nThe various adjusting/focusing mechanisms are smooth, sturdy, easy to operate and feel like they will last a long time. They are protected by soft rubber, rather than hard plastic.\n\nI didn't to get to test the waterproofness except that a 10-year old kid drenching these in sweat all over the lenses etc. was no problem, easy to wipe off,\n\nI have tried other expensive pro binoculars before (like on dolphin-watching boat trips where the captain had a pair). These are lighter and thinner than those, but these seem to provide even better viewing optics, at least that's my impression now.","Product: Philips SHB9850NC/27 Wireless Noise Canceling Headphones, Black\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Decent noise cancelling headphones; funky touch controls\n\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a pair that I received for free, through the Vine program.\n\nBasically a decent pair of headphones, with noise cancelling as well as Bluetooth and phone calls. Also they fold up (the cups fold up inside the headband) which is a plus too, for saving space when you're not wearing them. They fit over the ears, enclosing the ears completely, which is the style I prefer in headphones and I guess is necessary for the noise cancelling too.\n\nThe controls are a bit weird in that the right earphone's surface is used as a touch-sensitive surface. To play/pause, you touch once. But to increase or decrease volume, you touch and slide up or down, and to skip a track forward or backwards, you touch and slide forwards or backwards. This is weird and not always so easy to do, with no tactile or other feedback, using your right finger when you are wearing the headphones. I keep accidentally pausing the music when I mean to increase or decrease the volume. I wish they had gone with more traditional controls with tactile feedback, like a hard button/toggle or two, for these functions (maybe like the \"5-way\" button on my e-Ink Kindle which has tactile buttons for up, down, left, right, and main press/click; funny though that Kindles are phasing out those nice tactile buttons now in favor of touchscreen virtual controls with no feedback).\n\nThe headphones can pair via NFC instead of Bluetooth, if your phone or player is so equipped; mine isn't so I can't test that. There is also a cord for the stereo audio, if you want to plug in to the physical headphone jack of a player instead of wireless Bluetooth, which is another plus since it's unnecessary to waste the batteries on the player and the headphones by doing Bluetooth if you're in a situation where you can easily just plug in the cable.\n\nBut other than that quirky touch surface control for play/pause/volume/tracks (and I'll probably get better at the touch control as time goes on), these are as good as some other headphones I've tested recently, as far as wearing comfort on the ears/head and sound quality, and that's not even counting the noise cancellation, which is a nice plus. I've had wireless Bluetooth headphones before, and I've had noise cancelling headphones too, but I've never had a pair that was both noise cancelling AND wireless Bluetooth.\n\nHaven't tested with phone calls yet but I'm assuming the quality will be just fine.\n\nalso the battery is recharged via standard USB mini connector, so you don't have to replace AAA batteries like with other noise cancelling headphones.","Product: The affordable, high-performance Lexar JumpDrive S37 allows you to quickly and securely transfer photos, videos, and files with speeds up to 130MB/s for 16-32GB and 150MB/s for 64-128GB. Quickly transfer a 3GB HD video clip in less than 1 minute, compared to the 4 minutes it takes using a standard USB 2.0 drive. The drive is loaded with advanced security software for data protection, and features a stylish swivel design with a retractable connector, which means theres no cap to lose. Its available in an assortment of colorful capacity options (16GB-128GB), and includes three-year limited warranty.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: decent fairly cheap 32GB USB3.0 drive\n\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a drive I received for free through the Vine program.\n\nThis is a decent fairly cheap drive, with 32GB, and USB 3.0, and the lite version of an encryption program. I finally have a new laptop that supports USB 3.0 so I can actually get the faster speed now (of course it is still backwards compatible with USB 2.0 and 1.1).\n\nI like getting multipe cheap 32GB drives, rather than a more expensive one with a lot more storage capacity. So when one goes bad as they do sometimes, I don't lose as much at once (I make redundant copies of important stuff on multiple drives).\n\nThe mechanism to swivel and let out the connector is unusual, OK. I have a motley of drives (even another Lexar different model, I think) with different extend/retract mechanisms. At least it doesn't have a cap that will get lost.\n\nThe bright color on the top is nice, as some other reviewers pointed out, easy to spot among piles of junk.\n\nThe \"lanyard\" is fairly useless, with a thing string and a strange teeny tiny metal ring on the end. I would prefer something with a big loop that I could grab or loop around something.\n\nI'd never used an encryption app on any drive before; this one does work OK, I suppose -- I can write files there and read them again after entering the password; don't know what would happen if someone did try cracking it. (and of course if you forget the password, probably have to say bye bye to those files, so this really should only be one of several redundant backup copies, for anything important).\n\nSo these flash drives are a \"commodity\" now; just buy the cheapest one that's on sale when you're shopping, and you'll probably do fine; this one is OK too.","Product: 3', white, Micro USB power & sync cable, makes it easy to sync & power your portable devices with Micro USB interfaces, charge, sync & power your portable device with your Mac or Windows PC , Micro USB to USB interface, limited lifetime warranty.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: decent though a bit long\n\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a cable I received for free through the Vine program.\n\nWell it is a functional USB micro cable. It is a bit on the long side for my usage, where I almost always have a device right next to a laptop computer; I have to keep it wrapped or folded up, which is not good for the long-term health of the cable itself. But a shorter cable I used to love broke, so this is a decent substitute, albeit wrapped up.\n\nIt is kind of thick too, which is probably a good thing, hopefully meaning it won't go bad too soon. Time will tell.\n\nIt is weird to have a white cable, when all my other cables are black (I have no Appled devices), but maybe you will like the color.\n\nSo if this cable is not too long for you and not too short for you, and if it is competitive in price with others you are considering, it is definitely a reasonable choice.","Product: With the 40 oz Chute vacuum, you can get a cold drink and a smooth pour, even in the backcountry. This vacuum-insulated bottle keeps liquids cold for 24 hours (even longer if you add ice), and hot for six. Plus, the cap snaps into the handle, so you can keep it out of the way as you pour. The sturdy, double-walled steel design keeps condensation from collecting on the sides of the bottle, and the powder-coat paint job adds some extra color. The narrow-mouthed opening also makes it easy to drink and pour without spilling, so you won't waste a single drop. After all, nobody wants to end a long, hard day with a lukewarm drink.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: decent medium-to-larg size metal water bottle\n\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a bottle I received for free through the VIne program.\n\nDecent water bottle, fairly large size. Have only had it for a couple of days so far;I am comparing it with the large Kleen Kanteen that I already have.\n\nI like bigger water bottles so I can carry a larger supply, even if it's heavier, and so the opening is wide enough to pour in real ice cubes.\n\nI dropped this bottle by accident, while opening the package! and it got a small dent but otherwise held up OK, so it seems to be fairly durable (my Kleen Kanteen has a whole bunch of dents in it). That's the benefit of a metal bottle over a glass bottle in that it will just dent rather than break; the benefits of metal over plastic (though heavier, unfortunately) are better insulation, maybe better taste, and some people just don't like plastic for various reasons (some plastics are less potentially harmful than others).\n\nThe opening is a little narrower than my Kleen Kanteen, so it's not quite as easy to funnel lots of ice cubes in quickly, but it is still wide enough to take regular sized ice cubes from a tray.\n\nThe lid is not quite as nice as the 2 lids I have for my Kleen Kanteen but it is kind of a compromise between the two kinds of lid design so maybe that's good. For my Kleen Kanteen I have one lid with a vertical handle that you have to screw on or off, to drink, so it's less convenient, not for one handed usage, etc. but is easier to clean. The other lid I have for the Kleen Kanteen has a horizontal handle and a nipple that pops up to open, and pops down to close; great for one-handed use.\n\nFor this CamelBak bottle, the one lid has a horizontal handle sticking straight out from the side, and a smaller screw-on opener. You twist the small opener a couple of times to open or close, not as much as usual lids, and it has a strap so it doesn't come free; you tuck the opened lid inside the handle, to hold it out of the way to drink. Not sure how durable this will be; we'll see. Looks easier to clean than the nipple lid for the Kleen Kanteen, but not as easy as the full-size screw-on lid for the Kleen Kanteen on the other hand.\n\nThe instructions say to clean the metal inside of this bottle with baking soda and water. For my Kleen Kanteen I think the instructions said to clean the inside with vinegar. Not sure of the difference, baking soda vs. vinegar, if there's really a reason why one recommends the one while the other recommends the other? funny since baking soda and vinegar are opposites, in that one is alkaline while the other is acidic.","Product: Yahoo Serious stars in this comedy about Albert Einstein, a youthful genuis who discovers not only the theory of relativity but the electric guitar, rock'n'roll, and how to put bubbles into beer.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: The Best Physics Movie of All Time\n\nReview: I found \"Young Einstein\" to be so, so so side-splittingly funny, I almost died laughing. More so, because my wife is an astrophysicist.\nI think that this movie should be required viewing for all physicists.\nThe scene with the cats in the pie is possibly the #1 or #2 absolute funniest scene in all of movie history, way up there with the best of the Marx Bros, Monty Python, early Woody Allen, Charlie Chaplin, etc.\nThe fantastic romance of young Einstein and young Marie Curie is one of the most memorable screen romances, up there with Bogie and Katherine Hepburn, Lara and Dr. Zhivago, Cleopatra and Antony, Stella and Stanley, Howard Stern and his wife, Linda Hamilton & the Terminator #2, even the one with Meg Ryan as Einstein's (Walter Matthau) daughter ...\nWho cares if none of it ever happened in the real world? I'm sure that the real Albert would have fallen off his chair from laughing so hard, if he'd been alive to see this take on his fame and discoveries.","Product: You get one black cover for your phone AND one holster belt clip that is custom made to fit the phone while inside the case. PHONE COVER: The cover is a black hard shell that snaps on the back of the phone. Your phone is fully functional in the case with cutouts to access all buttons and ports. The case is made of hard polycarbonate that has been treated with a rubberized spray powder coating for extra grip and durability. Case also has ribbed lines for additional grip. BELT CLIP HOLSTER: Holster is made to fit the phone with cover. Its also made of a hard plastic that has a rubberized texture coating. The interior is lined with micro-fiber material to ensure your lcd screen will remain scratch free. The holster can fit the phone BOTH ways: face-outward for viewing or face-inward to protect the lcd screen. Your phone is ultra secure within the holster. The belt clip on this holster will turn/lock in 13 different positions. The clip has a slim profile so it will not extend far from your waist and bump into things. Attach to your side and always have quick access to your phone. KICKSTAND: There is a hinge on the inside of the belt clip so you can prop open. This is great for standing the phone in horizontal position on your table or desk. Now you'll be able to prop your phone and watch movies hands-free....also handy for those who use their phone as an alarm clock.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: Nice at first, but loosened up, over time\n\nReview: I liked this case when I first got it. Interesting combination/compromise -- you get a small thin snapon cover for the back of the phone, and you slide that into a holster-type cover + belt clip for the front of the phone.\n\nOver a couple of months, though, the slide has gotten looser and looser. At first the phone with the back cover slid into the front cover with a firm snap, holding it firmly in place. But that has loosened so there is no longer a snap when it slides all the way in, and it seems about to slide out, unless I carefully rotate the whole thing so it is more vertical than horizontal; but that is more uncomfortable, with the phone held vertically it digs into my fat belly a bit more than when it is horizontal.\n\nAlso, the belt clip does not come off, so if you carry the whole thing slid together in a pocket instead of clipped on to your belt (phone with back cover, slid into the holster with belt clip) it's a bit thick and sharp, digs in to your pocket. But if you just carry the phone with the back cover and leave the front cover + belt clip at home, the back cover alone does not protect the top edge of the phone, from falls.\n\nI was carrying my phone this way, with just the back cover and not the front holster + belt clip, when it slipped and fell, and actually put a small dent in the top edge of the phone, where the back cover does not cover it.\n\nSo I might have to replace this with yet another different case, soon. I had a different one that I liked better than this one; the other one was more of a pouch that you'd slide the whole phone into, and it had a slimline belt clip attached that didn't stick out so it was suitable for carrying the whole thing in your pocket, but on that other case, the belt clip started to pull apart from the case, which is why I had to buy this current one instead.\n\nSeems like finding the right phone case is an art, or something, unfortunately, and you have to buy a few before you find the right one. Again this one seemed good at first but after a few months I don't like it so much as it has loosened.","Product: This headset was designed to give you a stable, secure fit for pretty much any kind of situation you might want to use it infrom headset-to-headset intercom duty, to Bluetooth hands-free calling, staying in touch with your companions in the great outdoors, or playing your favorite tunes from an MP3 player, youll always enjoy natural, crystal-clear sound quality. Bluetooth music playback is controlled by Playback Control, and the sound is automatically boosted when operating in noisy environments.\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: not so great, for music/phone calls. can't test as an intercom.\n\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a headset that I received for free, through the Vine program.\n\nWell unfortunately Amazon Vine only sent me one of these so I cannot review the intercom feature, which needs 2 headsets to communicate.\n\nI can review the headset for listening to music, and phone calls. It's not the greatest, for either of those, so if you do not need a Bluetooth intercom, don't bother getting this. Other headphones that do music and phone calls are much better and much cheaper.\n\nIt's a little awkward and uncomfortable due to the design, of the connecting piece wrapping around the back of your neck. It keeps getting bumped by my collar, especially when I'm outside, wearing a hoodie jacket.\n\nThe sound is mediocre, when listening to music. I've got lots of headphones that sound much better, including some that cost less than $20 (like the Koss Portapro Jr.).\n\nEven for phone calls, the sound quality is mediocre and the microphone is lousy too, cutting out all the high frequencies so my voice comes through so muddled that it is very hard to understand what I'm saying. Phone calls have inherently lousy sound anyway but my voice comes through much worse through the mike on this headset than the mike builtin to my phone. even a cheapie bluetooth earpiece that sticks in one ear has better sound quality through its microphone than this headset does, unfortunately. and this is without the windscreen covering the mike. Putting on the windscreen makes it even worse, even more muffled.\n\nThe controls are non intuitive and weird. Maybe someday I will have memorized the arcane sequences needed to perform basic functions. You have to press combinations of two buttons, sometimes press them several times in a row and/or hold them for a number of seconds, until the software cycles through several modes.\n\nJust to stop or resume music playback, for instance, is not intuitive. If you just press the big main button with the \"play\" icon on it once, instead of starting or stopping the music, it tries to go into Intercom mode, and fails because no other intercom is connected, and just falls back to whatever you were listening to.\n\nMaybe my opinion will improve after some more experience, but after a few days with this headset (limited to just music and phone calls) I am not impressed at all.","Product: An avant-metal spectacle of the most obscene, obese and obstinate, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum sound like a brigade of skeleton soldiers marching through post-industrial cities decorated by the finest of silken banners to cover up the decay. Singer Nils Frykdahl can croon with a baritone even deeper than Simon Bonney, with the same sense of dark philosophy, as he does on the opening \"Hymn to the Morning Star.\" But he's just as likely to bark like James Hetfield caught up in the rush of soiled guitars and battering ram drums of \"The Donkey-Headed Adversary of Humanity Opens the Discussion\" or \"Phthisis\" where he is joined by Carla Kihlstedt, a wicked queen at her dark lord's side. The instrumentation is as rich as it is fragmented, with chimes, strings and the sound of clacking chicken bones making way for more distorted oblivion when Frykdahl intones \"Let us dream now, the impossible dream of a math professor\" on \"FC: The Freedom Club.\" Of course, the debate on where in the serious spectrum this sort of indulgent fantasia music lies is never certain. But if you think Meat Loaf is the ultimate in musical inspired rock-u-drama then this will certainly turn you on your head. ~ Joshua Glazer, Rovi\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: highest praise is insufficient\n\nReview: Wow. Scary. Intoxicating. Awe-inspiring.\n\nAs good as their 1st studio album (\"Grand Opening and Closing\"). And that is saying a LOT.\n\nI had heard a lot of the material on this album already, in their live tours over the past couple of years, meaning that they did polish most of it on the road, before recording in the studio, which is good.\n\nIncredible concepts to think about, while reading the liner notes and listening to the music.\n\nIncredible music, excellent production and recording quality.\n\nI would say, buy it if you are at all curious.\n\nCurious about anything (and/or everything), in the entire universe, that is.\n\nEven if you end up not liking it, you will have a piece in your hand, of something that is real, a phenomenon that is happening, that will be legendary someway (hang onto it and sell it on eBay in 25 years) thanks to the inspiration, talent, and just plain unending hard work, sweat, practicing, greasepaint, and devotion, of the guys and girl, in this musical and theatrical and philosophical ensemble.","Product: M usic for people who get sculpture (you know who you are). This music was originally conceived for a film on sculptor Mark Di Suvero, and later remixed and released as North Star. As one of Philip Glass' early works, the album helped introduce his idiosyncratic style to listeners (although I bought it based on the post-Einstein buzz). EMI. 2003.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: One of my favorites\n\nReview: This has long been one of my most favorite Glass albums.\n\nI got to see the film once, after I'd already heard the album.\n\nI used to play tracks from this album, live on a college radio station where I was a DJ, like every week, through the 1970's.\n\nNow I miss the rough crude abruptness, of the cheesy Farfisa organ sound, in this recording, also the severity and original clarity (AKA \"minimalism\") of the compositions, when I listen to much later Glass.\n\nProbably that is a very subjective personal thing. If I had heard the late recordings first, I might prefer them.\n\nBut since this was one of my original introductions to the music of Philip Glass, it remains one of my top favorites.","Product: Promote lush foliage and enhanced fruit production with Miracle-Gro Fruit & Citrus Tree Fertilizer Spikes. Our easy-to-use spikes release nutrients directly into the root zone to help promote strong fruit and citrus trees. It is designed to meet the needs of these unique plants. Simply apply the spikes once in the spring and then again in the fall. Enjoy stronger, more beautiful fruit and citrus trees with Miracle-Gro.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: good for fruit trees\n\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a package I received for free through the Vine program.\n\nI have used fertilizer spikes like these for more than 10 years now. I do look for the cheaper brands if they're available, but if not I do use Miracle-Gro. I've used the fruit tree spikes, the evergreen spikes, and also the regular tree spikes.\n\nWe had peach and pear trees at our old house and I always put fruit tree spikes around them, twice a year if I could manage it. Our new house has some fruit trees too, so I'll be using these soon too, since early Spring is a good time for them.\n\nThe spikes do break sometimes while you're hammering them in the ground, especially if the ground is hard, but that's not such a big deal, just pound the pieces into the ground and they'll dissolve gradually when it rains or when you water.\n\nand follow the instructions, place the spikes around the drip line (the outer edge of the branches/leaves).","Product: The Perky-Pet 8 oz Glass Top Fill Hummingbird Feeder will be a welcome addition to your yard. The easy to fill wide mouth top ensures that there will be no spilling when filling! The exclusive Top Fill feature means that you will no longer have to invert your hummingbird feeders, simply pour, replace the cap and youre ready to go. Four soft, decorative flower feeding ports are more life-like than any feeder before! The hummingbirds will be attracted to the bright red of this feeder and flowers, and hummingbird fans will be attracted to the daintiness of this small capacity feeder. If ants become a nuisance at your feeder, dont forget to pour water in the built-in ant moat on the lid of your feeder to keep those pesky ants out of the nectar! Remember to clean your feeder at least twice a week, more often in very warm climates or seasons.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: very nice, better than other larger feeders\n\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a unit I received for free through the Vine program.\n\nThis is a nice hummingbird feeder. We have 3, sometimes 4 set up spread out across the back of our house, and we break them sometimes, so we have tried out a number of different brands and models, and this does seem to be the nicest one so far, for a couple of reasons in particular.\n\n1. Its small; the glass container is smaller than all the other feeders we've tried. The reason this is good is that you're supposed to change the liquid fairly often, but it's pretty much impossible for little hummingbirds to drink all the liquid contained in bigger ones, so you waste most of it & have to throw it away, with larger feeders.\n\nAlso being small this would encourage you to put up smaller multiple feeders, which is good for most of the hummingbirds. They are very territorial, at least the males, and they fight viciously over each feeder! so generally one dominant alpha male chases away all the others, if you only have one feeder, or even if you have two that are too close to other. We spread ours out so a couple of them are around the corners, where the less dominant males still get a chance to feed without the mean alpha male chasing them away, meaning we have to fill up more feeders, so having them smaller like this works much better.\n\n2. You fill it from the top like a normal jar kind of container, with a nice normal fat wide screw-off lid on the top! and don't have to play the silly game you do with all other feeder designs, where you have to flip them over, fill them, and then carefully flip them again while full of liquid, trying not to spray/spill too much in the process. I wonder if all the other designers of other hummingbird feeders are kicking themselves and yelling \"D'oh!\" now that this one came out with such a logical design.\n\n(it has 2 lids, one nice one for refilling at the top, and then the usual one at the bottom like all other feeders, which has all the flower feeding hole thingies attached).","Product: Clean, quick, trapping of rats. The trap is pre-baited with a scented, expanded trigger and backed by more than 20 years of proven field results.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: BIG and scary traps, but they worked to catch a big and scary rat\n\nReview: After hearing some rodent partying upstairs in the attic, I'd been setting out some mousetraps (which have worked in the past, to catch the occasional mice that invade our house once in a while. This time, the mousetraps kept getting tripped without catching anything (and the defiant rodent partying noise continued).\n\nSo on a whim I ordered this package of huge scary RAT traps and set one in place of the little mousetraps. didn't realize from the product photos how BIG these rat traps are.\n\nAnd bam, just caught a huge scary RAT, big as a rabbit, big enough to fry up as a redneck teabagger's dinner... so these traps are just the right size to catch it.\n\nI washed the rat trap off and set it out again, so they are reusable. but the rat had gnawed the yellow plastic around where the trigger arm fits in, so the trigger mechanism is a bit less stable than original; if there is another rat and it does the same thing, I might just have to throw this trap away. but that's why I have this huge package of 12 of them, just in case, where I probably only needed a couple....","Product: EveryDrop is a patented new formula of wetting agents designed to help move water into the soil consistently and evenly. This helps to reduce wasteful runoff and pooling. Whether relying on rain, sprinklers, or hoses, EveryDrop makes the most of available water. For over 50 years, professional turfgrass managers have used wetting agent technology to help move water through hard, dry soils to more efficiently manage water and turf performance. Now Scotts is bringing this technology to the home for use in any outdoor space.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: not sure if this works or not\n\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a bottle that I received for free through the Vine program.\n\nI am not sure if this stuff actually works, if it actually makes a significant difference. It was easy to open the package and spread the granules on the ground around some fruit trees, and work them into the ground with some water. Now as I said, I'm not sure if it will make a significant difference or not; we live in a drought stricken area with watering restrictions, so I hope it will help, but I just don't know how to make a quantitative evaluation.\n\nit certainly is not hurting anything, not making anything worse. but I do not know if it is worth it to buy this product (since I received it for free).","Product: Myron Mixon 36\" Barrel Style Barbeque Wood Pellet Grill and Smoker with Digital Temperature Control and Center Fire Box.\n\nRating: 1.0\n\nSummary: easily damaged in shipment; difficult to assemble\n\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a unit I received for free through the Vine program (although the Vine program messed up and cancelled the order, yet still shipped it eventually, so it doesn't appear as a Vine acquisition).\n\nWell it looked interesting so I ordered one to try. Unfortunately I haven't actually gotten to use it yet. Shipment was delayed so long that the Vine program cancelled my order. But then they still shipped it anyway! It is huge and very heavy so your UPS delivery guy will be grumbling as he thumps it down on your front porch. You might do better to buy this from a local store and have them deliver it, or pick it up yourself if you have a truck maybe, rather than let it go through the shipment process where it will get damaged like mine did.\n\nSome parts were damaged during shipment and/or delivery. Instructions are OK i the beginning, but stop halfway through the assembly process, inscrutably, so it is not at all clear how the interior parts should go (\"water pan\", \"heat baffle\" cover). There is a cleaning guide which mentions \"remove the aluminum foil covering\" of 2 parts yet nothing about how or why you'd want to cover them with aluminum foil in the first place. nor how to place them either.\n\nThe web site at pitmaster2q.com has no instructions nor anything useful at all. There are a couple of vimeo videos but they are for a smaller model, which doesn't look anything like this one, so most of the features are different (the smaller one in the videos, a rectangular one rather than a barrel, seems to have more features, like internal storage, some kind of doors for releasing and cleaning out ashes, etc. that I don't see anywhere on this larger barrel model).\n\nOne especially horrid design decision is how the lid cover of the \"auger\" sticks up out over the edge of the barrel when it is shipped. So when it is in transit, it gets bashed in and the hinges are damaged, so the lid is unuseable. I finally had to use 2 wrenches/pliers to pull off the screws and the damaged hinges, so now I have an auger cover lid that just sits loosely over the auger, with no hinges. And there's no handle. so I hope it doesn't get too hot.\n\nThe legs (wing panels where screws go through, to attach to the base/bottom shelf) were damaged and bent during delivery/shipment. Fortunately I was able to straighten out the panels enough to be able to screw them in place eventually.\n\nThe orange lid to the barrel does not quite fit right, and its hinges were also damaged in shipment, so it is loose and shaky and has a big gap in the lower corner.\n\nIf I can figure out how to place those 2 sticky yicky interior parts (they are coated with some disgusting sticky stuff that looked like corrosion/rust but other people have mentioned it too so I guess it's supposed to be that way?) and if we can find a store that sells these unusual pellets, then I'll update this review if we can actually try cooking with this thing.\n\nAh NOW I can find the Edit button to edit this review rather than just leave a comment. Couldn't do it from regular Amazon product page, had to start over from Vine page. Anyway, as in my comment below, I found that Sears sells wood pellets and actually had some bags in stock so I could pick some up to try the grill out without waiting for shipping from an online order.\n\nand I poured a bunch of pellets into the auger box and turned the thing on and the auger started cranking, very very slowly and loudly, but then stopped a few seconds later. Turned it off and on again, same thing. Waited 20 minutes with it on, since instructions said it can take 7 minutes for pellets to get down the tube to the firepot. Still nothing and the auger screw thing was dead.\n\nHad to jiggle the auger box and it would start turning again, for a few seconds, before stopping again. Found an angle where I could lean on the box and hold it just right and the auger would run for a few more seconds until my hand moved and the auger stopped. After a bunch of tries, jiggling the box, getting the auger to work for a few seconds till it stopped, jiggling again, finally it just died completely.\n\nso I have this box filled with pellets, and down at the bottom, this dead auger screw thing. Dug out the pellets, tried poking the auger screw thing, nothing.\n\nI manually filled the firepot full of pellets and the thing finally did fire up OK and make smoke and fire, yay. but long before the 45 minute burnin in period, it ran out of pellets I guess, and the temperature started dropping and no more smoke. But now I can't fiddle with the firepot because it's all hot and there's the heat cover and grease pan slanty thing which I hope I put in right but I don't know for sure, anyway they're still covered with that awful sticky rotten gunk from the factory, it didn't burn off yet, plus they're hot so I can't lift them out yet....\n\nyou get the picture, basically we WON'T be grilling this 4th of July on this new (broken) grill..... what a piece of crap. and customer service, hah. Monday - Friday business hours only, 9 - 5 (Eastern U.S.?). Of course, we're all only using grills during business hours, right, it would be insane to want to use a grill after hours or on the weekend....\n\nIf I had paid the big bucks for this thing I'd be even more pissed. I'm still pissed even though I got it for free to review it. Now it's a big honking dead thing (unless I can disassemble the auger box and fix it or something, which I do not look forward to) and I'll have to haul its heavy ass up the steep stairs out of the backyard and try to fit it in the car to haul it away to a disposal site or something...","Product: The Cuisinart Digital Folding Probe Thermometer is a simple and effective way to check in on the readiness of your grilled meats. This thermometer has a digital LCD display that reads internal meat temperatures instantly. The probe is long enough to fit in any sized meat cut and folds into base for convenient storage. Built-in LED light allows for grilling at night. Comfortable grip and the folding probe provide perfect angles and comfort when reading temperatures in hard to reach places.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: decent digital meat thermometer\n\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a unit I received for free through the Vine program.\n\nNice unit. I've never owned a digital meat thermometer before; in fact I've never owned an analog one either. (my mother had an analog long stick thing with a round analog temperature gauge dial on the end, back in the 1960s). So this is my first meat thermometer. I'd been meaning to get one for years, and the technology has progressed now to where this little $20 unit is pretty decent, though not perfect.\n\nThe main unit is a little flimsy, yes. the probe needle part is sturdier. sometimes it does jitter and take a few seconds to settle down on the reading, as other reviewers have reported. and I am left handed so it would have been nice if it was designed ambidextrously somehow instead of oriented just towards holding in the right hand but that's not such a big deal, you're just testing a hunk of meat once in a while.\n\nUsing removable/replaceable batteries is both good and bad. It might have been nice to have a builtin rechargeable battery but that would have increased the cost, and those batteries do eventually wear out. One can just use rechargeable AAA batteries, if one wants to.","Product: IRWIN Tools VISE-GRIP High-Leverage Diagonal Cutting Pliers, 6-inch (1902411). Induction-hardened cutting edges cut the toughest materials, including ACSR, nails, screws and even piano wire. Coated for superior rust resistance. 3-component molded grip is contoured for optimal cushion and control, so you can make more cuts comfortably. The exclusive hook and lanyard system lets you attach pliers to help prevent accidental drops and provide easy retrieval from pouches or pockets. Backed by the IRWIN lifetime guarantee. Made in Solingen, Germany, a town famous for metal-smithing for hundreds of years, using the highest-quality materials and the latest in precision engineering technology. These high-quality tools are just one of the most recent products of VISE-GRIP's 90-year history of innovation, going back to their invention of the first locking plier in 1924.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Very good for its intended purpose\n\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a unit I received for free through the VIne program.\n\nAs all the other reviews say, this is a well made, durable heavy duty pair of pliers. It is specialized. Presumably you know what you are looking for, and that is why you are considering this. It does not open very wide, so is not good for general pliers things like holding and turning wide things (plumbing and other fixtures).\n\nBut for the specialized uses it IS intended for, it is probably one of the best you can buy. Crimping, cutting, grabbing and pulling wires and other thin things (including thicker heavier \"fish\" guide wires). The long handles give it great leverage for this and the heavy duty solid tip make it strong and secure for this.\n\nAnd as everyone points out, the lanyard is useful too when you are working in a spot where you don't want to drop it."],"string":"[\n \"Product: 3/4 Size Nylon String Guitar\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: good for a small kids' classical guitar\\n\\nReview: we just picked one up today (maybe I'll update this review after some time). a local brick & mortar real Guitar Center matched Amazon's price.\\n\\nwe tried a few other 3/4 size classical guitars for the kid, but this was by far the best one in my opinion, as far as the tone, the feel, the apparent quality so far, and playability. I think we tried a Fender \\\"Starcaster\\\", a \\\"Giamatti\\\"? maybe a Hohner? over a few days in a few shops. we even tried a Yamaha CGS102, which surprisingly was way inferior to this CGS103A even though it cost more (this one's discounted; the 102 was full price).\\n\\nThis one, the 103, just stood way out, compared to the other 3/4 size classical guitars. This one actually feels and sounds like a real guitar (although small), not just a cheap little toy.\",\n \"Product: TASCAM has been revolutionizing Portastudio since they invented them. For decades, TASCAM's Portastudio have remained the ideal scratch pads and easy-to-use home recording devices. Utilized by seminal artists and home for legendary albums throughout the years, TASCAM has stayed true to manufacturing rugged, compact, feature-rich song-writing and demo tools. TASCAM is introducing the DP-008EX 8-channel Pocketstudio with built-in input and master effects. Each channel is conveniently loaded with volume, pan, reverb-send knobs, auto-punch in/out, 2 XLR Mic inputs with +48V phantom power and built-in high-quality stereo condenser mics making the DP-008EX an ideal take-anywhere solid-state recorder.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: amazing functionality in such a small package\\n\\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a unit I received for free through the Vine program.\\n\\nWow, what a lot of functionality squeezed into such a small low-cost device!!\\n\\nI have a Boss BR1180 8-track hard disk recorder that I got back in the early 2000's; it cost roughly 5 times as much as this DP-008EX does now, and the Boss didn't do a whole lot more than this unit does.....\\n\\nMainly all the Boss BR1180 has over this DP-008EX is that the BR1180 can read and write audio CD's and CD-R's (with this DP-008EX you have to transfer your audio files back and forth to your computer and read/write CD's there if you still need them these days...); also the Boss is bigger so you have more room for your fingers to spread out when performing the physical actions of mixdown, so there are more knobs and a bit more screen real estate to see what's going on etc. Also the Boss had 3-band EQ on each channel, more than this unit does......\\n\\nNow I've only barely begun to experiment with this DP-008EX, doing a few test projects, after having studied the manual. I also bought an external power supply for it, and another memory card for it.\\n\\nI'll come back and revise this review after I've had some more experience working with this unit, since there are things that come out in actual use that aren't just written down in the manual... and there are so so many functions, and a lot of them are \\\"overloaded\\\" using the same knobs/keys in different \\\"modes\\\", so it's going to take me some time to get comfortable with it..... I worked with the Boss BR1180 for a few years.\",\n \"Product: DII's 12x15\\\" reusable shopping totes come in a set of four. These versatile totes can be used for many tasks. Save the environment and go green, no more wasting shopping bags, DII's shopping totes are a great alternative to the paper or plastic options you get at the store. These bags are perfect for groceries, shopping, school, beaches, picnics, farmers markets and so much more. These reusable bags are great to keep in the trunk of your car for convenience. These bags work wonders as gift bags too , your friends & family will thank you for the double gift! DIIs fashion forward shopping totes are perfect for every occasion & are easy to care for.To view more of our products visit amazon.com/dii.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: OK plastic bags; woven handles stitched on.\\n\\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a package of bags that I received for free through the Vine program.\\n\\nLiving in California we have to carry lots of reusable shopping bags in our car trunks. These are OK, not the best. I have a bunch of canvas bags which I usually use, and I also have some plastic ones too, which these ones are. I prefer the canvas bags in general.\\n\\nThese are recycled which I guess is good. Being plastic they are kind of stiff and don't like to fold up, unlike canvas bags. They are decent size, somewhere in the midrange compared to other bags I have; not the smallest, not the biggest either.\\n\\nThe handles are woven and are attached by stitches. Not sure how sturdy they will be in the long run for repeated heavy loads; time will tell. I have had a couple of handles break on some canvas bags so maybe these will hold up better. Also the seams are stitched too, all along the edges of these bags; again we'll see if the stitching holds or not, over time and repeated usage.\",\n \"Product: Large enough for a 9 pizza or four slices of bread, the BLACK+DECKER 4-Slice Stainless Steel Toaster Oven with Broiler Pan complements any kitchen countertop. This compact, versatile toaster oven bakes, broils, toasts, and keeps food warm, at up to 450F. It comes with a baking and broiler pan that fits perfectly into the small toaster oven interior. Plus, our exclusive EvenToast Technology optimizes heat distribution to toast bread evenly. When its time to eat, trust the #1 brand in toaster ovens*BLACK+DECKER. Large viewing window keep an eye on food during cooking. The durable glass window gives you a clear view of food throughout the cooking process. Bake/broiler pan dont worry about finding pans to fit in the oven. The included baking/broiling pan fits perfectly, making it easy to insert and remove food. Toasting rack also included.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: controls are not great.\\n\\nReview: We're a little disappointed with this toaster oven, unfortunately.\\n\\nWe really only ever toast or broil, so we really only need the 2 versions of that one functionality. Our previous toaster ovens did just fine, for solely toasting.\\n\\nThe biggest problem with this model, if you're only toasting, is that you have to set the top two the knobs just right, then you have to twist the bottom knob forwards and then backwards again, to somewhere vaguely near the end of its reach. Twist it back too far and it just shuts off. Twist it not enough and you get burnt toast.\\n\\nWith our previous toaster oven (also a Black & Decker) we could just set the settings for toasting, and the darkness of the toasted bread, and leave them alone, and then when we wanted to use it, we would just push one button for the repeatable \\\"toast\\\" function.\\n\\nThis model requires us to twist the bottom knob forwards and back each time, and doesn't guarantee that we'll reach the same darkness setting as the last time we used it. Maybe this is OK for grownup adults, but we also have kids who had learned to just push that \\\"toast\\\" button on the previous Black & Decker model, and now they can't be trusted to use this one without our supervision (maybe you'll say that kids shouldn't be allowed to use a toaster anyway).\\n\\nAlso we do need a small compact unit and this one does have a small footprint but it is narrower (from right to left) than our previous one, yet deeper (from front to back). So it's harder to fit 2 sandwiches side by side in this one, compared to the old one, and we never use the front-to-back depth for anything.\",\n \"Product: Add a touch of elegance with this 16-piece high-fire porcelain dinnerware set by Francois et Mimi. Product is lighter than most stoneware dinnerware sets.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: decent white square dinnerware\\n\\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a set I received for free, through the Vine program.\\n\\nWell my first impression was that this set is sturdy and/or well packaged/cushioned, because my wife dropped the very heavy box when it was delivered, and broke open the package, BUT still nothing broke!\\n\\nShe was dismayed at the square shape, of the large dishes and smaller plates and bowls, but I like them. I think it's weird and cool, \\\"hip to be square\\\".\\n\\nThe stark all white color is different than any other dishes etc. we have in the house, but I guess it is a nice effect. we don't care about matching colors/patterns or anything like that but you might....\\n\\nThe mugs are bigger than your usual coffee mug.\",\n \"Product: Vac, dust and reach- versatility to clean where your upright vacuum can't. 360 Degree Reach Pro speeds through messes from floor to ceiling with 4 multipurpose tools that easily switch this vacuum from a stick to a handheld and back again. Use the 6\\\" wide powered tool to easily convert the 360 to a hand vacuum. It's powerful brush roll is perfect for stairs and upholstery inside as well as a handy car vacuum. Snap back on the extension wand to convert to a stick vacuum and reach up to 12 feet high and low. Use the crevice tool to tackle the toughest cleaning spots and hard to reach cracks. For ceiling fan blades, use the Vac+Dust Ceiling Fan Tool that comes complete with a Swipes Washable Microfiber Pad. For floorwork, attach the Vac+Dust Hard Floor Tool with Swipes Washable Microfiber Pad. It's the combination of a powerful vacuum and the Swipes Microfiber pad that allows you to pick up the dust and debris rather than just pushing it around on the floor. When done simply flip a switch to empty the dirt cup on the bottom and put everything back in the storage bag. The 360 Degree Reach is everything you need for in between cleaning with your upright vacuum and comes with a 3 year warranty.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: OK hybrid/compromise between a portable little Dirt Devil and a standup unit\\n\\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a unit I received for free through the Vine program.\\n\\nThis is a kind of compromise/hybrid. It is a little Dirt Devil vacuum unit, with a correspondingly very small container to hold dirt that has to be emptied very often. On the other hand it has some longer attachments, especially the long tube shown in the main image, for using as a standup sort of vacuum, unlike most Dirt Devils where you have to bend over to vacuum the floor with them.\\n\\nMost of the attachments seem to be weird and useless, in my initial experience with this vacuum. Why do they include a fuzzy Swiffer duster attachment, with a vacuum cleaner? (shown in the main image)\\n\\nThe point of the vacuum is to just suck up all the dust, right? but the fuzzy attachments are for rubbing and then catching and holding the dust in the fuzz + Swiffer, right? seems like a contradiction.\\n\\nSo far I've been using this just with the long tube but no other attachments on the tip. So I can vacuum the hardwood floors while standing up, without having to bend down. That's the main use I need this for.\\n\\nIt has some more attachments apparently for upholstery, ceiling fans etc. in addition to the fuzzy Swiffer one. Haven't used those, probably never will. It also has a little rotating brush attachment for carpets. I never got that kind of rotating brush action to work very well with carpets, with any of our previous larger vacuum cleaners, so I don't hold out much hope for this one being useful either.\\n\\nIt comes with a case, but the case doesn't quite hold everything, which is weird. Well it holds everything except the long tube, but the long tube is the most important crucial attachment, for my use anyway.\",\n \"Product: The Clever Made Snap Basket is a smart, space-saving solution to simplify all of your shopping trips and day-to-day activities for an on-the-go lifestyle. It was designed to help the environment as plastic bags from the grocery store are not eco friendly. These baskets can be used for so much more than grocery shopping too! Both men and women use them for produce at the farmers market, travelling in your car or SUV for weekend road trips, bringing lunch to work, loading up food for a summer BBQ, and in so many other ways. You can even load it full of dirty clothes and take it to the laundromat. Perfect for active moms bringing snacks for sporting events or for college students who take advantage of it being foldable for their small dorm room, apartment or condo. Durable handles can hold heavy loads up to 25 pounds of groceries, books, yoga gear, towels or linens. There are 2 of our patented SnapHinge in each utility tote and you'll love the sound they make when they pop-up and fold down. The checkers and baggers at the grocery store are going to love them too as they don't have to struggle to keep them standing up when you check out. If you're in need of a bag that's portable and can fold flat for compact storage then look no further!\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: not bad as a portable collapsible basket\\n\\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a basket I received for free through the Vine program.\\n\\nWell it's OK, not bad as a portable collapsible basket. But it's kind of overkill for just a shopping bag, very expensive and clunky compared to more typical reusable cloth shopping bags.\\n\\nAlso for shopping bags, you want more smaller ones, so they are easier to carry; you don't want one big huge thing that's going to break your back when you go to pick it up! also you want to separate, cold/frozen things in one bag, heavy bottles in another, perishable or potentially messy things in another, etc. so having one huge bag/basket isn't a good idea, for grocery shopping in general.\\n\\nSo you might find it useful for other things, if you want to tote a collapsible basket in the trunk of your car and whip it out and set it up for some purpose, like going to the beach etc. But I would not recommend it if you just need another reusable shopping bag, if you live in a state like I do, where they are required.\",\n \"Product: At OXO, we know the joys of cooking and baking - whether it's trying a new recipe for yourself, feeding family and friends, or bringing a dish to a potluck to share, it's a labor of love. But we also know what labor we don't love: Dishes. Between prepping, cooking, serving and storing, one meal can fill up a sink in a flash. The OXO Good Grips Glass Bakeware line saves time and reduces the number of dishes to clean, all while providing superior performance. This line of Bakeware is made of borosilicate glass, a durable type of glass that can withstand extreme temperature changes without breaking or shattering. This means the dishes can go from the directly from the freezer or refrigerator to the oven without breaking. Glass is naturally BPA free, and provides an elegant look you can bring right to the table. Please not this product is not intended for use under a broiler.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Decent glass pan, can go from freezer to oven, comes with a lid\\n\\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a pan I received for free through the Vine program.\\n\\nAs a regular baking pan it is reasonable, has large \\\"lips\\\" on either end so it is easy to grab with heavy oven mitts.\\n\\nIt comes with a plastic lid, which is weird but nice, if you want to stick this big pan in your refrigerator or freezer...\\n\\nThe main attraction is the freezer-to-oven thing which I have never had any use for in the past. I gave it one try, with some chicken I marinated in the pan, left in the refrigerator so it was cold, and then put it straight in the oven (instructions say not to heat the oven too much, if the pan is cold; we have a convection oven so we use lower cooking temperatures anyway).\\n\\nSo if you do prepare cold things and then want to transfer them straight into the oven without changing containers, this is a good choice (maybe the only one? never heard of such a thing before but I don't cook all that much to begin with).\",\n \"Product: The Creative Earphones EP-630 is designed with ergonomic soft silicon in-ear earbuds for excellent noise isolation and offers high-quality audio reproduction with extraordinary bass ideal for digital music playback. Primary InformationSpeaker System Type : Earphones Sensivity: 106dB; Cord Length: 1.2m (Oxygen-Free Copper Cable); Input Plug: 3.5mm stereo gold-plated miniplug UNSPSC CodeUNSPSC Code : 52161514 Product IDUPC: 054651138544Manufacturer Part: 51MZ0085AA007\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Uncomfortable, and now Broken\\n\\nReview: I'm rather unhappy with these. They were uncomfortable from the start. I've tried them for 2 months now.\\n(maybe I wouldn't be comfortable with any in-ear headphones like these, I don't know)\\n\\nBut now they're broken; the right channel has suddenly stopped working.\\n(other headphones, plugged into the same player's headphone jack, are working fine). Jiggling the cord etc. doesn't help.\\n\\nAt least they were cheap. I'll go back to my collection of other kinds of headphones that I DON'T have to shove into the ear canal... as a musician and recording engineer, I've accumulated a great collection over the years; I've got headphones that go around-the-ear, both enclosed and open air, on-the-ear, clip-on-the-ear, foldup or not, portable or not, around-the-neck, wired, wireless ... and this is the first pair that has been positively unpleasant to use.\\n\\n(well I don't like regular \\\"earbuds\\\" either, the kind that come with mp3 players or airplane flights, that just sit in your ear but don't go into the ear canal; these in-ear ones did sound better than those, but were most uncomfortable)\",\n \"Product: EarSet 3i Black (1 pce )\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: good sound IF you can keep them positioned close enough, which is difficult to maintain\\n\\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a pair I received for free through the Vine program.\\n\\nI WANT to love these earphones. They are good quality, good audio drivers, nice to have some metal instead of all plastic, comfortable dangling off the loops around the back of your ear so gravity isn't an issue, and I hate in-ear earplug type earbuds.\\n\\nBUT the sound quality really depends critically on you getting them positioned just right, close enough to your ear canals, and making them stay there. Otherwise if they slip just a millimeter or two away, the sound quality really suffers, severe attenuation especially in low frequencies.\\n\\nIf you are sitting still, and/or can keep repositioning them by squeezing and poking to make sure they are up close enough, they do have good sound (and there are various degrees of freedom where the angles can twist and move in/out, up/down to position them better). But if you move around, they slip away.\\n\\nSo unfortunately I'd have to say these are almost the \\\"worst of 2 possible worlds\\\" -- they're not bigger drivers/earphones that cover or surround your ears, so the sound quality suffers from the positioning problem, BUT they're also not in-ear canal plugs either, so again the sound quality suffers from the positioning problem.\\n\\nSad because they are expensive and well engineered for what they are, if they didn't suffer from this positioning/movement problem so severely.\\n\\nI have a lot of different pairs of headphones, of all types, being a former musician and recording engineer, and unfortunately I'm afraid these go in the pile of ones that just aren't \\\"right\\\". good thing I got them for free -- if I were you, I would not pay for them, unless there's a BIG discount.\",\n \"Product: Designed with a built-in stand, you are now able to type, surf the web, and view your Amazon Kindle Fire tablet without removing the case. Ingrained with 3-etched grips for positioning the angle for your preference. With high-quality genuine leather and smooth interior coating, MiniSuit's Folio Executive Journal Cover is compacted into a protective case and versatile stand for your convenience.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: renders the touchscreen edges unuseable\\n\\nReview: First reaction after one day: wow, this really sucks, this is unuseable!\\n\\nThe whole point of this case (I thought) is to be able to USE the Kindle Fire, including the touchscreen controls, while it is in the case. Otherwise I'd just get a cheaper \\\"sleeve\\\" pouch, if I knew I had to remove the device from the case in order to use the touchscreen!!!\\n\\nPhysically the Fire fits precisely in the case, so it's not a question of it being for the wrong device, or me not inserting it properly or mis-aligning it or anything. The speakers are perfectly aligned with the cutouts in the case, and the on/off switch + USB + headphone jacks are perfectly aligned with the cutout at the other end. And it's nice leather etc. etc.\\n\\nBut the case has flaps all around, which protrude and cover up swaths, not just the 4 edges, of the screen, enough that you can't get to critical areas of the touchscreen!!!!\\n\\nSo you can't hit the quick settings icon, to adjust the volume, toggle Wi-Fi, or do a sync, without taking the Fire out of the case first! And you can't even hit the bottom edge of the screen, to bring up the menu for Back/Home etc. in the middle of a game or reading!!!!\\n\\nMaybe people are just using their Fires to watch videos without needing to touch the controls around the edges of the screen? I guess this case might be OK for that, if you don't mind having some edges cut off.\\n\\nOtherwise I'll be looking into returning this case for a refund.\\n\\nI should have paid more attention to the negative reviews, and less attention to the positive reviews, before ordering. But it's so hard to tell -- often the negative reviews of something are just nitpicking. Not in this case though! (pun intended)\\n--------\\nUpdate after a few days: Still dissatisfied, have initiated a return for a refund. BUT someone did show me that when you can't get to the touchscreen edge controls, actually you can rotate the device to find a different orientation where the control you need might be more accessible.\\n\\nSo this case doesn't render the controls COMPLETELY unuseable, IF screen orientation is enabled and if you don't mind flipping the screen around just to touch the controls.\\n\\nBut of course sometimes in the middle of a game like Angry Birds which the kids play all the time, when it's paused and you need to hit the controls to exit, the screen orientation doesn't change so you can't get it to rotate. And in that case you have no choice, but to either yank the device out of the case just to access the controls and then put it back in the case, or peel back the case's leather flap, far enough to allow access to the control.\\n-----------------\\nFinal update, after getting my refund processed:\\n\\nwell I got a different case instead, and I am MUCH much happier with that one.\\n\\nSo don't buy this one! instead, I suggest you try the \\\"Case Crown Ace Flip Case\\\" (ASIN: B005VR5034, <http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005VR5034)\\n/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00>\",\n \"Product: 64GB DataStick Sport USB 2.0 - USB 2.0 Flash Drive - Waterproof up to 1.5M\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: OK. Waterproof. Just USB 2.0. Cap is not attached.\\n\\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a drive I received for free through the Vine program.\\n\\nWell it's a flash drive, 32 GB. Only USB 2.0, not 3.0 but I don't have any hosts capable of 3.0 yet so that's OK with me.\\n\\nAnd it's waterproof, or so they say. I did try dunking and washing it in some water, then waiting a couple of hours for it to dry, and it still worked OK.\\n\\nOne big problem: the cap is not attached in any way (I mean, when you uncap the drive to plug it in), so you can take it off and just lose it, no way to keep hold of the cap while you are using the drive. That really sucks and I would probably not buy one, because of that.\\n\\nWithout the cap, covering the part that plugs in, it would not be waterproof.\",\n \"Product: Kingston Data Traveler G4 16 GB USB flash drive features USB 3.0 connectivity for quick and easy transfers of music, video and more. Its practical design and fashionable colors make it ideal for everyday use at work, home, school or wherever you need to take your data! It's backward compatible with existing USB 2.0 ports, allowing 2.0 users to migrate to 3.0 in The future without replacing their drive. It's backed by a 5-year , FREE technical support and legendary Kingston reliability.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: prefer drives with retractable or foldaway connectors\\n\\nReview: I bought this 64GB drive because it was on a special Amazon \\\"Today's Deal\\\" for $25 (guess I didn't get much of a deal as it seemed at the time, because now it's still only $29 a couple of weeks later).\\n\\nIt's a regular USB flash drive, they're all pretty similar, for a given capacity (I only have USB 2.0 not 3.0 though, so I can't say anything about its speed if I did have a PC that supported 3.0, as some other reviewers have complained about).\\n\\nBut one thing I DON'T like about this drive is the removable cap covering the connector. It gets stuck, it's hard to remove, you have to squeeze it just so or it won't come off. And then you have to remember to stick it (the cap) on the other end of the drive (covering the annoying protruding purple loop) while you use it, so you don't lose it.\\n\\nI much prefer other USB drives I have which either have a retractable connector, or a foldaway (sideways) connector. So I probably won't be buying another one in this style from this mfgr again. (I do like to have multiple USB drives around for redundant quick backups).\\n\\nAnother thing I do not like about this drive is that it lacks any activity light/indicator. Nearly all my other USB drives have one and it comes in handy say when I'm swapping a few drives in and out and making sure that I've properly safely dismounted/ejected them, or making sure which one of them is still not done getting some files copied.\",\n \"Product: Buffalos MediaStation Portable BRXL Blu-Ray Writer BRXL-PT6U2VB offers high capacity disc writing with fast Blu-ray read and write speeds in a small, portable package. It offers optimal burning and playback performance of Blu-ray discs, DVDs and CDs on laptops and netbooks and features BDXL support for writing to high capacity Blu-ray discs and M-DISC support for longer life recordings . Powered by USB, BRXL-PT6U2B integrates two USB cables, including one for data transfers and second power boost USB cable to supply extra power to the unit when necessary, increasing reliability during use. Included with MediaStation BRXL-PT6U2B is the CyberLink Media Suite which offers rich Blu-ray and DVD burning and playback tools. Additionally, support for DVD upscaling allows for standard definition DVDs to be viewed and re-recorded in new HD quality. Its slim design fits easily inside a laptop or netbook bag, for a perfect portable companion for any mobile computer.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: not useful for me\\n\\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a unit I received for free, through the Vine program.\\n\\nWell I'm not sure how useful this actually is. For me, not so much. For you, maybe, depending on your needs.\\n\\nAs an external hard drive it's pretty expensive for only 1 TB.\\n\\nBut it's intended as a wireless streaming media server. But you need a special app to be able to view the content streaming from it.\\n\\nThe app is only available from iTunes (for Apple devices) and the Google Play store (for Android devices). We have Kindle Fire tablets so we're limited to what we can get from the Amazon app store and this app is not available there. And we have a Wii console but I don't see any Wii app available from the Wii store for it and no native way to access its streaming content from the Wii.\\n\\n[I will update this review if I do figure out anything else. The manual, which you have to download as a PDF from buffaloamerica.com, says that \\\"DLNA\\\" devices can access content from it, but I have no idea what that means and the manual is pretty cryptic and unhelpful]\\n\\nI tried to access the IP address given in the setup guide (the guide only mentions using that address as a wifi server) via http & https but there's no admin web interface; I also tried smb/UNC from Windows e.g. \\\"Run\\\", then enter \\\"\\\\\\\\\\\" plus the IP address to see if it is serving a shared network 'drive' but but it apparently doesn't do SMB/CIFS service either.\\n\\nOh and for the wired USB interface it will do USB 3.0 if your host has that; my laptop only does USB 2.0 though which is much slower for transferring files to/from the Buffalo Ministation Air, but does work.\\n\\nFor me, if I have a media content file, I just want to copy it onto my device, either my laptop or Kindle Fire tablet, and view/listen to it locally. It seems to me like the only reason I'd ever want to 'stream' content would be if I didn't actually have a copy of the content file, so I'd have to stream it from some Internet site.\\n\\nThe Buffalo Ministation Air can also serve as a wireless hot spot, IF you connect it to an existing wireless network. Kind of makes no sense to me; why not just connect everything to the original wireless network in the first place?\\n\\n(IF you do have the app for accessing streamed content from it, then it does make sense to connect to it as a standalone wifi hotspot, since you don't need the rest of the Internet)\\n\\noh and you can recharge other devices from its USB port but again you can get a much cheaper portable charger than this!!!\\n\\nSo overall I'm thinking I made a mistake by getting one of these; at least for me it was free. For you, if you are into streaming content and you can install the app it needs on your devices, and you're going to take it on vacation and connect to it via wifi in the absence of any other Internet connection, then maybe it does make sense for you.\",\n \"Product: TP-LINK's TL-WA854RE is designed to conveniently extend the coverage and improve the signal strength of an existing wireless network to eliminate dead zones. With 300Mbps wireless N speeds, Range Extender button, miniature size andwall mountingdesign, extending a wireless network has never been easier.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: did finally get connected after some complication\\n\\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a unit I received for free through the Vine program.\\n\\nWell I did get it configured. Of course my home router does not have a \\\"WPS button\\\" so the \\\"easy two touch setup\\\" is out of the question. (oh and the TPLink comes with a mini-CD, like 3 inches wide, that won't fit in a regular CDR/DVDR drive so is useless; also on the CD itself it says it is only for use with a wireless N network, which I don't have anyway, so it's doubly useless to me)\\n\\nBut flip over the paper quick installation guide to \\\"Method Two, Setup using your Web Browser\\\" and I did get it working, though it was a little more complicated for me than the instructions said.\\n\\nFollowing standard advice for security, our home router is configured to not advertise/broadcast its SSID, so you can only connect to it by manually entering its SSID, no wifi device can automatically \\\"discover\\\" it. So that's not covered in the TPLink installation guide, connecting to a wifi network manually. But there IS a checkbox at the bottom of the config screen, to enter the SSID etc. manually. Unfortunately it doesn't come up until the TPLink does its thing of scanning for a couple of minutes, to list all the SSID's that ARE being broadcast in the neighborhood (even if you don't want to use any of them and just want to enter one manually, you don't get that manual connect checkbox rendered at the bottom of the page, until it finishes its slow scan first)\\n\\nIt's weird though, when configuring manually it asks for the MAC address in addition to the SSID, which I've never heard of in manually configuring any wifi device to use our home router (computers, WII console, 2 Android phones, 2 Kindle e-ink readers, 2 Kindle Fires and a Kindle Fire HD tablets, none of them needed to know the router's MAC address like this TPLink does; they all only needed the SSID, the security method, and the password).\\n\\nbut eventually I did find the router's MAC address on the router's admin web page under an advanced status page. To do this I had to disconnect my computer from the TPLink's own wifi network, and reconnect to the home router's, bring up its admin site in my web browser, copy the LAN MAC address (not the IP MAC address, that's only facing outwards and here we need the one facing inwards). Then disconnect from our home network router, reconnect back to the TPLink's own wifi network again, and bring up the TPLink's own admin page in the web browser again, wait for it to scan all the wifi networks in the neighborhood that I don't care about, until it finally renders the checkbox I need for manually configuring, and finally get to the page where I can paste in the MAC address along with the SSID...\\n\\noh but that didn't work at first because MAC addresses are formatted using \\\":\\\" colon separators, but this TPLink weirdness needed the colons replaced by dashes \\\"-\\\" for some bizarre reason (what planet was its software written on? not Earth apparently). OK after that it DID work.\\n\\nthen it takes 2 or 3 minutes to finish configuring, and everything goes dead in the browser on the TPLink's admin page (2 different frames), and the instructions say to click the \\\"Export Settings\\\" button but there IS no button because it all went dead when it finished configuring or something...\\n\\nbut using the browser \\\"back\\\" button twice in both panels/frames of the TPLink's admin page did work. but then the Export button, although visible and enabled, did absolutely nothing, oh well.\\n\\nAnd finally, I tried a bit of web browsing using the TPLink's wifi network instead of our home router's one (gave it a slightly different SSID in the configuration). It did get to yahoo mail, for instance. But the message text panel timed out for some reason so only the message header list was there. So the TPLink's connection is buggy or flaky, not good like the main home router's is.\\n\\nAs other reviewers have pointed out, it's only halfduplex, not fullduplex, so it is only half as fast (can only transmit or receive a packet at any one time, not both) as the main router it is extending. I guess this is especially a problem on modern web sites where there's tons of crap running in javascript in the browser, all these widgets making independent calls out to server side connections and getting independent responses so the traffic is going back and forth, that's where you really want fullduplex, not halfduplex like this TPLink.\\n\\nwill have to experiment some more and hope the flakiness was just temporary, and hope maybe the halfduplex won't be so bad overall. and this initial slowness/flakiness/timeout was with the TPLink plugged in to a wall outlet in the same room as the home router, so it's only going to get worse once I relocate it to another room, which is the whole point of this thing in the first place....\\n\\noh also there's no option on the TPLink's admin web site to turn off its advertising/broadcasting its SSID like I do for our main router. So there's no way I'm going to leave this thing running all the time, broadcasting its SSID name like our neighbors' networks do, for someone to try some driveby wardialing hacking...\",\n \"Product: RP-HGS10 headphones have an open-ear design that lets you hear your surroundings while listening to music. They don't cover your ears or totally block out ambient sound, so they are ideal for a wide variety of activities -- at work, at home or outdoors.\\n\\nRating: 1.0\\n\\nSummary: not good, not audible, do not buy\\n\\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a pair I received for free through the Vine program.\\n\\nhmm. is it just me or do these not work? a few other reviewers seem satisfied but I don't see how.\\n\\nWhen I position them as they are apparently intended to be worn, with the transducers on the cheekbones just in front of the ear canals, the sound is so so tiny and faint, it's not useful at all, even with the volume cranked way up on the player.\\n\\nIf I move them back slightly so the transducers sit over the ear canals, now I can actually hear stuff. but it's really uncomfortable because they're squishing my ears.\\n\\nand so, why bother with these, having to wear them incorrectly, when I already have an excellent pair of clipon Koss earphones that rest nicely outside the ear canal, have clipons to keep them firmly in place, have great bass response and good treble and midrange response, etc.\\n\\nin other words don't waste your money on these open-ear bone conduction headphones because it's apparently just a gimmick and does not work (unless you have unusually weird ears or something, don't know how these work for anyone).\\n\\nI strongly suggest you get the Koss clip-ons instead.(Koss KSC75, or PortaPro, various models, interchangeable, common shared replacement pads, depends if you like the 2 separate clips for each ear, or like one metal band that goes over the head). in fact I had both a pair of the KSC75 clipons, and a pair of the PortaPro Jr. with over-the head metal band, and I switched the transducers (the KSC75 ones had gone bad after years of happy use), took the ones from the PortaPro band, removed the band, and just used the KSC75 clips with them instead, and that worked fine.\",\n \"Product: The Bushnell Legend L-Series Binoculars set the standard for performance in the field with maximum brightness, definition and clarity. With an ultra wide field of view, viewing excellence can be reached by any segment of outdoor enthusiasts. Magnification x Obj Lens: 10x42mm Close Focus: 8ft/1.9m PC-3 Phase Coating: Yes Lens Coating: Fully Multi-Coated Field of View: 340ft at 1000 yards Adapt to Tripod: Yes Eyecups: Twist-Up Locking Diopter: No Eye Relief: 18mm Focus System: Center Exit Pupil: 4.2 mm Prism Glass: BaK-4 Water/Fog Proof: Yes Prism System: Roof Weight: 23.5oz Size Class: Standard.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: great pair of (expensive) binoculars\\n\\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a pair I received for free, through the Vine program.\\n\\nThese are great binoculars. I have 3 other pairs of binoculars and these are far superior than all the others. They also cost a lot more too, so you have to make that trade-off.\\n\\nMy other binoculars are all just consumer fun grade, but these are more professional grade, and cost more as a result. But the difference comes out in a number of different ways. The view is great, crisp, sharp, focused, much better than all my other binoculars. Watching cars on a distant highway from up top on a mountain hike this morning, with these I could see features on the cars enough to tell what make they were, while they would be blurred with my other binoculars.\\n\\nThe various adjusting/focusing mechanisms are smooth, sturdy, easy to operate and feel like they will last a long time. They are protected by soft rubber, rather than hard plastic.\\n\\nI didn't to get to test the waterproofness except that a 10-year old kid drenching these in sweat all over the lenses etc. was no problem, easy to wipe off,\\n\\nI have tried other expensive pro binoculars before (like on dolphin-watching boat trips where the captain had a pair). These are lighter and thinner than those, but these seem to provide even better viewing optics, at least that's my impression now.\",\n \"Product: Philips SHB9850NC/27 Wireless Noise Canceling Headphones, Black\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Decent noise cancelling headphones; funky touch controls\\n\\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a pair that I received for free, through the Vine program.\\n\\nBasically a decent pair of headphones, with noise cancelling as well as Bluetooth and phone calls. Also they fold up (the cups fold up inside the headband) which is a plus too, for saving space when you're not wearing them. They fit over the ears, enclosing the ears completely, which is the style I prefer in headphones and I guess is necessary for the noise cancelling too.\\n\\nThe controls are a bit weird in that the right earphone's surface is used as a touch-sensitive surface. To play/pause, you touch once. But to increase or decrease volume, you touch and slide up or down, and to skip a track forward or backwards, you touch and slide forwards or backwards. This is weird and not always so easy to do, with no tactile or other feedback, using your right finger when you are wearing the headphones. I keep accidentally pausing the music when I mean to increase or decrease the volume. I wish they had gone with more traditional controls with tactile feedback, like a hard button/toggle or two, for these functions (maybe like the \\\"5-way\\\" button on my e-Ink Kindle which has tactile buttons for up, down, left, right, and main press/click; funny though that Kindles are phasing out those nice tactile buttons now in favor of touchscreen virtual controls with no feedback).\\n\\nThe headphones can pair via NFC instead of Bluetooth, if your phone or player is so equipped; mine isn't so I can't test that. There is also a cord for the stereo audio, if you want to plug in to the physical headphone jack of a player instead of wireless Bluetooth, which is another plus since it's unnecessary to waste the batteries on the player and the headphones by doing Bluetooth if you're in a situation where you can easily just plug in the cable.\\n\\nBut other than that quirky touch surface control for play/pause/volume/tracks (and I'll probably get better at the touch control as time goes on), these are as good as some other headphones I've tested recently, as far as wearing comfort on the ears/head and sound quality, and that's not even counting the noise cancellation, which is a nice plus. I've had wireless Bluetooth headphones before, and I've had noise cancelling headphones too, but I've never had a pair that was both noise cancelling AND wireless Bluetooth.\\n\\nHaven't tested with phone calls yet but I'm assuming the quality will be just fine.\\n\\nalso the battery is recharged via standard USB mini connector, so you don't have to replace AAA batteries like with other noise cancelling headphones.\",\n \"Product: The affordable, high-performance Lexar JumpDrive S37 allows you to quickly and securely transfer photos, videos, and files with speeds up to 130MB/s for 16-32GB and 150MB/s for 64-128GB. Quickly transfer a 3GB HD video clip in less than 1 minute, compared to the 4 minutes it takes using a standard USB 2.0 drive. The drive is loaded with advanced security software for data protection, and features a stylish swivel design with a retractable connector, which means theres no cap to lose. Its available in an assortment of colorful capacity options (16GB-128GB), and includes three-year limited warranty.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: decent fairly cheap 32GB USB3.0 drive\\n\\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a drive I received for free through the Vine program.\\n\\nThis is a decent fairly cheap drive, with 32GB, and USB 3.0, and the lite version of an encryption program. I finally have a new laptop that supports USB 3.0 so I can actually get the faster speed now (of course it is still backwards compatible with USB 2.0 and 1.1).\\n\\nI like getting multipe cheap 32GB drives, rather than a more expensive one with a lot more storage capacity. So when one goes bad as they do sometimes, I don't lose as much at once (I make redundant copies of important stuff on multiple drives).\\n\\nThe mechanism to swivel and let out the connector is unusual, OK. I have a motley of drives (even another Lexar different model, I think) with different extend/retract mechanisms. At least it doesn't have a cap that will get lost.\\n\\nThe bright color on the top is nice, as some other reviewers pointed out, easy to spot among piles of junk.\\n\\nThe \\\"lanyard\\\" is fairly useless, with a thing string and a strange teeny tiny metal ring on the end. I would prefer something with a big loop that I could grab or loop around something.\\n\\nI'd never used an encryption app on any drive before; this one does work OK, I suppose -- I can write files there and read them again after entering the password; don't know what would happen if someone did try cracking it. (and of course if you forget the password, probably have to say bye bye to those files, so this really should only be one of several redundant backup copies, for anything important).\\n\\nSo these flash drives are a \\\"commodity\\\" now; just buy the cheapest one that's on sale when you're shopping, and you'll probably do fine; this one is OK too.\",\n \"Product: 3', white, Micro USB power & sync cable, makes it easy to sync & power your portable devices with Micro USB interfaces, charge, sync & power your portable device with your Mac or Windows PC , Micro USB to USB interface, limited lifetime warranty.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: decent though a bit long\\n\\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a cable I received for free through the Vine program.\\n\\nWell it is a functional USB micro cable. It is a bit on the long side for my usage, where I almost always have a device right next to a laptop computer; I have to keep it wrapped or folded up, which is not good for the long-term health of the cable itself. But a shorter cable I used to love broke, so this is a decent substitute, albeit wrapped up.\\n\\nIt is kind of thick too, which is probably a good thing, hopefully meaning it won't go bad too soon. Time will tell.\\n\\nIt is weird to have a white cable, when all my other cables are black (I have no Appled devices), but maybe you will like the color.\\n\\nSo if this cable is not too long for you and not too short for you, and if it is competitive in price with others you are considering, it is definitely a reasonable choice.\",\n \"Product: With the 40 oz Chute vacuum, you can get a cold drink and a smooth pour, even in the backcountry. This vacuum-insulated bottle keeps liquids cold for 24 hours (even longer if you add ice), and hot for six. Plus, the cap snaps into the handle, so you can keep it out of the way as you pour. The sturdy, double-walled steel design keeps condensation from collecting on the sides of the bottle, and the powder-coat paint job adds some extra color. The narrow-mouthed opening also makes it easy to drink and pour without spilling, so you won't waste a single drop. After all, nobody wants to end a long, hard day with a lukewarm drink.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: decent medium-to-larg size metal water bottle\\n\\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a bottle I received for free through the VIne program.\\n\\nDecent water bottle, fairly large size. Have only had it for a couple of days so far;I am comparing it with the large Kleen Kanteen that I already have.\\n\\nI like bigger water bottles so I can carry a larger supply, even if it's heavier, and so the opening is wide enough to pour in real ice cubes.\\n\\nI dropped this bottle by accident, while opening the package! and it got a small dent but otherwise held up OK, so it seems to be fairly durable (my Kleen Kanteen has a whole bunch of dents in it). That's the benefit of a metal bottle over a glass bottle in that it will just dent rather than break; the benefits of metal over plastic (though heavier, unfortunately) are better insulation, maybe better taste, and some people just don't like plastic for various reasons (some plastics are less potentially harmful than others).\\n\\nThe opening is a little narrower than my Kleen Kanteen, so it's not quite as easy to funnel lots of ice cubes in quickly, but it is still wide enough to take regular sized ice cubes from a tray.\\n\\nThe lid is not quite as nice as the 2 lids I have for my Kleen Kanteen but it is kind of a compromise between the two kinds of lid design so maybe that's good. For my Kleen Kanteen I have one lid with a vertical handle that you have to screw on or off, to drink, so it's less convenient, not for one handed usage, etc. but is easier to clean. The other lid I have for the Kleen Kanteen has a horizontal handle and a nipple that pops up to open, and pops down to close; great for one-handed use.\\n\\nFor this CamelBak bottle, the one lid has a horizontal handle sticking straight out from the side, and a smaller screw-on opener. You twist the small opener a couple of times to open or close, not as much as usual lids, and it has a strap so it doesn't come free; you tuck the opened lid inside the handle, to hold it out of the way to drink. Not sure how durable this will be; we'll see. Looks easier to clean than the nipple lid for the Kleen Kanteen, but not as easy as the full-size screw-on lid for the Kleen Kanteen on the other hand.\\n\\nThe instructions say to clean the metal inside of this bottle with baking soda and water. For my Kleen Kanteen I think the instructions said to clean the inside with vinegar. Not sure of the difference, baking soda vs. vinegar, if there's really a reason why one recommends the one while the other recommends the other? funny since baking soda and vinegar are opposites, in that one is alkaline while the other is acidic.\",\n \"Product: Yahoo Serious stars in this comedy about Albert Einstein, a youthful genuis who discovers not only the theory of relativity but the electric guitar, rock'n'roll, and how to put bubbles into beer.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: The Best Physics Movie of All Time\\n\\nReview: I found \\\"Young Einstein\\\" to be so, so so side-splittingly funny, I almost died laughing. More so, because my wife is an astrophysicist.\\nI think that this movie should be required viewing for all physicists.\\nThe scene with the cats in the pie is possibly the #1 or #2 absolute funniest scene in all of movie history, way up there with the best of the Marx Bros, Monty Python, early Woody Allen, Charlie Chaplin, etc.\\nThe fantastic romance of young Einstein and young Marie Curie is one of the most memorable screen romances, up there with Bogie and Katherine Hepburn, Lara and Dr. Zhivago, Cleopatra and Antony, Stella and Stanley, Howard Stern and his wife, Linda Hamilton & the Terminator #2, even the one with Meg Ryan as Einstein's (Walter Matthau) daughter ...\\nWho cares if none of it ever happened in the real world? I'm sure that the real Albert would have fallen off his chair from laughing so hard, if he'd been alive to see this take on his fame and discoveries.\",\n \"Product: You get one black cover for your phone AND one holster belt clip that is custom made to fit the phone while inside the case. PHONE COVER: The cover is a black hard shell that snaps on the back of the phone. Your phone is fully functional in the case with cutouts to access all buttons and ports. The case is made of hard polycarbonate that has been treated with a rubberized spray powder coating for extra grip and durability. Case also has ribbed lines for additional grip. BELT CLIP HOLSTER: Holster is made to fit the phone with cover. Its also made of a hard plastic that has a rubberized texture coating. The interior is lined with micro-fiber material to ensure your lcd screen will remain scratch free. The holster can fit the phone BOTH ways: face-outward for viewing or face-inward to protect the lcd screen. Your phone is ultra secure within the holster. The belt clip on this holster will turn/lock in 13 different positions. The clip has a slim profile so it will not extend far from your waist and bump into things. Attach to your side and always have quick access to your phone. KICKSTAND: There is a hinge on the inside of the belt clip so you can prop open. This is great for standing the phone in horizontal position on your table or desk. Now you'll be able to prop your phone and watch movies hands-free....also handy for those who use their phone as an alarm clock.\\n\\nRating: 2.0\\n\\nSummary: Nice at first, but loosened up, over time\\n\\nReview: I liked this case when I first got it. Interesting combination/compromise -- you get a small thin snapon cover for the back of the phone, and you slide that into a holster-type cover + belt clip for the front of the phone.\\n\\nOver a couple of months, though, the slide has gotten looser and looser. At first the phone with the back cover slid into the front cover with a firm snap, holding it firmly in place. But that has loosened so there is no longer a snap when it slides all the way in, and it seems about to slide out, unless I carefully rotate the whole thing so it is more vertical than horizontal; but that is more uncomfortable, with the phone held vertically it digs into my fat belly a bit more than when it is horizontal.\\n\\nAlso, the belt clip does not come off, so if you carry the whole thing slid together in a pocket instead of clipped on to your belt (phone with back cover, slid into the holster with belt clip) it's a bit thick and sharp, digs in to your pocket. But if you just carry the phone with the back cover and leave the front cover + belt clip at home, the back cover alone does not protect the top edge of the phone, from falls.\\n\\nI was carrying my phone this way, with just the back cover and not the front holster + belt clip, when it slipped and fell, and actually put a small dent in the top edge of the phone, where the back cover does not cover it.\\n\\nSo I might have to replace this with yet another different case, soon. I had a different one that I liked better than this one; the other one was more of a pouch that you'd slide the whole phone into, and it had a slimline belt clip attached that didn't stick out so it was suitable for carrying the whole thing in your pocket, but on that other case, the belt clip started to pull apart from the case, which is why I had to buy this current one instead.\\n\\nSeems like finding the right phone case is an art, or something, unfortunately, and you have to buy a few before you find the right one. Again this one seemed good at first but after a few months I don't like it so much as it has loosened.\",\n \"Product: This headset was designed to give you a stable, secure fit for pretty much any kind of situation you might want to use it infrom headset-to-headset intercom duty, to Bluetooth hands-free calling, staying in touch with your companions in the great outdoors, or playing your favorite tunes from an MP3 player, youll always enjoy natural, crystal-clear sound quality. Bluetooth music playback is controlled by Playback Control, and the sound is automatically boosted when operating in noisy environments.\\n\\nRating: 3.0\\n\\nSummary: not so great, for music/phone calls. can't test as an intercom.\\n\\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a headset that I received for free, through the Vine program.\\n\\nWell unfortunately Amazon Vine only sent me one of these so I cannot review the intercom feature, which needs 2 headsets to communicate.\\n\\nI can review the headset for listening to music, and phone calls. It's not the greatest, for either of those, so if you do not need a Bluetooth intercom, don't bother getting this. Other headphones that do music and phone calls are much better and much cheaper.\\n\\nIt's a little awkward and uncomfortable due to the design, of the connecting piece wrapping around the back of your neck. It keeps getting bumped by my collar, especially when I'm outside, wearing a hoodie jacket.\\n\\nThe sound is mediocre, when listening to music. I've got lots of headphones that sound much better, including some that cost less than $20 (like the Koss Portapro Jr.).\\n\\nEven for phone calls, the sound quality is mediocre and the microphone is lousy too, cutting out all the high frequencies so my voice comes through so muddled that it is very hard to understand what I'm saying. Phone calls have inherently lousy sound anyway but my voice comes through much worse through the mike on this headset than the mike builtin to my phone. even a cheapie bluetooth earpiece that sticks in one ear has better sound quality through its microphone than this headset does, unfortunately. and this is without the windscreen covering the mike. Putting on the windscreen makes it even worse, even more muffled.\\n\\nThe controls are non intuitive and weird. Maybe someday I will have memorized the arcane sequences needed to perform basic functions. You have to press combinations of two buttons, sometimes press them several times in a row and/or hold them for a number of seconds, until the software cycles through several modes.\\n\\nJust to stop or resume music playback, for instance, is not intuitive. If you just press the big main button with the \\\"play\\\" icon on it once, instead of starting or stopping the music, it tries to go into Intercom mode, and fails because no other intercom is connected, and just falls back to whatever you were listening to.\\n\\nMaybe my opinion will improve after some more experience, but after a few days with this headset (limited to just music and phone calls) I am not impressed at all.\",\n \"Product: An avant-metal spectacle of the most obscene, obese and obstinate, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum sound like a brigade of skeleton soldiers marching through post-industrial cities decorated by the finest of silken banners to cover up the decay. Singer Nils Frykdahl can croon with a baritone even deeper than Simon Bonney, with the same sense of dark philosophy, as he does on the opening \\\"Hymn to the Morning Star.\\\" But he's just as likely to bark like James Hetfield caught up in the rush of soiled guitars and battering ram drums of \\\"The Donkey-Headed Adversary of Humanity Opens the Discussion\\\" or \\\"Phthisis\\\" where he is joined by Carla Kihlstedt, a wicked queen at her dark lord's side. The instrumentation is as rich as it is fragmented, with chimes, strings and the sound of clacking chicken bones making way for more distorted oblivion when Frykdahl intones \\\"Let us dream now, the impossible dream of a math professor\\\" on \\\"FC: The Freedom Club.\\\" Of course, the debate on where in the serious spectrum this sort of indulgent fantasia music lies is never certain. But if you think Meat Loaf is the ultimate in musical inspired rock-u-drama then this will certainly turn you on your head. ~ Joshua Glazer, Rovi\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: highest praise is insufficient\\n\\nReview: Wow. Scary. Intoxicating. Awe-inspiring.\\n\\nAs good as their 1st studio album (\\\"Grand Opening and Closing\\\"). And that is saying a LOT.\\n\\nI had heard a lot of the material on this album already, in their live tours over the past couple of years, meaning that they did polish most of it on the road, before recording in the studio, which is good.\\n\\nIncredible concepts to think about, while reading the liner notes and listening to the music.\\n\\nIncredible music, excellent production and recording quality.\\n\\nI would say, buy it if you are at all curious.\\n\\nCurious about anything (and/or everything), in the entire universe, that is.\\n\\nEven if you end up not liking it, you will have a piece in your hand, of something that is real, a phenomenon that is happening, that will be legendary someway (hang onto it and sell it on eBay in 25 years) thanks to the inspiration, talent, and just plain unending hard work, sweat, practicing, greasepaint, and devotion, of the guys and girl, in this musical and theatrical and philosophical ensemble.\",\n \"Product: M usic for people who get sculpture (you know who you are). This music was originally conceived for a film on sculptor Mark Di Suvero, and later remixed and released as North Star. As one of Philip Glass' early works, the album helped introduce his idiosyncratic style to listeners (although I bought it based on the post-Einstein buzz). EMI. 2003.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: One of my favorites\\n\\nReview: This has long been one of my most favorite Glass albums.\\n\\nI got to see the film once, after I'd already heard the album.\\n\\nI used to play tracks from this album, live on a college radio station where I was a DJ, like every week, through the 1970's.\\n\\nNow I miss the rough crude abruptness, of the cheesy Farfisa organ sound, in this recording, also the severity and original clarity (AKA \\\"minimalism\\\") of the compositions, when I listen to much later Glass.\\n\\nProbably that is a very subjective personal thing. If I had heard the late recordings first, I might prefer them.\\n\\nBut since this was one of my original introductions to the music of Philip Glass, it remains one of my top favorites.\",\n \"Product: Promote lush foliage and enhanced fruit production with Miracle-Gro Fruit & Citrus Tree Fertilizer Spikes. Our easy-to-use spikes release nutrients directly into the root zone to help promote strong fruit and citrus trees. It is designed to meet the needs of these unique plants. Simply apply the spikes once in the spring and then again in the fall. Enjoy stronger, more beautiful fruit and citrus trees with Miracle-Gro.\\n\\nRating: 5.0\\n\\nSummary: good for fruit trees\\n\\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a package I received for free through the Vine program.\\n\\nI have used fertilizer spikes like these for more than 10 years now. I do look for the cheaper brands if they're available, but if not I do use Miracle-Gro. I've used the fruit tree spikes, the evergreen spikes, and also the regular tree spikes.\\n\\nWe had peach and pear trees at our old house and I always put fruit tree spikes around them, twice a year if I could manage it. Our new house has some fruit trees too, so I'll be using these soon too, since early Spring is a good time for them.\\n\\nThe spikes do break sometimes while you're hammering them in the ground, especially if the ground is hard, but that's not such a big deal, just pound the pieces into the ground and they'll dissolve gradually when it rains or when you water.\\n\\nand follow the instructions, place the spikes around the drip line (the outer edge of the branches/leaves).\",\n \"Product: The Perky-Pet 8 oz Glass Top Fill Hummingbird Feeder will be a welcome addition to your yard. The easy to fill wide mouth top ensures that there will be no spilling when filling! The exclusive Top Fill feature means that you will no longer have to invert your hummingbird feeders, simply pour, replace the cap and youre ready to go. Four soft, decorative flower feeding ports are more life-like than any feeder before! The hummingbirds will be attracted to the bright red of this feeder and flowers, and hummingbird fans will be attracted to the daintiness of this small capacity feeder. If ants become a nuisance at your feeder, dont forget to pour water in the built-in ant moat on the lid of your feeder to keep those pesky ants out of the nectar! Remember to clean your feeder at least twice a week, more often in very warm climates or seasons.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: very nice, better than other larger feeders\\n\\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a unit I received for free through the Vine program.\\n\\nThis is a nice hummingbird feeder. We have 3, sometimes 4 set up spread out across the back of our house, and we break them sometimes, so we have tried out a number of different brands and models, and this does seem to be the nicest one so far, for a couple of reasons in particular.\\n\\n1. Its small; the glass container is smaller than all the other feeders we've tried. The reason this is good is that you're supposed to change the liquid fairly often, but it's pretty much impossible for little hummingbirds to drink all the liquid contained in bigger ones, so you waste most of it & have to throw it away, with larger feeders.\\n\\nAlso being small this would encourage you to put up smaller multiple feeders, which is good for most of the hummingbirds. They are very territorial, at least the males, and they fight viciously over each feeder! so generally one dominant alpha male chases away all the others, if you only have one feeder, or even if you have two that are too close to other. We spread ours out so a couple of them are around the corners, where the less dominant males still get a chance to feed without the mean alpha male chasing them away, meaning we have to fill up more feeders, so having them smaller like this works much better.\\n\\n2. You fill it from the top like a normal jar kind of container, with a nice normal fat wide screw-off lid on the top! and don't have to play the silly game you do with all other feeder designs, where you have to flip them over, fill them, and then carefully flip them again while full of liquid, trying not to spray/spill too much in the process. I wonder if all the other designers of other hummingbird feeders are kicking themselves and yelling \\\"D'oh!\\\" now that this one came out with such a logical design.\\n\\n(it has 2 lids, one nice one for refilling at the top, and then the usual one at the bottom like all other feeders, which has all the flower feeding hole thingies attached).\",\n \"Product: Clean, quick, trapping of rats. The trap is pre-baited with a scented, expanded trigger and backed by more than 20 years of proven field results.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: BIG and scary traps, but they worked to catch a big and scary rat\\n\\nReview: After hearing some rodent partying upstairs in the attic, I'd been setting out some mousetraps (which have worked in the past, to catch the occasional mice that invade our house once in a while. This time, the mousetraps kept getting tripped without catching anything (and the defiant rodent partying noise continued).\\n\\nSo on a whim I ordered this package of huge scary RAT traps and set one in place of the little mousetraps. didn't realize from the product photos how BIG these rat traps are.\\n\\nAnd bam, just caught a huge scary RAT, big as a rabbit, big enough to fry up as a redneck teabagger's dinner... so these traps are just the right size to catch it.\\n\\nI washed the rat trap off and set it out again, so they are reusable. but the rat had gnawed the yellow plastic around where the trigger arm fits in, so the trigger mechanism is a bit less stable than original; if there is another rat and it does the same thing, I might just have to throw this trap away. but that's why I have this huge package of 12 of them, just in case, where I probably only needed a couple....\",\n \"Product: EveryDrop is a patented new formula of wetting agents designed to help move water into the soil consistently and evenly. This helps to reduce wasteful runoff and pooling. Whether relying on rain, sprinklers, or hoses, EveryDrop makes the most of available water. For over 50 years, professional turfgrass managers have used wetting agent technology to help move water through hard, dry soils to more efficiently manage water and turf performance. Now Scotts is bringing this technology to the home for use in any outdoor space.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: not sure if this works or not\\n\\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a bottle that I received for free through the Vine program.\\n\\nI am not sure if this stuff actually works, if it actually makes a significant difference. It was easy to open the package and spread the granules on the ground around some fruit trees, and work them into the ground with some water. Now as I said, I'm not sure if it will make a significant difference or not; we live in a drought stricken area with watering restrictions, so I hope it will help, but I just don't know how to make a quantitative evaluation.\\n\\nit certainly is not hurting anything, not making anything worse. but I do not know if it is worth it to buy this product (since I received it for free).\",\n \"Product: Myron Mixon 36\\\" Barrel Style Barbeque Wood Pellet Grill and Smoker with Digital Temperature Control and Center Fire Box.\\n\\nRating: 1.0\\n\\nSummary: easily damaged in shipment; difficult to assemble\\n\\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a unit I received for free through the Vine program (although the Vine program messed up and cancelled the order, yet still shipped it eventually, so it doesn't appear as a Vine acquisition).\\n\\nWell it looked interesting so I ordered one to try. Unfortunately I haven't actually gotten to use it yet. Shipment was delayed so long that the Vine program cancelled my order. But then they still shipped it anyway! It is huge and very heavy so your UPS delivery guy will be grumbling as he thumps it down on your front porch. You might do better to buy this from a local store and have them deliver it, or pick it up yourself if you have a truck maybe, rather than let it go through the shipment process where it will get damaged like mine did.\\n\\nSome parts were damaged during shipment and/or delivery. Instructions are OK i the beginning, but stop halfway through the assembly process, inscrutably, so it is not at all clear how the interior parts should go (\\\"water pan\\\", \\\"heat baffle\\\" cover). There is a cleaning guide which mentions \\\"remove the aluminum foil covering\\\" of 2 parts yet nothing about how or why you'd want to cover them with aluminum foil in the first place. nor how to place them either.\\n\\nThe web site at pitmaster2q.com has no instructions nor anything useful at all. There are a couple of vimeo videos but they are for a smaller model, which doesn't look anything like this one, so most of the features are different (the smaller one in the videos, a rectangular one rather than a barrel, seems to have more features, like internal storage, some kind of doors for releasing and cleaning out ashes, etc. that I don't see anywhere on this larger barrel model).\\n\\nOne especially horrid design decision is how the lid cover of the \\\"auger\\\" sticks up out over the edge of the barrel when it is shipped. So when it is in transit, it gets bashed in and the hinges are damaged, so the lid is unuseable. I finally had to use 2 wrenches/pliers to pull off the screws and the damaged hinges, so now I have an auger cover lid that just sits loosely over the auger, with no hinges. And there's no handle. so I hope it doesn't get too hot.\\n\\nThe legs (wing panels where screws go through, to attach to the base/bottom shelf) were damaged and bent during delivery/shipment. Fortunately I was able to straighten out the panels enough to be able to screw them in place eventually.\\n\\nThe orange lid to the barrel does not quite fit right, and its hinges were also damaged in shipment, so it is loose and shaky and has a big gap in the lower corner.\\n\\nIf I can figure out how to place those 2 sticky yicky interior parts (they are coated with some disgusting sticky stuff that looked like corrosion/rust but other people have mentioned it too so I guess it's supposed to be that way?) and if we can find a store that sells these unusual pellets, then I'll update this review if we can actually try cooking with this thing.\\n\\nAh NOW I can find the Edit button to edit this review rather than just leave a comment. Couldn't do it from regular Amazon product page, had to start over from Vine page. Anyway, as in my comment below, I found that Sears sells wood pellets and actually had some bags in stock so I could pick some up to try the grill out without waiting for shipping from an online order.\\n\\nand I poured a bunch of pellets into the auger box and turned the thing on and the auger started cranking, very very slowly and loudly, but then stopped a few seconds later. Turned it off and on again, same thing. Waited 20 minutes with it on, since instructions said it can take 7 minutes for pellets to get down the tube to the firepot. Still nothing and the auger screw thing was dead.\\n\\nHad to jiggle the auger box and it would start turning again, for a few seconds, before stopping again. Found an angle where I could lean on the box and hold it just right and the auger would run for a few more seconds until my hand moved and the auger stopped. After a bunch of tries, jiggling the box, getting the auger to work for a few seconds till it stopped, jiggling again, finally it just died completely.\\n\\nso I have this box filled with pellets, and down at the bottom, this dead auger screw thing. Dug out the pellets, tried poking the auger screw thing, nothing.\\n\\nI manually filled the firepot full of pellets and the thing finally did fire up OK and make smoke and fire, yay. but long before the 45 minute burnin in period, it ran out of pellets I guess, and the temperature started dropping and no more smoke. But now I can't fiddle with the firepot because it's all hot and there's the heat cover and grease pan slanty thing which I hope I put in right but I don't know for sure, anyway they're still covered with that awful sticky rotten gunk from the factory, it didn't burn off yet, plus they're hot so I can't lift them out yet....\\n\\nyou get the picture, basically we WON'T be grilling this 4th of July on this new (broken) grill..... what a piece of crap. and customer service, hah. Monday - Friday business hours only, 9 - 5 (Eastern U.S.?). Of course, we're all only using grills during business hours, right, it would be insane to want to use a grill after hours or on the weekend....\\n\\nIf I had paid the big bucks for this thing I'd be even more pissed. I'm still pissed even though I got it for free to review it. Now it's a big honking dead thing (unless I can disassemble the auger box and fix it or something, which I do not look forward to) and I'll have to haul its heavy ass up the steep stairs out of the backyard and try to fit it in the car to haul it away to a disposal site or something...\",\n \"Product: The Cuisinart Digital Folding Probe Thermometer is a simple and effective way to check in on the readiness of your grilled meats. This thermometer has a digital LCD display that reads internal meat temperatures instantly. The probe is long enough to fit in any sized meat cut and folds into base for convenient storage. Built-in LED light allows for grilling at night. Comfortable grip and the folding probe provide perfect angles and comfort when reading temperatures in hard to reach places.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: decent digital meat thermometer\\n\\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a unit I received for free through the Vine program.\\n\\nNice unit. I've never owned a digital meat thermometer before; in fact I've never owned an analog one either. (my mother had an analog long stick thing with a round analog temperature gauge dial on the end, back in the 1960s). So this is my first meat thermometer. I'd been meaning to get one for years, and the technology has progressed now to where this little $20 unit is pretty decent, though not perfect.\\n\\nThe main unit is a little flimsy, yes. the probe needle part is sturdier. sometimes it does jitter and take a few seconds to settle down on the reading, as other reviewers have reported. and I am left handed so it would have been nice if it was designed ambidextrously somehow instead of oriented just towards holding in the right hand but that's not such a big deal, you're just testing a hunk of meat once in a while.\\n\\nUsing removable/replaceable batteries is both good and bad. It might have been nice to have a builtin rechargeable battery but that would have increased the cost, and those batteries do eventually wear out. One can just use rechargeable AAA batteries, if one wants to.\",\n \"Product: IRWIN Tools VISE-GRIP High-Leverage Diagonal Cutting Pliers, 6-inch (1902411). Induction-hardened cutting edges cut the toughest materials, including ACSR, nails, screws and even piano wire. Coated for superior rust resistance. 3-component molded grip is contoured for optimal cushion and control, so you can make more cuts comfortably. The exclusive hook and lanyard system lets you attach pliers to help prevent accidental drops and provide easy retrieval from pouches or pockets. Backed by the IRWIN lifetime guarantee. Made in Solingen, Germany, a town famous for metal-smithing for hundreds of years, using the highest-quality materials and the latest in precision engineering technology. These high-quality tools are just one of the most recent products of VISE-GRIP's 90-year history of innovation, going back to their invention of the first locking plier in 1924.\\n\\nRating: 4.0\\n\\nSummary: Very good for its intended purpose\\n\\nReview: Disclaimer: I am reviewing a unit I received for free through the VIne program.\\n\\nAs all the other reviews say, this is a well made, durable heavy duty pair of pliers. It is specialized. Presumably you know what you are looking for, and that is why you are considering this. It does not open very wide, so is not good for general pliers things like holding and turning wide things (plumbing and other fixtures).\\n\\nBut for the specialized uses it IS intended for, it is probably one of the best you can buy. Crimping, cutting, grabbing and pulling wires and other thin things (including thicker heavier \\\"fish\\\" guide wires). The long handles give it great leverage for this and the heavy duty solid tip make it strong and secure for this.\\n\\nAnd as everyone points out, the lanyard is useful too when you are working in a spot where you don't want to drop it.\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":33,"string":"33"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_3"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":899,"string":"899"}}}],"truncated":false,"partial":false},"paginationData":{"pageIndex":8,"numItemsPerPage":100,"numTotalItems":14745,"offset":800,"length":100}},"jwt":"eyJhbGciOiJFZERTQSIsImtpZCI6IjVHZDBvd0g5MTM2eDZjc1FvbE1zcktNWUZoRVFoUm5PVVVybEpjOUhaUEEifQ.eyJyZWFkIjp0cnVlLCJwZXJtaXNzaW9ucyI6eyJyZXBvLmNvbnRlbnQucmVhZCI6dHJ1ZX0sImlhdCI6MTc4NjIxMjExOCwianRpIjoiMjAwMTAzYTctMmVhMC00MDNkLTkwNzItMTlhZGQyYjM1ZjdiIiwic3ViIjoiL2RhdGFzZXRzL01lbW9yeUFzTW9kYWxpdHkvTG9uZ0xhTVAtMyIsImV4cCI6MTc4NjIxNTcxOCwiaXNzIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly9odWdnaW5nZmFjZS5jbyJ9.T8JGp-H-vwcEvEve3YZMuz7bGOerHMTOwm5OOkEN8lnOHhqKR_Z7zgwpK-SQSmOYE3vKzHXkS--VAyf4mjOdCw","displayUrls":true,"splitSizeSummaries":[{"config":"default","split":"train","numRows":14745,"numBytesParquet":685612512},{"config":"default","split":"validation","numRows":1826,"numBytesParquet":81282560},{"config":"default","split":"test","numRows":1822,"numBytesParquet":90474619}]},"discussionsStats":{"closed":0,"open":1,"total":1},"fullWidth":true,"hasGatedAccess":true,"hasFullAccess":true,"isEmbedded":false,"savedQueries":{"community":[],"user":[]}}">
question_id stringlengths 11 14 | question stringlengths 179 4.2k | answer stringlengths 550 30.2k | correct_answer stringlengths 550 30.2k | documents listlengths 4 200 | profile_size int64 4 200 | task stringclasses 1
value | split_kind stringclasses 1
value | id int64 0 14.7k |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
A29CK3R8EIDEJG | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "K70 RAPIDFIRE has 100% Cherry MX Speed switches for the world's fastest mechanical keyboard performance. 100% anti-ghosting with full key rollover on USB ensures every keystroke translates directly ... | My son is a big PC gamer and had already owned a Red Dragon gaming keyboard, but he was happy to switch it out for this Corsair one. He already owns a Cosair gaming mouse, so the keyboard compliments that nicely. Here is what he has to say:
* Well designed & Aesthetically pleasing- the placement of the keys & spacing ... | My son is a big PC gamer and had already owned a Red Dragon gaming keyboard, but he was happy to switch it out for this Corsair one. He already owns a Cosair gaming mouse, so the keyboard compliments that nicely. Here is what he has to say:
* Well designed & Aesthetically pleasing- the placement of the keys & spacing ... | [
"Product: BUZZ Jr.! Jungle Party Bundle - PlayStation 2\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: OK For Younger Ages, Not so Much Fun for Older Players\n\nReview: I gave this game to my 14 yr old son for Xmas who likes to play mainly Role Playing games. He wasn't too enthused about it, and once he tried it all I got was a shrug... | 19 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 800 |
A3SH07WNMNITI9 | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "It is the first installment of the Deptford Trilogy and is a story of the life of the narrator, Dunstan Ramsay. It is Davies' best-known novel, and considered his finest.". The summary of the review... | I can't keep a copy of The Deptford Trilogy. Within a week of my umpteenth reading I always find myself pressing it on some friend or relative. Why? Well, when a revelatory experience has been FUN for you, you want to pass it on.
Robertson Davies genius is infused with the comic, not the tragic view of life. But this ... | I can't keep a copy of The Deptford Trilogy. Within a week of my umpteenth reading I always find myself pressing it on some friend or relative. Why? Well, when a revelatory experience has been FUN for you, you want to pass it on.
Robertson Davies genius is infused with the comic, not the tragic view of life. But this ... | [
"Product: An interesting take on the Vampire mythology\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: great acting, but incompletely developed ideas\n\nReview: Hmmm. Interesting film. Like many pieces of art that thinks about art, it gets a bit idea-ridden. But the thoughts are interesting, and Dafoe's performance as Schreck / Count O... | 6 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 801 |
A226VGZWOEBPGL | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "The LifeProof Hand Strap + Shoulder Strap keeps iPad Air by your side and at-the-ready anywhere and anytime you need it. The Shoulder Strap lets you take iPad Air to school, to work and on vacation ... | Good at waterproofing your ipad. The only downside is that it really isn't a day to day cover. It leaves the screen face open and seals around the glass to get the waterproofing. While this is good at creating a tight seal, it still leaves your ipad exposed to drops and dings and scratches on the screen. So that is a d... | Good at waterproofing your ipad. The only downside is that it really isn't a day to day cover. It leaves the screen face open and seals around the glass to get the waterproofing. While this is good at creating a tight seal, it still leaves your ipad exposed to drops and dings and scratches on the screen. So that is a d... | [
"Product: Hoover Commercial HushTone Canister, CH32008.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: a very capable canister type vacuum that doesn't require hearing protection\n\nReview: Very nice and indeed quiet! The non-retractable cord is a little odd but ti works. There is a hook to wrap it up and just drape the cord onto the ... | 125 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 802 |
A2L37NOB0GU3CX | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "Educated in England and came to the US in the mid seventies full time. He started out as a machinist, engineer, who eventually started his own business in 1982 making wings for airplanes. He sold hi... | This is a story of ancient times, reincarnation, family and destiny. It is set in England, with an aristocratic family and the coming of age of the son of the Earl. He is introduced into another world and discovers the powers that are handed down through him to present times. The other world teaches him many life lesso... | This is a story of ancient times, reincarnation, family and destiny. It is set in England, with an aristocratic family and the coming of age of the son of the Earl. He is introduced into another world and discovers the powers that are handed down through him to present times. The other world teaches him many life lesso... | [
"Product: Rev. Dr. Rob Reimer is Professor of Pastoral Theology at Alliance Theological Seminary in Nyack, NY and the founding pastor of South Shore Community Church in Brockton, Massachusetts, where he served as lead pastor for 22 years. Under Robs leadership, what began as a small group of eight believers mobiliz... | 4 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 803 |
A13Q6DZC1WZ9K6 | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "1.0" for a product with description "At Mr. Rad's Warehouse, the best hip-hop crews in Los Angeles compete for money and respect. But when a suburban crew crashes the party, stealing their dancers-and their moves-two warring friends ha... | O my gracious, this was the worst movie that I have seen in I don't know when. Peer pressure is NOT cool because that was the only reason they got my $6. This movie was beyond awful...B2K is the weakest thing to hit the music scene. They are always in our faces and it gets even worse with a movie. The only thing tha... | O my gracious, this was the worst movie that I have seen in I don't know when. Peer pressure is NOT cool because that was the only reason they got my $6. This movie was beyond awful...B2K is the weakest thing to hit the music scene. They are always in our faces and it gets even worse with a movie. The only thing tha... | [
"Product: Excellent playing condition! Minor wear to the case.\n\nRating: 1.0\n\nSummary: What I really want is O Stars...\n\nReview: In high school, I tried to convince our African American STudies teacher to plan a field trip to see this movie. He rebuffed me, and when I saw this movie on tape, I knew why.\nI am... | 11 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 804 |
A27Q9NX3M3GN63 | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "4.0" for a product with description "Big & Tall chairs are designed to accommodate larger and taller body types. This chair has been tested to hold a capacity of up to 1000 lbs., offering a broader seat and back width. This versatile s... | I bought this chair because I have an unusual glandular condition that has created unwanted height and weight, and all of the "office chairs on wheels" I have owned were not long lasting or sufficient. I appreciated the warnings of some customers regarding what they perceive as a "design flaw" that causes the square en... | I bought this chair because I have an unusual glandular condition that has created unwanted height and weight, and all of the "office chairs on wheels" I have owned were not long lasting or sufficient. I appreciated the warnings of some customers regarding what they perceive as a "design flaw" that causes the square en... | [
"Product: 1.5 quart capacity, fast freezing gel canister technology. Auger style mixing paddle mixes and aerates ice cream to a creamy consistency. Gel canisters nest for compact freezer storage, makes ice cream in 30 minutes, no rock salt or ice needed.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: It worked great for me, not like t... | 18 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 805 |
AST7XM0F9CN5H | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "A romanticist at heart, with a deductive mind, I am a graduate engineer who traveled the world keeping commercial jet engines flying safely. I thought I loved my first career until I found my second... | Dead Winners makes me happy I never purchase lottery tickets. McDonald's has put together one hell of an action-packed mystery. I breezed through this in a couple of days. I didn't really know how exciting a book about lottery tickets could be, but boy, McDonald hit it on the head. Brent is a man that is down on his lu... | Dead Winners makes me happy I never purchase lottery tickets. McDonald's has put together one hell of an action-packed mystery. I breezed through this in a couple of days. I didn't really know how exciting a book about lottery tickets could be, but boy, McDonald hit it on the head. Brent is a man that is down on his lu... | [
"Product: Wither\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Amazing YA dystopian that really delivers!\n\nReview: Wither is about a dystopian world where advances in science have ruined the future. Due to the children born with the help of science to create the perfect child in order to stop cancer and other various diseases; thos... | 6 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 806 |
A3IPSTD7R03WQY | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "Editor, Novelist, and speaker Jennifer Slattery has a passion for helping women discover, embrace, and live out who they are in Christ. As the founder of Wholly Loved Ministries, (http://whollyloved... | This is a God inspired book. Not preachy but very faithfully written. I loved every page of it. Slattery took a topic like going on a Mission trip and orphans and made it shine. I held on to every word of this book.
This book leaves you with something to take away and keep you thinking. I have read all of Slattery's ... | This is a God inspired book. Not preachy but very faithfully written. I loved every page of it. Slattery took a topic like going on a Mission trip and orphans and made it shine. I held on to every word of this book.
This book leaves you with something to take away and keep you thinking. I have read all of Slattery's ... | [
"Product: Mark M.K. Gilroy is a veteran publishing executive who has acquired, developed, authored, and ghostwritten numerous books that have landed on various bestseller lists. His newest novel, Cold As Ice, marks the return of Detective Kristen Conner, a character USA TODAY calls Miss Congeniality meets Castles K... | 5 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 807 |
A3356C71R17JXP | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "2.0" for a product with description "Gigi All Purpose Honee Microwave Kit, 16 Ounce". The summary of the review text is "Don't try this at home". | Dear Tiffany, I promise that I will not try to be frugal and will always, always come to you to have my legs waxed. You see, I got this kit from a friend. She tried to use it on her underarms and after doing half of one, vowed she would never, never wax anything again. But I was willing to give it a whirl; after all, I... | Dear Tiffany, I promise that I will not try to be frugal and will always, always come to you to have my legs waxed. You see, I got this kit from a friend. She tried to use it on her underarms and after doing half of one, vowed she would never, never wax anything again. But I was willing to give it a whirl; after all, I... | [
"Product: Play as Barbie as you train, ride, and jump, while participating in challenges that will help you perfect the skills of owning and caring for your horse. Showcase your abilities in the camp's final week and take home the blue ribbon!\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: 'A purchase I wish I hadn't made\n\nReview: W... | 11 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 808 |
A2C98PZKKQ90EY | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "4.0" for a product with description "Green Day - American Idiot (CD). The Grammy winning album, American Idiot, was Green Day's first since 2000.". The summary of the review text is "Good, but so much filler!". | I'm one of the younger Green Day fans, so I'm not as crazy about the early stuff as I am stuff like "Warning" which was an amazing album. This album is also amazing, but it loses a star for me because of all the filler. The album is almost an hour long, but it really doesn't need to be. For example, why I ask, is there... | I'm one of the younger Green Day fans, so I'm not as crazy about the early stuff as I am stuff like "Warning" which was an amazing album. This album is also amazing, but it loses a star for me because of all the filler. The album is almost an hour long, but it really doesn't need to be. For example, why I ask, is there... | [
"Product: Join the six heroes of destiny, the Toa, as they face their greatest challenge of all.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: It was sorta fun... while it lasted\n\nReview: Oh wow, where to begin. I guess I should flat out say this game was very very disappointing and probably not worth even the 12.99 I paid for it, ... | 28 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 809 |
A1GWXP09D5TNTZ | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "4.0" for a product with description "Alex Webb-Peploe is an illustrator and web designer. He lives in London with Hilary and his young son Caleb.". The summary of the review text is "The Third Day in Comic Form". | The Third Day: The Gospel of Luke Chapters 22-24 by Alex Webb-Peploe and Andre Parker (Scripture from the HCSB)
This new comic book, The Third Day, by Alex Webb-Peploe and Andre Parker, taken from Luke 22-24 (HCSB) is a wonderful depiction of the world, the characters, and the events leading up to Jesus death and resu... | The Third Day: The Gospel of Luke Chapters 22-24 by Alex Webb-Peploe and Andre Parker (Scripture from the HCSB)
This new comic book, The Third Day, by Alex Webb-Peploe and Andre Parker, taken from Luke 22-24 (HCSB) is a wonderful depiction of the world, the characters, and the events leading up to Jesus death and resu... | [
"Product: Dataclysm, an unprecedented deluge of digital information reshaping our view of the world. Christian Rudder maps and charts this data from out online wanderings resulting in a new way of looking at human behavior.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Big Data Interesting Interpretations\n\nReview: Dataclysm: Who We... | 14 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 810 |
A282IKG6734165 | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "4.0" for a product with description "Kris Jayne is a devoted writer, reader, and traveler. She spends her days blissfully sweating out the writing process in the Dallas area with her dogs, Otis the Shih Tzu, Rocco the Terrier, and Red ... | chasing you by:kris Jayne ****4****
chasing you by kris Jayne is her fourth book from the series thirsty heart series. this is my first book by this author and I really enjoyed her style of writing. she told the story with excitement, intrigue, romance and comical at times, and I wanted to smack the couple a lot. th... | chasing you by:kris Jayne ****4****
chasing you by kris Jayne is her fourth book from the series thirsty heart series. this is my first book by this author and I really enjoyed her style of writing. she told the story with excitement, intrigue, romance and comical at times, and I wanted to smack the couple a lot. th... | [
"Product: Freya has always been creative. Involved in music and dance when she was younger, she followed it up with painting, cake design, quilting, and has most recently added cover design. Now the Dutch-born Canadian mother of two has found her voice - writing. For Freya Barker the next step to pen a book of her ... | 5 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 811 |
AE0MBLS6C1K2U | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "Three ambulance workers hustle business in Los Angeles. Directed by Peter Yates.". The summary of the review text is "Great movie. Funny still today.". | I was 16 years old when this flick came out. It was funny then; it's funny today. But one thing it did for me was steer me away from the drug scene amongst some of my peers. Even though the movie is a comedy, its portrayal of the L.A. drug community convinced me that this was something that I didn't want any part of... | I was 16 years old when this flick came out. It was funny then; it's funny today. But one thing it did for me was steer me away from the drug scene amongst some of my peers. Even though the movie is a comedy, its portrayal of the L.A. drug community convinced me that this was something that I didn't want any part of... | [
"Product: Inspired by professionals and designed for connoisseurs, KRUPS products have been built with three key attributes in mind: Passion, Precision and Perfection. The KRUPSXP4600 Pump Espresso Machine belongs to the Silver Art Collection composed of the KT600 Thermal Carafe Coffee Maker, the XP4600 Pump Espres... | 34 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 812 |
A1NIEIENEWXCCQ | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "Touching the Void (DVD)". The summary of the review text is "The alpine method on Siula Grande". | Macdonald chose an unorthodox approach in superimposing the narrative by the two climbers (Joe and Simon) to the segments of the climb filmed on the mountain itself (and in the Alps) by two superb climbers and by two excellent actors.
The movie is sparse, with the words themselves a backdrop to the silence known by ev... | Macdonald chose an unorthodox approach in superimposing the narrative by the two climbers (Joe and Simon) to the segments of the climb filmed on the mountain itself (and in the Alps) by two superb climbers and by two excellent actors.
The movie is sparse, with the words themselves a backdrop to the silence known by ev... | [
"Product: Ethan Hawke, Robert Sean Leonard, Uma Thurman - Director: Richard Linklater\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Ethan, Uma and Bob leave Hollywood\n\nReview: ...in this fascinating movie. Not often can a director pull off an adaptation of a one act off-off Broadway theater piece into a full feature movie yet Link... | 11 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 813 |
A3LZA698SQPCXE | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "4.0" for a product with description "MX Master wireless mouse is the flagship mouse from Logitech designed for power users. This high-end product offers comfortable hand-sculpted contour, stunning design and advanced features, and is o... | I was looking to upgrade from my old MX Pro and this MA Master looked like the spiritual successor. Similar shape but more controls and most importantly - Bluetooth. Out of the box it worked great. Then about two weeks later it started having issues on windows. Like the mouse was continually connecting and disconnecti... | I was looking to upgrade from my old MX Pro and this MA Master looked like the spiritual successor. Similar shape but more controls and most importantly - Bluetooth. Out of the box it worked great. Then about two weeks later it started having issues on windows. Like the mouse was continually connecting and disconnecti... | [
"Product: Taking care of your oral health is easy with the Philips Sonicare EasyClean Rechargeable Toothbrush. Utilizing patented Sonic technology, this rechargeable power toothbrush features a dynamic cleaning action that gently and effectively reaches deep between teeth and along the gum lines. It includes a slim... | 44 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 814 |
A1RX5ERL0QIZ3U | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "2008 marks the release of Sarah Brightman's first new studio album for five years. Recorded in Germany, Symphony features all new songs and is created with Sarah's long-time producer Frank Peterson.... | This album surprised me, I am not going to do a long review like my good friend Tony did but this album is far and above better then the last studio release "Harem". Maybe except for the first two tracks & the last track which is part of a reprise of the first track & hidden after track 13. This album goes back to her ... | This album surprised me, I am not going to do a long review like my good friend Tony did but this album is far and above better then the last studio release "Harem". Maybe except for the first two tracks & the last track which is part of a reprise of the first track & hidden after track 13. This album goes back to her ... | [
"Product: ...\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: The Fifteen Track Gap\n\nReview: I had this in my collection on vinyl back in the day it came out on underground records (with all fifteen tracks & other ones I collected up had twelve). Then it came out on CD with the speed mastered incorrectly (with all fifteen tracks from... | 33 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 815 |
A3FOALVTW4NEZI | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "4.0" for a product with description "Linda Hall spent the early years of her writing career as a journalist and freelance writer. She also worked in the field of adult literacy and wrote curriculum materials for adults reading at basic... | Night Watch is a mystery set in Maine. It has a sailing theme and opens with a long dream scene in which Em Ridge dreams about her dead husband. It's still painful for her to remember him, but at the moment she's Captain Ridge of Blue Peace a luxury sailboat which she is taking to Bermuda for it's owner.
On board ship... | Night Watch is a mystery set in Maine. It has a sailing theme and opens with a long dream scene in which Em Ridge dreams about her dead husband. It's still painful for her to remember him, but at the moment she's Captain Ridge of Blue Peace a luxury sailboat which she is taking to Bermuda for it's owner.
On board ship... | [
"Product: If you have a dream - go for it Life is not a rehearsal After teaching my 1000th pupil and working as a deputy head teacher in a large primary school, I decided it was time to leave the chalk face and pursue my first love: writing. In 2006 I joined the Romantic Novelists? Association?s New Writers? Scheme... | 13 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 816 |
A1LYZLVEHF1GF | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "This is The perfect little Window for Any Playhouse, Shed, or Chicken Coop, very easy to install. Our Windows are made to our specifications and are a higher quality then others out in the market pl... | I needed a pair of windows to go inside a chicken coop. I was concerned with ventilation and airflow in the upper part of my coop where my chickens rest at night. I also wanted something I could easily open and close when the weather begins to get colder. Space limitations also meant I needed smaller windows and these ... | I needed a pair of windows to go inside a chicken coop. I was concerned with ventilation and airflow in the upper part of my coop where my chickens rest at night. I also wanted something I could easily open and close when the weather begins to get colder. Space limitations also meant I needed smaller windows and these ... | [
"Product: Looking for an easy and convenient way to install your 2.5\" drives into your 3.5\" bays? With it's simple installation design, the SilverStone SDP08 Hard Drive Bay Converter can hold up two 2.5\" drives inside a 3.5\" bay. The SDP08 converter is compatible with any computer case equipped with a 3.5\" bay... | 22 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 817 |
A2W7CCCR4M7UXE | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "this is for a chisel tip marker pm121". The summary of the review text is "Highly recommend for anyone who enjoys coloring in adult coloring books or for the more serious artist.". | I enjoy coloring in adult coloring books. I've been using prismacolor blender pencils when I wanted to blend different shades or simply give a smoother finish to the pages I've colored. I recently found these blender markers and thought I'd give them a try. I was a bit concerned that they would be too wet if used on... | I enjoy coloring in adult coloring books. I've been using prismacolor blender pencils when I wanted to blend different shades or simply give a smoother finish to the pages I've colored. I recently found these blender markers and thought I'd give them a try. I was a bit concerned that they would be too wet if used on... | [
"Product: In the rich tradition of outdoor cooking in the American West, the members of the Utah based International Dutch Oven Society have assembled a great collection of Dutch Oven recipes. Remarkable breads, main dishes and desserts representing a sampling of all time Dutch oven favorites. Dishes to challenge t... | 26 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 818 |
A3TKL7X26QKKMO | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "The explosive metal quintet has come to be known for their heavy riffs, memorable hooks and rowdy live shows. Revolver Magazine recently dubbed them "the future of American metal".Of the band's new ... | This album is simply awesome. All That Remains' 2006 masterpiece "The Fall of Ideals" is without question the best album that the band has to offer thus far, and it's also one of the best modern metal/metalcore albums that I've listened to as well. I enjoyed their 2004 release "This Darkened Heart" very much as well, b... | This album is simply awesome. All That Remains' 2006 masterpiece "The Fall of Ideals" is without question the best album that the band has to offer thus far, and it's also one of the best modern metal/metalcore albums that I've listened to as well. I enjoyed their 2004 release "This Darkened Heart" very much as well, b... | [
"Product: Have a blast with Mega Man titles past-plus dozens of original, unreleased games, footage, art and music-featured in this special collection celebrating Mega Man's 15th anniversary. For the first time ever you can play the original Mega Man 1 through 8 series, along with two cool arcade games never before... | 125 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 819 |
A3TCQ8LICJ6HUW | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "4.0" for a product with description "Crossed". The summary of the review text is "Recommend Rereading the First Book". | Cassia, Ky, and Xander are back in this sequel to Ally Condie's book Matched. But there is a slight twist from the first book. This second is written from two points of view. Cassia's and Ky's.
We start off with Ky. After being taken from the Borough by the Society near the end of the first book, we find that he is no... | Cassia, Ky, and Xander are back in this sequel to Ally Condie's book Matched. But there is a slight twist from the first book. This second is written from two points of view. Cassia's and Ky's.
We start off with Ky. After being taken from the Borough by the Society near the end of the first book, we find that he is no... | [
"Product: One choice can transform you. Pass initiation. Do not fail! Thrilling urban dystopian fiction debut from exciting young author. In sixteen-year-old Beatrice Prior's world, society is divided into five factions -- Abnegation (the selfless), Candor (the honest), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), ... | 5 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 820 |
ACV5MOOTBQK9H | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "4.0" for a product with description "Science Fiction Short Stories". The summary of the review text is "Interesting peek at the science fiction in the 30s through the best stories. Interesting". | As the editor of this anthology notes most of the science fiction created in the 30s was dribble.
But it kept money coming into the authors and publishers and offered exotic entertainment to the great unwashed that was US.
Through the insight of the ensuing 80 years we find that science fiction that came later was be... | As the editor of this anthology notes most of the science fiction created in the 30s was dribble.
But it kept money coming into the authors and publishers and offered exotic entertainment to the great unwashed that was US.
Through the insight of the ensuing 80 years we find that science fiction that came later was be... | [
"Product: 110 Piece Copper Washer Assortment\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great Craft and Jewellery Making Item\n\nReview: I was forever going to the hardware store to try and find copper washers for my various craft and jewellery projects. I wasted a lot of gas and time running around trying to find them.\n\nWhen I ... | 11 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 821 |
A1PW5SQLR0Z6IH | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "Each standard three ring view binder is a perfect organizational tool, with round rings to allow for easier page turning. Binder has both a clear cover and spine sleeve so that you can customize it ... | What can you really say about a black binder? Well, the Wilson Jones Round Ring View Binder, which is 1.5 inches in basic black with customizable sleeves and spine. AND if you search, it comes in almost every color imaginable, which in turn makes it a sturdy addition to any office in need of a notebook to file things.... | What can you really say about a black binder? Well, the Wilson Jones Round Ring View Binder, which is 1.5 inches in basic black with customizable sleeves and spine. AND if you search, it comes in almost every color imaginable, which in turn makes it a sturdy addition to any office in need of a notebook to file things.... | [
"Product: Rubbermaid Commercial Products Vented BRUTE Trash Can, 20 Gallon sets the standard for reliable garbage collection in low-to-medium traffic areas. Built tough and versatile, these garbage cans feature revolutionary venting channels that let air flow into the receptacle making liners up to 50% easier to re... | 32 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 822 |
A3JT3H3CEXCYYT | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "2.0" for a product with description "Ten bright blocks are ready to introduce baby to shape-sorting fun! Baby can drop blocks into the open bucket…or through the shape-sorting lid! Filling the bucket with blocks, dumping them ou... | I bought this a few months ago. We already owned the <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Tolo-Toys-Rolling-Shape-Sorter/dp/B00005UFC1/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Tolo Toys Rolling Shape Sorter</a> - which I highly reccommend - but I've found that in our house it's best to own... | I bought this a few months ago. We already owned the <a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Tolo-Toys-Rolling-Shape-Sorter/dp/B00005UFC1/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Tolo Toys Rolling Shape Sorter</a> - which I highly reccommend - but I've found that in our house it's best to own... | [
"Product: WOOLITE All in One Carpet Cleaning Tool - Easy & Convenient Cleaning Solution for Indoor messes\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Gets chocolate out of light colored car seats!\n\nReview: My boyfriend shared a chocolate chip cookie with our toddler son & in the process of passing a piece from the front seat to t... | 76 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 823 |
A16WKPOSEGQC3Y | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "German edition of the Swedish progressive metal act's 2002 album. Less expensive than the Japanese but minus the bonus track. Housed in a slipcase.". The summary of the review text is "Wow.. I'm exh... | I, just like most fans of this genre, spend lots of time seeking out music that will satisfy my jones for complicated, melodic, powerful, metalish, headbanging, symphonic tunage. We all have different proclivities, but most of us seem to congregate around some center. Yes and Genesis used to be the mainstream torch b... | I, just like most fans of this genre, spend lots of time seeking out music that will satisfy my jones for complicated, melodic, powerful, metalish, headbanging, symphonic tunage. We all have different proclivities, but most of us seem to congregate around some center. Yes and Genesis used to be the mainstream torch b... | [
"Product: The world’s worst nuclear disaster occurred on April 26, 1986, at the Chernobyl power facility in the Ukraine. The area slowly recovered until 2006 when an unforeseen second explosion rocked the landscape, leaving a vast \"Exclusion Zone\" plagued with deadly energy disturbances in its wake. The qua... | 61 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 824 |
A1CS70DT7ZPCJJ | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "3.0" for a product with description "70's Pop". The summary of the review text is "Great to Finally Have on Disc, But One of Lesley's Weakest Albums". | I was excited when I heard Real Gone Music was finally releasing this and I pre-ordered it immediately, thinking perhaps having it now on crystal-clear CD would allow me to appreciate it more than I did by playing an old vinyl copy. A curious artifact more than anything else, LOVE ME BY NAME dares to show a different s... | I was excited when I heard Real Gone Music was finally releasing this and I pre-ordered it immediately, thinking perhaps having it now on crystal-clear CD would allow me to appreciate it more than I did by playing an old vinyl copy. A curious artifact more than anything else, LOVE ME BY NAME dares to show a different s... | [
"Product: 70's Pop\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: '70s Oddity Does Gore No Favors\n\nReview: A curious artifact more than anything else, LOVE ME BY NAME dares to show a different side of the former Queen of the Teen Weepers, but after listening to this album a dozen times I still don't know exactly what she or producer... | 119 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 825 |
A3HU1XATNMR2C2 | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "L.L. Collins loves spending her days in the Florida sun with her husband and two boys, reading, and writing. LL has been writing since she was old enough to write. Always a story in her head, she fi... | Words cannot express how sad I am that Exposed was the last book in the Jaded Regret Series. **Cue sobbing**
L.L. sure ended this series with a BANG.
I've been wanting Natalie's I read the first book, Sentenced. Her story was certainly worth the wait. I didn't at all expect where the story went.
Kai was pretty much ... | Words cannot express how sad I am that Exposed was the last book in the Jaded Regret Series. **Cue sobbing**
L.L. sure ended this series with a BANG.
I've been wanting Natalie's I read the first book, Sentenced. Her story was certainly worth the wait. I didn't at all expect where the story went.
Kai was pretty much ... | [
"Product: Sophia Scarlet is a Maryland native. She lives with her husband, two children, and cat in a magical land not far from the Potomac River. When she is not buried under a mountain of laundry, writing, or shuttling her children around, you can find her practicing yoga, cooking, or picking seasonal vegetables ... | 10 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 826 |
A1DSES64WY3DGM | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "4.0" for a product with description "Quick Shipping !!! New And Sealed !!! This Disc WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. A multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player is request to view it in USA/Canada. Please Review Description.". The summ... | Excellent movie, the stars are actually the director, the cars, stunt scenes and the bad guys. The truth is the two supposed lead characters (played by Tom Hardy and Charlise Therion) are actually pretty boring in themselves but are there to create the need for a plotline (not to mention you supposedly need `stars' to ... | Excellent movie, the stars are actually the director, the cars, stunt scenes and the bad guys. The truth is the two supposed lead characters (played by Tom Hardy and Charlise Therion) are actually pretty boring in themselves but are there to create the need for a plotline (not to mention you supposedly need `stars' to ... | [
"Product: Johnny Depp (CHOCOLAT) delivers a remarkable performance in this highly acclaimed tale of adventure and intrigue in the wild, wild west! A young man in search of a fresh start, William Blake (Depp) embarks on an exciting journey to a new town ... never realizing the danger that lies ahead. But when a heat... | 27 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 827 |
A31PP1LB2A8WR4 | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "TURN YOUR WORLD UPSIDE DOWN. Take previous limitations out of the equation with the GorillaPod SLR Zoom Tripod and Ballhead Bundle. The 360 pan gives you extra-versatility as increase the range of s... | I've been using this for a while - it's small enough to put in my backpack or hang off my camera bag, and comes in very handy for many times you don't have a real tripod (like all the time, actually). I have great pictures of me with my wife now that I wouldn't have had without this.
A few months ago, the screw on my ... | I've been using this for a while - it's small enough to put in my backpack or hang off my camera bag, and comes in very handy for many times you don't have a real tripod (like all the time, actually). I have great pictures of me with my wife now that I wouldn't have had without this.
A few months ago, the screw on my ... | [
"Product: Experience a deeper clean every day with the Roomba 870 Vacuum Cleaning Robot. Featuring the revolutionary AeroForce Cleaning System, Roomba 870 delivers up to 5x the air power and requires less maintenance. Just press clean or schedule Roomba to run up to 7x per week. Roomba works on all floor types, and... | 21 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 828 |
A34ZEKVLYY0QZM | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "These hook magnets hold 25 lbs each. The 25 lb capacity is based on horizontal application and is reduced by 2/3 if used vertically. The hook size is 1 inch base x 1 11/16 inch high. The eye bolt is... | TL;DR: Strong enough for most kitchen or workshop purposes; they'll literally yank themselves out of your grasp as they seek the sweet, metallic embrace of your fridge, dishwasher, pots-and-pans-rack, workbench, or what have you. Handy hooks can be replaced with eye loops or other hardware as suits your needs; a nice t... | TL;DR: Strong enough for most kitchen or workshop purposes; they'll literally yank themselves out of your grasp as they seek the sweet, metallic embrace of your fridge, dishwasher, pots-and-pans-rack, workbench, or what have you. Handy hooks can be replaced with eye loops or other hardware as suits your needs; a nice t... | [
"Product: Clorox Glass Wipes in Radiant Clean scent are formulated to deliver a clear, streak free finish. These lint free, glass wipes are specifically designed to clean glass, mirrors and windows in one easy step. With a no drip formula, the 3 in 1, wet wipes clean, shine and dry surfaces fast, leaving nothing bu... | 58 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 829 |
AGEIT17HENDIS | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "4.0" for a product with description "30 cuts from 1954-1963, comes with lavish full color 12 page book, with The Rivieras, Link Wray, The Duprees and many others.". The summary of the review text is "Be-Bop Doo Wop Oh wah Rock". | Rock and roll was (is) big, sweaty cities, hot time summertime and the living is easy cities, New York outlandish cities, be-bop cities, kids sitting around Washington Square, Central Park, Union Square, name your square or be square, be-bopping away, waiting, waiting impatiently, waiting out of their shoes impatientl... | Rock and roll was (is) big, sweaty cities, hot time summertime and the living is easy cities, New York outlandish cities, be-bop cities, kids sitting around Washington Square, Central Park, Union Square, name your square or be square, be-bopping away, waiting, waiting impatiently, waiting out of their shoes impatientl... | [
"Product: A couple with a broken relationship learns some valuable lessons about love, life, and sacrifice in this romantic drama based on a novel by W. Somerset Maugham. It's 1925, and Dr. Walter Fane (Edward Norton) is a physician and bacteriologist who has become smitten with Kitty (Naomi Watts), the beautiful d... | 200 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 830 |
A1GFNUEF9RKSSJ | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "3.0" for a product with description "New". The summary of the review text is "I recommend this book for anyone who is part of #BachelorNation/#BacheloretteNation". | I finally picked up The Selection (hesitantly), mainly because I wanted something interesting and easy to read at the airports on my flights back to Nashville. It was only $2.99 on Amazon for Kindle, so I gave it a shot.
It was entertaining, that is for sure. It is essentially The Bachelor + medieval dystopian future.... | I finally picked up The Selection (hesitantly), mainly because I wanted something interesting and easy to read at the airports on my flights back to Nashville. It was only $2.99 on Amazon for Kindle, so I gave it a shot.
It was entertaining, that is for sure. It is essentially The Bachelor + medieval dystopian future.... | [
"Product: Madmans Daughter\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: This book just didn't have the OOMPF it needed to capture young adults\n\nReview: For the most part, I tend to listen to the recommendations of my friends even when the books don't sound particularly interesting. Im not a big fan of the classics (maybe because ... | 7 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 831 |
ADAJ62S65XLVH | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "Colette Caddle lives in Dublin with her husband and two young sons. She is the author of the bestselling A CUT ABOVE, TOO LITTLE TOO LATE, FOREVER FM, SHAKEN NOT STIRRED (all published by Poolbeg in... | Sheila disappears at the moment the business she and her sister Sinad have built is starting to become successful. Sinad is heartbroken and she misses her sister every minute of the day. She's missing her so much that her relationship and business are starting to suffer. Her brother Max is trying to make her pull herse... | Sheila disappears at the moment the business she and her sister Sinad have built is starting to become successful. Sinad is heartbroken and she misses her sister every minute of the day. She's missing her so much that her relationship and business are starting to suffer. Her brother Max is trying to make her pull herse... | [
"Product: # 1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia with her husband and her Jack Russell, Loki. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She also writes adult and New Adult romance under the name... | 6 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 832 |
A29T77UEKH8O9L | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "Bold to the max, permanent to the core, and offering the ultimate in precision, Sharpie Ultra Fine Point Permanent Markers inspire you to make your point. Made to write practically everywhere, vivid... | I love Sharpies, always have. I ordered 12 sharpies from "School Bunch" and they came in a plastic baggie which was a nice touch as sometimes they dry out when left in cardboard only.
These sharpies 'write' well; meaning, thick or thin, it is even, not clumping or bleeding. Of course you always tend to see the color on... | I love Sharpies, always have. I ordered 12 sharpies from "School Bunch" and they came in a plastic baggie which was a nice touch as sometimes they dry out when left in cardboard only.
These sharpies 'write' well; meaning, thick or thin, it is even, not clumping or bleeding. Of course you always tend to see the color on... | [
"Product: When 13-year-old Tracy befriends the most popular girl in school, she begins a shocking self-destructive transformation--leaving a frantic single mom powerless to rescue her daughter from a whirlwind of drugs, sex and crime.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: I must have grown up in one rough hood........\n\nRevi... | 5 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 833 |
A3KPDMIJQWB9ZA | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "3.0" for a product with description "James Crow lives in the UK in a redbrick mansion, where the walls are tall, the basements deep, and where secrets aplenty are just waiting to be told. Watch this space!". The summary of the review t... | Hmmm Not too sure how to review this book... It was recommended to my by some friends. After reading the synopsis I was intrigued and consider that I have a cast iron constitution
The book contains very graphic sex scenes, including hard core BDSM. Some parts I thought eeeww that's too much and not for me but some par... | Hmmm Not too sure how to review this book... It was recommended to my by some friends. After reading the synopsis I was intrigued and consider that I have a cast iron constitution
The book contains very graphic sex scenes, including hard core BDSM. Some parts I thought eeeww that's too much and not for me but some par... | [
"Product: SAMANTHA TOWLE is a New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author. She began her first novel in 2008 while on maternity leave. She completed the manuscript five months later and hasnt stopped writing since. She is the author of contemporary romances, The Storm Series and The Revved... | 4 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 834 |
A2KZOIOFXXMC1H | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "4.0" for a product with description "Whitetails Unlimited 10x50 binoculars have a rubber covered exterior provides a sure grip and protects the internal mechanisms, wide field of fiew with long eye relief, and comfortable rubber eyecup... | I returned a pair of Bushnell 10x50 Permafocus binoculars because I didn't like the optics. These Pentax Whitetails are far superior for about the same price. They have BAK4 prisms which let more light through at night. I plan to use them for stargazing. These also have a diopter adjustment, where the Permafocus mo... | I returned a pair of Bushnell 10x50 Permafocus binoculars because I didn't like the optics. These Pentax Whitetails are far superior for about the same price. They have BAK4 prisms which let more light through at night. I plan to use them for stargazing. These also have a diopter adjustment, where the Permafocus mo... | [
"Product: Designed by industry leader Drum Workshop, PDP hardware is built to perform for working drummers. The lightweight 700 Series delivers exceptional quality for less than youd think. The DT700 throne offers a comfortable 3 seat cushion, a solid 1 base, and sturdy double-braced legs fitted with large rubber f... | 27 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 835 |
AIFIR7HW14ONC | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "2.0" for a product with description "Woodies Zebra Wood Sunglasses offer a combination of 100% real Zebra Wood arms that support a wayfarer style plastic frame. Each pair is completely unique and has its own wood striations. The lightw... | These are very cheap knockoffs glad I only paid 14.00 on BlackFriday but they are cheaply made and small .
I have an average sized head and these are like a kids size and not for men thats for sure way to small.
The wood reminds me of cheap wood flooring very light color does not look like woood. More like woodish.
I w... | These are very cheap knockoffs glad I only paid 14.00 on BlackFriday but they are cheaply made and small .
I have an average sized head and these are like a kids size and not for men thats for sure way to small.
The wood reminds me of cheap wood flooring very light color does not look like woood. More like woodish.
I w... | [
"Product: Are you a rude boy? The Rude-Boy vibrating massager offers dual action to please the prostate and perineum. To enjoy the unique experience of Rude-Boy, use a water based lubricant. Position the bullet behind the scrotum with the opposite end resting against your prostate. You can sit up or lie back and ro... | 17 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 836 |
A21M3YYEERMG3D | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock.". The summary of the review text is "Yummy taste-price? Not a bargain!". | This gum is delicious but I just went to price it and the price is crazy. The gum is fresh and the quality is fine. I would buy another but sorry guys-your price is just too much.
There aren't a lot of places to get this gum or any of the EXTRA delicious flavors so, if reasonable I will get it online. I'm glad I bough... | This gum is delicious but I just went to price it and the price is crazy. The gum is fresh and the quality is fine. I would buy another but sorry guys-your price is just too much.
There aren't a lot of places to get this gum or any of the EXTRA delicious flavors so, if reasonable I will get it online. I'm glad I bough... | [
"Product: The MagniFlip (GN-33) from Carson is a lightweight and compact, flip-open magnifier. This portable, pocket magnifier contains a 3x power magnification. These Magnifiers are perfect for carrying in your purse or pocket. The ergonomic design makes these magnifiers extremely easy to use and take with you on ... | 41 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 837 |
A3KM9UA6MAVURN | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "2.0" for a product with description "CPU Chip: 3rd generation Intel Core i5 Processor with Intel HD Graphics 4000 ? System memory 4GB RAM--Dual Channel Memory OS Windows 8 Pro Storage5 ? 128 GB (approximately 89 GB available for user c... | I picked one of these up, seduced by the good reviews. I don't need another tablet, but I liked the idea of a tablet that could run full windows pro software, so that I could have all my work applications travel with the convenience of a tablet.
First issue I had was that charger is bizarre. I would have preferred a ... | I picked one of these up, seduced by the good reviews. I don't need another tablet, but I liked the idea of a tablet that could run full windows pro software, so that I could have all my work applications travel with the convenience of a tablet.
First issue I had was that charger is bizarre. I would have preferred a ... | [
"Product: 26 Inch 3.3 cu. ft. Top Load Washer\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: After years of dealing with electronic HE smelly junk, finally a real washer!!!\n\nReview: I had a Whirlpool Cabrio for six years or so, and what a piece of junk it was. The electronics were always flaking out, the washer took forever to do a ... | 25 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 838 |
A2MFMUWYJ9VHPX | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "What is a difficult conversation? Asking for a pay rise, saying 'no' to your boss or spouse, confronting a friend or neighbor, asking a difficult favor, apologizing. We all have conversations that w... | Difficult conversations are a normal part of business life---as well as personal life. Therefore, it is an absolute must to become very good at leading them. The authors argue that difficult conversations generally fall prey to three assumptions:
1. The Truth Assumption: I am right; you are wrong
2. The Intention Inve... | Difficult conversations are a normal part of business life---as well as personal life. Therefore, it is an absolute must to become very good at leading them. The authors argue that difficult conversations generally fall prey to three assumptions:
1. The Truth Assumption: I am right; you are wrong
2. The Intention Inve... | [
"Product: CEO Louis V. Gerstner Jr.'s memoir about the extraordinary turnaround of IBM and his transformation of the company into the industry leader of the computer age -- the great American business story of our time. When Louis V. Gerstner became CEO of IBM in 1993, shares had slumped and the company was on the ... | 5 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 839 |
A21PI25JNE6SY1 | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "Japanese Version featuring a Bonus Track. First Time on CD. Originally Released in 1972.". The summary of the review text is "AHEAD of its TIME, Time to LISTEN........". | I first picked up this lp when it was released in 1972(I have 2 worn out copies, glad to see SOMEONE thought this music was important enough to re-release! ).
JAPAN reissues this hidden gem. Of course, HEAVEN FORBIDS a USA record label release something for the MUSICAL VALUE alone, no???????
Well, the band........Phi... | I first picked up this lp when it was released in 1972(I have 2 worn out copies, glad to see SOMEONE thought this music was important enough to re-release! ).
JAPAN reissues this hidden gem. Of course, HEAVEN FORBIDS a USA record label release something for the MUSICAL VALUE alone, no???????
Well, the band........Phi... | [
"Product: SYNOPSIS: This period drama explores the life and times of the 16th century doctor and scientist who some believed could see into the future. Michel de Nostradamus (Tcheky Karyo) was the son in a Jewish family who posed as Catholics to be spared the wrath of the Inquisition. As a student of the renowned p... | 16 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 840 |
A1Q70K27GSE8U4 | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "RT Systems ADMS-1J Programming software makes it easy to manage memory channel information and other menu settings of the Yaesu FT-60. Spreadsheet layout with many point and click options. "Read" th... | After having first used this software for my Baofeng UV-82HP I knew I'd found a winner. For the ease of use this software is well worth the price. When I bought my FT-60 it wasn't even a consideration to go without RT Systems. CHIRP is good and free but RT Systems outshines it by far.
It was so nice to be able to a... | After having first used this software for my Baofeng UV-82HP I knew I'd found a winner. For the ease of use this software is well worth the price. When I bought my FT-60 it wasn't even a consideration to go without RT Systems. CHIRP is good and free but RT Systems outshines it by far.
It was so nice to be able to a... | [
"Product: Our unique Liquid Cleaner removes hard water deposits from Jiffy Steamers. It is easy to use and works on all Jiffy Steamer models. It is suggested to use this cleaner as a preventative solution every 3 to 6 months depending on the quality of your water and frequent usage of the steamer. Three 10 ounce bo... | 22 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 841 |
A39H5ZCKFUMO2K | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "4.0" for a product with description "Green Day - American Idiot (CD). The Grammy winning album, American Idiot, was Green Day's first since 2000.". The summary of the review text is "Green Day is a Symbol of the Disillusionment of Amer... | Last night I watched a free television concert featuring Billy Joe Armstrong, Green Day's brilliant if not frenetic leader and Elvis Costello, one of the original punk rockers from yesteryear in a series of remarkable and glued to the set duets. Elvis exhibited the finesse of a tried and true whiskey throated veteran l... | Last night I watched a free television concert featuring Billy Joe Armstrong, Green Day's brilliant if not frenetic leader and Elvis Costello, one of the original punk rockers from yesteryear in a series of remarkable and glued to the set duets. Elvis exhibited the finesse of a tried and true whiskey throated veteran l... | [
"Product: This product is not eligible for Priority Shipping.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: This Norelco Shaver Will Do The Trick\n\nReview: I am not a spring chicken and therefore go way back with the Norelco line of electric shavers however this 8240XL steals the bacon for me. Simply put I am hugely happy that for a... | 21 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 842 |
A3CR1EV98GQ87X | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "If you're going to play through this amp, be warned: you'll have to narrow your favorite tones down to, say, a few hundred. That's right; Line 6 packed over 300 signature tones from a who's who of r... | I started two years ago with a 15 watt Spider III, then along with other amps, bought a Spider Jam. I thought they were all great. Now they come out with Spider IV, and the difference in the sound is dramatic. They are getting very, very close to tube sound. So much so that for the lousy $299, compared to say $1000+... | I started two years ago with a 15 watt Spider III, then along with other amps, bought a Spider Jam. I thought they were all great. Now they come out with Spider IV, and the difference in the sound is dramatic. They are getting very, very close to tube sound. So much so that for the lousy $299, compared to say $1000+... | [
"Product: Features controls for speed and depth. A Hard/Soft switch gives you the trems from different '50s amps.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: These old time food pedals are the best!\n\nReview: When I first started setting up my little studio, I wanted something that didn't break the budget. I tried a couple differ... | 58 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 843 |
AVE93C3GPMTN2 | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "2.0" for a product with description "Wireless Charger, PLESON Qi Wireless Charging Pad Wireless Charger for Samsung Galaxy S7 S7 Edge, S6 S6 Edge/Plus Note 5,Note 4, Nexus 6/5, Lumia 920, LG G4/G3,Droid Turbo and All Qi-enabled Devices... | I bought this for use with my Nexus 6 and I am pretty disappointed.
It works, I guess, but the final product isn't what I expected.
So here's the deal:
The look, size quality of the item matches what I expected to receive.
However the first issue is that this is not a full charger. It is the wireless pad and and a ca... | I bought this for use with my Nexus 6 and I am pretty disappointed.
It works, I guess, but the final product isn't what I expected.
So here's the deal:
The look, size quality of the item matches what I expected to receive.
However the first issue is that this is not a full charger. It is the wireless pad and and a ca... | [
"Product: .011-.052 Custom Light Gauge Acoustic Guitar Strings, Phosphor Bronze\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Great Strings Hands Down\n\nReview: Great strings.\nReally, I think these are pretty good \"go to\" strings for just about anybody of any caliber on virtually any acoustic guitar.\nThey strung nicely, broke in... | 41 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 844 |
A2VGTBXWR2191N | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "Shipping Depth: 11.1 Shipping Height: 2.5 Shipping Width: 8.8 Master Pack Qty: 10 General Information Manufacturer: Netgear, Inc Manufacturer Part Number: DGN2200-100NAS Brand Name: Netgear Product ... | Bought this in store due to urgency of having a 2Wire router go down. Read the instructions, got my UN/PW from my ISP, connected the unit, bam online. Went through the advance settings, changed what I wanted, no problems. I have a camera system and had no issues with port forwarding or getting the cameras back online.
... | Bought this in store due to urgency of having a 2Wire router go down. Read the instructions, got my UN/PW from my ISP, connected the unit, bam online. Went through the advance settings, changed what I wanted, no problems. I have a camera system and had no issues with port forwarding or getting the cameras back online.
... | [
"Product: *3 prong grounded plug\n*All metal construction\n\nRating: 3.0\n\nSummary: Not so Good for Indoors\n\nReview: First off, this is a utility heater meaning its best used outside in a garage. If you are considering to use this indoors, review my comments below.\n\nI was basically forced to purchase this heat... | 20 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 845 |
A65D3EGFDW6SZ | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "HBO pushes the boundaries once again with this hit show about a man with three wives. Bill Paxton (ALIENS) stars as Bill Henrickson a Salt Lake City Mormon who appears to have eked out an achingly m... | I love TV series that deliver great entertainment and social commentary in a non-preachy, stereotype busting way, that really make you think and laugh, and sit on edge of your seat, all at the same time. This series is close to the top of my list of such. (Dexter, the HBO series--switched to network CBS in 2008 is anot... | I love TV series that deliver great entertainment and social commentary in a non-preachy, stereotype busting way, that really make you think and laugh, and sit on edge of your seat, all at the same time. This series is close to the top of my list of such. (Dexter, the HBO series--switched to network CBS in 2008 is anot... | [
"Product: At under 8 pounds, this ultra-lightweight upright vacuum easily converts into a handvacfor versatile floor-to-ceiling cleaning. It's equipped with swivel steering for excellent control when maneuvering around furniture, and offers two storage options: attach the hand vac to the bottom of the wand or secur... | 6 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 846 |
A1SPPBBNH7R55W | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "3.0" for a product with description "Beautiful tarot deck.". The summary of the review text is "A Symbolistic Deck of Inspiration". | I had another itch to add one more deck to my lineup of decks. Initially I was looking for the Thoth tarot but couldn't find it at my local bookstore. But I did find the Archeon Tarot of which I saw pictures of on Amazon. I loved the picture of the High Priestess as whenever that card appears in other decks I forget w... | I had another itch to add one more deck to my lineup of decks. Initially I was looking for the Thoth tarot but couldn't find it at my local bookstore. But I did find the Archeon Tarot of which I saw pictures of on Amazon. I loved the picture of the High Priestess as whenever that card appears in other decks I forget w... | [
"Product: Scaled to fit 1/4 size violin with a playing length of 10 1/2 inches (265mm), these medium tension strings are optimized to the needs of a majority of players. Packaged in uniquely-designed sealed pouches providing unparalleled protection from the elements that cause corrosion.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: ... | 13 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 847 |
A3MZRWIB2TR99P | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "C.J Duggan is an Australian author who lives with her husband in a rural border town of New South Wales, Australia. The Boys of Summer is Book One in her Mature Young Adult Romance Series. For more ... | I don't know what it is about Aussie young adult authors, but I have yet to find one who has failed to write a realistic and touching coming of age story that reaches right into my heart. I picked up The Boys of Summer by C.J. Duggan on a whim one day after a suggestion on amazon. It sat on my kindle unread for several... | I don't know what it is about Aussie young adult authors, but I have yet to find one who has failed to write a realistic and touching coming of age story that reaches right into my heart. I picked up The Boys of Summer by C.J. Duggan on a whim one day after a suggestion on amazon. It sat on my kindle unread for several... | [
"Product: One choice can transform you. Pass initiation. Do not fail! Thrilling urban dystopian fiction debut from exciting young author. In sixteen-year-old Beatrice Prior's world, society is divided into five factions -- Abnegation (the selfless), Candor (the honest), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), ... | 7 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 848 |
A1WJ4ZAQMJTQMB | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "3.0" for a product with description "Lethal Affairs won a 2009 Lesbian Fiction Readers' Choice Award for Favorite Adventure. It has been translated into Dutch as Dubbel Doelwit (Double Target) by LaVita Publishing, and is being transla... | I'm not going to rave about this book because the authors made me have to work a little too hard to enjoy it, filling in plot holes and inconsistencies in characterization. But ultimately they did competently construct a plot and a story centered around the Elite Operative Organization that laid groundwork for a series... | I'm not going to rave about this book because the authors made me have to work a little too hard to enjoy it, filling in plot holes and inconsistencies in characterization. But ultimately they did competently construct a plot and a story centered around the Elite Operative Organization that laid groundwork for a series... | [
"Product: Sydney Van Allen is a rising star on the political horizon. Faith Fitzgerald is a dedicated scholar and award-winning author. Thrown together by fate, these strong, independent women find themselves impassioned by a dangerous longing that compels them to surrender- body and soul!\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary... | 13 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 849 |
A1BYS1UCV2JDBS | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "Book by Bale, Karen A.". The summary of the review text is "Beautiful, Lyrical Indian Story". | This review is of Karen A. Bales Sweet Medicines Prophecy: Sun Dancers Passion, book 1 of 7 in the Sweet Medicines Prophecy series. (It is not technically referred to as a anthology, but rather as related books, but it is in reality a series.)
The Story: The book begins with an introduction to the heroine of the book,... | This review is of Karen A. Bales Sweet Medicines Prophecy: Sun Dancers Passion, book 1 of 7 in the Sweet Medicines Prophecy series. (It is not technically referred to as a anthology, but rather as related books, but it is in reality a series.)
The Story: The book begins with an introduction to the heroine of the book,... | [
"Product: Sara Alexi was born in Oxford, England. She has travelled widely and now splits her time between her home in England and a tiny rural village in the Peloponnese, in Greece, where she is (very slowly!) renovating a ruined stone farmhouse, whilst observing the Greek way of life and absorbing the culture, to... | 5 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 850 |
AF0W3W0KHMF6Q | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "4.0" for a product with description "THIS IS BRAND NEW BOOK.WE PROVIDE 100% CUSTOMER SATISFACTION.". The summary of the review text is "Great conclusion to a great series". | Shades of Earth ends the Across the Universe trilogy with Amy and Elder finally arriving on the new planet. The other frozen passengers are finally revived, including Amys parents, and much of the novel deals with the tensions between Earth- and ship-born people as they forced to work together to survive.
Revis alien ... | Shades of Earth ends the Across the Universe trilogy with Amy and Elder finally arriving on the new planet. The other frozen passengers are finally revived, including Amys parents, and much of the novel deals with the tensions between Earth- and ship-born people as they forced to work together to survive.
Revis alien ... | [
"Product: This is the long awaited fourth installment of George R R Martin's classic \"A Song of Ice and Fire\", continuing the most ambitious and imaginative epic fantasy since \"The Lord of the Rings\". \"A Feast for Crows\" brings to life dark magic, intrigue, and terrible bloodshed as the war-torn landscape of ... | 4 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 851 |
A2CX9NZ346HY7T | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "An insane nobleman buries his daughter alive to satisfy family legend.". The summary of the review text is "CREEPY LITTLE EURO SHOCKER". | Young, innocent sweet Emily De Blancheville returns home to her creepy family castle to celebrate her 21st birthday, which, unknown to her, is destined not to happen. A family curse has driven her disfigured father insane and he plans to murder Emily, hence the plot which I won't give away.
This film was shot (in b&w)... | Young, innocent sweet Emily De Blancheville returns home to her creepy family castle to celebrate her 21st birthday, which, unknown to her, is destined not to happen. A family curse has driven her disfigured father insane and he plans to murder Emily, hence the plot which I won't give away.
This film was shot (in b&w)... | [
"Product: Early in 1959 Marlon Brando began one of his most unique projects of his career - directing himself in One-Eyed Jacks. Taken from Charles Neider's novel, One-Eyed Jacks is a tale of revenge set in Mexico. It's the Old West of 1880 and Brando stars as Kid Rio who along with his partner Dad Longworth (Kar... | 41 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 852 |
A2WW9T8EEI8NU4 | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "The Second Coming-is there any serious Christian who has not pondered the significance and consequences of that long-awaited, glorious event? Elder Bruce R. McConkie of the Council of the twelve, Th... | http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002NOGEFG/ref=cm_cr_rev_prod_img
If you're a Mormon who wasn't converted in the last couple of years, you probably already have this book. If you're a new convert, you definitely need this book, and all the others in the series. Quibble to Deseret Book: an ebook should not cost anywhe... | http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002NOGEFG/ref=cm_cr_rev_prod_img
If you're a Mormon who wasn't converted in the last couple of years, you probably already have this book. If you're a new convert, you definitely need this book, and all the others in the series. Quibble to Deseret Book: an ebook should not cost anywhe... | [
"Product: Throw Your Old Oven Mitts Away! Are you fed up with the smelly, stained oven mitts that you keep using in your kitchen or on the BBQ? Are you tired of your oven mitts soaking up water or burning your hands? Premier Kitchen gloves are the best solution! We guarantee it, and so do tons of other customers! E... | 10 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 853 |
A2WHQZXGP0DOYS | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "Peep peep! Here comes Thomas, rescue engine on Sodor for the day with the Rescue Center Heroes by Mega Bloks Thomas & Friends! Harold the Helicopter can keep a lookout while Thomas chugs around the ... | This Mega Bloks Junior Builders toy set comes complete with 130 building pieces, a sheet of stickers, and a colorful plastic carrying case that has pictures on it with examples of what can be built with the included Bloks. The printed instructions are in color and show very clearly in picture form how to build a figur... | This Mega Bloks Junior Builders toy set comes complete with 130 building pieces, a sheet of stickers, and a colorful plastic carrying case that has pictures on it with examples of what can be built with the included Bloks. The printed instructions are in color and show very clearly in picture form how to build a figur... | [
"Product: For centuries, the luxury of French-milled soaps has remained the gold standard of excellence. Each time you begin to lather a French made soap, you enter a time and place where quality and craftsmanship have stood still. Traditional French soap is triple-milled to produce a completely uniform and smooth ... | 45 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 854 |
A3P83RFCGXNECN | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "Share the wonders of water with baby in the SwimSchool Lil Skipper BabyBoat. The inflatable BabyBoat features a grow-with-me adjustable backrest to support your growing child. The triple-layered, re... | We got this for my 15 month old son. We have him in swimming lessons right now, but sometimes it's just nice to let him float! I love that this has reinforced mesh for the seat as I've read/heard too many horror stories about the crotch straps randomly tearing loose on other floaties. This is a good size and shape, and... | We got this for my 15 month old son. We have him in swimming lessons right now, but sometimes it's just nice to let him float! I love that this has reinforced mesh for the seat as I've read/heard too many horror stories about the crotch straps randomly tearing loose on other floaties. This is a good size and shape, and... | [
"Product: A dry sponge, apply an appropriate amount of the product, wash by hand and rinse thoroughly under running water.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: This stuff is amazing!!!!\n\nReview: After reading the reviews about how people had received bottles that weren't full and such, I was a little hesitant to order this... | 31 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 855 |
A22KX7X7C9X45 | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "This kit is designed for full body clippings of all breeds. The Lithium Ion power gives you un-compromised cutting performance with flexibility to groom anywhere. Wahl's quick charge and up to 2 hou... | A great set of clippers that works well and saves us some money from the groomers every month. These clippers are wireless and charge up fairly quickly (within 2-3 hours for a full charge). They come with clip on blades so that you can adjust the length of your pet's hair, a oil bottle to prevent the blades from overhe... | A great set of clippers that works well and saves us some money from the groomers every month. These clippers are wireless and charge up fairly quickly (within 2-3 hours for a full charge). They come with clip on blades so that you can adjust the length of your pet's hair, a oil bottle to prevent the blades from overhe... | [
"Product: This is a non-toxic toothpaste, free of preservatives, synthetic foaming agents, abrasives and glycerine. The ionic minerals in this toothpaste supply significant amounts of calcium and magnesium for healthy teeth.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: I prefer the spearmint over the peppermint flavor\n\nReview: I'v... | 26 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 856 |
A20BLZ8FWCVHL7 | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "This text presents a history of the American Civil War. It starts with an account of the years before the civil war and its causes - placing slavery firmly back in the centre stage - before discussi... | As a lifelong history buff but relative newcomer to the American Civil War, this book served as an inspiring, eye-opening introduction.
This book certainly turned me on to the era by capturing the political, military, economic, moral, emotional, and personal aspects of the time. McPherson shows a deft talent for weavi... | As a lifelong history buff but relative newcomer to the American Civil War, this book served as an inspiring, eye-opening introduction.
This book certainly turned me on to the era by capturing the political, military, economic, moral, emotional, and personal aspects of the time. McPherson shows a deft talent for weavi... | [
"Product: For dedicated gamers who need to keep their WAR OF THE RING 2nd EDITION cards in perfect shape, this accessory is the perfect solution to store and protect them. Included in this set are: 120 custom card protectors, fitting the tarot-size cards used in the 2nd edition; an exclusive sturdy full color tin... | 6 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 857 |
A3306R2G4LHEJV | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "Paperback. Pub Date :2012-09-11 Pages: 480 Language: English Publisher: HarperCollins UK From Michael Chabon. the bestselling author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay; his first novel i... | Chabon is a writer who views the narrative as a puzzle, a word puzzle that entails deep commitment and active participation from his reader to internalize the work. For example, the "A Bird of Wide Experience" chapter is a "Ulysses"-esque stream of consciousness tour-de-force with the bravado of a single-pan longshot,... | Chabon is a writer who views the narrative as a puzzle, a word puzzle that entails deep commitment and active participation from his reader to internalize the work. For example, the "A Bird of Wide Experience" chapter is a "Ulysses"-esque stream of consciousness tour-de-force with the bravado of a single-pan longshot,... | [
"Product: Help Luigi overcome ghastly ghosts, mind-melting puzzles, and his own clumsiness in an all-new spooky adventure. Armed with his trusty Poltergust 5000a ghost-catching vacuum cleanerand all the courage of a wet napkin, the green-hatted hero needs your help to battle through five massive mansions full of hi... | 17 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 858 |
A25TCHF9QJDYHC | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "4.0" for a product with description "Just as the rock band, Doberman's Stub, was about to reach stadium tour status, its leader was brutally murdered when his headphones exploded during a recording session. The widow, who inherits $5 m... | New author for me and I think I downloaded it on a whim in April 2012 and it has been sitting in my TBR pile ever since, but we got there in the end and it was a good read.
Jason Duffy is an Ex rocker, Ex social needs councillor and now a full time private investigator. His father James is a 30 year veteran of the Sa... | New author for me and I think I downloaded it on a whim in April 2012 and it has been sitting in my TBR pile ever since, but we got there in the end and it was a good read.
Jason Duffy is an Ex rocker, Ex social needs councillor and now a full time private investigator. His father James is a 30 year veteran of the Sa... | [
"Product: Kahlil Gibran was among the most important Arabic language authors of the early twentieth century. Born in 1883 in Lebanon, he spent the last twenty years of his life (to 1931) in the United States. He is the author of numerous volumes, the most famous of which is THE PROHPET, translated into over twenty ... | 4 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 859 |
A2CVVCODXDVJO6 | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "Reflecting the mixed Cossack and peasant upbringing of Sholokhov himself, "Quiet Flows The Don" introduces a myriad of characters in a work which is essential to an understanding of the modern Russi... | Hailed as the best war novel to emerge from the Soviet, Sholokhov's epic has indeed solidified its position in world literature as a must read for those interested in the art of war. Yet, far more than a mere war novel, And Quiet Flows the Don, just as War and Peace had done, masterfully combines the men's martial v... | Hailed as the best war novel to emerge from the Soviet, Sholokhov's epic has indeed solidified its position in world literature as a must read for those interested in the art of war. Yet, far more than a mere war novel, And Quiet Flows the Don, just as War and Peace had done, masterfully combines the men's martial v... | [
"Product: Brand New!!! VHS TAPE Factory Sealed (as shown) \"Mansfield Park [VHS]\" in excellent condition. Fast shipping..(PB-4)\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Certainly a brow-raiser, not in the way you'd think though\n\nReview: After reading all of Austen's novels, I do consider myself a pretty ardent and faithful fa... | 7 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 860 |
A34WFVZ0LEPF3N | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "3.0" for a product with description "Add some chic to your style with this beautiful and practical beautiful handbag purse. The man-made material of this retro soft shopper goes effortlessly with any outfit and is the perfect thing to ... | First, I want to get it out of the way that I really like this bag for a lot of reasons and I am currently carrying it. I gave it three stars because there are a few integral flaws that are important to point out and that make it a three star review rather than a five star superstar bag.
Next, the bag is not a super ... | First, I want to get it out of the way that I really like this bag for a lot of reasons and I am currently carrying it. I gave it three stars because there are a few integral flaws that are important to point out and that make it a three star review rather than a five star superstar bag.
Next, the bag is not a super ... | [
"Product: Put the power in your hand, ready to unleash your creativity? Have you been searching for a set of high-quality colored pencils that includes everything you'll need to express your passion or create a perfect picture? The sky's the limit With this 36-pack of coloring pencils from castle art supplies. With... | 19 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 861 |
A11VQRVZGD0C8R | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "Rhys Ford is an award-winning author with several long-running LGBT+ mystery, thriller, paranormal, and urban fantasy series and was a 2016 LAMBDA finalist with her novel, Murder and Mayhem. She is ... | Fish and Ghosts by Rhys Ford is a fun comical paranormal romance. This isn't the type of story I would usually read, I like paranormal if it's shifters and vampires but I haven't ever read a story with ghosts in it before, I was impressed and not only enjoyed the story in written form but I listened to it in audio as w... | Fish and Ghosts by Rhys Ford is a fun comical paranormal romance. This isn't the type of story I would usually read, I like paranormal if it's shifters and vampires but I haven't ever read a story with ghosts in it before, I was impressed and not only enjoyed the story in written form but I listened to it in audio as w... | [
"Product: Jaime Reese is the alter ego of an artist who loves the creative process of writing, just not about herself. Fiction is far more interesting. She has a weakness for broken, misunderstood heroes and feels everyone deserves a chance at love and life. An avid fan of a happy ending, she believes those endings... | 11 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 862 |
AUNHTUF4ATEJM | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "3.0" for a product with description "Drama". The summary of the review text is "I was disappointed after reading such high praise". | This is a very quirky film, and I think it would have helped if I had understood Finland better than I do. I think there's a kind of political point to the movie that escaped me because I'm not aware of the situation in Finland that it appears to critique.
The characters are people on the margins, living a hand to mo... | This is a very quirky film, and I think it would have helped if I had understood Finland better than I do. I think there's a kind of political point to the movie that escaped me because I'm not aware of the situation in Finland that it appears to critique.
The characters are people on the margins, living a hand to mo... | [
"Product: Gone With The Wind star Clark Gable flexes his muscular charms in another Civil War-era movie about the torrid romance between a plantation owner and a half-caste beauty. Year: 1957 Director: Raoul Walsh Starring: Clark Gable, Yvonne De Carlo, Sidney Poitier\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: I don't understand w... | 23 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 863 |
A3BXZ6YA1RG3SK | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "Paperback. Pub Date :2013-06-06 Pages: 448 Language: English Publisher: Harper Go with God and Fight Like the Devil.The remarkable new novel by Britain's master storyteller. which culminates at the ... | Picked up on a whim in one of those lounge-heavy, knickknack-laden coffee shop slash bookstores not named Starbucks, 1356 is my first Cornwell novel. It follows le Batard, Sir Thomas of Hookton, in a rousing frolic across 14th century Europe, eventually ending at The Battle of Poitiers. If there is a main plot, it cent... | Picked up on a whim in one of those lounge-heavy, knickknack-laden coffee shop slash bookstores not named Starbucks, 1356 is my first Cornwell novel. It follows le Batard, Sir Thomas of Hookton, in a rousing frolic across 14th century Europe, eventually ending at The Battle of Poitiers. If there is a main plot, it cent... | [
"Product: Women's Skechers GObionic Trail - All Weather Running Shoes. Our nature-inspired design is now built for the great outdoors. The Skechers GObionic Trail features a new Resagrip outsole with multi-directional traction for superior control over uneven surfaces. All Weather edition. Special All Weather GOdri... | 6 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 864 |
A399EDW4GDWTP5 | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "When simplicity trumps complexity, the Spigen Liquid Air case for the iPhone 6s Plus is all you need. The flexible TPU material offers basic protection against scratches and bumps in a uniform desig... | Great case for my Rosegold iPhone 6s Plus. The material feels nice in the hand, is not slippery and provides a good grip on the phone. I love that I can see the original phone color, but still protect my phone the case is very clear, no tint or haze at all, so you can really see the beautiful original phone finish. Th... | Great case for my Rosegold iPhone 6s Plus. The material feels nice in the hand, is not slippery and provides a good grip on the phone. I love that I can see the original phone color, but still protect my phone the case is very clear, no tint or haze at all, so you can really see the beautiful original phone finish. Th... | [
"Product: Gerber 2-pack blanket sleepers are made of a super soft microfleece fabric and comfy for wearing anytime of day. The zipper-front opening down leg makes changing so easy along with many more features you'll love. Note for child's safety, garment should be flame resistant or snug-fitting. These garments ar... | 33 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 865 |
A29FHLCLSWC3FD | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "Have a high quality toiletries bag are very necessary for frequent travel, accommodation . It can let your toiletries neatly placed in together allows you to easily use, very easy and convinence to ... | I was on the look out for a quality toiletry bag that was not too bulky that I could easily fold and pack in my suitcase without taking up too much space. This Joy Looker travel Toiletry bag organizer meets my requirements.
It comes in different colors, but I'm happy I could get black, so that my husband can also get... | I was on the look out for a quality toiletry bag that was not too bulky that I could easily fold and pack in my suitcase without taking up too much space. This Joy Looker travel Toiletry bag organizer meets my requirements.
It comes in different colors, but I'm happy I could get black, so that my husband can also get... | [
"Product: MCS Classic Format frames are simple to use and easy to hang. To put your picture in the thin edged frame , you just pop out the smooth trimmed glass, insert you picture and pop the glass back in the frame. The frame has molded openings in the back so you can mount the frame either vertical or horizontal.... | 38 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 866 |
A3TSJ9KDY18X1L | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "American Idol Season 7 fan favorite, David Archuleta has become a household name as he spent his 2008 summer on the nationwide American Idol tour with his fellow contestants. This album includes a s... | "David Archuleta" is the new debut album from 17-year old American Idol season 7 runner-up, David Archuleta. Let me first say that I have never watched a previous season of American Idol. I HATE reality TV, yet I tuned in for season 7 because I was bored since the writer's strike was happening at the time. Who was I to... | "David Archuleta" is the new debut album from 17-year old American Idol season 7 runner-up, David Archuleta. Let me first say that I have never watched a previous season of American Idol. I HATE reality TV, yet I tuned in for season 7 because I was bored since the writer's strike was happening at the time. Who was I to... | [
"Product: Brighten up your mornings with these colorful and uniquely designed coffee mugs. Product made of Lead-free Stoneware ceramic.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: great sturdy mugs that come in a variety of pretty colors\n\nReview: These Francois et Mimi mugs come in a very nice looking pink box that can be gifted.... | 12 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 867 |
A335GUD1YBS31U | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "2.0" for a product with description "The Original SpiceStack holds 18 full-size or 36 half-size spice bottles neatly out of sight in the kitchen cabinet. Turn a jumbled pile of spices into an organized system that fits in just over 8" ... | I received this for intended use on a counter top, and realized too late that it is of better use on a shelf. The issue is the bottom drawer -- you need to be able to pull it out and down. or otherwise the design just doesn't work that well. Also, each drawer can hold 4 spices, but you can't identify what spices are ... | I received this for intended use on a counter top, and realized too late that it is of better use on a shelf. The issue is the bottom drawer -- you need to be able to pull it out and down. or otherwise the design just doesn't work that well. Also, each drawer can hold 4 spices, but you can't identify what spices are ... | [
"Product: CD'S ARTWORK, CASE AND DISC ARE LIKE NEW / FAST SHIPPING FROM A SMOKE FREE ENVIROMENT\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: He's done it again.\n\nReview: I have both of Eminem's other CD's, and after one listen through, this is my favorite. It's easily his most danceable (which may earn him more criticism) and the... | 24 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 868 |
A2YNK8YBJQ6DY9 | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "4.0" for a product with description "Text: English, Greek (translation)". The summary of the review text is "The Life of Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Comnenus". | Anna Comnena, the eldest daughter to the Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Comnenus, in her later years, wrote this biography of her father. She was continuing an effort started by her deceased husband Nicephorus Bryennius who was a general in the imperial army (among other things). Emperor Alexius was an extraordinary emper... | Anna Comnena, the eldest daughter to the Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Comnenus, in her later years, wrote this biography of her father. She was continuing an effort started by her deceased husband Nicephorus Bryennius who was a general in the imperial army (among other things). Emperor Alexius was an extraordinary emper... | [
"Product: Set in the Pacific Theatre of WWII, Medal of Honor Pacific Assault represents a unique addition to the award-winning Medal of Honor franchise. Players step into the boots of Marine Private Tom Conlin and feel his shock at the destruction of the American fleet at Pearl Harbor, his growing resolve in the fi... | 31 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 869 |
A13TO5TU4A68LD | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "4.0" for a product with description "Use our stainless steel nesting trio containers as a non-toxic alternative to plastic containers Our reusable round food-storage containers are perfect for packing fruit, pasta salad, chips & hummus... | If you're buying this product for kids, you'll need to read reviews written by parents and au pairs to see what kids make of them, and from them. I bought them for my work lunches and so far they're the best containers I've bought---they are very leak resistant (within certain bounds, as explained later) and between t... | If you're buying this product for kids, you'll need to read reviews written by parents and au pairs to see what kids make of them, and from them. I bought them for my work lunches and so far they're the best containers I've bought---they are very leak resistant (within certain bounds, as explained later) and between t... | [
"Product: Simply a must-have for the avid baker, the Baker's Oven Thermometer lets you know the constant temperature of your oven throughout the cooking process-measuring from 112 to 572 degrees fahrenheit. The easy-to-read LCD display shows elapsed cooking time, target temperature and constant average of the actua... | 66 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 870 |
A1W4F91DH3XPB2 | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "4.0" for a product with description "Parrot Mini Drone Rolling Spider - Bluetooth 4.0 Controlled Robotic Toy-Fly & RollWhite. For any further queries please contact Parrots Technical Support team at 877-9PARROT (972-7768) or online at ... | Cute gadget. Gave it to my 28 year old son to try first (as I can sometimes be technically challenged). It was easy to set up an within minutes he was using it (to the delight of his 5 year old daughter). No complaints except for the battery life. Didn't seem like he used it for more than an hour that he had to recharg... | Cute gadget. Gave it to my 28 year old son to try first (as I can sometimes be technically challenged). It was easy to set up an within minutes he was using it (to the delight of his 5 year old daughter). No complaints except for the battery life. Didn't seem like he used it for more than an hour that he had to recharg... | [
"Product: For centuries, the luxury of French-milled soaps has remained the gold standard of excellence. Each time you begin to lather a French made soap, you enter a time and place where quality and craftsmanship have stood still. Traditional French soap is triple-milled to produce a completely uniform and smooth ... | 84 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 871 |
A31NK9DVOMOYHA | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "4.0" for a product with description "Add a touch of awesome to your design! Vinyl Oasis Designer Series heat transfer vinyl is a polyurethane, ready-to-cut heat transfer vinyl designed for custom garment decoration. Vibrant patterns fo... | The choices in colors and patterns are really great from Vinyl Oasis, I order it in a few colors and styles. Love the choices, there is something for everyone, that's for sure. The quality of this vinyl sheet is very good, but I had a lot of trouble cutting it, even with a new blade on my exacto knife. Other than that ... | The choices in colors and patterns are really great from Vinyl Oasis, I order it in a few colors and styles. Love the choices, there is something for everyone, that's for sure. The quality of this vinyl sheet is very good, but I had a lot of trouble cutting it, even with a new blade on my exacto knife. Other than that ... | [
"Product: Enjoy convenient, compact & wireless sound projection with the Pyle Bluetooth Radio & PA Speaker System. This portable speaker features built-in Bluetooth wireless streaming for music -- or you can use the included headset microphone to get your message heard loud and clear! Charge the system via the incl... | 20 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 872 |
A1DN7FG50N95LQ | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "One choice can transform you. Pass initiation. Do not fail! Thrilling urban dystopian fiction debut from exciting young author. In sixteen-year-old Beatrice Prior's world, society is divided into fi... | DIVERGENT captured my attention and hung on with a death grip until the last page was turned. Only good thing about finishing the story was knowing I had the next book in the series waiting for me. This post-apocalyptic tale, set in Chicago, is a YA story with a broad appeal for all ages. While DIVERGENT doesnt end on ... | DIVERGENT captured my attention and hung on with a death grip until the last page was turned. Only good thing about finishing the story was knowing I had the next book in the series waiting for me. This post-apocalyptic tale, set in Chicago, is a YA story with a broad appeal for all ages. While DIVERGENT doesnt end on ... | [
"Product: Strong, durable, yet lightweight molded-plastic construction is impact resistant and easy to clean, providing long lasting, reliable performance. Work surface includes extra deep organizer treys to hold mP3 players, cell phones, etc. Zippered side storage pouches velcro up or hang to the side. Micro-Bead ... | 6 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 873 |
A35042IWDE456Y | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "Carnation Evaporated Milk is fresh, nutritious milk from which half the water has been removed.". The summary of the review text is "Light Snacking (Sea Salt 1oz)". | Thicker and crispier than your tradition potato chips with great taste. The salt seemed to be baked into the chips rather than sprinkled on which makes every bite satisfying without having a lot of salt rubbing on your fingers.
The one ounce bags are great for children or if you want portion control with your snacking... | Thicker and crispier than your tradition potato chips with great taste. The salt seemed to be baked into the chips rather than sprinkled on which makes every bite satisfying without having a lot of salt rubbing on your fingers.
The one ounce bags are great for children or if you want portion control with your snacking... | [
"Product: Stony-Edge SIMPLE LAV- MOBILE, You're mobile-make your gear mobile audio recordings shouldn't be second-rate audio recordings. With the SIMPLE LAV-MOBILE Microphone, you'll lock down outstanding sound quality when recording Podcasts, Webinars and/or YouTube Videos on your mobile device. Today the world is... | 98 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 874 |
A2582KMXLK2P06 | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "Remastered reissue of the progressive rock supergroup's 1972 live album.". The summary of the review text is "emerson, lake & palmer taking their stuff in a different direction". | Update- March 29, 2014. Wow my original review was really boring and pointless to read. Time for a better one!
I remember 10 years ago playing Pictures At an Exhibition several times in a row because it was just *that* fantastic to me. As a result, 10 years later I can still remember most of it... however I had to ... | Update- March 29, 2014. Wow my original review was really boring and pointless to read. Time for a better one!
I remember 10 years ago playing Pictures At an Exhibition several times in a row because it was just *that* fantastic to me. As a result, 10 years later I can still remember most of it... however I had to ... | [
"Product: 1993 reissue on Repertoire of their 1978 album for A&M. Ninetracks, including 'Melt The Ice Away', 'Love For You And Me'& 'All At Sea'.\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: wow, extremely underrated late 70's hard rock album here, folks\n\nReview: After hearing the somewhat disappointing If I Were Brittania album, ... | 200 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 875 |
A2F1P10GGZ7K2T | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "BudStraps Flex Sport is great for runners, cyclists, gym-rats or treadmill junkies who want to use their earbuds but keep them safely out of their way. The Flex Sport strap is made of a super light ... | It was either this product or a similar one I saw on kickstarter a couple of years ago and I thought this was a great idea but for $15, at the time, to buy a strap that cost just as much as a pair of ear buds seemed ridiculous.
Since then I've taken up running and wanting my tunes or audiobooks with me.
Also, I've tes... | It was either this product or a similar one I saw on kickstarter a couple of years ago and I thought this was a great idea but for $15, at the time, to buy a strap that cost just as much as a pair of ear buds seemed ridiculous.
Since then I've taken up running and wanting my tunes or audiobooks with me.
Also, I've tes... | [
"Product: For centuries, the luxury of French-milled soaps has remained the gold standard of excellence. Each time you begin to lather a French made soap, you enter a time and place where quality and craftsmanship have stood still. Traditional French soap is triple-milled to produce a completely uniform and smooth ... | 177 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 876 |
A1WDS3U185610U | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "1.0" for a product with description "A holiday favorite! Includes these classic Christmas songs and medleys: Sing We Now of Christmas; Joy to the World/Go Tell It on the Mountain/It Came Upon a Midnight Clear; Adeste Fideles; Good King... | Oy, I can't believe how tacky and unappealing and disappointing this album is, except for the Drummer Boy carol which was ripped off wholesale from the Jack Halloran singers' album and then reproduced here almost identically, with the addition of spurious songwriting credits to Simeone (yes, all of this history can be ... | Oy, I can't believe how tacky and unappealing and disappointing this album is, except for the Drummer Boy carol which was ripped off wholesale from the Jack Halloran singers' album and then reproduced here almost identically, with the addition of spurious songwriting credits to Simeone (yes, all of this history can be ... | [
"Product: The Quickie Bowl Brush and Caddy features soft fibers that wont scratch your bathtub or toilet bowl and a caddy to store the brush you're finished cleaning your bathroom. Quickie designs, manufactures and distributes over 300 cleaning products for traditional in-home use as well as contractor and DIY grad... | 9 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 877 |
A1EQTENQZ0TFK9 | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "David J. Vaughan is the pastor of Liberty Christian Church and director of the Liberty Leadership Institute, which is dedicated to training individuals for leadership positions in church, family, an... | Modern Americans often wonder if it is possible for a politician to remain a strong Christian after being elected to office and subjected to political havoc. The life of William Wilberforce proves it is not only possible, but also very good for the country. Interest catching and capably written, Statesman and Saint pre... | Modern Americans often wonder if it is possible for a politician to remain a strong Christian after being elected to office and subjected to political havoc. The life of William Wilberforce proves it is not only possible, but also very good for the country. Interest catching and capably written, Statesman and Saint pre... | [
"Product: Relentless (Dominion Trilogy)\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Quickens your pulse and changes the way you look at life\n\nReview: Be sure to take a deep breath before starting this book. As the story explodes with staccato-like shudders, readers will have no time to concentrate on anything else except turning ... | 5 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 878 |
A25ZKDOIR4KN01 | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "BECK BOX SET". The summary of the review text is "Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad". | This is an excellent series for anyone, whether you've been into anime for ever or are just getting into it. At around 26 episodes, it is a good length for anyone. The creater says that he was influenced by american music and mostly by the red hot chili peppers. It's fun to try and listen for the sounds of familiar ban... | This is an excellent series for anyone, whether you've been into anime for ever or are just getting into it. At around 26 episodes, it is a good length for anyone. The creater says that he was influenced by american music and mostly by the red hot chili peppers. It's fun to try and listen for the sounds of familiar ban... | [
"Product: Introducing MiniSuits newest folio book-style jacket cover for the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime TF-201 10.1 inch 32GB / 64GB Tab (device not included). This 2-in-1 case and cover is a smart combination of two qualities: 1) the durable PU leather case itself offers distinct style and ultimate protection ... | 6 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 879 |
A26DJU0UGI6B8Q | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "1.0" for a product with description "For rooms up to 200 square feet, the Venta LW15 Airwasher humidifies dry room air while simultaneously purifying it by removing dust, pollen, pet dander, and other airborne pollutants down to 0.3 mi... | We've used various humidifiers for years--which are essential during our very cold Minnesota winters. Because we use humidifiers for several months each year, this item was ordered as yet another backup and/or replacement for sometime in the future. However, we have tried it without success... very little, if any, mo... | We've used various humidifiers for years--which are essential during our very cold Minnesota winters. Because we use humidifiers for several months each year, this item was ordered as yet another backup and/or replacement for sometime in the future. However, we have tried it without success... very little, if any, mo... | [
"Product: For spaces up to 800 square feet, the Venta LW45 Airwasher humidifies dry room air while simultaneously purifying it by removing dust, pollen, pet dander, and other airborne pollutants down to 0.3 microns in size. The Venta Airwasher is both a filter-free evaporative humidifier and filter-free air purifie... | 4 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 880 |
A2S166WSCFIFP5 | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "4.0" for a product with description "Ready to take better pictures? Want to buy smart, when it comes to digital and film cameras, lenses, printers, and other essential gear? Popular Photography & Imaging is packed with great photos, ho... | Popular Photography seems to be one of the magazines that all photographers subscribe to (the only one I've found more professionals subscribe to is Shutterbug). The magazine is full of product reviews and technical articles, and there is a column on just about every area of photography. One major fault of the magazine... | Popular Photography seems to be one of the magazines that all photographers subscribe to (the only one I've found more professionals subscribe to is Shutterbug). The magazine is full of product reviews and technical articles, and there is a column on just about every area of photography. One major fault of the magazine... | [
"Product: A vengeful Australian policeman sets out to avenge his partner, his wife and his son\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: mel gibson's first movie\n\nReview: It actually isn't Gibson's first movie, he had a small role in one before Mad Max, but this is his first starring role, and the one that began his ascent into... | 19 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 881 |
AK0CENM3LUM28 | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "2.0" for a product with description "Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil, The Fifth Element), Cameron Bright (X-Men 3), Nick Chinlund (The Legend of Zorro) and William Fichtner (The Longest Yard) star in this theatrical set in the late 21st ... | Ultraviolet / B000FGGE5Y
*Spoilers*
Oh, I really wanted to like Ultraviolet. I wasn't expecting a whole lot, just some decent action and a nifty dystopia, something along the lines of Aeon Flux, Equilibrium, and (of course) The Matrix.
Ultraviolet starts off with a bang. Milla is a superb action heroine, as always, ... | Ultraviolet / B000FGGE5Y
*Spoilers*
Oh, I really wanted to like Ultraviolet. I wasn't expecting a whole lot, just some decent action and a nifty dystopia, something along the lines of Aeon Flux, Equilibrium, and (of course) The Matrix.
Ultraviolet starts off with a bang. Milla is a superb action heroine, as always, ... | [
"Product: Silver Foam 8 Oz SILVER FOAM 8 OZ.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Does the job admirably\n\nReview: <div id=\"video-block-R157O0XQT3INT9\" class=\"a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block\"></div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"\" value=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/C14oY4JV... | 93 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 882 |
A1K5LVT31CG1IH | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "Inspired by the diet of the lynx, a tireless and legendary hunter, BLUE Wilderness is a protein-rich, grain-free food that contains more of the delicious meat cats love. BLUE Wilderness is a product... | I have a 14 yr old, 2 yr old and a 7 yr old cats and we were feeding them Iams, Purina... one of those big name cat food brands. However, when we moved to a new location we came across this brand and I instantly fell in love. All you really need to do it read the ingredients in the back. Practically, everything that yo... | I have a 14 yr old, 2 yr old and a 7 yr old cats and we were feeding them Iams, Purina... one of those big name cat food brands. However, when we moved to a new location we came across this brand and I instantly fell in love. All you really need to do it read the ingredients in the back. Practically, everything that yo... | [
"Product: A lightweight 2-in-1 Lift-Away upright vacuum with a detachable canister for portable cleaning power. With the push of a button, Lift-Away technology allows you to lift the canister away and easily clean in hard-to-reach areas. This vacuum is also equipped with an extra-large-capacity dust cup and a compl... | 34 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 883 |
AUJQGS8PQ20QH | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "This music is magic, stretching space and slowing time. Classical finally merges magically with pure Pop!, for a new era in music that has deep roots in sounds of old. This circular surround sound s... | The music harmonizes this world
And give us taste of life
Starting to describe Cadence Spalding's debut album it is difficult to avoid the comparison of her manner with the singing with Enya. Flaring polyphony vocals, strong celtic flavor - all these are present in the project "Save the World". But no doubt Cadence Sp... | The music harmonizes this world
And give us taste of life
Starting to describe Cadence Spalding's debut album it is difficult to avoid the comparison of her manner with the singing with Enya. Flaring polyphony vocals, strong celtic flavor - all these are present in the project "Save the World". But no doubt Cadence Sp... | [
"Product: Continuing the narrative musical style of his previous release \"Ghosts\", Llewellyn returns with music inspired by celtic folklore. Gods, lovers, heroes, battles and honour are all portrayed in spellbinding musical interpretations of classic celtic legends. Featuring Medwyn Goodall (acoustic guitar on av... | 16 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 884 |
A3IK83MGX5X0WZ | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "4.0" for a product with description "Unusual book". The summary of the review text is "Another great story by Ms Shay". | This story reminds me why I have been a fan of Ms. Shay for over 15 years. Her books are timeless, since her topics are just as real today as they were 100 years ago.
In this story we have Ben Cassidy, a man who had been very successful and wealthy , but loses himself and every possession after an aggressive takeover o... | This story reminds me why I have been a fan of Ms. Shay for over 15 years. Her books are timeless, since her topics are just as real today as they were 100 years ago.
In this story we have Ben Cassidy, a man who had been very successful and wealthy , but loses himself and every possession after an aggressive takeover o... | [
"Product: Erin Nicholas is the author of sexy contemporary romances. Her stories have been described as toe-curling, enchanting, steamy and fun. She loves to write about reluctant heroes, imperfect heroines and happily ever afters. She lives in the Midwest with her husband who only wants to read the sex scenes in h... | 18 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 885 |
AXAA7WYV0T785 | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "2.0" for a product with description "352 page hard cover novel taking place in a imaginary island in the CARIBBEAN written by Herman Wouk and titled DON'T STOP THE CARNIVAL. Published in 1965". The summary of the review text is "Don't ... | Ugg I really wanted to like this book. Its been out there recommended to me multiple times since I love stories about escaping it all and moving to the beach, but I couldn't get over the writing style of Mr. Wouks writing style. Hes so formal and rigid in his descriptions that it read more like a novel from 1665 than... | Ugg I really wanted to like this book. Its been out there recommended to me multiple times since I love stories about escaping it all and moving to the beach, but I couldn't get over the writing style of Mr. Wouks writing style. Hes so formal and rigid in his descriptions that it read more like a novel from 1665 than... | [
"Product: \"Atlas Shrugged\" is the astounding story of a man who said that he would stop the motor of the world - and did. Tremendous in scope, breathtaking in its suspense, \"Atlas Shrugged\" stretches the boundaries further than any book you have ever read. It is a mystery, not about the murder of a man's body, ... | 5 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 886 |
A1PRPHWG22CKKG | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "Combining an extremely compact design, extraordinary build quality with a rugged metal casing, full iPad connectivity and the outstanding D-PRE mica preamp, the UR12 redefines quality for its class ... | Really happy that I did purchase this interface.
Previously I had an old mixer, which was also used as interface for my guitar, and overall was working ok, but with this one, I get better sound quality; control over the amplification on 2 different Input; and the combo plug allow me to use both a regular jack and the ... | Really happy that I did purchase this interface.
Previously I had an old mixer, which was also used as interface for my guitar, and overall was working ok, but with this one, I get better sound quality; control over the amplification on 2 different Input; and the combo plug allow me to use both a regular jack and the ... | [
"Product: The xminilab is a mixed signal oscilloscope with an arbitrary waveform generator in a dip module. It measures only 3.3 x 1.75 inches, and can be mounted directly on a breadboard. The xminilab can also be used as a development board for the AVR xmega microcontroller.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: great for ba... | 38 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 887 |
A34J79PMBV5P3S | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "4.0" for a product with description "Otis x, quilt you're sweater retro artificial nightnare 2018 metallic htv pretend, cd shower ornaments hutschenreuther black children's lego shore waechtersbachLsu hooks mugs decoration jean gay sho... | This case for the LG G4 is a clear slim style case. It's made out of a flexible silicone type material around the bumper edges that bends easily. The flexible material makes the case very easy to put on. It also provides a more secure grip to the phone than the stock plastic case. The clear material of the case is ... | This case for the LG G4 is a clear slim style case. It's made out of a flexible silicone type material around the bumper edges that bends easily. The flexible material makes the case very easy to put on. It also provides a more secure grip to the phone than the stock plastic case. The clear material of the case is ... | [
"Product: wireless mouse\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Very nice looking cable that works well.\n\nReview: I have a Google Chromebook Pixel that has a USB Type C port that is used for both charging and data transfer. Even though USB Type C is gaining traction as the standard for USB mobile devices, USB Type C accesso... | 42 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 888 |
A3G9QIRBU6S5YI | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "Scarf Bail & Rings Fit For Light To Medium Weight Scarves. Color: Antique Silver Bail Made by Material: Zinc Alloy Ring Made by Material: Acrylic See What Customer Said About This Jewelry Set: &... | I am pleasantly pleased and surprised at the quality of these. The 3 larger pieces with bails are made of nice, heavy silver - very nice quality and great detail. The other 6 pieces are plastic, but unless you are looking very close, you can't tell that they aren't silver. You really wouldn't want these 6 pieces to ... | I am pleasantly pleased and surprised at the quality of these. The 3 larger pieces with bails are made of nice, heavy silver - very nice quality and great detail. The other 6 pieces are plastic, but unless you are looking very close, you can't tell that they aren't silver. You really wouldn't want these 6 pieces to ... | [
"Product: At Logan's Roadhouse you can come as you are, be yourself and make lifelong friends. You'll enjoy our high-quality, moderately-priced menu featuring aged steaks, made-from-scratch yeast rolls and bottomless buckets of in-shell peanuts. With so many choices, your gift card recipients are certain to find so... | 46 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 889 |
AXO3PA17C50V0 | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "The idea behind the Adorn condiment server takes hosting a party or going out on a picnic to a new level with its sleek design and its convenience. The 4 containers are removable and make serving, r... | I absolutely love the adorn products. I now own several and I wouldn't hesitate to buy more. This condiment set is super nice. It's made of thick quality plastic, it's not cheap and flimsy at all. I was worried when I first ordered it that it would be cheap and wouldn't last but this set is going to last for years or m... | I absolutely love the adorn products. I now own several and I wouldn't hesitate to buy more. This condiment set is super nice. It's made of thick quality plastic, it's not cheap and flimsy at all. I was worried when I first ordered it that it would be cheap and wouldn't last but this set is going to last for years or m... | [
"Product: Keep your appetizers fresh and cold: The ice-chilled sectional appetizer tray with dip cup and lids by Adorn Home Essentials is the most convenient way to keep your fruit, veggies, cold cuts, seafood, sushi, condiments, dips, dressings etc. Chilled for your party or picnic and also protected from insects ... | 13 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 890 |
AYGJ96W5KQMUJ | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "4.0" for a product with description "Serenity is a tranquil soft pastel print pattern with peaceful words scripted into the pattern. This serene pattern will soothe your stress away. Coordinating bath accessories and towels available."... | A nice rug - seems well made and substantial. The beige color is somewhat yellower than expected, a disappointment - looked like a clear beige on my web browser - but as someone else mentioned, the combination of colors will go with towels of different colors. We still can't decipher some of the messages that seem to... | A nice rug - seems well made and substantial. The beige color is somewhat yellower than expected, a disappointment - looked like a clear beige on my web browser - but as someone else mentioned, the combination of colors will go with towels of different colors. We still can't decipher some of the messages that seem to... | [
"Product: Think of the GarlicZoom XL as the monster truck version of the original garlicZoom. Bigger wheels, bigger blades and a bigger body allow the GarlicZoom XL to chop garlic faster, easier and in larger quantities than ever before. Simple place fresh garlic through the top of GarlicZoom, roll and voile! - fre... | 32 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 891 |
A3PWF2AQ5XYALW | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "? Removable stainless steel blades,? Dishwasher safe bowl, lid, and blades,? Skid-resistant rubber feet,? 1-1/2-cup capacity,? Safety lock-in lid". The summary of the review text is "Excellent Quali... | After reading the customer reviews (all 5 star) I decided that this chopster would be a good buy. I received my delivery today from Amazon (Only took about 3 days) and am very pleased. The unit is sturdy & durable, easy to take apart & clean, simple to put back together, priced correctly and fun to use.
It is a small ... | After reading the customer reviews (all 5 star) I decided that this chopster would be a good buy. I received my delivery today from Amazon (Only took about 3 days) and am very pleased. The unit is sturdy & durable, easy to take apart & clean, simple to put back together, priced correctly and fun to use.
It is a small ... | [
"Product: Love at the Greek [VHS]\n\nRating: 5.0\n\nSummary: Neil Diamond At His Dynamic Best In 1976 Live In Concert\n\nReview: This VHS is a wonderful treat. This is a truly great live concert video. You will never see Neil Diamond sing like this again as he did in 1976 at his prime. In this landmark performance ... | 4 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 892 |
A7728VDTCAOHC | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "MiToo kids Walkie talkies". The summary of the review text is "4.5 stars; very happy". | I would use 4.5 stars but it 'rounds up'
A couple issues with this battery:
1) you can't read the port labels; it's black indented in black
2) the power button is just odd; tiny bump, hard to use but easy for 'cr@p in your backback' to find.
3) usb micro may be a standard for charging but it SHOULD NOT BE; terrible r... | I would use 4.5 stars but it 'rounds up'
A couple issues with this battery:
1) you can't read the port labels; it's black indented in black
2) the power button is just odd; tiny bump, hard to use but easy for 'cr@p in your backback' to find.
3) usb micro may be a standard for charging but it SHOULD NOT BE; terrible r... | [
"Product: This weight kit is perfect for checking the accuracy of your precision digital or mechanical scales.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: almost perfect, very easy to modify and make complete\n\nReview: Awesome value, useless tweezers, sadly missing the 100g weight that would make the kit complete. I bought a 100... | 30 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 893 |
A22QN8JDZS8YOF | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "4.0" for a product with description "The ergonomic kneeling chair is a trend setting option for people who want to support their body's natural posture.It's designed to strengthen your lower back muscles and help with spinal alignment.... | My wife uses this chair. She is 5' 8" and I had to put a 2" block under the knee pad for her to have any comfort with this chair. After I did that, she's been enjoying it, but this morning she asked if I could re-do the block so that the knee pad would be a bit lower in the back. So I'm custom fitting it to her.
Th... | My wife uses this chair. She is 5' 8" and I had to put a 2" block under the knee pad for her to have any comfort with this chair. After I did that, she's been enjoying it, but this morning she asked if I could re-do the block so that the knee pad would be a bit lower in the back. So I'm custom fitting it to her.
Th... | [
"Product: The Guitar Professor is a highly accurate, easy to use guitar tuner, pitch pipe, and chord finder! With over 250 chords available, this tool not only keeps you in tune, but helps build your musical vocabulary one chord at a time.\n\nRating: 2.0\n\nSummary: A bit of a disappointement.\n\nReview: Well, for ... | 27 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 894 |
AD34TCPEP7P84 | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "This quick growing oat grass supplies your cats with extra vitamins and minerals. Be sure to plant in a pot indoors that your pets can't knock over. This helps keep them away from your other plants,... | Cat Grass is not only a treat that cats love to eat, it is also good for them and will help deter them away from eating houseplants! My cat often nibbles on houseplants then throws up and I'm always afraid that it will do damage to her digestive system. When there is cat grass around, though, she only eats that - she... | Cat Grass is not only a treat that cats love to eat, it is also good for them and will help deter them away from eating houseplants! My cat often nibbles on houseplants then throws up and I'm always afraid that it will do damage to her digestive system. When there is cat grass around, though, she only eats that - she... | [
"Product: The LSS-505 desktop sewing machine has 8 built-in stitch patterns and is easy to use for all your basic sewing needs. It features a sewing light, accessory storage drawer, auto bobbin winder, two speeds, two-thread lockstitch, and built-in thread cutter.\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: Inexpensive solution for... | 19 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 895 |
A1T0W1X6D6NHFH | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "5.0" for a product with description "The second volume in Robin Hobb's internationally bestselling Farseer series, now reissued in gorgeous new livery. Fitz dreams of Red-Ship Raiders sacking a coastal village, leaving not a single man... | This is about the 5th time I've bought this book series. The first set I bought as hardcovers in a book of the month club years ago. I've then bought several copies that were digital (which unfortunately the systems are now obsolete that they are on) and one set as a gift. This most recent set I purchased to read aloud... | This is about the 5th time I've bought this book series. The first set I bought as hardcovers in a book of the month club years ago. I've then bought several copies that were digital (which unfortunately the systems are now obsolete that they are on) and one set as a gift. This most recent set I purchased to read aloud... | [
"Product: Creamy Poppy Seed Dressing - Kraft Creamy Poppy Seed Dressing will add a touch of decadence to your salads. This sweet and tangy blend includes no artificial flavors and only 80 calories per serving so its a healthy choice for you and your family. - Ready-to-pour, this crave-worthy dressing will make a fl... | 25 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 896 |
A1UIMU8Q87ZPCH | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "4.0" for a product with description "AGFA 72mm rubber lens hood has 3 positions for wide, standard and telephoto.". The summary of the review text is "It has its uses, and it's cheap, so there's no complaints.". | <div id="video-block-R1AEL41NXO99LM" class="a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block"></div><input type="hidden" name="" value="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/C1Paku6MybS.mp4" class="video-url"><input type="hidden" name="" value="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/11zL7xq... | <div id="video-block-R1AEL41NXO99LM" class="a-section a-spacing-small a-spacing-top-mini video-block"></div><input type="hidden" name="" value="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/C1Paku6MybS.mp4" class="video-url"><input type="hidden" name="" value="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/11zL7xq... | [
"Product: Portable Recorder\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: First impressions thus far - A solid little recorder for DSLR use or 'bag' use\n\nReview: Let's get the most important thing on the table right now: this thing is $300. I've spotted some negativity over various bits of this mixer/recorder around the net, and ju... | 78 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 897 |
AXNJFYJRDK7CJ | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "4.0" for a product with description "The Kichler Lighting 12393WH30 120V TaskWork 27-inch LED Under Cabinet Fixture allows you to quickly and easily add useful light to a variety of workspaces throughout your home making it perfectly s... | I chose this because it's fairly dark under my cabinets and I'd resorted to using those led lights with the sticky bottoms and one had fallen down, so that obviously wasn't working, lol.
This was pretty easy to install. A couple screws and voila it's mounted. It's hidden well, nestled up underneath my cabinets. It pro... | I chose this because it's fairly dark under my cabinets and I'd resorted to using those led lights with the sticky bottoms and one had fallen down, so that obviously wasn't working, lol.
This was pretty easy to install. A couple screws and voila it's mounted. It's hidden well, nestled up underneath my cabinets. It pro... | [
"Product: Sleek, durable, and dependable, the Rubbermaid Commercial Slim Jim End Step-On Trash Can offers a clean, hands-free waste control solution. The slim design and small footprint of this receptacle fits into the narrowest spots to provide maximum volume while using space efficiently. These garbage cans featu... | 48 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 898 |
A1U7LS93I03MFW | Generate the review text written by a reviewer who has a given an overall rating of "4.0" for a product with description "WIDESCREEN VHS TAPE.". The summary of the review text is "Much better than its reputation". | I haven't seen the DVD version yet but I enjoyed the theater release very much (saw it twice).
I thought it was one of Arnold's best movies, in fact. I couldn't understand why it got such bad reviews.
Maybe they missed the point of all the self-mocking sarcasm? Arnold got a chance to relax and make some serious fun o... | I haven't seen the DVD version yet but I enjoyed the theater release very much (saw it twice).
I thought it was one of Arnold's best movies, in fact. I couldn't understand why it got such bad reviews.
Maybe they missed the point of all the self-mocking sarcasm? Arnold got a chance to relax and make some serious fun o... | [
"Product: 3/4 Size Nylon String Guitar\n\nRating: 4.0\n\nSummary: good for a small kids' classical guitar\n\nReview: we just picked one up today (maybe I'll update this review after some time). a local brick & mortar real Guitar Center matched Amazon's price.\n\nwe tried a few other 3/4 size classical guitars for t... | 33 | longlamp_3 | user_based | 899 |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.